FURTHER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF THE WEEKLY REVIEW, AND MEMORIAL TO THE PRESBYTERY OF LANCASHIRE, ON THE FORTHCOMING HYMN-BOOK. LONDON : OFFICE Q¥ THE vWEEKLY REVIEW 3, FALCON COURT, FLEET STREET. Price Twopence Post Free. yQfeA.i FROM THE LIBRARY OP REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 53 1 Section v x # FURTHER LETTE THE EDITOR OF THE WEEKLY REVIEW, MEMORIAL TO THE PRESBYTERY OF LANCASHIRE, OS THE FORTHCOMING HYMN-BOOK. LONDON : OFFICE OF THE WEEKLY REVIEW, 3, FALCON COURT, FLEET STREET. ~fS3 18th September. Having been unable to procure anyway a copy of the Hymn- book with the latest emendations, the writer of the following letters and memorial sends them collectively forth as they were written, with the two-fold hope that his review, imperfect as it is, will help to impress the Church with deep conviction of the necessity of more thorough revision, and at same time that it may somewhat contribute to the satisfactory performance of that pleasing but serious task. He is gratified by the amount, as well as the sources, of approval and encouragement to proceed, with which his self-imposed work has been favoured. PSALMS AND HYMNS. To the Editor of the " Weekly Eeview." Sir, — I have read with pleasure Mr. Watson's letter in your last, and am glad to receive such assurances regarding the Hymn-book as he is good enough to there give. It would, of course, be more satisfactory to know which of the suggestions had been anticipated (and corrections made), and how those suggestions are to be dealt with that had not been anticipated. I wish now, with your leave, to ask if the work of revision is or is not completed, and if we are to be favoured with proof copies after revision is completed, in order that any unfortunate remaining oversights may be detected before publication, when rectification must be a matter of extreme awkwardness. Tour good correspondent indicates three points on which he assumes he and I differ. In explanation : — The use of the word " Trinity " as a name of Grod. This he defends because it occurs in the heading of the second chapter of the Confession of Faith. Let him, however, remember that that document is much less one for popular use than the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, which are what come into nearer comparison with a hymn-book. Does he find the word in these, or, indeed, in any of " the Catechisms of the Reformation," which Dr. Bonar and he have just re- published ? Here let me repeat my regret that there are of the same and still more marked character other analy- tical human modes of thought and expression as to the Divine Being, of frequent recurrence in the collection, which, being repugnant to feelings that I do not like to 10 banish, let me abstain from quoting. They are not con- formable to Presbyterian usage. Prayer to the Holy Ghost. — I said this is not founded on Scripture example or precedent. It is no answer to urge the personality and work of the Holy Spirit as a deeply cherished and comforting truth, for that is not questioned. Sabbatism. — I merely note that there should be all due care not to violate in this matter Scripture truth and Christian freedom, especially as the Hymn-book will find its way to the mission stations in China, where British rules cannot, or should not, belaid down. Let us acquiesce in all the principles established of old (Acts xv.). "Would that the rulers of China would, like the Divine Head of the Israelite nation, speedily institute a secular rest on the first day of the week, so that the Lord's-day, which all the Churches rejoice in, might be fully enjoyed by our brethren there. I have no hesitation in saying that throughout the Hymn- book there is an ultraism iu the statement of Gospel truths, or of our current view of Gospel truths, which is new, un- scriptural, and dangerous. It is not wise (is it faithful? certainly not) to overstretch, or take even the outer limits of truth. Will it not cause a recoil, and ruptures ? If produced by going beyond Scripture, who will be to blame for these effects ? Tour correspondent says not a word as to the guiding principles my letter contends for ; but argues for not deviat- ing far from the words of the original writers. Tet surely it is needless to be very scrupulous about improving hymns which have become the common property of the Churches ; our Psalms, our Paraphrases, the existing Hymn- book, all testify to the advantage of making what hymns we use as good as talent and piety can make them. It is well the committee act accordingly. I am, Sir, &c. &c. August 7, 1866. P.S. Aug. 8th. — On looking carefully at our friend's letter, I conclude, with a feeling of relief, that the work of revising is not completed. Sie, — Kindly permit me to lay before your thoughtful readers of the Presbyterian Church in England a few more 11 xtracts from the intended Hymn-book. Not to occupy too much time and space, I have, except where I have gone beyond by way of illustration, confined myself to the first fifty pages. Of course we may fairly hope from Mr. Watson's letter that some — if not, many — of the faults or points to be now adverted to have been rectified. By no means let it be assumed that my criticisms extend to every matter that should be altered : and yet how numerous they are ! Happily there is opportunity still to perfect the collection more and more, in the interest of truth, love to brethren, catholicity, and peace. Let it not be supposed the dislikers of certain portions of the Hymn-book claim right to thrust their views on others. What they hope will be conceded is the forbearance that will prevent others from introducing into the collection, and so iuto congrega- tions, matters of equivocal character, matters on which doubts and difficulties legitimately or actualiy exist among us. Is it not fair to now hint that such language and such sentiments as the Hymn-book abounds in would not have passed among Presbyterians in 1566, or 1666, or 1766, and to suggest the pregnant question, does not the prevalent tone, and the very unconsciousness with which it is held, indicate a deep-lying and wide-spread change that ought to be anxiouslv guarded against rather than heedlessly stimu- lated ? Hymn 1 (an address to God) has twice the following line — " God in three persons, blessed Trinity," which is language unusual among the old Presbyterians, and it speaks of saints '•' Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea ; Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before thee," which may be true, but is not stated in Scripture. No. 2 tells us the angels — " all night long unwearied sing." In No. 3, we express anticipations to — " hymns with the supernal choir Incessant sing, and never tire." Now, does this give the right idea of the employment df the risen saints ? 12 No. 8 speaks of Christ thus — " Left for us his glad abode, Son of Mary, Son of God." I heard a Church of England minister, some months ago, infer that when the Lord said to Mary, " Woman, behold thy son," he meant that the relationship should disappear from view. Caveamus. No. 14 tells that Christ should raise a — " Favoured servant's head Amidst the angelic band." No. 15— " Assured, if I my trust betray, I shall for ever die." Does not this contradict the perseverance of saints ? No. 16— 11 Ye slaves of sin and hell Your liberty receive." No. 18— " Who bought us with his blood From everlasting woe." Would not " saved us " be better, as in a later hymn P " To God the Spirit's name, Immortal worship give." There is more of this hymn open to remark. No. 32— •' In this thy house." No. 41— " His powerful blood - — pleads before the throne." No. 42— " Jesus the Judge shall come, And take his servants up To their eternal home," is followed, quite in keeping with the Hymn-book's one- sided view regarding " the last things," by No. 43— " With thee we rise, with thee we reign, And empires gain beyond the skies.'" In this hymn, besides, there are other bold assumptions, viz. : — " In wild dismay, the guards around Fell to the ground, and sank away." 18 " Lo ! the angelic bands In full assembly meet, — vying their way From realms of day to such a tomb. Then back to heaven they fly And the glad tidings bear, Hark ! as they soar on high, What music Alls the air." No. 45 (" Psalm IX. is its title). Is the following in the Hebrew :- " My cause thou pleadest"? After most Pindaric abruptness of transition, comes— " But yet Jehovah shall For ever, ever stay, His throne He hath prepared at length For the great judgment day." No. 47 begins with an expression which I do not like to bring before the newspaper reader ; on referring to it, you will see it is of that ultra character, — coming to tho ex- tremest border of the truth, or indeed beyond the record, — that tends to eeaction. No. 48— " The great archangels sing." Is there more than one ? No. 49— " Highborn seraphs, .... " Extol the stem .of Jesse's rod." Might be printed : — " Extol the stem-of- Jesse's rod." and the meaning will be seen, but hardly else. No. 52— " when that conflict's o'er, And I am chained to flesh no more." May not this seem to conflict with the truth as to the re- surrection of the body ? (Besurrectio camis ?) It at least contradicts No. 356, where we read— " My flesh shall in my Saviour's image rise," ' No. 53— " Fulfil thy promise to thy son, Let all that breathe call Jesus Lord." Where is that promise ? 14 No. 54 — " Undefiled," if applied to the Lord, should have a capital U. No. 55— " This is the way I long have sought, And mourned because I found him not." Is this judicious ? or the following ? — No. 66— " Weary of wandering from my God, For him, not without hope, I mourn." Strange, too, this line — And make my heart a house of prayer." No. 58 — An address to " the Hidden Love of Grod " per- sonified; one part most questionably says — " While I seek, but find thee not." What means the following ? " O Love, thy sovereign aid impart, To save me from low-thoughted care ; Chase this self-ivill through all my heart, Through all its latent mazes there : Make me thy duteous child [love's] that I Ceaseless may ' Abba, Father ! ' cry." No. 59— " Jerusalem, my heavenly home, The courts by angel legions troa, Waere meet in everlasting love The church of the first-born above." The above is speculative. The subjoined is hazy — " To-day are life and death our choice ; To-day through mercy reconciled, Our all to God we yet may give ; Now let us hear his voice and live." No. 60 begins with this question (which it doss not answer)— " Mighty God, while angels bless thee. May a mortal siag thy name ?" and as it goes on, says — " For thy providence Wings an angel, guides a sparrow." The reader will remember Scripture does not represent angels as having wings. The Hymnists are prone to accept 15 tradition and fancy whenever they introduce angels. The following, the commencement of Hymn 303, shows how angels are addressed : — " Ye angels who stand round the throne, And view my Immanuel's face, In rapturous songs make him known, Tune, tune your soft harps to his praise." No. 66 Are not the following obscure ? — " The angel host, O king of kings, Thy praise for ever telling, In earth and sky all living things Beneath thy shadow dwelling, Adore the wisdom which could span, And power which formed creation's plan." " By morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne'er sleepeth." i. d with " hands" and praise " Him who reigns" with the Father and Son. (vide.) Also 162. No. 305 begins, " " O thou essential Word," whom it calls * The Methodist and Congregational Hymn-book9, Hymns Ancient and Modern, &c, like our Paraphrases, have no titles. Tney are better omitted. 31 " hope of all the sinning,''' and says, " Speak thou in my spirit." Pas-iug lightly over No. 319 — which ought to be modified, especially its last verse — we halt for a moment at No. 323, which closes, not very objectionably I admit, thus : — " Firmament, now glowing o'er us ! Mountains ! rivers ! isles ! and sea ! All combine to swell the chorus That will ring earth's jubilee.' And find in No. 392 Christ addressed thus : — " Why didst thou yield to Satan's power? " On a somewhat similar inspection to-day, I lighted on the following : — No. 295— "Victory crying, Enemies flying," Where the active and passive sense of the first verb require to be distinguished. "Earth's torn raiment all exchanged for gold," Where, according to the ordinary usus loquendi, " sold " might seem meant. At least the grammar of No. 309, verse 5, is bad. The last verse is simply unintelligible. In No. 312 there is an awkwardness, " Oh ! Christ, he is the fountain." aDd a mis-spelling, " lustered with His love." No. 322 speaks of " lightened cheer." No. 362 suggests or adopts an interpretation, which may be true, using " Come, thou," in its widest bearing. '' 'Tis Jesus calls for thee, The Spirit and the Bride say, ' Come, O now for refuge flee.' " No. 378— ft O thou Spirit of grace, Source of righteousness, Who the Saviour's sceptre wieldest, And from Satan's vengeance shieldest, Thine, beneath thy wing, W r e Thy praises sing." This let the reader italicise, or number its peculiarities, for himself. 32 Surely some better punctuation would be needful in the following address to Christ: — " Hungry, sick, and faint, Hear each sad complaint." Of course these are not extreme instances. I almost fear to quote them, lest comparative feebleness impair impressions that have been already made. Now, pray, what assurance have we that these, or other undoubted, offences against propriety have been expunged ? Literally, none at all. I earnestly submit, though sorry worthier pens have not come forward rather than mine, that brethren possessed of influence, especially any Presbyteries that may be able to take the matter up early, should press for delay, with a view to fresh and thorough revision. Nothing less will answer. The collection deserves this, but also requires it, and duty demands as much. Excuse me for calling attention to a peculiar feature of the collection that distinguishes it from others that may be as full of blemishes, viz., its being sanctioned by a Church, which must invest it, among ourselves and among brethren outside our " connexion," with the character of an autho- rized exhibition of our current and accepted doctrines and sentiments (not to say of our taste). Can anybody doubt that it does exhibit our tendencies, and " whereunto we have reached " ? Is it marked by the traditional regard for the Bible, and nothing beyond the Bible ? "What will High Church neighbours (who, against their Church, speak of "the altar") understand by our book calling the Lord's table " the sacred shrine " ? * Yet this expression has its fellows to keep it in countenance. I am, &c, &c. Sept. 6, 1866. Sis, — A few more quotations, and our Hymn-book cor- respondence closes : — No. 29— " Though Satan enrages The wind and the tide." Are we to attribute such influence literally ? Whether the * Elsewhere M consecrated water," and M priests," ard introduced so as to beoome familiar sounds and thoughts. A friend mutters, also, dislike of the expression quoted in these pages, "the Holy Church." 33 Hymn Committee mean this or not, will not the youu > imbibe that view generally ? No. 125— " Oft as they meet for worship here," in keeping with several titles, indicates an object of Chris- tian meeting, which Presbyterians have not hitherto sanc- tioned as the main Scriptural one. No. 132— " Fountain for guilt and sin." No. 258— " And hopes her guilt was there." Guilt is not a New Testament word. The expression, " fountain for sin," is appropriate and Biblical. Are not the following passages too obscure ? — No. 112— 11 Love, I know accepteth nought, Save what thou, O Love, hast wrought." Here, too, note how Christ is addressed. Elsewhere the Father also is addressed by the same familiar word of affec- tion. No. 115— " Before him righteousness shall go, His royal harbinger." No. 122— " He shall send down his heavenly powers To carry us above." The " heavenly powers " are, no doubt, the angels ; but are we warranted to regard Lazarus's case as the general one ? This book does bo in two other places. No. 161— " Me, blessed of God, the God of might, All ages shall proclaim." The comma must be removed after "me." Still the sense would be indistinct. No. 164— " We who have felt his blood Sealing our peace with God." " Though we must change our place, Yet shall we never cease Praising His name." 34 The change of place, regarded seemingly aB an ill, is our departure ? No. 165— " Thou who didst come to bring, On thy redeeming wing, Healing and sight." Saying nothing of the epithet, how can a wing bring sight ? No. 175— " Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be,' is an enigma. No. 177— would read better- No. 185— Bond and free man, Land and sea man." ' Bondman, freeman, Landsman, seaman." " Word of the Father. Late in flesh appearing." The foregoing may not be very objectionable passages taken by themselves, but they are something as an addition to the many that have been formerly adduced in support of the argument for delay of publication with a view to fur- ther revision. One whose judgment I respect tells me it will be very difficult to deal with any person as heretical in doctrine who will defend himself by passages that may be adduced to screen him out of such a book. I am, &c, &c, Sept. 8, 1866. ADDENDUM. No. 14 prays that Christ would bear us to God. No. 35 says Christ "inhabits the humble mind." # No. 57 asks absolution from evil ways. No. 70 says " the world's foundations first were laid " bv the " aid" of the Holy Spirit. * A doubtful rendering of Christ's dwelling iu the heart by faith. 35 No. 93-- " Come then to me, all ye who groan With guilt and fear oppressed." Does this not, unhappily, hide the call, which the Lord's words may be meant primarily to convey, to the industrious burdened {poor ?) who seem the counterpart of the babes, or poor in spirit (the young, persons deemed green, not knowing, those not sophisticated by the world's maxims or its philosophy), of the preceding context in the Gospel ? No. 109 — Last verse is hazy, and so also is — No. 132— tl The atonement of thy blood apply Till faith to sight improve." No. 149- " Our faith in that one sacrifice That doth for sin atone." Would not " Who doth " be somewhat more consonant with sound teaching ? No. 160— " Here consecrated water flows To quench my thirst of sin.'" No. 193— " Still on his plighted love At all events rely.'''' No. 253— " Sing of his rising power." For the line, " His resurrection power " might be better. No. 284 — God is called "a sun without a sphere." " Shew us thy glory and thy face." Mind Moses' request. No. 291 — u Christ, our God," is an expression unpre- cedented, except in Hymns, and hardly accurate. No. 294 — " The cross known here to none but " the Holy Spirit " shall turn to gladness then." Will the meaning of the italicized word be seen ? No. 396— "Turn like southern streams each one." No. 420 -See verse 3. In No. 410 the Comforter is invoked " Guardian Spirit, lest we stray," &c. No. 298— Christ is addressed, " O God of grace." 36 Of 308 ver. 2 deserves remark for examples of three points found and noted elsewhere. No. 342— The Holy Spirit is addressed, u Dear Lord." No. 426 has two direct passages for basis : " Thy righteousness, O Christ, Alone can cover me ; No righteousness avails, Save that which is of Thee." The Bible speaks much of " the righteousness of God" Christ, " of God is made unto us righteousness." No. 432 — A real prayer to angels. " Angels help us to adore Him." I find nothing like this in the 103rd Psalm, which is the title here. No. 477— " With thy sweet Spirit for its guest" No. 504— " Now with angels round the throne, Cherubim and seraphim, And the Church which still is one, Let us swell the solemn hymn." Here both language and thought suggest remark. An exact third of the pieces in the Book are in the first person singular. Surely this proportion is excessive for con- gregational and family worship. The character of these hymns with " J" and " nie" of course differs from that of those which have been composed for public use. They will probably be found to consist largely of " experience." In the Collection there are forty of the Psalms, of which eight appear twice, and one, the 148th, five times.* Will not * There are only two psalms in which the angels are addressed — "Bless the Lord " (103rd) ; " Praise ye him " (148th). Both of these are introduced into the Hymn-book, the latter, as the text points cut, five times ; besides the two versions in our Psalmn-book. One of the versions (333) or paraphrases, deviating from the original, unau- thorizedly introduces and begins, "Heralds of creation, cry," which, comparing hymn 433, "Angels. . . who sang creation's story," seems to assume that angels are " the morning stars " that " sang together," or, " the sons of God " that " shouted for joy." This some may deem legitimate inference. As such, it is out of sight a better example than mere assuming, as elsewhere, without any Scripture state- ments for foundation. 37 the fact of the Old Hundred, which we have already in the Scotch Psalms, appearing in the Hymn-book also, lead ministers and people, at least after a time, to assume that it is contemplated the former will be virtually displaced by the latter ? I have already adverted to the occasional use in this collection of the words, " Trinity" " substitute? and "merits." There are other words not found in the New Testament which are of frequent occurrence. Let me, without comment, specify " guilt"* — "atone" with its noun, " atonement " (this occurs once in the English New Testa- ment), — "Redeemer" (16 or more times). Most likely this word used as it is, will, to very few indeed, suggest the extremely apt and remarkable analogies of the Old Testa- ment kinsman — Redeemer, a theme worthy of far more atten- tion than it usually receives from expositors of the truth. The result, by God's blessing, might soon be seen in wider and more vivid views of redemption, crowned by a deeper and fuller response in the human breast.f — " Three" as a * The adjective, "guilty," is biblical. The intelligent reader will recognise a distinction between "guiltiness" and guilt. I I gladly acknowledge my obligation to one of our most esteemed ministers on the banks of the Mersey, for a leading thought of this para- graph, and to " the Englishman's Hebrew and Greek Concordances," for great help in searches such as the text indicates. From the latter source is drawn the following. The word " Eedeemer " is found in the English Bible eighteen times (and twice in marginal readings), invariably as the translation of a participial form of one of the two verbs that are generally and well translated " redeem,"— once in Job, twice in Psalms, once in Proverbs, thirteen times in Isaiah, and once in Jere- miah. The same participle is translated, as a substantive, in Numbers, " kinsman" " avenger," "revenger" of blood, six times j in Deutero- nomy, "avenger of blood," twice; in Joshua, "avenger" of blood, three times ; in Ruth (where the verb occurs altogether twenty-one times), as " kinsman" " near kinsman," or " one of our next kinsmen ;" in margin, " one that hath right to redeem," and " redeemer," — altogether, nine times ; in 2 Samuel, " revenger of blood ; " in 2 Kings, " kinsman," or ° one of his kinsfolk." How could the Book of Ruth be understood, and its beauty and meaning appreciated, if the limited, mercantile sense were accepted as the principal or full sense of that wonderful and pre- cious word ? I trust this instance will suffice to show that attention to words may or does imply heed to things signified, and to vindicate whosoever devoutly and fearlessly looks at " what is written," Surely such attention is right and safe. Better view truth and orthodoxy, 38 numeral, applied to the Divine Being ; — " Sabbath" as a name for the Lord's day. Let me further say that angels appear twoseore times ; cherubs and seraphs half-a-dozen times, or oftener. I observe that there is frequent formal combining of " the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," and especially in Doxologies, of which there are twenty-five. (Here we have a novelty among Presbyterians,* and one of the signifi- cant and portentous extremisms that mark and mar the book.) Of prayers to God (which might strictly be regarded as to the Father, see hymn 371), there are about 900 lines, be- sides 1,250 of addresses ; to the Father, except as above, very few indeed ; to the Son (besides 1,100 of addresses), about 1,200 ; to the Holy Spirit, about 300 ; to the Trinity, pro- perly so classified, about 134 including praise. It is worthy of serious thought, whether such prayers, and in such relative proportion especially, harmonise well with the Lord's words : " After this manner pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven." " It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." " Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father, in my name He will give it you." " How much more shall the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them tbat ash Him." " If I depart, I will send Him unto you?' " If I go not away, the Comforter (advocate) will not come unto you." Or with the words of Paul, " I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us ;" or with those of John, " "We have an advocate with the Pather, Jesus Christ." f unequared and unpared (like the unhewn stones of the altar), and uncramped and unpent-up, in the free vitalising air and light of the Bible, than through the watery medium of philosophic theology, beneath which they may possibly appear distorted and coloured, out of propor- tion and partially, and be out of easy reach, or out of the people's way. * Remember Jack's transmutation 'and "going the whole" in the 11 owr« true " allegorical Tale.' f The writers of the epistles plainly show that they contemplated prayer to God the Father, apparently not alone, but nearly so : where also, amid the frequent mention of thanksgiving, there is none to the Son nor the Holy Ghost : but it seems, among many ascriptions of do{a, there are some to the Son. 39 A sentence as to the Names or the Tunes. They cer- tainly show ingenuity, and kindly recognition ; but, when there was so much new coinage, could we not have spared the book's pervading peculiar features, "Trinity," " Calvary," " Seraphim," and Angels " ? Whatever differences of opinion there may be on this and other points, who among us would hesitate to approve and applaud grateful commemoration of "Euston," "Kegent Square," "Endsleigh," and " Kelso," as well as " Dundee," and " Hampstead," for the sake of the debt hymnology owes to the esteemed brethren whom we lovingly associate with these names ? 40 THE PAKAPHRASES AND THE SO-CALLED "BENEDICTION." I haye already mentioned that the Hymn-book includes about forty Psalms. It includes all the Scotch Paraphrases and Hymns, except (I think) the following : — (20 from the Old Testament 32)— " Let heaven arise, let earth appear," " Naked as from the earth we came," " How still and peaceful is the grave," " Though trouble springs not from the ground," " The rush may rise where waters flow," " How should the eons of Adam's race," " Few are thy days, and^full of woe," " In streets and openings of the gates," " Ye indolent and slothful, rise," " Keep silence, all ye bods of men," " Whue others crowd the house of mirth," " In life's gay morn, when sprightly youth," " Eulers of Sodom ! hear the voice," " How glorious Zion's courts appear," " Attend, ye tribes that dwell remote," " Ye heavens, send forth your song of praise," " Thus speaks the High and Lofty One," " Attend and mark the solemn fast," " Amidst the mighty, where is he," " Thus speaks the heathen, how shall man." . (7 from the New Testament 35) — " Just and devout, old Simeon r lived," " Ungrateful sinner?, whence this scorn " " Vain are the hopes the sons of men " " And shall we, then, go on to sin " " Jesus, the Son of God, who once " " Where high the heavenly temple stands," " Lo ! in the lost of days, behold " 41 (2 from the 5 Hymns) — "When all thy mercies, O my Q-od," " When rising from the bed of death." If the foregoing nuirbers are correct, three-fifths of the 72 pieces in the Paraphrase-book are introduced into the Hymn-book. Now, are the 29 that are not introduced inferior to the 43 that are ? Certainly, with those of us who remember them from years, not very long gone by, when Scotland knew scarcely another hymn than the Paraphrases, there are a good many of the former recalled and read still with much pleasure, and held still in high esteem. It is yet more certain that not a few of, at least, their verses would be, right and left, very greatly missed, their absence very greatly regretted. To prove this by refreshing the memory and satisfying the eye with quotations, would occupy too much space, and is needless. The table of first lines, which has just been presented (and are not first lines far better guides and helps than the most ingenious and beautiful titles ?), is quite enough. But that table shows something more — that the major part of the omissions is from the Old Testament. On this account the withdrawal is all the more regrettable. The natural inference is, that the Committee have con- ceived that the 29 are inferior to the 43. But are they so ? The retained are far from faultless. The Letters preceding show faults in them. If the withdrawn are faulty too, it is only to a slight extent, and when once the impracticable theory is abandoned, that no improvement on the author's original words is permissible, the remedy is easy. Nobody, I am confident, dare aver that any consecutive equal num- ber of hymns in the New Collection are better. I apprehend the truth is, that the good dog has got an ill name, and is as good as hanged. In favour for the Paraphrases, I stand not alone. Only a few days ago one of our oldest and most valued ministers, an ex-Moderator, expressed to me his preference for the Paraphrases Revised over the new Hymn-book. But things have not come to that pass yet. A good Hymn-book is possible. It must be admitted the Committee have, in respect to 42 the Paraphrases, put matters into a very awkward position. If so many are worthy of a place in the Hymn-book — and still more, if the others are so good as some of us think them — why not leave them out of it altogether, and retain and revise the Paraphrase-book ? In this way we should have, as at present, three separable Hymnological Collec- tions—the Psalms, the Paraphrases, the Hymns, the two former being already in most hands, bound up together. In future the three would be bound together. Such a solution, for which we have the precedent of what was done when the existing Hymn-book was brought out, would, per- haps, on the whole, be best, making the numbers of the Hymns run consecutively onwards from the end of the Paraphrase numbers. The Congregational ists make their Hymn numbers run onwards from the end of the Psalms. As almost everybody has separate Psalm-books that include the Paraphrases, there might, no doubt, be some temporary convenience in an arrangement of the sort, but these are details and trifling considerations not requiring, perhaps not deserving, present heed. "What is important must be stated. Let it, therefore, be now asked, Will the fact that the New Collection contains about forty of the Psalms, and more than forty of the Para- phrases, not tend, unless the foregoing propositions are given effect to, towards a gradual, perhaps rapid, practical disuse of our Psalm-books ? Undoubtedly it will. The case cannot be otherwise. How deeply such a result ought to be regretted it is vain to attempt to say. The Psalms are still the Psalms of David, — the utterances of the Holy Spirit — the better part, or the greater part, or possibly the entire, of the Psalms, and Hymns, and Songs, in which Paul con- sulted the Christians of old to admonish one another, and make melody together. And where is there in the lan- guage, especially for singing together vivaciously in large portions or chanting, such a grand version, the admiration and delight, be it said, of Episcopalians around ? * To revert to the Paraphrases, they are entitled to the name they bear, " Translations and Paraphrases in Verse " of * To but a small extent, no doubt, seeing so few haye knowledge of them. 43 11 Sacred Scripture," for they are marvellously faithful as well as spirited, and they speak and march with a clearness, calmness, and stateliness, almost Scriptural, such as it would be flattery to attribute to the new book, which yet has merits of a high order. Let us thank God that it is so, while we honour the framers so far as worthy. I come to a single illustration. One of the passages most objected to in the Paraphrases (the particular Paraphrase, the 47th, is among our " omis- sions ") is this: — "When to the sacred fount we come, (Noun better than the adjective) Did not the rite proclaim That, washed from sin and all its stains, New creatures we became ? " Now, are there not in our new book expressions about baptism as apt to mislead ? Avoiding repetition, take this first line of Hymn 347 : — " One true baptismal sign" Did not the writer of this, whoever he was, mean the sign of the cross in baptism ? If he did not, our neighbours will suppoge justly that is what the words carry. Elsewhere the water is called a eign. The Presbyterian view is that the ordinance is a sign. Leaving now that track ; we have abundantly seen that the idea of communion in the Eucharist, that prevails in the new book, is communion of the Christian with Christ ; and that, very much in the same tone, the earnest of the Spirit is construed in the book to mean not participation of the Spirit, but from the Spirit. The following is another example : — A hymn, well entitled a prayer, begins thus in words to which we are so accustomed that we generally fail to detect in them a serious error ; " May the grace of Christ the Saviour, And the Father's boundless love, With the Holy Spirit's favour, Best upon us from above." Of course this is intended to be the " Apostolic Bene- 44 diction," rendered into a metrical congregational prayer — language properly, since now there is no one on earth entitled to pronounce benedictions, put into the mouths of the people. But is the rendering fair and correct? Surely not ; the words, " The Holy Spirit's favour," may or may not include and designate participation, with fellow- Christians, of the Holy Ghost ; plainly they convey the sense that the Holy Ghost gives the " favour," whereas he is the favour. If, indeed, this latter is the true interpretation, we may well wish that the hymn should convey it. "We cannot in such a case calculate the extent of loss by error. A key, though not imposing for magnitude, may, if it do not open the right lock, exclude from a chamber full of the richest trea- sure. As to the case in question, there is infinitely more than the ordinary degree of importance, for the meaning of the prayer that concludes almost every congregational service will fail to he rightly understood. By the way, when a minister uses the so-called " Bene- diction " as an address to the people, and not sprayer of minister and people, should not the people respond " and with Thee"? After so much has been already written on the place and functions of angels, as these appear in the Hymn-book, it may be superfluous to add the following further extracts. The like of them is not found in the Paraphrases ; which carefully avoid going beyond Scripture for matter : — No. 76— " Come, ten thousand angels, come, Raise the glorious (the spiritual) harvest-home." The meaning here is obscure ; at any rate, the propriety may be doubted of thus directly invoking angels for an honourable work to which Scripture says they will be divinely sent. Objection has elsewhere been made to the prayer, "Angels, help us to adore him" (432), which has its fellow in 348. Strange that this should appear in a volume which contains 15 and 90, where "help" is sought rightly, and the following (461) : — " Come, thou Almighty King, Help us thy name to sing, Help U3 to praise." 45 No. 299— " All heaven was hushed ; our risen Lord Passed by where angels stand."* No. 302— " And, while they protect my repose, They chant to the praise of my King ; I too, at the season ordained Their chorus for ever will join." ♦ No. 402— " The Lord of angels came." It has been pleaded in defence of the HymD-book that the assumed variety of tastes in congregations must be con- sidered. Of course ; but this plainly does not imply that the Committee, however ready to surrender their individual likings, and pass some hymns and expressions which, on account of style, they would rather omit, may ignore opinions and interpretations which are erroneous or dubious, or not held by the Church but left open, and pass such. September 2