FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
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Copyright, 1897, 
 By Doubleday and McClure Co. 
 
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN 
 EDITION. 
 
 I^HE success which has attended the publication of 
 the English edition of this little collection of 
 " Hymns that have Helped," encourages the hope that 
 it may be found equally acceptable to the American 
 public. 
 
 The Service of Song is part of the Service of Man 
 that is universal. It has hitherto been fortunate to es- 
 cape the sectarian limitations of territorial and politi- 
 cal divisions. According to an analysis made of the 
 hymns contained in the most widely-used American 
 hymn-books down to the year 1880, the average num- 
 ber of hymns of a purely American origin was not 
 quite one in seven. There is probably no hymn-book 
 in general use in any part of the British empire which 
 does not count many American hymns among those 
 which are most popular and helpful. Custom-houses 
 may divide the producers and consumers of other manu- 
 factures. No Chinese wall of protective tariffs will 
 ever prevent the two great English-speaking nations 
 practising free trade in hymns. The English-speaking 
 race has presumably no difficulty in recognising its 
 unity when praising its Maker. 
 
 The principle upon which this collection has been 
 compiled is more American than English. For the 
 basic idea of the book is that of appealing directly to 
 the experience of the individual ; that of applying the 
 test not of the standard of excellence of the literary 
 expert, or of orthodoxy as defined by the authority of 
 churches, but that of its helpfulness to men and 
 women. 
 
PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 I claim nothing for the collection beyond what its 
 name implies. The hymns which it contains are hymns 
 which have helped all sorts and conditions of men to do 
 their work in this world and to face with composure or 
 exultation the coming of the Messenger which sum- 
 mons them to the next. In its compilation I have 
 naturally given the foremost place to those hymns 
 which have helped those who have helped their fellows 
 most. Some hymns are like jewelled chalices from 
 which generation after generation has drunk of the 
 water of life. Others are but as the rusty dipper from 
 which the wayworn traveller cools his thirst. The 
 workmanship of the vessel has weighed little compared 
 with the authentic evidence that it was the means 
 whereby the thirsty soul of man was able to drink and 
 live. 
 
 In appealing to the American public I do not feel as 
 if I were venturing upon ground that was more strange 
 to me than that of my native land. For the English 
 Nonconformist has always been more in fellowship 
 with the churches of America than with the Anglican 
 Church that is established and endowed in his own 
 country. The men of the "Mayflower,"who founded New 
 England, and their descendants after them, have always 
 been more of our kith and kin than the representatives 
 of the church of Laud and the Stuarts. The children 
 of the Puritans in the Old World and in the New form 
 one family, in a much more real and vital sense than 
 those who are outside the circle are able to realise. 
 And within that circle there is no language of the 
 household so familiar as sacred song. 
 
 It would be difficult to overestimate the extent to 
 which the religious life of the English-speaking world 
 has been quickened and gladdened by the Songs and 
 Solos of Mr. Sankey. And before Mr. Sankey, the 
 " American Sacred Songster " of Mr. Phillips had done 
 much to enliven our Service of Song. To this day the 
 American hymns and spiritual songs are more popular 
 among our masses than any others. When mission 
 
PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 services are held, or a revival is under way, in the ma- 
 jority of cases the American hymns are used as a matter 
 of course. This is not the case with the high Anglican 
 services, but even there it would not be impossible to 
 trace the influence of the inspiriting strains of the 
 American Sacred Song. 
 
 When we know the favourite hymns of a man we have 
 gained a glimpse into his inner life. When we know 
 the hymns which have most helped the English of the 
 Motherland, we gain more insight into the real trend of 
 the aspirations and the deepest emotions of the nation 
 than can be gained from the perusal of the entire Brit- 
 ish press. Hence, I hope it may be possible that in the 
 United States this collection may be of some slight 
 service in helping to a better understanding between 
 the two nations. These hymns have been most helpful 
 to us. What are the hymns which have been most help- 
 ful to you ? 
 
 I want to publish as a sequel or supplement to this 
 volume a second series of " Hymns that have Helped," 
 based on the recorded experience of Americans. I do 
 not know whether it may be possible to elicit an ade- 
 quate response, but " nothing venture, nothing win." 
 
 The attempt to interrogate the foremost men and 
 women in the States and Territories as to the hymns 
 which have most helped them may possibly be less diffi- 
 cult where the Interviewer is indigenous than it is else- 
 where. The experiment is well worth trying, but the 
 experience gained in preparing the English edition sug- 
 gested the expediency of slightly varying the form of 
 interrogation. 
 
 I originally appealed to those who were willing to 
 help in the work of compilation : first, for the personal 
 experience of the individual addressed ; second, for note 
 or reference to record of instances where hymns had 
 influenced those whose lives had greatly influenced the 
 history of mankind ; thirdly, for brief note of instances 
 in which hymns had altered human lives, — even of the 
 most obscure ; and, fourthly, for reference to incidents 
 
8 PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 where hymns had figured conspicuously in some not- 
 able episode in human history. 
 
 To these four I would add in making my appeal to the 
 American public a fifth request ; namely, that I should 
 be furnished with the name of the living American 
 whose life experience as to the helpful value of hymns 
 my correspondent thinks would be most interesting and 
 valuable to his countrymen. 
 
 May I ask all readers who are disposed to co-operate 
 with me in preparing such an American sequel to the 
 present volume to address their communications to me, 
 care of the publishers of this volume, Doubleday & 
 McClure Co., 141-155 East Twenty-fifth Street, New 
 York, U. S. A. 
 
 W. T. Stead. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THERE are now nearly half a million hymns, nomi- 
 nally Christian, in the two hundred languages or 
 dialects in which Christianity is preached. 
 
 The " Dictionary of Hymnology," compiled by the 
 Rev. John Julian, M.A., contains over sixteen hundred 
 closely-printed double-column pages, giving an account 
 of some five thousand authors and translators of thirty 
 thousand hymns, — not ten per cent of the immense 
 mass. 
 
 There are said to be no fewer than 269 hymnals in 
 the Church of England. But " Hymns Ancient and 
 Modern " is rapidly ousting all others. In 1894 it was 
 in use in over ten thousand churches. The " Hymnal 
 Companion" had 1,478 supporters, run close by 
 "Church Hymns" of the S. P. C. K. with 1,426, but 
 only 379 used any other than these three collections. 
 Of 1,058 London churches, " Hymns Ancient and Mod- 
 ern " were in use in 695. Of Methodist, Roman Catho- 
 lic, Nonconformist, and Presbyterian hymnals there is 
 no end. Yet, numerous as they are, the demand of the 
 public for hymns continues unabated. How many 
 hymn-books have been published this century no one 
 can possibly say. But of " Hymns Ancient and Mod- 
 ern " no fewer than thirty-five millions have been circu- 
 lated in the last thirty-five years, giving an average sale 
 of close upon a million a year, or nearly three thousand 
 per day, year in and year out, Sunday and week-day, ever 
 since it was first published in i860. It is impossible to 
 estimate the number of hymn-books sold outside the 
 Church of England at a less figure. We have, there- 
 fore, to face the amazing fact that of collections of 
 sacred poetry the British public's normal regular con- 
 sumption is two millions a year. It is thus possible 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that this collection, which is unique in its way, may 
 have its share of popular support. It is at least of 
 manageable dimensions. Most modern hymn-books 
 suffer from corpulence. One thousand hymns seem to 
 be regarded as the normal limit, a minimum which 
 many compilers exceed. 
 
 In putting together the present list of about one hun- 
 dred and fifty hymns, one feels somewhat like a captain 
 of a cricket team selecting the first eleven for his county. 
 Every one knows what resentment such a process neces- 
 sarily creates among those who are relegated to the 
 second eleven, and how all their friends deplore the 
 blindness and injustice which led to their exclusion. 
 Still, it cannot be helped ; and although there are many 
 hymns I should like to have seen in this selection, the 
 limits are inexorable, and I have chosen my "first 
 eleven " for better or for worse. 
 
 This Hymnal has been completed by the voluntary 
 co-operation of a multitude of willing workers to whom 
 I appealed, in the first place, for their own experience ; 
 in the second, for the well-authenticated record of how 
 this or that hymn has helped those " whose lives sub- 
 lime, shed undimmed splendour over unmeasured 
 time ; " in the third place, for brief notes of instances 
 in which hymns have altered human lives ; and fourthly, 
 for references to incidents such as that of the victor- 
 psalm at Dunbar, where a hymn has figured conspicu- 
 ously in some notable episode of human history. 
 
 This Hymnal has no claim to literary merit other 
 than that which attaches to hymns which have a well- 
 attested value as having been the channel through 
 which mortal man has heard the voice of God, or which 
 have enabled him to commune with his Maker. Some 
 day I hope, if 1 may be spared, to edit a commentary 
 on the Bible on similar principles. 
 
 Miss Hankey, the author of the very popular " Tell 
 me the Old, Old Story," while writing with approval 
 of the method of compiling this collection, adds a word 
 of caution : — 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 " Still waters run deep." We must not expect all who are 
 helped by hymns to publish their special preferences and expe- 
 riences, and among our own fellow-countrymen especially, 
 every man's heart is his castle. Yet there are yearnings shared 
 by all. To express and interpret these yearnings, to deepen 
 and guide them, is the work of the hymn-writer. 
 
 The object of this collection, of course, is to ascer- 
 tain what writers have succeeded best. It is a very 
 difficult task, even when the compiler is assisted by 
 correspondence from the uttermost ends of the earth. 
 
 Still, the task, though arduous, has been pleasant. 
 Who can estimate the incalculable force for goodness 
 and kindness and honest living that these hymns rep- 
 resent ! Each of them is as seed-corn bearing harvests 
 by which the nations live. That is true of all hymns, 
 for in them dwells the real catholicity of the Christian 
 Church. Well said Henry Ward Beecher : — 
 
 There is almost no heresy in the hymn-book. In hymns 
 and psalms we have a universal ritual. It is the theology of the 
 heart that unites men. Our very childhood is embalmed in 
 sacred tunes and hymns. Our early lives and the lives of our 
 parents hang in the atmosphere of sacred song. The art of 
 singing together is one that is forever winding invisible threads 
 about persons. 
 
 In hymns, as in iron-clads and many other inventions, 
 France has led the way. Clement Marot was the first 
 to popularise the Psalms as the Song Book of the peo- 
 ple. " His version became the book of song in the 
 castle as well as in the cottage, for recreation, and for 
 at work ; the lady at the hall, the weaver at the loom, 
 the peasant at the plough, the first lesson taught to 
 children, the last words whispered to or uttered by the 
 dying man." I was reminded of the astonishing effect 
 produced by the French innovation by the influence 
 which the Salvation Army songs often exercise on a 
 population which hears them for the first time. It 
 was a sight to see and not to forget, — a string of cab- 
 men at a north-country station sitting on a fence, sing- 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ing the hymns of the Salvation Army in the intervals 
 between the trains. 
 
 The same thing was observed in Germany and in 
 Scotland. Luther's doctrine would have fallen com- 
 paratively flat had not his psalms and hymns given 
 wings to his teaching. They were carried all over the 
 country by wandering students andpedlers, and became 
 so popular that they even found their way into the 
 Roman Catholic Church, so that a Romanist declared : 
 " The whole people is singing itself into the Lutheran 
 doctrine." 
 
 And no wonder; for Luther was one of the first to 
 mark the great truth that the tune is more important 
 than the words. With him the tune was first, the 
 words second. Luther fashioned the words to the 
 tune. " The rhythm of the song was always in his 
 ear as he worked on it ; he carefully fitted the syllables 
 to the notes. In certain places it is seen that he did 
 violence to the language to fit it to the exigencies of 
 the music." But the German reformer had a good 
 notion of what a tune should be. He said : — 
 
 The words of hymns should have a swing and a good strong 
 metre, so that the congregation might catch up the tune to join 
 in with it. Let us bid good-bye to the music of Gregory, and 
 take the common songs of our own people, as they sing them 
 at harvests, at village festivals, at weddings, and at funerals, 
 for use in our churches. Man can as well praise God in one 
 tune as the other, and it is a pity that such pretty songs as these 
 should be kept any longer from the service of their Maker. 
 
 Mr. Reginald Brett went too far when he declared 
 that the music and congregational singing were the 
 causes of emotion, and not the words of any hymn ; but 
 there is no doubt that Mr. Balfour was right when he 
 said : — 
 
 One of the great merits of hymns lies in the associations 
 which attach to them, from which it follows that thev cannot 
 really be considered apart from the tunes to which they are 
 habitually set. In my opinion, the editor of a hymn-book who 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 deliberately divorces old words from their accustomed setting 
 is an iconoclast of the worst order. 
 
 I hope that in affixing as far as possible the old fa- 
 miliar tunes to this collection, I may escape the major 
 excommunication. 
 
 It is a fashion in some quarters to sneer at the poeti- 
 cal value of hymns. A glance, however, through the 
 pages of this collection, will suffice to show that, while 
 some hymns may fall far below the standard of first-class 
 poetry, many, if not the majority, will fairly rank with 
 the best verse that our race has produced. Modern 
 hymnologists are no longer of the opinion of the worthy 
 men who compiled a hymn-book for one of the straiter 
 sects of orthodox dissenters, in which it is gravely set 
 forth that "poetry itself is objectionable as bearing the 
 spirit and imagination of man." On this I am glad to 
 have Mrs. Meynell's mature and dispassionate judgment 
 against the disparaging observations of Mr. William 
 Morris and Mr. Coventry Patmore. Mrs. Meynell 
 says : — 
 
 Hymns have, and doubtless always will have, a power over 
 men's minds; and I don't wonder at it, for I think — against 
 the usual literary opinion — that many popular hymns are very 
 beautiful, and that their authors made literature without know- 
 ing it. Personally I have none of those early associations with 
 hymns. I never heard any in my childhood. Consequently, I 
 think 1 have been touched by the real beauty of hymns, and 
 not by the mere accident of association. 
 
 There only remains one word to say as to the ex- 
 tremely broad view which I have taken of my duties as 
 an editor. Never before in any popular hymnal have 
 hymns to the Virgin jostled the Confession of the Jew- 
 ish faith, revolutionary songs elbowed the ancient an- 
 thems of the Church, while psalms and hymns and 
 spiritual songs of all countries and of all creeds and of 
 none stand side by side on an equal footing, each 
 exhibiting as its sole credential that it has helped 
 the human heart to love, to dare, and to aspire, and 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 strengthened man to bear his part worthily in the war- 
 fare of life. It is well when we introduce the million 
 to the study of comparative religion that the Religions 
 should be on their best behaviour. All religions show 
 their best manners in sacred song. But until this little 
 book chanced to fall into the hands of its readers, how 
 many of them were utterly oblivious of the treasures of 
 beauty, of wisdom, and of love that were to be found 
 outside the cover of the hymn-book of their own 
 church ? Here at least Roman, Greek, Lutheran, Cal- 
 vinist, Methodist, Unitarian, and Jew are recognisable 
 only by the common accents of a common faith in the 
 One Father in Whose family all we are brethren. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE songs of the English-speaking people are for 
 the most part hymns. For the immense majority 
 of our people to-day the only minstrelsy is that of the 
 hymn-book. And this is as true of our race beyond 
 the sea as it is of our race at home. 
 
 Of the making of collections of hymns there is no 
 end. But so far as I have been able to discover, no 
 collection of hymns has ever been made based upon 
 the principle of including in it only those hymns which 
 have been most helpful to the men and women who 
 have most influenced their fellow-men. Yet surely 
 those hymns which have most helped the greatest and 
 best of our race are those which bear, as it were, the 
 hall-mark of Heaven. 
 
 The root idea of this Hymnal is to select the hymns, 
 not by the fine or finical ear of the critic in the study, 
 or even by the exalted judgment of the recluse in the 
 cloister, but by the recorded experience of mankind. 
 Here and thus did this hymn help me : that is the best 
 of all possible arguments in favour of believing that it 
 will prove helpful under similar circumstances to simi- 
 lar characters. The hymn may be doggerel poetry, it 
 may contain heretical theology, its grammar may be 
 faulty and its metaphors atrocious, but if that hymn 
 proved itself a staff and a stay to some heroic soul in 
 the darkest hours of his life's pilgrimage, then that hymn 
 has won its right to a place among the sacred songs 
 through which God has spoken to the soul of man. 
 
 Who is there among the men and women of this 
 generation who has not, at some time or other, experi- 
 enced the strange and subtle influence of sacred song ? 
 Hymns have rung in the ears of some of us while still 
 
1 6 PREFACE. 
 
 wandering idly in the streets of the City of Destruction, 
 stern and shrill as the bugle-blast that rouses the sleep- 
 ing camp to prepare for the onslaught of the foe. 
 Their melody has haunted the ear amid the murmur of 
 the mart and the roar of the street. In the storm and 
 stress of life's battle the echo of their sweet refrain has 
 renewed our strength and dispelled our fears. They 
 have been, as it were, the voices of the angels of God, 
 and when we have heard them we could hear no other 
 sound, neither the growling of the lions in the path nor 
 the curses and threatenings of the fiends from the pit. 
 Around the hymn and the hymn tune how many asso- 
 ciations gather from the earliest days, when, as infants, 
 we were hushed to sleep on our mother's lap by their 
 monotonous chant ! At this moment, on the slope of 
 the Rockies, or in the sweltering jungles of India, in 
 crowded Australian city, or secluded English hamlet, 
 the sound of some simple hymn tune will, as by mere 
 magic spell, call from the silent grave the shadowy 
 forms of the unforgotten dead, and transport the listener, 
 involuntarily, over land and sea, to the scene of his 
 childhood's years, to the village school, to the parish 
 church. In our pilgrimage through life we discover the 
 hymns which help. We come out of trials and tempta- 
 tions with hymns clinging to our memory like burrs. 
 Some of us could almost use the hymn-book as the key 
 to our autobiography. Hymns, like angels and other 
 ministers of grace, often help us and disappear into the 
 void. It is not often that the hymn of our youth is the 
 hymn of our old age. Experience of life is the natural 
 selector of the truly human hymnal. 
 
 There is a curious and not a very creditable shrinking 
 on the part of many to testify as to their experience in 
 the deeper matters of the soul. It is an inverted ego- 
 tism, — selfishness masquerading in disguise of reluc- 
 tance to speak of self. Wanderers across the wilderness 
 of Life ought not to be chary of telling their fellow- 
 travellers where they found the green oasis, the healing 
 spring, or the shadow of a great rock in a desert land. 
 
PREFACE. 17 
 
 It is not regarded as egotism when the passing steamer 
 signals across the Atlantic wave news of her escape 
 from perils of iceberg or fog, or welcome news of good 
 cheer. Yet individuals shrink into themselves, repress- 
 ing rigorously the fraternal instinct which bids them 
 communicate the fruits of their experience to their fel- 
 lows. Therein they deprive themselves of a share in 
 the communion of saints, and refuse to partake with 
 their brother of the sacramental cup of human sym- 
 pathy, or to break the sacred bread of the deeper ex- 
 periences. 
 
 M Hymns that have Helped Me." What hymns have 
 helped you ? And if they have helped you, how can you 
 better repay the debt you owe to your helper than by 
 setting them forth, stamped with the tribute of your 
 gratitude, to help other mortals in like straits to your- 
 self ? All of us have our moments when we are near to 
 the mood of the hero and the saint, and it is something 
 to know what hymns help most to take us there, and 
 keep us at that higher pitch. 
 
 Such in substance was my appeal. I sent it out in 
 broadcast, and received many widely varying responses. 
 Lord Rosebery, for instance, declined " confession in 
 general " to the public on the subject. The Archbishop 
 of Canterbury referred me to a hymnal which he him- 
 self had compiled many years ago. The Prince of 
 Wales indicated his preference for Mrs. Adams' well- 
 known hymn. The Dean of St. Paul's disapproved of 
 the principle of the hymn-book, and wrote as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 I imagine that hymns are one of the best instruments for im- 
 planting religious ideas in the minds of children, and as I can- 
 not think of any religion that can have the desired influence 
 from which the essential doctrines of Christianity are excluded, 
 I must decline to accept your courteous invitation to take part 
 in compiling an unsectarian hymn book. 
 
 As if the "essential doctrines" must be excluded 
 because the Hymnal is unsectarian ! 
 Mr. Grant Allen replied : — 
 
1 8 PREFACE. 
 
 I do not remember that any hymn, or, for the matter of that, 
 any text of scripture, maxim, or line of poetry, was ever of the 
 least use to me. There are poems which I love, such as Shel- 
 ley's "Skylark;" but I cannot honestly say they ever 
 " helped " me. I never needed Help, other than physical or 
 monetary. My own philosophy has always amply sufficed me. 
 
 It is no doubt difficult to obtain a frank and full 
 statement as to the " Hymns that have Helped " people, 
 owing to the fact that all such confessions must be more 
 or less autobiographical, and deal with the hidden mat- 
 ters of inner spiritual life. The Bishop of Winchester 
 says : — 
 
 I agree with you in thinking that a compilation made in the 
 manner and on the lines proposed will have a special interest, 
 and, subject to the limitations I refer to in this note, I heartily 
 wish you success in your endeavour ; but I am not quite at one 
 with you in regarding it to be the duty of all who could do so 
 to tell you for publication not merely what hymns they have 
 found helpful, but how, and where, and when the help has 
 been given. To do this with any approach to completeness 
 would require not an autobiography only, but an autobiography 
 respecting the sins, the sorrows, the temptations, and the 
 blessings of the inner life of each one of us. There may be a 
 few men who can make such thoughts and memory public with- 
 out harm to themselves or others, but the number of such is 
 small, and I am not of them. 
 
 ■j 
 
 Mrs. Humphry Ward goes further than the Bishop, 
 and maintains that she cannot help saying that the 
 question she is asked seems to her to be just that one 
 which should not be answered, if one sets any value 
 upon religious feeling and religious life. This is rather 
 a hard saying, coming as it does from the author of 
 " Robert Elsmere," which is a more or less successful 
 attempt to unveil the hidden movements of religious 
 thought and religious life in the soul of her hero before 
 the eyes of the million. 
 
 Dr. Rigg, the well-known Wesleyan Methodist min- 
 ister, noted with a certain grim satisfaction the Metho- 
 dist note in my appeal for experiences, and made me 
 
PREFACE. 19 
 
 out a list of hymns which he found peculiarly helpful 
 as customary and companion-aids in times of spiritual 
 need. He said : — 
 
 In my list of hymns I do not include such hymns or religious 
 poems as may have deeply touched my sympathy and even ex- 
 pressed my feelings, but yet at the same time have not been the 
 means of lifting me above myself into the region of faith or 
 hope, or in any way of strengthening me against my moods of 
 despondency or weakness. 
 
 One eminent philosopher excused himself from con- 
 tributing on grounds characteristically stated in the fol- 
 lowing letter : — 
 
 Dear Sir, — I fear I shall be unable to aid you in the 
 undertaking described in your letter of the nth. My own 
 experience furnishes no examples of the kind you wish. If 
 parents had more sense than is commonly found among them, 
 they would never dream of setting their children to learn hymns 
 as tasks. With me the effect was not to generate any liking 
 for this or that hymn, but to generate a dislike for hymns at 
 large. The process of learning was a penalty, and the feeling 
 associated with that penalty became a feeling associated with 
 hymns in general. Hence it results that I cannot name any 
 "hymn that has helped me." — Faithfully yours, Herbert 
 Spencer. 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Mark Whitwell, the well- 
 known citizen and philanthropist of Bristol, sends me a 
 list of twenty-three hymns, all of which he committed 
 to memory before he was four years of age. He 
 writes : — 
 
 I really enjoyed learning them ; it was a real pleasure to me, 
 partly because it gave my father so much pleasure to hear me 
 repeat them. 
 
 For my own part, I will gladly take my turn with the 
 rest in testifying, conscious though I am that the hymn 
 which helped me most can lay no claim to pre-eminent 
 merit as poetry. It is Newton's hymn, which begins, 
 " Begone, unbelief." I can remember my mother sing- 
 ing it when I was a tiny boy, barely able to see over the 
 
20 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 book-ledge in the minister's pew ; and to this day, 
 whenever I am in doleful dumps, and the stars in their 
 courses appear to be fighting against me, that one dog- 
 gerel verse comes back clear as a blackbird's note 
 through the morning mist : — 
 
 His love in time past 
 
 Forbids me to think 
 He '11 leave me at last 
 
 In trouble to sink. 
 
 Each sweet Ebenezer 
 
 I have in review 
 Confirms his good pleasure 
 
 To help me quite through. 
 
 The rhyme is bad enough, no doubt ; the logic may or 
 may not be rational ; but the verse as it is, with all its 
 shortcomings, has been as a life-buoy, keeping my head 
 above the waves when the sea raged and was tem- 
 pestuous, and when all else failed. What that verse 
 has been to me, other verses have been to other men 
 and other women. And what I have tried to do in this 
 u Penny Hymnal " is to collate from the multitudinous 
 record of diversified human experience the hymns 
 which have helped most, in order to present them with 
 some record of how, and where, and when, and whom 
 they have helped, as a compendious collection for the 
 use of every one. 
 
 I have to express my indebtedness to many friends 
 and helpers of all sorts and conditions of men and 
 women who have communicated with me on the sub- 
 ject of" Hymns that have Helped." The books which 
 have been most helpful are Julian's monumental " Dic- 
 tionary of Hymns," Horder's " Hymn-Lover," Duf- 
 field's " English Hymns," Marson's " Psalms at Work," 
 Dr. Ker's " The Psalms in History and Biography," and 
 Stevenson's " Notes on the Methodist Hymn Book." 
 
 I have also to acknowledge my indebtedness to the 
 following authors or owners of copyright hymns for 
 permission kindly given to use them in this collection ; 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 21 
 
 To the Rev. S. Baring-Gould for " Onward, Christian 
 Soldiers ; " to the representatives of the late Dean 
 Alford for the use of " Forward be our Watchword ; " 
 to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge for 
 the use of the Rev. J. E. Bode's hymn, " O Jesu, I have 
 promised," and the Rev. J. E. Ellerton's "Now the 
 labourer's task is o'er ; " to Mrs. Blackie for Prof. 
 Blackie's hymn, " Angels holy, high and lowly ; " to 
 the Right Rev. Bishop of Exeter, Dr. Bickersteth, for 
 his hymn, " Peace, perfect peace ; " to the Rev. Father 
 Neville for permission to use Cardinal Newman's hymn, 
 " Lead, kindly Light ; " to Dr. Matheson for his hymn, 
 " O Love that will not let me go ; " to Canon Twells 
 for " At Even, ere the Sun was set ; " to Messrs. James 
 Nisbet and Co. for kindly consenting to the use of sev- 
 eral of the late Dr. Bonar's hymns, as well as a hymn 
 by Miss Havergal ; to Mr. Wm. Isbister for the late Dr. 
 Macleod's hymn, " Courage, Brother, do not stumble ; " 
 to Mrs. Linnaeus Banks, for a poem by her late hus- 
 band ; to Messrs. Morgan and Scott for seven hymns 
 from " Sacred Songs and Solos ; " to Messrs. Burns 
 and Oates for certain of the Latin translations given in 
 the earlier part of this collection ; and finally to Mr. 
 Herbert Booth, for his hymn, " Blessed Lord, in Thee is 
 Refuge." 
 
 I hope I may be pardoned if, in spite of all efforts 
 to discover the owners of copyright, I have unwittingly 
 infringed any copyright, or failed to acknowledge my 
 indebtedness for the use of these hymns. 
 
Hymns that Have Helped 
 
 I. — Praise. 
 
 J — THE TE DEUM. 
 
 The Te Deum properly stands first in any collection of 
 Hymns that Helped. For it is the most catholic of 
 hymns, one of the oldest and one of the most univer- 
 sally used by the entire Western Church. What God 
 Save the Queen has been for a century or more to 
 modern England, the Te Deum has been to Christen- 
 dom, divided and undivided, for more than a thousand 
 years. It was chanted at the baptism of Clovis, and it 
 was sung at the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It was 
 in regular use as a Sunday morning hymn in the begin- 
 ning of the sixth century, and it was chanted the other 
 day at the coronation of Nicholas II. at Moscow. No 
 other hymn of praise has been by such universal con- 
 sent set apart as the supreme expression of the over- 
 flowing gratitude of the human heart. According to 
 the precise ritual of the Roman Church, it must be 
 sung at the three supreme acts of solemn worship, — 
 the Consecration of a Bishop, the Coronation of a 
 King, and the Consecration of a Virgin. To these 
 have been added others, — the Election of a Pope, the 
 Canonization of a Saint, the publication of a Treaty of 
 Peace, or the conclusion of a Treaty of Alliance in 
 favour of the Church. It has from of old figured in 
 our coronation service, and whenever the national heart 
 is stirred by some great deliverance by hard-won vic- 
 tory on sea or land, or by the recovery of some beloved 
 
24 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 sovereign, or any other event which causes the common 
 universal heart to throb, there and then is the Te Deum 
 sung. After the fifth Harry had won the battle of 
 Agincourt, he cried : — 
 
 " Do we all holy rites, Let there be sung 
 Non Nobis, and Te Deum." 
 
 As it was sung after Agincourt, so it was sung after 
 Waterloo, and will be sung after other victories yet 
 unfought by generations yet unborn. Whenever the 
 hearts of the men and women of the West throb high 
 with emotions of gratitude too deep for non-rhythmic 
 words, it is to the Te Deum that they turn for help ; 
 there alone have they for generation after generation 
 found adequate expression. Of versions of the Te 
 Deum there are as many as there are languages spoken 
 by man. In this collection, which is popular and not 
 critical, I follow, for the Latin, the text in the Roman 
 Catholic Service Book, and, for the English, the version 
 of the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 WE praise Thee, O God: we acknowledge 
 Thee to be the Lord. 
 
 All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father 
 everlasting. 
 
 To Thee all angels cry aloud : the heavens and 
 all the powers therein. 
 
 To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do 
 cry, 
 
 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth ; 
 
 Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy 
 glory. 
 
 The glorious company of the Apostles praise 
 Thee. 
 
 The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise 
 Thee. 
 
 The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 2$ 
 
 The holy Church throughout all the world doth 
 acknowledge Thee ; 
 
 The Father of an Infinite Majesty; 
 
 Thine honourable, true, and only Son; 
 
 Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. 
 
 Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. 
 
 Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. 
 
 When thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man, 
 Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. 
 
 When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of 
 death, Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to 
 all believers. 
 
 Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the 
 glory of the Father. 
 
 We believe that Thou shalt come to be our 
 Judge. 
 
 We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants 
 whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious 
 blood. 
 
 Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in 
 glory everlasting. 
 
 O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine 
 heritage. 
 
 Govern them, and lift them up for ever. 
 
 Day by day we magnify Thee ; 
 
 And we worship Thy name ever world without 
 end. 
 
 Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without 
 sin. 
 
 O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon 
 us. 
 
 O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us, as our 
 trust is in Thee. 
 
 O Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be 
 confounded. 
 
26 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 TE Deum laudamus : te Dominum confitemur. 
 Te asternum Patrem : omnis terra veneratur. 
 
 Tibi omnes Angeli : tibi coeli, et universal potes- 
 tates. 
 
 Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim ; incessabili voce 
 proclamant, 
 
 Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus: Dominus Deus Sab- 
 aoth; 
 
 Pleni sunt cceli et terra: majestatis gloriae tuae. 
 
 Te gloriosus : Apostolorum chorus. 
 
 Te Prophetarum : laudabilis numerus. 
 
 Te Marty rum candidatus : laudat exercitus. 
 
 Te per orbem terrarum : sancta confitetur Eccle- 
 sia; 
 
 Patrem: immensae majestatis; 
 
 Venerandum tuum verum : et unicum Filium. 
 
 Sanctum quoque : Paraclitum Spiritum. 
 
 Tu Rex glorias : Christe. 
 
 Tu Patris : sempiternus es Filius. 
 
 Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem : non 
 horruisti Virginis uterum. 
 
 Tu devicto mortis aculeo : aperuisti credentibus 
 regna ccelorum. 
 
 Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes : in gloria Patris. 
 
 Judex crederis : esse venturus. 
 
 Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni : quos 
 pretioso sanguine redemisti. 
 
 yEterna fac cum Sanctis tuis: in gloria numerari. 
 
 Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine: et benedic 
 haereditati tuae. 
 
 Et rege eos : et extolle illos, usque in aeternum. 
 
 Persingulos dies: beriedicimus te. 
 
 Et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum : et in 
 saeculum sasculi 
 
 Dignare, Domine, die isto: sine peccatis nos 
 custodire. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 27 
 
 Miserere nostri, Domine : miserere nostri. 
 
 Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, supernos : quem- 
 admodum speravimus in te. 
 
 In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeter- 
 num. 
 
 Very shortly before her decease, Mrs. Charles, the 
 author of the " Schonberg-Cotta Family," " Songs, Old 
 and New," and " The Voice of Christian Life and 
 Song," wrote me, in reply to my inquiry as to which 
 hymns had helped her, saying : " The Te Deum, with 
 its glorious objectiveness, its tender humility, and its 
 note of hope, has, perhaps, helped me and inspired me 
 through life more than any other hymn." 
 
 As some Nonconformists may possibly object to the 
 inclusion of such pieces as the Te Deum and the Mag- 
 nificat in a collection of hymns, I may quote a line 
 from the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes' letter to me, in 
 which he says : " I hope that in any book you publish 
 you will include the Te Deum, in many respects the 
 most majestic as well as the most venerable hymn of 
 the Christian Church." 
 
 There is, of course, another side to this. If the Te 
 Deum has been used to express the gratitude of man 
 for crowning mercies, it has often been used as a kind 
 of Christian war-whoop over fallen foes. If our fore- 
 fathers sang it with full hearts when England was de- 
 livered from the fell menace of the Armada, it was also 
 chanted at Rome in honour of the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew. If, as an ancient heathen poet declared, — 
 
 " Unholy is the sound 
 Of loud thanksgiving over slaughtered men," 
 
 impious indeed must have been the exultant strains 
 that have gone up on high over the hecatombs of the 
 battlefield. But this prostitution of the great Christian 
 hymn in the service of un-Christian statecraft and scep- 
 tred murder has probably never been better exposed 
 than by Kinglake in his memorable description of the 
 
28 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Te Deum in Notre Dame, " that historic pile which 
 stands mocking the lapse of ages and the strange check- 
 ered destiny of France." Napoleon, fresh from the 
 massacre of the Boulevards, his lips reeking with per- 
 jury, and his hands all red with blood, came "into the 
 presence of God." 
 
 " When the Church perceived that the swearer of 
 the oath and all his associates were ready, she began 
 her service. Having robes whereon all down the back 
 there was embroidered the figure of a cross, and being, 
 it would seem, without fear, the bishops and priests 
 went up to the high altar and scattered rich incense, and 
 knelt and rose, and knelt and rose again. Then, in the 
 hearing of thousands, there pealed through the aisles 
 that hymn of praise which purports to waft into heaven 
 the thanksgivings of a whole people for some new and 
 signal mercy vouchsafed to them by Almighty God. It 
 was because of what had been done to France within 
 the last thirty days that the hosannas arose in Notre 
 Dame. Moreover, the priests lifted their voices and 
 cried aloud, chanting and saying to the Most High, 
 ' Domine, salvum fac Ludovicum Napoleonem,' — 
 O Lord ! save Louis Napoleon. 
 
 " What is good, and what is evil ? and who is it that 
 deserves the prayers of a nation ? If any man, being 
 scrupulous and devout, was moved by the events of 
 December to ask these questions of his Church, he was 
 answered that day in the Cathedral of Our Lady in 
 Paris." 1 
 
 2 — THE ENGLISH TE DEUM. 
 
 If the Te Deum be the Hymn of Praise set apart by 
 the Universal Church as the supreme expression of 
 gratitude and adoration, the hymn which serves the 
 same purpose in English congregations is " All Hail 
 the Power of Jesu's Name." It is one of the ten hymns 
 most used in English-speaking lands. It was written 
 
 1 History of Crimean War, vol. i. p. 335. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 29 
 
 near the close of last century by E. Perronet, a min- 
 ister of Lady Huntingdon's Connection, but was subse- 
 quently much revised by Dr. Rippon and others. The 
 form most commonly used is as follows : — 
 
 ALL hail the power of Jesu's name ! 
 Let angels prostrate fall ; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 Let high-born seraphs tune the lyre, 
 
 And, as they tune it, fall 
 Before His face who tunes their choir, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God, 
 
 Who from his altar call ; 
 Extol the stem from Jesse's rod, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 Ye seed of Israel's chosen race, 
 
 Ye ransomed from the Fall, 
 Hail Him who saves you by His grace, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 Sinners ! whose love can ne'er forget 
 
 The wormwood and the gall, 
 Go, spread your trophies at His feet, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 Let every kindred, every tribe, 
 
 On this terrestrial ball, 
 To Him all majesty ascribe, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 O that with yonder sacred throng 
 
 We at His feet may fall, 
 Join in the everlasting song, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all! 
 
 Tune — "Miles Lane." 
 
30 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 3 — THE SCOTCH TE DEUM. 
 
 The Scotch Church for nearly three hundred years 
 refused to have anything to do with human hymns, 
 papistical Te Deums, and the like. But in the metrical 
 version of the Hundredth Psalm, the men of North 
 Britain found a practical substitute which stood them 
 in good stead as a vehicle for the expression of their 
 usually repressed emotions. It was written by W. Kethe 
 in 1560-61, to fit the tune in the Genevan Psalter now 
 known as the Old Hundredth. 
 
 It is one of the few Psalms to which Shakespeare 
 makes reference in his plays. 
 
 ALL people that on earth do dwell, 
 Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice : 
 Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell; 
 Come ye before Him and rejoice. 
 
 Know ye, the Lord is God indeed ; 
 
 Without our aid He did us make; 
 We are His flock, He doth us feed; 
 
 And for His sheep He doth us take. 
 
 Oh enter then His gates with praise, 
 Approach with joy His courts unto; 
 
 Praise, laud, and bless His name always, 
 For it is seemly so to do. 
 
 For why ? the Lord our God is good, 
 
 His mercy is for ever sure ; 
 His truth at all times firmly stood, 
 
 And shall from age to age endure. 
 
 Tune— "Old Hundredth." 
 
 Longfellow refers to the New England settlers 
 
 " Singing the Hundredth Psalm, that grand old Puritan 
 anthem." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 3 1 
 
 The Rev. James Campbell, of Dublin, says : " The 
 magnificent version of the Hundredth, set to Luther's 
 majestic tune, has wedded Lutherans and Calvinists to 
 eternity, and girdled the earth with sweet and stately 
 praise." 
 
 4 -THE GERMAN TE DEUM. 
 
 Rinkart's hymn, "Nun Danket alle Gott," comes 
 second only to Luther's " Em' feste Burg." The latter 
 is a hymn of combat and of resolution to battle to the 
 end, the former an outburst of gratitude. It is a para- 
 phrase of two verses of Ecclesiasticus, and in verse 3 
 of one verse of the Gloria Patri. It has been used 
 since 1648 as the German Te Deum at all national fes- 
 tivals of war and of peace. It was sung by the army of 
 Frederick the Great after the Prussians had won the 
 Battle of Leuthen, and it was constantly sung in the last 
 Franco-Prussian War. It was also sung at the cere- 
 mony that marked the completion of Cologne Cathe- 
 dral and at the laying of the foundation-stone of the 
 new Reichstag. 
 
 Mendelssohn introduces " Nun Danket " into his 
 " Hymn of Praise." The following translation is by 
 Catherine Winkworth : — 
 
 NOW thank we all our God, 
 With heart, and hands, and voices, 
 Who wondrous things hath done, 
 In Whom His world rejoices; 
 Who from our mothers' arms 
 Hath blessed us on our way 
 With countless gifts of love, 
 And still is ours to-day. 
 
 O may this bounteous God 
 Through all our life be near us, 
 
 With ever joyful hearts 
 And blessed peace to cheer us ; 
 
32 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 And keep us in his grace, 
 
 And guide us when perplex'd, 
 
 And free us from all ills 
 In this world and the next. 
 
 All praise and thanks to God 
 The Father now be given, 
 
 The Son, and Him who reigns 
 With them in highest Heaven, 
 The One eternal God, 
 
 Whom earth and Heav'n adore, 
 For thus it was, is now, 
 And shall be evermore. Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Wittemburg," sometimes called "Nun 
 Danket." 
 
 5— THE DOXOLOGY. 
 
 Probably no other verse is so often sung by Chris- 
 tians of all denominations as this brief outburst of 
 praise and gratitude ; and yet the glad devotion ex- 
 pressed in any of the numerous adaptations never fails 
 to kindle an audience. Originally written as the clos- 
 ing stanzas of " Awake my soul, and with the sun," 
 the author, Bishop Ken (1637-1711), derived so much 
 benefit from the use of it in his morning devotions that 
 he added it to his now equally famous evening hymn, 
 " Glory to Thee, my God, this night." It was the habit 
 of this saintly sufferer to accompany his ever cheerful 
 voice with the lute which penetrated beyond his prison 
 walls ; and the oft-repeated song of praise, which was 
 soon taken up by his religious sympathisers listening 
 without, has gone on singing itself into the hearts of 
 Christians until the fragment has very nearly ap- 
 proached the hymn universal. 
 
 During revivals it is sometimes the custom to sing it 
 after every conversion. Once at Sheffield, England, 
 under Billy Dawson, they sang it thirty-five times in 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 33 
 
 one evening. It is frequently the last articulate sound 
 that is heard from the lips of the dying, and it is not 
 less frequently the expression of intense gratitude of 
 the living in the moments when life throbs and swells 
 most exultantly in the breast. 
 
 PRAISE God from Whom all blessings flow ! 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below! 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ! 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ! 
 
 6— HEBER'S TRINITY-SUNDAY HYMN. 
 
 The Head Master of Harrow, after mentioning the 
 three hymns which had helped him most, said : " I 
 put them in what may be called an order of merit as 
 follows: — 1. 'Hark, my soul, it is the Lord.' 2. 'O 
 God, our help in ages past.' 3. ' Rock of Ages, cleft 
 for me.' Perhaps you will let me add that Bishop 
 Heber's Trinity-Sunday Hymn, ' Holy, holy, holy, Lord 
 God Almighty,' though it cannot be said to have given 
 me most help, yet is in my judgment the finest hymn 
 ever written, considering the abstract difficult nature of 
 its theme, its perfect spirituality, and the devotion and 
 purity of its language. The late Poet Laureate once 
 told me he thought so too." 
 
 HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ! 
 Early in the morning our song shall rise to 
 Thee ; 
 Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty ! 
 God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity ! 
 
 Holy, holy, holy ! all the saints adore Thee, 
 
 Casting down their golden crowns around the 
 glassy sea, 
 
 Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before Thee, 
 Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be. 
 
34 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Holy, holy, holy ! though the darkness hioV Thee, 
 Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may 
 not see, 
 
 Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, 
 Perfect in power, in love, and purity. 
 
 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ! 
 
 All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth 
 and sky and sea; 
 Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty ! 
 God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity. 
 
 Tune — " Nic/ea." 
 
 7 — MILTON'S PSALM OF PRAISE 
 (J7th Century), 
 
 Milton, our greatest poet save one, wrote only one 
 hymn that has been found to help men — as a hymn. 
 It is a paraphrase of Psalm cxxxvi. written when he 
 was a boy of fifteen at St. Paul's School, and its length — 
 twenty-four stanzas — precludes its general use. Those 
 verses found most helpful by general usage are the 
 following : — 
 
 LET us, with a gladsome mind, 
 Praise the Lord, for He is kind: 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 Let us sound His name abroad. 
 For of gods He is the God : 
 For His mercies aye enduce, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 He, with all commanding might, 
 Filled the new-made world with light: 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 35 
 
 He the golden-tressed sun 
 Caused all day his course to run: 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 All things living He doth feed : 
 His full hand supplies their need: 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 He His chosen race did bless, 
 In the wasteful wilderness : 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 He hath, with a piteous eye, 
 Looked upon our misery : 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 Let us, then, with gladsome mind, 
 Praise the Lord, for He is kind : 
 For His mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure. 
 
 Tune — "Innocents." 
 
 8 — ADDISON'S " GRATITUDE n (18th Century). 
 
 " I perceive," said Mr. Andrew Lang recently, " that 
 either the best English poets have not written hymns, 
 or that their hymns are unpopular with readers of the 
 Sunday at Home." Yet Milton was represented, and 
 Cow per and Keble and Newman. Addison can hardly 
 claim to be one of the best English poets, although he 
 is one of the most famous essayists ; but his contribu- 
 tions to Hymns that have Helped are by no means un- 
 important. Of these one of the most generally used is 
 
36 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 his poem originally published in the Spectator at the 
 close of an essay on gratitude. 1 
 
 WHEN all Thy mercies, O my God, 
 My rising soul surveys, 
 Transported with the view, I 'm lost 
 In wonder, love, and praise. 
 
 Oh how shall words with equal warmth 
 
 The gratitude declare, 
 That glows within my thankful heart? 
 
 But Thou canst read it there. 
 
 Thy providence my life sustained, 
 
 And all my wants redressed, 
 When in the silent womb I lay, 
 
 And hung upon the breast. 
 
 Unnumbered comforts on my soul 
 
 Thy tender care bestowed, 
 Before my infant heart conceived 
 
 From whom those comforts flowed. 
 
 When in the slippery paths of youth 
 
 With heedless steps I ran, 
 Thine arm, unseen, conveyed me safe, 
 
 And led me up to man. 
 
 1 On the appearance of the first edition of this work a cor- 
 respondent wrote calling my attention to the fact that in the 
 Athenceum of July 10, 1880, and in the Phonetic "Journal of 
 March 12, 1887, it was conclusively proved that the author of 
 this hymn was not Addison, but one Richard Richmond, rector 
 of Walton on-the-Hill, Lancashire, 1 690-1 720. On the other 
 hand, Mr. T. M. Healy, M. P., wrote saying that the late Sir 
 Isaac Pitman, in an interesting inquiry as to the authorship of 
 this hymn and the other attributed to Addison on page 232. 
 claimed both as the work of Andrew Marvel, the "incorrup- 
 tible Commoner." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 2>7 
 
 When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou 
 
 With health renewed my face ; 
 And, when in sins and sorrows sunk, 
 
 Revived my soul with grace. 
 
 Ten thousand thousand precious gifts 
 
 My daily thanks employ; 
 Nor is the least a cheerful heart, 
 
 That tastes those gifts with joy. 
 
 Through every period of my life 
 
 Thy goodness I '11 pursue ; 
 And, after death, in distant worlds, 
 
 The glorious theme renew. 
 
 Through all eternity to Thee 
 
 A joyful song I '11 raise : 
 But Oh ! eternity 's too short 
 
 To utter all Thy praise. 
 
 Tune — "St. Peter's." 
 
 9 — PROFESSOR BLACKIE'S CHANT OF 
 PRAISE (J9th Century). 
 
 The late Professor Blackie wrote much that is forgot- 
 ten, but his Chant of Praise will live. It was sent me 
 by one who had felt the glory and inspiration of its 
 nature-worship cheer him like a sea-breeze. It is the 
 nineteenth-century version of the sentiment which 
 Milton expressed in the seventeenth and Addison in 
 the eighteenth, each in the mode of his day and gener- 
 ation. 
 
 ANGELS holy, 
 High and lowly, 
 Sing the praises of the Lord ! 
 Earth and sky, all living nature, 
 Man, the stamp of thy Creator, 
 
 Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord ! 
 
38 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Sun and moon bright, 
 Night and moonlight, 
 Starry temples azure-floored ; 
 Cloud and rain, and wild winds' madness, 
 Sons of God that shout for gladness, 
 Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord ! 
 
 Ocean hoary, 
 Tell His glory, 
 Cliffs, where tumbling seas have roared ! 
 Pulse of waters, blithely beating, 
 Wave advancing, wave retreating, 
 Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord ! 
 
 Rock and high land, 
 Wood and island, 
 Crag, where eagle's pride hath soared ; 
 Mighty mountains, purple-breasted, 
 Peaks cloud-cleaving, snowy-crested, 
 Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord! 
 
 Rolling river, 
 Praise Him ever, 
 From the mountain's deep vein poured ; 
 Silver fountain, clearly gushing, 
 Troubled torrent, madly rushing, 
 Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord ! 
 
 Bond and free man, 
 Land and seaman, 
 Earth, with peoples widely stored, 
 Wanderer lone o'er prairies ample, 
 Full-voiced choir, in costly temple, 
 Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord ! 
 
 Praise Him ever, 
 Bounteous Giver ; 
 Praise Him, Father, Friend, and Lord! 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 39 
 
 Each glad soul its free course winging, 
 Each glad voice its free song singing, 
 Praise the great and mighty Lord ! 
 
 The Rev. Richard A. Armstrong, of Liverpool, says : 
 11 To my mind this is one of the noblest bits of nature- 
 painting in literature. I always give it out to my people 
 after holiday-making in Norway or Scotland, and the 
 
 Mighty mountains, purple-breasted, 
 Peaks cloud-cleaving, snowy-crested, 
 
 rise up in vision before us again in glory. It is pagan- 
 ism, perhaps, but it is paganism through which thrills 
 the presence of the God of Christ." 
 
 This poem of Blackie is at least not open to the 
 objection taken by Charles Kingsley to many hymns. 
 Kingsley says : " How often is the tone in which hymns 
 speak of the natural world one of dissatisfaction, dis- 
 trust, almost contempt. 'Change and decay in all 
 around I see,' is their keynote rather than ' O all ye 
 works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise Him, and 
 magnify Him for ever.'" 
 
 An anonymous writer, in whose sentiments Kingsley 
 would have rejoiced, wrote a poem entitled " The 
 Voice of Health," in illustration of the words, " The 
 living he shall praise Thee." There are six stanzas, one 
 of which will suffice to give the keynote : — 
 
 'Tis when youth's fervour fills the veins, 
 And new-born hopes rejoice the heart, 
 
 And health within and round us reigns, 
 We best believe Thee as Thou art. 
 
 IL — National Hymns* 
 
 JO — GOD SAVE THE QUEEN. 
 
 OD save our gracious Queen, 
 
 G 
 
 Long live our noble Queen ; 
 God save the Queen ! 
 
40 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Send her victorious, 
 Happy and glorious, 
 Long to reign over us, 
 God save the Queen ! 
 
 O Lord our God, arise, 
 Scatter her enemies, 
 
 And make them fall. 
 Confound their politics ! 
 Frustrate their knavish tricks; 
 On her our hopes we fix ! 
 
 God save us all ! 
 
 Thy choicest gifts in store, 
 On her be pleased to pour; 
 
 Long may she reign ! 
 May she defend our laws, 
 And ever give us cause 
 To sing with heart and voice, 
 
 God save the Queen ! 
 
 Tune — " The National Anthem." 
 
 It is one of the ironies of history that the first trace 
 that can be discovered of the singing of the English 
 National Anthem, imploring Divine help for the reign- 
 ing monarch, was an occasion when its petition was 
 most conspicuously refused. In 1688, when William of 
 Orange was busy with his preparations in aid of the 
 conspiracy against the Stuart dynasty, a Latin chorus 
 was sung in the private chapel of James II., which ap- 
 pears to have been the original of the famous anthem. 
 We can well imagine the fervour with which James II. 
 and his devout satellites joined in the petition thus 
 voiced by the choir : — 
 
 O Deus Optime ! Exurgat Dominus ; 
 
 Salvum nunc facito Rebelles dissipet, 
 
 Regem nostrum ; Et reprimat ; 
 
 Sit laeta victoria Dolos confundito ; 
 
 Comes et gloria, Fraudes depellito ; 
 
 Salvum jam facito In te sit sita spes 
 Tu Dominum. O ! salva nos. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 4 1 
 
 Salvation, however, was not vouchsafed the Stuart dy- 
 nasty. Before the year was out, it was King James who 
 was sent packing, and William of Orange reigned in 
 his stead. Then, as if to keep up the irony, the song 
 disappeared altogether until the Pretender in 1745 at- 
 tempted by the aid of his faithful Scots to regain the 
 crown his ancestor had lost. Then the self-same musi- 
 cal prayer, first used, all unavailing, on behalf of James 
 II., was revived in order to serve as the Battle Hymn of 
 the usurper who sat on his throne. Twelve days after 
 the proclamation of the Pretender in September, 1745, 
 at Edinburgh, " God Save the King " was sung with 
 tumultuous enthusiasm at Drury Lane, and from that 
 hour to this it has held the first place among the na- 
 tional anthems of the world. 
 
 Twenty-one years later it was adopted as a national 
 air in Denmark. In 1793, as Heil Dir im Siegerkrantz, 
 it became the national anthem of Prussia. About the 
 middle of the present century the air was fitted by C. T. 
 Brooks to the American National Anthem, "America," 
 beginning : — 
 
 God bless our native land ! 
 Firm may she ever stand, 
 Through storm and might. 
 
 "God Save the Queen" is hackneyed by too much 
 use, especially by its abuse as the signal for the close of 
 a performance, which is almost as great a profanation 
 as if one should use the Royal Standard as a handker- 
 chief. But no abuse of this kind can impair its magic 
 power when in times of national peril it bursts from the 
 full heart. The singing of the National Anthem, and 
 the way in which it was sung in January, 1896, when 
 England, left in " splendid " but dangerous " isolation," 
 was preparing for war against envious rivals in Europe 
 and America, did more than anything else to impress 
 the foreign observer with the intensity and depth of the 
 national emotion. It was magnificent, almost awful, to 
 hear the swelling notes as they rose from great congre- 
 
42 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 gations. It was a kind of semi-articulate expression of 
 the deeper feelings usually unexpressed by John Bull. 
 Only when the menace of war rouses the nation is there 
 sufficient force to strike these sonorous chords of patri- 
 otic passion. For more than a hundred years, when- 
 ever the English people have been really stirred by 
 imminence of national danger, or by exultation over 
 national triumph, the most satisfying expression for 
 their inmost aspirations has been found in the simple 
 but vigorous verses. This is the only war-song of the 
 modern Englishman. For him it has superseded all 
 others, ancient or modern. u Rule Britannia " is not to 
 be compared with it for universality of use, or for satis- 
 fying completeness of music and verse. And no part 
 of this Battle Hymn of the British Monarchy is more 
 genuine and hearty than the stanza which offends many 
 pious critics on account of the fidelity with which it re- 
 produces the spirit of the imprecatory Psalms. 
 
 It would be idle to attempt to enumerate the occa- 
 sions when this anthem has been used to body forth 
 in audible form the sentiments that throb in the heart 
 of the nation. Whenever any number of Englishmen 
 find themselves fronting death, or whenever they have 
 experienced any great deliverance, whenever they thrill 
 with exultant pride, or nerve themselves to offer an 
 unyielding front to adverse fate, they have used "God 
 Save the Queen" or King, as it has been and will be 
 again, as the natural national musical vehicle for ex- 
 pressing what would otherwise find no utterance. It is 
 the melody that is always heard when our island story 
 touches the sublimer heights or sounds the profounder 
 depths. It is one of the living links which bind into 
 one the past, the present and future of the English 
 race. 
 
 There is one quite recent incident that may be men- 
 tioned. When Major Wilson with his thirty-three 
 troopers were attacked in Matabeleland in 1894 by a 
 force of three thousand natives, who surrounded them 
 in the forest, they fought from early morning till well on 
 into the afternoon. All their horses were shot early in 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 43 
 
 the day, and behind their dead bodies the troopers kept 
 up a desperate fight for three hours. Not one attempted 
 to escape. These "men of men," as the Matabele 
 called them, fought on till their ammunition gave out, 
 and there was not one man left to stand or fire. 
 
 When nearly all were wounded or killed, the Induna 
 says, they (Wilson's party) left off firing, and all that 
 could stood up, took off their hats, and sang something, 
 the kind of song that he (the Induna) had heard mis- 
 sionaries sing to the natives. Knowing Wilson as we 
 do, says a friend of his, we are sure it was " God Save 
 the Queen." They then fired again, until only one man 
 was left, and almost all the ammunition gone. The 
 Matabele had such a dread of them, that even then they 
 did not rush in and assegai them until the last man had 
 fallen, and were so impressed with their pluck that they 
 did not mutilate them in any way, only stripped them. 
 The Induna estimated that the Matabele lost eight to 
 every one of the thirty-four white men killed, and said 
 that Lobengula's warriors lay round the dead white men 
 like grass. After many days Mr. Dawson found thirty- 
 three skulls lying within a circle of fifteen yards, and one 
 skull lying thirty yards outside. He buried them under 
 a wooden cross, inscribed, " To Brave Men." Mr. 
 Rhodes afterwards had their remains interred in the 
 prehistoric temple of Zimbabye, which is to be the 
 Westminster Abbey of South Africa. It was of this 
 incident that Mary Georges wrote — 
 
 They sang — the white men sang — 
 
 Sang in the face of death, 
 And the forest echoes rang 
 
 With their triumphant breath. 
 
 On our spirit falleth a mighty dread ; 
 
 We feared them most when we left them dead I 
 
 \\ — GOD BLESS OUR NATIVE LAND. 
 
 For those who object on religious grounds to pray for 
 the destruction of their enemies, also for those who 
 prefer to pray for themselves rather than for their Sov 
 
44 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 ereign, the following variant has been prepared, and is 
 used in ordinary times. But when the shrill clarion 
 sounds the 'larum of war, the original version holds the 
 field: — 
 
 C^OD bless our native land ! 
 J May heaven's protecting hand 
 Still guard our shore ; 
 May Peace her power extend, 
 Foe be transformed to friend, 
 And Britain's rights depend 
 On war no more. 
 
 May just and righteous laws 
 Uphold the public cause 
 
 And bless our isle. 
 Home of the brave and free, 
 The land of liberty, 
 We pray that still on thee 
 
 Kind heaven may smile. 
 
 And not this land alone, 
 But be Thy mercies known 
 
 From shore to shore. 
 Lord, make the nations see 
 That men should brothers be, 
 And form one family, 
 
 The wide world o'er. 
 
 Tune — "The National Anthem." 
 
 J2 — GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE. 
 
 This democratic anthem of the masses is much in 
 vogue in Labour churches, Pleasant Sunday Afternoon 
 meetings, and Congregational churches of the more 
 advanced type. The tune to which it is set, aptly 
 fitted to the words, has a great hold upon those who 
 sing it. The hymn was the handiwork of Ebenezer 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 45 
 
 Elliott, the Sheffield Corn Law Rhymer, a sturdy, un- 
 compromising Democrat, with a heart embittered 
 against the landed classes, whose chief aim in making 
 laws in those days seemed to him to be keeping up the 
 price of bread, regardless of the needs of the hungry 
 poor. But the whirligig of time brings about strange 
 revenges, and the Sheffield which in the rough, rude 
 rhymes of Ebenezer Elliott doomed the Protectionist 
 to perdition now returns Col. Howard Vincent to Par- 
 liament to champion Protection masked as Fair Trade. 
 
 WHEN wilt Thou save the people ? 
 O God of mercy, when ? 
 Not kings alone, but nations ? 
 
 Not thrones and crowns, but men? 
 Flowers of Thy heart, O God, are they: 
 Let them not pass, like weeds, away — 
 Their heritage a sunless day. 
 God save the people ! 
 
 Shall crime bring crime for ever, 
 
 Strength aiding still the strong ? 
 Is it Thy will, O Father, 
 
 That man shall toil for wrong ? 
 " No," say Thy mountains ; " No," Thy skies ; 
 Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise, 
 And songs ascend instead of sighs : 
 God save the people ! 
 
 When wilt Thou save the people ? 
 
 O God of mercy, when ? 
 The people, Lord, the people, 
 
 Not thrones and crowns, but men? 
 God save the people, Thine they are, 
 Thy children, as Thine angels fair; 
 From vice, oppression, and despair, 
 God save the people ! 
 
 Tune — " Commonwealth." 
 
46 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 It is the nearest approach to an English Marseillaise 
 that a sense of social injustice has wrung from the 
 heart of the oppressed. 
 
 The Rev. Charles Garrett, of Liverpool, writes: " This 
 hymn rings in my mind like the cry of a nation on its 
 knees." A Scottish journalist, writing from South 
 Wales, says : " So far as my experience goes, this 
 hymn can rouse great popular audiences as nothing else 
 can. It seems to go right down to the hearts of the 
 people, and it can be sung very effectively." 
 
 13 -AMERICA. 
 
 In days of peace and prosperity, through the crisis of 
 the Civil War, and on most public occasions since 
 the war, this hymn has gradually won recognition as 
 a national one without the ceremonial of adoption in 
 any historic scene* The author of the words, the Rev. 
 Samuel Francis Smith, D. D., says of their origin : 
 " The song was written at Andover during my student 
 life there, I think in the winter of 1831-32. It was first 
 used publicly at a Sunday-school celebration of July 4, 
 in the Park Street Church, Boston." It was, indeed, 
 an attempt to give " God Save the King " the ring 
 of American republican patriotism. Public-school 
 teachers throughout the United States find it most 
 helpful in awakening a love for and a pride in the new 
 country among the heterogeneous mass of child im- 
 migrants that must be welded into patriotic American 
 citizens. The well-known missionary hymn, "The 
 Morning Light is breaking," was also written at Andover 
 at about the same date. To the author, his class-mate 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes refers in the lines : — 
 
 " And there r s a nice fellow of excellent pith, 
 Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith." 
 
 M 
 
 Y country ! 't is of thee, 
 Sw r eet land of Liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 47 
 
 Land where my fathers died; 
 Land of the Pilgrims' pride ; 
 From ev'ry mountain side, 
 Let freedom ring. 
 
 My native country ! thee, 
 Land of the noble free, 
 
 Thy name I love ; 
 I love thy rocks and rills, 
 Thy woods and templed hills, 
 My heart with rapture thrills 
 
 Like that above. 
 
 Let music swell the breeze, 
 And ring among the trees 
 
 Sweet freedom's song : 
 Let mortal tongues awake, 
 Let all that breathe partake, 
 Let rocks their silence break, 
 
 The sound prolong. 
 
 Our fathers' God ! to Thee, 
 Author of Liberty ! 
 
 To Thee we sing ; 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With freedom's holy light, 
 Protect us by thy might, 
 
 Great God, our King ! 
 
 J4 — THE MARSEILLAISE. 
 
 On the 5th July, 1792, when Revolutionary France was 
 menaced with destruction by internal treason and ex- 
 ternal war, — the latter taking tangible shape in the 
 person of the Duke of Brunswick and 80,000 Prussians, 
 Hessians, and the royalist emigres, — the Marseilles 
 municipality mustered 517 men of the rank and file, 
 with captains of fifties and of tens, 600 in all, and bade 
 
4 8 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 them " March, strike down the tyrant." Without an 
 arrangement, or station, or ration, these black-browed 
 Marseillese'" who knew how to die" made their way 
 for 600 miles across France to Paris. " The thought 
 which works voiceless in this black-browed mass, an in- 
 spired Tyrtaean Colonel, Rouget de Lille, has translated 
 into grim melody and rhythm, in his Hymn or March 
 of the Marseillese, luckiest musical composition ever 
 promulgated, the sound of which will make the blood 
 tingle in men's veins, and whole armies and assemblages 
 will sing it, with eyes weeping and burning, with hearts 
 defiant of Death, Despot, and Devil." For which in- 
 deed France had not long to wait, for on Nov. 6, 
 1792, when Dumouriez smote the Austrians at Je- 
 mappes, it was recognised that in the Marseilles a new 
 power had descended from above upon the French 
 armies, and that henceforth and for many years to come 
 they were invincible. Carlyle writes thus of that memo- 
 rable day. Dumouriez, overrunning the Netherlands, 
 came upon the Austrians at Jemappes, near Mons : — 
 
 "And fire-hail is whistling far and wide there, the 
 great guns playing and the small ; so many green 
 heights getting fringed and maned with red fire. And 
 Dumouriez is swept back on this wing, and swept back 
 on that, and is like to be swept back utterly ; when he 
 rushes up in person, the prompt Polymetis, speaks a 
 prompt word or two, and then, with clear tenor-pipe, 
 ' uplifts the Hymn of the Marseillaise.' entonna la Mar- 
 seillaise, ten thousand tenor or bass pipes joining; or 
 say, some forty thousand in all, for every heart leaps at 
 the sound ; and so, with rhythmic march-melody, wax- 
 ing ever quicker to double and to treble quick, they 
 rally, they advance, they rush, death-defying, man-de- 
 vouring ; carry batteries, redoutes, whatsoever is to be 
 carried ; and like the fire-whirlwind, sweep all manner 
 of Austrians from the scene of action. Thus, through 
 the hands of Dumouriez, may Rouget de Lille, in figur- 
 ative speech, be said to have gained miraculously, like 
 another Orpheus, by his Marseillese fiddle-strings \fidi- 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 49 
 
 ous canon's), a victory of Jemappes, and conquered the 
 Low Countries." 
 
 From that moment the Marseillaise became the Na- 
 tional Anthem of France. All through the Napoleonic 
 wars her armies marched to the music of Rouget de 
 Lille, which made the tour of Europe with the eagles of 
 P'rance. Afterwards it became a proscribed hymn, and 
 was, in consequence, all the more cherished. Whenever 
 revolution burst out, her first note was ever sounded by 
 the Marseillaise. During the Second Empire it was 
 proscribed until the march on Berlin, which was to end 
 at Sedan, when the Emperor permitted the nation he 
 had betrayed once again to hear the stirring strains in 
 which, for nearly a hundred years, its patriotic passion 
 had vibrated through Europe. Not even the Marseil- 
 laise could avert Sedan, but it was to the music of the 
 Marseillaise that the Empire was overthrown, and it 
 remains to this day — Russian alliance notwithstanding 
 — the National Hymn of the French RepuLlic. 
 
 ALLONS, enfants de la Patrie, 
 Le jour de gloire est arrive ! 
 Contre nous de la tyrannie 
 L'fitendard sanglant est leve. {bis) 
 Entendez-vous dans les campagnes 
 Mugir ces feroces soldats ? 
 lis viennent jusque dans vos bras 
 figorger vos fils, vos compagnes. 
 
 Aux armes, citoyens, formez vos bataillons ! 
 
 Marchons, marchons ! 
 
 Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons. 
 
 Que veut cette horde d'esclaves, 
 
 De traitres, de rois conjures ? 
 
 Pour qui ces ignobles entraves, 
 
 Ces fers des longtemps prepares ? (bis) 
 
 Francais, pour nous, ah ! quel outrage ! 
 
 4 
 
50 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Quel transport il doit exciter ! 
 C'est nous qu'on ose menacer 
 De rendre a l'antique esclavage! 
 Aux armes, citoyens (etc.). 
 
 Quoi, ces cohortes dtrangeres 
 Feraient la loi dans nos foyers ! 
 Quoi, des phalanges mercenaires 
 Terrasseraient nos tiers guerriers ! {bis) 
 Grand Dieu ! par des mains enchainees 
 Nos fronts sous le joug se ploiraient ? 
 De vils despotes deviendraient 
 Les maitres de nos destinees ? 
 Aux armes, citoyens (etc.). 
 
 Tremblez, tyrans! et vous, perfides, 
 L'opprobre de tous les partis, 
 Tremblez ! vos projets parricides 
 Vont enfin recevoir leur prix. {bis) 
 Tout est soldat pour vous combattre 
 S'ils tombent, nos jeunes heros, 
 La terre en produit de nouveaux 
 Contre vous tout prets a se battre. 
 Aux armes, citoyens (etc.). 
 
 Frangais, en guerriers magnanimes, 
 Portez ou retenez vos coups ! 
 £pargnez ces tristes victimes 
 A regret s'armant contre nous, {bis) 
 Mais les despotes sanguinaires, 
 Mais les complices de Bouill6, 
 Tous ces tigres qui, sans pitie, 
 De'chirent le sein de leur mere ! 
 Aux armes, citoyens (etc.). 
 
 Nous entrerons dans la carriere, 
 Quand nos aines n'y seront plus ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 5 1 
 
 Nous y trouverons leur poussiere 
 Et la trace de leurs vertus. (pis} 
 Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre 
 Que de partager leur cercueil, 
 Nous aurons le sublime orgueil 
 De les venger ou de les suivre. 
 Aux armes, citoyens (etc.). 
 
 Amour sacre' de la patrie, 
 Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs. 
 Liberte, liberte cherie, 
 Combats avec tes defenseurs. (bis) 
 Sous nos drapeaux que la victoire 
 Accoure a tes males accents ! 
 Que tes ennemis expirants 
 Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire ! 
 Aux armes. citoyens (etc.). 
 
 The Marseillaise is often sung in England, but seldom 
 beyond the first verse, excepting in French. The Eng- 
 lish free — very free — rendering, that is sometimes 
 used, begins thus: — 
 
 Ye sons of France, awake to glory! 
 
 Hark ! hark ! what myriads bid you rise! 
 Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary, — 
 
 Behold their tears and hear their cries ! 
 Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding, 
 
 With hireling hosts, a ruffian band, 
 
 Affright and desolate the land, 
 While liberty and peace lie bleeding? 
 
 To arms ! to arms ! ye brave ! 
 
 The avenging sword unsheathe ! 
 March on ! march on ! all hearts resolved 
 
 On victory or death ! 
 
 Outside France the Marseillaise is, however, almost 
 exclusively monopolised by Socialist or other exponents 
 
52 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 of popular discontent. In France, of course, it is the 
 official anthem, which is played even in the presence of 
 Tsars. But if ever there was a hymn that helped men, 
 the Marseillaise is that hymn. It helped millions to 
 conquer and to die ; and so, although it can hardly be 
 regarded as an ordinary hymn, it is such an extraordi- 
 nary one as to well deserve a place in this collection. 
 
 \5 — LUTHER'S HYMN. 
 
 A battle hymn, indeed, is this famous hymn which 
 Heinrich Heine rightly describes as u the Marseillaise 
 Hymn of the Reformation." Luther composed it for 
 the Diet of Spires, when, on April 20, 1 529, the German 
 princes made their formal protest against the revoca- 
 tion of their liberties, and so became known as Protest- 
 ants. In the life-and-death struggle that followed, it 
 was as a clarion summoning all faithful souls to do 
 battle, without fear, against the insulting foe. Luther 
 sang it to the lute every day. It was the spiritual and 
 national tonic of Germany, administered in those dol- 
 orous times as doctors administer quinine to sojourners 
 in fever-haunted marshes. Every one sang it, old and 
 young, children in the street, soldiers on the battlefield. 
 The more heavily hit they were, the more tenaciously 
 did they cherish the song that assured them of ulti- 
 mate victory. When Melancthon and his friends, after 
 Luther's death, were sent into banishment, they were 
 marvellously cheered as they entered Weimar on hear- 
 ing a girl sing Luther's hymn in the street. " Sing on, 
 dear daughter mine," said Melancthon ; " thou knowest 
 not what comfort thou bringest to our heart." Nearly 
 a hundred years later, before the great victory which he 
 gained over the Catholic forces at Leipsic, Gustavus 
 Adolphus asked his warriors to sing Luther's hymn, 
 and after the victory he thanked God that He had made 
 good the promise, " The field He will maintain it." It 
 was sung at the Battle of Liitzen. It was sung also 
 many a time and oft during the Franco-German war. 
 In fact, whenever the depths of the German heart are 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 53 
 
 really stirred, the sonorous strains of Luther's hymn 
 instinctively burst forth. M. Vicomte de Vogue, one of 
 the most brilliant of contemporary writers, in his criti- 
 cism of M. Zola's " Debacle," pays a splendid tribute to 
 the element in the German character which finds its most 
 articulate expression in Luther's noble psalm. M. de 
 Vogue says that M. Zola, in his work, entirely fails to 
 explain in what the superiority of the German army 
 consisted. What was there in these men ? Why did 
 they conquer France ? Only he who knows the answer, 
 and dares to give it, will be able to write the book about 
 the war. 
 
 " He who is so well up in all the points of the battle- 
 field of Sedan must surely know what was to be seen 
 and heard there on the evening of Sept. i, 1870. It 
 was a picture to tempt his pen, — those innumerable 
 lines of fires starring all the valley of the Meuse, those 
 grave and solemn chants sent out into the night by 
 hundreds of thousands of voices. No orgy, no disorder, 
 no relaxation of discipline ; the men mounting guard 
 under arms till the inexorable task was done ; the 
 hymns to the God of victory and the distant home, — 
 they seemed like an army of priests coming from the 
 sacrifice. This one picture, painted as the novelist 
 knows how to paint in his best days, would have shown 
 us what virtues, wanting in our own camp, had kept 
 fortune in the service of the other." 
 
 Of English versions there have been many. That of 
 Thomas Carlyle is generally regarded as the best. 
 
 A SURE stronghold our God is He. 
 A trusty shield and weapon; 
 Our help He '11 be, and set us free 
 From every ill can happen. 
 That old malicious foe 
 Intends us deadly woe ; 
 Armed with might from Hell, 
 And deepest craft as well, 
 On earth is not his fellow. 
 
54 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Through our own force we nothing can, 
 
 Straight were we lost for ever ; 
 But for us rights the proper Man, 
 By God sent to deliver. 
 Ask ye who this may be ? 
 Christ Jesus named is He. 
 Of Sabaoth the Lord ; 
 Sole God to be adored; 
 'Tis He must win the battle. 
 
 And were the world with devils filled, 
 
 All eager to devour us, 
 Our souls to fear should little yield, 
 They cannot overpower us. 
 Their dreaded Prince no more 
 Can harm us as of yore ; 
 Look grim as e'er he may, 
 Doomed is his ancient sway ; 
 A word can overthrow him. 
 
 God's word for all their craft and force 
 
 One moment will not linger : 
 But spite of Hell shall have its course 
 'Tis written by His finger. 
 And though they take our life, 
 Goods, honour, children, wife ; 
 Yet is there profit small : 
 These things shall vanish all ; 
 The city of God remaineth. 
 
 The following is given in Julian's Dictionary of 
 Hymnology as the earliest High German Text now 
 accessible to us. It is that of 1531 : — 
 
 EIN' feste burg ist unser Gott, 
 ein gute wehr und waffen. 
 Er hilfft unns frev aus aller not 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 55 
 
 die uns ytzt hat betroffen, 
 Der alt bose feind 
 mit ernst ers ytzt meint, 
 gros macht und viel list 
 sein grausam riistung ist, 
 auf erd ist nicht seins gleichen. 
 
 Mit unser macht ist nichts gethan, 
 
 wir sind gar bald verloren ; 
 Es streit fur uns der rechte man, 
 den Gott hat selbs erkoren. 
 Eragstu, wer der ist ? 
 er heist Jhesu Christ 
 der Herr Zebaoth, 
 und ist kein ander Gott, 
 das felt mus er behalten. 
 
 Und wenn die welt vol Teuffell wehr 
 
 und wolt uns gar vorschlingen 
 So furchten wir uns nicht zu sehr 
 es sol uns doch gelingen. 
 Der Fiirst dieser welt, 
 wie sawr er sich stellt. 
 thut er unns doch nicht, 
 das macht, er ist gericht, 
 ein wbrtlin kan yhn fellen. 
 
 Das wort sie sollen lassen stahn 
 
 und kein danck dazu haben, 
 Er ist bey unns wol auff dem plan 
 mit seinem geist und gaben. 
 Nemen sie den leib, 
 gut, eher, kindt unnd weib 
 las faren dahin, 
 sie habens kein gewin, 
 das reich mus uns doch bleiben. 
 Tune — "Worms," also called "Ein' Feste Burg." 
 
56 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 The Forty-sixth Psalm was always a great stand-by foi 
 fighting men. The Huguenots and Covenanters used 
 to cheer their hearts in the extremity of adverse for- 
 tunes by the solemn chant 
 
 God is our refuge and our strength, 
 
 In straits a present aid ; 
 Therefore, although the earth remove, 
 
 We will not be afraid. 
 
 It will be noted that although Luther's Hymn is sug- 
 gested by the Forty-sixth Psalm, it is really Luther's 
 Psalm, not David's. Only the idea of the stronghold 
 is taken from the Scripture, the rest is Luther's own, 
 " made in Germany," indeed, and not only so, but one of 
 the most potent influences that have contributed to the 
 making of Germany. And who knows how soon again 
 we may see the fulfilment of Heine's speculation, when 
 Germans " may soon have to raise again these old 
 words, flashing and pointed with iron " ? That M. de 
 Vogue does not stray beyond his book there is ample 
 evidence to prove. For instance, Cassell's History of 
 the Franco-German war describes how, the day after 
 the battle of Sedan, a multitude of German troops, who 
 were on the march for Paris, found it impossible to 
 sleep, wearied though they were. They were billeted in 
 the Parish Church of Augecourt. The excitement of 
 the day had been too great ; the memory of the bloody 
 fight and their fallen comrades mingled strangely with 
 pride of victory and the knowledge that they had res- 
 cued their country from the foe. Suddenly in the twi- 
 light and the stillness a strain of melody proceeded from 
 the organ, — at first softly, very softly, and then with 
 ever-increasing force, — the grand old hymn-tune, fa- 
 miliar as " household words " to every German ear, 
 11 Nun danket alle Gott," swelled along the vaulted 
 aisles. With one voice officers and men joined in 
 the holy strains ; and when the hymn was ended, the 
 performer, a simple villager, came forward and deliv- 
 ered a short, simple, heartfelt speech. Then, turning 
 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 57 
 
 again to the organ, he struck up Luther's old hymn, 
 " Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," and again all joined 
 with heart and voice. The terrible strain on their sys- 
 tem, which had tried their weary souls and had ban- 
 ished slumber from their eyes, was now removed, and 
 they laid themselves down with thankful hearts and 
 sought and found the rest they so much needed. 
 
 Frederick the Great on one occasion called Luther's 
 Hymn " God Almighty's Grenadier March." 
 
 J6 — GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS'S BATTLE 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 Few figures stand out so visibly against the bloody mist 
 of the religious wars of the seventeenth century as that 
 of Gustavus Adolphus, the hero-king of Sweden, who 
 triumphed at Leipsic and who fell dead on the morning 
 of victory at Liitzen. The well-known hymn beginning 
 " Verzage nicht, du H'auflein," which is known as Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus's Battle Hymn, was composed by Pastor 
 Altenburg, at Erfurt, on receiving the news of the great 
 victory of Leipsic, which gave fresh heart and hope 
 to the Protestants of Germany. It was sung on the 
 morning of the Battle of Liitzen, under the following 
 circumstances : When the morning of Nov. 16, 1632, 
 dawned, the Catholic and Protestant armies under 
 Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus stood facing 
 each other. Gustavus ordered all his chaplains to 
 hold a service of prayer. He threw himself upon his 
 knees and prayed fervently while the whole army burst 
 out into a lofty song of praise and prayer, 
 
 " Verzage nicht, du Haunein klein." 
 
 As they prayed and sang a mist descended, through 
 which neither army could discern the foe. The King 
 set his troops in battle-array, giving them as their 
 watchword, " God with us." As he rode along the 
 lines, he ordered the kettle-drums and trumpets to 
 strike up Luther's hymns, " Ein' feste Burg" and " Es 
 
58 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 wollt uns Gott genadig sein." As they played, the sol- 
 diers joined in as with one voice. The mist began to 
 lift, the sun shone bright, and Gustavus knelt again in 
 prayer. Then rising, he cried : " Now we will set to, 
 please God," and then louder he said, "Jesu, Jesu, 
 Jesu, help me this day to fight for the honour of Thy 
 name ! " Then he charged the enemy at full speed, 
 defended only by a leathern gorget. " God is my har- 
 ness," he replied to his servant, who rushed to put on 
 his armour. The battle was hot and bloody. At eleven 
 in the forenoon the fatal bullet struck Gustavus, and 
 he sank dying from his horse, crying, " My God, my 
 God ! " The combat went on for hours afterwards, but 
 when twilight fell Wallenstein's army broke and fled, 
 and the dead king remained victor of the field on which 
 with his life he had purchased the religious liberties of 
 Northern Europe. 
 
 FEAR not, O little flock, the foe, 
 Who madly seeks your overthrow, 
 Dread not his rage and power ; 
 What, tho' your courage sometimes faints, 
 His seeming triumph o'er God's saints 
 Lasts but a little hour. 
 
 Be of good cheer, — your cause belongs 
 To Him who can avenge your wrongs, 
 
 Leave it to Him, our Lord. 
 Tho' hidden yet from all our eyes, 
 He sees the Gideon who shall rise 
 
 To save us, and his word. 
 
 As true as God's own word is true, 
 Nor earth, nor hell, with all their crew, 
 
 Against us shall prevail, — 
 A jest and byword are they grown ; 
 44 God is with us" we are His own, 
 
 Our victory cannot fail. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 59 
 
 Amen, Lord Jesus, grant our prayer ! 
 Great Captain, now Thine arm make bare ; 
 
 Fight for us once again ! 
 So shall Thy saints and martyrs raise 
 A mighty chorus to Thy praise, 
 
 World without end. Amen. 
 
 J7 — THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE 
 REPUBLIC. 
 
 MINE eyes have seen the glory of the coming 
 of the Lord ; 
 He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes 
 
 of wrath are stored ; 
 He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible 
 swift sword ; 
 
 His truth is marching on. 
 
 I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred 
 
 circling camps ; 
 They have builded Him an altar in the evening 
 
 dews and damps ; 
 I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and 
 
 flaring lamps ; 
 
 His Day is marching on. 
 
 I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows 
 
 of steel — 
 " As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My 
 
 grace shall deal ; " 
 Let the Hero born of woman crush the serpent with 
 
 His heel, 
 
 Since God is marching on. 
 
 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never 
 call retreat ; 
 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judg- 
 ment-seat ; 
 
60 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Oh ! be swift, my soul, to answer Him ; be jubi- 
 lant, my feet, — 
 
 Our God is marching on. 
 
 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across 
 
 the sea, 
 With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you 
 
 and me ; 
 As He died to make men holy, let us die to make 
 men free, 
 
 While God is marching on, 
 
 Tune — "John Brown's Body." 
 
 This splendid Battle Hymn of the Republic was 
 written by Julia Ward Howe on the outbreak of the 
 American war, i860. 
 
 John Habberton, writing long after it was all over, 
 says : — 
 
 " The old air has a wonderful influence over me. I 
 heard it in Western camp meetings and negro cabins 
 when I was a boy. I saw the 22nd Massachusetts 
 march down Broadway singing the same air during a 
 rush to the front during the early days of the war ; I 
 have heard it sung by warrior tongues in nearly every 
 Southern State'; my old brigade sang it softly, but with 
 a swing that was terrible in its earnestness, as they lay 
 behind their stacks of arms just before going into ac- 
 tion ; I have heard it played over the grave of many a 
 dead comrade ; the semi-mutinous — th cavalry became 
 peaceful and patriotic again as their bandmaster played 
 the old air, after having asked permission to try his hand 
 on them ; it is the tune that burst forth spontaneously 
 in our barracks on that glorious morning when we 
 learned that the war was over, and it was sung with 
 words adapted to the occasion by some good rebel 
 friends of mine on our first social meeting after the 
 war." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 6l 
 
 J8- CROMWELL'S BATTLE PSALMS. 
 
 The most famous of the Battle Songs of the Ironsides 
 was the Sixty-eighth Psalm, which was sung before fight- 
 ing, and the One Hundred and Seventeenth, which they 
 sang after victory. They had no need for anything to 
 sing after defeat, for they never were defeated. 
 
 The Sixty-eighth was a famous warrior-psalm long 
 before Cromwell's time. It was the favourite of Charle- 
 magne. Savonarola chanted it as he trod the dolorous 
 way to the stake. It was called by the Huguenots the 
 Song of Battles, and was raised by them in many a des- 
 perate fight. The most notable occasion on which it was 
 sung by the Army of the Commonwealth was on the 
 morning of the Battle of Dunbar. Terrible indeed, in the 
 dim and misty morning, must have sounded the voices 
 of the Ironsides singing as they stood ready waiting for 
 the word to charge. This was probably the version 
 that they used : — 
 
 LET God arise, and scattered 
 let all his en'mies be ; 
 And let all those that do him hate 
 before his presence flee. 
 
 As smoke is driv'n, so drive thou them ; 
 
 as fire melts wax away, 
 Before God's face let wicked men 
 
 so perish and decay. 
 
 But let the righteous be glad : 
 
 let them before God's sight 
 Be very joyful : yea, let them 
 
 rejoice with all their might. 
 
 To God sing, to his name sing praise; 
 
 extol him with your voice, 
 That rides on heav'n, by his name 
 
 before his face rejoice. 
 
62 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 The One Hundred and Seventeenth Psalm was sung 
 after the victory was won, and became known thereafter 
 as the Dunbar Psalm. 
 
 When " the Scotch army, shivered to utter ruin, 
 rushes in tumultuous wreck,''" "the Lord General 
 made a halt, and sung the one hundred and seven- 
 teenth psalm, till our horse could gather for the chase." 
 " Hundred and seventeenth psalm," says Mr. Carlyle, 
 " at the foot of the Doon Hill ; there we uplift it, to the 
 tune of Bangor, or some still higher score, and roll it 
 strong and great against the sky " : — 
 
 OGIVE ye praise unto the Lord, 
 all nations that be ; 
 Likewise, ye people all, accord 
 his name to magnify. 
 
 For great to us-ward ever are 
 
 his loving-kindnesses : 
 His truth endures for evermore. 
 
 The Lord O do ye bless. 
 
 Doggerel, no doubt ; but who wo ild exchange that 
 rugged verse, sung from the hearts of the victors of 
 Dunbar, while the smoke of their powder was still 
 lying low over the dead, for the most mellifluous verse 
 whose melody charmed the ear of the critic, but never 
 stirred the mighty hearts of heroes ? 
 
 J9— GARIBALDI'S HYMN. 
 
 The Rev. H. R. Haweis, who probably is the best re- 
 pository of Garibaldian reminiscences among English- 
 speaking men, has been good enough to send me the 
 following notes on the way in which this famous hymn 
 helped the Italian struggle for national unity and inde- 
 pendence. Mr. Haweis writes : — 
 
 " Garibaldi's hymn, like so many other tunes and 
 stanzas, was composed by a comparatively obscure per- 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 63 
 
 son named Luigi Mercantini, and the music was com- 
 posed by Alessio Olivieri, of Genoa. I well remember 
 in i860 being told by an Italian how a friend of his had 
 taken him into a back shop in Venice for fear of the 
 Austrians, and played over to him the then unknown 
 tune, showing him the words to which it was to be sung, 
 and declaring that it would be likely to seize upon the 
 popular heart and ear and become the clarion of patri- 
 otic advance and victory. This turned out to be the 
 case. Throughout the length and breadth of Italy — 
 from '59 to '69, at all events — Garibaldi's hymn rang 
 out in every cafe, on every organ, at every social or 
 political gathering, and in every street throughout Italy. 
 It is lively and buoyant. Why it is called a hymn it is 
 difficult to say — it has a bounce and go about it which 
 suggests the irrepressible recklessness, fearlessness, and 
 audacious jollity of youth. It voiced young Italy's as- 
 pirations. The revolution was indeed the work chiefly 
 of boys with a few veterans at their backs. The 1000 
 of Marsala, the remnants of the Italian legion, formed 
 in South America and the defenders of Rome in 1848 
 
 — these were the iron-handed, golden-souled veterans 
 
 — and the Garibaldian armies were recruited from the 
 boys of Italy. Garibaldi's hymn suited them down to 
 the ground. It ranks with the Marseillaise as a revolu- 
 tionary inspirer, but it has a light-hearted joyousness 
 and a rollicking rush and devil-may-care slapdash about 
 it that the gloomier Marseillaise cannot lay claim to. I 
 shall never forget coming down one fresh autumn 
 morning from the Camaldoli hills above Naples and 
 meeting about one hundred Garibaldians in their red 
 shirts and muskets shouldered marching joyously up 
 hill — it was a few days after the battle of Volturno — 
 four trumpeters walked in front, blowing Garibaldi's 
 hymn to their hearts' content, whilst the young lithe 
 guerilleros (I don't think there could have been one over 
 twenty) seemed to step on air. I can recollect their 
 bright sunny faces and eyes glowing with happy enthu- 
 siasm even now — lack-a-day, 't is thirty -six years ago ! " 
 
64 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 SI scopron le tombe, si levano i morti, 
 I martiri nostri son tutti risorti ! 
 Le spade nel pugno, gli allori alle chiome, 
 La fiamma ed il nome d'ltalia sul cor ! 
 Veniamo ! Veniamo ! su, o giovani schiere ! 
 Su al vento per tutto le nostre bandiere ! 
 Su tutti col ferro, su tutti col foco, 
 Su tutti col foco d'ltalia nei cor. 
 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora ch'e l'ora, 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora, o stranier. 
 
 La terra dei fiori, dei suoni e dei carmi 
 Ritorni quai era la terra deH'arnii ! 
 Di cento catene ci avvinser la mano, 
 Ma ancor di Legnano sa i ferri brandir. 
 
 Bastone tedesco l'ltalia non doma, 
 
 Non crescon al giogo le stirpi di Roma ; 
 Piu Italia non vuole stranieri e tiranni, 
 Gia troppi son gli anni che dura il servir. 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora ch'e l'ora, 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora, o stranier. 
 
 Le case d'ltalia son fatte per noi, 
 
 £ Ik sul Danubio la casa de' tuoi ; 
 
 Tu i camoi ci guasti, tu il pane c'involi, 
 
 I nostri figliuoli per noi li vogliam. 
 
 Son l'Alpi e i due mari d'ltalia i confini, 
 
 Col carro di foco rompiam gli Apennini ; 
 Distrutto ogni segno di vecchia frontiera, 
 La nostra bandiera per tutto innalziam. 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora ch'e l'ora, 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora, o stranier. 
 
 Sien mute le lingue, sien pronte le braccia; 
 Soltanto al nimico volgiamo la faccia, 
 E tosto oltre i monti n'andra lo straniero, 
 Se tutta un pensiero l'ltalia sara. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 65 
 
 Non basta il trionfo di barbare spoglie, 
 Si chiudan ai ladri d'ltalia le soglie; 
 Le genti d'ltalia son tutte una sola, 
 Son tutte una sola le cento citta. 
 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora ch'e l'ora, 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora, o stranier. 
 
 Se ancora dell'Alpi tentasser gli spaldi, 
 II grido ctalFarmi dara Garibaldi ; 
 E s'arma alio squillo, che vien da Caprera, 
 Dei mille la schiera che l'Etna assalto. 
 
 E dietro alia rossa vanguardia dei bravi 
 Si muovon d'ltalia le tende e le navi ; 
 Gia ratto sull'orma del fido guerriero 
 L'ardente destriero Vittorio sprono. 
 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora ch'e l'ora, 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora, o stranier. 
 
 Per sempre e caduto degli empi l'orgoglio, 
 A dir-viva Italia-va il Re in Campidoglio, 
 La Senna e il Tamigi saluta ed onora 
 L'antica signora che torna a regnar. 
 
 Contenta del regno fra l'isole e i monti 
 Soltanto ai tiranni minaccia le fronli ; 
 Dovunque le genti percuota un tiranno 
 Suoi figli usciranno per terra e per mar. 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora ch'e l'ora, 
 Va fuora d'ltalia, va fuora, o stranier. 
 
 A friend has kindly sent me the following free trans- 
 lation of the first stanza: — 
 
 Uplifted the tombstones ! 
 
 Our martvrs arisen ! 
 
 Brave Italy's bravest 
 
 Have leapt from Death's prison ! 
 
 5 
 
66 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Fair bays on each forehead, 
 Each hand with its steel, 
 Hearts beating and burning 
 For Italy's weal. 
 
 Up ! up ! oh my brothers, 
 And chase from our land 
 The foeman, the alien, 
 With sword and with brand ! 
 Wave, wave your bright banners 
 The while glad and high 
 Throb hearts that so proudly 
 For Italy die ! 
 
 EL — Ancient Hymns. 
 
 20 -THE MAGNIFICAT. 
 
 The song of the Virgin Mary on learning that she was 
 to be the mother of the Messiah takes precedence of 
 all other hymns of the Church. There is a curiously 
 persistent note in it, of the exaltation of the humble, 
 and the humiliation of the powerful, that must have 
 sounded ill in the ears of the monarchs and nobles and 
 champions of the constituted order. It is peculiarly 
 fitting that this revolutionary paean of gratitude should 
 be adopted by the Church from the lips of a woman, 
 for, as any one may discover who cares to look facts in 
 the face, or even to read such a text-book as Mill's 
 "Subjection of Women," woman, after all these cen- 
 turies, is still everywhere awaiting the fulfilment of the 
 promise — " deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit 
 humiles." 
 
 MY soul doth magnify the Lord, 
 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my 
 Saviour. 
 
 For he hath regarded the low estate of his hand- 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 6/ 
 
 maiden : for, behold, from henceforth all genera- 
 tions shall call me blessed. 
 
 For he that is mighty hath done to me great 
 things ; and holy is his name. 
 
 And his mercy is on them that fear him from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 He hath showed strength with his arm ; he hath 
 scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 
 
 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 
 and exalted them of low degree. 
 
 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and 
 the rich he hath sent empty away. 
 
 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remem- 
 brance of his mercy ; 
 
 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to 
 his seed for ever. 
 
 M 
 
 meo. 
 
 AGNIFICAT : anima mea Dominum. 
 
 Et exultavit spiritus meus : in Deo salutari 
 
 Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ecce 
 enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes. 
 
 Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: et sanc- 
 tum nomen ejus. 
 
 Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies : 
 timentibus eum. 
 
 Fecit potentiam in brachio suo : dispersit super- 
 bos mente cordis sui. 
 
 Deposuit potentes de sede : et exaltavit humiles. 
 
 Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit 
 inanes. 
 
 Suscepit Israel puerum suum : recordatus mis- 
 ericordiae suae. 
 
 Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros : Abraham, et 
 semini ejus in saecula. 
 
 Gloria Patri, etc. 
 
68 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 2 J— GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. 
 
 After the Magnificat, this may properly be regarded 
 as the earliest Christian hymn. It is built up as from 
 a foundation upon the angels' song which the shepherds 
 heard who were keeping their flocks by night when 
 Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea. But the an- 
 them that sufficed for the angels at the Nativity was 
 soon found inadequate for the Church that worshipped 
 the Crucified. Hence the evolution of the Gloria, 
 which by the end of the fifth century had been de- 
 veloped into the hymn which, with variations in one 
 clause, is used alike by Greek, Latin, and Protestant 
 believers all over the world. The text is here given in 
 Latin and English. The Greeks say instead of " O 
 Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ," '* Lord, the 
 only begotten Son, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit." 
 
 GLORY be to God on high, and in earth peace, 
 good-will towards men. 
 
 We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship 
 Thee, we glorify Thee. 
 
 We give thanks to Thee, for Thy great glory. 
 
 O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father 
 Almighty, 
 
 O Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, 
 
 O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, 
 
 That takest away the sins of the world, have 
 mercy upon us. 
 
 Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have 
 mercy upon us. 
 
 Thou that takest away the sins of the world, 
 receive our prayer. 
 
 Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the 
 Father, have mercy upon us. 
 
 For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord. 
 
 Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art 
 most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 69 
 
 ("^LORIA in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax ho- 
 3 minibus bonae voluntatis. 
 
 Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. 
 Glorificamus te. 
 
 Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam 
 tuam. [potens. 
 
 Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omni- 
 
 Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe. 
 
 Domine Deus. Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. 
 
 Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. 
 
 Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem 
 nostram. 
 
 Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. 
 
 Quoniam tu solus sanctus. Tu solus Dominus. 
 
 Tu solus altissimus Jesu Christe. Cum sancto 
 Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. 
 
 This hymn is believed to have been the morning 
 song of the Christians in primitive days, — the hymn 
 sung by the martyrs as the day dawned, on which they 
 were to be butchered, to make a Roman holiday. For 
 nearly nineteen centuries it spans the history of our 
 race with a ray of melody and light. This hymn has 
 helped indeed. 
 
 22 — NUNC DIMITTIS. 
 
 Simeon's song of thankfulness on seeing the infant 
 Christ has been frequently paraphrased, but the non- 
 metrical version is most used and best known. 
 
 LORD, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in 
 peace : according to Thy word. 
 For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. 
 Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all 
 people. 
 
 A light to lighten the Gentiles : and the glory of 
 Thy people Israel. 
 
 Glory be to the Father, etc. 
 
70 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Ant. Salva nos. 
 
 NUNC dimittis servum tuum, Domine :* secun- 
 dum verbum tuum in pace. 
 
 Quia viderunt oculi mei * salutare tuum. 
 
 Quod parasti * ante faciem omnium populorum. 
 
 Lumen ad revelationem gentium,* et gloriam 
 plebis tuae Israel. 
 
 Gloria Patri. 
 
 Ant. Salva nos, Domine, vigilantes, custodi nos 
 dormientes : ut vigilemus cum Christo, et requies- 
 camus in pace. 
 
 23 — THE CANDLE-LIGHT HYMN. 
 
 The Evening Hymn, the Phos Hilaron, quoted by St. 
 Basil in the fourth century, dates from the first or sec- 
 ond century. As the Gloria was the Christian's salute 
 to the rising sun, so the Phos Hilaron was sung at 
 eventide when the time of the lighting of lamps had 
 come. It is still used as the Vesper Hymn in the Greek 
 churches. The following is Keble's translation : — 
 
 HAIL, gladdening Light, of His pure glory 
 pour'd 
 Who is the Immortal Father, Heavenly, Blast, 
 Holiest of Holies, Jesus Christ, our Lord. 
 Now we are come to the sun's hour of rest, 
 The lights of evening round us shine, 
 We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Divine. 
 
 Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung 
 
 With undefined tongue, 
 Son of our God, Giver of life, Alone ! 
 Therefore in all the world Thy glories, Lord, they 
 own. Amen. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 71 
 
 24 — THE HYMN OF THE CATACOMBS, 
 
 Those who have wandered through any part of the ten 
 miles of the labyrinth known as the Catacombs of Calix- 
 tus, which are said to contain the remains of a million 
 Christian dead, will be familiar with the constant, almost 
 infantile, persistence of the reference to Christ in inscrip- 
 tions. Whether it is the dove, or the palm, or the fish, 
 or the sacred monogram, it is always Jesus Christ, Son 
 of God, Saviour. They had fallen in love with Jesus 
 of Nazareth, had these hunted Christians, and they 
 carved his name everywhere, or his symbol, as the 
 lovelorn Orlando chiselled Rosalind's name on the 
 bark of the trees in the forest of Ardennes. From 
 these early days, when for the first time the human 
 heart felt the fresh gush of passionate love for the 
 Divine, made Man in order to become the Heavenly 
 Bridegroom of his Spouse of the Church, there has come 
 down to us little in the shape of authentic song save 
 that hymn which, versified as the hymn " Shepherd of 
 Tender Youth/' is still to be heard in our churches to- 
 day. But how different the circumstances of the mod- 
 ern congregation and those under which the little flock 
 of the persecuted mustered in the black subterranean 
 City of the Dead to enjoy the ecstasy of singing to Him 
 whose love made the horrors of the torture-chamber 
 and the shame of the Colosseum sweeter than all the 
 honours and glories of the world. " Nowhere," says 
 Zola, in his masterly picture of Rome, " had there been 
 more intimate and touching life than in these buried 
 cities of the unknown lowly dead, so gentle, so beautiful, 
 and so chaste. And a mighty breath had formerly come 
 from them, the breath of a new humanity destined to 
 renew the world. With the advent of meekness, con- 
 tempt of the flesh, relinquishment of terrestrial joys, 
 and a passion for death, which delivers and opens the 
 portals of Paradise, a new world had begun." And 
 this ancient hymn, sole survivor of many such which 
 
c 
 
 72 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 helped them to the hidden source of their strength, 
 still, after all these centuries, exhales somewhat of the 
 mystic fragrance which lingered around that mighty 
 love by which they overcame the world. The following 
 is the translation of Dean Plumptre : — 
 
 k URB for the stubborn steed, 
 Making its will give heed ; 
 Wing that directest right 
 The wild bird's wandering flight ; 
 Helm for the ships that keep 
 Their pathway o'er the deep ; 
 Shepherd of sheep that own 
 Their Master on the Throne, 
 Stir up Thy children meek 
 With guileless lips to speak, 
 In hymn and song Thy praise, 
 Guide of their infant ways. 
 O King of saints, O Lord, 
 Mighty, all-conquering Word; 
 Son of the highest God 
 Wielding His wisdom's rod ; 
 Our stay when cares annoy, 
 Giver of endless joy ; 
 Of all our mortal race 
 Saviour of boundless grace, 
 
 O Jesus, hear! 
 Shepherd and Sower Thou, 
 Now helm, and bridle now, 
 Wing for the heavenward flight 
 Of flock all pure and bright, 
 Fisher of men, the blest, 
 Out of the world's unrest, 
 Out of Sin's troubled sea 
 Taking us, Lord, to Thee; 
 Out of the waves of strife, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 73 
 
 With bait of blissful life, 
 With choicest fish, good store, 
 Drawing Thy nets to shore. 
 Lead us, O Shepherd true, 
 Thy mystic sheep, we sue, 
 Lead us, O holy Lord, 
 Who from Thy sons dost ward, 
 With all-prevailing charm, 
 Peril, and curse, and harm : 
 O path where Christ has trod, 
 O Way that leads to God, 
 O Word, abiding aye, 
 O endless light on high, 
 Mercy's fresh-springing flood. 
 Worker of all things good, 
 O glorious life of all 
 That on their Maker call, 
 
 Christ Jesus, hear; 
 O milk of Heaven, that prest 
 From full o'erflowing breast 
 Of her, the mystic Bride, 
 Thy wisdom hath supplied ; 
 Thine infant children seek, 
 With baby lips, all weak. 
 Filled with the Spirit's dew 
 From that dear bosom true, 
 Thy praises pure to sing, 
 Hymns meet for Thee, our King, 
 
 For Thee, the Christ; 
 Our holy tribute this, 
 For wisdom, life and bliss, 
 Singing in chorus meet, 
 Singing in concert sweet, 
 The Almighty Son. 
 We, heirs of peace unpriced, 
 
74 pYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 We, who are born in Christ, 
 A people pure from stain, 
 Praise we our God again, 
 
 Lord of our Peace ! 
 
 25 — " ART THOU WEARY, ART THOU 
 
 LANGUID?" 
 
 The Monastery of Mar Saba, founded before the He- 
 gira of Mohammed, still stands on its ancient rock 
 looking down upon the valley of the Kedron. Forty 
 monks still inhabit the cells which cluster round the 
 grave of St. Sabas, the founder, who died in 532, and 
 still far below in the depths of the gorge the wolves 
 and the jackals muster at morning light to eat the offal 
 and refuse which the monks fling down below. In this 
 monastic fortress lived in the eighth century a monk 
 named Stephen, who, before he died, was gifted from 
 on high with the supreme talent of embodying in a 
 simple hymn so much of the essence of the Divine life 
 that came to the world through Christ Jesus that in 
 this last decade of the nineteenth century no hymn 
 more profoundly touches the heart and raises the spir- 
 its of Christian worshippers. Dr. Neale paraphrased 
 this song of Stephen the Sabaite, so that this strain, 
 originally raised on the stern ramparts of an outpost 
 of Eastern Christendom already threatened with sub 
 mersion beneath the flood of Moslem conquest, rings 
 with ever increasing volume of melodious sound through 
 the whole wide world to-day. 
 
 RT thou weary, art thou languid, 
 Art thou sore distrest? 
 " Come to Me," saith One, " and coming, 
 Be at rest." 
 
 A ] 
 
 Hath He marks to lead me to Him, 
 
 If He be my guide ? 
 " In His feet and hands are wound-prints, 
 And His side." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 75 
 
 Is there diadem, as monarch, 
 
 That His brow adorns? 
 "Yes, a crown, in very surety, 
 But of thorns ! " 
 
 If I find Him, if I follow, 
 
 What His guerdon here? 
 " Many a sorrow, many a labour, 
 Many a tear." 
 
 If I still hold closely to Him, 
 
 What hath He at last? 
 " Sorrow vanquished, labour ended, 
 Jordan past ! " 
 
 If I ask Him to receive me, 
 
 Will He say me nay ? 
 " Not till earth, and not till heaven, 
 Pass away ! " 
 
 Finding, following, keeping, struggling, 
 
 Is He sure to bless? 
 "Angels, prophets, martyrs, virgins, 
 Answer, Yes ! " 
 
 Tune — " Stephanos." 
 
 Mr. Duffield reminds us of a reference to a verse of 
 this hymn which affords a bizarre but suggestive con- 
 trast to the life in the austere and secluded monastery 
 where it first was given to the world. Mr. Duffield 
 says : — 
 
 " Miss Sally Pratt McLean has used this hymn in her 
 story of ' Cape Cod Folks ' (p. 300). It is the duef 
 which George Oliver and Benny Cradlebow sing to- 
 gether as they are mending the boat just before Cradle- 
 bow's heroic death. Captain Arkell tells of it thus : 
 
 " ' By and by, him and George Oliver struck up a 
 song. I 've heern 'em sing it before, them two. As 
 nigh as I calc'late, it 's about finding rest in Jesus, 
 
7 6 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 and one a askin' questions, all fa'r and squar', to know 
 the way and whether it 's goin' to lead thar straight or 
 not, and the other answerin'. And he was a tinkerin' 
 'way up on the foremast. George Oliver and the rest 
 of us was astern, and I '11 hear to my dyin' day how his 
 voice came a floatin' down to us thar, — chantin' like it 
 was, — cl'ar and fearless and slow. So he asks, for 
 findin' Jesus, ef thar 's any marks to foller by ; and 
 George, he answers about them bleedin' nail-prints, 
 and the great one in his side. So then that voice 
 comes down agin, askin' if thar 's any crown, like 
 other kings, to tell him by ; and George, he answers 
 straight about that crown o' thorns. Then says that 
 other voice, floatin' so strong and cl'ar, and if he gin 
 up all and follered, what should he have ? What how ? 
 So George, he sings deep o' the trial and the sorrowin'. 
 But that other voice never shook 'a askin', and wmat if 
 he helt to him to the end, what then should it be — 
 what then ? George Oliver answers : u Forevermore, 
 the sorrowin' ended — Death gone over." Then he 
 sings out, like his mind was all made up, " And if he 
 undertook it, would he likely be turned away ? " " And 
 it 's likelier," George answers him, " that heaven and 
 earth shall pass." So I '11 hear it to my dyin' day, his 
 voice a floatin' down to me from up above thar, askin' 
 them questions that nobody could ever answer like, so 
 soon he answered 'em for himself.' " 
 
 26— VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. 
 
 For nine hundred years this hymn has been in constant 
 use in the West. It has been ascribed to Charlemagne, 
 St. Ambrose, and Gregory the Great. It has been trans- 
 lated by Dryden, Luther, Bishop Cosin, and innumer- 
 able other singers. Ekkehard, the Monk of St. Gall, 
 says that the groaning of a water-wheel, whose supply 
 of water was running short, suggested to Notker, who 
 was lying sleepless in an adjoining dormitory, the pos- 
 sibility of setting its melancholy moaning to music. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 77 
 
 He succeeded so well that he produced the Sequence 
 on the Holy Spirit, which, being sent by him to Charles 
 (the Fat, not Charlemagne), led the latter to compose 
 the " Veni Creator Spiritus." A strange legend as to 
 the origin of a hymn that, among its other achieve- 
 ments, has the singular good fortune of being the only 
 hymn in the English Prayer Book. Bishop Cosin's 
 version of the hymn has been used for over two hun- 
 dred years at the Consecration of Anglican bishops 
 and priests. In the Roman Church it was appointed 
 for use at the Creation of a Pope, the Election of a 
 Bishop, the Coronation of Kings, and the Elevation and 
 Translation of Saints. The Latin version is that now in 
 use in the Roman Church. It differs slightly — chiefly 
 in the order of the words — from the original version. 
 
 COME, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, 
 And lighten with celestial fire ; 
 Thou the anointing Spirit art, 
 Who dost Thy sevenfold gifts impart : 
 Thy blessed unction from above 
 Is comfort, life, and fire of love. 
 
 Enable with perpetual light 
 The dullness of our blinded sight : 
 Anoint and cheer our soiled face 
 With the abundance of Thy grace : 
 Keep far our foes, give peace at home ; 
 Where Thou art Guide no ill can come. 
 
 Teach us to know the Father, Son, 
 And Thee, of Both, to be but One ; 
 That through the ages all along 
 This may be our endless song, 
 
 Praise to Thy eternal merit, 
 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
 
 Amen. 
 
78 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 \7"ENI, Creator Spiritus, 
 Mentes tuorum visita, 
 Imple superna gratia, 
 Quae tu creasti pectora. 
 
 Qui diceris Paraclitus, 
 Altissimi donum Dei, 
 Fons vivus, ignis, charitas, 
 Et spiritalis unctio. 
 
 Tu septiformis munere, 
 Digitus Paternae dexterae, 
 Tu rite promissum Patris, 
 Sermone ditans guttura. 
 
 Accende lumen sensibus, 
 Infunde amorem cordibus, 
 Infirma nostri corporis, 
 Virtute firmans perpeti. 
 
 Hostem repellas longius, 
 Pacemque dones protinus ; 
 Ductore sic te praevio 
 Vitemus omne noxium. 
 
 Per te sciamus da Patrem, 
 Noscamus atque Filium, 
 Teque utriusque Spiritum 
 Credamus omni tempore. 
 
 Tune — " Veni Creator, No. i." 
 
 The Primate of Scotland says that he uses this hymn 
 more than daily, and loves it beyond all others. Pro- 
 fessor Barrett, speaking of his own experience, says : 
 " There is no hymn which dwells so vividly in my 
 memory as this, nor do I think any has been more 
 stirring and helpful to me." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 79 
 
 IV. — Times and Seasons* 
 
 27 — CHRISTMAS. ADESTE FIDELES. 
 
 The use of this Christmas hymn only dates from the 
 close of the last century, although it may have been 
 composed a century earlier. 
 
 OCOME, all ye faithful, 
 Joyful and triumphant, 
 O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem ; 
 
 Come and behold Him 
 
 Born, the King of Angels ; 
 
 O come, let us adore Him, 
 
 O come, let us adore Him, 
 O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord- 
 God of God, 
 
 Light of Light, 
 Lo ! He abhors not the Virgin's womb; 
 
 Very God, 
 
 Begotten, not created ; 
 
 O come, let us adore Him, etc. 
 
 Sing, choirs of Angels, 
 Sing in exultation, 
 Sing, all ye citizens of Heav'n above : 
 " Glory to God 
 In the highest ; " 
 O come, let us adore Him, etc. 
 
 Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, 
 Born this happy morning ; 
 Jesu, to Thee be glory given ; 
 Word of the Father, 
 Now in flesh appearing; 
 
80 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 O come, let us adore Him, 
 O come, let us adore Him, 
 O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. 
 Amen. 
 
 ADESTE, fiddles, 
 Laeti triumphdntes ; 
 Venite, venite in Bethlehem ; 
 Ndtum videte *• 
 Regem angeldrum ; 
 Venite adore'mus, 
 Venite adore'mus, 
 Venite adore'mus Dominum. 
 
 Deum de Deo, 
 Lumen de Lumine, 
 Gestant puellae viscera : 
 Deum veVum, 
 Genitum non fdctum : 
 Venite adore'mus, etc. 
 
 Cantet nunc Io 
 Chorus angel6rum ; 
 Cantet nunc aula ccele'stium, 
 Gloria in excelsis Deo: 
 Venite adore'mus, etc. 
 
 Ergo qui ndtus 
 Die hodierna, 
 Jesu, Tibi sit gl<5ria : 
 Patris aeterni 
 Verbum caro factum : 
 Venite adordmus, etc. 
 
 Tune — "Adeste Fideles." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 8 1 
 
 28 — CHRISTMAS. HARK! THE HERALD 
 
 ANGELS SING. 
 
 This familiar Christmas hymn was originally written, 
 " Hark how all the welkin rings," as is shown within 
 brackets, and also in the second verse there is a 
 change. It is printed at the end of the Book of 
 Common Prayer, and is the only Wesleyan hymn thus 
 favoured. Both the hymn and the tune are insepa- 
 rably associated with the English Christmas. 
 
 HARK ! the herald angels sing, — 
 Glory to the new-born King; 
 [Hark how all the welkin rings, 
 " Glory to the King of kings,] 
 Peace on earth, and mercy mild, 
 God and sinners reconciled ! " 
 
 Joyful, all ye nations, rise, 
 
 Join the triumph of the skies ; 
 
 With the angelic host proclaim, 
 
 Christ is born in Bethlehem. 
 
 [Universal Nature, say, 
 
 " Christ the Lord is born to-day !"] 
 
 Christ, by highest heaven adored, 
 Christ, the everlasting Lord, 
 Late in time behold Him come, 
 Offspring of a virgin's womb. 
 
 Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, 
 Hail, the Incarnate Deity ! 
 Pleased as man with men to appear, 
 Jesus, our Immanuel here ! 
 
 Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace ! 
 Hail, the Sun of Righteousness ! 
 Light and life to all He brings, 
 Risen with healing in His wings. 
 
82 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Mild He lays His glory by, 
 Born, that man no more may die, 
 Born, to raise the sons of earth, 
 Born, to give them second birth. 
 
 Come, Desire of Nations, come, 
 Fix in us Thy humble home ; 
 Rise, the woman's conquering Seed, 
 Bruise in us the Serpent's head. 
 
 Now display Thy saving power, 
 Ruined nature now restore ; 
 Now in mystic union join 
 Thine to ours, and ours to Thine. 
 
 Adam's likeness, Lord, efface, 
 Stamp Thy image in its place ; 
 Second Adam from above, 
 Reinstate us in Thy love. 
 
 Let us Thee, though lost, regain, 
 Thee, the Life, the Heavenly Man: 
 Oh ! to all Thyself impart, 
 Formed in each believing heart. 
 
 29 — LENT, MISERERE. 
 
 The penitential psalm (the fifty-first), attributed to 
 David after his sin with Bathsheba, is, perhaps, of all 
 the psalms in the Psalter, that which has helped men 
 most. Mr. Marson says, in his " Psalms at Work " : 
 " None of the other psalms have had half the effect 
 upon men's minds that this one has had. It has a 
 library of its own." It was the favourite of Aldhelm 
 in the eighth century and of Keble in the nineteenth, 
 
 HAVE mercy upon me, O God, according to 
 thy lovingkindness ; according unto the 
 multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my trans- 
 gressions. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 33 
 
 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and 
 cleanse me from my sin. 
 
 For I acknowledge my trangressions ; and my 
 sin is ever before me. 
 
 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done 
 this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified 
 when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 
 
 Behold I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did 
 my mother conceive me. 
 
 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; 
 and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know 
 wisdom. 
 
 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; 
 wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
 
 Make me to hear joy and gladness ; that the 
 bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 
 
 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all 
 mine iniquities. 
 
 Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew 
 a right spirit within me. 
 
 Cast me not away from thy presence ; and take 
 not thy holy spirit from me. 
 
 Restore unto me the joy of my salvation ; and 
 uphold me with thy free spirit. 
 
 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; and 
 sinners shall be converted unto thee. 
 
 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou 
 God of my salvation ; and my tongue shall sing 
 aloud of thy righteousness. 
 
 O Lord, open thou my lips ; and my mouth shall 
 show forth thy praise. 
 
 For thou desirest not sacrifice ; else would I give 
 it ; thou delightest not in burnt offering. 
 
 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a 
 broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not 
 despise. 
 
84 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build 
 thou the walls of Jerusalem. 
 
 Then shalt thou be pleased with f*»e sacrifices of 
 righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt 
 offering ; then shall they offer bullocks upon thine 
 altar. 
 
 MISERERE mei, Deus : secundum magnam 
 misericdrdiam tuam. 
 
 Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuclrum : 
 dele iniquitdtem meam. 
 
 Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea : et a peccato 
 meo munda me. 
 
 Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco : et 
 pecccitum meum contra me est semper. 
 
 Tibi soli peccaVi, et malum coram te feci : ut 
 justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum 
 judicaris. 
 
 Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum : et in 
 peccatis concepit me mater mea. 
 
 Ecce enim, veritatem dilexisti : in certa et occulta 
 sapientiae tuae, manifestdsti mihi. 
 
 Asperges me hyssdpo, et mundabor : lavdbis me, 
 et super nivem dealbdbor. 
 
 Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam : et 
 exultdbunt ossa humiliata. 
 
 Averte- faciem tuam a peccatis meis : et omnes 
 iniquitates meas dele. 
 
 Cor mundum crea in me, Deus : et spiritum 
 rectum innova in visceribus meis. 
 
 Ne projicias me a fdcie tua : et Spiritum sanctum 
 tuum ne auferas a me. 
 
 Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui : et spiritu 
 principali confirma me. 
 
 Docdbo iniquos vias tuas : et impii ad te con- 
 vertentur. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 85 
 
 Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus saliitis * 
 meae: et exultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam. 
 
 Domine, ldbia mea ape'ries : et os meum annun- 
 tiabit laudem tuam. 
 
 Ouoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem, 
 utique : holocaustis non delectaberis. 
 
 Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus : cor con- 
 tritum et humilidtum, Deus, non despicies. 
 
 Benigne, fac, Ddmine, in bona voluntate tua 
 Sion : ut aedificentur muri Jerusalem. 
 
 Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, 
 et holocausta : tunc imponent super altare tuum - 
 vitulos. 
 
 Gloria Patri, etc. 
 
 Dr. Ker, writing on the same theme in " The Psalms 
 in History," says : " It was sung by George Wishart 
 and his friends the night he was taken prisoner, to be 
 afterwards burned. It was read to Lady Jane Grey and 
 her husband, Guildford Dudley, when they were exe- 
 cuted together, August 22, 1553 — read to her in Latin, 
 and repeated by her in English. It was also read at 
 Norfolk's execution a few years later. For a long 
 period in the Middle Ages, and after the Reformation, 
 it was the Miserere, the last cry for mercy sung or 
 heard by those who were about to step into the presence 
 of the Judge. Most of the Huguenots made it their 
 death-song." 
 
 30 — GOOD FRIDAY. STABAT MATER. 
 
 This most pathetic hymn of the Middle Ages is not so 
 well known among Protestants as it ought to be. " The 
 vividness with which it pictures the weeping mother at 
 the Cross, its tenderness, its beauty of rhythm, its melo- 
 dious double rhymes, and its impressiveness when sung 
 either to the fine plain song melody or in the noble 
 compositions which many of the great masters of music 
 have set to it, go far to justify the place it has long held 
 in the Roman Catholic Church." 
 
86 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 It dates in its present form from about 1150. It has 
 been attributed to four Popes, to St. Bernard, and 
 others, but was really written by Jacopone, Jacobus de 
 Benedictis. The Flagellants used it to help them to bear 
 the lashes which they inflicted on each other as they 
 wandered from town to town in the fourteenth century. 
 It has been translated seventy-eight times into German, 
 and many times into every other language. It has 
 been set to music by Palestrina, Pergolesi, Haydn, 
 Rossini, and Dvorak. It has been Protestantised by 
 mutilation in Hymns Ancient and Modern. I give here 
 the Latin and English versions from the Roman Catho« 
 lie Parochial Hymn-Book. 
 
 AT the cross her station keeping, 
 Stood the mournful mother weeping 
 Close to Jesus to the last ; 
 Through her heart His sorrow sharing, 
 All His bitter anguish bearing, 
 
 Now at length the sword had passed. 
 
 Oh, how sad and sore distressed 
 Was that Mother highly blessed 
 
 Of the sole-begotten One ! 
 Christ above in torment hangs, 
 She beneath beholds the pangs 
 
 Of her dying glorious Son. 
 
 Is there one who would not weep, 
 Whelmed in miseries so deep, 
 
 Christ's dear Mother to behold? 
 Can the human heart refrain 
 From partaking in her pain, 
 
 In that Mother's pain untold? 
 
 Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, 
 She beheld her tender child 
 All with bloody scourges rent, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 For the sins of His own nation, 
 Saw Him hang in desolation, 
 Till His spirit forth He sent. 
 
 O thou Mother ! fount of love ! 
 Touch my spirit from above, 
 
 Make my heart with thine accord ; 
 Make me feel as thou hast felt ; 
 Make my soul to glow and melt 
 
 With the love of Christ my Lord. 
 
 Holy Mother ! pierce me through ; 
 In my heart each wound renew 
 
 Of my Saviour crucified : 
 Let me share with thee His pain, 
 Who for all my sins was slain, 
 
 Who for me in torments died. 
 
 Let me mingle tears with thee, 
 Mourning Him who mourned for me. 
 
 All the days that I may live : 
 By the cross with thee to stay, 
 There with thee to weep and pray, 
 
 Is all I ask of thee to give. 
 
 Virgin of all virgins best, 
 Listen to my fond request : 
 
 Let me share thy grief divine ; 
 Let me, to my latest breath, 
 In my body bear the death 
 
 Of that dying Son of thine. 
 
 Wounded with His every wound, 
 Steep my soul till it hath swooned 
 
 In His very blood away: 
 Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, 
 Lest in flames I burn and die 
 
 In His awful judgment day. 
 
 V 
 
88 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Christ, when thou shalt call me hence, 
 Be Thy Mother my defence, 
 
 Be Thy cross my victory ; 
 While my body here decays, 
 May my soul Thy goodness praise, 
 
 Safe in Paradise with Thee. Amen. 
 
 STABAT Mater dolorosa 
 Juxta crucem lacrymosa, 
 Dum pendebat Filius, 
 Cujus animam gementem, 
 Contristatam, et dolentem, 
 Pertransivit gladius. 
 
 O quam tristis et afflicta 
 Fuit ilia benedicta 
 
 Mater Unigeniti. 
 Quae mcerebat, et dolebat, 
 Pia Mater, dum videbat 
 
 Nati pcenas inclyti. 
 
 Ouis est homo qui non fleret, 
 Matrem Christi si videret 
 
 In tanto supplicio ? 
 Quis non posset contristari, 
 Christi Matrem contemplari 
 
 Dolentem cum Filio ? 
 
 Pro peccatis suae gentis 
 Vidit Jesum in tormentis, 
 
 Et flagellis subditum. 
 Vidit suum dulcem Natum 
 Moriendo desolatum, 
 
 Dum emisit spiritual. 
 
 Eia Mater, fons amoris, 
 Me sentire vim doloris, 
 Fac, ut tecum lugeam. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 89 
 
 Fac ut ardeat cor meum 
 In amando Christum Deum, 
 Ut sibi complaceam. 
 
 Sancta Mater, istud agas, 
 Crucifixi fige plagas 
 
 Cordi meo valide. 
 Tui Nati vulnerati, 
 Tarn dignati pro me pati, 
 
 Poenas mecum divide. 
 
 Fac me tecum pie flere, 
 Crucifixo condolere, 
 
 Donee ego vixero. 
 Juxta Crucem tecum stare, 
 Et me tibi sociare 
 
 In planctu desidero. 
 
 Virgo virginum praeclara, 
 Mihi jam non sis amara ; 
 
 Fac me tecum plangere. 
 Fac ut portem Christi mortem, 
 Passionis fac consortem, 
 
 Et plagas recolere. 
 
 Fac me plagis vulnerari. 
 Fac me Cruce inebriari, 
 
 Et cruore Filii, 
 Flammis ne urar succensus, 
 Per te, Virgo, sim defensus 
 
 In die judicii. 
 
 Christe, cum sit hinc exire 
 Da per Matrem me venire 
 
 Ad palmam victoriae. 
 Quando corpus morietur, 
 Fac ut animae donetur 
 
 Paradisi gloria. Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Stabat Mater." 
 
90 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 When Sir Walter Scott lay dying, Lockhart, his son- 
 in-law, after saying that they could hear him muttering 
 some of the magnificent hymns of the Roman ritual, in 
 which he had always delighted, adds : " We very often 
 heard distinctly the cadence of the ' Dies Irae,' and I 
 think the very last stanza that we could make out was 
 the first of a still greater favourite, ' Stabat Mater 
 Dolorosa.'" 
 
 It is worthy of note that this poem, which holds all 
 but the highest place in the hymnody of the Catholic 
 Church, was composed by a man who, for his zeal for 
 reform, was thrown into jail by the ecclesiastical au- 
 thorities of his day. He lay in the dungeon to which he 
 had been consigned until the death of Pope Boniface 
 the Eighth, when he was released. 
 
 31— EASTER. CHRIST THE LORD IS 
 RISEN TO-DAY. 
 
 This hymn by Charles Wesley, set to Handel's " See 
 the Conquering Hero Comes," has long been accepted 
 as the best English Easter hymn. Yet it is curious to 
 note that John Wesley dropped it out of the Wesleyan 
 Hymn-Book in 1780, and it did not regain its place 
 there till 1830. 
 
 CHRIST, the Lord, is risen to-day, 
 Sons of men, and angels, say : 
 Raise your songs and triumphs high : 
 Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply. 
 
 Love's redeeming work is done : 
 Fought the fight, the battle won. 
 Lo ! our sun's eclipse is o'er : 
 Lo ! He sets in blood no more. 
 
 Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, 
 Christ hath burst the gates of hell; 
 Death, in vain, forbids Him rise; 
 Christ hath opened Paradise. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 91 
 
 Lives again our glorious King; 
 Where, O Death, is now thy sting? 
 Once He died our souls to save ; 
 Where 's thy victory, O Grave ? 
 
 Soar we now where Christ hath led, 
 Following our exalted Head:* 
 Made like Him. like Him we rise : 
 Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. 
 
 Hail! the Lord of earth and heaven: 
 Praise to Thee by both be given, 
 Thee we greet triumphant now: 
 Hail ! the Resurrection, Thou ! 
 
 King of glory, soul of bliss, 
 Everlasting life is this, 
 Thee to -know, Thy power to prove, 
 Thus to sing, and thus to love. 
 
 Tune — "Easter Hymn" (with Alleluias) from the 
 " Lyra Davidica." 
 
 32 — THOMAS AQUINAS'S HYMN. 
 
 A Catholic friend to whom I referred the question 
 as to the choice of hymns that have helped Catholics, 
 insisted that I ought to include two hymns of Thomas 
 Aquinas. The worst of Catholic hymns is that they 
 have always to be given both in Latin and in English ; 
 therefore, instead of two by Aquinas, I only give one. 
 
 SING, my tongue, the Saviour's glory, 
 Of His flesh the mystery sing; 
 Of the blood, all price exceeding, 
 Shed by our Immortal King, 
 Destined for the world's redemption, 
 From a noble womb to spring. 
 
92 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. ■ 
 
 Of a pure and spotless Virgin 
 Born for us on earth below, 
 He, as Man with man conversing, 
 Stayed the seeds of truth to sow ; 
 Then He closed in solemn order 
 Wondrously His life of woe. 
 
 On the night of that Last Supper, 
 Seated with His chosen band, 
 He the paschal victim eating, 
 First fulfils the Law's command; 
 Then, as food to all His brethren, 
 Gives Himself with His own hand. 
 
 Word made flesh, the bread of nature 
 By His Word to Flesh He turns; 
 Wine into His Blood He changes : — 
 What though sense no change discerns, 
 Only be the heart in earnest, 
 Faith her lesson quickly learns. 
 
 Down in adoration falling, 
 Lo ! the Sacred Host we hail : 
 Lo ! o'er ancient forms departing, 
 Newer rites of grace prevail: 
 Faith for all defects supplying, 
 Where the feeble senses fail. 
 
 To the Everlasting Father, 
 
 And the Son who reigns on high, 
 
 With the Holy Ghost proceeding 
 
 Forth from each eternally, 
 
 Be salvation, honour, blessing, 
 
 Might and endless majesty. Amen. 
 
 PANGE lingua gloridsi 
 Corporis myste'rium, 
 Sanguinisque pretiosi, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 93 
 
 Quern in mundi prelium 
 Fructus ventris generdsi . 
 Rex effudit gentium. 
 
 Nobis datus, nobis natus 
 Ex intacta Virgine, 
 Et in mundo conversatus, 
 Sparso verbi semine, 
 Sui moras incolatus, 
 Miro clausit ordine. 
 
 In supr^mae nocte ecenae, 
 Recumbens cum fratribus, 
 Observata lege plene 
 Cibis in legalibus, 
 Cibum turbae duodenae 
 Se dat suis manibus. 
 
 Verbum cdro panem verum 
 
 Verbo carnem efficit: 
 
 Fitque sanguis Christi merum: 
 
 Et si sensus deficit, 
 
 Ad firmandum cor sincerum 
 
 Sola fides sufficit. 
 
 Tantum ergo Saxramentum 
 
 Veneremur cernui : 
 
 Et antiquum documentum 
 
 Novo cedat ritui : 
 
 Praestet fides supplementum 
 
 Sensuum defectui. 
 
 Genitdri. Genitdque 
 Laus et Jubilatio, 
 Salus, honor, virtus quoque 
 Sit et benedictio : 
 Procedenti ab utrdque 
 Compar sit laudatio. Amen. 
 Tune — " Pange Lingua" (Ancient Plain Song). 
 
94 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 33— IN COMMEMORATION OF THE DEAD. 
 
 DE PROFUNDIS. 
 
 The One Hundred and Thirtieth Psalm, used by the 
 Roman Catholics on going and returning from funerals, 
 is declared by Jeremy Taylor to be the Psalm of Psalms 
 for the sick. It was the last psalm of Mary Queen of 
 Scots, and was quoted at the last by the judicious Rich- 
 ard Hooker. It was the peculiar delight of Luther, 
 whose version Aus tiefer noth schrei ich zu Dir was only 
 less popular than his " Ein' feste Burg." It was sung 
 at his funeral, and many a time it rallied him and his 
 followers in the midst of despair. It was the singing 
 of this psalm at St. Paul's that paved the way for the 
 conversion of John Wesley. 
 
 OUT of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O 
 Lord. 
 
 Lord, hear my voice; let Thine ears be attentive 
 to the voice of my supplications. 
 
 If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, 
 who shall stand? 
 
 But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou 
 mayest be feared. 
 
 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His 
 word do I hope. 
 
 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they 
 that watch for the morning; I say more than they 
 that watch for the morning. 
 
 Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord 
 there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 And He shall redeem Israel from all His iniquities. 
 
 DE profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Domine, 
 exaudi vocem meam. 
 Fiant aures tuae intendentes in vocem depreca- 
 tionis meae. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 95 
 
 Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine : Domine, 
 quis sustinebit? 
 
 Quia apud te propitiatio est : et propter legem 
 tuam sustinuite, Domine. 
 
 Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus: speravit 
 anima mea in Domino. 
 
 A custodia matutina usque ad noctem : speret 
 Israel in Domino. 
 
 Quia apud Dominum misericordia : et copiosa 
 apud eum redemptio. 
 
 Et ipse redimet Israel, ex omnibus iniquitatibus 
 ejus. 
 
 V. Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine. 
 
 R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. 
 
 V. Requiescant in pace. 
 
 R. Amen. 
 
 34 — THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 
 
 DIES IRAE. 
 
 This most famous and awful of all the hymns of the 
 Church is supposed to have been written in the thirteenth 
 century by Thomas of Celano, the friend and biographer 
 of St. Francis of Assisi. Originally used as an advent 
 hymn, it is now used as the sequence in the mass for the 
 dead. Goethe uses it in " Faust." Sir Walter Scott, who 
 muttered it on his death-bed, translated part of it in " The 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel." There are said to be one 
 hundred and sixty translations into English and ninety 
 into German. Archbishop Trench says : " It holds a 
 foremost place among the masterpieces of sacred song." 
 I quote Sir Walter Scott's translation, of which Mr. 
 Gladstone says: "I know nothing so sublime in any 
 portion of the sacred poetry of modern times." 
 
 THAT day of wrath, that dreadful day, 
 When heaven and earth shall pass away, 
 What power shall be the sinner's stay? 
 How shall he meet that dreadful day? 
 
gO HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 When, shriveling like a parched scroll, 
 The flaming heavens together roll; 
 When louder yet, and yet more dread, 
 Swells the high trump that wakes the dead : 
 
 Oh ! on that day, that wrathful day, 
 When man to judgment wakes from clay, 
 Be Thou the trembling sinner's stay, 
 Though heaven and earth shall pass away ! 
 
 Sir Walter did not carry his translation further. 
 
 Dr. Irons' translation was prompted by the effect pro- 
 duced by the singing of " Dies Irae," when the heart of 
 the Archbishop of Paris, who had been killed on the 
 barricades in 1848, was displayed in the choir of Notre 
 Dame. 
 
 DAY of wrath ! O day of mourning ! 
 See fulfilled the prophet's warning ! 
 Heaven and earth in ashes burning. 
 
 O what fear man's bosom rendeth ! 
 When from heaven the Judge descendeth, 
 On whose sentence all dependeth ! 
 
 Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth, 
 Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth, 
 All before the throne it bringeth. 
 
 Death is struck, and nature quaking, 
 
 All creation is awaking, 
 
 To its Judge an answer making. 
 
 Lo, the Book, exactly worded, 
 Wherein all hath been recorded ! 
 Thence shall judgment be awarded. 
 
 When the Judge His seat attaineth, 
 And each hidden deed arraigneth, 
 Nothing unavenged remaineth. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. gj 
 
 What shall I, frail man, be pleading, 
 Who for me be interceding, 
 When the just are mercy needing ? 
 
 King of majesty tremendous, 
 Who dost free salvation send us, 
 Fount of pity, then befriend us ! 
 
 Think, good Jesus, my salvation 
 Caused Thy wondrous incarnation ; 
 Leave me not to reprobation. 
 
 Faint and weary Thou hast sought me, 
 On the cross of suffering bought me ; 
 Shall such grace be vainly brought me? 
 
 Righteous Judge ! for sin's pollution 
 Grant Thy gift of absolution, 
 Ere that day of retribution. 
 
 Guilty, now I pour my moaning, 
 All my shame with anguish owning ; 
 Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning ! 
 
 Thou the sinful woman savedst ; 
 Thou the dying thief forgavest; 
 And to me a hope vouchsafest. 
 
 Worthless are my prayers and sighing, 
 Yet, good Lord, in grace complying, 
 Rescue me from fires undying. 
 
 With Thy favoured sheep O place me, 
 Nor among the goats abase me ; 
 But to Thy right hand upraise me. 
 
 While the wicked are confounded, 
 Doomed to flames of woe unbounded, 
 Call me with Thy saints surrounded. 
 
 7 
 
98 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Low I kneel, with heart submission: 
 See, like ashes, my contrition ; 
 Help me in my last condition. 
 
 Ah, that day of tears and mourning ! 
 From the dust of earth returning, 
 Man for judgment must prepare him; 
 
 Spare, O God, in mercy spare him ! 
 Lord all-pitying, Jesus blest, 
 Grant them Thine eternal rest ! 
 
 DIES irae, dies ilia 
 Solvet saeclum in favilla ; 
 Teste David cum Sybilla. 
 
 Quantus tremor est futurus 
 Quando Judex est venturus, 
 Cuncta stricte discussurus ! 
 
 Tuba mirum spargens sonum 
 Per sepulchra regionum, 
 Coget omnes ante thronum. 
 
 Mors stupebit et natura, 
 Cum resurget creatura, 
 Judicanti responsura. 
 
 Liber scriptus proferetur, 
 In quo totum continetur, 
 Unde mundus judicetur. 
 
 Judex ergo cum sedebit, 
 Quidquid latet, apparebit : 
 Nil inultum remanebit. 
 
 Quid sum miser tunc dicturus ? 
 Quern patronum rogaturus ? 
 Cum vix Justus sit securus. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 99 
 
 Rex tremendae majestatis, 
 Qui salvandos salvas gratis. 
 Salve me, fons pietatis. 
 
 Recordare, Jesu pie, 
 Quod sum causa tuae viae ; 
 Ne me perdas ilia die. 
 
 Quaerens me sedisti lassus, 
 Redemisti crucem passus; 
 Tantus labor non sit cassus. 
 
 Juste Judex ultionis, 
 Donum fac remissionis 
 Ante diem rationis. 
 
 Ingemisco tanquam reus, 
 Culpa rubet vultus meus, 
 Supplicanti parce Deus. 
 
 Qui Mariam absolvisti, 
 Et latronem exaudisti, 
 Mihi quoque spem dedisti. 
 
 Preces meae non sunt dignae, 
 Sed tu bonus fac benigne, 
 Ne perenni cremer igne. 
 
 Inter oves locum prassta, 
 Et ab hcedis me sequestra. 
 Statuens in parte dextra. 
 
 Confutatis maledictis, 
 Flammis acribus addictis, 
 Voca me cum benedictis. 
 
 Oro supplex et acclinis, 
 Cor contritum quasi cinis : 
 Gere curam mei finis. 
 
100 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Lacrymosa dies ilia, 
 Qua resurget ex favilla. 
 Judicandus homo reus, 
 Huic ergo parce Deus. 
 
 Pie Jesu Domine, 
 Dona eis requiem. 
 
 Tune — Dr. Dykes's " Dies Ir,e." 
 
 35 — LO! HE COMES. 
 
 The English hymn that supplies in the Protestant 
 world the place of the " Dies Irae," is the composite 
 hymn written by Cennick and C. Wesley. 
 
 LO ! He comes with clouds descending, 
 Once for favoured sinners slain; 
 Thousand thousand saints attending 
 Swell the triumph of His train : 
 
 Hallelujah! 
 Jesus comes, and comes to reign. 
 
 Every eye shall then behold Him, 
 
 Robed in dreadful majesty; 
 Those who set at nought and sold Him, 
 
 Pierced and nailed Him to the tree, 
 Deeply wailing, 
 
 Shall the true Messiah see. 
 
 Every island, sea, and mountain, 
 Heaven and earth shall flee away : 
 
 All who hate Him must, confounded, 
 Hear the summons of that day : — ■ 
 
 Come to judgment, 
 Come to judgment, come away ! 
 
 Now redemption, long expected, 
 See, in solemn pomp, appear ; 
 All His saints, by man rejected, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 01 
 
 Now shall meet Him in the air : 
 
 Hallelujah ! 
 See the day of God appear. , 
 
 Yea, Amen ; let all adore Thee, 
 
 High on Thine eternal throne : 
 Saviour, take the power and glory, 
 
 Make Thy righteous sentence known. 
 O come quickly, 
 
 Claim the kingdom for Thine own. 
 
 Tune — " Helmsley," or "St. Thomas." 
 
 There are many forms of this hymn, but the above is 
 as popular as any other. 
 
 V* — Litanies* 
 
 36— WHEN OUR HEADS ARE BOWED 
 WITH WOE. 
 
 Dean Milman's poem, on Christ's sympathy for hu- 
 man sorrows, was written for the sixteenth Sunday after 
 Trinity. It is based upon the narrative (in the Gospel 
 for that day) of Christ's miracle at Nain. As a Litany, 
 in Lent, and at burials, the hymn is largely used. The 
 refrain was originally written, " Gracious Son of Mary, 
 hear 1 " 
 
 WHEN our heads are bowed with woe, 
 When our bitter tears o'erflow, 
 When we mourn the lost, the dear, 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear! 
 
 Thou our throbbing flesh hast worn, 
 Thou our mortal griefs hast borne, 
 Thou hast shed the human tear ; 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear ! 
 
.L 
 
 102 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 When the solemn death-bell tolls 
 For our own departing souls, 
 When our final doom is near, 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear ! 
 
 Thou hast bowed the dying head, 
 Thou the blood of life hast shed, 
 Thou hast filled a mortal bier ; 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear ! 
 
 When the heart is sad within 
 With the thought of all its sin ; 
 When the spirit shrinks with fear ; 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear ! 
 
 Thou the shame, the grief, hast known — 
 Though the sins were not Thine own, 
 Thou hast deigned their load to bear; 
 Jesu, Son of Mary, hear! 
 
 Tune — "Redhead, No. 47." 
 
 37 — SAVIOUR, WHEN IN DUST TO THEE. 
 
 This hymn, written by Sir Robert Grant, at one time 
 Governor of Bombay under the East India Company, 
 has received the hall-mark of helpful usefulness in all 
 parts of the English-speaking world. 
 
 SAVIOUR, when in dust to Thee 
 Low we bow the adoring knee ; 
 When, repentant, to the skies 
 Scarce we lift our weeping eyes; 
 O ! by all Thy pains and woe, 
 Suffered once for man below, 
 Bending from Thy throne on high, 
 Hear our solemn litany. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 103 
 
 By Thy helpless infant years, 
 By Thy life of want and tears, 
 By Thy days of sore distress 
 In the savage wilderness, 
 By the dread mysterious hour 
 Of the insulting tempter's power; 
 Turn, O turn a favouring eye, 
 Hear our solemn litany. 
 
 By the sacred grief that wept 
 O'er the grave where Lazarus slept ; 
 By the boding tears that flowed 
 Over Salem's loved abode ; 
 By the anguished sigh that told 
 Treachery lurked within Thy fold ; 
 From Thy seat above the sky, 
 Hear our solemn litany. 
 
 By Thine hour of dire despair, 
 By Thine agony of prayer; 
 By the cross, the nail, the thorn, 
 Piercing spear and torturing scorn ; 
 By the gloom that veiled the skies 
 O'er the dreadful sacrifice, 
 Listen to our humble cry, 
 Hear our solemn litany. 
 
 By Thy deep expiring groan ; 
 By the sad sepulchral stone ; 
 By the vault whose dark abode 
 Held in vain the rising God ; 
 O ! from earth to heaven restored, 
 Mighty re-ascended Lord, 
 Listen, listen to the cry 
 Of our solemn litany. 
 
 Tune — "Miserere" or " Tichfield." 
 
104 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 38 — WHEN THE WEARY, SEEKING REST. 
 
 This Litany, by Horatius Bonar, is modelled upon the 
 prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. 
 
 WHEN the weary, seeking rest, 
 To thy goodness flee ; 
 When the heavy-laden cast 
 
 All their load on thee; 
 When the troubled, seeking peace, 
 
 On thy Name shall call ; 
 When the sinner, seeking life, 
 At thy feet shall fall: 
 Hear then in love, O Lord, the cry, 
 In heaven thy dwelling-place on high. 
 
 When the worldling, sick at heart, 
 
 Lifts his soul above ; 
 When the prodigal looks back 
 
 To his Father's love : 
 When the proud man, in his pride, 
 
 Stoops to seek thy face ; 
 When the burdened brings his guilt 
 
 To thy throne of grace ; 
 Hear then in love, O Lord, the cry, 
 In heaven thy dwelling-place on high. 
 
 When the stranger asks a home, 
 
 All his toils to end ; 
 When the hungry craveth food, 
 
 And the poor a friend; 
 When the sailor on the wave 
 
 Bows the fervent knee; 
 When the soldier on the field 
 
 Lifts his heart to thee : 
 Hear then in love, O Lord, the cry, 
 In heaven thy dwelling-place on high. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 105 
 
 When the man of toil and care 
 
 In the city crowd ; 
 When the shepherd on the moor 
 
 Names the name of God ; 
 When the learned and the high, 
 
 Tired of earthly fame, 
 Upon higher joys intent, 
 
 Name the blessed Name : 
 Hear then in love, O Lord, the cry, 
 In heaven thy dwelling-place on high. 
 
 When the child, with grave fresh lip, 
 
 Youth or maiden fair ; 
 When the aged, weak and grey, 
 
 Seek thy face in prayer ; 
 When the widow weeps to thee, 
 
 Sad and lone and low; 
 When the orphan brings to thee 
 All his orphan woe : 
 Hear then in love, O Lord, the cry, 
 In heaven thy dwelling-place on high. • 
 
 Tune — " Intercession." 
 
 Bishop Fraser of Manchester used to say that he 
 regarded this as the finest hymn in the English lan- 
 guage. His second favourite was " I heard the voice of 
 Jesus say." 
 
 VI. — Guidance. 
 
 39— LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT. 
 
 Of all the modern hymns praying for guidance, New- 
 man's famous three verses seem to be most popular, — 
 especially with people who have not accepted the lead- 
 ing of any church or theological authority. "The only 
 hymn of which words and music touched any chord in 
 me," wrote the Hon. Reginald Brett, " is Cardinal New- 
 
IOO HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 man's ' Lead, Kindly Light.' My opinion is that the 
 music and the congregational singing are the causes of 
 emotion, not the words of any hymn." Cardinal New- 
 man seems to have been very much of the same opinion. 
 He once remarked that he was deeply thankful for the 
 hold his hymn had obtained on the public ; but, he 
 added, "it is not the hymn but the tune that has gained 
 the popularity." This is undoubtedly true in certain 
 quarters. In the seance rooms of Chicago it was con- 
 stantly sung while the medium was waiting for mate- 
 rialization or other manifestations, chiefly on account of 
 the tune and the reference in the last verse to " angel 
 faces." But, on the other hand, the hymn has the first 
 place in the favour of such fervent Catholics as the 
 Marquis of Ripon and Mr. Justin McCarthy, and such 
 stout Protestants as Sir Evelyn Wood and a leading 
 member of Lord Rosebery's Cabinet. Mrs. Lynn 
 Linton (who may be said to represent the Agnostics) 
 and Mr. Thomas Hardy include it among their three 
 first favourites. The hymn was not at first included in 
 some Nonconformist hymnals. ' Mr. Richard Le Gal- 
 lienne, the poet, for instance, writes : " I was brought 
 up among the Baptists, who, if I remember aright, did 
 not in my time sing, ' Lead, Kindly Light,' which I 
 learned to love in a late period of church-going. That 
 seems to me," he adds, " if one had to choose, the finest 
 of all hymns, as it contains piety and poetry in the high- 
 est proportion." The Rev. Dr. Rigg, who may be 
 regarded as the best representative of the old school of 
 Wesleyans, writes as follows about the hymn : — 
 
 " ' Lead, Kindly Light,' is a great favourite with very 
 many, being a hymn that touches the heart and ex- 
 presses, more or less, the experience of many souls. 
 Certainly it is one which might often have expressed, 
 more or less distinctly, my own experience ; but I have 
 not found it a helpful hymn for deliverance, or a 
 strengthening hymn in distress and conflict. It con- 
 duces to resignation, it may be, but scarcely leads on to 
 victory. It is not in our Methodist collection, and I 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 107 
 
 could not say that it has been a helpful hymn to me 
 spiritually, though it is a touching poem, and in various 
 ways prophetic of the experience of its writer." 
 
 No doubt it is somewhat hard for the staunch Pro- 
 testant to wax enthusiastic over the invocation of a 
 " Kindly Light " which led its author straight into the 
 arms of the Scarlet Woman of the Seven Hills. Against 
 this may be put the fact that when the Parliament of 
 Religions met at Chicago, the representatives of every 
 creed known to man found two things on which they 
 were agreed. They could all join in the Lord's Prayer, 
 and they could all sing, " Lead, Kindly Light." This 
 hymn, Mrs. Drew tells me, and " Rock of Ages," are 
 two of Mr. Gladstone's " most favourite hymns." 
 
 LEAD, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom ; 
 Lead thou me on : 
 The night is dark, and I am far from home ; 
 
 Lead thou me on. 
 Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
 The distant scene ; one step enough for me. 
 
 I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou 
 
 Should'st lead me on : 
 I loved to choose and see my path ; but now, 
 
 Lead thou me on. 
 I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
 Pride ruled my will ; remember not past years. 
 
 So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still 
 
 Will lead me on, 
 O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 
 
 The night is gone, 
 And with the morn those angel faces smile, 
 Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. 
 
 Tune — " Lux Benigna." 
 
 " It seems to me rather singular," writes a correspond- 
 ent in Wales, " that verses so full of faith as ' Lead, 
 
108 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Kindly Light,' should be mentioned with such approval 
 by so many sceptics." He then sends me the following 
 attempt to express the views of an Agnostic, thoughtful, 
 humble, and reverent, but quite unable to attain to 
 Newman's standpoint. 
 
 The way is dark : I cry amid the gloom 
 
 For guiding light ; 
 A wanderer, none knows whence or what his doom, 
 
 I brave the night. 
 Fair scenes afar, as in a dream, I see, 
 Then seem to wake, and faith deserteth me. 
 
 In wondering awe I bend the knee before 
 
 The viewless Might ; 
 And all my heart in mute appeal I pour, 
 
 While straining sight 
 Peers o'er the waste, yet Him I cannot find 
 Whom seeks my soul : I grope as grope the blind. 
 
 But 'mid confusing phantom-lights I strive 
 
 To go aright : 
 A still small voice leads on, and love doth give 
 
 An inward might ; 
 And spite of sense, their lives a silent trust 
 That day will dawn, that man is more than dust. 
 
 R. M. L. 
 
 Another correspondent remarks : " To my mind 
 there is only a spirit of sadness, the blind groping in the 
 dark in loneliness and helplessness. Surely, this is not 
 the highest hope of a follower of Christ." 
 
 On the other hand, a Scotchman writes as follows : — 
 " My spiritual experience has been varied. I was bap- 
 tised in the Roman Catholic Church, brought up in 
 the Congregational Independent, and at length I was 
 fascinated by the history, energy, and enthusiasm of the 
 Wesleyans. I was at one time a local preacher in that 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 109 
 
 body with a view to the ministry. But my fervid fit of 
 exaltation was choked with the dusty facts of life, and 
 smouldered down into a dry indifference. I sought 
 nourishment in secularism and agnosticism, but found 
 vnone. I was in the slough of despond, at the centre of 
 indifference, with the everlasting ' no ' on my lips, when 
 1 Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom ' came to 
 my troubled soul like the voice of angels. Wandering 
 in the wilderness, ' o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and tor- 
 rent,' Newman's Hymn was to me a green oasis, a heal- 
 ing spring, the shadow of a great rock. Through the 
 light and power of God I was led to light and love in 
 Christ in a way I had never before known or experi- 
 enced." 
 
 A " Friend " writes : " If thou art sending to Mr. 
 Stead with regard to hymns, I should put for myself 
 rather high 'Lead, Kindly Light,' not only because of its 
 beautiful words, but also because of him who felt them 
 and wrote them. It is such an instruction that so great 
 an intellect found Avithout Christ nothing but an ' en- 
 circling gloom' — that so powerful a nature, a leader 
 among men, wished to be ' humble as a child and guided 
 where to go.' " 
 
 40 — GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT 
 JEHOVAH. 
 
 For those who have been brought up on the Bible and 
 who have never suffered the bewilderment of the Agnos- 
 tic, this famous Welsh hymn in its English dress is 
 worth a hundred " Lead, Kindly Lights." It was writ- 
 ten at the close of last century by William Williams, a 
 popular Calvinistic-Methodist evangelist and hymn- 
 writer. It was Richard Knill the missionary's favour- 
 ite hymn, and was constantly on his lips when dying. 
 The last verse has been the comfort of many a dying 
 Christian, and it has been sung and is still being sung 
 around death-beds, to the accompaniment of heart- 
 choking sobs and streaming tears. Here is a hymn 
 that has helped indeed. 
 
110 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 C^ UIDE me, O Thou Great Jehovah ! 
 J Pilgrim through this barren land : 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand. 
 
 Bread of heaven ! 
 Feed me till I want no more. 
 
 Open Thou the crystal fountain, 
 
 Whence the healing streams do flow : 
 
 Let the fiery, cloudy pillar 
 
 Lead me all my journey through : 
 Strong Deliverer ! 
 
 Be Thou still my strength and shield. 
 
 When I tread the verge of Jordan, 
 
 Bid my anxious fears subside : 
 Death of death, and hell's Destruction ! 
 Land me safe on Canaan's side ; 
 Songs of praises 
 I will ever give to Thee. 
 
 Tune — " Dismissal. 
 
 4 J — THE LORD 'S MY SHEPHERD. 
 
 [f " Lead, Kindly Light," is English, and " Guide me, O 
 Thou Great Jehovah," is Welsh, " The Lord 's my Shep- 
 herd " is Scotch. 
 
 THE Lord 's my shepherd, I '11 not want. 
 He makes me down to lie 
 In pastures green : he leadeth me 
 the quiet waters by. 
 
 My soul he doth restore again ; 
 
 and me to walk doth make 
 Within the paths of righteousness, 
 
 ev'n for his own name's sake. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. Ill 
 
 Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale, 
 
 yet will I fear none ill : 
 For thou art with me ; and thy rod 
 
 and staff me comfort still. 
 
 My table thou hast furnished 
 
 in presence of my foes ; 
 My head thou dost with oil anoint, 
 
 and my cup overflows. 
 
 Goodness and mercy all my life 
 
 shall surely follow me: 
 And in God's house for evermore 
 
 my dwelling-place shall be. 
 
 Tune — " Kilmarnock." 
 
 " For me," writes Mr. S. R. Crockett, the popular 
 author of the " Raiders " and many another delightful 
 romance, " there is no hymn like ' The Lord 's my 
 Shepherd, I '11 not want.' I think I must have stood 
 by quite a hundred men and women as they lay a-dying, 
 and I can assure you that these words — the first 
 learned by the child — were also the words that ushered 
 most of them out into the Quiet. To me, and to most 
 among these Northern hills, there are no words like 
 them." 
 
 Dr. John Ker says : " Every line of it, every word of 
 it, has been engraven for generations on Scottish 
 hearts, has accompanied them from childhood to age, 
 from their homes to all the seas and lands where they 
 have wandered, and has been to a multitude no man 
 can number the rod and staff of which it speaks, to 
 guide and guard them in dark valleys, and at last 
 through the darkest." Of its helpfulness in times of 
 crisis many instances are given, of which that which 
 appeals most to me is the story of Marian Harvey, the 
 servant lass of twenty, who was executed at Edinburgh 
 with Isabel Alison for having attended the preaching of 
 Donald Cargill, and for helping his escape. As the 
 
112 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 brave lasses were being led to the scaffold, a curate 
 pestered them with his prayers. " Come, Isabel," said 
 Marian, " let us sing the Twenty-third Psalm." And sing 
 it they did, a thrilling duet on their pilgrimage to the 
 gallows-tree. It was rough on the Covenanters in 
 those days, and their paths did not exactly, to outward 
 seeming, lead them by the green pastures and still 
 waters. But they got there somehow, the Twenty-third 
 Psalm helping them no little. This was the psalm 
 John Ruskin first learnt at his mother's knee. It was 
 this which Edward Irving recited at the last as he lay 
 dying. Even poor Heinrich Heine, on his mattress- 
 grave, in one of his latest poems, recalls the image of 
 the Shepherd Guide whose " Pastures green and sweet 
 refresh the wanderer's weary feet." The magnificent 
 assurance of the fourth verse has in every age given 
 pluck to the heart of the timid and strengthened the 
 nerve of heroes. When St. Francis of Assisi went 
 alone, bareheaded and barefoot, to convert the Sultan, 
 he kept up his spirit on his solitary pilgrimage by 
 chanting this verse. The Moslems did him no harm, 
 and instead of taking off his head, returned him safe 
 and sound to the pale of Christendom. 
 
 The Rev. D. P. Alford writes me : " When I was 
 chaplain of the Scilly Islands, one of my leading parish- 
 ioners, a Scotchman, when dying, found the greatest 
 consolation in the metrical version of this psalm. His 
 wife said to me : 'It is no wonder that psalm comforts 
 him, for he has said it every night before going to bed 
 ever since I have known him.' They were elderly peo- 
 ple, and had been married many years." 
 
 In the United States the paraphrase beginning "The 
 King of Love my Shepherd is," is the one commonly 
 used. 
 
 42— JESUS, STILL LEAD ON. 
 
 After the English, Welsh, and Scottish comes in due 
 sequence the German lyrical cry for guidance, Zinzen- 
 dorf's Hymn, which is said to be the first taught to the 
 
J 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 113 
 
 children in every German household. In German it 
 begins, — 
 
 Jesu, geh voran 
 
 Auf der Lebensbahn. 
 
 The English version is as follows : — 
 
 ESUS, still lead on 
 Till our rest be won : 
 And although the way be cheerless, 
 We will follow, calm and fearless : 
 Guide us by Thy hand 
 To our Fatherland. 
 
 If the way be drear, 
 
 If the foe be near, 
 Let not faithless fears o'ertake us, 
 Let not faith and hope forsake us ; 
 
 For, through many a foe, 
 
 To our home we go. 
 
 When we seek relief 
 
 From a long-felt grief: 
 When oppressed by new temptations, 
 Lord, increase and perfect patience; 
 
 Show us that bright shore 
 
 Where we weep no more. 
 
 Jesus, still lead on 
 
 Till our rest be won : 
 Heavenly Leader, still direct us, 
 Still support, console, protect us, 
 
 Till we safely stand 
 
 In our Fatherland. 
 
 Tu ne — " Weston. " 
 
 43 — HE LEADETH ME. 
 
 This hymn with its chorus came to us from across the 
 Atlantic with Mr. Sankey. It was written by Joseph H. 
 
 8 
 
114 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Gilmore, in 1859, at the close of a lecture in the First 
 Baptist Church, Philadelphia. It has helped me many 
 a time and oft, and I expect that it will help me now 
 and always to the end. 
 
 HE leadeth me ! Oh, blessed thought ! 
 Oh words with heavenly comfort fraught ! 
 VVhate'er I do, where'er I be, 
 Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 
 He leadeth me ! He leadeth me ! 
 By His own hand He leadeth me; 
 His faithful follower I would be, 
 For by His hand He leadeth me. 
 
 Sometimes 'mid scenes of deepest gloom, 
 Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom, 
 By waters calm, o'er troubled sea, 
 Still 't is God's hand that leadeth me. 
 
 Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine; 
 Nor ever murmur nor repine ; 
 Content, whatever lot I see, 
 Since 't is my God that leadeth me. 
 
 And when my task on earth is done, 
 When, by Thy grace, the victory 's won, 
 E'en death's cold wave I will not flee, 
 Since Thou through Jordan leadest me. 
 
 Tune — From Sankey's "Songs and Solos." 
 
 44 — I DO NOT ASK, O LORD. 
 
 Among the most helpful hymns of modern times is 
 Adelaide Procter's Prayer for Guidance. Like the 
 author of " Lead, Kindly Light," Miss Procter died in 
 the Roman Communion. 
 
 I 
 
 DO not ask, O Lord, that life rpay be 
 A pleasant road; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. I I 5 
 
 I do not ask that Thou wouldst take from me 
 Aught of its load. 
 
 I do not ask that flowers should always spring 
 
 Beneath my feet; 
 I know too well the poison and the sting 
 
 Of things too sweet. 
 
 For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord, I plead: 
 
 Lead me aright, 
 Though strength should falter and though heart 
 should bleed, 
 
 Through peace to light. 
 
 I do not ask, O Lord, that Thou shouldst shed 
 
 Full radiance here ; 
 Give but a ray of peace, that I may tread 
 
 Without a fear. 
 
 I do not ask my cross to understand, 
 
 My way to see ; 
 Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand, 
 
 And follow Thee. 
 
 Joy is like restless day ; but peace divine 
 
 Like quiet night. 
 Lead me, O Lord, till perfect day shall shine, 
 
 Through peace to light. 
 
 Tune — Barnby's "Ad Lucem." 
 
 45 — GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY. 
 
 Cowper's hymn has helped multitudes to bear up 
 under the blows of apparently adverse fortune. Within 
 a year of the writing of this beautiful and touching 
 hymn, Cowper's reason reeled, and he endeavoured to 
 commit suicide by drowning in the Ouse. It is some 
 poor consolation to know that his attempt at suicide 
 was not a suicide of despair, but rather the perversion 
 
Il6 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 of the spirit of resignation and joyful submission which 
 finds expression in the hymn. Newton says that Cow- 
 per tried to take his life, believing it was a sacrifice 
 which God required at his hands. The accepted legend 
 is that he had proposed to commit suicide at a certain 
 place, but as the driver of the postchaise could not find 
 it, he returned home without putting his purpose into 
 execution, and there composed this hymn. 
 
 GOD moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform : 
 He plants His footsteps in the sea, 
 And rides upon the storm. 
 
 Deep in unfathomable mines 
 
 Of never-failing skill, 
 He treasures up His bright designs, 
 
 And works His sovereign will. 
 
 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take : 
 The clouds ye so much dread 
 
 Are big with mercy, and shall break 
 In blessings on your head. 
 
 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, 
 But trust Him for His grace : 
 
 Behind a frowning providence 
 He hides a smiling face. 
 
 His purposes will ripen fast, 
 
 Unfolding every hour : 
 The bud may have a bitter taste, 
 
 But sweet will be the flower. 
 
 Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
 
 And scan His work in vain : 
 God is His own Interpreter, 
 And He will make it plain. 
 Tune — "St. Leonard's" or "London New." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 117 
 
 The third verse has been much used in times of 
 danger and distress. It was often sung during the 
 cotton famine, and there are few persons who cannot 
 recall times and seasons when its comforting assurances 
 helped to give fortitude and tranquillity to the soul. 
 It would be difficult to find a hymn which more exactly 
 corresponds to Lord Wolseley's ideal of a hymn, 
 " plenty of consolation and not too much theology." 
 
 46— WHEN GATHERING CLOUDS AROUND 
 
 I VIEW. 
 
 This is another of the hymns by Sir R. Grant, at one 
 time Governor of Bombay. 
 
 WHEN gathering clouds around I view, 
 And days are dark and friends are few, 
 On Him I lean, who not in vain 
 Experienced every human pain. 
 He sees my wants, allays my fears, 
 And counts and treasures up my tears. 
 
 If aught should tempt my soul to stray 
 From heavenly wisdom's narrow way, 
 To flee the good I would pursue, 
 Or do the sin I would not do; 
 Still He, who felt temptation's power, 
 Shall guard me in that dangerous hour. 
 
 If wounded love my bosom swell, 
 Deceived by those I prized too well, 
 He shall His pitying aid bestow, 
 Who felt on earth severer woe, 
 At once betrayed, denied, or fled, 
 By those who shared His daily bread. 
 
 If vexing thoughts within me rise, 
 And, sore dismayed, my spirit dies : 
 Yet He, who once vouchsafed to bear 
 
Il8 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 The sickening anguish of despair, 
 Shall sweetly soothe, shall gently dry 
 The throbbing heart, the streaming eye. 
 
 When sorrowing o'er some stone I bend, 
 Which covers what was once a friend ; 
 And from his hand, his voice, his smile, 
 Divides me for a little while, 
 My Saviour marks the tears I shed : 
 For Jesus wept o'er Lazarus dead. 
 
 And O ! when I have safely passed 
 Through every conflict but the last : 
 Still, still unchanging, watch beside 
 My dying bed — for Thou hast died : 
 Then point to realms of cloudless day, 
 And wipe the latest tear away. 
 
 Tune — " Stella." 
 
 This was one of the favourites of John Gough, the 
 great temperance lecturer. 
 
 When the late Sir Edward Baines, founder and pro- 
 prietor of the Leeds Mercury, and veteran reformer, 
 lay dying, he asked his family to sing this hymn, after 
 which he said with great thankfulness : " I feel inex- 
 pressibly full of His presence and glory." 
 
 47 — THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. 
 
 For simplicity and unwavering confidence, there are 
 few hymns of guidance to compare with this little song 
 and chorus from Mr. Sankey's collection. . 
 
 IN some way or other the Lord will provide ; 
 It may not be my way, it may not be thy way; 
 And yet in His own way, "the Lord will provide." 
 Then we '11 trust in the Lord, and He will 
 
 provide; 
 Yes, we '11 trust in the Lord, and He will 
 provide. 
 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. I 19 
 
 At some time or other the Lord will provide : 
 It may not be my time, it may not be thy time ; 
 And yet in His own time, "the Lord will provide." 
 
 Despond then no longer ; the Lord will provide : 
 And this be the token — no word He hath spoken 
 Was ever yet broken : " the Lord will provide." 
 
 March on then right boldly : the sea shall divide; 
 The pathway made glorious, with shoutings vic- 
 torious, 
 We '11 join in the chorus, " The Lord will provide." 
 Tune — From "Songs and Solos." 
 
 48— BEGONE, UNBELIEF, 
 
 This hymn, by John Newton, has been a wonderful 
 stand-by to multitudes. Newton, before he became a 
 hymn-writer, had gone the pace indeed in his youth, 
 but had experienced one of those marvellous conver- 
 sions which are the moral miracles of life. He came 
 through much tribulation into a state in which he could 
 write : " I commit my soul to my gracious God and 
 Saviour, who mercifully spared me when I was an 
 apostate, a blasphemer, and an infidel, and delivered 
 me from that state of misery on the coast of Africa into 
 which my obstinate wickedness had plunged me, and 
 who has pleased to admit me (though most unworthy) 
 to preach His glorious gospel." 
 
 BEGONE, unbelief, 
 My Saviour is near, 
 And for my relief 
 
 Will surely appear ; 
 By prayer let me wrestle, 
 And He will perform ; 
 , With Christ in the vessel. 
 I smile at the storm. 
 
/20 HYMNS THAT HAYE HELPED. 
 
 Though dark be my way, 
 
 Since He is my guide, 
 'T is mine to obey, 
 
 'T is His to provide : 
 Though cisterns be broken, 
 
 And creatures all fail, 
 The word He hath spoken 
 
 Shall surely prevail. 
 
 His love, in time past, 
 
 Forbids me to think 
 He '11 leave me at last 
 
 In trouble to sink : 
 Each sweet Ebenezer 
 
 I have in review, 
 Confirms His good pleasure 
 
 To help me quite through. 
 
 Determined to save, 
 
 He watched o'er my path, 
 When, Satan's blind slave, 
 
 I sported with death. 
 And can He have taught me 
 
 To trust in His name, 
 And thus far have brought me 
 
 To put me to shame ? 
 
 Why should I complain 
 
 Of want or distress, 
 Temptation or pain ? — 
 
 He told me no less ; 
 The heirs of salvation, 
 
 I know from His Word, 
 Through much tribulation 
 
 Must follow their Lord. 
 
 How bitter that cup, 
 No heart can conceive, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 12 1 
 
 Which He drank quite up, 
 
 That sinners might live! 
 His way was much rougher 
 
 And darker than mine ; 
 Did Jesus thus suffer, 
 
 And shall I repine ? 
 
 Since all that I meet 
 
 Shall work for my good, 
 The bitter is sweet, 
 
 The medicine, food ; 
 Though painful at present, 
 
 'T will cease before long, 
 And then, oh, how pleasant 
 
 The conqueror's song ! 
 
 Tune — " Hanover. " 
 
 Among the multitudinous testimonies which poured 
 in upon me from those who had been helped by hymns, 
 none touched me more than the story told by a poor 
 Lancashire lass who, under the stress of passionate 
 temptation, had forgotten the responsibilities of her 
 position as Sunday-school teacher and the obligations 
 of her maidenhood. She married her lover before her 
 child was born, but the sense of her sin burnt like vit- 
 riol into her life. She wrote : " It seemed to me no 
 soul in hell could be blacker than mine. To feel that 
 I had disgraced the Master's service and dishonoured 
 His Holy Name, was the bitterest drop in my cup. 
 Never shall I forget those awful months, nay, years of 
 torture. If any soul doubts the reality of a hell, let him 
 live through what I lived then. I have been there, and 
 know it exists. My girls brought me out and begged 
 me to go back to teach. Good God ! a thing like me 
 to go back to teach these poor innocent creatures! 
 I shrunk away, feeling I could never desecrate the 
 threshold of God's house by my presence. They came 
 again ; it was Christmas Eve. They sang the carols at 
 our door, and then came in, kissing and making much 
 
122 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 of me. Presently my husband began to play on the 
 piano the clear old hymn, ' Begone, unbelief,' the girls 
 all joining in with lips untouched by care. I had to 
 leave the room. All the pent-up agony of months were 
 in the strain since I was not even fit to sing it, and then 
 kneeling at my bedside in the darkness, there came to 
 me two lines of the hymn they had been singing : — 
 
 How bitter that cup no heart can conceive 
 
 Which He drank quite up that sinners might live. 
 
 Bitterer than even mine, I thought, and He drank it for 
 vie. That was the miracle for me, and I knew myself 
 forgiven, knew that the Christ was looking at me, not 
 with angry, but with pitying eyes. Ah, the blessedness 
 of it ! But do you suppose I could ever forgive myself 
 more than ever I blamed and hated myself? And now 
 there came to me a messenger direct from God. One 
 of the friends who visited the place quarterly called to 
 see me; when he rose to go he laid his hand on my 
 shoulder, and, looking me straight in the face, said : 
 ' My child, when are you going back to your work ? 
 They need you there, your class needs you, the whole 
 school needs you, and God wants you. If you have 
 done wrong, go and atone for it.' He left me, but his 
 words were alive — atone for it : could I ? Was that 
 the way the Master would have me take, show Him 
 how real my sorrow was by trying to save others from 
 the pit into which I had fallen ? If that were so, then 
 I could brave sneers and ridicule, stand to be despised 
 and looked down upon, if only I might in some degree 
 atone, and show forth my loyalty and love for Him, I 
 would do or bear whatsoever He chose, and so I went 
 back to service to bear and endure, and be tested, and 
 I carried with me into the fight the last verse of my 
 hymn. 
 
 Since all that I meet doth work for my good, 
 The bitter is sweet, the medicine food. 
 Though painful at present, 't will cease before long, 
 And then, oh, how pleasant the conqueror's song. 
 
 ■ 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 23 
 
 " That verse was my help and stay through all the 
 long, weary years when I slowly climbed my way back 
 to peace and happiness, and the esteem of those whom 
 I respected and desired should respect me. Can you 
 wonder that this hymn is precious to me, that I hold it 
 dearer than all others, and I think until I stand in His 
 presence it will be one of the most hallowed and sacred 
 of my possessions. My story is done ; it is not the story 
 of saint or martyr, but of a girl's sorrow and sin, of a 
 woman's struggle and victory through Christ Jesus. It 
 has not been an easy task to write it ; one does n't as a 
 rule ' volunteer heart history to a crowd/ but there are 
 other girls in the world passing through the self-same 
 trials, and if my life-story can help them I have no 
 right to hold it back." 
 
 A lady writing from the Citadel of Cairo, says of this 
 hymn: "I am surprised and disappointed to find that 
 it is not in the Simday at Home list. It is the hymn 
 that I love best of the hundreds that I know ; it has 
 helped me scores of times in the dark days of my life, 
 and has never failed to inspire me with fresh hope 
 and confidence when ' life looked dark and dreary ; ' 
 and it is dear to me from associations with the memory 
 of the best of fathers. To him, in his many and sore 
 troubles, it was a source of comfort and help, and, I be- 
 lieve, was to him a sort of link by which he held on to 
 God. To me the words are not doggerel at all, they 
 are just lovely. I often go about singing them when 
 alone, to help me on in the way." 
 
 49— GIVE TO THE WINDS THY FEARS. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson, in his notes on the Methodist Hymn- 
 Book, says : " There is not a hymn in the book which 
 has afforded more comfort and encouragement than this 
 to the Lord's tried people." The legend connected with 
 this hymn recalls the delightful tales in the lives of the 
 Saints. The origin of the hymn itself is not unworthy 
 the record of its subsequent exploits. Gerhardt was 
 
124 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 exiled from Brandenburg by the Grand Elector in 1659. 
 The said Grand Elector wished to "tune his pulpits." 
 Gerhardt refused to preach save what he found in God's 
 Word. Notice to quit thereupon being promptly served 
 upon the intrepid preacher, he tramped forth a home- 
 less exile, accompanied by his wife and children. Wife 
 and weans at night, wearied and weeping, sought refuge 
 in a wayside inn. Gerhardt, unable to comfort them, 
 went out into the wood to pray. As he prayed, the 
 text " Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him 
 and He shall bring it to pass," recurred to his mind and 
 comforted him so amazingly that he paced to and fro 
 under the forest trees and began composing a hymn 
 which, being Englished by John Wesley, has deservedly 
 become a great comfort to all English-speaking peoples. 
 Returning to the inn, he cheered his wife with his text 
 and his hymn, and they went to bed rejoicing in confi- 
 dent hope that God would take care of them. They 
 had hardly retired before a thunderous knocking at the 
 door roused them all. It was a mounted messenger 
 from Duke Christian of Merseburg, riding in hot haste 
 to deliver a sealed packet to Dr. Gerhardt. The good 
 doctor opened it, and read therein a hearty invitation 
 from the Duke, who offered him " church, people, home, 
 and livelihood, and liberty to preach the Gospel as your 
 heart may prompt you." So, adds the chronicle, the 
 Lord took care of His servant. Here is a portion of 
 the hymn which was composed under such singular 
 circumstances. 
 
 GIVE to the winds thy fears; 
 Hope, and be undismayed : 
 God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears : 
 God shall lift up thy head. 
 Through waves, through clouds and storms, 
 He gently clears the way. 
 Wait thou His time ; so shall the night 
 Soon end in joyous day. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 25 
 
 He everywhere hath sway, 
 
 And all things serve His might ; 
 His every act pure blessing is, 
 
 His path unsullied light. 
 
 When He makes bare His arm, 
 
 What shall His work withstand? 
 When He His people's cause defends, 
 
 Who, who shall stay His hand ? 
 
 Leave to His sovereign will 
 
 To choose, and to command ; 
 With wonder filled, thou then shalt own 
 
 How wise, how strong His hand. 
 
 Thou comprehend'st Him not; 
 
 Yet earth and heaven tell, 
 God sits as Sovereign on the throne; 
 
 He ruleth all things well. 
 
 Thou seest our weakness, Lord; 
 
 Our hearts are known to Thee. 
 O lift Thou up the sinking hand ; 
 
 Confirm the feeble knee. 
 
 Let us, in life and death, 
 
 Boldly Thy truth declare ; 
 And publish, with our latest breath, 
 
 Thy love and guardian care. 
 
 Tune — Dr. Gauntlett's "St. George." 
 
 There is a long list of worthies who have been 
 cheered in life and death by this hymn, but the cham- 
 pion story of them all is the Legend of the Raven. I 
 must quote it intact : — 
 
 In a village near Warsaw there lived a pious German 
 peasant named Dobyr. Without remedy he had fallen 
 into arrears of rent, and his landlord threatened to evict 
 him. It was winter. Thrice he appealed for a respite, 
 but in vain. It was evening, and the next day his fam- 
 
126 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 ily were to be turned out into the snow. Dobyr kneeled 
 down in the midst of his family. After prayer they 
 sang : — 
 
 Commit thou all thy griefs 
 
 And ways into His hands. 
 
 As they came to the last verse, in German, of Part I., 
 
 When Thou wouldst all our need supply, 
 Who, who shall stay Thy hand ? 
 
 there was a knock at the window close by where he 
 knelt, and opening it Dobyr was met by a raven, one 
 which his grandfather had tamed and set at liberty. In 
 its bill was a ring, set with precious stones. This he 
 took to his minister, who said at once that it belonged to 
 the King Stanislaus, to whom he returned it, and re- 
 lated his story. The King sent for Dobyr, and besides 
 rewarding him on the spot, built for him, next year, a 
 new house, and stocked his cattle stalls from the roval 
 domain. Over the house door, on an iron tablet, there 
 is carved a raven with a ring in its beak, and under- 
 neath this address to Divine Providence : — 
 
 Thou everywhere hast sway, 
 
 And all things serve Thy might ; 
 
 Thy every act pure blessing is, 
 Thy path unsullied light. 
 
 50 -FATHER, I KNOW THAT ALL MY 
 
 LIFE. 
 
 Miss Waring, like Charlotte Elliott and Adelaide 
 Procter, made notable contributions to the hymnody of 
 Resignation. This hymn of Miss Waring's has helped 
 myriads. 
 
 FATHER, I know that all my life 
 Is portioned out for me, 
 The changes that will surely come, 
 I do not fear to see ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 27 
 
 I ask Thee for a present mind 
 Intent on pleasing Thee. 
 
 I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, 
 Through constant watching wise, 
 
 To meet the glad with joyful smiles, 
 And wipe the weeping eyes ; 
 
 A heart at leisure from itself, 
 To soothe and sympathise. 
 
 I would not have the restless will 
 
 That hurries to and fro, 
 That seeks for some great thing to do, 
 
 Or secret thing to know ; 
 I would be treated as a child, 
 
 And guided where I go. 
 
 Wherever in the world I am, 
 
 In whatsoe'er estate, 
 I have a fellowship with hearts 
 
 To keep and cultivate ; 
 A work of lowly love to do 
 
 For Him on whom I wait. 
 
 I ask Thee for the daily strength, 
 
 To none that ask denied; 
 A mind to blend with outward life, 
 
 While keeping at Thy side : 
 Content to fill a little space, 
 
 If Thou be glorified. 
 
 Briers beset our every path, 
 
 Which call for patient care; 
 There is a cross in every lot, 
 
 A constant need for prayer : 
 But lowly hearts that lean on Thee 
 
 Are happy everywhere. 
 
128 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 In service which Thy love appoints, 
 
 There are no bonds for me. 
 My secret heart is taught the truth 
 
 That makes Thy children free : 
 A life of self-renouncing love 
 
 Is one of liberty. 
 
 Tune — "Lebanon," from Spohr. 
 
 A clergyman who has at last been compelled by the 
 loss of his voice to abandon his living, writes me as 
 follows : — 
 
 " This hymn has been a more definite help in stimu- 
 lating the heart to considerate kindness and cheerful 
 trust. A year ago my voice failed me, and the spring 
 of 1895 f° un d me seeking recovery in rest and change 
 of air; but haunted with the fear that this loss of voice 
 might be permanent, and that I might have to resign 
 my living and give up my life's work, whilst yet almost 
 in the vigour of life. This fear was verified, and I re- 
 signed my living last July. But, as usually happens, 
 the actual trial was not so depressing as the fear of it." 
 
 A lady in the West of England sends me this note 
 on this hymn, and how it helped her : — 
 
 " This hymn was sung one Sunday when I had wan- 
 dered into a strange place of worship — a Wesleyan 
 chapel, I think. I was simply eaten up with ambition 
 and the craving to know the secret things, and do the 
 great ones of Life ; and this hymn showed me The 
 Better Way. I saw that it was good to be content, ' to 
 fill a little space,' and in a sort of waking vision I saw 
 that great things were not for me, but as someone 
 (Dante, perhaps) has said: 'In God's will lies our 
 place.' So you see my hymn was the overture to my 
 little Act of Renunciation, and now I black stoves and 
 dust rooms, and possess my soul in patience, and 
 understand a little what the ' Peace that passeth under- 
 standing ' may mean." 
 
 Another lady writes me: "This hymn came to me 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 29 
 
 when I was a girl of eighteen, and it has continued its 
 power over me till now, over twenty years. It seems 
 to me that ideal Christian service, for women, at all 
 events, is 'a heart at leisure from itself to soothe and 
 sympathise.' Many times these lines, turned into a 
 prayer, have led me to get the better of the demon of 
 selfishness." 
 
 5J— THE J21st PSALM. 
 
 Mr. Crockett places this psalm second only to the 
 Twenty-third. It was one of the two psalms — the One 
 Hundred and Thirty-fifth being the other — that David 
 Livingstone read on the morning of the day when he 
 first quitted Scotland for the African mission-field. It 
 was known as the Traveller's Psalm from the days of 
 Bishop Hooper, who used it before setting out on a 
 journey. 
 
 TO the hills will lift mine eyes, 
 from whence doth come mine aid. 
 
 My safety cometh from the Lord, 
 who heav'n and earth hath made. 
 
 Thy foot he '11 not let slide, nor will 
 he slumber that thee keeps. 
 
 Behold, he that keeps Israel, 
 he slumbers not, nor sleeps. 
 
 The Lord thee keeps, the Lord thy shade 
 on thy right hand doth stay : 
 
 The moon by night thee shall not smite, 
 nor yet the sun by day. 
 
 The Lord shall keep thy soul ; he shall 
 preserve thee from all ill. 
 
 Henceforth thy going out and in 
 God keep for ever will. 
 
 Tune — "Solomon," from Handel. 
 
 I 
 
130 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Mr. Marson notes that Edward, the Black Prince, 
 chose the first clause of the second verse as the motto 
 for the coins struck in England in 1362. In the United 
 States Tate & Brady's paraphrase, beginning, " To 
 Sion's Hill I lift my eyes," is the popular version. 
 
 VII. — Resignation. 
 
 52 — LORD, IT BELONGS NOT TO MY 
 
 CARE. 
 
 Richard Baxter, the author of the " Saints' Everlast- 
 ing Rest," had a tolerably troubled time — without much 
 rest in it — on this side the grave. He was troubled by 
 the Independents under Cromwell ; by the Royalists 
 after the Restoration, who ejected him; and by Judge 
 Jeffreys, who bullied and abused him. But these were 
 only of the outside and of the surface ; within, the old 
 saint had an everlasting rest of his own. The secret of 
 this peace he expressed in the following hymn : — 
 
 ORD, it belongs not to my care, 
 Whether I die or live; 
 To love and serve Thee is my share, 
 And this Thy grace must give. 
 
 If life be long I will be glad, 
 
 That I may long obey: 
 If short — yet why should I be sad 
 
 To soar to endless day ? 
 
 Christ leads me through no darker rooms 
 
 Than He went through before ; 
 He that into God's kingdom comss, 
 
 Must enter by His door. 
 
 Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet 
 
 Thy blessed face to see ; 
 For if Thy work on earth be sweet, 
 
 What will Thy glory be ? 
 
 L° 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 131 
 
 Then I shall end my sad complaints 
 
 And weary sinful days; 
 And join with the triumphant saints 
 
 To sing Jehovah's praise. 
 
 My knowledge of that life is small, 
 
 The eye of faith is dim ; 
 But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, 
 
 And I shall be with Him. 
 
 Tune — " Aristides." 
 
 An old widow writes: "The hymn that has the 
 sweetest and tenderest memories for me is that of Bax- 
 ter's. I repeated it in my last farewell words to my 
 husband, and he echoed it with his dying lips, and then 
 said : ' It is enough that Christ knows all, and that I 
 shall be with Him.' " A missionary writes to me from 
 Wenchow describing how one verse in this hymn 
 helped him. When a student in Manchester his spirit 
 shrunk from the sacrifice entailed by dedication to the 
 work of a missionary in China. He was convinced 
 that he could not stand the climate, and that he would 
 very shortly die if he went out to the Far East. " One 
 day as I was kneeling in prayer in my room at the Col- 
 lege, I was more miserable in spirit than usual, when, 
 like a heaven-sent message, the first three verses of 
 Richard Baxter's beautiful hymn came to me. The 
 first verse is, as you know, as follows : — 
 
 ' Lord, it belongs not to my care, 
 
 Whether I die or live ; 
 To love and serve Thee is my share, 
 
 And this Thy grace must give.' 
 
 Light, liberty, and strength came with the message of 
 this hymn, which at the time became the words of my 
 prayer, instead of the doubting and hesitating thoughts 
 of my heart. For four years I have been working in 
 this land of China, and the message of Baxter's hymn 
 still abides with me as a source of comfort and 
 strength." 
 
132 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 53 — O LORD, HOW HAPPY SHOULD WE 
 
 BE. 
 
 Joseph Anstice, Professor of Classical Literature at 
 King's College, London, who died in 1836, at the age of 
 twenty-eight, wrote the following hymn, with others, 
 during his last illness : — 
 
 OLORD, how happy should we be, 
 If we could cast our care on Thee ; 
 If we from self could rest, 
 And feel, at heart, that One above, 
 In perfect wisdom, perfect love, 
 Is working; for the best : 
 
 *& 
 
 Could we but kneel and cast our load, 
 E'en while we pray, upon our God ; 
 
 Then rise with lightened cheer, 
 Sure that the Father, who is nigh 
 To still the famished raven's cry, 
 
 Will hear in that we fear. 
 
 How far from this, our daily life ! 
 Ever disturbed by anxious strife, 
 
 By sudden, wild alarms : 
 O could we but relinquish all 
 Our earthly props, and simply fall 
 
 On Thine almighty arms ! 
 
 Tune — " Innsbruck." 
 
 54 — THY WAY, NOT MINE, O LORD. 
 
 The Scotch Presbyterian, Dr. Bonar, joins in with this 
 familiar hymn : — 
 
 'HY way, not mine, O Lord, 
 However dark it be ; 
 Lead me by Thine own hand, 
 Choose out the path for me. 
 
 T 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 33 
 
 Smooth let it be or rough, 
 . It will be still the best ; 
 Winding or straight, it leads 
 Right onward to Thy rest. 
 
 I dare not choose my lot ; 
 
 I would not if I might : 
 Choose Thou for me, my God, 
 
 So shall I walk aright. 
 
 The kingdom that I seek 
 
 Is Thine: so let the way 
 That leads to it be Thine, 
 
 Else I must surely stray. 
 
 Take Thou my cup, and it 
 
 With joy or sorrow fill, 
 As best to Thee may seem ; 
 
 Choose Thou my good and ill. 
 
 Choose Thou for me my friends, 
 My sickness or my health ; 
 
 Choose Thou my cares for me, 
 My poverty or wealth. 
 
 Tune — "St. Denys " or "Fiducia." 
 
 55 — 'TIS MY HAPPINESS BELOW. 
 
 Cowper, who had more than the ordinary share of the 
 burdens of life, made the best of his sad case in this 
 hymn, which has dispelled more gloom than ever 
 Cowper suffered. 
 
 IS my happiness below, 
 Not to live without the cross, 
 But the Saviour's power to know, 
 Sanctifying every loss. 
 
 Trials must and will befall : 
 But with humble faith to see 
 
 T 
 
134 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Love inscribed upon them all, 
 This is happiness to me. 
 
 God, in Israel, sows the seeds 
 
 Of affliction, pain, and toil; 
 
 These spring up and choke the weeds 
 
 Which would else o'erspread the soil. 
 
 Trials make the promise sweet ; 
 Trials give new life to prayer ; 
 Trials bring me to His feet, 
 Lay me low and keep me there. 
 
 Did I meet no trials here, 
 No correction by the way, 
 Might I not with reason fear 
 I should prove a cast-away ? 
 
 Worldlings may escape the rod, 
 Sunk in earthly, vain delight ; 
 But the true-born child of God 
 Must not, would not, if he might. 
 
 Tune — "German Hymn." 
 
 56 — THY WILL BE DONE. 
 
 Charlotte Elliott, a life-long invalid, wrote several 
 hymns, each of which is as a chalice in which she has 
 preserved for the consolation of other sufferers the fruit 
 of her own prolonged affliction. Of these " Thy will be 
 done " is the first and best. 
 
 MY God, my Father, while I stray 
 Far from my home, on life's rough way, 
 
 teach me from my heart to say, — 
 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
 If Thou shouldst call me to resign 
 What most I prize, — it ne'er was mine : 
 
 1 only yield Thee what was Thine ; 
 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 135 
 
 E'en if again I ne'er should see 
 The friend more dear than life to me, 
 Ere long we both shall be with Thee ; 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
 Should pining sickness waste away 
 My life in premature decay, 
 My Father, still I strive to say, — 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
 If but my fainting heart be blest 
 With Thy sweet Spirit for its guest, 
 My God, to Thee I leave the rest; 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
 Renew my will from day to day ; 
 Blend it with Thine, and take away 
 All that now makes it hard to say 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
 Then, when on earth I breathe no more 
 The prayer oft mixed with tears before, 
 I '11 sing upon a happier shore, — 
 Thy will be done ! 
 
 Tune — " Troyte's Chant." 
 
 57— MY GOD, MY FATHER, BLISSFUL 
 
 NAME. 
 
 This famous hymn, by Miss Steele, the daughter of a 
 Baptist minister in a Hampshire village, is described 
 by Archdeacon Wilson, of Manchester, as the first of 
 the three hundred which he learned as a boy, and which 
 entered into his bone and blood as the true philosophy 
 of life and the wisest prayer. 
 
 Y God, my Father, blissful name! 
 O may I call Thee mine ? 
 May I with sweet assurance claim 
 A portion so divine ? 
 
 M 
 
136 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 This only can my fears control, 
 
 And bid my sorrows fly. 
 What harm can ever reach my soul 
 
 Beneath my Father's eye ? 
 
 Whate'er Thy Providence denies, 
 
 I calmly would resign, 
 For Thou art good and just and wise : 
 
 O bend my will to Thine. 
 
 Whate'er Thy sacred will ordains, 
 
 O give me strength to bear ; 
 And let me know my Father reigns, 
 
 And trust His tender care. 
 
 Thy sovereign ways are all unknown 
 
 To my weak, erring sight ; 
 Yet let my soul adoring own 
 
 That all Thy ways are right. 
 
 My God, my Father, be Thy name 
 
 My solace and my stay. 
 O wilt Thou seal my humble claim, 
 
 And drive my fears away ? 
 
 Tune — " Lincoln." 
 
 58 -O THOU t FROM WHOM ALL 
 GOODNESS FLOWS. 
 
 This hymn was written by Thomas Haweis, who lived 
 from 1732 to 1820. 
 
 OTHOU, from whom all goodness flows, 
 I lift my soul to Thee : 
 In all my sorrows, conflicts, woes, 
 Good Lord, remember me.. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 37 
 
 When on my aching, burdened heart 
 
 My sins lie heavily, 
 My pardon speak, new peace impart; 
 
 In love, remember me. 
 
 When trials sore obstruct my way, 
 
 And ills I cannot flee, 
 Lord, let my strength be as my day ; 
 
 For good remember me. 
 
 When worn with pain, disease, and grief, 
 
 This feeble body see ; 
 Grant patience, rest, and kind relief, 
 
 Hear and remember me. 
 
 If on my face, for Thy dear name, 
 
 Shame and reproach shall be ; 
 All hail reproach, and welcome shame, 
 
 If Thou remember me. 
 
 When, in the solemn hour of death, 
 
 I wait Thy just decree, 
 Saviour, with my last parting breath 
 
 I '11 cry, — Remember me. 
 
 Tune — " Dalehurst." 
 
 When Henry Martyn, one of the earliest and most 
 saintly of the Protestant missionaries, was labouring in 
 Persia, he found much consolation by repeating in his 
 tent, amid the revilings of his persecutors : — 
 
 If on my face, for Thy dear name 
 
 Shame and reproaches be, 
 All hail reproach, and welcome shame, 
 
 If Thou remember me. 
 
 The Rev. C. H. E. White mentions, as an incident in 
 his own experience, that " O Thou, from whom all 
 goodness flows " was the means of the conversion of a 
 young guardsman, who was executed for murder. His 
 
138 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 last word on the scaffold was the burden of the hymn, 
 " Oh Lord, remember me." The rector says :' " The 
 hymn, always a favourite with me, is now very specially 
 written on my heart, and it is a hymn which has helped 
 me not a little." 
 
 59 — THE EMPEROR FREDERICK'S HYMN. 
 
 When the Emperor Frederick lay dying of the cancer 
 which made his brief reign but one long agony, he was 
 said to have derived much help and comfort in the 
 gloom by the following simple hymn, written by a lad 
 of twelve, named Ernst von Willich. The boy was an 
 invalid, and, like many others greater than he, had 
 learnt in suffering what he taught in song. The 
 hymn has been Englished as follows : — 
 
 IF the Lord me sorrow send, 
 Let me bear it patiently ; 
 Lifting up my heart in prayer, 
 Comfort He will not deny ; 
 Therefore, let there come what will, 
 In the Lord my heart is still. 
 
 Though the heart is often weak, 
 
 Full of pain, and all forlorn, 
 
 Though in days of utmost pain * 
 
 Not a day of joy will dawn, 
 
 Tell it, let there come what will, 
 
 In the Lord all pain is still. 
 
 So I pray, Oh Lord, my God, 
 Let my hope and comfort stand, 
 Fear nor care no more I heed, 
 Guided ever by Thy hand. 
 Therefore, let there come what will, 
 In the Lord my heart is still. 
 
 Tune — " Dix." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 39 
 
 R' 
 
 VUL — Salvation* 
 
 60 — ROCK OF AGES. 
 
 When the Sunday at Home took the plebiscite of 3,500 
 of its readers as to which were the best hymns in the 
 language, the " Rock of Ages " stood at the top of the 
 tree, having no fewer than 3,215 votes. Only three 
 other hymns had more than 3,000 votes. They were, 
 " Abide with me," " Jesu, Lover of my soul/' and 
 " Just as I am." 
 
 OCK of Ages, cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee ! 
 Let the water and the blood, 
 From Thy riven side which flowed, 
 Be of sin the double cure, 
 Cleanse me from its guilt and power. 
 
 Not the labours of my hands 
 Can fulfil Thy law's demands : 
 Could my zeal no respite know, 
 Could my tears for ever flow, 
 All for sin could not atone, 
 Thou must save, and Thou alone ! 
 
 Nothing in my hand I bring ; 
 Simply to Thy cross I cling ; 
 Naked, come to Thee for dress; 
 Helpless, look to Thee for grace ; 
 Foul, I to the fountain fly: 
 Wash me, Saviour, or I die ! 
 
 While I draw this fleeting breath — 
 When my eye-strings break in death — 
 When I soar to worlds unknown — 
 See Thee on Thy judgment throne — 
 Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee ! 
 
 Tune— "Redhead, No. 76." 
 
I40 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Toplady, a Calvinist vicar of a Devonshire parish, 
 little dreamed that he was composing the most popu- 
 lar hymn in the language when he wrote what he called 
 " A living and dying prayer for the holiest believer in 
 the world." For Toplady was a sad polemist, whose 
 orthodox soul was outraged by the Arminianism of the 
 Wesleys. He and they indulged in much disputation 
 of the brickbat and Billingsgate order, as was the fash- 
 ion in those days. Toplady put much of his time and 
 energy into the composition of controversial pamphlets, 
 on which the good man prided himself not a little. The 
 dust lies thick upon these his works, nor is it likely to be 
 disturbed now or in the future. But in a pause in the 
 fray, just by way of filling up an interval in the firing of 
 polemical broadsides, Augustus Montague Toplady 
 thought he saw a way of launching an airy dart at a 
 joint in Wesley's armour, on the subject of Sanctifica- 
 tion. So without much ado, and without any knowledge 
 that it was by this alone he was to render permanent 
 service to mankind, he sent off to the Gospel Magazine of 
 1776 the hymn " Rock of Ages." 1 When it appeared, 
 he had, no doubt, considerable complacency in reflecting 
 how he had winged his opponent for his insolent 
 doctrine of entire sanctification, and it is probable 
 that before he died, — for he only survived its publica- 
 tion by two years, dying when but thirty-eight, — he had 
 still no conception of the relative importance of his own 
 work. But to-day the world knows Toplady only as 
 the writer of these four verses. All else that he 
 laboured over it has forgotten, and indeed does well 
 to forget. 
 
 It was this hymn which the Prince Consort asked for 
 as he came near to death. Mr. Gladstone has trans- 
 
 1 On the appearance of the first edition of this work a minis- 
 terial correspondent who has given considerable attention tc 
 the subject of hymnology wrote to say that this story of the 
 hymn " Rock of Ages " was rather misleading. " Toplady," 
 he said, " was editor of the Gospel Magazine at the time, 
 and the hymn was the pendant to a curious theological article.' 1 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 141 
 
 lated it into Latin, Greek, and Italian. Dr. Pusey 
 declared it to be " the most deservedly popular hymn, 
 perhaps the very favourite." The followers of Wesley, 
 against whom the hymn was originally launched as a 
 light missile in the polemical combat, seized it for their 
 collection and mutilated it the while — why, does not 
 clearly appear. The unfortunate Armenians who were 
 butchered the other day in Constantinople sang a trans- 
 lation of " Rock of Ages " which, indeed, has made the 
 tour of the world, side by side with the Bible and the 
 Pilgrim's Progress. It is recorded that General Stuart, 
 the dashing cavalry leader of the Southern Confeder- 
 acy, sang the hymn with his dying strength, as his 
 life slowly ebbed away from the wounds he had re- 
 ceived in the battles before Richmond. When the 
 " London " went down in the Bay of Biscay, Jan. 11, 1866, 
 the last thing which the last man who left the ship 
 heard as the boat pushed off from the doomed vessel 
 was the voices of the passengers singing " Rock of 
 Ages." " No other English hymn can be named which 
 has laid so broad and firm a grasp on the English- 
 speaking world." 
 
 6 J — BLESSED LORD, IN THEE IS REFUGE. 
 
 It would be impossible in any collection of hymns that 
 have helped to ignore the hymnody of the Salvation 
 Army. This latest birth of the religious sentiment owes 
 at least as much of its astonishing success to its hymns 
 as to its discipline. It has converted the ordinary 
 'Arry and 'Arriett first of all into Blood and Fire Sol- 
 diers, and then it has< set them writing hymns. No 
 religious denomination, no organisation of any kind has 
 done so much to develop the verse-writing instinct 
 latent in most men as the Salvation Army. Every 
 week the War Cry is filled with new hymns, — hymns 
 of all kinds, good, bad, and indifferent. They have 
 long since passed the fresh and sweet simplicity of that 
 most characteristic of all their war songs, beginning, — 
 
142 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 " The devil and me, We can't agree, 
 I hate him, and he hates me," — 
 
 than which nothing could possibly be more concise and 
 graphic. Of the bards of the Army, whose name is 
 legion, Mr. Herbert Booth is conspicuous as the author 
 of a hymn which is worthily and deservedly popular, 
 although it is nowhere used with such effect as in the 
 All-night meetings, when the line " Lord, I make a full 
 surrender," is sung over and over again until the con- 
 verts empty their pockets, smash their pipes, forswear 
 finery, and find abundant compensation for their sacri- 
 fice in the ecstasy of their religious enthusiasm, and 
 the comradeship of the rank and file of the Salvation 
 Army. The Volunteers of America find this hymn one 
 of the two most helpful in their prison work, when they 
 employ hymns at all. Usually the convicts like only 
 refrains and choruses that cling to their memory long 
 after the Volunteer visitors have left them. The hymn 
 is as follows : — 
 
 BLESSED Lord, in Thee is refuge, 
 Safety for my trembling soul, 
 Power to lift my head when drooping 
 'Midst the angry billows' roll. 
 I will trust Thee, All my life Thou shalt control. 
 
 In the past too unbelieving 
 
 'Midst the tempest I have been, 
 
 And my heart has slowly trusted 
 
 What my eyes have never seen. 
 Blessed Jesus, Teach me on Thy arm to lean. 
 
 Oh, for trust that brings the triumph 
 
 When defeat seems strangely near! 
 
 Oh, for faith that changes fighting 
 
 Into victory's ringing cheer — 
 Faith triumphant, Knowing not defeat or fear ! 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 43 
 
 Welcome, welcome, dear Redeemer ! 
 Welcome to this heart of mine ; 
 Lord, I make a full surrender ; 
 
 Every power and thought be Thine — 
 Thine entirely; Through eternal ages Thine. 
 
 Known to all to be Thy mansion, 
 
 Earth and hell will disappear; 
 Or in vain attempt possession, 
 
 When they find the Lord is there. 
 Shout salvation ! Shout, ye saints ! the Lord is 
 here ! 
 
 Tune from the Salvation Army Hymn-Book. 
 
 A correspondent in Brentwood, who prefaced his re- 
 marks by saying, " I am not a Salvationist a la Booth," 
 writes : " Hymns under all circumstances have been 
 spiritual meat and drink to me, but the Salvation Army 
 songs have tapped a new mine. I have felt like an old 
 war-horse hearing the trumpet sound at mass meetings. 
 My whole being has been stirred by the power and in- 
 tensity of 'these wonderful compositions. The hymn 
 that has helped me, and lifted me out of sloughs, carried 
 me to the eternal walls, and up to heaven's gate, is 
 ' Blessed Lord, in Thee is refuge.' " 
 
 62— JUST AS I AM. 
 
 This poem, by Charlotte Elliott, so universally known 
 and prized, is associated indissolubly by many with the 
 time of their conversion. Her brother, the Rev. H. V. 
 Elliott, stated : " In the course of a long ministry I 
 hope I have been permitted to see some fruit of my 
 labours, but I feel far more has been done by a single 
 hymn of my sister's." There is no language or land 
 where the melody of this hymn is not heard. It was 
 first published in the " Invalid's Hymn-Book " in 1836. 
 To-day it is the most familiar formula on the lips of the 
 
144 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Christian evangelist in all quarters of the world. A 
 word fitly spoken, indeed ! 
 
 JUST as I am, without one plea, 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
 And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
 Just as I am, and waiting not 
 To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
 To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
 Just as I am, though tossed about 
 With many a conflict, many a doubt, 
 Fightings and fears within, without, 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
 Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; 
 Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
 Yea, all I need in Thee to find, 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
 Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, 
 Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, 
 Because Thy promise I believe, 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
 Just as I am (Thy love unknown 
 Has broken every barrier down), 
 Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! 
 
 Just as I am, of that free love 
 The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove, 
 Here for a season, then above, 
 O Lamb of God,. I come ! 
 
 Tune — " Gainsworth." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 45 
 
 63 — HARK, MY SOUL, IT IS THE LORD, 
 
 This poem of Cowper's, Mr. Gladstone has translated 
 into Latin. 
 
 HARK, my soul ! it is the Lord ; 
 'T is thy Saviour, hear His word ; 
 Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee: 
 " Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou Me ? 
 
 " I delivered thee when bound, 
 And, when bleeding, healed thy wound ; 
 Sought thee wandering, set thee right, 
 Turned thy darkness into light. 
 
 " Can a woman's tender care 
 Cease towards the child she bare ? 
 Yes, she may forgetful be, 
 Yet will I remember thee. 
 
 " Mine is an unchanging love, 
 Higher than the heights above ; 
 Deeper than the depths beneath, 
 Free and faithful, strong as death. 
 
 " Thou shalt see My glory soon, 
 When the work of grace is done ; 
 Partner of My throne shalt be : 
 Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou Me ? " 
 
 Lord, it is my chief complaint 
 That my love is cold and faint, 
 Yet I love Thee and adore, 
 O for grace to love Thee more ! 
 
 Tune— "St. Bees.' ! 
 
 Archdeacon Sinclair mentions this as one of the two 
 hymns which he has found most useful, the second 
 being Bishop Ken's "Evening Hymn." Archdeacon 
 
 10 
 
146 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Sinclair says : " ' Hark, my Soul ' is the most beautiful 
 of all English hymns. It emphasises what is the essence 
 of the Christian faith, — the appeal of Christ to the in- 
 dividual man. It describes in language that is exqui- 
 sitely simple and true the work of the Saviour for the 
 soul in redemption. In words hardly less powerful 
 than those of St. Paul, it brings home to the heart the 
 truth that He who speaks to us through the Gospel is 
 the fulness of Him who filleth all in all, and then it 
 closes by bringing the poor human heart, conscious of 
 its own feebleness, into its true attitude of absolute 
 reliance on the Divine peace, in which it lives and 
 moves, and has its being." 
 
 64— O LOVE, THAT WILT NOT LET 
 
 ME GO. 
 
 A correspondent, writing from Scotland, pleads for 
 Dr. Matheson's hymn, which begins with " O Love, that 
 wilt not let me go," and says : " At a time of great spir- 
 itual darkness, when God, Christ, and Heaven seemed 
 to have gone out of my life, and neither sun nor stars 
 in many days appeared, after months of hopeless misery 
 of mind, 1 heard this hymn sung in a little country 
 chapel. The first two lines haunted me for weeks, and 
 at last brought light and comfort to my dark soul." 
 
 A Presbyterian minister says : " More than any other 
 hymn it appeals to me," for a reason altogether differ- 
 ent from that of the previous correspondent. " Amongst 
 students of philosophy Hegel is always gaining appre- 
 ciation. This hymn is Hegelianism in verse." 
 
 OLOVE, that wilt not let me go, 
 I rest my weary soul on Thee ; 
 I give Thee back the life I owe, 
 That in Thine ocean depth its flow 
 May richer, fuller be. 
 
 O Light, that followest all my way, 
 I yield my flickering torch to Thee ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 47 
 
 My heart restores its borrowed ray, 
 That in Thy sunshine's blaze its clay 
 May brighter, fairer be. 
 
 Joy, that seekest me through pain, 
 I cannot close my heart to Thee ; 
 
 1 trace the rainbow through the rain, 
 And feel the promise is not vain, 
 
 That morn shall fearless be. 
 
 Cross, that liftest up my head, 
 
 I dare not ask to fly from Thee ; 
 
 1 lay in dust life's glory dead, 
 
 And from the ground there blossoms red 
 Life that shall endless be. 
 
 Tune — "St. Margaret." 
 
 65 — WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS 
 
 CROSS, 
 
 This is one of the four hymns which stand at the head 
 of all hymns in the English language. Here is the 
 hymn as Dr. Watts wrote it : — 
 
 WHEN I survey the wondrous Cross, 
 On which the Prince of glory died, 
 My richest gain I count but loss, 
 And pour contempt on all my pride. 
 
 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, 
 Save in the Cross of Christ my God ; 
 All the vain things that charm me most, 
 I sacrifice them to His blood. 
 
 See from His Head, His Hands, His Feet, 
 Sorrow and love flow mingled down ; 
 Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, 
 Or thorns compose so rich a crown? 
 
148 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 His dying crimson, like a robe, 
 Spreads o'er His body on the tree ; 
 Then am I dead to all the world, 
 And all the world is dead to me ! 
 
 Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
 That were a present far too small ; 
 Love so amazing, so Divine, 
 Demands my soul, my life, my all. 
 
 Tune — " Rockingham." 
 
 This is said to be Watts's finest hymn. Julian puts 
 it as one of the four which, for popular use, stand at the 
 head of all other English hymns, the other three being 
 Ken's " Morning Hymn," " Hark, the Herald Angels," 
 and " Rock of Ages." Mrs. Evans, the original of 
 George Eliot's Dinah in " Adam Bede," quoted the 
 third verse when dying. Father Ignatius, when preach- 
 ing at the Church of St. Edmund the King, Lombard 
 Street, slowly repeated the last line after the congrega- 
 tion had sung it, and added, " Well, I am surprised to 
 hear you sing that. Do you know that altogether you 
 only put fifteen shillings into the bag this morning ? " 
 
 66 — THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED 
 WITH BLOOD. 
 
 THERE is a fountain filled with blood, 
 Drawn from Immanuers veins; 
 And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
 Lose all their guilty stains. 
 
 The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day; 
 And there may I, though vile as he, 
 
 Wash all my sins away. 
 
 Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood 
 Shall never lose its power, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 149 
 
 Till the whole ransomed church of God 
 Be saved, to sin no more. 
 
 E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream 
 
 Thy flowing wounds supply, 
 Redeeming love has been my theme, 
 
 And shall be till I die. 
 
 Then in a nobler, sweeter song, 
 
 I '11 sing Thy power to save ; 
 When this poor lisping, stammering tongue 
 
 Lies silent in the grave. 
 
 Tune — "Wiltshire" or " Horsley." 
 
 "This hymn," writes a correspondent, "was one 
 which first opened my eyes to the need of a Saviour, 
 and brought me also to the Christ. I have seen a 
 thousand hard hearts broken down by the singing of 
 the hymn and the realising of that picture." 
 
 Rev. James Spurgeon writes : " This hymn has 
 spoken to my heart as no other hymn has done. The 
 revival chorus, 
 
 I do believe, I will believe, 
 
 That Jesus died for me, 
 And by His blood, His precious blood, 
 
 From sin has set me free, 
 
 should be added to this hymn." 
 
 Cowper's famous hymn has been fiercely assailed. 
 "This hymn," says Sir Edwin Arnold, editor of the 
 Daily Telegraph and author of " The Light of Asia," is 
 absolutely shocking to my mind." Thousands of sensi- 
 tive minds in the United States reject words so revolt- 
 ing. Mr. Bird, of Glasgow, denounced it fiercely as 
 " the language of the shambles." 
 
 But, as Mr. Price Hughes wrote me sententiously, 
 " if it has been much criticised it has been much 
 blessed." All the animadversions of Matthew Arnold, 
 for instance, are as the lightest dust of the balance 
 compared with the fact of the marvellous influence 
 
I50 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 which the singing of this hymn has had in softening 
 the heart of man upon such occasions of spiritual 
 quickening as are known as the great Irish Revivals. 
 It has been the means of changing the lives of more 
 men than all those w r ho have ever "heard the name of 
 most of its critics, and it is not surprising that it has 
 forced its way by sheer influence of spiritual power into 
 such hymnals as " Ancient and Modern " and the 
 Methodist collection, from which it had been jealously 
 excluded, in the one case till 1889, and in the other 
 till 1876. 
 
 67 — GRACIOUS SPIRIT, HOLY GHOST, 
 
 This paraphrase of 1 Cor. xiii., by Bishop Words- 
 worth of Lincoln was first published in 1862. Unita- 
 rians sing a version beginning " Mighty Spirit, Gracious 
 Guide." 
 
 GRACIOUS Spirit, Holy Ghost, 
 Taught by Thee, we covet most 
 Of Thy gifts at Pentecost, 
 Holy, heavenly love. 
 
 Faith that mountains could remove, 
 Tongues of earth or heaven above, 
 Knowledge — all things — empty prove 
 Without Heavenly Love. 
 
 Though I as a martyr bleed, 
 Give my goods the poor to feed, 
 All is vain, if love I need ; 
 Therefore give me love. 
 
 Love is kind, and suffers long, 
 Love is meek, and thinks no wrong, 
 Love than death itself more strong; 
 Therefore give us love. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 5 I 
 
 Prophecy will fade away, 
 Melting in the light of day ; 
 Love will ever with us stay ; 
 Therefore give us love. 
 
 Faith will vanish into sight ; 
 Hope be emptied in delight ; 
 Love in Heav'n will shine more bright : 
 Therefore give us love. 
 
 Faith and hope and love we see 
 Joining hand in hand agree. 
 But the greatest of the three, 
 And the best is love. 
 
 From the overshadowing 
 Of Thy gold and silver wing, 
 Shed on us, who to Thee sing, 
 Holy, heavenly love. Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Charity." 
 
 68— JESU, LOVER OF MY SOUL. 
 
 This is Charles Wesley's masterpiece. " I would 
 rather have written this hymn," says Henry Ward 
 Beecher, " than to have the fame of all the kings that 
 ever sat on the earth. . . . That hymn will go on sing- 
 ing until the last trump brings forth the angel-band ; and 
 then, I think, it will mount up on some lip to the very 
 presence of God." 
 
 ESU ! Lover of my soul, 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly, 
 While the nearer waters roll, 
 
 While the tempest still is high ; 
 Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
 
 Till the storm of life is past ; 
 Safe into the haven guide : 
 
 O receive my soul at last! 
 
 J 
 
152 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Other refug2 have I none; 
 
 Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; 
 Leave, ah ! leave me not alone, 
 
 Still support and comfort me. 
 All my trust on Thee is stayed ; 
 
 All my help from Thee I bring; 
 Cover my defenceless head 
 
 With the shadow of Thy wing. 
 
 Wilt Thou not regard my call ? 
 
 Wilt Thou not accept my prayer ? 
 Lo ! I sink, I faint, I fall, ' 
 
 Lo ! on Thee I cast my care, 
 Reach me out Thy gracious hand ! 
 
 While I of Thy strength receive, 
 Hoping against hope I stand, 
 
 Dying, and behold I live ! 
 
 Thou, O Christ, art all I want ; 
 
 More than all in Thee I find; 
 Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, 
 
 Heal the sick and lead the blind. 
 Just and Holy is Thy name ; 
 
 I am all unrighteousness : 
 False and full of sin I am ; 
 
 Thou art full of truth and srrace. 
 
 &>' 
 
 Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
 
 Grace to cover all my sin ; 
 Let the healing streams abound, . 
 
 Make and keep me pure within. 
 Thou of life the fountain art, 
 
 Freely let me take of Thee ; 
 Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 
 Rise, to all eternity. 
 
 Tune — " Hollingside." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 53 
 
 Round this hymn are gathering the delightful tra- 
 ditions which convert the driest facts into fascinating 
 fairy tales. There is no end to the stories which good 
 Methodists will tell you as to how this hymn has helped 
 poor mortals in the hour and article of death. Ship- 
 wrecked captains read it before they perish in the deep. 
 A mother and child lashed upon a spar float down the 
 Channel, the poor woman lifts her feeble voice singing 
 this hymn, and she is rescued. Passengers on board 
 a steamer in the heart of a thunderstorm allay panic 
 and prepare for death amid blinding sheets of flame 
 and bursts of thunder by raising the familiar tune. Dr. 
 Lyman Beecher dies listening to the first two lines as 
 they were read to him by his wife. It is, they say, the 
 finest heart hymn in the English language. As befits a 
 poem so freely incrusted with traditions, it has a suit- 
 able legendary origin. It is said that " Charles Wes- 
 ley was sitting at his desk when a bird pursued by a 
 hawk flew into the open window. The baffled hawk 
 did not dare to follow, and the poet took his pen and 
 wrote this immortal song." 
 
 69 — OUR BLEST REDEEMER, ERE HE 
 BREATHED. 
 
 This hymn by Harriet Auber dates from 1829. It is 
 very popular, and has been translated into many 
 languages. 
 
 OUR Blest Redeemer, ere He breathed 
 His tender last farewell, 
 A Guide, a Comforter, bequeath'd 
 With us to dwell. 
 
 He came in semblance of a dove, 
 With sheltering wings outspread, 
 
 The holy balm of peace and love 
 On each to shed. 
 
154 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 He came in tongues of living fire 
 
 To teach, convince, subdue; 
 All powerful as the wind He came — 
 
 As viewless too. 
 
 He came sweet influence to impart, 
 
 A gracious, willing Guest, 
 While He can find one humble heart 
 
 Wherein to rest. 
 
 And His that gentle voice we hear, 
 
 Soft as the breath of even, 
 That checks each fault, that calms each fear, 
 
 And speaks of Heaven. 
 
 And every virtue we possess, 
 
 And every conquest won, 
 And every thought of holiness, 
 
 Are His alone. 
 
 Spirit of purity and grace, 
 Our weakness pitying see ; 
 
 make our hearts Thy dwelling place, 
 And meet for Thee. 
 
 Tune— "St. Cuthbert." 
 
 70 — COME, O THOU TRAVELLER 
 
 UNKNOWN. 
 
 COME, O Thou Traveller unknown, 
 Whom still I hold but cannot see ; 
 My company before is gone, 
 
 And I am left alone with Thee ; 
 With Thee all night I mean to stay, 
 And wrestle till the break of day. 
 
 1 need not tell Thee who I am, 
 My misery or sin declare ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 55 
 
 Thyself hast called me by my name ; 
 
 Look on Thy hands and read it there; 
 But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou ? 
 Tell me Thy name, and tell me now. 
 
 In vain Thou strugglest to get free, 
 
 I never will unloose my hold : 
 Art Thou the Man that died for me? 
 
 The secret of Thy love unfold : 
 Wrestling, I will not let Thee go, 
 Till I Thy name, Thy nature know. 
 
 What though my shrinking flesh complain, 
 And murmur to contend so long, 
 
 I rise superior to my pain ; 
 
 When I am weak then I am strong; 
 
 And when my all of strength shall fail, 
 
 I shall with the God-man prevail. 
 
 Yield to me now, for I am weak, 
 
 But confident in self -despair ; 
 Speak to my heart, in blessings speak; 
 
 Be conquered by my instant prayer ! 
 Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move, 
 And tell me, if Thy name is Love? 
 
 'T is Love ! 't is Love ! Thou diedst for me 1 
 I hear Thy whisper in my heart ; 
 
 The morning breaks, the shadows flee ; 
 Pure, universal Love Thou art ; 
 
 To me, to all, Thy mercies move ; 
 
 Thy nature and Thy name is Love. 
 
 Tune — " Peniel." 
 
 " Of equal poetic value to Xavier's hymn," wrote Mr. 
 Massingham, the editor of the Daily Chronicle, " is 
 Charles Wesley's extraordinary poem, which, though it 
 
156 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 is sung as a hymn, is rather a mystical rhapsody, full of 
 colour and imagination, beginning — 
 
 1 Come, O thou traveller unknown, 
 Whom still I hold but cannot see.' " 
 
 Mr. Moncure D. Conway says : " I can remember in 
 my old Methodist days how much (as doubts grew) I 
 was helped by Charles Wesley's hymn, ' Come, O Thou 
 Traveller Unknown.'" 
 
 Mr. Price Hughes declares it is one of Wesley's 
 greatest hymns, and recalls the fact that it was quoted 
 with great effect by Dean Stanley when he unveiled 
 Wesley's memorial in Westminster Abbey. Dr. Watts 
 said that this hymn was " worth all the verses he him- 
 self had ever written." 
 
 DC. — Consecration. 
 
 7J— XAVIER'S HYMN. 
 
 One of the best hymns in the world is that written by 
 the Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, who died, worn 
 out by his heroic labours, near Canton, in 1522. It is 
 found in most Protestant hymn-books, and is part of 
 the spiritual treasure of many a good soul blissfully 
 unaware that its author was a Jesuit, and a very prince 
 among the Brotherhood. But that is one of the 
 blessed characteristics of hymns. The service of 
 praise, as Beecher long ago remarked, is the one 
 branch of Christianity where schisms have not dis- 
 turbed the unity of the Catholic Church. I print 
 Xavier's hymn in the original Latin, and in C as wall's 
 English translation. 
 
 MY God, I love Thee ; not because 
 I hope for heaven thereby, 
 Nor yet because who love Thee not 
 Are lost eternally. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me 
 
 Upon the cross embrace ; 
 F'or me didst bear the nails and spear, 
 
 And manifold disgrace; 
 
 And griefs and torments numberless, 
 
 And sweat of agony, — 
 Yea, death itself; and all for me, 
 
 Who was Thine enemy. 
 
 Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, 
 Should I not love Thee well ? 
 
 Not for the sake of winning heaven, 
 Nor of escaping hell. 
 
 Not from the hope of gaining aught, 
 
 Not seeking a reward ; 
 But as Thyself hast loved me, 
 
 O ever-loving Lord ! 
 
 So would I love Thee, dearest Lord, 
 And in Thy praise will sing; 
 
 Solely because Thou art my God, 
 And my most loving King. 
 
 157 
 
 ODEUS, ego amo Te ; 
 Nee amo Te ut salves me, 
 Aut quia non amantes Te 
 Aeterno punis igne. 
 
 Tu, Tu, mi Iesu, totum me 
 
 Amplexus es in cruce ; 
 Tulisti clavos, lanceam, 
 Multamque ignominiam, 
 
 Innumeros dolores, 
 
 Sudores et angores, 
 Ac mortem, et haec propter me, 
 
 Ac pro me, peccatore. 
 
158 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Cur igitur non amem Te, 
 O Iesu amantissime ? 
 Non ut in coelo salves me, 
 Aut ne aeternum damnes me, 
 Nee praemii ullius spe, 
 Sed sicut Tu amasti me, 
 Sic amo et amabo Te, 
 Solum quia Rex meus es, 
 Et solum quia Deus es. 
 
 Tune — "St. Francis Xavier." 
 
 72 -NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE. 
 
 This is the favourite hymn of the Prince of Wales. 
 When I wrote round to many well-known people ask- 
 ing them which hymn helped them most, I received the 
 following reply from the Prince : — 
 
 Sandringham, Norfolk, 
 
 December 29th, 1895. 
 
 Dear Mr. Stead, — The Prince of Wales desires 
 me to thank you for your letter, and to say that he 
 fully appreciates the compliment you pay him when 
 you ask him to assist you in your proposed work. His 
 Royal Highness would have gladly lent his aid if it had 
 been in his power, but he fears that an opportunity for 
 doing so will hardly be given him. He directs me to 
 mention that among serious hymns he thinks there is 
 none more touching nor one that goes more truly to 
 the heart than No. 7 on your list : " Nearer, my God, 
 to Thee." — Believe me, yours very truly, 
 
 Francis Knollys. 
 
 The selection is interesting on many grounds. 
 " Nearer, my God, to Thee " was written by a woman, 
 that woman a Unitarian, and that Unitarian the daugh- 
 ter of a couple who first met in Newgate Gaol, where 
 her father had been sent to lie for six months as atone- 
 ment for the heinous crime of defending the French 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 59 
 
 Revolution and criticising the political conduct of a cer- 
 tain Bishop Watson, now fortunately forgotten. Per- 
 haps the sole permanent result and chief end of this 
 Bishop Watson's life was to contribute remotely and un- 
 intentionally to the production of this hymn. He was 
 a not unimportant link in the chain of circumstances of 
 which this hymn, with its far-reaching influence, is but 
 the latest outcome. For instance, if Mr. Flower — Mrs. 
 Adams's maiden name was Flower — had not been 
 moved to indignation by the turpitude of Bishop 
 Watson's political conduct, he would never, even in 
 1789, have been fined ^100 and sent to Newgate for six 
 months. If he had never been sent to gaol, Miss Eliza 
 Gould would never have been prompted to visit him 
 there, and so lay the foundation of an acquaintance 
 which ripened into love and marriage. Of that marriage 
 Mrs. Adams was the fruit. If her parents had never met, 
 of course she would never have been born, and this hymn 
 never would have been written. Therefore may we not 
 say that the causa causans of one of the most touching 
 hymns in the Christian hymnal was some long-ago-for- 
 gotten political offence perpetrated by an Anglican 
 Bishop. Here is the hymn as Mrs. Adams wrote it, un- 
 tinkered by jealous Trinitarians who feel twinges of 
 conscience at the thought of deriving spiritual benefit 
 from a Unitarian hymn. 
 
 NEARER, my God, to Thee, 
 Nearer to Thee ! 
 E'en though it be a cross 
 
 That raiseth me, 
 Still all my song shall be, 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee, — 
 Nearer to Thee I 
 
 Though, like the wanderer, 
 
 Daylight all gone, 
 Darkness be over me, 
 
 My rest a stone : 
 
l6o HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Yet in my dreams I 'd be 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee, — 
 Nearer to Thee ! 
 
 There let the way appear 
 
 Steps unto heaven ; 
 All that Thou send'st to me, 
 
 In mercy given ; 
 Angels to beckon me 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee, — 
 
 Nearer to Thee ! 
 
 Then with my waking thoughts 
 
 Bright with Thy praise, 
 Out of my stony griefs 
 
 Bethel I 'II raise : 
 So by my woes to be 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee, — 
 
 Nearer to Thee ! 
 
 Or if on joyful wing, 
 
 Cleaving the sky, 
 Sun, moon, and stars forgot, 
 
 Upward I fly ; 
 Still, still, my song shall be, 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee, — 
 
 Nearer to Thee ! 
 
 Tune — " Horbury." 
 
 The hymn is as dear to the peasant as it is to the 
 prince. Bishop Marvin, wandering homeless in Arkan- 
 sas during the war, and almost inclined to despair, 
 found himself marvellously cheered and reproved when 
 in the midst of the wilderness he overheard a widowed 
 old woman singing, " Nearer, my God, to Thee " in the 
 midst of a dilapidated log cabin. Her wretched pov- 
 erty was forgotten as she sang. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. l6l 
 
 Another story of the American Civil War tells how 
 a little drummer boy, whose arm had been shot off at 
 the battle of Fort Donelson, died on the battlefield 
 singing with his last breath, " Nearer, my God, to 
 Thee." It might fairly be called the most popular 
 hymn among all sorts and conditions of men in 
 America. 
 
 73— TAKE MY LIFE, AND LET IT BE. 
 
 After the Jesuit and the Unitarian comes the devout 
 Churchwoman. Miss Havergal's hymn is not unworthy 
 of its predecessors. 
 
 TAKE my life, and let it be 
 Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 
 Take my moments and my days, 
 Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 
 
 Take my hands and let them move 
 At the impulse of Thy love. 
 Take my feet and let them be 
 Swift and beautiful for Thee. 
 
 Take my voice, and let me sing 
 Always, only, for my King. 
 Take my lips, and let them be, 
 Filled with messages from Thee. 
 
 Take my silver and my gold, 
 Not a mite would I withhold. 
 Take my intellect and use 
 Every power as Thou dost choose. 
 
 Take my will and make it Thine ; 
 It shall be no longer mine. 
 Take my heart, it is Thine own ; 
 It shall be Thy royal throne. 
 ii 
 
l62 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Take my love : my Lord, I pour 
 At Thy feet its treasure-store. 
 Take myself, and I will be 
 Ever, only, all for Thee ! 
 
 Tune — "St. Bees." 
 
 This hymn bubbled up from the depths of a thankful 
 heart. Miss Havergal tells the story of how it came to 
 be written : — 
 
 " Perhaps you will be interested to know the origin of 
 the consecration hymn, 'Take my life.' I went for a 
 little visit of five days. There were ten persons in the 
 house, some unconverted and long prayed for, some 
 converted, but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me 
 the prayer, ' Lord, give me all in this house ! ' And He 
 just did. Before I left the house every one had got a 
 blessing. The last night of my visit 1 was too happy to 
 sleep, and passed most of the night in praise and renewal 
 of my own consecration, and these little couplets formed 
 themselves and chimed in my heart, one after another, 
 till they finished with ' Ever, only, all for Thee.' " 
 
 74 — O FOR A HEART TO PRAISE MY GOD. 
 
 Charles Wesley's hymn is in unison with those 
 which precede it. 
 
 OFOR a heart to praise my God ; 
 A heart from sin set free ; 
 A heart that 's sprinkled with the blood 
 So freely shed for me. 
 
 A heart resigned, submissive, meek, 
 
 My dear Redeemer's throne : 
 Where only Christ is heard to speak: 
 
 Where Jesus reigns alone. 
 
 A humble, lowly, contrite heart, 
 Believing, true, and clean, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 163 
 
 Which neither life nor death can part 
 From Him that dwells within. 
 
 A heart in every thought renewed, 
 
 And filled with love divine ; 
 Perfect and right, and pure and good ; 
 
 A copy, Lord, of Thine. 
 
 Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart, 
 
 Come quickly from above : 
 Write Thy new name upon my heart, — 
 
 Thy new best name of Love. 
 
 Tune — "Winchester Old." 
 
 75—0 GOD OF TRUTH. 
 
 This is Tom Hughes's hymn, which, says Mr. Horder, 
 " seems to gather up and embody the distinctive 
 thoughts and feelings which animated his life. It was 
 probably suggested by Maurice's sermon, ' the Word of 
 God conquering through Sacrifice.' " 
 
 OGOD of Truth, Whose living word 
 Upholds whate'er hath breath, 
 Look down on Thy creation, Lord, 
 Enslaved by sin and death. 
 
 Set up Thy standard, Lord, that they 
 
 Who claim a heavenly birth 
 May march with Thee to smite the lies 
 
 That vex Thy ransom'd earth. 
 
 Ah ! would we join that blest array, 
 
 And follow in the might 
 Of Him, the Faithful and the True, 
 
 In raiment clean and white ? 
 
 We fight for truth, we fight for God, 
 Poor slaves of lies and sin, 
 
1 64 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 He who would fight for Thee on Earth, 
 Must first be true within. 
 
 Then, God of Truth, for Whom we long — 
 Thou Who wilt hear our prayer — 
 
 Do Thine own battle in our hearts, 
 And slay the falsehood there. 
 
 Still smite ! still burn ! till naught is left 
 
 But God's own truth and love ; 
 Then, Lord, as morning dew come down, 
 
 Rest on us from above. 
 
 Yea, come ! then, tried as in the fire, 
 
 From every lie set free, 
 Thy perfect truth shall dwell in us, 
 
 And we shall live in Thee. Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Tallis." 
 
 76— O FOR A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD. 
 
 " This is one of the most beautiful, tender, and popu- 
 lar of all Cowper's hymns." — Julian's " Dictionary of 
 Hymnology." 
 
 OFOR a closer walk with God! 
 A calm and heavenly frame; 
 A light to shine upon the road 
 That leads me to the Lamb ! 
 
 Where is the blessedness I knew 
 
 When first I saw the Lord ? 
 Where is the soul-refreshing view 
 
 Of Jesus and His word ? 
 
 What peaceful hours I once enjoyed 1 
 
 How sweet their memory still ! 
 But they have left an aching void 
 
 The world can never fill. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. l6$ 
 
 Return, O holy Dove, return ! 
 
 Sweet messenger of rest ; 
 I hate the sins that made Thee mourn, 
 
 And drove Thee from my breast : 
 
 The dearest idol I have known, 
 
 Whate'er that idol be, 
 Help me to tear it from Thy throne, 
 
 And worship only Thee. 
 
 So shall my walk be close with God, 
 
 Calm and serene my frame : 
 So purer light shall mark the road 
 
 That leads me to the Lamb. 
 
 Tune — " Martyrdom." 
 
 77 — O JESUS, I HAVE PROMISED. 
 
 This is a popular Confirmation hymn, which was con- 
 tributed by the late Rev. J. E. Bode in 1869 to the 
 " Psalms and Hymns," published by the Society for 
 Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 
 O JESUS, I have promised 
 To serve Thee to the end ; 
 Be Thou for ever near me, 
 
 My Master and my PViend ; 
 I shall not fear the battle 
 If Thou art by my side, 
 Nor wander from the pathway 
 If Thou wilt be my Guide. 
 
 let me feel Thee near me : 
 The world is ever near ; 
 
 1 see the sights that dazzle, 
 The tempting sounds I hear. 
 
 My foes are ever near me, 
 Around me and within ; 
 
 
1 66 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, 
 And shield my soul from sin. 
 
 O let me hear Thee speaking 
 
 In accents clear and still, 
 Above the storms of passion, 
 
 The murmurs of self-will : 
 O speak to re-assure me, 
 
 To hasten or control ; 
 O speak, and make me listen, 
 
 Thou Guardian of my soul. 
 
 O Jesus, Thou hast promised 
 
 To all who follow Thee, 
 That where Thou art in glory 
 
 There shall Thy servant be ; 
 And, Jesus, I have promised 
 
 To serve Thee to the end 
 O give me grace to follow, 
 
 My Master and my Friend. 
 
 O let me see Thy foot-marks, 
 
 And in them plant mine own; 
 My hope to follow duly 
 
 Is in Thy strength alone ; 
 O guide me, call me, draw me, 
 
 Uphold me to the end ; 
 And then in Heav'n receive me, 
 
 My Saviour and my Friend. Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Day of Rest." 
 
 78 -OH TO BE -NOTHING, NOTHING, 
 
 This is one of the most popular of modern hymns. 
 
 A lady who worked among the girls in business 
 houses in the West of England for twelve years, said : 
 " It is always surprising to hear and discover what were 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 167 
 
 the hymns which seemed to help the girls and which did 
 not. One of them which seemed to be most helpful 
 was this, ' Oh to be nothing, nothing.' " The authoress 
 herself writes : " It has always been a wonder to me 
 why that helped people under such varied circum- 
 stances. Prof. Rendell Harris has often told me how 
 much he has owed to that hymn. I could show you, 
 were it not breaking confidences, a sheaf of letters giv- 
 ing testimony to the help which that hymn has been 
 to all sorts and conditions of men and women — Roman 
 Catholics, Unitarians, High Churchmen, Dissenters — 
 under all kinds of circumstances." It has been trans- 
 lated into many languages, and has circulated far and 
 wide, meeting everywhere with immense acceptance. 
 
 OH to be nothing, nothing! 
 Only to lie at His feet, 
 A broken and emptied vessel, 
 
 For the Master's use made meet. 
 Emptied — that He might fill me, 
 
 As forth to His service I go ; 
 Broken — that so unhindered 
 His life through me might flow. 
 
 Oh to be nothing, nothing ! 
 
 Only as led by His hand ; 
 A messenger at His gateway, 
 
 Only waiting for His command: 
 Only an instrument ready 
 
 His praises to sound at His will ; 
 Willing, should He not require me, 
 
 In silence to wait on Him still. 
 
 Oh to be nothing, nothing ! 
 
 Painful the humbling may be, 
 Yet low in the dust I 'd lay me 
 
 That the world might my Saviour see. 
 
1 68 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Rather be nothing, nothing ! 
 
 To Him let our voices be raised : 
 He is the Fountain of blessing, 
 
 He only is meet to be praised. 
 
 Tune from " Songs and Solos." 
 
 X. — The Warfare of Life* 
 
 79— ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS. 
 
 The Duke of Cambridge, late Commander-in-Chief of 
 the British Army, mentioned this processional hymn by 
 the Rev. S. Baring-Gould as his favourite. 
 
 ONWARD, Christian soldiers! marching as to 
 war, 
 With the Cross of Jesus, going on before. 
 Christ, the Royal Master, leads against the foe ; 
 Forward into battle see His banners go. 
 
 Onward, Christian soldiers ! marching as to war, 
 With the Cross of Jesus, going on before. 
 
 At the sign of triumph, Satan's host doth flee ; 
 On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory ! 
 Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise : 
 Brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise ! 
 
 Like a mighty army moves the church of God : 
 Brothers, we are treading where the saints have 
 
 trod ; 
 We are not divided, all one body we — 
 One in hope and doctrine, one in charity. 
 
 Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise 
 
 and wane ; 
 But the church of Jesus constant will remain ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 169 
 
 Gates of hell can never 'gainst that church prevail ; 
 We have Christ's own promise — and that cannot 
 fail. 
 
 Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng ; 
 Blend with ours your voices in the triumph-song : 
 " Glory, laud, and honour, unto Christ the King" — 
 This through countless ages men and angels sing. 
 
 Tune — "St. Gertrude." 
 
 80 — OFT IN SORROW, OFT IN WOE. 
 
 Kirke White's marching song of the Christian Life 
 has no such lilting tune attached to it as " Onward, 
 Christian Soldiers," but being older it has probably 
 helped more souls than its recent rival. 
 
 OFT in sorrow, oft in woe, 
 Onward, Christians, onward go; 
 Fisfht the fight, maintain the strife, 
 Strengthened with the bread of life. 
 
 Let your drooping hearts be glad ; 
 March in heavenly armour clad; 
 Fight, nor think the battle long, 
 Soon shall victory tune your song. 
 
 Let not sorrow dim vour eve, 
 Soon shall every tear be dry; 
 Let not fears your course impede, 
 Great your strength if great your need. 
 
 Onward, then, to glory move, 
 More than conquerors ye shall prove ; 
 Though opposed by many a foe, 
 Christian soldiers, onward go. 
 
 Tune — " Ephraim." 
 
I/O HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 8 J— SOLDIERS OF CHRIST, ARISE I 
 
 This hymn by Charles Wesley is inspiriting as the blast 
 of the bugle : — 
 
 SOLDIERS of Christ, arise ! 
 And put your armour on, 
 Strong in the strength which God supplies 
 Through His eternal Son. 
 
 Strong in the Lord of Hosts, 
 
 And in His mighty power ; 
 Who in the strength of Jesus trusts 
 
 Is more than conqueror. 
 
 Stand then in His great might, 
 
 With all His strength endued ; 
 And take, to arm you for the fight, 
 
 The panoply of God. 
 
 From strength to strength go on ; 
 
 Wrestle, and fight, and pray; 
 Tread all the powers of darkness down, 
 
 And win the well-fought day; 
 
 That having all things done, 
 
 And all your conflicts past, 
 Ye may o'ercome through Christ alone, 
 
 And stand complete at last. 
 
 Tune — " Gildas." 
 
 82 — CHRISTIAN ! SEEK NOT YET REPOSE. 
 
 Another of Charlotte Elliott's hymns which has 
 achieved no little popularity. 
 
 CHRISTIAN ! seek not yet repose," 
 Hear thy guardian Angel say : 
 Thou art in the midst of foes ; 
 " Watch and pray." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 171 
 
 Principalities and powers, 
 Mustering their unseen array, 
 Wait for thy unguarded hours : 
 "Watch and pray." 
 
 Gird thy heavenly armour on, 
 Wear it ever night and day ; 
 Ambush'd lies the evil one ; 
 " Watch and pray." 
 
 Hear the victors who o'ercame ; 
 Still they mark each warrior's way : 
 All with one sweet voice exclaim,' 
 "Watch and pray." 
 
 Hear, above all, hear thy Lord, 
 Him thou lovest to obey; 
 Hide within thy heart His Word, 
 "Watch and pray." 
 
 Watch, as if on that alone 
 
 Hung the issue of the day; 
 
 Pray that help may be sent down ; 
 
 "Watch and pray." Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Vigilante." 
 
 83 — FORWARD! BE OUR WATCHWORD. 
 
 Dean Alford's processional hymn is a universal 
 favourite. 
 
 FORWARD ! be our watchword, 
 Steps and voices joined ; 
 Seek the things before us, 
 
 Not a look behind ; 
 Burns the fiery pillar 
 At our army's head ; 
 
1/2 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED, 
 
 Who shall dream of shrinking, 
 
 By our Captain led ? 
 Forward through the desert, 
 
 Through the toil and right; 
 Jordan flows before us, 
 
 Zion beams with light. 
 
 Forward, flock of Jesus, 
 
 Salt of all the earth, 
 Till each yearning purpose 
 
 Spring to glorious birth : 
 Sick, they ask for healing ; 
 
 Blind, they grope for day : 
 Pour upon the nations 
 
 Wisdom's loving ray. 
 Forward, out of error ; 
 
 Leave behind the night ; 
 Forward through the darkness, 
 
 Forward into light. 
 
 Glories upon glories 
 
 Hath our God prepared, 
 By the souls that love Him 
 
 One day to be shared : 
 Eye hath not beheld them, 
 
 Ear hath never heard : 
 Nor of these hath uttered 
 
 Thought or speech a word : 
 Forward, marching eastward, 
 
 Where the heaven is bright 
 Till the veil be lifted, 
 
 Till our faith be sight. 
 
 Far o'er yon horizon 
 
 Rise the city towers, 
 Where our God abideth ; 
 
 That fair home is ours. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 173 
 
 Flash the streets with jasper, 
 
 Shine the gates with gold ; 
 Flows the gladdening river, 
 
 Shedding joys untold ; 
 Thither, onward thither, 
 
 In the Spirit's might: 
 Pilgrims to your country, 
 
 Forward into light. 
 
 To the Eternal Father 
 
 Loudest anthems raise; 
 To the Son and Spirit 
 
 Echo songs of praise ; 
 To the Lord of Glory, 
 
 Blessed Three in One, 
 Be by men and angels 
 
 Endless honours done. 
 Weak are earthly praises, 
 
 Dull the songs of night ; 
 Forward into triumph, 
 
 Forward into light. 
 
 Tune 
 
 St. Boniface" or "St. Gertrude." 
 
 XL — Missions, Home and Foreign* 
 
 84 — FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 This hymn was written by Heber at short notice in 
 1819. Dean Shipley asked him one Saturday to prepare 
 some verses to be sung at the missionary service to be 
 held next morning. Heber sat down and dashed off 
 these verses, which speedily became the favourite mis- 
 sionary hymn of the English-speaking world. 
 
 'ROM Greenland's icy mountains, 
 From India's coral strand, 
 Where Afric's sunny fountains 
 Roll down their golden sand, 
 
 F 1 
 
174 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 From many an ancient river, 
 From many a palmy plain, 
 
 They call us to deliver 
 
 Their land from error's chain. 
 
 What though the spicy breezes 
 
 Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle ; 
 Though every prospect pleases, 
 
 And only man is vile ; 
 In vain, with lavish kindness, 
 
 The gifts of God are strown ; 
 The heathen, in his blindness, 
 
 Bows down to wood and stone. 
 
 Can we, whose souls are lighted 
 
 With wisdom from on high, — 
 » Can we to men benighted 
 
 The lamp of life deny ? 
 Salvation ! O salvation ! 
 
 The joyful sound proclaim, 
 Till each remotest nation 
 
 Has learned Messiah's name. 
 
 Waft, waft, ye winds, His story ; 
 
 And you, ye waters, roll, 
 Till, like a sea of glory, 
 
 It spreads from pole to pole ; 
 Till, o'er our ransomed nature, 
 
 The Lamb for sinners slain, 
 Redeemer, King, Creator, 
 
 In bliss return to reign. 
 
 
 Tune — " Missionary." 
 
 85— JESUS SHALL REIGN WHERE'ER THE 
 
 SUN. 
 
 After " From Greenland's icy mountains," this para- 
 phrase by Watts of part of Psalm lxxii. has helped the 
 
■ 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 75 
 
 missionary cause most. It is at once a psalm and a 
 prophecy. 
 
 JESUS shall reign where'er the sun 
 Doth his successive journeys run : 
 His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, 
 Till moons shall wax and wane no more. 
 
 For Him shall endless prayer be made, 
 And praises throng to crown His head ; 
 His name like sweet perfume shall rise 
 With every morning sacrifice. 
 
 People and realms of every tongue 
 Dwell on His love with sweetest song ; 
 And infant voices shall proclaim 
 Their early blessings on His name. 
 
 Blessings abound where'er He reigns : 
 The prisoner leaps to loose his chains ; 
 The weary find eternal rest, 
 And all the sons of want are blest. 
 
 Where He displays His healing power, 
 Death and the curse are known no more ; 
 In Him the tribes of Adam boast 
 More blessings than their father lost. 
 
 Tune — "The Old Hundredth." 
 
 When, in 1862, King George, one of the converts of 
 the English missionaries in the South Sea Islands, sub- 
 stituted a Christian for a Pagan constitution for his 
 country, 5,000 natives who were gathered at the cere- 
 monial joined as with one voice in singing this hymn. 
 
 86 — THERE WERE NINETY AND NINE. 
 
 This hymn, although first popularised by Mr. Sankey, 
 was written by Elizabeth C. Clephane at Melrose, in 1868. 
 Six years afterwards, her poem, originally contributed 
 
176 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 to the Children's Hour, was copied into the Christian 
 Age. There it was seen by Mr. Sankey, and one day, 
 at the close of an unusually impressive meeting in 
 Edinburgh, Mr. Sankey put the hymn verses before 
 him, touched the keys of the organ, and sang, not 
 knowing where he was going to come out. He finished 
 the first verse amid profound silence. He took a long 
 breath and wondered if he could sing the second the 
 same way. He tried it and succeeded. After that it 
 was easy to sing it. When he finished the hymn the 
 meeting was all " broken down." Mr. Sankey says it 
 was the most intense moment of his life. 
 
 THERE were ninety and nine that safely lay 
 In the shelter of the fold ; 
 But one was out on the hills away, 
 
 Far off from the gates of gold. 
 Away on the mountains wild and bare, 
 Away from the tender Shepherd's care. 
 
 " Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine, 
 
 Are they not enough for Thee ? " 
 But the Shepherd made answer, " This of Mine 
 
 Has wandered away from Me; 
 And although the road be rough and steep, 
 I go to the desert to find My sheep." 
 
 But none of the ransomed ever knew 
 
 How deep were the waters crossed ; 
 Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed 
 through, 
 
 Ere he found His sheep that was lost. 
 Out in the desert He heard its cry, 
 Sick, and helpless, and ready to die. 
 
 " Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way, 
 That mark out the mountain's track?" 
 
 " They were shed for one who had gone astray 
 Ere the Shepherd could bring him back." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 77 
 
 " Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn ? " 
 "They are pierced to-night by many a thorn." 
 
 But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, 
 
 And up from the rocky steep, 
 There arose a cry to the gate of heaven, 
 
 " Rejoice ! I have found my sheep." 
 And the angels echoed around the Throne, 
 "Rejoice ! for the Lord brings back His own." 
 
 Tune by Ira D. Sankey. 
 
 87— ALMOST PERSUADED. 
 
 The sad, wistful wail of the music to which this hymn 
 was set has made it an instrument of power to many 
 souls. The task of clinching a decision almost crystal- 
 lised into action is one of the most necessary and diffi- 
 cult of all the tasks of the religious teacher. In its 
 performance, such hymns as this have proved too use- 
 ful to permit their exclusion on the pedantic ground 
 that they are not addressed to the Deity. The purists 
 are in danger of provoking a reaction which will result 
 in objections being taken to any hymns which are not 
 directly addressed to those whose course may be altered 
 by touching melody or sacred song. 
 
 " A LMOST persuaded: " now to believe ; 
 l\ " Almost persuaded " Christ to receive : 
 Seems now some soul to say ? — 
 " Go, Spirit, go Thy way : 
 Some more convenient day 
 On Thee I Tl call." 
 
 " Almost persuaded : " come, come to-day ! 
 "Almost persuaded: " turn not away ! 
 Jesus invites you here, 
 Angels are lingering near, 
 Prayers rise from hearts so dear, 
 O wanderer, come ! 
 
 12 
 
178 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 " Almost persuaded : " harvest is past ! 
 " Almost persuaded : " doom comes at last ! 
 " Almost " cannot avail ; 
 44 Almost " is but to fail ; 
 Sad, sad, that bitter wail — 
 "Almost"— to lost I 
 
 Tune by Mr. Bliss. 
 
 88— TIME IS EARNEST. 
 
 This is one of the anonymous hymns of the world. It 
 belongs to the hortative class, appealing to those who 
 sing it and who hear it sung. It first appeared in 1851, 
 and has done much good. 
 
 TIME is earnest, passing by ; 
 Death is earnest, drawing nigh : 
 Sinner, wilt thou trifling be? 
 Time and death appeal to thee. 
 
 Life is earnest ; when 't is o'er, 
 Thou returnest never more. 
 Soon to meet eternity, 
 Wilt thou never serious be ? 
 
 God is earnest : kneel and pray, 
 Ere thy season pass away ; 
 Ere He set His judgment throne; 
 Ere the day of grace be gone. 
 
 Christ is earnest, bids thee come ; 
 Paid thy spirit's priceless sum ; 
 Wilt thou spurn thy Saviour's love, 
 Pleading with thee from above ? 
 
 O be earnest, do not stay ; 
 Thou mayest perish e'en to-day. 
 Rise, thou lost one, rise and flee ; 
 Lo ! thy Saviour waits for thee. 
 Tune — " Cyprus," also called " Sherborne." 
 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 79 
 
 89 — COME, YE SINNERS, POOR AND 
 WRETCHED. 
 
 Hymns, say some purists, ought only to be addressed 
 to God. They may be right in the abstract, but, as a 
 practical fact, hymns which are addressed to the con- 
 gregation are often most useful. Their utility can 
 sometimes be measured, which is impossible in the 
 case where the hymn is addressed to the Deity. One 
 of these hymns which these purists would drive from 
 the hymn-book still retains its hold on the Christian 
 Church. It was written by one of Whitfield's converts 
 named Joseph Hart, who is still so far from being for- 
 gotten that an obelisk was erected over his grave in 
 Bunhill Fields so recently as 1875. ^ * s m g reat use 
 at revival services, and has been cut about extensively 
 to suit the views of the different gospellers. 
 
 COME, ye sinners, poor and wretched, 
 Weak and wounded, sick and sore, 
 Jesus ready stands to save you, 
 Full of pity joined with power ; 
 
 He is able, 
 He is willing: doubt no more. 
 
 Come, ye needy, come and welcome, 
 
 God's free bounty glorify ; 
 True belief, and true repentance, 
 
 Every grace that brings us nigh, 
 Without money, 
 
 Come to Jesus Christ and buy. 
 
 Let not conscience make you linger, 
 
 Nor of fitness fondly dream ; 
 All the fitness He requireth, 
 
 Is to feel your need of Him : 
 This He gives you ; 
 
 'Tis the Spirit's rising beam. 
 
180 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Come, ye weary, heavy laden, 
 
 Bruised and broken by the fall ; 
 If you tarry till you 're better, 
 
 You will never come at all. 
 Not the righteous, 
 
 Sinners, Jesus came to call. 
 
 Agonising in the garden, 
 
 Lo ! your Saviour prostrate lies : 
 On the bloody tree behold Him ; 
 Hear Him cry before He dies, — 
 
 It is finished ! 
 Finished the great sacrifice. 
 
 Lo ! the Incarnate God, ascended, 
 
 Pleads the merit of His blood. 
 Venture on Him, venture wholly, 
 
 Let no other trust intrude : 
 None but Jesus 
 
 Can do helpless sinners good. 
 
 Saints and angels joined in concert, 
 
 Sing the praises of the Lamb : 
 While the blissful seats of heaven 
 Sweetly echo with His name. 
 
 Hallelujah ! 
 Sinners here may sing the same. 
 
 Tune — " Communion." 
 
 XII. — Joy, Love, and Peace* 
 
 90 — OUR GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, late Home Secretary, writes : " My fa- 
 vourite among hymns is, and has for a long time been, 
 Watts's ' Our God, our Help in Ages past.' I feel sure 
 that your collection when complete will be both inter- 
 esting and useful." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. l8l 
 
 Watts wrote this as a paraphrase of the Ninetieth 
 Psalm, a psalm which, as Mr. Marson reminds us, has 
 been sung or read over the graves of our fathers ever 
 since 1662. Burns paraphrased this psalm and failed, 
 although he delighted in it greatly. Charles V. used to 
 declare he preferred this to all other psalms, and Car- 
 dinal Newman makes Gerontius hear the souls in pur- 
 gatory singing this psalm. The first four verses of this 
 psalm form the burial-song of the Russian Church. It 
 was chanted as a dirge at the funeral of John Hampden. 
 
 OUR God, our help in ages past, 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
 And our eternal home ; 
 
 Under the shadow of Thy throne 
 Thy saints have dwelt secure; 
 
 Sufficient is Thine arm alone, 
 And our defence is sure. 
 
 Before the hills in order stood, 
 Or earth received her frame; 
 
 From everlasting Thou art God, 
 To endless years the same. 
 
 A thousand ages in Thy sight 
 
 Are like an evening gone ; 
 Short as the watch that ends the night 
 
 Before the rising sun. 
 
 The busy tribes of flesh and blood, 
 With all their cares and fears, 
 
 Are carried downwards by the flood, 
 And lost in following years. 
 
 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
 
 Bears all its sons away; 
 They fly, forgotten, as a dream 
 
 Dies at the opening day. 
 
1 82 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past, 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 
 Be Thou our guard, while troubles last 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 Tune — "St. Anne." 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir Henry Fowler writes to me : 
 " John Bright used to speak in the highest terms of the 
 grand hymn, ' Our God, our Help in Ages past.' I once 
 told Dr. Liddon that Mr. Bright had described that 
 hymn as the best in the language. Dr. Liddon paused, 
 and then said : ' I should not say the best, but one of 
 the three best.'"" 
 
 9J— O GOD OF BETHEL, BY WHOSE 
 
 HAND. 
 
 When I asked the Duke of Argyll as to hymns which 
 had helped him, he made the following reference to 
 Dr. Doddridge's well-known paraphrase : — 
 
 Inverary, Argyllshire. 
 
 Sir, — I would be very glad to help you if I could, but 
 I can't honestly say that any one hymn has " helped " 
 me specially. Some of the Scotch paraphrases are my 
 favourites, " O God of Bethel," etc. 
 
 Yours obediently, Argyll, 
 
 OGOD of Bethel, by whose hand 
 Thy people still are fed ; 
 Who through this weary pilgrimage 
 Hast all our fathers led ; 
 
 Our vows, our prayers, we now present 
 
 Before Thy throne of grace; 
 God of our fathers, be the God 
 
 Of their succeeding race. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 183 
 
 Through each perplexing path of life 
 Our wandering footsteps guide ; 
 
 Give us, each day, our daily bread, 
 And raiment fit provide. 
 
 O spread Thy covering wings around, 
 Till all our wanderings cease, 
 
 And at our Father's loved abode, 
 Our souls arrive in peace. 
 
 Such blessings from Thy gracious hand 
 Our humble prayers implore ; 
 
 And Thou shalt be our chosen God 
 And portion, evermore. 
 
 Tune — "Farrant." 
 
 Of this hymn and the way it has helped men, Mr. S. 
 R. Crockett writes as follows : " One hymn I love, and 
 that (to be Irish) is not a hymn, but what in our 
 country is mystically termed a ' paraphrase.' It is that 
 which, when sung to the tune of St. Paul's, makes men 
 and women square themselves and stand erect to sing, 
 like an army that goes gladly to battle : — 
 
 O God of Bethel, by whose hand 
 
 Thy people still are fed : 
 Who through this weary pilgrimage 
 
 Hast all our fathers led. 
 
 "I wish I could quote it all. Of course it is in vain 
 to try to tell what these songs of ' Christ's ain Kirk 
 and Covenant' are to us who sucked them in with our 
 mother-milk, and heard them crooned for cradle songs 
 to ' Coleshill ' and ' Kilmarnock.' But be assured that 
 whatever new songs are written, noble and sincere, 
 there will always be a number who will walk in the old 
 paths, and, by choice, seek for their 'helping' (about 
 which they will mostly keep silence) from the songs 
 their fathers sang." 
 
 This was the favourite hymn of Dr. Livingstone. It 
 cheered him often in his African wanderings, and when 
 
1 84 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 his remains were buried in Westminster Abbey it was 
 sung over his grave. 
 
 A Scotch mission-teacher at Kuruman, Bechuana- 
 land, South Africa, writes : " This hymn stands out pre- 
 eminently as the hymn which has helped me beyond 
 all others. It shines with radiant lustre like the star 
 that outshineth all others among the midnight constel- 
 lations. It has been my solace and comfort in times of 
 trouble, my cheer in times of joy ; it is woven into the 
 warp and woof of my spiritual being ; its strains were 
 the first I was taught to lisp, and, God helping me, they 
 shall be the last. Sung to the tune of ' Dundee,' that 
 was the refrain of happy meetings or sad partings. Its 
 strains rang out the Old Year and heralded the New. 
 It was chanted as a farewell dirge when I left my home 
 in Scotland. It has followed me ' Sooth the line,' and 
 every gait I gang, I never rest until from dusky throats 
 roll out the familiar words. It is a ' couthy ' psalm, and 
 touches to the quick the human spirit that more gifted 
 utterances fail to reach. I am penning this in the little 
 room that was once the study of David Livingstone, 
 whose walls have often re-echoed to many a strain of 
 praise and supplication, but to none more inspiring and 
 endearing than ' O God of Bethel.' " Another Scotch- 
 man writes : " In some ways I have wandered far from 
 the faith of our fathers, but the old Psalms move me 
 strongly yet. 'O God of Bethel, by whose hand' will 
 ever have a pathetic interest for me. I, too, have 
 crooned it as a cradle song over one who will never need 
 to hear me croon it ever more, for she has solved the 
 riddle of the ages, which I am left painfully trying to 
 spell. These rugged lines speak out the religious ex- 
 periences of a rugged race as no modern hymns ever 
 will." 
 
 92 — NOW I HAVE FOUND THE GROUND 
 
 WHEREIN. 
 
 This hymn is John Wesley's version of Rothe's " Ich 
 habe nun den Grund gefunden." Rothe was Count 
 Zinzendorf's friend and pastor at Berthelsdorf. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 185 
 
 NOW I have found the ground wherein 
 Sure my soul's anchor may remain : — 
 The wounds of Jesus, for my sin, 
 Before the world's foundation slain : 
 Whose mercy shall unshaken stay, 
 When heaven and earth are fled away. 
 
 Love, thou bottomless abyss ! 
 My sins are swallowed up in thee; 
 Covered is mine unrighteousness, 
 Nor spot of guilt remains on me, 
 
 While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies, 
 Mercy, free, boundless mercy cries ! 
 
 With faith I plunge me in this sea : 
 Here is my hope, my joy, my rest ! 
 Hither, when hell assails, I flee; 
 
 1 look into my Saviour's breast ; 
 Away, sad doubt, and anxious fear ! 
 Mercy is all that's written there. 
 
 Though waves and storms go o'er my head, 
 Though strength, and health, and friends be gone, 
 Though joys be withered all and dead, 
 Though every comfort be withdrawn ; 
 On this my steadfast soulrelies: 
 Father, Thy mercy never dies. 
 
 Fixed on this ground will I remain, 
 Though my heart fail, and flesh decay; 
 This anchor shall my soul sustain, 
 When earth's foundations melt away; 
 Mercy's full power I then shall prove, 
 Loved with an everlasting love. 
 
 Tune — "Stella." 
 
 According to " Notes on the Methodist Hymn- 
 Book," this hymn has helped multitudes. Few hymns 
 are so full of Scripture truth and Scripture phraseology. 
 
1 86 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 There are said to be no fewer than thirty-six texts which 
 can be traced in its thirty lines. 
 
 The veteran Wesleyan minister, the Rev. Charles 
 Garrett, of Liverpool, places this hymn in the forefront 
 as one which has been his companion and comfort all 
 through his life's journey. 
 
 93 -JESUS, THE VERY THOUGHT OF 
 
 THEE. 
 
 There are fifty stanzas of this hymn of St. Bernard, 
 of which only four are given here. The fifth, in Latin, 
 is not Bernard's. It has been in constant use for 
 seven hundred years. No other poem, says Julian, in 
 any language has furnished so many- hymns of sterling 
 worth and well-deserved popularity to English and 
 American hymnody. 
 
 JESUS, the very thought of Thee 
 With sweetness fills my breast ; 
 But sweeter far Thy face to see, 
 And in Thy presence rest. 
 
 Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, 
 
 Nor can the memory find, 
 A sweeter sound than Thy blest name, 
 
 O Saviour of mankind! 
 
 O hope of every contrite heart ! 
 
 O joy of all the meek ! 
 To those who fall, how kind Thou art ! 
 
 How good to those who seek ! 
 
 But what to those who find ? Ah ! this 
 Nor tongue nor pen can show; 
 
 The love of Jesus — what it is, 
 None but His loved ones know. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 87 
 
 JESU dulcis memoria, 
 Dans vera cordi gaudia : 
 Sed super mel et omnia 
 Ejus dulcis praesentia. 
 
 Nil canitur suavius, 
 Nil auditur jucundius, 
 Nil cogitatur dulcius, 
 Quam Jesus Dei«Filius. 
 
 Jesu spes pcenitentibus, 
 Quam pius es petentibus ! 
 Quam bonus te quaerentibus ! 
 Sed quid invenientibus ! 
 
 Nee lingua valet dicere, 
 Nee littera exprimere ; 
 Expertus potest credere, 
 Quid sit Jesum diligere. 
 
 Sis, Jesu, nostrum gaudium, 
 
 Qui es futurus praemium : 
 
 Sit nostra in te gloria, 
 
 Per cuncta semper sascula. Amen. 
 
 Tune — "St. Agnes." 
 
 94 — HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS 
 
 SOUNDS. 
 
 This is one of the most popular of Newton's hymns. 
 The word Guardian in the fourth verse was originally 
 written Husband, in allusion to the Church, " the 
 Lamb's wife." 
 
 HOW sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
 In a believer's ear ! 
 It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
 And drives away his fear. 
 
1 88 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 It makes the wounded spirit whole, 
 And calms the troubled breast : 
 
 'T is manna to the hungry soul, 
 And to the weary, rest. 
 
 Dear name ! the rock on which I build; 
 
 My shield and hiding-place, 
 My never-failing treasury, filled 
 
 With boundless stores of grace. 
 
 Jesus, my Shepherd, Guardian, Friend ; 
 
 My Prophet, Priest, and King ; 
 My Lord, my life, my way, mine end, 
 
 Accept the praise I bring. 
 
 Weak is the effort of my heart, 
 And cold my warmest thought ; 
 
 But when I see Thee as Thou art, 
 I '11 praise Thee as I ought : 
 
 Till then, I would Thy love proclaim 
 
 With every fleeting breath ; 
 And may the music of Thy name 
 
 Refresh my soul in death. 
 
 Tune — " St. Peter." 
 
 95 -LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING. 
 
 This is one of the hymns of Charles Wesley, which en- 
 abled Methodism to sing itself into the heart of the 
 human race. 
 
 LOVE divine, all loves excelling, 
 Joy of heaven, to eartli come down ; 
 Fix in us Thy humble dwelling ; 
 
 All Thy faithful mercies crown. 
 Jesus, Thou art all compassion ; 
 
 Pure, unbounded love Thou art : 
 Visit us with Thy salvation ; 
 Enter every longing heart. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 89 
 
 Come, almighty to deliver, 
 
 Let us all Thy grace receive ; 
 Suddenly return, and never, 
 
 Never more Thy temples leave. 
 Thee we would be always blessing, 
 
 Serve Thee as Thy hosts above ; 
 Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing; 
 
 Glory in Thy precious love. 
 
 Finish, then, Thy new creation ; 
 
 Pure, unspotted may we be : 
 Let us see our whole salvation 
 
 Perfectly secured by Thee : 
 Changed from glory into glory, 
 
 Till in heaven we take our place, 
 Till we cast our crowns before Thee ! 
 
 Lost in wonder, love, and praise. 
 
 Tune — " Bithynia." 
 
 It is one of the most popular and helpful hymns, 
 which, originating in the Methodist hymnody, have 
 found an honoured place in the hymn-books of almost 
 every other denomination. It was a prime favourite of 
 Henry Ward Beecher. No one who ever heard the 
 great congregation of Plymouth Church sing " Love 
 Divine " is likely to forget the soul-stirring effect. 
 
 96— OH FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES 
 
 TO SING. 
 
 The first man whom this hymn helped was Charles 
 Wesley himself. On May 21, 1738, Charles Wesley 
 experienced that practical spiritual change which among 
 Methodists is known as Conversion. Twelve months 
 afterwards, in memory of a year in which he had found 
 peace and joy in believing, he wrote the exultant out- 
 burst of grateful praise which, being given the first 
 place in the Methodist hymn-book, may be said to strike 
 the key-note of the whole of Methodism, that multitu- 
 
190 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 dinous chorus, whose voices, like the sound of many 
 waters, encompass the world. The germ idea of the 
 hymn was given to the author by Peter Bohler, the 
 Moravian, who once declared : " Had I a thousand 
 tongues I would praise Christ with them all." Origi- 
 nally, the exuberance of Wesley's gratitude overflowed 
 into sixty-eight verses, only the best of which are used 
 for singing. The third verse is an equal favourite of 
 condemned malefactors and dying saints. 
 
 OH for a thousand tongues to sing 
 My dear Redeemer's praise, 
 The glories of my God and King, 
 The triumphs of His grace ! 
 
 Jesus — the name that charms our fears, 
 
 That bids our sorrows cease ; 
 'T is music in the sinner's ears; 
 
 'Tis life, and health, and peace. 
 
 He breaks the'power of cancelled sin, 
 
 And sets the prisoner free : 
 His blood can make the foulest clean ; 
 
 His blood availed for me. 
 
 He speaks ; and, listening to His voice, 
 
 New life the dead receive ; 
 The mournful broken hearts rejoice ; 
 
 The humble poor believe. 
 
 Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, 
 
 Your loosened tongues employ ; 
 Ye blind, behold your Saviour come ; 
 
 And leap, ye lame, for joy ! 
 
 My gracious Master and my God, 
 
 Assist me to proclaim 
 And spread through all the earth abroad 
 
 The honours of Thy name. 
 
 Tune — " Byzantium." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 191 
 
 Mortimer Collins says : " Wesley's hymns are as 
 much in earnest as Dibdin's sea-songs. I suspect 
 Charles Wesley the poet did as much as John Wesley 
 the orator for the permanence of Methodism. The 
 magnetism of personal influence passes away; but the 
 burning life of that wondrous psalmody, sung Sunday 
 after Sunday by congregations full of faith, is im- 
 perishable." 
 
 97 — THOU HIDDEN LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 There is a peculiar interest attached to this hymn. 
 John Wesley is said to have translated it in Savannah, 
 in the United States, where he suffered much and was 
 grievously tormented by his ill-starred passion for a 
 certain Miss Sophy. It was with special reference to 
 the continually obtruding thought of this Miss Sophy 
 that the Rev. John composed the verse " Is there a 
 thing beneath the sun ? " It seems to have been effica- 
 cious, and the lovelorn poet came home to meet a worse 
 fate at the hands of her whom, for his Karma, he was 
 allowed to make Mrs. Wesley. The hymn has helped 
 thousands who never knew of Wesley and his ill-fated 
 loves to acts of consecration and self-sacrifice from 
 which they would otherwise have shrunk. Tersteegen, 
 the original author of the hymn " Verborgne Gottes- 
 liebe, Du," was a German mystical poet who died in 
 1769. 
 
 THOU hidden Love of God, whose height, 
 Whose depth unfathomed, no man knows : 
 I see from far Thy bounteous light, 
 Inly I sigh for Thy repose : 
 My heart is pained, nor can it be 
 At rest, till it finds rest in Thee. 
 
 'T is mercy all, that Thou hast brought 
 My mind to seek her peace in Thee : 
 Yet while I seek, but find Thee not, 
 
192 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 No peace my wandering soul shall see: 
 O when shall all my wanderings end, 
 And all my steps to Thee-ward tend ! 
 
 Is there a thing beneath the sun 
 
 That strives with Thee my heart to share ? 
 
 Ah ! tear it thence, and reign alone, 
 
 The Lord of every motion there : 
 
 Then shall my heart from earth be free: 
 
 When it hath found repose in Thee. 
 
 O Love, Thy sovereign aid impart, 
 To save me from low-thoughted care : 
 Chase this self-will through all my heart, 
 Through all its latent mazes there : 
 Make me Thy duteous child, that I 
 Ceaseless may Abba, Father, cry ! 
 
 Tune — ''Rest" or "Euphony." 
 
 98—1 HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS. 
 
 This is one of the most popular of Dr. Bonar's hymns. 
 It belongs to the number of those in which the con- 
 verted recite their experiences for the encouragement of 
 the unconverted. The persistent use of " I " and " me " 
 in this hymn has helped it to help many to whom " we " 
 and " us " would have been much less effective. 
 
 I HEARD the voice of Jesus say, 
 " Come unto me and rest ; 
 Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 
 
 Thy head upon My breast." 
 I came to Jesus as I was, 
 
 Weary and worn and sad, 
 I found in Him a resting-place, 
 And He has made me glad. 
 
 I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 " Behold, I freely give 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 193 
 
 The living water; thirsty one, 
 Stoop down and drink, and live." 
 
 I came to Jesus, and I drank 
 Of that life-giving stream, 
 
 My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, 
 And now I live in Him. 
 
 I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 
 " I am this dark world's light, 
 Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, 
 
 And all thy day be bright." 
 I looked to Jesus, and I found 
 
 In Him my Star, my Sun; 
 And in that light of life I '11 walk, 
 
 Till travelling days are done. 
 
 Tune — "Vox Dilecti." 
 
 99 — SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS. 
 
 This little hymn by Mrs. Van Alstyne has comforted 
 manv, and will continue to do so. There are many 
 souls from whom the craving for being " mothered " 
 has been left out. To them the longing to be folded in 
 loving arms and pressed to a tender and sympathetic 
 bosom is unintelligible. But to those who never out- 
 grow, even in their maturest years, when overwhelmed 
 by affliction, the instinctive heart-longing to seek the 
 sheltering arms which comforted them in their child- 
 hood, this hymn is a special and most helpful favourite. 
 It is when people are hard hit they need help. The 
 just need no repentance, and the happy need no helper. 
 Put for the miserable, the promise of the shelter of the 
 Everlasting Arms is sweet. 
 
 SAFE in the arms of Jesus, 
 Safe on His gentle breast, 
 There by His love o'ershaded, 
 Sweetly my soul shall rest. 
 
 J 3 
 
194 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Hark ! 't is the voice of angels 
 
 Borne in a song to me, 
 Over the fields of glory, 
 Over the jasper sea. 
 
 Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His 
 
 gentle breast; 
 There by His love o'ershaded, sweetly 
 my soul shall rest. 
 
 Safe in the arms of Jesus, 
 
 Safe from corroding care, 
 Safe from the world's temptations, 
 
 Sin cannot harm me there. 
 Free from the blight of sorrow, 
 
 Free from my doubts and fears ; 
 Only a few more trials, — 
 
 Only a few more tears ! 
 
 Jesus, my heart's dear Refuge, 
 
 Jesus has died for me ; 
 Firm on the Rock of Ages 
 
 Ever my trust shall be. 
 Here let me wait with patience, 
 
 Wait till the night is o'er ; 
 Wait till I see the morning 
 
 Break on the golden shore. 
 
 Tune — From "Songs and Solos." 
 
 J00 - O JESU, KING MOST WONDERFUL. 
 
 This is another part of St. Bernard's hymn, " Jesu 
 dulcis memoria," which is noticed under the heading 
 " Jesus, the very thought of Thee." 
 
 OJESU, King most wonderful, 
 Thou Conqueror renowned ; 
 Thou sweetness most ineffable, 
 In whom alt joys are found ; — 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 195 
 
 When once Thou visitest the heart, 
 
 Then truth begins to shine, 
 Then earthly vanities depart, 
 
 Then kindles love divine. 
 
 O Jesus, light of all below, 
 
 Thou fount of life and fire, 
 Surpassing all the joys we know, 
 
 All that we can desire ; — 
 
 May every heart confess Thy name, 
 
 And ever Thee adore : 
 And, seeking Thee, itself inflame 
 
 To seek Thee more and more. 
 
 Thee may our tongues for ever bless, 
 
 Thee may we love alone ; 
 And ever in our lives express 
 
 The image of Thine own. 
 
 Tune — "St. Agnes." 
 
 XOJ — COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY 
 
 BLESSING. 
 
 This hymn for a hundred years has been a great 
 favourite. It has been wrongfully attributed to the 
 Countess of Huntingdon. Its real author was one 
 Robert Robinson, of whom a somewhat pathetic story 
 is told. In his later years, this Robinson somewhat 
 fell away from grace and displayed such levity in a 
 stage-coach as to lead a lady fellow-passenger to labour 
 with him in the Lord. As a final shot, she, all unknow- 
 ing who the stranger was, quoted to him this hymn and 
 spoke of how it had been blessed to her soul. There- 
 upon Robinson burst out into tears, crying : " Madam, 
 I am the poor unhappy man who composed that hymn 
 many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if 
 I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then." # 
 
196 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 COME, Thou fount of every blessing, 
 Tune my heart to sing Thy grace ; 
 Streams of mercy, never ceasing, 
 
 Call for songs of loudest praise : 
 Teach me some melodious sonnet 
 Sung by flaming tongues above ; 
 Praise the mount — I 'm fixed upon it ! 
 Mount of Thy redeeming love ! 
 
 Here I '11 raise my Ebenezer, 
 
 Hither by Thy help I 've come ; 
 And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, 
 
 Safely to arrive at home. 
 Jesus sought me when a stranger, 
 
 Wandering from the fold of God ; 
 He, to rescue me from danger, 
 
 Interposed His precious blood. 
 
 Oh, to grace how great a debtor 
 
 Daily I 'm constrained to be ! 
 Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, 
 
 Bind my wandering heart to Thee. 
 Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; 
 
 Prone to leave the God I love ; 
 Here 's my heart, oh, take and seal it, 
 
 Seal it for Thy courts above. 
 
 Tune — " Normandy. 
 
 J02 — I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR. 
 
 This is a hymn by Mrs. A. S. Hawks which has been 
 much used at missions, revival meetings, and the like. 
 
 NEED Thee every hour, most gracious Lord: 
 No tender voice like Thine can peace afford. 
 I need Thee, oh, I need Thee; every hour 
 
 I need Thee : 
 Oh, bless me now, my Saviour! I come to 
 Thee. 
 
 I 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 197 
 
 I need Thee every hour : stay Thou near by : 
 Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh. 
 
 I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain ; 
 Come quickly and abide, or life is vain. 
 
 I need Thee every hour : teach me Thy will ; 
 And Thy rich promises in me fulfil. 
 
 I need Thee every hour, most Holy One; 
 Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son. 
 Tune — By Rev. R. Lowry in "Songs and Solos." 
 
 J03-O SACRED HEAD ONCE WOUNDED, 
 
 This is another of the "hymns that have helped" 
 which we owe to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Its genesis 
 is direct. In Bernard's Rhythmica Oratio, Part vii. 
 begins : " Salve caput cruentatum." Gerhardt pub- 
 lished a German version in the seventeenth century, be- 
 ginning : " O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden." Dr. Alex- 
 ander, an American Presbyterian, translated it into 
 English in 1830. 
 
 Dr. Philip Schaff says : " This classical hymn has 
 shown in three tongues, Latin, German, and English, 
 and in three Confessions, Roman, Lutheran, and Re- 
 formed, with equal effect, the dying love of our Saviour 
 and our boundless indebtedness to Him." 
 
 O SACRED Head once wounded, 
 With grief and pain weigh'd down, 
 How scornfully surrounded 
 
 With thorns — Thine only crown ! 
 How art Thou pale with anguish, 
 
 With sore abuse and scorn ! 
 How does that visage languish, 
 Which once was bright as morn ! 
 
 O Lord of life and glory, 
 
 What bliss till now was Thine ! 
 
198 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 I read the wondrous story, 
 
 I joy to call Thee mine. 
 Thy grief and Thy compassion 
 
 Were all for sinners' gain ; 
 Mine, mine was the transgression, 
 
 But Thine the deadly pain. 
 
 What language shall I borrow 
 
 To praise Thee, Heavenly Friend, 
 For this Thy dying sorrow, 
 
 Thy pity without end ? 
 Lord, make me Thine for ever, 
 
 Nor let me faithless prove ; 
 Oh, let me never, never 
 
 Abuse such dying love. 
 
 Be near me, Lord, when dying; 
 
 Oh, show Thy cross to me ; 
 And, for my succour flying, 
 
 Come, Lord, to set me free : 
 These eyes, new faith receiving, 
 
 From Jesus shall not move ; 
 For he who dies believing, 
 
 Dies safely through Thy love. 
 
 Tune — "Passion Chorale." 
 
 J04— JESUS, AND SHALL IT EVER BE, 
 
 This hymn dates from the middle of last century. 
 There are several hymns like it intended to encourage 
 the diffident believer to profess his faith. " Ashamed 
 to be a Christian " is another of the same kind. They 
 are more practical than many much more admired 
 hymns. Its author was one Joseph Gregg; the origi- 
 nal poem, entitled " Glorying in Jesus," contained seven 
 stanzas. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 1 99 
 
 JESUS, and shall it ever be, 
 A mortal man ashamed of Thee ? 
 Scorned be the thought by rich and poor: 
 My soul shall scorn it more and more. 
 
 Ashamed of Jesus ! Sooner far 
 May evening blush to own a star. 
 Ashamed of Jesus ! Just as soon 
 May midnight blush to think of noon. 
 
 Ashamed of Jesus ! that dear Friend, 
 On whom my hopes of heaven depend ? 
 No ! when I blush, be this my shame, 
 That I no more revere His name. 
 
 Ashamed of Jesus ! Yes, I may, 
 When I 've no sins to wash away, 
 No tears to wipe, no joys to crave, 
 No fears to quell, no soul to save. 
 
 Till then — nor is the boasting vain — 
 Till then I boast a Saviour slain : 
 And Oh, may this my glory be, 
 That Christ is not ashamed of me. 
 
 Tune — " Brookfield." 
 
 J05— MUST JESUS BEAR THE CROSS 
 
 ALONE. 
 
 A stirring hymn with a spirited tune, it is associated, 
 in the minds of many, with the turning-point of their life. 
 It is a great favourite with the Salvation Army, which has 
 gathered in many of its converts to its strains. 
 
 MUST Jesus bear the Cross alone, 
 And all the world go free ? 
 No, there 's a Cross for everyone, 
 And there 's a Cross for me. 
 
200 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 If the Cross we boldly bear 
 Then the crown we shall wear, 
 When we dwell with Jesus there 
 In the bright forevermore. 
 
 The consecrated Cross I '11 bear 
 
 Till death shall set me free, 
 And then go home my crown to wear, 
 
 For there 's a crown for me. 
 
 Upon the crystal pavement, down 
 
 At Jesus' pierced feet, 
 Joyful I '11 cast my golden crown, 
 
 And His dear name repeat. 
 
 Tune from Salvation Army Book. 
 
 J06 — IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST I GLORY. 
 
 Sir John Bowring, LL.D., F.R.S., was a Unitarian 
 who, in his day, played a rather important part in our 
 Chinese wars. He was a polyglot scholar, a Radical 
 M.P., Consul at Hong Kong when the Opium War broke 
 out, and afterwards Governor of that Colony. He was 
 the author of several hymns, of which this is the best 
 known and most used. Its first line is inscribed on his 
 tombstone. 
 
 IN the Cross of Christ I glory ; 
 Towering o'er the wrecks of time, 
 All the light of sacred story 
 
 Gathers round its head sublime. 
 
 When the woes of life o'ertake me, 
 Hopes deceive, and fears annoy, 
 
 Never shall the Cross forsake me : 
 Lo ! it glows with peace and joy. 
 
 When the sun of bliss is beaming 
 Light and love upon my way : 
 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 201 
 
 From the Cross the radiance streaming 
 Adds more lustre to the day. 
 
 Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, 
 
 By the Cross are sanctified ; 
 Peace is there, that knows no measure, 
 
 Joys, that through all time abide. 
 
 In the Cross of Christ I glory ; 
 
 Towering o'er the wrecks of time, 
 All the light of sacred story 
 
 Gathers round its head sublime. 
 
 Tune — " Sardis." 
 
 107 — PEACE, PERFECT PEACE. 
 
 " Bickersteth's ' Peace, perfect peace,' " writes Rich- 
 ard Le Gallienne, "comes very near 'Lead, Kindly 
 Light/ in combining piety and poetry in the highest pro- 
 portion. But, after all, that hymn is best which sings 
 best rather than reads best, which best lends itself to 
 the breath of devotion vibrating through it as through 
 an instrument." Bishop Bickersteth wrote it in 1875, 
 on the text, " Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose 
 mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." 
 
 PEACE, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin? 
 The blood of Jesus whispers peace within. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed ? 
 To do the will of Jesus, this is rest. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round? 
 On Jesus' bosom nought but calm is found. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away ? 
 In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown ? 
 Jesus we know, and He is on the throne. 
 
202 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and 
 
 ours ? 
 Jesus has vanquish'd death and all its powers. 
 
 It is enough : earth's struggles soon shall cease, 
 And Jesus call us to Heav'n's perfect peace. 
 
 Tune — " Pax Tecum." 
 
 XHL — Morning and Evening. 
 
 J08— AWAKE, MY SOUL, AND WITH THE 
 
 SUN. 
 
 AWAKE, my soul, and with the sun 
 Thy daily stage of duty run : 
 Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise 
 To pay thy morning sacrifice. 
 
 Thy precious time, misspent, redeem ; 
 Each present day, thy last esteem ; 
 Improve thy talent with due care ; 
 For the Great Day thyself prepare. 
 
 In conversation be sincere ; 
 Keep conscience as the noontide clear. 
 Think how All-seeing God thy ways, 
 Thy every secret thought surveys. 
 
 Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart, 
 And with the angels bear thy part, 
 Who, all night long, unwearied sing 
 High praise to the Eternal King. 
 
 All praise to Thee, who safe has kept, 
 And hast refreshed me while I slept. 
 Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake, 
 I may of endless life partake. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 203 
 
 Lord, I my vows to Thee renew : 
 Scatter my sins as morning dew : 
 Guard my first springs of thought and will, 
 And with Thyself my spirit fill. 
 
 Direct, control, suggest, this day, 
 
 All I design, or do, or say ; 
 
 That all my powers, with all their might, 
 
 In Thy sole glory may unite. 
 
 Praise God from whom all blessings flow : 
 Praise Him all creatures here below : 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host : 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 Tune — " Morning Hymn." 
 
 Bishop Ken, the author of this hymn, led a rather 
 troubled and eventful life. He bore stern testimony 
 against the immorality of the Restoration, refusing to 
 admit Nell Gwynne to his house ; but he was called in 
 to attend the death-bed of Charles the Second when 
 that merry monarch was " such an unconscionable 
 time in dying." He was sent to the Tower by James 
 along with the other bishops who would not publish the 
 Declaration of Indulgence. But when William came 
 he refused to swear allegiance, and died a non-juror in 
 171 1. He used to sing this morning hymn to his own 
 accompaniment on the lute, and when he died he was 
 buried under the east window of the chancel of Frome 
 Church, just at sunrising, as his mourning friends sang, 
 in the first light of the dawning day, " Awake, my soul, 
 and with the sun." Macaulay says of him that his 
 character approached as near as human infirmity per- 
 mits to the ideal perfection of Christian virtue. Monck- 
 ton Milnes wrote a hymn upon his grave, styling him 
 
 "A braver Becket — who could hope 
 To conquer unresisting." 
 
204 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 If it was for nothing else, this hymn is famous as a 
 help because its last verse has become the universal 
 doxology of the English-speaking world, — a kind of 
 pious pemmican of devotion not unworthy to be sung 
 wherever the Lord's. Prayer is prayed. Mr. Thomas 
 Hardy, author of "Tess" and other novels, places this 
 among the three hymns he loves most. 
 
 J09.— CARLYLE'S MORNING HYMN. 
 
 Very different from Bishop Ken's, but, nevertheless, 
 not without helpfulness of its own, is Thomas Carlyle's 
 charming little hymn for the dawning of the morning. 
 
 SO here hath been dawning 
 Another blue day ; 
 Think, wilt thou let it 
 Slip useless away ? 
 
 Out of eternity 
 
 This new day is born ; 
 Into eternity 
 
 At night will return. 
 
 Behold it aforetime 
 
 No eye ever did ; 
 So soon it for ever 
 
 P'rom all eyes is hid. 
 
 Here hath been dawning 
 
 Another blue day ; 
 Think, wilt thou let it 
 
 Slip useless away? 
 
 HO — O TIMELY HAPPY, TIMELY WISE. 
 
 " This morning hymn of Keble's from the Christian 
 Year has been to me," says a correspondent in Brisbane, 
 "more helpful than anything else I ever read." The 
 sixth verse is the kernel of the hymn. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 205 
 
 O TIMELY happy, timely wise, 
 Hearts that with rising morn arise; 
 Eyes that the beam celestial view, 
 Which evermore makes all things new. 
 
 New every morning is the love 
 Our wakening and uprising prove ; 
 Through sleep and darkness safely brought, 
 Restored to life and power and thought. 
 
 New mercies, each returning day, 
 
 Hover around us while we pray; 
 
 New perils past, new sins forgiven, 
 
 New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven. 
 
 If on our daily course our mind 
 Be set to hallow all we find, 
 New treasures still, of countless price, 
 God will provide for sacrifice. 
 
 Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be, 
 As more of heaven in each we see ; 
 Some softening gleam of love and prayer 
 Shall dawn on every cross and care. 
 
 The trivial round, the common task, 
 Will furnish all we ought to ask : 
 Room to deny ourselves ; a road 
 To bring us daily nearer God. 
 
 Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love, 
 Fit us for perfect rest above ; 
 And help us, this and every day, 
 To live more nearly as we pray. 
 
 Tune — " Nicomachus." 
 
 Another correspondent sends me this hymn as one 
 which she has never called to mind without its proving 
 
206 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 of great help in assisting her to build up more than one 
 Christian virtue. In the United States the hymn be- 
 gins, in most churches, with the second stanza. 
 
 m-SUN OF MY SOUL. 
 
 Keble's evening hymn has far outstripped in general 
 use his morning hymn. Although the Christian Year 
 has gone through one hundred editions, the last of 
 which placed the bulk of it before one hundred thou- 
 sand readers, this hymn is known not to thousands, but 
 to millions, and the music of its verse is familiar in 
 every nook and corner of the English-speaking world. 
 
 SUN of my soul, Thou Saviour dear ! 
 It is not night, if Thou be near ; 
 O may no earth-born cloud arise, 
 To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes! 
 
 When with dear friends sweet talk I hold, 
 And all the flowers of life unfold, 
 L?t not my heart within me burn 
 Except in all I Thee discern. 
 
 When the soft dews of kindly sleep 
 My weary eyelids gently steep, 
 Be my last thought, how sweet to rest 
 For ever on my Saviour's breast ! 
 
 Abide with me from morn till eve, 
 For without Thee I cannot live: 
 Abide with me when night is nigh, 
 For without Thee I dare not die. 
 
 Thou Framer of the light and dark, 
 Steer through the tempest Thine own ark : 
 Amid the howling wintry sea, 
 We are in port if we have Thee. 
 
' — ■■— III ■ ■—»—— www — — fri 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 207 
 
 If some poor wandering child of Thine 
 Have spurned, to-day, the voice divine, 
 Now, Lord, the gracious work begin ; 
 Let him no more lie down in sin. 
 
 Watch by the sick : enrich the poor 
 With blessings from Thy boundless store : 
 Be every mourner's sleep to-night, 
 Like infants' slumbers, pure and light. 
 
 Come near and bless us when we wake, 
 Ere through the world our way we take : 
 Till in the ocean of Thy love 
 We lose ourselves in heaven above. 
 
 Tune— " Hursley." 
 
 \\2- ABIDE WITH ME. 
 
 This was the Swan Song of the Rev. H. F. Lyte. He 
 produced it on the evening of the Sunday on which he 
 preached his last sermon. It is generally used as an 
 evening hymn. It was not so intended. It refers to 
 the evening of life, not of the day, and is more of a 
 hymn for the dying than for those about to renew their 
 strength by a night's rest. It was sung at the burial of 
 Professor Maurice, and is in constant use throughout 
 the English-speaking world. Lyte is buried in Nice, and 
 his grave is still sometimes sought out by pilgrims from 
 far across the seas who attribute their conversion to 
 this hymn. 
 
 ABIDE with me, fast falls the eventide : 
 The darkness thickens : Lord, with me 
 abide ; 
 When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 
 Help of the helpless, Oh abide with me. 
 
208 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day: 
 Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; 
 Change and decay in all around I see : 
 
 Thou who changest not, abide with me. 
 
 Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word, 
 But as Thou dwell'st with Thy disciples, Lord, — 
 Familiar, condescending, patient, free, — 
 Come not to sojourn, but abide with me. 
 
 Come not in terrors, as the King of kings, 
 But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings; 
 Tears for ail woes, a heart for even' plea ; 
 Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me. 
 
 1 need Thy presence every passing hour ; 
 
 What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power? 
 Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be ? 
 Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me. 
 
 I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless, 
 Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness. 
 Where is Death's sting ? where, Grave, thy victory ? 
 I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. 
 
 Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes, 
 
 Shine through the gloom, and point me to the 
 skies : 
 
 Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shad- 
 ows flee ; 
 
 In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. 
 
 Tune — " Eventide." 
 
 Mrs. Mona Caird's three favourite hymns are, " Lead, 
 Kindly Light," "As pants the Hart," and "Abide with 
 me." " These three," she says, " possess for me the 
 stay and power of succour. They seem to refer me 
 back to the great unknown in which and in whom all 
 of us believe, whatever name we may give to oui 
 divinity." 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 209 
 
 H3 — AT EVEN, ERE THE SUN WAS SET* 
 
 Evening hymns are much more popular than those for 
 morning use. And among evening hymns few are 
 better known or more used than this, written by Canon 
 T wells in 1868. 
 
 AT even, ere the sun was set, 
 The sick, O Lord, around Thee lay; 
 O in what divers pains they met ! 
 O with what joy they went away ! 
 
 Once more 'tis eventide, and we, 
 
 Oppressed with various ills, draw near. 
 
 What if thy form we cannot see ? 
 
 We know and feel that Thou art here. 
 
 O Saviour Christ, our woes dispel ; 
 
 For some are sick and some are sad ; 
 And some have never loved Thee well, 
 
 And some have lost the love they had. 
 
 And some are pressed with worldly care, 
 And some are tried with sinful doubt ; 
 
 And some such grievous passions tear 
 That only Thou canst cast them out. 
 
 And some have found the world is vain, 
 Yet from the world they break not free : 
 
 And some have friends who give them pain, 
 Yet have not sought a friend in Thee. 
 
 And none, O Lord, have perfect rest, 
 For none are wholly free from sin ; 
 
 And they who fain would serve Thee best, 
 Are conscious most of wrong within. 
 
 O Saviour Christ, Thou too art man ; 
 
 Thou hast been troubled, tempted, tried ; 
 Thy kind but searching glance can scan 
 
 The very wounds that shame would hide : 
 
 . U 
 
2IO HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Thy touch has still its ancient power; 
 
 No word from Thee can fruitless fall; 
 Hear in this solemn evening hour, 
 
 And in thy mercy heal us all. 
 
 Tune— " Angelus." 
 
 William Johnston, M.P., the well-known Orange 
 leader, said : " No hymn now touches me more than 
 that pathetic one, ' At Even, ere the Sun was set ; ' the 
 verse beginning, ' O Saviour Christ ' would be too pain- 
 ful but for the Healer's power." 
 
 U4— SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR 
 
 NAME. 
 
 This evening hymn is the most popular of all the 
 hymns of the Rev. John Ellerton. He wrote it for a 
 festival of parochial choirs in Nantwich in 1866, and in 
 less than thirty years it has sung its way around the 
 world. 
 
 SAVIOUR, again to Thy dear name we raise 
 With one accord our parting hymn of praise ; 
 We stand to bless Thee ere our worship cease, 
 Then, lowly kneeling, wait Thy word of peace. 
 
 Grant us Thy peace through this approaching 
 
 night ; 
 Turn Thou for us its darkness into light; 
 From harm and danger keep Thy children free, 
 P'or dark and light are both alike to Thee. 
 
 Grant us Thy peace upon our homeward way ; 
 With Thee began, with Thee shall end the day ; 
 Guard Thou the lips from sin, the hearts from 
 
 shame, 
 That in this house have cali'd upon Thy name. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 211 
 
 Grant us Thy peace throughout our earthly life, 
 Our balm in sorrow, and our stay in strife ; 
 Then, when Thy voice shall bid our conflict cease, 
 Call us, O Lord, to Thine eternal peace. 
 
 Tune — "Pax Dei." 
 
 U5- SWEET SAVIOUR, BLESS US ERE 
 
 WE GO. 
 
 This is Faber's evening hymn. Faber published it in 
 1852, sue years after he quitted the English for the 
 Roman Church. 
 
 SWEET Saviour, bless us ere we go; 
 Thy word into our minds instil ; 
 And make our lukewarm hearts to glow 
 
 With lowly love and fervent will. 
 Through life's long day and death's dark night, 
 O gentle Jesus, be our light. 
 
 Grant us, dear Lord, from evil ways 
 
 True absolution and release ; 
 And bless us more than in past days 
 
 With purity and inward peace. 
 Through life's long day and death's dark night, 
 O gentle Jesus, be our light. 
 
 Do more than pardon ; give us joy, 
 
 Sweet fear and sober liberty ; 
 And loving hearts without alloy, 
 
 That only long to be like thee. 
 Through life's long day and death's dark night, 
 O gentle Jesus, be our light. 
 
 Labour is sweet, for thou hast toiled; 
 
 And care is light, for thou hast cared ; 
 Let not our works with self be soiled, 
 
 Nor in unsimple ways insnared. 
 
212 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Through life's long day and death's dark night, 
 O gentle Jesus, be our light. 
 
 For all we love — -the poor, the sad, 
 
 The sinful — unto thee we call ; 
 Oh let thy mercy make us glad ; 
 
 Thou art our Jesus and our all. 
 Through life's long day and death's dark night, 
 O gentle Jesus, be our light. 
 
 Tune — "St. Matthias." 
 
 It was written for use as the evening hymn at the 
 Brompton Oratory. The last verse, omitted from 
 Protestant hymn-books, is as follows : — 
 
 Sweet Saviour ! bless us ; night is come. 
 
 Mary and Philip near us be. 
 Good angels watch about our home, 
 
 May we each day be nearer Thee. 
 Through life's long day and death's dark night, 
 O gentle Jesus, be our light. 
 
 Philip was St. Philip Neri. In Catholic hymn-books 
 he is usually superseded by Joseph. 
 
 U6- SAVIOUR, BREATHE AN EVENING 
 
 BLESSING. 
 
 This hymn is one of the few which we owe indirectly to 
 the somewhat savage Christianity of Abyssinia. Dr. 
 Edmeston, its author, was so much impressed by read- 
 ing an account by a traveller in Abyssinia of how at 
 night the short evening hymn of the Abyssinian, " Jesus 
 Mahaxaroo," " Jesus, forgive us," stole through the 
 camp, that he composed this hymn, which has since been 
 accepted everywhere as one of the best evening hymns 
 in the language. 
 
 s 
 
 AVIOUR, breathe an evening blessing, 
 Ere repose our spirits seal ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 213 
 
 Sin and want we come confessing : 
 Thou canst save and Thou canst heal. 
 
 Though destruction walk around us, 
 Though the arrows past us fly, 
 
 Angel-guards from Thee surround us ; 
 We are safe if Thou art nigh. 
 
 Though the night be dark and dreary, 
 
 Darkness cannot hide from Thee; 
 Thou art He, who, never weary, 
 
 Watchest where Thy people be. 
 Should swift death this night o'ertake us, 
 
 And our couch become our tomb, 
 May the morn in heaven awake us, 
 
 Clad in light and deathless bloom. 
 
 Tune — " Florence." 
 
 JJ7 — GLORY TO THEE, MY GOD, THIS 
 
 NIGHT. 
 
 This is Bishop Ken's evening hymn, — a hymn the 
 music of which has become the common slumber-song 
 of the English-speaking race. 
 
 GLORY to Thee, my God, this night, 
 For all the blessings of the light. 
 Keep me, O keep me, King of kings, 
 Beneath Thine own almighty wings. 
 
 Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son, 
 The ill that I this day have done ; 
 That with the world, myself, and Thee, 
 I, ere I sleep, at peace may be. 
 
 Teach me to live, that I may dread, 
 The grave as little as my bed : 
 Teach me to die, that so I may 
 Rise glorious at the judgment-day. 
 
214 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Oh may my soul on Thee repose, 
 And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close ; — 
 Sleep that may me more vigorous make, 
 To serve my God when I awake. 
 
 When in the night I sleepless lie, 
 My soul with heavenly thoughts supply; 
 Let no ill dreams disturb my rest, 
 No powers of darkness me molest. 
 
 Oh ! when shall I in endless day, 
 For ever chase dark sleep away, 
 And hymns with the supernal choir 
 Incessant sing, and never tire? 
 
 Praise God from whom all blessings flow : 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below: 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host : 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 Tune — "Canon" by Tallis. 
 
 Archdeacon Sinclair, writing on this hymn, which he 
 often repeats to himself the last thing before going to 
 sleep, says that " Its majesty, simplicity, and ring of 
 truth are unequalled. To live in the spirit of this hymn 
 would be the ideal of Christian life." 
 
 XIV.— Work 
 
 J18-A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE. 
 
 The last line of this familiar hymn offends some people. 
 But it can be used without difficulty even by those who 
 are most in revolt against the doctrine of eternal punish- 
 ment. At the same time, there is something so grim 
 in singing even the sentence of doom that I would have 
 left it out had the hymn not helped so many that it 
 must stay in. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 215 
 
 A CHARGE to keep I have, 
 A God to glorify ; 
 A never-dying soul to save, 
 And fit it for the sky; 
 To serve the present age, 
 My calling to fulfil ; — 
 O may it all my powers engage 
 To do my Master's will. 
 
 Arm me with jealous care, 
 
 As in Thy sight to live ; 
 And Oh ! Thy servant, Lord, prepare 
 
 A strict account to give : 
 
 Help me to watch and pray, 
 
 And on Thyself rely, 
 Assured, if I my trust betray, 
 
 I shall for ever die. 
 
 Tune — "Vigil." 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Richardson, vicar of St. Benet's, 
 Mile End Road, who founded the Bible and Prayer 
 Union, which has now 334,000 enrolled members in 
 every part of the world, says that this hymn has been 
 the creed of his Christian life and active work for the 
 past thirty-four years. 
 
 J19 — LONGFELLOW'S PSALM OF LIFE. 
 
 This does not properly rank as a hymn, and although 
 it is called a psalm, it figures in very few collections of 
 sacred song. Sir Edwin Arnold, however, says it is 
 one of the hymns that helped him, and as others have 
 expressed a similar opinion, I give it a place. 
 
 TELL me not, in mournful numbers, 
 " Life is but an empty dream ! " 
 For the soul is dead that slumbers, 
 And things are not what they seem. 
 
2l6 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Life is real ! life is earnest ! 
 
 And the grave is not its goal ; 
 " Dust thou art, to dust returnest," 
 
 Was not spoken of the soul. 
 
 Not enjoyment and not sorrow, 
 
 Is our destined end or way ; 
 But to act, that each to-morrow 
 
 Find us farther than to-day. 
 
 Art is long, and time is fleeting, 
 
 And our hearts, though stout and brave, 
 
 Still, like muffled drums, are beating 
 Funeral marches to the grave. 
 
 In the world's broad field of battle, 
 
 In the bivouac of life, 
 Be not like dumb, driven cattle, — 
 
 Be a hero in the strife ! 
 
 Trust no future, howe'er pleasant ! 
 
 Let the dead Past bury its dead ! 
 Act, — act in the living Present, 
 
 Heart within and God o'erhead ! 
 
 Lives of great men all remind us ; 
 
 We can make our lives sublime 
 And, departing, leave behind us 
 
 Footprints on the sands of time. 
 
 The proprietor of the South Wales Gazette maintains 
 that the " Psalm of Life " is " singularly suitable for 
 congregational singing, and has been helpful to many a 
 soul assailed by the twin forces of pessimism and de- 
 spair." Of this poem Sir Edwin Arnold says : " I have 
 liked and lived by Longfellow's ' Psalm of Life.' " Mr. 
 Harry Furniss says that Longfellow's " Psalm of Life " 
 is to him the best of hymns, and " I must acknowledge 
 that I frequently repeated the stanza ' Let us, then, be 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 21 7 
 
 up and doing ' in my early days." He adds : "I do not 
 know whether this comes in the category of hymns, 
 but if it does not, it ought to." The Rev. Samuel 
 Longfellow, brother of Henry, wrote several hymns 
 which the Rev. Minot J. Savage says the Unitarians 
 in the United States find exceedingly helpful. 
 
 J20- GOETHE'S "OHNE HAST UND OHNE 
 
 RAST" 
 
 Goethe's hymn I have taken from " Hymns and An- 
 thems " used at the South Place Chapel. I would have 
 liked to include the verses which Mr. Morley said came 
 nearer expressing his ultimate thought than anything 
 else, but I could not drag them even into my very wide 
 net. So I content myself with this. 
 
 WITHOUT haste and without rest : 
 Bind the motto to thy breast, 
 Bear it with thee as a spell ; 
 Storm or sunshine, guard it well ! 
 Heed not flowers that round thee bloom ; 
 Bear it onward to the tomb ! 
 
 Haste not — let no thoughtless deed 
 Mar the spirit's steady speed ; 
 Ponder well and know the right, 
 Onward then with all thy might ; 
 Haste not — years can ne'er atone 
 For one reckless action done ! 
 
 Rest not — life is sweeping by, 
 Do and dare before you die ; 
 Something worthy and sublime 
 Leave behind to conquer time : 
 Glorious 't is to live for aye, 
 When these forms have passed away. 
 
2l8 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Haste not — rest not, calm in strife 
 Meekly bear the storms of life ; 
 Duty be thy polar guide, 
 Do the right whate'er betide; 
 Haste not — rest not — conflicts past, 
 God shall crown thy work at last ! 
 
 J2J- WORKMAN OF GOD, O LOSE NOT 
 
 HEART. 
 
 This — another contribution of Faber's to thehymnody- 
 of the Church Universal — is M As lofty as the love of 
 God, and wide as are the wants of men." 
 
 WORKMAN of God, O lose not heart, 
 But learn what God is like ; 
 And in the darkest battle-field 
 Thou shalt know where to strike. 
 
 Thrice blest is he to whom is given 
 
 The instinct that can tell 
 That God is on the field when He 
 
 Is most invisible. 
 
 Blest too is he who can divine 
 
 Where real right doth lie, 
 And dares to take the side that seems 
 
 Wrong to man's blindfold eye. 
 
 God's glory is a wondrous thing, 
 
 Most strange in all its ways; 
 And, of all things on earth, least like 
 
 What men agree to praise. 
 
 Muse on His justice, downcast soul, 
 
 Muse, and take better heart ; 
 Back with thine angel to the field, 
 
 And bravely do thy part. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 219 
 
 For right is right, since God is God ; 
 
 And right the day must win ; 
 To doubt would be disloyalty, 
 
 To falter would be sin. 
 
 J22-WORK, FOR THE NIGHT IS COMING. 
 
 Years ago, when the Darlington School Board was 
 wrestling with the religious difficulties, a local disciple 
 of Mr. Bradiaugh subjected Sankey's hymns to a criti- 
 cal examination, with the result that this hymn, " Work, 
 for the night is coming," was declared to be the only 
 hymn in the book that could be used in the Board 
 Schools without giving offence to the Secularist 
 conscience. 
 
 WORK, for the night is coming ! 
 Work through the morning hours; 
 Work while the dew is sparkling, 
 
 Work 'mid springing flowers: 
 Work when the day grows brighter, 
 
 Work in the glowing sun ; 
 
 Work, for the night is coming, 
 
 When man's work is done. 
 
 Work, for the night is coming, 
 
 Work through the sunny noon : 
 Fill brightest hours with labour, 
 
 Rest comes sure and soon. 
 Give every flying minute 
 
 Something to keep in store : 
 Work, for the night is coming, 
 
 When man works no more. 
 
 Work, for the night is coming, 
 
 Under the sunset skies ! 
 While their bright tints are glowing 
 
 Work, for daylight flies. 
 
220 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Work till the last beam fadeth, 
 
 Fadeth to shine no more : 
 Work while the night is dark'ning, 
 
 When man's work is o'er. 
 
 Tune from " Songs and Solos." 
 
 J23 — COURAGE, BROTHER! DO NOT 
 STUMBLE. 
 
 This cheery marching song by the late Dr. Norman 
 Macleod has a lilt and a go in it which are quite suffi- 
 cient to explain its popularity. It is also free from 
 any objection as to sectarian bias. 
 
 COURAGE, brother! do not stumble, 
 Though thy path be dark as night ; 
 There 's a star to guide the humble ; — 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
 Let the road be rough and dreary, 
 
 And its end far out of sight, 
 Foot it bravely ! strong or weary, 
 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
 Perish policy and cunning, 
 Perish all that fears the light ! 
 
 Whether losing, whether winning, 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
 Trust no party, sect, or faction ; 
 
 Trust no leaders in the fight ;. 
 But in every word and action 
 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
 Trust no lovely forms of passion, — 
 Fiends may look like angels bright ; 
 
 Trust no custom, school, or fashion — 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 221 
 
 Simple rule, and safest guiding, 
 Inward peace, and inward might, 
 
 Star upon our path abiding, — 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
 Some will hate thee, some will love thee, 
 Some will flatter, some will slight; 
 
 Cease from man, and look above thee, — 
 Trust in God, and do the right. 
 
 Tune — "St. Oswald." 
 
 124 -STANDING BY A PURPOSE TRUE. 
 
 This little hymn, by Philip Bliss, Edna Lyall specially 
 mentioned as one which had helped her. It is quaint, 
 but it has helped many another to learn the lesson 
 which is perhaps of all others most difficult to learn. 
 
 STANDING by a purpose true, 
 Heeding God's command, 
 Honour them, the faithful few ! 
 All hail to Daniel's Band ! 
 
 Dare to be a Daniel ! Dare to stand 
 
 alone ! 
 Dare to have a purpose firm ! Dare to 
 make it known ! 
 
 Many mighty men are lost, 
 
 Daring not to stand, 
 Who for God had been a host, 
 
 By joining Daniel's Band. 
 
 Many giants, great and tall, 
 
 Stalking through the land, 
 Headlong to the earth would fall, 
 
 If met by Daniel's Band ! 
 
222 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Hold the gospel banner high ! 
 
 /On to victory grand ! 
 Satan and his host defy, 
 
 And shout for Daniel's Band ! 
 
 Tune from " Songs and Solos." 
 
 Edna Lyall wrote : " I can certainly say that the re- 
 frain of ' Dare to be a Daniel ' has helped me again 
 and again. I do not know the rest of the hymn well, 
 and some of it is rather funny, still I think it ought to 
 be in the hymn-book." 
 
 125- RESCUE THE PERISHING. 
 
 1 In 1885, in the outburst of public feeling that followed 
 the publication of The Maiden Tribute, " Rescue the 
 Perishing " was the hymn that was always sung at every 
 public meeting in connection with that agitation. 
 
 RESCUE the perishing, care for the dying — 
 Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave ; 
 Weep o'er the erring one, lift up the fallen — - 
 Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. 
 
 Rescue the perishing, care for the dying — 
 Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. 
 
 Though they a« slighting Him, still He is wait- 
 ing- 
 Waiting the penitent child to receive. 
 
 Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently : 
 He will forgive if they only believe. 
 
 Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, 
 Feelings lie buried that grace can restore ; 
 
 Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, 
 Chords that were broken will vibrate once more. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 223 
 
 Rescue the perishing — duty demands it; 
 
 Strength for thy labour the Lord will provide ; 
 Back to the narrow way patiently win them ; 
 
 Tell the poor wanderer a Saviour has died. 
 
 Tune from " Songs and Solos." 
 
 J26- SOWING THE SEED, 
 
 This hymn is from Sankey's collection, but, despite the 
 criticism quoted on Hymn i 22, it could surely be used 
 by any assemblage that admitted the moral responsi- 
 bility of man. 
 
 SOWING the seed by the dawn-light fair, 
 Sowing the seed by the noonday glare, 
 Sowing the seed by the fading light, 
 Sowing the seed in the solemn night : 
 Oh, what shall the harvest be? 
 Oh, what shall the harvest be? 
 
 Sown in the darkness or sown in the light, 
 Sown in our weakness or sown in our might ; 
 Gathered in time or eternity, 
 Sure, ah! sure, will the harvest be ! 
 
 Sowing the seed by the wayside high, 
 Sowing the seed on the rocks to die ; 
 Sowing the seed where the thorns will spoil, 
 Sowing the seed in the fertile soil : 
 Oh, what shall the harvest be ? 
 
 Sowing the seed of a ling'ring pain, 
 Sowing the seed of a maddened brain, 
 Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, 
 Sowing the seed of eternal shame : 
 Oh, what shall the harvest be ? 
 
 Sowing the seed with an aching heart, 
 Sowing the seed while the tear-drops start, 
 
224 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Sowing in hope till the reapers come 
 Gladly to gather the harvest home : 
 Oh, what shall the harvest be? 
 
 Tune by Mr. Bliss. 
 
 XV* — One is your Father* 
 
 This section of this collection is devoted to hymns 
 which help, not in the ordinary way. They, indeed, 
 seldom appear in hymn-books — the more 's the pity. 
 But they help many who find too much to dissent from 
 in ordinary hymns to find any help therein. 
 
 J27-THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER. 
 
 FATHER of All ! in ev'ry Age, 
 In ev'ry Clime ador'd, 
 By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage, 
 Jehovah, Jove, or Lord ! 
 
 Thou Great First Cause, least understood, 
 
 Who all my Sense confin'd 
 To know but this, that Thou art Good, 
 
 And that myself am blind : 
 
 Yet gave me, in this dark Estate, 
 
 To see the Good from 111 ; 
 And binding Nature fast in Fate, 
 
 Left free the Human Will. 
 
 What Conscience dictates to be done, 
 
 Or warns me not to do, 
 This, teach me more than Hell to shun, 
 
 That, more than Heav'n pursue. 
 
 What Blessings thy free Bounty gives, 
 
 Let me not cast away ; 
 For God is pay'd when Man receives; 
 
 T' enjoy is to obey. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 225 
 
 Yet not to Earth's contracted Span 
 
 Thy Goodness let me bound, 
 Or think Thee Lord alone of Man, 
 
 When thousand Worlds are round. 
 
 Let not this weak, unknowing hand 
 
 Presume thy bolts to throw, 
 And deal damnation round the land, 
 
 On each I judge thy Foe. 
 
 If I am right, thy grace impart, 
 
 Still in the right to stay; 
 If I am wrong, oh, teach my heart 
 
 To find that better way. 
 
 Save me alike from foolish Pride, 
 
 Or impious Discontent, 
 At aught thy Wisdom has deny'd 
 
 Or aught thy Goodness lent. 
 
 Teach me to feel another's Woe, 
 
 To hide the Fault I see ; 
 That Mercy I to others show, 
 
 That Mercy show to me. 
 
 Mean tho' I am, not wholly so, 
 Since quick'ned by thy Breath ; 
 
 Oh lead me wheresoe'er I go, 
 Thro' this day's Life or Death. 
 
 This day, be Bread and Peace my Lot : 
 
 All else beneath the Sun, 
 Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not ; 
 
 And let Thy Will be done. 
 
 To thee, whose Temple is all Space, 
 Whose Altar Earth, Sea. Skies, 
 
 One Chorus let all Being raise, 
 All Nature's Incense rise ! 
 
 i< Tune — " Abridge." 
 
226 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Pope, the author of this hymn, was a Roman Catho- 
 lic by creed. But in the above hymn he is catholic 
 indeed. 
 
 A correspondent wrote me on behalf of some young 
 Japanese friends, asking especially for the insertion of 
 this hymn in the hope that " the time may come when 
 even Christians, especially insular Protestant Christians, 
 will arise to the full conception of the Holy One 
 (Blessed be He!), that He has made of one Blood and 
 of many honest beliefs all nations of the earth. In 
 centuries hence, if the progress we hope for will be 
 realised, surely hymns will be found or written in which 
 all nations can join." 
 
 A correspondent in Italy writes of this hymn : " My 
 grandfather made me learn it when I was five years old, 
 and since then it has stuck to my memory as almost a 
 kind of active faith, when things in the world in general 
 seem wrong, and faith is very feeble. At such times 
 there is wonderful rest in the poem, something quite 
 above our usual petty ideas." 
 
 J28- IMMORTAL LOVE, FOR EVER FULL. 
 
 Whittier, the Quaker poet, wrote poems which have 
 passed into general use as hymns, even among the 
 Friends, who are not much given to hymn-singing. 
 
 IMMORTAL Love, for ever full, 
 For ever flowing free, 
 For ever shared, for ever whole, 
 A never-ebbing sea ! 
 
 Our outward lips confess the Name 
 
 All other names above; 
 Love only knoweth whence it came 
 
 And comprehendeth love. 
 
 We may not climb the heavenly steeps 
 To bring the Lord Christ down ; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 227 
 
 In vain we search the lowest deeps, 
 For him no depths can drown. 
 
 But warm, sweet, tender, even yet 
 
 A present help is he : 
 And faith has still its Olivet, 
 
 And love its Galilee. 
 
 The healing of his seamless dress 
 
 Is by our beds of pain ; 
 We touch him in life's throng and press, 
 
 And we are whole again. 
 
 Through him the first fond prayers are said 
 
 Our lips of childhood frame,' 
 The last low whispers of our dead 
 
 Are burdened with his name. 
 
 O Lord and Master of us all ! 
 
 Whate'er our name or sign, 
 We own thy sway, we hear thy call, 
 
 We test our lives by thine. 
 
 Tune — u Albano."' 
 
 J29-OUR FRIEND, OUR BROTHER, AND 
 
 OUR LORD. 
 
 OL'R Friend, our Brother, and our Lord, 
 What may thy sen-ice be ? 
 Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word, 
 But simply following thee. 
 
 Thy litanies, sweet offices 
 
 Of love and gratitude ; 
 Thv sacramental liturgies 
 
 The joy of doing good. 
 
228 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 The heart must ring thy Christmas bells, 
 
 Thy inward altars raise ; 
 Its faith and hopes thy canticles, 
 
 And its obedience praise ! 
 
 To thee our full humanity, 
 
 Its joys and pains belong ; 
 The wrong of man to man on thee 
 
 Inflicts a deeper wrong. 
 
 We faintly hear, we dimly see, 
 
 In differing phrase we pray; 
 But, dim or clear, we own thee 
 
 The Light, the Truth, the Way ! 
 
 Apart from thee all gain is loss, 
 
 All labour vainly done ; 
 The solemn shadow of thy cross 
 
 Is better than the sun. 
 
 Alone, O Love ineffable ! 
 
 Thy saving name is given ; 
 To turn aside from thee is hell, 
 
 To walk with thee is heaven. 
 
 Tune— " St. Hugh." 
 
 In reply to an enquiry as to what hymns had helped 
 her and her fellow-workers in the struggle which they 
 carried on for a quarter of a century against the criminal 
 system of state-patronised vice, Mrs. Josephine Butler 
 replied : " Strange to say, I find it very difficult to select 
 any special hymn which helped me in my soul or in my 
 work. Psalms have been above all else ' Songs in the 
 house of my pilgrimage,' but YVhittier's ' Our Master ' 
 was most helpful to me in connection with the wide 
 circle of persons of different countries, creeds, and 
 characters with whom I have been sent to work — dear 
 souls — to whom I am united in the common aim of 
 seeking after righteousness, but some of whom seemed 
 of the narrowly orthodox, to be very unsatisfactory on 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 229 
 
 the religious side. God has given me a wider outlook, 
 and a far greater charity based on an increasing admira- 
 tion of all good. This hymn of Whittier will explain 
 what I mean, and show you where my tempest-tossed 
 bark has found a haven in calm waters." 
 
 J30 — LORD OF ALL BEING, THRONED 
 
 AFAR. 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Autocrat of the 
 Breakfast Table, was a Unitarian. He published this 
 as a Sunday hymn on the last page of the " Professor of 
 the Breakfast Table." It was speedily exploited as a 
 hymn by the Methodists. 
 
 LORD of all being, throned afar. 
 Thy glory flames from sun and star ; 
 Centre and soul of every sphere, 
 Yet to each loving heart how near. 
 
 Sun of our life, thy quickening ray 
 Sheds on our path the glow of day ; 
 Star of our hope, thy softened light 
 Cheers the long watches of the night. 
 
 Our midnight is thy smile withdrawn ; 
 Our noontide is thy gracious dawn ; 
 Our rainbow arch, thy mercy's sign ; 
 All, save the clouds of sin, are thine. 
 
 Lord of all life, below, above, 
 
 Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love, 
 
 Before thy ever-blazing throne 
 
 We ask no lustre of our own. 
 
 Grant us thy truth to make us free, 
 And kindly hearts that burn for thee, 
 Till all thy living altars claim 
 One holy light, one heavenly flame. 
 
 Tune — " Maryton." 
 
230 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 J3J— SOULS OF MEN! WHY WILL YE 
 SCATTER. 
 
 This contribution to the universal catholic section of 
 my collection is from Faber, the Roman Catholic. It 
 expresses a breadth of Christian charity not often found 
 in men of his communion. 
 
 SOULS of men ! why will ye scatter 
 Like a crowd of frightened sheep ? 
 Foolish hearts ! why will ye wander 
 From a love so true and deep ? 
 
 Was there ever kinder shepherd 
 
 Half so gentle, half so sweet, 
 As the Saviour Who would have us 
 
 Come and gather round His feet? 
 
 There 's a wideness in God's mercy, 
 
 Like the wideness of the sea ; 
 There 's a kindness in His justice, 
 
 Which is more than liberty. 
 
 There is no place where earth's sorrows 
 Are more felt than up in Heaven ; 
 
 There is no place where earth's failings 
 Have such kindly judgment given. 
 
 There is plentiful redemption 
 
 In the Blood that has been shed, ; 
 
 There is joy for all the members 
 In the sorrows of the Head. 
 
 For the love of God is broader 
 
 Than the measures of man's mind; 
 
 And the Heart of the Eternal 
 Is most wonderfully kind. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 23 I 
 
 Pining souls ! come nearer Jesus, 
 And oh ! come not doubting thus, 
 
 But with faith that trusts more bravely 
 His huge tenderness for us. 
 
 If our love were but more simple, 
 We should take Him at his word ; 
 
 And our lives would be all sunshine 
 
 In the sweetness of our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Tune — "Clarion." 
 
 132 — WHAT I LIVE FOR. 
 
 This poem, by the late Mr. G. Linnaeus Banks, has 
 been sent me by Mr. Mayer, of the Children's Home, 
 Bolton, as one which is morally and spiritually helpful 
 to the people. 
 
 I LIVE for those who love me, 
 Whose hearts are kind and true, 
 For the heaven that smiles above me, 
 
 And awaits my spirit too ; 
 For all human ties that bind me, 
 For the task by God assigned me, 
 For the bright hopes yet to find me, 
 And the good that I can do. 
 
 I live to learn their story 
 
 Who suffered for my sake; 
 To emulate their glory, 
 
 And follow in their wake — 
 Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages, 
 The heroic of all ages, 
 Whose deeds crowd history's pages, 
 
 And Time's great volume make. 
 
 I live to hold communion 
 With all that is divine, 
 
 
232 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 To feel there is a union 
 
 'Twixt Nature's heart and mine; 
 
 To profit by affliction, 
 
 Reap truth from fields of fiction, 
 
 Grow wiser from conviction, 
 And fulfil God's grand design. 
 
 I live to hail that season, 
 
 By gifted ones foretold, 
 When men shall live by reason, 
 
 And not alone by gold ; 
 When man to man united, 
 And every wrong thing righted, 
 The whole world shall be lighted 
 
 As Eden was of old. 
 
 I live for those who love me, 
 For those who know me true, 
 
 For the heaven that smiles above me, 
 And awaits my spirit too ; 
 
 For the cause that lacks assistance, 
 
 For the wrong that needs resistance, 
 
 For the future in the distance, 
 And the good that I can do. 
 
 133 — THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON 
 
 HIGH. 
 
 Addison's paraphrase of the Nineteenth Psalm is a 
 brief and popular compendium of natural theology. 
 The psalm was one of the favourites of St. Augustine. 
 
 THE spacious firmament on high, 
 With all the blue ethereal sky, 
 And spangled heavens, — a shining frame, — 
 Their great Original proclaim. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 233 
 
 The unwearied sun, from day to day, 
 Doth his Creator's power display, 
 And publishes to every land 
 The work of an Almighty hand. 
 
 Soon as the evening shades prevail. 
 The moon takes up the wondrous tale, 
 And, nightly, to the listening earth, 
 Repeats the story of her birth : 
 Whilst all the stars that round her burn, 
 And all the planets in their turn, 
 Confirm the tidings as they roll, 
 And spread the truth from pole to pole. 
 
 What though, in solemn silence all 
 Move round this dark terrestrial ball ; 
 What though no real voice nor sound 
 Amidst their radiant orbs be found ; 
 In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
 And utter forth a glorious voice; 
 For ever singing as they shine — 
 The hand that made us is Divine. 
 
 Tune — "Fulda." 
 
 " When only a youngster at school," writes a corre- 
 spondent in the Isle of Man, " Addison's hymn had 
 more attraction for me than a story in the ' Arabian 
 Nights.' " This is, perhaps, putting it rather strongly ; 
 but, when a boy myself, I remember well committing 
 it to memory, and the pleasure which it afforded me, — 
 pleasure which, curiously enough, is linked by associa- 
 tion with the effect produced by the first time I read a 
 translation of Hesiod. 
 
 Another correspondent -says that " at eight this hymn 
 first taught me what poetry meant." 
 
234 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 XVI. — And All Ye are Brethren. 
 
 J34— A JEWISH HYMN THAT HELPED. 
 
 This collection of Hymns that have Helped would be 
 incomplete without, at least, one specimen of a Jewish 
 hymn, and one or two which have helped thousands in 
 the Roman Communion. I asked Mr. M. H. Spielmann, 
 editor of the Magazine of Art, to help me to the most 
 helpful Jewish hymn. He replied as follows : — 
 
 " Jews have no ' hymns,' properly so called, though 
 they have many poems of a hymnal sort, taking chieriy 
 the form of praise. For myself, I may say that the 
 1 Adown Olam ' was to me the most helpful as a child 
 and youth, and was the point de depart, and the base of 
 all my subsequent reading, theological or philosophical. 
 It is not merely a profession of faith, it is the complete 
 exposition of the Jewish religion, and the supremest 
 expression of comfort and consolation, so far as I am 
 aware, in all our book of prayer." 
 
 The Rev. F. L, Cohen, joint editor of the Book of 
 Synagogue Music, has kindly sent me a translation of 
 the "Adon 'Olam," the text of which is as follows: — 
 
 ADON 'OLAM. 
 
 THE Universal Master reigned 
 Ere yet created things took shape ; 
 His might proclaimed Him King of all 
 When He to all existence gave ;• 
 
 And after all shall pass away, 
 'T is He alone shall grandly reign, 
 Who was, and is, and still shall be : 
 His glories all our worship have. 
 
 For He is One, no other power 
 Compares with Him, with Him consorts; 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 235 
 
 Without beginning, free from end, 
 Above what splendour men may crave. 
 
 [Without corporeality, 
 From change and variation free, 
 As unconjoined as undetached, 
 Alone in matchless power to save.] 
 
 He is my God, my Saviour lives, 
 My Rock in travail's time of woe; 
 My Banner and my Refuge He, 
 My Draught of Life when help I crave. 
 
 Into His hand my soul I trust, 
 Both when I sleep and when I wake ; 
 And with my soul my body too : 
 God is with me, no fears enslave. 
 
 F. L. C. 
 N.B. — The verse in brackets above is usually omitted. 
 
 Speaking of this, Mr. Cohen says : " It is almost a 
 literal translation, and reproduces the rhythm and the 
 rhyme of the original Hebrew. 
 
 " We have a number of Table-Hymns {ZemirotJi) 
 chanted on the Sabbath before Grace. Of these, 
 Psalm cxxvi. (we sing the Psalms in Hebrew, of course) 
 and No. 10 ' Sabbath Rest ' in the publication of mine 
 I enclose (p. 25) have proved very precious helps to 
 many of us. Much help, too, has been derived from 
 the hymn Ma'dz Tsar, for Hamicah (the anniversary 
 of the Maccabean Dedication), a copy of my English 
 version of which (again closely reproducing the rhythm 
 and rhyme of the Hebrew) I give on the back of ' Adon 
 'Olam.' " 
 
 J35.— AVE MARIA. 
 
 As many Protestants have never read the prayer which 
 is said and sung all over Roman Christendom, I quote 
 it here together with one of the best-known hymns to 
 the Virgin : — 
 
2 $6 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 HAIL, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with 
 Thee : blessed art Thou among women, and 
 blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy 
 Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and 
 at the hour of our death. Amen. 
 
 AVE, Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum; 
 benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus 
 fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater 
 Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora 
 mortis nostras. Amen. 
 
 136. — AVE MARIS STELLA. 
 
 This is probably the oldest, — it dates from the ninth 
 century, — best-known, most-used, and therefore, most 
 helpful of all the hymns to the Mother of Jesus, which 
 edify the Roman, and scandalise the Protestant, who 
 forgets that if the spirit of the prayer or hvmn be in- 
 stinct with love, there are resources in the Chancery of 
 Heaven for re-addressing petitions that may have been 
 wrongly directed by mistake. 
 
 HAIL, bright Star of ocean, 
 God's own Mother blest, 
 Ever-sinless Virgin, 
 Gate of heavenly rest ; 
 
 Taking that sweet Ave 
 
 Which from Gabriel came, 
 Peace confirm within us, 
 
 Changing Eva's name. 
 
 Break the captive's fetters ; 
 
 Light on blindness pour ; 
 All our ills expelling, 
 
 Every bliss implore. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 237 
 
 Show thyself a mother ; 
 
 May the Word Divine, 
 Born for us thine Infant, 
 
 Hear our prayers through thine. 
 
 Virgin all excelling. 
 
 Mildest of the mild, 
 Freed from guilt, preserve us 
 
 Meek and undefiled ; 
 
 Keep our life all spotless, 
 
 Make our way secure, 
 Till we find in Jesus 
 
 Joy for evermore. 
 
 Through the highest Heaven 
 
 To the Almighty Three, 
 Father, Son, and Spirit, 
 
 One same glory be. 
 
 AVE maris Stella, 
 Dei Mater alma, 
 Atque semper virgo, 
 Felix cceli porta. 
 
 Sumens illud Ave, 
 Gabrielis ore, 
 Funda nos in pace, 
 Mutans Hevae nomen. 
 
 Solve vincla reis, 
 Profer lumen caecis, 
 Mala nostra pelle, 
 Bona cuncta posce. 
 
 Monstra te esse matrem 
 Sumat per te preces, 
 Qui pro nobis natus, 
 Tulit esse tuus. 
 
238 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Virgo singularis, 
 Inter omnes mitis, 
 Nos culpis solutos, 
 Mites fac et castos. 
 
 Vitam praesta puram 
 Iter para tutum, 
 Ut videntes Jesum, 
 Semper collaetemur. 
 
 Sit laus Deo Patri 
 Summo Christo decus, 
 Spiritui Sancto, 
 Tribus honor unus. 
 
 J37— FAITH OF OUR FATHERS. 
 
 The following Roman Catholic hymn is a kind of de- 
 fiant war-song, the note of which endears it much to the 
 faithful. 
 
 (The words in Italics apply to Ireland, and may be 
 substituted for the text below when fitting.) 
 
 FAITH of our Fathers! living still, 
 In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword : 
 
 Oh, \ , e an J >■ hearts beat high with joy 
 ( how our ) & j j 
 
 Whene'er ] ^ y hear that glorious word : 
 
 ( we ) & 
 
 Faith of our Fathers ! Holy Faith ! 
 We will be true to thee till death. 
 
 Our Fathers, chained in prisons dark, 
 Were still in heart and conscience free ; 
 How sweet would be their children's fate, 
 If they, like them, could die for thee ! 
 Faith of our Fathers, etc. 
 
i 
 
 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 239 
 
 Faith of our Fathers ! Mary's prayers 
 j Shall keep our country fast to thee ; \ 
 \ Shall win our country back to thee ; ) 
 Arid through the truth that comes from God, 
 ( Oh, we shall prosper and be free. 
 \ England shall then indeed be free. 
 Faith of our Fathers, etc. 
 
 Faith of our Fathers ! we will love 
 Both friend and foe in all our strife : 
 And preach thee too, as love knows how, 
 By kindly words and virtuous life. 
 Faith of our Fathers, etc. 
 
 Tune — " Swiss Air." 
 
 This hymn, with the change of a word or two in the 
 third verse, is used by the American Unitarians as a 
 metrical embodiment of their history and aspirations. 
 
 J38 -ETERNAL FATHER, STRONG TO 
 
 SAVE, 
 
 This is one of Sir Evelyn Wood's favourites. It was 
 written by the late William Whiting, choirmaster of 
 Winchester College, and is much used at sea; and, 
 when the wind blows hard, by those on land. 
 
 ETERNAL Father, strong to save, 
 Vv 7 hose arm hath bound the restless wave, 
 Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep 
 Its own appointed limits keep : 
 
 Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee 
 For those in peril on the sea. 
 
 O Christ, Whose voice the waters heard 
 And hush'd their raging at Thy word, 
 Who walkedst on the foaming deep, 
 And calm amid the storm didst sleep j 
 
24O HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee 
 For those in peril on the sea. 
 
 O Holy Spirit, Who didst brood 
 Upon the waters dark and rude, 
 And bid their angry tumult cease, 
 And give, for wild confusion, peace ; 
 
 Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee 
 
 For those in peril on the sea. 
 
 O Trinity of love and power, 
 Our brethren shield in danger's hour; 
 From rock and tempest, fire and foe, 
 Protect them wheresoe'er they go ; 
 
 Thus evermore shall rise to Thee 
 
 Glad hymns of praise from land and sea. Amen. 
 
 Tune — " Melita." 
 
 J39. — THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 George Rawson wrote this Communion hymn for the 
 Baptists in 1857. It has been appropriated extensively 
 by other denominations, whose use of it is the best tes- 
 timony to its helpfulness. 
 
 BY Christ redeemed, in Christ restored, 
 We keep the memory adored 
 And show the death of our dear Lord, 
 
 Until He come. 
 
 His body broken in our stead 
 Is here, in this memorial bread, 
 And so our feeble love is fed, 
 
 Until He come. 
 
 The drops of His dread agony, 
 His life-blood shed for us, we see; 
 The wine shall tell the mystery, 
 
 Until He come. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 24 1 
 
 And thus that dark betrayal night 
 With the last advent we unite, 
 By one blest chain of loving rite, 
 
 Until He come. 
 
 Until the trump of God be heard, 
 Until the ancient graves be stirred, 
 And with the great commanding word 
 
 The Lord shall come. 
 
 O blessed hope ! with this elate, 
 Let not our hearts be desolate, 
 But, strong in faith, in patience wait, 
 
 Until He come. 
 
 Tune — " Somercotes." 
 
 J40— A FEW MORE YEARS SHALL ROLL. 
 
 A hymn of Dr. Bonar's, written in 1842, forty years 
 before his death. 
 
 A FEW more years shall roll, 
 A few more seasons come, 
 And we shall be with those that rest, 
 Asleep within the tomb ; 
 Then, O my Lord, prepare 
 My soul for that great day ; 
 Oh, wash me in Thy precious Blood, 
 And take my sins away. 
 
 A few more suns shall set 
 
 O'er these dark hills of time, 
 And we shall be where suns are not, 
 
 A far serener clime : 
 
 Then, O my Lord, prepare 
 
 My soul for that bright day ; 
 Oh, wash me in Thy precious Blood, 
 
 And take my sins away. 
 
 16 
 
242 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 A few more storms shall beat 
 
 On this wild rocky shore, 
 And we shall be where tempests cease, 
 
 And surges swell no more : 
 
 Then, O my Lord, prepare 
 
 My soul for that calm day; 
 Oh, wash me in Thy precious Blood, 
 
 And take my sins away. 
 
 A few more struggles here, 
 
 A few more partings o'er, 
 A few more toils, a few more tears, 
 
 And we shall weep no more : 
 
 Then, O my Lord, prepare 
 
 My soul for that blest day ; 
 Oh, wash me in Thy precious Blood, 
 
 And take my sins away. 
 
 'Tis but a little while 
 
 And He shall come again, 
 Who died that we might live, Who lives 
 
 That we with Him may reign : 
 
 Then, O my Lord, prepare 
 
 My soul for that glad day ; 
 Oh, wash me in Thy precious Blood, 
 
 And take my sins away. Amen. 
 
 Tune — "Leominster" or "Chalve\." 
 
 J4J— WE PLOUGH THE FIELDS AND 
 SCATTER. 
 
 Claudius's "Wir pfliigen und wir streuen " was first 
 published in German in 1782. It is used both in Gsr- 
 many and in England as a harvest hymn. I give Miss 
 T. M. Campbell's English version. 
 
 w 
 
 E plough the fields and scatter 
 The good seed on the land, 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 243 
 
 But it is fed and water'd 
 
 By God's Almighty Hand ; 
 He sends the snow in winter, 
 
 The warmth to swell the grain, 
 The breezes and the sunshine, 
 And soft refreshing rain. 
 All good gifts around us 
 
 Are sent from Heav'n above, 
 Then thank the Lord, Oh, thank the Lord, 
 For all His love. 
 
 He only is the Maker 
 
 Of all things near and far; 
 He paints the wayside flower, 
 He lights the evening star; 
 The winds and waves obey Him, 
 
 By Him the birds are fed ; 
 Much more to us, His children, 
 He gives our daily bread. 
 All good gifts around us 
 
 Are sent from Heav'n above, 
 Then thank the Lord, Oh, thank the Lord, 
 For all His love. 
 
 We thank Thee then, O Father, 
 
 For all things bright and good, 
 The seed-time and the harvest, 
 
 Our life, our health, our food; 
 Accept the gifts we offer 
 
 For all Thy love imparts, 
 And, what Thou most desirest, 
 Our humble, thankful hearts. 
 All good gifts around us 
 
 Are sent from Heav'n above, 
 Then thank the Lord, Oh, thank the Lord, 
 For all His love. Amen. 
 Tune — The well-known one by J. A. P. Sckulz. 
 
244 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 XVH — Death. 
 
 \ 42 — COME, LET US JOIN OUR FRIENDS 
 
 ABOVE. 
 
 The Bishop of Hereford writes me that he thinks the 
 fourth verse " one of the finest in the whole range of 
 hymnology." It is the favourite Wesleyan funeral hymn. 
 The author of " Methodist Hymn-Book Notes " used 
 several pages in describing the affecting and happy 
 incidents in connection with the use of this hymn, 
 and says he suppresses many other pages for want of 
 space. 
 
 COME, let us join our friends above 
 Who have obtained the prize, 
 And, on the eagle-wings of love, 
 To joys celestial rise. 
 
 Let all the saints terrestrial sing, 
 
 With those to glory gone; 
 For all the servants of our King, 
 
 On earth and heaven, are one. 
 
 One family we dwell in Him, — 
 
 One church, above, beneath; 
 Though now divided by the stream, 
 
 The narrow stream of death. 
 
 O-ie army of the living God, 
 
 To His command we bow; 
 Part of His host have crossed the flood, 
 
 And part are crossing now. 
 
 Ten thousand to their endless home 
 
 This solemn moment fly : 
 And we are to the margin come, 
 
 And we expect to die. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 245 
 
 E'en now by faith we join our hands 
 
 With those that went before : 
 And greet the blood-besprinkled bands 
 
 On the eternal shore. 
 
 Our spirits too shall quickly join, 
 Like theirs with glory crowned, 
 
 And shout to see our Captain's sign, 
 To hear His trumpet sound. 
 
 Be Thou, O God, our constant guide, 
 
 And when the word is given, 
 Then, Lord of Hosts, the waves divide, 
 
 And land us all in heaven. 
 
 Tune — " Gretton." 
 
 
 143 — GIVE ME THE WINGS OF FAITH 
 
 TO RISE. 
 
 This favourite hymn of Watts was published in 1709, 
 and it has been in general use among all sections of 
 the Church for a century. 
 
 GIVE me the wings of faith to rise 
 Within the veil, and see 
 The saints above, how great their joys ! 
 How bright their glories be ! 
 
 Once they were mourning here below 
 And wet their couch with tears; 
 
 They wrestled hard, as we do now, 
 With sins and doubts and fears. 
 
 I ask them whence their victory came ? 
 
 They, with united breath, 
 Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, 
 
 Their triumph to His death. 
 
246 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 They marked the footsteps that He trod, 
 His zeal inspired their breast; 
 
 And, following their Incarnate God, 
 Possess the promised rest. 
 
 Our glorious Leader claims our praise 
 
 For His own pattern given, 
 While the long cloud of witnesses 
 
 Shows the same path to heaven. 
 
 Tune — " Mylon." 
 
 J 44 — HEAR WHAT THE VOICE OF 
 HEAVEN PROCLAIMS. 
 
 This hymn, also by Watts, is much used at burials. 
 
 HEAR what the voice from heaven proclaims 
 For all the pious dead : 
 Sw;eet is the savour of their names, 
 And soft their sleeping bed. 
 
 They die in Jesus and are blest ; 
 
 How kind their slumbers are ! 
 From sufferings and from sins released 
 
 And freed from every snare. 
 
 Far from this world of toil and strife, 
 
 They 're present with the Lord ; 
 The labours of their mortal life 
 
 End in a large reward. 
 
 Tune — " Beatitudo." 
 
 J45 -HOW BLEST THE RIGHTEOUS WHEN 
 
 HE DIES. 
 
 This hymn by Mrs. Barbauld is quoted by Thomas 
 Carlyle when describing the death of Oliver Cromwell. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 247 
 
 HOW blest the righteous when he dies ! 
 When sinks a weary soul to rest, 
 How mildly beam the closing eyes, 
 How gently heaves the expiring breast 1 
 
 So fades a summer cloud away : 
 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er: 
 
 So gently shuts the eye of day ; 
 
 So dies a wave along the shore. 
 
 A holy quiet reigns around, 
 A calm which life nor death destroys : 
 Nothing disturbs that peace profound, 
 Which his unfettered soul enjoys. 
 
 Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears, 
 Where lights and shades alternate dwell ! 
 How bright the unchanging morn appears ! 
 Farewell, inconstant world, farewell ! 
 
 Life's labour done, as sinks the clay, 
 Light from its load the spirit flies ; 
 While heaven and earth combine to say, 
 How blest the righteous when he dies! 
 
 Tune — "Cutler." 
 
 Mrs. Barbauld is perhaps even better known by her 
 lines on Life, written when she was over seventy : — 
 
 " Life ! we Ve been long together, 
 Through pleasant and through cloudy weather. 
 'T is hard to part when friends are dear — 
 Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear ; — 
 
 Then steal away ; give little warning, 
 Choose thine own time ; 
 Say not Good-night, — but in some brighter clime, 
 
 Bid me G6od-mornin£ ! " 
 
248 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 J46 — SLEEP ON, BELOVED. 
 
 This funeral hymn, which has attained even greater 
 vogue in America than in this country, is by Miss Sarah 
 Doudney. It was the hymn sung at Mr. Spurgeon's 
 funeral. 
 
 SLEEP on, belovkd, sleep, and take thy rest; 
 Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast : 
 We love thee well ; but Jesus loves thee best — 
 Good-night ! Good-night ! Good-night ! 
 
 Calm is thy slumber as an infant's sleep ; 
 But thou shalt wake no more to toil and weep : 
 Thine is a perfect rest, secure and deep — 
 
 Good-night ! 
 
 Until the shadows from this earth are cast; 
 Until He gathers in His sheaves at last ; 
 Until the twilight gloom is overpast — 
 
 Good-night ! 
 
 Until the Easter glory lights the skies ; 
 Until the dead in Jesus shall arise, 
 And He shall come, but not in lowly guise — 
 
 Good-night ! 
 
 Until made beautiful by Love Divine, 
 Thou, in the likeness of Thy Lord shalt shine, 
 And He shall bring that golden crown of thine — 
 
 Good-night ! 
 
 Only " good-night," beloved — not " farewell ! " 
 A little while, and all His saints shall dwell 
 In hallowed union, indivisible — 
 
 Go<M-night ! 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 249 
 
 Until we meet again before His throne, 
 Clothed in the spotless robe He gives His own, 
 Until we know even as we are known — 
 
 Good-night ! 
 
 Tune — Mr. Sankey's. 
 
 
 J47 — NOW THE LABOURER'S TASK IS 
 
 O'ER. 
 
 This hymn is one of the favourites of Her Majesty the 
 Queen, and is frequently selected by her to be sung at 
 the funerals of members of her family. It was written 
 by the Rev. J. Ellerton, and first published by the Soci- 
 ety for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in " Church 
 Hymns," 187 1. 
 
 NOW the labourer's task is o'er, 
 Now the battle day is past; 
 Now upon the farther shore 
 Lands the voyager at last. 
 Father, in Thy gracious keeping 
 Leave we now Thy servant sleeping. 
 
 There the tears of earth are dried ; 
 
 There its hidden things are clear ; 
 There the work of life is tried 
 
 By a juster Judge than here. 
 Father, in Thy gracious keeping 
 Leave we now Thy servant sleeping. 
 
 There the sinful souls, that turn 
 To the Cross their dying eyes, 
 
 All the love of Christ shall learn 
 At His Feet in Paradise. 
 
 Father, in Thy gracious keeping 
 
 Leave we now Thy servant sleeping. 
 
250 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 There no more the powers of hell 
 Can prevail to mar their peace ; 
 
 Christ the Lord shall guard them well, 
 He who died for their release. 
 
 Father, in Thy gracious keeping 
 
 Leave we now Thy servant sleeping. 
 
 " Earth to earth, and dust to dust," 
 
 Calmly now the words we say, 
 Left behind we wait in trust 
 For the Resurrection-day. 
 Father, in Thy gracious keeping 
 Leave we now Thy servant sleeping. 
 
 Amen. 
 Tune — " Requiescat." 
 
 J48 — I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP. 
 
 FOUND UNDER THE PILLOW OF A SOLDIER, WHO DIED 
 IN A HOSPITAL IN SOUTH CAROLINA DURING THE 
 AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 I LAY me down to sleep, 
 With little thought or care, 
 Whether my waking find 
 Me here or there. 
 
 A bowing, burdened head, 
 
 That only asks to rest 
 Unquestioning upon ' 
 
 A loving breast. 
 
 My good right hand forgets 
 
 its cunning now, 
 To march the weary march 
 
 I know not how. 
 
 I am not eager, bold, 
 Nor strong — all that is past : 
 
 t 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 25 1 
 
 I am ready not to do, 
 At last, at last. 
 
 My half-day's work is done, 
 
 And this is all my part ; 
 I give a patient God 
 
 My patient heart. 
 
 And grasp His banner still 
 Though all its blue be dim, 
 
 These stripes no less than stars 
 Lead after Him. 
 
 XVIIL — Heaven. 
 
 J49 — JERUSALEM, MY HAPPY' HOME. 
 
 The famous song made by F. B. P. at the end of the 
 sixteenth century begins : — 
 
 Hierusalem, my happy home ; 
 
 When shall I come to thee: 
 When shall my sorrowes have an end, 
 
 Thy ioys when shall I see. 
 
 There are twenty-six verses, some of them very quaint. 
 The most popular modern version " given in the text " 
 is believed to be by Montgomery. 
 
 JERUSALEM, my happy home; 
 Name ever dear to me : 
 When shall my labours have an end 
 In joy and peace and thee ! 
 
 When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls 
 
 And pearly gates behold, 
 Thy bulwarks with salvation strong, 
 
 And streets of shining gold? 
 
252 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 There happier bowers than Eden's bloom, 
 
 Nor sin, nor sorrow know; 
 Blest seats, through rude and stormy scenes, 
 
 I onward press to you. 
 
 Why should I shrink from pain and woe, 
 
 Or feel at death dismay ? 
 I 've Canaan's goodly land in view, 
 
 And realms of endless day. 
 
 Apostles, martyrs, prophets there, 
 
 Around my Saviour stand ; 
 And soon my friends in Christ below 
 
 Will join the glorious band. 
 
 Jerusalem, my happy home, 
 
 My soul still pants for thee : 
 Then shall my labours have an end, 
 
 When I thy joys shall see. 
 
 Tune — " Southwell " or " Beulah." 
 
 J50 — THERE IS A LAND OF PURE 
 DELIGHT. 
 
 Whether Watts wrote this at Southampton, inspired 
 by a view of the Isle of Wight or of the New Forest, is 
 uncertain. But whatever the scene that suggested these 
 familiar stanzas, they have helped myriads to cross with 
 steadier nerve the swelling flood, on the brink of which 
 we shivering stand and fear to launch away. 
 
 THERE is a land of pure delight, 
 Where saints immortal reign;. 
 Infinite day excludes the night, 
 And pleasures banish pain. 
 
 There everlasting spring abides 
 
 And never- withering flowers; 
 Death, like a narrow sea, divides 
 
 This heavenly land from ours. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 253 
 
 Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 
 
 Stand dressed in living green; 
 So to the Jews old Canaan stood, 
 
 While Jordan rolled between. 
 
 But timorous mortals start and shrink 
 
 To cross this narrow sea, 
 And linger, shivering on the brink, 
 
 And fear to launch away. 
 
 Oh, could we make our doubts remove, 
 
 Those gloomy doubts that rise : 
 And see the Canaan that we love 
 
 With unbeclouded eyes : 
 
 Could we but climb where Moses stood, 
 
 And view the landscape o'er, 
 Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, 
 
 Should fright us from the shore. 
 
 Tune — " Beulah." 
 
 BERNARD OF CLUNY'S " SWEET AND 
 BLESSED COUNTRY/' 
 
 Out of three thousand lines of a satire written by Ber- 
 nard, a monk of Cluny, in the twelfth century, Dr. Neale 
 has extracted three hymns, which, in his free transla- 
 tion, have become extremely popular. It is significant of 
 the difference between the centuries that the twelfth- 
 century satirist is overwhelmed by the awe of heaven 
 and the horror of hell, whereas his nineteenth-century 
 adapter sings exultantly of heaven alone. 
 
 J5 \ — BRIEF LIFE IS HERE OUR PORTION. 
 
 BRIEF life is here our portion, 
 Brief sorrow, short-lived care : 
 The life that knows no ending, 
 The tearless life, is there. 
 
254 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 O happy retribution ! 
 
 Short toil, eternal rest; 
 For mortals and for sinners 
 
 A mansion with the blest ! 
 
 There grief is turned to pleasure, 
 
 Such pleasure, as below 
 No human voice can utter, 
 
 No human heart can know. 
 And now we fight the battle, 
 
 But then shall wear the crown 
 Of full and everlasting 
 
 And passionless renown. 
 
 And now we watch and struggle, 
 
 And now we live in hope, 
 And Sion, in her anguish, 
 
 With Babylon must cope. 
 But He whom now we trust in 
 
 Shall then be seen and known, 
 And they that know and see Him 
 
 Shall have Him for their own. 
 
 The morning shall awaken, 
 
 The shadows shall decay, 
 And each true-hearted servant 
 
 Shall shine as doth the day: 
 Yes ; God, our King and Portion, 
 
 In fulness of His grace, 
 We then shall see for ever, 
 
 And worship face to face. 
 
 O sweet and blessed country. 
 The home of God's elect / 
 
 O sweet and blessed country 
 That eager hearts expect I 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 255 
 
 Jesus, in mercy bring us 
 
 To that dear land of rest ; 
 Who art, with God the Father, 
 
 And Spirit^ ever blest. 
 
 Tune — "St. Alphege." 
 
 J52-FOR THEE, O DEAR, DEAR 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 FOR thee, O dear, dear country! 
 Mine eyes their vigils keep; 
 For very love beholding 
 
 Thy happy name, they weep : 
 The mention of thy glory 
 Is unction to the breast, 
 And medicine in sickness, 
 And love, and life, and rest. 
 
 O one, O only mansion ! 
 
 O Paradise of joy ! 
 Where tears are ever banished, 
 
 And smiles have no alloy. 
 With jaspers glow thy bulwarks, 
 
 Thy streets with emeralds blaze ; 
 The sardius and the topaz 
 
 Unite in thee their rays. 
 
 Thine ageless walls are bonded 
 
 With amethyst unpriced ; 
 The saints build up its fabric, 
 
 And the corner-stone is Christ. 
 The cross is all thy splendour, 
 
 The Crucified thy praise ; 
 His laud and benediction 
 
 Thy ransomed people raise. 
 
2 56 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Thou hast no shore, fair ocean ! 
 
 Thou hast no time, bright day ! 
 Dear fountain of refreshment, 
 
 To pilgrims far away ! 
 Upon the Rock of Ages 
 
 They raise thy holy tower ; 
 Thine is the victor's laurel, 
 
 And thine the golden dower. 
 
 O sweet and blessed country, 
 
 The home of God's elect / 
 O sweet and blessed country, 
 
 That eager hearts exfiect ! 
 Jesus, in mercy bring us 
 
 'To that dear land of rest ; 
 Who art, with God the Father, 
 
 And Spirit, ever blest. 
 
 Tune— "Jenner." 
 
 J53 -JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN. 
 
 JERUSALEM the golden, 
 J With milk and honey blest, 
 Beneath thy contemplation 
 
 Sink heart and voice opprest. 
 I know not, Oh, I know not, 
 
 What joys await us there ; 
 What radiancy of glory, 
 
 What light beyond compare ! 
 
 They stand, those halls of Sion, . 
 
 All jubilant with song, 
 And bright with many an angel, 
 
 And all the martyr throng. 
 The Prince is ever in them ; 
 
 The daylight is serene ; 
 The pastures of the blessed 
 
 Are decked in glorious sheen. 
 
HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 257 
 
 There is the throne of David ; 
 
 And there, from care released, 
 The shout of them that triumph, 
 
 The song of them that feast; 
 And they who, with their Leader, 
 
 Have conquered in the fight, 
 For ever and for ever 
 
 Are clad in robes of white. 
 
 O sweet and blessed country, 
 
 The home of God 's elect ! 
 O sweet a?id blessed country, 
 
 That eager hearts expect ! 
 Jesus, in mercy bring us 
 
 To that dear land of rest ; 
 Who art, with God the Father, 
 
 And Spirit, ever blest. 
 
 Tune — " Ewing." 
 
 J54-NEAR US STANDING HERE 
 
 FORGETFUL. 
 
 When the miners were imprisoned in Pontypridd mine, 
 expecting never again to see the light of day, they sang 
 the following verse of a hymn well known in Wales : 
 
 IN the waves and mighty waters 
 No one will support my head, 
 But my Saviour, my Beloved, 
 
 Who was stricken in my stead : 
 In the flood of death's dark river 
 
 He will hold my head above ; 
 I shall through the waves go singing 
 For one look of Him I love. 
 
 Y 
 
 N y dyfroedd mawr a'r tonau 
 Nid oes neb a ddeil fy mhen 
 17 
 
258 HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED. 
 
 Ond fy anwyl Briod Iesu 
 
 A fu farvv ar y pren 
 Cyfaill yw yn afon angeu 
 
 Ddeil fy mhen yn uwch na'r don 
 Golwg arno wna i mi ganu 
 
 Yn yr afon ddofn hon. 
 
 I asked Mr. Burt if he could tell me what hymns had 
 been sung by North-country miners in similar circum- 
 stances, but he did not know. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 APPENDIX L 
 
 SOME LETTERS FROM WORKING-MEN. 
 
 One of the difficulties which I have had to contend with has 
 been the multitude of letters received from unknown corre- 
 spondents, who have kindly responded to my appeal, and certify 
 that this, that, or the other hymn marked an epoch in their 
 life. It is quite impossible for me to quote from all, or even 
 from many of those letters, neither can I by any possibility 
 print all the hymns which have thus received the hall-mark of 
 personal helpfulness, but one or two extracts may be made, 
 chiefly from those upon whom the burden of life rests some- 
 what heavily. 
 
 Thomas Martin, a Darlington engineer, writing as one of the 
 " Sons of Toil," says : — 
 
 " We, sir, have our helps as well as those above us. I can 
 assure you that the sweet songs of the sanctuary of the soul 
 have given us weary ones many a solace and a lift ; and amidst 
 the jarring and wrangling of the sectarians over their creeds 
 and dogmas, how sweet is that inspired hymn No. 169 in Dr. 
 Martineau's collection of 'Hymns of Praise and Prayer,' 
 commencing thus — 
 
 Spirit of Truth, be Thou my Guide, 
 
 O clasp my hand in Thine. 
 And let me never quit Thy side, 
 
 Thy comforts are divine. 
 
 Pride scorns Thee for Thy lowly mien ; 
 
 But who like Thee can rise 
 Above this toilsome sordid scene, 
 
 Beyond the holy skies. 
 
 Weak is Thine eye, and soft Thy voice ; 
 
 But wondrous is Thy might 
 To make the wretched soul rejoice, 
 
 And give the simple light. 
 
 I can assure you, sir, that we have our consolations and help 
 from such-like hymns ; and many more." 
 

 26o 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 Another working-man sends me a letter expressing his 
 earnest hope that, whatever else is left out, I will take care to 
 include No. 28 in Sankey's hymn-book ; the hymn beginning, 
 " I left it all with Jesus, long ago." Speaking of his own 
 experience, he says he passed through a period of much tribu- 
 lation, seeking peace and finding none : — 
 
 " I thought I had done my best, but still that was unsatis- 
 factory. Something always seemed to be kept back ; some- 
 thing that ought to have come out and did not, or rather, 
 perhaps I ■should say that was not fully understood by the one to 
 whom it was told. I had no doubt of my wish to repent, no 
 doubt of my willingness to make every reparation in my power, 
 but still peace would not come. At last I took it all straight 
 to Jesus, and the burden rolled away from my heart. That is 
 why I love No. 28 of Sankey's collection of Sacred Songs and 
 Solos." 
 
 Hymns often act in this fashion. They cling to the memory, 
 and by supplying the right word at the right time, act as the 
 " open sesame " to the treasure which had been long and vainly 
 sought. 
 
 An adult class at a friend's school at Darlington, being 
 asked to say which hymns had helped them most, named, " I 
 know not what awaits me," with the chorus, " Where He may 
 lead, I '11 follow" as the first favourite; the second, " When 
 our heads are bowed with woe ; " the third, " In the secret of 
 His presence, hangs my soul's delight;" the fourth, "Oh, 
 safe to the Rock that is higher than I." 
 
 A mechanic of Oldham tells how — when work was slack 
 and hands were being dismissed, and no one knew whose turn 
 it would be next — he was mightily sustained by a verse in 
 Cowper's hymn, " Sometimes a light surprises." The verse 
 which did him good, and seemed to him a message from God, 
 was this, after the verse ending, " E'en let the unknown to- 
 morrow bring with it what it may " : — 
 
 It can bring with it nothing, 
 
 But He will bear us tli rough ; 
 Who gives the lilies clothing 
 
 Will clothe His people too. 
 Beneath the spreading heavens, 
 
 No creature but is fed ; 
 And He who feeds the ravens 
 
 Will give His children bread. 
 
 Many a time that verse has cheered him and given him good 
 heart to face the worst in the gloomiest of bad times. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 26l 
 
 I have said that from the uttermost parts of the earth I have 
 received communications, and there are few places more out of 
 the way than the Chatham Islands, although this year they 
 have been favoured with a bi-monthly postal service. My 
 correspondent, who uses the nom de pha?te " Tabitha," says 
 that her husband well remembers when nine months elapsed 
 before they heard from the outer world. Once a year a man- 
 of-war anchors for a few days off the island, but the islanders, 
 for the most part, live secluded from the outer world, weaving 
 their own wool, supplying their own needs in primitive 
 patriarchal fashion. My correspondent quotes, as the two 
 verses which have helped her, the following : — 
 
 And when I'm to die, 
 
 " Receive me,'' I'll cry. 
 For Jesus has loved me, 
 
 I cannot tell why. 
 
 But this do I find, 
 
 That we two are joined, 
 That He'll not be in glory, 
 
 And leave me behind. 
 
 There are many hymns which have played no small part in 
 the lives of men, which, however, I cannot include in this 
 collection. Take, for instance, the hymn, " How bright these 
 glorious spirits shine." 
 
 In the life of Duncan Matheson, Scottish Evangelist, we 
 read that on the first Sabbath after he arrived at Balaclava, he 
 and one or more of the 93rd Highlanders retired to a ravine, 
 read, prayed, and sang the battle-song of David and Luther, 
 " God is our refuge and our strength ;" and on page 70 to 71 
 we read : One night, weary and sad, returning from Sevastopol 
 to the old stable at Balaclava where he lodged, his strength 
 gone, sickened with the sights he had seen, depressed by the 
 thought that the siege seemed no nearer an end, so, trudging 
 along in mud knee-deep, he looked up and noticed the stars 
 shining calmly in the clear sky ; instinctively his weary heart 
 mounted heavenward, thinking of " the rest that remaineth for 
 the people of God," he began to sing aloud, — 
 
 How bright these glorious spirits shine. 
 
 Next day, though wet and stormy, he went out and came lpon 
 a soldier in rags, standing under an old verandah for shelter ; 
 his naked toes were showing through worn-out boots. Matheson, 
 speaking words of encouragement, gave him half»a-sove reign 
 to purchase shoes. The soldier thanked him, and said : " I 
 
262 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 am not what I was yesterday. Last night, as I was thinking 
 of our miserable condition, I grew tired of life, and said to my- 
 self ... I can bear this no longer, and may as well put an end 
 to it. So I took my musket and went down yonder in a 
 desperate state, about eleven o'clock ; but as I got round the 
 point, I heard some person singing ' How bright these glorious 
 spirits shine ; ' and I remembered the old tune and the Sabbath - 
 school where we used to sing it. I felt ashamed of being so 
 cowardly, and said : Here is someone as badly off as myself, 
 and yet he is not giving in. I felt, too. he had something to 
 make him happy which I had not, but I began to hope I too 
 might get the same happiness. I returned to my tent, and to- 
 day I am resolved to seek the one thing.'''' " Do you know who 
 the singer was ? " asked the missionary. " No," was the reply. 
 " Well," said the other, u It was I." Tears rushed into the 
 soldier's eyes, and handing back the half-sovereign, he said : 
 " Never, sir, can I take it from you after what you have been 
 the means of doing for me. 1 ' 
 
 APPENDIX IL 
 
 A LIST OF A BEST HUNDRED HYMNS. 
 
 Early in 1887 the Editors of The Sunday at Home invited 
 their readers to send lists of the Hundred English Hymns which 
 stood highest in their esteem. Nearly three thousand five hun- 
 dred persons responded to the invitation ; and by the majority 
 of votes the following hundred were selected. 
 
 The first on the list, " Rock of Ages," received 3,215 votes ; 
 the last, ' ; Sometimes a light surprises," 866. It was only to 
 be expected that the former hymn would prove the most 
 popular of all ; but the three next to it each received about 
 3,000 votes,— " Abide with me," "Jesu, Lover of my soul," 
 and "Just as I am." 
 
 HYMN. AUTHOR. 
 
 i. Rock of Ages, clef t for me Toplady. 
 
 2. Abide with me ; fast falls the eventide . Lyte. 
 
 3. Jesu ! Lover of my soul C. Wesley. 
 
 4. Just as I am, without one plea . . . . C. Elliott. 
 
 5. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds . y. Newton. 
 
 6. My God and Father, while I stray . . C. Elliott. 
 
 7. Nearer, my God, to Thee Mrs. Adams. 
 
 8. Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear . . Keble. 
 
 9. I heard the voice of Jesus say . . . . H. Bonzr. 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 263 
 
 10. 
 
 IT. 
 12. 
 
 '3- 
 14. 
 
 i5- 
 
 16. 
 
 17- 
 
 18. 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 22. 
 
 23- 
 24. 
 
 25- 
 
 26. 
 27. 
 28. 
 29. 
 3°- 
 
 3i- 
 32. 
 33- 
 34- 
 
 35- 
 36. 
 37- 
 38. 
 39- 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 43- 
 44- 
 45- 
 46. 
 
 47- 
 
 4^- 
 49. 
 
 BO- 
 52- 
 53- 
 54- 
 
 HYMN. AUTHOR. 
 
 Art thou weary, art thou languid ? . Stephen the Sabaite. 
 
 For ever with the Lord Jas. Montgomery. 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way . . Cowper. 
 
 From Greenland's icy mountains . . R. Heber. 
 
 When I survey the wondrous cross . Watts. 
 Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling 
 
 gloom Newman. 
 
 Hark ! the herald angels sing 
 All praise to Thee, my God, this night 
 A few more years shall roll .... 
 O God, our help in ages past . . . 
 Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed 
 All hail the power of Jesu's name 
 Eternal Father ! strong to save . . 
 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty 
 Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah . 
 There is a fountain filled with blood . 
 Lo, He comes with clouds descending 
 At even, ere the sun was set . . . 
 Awake ! my soul, and with the sun . 
 Hark ! my soul, it is the Lord . . . 
 All people that on earth do dwell . . 
 Brief life is here our portion . . . 
 Jesus shall reign where'er the sun . . 
 Jesus ! the very thought of Thee 
 Hark ! hark, my soul 
 
 C. Wesley. 
 
 T. Ken. 
 
 H. Bonar. 
 
 Watts. 
 
 Harriet A u^er. 
 
 E. P err one t. 
 
 W. Whiting. 
 
 Heber. 
 
 W. Williams. 
 
 Cowper 
 
 C. Wesley. 
 
 H. Twells. 
 
 T. Ken. 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 W. Kethe. 
 
 Bernard of Cluny. 
 
 Watts. 
 
 Bernard of Clairvanx. 
 
 angelic songs 
 
 are swelling Faber. 
 
 Jerusalem, my happy home . , . . Anon. 
 
 Jerusalem the golden Bernard of Cluny. 
 
 Oft in danger, oft in woe 
 Come, let us join our cheerful songs 
 Thy way, not mine, O Lord . . . 
 Father, I know that all my life . . 
 Come, ye thankful people, come . 
 Onward, Christian soldiers . . . 
 
 I lay my sins on Jesus Bonar. 
 
 O for a closer walk with God . . . Cowper. 
 O worship the King, all glorious above R. Grant. 
 Brightest and best of the sons of the 
 
 morning 
 
 As pants the hart for cooling streams. 
 Sweet Saviour ! bless us ere we go 
 Hail to the Lord's Anointed .... 
 Pleasant are Thy courts above . . . 
 Great God ! what do I see and hear? 
 There is a land of pure delight . . . 
 O timely happy, timely wise . . . . J, 
 Christians, awake : salute the happy 
 
 morn fohn Byrom 
 
 H. K. White. 
 
 Watts. 
 
 H. Bonar. 
 
 A. L. Waring. 
 
 A Iford. 
 
 Baring-Gould. 
 
 R. Heber. 
 Tate and Brady. 
 Faber. 
 
 Montgomery. 
 Lyte. 
 
 Ringwaldt. 
 Watts. 
 Keble. 
 
264 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 55- 
 56. 
 
 57- 
 58. 
 
 59 
 60. 
 61. 
 62. 
 
 63. 
 6+. 
 
 65. 
 66. 
 67. 
 
 68. 
 
 69. 
 70. 
 
 7i- 
 72. 
 
 73- 
 74- 
 
 75- 
 76. 
 
 77- 
 
 78. 
 
 79- 
 80. 
 
 81. 
 
 82. 
 
 83. 
 84. 
 85- 
 86. 
 87. 
 88. 
 89. 
 90. 
 91. 
 92. 
 93- 
 94- 
 95- 
 96. 
 
 97- 
 98. 
 
 90- 
 
 sin 
 
 HYMN'. 
 
 Prayer is the soul's sincere delight 
 Saviour, again to Thy dear name we 
 
 raise 
 
 The Church's one foundation 
 Soldiers of Christ, arise . . 
 Weary of earth and laden with my 
 Christian, seek not yet repose 
 O Day of rest and gladness . 
 Christ the Lord is risen to-day 
 
 Paradise ! O Paradise . . 
 
 1 need Thee, precious Jesus . 
 Safe in the arms of Jesus . . 
 O for a heart to praise my God 
 Hark ! the glad sound ! the Saviour 
 
 comes 
 
 Come unto Me, ye weary . . 
 My faith looks up to Thee . 
 There is a green hill far away . 
 Before Jehovah's awful throne 
 
 Jesus, I have promised . . 
 The Son of God goes forth to war 
 Not all the blood of beasts . . 
 
 1 was a wandering sheep . . . 
 O God of Bethel, by Whose hand 
 Peace, perfect peace .... 
 
 come, all ye faithful, joyful and 
 triumphant 
 
 The King of Love my Shepherd is 
 Through all the changing scenes of life 
 Take my life, and let it be ... . 
 While shepherds watched their flocks 
 
 by night 
 
 My God, and is Thy table spread . 
 Jesus Christ is risen to-day .... 
 
 1 could not do without Thee . . 
 Jesus lives ! no longer now .... 
 Come, Thou Fount of every blessing . 
 As with gladness men of old .... 
 O for a thousand tongues to sing . . 
 Saviour ! breathe an evening blessing 
 Sweet the moments, rich in blessing . 
 Let us, with a gladsome mind . . . 
 O happy band of pilgrims . . . . 
 Days and moments quickly flying . 
 Jesus calls us o'er the tumult . . . 
 Glorious things of Thee are spoken . 
 O Lord, how happy should we be . 
 Tell me the old, old story .... 
 Lord, I hear of showers of blessing . 
 Sometimes a light surprises .... 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 jfas. Montgomery. 
 
 J. Ellerton. 
 
 S. J. Stone. 
 
 C. Wesley. 
 
 Rev. S. J. Stone, 
 
 C. Elliott. 
 
 C. Wordsworth. 
 
 C. Wesley. 
 
 F. W. Faber. 
 
 F. Whitfield. 
 
 Mrs. Van Alstyne. 
 
 C. Wesley. 
 
 Doddridge- 
 W. C. Dix. 
 Ray Palmer 
 Airs, yilexander. 
 Watts, 
 y. E. Bode. 
 R. Heber. 
 Watts. 
 H . Bonar. 
 Doddridge. 
 
 E. H. Bickersteth 
 
 A 71071. 
 
 H. W. Baker. 
 Tate a7id Brady. 
 
 F. R. H 'aver gal. 
 
 Tate. 
 Doddridge. 
 
 A 71071. 
 
 F. R. Haver gal. 
 C. F. Gilbert. 
 R. Robinso7i- 
 W. C. Dix. 
 C. Wesley 
 yas. Ed/7ieston. 
 yas. Allen. 
 Milton. 
 
 Dr. y.M. Neale. 
 E. Cas?vail. 
 Mrs. Alexander, 
 y. Neivto7i. 
 y. A7istice. 
 Mrs. Hankry. 
 Eliz. Cod7ier. 
 Cowper. 
 
APPENDIX III. 265 
 
 These one hundred hymns were published by the Religious 
 Tract Society in a threepenny pamphlet now out of print. The 
 above list was sent out together with the appeal for information 
 as to hymns that have helped. Hence in some cases, notably 
 those of Mr. Massingham (of the Daily Chronicle), the Head 
 Master of Marlborough College, and the Bishop of Hereford, the 
 hymns quoted as those which helped them were, in addition to 
 others, contained in the Stinday at Home list. 
 
 APPENDIX DL 
 
 HYMNS AND THOSE WHOM THEY HAVE 
 
 HELPED. 
 
 The following is a very rough and imperfect classification 
 which I hope my readers will enable me to improve materially 
 before the next edition. Some correspondents sent in so many 
 hymns that had helped them that I could not quote them all. 
 Canon Shuttleworth, for instance, mentioned a hundred, 
 accompanying the list by the following characteristic note : 
 
 " I quite expect this list is very different from most. I hate 
 with a holy hatred all sentimentalist maunderings, all feeble 
 religiosities, all diseased raptures or sorrows. To help men, 
 hymns should be manful." 
 
 1 have been compelled in this, and in similar cases, to quote 
 only five or six hymns, giving preference to those that are 
 different from most. Mr. Gladstone's favourite hymns may 
 be said to be almost universal favourites, whereas each one, as 
 a rule, has his special hymn, and to these specially helpful 
 hymns I wish to call attention. 
 
 Her Majesty the Queen. 
 
 Marriage hymns. 
 
 Funeral hymns. 
 The Prince of Wales. 
 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee. 
 The Duke of Argyll. 
 
 O God of Bethel. 
 Editor of " Daily Telegraph " (Sir E. Arnold). 
 
 Ken's Evening Hymn. 
 
 Longfellow's Psalm of Life. 
 Mr. Asquith. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past. 
 
266 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Canon Barker. 
 
 One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o'er and o'er. 
 
 I hear Thy welcome voice. 
 
 Stand up, stand up for Jesus (lovely). 
 
 I need Thee every hour. 
 
 I think when I read that sweet story. 
 H. W. Beecher. 
 
 Jesu, Lover of my soul. 
 Head Master of Marlborough (Mr. Bell). 
 
 Now thank we all our God. — IVinkworth. 
 
 In the hour of trial. — Montgomery. 
 
 Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire. — Cosin. 
 
 And now, O Father, mindful of the love. — Bright. 
 
 I prais'd the earth in beauty seen. — Heber. 
 And some 20 others. 
 Miss Braddon. 
 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 
 Abide with me. 
 
 Rock of ages. 
 
 Bishop Ken's evening hymn. 
 John Bright. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past. 
 The Duke of Cambridge. 
 
 Onward, Christian soldiers. 
 Moncure D. Conway. 
 
 Come, O thou traveller unknown. — Wesley. 
 
 Do not crouch to-day and worship the old past. — Procter. 
 
 Ring out, wild bells. — Tennyson. 
 S. R. Crockett. 
 
 23rd Psalm — The Lord is my Shepherd. 
 
 142nd Psalm — I to the hills will lift mine eyes 
 
 103rd Psalm — O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord. 
 
 67th Psalm. 
 
 145th Psalm. 
 
 God of Bethel, by whose hand. 
 Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 117th Psalm. 
 
 68th Psalm — Let God arise, and let His foes be scattered. 
 Dean of Canterbury (F. W. Farrar). 
 
 Cowper, Keble, Watts, Wesley, Faber, and Montgomery have 
 all helped me. 
 
 1 can scarcely ever join in " For ever with the Lord " without 
 
 tears. 
 Sir H. H. Fowler, M. P. 
 
 Rock of ages. 
 
 Jesu, Lover of my soul. 
 Harry Furniss. 
 
 Psalm of Life. 
 
APPENDIX III. 267 
 
 Rev. Charles Garrett, Liverpool. 
 
 Now I have found the ground whereon. — Rothe. 
 
 Saviour, Prince of Israel's race. — Wesley. 
 
 Souls of men, why will ye scatter. — Faber. 
 
 Come, Thou Fount of every blessing. — R. Robinson. 
 
 A safe stronghold our God is still. — Luther. 
 
 When wilt Thou save the people ? — Elliott. 
 W. Lloyd Garrison. 
 
 Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve. 
 
 Ye tribes of Adam far. 
 
 Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings. 
 Mr. Gladstone never made a list of his favourite hymns. 
 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 
 Rock of ages. 
 Sarah Grand. 
 
 Calm me. my God, and keep me calm. 
 
 Call me, dear Sariour, I will wait Thee. 
 Gustavus Adolphus. 
 
 Battle hymn. 
 Newman Hall. 
 
 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds. 
 
 Jesu, Lover of my soul. 
 
 Rock of ages. 
 
 Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah. 
 
 Abide with me. 
 Thomas Hardy. 
 
 Thou turnest man, O Lord, to dust. — Tate and Brady. 
 
 Awake, my soul, and with the sun. 
 
 Lead, kindly light. — Newman. 
 Bishop of Hereford. 
 
 Saviour, who hast at Thy command. — T. Colvill. 
 
 Jesu, where'er Thy people meet. — W. Cowper. 
 
 Come, let us join our friends above. — C. Wesley- 
 Silas D. Hocking. 
 
 Strong Son of God. — Tennyson. 
 
 The Eternal Goodness. — Whittier. 
 
 Abide with me. — Lyte. 
 
 In heavenly love abiding. — Waring: 
 Rev. H. Price Hughes. 
 
 Jesu, Lover of my soul. 
 
 A safe stronghold our God is still. 
 
 Te Deum laudamus. 
 
 Come, let us join our cheerful songs. 
 
 Come, O thou traveller unknown. 
 W. Johnston, M. P. 
 
 The Lord 's my Shepherd. 
 
 At even, ere the sun was set. 
 
268 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 
 Richd. Le Gallienne. 
 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace. 
 Canon Liddon. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past (one of the three best). 
 Mrs. Lynn Linton. 
 
 My God, my Father. 
 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee. 
 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 Sir John Lubbock (out of 20 or more hymns). 
 
 New every morning is the love. 
 
 While shepherds watched their flocks by night. 
 
 Jesus Christ is risen to-day, Alleluia! 
 
 The Church's one foundation. 
 
 Hark, hark, my soul ! angelic songs are swelling. 
 
 Brief life is here our portion. 
 
 As pants the hart for cooling streams. 
 
 T is gone, that bright and orbed blaze. — Keble. 
 
 Lord, my God, do Thou Thy holy will. — Keble. 
 Why should we faint and fear to live alone. — Keble. 
 
 Rev. D. Macrae (Dundee). 
 
 My God, I thank Thee. — Procter. 
 
 1 heard the voice of Jesus say. — Bonar. 
 Sun of my soul. — Keble. 
 
 One holy Church of God appears. — S. W. Longfellow. 
 God bless the little children. — Page Hopps. 
 Editor " Daily Chronicle " (H. W. Massingham) (not 
 in order of helpfulness, but suggestions). 
 Thou hidden love of God. 
 My God, I love Thee not because. 
 Come, O thou traveller unknown. 
 Christ, whose glories fill the sky. 
 Dies irae. 
 Justin McCarthy, M.P. 
 Adeste fideles. 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 Mrs. Alice Meynell. 
 Abide with me. 
 
 My God, my Father, while I stray. 
 Sun of my soul. 
 
 Art thou weary, art thou languid. 
 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. 
 Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go. 
 Jesus lives. 
 Our blest Redeemer. 
 Professor Max Muller. 
 
 Caput cruentatum (strong impression as a child). 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 
APPENDIX III. 269 
 
 Professor Max Muller — Continued. 
 
 Cometh sunshine after rain. 
 
 Father, I know that all my life. 
 Dr. Rigg. 
 
 Jesu, Thy boundless love to me. — P. Gerhardt. 
 
 Now I have found the ground whereon. — Rothe, translated by 
 J. Wesley. 
 
 Thou hidden love of God, Whose height. — Terstecgen, trans- 
 lated by J. Wesley. 
 
 Come, Saviour Jesus, from above. — Madame Bourignon. 
 
 Weary of wandering from my God. — Charles Wesley. 
 Lady Henry Somerset. 
 
 The will of God. — Faber. 
 
 Pilgrims. — A. Procter. 
 
 My triumph. — Whittier. 
 
 A first sorrow. 
 M. H. Spielmann (Jewish). 
 
 A don 'Olam. 
 
 Tigdal. 
 
 Shemong. 
 Rev. Thomas Spurgeon. 
 
 There is a fountain filled with blood. 
 The Duchess of Sutherland (who has compiled a private 
 hymnal for use in Trentham Church). 
 
 And now, O Father, mindful of the love. 
 The President of the Wesleyan Conference (Rev. 
 D. J. Waller). 
 
 The God of Abraham praise 
 
 Ere God had built the mountains. 
 
 Thou Shepherd of Israel and mine. 
 
 There is a wideness in God's mercy. — Faber- 
 Head Master of Harro\v (Dr. Welldon). 
 
 Hark ! my soul, it is the Lord. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past. 
 
 Rock of ages. 
 
 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty. 
 Archdeacon Wilson, of Manchester. 
 
 Father, whate'er of earthly bliss. — Steele. 
 
 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds. —Doddridge. 
 
 Come, ye that love the Lord. — Watts. 
 
 () Thou to whose all-searching sight. — J. Wesley. 
 
 When all Thy mercies, O my God. — Addison. 
 
 Jesus, whene'er Thy people meet. — Coivper. 
 
 Glorious things of Thee are spoken. — Newton. 
 
 Thou hidden love of God. — Tersteegen and Wesley. 
 
 Ken's and Keble's morning and evening hymns. 
 
 There is a land of pure delight. — Watts. 
 
 Who follow Christ whate'er betide. — C. Winkworth. 
 
270 APPENDIX III. 
 
 Archdeacon Wilson of Manchester — Continued. 
 
 Who shall ascend to the Holy Place. — Hankinson. 
 
 O love divine, how sweet thou art. — C. Wesley. 
 
 Be Thou my guardian and my guide. — jf- Williams. 
 
 My God, and is Thy table spread. — Doddridge. 
 Charles Wesley. 
 
 O for a thousand tongues to sing. 
 Bishop Moorhouse (attaches the deepest and most sacred 
 associations and memories of good). 
 
 Jesu, Lover of my soul. 
 
 My God, my Father, while I stray. 
 
 Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past- 
 
 O God of Bethel, by whose hand. 
 Sir Evelyn Wood. 
 
 Lead, kindly light. 
 
 Fierce raged the tempest. 
 
 And now, Father, mindful of the love. 
 
 Eternal Father ! strong to save. 
 John Wesley. 
 
 Depth of mercy, can there be. 
 
INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A charge to keep I have 215 
 
 A few more years shall roll 241 
 
 A sure stronghold our God is He .» . 53 
 
 Abide with me, fast falls the eventide 207 
 
 Adeste fideies 80 
 
 All hail the power of Jesu's name 29 
 
 All people that on earth do dwell 30 
 
 Allons, enfants de la Patrie 49 
 
 " Almost persuaded : " now to believe 177 
 
 Angels holy 37 
 
 Art thou weary, art thou languid 74 
 
 At even, ere the sun was set 209 
 
 At the cross her station keeping 86 
 
 Ave, Maria, gratia plena 236 
 
 Ave, maris Stella 237 
 
 Awake, my soul, and with the sun 202 
 
 Begone, unbelief 119 
 
 Blessed Lord, in Thee is refuge 142 
 
 Brief life is here our portion 253 
 
 By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored 240 
 
 Christ, the Lord, is risen to-day 90 
 
 "Christian! seek not yet repose " 170 
 
 Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire 77 
 
 Come, let us join our friends above 244 
 
 Come, O Thou traveller unknown 154 
 
 Come, Thou fount of every blessing 196 
 
 Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched 179 
 
 Courage, brother! do not stumble 220 
 
 Curb for the stubborn steed 72 
 
 Day of wrath ! O day of mourning 96 
 
 De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine 94 
 
 Dies irse, dies ilia 98 
 
 Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott 54 
 
 Eternal Father, strong to save 239 
 
 Faith of our fathers ! living still 238 
 
 Father, I know that all my life 126 
 
 Father of All! in ev'ry Age 224 
 
 Fear not, O little flock, the foe 58 
 
 For thee, O dear, dear country 255 
 
 Forward ! be our watchword 171 
 
 From Greenland's icy mountains 173 
 
 Give me the wings of faith to rise 245 
 
272 
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Give to the winds thy fears 124 
 
 Gloria in excelsis . . * . . . 69 
 
 Glory be to God on high 68 
 
 Glory to Thee, my God, this night 213 
 
 God bless our native land 44 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way 116 
 
 God save our gracious Queen 39 
 
 Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost 150 
 
 Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah no 
 
 Hail, bright Star of ocean 236 
 
 Hail, gladdening Light, of His pure glory pour'd 70 
 
 Hail, Mary, full of grace 236 
 
 Hark, my soul ! it is the Lord .... 145 
 
 Hark ! the herald angels sing 81 
 
 Have mercy upon me, O God = . . . 82 
 
 He leadeth me ! Oh, blessed thought 114 
 
 Hear what the voice from heaven proclaims 246 
 
 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty 33 
 
 How blest the righteous when he dies . 247 
 
 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 187 
 
 I do not ask, O Lord, that life may be 114 
 
 I heard the voice of Jesus say 192 
 
 I lay me down to sleep 250 
 
 I live for those who love me 231 
 
 I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord 196 
 
 I to the hills will lift mine eyes 129 
 
 If the Lord me sorrow send 138 
 
 Immortal Love, for ever full 226 
 
 In some way or other the Lord will provide 118 
 
 In the Cross of Christ I glory 200 
 
 In the waves and mighty waters 257 
 
 Jerusalem, my happy home 251 
 
 Jerusalem the golden 256 
 
 Jesu dulcis memoria 187 
 
 Jesu ! Lover of my soul 151 
 
 Jesus, and shall it ever be? 199 
 
 Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 175 
 
 Jesus, still lead on 113 
 
 Jesus, the very thought of Thee 186 
 
 Just as I am, without one plea 144 
 
 Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom . . . . . • 107 
 
 Let God arise, and scattered let all his en'mies be 61 
 
 Let us, with a gladsome mind 34 
 
 Life! we 've been long together 247 
 
 Lo ! He comes with clouds descending 100 
 
 Lord, it belongs not to my care .......'.... 130 
 
 Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace .... 69 
 
 Lord of all being, throned afar 229 
 
 Love divine, all loves excelling 188 
 
 1 
 
INDEX OF FIRST LINES, 
 
 273 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Magnificat . 67 
 
 Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord . . 59 
 
 Miserere mei, Deus 84 
 
 Must Jesus bear the Cross alone 199 
 
 My country! 't is of thee 46 
 
 My God, I love Thee : not because 156 
 
 My God, my Father, blissful name 135 
 
 My God, my Father, while I stray 134 
 
 My soul doth magnify the Lord . . 66 
 
 Nearer, my God, to Thee 159 
 
 Now I have found the ground wherein . ., 185 
 
 Now thank we all our God 31 
 
 Now the labourer's task is o'er 249 
 
 Nunc dimittis 70 
 
 O come, all ye faithful 79 
 
 O Deus, ego amo Te 157 
 
 O for a closer walk with God 164 
 
 O for a heart to praise my God 162 
 
 O give ye praise unto the Lord 62 
 
 O God of Bethel, by whose hand 182 
 
 O God of Truth, whose living word 163 
 
 O Jesu, King most wonderful 194 
 
 O Jesus, I have promised 165 
 
 O Lord, how happy should we be . 132 
 
 O Love, that wilt not let me go 146 
 
 O Sacred Head once wounded 197 
 
 O Thou, from whom all goodness flows 136 
 
 O timely happy, timely wise 205 
 
 Oft in sorrow, oft in woe 169 
 
 Oh for a thousand tongues to sing 190 
 
 Oh to be nothing, nothing 167 
 
 Onward, Christian soldiers ! marching as to war 168 
 
 Our Blest Redeemer, ere He breathed 153 
 
 Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord 227 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past . . 181 
 
 Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord .... 94 
 
 Pange lingua gloriosi 92 
 
 Peace, perfect peace . . 201 
 
 Praise God from Whom all blessings flow 33 
 
 Rescue the perishing, care for the dying 222 
 
 Rock of Ages, cleft for me 139 
 
 Safe in the arms of Jesus 193 
 
 Saviour, again to Thy dear name we raise 210 
 
 Saviour, breathe an evening blessing 212 
 
 Saviour, when in dust to Thee 102 
 
 Si scopron le totnbe, si levano i morti 64 
 
 Sing, my tongue, the Saviour's glory 91 
 
 Sleep on, beloved, sleep, and take thy rest 248 
 
 So here hath been dawning 204 
 
 18 
 
274 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Soldiers of Christ, arise 170 
 
 Souls of men ! why will ye scatter . 230 
 
 Sowing the seed by the dawn-light fair 223 
 
 Stabat Mater dolorosa 88 
 
 Standing by a purpose true 221 
 
 Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear 206 
 
 Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go 211 
 
 Take my life, and let it be 161 
 
 Te Deum laudamus 26 
 
 Tell me not, in mournful numbers 215 
 
 That day of wrath, that dreadful day . , 95 
 
 The Lord 's my shepherd, I '11 not want no 
 
 The spacious firmament on high 232 
 
 The Universal Master reigned 234 
 
 There is a fountain filled with blood 148 
 
 There is a land of pure delight 252 
 
 There were ninety and nine 176 
 
 Thou hidden Love of God, whose height 191 
 
 Thy way, not mine, O Lord 132 
 
 Time is earnest, passing by . 178 
 
 'T is my happiness below 133 
 
 Uplifted the tombstones 65 
 
 Veni, Creator 78 
 
 We plough the fields and scatter 242 
 
 We praise Thee, O God 24 
 
 When all Thy mercies, O my God 36 
 
 When gathering clouds around I view 117 
 
 When I survey the wondrous Cross 147 
 
 When our heads are bowed with woe 101 
 
 When the weary, seeking rest 104 
 
 When wilt Thou save the people? 45 
 
 Without haste and without rest . . 217 
 
 Work, for the night is coming 219 
 
 Workman of God, O lose not heart 218 
 
 Ye sons of France, awake to glory 51 
 
 Yn y dyfroedd mawr a'r tonau 257 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS. 
 
 Adams, Mrs 159 
 
 Addison, Joseph 36, 232 
 
 Alexander, Dr. (Translator) 197 
 
 Alford, Dean 171 
 
 Alstyne, Mrs. Van 193 
 
 Altenburg, Pastor 58 
 
 Anonymous. . . 24, 39, 79, n8, 167, 177, 178, 199, 215. 222, 223, 
 
 236, 238, 250, 257 
 
INDEX OF AUTHORS. 
 
 275 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Anstice, Rev. Prof. 132 
 
 Aquinas, Thomas 91 
 
 Auber, Harriet 153 
 
 Banks, G. Linnaeus 231 
 
 Barbauld, Mrs 247 
 
 Baring-Gould, Rev. S 168 
 
 Baxter, Richard 130 
 
 Bernard of Clairvaux 186, 194, 197 
 
 Bernard of Cluny 253,255,256 
 
 Bickersteth, Bishop 201 
 
 Blackie, Prof. J. S 37 
 
 Bliss, Philip 221 
 
 Bode, Rev. J. E 165 
 
 Bonar, Horatius 104, 132, 192, 241 
 
 Booth, Herbert 142 
 
 Bowring, Sir John 200 
 
 Campbell, Miss T. M. (Translator) - . . . 242 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas 204 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas (Translator) 53 
 
 Caswall, E. (Translator) i^(, 
 
 Cennick, John, and Charles Wesley 100 
 
 Claudius, Matthias 242 
 
 Clephane, Elizabeth C I7 6 
 
 Cohen, Rev. F. L. (Translator) ...."...'.'. 234 
 
 Cosin, Bishop (Translator) ° [ * 
 
 Cowper, William tt f. ' ,,', l AC \ln ,ki 
 
 Doddridge, Dr '. "' V. 4 ' \tt 
 
 Doudney, Miss Sarah .' | * 2 .g 
 
 Edmeston, Dr \ * 
 
 Ellerton, Rev. John '..'.!! ' 2T 'o ■>** 
 
 Elliott, Charlotte ,,„ Vaa VI 
 
 Elliott, Ebenezer ' 34 ' I44 ' * 7 ° 
 
 F. B. P • • • 45 
 
 Faber, F. W. '.'.'. ' ' ,*„ ' a 1,1 
 
 Gerhardt, Pauius ...:.::::::; : ' ' a. 
 
 Gilmore, Joseph H * 
 
 Goethe m ' ■> 
 
 Grant, Sir Robert '• '. '. '. '. '. '. ' 'io« 117 
 
 Gregg, Joseph \ . . ' ' 
 
 Hart, Joseph ZZ 
 
 Havergal, Miss F. R ^ 
 
 Haweis, Thomas "**».»* 
 
 Hawks, Mrs. A. S '.'..'. J Q 6 
 
 Heber, Bishop " * * 
 
 Holmes, O. W ..!."." '. 22 
 
 Howe, Julia Ward .*..*** • • • 29 
 
 Hughes, Tom ...'.'.'. J7 
 
 Irons, Dr. (Translator) .' ' ' 06 
 
 Jacopone m ' m * .86 
 
276 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Keble, John 205, 206 
 
 Keble, John (Translator) 70 
 
 Ken, Bishop 32, 202, 213 
 
 Kethe, W 30 
 
 Longfellow, Henry W .215 
 
 Luther, Martin - . . 53 
 
 Lyte, Rev. H. F 207 
 
 Macleod, Dr. Norman 220 
 
 Matheson, Dr 146 
 
 Mercantini, L 64 
 
 Milman, Dean 101 
 
 Milton, John . 34 
 
 Neale, Dr. (Translator) 74 
 
 Newman, Cardinal 107 
 
 Newton, John 119, 187 
 
 Perronet, E 29 
 
 Plumptre, Dean 72 
 
 Pope, Alexander 224 
 
 Procter, Adelaide 114 
 
 Rawson, George 240 
 
 Rinkart, Martin 31 
 
 Robinson, Robert 196 
 
 Rothe, Johann Andreas 185 
 
 Rouget de Lille 49 
 
 Sankey, Ira D 219 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter (Translator) 95 
 
 Smith, Samuel Francis 46 
 
 Steele, Anne 135 
 
 Stephen the Sabaite . . . . 74 
 
 Tersteegen, Gerhard . . 191 
 
 Toplady, Rev. A. M 139 
 
 T wells, H 209 
 
 Waring, Miss 126 
 
 Watts, Dr. Isaac 147, 175, 181, 245, 246, 252 
 
 Wesley, Charles . . . .81, 90, 151, 154, 162, 170, 188, 190, 244 
 
 Wesley, Charles, and John Cennick 100 
 
 Wesley, John (Translator) 124, 185, 191 
 
 White, Henry Kirke 169 
 
 Whiting, William 239 
 
 Whittier, J. G 226, 227 
 
 Williams, William ... no 
 
 Willich, Ernst von 138 
 
 Winkworth, Catherine (Translator) 31 
 
 Wordsworth, Bishop 150 
 
 Xavier, Francis. 156 
 
 Zinzendorf, Count 113