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THE CHlilSTMAS ANTHEM. 
 
THE 
 
 Psalmody of the Church 
 
 ITS AUTHORS, SINGERS, AND USES. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. WILLIAM H. PARKER. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 Hack & Anderson, Publishers. 
 
Copyrighted, 1889, 
 By WILLIAM H. PARKER. 
 
 ElECTROTYPED BY 
 
 ;,HiCAGO Electro, and Stereo. Co., 
 
 U6 & 198 S< OLAMK ST. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To the mind of the writer the preface is the most difficult and 
 embarrassing portion of his work, because he is there expected to 
 put himself into a sort of personal contact with his readers, and 
 furnish them an explanation of his conduct in having presumptu- 
 ously attempted to ' 'force another inferior book upon a victimized 
 and much-suft'ering public." In this case we offer no apology, 
 because our unpretentious little book is of itself a proof that we 
 have no nefarious design against the persecuted public. We will 
 therefore simply explain our position in a few words, and then 
 throw ourselves upon the mercy of our critics. 
 
 For many years we have been interested in hymnology, and 
 have enjoyed it, both as a profitable study and a delightful pas- 
 time. We have read many of the books upon hymns and hymn- 
 writers which have recently been published, and have invariably 
 laid them down with a feeling of disappointment. They are too 
 fragmentary to be entertaining. They are useful as books of 
 reference, but no one thinks of reading them. Wo have long, 
 vainly waited for some one to write a racy, readable book upon 
 this extremely interesting and fascinating theme; and now — no, 
 dear reader, the "Daniel" is not yet " come to judgment," but 
 we believe that when he does come, he will adopt some such plan 
 as we have sketched in this little book. 
 
 We have tried to write a readable book. We lay no claim to 
 literary ability, and the critical reader will discover innumerable 
 blemishes, for which we bespeak his kind forbearance. We are 
 anxious to have our people interested in their hymn-books, as a 
 means of promoting their personal piety and both popularizing 
 and spiritualizing the psalmody of the Lord's house. With the 
 exception of the Bible, there is no other book that can so speedily 
 
Vi. PREFACE. 
 
 awaken religious emotions, and kindle the soul with holy fervor, 
 as a prayerful perusal of the hymn-book; and those who thus use 
 it w411 be found to be the most consecrated and spiritually minded 
 Christians. 
 
 To assist in awakening such an interest is the mission of our 
 little book. We have used its pages in directing attention to the 
 boundless mines of wealth stored in our hymn-books. To change 
 the figure, we have shown these books to be the repositories of the 
 cream of the sanctified Christian thought of the ages, and to em- 
 body the choicest productions of the choicest minds. Our hymns 
 belons: to the whole Church of Jesus Christ. A work has 
 been recently published upon Baptist hymns. Several books 
 have been written upon Methodist and Congregational hymns. 
 To our mind this seems absurd, because these song-birds of the 
 church cannot be shut in by denominational boundary lines. 
 They will fly over the fences, and sing through all the region 
 consecrated to the w^ork and worship of God. 
 
 We believe the plan of our work to be entirely new; very 
 much of the material is here for the first time brought together. 
 Whilst we have gathered from many sources, w^e have been care- 
 ful to avoid unrehable and sensational statements. We have 
 referred to hundreds of volumes, some of which may l)e men- 
 tioned on another page. Relying upon the promised blessing of 
 God, and depending upon the generous toleration of our brethren, 
 we lay this humble oficring at the feet of Him who " inhabiteth 
 
 the praises of Israel." 
 
 The Author. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Music and Song, ...... 11 
 
 The Divine Beneficence — Nature's Melodies— Quiet Music— Music 
 and Poetry— Service of Praise— Influence of Music— A Region of 
 Delightful Experiences. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Old World Psalmody, . . . . . . .16 
 
 History and Mythology— Apollo and His Lyre— Music and Modern 
 Discovery — Some Egyptian Hymns — Hymn to Menephtah II. — 
 The Nile— Old Chaldea— Temple of the Moon God— The City of 
 Ur— Prayer of a Chaldean Worshiper— Old Acadian Hymn. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Hebrew Psalmody, ....... 24 
 
 The First Concert— Songs in Eden— Songs of Triumph— A Woman's 
 War Songs and Their Influence— The Prophet-Poets of Israel— 
 The Sweet Singer— The Temple and Its Services— Songs at a 
 Mass Meeting- Harps on the Willows— The Silent Land. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Psalmody in Its Relations to the Life of Christ, . . 34 
 
 Songs of the Advent— Old Simeon— Did Jesus Sing?— The Silences 
 of Scripture— An Anti-Singing Age— The Lord's Love of Music— 
 A Wonderful Biography— A Sublime Psalm— Life Set to Music 
 — The First Christian Hymn. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Psalmody in the Apostolic Church, ... 42 
 
 The Home of Music— The Church on the Hilltop— Angel Visits- 
 Pentecostal Songs— Song and Revivals— Hymns in the Dungeon 
 —Suffering a School of Song— The Sweetest Singers— Early Christ- 
 ian Psalmody— Music and Songs of the Apocalypse. 
 
Vttt. CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Psalmody in the Early Primitive Church, . , . 4^ 
 
 Political, Ecclesiastical, and Imperial Christianity — Fashionable Re- 
 ligion — The Evening Hymn of the Early Church— The Christian 
 Philosopher — The Oldest Hymn — Word for Word Translation — 
 Basil the Great upon Psalmody. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Beginnings of Psalmody in the Western Church, 56 
 
 Hilary and His Hymns— The Persecuted Bishop — Arba, the Sweet 
 Girl Singer — The "Dark Horse" of the Election — Augustine 
 and His Mother — The Conversion of Clovis— The Little Captive 
 Maiden — Fortunatus and His Hymns — Queen Radegunda and 
 the Bishop. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Medieval Hymns, or Songs of the Midnight, . . .66 
 
 The Dark Ages — The Reign of Force — Anarchy — Monasticism — 
 Schools of Song — Gregory the Great and His Hymns— Singing a 
 Fine Art — Psalmody and Ecclesiasticism — The Sebaites — Songs 
 from the Cloisters — A Royal Hymn-Writer— Sorus Tessalin and 
 the Lady Aletta — The Mighty Monk of Clairvaux. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Ancient English Psalmody, .... . .80 
 
 Gregory and the Angles — Ancient British Churches — A Royal Wed- 
 ding — Augustine and His Band — Beda and His Songs — King 
 Alfred and Psalmody — Henry VIII. and Wolsey— The Six C's — 
 Marot and His Psalms — The Groom of the Robes — The First 
 English Psalmbook — Sternhold and His Critics — Specimen Psalms. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Old English Psalmody, . . . . , . . t9 
 
 The Reformation and Song— Elizabethan Age and Its Giants — A 
 Royal Versifier — A Corner on Hymnbooks — Withers and His 
 Hymns — Saved from the Gallows— Herbert's Death-Song — Izaac 
 Walton and His Friends — A Specimen of English Conservatism — 
 No Room for Nell — Ken and His Shroud— Morning and Evening 
 Hymns — The Doxology — Frome Churchyard. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Diversities of Opinion Concerning Psalmody, - . . lOO 
 
 Inspired and Uninspired Hymns — Metrical Version of the Acts of 
 the Apostles— Specimen Verse — Dr. Tye's Strange Title — Queen 
 Bess and Her Organist— Ravenscroft's Music— Singing and Anti- 
 Singing Churches— The "Chist o' Whistles "—Deaconing the 
 Hymns — The Embarrassed Minister. 
 
CONTENTS. tX. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Puritan Psalmody op New England, . . .108 
 
 The Scrooby Post Office— Frescoes in House of Lords — Psalms at 
 Leyden — Songs on the Mayflower — Singing on the Beach — Ains- 
 worth and His Psalms — Specimen Psalms and Tunes — Stephen 
 Day's Printing Press — Anecdote of Franklin's Mother-in-law — 
 The Bay Psalm-Book, with Selection of Psalms. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 German Psalmody, . ...... 116 
 
 The Land of Song — "Home of Sacred Poetry" — Luther and His 
 Hymns— The Forty-sixth Psalm— The Diet— The Antidote to Care 
 — Music in the Air — Herrnhut and Its Songs — Count Zinzendorf, 
 and His Work — Gerhardt's Hymn of Trust — Death Song. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Dawn of English Hymnology, ..... 126 
 
 The Stuarts and the Prisons — The Prisoner's Wife Looking Through 
 the Bars — Wicked Precocity — The Little Great Man — Songs Be- 
 fore Unknown — Watts and Charles Wesley — The Monument at 
 Southampton — The Sunday School Songs of Fifty Years Ago— 
 Comminatory Hymns. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Hymn-Books, Their Contents and Uses, .... 136 
 Hymnals— "Only a Hymn-Book !" — Cream Preservers — Old Swords — 
 Historic Hymns — A Novel Congregation — Lady Hymn Writers 
 — Embarrassed Hosts — Strange Company — Magicians of Sound — 
 Kings of Literature. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Praying Mothers, . ...... 147 
 
 Great Men and Good Women — Napoleon's View of a Nation's 
 Needs — The Bohemian Exile — Dutch Tiles— Preaching in the 
 Barn — The Sceptic and His Mother — A Night of Terror — The 
 Wonderful Transformations of Swearing Jack. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Love, Courtship and Marriage; or. Lessons Suggested uy the 
 
 Experience of Some Hymn- Writers, ... 161 
 
 Clouded Lives — Flirtation — Miss Singer — Miss Elizabeth Scott and 
 Her Hymns — Montgomery and Hannah — Watts' Hymn on Vanity 
 — Berridge and His Jezebel — John Wesley's Married Life — Mrs. 
 Barbauld — Mrs. Hemana— Cowper's Insanity. 
 
X. CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The War Songs of the Church, ..... 173 
 
 Napoleon on the Alps— Wellington and the Band— The Siege of 
 York— Cromweirs Ironsides at Dunbar— Songs on the Battlefield 
 — Gustave Adolphus' War Song— Rinkart's Hymn of Thanks- 
 giving-Songs of Victory. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Life's Lights and Shadows, ...... 179 
 
 The Wounded Sailor— Beddome and His Hymns— The Stennets 
 as Hymn Writers— Cowper at Olney— The Farmer Preacher— The 
 Humorist of Surrey Chapel— The Tie That Bound Mr. Fawcett. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 The Little Old Lady with the Poke Bonnet, . . . 190 
 
 Lady Huntingdon— Walter Shirley— Earl Ferrers and His Crime— 
 The Tabernacle— Berridge and His Hymns— Perronet— Scene in 
 Church— Toplady and His Hymns— Consecrated Wealth. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 White Horses, , ....... 199 
 
 Apocalyptic Visions— Conquerors on White Horses— The Songs of 
 Methodism— Charles Wesley and His Hymns— Following the 
 Marks of the Horse Shoe— Budgett— Tom Olivers— The Circuit 
 Rider— Christmas Evans, and the Cardigan Hills. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 Songs in the Night, ....... 211 
 
 Night and Its Songs— Milton— Mrs. VanAlstyne— The Bard of 
 Annan— Crushed by the Cross— Madame Guyon and Her Hymns 
 —Richard Baxter in the Prison House— Death Among the Orange 
 Blossoms— The Minister and the Burglar— Mrs. Crewdson. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Songs on the Border Land, ...... 223 
 
 Beulah-Land—Payson— Doddridge— Toplady's Consumption— Bruce 
 and Kirke White— Heginbotham's Hymns— Lyte and His Fisher- 
 folk— Dr. Ray Palmer. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 How to Use the Hymn-Book, . . . . . 235 
 
 lu the Church— In the Choir— In the Family— In Private Devotion 
 —Importance of Service of Praise— Quartettes— A Loud Noise to 
 God— Fellowship of Song— Song in Glory Land. 
 
THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 ITS AUTHORS, SINGERS AND USES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MUSIC AND SONG. 
 
 The land of song within thee lies, 
 
 Watered by living springs; 
 The lids of Fancy's sleeping eyes 
 Are gates unto that Paradise; 
 Holy thoughts, like stars arise, 
 
 Its clouds are angels' wings." 
 
 No reasonable creature can fail to recognize the Divine good- 
 ness in having created within us such exquisite tastes and 
 perceptions, that relish and crave charming and delightful things, 
 and then so generously gratifying them, by having filled earth 
 and heaven with objects of fascinating beauty for the eye, and 
 sounds of ravishing melody for the ear. It is impossible to esti- 
 mate how large a portion of the total sum of earthly enjoyment 
 is caused by the refining influence of music upon those whose 
 minds are sensitive to its charms. To those whose ears are 
 rightly attuned the world is a vast orchestra, in which all depart- 
 ments of nature contribute to an inspiring melody, that not only 
 affords them immediate pleasure, but intensifies their aspirations 
 after a purer and nobler life. Such people find music in all 
 things, and sing their way through the world, to the accompani- 
 ment of surrounding conditions and circumstances. Recognizing 
 God as the life of all things, they realize that not only is there no 
 
12 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 discord in the noisy and turbulent upheavals of ordinary expe- 
 rience, but that human events and divine purposes blend together 
 in sweet soul-comforting harmony. 
 
 Nature is full of music through every part of ner vast clomam; 
 and in our daily marches through life, our footfalls should beat in 
 rhythm with its exhilarating strains. jVIusic in the morning, 
 when feathered warbku's greet the rising sun with glad bursts of 
 song, and .Eolian breezes sweep through the singing trees, and 
 make the groves vocid with melody. Music at noon, when 
 babbling streamlets flash and quiver in the sunlight, as they sing 
 through the vallej-s, on their way to th(? sea. Music in the tran- 
 quil eventide, Avhen insects play m the golden sunbeams, and spend 
 their brief lives in humming their Creator's praise; or w^hcn 
 gathering shadows evoke expressions of thankfulness from the 
 weary creatures for the Ijlessings of coming rest. Music in the 
 solemn midnight, when nature's deep silence is vocal with praise, 
 and — to the listening soul — the bright, twinkling eyes of heaven 
 become mouths of gladsome song. 
 
 "In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
 
 And utter forth a glorious voice; 
 
 Forever singing, as they shine, 
 ' The Hand that made us is divine.' " 
 
 There is a quiet music that is none the less real because it is 
 quiet. Our dull ears may fail to detect its soft tones, but the 
 waiting, sensitive heart listens to its melodies. Such music is in 
 the sunshine, as it robes the earth with beauty, burnishes the 
 skies with brightness, or tinges the clouds with splendor; Avhen it 
 fleams through the whispering trees, and shimmers over the 
 dappled sward beneath them; when it flashes upon the ripples of 
 the laughing, zephyr-kissed waters, or paints the rainbow upon 
 the dark thunder-cloud. Whether in the morning it tints the 
 flowers with beauty, and glorifies the dewdrops into iH-illiancy; 
 whether at noon it sparkles in the waterfall, or glitters upon the 
 cr}'stal; or whether in the evening its lustre blazes upon the 
 window-pane, or gilds the tree-tops; whether its shadowy portraits 
 of natural objects arc sketched upon the earth, or its brightness 
 illumines the sky, each season has its music — each change, its own 
 ap[)ropriatc melody. Each day the earth turns to its sweet tones, 
 and the observant and thoughtful mind realizes that the music of 
 the spheres is not all a myth. 
 
MUSIC AND SONG. 13 
 
 Music is everywhere around us. As Byron lias it: 
 
 "There's music in the sighing of a reed, 
 There's music in the gushing of a rill; 
 There's music in all things; if men had ears, 
 This earth is but an echo of the spheres." 
 
 Music in the rain-drops as they patter upon the roof, or beat 
 against the window; in the storm, when the winds howl, and 
 thunders crash, and lightnings blaze. Music in the roar of ocean's 
 tempest-tossed billows, or in the gentler murmurs of its wave- 
 beaten shore. Music breathed through mountain pines, or sung 
 by dashing cataracts. Music amid the din of toiling cities, or 
 amid the stillness of hermit caves. It is heard in the soft voices 
 of loved ones, recognized in the sympathy of friends, borne to 
 our ears amid the noise of the playful children. Music in the 
 home, where the vibrations of its sweet tones soothe and 
 
 " Quiet the restless pulse of care, 
 And come like the benediction 
 That follows after prayer." 
 
 Music in the church, where its harmonies thrill and inspire the 
 soul to patient endurance and consecrated service. Music in the 
 Bible, wdiose sublime psalm of " Glory to God in the highest, on- 
 earth peace, good will to men,'' is the sweetest melody the 
 world has heard. Music in the Christ-loving soul, whose glad 
 notes sing of abiding confidence, and pleasant toil, and coming 
 rest. Under most of the circumstances and conditions of life, 
 music is what Coleridge said it is: ''A consoler and comforter,, 
 and its own exceeding great reward." 
 
 Some gifted souls have been enabled to catch the varied 
 voices of nature, and the yet more subtile experiences and feelings 
 of human life, and blend them into symphonies of soul-stirring 
 mclod}', which not only afford us delight, but assist us in building 
 up true character. By quickening our emotions, and intensifying 
 our aspirations, such melodies inspire us to earnest, hopeful en- 
 deavor, and become the moans of our attaining an unwavering 
 faith in God, and a healthful appreciation of our own powers. It 
 can never be known how much Ave are indebted to the poets of 
 the Church, and the composers of melody, for the genial influence 
 of their genius upon our lives — for having brought so much of 
 heaven within the pale of our earthly experience. 
 
 The humanizing: and elevatinof influence of music has been. 
 
14 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHTJKCH. 
 
 recognized from the remotest antiquity; and the history of its 
 development and uses is well-nigh synonymous with the record of 
 the moral status of the race, through all the ages of its existence. 
 It appeals to the hearts of men during all periods of life, and all 
 phases of experience. The mother's love flows to the conscious- 
 ness of her child through the channels of song, and the lullaby at 
 the cradle is usually instrumental in calling out the first signs of 
 baby's recognition and appreciation. Singing is the especial de- 
 light of childhood and youth; but whilst the young people blend 
 their voices in tune, the old folks cannot refrain from joining 
 their tremulous notes to the song. Its influence is so ubiquitous 
 and widespread that it is a universal blessing, reaching even those 
 who are incompetent to appreciate its worth. The harmonious 
 blending of sweet sounds, with all their well-nigh infinite varia- 
 tions and combinations, cannot fail of being enjoyed and appre- 
 ciated by cultivated and refined natures; and its reflex influence 
 must necessarily be a factor in educating those whose discordant 
 lives have kept them in conditions unfavorable to its proper ap- 
 prehension and enjoyment. Because it is pre-eminently the lan- 
 guage of the human heart, and, therefore, the most suitable 
 medium by which to express either the tenderest emotions or the 
 loftiest sentiments of the mind, it is the best mode of communi- 
 cation between the soul and God. Good Dr. Edward Andrews 
 was accustomed to say that " God should be worshiped with 
 the best of everything: the best architecture, the best painting, 
 the best poetry, and the best music." Ordinarily, it is best that 
 the last two should 1)e com1)ined; that the beautiful in sound 
 should be used as a vehicle by which the beautiful in thought may 
 be borne up to God in loving service and adoring worship. 
 Sweet thoughts and sweet sounds, blended together, form the 
 incense that, ascending up to God from loving hearts, is always 
 an acceptable oflfering — music and poetry lovingly intertwined, 
 and laid upon the altar of Him who loves and has commanded 
 the use of both in His service. 
 
 It is true that nuisic, by and of itself, may be made to be 
 pure worship. A whole soul full of devotion may be put into 
 wordless melodies, that chime through the heart, awakening and 
 expressing its joy. Wa have often been conscious that in its 
 highest flights, and l)est enjoyments, the soul attains a position 
 where words can neither follow nor aid it, or measure its joy. 
 
MUSIC AND SONG. 15 
 
 Words are too gross and earthly for heavenl}^ experiences. When 
 "caught up to the third heaven," Paul heard heavenly words, 
 that could not be translated into the coarser language of earth. 
 Heaven must necessarily have a language all its own. Some of 
 the choicest experiences of our lives were made up of the raptur- 
 ous moments we spent under the enchanting spell of heaven-like 
 music. We listened to its sweet sounds, and involuntarily yielded 
 ourselves to the mystic influence that lifted us into a higher and 
 more delightful region, far above the dull routine of earthly expe- 
 riences. Under such conditions, we had nothing to do but enjoy. 
 Every turbulent thought was hushed into a blessed calm; a new 
 vitality thrilled every vein; we breathed a new and delightful at- 
 mosphere, uncontaminated by the noisomeness of this gross 
 world, and realized a joy that could not be compared to any mere 
 earthly delight. Our best aspirations had found, at least in part, 
 their long sought ideal. It was a realm of hallowed and delight- 
 ful experiences, and our souls drank their fill of exquisite pleasure 
 from its sparkling fountains of blessed enjoyment. 
 
 "Through every pulse the music stole, 
 And held sublime communion with the soul." 
 
 The beatific vision was probably very transitory, but the 
 glimpse was sufiiciently real to convince us that blessed realms of 
 happiness lie very near to us; that the separating veil between 
 us and it is very thin; that there is but a step between us and a 
 state where, undisturbed by the discords of sinful and imperfect 
 life, infinite wisdom and love shall harmonize the jarring notes of 
 human experience into a gladsome melody, that shall satisfy and 
 gratify the soul throughout an endless life, in the presence of 
 God and of the Lamb. We now know that there is a life above 
 and beyond this earth-bound, care-worn existence of ours; because 
 we have tasted its blessedness, seen its beauty, breathed its air, 
 listened to its ravishing melody, the tones of which abide with us 
 as a source of enjoyment, a basis for confidence, a pledge and 
 foretaste of the new song we shall join in singing, with all God's 
 redeemed hosts, when earthly experiences shall be reviewed in 
 the light of the Divine wisdom and purposes. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OLD WORLD PSALMODY. 
 
 "Hope, O ye broken hearts, at last! 
 
 The King comes on in might, 
 He loved us in the ages past, 
 
 When we sat wrapp'd in night; 
 Now are our sorrows e'er, 
 
 And fear and wrath to joy give place, 
 
 Since God hath made us in His grace, 
 His children evermore." 
 
 Although the Bible only refers to musical matters in a casual 
 and incidental manner, it is, nevertheless, the only authentic and 
 reliable history of ancient music in existence. Other historians 
 fail to trace the divine art, with any degree of certainty, farther 
 back than the Christian era, beyond which it loses itself in the 
 dim indistinctness of mythology. Apollo is said to have been the 
 inventor of music, the idea of a stringed instrument being sug- 
 gested to his mind by hearing musical sounds made by the wind 
 playing through the dried sinews that were stretched over the 
 cavity of a tortoise shell. By the magical notes of his lyre, the 
 stately walls of Troy were erected. 
 
 "Troy you shall see, and walls divine admire, 
 Raised by the music of Apollo's lyre." 
 
 Apollo afterwards gave the instrument to his son, Orpheus, 
 who attained such skill in its use, that men and beasts, l)irds and 
 fishes, and even trees and rocks, were attracted around the player 
 in Avondcring astonishment. As he played, the trees bowed their 
 heads, and the rocks heaved and shook; the beasts left their lairs, 
 and the birds their nests, to listen to the charming sounds. 
 Shakspeare says that 
 
 " Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods; 
 
 Since naught so stockish, hard and full of rage. 
 But Music, for the time, doth change his nature." 
 (16) 
 
OLD WORLD PSALMODY. 17 
 
 When his wife, Eurydice, died, because of a serpent's bite, 
 he is said to have followed her into the regions of death, where 
 his music enchanted the ghosts of the dead, and even stern Pluto 
 wept for sympathy. In modern thought, Orpheus occupies the 
 indistinct borderland between historic reality and mythological 
 uncertainty. He is the dim outline of a shadowy figure, so vague 
 as to render it impossible to decide whether he was man or myth. 
 Many believe him to have been a real man, and there is a tradition 
 that he was born in Thrace, about eleven hundred years before 
 the Christian era. Thus profane history fades with the lapse of 
 time; but there is no such uncertainty concerning the characters 
 and statements of the Bible. Two thousand years before the time 
 ascribed to Orpheus, the Bible Jubal {the jylay&r) was "the father 
 of all such as handle the harp and the organ." Six hundred years 
 before Orpheus' day, Laban sang the songs current at that time, 
 to the accompaniment of tabret and harp. Two hundred and 
 forty-eight years afterwards, Moses and the people of Israel stood 
 upon the Red Sea shore and sang the immortal ode of triumph, 
 as recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus. 
 
 Some contend that the word Music is derived from Mma^ 
 Decause it was believed to have l)een invented by the Muses; 
 whilst others — with more reason, as we think — declare the word 
 to have been of Egyptian origin. The ancient Greeks usually 
 claimed all inventions for themselves; therefore, it is not strange 
 that they assigned the origin of music to Mercury, although they 
 willingly credited the Egyptians with the invention of several of 
 the musical instruments used in Greece. It is certain that Hebrew 
 music had its source in Egypt. It was there that Miriam and 
 the Jewish women learned to play on the timbrel, and to 
 dance to its music. It is almost certain that the first traces of 
 instrumental music are to bo found among the old cities of the 
 Nile. By unearthing buried cities, and palaces, and temples, and de- 
 ciphering inscriptions found upon old monuments, and tablets, and 
 papyrus rolls, modern discovery and scholarship have unveiled and 
 brought to light much valuable information concerning the music 
 of the ancient world. From this source we learn that the Egyp- 
 tian harp and flute were in use in the fifth dynasty, many centur- 
 ies before Abraham— the father of the Jewish people— was born. 
 Of course, when measured by our standards, these very early 
 instruments were rude in construction, and deticiont both in tone 
 
18 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 and capability. The Egyptian flute of that early age was simply 
 a cow's horn, with three or four holes bored through it. But as 
 the centuries passed, the musical instruments were improved, 
 until in the eighteenth dynasty — the time when the Hebrews were 
 slaves in Egyptian brick-yards — their musical instruments were 
 not only numerous, but elaborate, and by their construction and 
 capabilities we know that the Egyptian scale must have been of 
 considerable compass. Kameses II. — the Pharaoh of the oppres- 
 sion — among scores of other monuments, erected an obelisk at 
 Heliopolis, upon which was engraven an elaborate representation 
 of an ancient lyre, as it was in his day. That obelisk has been 
 removed to the city of Rome, where it now stands; and those 
 skilled in such matters say that the stringed instrument of the 
 time of Moses' childhood was capable of sounding an octave, and 
 — when well played — must have produced tones of considerable 
 sweetness and power. In an Egyptian tomb, a papyrus roll has 
 been discovered which describes the city which Rameses had 
 built, and called after his own name, on one of the days when the 
 proud autocrat condescended to honor it with a visit. It will be 
 well to remember that the city was built, like all other public 
 works, by the forced labor of hundreds of thousands of slaves, 
 who had been taken as prisoners of war, or brought in by some 
 of the numerous expeditions which made slave-hunting and kid- 
 napping their especial business. The writer says: " Rameses is 
 a very charming place; the seat of the court is here. It is pleas- 
 ant to live in; life passes in constant plenty and abundance. Its 
 canals are rich in fish, its lakes swarm with birds, its gardens 
 abound with vegetables. Fruits from the nurseries, flowers from 
 the gardens, festoons from the vineyards, are dedicated to the 
 feasts of King Rameses. The young people are clad in festive 
 attire, and on the day when Rameses II. — the war-god Mout, on 
 earth — came to the city, the people stood at their doors with 
 branches of flowers in their hands and garlands upon their heads. 
 The wine was delicious, the cider was like sugar, the; sherbet like 
 almonds mixed with honey. The people sat with joyful heart, or 
 walked about without ceasing. Rameses was the god they cele- 
 brated; and girls, trained in the singing school at Memphis, filled 
 the air with their songs." 
 
 A very difl'erent condition of things existed in the brick-yards 
 and quarries around the city, where tlie slaves were toiling in the 
 
OLD WORLD rSALMODY. 19 
 
 hot sun. Rameses II. was the great builder of Egypt. Magnifi- 
 cent-temples were erected; fortifications were reared along the 
 northeastern frontier for a distance of one hundred and sixty 
 miles. Vast canals were dug, monuments were set up, and 
 splendid palaces were built. Egypt is now covered with the 
 ruins of Rameses' public works. All this was done with forced 
 labor. The Hebrew settlers in Goshen were reduced to bondage; 
 slave-hunting expeditions to Ethiopia brought in tens of thousands 
 of slaves. The poor of Egypt were enslaved upon the slightest 
 excuse. The tax collector visited a district, and each man had to 
 pay the demand made upon him. If he failed, he was thrown to 
 the ground, and being bound, was thrown head first into a boat, 
 and then put into a slave gang. Millions of human lives were 
 destroyed by hardship, privation, and cruelty, during the sixty- 
 seven years of Rameses' reign. Huge blocks of stone were drawn 
 from the quarries to the place appointed, by slaves, who — that 
 they might pull together — were forced to sing a dismal song at 
 their labors, but their voices sounded muffled and hoarse. Some- 
 times their parched throats made it impossible to sing in the hot 
 noontide of their labor. "Thick clouds of gnats followed the 
 tormented gangs, who with dull and spirit-broken endurance 
 suffered alike the stings of the insects and the blows of their 
 drivers." 
 
 The Pharaohs claimed and received divine honors of their 
 people. In their great gatherings hymns were sung, and the 
 reigning monarch was worshiped as God incarnate. Menei)htah 
 11. — the Pharaoh of the ten plagues, whose army was drowned at 
 the Red Sea — was one of the worst of Egyptian kings. Perhaps 
 he was not more tyrannical than others, but he lacked those quali- 
 ties that shone as a redeeming feature in the character of his 
 father. Probably he was not more of a brute, but he was less of 
 a man. All the inscriptions concerning him prove that he was 
 superstitious, weak-minded and cowardly. He had both the 
 wickedness of weakness, and the weakness of wickedness. Yet 
 his people worshiped him, and the following is one of the hymns 
 they sang in his praise. It was discovered in a papyrus roll: 
 
 "Thou art as it were the image of thy Father, the sun 
 Who rules in Heaven! No place is without thy goodness! 
 Thy sayings are the law of every land. 
 Bright is thy eye above the stars of Heaven, able to gaze 
 
20 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 At the sun! Whatever is spoken, even in secret, ascends to 
 Thine ears! Whatever is done in secret thine eye sees it! 
 O Baeura Meriamen, merciful Lord, creator of breath." 
 
 Every one knows that the Nile is the vitalizing life of Egypt. 
 Irrigated and cared for, the land can be made exceedingly fertile; 
 whilst, neglected and uncared for, it is but a barren, sandy desert. 
 There Avas much truth in Herodotus' definition of Egypt as ''the 
 gift of the Nile." Just as curt was Napoleon's assertion that 
 "under good government the Nile invades the desert, but under 
 bad government the desert invades the Nile." No wonder that 
 the superstitious Egyptians deified their beautiful river, and 
 worshiped it as the beneficent god of Egypt. We are indebted 
 to modern research in that marvelous land for the following hymn, 
 in honor of their life-giving river. The papyrus plant was so 
 carefully prepared that papyrus rolls are now often found in an 
 excellent state of preservation. In that rainless land dampness is 
 unknown, hence the fact that Egyptian records have been pre- 
 served over a period of thousands of years. This hymn was 
 certainly sung in Egypt in the days of Moses: 
 
 "Hail to thee, O Nile! 
 Thou vpho hast revealed thyself to this land. 
 Coming in peace, to give life to Egypt! 
 Hidden God! Who bringest what is dark to light, 
 As is always thy delight! 
 
 Thou who waterest the fields created by the sun-god, 
 To give life to all the world of living things. 
 Thou it is who coverest all the land with water; 
 Thy path, as thou comest, is from heaven! 
 Thou art the god Set, the friend of bread! 
 Thou art the god Nepra, the giver of grain! 
 Thou art the god Ptah, who lightenest every dwelling! 
 Lord of fishes, when thou risest over the flooded lands 
 Thou protectest the fields from the birds. 
 Creator of wheat! Producer of barley! 
 Thou sustainest the temples. 
 
 When the hands of millions of the wretched are idle, he grieves. 
 If he do not rise, the gods in heaven fall on their faces, and men die. 
 He makes the whole land open before the plough of the oxen, 
 And great and small rejoice. 
 Men invoke him when he delays his coming, 
 And then he appears as the life giving god Khnoura. 
 When he rises, the land is filled with gladness; 
 Every mouth rejoices; all living things have nourishment, all teeth, 
 
 their food. 
 Bringer of food! Creator of all good things! 
 
OLD WORLD PSALMODY. 21 
 
 Lord of all things choice and delightful, 
 
 If there be offerings, it is thanks to thee! 
 
 He maketh grass to grow for the oxen; 
 
 He prepares sacrifices for every god; 
 
 The choice incense is that which he supplies! 
 
 He cannot be brought into the sanctuaries — 
 
 His abode is not known; 
 
 There is no house that can contain him! 
 
 There is no one who is his counselor! 
 
 He wipes away tears from all eyes! 
 
 O Nile! hymns are sung to thee on the harp; 
 
 Offerings are made to thee; oxen are slain to thee; 
 
 Great festivals are kept for thee; fowls are sacrificed to thee; 
 
 Incense ascends unto heaven; 
 
 Oxen, bulls, fowls are burned! 
 
 Mortals extol him! and, ye cycle of gods! 
 
 His Son (the Pharaoh) is made Lord of all. 
 
 To enlighten all Egypt. 
 
 Shine forth, shine forth, O Nile, shine forth!" 
 
 For thousands of years, old Chaldea — Abraham's native land 
 — was but little more than a myth. In our boyhood we heard 
 infidels sneeringly ask, "Where is Ur of the Chaldees ? " There 
 was no one to reply to the question. No other history than that 
 of the Bible knew anything of it. But to-day our geographers 
 can locate the city of Ur, and our archaeologists have piled the 
 shelves of our museums with articles gathered from the ruins of 
 its temples and palaces. We have innumerable specimens of their 
 tools and utensils, their lamps and vessels, their knives and spears, 
 their seals and cylinders, bracelets and earrings, rings and trinkets, 
 and what is yet more important, we have hundreds of their books, 
 from which those versed in cuneiform philology can study their do- 
 mestic, social, political and religious life at their leisure. Of 
 course these were not printed upon paper, but the characters were 
 stamped upon clay tablets, and then burnt in the kiln, and these 
 indestructible books have been discovered and deciphered, and 
 the history of the old land has — by modern scholarship — been re- 
 suscitated from its long oblivion. These old Chaldeans almost 
 discovered the art of printing. In 1845 Mr. Layard discovered 
 great numbers of these clay tablets in Nineveh, and — so far as 
 those in the language of Assyria were concerned — they were soon 
 deciphered and read. But among them were some in unknown 
 characters, and for years modern scholarship failed to understand 
 them. Since then the cities of old Chaldea have been partially 
 
22 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 unearthed, and great numbers of similar tablets discovered there. 
 These were closely examined and compared, and among them 
 were found grammars, which served as a key to unlock the whole 
 mystery, and the old long-forgotten sacred language of ancient 
 Chaldea was revived and read, and the speech is now understood 
 that was used in religious services in the temples of Ur long ages 
 before Abraham was born. Ur of the Chaldees was one of the 
 most splendid of their ecclesiastical cities. Its magnificent tem- 
 ple to the Moon-God was one of the wonders of the ancient Avorld. 
 The massive structure was thronged with worshipers; numerous 
 priests, in flowing embroidered robes, chanted their liturgies, or 
 marched at the head of their processions. We know what kind 
 of a city it was, what houses they lived in, what clothing they 
 wore, what gods they worshiped, what prayers they offered, 
 what hymns they sang. 
 
 Upon one of these tablets is inscribed a prayer, that is so 
 tender and touching, so expressive of the ordinary experience of 
 a thoughtful mind, that its perusal cannot fail to draw us into 
 sympathy with these old-world people, and affords a striking 
 proof of the brotherhood of man. As we read the sentences, we 
 forget that they were the utterances of a heart that has been 
 stilled in death for a period of four thousand years. It teaches us 
 that the sins and needs and cravings of the human soul were the 
 same four thousand years ago as now. We find it difficult to 
 realize that these were the petitions of a pagan to his false god. 
 We would not be embarrassed in using the same words to convey 
 our confessions and desires to Jehovah, through the Mediator and 
 Saviour of men. It teaches us that the hard paths of human ex- 
 perience have been trodden by the weary feet of the passing 
 generations. We somehow instinctively try to be selfish in our 
 sufferings, and love to make ourselves believe that our sorrows 
 are not only peculiarly, but exclusively, our own. We refuse to 
 believe that others have borne the same cross which we carry; 
 that other heads than ours have worn the thorn-crown ; that other 
 weary, bleeding feet, have trod the rugged pathway that we pur- 
 sue. But it is all a mistake. The tears we shed have been falling- 
 from other eyes through all the generations. The pangs we feel 
 have extorted groans from other lips than ours. The old Chal- 
 dean worshiper was groping in the darkness of paganism, whilst 
 the light of life has shone upon us — through the revelation God 
 
. OLD WORLD PSALMODY. 23 
 
 has given — yet we can reverently join in the petitions that 
 expressed the hungerings of his soul. " Oh my God, my 
 transgressions arc very great. I sin and know not that I sin. I 
 wander in wrong paths and know it not. In his wrath the Lord 
 hath overwhelmed mc with confusion. I lie on the ground, and 
 no man reacheth a hand to me. I cry out, and there is none to 
 hear me. How long, O my God ? Lord thou wilt not repulse 
 thy servant. O my God, who knowest the unknown, my sins 
 are seven times seven. Forgive my sins. In the midst of the 
 stormy waters come to my assistance, and take me by the hand." 
 
 Such is the prayer that has come down to us from a remote 
 age; the cry of a burdened, struggling soul, seeking for purity, 
 and light, and hope. 
 
 We will now study one of the old Acadian hymns that has 
 been preserved for us in the same manner. It was addressed to 
 Hurkis, the Chaldean Moon-God, and was doubtless often sung in 
 the great temple at Ur, where — as Dr. Geikie suggests — it is prob- 
 able that Abraham often heard it, sung by priestly choirs, when 
 as a boy he attended the temple services, with his idolatrous family. 
 We give it as translated by Dr. Geikie from the works of Lcnor- 
 mant, the celebrated French archaeologist. 
 
 " Father mine, of life the giver, cherishing, beholding all, 
 Lord, whose power benign extends over all in heaven and earth, 
 Thou drawest forth from heaven the seasons and the rains; 
 Thou watchest life, and yieldest showers! 
 Who in heaven is high exalted? Thou, sublime is thy reign! 
 Who on earth? Thou, sublime is thy reign! 
 
 Thou revealest thy will in heaven, and celestial spirits praise thee! 
 Thou revealest thy will below, and subduest the spirits of earth. 
 Thy will shines in heaven like the radiant light; 
 On earth thy deeds declare it to me. 
 
 Thou thy will who knoweth, with what can man compare it? 
 Lord in heaven and earth, thou Lord of gods, none equals thee." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HEBREW PSALMODY. 
 
 " When Israel, of the Lord beloved 
 Out of the land of bondage came. 
 Her Father's God before her moved. 
 An awful guide in smoke and flame. 
 
 There rose the choral hymn of praise 
 
 And trump and timbrel answered keen; 
 And Zion's daughters poured their lays, 
 
 With priest's and warrior's voice between. 
 
 No portends now our foes amaze, 
 
 Forsaken Israel wanders lone; 
 Our Fathers would not know thy ways, 
 
 And thou has left them to their own." 
 
 In the Book of Job the divine author of the Bible tells us of 
 the first music of which we have any knowledge. It was a great 
 concert to celebrate the creation of the universe. The orchestra 
 was before the bright and burning throne of Jehovah. The 
 musicians were all stars in their profession. The singers were 
 sweet-voiced angels. " The morning stars sang together, and'' — 
 taking up the sublime chorus — ' ' all the sons of God shouted for 
 joy." So we are taught that this magniiicent temple of divine 
 workmanship was dedicated by strains of heavenly music, some 
 of the tones of which yet abide with us. Thus, from the very 
 dawn of the creation, music and song — the glad sounds of joy 
 and praise — have echoed around the earth. And, all the Avay 
 down through Bible history, there is a stream of sacred melody 
 that ever and anon reveals itself to us; and which— as it flows 
 down through generations of patriarchs and prophets, evangelists 
 and apostles — widens and deepens; a river of song — that rc})re- 
 sents the praises of God's redeemed church — until, in the Book of 
 Revelation, it seems to empty itself into the crystal sea, upon whose 
 glassy surface stand the " harpers, har[)ing with their harps," and 
 
HEBREW PSALMODY. 25 
 
 Singing " the song of Mdses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb."' 
 Because we naturally associate our ideas of joyful satisfaction 
 with music, it is reasonable to infer that singing largely contrib- 
 uted to the happiness of our first parents in Paradise. The name 
 "Eden" signifies "a delightful place;" and such a place must 
 have had sweet music, to which their souls were as responsive as 
 our own. Indeed, their perfect natures made their perceptions 
 and capacity for enjoyment keener and greater than ours can be. 
 God loved music then, as now; and the sinless earth must have 
 been everywhere vocal with his praise. It was but natural and 
 proper that Milton should put his immortal "Hymn to the 
 Deity ■' into the mouth of his ideal Adam, as a suitable expression 
 of his adoring love. The first pair so thoroughly appreciated the 
 Divine goodness, that their services of praise were the source and 
 occasion of permanent and increasing joy. 
 
 That the patriarchs habitually sang the praises of God there 
 can be no doubt. We have seen that the neighboring nations of 
 that aofe used vocal and instrumental music in their idolatrous scr- 
 vices, and that Laban also did so, at social gatherings and festive 
 occasions. Al)raham must have l)ecn versed in the music of Chaldca, 
 whilst his residence in Egypt made him familiar with the art as it 
 was practiced there. Jacob's long residence with the family of 
 his uncle Laban, must have aflbrded him abundant opportimity 
 to cultivate a taste for music. When he surreptitiously left 
 that abode, his uncle — having overtaken him — said, ' ' Wherefore 
 didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me, that I 
 might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with 
 tabret and with harp ? " Years afterwards, when Jacob's sons 
 went down to Egypt for corn, and were recognized by their lordly 
 brother, they were subjected to some very startling experiences. 
 The simple shepherds must have been overawed by the magnifi- 
 cence of the great man's home. The mansions of nol)lc Egyptians 
 were cxoeedingly grand. The costly and artistic furniture was 
 in keeping with the home. They must have felt strangely 
 awkward when dining in the resplendent hall of the grand vizier 
 of Egypt. "Slaves were accustomed to lay garlands of roses 
 around the shoulders of the guests, and place wreaths of lotus 
 flowers upon their heads. During the dessert, choirs of musicians 
 entered the chamber, and played on harps, lutes, drums and flutes, 
 the conductor beating time with his hands." Afterwards, when 
 
26 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 settled ill the rich land of Goshen, th(?y enjoyed all that was 
 enjoyable in Egyptian life, until a change of dynasty set a 
 Pharaoh upon the throne that knew not Joseph. From that 
 time they were educated in the school of suffering, but it was 
 there they acquired what musical knowledge they possessed. 
 
 When the Hebrew people crossed the Red Sea, they passed 
 out of degrading Egyptian bondage, and became a gloriously free, 
 God-governed nation, amid the grandest outl)urst of music and 
 song this world has ever heard. What a wonderful change it 
 was! The despised slaves had suddenly become a great people. 
 God had heard and answered the prayers that had ascended to 
 His throne. They did not leave Egypt as runaway slaves, but 
 they marched out with the consciousness that God was with them; 
 and his power and presence was so manifest, that they were the 
 most honored people on the face of the earth. The fiery, cloudy 
 pillar was not only a symbol of the Divine Majesty; it was also a 
 token of the Divine care and protection. The wild waters 
 divided, and stood still, to afford them a pathway through the 
 depths; but -svhen JNIcncphtah's army followed in pursuit, these 
 same waters rolled together and washed them out of existence. 
 "They sank like lead in the mighty waters." God had given 
 Israel the victory; and the emancipated and exultant people joined 
 in singing the inspired song of their leader, and blended their 
 million voices in Miriam's glad refrain, " Sing ye to the Lord, 
 for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he 
 thrown into the sea." 
 
 From that time they were a music-loving people until they 
 ceased to be a nation. We have no certain means of knowing 
 how frequently they used music and song in their Avilderness life; 
 but — as at the Red Sea "Miriam took a timbrel in her hand, and 
 all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances" 
 — we may surely infer that they loved music, and were ready to 
 use it upon all suitable occasions. The simple fact that they 
 carried their own instruments with them, leads us to believe that 
 music and song were a frequent means of encouragement and 
 enjoyment, during their wanderings in the wilderness. Moses, 
 their illustrious leader, had been educated in Egypt, and had 
 thorougly mastered every branch of Egyptian knowledge. His 
 youth and early manhood had been spent in the palace, where 
 the best music was regarded as a daily necessity. He was prob- 
 
HEBREW PSALMODY. 27 
 
 ably as proficient in liannony as lie was gifted in poetry. The 
 great law-giver's acquirements and abilities were so numerous and 
 profound, that we sometimes forget to regard him as one of the 
 greatest of Hebrew poets. Yet no thoughtful reader of the 
 sublime poems of the Book of Deuteronomy would attempt to 
 gainsay the fact. That wontlerful ode which was his death-song 
 is of itself sufficient to establish its author's poetical fame. God 
 would have His servant leave something behind him that would 
 be of lasting use to his people; so he bade Moses " write this song, 
 and teach it unto the children of Israel; piit it in their mouths, 
 that this song may be a witness for me against the children of 
 Israel." The song was written, and is yet a witness for God, 
 down even to our own generation. 
 
 After entering the Land of Promise, the years passed by 
 without any special mention of music and song, until the days of 
 Deborah, the heroic, enthusiastic Avoman, who so loved her God 
 and her country, that by her untiring diligence she saved her 
 people from a life of subjection to Jabin, the King of Hazor. 
 For twenty years they had yielded to this tyranny without re- 
 sistance. Their oppressors not only stripped them of their 
 possessions, but heaped insults upon them, by subjecting them to 
 needless and brutal humiliation. God had entrusted Deborah 
 Avith tbe gift of poetic genius, and her patriotic songs were the 
 delight of her people. She sang of freedom until they grew 
 ashamed of servile Ijondage; of heroism, until they felt their own 
 need of it. Her ranged words flew through the land, arousing a 
 martial spirit among the dispirited and despondent, by shaming 
 them for tamely submitting to be the slaves of a small and 
 despicable nation. This she did, until they declared themselves 
 ready to strike a blow for liberty. Her next work was to plan 
 for the coming struggle. Barak was appointed commander of 
 the army, but he refused to enter upon active service unless the 
 gifted and intrepid lady would accompany the expedition. She 
 eventually yielded to his wishes, and under her virtual leadership 
 the enthusiastic army was victorious. Sisera and his hosts v\'ere 
 overthrown, and the triumphant people sang the magnificent war- 
 sons: of Deborah, which was afterwards enshrined in their liter- 
 
 a - 
 
 ature as one of the best specimens of their national poetry, and 
 was still further honored by being assigned a place in the 
 inspired Book of God. 
 
28 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The great religious awakening under Samuel was largely 
 due, under God — us is true of many modern revivals — to the 
 stimulating power of holy song. Samuel belonged to a musieal 
 family. In his infancy his mother dedicated him to the Lord 
 with a burst of song that revealed such a depth of poetic and 
 religious feeling as led thoughtful minds to expect much of her 
 consecrated son. He was an accomplished musician; and his sons 
 and grandsons were — for long years after his death — the recog- 
 nized leaders of the psalmody of the Lord's housa With the aid 
 of the " sons of the prophets" — whom he had carefully trained 
 for their work — he introduced psalms with musical accompani- 
 ments into their services, and from that time singing became a 
 prominent part of the public worship of God. 
 
 Samuel was really the first of that long line of prophets 
 whose lives were so assiduously devoted to the public good. 
 Backed by Divine authority, these prophets came as messengers 
 from God to the people, whose sins they fearlessly rebuked, and 
 whose duties they plainly defined. They were the fearless cham- 
 pions of true religion; the exponents and enforcers of the law; 
 the preachers of righteousness; the upholders of moridity; the 
 friends and advocates of liberty, and the guardians and protectors 
 of the true interests of the community. In addition to all this, 
 they were the historians and sacred poets of their age, whose 
 thoughts usually found ready expression in poetry. When the 
 spirit of God — as a Divine power — took possession of their minds, 
 they spoke or sang their messages in poetic utterance; often — as 
 did Elisha — to the music of a minstrel's harp. When Saul met 
 the prophets they had with them " a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, 
 and a harp." The utterances of these prophets constitute the 
 largest portion of the inspired poetry of the Bible. From Sam- 
 uel's day the Jews were eminently a musical i)eople. "Long 
 before the rise of Grecian poetry or music, the hills and valleys 
 of Palestine echoed with lofty hymns, sung to the notes of many 
 instruments. " 
 
 Samuel revived an interest in Hebrew psalmody; but it was 
 the work of David, "the sweet singer of Israel," to develop it 
 into a condition approaching as nearly to perfection as this im- 
 perfect world would permit. Passionately fond of music, his 
 devotion to this congenial work was enthusiastic and fervent. To 
 merely say that he enriched Hebrew psalmody would be to do 
 
HEBREW rSALMODY, 29 
 
 injustice to his genius and work; whilst, to assert that he was its 
 
 creator, would perhaps be injurious to the memory of some of his 
 
 consecrated predecessors; but it is safe to regard him as the 
 
 greatest of all musicians, the sweetest of all singers, the most 
 
 gifted of all sacred poets, and the most devoted of all God-fearing 
 
 men. His inspired and immortal productions are yet a mighty 
 
 influence and perpetual benediction in the Church, whilst the 
 
 sweet tones of his psalmody still vibrate through human life and 
 
 consciousness, soothing sufi'ering hearts to ease, and lulling weary 
 
 souls to rest. 
 
 A scene in David's early life afibrds us a glimpse of the use 
 
 and influence of music among the ordinary people. After his 
 
 great victory over Goliath, the young warrior had made many 
 
 successful forays against the common enemies of his country; and 
 
 upon his retin-n from one of these, the people of the villages 
 
 through which he and his followers passed crowded the way to 
 
 do him honor. The women and maidens came dancing, and singing 
 
 some popular song that had been composed as a recognition of his 
 
 heroic achievements, the refrain of which, as translated, was: 
 
 " Saul hath slain his thousands, 
 But David, his tens of thousands." 
 
 This was sung to the accompaniment of tabrets and instruments 
 
 of music, the singers answering each other, after the antiphonal 
 
 method, common among the ancients. The exhilarating scene 
 
 must have enthused the heart of the young soldier, by convincing 
 
 him that his disinterested services were appreciated by the people. 
 
 But this popularity cast a dark shadow over his life, by exposing 
 
 him to the envious wrath and unscrupulous hatred of the jealous 
 
 King, Many of the psalms were written during the long and 
 
 tedious time while he and his devoted followers were hiding 
 
 among the mountain fastnesses of Judea. Doubtless he licguiled 
 
 many long, wearisome hours with the music of his harp, and the 
 
 blended voices of his friends in united song. It was probably at 
 
 that time that he made himself famous as the inventor of some 
 
 kind of musical instrument, to which reference is frequently made 
 
 in the story of his life; and two centuries after his death, the 
 
 prophet Amos refers to it by describing those who " chant to the 
 
 sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, 
 
 like David did." 
 
 After his elevation to the kingly office, one of the first acts 
 
30 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 of David was to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites and make 
 it the capital of his kingdom; and the wisdom of that step has 
 been confirmed liy the testimony of thirty passing centuries. 
 The mountain fortress thus l)ecame one of the most famous cities 
 of the world, around which both tender Jewish afi'ection and 
 intense Gentile interest have always revolved. Having gained 
 possession of the city, David began to prepare a Tabernacle for 
 the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, which for more than twenty 
 years had lain neglected at Kirjath-Jearim, but which was now 
 to be brought to " Mount Zion, the city of the great King." The 
 removal of the sacred chest was the occasion of a vast national 
 gathering; the tribes having been summoned, of course the elders 
 of Israel and the leaders of the army were in attendance. The 
 Levites were represented by a thousand of their most eminent 
 priests, who were to welcome the symbol of the Divine Presence^ 
 Jnto the new capital.. It was a most imposing scene. The 
 "mighty men" of the royal army led the way, blowing loud 
 blasts with their trumpets; then followed choirs of Levites, accom- 
 panied with players on instruments, as the sixty-eighth psalm has 
 it: "The singers went on before, and the players on instruments 
 followed after; " and as they went, they sang: "Arise, O Lord, 
 enter into Thy rest; Thou and the Ark of Thy strength." Behind 
 these came the two high priests, in their gorgeous official robes, 
 attended by a long train of white-robed priests and Levites. 
 These were followed by the captains and officers of the army, in 
 their splendid uniforms. After these, the venerable chiefs of each 
 priestly house; and behind them, the princes and high officials of 
 the various tribes. Then came their king — the illustrious David 
 — dressed in priestly robes of spotless white, with his much-loved 
 harp in his hands. The great leader in charge of the music of 
 the day was Heman, the grandson of the prophet Samuel. As 
 the procession approached the city gates, the choirs sang: 
 
 "Lift up your beads, O ye gates! 
 Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors. 
 And the King of Glory shall come in." 
 
 From the city walls another choir responded with the question: 
 
 " Who is the King of Glory? " 
 
 Then came the thundering reply of the many-voiced choir: 
 
 " The Lord, strong and mighty, 
 Jehovah, mighty in battle." 
 
HEBREW PSALMODY. 31 
 
 And so, in alternate strains, they sang until the Ark passed the 
 gate into the city, when the whole of the choirs struck up the 
 magnificent psalm, composed for the occasion by their poet-king, 
 and which is recorded in the sixteenth chapter of the First Book^ 
 ^=i^f Chronicles, With the symbol of the Divine Presence in its 
 Tabernacle, Jerusalem was in very deed " the Holy City," "the 
 City of the Great King," that God had chosen as his abiding 
 dwelling place. At that time, the old Tabernacle of the wilderness 
 was at Gibeon, and must have been much dilapidated by long 
 wear. Its past glories were largely departed. The Ark and 
 mercy seat, the golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, had all 
 been carried away from it; but, because of its sacred associations, 
 it was yet regarded as a holy place, and the legal sacrifices. 
 were ofl'ered there every day, its services being under the super- 
 vision of Zadok, as its high priest, its psalmody being conducted 
 by Heman. This will explain why it was that there were two 
 high priests in the procession at the removal of .the Ark. 
 
 Of coui'se, the new Tabernacle at Jerusalem, with its Ark 
 and mercy seat, was also a holy place; and David wrote popular 
 hymns, with a view to influence public opinion in favor of making 
 Jerusalem the great center of religious worship. 
 
 "I was glad when they said unto me, 
 'Let us go into the House of the Lord; 
 
 Our feet shall stand within Thy gates, 
 
 O Jerusalem! Jerusalem is builded 
 
 As a city that is compact together, 
 
 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.' " 
 
 A magnificent choral service was provided, and rendered by an 
 organized choir of four thousand voices; in addition to which 
 were three hundred skilled singers and players upon instruments. 
 These — like the priests and Levites — were divided into twenty-four 
 courses. The singing must have been soul-inspiring; trumpets 
 and cymbals, harps and psalteries, tabrets and cornets, mingled 
 with the sound of the voices of men and women and children, in a 
 mighty volume of resounding praise. 
 
 Then came the building of Solomon's Temple, which — with 
 its commodious courts — comprised thirty-five acres of land; but 
 even that large space was altogether insufficient to accommodate 
 the thronging multitudes who attended the great festivals. Jo- 
 sephus tells us that two millions seven hundred thousand people 
 attended a single Passover; and that two hundred and fifty 
 
32 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 thousand lambs were slain, upon the same occasion. Wc cannot 
 form anything like an adequate idea of that vast religious institu- 
 tion, with its innumerable priests, its forty-eight thousand Levites, 
 its four thousand three hundred singers and players upon instru- 
 ments; its six thousand special police, to protect the holy places 
 from defilement; its four thousand watchers at the gates and 
 doors: in all, its sixty-two thousand officials to attend to its va- 
 rious duties and requirements. Think of twenty-two thousand 
 oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep being sacrificed 
 and oflTercd upon its altars at the dedication! Scripture gives us a 
 graphic description of the great choir upon that occasion: " The 
 Levites, who were singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of 
 Jeduthan, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in 
 white linen, and having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood 
 at the east end of the altar; and with them, one hundred and 
 twenty priests, sounding with trumpets. It came to pass, as the 
 trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be 
 heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted 
 up their voices with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments 
 of music, and praised the Lord, saying, ' For He is good, for His 
 mercy endureth forever,' that then the house was filled with a 
 cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not 
 stand to minister, by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the 
 Lord had filled the house of God." So has the Lord often honored 
 the singing of his praises since that day. 
 
 All down through Jewish history we get occasional glimpses of 
 their use of the service of song: as at the great mass-meeting held 
 in the streets of Jerusalem, in the reign of Asa, when they conse- 
 crated their services unto the Lord with shoutings and song, with 
 trumpets, and cymbals, and cornets; and again, in the same 
 place, wdicn Hezekiah reopened the temple which the idolatrous 
 Ahaz had shut against the people. The great temple courts were 
 thronged, and the Levites were commanded to " Praise the Lord 
 with the words of David, and of Asaph, the seer." "And when 
 the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also, with 
 the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David, the 
 King of Israel. And they sang praises with gladness, and they 
 bowed their heads and worshiped." '^So there was great joy in 
 Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon there was not the like 
 in Jerusalem." 
 
HEBREW PSALMODY. 33 
 
 As is usual, a widespread declension of religion was accom- 
 panied by a corresponding deterioration in singing, until — in the 
 days of Zedekiah— their prophets bewailed the fact that music and 
 song had become the base associate and accessory of drunkenness 
 and debauchery. During the captivity, ' ' by the rivers of Babylon 
 they sat down; yea, they wept when they remembered Zion. 
 They hanged their harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 
 For there they that carried them away captive required of them a 
 song, and they that wasted them required of them mirth, saying, 
 sing us one of the songs of Zion. How could they sing the Lord's 
 song in a strange land? " After their return, the foundations of 
 the second temple were laid, and the city walls were dedicated 
 with song. ' ' They sang together by course in praising the Lord, 
 and the people shouted, and the noise of Jerusalem was heard 
 afar off." 
 
 From that time the disasters of these unfortunate Jews were 
 so frequent that their national life was virtually destroyed. 
 When the end came, and their holy and beautiful city Av^as totally 
 overthrown, the saddened, heart-broken people forbade music and 
 song as part of their synagogue service. Many of the Jews of 
 the present time think it improper to attempt to re-establish the 
 service of song, until their long-looked-for Messiah shall appear 
 for their help. 
 
 Those who visit Palestine tell us that the most distressing 
 feature of Jewish life is its unnatural, broken-spirited quietness. 
 The people never sing, and cheerful sounds are never heard in 
 the Jewish settlements in Jerusalem. There is a painful, unbroken, 
 oppressive silence. The words of the Prophet are literall}'^ ful- 
 filled: "I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from 
 the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of 
 gladness; the land shall be desolate." O that they would recog- 
 nize Jesus as their promised Messiah! Then would they "hear 
 joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing would flee away." 
 
 "Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise! 
 Exalt thy towering head, and lift thine eyes; 
 Fixed is His word. His saving power remains, 
 Thy realms shall last, thy own Messiah reigns." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PSALMODY IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Did Jesus sing? He has aye been singing! 
 
 His life's a song of sweetest strain- 
 Its tones thro' all the ages ring-ing, 
 The thankful nations to Him bringing 
 
 Their praise, to form a glad refrain; 
 All music that His loved ones sing, 
 First flowed from Him, its source and spring. 
 
 His Gospel, like an organ, soundeth, 
 
 Filling the world with music sweet. 
 His cross, the key — whose touch aye woundeth 
 The player's hands — but yet resoundeth 
 In chords, whose gladsome tones astoundeth 
 
 The listening throngs that 'round it meet. 
 Christ groaned a dirge, in minor key, 
 To fill our lives with melody. 
 
 His heart 's the home where music dwelleth. 
 
 Just as the sun 's the fount of light; 
 Melodious gladness from Him welleth. 
 Harmonious bursts of music swelleth. 
 
 Thrilling the heart with new delight; 
 We catch the strains so sweet, so strong, 
 And fill our souls with holy song. 
 
 One of the chief glories of Christianity is that it is a religion 
 of song. There are innumerable religions of groans, and penances, 
 and tears, whose uncertain way to heaven is a doleful " via dolo- 
 rosa " of daily cross-bearing and suffering. But the Gospel of 
 Jesus is full of music; its gladsome mission is to comfort, and 
 encourage, and inspire. " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 
 and all her paths are peace." Referring to Gospel times, the 
 evangelical seer has said: "The ransomed of the Lord shall 
 return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon 
 their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and 
 sighing shall flee away."" 
 
PSAUVIODY IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 35 
 
 In the person of its illustrious founder, the Christian Church 
 was born amid the joyous melody of angels' songs, and the shep- 
 herds hstened to such singing as had never reached human ears 
 before. It was surely fitting that the grand hour of the Re- 
 deemer's birth should have been honored by outbursts of holy 
 melody. The incarnation of Jesus as a display of Divine love, 
 was the central fact in God's gracious design of mere}', around 
 which His loyal and intelligent creatures should ever gather with 
 expressions of adoring praise. All holy souls who lived before 
 that event were eagerly anticipating it, as the all important 
 fulfillment of the Divine promises, and the realization of the 
 noblest human desires; and all of the redeemed who have lived 
 since that hour, have delighted to review the scene as one upon 
 which their dearest hopes rest. From a far-off age the dying 
 Jacob's keen eye of faith caught a glimpse of that marvelous 
 event; and, catching his inspiration from it, he sweetly sang of 
 the coming Shiloh, who should gather the nations in willing sub- 
 jection to His government. Seers had predicted, and bards had 
 sung of Him who should be born King. And when the fullness of 
 time had come, there were good old Simeons and Annas awaiting 
 the advent of the Royal Babe, that they might greet Him with a 
 welcome of inspired and holy song. No wonder that the event 
 was heralded to the world by the pseans of angel choirs! The 
 heavenly song was prophetic of the newly inaugurated dispensa- 
 tion, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to 
 men." It was the sublime beginning — the first notes of the new 
 song that shall never grow old and never have an end. 
 
 The advent of the Son of God opened the closed-up fountains 
 of inspired poetry in human souls, by awakening thoughts and 
 feelings too great to find expression in the common parlance of 
 every-day life The announcement of the Redeemer's coming 
 birth, together ivith the startling fact that she should be His 
 mother, was — at first — embarrassing news to jNIary, and — under 
 the circumstances — was exceedingly confusing to her woman's 
 nature; but when she had had time to think, and to meet and 
 confer with her kinswoman, Elizabeth, her devout heart was so 
 touched that it could find expression in no other language than 
 that of a fervid and impassioned song, that is yet preserved as 
 the sublime " Magnificat " of the church. How grandly beautiful 
 was the language of the venerable old poet, who had long waited 
 
36 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 for the "consolation of Israel;" and when he — by the aid of the 
 
 Holy Spirit — recognized and took the Infant Lord in his arms, 
 
 he said: 
 
 " Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart, O Lord, 
 According to Thy word in peace, 
 For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, 
 Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, 
 A light for Revelation to the Gentiles, 
 And the glory of Thy people, Israel." 
 
 Having briefly traced the history of Psalmody thus far 
 through the Divine records, we confess to a momentary feeling 
 of surprise and disappointment, at finding Scripture so reticent 
 concerning the ability and disposition of Jesus Christ in relation 
 to singing. He must have loved music; for — from all eternity — 
 the heavenly hosts had worshiped Him in sweet, adoring, raptur- 
 ous song. Then — as the Creator of all things — He filled the 
 universe with music. He evidently loved it, and commanded its 
 use by others; and yet Scripture is almost silent concerning His 
 own use of the sacred art. We have but one brief, unsatisfactory 
 sentence — one glimpse, and that painfull}^ limited: " When they 
 had sung a hymn, they went out to the ISIount of Olives." They 
 .simply sang the usual Passover psalms, Init we are not positively 
 certain whether His voice blended wath the rest. Probal)ly it did; 
 it may be that He led them in song, but our curiosity must remain 
 unsatisfied. Knowing, as we do, that God loves and has re- 
 peatedly commanded the use of music and song in His service, it 
 is at first thought perplexing that God's ow^n Son is not repre- 
 sented as a singer — that there is not a word concerning either 
 the tone or compass of His voice, or His ability or disposition 
 in the use of music. 
 
 But we must not forget that this taciturnity of Scripture 
 does not warrant the inference that Jesus did not sing. The 
 Evangelist John tells us that "there were many other things that 
 Jesus did," than those referred to in the Gospels. It is clear to 
 our mind that singing was one of these. We know from His 
 public utterances that He was a poet, and no great nature has ever 
 been indifl'erent to the use and influence of song. We are aware 
 that vulgar curiosity protests, concerning these unwritten things, 
 and complains of the inefficiency of Scripture to gratify its longing 
 desires. These curiously critical people murmur that the Evan- 
 gelists have not depicted the life of the l)oy Jesus, as seen on the 
 
PSALMODY IX ITS RELATIONS TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 37 
 
 playground; or the carpenter Jesus, at the bench; or the friend 
 Jesus at the cottage of Bethany. They sometimes express their 
 dissatisfaction with the inspired records, by wishing that some 
 Boswell had given us a life of Jesus. But such people do not 
 realize that if some Boswell had made the attempt, his work 
 would have been an utter failure. Dr. Johnson's extreme egotism 
 and BoswelFs extreme servility were so combined, that — in that 
 particular case — it lifted Boswell into fame as a biographer. 
 Under similar circumstances a more sensible man would have 
 written a less interesting book. But Jesus was not an egotist; 
 nor was His life wholly made up of trivial things. No Boswell 
 could have scaled the sublime heights, or fathomed the profound 
 depths of the Lord's nature. Like lie whom it portrays, the 
 New Testament biography is, for its purpose, absolutely complete 
 — a very masterpiece of perfection. The Gospels are the most 
 wonderful compositions in existence, because they have success- 
 fully used imperfect human language as a means of revealing 
 the infinite God to the finite comprehension of men. They 
 were not written to gratify curiosity, or pander to literary 
 taste; but their object was to manifest an all-sufiicient Redeemer 
 for a lost race, and in this they have succeeded. To a thoughtful 
 mind, the omissions in the life of Jesus are often as sm-prising 
 as the revelations it makes. The silence of Scripture is fre- 
 quently almost as suggestive as its expressions. We are often 
 amazed by what Jesus did not say and did not do. The wis- 
 dom of the Blessed Spirit is sometimes as manifest in the 
 omissions as in the contents of the Divine Book. But there are 
 many who fail to recognize this; and — in the presence of Infinite 
 Wisdom — complain, because the sacred writers fail to gratify a 
 vain curiosity, by filling the holy pages with matters of trivial 
 importance, altogether unl)ccoming God's gracious purpose in 
 giving the Biljle to the world. What would be said of him who 
 would dare to mar the design and spoil the efiect of an}^ of the paint- 
 ings of the grand old Masters, by inserting upon the canvas some 
 puerile conceit of his own ? Think of the vandalism of him who 
 would paint in some trifle or change some design in Leonardo da 
 Vinci's " Last Supper," or daub a comic caricature among the fig- 
 ures on Michael Angelo's '' Last Judgment," or shape a modern 
 opera-glass into the hand of Raphael's " St. Catharine." Such 
 ridiculous and mischievous meddlesomeness would call out a protest 
 
38 THE PSALMQDY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 loud enough to shake the whole artistic world. In writing the life 
 of Jesus, the Evangelists were engaged upon too grand and sublime 
 a work to permit them to think of gratifying the prurient tastes 
 and irreverent curiosity of sinful men. It may be asked whether 
 the wisdom of God is manifest in omitting to mention anything 
 concerning the Lord's use of music and song. We reply that the 
 omission is doubtless in accordance with the plan of Divine Wis- 
 dom, There is an all- wise purpose in what the Bible does not 
 say, as well as in what it does say, though we may not always 
 see the purpose, or be able to assign a satisfactory reason for 
 these silences of Sciipture. 
 
 Facts will justify the assertion that Jesus did not live in a 
 singing age. It was the period of cold, lifeless formalism. 
 Christian song can only really flourish in a time of real piety and 
 religious prosperity and progress. It would be a misnomer to 
 speak of the religious life of the time when our Lord was upon 
 earth, for religion had lost its vitality, and was nothing more than 
 an effete system of form. There was not sufficient life in the 
 Church to seek outward expression in song. They heard but 
 little music other than the trumpet-peals of proud Pharisees call- 
 ing attention to their alms-giving. Nor was their political life 
 more propitious. They were no longer a free people; a Roman 
 governor held them in subjection; Roman soldiers paraded their 
 streets, and Roman coin was the currency of their markets. We 
 do not suggest that these depressing influences were a restraint 
 upon the life of the Lord Jesus; but we do say that their deaden- 
 ing influence upon the public mind would be Ijanef ul to the study, 
 and practice, and enjoyment of music. 
 
 But a much more satisfactory reason, for the silence of the 
 Evangelists concerning the singing of Jesus, may be found in the 
 fact that the ordinary human life of the Lord was extremely sim- 
 ple, in order that He might be an example and guide to the poorest 
 and most illiterate of His followers. The Apostle Paul, in his 
 letter to the Corinthians, speaks of "the simplicity that is in 
 Christ," the simplicity of "the man Christ Jesus." " It behooved 
 Him in all things to be like unto His brethren, that He might be 
 a merciful and faithful High Priest, in things pertaining unto 
 God," and also, that He might l)c a pattern for the imitation of 
 the weakest of His followers. It would not have been sufficient 
 for Him to have been "like unto " the most skillful and gifted of 
 
PSALMODY IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 39 
 
 His brethren, but the clear Lord condescended to the level of the 
 poor and illiterate. Had the Jesus of the New Testament shone 
 as a singer, and attracted the crowds by the music of His voice, 
 we can readily conceive how some poor, illiterate Christian Avho 
 could not sing, might feel embarrassed and discouraged, because 
 of his inability to imitate his Lord in that respect. 
 
 Probably the chief reason why Scripture is silent concerning 
 the Lord's singing, is that our minds may not be distracted, by 
 the smaller details of His work, from getting a comprehensive 
 survey of the greater grandeur of His achievements as the 
 world's Redeemer. We know not how often or how seldom He 
 sang with His lips, but we do know that His whole life was full 
 of sublime harmony. The word music meant a great deal more 
 to the ancients than it means to us. To them it embraced all that 
 was beautiful and excellent in both science and art. It is said 
 that Hermes, the old Egyptian divinity, defined music as "the 
 general knowledge of order." In its relation to the life of Christ, 
 we need to widen out the word into its primitive meaning, and 
 make it include all that is beautiful. The life of the Son of God 
 is a pei-petual psalm; the grandest and sweetest melody the world 
 has heard. Some gifted souls have wa-itten poetry, some have 
 spoken it, others have sung it; but without a single discord the 
 Lord Jesus lived it; and His life is the sublimest epic poem of 
 the ages. ISIere lip-singing is often ver}- superficial. You cannot 
 understand the Lord's life by merely glancing over the surface; 
 you must get down into the depth. Outwardly He was always 
 quiet. ' ' He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be 
 heard on the street." His mission into the world was to do much 
 more than sing His way through it. Instead of singing it was 
 His to suffer. He came " to seek and save that which was lost." 
 In searching for the lost sheep, the shepherd did not sing in the 
 wilderness or anions;' the mountains; the sinirin<T^ was deferred un- 
 til he approached the fold with the lost one upon his shoulders. 
 His work was first to save, and the singing woukl be enjoyed at 
 the proper time. He came " in the greatness of His strength," 
 to sweep aside our hindr.'uiccs and defeat our enemies; to save us 
 by the sacrifice of Himself. He bore the suffering, that we miglit 
 enjoy the singing. It is the Avork of those He saved to celebrate 
 His achievements in song. The English people will never cease 
 to sing of Waterloo, but — on the field — ^it is probable that Wei- 
 
40 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 lington never sang a single note. Grant had more to do than to 
 sing at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, but his victories will ever be 
 commemorated by the songs of the American people. The whole 
 life and work of Jesus moves to blessed heavenly music. The 
 songs of all the universe echo and revolve around the cross of 
 God's beloved Son. The source of Christian song is at the cross; 
 its culmination is at the throne. The Lord Jesus opened the 
 flood-gates of song, and now a river of resounding praise flows 
 through the earth; and from age to age it will increase in volume 
 and power, until its waves shall break in music against the throne 
 of God and of the Lamb. " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and 
 power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb for ever and ever." 
 
 The first specimen of the hymnology of the new dispensation 
 is the song sung by the enthusiastic multitudes on Mount Olivet 
 and through the streets of Jerusalem, on the day when the Re- 
 deemer made His public entrance in regal state, to vindicate His 
 claim to kingly authority, and took possession of the city and 
 temple in His own and His Father's name. With our western 
 education and ideas, we find it hard to realize the transcendent 
 importance of the scene; but as we read it we cannot fail to notice 
 that honors sat easily upon Jesus that day. There is nothing that 
 will sooner disconcert and confuse a man than to be made the re- 
 cipient of unmerited honors. But Jesus received them with a 
 quiet dignity that must have removed all doubts of His kingly 
 character from the minds of His friends. He rode as Jewish 
 kings had always been wont to ride, and honors were paid Him 
 which would have made a mere pretender uneasy. But He 
 gracefully received them as His due, and looked every inch a 
 king. According to the lowest computation there were more than 
 two millions of people in and around Jerusalem that day: people 
 who were crushed down by a government that they especially 
 hated, because it taxed them to the very verge of starvation. 
 Politically they were treated with gross injustice, and religiously 
 they were exposed to the constant insults of their pagan oppress- 
 ors. These desperate people needed but a leader to arouse them 
 to revolt and violence. But the Lord never sought earthly dis- 
 tinction; His kingdom was not of this world; His was a spiritual 
 realm, and He came as "the Prince of Peace." Their own 
 prophets had predicted the royal titles and kingly character of the 
 
PSALMODY IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 41 
 
 coming Messiah; and whilst they must have noticed His dignified 
 behavior, some of them must have been convinced of the trutli of 
 His claims. The popular excitement of the people was intense, 
 as they cast their garments to carpet His way; and their acclama- 
 tions and plaudits assumed a rhythmical form, and their song was 
 long treasured by the early church as the first Christian hymn, 
 and was frequently sung at their services. It was as follows: 
 
 " Give Thou the triumph (O Jehovah) to the Son of David; 
 Blessed be the kingdom of our father, David, 
 Now to be restored in the name of Jehovah 1 
 Blessed is He that cometh — the King of Israel — 
 In the name of Jehovah! 
 
 Our peace and salvation (now coming) are from God above! 
 Praised be He in the highest heavens! 
 (For sending them by Him, the Son of David), 
 From the highest heavens, send Thou now, salvation." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 PSALMODY IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 "The Apostles join the glorious throng, 
 The prophets aid to swell the song; 
 The noble and triumphant host 
 Of martyrs make of Thee their boast. 
 
 The holy Church in every place 
 Throughout the world exalts Thy praise; 
 Both heaven and earth do worship Thee, 
 Thou Father of Eternity." 
 
 The Christian Church has ever been the legitimate home of 
 music, and religion has been its constant and faithful patron. 
 Its divine mission can only be successfully accomplished by its 
 devotioQ to the grand designs of its Creator. The moment that 
 it is degraded to sensual or sordid purposes it loses its harmony, 
 and, becoming discordant, is unworthy of the name it bears. 
 Its proper work is to elevate men by bringing them into blessed 
 accord with their Creator, and this can only be done by adopting 
 the methods and developing the plans of Divine revelation. It 
 is as the hand-maiden of religion that music can do its best and 
 greatest work in assisting the devotions, expressing the experi- 
 ences, and bearing up to God the praises of those who love Him. 
 The clear, unwavering testimony of history proves that music is 
 indebted to the Church of Christ for much of its beauty and grace, 
 its development and prestige. As its creator, God is its source; 
 as its patron, God must be its end. We have no disposition to 
 combat the traditions of the ancient world concerning the inven- 
 tion of music. AVe know that the honor is alike misplaced 
 whether it be given to the ancient Hermes of the Egyptians, or 
 to either the Mercur}% or the Classic Nine of the Greeks. Recog- 
 nizing God as the author of all charming and delight fid things, 
 our minds are clear as to the origin of music. Being Divine in 
 
 (42) 
 
PSALMODY IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 43 
 
 its origin it cannot long be the companion of sin, because sin will 
 inevitably rush into conditions where music cannot follow it. Sin 
 steadily and persistently tends to death, and in its dark prison- 
 house music is unknown. Death will take all the music out of 
 an unrepentant sinner's life, and to such an one in eternity 
 melody will be no more heard. Heaven will eventually gather 
 all music to itself. Meanwhile, in this world music can only find 
 her proper sphere in God's service, and her abiding home in 
 God's Church. 
 
 If we would find psalmody in the early Apostolic Church we 
 must first know where to find the church. We must not search 
 among the proud dominant party, who arrogantly claimed their 
 exclusive right to that distinction, but we must find the few, poor, 
 persecuted followers of the Nazarene, who, after their Leader's 
 death, were as sheep without a shepherd's care. This despised and 
 afflicted band constituted a church, but it was unpopular; the proud 
 ecclesiastics frowned upon it, the Pharisees sneered at it, the priests 
 hated it, the rabbis despised it. They had no venerable or elaborate 
 ecclesiastical building in which to hold their meetings, and a stran- 
 ger would probably have been bewildered in his search. In imagin- 
 ation we will visit the church at a place and under circumstances 
 most interesting and memorable. We will ascend Mount Olivet — 
 and passing Gethsemane — follow the ordinary road until we pass 
 the crest of the hill, and there we find the sorrowful yet joyful, the 
 defeated yet triumphant, the forsaken yet more than ever cared 
 for, the despised yet most distinguished and honored church of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. No human pen can describe the eventful 
 scene ! Their eyes sparkling, their faces radiant, their hearts 
 throbbing, they lift sorrowful glances to the skies, and then look 
 around upon each other with joyful awe — with a feeling that may 
 be experienced but cannot be described. Their dear Lord had 
 just taken His triumphant departure from them, and the}^ had 
 watched 
 
 "The Conqueror mount in triumph! 
 Seen the King in royal state, 
 Riding on the clouds, His chariot. 
 To His heavenly palace gate!" 
 
 He had left them while blessing them, but He left the blessing 
 with them. He went away in Ijonedictions; departed in His royal 
 chariot, showering blessings upon them as He went. Watching 
 
44 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Him rise, they saw His hands stretched toward them, His face 
 looking upon them to the last. They must have realized that 
 the majestic ascension was in keeping with His kingly grace. No 
 other way could have been so fitting for the Lord to have gone. 
 They watched and worshiped until He disappeared, and then — 
 when He had gone — they turned their eyes toward each other, 
 and became conscious that they were not alone. Two strangers 
 stood among them, " men in white apparel ;" men with beautiful 
 faces and gentle, kindly behavior, whose appearance proved them 
 inhabitants of a nobler world than this. The men were angels, 
 but their presence did not disconcert or dismay these disciples. 
 The sight of their ascending Lord had prepared them to look 
 upon angels without trepidation or alarm. The fellowship of 
 angels did not seem inappropriate or out of place then; instead 
 of alarming, the angels comforted them and confirmed their 
 faith. Their message was forever afterwards a solace, not only 
 to the disciples, but to the whole church. ' ' This same Jesus 
 which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
 manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." He went shower- 
 ing blessings upon them ! How will He come ? ' ' He will so come 
 in Z^^e manner. " That was how Jesus left; that is hoAv Jesus 
 will return! 
 
 Music in the church! Why, their hearts were full of it! 
 Celestial harmonies rolled through their souls! No wonder that 
 they "returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually 
 in the temple praising and blessing God." From that time they 
 lived in an atmosphere of praise, until Pentecostal glories blazed 
 around and upon them, and tongues of fire sat upon their heads, 
 and the Holy Spirit filled their hearts and opened their lips; and 
 the wondering multitudes looked upon them, and were "amazed 
 at the mighty power of God." 
 
 As we pass down through early church history, as recorded 
 in "The Acts of the Apostles," the next notes of psalmody that 
 come to us are those that — at the dark midnight hour — echoed 
 through the gloomy old jail at Philippi. Two innocent, defense- 
 less men, who, having been shamefully and outrageousl}^ abused 
 and beaten by a lawless, frantic mob on the streets, were — by 
 order of the officials, and in the name of Roman justice — tied to 
 the whipping-post, and having been cruelly flogged, were then 
 thrust into a cold, dark, loathsome, inner dungeon of the prison; 
 
rSALMODY IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 45 
 
 and their bleeding, swollen limbs being made fast in the stocks, 
 they were left to live or die, no one caring which it might be. 
 There in torture and weakness, in exhaustion and hunger, the te- 
 dious hours passed, until at midnight they made a strange noise, 
 which, reaching the cars of their fellow prisoners, filled them with 
 astonishment. It was not the oft-heard sound of sobs and groans, 
 cries and shrieks, wailings and lamentations; but it was the strange 
 notes of cheerful Christian song to which they listened. Song is 
 usually the expression of joy, and joy is supposed to be the com- 
 panion of comfort. But how could joy find its way into that 
 comfortless place ? AVell, it did find its way there ! There was 
 a secret entrance into the thick-walled old prison that the officials 
 knew nothing of. There was a friend wdio passed the guard un- 
 seen, and visited those prisoners in the inner dungeon, for bolts 
 and bars could not fasten him from access to them. There was a 
 healins: balm that relieved them, a tender hand that soothed their 
 irritated nerves and eased their aching heads; there was a genial 
 face that was full of sympathy, and a kind voice that whispered, 
 "It is I, be not afraid;" and listening to that voice, and looking 
 into that face, they forget their sufferings, and joy flowed into 
 their souls and forced them into song. As the revised version has 
 it: ''Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, 
 and the prisoners were listening to them." The glad notes of 
 Christian song had never before echoed through the corridors of 
 the grim old jail. "God their maker gave them songs in the 
 night." "As the sufferings of Christ abounded in them, so their 
 consolations also abounded by Christ." 
 
 These witnesses for Jesus were among the first to feel the 
 cruel force of Rome's imperial might. True, it was not direct, 
 but it was a bitter foretaste of the terrible persecution that fol- 
 lowed. But God honored them by enabling them to realize and 
 manifest a superior Spiritual power — stronger than Roman des- 
 potism — that caused them to triumph over sutTcring and to rejoice 
 in tribulation. Their faitii asserted its freedom, and the loath- 
 some inner prison was made so gladsome with the Divine Presence 
 that their overflowing joy sought expression in song. Un- 
 doubtedly there is sweet music in heaven, but some of us think 
 that the sweetest songs that ever reached the ear of God were 
 sung by suffering saints upon earth. Angels and redeemed souls 
 in glory-land are so perfectly happy that they can do no other 
 
46 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 than sing God's praises. But when sufferers ''sing hymns to 
 God" from the stocks "in inner prisons," from the stakes and 
 seaffokls of martyrdom, from beds of suffering and scenes of be- 
 reavement, it seems to us that the heavenly choirs are hushed to 
 silence, that the sweet songs of faith and love might undilutedly 
 reach the ear of God. God's best singers are educated in the 
 school of suffering. Dr. Talmage says: "The sweet and over- 
 whelming part of the hallelujahs of heaven will not be carried by 
 those who rode in high places and gave sumptuous entertainments, 
 but pauper children will sing it, beggars will sing it, redeemed 
 hod-carriers will sing it, those who were once the off-scouring of 
 the earth will sing it. The hallelujahs will be all the grander for 
 earth's weeping eyes, and aching heads, and scourged backs, and 
 martyred agonies. " 
 
 That the service of song was sustained in the Apostolic 
 Church we know from the inspired epistles. The Ephesians are 
 enjoined to speak to themselves " in psalms and hymns and spir- 
 itual songs, making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving 
 thanks always for all things unto God." The Colossians are 
 instructed to " admonish one another in psalms and hymns and 
 spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. " 
 The writers of the epistles give quotations selected from some of 
 the hymns used in the early church. The sixteenth verse of the 
 first chapter of First Timothy is believed by the best authorities to 
 be part of an ancient hymn. The same is true of the eleventh 
 ancl twelfth verses of second chapter of Second Timothy, and also 
 of the fourteenth verse of fifth chapter of Ephesians. 
 
 But the early Christians not only used psalmody in the 
 church ; they used it wherever they were. It was a sacred stream 
 that flowed through their whole lives; in their private devotions, 
 at their family v/orship, in their social gatherings, as well as in 
 the public services of God's house, the privilege of singing God's 
 praises was esteemed by them as a perpetual delight. "Songs 
 dedicated to the praise of God," says Jamicson, "formed thoir 
 pastime in private, and their favorite recreation at their family 
 and friendly meetings." Another writer says that "the early 
 Christians spent whole days and nights in psalmody." They cel- 
 ebrated the Lord's Supper by singing hymns while the emblems 
 Avere being distril^utcd. In their public services the whole people 
 united in the singing. Clement of Alexandria, who wrote early 
 
PSALMODY IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 47 
 
 in the third century, says: "Men, women and children join in 
 the psahnody of the church, and tlie sound of their united voices 
 is like the waves beating upon the sea-shore." Chrysostom wrote: 
 " The young and old, the rich and poor, male and female, all 
 join in one song. All worldly distinctions here cease, and- all 
 join in singing and form one general chorus." They carefully 
 taught their children to sing, not merely as a pleasing accomplish- 
 ment, but that they might have the truth kept before their minds 
 and treasured in their memories. Undoubtedly it was largely by 
 means of enthusiastic Christian song that the Gospel had such 
 " free course and was glorified " in the gracious accomplishment 
 of its purposes. To praise the Lord was the great end of their 
 existence. For them "to live was Christ." "Whether they ate, 
 or whether they drank, or whatsoever they did, they did all to 
 the glory of God." To use another Scripture: " They did eat 
 their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God." 
 The inspired writings are closed and forever sealed by the 
 wonderful apocalyptic visions of St. John. It is a marvelous 
 book, as the story of the unfoldings of God's providences and 
 purposes must necessarily be. In its vast panorama all the events 
 and influences of the moral world are made to pass and repass be- 
 fore our astonished sight; and — as we look — we are appalled by 
 its rugged grandeur. We cannot climb its dizzy heights; we 
 shrink back in alarm and dismay from its awful depths. The 
 book is so full of God that the effulgence of the Divine glory 
 blinds our eyes. None but God can 
 
 " Vindicate eternal providence 
 And justify the ways of God to men." 
 
 The gorgeous imagery of the book is majestically sublime, and 
 
 its magnificent music is proportionately grand. It is not the 
 
 gentle tones of evening bells, l:>ornc from afar on zephyrs' balmy 
 
 breath; nor the murmur of a5^olian harps moved by the night-wind 
 
 into music low and sweet; nor the low cadence of maiden's song 
 
 that steals through the moonlit air, that is heard in the Book of 
 
 Revelation. There every note is a trumpet blast; every voice is 
 
 as the sound of many waters; every song is as the noise of 
 
 mighty thunderings. We hear the sublime song of God's majesty 
 
 and sovereignty as it was sung before the eternal throne: "Holy, 
 
 holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is, and is to 
 
 come," followed by the refrain of the ciders, who, 
 
48 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 "Laying down their golden crowns 
 Beside the glassy sta," 
 
 sang " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, 
 and power." We listen to the overwhelmingly grand new song 
 of redemption, as sung by the ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 and thousands of thousands: " Worthy the Lamb that was slain to 
 receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor 
 and glory." Then we hear the pealing notes of the "multitude 
 that no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and peoples 
 and tongues," who sang: " Salvation unto our God which sittcth 
 upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." And as we wait and 
 wonder, we catch the tones of "the harpers harping with their 
 harps," and the victors on the crystal sea burst into glad trium- 
 phant song, ' ' the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the 
 Lamb," saying: "Great and marvelous are Thy works. Lord 
 God Almighty! Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of 
 Saints." The closing piece of the heavenly concert is the great 
 universal song of praise — the Bridal Song of the church — which 
 was sung by a great multitude, and sounded as the voice of many 
 waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders: "Alleluia! for the 
 Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and 
 give honor unto Him, for the marriage of the Lam)) is come, and 
 His wife hath made herself ready." Grand tinale to the songs of 
 the Bible! Let us raise our voices and join the chorus: "Alleluia! 
 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our 
 Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever." 
 
 Thank God that the Bible ends in music — that above all the 
 din of earthly confusion, and the discords of human ambition and 
 passion, is heard the soul-stirring songs of triumph, the glad 
 pteans of final victory. So shall the lives of those who love the 
 Bible end in music. The true life beyond the shadows will be 
 music. Heaven is song; Scripture is very emphatic about that. 
 Heaven is music and song; no discord there; no defeat there; no 
 sin there. We will all be sweet singers in glory-land — a song 
 for every tongue, a harp for every hand — heart, and hand, and 
 tongue in unison in praising Him we love. 
 
 "Then in a nobler, sweeter song, 
 I'll sing Thy power to save, 
 When this poor lisping, stammering tongue 
 Lies silent in the grave." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PSALMODY IN THE EARLY PRL^IITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 " Ev^er ascendeth the song and the joy, 
 Ever descendeth the love from on high; 
 Blessing, and honor, and glory, and praise, 
 This is the theme of the hymns that we raise. 
 
 Give praises to Him who our battle hath won, 
 Whose are the kingdom, the crown and the throne; 
 The church thro' all ages has raised the glad psalm 
 Of glory, and honor, and praise to the Lamb." 
 
 Primitive Christianity is a delightful theme! We love to 
 study its history so far as it is recorded in ' ' The Acts of the 
 Apostles." We do not speak of the first century as " the golden 
 age," because "pure and undefiled religion before God and the 
 Father" is "golden" in any age. Nevertheless, it was "a golden 
 age. " The peculiar charm of primitive Christianity was its simple 
 reality. The men who had seen and known the Lord Avere the 
 leaders of the religious thought and activities of the time, and 
 their faith was founded upon well-established facts. As a con- 
 sequence, Christianity was then believed and loved and lived. 
 The actual death and burial of the Lord Jesus was the keynote of 
 all religious teaching, and the church was never so prosperous as 
 when it possessed and preached and practiced primitive Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 Since then it has tried several kinds of so-called Christianity, 
 but the changes have been very disastrous. In the third century 
 Christianity was diluted with Platonic philosophy, until it as- 
 sumed the dangerous consistency of a gross materialism. After- 
 wards the church tried what — for want of a better name — we will 
 call controversial Christianity: when, instead of serving a living 
 Christ, they spent their time in wrangling over a dead creed; 
 and, dividing themselves into opposing partisans, fiercely contend- 
 
 (49) 
 
50 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ing concerning subtile questions that could only engender strife. 
 This was followed by what we will call a political Christianity, 
 that clothed the church "in purple and fine linen; " and, so far as 
 this world went, she "fared sumptuously every day." The crown 
 of imperialism was placed upon her head, and the men who sought 
 place and power cringed at her feet. She built for herself mag- 
 nificent temples, and decked her altars with gold and costly gems. 
 But, as in letters of fire, " the Man of Nazareth " wrote "Ichaliod" 
 over it all, and withdrew His presence from the churches. Then 
 came ecclesiastical Christianity, when, instead of a cross in the 
 heart, men wore it on their sleeve, and had it embroidered in their 
 costly robes. The vitality of religion was gone. What was 
 known as Christianity was but a mere lifeless automaton; a pup- 
 pet that only mo^'ed as the priest pulled the string. Her hands 
 were filled with trinkets and dead men's bones, with which it was 
 vainly hoped that a dead world would be touched into vitality. 
 The gorgeously dressed priests, who had grown wealthy by trick- 
 ery, so thronged the churches that God had no room to get within 
 the doors. All this mummery has been superseded by fashion- 
 able Christianity, that loudly boasts of its charity and common 
 sense and good taste, as seen in its attempts to blend the church 
 and the world into an unholy alliance. All the necessary conces- 
 sions to the unnatural union are demanded of the church, as the 
 price to be paid for the world's countenance and toleration. The 
 church is asked to lay her standard upon the ground, for unhal- 
 lowed feet to tread it into the dust or the mire. But after all 
 its boastfulness, this kind of Christianity has not done much for 
 the world; certainly not enough to gain its respect. Its churches 
 boast of their broad charity, and wrest Scripture from its orig- 
 inal meaning in talking of "being all things to all men." But 
 anything bearing the name of Christianity cuts but a sorry and 
 ridiculous figure in the ball-room or the theatre. 
 
 O for primitive Christianity once more! What a powerful 
 thing it was in the olden time! What crowds it drew to the 
 preaching! What multitudes from all parts of the world were 
 converted at Pentecost! How successful it made Philij) in Sama- 
 ria! How it spread over Asia Minor! How speedily it made it- 
 self a recognized power in Rome, gaining converts even in the 
 imperial palace! What a hold it had upon m(>n's hearts! How 
 those Christians loved each other! How faithful they were to 
 
PSALMODY IN THE EARLY PRLMITIVE CHURCH. 51 
 
 Christian duty, and how zealously they attended to all the forms 
 and observances of the religious life! We sometimes meet with 
 people who contend that our religious liberty has superseded the 
 use of forms, Avhich are no longer obligatory. Their dread of 
 being formalists frightens them from the use of forms. It wt)uld 
 be as reasonable to permit a dread of gluttony to frighten them 
 from eating. A formless religion is but an unsubstantial phan- 
 tom. During the creative process the "earth was without form 
 and void." A piety without form would be in a similar condition. 
 The members of the early church attended to the forms of relig- 
 ion. Every morning before break of day they met for prayer 
 and praise. At their meals they w^ere accustomed to sing and 
 pray. Four times a day the voice of praise was heard in their 
 habitations. They carried the spirit of thankfulness to their 
 work, and praised God amid their daily duties. Jerome, who 
 lived in the second century, wrote: "Here, rustic though we are, 
 we are all Christians. Psalms alone break the pervading stillness. 
 The ploughman is singing hallelujahs while he turns his furrow; 
 the reaper solaces his toil with hymns; the vineyard-dresser, as he 
 prunes his vines, chants something from the strains of David. 
 These are our songs, and such the notes with which our love is 
 vocal." They excelled in the holy art of praise, and realized 
 with the Psalmist that " It is a good thing to give thanks unto 
 the Lord, to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High! To 
 shew forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning and Thy faithful- 
 ness every night. From the rising of the sun unto the going 
 down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised. Let all 
 people, both young men and maidens, old men and children, let 
 them praise the name of the Lord." 
 
 An ancient hymn sung in the early church at the lighting of 
 the evening lamps has been passed down the centuries to our own 
 time, and is still used in the daily service of the Greek Church. 
 It was originally written in Greek, by some unknown author. 
 Basil the Great copied it into his own works, and so it has been 
 preserved until now. Basil Ijclieved it to have been used by the 
 church as early as tifty years after the crucifixion of our Lord, 
 and several years before the Apocalypse was written, so tiiat it 
 is probable that the Apostle John may often have joined in sing- 
 ing it in the religious services of his day. It is undoubtedly the 
 oldest metrical hymn extant. We give it in its translated form: 
 
52 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 "Hail, Jesus Christ, hail, gladdening light 
 Of the Immortal Father's glory bright! 
 Blessed of all saints beneath the sky, 
 And of the heavenly company. 
 
 Now, while the sun is setting. 
 
 Now, while the light grows dim, 
 To Father, Son, and Spirit, 
 
 We raise our evening hymn. 
 
 Worthy Thou while time shall dure. 
 To be hymned by voices pure; 
 Son of God, of life the giver, 
 Thee the world shall praise for ever." 
 
 When we remember that this hymn is eighteen hundred 
 years old, and then think of the vast and still rapidly extending 
 kingdom of Christ, it is not difficult to realize that "Thee the 
 world shall praise for ever." 
 
 Of course a mere literal and verbal translation of any of 
 these old hymns would leave them altogether unfit for use in our 
 day. We will give a literal translation of the above ancient hymn, 
 as made by the celebrated Bishop Andrews and found in his prayer- 
 Ijook after his death, in this form: 
 
 "O joyful light 
 
 Of the glory of the Father, 
 
 Immortal, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed 
 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Beholding the evening light. 
 
 We glorify 
 
 The Father, and the Son, 
 
 And the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 Worthy Thou in all seasons. 
 
 With sacred voices to be hymned. 
 
 Son of God, 
 
 Giver of hope, 
 
 Wherefore the world glorifieth Thee." 
 
 Probably the oldest Christian hymn now in use is Dr. Dex- 
 
 ter's translation of the hymn of Titus Flavius Clemens, from the 
 
 original Greek. It is found in most modern hymnals, the first 
 
 verse reading as follows: 
 
 "Shepherd of tender youth. 
 Guiding in love and truth 
 Through devious ways — 
 Christ, our triumphant King, 
 We come Thy name to sing, 
 And here our children bring 
 To shout Thy praise." 
 
PSALMODY IN THE EARLY TRIMITIVE CHURCH. 53 
 
 Clemens, or, as usually called, Clement, was a Christian 
 philosopher, the story of whose life is interesting. He was Ijorn 
 about one hundred and twenty years after the crucifixion of the 
 Lord. It is uncertain whether he was a native of Greece or of 
 Egypt — of Athens or of Alexandria. When a young man, his 
 passionate thirst for knowledge led him to visit and study in all 
 the celebrated schools of the time. He studied Greek philosophy 
 in Athens, after which he visited Italy and Syria in search of 
 knowledge. From thence he made his way to Egypt, and enter- 
 ing the famous school of Alexandria as a student of philosophy, 
 he found himself under the tuition of Pantanus, the president of 
 the school, who also occupied the chair of philosophy. The 
 professor soon grew interested in the enthusiastic young student, 
 and a mutual attachment soon sprang up between them. This 
 friendship proved to be an inestimable blessing to the younger 
 man, because Pantanus was not only a philosopher, but he had 
 been educated in the school of Christ and had become "wise 
 unto salvation through faith in Jesus."" Clement's hunger and 
 thirst for knowledge was so intense that philosophy could not 
 satisfy his desires. But when Pantanus began to unfold the truth 
 of God's holy word to his mind, pointing out the evil of sin, the 
 depravity of human nature, the atonement of Christ, and the way 
 of salvation, it was just the truth for which Clement's soul had 
 long yearned, and the delighted young philosopher gladly accepted 
 Christ as his all-sufficient Saviour, and became a consecrated Chris- 
 tian who delighted to lay all his vast stores of learning down at 
 the feet of his beloved Lord. Christ became his all in all, and 
 was to him a sufficient and satisfying portion. Pantanus was 
 converted through the instrumentality of Polycarp, who was a 
 convert and friend of the Apostle John at Ephesus. Speaking 
 of his teacher, Clement says: " Pantanus was a bee who gath- 
 ered honey from the flowers of prophetic and apostolic fields, and 
 filled the minds of his pupils with the true knowledge. He had 
 received the true doctrine of the blessed Gospel in a straight 
 succession from the Apostles themselves, seeing he Avas educated 
 I)y Polycarp, who was a disciple and fellow-laborer with the 
 Apostle John at Ephesus." This makes the hynm especially in- 
 teresting, by proving it to be almost an echo from apostolic lips. 
 What a wonderful history must have, if it could be written! 
 
 Clement was the author of several important books, three of 
 
54 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 which are yet extant, and are published as they are called for. 
 They are entitled: ''The Instructor," ''Exhortation to the 
 Heathen," and his "Miscellanies." His books abound in quota- 
 tions from old Greek authors, gems of thought gathered from 
 the literature of his time. We select the following sentences : 
 "A noble hymn of God is an immortal man, established in right- 
 eousness. " ' ' Let the Athenian follow the laws of Solon, the 
 Argive those of Phoroneus, the Spartan those of Lycurgus; but 
 if you enroll yourself among the citizens of God, heaven is your 
 country, and God your lawgiver." "Let us strip for the con- 
 test and noh\y strive in the arena of truth, the Holy Word being 
 the judge, and the Lord of the universe prescribing the contest." 
 After the death of Pantanus, Clement assumed his duties as pres- 
 ident of the school of Alexandria. During the persecution under 
 Severus he was compelled to leave his charge. In the year A. D. 
 211 he was sent by the church at Jerusalem to carry a message to 
 the brethren at Antioch. Alexander, one of his former pupils, 
 introduced him to the church at Antioch as "the blessed presby- 
 ter, a man virtuous and tried, whom ye know and will come to 
 know completely; who, being here by the providence and guid- 
 ance of the Eulcr of all, strengthened and increased the church of 
 the Lord." We give a word for word rendering of his hymn, as 
 translated by the Kev. George A. Jackson and published in his 
 "Fathers of the Third Century." 
 
 "Bridle of colts unbroken; wing of birds unwandering; 
 Helm of ships trusty; fehepherd of lambs royal! 
 Thy simple children assemble 
 
 To praise holily, to hymn guilelessly, with innocent mouths 
 The children's Leader, Christ. 
 
 O King of Saints; word all subduing. 
 
 Of the Father most high; of wisdom thou Ruler; 
 
 Support of sorrows, rejoicing in eternity; 
 
 Of the human race, thou Saviour, Jesus: 
 
 Shepherd, Husbandman, Helm, Bridle, 
 
 Wing celestial of the all-holy flock; 
 
 Fisher of men who are saved 
 
 From billows hateful, of a sea of evil; 
 
 Fishes chaste with sweet life enticing; 
 
 Be thou Leader of sheep rational, thou Shepherd. 
 
 O Holy One. be the Leader— O King of children unharmed 
 In the footsteps of Christ; O way celestial; 
 
PSALMODY IN THE EARLY PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 00 
 
 Word everlasting; Age unapproachable; Light eternal; 
 Of mercy thou Fountain; Doer of righteousness; 
 Sweet the life of the God- hymning, O Christ Jesus. 
 
 O Milk celestial, of the breasts enchanting 
 
 Of the Bride's graces, by wisdom Thine own pressed out! 
 
 Babes with tender mouths, nourished by breast intellectual, 
 
 With spirit dewy filled full; 
 
 Praises simple, hymns sincere, to the King, Christ. 
 
 As a fee approved, for life's teachings 
 
 Let us sing together, let us sing with simplicity 
 
 The Child who is mighty — 
 
 A choir of peace; the Christ begotten; 
 
 A people chaste; chant we together the God of Peace." 
 
 This too literal rendering is of course so rough and uncouth 
 that it is sometimes hard to discover the sense. In its original 
 Greek it is very different. But we give this word for word ren- 
 dering, that the English reader may have a clearer idea of the 
 hymn-translator's work and worth. 
 
 We will close this chapter by a quotation from another Greek 
 author, "Basil the Great," to whom we have already alluded as 
 the preserver of the ancient evening hymn. Basil was born about 
 a century after the death of Clement. He was the great Chris- 
 tian orator of the early church; some of his sermons are yet 
 extant, and while reading his direct appeals to the conscience, so 
 pointed, so impassioned, so evangelical, ^ve are compelled to 
 regard him as the Spurgeon of the fourth century. We simply 
 give his description of the influence of psalmody, as he saw it in 
 his day. "Psalmody is the calm of the soul, the repose of the 
 spirit, the arbiter of peace. It silences the waves and conciliates 
 the whirlwind of our passions, soothing the impetuous, tempering 
 the unchaste. It is an engenderer of friendship, a healer of dis- 
 sension, a reconciler of enemies. For who can count him an 
 enemy, with whom he hath raised the strain of praise to the 
 throne of God? Psalmody repels the demons and allures the 
 angels; is a weapon of defense in nightly terrors, a respite from 
 daily toil. To woman it is a congenial ornament, to manhood a 
 crown of glory, a presiding genius to childhood, a balm of com- 
 fort to old age. " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF PSALMODY IN THE AVESTERN CHURCH. 
 
 Arba— thy father gone — the days passed weurily, 
 
 And only broken rest could night impart; 
 Lonesome thy morning hours, and drearily 
 
 The evening shades brought sadness to thy heart. 
 
 Though forced away, his love had not been cloven 
 By persecution's hand; a letter you received. 
 
 Containing hymns which his own heart had woven 
 From warp and woof of what he suffered and believed. 
 
 Those precious hymns a double love expressed: 
 
 First, love to God; and then, affection for his child; 
 
 In writing them, his aching heart found rest. 
 In singing them, you weary hours beguiled. 
 
 Of course you sang them; your sweet voice ringing 
 Through the sad home, awakening tenderest feeling; 
 
 O Arba, ne'er forgotten girl, thy singing 
 Comes sweetly down to us, thro' centuries pealing. 
 
 Hilary was the father of Western hymnology. He wrote the 
 first Latin hymns, and composed tunes to which they were sung, 
 and to him belongs the honor of preparing the jSrst Christian 
 hymn-book in the Western Church. He was born in the French 
 city of Poitiers in the year A. D. 305, and died in the same place 
 in A. D. 367. So far as this w^orld was concerned, his parents 
 were in comfortable circumstances; as to another world, they ' 
 knew nothing more than the misleading superstitions and absurd- 
 ities of heathenism. Hilary was well educated, and — during his 
 early manhood — began to study the Old Testament Scriptures, 
 which in some way had come within his reach. It has become 
 proverbial that " the entrance of God's Word glveth light." It 
 was so in his case, and the mists of heathenism rolled away before 
 the clear light of Divine truth. He had been married for many 
 years when the change took place, and the Lord was graciously 
 pleased to make him instrumental in the salvation of his wife and 
 daughter, so that the whole family were baptized upon the same 
 
 (56) 
 
BEGINNINGS OF PSALMODY IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. a( 
 
 day. Being a bright, well-informed, conscientious man, he always 
 enjoyed the contidence and hearty respect of his fellow citizens; 
 but after his conversion, his life was so uniformly consistent that 
 he not only gained the esteem, but won the affectionate regard of 
 his brethren in the chiux'h. This was abundantly proven I)}' the 
 fact that when the Bishop of Poitiers died, in A. D. S.")!, Hilary 
 was unanimously called to the vacant See, a position he filled with 
 credit to himself and to the satisfaction of those who gave him the 
 appointment. Of course, this w^as somewhat irregular, because 
 the clergy of that day were usually celibates; and the fact of his 
 appointment to a dignified ecclesiastical position, in spite of his 
 being a husband and father, proves the deep respect and love of 
 the people toward him. He w\as called to a difficult field of labor, 
 for the church was bitterly divided b}- the Arian heresy, and, as. 
 is often the case, error was sustained by the wealthy and popular 
 party. The court party were Arians, and having, l)y his inflexible 
 fidelity to truth, provoked their displeasure, he was imprisoned 
 and sent into exile. He had been true to his Bible and his con- 
 science, and was called to sufler the consequences. During his 
 exile he visited many of the Eastern churches, and, lacing espe- 
 cially delighted with their singing, he translated many of the 
 Greek hymns, to which he added b^ compositions of his own. -f 
 Two of these hymns he enclosed in a letter and sent home to his 
 daughter Arba. 
 
 Arba was a sweet, dutiful, conscientious Christian girl, who 
 devotedly loved her persecuted father, and evinced the deepest 
 interest in all that concerned his important work. A letter she 
 wrote him is yet in existence, which shows her to have been all 
 that we have said. One of the hymns he sent is yet known; the 
 other has, unfortunately, been lost. We can easily imagine the 
 daughter of the persecuted Bishop solacing her own heartache by 
 singing those hymns, which were the outbreathings of her beloved 
 father's faith in God. It is not a mere fanciful theory to suggest 
 that whilst Hilary wrote the first Latin hymns, Arba was the first 
 hymn-singer in the Western Church. We sometimes think that 
 nothing can be so precious to God as sweet, consecrated girlhood. 
 Arba shall " be held in everlasting rememl)rance." In A. D. 359 
 Hilary laid his case before a convocation of Bishops at Seleucia, 
 and received permission to return to his diocese and resume work. 
 After that, he continued to translate and to write original hynms, 
 
58 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 which he collected into a Hymnarium — the first hymn-book of the 
 Western Church — which, most unfortunately, has been lost. The 
 Romish Church has been a little slow and chary in showering her 
 honors upon Hilary. His opinions are said to have been some- 
 what too liberal to meet her cordial approval. After waiting a 
 considerable time, he was made a Doctor of the Church; but some 
 men not half so good as he have been canonized and made saints. 
 Hilary has been made a D. D., but that honor was not conferred 
 during his life, and not until a good while after his death. He 
 had been dead about fourteen hundred and eighty-four years, 
 when, in 1851, Pius the Ninth gave permission for him to be 
 known as the Rev. Doctor Hilary. Whether the long delay tried 
 the Bishop's patience, we have no means of knowing, but Ave 
 think not. Dr. Hilary can now wear his title, and console him- 
 self with the thought that the calm deliberation of the church, 
 during those fifteen centuries, is an assurance that their final 
 action was not the result of rash impulse, and, therefore, not 
 likely to have been an error of judgment. 
 
 Six years after the death of Hilary, Auxentius, the Arian 
 Bishop of Milan, died, and left that Sec vacant. The orthodox 
 party determined that they would not tolerate another Arian 
 Bishop; whilst the Arians, of course, were just as determined to 
 appoint one of their own party. When the day of election came, 
 the church at Milan was the scene of bitter and unhallowed con- 
 tention. Both parties were about equal, and both afraid of each 
 other. As the hours passed, the strife grew fierce, until the 
 authorities were alarmed and apprehensive of deeds of violence. 
 When the excitement and noise was at its worst, a loud, clear, 
 firm voice Avas heard above the din, and the populace became 
 aware that the Consular Prefect of their district was speaking to 
 them. He was a man who had filled the important position he 
 occupied to the satisfaction of all concerned. His liberal and 
 generous administration had won him the hearty respect of the 
 entire community, and this fact enabled him to gain a hearing. 
 He stood before them, perfectly calm and self-possessed, and his 
 dignified maimer so influenced them that a Avave of his hand 
 was sufficient to hush them into perfect quietness. He reminded 
 them that angry demonstrations on either side were signs of 
 Avcakiiess, and urged them to proceed Avith the election in a 
 manner becoming intelligent and Christian people, and in a spirit 
 
BEGINNINGS OF PSALMODY IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. 59 
 
 becoming the place in which they were assembled. While he 
 was addressing them, a sweet, clear voice — some said a child's; 
 the superstitious said an angel's — cried, " Let Anil)rose be the 
 Bishop." That cry so harmonized with the popular feeling that 
 it was like a spark upon gunpowder. The suggestion was met by 
 a wild, enthusiastic burst of applause. Both parties took up the 
 cry, while the astonished Ambrose vainly tried to protest against 
 the popular will; but even he could not then get a hearing for 
 that purpose. His calm demeanor was no longer apparent, and 
 the excitement was then upon his side. At the first chance of 
 escape, he fled from the city; but his pursuers brought him back, 
 and the strange event of a comparatively young man being taken 
 from a secular office and at once raised to a high pinnacle of eccle- 
 siastical power was that day transferred to history. Best of all, 
 the people never regretted their choice, for he discharged the 
 duties of his high office with ability and fidelity. 
 
 Ambrose was the first of an illustrious line of hymn-writers, 
 who were indebted for their success to the earnest prayers of their 
 God-fearing mothers. In his early boyhood his father died, and he 
 owed all he was to his beloved Christian mother. A story of his 
 infancy has come down to us. There is an old saying that some 
 persons are "born with silver spoons in their mouths; " but that 
 is not true of all, for many of us had to come into the world with- 
 out even a plated article. We are not sure that Ambrose was 
 born with the traditional spoon; but— while lying in his cradle — 
 the baby received a fortunate omen that greatly impressed the 
 minds of some of his friends. A swarm of bees settled upon the 
 slumbering child without stinging him, and his father remem- 
 bered that a similar thing occurred to the infant Plato, and he 
 regarded the augury as a most propitious one. After his father's 
 death, his mother carefully attended to her son's education, and 
 he pursued his studies with such success that when a very young 
 man he was regarded as one of the most eloquent pleaders at the 
 legal bar. 
 
 Had the people of Northern Italy in those days used a diction 
 as clear and expressive as our own, they would have thrown up 
 their hats and cheered three times three because of the success of 
 the "dark horse " of the election. Such events have their moral, 
 and furnish material for sober reflection. This is a world of 
 uncertainty. We never know " what a day may bring fortii." It 
 
60 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 is well for us to be prepared to meet the emergencies of life with 
 calm fortitude. Should the world suddenly force its honors and 
 wealth upon us, let us meet our fate unflinchingly and show by 
 our uncomplaining fortitude that heroism is not all dead. 
 
 In his bishopric, Ambrose retained his popularity, although 
 he was a man of principle, and not a creature of policy. He did 
 not attempt a neutral position between the two parties, but boldly 
 took the orthodox side; and this brought him into conflict with 
 the great heresy of his age, and made him especially obnoxious to 
 the Empress Justina. After he had held his ofiice for some years, 
 she applied to him for two of the city churches, for the use of two 
 of her favorite Arian preachers. Ambrose, regarding himself as 
 the guardian both of the temporal and spiritual interests of the 
 church, boldly refused to "give up the temples of the Lord into 
 the hands of heretics." The angry Empress threatened him; but 
 he met her threats with a noble reply: " If you demand my per- 
 son, I am ready to submit; you may send me to prison or to 
 death, and I will not resist; but I will never betray the church of 
 the Lord Jesus. If you arrest me, I will not call upon the people 
 to succor me, but I will die at the foot of the altar rather than 
 desert it." She ordered his arrest, and — according to the custom 
 of the time- — he found shelter from persecution in the church. His 
 kind-hearted people w^ ould not permit him to stay there alone, but 
 day and night they gathered to him, and hymns and prayers were 
 the wings upon wdiich the hours flew swiftly by. Ambrose had 
 written many hymns, and these, together with the hymns of 
 Hilary, were sung frequently during those months of trial. 
 Among those who sympathized with and sustained the persecuted 
 pastor was Monica, the mother of Augustine. Patricius, her 
 husband, was not a Christian; and Augustine, her noble boy, had 
 grown to manhood and was leading a vicious, sensual life: and 
 his mother's heart yearned for his salvation. He was a gifted, 
 brilliant young man, who was then giving a course of lectures in 
 the city, which delighted those who heard them. Years before, 
 she had given her boy to the Lord as the most precious ofl'ering 
 she could make. During this period of persecution, he often went 
 to the church to see her, and greatly enjoyed the singing he heard 
 there. Ambrose, the good Bishop, loved nmsic, and had labored 
 hard to develop the psalmody of his church. That mother per- 
 sistently pleaded with God for the salvation of her son, and God 
 
BEGINNINGS OF PSALMODY IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. 61 
 
 used the sweet songs of the church as a means of answering her 
 prayers. Some considerable time afterward, Augustine openly 
 confessed his sins, and accepted his mother's Saviour as his 
 Saviour, but he traced his impressions back to the time when he 
 heard the singing in the church. Speaking of his conversion, he 
 said: " The practice of singing had been of no long standing at 
 JVIilan. It began about the year that Justina began to persecute 
 Ambrose. The pious people watched in the church, prepared to 
 die with their pastor if need be. There, in watching and praying, 
 my mother sustained an eminent part. Hymns were sung to pre- 
 serve the people from weariness, and by the sweetness of these 
 hymns I Avas moved to tears. As the voices flowed into my ears, 
 the truth distilled into my heart until it overflowed with divine 
 afiection, and I was happy. " It was not a case of instantaneous 
 conversion, however. It was a Ions; strugirlc against sinful habits, 
 which bound him as if with chains of steel. But at last God gave 
 him the victory; his mother's prayers were answered, and "the 
 mighty, the stupendous Augustine," was given to the church as 
 one of the great leaders of God's hosts. Soon after his baptism, 
 his mother was taken to heaven. One evening he stood by her 
 side, when she said: " Augustine, I have no clinging to life. It 
 Avas your conversion alone for which I wished to live, and now 
 God has given me this, there is no more for me to do here." In 
 less than two weeks from that time she was ' ' where the wicked 
 cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." But the death 
 of his mother was a sore trial to Augustine; yet even then the 
 hymns of Ambrose were a great source of comfort to him. He 
 says: "I slept, and woke up again, and found my grief not a 
 little softened; and as I was alone in my bed, I remembered those 
 true verses of Thy Ambrose. For Thou art the — 
 
 ' Maker of all, the Lord 
 
 And Ruler of the height, 
 Who, robing day in light, hast poured 
 
 Soft slumbers o'er the night. 
 That to our limbs the power 
 
 Of toil may be renewed, 
 And hearts be raised that sink and cower, 
 
 And sorrows be subdued.' " 
 
 Augustine was soon ordained to th(^ ministry, and became 
 Bishop of Hippo in Africa, where he ended a life of consecrated 
 service in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His published works 
 
62 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 arc yet read with profit, and rank very high in patristic htcratiire. 
 Bishop Ambrose was the great hymn-writer of thi; Western 
 Church. At the fourth council of Toledo it -svas decreed that 
 "Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan be recognized and 
 honored as the great fathers of Christian song in the Western 
 Church, and that their hymns be sanctioned and commended." 
 Several of Ambrose's hymns are yet doing service in the church. 
 Perhaps the best known is: 
 
 " O Jesus, Lord of heavenly grace, 
 Thou brightness of Thy Father's face, 
 Thou Fountain of eternal light, 
 Whose beams disperse the shades of night. 
 
 O Christ, with each returning morn 
 Thine image to our hearts be borne. 
 And may we ever clearly see 
 Our God and Saviour, Lord, in Thee." 
 
 We are not attempting a history of psalmody. That must 
 be the work of some abler hand than ours. We only intend to 
 invite attention to this interesting theme by sketching the history 
 of a few prominent hymn-writers, and that only so far as is needed 
 to illustrate their work as hymnists. 
 
 We must now leave Italy, and turn our attention to Ancient 
 Gaul. May we not venture to use its modern name, and call it 
 France ? Our story has to do with the Merovingian or German 
 dynasty of Prankish kings. Clovis, the first king of the Franks, 
 was a heathen warrior. His name was an old German one which 
 meant " famous warrior; " translated into French it would be 
 Louis, and doubtless the seventeen kings of France who bore that 
 name took it from Clovis, the old German king of the Franks. 
 One of the wisest acts of his life w'as his marriage with Clotilda, 
 a daughter of the king of Burgundy. His wife was a child of 
 sorrow, for her father, mother and brothers had been cruelly 
 murdered by her uncle during her childhood. Probably these 
 sufferings were the means of drawing her nearer to her Lord, 
 for Clotilda was a Christian lady. At the time of her marriage, 
 her husband was a heathen. He could not, however, have placed 
 great confidence in his idol gods; for, while fighting a great battle 
 in which he was hardly pressed, he l)egan to pray to his wife's 
 God, invoking His aid in the conflict, and promising that if vic- 
 torv crowned his arms, he would abandon idolatry and become a 
 Christian. The enemy was routed, and Clovis declared himself a 
 
to 
 
 o 
 
 g 
 
 bi 
 b 
 
 to 
 Eg 
 
 &3 
 
BEGINNINGS OF PSALMODY IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. G3 
 
 follower of Christ. What kind of Christian he became may be left 
 to conjecture; but Christianity was afterwards the recognized 
 religion of the court. Clovis was greatly interested in music, and 
 sent to Italy for a musician. William du Peyrat had access to the 
 archives of the chapel of the kings of France, and from an old 
 manuscript has furnished a description of the arrival of the 
 musician, together with an instrumental performer, at Clovis' court. 
 "Clovis' priests and singers formed themselves after his style, 
 and sang with great sweetness, and also learned to perform on 
 various instruments; and the great monarch used them ever after 
 at Divine service, which practice was continued by all his succes- 
 sors; so that music was much used at the courts of our first 
 sovereigns." 
 
 At his death, Clovis was succeeded by his son Clotaire, the 
 details of whose life and reign are not necessary to our purpose. 
 Suffice it to say that he made war upon a district now known as 
 Upper Saxony, where he was victorious; and he returned home to 
 France with the spoils of the war. The most precious of these 
 was a dear little interesting girl of twelve years of age, the 
 daughter of Berthar, a prince of the conquered country. The 
 little captive's name was Radegunda. It must have been a fearful 
 trial for her to be removed from the care of those who loved her, 
 and placed among a people of strange habits and strange lan- 
 guage. Her lot was a hard one, and all she could do was to call 
 upon the heathen gods which she had been taught to worship. But 
 she made the best of her life, and conducted herself so as to gain 
 the hearty respect of those around her; and her captivity proved 
 a blessing, because it brought her in contact with the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ, whose name she had never heard in her own land. 
 She soon grew interested, and learned to read the Bible in the 
 Latin tongue; and it pleased God, by His Holy Spirit, to open 
 her eyes to her lost condition, and to lead her to accept Christ as 
 her all-sufficient Saviour. During her girlhood she became a 
 general favorite in Clotaire's palace. She carefully attended to 
 the improvement of her mind, was conscientious in all she did, 
 and so developed into a beautiful womanhood. Then came her 
 time of trial. The king, who had brought her from her own land 
 as a prisoner of war, became passionately in love with her, and 
 entreated her to l)e his wife and queen. This Avas much against 
 her mind, for she had long resolved to spend kcr life in some 
 
6J: THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 nunnery in religious seclusion. But Clotairc was so earnest and 
 persistent in urging his plea that, after a long time, she gave a 
 reluctant consent. But that consent was a serious mistake, and, 
 under such circumstances, she ought not to have married. They 
 lived together, but she was not happy, and her husband com- 
 plained that " he had married a nun, rather than a queen," After 
 a few years she obtained his consent to separate from him, and 
 was ordained a deaconess of the church. Then she founded a 
 monastery at Poitiers, which from her great wealth she very richly 
 endowed, and there she spent the remainder of her life. She was 
 passionately fond of music, and carefully developed the psalmody 
 of the monastery. She wrote many of the hymns which were 
 sung in the daily services; and thus the little heathen captive 
 became a celebrated hymn-writer in the Western Church. 
 
 It was an age when there was much real piety mixed with 
 much gross superstition. A few years before the monastery was 
 ready to be devoted to sacred uses, the Empress Helena had 
 startled the world by declaring that, under Divine direction, she 
 had found the true cross. All the cathedral churches and religious 
 houses were wild with excitement and extremely anxious to obtain 
 at least a small piece of the much-coveted wood. At an enormous 
 cost Radegunda secured a portion for her monastery, and the day 
 upon which it was to be transported thither was anticipated with 
 much concern. 
 
 Just then a stranger called at the monastery and asked an 
 audience with Queen Radegunda. He introduced himself as Ven- 
 antius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus, and said that he was an 
 Italian poet and had come to Gaul that he might improve him- 
 self by coming into contact with the best minds of that land. He 
 showed her specimens of his literary work, and the queen was so 
 much interested that she requested him to remain at the convent 
 for an indefinite time. He occupied his first days in preparing a 
 hymn to be sung upon the important occasion of the arrival of 
 the piece of sacred wood. The queen was delighted- with the mag- 
 nificent hymn, "Vexilla Regis Prodeunt," and Fortunatus was 
 entreated to devote his life to the work of the convent. For more 
 than thirty years he remained as the guest of the queen, and so 
 enjoyed the confidence of the people that in the year 500 he was 
 unanimously elected Bishop of Poiti(>rs, and assumed the important 
 duties that had once been so faithfully discharged by Hilary. 
 
BEGINNINGS OF PSALMODY IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. 05 
 
 His poems, h3'mns and other literary -works fill several large vol- 
 umes, and some of the hymns are yet used by the church. Perhaps 
 the best known is the one which Jerome of Prague used as his 
 death-song l)y singing it whilst he was being burnt at the stake. 
 The first verse reads as follows: 
 
 " Welcome, happy morning! 
 Age to age shall say: 
 Hell today is vanquished, 
 Heaven is won to-day! 
 Lo! the Dead is living, 
 God for evermore! 
 Him, their true Creator, 
 All his works adore!" 
 
CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 MEDIEVAL HYMNS, OR SONGS OF THE MIDNIGHT. 
 
 "Light of those whose dreary dwelling 
 Borders on the shades of death! 
 Rise on us, Thy love revealing, 
 Dissipate the clouds beneath; 
 Thou of heaven and earth Creator, 
 In our deepest darkness rise, — 
 Scattering all the night of nature, 
 Pouring day upon our eyes." 
 
 The dark ages of the world's long midnight ! A night of six 
 hundred years, during which ' ' darkness covered the earth, and 
 gross darkness the people. " The light of Divine truth was almost 
 extinguished, and, as a consequence, the world was left to grcpe 
 in midnight blackness. It is impossible for us to realize the con- 
 dition of society during the wearisome period from the sixth to 
 to the twelfth centuries. Knowledge was absolutely unattainable. 
 For the most part the clergy were as densely ignorant as the 
 people whom they ought to have taught. The art of printing 
 was unknown, and the few written books in existence were lying 
 forofotten amonjr the rubbish of old monasteries. The whole 
 people were grossly superstitious. Omens and signs were mat- 
 ters of intense daily interest. Ghosts were believed to walk in 
 open day. "Witchcraft was a dread incubus whose crushing 
 weight made life an unceasing burden. The laboring people were 
 known as ''hinds" or "villains," who performed their daily task of 
 allotted drudgery and were as much the property of their masters 
 as were the horses they tended, the latter being much better cared 
 for than the former. The popular theory was that the poor were 
 created for no other purpose than to toady to the wishes or 
 caprices of the rich. Society was utterly disintegrated. Public 
 safety was unknown and unthought of. It was a time of intense 
 
 (66) 
 
MEDK^iVAL HYMNS, OR SONGS OF THE MIDNIGHT 07 
 
 selfishness. " Each for himself " was the motto of the men whose 
 castles and estates formed the centre and circumference of all the 
 country they cared for. 
 
 The sixth century was a period of wild, cruel, brute force. 
 Barbaric hordes swept over the suffering ntitions like tornadoes . 
 of fire, leaving little but death and ruin in their path. National 
 and social life were overthrown by savage lawlessness. Robbery 
 and murder were the ways to wealth and position, and were 
 regarded by their perpetrators as commendable deeds of chivalry 
 and heroism. Labor was stigmatized as low and degrading. The 
 laborer was constantly plundered of the results of his industry by 
 those who boasted their social and intellectual superiority. Herds- 
 men were frequently murdered, and their cattle driven away. 
 The farmer often gathered his crops to see them garnered by his 
 thievish oppressors. The earth rocked beneath the rude shocks 
 of wars that were accompanied by every species of savage l)ru- 
 tality that hellish cruelty could devise. The reeking earth had 
 become corrupt with the putrescent blood of its own children, and 
 lay bruised and bleeding under the iron hoofs of savage oppres- 
 sion. The tottering thrones and demoralized governments were 
 powerless to afibrd protection to their hunted and downtrodden 
 
 peoples. 
 
 The monasteries were a necessity of the times. Benedict, 
 "the father of Western monasticism," simply organized a society 
 for mutual protection, known as "The Monks of Saint Benedict. " 
 These men constructed massive, strongly-fortified monasteries, 
 where they could shelter themselves and protect and enjoy the 
 fruits of their toil. For the first three centuries after their 
 organization these monasteries were public blessings. The early 
 monks were usually men of sterling character who proved them- 
 selves benefactors of their kind. Their industrious habits and 
 kindly disposition enabled them to feed the hungry and shelter 
 the homeless. The monastery was a hospital for the sick, a 
 protection and court of appeal for the oppressed, a school for the 
 student, an inquiry office for the illiterate, and a convenience for 
 the whole neighborhood. The monks and nuns were the teachers, 
 the helpers, the true friends of the people. For ages the religious 
 houses were the only post-offices in existence; the monks wrote 
 and forwardad and received and read the letters of the community. 
 This was n.,cessary, because the ordinary people could neither 
 
68 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 read nor Avritc. These monasteries were schools of music and 
 song, because to sing the praises of God was a most important 
 part of their ritual. Some of the precious, grand old hymns 
 "svhich were composed and sung in the cloisters, have come down 
 to us venerable with age; and, while they express the i)ious 
 thought of to-day and bear our worship to heaven, they are also 
 the echoes of the religious life of far-off centuries. 
 
 It was only when these monasteries grew so wealthy as to 
 tempt the cupidity of the unprincipled and unscrupulous that they 
 lost their high character; and, instead of being the friends, the 
 monks became the oppressors of their race. Luxury and idleness 
 opened the way for dissipation and debauchery, and the corruption 
 of monasticism rendered it insufficient to support the weight of its 
 own existence. Monasticism began as a blessing, but it ended as 
 a curse. At the time of the Reformation the monasteries of En- 
 gland were reeking hot-beds of vice, superstition and fraud. The 
 monks fattened upon the credulity of the people. Walking and 
 talking and winking and weeping images were the means by which 
 they extorted enormous revenues from their deluded victims. The 
 monks often went to matins in a beastly state of intoxication, and 
 the scandalous stories of the monasteries were a bane to public 
 morals. The abbots grew immensely rich, whilst the people, of 
 course, became correspondingly poor. Poor godless Henry VIII. , 
 criminal as he was, was an unconscious instrument in God's 
 hands for accomplishing much good. 
 
 The darkness of the medieval night was intense; yet, as in 
 the darkest and stormiest night there will probably be some 
 cloud-rifts through which the Cj[uiet stars may shine to remind us 
 that all is serene and tranquil in heaven above, so during the 
 world's long night there were some bright s})irits who lived above 
 the thick, turbulent atmosphere that environed them; whose light 
 shone before men, and whose memory and work remain, to 
 " shine as the stars for ever and ever." Among these were ijifted 
 hymn- writers, whose sweet strains have come down to us from 
 out of the darkness and are indeed " Songs of the Night." 
 
 Of course it would be b(^th unreasonable and absurd to judge 
 these hymn-writers by the ordinary standards of our own times. 
 The wisdom of one age will often appear but as folly, if thrown upon 
 the l)ackground of a succeeding century. Were it possible that 
 those men could live and act in our day, just as they did in their 
 
MEDIEVAL HYMXS, OR SONGS OF THE MIDNIGHT. 69 
 
 own, they would now be regarded as monstrosities, and every 
 one would avoid them. We could not tolerate their intolerance, 
 nor endorse their erroneous creeds or endure their superstitious 
 bigotry. Yet, had our lot been cast in that age, we may not have 
 acted our part better than they did. The careful and devout 
 student of history will recognize the privilege of living in this 
 century and being a citizen of this country 
 
 Gregory the Great lived at the beginning — the evening — of 
 the long night, and was — as we think — in part responsible for it. 
 He belonged to a wealthy Roman family, and held many high 
 offices in the state. But, under a sense of duty, he used up the 
 whole of his wealth in building and endowing a monastery in 
 Rome and six others in Sicil}^; and stripping himself of his costly 
 robes, together with his gold and jewels, he gave the entire pro- 
 ceeds to the poor of the city, and then — in absolute poverty — 
 withdrew from the Avorld, to share the privations of the monastery 
 he had prepared. His friends, however, refused to permit him to 
 spend his life in retirement; and, after having conveyed a com- 
 mission from the Vatican to the court at Constantinople, upon his 
 return he was appointed secretary to his holiness the Pope. At 
 the death of Pelagius II. , Gregory was chosen as his successor, 
 and is said to have been one of the best of popes. Dr. Hatfield 
 says: ''He was a faithful preacher of the Gospel, a thorough 
 scholar, a profound thinker, a genuine reformer, and had the repu- 
 tation of being a truly holy man." We think this language too 
 strongly put, and regard it as misleading. The Gospel of Gregory 
 was the doctrines and dogmas of the Romish Church. He taught 
 transubstantiation, and was a zealous advocate of the doctrines of 
 purgatory and the necessity of prayers for the dead. We think 
 that Gregory's greatness consisted in his marvelous executive 
 ability. Dean Milman says: " Nothing seemed too great, noth- 
 ing too insignificant for his earnest personal solicitude." In this 
 lay his great power. He made himself thoroughly acquainted 
 with all the details of ecclesiastical polity, and to him the Romish 
 Church is indebted for her almost perfect organization. Pie was 
 a great churchman, and the marks of his genius can be found in 
 every part of the ritual of the papal church. We f;iil to sec why 
 Dr. Hatfield should regard him as " a genuine reformer," unless 
 he refers to Gregory's efforts to improve the psalmody of the 
 church. It is true that we arc indebted to him for the simple 
 
70 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 system of musical notation now in use. He was also the inventor 
 of that kind of chant which yet bears his name and is known as 
 the Gregorian chant. He was a great musician, and, as w^e think, 
 unfortunately succeeded in reducing psalmody to a fine art. But 
 we gravely question whether that is sufficient to entitle him to the 
 name of "reformer." "May the devil fly away with the fine 
 arts," said Carlyle, in one of his outbursts of frenzy. Were it 
 not profane, we would almost cr}^, Amen. We remember having 
 met with the following sentence in the works of John Ruskin: 
 " I never met with a man whose mind was fully set upon the 
 world to come, perfect and right before God, who cared for art 
 at all." The sentence astonished us, coming from Ruskin. But 
 so far as psalmody is concerned, we endorse the sentiment. We 
 have seen that in the early church the whole congregation joined 
 in holy song. As Clement has it, "Men, women and children 
 blended their voices in praise. " But the ecclesiastics soon showed 
 a disposition to appropriate the exercise to themselves. In the 
 council of Laodicea, in A. D. 363, it was decreed that " to restore 
 decency and oixler in the churches, the laity should be forbidden 
 to sing, except in certain simple chants, which may be sung for 
 their benefit." This decree, however, seems to have been " more 
 honored in the breach than in the observance. " But under the 
 guidance of Gregory, the Romish Church began to seriously in- 
 fringe upon the liberties of the people in matters pertaining to the 
 public worship of God's house. Its first act was to insert the thin 
 end of a W' edge — that has been used by choirs ever since — in the 
 shape of music too difficult for any but trained singers to execute. 
 Then the clergy began to teach that the singing of the Divine 
 praises were too sacred for any other than clerical lips; and, in 
 consequence of this priestly interference, congregational singing 
 was a thing unknown for hundreds of years. The people of the 
 dark ages did as most people of to-day do — worshiped God by 
 proxy; the only difierence being that, instead of priestly choirs, 
 we pay a quartette to " render " the service for the congregation. 
 Gregory established a singing-school in Rome, which was in 
 a flourishing condition three hundred years after his death. Every 
 one has heard the story of his meeting wdth the fair-faced youths 
 who were being ofi'ered for sale in the slave market at Rome. 
 "From what country do these come?" he asked of the traders. 
 " They arc Angles from Angleland, " was the reply. ' ' Not Angles,. 
 
MEDIAEVAL HYMNS, OR SONGS OF THE ]\nDNIGHT. 71 
 
 but angels," he said. "And wnat is the name of their king?" 
 "Aella," answered the trader. "A good omen," said Gregory; 
 "alleluias shall yet be sung there." True to his promise, he 
 afterwards sent Augustine with a band of missionaries, to convert 
 the people of England to Christianity. Gregory wrote at least ten 
 popular and useful hymns. Luther said that "his hymns contain 
 the very essence of Christianity, and must ever be regarded as 
 standard songs of the church." Perhaps the most popular of 
 those now in use is — 
 
 " O Christ, our King, Creator, Lord, 
 Saviour of all who trust Thy word; 
 To those who seek Thee, ever near, 
 Now to our praises bend Thine ear." 
 
 From the third century there had been a disposition to mon- 
 astic seclusion. Some desired to retire from a world Avith which 
 they had grown disgusted; others to enjoy the opportunity for 
 quiet, uninterrupted study; and yet others to escape the bloody 
 persecutions that so rapidly succeeded each other. Sabas, or, to 
 use his canonized title, Saint Sabas, founded the monastery that 
 bears his name near Jerusalem in the beginning of the sixth cen- 
 tury, an age when, as has been explained, monasticism was a 
 necessity. There Sabas died and was interred in the monastery in 
 the year 532. The old gray building is yet in use and was visited 
 recently by the Rev. James King, who describes the place in his 
 work on "Anglican Hymnology." He says: "This secluded 
 convent has stood in the midst of savage desolation for fourteen 
 centuries. Several times in the course of ages it has been plun- 
 dered and the inmates put to death by Persians, Moslems and 
 Arabs. The Sabaites at present number about forty, and their 
 rule is very severe, being under a vow never to eat animal food. 
 They have seven religious services every twenty-four hours, five 
 by day, and two by night. They received us kindly, and we were 
 carefully conducted by a monk through the whole monastery. We 
 were shown a cave containing thousands of skulls of martyred 
 monks. We also saw the bells of Mar Saba, whose beautiful 
 chimes gladden the hearts of pilgrims who pursue their journc}" 
 through the desolate wilderness. Two of the hymns now in use 
 in our churches were written in St. Seba. More than eleven hun- 
 dred years ago John of Damascus was a resident monk of that 
 
72 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 monastery, and there he wrote the hymn the translation of which 
 by the Rev. J. M. Neale is found in most of our modern hymnals. 
 
 " The day of resurrection, earth tell it out abroad; 
 The Passover of gladness, the Passover of God. 
 From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky, 
 Our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory." 
 
 John of Damascus was born of wealthy parents, in the city 
 whose name he bore. During his early manhood he was appointed 
 governor of the city, and served his term with credit to himself 
 and to the satisfaction of the citizens. He was an accomplished 
 orator, his extraordinary eloquence having gained him the popu- 
 lar and suggestive nom de plume of " Golden Stream." When 
 thirty years of age he retired within the walls of St. Seba, and 
 never reappeared in the world again. Dr. Neale calls him "• the 
 greatest poet of the Eastern Church." 
 
 During John Damascene's early life, he was in some way 
 made responsible for the care of his nephew Stephen, a boy ten 
 years old. We have no means of knowing whether the boy 
 desired it or not, but in his tenth year his uncle placed him in 
 the monastery, where he remained shut up from the world until 
 the day of his death, which occurred fifty-nine years afterwards, 
 and fourteen years after the death of his uncle. At some time 
 during those years he wrote the hymn we still love to sing, and 
 for the translation of which we are greatly indebted to Dr. Neale: 
 
 "Art thou weary? Art thou languid? 
 Art thou sore distressed? 
 Come to Me, saith One, and coming. 
 Be at rest." 
 
 During his recent visit to St. Seba, Mr. King was shown the 
 three tombs of three sacred poets, St. Cosmas of Jerusalem, St. 
 John Damascene, and St. Stephen, the Sabaite. For long ages 
 they have slumbered in the tomb, but their influence yet lives in 
 the sweet hynms they gave to the church. 
 
 A year before the death of Stephen, in Palestine, the Emperor 
 Charlemagne had appointed Theodulph to the Bishopric of Orleans 
 in France, The bishop enjoyed the friendship of the illustrious 
 emperor until the latter's death in 814. At first he also enjoyed 
 the c(nifidcnce of Charlemagne's son and successor, Louis le 
 Debonnaire; but in the fourth year of Louis' reign, Theodulph was 
 suspected of using his influence against his patron. He vainly 
 
MEDIEVAL HYMNS, OR SONGS OF THE MIDNIGHT. 73 
 
 protested his innocence, and, being deprived of his charge and 
 office, was imprisoned at Anjou. It is said that his hymn, 
 now found in our hymnals, was written in his cell; and that 
 on Palm Sunday, as the emperor passed the prison, the bishop 
 stood by the barred window and sang so sweetly as to move 
 the heart of the monarch to grant him his release. The story, 
 however, is based upon very doubtful authority, and it is believed 
 that the bishop died in bondage. It is probable that his popular 
 hymn was written in prison, as were also a number of poems and 
 songs which were the products of his gifted brain and consecrated 
 heart. The first verse reads: 
 
 " All glory, land, and honor 
 To Thee, Redeemer, King! 
 To whom the lips of children 
 Made sweet hosannas ring. 
 Thou art the King of Israel, 
 Thou David's royal Son, 
 Who in the Lord's name comest, 
 The King and blessed One." 
 
 Eighty-two years after the death of Bishop Theodulph, Robert 
 II. ascended the throne as King of France. He is said to have 
 been a gentle, kind-hearted man, whose childlike disposition un- 
 fitted him to cope with the crafty intrigues of wily courtiers. He 
 lived in a vile age and was environed with peculiar difficulties. 
 One cause of serious trouble was his marriage with his cousin 
 Bertha, the daughter of the King of Burgundy. They were ten- 
 derly attached to each other, and a council of bishops gave their 
 consent to the union, the archbishop officiating at the wedding. 
 But after its consummation the pope declared the marriage un- 
 lawful, and commanded them to separate from each other. This 
 for a time they refused to do, but the pope placed the whole 
 country under the ban of the church, and brought such a pressure 
 upon the whole people, that the king was compelled to ol)ey the 
 ecclesiastical mandate. After some years Robert married a proud, 
 imperious woman, whose peevish disposition and dominant tem- 
 per was the bane of his existence. To be happy with her Avas 
 impossible. He reigned for the long period of thirty-five years, 
 and was known as the father of his country, the patron of the 
 arts, and the friend of the poor. His last years were embittered 
 by the cruel opposition of his sons. He built several beautiful 
 churches, and contributed largely to all benevolent objects. For 
 
74: THE PSALJMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 many years he acted as leading chorister in the Church of St. 
 Dennis. It is said that he loved to wear his royal robes whilst 
 thus eno^ao'ed in the service of the Kino; of Kings. He died in 
 1031, and his body rests in the church where he was accustomed 
 to worship. There are but few kings who have left a better leg- 
 acy for their posterity than the hymn King Robert gave us, which 
 is yet a blessing in the church. Ray Palmer's beautiful transla- 
 tion is as follows: 
 
 "Come, Holy Ghost! in love, 
 
 Shed on us, from above, 
 
 Thine own bright ray; 
 \ Divinely good Thou art; 
 
 Thy sacred gifts impart. 
 
 To gladden each sad heart; 
 
 Oh, come to day! 
 
 Sixty years after the death of King Robert of France, a child 
 was born in the home of Sorus Tessalin — or literally, Red Headed 
 Tessalin — and his wife, the Lady Aletta, who lived at their ances- 
 tral home, in the castle of Fontaines, near Dijon, Burgundy. We 
 suppose that Tessalin was a fair specimen of a feudal baron, the 
 lord of the castle and estate. In his quaint way Hood says: 
 "He was a pious fighting man. Two instincts ruled the world 
 in that age: one for fighting, the other for praying. Tessalin, at 
 a moment's notice, was ready for either. He had a rude sense of 
 justice, and an ill-conditioned holiness within him." We confess 
 that it was a strange kind of holiness, but perhaps almost the 
 only kind current in those days; for the circumstances and con- 
 ditions of the times called out all the rugged and the daring that 
 was in men of Tessalin's class. 
 
 His wife, the Lady Aletta, was just the opposite of her fiery, 
 hot-headed husband. She was a thin, frail, mournful woman, who 
 had educated herself to measure the depth of her piety by the 
 frequency of her tears. She had ruined her health by practicing 
 the austerities of her creed, hoping to gain heaven by denying 
 herself every comfort upon earth. Yet, spite of these supersti- 
 tious observances, she was undoubtedly a sincere, godly woman, 
 who from the hour of his birth had dedicated her boy to God. 
 Bernard was born into a turbulent world. It was an age of fiery 
 zeal for the recovery of the holy sepulchre frcmi infidel hands; 
 and amid wars and rumors of wars the restless nations were all 
 in arms. When the boy was five years old, he must have heard 
 
MEDIAEVAL HYMNS, OR SOXGS OF THE :MTDXIGnT. <5 
 
 evcr3'one talking of the crusade. In the spring of that }ear, 
 hundreds of thousands from all parts of Europe started for Pal- 
 estine. All through his boyhood and youth he must have con- 
 stantl}'" heard of the successes or failures of the crusaders. The 
 hermit Peter had roused all Europe with the cry, "Deus Vult," 
 God wills it. The more pious men were, the more they felt it 
 their duty to fight for God and the Church. Countless hosts had 
 started who had no more idea of the location of Palestine than 
 they had of the location of Alaska. Six hundred thousand armed 
 men had marched in different armies for Jerusalem. Hundreds of 
 thousands died on the Avay of disease and starvation. The in- 
 tense excitement of the times was likely to divert young Bernard's 
 mind from the teachings of his Christian mother. But just before 
 reaching his twentieth year that m^other was taken sick, and after 
 having solemnly commended her seven children to God, she told 
 Bernard that she realized that her cares were ended and her work 
 done. And then, turning her thoughts to heaven and fixing her 
 heart upon Him who reigns there, she probably for the first time 
 realizecl the joy of believing. A flood of holy light filled all her 
 soul; joy gleamed through her eyes, and she burst out into a loud 
 strain of gladsome song. Her face was radiant as an angel's, her 
 song as sweet as a seraph's. She died while the words of praise 
 were upon her lips, and ended that song in heaven. But her song 
 had done its work. It was the means God used in answering that 
 mother's twenty years of prayer. From that time Bernard be- 
 came a Christ-loving, consecrated man. By arousing his dormant 
 powers the religion of Jesus made a new man of him. Not only 
 did a change of heart make him "a new creature in Christ Jesus," 
 but, as a new motive in his life, his religion reinvigorated his 
 moral power and so intensified his impulses that he became a 
 strong-er and more influential man. After his conversion he was 
 a very whirlwind of energy. Every expression of his face told of 
 his earnestness and sincerity, and his words never failed to carry 
 conviction with them. Because he thoroughly believed in God, 
 men believed in him. After finding Jesus for himself, his first 
 work, Andrew-like, was to bring his father and five brethren to 
 Christ; and in this he was successful. One of his brothers after- 
 wards died; but Bernard said: "I have not lost him, he has 
 only preceded me; like my precious mother, he died singing the 
 praises of God." 
 
76 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 In his twenty-second year Bernard withdrew from the world 
 by entering the monastery at Citeaux. The rules of the house 
 were so severe that in a short time he was reduced almost to a 
 skeleton. They ate but one meal a day, and that of the coarsest 
 food. Meat, fish, grease or eggs they were not allowed to taste. 
 Two years afterwards, Stephen Harding, the Abbot of Citeaux, 
 put a crucifix into Bernard's hand and bade him go into the wil- 
 derness and found a new monastery. Twelve monks were bidden 
 to accompany him, and Bernard led them to a wild, gloomy forest 
 infested with robbers and known as "The Valley of Wormwood," 
 and there he founded the world-renowned Abbey of Clairvaux, 
 where he literally made " the wilderness to rejoice and blossom as 
 the rose." Meanwhile his reputation grew to be world-wide. 
 Pupils flocked to him from all parts of Europe, and no less than 
 seven hundred novitiates were at one time attached to the monas- 
 tery. These years of study in the monastery prepared his massive 
 intellect to comprehend things at a glance. He studied books, 
 but he studied men more than books. 
 
 He was too great a man to be permitted to spend his whole 
 life behind the walls of a monastery. The dignitaries of the church 
 and the rulers of the states alike needed his wise counsels, and 
 coveted the aid of his wide and commanding influence. So thor- 
 oughly did he identify himself with the great questions and inter- 
 ests of his day that a complete biography would fall but little short 
 of being a complete history of his times. His quick perceptions 
 and his sound judgment made his assistance invaluable. His 
 consummate wisdom planned and his invincible energy and in- 
 domitable will completed his plans. The pale-faced, frail-looking, 
 attenuated monk was a very giant, and a born ruler of men. He 
 sat in the councils of popes and emperors and kings, surrounded 
 by the wealth and influence and chivalry of Europe, amid men of 
 mighty intellect and conmianding presence; but all e}'es instinct- 
 ively turned to him, ready either to be influenced l)y his opinions 
 or abide by his decisions. None dared to oppose him. Sturdy 
 barons and steel-clad knights trembled before the burning words 
 of the daring monk, and shrank from the stinging and terrible 
 lash of his tongue. 
 
 On the fourteenth of February, 1130, Pope Honorius H. died, 
 and on the same evening two popes were elected to succeed him. 
 One party chose Cardinal Gregory, whom they called Innocent II,, 
 
MEDIAEVAL HYMNS, OR SONGS OF THE MIDNIGHT. 77 
 
 whilst another party declared that Peter Leonis was pope, under 
 the name of Anacletus II. It was a serious time for the papacy. 
 A council was convened, to which Bernard was specially invited 
 by the king and the chief bishops; and, strange to say, that coun- 
 cil of illustrious men unanimously decided to submit the whole 
 matter to Bernard, and pledged itself to abide by his decision. 
 He declared for Innocent, and the council })roke u\) with vows of 
 obedience to Innocent. He was the most powerful and influential 
 man in Europe; he made and unmade monarchs at his will, and 
 he held the destiny and policy of the nations largely under his con- 
 trol. Never was man more popular than he. When preaching for 
 the purpose of exciting zeal in the second crusade, hundreds of 
 thousands gathered with the hope of hearing his fervid words. At 
 Vezelai, King Louis VII. and his queen were among his auditors. 
 But no one thought of kings or queens. It was Bernard of Clair- 
 vaux whom the eager people wished to see. Similar scenes oc- 
 curred in every city where he had been announced to preach. At 
 Frankfort the crowds so thronged him that his life was in immi- 
 nent danger from suffocation, and he would have surely died, only 
 that the Emperor Conrad laid aside his royal robes, and, taking 
 the half-starved monk into his brawny arms, hoisted him over his 
 shoulders and carried him to a place of safety. 
 
 We will quote a passage from one of his sermons to the de- 
 parting crusaders. It is a passage we cannot explain. Whether 
 it was errim humor or scathing satire we cannot tell. A vast assem- 
 blage was before him, made up of all grades and classes of people, 
 among them a large representation of the wealth and chivalry of 
 France. And this is the way the daring monk harangued and 
 belabored them: 
 
 "The most joyful and salutary result to be perceived from 
 the crusade is that in such a multitude flocking to the East there 
 are but few besides scoundrels, vagabonds, thieves, murderers, 
 peijurers and adulterers, from whose going a double good will 
 flow— a two-fold advantage. You will give as much delight to 
 those you leave as to those you go to assist. Egypt is glad at 
 your departure; and if Judah will rejoice at your arrival, a double 
 good will result."* 
 
 That crusade was an exceedingly disastrous one. Those vast 
 multitudes were like sheep going to the slaughter. Nine out of 
 ten never saw their native land again. The way to Palestine was 
 
78 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 outlined by the bleached bones of hundreds of thousands who per- 
 ished by the wayside. In a sermon to the Knight Templars, he 
 said: " Certain things are especially needed by the soldier. He 
 must be bold, yet vigilant; quick in his movements and prompt to 
 strike. But you deck out your horses with silken trappings; you 
 wear flaunting cloaks over your steel breastplates; you paint your 
 shields, your spears and your saddles; your spurs and your bridles 
 shine with gold, and silver, and gems; and in this gay pomp you 
 rush upon your death. You cultivate long hair which gets into 
 your eyes; your feet get entangled in your long flowing robes; 
 your delicate hands are buried in your ample and spreading 
 sleeves, and you fight for any frivolous cause to promote your 
 own vain-glory. " 
 
 It was the knights and barons who represented the proud 
 chivalry of Europe to w^hom he talked in this plain and candid 
 manner. The monk of Clairvaux never feared the face of man. 
 
 Bernard wrote some of our sweetest hymns, and these corrob- 
 orate the testimony of his life, that, before God, this seemingly 
 stern, strong man's heart was as tender as a little child's. Luther 
 said: "If there has ever been a pious monk who feared God, it 
 was Bernard, whom alone I hold in much higher esteem than all 
 other monks and priests throughout the globe. '' He died in his 
 sixty-second year. When dying, some one asked him, "Do 3^ou 
 feel able to answer for your sins ? " With a quiet smile, he said: 
 "No; so far from being able to answer for my sins, I cannot even 
 answer for my righteousness." We select a sentence from one of 
 his sermons and two verses from one of his h^aiins: 
 
 "Jesus, all the food of the soul is dry if it be not mingled 
 
 with this oil; insiped if it be not preserved with this salt. If 
 
 you write, I have no relish, unless I there read of Jesus; if you 
 
 confer or dispute, I care not, unless I hear the name of Jesus. " 
 
 ' ' Jesus, the very thought of Thee, 
 With sweetness fills the breast; 
 But sweeter far Thy face to see. 
 And in Thy presence rest. 
 
 No voice can sing, nor tongue can frame, 
 
 Nor can the memory find, 
 A sweeter sound than Thy blessed name, 
 
 O Saviour of mankind." 
 
 Space will not permit us to lengthen this chapter. There are 
 many sweet songs of the midnight to which we cannot refer. We 
 
MEDIAEVAL HYMNS, OR SONGS OF THE MIDNIGHT. 79 
 
 would fear to say how many trans.anons we ■ ave of tnc celebrated 
 Latin hymn, "Veni, Creator Spiritus." The first verse of the 
 poet Dry den's translation is as follows: 
 
 " Creator Spirit, by whose aid 
 Tiie world's foundations first were laid, 
 Come, visit every waiting mind; 
 Come, pour Thy joys on human-kind." 
 
 The best authorities believe it to have been written by Rab- 
 anus Maurus, Archbishop of Mayence, who died in the year 856.- 
 Master Peter Abelard's hymns are not now in use in the churches; 
 and, passing l)y the shameful story of his life, we can afibrd to 
 dismiss him with a single sentence. The sacramental hymn of 
 Thomas Aquinas, the philosophical friar, deserves more than a 
 mere passing notice. It was the production of a zealous church- 
 man, a profound scholar and an astute controversialist. His hymn 
 was written in the latter part of the thirteenth century. The first 
 verse of Dr. Ray Palmer's translation is as follows: 
 
 O Bread to pilgrims given, 
 
 O Food that angels eat, 
 O Manna, sent from heaven. 
 
 For heaven-born natures meet! 
 
 It was early in the same centur}^ that Thomas De Celano 
 wrote his magnificent hymn, which, as translated by Sir Walter 
 Scott, commences: 
 
 " 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?" 
 
 The sublime grandeur of the original has led to perhaps 
 extravagant praise of the hymn. Dean Milman says "there is 
 nothing to be compared to it." Dean French call it "a master- 
 piece of sacred song." Daniel says it is "the most precious 
 treasure of the Latin Church." We thank God for the numerous 
 sweetly precious hymns that have come to us as voices from the 
 world's dreary midnight, to tell us that, even in that gloomy 
 age, there were some whose souls were illumined by "the light 
 of life." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ANCIENT ENGLISH PSALMODY. 
 
 Still lingers in our noon of time, 
 
 And on our Saxon tongue, 
 The echoes of the home born hymns. 
 
 The Aryan mothers sung. 
 
 And chilhood has its litanies 
 
 In every age and clime ; 
 The earliest cradles of the race 
 
 Were rocked to poets' rhyme." 
 
 We regard Gregory the Great to have been, as far as it was 
 possible for one man to have been so, the prototype of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. We have seen how deeply he was interested in 
 the appearance of the Angles whom he saw offered for sale in the 
 Roman slave market; and how he resolved that alleluias should 
 one day be sung in their far-off England. In a few 3^ears after- 
 wards he was exalted to the papal chair, and from that high van- 
 tage-ground he watched and waited for opportunities to extend 
 the Roman Catholic faith among the nations, with all the zeal of 
 an enthusiast, and 3'et with all the patience of a skillful diplo- 
 matist. He evidently believed that success largely depended upon 
 havinc: his argosies sail in at flood-tide. That favoral^le tide was 
 caused by the marriage of Ethelbert, the pagan king of England, 
 to Bercta, the daughter of Charibert, the Christian king of Gaul. 
 When the young Christian princess left her own land she was 
 accompanied to England by a bishop of her own church. That 
 was Gregory's opportunity, and Augustine, with a band of mis- 
 sionaries, was at once dispatched in pursuance of his previous de- 
 sign. So it was, that immediately after the marriage of the King 
 of England, Augustine and his band of monks were parading the 
 streets of Canterbury, bearing a large silver cross and singing, 
 " Turn from this city, O Lord, Thine anger; turn Thy wrath from 
 
 (80) 
 
ANCIENT ENGLISH PSALMODY. 31 
 
 Thy holy house, for we have sinned." At the instigation of his 
 bride, the king had met these missionaries upon the coast as they 
 landed, and promised them his protection. He refused, however, 
 to enter any house with them, fearing they might use the arts of 
 witchcraft against him. Their efforts to convince the king were 
 so eagerly sanctioned and encouraged by the fair young bride, that 
 in less than a year Ethelbert's conversion was announced, and in 
 this way a perverted form of Christianity was introduced to the An- 
 glo-Saxon people. The queen proved an enthusiast in missionary 
 effort, and under royal patronage the new faith spread rapidly. 
 
 Many have erroneously regarded this as the first introduction 
 of Christianity into the British Isles; but it is known that a Chris- 
 tian Church was established at Dover more than four centuries 
 before Augustine set foot upon English soil. Saint Alban is 
 believed to have suffered martyrdom for his faith three centuries 
 before Augustine's day. It is also known that three British 
 bishops formed part of the council of Aries, in A. D. 314. Irish 
 Christianity was a great power in the Western World at the time 
 when Augustine visited England. In 1SG5 the Irish Archaeological 
 Society published a volume of hymns that were composed by Irish 
 priests during the sixth and seventh centuries, the manuscript of 
 which had been discovered among some old papers in Trinity 
 College, Dublin. 
 
 The first English hymn-writer of whom we have any knowledge 
 was Bede, whose character and work so endeared him to the 
 hearts of his countrymen that he was unanimously surnamed 
 " The Venerable Bede." He was born in the year 673, and from 
 his seventh year his whole life was devoted to study within the 
 walls of Jarrow monastery. He was undoubtedly the greatest 
 scholar of the age in which he lived, and amid the turbulence of 
 human passion that beat and roared about him, he lived a quiet, 
 studious, childlike, Christian life. " His calm and gentle spirit, 
 the humanizing character of his pursuits, and the holiness of his 
 life, presented a striking contrast to the violence of the world 
 around him." Burke calls him " the father of English learning." 
 He must have been an incessant worker, for, in addition to his 
 ordinary duties as a monk, he often had as many as six hundred 
 persons under his tuition. He says: '' I have spent my whole life 
 in the same monastery, and while attentive to the rules of my 
 order and the service of the church, my constant pleasure has been 
 
82 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 • in learning, or teaching, or writing." He was a voluminous writer, 
 his most important work being an "Ecclesiastical History of En- 
 gland." In musical matters, he was fortunate in having been 
 educated by John, the arch-chanter of St. Peter's in Rome, who 
 was sent to England to introduce the Roman choral service into 
 the English churches. Bede wrote two important works on music 
 and psalmody, and thus gained the distinction of being the first 
 writer on hymnology. Probabl}^ he would not have committed 
 himself had he known how many scribblers would follow in his 
 footsteps. He was greatly assisted in his literar}^ w^ork by the 
 valualjle books which Benedict Biscop brought home upon each 
 of his visits to Rome. All his life long he was passionately fond 
 of singing, and died with the praises of God literally upon his 
 lips. The closing scene of the good man's life was exceedingly 
 touching. For many long days he had been engaged in translating 
 the Gospel of John into the ordinary language of the common 
 people. But as he drew near the end of his allotted task, he was 
 seized with sickness that manifested itself by extreme weakness 
 and loss of breath, accompanied with sleeplessness and consequent 
 languor. From the first attack, he seemed to realize that these 
 were certain signs of approaching death. He v/rote the last chap- 
 ters by the light of eternity, and was conscious that he was about 
 to see that Saviour concerning whom the apostle liore witness, and 
 for whose glory he was translating the life-giving words. Cuth- 
 bert, one of his pupils, says, "We all felt that we were to lose 
 him, and his last day's work was done amid tears and farewells." 
 At evening he said to the scribe, ' ' How much yet remains to be 
 done?" "The last verse, dear master," answered the scribe. 
 " We must finish it quickly," said the dying man. The verse was 
 translated and written, and the scribe said, " It is finished." " It 
 is finished," said the dear old saint. " Lift up my head and draw 
 my chair to the place Avhere I love to worship, and have so often 
 sung God's praises." This was done, when he struck up a sweet 
 hymn of praise, and while singing " Glory to the Father, Son and 
 Holy Ghost," his voice failed him, his head dropped upon his 
 breast, and the soul of "The Venerable Bede " joined the deathless 
 sonffs of the immortals before the throne. His hvmns are but 
 seldom used. The one best known liegins with the line — 
 " A hymn to martyrs sweetly sing." 
 
ANCIENT ENGLISH PSALMODY. 83 
 
 Wc could not read the English into Avhich Bede translated the 
 Gospel. We quote the following specimens of Anglo-Saxon from 
 the well-known "Book and Its Story," published by the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society. The Avords, " Our Father Who art in 
 Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come," translated 
 into the language of Bcde's day, would read, " Fader uren thu 
 arth in heofnum, sic gehalgud noma thin, to cymeth ric thin." 
 
 Augustine established a school for ecclesiastical music at 
 Canterbury, and a century afterwards Arch-chanter John devoted 
 his time and skill in improving the choral service of the English 
 churches. It is said that King Alfred founded a professorship of 
 sacred music at Oxford in the year SSO. Good King Alfred may 
 be said to have laid the foundations of English literature, as he 
 most certainly laid the basis of English liberty. He was intelli- 
 gent, pious, conscientious, and in all respects far in advance of his 
 age, and the thoughtful student of history cannot fail to recognize 
 him as one specially prepared of God for the important work 
 entrusted to his care. All he did was done well. A greater king 
 never sat upon the English throne. He excelled in all those 
 qualities of head and heart that constitute really successful king- 
 craft. He was a wise ruler, a judicious statesman, a brave and 
 skillful warrior, a devoted student and a sincere Christian. He 
 loved his people, who fondly called him '^Darling of the English." 
 All sorts of legends are associated with his name. Everyone has 
 heard how the herdsman's wife scolded the young king for care- 
 lessly permitting the cakes to burn, that were being liaked upon 
 the hearth, and how he mollified her wrath by singing a song. 
 All these old stories represent him as genial and good-natured. 
 He had a musical voice, and dearly loved to sing, and was conse- 
 quently an accomplished musician, taking an especial interest in 
 the psalmody of the church. He was a hymn-writer, and was the 
 first to translate the Psalms into his native tongue. He set many 
 of these psalms to music, and always carried a copy with him. In 
 his "Illustrated History of the Hymns," the Rev. E. M. Long 
 quotes a hymn which he says was written b}- King Alfred and 
 translated by Earl Nelson. The lirst verse reads: 
 
 " As the sun doth daily rise, 
 Brightening all the morning skies, 
 So to thee, with one accord. 
 Lift we up our hearts, O Lord." 
 
84 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHiyRCH. 
 
 In the same age lived Dunstan, the famous abbot of Glaston- 
 bury, who was a sweet singer, a skillful player upon several in- 
 struments, and a gifted composer of music. He so delighted King 
 Athelstan with his music that the jealous courtiers denounced 
 him as a dealer in the black art, and the frightened king permit- 
 ted him to be driven from the palace. Among the first organs 
 used in England was one which Dunstan presented to the church 
 at Glaston])ury. During this period of English history we only 
 get brief glimpses and unsatisfactory hints concerning music and 
 song. GiraldusCambrensis, writing in 1180, says that ''theXorth 
 Britons excelled in the use of two-part music." John Wyclifie 
 delighted in teaching his people at Lutterworth to sing the 
 Psalms of David, which he had translated for their use. Henry 
 HI. is said to have been proficient in the art of music. Chaucer, 
 the " Father of English Poetry," wrote a hymn for holy days, and 
 constantly refers to the use of music in the fourteenth century. 
 Henry VIH. excelled in music and taught his children to play 
 upon several kinds of instruments. He was not only a musician, 
 but a composer of music; for Camden says '4ie did set two goodly 
 masses which w^cre sung oftentimes in his chapel, and afterwards 
 in divers other places." Cardinal Wolsey was exceedingly fond 
 of choral music, and delighted in assisting his royal master in 
 arranging and elaborating the singing of the church. Wolsey \s 
 father was a butcher, whoso will contained the following: " I will 
 that if Thomas, my son, be a priest within one year after my de- 
 cease, he shall sing for me and my friends by the space of one 
 year, he to have for his salary ten marks. " In this way his father 
 hoped to escape Purgatory, for which he was willing that Thomas 
 should be paid thirty dollars for his year's services. If son 
 Thomas had been content with the humble position of parish 
 priest, he might have been a better man. 
 
 The King and the Cardinal ! What prominent figures they 
 are in English history! One, the slave of his lust; the other, the 
 slave of his ambition. Henry, with his new title of "Defender 
 of the Faith;" Wolsey, taking half the population of London with 
 him to meet the new cardinal's hat, which the pope had sent him. 
 Henry on the "Field of the Cloth of Gold;" Wolsey at Paul's 
 Cross with his costly dais, his scarlet rolies and golden shoes. 
 Henry murdering wives; Wolsey burning bibles; both of them 
 blocking the way, and confronting and retarding the progressive 
 
ANCIENT ENGLISH PSALMODY. ' 85 
 
 thought that was the outcome of minds cnhghtencd by the lamp 
 of God's Word, Poor fools! They Avere but as tow before the 
 flame : one, hurled to everlasting infamy as a monster of cruelty 
 and lust; the other, held up to the sight of the ages, upon a pau- 
 per's death-bed, to illustrate how uncertain earthly honors are. 
 
 A group of influential C's had set the stagnant world into 
 activity by awakening human thought. Columljus had discovered 
 America, and Cal)ot had found the shores of Labrador; Coperni- 
 cus comprehended the truth of the moving heavens and revolving 
 earth. Caxton opened out the way of knowledge by connecting 
 our language with the wonder-working printing-press. Colet's 
 expositions of God's truth had quickened the spiritual life of 
 thoughtful men in the universities. And, what more especially 
 concerns us, Coverdale had translated the Psalms into English 
 metre. Greater, grander than all besides, Tindale had translated 
 the New Testament into our Ens'lish tonsue. CoverdakVs Psalms 
 were published in 1.538, and entitled, " Goostlye Psalmes and 
 Spirituall Songes, Drawen out of the Holye Scriptures." Cover-' 
 dale's prose version of the Psalms is that now used in the Epis- 
 copal Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 In the year 1549 another psalm-book was published, bearing 
 the following title: " Certayne Psalmes chosen out of the Psalter 
 of David and drawen into Englj^she meeter, by Thomas Stern- 
 hold, Grome of ye Kynge's Maiestie's Robes." The book con- 
 tained a metrical version of thirty-seven Psalms, and was issued 
 at the same time and by the same publishers who issu(?d '' The 
 Book of Common Prayer." We are not sufiicicntly acquainted 
 with kings' palaces to be competent to deflne the duties of a 
 "groom of the king's majesty's robes." Perhaps he was a valet, 
 or he may have had the care of the whole wardrobe. Whatever 
 his duties, it is satisfactory to know that he was a Christian man, 
 and it is not surprising to learn that his ofiicial duties Ijrought 
 him into daily association with people of depraved taste and im- 
 moral habits. We can readily understand that the court of Henry 
 YIII. was not a congenial place for a truly conscientious man. 
 He was especially grieved and anno3-ed by the obscene songs that 
 were commonly sung, and he translated the Psalms with a desire 
 to have them take the place of the offensive songs. Some have 
 sneered at the simplicity of the man for having indulged such 
 an unreasonable hope. But these critics forget that, at the same 
 
86 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 time, no other songs were sung at the court of France than " The 
 Psalms of David; translated into French metre b}^ Clement Ma- 
 rot." Marot was the king's valet, who had attained considerable 
 fame as a poet, and whose amorous songs had long been the delight 
 of the court. But in some way he had become interested in the 
 doctrines of Luther, and found himself drawn into sympathy Avith 
 the great Reformer's work. From that time he could no longer 
 write songs of a doubtful character; and, to counteract the bad 
 influence of those he had written, he published a metrical version 
 of the Psalms. Strange to say, these became so popular that all 
 other songs were banished from the court, and Hebrew psalmody 
 was sung to the accompaniment of the fiddle, for the entertain- 
 ment of the ro}'al family and nobility of France — the Catholics 
 not suspecting that these translated Psalms were in any way con- 
 nected with the teachings of Luther. With these facts before his 
 mind, is it wonderful that Stcrnhold attempted the same thing in 
 the couit of England, though unfortunately without the same 
 success ? We regard it as a well-meant effort to do good, and 
 God respects the good intentions of His people without holding 
 them responsible for success. 
 
 Those who know anything of the reign of Henry VIIL will 
 readily understand why it was that Mr. Sternhold did not publish 
 his psalm-book until after the king's death and the young Edward 
 VI. was on the throne. It was among the last acts of the good 
 man's life, for he died in the same year in which his Psalms were 
 given to the world. Immediately after his death a second edition 
 was published under the title: "All such Psalms of David as 
 Thomas Sternhold, late Grome of ye Kynge's Maiestie's Robes 
 didde in hys lifetime draw into Englysho mectcr." In 1552 the 
 whole book of the Psalms was issued, containing the translations 
 of jVIr. Sternhold, with additional translations by John Hopkins, 
 a Suffolk clergyman; William Whittingham, afterwards Dean of 
 Durham; Thomas Norton, Robert Wisdom, John Mardley, and 
 Thomas Churchyard. The work was entitled: "The Whole 
 Booke of Psahnes, collected into Englyshe mceter by Thomas 
 Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others, conferred with the ebrue, 
 with apt notes to synge them withall. Set forth and allowed to 
 be sung in all churches, of all the people together, before and 
 after morning and evening praier, as also before and after ser- 
 mons, and moreover in private houses, for theyre godlye solace 
 
ANCIENT ENGLISH PSALMODY. 87 
 
 and comfort, laieing apart all iingodlye songs and buladcs, which 
 tend onlye to the nourishing of vice and corrupting of youth." 
 
 This version was bound up with the Book of Common Prayer, 
 and was so superior to all others that it became popular, and for 
 one hundred and fifty years Avas the ordinary psalm-book of the 
 Ensflish Church. The book has been scverelv criticised and, as we 
 shall see, in many cases misrepresented. Thomas Campbell said: 
 "They joined the best intention with the worst taste. They de- 
 graded the spirit of Hebrew psalmody by fiat and homel}^ phrase- 
 ology, and, mistaking vulgarity for simplicity, turned into bathos 
 what they found sul)lime." As an oft'sct to this, it seems strange 
 that the elder Scaliger, with all his profound learning and unfath- 
 omable conceit, should have said that he " would rather have been 
 the author of Sternhokrs version of the Eighteenth Psalm than of 
 all the Avorks he himself had written." Selections from that Psalm 
 arc found in most modern hymnals. Two stanzas will call it to 
 remembrance: 
 
 "The Lord descended from above, 
 
 And bowed the heavens most hip;h, 
 
 And underneath His feet He cast 
 
 The darkness of the sky. 
 
 On cherub and on cherubim 
 Full royally He rode, 
 And on the wings of mighty winds 
 Came flying all abroad." 
 
 This Psalm is, of course, exceptional. There are many stan- 
 zas that may be placed anywhere between the vulgar and the 
 ridiculous. Old Thomas Fuller found comfort in the thought 
 that '^ their piety was far l)etter than their poetry. " In several 
 works on hymnology we have seen al)surd doggerel verses given 
 as specimens of Sternhold's poetry, and said to be selected from 
 the book. As we Avritc these lines a copy of Sternhold and Hop- 
 kins' Psalms lies upon the table before us. Not one of these comic 
 or comical verses can be found between its covers. It is unsafe 
 to attempt to quote from a book which one has not seen. It may 
 be well to write an amusing book; but no author can afibrd to be 
 "funny" at the expense of truth. Sternhold's Psalms are bad 
 enough, but it is wickedly wrong to attempt to represent this first 
 English psalm-book as being worse than it really was. It would 
 be as unreasonable to compare it with our modern hymnals as to 
 compare the old dip-candle with our electric light. The rough, un- 
 
88 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 couth verses, as seen in the light of onr age, appear to us as dull 
 and flat and uninteresting. Yet our fathers sang them. Brave men 
 and women were our fathers and mothers! We feel vain that we 
 are scions of such noble and heroic stock! Our fathers and moth- 
 ers often sang from fffteen to twenty verses of Sternhold's psalms 
 at one standing. They drew insph-ation from sources where we 
 could not find it. Let us imagine ourselves singing such verses 
 
 as these: 
 
 "As men once dead are out of mind, 
 So am I now forgot; 
 As little use of me tliey find 
 As of a broken pot. 
 I hear the brags of all the rout, 
 Their threats my mind did fray; 
 How they conspired and went about 
 To take my life away. 
 All men despise as they behold 
 Me walking on the way, 
 They grin, make mouths, and nod their heads 
 And on this wise do say." 
 
 This is neither better nor worse than many others in the 
 book. Throwing it open at random, our eye first caught this: 
 
 "The bellygods and flattering train 
 That all good things deride, 
 
 At me did grin, with great disdain ' 
 
 Turning their mouths aside." 
 
 The book is extremely interesting, because it is the first 
 psalm-book printed in our language, and for generations these 
 were the only songs of the church 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 OLD ENGLISH PSALMODY. 
 
 A gray old man, the third and last, 
 Sang in cathedrals dim and vast. 
 While the majestic organ rolled 
 Contrition from its mouths of gold. 
 
 But the great Master said, " I see 
 
 No best in kind, but in degree; 
 
 I gave a various gift to each. 
 
 To charm, to strengthen, and to teach." 
 
 The Reformation spread upon the wings of sacred melody. 
 Soon as the good work began to make itself felt, Luther said: " I 
 am looking around everywhere for poets to make psalms and 
 spiritual songs for the common people, that the Word of God may 
 dwell among them in psalms, if not otherwise." The psalms were 
 provided, and soon became the ordinary songs of the people, who 
 sang them at home in their families, and in their workshops and 
 places of business among their associates. Coleridge says that 
 " Luther did more for the reformation in Germany by his hymns 
 than by his translation of the Scriptures." So was it in England. 
 Soon after the publication of the Psalm Book the English Church 
 introduced vocal psalmody, in which all worshipers were encour- 
 aged to join. The effect was startling ! We have seen that for 
 ages the choirs had been formed almost exclusively of e(!clesiastics, 
 the people being shut out from ' ' part or lot in the matter. " But 
 when the interdiction was removed the churches were thronsfed 
 with delighted and enthusiastic worshipers. The Scriptures, 
 which for ages had been shut up in a dead language, Avere now 
 open to their perusal in their own tongue; and, in like manner, the 
 songs of the Lord's house were provided to express the praises of 
 all who wished to blend their voices in unison with those who thus 
 
 (89) 
 
90 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 worshiped God. Strype, the ecclesiastical historian, informs us 
 that "in the month of September, 1559, began the new morning 
 prayer at St. Atholine, London; the bell beginning to ring at five 
 o'clock, when a psalm was sung after the Geneva fashion, all the 
 congregation, men, women and boys singing together." He adds 
 that "at Paul's Cross, six thousand persons, of all ages and con- 
 ditions, often blended their voices together in the new songs of 
 praise." The custom soon spread over the whole land. Bishop 
 Jewel writes: " As soon as they had commenced singing in public 
 in one little church in London, not only the churches in the neigh- 
 borhood, but towns far distant, immediately began to vie with each 
 other in the practice." Of course, the Catholic party was indig- 
 nant, and vainly tried to frown down what Wharton describes as 
 "the infectious frenzy of sacred song." 
 
 The Elizabethan age was one of advance in all departments 
 of human thought and enterprise. An earnest spirit of inquiry 
 was abroad, and men were leaving the old landmarks behind them. 
 It was pre-eminently an age of great men. We need but recall the 
 list of names to realize that " there were giants in those days": 
 Shakespeare and Bacon, Spencer and Marlowe, Raleigh and Drake, 
 and hosts of others, who were illustrious in their own spheres. As 
 might be expected of such an ago, Charles Knight tells us that 
 " music was the especial delight of the time. In every household 
 there was a love of music, and in many families this was culti- 
 vated as an essential part of education." Archbishop Parker is 
 said to have been " pre-eminently skilled in music," and with him 
 were celebrated composers, great masters in the art of song, 
 among whom were Tye and Tallis, Bull and Marbeck, Byrd and 
 Blithman — illustrious names that yet form a bright constellation 
 in the musical firmament. Among the writers of sacred verse 
 were Archbishop Parker, the poet Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, Lord Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, who, with the assistance 
 of his sister, the Countess of Pembroke, prepared and pul)lished a 
 metrical version of the Psalms. It is said that Queen Bess put 
 some psalms into metre, but this is doubtful, and we have no 
 desire to include her name among our hymn-writers of the church. 
 It is almost certain that her successor, James I. , wrote a metrical 
 versiv)n of the Psalms, which his son afterwards vainly tried to 
 force upon the Scottish Kirk. We do not think that a copy of 
 James' Psalms is in existence, l)ut in his ''Preparation of the 
 
OLD ENGLISH PSALMODY. 91 
 
 Psultcr," George Wither quotes :i verse of the royal poet's com- 
 j^osition, which is as follows: 
 
 " For verses' power is sike, it softly glides 
 Through secret pores, and in the sensos hides. 
 And makes men have that gude in them imprinted. 
 Which by the learned worke is represented." 
 
 In 164:3 George Wither published his "Hymns and Songs 
 of the Church," and managed matters so adroitly that it proved a 
 good business speculation. He was the only hymn-writer whose 
 productions l^rought him money. The authors of our day are 
 clamoring for an international cop^'right law, as an act of justice 
 to protect their interests, JMr. Wither protected his interest by 
 obtaining a royal patent, which did not, however, protect any 
 other interests than his own. He not only had permission to pub- 
 lish his own hymns, but he had authority to prohil^it the publica- 
 tion and sale of any other book, unless the author of said book 
 would bind up Wither's psalms and hymns with his own; for 
 which privilege he, of course, had to pay a very liberal sum. In 
 the very expressive language of our enlightened age, Mr. Wither 
 had " a good corner on hymn-books." But, ip spite of royal pat- 
 ronage, his book had not sufficient merit to keep it alive. In the 
 preface to his "Preparation for the Psalter," he says: "The 
 Divell is not ignorant of the power of these divine charms. There 
 lurks in poesy an enchanting sweetness, which steals into the 
 hearts of men, and the most powerful exorcisms cannot conjure 
 them out." That Satan is no friend to the original psalter avc can 
 readily understand, l)ut we incline to scepticism upon the matter 
 of his being really afraid of Wither's poetry. 
 
 "Honest George Wither," as his many friends and acquaint- 
 ances loved to call him in those days, lived in stormy times. 
 He says: "I lived to see eleven signal changes, in which not a 
 few signal transactions occurred. I began life under the govern- 
 ment of Elizabeth, and have lived through the governments of 
 James I., Charles I., the King and Parliament together, the King 
 alone, the Army, Cromwell's Protectorate, Richard Cromwell, 
 a Council of State, the Parliament, and now under Charles II." 
 This will explain the fact that his life was a turbulent one. He 
 was fined and imprisoned over and over again. In his sevent}^- 
 third year he was committed to Newgate jail because of some state- 
 ments made in a pamphlet he had published and which the author- 
 
92 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ities 
 lines 
 
 ities roffarded as seditious. Whilst there he wrote the following 
 
 " And is this Newgate, whereof so afraid 
 
 Offenders are? Is this the dismal place 
 Wherein, before I came, I heard it said 
 
 There's nothing but grief, horror, and disgrace? 
 I no worse here than where I was before 
 
 Accommodated am; for, though confined 
 Prom some things, which concern my body more 
 
 Than formerly, it hath enlarged my mind." 
 
 The reason why he endured so much sufl'ering is expressed in 
 his couplet — ■ 
 
 " My mind's my kingdom; and I will permit 
 No other's will to have the rule of it." 
 
 His poetry once saved his neck from the halter. When the civil 
 war broke out, Wither at first took sides with the king, but because 
 of some slights he received in the royal army, and the conduct of 
 the cavaliers, he went over and joined the Puritans against the king. 
 Just when the war was at its bitterest and the king was desperate, 
 Sir John Denham, who commanded Charles' troops and was himself 
 a poet of considerable repute, was one day surprised to have his 
 soldiers bring in Wither; and Sir John could do nothing else than 
 march him into the royal presence as a prisoner of war. All pris- 
 oners taken b}^ the Royalists at that time were speedily executed. 
 When Wither was brought in and the matter explained, Charles 
 grimly said: "Take him out and hang him." "Please don't, 
 your Majesty," said Sir John. " If you have any respect for me, 
 don't hang him, liecause his death would place mo in an embar- 
 rassing and painful position. " " Why ? " asked the king. ' ' Why," 
 said Sir John, "if your Maj.esty should hang Wither, I would 
 then 1)e the worst poet in England, and rather than l)c that, I 
 would almost as soon be hanged myself." Charles smiled and 
 bade them start Wither from his presence. 
 
 He wrote hymns upon all sorts of subjects and occasions: 
 "A hymn for a house-warming," " A hymn to be sung whilst 
 washing," "A hymn for a widower, or widow, after having been 
 delivered from a troublesome yoke-fellow." He published nearly 
 one hundred books upon a great variety of topics. Some of his 
 poems arc yet read, and entitle him to a modest i)lace among the 
 poets of England. 
 
 While Wither was writing and suffering, Holy George Her- 
 
OLD ENGLISH PSALMODY. 93 
 
 bert was quietly working in his little parish of Bemcrton. He was 
 pastor of a small church, but he lived and discharged his duties in 
 such a manner that he immortalized his name. He never sousrht 
 renown or thought of fame. His life was very short, but his in- 
 fluence has been a lasting benediction to the world. He was " an 
 Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile.'" Passionately fond 
 of music, he usually went to Salisbury twice every week to attend 
 div4ne service in the cathedral, and he tells us how the music so 
 filled his soul as to make him forget the tedious length of the 
 homeward journey. We read the story of his quiet, uneventful 
 life, and gaze upon and admire the saintly man, as sketched by 
 the loving hand of dear old Izaac Walton, until the music of his 
 heart and life thrills our natures and chimes through our souls. 
 We all love his sweet hymn, at once so beautiful and practical: 
 
 " Teach me, my God, my King, 
 
 In all things Thee to see; 
 And what I do in anything. 
 
 To do as unto Thee. 
 A servant, with this clause. 
 
 Makes drudgery divine; 
 Who sweeps a room, as for Thy cause, 
 
 Makes that an action fine." 
 
 Who has not admired his quaint poettty? O how he must 
 have enjoyed those quiet Sabbaths at Bemerton, of which he so 
 sweetly sang: 
 
 " The Sundays of man's life, 
 
 Threaded together on life's string. 
 Make bracelets to adorn the wife 
 Of the Eternal King." 
 
 He died in his thirty-ninth year. On the Sunday before his 
 death he called for his lute and sang the beautiful death-song: 
 
 " My God, my God, my music shall find Thee, 
 
 And every string shall have Thy attributes to sing." 
 
 The beloved servant of God spent the next Sunday in heaven. 
 
 Izaac Walton, the friend and l)iographer of Herbert, was the 
 brother-in-law of Thomas Ken. When Ken was four years x)]d, 
 he lost his mother — the greatest loss a child can sustain. When 
 he was nine years old, his sister Annie was married to good Izaac 
 Walton, who was then more than forty years of age. Five years 
 afterwards Mr. Ken died, and Thomas, then in his fourteenth 
 year, was left parcntless. But Mr. Walton proved himself to lie 
 
94 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 a friend in need, and watched over the lad's interest with tender 
 and judicious care. Young Ken appreciated and reciprocated this 
 kindly feeling, so that a close and life-long friendship existed be- 
 tween them. It is unnecessary for us to trace the events of his 
 early life more than to merely say that those events were largely 
 shaped by the circumstances and conditions of the times. His 
 early collegiate life was necessarily subject to Puritan influence 
 and control; but before he finished his course Cromwell was dead, 
 and Charles II. being on the throne, Puritanism was a by-word. 
 
 Studied in the light of English histor}' it would be a most diffi- 
 cult undertaking to form a correct estimate of the character of 
 Bishop Ken. He doubtless belonged to the highest type of High 
 Churchism. He has been severely criticised for attending the 
 Pope's jubilee; but, apart from this one act, his private and public 
 life reveals nothing that could be reo:arded as manifestino; Roman- 
 
 o o o 
 
 istic tendencies. We regard him as an average specimen of En- 
 English conservatism. As a Tory, he was of course a Royalist and 
 an Episcopalian. He believed in blue blood, and doubtless grati- 
 fied Charles Stuart by being sound concerning ''the divine right 
 of kings." But, as we understand the Bible, a man may be very 
 much of a bigot and yet be a Christian — a Christian in spite of 
 his bigotry. While Thomas Ken was chaplain to Charles Stuart, 
 the prisons of England were thronged with the best Christian 
 people that breathed English air. Hundreds and hundreds died 
 of the pestilential jail fever, martyrs for their righteous convic- 
 tions. Devoted servants of Christ were daily hoisted into the pil- 
 lory, and the hangman's knife slit their nostrils or cut off an ear. 
 Sometimes, to carry out the brutal sentence, a hand was ruthlessly 
 amputated. Well might Madame Roland cry: "O Justice! 
 What crimes are perpetrated in thy name!" But these things 
 were probably done without a single protest from the bishop. 
 The profligate king often said on Sunday mornings: "Now I 
 must go to church and hear Ken tell me my faults. " Ken doubt- 
 less rebuked him for much of his scandalous behavior, but we 
 have not the faintest idea that the preacher reproved him for his 
 barbarous cruelty to the Nonconformists, or raised his voice in 
 condemnation of the iniquitous conventicle, and five miles acts. 
 When Ken — basking in ecclesiastical and royal favor — Avas made 
 Prebendary of Winchester Cathedral, John Bunyan had spent 
 nine years in Bedford jail, but the Prebendary of Winchester had 
 
THO. KEN. 
 
OLD ENGLISH PSALMODY. 95 
 
 no sympathy for suffering prisoners of Bunyan's class. Yet, is it 
 not possible that these men were brethren? It takes a broad 
 charity to bridge over the gulf that separated them, but we think 
 that New Testament charity will cover all the ground. We have 
 often looked at the picture of Bunyan's wife pleading her hus- 
 band's case before Sir Matthew Hale, and thought that the impris- 
 oned tinker and the chief justice were brethren. They did not, 
 perhaps, recognize each other as such when upon earth, but in 
 heaven they blend their voices in the same song. One cannot but 
 feel that there must have been strange recognitions in heaven ! 
 Error is always bigoted. We believe Ken to have been a sincere 
 Christian; but we realize the fact that an intolerant ccclesiasti- 
 cism is a serious blemish upon Christian character. Ken and the 
 tinker had nothing in common but love to Jesus, and that was 
 sufficient to ultimately bring them together as one. 
 
 In his own narrow sphere Mr. Ken was doubtless a conscien- 
 tious and devoted Christian, who used his natural!}' fine abilities 
 for the most commendable purposes. After two or three useful 
 pastorates he was appointed chaplain to the Princess Mary; and, 
 after her marriage, he was called to the court as chaplain to 
 Charles II., where he discharged his duties in a manner that won 
 him the respect of the English people. He never permitted him- 
 self to be the mere vassal of the king, but, living before the court 
 as a model of Christian integrity, he was universally respected as 
 the servant of the " King of Kings." In that day the court was 
 often held at Winchester; and upon one occasion, because of some 
 repairs being made, they were somewhat overcrowded, and Charles 
 asked his chaplain to give up one of his rooms to accommodate 
 the notorious Nell Gwynn, the vile mistress of the king. r)Ut 
 Charles was somewhat astonished when Ken looked him in the 
 face and said: "No, anxious as I am to have your Majesty's 
 good opinion, I will not try to retain it by disgracing ni}- i)r()fes- 
 sion as a minister of Jesus Christ by oi)ening my doors to such 
 people as your Majesty encourages." With all his faults Charles 
 had sufficient sense to see that the good man was doing right, and 
 soon afterwards he appointed him Bishop of Bath and Wells. lie 
 did not, however, forget the incident, but often spoke of Mr. Ken 
 as "the good little man who refused poor Nell a lodging." The 
 bishop was with Charles during his last sickness, but his minis- 
 trations were unheeded. In the midst of his disgraceful caret . 
 
96 THE PSALilODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 apoplexy had smitten down the king, but the awful warnino; made 
 no serious impression upon his mind, and Charles died as he had 
 lived, utterly careless concerning the consequences of his sins. 
 
 Under the administration of the Catholic James II., Ken had 
 serious trouble. He had taken the usual oath of allegiance, but 
 when the king's commands forced themselves between his con- 
 science and his God, the bishop obeyed the superior authority. 
 The declaration of indulgence he would not read in the house of 
 the Lord. " Why," said the angry monarch to the seven bishops 
 who refused obedience, "why, this is open reljcUion!"" "No," 
 said Ken, "it is not rebellion, for we honor you, but at the same 
 time we fear God." "You shall suffer for this," said James. 
 "We are willing that the Lord's will be done," answered Ken. 
 The next w^eek they were arrested and imprisoned; but that step 
 aroused an iiidignant public opinion that forced the tyrant from 
 the English throne. 
 
 William, Prince of Orange, was crowned king, and the Mar}^ 
 whom Ken had long served as chaplain was then Queen of Eng- 
 land. But the bishop found himself with a difficult case of con- 
 science on hand. He had sworn allegiance to the deposed king, 
 and felt that nothing but death could release him from that oath. 
 Such being his opinion, he could not again swear allegiance to 
 William. The result was that he had to resign his position and 
 retire from public life in absolute poverty, and but for the kind- 
 ness of Lord Weymouth, an old college, friend, he would have 
 been homeless. Mr. Ken was never married. He lived in the 
 plainest manner possible, so that his personal expenses were but 
 trifling; but he had always been the friend of the poor and suffer- 
 ing, and every dollar of his income had been given to the neces- 
 sitous ones around him. All he possessed beside his clothing was 
 an old, lame horse, a Greek Testament, and a shroud. That 
 shroud was one of his weaknesses. Years before he had asked a 
 lady to marry him, but she declined, and Ken never wished to 
 ask another. A good, sensible wife would not have tolerated 
 that shroud in the house. As it was, Mr. Kcni always kept it 
 near him; if he traveled, he would have the shroud in his satchel; 
 if at any time he felt unwell, he would retire to bed and put on 
 the shroud, ready to die. A wife would have cured him of that 
 nonsense. The last twenty years of his life was spent at the 
 country residence of Lord Weymouth, at Longleat. 
 
OLD ENGLISH PSALMODY. 97 
 
 We revere the memory of the good bishop, because we are 
 indebted to him for his precious morning and evening hynms. 
 We readily endorse the statement of Montgomery, that "Bishop 
 Ken has laid the world under more al)iding ol)ligations by Avriting 
 his morning, evening, and midnight hynms, than he would have 
 done had he founded and endowed three hospitals." We claim 
 for him a front place among English hymn-writers, because he 
 wrote the first real English hymns. We care but little whether 
 or not this evening hymn was suggested by Sir Thomas Browne's 
 "Colloquy with God." His was pioneer work, for he had none 
 to imitate in those qualities that go to make up a beautiful hynm. 
 His hymns have been, and are, a benediction to the Church; in 
 matter of graceful simplicity, reverential homage, devout peti- 
 tion, and fervent gratitude — indeed, in all the characteristics of a 
 true hymn — they yet hold a front place, even among all the beau- 
 tiful creations of modern genius and artistic taste. 
 
 As is well known, the hymns were specially prepared for the 
 use of the students in Winchester College. At first they were 
 printed upon cardboard and hung in each student's room; but 
 afterwards they were bound up with the college "Manual of 
 Prayers." In the Manual Mr. Ken urges the students to "be 
 sure to sing the morning and evening hymns in your chamber, 
 devoutly remembering that the psalmist upon happy experience 
 assures you that ' it is a good thing to tell of the lovingkindness 
 of the Lord early in the morning, and of his truth hi the night 
 season.'" Mr. Ken did not instruct others to do that which he 
 neglected to do himself. Every morning before he left his room 
 he would take his lute and sing the fourteen verses of the morn- 
 ing hj^mn, and the twelve verses of the evening hymn were sung 
 every night. His hymn was sung by the students every morning 
 at the chapel exercises of the college. It is said that the follow- 
 ing verses afford a fair specimen of the psalm rephccd by Ken's 
 glorious hymn: 
 
 " Praise the Lord, ye Gentiles all, 
 Which hath brought you into the light! 
 O praise Him all people mortal, 
 As is most worthy and right! 
 
 For He is full determined 
 On us to pour out His mercy; 
 And the Lord's truth, be ye assured, 
 Abideth perpetually." 
 
98 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 After using such rugged, uncouth stanzas, how those students 
 would enjoy the smooth, sweet, graceful verses of Ken's morning 
 hymn ! 
 
 Bishop Ken's life at Longleat was peculiarly peaceful and 
 pleasant. He enjoyed retirement, and was happy anywhere 
 where God was. 
 
 " Dead to all else, alive to God alone, 
 
 Ken, the confessor meek, abandons power, 
 
 Palace, and mitre, and cathedral throne 
 (A shroud alone reserved), and in the bower 
 
 Of meditation hallows every hour." 
 
 Soon after he had found a home with his friend, and realized 
 how heartily he was entertained, leaving no ground for apprehen- 
 sion concerning the matter of welcome, he wrote: 
 
 " I the small dolorous remnant of my days 
 Devote to hymn my Great Creator's praise; 
 Aye, nearer as I draw toward my heavenly rest. 
 The more I love the employment of the blest; 
 And should the well meant song I leave behind 
 With Jesus' lovers some acceptance find, 
 'Twill heighten e'en the joys of heaven to know 
 That in my verse saints sing God's praise below." 
 
 Dear old saint ! As we ponder over his words, our hearts 
 warm toward him. We forget his intolerance; we lorgive his 
 lack of sympathy toward good men who conscientiously differed 
 from him. 
 
 " 'Twill heighten e'en the joys of heaven to know 
 That in my verse saints sing God's praise below." 
 
 "What a rapturous heaven his must be ! His verse is unceas- 
 ingly being sung. "People and realms of every tongue " sing 
 Bishop Ken's immortal Doxology. In all lands, by all peoples, 
 in all languages, it is always being sung in perpetual praise. No 
 other verse liAs been sung half as frequently — sung in times of 
 joy and of sorrow — sung in seasons of rest and in da}S of Aveari- 
 some toil. It has been the death-song of martyrs, the triumphant 
 paean of victorious hosts. It has been sang when planning some 
 great undertaking, and when reaping the reward of some success- 
 ful enterprise. It saved the prisoners at Libby from absolute 
 despair. The wounded at Shiloh sang it as they spent the long, 
 painful night on the bloody battle-field. When Vicksburg fell, 
 the music of Old Hundred rolled the Doxology like a voice of 
 
OLD ENGLISH I'SALMODY. 09 
 
 mighty thiinderings all over the Northern States. It was sung 
 when the missing ocean steamer was signaled at Sandy Hook; 
 when the first message from England flashed through the Atlantic 
 cable; when the last rail of the Pacific railroad was laid, binding the 
 eastern and western shores of this continent together. It will be 
 sung as long as this world endureth; and when earth is depeopled 
 and silent, heaven will sing the Doxology to all eternity. 
 
 When the bishop died, he chose six poor men to lower him 
 into his grave at sunrise. He lies in Frome churchyard, without 
 a stone to mark the spot. A simple iron fence denotes the quiet 
 resting-place. The Sunday-school children of Frome Church have 
 a beautiful method of keeping the dear old saint in memory. On 
 summer Sabbath mornings the rector gathers them around the 
 grave, where they sing the morning hymn as a loving tribute to 
 the memory of the illustrious servant of God. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DIVERSITIES OF OPINION CONCERNING PSALMODY. 
 
 " Blest be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love; 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 Is like to that above. 
 
 Before our Father's throne 
 
 We pour our ardent prayers; 
 Our fears, our hopes, our aims, are one, 
 
 Our comforts and our cares." 
 
 Paul instructed the Christians at Colosse to " admonish one 
 another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs; singing with 
 grace in your heart to the Lord." We understand this Scripture 
 to command the use of the inspired psalms, and also of uninspired 
 hymns and spiritual songs. It is probable that the early Christians 
 understood the passage as we do, because Tertullian, in his descrip- 
 tion of the agapge or love feasts of the second century, says: "After 
 washing hands and bringing in lights, each man w^as invited to 
 come forward and sing to God's praise, something either selected 
 from the Scriptures or of his own composition. " This harmonizes 
 with the truth as stated by the Apostle: "For to one is given by 
 the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, 
 by the same Spirit, who divideth to every man severally as he 
 Avill." Writing in the same century, Caius speaks of "all the 
 psalms and odes written by faithful brethren from the beginning, 
 as hymning Christ, the Word of God, as God." We believe that 
 Christians are entrusted with the liberty of choosing those com- 
 positions best suited to their needs and experiences. Those who 
 " sing with grace in their hearts to the Lord " will not abuse this 
 liberty, for a man w^ith "grace in his heart" is likely to have dis- 
 cretion in his head. 
 
 But this has not always been the universal ooinion of the 
 
 (100) 
 
DIVERSITIES OF OPINIOX CONCERNING PSALMODY. 101 
 
 church, for some liave regarded uninspired hymns as a dangerous 
 innovation, and have earnestly protested against their use. In the 
 year A. D. 2G9, Paul of Samasota, the Bishop of Antioch, was 
 deposed from his office, one charge against him being "that he 
 prohibited the use of hymns addressed to Christ, upon the ground 
 that they M'ere written by uninspired authors." In the sixth cen- 
 tury, public opinion had veered round to PauPs way of thinking, 
 for the first council of Braga, held in 501, forbade the use of all 
 poetical compositions in the churches save those found in the Holy 
 Scriptures. This decree shut hymns out of the church for more 
 than seventy years, until it was revoked by the fourth council of 
 Toledo. 
 
 That some such opinions were prevalent in England, at the 
 time of the Reformation, may be inferred from the fact that many 
 other portions of Scripture than the Psalms were " done into 
 metre " and sung in the churches. The book of Genesis and the 
 two books of the Kings were thus prepared and used in public wor- 
 ship. We do not suppose that these metrical versions were used 
 in any large proportion of the churches, but the fact that they 
 were used at all is suggestive of the existence of some such 
 opinions as those to which we have referred. It must have been 
 difficult to reduce some of the chronological chapters into metre; 
 and when so prepared, we fail to see how the singing, even of 
 some portions of God's inspired word, coidd have profited the 
 church. We had rather sing some such uninspired production as 
 '• Jesus, Lover of My Soul," than the inspired words of the tenth 
 chapter of Genesis, consisting of hard, unpronounceable names 
 and genealogical records. We do not underrate the words of 
 Holy Scripture, but we fail to see what benefit could possibly 
 accrue from singing them. Bible scholars regard the tenth of 
 Genesis as one of the most important chapters of the book, because 
 it is the key to the dispersion of the races, and is exceedingly in- 
 teresting as a theme for ethnological study and critical investi- 
 gation. 
 
 Influenced by similar opinions, the first fourteen chapters of 
 the Acts of the Apostles were translated into metre by Dr. Tye 
 and sung in the Royal Chapel of Edward VI. We have already 
 referred to Dr. Tye as an eminent musician who lived in the days 
 of Queen Elizabeth. We will quote the title of his book: 
 
 " The Actcs of the Apostles, translated into Englyshe Meeter, 
 
102 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 and dedicated toe the Kynge's moste excellent Maiestye, by Chris- 
 tofer T^'e, Doctor in Musyke, and one of ye Gentylmen of hys 
 Grace's moste honorable Chappel, with Notes toe eche chapter toe 
 synge, and alsoe toe playe upon the Lute; very necessayre for 
 students after theyre studj'e toe fyle theyre wyttes, and also for 
 all Christians that cannot synge toe rede the goode and Godh'e 
 lives of Christ and Kys Apostles." 
 
 The work must have cost the good Doctor an immense amount 
 of labor. The " Notes toe eche chapter toe synge" is said to have 
 been most elaborate music " consisting of fugues and canons of a 
 highly artificial and complicated description." The translation 
 was creditably done, as may be seen from the following specimen. 
 The first verse of the fourteenth chapter of the Acts reads: 
 
 "And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both to- 
 gether into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great 
 multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed." 
 
 Dr. Tye gives it in this form: 
 
 " It chaunced in Iconium, 
 
 As they ofttymes did use, 
 Together theye dyd come 
 
 To the Synagogue of Jeus, 
 Where theye dyd preache, and onlye seke 
 
 God's grace then toe atcheve, 
 That theye so spoke to Jue and Greke 
 
 That manye did beleve." 
 
 Whatever may be thought of Dr. Tye as a poet, he is justly 
 regarded as one of the first great English composers, whose emi- 
 nent abilities entitle him to a front place among the gifted musi- 
 cians of his age. Like all other men, the Doctor had his trials; 
 but, instead of bravely meeting and mastering them, he unfor- 
 tunately yielded to them, so that in his latter years he Avas known 
 as an ill-tempered, peevish, cross-grained old man. He was the 
 organist of the royal chapel, and in that chapel Queen Elizabeth 
 was always mistress, and sometimes ofiensively so. If the preacher 
 touched upon any of her foibles and sins, she would not hesitate 
 to tell him to " shut up, and not trouble his head with things 
 which did not concern him." "You leave that alone, Mr. Dean, 
 and talk of something you understand," she said, one day, when 
 one of the preachers condemned extravagance in dress. One 
 morning she sent the verger to tell Dr. Tye that he was playing 
 out of tunc. The old Doctor was fearfully annoj^ed, and angrily 
 
DIVERSITIES. OF OPINION CONCERNING PSALMODY. 10)^ 
 
 said: "Tell her Majesty that her ears are out of tunc."' The 
 o:ood-nature(l qucon laughed heartily, and the insult was forgiven 
 and forgotten. 
 
 Many of the Reformers, like Calvin, showed their ''hostility 
 to Rome by rejecting all the usages of her church." The Puri- 
 tans were all controlled by that feeling, and were exceedingly 
 annoyed by the choral services of the church, and petitioned the 
 government " that all cathedral churches may be put down, where 
 the service of God is most grievously abused by piping with 
 organs, singing, ringing and trowling of psalms from one side of 
 the choir to the other, with the squeaking of chanting choristers." 
 To their minds, organs and instruments of music in church were 
 regarded as a profane innovation, and as special inventions of the 
 devil. Some of our Presbyterian brethren in Scotland have 
 hardly yet gotten over their dislike to "the noisy instruments." 
 But, in spite of prejudice, the sweet-voiced organ has won its way 
 to the hearts of worshipers and is recognized as an aid to devo- 
 tion. An old Scotch lady, who heartily enjoyed music, had allowed 
 her prejudice to overrule her taste by solemnly, but vainl}-, voting 
 against the erection of an organ in her kirk. But afterwards, 
 when the instrument was played, her face beamed with satisfac- 
 tion, and she was delighted. On her way home some one asked 
 her how she liked the organ. ' ' Oh," she said, with twinkling eyes, 
 "'tis a bonnie chist o' whistles; but och, sirs, 'tis an awfu' way o' 
 spending the Sabbath day." 
 
 In 1644 the English council of divines, known as " the West- 
 minster Assembly," declared it "to be the duty of all Christians 
 to praise God by the singing of psalms, both in the public services 
 of the church and in the private devotions of the family." Tliey 
 urged upon all who could use them, the duty of providing them- 
 selves with psalm-books; but in congregations, where there were 
 many who could not read, they recommended "that each single 
 line of the psalm be read just before singing it." This was to be 
 done, that the most illiterate might have opportunity to join in 
 singing the praises of God, and thus promote congregational 
 singing, "a consummation devoutly to be wished." Enjoined 
 by such high authority, no wonder that the practice of "lining 
 out" or deaconing the psalm, became common among the churches 
 of both countries. But we have only to call to mind the fact 
 that they often sang from fifteen to twenty verses at one stand- 
 
lUi THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ing, to realize that this concession to the weaker brethren must 
 have made the exercise somewhat tedious. They drawled out 
 their notes so long that the singing of a single psalm often occu- 
 pied nearly half an hour. This was usually followed by an cquall}'' 
 long prayer, during which they were accustomed to stand with 
 their backs toward the pulpit, and this long time upon their feet 
 prepared them to sit quietly during a sermon var3'ing from two 
 to three and a half hours in length. From four to five hours Avas 
 the average time for a service. We often wish that some of those 
 brethren who are so clamorous for short services had been born a 
 hundred years ago; then they would have been more patient 
 and more wise than they are now. Best of all, they would have 
 been in heaven before this time, and we w^ould be able to say our 
 "Finally, brethren," in peace, undisturbed by the click and snap 
 of their watch-cases. 
 
 In singing by this line-at-a-time method some of the lines 
 must have caused embarrassment. Try this line, for instance: 
 
 "The Lord will come! and he will not " 
 
 That would sound strangely, and the next line would not improve 
 
 matters: 
 
 "Keep silence, but speak out. ' 
 
 Think of singing the first line of our popular hymn: 
 "Jesus lives! no longer now" 
 
 It would at least suggest a most frightful condition of things, the 
 existence of which Avould rob life of all its joy and hope. 
 
 In his "'Evenings Avith the Sacred Poets," Frederick Saunders 
 suggests another form of embarrassment which may have oc- 
 curred. The story is old and threadbare now, but it may be 
 new to some of our young readers. A good old minister had in- 
 timated to the choir his intention to close a winter afternoon's 
 service with a psalm which the}' had arranged to sing to the tune 
 " Old Hundred." But at the close of the service it had groAvn so 
 dark that the minister could not see to read, and attempted to 
 dispense with the singing by the remark, " M>' eyes are dim, I 
 cannot sec," Avhen the ready choir sang his Avords and the con- 
 fused pastor stammered, " I meant but an apology," and again 
 the choir sang, and stood Avaiting for more, until the indignant 
 preacher bcAvildcred them Avitli a torrent of Avords far too numer- 
 ous to be set to "Old Hundred." 
 
DIVERSITIES OF OPINION CONCERNING PSALMODY. 105 
 
 One of the most important works published in connection 
 with the history of early psahiiody was entitled: 
 
 "The Whole Booke of Psalmes, with the Hy nines Evangel- 
 icall, and Songs Spirituall. Composed intoe 4 parts by sundry 
 authors, with such seucral tunes as have beene and arc vsvally 
 sung in England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Italy, France, and 
 the Netherlands. Neuer as yet before in one volume published. 
 Alsoe a brief abstract of the Prayse, Efficacie, and Virtue of the 
 Psalmes, by Thomas Ravenscroft, Bachelor of Musicke. ' Gloria 
 in excelsis Deo.' London. Printed liy Thomas Harper, for the 
 Company of Stationers, 1621." 
 
 It was the first book of its kind ever published, and all sim- 
 ilar books of later date have borrowed from it. John Milton, the 
 father of our poet, composed two tunes, "York" and -'Norwich," 
 for the book, and these are yet treasured among the choice melo- 
 dies of the church. Among other contributors were Tallis, Tye, 
 Dowland, and others. The tunes named St. David, Canterbury, 
 and Bangor, were composed by Ravenscroft himself. The music 
 was in four parts, "and," to use his own language, "is so com- 
 posed that the musickfull may, with little practice, be enabled to 
 sing them in parts after a plausable manner." He closed his pre- 
 face with the words: "Accept kindly what I have labored earn- 
 estly, and use it to thy comfort. Thus I end: humbly wishing to 
 all true Christian hearts that sweet consolation in singing praises 
 unto God here upon earth, as may bring us hereafter to have a 
 part with the ' quire ' of angels in heaven." 
 
 Having psalms and tunes, our forefathers may have made 
 their services delightful; but, as we shall see, things did not 
 always move along pleasantly with them. Upon the subjec-t of 
 sino-incr they were seriously divided. Some protested aganist any 
 othcrs'than Christians singing in the churches, barely giving con- 
 sent for the unconverted to join in the "Amen " which th(>y usually 
 suno- at the end of the psalm; others thought it wrong to smg 
 any^other words than those of Scripture; some wished to confine 
 the singing to the male members of the congregation, because 
 Paul objected to women speaking in churches; one party contended 
 a-ainst joining holy words with uninspired tunes; another party 
 condemned both metrical translations and tunes-the one as an 
 irreverent tampering with the inspired word, the other as an eflort 
 to introduce unhallowed things into the service of God s house. 
 
106 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 With all this diversity of opinion and these strange modes of 
 singing, it is not surprising that many chm'ches discarded singing 
 altogether. Even as late as Dr. Watts' day was this the case, for 
 in his preface he says: " There are many churches that disallow 
 singing as a part of public worship, and I am persuaded that the 
 poor performance of it, even in the best congregations, with the 
 mistaken rules to which it is confined, is one great reason for its 
 entire neglect." Of course, there have been times in the history 
 of the church when it was expedient to omit singing in its ser- 
 vices, because the voice of song would have brought the informer 
 and assured arrest and imprisonment. There have been times in 
 this country when our Puritan forefathers were very intolerant 
 toward those who dififered from them. They loved freedom so 
 much that they sternly refused to permit others to share it; and 
 having fled from persecution themselves, they were, nevertheless, 
 ready to crush good men who conscientiously differed from their 
 creed. 
 
 But many churches in both countries ignored singing from 
 choice. The church of which Mr. Spurgeon is now pastor was 
 organized at Horslcydown, and for many years Benjamin Keach, 
 a name fragrant in Baptist history, was its minister. The church 
 would not permit singing, although Mr. Keach expostulated with 
 them upon the matter for many years. He made it the one aim of 
 his ministry to create a sentiment in favor of singing the praises 
 of God in the church. In pursuance of this design he published 
 a book, entitled, "The Breach in God's Service Repaired." At 
 last, after all those years of controversy, the majority of the 
 church agreed " to sing a hymn or psalm of praise to God every 
 Lord's day." But this decision so annoyed the minority that they 
 withdrew and organized an anti-singing church at Maze Pond, 
 Avhcre for forty years they stubbornly Avithstood an ever-growing 
 public sentiment in fa^ or of Christian song. In this country a 
 similar state of things existed. In 1056, the First Baptist Church 
 of Newport, R. I. , was thus divided, and twenty-one persons left 
 and organized an anti-singing church, which is now known 
 as the Second Church, in that city. One of the reasons by 
 which the seceders tried to justify their act was that " they 
 disapproved of psalmody." For more than one hundred years 
 there was no singing permitted in the Second Church. In 1T65, 
 after long years of agitation and opposition, permission was 
 
DIVERSITIES OF OPINIOX CONCERNING PSALMODV. 107 
 
 given, by the vote of a small majority, to sing one psalm at the 
 commencement of each service; but a number of the members 
 always waited outside the church until the offensive exercise was 
 ended. In memory of all this, we cannot but thank God for the 
 present unity of the churches in relation to the service of praise in 
 the Lord's house. 
 
 The blessed influence of Christian song is to harmonize and 
 unite the church, and in all matters of Christian feeling and senti- 
 ment to assist in maintaining a delightful reciprocity of cordial 
 fellowship and affectionate regard. The churches were never in 
 better condition than they are to-day. "We have no sympathy 
 Avith the chronic grumblers, who so persistently declare " that the 
 former days were better than these. " We often meet these pessi- 
 mists, but they never do us any good. They wring their hands and 
 whine about the worldliness of the church, about their brethren's 
 lack of spirituality, and the low-down condition of things in gen- 
 eral. A half dozen of such people are sufficient to cripple the 
 energies of any church. They howl over other men's sins, but 
 never over their own uncharitableness and back-biting and evil- 
 speaking. We believe that the churches were never more united, 
 more aggressive, or more successful, than they are at the present 
 time. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PURITAN PSALMODY OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 " O God, beneath Thy guiding hand, 
 Our exiled fathers crossed the sea, 
 And when they trod the wintry strand, 
 
 With prayer and psalm they worshiped Thee. 
 
 Thou heardst, well-pleased, the song, the prayer; 
 
 Thy blessing came; and still its power 
 Shall onward through ail ages bear 
 
 The memory of that holy hour." 
 
 Since the secession of Henry VIII. from the papal church, the 
 Anghcan establishment had been divided into two parties: the con- 
 servative or Catholic faction, who wished to preserve the cere- 
 monies and ecclesiastical prestige of the church, and the extreme 
 Protestant or Puritan party, who protested against the retention 
 of an}^thing that sa^^'orcd of Romish usages. Sternhold and Hop- 
 kins' Psalms were pubhshed under royal and high ecclesiastical 
 authority, which was probably the reason why the book never ob- 
 tained much favor witli the Puritans. We have seen that from 
 the time of its publication it was a success among the ecclesiastical 
 party. Burney says that " soon as Queen EHzal)cth ascended the 
 throne of England, the Psalms were roared aloud in almost every 
 street as well as church throughout the kingdom.'' Hawkins tells 
 us that "so popular were the Psalms that they were sung by 
 soldiers on march, and parade, and at lord mayors' dinners, and 
 city feasts." This form of popularizing the songs of the church 
 was undoubtedly distasteful to the Puritans, who upon all occa- 
 sions were ready to make their disapprobation manifest to the 
 whole church, until the antagonism of the two parties became a 
 strong factor in the history of^he times. As usual, the strongest 
 party grew tyrannical, and the harshness of Elizabeth's ecclesias- 
 tical commission drove large numbers of Puritans out of the estab- 
 
 (lOS) 
 
THE PURITAN PSALMODY OF NEW ENGLAND. 109 
 
 lishment, and many of them out of the kingdom. There were 
 thousands who withdrew from the former, because they beheved 
 a national church contrary to the teachings of God's Holy 
 Word. To them "'the church, as by law established," was "the 
 corrupt Baljylon of the bishops, where the priest wore a surplice 
 and read his prayers from a book." They rejected ceremonies as 
 idolatrous and the rule of the bishops as unscriptural; and, con- 
 sequently, as " the Lord's fi*ee people," they organized themselves 
 into churches, bound together by the simple fellowship of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Among these despised and persecuted people were the men 
 who were destined to figure in history as the Pilgrim Fathers. 
 They were a little band of people whose "peculiar notions" led 
 them to affiliate with each other for counsel and sympathy. \\'"e 
 can imagine that their neighbors would s})cak of them " as notionitl 
 people, for whom the parish church was not good enough." They 
 often met for worship at Mr. Brewster's, who kept the post-ofiice 
 at Scrooby. But the relentless hand of persecution was raised 
 against them, and they were driven from the land of their 1)irth 
 to other shores. The English people regarded them with sus- 
 picion, refused them the rights of citizenship, and they were 
 hounded from place to place. But these peculiar men were mak- 
 ing history, and how wonderfully history vindicated their char- 
 acter and endorsed their principles ! Only two centuries after- 
 wards, when the magnificent houses of parliament were being 
 finished, the artists of England were asked to select some histori- 
 cal scenes of sufficient national importance and world-wide interest 
 to form a suitable theme for the genius of England's greatest 
 painters, and worthy of being represented in the audience cham- 
 ber of British peers, and deserving of the most prominent place 
 among the art treasures of the oldest and wealthiest government 
 of the world. The assembled artists realized the responsibility of 
 such a choice; but, after a brief consultation, they were unanimous 
 in recommending the "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers," as 
 a subject thtit would best aSbrd scope for the painter's' skill and 
 room for a nation's pride. How history revenges itself upon the 
 intolerance and bigotry of men ! 
 
 They fled to Amsterdam, where they enjoyed lilierty of con- 
 science, but found it difficult to procure l)read. Then they removed 
 to Leyden, where, to save themselves from starvation, they en- 
 
110 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 gaged in occupations of the humblest kind. Elder Brewster, beng 
 in better circumstances than his brethren, started a printing office 
 and afterwards published Puritan books, ^^^illianl Bradford, with- 
 out an idea of being governor of New England, apprenticed him- 
 self to a silk-dyer. At Amsterdam they had formed the acquaint- 
 ance of one of their own people, a young man who w^as a book- 
 seller's porter, but who had far more knowledge in his head than 
 he could carry upon his back. He was none other than the famous 
 divine and scholar, Dr. Henry Ainsw^orth. Roger Williams said 
 that he knew Ainsworth when "he lived in a blind lane in Ams- 
 terdam and supported himself upon eighteen cents per week and 
 some boiled roots." Mr. Ainsworth is said to have been " not 
 only the most cultured, but the most steadfast and resolute 
 champion of those principles of civil and religious freedom repre- 
 sented by Independent Noncomformists." In Amsterdam he pub- 
 lished a metrical version of the Psalms, which became very popu- 
 lar among the Puritan party, being sung in their churches and 
 families. This was used by the church at Lcyden; and when the 
 Pilgrims had determined to leave that place for America, they 
 spent their last evening at the house of their pastor, singing Ains- 
 worth's Psalms, and connuending each other to the heavenly 
 Father's loving care. And when, to use their own expression, 
 they were "huddled together" with others in the over-crowded 
 little " Mayflower," on the wild, wintry Atlantic — cold and wet, 
 sick and sad — these Psalms were sung to the hoarse accompani- 
 ment of Ocean's waves, the boisterous winds being the winged 
 messengers which bore their praises to heaven, until their weary 
 souls found rest in realizing the presence of Him who stood by 
 the side of Paul at midnight, on the wreck in the stormy Mediter- 
 ranean, and said, " Fear not, Paul." Doubtless the same Presence 
 was seen, and the same Voice spake similar words to the Pilgrims 
 during those tr3dng days and nights on the Mayflower. 
 
 On the ninth of December, 1720, when anchored oft' Cape 
 Cod, -SVC are told that "the men landed and worshiped God with 
 prayers and the singing of psalms," whilst the women reiiiained 
 on board and manifested practical piety in serving God and their 
 families, by washing the dirt out of their clothing. Brave Pilgrim 
 Mothers ! Why do we hear so little of them 'i This occurred 
 several days before the whole company landed upon Plymouth 
 Rock. That first song of praise that ascended to God from the 
 
THE PURITAN PSALMODY OF NEAV ENGLAND. Ill 
 
 bleak shore of New Engxand from the Pilgrim Fathers wus un- 
 doubtedly selected from Ainsworth's book, which for more than 
 twenty years held its place as the psalm-book of the colony. It 
 was entitled, " The Book of Psalms, Englyshed both in prose and 
 meeter, with Annotations, opening the words and sentences by 
 conference with other Scriptures, by Henry Ainsworth, 1012."" 
 The prose and metrical versions were printed in parallel columns 
 on each page. This first edition was without music. In his pref- 
 ace the author wrote: '' Tunes for the Psalms, I find not any set 
 of God; therefore, all people may use the most grave, decent and 
 comfortable manner of singing that they know; " which simply 
 meant that each person should bawl out the psalm in his own way, 
 and we may vainly try to imagine the discord. But the second 
 edition, published in 1618, contained the music of five tunes, 
 printed in the old diamond-shaped notes and without bars. The 
 following is the tune Canterbury, as composed by Ravenscroft 
 and printed in Ainsworth''s book: 
 
 :i: 
 
 ;3g=i=^=.z=^=izz:.=i=f: 
 
 O bless - ed men, that doth not in the wick - ed coun-sels walk. 
 
 uor stand jn sin-ner's way, nor sit in seat of scorn-ful folk. 
 
 The edition containing these tunes was the one the Pilgrims 
 brought with them. A copy is in the rooms of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, in Boston, which was presented by the 'Rex. 
 Thomas Prince, of Plymouth, in the year 1732. As a specimen, 
 we ffive Mr. Ainsworth's rendering of the one hundredth Psalm: 
 
 " Showt to Jehovah, all the earth, 
 Serve ye Jehovah with Gladness; 
 ijefore him come with singing — mirth, 
 Know that Jehovah he God is. 
 
 Its he that made us, and not wee; 
 
 his tlock and sheep of his feeding; 
 O with confession enter yee 
 
 his gates, and court-yards with praysing. 
 
 Confesse to him, blesse ye his name, 
 
 Because Jehovah he good is. 
 his mercy ever is the snvie; 
 
 and his faith, into all ages." 
 
112 THE I'SALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The one hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm is as follows: 
 
 " By Babel's rivers there sate wee 
 
 Yea wept when we dyd minde Sion, 
 The willowes that amidds it bee 
 Our harps we hanged them upon. 
 
 For songes of us, there aske dyd they 
 
 that had us captives led along, 
 And mirth, they that in heaps dyd lay, 
 
 Synge unto us sotoe Sion's song. 
 
 Jehovah's song how synge shall wee, 
 
 Within a forreyn people's land? 
 Jerusalem if I doe thee 
 
 forget, forget let my right hand. 
 
 Cleave let my tongue to my palet, 
 
 if I doe not in mind thee bear; 
 If I Jerusalem do not 
 
 above my chief est joy prefer. 
 
 Remember Lord, to ^dom's sonns, 
 
 day of Jerusalem; who sayd 
 rase, rase to her— foundations, 
 
 Daughter of Babel, wasteful layd; 
 
 O blessed he that thy reward 
 
 payps thee, which thou rewardest us. 
 O blessed he, that takes, and hard 
 
 against the rocks, thy babes doth crush." 
 
 James I. had threatened to make the Puritans conform to the 
 church, or " harry them out of the land, or something worse." 
 That "something worse" was broadly significant, and w^as an 
 honest expression of his feelings toward the Nonconformists. This 
 policy he pursued with unrelenting vigor until his death, when 
 Charles Stuart so consistently and undeviatingly imitated his 
 father's hatred of religious liberty, that as early as 1636 there 
 were no less than thirty prominent English ministers, eminent 
 alike for learning and piety, who had been "harried" from their 
 native land, and driven to seek a home in New England. In that 
 year a committee was appointed to prepare a suitable psalm-book 
 for the American churches, consisting of the Rev. Thomas AVcldc, 
 who had just resigned the first pastorate of the church at Kox- 
 bury; John Elliott, who had succeeded Mr. Welde at Roxbury, 
 and who was designed by Divine Providence to be afterwards 
 known to the world as "The Great Apostle to the Indians;" and 
 
 I 
 
THE PURITAN PSALMODY OF XEW ENGLAND. 113 
 
 Richard Mather, the devoted pastor of the Dorchester Church, 
 and the gifted author of numerous theological works. But, great 
 as these men undoubtedly were, modern criticism has dealt very 
 severely with their attempts at i)oetry. Professor Xicol, in the 
 EncyclopiTBdia Britannica, says that they produced "the worst of 
 many bad psalm-books." Better things may have been expected, 
 seeing the work was four years in preparation. It was known by 
 two names, ''The Bay Psalm-Book," and sometimes " The New 
 England Version of the Psalms." First published in 1540, it ran 
 through nine editions during that century. A copy of the ninth 
 edition is in the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in 
 Bennet street, Boston. It was " Printed by B. Green and J. 
 Allen, for Michael Perry, under the w^est end of the Town house, 
 Boston, 1698." 
 
 The first edition was entitled ''The Psalms in Meeter," but 
 in the second edition, published in 1647, a few hymns and spirit- 
 ual songs were added, and the title was given which was borne 
 by all the thirty subsequent editions: "The Psalms, Hymns, and 
 Spiritual Songs of the Old and New Testament, faithfully trans- 
 lated into English metre, for the use, edification, and comfort of 
 the saints, in publick and private. Especially in New England." 
 
 But bad as it was, there w^as nothing to supplant it, and it 
 had an enormous circulation. Thirty editions here in America, 
 twenty-two editions in Scotland, and eighteen editions in England. 
 Psalmody may be said to form the foundations of our American 
 literature, insomuch as the first edition of these Psalms was the 
 first book printed in the colony. It was published at Cambridge 
 by Stephen Day, who was granted three hundred acres of land as 
 a recognition of his enterprise in having introduced into the col- 
 ony that mighty engine of civilization, the printing press. All 
 honor to the memory of Stephen Day, the first printer in New 
 England. Some one is responsible for the story that when Ben- 
 jamin Franklin was working in Philadelphia as a printer's boy 
 and boarding w^ith the Reed family, he ventured to ask parental 
 permission to pay his addresses to Miss Deborah. But, for a 
 time, Mrs. Reed objected to the intimacy upon the ground of his 
 inability to support a wife by his trade as a printer, because 
 there w^ere already half a dozen i)rinting oflices in New England, 
 and she doubted whether there would be work to sustain them all. 
 
 In reading selections from this first American psalm-book, it 
 
114 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 should be borne in mind that these old translations of Scripture 
 for the purpose of song were not valued so much for their rhythm 
 and general adaptation to the end in view, as for their literal 
 rendering of the phraseology of the Bible. The one which varied 
 the least from the original was regarded as the best work. The fol- 
 lowing is its rendering of the one hundred and thirty-fourth Psalm: 
 
 " O all ye servants of the Lord 
 behold the Lord bless yee; 
 Yee who within Jehovah's house 
 i' the night-time standing bee. 
 Lift up your hands and blesse the Lord 
 
 In's place of holines; 
 The Lord that heaven and earth hath made, 
 thee out of Sion blesse." 
 The first and second verses of the one hundred and thirty-third 
 Psalm are as follows: 
 
 " How good and sweet to see, 
 its for brethren to dwell 
 together in unitee, 
 
 Its lyke choice oyle that/«W 
 the head upon, 
 that down dyd flow, 
 the beard unto 
 beard of Aron ; 
 
 The skirts of his garment, 
 that unto them went downe." 
 We have stated that some spiritual songs were added to the 
 second edition in 1647. One of these, the song of Deborah, was 
 rendered as follows: 
 
 " Jael the Kenite, Heber's wife 
 'bove women blest shall bee, 
 Above the women in the tent, 
 
 a blessed one is she. 
 He water asked, she gave him milk; 
 
 in lordly dish she fetch' d 
 Him butter forth; unto the nail 
 she forth her left hand stretched; 
 
 Her right hand to the workman's maul 
 
 and Sisera hammered! 
 She pierced and struck his temple through 
 
 and then cut off his head. 
 
 He at her feet bow'd, fell, lay down, 
 
 he at her feet bow'd where 
 He fell; whereas he bowed down 
 
 he fell destroyed there!!" 
 
THE PURITAN PSALMODY OF NEW ENGLAND. 115 
 
 The singing of the Puritans of the olden time would now be 
 regarded as peculiar and monotonous. Part singing was unknown 
 amongst them. Lively music was regarded as being wholly of 
 the devil. To sing by note was to imitate the papists. They 
 sang so slowly that Rev. Thomas Walter said: "I have often 
 paused twice, upon one note, to take breath." Three or four 
 tunes constituted all their musical knowledge, and it was not very 
 uncommon for all of these to be sung at the same time by differ- 
 ent portions of the congregation. When they all united with one 
 tune they sang so badly that, to those who possessed any musical 
 taste, the disc(#d was intolerable. Selected choirs were unknown, 
 and enthusiastic choristers love to refer us to the early history of 
 the New England churches as an illustration of musical dcgen- 
 eracy at a time when choirs were ignored and the churches had 
 congregational singing with a vengeance. Perhaps things had 
 reached their worst in 1721, when the Rev. Thomas Walter, of 
 Roxbury, wrote : '* Our tunes are left to the mercy of every un- 
 skillful throat, to chop and alter, twist and change, according to 
 their odd humor and fancies. In some churches the tunes are 
 tortured, and twisted, and quavered into all medley of horrid and 
 discordant noises, until the singing often sounds like five hundred 
 different tunes roared out at the same time." Probably it was 
 very bad singing, but some of us feel that we would like to hear 
 our people " roar " a little while God's praises are being sung. We 
 think we could endure it, even if there should be a little discord. 
 We would prefer that, rather than to look over our silent audiences 
 who listen admiringly to the . solos of the prima donnas of the 
 quartette. ' ' Let all the people praise Thee, O God ! Yea, let 
 all the people praise Thee ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GERMAN PSALMODY. 
 
 " The Monarch's sword, the prelate's pride,.^^ 
 The church's curse, the empire's ban, 
 By one poor monk were all defied, 
 Who never feared the face of man. 
 
 Half battles were the words he said. 
 Each born of prayer, baptized with tears; 
 
 And routed by them, backward fled 
 The errors of a thousand years." 
 
 We can easily imagine that, to a native of the Fatherland, it 
 may seem presumptuous for one of another clime and tongue to 
 attempt to write upon the psalmody of that land of music and 
 song. We all realize that the birth-place of Handel and Haydn, 
 of Beethoven and Weber, Mendelssohn and Mozart, must be pre- 
 eminent as the home of genius and the abode of art. Music is 
 regarded as one of the necessities of German life. Almost every 
 home is the school of song, and some in almost every family are 
 votaries at the shrine of Apollo. Mr. J. W. Moore, in his Ency- 
 clopaedia of Music, says: "The culture of music in Germany is 
 simply astonishing. Even down to the most insignificant charity 
 school the art of singing is publicly taught, and no school-master 
 is allowed to exercise his profession unless he is capable of teach- 
 ing at least the elements of music." The most of the great magi- 
 cians of sound have been children of the Fatherland, which is, 
 consequently, richer in musical literature than any other country 
 in the world. Miss Wink worth calls Germany " the home of 
 Christian poetry. " To corroborate this we have but to remember 
 that the hAnm-writers of that land have given to the world no 
 less than eighty thousand Christian hymns. The fame of many 
 of these authors has crossed their national boundaries, and their 
 songs have flown to all the lands as an inspiration and benedic- 
 
 (116) 
 
GERMAN PSALMODY. 117 
 
 tion. The expressive force, and subtile distinctions, and delicate 
 shadings of other languages, have been used and made to compre- 
 hend and convey to the world the rich thought and illustrative 
 ability of the Christian poets of Germany. 
 
 We are glad to notice that all our modern hvmna]s have en- 
 riched their pages with selections from the poets of the Fatherland. 
 In the book used in our own church, "The Calvary Selection of 
 Spiritual Song," we have fifty such selections from the works of 
 twenty of the best German hymn-writers. They are not equal to our 
 best English and American hymns. It would be absurd to compare 
 them with the best works of Watts or Wesley; but they do not 
 sufl'cr when compared with the productions of many of our suc- 
 cessful hymn-writsrs. We must not forget that a hymn is almost 
 invariably injured by translation. It cannot be torn from the 
 mode of expression by which its author gave it existence, and be 
 refitted to the strange idioms of another language, without losing 
 some of its original beauty and force. We can best realize the 
 Talue of these hymns by reflecting upon what our hymnals would 
 be without them. How such a loss would impoverish us ! It 
 would be a calamity to have Martin Luther's hymns taken from 
 our l)ooks. It is true that we would scarcely miss them in our 
 pul)lic services, because we have but two or three of his produc- 
 tions, and these we do not sing. We seldom sing Rinkart's 
 Thanksgfving H}'mn, but it would be an irreparable loss to have 
 this old historic song taken from us. How we would miss Paul 
 Gerhardt's sweet hymns of trust, or Count Zinzendorf 's ' ' Jesus, 
 Thy Blood and Righteousness.'" Thank God that these hymns 
 arc the property, not of a church or of a country, but of the 
 whole Christian world. 
 
 We are aware that this is an utilitarian age, and, as we turn 
 the pages of some of our hymnals, the fact is impressed upon our 
 minds with peculiar emphasis. The grand old war-songs of the 
 church are omitted as unsuited to the needs of our time. All the 
 hymns are cut down to three or four stanzas. If you complain of 
 this vandalism, you are told that three verses are sufficient for all 
 the needs of this busy, practical age. Who are those men who 
 dare to assume the responsibility of curtailing the praises of God's 
 house ? Who are these self-appointed legislators who dictate to 
 the whole church as to the length of their worship ? If three 
 verses are sufficient, please give us the right of selecting them for 
 
118 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ourselves. If you pulilish a hymn-book give us some hymns. We 
 know of some hymnals that, in all honesty, ought to be entitled 
 " Mutilated Fragments of Hymns, Cut to Regulation Length."' 
 Why do we not cut all the trees down to a given number of feet, 
 and so have them accord with each other ? You can no more cut a 
 good hymn without spoiling it than you can cut the top off a tree 
 without disfiguring it. We are told that such vandalism is to meet 
 a necessity of the times, by preparing a book just suited to the pew. 
 Suited to the needs of one hour per week ! That is not our idea of 
 a hymn-book. We want a book that is a repository of Christian 
 song, and in which the historic songs of the churcli have a place. 
 These old battle- songs were the swords that carved out victories 
 and won the privileges we enjoy. If they are a little rusty with 
 age, we ought to venerate them the more, and preserve them as 
 the trophies of the power of God's truth and of our forefathers' 
 faith. We need a hymn-book to use in the family, until our children 
 learn to love it as they w^ould the kindly face of a dear friend. We 
 need a hymn-book to be a personal companion, in whose society 
 we can find enjoyment and assistance; a pleasant associate in our 
 gladsome hours; a sympathizing comforter in times of sorrow; a 
 friend to whisper holy and encouraging thoughts, suited to the 
 ever-varying conditions of our lives. We want a hymn-book that 
 we can love and revere, and from whose fullness we can fill our 
 souls, and whose utterances are the ever-ready means of convey- 
 ing our worship to God. 
 
 We regard the hymn-book as the great portrait gallery of the 
 church, and, as we look over its contents, we seem to recognize 
 the faces of its writers, and are thus brought into association with 
 the illustrious and holy dead. In his " Story of the Hymns," Mr. 
 Butterworth reminds us or the fact that the Holy Spirit has pre- 
 served the circumstances under which many of the Psalms were 
 written, in order that we might have the opportunity to study 
 them in the light of their own history. Surely, it must be an ad- 
 vantage to study our hymns in the same manner. The inherent 
 qualities of " The Pilgrim's Progress " are suflScient of themselves 
 to make us love it; but who shall say how nuu-h our interest in 
 the book is enhanced by the fact that it Avas at least partly written 
 in Bedford jail ? The history of the hymns cannot fail to make us- 
 more interested in them. 
 
 We would not have Martin Luther's hymns taken away from 
 
GEE\IAN PSALMODY. 119 
 
 our books, for never was a greater hymnist than he. The Reform- 
 ation in Germany was brought about b}- the instrumentality of 
 Christian song. This was the weapon with which Luther beat 
 back and discomfited the hosts of ])opery, who had so long boasted 
 of their power to suljjugax human reason as a proof of the Di- 
 vine authority of their church. Among his first efforts in the 
 great work of his life was the preparation and publication of a 
 psalm-book. In a letter written to Spalatin, in the year 1524, he 
 said: "We are looking everywhere for poets who will write 
 h3'mns in simple language suited to the capacity of the people." 
 He wrote sixty -three hymns himself, which soon became so popu- 
 lar that the}^ were sung all over Germany by the common people. 
 In Erfurth four priiiters were constantly employed in pulilishing 
 his hymns. The Catholics were alarmed, and said: " His hymns 
 do more harm than his sermons; the whole people are singing 
 themselves into his pernicious doctrines." Coleridge made an 
 assertion which we regard as doubtful, when he said that " Luther 
 did as much for the Reformation by his hymns as by his transla- 
 tion of the Holy Scriptures." In another place, the same author 
 said: " Luther was a poet, as great a poet as ever lived in any 
 age or country, l3ut his poetic images were so vivid that they over- 
 mastered his own mind; hence, he did not write so much as he 
 acted poems." Carlyle said: " Luther was not only permitted to 
 enter the sphere of poetry, but to dwell in the centre thereof. He 
 was the most inspired of all teachers since the Apostles. " 
 
 His whole life was a sublime poem that seemed to move to 
 music, a noble epic that needs no pompous or heroic language to 
 portray its graphic dramatic incidents. He was always a singer. 
 We are first introduced to him at Conrad Cotta's door, where he 
 was singing for bread. To get an education at Magdeburg, he 
 had to depend upon his voice and the charity of the citizens. 
 But, in leading the friendless boy to Conrad's door, God led him 
 to the right place. Death had caused a vacant chair in Conrad and 
 [Jrsala's home, and there was a vacant place in Conrad and Ursala's 
 hearts for the poor student to fill. The benefits Avere mutual; he 
 found a home, and they found some one to love. Conrad was 
 fond of music and spent his evenings in playing on the flute, and 
 during that winter young Luther made himself master of the 
 same instrument. To him music Avas what Coleridge says it al- 
 wavs is. "a consoler, and its own exceeding great reward." At 
 
120 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the monastery at P^rfurth his rich, musical voice gained him the 
 position of chorister. It was there that he experienced that great 
 change so aptly called in Scripture " a passing from death to life." 
 It was a fearful struggle for him. So much to give up: so many 
 sources of confidence and hope to be abandoned! All the relig- 
 ious education of his life to be swept aside as useless, and even 
 misleading. Then, in addition to all this, his soul was the arena 
 where fearful temptations contended for the mastery. All this 
 intense mental perturbation made his work as a student exceed- 
 ingly difficult. One day they foimd the poor young monk lying 
 unconscious on the floor, and many thought him dead. They 
 used every possible means for his restoration, until they despaired 
 of success. It is common in Germany for the attendants around 
 a dying person to sing some suitable h3'mn. In this case, one of 
 the choristers struck up a sweet, soul-stirring hymn, and, as 
 usual, the music acted like a charm upon Luther. Music would 
 always reach his soul, and he quickly revived under the inspiring 
 influence of holy song. Another instance was during his trial at 
 Augsburg, when utterly overcome by mental toil and anxiety he 
 fainted, and while his frightened friends were bathing his face, he 
 partially recovered and with a smile said, " Let us praise God, 
 and shame the devil, by singing the forty-sixth Psalm." That 
 precious psalm was his usual remedy under such circumstances. 
 He sang it on his way to meet the Diet at Worms, and it was 
 always a comfort and inspiration to his soul. 
 
 In public or in private, music and song were the solace of 
 his life. In his home it Avas his custom to get his lute after din- 
 ner and spend half an hour in singing the praises of God. 
 "Music," said he, "is the best soother of a troubled man, whereby 
 his heart is again quickened, refreshed and made contented. It 
 has often refreshed and relieved me from great sorrows. The 
 devil specially hates good music, because thereby men are made 
 joyful; for he loveth nothing better than to make men unbeliev- 
 ing and cowardly by means of melancholy and gloominess." 
 
 How faithful the man was to his conscience and his God! 
 When he encountered the infamous Tetzel, he knew that all the 
 power of the Vatican was upon his side, sanctioning his villainy; 
 but what cared the intrepid servant of God^ Luther said that 
 when he publicly challenged him, "The fellow bellowed like a 
 wild bull." "That man makes a great noise," said Luther to a 
 
DR. MARTIN LUTEER. 
 
GERMAN PSALMODY. 121 
 
 friend, "but, God willing, I will make a hole in his dmm." 
 Think of him openly attacking the whole papacy by nailing his 
 ninety-five prepositions upon the church-door at Wittenberg. 
 "There," said he, "that is truth, and I am here to defend It." 
 "The pope will be displeased with you," some one said to him. 
 "If it is true, I care little what pleases or displeases the pope," 
 was the reply. Many a one had been burned to ashes for saying 
 much less than that. When he felt that he was upon the side of 
 God's truth, he was invincible. Summoned to appear before 
 Cardinal Cajetan, the pope's legate, the great man expected to 
 overawe the refractory monk, and began to argue with him; but 
 in a few minutes he was helplessly, confessedly defeated, and 
 infinitely disgusted. "No, no," he said with flashing eyes, "I 
 will not argue with that beast again; his eyes are too deeply set 
 in his head, and his looks have too much meaning in them." 
 When threatened with the anger of Duke George, if he went to 
 Leipsic, Luther said: "If it were to rain Duke Georges for nine 
 days, I would go." When Spalatin sent messengers to persuade 
 him not to appear before the Diet at Worms, he said: "If there 
 were as many devils at Worms as there are tiles upon the houses, 
 I would go." 
 
 Luther before the Diet! Who were they? Never was man 
 summoned before a more august court. There sat the Emperor 
 Charles V., whose empire extended across two hemispheres; the 
 Archduke Ferdinand; six electors and governors of states, each 
 of them with the power and pomp of a king; twenty-four dukes; 
 eight margraves; thirty archbishops and bishops; seven ambassa- 
 dors from foreign courts, besides a large number of special repre- 
 sentatives from the pope. It was no light thing to stand upon 
 the defensive in such a presence. It was an all-important moment, 
 when the Chancellor of Treves arose and said: "Martin Luther, 
 will you, or will you not retract ? " Every eye was fixed upon 
 the monk's face. O, had that man yielded, how different the his- 
 tory of the world would have been ! Yield ! He was firm as the 
 everlasting hills ! All the world and the papacy upon one side, 
 and on the other side a poor, solitary monk ! O no, not solitar}^, 
 for God was with him ! Was his face blanched? Did he tremble? 
 He was the calmest man there ! He realized the gravity of the 
 moment; but he did not hesitate. Calmly looking Charles in the 
 face, he said: "I neither can nor will retract anything. I stand 
 
122 PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 here, and can say no more. God help me, Amen." Dear, brave 
 servant of God, what a debt of gratitude we owe him ! 
 
 The scenes of Luther's life are intensely dramatic, and his 
 own burly form is the principal figure in them all. As we read, 
 we imagine we see his good-natured, laughing face, and his ex- 
 uberant humor compels us to laugh with him. We almost shout 
 our admiration of his daring acts, as he nails his Thesis to the 
 church door, or throws the pope''s bull into the flames at Witten- 
 berg. His life is ahiiost a constant appeal to our senses. At his 
 wedding, we realize that it w^as more than a wedding; it was a prac 
 tical protest against the celibacy and vices of the clergy, and we 
 cannot withhold our tearful congratulations from the child-like 
 yet daring couple. Our own eyes are moist as we watch the tears 
 roll down his cheeks as he sat by the death-bed of his darling 
 Madeline. We look with awe, and pity his overwrought brain, 
 recognizing both the strength and the weakness of the man, as he 
 threw his ink-stand at the devil's head in the Castle of the Wart- 
 burg. We stand reverently watching as he breathed out his great 
 soul into the hands of his God, at Eiselben, the place of his birth. 
 We admire and venerate and love him. We will not think of 
 his faults, his harsh judgments, and his sometimes overbearing 
 tyranny. We v/ill only think of his sufferings, his courage, 
 his success ! 
 
 Yet, with all this rugged sternness, he had all the tenderness 
 of a little child. When first appointed to preach, he trembled like 
 an aspen leaf, and said to the vicar-general of his order: "Oh, Dr. 
 Staupitz, I cannot do it; indeed I cannot do it; it would kill me in 
 three months ! " " Well, Martin," said the good old Doctor, "if 
 you must die, why, you must; but if you do, they need good 
 heads up yonder; so preach, man, and then live or die, as God 
 sees best." Like all truly great men, he dearly loved little chil- 
 dren, and they loved him in return. His letter to his five-yerd'-old 
 boy affords us an insight into his great child-like nature. Gentle 
 as a laml), powerful and daring as a lion ! To-day crawling on his 
 hands and knees to romp with the children; to-morrow out in the 
 world as a whirlwind of energy, his great, passionate soul uttering 
 words— like fire balls from a cloud — words that would set nations 
 and continents into a flame. Armed with the omnipotence of 
 truth, he would cut through hosts of opposing forces with the 
 fierceness of a thunder-bolt. 
 
GERMAN PSALMODY. 123 
 
 As we have seen, Luther's hymns were sung all over the en- 
 tire land, propagating his doctrines wherever they went. " The 
 Catholics, finding that the people would sing them and were 
 almost wild with delight in so doing, published hymn-books of 
 their own, in which, with slight alterations, they incorporated 
 almost all of the Reformer's hymns. " But the priests soon dis- 
 covered that they had made a mistake, because those hymns con- 
 tained germs of truth that were fatal to the unscriptural dogmas 
 of their church, and after a short time they found it necessary to 
 strictly prohibit the use of their own books. 
 
 Nicholas Lewis, Count and Lord of Zinzendorf and Potten- 
 dorf, was a man who did a great deal of faithful consecrated 
 service for Christ. His father, who had been the prime minister 
 of Saxony, died soon after our poet's birth. His mother was 
 soon re-married, and the young count was placed under the care 
 of his devoted Christian grandmother, to whom the world is 
 largely indebted for having carefully trained the boy, and devel- 
 oping traits of character that made his life a blessing to his race. 
 In his sixteenth year he entered the university at Wittenberg as 
 a law student; but the one great yearning desire of his heart was 
 to be a minister of the Gospel of Christ, although the very 
 decided opposition of his relatives frustrated this design. On Sep- 
 tember seventh, 1722, in the twenty-second year of his age, he 
 married a devoted Christian lady and settled upon one of his 
 large estates. About that time he met a Moravian refugee, 
 named Christian David, who told him how cruelly his people had 
 been persecuted by the Austrian Government. Moved by com- 
 passion for them, the count invited them to settle upon his estate. 
 A piece of land was given them at the foot of a hill called Hut- 
 berg hill. This they named Herrnhut, which meant, "Under the 
 protection of the Lord." According to their ability the people 
 built cottages for their use, and with the count's liberal assistance 
 they erected a suitable church; and there for a while they wor- 
 shiped under "their own vine and fig tree, none daring to make 
 them afraid.'' The little band of Christians soon became an im- 
 portant missionary organization, whose agents were busily work- 
 ing among " the dark places of the earth." This was most con- 
 genial work to Zinzendorf, who wholly identified himself with 
 the settlement. This aroused the suspicions of his own govern- 
 ment, and a charge of heresy was brought against him, and for 
 
124 PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 fifteen years he was an exile from the land of his birth. Daring 
 that time he visited Christian workers in other lands, making his 
 influence felt wherever he Avent. He spent the year lT-I-2 in 
 preaching the Gospel of Christ to the Indians in our own land. 
 The last five years of his life was spent at his beloved Herrnhut, 
 and there he yielded up his spirit to God in the sixtieth year of 
 his age. 
 
 Zinzendorf liegan to compose hymns during his boyhood, and 
 continued the practice until the close of his life, having wi'itten 
 more than two thousand of such compositions. His wife was a 
 gifted hymn-w^riter, as was also his son Christian, who died in 
 London, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. Thus the whole 
 family made very valuable contributions to the sweet songs of the 
 church. Herrnhut is now a city of thirteen thousand inhabitants, 
 and is still the great heart of Moravian efi'ort, the blessed influ- 
 ence of which is felt to the ends of the earth. 
 
 The compositions of Paul Gerhardt entitle him to rank as the 
 prince of German hymn-writers. He was being educated for the 
 ministry at the commencement of the calamitous "Thirty Years' 
 War," but, unable to obtain a pastorate, because of the turbulence 
 of the times, he engaged as tutor in the family of Andrew Ber- 
 tholdt in Berlin. There he fell deeply and irrecoverably in love 
 with his his pupil, Anna Maria Bertholdt, who subsequently became 
 his wife. After a short pastorate at Mitten walde, he was called to 
 the Church of St. Nicholas, at Berlin, where he was exceedingly 
 popular, and, in the truest sense, successful. Crowds thronged to 
 hear him preach, and he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the 
 whole city. He published a number of his beautiful hymns, and 
 these extended his fame through the whole of Germany. But 
 trial soon overtook him, and from that time his life was one of 
 peculiar difficulty. He continued to w^'ite hymns, and often said 
 that the best of these had been " crushed out of his heart by the 
 weight of the heavy cross." The Prince of Brandenberg requested 
 him to sign a declaration which h(^ regarded as com})romising his 
 faithfulness as a Christian and his influence as a minister, anil his 
 conscientious refusal resulted in his being deprived of his oflice. 
 When the fact was made known to him, he said: '' This 'is a small 
 matter; but I am willing and ready to seal with my blood the 
 evangelical truth, and, like my namesake, St. Paul, to offer my 
 neck to the sword. " The people of Berlin pleaded with the Prince 
 
GERMAN PSALMODY. 125 
 
 for Mr. Gcrhardt's restoration; ])iit it was more than a year l)efore 
 he was reinstated, and then he was officially informed that the 
 Prince expected him to obey his commands. Mr. Gerhardt felt 
 this acutely, and openly expressed his conscientious feelings upon 
 the matter; the consequence of which was that another was ap- 
 pointed to fill his place. This trial was speedily followed by the 
 death of a beloved son. He could not find another pastorate, 
 and the family had to depend upon the kindness of friends to 
 keep them from actual starvation. The next year his devoted 
 wife was taken from him. That was his heaviest trial. When 
 dying, she requested an attendant to read her one of her hus- 
 band's hymns; and, while this was being done, she passed away to 
 her eternal rest. A few more years of exceedingly trying work, 
 during which he was slandered by those who should have be- 
 friended and sustained him, and his labors were ended. Miss 
 Winkworth says : ''Paul Gerhardt is without doubt the greatest 
 of the German hymn-writers, possessing loftier poetical genius 
 and a richer variety of thought and feeling than any other." He 
 gave one hundred and twenty-three hymns to the church, and 
 some of these will continue to be sung until the day when sweet 
 hymns of trust will be no longer needed, because faith will be lost 
 in sight. His portrait hangs in the church at Lubben, where he 
 spent the last seven years of his life, and underneath is the inscrip- 
 tion: "A divine, sifted in Satan's sieve." He died a peaceful 
 death. His lips moved, and listening, the attendants heard him 
 repeat a verse of his own hymn: 
 
 " Him no 
 Death hath power to kill, 
 But from many a dreaded ill 
 Bears his spirit safe away: 
 Shuts the door of bitter woes, 
 Opens yon bright path, that glows 
 With the light of perfect day." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE DAWN OF ENGLISH HYMNOLOGY. 
 
 "Oh! for the animating fire 
 That tuned harmonious Watts' lyre 
 To sweet seraphic strains; 
 Celestial fire that bore his mind 
 (Earth's vain amusements left behind) 
 To yonder blissful plains!" 
 
 The sudden changes of public opinion, jis manifest in the 
 revulsions and reactions that occur in history, are often bewilder- 
 ing to those who look for the motives which produce such results. 
 In the majesty of a righteous indignation, and in the name of 
 outraged justice, the English people had dethroned and beheaded 
 the First Charles; but why did they so speedily welcome and 
 enthrone his debased and unprincipled son, and tamely sul^mit 
 themselves to a more degrading tyranny than they had endured 
 durinor his father's reisn ? Charles 11. had neither character nor 
 conscience; but, as a hard man of the world, he was not deficient 
 in a certain kind of shrewd common sense. He knew that it was 
 the intelligent and conscientious portion of the community who 
 had arraigned, condemned and punished his father's crimes, and 
 his vindictive nature caused him to be their relentless and per- 
 sistent foe. He was thoroughly unscrupulous in his methods, 
 and readily pandered to the low tastes and vulgar prejudices of 
 the most vicious and depraved, in order to have their co-operation 
 in crushing the true nobility of the country. "The Uniformity 
 Act" was a vile onslaught upon the integrity of true men, whilst 
 *'The Conventicle Act" was meant to be a deadly thrust at true 
 piety. "The Five Miles Act" was a pitiless form of savage 
 persecution, which even pagan Rome would have blushed to 
 enforce. The consequence of these iniquitous enactments was 
 that the prisons of England were crowded with the best people 
 
 (126) 
 
THE DAWN OF ENGLISH HYMNOLOGY. 127 
 
 in the realm, many of whom spent long years in jail, and more 
 of whom — which was better for them — took the pestilential jail 
 fever, and, succumbing to their sufferings, passed out through the 
 gate of death into glorious liberty. The only term descriptive of 
 the prisons of that day would be to call them ' ' hells of suffering. "■ 
 No provisions were made for ordinary decency; consequently the 
 filth was indescribable and the stench intolerable. Godly men 
 and women were often "huddled" together with thieves and 
 murderers, whose behavior and language were a constant annoy- 
 ance. 
 
 Next to these prisoners, in degree of suffering, were the Non- 
 conformist ministers, who were not in jail, but who were, never- 
 theless, virtually outlawed. The authorities regarded them as 
 the enemies of the state, and they were constantly under the 
 espionage of informers, employed by the government for that 
 purpose. If a minister conducted family worship in his own 
 house, and five persons besides the family were within hearing, he 
 was arrested and imprisoned. Sometimes the spy would hide 
 from sight, and count himself as one, to make up the illegal num- 
 ber. These ministers dared not go within five miles of any bor- 
 ough or place where they had previously ministered. They were 
 compelled to remain among strangers. Holy Richard Baxter has. 
 described their sufferings. He said: "Many hundreds of the 
 clergy, with their wives and children, had neither house nor 
 bread. Though they were frugal as possible, they could hardly 
 live. Some existed on little else than brown bread and water. 
 Many had but forty or fifty dollars a year, with which to support 
 a family. A piece of meat did not get to their table for many 
 weeks at a time." To make the starvation of these ministers 
 certain, the law would not permit them to keep boarders or to 
 teach school. When the vicious and immoral classes are in the 
 ascendency, they are always ready to insult and ridicule the 
 unpopular and down-trodden. It was so in that day especially. 
 These godly ministers were not only persecuted by the officers of 
 the law, but when they ventured on the streets they were hounded 
 and hooted by the mob. 
 
 It is said that during the winter of 1674 a lady might often 
 have been seen walking to and fro in front of the old jail in 
 Southampton, England. She usually carried her baby in her 
 arms, and as she passed a certain window she would occasionally 
 
128 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 stop :intl lift lip her child at arm's length, so that any one within 
 might look through the rusty iron bars into the baby's face. A 
 stranger seeing; this, and noticin*? the marks of suflcrino; in her 
 face, would naturally- have supposed her to have ])een the unfor- 
 tunate wife of some prisoner who had clouded her life by his 
 crimes. But that would not have been all true. She was a pris- 
 oner's wife, hut her husband was not a burglar. He had never 
 stolen a watch, or picked a pocket, or in any way disgraced his 
 family by his crimes. He was a true, brave man; a sufierer for 
 conscience's sake, who dared to do right, even though the right led 
 to a prison cell. Mr. Isaac Watts was a deacon of the Independ- 
 ent Chapel, and, as such, was a suspected man. His father, 
 Thomas Watts, who was captain of a British man-of-war, did 
 excellent service for his country. But upon one occasion the 
 enemy w^as too powerful, and was about to take his ship. Would 
 he permit them to take his ship and run up the Dutch colors at 
 the masthead 'i No, never! The Union Jack should wave over 
 iis head to the last! So he fired his pistol into the powder-maga- 
 zine, and his vessel and crew could not be taken by the enemy. 
 Brave Thomas Watts was willing to die, but he would not yield. 
 Probably his son Isaac had some such grit. We know that he 
 suffered two or three terms of imprisonment. Our readers will 
 have recognized the baby as one afterwards known and revered 
 by the world as Dr. Isaac Watts, the prince of English hymn- 
 writers. 
 
 Mr. Isaac Watts, senior, had for many years been the prin- 
 cipal of the. Southampton Academy, and had gained an enviable 
 fame as a most successful educator. The early settlers in New 
 England knew the reputation of the school, and many of them 
 were personal friends of the principal. Consequently, as there 
 were then but few educational advantages in America, many young 
 gentlemen from this country were enrolled as students at South- 
 ampton. When the term of imprisonment expired, the good 
 deacon returned home to his family and his school. 
 
 Meanwhile Ba])y Watts grew to be a remarkably precocious 
 child. We think it wjis a case where the schoolmaster usurped 
 the place of the father. If so, we think Mr. Watts deserved an- 
 other six months in jail for cruelty to that poor little child. The 
 shameful story which has been handed down, to show the smart- 
 ness of that boy, is to our mind sufficient evidence to prove the 
 
THE DAWN OF ENGLISH HYMNOLOGY. 129 
 
 absurd cruelty of the })urcuts. Here is the record as preserved 
 by the hid himself. Please remember that he was born on the 
 seventeenth of July, 1074: "Began to take Latin of my father, 
 1678; to Latin school and writing, 1080; began to learn Greek, 
 1083, or before; I had the small-pox, 1683; learnt French, 1084-5; 
 learnt Hebrew, 1087 or '88." 
 
 Think of it! Latin at four years old! Greek at nine! French 
 at ten! He])rew at thirteen! He had small-pox at nine, but 
 small-pox was more merciful than that father. It is said that 
 "charity covereth a multitude of sins," but it requires a great 
 deal of charity to cover his sins. We would like the prince of 
 hymn-writers to have had a magnificent physique and robust 
 health. As it was. Dr. Watts was a diminutive, consumptive- 
 looking creature, whose appearance provoked the smiles of 
 strangers, and sometimes the sneers of the ignorant and ill-be- 
 haved. With all these disadvantages he reigns king in the realm 
 of hymnology, and is known as "The Father of English Psalm- 
 ody." But he might have astonished the world and benefited the 
 church yet more, had he had good health. Poor Dr. Watts was 
 an object of pity! He lived and labored under most unfavor- 
 able conditions, which crippled all his eflforts and frustrated all 
 his plans. When he fell in love with Miss Singer, what a happy 
 man he would have been could he have married her. He loved 
 her with all his soul. But no such wife for him! And he not 
 only lost her, but suffered the unutterable misery of knowing that 
 she despised his frail appearance. O, of course, she greatly re- 
 spected his character ; but she said that "whilst she admired the 
 jewel, she could not bring herself to love the casket that conained 
 it." No use to blame her and call her heartless. She was at least 
 honest; and it was better so, than for her to have married a man 
 she could not love. No sensible woman would marry a man 
 simply l)ccause she pitied him. God does not ask any woman to 
 wreck her own life for the sake of pity. 
 
 We are simply disgusted with the absurd stories of the infant 
 prodigy. We feel like writing "the infant monstrosity." When 
 eighteen months old, before he could articulate })lainly, he would 
 cry, "A book! a book!" When a farthing prize was offered for a 
 rhyme, he wrote the couplet: 
 
 " I write not for a farthing, but \o try 
 How I your farthing writers may outvie." 
 
130 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 It would have been much better for the dear boy had he been 
 trundling a hoop instead of jinghng rhymes. It is exceedingly 
 painful to read the story of his wrecked constitution and ruined 
 manhood. The descriptions of the man by his biographers do 
 not in all respects accord with the portraits that have been pre- 
 served. He is said to have been " not more than live feet tall, 
 with low forehead and prominent cheek-bones, his eyes small and 
 sunken, and his personal appearance not prepossessing." If some 
 of the stories told were true, how excruciatingly his keenly sensi- 
 tive nature must have suffered. For instance, we are told of a 
 gentleman who, upon being introduced in some public place, was 
 astonished, and stammered out: "What! do you mean to tell me 
 that this is the great Dr. Watts ? " The story says that the an- 
 noyed, but ever-graceful Doctor, turned upon his critic and said: 
 
 " Were I so tall to reach the pole, 
 Or grasp the ocean with a span, 
 I must be measured by my soul: 
 The mind's the standard of the man." 
 
 We regard it as improbable. Some such thing may have oc- 
 curred, but the story is surely incorrect in detail. It were v. gross 
 misnomer to call such a rude fellow "a gentleman." No gentle- 
 man would permit himself to be surprised into such vulgarity. 
 Nor does it seem likely that Dr. Watts would have thrown such 
 a pearl before a boorish — nay, permit us to follow out the Lord's 
 metaphor and call him — a boarish man. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, Mr. Watts entered the academy of the 
 Rev. Thomas Rowe, in London, where for four years he was an 
 indefatigable student, and completed his course with the greatest 
 credit. While there he consecrated his life to Christ, and united 
 with the Independent Church meeting in Girdler's Hall, of which 
 Mr. Rowe was pastor. In his twentieth year, he returned home 
 to Southampton for much needed rest. There he of course 
 worshiped in the little meeting-house, with the church of which 
 his father was yet deacon. A " tradition," which is something 
 more than a tradition, has come down to us concerning the cir- 
 cumstances which first called out Mr. Watts' powers as a hymn- 
 writer. The little church used Sternhold and Hopkins' Psalms, 
 which, after the usual custom, were read and sung one line at 
 a time. Young Watts was so dissatisfied with the cumbrous and 
 uncouth compositions, that he complained of them in the presence 
 
^ 
 
 ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 
 
THE DAWN OF ENGLISH HYMNOLOGY. 131 
 
 of the deacons of the church, his father being one of these. 
 " Don't complain of what we have, unless you can give us some- 
 thing better," said one of the old men. " If 1 do furnish some- 
 thing better will you sing it ? " asked young Watts. The matter 
 was discussed, and, before they separated, the promise was given. 
 The next Sabbath morning written copies of a hymn were handed 
 to the deacons and sung by the congregation. The hymn was — 
 
 ' 'Behold the glories of the Lamb, 
 Amid his Father's throne; 
 Prepare new honors for His name, 
 And songs before unknown." 
 
 This " song; before unknown" is believed to have been the 
 first of those hymns whose composition immortalized the name 
 of Dr. Isaac Watts. We have said that the story is something 
 more than a mere tradition. Indeed, the Rev. John Morgan's testi- 
 mony has almost corrol)orated its truthfulness. In a letter to Dr. 
 Gibbons, dated ITSO, he said that fifty years before, the Rev. 
 Mr. Price, who was a personal friend and pastoral assistant of Dr. 
 Watts, had told him the story virtually as we have given it. He 
 also adds that the Southampton people were so delighted that 
 they entreated a second, and a third, and a fourth, until they had 
 sufficient to form a small volume. 
 
 In his twenty-second year, Mr. Watts engageci himself as 
 tutor to the son of Sir John Hartopp, at Newington, then a suburb 
 of London, where he remained for six pleasant years. Upon his 
 twenty-fourth birthday he preached his first sermon, and was 
 called to the pastorate of the Mark Lane Independent Church in 
 London. But his lack of health prevented him from assuming 
 the entire charge ; an assistant was procured, but for fifty years 
 Mr. Watts was the recognized pastor of the church. Sometimes 
 he could not preach for many months; and when he did, he was 
 often compelled to go home to bed, and spend the rest of the day 
 in a darkened room. In his thirty-eighth year. Sir Thomas Ab- 
 ney invited him to spend a few days at his residence in the sub- 
 urbs of London. Mr. Watts accepted the invitation, and pro- 
 longed that visit for thirty-six years. He never left that home 
 until they carried him out to his grave in Bunhill Fields. Upon 
 one occasion when Lady Huntingdon called upon him, he said to 
 her : "This day, thirty years, I came hither to the house of my 
 good friend Sir Thomas Abncy, intending to spend but one single 
 
132 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 week, and I have extended the visit to thirty years." Undoubt- 
 edly Mr. Watts was one of the very best of men. Dr. Johnson 
 said of him: "Few men have left behind such purity of char- 
 acter, or such monuments of laborious piety. He has provided 
 instruction for all ages. " 
 
 The people of Southampton have erected a beautiful monu- 
 ment in Western Park to the memory of their illustrious citizen. 
 It is of polished Aberdeen granite, inlaid with basso-rilievos of 
 pure white marble. One of these represents him as a Christian, with 
 heaven turned gaze. Underneath is a line from one of his hymns: 
 "To heaven I lift my waiting eyes." Upon another side he is 
 instructing a group of children, and underneath the words : 
 ' ' He gave to lisping infancy its earliest and purest lessons. " 
 Upon the opposite side he is depicted as a philosopher, with 
 globe and telescope, and Dr. Johnson's words are graven beneath: 
 "He taught the art of reasoning, and the science of the stars." A 
 long inscription, descriptive of his many excellencies is upon the 
 remaining side. It is a beautiful testimony to the value of a good 
 man. To regard him simply as a theologian and hymn-writer is 
 to have but a very imperfect idea of his profound learning and 
 •vast attainments. We know the book is out of date, and conse- 
 quently neglected ; but if we were asked to name a book which we 
 regard as being likely to prove of use to intelligent young men, we 
 would say, get Dr. Watts upon "The Improvement of the Mind." 
 We claim for Dr. Watts the front place among English hymn- 
 writers. He wrote at a time when " poetic taste was not only un- 
 formed, but when it was invariably deformed." He was almost 
 the creator of English hymns. And the real worth of his pro- 
 ductions is seen in the fact that they continue to live, and far more 
 of them are used to-daj' than those of any other writer. Isabella 
 L. Bird, who is regarded as a good authority in such matters, 
 says that Watts wrote two-fifths of the hymns now used in the 
 English-speaking world." There is a disposition on the part of 
 some to give Charles Wesley the pre-eminence as a hymn-writer, 
 but that can never be done. Watts was a pioneer, whilst Wesley 
 had Watts as a guide. Watts wrote his hymns during a time 
 of great religious dearth, whilst Wesley wrote during the time 
 and under the influence of a gracious revival. We do not contend 
 that Watts wrote anything better— perhaps nothing to equal — • 
 "Jesus, lover of my soul," 
 
THE DAWN OF ENGLISH HYMNOLOGY. 133 
 
 but we do claim that Watts wrote more hymns that live and re- 
 tain their usefulness than Wesley did. Wesley wrote seven thou- 
 sand hymns. Watts wrote but six hundred and ninety-seven, yet, 
 the latter far outnumbers the former in hymns in actual use. ' 'The 
 Calvary Selection" has one hundred and sixty of Watts' and fifty- 
 five of Wesley's. The most of the hymnals have about the same 
 proportion. Both were glorious men, and both names will ever 
 be dear to Christ-loving souls. 
 
 Of course Isaac Watts wrote some very inferior hymns which 
 are already consigned to the realm of forgotten things. We re- 
 member hymns that were sung in our boyhood days, nearly half a 
 century ago, which are no longer heard or known. We have a 
 keen recollection of the impressions then made upon our minds, 
 by some of Dr. Watts' "Divine and Moral Songs for Children," 
 w^hich were sung in Sabbath-school. Some of these feelings were 
 of so painful a character, that to this day we have scarcely for- 
 given the Doctor for having written- some of those songs. We 
 had two sessions of Sunday-school, one at nine in the morning and 
 another at half past one in the afternoon. In those days we had to 
 rise early and work hard during the week, and it was no trifling 
 matter to begin the day of rest by rising, dressing and breakf ast- 
 ing before eight o'clock, and then walking three miles to Sunday- 
 school. Frequently, when we reached the place, our school was 
 opened by singing one of the Doctor's songs: 
 
 " 'Tis the voice of the sluggard, I heard him complain, 
 ' You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again.' 
 
 As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed 
 
 Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head." 
 
 That hymn always hurt us. It did not condemn us, for we knew 
 we were not sluggards. Doubtless there were such people then 
 in bed, but why we had to rise so early, and walk so far, to make 
 them the subjects of our song, was something we could not under- 
 stand. There was another of the Doctor's hymns frequently sung, 
 that severely condemned pride in dress. In those days our pe- 
 culiar temptions did not assume that form. We were not exposed 
 to danger because of extravagance in apparel. We sometimes 
 had to go to Sunday-school with a hole in our shoe, or with our 
 Sunday coat looking decidedly seedy, and the singing of that 
 hymn made us supremely conscious of the fact, and we felt that 
 -every one in school had their eyes fixed upon that much-worn 
 
134 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 coat or broken shoe. If memory serves us right the hymn began 
 in this way: 
 
 'Why should the garments, made to hide 
 Our parents' shame, provoke our pride? 
 The art of dress did ne'er begin, 
 Till Eve, our mother, learnt to sin." 
 
 We forget the next verse, but we never disputed the truth that — 
 "The tulip and the butterfly 
 Are dressed in gayer robes than I." 
 
 Somehow we have never been enthusiastic concerning Dr. Watts' 
 ' ' Divine and Moral Songs for Children. " 
 
 In those days the Sunday-school was not regarded as ' ' the 
 children's church," but the members of the school regularly at- 
 tended the public services of God's house. We teach the children 
 not to attend church, and they incline to our teaching. But fifty 
 years ago the children attended church. We remember some of 
 Watts' hymns, which were then sung by the congregations, that 
 would exceedingly startle our people, if read from the modern 
 Dulpit. We have often heard the following h3'mns sung. 
 
 "My thoughts on awful subjects roll. 
 Damnation and the dead; 
 What horrors seize the guilty soul 
 Upon a dying bed! 
 
 In vain to heaven she lifts her eyes. 
 
 For guilt, a heavy chain. 
 Still drags her downward from the skies. 
 
 To darkness, fire and pain." 
 
 Another of Watts' hymns was: 
 
 ' Far in the deep where darkness dwells, 
 
 The land of horror and despair, 
 Justice has built a dreadful hell. 
 And laid her stores of vengeance there. 
 
 Eternal plagues, and heavy chains. 
 
 Tormenting racks, and fiery coals, 
 And darts to inflict immortal pains, 
 
 Dyed in the blood of damned souls. 
 
 There Satan, the first sinner, lies, 
 
 And roars, and bites his iron bands; 
 In vain the rebel strives to rise, 
 
 Crushed with the weight of both Thy hands. 
 
 Tremble, my soul, and kiss the Son: 
 
 Sinners, obey the Saviour's call; 
 Else your damnation hastens on. 
 
 And hell gapes wide, to wait your fall." 
 
THE DAWN OF ENGLISH HYMNOLOGY. 135 
 
 In our childhood wc heard so much of this kind of preaching and 
 singing that wc often wished we had not had a soul. In Sunday- 
 school there was a hymn that must have been a favorite with our 
 superintendent, because it was sung nearly every Sabbath: 
 
 "There is a dreadful hell, 
 And everlasting pains, 
 Where sinners must with devils dwell 
 In darkness, fire, and chains. 
 
 Can such a wretch as I 
 
 Escape this cursed end? 
 And may I hope, whene'er I die, 
 
 I shall to heaven ascend?" 
 
 We sung those words when seven years old, and we did not hope 
 to "escape that cursed end." We could see no prospect of any- 
 thing else than to have om- dwelling-place with the devils. We 
 can honestly say that, from the hymns we sang and the sermons 
 we often heard, our abiding conviction was that God hated us. 
 
 We have referred to these old hymns simply to use them as 
 a background, by means of which we may, by way of contrast, 
 make manifest the fact that modern Christian teaching is charac- 
 terized by the mildness of the Christian spirit, and is, as we be- 
 lieve, in more blessed accord with the truth that ' ' God is love. " 
 The great majority of Dr. Watts' hymns are permeated with this 
 spirit of kindly sympathy and tender love. No other man has 
 ever bequeathed a richer legacy to the church, or conferred a 
 greater blessing upon the world than did Dr. Isaac Watts, whose 
 precious hymns are an abiding blessing. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HYMN-BOOKS, THEIR CONTENTS AND USES. 
 
 O Lamp of Song! whose heaven-lit pages 
 
 Flash out the thought of poet sages, 
 
 Whose light shone through their lands and ages, 
 
 By love first fired! 
 Gift of the gifted and ingenious, 
 Whose songs blazed out extemporaneous 
 Through burning words, alight with genius, 
 
 But God-inspired. 
 
 A very large proportion of the so-called poverty of men is 
 simply the result of their inability to correctly estimate the value 
 of their possessions. A man with good health and good sense 
 cannot be really poor. It is both wicked and unfortunate to 
 habitually underrate the real worth of things. And it is also 
 wicked to be ignorant of the value of the things we possess, 
 when our ignorance is simply the result of inattention. Igno- 
 rance is the child of indolence. All this will apply to the topic 
 before us. There are thousands who own a hymn-book who have 
 not the remotest idea of the mine of wealth it contains. If you 
 were to ask them, "What is a hymn-book?" they would look at 
 you in a bewildered and half-insulted sort of way, and say: "A 
 hymn-book! Why, a hymn-book is, of course — a hymn-book!" 
 What was a primrose to WordsAvorth's Peter Bell ? 
 
 "A primrose by the river's brim, 
 A yellow primrose was to him, 
 And it was nothing more." 
 
 "Only a hymn-book," is a common form or expression. If 
 people do not expect to find it interesting, why it is not likely 
 that they will find it so. Those who are interested in the book 
 find it interesting. There arc thousands of people who never af- 
 ford themselves an opportunity to get acquainted with their 
 hymn-book. They only see it once a wc^k, when they go to 
 
 (136) 
 
HYMN-BOOKS, THEIR CONTENTS AND USES. 137 
 
 church. The book is part of the furniture of the pew, just 
 as is the cushion, or the foot-rest. Of course tliey recognize it 
 upon such occasions, but they never get intimate with it. They 
 do not know the book, and therefore cannot love it, and if they 
 do not love it, they will not delight in using it. It is necessary 
 to have our people interested in their hymn-books, as a pre-requi- 
 site to their being interested and profited by the psalmody of 
 the church. We believe that, next to a love for God's holy word, 
 there is no other book so likely to promote spiritual growth in 
 the individual, and develop vigorous life in the church, as the 
 book of praise. Those who love it most will be found to be the 
 most consistent in character and the most useful in the church. 
 It is a blessed privilege to have the music of these sweet songs 
 chiming through the soul, making the normal condition of the 
 mind to be one of enjoyment. A spirit of thankfulness is a con- 
 dition of development. As it is with the individual, it must 
 necessarily be with the church. The spiritual status of any 
 church can be estimated with tolerable accuracy by observing the 
 way the people use their hymn-books. If during the time set 
 apart for singing, one half of the people are without books, and 
 the other half not using them; if the janitor is busily using the 
 time in attending to little matters pertaining to his office, and the 
 minister is arranging his manuscript and preparing for the ser- 
 mon as the great event of the service, you may readily infer that 
 that church is not in a healthy spiritual condition. But singing 
 churches are composed of vigorous, aggressive, and successful 
 workers. We recently heard a judicious Christian gentleman 
 say that "he would be almost as much profited l>y hearing the 
 Newington Tal)ernacle congregation sing the Doxology to the 
 tune ' Old Hundred,' as by hearing one of their gifted pastor's 
 soul-stirring sermons." That gentleman did not fail to appreciate 
 Mr. Spurgeon as a very prince of preachers, but he did realize 
 the mighty power of a singing church. In all well-balanced 
 churches the singing and the preaching will inspire and assist 
 each other. No minister can do his best work while preaching to 
 a people who neglect to sing, because in such circumstances he is 
 conscious of w^orking at a great disadvantage. But nothing is so 
 easy and delightful as to preach when the heart has been stirred 
 and warmed, and the congregation roused to enthusiasm, by the 
 sweet songs of the house of the Lord. 
 
138 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Our desire is to do some little service toward bringing about 
 such an improved state of things by assisting our readers to have 
 some correct idea of what an interesting volume the hymn-book 
 really is. As we write these lines a score of psalm and hymn- 
 books are lying upon our study table. Among them are some of 
 the books our fathers were wont to use. Little homely small 
 print affiiirs that, however useful they may have been, were cer- 
 tainly neither convenient nor ornamental. Among the rest are 
 some half dozen of our modern hymnals, and the merest glance 
 is sufficient to realize that in the preparation of hymn-books w'e 
 have left the old w^orld far behind. The modern books are hand- 
 some, well-bound volumes, in ornamental covers, with hymns and 
 tunes printed in beautiful, clear type, and arranged wnth such 
 good taste that our hymn-book is really a work of art. All the 
 hymn-books before us have been used in God's service as books 
 of praise, and therefore, in matter of literary merit and special 
 adaptation, we may compare them with each other; but so far as 
 appearance and convenience and workmanship are concerned, we 
 can only regard them in way of contrast. 
 
 We will select one of these modern books — merely regarding 
 it as a representative of all the rest — and use it to point out what 
 we regard as some interesting facts concerning hymn-books. Be- 
 cause it is used in our own church, and we are consequently more 
 familiar with it than with others, Ave will use "The Calvary Se- 
 lection of Spiritual Songs," published by "The Century Com- 
 pany," of New York. We believe this book will fairly represent 
 the best of our hymnals, so that, what we may say of it may, in 
 the main, be applied to them all. We shall not attempt to com- 
 pare or criticise difi'erent books; our aim is simply to show the 
 points of interest that are to be found in some one hynm-book. 
 Turning the pages of the book we notice that among its ten hun- 
 dred and eighty-six hymns m."y be found nearly all of the old 
 standard favorites of the church, but interspersed among them is 
 a number of beautiful strangers whose presence gives a freshness 
 to the whole selection. There are also a great variety of tunes, 
 both of the old and stately music of the church and of the new 
 and popular melodies of our own time; yet the book is singularl}^ 
 free from specimens of dullness selected from standard music, and 
 from samples of frothiness taken from modern compositions. Its 
 topics arc multifarious, but not bewildering, because its complete 
 
HYMN-BOOKS, THEIR CONTENTS AND USES. 139 
 
 indexes bring the resources of the book to our finger-ends. Tliose 
 who have used and become accustomed to it, tell us that its con- 
 veniences charm and its excellencies delight them. 
 
 It is not too much to say that the book contains the choicest 
 productions of the choicest minds, and is made up of the most 
 precious gems of poetical excellence that can be gathered in the 
 mines of human thought. Our hymn-books do not merely repre- 
 sent the wisdom of any one age, or country, or section of the 
 church, but they consist of the cream of the hymnology of thirty 
 generations, and are enriched by all lands and all denominations 
 of Christians. And these hymns are not only great in their 
 origin, but each has an unwritten history, which is none the less 
 real because it can only be conjectured. Their kindly influence 
 have always been upon the side of the true and the good. Who 
 shall say how many souls they have led to Jesus ? How many 
 despondent ones they have encouraged, how many afflicted ones 
 they have sustained, how many sorrowful ones they have com- 
 forted? They have accompanied tens of thousands of souls 
 through the river of death, and have sung them to the very gates 
 of heaven. Ofttimes portions of these hymns are sung by lips 
 that death seals into silence before they can reach the end of the 
 song. Jerome and Huss, and hundreds of others, sang them as 
 their death-songs amid the devouring flames of martyrdom. His- 
 tory tells us of one hundred and forty Albigensian Christians 
 being martyred in one huge fire during the persecution under 
 Simon De Montfort in the thirteenth century. When brought to 
 the place of death they struck up and sang a sweet hymn of 
 praise, each one singing as he was forced into the flames. But 
 these hymns have not only consoled and sustained martyrs in suf- 
 fering; they have also inspired heroes in service. As war-songs, 
 many a victory has been won because of their animating influ- 
 ence, and many a soul has been urged to deeds of daring under 
 the spell of their exhilarating power. Yet their ability to rouse 
 to action has been no greater than their capability to soothe to 
 quietness. They are being constantly used as songs of faith in 
 trial, of confidence in sickness, of resignation in bereavement, of 
 hope and sometimes of triumph in death. They have been sung 
 by persecuted Christians in the Catacombs, by hunted covenanters 
 upon the Scottish moors, by the Lollards at Smithfield, and the 
 Huguenots in France. The echoes of these songs reverberate 
 
140 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 through all the nistory of the church. Keeping in mind their 
 beneficent influence, it needs but little thought to enable one to 
 endorse Professor Edward's definition of a hymn as ''the com- 
 bined product of earthly genius and heavenly inspiration. " 
 
 ''The Calvary Selection" contains one thousand and eighty- 
 six hymns, written by three hundred and twenty-eight authors, 
 who wrote the original hymns. There are eight translators 
 whose renderings are given but who have not written any original 
 hymn found in the book. Adding these names makes a total of 
 three hundred and thirty-six authors. There are fifty-four hymns 
 marked anonymous, but we have, however, discovered the authors 
 of nineteen of these, bringing down the number to thirty-five. 
 Could we obtain the names of these anonymous authors they 
 would increase our list to at least three hundred and fifty. Two 
 or three other hymns are virtually anonymous, for though we 
 have a name, we have nothing but the name. The well known 
 and much loved hymn — 
 
 "Welcome, delightful morn, 
 , Thou day of sacred rest," 
 
 is marked "Hay ward." Who was Hayward? No one knows. 
 Probably he has now ceased to welcome the return of earthly 
 Sabbaths, and is enjoying that perpetual Sabbatic rest of heaven. 
 But many hymn-writers have not left even a name, and are 
 totally unknown to us; but God knows them, and He is not un- 
 faithful to forget their work of faith, and their labor of love." 
 They may be dead, but, by these precious hymns, they "being 
 dead yet speaketh." "Their works do follow them." Dead or 
 living, their work remains an unceasing blessing to the church. 
 Perhaps as they used their consecrated pen they felt as did Henry 
 Francis Lyte, who, when dying of consumption, wrote: 
 
 "Might verse of mine inspire 
 
 One virtuous aim, one high resolve impart; 
 
 Light in one drooping soul a hallowed fire. 
 
 Or bind one broken heart." 
 
 Death Vfould be sweeter then, 
 More calm my slumber 'neath the silent sod, 
 Might I thus live to bless my fellow m,en, 
 
 Or Glorify my God." 
 
 In order to assist us in forming some adequate idea of w^hat 
 a hymn-book really is, we will su})pose an utterly impossible thing. 
 
HYMN-BOOKS, THEIR CONTENTS AND USES. 141 
 
 In imagination — for we can do it in no other way — we will gather 
 the three hundred and thirty-six writers of ''The Cavalry Selec- 
 tion" together in one place. We wx)uld suggest a church, but if 
 any of the trustees hesitate about granting the use of the building 
 for such a purpose, we will at once build an air-castle for our con- 
 venience. We will make it large enough to comfortably accommo- 
 date six hundred persons, and there we will hold our novel meet- 
 ing of hymn-writers. Were the meeting held anywhere else but 
 in an air-castle, we would not like to be placed in charge of it, or 
 be expected to entertain the guests we intend to invite. What 
 an heterogeneous assembly it would be! Gathered from all the 
 countries, and brought down to us from far-olF centuries, they 
 would represent all the varied forms of human civilization, and all 
 the multiform phases of church life. They would difier as widely 
 in creed as in either age or country. Although their hymns are 
 bound up in one book, nothing Ijut an air-castle would hold them 
 together even for an hour. There would not be any fraternal 
 feeling on the part of some of them. Even should Mr. Fawcett 
 give out his hymn, "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in 
 Christian love," they would not all sing it. But if it were not a 
 fraternal gathering, it would, in many senses, be an imposing and 
 distinguished one. Should our hymn-writers come in chronologi- 
 cal order, the early arrivals would surely embarrass us. The first 
 would be Saint Clement, of Alexandria, the Christian philosopher 
 of the early Church. Then Ambrose, the good bishop and sweet 
 singer of Milan. Then we would be startled by the entrance of 
 the sovereign pontiff, his holiness Gregory the Great. Gregory 
 was the first pope who assumed tlie title '■^Servus Servovum Dei,'''' 
 which means "Servant of the Servants of God."" But the Roman 
 pontiffs have always been more ready to receive than to render 
 service. AVe have been told that high-born ladies have often 
 traveled long distances in order to enjoy the unspeakable privi- 
 lege of kissing the pope's toe, but many of us would regard the act 
 as savoring much more of the ridiculous than of the sublime. The 
 next arrivals would be John and Stephen, the two old Sabaite 
 monks, w^earing the coarse and peculiar habiliments of their order. 
 We would again be greatly embarrassed by the entrance of His 
 Majesty, Robert II., king of France. We are not sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with matters of king-craft to understand how we ought 
 to entertain royalty. The king would be followed hy Rabanus 
 
142 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Maurus, the Archbishop of Mayence, and the dignified ecclesias- 
 tic would probably expect more homage than the king. Then we 
 would look for the frail-looking pale-faced monk of Clairvaux. 
 He would be dignified, but his dignity would be that of a great 
 soul, which would command the love and esteem of those about 
 him. With him would be his friend and namesake, Bernard, 
 the poet-monk of Cluny. These would be followed by Thomas 
 Aquinas, the distinguished scholar and the austere churchman, 
 a man who would repel, rather than attract us to him. Thomas 
 De Celano, the Franciscan frair, and the abbot of Worms would 
 come in order, followed by Jacobus DeTodi, the Italian poet and 
 satirist. His satire had offended the pope, Boniface VIII. , and the 
 poet Avould have to come to us from his prison cell, where he 
 wrote his beautiful hymn : 
 
 " Near the cross was Mary weeping, 
 There her mournful station keeping, 
 Gazing on her dying Son." 
 
 So far, our gathering would consist of distinguished Catho- 
 lics. A pope and king, archbishop and bishops, monks and 
 frairs ; but how would we introduce Dr. Mjtrtin Luther to 
 these ? Would they regard him as the arch-herotic, and refuse 
 to breath the air tainted by his presence ? Fortunately for 
 us — having charge of our air-castle — we can keep these together 
 sufficiently long for our purpose. Another king would follow 
 Luther, and wo would have to welcome his majesty Gustaye Adol- 
 phus, the king of Sweden. Space will not permit us to intro- 
 duce these guests individually to the reader. We must fill the 
 seats and then we may overlook them. What a wonderful gather- 
 ing it would be! We would be wild with excitement as we .at- 
 tempted to recognize individuals in the illustrous assembly! Dear 
 reader, you would never again say, "Only a hymn-book," if you 
 could be brought face to face with its authors. You would go out 
 from that assembly and declare that the hymn-book is — with one 
 exception — the most wonderful volume in all the world. You 
 would reverence the book, and delight in studying the sublime 
 productions of the world's greatest minds. Allow your imagina- 
 tion to hover over the scene, while wo call attention to some of the 
 great assemblage. Many of them arc ministers. We know that 
 socialists often speak of the clergy as "the great non-producing 
 class," but the world owes something to its ministers. They 
 
HY3IN-B0OKS, THEIR CONTENTS AND USES. 143 
 
 have done much, and sufl'ered much, to .stem the torrents of evil 
 that threatened to wash out the foundations of the common- 
 wealth. There is no class of men upon earth who have done more 
 for civil and religious liberty, who have been more enthusiastic 
 for popular education, and who have done as much to build up a 
 pure literature, or who have been more faithful friends of the 
 down-trodden and the oppressed. They have called out and wisely 
 directed public benovolence, and have ever been the unwavering 
 advocates and supporters of good government: and all this with- 
 out reference to the special work of their lives, in promoting the 
 spiritual and eternal welfare of the people. No less than one hun- 
 dred and eighty of the hymn-writers represented in this one book 
 have been or are clergymen. The names of many of these are 
 "familiar as household words," a bright galaxy of ministerial ex- 
 cellence in the sky of the church: George Herbert and Bishop 
 Ken, John Newton and John Berridge, Isaac Watts and Charles 
 Wesley, Rowland Hill and Augustus Toplady, Robert McCheyne 
 and Horatius Bonar, and many others who rank among the truest 
 grandest men whom God has created. 
 
 Fifty of our hymn- writers bear feminine names, and, as 
 would be expected, they wrote the sweetest hymns we have. O, 
 could they be brought together, what a noble band of women 
 they would form: Charlotte Elliot, the Episcopalian; Pheobe 
 Brown, the Congregationalist; Mrs. Van Alstyne, the Methodist; 
 Anne Steele, the Baptist. 
 
 "Only a hymn-book! A book written by pious old ladies," 
 sneers some cynic. Yes, we cheerfully admit it was partly writ- 
 ten by old ladies, and they wrote our most precious hymns. But 
 there are some others who have contributed to our book. Who 
 is that blind man ? Lead him up carefully to a front place. That 
 is the prince of poets, glorious John Milton! Yonder is another 
 great poet, the illustrious John Dryden, who in his own day was 
 the recognized monarch of the literary world. There Joseph 
 Addison, the friend of Dryden, whose poems excel others m 
 smoothness of style and gracefulness of diction. Why, almost 
 all of the great poets would be here ! Alexander Pope and 
 Thomas Campbell; William Cowpcr and James Montgomery; 
 Michael Bruce and Kirke White; Thomas Moore and the literary 
 giant, the immortal Sir Walter Scott! Among the ladies are 
 Mrs. Hemais, Mrs. Sigourney, Mrs. Barbauld, Miss Havergal 
 
144 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 and the peerless Miss Gary. There must be some literal-}' talent 
 in the book, for nearly all of the great poets have contributed to 
 its pages! Our American literature is represented by such names 
 as John (Jr. Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell 
 Holmes, N. P. Willis, and G. P. Morris. There must be a 
 great deal of literary talent in the hymn-book! 
 
 All lands have contributed to its pages. One hundred and 
 seventy-four of these hymn-writers belong to England. Eighty- 
 four are Americans — a good showing for so young a country. 
 Twenty-two hail from the laud o' cakes, bonnie Scotland. Nine- 
 teen would be Germans, seven l^elong to the Emerald Isle, six 
 from France, five from Italy, four from Wales, two from Syria, 
 two from Sweden, one from Egypt, one from Switzerland, one 
 from Canada, one from India, and one of our own North Ameri- 
 can Indians. 
 
 The book also represents all sections of the church and all 
 phases of Christian thought. Twenty-one of its authors were 
 Roman Catholics, and they wrote some of our most precious 
 hymns. Their lives were scattered along the ages from the fourth 
 century until the present time. Some worshiped with the church 
 in the days of her pristine purity, others bowed before her pol- 
 luted altars during the dark ages, and yet others kneel at her 
 shrines to-day. Eighty-four would be Episcopalians, forty-four 
 Baptists, fifty-one Independents and Congregationalists, forty-three 
 Presbyterians, eighteen Lutherans, sixteen Unitarians, thirteen 
 Methodists, seven Moravians, three Plymouth brethren, four Cal- 
 vinistic Methodists, one Universalist; three would refuse to take 
 oflf their hats, but we would not feel annoyed at the hobby-horse 
 our good Quaker friends ride. 
 
 Yet, with all this variety of opinion, a sweet spirit of evan- 
 gelical religioh pervades every hymn. Christian men are often 
 better than their creeds. If a man serves the devil, he puts the 
 worst part of himself into his work, but if he serves God he puts 
 his best things into what he does for the Lord. He does not put 
 in his weakness, but his strength. These hymns are the best 
 work of the best men. There is not a smell of heterodoxy in all 
 the book. "Punch," the London comic paper, gives us an illus- 
 tration of the truth that heterodoxy does smell. A gentleman — 
 a member of the upper ten — who resided in Belgravia, upon en- 
 tering his front door, called James, the hall porter, and said: 
 
HYMN-BOOKS, THEIR CONTENTS AND USES. 145 
 
 *'I notice a very unpleasant smell here: what is it?'' James' 
 reply was characteristic : " ViA\, my Lud, the new butler is 'igh 
 church, and he 'as fitted up the pantry for a horatory, and he 
 burns hincense there. On saints' days it is perfectly haAvful here, 
 because the cook is low church, and she burns brown paper, to 
 hobviate the smell of the hincense." 
 
 We built our air-castle large enough to accommodate six 
 hundred persons, but we have but three hundred and thirty-six, 
 a little more than half full. But these are not all the poets of the 
 book! AVe must re-open the doors and admit at least two hun- 
 dred and twenty composers of music. These poets of nature 
 found words too clumsy to convey their exquisite idea. Their 
 subtile thought could not be embodied in the gross garb of 
 human speech. Their God-given talents are expressed in music, 
 which we may use in the service of God. Our book gives us 
 some of the best work of two hundred and twenty composers ; 
 these, added to the hymn-writers, would give a total of five hun- 
 dred and fifty men and women of ability and genius, whose con- 
 summate skill enabled the editors to give us this marvelous book. 
 All the great magicians of sound would be among the congrega- 
 tion we have imagined — men around whom the delighted crowds 
 gathered, and whose presence in any of the European capitals 
 caused the wildest excitement and the most intense enthusiasm. 
 Handel and Mozart, Mendelssohn and Beethoven, Haydn and 
 Bach, Rossini and Weber, Pleyel and Purcell, Spohr and Cberu- 
 bini, would be all before us. We think of them as they were 
 hushing the excited throngs into stillness and working upon their 
 passions, or upon their emotions, at will : Handel in kings' pal- 
 aces, frowning princes into obedience to his wishes ; Mozart the 
 confidential companion of emperors — and then, after having 
 thrilled the nations with his genius, composing his sublime 
 requiem whilst the death-angel was chilling his heart ; Mendels- 
 sohn enchanting the listening multitudes — and then, amid the 
 excitement, and while yet in his youth, dying; Beethoven, with 
 his own ears closed, yet pouring ecstacy into the ears of all who 
 loved music; Haydn kneeling before the instrument, praying for 
 inspiration; Bach's blind eyes so strangely regaining the power 
 of sight just before they were closed in perpetual darkness; poor, 
 sensitive, modest, affectionate Weber, dying amid disappointment 
 and mortification in a foreign land, with his heart yearning for a 
 
146 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 glimpse of the dear faces at home. We would have old John 
 Milton, the father of our poet, among the number. Oliver Hol- 
 den, the Massachusetts carpenter who composed the tune "Coro- 
 nation," would be sure to attract the attention of the American 
 people who delight to use his soul-stirring melody. Our Ameri- 
 can composers have largely assisted in making up the book. Dr. 
 Lowell Mason, William Bradbury, and Dr. Thomas Hastings, 
 are all dead, but they left their music in the heart of the world as 
 a benediction and blessing. 
 
 Have we assisted the reader to a clearer idea of what a 
 hymn-book really is ? Have we proven that the book is a mar- 
 velous creation of the consecrated talent of the world ? 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PRAYING MOTHERS. 
 
 " A prayer on the wings of an angel is borne to the portals of light: 
 I feel in my heart the assurance that mother is praying to-night. 
 My spirit is wounded and broken, my sins with contrition I see; 
 To Jesus I'll go and confess them, while mother is praying for me. 
 
 Too long I have wandered unheeding her warnings so tender and true, 
 The tears she has wept o'er my childhood, that fell on my cheeks like the 
 
 dew; 
 But now, while she kneels in her closet, where no one but Jesus can see, 
 I'll ask for his loving forgiveness, while mother is praying for me." 
 
 When some officers were discussing the social and moral con- 
 dition of their country in the presence of the First Napoleon, the 
 great general said: '"Gentlemen, the most pressing need of 
 France is good mothers." The illustrious warrior realized the 
 truth of the adage that '"those who rock the cradle rule the 
 world," a saying which is as true as it is pithy: for who can esti- 
 mate the power of a mother's influence ? She stamps the first 
 impressions upon her child's mind, and these impressions often 
 remain as the force and purpose of that child's future life. The 
 boy is largely what his mother makes him, because she gathers 
 up the warp and woof of the child's nature and weaves it into 
 character. When a mother once asked Henry Ward Beecher at 
 what time ought she to begin the education of her child who was 
 then four years okl, he replied: "Madam, if you have not begun 
 already, you have lost four years of precious opportunity." 
 "The mother's heart is the children's school-room," where they are 
 fitted to play their part, in the endeavor to win success in the 
 great arena of human activity. Yet how few realize the great 
 importance of the mother's work! Those arc accounted great 
 whose abilities enable them to yoke the forces of nature and make 
 them subservient to the interests of irnen; but how much greater 
 
 (U7) 
 
148 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHUKCH. 
 
 she who shapes and guides and regulates the faculties and quali- 
 ties of a human mind, until it is well proportioned and beautiful, 
 and then sends her child out into the world to be a blessing to 
 the race! That mother has done a noble work whose children 
 are ambitious to be good and do good for her sake — the mother 
 whose influence is an abiding incentive to efibrt and high resolve. 
 "I am weary," said the proud Cornelia, "I am weary of being 
 called Scipio's daughter! Do something, my sons, do something, 
 that 1 may be called the mother of the brave." 
 
 We are always hearing of great men, but we seldom hear of 
 a great woman. Is it that women are not as truly great as men ? 
 Was not Grace Darling great when she saved the crew of the 
 wrecked vessel ? Was not Florence Nightingale great when she 
 tenderly cared for the wounded in the hospital at Scutari ? Were 
 not the women of America great when they tore their own cloth- 
 ing into bandages for the boys ? But they are not often called 
 great, and we confess that we are not anxious to have them so 
 spoken of. We speak of good women, and goodness is always 
 great. A good mother does a great work, as w^e shall see in this 
 chapter. Some one has said that " when God w\ants to make a 
 great man, he has first to make a great woman to be his mother." 
 
 Yet many mothers realize that the grand possibilities of their 
 work is but little more than a synonym of its grave responsibilities. 
 What mother is there who possesses the necessary qualifications 
 to fit her to shape the temporal and eternal destiny of her child ? 
 The world is full of failures, and the wreck-drifts of bright hopes 
 are all about us. Worldl}' wisdom is sadly at fault, and stands 
 confounded amid the ruins of its own efforts. Theories for the 
 proper training of children are being constantly devised and 
 promulgated to meet the exigency, but as constantly and rapidly 
 they pass into the category of ineflicient things. Maternal love — 
 the strongest of human affections — cannot attain even to medioc- 
 rity in its endeavors. Who then is sufficient for these things? 
 Thank God that there have been, and still are. God-fearing, soul- 
 loving mothers, who reply, ''Our sufficiency is of God." 
 
 "One good mother," said holy George Herbert, " is worth a 
 hundred schoolmasters." When a little boy, Benjamin West, drew 
 a rude sketch of his baby sister as she lay in her cot, his mother 
 saw the resemblance and retvarded him with a sweet, loving kiss, 
 and Mr. West always declared that it Avas that kiss which made 
 
PRAYING MOTHERS. 149 
 
 him a painter. Praying mothers I "What difficulties the}' have 
 overcome ! What wonders they have wrought ! What victories 
 they have achieved ! Prayer is the mightiest force in God's great 
 universe. Because it is unseen the world does not alwavs rccog- 
 nize its power. The gigantic forces of the natural world are all 
 invisible. No human eye ever saw pure steam; gravitation has 
 never been perceived by the organs of sight; electricity, in its 
 natural state, cannot be made manifest to our vision. We see 
 results, but often fail to discover the power that produced them. 
 The world admires the man of genius, whose ability seems well- 
 nigh omnipotent over the difficulties he encounters, and it always 
 tenders its homage to the greatness that achieves that which it 
 regards as success. But the world does not usually take account 
 of the mother's praj^ers as having laid the foundations of that 
 beautiful character, and as having developed and fostered the 
 principles that shape and regulate that successful life. In this 
 chapter — so far as our space will permit— we intend to draw aside 
 the curtain that often veils the true cause of the success of illus- 
 trious men. Should any of our readers be sceptical concerning 
 the power of prayer, we will be grateful to them if they will 
 explain to us any theory that will better interpret the secret of 
 the changes and successes of the men wdiose history we may 
 adduce as illustrations of the influence of mothers' prayers. 
 
 Those who have read the history of " The Thirty Years' War" 
 will remember that, at the battle of Weisenberg, Protestant Bohe- 
 mia was crushed before the Catholic power of Austria. That 
 disastrous battle was but the first stroke of the terrible persecution 
 which destroyed thousands of Protestant lives upon the scaftbld; 
 while thousands, deemed more fortunate, were stripped of all they 
 possessed and driven from the land of their birth. Among the 
 latter was the Rev. John Bauman, who, although a wealthy man, 
 with large estates of his own, had devoted his life in })reaching 
 the gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole of Mr. Bauman's prop- 
 erty was confiscated to the church; even his clothing was stripped 
 off him and an old ragged suit of workman's clothes was thrown 
 him to put on, and then, upon pain of death, he Avas ordered to 
 leave the country. They thought him moneyless, but fortun- 
 ately they did not notice a belt he had secured round his waist, 
 next to his skin, in which he had secreted about one hundred 
 small gold pieces. The good man reached London in absolute 
 
150 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCIH. 
 
 poverty, but provided for his family by securing a position as 
 school teacher. 
 
 After a residence of many years in London a young man 
 began to pay special attention to Miss Bauman, the good old 
 minister's only child. He was a minister's son, and his father 
 was also a sufferer for conscience's sake, having been driven from 
 his living by the iniquitous Uniformity Act. The young man 
 kept a little store in a poor neighborhood, and made a scanty 
 living as a retail oil merchant. The couple were married and 
 Philip Doddridge was their twentieth child. Eighteen had died 
 in infancy, one little baby girl being left them. Mrs. Dodd- 
 ridge's life had been a constant struggle with poverty and privation. 
 Her children had been born to die immediately after birth, and 
 the last did not seem to be an exception to the rest, for when born 
 they thought him dead, and the little body was laid out for the 
 grave; but an attendant thought she saw signs of life, and taking 
 him up, she so tenderly cared for him that the tiny spark of life 
 revived, and Dr. Philip Doddridge was given to the world as a 
 blessing to the race. That child was consecrated to God from his 
 birth. Before he could read his mother stored his mind with a 
 variety of Scripture incidents, which were depicted upon some 
 Dutch tiles that were set around the old-fashioned tire place. As 
 she explained the rude pictures she would tell him of the loving 
 Saviour and kneel and pray with him. In after 3-ears the Doctor 
 said: "My mother taught me the history of the Old and New 
 Testaments by the assistance of some blue tiles, and her pious 
 reflections were the means of enforcing such good impressions on 
 my heart as never afterwards wore out." In his thirteenth year 
 he lost both parents by death, and was left an orphan in the Avorld. 
 But the godly mother's work was done. She had wisely improved 
 her opportunity, and on her dying bed she had the joy of know- 
 ing that Philip was a Christian. " She had done what she could," 
 and she had done well. The simple fact was, that mother believed 
 with all her heart what some of us only half believe— she believed 
 in the possibility of a child's conversion. It is impossible to tell 
 what a wonderful train of influences may be set in motion by the 
 conversion of a little child. By his pulpit ministrations Mr. 
 Doddridge won hundreds to Christ. He trained one hundred and 
 twenty young men for the ministry, whilst his immortal book, 
 " The Rise and Proirress of Religion in the Soul," has been more 
 
PRAYING MOTHERS. 151 
 
 honored of God, in the conversion of souls, than any other Ijook 
 — save the Bible — ever written. 
 
 The mother of William Wilberforce had for years prayed for 
 the conversion of her gifted son, but seemingly in vain, until he 
 read Doddridge's book, and then, as the result, he laid his splen- 
 did abilities and princely fortune at the feet of the Lord Jesus, 
 who used him as the principal agent in the abolition of slavery in 
 the British dominions. Then Wilberforce wrote his "Practical 
 View of Christianity," and hundreds were converted by its in- 
 strumentality. The reading of that book was the means of the 
 salvation of Leigh Richmond, who — in his turn — wrote "The 
 Dairyman's Daughter," a book God has used in the salvation of 
 thousands. 
 
 Dr. Doddridge was a great man — great as a preacher, as a 
 
 teacher, as an author, and as a hymn writer. We have thirty-six 
 
 of his hymns in "The Calvary Selection." Some of these are 
 
 exceedingly popular and useful. 
 
 " Grace, 'tis a charming sound, 
 Harmonious to the ear," 
 
 will always be a favorite. But what shall we say of his — 
 
 "O happy day that fixed my choice 
 On thee my Saviour and my God." 
 
 If Dr. Doddridge had done no more than give the world that 
 one hymn, that of itself would keep that praying mother in ever- 
 lasting remembrance, and lead all right-minded people to regard 
 her as the benefactress of her race. 
 
 Mrs. Hart was another praying mother, who, amid all kinds 
 of discouragement, wrestled with God for the conversion of her 
 son until she prevailed, and Joseph Hart was a testimony both to 
 her persistent faith and to God's abundant grace. From his in- 
 fancy she consecrated him to the Lord, and the yearning desire of 
 her heart was to see him converted and devoting himself to the 
 ministry; and with this in view she denied herself ordinary com- 
 forts to educate him for such a life-work. He was an apt student, 
 but, alas, as he grew to manhood he was not only indiflerent, but 
 manifested pronounced hostility to his mother's designs. She did 
 all she could, but words and tears and prayers all seemed lost upon 
 him. He yielded to temptation until he became the prey of his 
 lusts, and sank from one degree of sin to another until he became 
 so abandoned that decent people shunned his society, and he 
 
152 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 was regarded as the ringleader of the most depraved and vicious 
 young men. Some years afterwards, when referring to this 
 period of his life, he said: "I was a bold-faced rebel against God. 
 I not only committed abominably vicious sins myself, l)ut I poi- 
 soned the minds and perverted the way of all who associated with 
 me." His mother wept and warned and prayed, but he ridiculed 
 her prayers and laughed at her piety. He became an avowed 
 infidel, and used his superior education in casting doubts upon his 
 mother's bible and assailing his mother's God. An infidel club 
 was organized, and that praying mother's son was elected chair- 
 man, and was the boldest blasphemer among them. Then he 
 wrote and published a book upon "The Unreasonableness of 
 Reliofion," and swore that he would exterminate the name of 
 Christ from the world. The mother continued to pray, and the 
 son continued to sin, until respectable people regarded him with 
 aversion. 
 
 What made his case appear more hopeless was the fact that 
 during all these years he had been the subject of strong religious 
 convictions. Sometimes he would bewail his sinful habits and 
 express a desire for a better life; and then he would be swept 
 before the force of his sins into greater depths of infamy than 
 ever. This suggested weakness of character, but the mother 
 knew the Holy Spirit's power could regenerate the soul of her 
 boy and make him "a new creature in Jesus Christ," and she 
 continued to plead with God for his salvation. 
 
 The years rolled by, until one of the members of the club 
 had been called to stand by the death-bed of an infidel friend. 
 The awful scene made such an impression upon that young man's 
 mind that he withdrew from the infidel club, confessed his sins to 
 God, and sought and found pardon through the Lord Jesus. He 
 then wrote a letter to Hart— just such a letter as a converted sin- 
 ner can write. The Holy Spirit used that letter as a means of 
 answering that mother's prayers, and, after a long season of doubt 
 and spiritual darkness, Joseph Hart found pardon and cleansing 
 in the atoning lilood of Christ. 
 
 We have noticed a disposition on the part of some hymnolo- 
 gists to tone down and soften the depraved conduct of such men 
 by keeping their moral delinquencies from sight. We have seen 
 sketches of Mr. Hart's life that are in this respect misleading and 
 incorrect. He was notorious for his indecency; so much so that, 
 
PRAYING MOTHERS. 153 
 
 while living at Sheerncss, Mr. Shrubsole, of the dock-yard, inter- 
 fered to have him sent back to London, because of his pernicious 
 example and influence. The population of Sheerness was made up 
 of sailors and seafaring men, whose i)rofanity is proverbial; but 
 in degrading wickedness young Hart could outvie them all. He was 
 forty years old at the time of his conversion, but his constitution was 
 hopelessly shattered by his immoral habits and vicious life. He 
 afterwards devoted his life to build up the faith he had so earnestly 
 labored to destroy, but he worked amid intense physical sufferings. 
 He preached Christ to unconverted men with marvelous effective- 
 ness, and hundreds were converted through his instrumentality. 
 His hymns have always been popular, and his hymn "Come ye 
 sinners, poor and wretched,'" has l)een one of the most useful in 
 the language. He lived but ten years after he began to preach, 
 but he crowded those years with consecrated work. His death 
 caused universal sorrow, and on the day they carried his remains 
 to Bunhill Fields for burial there were more than twenty thousand 
 people at the funeral. His conversion was a marvelous change. 
 The gospel made him a new creature. The degraded lil)ertine 
 became a consistent and devoted follower of Christ, and among 
 the chief influences to bring all this about we recognize a godly 
 mother's prayers. 
 
 Mrs. Toplady was a devoted Chi'istian, when her husband, 
 who was a major in the army, was killed at the battle of Carta- 
 gena. This heavy trial drove her closer to her Lord, who sus- 
 tained her by His all-sufficient grace. When the sad news reached 
 her, her baby boy was but a few weeks old, and, as was natural, 
 she lavished all her heart's affection upon him. Gussie grew to be 
 a bright, intelligent, smart little fellow^ and the mother was exceed- 
 ingly proud of her darling boy and sent him to the celebrated 
 Westminster school, where he made such rapid progress as en- 
 couraged the professors to predict a bright future for him. But 
 one thing weighed heavily upon her heart, concerning which she 
 besought the Lord day and night with tears; her boy was not a 
 Christian. She had tried every means in her jjower. The}- had 
 gone from one London church to another, to listen to the most 
 celebrated preachers. Oftentimes Gussie enjoyed these sermons 
 as an intellectual treat; the oratory pleased, or the reasoning 
 delighted him, but he never heard any sermon as a message from 
 God to his own soul. 
 
154 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 In his sixteenth year Mrs. Toplady found it necessary to visit 
 Ireland, to attend to some business relating to an estate in which 
 her husband, prior to his death, had an interest, and thither Gussie 
 accompanied her. On Sunday they found themselves in the little 
 village of Codymain. There was no Protestant service, and the 
 day passed heavily for lack of their customary Sabbath engage- 
 ments. But they were informed that a service would be held in a 
 l)arn in the evening, at which a layman, named Morris, was to 
 preach. Ghid to have some way of spending the evening they 
 decided to attend the service. But when they reached the place 
 Mrs. Toplady regretted having done so, because the preacher was 
 an illiterate man, who could not read a chapter from the New 
 Testament with any degree of proficiency, and whose broad pro- 
 vincialisms sometimes bordered upon the ridiculous. She did not 
 cjuestion the man's sincerity, and so far as she Avas concerned she 
 could have passed these things almost unnoticed, but she greatly 
 feared for Gussie, who was keenly sensitive to anything that 
 seemed ludicrous, and Avould probably laugh at the good man's 
 well-meant efi'orts. He had so often listened to the best pulpit 
 orators of England that now the contrast would be all the more 
 apparent. What his feelings were at first we have no means of 
 knowing, but when Mr. Morris announced his text and began to 
 preach we know that Gussie became interested. The text was: 
 " Ye, v/ho sometimes were afar ofl', are made nigh by the blood of 
 Christ," and that sermon was the means of answering the mother's 
 prayers, saving Gussie's soul, and bringing within the church one 
 of the most efficient workers the Lord has had in his vineyard. 
 Under God we are indebted to Mr. Morris for the glorious hymn 
 " Rock of Ages, cleft for me." Augustus Toplady soon entered 
 upon the work of the ministry, and perhaps — with the exception 
 of Whitfield — never had preacher greater power over his congre- 
 gation. His voice is said to have "been like music, his face 
 shone like a seraph's, and his manner was as that of one who comes 
 from heaven with messages from God to men." 
 
 Who shall say how earnestly Mrs. Judson pleaded with God 
 when she realized the awful truth that her beloved Adoniram was 
 a sceptic. His associations at Brown University had been most 
 pernicious and fatal to his mother's hopes, and he left the institu- 
 tion an avowed infidel. O how that godly mother must have 
 prayed! Think of her boy starting out as one of a traveling the- 
 
PRAYING MOTHERS. 155 
 
 atrical company! When she wrote him he replied: "1 tim only- 
 seeing the world! I am in no danger; I need to see the dark as 
 well as the bright side of things." That mother did not sleep 
 much; she went to bed not so much to sleep as to pray. That 
 night, at the country tavern, while he lay awake, there was prob- 
 ably one in the old home lying awake too. He was nervous that 
 night! The landlord had told him that the man in the next room 
 was very sick, and he lay listening to the stranger's groans until, 
 in the middle of the night, they ceased, and he heard the attend- 
 ant go for help, and he felt that the man was dead. Then he lay 
 and thought: "What if it were me?" He could not sleep, and 
 serious thoughts would come until he tried to drive them away 
 by thinking of how loudly Edington would laugh at him if he 
 knew he had indulged such thoughts — Edington, his gay, livelj^, 
 sceptical friend, who had led him into scepticism. How absurd 
 it Av^as to lie awake because a stranger had died in the next room! 
 O how Edington would laugh if he only knew! 
 
 "Yes," they said in the morning, "yes, poor fellow, he is 
 dead; he was such a fine young man." 
 
 " Do you know his name ? " asked Judson. 
 
 "O yes, we know of him; his name is Edington, of Brown 
 University. " 
 
 It was a frightful shock to young Judson, but it was God's 
 way of answering a mother's prayers and preparing for his life- 
 work the man whom the world was to afterwards recognize as 
 ' ' The Apostle of Burmah. " 
 
 In a little room of a small house in the east end of London 
 a Christian woman lay dying. She had long been sick, but she 
 realized that her time had come to die. Her husband was a sailor 
 and was then at sea. She had sometimes thought that she w^ould 
 probably see him again, but she had abandoned all such hopes, 
 and knew that her own life-voyage was at an end. She was not 
 afraid to die, because she "knew whom she had believed." She 
 not only had to trust God for herself, l)ut for her darling boy 
 who was then seven years old. He was her only child, and at 
 his birth she gave him to the Lord. The one great desire of her 
 heart and the burden of her prayers had been that he might be a 
 minister. That was the one thing for which she had desired to 
 live. Her husband was not a ('hristian, and, of course, had but 
 little sympathy with the desires that welled up from her heart. 
 
156 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Her life bad not been a very happy one, because of her husband's 
 indifierence to all religious matters. But she had done all she 
 could do for her boy. She had stored his mind with hymns, and 
 passages of Scripture which she had coaxed him to commit to 
 memory. And having sown the seed, she was called from the 
 field. Feeling that her time had come, she had Johnny brought 
 to her, and laying her thin hand upon his head, she oflered her 
 last prayer upon his behalf, unless mothers pray in heaven. Then 
 she told him she was leaving him, but that Jesus would be his 
 friend. One last kiss upon her darling's lips, and that mother's 
 work was done. In a few moments she was listening to a voice 
 that said: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 A year passed by, and Johnny's father had made two or 
 three short voyages; at the end of one of them he brought home 
 a new mother; but the boy soon discovered that she was not like 
 the lost one. She never prayed with him or talked to him of 
 Jesus. She was not very kind to him, and always seemed glad 
 to have him out of her way. Consequently, Johnny was usually 
 on the street. Being absolutely without restraint, he soon learned 
 to fight and swear, just as did all he associated with. He never 
 knelt at night and uttered the prayer his mother taught him. O 
 poor, dead mother! Were thy prayers but wasted breath ? 
 
 Three years of this sort of life passed. Instead of being in 
 school, Johnny was on the streets, and was probably as profligate 
 a boy as any of his age in London. He was not known as Johnny 
 any more; it was Jack his associates called him. He was the pest 
 of the neighborhood. The children were afraid of him, and his 
 filthy tongue made respectable people dislike to be within the 
 reach of his voice. If some one had spoken to that boy about 
 his soul, he would have laughed at them. Had they spoken of 
 God, he would probably have sworn at them and said there was 
 no God. But if they had spoken about his mother, he would 
 have turned from them in silence and raised his hand to brush 
 something off his cheek! Ah! poor, dead mother! What has 
 become of thy seven years of prayer 'i 
 
 In his eleventh year he went on his fathers ship, and during 
 the following three years he made five voyages, when a merchant 
 ofiered to take Jack, and for his father's sake give him a good 
 position. But so vicious was he, and impatient of restraint, that 
 
PRAYING MOTHERS. 157 
 
 the merchant's well-meant eflbrt was an utter failure. He re- 
 turned home, however, with a decent suit of clothes, the first he 
 ever had, and took a strange notion to go into the country to visit 
 a family who were friends of his mother; and away he started to 
 make his visit before the clothes were damaged. While visiting, 
 he had a serious fall. He did not break any bones, but something 
 near the heart gave way! He "fell over head and ears" in love 
 with one of the daughters. Poor Mary Catlett: it did not promise 
 much for her happiness. But John was on his good behavior 
 while there, and they did not know his real character. He made 
 another voyage on a merchantman, but upon his return he was 
 impressed on board the "Harwich" man-of-war. Profanity was- 
 very common on board, but Jack was the worst swearer there, 
 and old sailors declared that they were afraid to sail with him, 
 lest his awful oaths should bring disaster upon the ship. Ah I 
 poor dead mother, what did thy prayers avail 'i Forgotten alike 
 by God and man? O no, God never forgets ! 
 
 As a token of respect for Mr. Newton, senior, the captain gave 
 his son a midshipman's berth. But Jack did not cease to think of 
 Miss Catlett, and longed for a chance to see her. There was no 
 such thing as obtaining leave of absence. The ship put in at 
 Torbay, and there Jack foolishly deserted, for the sole purpose 
 of a few minutes' talk with the young lady. He hid in the woods 
 by day and traveled by night, and it took several nights before 
 he reached her home. He was rewarded by an interview with 
 her, but he had to pay dearly for the pleasure, for in the morning 
 he was arrested and marched back to Plymouth like a felon, 
 where he was tried, condemned, degraded to the forecastle, and 
 punished by being tied to the tail of a wagon and severely 
 w^iipped with the cat-o"-nine tails through the city streets. Such 
 dejrradino; and disijustino; exhibitions were not uncommon in his 
 day. The next day he was put in irons and placed upon an out- 
 ward l)ound ship, where, as a disgraced man, he was treated with 
 the greatest severity. The captain was his enemy, and the crew 
 made his life as hard as possible. The brutal treatment, however, 
 only hardened him, and he cursed God as well as man. AhT 
 poor dead mother! Small prospect of thy boy being a minister! 
 
 He soon succeeded in being transferred to a vessel bound for 
 the coast of Africa, and on that shi}) good behavior would have 
 ensured comfort ; but as soon as they reached land he again dc- 
 
158 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 serted his post and fled to the woods, living on roots and berries 
 until after the vessel had left the harbor. His sole object in re- 
 maining there was that he might sin without restraint. Morality 
 was a principle unknown in a port whose only merchants were 
 those who stole men, women and children from the interior, and 
 sold them to the slave-ships that called there. He expected to 
 find a place without any law to curb or restrain, but he soon dis- 
 covered that the will of these slave-dealers was a ofoverninsf and 
 tyrannical power. To save himself from starvation he had to ask 
 for employment, and the man whom he served had absolute con- 
 trol over him and regarded and treated him as a slave. At this 
 time Jack's life was so disgustingly sinful that the rest of the 
 slaves avoided him with evident dislike, and considered him as 
 beneath them. Sometimes he was sick, and passed days and 
 nights in delirium, with no friendly hand to moisten his fever- 
 burning lips. His master's negro wife loathed him so much that 
 her treatment toward him was most inhuman. When he was sick 
 she would beat him to his work, or when tossing in delirium she 
 laughed at his sufi'erings. His clothing was soon worn out, and 
 he had not sufficient to keep the hot African sun from burning 
 his flesh. He says : "I used to go in the dead of night to wash 
 my one shirt upon the rocks, and afterwards put it on wet, that 
 it might dry upon my back while I slept. Shame compelled me 
 to hide in the woods from the presence of strangers. M}' conduct, 
 principles and heart were still darker than my outward condition." 
 The very slaves would beat him and compel him to obey them. 
 His frightful blasphemies shocked even the swearers upon a slave- 
 coast. Poor dead mother! thy prayers were of little avail! 
 
 At last his sufi'erings were somewhat relieved by being trans- 
 ferred to another master, who treated him with some consideration, 
 and he succeeded in sending a message to his father in England ; 
 and after weary months of Avaiting, an English ship hove in sight. 
 He was taken on board, and during the voyage he met with Stan- 
 hope's " Thomas a' Kempis," and the reading of that book, to- 
 gether with an hair-breadth escape during a frightful storm, led 
 to the salvation of his soul. Strange to say that in the very worst 
 periods of his career he had been a student. When a slave of 
 slaves in Africa he would work out mathematical problems on the 
 moist sand of the sea shore. He landed in England a new creature 
 in Christ Jesus. So great was the change that he soon won the 
 
PRAYING MOTHERS. 159 
 
 respect of all who were brought into contact with him. He was 
 no longer known as Jack, it was John, and oftener Mr. Newton 
 now. Mr. Newton was captain of a coasting vessel, and then 
 "tide-waiter" at Liverpool, where he devoted all his leisure to 
 study, in order to prepare himself to fulfill his dear dead mother's 
 desire by becoming a minister. It was not Jack, but it was Mr. 
 Newton, who stood with the hand of Mary Catlett in his, and, 
 pledging his troth, made her his wife. 
 
 Four years more, and one Sabbath morning the church at 
 Olney was crowded, and anxious eyes were fixed upon the vestry 
 door to catch the first glimpse of the new minister who was 
 appointed to the parish. The door opened, and there, in gown and 
 baixls, entered and walked to the reading desk, not Jack, but the 
 Rev. John Newton of Olney. There was joy in heaven. The 
 news must have been flashed up to glory that the African slave 
 was "clothed and in his right mind," and preaching the gospel of 
 Him whose blood had cleansed his filthy soul ; the news, the glad 
 news, that after years of waiting God had answered his dead 
 mother's prayers! 
 
 A few more years, and a new hymn-book was introduced into 
 the church, called "The Olney Hymn-Book," the hymns being 
 composed by Mr. Newton and Mr. Cowper, who was one of the 
 congregation. In that book were many new hymns, of which the 
 world has since heard. One was: 
 
 "God moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform." 
 
 That hymn was written by Mr. Cowper and probably sug- 
 gested to his mind by the strange story of his pastor's life. 
 Another of the new hymns was : 
 
 " There is a fountain filled with blood." 
 
 Among Mr. Newton's hymns was the appropriate one : 
 
 " Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, 
 That saved a wretch like me." 
 
 Another of his precious hymns is : 
 
 "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
 In a believer's ear." 
 
 A few more years passed, and Mr. Newton was pastor of St. 
 
 Mary Woolnoth in London. There his church was always thronged, 
 
 and multitudes were saved as the result of his ministry. In the 
 
160 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 very zenith of his success he said : ' ' My mother dedicated me to 
 God in my infancy, and long as she lived she commended me to 
 his care with prayers and tears, and I have no doubt but I am 
 now reaping the result. " He died in his eighty -fourth 3'ear, but 
 he preached to the very last. In extreme old age he often said: 
 "The old African blasphemer's tongue must never be idle while 
 it has life. " In St. Mary's church is a marble tablet with the fol- 
 lowing inscription : 
 
 JOHN NEWTON, Clerk, 
 
 Once an Infidel and Libertine, 
 
 A servant of slaves in Africa, 
 
 Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour 
 
 Jesus Christ, 
 
 Preserved, restored, pardoned. 
 
 And appointed to preach the Faith 
 
 He had long laboured to destroy. 
 
 Near 16 years at Olney, in Bucks, 
 
 And 28 years in this church. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 LOVE, COURTSHir, AND MARRIAGE ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 LESSONS SUGGESTED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF SOME HYMN-AVRITERS. 
 
 " ±\o jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast, 
 
 Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife; 
 Each season looked delightful as it passed, 
 To the fond husband and the faithful wife." 
 
 "He who has a good God, a good wife, and a good home, 
 needs nothing more," said Cornelius Winter in a letter to a friend. 
 In a few words the good old man included the sum total of human 
 happiness. God himself has declared that it is "not good for 
 man to be alone." Marriage is an institution of peculiar import- 
 ance. There is no union the quality of which is so intimate, the 
 obligations of which are so binding, and the consequences of which 
 are so momentous. How wonderful that two persons should, by a 
 train of circumstances, be brought together and form one absolute 
 communion of interests ! In speaking of the marriage relation 
 God's word emphatically declares it to be " honorable." Wedded 
 love constituted a large portion of the happiness of Paradise. The 
 Lord Jesus graced a marriage feast by his presence. And every- 
 where the Bible uses the loving connection as a symbol of the 
 union that exists between Christ and those who love him. It brands 
 with infamy those who "forbid to marry," by calling their teach- 
 ing "the doctrine of devils." 
 
 The marriage bond is the national defence. Loosen it and 
 you disturb the foundations of society. One of the first acts in 
 the bloody drama of the French Revolution was to sweep aside the 
 sanctity of marriage, and the history of the ages will prove that 
 to do that is the certain Avay to national ruin. The family is the 
 foundation of national government. 
 
 (161) 
 
162 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Marriage is GocFs provision for human happiness. Doubtless 
 it is often misused and perverted, as are all the rest of God's 
 gifts. There are, doubtless, people whose marriage relations are 
 most unhappy, but such a condition is almost invariably the result 
 of imprudence on the part of one or both of the contracting parties. 
 '' There are three things a mon needs in this warld," said an old 
 Scotchman, ''gude health, religion, and gude sense. If he can 
 hae but one o' these let it be gude sense, for God can gie him 
 health, or gie him grace, but if he has na common sense nae body 
 can gie it him." No man's piety will take the place of common 
 sense. It is no unusual thing to see a very pious man make a fool 
 of himself by wrecking his own happiness. No uncommon thing 
 to see a Christ-loving, consecrated young lady give herself away, 
 body and soul, to some dull-headed young ignoramus, who will 
 never appreciate her worth. O how painful a thing it is to see a 
 bright, intelligent, cultured girl wreck her life by marrying a man 
 who can never aflbrd her even intelligent companionship. In 
 such matters it should be remembered that pure afiection must be 
 founded upon esteem. Each party should be careful to keep their 
 affection under their own control, until their judgment is satisfied 
 as to the wisdom of the contemplated step. With true love marriage 
 is the heart's palace ; but without love it is the heart's prison- 
 house. There must be some similarity of taste and feeling, or 
 how can they understand or sympathize with each other ? " How 
 can two walk together if they be not agreed ?" They may marry 
 from motives of passion or greed, or convenience ; they may 
 marry because their parents' farms join each other, and because 
 they wish to own a place which they will falsely call home ; but 
 such marriages will throw a black and baneful shadow over the 
 lives of those most concerned. Such unions belong to the prov- 
 ince of things which seem to lie beyond the pale of Divine 
 blessing. True love may be disappointed of marriage, but, torn 
 and bleeding as it may be, it can throw itself before the throne of 
 God and obtain healing from the Divine sympathy, so that its 
 sufferings may be sanctified and eventually prove a blessing. 
 But marriage without love is such a hopeless thing, so void of 
 good, so destitute of comfort, that over its portals may be written 
 the motto that Dante inscribed over the doors of his Inferno : 
 " All hope abandon, ye who enter here." 
 
 So much concerning marriage without love, but what shall 
 
LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 163 
 
 be said of love without marriage — a true love that is not recip- 
 rocated ? This is undoubtedly often the cause of the keenest form 
 of sufiering which our humanity can either experience or endure. 
 A ofreater misfortune cannot overtake one in this world. Tens of 
 thousands have fled from such an appalling experience by w\ay of 
 a suicide's grave. 
 
 Who shall say how much of suffering has been caused by the 
 diabolical art of flirtation ? Vampires in human form, who feed 
 themselves upon the warm affections of souls as much superior to 
 their own as reality is superior to sham. Fellows with the out- 
 ward appearance of men — half dude and half coxcomb — who force 
 attentions upon innocent girls and scheme to make an impression, 
 until, having gained their afiections, they leave them and boast of 
 their conquest — leave them to such sufierings as their puny little 
 souls cannot comprehend. Or perhaps they are creatures with 
 women's faces, but minus women's hearts, who devote their lives 
 to the diabolical art, and count the success of their endeavors by 
 the number of lives they have ruined. They are adepts in the 
 accursed art of coquetry. They make it a business to fascinate. 
 They fraudulently force themselves upon true men, and, by a 
 thousand little tricks they know how to employ, they delude them, 
 until they lay heart and life at the charmer's feet, and are met 
 with a look of simulated surprise and told that such a thing can- 
 not be. And whilst those men, with shattered lives, wander 
 hopelessly through life, seeking a grave, the heartless coquette 
 boasts of another triumph, and hangs another true man's scalp to 
 her girdle. 
 
 Of course there have been no flirts among hymn- writers; there 
 have never been brains enough in the tribe to write a Mother Goose 
 rhyme. But some of our lady hymn-writers must have been very 
 charming women. Miss Elizabeth Singer could have been the 
 wife of either Dr. Watts or Bishop Ken, for both men were fasci- 
 nated with her, but she preferred to be Mrs. Rowe, and for many 
 years the hospitalities of her home attracted the literary and 
 clerical celebrities of the metropolis. Just so did Dr. Doddridge 
 feel tow^ard Miss Elizabeth Scott, many of whose hymns are 
 found in all our hymnals. Doddridge would gladly have made 
 her his wife had she consented to the. union. The Doctor had just 
 written "The Life of Colonel Gardener," and his book had excited 
 a great deal of public interest, when Colonel Williams, of Massa- 
 
164 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 chusetts, arrived in London on some political business. The 
 colonel called on Dr. Doddridge, who introduced him to Miss 
 Scott as "another praying colonel." Colonel Williams was a 
 widower, and, after a short acquaintance, proposed marriage to 
 Miss Scott and was accepted. They were soon married and she 
 accompanied her husband to America, where she spent the remain- 
 der of her life. That Doddridge greatly admired her we know 
 from his letters, in one of which he said, " Miss Scott holds a fur- 
 nished room in my heart. " He addressed a poem to her, of which 
 the following verse is part: 
 
 "Too lovely maid, possessed of every art 
 To charm the fancy and command the heart; 
 The blest youth to whom thy love is given 
 Will pass through Eden on his way to heaven." 
 
 But alas ! that Eden was not for poor Doddridge. 
 
 Several of our hymn-writers suffered in a similar way. Mont- 
 gomery was never married, because, as his biographers believe, of 
 a disappointment in early life. It is understood that the follow- 
 ing is a narration of his own experience. The Hannah of the 
 poem was a Miss Turner, who resided in a fine old mansion near 
 Barnsley: 
 
 " At fond sixteen my roving heart 
 Was pierced by love's delightful dart; 
 Keen transport throbbed through every vein; 
 I never felt so sweet a pain. 
 
 'Twas on the merry morn of May 
 To Hannah's cot I took my way; 
 And fancy sketched my married lot, 
 My wife my children, and my cot. 
 
 I saw the village steeple rise — 
 My soul sprang sparkling to my eyes; 
 The rural bells rang sweet and clear — 
 My fond heart listened in my ear. 
 
 I reached the hamlet — all was gay; 
 
 I love a rustic holiday. 
 
 I met a wedding — stept aside; 
 
 It passed — my Hannah was the bride! 
 
 There is a grief that cannot feel; 
 It leaves a wound that will not heal; 
 My heart grew cold — it felt not then; 
 When shall it cease to feel again?" 
 
LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 165 
 
 We have already referred to Dr. Watts' devoted love for 
 Miss Singer. She admired Dr. Watts as a minister and as a 
 hymn-writer, but she felt she could not admire him as a husband. 
 She is said to have told him that she "admired the gem, but 
 could not love the casket that contained it." Poor little pale- 
 faced, homely-looking man; who shall blame her? But the trial 
 was a fearful one, and poor Watts rested his aching heart against 
 the bosom of infinite tenderness, but he was never a really happy 
 man. After she had refused him, he retired for some days to the 
 privacy of his own room, and there he wrote the hymn — 
 
 " How vain are all things here below 
 How false, and yet how fair; 
 Each pleasure has its poison, too, 
 And every sweet a snare. 
 
 Our dearest joys, our nearest friends, 
 The partners of our blood, — 
 How they divide our wavering minds. 
 And leave but half for God. 
 
 The fondness of a creature's love. 
 How strong it strikes the sense! 
 'Tis there the warm affections move. 
 Nor can we call them thence. 
 
 Dear Saviour, let thy beauties be 
 My soul's eternal food; 
 And grace command my heart away 
 From all created good." 
 
 "My aear child," said an affectionate mother, "it is a very 
 solemn thing to get married. " " My darling mamma, I believe 
 it," said her marriageable daughter; "but I think it much tnore 
 solemn to remain unmarried." So evidently thought a lady who 
 drove one day to the rectory door and solicited an interview M^ith 
 Mr. Bcrridge. She was shown into the parlor, and in a little 
 while the quaint but devoted minister presented himself. In spite 
 of himself, John Berridge was a wag. The tip of his nose was 
 the most expressive part of his face. Many writers have vainly 
 attempted to describe that nose. It- was neither Roman nor Gre- 
 cian, and it would be irreverent to speak of it as a pug; but upon 
 one thing they all agree, it was an indescribable nose. He was a 
 great humorist, and when his mind was under the influence of 
 some ludicrous thought or incident, the point of his nose would 
 turn up in such a droll manner as to give the whole face a wag- 
 
166 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHUKCH. 
 
 gisli expression and greatly add to the spiciness of his humor. 
 What effect the lady's communication had upon his face can only 
 be matter for conjecture. As soon as he entered the room she 
 rose from her chair and said: "O! you blessed Mr. Berridgc, 
 I've had such a sweet vision !" 
 
 ' ' Had what, madam ? " 
 
 " A vision, a sweet vision." 
 
 ' ' What's that, madam ? Did you eat it ? " 
 
 ' ' Why no, Mr. Berridge, I saw it. " 
 
 " Well, how do you know it was sweet, if you didn't taste it ? " 
 
 " O ! my dear Mr. Berridge, it was sweet • and it was about 
 you." 
 
 "Madam, you are laboring under a mistake !" 
 
 "No mistake, Mr. Berridge, I assure you. I saw an angel, 
 and he told me that I was to be your wife, and I shall be." 
 
 ' ' Not if I know it, madam, unless that angel will come and 
 tell me that I am to be your husband, and if he does I'll let you 
 know, so you need not call upon this errand again. Good morn- 
 ing, madam." 
 
 Dear old bachelor! How useful he was! He entered the 
 ministry with his own eyes blinded. He was sincere and consci- 
 entious, but he did not understand the plan of salvation. He 
 preached a high-toned morality, and his people listened and grew 
 more depraved. This disturbed his mind, for he felt that his 
 ministry was a failure. Then he began to suspect that his own 
 views of truth were erroneous, and brought them to the test of 
 God's word, all the while praying earnestly for light, until at last 
 the truth dawned upon his soul. This was in middle life. For long 
 years he had trusted his own works as the ground of his salvation. 
 When the light came, the first thing he did was to take all his written 
 sermons into the garden and make a bonfire of them, and he said 
 they "gave more light then than they had ever done before." 
 
 The next Sunday he preached Christ, and on Monday num- 
 bers of his parishioners went to the rectory in deep concern. He 
 says: "I answered the doov to one good woman, who said she 
 was come to see what all this was about." 
 
 "Why, what is the matter, Sarah? " 
 
 "Matter? That's what I want to know. Those new ser- 
 mons ! I find we are all to be lost. I can't eat, drink or sleep. 
 I want to know what is to become of me i " 
 
LOVE, COURTSIIir, AND ^MARRIAGE. 167 
 
 The whole neighborhood was excited. The church became 
 thronged to ahnost suffocation. But the new doctrine was '* quick 
 and powerful," for in that one year more than one thousand souls 
 were converted to God. He went preaching everywhere. It was 
 no unusual thing for twenty thousand people to gather to an open 
 air preaching service. He preached Christ with such wonderful 
 power that hundreds were sometimes saved at one service. In 
 one year four thousand were professedly converted under his 
 ministry. He wrote some quaint, but some very precious hymns, 
 one of which is — 
 
 " O happy saints that dwell in light, 
 And walk with Jesus clothed in white; 
 Safe landed on that peaceful shore, 
 Where pilgrims meet to part no more." 
 
 His letter to Lady Huntingdon is in the line of the topic of this^ 
 chapter. He said: " I have been so grievously plagued and tor- 
 mented with housekeepers that I have had serious thoughts of 
 looking out for a Jezebel for myself. But it was needful to ask 
 advice of the Lord. So falling upon my knees, with a bible be- 
 tween my hands, I besought the Lord's direction; and then letting 
 the book fall open of itself, my eyes first caught the words in Es- 
 dras: ' When my son was entered into his wedding chamber, he 
 fell down and died.' This frightened me; but Satan, who stood 
 near my elbow, not liking the heavenly caution, suggested that 
 the book was apocryphal, and not to be heeded. So I fell upon 
 my knees and prayed the Lord not to be angry, while I asked a 
 second sign; then, letting the book open, my eye caught the 
 words: ' Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have 
 sons or daughters in this place.' 1 now know my Lord's will, 
 and am satisfied." Whilst we have but little sympathy with that 
 way of using God's word, we can but admit the wonderful — prob- 
 ably we ought not to say — coincidence. 
 
 Love without marriage, and marriage without love. We 
 may regard John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, as aflbrd- 
 ing an illustration of both sides of the subject. We would not 
 deal uncharitably, or in any way unkindly toward the memory of 
 a great and good man, but every one knows that in love affairs 
 he was one of the most imprudent and indiscreet of men. He 
 suffered intensely from love disappointments; yet, when he was 
 married, that marriage was the cause of a life of unhappiness. 
 
168 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 There is an old proverb that "too many cooks spoil the porridge," 
 and we have sometimes thought that Mr. Wesley's troubles sprang 
 from some such source. His ensrao-emcnt in Gcoro-ia miofht have 
 ended happily if he had not called in his l)rethren to decide 
 whether he ought to marry. That was his and the lady's busi- 
 ness. The brethren's opinion was adverse to his being married, 
 and the engagement was broken. Had he married the lady he 
 loved, it is probable that his life would have been a happy one. 
 We know that in this case Mr. Wesley behaved in a childish 
 manner, but the man w^as half beside himself with disappoint- 
 ment. Of course it hurt him to see another marry her, and he 
 manifested his feeling by petulantly refusing her a place at the 
 Lord's table. 
 
 The aflair with Mrs. Grace Murray was ruined by the inter- 
 ference of his brother Charles. W^e have always regarded it as 
 ^'an unbrotherly act. Mr. Wesley regarded Mrs. Murray with 
 sincere affection. She had been engaged to Mr. Bennet, one of 
 the preachers, but the engagement had been broken, though 
 there was probably a lingering attachment for each other. Charles 
 Wesley sent money to Mrs. Murray at Newcastle, to pay her 
 traveling expenses to Bristol — a distance of four hundred miles — 
 where she was to meet him on business. When she reached 
 Bristol, Charles was there with her old lover, Mr. Bennet, and the 
 poor little woman was told that she had come to Bristol to be 
 married. The preachers of that day had a great deal of influence 
 over their people. There she was, in a strange city, four hundred 
 miles from home, and no way of getting there but by long days 
 and nights of travel in the stage coach. She yielded the point, 
 was married, and brother John was left helpless. Mad ! No 
 wonder he was mad ! Who wouldn't have been mad ! The poor 
 fellow said: "The whole world is against me, above all my own 
 brother. The desire of mine eyes is gone with a stroke. " After 
 John Wesley's death some verses were found among his papers 
 which were written at that time, and in which he described Mrs. 
 Murray's excellences. In the closing verse he said: 
 
 " Such was the friend, than life more dear. 
 Whom in one luckless, baleful hour 
 (For ever mentioned with a tear), 
 The tempter's unresisted power 
 (O the unutterable smart) 
 Tore from my inly bleeding heart." 
 
LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 109 
 
 Two years before that disappointment Mr. Wesley wrote a 
 hymn, and we tliink that if Mrs. Grace Murray had seen it, she 
 was a wise woman for marrying Mr. Bennet: 
 
 " This happiness in part is mine, 
 Already saved from low design, 
 From every creature love; 
 Blest with the scorn of finite good, 
 My soul is lightened of its load. 
 And seeks the things above ! 
 
 I have no sharer of my heart, 
 To rob my Saviour of a part 
 And desecrate the whole. 
 Only betrothed to Christ am I, 
 And wait His coming from the sky, 
 To wed my happy soul !" 
 
 Dear old saint ; he ought to have been a bachelor ! That 
 was poor theology. He evidently thought that, to allow his wife 
 to share his heart would rob the Saviour of a part, and conse- 
 quently he probably never did allow her to have any large share 
 of his affection. He lived for the one purpose of preaching 
 Christ. His parish was the whole of England, and he was 
 often absent for months at a time. He regarded home duties 
 as a sort of encumbrance, and never thought that neglect of 
 them was sin. 
 
 Then came his marriage with Mrs. Vizelle, a wealthy widow, 
 who, however, took care to secure her property to herself and 
 children before the wedding took place. One Tuesday he was in 
 London, and having summoned his preachers to meet him, he, 
 among other tliins-s, warned them ao^ainst marriasre, and told them 
 they should keep single for "the kingdom of heaven's sake." A 
 day or two afterwards he sprained his foot, and was taken to Mrs. 
 Vizelle's house to await recovery. He said in his diary that he 
 spent the week in conversation and prayer. We may make a 
 broad guess as to the topic of conversation, for at the end of the 
 week the couple were married. "Marry in haste, repent at 
 leisure." That woman was the bane of his life. For more than 
 twenty years she annoyed and abused and scandalized him, until 
 his life was a burden. It was but seldom that he went home, but 
 when he did her abuse was simply unbearable. She opened all 
 his letters that she could put her hands upon, and if a lady mem- 
 ber of his church began a letter by saying " Dear Mr. Wesley,'' she 
 
170 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 regarded it as a clear cause for jealousy, and did not hesitate to 
 try to raise a scandal about them. It was a happy day for Mr. 
 Wesley when the miserable woman left him, though even then 
 she did not cease to annoy him. 
 
 Another sad illustration of an unhappy marriage between 
 ill-matched persons is seen in the case of Mrs. Anna L. Barbauld. 
 As Miss Aiken she was regarded as one of God's masterpieces 
 by all who knew her. Beautiful in person, fair in complexion, 
 regular in feature, refined in manner, gentle in disposition, and 
 cultured in mind, she would have blessed the life and graced 
 the home of some distinguished man of genius. Instead of 
 this she married a man in every way her inferior, whose ignor- 
 ance mortified, whose insanity terrified, and whose suicide hor- 
 rified her. 
 
 Just the same thing was true of Felicia Browne, ' ' a lovely 
 girl, with golden ringlets shading a fair face of radiant and change- 
 ful expression : a dream of delight, a vision of beauty, a creature 
 all poetry and enthusiasm." She married Captain Hemans, and 
 the glory of her life %^as eclipsed. "Her sun went down while it 
 was yet day." Her poems remain to us, but her life is but a 
 painful memory. 
 
 Poor Cowper's was another life ruined by blighted affection. 
 He was devotedly attached to his beautiful and accomplished 
 cousin, Theodora Jane Cow^per. He never seemed to have thought 
 of their consanguinity as a barrier against their union until the 
 awful shock utterly prostrated him before its cruel force. He 
 never rf^llied from that blow. We do not positively assert that 
 that disappointment unhinged his mind, but we do say that soon 
 after that his mind was unhinged. His brother found him on the 
 floor of his room with a rope' around his neck. He had tried to 
 hang himself, but the rope broke and let him fall, and as his 
 brother entered the room he uttered the piercing cry, " O brother, 
 I am damned." 
 
 The next day he wrote the piteous lines: 
 
 " Man disavows, and Deity disowns me; 
 Hell might afford my miseries a shelter, 
 But therefore Ilell keeps her ever-hungry doors 
 All barred against me." 
 
 Then he was sent to Saint Alban's Lunatic Asylum, and a 
 large portion of his life was spent in the awful blackness of mental 
 
LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 171 
 
 affliction. Poor wrecked life ! We can but recall Mrs. Browning's 
 touching lines: 
 
 " O poets, from a maniac's tongue 
 
 Was poured the deathless singing; 
 O Christians, to your cross of hope 
 
 A hopeless hand was clinging. 
 O men, this man in brotherhood, 
 
 Your weary paths beguiling, 
 Groaned inly while he taught you peace, 
 
 And died while you were smiling." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE WAR SONGS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 " Oh may thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold. 
 Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, 
 And win, with them, the victor's crown of gold. 
 
 Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might; 
 Thou, Lord, their captain in the well- fought fight; 
 Thou, in the darkness drear, their light of light." 
 
 Alexander Fletcher, of Saltoun, is reported to have said: 
 ' ' Give me the making of a nation's songs, and I care not who has 
 the making of her laws. " As song is the most natural manner 
 of expressing love of home and country, it is consequently a 
 mighty factor in awakening and stimulating patriotic feelings and 
 sentiments. Its power is universally recognized and employed as 
 occasion demands. The excitement of a national election is 
 largely the result of music and song, which is used by all the 
 contending parties, both as a means of arousing their own follow- 
 ers to enthusiasm and of winning over the undecided and the 
 wavering. Perhaps there is no place where patriotic music can be 
 used to so great an advantage as on the battle-field. All nations 
 have recognized its influence upon such occasions. The old Egyp- 
 tians fouo;ht to the sound of drums and timbrels and bells. The 
 Chinese use bells and triangles as their war music. With the 
 Spartans the song of Castor was the signal for conflict. At the 
 battle of Cunaxa the Greeks sang a war song upon the field. 
 When Cyrus led his expedition against the Babylonians he ordered 
 the war-hymn " Jupiter, Protector and Conquorer," to be sung by 
 the troops, in order to inspire them with military and religious 
 ardor. Music is an absolute necessity in military service, and the 
 soldier has ever been grateful for its efiicient aid. On the weary 
 march the cheering notes of the regimental band enables him to 
 resist fatigue by keeping step to the music ; or, when facing death 
 upon the field, it sets before his mind the principles and purposes 
 
 (172) 
 
THE AVAR SONGS OF THE CHURCH. 173 
 
 of the war, and thus nerves him for the conflict and incites him ta 
 heroism. Every good general is aware of the power of music, 
 and takes it into account as one of the forces at his command. 
 When Napoleon led his army over the Alps, he one day noticed a 
 number of men vainly trying to lift a heavy cannon up a steep 
 ledge of rock. They tried two or three times and almost succeeded, 
 but the great gun rolled back upon them. The band was playing 
 a piece of common-time music, when the gi'eat warrior quietly bid 
 the band-master strike up a quick, popular tune, much used among 
 the men. This was done and the cannon was swung up the ledge 
 without any demonstration of painful effort. 
 
 ' 'At a critical moment during the battle of Waterloo, Welling- 
 ton noticed that the forty -second Highlanders began to waver. 
 Concerned at this sign of weakness he investigated the mutter and 
 discovered that their band had ceased to play. Instantly he com- 
 manded the Scotch bagpipers to strike up in full force. The effect 
 was wonderful. The l)rave regiment rallied, and, solid and unyield- 
 ing as a granite rock, they went forth with tattered colors, over 
 the blood-drenched field, to win the hard-contested conflict." 
 
 Every soldier knows the power of music. Ask the boys who 
 killed out the American rebellion whether the Northern people 
 owe anything to the author of the song "John Brown's body lies 
 mouldering in the grave?"' Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's "Battle 
 Hymn of the Republic " helped the cause of freedom more than the 
 raising of a score of regiments would have done. It is said that 
 Nelson once paid a graceful tribute to Charles Dibden, the English 
 song-writer, by declaring that the honor of the naval victories of 
 the time should be divided between Dibden's " Tom Bowling'" 
 and the real " English Hearts of Oak." 
 
 We may trace the influence of song through the history of 
 the nations. It was a mighty power during the civil wars of Eng- 
 land, and helped — perhaps more than any other outward influence 
 — in bringing Charles Stuart's head to the block. Both armies 
 were accustomed to sing on the field. Old Thomas Mace tells of 
 the use of psalmody under difficulties. He says that during the 
 siege of York the Sunday services at the cathedral were largely 
 attended. To use his own words, " it was squeezing full." " We 
 had," he said, " a large, plump, lusty, full-speaking organ, that 
 cost one thousand pounds, which sometimes let out all its fullness 
 of stop, and, together with the choir, began the psalm ; and whea 
 
174 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the whole congregation joined, it sounded like thunder and shook 
 the very ground, and filled our souls with unutterable delight. 
 But sometimes a cannon bullet has come in at the window and 
 bounced about from pillar to pillar, even like some furious fiend 
 or evil spirit." 
 
 Grand old Oliver Cromwell realized the power of song. At 
 the battle of Dunbar, Leslie, with his twenty-seven thousand 
 Scotch, occupied a strong position far up upon the sides of the 
 Lammer-muirs ; whilst Cromwell, with but eleven thousand men, 
 with all chance of retreat cut off, was in a most unfavoralile situa- 
 tion down in the valley. The night before the battle was a very 
 comfortless one. The men could not sleep for cold, and the keen 
 wind blew the sleet with stinging force into the faces of the sen- 
 tries as they stood upon guard. The sea moaned mournfully all 
 night as it beat against the Whinstone Cliff; and the wail of the 
 night winds seemed prophetic of what would come when the day 
 dawned. The first tinge of daylight was the signal for the attack. 
 But, by the time that the sun rose over St. Abb's head, the Scotch 
 began to fly. " They run," said Cromwell, in a voice loud enough 
 to be heard half over the Lammcr-muirs, '• I protest they run ! " 
 and waving a sword that reflected the golden sunbeams of the 
 morning, he made the hills echo the cry: " Now let God arise and 
 let his enemies be scattered ; let them also, that hate him, flee 
 before him." It was a marvelous victory. The eleven thousand 
 Ironsides had slain three thousand men, taken ten thousand prison- 
 ers, captured fifteen thousand stand of arms, and all the artiller}' ; 
 secured two hundred battle flags, and yet they had not lost twenty 
 men. Is it any wonder that they stood upon the field and sang 
 the one hundred and seventeenth Psalm ? 
 
 " O, all ye nations of the world, 
 Praise ye the Lord always; 
 And all ye people everywhere. 
 Set forth His noble praise. 
 
 For great His kindness is to us, 
 
 His truth doth not decay; 
 Wherefore, praise ye the Lord our God; 
 
 Praise ye the Lord alway." 
 
 In another chapter we have referred to Luther's forty-sixth 
 Psalm as one of the grand historic war-songs of the church. After 
 Luther's death the doctrines he had promulgated spread with such 
 marvelous rapidity that the Catholics were thoroughly alarmed 
 
THE WAR SONGS OF THE CHURCH. 175 
 
 and organized themselves into "The Holy League,'' for the pur- 
 pose of resisting protestantism ; whilst the Protestants organized 
 themselves into "The Evangelical Alliance," for the purpose of 
 resisting popery. With a bitter spirit of animosity, of course, 
 they appealed to the sword. The result was the bitter, bloody, 
 cruel Thirty Years' War, which was at first waged between 
 Austria and Spain on the Catholic side, and Denmark and the 
 North German States on the other. 
 
 Then came a time when the Protestants were defeated in 
 almost every battle they fought; the Catholics, of course, using 
 their newly acquired power for purposes of oppression and tyr- 
 anny. Just when things looked especially dark for the Protestant 
 cause, Sweden came to their aid, and King Gustave Adolphus, 
 known throughout Europe as "The Lion of the North," marched 
 at the head of his troops in defence of the Protestant faith. 
 He Avas the son of Charles IX., and his military skill entitled 
 him to a front place among the distinguished Generals of the 
 world. It means a great deal to say that he was beloved by 
 his army as much as he was feared by his foes. This expedition 
 was one triumphant march from victory to victory, until the foe- 
 man's power was broken. Like his illustrious contemporary, 
 Oliver Cromwell of England, he was a man who feared God, and 
 prayer was a necessity of his daily life. He wrote the war-song 
 found in most of our best hymnals: 
 
 " 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. 
 
 As true as God's own word is true. 
 Not earth nor hell with all their crew 
 Against us shall prevail; 
 A jest and by-word are they grown; 
 God is with us, we are his own, 
 Our victory cannot fail. 
 
 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!" 
 
176 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 We are aware of the fact that Miss Wink worth in her lirst series 
 of ' ' Lyra Germanica " attributes this hymn to Altenberg. But 
 Mr. Mohnike, one of the liest of German hymnologists, says the 
 evidence is clear and conclusive that the hymn was composed by 
 Gustave Adolphus. The Rev. Theodore Kubler. another great 
 German authority, whose book is now before us, says ''the king 
 wrote the song after the battle of Leipsic," but being more expert 
 ■with the sword than with the pen, he requested his chaplain to 
 correct and improve it as he thought best. Altenberg composed 
 a tune to which it was sung. 
 
 On the morning of November sixteenth, 1632, the two armies 
 stood facing each other near Lutzen, ready for battle: the Pro- 
 testant army, under the command of Gustave Adolphus, and the 
 Catholic forces, commanded by the great General Wallenstein. 
 Early in the morning it was so foggy that the armies could not 
 see each other, but they could distinctly hear each other's prepa- 
 rations for battle. With a solemn mien Gustave rode to the front 
 of his troops, and, dismounting, he knelt before the God of bat- 
 tles to invoke his aid. After a minute in silent prayer his clear 
 voice was heard in a petition in which his army united. He closed 
 his brief but earnest prayer by saying: "O Lord Jesus, bless 
 our arms, and let this day's battle be to the glory of Thy holy 
 name. Amen." Then the trumpets pealed out the keynote, and 
 the whole army joined in their beloved leader's hymn. After 
 the hymn the king gave the watchword for the day, "God with 
 ns." Then he bade the bands strike up "Ein Teste Burg," and 
 Luther's hymn was also sung. The sun then shone through the 
 fog, and their leader called out: "Now let us begin! God help us! 
 Jesus, Jesus, help us to-day to fight for the honor of Thy holy 
 name. " It was a hard struggle, but the Protestants were success- 
 ful. But, alas ! the victory of the day was turned to mourning 
 by the death of their beloved king. About eleven o'clock a l)all 
 shattered his arm, and as he was being led to the rear an Austrian 
 Colonel recognized and shot him through the hody with his pistol, 
 and a riderless horse, which was known as l)elonging to the king, 
 galloped back to the camp. They found him dying. A soldier 
 had asked whether he was the king. "Yes," was the reply, 
 "I am the King of Sweden, and to-day I seal with my blood 
 the liberty and religion of the whole German nation." As they 
 turned him, the blood gushed from his wound, and he said: "My 
 
THE WAR SONGS OF THE CHURCH. 177 
 
 God, my God!" In a few moments he spake his hist words: "Ah 
 my poor queen," and Gustave Adolphus had done with this world. 
 After the great General's death the war ceased to be one 
 of principle, and was only prosecuted for selfish i)urposes. It 
 w^as nothing but an inextricable maze of intrigues, the struggle of 
 bands of adventurers for the purposes of robbery. The Swedish 
 army lost its splendid prestige, and was soon greedily fighting 
 for its own aggrandizement. In the autumn of 1639 it encamped 
 before the little town of Eilenberg in Saxony, and attempted to 
 exact a tribute equivalent to twenty thousand dollars. It was a 
 cruel and unreasonable demand, because only two years pre- 
 viously the plague had swept eight thousand of the citizens of 
 Eilenberg into the grave. During that awful time their pastor, 
 the Rev. Martin Rinkart, had proven himself a hero hy minister- 
 ing to the sick and dying. He never thought of sparing himself, 
 and it is said that he actually interred four thousand four hundred 
 and forty bodies with his own hands. The year following the 
 plague there was a frightful famine. Men and women died on 
 the streets from starvation. It was impossible to pass through 
 the town without hearing the cries and wails of hungry little chil- 
 dren. And then the next year the Swedish Lieutenant-Colonel 
 von Dorfling laid siege around the unfortunate and wasted city, 
 threatening its instant destruction unless they paid twenty thou- 
 sand dollars. Rinkart went to the invader's camp and interceded 
 for the city, but the effort was in vain. Then upon his return he 
 summoned his people to a prayer-meeting in the church. "We 
 have pleaded our cause with men and failed; we ought, at first, 
 to have gone to the Lord," he said. In that prayer-meeting the 
 good old pastor announced Dr. Paul Eber's hymn, and the as- 
 sembled citizens joined in singing it: 
 
 " When in the hour of utmost need 
 We know not where to look for aid; 
 And thus we come, O God, today, 
 And all our woes before thee lay; 
 For tried, forsaken, lo! we stand, 
 Perils and foes on every hand." 
 
 At the close of that prayer-meeting the Swedish oflScers were 
 waiting for them, to say that they had reconsidered the matter, 
 and, in view of their past sufferings, were ready to accept eight 
 thousand instead of thirty thousand thalers. Mr. Rinkart as- 
 sured them that such a sum was wholly be}ond their ability, and 
 
178 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the officers were satisfied with a payment of two thousand. Five 
 years afterwards the war ended, and upon the proclamation of 
 peace, a day of thanksgiving was observed all over Germany. 
 Upon that day the people of Eilenberg sang a thanksgiving hymn 
 which their pastor had composed for the occasion. The hymn 
 became so popular that to-day it is regarded as the thanksgiving 
 h}Tiin of the German people. It is spoken of as the German 
 "Te Deum," and is sung at all their great gatherings, especially 
 upon occasions of public thanksgiving. 
 
 The second verse of Rinkart's hymn was sung by the Prus- 
 sian army on the morning of the fifth of December, 1757, just 
 before commencing the battle of Leuthen. Frederick the Great 
 commanded his own forces, and when the soldiers burst into song, 
 an officer asked the king if he wished them to be silenced. " No," 
 said the king, "with such men God will surely give me the vic- 
 tory to-day.'' And so it proved; for, in spite of the fact that 
 their Austrian opponents outnumbered them almost three to one, 
 after three hours' fighting the Prussians had gained a glorious 
 victory, when, on the field, the whole army joined in singing the 
 whole of the same hymn, "Nun danket alle Gott." {See illustra- 
 tion.^ In spite of his professed scepticism the singing greatly 
 afiected Frederick, who said, as he looked over the ground strewn 
 with the bodies of his foes: "My God, what a power religion 
 has ! " A hymn of such historic interest deserves to be regarded 
 as one of the war-songs of the church. 
 
 " Now thank we all our God 
 With heart, and hands, and voices, 
 Who wondrous things hath done. 
 In whom the world rejoices; 
 Who from our mother's arms 
 Hath blessed us on our way 
 With countless gifts of love, 
 And still is ours to-day. 
 
^ 
 
 e>i o 
 
 — '^ 
 
 ?3 S' 
 
 _, e 
 
 
 CQ 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 life's lights and shadows. 
 
 " Leave God to order all thy ways, 
 
 And hope in Him whate'er betide; 
 Thou'lt find Him in the evil days, 
 
 Thy all-sufficient strength and Guide. 
 "Who trusts in God's unchanging love 
 Builds on the Rock that naught can move. 
 
 Only thy restless heart keep still. 
 And wait in cheerful hope ; content 
 
 To take whate'er His gracious will. 
 His all-discerning love has sent ; 
 
 Nor doubt our inmost wants are known 
 
 To Him who chose us for His own." 
 
 Life's lights and shadows ! What a strange alternation and 
 intermingling of sunshine and storm it is ! One day pleasant 
 smiles, the next day painful tears ! Heart-throbs to-day, heart- 
 ache, perhaps, to-morrow ! Our joys so uncertain, our sorrows 
 so severe ! And so we could fill our page by writing in this 
 minor key; and when written, it would misrepresent life and dis- 
 honor God. The fact is that life is not half so bad a thing as 
 some try to make themselves believe it to be. We regard it as a 
 great blessing, as a season of precious opportunity, both for get- 
 ting good and doing good. It is true that life has its shadows, 
 but even these are essential to its real success. A period of im- 
 provement must necessarily be a season of discipline. We some- 
 times smart under the pain and shock of sudden trials, but we 
 know that there are no casualties in a life which God controls. 
 The covenant that God made with us is " an everlasting covenant, 
 ordered in all things, and sure." A Christian's life has no acci. 
 dents in it. All of God's dealings with us are in the way of 
 infinite wisdom and tender love. We have sometimes foolishly 
 complained about the uncertainties of life : foolishly, because 
 this imcertainty is but a veil that the tender hand of the heavenly 
 Father has drawn down simply to save us pain by hiding inevit- 
 
 (179) 
 
180 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 able sorrows from our sight. It is true \vc do not know w^hat a 
 day or year may bring forth, Ijut, suppose we did know ? If the 
 mother knew that her baby would die on a given day six months 
 from now ! Or, if the family knew that mother would die on a 
 certain day a year hence ! If we could with certainty know the 
 day of our own death, how much of enjo3ancnt would there be in 
 the home during the interval ? It is true that life has its shadows, 
 but we will soon have done with them, for to those who love 
 Christ the promise is given that the shadows " shall flee away." 
 
 It is a most important thing to know how to live, for, after 
 all, life is very much what we make it. Some people can use it 
 to much better advantage than others. To learn the art of living 
 is the most important part of our education. Some would have 
 us believe that the chief aim of existence should be to learn 
 to die. There are Christian people who pay altogether too much 
 attention to death. We regard death as a something with which 
 we have but little to do ; a something which is God's business 
 and not ours. The only way to prepare for death is to make the 
 best use of life. To think of death does not necessarily prepare 
 us for it. To merely think of death does not constitute religious 
 meditation any more than talking of death constitutes religious 
 conversation. To believers in Christ death is a conquered foe, 
 and a really conscientious Christian would prefer to devote atten- 
 tion to some more profitable subject. It does not afford satisfac- 
 tory proof of a man's piety to have him always talking about 
 dying. Piety does not live among the tombs: her house is out in 
 the sunshine, upon the broad avenue of daily life. The grave is 
 no more a theme for pious talk'than are any other topics that 
 stand intimately related to our human experience. We shall have 
 time enough for the grave when we are in it. We know men who 
 have formed a habit of talking about the uncertainty of life and 
 the vanity of earthly things, and every time you meet them they 
 read you a homily upon death and eternity ; l)ut we have noticed 
 that many of these men are as grasping after the vain, fleeting trifles 
 of this earth, and hold to them as tenaciously, as do worldlings 
 themselves. We distinctly remember reading Young's "Night 
 Thoughts," in the days of our boyhood, and the book made a deep, 
 l)ut perhaps not a healthful impression upon our mind. We 
 thought of its gifted author as a man so absorbed in eternal things 
 as to have no concern about the frivolous toys of this world. But 
 
life's lights and shadows. ISl 
 
 we shall never forget our disgust when we read the story of his 
 life, and learned that he was avaricious and grasping for money, 
 and that he would cringe and toady to the wealthy, in order to 
 gain patronage and preferment and position. 
 
 God evidently desires us to enjoy life, to live in the sunshine. 
 He expects us to hear fruit, and the tree that gets the most sun 
 will bear the best in quality and the most in quantity. We may 
 make our lives happ}', and 'tis Christian duty to do so. It is sin- 
 ful to whine and be always fretting. It is our duty to try to live 
 right, simply that we may enjoy life as it passes — not live that, 
 we may merely T)e prepared to die, or that we ma}' gain heaven as 
 the reward of right doing. A true Christian will do right from 
 principle ; heaven or no heaven, he will cling to the right for 
 righteousness sake. 
 
 Lights and shadows ! Blessed alternation of light and shade. 
 But for the shadows light itself might seem monotonous. But for 
 the shadows of the natural world there could be no peaceful even- 
 tide, or sweet morning dawn ; no starlit heavens, no refreshing 
 rains, no quiet nights of rest. The shadows are a very important 
 part in the economy of nature ; just as important are they in 
 human experience. The light of heaven will by and by explain 
 the shadows of earth. Just as we have seen the black thunder- 
 cloud come so threateningly from the northwest; and, as it passed 
 overhead, it seemed like a chariot of wrath driven by the furies of 
 the storm, whose hoofs struck out the lightnings from the skies 
 and made the thundering wheels shake the very earth. But soon 
 the clouds parted, the storm ceased, and the sky cleared, and the 
 very cloud that had terrified us, loitered in the eastern sky to 
 l)athe in the sunlight as a mountain of alabaster, whose steeps and 
 hollows, and nooks and recesses of snowy down, illumined by 
 the sun and dappled by the play of summer lightning, was a 
 region which our imagination peopled with spirits of the blest, 
 who there found rest and enjoyment. Just so will the shadows 
 of earth appear when seen in the light of heaven. 
 
 Samuel Medley's early life had l)ut little sunshine in it. 
 Under the most favorable conditions the life of an English appren- 
 tice was not an enviable one. But his masters were harsh and 
 cruel, and, rather than be the victim of their tyranny for seven 
 years, he availed himself of the opportunity, which the law at that 
 time afforded him, to leave his employers and use up the time 
 
182 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 named in his indentures in the service of his country, by joining 
 his majesty's navy. This Medley did, and served on board the 
 man-of-war "Buckingham," and afterwards on the "Intrepid,' 
 under Admiral Boscawen. In the fifth year of his service he took 
 part in a terrible battle off Cape Lagos, where, being severely 
 wounded, he was carried below among many other unfortunates, 
 and when the surgeon examined him he shook his head and said: 
 " I fear it is all over with you ; that wound may prove fatal ; but 
 I will be able to tell you more about it in the morning." Young 
 Medley had been a good sailor, who had cheerfully attended to his 
 duty and stood well with his officers; but he was not a Christian. 
 His father was a godly man, but Sam said: " It is easy to be a 
 Christian at home, but a very different thing on board a man-of- 
 war." And there was much truth in that. But that awful night 
 he realized his danger and prayed as he had never prayed before. 
 He promised the Lord that if he would save his life he would from 
 that time serve him. The next morning, when the surg-eon 
 examined the wound, he said that the change was almost miracu- 
 lous. In a few days Medley was sent home, but soon as he began 
 to improve in health he forgot the promises he had made to the 
 Lord in the hour of danfjer. One Sabbath evenine; his grrand- 
 father read aloud one of Dr. Watts' sermons in Samuel's hearin<r, 
 and that sermon was the means of his salvation. After a short 
 time he joined the Eagle street church in London. Afterwards 
 he studied for the ministry and became pastor of a small church 
 at Watford, from whence he removed to Liverpool, where he did 
 the best work of his life. His previous experience just fitted him 
 to work among sailors. His church was thronged and his work 
 blessed to the eternal salvation of multitudes. For many years he 
 preached Christ, but the old wound was the cause of his death, 
 almost forty years after it was inflicted. He died very triumph- 
 antly. "Dying is sweet work, sweet work," he said. "lama 
 poor shattered bark, just about to gain the harbor, and oh, how 
 sweet will l)e the port after the storm." He wrote many very 
 precious hymns ; among many others were: 
 
 "Awake my soul, in joyful lays, 
 And sing thy great Redeemer's praise." 
 
 And also 
 
 ' O could I ppeak the matchless worth, 
 O could I sound the glories forth, 
 Which io my Saviour shine!" 
 
life's lights and shadows. 183 
 
 This hymn has for many years been wedded to Dr. Mason's 
 tmie "Ariel." Mr. Medley wrote two hundred and thirty hymns, 
 many of which will be used by the church until the songs of earth 
 will all be merged into a new song before the throne of God and 
 he Lamb. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin Beddome's life was beautiful, but, so far 
 as striking incidents are concerned, uneventful. Wc all enjoy his 
 precious hymns. He wrote more than eight hundred, many of 
 which are yet sweet tones in the church. His hymn — 
 
 " Did Christ o'er sinners weep? " 
 
 will always be a favorite. Mr. Beddome never attempted to do 
 anything greater than simply to conscientiously do the work that 
 God had laid before him. He was pastor of a little village church 
 for fifty-two years. He did not consider his great tafents wasted 
 in such a small field. Bourton-on-the-water was the name of the 
 village — a little dull "sleepy hollow" sort of place. His con- 
 gregation was largely made up of farm laborers ; there were no 
 brilliant people to appreciate the minister. A large London 
 church tried to get Mr. Beddome to a field where he would be 
 appreciated, but he said: " I would rather honor God in a station 
 even much inferior to that in which he has placed me, than intrude 
 myself into a higher without his direction. " There is nothing to 
 tell, only that for fifty-two years he faithfully ministered in that 
 little sphere of service, enduring the privations, and performing the 
 drudgery of such a field, without a word of complaint. O, that 
 was true greatness ! That was real worth ! Nothing to tell ; but 
 the great Master and Lord of all said, " Thou hast been faithful 
 over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter 
 thou into the joy of thy Lord !" 
 
 The Stennett family did noble work for the Lord. In the 
 days of the First Charles the Rev. Edward Stennett was a Bap- 
 tist minister, who threw all the weight of his influence upon the 
 side of the commonwealth. He, in common with most other 
 godly ministers of that time, underwent a terra of imprisonment. 
 He died in 1689.- In 1663 his son Joseph was born, who became 
 a Baptist minister and a successful hymn-writer. His son was 
 also named Joseph, after his father. The young Joseph also be- 
 came pastor, and was for many years settled over the Baptist 
 . church at Exeter, and afterward in London, where he ended his 
 
184 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 course. His son was named Samuel, who was ordained and acted 
 as his father's assistant, and after his father's death assumed the 
 full charge and spent his life with that church. The father and 
 son held that pastorate for nearly sixty years. Samuel Stennett's 
 son was also named Joseph, and he, too, became a useful serv- 
 ant of Christ in the Baptist ministry. For five generations the 
 Stennetts were devoted, talented ministers of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 Joseph Stennett, born in 1663, deserved more credit as a 
 hymn-writer than he has received. He was a pioneer in the art. 
 Watts had not begun to write, and it is doubtful whether Bishop 
 Ken had written his morning and evening hymns at the time when 
 Stennett wrote — 
 
 " Another six days' work is done, 
 Another Sabbath has begun; 
 Return, my soul! enjoy thy rest. 
 Improve the day thy God hath blest." 
 
 We are also indebted to his grandson Samuel for some precious 
 hymns. Among others is — 
 
 " How charming is the place 
 Where my Redeemer, God, 
 Unvails the beauties of His face, 
 And sheds His love abroad." 
 
 Another favorite is — 
 
 " Majestic sweetness sits enthroned 
 Upon the Saviour's brow" — 
 
 a sweet song of praise wedded to Dr. Hasting's Ortonville. Yet 
 
 another is — 
 
 " On Jordan's stormy banks I stand," 
 
 O Shade of Stennett! Take into account all the grand work that 
 Dr. C. S. Robinson of New York has done for the church in the 
 matter of Christian psalmody, and forgive his "rugged'" taste in 
 that one particular. We would almost be as satisfied to change 
 the place of the adjective, and sing — 
 
 " On stormy Jordan's banks I stand," 
 as to render it thus — 
 
 " On Jordan's rugged banks I stand." 
 
 What an illustration of ''Life's Lights and Shadows" we 
 have in poor Cowper. The shadow that overhung his life was 
 intensely dark. What a touching scene is that presented to our 
 
life's lights and shadows. 185 
 
 minds in connection with the composition of one of tlic earliest of 
 his hynms. He left the Lunatic Asylum at St. Albans, after 
 being an inmate for two years, on a Saturday morning. His 
 brother, who then resided at Cambridge, should have met him, 
 but failed to do so ; and poor, sensitive Cowper made his Avay 
 to Huntingdon alone, a stran2:er amonsr strangfers. Dr. Cotton 
 had not only been the means of restoring his mental faculties, 
 but also of leading the poor, despondent, weary soul to the Lord 
 Jesus, where he had found rest. He felt lonely that day, and, 
 dreading a return of his malady, he wandered out of the town. 
 As he walked, the peace of God tilled his whole soul. To use his 
 own words, " the Lord was pleased to reveal Himself in His w^ord, 
 and to draw my poor, desponding soul to His bosom of infinite 
 love." It was a charming day; the lanes and fields were so beau- 
 tiful, and the scene was so calm and peaceful that its spirit 
 entered his soul. He sat on a grassy knoll beneath a tall tree, 
 and there poured out his heart in prayer and praise. It was an 
 hour of holy joy; his soul had found a quiet resting-place. And 
 there he wrote the beautiful hymn — 
 
 " Far from the world, O Lord, I flee, 
 From strife and tumult far; 
 From scenes where Satan wages still 
 His most successful war. 
 
 This calm retreat, this silent shade 
 
 With prayer and praise agree, 
 And seem by Thy great bounty made 
 
 For those who worship Thee." 
 
 The next day he went to church and sat near a gentleman who 
 sang heartily and sweetly. "I could not refrain." said Mr. 
 Cowper, ' ' from saying in my heart, the Lord bless you for prais- 
 ing Him w^hom I so much love." 
 
 There are various stories of the circumstances under which 
 he composed the beautiful ode on Providence — 
 " God moves in a mysterious way," 
 
 but they cannot be depended upon as true. 
 
 He found a true friend in Huntingdon in the person of Mrs. 
 Unwin, who received and treated him as one of her family. Two 
 years afterwards Mr. Unwin died suddenly, and jNIrs. L^nwin 
 wdtli her son and daughter removed to Olney. Of course Mr. 
 Cowper accompanied them, and in this way he became the inti- 
 
186 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 mate friend of John Newton. Years afterwards Mr. Newton 
 wrote: "Since Mr. Cowper came to Olncy we have not been 
 separated for twelve hours when wo were at home. The Lord 
 brouofht US together and so knit our hearts that we cannot be 
 apart. He has been a great blessing to me and my people, by his 
 advice, his conduct, and his prayers." Many of his most precious 
 hvmns were written to bo sung at the little weekly cottage prayer 
 meeting of the church. For that meeting, and proljably never 
 expecting that it would be known outside of Olnc}-, he wrote his 
 immortal hynm — 
 
 " There is a fountain filled with blood." 
 Poor, poor Cowper ! His last years at Olney were passed in 
 mental darkness. It was sad, but he is in the light now. 
 
 Young Robinson was a barber's apprentice in London, but 
 his employer said he paid too much attention to books to make a 
 successful workman at his trade. One day he was walking with 
 a number of young men, when they met a gypsy fortune-teller 
 who solicited them to pay her to tell their fortunes; and, simply 
 for amusement, Robinson paid her a small sum, and she told him, 
 among other things, that he "would live to be a very old man 
 and see his children's children grown to men and women." He 
 was not superstitious, but he thought that it was possible that the 
 gypsy's words might prove true. He says: " Her words set me 
 thinkino-. I thoug-ht if I were to live to see these children's chil- 
 dren, I would like to have their respect. I would like to be an 
 interesting companion. I know that if I would have a pleasant 
 old age, I must begin to live to better purpose now. I ought to 
 be a Christian now. I wish I was one. Whitfield is to preach 
 to-night; I will go and hear him." That same evening he went 
 to hear Whitfield, and these— as he afterwards told Andrew Ful- 
 ler — were the influences and motives which led him there. Mr. 
 Whitfield's text that evening was: "But when he saw many of 
 the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto 
 them: 'O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from 
 the wrath to come ? ' " Young Robinson listened to the first part 
 of the sermon critically; but, when the great preacher began to 
 appeal to the consciences of his hearers, he was embarrassed by 
 his own emotions, until he for a moment stopped speaking; and 
 then, bursting into a flood of tears, he lifted hands and C3es heav- 
 enward and cried: "O ray hearers! the wrath to come, the wrath 
 
life's lights and shadows. 187 
 
 to come!" In common with scores of others, Robinson was 
 utterl}'- overwhehned, and for many weeks afterwards the words 
 continued to echo through his soul. Wherever he went the voice 
 of the preacher seemed to follow him. He was deeply convicted, 
 but it was nearly two years before he could rest his hopes upon 
 the Lord Jesus as his all-sufficient Saviour. 
 
 After some years he married and began to exercise his gifts 
 as a preacher, and after two or three brief pastorates was called 
 to take the oversight of a little Baptist church in Cambridge, 
 which, under his leadership, became one of the largest churches'in 
 the denomination. As one of the two great university cities of 
 England, Cambridge was a stronghold of episcopacy, but Mr. 
 Robinson's eminent abilities enabled him to sustain a command- 
 ing position there. It is universally conceded that he is entitled 
 to a prominent place among the great preachers of England. 
 
 We have called him the farmer-preacher, because, when he 
 first settled at Cambridge his salary did not amount to one hundred 
 dollars per year, and, having a family of nine children, he had to 
 depend upon some other way of living than preaching: conse- 
 quently he rented a farm and succeeded admirably, as the follow- 
 ing extract from a long letter will explain. We wish our space 
 would permit us to give the entire letter, but we will quote enough 
 to show the secret of his success : 
 
 " Old Friend — The length of this letter will depend upon 
 how long this thunderstorm lasts. I will give you a diary of one 
 day's work : Rose at three o'clock ; crawled into the library and 
 met one who said, ' Yet a little while is the light with you. My 
 Father worketh hitherto and I work. ' Rang the great bell and 
 roused the girls to milking ; went up to the farm and roused the 
 horse-keeper ; fed the horses while he was getting up ; called the 
 boy ; put him to clean out the cow-house ; went up to the paddock 
 to see if the weaning calves were well ; went to the ferry to see 
 if the boy had cleaned boat ; returned to the farm ; examined 
 shoulders, heels, traces, chafl' and corn, of eight horses going to 
 plow ; mended the acre stafl ; pumped the troughs full ; saw hogs 
 fed, examined swill tubs ; went and bought a lighter of turf for 
 dairy fire ; returned to farm ; called the men to breakfast ; cut 
 the l)oy's l^read and cheese ; set two men to ditch the five roods, 
 two to clean the yard ; set the carpenter to repair corn cribs — and 
 then the clock struck five." 
 
188 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Such a minister would not sulier from dyspepsia. He wrote 
 the popular hymn — 
 
 " Come, thou Fount of every blessing. 
 Tune my heart to sing Thy grace." 
 
 Another hynm he gave us is — 
 
 " Mighty God ! while angels bless Thee, 
 May an infant lisp Thy name?" 
 
 Sometimes the gownsmen of the university would interrupt 
 the services, and in a rowdy fashion annoy the congregation of 
 the Baptist meeting-house, but if it came to a war of words they 
 generally had the worst of it. It soon became known that the 
 Baptist preacher was skillful in the use of edged tools and they 
 wisely left him alone. 
 
 But his greatest trial was that dissenting ministers, his own 
 brethren, manifested a spirit of hostility toward him. It may 
 have been because of his success as a preacher, or by reason of his 
 profound scholarship, that they grew jealous and treated him 
 ccjldly and distantly. Robinson lacked the grace to submit to 
 that kind of thing gracefully. He was too proud to attempt to 
 heal up such breaches. It is true that upon some points of 
 doctrine he was not on the popular side, but his preaching was 
 blessed of God to the salvation of souls, and to the building up of 
 the church. We have always regarded the popular story of the 
 lady and the stage-coach as the work of an enemy. The lady is 
 said to have met Mr. Robinson in a stage, and noticing that his con- 
 versation was unbecoming a clergyman, she referred to the hymn 
 "Come, thou fount of every blessing." He burst into tears 
 and said : " Alas, madam, 1 am the author of that hymn, and I 
 would give a thousand worlds could I now enjoy the feelings I had 
 when I composed it. " The story does not look true. Mr. Robin- 
 son was always a gentleman, and especially in the presence of 
 ladies. As we read the story, we feel ' ' an enemy hath done this. " 
 No lady would converse with a stranger, Avho was speaking in an 
 unbecoming manner, upon such a topic as hymns. 
 
 Robinson became unsettled upon some doctrinal points, but 
 his brethren dealt harshly with him and declared him a Socinian. 
 The fact of his dying at the house of Dr. Priestly was regarded as 
 confirmation of the report, but only one month before his sudden 
 death he said to his friend Mr. Feary, '' My dear brother, I am 
 
life's lights and shadows. 189 
 
 no Socinian ; my soul rests its whole hope of salvation on the 
 atonement of Jesus Christ, my Lord." 
 
 Rowland Hill wrote a few useful hymns. He was a tower of 
 strength in the church and made his influence felt all over Eng- 
 land. His humor only made him more successful in winning 
 souls. All sorts of silly stories have been circulated concerning 
 his oddities. But Mr. Hill was a devoted servant of his Lord, 
 and was eminently wise in what he did and said. Humor was as 
 natural to him as his breath, but he always kept it under judicious 
 control. He died in his eighty-ninth year. During the last year 
 of his life he was frequently heard to repeat the lines — 
 
 "And when I'm to die, ' Receive rae,' I'll cry, 
 For Jesus hath loved me, though I cannot tell why,"" 
 
 and on his dying bed they were the last words he spoke in this 
 world. 
 
 There is a touching story connected with one of our popular 
 hymns. Mr. Fawcett was the pastor of a little Baptist church at 
 Wainsgate. His people were poor and his salary small. When 
 Dr. Gill resigned the pastorate of his wealthy metropolitan church 
 that church extended a call to Mr. Fawcett. All his friends were 
 delighted, but the poor little church at Wainsgate realized that it 
 was a calamity for them. He preached his farewell sermon, and 
 the day set for his actual removal soon came. His furniture and 
 books were laden on six wagons to be conveyed to London. Mem- 
 bers of his church and congregation, men, women, and children, 
 gathered to wish him good-bye. Tears and sobs were the order 
 of the day. The scene so afiected Mrs. Fawcett that she burst 
 into tears, and said, " O John, I cannot bear this, what will these 
 people do ? Is it right to leave AVainsgate ?" " You feel just as I 
 do," said her husband, and turning to a crowd of men he said,. 
 "Lend a hand in unloading these wagons, put everything in 
 place, for we cannot leave Wainsgate." There were shouts and 
 screams of joy. A letter was sent to London explaining the state 
 of afian's, and on the next Sabbath morning the congrcgatior 
 sang a new hymn, composed by their pastor during the week : 
 
 " Bkst be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love ; 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 Is like to that above." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE LITTLE OLD LADY WITH THE POKE BONNET. 
 
 "Earth's transitory things decay ; 
 Its pomps, its pleasures pass away ; 
 But the sweet memory of the good 
 Survives in the vicissitude." 
 
 It is said that strangers who attended the services in Totten- 
 ham court road tabernacle were usually curious to obtain a glimpse 
 of the celebrated Lady Huntingdon, and that she was frequently 
 pointed out to them as " the little old lady with the. big bonnet." 
 We have used an Americanism and called it a poke bonnet. Web- 
 ster says, " Poke bonnet is a bonnet of a long straight projecting 
 form." Such bonnets as our grandmothers wore contained suf- 
 ficient material to make half a dozen such trifles of headgear as 
 are sometimes worn in our days. We do not profess to be well 
 versed upon the subject of bonnets, but we would like to acquit 
 ourselves creditably, that our fair readers may not condemn us 
 for irreverently tampering with things as far beyond our powers 
 of comprehension, as, we freely confess, they are sometimes 
 beyond the power of our pocketbook. Of course we regard the 
 bonnet as one of our most exalted and admired institutions, as the 
 most imperial portion of human — shall we say superhuman ? — 
 attire. 
 
 After her conversion Lady Huntingdon always discarded a 
 costly and showy style of dress. She is said to have been so un- 
 assuming in manner and deportment that no stranger would have 
 recognized her as the human mainspring of all the religious 
 activity around her. She was the second daughter of the Earl of 
 Ferrers, and was born at the mansion of her parents in Leicester- 
 shire. In her twenty-first year she married Thoophilus Hastings, 
 the Earl of Huntingdon, and became the honored mistress of his 
 
 (190) 
 
S. HUNTINGDON. 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY WITH THE POKE BONNET. 191 
 
 princely home at Donnington Park. Like most of tlie old aristo- 
 cratic families of England, they spent their winters at their town 
 residence in London, where they, of course, associated with all 
 the fashion and wealth of the metropolis. Li the winter of 1738 
 all London was stirred by the ministrations of George Whitfield 
 and John Wesley. Thronging multitudes followed these minis- 
 ters wherever they were announced to preach. Conversions were 
 numerous, and many who "went to scofi' remained to pray.'* 
 Among other ladies of wealth and fashion, Lady Margaret Hast- 
 ings, the earl's sister, attended the services, and was there led to 
 accept of the mercy of God as offered through the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Some time after her conversion she said in her brother's 
 house, and in hearing of Lady Huntingdon, " that ever since she 
 had known the Lord Jesus Christ, and had believed on Him for 
 life and salvation, she had been as happy as an angel." Those 
 words deeply affected the heart of the countess, and a serious sick- 
 ness stamped the impression upon her soul, and eventually she 
 yielded up heart and life to the Lord. Her conversion was 
 thorough, for from that time to the day of her death all she 
 possessed was the Lord's. When the Lord opened her heart to 
 His grace she opened her home to His people. Services were 
 held in the beautiful parlors, and the gospel was there preached to 
 those who would not have gone to the ordinary places of religious 
 assembly. Her husband was in entire sympathy with her in this 
 good work, and an immense amount of good was done. In her 
 thirty-ninth year the earl died of apoplexy, and she was left with 
 the entire charge of a fortune of more than five hundred thousand 
 dollars. This she also laid upon the altar of her beloved Lord. 
 Churches were built in needy neighborhoods ; ministers were 
 supported ; Cheshunt college was founded and endowed, and she 
 gave at least sixty thousand dollars a year to the cause of Christ. 
 Frequently her annual income was all spent before the year closed, 
 and she often had to sell the jewelry she had treasured in early life 
 in order to keep the work in progress. Of coarse her aristocratic 
 acquaintances were greatly annoyed at her for associating Avith 
 the poor of the church. The Duchess of Buckingham wrote her 
 thus: " I thank your ladyship for the information concerning the 
 preachers. Their doctrines are most repulsive, and strongly 
 tinctured with inpertinence and disrespect toward their superiors 
 in perpetually endeavoring to level all ranks and do away with all 
 
192 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 distinctions. It is monstrous to bo told that you have a heart as 
 sinful as the common wretches that crawl on the earth. This is 
 highlj^ offensive and insulting, and I cannot but wonder that your 
 ladyship should relish any .sentiments so much at variance with 
 high rank and good breeding. '' 
 
 One day at court the Prince of Wales asked: " Where is my 
 Lady Huntingdon that she is so seldom herer' A lady of 
 fashion sneeringly replied, "Oh, she is somewhere praying with 
 her beggars." The prince shook his head and said, " When I am 
 dying I think I would be happy could I seize the skirt of Lady 
 Huntingdon's mantle that she might carry me to heaven with 
 her." One of the bishops waited upon George HL , to enter a 
 complaint against her. He said : " Lady Huntingdon's preachers 
 are overrunning the whole country, and wherever they go they 
 empty the parish churches and our clergy are annoyed." "I 
 wish there was a Lady Huntingdon in every diocese in the king- 
 dom," said the old king, and of course that ended the matter. 
 
 She composed the hymn — 
 
 " When Thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come, 
 To call Thy ransomed people home, 
 
 Shall I among them stand ? 
 Shall such a sinful worm as I, 
 Who sometimes am afraid to die, 
 
 Be found at Thy right hand ?" 
 
 Walter Shirley, who was a first cousin of the countess, wrote 
 some useful hymns, some of which have a place in all our hymnals. 
 He was a clergyman who spent many years in faithful work in 
 Ireland. He was a brother of the dissipated Earl of Ferrers 
 whose brutal conduct toward Lady Ferrers called out an expostu- 
 lation from his steward, Mr. Johnson. The infuriated villain 
 drew a pistol and shot his faithful servant dead. He was tried 
 for the crime and sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn, his body to 
 be afterwards dissected and anatomized. It was a fearful trial to 
 his brother and also to Lady Huntingdon. All was done that 
 could have been, but to no avail ; the crime was so deliberate that 
 the law demanded justice. His friends tried to bring him to 
 realize his awful position, but in vain ; the proud, high-1)orn 
 criminal determined to die as he had lived. The night Ijefore the 
 execution prayer meetings were held on his behalf, but he spent 
 the night playing cards with his jailor. In the morning he 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY AVITII THE TORE BONNET. l't>3 
 
 dressed himself for execution in lii.s Avedding elotlie.s. His be- 
 havior on the way to the gallows was scandalous. Before leaving 
 his cell he Avrotc the lines which he left on the table : 
 
 " In doubt I lived, in doubt I die. 
 Yet stand prepared the vast abyss to try, 
 And undismayed expect eternity." 
 
 It is impossible for us to form any adequate idea of the vast- 
 ness of the religious work of which Lady Huntingdon was the 
 life and centre. Among the devoted band of ministers who as- 
 sisted her Avere many of our most eminent hymn-Avriters. We 
 may name Watts and Doddridge, Hervey and Shirley, Berridge 
 and Venn, ISIadan and Perronet, Haweis and DeCourcy, Hill and 
 Toplady — a brilliant galaxy of distinguished Christian poets. 
 
 Glorious Avoman ! Think what sort of Christian she must 
 have been Avho in a letter could say : 
 
 " My Avhole heart has not a single grain of thirst after appro- 
 bation. I feel alone with God; He fills the Avhole void. I see all 
 mortals under my feet. I have not one wish, one will, one desire 
 but in Him. He hath set my feet in a large room. • All but 
 God's children seem but so many machines appointed for uses 
 I have nothing to do Avith. I have Avondered and stood 
 amazed that God should make a conquest of all AA'ithin me by 
 love. I am brought to less than nothing — broken in pieces 
 like a potter's vessel. I long to leap into the flames to get rid 
 of my sinful flesh, and that every atom of these ashes might be 
 separate, and that neither time, place, nor person should stay 
 God's spirit." 
 
 John Berridge Avas a great friend of Lady Huntingdon's. 
 His soul Avas all aflame with love to Christ, and he rejoiced in the 
 noble Avork she Avas enabled to do for her Lord. We had occasion 
 to refer to his work in a previous chapter. When his eyes Avcre 
 opened to see the truth as it was in Jesus he Avas wont to say : 
 " Once I went to Jesus like a coxcomb, and gave myself fine airs. 
 I used Jesus as a healthy man will use a Avalking cane, lean an 
 ounce on it sometimes, but usually vapor it in the air. But uoav 
 Christ is my crutch, to bear my Avhole Aveight, and I cannot stir 
 a step AA^ithout him." He encountered much persecution, and Avas 
 frequently reprimanded for preaching outside the bounds of his 
 parish. "The world is my parish," he would say ; " did not the 
 Lord say : Go ye into all the Avorld and preach the Gospel to 
 
194 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 every creature ?" He wrote three hundred and fort}^ hymns ; one 
 
 is the well-known — 
 
 " Jesus ! cast a look on me, 
 Give me sweet simplicity ; 
 Make me poor aud keep me low. 
 Seeking only Thee to know." 
 
 Mr. Berridge wrote his own epitaph, and as it is eminently char- 
 acteristic of the man, we will quote it as written: 
 
 Here lie 
 The earthly remains of 
 
 .John Berridge, 
 
 Late vicar of Everton, 
 
 And an itinerant servant of Jesus Christ, 
 
 Who loved his Master and His work. 
 
 And after running on His errands many years, 
 
 Was called up to wait on Him above. 
 
 Reader, 
 
 Art thou born again ? 
 
 No salvation without new birth! 
 
 I was born in sin February, 1716. 
 
 Remained ignorant of my fallen state till 1734. 
 
 Admitted to Everton vicarage 1755, 
 
 Fled to Jesus alone for refuge 1756, 
 
 Fell asleep in Christ January 22d, 1793. 
 
 "We are indebted to Rev. Edward Perronet, who was a co- 
 worker with Lady Huntingdon, for the magnificent song of 
 
 praise: 
 
 All hail the power of Jesus' name." 
 
 His beautiful hymn is sung to the tune "Coronation,"' composed 
 by Oliver Holdcn, who l)egan his business-life as a carpenter in 
 Massachusetts, but who afterwards became a publisher of music. 
 The Wesleys' Arminian doctrines separated them from active co- 
 operation in Lady Huntingdon'* efforts to spread the Gospel of 
 Jesus. They so loved the Gospel of peace that they quarreled 
 about it, and both parties manifested a decidedly unchristian dis- 
 position and temper. Of the sainted Toplady, John Wesley 
 wrote: "Mr. Augustus Toplady I know well; but I do not fight 
 with chimney-sweepers. He is too dirty a writer for me to 
 meddle with; I should only foul my fingers.'' Toplady retorted 
 by calling Mr. Wesley "Po})e John," and charged him with 
 ' ' writing a known wilful lie. "It was too bad that good men should 
 have vilified each other. Toplady 's "Rock of Ages" was a blow 
 aimed at the doctrines of perfection, often advocated by Method- 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY WITH THE POKE BONNET. 195 
 
 ists. It was entitled: "A Living and Dying Prayer for the Ho- 
 liest Believer in the World." The Arminians have never endorsed 
 the hymn, but a distorted parody of the original has been intro- 
 duced into our hymnals — Rock of Ages, with all the Rock taken 
 out of it. The following has been cut out: 
 
 " Not the labor of my hands 
 Can fulfill Thy law's demands; 
 Naked, come to Thee for dress; 
 Helpless, look to Thee for grace; 
 Vile I to the fountain fly, 
 Wash me, Saviour, or I die. 
 
 The rest of the hymn has been diluted, and the entire character 
 and teaching of the original has been changed* 
 
 " Be of sin the double cure, 
 Cleanse me from its guilt and power" — 
 
 is altered to — 
 
 " Let the water and the blood, 
 From thy wounded side that flowed, 
 Be of sin the perfect cure; 
 Save me. Lord, and make me pure!" 
 
 Toplady would be saved in God\s way, by water and blood, or by 
 the sanctifying and justifying results of the blood to cleanse from 
 both the power and guilt of sin. We regard this unhallowed 
 meddling with the hymn, for the purpose of eliminating and over- 
 throwing the truth its author intended to preach, to be a profanely 
 wicked thing. We would say: Gentlemen, if Mr. Toplady 's hymn 
 does not suit you, pray have the decency to leave it alone. The 
 thing has been so craftily done that Christian people have never 
 asked themselves why it has been changed. We can but regard it 
 as an insult to Mr. Toplady's memory for the compilers of hymn- 
 books to append his name to what is but a travesty of his immortal 
 "Rock of Ages." It is a shame to place his name beneath it. Let 
 the man who altered the hymn step forward and put his own name 
 under his own work. Where is he ? And echo answers, "Where ?" 
 To assist the reader to realize something of the influence of 
 Lady Huntingdon's work and workers, permit us to recall from 
 memory a description of the Tabernacle during one of Mr. Whit- 
 field's services. We cannot tell when or where, but somewhere 
 we have read some such description. The phraseology we cannot 
 repeat, and we are only conscious of a dim outline of such a scene 
 having been presented to our mind, so that to place our sketch 
 
196 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 within quotation marks would be an injustice to the original 
 author: We will imagine ourselves among a crowd of people 
 waiting for the doors of the church to be opened, and then 
 we will suppose that, after a fearful crush, we secure a seat in 
 the gallery. This is supposing a great deal, for hundreds go 
 away disappointed from every service. But for our purpose 
 we need a good place where we can gratify our curiosity by 
 looking about us. It is a vast church, with every inch of stand- 
 ing-room occupied by an eager throng of people. We will see 
 Avhether w^e can recognize any among the great auditory. There, 
 sitting in the middle of the church, is the great statesman 
 William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham. He is secretary of state, and 
 the most accomplished and impressive orator in the British par- 
 liament. He can either fascinate or terrify his auditors, as it suits 
 his purpose. He loves to hear Whitfield's matchless eloquence, 
 and openly avows his indebtedness to him for many a useful hint 
 in the matter of oratory. Near to him is Edmund Burke, another 
 great orator whose eloquent and fiery utterances dazzle and en- 
 tlame and burn their way to the hearts of his hearers. Yonder is 
 Oliver Goldsmith, who wants to be known as Dr. Goldsmith. He 
 has been on the continent, and has Ijy gambling and improvidence 
 involved himself in debt, and now he is half starved for lack of 
 food. He has set up as a doctor of medicine, but no one employs 
 him. "The Vicar of Waketicld" has not yet been thought of. 
 That tall man is Lord Chestertield, the most fashionable libertine 
 of the age. Whitfield cannot touch his heart, because he has no 
 heart to touch. His shapely appearance is not real. He is laced 
 up in corsets and padded into the shape he assumes, and in many 
 ways is not what he tries to appear to be. Under the side-gal- 
 lery is David Hume, the historian, and with him his friend Adam 
 Smith, author of " The'Wealth of Nations." Both men shine in 
 literary circles, but they are sceptical upon religious matters and 
 attend the service merely for the pleasure of listening to Whit- 
 field. Standing among the crowd in the aisle is David Garrick, 
 the renowned actor. He is charmed with the great preacher's man- 
 ners and methods — the matter he cares nothing about. He would 
 often give u\) important engagements for the purpose of hearing 
 him. He says he would give five thousand dollars could he be 
 taught to speak the one word ' 'Mesopotamia" as Whitfield enun- 
 ciates it. Thronging the aisles are peers and statesmen, judges 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY WITH THE POKE BONNET. 197 
 
 and barristers, journalists and authors, philosophers and scien- 
 tists — all drawn by the mighty influence of the preachers power. 
 TherCy in a side seat, is Sir Joshua Reynolds, the portrait painter; 
 and in a pew in front of him is Selina, the Countess of Hunting- 
 don. She attracts no attention, but if you wait until the sermon 
 is done and sinners are crying for mercy all over the church, the 
 little old lady will quietly move among them with all the tact and 
 tenderness of one of God's angels of mercy, which she really is. 
 But we must forbear, because the preacher is ascending the pul- 
 pit. He looks pale and worn. The Gospel, and his work of 
 preaching it, is all the comfort he has. Sam Weller was not cre- 
 ated then, or Mr. Whitfield might have profited by his sage coun- 
 sels. As it was, he had married a widow, and she was the bane 
 of his life. But that is not all; our preacher admits that he is 
 overworked, but — ^^at the time we are supposing — he has put him- 
 self upon short allowance of work. He only preaches once upon 
 each week-day and three times on Sundays. But hush! the ser- 
 mon has begun! A few unsteady nervous sentences, and then a 
 burst of wonderful oratory that moves the audience as the wind 
 sways the trees! The sentences flash, and sparkle, and blaze 
 along! Illustration, description, declamation follow each other 
 in rapid succession. Every eye is fixed upon the orator, showing 
 that they are under the enchantment of his marvelous power. He 
 is describing the sinner's way to death, and illustrates. A poor, 
 blind beggar, with his dog to lead him, is the picture of a sinner 
 with nothing but human reason as his guide. The beggar walks 
 on until he comes to an awful precipice, and the dog leads him 
 almost to its edge and then crouches down, and the beggar takes 
 another step. The picture drawn by the great word-painter is so 
 vivid that every eye can see the poor, wretqhed creation of the 
 preacher's gifted brain. Another step toward the yawning chasm, 
 and he is on the very verge of death, tottering over his ruin. 
 "He's gone, O he's gone!" cries a voice from the audience. It 
 was only a man overcome by his emotions! Chesterfield puts on 
 a contemptuous smile, and the preacher goes on. Soon there are 
 sobs and groans and weeping, and some one says, "Then I am 
 lost," and another cries, "Oh, what shall I do?" The sermon 
 closes, and the inquirers are requested to stay behind, and many 
 of those people have been snatched as "brands from the fire." 
 Lady Huntingdon was a wise financier. No one ever spent 
 
198 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 money to better advantage. She laid up treasure in heaven, 
 where "moth and rust doth not corrupt, nor thieves break through 
 and steal." She shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Her 
 name is yet fragrant in the church. The money she spent has 
 doubled itself a thousand times over, and each passing year of a 
 century has proven that she made a wise investment. Each talent 
 made ten; nay, increased "a hundredfold in this life, and in the 
 world to come life everlasting. " No wonder that her last words 
 on earth were: "My Avork is done; I have now nothing to do but 
 to go home to my Father," 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 WHITE HORSES. 
 
 " The son of God goes forth to war, 
 A kingly crown to gain; 
 His blood-red banner streams afar; 
 Who follows in his train? 
 
 Who best can drink his cup of woe, 
 
 And triumph over pain, 
 Who patient bear his cross below— 
 
 He follows in his train." 
 
 "And I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat on 
 him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went 
 forth conquering and to conquer. " ' 'And I saw heaven opened and 
 behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faith- 
 ful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 
 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white 
 horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." Tradition says 
 that John was a prisoner upon the island, and that is the inference 
 usually drawn from his own words, "I, John, who also am your 
 brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and 
 patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for 
 the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." But 
 whatever were the circumstances which placed him there, the 
 barren island was transformed into a holy and delightful place. 
 Possibly that Lord's day morning opened very gloomily to the 
 mind of the persecuted Apostle. The world was all in arms 
 ag-ainst Christ and His truth. Christians were hated and Chris- 
 tianity everywhere spoken against. '' The kings of the earth set 
 themselves, and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord 
 and against His anointed." The earth had been sodden with 
 Christian blood. All the other Apostles had passed out of life by 
 
 (199) 
 
200 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 the gate of martyrdom, and persecution bad then laid its bloody 
 hand upon the one survivor, and isolated him from his brethren 
 and his work. Things looked very dark for the church. It was 
 a severe trial of faith. The dear old minister of Christ would 
 recall the wonderful events of his past life, but all the way through 
 it had been a .scene of suffering and humiliation. Even the Lord 
 had been " despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief."" 
 
 Perhaps some such thoughts were in his mind when he heard 
 the voice behind him, and turning, he recognized the form of his 
 glorified Lord among the candlesticks, in the act of caring for and 
 comforting the churches. And then again Jesus is revealed to 
 him as the victorious warrior, mounted — not on the red horse of 
 battle and bloodshed, or the black horse of famine, or the pale 
 horse of death, but — on the white horse, the symbol of majesty 
 and victory. When Roman conquerors returned from some suc- 
 cessful campaign they were entitled to the public thanks of the 
 populace. A day was set apart when the great General, mounted 
 upon a white horse, led his victorious legions through the thronged 
 streets, amid the loud plaudits .of an enthusiastic populace. Ancient 
 kings were wont to ride upon white horses. Perhaps John had 
 been thinking of the Lord's humiliation; of how he appeared upon 
 the morning of his death, with the old ragged scarlet coat thrown 
 over his shoulders, the broken reed in his hand, and the cruel 
 thorn crown upon his head, and the heartless, ribald soldiers 
 bowing before Him and then spitting in His face. Perhaps the old 
 Apostle had been recalling to mind the white face of the fainting 
 Lord, as He fell exhausted under the cross on the way to Calvary; 
 or the dying face, distorted with agony, when the poor white lips 
 said, '' Behold thy mother;" or the dead face, so ghastly, because 
 of the contusions, and bruises, and blood-stains. But, as seen at 
 Patmos, all this was changed, and that glorified face was " as the 
 sun shining in its strength. His eyes were as a flame of fire, upon 
 His head were many crowns, and out of His mouth went a sharp 
 two-edged sword." Jesus was no longer plodding through the 
 highways of human life, in wearmess and poverty, but was riding 
 majestically upon the white horse, and ''all the armies which 
 were in heaven following Him upon white horses " in regal state. 
 Amid all the sublime grandeur and enchanting variety of apoca- 
 lyptic vision, Jesus the Conqueror was the most glorious and 
 
WHITE HORSES. 201 
 
 delightful object upon which John's eye and heart rested. O, 
 how that sight must have enthused and encouraged his soul, and 
 changed Patmos to Paradise. The ledges of bare rock were 
 made to 
 
 "appear 
 
 Steps unto heaven," 
 
 and enabled the Apostle 
 
 " Out of his stony griefs 
 Bethels to raise." 
 
 Sometimes we grow discouraged, and look over our fields of 
 labor until they seem a very Patmos, a bare rocky prison, that 
 isolates and shuts us in to a life of drudgery and hopeless toil. 
 At such times it is blessed to have the Lord open heaven and 
 show us the great leader and captain of our salvation upon the 
 white horse, followed by His victorious church with crowns and 
 wreaths of victory upon their heads. 
 
 The horse is one of our invalua})le servants, and when kindly 
 treated he is usually both faithful and afi'ectionate. Some horses 
 have done a great deal more good in the world than some men 
 have accomplished. The church is indebted to them for an im- 
 mense amount of missionary work. Every Sabbath the Gospel 
 is preached in hundreds of villages and hamlets that could not be 
 reached but for the instrumentality of the horse. They have 
 rendered wonderful aid in the spread of Christianity. When some 
 shallow- brained critics charged Mr. Spurgcon with Sabbath-break- 
 ing, because he i-ode to church on Sundays, it is said that the 
 genial humorist playfully sheltered himself behind the assertion 
 that his horses " were of the Jewish persuasion and always 
 observed Saturday as the day of rest." We have read so much of 
 the horses of our pioneer ministers and backwoods preachers that 
 whilst we do not regard them as immortal, we are not a whit 
 surprised that John saw horses in heaven. We cannot understand 
 why the comforts and blessings of earth should not, as far as 
 they may be convenient and helpful, have a place in heaven. 
 We owe a great debt of gratitude to these ministers' horses, 
 Charles Wesley's hymns are sometimes spoken of as "the songs 
 of Methodism," but, as they are the property of the great universal 
 church of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is much wiser, and more 
 truthful, to call them the songs of Christendom. A great number 
 of those hymns were composed on horseback. All these old 
 
202 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 preachers' horses were, metaphorically, white; but, if our memory 
 is not playing the jade, Mr. \A'esley's horse was almost white. 
 His parish was England and Wales, from John o' Groats to the 
 Land's End. He journeyed from town to town, from county to 
 county, preaching Christ wherever he went, and as he rode, his 
 mind was usually busy composing hymns. Sometimes he would 
 stop at the gate of some friend's house, whom he had not seen for 
 many months, and, without a word of greeting or explanation, 
 loudly call for a pen and ink, to write down some h}'mn which 
 had been jingling through his mind. When his horse first began 
 the work he was sometimes fractious and unruly, as we know from 
 the following entry in Mr. Wesley's diary : ' ' On Wednesday I 
 .was thrown from my horse. My companions thought I had 
 broken my neck, but it was but a trifling accident. I only bruised 
 my leg, and sprained my hand, and stunned my head ; and it 
 spoiled my making hymns until the next day."' Some of us 
 would have thought ourselves ''badly used up,'" and would have 
 done nothing but groan for a week afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Wesley, like most of the pioneer ministers, had accus- 
 tomed himself to make the best of things. One night he held a 
 meeting in an upper room of an old tumble-down house in Leeds, 
 wdien suddenly the rafters gave way and about one hundred 
 people fell, amid dust and falling mortar, into the room below. 
 It was really a serious accident, and might have been very dis- 
 astrous to life, but his report of the event is exceedingly amusing. 
 He said : " One sister had her arm broken and set immediately ; 
 rejoicing with joy unspeakable." We would like to have had the 
 lady's own report, so that we could have compared notes. Con- 
 cerning himself ho said : "I slid down softly and alighted upon 
 my feet ; my hand was bruised and some skin rubbed ofl'my head, 
 and I lost my senses." And that he called ''sliding down softly!" 
 "But," he wrote, " I lifted up my head soon, and saw the people 
 under me heaps upon heaps. I called out, ' The Lord is with us,' 
 and then I struck up singing ' Praise God from whom all blessings 
 flow.' " We claim that Mr. Wesley had a happy way of making 
 the best of things. And so, wnth the spirit of a true hero, the 
 dear old saint went carrying his Lord's message of love wherever 
 he wont. 
 
 1 1 may assist us to understand something of his methods of 
 work if we, in imagination^ follow him from place to place. 
 
0!(J^^ 
 
WHITE HORSES. 203 
 
 On the morning of March the eighth, 1750, he was announced 
 to preach at the Foundry, in London, at five o'clock. It was 
 very early, but when the clock struck the hour the great building 
 was thronged with attentive listeners. »Just as the preacher began 
 his sermon there was a terrific shock of earthquake, accompanied 
 by a roar as of subterranean thunder, and the walls of the build- 
 ing swayed as though they would surely bury the worshipers in 
 their ruin. Of course there were loud shrieks of alarm, and men 
 and women were exceedingly terrified, but the preacher's power 
 over his audience was such that, in the majesty of a God-given 
 faith, a wave of the hand was sufficient to hush them to quietness. 
 With a face radiant and glowing with holy confidence and joy, 
 he uttered the sul^lime language of the Psalmist: " Therefore will 
 not we fear, thousrh the earth be removed and the mountains be 
 carried into the midst of the sea. The Lord of hosts is with us, 
 the God of Jacob is our refuge." It was a triumph of faith, 
 which produced a salutary influence upon all who witnessed it, and 
 the impression it made was lasting. 
 
 In imagination we will follow the tracks of the preacher's 
 white horse. Mr. Wesley was in the country and preached in 
 the evening at Reading, and the next morning, at five o'clock he 
 preached to an immense crowd in the open air. After the service 
 he breakfasted with one of the families connected with the church, 
 and then bidding them good-bye he made his way over the Berk- 
 shire hills, for he had to preach at Devizes that same night. It 
 was a bright morning, and as the old horse jogged along, the good 
 man's soul was in joyous sympathy with the liright world around 
 him, and his thoughts expressed themselves in his charming 
 morning hymn: ' \ 
 
 " Christ, whose glory fills the skies, 
 
 Christ, the true, the only light. 
 Sun of Righteousness arise, 
 
 Triumph o'er the shades of night; 
 Day-spring from on high be near, 
 Day-star in my heart appear." 
 
 He reached Devizes on time, and spent two happy, busy days 
 with his brethren there, and early the next morning, after his 
 work was done, he was trotting along on his way to Salisbury, 
 The day was before him, but it was a long ride; yet he cheerfully 
 anticipated his work. As usual, he beguiled the journey by hymn- 
 
204 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 making. That morning another precious hymn was given to the 
 
 world: 
 
 " Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go, 
 My daily labor to pursue; 
 Thee, only Thee, resolved to know, 
 In all I say, or think, or do." 
 
 Evenmg overtook him on Salisbury plain. It was a dreary place! 
 
 Travelers had often lost themselves after being benighted, and 
 
 had to spend the night out on the great, wild waste. But Mr. 
 
 Wesley was accustomed to all kinds of experiences in the way of 
 
 travel, and was not alarmed. He was very tired, and the old 
 
 horse limped along very slowly. But the minister had not lost 
 
 his cheerful disposition, for he burst out into song — 
 
 " Speak to me, Lord! Thyself reveal 
 
 While here on earth I rove ! 
 Speak to my heart, and let me feel 
 
 The kindling of Thy love! 
 With Thee conversing, I forget 
 
 All time, and toil, and care; 
 Labor is rest, and pain is sweet. 
 
 If Thou, my God, art here." 
 
 After Salisbury two or three other towns, and then Portland. 
 Portland granite is known almost all over Europe. It is a place 
 of stone — immense quarries, where many hundreds of men are 
 employed digging stone. They were a hard class of men. Port- 
 land altogether was a hard place. These illiterate fellows drank, 
 and swore, and fought, and dug stone; and that was the ordinary 
 round. While they had money, they drank and fought; but 
 wdien every penny was gone, and they had nothing to buy bread, 
 they worked, and swore, and suffered. Well, who cared? A 
 rough, low class, at best. No use to try to do anything for them! 
 Mr. Wesley cared. He tried to do something for them. At din- 
 ner-time they sat down, and those who had dinner ate it, and as 
 they did so, Mr. Wesley preached Christ to them. At evening 
 time he preached to an immense crowd in the market-place. The 
 text was Jeremiah 23, 21): "Is not my word like a hammer, that 
 breaketh the rock in pieces ? " The word proved itself a hannner 
 that night, for scores of hard hearts were broken, and the meet- 
 ing closed with a hymn wh ch had been composed during the day: 
 " Come, O Thou all victorious Lord! 
 Thy mighty power make known! 
 Strike with the hammer of Thy word, 
 And break these hearts of stone." 
 
"WHITE HORSES. 205 
 
 Days and weeks of journeying and preaching, sinners converted 
 and saints edified everywhere, and the old horse was at Land's 
 End in Cornwall, in some one's stable resting, while his master 
 was sitting on a rock that projected far out into the sea. At the 
 foot of that rock the Atlantic and German oceans meet in wrath 
 and storm, as though contending for the mastery. The roar of 
 the boiling, seething waters ascended to his ears, and the scene 
 set him thinking, and his thoughts shaped themselves into a 
 
 hymn — 
 
 "Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 
 Twixt two unbounded seas, 1 stand, 
 
 Secure, insensible ; 
 A point of time, a moment's space, 
 Removes me to that heavenly place. 
 
 Or shuts me up in hell." 
 
 Returning from Land's End the old horse made his way 
 through Penzance to Falmouth, which was then a hard place, 
 the population made up of sailors and fishermen. Mr. Wesley 
 preached in the afternoon, but was interrupted by a crowd of 
 half drunken sailors, who stood before him and bawled out an 
 old sea-song, to the tune of " Nancy Dawson," a tune very popu- 
 lar in Cornwall in those days. Mr. Wesley patiently waited 
 until they were through, and then said: "Now, boys, I have 
 heard you, and I like that tune. Now let me have my say, and at 
 seven o'clock I will preach here again, and then I will sing you a 
 song to ' Nancy DaAvson.' " They allowed him to finish his ser- 
 mon, and at night crowds gathered to see whether the parson 
 would keep his word. Of course he kept faith with them and 
 
 sang — 
 
 "Listed in the cause of sin. 
 
 Why should a good be evil ? 
 Music, alas, too long hath been 
 Pressed to obey the devil. 
 
 Come, let us see if Jesus' love 
 
 Will not as well inspire us; 
 This is the theme of those above; 
 
 This upon earth shall fire us." 
 
 Many who went to scotF that night remained to pray, 
 Charles rode the old horse from town to town until they reached 
 Bristol. He was then forty years old, but arrangements had 
 been made for a young lady of twenty-three to meet him in that 
 city and there they were to be married. Miss Sarah Gwynne 
 
2^06 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 was the lady's name. We give the bridegroom's description of 
 the wedding. In a previous chapter we have seen how Charles 
 sent to Newcastle for Mrs. Murray, to meet him in Bristol, and 
 how he blighted his brother's life by inducing her to marry Mr. 
 Bennet. That painful episode took place in the autnmn of the 
 year in which Charles was married. He says : 
 
 "Not a cloud was to be seen from morning to night. I rose 
 at four; spent three ^nd a half hours in prayer or singing with 
 my brother, with Sally, with Beck. At eight I led my Sally to 
 church. Her father, sisters. Lady Rudd, Grace Bowen, Betty 
 Williams, and, I think, Billy Tucker and Mr. James were all 
 the persons present. Mr. Gwynne gave her to me (under God), 
 my brother joined our hands. It was a most solemn season of 
 love. Never had I more of the Divine Presence. My brother 
 prayed over us in strong faith. We walked back to the house 
 and joined again in prayer. Prayer and thanksgiving was our 
 whole employment. We were cheerful without mirth, serious 
 without sadness. " 
 
 Sometimes Mr. Wesley was so roughly handled by the mobs 
 
 of rowdies, that his escape from death seemed almost miraculous. 
 
 Year after year he toiled on "instant in season and out of season." 
 
 He constantly gathered up the lessons suggested by the events 
 
 and circumstances of his busy life and wove them into song. The 
 
 hymn- 
 See how great a flame aspires, 
 
 Kindled by a spark of grace ; 
 Jesus' love the nation fires, 
 
 Sets the kingdoms in a blaze," 
 
 was suggested while riding at night through what is known as 
 " The Black Country," the region of coal mines, blast furnaces, 
 and smelting works — the smoke-begrimmed vicinity of iron and 
 coal. It is a fearful looking place at night. The very heavens 
 are all illuminated by the glare of the fitful fires, and the whole 
 district reminds one of Dante's "Inferno." But the scene did not 
 suggest pandemonium to the cheerful mind of Mr. Wesley who 
 preferred to regard it as a type of Gospel light and hope. 
 It has been said that the precious hymn — 
 
 " Jesus, lover of my soul," 
 
 was written at Whitby, a large town on the Yorkshire coast, 
 where, according to a previous appointment, Charles Wesley had 
 
WHITE HORSES. 207 
 
 met his brother John, and his friend Richard Pihiiore. They had 
 tried to hold an open air meeting, l)ut tlie infuriated mob assailed 
 them with stones, and would surely have killed them if they had 
 not made their escape. They found shelter in an old ruin outside 
 the town, where they spent the night, John ))eguiling the weary 
 hours by relating his experiences at sea while on his return from 
 America, whilst Charles caught the imagery of his ])rother's con- 
 versation and employed it in constructing the immortal hymn. 
 This, however, is not substantiated by the best authority, and the 
 exact truth will probably never be known. If Mr. Wesley had 
 never preached a sermon, or written a word other than that hymn, 
 that one act would have entitled him to a prominent place among 
 the great benefactors of the world. It is altogether impossible to 
 estimate the mighty influence of that hymn for good upon the 
 hearts of the race. Were it possible to lose it what a serious loss, it 
 would be ! If, during some night, every copy had vanished from 
 the printed page, and also from the memories of men, and it ha(^ 
 utterly disappeared, yet leaving the church conscious of its loss, 
 what a wail of sorrow would go up from the heart of Christen- 
 dom ! How sad Christians would feel if they could never join in* 
 singing it again! 
 
 Mr. Wesley was a very small, frail, sickly man, but he- 
 endured great hardships and privations for Christ's sake. God 
 honored him with long life, for he died in his eightieth year. The 
 old horse died first, but not until his work was done. Mr. Wes- 
 ley sincerely mourned the loss of his faithful old equinal servant, 
 who, as we think, deserved a monument in recognition of his life 
 of toil for the Lord. The dear old saint composed hymns to the 
 very last day of his life, for, upon his dying bed, he called Mrs. 
 Wesley and asked her to get pen and ink to note down his last 
 composition. Of course she did so, and these were the lines : 
 
 "In age and feebleness extreme, 
 Who shall a sinful -worm redeem ? 
 Jesus ! my only hope Thou art, 
 Strength of my failing flesh and heart. 
 Oh ! could I catch a smile from Thee 
 And drop into eternity." 
 
 His soul was full of music to the last moment. He sang until 
 he reached the very gate of heaven. He did catch the smile he so 
 earnestly desired, and joined the sweet-voiced choirs in glory. 
 
208 THE I'SALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 In following the tracks of another horse \vc will make Bristol 
 our starting place. Bristolians love to tell how Samuel Budget, 
 one of its merchant princes, entered the city as a poor, friendless 
 boy, without money to procure his next meal; but in crossing 
 Bedminster bridge he picked up a horse-shoe, which he sold to a 
 blacksmith for two cents. That was his capital, and he so indus- 
 triously and wisely used it, that he became the proprietor of the 
 largest business house in the city, and caused the firm of " Budget 
 & Co., wholesale grocers," to have a world-wide reputation. Best 
 of all, old Samuel Budget's influence was a blessing to the world, 
 by showing how vast commercial enterprises can be conducted 
 upon Christian principles. 
 
 One evening in August, 1752, George Whitfield preached to 
 an immense throng of people on the top of Brandon Hill, in that 
 city. His text was: "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? " 
 Among the audience was a poor, shiftless, depraved young fellow, 
 named Tom Olivers. His home was in Wales, but he had com- 
 mitted a crime there and had run away to escape the conse- 
 quences. Because his parents were dead, kind friends at home 
 had tried to assist him, but his behavior convinced them that 
 kindness was only thrown away upon him. A good Christian 
 gentleman said: "Tom Olivers was the worst boy I ever knew." 
 There he was, a stranger in Bristol, without either money or 
 friends! No one knew him, and — what was Avorse — if they had 
 known him, they would have shunned him. As he listened to 
 Mr. Whitfield he was at first annoyed, and then alarmed and then 
 ashamed. Who could have told that minister all about his life ? 
 The preacher described his real character, his past life, his present 
 condition, told just how he felt, and just what he was, until poor 
 Tom felt like sinking to the earth for shame. He thought that 
 everyone was looking at him, and the pitiless preacher went on, 
 and showed that Tom Olivers was a poor, worthless brand, just fit 
 for hell; and then he told how such a worthless wretch might be 
 saved. The poor fellow stood quiet as long as he could, and then, 
 with a hundred others, he fell upon his knees crying for mercy 
 for Christ's sake. The glory of the Gospel is that it can make 
 magnificent men out of the poorest material. Thomas Olivers be- 
 came a new creature in Christ Jesus, and was "a brand plucked 
 from the fire." From the time of his conversion he could but tell 
 what God had done for him. He spoke so earnestly and enthu- 
 
WHITE HORSES. 209 
 
 siastically that people were astonished and delighted, and he was 
 sought for to address religious meetings, and in a short time he 
 devoted his life to the work. His wonderful gift of speech, and 
 his vivid representations of truth, together with a fervent love of 
 souls, made him one of the chief instruments which God used in 
 the revival of the eighteenth century. He went all over England 
 and Wales, preaching Christ. For twenty-five years he rode the 
 same horse, and in old age he said: "I must have ridden one 
 hundred and fifty thousand miles upon that horse, and both of us 
 did what we could do for the Lord." It is said that he composed 
 his popular hymn while riding: 
 
 " The God of Abraham praise. 
 
 Who reigns enthroned above, 
 Ancient of everlasting days, 
 
 And God of love! 
 Jehovah! great I AM! 
 
 By earth and heaven confessed; 
 I bovf and bless the sacred name. 
 
 For ever blest! 
 
 We are not aware that Christmas Evans was a hymn-writer, but 
 we cannot but think of him when writing of ministers and horses. 
 He spent a long life in climbing the mountains and riding through 
 the valleys of Wales. For twenty-five years he rode his old pet 
 horse. Jack. The man and horse thoroughly understood each 
 other, and many a weary mile was enlivened by their conversa- 
 tion. Whenever Mr. Evans said "Jack bach," the horse would 
 neigh a reply. Many a time Mr. Evans would say, "Jack bach, 
 only one more hill to climb, and then a warm stable and plenty 
 of oats," and Jack would cheerfully reply. When the}^ reached 
 the church, Jack had to be attended to first. Sometimes the bad 
 roads caused the preacher to be late, and perhaps the church was 
 so crowded that the people were half suffocated. No matter to 
 Christmas Evans; all the deacons in Wales could not have in- 
 duced him to enter the pulpit until he had first been to the stable 
 and seen his horse comfortably provided for. "Mr. Evans," said 
 a deacon to him one night when he was twenty minutes late, and 
 the church overcrowded, "Mr. Evans, you can let the boy take 
 your horse to the stable; I have put a good feed into the manger 
 for him." But no, the old minister must go to the deacon's stable 
 himself; his Jack must be cared for; as to the people, why they 
 could wait. Reachinir the stable he was disgusted bevond meas- 
 
210 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ure to find the manger half full of mouldy, unsavory hay. In 
 high dudgeon he marched his horse to the village tavern; and then 
 he made his way to the church, where the congregation was con- 
 vulsed by seeing the grim-faced old minister walk around to the 
 deacon's pew and half savagely thrust a handful of the mouldy 
 hay under the good man's nose. Dear old servant of God, he 
 was faithful unto death. As he lay dying, his thoughts seemed to 
 wander, and perhaps it was the memory of these days of jour- 
 neying that was before his mind; or, had he caught sight of the 
 horses and chariots of fire sent to convey him home ? We cannot 
 tell; but waving his hand he said: " Good bye! drive on." It was 
 his last word on earth; in a little while he had passed the shadows, 
 and was basking in the sunlight of his eternal home. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 
 
 I'll sing in the night-time, my Father, 
 
 Though darkness environ my way; 
 When my terrors would prompt me the rather 
 
 To tearfully watch for the day. 
 
 I'll sing to encourage my brother. 
 
 Who is painfully toiling along; 
 And so will we cheer one another 
 
 By the glad inspiration of song. 
 
 We all have been helped by the chorus, 
 
 That down through the ages is ringing; 
 The true and the brave gone before us 
 
 Have cheered our dark nights by their singing. 
 
 Wc have borrowed the title of our chapter from the sacred 
 Scriptures. Perplexed by witnessing the sudden and severe suf- 
 ferings of Job, his friends began to discuss the mystery of painful 
 providences; and Elihu asserted that afflictions are often the 
 result of godlcssness, or because men do not say, "Where is 
 God, my maker, who giveth songs in the night ? " These friends 
 of Job had spent seven days and nights in utter silence, thinking 
 over the perplexing problem; and then they debated it among 
 themselves, until the whole book is tilled with their utterances; and 
 then the Lord had to step in and close up the whole matter, because, 
 if they had continued the discussion until now it would still have 
 been unsettled. That is a topic that has greatly agitated the 
 minds of men in all ages; but human opinions have always been 
 of the nature of those of Job's friends, whom the Lord charged 
 with "darkening counsel by words without knowledge." 
 
 Night is a proof of our loving Father's care, whose Divine 
 hand draws the curtain and shuts out the light, and hushes the 
 
 (211) 
 
212 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 noise, in order that His weary children may recruit their ex- 
 liaiisted energies by pleasant rest and refreshing sleep. It is 
 sweetly comforting to realize that we rest secm-e under the 
 guardian care of the eye that never sleeps. Night is usually re- 
 garded as a time of darkness and danger and dread ; and yet, 
 night has its songs. Did you ever stand out under God's great 
 star-gemed canopy and allow the scene to fill' your whole soul, 
 until the whole universe seemed vocal with praise ? You stood 
 in the presence of the Infinite, and realized the greatness of your 
 own soul by regarding the work of your Father's hands. 'Tis 
 sweet to look up into the night, and contemplating the immensity 
 of the universe, catch, and hold fast to the thought, that this is 
 the handiwork of the God who loves us, who gave His Son to die 
 for us, and upon whose word we have to depend for eternal life. 
 Tis precious to drink in the meaning of Sonship under the light 
 of the worlds. 'Tis profitable to read the bible occasionally by 
 starlight. It will fill the soul with music, and the songs of the 
 night will encourage and inspire. 
 
 Some of us have enjoyed the privilege of lying in bed during 
 summer nights with our windows open, and being lulled to sleep 
 with the sweet song of the nightingale, as, from some tall tree, it 
 trilled showers of melody upon the listeners beneath. The won- 
 derful notes, so rich and varied, at first fascinated and charmed, 
 and then lulled to peaceful repose; and when morning came the 
 song of the night seemed like a sweet memory of some fairy 
 dreamland, that lay far away beyond the experiences of such an 
 ordinary work-a-day world as this. 
 
 We have seen that human experience is made up of light and 
 shade, sunshine and darkness. We have all had our night-seasons 
 of anxiety and doubt and suffering. Happy those who can say: 
 " God, my maker, giveth me songs in the night." The glory of 
 our religion is, that God does give songs at such a time. 'Tis 
 easy to sing in the sunshine. Any sailor can sing on a calm sea. 
 No trouble to weave the warp and woof of a prosperous life into 
 song. But it is another thing to sing when darkness folds its pall 
 around the spirit, and forms of terror flit before the eyes ; when 
 the feet stumble in an uncertain pathway, and unseen hands 
 inflict blows of suffering. There are great souls who sing in the 
 darkest hours, and their songs will never die, because they have 
 power to aAvaken responses in other souls. Songs from suffering 
 
SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 213 
 
 saints, whose mingled groans chorded with the higher notes of the 
 music. Songs from the valley of the shadow, sung upon sinking 
 ships, or in flooded mines, upon bloody battle-flelds, or from 
 dying beds. Songs from the dark cellars and attics of poverty, 
 sung, as some of us have heard them, to the mournful accompani- 
 ment of children's sobs, as they cried for bread. Songs from the 
 dungeons of persecution, where the clanking chains blended with 
 the music of the singer's voice. Songs that floated over the roar- 
 ing and hissing of the martyrs' fires. Such songs constitute the 
 sweetest music this world has heard, and as they ascend heaven- 
 ward angel-fingers cease to trill the golden harps, and angels' 
 voices are hushed to silence, in order that the sweet melody of 
 earth may contribute to the ccstacy of heaven. Milton was one 
 of these night singers. The last years of his life were spent in 
 perpetual night. He, who could so thoroughly enjoy nature, and 
 so readily unlock its secrets, and so graphically describe its 
 beauties, must, when stricken with blindness, have felt the bitter- 
 ness of being locked in life-long darkness. Mrs. Van Alstyne is 
 another night singer. Her sight was utterly destroyed when but 
 six weeks old, and she has never seen the beautiful world. Sue — 
 who is perhaps better known by her maiden name of Fanny J. 
 Crosby — was educated in the New York City institution for the 
 blind. Her aflliction has not prevented her usefulness, for she 
 has made the world better by her sweet songs. She never sought 
 popularity and maintains a quiet reserve. It is not curiosity, but 
 sincere Christian love, that makes us wish to know a little more 
 of one to whom we are indebted for the hymns, "Jesus, keep me 
 near the Cross," " Safe in the arms of Jesus," and " Saviour, more 
 than life to me." The fact of her blindness gives a tender sig- 
 nificance to the verse — 
 
 " Thro' this changing world below, 
 Lead me gently as I go ; 
 Trusting Thee I cannot stray, 
 I can never lose my way!" 
 
 The Rev. W. Walford, who wrote — 
 
 " Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer," 
 
 was another blind hymnist, who evidently knew where to seek for 
 comfort and spiritual enlightenment ; who, while his natural eyes 
 were darkened, " endured as seeing Him who is invisible." 
 
21-i THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Dr. Blacklock, the blind bard of Annan, was the child of an 
 English bricklayer, and was deprived of his sight when six months 
 old, by small-pox. He w'rote the fine hymn beginning — 
 
 " Come, O my soul! in sacred lays 
 Attempt thy great Creator's praise; 
 But, oh, what tongue can speak His fame? 
 What mortal verse can reach the theme?" 
 
 He was a poet of considerable fame, and it is said that his accurate 
 and minute descriptions of natural objects are simply marvelous, 
 especially when regarded in the light of the fact that he never 
 had a glimpse of what he so graphically portrayed. Some years 
 ago it was the barbarous custom of bird-fanciers to blind their 
 canaries, because, it was said, that blind birds sang with sweeter 
 notes. One could imagine that to be true of the singers of 
 the church, because, by the loss of natural sight their spiritual 
 perceptions seem to be more clear and vivid. The sweetest singers 
 are those who have been the most crushed by the cross. 
 
 Madame Guyon's hymns are very sweet, but they were songs 
 of the night. Jeanne Marie Bouvier De La Motte Guyon was 
 born in France in the year IG-iS. She belonged to a wealthy 
 family and was brought up as a bright, well-educated young lady. 
 Her manners were winning, and her person prepossessing. She 
 was devotedly pious, and her prospects were pleasant and flatter- 
 ing. But alas! her parents offered her a sacrifice to the god Mam- 
 mon. Thousands of parents have done the same wicked thing. 
 At sixteen she was married to M. Guyon, a man twenty-two 
 years her senior, and whose tastes and disposition were as contrary 
 to her own as darkness is the opposite of light. From that day her 
 life was wrecked. Love between them there was none. It was 
 not a union of hearts, but of pocket-books. Her husband did 
 not love her as his wife. She was exceedingly fair and beautiful, 
 and he loved to gratify his vanity by showing her off before others 
 as belonging to him. This was exceedingly distasteful to her, 
 but it was a form of annoyance to which she was often subjected. 
 She was not the recognized mistress of her own home. Indeed 
 she was but a servant there, for her husband's mother ruled the 
 household as with a rod of iron. When afterwards writing of her 
 young married life, she said: "At my marriage I began to eat the 
 bread of sorrow and mingle my drink Avith tears."* Her mother- 
 in-L'iAv was an unnatural tyrant toward her. Her husband and 
 
SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 215 
 
 his mother made her life one of shivery. She became the mother 
 of five children, two of whom died in infancy. Her domestic 
 troubles led her to seek comfort in religion. The religion of 
 France in that day was, in large measure, a thing of show and 
 display, of ceremonies and ol^servances. But these things did not 
 meet the requirements of her heart. In her trouble she felt her 
 need of Divine sympathy; of a friend to whom she could open her 
 heart; and through the instrumentality of a godly priest she found 
 that friend in the Lord Jesus. In the sixth year of her marriage 
 and the twent3''-second of her age she had a severe attack of small- 
 pox, which so disfigured her that her beauty was but a thing of 
 the past. From that time her husband's treatment amounted to 
 positive cruelty. But the joy she lost through her husband and 
 his mother was more than compensated for in the peace of soul 
 she realized in fellowship with Christ. She said: ''I lived alone 
 with God. I had such confiding and afiectionate rest in God that 
 no temporal annoyance could disturb it. " In her twenty-eighth 
 year her husband died, and she was left in charge of the estate. 
 She then felt it her duty to travel from place to place, from city 
 to city, to instruct her fellow-creatures and point out to them the 
 way of salvation. This she did, and all France was stirred by 
 her teaching. Ladies of rank were numbered among her pupils, 
 and some of the aristocratic families received her joyfully. This 
 went on until the priests became alarmed. No such excitement at- 
 tended their ministrations. She could draw larger congregations 
 than they, and soon they had her arrested for teaching doctrines 
 contrary to the tenets of the church. Her influential friends ap- 
 pealed to the king upon her behalf, and she was soon at liberty 
 and busily engaged in disseminating her views among the influ- 
 ential in Paris. That Madame Guyon had a clear apprehension 
 of the plan of salvation, as we understand it, is not to be expected. 
 She lived in a Catholic country. Undoubtedly some of her views 
 were extravagant and impracticable. But that she devotedly 
 loved Christ and lived a pure, consecrated life, there is no room 
 for doubt. The priests were determined to stop her work in some 
 way. She was friendly with the godly priest who was instru- 
 mental in bringing light to her soul; so they invented and 
 brought a scandalous charge against her, touching her character, 
 and again she was imprisoned. At first she was immured in a 
 cell of the gloomy o]f\ castle of Yinccnnes. There she remained 
 
216 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 two years. Her cell was aamp and cold. She lay under a charge 
 the most repulsive to a high-minded woman, but she enjoyed even 
 her prison. While there she wrote the beautiful lines: 
 
 " A little bird I am, 
 
 Shut from the fields of air; 
 And in my cage I sit and sing 
 
 To Him who placed me there; 
 Well pleased a prisoner to be, 
 Because, my God, it pleases Thee' 
 
 Nought have I else to do, 
 
 I sing the whole day long, 
 And He, whom most I love to please, 
 
 Doth listen to my song; 
 He caught and bound my wandering wing, 
 And still he bends to hear me sing. 
 
 Oh! it is good to soar, 
 
 These bolts and bars above. 
 To Him whose purpose I adore, 
 
 Whose providence I love; 
 And in Thy mighty will to find 
 The joy, the freedom of the mind." 
 
 After another year's imprisonment in a convent, she wvis 
 removed, and for four more years was incarcerated in that " hell 
 of broken hearts," the Bastile. The man with the iron mask has 
 always been a mystery to the world; but whoever he was, Madame 
 Guyon occupied the adjoining cell. It would have seemed impos- 
 sible that a frail, refined lady could have survived the Bastile. 
 The walls of her cell were nine feet thick, and a narrow slit 
 through all that masonry brought all the light and air of the 
 outer world which she ever saw or felt. In summer the cell was 
 insufierably close, and the moss grew over the damp, mouldy joints 
 of the wall. In winter they were damp and fearfully cold, but 
 such a thing as fire had never been heard of there. She had no 
 .conveniences, no table, no recreation, no employment, no books, 
 no paper, nothing whatever to occupy her mind but Christ, and 
 He was all-sufficient. She said: "The very stones of my cell 
 looked in my eyes like rubies. I esteemed them more than all 
 the gaudy brilliancies of the world." It was surely true of 
 Madame Guyon that " God, her maker," gave her '' songs in the 
 night." 
 
 All the while she expected to be; led out to a martyr's death, 
 
SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 217 
 
 but " none of these things moved " her. Prison or death, just 
 as God saw fit; she was ready for either. She wrote: 
 
 " To me 'tis equal, whether love ordain 
 
 My life or death, appoint me pain or ease. 
 My soul perceives no real ill in pain; 
 In ease or health no real good she sees." 
 
 After four years she was released, but was not permitted to 
 reside in Paris. She made her home with her children, and, 
 though her health was shattered, she lived to reach her seventieth 
 year. Her sweet hymns are in all our hymnals. In reference to 
 her exib she wrote — 
 
 " To me remains nor place nor time. 
 My country is in every clime; 
 I can be calm and free from care 
 On any shore, since Gk)d is there." 
 
 Another is: 
 
 " I would love Thee, God and Father! 
 My Redeemer! and my Kmg! 
 I would love Thee, and without Thee, 
 Life is but a bitter thing." 
 
 In the month of May, 1717, she said in a letter: ''If my 
 work is done, I think I can say, 'I am ready to go.' In the 
 language of the proverb, I have already ' one foot in the stirrup,' 
 and am ready to mount and be gone as soon as my heavenly 
 Father pleases." On the ninth of June she passed away, with the 
 radiance of heaven upon her face and the words of triumph upon 
 her lips. 
 
 The hymns of Richard Baxter may also, without impropriety, 
 be called songs of the night. It was a dark world in which he 
 lived. The darkness of England resembled that of Egypt in more 
 senses than one; but it was emphatically " a darkness which was 
 felt." As a Christian Mr. Baxter was one of the holiest and most 
 devoted of men; as a minister he was one of the most earnest and 
 faithful ; as an author he was one of the most assiduous and use- 
 ful. He delighted in singing the praises of God, and often spent 
 sleepless nights in the blessed exercise. Speaking of his deceased 
 wife he said: "It was not the least comfort that I had in the 
 converse of my late dear wife, that our first exercise in the morn- 
 ing, and the last in bed at night, was a psalm of praise, till the hear- 
 ing of others interrupted it." *' There is no exercise that I had 
 rather live and die in than in singing praises to our Redeemer and 
 
218 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Jehovah while I might." In his ministry he exempUtied the truth 
 of his own couplet — 
 
 "I'd preach as tho' I ne'er should preach again, 
 A dying man to dying men." 
 
 " Were I live a thousand years," said one who heard him, " I 
 should never forget that man's preaching." The pen of an evan- 
 gelist could alone describe its wonderful richness, unction, and 
 power. When he settled at Kidderminster he said: " The people 
 were ignorant, coarse, and of loose manners ; superstitious, sen- 
 sual, and easily raised to deeds of violence and brutal outrage." 
 Yet, under his ministry, such a change was effected, that, after 
 laboring there for a few years, he could say: "Every house 
 within the bounds of my pastorate is the scene of prayer and 
 praise; in passing along the street on a Sabbath evening one 
 might hear a hundred families singing Psalms and worshiping 
 God." 
 
 Because of the iniquitous " Uniformity " and " Conventicle" 
 
 Acts, to which we have referred in other chapters, Mr. Baxter's 
 
 life was a scene of constant persecution and annoyance. His home 
 
 was frequently invaded by officers of the law, who sold his 
 
 goods, and even took the bed upon which he lay sick, and 
 
 disposed of it at public auction. For several years he was shut 
 
 out of his pulpit, and was imprisoned for six months in the 
 
 Clerkenwell jail for having had more than five persons present 
 
 one morning at family worship. It is said that the following lines 
 
 were written upon that occasion, in the prison: 
 
 "'Tis no great matter what men deem, 
 Whether they count me good or bad; 
 In their applause, or best esteem. 
 There's no contentment to be had. 
 
 What if in prison I must dwell, 
 
 May I not there converse with Thee? 
 Save me from sin, Thy wrath, and hell. 
 
 Call me Thy child, and I am free. 
 
 No walls or bars can shut Thee out, 
 
 None can confine a holy soul; 
 The streets of heaven it walks about, 
 
 None can its liberty control." 
 
 In his commentary on the New Testament he complained of 
 the persecution to which his Nonconformist brethren had l)een 
 subjected. This was regarded as sedition, an information was 
 
SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 219 
 
 filed against him, and he was summoned to appear for trial. Mr. 
 Baxter went to Westminster to ask for time to prepare his de- 
 fence. As he passed the Palace Yard he saw the infamous Titus 
 Oates in the pillory, with an angry crowd around him, who were 
 intent upon tormenting and adding to his punishment. Mr. 
 Baxter passed into the office of the Lord Chief Justice of Eng- 
 land, and, through his legal representative, solicited time to 
 prepare for trial. "Not a minute, to save his life," roared the 
 infamous Jefireys ; "lean deal with saints as well as sinners," 
 and pointing through the window he said: " There stands Oates 
 on one side of the pillory, and if Baxter stood on the other, the 
 two greatest rogues in the Kingdom would stand together." 
 
 The trial took place at Guildhall, and, like everything else 
 that Jefii-eys did, the scene, as portrayed by Macaulay, is a foul 
 blot upon the records of the English bar. The Judge opened the 
 proceedings by calling Mr. Baxter "an old rogue," "a schis- 
 matical knave," and a "hypocritical old villain." Then his 
 lordship turned up his eyes, clasped his hands, and began to 
 sing through his nose, in imitation of what he supposed to be 
 Baxter's style of praying, " Lord, we are Thy people. Thy pecu- 
 liar people. Thy dear people." Mr. PoUexfen reminded the 
 court that his late Majesty had thought Mr. Baxter deserving of a 
 bishopric. " What ailed the old blockhead then that he didn't 
 take it ?" was the reply. He then called Mr. Baxter a dog, and 
 swore that it would be no more than justice to whip such a villain 
 through the whole city. Some of Mr. Baxter's friends burst into 
 tears on hearing their beloved old pastor so abused. ' ' Who are 
 those sniveling calves ?" said the judge. The prisoner was found 
 guilty, and Jeffreys wanted to sentence him to be whipped through 
 the city at a cart's tail, but he was overruled by three other 
 judges, and imprisonment and fine was the doom of the prisoner 
 who was then in his seventieth year. He was detained in jail for 
 a term of eighteen months. But the spirit of the illustrious 
 author of "The Saint's Everlasting Rest" is seen in his hymn 
 found in most modern hymnals: 
 
 " 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." 
 
 When the old saint lay peacefully dying a friend said : ' ' How 
 
220 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 do you do?*' A smile lit up bis face as he replied, " Almost 
 well.'' It was almost his last word, the final utterance being: 
 " The Lord teach you how to die.'" 
 
 Anne Steele, another night singer, contributed some of our 
 most precious hymns. She was the daughter of an English 
 Baptist minister, and early in life was converted and united with 
 her father's church, in the beautiful village of Broughton, in 
 Hampshire, England. During her childhood she received such 
 injuries from an accident as crippled her for the rest of her days. 
 The one great trial of her life was exceedingly seveje. She was 
 engaged to a IVIr. Elscourt, a young gentleman of great promise, 
 and to whom she was ardently attached. The time of the wedding 
 was fixed and her prospects seemed exceedingly bright. As the 
 clay approached she was busily preparing for the joyous event, 
 and was daily receiving the congratulations of her friends. The 
 day before the great day, Mr. Elscourt spent the morning with 
 her, talking and fondly dreaming of coming bliss. In the even- 
 ing he went to bathe — probably in the Test river — was seized 
 with cramp and was drowned. That awful night the orange 
 blossoms were blasted, the flowers of Anne Steele's hopes all 
 faded, and the trial prepared her to be a night singer. Poor 
 crushed Anne went to her room and entreated her friends to leave 
 her alone with God, It is said that in a few weeks her hair 
 turned gray, and the care-lines Avere stamped deeply upon her 
 young face. But her crushed life was more than ever devoted to 
 her Saviour, whilst. her broken heart was bound up by the hand of 
 infinite tenderness. She had Christ fill the vacant place in her 
 heart and life, and her prayer found utterance in her verse — 
 
 "Jesus, my Lord! in Thy dear name unite 
 
 All things my heart calls great, or good, or sweet; 
 Divinest springs of wonder and delight 
 In Thee— Thou fairest of ten thousand — meet." 
 
 No other lady has written so many hymns which have been 
 so generally acceptable to the church. For many years she was a 
 great sufiercr in consequence of the accident to which we have 
 referred, but she was never impatient, her will was calmly merged 
 into the will of her Lord. She died on November eighteenth, 
 1Y78, in the sixty-first year of her age. She wrote one hundred 
 and seventy-eight psalms and hymns, which her friends requested 
 her to publish in book form, but slie would only do so upon the 
 
SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 221 
 
 condition that any profit accruing from the sale of the book should 
 be devoted to benevolent objects. 
 
 Surely the Rev. Simon Browne's hymns Avere songs in the 
 night. His life was a wearisome, black, terrible night. It is said 
 that his trouble originated in an unfortunate incident that befell him 
 in his early manhood. In company with a friend he was walking 
 in the country at night, when a man stepped from the hedge, and, 
 pointing a pistol at Mr. Browne, demanded his money. Browne, 
 who was a strong, muscular man, felt annoyed, and knocked the 
 fellow down, when his companion ran for assistance. But the heavy 
 blow had done its work — the man was dead. Mr. Browne was 
 alarmed and did all that could be done to restore him, but it was* 
 too late. The body was afterwards recognized as that of a well- 
 known burglar. But from that day poor Browne's peace of mine 
 was gone. Soon afterwards his child died, and he declared that 
 God had taken the child because he was too merciful to entrust 
 the little one to the care of a father who had taken human life. 
 
 He was a gifted, brilliant, consecrated man. When Matthew 
 Henry died, Mr. Browne was asked to continue the commenta- 
 tor's work by writing an exposition upon the first book of the. 
 Corinthians. This he did with great acceptance. His marvelous 
 ability was everywhere recognized. But there was no help for 
 him. His delusion was that God had deprived him of all mind, 
 and that, whilst to others he appeared rational, he really had 
 utterly lost consciousness, and that his thinking powers were 
 gone. It was a pitiable condition. He resigned the pastorate of 
 the Old Jewry Independent Church in London, Avhere he had 
 long been a useful and devoted minister. There, too, he had 
 been a near neighbor of Dr. Watts, who was his intimate friend, 
 and whom he dearly loved. But he declared he had no soul, and 
 must therefore withdraw from the ministry. He did so, and 
 devoted himself to literary work, in which he was eminently suc- 
 cessful. Toplady said that "instead of having no soul, he wrote, 
 and reasoned, and prayed, as if he had two. " He composed two 
 hundred and sixty-six hymns, some of which are found in all the 
 books. One of his best known is — 
 
 " Come, gracious Spirit, heavenly Dove, 
 With light and comfort from above; 
 Be Thou our guardian, Thou our guide; 
 O'er every thought and step preside." 
 
222 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 This delusion held possession of him to the last moment of his 
 life. We can but think what a surprise heaven must have been 
 to him. 
 
 Charlotte Elliott, the author of — 
 
 " Just as I am, without one plea," 
 
 wrote her songs and sang them in the night. All her life long 
 she was a sufferer, often shut in her room for months together. 
 Young Eastburn, who wrote— 
 
 "O holy, holy, holy Lord," 
 
 wrote in the night of suffering. Consumption had fastened its 
 fangs into his life. Born in London, the family emigrated to 
 America. Mr. Eastburn was ordained to the ministry in the 
 State of Virginia in 1818. He had just entered upon his work, 
 having labored but eight months, when hemorrhage of the lungs 
 drove him from the field. Four days after embarking for Santa 
 Cruz he died, and his body was entrusted to the deep. Mrs. 
 Crewdson, who was a life-long invalid, and who wrote her hymns 
 between her oft-recurring paroxysms of pain, was a singer of the 
 night. Time would fail us to tell of half of those whose songs of 
 the night have been so helpful in stimulating others to like 
 precious faith. 
 
CHAPTER XXm. 
 
 SONGS ON THE BORDER LAND. 
 
 The border-land IsBeulah Land, 
 To souls who love and understand 
 
 The richness of God's matchless grace, 
 Death's valley cannot those aifright 
 Who walk encircled with the light 
 
 Of their Redeemer's glorious face. 
 
 That light illumes dark Jordan's river. 
 And makes its waters flash and quiver 
 
 In ripples, as it rolls along; 
 Its shallow depths, its silvery tide, 
 Reflect the glorious farther side. 
 
 Inspiring passing souls to song. 
 
 "Thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy Land Beulah: for 
 the Lord delighteth in thee," is the gracious promise which the 
 evangelical seer was instructed to make known unto the church. 
 This blessed condition of intimate communion with God is one of 
 the most delightful privileges of the Christian lifc. It is not pecu- 
 liar to any one particular period, but may be enjoyed alike by the 
 young convert or the old Christian, by the new recruit or the battle- 
 scarred veteran. In "Pilgrim's Progress" John Bunyan has lo- 
 cated Beulah Land upon the banks of the river and within sight 
 of the pearly gates of the heavenly city. There many Christians 
 have found it, and have spent precious seasons of hallowed enjoy- 
 ment within it, before they waded through the tur1)id stream of 
 death. Bunyan's description of the place is exceedingly beauti- 
 ful. The sun shc»ne night and day, the air was SAVcetly fragrant, 
 the birds sang continually, the flowers bloomed perpetually. Their 
 supplies were abundant, the country was beautiful, their pros- 
 pects were enchanting, and their enjoyment was well-nigh com- 
 plete. The glorious city whither they were bound was in full 
 view, the shining forms of its gloriticd inhabitants were often 
 
 (223) 
 
224 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 seen, and the voice of song from out of the city was often heard. 
 
 The precious stones of which the city walls were built, the pearls 
 
 of which its gates were made, the gold with which the streets 
 
 were paved, were all so extremely glorious that they could not 
 
 with open face behold it, but looked through an instrument made 
 
 for that purpose. No wonder that they grew sick with desire! 
 
 They were in a land of gardens, and orchards, and vineyards; and 
 
 wandered through the king's walks, and rested in the arbors 
 
 where he delighted to be. 
 
 " O Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land, 
 As on thy highest mount I stand, 
 I look away across the sea. 
 Where mansions are prepared fo me, 
 And view the shining glory shore, 
 My heav'n, my home for ever more." 
 
 During his last sickness the Rev. Edward Payson wrote a 
 letter to his sister, in which he said: "AYere I to adopt the fig- 
 urative language of Bunyan, I might date this letter from the 
 Land Beulah, of which I have been for some weeks a happy inhab- 
 itant. The Celestial City is .full in my view. Its glories have 
 been upon me, its breezes fan me, its odors are wafted to me, its 
 sounds strike mine ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart. 
 Nothing separates me from it but the River of Death, which now 
 appears but as an insignificant rill that may be crossed at a single 
 step whenever God shall give permission. The Sun of Righteous- 
 ness has been gi'adually drawing nearer and nearer, appearing 
 larger and brighter as he approached; and now he fills the whole 
 hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory in which I seem to 
 float like an insect in the beams of the sun, exulting, yet almost 
 trembling while I gaze on this excessive brightness, and wonder- 
 ing with unutterable wonder why God should deio-n thus to shine 
 upon a sinful worm." 
 
 Many of God's saints have found Beulah Land in the same lo- 
 cation, where they have calmly waited the order to cross the river, 
 and then died with all the tranquillity and pcacefulness of a God- 
 given faith. It is a blessed privilege to be able to testify of God's 
 supporting grace in a dying hour. And yet we should be suf- 
 ficiently judicious not to regard these death-bed experiences as 
 being of themselves a satisfactory criterion of Christian character 
 and work. Some of the noblest Christian men and women have 
 died without giving such testimony. Whitfield once said to a 
 
SONGS ON THE BORDER LAND. 225 
 
 friend: '^I have given so many testimonies for God during my 
 life that He will not require any of me when I die. 1 therefore 
 expect to die silent." And so it was. He died a painful death, 
 but the only word he spoke was, "I'm dying!" A great deal 
 depends upon the nature of the disease and the temperament of 
 the individual. Yet when God's dying servants are enabled to 
 praise Him with the little remnant of their strength, we can but 
 ofl'er the prayer for ourselves: "Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his." That Avas our prayer 
 Avhcn our beloved old pastor, Benjamin Parsons of Ebley, died. 
 "Are you lying comfortably? Allow me to shake up your pil- 
 low and soften it a little," said an attendant. "I am comfort- 
 able," said the dying man; "I have three soft pillows under my 
 head." "Two — there are two," said the attendant. "Three," 
 said Mr. Parsons with a smile, "three: Divine power. Divine 
 w^isdom, and Divine love." Blessed pillows are these upon which 
 to die! We shall never forget the testimony of a young Chris- 
 tian lady, who was a personal friend of ours. After a few days' 
 sickness the end was near. The physicians had abandoned all 
 hope, and her husband was heart-broken. Never were two young 
 people more tenderly attached to each other. He bent over the 
 bed, and, looking her in the face, said: "Don't you wish you 
 could get well and remain with me ?" There was a sort of a far- 
 off look in her eyes, as she said: "No, I don't desire anything; 
 I am so mixed up with Christ that I do not wish to live any 
 longer." Only a year ago a young gentleman died in Chicago, 
 while his darling young wife was lying sick at the home of her 
 parents, more than a hundred miles away. They had not seen 
 each other for a year, because the condition of his lungs made it 
 necessary for him to remain in another climate. The time came 
 when he started for home, expecting to meet her whom he so 
 much loved, but a sudden attack prevented him getting farther 
 than Chicago. When he realized that he had to die, he said: 
 "Tell my darling wife that there is not a cloud between me and 
 Jesus." 
 
 " What! are you m tears again, my dear Doctor?" said Lady 
 Huntingdon, as she entered Dr. Doddridge's room, and found 
 him looking over his bible with streaming eyes. "Yes, madam," 
 he said, "but they are tears of joy. I am willing to entrust 
 Northampton, and the churches, and my friends, into the hands 
 
226 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 of God; and as for myself, why, 'tis no farther to heaven from 
 Lisbon than it would be from my own home." The Doctor was 
 far gone in consumption, and his physicians had said there was 
 no hope unless he would go to the south of Europe; Lisbon they 
 recommended. Good Lady Huntingdon's check-book was ready 
 for any amount that might be needed. "Of course you will go," 
 she said; " I have some money which belongs to the Lord, and I 
 know he would like to have you spend it in that manner." The 
 noble woman placed two thousand dollars in his hands, and Mr. 
 and Mrs. Doddridge sailed from Falmouth for Lisbon. But the 
 Doctor did not expect to get well. He said: " I sufier so much 
 from weakness; and yet, this suffering is a blessing, because it 
 enables me to know God as my portion and everlasting strength." 
 As the vessel glided out to sea, the good Doctor sat in the deck 
 cabin, in an easy chair, during the whole morning. At noon he 
 said to his wife: "I cannot express to you what a morning I have 
 had. Such transporting views of the heavenly world, as my 
 heavenly Father is now indulging me with, no words can express." 
 Two weeks after landing at Lisbon he ended his life-voyage and 
 glided into the quiet harbor of everlasting tranquillity. Thus he 
 entered into the enjoyment of the blessedness contemplated in his 
 
 hymn : 
 
 "But O, when that last conflict's o'er. 
 And I am chained to flesh no more; 
 With what glad accents shall I rise 
 To join the anthems of the skies. 
 
 Soon shall I learn the exalted strains 
 Which echo o'er the heavenly plains; 
 And emulate, with joy unknown, 
 The glowing seraphs round Thy throne." 
 
 Another victim of consumption, Augustus Toplady, was cut 
 down in the very zenith of his power and usefulness in his thirty- 
 eighth year. We have repeated the story of his conversion in the 
 barn in Ireland. He became a minister of the English Episcopal 
 church, and was pastor of a small congrega;ion in Devonshire; 
 but the moist cold chmate developed consumption, and he was 
 compelled to resign the living. He visited London and formed 
 an acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon, who invited him to 
 preach in the Tabernacle, and he was soon regarded as one of the 
 most popular and attractive of metropolitan preachers. People ac- 
 customed themselves to speak of him as " the seraphic Toplady," 
 
SONGS ON THE BORDER LAND. 22T 
 
 for, as he preached, his face would glow with holy enthusiasm 
 until it wore an heavenly expression. Great multitudes were 
 saved through his instrumentality. But his work was of brief 
 duration. His health gave way and he realized that his time was 
 short. But that fact did not cause him any unhappiness ; on the 
 contrary, the time of his sickness was a period of triumphant and 
 overwhelming joy. His soul was so filled with the love of Christ 
 that the very atmosphere around him seemed heavenly. He de- 
 clared himself to be "the happiest man in the world." "My 
 sickness," he said, " is no affliction, pain is no curse, death is no 
 dissolution. I enjoy a heaven in my soul, and God's consolations 
 are so great that there is nothing I can pray for, unless it be for a 
 continuance of them. " When near his death the physician told 
 him that his heart beat weaker and weaker. ' ' Why, that is a good 
 sign," he said; " the end is near; and if my heart weakens toward 
 this world, it grows stronger and stronger for glory. I know I 
 cannot last much longer, for no mortal man can abide long in this 
 world after realizing the glories which God has manifested to my 
 soul." During his sickness he composed that sweet hymn — 
 
 " When languor and disease invade 
 This trembling house of clay, 
 'Tis sweet to look beyond my cage 
 And long to fly away. 
 
 Sweet on His promises to rest. 
 
 And trust His firm decrees; 
 Sweet to lie passive in His hands 
 
 And know no will but His. 
 
 Sweet to rejoice in lively hope, 
 
 That, when my change shall come. 
 Angels shall hover round my bed. 
 
 And waft my spirit home. 
 
 If such the sweetness of the stream. 
 
 What must the fountain be? 
 Where saints and angels draw their bliss 
 
 Immediately from Thee." 
 
 There is a very useful hymn written by Michael Bruce, a 
 young Scotchman, which is found in our best hymnals: 
 
 " Where high the heavenly temple stands. 
 The house of God, not made with hands, 
 A great High Priest our nature wears, 
 The guardian of mankind appears." 
 
 Mr. Bruce was born at Kinneswood, in Scotland, in the year 
 
228 THE rSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 1746. His father was a weaver, out he must have lieen more 
 inteUigent than the majority of his chiss, for when his 1)0}^ was 
 fifteen years old, a small legacy left by a dead friend was used 
 for sending him to college. He did not, however, complete his 
 course, for in his seventeenth year he was engaged in teaching 
 school. At Edinburgh University he made the acquaintance of 
 John Logan, who was afterwards ordained to the ministry of the 
 Church of Scotland. Young Bruce was endowed with the gift of 
 poetical genius, and wrote several poems of so much merit as to 
 justify his friends in predicting a brilliant future for the young 
 poet. But alas! consumption had marked him for the grave! 
 He seemed to realize his fate, and closed his " Elegy to Spring" 
 with the stanza — 
 
 "There let me sleep, forgotten in the clay, 
 
 When death shall shut these weary aching eyes; 
 Rest in the hopes of an eternal day, 
 Till the long night is gone and the last morn arise." 
 
 On the morning of July fifth, 1767, they found him dead 
 and cold; the bed-clothes had not been disturbed. Under his 
 pillow was his well-used Bible, marked under the words, "Weep 
 ye not for the dead." He was but twenty-one years and three 
 months old. After his death, Logan — we hate to say the Rev. 
 John Logan — took possession of his hymns and poems, which he 
 afterwards sent out to the world over his own name. This in- 
 justice to the memory of Mr. Bruce was not discovered until a 
 comparatively recent date. Poor young Bruce! His early death 
 seems so calamitous. 
 
 Just so sad was the death of Henry Kirke White, of England, 
 whose early genius blossomed out like a beautiful flower, only to be 
 blasted by an untimely death. His parents were Christian people, 
 and his mother, recognizing his extraordinary ability, gave him all 
 the kindly assistance possible. All England was stirred by his gen- 
 ius. His hymns are found in all our hymnals. But it was the old 
 old story of weak lungs. Henry Kirke White died in the twenty- 
 first year of his age, but he had won the reputation of being a 
 great poet, a talented hymn-writer, and a sincere Christian. The 
 poet Byron referred to his death in the following lines: 
 
 " Pale o'er his lamp, and in his cell retired, 
 The martyr student faded and expired. 
 O, what a noble heart was here undone, 
 When science self-destroyed her favorite son." 
 
SONGS ON THE BORDER LAND. 229 
 
 Some of Ottiwell Heginbotham's hymns are songs of the 
 border land. He was converted in childhood and identified him- 
 self with the Wesley s. He studied at an academy at Daventry, 
 and in his nineteenth year was invited to preach as a candidate at 
 Sudbury, in the eastern part of England. The church, unfortu- 
 nately, quarreled about his settlement; a majority insisted upon 
 calling him to the pastorate, whilst a minority withdrew their 
 membership and organized themselves into another church and 
 erected a new building. These troubles so agitated the young 
 minister that his health gave way, and before his twenty-fourth 
 year he fell a victim to consumption. He did not murmiu', but 
 cheerfully resigned his life to the hands of Him W'ho gave it. His 
 experience had been of a painful nature, and he anticipated his 
 approaching end w^ith serenity and satisfaction. During his sick- 
 ness he wrote the larger number of the twenty -five hymns which 
 so clearly expressed his happy experience. He enjoyed so much 
 of the Divine presence, and had such unshaken confidence in the 
 salvation of Jesus Christ, that those weeks of languishing was a 
 period of intense enjoyment. Christ was his all in all, and he 
 delighted in the thought of so soon meeting his beloved Lord and 
 enjoying his presence for ever. The following hymn was written 
 in the immediate prospect of death: 
 
 "Blest Jesus! when my soaring thoughts 
 O'er all Thy graces rove, 
 How is my soul in transport lost, — 
 In wonder, joy, and love! 
 
 Not softest strains can charm mine ears 
 
 Like Thy beloved name; 
 Nor aught beneath the skies inspire 
 
 My heart with equal flame." 
 
 Our favorite and much-loved hymn — 
 
 "Abide with me! fast falls the eventide. 
 The darkness deepens — Lord, with me abide," 
 
 is most assuredly one of the songs of the border land. The life 
 
 and work of its gifted and consecrated author, Henry Francis 
 
 Lyte, is exceedingly interesting, and, if studied in a proper 
 
 spirit, cannot fail of being jirofitable. He was the child of English 
 
 parents, his father being an officer of a British regiment, which, 
 
 at the time when our poet was born, was stationed at Kelso, in 
 
 Scotland. His Scottish l)irth did not therefore make him any the 
 
 less an Englishman. During his infancy his father died and left 
 
 m 
 
230 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 him wholly to his mother's care. Mrs. Lyte was a consecrated 
 Christian lady, who, in the time of her sorrow, apphed to an ever- 
 gracious God for sustaining grace. She was left in straightened 
 circumstances, but she did her best, and sought to bring up her 
 boy in the fear of God. But during his childhood she too was 
 called home to the Great Father's house; and Henry was left an 
 orphan, with but scanty means to provide for his needs. When 
 he was nine years of age he was sent to a school in Ireland, where 
 he acquitted himself so creditably that he was soon admitted to 
 Trinity college, Dublin, where a scholarship was obtained, and, 
 by the aid of friends, he was enabled to pursue his studies without 
 serious embarrassment. For three successive years he won the 
 college prize for the best poetical composition. In his twenty- 
 second year he was admitted to holy orders in the ministry of the 
 Episcopal church. It is unnecessary for us to refer to his many 
 changes of pastoral relations. He had done as thousands of young 
 Englishmen do — and for which the church is herself responsible — 
 he had gone into her ministry simply as a respectable profession. 
 He was a respectable man, and the incumbent and office suited 
 each other. He meant to do what he thought was right, and en- 
 deavored to teach the people of his charge to be good, moral, 
 respectable men and women. After he had been for some few 
 years in the ministry an incident occurred that unsettled and dis- 
 quieted his mind. A brother clergyman in an adjoining parish, 
 who was taken very sick, and lay upon the point of death, sent 
 for Mr. Lyte and told him that he was not prepared to die, and 
 earnestly entreated to be shown what he should do to be saved. 
 Poor Lyte was confounded. He had never seriously thought of 
 being saved, or of a religion to help him to die, and he candidly 
 acknowledged the truth to his sick friend. Under such serious 
 circumstances both of them were alarmed. It was a matter that 
 would not admit of delay, and Mr. Lyte knelt by the side of the 
 bed and prayed as he had never prayed before. They daily read 
 the New Testament and pondered and prayed over its teaching,, 
 searching for its meaning as men would search for hidden treasure, 
 and in a short time they were enabled to understand what Paul 
 meant when he said: " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
 shalt be saved." Soon after the light came, his friend died — saved 
 as by fire — and Mr. Lyte realized that he had found the true 
 princiDle of conduct, the true motive of service, the true source 
 
SONGS ON THE BORDER LAND. 231 
 
 of satisiaction and enjoyment. From that time life and work 
 were altogether different from what he had previously supposed; 
 his ministerial work was no longer drudgery, his preaching was 
 full of holy fervor, and became a power for good in the parish. 
 Soon afterwards he was appointed to the curacy of lower Brix- 
 ham, and there, in consecrated service, he spent the remaining 
 twenty years of his life. His congregation consisted of rough, 
 rude, unlettered, but warm-hearted fishermen; and to these he 
 became as a father and a friend. He was known and loved 
 through all the country-side, and his influence for good was most 
 marked. It was his privilege to occasionally meet Miss Elliott, 
 the author of "Just as I am, without one plea," who resided but 
 a few miles distant, on the other side of Torbay. But the cold 
 moist atmosphere of Devonshire undermined his health; his lungs 
 began to trouble him, and he spent the winter of 1846 in Italy. 
 In the summer of 1847 he could only preach occasionally. On 
 Sunday, September the fourth, he preached to his beloved fisher- 
 folk, as he loved to call them, for the last time. After the 
 sermon he administered the communion, when, in tender, touch- 
 ing words, he bade them good-bye, because on the morrow he was 
 to leave them for the winter. But he understood his condition. 
 In a letter written in the previous week he said: " The swallows 
 are preparing for flight, and seem to invite me to join them, but, 
 alas, I cannot fly; indeed I find it difficult to crawl, and often ask 
 myself whether I will be able to leave England at all." That 
 Sabbath he is said to have lingered around his beloved village 
 church as if he disliked to leave the place. In the afternoon he 
 spent a little time in his study, and in the evening he gave the 
 first copy of his immortal hymn, "Abide with me," to a relative. 
 He realized how fast tho shadows were gathering around his life. 
 The next day he started to visit some friends for a day or two 
 previous to starting for Italy. But he never reached Rome, he 
 could get no farther than Nice, where, on the twentieth of No- 
 vember, he departed to be with Christ. As he lay dying he 
 pointed upward with his finger and said: "Peace, joy!" His 
 work was done, his reward was sure. His one desire had been to 
 be useful. During his sickness he wrote: 
 
 "Might my poor lyre but give 
 
 Some simple strain, some spirit-moving lay, 
 Some sparklet of the soul that still might live 
 When I was passed to clay. 
 
232 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 O Thou, whose touch can lend 
 Life to the dead, Thy ciuickening grace supply, 
 
 And grant me, swan-like, my last breath to spend 
 In songs that cannot die." 
 
 Six years ago a new church was dedicated at Brixham for 
 the use of the fisher-folk, and it is known as the Lyte Memorial 
 church. 
 
 Dr. Ray Palmer Avrote some precious hymns that are dear to 
 all Christian hearts. We dare risk the assertion that in their ten- 
 der spirit of reverential worship, the beauty of their poetical con- 
 ceptions, the choiceness of their diction, and the gracefulness of 
 their expression, they are unsurpassed by any similar composi- 
 tions in the language. We all love his sweet hymn — 
 
 " My faith looks up to Thee, 
 Thou Lamb of Calvary, 
 Saviour divine!" 
 
 It was one of Mr. Palmer's earliest efforts, but he never wrote 
 anything better. It was written on a piece of paper, and for two 
 years the author carried it ni his pocket-book. One day Dr. Ma- 
 son told him of a new book he intended to publish, and asked 
 Mr. Palmer whether he had any hymns he would contribute to it. 
 The pocket-book was at once opened and the hymn handed to the 
 Doctor. A few days afterwards the two men met on the street, 
 when the Doctor said: " Mr. Palmer^ you may live many years 
 and do many good things, but I think you will be better known 
 in future years by this hymn than by anything else you may ac- 
 complish." 
 
 When thirteen years old young Palmer was working as clerk 
 in a dry-goods store in Boston, and was compelled to earn his 
 daily bread by hard toil. In his youth he was converted, and 
 joined the Park Street Congregational Church. It was soon 
 apparent to Dr. Dwight, the pastor, that God intended Mr. Palmer 
 for the ministry. The Avay was opened for him to get an educa- 
 tion, and thenceforward his life was consecrated to the service of 
 his Lord. 
 
 How often our souls have been borne heavenward by the 
 
 singing of that glorious hymn — 
 
 " Jesus, these eyes have never seen 
 That radiant form of Thine! 
 The veil of sense hangs dark between 
 Thy blessed face and mine." 
 
SONGS ON THE BORDER LAND. 233 
 
 A few years ago we should not have regarded the precious hymn 
 as a song of the border land. But Dr. Palmer's latest experiences 
 were exceedingly touching and impressive. He was suddenly 
 stricken down by disease, and Mas for the most part unconscious. 
 He could not converse with his family at any time. On Sab- 
 bath morning his lips moved, and his listening attendants heard 
 in a faint whisper, this verse from Dr. Watts: 
 
 " Then let my soul march boldly on. 
 Press forward to the heavenly gate; 
 There peace and joy eternal reign, 
 And glittering robes for conquerors wait." 
 
 That was all they heard from his lips on that day. The next 
 morning he in a similar manner uttered his last words upon earth. 
 The lips again moved, and they listened, and knew that he was 
 repeating the last verse of the hymn to which we have referred — 
 his owai immortal hymn: 
 
 " When death these mortal eyes shall seal 
 And still this throbbing heart, 
 The rending veil shall Thee reveal 
 All glorious as Thou art." 
 
 It is said that when Mrs. Susannah Wesley died, her chil- 
 dren, among w^hom were John and Charles, were present. Her 
 death was a triumphant one. "Children," she said, "as soon as 
 I am released, I wish you to sing a song of praise," and as soon 
 as the last breath was drawn they sang — 
 
 " Hosanna to Jesus on high! 
 
 Another has entered her rest: 
 Another has 'scaped to the sky 
 And lodged in Immanuel's breast." 
 
 On the morning of John Wesley's death he used up his last 
 remnant of strength in singing — 
 
 " I'll praise my maker while I've breath. 
 And when my voice is lost in death 
 
 Praise shall employ my nobler powers; 
 My days of praise shall ne'er be past 
 While life, and thought, and being last, 
 
 Or Immortality endures." 
 
 The dying moments of Thomas Guthrie were exceedingly 
 touching and characteristic of his whole life. "Sing something," 
 
234 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHUKCH. 
 
 he said. "What shall Ave sing ?" they asked. " O," he said, " gie 
 me a bairn's hymn. Sing — 
 
 " Jesus, tender shepherd, hear me, 
 Bless Thy little lamb to-night." 
 
 Thomas Guthrie was a great, glorious, Christ-like child. It was 
 a characteristic finish to a life that was sublime in its simplicity. 
 May God aid us to live so that when we reach the border land we 
 may realize it to be a region of thankful, peaceful, triumphant 
 song. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 HOW TO USE THE HYMN-BOOK. 
 
 " Sion, to thy Saviour singing, 
 To thy Prince and Shepherd bringing 
 
 Sweetest hymns of love and praise; 
 Yet thou shalt not reach the measure 
 Of his worth, by all the treasure 
 
 Of thy most ecstatic lays." 
 
 "My dear flock," said the sainted Robert McCheyne, "I am 
 deeply persuaded that there will be no full, soul-tilling, heart-rav- 
 ishing, heart-satisfying out-pouring of the spirit of God, till there 
 be more praise and thanking the Lord. Learn, dearly beloved, 
 to praise God heartily, to sing with all your heart and soul in the 
 family and in the congregation; then am I persuaded that God 
 will give his Holy Spirit to fill this house, to fill every heart in 
 the spiritual temple." There are ten thousaad ministers in Amer- 
 ica to-day who have a similar desire for their own churches. At 
 the dedication of the Temple it was, when ' ' they lifted up their 
 voices and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good, for his mercy 
 endureth forever, that the cloud came down, and the glory of the 
 Lord filled the house. " So was it in the New Testament church. 
 After the ascension ' ' they were continually in the Temple prais- 
 ing and blessing God." "And when the day of Pentecost was 
 fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." "And 
 there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat 
 upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. " 
 The repetitions of Scripture are, of course, intended to emphasize 
 the truth they teach, and upon no point is the Bible more em- 
 phatic than upon the fact that God loves to have his people praise 
 him. It much more frequently enjoins the offering of praise than 
 the duty of prayer. Upon almost every page we are urged to 
 the privilege of praise, and frequently in terms at once enthusias- 
 
 * (235) 
 
236 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 tic and inspiring. What a sublime theme for study is opened out 
 to the mind in the following passage: '' Sing praises to God, sing 
 praises; sing praises unto our King, sing praises; for God is the 
 King of all the earth, sing ye praises with understanding. Let 
 *' the people praise thee God; let all the people praise thee." God 
 asrain and ao;ain declares that his design in savino^ his church was 
 that they might be "a people for his praise." " He inhabiteth 
 the praises of Israel." The Bible is full of such teaching. 
 
 Thoughtful Christians are greatly concerned about the con- 
 dition of our churches, in relation to the service of praise. We 
 realize that this is the weak point in our puljlic services. Earnest 
 praj'er is ofl'ered in all our churches, and many of them are blessed 
 with good preaching, but, alas, the service of praise goes largely 
 by default. We all believe in singing, but we are slow to make 
 our singing praise. There is a great deal of willful ignorance 
 upon this matter. We are wrong, and what makes the error a 
 thousand times more hideous is the fact that, whilst we recognize 
 the fault, Ave do not seek to remove it. It is not merely our 
 system of singing that is faulty, but the principle that underlies 
 the system is false. We love to sing because it is cheerful and 
 enjoyable; because it enlivens our services and makes them at- 
 tractive; because it pleases the young people and helps to draw a 
 congregation. It is commonly regarded as a sort of ornamental 
 appendage to the more serious engagements of God's house. 
 
 The whole thing is wrong. The singing should be the 
 direct personal oflfering of each worshiper to his Maker. It is 
 the most important part of the service. The church is a place of 
 worship. We go to church to worship God. The singing should 
 be pure worship; it is far more important than the sermon, 
 "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me." It is usually the only 
 part of the services in which the worshiper can orally join, and no 
 other exercise can so speedily quicken the soul to enthusiastic 
 adoring gratitude. God did not institute singing as the most im- 
 portant part of the public service of His house, in order that we 
 may use it to merely interest each other. It is God's own ordin- 
 ance ; the Divinely appointed method by which we may come 
 before the Lord; and to degrade a Divine ordinance to the low 
 level of human expediency is an insult to the Divine Majesty, 
 from the committal of which a tender conscience would shrink in 
 dismay. it 
 
HOW TO USE THE IIYMN-IJOOK. 237 
 
 Wc do not wish to convey the idea that God is not worshiped 
 in our churches by the service of song; but wc cannot be blind to 
 the fact that our people do not regard this service in a manner 
 commensurate with its importance. We love good singing, love 
 it as a fine art. Thomas Carlyle might have known enough of 
 the devil to have been assured that " to fly away with the fine 
 arts " would be inconsistent with Satanic designs. We select 
 those with good voices to do our singing for us, but this mode of 
 worshiping by proxy is painfully absurd. It would be no more 
 unreasonable to select some one to do our praying for us. God 
 would have all the people sing. He does not say, Let all those 
 who have a sweet voice, but " Let all that hath breath praise the 
 Lord," " Let all the people praise Thee, O God, yea let all the 
 people praise Thee: then shall the earth yield her increase, and 
 God, even our own God, shall bless us." 
 
 We are all ready to admit that we are very deficient in this 
 matter. We confess, and sometimes lament the fact. We are 
 ready to do almost anything, unless it be to attempt to get our- 
 selves right in this thing, and that we absolutely refuse to do, 
 because, under present circumstances, it is said to be impracticable 
 to make our churches realize its importance, and see that our 
 present principles and methods are wrong. How frequently 
 we attempt to use the church as a pack-horse, to carry our 
 individual delinquencies. This reformation must begin with our- 
 selves. It is personal between ourselves and God. God has 
 been at infinite pains to give us the testimony of a whole Bible, 
 in order to teach us that nothing which He demands of us is im- 
 practicable. A right thing may be accomplished in the face of 
 great difficulties, because God is upon the side of the right, and 
 " with Him all things are possible." 
 
 The truth is that the responsibility of these things rests upon 
 ourselves, and a matter of so much importance demands serious 
 consideration. Our hymn-book deserves our serious attention, 
 and should be regarded as a sacred book, used for the most sacred 
 purpose. It is a casket filled with the most precious gems. Dr. 
 Ray Palmer's definition of a hymn is very beautiful. He said: 
 "A true hymn must be a vitally poetic expression of quickened 
 religious thought and feeling: of thought, not as set in the forms 
 of logic, but as suffused with sensibility; of feeling calm, sweet, 
 tender, reverential, fervid, and even ecstatic. A true hymn can- 
 
238 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 not be made but must be born. It comes only when a spiritual 
 sensibility has been devoutly touched and vitalized till its pure 
 and warm emotion overflows, and clothes itself in a poetic dress 
 of divine simplicity." Dr. William M. Taylor's definition is 
 fitting and to the point: " A hymn is the religious experience of 
 many, idealized and expressed in verse by the genius of one." 
 To use the definition of Joseph Roux, a hymn is "the exquisite 
 expression of exquisite impressions." What should be our esti- 
 mate of a book which contains many hundreds of such produc- 
 tions, and represents the consecrated talent of all ages and lands 
 and sections of the church ? 
 
 Use it in the church by singing its hymns, and thus make it 
 the medium of your worship. Use it by keeping an extra copy 
 in the pew, that you may be able to extend courtesy to strangers. 
 Sing with all your hearts. Make a joyful noise unto God. Be 
 brave enough to break through the silent impi'opricty of the con- 
 gregation at the time of praise. Praise the Lord amid the assem- 
 bly of his people. When the service is done, carry your hymn- 
 book home with you, unless you can aflbrd to keep copies for 
 both home and church. A well used hymn-book is an invaluable 
 blessing in the family. There ought to be concerts in every home. 
 Nothing will make the home so attractive as singing. "The voice 
 of rejoicing is heard in the tabernacles of the righteous." Home 
 should h& pleasant, and a Christian home has an infinite advan- 
 tage in this respect. The families who sing at home will have no 
 difficulty in singing in the church. Use the hymn-book frequently, 
 that the sweet song-birds of the church mav find an abiding home 
 
 O I/O 
 
 in your memory and fill your whole soul with melody. Use the 
 book in private devotion. If you find it difficult to sing the 
 h^-mns, read them. Ten minutes spent each day in reading the 
 hymn-book would be a season of precious enjoyment which would 
 spread a blessed influence over all the hours and engagements of 
 the day. 
 
 Use all your influence to promote congregational singing in 
 the house of the Lord. Teach the members of the choir that their 
 work is broader and more important than the mere singing of an 
 anthem or a hymn. They are the recognized leaders of the sing- 
 ing of the whole church, and should learn to measure their success 
 or failure, not liy their own, ])ut by the singing of the congrega- 
 tion. Good leadership Avill be made manifest by a large follow- 
 
HOAV TO USE THE HYMN-BOOK. 239 
 
 ing. A good choir will labor to have the congregation sing with 
 them. 
 
 Some of us believe that too much attention is paid to part 
 music. The grandest singing we have ever heard has been when 
 a whole congregation has joined in singing the treble of some 
 simple tune. There is a grandeur and strength in such singing 
 that seems to harmonize with true worship. Whole-souled service 
 demands a very hearty method of expression. A half-hearted 
 service is neither pleasing to God nor helpful to ourselves. What 
 profit can there be in singing — 
 
 " In vain we tune our formal songs, 
 In vain we strive to rise; 
 Hosannas languish on our tongues, 
 And our devotion dies." 
 
 We often talk of congregational singing. But in many 
 of our churches we lack one important element which is essential 
 to success. We dare risk the assertion that we cannot have con- 
 gregational singing unless we have a congregation. It would be 
 absurd to talk of congregational singing in a church less than half 
 full. There is a mighty inspiration in numbers. It is all very 
 well to talk about Christ's promise to the two or three, but no 
 minister can preach at his best, and no singer can sing at his best, 
 and no worshiper can worship at his best, in a half empty church. 
 So, as we consider this matter, we find ourselves upon the horns 
 of a dilemma. We cannot have the singing without the congre- 
 gation, and we cannot have the congregation without the singing. 
 We cannot attain to this at a bound; it must be the outcome of 
 patient, persistent toil; but every Christian ought to be working 
 toward that desirable end. 
 
 The church on earth ought to be a type and pattern of the 
 church in heaven. Its services should be educating us for the 
 holy engagements of the heavenly state. We infer from the 
 teachings of Scripture that there will be a great deal of singing 
 in heaven, and it would surely be wise to accustom ourselves to 
 the exercise whilst in this world. We must keep the thought be- 
 fore our mind that true singing is praise. Singing without praise 
 is "an abomination unto the Lord." It is presumptuously ap- 
 proaching God "with the lip and the tongue while the heart is far 
 from Him." Our churches should be filled with an atmosphere of 
 praise, then piety would flourish and sinners would be converted. 
 
240 THE PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 That we mi^^ht use our little influence in that direction has 
 been the design of these pages. To many Christian people the 
 hymn-book is a thing of but little value or importance, which they 
 discard and almost despise. They have never learned to value it. 
 They have not drunk at its refreshing fountains; thoy have not 
 tasted of its rich delicacies; they have not plucked delicious fruit 
 from its trees, or gathered fragrant flowers from its garden; they 
 have not listened to the ravishing melody of its song-l)irds, or 
 looked over its fair landscapes, which appear as the very Paradise 
 of God. To such Ave have proffered our service as guide. "We 
 have not written for hymnologists. We have only gathered a 
 few specimens of precious ore from this well-nigh inexhaustible 
 mine of hynniology. We pen these closing Avords with regret 
 that our book is so imperfect; its omissions grieve us. The names 
 of many celebrated hymni&ts have not been referred to at all. We 
 dare not write the last line without first mentioning the name of 
 Dr. S. F. Smith, who Avrote: "My country, 'tis of thee;"" Dr. 
 Horatius Bonar, whose holy, useful life, like his precious hymns, 
 is a l^enediction to the world; Dr. Reginald Heber, whose charm- 
 ing missionary hymn begins, "From Greenland's icy mountains," 
 and ends in the millenium; Thomas Kelly and John Keble, and 
 hosts of other illustrious names. In one of our chapters we 
 imagined a meeting of hymn-writers; in this world that cannot be, 
 but we will meet them in heaven. What a wonderful gathering 
 it will be! The majority are there noAv! Charlotte Elliott is 
 there, cured of her distressing sickness; Madame Guyon's face is 
 no longer pitted with small-pox; Samuel Medley's wound is for 
 ever healed up; poor Cowper's mind is for ever clear. We have 
 seen that, before he went to heaven, Thomas Ken wrote: 
 
 '"Twill heighten e'en the joys of heaven to know, 
 That in my verse saints sing God's praise below." 
 
 He knows now that his Doxology is unceasingly being sung in 
 
 almost all the languages of the earth. Henry Francis Lyte prayed 
 
 for grace — 
 
 " his last breath to spend 
 
 In songs that cannot die." 
 
 He knows now that his songs did not die, and souls constantl}^ enter 
 heaven who were saved' through their instrumentality. When Dr. 
 Palmer was on earth he was so modest th:it, if he sat upon the 
 platform at a public meeting, and some speaker called attention 
 
HOW TO USE THE HY.MN-BOOK. 241 
 
 of the caudiencc to him by referring to his hymns, the Doctor 
 would bhish like a school-girl. But he did acknowledge that 
 he had received a large number of letters from those who 
 had been led to Christ through the use of " My faith looks up to 
 Thee." Those letters filled his soul with joy while upon earth, 
 but now he is constantly meeting with new cases of souls saved 
 by his hymns, and these add another heaven to his joy. What a 
 wonderful gathering it will be! What a heaven it will make to 
 be able to looK: over life and recognize when and where God used 
 our efforts for His glory. There have been enough souls saved by 
 means of Charles Wesley's "Jesus, lover of my soul," and 
 Augustus Toplady's "Kock of Ages," to make a little heaven by 
 themselves. They all " see eye to eye " now. Mrs. Adams, who 
 wrote " Nearer, my God, to Thee," no longer doubts the divinity 
 of her Lord. John Damascus has laid aside his monk's cowl, and 
 John Keble can praise God Avithout wearing a surplice. We will 
 meet them in Gloryland. Who knows but we may join in sing- 
 ing some of their precious hymns. We believe many of them are 
 good enough to be sung in heaven. We could stand in the 
 dazzling brightness of the throne and sing, " All hail the power of 
 Jesus' name." Samuel Medley's "O could I speak the match- 
 less worth," to the time Ariel, is good enough for even heaven. 
 We will be all sweet singers there. The heavenly life will move 
 to music. It will be congregational singing in the upper temple. 
 There will not be one silent tongue or one cold heart. Songs of 
 triumph! Songs of reunion! But before all, and above all, songs 
 of praise "to Him who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb for ever and ever." 
 
 " O then what raptured greetings 
 
 On Canaan's happy shore! 
 What knitting severed friendships up, 
 
 Where partings are no more! 
 What rush of hallelujahs 
 
 Fills all the earth and sky! 
 What ringing of a thousand harps 
 
 To prove the triumph nigh! 
 
 THE END. 
 
LIST OF SOME OF THE BOOKS REFERRED TO. 
 
 Abbott's, J. S. C., "History of 
 Christianity." 
 
 Bonar's "Bible Thoughts and 
 Themes." 
 
 "Book and its Story." 
 
 Brace's, Loring, "Gesta Christi." 
 
 Buckle's, H. T., "History of Civili- 
 zation in England." 
 
 Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." 
 
 Butterworth's ' 'Story of the Hymns" 
 
 Cathcart's "Baptist Encyclopedia." 
 
 "Century Magazine." 
 
 "Chambers' Encyclopedia." 
 
 Chambers' "Miscellany." 
 
 Conybeare & Howson's "Life and 
 Epistles of the Apostle Paul." 
 
 Dayckinck s " Treasury of Univer- 
 sal History." 
 
 Duffield's, S. W., "English Hymns." 
 
 "Encyclopedia Britannica," 
 
 Farrer's, Canon, " Early Days of 
 Christianity." 
 
 Farrer's, Canon, "Life of Christ." 
 
 Farrer's, Canon, "Life and Work 
 of Saint Paul." 
 
 Fish's, H. C, "Masterpieces of 
 Pulpit Eloquence." 
 
 Fish's, H. C, "Handbook of Re- 
 vivals." 
 
 Foster's, Elon, "New Cyclopedia 
 of Prose Illustrations." 
 
 Gage's, W. L., " Favorite Hymns in 
 Their Original Form." 
 
 Geikie's, Cunningham, "Life and 
 Words of Christ." 
 
 Geikie's, Cunningham, "Hours with 
 the Bible." 
 
 Gladden's, Washington, "Parish 
 Problems." 
 
 Greene's " History of the English 
 People." 
 
 Growst's " Musical Anecdotes." 
 
 Hamilton's, James, "Lessons from 
 the Great Biography." 
 
 Hatfield's, E. F., "Poets of the 
 Church." 
 
 Hervey's, G. W., " Story of Baptist 
 Missions." 
 
 Hood's, E, P., " Lamps, Pitchers, 
 and Trumpets." 
 
 Hood's, E. P., "Life of Oliver 
 Cromwell." 
 
 Hood's, E. P., "Life of Robert 
 Hall." 
 
 Hood's, E. P., "World of Anec- 
 dote." 
 
 Jackson's, G. A., "The Fathers of 
 the Third Century." 
 
 Knight's, Charles, "History of En- 
 gland." 
 
 Kuebler's, Theo., " Historical Notea 
 to Lyra Germanica." 
 
 "London Cyclopedia." 
 
 Longfellow's Poetical Works. 
 
 Long's, E. M., "Illustrated History 
 of Hymns and their Authors." 
 
 Macaulay's "History of England." 
 
 Miller's, Josiah, "Singers and Songs 
 of the Church." 
 
 Moshiem's Church History. 
 
 Phelps, Parks & Furber's " Hymna 
 and Choirs." 
 
 Presbyterian Review. 
 
 Rawlinson's " Seven Great Mon* 
 archies." 
 
 Rawlinson's "Egypt and Babylon," 
 
 Read's " God in History." 
 
 Reed's, Henry, "British Poets'." 
 
 Rees' Clyclopedia. 
 
 Ritter's " Music in America." 
 
 Robinson's, C. H., "Laudes Domi- 
 ni." 
 
 Ruskin's, J., "Modern Painters." 
 
 Saunders', Frederick, "Evenings 
 with the Sacred Poets." 
 
 Scott's, Walter, " Poetical Works." 
 
 Smiles', S., "Self Help." 
 
 Smiles', S. , "Character." 
 
 Smiles', S., " Duty." 
 
 Sternhold and Hopkins' "Psalms of 
 David." 
 
 Stevenson's "History of Method- 
 ism." 
 
 Winkworth's, Miss C, "Lyra Ger- 
 
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