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From the Library of
Morris F, Tyler IVI. A
1909

THE HYMN LOVER.

BY THE SAME BDITOK.
CHURCH OPINIONS.
Redland Park Clnarcli, Bristol fEev. Urijah R. Thomas, Ex-
Chairman of the Congregational Union). — To me and my people the use
of the book is always and increasingly a means of grace. We like it more
and more."
Upper Holloway Ch.urcll {Rev. James Learmount). — "'Worahip-
Song ' has been in use in my church for nearly four years, and with ever-
increasing satisfaction and helpfulness. It is a continual inspiration to
us aU." "WTiitfield Tabernacle (Rev. James Pugh). — "After an exhaustive
comparison of aeveral hymnals, we unanimously adopted * Worship-Song.' I
regard it as the finest collection of hymns extant."
Sneyd Park, Bristol (Rev. G. H. Brown). — "The more we know of
this hymnal the more we like it. In our opinion it is the best book
published." Octagron Congreg-ational Churchj Manchester (Rev. J. Ross
Murray, M.A.). — "I am more than ever convinced that this is the hymn-book
for a Congregational Church of the present day."
Grreenwicll (Rev. E. H. Higgins). — *'It is a magnificent book."
Acock's Green Clmrch, Birzningrham (Rev. Edgar Todd). —
"The best hymnal I know, and increasing familiarity only satisfies ua more
of its beauty and worth."
Blackpool (Rev. James Wayman).—" The more I grew familiar with it
the more highly I esteemed it. Far in advance of all competitors."
Rectory Road Churcli, London (Rev. C. Fleming Williams).—
"My people are unstinted in their praise of your work."
Glasgrov (Rev. James Bell). — " The best compilation that has ever
come into my hands,"
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. (Dr. Washington Gladden).— "Far and
away the best collection of hymns in the English language."
Liverpool (Rev. C. F. Aked).— "Oux delight in it grows with our
deepening acquaintance."
Southport (Rev. J. F. litch).—'" Worship-Song' is all that could be
desired. Its introduction has added most materially to our enjoyment of
worship." Coventry (Rev. P. Morrison).—" The longer we use it the better we like
it. It is as nearly as possible an ideal collection."
PRESS NOTICES.
Christian "World. — " Mr. Horder is an ideal editor."
Dundee Advertiser.— "The best selection of hymns in the English
language." Bradford Observer.— " There is none within measurable distance of
its excellence."Christian World Pulpit.— "The best collection ever published."
PERSONAL NOTICES.
J. Ashcroft Noble, Author of " The Sonnet in England."— " This
magnificent hymnal."
Dr. Paton —"The most edifying of all hymnals."
W. S. Caine, Esq..— "Far excels anything which has ever been
compiled." Coulson Kernahan.— "If you could see how thumbed and shabby is
my copy you would know what a friend it has been to me, and how often I
have sought its high company."
George Macdonald, LL.D.— "I strongly suspect that this is the
best of the hymn-books."
Chief Justice "Way (South Australia).-" A noble collection : the best
I have seen."
Dr. Joseph Parker.— "I have no hesitation in saying that this col
lection ie by far the best which has come under my notice."
For full Prospectus, with pHce of various Editions, apply to the EDITO'B
The Manse, Ealing^ W., or to '
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, Paternoster Row.

The Hymn Lover

AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND GROWTH OF
ENGLISH HYMNODY.

W. GAEEETT HOEDEE,
Editor of " The Treasiiry of American Sacred Song," &e.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED.

LONDON :
J. CURWEN & SONS, Ltd., 8 & 9 WARWICK LANE, E.O.

LONDON
J. CUEWEN & SONS, Ltd., MUSIC PRINTERS
PLAISTOW, E.

H181

PREFACE.

This boot has been written at the request of the
Publishers, who, in common with myself, discerned
the need for a work which should put within the
reach of the ever increasing number of persons
interested in the subject, an account of the rise and
growth of Hymnody in England. The large number
of enquiries I have received, especially from persons
desiring to illustrate the subject ia Lectures or
Sermons, shows how widespread is the interest in
regard to hymns ; whilst the difficulty I have felt in
naming any one book as likely to meet such need
forced on my own mind the conviction that some
such work as the present was required. "When such
enquiries have reached me I have been compelled to
give the titles of a considerable number of works
which treat of the subject, some of which are' out of
print, and others difficult to obtain save at con
siderable cost.
Moreover, all existing books with which I am
acquainted, either deal with a portion only of the
subject, or if they deal with the whole, do so more
after the manner of works for reference than for
continuous reading. I am not acquainted with a
single book which even attempts to give a connected

VI PREFACE.
view of the whole subject, in such a way as to serve
as an iatroduction to the study of Hymnody.
This is the task, which in these pages I have set before
myself; with what success must be left to the
judgment of my readers. I have, indeed, attempted
to provide such a book as I myself desired, but
failed to discover, when many years ago turned my
attention to the subject, and I am not without hope
that the book thus written will furnish to many an out
line which further reading and research may enable
them to fill in. I have appended a list of the
principal works on the subject for the benefit of those
who may desire to pursue the study stOl further.
Beyond this I have, in accordance, not only with
the wishes of the Publishers, but my own judgment,
treated the subject with such critical faculty as I
possess, in the hope that it may do at least a little
to elevate the public taste in relation to hymns.
Doubtless some will differ from certain of my
estimates ; all I can claim, is that they have been
carefully and honestly formed, and whether sound
or not, they may at least lead to a more careful
consideration of the words sung in worship than
has hitherto been usual.
It is strange that Hymns, which now form so
large a part of public worship, should not have been
made one of the subjects of study included in the
course prescribed for theological students, as is the

PREFACE. VII
Prayer Book in that of Colleges connected with the
Episcopal Church. Such a study would prove both
an interesting and useful addition to the present
course, and would probably be pm'sued with avidity
by a considerable proportion of candidates for the
ministry. Critical readers of these pages may perhaps
discern a want of proportion in the space given to
various writers. This has not been accidental but
of set purpose. Of Hymn -writers concerning
whom much has been previously written, such
as Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley, I have said
comparatively little ; only sufficient to indicate
their special characteristics, and the influence they
exerted. Of others, concerning whom little, if
anything, has been written such as T. PI. Grill, and
T. T. Lynch, I have said more, in the hope that
their writings might thus be made more widely
known. My references to hymns have proceeded on
the principle that where they were well known it
was necessary to quote merely the first line ; where
they were little known to quote more fully — in some
eases, the whole, in others, the finest verses.
Many attempts have been made to give a defini
tion of what a good hymn should be. Definitions
are proverbially difficult, and in the case of hymns
especially so. Lord Selbome in the preface to " The
Book of Praise," says : " A good hymn should have
simplicity, freshness, and reality of feeling ; a

VUl PREFACE.
consistent elevation of tone, and a rhythm easy and
harmonious, but not jingling or trivial. Its language
may be homely, but should not be slovenly or
mean. Affectation or visible artifice is worse than
excess of homeliness : A hymn is easily spoilt by
a single falsetto note. Nor wiQ the most exemplary
soundness of doctrine atone for doggerel, or redeem
from failure a prosaic, didactic style." This is
good, as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough.
It does not discriminate between sacred poetry and
what is properly a hymn. It does not lay sufficient
stress on the poetic element as a vital necessity to a
hymn. Nor does it insist on poetic unity, and the
avoidance of mixed or incongruous imagery as vital
to hymns of the noblest kind ; whilst it says
nothing of the need that hymns should, in some one
part at least; be addressed to the Divine Being. It
seems to me that hymns of the noblest type should be
compositions addressed either in the way of praise,
prayer, confession, or communion to the great Object
of all worship. This is the real point of difference
between Hymns and Sacred Poetry — a hymn is a
piece of sacred poetry, but a piece of sacred poetry
is not of necessity a hymn ; it cannot rightly be
described as such unless at least the last of the
characteristics I have named be found in it.
Exceptions to this may be permitted in Hymnals, in
the case of verses calculated to kindle devotional
feeling ; but they must ever be regarded as exceptions.
Even when they are allowed, there is always, to the

PREFACE. IX
sensitive mind, a kind of incongruity in the singing
of verses addressed by the worshippers to one another,
or to a particular portion of the congregation supposed
to need the exhortations they contain, as in such hymns
as " Stand up, stand up for Jesus," or " Gro labour on,
spend and be spent." StiU worse is it when a con
gregation sings a whole hymn to the preacher as in
" Tell me the old, old story." Such hymns cannot
rightly be prefaced by the old formula which should
be applicable — " Let us sing to the praise and glory
of Grod." I am not prepared to say that such hymns
should be excluded from our collections for public
worship ; on the principle that the object of worship
is to arouse devotional feeling, they may be included,
but they cannot rightly be regarded as hymns, and
their use should be the exception and not the rule.
The cardinal test of a hymn should be that it is in
some one, if not the whole of its parts, addressed to
G^od. The bulk of it may consist of description of
the soul's condition, or of the state it desires to reach,
or of the glory of nature or the tenderness of provi
dence ; but to make it a real hymn it must at least
conclude with words of confession or prayer or
thankfulness addressed to " Him in whom we
live and move and have our being," that to all
going before may be given a Grodward direction.
Of the subject matter of hymns, it may be said
that though the doctrine of the writer may, and
indeed must underlie, it should not be presented in a

PREFACE.

doctrinal, much less a dogmatic form. In this respect
the Psalms are a model, for, in them, the doctrinal
conceptions of the writers are transfigured by the
depth and fervency of their religious feeling. A
hymn is not versified dogma. The dogma may be
there, but it must take on poetic and therefore un-
dogmatic forms. Many a noble hymn is sadly marred
by the introduction in some of its parts of theologic
phrases, such as " Grod in three persons, blessed
Trinity," in Heber's otherwise splendid hymn, "Holy,
Holy, Lord Grod almighty." Not a line analogous to
that can be found in the whole range of the Psalter.
In this line, the good Bishop ceases to be a poet and
becomes a theologian. Doctrine should be spoken
from the pulpit, not sung from the pew. The essence
of poetry is that it pierces to the heart of a subject —
the true poet is a Seer whose eye reaches through the
letter to the spirit. The true hymnist is in his
measure also a seer, and so first discerns and then
reveals in his verse, the hidden verities which lie
underneath the phrases in which doctrine is com
monly expressed. He, of all men should realise
that "the flesh profiteth nothing" but only the inner
spirit of which the flesh is but the outward
expression. Thus the visible and external is trans
figured by that which is unseen and eternal.
It is only another way of stating the same fact to
say that the poetic element must be present to render
rhymed lines a hymn. Ehjone is not poetry, but

PREFACE. Xl
only jingling prose. There must be that unde-
finable element which we call poetic — ^that happiness
and compactness of phrase which catches the ear,
lingers in the memory, and kindles the imagination ;
not in the larger and freer sense in which it is used in
poetry of a secular kind ; but within narrower limits
and of a more sober type, the poetic element must be
present, or the verses remain prose and cannot rightly
be called a Hymn. The hymn belongs to Lyric
rather than Didactic or Epic Poetry, and should
have such aptness and melody of expression that the
words when said, as well as when sung, shall be
musical, shall, as the name ' Lyric ' implies, have the
ring of the harp through them. GKven this and
almost any metre may be allowed. In recent years
congregations have grown accustomed to a vast
variety of metres which have been skilfully utilised
by hymnists in their verse. This has given to
composers a wider musical field in which to work
and has been one great factor in rendering hymns so
popular an element in our modern worship.
Perhaps the limits which are desirable, as to
variety in metre, have now been reached Future
hymn-writers should find quite sufficient scope for
the exercise of their gifts within the very great
variety of metres in which their predecessors have
worked. If it should be extended much farther, the
number of tunes necessary for congregations to
learn in order to sing the hymns included in their

XU PREFACE.
coUeetions, will exceed the capacity of all but select
and exceptionally musical ones, and perhaps of only
a certain number, even in such congregations. It is
not desirable that Psalmody should be thus restricted ;
it should rather be within the capacity of all wor
shippers to bear a part therein.
As a general rule, it is well that each hymn should
be associated with a particular tune — not of necessity
the same one in every congregation, since taste and
capacity greatly differ — ^but this principle should not
be made too rigid, since a congregation tires more
quickly of a tune than a hymn, and a change of
tune will often give a new lease of life to, and keep
in use, a well-loved hymn, of which, if it were
always sung to the same tune, the people would tire.
Those who are responsible for the conduct of
Psalmody in the Church should be as famihar with
the Hymn-book as the Tune-book, so that, where they
possess liberty to set hymns to any tunes they
desire, their selection of tunes may be determined
by the substance and spirit of the hymns, and even
where the fixed-time system is in vogue, they may
render the tune in a style in full sympathy with
the sentiment of each verse of the hymn.
The pleasant duty remains of acknowledging the
valuable aid I have received from Mr W. T. Brooke,
who has read the proof sheets of this volume as they
were passing through the press, and to whose wide

PREFACE. Xlll
knowledge of Hymnody I am indebted, both for
valuable suggestions and correction of the proofs.
I am also indebted to my friend the Rev. Robert
Eioards, who has felt the deepest interest in my task,
and helped me greatly to make my story more
clear to its readers. For information embodied in
the chapter on the Hymns of other religions, I am
indebted to kind communications from Sir Wm.
Muir, Professors Max MuUer and Dr. James Legge,
of Oxford, Professor Owen, 0. Whitehouse, M.A., of
Cheshunt College, the Eev. Gr. 0. Newport, of India,
and the late Mr. Paul Isaac Hershon. I have to
thank my friend, Mr. Arthur Boutwood, for pre
paring the Indices.
Some small portions of this book had previously
made their appearance in the pages of The Sunday
Magazine, The Christian World, and the Theological
Monthly. I am indebted to the proprietors of these
periodicals for permission to include such portions in
this work.
I trust that these pages will lead many to take a
more intelligent interest in the hymns they so often
sing — and serve to introduce hitherto unknown hymns
to their notice, and even do some little to elevate the
public taste which often has not been any too dis
criminating. I shall be abundantly repaid for the
labour expended on this book if it should bear a
part, however small, in enabling any to comply with

PREFACE.

the injunction of the Psalmist, " Sing ye praises
with understanding."

PEEFACE TO NEW EDITION.

In the present edition I have endeavoured to
bring the work up to date, so far as this could
be done without entirely recasting it. I trust that
in its revised form it may continue to help forward
the movement toward a more thoughtful use of
hymns.

CONTENTS.

^^^^- pages
I. — Hymns op Other Religions  1-12
II. — Hymns op the Old Testament  13-25
III. — Hymns of the New Testament  26-33
IV. — Hymns op the Eably Chuuch  34-45
V. — ^MEDi.a:vAL Hymns  46-63
VT. — The Metrical Psalms  64-70
VII. — NEARLY English Hymns  71-84
VIII. — Increase op the Hymnic Faculty  85-95
IX. — The Poundations op English Hymkodi  96-108
X.— The Lyric Fire  109-115
XL— The Age op Echoes  116-122
XII. — As Oasis in the Desert  123-126
XIII. — Didactic Hymnists  127-135
XIV. — Increase op Poetic Elements  136-216
XV.— Recent Hymnists : 1  211-258
XVI.— „ „ II  259-313
XVII. — „ ,, Mjnor Contributors  314-335
XVIIL— German Hymns  336-377
XIX.— French and Other Hymns  378-387
XX. — ^American Hymns  388-430
XXI.— Children's Hymns  431-471
XXII.— Mission Hymns  472-477
XXIII. — Op Hymn Alterations  478-486
"XXIV.  The New Era in Hymnody  487-509
Bibliography  510-511
Indices  513-526

Poetry ! thou sweet'st content
That e'er Heaven to mortals lent!
I do but sing because I muat,
And pipe but as the linnets sing.

George Wither.

Alfred Tenntson.
The first true worship of the world's great King
From private and selected hearts did spring. Henry Vaughan.
The gift, whose office is the Giver's praise,
To trace Him in His word, His works, His ways!
Then spread the rich discovery, and invite
Mankind to share in the divine delight. "William Cowper.
God sent His singers upon earth
"With songs of sadness and of mirth,
That they might touch the hearts of men,
And bring them back to heaven again,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
There are in this loud stunning tide
Of human care and crime,
"With whom the melodies abide
Of the everlasting chime ;
"Who carry music in the heart.
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart,
Plying their lowly task with busier feet
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat. John Keble.
Yet, when I remember the tears I shed at the Psalmody of Thy Church,
in the beginning of my recovered faith ; and how at this time I am moved,
not with the singing, but with the things sung, when they are sung with
a clear voice and modulation moiit suitable,! acknowledge the great use of
this institution. Thus I fluctuate between peril of pleasure and approved
wholesomeness, inclined the rather (though not as pronouncing an irrevoc
able opinion) to approve of the use of singing in the Church ; that so by
the delight of the ears, the weaker minds may rise to the feeling of
devotion. Yet when it befalls me to be more moved with the voice than
the words sung, I confess to have sinned penally, and then had rather not
hear music. — Augustine {*' Confessions"),
"Worship is transcendent wonder— wonder for which there is no limit
or measure ; that is worship. — Thomas Carlyle.
Make the Church full of praise, and it will be full of God. God and His
praise cannot be apart. " O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."
—John Pulsfobd.
A good h^Tun is a more valuable contribution to Christian literature
than vast tomes of theology : for it will sing to the ages after the tomes
are mouldering on the shelves.— E. H. Sears.

THE HYMN LOVER.

CHAPTEE I
HYMFS OF OTHEE, EELIGIONS.
Hymns are to be found in the literature of nearly
every religion, but so far as we are able to judge, save
in tlie Hebrew and Christian, they have rarely been
used as a constant and integral part of worship.
That hymns formed no part of the worship of the
Greeks is clear from the fact that their temples were
not constructed as places of religious assembly or for
public devotion, but as a shelter for the image of the god,
and a habitation for the deity supposed to be attached to
his image. They were generally confined localities, and
half-dark within on account of the absence of all
window-light. Bright light was not required, as, in
fact, no religious observances ordinarily took place in
the temple.* " Greece never had a sacred book, she
never had any symbols, any sacerdotal caste, organised
for the preservation of dogmas. Her poets and her
artists were her true theologians."! Some small
place was assigned to hymns in the worship of Eome.
* DoUinger. " Gentile and Jew," I, 239.
t Renan, " Studies in Keligious History." b

TH:E HYMN LOVER.

" Many prayers and hymns were taken up with the
praise of the gods and salutations to them. Amobius
speaks of morning serenades sung with an accompaniment
of fifes as a kind of reveille to the sleeping gods, and
of an evening salutation in which leave was taken of
the deity, with the wishing him a good night's rest."*
Professor Max MuUer has referred me to his History
of Sanskrit Literature for information on this point,
and the conclusion I draw therefrom is that although
the Hindus had much of poetry both Epic and Hymnic,
yet that the hymns were chiefly used for meditation
or recital. " Women were not allowed to learn the
Sacred songs of the Vedas, the knowledge of which
constituted one of the principal requirements for a
Brahman before he was admitted to the performance
of the sacrifices. As it was necessary, however, for a
husband to perform sacrifices together with his lawful
wife, and as passages of the hymns speak clearly of
man and wife as performing sacrifices in common, it was
laid down in the Siitras that the husband or the priest
should at the sacrificing itself, make his wife recite those
hymns which were necessary for the ceremony."
The Sametri who had to slay the sacrificial animals
learnt the hymns appointed by heart, and were allowed
on account of the difficulty of mastering the euphonic
rules for recitation, to mutter them, so that no one at
a distance could hear or understand them. Some part
of the sacrifice had to be accompanied by songs, and
hence another class of priests arose whose particular
office it was to act as the chorus, which was more than

• DolUnger, " Gentile and Jew," II, 77.

HYMNS OF OTHER RELIGIONS.

a mere ohantiag. A third class called the Hotres
recited certain hymns during the sacrifice in praise
of the deities to whom any particular act of the
sacrificer was addressed. Their recitation was loud and
distinct, and required the most accurate knowledge of
the rules of euphony.
The Eev. G. 0. IS'ewport, who for nearly a quarter
of a century has laboured as a missionary in India, has
been good enough to send me the following note : —
" In Hindu worship, so far as I have seen it in South
India— and I think it is much the same in this respect
throughout the whole country — ^there is no periodic
gathering of the people iato the temples for united
religious service. There is no fixed hour for assembling,
nor is there any regular priestly observance or ceremony
at any stated part of the twenty -four hours. Individuals
who are eligible for admission to any particular teipple,
may go in and prostrate themselves, and repeat their
prayers, &c., whenever they please. United gatherings
at stated hours and seasons for religious service, as in
our Christian worship, are unknovm. There cannot,
therefore, be any congregational siagiag or musical per
formance in the Western sense in these temples. And
yet singing in connection with the worship is not
altogether absent. On anniversary festival days and in
processions there are always songs sung in honour of
the gods. Some of these songs are so obscene in their
nature that even respectable votaries of the Hindu religion
are takiag active steps to put down the public singing of
them. The female attendants on the idol, called Bhasis
in the south, who are, in fact, temple prostitutes, are
all professional singers of these religious songs. The

THE HYMN LOVER.

priests also join in, and the masses of the people too,
according to their knowledge and musical ability. There
must also be certain times when the priests and the
Dhasis practise together these songs within the temple
limits ; and perhaps this may be done as in some way
an act of worship, but not as part of a public service
in which ordinary worshippers participate. I write thus,
because on one occasion when travelling late at night
I heard a sound of singing in a temple, and went to
the very wall within the outer gate without being
discovered. The villagers were asleep, the temple was
almost in darkness, only a dim lamp here and there
fiickering in the gloom ; there was evidently no religious
observance going on, and yet there was the singing
of Hiadu songs by various voices manifestly accustomed
thereto. It was perhaps a kind of rehearsal in antici
pation of a forthcoming festival. I believe I am strictly
accurate when I say there is nothing corresponding to
our choir or congregational singing at the ordinary
every-day religious observances in Hindu temples. "What
is done on festival occasions would correspond largely
to the singing of songs by the choir when marching
at the head of a Simday school procession, and would
have about as much of religious worship in it.
"As to the subject matter of the songs thus used,
so far as my knowledge goes, it consists of the names,
titles, epithets, &c., of the gods in general, and of
that god in particular in whose honour the festival
is being held. And when it is remembered that the
various names of one single god in the Hindu Pantheon
amount to a thousand, it will be seen that a great
deal of song may be expended in this one direction

HYMNS OF OTHER RELIGIONS. 5
only. But not the names only, the traditional acts
and behaviour, the Ufe-scenes of the gods, are sung
at length. It is in the very realistic description of some
of these unmentionable incidents that the obscenity,
above referred to, consists. Even when deeds and events
of an innocent and pure character are thus sung, there
is nothing more of spiritual worship in it than in the
recitation of an epic poem. The singer confesses no
need, asks no blessing, reveals no yearning, expects no
response. There is no communion of thought and feeling,
no aspiration for purity, no laying hold of moral strength.
In this lies the great difference between the religious
songs of Hindu worship and the hymnody of Christian
worship."* Buddhism was to Brahmanism what Puritanism was
to Anglicanism. Like Puritanism it laid stress chiefly
on the individual, but went far beyond it since it
abolished the idea of church and worship. Its hymns,
some of which are of exceeding beauty (in their English
dress the thoughts but not the form are exhibited),
were used only for private recitation and edifloation.
Indeed, they have neither churches nor services in
which they could be sung.
"Judged by its primitive texts," says Eenan, " Buddh
ism appears like a simple doctrine, without mythology,
devoid of worship, giving scope to unlimited freedom of
thought." To offer prayers to the devas is sheer
puerility. Dr. Legge of Oxford has been good enough to write
* cf. Also Dean Church's lectures ou " The Sacred Poetry of
Early Religions."

TEE HYMN LOVER.

me the following interesting letter, which shows the
place occupied by hymns in the Confucian system.
" The vast field of Chinese Hterature is remarkable
for the absence of works on theology. There is no
dogmatic teaching of religion in the Confucian system;
and it is a consequence of this that we find in it no
compositions which we can properly designate as hymns,
having a place and application of their own, sung or
chanted with or without instrumental accompaniment,
in religious services.
" Yet the prayers used in the worship of God by
the sovereigns of China, and by them and others ia
the services of the ancestral temple, have very much
of the character of hymns. We have the Book of Poetry,
containing in all 305 pieces, which Confucius is said
to have selected from ten times as many current in
his time, and 'which he sang over to his lute.' Porty
of them are caUed Praise-songs, or songs of the Temple
and Altar, and were employed in the royal worship
of ancestors. A favourable specimen of them is the
foUowing hymn (so I wiU caU it), addressed to Hau-chi,
the Father of Agriculture : —
0 thou accomplished, great, HSu-ohi,
To thee alone 'twas given
To be by what we owe to thee.
The Correlate of Heaven.
On all who dwell within our land,
Grain-food did'st thou bestow ;
'Tis to tiy wonder-working hand
This gracious boon we owe.
God had the wheat and barley meant
To nourish all mankind ;
None would have fathomed His intent.
But for thy guiding mind.

HYMNS OF OTHER RELIGIONS. 7
Man's social duties thou did'st show
To every tribe and state.
From Thee the polished manners flow
That stamp our land ' The Great.'
You will observe that in this hymn, whUe it is addressed
to Hau-chi, he is not confoimded with God, but cele
brated as His servant. And this is a characteristic of
the religion of China. Prom first to last in the history
of the empire, extending over about 5,000 years, God —
now named Heaven, now Ti or Euler, and now Shang-Ti
or Supreme Euler — stands forth single and supreme,
' Without equal or second.'
"The old Confucian Book of Poetry unfortunately
does not contain any of the hymnic prayers addressed
at the great royal or imperial services to God. But
many such are to be found aU along the stream of history
in accounts of the imperial sacrifices since the beginning
of our Christian era. The most remarkable group of
them, which I have met with, was used on a special
occasion in the year 1538. It consists of eleven addresses
to the Spirit of God, in which the devotions of the
worshippers rose to a high pitch of adoring reverence.
They are aU rhymed, and in measure somewhat irregular.
Tou wiU find them all translated in the first of my
lectures on 'The Eeligions of China,' published by Hodder
and Stoughton in 1881."
Sir Wm. Muir says that "the services of the Mussulmans
are confined (apart from the sermon or address) to
recitations from the Coran and corresponding invocations.
They do not, so far as my knowledge extends, use hymns
in their worship. Many parts of the Coran are (like
the Psalms) nothing but hymns. . They are not, however,

THE HYMN LOVER.

sung, but only repeated like the other portions. The
Persian Soofias have many hynms ; but whether they
use them in divine service or not, I cannot say."
My friend Prof. Owen C. Whitehouse (see the Addenda
to his translation of Schrader's " Cuneiform Inscriptions
and the Old Testament," vol. II), says : —
" But, though the ancient Hebrews did not possess
highly-developed metrical systems like the Greeks, it is by
no means improbable that they did possess syllabic metre
of a certain kind. Dr. Gustav Bickell has, in fact,
made the bold, and it appears to me not unsuccessful
attempt to show that they did, in his Carmina veteris
Testamenti metrice. His ingenious theory involves certain
textual alterations — some of which are quite admissible,
and go far to improve the sense. Canon Cheyne of
Oxford seems disposed to accept not only Dr. Bickell's
views, but in some cases the textual emendations
which arise out of them. On the other hand, the
veteran scholar of Leipzig, Pranz Delitzsch, in the preface
to his latest edition of the Psalms, maintains a sceptical
attitude towards BickeU's discoveries.
" Putting aside, however, debateable matter of this
kind it may be said broadly that the ancient Semitic
poetry consisted in a rhythm or assonance of similar or
contrasted ideas. This is usuaUy designated paraUelism.
" The ancient Babylono-Assyrian hymns are in many
instances translations from older non-Semitic Sumero-
Akkadian lays. Many of these hymns are merely formute
of incantation of which numerous examples may be
found in Lenormant's Chaldean Magic. But there are
some remarkable songs which are of a more exalted
character, and though containing mythological elements.

HYMNS OF OTHER RELIGIONS. 9
nevertheless express spiritual and devout thought.
Most of these belong to a class called 'Penitential
Psalms,' of wliich an interesting collection has recently
been edited by Zimmem. Here is a specimen : —
" Exalted mistress, whose command prevails.
The prayer will I utter : What is good to thee do to me,
My Lady, from the days of my youth I have been fastened to
the yoke of sin
Food have I not eaten, weeping was my refreshment.
[Water have I not drunk], tears were my drink ;
[My heart was no longer merry], my disposition no longer bright.
0 my Lady, teach me to know my doings, forgiveness (or
peace), assure unto me.
" Another example I will cite in Prof. Sayce's
rendering : —
' ' My Lord, in the anger of His heart, has punished me ;
God in the strength of His heart has taken me ;
Istar, my mother, has seized upon me and put me to grief.
God, who knoweth that I knew not, has afflicted me ;
Istar, my mother, who knoweth that I knew not has caused
darkness.
I prayed, and none takes my hand :
I wept, and none held my palm ;
I cry aloud, but there is none that will hear me ;
I am in darkness and hiding, and dare not look up."
Here we observe not only that parallelismus membrorum
which characterizes Hebrew poetry but also a stropMc
a/rrangement as clearly marked as in the Psalter.
" On the subject of musical instruments we learn
from Prof. Sayce that the ancient Babylonians had
seven or eight different kinds, including the harp, the
lyre, and the tambourine. The lyre was employed in
feasts and the harp in sacred music.
"The harp comes down from very ancient times.
On a fragment of a bas-relief, perhaps as old as 3,000 B.C.,

10 THE HYMN LOVER.

which I find figured in Fritz Hommel's History of
Babylonia and Assyria, there is a representation of a
harp with twelve strings, and a musician standing by
with outstretched hand fingering the middle string.
" The foUowing citation from Mr. Pinches' Babylonian
Texts shows that music accompanied the sacrifices (Sayce's
Hibbert Lectures, 1887, appendix iv., p. 514) : —
' In the month of Ufe and the festivals of sacrifices may glad
music be sounded.
Let the four zones behold his countenance.
To those that bring (?) his nourishers may he grant life and
goodness of heart ! ' "
Among the Greeks and Eomans, the people were, as a
rule, exhorted to be silent when the sacrificial rite — the
slaying of the victim — was in actual process of accomplish
ment, ^uphemeite, or favete Unguis was the formula
addressed to the crowd upon such solemn occasions ; the
people waited in prayerful awe and silence, that no Ul-
starred utterance might mar the sacrificial omens. There
may have been on special occasions the chanting of a
solemn litany. Great public festivals were celebrated
with song — the Dithyrambic lays were sung at the festival
in honour of Dionysos. There were also the songs of the
Priests of Mars, and of the Fratres Arvales, of which
Mommsen gives examples in his "History of Eome."
Horace's " Carmen Sseculare " furnishes another iUustra
tion of the compositions which were probably used among
the Eomans.
But so far as the material before us enables us to form an
opinion, it is that hymns, as an essential of worship,
have been mostly characteristic of the Christian, and in
less degree, of its progenitor, the Hebrew religion.
Nor is this much to be wondered at, since it is the only

HYMNS OF OTHER RELIGIONS. 11

reUgion calculated to draw out at once the two elements
necessary to such a form of worship — awe and love —
awe which lies at the heart of worship, and love which
kindles it into adoring song. For this, Brahmanism
is too metaphysical. Buddhism too much opposed to the
utterance of its emotion, if indeed it has any, Confu
cianism too much of a morality — too Uttle of a reUgion,
Mohammedanism too fataUstic in its conception of God.
For it must never be forgotten that the character of
worship is determined by the worshipper's conception
of the Being to whom it is offered. Where the conception
does not waken emotion there is Uttle song in its
worship, for song is the chUd not of philosophy but
of feeUng. None of these reUgions have aroused feelings
which could only find adequate expression as the wor
shippers exclaimed, " 0 come let us sing unto the Lord,
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation."
But it is to the Hebrew race that we must turn to
find the noblesf conception of God, and as a consequence
the truest conception of worship — a conception in which
awe before His greatness and emotion before His goodness
are combined. In that, rather than in any other race,
we discover the true origin of hymnody. There the
reUgious nature of man more fuUy asserts itseK — there
the inner thought of his heart gets earUest and best
expression. It is not strange, therefore, that this race
BO richly endowed with the religious element should
have been chosen for the grand mission of giving to
the world the noblest conception of worship. Their
fitness for this mission sprang naturaUy from that
conception of God as a person, which the more firmly
it is grasped, the more real the worship becomes ; whilst

12 THE HYMN LOVER.
we cannot fail to observe that their hymnody becomes
more tender as this idea of the personality of God is
enlarged by the recognition of his gracious and lovable
attributes. And as this people undoubtedly possessed a
nature disposed to musical expression, it is not surprising
that we find among them so spontaneous and early a
development of worship-song. It is in this Hebrew race
we find the true rise and onward flow of the river of
song.

13

CHAPTEE IL
HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
The hymns of the Old Testament were not originated
by Divine command, but were, as we have indicated, the
spontaneous outflow of the religious nature. No form
of worship requiring song was instituted by Moses. No
order of singers is included among the officers of the
Tabernacle. Indeed, the earUest history of the chosen
race is practically without song. As it has been said,
" we read of altar and prayers and accepted intercessions,
and we feel sure that those who walked in the light
like Enoch or Abraham, must have had their hearts
kindled with music ; but from the green earth rising
out of the flood — from the shadow of the great rock
at Mamre, from the fountains and valleys and upland
pastures of the Promised Land, where the tents of the
Patriarchs rose amidst their flocks — from the prisons
and palaces of Egypt we catch no sound of sacred song."
But then this is a subject with which history did not
concern itself — and we must not infer from this sUence
the utter absence of song — ^for scattered over the earUer
history there are traces of its presence. The first
examples, as we should expect, are of a very informal
character — the product of some crisis in the life of
the individual or the nation. Improvised songs born of

14 THE HYMN LOVER.
great occasions, though to our colder western temperament
almost impossible, are yet comparatively common among
Eastern people like the Hebrews, even to this day. It is
a common gift among the Italians* The first of such
songs is that of Miriam in celebration of the delivery
of Israel from their Egyptian pursuers — " Sing ye to
Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse
and his rider hath He thrown into the sea," but although
this is the first recorded, it is almost certain that it
was preceded by others ; since before this we read of
instruments of music. For since the two greatest fountains
of song have ever been love and religion, we may feel
sure that those who had reached to the use of musical
instruments, however rude, would employ them to
accompany the words of passion or devotion, which in
exalted moments would spring to their lips. In Gen. iv.
21, we are told that "Jubal was the father of aU such
as handle the harp and the pipe," that is, of aU string
and wind instruments. WhUst in verses 23, 24 we
have Lamech's song to his wives— the first example
of a song, though not a sacred one, in the pages of
Scripture, yet possessing many of the features of later
Semitic poetry. Later on we read in the account of

* Professor Dowden records a striking instance of this in hia
hfe of Shelley, when the poet and his wife in Pisa listened T.
he improvisation of Signer Sgricci, an Italian of about 23 y^t of
age. Members of the audience inscribed subjects for poetiv on „H°
of paper which were thrown into a vase from which a bovrir^t ^
paper at a time at random, and the subject was announced on wh"^
the It^ian poured forth his unpremeditated verse °It seemed "^^^
Mary Shelley " not the work of a human mind, but as ifTlVp T
instrument played upon by the superhuman insp4t on of Gni^S
And 18 It not true that the highest poetry comes h,fh»fi.
instance, a^ an improvisation? Is there not a my cTo'se^onn ^"
between inspiration and improvisation ? '^ connection

HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 15
Laban's interview with Jacob of "songs with tabret
and with harp" (Gen. xxxi. 7). It is not at all likely
that such a song as that of Miriam could have been
uttered, if she had not previously been accustomed to
lyric improvisation. So grand an outburst and so equal
to its grand occasion, although doubtless touched and
enlarged by the Editor of the book which records it,
implies not only aptitude but exercise. Whilst the fact
that she led a procession of women who chanted a chorus
to her song, shows that songs had before this, in the
time of their Egyptian captivity, been wedded to music.
Somewhat later in the history we find that when Moses
returned from the mount, he heard the people, who
had made a caU for worship, joining aloud in a song
to their newly fashioned God. It is all but certain
that the Lawgiver himself was the author of the 90th
Psalm which has aptly been called "The swan song of
Moses." This may have been the first contribution—
the nucleus, of that wonderful collection we call "The
Book of Psalms," into which were gathered the noblest
lyric utterances of widely severed times. "We catch here
and there in the sacred history glimpses of the widening
and deepening river of song to which those we have
mentioned were the first tributary streams. In the
Book of Numbers, xxi 17, we have the song which
Israel sang " Spring up, 0 well." In the Book of
Judges we meet with the song of Deborah and
Barak, which was cast in a distinctly metrical
form, and sung with a musical accompaniment —
another improvisation by a Prophetess, that is one
in a measure trained to music and song. But as
the religious life of the nation grew deeper this kind

16 THE HYMN LOVER.
of improvised song led the way to a school for
the cultivation of music and sacred utterance. This
was a chief function of the schools of the prophets
which came into such prominence in the time of Samuel.
Dean Stanley says "Whatever be the precise meaning
of the peculiar word, which now came first into use
as the designation of these companies, it is evident that
their immediate mission consisted in uttering reUgious
hymns or songs, accompanied by musical instruments,
psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp, and cymbals. In them,
as in the few solitary instances of their predecessors,
the characteristic element was that the silent seer of
visions found an articulate voice, gushing forth in a
rhythmical fiow, which at once riveted the attention of
the hearer. These, or such as these, were the gifts
which under Samuel were now organised, if one may
so say, into a system. From Eamah, the double height
of the watchmen, they might be seen descending, in a
long Une or chain, which gave its name to their
company, with psaltery, harp, tabret, pipe, and cymbals."
From this school under Samuel the Prophet, David, the
sweet singer of Israel, probably caught the inspiration
which afterwards found expression in the Psalms, which
form so important a part of the PsaUer, that the book
as a whole has been known as " The Psalms of David."
It is impossible to say with certainty what portions of
the Psalter we owe to his pen, probably they are fewer
than is commonly supposed; but the impetus he gave
to sacred song is indicated by the fact, that though
some portions of the book belong to an age earlier than
hia ; and that the larger portion came into being long
after he had passed away, yet that the whole book

HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 17
goes under his name. The Book of Psalms was doubt
less thus ascribed just as the Book of Proverbs was to
his son Solomon, because, as Professor Cheyne says,
" Solomon had become the symbol of plain ethical
' wisdom,' just as David had become the representative
of religious lyric poetry."* But then a reputation Uke
this does not grow out of nothing. David not only
contributed to the songs of the people, but
through him the service of song was added to the
ordinary worship of the sanctuary, and made a fixed
and integral part of the daUy offering to Jehovah.
Before his time, if ever connected with the Tabernacle
at aU, it had been fitful and occasional, depending to
a large extent on individual enthusiasm. "For so
mighty an innovation no less than a David was needed.
The exquisite richness of verse and music so dear to
him — ' the calves of the Ups ' — ^took the place of the
costly offerings of animals. His harp or guitar was to
him what the wonder-working staff was to Moses,
the spear to Joshua, or the sword to Gideon."
Thus sacred song found its way into the regular
services of the Temple, and the Psalms became the
liturgical hymn-book of the Jewish church. How com
pletely the union of song and sacrifice (in the national
worship) had been effected and how certainly it met the
divine approval was made manifest at the dedication of
the Temple. In the account contained in 2 Chron. v. 12,
we read "Also the Levites which were the singers, all
of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons,
and their brethren, arrayed in fine linen with cymbals and

' Job and Solomon," p. 132.

18 THE HYMN LOVER.
psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar,
and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding
their trumpets : it came even to pass when 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 voice with the trumpets
and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the
Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth
for ever : 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 fiUed the house of God." Whilst in
the 7th chapter of the same book we find that when
Solomon had made an end of praying, that aU the
children of Israel bowed themselves with their faces to
the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and
gave thanks unto the Lord, saying, " For he is good ;
for his mercy endureth for ever." Thus, prayer and
praise — ^the two most vital elements of a true worship,
are found as integral parts of the service. It is some
what difficult to say with certainty what place was
afterwards held by sacred song in the regular services
of the Temple. Certain Psalms have been identified as
having been used at particular seasons. But it is
generaUy admitted that from this time onward, save
when interrupted by the calamities which, befeU the
nation, song, no less than sacrifice, held its ground as
part of the Jewish worship.
Mr. Paul Isaac Hershon, a distinguished Rabbinical
scholar, has been good enough to furnish me with the
following note as to the use of the Psalms : —
"On aU ritual occasions the position of the Levites

HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 19
in the Temple was on a raised platform technically
called ' Buchan.'* This seems to have been in the
front of, and considerably lower in height than the
Duchan occupied by the Priests, on the east of the
altar, from whence they could see both the Levites
and the Israelites when they blessed the whole congre
gation present." (See Numb. vi. 24-26. )f
" The Levites, without the accompaniment of any of
their usual musical instruments, used to sing in the
Temple on each day of the week a different Psalm.
On the first day of the week they sung Ps. xxiv. ;
on the second day of the week, Ps. xlviii; on the
third, Ps. Ixxxii. ; on the fourth, Ps. xciv. ; on the
fifth, Ps. Ixxxi. ; on the sixth, Ps. xciii. ; and on the
holy Sabbath-day, Ps. xcii."J
" On other occasions various other Psalms were
sung, and sung so loud that their voice could be heard
as far as Jericho,§ a distance of about 12 miles. On
such occasions the youngsters of the Levites were
permitted to enter the Hall of the Sanctuary in order
to spice with their fine ' thin voices ' the rougher
voices of the elder Levites."||
"The same Psalms that were sung in the Temple
are now merely repeated by every orthodox Jew in
his daily morning-prayer. Having no Temple, the
priest does not sacrifice and the Levite does not sing !
' I-ohabod ! the glory is departed ! '
' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ! ' "
* " Yoma," fol. 205.
t Dr. Levy's " Eab. Lex.," p. 382, c. 1.
I " Rosh-hashanah," fol. 31a, and also in Anglo Jewish Liturgy.
§ " Tamid," fol. 306.
11 " Erchin," fol. 136.

20 TEE HYMN LOVER.
"The Song of Moses, Ex. xv., and also Psalms
cxlv.-cl., are repeated at Morning-Prayer every day
all the year round. The cxlv. is repeated thrice daUy,
and he who never fails to do so may be sure to inherit
eternal Ufe " (" Berachoth," fol. 4J).
"The voice of a woman is an obscenity" ("Kiddushin,"
fol. 70a) ; " hence when men sing assisted by women, it
is impudence ; and when women sing assisted by men,
it is as fire applied to tow " (" Sotah," fol. 48*).
Tradition has much to say about musical instruments,
but now only one or two quotations must suffice. "No
man could hear the voice of his neighbour in the Temple
at Jerusalem when the Magreypha (organ) played "
("Tamid," foL 33a).
"A ram has but one voice when alive but seven after
he is dead. How so ? His horns make two trumpets,
his hip-bones two pipes, his skin makes a drum, his
larger intestines make strings for the lyre, and the smaUer
chords for the harp " (" Kinnim," Chap. III. m. 6).
The later history naturally tells only of the special
occasions in which the people broke into song, but these
serve to confirm the idea that worship through song
had become a habit among the people. " There is the
song of Jehoshaphat and his army, the chant of victory
sung in faith before the battle, and itself doing battles
in that the Lord fought for those who trusted Him,
and they had nothing to do but divide the spoil and
return to Jerusalem, with psalteries and harps and
trumpets, into the house of the Lord. There is the
song of Hezekiah, when he recovered from his sickness,
and the Psalm of Jonah from the depths of the sea,
made up from the memory of other Psalms sung in

HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 21
happier hours. There was many a song by the waters
of Babylon, whispered low that the oppressors might
not hear. There was the song of Uberated Israel, at
the dedication of the wall of the Holy City (another
witness to the customs of the past), when the singers
sang aloud and they aU rejoiced ; so that the joy of
Jerusalem was heard afar off " aU these serve to show
how the lyric spirit prevailed among the people, ready,
when touched by any deep emotion, to give rhythmic
utterance to their prayer and praise.
It is with David, the minstrel King, however, that
the stream of song suddenly grows broad and deep.
Around him the chorus begins to gather, which has now
grown to such a glorious multitude.
Ewald truly says: "His harp was full-stringed, and
every angel of joy and of sorrow swept over the chords
as he passed. For the hearts of a hundred men strove
and struggled together within the narrow continent of
his single heart. The Lord allowed him not to curtail
his being by treading the round of one function. He
cultivated his whole being, and fiUed his soul with
wisdom and feeling. He brought him up in the
sheep-pastures, that the groundwork of his character
might be laid amongst the simple and universal forms
of feeling. He took him to the camp and made him a
conquerer, that he might be fiUed with nobleness of
soul and ideas of glory. He placed him in a palace,
that he might be fiUed with ideas of majesty and
sovereign might. He carried him to the wilderness
and placed him in solitude, that his soul might dweU
alone in the sublime conceptions of God and His mighty
works ; and He kept him there for years, with only one

22 THE HYMN LOVER.
step between him and death, that he might be schooled
to trust and depend upon the providence of God."
The Psalms formed at once the justification and inspi
ration of all the noble songs of the later history of Israel,
to say nothing of lyric notes which are heard sounding
through the pages of the Prophets. But most remark
able is it, that when we reach the New Testament we
find no lyric book corresponding to the Psalter. There
are distinct psalms, Uke the "Magnificat" and "Nunc
Dimittis," kindled from the lyric fire of the Hebrew
Psalter; and hints which indicate the presence of the
lyric gift in the Apostolic Church, but there is no
Christian Psalter in the New Testament, and the reason is
not far to seek. It is not that the lyric fire has departed,
but that the Old Testament Psalter has so sounded the
deepest notes of the soul in joy and sorrow, in dark
ness and light, that it is adequate to the needs, not
only of Jewish, but Christian hearts. Thus it was
not for an age, but for all time. Just as the octave
in music can express the loftiest conceptions of the
composers of every age, from the simple Gregorian
chant to the intricate music of Beethoven, so the Psalter,
meeting the deepest needs of the soul, becomes the
fitting vehicle through which Christian as weU as
Jewish feeling can find expression.
And so we find, as a matter of fact, that through by
far the greater part of the history of the Church the
Psalms have formed its worship-song; they have had a
place in the services of every Church of Christendom
where praise has been offered. They have been said or
sung in grand cathedral or lowly meeting-house, by
white-robed priests and plain-clad Puritans. The hearts

HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 23
of Eoman and Greek, Armenian and Anglican, no less
than Puritan and Nonconformist, have been kindled into
praise by the Psalms of David and his company.
Edward Irving says: "From whatever point of view
any Church hath contemplated the scheme of its doetrme,
by whatever name they have thought good to designate
themselves, and however bitterly opposed to each other
in Church government or observance of rules, you
wUl find them aU, by harmonious consent,, adopting the
Psalms as the outward form by which they shaU
express the inward feelings of the Christian life."
And even those who refused to sing the Psalms in
the form in which they are found in Scripture — who
deemed it dangerous and even heretical so to do, have
sung them in metrical versions from which much of
their glory had departed. Until quite recently there
were churches whose only hymnal consisted of these
versions. Thus the Psalms have been at once an inspi
ration and a bondage : an inspiration, in that they have
kindled the fire which has produced the hymnody of
the entire Church; a bondage, because by stereotyping
religious expression they robbed the heart of the right to
express in its own words the fears, the joys, the hopes
that the Divine spirit had kindled in their souls. Had
there been no Psalter in the Canon of Scripture, the
Church would have had no model for its song — no
place at which to kindle its worship fire ; but, on the
other hand, its worshipping instinct would have compelled
it to create a Psalter of its own, and so there would
have been an earlier and fuller development of hymnody
in the Church. The very glory and perfection of the
Psalter made the Church for long ages content with

24 THE HYMN LOVER.
the provision thus made for its worship, and so it
discouraged all who else would have joined the company
of the singers. And even those who at last ventured
to join their company, did so timidly, and chiefly as
adapters of the Psalms for public worship. George
Wither, Sir PhUip Sidney and his sister belong to this
class. Even when Dr. Watts began to write, his hymns
were used only as supplemental to the Versions ; indeed,
a large part of his compositions are themselves metrical
renderings of the Psalms, though some of them are so
aUve with his peculiar genius as to deserve rank
as original compositions.
Mighty indeed was the spell the Psalter exercised'
over the Church, and rightly so, for it is the heart-
utterance of the noble men whose mission it was to
give the world reUgion. And as we have not outgrown
the art of Greece or the laws of Eome, so neither
have we out-grown the worship-song of Israel. This
is so deep and true that it expresses the longings and
praise even of those who have sat at the feet of Christ
and learnt of Him. And as in the most sacred moment
of His life one of these Psalms served to express His
deepest feelings, so they have inspired and expressed
the feeUngs of His followers in aU aftertime. It has
been weU said, "the Church has been singing these
Psalms ever since, and has not yet sung them dry,"
and she wiU go on singing them untU she takes up the
new song in the heavenly city. It should be frankly
admitted that there are elements in the Psalms distinctly
Jewish, and expressive of the feeling of eariier days.
There are imprecatory notes that are out of harmony
with the gentler melody of Christ. These ought to be

HYMNS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 25
dropped as unsuitable to Christian worship ; but as a
whole the Psalms form the noblest treasury of sacred
song, and their inspiration may be discerned in every
hymn that is worthy of a place in the Church's
worship. Her hymnody can never be understood apart
from the Psalter, and it wiU be found that those whose
hearts are steeped the most deeply therein have given
to the Church the songs that she will not wilUngly
let die *
* For an admirable account of the paralleUism and strophic
an'angement of Hebrew poetry as well as of the music and psalmody
of the Temple, cf. Prof. Frank Delitzsoh's Commentary on the
Psalms. Introduction (4th edition).

26

CHAPTEE III.
HYMNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Wb turn next to the New Testament to discover in what
relation sacred song stands to the practice and teaching
of the Church founded by our Lord and His Apostles.
Here at once we may naturally expect that as
Christianity arose among the Hebrew race, and did not
break immediately with the past, neither ignore the
grand truths held by the Fathers, because they were
truths belonging to all time, so we must expect to find
some of the old methods of worship, some presence of the
old lyric spirit, showing themselves, and this more
especially in the earUer days of its history.
It cannot, therefore, be deemed wonderful but rather
a thing to be looked for, that when the hope of Israel
neared fulfilment, a hope to which their poUtical circum
stances caused them to cling with a very passion of
expectation, and which made every line of promise in
the Old Testament thriU with new meaning and authority ;
if the spirit of sacred song descended again, as we find
it did upon those who were waiting and praying for
the " Consolation of Israel."
Note. — The Apocrypha belonging to the time between the close
of the Old Testament and the opening of the Christian Era, contains
several notable examples of sacred song, such as those of Tobit and
Judith and the Benedicite.

HYMNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 27
Critics, indeed, have refused to bvjiieve that the
"Magnificat" could have sprung from the Ups of a
simple peasant of GalUee, they have baiu the song is
too lofty for so lowly a source — ^forgetting that some
of the grandest strains of former days came from those
Uttle if anything superior in station ; such as Hannah, to
whose song that of Mary bears considerable resemblance.
But if the lyric spirit of which we have spoken
was a peculiar gift of the Hebrew people, if the power
to improvise be a reaUty clearly discernible through their
history, surely it is not wonderful that a Hebrew maiden,
whose mind was kindled by a prospect of the highest
joy to which Hebrew motherhood could attain, a joy
for which every woman of her nation had longed, the
promise, the joy, that to her should be given the
surpassing glory of becoming the mother of Messiah ;
that her heart should break forth into song, that
her rapture should caU forth aU the poetry of her
nature, and cast it into the forms consecrated by the
sacred usages and instincts of her race. This song,
which repeats the promises of the past with the assurance
of a present realisation, is a preluding note that prepares
for the great chorus of Christian song one day to be
heard, and which wUl repeat through the ages the
rapture, the trust, the praise of her words, "My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in
God my Saviour."
Her song has scarcely died on her Ups ere another
voice is heard, the voice of a man, a priest whose lips
had been closed through unbeUef, but on whom when
faith has sprung again in his heart, the spirit of praise
and prophecy descends with all its accompaniment of

28 THE EYMN LOVER.
lyric power — ^the Song of Zachariah, "Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel. . . . This in turn is
succeeded by another, the voice of one standing on
the outermost edge of this mortal life, more subdued
in tone but full of quiet confidence and expectant
hope, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart
in peace." ... A noble triad making up by their
quaUty for the silence of other lips.
The New Testament contains no Book of Sacred
Song ; but then the fulness and spirituaUty of the Book of
Psalms, its adaptations to express in prayer and praise
the deepest emotions of the religious mind, rendered
any other unnecessary, and it is not, therefore, surprising
that neither Christ nor His apostles joined the company
of singers, that no Christian David was given to the
church. Indeed, it was scarcely possible amid the disquiet
the contention, the troubles of the earlier years when
as yet Christian worshippers had no churches of their
ovm, but rather found a place in the Synagogue or the
Temple. Ere Christian Ufe had crystaUised to its proper
forms, it was not possible that the service and song,
the outcome and expression of that Ufe should arise.
In the only two other references to singing in the
Gospels— when Christ made His triumphant entry into
Jerusalem, and ere He left it for the garden of Geth-
semane— one (perhaps the same one) of the Psalms
was used, otherwise the Gospels are sUent as to sacred
song. There can be Uttle doubt that singing foi-med a part
of both the social and pubUc worship of the ApostoUc

HYMNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 29
age. The disciples dismissed by the rulers in Jerusalem,
came to their own company and Ufted up their voice
with one accord in a song, partly the inspiration of the
moment, and partly from the book of Psalms (Acts iv. 24).
In the PhUippian dungeon, Paul and SUas prayed and
sang praises to Qod. Paul exhorts both the Ephesians
and Colossians to the use of psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs.
Dr. Lightfoot regards "Psalms" as referring speciaUy,
though not exclusively, to the Psalms of David, which
would early form part of the reUgious worship of the
Christian brotherhood. " Hymns " would refer to a
set form of words or spontaneous effusions of the moment
of the Christians themselves, whUst the " spiritual
songs " would extend the precept to aU forms of song
provided they were spiritual. Whilst St. Paul, in his
Epistle to the Corinthians, declares that when they
came together each one hath a psalm (1 Corinthians
xiv. 26).
One of the earUest descriptions of the Christians
contains the statement that " they sang hynms to Christ
as God." But whether such hymns were Psalms adapted
to the purpose and with a Christian appUcation, or
original compositions, we do not know. There is nothing
in the record to decide the question, nor has any hymn
of the ApostoUc age come down to us. The threefold
division of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs may
indicate that in addition to the Old Testament Psalms,
other compositions distinguished by the titles "hymns"
and " spiritual songs " were used, but of this we cannot

30 THE EYMN LOVER.
be certain.* The UkeUhood is that the new Christian
feeUng found expression in hymns of a simple kind
addressed to Christ. Some have maintained that the
rhythmic passages which are found in the Epistles are
parts of hynms then in use.
The principal of these are the foUowing : " Wherefore
He saith. Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shaU shine upon thee" (Ephesians
V. 14). "And without controversy great is the mystery
of godliness ; He who was manifested in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among
the nations, beUeved on in the world, received up in
glory" (1 Timothy ui. 16). "Who is the blessed and
only Potentate, the Eing of kings, and Lord of lords,
who only hath immortaUty, dwelling in Ught imap-
proachable ; whom no man hath seen, nor can see :
to whom be honour and power eternal. Amen "
(1 Timothy vi. 15). "Faithful is the saying: for
if we died with Him, we shaU also Uve with Him ;
if we shaU deny Him, He also wUl deny us: if we
are faithless. He abideth faithful, for He cannot deny
Himself" (2 Timothy u. 13). But it is not unUkely
that such passages are due to impassioned emotion

* Dr. Morison {Evangelical Repository , June, 1856) says "hymns"
and "spiritual songs" denote compositions more or less measured
that _ were simply sung, whilst "psalms" denote the Psalms of
David and other kindred lyrics that were written to be sung to an
instrumental accompaniment. On the authority of Ephesians v. 19
he claims that instrumental music (in worship) has the sanction
of the New Testament, and that it was practised in many of their
assemblies, though it was probably confined for the most part to
their more private meetings, and as persecution increased gradually
disappeared. Dr. Neale says:— " From the brief allusions we find
to the subject in the New Testament we should gather that the
hymns and spiritual songs of the apostles were written iu metrical
prose."

EYMNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 31
which not unfrequently rises to rhythmic utterance,
whilst the passage in 1 Cor. xiv. 26, forms a clear
indication that the power to improvise, so apparent in
the early history of Israel, prevaUed in the times of
the Apostles.
Of course these are utterly unlike hymns as we
know them ; but it must be remembered that it is all
but certain that metrical compositions were not used
until about the fourth century. Indeed, so late as the
ninth century Walafrid Strabo warns us that by hymns he
does not mean merely such metrical hymns as those
of Hilary, Ambrose, Prudentius, or Bede, but such
other acts of praise as are offered in fitting words and
with musical sounds. Augustine lays down the same
rule — any composition of a rhythmic character, whether
in verse or not, which was capable of being sung,"
was reckoned a hymn. Looked at in the Ught of this
rule, the passages in the Epistles already quoted seem
likely to have been parts of the earUest hymns of the
Churoh, for they have every quaUty, save metrical
form, fitting them for such a use. The weU-known
" Gloria in Excelsis " may serve as a specimen of the
kind of composition first of aU used as hymns in the
early Church.
The " Gloria in Excelsis " was in all probabUity the
morning hymn of the Christians of early times, as the
Phos ila/ron preserved by St. BasU, which belongs to the
first or second century, was their hymn for evening
use. The latter, though less known, is as beautiful,
perhaps in a poetic sense more beautiful, than the
former. It has been effectively rendered in EngUsh by
the foUowing translation by Mr. Keble : —

32 THE HYMN LOVER.
" Hail ! gladdening Light, of His pure glory poured.
Who is th' Immortal Father, heavenly blest,
Holiest of Holies — Jesus Christ our Lord !
Now we are come to the sun's hour of rest,
The lights of evening round us shine,
We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Divine !
Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung,
With undefiled tongue.
Son of our God, Giver of life, alone !
Therefore in aU the world, Thy glories Lord we own." *
This is stiU the Vesper Hymn of the Greek Church.
How such hymns arose we know not. " Whether
they sprang first to Ught in a burst of choral song,
like that inspired hymn in the Acts ; or were bestowed
on the Church through the heavenly meditations of
a soUtary beUever ; or graduaUy, Uke a river, by its
tributary streams, rose to what they are, we can perhaps
never know."t We incline, however, to the idea that
they were, in the first instance, improvised songs, and
in aftertime brought to greater finish.
Thus the river which at first was but a tiny rUl
broadens and deepens untU prophecy describes it as
becoming Uke the mighty waves of the sea — " And
I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of
mighty thunders saying Hallelujah! for the Lord our
God, the Almighty reigneth. Let us rejoice and be
glad, and let us give the glory unto him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come." "And I heard a
voice from heaven as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a great thunder, and the voice

* Lyra Apostolioa, LXIII.
t " Voice of Christian Life in Song," p. 25.

HYMNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 33
which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping
with their harps, and they sang, as it were, a new
song before the throne."
The Eevelation of St. John the Divine is full of
glowing references to song as the highest expression
of worshipping feeUng, indicating that in the future
as in the past, song is to be one of the noblest mediums
for the ascription of praise. Do not the pictures in
this book seem like glorified representations of the
Temple at Jerusalem and its worship ; and do they
not as such justify the idea that song was in Herod's
temple, as it had been in earUer times in Solomon's, a
part of its ritual ? So vivid a picture of choral worship
would scarcely have risen in a mind that had not been
accustomed to its earthly counterpart. Thus the Temple
worship may have given form to the inspiration which
moved in the heart of the Beloved Apostle, and led
him to embody the thoughts kindled in his mind by
means of symbols drawn therefrom in which song forms
so conspicuous an element. Whilst it is not unworthy
of notice that at times he rises above this symboUsm
and declares " I saw no Temple therein, for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple thereof."

34

CHAPTER IV.

HYMNS OF THE EAELY CHUECH.
As we have said in the last chapter, the " Gloria in
Excelsis " gives us the best idea of the kind of hymn
used in the age succeeding that of the Apostles. This,
and the Phos ila/ron attributed to Athenagoras of the
second century, and stUl in use in the daUy office of the
Greek Church, " probably represent in their rhythmic but
unmetrical structure, many Christian hymns now lost. Of
the existence of such hymns from the time of PUny's
well-known letter to Trajan we have abundant evidence."
As early as 269 a.d. it was made a charge against
Paul of Samosata, that he had " put a stop to the psalms
that were sung to our Lord Jesus Christ, as being innova
tions ; the work of men of later times." This estabUshes
the fact that such psalms must have been sung in the
second century, and probably earlier still. The epUogue
of Clement of Alexandria to his Pcedagogue has usuaUy
been regarded as the first Christian hymn. In Dean
Plumptre's translation, the first verse runs thus : —
Curb for the stubborn steed,
Making its will give heed ;
Wing that directest right
The wild birds' wandering flight ;
Helm for the ships that keep
Their pathway o'er the deep ;
Shepherd of sheep that own
Their Master on the throne,
Stir up Thy children meek '
With guileless Ups to speak.
In hymns and songs Thy praise.
Guide of their infant ways.

HYMNS OF THE EARLY OHUROH. 36
0 King of saints, 0 Lord !
Mighty, all- conquering Word ;
Son of the Highest God,
Wielding His wisdom's rod ;
Our stay when cares annoy.
Giver of endless joy ;
Of all our mortal race.
Saviour of boundless grace,
0 Jesus hear.
The fourth century, however, was the age in which
hymns really estabUshed themselves in the regular
services of the Church. And, strange to say, their
establishment was due to the keen-sightedness of great
men belonging to the orthodox party, who discerned the
wide influence exerted by hynms in favour of the teaching
of heretics, who made large use of them for the promulga
tion of their views. Bardesanes and his son Harmonius
had introduced into Syria both the Greek metres and
music, and by means of these had given currency and
secured popularity for their particular views. To
counteract this, Ephrem of Edessa wrote hymns on
the Nativity, Baptism, Fasting, Passion, and Eesurrection i
of our Lord, and set them to the music which had already
become popular. He trained choirs of virgins to sing
them, and on Sundays and festivals they were gathered in
the church, and led by Ephrem himself, standing in their
midst. Thus metrical hymnody became rooted in the
services of the Syriac Church. In Constantinople, a Uke
method was adopted against the Arians, who had been
expeUed from the churches by Theodosius, but who stUl
met outside the waUs, or in the open spaces of the
city, marching in procession and singing their hymns.
Chrysostom organised rival processions, which marched,
bearing torches and crosses, and singing hymns. The

36 THE HYMN LOVER.

Empress Eudocia patronised the scheme, and provided
means for its execution. It would seem that Chrysostom
laid more stress, like a certain modern sect, on the torches,
the crosses, the music, than on the words of the hymns.
Nor was it otherwise in the West. There, also, heresy
gave birth to Christian hymnody. The story is told by
Augustine, who, with his mother, Monica, was in Milan at
the time. The Empress Justina ordered Ambrose, then
the Bishop of the city, to give up one of the BasUicas for
Arian worship. He refused, and was sentenced to exUe —
a sentence he refused to obey. The population of MUan,
enthusiastic for their bishop, supported him in this refusal,
and watched his house day and night, to protect him from
the troops of the Empress. Ambrose formed these troops
of watchers into bands of worshippers, and arranged for
them a course of offices, in which hymns played an
important part. This is the real source of the Offices for
the various hours of the day and night which form so
conspicuous an element in the Breviaries of the Western
Church. It is a fact of singular significance and great interest,
that in the Syriac, the Greek, and the Latin churches, the
action of the heretics should have given rise to the
introduction of hymns as a part of the regular services of
the Church. From the Syriac Church, few hymns have
passed into our English hymnody ;* but from the Greek ;
although none of the hymns of Chrysostom have
come into English use — ^probably they were not worthy
* " Glad sight, the Holy Churoh," No. 351, in " Hymns Ancient
and Modern," last edition but one, is from the Syriac ; whilst others
from the same source may be found in " The People's Hymnal," in
Thrupp's coUection, and in a recent volume by Dr. Bonar.

HYMNS OF THE EARLY OHUROH. 37
enough — the movement originated by him gave birth to a
later school of hymnists ; many of whose hymns, through .
the translations of Dr. Neale, have become deservedly/
popular among us. The results of the movement set onl
foot by Ambrose, on EngUsh hymnody have been far more
direct, since several of the hymns composed by him, ia
their EngUsh form, are now sung, whUst the school ojf
Ambrosian music has had considerable influence on that of
modem times.
Turning now from the originating causes of these three
schools of hymnody to the hymns themselves; (1) as to the
Syriac hymns little need be said, since they have not
exerted any perceptible influence on EngUsh hymnody.
This is probably due to the language in which they were
written, which has put them beyond the range of aU save
those versed in the tongues of the East. In Daniel's
great book, they are represented in a German form.
Dr. Burgess has translated them into EngUsh, and
Mrs. Charles has rendered a few from the German version
in Daniel. But, as they are seen in their EngUsh dress,
they are singularly free from the gorgeous imagery so
characteristic of the East. Doubtless they have been
toned down by transference to our EngUsh speech. Some
of them seem to us not unworthy of a place in our
modern coUeetions, since they are marked by a freshness
and simpUcity which are very pleasant.
Here is Ephrem's hymn on Palm Sunday, as translated
by Mrs. Charles : —
He calls us to a day of gladness,
Who came to us the King's own Son ;
Go forth with boughs of palm to meet Him,
And Him with loud hosannaa own.

38 THE HYMN LOVER.
The angels are with us rejoicing.
Angelic triumphs swell our song ;
All nations ia our joy uniting,
Hosanna sounds on every tongue.
To Thee, 0 Lord, loud praise asoendeth.
From every creature in its kind ;
Thee, with an awed and quiv'ring motion,
Exalteth every waving wind.
The heavens in their quiet beauty.
Praise Thy essential majesty ;
The heights rejoice from which Thou camest ;
The depths spring up to welcome Thee.
The sea exults to feel Thy footsteps.
The land Thy tread, Lord, knoweth well ;
Our human nature brings thanksgivings.
Because Thy Godhead there doth dwell.
To-day the sun rejoicing shineth.
With happy radiance tenfold bright,
In homage to the Sun of glory,
Which brings to aU the nations hght.
The moon shall shed her fairest lustre
O'er all the heavens her softest glow ;
Thee on her radiant heights adoring.
Who for our sakes hast stooped so low.
And all the starry hosts of heaven.
In festive robes of Hght array' d.
Shall bring their festal hymns as offerings
To Him who aU so fair hast made.
To-day the forests are rejoicing.
Each tree its own sweet anthem sings,
Because we wave their leafy branches
As banners for the King of Kings.
To-day let all the brute creation,
Eejoicing, be no longer dumb ;
For lowly on the foal He sitteth.
The Heavenly One to us has come.
Let every village, every city.
In happy tumult sing His name;
Since even infant Ups are shouting
Blessed is He, the King who came.
Those who are curious as to Syriac hymnody should
consult Dr. Burgess's translations of the hymns of Ephrem
Syrus and other writers of his school.
(2) The h^mn^_of--theiJreek_Chujch, though somewhat
aUied to those of the Syriac, yet have in them enough

HYMNS OF THE EARLY OHUROH. 39
affinity to our Western ideas to be incorporated into our
worship. Like the city in which they first appeared, they
stand midway between the East and West, and have
certain elements common to both ; whUst the vast mass of
hymns produced by this Church — ^Dr. Neale computes that
out of the five thousand quarto pages of which the Greek
office books consist, at least four thousand are poetry — ^has
enabled men Uke Dr. Neale to select portions suited to our
Western taste. Even then, however, it has been found
necessary to subject such portions to a very free treatment,
and to preserve their ideas rather than the forms in which
they were cast. This is the more necessary since the
great mass of the hymns of this Church are not in
metrical form, but simply rhythmic and accentuated Uke
the earUest Latin sequences.
Not untU they feU under the skilful hand of Dr. Neale
did they contribute their share to the now many -voiced
song of the churches of England.
Through his centos from the hymns of the Eastern
Church, we now have such weU-known favourites as
"The day is past and over" (585), probably by St.
AnatoUus (a.d. 458), which is to the scattered hamlets of
Chios and Mitylene, what Bishop Ken's evening hymn is
to the vUlages of our own land. " Christian dost thou see
them" (413), a stichera for the second week of the great
fast, by St. Andrew of Crete (660-732). "Art thou
weary, art thou languid?" (520), by St. Stephen the
Sabaite (725-794). " 'Tis the day of Eesurrection," by
St. John Damascene {eirca 780). This is the canon for
Easter Day, and a modem traveller gives the foUowing
graphic account of its use at Athens. It is quoted in
" Hymns of the Eastem Church," by Dr. Neale.

40 THE HYMN LOVER.
" As midnight approached, the Archbishop with his
priests, accompanied by the Eing and Queen, left the
church, and stationed themselves on the platform, which
was raised considerably from the ground, so that they
were distinctly seen by the people. Everyone now
remained in breathless expectation, holding their unlighted
tapers, in readiness when the glad moment should arrive,
whUe the priests stUl continued murmuring their melan
choly chant in a low half-whisper. Suddenly a single
report of a cannon announced that twelve o'clock had
struck, and that Easter Day had begun ; then the old
Archbishop, elevating the cross, exclaimed in a loud,
exulting tone : ' Christos anesti ! Christ is risen ! " and
instantly every single individual of aU that host took up
that cry, and the vast multitude broke through and dis
peUed for ever the intense and mournful sUence which
they had maintained so long, with one spontaneous shout
of indescribable joy and triumph : ' Christ is risen ! —
Christ is risen ! ' At the same moment, the oppressive
darkness was succeeded by a blaze of Ught from thousands
of tapers, which, communicating one from another, seemed
to send streams of fire in aU directions, rendering tho
minutest objects distinctly visible, and casting the most
vivid glow on the expressive faces, fuU of exultation, of
the rejoicing crowd; bands of music strack up their
gayest strains; the roU of the dram through the town,
and further on the pealing of the cannon, announce far
and near these ' glad tidings of great joy,' while from hUl
and plain, from the sea-shore and the far-off oUve-grove,
rocket after rocket ascending to the clear sky, answer
back with their mute eloquence that Christ is risen indeed,
and told of other tongues that were repeating those

HYMNS OF THE EARLY OHUROH. 41
blessed words, and other hearts that leaped for joy ;
everywhere men clasped each other's hands, and con
gratulated one another, and embraced with countenances
beaming with deUght, as though to each one separately
some wonderful happiness had been proclaimed — and so in
truth it was ; and aU the whUe, rising above the mingling
of many sounds, each one of which was a sound of glad
ness, the aged priests were distinctly heard chanting forth
a glorious old hymn of victory in tones so loud and clear
that they seemed to have regained their youth and
strength, to teU the world how 'Christ is risen from the
dead, having trampled death beneath His feet, and hence
forth they that are in the tombs have everlasting life.' "
All these differ widely from the hymns of the Latin
Church, in that they are more vivid, and spring more
directly out of Scripture events.
(3) It is generaUy admitted that the Western Churches
owe the incorporation of metrical hymnody into their
services to Ambrose, and the movement originated by
him. Hymns may have been in use, in the West
iDefore his time, but aU previous attempts were sporadic
and fitful. Ambrose was the founder of a school of
hymnody, from which no less than ninety-two examples
have come down to us; of these twenty-one, or, at
the lowest computation, that of the Benedictine
Editors, twelve are from the pen of Ambrose himself.
The hymns of this school, since they are more
akin to our Western modes of thought, reached an
earUer popularity in our midst than those from tho
Eastem or Greek Church. The picturesqueness of the
Greek hynms, and the skUfulness of Dr. Neale's renderings

42 THE HYMN LOVER.
have, however, brought them of late into great promi
nence, and rendered them even more popular than those
of the Latin Church. The strong ethical element in the
hymns of the Ambrosian school, whUst it makes them,
perhaps, more practically useful as aids to holy Uving, yet
gives them a certain subdued tone which miUtates against
their popularity. They are more akin to statuary — clear,
sharp, cold — than, as the Eastem hjrmns are, to painting,
with its richer colour and more vivid mode of portrayal,
and so, Uke statuary, appeal less forcibly to the imagina
tion. Professor F. M. Bird says : — " The Latin hymns of
Ambrose and his successors form a school which may be
said to have held possession of the Church of the whole of
Europe for some 1200 years." This reached its highest
point of excellence in the " Veni Creator," and " Veni
Sancte Spiritus." The most notable hymns of the
school of Ambrose which have estabUshed themselves by
means of translations in our English hymnals are " We
praise, we worship Thee, 0 God " (13), " 0 Jesu, Lord of
heavenly grace " (558), and " Now that the dayUght fiUs
the sky " (554). These may suffice to indicate the subjects
and style of this school. The " Te Deum " has usually
been ascribed to Ambrose ; the weU-known tradition being
that it broke forth in sudden inspiration from his Ups as
he was baptising Augustine; another form of the same
tradition being that it was due to an inspiration common
to both Ambrose and Augustine, which enabled the one to
respond antiphonaUy to the verses uttered by the other.
This, Uke the similar tradition concerning the Septuagint
version of the Old Testament, can scarcely be regarded as
a trae account. The great authority, Daniel, seems to'
regard it as having sprung from an early Oriental hymn.

HYMNS OF THE EARLY CHUROH. 43
or from fragments of many such hymns. It is probably
the work of many minds and ages, in which Ambrose may
have borne a part: it may have been that of arranging
and perfecting the scattered fragments into a compact
composition. The latest theory, however, respecting it is
that it is later than the time of Ambrose, and probably of
GaUican origin. Some there are who ascribe it to HUary
rather than Ambrose.
Spain, too, contributed its share to the early hymnody
of the Church. The Mozarabic Breviary of the fifth
century was no unworthy collection. Some idea of its
contents may be gained from Mr. EUerton's translation of
one of its hymns : —
Sing HaUelujah forth in duteous praise,
0 citizens of heaven, and sweetly raise
An endless Hallelujah.
Te next, who stand before the Eternal Light,
In hymning choirs re-echo to the height
An endless Hallelujah.
The Holy City shall take up your strain.
And with glad songs resounding wake again
An endless Hallelujah.
In bUssful antiphons ye thus rejoice
To render to the Lord with thankful voice
An endless Hallelujah.
Te who have gained at length your pahns in bUss,
Victorious ones, your chant shall stUl be this.
An endless Hallelujah.
There in one glad acclaim, for ever ring
The strains which tell the honour of your King,
An endless Hallelujah.
This is the rest for weary ones brought back.
This is the food and drink which none shaU lack,
An endless Hallelujah.
While Thee, by Whom were aU things made, we praise
For ever, and tell out in sweetest lays,
An endless HaUelujah.

44 TEE HYMN LOVER.
Almighty Christ, to Thee our voices sing ;
Glory for evermore to Thee we bring
An endless HaUelujah.
In these early, as in later, times, however, conflicts of
considerable intensity arose concerning the introduction of
hymns into the services of the Church. Some there were
who doubted whether any but the words of Scripture
should be used in worship. Others had grown so used
to the Ambrosian hymns that, Uke the devotees of
Watts or of the Scotch metrical psalms in a much later
age, they resented the introduction of hymns from other
sources. Indeed, it needed the decision of a CouncU to
give them sanction ; whUst in the 7th century, the Council
of Toledo threatened with excommunication aU in Spain
or France who resisted the use of hymns in divine
worship. Even as late as the 9th century, there were
churches which would not admit metrical hymns into
their offices. Thus the conflict raged, untU at last hymns
estabUshed themselves, either in metrical or rhythmic
forms, as an integral and vital element in worship, and
so played a great part in lifting the hearts of men to the
Father of their spirits. The hynms of this earlier period
are chiefly occupied with the events of our Lord's Ufe ;
special stress being laid on His incarnation. There is an
entire absence of that carnal element which in later, and
especiaUy in the latest times, came into prominence; so
that the blood and wounds of Christ were regarded as
though in themselves they possessed some mystic merit.
This is so even in the hymns of the Eastem Church,
which are so largely occupied with the actual scenes of
our Lord's life; whUst in the Latin Church, it is the
ethical side of the Christian faith which is thrown into

HYMNS OF THE EARLY OHUROH. 45
special prominence. Indeed, the early literature of the
Church — ^not only its hynms, but creeds and Uturgies, are
singularly free from those carnal conceptions of our Lord's
work which came in later times into so much prominence,
both in the Eoman Church and what may be caUed the
ultra-EvangeUcal section of the Protestant Church. Our
modem hymnody is, to a large extent, reverting to this
earUer type; occupying itself with the facts of our Lord's
Ufe as in the Eastem, and with the ethical side of the
Gospel as in the Latin Church.

46

CHAPTER V.

MEDIEVAL HYMNS.
Theeb are two writers who form a kind of connecting
link between early and mediaeval hymnody — Yenantius
Fortunatus, who was born in 530, and died in 609 a.d.;
and Gregory the Great, whose life extended from 550 to
604 A.D. Fortunatus, a child of the sunny south, in his
early days was a kind of Troubadour: "the fashionable
poet of his day," who wandered from castle to palace,
appearing and singing his songs at marriages and festivals,
fond of court revelry ; but yet, so far as we can judge,
one of the few who passed unscathed through the flres,
and they were fierce, of the temptations of such a course
in those times. Later in life he was consecrated a priest,
and became almoner of the monastery at Tours, founded
by Queen Ehadegunda, with whom he had been on very
intimate terms, and to whom he addressed many of his
poems. StiU later in life he became Bishop of Poitiers.
His hymns are such as we should expect from such a
nature, and from the sunny land in which he spent his
days. Three of these attained to great popularity. They
have more in common with those of the Eastem Church
than those of Ambrose and his school, and are more the
product of the poet's imagination than of the moral

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 47

nature which found so full an expression in the Ambrosian
hymnody. One of these, the " VexUla Eegis prodeunt,"
well-known through Dr. Neale's translation, " The Eoyal
Banners forward go," who calls it "one of the grandest
in the treasury of the Latin Church," was written to
commemorate the reception of certain reUcs of the true
Cross by St. Gregory of Tours and St. Ehadegund, at
the consecration of a church at Poitiers, and was origi
nally intended for use as a processional hymn. This is
Dr. Neale's translation of it : —
The Royal Banners forward go;
The Cross shines forth in mystic glovr;
Where He in flesh, our flesh Who made,
Our sentence bore, our ransom paid.
Where deep for us the spear was dy'd.
Life's torrent rushing from His side,
To wash US in that precious flood
Where mingled water flowed, and Blood.
FulfiUed is aU that David told
In true Prophetic song of old ;
Amidst the nations God, saith he.
Hath reign'd and triumph'd from the Tree.
O Tree of Beauty! Tree of Light 1
O Tree with royal purple dight !
Elect on whose triumphal breast
Those holy limbs should find their rest !
On whose dear arms, so widely flung,
The weight of this world's ransom hung:
The price of human kiad to pay.
And spoU the Spoiler of his prey.
With fragi'anee dropping from each bough.
Sweeter than sweetest nectar Thou;
Decked with the fruit of peace and praise,
And glorious with triumphal lays.
HaU, Altar ! haU, O Victim ! Thee
Decks now Thy passion's victory ;
Where Life for sinners death endured.
And life by death for man procured.
In the 14th century, the following verses were added
when the hymn was appropriated to Passion-tide : —

THE HYMN LOVER.

[O Cross, our one reliance haU !
This holy Passiontide, avail
To give fresh merit to the Saint,
And pardon to the penitent.
To Thee, Eternal Three in one.
Let homage meet by all be done ;
Whom by the Cross Thou dost restore.
Preserve and govern evermore.]
Another is the " Pange lingua gloriosi" ("Sing, my
tongue, the glorious battle "), a hymn in which praise of
the cross finds full expression, as witness the foUowing
verse : — Bend thy boughs, O Tree of Glory !
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigour
That thy birth bestowed, suspend ;
And the King of Heavenly Beauty
On thy bosom gently tend !
His " Salve festadies" ("Hail, festal day! ever exalted
high ") has for centuries been used as a hymn for Easter
day, and is full of poetic vigour, as the following verses
may show : —
The changing months, the pleasant light of days.
The shining hours, the rippling moments praise.
Since God hath conquered heU, and rules the starry sky.
Countless the hosts Thou savest from the dead ;
They follow free where Thou, their Lord, hast led.
Hail, festal day ! ever exalted high.
Gregory:, the Great is a personage of more interest to
English folk than his contemporary Fortunatus, since
to him we owe the mission of Augustine, by which
Christianity was firmly planted in our land. His
name is famUiar to the youngest by the beautiful story
which tells how, on going into the slave market at Eome,
and marking the beauty of certain fair English youths,
he exclaimed, " If they were Christians, they were not
Angles but angels." A sight which probably prompted

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 49
the despatch of the mission for the conversion of England
to Christianity. Had our country been won to and
remained faithful to a Christianity such as was seen in
Gregory, the Eeformation would have been little needed
in our land Gregory is one of the noblest figures in the
history of the Church. To him we owe the Plain Song —
the Gregorian tones which for centuries held their ground
in the Church, and which to this day find many earnest
defenders. Mone, in his great work, "Hymni Latini
Medii .Myi," assigns to Gregory the " Yeni Creator
Spiritus," usually assigned to Charlemagne. Wacker-
nagel is of the same opinion. Daniel, however, ascribes
it, as it usually has been, to the great Emperor of the
West. The question of its authorship must probably
remain uncertain. Of its high popularity there can be
no doubt. Daniel says it was appointed for use at the
creation of a pope, the election of a bishop, the corona
tion of kings, the celebration of a synod, the elevation
and translation of saints. It is the only hymn inserted
in the Book of Common Prayer, where Bishop
version is adopted. It has been again and again
lated. As it is so uncertain whether Gregory wrote it}
we append another hymn by him, in the translation of an
anonymous writer, which seems to us very beautiful: —
Now, when the dusky shades of night, retreating
Before the sun's red banner, swiftly flee;
Now, when the terrors of the dark are fleeting,
O Lord, we lift our thankful hearts to Thee, —
To Thee, Whose word, the fount of life unsealing,
When hill and dale in thickest darkness lay.
Awoke bright rays across the dim earth stealing.
And bade the eve and morn complete the day.
Look from the tower of heaven, and send to cheer us
Thy light and truth to guide us onward still;
StiU let Thy mercy, as of old, be near us.
And lead us safely to Thy holy hill. e

50 TEE HYMN LOVER.
So, when that morn of endless light is waking,
And shades of evil from its splendours flee.
Safe may we rise, the earth's dark breast forsaking.
Through aU the long bright day to dwell with Thee.
This is, perhaps, the place to speak of the Venerable
Bede, rather than in the chapter on early English hymns,
since, although an Englishman, and resident in England,
he wrote all his hymns in the Latin tongue. His life
extended from about 672 to 735 a.d. At seven years of
age, he entered the monastery of Jarrow, where he
remained till death called him to higher service. " There
he read, wrote, and prayed, sang hymns to his Saxon
harp, recorded the history of his people, and corre
sponded with friends in aU parts of England and Europe ;
and there, as the last work of his busy life, he translated
the Gospel of John into Anglo-Saxon, finishing it amid
the sufferings of his last illness, and dying just as he had
concluded the last chapter. 'Dearest master,' said his
Amanuensis to him, ' there is only one thought left to
write.' He answered, ' Write quickly.' Soon the writer
replied, 'Now this thought also is written.' He answered.
' Thou hast well said. It is finished. Eaise my head in
thy hand, for it wiU do me good to sit opposite my
sanctuary, where I was wont to kneel down to pray ; that
sitting I may caU upon my Father.' So he seated him
self on the ground in his cell, and sang the ' Glory to
Thee, 0 God— Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,' and when
he had named the Holy Ghost, he breathed his last
breath." He wrote a long hymn, comparing the six days
of the creation with the six days of the world. His
hymn on the Ascension is fuU of quaint beauty, as wiU
be seen from the following translation by Mrs. Charles :—

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 51

A hymn of glory let us sing :
New hymns throughout the world shall ring;
By a new way none ever trod,
Christ mounteth to the throne of God.
The apostles on the mountain stood, —
The mystic mount, in Holy Land;
They, with the vu'gin-mother, see
Jesus ascend in majesty.
The angels say to the eleven,
"Why stand ye gazing into heaven ?
. This is the Saviour, — this is He !
Jesus hath triumphed gloriously ! "
They said the Lord should come again.
As these beheld Him rising then,
Calm soaring through the radiant sky,
Mounting its dazzling summits high.
May our affections thither tend.
And thither constantly ascend,
Where, seated on the Father's throne.
Thee reigning in the heavens we own !
Be Thou our present joy, O Lord I
Who wUt be ever our reward ;
And, as the countless ages flee.
May all our glory be in Thee!
It is free from the objectionable and unscriptural elements
of many hymns of the mediaeval age, to which, in spirit,
the monk of Jarrow scarcely belongs. Nearly a century
later flourished Theodulph of Orleans (he died in 821 a.d.)
whose hymn on Christ's entrance into Jerusalem is
animated by a spirit very like to that of the Yenerable
Bede's on the Ascension. It was written at Metz, or as
some say at Angers, during his imprisonment on a false
accusation. On their way to the cathedral, the Emperor
Louis and his court heard this hymn sung by choristers
instructed by Theodulph. It procured his instant Ubera-
tion. In Dr. Neale's translation it begins : —
Glory, and laud, and honour;
and until the seventeenth century, he says that the.
following quaint verse was included : —

32 THE HYMN LOVER.
Be Thou, O Lord, the rider.
And we the little ass.
That to God's holy city.
Together we may pass.
The two hymns that are best known beyond ecclesias
tical circles, and that have made the greatest impression,
both on literature and music, are the "Dies Irse " and the
" Stabat Mater," the former the most subUme, the latter
the most pathetic of mediaeval hymns. The " Dies Iras "
was written for private devotion in a lonely monastic ceU,
about 1250, by Thomas of Celano, the friend and
biographer of St. Francis of Assisi. It has been truly
said : " The secret of the irresistible power of the ' Dies
Irae ' lies in the awful grandeur of the theme, the intense
earnestness and pathos of the poet, the simple majesty
and solemn music of its language, the stately metre, the
triple rhyme, and the vowel assonances chosen in striking
adaptation to the sense ; all combining to produce an
overwhelming effect, as if we heard the final crash of the
universe, the commotion of the opening graves, the
trumpet of the archangel that summons the quick and
the dead, and as if we saw the King of tremendous
majesty seated on the throne of justice and mercy, and
ready to dispense everlasting life or everlasting woe."
Goethe describes its effect upon the guilty conscience in
the cathedral scene of "Faust." Sir Walter Scott in
troduces a portion of it into the "Lay of the Last
Minstrel." It is at once the hope and despair of
translators. Probably more attempts have been made to
translate it than any other hymn. Dr. Irons' translation
is perhaps the best, and has been most frequently chosen
by hymnal editors. In our opinion it is quite unsuitable

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 38
— nor was it ever intended by its author — for public
singing. The " Stabat Mater," founded on John xix. 25, and
Luke ii. 35, is by Jacobus de Benedictis, otherwise called
Jacopone da Todi, a reformer before the Eeformation, who
came into conflict with Pope Boniface VIII., by whom he
was imprisoned, and on whose death ho was released. It
has become the libretto to music by Palestrina, Pergolesi,
Haydn, Eossini, and others.
The " Pange lingua gloriosi," by Thomas Aquinas,
Dr. Neale says, contests the second place among those of
the Western Church with the "YexiUa regis," the'
" Stabat Mater," the " Jesu dulcis memoria," and others,
leaving the " Dies Irae " in its unapproachable glory.
Its materiaUstic conceptions are, in our judgment, fatal to
poetic thought. That our readers may judge for them
selves, we append the hymn as it stands in Dr. Neale's
translation : —Of the glorious Body telling,
O my tongue its mysteries sing ;
And the Blood, aU price excelling.
Which for this world's ransoming
In a generous womb once dwelling.
He shed forth, the Gentiles' King.
Given for us, for us descending
Of a Virgin to proceed,
Man with man in converse blending
Scattered He the Gospel seed :
TiU His sojourn drew to ending,
Which He closed in wondrous deed.
At the last Great Supper seated,
Circled by His brethren's band,
All the Law required, completed
In the feast its statutes planned,
To the Twelve Himself He meted
For their food with His own hand.

54 TEE EYMN LOVER.

Word made Flesh, by Word He maketh
Very Bread His Flesb to be;
Man in wine Christ's Blood partaketh.
And if senses faU to see.
Faith alone the true heart waketh
To behold the Mystery.
Therefore we, before it bending.
This great Sacrament adore:
Types and shadows have their ending
In the new Rite evermore:
Faith, our outward sense amending,
Maketh good defects before.
Honour, laud, and praise addressing
To the Father and the Son,_
Might ascribe we, virtue, blessing.
And eternal benison :
Holy Ghost, from Both progressing.
Equal laud to Thee be done ! Amen.
In the following hymn, "Adoro te devote, latens
Deltas,"' Aquinas seems to take a more spiritual view
of the Eucharist — it was probably the product of a
higher mood: —
Humbly I adore Thee, hidden Deity,
Which beneath these figures art concealed from me ;
Wholly in submission Thee my spirit haUs,
For in contemplating Thee it wholly faUs.
Taste and touch and vision in Thee are deceived;
But the hearing only may be weU believed :
I beUeve whatever God's own Son declared :
Nothing can he truer than Truth's very Word.
On the Cross lay hidden but Thy Deity :
Here is also hidden Thy humanity :
But in both believing and confessing, Lord,
Ask I what the dying thief of Thee implored.
Though Thy Wounds, Uke Thomas, I behold not now,
Thee my Lord confessing, and my God, I bow :
Give me ever stronger faith in Thee above.
Give me ever stronger hope and stronger love.
0 most sweet memorial of His death and woe.
Living Bread, Which givest life to man below,
Let my spirit ever eat of Thee and Uve,
And the blest fruition of Thy sweetness give !

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 55
Pelican of Mercy, Jesu, Lord and God,
Cleanse me, wretched sinner, in Thv Precious Blood :
Blood, whereof one drop for humankind outpoured
Might from aU transgression have the world restored.
Jesu, Thou, whom thus veil'd, I must see below.
When shall that be given which I long for so.
That at last beholding Thy tmcover'd Face,
Thou wouldst satisfy me with Thy fuUest grace ?
And of this whole period we may say, that where the
writers depart from the spirituaUty of the Gospels, their
muse fails them ; where they are most spiritual they are
most poetic. When they strive to express ideas foreign
to the spirit of Christ — eamal conceptions of His work, y
veneration for His cross, the glory of His mother, the/
worship of relics — the poetic fire bums low, even if in
does not quite expire. When they express ideas common
to all Christian hearts, they rise to the truest poetry,
since sacred poetry of the highest kind is but the
expression of universal ideas.
The greatest of the mediaeval hymn-writers, however,
was Adam of St. Victor, who, if not a native of England,
was of Brittany. It is impossible to say which, since he
is described as " Brito," and this title may refer either to
Brittany or Britain. The probabihty is, since he belonged
to a monastery in France, and that most of the famous
hymnists of the age were French, that he was also of
that nation. At aU events he studied in France. It is
only quite recently that the great mass of his hymns
was brought to Ught. For nearly seven centuries, a large
part remained buried among forgotten manuscripts in the
Abbey of St. Victor, in Paris. At the French Eevolution,
this abbey was dissolved as a reUgious foundation, its
inmates dispersed, and its precious manuscripts removed

66 THE HYMN LOVER.
to the National Library in the Louvre. Till the middle
of the present century, only thirty-seven of his hymns
had found their way into circulation; but then M. Gautier
discovered about forty-eight in the Louvre Library, and
published them ; but as many of the great events of our
Lord's life have no hymn to celebrate them, it is possible,
and even likely, that many yet remain undiscovered, or
have been either destroyed or lost. Adam of St. Victor
is little known through EngUsh hymnals, and the reason
is this — no translation can adequately represent his
hymns. They abound in rhymes which cannot be
rendered into English. Their glory is in their style ; not
in the variety of their subject, or picturesqueness of
manner, but in the marvellously beautiful expression of
his thought. But some idea may be gained of his merit
from the praise bestowed upon him by the most competent
judges. Eambach calls him " the Schiller of the Middle
Ages ;" Dr. Neale, " the greatest Latin poet, not only of
mediaeval, but of all ages," whilst in the preface to his
"Mediaeval Hymns" (to which I am much indebted in
this work), he says, " It is a magnificent thing to pass
along the far-stretching vista of hymns, from the sublime
self-containedness of St. Ambrose to the more fervid
inspiration of St. Gregory, the exquisite typology of
Yenantius Fortunatus, the lovely painting of St. Peter
Damiani, the crystal-like simpUcity of St. Notker, the
Scriptural calm of Godescalous, the subjective loveliness
of St. Bernard, but all culminate in the full blaze of glory
which surrounds Adam of St. Victor, the greatest of all."
I give below a translation of one by him for St. Stephen's
day, which is generally regarded as the finest he ever
wrote : —

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 57
Yesterday, with exultation,
Join'd the world in celebration
Of her promised Saviour's birth:
Yesterday the Angel-nation
Poured the strains of jubUation
O'er the Monarch born on earth.
But to-day, o'er death victorious.
By his faith and actions glorious.
By his miracles renown'd.
Dared the Deacon Proto-martyr,
Earthly life for Heaven to barter.
Faithful midst the faithless fomid.
Forward, champion, in thy quarrel 1
Certain of a certain laurel.
Holy Stephen, persevere !
Perjur'd witnesses confounding,
Satan's Synagogue astounding
By thy doctrine true and clear.
Lo ! in heaven thy Witness Uveth :
Bright and faithful proof He giveth
Of His martyr's blamelessness.
Thou by name a Grown impliest;
Meetly then in pangs thou diest
For the Crown of Righteousness I
For a crown that fadeth never.
Bear the torturer's brief endeavour;
Victory waits to end the strife.
Death shaU be thy birth's beginning.
And life's losing be the winning
Of the true and better life.
Whom the Holy Ghost endueth,
Whom celestial sight embueth,
Stephen penetrates the skies ;
There God's fuUest glory viewing,
There his victor strength renewing,
For his near reward he sighs.
See, as Jewish foes invade thee.
See how Jesus stands to aid thee:
Stands to guard His champion's death:
Cry that opened heaven is shown thee.
Cry that Jesus waits to own thee.
Cry it with thy latest breath.
As the dying martyr kneeleth.
For his murderers he appealeth,
a.nd his prayer theu' pardon sealeth,
For their madness grieving sore;

58 THE HYMN LOVER.
Then in Christ he sleepeth sweetly,
Who His pattern kept completely.
And with Christ he reigneth meetly.
Martyr first-fruits, evermore!
To the end of the 11th and the first half of the 12th
century (1091-1153) belongs Bernard of Clairvaux, who
has been called "the last of the' Apostles," and "the
hoUest monk that ever Uved." To him we probably
owe the long poem on the Name of Jesus which generally
goes by the name "Jesus dulcis memoria." It is some
times called the "JubUus of St. Bernard," and by
mediaeval writers, the "Eosy Hymn." From this we
have the three centos " Jesu, the very thought of Thee ; "
and " 0 Jesu King most wonderful," translated by Father
Caswall; and "Jesu, Thou joy of loving hearts," trans
lated by Dr. Eay Palmer — a well-loved trilogy; whilst
Paul Gerhardt's hymn which begins in Dr. J. W.
Alexander's translation " 0 Sacred Head, once wounded "
is drawn from his "Salve Caput cruentatum," a poem
of 350 Unes, in which 50 lines are devoted to each of
the Umbs of our Lord. It is not absolutely certain
that these and other poems ascribed to Bernard of
Clairvaux were actually written by him ; even MabiUon,
the editor of his works, is doubtful as to his authorship
of them, and many have shared his doubt; but Archbishop
Trench, the editor of " Sacred Latin Poetry," a critic
of large knowledge and fine insight, gives it as his
opinion that they are from his pen, and says — "if he
did not write them it is not easy to guess who could
have written them; and, indeed, they bear profoundly
the stamp of his mind, being only inferior in beauty
to his prose." Positive proof may indeed be lacking,
but the internal evidence is very strong for the authorship

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 59
of the saintly Abbot of Clairvaux ; and whilst the
controversies in which he engaged with Abelard, the
part he played in the Crusades, and his mystical sermons
on the Canticles are well nigh forgotten save by students
of ecclesiastical history, yet his hymns (if they are really
his) are familiar and full of inspiration to multitudes,
even of the most unlettered in our day. Thus the sacred
Poet whose verses appeal to the heart is far surer of
remembrance than the Theologue who discourses of
doctrine which appeals only to the inteUect, and is ever
changing its forms.
To a period a little later belongs Bernard of Morlaix
(the place of his birth), or as he is sometimes styled,
of Clugny (the name of his monastery). Born though
he was at Morlaix in Bretagne, he yet came of English
parentage. Of his Ufe, little is known save that he
entered the Abbey of Clugny, of which Peter the
Venerable was the head. To him we owe the hymn
of three thousand lines, called sometimes " De contemptu
mundi," and sometimes "Hora Novissima," from which
so many centos have been drawn — the best known
being " Jerusalem the golden," To Thee, 0 dear,
dear country," and "Brief life is here our portion."
Bernard attributed to a special inspiration of the Spirit
of God the power to write so extended a hymn in such
a difficult metre. It was written, strange to say, as a
satire against the vices and follies of his age. It is
remarkable that a satire should have given to the church
some of her most popular hymns. The case is probably
unique. The portions taken for translation by Dr. Neale
are the more jubUant ones, and give no idea of the
sadness and self abasement of the poem as a whole.

60 THE HYMN LOVER.
Of it, Dr. Neale says : " I have no hesitation in saying
that I look on these verses of . Bemard as the most lovely,
in the same way that the ' Dies Irae ' is the most
sublime, and the ' Stabat Mater ' the most pathetic of
me..iaeval poems."
It is curious that to one Bemard (of Clairvaux) we
should owe some of the most prized of our hymns
concerning Christ, and to another Bernard (of Morlaix
or Clugny) the hymns most frequently sung concerning
Heaven. The " Yeni Sancte Spiritus " (" Holy Spirit, Lord of
Light "), the loveliest, in Archbishop Trench's opinion, of
all the hymns in the whole circle of sacred Latin poetry,
is admitted by all the great authorities to be by King
Eobert II. of France (997-1031), who was singularly
addicted to church music, which he enriched, as well as
hymnody, with many compositions of his own. It is said
that "he placed himself, robed and crowned, among the
choristers of St. Denis, and led the musicians in singing
psalms and hymns of his own composition."
To this period belong those forms of hymns called
Sequences. A specimen of these, familiar to aU, may be
found in the weU-known " The strain upraise of joy and
praise," translated from Godescalcus by Dr. Neale. I
cannot do better than give Dr. Neale's beautiful account
of the origin of Sequences : —
"It is well known that the origin of sequences
themselves is to be looked for in the Alleluia of the
Gradual, sung between the Epistle and Gospel. During
this melody it was necessary that the deacon should have
time to ascend from his place at the altar to the rood-loft,

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 61
that he might thence sing the Gospel. Hence the pro
longation of the last syllable in the Alleluia of the
Gradual, in thirty, forty, fifty, or even a hundred notes ;
the neuma of which ritualistic writers speak so much.
True, there was no sense in this last syUable and its
lengthening out, but the mystical interpreters had their
explanation : ' the way in which we praise God in our
country is yet unknown.'
" And good people were content for some three
hundred years with this service ; and, as it has been
very truly observed, the attempt itself, if one may use
the expression, to explain the sound into sense, manifests
a little of the rationalism with which the Eastem has
always taunted the Western Church. But, towards the
beginning of the eleventh century, there was a certain
Swiss monk, by name Notker. The defects of every
religious person were well known in the house where he
resided, and a slight lisp in his speech gave him the
surname of Balbulus. He had resided for some years in
that marvellous monastery of S. Gall ; the church of
which was the pattern of all monastic edifices, till it was
ecUpsed by a church, the description of which now reads
like a most glorious dream — Clugny. While watching
the samphire gatherers on the precipitous cliffs that sur
rounded S. Gall, Notker had [composed the world-famous
hymn, ' In the midst of life we are in death.' But
desirous of obtaining the best education which Christen
dom could afford, he afterwards betook himself to the
monastery of Jumieges, and there formed an acquaintance
with many of its monks. With one of them he had, it
seems, a friendly discussion, whether the interminable ia

62 THE HYMN LOVER.
of the Alleluia might not be altered into a religious
sense; a discussion which, for the time, had no result.
But Jumieges, in common with so many other French
monasteries, was desolated by the barbarian Normans.
Whereupon , Notker's friend, bethinking himself of S.
Gall, took refuge in that great house ; and the discussion
which, years before, had commenced, was again carried
on between the two associates. At length Notker deter-
mined to put words to the notes which had hitherto only
interminably prolonged the Alleluia. He did so ; and, as
a first attempt, produced a sequence which began with
the line — ' Laudes Deo concinat orbis universus,'
and which has lately been republished. He brought this.
notes and all, on a parchment rolled round a cylinder of
wood, to Yso, precentor of what we should now call the
Cantoris side. Yso looked kindly on the composition,
but said that he must refer it to Marcellus, the precentor
on the Becani side. These two sang the sequence over
together, and observed that sometimes two notes went to
one syllable in a slur, sometimes three or four syllables
went to one note in a kind of recitative. Yso thereupon
was charged with the message that the verses would not
answer their purpose. Notker, not much discouraged,
revised his composition ; and now, instead of (for the first
line) Laudes Beo concinat orbis universus, he substituted
Laudes Beo concinat orbis ulique totus ; instead of the
second line. Coluber 'Ada deceptor, he now wrote Coluber
Ad(B male-suasor ; which, as he himself tells us, when the
good-natured Yso had sung over to himself, he gave
thanks to God, he commended the new composition to the

MEDIEVAL HYMNS. 6S
brethren of the monastery, and more especially to Othmar,
Yso's brother by blood. Such then was the origin of
sequences, at first called Proses, because written rather
in rhythmical prose than with any attention to metre.
St. Notker died about 912."
The introduction of such sequences into the worship
of nearly aU our English churches, furnishes one
Ulustration, out of many which might be given, of
the strange ways in which churches most remote from one
another in doctrine and ritual, profit each other.

64

CHAPTEE VI.

THE METEICAL PSALMS.
We have, in previous chapters, considered the hymns
of the first ages of the Church and Mediaeval times,
although their introduction, in an English dress, to the
hymnals of this country belongs to the later years of
the present century. Those of the Latin Church were,
doubtless, used in their original forms in the times before
the Eeformation, and came to our land in the Breviaries
of the Eoman Church, but those of the Eastem Church
were used neither in their original nor translated forms tiU
our own time. When England belonged to the Eoman
Church, her service of praise doubtless consisted of the
Psalms in the Vulgate version, and the Breviary h3rmns
in their original Latin. But when she threw off the
yoke of Eome, the Psalms of the English Prayer
Book, which were at first only said, began not long
after through metrical versions, to be sung.* "Song has
* It should not be forgotten that the " said or sung "• of the Prayer
Book is a simple euphemism taken from the old Offices, and really
meaning monotoned, which is equivalent to "said," or with inflexions
which is equivalent to " sung." Even up to 1662 there remained a
rubric by which not only the Psalms and Canticles but also the
Lessons were directed to be " sung after the manner o! distinct
reading to a plain tune."

THE METRICAL PSALMS. 65
been a feature of every new up-springing of truth, or
marked deliverance at the hand of God." The name of
Lollard, indeed, was given to the witnesses for evangeUcal
truth in the Low Countries, and in England and Scotland,
from their habit of singing, and is connected with our
word lull — ^to sing softly ; they were the sweet singers.
And the Reformation time, of which the Lollards were
the heralds, was marked in relation to song by three
closely connected features : (1) Their songs were in the
mother tongue, instead of the Latin, in which before, aU
pubUc worship had been conducted. (2) They assumed
metrical form ; and (3) they were for the use of the
people at large, and not, as in the Eoman Church, for the
priests alone. This last feature was one of the great
objects of the Eeformers, and brought in its train the two
preceding ones, since, for the people to sing, it was
necessary that the songs should be in their native speech,
whilst, for really united singing, metrical form was
necessary. It is far more difficult for a congregation to
chant Psalms than to sing them in metre, since, in the
former, there is uncertainty as to how many syUables are
to be given to the reciting note, whUst in the latter, each
syllable is wedded to a corresponding note of the tune.
Here Ues the real motive which led to the rendering
of the Psalms in metrical form. The Eeformation was a
people's movement, and so it demanded songs which the
people could both understand and sing.
Before this time there existed Early Hymns, Carols
both reUgious and secular, and translations of Breviary
Hynms, but they did not come into church use, partly
because of the apathy of the clergy, and partly because of
the ignorance and indifference of the people.

66 THE HYMN LOVER.
The earUest of aU the versions of the Psalms in the
popular tongue was the celebrated one into French, of
Clement Marot, a writer to whom even Edmund Spenser
was indebted, who translated fifty Psalms, two being
added by Calvin, and the rest by Theodore Beza. Goudimel,
the first musician of his age, the master of Palestrina,
an ardent Protestant, and one of the victims of St.
Bartholomew, set these to music, drawing the airs from
the popular songs of that time. This became the book
of song in aU French-speaking countries, attained great
popularity, and aided greatly in the spread of the doctrines
of the Eeformation. "It was the book of song in the
castle as well as the cottage ; for recreation or at
work ; for the lady in the hall, the weaver at the
loom, the peasant at the plough ; the first lesson taught
to children, the last words whispered to, or uttered
by the dying man." Both the words and music of
this coUection exercised an important infiuenee on the
Scottish version of 1564.
Even before the Eeformation time in England, MUes
Coverdale had made metrical versions of certain of the
Psalms, whilst the three brothers Wedderbum, in Scot
land, had rendered a similar service by the issue of
what is known as the Bundee Psalms. But the first
complete, or nearly complete, metrical version into
EngUsh, is that which goes by the name of Sternhold
and Hopkins. Whilst most of the versions are by them,
the remainder was graduaUy added by others. It was
firist published in London in parts, and afterwards, with
additions, in Geneva, on account of the EngUsh-speaking
refugees who had found shelter in that city. It was adopted
as the version for use in the Church of England in 1562
and continued to be used for more than 235 years. About

THE METRICAL PSALMS. 67
350 editions of it were issued during that time ;
being gradually superseded in the Church of England
by the version known as Tate and Brady's, It held its
ground, however, among the Nonconformists until sup
planted by the Psalms of Dr. Watts. In the EstabUshed
Church untU comparatively recent times, when hymns
came into favour, the version of Tate and Brady con
tinued to be sung. The Eoyal assent to Tate and Brady
gave leave to adopt it, but did not impose it on the
church, and it was more than a hundred years before it
was generaUy adopted. So late as 1828 a new edition by
Sternhold and Hopkins was issued for use. At that time
hymn books were 'springing up in considerable numbers.
Eoyal assent had indeed been given to other versions, e.g.,
King James, George Wither, Patrick, and Blackmore.
But the Church did not avail herself of it, partly because
of their defects, and partly because of the imwUUngness
to make a change, and so Sternhold and Hopkins, and Tate
and Brady held the field. Dr. Watts is the real connecting
link between the age of the metrical versions and that of
hynms, since his Psalms partake of the nature of both.
The earUer versions were, in reaUty, the Psalms done into
metre ; Dr. Watts' are an accommodation of the Psalms to
New Testament thought and language. Over the bridge
erected by him, the English churches of all sections
passed from the use of metrical Psalms to hynm-singing
pure and simple — the prose translation being retained
for recitation or chanting. In EngUsh Nonconformity, in
some cases, Sternhold and Hopkins gave way to versions
by Barton, Patrick,* who was himseU a churchman, and
others, but such versions had only a Umited and local
* A selection from his Psalms was long used at the Charterhouse.

TEE HYMN LOVER.

acceptance. At last, however, and about the same time,
both in the Established and Nonconformist churches, the
metrical versions gave way to hymns. This was not the
case, however, in Scotland and the Presbyterian Church
generally. There, the version of the Wedderbums pre
vailed over a Umited area, and in an early time ; but
there, as in England, Sternhold and Hopkins was the
first version generally used. But even in this, certain
alterations were made ; versions of certain Psalms being
by other hands. While the 100th by Kethe, and the
124th by Whittingham, are common to the EngUsh and
Scottish versions, and the 136th by Craig is substituted
for Churchyard's version, additional versions by Craig of
the 143rd and 145th were inserted from the Genevan
edition. Sternhold and Hopkins, thus improved, was
adopted by order of the General Assembly in 1564,
and continued in use tUl 1650. The coUection used
in Presbyterian Churches, even to our own day,
is due, however, to the action of the Westminster
Assembly in 1643. The version selected by them was
by Francis Eons, Provost of Eaton College, Oxford.
The Assembly, however, could not agree on the matter,
and hence the version of Eons gained no place in the
churches of England; but the General Assembly in
Scotland took up the matter where the Westminster
divines had left it, and, with Eous's version for a basis,
and with the addition of translations from the old
Scottish Psalter, and after many alterations, the new
collection was finally adopted by the Church of Scotland.
From that time to the present, it has held its place in
the worship of the Presbyterian section of the Church,
both in Scotland and other lands, and there stUl

THE METRICAL PSALMS. 69
remain a few who would restrict the song of the Church
to these metrical Psalms. In a recent book (1886),
the "Memoir of Henry Bazeley, the Oxford Evangelist,"
by the Eev. E. L. Hicks, M.A., there is an elaborate
plea, by the subject of the memoir, for the exclusive
use of the Psalms, as being the only inspired songs.
FiUl of earnestness, however, as is this plea, it is
unsupported by anything like reasonable argument, and
is chiefly remarkable for the fact that a man trained
in the 'University of Oxford, but who afterwards joined
the Church of Scotland, should have grown narrow
enough in thought to have put it forth. There are not
wanting symptoms that its day is nearly over — only a
selection from it is retained in the latest book, " Church
Praise " of the English Presbyterian Church — and, in
course of time, it wiU doubtless pass away altogether,
before the nobler hymnody of the age ; but for nearly
250 years it held its ground. It would be useless to
argue the question of its defects. To the Scotch it is
precious because of its early associations ; but to the
EngUsh, who regard it on its merits, whUst allowing that
some versions of great beauty may be found in it, yet as a
whole it seems utterly unworthy of retention in a time
like our own, so rich in noble songs. It certainly has
the great merit, in which Dr. Watts' version is the
most deficient of all, that it adheres closely to the actual
ideas of the BibUcal Psalms. To the English mind, it is
true, these ideas are, for the most part, presented in their
least attractive form when stretched on the procrastean bed
of modem metre. Still, it is one of the links with the
Psalm-singing of the past; and from its historic and
spiritual associations, ours shaU not be the hand to touch

70

THE EYMN LOVER.

it roughly. In the Nonconformist Churches of England,
the transition from Psalm-singing in the versions of
Sternhold and Hopkins, Patrick, Barton, and others, to
hymn-singing was, as we have said, brought about by the
labours of Dr. Watts, whose version of the Psalms forms
a kind of connecting Unk between the two, partaking as
they do of the characteristics of both. The elements in
them drawn from the Book of Psalms connect them with
the age of the metrical versions, whilst the elements
drawn from the New Testament connect them with the
hymn-siuging era which followed, and of which Dr.
Watts was the real pioneer.
Many other metrical versions of the Psalms were made
in early times — ^by Sir Philip Sidney and his sister Mary,
Countess of Pembroke, Bishop King, George Sandys,
Lord Bacon of seven of the Psalms, and others ; some of
these were highly poetic, but not cast in a form suitable
or pubUo worship, and never came into use in the Church.
Those who desire to pursue the subject fm'ther should consult
" The Story of the Psalters," by Henry Alexander Bell (Kegan
Paul & Co., 1888) who gives an account of 123 complete versions of
the Psalms, and specimens from each, of renderings of the Ist and
23rd Psalm. In the following table of editions now in the British
Museum Library, the relative popularity of the principal versions is
clearly seen : —

1549

1601

1651

1701

1751

1801

to

to

to

to

to

to

Total

1600
1650
1700
1750
1800
1868
Sternhold
47
206
102
120
105
21
601
Tate & Brady
.*<
6
35
103
159
303
Scotch version
...
17
9
28
44
98
Watts
...
7
32
58
97
Wesley
2
8
3
13
King James
8
8
Barton
1
4
2
7
Patrick
3
4
7
71

CHAPTEE VII.

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS.
Theeb are few, if any, EngUsh hymns to be found before
the beginning of the seventeenth century. To the
fifteenth century belong a few hymns addressed to the
Virgin and Christ. These have been edited from the
Lambert MS., No. 853, by Mr. Fumivall, for the Early
English Text Society. One of these, on ' ' The Sweetness
of Jesus," is very tender and beautiful; another, on
"The Love of Jesus," likens love to a fire which cleanses
us from sin, and joins man to God. But since worship
had not yet come to be offered through the vernacular, it
is aU but certain that such hymns were only for private
reading and meditation.
Before the seventeenth century, there is much noble
sacred EngUsh poetry, but few, if any hymns capable of
being sung in the congregation. And these poems, as it
has been weU said, were "too subtle and fanciful ever
to come home to the hearts of the people. They were
written for a choice few to enjoy. They were fuU of
those subtle aUusions, half the pleasure of which consists
in the ingenuity required to understand as weU as to
invent them. Such hymns could never be sung, like
Luther's, by Uttle children at Christmas, or become a

72 THE HYMN LOVER.
nation's battle-song, or sweetly distil peace at moments
when heart and flesh failed, and mortal effort was im
possible ; when the soul had lost its power to cling to
anything. The verses of this period bear witness to the
piety or the poetical power of the writers rather than
to the faith of the times." This is trae, especially when
the general ignorance of the people of that time is taken
into account. The spread of education has, however,
now quickened intelligence, and made men capable of
appreciating a style of hymn which, in earUer times,
would have been beyond them. This will account for the
presence, in our hymnals, of verses known in early times
only to those of the literary class ; whUst, in addition
to this, it must be remembered that the habit of these
earlier times was to look to one hymnist rather than to a
multitude for the provision of hymns for worship. Indeed,
the reaUy hymn-singing age was not yet, and did not
begin till the time of Watts. But still, scattered over
the then existing English literature, there were the
materials for a good, if not a large book of worship-song.
It remained for our own age to search out and utiUse
these overlooked and neglected treasures.
The hymn, " 0 Lord, turn not Thy face from me,"
attributed by some to John Mardley, and by others
to John Marckant, and belonging to about the middle
of the 16th century, is probably the earliest really
English hymn to be found in our present-day hymnals.
Sir Egerton Brydges is inclined to attribute some versions
of the Psalms in Sternhold and Hopkins signed M. to
Mardley. The hymn to which we have referred is not
without merit. It is usually given in the variation of
Bishop Heber. Here is the original : —

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS. 73
O Lord, turn not Thy face from me.
Who Ue in woeful state.
Lamenting all my woeful Ufe,
Before Thy mercy-gate ;
A gate which opens wide to thoae
"That do lament their sin :
Shut not that gate against me, Lord,
But let me enter in.
And caU me not to strict account,
How I have sojourned here.
For then my guilty conscience kaows
How vile I shaU appear.
So come I to Thy mercy gate.
Where mercy doth abound;
Imploring pardon for my sin,
'To heal my deadly wound.
Mercy, good Lord, mercy I ask.
This ia the total sum;
For mercy. Lord, is all my suit:
O let 'Thy mercy come.
George Sandys (1577-1643), is a much more notable
contributor to hymnody. Dryden called him " the best
versifier of his age." He wrote " a Paraphrase upon the
Psalms of David, and upon the hymns dispersed through
out the Old and New Testaments," and poetical versions
of the Song of Solomon, Job, and Ecclesiastes. The
most notable of his renderings is of the 61st Psalm,
beginning " Happy sons of Israel."
George Wither (1588-1667), wrote too much, it is trae,
but scattered over his writings are hymns that are Ukely
to retain their place in the song of the Church. The
best known are "Come, 0 come, with sacred lays;"
" The Lord is King, and weareth," a version of the 93rd
Psahn; and "Lord, Uving here are we," a hymn for the
anniversary of marriage — quaint and beautiful, and not
unlUre to George Herbert. It is so Uttle known that I
append it : —

74 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Lord, living here ai'e we.
As fast united yet.
As when our hands and hearts by Thee
Together first were knit !
And in a thankful song
Now sing we wiU Thy praise.
For that Thou dost as weU prolong
Our loving as our days.
Together we have now
Begun another year.
But how much time Thou wilt aUow
Thou mak'st it not appear.
We therefore do implore
That Uve and love we may
StDl 80, as if but one day more
Together we should stay.
Let each of other's wealth
Preserve a faithful care.
And of each other's joy and health
As if one soul we were.
Such conscience let ns make
Each other not to grieve.
As if we daily were to take
Our everlasting leave.
The frowardnesa that springs
From our con'upted kind.
Or from those troublous outward things
Which may distract the mind;
Permit Thou not, O Lord,
Our constant love to shake.
Or to disturb our true accord.
Or make our hearts to ache.
But let these fraUties prove
Affection's exercise,
And that discretion teach our love
Which wins the noblest prize.
So time which wears away
And ruins all things else,
ShaU fix our love on Thee for aye.
In whom perfection dweUs.
Eobert Herrick (bom 1591) is better known by the
secular poetry of his "Hesperides," than by his contri
butions to sacred song, which are included in " Noble
Numbers," but his "Litany to the Holy Spirit," though

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS. 7o
containing verses iU adapted for pubUc worship, as will
be seen below, yet is in parts tender and beautiful.
In the hour of my distress.
When temptations me oppress,
And when I my sins confess.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me I
When I Ue within my bed.
Sick in heart and sick in head.
And with doubts discomforted.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !
When the hotise doth sigh and weep,
And the world is drowned in sleep,
Yet mine eyes the watch do keep.
Sweet Spiiit, comfort me 1
When the artless doctor sees
No one hope, but of his fees.
And his skiU runs on the lees.
Sweet Spmt, comfort me !
When his potion and his pUl,
Is of none or Uttle skill.
Meet for nothing but to kiU,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !
When the passing-beU doth toU,
And the furies in a shoal
Come to fright a parting soul.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me I
When the tapers now burn blue.
And the comforters are few,
And that number more than true.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me I
When the priest his last hath prayed.
And I nod to what is said
"Cause my speech is now decayed.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !
When, God knows. I'm tossed about.
Either with despair or doubt.
Yet, before the glass be out,
Sweet Spirit, comfort mel
When the tempter me pursueth
With the sins of all my youth.
And half damns me with untruth.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !

76 TEE EYMN LOVER.
When the flames and heUish cries
Fright mine ears and fright mine eyes,
And all terrors me surprise.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !
When the Judgment is revealed.
And that opened which was sealed.
When to Thee I have appealed.
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !
George Herbert, the model parish priest of Bemerton,
is better known as a writer of sacred poetry — quaint and
suggestire in character — than as a writer of hymns ; but
in his weU-known book, " The Temple," verses so
lovely are found, that, with sUght alterations, they have
been pressed into the service of the Church's song.
Examples may be foimd in his rendering of the 23rd
Psalm, beginning " The God of Love my Shepherd is,"
"Let aU the world in every comer sing," and "Teach me,
my God and King," caUed " The EUxir." We append
the second of these : —
Let all the world in every corner sing
My God and King !
The heavens are not too high ;
His praise may thither fly :
The earth is not too low ;
His praises there may grow.
Let aU the world in every corner sing
My God and King !
Let aU the world in every corner sing
My God and King !
The Church with psalms must shout :
No door can keep them out :
But, above all, the heart
Must bear the longest part.
Let aU the world in every corner sing
My God and King !
Parts of a poem called "Discipline," beginning " Throw
away Thy rod," have been included in certain hymnals,
but they are, in our judgment, not suited for singing, and
are scarcely compatible with high thoughts of the Divine
discipline of men.

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS. 77
Bishop Cosin flnds a place among the hymnists by his
rendering of the "Yeni, Creator, Spiritus," beginning
" Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire," incorporated into
the Ordination Service of the EngUsh Prayer Book ; the
only hymn which has found a place in the venerable
Liturgy of that Church.
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), the well-known
author of the " EeUgio Medici," is known in reUgious
circles even better by his lovely Evening Hymn, " The
night is come; like to the day," than he is by his famous
book. As this hymn probably contains the germ out of
which Bishop Ken's far better known Evening Hymn
grew, I append it, that readers may judge for themselves
to what extent Ken was indebted to the hymn of the
learned Norwich physician : —
The night is come, like to the day
Depart not Thou, great God, away.
Let not my sins, black as the night,
EcUpse the lustre of Thy Ught.
Keep still in my horizon ; for to me
The sun makes not the day, but Thee.
Thou, whose nature cannot sleep.
On my temples sentry keep ;
Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes
Whose eyes are open while mine close.
Let no dreams my head infest
But such as Jacob's temples blest.
While I do rest, my soul advance ;
Make my sleep a holy trance :
That I may, my rest being wrought.
Awake into some holy thought ;
And with as active vigour run
My course as doth the nimble sun.
Sleep is a death ; — O make me try,
By sleeping, what it is to die !
And as gently lay my head
On my grave Jis now my bed.
Howe'er I rest, great God. let me
Awake again at last with Thee ;
And thus assur'd, behold I Ue
Securely, or to wake or die.

78 THE HYMN LOVER.
These are my drowsy days ; in vain
I do now wake lo sleep again ;
O, come that hour, when I shall never
Sleep again, but wake for ever !
John MUton (1608-1674), translated nine of the Psalms
in metre. They are remarkable for fidelity to the original,
as weU as for their poetic beauty. The best known of
these is of the 136th, " Let us with a gladsome mind."
Not less worthy are his renderings of parts of the 82nd,
85th, and 86th Psalms, " The Lord wiU come, and not be
slow," and of the 84th Psalm, " How lovely are Thy
dwellings fair." These are so fine in quality, and dis
tinctive in character, as to deserve rank as original
compositions. Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), pubUshed in his
book caUed " The Golden Grove," twenty -two " Festival
Hymns," from which the one on "The Second Advent
of Christ, or Christ coming to Jerusalem in triumph,"
has passed, in an altered form, into common use. In
the original it begins, " Lord, come away," but in its
altered form, " Descend to Thy Jerusalem, 0 Lord."
John Austin (died 1669), who belonged originally to
the Church of England, but afterwards joined the Eoman
communion, issued a devotional manual, containing
prayers and devout meditations for private and family
use, under the title, " Devotions in the Ancient Way of
Offices, containing Exercises for every day^in the week,
and every Holiday in the Year." It contained forty-
three hymns, some of which are from his own pen, others
are by Eichard Crashaw. It received the rare honour of
being adapted for the use of members of the English
Church. This is not to be wondered at, since Austin's

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS. 79
mind combined, in a very high degree, devoutness of
feeling with deep insight into truth. He is one of the
few men who reach through the letter to the spirit. Two
of his hymns have, in recent times, been included in
hymnals, and are Ukely to acquire a weU-deserved
popularity. "Blest be Thy love, dear Lord," is a hymn
as true in thought as it is simple and tender in
expression : — Blest be Thy love, dear Lord,
That taught us this sweet way.
Only to love Thee for Thyself,
And for that love obey.
O Thou, our souls' chief hope !
We to 'thy mercy fly ;
Where'er we are. Thou- canst protect,
Whate'er we need, supply.
Whether we sleep or wake.
To Thee we both resign ;
By night we see, as well as day.
If "Thy Ught on us shine.
Whether we live or die.
Both we submit to Thee;
In death we live, as weU as Ufe,
If Thine in death we be.
WhUst "Hark, my soul, how everything," is both
poeticaUy and lyricaUy lovely :—
Hark, my soul, how everything
Strives to serve our bounteous King;
Each a double tribute pays.
Sings its part, and then obeys.
Nature's chief and sweetest quire.
Him with cheerful notes admire ;
Chanting every day their lauds
While the grove their song applauds.
Though their voices lower be.
Streams have too their melody ;
Night and day they warbling run,
Never pause, but still sing on.

THE HYMN LOVER.

AU the flowers that gUd the spring
Hither their stiU music bring ;
If Heaven bless them, thankful, they
SmeU more sweet, and look more gay.
Only we can scarce afford
This short office to our Lord ;
We, on whom His bounty flows,
AU things gives, and nothing owes.
Wake ! for shame, my sluggish heart.
Wake ! and gladly sing thy part ;
Learn of birds, and springs, and flowers,
How to use thy nobler powers.
Call aU nature to thy aid.
Since 'twas He whole nature made ;
Join in one eternal song.
Who to one God all belong.
Live for ever, glorious Lord !
Live, by aU "JThy works adored !
One in Three, and Three in One,
Thrice we bow to Thee jjone !
The man who wrote such hymns as these must have been
resting on those subUme truths which underlie even the
corruptions of the Eoman Church.
From Henry More, the Platonist (1614-1687), a few
verses have passed through the adaptations of John
Wesley, first into " Hymns and Sacred Poems," by John
and Charles Wesley, and thence into the hynmals of
different sections of the Methodist body. He belongs,
however, to philosophy rather than hymnody.
Eichard Baxter (1615-1691), produced a metrical
version of the Psalms, which was pubUshed after his
death, and also two volumes of poetry. From the latter,
two hymns have passed into collections. " Lord, it
belongs not to my care " is part of a larger hymn, con
sisting of eight verses of eight lines each, caUed " The
Covenant and Confidence of Faith." It is so evidently
the utterance of the heart, and so tenderly expressed, that

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS. 81
it has won for itself a wide and deserved popularity
among all sections of the Church. The finest verse is : —
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before ;
He that into God's kingdom comes,
Must enter by His door.
"Ye holy angels bright," a Psalm of Praise, has merit,
but lacks the distinctiveness and individuaUty of the
former. The well-known hymn "Jerusalem, my happy home"
belongs to this period. Of its authorship Uttle is known.
It is contained in a MS. quarto volume number 15,225 in
the British Museum, the date of which seems (from the
internal evidence) to be about 1616. The hymn itself
(which is entitled, " A Song," by F. B. P., to the tune
"Diana") is probably of Queen EUzabeth's time. F. B. P.
is usuaUy regarded as standing for Francis Baker, Priest ;
but this is mere conjecture. In earUer days, it was
attributed to David Dickson. Dr. Neale says : — "It was
most impudently appropriated to himself, and mixed up
with a quantity of his own rubbish, by one Dickson, a
Covenanter." The hymn has undergone so many altera
tions at various times, that our readers may perhaps be
glad to see it in its original form.
Hierusalem ! my happie Home !
When shall I come to thee ?
When shall my sorrows have an end ?
Thy joyes when shaU I see ?
O happie harbor of the saints,
O sweete and pleasant soyle,
In thee no sorrow may be found,
Noe greefe, noe care, noe toyle !
In thee noe sicknesse may be scene,
Noe hurt, noe ache, noe sore ;
There is noe death, nor ugly deviU,
But Life for evermore.

82 THE HYMN LOVER.
Noe dampish mist is seene in thee,
Noe cold nor darksome night ;
There everie soule shines as the sun ;
There God Himselfe gives light.
There lust and lucre cannot dweU,
There envy bears no sway ;
There is noe hunger, heate, nor oolde.
But pleasure everie way.
Hierusalem ! Hierusalem !
God grant I once may see
Thy endless joyes, and of the same
Partaker aye to bee I
Thy walls are made of pretioua stones,
'i'hy bulwarkes diamondes square.
Thy gates are of right orient pearle,
Exceedinge riche and rare.
Thy turrettes and thy pinnacles
With carbuncles doe shine ;
Thy verrie streets are paved with gould,
Surpassinge clear and fine.
Thy houses are of yvorie,
¦Thy windows crystal cleare ;
Thy tyles are made of beaten gould ;
— O God, that I were there !
Within thy gates nothinge doth come
That is not passinge cleane ;
Noe spider's web, no durt, no dust,
Noe filthe may there be seene.
Ah ! my sweete Home, Hierusalem,
Would God I were in th^e !
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joyes that I might see !
Thy saints are crowned with glorie gi'eat,
'They see God face to face ;
They triumph still, they stiU reioyce ;
Most happie is their case.
Wee that are heere in banishment
Continuallie doe moane ;
We sigh and sobbe, we weepe and waile,
PerpetuaUie we groane.
Our sweete is mixed with bitter gaule.
Our pleasure is but paine ;
Our ioyes scarce last the lookeing on,
Our sorrowes still remaine.

EARLY ENGLISH HYMNS. 83
But there they live in such deUght,
Such pleasure and such play.
As that to them a thousand yeares
Doth seeme as yesterday.
Thy vineyardes and thy orchardes are
Most beautifuU and faire.
Full furnished with trees and fruits.
Most wonderfuU and rare.
Thy gardens and thy gallant walkes
ContinuaUy are greene ;
There growe such sweet and pleasant flowers
As noe where else are seene.
There's nectar and ambrosia made
There's muske and civette sweete ;
There manie a fair and daintie drugge
Are troden under feete.
There cinnamon, there sugar gi'ows.
There narde and halm abound :
What tounge can teUe or harte conceive
The ioys that there are found ?
Quyt through the streetes, with sUver sound.
The Flood of Life do flowe ;
Upon whose bankes, on everie syde,
The Wood of Life doth growe.
There trees for evermore beaie fruite,
And evermore doe springe ;
There evermore the angels sit.
And evermore doe singfe.
There David stands, with harpe in hands.
As master of the queere ;
Tenne thousand times that man were blest,
That might this musicke heare !
Our Ladie singes Magnificat,
With tune surpassinge sweete ;
And aU the Virginns heare theii' parte
Sitting aboue her feete.
Te Deum doth Saint Ambrose singe.
Saint Austine doth the like ;
Ould Simeon and Zacharie
Have not their songes to seeke.
There Magdalene hath left her mone,
And cheerfuUie doth singe
With blessed Saints, whose harmonie
In everie street doth ringe.

84 THE HYMN LOVER.
Hierusalem ! my happie Home !
Would God 1 were in thee !
Would God my woes were at an end.
Thy joyes tbat I might see !
Of the writers of the period covered by this chapter we
may say generally, that none of them made hymn-
writing a distinct object. It may be questioned whether
any of them wrote hymns with the idea of their being
sung in worship. Most of them are adaptations, either
from poems, or verses written for private reading or
meditation. They are sporadic utterances due to the lyric
feeling which forced itself into expression. And the
reason is evident : song, save in metrical versions of the
Psalms, was unknown in the Churoh of those times.
Sternhold and Hopkins monopolised the choir, and there
fore there was no demand to create a supply of hymns.
This accounts for their paucity during this period ; and it
also accounts for the great merit of most of those which
were produced. They were not productions of men who
wrote to order, but of those who could not help breaking
into song. Quality, not quantity, is the characteristic of
this period of hymnody, which bears the mark of
the freshness and power so evident in the literature of
that age.

85

CHAPTER VIII.
— * —
INCEEASE OF THE HYMNIC FACULTY.
We are now nearing a period on which the coming glory
of hymnody begins to cast its light. Foregleams of the
hymn-singing ages now become visible. Of this period,
George MaoDonald, in his "England's Antiphon," says : —
"We find ourselves now in the zone of %m»-writing.
From this period, that is, from toward the close of the
seventeenth century, a large amount of the fervour of the
country finds vent in hymns: they are innumerable."
John Mason, who died in 1694, is, perhaps, the first
Englishman who set himself, with success, to produce
hymns for actual use in worship. They were probably the
first to be used in congregational worship in England. He
wrote thirty-four songs of praise, six penitential hymns,
and a version of the 86th Psalm. To these were added
"Penitential Cries," chiefly by the Eev. Thomas Shep
herd, an Independent minister, of Braintree. These,
and the hymns included in W. Barton's "Psalms and
Hymns" (1681), and his "Six Centuries of Select
Hymns " (1688), formed the thin end of the wedge by
means of which, at last, hymn singing found its way into
the services of the Independents, who, therefore, are the
true pioneers of hymn singing in England ; but, at the

THE HYMN LOVER.

same time, the first real hymn writer of merit belongs to
the Established Churoh, for John Mason is a writer of
great merit. This is evident from the fact that, although
William Barton preceded him, none of Barton's hynms have
estabUshed themselves in the favour of the Church. Mr.
Enoch Watts, in a letter urging his brother to publish his
hymns, rests his plea on the ground that " Mason now
reduces this kind of writing to a sort of yawning in
difference, and honest Barton chimes us asleep." The
Church of later times has endorsed the second part of this
plea by rejecting Barton's hymns, but it has repudiated
the first part by retaining the finest of Mason's hymns,
which are clearly growing in popularity. There are
those in our day who prefer Mason to Watts himself.
George MacDonald says of Mason's hymns : — " Dr. Watts
was very fond of them ; would that he had written with
similar modesty of style ! " Their popularity, even in
those times, is seen in the faet that they passed through
twenty editions. Montgomery says of his hymns : —
" The style is a middle tint between the raw colouring of
Quarles and the day -Ught clearness of Watts." Speaking
of both Mason and Shepherd, George MacDonald says :^
" In the writings of both we recognise a straightforward
ness of expression equal to that of Wither, and a quaint
simplicity of thought and form like that of Herrick ;
while the very charm of some of the best lines is their
spontaneity. The men have just enough mysticism to
afford them homeliest figures for deepest feelings." It
seems to me that John Mason's style is best accounted
for by two influences ; one derived from George Herbert,
whose poems, it is clear, he knew and loved, and
the other from the fact that his purpose in writing his

INCREASE OF THE HYMNIC FACULTY. 87
hymns was that they should be sung. The first accounts
for his method of thought ; the second for his style of
verse. Deeper than both these infiuences, of course, was
the devout and thoughtful nature of the man himself.
To all these combined we owe his fine hymns, so
increasingly prized, and which are fast recovering the
place from which they were pushed by the hymns of
Dr. Watts (which for so long held exclusive possession
of the Independent Church). Rarely did Watts rise to
the height of thought and beauty of expression which
are found in Mason's hymns. Here are specimens : —
Now from the altar of our hearts
Let incense-flames arise.
Assist us, Lord, to offer up
Our evening sacrifice.
Awake ! our love ; awake ! our joy.
Awake ! our heart and tongue ;
Sleep not when mercies loudly call ;
Break forth into a song.
Minutes and mercies multiplied
Have made up all this day ;
Minutes came quick, but mercies were
More fleet and free than they.
New time, new favours, and new joys
Do a new song require :
Till we shall praise Thee as we would.
Accept our hearts' desire
Lord of our time, whose hand hath set
New time upon our score ;
Thee may we praise for all our time.
When time shall be no more.
and what is, perhaps, his finest hymn, of which I quote
the first three verses : —
Thou wast, O God, and Thou wast blest.
Before the world began ;
Of Thine eternity possest
Before time's hour glass ran.
'Ihou needest none Thy praise to sing.
As if Thy joy could fade ;
Couldst Thou have needed anything,
Thou couldst have nothing made.

88 THE HYMN LOVER.
Great and good God, it pleasfed Thee
Thy Godhead to declare ;
And what Thy goodness did decree,
Thy greatness did prepare ;
Thou spak'st, and heaven and earth appeared
And answered to Thy call ;
As if theii' Maker's voice they heard.
Which is the creature's aU.
To whom, Lord, should I sing, but Thee,
The Maker of my tongue ?
Lo, other lords would seize on me.
But I to Thee belong.
As waters haste into their sea,
And earth unto its earth.
So let my soul return to Thee,
From whom it had its birth.
So good a judge as George MacDonald regards this as one
of the very finest hymns in the language. I once quoted
the Unes — To whom, Lord, should I sing but Thee,
The Maker of my tongue,
to Mr. T. H. Gill, the well known hymnist, and shall
never forget his ecstatic delight. The influence George
Herbert exerted over Mason is seen in the hymn,
" Blest day of God, most calm, most bright," which is
clearly an echo of Herbert's " 0 day most calm, most
bright." The influence of Herbert over Mason is as
evident as that exerted by Mason over Watts. Had
Mason's lot been cast in a later and hymn singing age,
he would probably have reached a more perfect hymnic
style. The compactness of his thoughts would then
have taken on more lyric forms. But stiU, he deserves
lasting honour as one of the very few who wrote fine
hymns in EngUsh before the hymn singing era reaUy
began. Thomas Shepherd (1665-1739), belongs to a somewhat
later period, but should perhaps, be mentioned here, both

INCREASE OF THE HYMNIC FACULTY. 89
because he belongs to the same school, and because his
hymns were so closely associated with those of Mason.
He wrote twenty " Penitential Psalms." His style is like
that of Mason, but his verses lack his vigour and insight.
He was originally a clergyman in Buckinghamshire, but
joined the Independents, and became pastor of the church
in which another great hymnist, Doddridge, afterwards
ministered, at Northampton. His finest hymn contains
the foUowing verses —
Alas ! my God, that we should be
Such strangers to each other !
O that as friends we might agree.
And walk and talk together !
Thou know'st my soul doth dearly love,
The place of 'Thine abode ;
No music drops so sweet a sound
As these two words. My God.
If Henry Vaughan (1621-1695), the "Silurist's" lot
had been cast in a hymn-singing age, he would have been
almost sure to have written noble hymns, but there was
then no musician waiting to wed his words to music, nor
choir ready to sing them when thus wedded, and so he
wrote only for men to read. StiU, there is a rich mine of
sacred ideas in his poetry, which only need setting by
the skilful hymnist to shine in the crown of worship.
Both Vaughan, and his predecessor, Herbert, with whom
he has so much in common, might be to hymnists what
Spenser is to the poets. Two of Yaughan's hymns have
found their way into modem coUeetions, viz. : " My soul,
there is a countrie," and "Bright Queen of Heaven,
God's Virgin Spouse," whilst his version of Psalm 121,
beginning "Tip to those bright and gladsome hUls," has
been included in several public school hymnals.
Samuel Crossman (1624-1683), has given us nine

90 THE HYMN LOVER.
hymns which have a certain lyric merit, but are not
very healthy in tone. The best known are: "Jerasalem
on high, my joy and city is," " My life's a shade, my
days," and "My song is love unknown." They lack the
vigour and insight of John Mason, and have a certain
morbid tone of dissatisfaction with earth, which is,
happily, passing from the faith of modem times.
The Earl of Roscommon's (died 1684) part in hymnody
did not extend beyond a rendering of the Bies Lrce, which
has acquired a certain fame, and was used commonly in
England in his day. The two last lines of this —
My God, my Father, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me in my end —
were uttered by him just before he expired. Mr. Orby
Shipley, in his " Annus Sanctus," says that, in all
probabiUty, it is wrongly attributed to the Earl.
To John Dryden (1623-1700) we owe the most
popular rendering of the " Veni, Creator, Spiritus," of
which we have spoken in an earUer chapter, beginning
" Creator, Spuit, by whose aid." Much of the evidence
points to him as the author of other renderings of
ancient hymns, but it is not absolutely conclusive. He
has been called " the most feUcitous and the most reckless
of EngUsh translators."
Bishop Thomas Ken, of whom Dryden's Unes on the
" Good Parson " are said to be a picture : —
Letting down the golden chain irom high.
He drew his audience upward to the sky.
And oft with holy hymns he charmed the ears,
A music more melodious than the spheres ;
For David left him, when he went to rest.
His lyre ; and, after him, he sang the best.
Up to the present time, this would seem to be the popular
judgment, since his Morning and Evening Hymns are

INCREASE OF THE HYMN.IG FACULTY. 91
probably the best known of any in EngUsh-speaking
countries, and are included in nearly every collection,
whilst the doxology with which they both close is
certainly not only the finest, but the best known in the
world. These hymns were first published by the author
in the "Manual of Prayers, for the scholars of Win
chester College," in 1625, and afterwards revised by him.
It was in the first version the Evening Hymn began,
" Glory to Thbe, my God, this night." The Bishop
afterwards altered it to " All praise to Thee, my God, this
night." The hymn for Midnight, beginning " Lord, now
my sleep does me forsake," has fine lines in it, but, as
was natural, since it is very rarely people sing at that
time, did not come into use like those for Morning and
Evening. None of the other hymns in his "Christian
Year " are worthy to be compared with these, nor have
any of them attained to use in the Church.
It might perhaps be questioned whether the Morning
and Evening Hymns were entirely original productions of
Bishop Ken, on the ground that certain verses, in a more
rugged version, are included in the " Yerbum Sempiter-
num " of John Taylor, known as The Water Poet, which
was republished in 1693, whilst the Winchester Manual, in
which Ken's hymns are first found, did not appear till two
years later, in 1695. These are the verses, as they
appear in the " Yerbum Sempitemum." A Prayer for
the Morning : —
Glory to Thee, my God, who safe has kept.
And me refresh'd, while I securely slept;
Lord, this day guard me, lest I may transgress.
And all my undertakings guide and bless.
And since to Thee my vows I now renew.
Scatter my by-past sins as Morning Dew,
That so 'Thy glory may shine clear as day.
In all I either think, or do, or say.

92 THE HYMN LOVER.

Another from the Evening : —
Forgive me, dearest Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The many ills that 1 this day have done.
That with the world, my self, and then with Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at perfect peace may be.
Teach me to live that I may ever dread
The Grave as little as I do my bed ;
Keep me this night, O keep me. King of Kings,
Secure under Thine own Almighty Wings.
But it is now known that Ken's hymns appeared earUer
than 1695 — in 169.! — in a twelve-page pamphlet, of
which the only known copy is in the Church House.
It was a very common practice in that age, to insert
hymns in religious books without any acknowledgment
of the source whence they were taken. In the edition
of the " Lama Sabacthani, or the Cry of the Son of
God," a high Anglican book on the Passion, published
in 1708, is inserted a mangled version of Dr. Watts'
" When I survey the wondrous cross," which appeared
in the first edition of his hymns in 1707 ; whilst in
the 1701 edition of Bishop Joseph HaU's "Jacob's
Ladder" are given several hymns, "Jerasalem, my
happy home," and others from the pen of Mason, no
acknowledgment of their authorship being appended.
It has also been suggested, that Ken drew some of
his materials from Flatman, who published a volume
of poems and hymns in 1674, but a candid consideration
of the hymn from which he is said to have borrowed
does not support this suggestion. But whilst we must
reject these charges of indebtedness, there can be
little doubt that Ken was acquainted with the hymn
of Sir Thomas Browne's, published in his " Religio
Medici," and that unconsciously, in writing his Evening

INCREASE .OF THE HYMNIC FACULTY. 93

Hymn, he was affected thereby. A comparison of the
good Bishop's hymn with that of the Norwich physician,
given on page 77, will reveal many similarities, both of
thought and expression. The plagiarism, if such existed,
was, however, probably quite unconscious. Those who
desire to consider this question further, wUl find
materials in an interesting chapter in Dean Plumptre's
work, " The Life and Letters of Bishop Ken," of
which, with great kindness, he permitted me to read
the proofs.
Nahum Tate (1652-1715) and Nicholas Brady (1659-
1726) are chiefly known by their translations of the
Psalms into metre, which succeeded those of Sternhold
and Hopkins, but in the appendix to their version of the
Psalms are certain hymns, probably from the pen of one
or other of them. The most important of these are " To
God be glory, peace on earth," an EngUsh rendering of
an ancient hymn, " While shepherds watched their flocks
by night," and also " 0 God of Hosts, the mighty
Lord," which, however, is a part of their Psalter, and
also included therein, in its proper place. Some of
their versions of the Psalms are deservedly retained
as hymns in modem collections, especially " Through
aU the changing scenes of life " (Psalm xxxiv).
Their versions of the Psalms as a whole, though less
rugged than those of Sternhold and Hopkins (which
they displaced), have little poetic merit, and could only
have satisfied a commonplace age.
The Wesley family, to which hymnody owes so much,
is represented in this age by Samuel, the father of John
and Charles Wesley ; himself the son of an earlier John
Wesley. The one hymn we owe to him is "Behold the

94 THE HYMN LOVER.
Saviour of mankind." It was found written on a piece
of music, which narrowly escaped destruction when his
parsonage at Epworth was burnt down — a fire from which
his son John was saved in an almost miraculous way. It
is a somewhat dramatic hymn, and more after the manner
of Watts than of his son, Charles Wesley.
The use of Joseph Stennett's, (1663-1713) hymns has
been confined, with one exception, chiefly to the Baptist
body, to which he belonged. He wrote twelve hymns for
believer's baptism — a theme qu which we have never met
with a really fine hymn, although there are many not
speciaUy written for it which are admirably suited to such
a service. His hymn, beginning " Another six days' work
is done," has some little merit for Sunday morning use.
It consisted originally of fourteen verses, from which
four are usually taken. The last verse, " Come, bless the
Lord, whose love assigns," is by another hand.
The last name of the period, before Watts, is Joseph
Addison (1672-1719), a great name in English literature,
and, so far as style and taste are concerned, a notable
name in hymnody ; but he lacked the vision and faculty
divine so essential to poetry of the highest order. StUl,
his hymns are far above the average. His rendering of
the 19th Psalm, " The spacious firmament on high," was
first given at the end of an article in the Spectator,
No. 465, August 23rd, 1712, on " The right means to
strengthen faith." That of the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord my
pasture shall prepare," appeared in the same periodical.
No. 441, July 26th, 1712. His hymn for traveUers, "How
are Thy servants blest, 0 Lord," in No. 489, Sept. 20th,
1712, at the end of a paper on " The Sea." " When

INCREASE OF THE HYMNIC FACULTY. 95
rising from the bed of death," in No. 513, October 18th,
1712. His finest hymn, most full of feeUng and lyric
force, "When all Thy mercies, 0 my God," is appended
to an article on " Praise to God," in No. 453, August 9th,
1712. It wUl thus be seen that aU his hymns were
published in the same year, 1712. Two of his hymns
have been claimed as Andrew Marvell's by Captain
Thompson, but there is no good ground for the claim.
In the period covered by this chapter, a distinct advance
is observable toward hymn writing as distinguished from
mere poetry. Hymns begin to assume a distinct style ;
they are less vehicles for thought and more for religious
aspiration ; they have grown simpler, both in form and
substance, and more within the comprehension of simple
folk. The foundations have thus been laid on which
first Watts, then Wesley, and afterwards a multitude of
builders wiU erect the great Temple of EngUsh Song.

CHAPTER IX.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH HYMNODY.
Isaac Watts is the real founder of English hymnody.
What Ambrose was to the Latins ; what Clement Marot
was to the French ; what Luther was to the Germans ;
that, and perhaps more, was Watts to the English. As
Josiah Conder says: — "He was the first who succeeded
in overcoming the prejudice which opposed the intro
duction of hynms into our pubUc worship." In our
hymn-singing age, it is difficult, especially for its younger
members, to reaUse the strength and even violence of
such a prejudice. So strong was it, so high did feeUng
run on the subject, that many a churoh was rent asunder
by the proposal to introduce hymns ; in some cases, even
by the proposal to sing metrical versions of the Psalms.
This was markedly the case among the Baptists. In the
church of which Benjamin Keach was the pastor (the
original of that to which Mr. Spurgeon ministered),
when, after prolonged discussion, it was decided to
introduce singing into its worship, " a minority took
refuge in a songless sanctuary." In his "Truth Soberly
Defined," pubUshed in 1698, Isaac Marlow, with con
siderable passion, maintained that the Chujoh should
not permit the introduction of singing into her services.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH HYMNODY. 97
This appears to have been very closely connected with the
Puritan prejudice against forms of prayer. The objection
that was taken against forms in prayer was easily
extended to forms in song. Regarded logically, they
stand or fall together. And in many instances, the ob
jection to forms was applied to every part of worship, even
the reading of Scripture, which a century ago was not
customary in the Congregational Churches in London.*
But whilst the objection to forms oi prayer remains among
Nonconformists generaUy, that against forms of praise
has long since died out ; but in many quarters it died
hard. In some Churches, however, the objection lay
not against singing, for the metrical Psalms were sung,
but against the singing of hymns. There was a feeUng
that the Une must be drawn somewhere, and so it was
drawn at hymns. It is very difficult to discover the
usages in worship of the early Nonconformists. At my
request, some of the Church books of the most ancient
congregations, notably that at Stepney Meeting, have
been searoned by the kindness of friends, but no minutes
can be foimd bearing on the subject. Even Dr.
Stoughton, who probably knows more than any Uving
man of the usages of the churches in England since
the passing of the Act of Uniformity, can throw scarcely
any Ught on the subject. The publication of various
collections of hymns by W. Barton during the years
between 1654 and 1688 ; the large sale of Mason and
Shepherd's hymns (1691) ; the issue of a coUection of
" Divine Hymns," gathered from six authors, amongst
whom were J. Mason and R. Baxter, in 1694 ; seem to
point to the probabUity that hymns were used, at all
* cf. Congregational Magazine for 1833, p. 579.

98 THE HYMN LOVER.
events in some churches ; but it is not decisive, since
pubUcation does not always imply adoption by the
churches, and such collections may have been chiefly
used for reading, or, as in the case of Matthew Henry's
hymns (1695), for singing in the home. I cannot help
thinking that such hymns, if used at all in pubUc
worship, could have been sung in very few churches, and
that the great majority confined themselves to the singing
of the metrical Psalms, in the versions of Sternhold and
Hopkins, or Patrick, or Barton. If, however, Dr. Gibbons
is to be reUed on, hymns must have been in use in
the closing years of the 17th century, for he says :
" Mr. John Morgan, a minister of very respectable
character, now Uving at Romsey, Hants, has sent me the
foUowing information : ' The occasion of the Doctor's
(Watts) hymns was this, as I had the account from his
worthy feUow -labourer and ooUeague, the Rev. Mr. Price,
in whose family I dwelt above fifty years ago. The
hymns which were sung at the Dissenting Meeting at
Southampton [these were Barton's] were so little to the
gust of Mr. Watts, that he could not forbear complaining
of them to his father. The father bid him try what he
could do to mend the matter. He did, and had such
success in his first essay, 'Behold the glories of the Lamb,'
that a second hymn was earnestly desired of him, and
then a third and fourth, &c., tUl, in process of time, there
was such a number of them as to make up a volume.' "
But I cannot help thinking that the church at Southampton
was exceptionally liberal in its spirit ; evidence for which
I see in the fact that they adopted the hymns of young
Watts — a member of their own fellowship, and a prophet
is not without honour, save in his own country — so readUy,

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH HYMNODY. 99
and without, so far as we know, opposition. That this is
so seems to be proved by the fact that, in many cases,
nearly half a century elapsed before some churches
would admit even his versions of the Psalms into their
worship. It must be remembered, too, that the funda
mental principle of Independency permits no act of
uniformity in relation to either doctrine or worship, but
leaves each church free in both respects. This makes it
the more difficult to discover its usage in the matter of
singing than it is with bodies closely coinpacted, in which
to discover the usage of one is to be sure of that of aU.
When Watts's hymns began to find their way into
favour, the more conservative regarded them, as Bradbury
afterwards did, as "Watts's Whims."* Whereas, in
Germany, Luther's hymns were sung almost as soon
as they were produced, it was thirty or forty years
before those of Dr. Watts found their way into common
use ; and even then suspicions of heresy fastened about
the churches that adopted them. It seems scarcely
possible that Uttle more than a century ago hynm-
singing was scarcely knovm in our churches. Without
it, those services must have been extremely duU ;
what with the long prayers and the long sermons,
they must have been a great weariness to the flesh.
There must surely have been a good many of the
worshippers who, like Eutychus under Paul's long
preaching, fell asleep. As to the hymnody of the time,
Dr. Watts's lines would surely apply : —
O what a wretched land is this.
That yields us no supplies.
And it was this poverty which really gave birth to our
modern hymnody, for, in the deepest sense, Dr. Watts is
* Walter WUson's " History of Dissenting Churches iu London,"
III, p. 527.

100 , THE HYMN LOVER.
its founder. His versions of the Psalms and his original
hymns supplanted all previous ones, and for many a long
year held undisputed possession of the Nonconformist
Church against all comers. This is a thing, so far as I
know, perfectly unique in the history of the Church, and
is not even paraUeled by the case of Charles Wesley's
hymns among the Methodists, since that collection con
tained hynms by both John and Charles Wesley, and a
very few from other writers, as well as many translations
from the German. But for more than a century. Watts
remained undisputed master of the hymnody of the Inde
pendents. No other hymns than his were heard in any
of the assembUes. No other writer ever ruled the Church
in this way before. The Independent Churches became
as superstitiously conservative in eUnging to Watts's
hymns as their forefathers had been in rejecting them,
and using only the Psalms in metre. Even the Psalter —
the hymn book of the Jewish Church — does not furnish a
paraUel, since that is the product, not only of many
authors, but of many ages. Scripture itself has come to
us through many minds ; but for more than a century.
Watts was the only hymnist of the Independent sanctuaries
of our land ; so venerated were his hymns and psalms,
that in this very century there were persons who refused
to sing any others, and actuaUy sat down if any others
were given out. This was both a gain and a loss — a gain
in that, through him, hymns became a part of Divine
worship ; a loss in that his preeminence excluded the
hymns of other writers, even those then in existence by
George Herbert, John Milton, Richard Baxter, John
Mason, to say nothing of those by writers of other lands,
or the ancient hymns of the Church.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH HYMNODY. 101
The unique position of Dr. Watts is due partly to the
excellence and suitabUity of his hymns to the purposes of
pubUc worship, and partly to the nakedness of the land
at the time he wrote. He is the pioneer of popular
EngUsh hymnody. He broke new ground. For this he
deserves to be kept in perpetual remembrance. This has,
in my judgment, given his hymns a place higher than, as
a whole, they deservje. This has covered a multitude of
defects in them. As a matter of fact, he both soared
very high and sank very low in hymn-writing. I know
not where to look for more noble, and, at the same time,
more unworthy hymns than are to be found in his pages.
There are hymns by him that will last as long as the Churchi
continues her worship-song — e.g., "I'll praise my Maker'
with my breath," " Our God, our help in ages past,"
"When I survey the wondrous cross," "Hear what the
voice from heaven proclaims," and others that might be
named. These are a perpetual possession ; but many, I
may say most, of his hymns are destined to be, if they
are not already, forgotten. Some of them, indeed, once
sung in the Church cannot now be read without a smile.
It is difficult to reaUse that verses in many of them could
ever have been sung without a titter passing over the
congregation. Take the following as Ulustrations. Here
is a verse from his version of the 101st PsaUn : —
I'U purge my famUy around.
And make the wicked flee ;
So shall my house be ever found
A dweUing fit for Thee.
Here is a verse from Hymn 19 of the second book : —
He spoke, and straight our hearts and brains
In all their motions rose ;
Let blood (said He) flow round the veins,
And round the veins it flows.

102 THE HYMN LOVER.
Here is a verse from Hymn 70 of the same book : —
If God His voice of tempest rears.
Leviathan lies stiU and fears ;
Anon he lifts his nostrils high,
And spouts the ocean to the sky.
Here are a couple of verses from Hymn 100 of the same
book: — Christ is my light, my Ufe, my care.
My blessed hope, my heavenly prize ;
Dearer than all my passions are,
My limbs, my bowels, or my eyes.
The strings that twine about my heart.
Tortures of racks may tear them off ;
But they can never, never part
With their dear hold of Christ, my love.
Here are the first and third verses of Hymn 2 of the
second book : —
My thoughts on awful subjects roll,
Damnation and the dead ;
What horrors seize the guUty soul
Upon a dying bed.
Then swift and dreadful she descends
Down to the fiery coast,
Amongst abominable fiends.
Herself a frightful ghost.
Ministering in a church in which the first verse of this
hymn was being announced by the precentor, Mr. Paxton
Hood (lover of Watts though he was) shouted, " No, my
thoughts don't roll on awful subjects. Let us sing,
' Come, let us join our cheerful songs.' "
The fact is. Watts, responding to the call for hymns,
wrote too much. No less than 515 psalms and hymns are
found in the volume actually used in public worship, to
.say nothing of his sacred lyrics. It is not possible for
any man, however gifted, to write so large a number of

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH HYMNODY. 103

hymns of high quality, and with real distinctiveness of
character and subject. It was even more difficult in his
time than ours, since he was confined to a few metres —
long, common, short, sevens, 113th and 148th metre are
about the only ones he used. He never dreamt of the great
variety of metre and style with which we are familiar.
I question very much whether any man has ever written
more than twenty-five or thirty hymns of sufficient merit
and distinctive enough in theme and style to hold an
abiding place in the hymnody of the Church. In my
own collection I have included twenty-six from his pen,
and after its publication I came across the foUowing
remark in Dr. Geo. MacDonald's "England's Antiphon:"
" We cannot help wishing that he had written the
twentieth part. How could any man write six hundred
religious poems, and produce quaUty in proportion to
quantity save in an inverse ratio ? " This is just about
the proportion I have retained. I think aftertimes will
ratify this judgment. Those are the truest friends to the
memory of Dr. Watts who only include the finest of his
hymns in their collections. It is a vain effort to try to
keep alive his didactic and inferior ones. They may be
printed, but they wUl not be simg. The most recently
published hymnal of the Congregational Church includes
about sixty of his hymns, many of which are quite
unsuited to the taste of the day. They only encumber
the pages ; and as so many nobler hymns are accessible
in our churches, they wUl rarely, if ever, be sung. The
day of rhymed prose is over, even when fathered by
great names. Dr. Watts, with a modesty that is rare,
once said that Charles Wesley's hymn on "Wrestling
Jacob " was worth all he had ever written. This

104 THE HYMN LOVER.
was an excess of modesty, but it reveals, perhaps, a
feeling hidden in his mind that he had written too much.
The fact is. Watts had a fatal facUity of rhyming, and
often mistook rhyme for poetry. He was not sufficiently
critical of his work. But the critical faculty which he
did not apply himself is being appUed by others. In
relation to his hymns, a process of spiritual selection is
going forward which will render him known to posterity,
not by five or six hundred, but by the surpassing
exceUenoe of some twenty-five or thirty, which wUl
remain among the favourites of the Church at large.
Simon Browne (1680-1732) was a contemporary with
Dr. Watts, and belongs to his school of hymn writing.
He published, in 1720, "Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in
Three Books, designed as a supplement to Dr. Watts."
This is an indication of the fact that Watts's hymns had
found their way into use in not a few churches, but that
such churches had not as yet grown so conservative and
exclusive as they afterwards became in relation to his
hymns. Two of Browne's hymns are weU known, and
still hold a place in modern hjrmnals. The most popular
is " Come, gracious Spirit, heavenly dove," which is not
without merit; the other is "Lord, at Thy feet we
sinners Ue."
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), who fiUs so large a space
in the poetic Uterature of England, used to be reckoned
among the hymnists, on account of what has been caUed
Pope's ode, " Vital spark of heavenly flame." This has
been included in many hymnals, and was once a favourite
at funeral services. It is an imitation of a poem com
posed, during his last hours, by the Emperor Adrian,
beginning —

TEE FOUNDATIONS OF ENQLISE HYMNODY. 105
Aniraula, vagula, blandula,
Hospes, comesque corporis, etc.
To this, and to a fragment of Sappho, Pope confessed that
he owed the inspiration which gave birth to " Vital spark
of heavenly flame," the germ of which was sent for
insertion in the Spectator in 1712. Soon after its receipt,
Steele wrote to Pope, asking him to make an ode out of it
suitable for music. He complied with this request, and
sent " Vital spark" in the form we now possess it.
Samuel Wesley, junr. (1690-1739), the elder brother of
John and Charles Wesley, who held aloof from the
Methodist movement, which began only five years before
his death, and of which they were the great leaders, and
from which he did his best to turn them, was also a
hymnist, and author of "Poems on Several Occasions."
To the last, he adhered to the Church of England, as did
his brothers, and was, indeed, a High Churchman of the
type of that age. His best known hymn is " The Lord
of Sabbath let us praise." Less known, but fairly good,
are his hymns, " The morning flowers display their
sweets," and "Hail! Father, whose creating call."
John Byrom (1691-1763), remarkable for his scientific
attainments, belonged, in some degree, to the school of
Mystics, but was probably kept from some of their
excesses by his work in science. Two of his hymns,
though greatly differing in style and substance, have
attained to great popularity, and are still widely used.
His hymn for Christmas Day, " Christians, awake, salute
the happy morn," is very distinctive, and boldly lyrical ;
whilst " My spirit longeth for Thee " — as the reader may
see — is terse and tender in a very high degree : —

106 THE HYMN LOVER.
My spirit longeth for Thee,
Within my troubled breast,
Though I unworthy be
Of so Divine a guest :
Of so Divine a guest
Unworthy though I be,
Yet has my heart no rest
Unless it come from Thee.
Unless it come from Thee,
In vain I look around ;
In aU that I can see
No rest is to be found :
No rest is to be found
But in Thy blessfed love :
0 let my wish be crowned.
And send it from above ;
He has given us very little, but that little is very good.
Some of his verses anticipate, and set forth with great
force the better theological thought of our own time.
This is speciaUy so in his " Meditation for Wednesday
in Passion Week." George MacDonald speaks of his
verses as " a well of the water of life, for its song tells
of the love and truth which are the grand power of God."
Robert Seagrave (born 1693) wrote about fifty hymns,
included in a collection prepared for his own congregation
at Lorimer's Hall in 1742. He is remembered chiefly by
one of these, "Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings,"
which seems to me touched with the thought of Sir John
Davies's remarkable philosophical poem, " Of the soul of
man, and the immortaUty thereof."
Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) is one of the great
names in hymnody. Remarkable for many things, his
fame chiefly rests on his hymns. These were mostly
written to gather up and set forth in rememberable form
the teachings of his sermons. But whilst, the sermons
are forgotten, the hymns are remembered. They have

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH HYMNODY. 107
been compared to " spiritual amber, fetched up and floated
off from sermons long since lost in the depths of bygone
time." During his life-time, they did not pass beyond
manuscript, in which form they were passed about and
read. They number 364. After his death, they were
pubUshed under the title, " Hymns founded on Various
Texts in the Holy Scriptures." In 1839, additional hymns
were added, coUected from his MSS., and called "Dod
dridge's Scripture Hymn Book " Some of these reach a
very high point of exceUence, whUst, as in the case of
all voluminous hymn writers, very many are of no great
value. The finest of all is " Hark ! the glad sound, the
Saviour comes." I should be disposed to rank this as one
of the noblest hymns ever written, alike as to style and
substance. There is a mingling of boldness and tender
ness, a suitability and melody in its style, that stamp it
as a masterpiece. One of the finest verses, however, is
too often omitted —
On Him the Spirit, largely poured.
Exerts its sacred fire ;
Wisdom and might and zeal and love
His holy breast inspire.
" Ye servants of the Lord " is a hymn of great directness,
gradually rising to a fine climax at the close. " Grace !
'tis a charming sound" is a great favourite with many, and
was probably suggested by a hymn of Esther Griinbeck of
Gotha (1717-1796), beginning " Grace! grace ! oh, that's
a joyful sound." " My God, and is Thy table spread "
was once inserted as a Communion Hymn in the Book of
Common Prayer, and for a considerable period remained as
part of the Prayer Book, in certain editions of which are
two hymns by Doddridge, one each by Wesley, Sternhold,
or J. Mardley, and Bishop Ken's Moming and Evening

108 THE HYMN LOVER.
hymn abridged and altered. "0 God of Bethel, by whose
hand," sometimes attributed to Logan, is by Doddridge,
and in his manuscript is dated January 16th, 1736-7. To
whom the alterations in the hymn as usually printed
are due is uncertain — they have been ascribed to Michael
Bruce, but are known to be either Logan's or the revisers
of the 1781 Scotch Paraphrases. " Interval of grateful
shade," is a hymn of great beauty, set in a subdued and
soothing key. It is a part of "an Evening Hymn (of
76 lines) to be used when composing one's self to sleep."
In many of Doddridge's hymns which do not reach the
highest exceUence, there are found Unes and verses of
great beauty. His hymns appear to me to be a con
necting link between Dr. Watts and Charles Wesley.
They are akin to the Independent's in form, but to the
Methodist's in their lyric force and fervour. Thus they
possess the exceUences of both. Many of them are Ukely
to hold a permanent place in the song of the Church.

109

CHAPTER X.
THE LYRIC FIRE.
Song has nearly always proved a mighty influence in
stirring the hearts of men in times of religious revival,
and has also been felt to be a necessity for the full
expression of the feelings aroused at such seasons. The
Methodist Revival was no exception to this rule. Song
had much to do both with the origination and expression
of its feeling. And it was a providential thing that, in
the person of the Brother of the real Leader of the move
ment, a man was at hand singularly fitted to provide the
hymns that were needed.
To Charles Wesley we owe the largest contribution to
the Church's treasury of song. Dr. Watts is usuaUy
regarded as a large contributor, but whilst his hymns
number about six hundred, those of Charles Wesley
number many thousands. Mr. Stevenson says six
thousand; whilst a writer in McCUntock and Strong's
"American Cyclopaedia " credits him, and rightly, with no
less than seven thousand. The hymns and poems of John,
Charles, and Samuel Wesley fill thirteen volumes in Dr.
Osbom's edition ; probably a larger number than could be
gathered from all previous hymn writers put together.
Charles Wesley is far and away the chief contributor to the

no THE HYMN LOVER.
volumes we have mentioned, and is the most fertile,
and, taken altogether, probably the most brilliant of
EngUsh hymnists. As in the case of Dr. Watts, however,
we cannot help wishing that the number had been
fewer, and the finish greater. Until almost recently,
they practically held undisputed sway in the Methodist
choir, since the hymn book issued by John Wesley in
1780, to which a supplement was added in 1831, and
which continued in use till 1874, was, to all intents and
purposes, the exclusive production of the Wesley family,
of which by far the largest portion was contributed by
Charles Wesley. His brother John, however, was the
Editor of the collection, a task in which he showed great
judgment. This secured the exclusion of the poorer of
his brother's hymns. It would have been well for the
fame of Dr. Watts if his hymns had been edited by an
equally skilful hand.* This would have ensured the
exclusion of such doggerel as we have quoted in a
previous chapter. To the editorship of John Wesley is
due the fact that the Wesleyan collection is of a far
higher type than Dr. Watts's, which held a corresponding
place in the Independent Church. The Wesleyan Hymnal
contained, it is true, fragments from'Gambold, Herbert
Watts, and translations from the German (these were by
John Wesley), but the book is essentially a Wesley
production. The preface to this book is a curiosity of conceit. I do

* John Wesley's capacity as an editor is seen in the fact that he did
not always import hymns from other sources in their entirety but
omitted verses unsuitable for singing ; thus, from Watts' magnificent
rendering of the 146th Psalm he omits the fifth verse, which con
tains the line, " But turns the wicked down to heU," which he
evidently felt was scarcely a subject for praise.

TEE LYRIC FIRE. Ill
not Uke to apply such an epithet to one so deservedly
honoured as John Wesley ; but tlie wisest err, and it
cannot, I think, be rightly described in any milder
language. The sixth paragraph reads as follows : " May
I be permitted to add a few words with regard to the
poetry ? Then I wUl speak to those who are judges
thereof with all freedom and unreserve. To these I may
say, without offence: 1. In these hymns there is no
doggerel ; no botches ; nothing put in to patch up the
rhymes ; no feeble expletives. 2. Here is nothing turgid
or bombast on the one hand, or low and creeping on the
other. 3. Here are no cant expressions ; no words
without meaning. Those who impute this to us know not
what they say. We talk common-sense, both in prose
and verse ; and use no word but in a fixed and determinate
meaning. 4. Here are, aUow me to say, both the purity,
the strength, the plainness suited to any capacity. Lastly,
I desire men of taste to judge (these are the only judges)
whether there be not, in some of the following hymns,
the true spirit of poetry, such as cannot be acquired by
art or labour, but must be the gift of nature. By labour,
a man may become a tolerable imitator of Spenser,
Shakespeare, or Milton, and may heap together pretty
compound epithets, as pale-eyed, meek-eyed, and the like ;
but unless he he born a poet, he wiU never attain the
genuine spirit of poetry."
Unbiassed critics wiU probably demur to this declara
tion — if not in relation to the Wesleyan Hymn Book'
certainly in relation to Charles Wesley's hymns as a
whole. Of certain of these (his hynms on the Nativity),
even his brother once said : " Omit one or two of them,

112 THE HYMN LOVER.
and I wiU thank you. They are' namby-pambical." Such
a criticism would apply to every large contributor to
hymnody ; and must, in the nature of things, apply to
a man Uke Charles Wesley, who wrote hymns by the
thousand. Even the noblest poets are best represented by
a selection from their writings, and the smaller it is the
more choice it is likely to be. But when this has been
said, it may also be said, that amongst his writings are to
be found some of the grandest hymns in the English
language. For spontaneity of feeling, his hymns are pre
eminent. They are songs that soar. They have the rush
and fervour which bear the soul aloft. They are more
subjective, and grow more directly out of the personal
experience of the writer than do the hymns of Watts,
which sprang rather from the contemplation of the Divine
facts and doctrines of Scripture. They are a kind of
cardiphonia, caught from the beating of his own heart,
and the observation of hearts kindled by the great move
ment in which he bore so large a part. The question
has been debated again and again whether he or Watts
bears off the palm in hymn writing. Comparisons are
proverbially odious, but if a comparison must be made, in
my judgment it must be in favour of Charles Wesley,
especially for the lyric fervour of his hymns. Before him
in time, Watts must, I think, be placed after him in order
of merit, and this partly because his nature was not so
fervid, nor was there so much in his course to kindle it.
His wing was not so strong, and, therefore, his flight was
not so high. And if, as I feel, the lyrio should be the
dominant note in hymns, the flrst place in the Christian
choir must be assigned to the author of " 0 Thou Who
camest from above," " 0 Love Divine, how sweet Thou

TEE LYRIC FIRE. 113
art," "Head of the Church triumphant," "Hark! the
herald angels sing," "Come, Holy Ghost, our hearts
inspire," " Jesus, lover of my soul," " Soldiers of Christ,
arise," "Come, let us join our friends above," "Thou
hidden source of calm repose," " 0 for a thousand tongues
to sing," " Christ, the Lord, is risen to-day," " 0, what
shall I do, my Saviour to praise," "Leader of faithful
souls, and Guide," and perhaps greatest of all — probably
the flnest sacred lyric in the language — " Come, 0 Thou
Traveller unknown." Isaac Watts is the founder of the
choir, but in it Charles Wesley's is the noblest voice.
And the reasons for this pre-eminence are to be sought
(first) in the lyric nature of the man himself, who could
not help but sing — whose hymns are not the product of the
mere student, but of a soul that naturally soared on the
wings of praise ; (secondly) in the religious infiuences which
surrounded his early life. It is well known that both the
Wesleys were at first deeply affected by the writings of
William Law, the Mystic ; and though in after years they
threw aside his particular doctrines, yet his influence is
discernible, more or less, in aU their hymns. If WiUiam
Law had not taught, Charles Wesley would not have sung
as he did. A touch of mysticism, indeed, is necessary to
hymns of the most spiritual and inspiring kind. A third
influence may be found in his association with the
Moravians, by whom both he and his brother were deeply
impressed. Mr. Beecher, in the preface to his hymnbook,
says : " His hymns are only Moravian hymns resung
Not alone are the favourite expressions used, and the
epithets they loved, but, like them, he beholds all
Christian truths through the medium of confiding love.
The love element of this school has never been surpassed."

114 THE HYMN LOVER.
And the fourth influence must be sought in the maVvellous
scenes amid which he moved, and the stirring work in
which he bore a part. His hymns are the offspring of
the Methodist revival almost as much as of the Methodist
singer. Just as David's life is reflected in his Psalms, so
Charles Wesley's career shines out through his stirring
verses. AU these things combine to make him the
greatest hymn writer of England.
His brother John is as great as a translator as Charles
is as an original hymnist. John came to know and love
the hymns of Germany through his association with the
Moravians. And it was probably during his voyages in
their company that he turned many of their finest hymns
into English. For congregational use, they are probably
the finest translations in the English language, whilst they
have the high honour of having opened to us the rich
treasures of sacred song which Germany possesses. They
are so good that they read like original EngUsh com
positions. They have never yet been, and probably never
wiU be, supplanted by other translations. What can be
finer than his rendering of Paul Gerhardt's "Jesus, Thy
boundless love to me," and " Commit thou all thy griefs,"
or Tersteegen's " Lo, God is here ; let us adore," and
" Thou hidden love of God, whose height," or Rothe's
"0 Lord, Thine everlasting grace," or Scheffler's "Thee
will I love, my strength, my tower."* For such importa-
* I quote the first line of the second verse of this hymn, because
the first verse —
" Now I have found the ground wherein
Sure my soul's anchor may remain,
The wounds of Jesus for my sin " —
is disfigured by the horrible imagery of an anchor cast in wounds.
This has prevented the hymn from taking the high place which tho
rest of it so richly deserves, Eind, when the first verse is omitted, it
is destined to receive.

TEE LYRIO FIRE. 115
tions we may be as thankful as for his brother's original
productions. The choir opened by Watts is now fuU-
voioed, and the music has ever since been growing richer
and more varied. It is very pleasant to remember that
these great and holy singers were brought into very close
and blessed fellowship on the death-bed of John Wesley.
The very last words that passed from his lips were those
of Dr. Watts — "I'U praise my Maker with my breath,"
and it was as he was struggling to say, "I'U praise — I'll
praise," that his spirit passed away to join " the choir
invisible."

116

CHAPTER XL

THE AGE OF ECHOES.
We have now reached a time in which the song of the
Church finds expression through many voices. The lyric
fervour of Watts and Wesley stirred the dormant
flame of many a soul; whilst, at the same time, the
place which hymns had won for themselves in the
actual worship of the Church, has proved an additional
influence to lead those with any hymnic gifts to its
exercise. The demand had much to do with creating the
supply. In earlier times, if hymns were written, no
place was open for their use in worship. But now, hymn
writers felt that their hymns might, if they approved
themselves to the public taste, be used as the vehicle for
worshipping feeling. This seems to me to account for the
fact that a large number now entered the ranks of the
hymnists, most of whom were men (together with a few
women) touched by the new religious fervour, and
associated with the churches in which hymns formed ai.
important part of the worship. Many of these, it is true,
were mere imitators of Watts and Wesley, especiaUy the
former, since he was far easier to imitate than the more
lyric Methodist. These were mere echoes, and, like
echoes, had neither the force nor fervour of the voices
they prolonged. StiU, here and there a distinct note was

TEE AGE OF E CEDES. 117
struck, vibrating with the individuality of the singer ;
but for the most part, until we reach the "Olney Hymns"
of John Newton and William Cowper, there are but few
hymnists of any great originality to be found.
Contemporary with the Wesleys was Joseph Grigg, who
died in 1768. He wrote a few hymns, but is chiefly
remarkable as having written, at ten years of age, the
well-known " Jesus, and can it ever be," which first
appeared in the Gospel Magazine for April, 1774, with the
title, ' ' Shame of Jesus conquered by love : by a youth of
ten years." To the same author we owe another hymn
of similar style and fervour, " Behold a Stranger at
the door." He wrote altogether some forty hymns, but
all save those we have mentioned have dropped out of
sight. Thomas Scott, a Presbyterian minister at Ipswich (who
died about 1776), and who must not be confounded with
the weU-known Commentator of the same name, wrote
many hymns and poems, but is now remembered only by
two, the better known of which is " Hasten, 0 sinner, to
be wise," a hymn of earnest invitation and warning
against delay, and "Angels, roll the rock away."
WilUam Hammond, B.A. (who died in 1783), at
first a Calvinistic preacher, but in later life a member
of the Moravian body, wrote and published " Psalms,
Hymns, -ani Spiritual Songs." His hymn " Awake and
sing the song " has found its way into a very large
number of hymnals. There is in it considerable vigour.
The verse, however —
" Sing till we feel our hearts
Ascending with our tongues ;
Sing tiU the love of sin departs.
And grace inspires our songs " —

118 TEE HYMN LOVER.
attributes to sacred song a power even greater than it
possesses. His hymn beginning " Lord, we come before
Thee now " is in a much more subdued and tender strain,
and stUl retains a place in the Church's song.
James Grant (died 1785), a distinguished layman con
nected with the Church of Scotland, VT'ho wrote many
hymns for use with Scotch melodies, for which he had a
great affection, is now remembered, and even that remem
brance is growing fainter, by one beginning "0 Zion,
afflicted with wave upon wave."
Daniel Turner, M.A. (1710-1798), EUzabeth Scott
(circa 1764), John Needham, and Benjamin Wallin, fill
too small a place in modern hymnody to demand more
than the mention of their names.
Joseph Hart (1712-1768), minister of Jewin Street
Independent Church, though possessing, in our judgment,
little merit as a hymnist, has enjoyed a considerable
popularity, especiaUy with persons inclining to the
Calvinistic view of Christianity, and his hymn book still
finds purchasers and admirers. He is largely represented
in " Our Own Hymn Book," edited by the Eev. C. H.
Spurgeon for the use of his congregation at the
Metropolitan Tabernacle. His Christian experience was
of rather a striking nature, and is reflected in his hymns.
The most popular, undoubtedly, is " Come, Holy Spirit,
come," which is not without merit, though a good deal
like other hymns addressed to the Holy Spuit. " Come
ye sinners, poor and wretched," used to be a great
favourite, but is so steeped in the extreme spirit of his
day — a spirit which is now the exception rather than the
rule — that its popularity is rapidly waning. It belongs

THE AGE OF ECHOES. 119
to a class of hynms which are addressed, not to the
Divine Being, but to the congregation, or rather to those
who are supposed speciaUy to need such exhortation.
There is a kind of incongruity in such hymns which is
increasingly felt, and which leads to their disuse in public
worship. To Dr. John Hawkesworth (1715-1773), compiler of
the ParUamentary debates in the Gentleman's Maga%ine,
we owe a hymn of some merit, "In sleep's serene
oblivion laid;" to James Hutton (1715-1795), a cousin
of Sir Isaac Newton, a bookseller, and deacon of the
Moravian Church, a hymn of fine sentiment, " 0 teach us
more of Thy blest ways ; " and to Christopher Batty
(1715-1797), "Captain of Thine enUsted host." AU these
three, it wiU be noted, were born in the same year.
Anne Steele (1716-1778), who, all her life, was a great
sufferer, through an . accident in childhood, and whose
course was marked by many sorrows, has enjoyed con
siderable fame as a hymnist, not, in our judgment,
quite justified by the quaUty of her productions. She
is, perhaps, the first English woman who contributed
hymns of any importance to the Church's treasury of
song. Her hymn, " Father, whate'er of earthly bliss,"
is the expression of a life troubled as was hers, and
is, indeed, remarkable for its tone of quiet resignation.
In the original it begins with the verse, " When I survey
life's varied scene." Touched with a similar spirit is her
hymn, " Far from these narrow scenes of night."
John Berridge (1716-1793), vicar of Everton, and
friend of Wesley and Whitfield, a quaint and racy
preacher, pubUshed "A CoUeotion of Divine Songs," but,

120 TEE EYMN LOVER.
on account of his adoption of Calvinistic views, repented
of the publication, and whenever he met with a copy
of it, committed it to the flames. In character and
style of address, he was not unUke to John Newton. He
altered and adapted certain of Charles Wesley's hymns.
His hymn, " Jesus, cast a look on me," the flrst three
verses of which consist of an altered version of Charles
Wesley's "Lord, that I may learn of Thee," has a
simplicity which is very pleasing. This and his Wedding
Hymn, " Since Jesus freely did appear," are the only ones
which have gained currency in hymnals.
John Cennick (1717-1755), originaUy one of Wesley's
preachers, but afterwards an assistant of Whitfield, and
flnaUy a Moravian, the friend of Wesley and Whitfield,
is a name of note among the hymnists. His hymns owe
something to the revision of Charles Wesley and others,
but they have a distinctiveness and lyric force which will
probably ensure for them a lasting place in the Church's
song. The best known is " Children of the heavenly
King," which has found its way into a very large number
of hymnals, both of the Established and Nonconformist
Churches. The same may be said of " Jesus, my aU, to
heaven is gone," though it is not equal to the former.
His Evening Hymn, " Ere I sleep, for every favour," is
quaint and beautiful. His version of the Te Beum,
commencing "We sing to Thee, Thou Son of God,"
before the original was commonly used in Nonconformist
worship, was very popular in their assembUes. To him
we owe the original of the hymn, to which so many
writers contributed either alterations or additions, "Lo!
He comes, with clouds descending," which in his version

TEE AGE OF EGEOES. 121
began, "Lo! He cometh; countless trumpets." In my
judgment, Cennick possessed the genuine lyric fire, and,
but for deficient culture, and the narrowness of the
school of thought in which he lived, would have made
still more valuable contributions to hymnody.
I cannot agree with the praise bestowed by James
Montgomery and Eobert Hall on the hymns of Benjamin
Beddome, M.A. (1717-1795), pastor of the Baptist Church
at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. The former
praises him for preserving the unity of each hymn. This
he does, but there is a didactic tone, and an absence of the
lyric element, which aie fatal faults in a hymn. This is
partly due to the fact that they were written to be sung
after his sermons, to which they are a kind of application.
This is not the true office of hymns. The mind of their
writers should not be occupied with the thought of the
edification of the people, but of praise to God. This is
the defect of most of his hymns, as wUl be seen even
in his most popular, " Did Christ o'er sinners weep ? "
" Faith, 'tis a precious grace," and " Let party names no
more." The fault is least evident in his Ordination hymn,
"Father of mercies, bow Thine ear." He was the author
of the large number of eight hundred and thirty hymns.
James Merrick, M.A. (1720-1769), a minister of the
Church of England, but, on account of weak health,
without pastoral charge, issued "The Psalms translated or
paraphrased in EngUsh Verse," designed to supplant Tate
and Brady, but the collection faUed to secure royal
sanction for its use in the Episcopal Church. His
scholarship was equal to, but his poetic power sadly
deficient for the task he undertook. His finest hymn
—and it is a fine one — is "Eternal God, we look to

1 22 THE EYMN L 0 VER.
Thee." His version of the 122nd Psalm, beginning "The
festal mom, my God, is come," a translation from
Buchanan, is striking, but in parts rather infiated.
Dr. Thomas Gibbons (1720-1758), pastor of various
Independent Churches, and tutor of the Dissenting
Academy at Mile End, may be ranked with Merrick as
possessing scholarship but not the poetic afflatus, although
he fancied that he possessed it. His Missionary Hymn,
"Great God, the nations of the earth," is not without
merit, and held its place in a time when such hymns were
not either plentiful or meritorious. It is a far finer hymn
than the other by which he is remembered, " Now let our
souls on wings subUme." He is one of the fading lights
of hymnody.
Joseph Humphreys (bom 1720), and Thomas Blacklook,
D.D. (1721-1791), are forgotten names in hymnody, and
need hot detain us.
John BakeweU (1721-1819), a member of, and local
preacher in, the Wesleyan Church, is remembered by one
hymn which has had a wide popularity, "Hail! Thou
once despised Jesus," which has merit, though not of the
highest order.
Clare Taylor (died 1778), and John Fountain (died
1800), are now only represented by hymns in coUeetions
prepared more to represent their editors' theological views
than with a view to poetic or lyric expression.
Andrew Kippis, D.D., F.R.S. (1725-1795), is more
remarkable for his contributions to Uterature than to
hymnody, but deserves to be remembered as the Editor of
the first thoroughly popular Unitarian hymn-book, all
previous ones having been for the worship of individual
churches.

123

CHAPTER XII.

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT.
Remahkino on the fact that the hymns of earlier days
seem to have been written by aU kinds of persons except
poets, James Montgomery says: " Cowper therefore stands
alone among the mighty masters of the lyre, as having
contributed a considerable number of approved and
popular hymns for the purposes of public or private
devotion." In the "Olney Hymns" of John Newton
(1725-1807) and William Cowper (1731-1800), we come
upon a veritable oasis in the wilderness, from which the
Churoh has gathered and preserved with loving care many
a flower of song. Newton's hymns are remarkable as
being the productions of a man who, in early life, had
exceedingly few educational advantages. To his vigorous
nature, and the depth of his religious experiences, are due
the high quality of his hymns. One example out of
many afforded by hymnody, of the fact that scholarship
has very little to do with the production of poetry.
Scholarship may reflne, but it does not create the
poetic faculty. Newton disclaimed any pretension to
the possession of the poetic gift, but he nevertheless
possessed it, and, for the purposes of hymnody, in a
remarkable degree : so remarkable, that a few of his
hymns wiU bear comparison with those of his great friend
and co-worker in the production of the "Olney Hymns,"

124 THE HYMN LOVER.
WiUiam Cowper. There are no hymns more popular
among all sections of the Church than some of Newton's.
This is largely due to the depth and vitality of his religious
experience, which reached to regions far below the
doctrinal forms in which it found expression. Scarcely a
hymnal of any section of the Church can be mentioned
which does not include some of his best known hymns.
They may be found, not only in hymnals of the EvangeUcal
type, but. in those so widely separated in doctrinal matters
as "Hymns Ancient and Modern" and Dr. Martineau's
"Hymns of Praise and Prayer." His hymns indeed are
aUve with personal and vital religious feeling, and so
are fitted to express the worshipping feeling of all
Christian hearts. The best known is " How sweet
the name of Jesus sounds," which some have thought
must have been suggested by Bernard's "Jesu dulcis
memoria." In aU probabUity, Newton did not know ol
the earUer hymn of the saintly monk of Clairvaux, but
wrote prompted solely by ardent love to Jesus Christ.
Equally good, but in a different vein of feeling, is
" Quiet, Lord, my f reward heart," a hymn whose
sentiment and style alike quiet and calm the restless
spirit. His hymn for Parting, too often mutilated and
made to begin with " For a season caUed to part," instead
of, as it should, with "As the sun's enlivening eye," is oi
gi-eat exceUence. " While with ceaseless course the sun "
is a hymn of great solemnity and pathos. "Glorious
things of thee are spoken" is in a very different and much
bolder strain. I am disposed to regard those in his more
subdued style as reaching to the highest point of excel
lence, and in them the affectionate characteristics which
lay beneath a nature trained amid rugged scenes, and

AN OASTS IN TEE DESERT. 12o
in so rough a life, find expression in hymns of a very
tender and subdued type.
Williain Cowper, who co-operated with John Newton
in the production of the " Olney Hymns," brought to his
task the pathos and delicacy of touch of the true poet,
although most of his hymns were written before his
poetic power had reached its fuU development. Most
of them are full of the characteristics of that sensitive
and retiring poet, and enshrine his varying, though, for
the most part, despondent moods. ' ' Hark ! my soul, it is
the Lord " — Mr. Gladstone has made a fine translation of
this hymn into ItaUan — and " 0, for a closer walk with
God," are in his more tender style ; whilst " Jesus,
where'er Thy people meet," written in a season of
unusual joy, and " God moves in a mysterious way," said
to have been written, though the evidence is not forth
coming, after a marvellous deliverance from purposed self-
destruction, sound a bolder note. "Ere God had built
the mountains," is, perhaps, his grandest hymn. " There
is a fountain filled with blood" is, in certain quarters,
greatly prized, but we cannot help regarding it as going
far beyond Scriptural usage in its imagery, and not in
hai-mony with Scripture fact in its reference to the dying
thief. The retiring spirit of the poet flnds very fuU
expression in the hymn, " Far from the world, 0 Lord, I
flee." From the little volume of " Olney Hymns " the
Church has drawn a far larger number of hymns, and
these greatly prized, than from many more voluminous
collections. Its somewhat narrow theology is softened by
the reaUty and tenderness of the religious experience of
its authors, of both of whom it maybe said, "They learnt
in suffering what they taught in song."

126

CHAPTER XIIL

DIDACTIC HYMNISTS.
Yastiy different from the " Olney Hymns " in merit are
most of the compositions of their contemporaries and
immediate successors, in whom the didactic tone is very
marked. StiU, here and there a lyric note is heard.
WiUiam Mason, M.A. (1725-1797), vicar of Aston, one
of the chaplains of George the Third, and biographer of
Gray, did much for church music. His anthem, " Lord
of aU power and might," is still occasionally sung. He
wrote a few hymns, one of which, " Again returns the
day of holy rest," is of considerable merit.
Thomas OUvers (1725-1799), one of John Wesley's
travelling preachers, who had but the scantiest education
in youth, is represented in hymnals by one hymn in which
there are verses of remarkable power, " The God of
Abraham praise." The same may be said of Edward
Perronett (1726-1792), whose " AU haU the power of
Jesu's name " is one of the most striking hymns in the
language. It appeared with tune in The Gospel Magazine,
1779-80. Dr. Samuel Stennett (1727-1795) and Bishop Horne
(1730-1792) are amongst the hymnists whose productions
are vanishing from hymnals.
Thomas Haweis, LL.B., M.D. (1732-1820), one of the
chaplains of Lady Huntingdon, and rector of All Saints',

DIDACTIC HYMNISTS. 127
Aldwinkle, in Northamptonshire, was the author of
" Carmina Christo," containing two hundred and fifty-six
hymns. Three of his hymns are of considerable merit, and
stiU retain a place in the song of the Church, "Enthroned
on high, Almighty Lord," "0 Thou from whom all good
ness flows," which has a touch of genuine pathos in it,
and " The happy morn is come," an Easter Hymn.
James Newton, M.A. (1733-1790), and Benjamin
Francis (1734-1799), both ministers of the Baptist body,
belong to the class of mediocrities whose hymns are fast
fading from memory and use in the Church.
James Allen (1734-1804), a partial follower of the
views of Glas and Sandeman, which, with some modifica
tions, he preached in a chapel on his estate at Gayle, the
editor and chief contributor to the " Kendal Hymn
Book," was the author of " Glory to God on high," a
hymn of great force and merit, and of " Sweet the
moments, rich in blessing," a hymn very frequently used
in earUer times at the Communion Service. It is,
however, lacking in healthiness of feeling, and expressive
of a rather sentimental and languishing type of devotion-
This hymn was afterwards altered to its present form
by W. W. Shirley, the brother-in-law of the Countess
of Huntingdon, in 1772, who edited the 1780 edition of
her collection.
Robert Robinson (1735 1790), the vigorous but
eccentric Baptist minister at Cambridge, was the author
of "Mighty God, while angels bless Thee," one of the
most vigorous and distinctive hymns in the EngUsh
tongue ; and also (although doubts have been expressed
as to his authorship), of " Come, Thou fount of every

128 THE EYMN LOVER.
blessing," a noteworthy hymn, but marred by its
doctrinal representation of the work of Christ.
Samuel Medley (1738 - 1799), minister of Baptist
churches, first at Watford, and afterwards at Byrom
Street, Liverpool, issued a considerable number of hymns
on broadsides, which were afterwards collected into a
volume. They are of no special merit, save two which are
of great spirit and much lyric force, " Mortals, awake,
with angels join," and "Awake, my soul, in joyful lays."
John Fawcett, D.D. (1739-1817), minister of the
Baptist Church at Wainsgate, and afterwards at Hebden
Bridge, published a collection of his hymns as a supple
ment to Dr. Watts's " Psalms and Hymns." They are of
little worth, and even those which have passed into
collections are fast going out of use. We may,
however, except " Blest be the tie that binds," and "Thus
far my God hath led me on," which have considerable
merit. Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778), vicar of
Broad Hembury, Devonshire, is the author of " Rock of
Ages, cleft for me," which is perhaps the most popular
hymn in the language ; at all events, it contests this
honour with Bishop Ken's Evening Hymn. It was
inserted in the Gospel Magazine for March, 1776, under
the title, "A Living and Dying Prayer for the Holiest
Believer in the World." The immediate purpose of the
author in writing it was to protest against the possibility
of entire sanctification in this life as he understood it to
be taught by tho Wesleys. This polemical purpose
probably led Toplady to express, in the strongest possible
forms, the doctrine which he opposed to that held, or
which he supposed to be held, by the early Methodists.

DIDACTIC EYMNISTS. 129
The hymn is fuU of solemnity and pathos, and exerts a very
wonderful power over the worshipper. Judged by a strictly
Uterary standard, it is not equal to many a hymn which
could be named, since its imagery is somewhat confused ;*
but judged by what is a true standard — its power to solem
nise and move the heart — it takes a high place. Although
Toplady wrote one hundred and thirty-three poems and
hymns, this is the only one which has attained to great
popularity. After this, perhaps his best hymns are :
" Deathless principle arise," and " Your harps, ye
trembling saints." "Jesus, at Thy command," is often
attributed to him, but is probably by De Courcey.
Anna Loetitia Barbauld (1743-1825), sister of the
celebrated Dr. Aikin, whom she helped in his well-
known work, " Evenings at Home," the authoress of
many important works, and editor of the " British
Novelists," and some of the English poets, belongs to a
very different school to those we have considered, aU of
* Since this paragraph was written, I notice that the Eev. John
Hudson, in an article on " Church Hymns " in The National Review
for August, 1888, writes of this hymn : — " It seems a medley of
confused images, and accumulated, if not misappUed, metaphors —
' deft rock,' ' riven side,' ' to Thy cross I cUng,' ' to the fountain fly.'
What is the precise meaning of ' double cure ? ' Is the curative
agent or the thing cured double ? i.e., does it refer to ' water and
blood,' or ' guUt and power ' of sin ? And surely, to ' cleanse ' from
power is an odd expression ! The hymn itself does not make clear
to the reader whence the wi'iter took his idea. ' Eock of Ages ' is
generaUy supposed to be taken from the marginal reading of Isaiah
xxvi. 4, rendered by the Eevisers, ' In the Lord Jehovah is an
Everlasting Eock,' the idea being stabUity. But the second Une,
' Let me hide myself in Thee,' would seem to be suggested by some
such verse as Isaiah xxxii. 2, ' The shadow of a great rock in a weary
land,' or by the incident in Moses' life recorded in Exodus xxxii. 22 ,
' I wiU put thee in a cleft of the rook, and wiU cover thee with My
hand.' Whereas, again, the heading of the hjrmn, ' That rock was
Christ,' would seem to imply an allusion to the history of the
Israelites described in Exodus xvu. 6, Numbers xx 11, and refeired
to in 1 Corinthians x. 4." k

130 THE HYMN LOVER.
whom were of the strongly EvangeUcal type. She is one
of the earUest Unitarian contributors to hymnody; a
woman of great Uterary ability and vigour of mind. Her
hymn, "How blest the righteous when he dies," an altera
tion from her "Sweet is the scene where virtue dies," is
one of great beauty and deUcacy of thought and expression.
Rowland HUl, M.A. (1744-183.3), the eccentric but
devoted minister of Surrey Chapel, pubUshed a collection of
" Psalms and Hjrmns for PubUc Worship," in which some
of his own were included. It is difficult to be certain
which they were, as he did not append his name. ' ' We sing
His love who once was slain," is, however, known to be by
him. It was written for Dr. Arne's tune "Rule, Britannia,"
and issued in the 1796 supplement to his coUection.
Michael Bruce (1746-1767), who for a. brief time before
his early death was engaged in conducting a school, and
whose hymns were pubUshed by John Logan as his own, was
a hymnist of very considerable merit ; the best of his hymns
are "Where high the heavenly temple stands," and "Be
hold the mountain of the Lord." Logan may have slightly
altered these, but there can be no doubt that, substantiaUy,
they were Brace's compositions. With great effrontery,
Logan also claimed as his own the fine hymn of Doddridge,
" 0 God of Bethel, by whose hand,"which he only altered.
Jonathan Evans (1749-1809), the founder and minister
of an Independent Church at Foleshill, near Coventry,
was the author of at least twenty -two hymns, but is only
remembered by the well-known one, " Hark ! the voice of
love and mercy," first published in Dr. Burder's Coventry
CoUection in 1787. Some doubt has been felt as to his
author.ship of this hymn, as his name is not appended, but
it is now generaUy admitted to be by him. It has

DIDACTIC EYMNISTS. 131
enjoyed considerable popularity, and is, in some senses, a
striking hymn.
John Morrison, D.D. (1749-1798), minister of the
parish of Canisbay in Caithness, a member of the General
Assembly for revising the Church Paraphrases of the
Scottish Church, was a hymnist of great vigour. Two of
his paraphrases, " The race that long in darkness pined,"
and " Come, let us to the Lord our God," are deservedly
popular. William Cameron (1751-1811), minister of Kirknewton
in Mid Lothian, also belonged to the company of Para-
phrasers, and for that coUection prepared a version of
Dr. Watts's hymn which begins " How bright those
glorious spirits shine."
George Burder (1752-1832), minister of the West
Orchard Independent Church at Coventry, and afterwards
editor of the Evangelical Magazine, and secretary of the
London Missionary Society, weU known as the author of
" Village Sermons," once extensively used by lay
preachers, pubUshed three hymns of his own, in a
selection intended for use as supplementary to Dr.
Watts's "Psalms and Hymns."' These have enjoyed
considerable popularity, and though not remarkable for
poetic excellence, are yet well adapted for the purposes of
worship. The best is " Great the joy when Christians
meet." " Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing " has been
attributed to him, but it appeared eleven years earlier, in
1773, in the Shawbury CoUection, and is most Ukely, but
not certainly, by John Fawcett.
John Ryland, D.D. (1753-1825), President of the
Baptist CoUege at Bristol, a post he held together with
the pastorate of Broadmead Chapel in the same city, a

132 TEE EYMN LOVER.
weU-known Baptist minister, was the author of many
hymns. The one beginning " Thou Son of God, and
Son of Man," is marked by great force, and warmth of
expression. His favourite hymn was " 0 Lord, I would
deUght in Thee." It is full of a joyful trastfulness, and
contains, in the following Une, the fine thought that every
creature good has its source in God —
" No good in creatures can be found,
But may be found in Thee."
Edmund Butcher (1757-1822), minister of a congrega
tion in Leather Lane, Holborn, wrote more than a hundred
hymns, amongst which his harvest hymn is found, be
ginning "Great God, as seasons disappear." It is a fine
hymn, and has passed into a large number of coUeetions.
John Dobell (1757-1840), an officer at Poole under the
Board of Excise, is more remarkable as an Editor than as
a Writer of hymns. In 1806 he issued "A New Selection
of Seven Hundred EvangeUcal Hymns for Private, Family,
and PubUo Worship, from more than two hundred of the
best authors in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America."
He spent many years in this work, and took great pains
to ascertain the authorship of the hymns he included.
On this account, his labours have been of great value to
hymnologists. His hymn, "Now is the accepted time,"
which has passed into several other collections, is of no
great value.
Sir James Edward Smith, M.D., F.R.S. (1759-1828), a
Norwich physician, is more remarkable for his scientific
labours, especiaUy in natural history, than for his con
tributions to hymnody. Of the nine hynms from his pen,
the best is " Adore, my soul, that awfiU name."

DIDACTIC EYMNISTS. 133
WilUam Shrubsole (1759-1829), who held a post of
importance in the Bank of England, is remembered by
his Missionary Hymns, one of which, " Bright as the
sun's meridian blaze," was written for the first meeting of
the London Missionary Society, whilst his striking hymn,
though somewhat hard in tone, "Arm of the Lord, awake!
awake ! " was pubUshed in " Missionary Hymns " (1795).
AUce Flowerdew (1759-1830) is the authoress of that
exceedingly poetical hymn (sometimes ascribed to John
Needham), "Fountain of mercy, God of love." It is
probably founded on a hymn of Needham's.
BasU Woodd, M.A. (1760-1831), author of a new
metrical version of the Psalms of David ; James Upton
(1760-1834) ; and Thomas Park, F.S.A. (1760-1835), fiU
too small a place in hymnody to deserve more than the
mention of their names.
Joseph Swain (1761-1796), minister of a Baptist
Church at Walworth, the author of the "Walworth
Hymns," is remembered by a few hymns, among which
we may mention: "Lift up your heads, ye gates," " For
ever to behold Him shine," and "How sweet, how
heavenly is the sight," which are not without merit.
Helen Maria WiUiams (1762-1827), a woman of great
abiUty, was the authoress of a hymn of great originality
and pathos, " While Thee I seek, protecting power."
WUliam Goode, M.A. (1762 - 1S16), successor to
Romaine in the Church of St. Ann, Blackfriars, dis
satisfied, Uke many others, with the versions of the
Psalms then in existence, produced a new one, which,
instead of surpassing its predecessors in excellence, fell
below them. Only one of his versions has gained any

134 TEE EYMN LOVER.
popularity, that of the 74th, which begins " Thou
gracious God and kind."
Job Hupton (1762-1849), one of the Countess of
Huntingdon's preachers, and afterwards minister of the
Baptist Church at Claxton, Norfolk, author of " Hymns and
Spiritual Poems," is the author of " Come, ye saints, and
raise an anthem." This hymn was rewritten by Dr. J. M.
Neale and placed in parallel columns with the original in
an article in the Christian Remembrancer. Dr. Neale's
version begins thus — " Come, ye faithful, raise the anthem."
John Kent (1766-1843), a shipwright in the employ
of the Government at Plymouth, was the author of
" Original Gospel Hymns," which reached a tenth
edition, and consisted of two hundred and sixty-four
hymns. No less than twelve of these appear in " Our
Own Hymn Book," edited by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon.
Edmund Jones (circa 1777), Samuel Pearce, M.A. (1766-
1799), Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, D.D., F.R.S., and the
weU known AmeUa Opie (1796-1853), fill too smaU a
place in hymnody to call for special mention.
The period covered by this chapter is not a remarkable
one. It is little more than the afterglow of the briUiant
sunset of Watts and Wesley. It includes a large number
of names, and a few fine hymns ; but, for the most part,
the hymns are expressive of a religious fervour from
which the freshness and individuality had departed.
Nearly all the writers were men who had been touched,
more or less, by the influence of the Methodist Revival.
Most of them were Dissenters, or Churchmen so low in
doctrine that, to a. High Churchman, they differed Uttle
from Dissenters. The Baptists fiU a very large place in
the hymnody of this period. This was probably due to

DID ACTIO EYMNISTS. 135
the fact that, though they were great admirers of Dr.
Watts's Psalms and Hymns, they were less donunated
by them than the Independents, to whose company Dr.
Watts belonged. WhUst the earliest EngUsh hymnists
were stronger in poetic thought than doctrinal precision,
those of this period are more doctrinal and experimental
than poetic. This is, indeed, with a few exceptions, one
of the least poetic and lyric periods in the history of
hymnody, and, apart from the Olney, and such hymns as
" Rock of Ages," and " AU hail the power of Jesu's
name," comparatively few of its hymns are Ukely to
retain a permanent place in the Church's song. It was,
indeed, a duU age as regarded poetry generaUy. It was
not tiU the latter part of the time that the poems of
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, SheUey, and Keats saw
the Ught, and stiU later before their influence was widely
felt. Hymnody is largely affected by the current poetry.
But it is probable that the religious ideas of the age covered
by this chapter prevented the poetry then in existence
exerting its fuU influence on hymn writers. The range
of reading of the ministry in Nonconformist churches (and
to their ministers we owe the larger part of the hymns
of this period), was more exclusively theological than in
our day, and thus the poetic afflatus was Uttle nourished,
as now, by the study of poetry. In many a hymnist
of succeeding times, we shall discover the true poet :
men who not only gave themselves to the production
of poetry, but even in their hymn writing worked with
the poet's spirit. To this narrow range of sympathy and
of reading is due the dulness and sameness which must
strike everyone acquainted with any considerable number
of the hymns of the age covered by this chapter.

136

CHAPTER XIV.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS.
We now come to a time at which the influence of Isaac
Watts, and, in a less degree, of Charles Wesley, over
hymnody, has somewhat waned, and in which the
influence of contemporary poetry begins to make itself
felt in an increasing degree, whilst the more general
culture of the age becomes apparent in the hymns that
are produced. This is less evident in the earlier writers
of this period, but becomes more so as the time goes on.
To this we owe the variety of style and metre, the dis
tinctiveness of theme, the greater finish, and the more
poetic touches which distinguish our modem hymnody.
These are not so apparent in the first writer of this period
to which I refer (Thomas KeUy), but are markedly so in
the second (James Montgomery), and others which follow.
Thomas Kelly (1769-1855), only son of Judge Kelly,
of the Irish Bench, was driven from the Established
Church of Ireland by the opposition of the then Arch
bishop of Dublin to Evangelical doctrine. At first Mr.
Kelly's ministry was carried on in private houses ; but, at
length, York Street Chapel, Dublin, was erected for the
exercise of his ministry, on what were virtuaUy the Unes
of Independency. He was the author of a large number

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 137
of hymns, larger even than Dr. Watts. His completed
book contains seven hundred and sixty-seven. Like all
voluminous hymn writers, there are many — most, we may
say^ — ^that are not remarkable. But scattered over the
volume there are hymns of great excellence. Of one of
these, "We sing the praise of Him who died," Lord
Selbome has said: "I doubt whether Montgomery ever
wrote anything quite equal to this." This seems to me
exaggerated praise, since James Montgomery must be
ranked as one of the greatest of English hymnists. But
still, at his best, KeUy is very good as a hymnist.
Though we caimot subscribe to Lord Selborne's praise of
the hymn he names, it is an exceedingly good one, fine in
sentiment, and lyric in expression. In the Supplement to
the "New Congregational Hymn Book," it was the
subject of, perhaps, a more extraordinary alteration than
any hymn which could be named, although many have
suffered much at the hands of incompetent editors. In
the original, the verse reads thus —
" Inscribed upon the cross we see.
In shining letters, GOD IS LOVE.
He hears our sins upon the tree.
He brings us mercy from above."
which was changed to the following —
" Inscribed upon the cross we see.
In crimson letters, darkly bright.
Of Holy Love the mystery.
For God is Love and God is Light."
The verse, as thus amended, is " darkly bright " indeed,
but there is more of darkness than brightness. Quite
equal to this hymn are — " The head that once was
crowned with thoms," " Look, ye saints, the sight is
glorious," and " We've no abiding city here," whilst his
Evening Hymn, " Through the day Thy love has spared

138 TEE EYMN LOVER.
us," is one of the most tenderly beautiful for that season.
Thomas Kelly deserves, and will probably long hold, a
place of honour m the hymnody of the Church, but to
doubt, as Lord Selbome has done, whether Montgomery
ever wrote anything quite equal to his hymn on the Cross,
shows an exaggerated estimate of Kelly, and a want of
appreciation of Montgomery, who certainly holds a far
higher place in the Christian Choir. He did not write
nearly as many hymns as Kelly, probably because he had
a much higher conception of what is essential to a good
hymn. Would that this had been the case with hymnists
generally, and that they had the grace to commit to the
flames such of their hynms as were either echoes of
previous ones, or but the mere rhymed prose, with
which the hymnal stores of the Church are so sadly
encumbered. To scarcely any hymnist does this remark apply with
less force than to James Montgomery (1771-1854), who
came of a Moravian stock, and received his education at
Fulneck, in Yorkshire. He had been designed for the
ministry of that body, but was probably kept therefrom
by a certain diffidence and shyness of nature which
prevented him from even becoming a member of the
Moravian Church till he was over forty years of age. To
this peculiarity of his nature some of the excellences of
his hymns may, perhaps, be ascribed. Too many of the
hymnists have been of the bolder and more assertive type
of character, and so their verses lack the tenderness and
quiet reserve which add so much beauty to hymns. For
variety, clearness, strength, suitabUity of form to subject,
Montgomery's hymns have rarely, if ever, been excelled.
An unu.sually large proportion of those he wrote has

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 139
passed into use and favour. I found as many worthy of a
place in public worship as in the far more voluminous
productions of Dr. Watts. But for the prejudice in
favour of Dr. Watts as the real founder of English
hymnody — ^for which, indeed, he deserves high honour —
Montgomery would, I believe, be ranked above him.
Where can grander missionary hymns be found than his
"0 Spirit of the Uving God," and "Hark! the song of
Jubilee." They move the heart Uke the sound of a
trumpet. Where shall we flnd a nobler version of a
Psalm than his of the 72nd, "Hail to the Lord's
Anointed;" or if we turn to those of a more subdued
type, how compact and yet tender is " When on Sinai's
top I see;" how suggestive and impressive, "0 where
shall rest be found;" how pathetic, "According to Thy
gracious word ; " how comprehensive in its scope, how
cathoUc in its sympathy, " MilUons within Thy courts
have met." In all these there is a unity of thought, a
clearness of utterance, a purity of style, a healthiness
of religious tone, ranking them amongst the choicest
treasures of the Church's song. If Charles Wesley is
more subjectively lyrical, Montgomery is more objectively
clear and impressive. His writings did much to elevate
and purify the taste of the Church in relation to
hymnody. He seems to have been conscious that his real
success had been as a hymnist rather than as a poet, since,
when asked by a Whitby solicitor, " 'Which of your poems
will Uve?" he repUed, "None, sir; nothing, except,
perhaps, a few of ihy hymns."
Mrs. Yoke was an ardent friend of missions. Most of
her hymns owe their origin to this feeUng. Two of
them, at a time when missionary hymns were much

[40 THE EYMN LOVER.
fewer in number and poorer in quality than they are now,
were popular. One of these was ' ' Ye messen gers of Christ, ' '
and the other, "Behold the expected time draws near."
George Keith, a son-in-law of Dr. GUI, who is said to
have written hynms as he listened to his father-in-law's
sermons, is credited by Mr. Sedgwick, but on quite in
sufficient evidence, with the authorship of "How firm a
foundation, ye saints of the Lord," a hymn of no great merit.
It is reaUy by Robert Keene, who compiled with Dr. Eippon
the tune book to Dr. Eippon' s " Selection of Hymns."
James Hogg (1772-1835), commonly known as the
Ettrick Shepherd, one of Nature's geniuses, finds a place
among the hymnists by one hymn, in which there are
many poetic touches, "Lauded be Thy name for ever."
Harriet Auber (1773-1862), daughter of the rector of
Tring, was the editor of " The Spirit of the Psalms," in
which the deservedly popular hymn, "Our blest Eedeemer,
ere He breathed," with others of hers are foimd. It is
one of the most beautiful hymns on " The Comforter " in
the language. Her version of the 75th Psalm, beginning
" That Thou, 0 Lord, art ever nigh," though not equal
to the former, is of considerable merit.
John Cawood, M.A. (1775-1852), the perpetual curate
of St. Ann's Chapel of Ease, Bewdley, was the author of
at least seventeen hymns, of which one, " Almighty God,
Thy word is oast," suitable to be sung after the sermon, is
very practical, and adapted for its purpose.
Eichard Mant, D.D. (1776-1848), Bishop of Dromore,
was the author of "The Book of Psalms in an EngUsh
Metrical Version," and " Ancient Hymns from the
'Eoman Breviary' and Original Hymns" (1837); many
of these hymns were inserted in his prose works.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 141
Some of them are very vigorous, and marked by a
certain grandeur of style. Perhaps the finest is "Bright
the vision which delighted," which is often appropriately
inserted in hymnals with the omission of the first verse,
and beginning, " Eound the Lord, in glory seated " His
Litany, " Son of God, to Thee I cry," is a fine example
of that class of composition ; whilst there is a quiet rest-
fulness about " There is a dwelUng place above," which is
very attractive. His Funeral Hymn, "For Thy dear saint,
0 Lord," has also not a little merit. The really anony
mous hymn, " Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore Him,"
has often been ascribed, without proof, to Bishop Mant.
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), the well-known author
of " The Pleasures of Hope," and many stirring national
poems, is represented in a few hymnals, by "When
Jordan hush'd his waters stiU," which, as was to be
expected, has poetic, but little hymnic merit. I have
sometimes thought that the anxiety of editors to remove
the charge that few great poets have contributed to
hymnody, has sometimes led them to strain a point, so as
to include in their collections verses by well-known
authors which are not really hymns. In several recent
hymnals there are compositions against which one would
be disposed to write — a poem, but not a hymn. A dis
tinction which may be briefly described in the foUowing
way. The poem dweUs on a theme or a word, without
designing it to be a vehicle of praise, or a medium for
worship, whilst the hymn proper has one or both of these
as its special purpose — it should be the lyric outburst of a
worshipping spirit, calling and helping others to worship
also. Thomas Moore (1779-1852) is a considerable name in

142 TEE EYMN LOVER.
poetry, and if his reUgious fervour had been stronger,
might have been equally so in hymnody. In a literary
and inteUectual sense, he was singularly and most richly
fitted for hymnic composition. He was deeply poetic ; he
had a wonderful command of rhythm ; the music . of his
verse is lovely; and yet his hymns have never laid hold
of the worshipping instinct. And the reason is probably
to be found in a lack of spiritual fervour. Had a great
reUgious movement taken hold of him, he would have
been, I fancy, one of the greatest hymn writers of the
world. As one regards the perfect mechanism of his
hymns, the feeling rises in the heart, "0 that the fire
were there to set it in motion ! " Having that fije,
the hymns of many an inferior writer have grown into
far greater favour. And yet we could hardly spare from
our collections such hymns as " Thou art, 0 God, the Ufe
and Ught," with its exquisite poetry, or " 0 Thou who
dry'st the mourner's tear," wdth its beautiful verse
embodying the fine idea of Blanco White's noble sonnet,
" Mysterious Night." Did Moore borrow the idea from
Blanco White or Blanco 'White from Moore ? —
" Then sorrow, touch'd by Thee, grows blight
With more than rapture's ray :
As darkness shows us worlds of Ught
We never saw by day."
His rendering of Miriam's song, " Sound the loud timbrel
o'er Egypt's dark sea," used to be a great favourite, but
is less so now that a tenderer spirit is in the ascendant in
the Church.
Marianne Nunn (1779-1847) is well known by her
hymn, " One there is above aU others," a version of John
Newton's beginning in the same way, adapted to be sung
to a favourite Welsh tune.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 143
Ralph Wardlaw, D.D. (1779-1853), occupies a con
siderable place in the theology, but a smaU one in the
hymnody of his age. For a collection he edited, he
wrote eleven hymns, of which the most widely known
one is " Lift up to God the voice of praise," which has a
force and crispness of utterance that are remarkable. To
these characteristics, rather than to its poetic quality, its
popularity is due.
Joseph Dacre Carlyle, B.D. (1759-1804), the leamed
Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, appended to a volume
of poems, suggested by scenes in Asia Minor, three of a
religious character. One of these is the hymn, " Lord,
when we bend before Thy throne," intended for use
before public worship, calling the heart to sincerity and
penitence before God. It is a hymn of great reality and
tenderness, and deservedly popular.
John Maniott (1780-1825), for a time Vicar of Church
Lawford, in Warwickshire, was the author of the
Missionary Hymn, " Thou, whose Almighty word,"
which justly holds a place in the first rank.
George Croly, LL.D. (1780-1860), acquired consider
able reputation in literature, and wrote a good deal of
sacred poetry, but of his " Psalms and Hymns for
PubUc Worship," containing twenty Psalms and the
same number of hymns, not one has estabUshed itself in
tho affections of the Church.
Gerard Thomas Noel, M.A. (1782-1851, elder brother
of the devoted Baptist W. Noel), Vicar of Romsey, is
remembered by a hymn often used at the Communion,
" If human kindness meets return." It is full of a
tender and subdued feeUng, and admirably suited for
such a service.

144 THE HYMN LOVER.
WUliam Bengo CoUyer, D.D., LL.D. (1782-1854), was
a Congregational minister at Hanover Chapel, Peokham,
and, Uke a few of his brethren in the ministry at that
time, had a considerable reputation for attracting more
fashionable folk than are usually found within the circle
of Dissent. The Duke of Kent, and others of the royal
blood, were occasional worshippers in his chapel. He
belonged to a type which has left no representatives
behind, but of which there were in his time not a few,
including men like the Claytons, Thomas Adkins, of
Southampton, Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, and Dr. Morton
Brown of Cheltenham. All of them were touched in
their style of preaching by the influence of Dr. Johnson.
Dr. CoUyer pubUshed a collection of hynms for his own
congregation, but those from his ovm pen are by no
means remarkable. The best is " Return, 0 wanderer,
return." He was one of the authors of that very com
posite hymn in its present form, " Great God, what do I
see and hear," the original source of which was a hymn
by Ringwaldt, of which Dr. CoUyer saw the first verse in
a translation by Jacobi. He thought it was Luther's.
To it he added three verses ; these have been considerably
altered by other editors. It used to be often sung, but
conceptions of the future Ufe have so altered during recent
years that it is now very rarely used. I have not heard
it sung for at least twenty years.
Reginald Heber, D.D. (1783-1826), the greatly-beloved
Bishop of Calcutta, is one of the few hymnists of an
earUor time whose reputation is increasing rather than
diminishing. Fault used to be found with his hymns
because they "carried the poetic element to its utmost
point." Josiah Miller says: "They are usuaUy dis-

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 145
tinguished by a rhetorical flow, and an elevation of
manner and imagery that threatens to take them out
of the class of hymns, and rob them of that pious
moderation we ordinarily expect to meet with in such
productions." The pious moderation of which Mr. Miller
speaks has been the curse of hymnody, and it wUl be
found that such pious moderation will take the hymns
marked thereby, before long, out of the Church's song;
whilst the poetic element discernible in Heber's hymns is
bringing them more and more into favour and use. I
have an impression that a larger proportion of the hymns
written by him are in actual use than is the case with
any considerable writer. By use I mean, not what is
commonly meant — ^their presence in hymnals — ^but their
actual use in the worship of the Church. Insertion in a
hymnal is one thing ; singing by a congregation is quite
another. A hymnist's trae reputation rests on the latter,
and not on the former, since very few editors have, as
yet, had the courage to omit from their coUeetions hymns
which have passed out of use.* Heber's best known, and
perhaps the most popular of aU hymns for missionary
services, is "From Greenland's icy mountains." The
story of its production is as follows. On Whitsunday,
1819, the late Dr. Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph, and vicar
of Wrexham, preached a sermon in Wrexham Church in
aid of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts. That day was also fixed upon for the
commencement of the Sunday Evening Lectures to be
* Since writing this paragraph, I have learned from Mr. W. T.
Brooke, that both he and the Rev. John Julian, the Editor of the
¦' Dictionary of Hymnology," came to the conclusion that every
hymn written by Heber is now in common use — a thing unique in
hymnody. l

146 THE HYMN LOVER.
estabUshed in that church, and the late Bishop of
Calcutta (Heber), then rector of Hodnet, the Dean's
son-in-law, undertook to deUver the first lecture. In the
course of the Saturday previous, the Dean and his son-in-
law being together at the vicarage, the former requested
Heber to write " something for them to sing in the
morning," and he retired for that purpose from the table
where the Dean and a few friends were sitting, to a
distant part of the room. In a short time the Dean
enquired, "What have you written?" Heber, having
then composed the three first verses, read them over
" There, there ; that wUl do very well," said the Dean.
" No, no ; the sense is not complete," repUed Heber.
Accordingly, he added the fourth verse ; and the Dean
being inexorable to his repeated request of " Let me add
another ! let me add another ! " thus completed the hymn
which has since become so celebrated. It was sung the
next morning in Wrexham Church for the flrst time.
Only one correction appears in the MS., that of the word
"savage" to "heathen." Almost equal in popularity is
his hymn for Trinity Sunday, "Holy, holy, holy. Lord
God Almighty," a hymn of great beauty, and fuU of a
rich lyric feeling. Its only fault, in my judgment, is the
too metaphysical Une, " God in Three Persons, blessed
Trinity," due, in all probability, to the fact that it was
written for Trinity Sunday. In hymns, dogma should take
on the softened form of poetry, and be a pervading spirit
— ^not a metaphysical declaration. Indeed, the doctrine
of the Trinity finds much more spiritual expression in
Scripture than in the creeds of the Church of which,
when he wrote this line, the good Bishop's mind was
evidently full. Quite equal in merit is " Hosanna to the

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 147
living Lord," a glorious burst of praise, relieved, here
and there, by strains of great solemnity and tenderness.
" The Lord of might from Sinai's brow," is a hymn of
great force and picturesqueness, unhappily disfigured by
the Une which tells of Christ meeting the Father's
anger ; a line due, not to the kindly spirit of the writer,
but to the theology current in his time. " Lord of
mercy and of might " is a Utany solemn and grand.
"The Son of God goes forth to war" is a most stirring
hymn, marked in parts by very pathetic touches, and
strikes quite a new note in hymnody. " Thou art gone to
the grave, but we wUl not deplore thee," is one of the
most prized of Funeral Hymns. Bishop Heber evidently
thought that hymns should be more marked by poetic and
literary grace than they usually are, since he compUed a
small collection, containing what he thought the best of
his own, together with others by Jeremy Taylor, Addison,
Sir Walter Scott, Dean Milman, and others of a Uke
character. In common with James Montgomery, he did
much to elevate the standard of hymnody.
Bernard Barton (1784-1849) presents to us the strange
spectacle of a member of the unsinging body of the
Society of Friends as a contributor to the Church's
song. From his poetical works, two hymns have been
drawn of no little merit — " Lamp of our feet, whereby
we trace," on the Bible, and " Walk in the Ught, so shalt
thou know." One cannot help wishing that they had
been addressed (as hymns should be) directly to God.
The first is really a description of Scripture, and the second
a persuasive to sincerity of life.
Henry Kirke 'White (1785-1806), is one of the small
company of real poets who have contributed to hymnody.

148 THE HYMN LOVER.
It was concerning him that Byron used the striking
image of the struck eagle, which
" Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart,
And winged the shaft that quivered to his heart."
His Ufe was brought to a premature end by his
excessive devotion to mathematical study. Strange to
say, the fragment of the hymn by which he is best
known, was found on the back of his mathematical
papers — " Much in sorrow, oft in woe." It was after
wards completed by Frances Fuller Maitland, afterwards
Mrs. Colquhoun. There is a singular delicacy and tender
ness in his hymn for a family party at eventide, "0 Lord,
another day is flown." "Awake, sweet harp of Judah,
wake," a much less known hymn, is in an altogether
bolder style.
Sir Robert Grant (1785-1838), Governor of Bombay,
wrote some twelve hymns, which were published after
his death. From this small coUection, three have
acquired, and deservedly, great popularity. Perhaps the
finest is "0 worship the King," a jubilant hymn of
praise, relieved by one verse in a tenderer strain,
beginning "Frail children of dust." "Saviour, when
in dust to Thee " is one of the finest hjmins in the litany
style in our language. His hymn, " When gathering
clouds around I view," is very pathetic, but is, perhaps,
too personal for use in public worship.
Andrew Reed, D.D. (1787-1862), minister of Wycliffe
Chapel, but better known as the founder of three of the
greatest Asylums in London, was the editor of " The
Hymn Book," a too pretentious title, not justified by the
quaUty of the book. To this coUection he contributed
nineteen, and his wife twenty-one hymns. One of his
hymns, and perhaps only one, is of great merit, " Spirit

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 149
Divine, attend our prayers." It has deservedly passed
into use in many sections of the Church, and is one of
the most inspiring hymns we possess addressed to the
Holy Spirit.
Thomas Raffles, D.D., LL.D. (1788-1863), enjoyed a
great reputation as minister of Great George Street
Chapel, Liverpool. He was one of the contributors to a
small volume, "Poems by Three Friends," and issued a
supplement to Watts's " Pgalms and Hymns " for use in
his own congregation. A few of his hymns passed into
the "New Congregational Hymn Book," but none of
them are Ukely to retain a place in the favour of the
Church. They are little more than rhymed prose.
Perhaps the best are "Lord, Uke the publican I stand,"
and "High in yonder realms of Ught," the latter
written for CoUyer's Collection in 1812.
Josiah Conder (1789-1855) did a great deal, both by
the hymns he wrote and his editing of the hym.ns of
other writers, to raise the standard of taste in hymnody.
The issue of the " Congregational Hymn Book " under
his editorship in 1836, marks a distinct step in advance.
This was intended to be used as a supplement to Dr.
Watts's " Psalms and Hymns," and thus Mr. Conder was
relieved of the great difficulty meeting the editors of aU
hymnals for use in churches where Watts had been
largely used, of making a selection from his writings.
Very few have had the courage to reduce Dr. Watts's
hymns within the narrower dimensions which, in the
present state of hymnody, they rightly deserve to fiU.
Most of the Hynmals for use in Congregational and
Baptist churches are spoilt by too large an infusion of
the Watts element. Mr. Conder had not to face that

150 THE HYMN LOVER.
problem, and so his task was easier. But stUl, for the
age in which it was done, it is marked by great ability,
and does great credit to his critical faculty. To it he
contributed fifty-six hymns from his own pen : too large
a number by one author ; an error into which most
editors who have been also hymnists have fallen. A
hymn writer should scarcely undertake the task of
editing a hymnal. A natural love for his own com
positions is almost sure to lead him astray, as it did the
late Rev. Paxton Hood and the Rev. Godfrey Thring ; ^to
both of whom, especiaUy the latter, we are indebted for
many noble hymns. StUl, the general level of Mr. Conder's
hymns is high ; so high that we wonder they are not
more used beyond the Church to which he belonged. He
had the mastery of a considerable variety of style. In
the more bold and jubUant strain, his best hymns are —
" The Lord is King, Uft up thy voice," "0 give thanks
to Him who made," and " Beyond, beyond the boundless
sky." The last of these is a very distinctive and remark
able hymn on the omnipresence of God. In "0 show
me not my Saviour dying," there is a very striking
mingUng of minor and major tones. Perhaps this is his
finest hymn. Fine specimens of his more subdued style
may be found in "How shaU I foUow Him I serve,"
"Holy, holy Lord," "Day by day the manna feU," and
" Heavenly Father, to whose eye ; " whilst in " Head of
the Church, our risen Lord," there is a fulness of
meaning, finding expression through very few words, that
is very remarkable. It is Uke a poetical coUect. His
Communion Hymn, " Bread of heaven, on Thee we feed,"
though by no means his best, has probably reached a
gi'eater general popularity than any other of his hymns.

INCREASE OF POETIG ELEMENTS. 151
Within the years 1791 and 1792 wiU be found
the birth-dates of a company of hymnists filling a
considerable place in hymnody, and whose hymns are
still, and seem likely to remain, in constant use — Dean
Milman, James Edmeston, Sir John Bowring, John Keble,
and Henry Francis Lyte.
Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868), the leamed and
accomplished Dean of St. Paul's, was, like Josiah Conder,
a large contributor to Uterature. His historical works
once held a high place, and exerted a deep influence
on the thought of the Church. But he is known to
a far wider circle by his hymns than by his histories.
His compositions are chiefly in the Utany form. They
have a certain grandeur and solemnity of style, but
are somewhat lacking in spontaneity and lyric force.
They are the work of the literary artist rather than
of the sacred poet; of the finished scholar rather than
the psalmist. Still, they possess a certain grandeur and
pathos which make them impressive. " When our
heads are bowed with woe," and " Lord, have mercy
when we pray," are solemn litanies. " Ride on, ride on
in majesty," is a striking rendering of the story of
our Lord's entiy into the beloved but doomed city of
Jerusalem ; whilst in " Lord, Thou didst arise and say,"
there is a union of tenderness and force which is very
striking. James Edmeston (1791-1867) was a very large con
tributor to hymnody, and wrote many hymns for the
young. By far the most popular is " Saviour, breathe an
evening blessing," which is marked by a tenderness of
tone that renders it speciaUy suitable as an Evening
Hymn. It was written after reading " Salte's Travels in

152 THE HYMN LOVER.
Abyssinia," in which the foUowing passage occurs: "At
night, their short Evening Hymn, ' Jesus, forgive us,'
stole through the camp." It deserves to be ranked with
the stiU better -known Evening Hymns of Keble, Lyte,
and EUerton. Scarcely equal to it, but stUl of gxeat
merit, is his " Lead us. Heavenly Father, lead us," a
prayer for Divine guidance and sympathy, written for the
children of the London Orphan Asylum.
Sir John Bowring, LL.D., F.E.S. (1792-1872), who
achieved a considerable reputation as a diplomatist, and as
a scholar versed in the language and literature of many
lands, was a member of the Unitarian Church ; but in
feeling, if not in doctrine, more allied to the Evangelical
school. Few who sing his hymn, " In the cross of Christ
I glory," would imagine that it came from such a source.
After a lecture I once deUvered on Hymnody, this hymn
was quoted by a subsequent speaker as an example of one
embodying doctrine which is usuaUy regarded as being
specially Evangelical. It is a noble hymn; equally fine in
thought, feeling, and expression. Bowring's Uttle book,
" Matins and Vespers," though small in bulk, is rich in
quality. To him we owe " From aU evU, aU temptation "
(erroneously ascribed in the " New Congregational Hymn
Book " to Bishop Mant), " God is love. His mercy
brightens," and " Lead us with Thy gentle sway," all
of them delightful hymns, and the subdued and pathetic
utterance, " From the recesses of a lowly spirit." No
one can, without prejudice, read hymns Uke these, and
not feel that, beneath great diversities as to doctrine, there
may be, and often is, a real unity of Christian spirit.
Bom in the same year as Sir John Bowring, but passing
away six years before him, was John Keble, who belonged

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 153
to a school of religious thought most remote from that
of the Unitarian. He was one of the leaders of the
great Oxford movement, and did much, by his poetry,
to help its progress. Keble was as remarkable for
finish as Bowring for width of scholarship; and, speak
ing generaUy, it may be said that finish rather than
strength is the characteristic of his poetry. Space will
not aUow me to speak of his poetry generaUy. His
" Christian Year " has great merits and great defects. It
deserves a high, though not, perhaps, so high a place as
it has secured in popular estimation. He falls far below
his early friend, Newman, in depth of thought and com
pactness of expression. Keble takes pages to set forth
what Newman would compress into a few lines. Keble
descends to details, leaving Uttle for the imagination to
fiU in ; whUst Newman utters suggestive words which
draw the mind on to large fields of spiritual thought and
feeling. Keble' s principal poetical works were " The
Christian Year," which attained to a circulation perhaps
larger than any work of the kind m modem times, and
from the profits of which Hursley Church was buUt ; and
the ' ' Lyi-a Innocentium. " Most of th e hymns of Mr. Keble
which have come into use have been taken from " The
Christian Year." His Evening Hymn, " Sun of my soul.
Thou Saviour dear," which is a selection of verses from
the hymn as it stands in "The Christian Year," beginning
" 'Tis gone, that bright and orbed blaze," has, I fancy,
Ul recent times supplanted, in common use, Bishop Ken's
famous hymn for the same season, which excels it in
vigour, but falls short of it in tendemess of thought
and expression. His Moming Hymn, "0 timely happy,
timely wise," is, perhaps, equal in merit to the

154 THE HYMN LOVER.
evening one, but is not nearly so widely known or
greatly loved. One reason for this may be found in the
fact that we are more disposed to hymn singing in the
evening than in the morning, and that we are more moved
by songs of the night than of the day. There are fine
verses in " There is a book who runs may read," a hymn
on the book of Nature ; but perhaps the finest, and the
key to all the rest, is a verse too often omitted —
" Two worlds are ours : 'tis only sin
Forbids us to descry
The mystic heaven and earth within,
Plain as the eai-th and sky."
"The livelong night we've toiled in vain," is a hymn
well fitted to cheer desponding ministers of the kingdom
of God. " The Voice that breathed o'er Eden " is one of
the finest of Marriage Hymns. " Spirit of Christ, Thine
earnest given," is in his noblest strain, and admirably
suited for use after the Ordination Prayer at the con
secration of men to the ministry of Christ.
Bom in the year following that of Keble, but passing
away twenty years before him, was Henry Francis Lyte, to
whom we owe the Evening Hymn which competes with
Keble's for the flrst place in the estimation of the Church.
It would be difficult to say which is the more frequently
used, Keble's "Sun of my soul," or Lyte's "Abide with
me, fast falls the eventide ; " probably their use is about
equal. A particular interest gathers about the latter
hymn, since it was the last penned by its author.
Ordered abroad on account of his health, and with the
shadow of death gathering and deepening around him, the
good pastor of the little fishing town of Brixham, on the
westerly side of Torbay, addressed words of tender
farewell to his flock, administered the Communion for the

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 155
last time, and then retired to the privacy of his own
room. When, in the evening, he rejoined his famUy, he
handed them " Abide with me," with music to which he
had set it. The hymn, though not its accompanying
music, has enshrined itself in the tenderest affections of
the Church at large. By this he is best known, but a
very large number of his hymns have grown into
considerable popularity, notably the foUowing — " Praise,
my soul, the King of Heaven," marked by a lovely union
of boldness and tenderness; "Jesus, I my cross have
taken," a plaintive but resolute expression of devotion to
the following of Christ. His " Spirit of the Psalms"
contains many fine versions ; speciaUy good are those of
the 65th, " Praise, Lord, for Thee in Zion waits," and of
the 81st, " Sing to the Lord our might." His version of
a hymn by Francis Quarles, beginning ' ' Long did I toU,
and knew no earthly rest," is of great beauty, and shows
the noble use which might be made of some of the hymns
of the early hymnists, which, though fine in thought, are
too archaic in their mode of expression for use in their
original forms.
FeUcia Dorothea Hemans (1794-1835) is best known
by her more distinctly poetical works, but the few hymns
we owe to her make us wish that she had consecrated
her powers more largely to this end. Her most
widely known hymn, " Lowly and solemn be," I should
rank as one of the very finest of that order in the
language. It is plaintive and solemn, both in its thought
and expression ; the metre being exquisitely suited to the
sentiment. It is taken from a funeral dirge which follows
her poem, "The Funeral Day of Sir Walter Scott," and
is the utterance of a heart moved and solemnised by the

156 TEE HYMN LOVER.
thought of death. Her verses on Christ in Gethsemane,
" He knelt, the Saviour knelt and prayed," and those on
the heralds of the birth of Christ, " 0 lovely voices of
the sky," and for the death of a chUd, " Saviour, now
receive him," are aU marked by that gracefulness and
tenderness which, alas ! are so often conspicuous by their
absence in hymnic compositions. These are likely to
become more popular as the taste of worshippers becomes
more cultivated.
Thomas Binney (1798-1874) is chiefly remembered as
one of the most suggestive and inspiring preachers of his
time ; and the leader, it may be said, of a new style of
preaching. He also did much to elevate the style and tone
of worship in Nonconformist churches, by the example
set in his services at the King's Weigh House Chapel,
where for forty years he ministered, as weU as by his
suggestive Uttle book, " The Service of Song in the
House of the Lord." Under his direction, what is caUed
" The Weigh House series of Tunes, Chants, and
Anthems," was issued. He wrote some few hymns and
poems, but, as a hymnist, he is almost exclusively remem
bered by " Eternal Light, Eternal Light," written about
1826. This hymn is one of remarkable originality and
force, and is Ukely to be remembered even when his
eloquent sermons are forgotten. It is said to have
been conceived by its author during his ministry at
Newport, in the Isle of Wight, on a brilUant starry
night, which moved him deeply. A Sunday Evening
Hymn by him, beginning "Holy Father, whom we
praise," has found its way into a few collections, but has
neither the distinctiveness nor beauty of " Eternal Light,
Etemal Light."

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 157
Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) is one of the most popular
of lady hymnists. To her pen we owe a large number of
hymns, the two most popular of wliich are "Just as
I am, without one plea," and "My God and Father,
while I stray." Scarcely a hymnal for general use is
now pubUshed in which these hymns do not find a place.
They are marked by so distinctive a style, and so
pathetic a spirit, that they have a strange power over the
heart. They are deeply Evangelical, not only in theU
sentiment, but, what is of more importance, in their
feeling. There are other hymns by her far less known,
but showing the same high qualities, and well
deserving- a place in the Hymnals of the Church.
Amongst these, we should give a foremost place to
" Christian, seek not yet repose." In this hymn, it is
rather startling to find the idea of guardian angels, which
has rarely been associated with the faith of EvangeUcal
Churchmen, to which school Miss Elliott belonged. "Let
me be with Thee where Thou art," " 0, Holy Saviour,
Friend unseen," " My God, is any hour so sweet,'' and
" Leaning on Thee, my Guide, my Friend." Most of
her hymns were written for those in sorrow or sickness,
and are, perhaps, somewhat more suited for private than
public worship. But their great excellence, their reality
of tone, their pathos, have drawn many of them into
more public use than was intended by their authoress.
John Harris, D.D. (1802-1 856), attained to great reputa
tion in his day as an eloquent preacher, a brilUant essayist,
and a theological professor. He wrote a few hymns, for
one of which he claims mention. "Light up this house
with glory. Lord," is a composition of great merit, full of
spiritual thought, expressed with much force and beauty.

158 THE HYMN LOVER.
John Hampden Gurney (1802-1862), rector of St.
Mary's, Mary-le-bone, is an instance of a man who, without
any great lyric or poetic power, had yet such a true idea
of what a hymn should be, and such skUl in working
into good form the ideas of others, that the hymns he has
given us are deservedly popular. They are all character
ised by good taste, healthiness of Christian feeling, and
suitability to pubUc worship. " Lord, as to Thy dear
cross we flee," is included in a large number of collections.
" Through centuries of sin and woe " is a fine hymn for
use in time of war, as is " Great King of nations, hear,"
in time of trouble. " Yes, God is good," is in a brighter
strain. In several instances, notably in the foUowing,
Mr. Gurney wrought up to good purpose the work of
previous hymnists — " Yes, God is good," by Eliza Lee
FoUen, and "We saw Thee not when Thou didst come."
The latter, in its present form, is a very striking hymn.
Isaac WiUiams, B.D. (1802-1865), one of the con
tributors to the "Tracts for the Times," and, of course,
belonging to the High Church party of which they
formed the manifesto, is a contributor of considerable
importance to sacred poetry by means of original and
translated pieces ; many of the latter have found their
way into Hymnals of the High Church school. But one
of his hymns, " Lord, in this Thy mercy's day," an
extract from a poem of 110 stanzas in "The Baptistery,"
has passed into hymnals of a more evangelical and less
ecclesiastical type ; but it is scarcely in place in them, and
has, in my judgment, a dogmatic tone which may be
suitable in discourse, but is not in song. The foUowing
hymn from his pen is in a very different strain, and seems
to me very lovely —

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 159
The child leans on its parent's breast.
Leaves there its cares, and is at rest ;
The bird sits singing by his nest.
And tells aloud
His trust in God, and so is blest
'Neath every cloud.
He has no store, he sows no seed.
Yet sings aloud and doth not heed ;
By flowing stream or gi'assy mead
He sings to shame
Men, who forget, in fear of need,
A Father's name.
The heart tbat trusts for ever sings,
And feels as light as it had wings ;
A weU of peace within it springs ;
Come good or ill,
Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings.
It is His wiU.
John Chandler, M.A. (1806-1876), is chiefiy known by
translations pubUshed in "Hymns of the Primitive
Church," many of which are of great worth, and which
have been largely drawn upon by editors of Church of
England Hymnals. The best known are — " Christ is our
Corner-stone," from the form in the "Paris Breviary;"
" 0 Jesus, Lord of heavenly grace," from St. Ambrose;
" As now the sun's declining rays," from Charles Coffin,
in the "Paris Breviary;" "0 Christ, our hope and
heart's desire," from an Ambrosian Hymn of the 9th or
10th century; " 'Tis for conquering kings to gain," from
Charles Coffin in the "Paris Breviary;" "Thou bright
ness of the Father's face." Mr. Chandler deserves very
high rank as a translator: a task almost as difficult as
that of original composition.
JuUa Anne EUiot, nee MarshaU (died 1841), wife of the
Eev. H. Y. ElUott, clearly had great capacity for hymn
composition. This is evident in her lovely Evening
Hymn, " On the dewy breath of even," and "We love
Thee, Lord, yet not alone."

160 THE HYMN LOVER.
EUzabeth MiUs (1808-1829), wife of Thomas MiUs,
M.P., is remembered by the weU-known hymn, " We
speak of the realms of the blest," suggested by a passage
in "Bridges on the 119th Psalm" — "We speak of
heaven; but oh! to be there." It was written a few
weeks before her death.
Sarah Adams, nee Flower (1805-1849), contributed
thirteen pieces to " Hymns and Anthems," published by
Charles James Fox in 1841. One of these, " Nearer, my
God, to Thee," is amongst the most popular hymns in
the language, and is an illustration, of which hymnody
furnishes so many, that, beneath all diversities of
theological thought, there is a real unity in aU Christian
hearts. Though Mrs. Adams belonged to the Unitarian
Church, her hymn is sung in Trinitarian churches of
every order. She also wrote " He sendeth sun. He
sendeth shower," which is also of great beauty.
Henry Addiscott (1806-1860), minister of the Inde
pendent Churoh at Taunton, is only known to have
written one hymn, " And is there, Lord, a cross for me,"
but it is so good in sentiment and spirit, and so dis
tinctive, that both the hymn and its writer deserve
remembrance. Arthur Tozer Eussell, B.C.L. (1806-1874), vicar of
Holy Trinity Churoh, Wrockwardine Wood, Wellington,
Shropshire, was a considerable contributor to literature,
both by original and translated works. His work as a
hymnist consisted chiefiy of translations from the
German, contributed to " Hymns for PubUc Worship
and Private Devotion," edited by Mr. Ernest Bunsen.
He also edited "Psalms and Hymns; partly original,
partly translated ; for the use of the Church of England."

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 161
This work is notable for its translations from the
German. The original hymns by which he is known
are — " We praise, we bless Thee ; Lord, we confess
Thee," and "Another year has fled, renew." These
are both good hynms ; the former marked by a subdued
solemnity, and the latter by great tenderness. A hymn
by him, beginning " 0 God of Ufe, whose power
benign," not without merit, but far inferior to those we
have named, was included in "Hymns, Ancient and
Modem," but omitted from the revised edition of that
work. Thomas Rawson Taylor (1807-1835), a Congregational
minister in Sheffield, afterwards classical tutor in
Airedale CoUege, where his career was cut short by
death when only 28 years of age, is chiefly remembered
as the author of the well-known hymn, " I'm but a
stranger here," which is marked by no little pathos, but
goes a little too far in the direction of what George EUot
called " other- worldliness," when it speaks of earth as
" a desert drear." The longing for another world is not
quite healthy when it leads to disparagement of the
present one, which is quite as truly of the divine appoint
ment as that which is to succeed it. His hymn for the
young, " There was a time when children sang," is in
a far healthier strain, and deserves very high rank as one
of the sweetest hymns for children in the language.
Richard Chenevix Trench, D.D. (1807-1886), vicar of
Alverstoke, and afterwards of Itohenstoke, theological
professor at King's CoUege, London, Dean of Westminster,
and Archbishop of DubUn, occupied a considerable place
in the Uterary and theological world of his day. An

162 TEE HYMN LOVER.
eminently interesting writer, who gave a charm to every
subject of which he wrote, he found a place among the
hynmists only by reason of adaptations of certain of his
poems for pubUc worship. In the strictest sense, these
versions are not reaUy hymns, but the sentiments of the
poems thus used, their largeness of view, their tender
ness of thought, their beauty of expression, have led to
their adaptation as hymns. If the real object of hymns
be to quicken devotional and gracious feeling in those
who sing them, then Dr. Trench's lines deserve the place
they have obtained in pubUc worship. Though he cannot
be caUed a great poet, yet there is an indescribable charm
about his poetry which would lead us to part with the
works of some greater poets rather than his. "Let all
men know that aU men move " is a part of his poem,
beginning " I say to thee, do thou repeat." " Make
channels for the streams of love," is a rendering of his
beautiful little poem on " The law of Love." We have
often wondered that the good Archbishop never appUed
his poetic faculty to the production of hymns. He had
every quality needful for a good and even a masterly
hymnist. The reason may, perhaps, be found in the fact
that, in his earUer days, when his poetic faculty was at
its zenith, hymns were comparatively Uttle used in the
Church of which he was so distinguished an ornament.
Since writing the foregoing paragraph, I have been
interested to flnd that his friend John Sterling entertained
a Uke feeUng. In the " Letters and Memorials " of
Richard Chenevix Trench, just pubUshed, there is a letter
written from Floriac, near Bordeaux, by Sterling, dated
May 13, 1837, in which the foUowing passage occurs : —
" I hope you stUl find time to write poetry, and I have

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 163
often thought of the importance of supplying EngUsh
devotion with more genuine and satisfactory hymns than
we now possess, in which, it seems to me, you might be
of much use. I would work for the purpose myself if I
thought there was any chance of my succeeding. [He
did write one or two hymns of great freshness and
beauty. J I wish you would try. You would influence
mUUons whom poetry in any other form would nevej
reach." In the half-century which has elapsed since
John SterUng penned his letter, much progress has been
made in the direction there indicated; and when poets feel
that no nobler use can be made of their powers than in
providing verses for use in pubUc and private worship,
the golden age of hymnody wUl have come.
Christopher Wordsworth, D.D. (1807-1885), his con
temporary (they were bom in the same year), successively
Head Master of Harrow, Canon and Archdeacon of West
minster, and Bishop of Lincoln, a larger but less populai
contributor to Uterature than Trench, though he came of a
poetic stock, is far less remarkable as a poet than as a
hymnist. He seems to have discerned more clearly than
Dr. Trench the large place which hymns would fiU, and
the deep influence they would exert in the Church. This
is clear from " The Holy Year," pubUshed by him with a
view to supply suitable hymns for each and every occasion
of the Ecclesiastical Year; in the preface to which he
says: "A Church Hymn Book ought not to be content
with supplying general hymns on martyrs, and general
hymns on Apostles and Evangelists. These are Uke
general exordiums of speeches — ^not appropriate to any.
But something more is requisite in a Church Hymn Book.
The peculiar teaching which each festival suppUes, and

164 THE HYMN LOVER.
the special expression of thankfulness which each festival
prompts, ought to flnd a responsive echo in the hymn of
each of the festivals of the Christian Year." Dr.
Wordsworth set himself to supply the want he thus
felt ; and, steeped in knowledge of Scripture and
Christian antiquities though he was, in our judgment
his attempt is a faUure, and that not from want of
abiUty or zeal, but simply from lack of materials. He
could not make bricks without straw. Some even of the
Evangelists are mere names to us ; of their character
and history we Mow UteraUy nothing. Hymns for the
days consecrated to their memory must, in the nature
of things, be either so vague as to have no special
appUcation, or be the result of untrustworthy traditions,
or the play of fancy around their names. And so it
comes to pass that, when Dr. Wordsworth had a good
subject for his verse, his hynms are of the highest order ;
when a place in the Church Year had to be filled for
which no trustworthy information could be found, his
efforts end in failure. And even when such information
was forthcoming the result was not much better, since it
was a bit of versified history rather than a hymn. It is
the fruitless attempt to provide hymns for each festival
of the ecclesiastical year which, more or less, lowers
the quaUty of every Church of England hymnal. The
idea of an ecclesiastical year itself is not justified by
either the teaching of the Apostles or the information
contained in their writings. The connection of certain
names with certain days rests on the fiimsiest tradition,
whUst the very attempt to teach any special lesson
suggested by the lives of the Apostles is sure to lead to
the didactic, which is the worst form hymns can assume.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 165
It is the rarest thing to find such hymns with any lyric
fire. But where Dr. Wordsworth is free from such
trammels, he often rises to a great elevation of style
and thought, marred here and there, it is trae, by
dogmatic rather than scripturaUy spiritual forms of
expression. Yet the high quaUty of his best hymns
makes us tolerate such minor defects. Very picturesque
and beautiful is his " The GaUlean fishers toil."
" Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost" is a lovely lyric
expression of the grand ideas of St. Paul's great
utterance on charity in his First Epistle to the
Corinthians. EquaUy beautiful is the hymn so often
used at the offertory, "0 Lord of heaven, and earth,
and sea." A noble outburst of song concerning the
great multitude of the redeemed in heaven, is " Hark !
the sound of holy voices, chanting at the crystal sea."
His Evening Hymn is one of great tendemess and
beauty, " The day is gently sinking to a close," marred
in one point by the Une, " The weary world is
mouldering to decay," which seems to me morbid and
ascetic rather than healthily Christian. His Sunday
Moming Hymn, " 0 day of rest and gladness," is one
of his happiest efforts, and has deeply enshrined itself
in the affections of the Church at large. His Litany
Hymn, " Father, we humbly pray," includes a vast
number of objects in its petitions, which are couched in
the most sincere and weU expressed forms. When Dr.
Wordsworth touches the great themes of the Gospel, or
seeks to give expression to the deepest Christian feeUng,
he rarely faUs. It is only when the ecclesiastical over
powers this deeper Christian feeling that his muse fails.
Joseph Anstiee C1808-1836), first professor of Classical

166 THE HYMN LOVER.
Literature in King's College, London ; to which he was
appointed at the very early age of 22, was the author
of fifty -four hymns, which " were aU dictated to
his wife during the last few weeks of his Ufe, and were
composed just at the period of the day (the afternoon)
when he most felt the oppression of his iUness ; all his
brighter morning hours being given to pupUs up to the
very day of his death." They were privately printed by
his widow after his decease. Twenty-seven of these were
included in " The Child's Christian Year," pubUshed in
1841, edited by Mrs. Frances Mary Yonge, mother of
the weU-known novelist. Miss C. M. Yonge, of
Otterboume, near Winchester. This Uttle book was
attributed to the Rev. John Keble, probably because of
its title, and the preface, which was from his pen.
Thus it came to pass that some of Mr. Anstice's hymns
were often attributed, in error, to the author of ' ' The
Christian Year.'' In one or two of them there is a
certain simUarity to Mr. Keble's. The best known of
his hynms are — " Lord, Thou in all things like
wert made," which is usuaUy altered to "In aU things
Uke Thy brethren. Thou," a forcible and yet tender
rendering of the thought of the author of the Epistle
to the Hebrews in chap. U. 17. "Darkly rose the
guilty moming," a striking hymn on the Cracifixion, as
caused not only by those who actuaUy brought it about,
but by our sins, for which He was wounded. " 0 Lord,
how happy should we be," a vision of, and longing for
the blessedness of a life in which all our care should be
cast upon God. His Harvest Hymn, " Lord of the
harvest, once again," and his Evening Hymn, " Father
by Thy love and power," are both of value, but have

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 167
not the distinctiveness of those we have previously
mentioned. We are disposed to give a high place to
his Uttle known hymn, " Sweet is the Spirit's strain,"
suggested by the great invitation of the Apocalypse,
" The Spirit and the Bride say come." Hymns of this
order are confessedly difficult to write without becoming
sermons in disguise, and having a certain pharisaic tone of
" we are the people " about them. This hymn avoids
these perils, and is tender and beautiful in a very high
degree. It is so Uttle known that I append it —
Sweet is the Spirit's strain ;
Breath'd by soft pleadings inly heard.
By aU the heart's deep fountains, stirr'd
By conscience and the written word ;
Come, wanderers, home again I
The Bride repeats the caU ;
By high thanksgiving, lowly prayer.
By days of rest and fostering care,
By holy rites, that aU may share ;
She whispers, Come ! to aU.
Let him who hears say, Come !
If thou hast been sin's wiUing slave,
If thou art risen from that grave.
Thy sleeping brethren seek to save.
And caU the wanderers home.
And let aU come who thirst ;
Freely for every chfld of woe
The streams of Uving waters flow.
And whosoever wfll may go
Where healing fountains burst.
There, drink, and be at rest ;
On Him who died for thee beUeve ;
The Spiiit's quickening grace receive ;
No more the God who seeks thee grieve ;
Be holy and be blest !
Had Professor Anstice's life been spared longer his
hymns would probably have undergone careful revision,
by which they would have been freed from the faults
which here and there are evident. But when the
circumstances under which they were produced are taken

168 THE HYMN LOVER.
into account, they are seen to show great poetic and
spiritual insight.
WiUiam Lindsay Alexander, D.D. (1808-1884), minister
of Augustine Church, Edinburgh, and Professor of Theo
logy in the Theological Hall of the Scotch Congregational
Churches, was a large contributor to the BibUcal and
theological Uterature of his time. He wrote several
hymns which were included in the " Augustine Hymn
Book," prepared for the use of his own church. The
only one Ukely to retain a place in hymnody is one for
the aged, " I'm kneeUng at the threshold," which,
however, is only suitable for private use.
Jane Crewdson, nee Fox (1809-1863), like many
another hymnist, "learnt in suffering what she taught
in song." During a long illnesSj she wrote several
volumes of hymns and poems, from which two hymns of a
pathetic kind have found their way into the song of the
Church — " There is no sorrow. Lord, too Ught," and
" 0 Saviour, I have nought to plead," but are, perhaps,
more suitable for use in the home than in the Church.
Henry AUord, D.D. (1810-1871), weU known for his
edition of the Greek Testament, and as the cathoUc-
spirited Dean of Canterbury, possessed a poetic power
which found its best expression in verses of a reUgious
kind. He wrote not a few hymns, most of which are
wanting in lyric force ; but in two that element is very
conspicuous. " Come, ye thankful people, come," is
probably the most popular Harvest Hymn now in
existence, and deservedly finds a place in nearly every
hynmal published in recent times, and is sung at the
great majority of harvest festivals. " Forward be our
watchword " is equally popular as a Processional Hymn,

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 169
and when sung to Sir Arthur Sullivan's tune is singularly
inspiring. It has suffered much at the hands of many
editors, whose, alterations have broken the continuity of
its thought, and hidden the historic event — ^the passing of
the Israelites into the Promised Land — out of which the
hymn evidently grew in the author's mind. It was
written to be sung at the Tenth Festival of Parochial
Choirs of the Canterbury Diocesan Union, on the 6th
June, 1871. It was accompanied with music from the
Dean's pen, to which, however, it is rarely, if ever, sung
now. The original text wiU be found in Appendix B to
" The Life of Dean Alford." His Baptismal Hymn, " In
token that thou shalt not fear," is striking, and very
popular in churches where the sign of the cross is used in
Baptism, although the use made of that symbol in the
hymn is of such a kind that it might be used in other
churches. His hymn, " Lo ! the storms of life are break
ing," is of great merit. "Ten thousand times ten
thousand " is one of his most lyric hynms, and growing
in popularity. Others might be mentioned, some of
which touch on themes too much overlooked in hymns ;
but they have not the spontaneity of those we have
named. John Samuel Bewley MonseU, LL.D. (1811-1875),
who, after holding various appointments in the Irish
Church, became, in succession, vicar of Egham, and
of St. Nicholas, GuUdford, holds a distinguished place
in the ranks of recent hymnists. His hymns were
published in several volumes, the principal being —
" Spiritual Songs," " Hymns of Love and Praise for
the Church's Year," "Litany Hymns," and "Parish
Musings." Some were included in the coUection edited

170 THE HYMN LOVER.
by him under the title of " The Parish Hymnal."
Dr. MonseU possessed the lyric gift to an unusual
extent. Many of his hymns are full of melody and
tendemess. The verses in " Spiritual Songs " com
mended themselves to the venerable author of "The
Christian Year," who gave them a careful revision.
They were "written during a winter (1874) spent for
the sake of health amid the orange and oUve groves of
Italy." To this, the- tender and subdued feeling which
characterises them may be partly due. They have since
become deservedly popular. Here and there they are
somewhat diffuse, and would have been improved by
compression, but they have very high merit, and flU a
considerable place in our best modem hymnals. I found
no less than seventeen suitable and desirable for inclusion
in my own Hymnal. Of a more joyful kind, I may
mention the following as of great value — " Sing to the
Lord a joyful song," and " God is Love, by Him up-
holden." Singularly tender and distinctive is "Birds
have their quiet nest," perhaps his finest hymn, although
" 0 worship the Lord in the beauty of hoUness," is
more widely known, and frequently sung. "To Thee, 0
dear, dear Saviour," " Labouring and heavy laden,"
" Lord of the living harvest," " The spring-tide hour
brings leaf and flower," " Sing to the Lord of harvest,"
" 0 Love, divine and golden," are his finest efforts. The
following hymn from his pen is so very fine, and so Uttle
known, that I quote it : —
Weary and sad, a wanderer from Thee,
By grief heart-broken, and by sin defiled ;
O what a joy in sorrow 'tis to be
Conscious that I am stUl, 0 God, Thy child.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 171
Strained were the cords of love by my sad will,
I would have broke them had I had my way.
But, Lord, it was Thy love, not mine, that stiU
Held my heart back, my tott'ring steps did stay.
And now the crumbs that from Thy table faU
Are aU I ask, more than is meet for me ;
Yet kiss and banquet, ring and robe, are aU
Waiting me. Father, in my home with Thee.
Back to the door which ever open lay ;
Back to the table where the feast still stood ;
Back to the heart which never, night or day,
Forgat me in my most forgetful mood.
Drawn by Thy love, that found me when a child.
And never for a moment let me go ;
StiU, stUl Thine own, though soUed and sin-defiled,
I come, and Thou wUt make me clean, 1 know.
There feed me with Thyself, until I grow
Into the stature of the life divine ;
My right to plead, my privflege to know
That Christ is God's, and I, O Christ ! am Thine,
Feed me, and set me up upon the Eock
Higher than I, my shelter and my stay
Against the mdest winter-tempest's shock.
Against the fiercest sultry summer's day.
Thus let my life in ceaseless progress move.
On into deeper knowledge. Lord, of Thee ;
The length, the breadth, the height, the depth of Love,
That fii'st could care for, then did stoop to me.
Dr. MonseU deserves a very high place among our modern
hymnists. His deep religiousness, his tendemess of
spirit, his lyric nature, aU combined to enable him to
give the Church verses which have done much, and
wUl probably do stUl more, to express and deepen her
worshipping emotion. 'WhUst watching the restoration of
his church at GuUdford, a stone fell and struck him, and
after Ungering for some time, he succumbed to heart-
disease, aggravated by the shock.
WilUam Josiah Irons, D.D. (1812-1884), the High
Church son of the well-known and eccentric minister of
Camberwell Grove, who, in his day, was noted for the

172 THE HYMN LOVER.
boldness of his Calvinism, a considerable contributor to
theological literature, was, Uke his father, the author of
many hymns, both original and translations. Some of
these are of no Uttle merit ; but he is chiefiy remembered
by what is probably the best version, at aU events for
singing, of the Bies Tree, which begins, " Day of wrath !
0 day of mourning." As no less than 160 translations
are known to have been made of this hymn, some of
them by remarkable men, it is no small distinction to have
produced the most popular version. His hymn for Palm
Sunday, " Is not this our King and Prophet ? " and that
beginning " Father of love, our Guide and Friend," seem
to me of great beauty. I quote the former : —
" Is not This our King and Prophet ? " —
Eing Hosannas, wave the palm.
Let the children from the temple
Echo back the people's psalm;
" Blessfed is the Son of David,"
Blesffed is the Christ of God,
Welcome to the hUl of Sion,
Deck the pathway, strew the sod !
" Meek and lowly One," He cometh.
And the anthem greets His ears ;
Lo. the city lies before Him,
But He sees it through His tears ;
Looking from the Mount of Olives,
Towers and marble temple rise : —
Is thy peace, O well-loved Salem.
" Hid for ever from thine eyes? "
Sees He now, in solemn vision.
Calvary ' without the gate ? "
Israel fallen — "house and city
Left unto her desolate? "
Yes, O Saviour aU-enduring!
Thou wast watching every heart —
Which would love Thee, which forsake Thee.
Which would do the traitor's part.
Pity, Lord, man's hollow praises,
'Then or now, which greet Thee thus ;
" By Thy Cross, and by Thy Passion,"
0 have mercy yet on us !

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 173
Now Thou reignest with the Father,
And the Spuit evermore ;
Lord, look down upon Thy servants,
Who repent, and would adore.
Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843), the greatly
beloved minister of S. Peter's, Dundee, whose saintly Ufe,
which came to an end when he was only thirty years of
age, exerted a wide and deep influence — an influence
perpetuated by the publication of his memoir by the Rev.
A. A. Bonar, which had an enormous circulation — ^finds,
and will probably keep, a place among the hymnists, by
the solemn and tender strains of the well-known hymn,
entitled " I am debtor" — "When this passing world ii
done." Edward CaswaU (1814-1878) was one of the company
of talented men forced from the Church of England to
that of Rome by the condemnation of the "Tracts for the
Times." He gave up his perpetual curacy at Stratford-
sub-Castle, near Salisbury, and soon after was admitted to
the Congregation of the Oratory, at Edgbaston, Birming
ham, founded by Dr. J. H. Newman. He had a genius
for poetic translation. During his student days at Oxford,
he pubUshed " The Art of Pluck," a humorous imitation
of Aristotle, which has gone through many editions, and
is stUl a favourite with undergraduates at the University.
In 1849 he issued the "Lyra Catholica," containing a
large number of translations of hymns from the Breviary
and Missal, with some from other sources. In 1858 he
published " The Masque of Mary, and other poems," and
in 1865, " A May Pageant, and other poems," but his
chief successes are his translations, some of which have
deservedly become popular, and are included in the
Hymnals of nearly every section of the Church. The

174 THE HYMN LOVER.
best known are "Jesus, the very thought of Thee," and
" 0 Jesu, King most wonderful," from the "Jesu dulcis
memoria," by Bernard of Clairvaux. These are of great
exceUence. Next in order of popularity comes his trans
lation of Francis Xavier's hymn, " My God, I love Thee,
not because," one of the noblest hymns in the language,
save for the dogmatic declaration of the latter part of the
flrst verse : —
" Nor yet because who love Thee not
Must burn eternally" —
but even that, if understood as setting forth, not the
eternity of punishment, but that so long as love to
God is absent from the soul, it must suffer, may be
accepted as grandly true. So few, however, would
understand it in that way, though the great-hearted
Xavier may have thus meant it, that, on account of these
two Unes, it has been excluded from Hymnals where
its otherwise noble teaching would have been gladly
welcomed. " The sun is sinking fast," from a Latin
original (probably of the 18th century), which has been
lost, is of great tendemess, and is graduaUy finding its
way into many hymnals. Most of the other translations
by Father CaswaU are confined to Hymnals of the High
Church order.
Samuel Greg (1804-1877), the brother of the weU-
known W. R. Greg, author of the " Creeds of Christen
dom," but of a more beUeving, though by no means
credulous turn of mind — a manufacturer, and large
employer of labour, who did much for those in his
employ, conducting services for them, and labouring
hard for their mental and spiritual good — deseiTes
mention for several hymns of great beauty, which were

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 175
included in the books we owe to his pen. His hymn
on " The Transfiguration," which he appended to his
chapter on that event, in " Scenes in the Life of Jesus,"
is certainly the finest we possess on that theme, as may
be seen below : —
Stay, Master, stay upon this heavenly hfll :
A little longer, let us Unger stiU ;
With these three mighty ones of old beside.
Near to the Awful Presence still abide ;
Before the throne of light we trembling stand.
And catch a glimpse into the spirit-land.
Stay, Master, stay ! we breathe a purer air ;
This life is not the life that waits us there :
Thoughts, feelings, flashes, glimpses come and go;
We cannot speak them — nay, we do not know ;
Wrapt in this cloud of light we seem to be
The thing we fain would grow — eternaUy.
" No ! " saith the Lord, " the hour is past, — we go ;
Our home, our Ufe, our duties Ue below.
WhUe here we kneel upon the mount of prayer.
The plough lies waiting in the furrow there !
Here we sought God that we might know His will :
There we must do it, — sei've Him, — seek Him stUl "
If man aspires to reach the throne of God,
O'er the duU plains of earth must Ue the road.
He who best does his lowly duty here,
Shall mount the highest in a nobler sphere :
At God's own feet our spirits seek their rest.
And He is nearest Him who serves Him best.
Few nobler hymns of trustful confidence in God can be
found than the foUowing one, which is included in a
posthumous work from his pen, entitled "A Layman's
Legacy." The close of it is singularly impressive : —
Slowly, slowly darkening.
The evening hours roll on ;
And soon behind the cloud-land
WiU sink my setting sun.
Around my path life's mysteries
Their deepening shadows throw ;
And as I gaze and ponder.
They dark and darker grow.

176 THE HYMN LOVER
But there's a voice above me
Which says, " Wait, trust, and pray ;
The night wiU soon be over,
And Ught wiU come with day."
Father ! the Ught and daikness
Are both aUke to Thee ;
Then to Thy waiting servant,
Alike they both shaU be.
The great unending future,
I cannot pierce its shroud ;
Yet nothing doubt, nor tremble,
God's bow is on the cloud.
To Him I yield my spirit ;
On Him I lay my load :
Fear ends with death; beyond it
I nothing see but GOD.
Thus moving towards the darkness,
I calmly wait His call ;
Now seeing, — fearing nothing ;
But hoping, trusting — aU !
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), the pleasant son
of a pleasant father, was one loved by aU who knew him,
even by those who most differed from his theological
opinions. He raised the Deanery of Westminster to a
height of renown it had never before reached. He wrote
valuable works on the Holy Land, the Jewish and Eastern
Churches, the Cathedral of Canterbury, of which he was
once a Canon, and on the Abbey of Westminster, of which
he was Dean. Although from his early days a lover of
poetry — at Oxford he took the Newdigate prize for a poem
on " The Gtypsies " — and had a mind that was essentially
rather poetic than dogmatic, yet fills a smaU place among
tho hymnists, and claims that place more from the
cathoUcity of spirit, and picturesqueness of his hymns,
than for their lyric and poetic qualities. Some of the
finest Unes in them are adaptations from Milton, Gray,
and other of the great poets. Most of them grew out
of the consideration of some of the great incidents in

INCREASE OF POETIG ELEMENTS. \Tl
the life of our Lord, and set forth their most spiritual
lessons for those of later days. They are chiefiy in rather
heavy measures, not greatly favoured by musicians — double
long and sevens metres. But, with all their deficiencies,
they are so fuU of "sweetness and light" that we could ill
spare them from our collections. Perhaps the best is the
hymn on "The Transfiguration," originally published in
Macmillan' s Magazine. In the same number, the Dean in
serted the hymn by Samuel Greg on the same subject, which
he declared to be far finer than his own. Our readers may
judge for themselves by turning to page 175, where I have
included it. I may take this opportunity of setting at rest
a doubt that has been felt with regard to the true text of
this hymn. In most Hymnals it begins " 0, Master, it is
good to be," and this is the reading of the hymn as
printed in Macmillan' s Magazine, but when I was com-
piUng the New Testament part of "The Poets' Bible,"
Dr. Stanley was good enough to lend me his collection of
all the hymns and poems he had printed, with his final
revisions, and I there found that he had altered the first
Une of this hymn to " Lord, it is good for us to be." I
therefore printed it thus in the volume I was then
editing, and afterwards in my "Congregational Hymns."
It is the more necessary to state this, since in ' ' The
Westminster Abbey Hymn Book," issued after his death,
the hymn is made to begin "Master, it is good to be."
I give the text as finaUy revised by the author : —
Lord, it is good for us to be
High on the mountain here with Thee,
Where stand revealed to mortal gaze
The great old saints of other days.
Who once received, on Horeb's height,
The eternal laws of truth and right,
Or caught the still small whisper, higher
"Than storm, than eai'thquake, or than fire.

178 THE HYMN LOVER.
Lord, it is good for us to be
With Thee, and with Thy faithful three,
Here, where the Apostle's heart of rock
Is nerved against temptation's shook ;
Here, where the Son of Thunder learns
The thought that breathes, the word that burns ;
Here, where on eagle's wings we move
With him whose last, best creed is Love.
Lord, it is good for us to be
Enti'anced, enwrapt, alone with Thee,
Watching the glistening raiment glow
Whiter than Hermon's whitest snow,
The human lineaments that shine
Irradiant with a Ught Divine ;
TiU we too change from grace to grace.
Gazing on that transfigured face.
Lord, it is good for us to be
Here on the Holy Mount with Thee ;
When darkling in the depths of night,
When dazzled with excess of light.
We bow before the heavenly Voice
That bids bewildered souls rejoice :
Though love wax cold, and faith be dim —
" This is my Son ! O hear ye Him ! "
The following are the most notable of Dr. Stanley's
hymns, which are aU marked by the characteristics I
have aUeady noted — "The Lord is come on Syrian soil,"
an Advent hymn; "He is gone beyond the skies," on
the Ascension of Christ ; " "When the Paschal evening
fell," for the Lord's Supper; and " Where shall we learn
to die " — probably inspired by Montgomery's far finer
hymn, " Go to dark Gethsemane" — which I append: —
Where shall we learn to die ?
Go, gaze with steadfast eye
On dark Gethsemane,
Or darker Calvary,
Where, through each Ungering hour,
The Lord of grace and power.
Most lowly and most High,
Has taught the Christian how to die.
When in the oUve shade.
His long last prayer He prayed ;
When on the cross to Heaven
His parting spirit given.

INCREASE OF POETIG ELEMENTS. 179
He showed that to fulfil
The Father's gracious wUl,
Not asking how or why.
Alone prepares the soul to die.
No word of angry strife.
No anxious cry for life ;
By scoff and torture torn
He speaks not scorn for scorn ;
Calmly forgiving those
Who deem themselves His foes.
In sUent majesty
He points the way at peace to die.
Delighting to the last
In memories of the past ;
Glad at the parting meal
In lowly tasks to kneel ;
StUl yearning to the end
For mother and for friend ;
His great humUity
Loves in such acts of love to die.
O by those weary hours
Of slowly ebbing powers.
By those deep lessons heard
Iq each expiring word ;
By that unfailing love
Lifting the soul above.
When our last end is nigh,
So teach us. Lord, with Thee to die.
Frederick WUliam Faber (1815-1863) stands in perfect
contrast to Dr. Stanley, not only in theological beUef and
spirit, but in his faculty for hymn-writing. In Faber the
lyric and poetic gift was present in abundant measure.
He was, if report be true, as pleasant a man as Arthur
Stanley, but one cast in an utterly different and far more
ecclesiastical mould. WhUst Stanley was a man of the
world (using that word in a good sense), deUghting in
aU fair and gracious things, Faber was a man of the
cloister, who viewed aU things in the dim reUgious
Ught which streams through windows bearing the
coloured forms of haloed saints. Very different men,
but both very lovelv in their Uves. As a hymnist,

180 THE HYMN LOVER.
Faber towers far above Stanley. Indeed, it would be
difficult to flnd one who rises higher, or, I am bound
to add, when dominated by some dogmatic or ecclesias
tical tradition, sinks lower. It is difficult to beUeve
that one who rises so high, into such a clear, pure
vision of the love of God, could ever sink so low as, in
some of his verses, he does. Some of his noblest
hymns include verses before which the reader stands
amazed. Now here do we see how a Church which
has nourished the saintUest piety, yet throws a shadow
over the mind deep as night. I have not the heart to
quote any of the verses in which Faber sinks below his
trae self, lest it should make any of my readers prize
less highly the glorious hymns which have come into
use from his pen. He is truly one of the greatest
hymnists of any age. The thought, the fervour, the
poetic quaUty, which are all combined in his hymns,
place him in that little circle which includes the chief
singers of the Church — a circle to which nearly every
section has contributed representatives. I question
whether a finer hymn could be named than his " My God,
how wonderful Thou art," which impious hands have too
often marred by their senseless alterations or omissions.
It is probably his finest hymn; but falling Uttle below
this are "0 God, Thy power is wonderful " : —
O God ! Thy power is wonderful,
Thy glory passing bright ;
Thy wisdom, with its deep on deep,
A rapture to the sight.
Yet more than aU, and ever more.
Should we Thy creatures bless,
Most worshipful of attributes.
Thine awful hoUness.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 181

There's not a craving in the mind,
Thou dost not meet and stUl ;
There's not a wish the heart can have
Which Thou dost not fulfil.
Thy justice is the gladdest thing
Creation can behold ;
Thy tenderness so meek, it wins
'The guUty to be bold.
All things that have been, all that are,
All things that can be dreamed.
All possible creations, made.
Kept faithful, or redeemed,—
AU these may draw upon Thy power.
Thy mercy may command ;
And stiU outflows Thy sUent sea.
Immutable and grand.
O little heart of mine ! shaU pain
Or sorrow make thee moan.
When all this God is all for thee,
A Father aU thine own ?
" I worship Thee, sweet wUl of God " (often marred, and
even spoUt, notably in the supplement to the "New
Congregational Hymn Book ") : —
1 worship Thee, sweet WUl of God !
And ail Thy ways adore ;
And every day I Uve, 1 long
To love Thee more and more.
I love to trace each print where Thou
Hast set Thine unseen feet ;
I cannot fear Thee, blessfed WiU,
Thine empire is so sweet.
I have no cares, 0 blessfed WUl 1
For all my cares are Thine ;
I live in triumph. Lord ! for 'Thou
Hast made 'I'hy triumphs mine.
Man's weakness, waiting upon God,
Its end can never miss.
For men on earth no work can do
More angel-like than this.
Eide on, ride on triumphantly.
Thou glorious WUl ! ride ou;
Faith's pilgrim sons behind Thee take
The road that Thou hast gone.

182 THE EYMN LOVER.
He always wins who sides with God,
To him no chance is lost ;
God's wiU is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.
ni, that He blesses, is our good.
And unblest good is ill ;
And aU is right that seems most wrong.
If it be His sweet WUl !
The foUowing is exquisite in its tendemess and simplicity
of expression : —
Thy home is with the humble. Lord,
'The simplest are the best ;
Thy lodging is in chUd-like hearts ;
•Thou makest there Thy rest.
Dear Comforter ! Eternal Love !
If Thou wUt stay with me, •
Of lowly thoughts and simple ways,
I'll build a house for Thee.
Who made this beating heart of mine.
But Thou, my heavenly Guest ?
Let no one have it, then, but Thee,
And let it be Thy rest.
Thy sweetness hath betrayed Thee. Lord !
Great Spirit ! is it Thoii ?
Deeper and deeper in my heart,
I feel Thee resting now.
" Souls of men, why will ye scatter," in which occur the
foUowing verses, so marvellous as coming from the lips of
a man in the exclusive communion of Rome : —
" There's a wideness in God's mercy.
Like the wideness of the sea ;
There's a kindness in His justice
Which is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of man's mind.
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind."
" Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go," only marred by
the idea of death as a dark night ; "I wish to have no
wishes left." These are his finest hymns. Others are
more popular, such as " 0 Paradise, 0 Paradise," and
"The Pilgrims of the night," but they are not so

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 183
healthily Christian, and, if I mistake not, owe much
of their popularity to the attractive music to which
they have been wedded. His hymn, which in Protestant
collections begins "Dear Jesus, ever at my side," is a
hymn to the Guardian Angel, and begins " Dear Angel,
ever at my side," and, beautiful as it is, is not properly
applicable, in some of its particulars, when addressed to
Jesus instead of the Guardian Angel. " 0 come and
mourn with me awhile," is profoundly pathetic, but, as it
stands in the original, is in parts too intent upon the
physical agony of our Lord, notably in the following
verse — " Come, take thy stand beneath the Cross,
And let the Blood from out that Side
Tall gently on thee, drop by drop ;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified I "
For use beyond his own Church, it has been found neces
sary, in nearly every case, to omit stanzas from this hymn.
Still, the points of harmony are more and deeper than
those of discord, and hence Dr. Faber will ever hold a
place of honour in the universal song of the Church. It
should be added that, in 1849, he established the Brother
hood of S. Philip Neri at King William Street, Strand,
since removed to the well-known Oratory at Brompton.
John Mason Neale, D.D. (1818-1866), was as near to
Dr. Faber in his theological and ecclesiastical sympathies
as a man could well be who did not actually belong to the
Roman Church. But for one or two points of doctrine,
he would probably have entered that communion. To
the lay mind, those points are scarcely perceptible.
Their discussion would be out of place here. But he
was, if I may judge from report, as beautiful and
Christ-like in character as Dr. Faber. No Church,

184 TEE EYMN LOVER.
indeed, has a monopoly of saintUness, or a patent for
its production. Judged by their doctrines, Neale and
Stanley, though they belonged to the same Church, were
wide as the poles asunder, but judged by their likeness
of spirit to Christ, they were very closely united. Dr.
Neale's services to Christian Hymnody were as great, in
the matter of translations and adaptations of ancient, as
were those of Dr. Faber in the production of original
hymns. For the EngUsh-speaking people, indeed, he
unearthed and prepared for use the great stores of
hymnody buried in the office books of the Eastem, and,
in less degree, of the Mediaeval and Latin Churches.
For this task he was richly endowed, both with learning
and poetic taste. Beside this, he wrote many original
"hymns, especially for children, which are of no little
merit. Personally, I do not rank them as high as some
hymnologists, but his eminence in hymnody is chiefiy
due to the exquisite way in which he adapted (for his
work was far more than translation), the verses scattered
through the voluminous Office Books of the Ancient
Churches, for use in the English Church. For this he
deserves lasting remembrance and honour, since it was a
work to which he devoted much time, immense pains, and
great talent. As proof of this, it will be sufficient to
name the most popular of his renderings — " Art thou
weary, art thou languid," from St. Stephen the Sabaite ;
" The day is past and over," probably by St. AnatoUus;
" 'Tis the day of resurrection," by St. John Damascene;
" 0 happy band of pilgrims," by St. Joseph of the
Studium ; " Alleluia ! song of sweetness," from a hymn of
the Mth or 15th century ; " All glory, laud, and honour,"
by Theodulph, of Orleans; "The strain upraise, of joy

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 185
and praise," probably by Godescalcus ; and his well-known
translation of the " Hora Novissima," from which the
centos, "Brief life is here our portion," "For thee, 0
dear, dear country," and "Jerusalem the golden," have
been taken. All these have passed into hymnals used in
every section of the Church, whilst many more have
found their way into churches of the Anglican type, in
the pages of "Hymns Ancient and Modern," "The
People's Hymnal," " The Hymnary," &c. Of his
original hymns, in my opinion, the best are — " 0 Lord of
hosts, whose glory fills," and " The day, 0 Lord, is
spent." " The foe behind, the deep before," is more of
a poem than a hymn, and whilst in parts striking, is
rather confused in the way in which it treats and
applies the Exodus of Israel, which is its subject. Dr.
Neale seems to me to have always needed some previous
fire at which to kindle his torch ; when that could be
found his success was indeed great.
Anne Bronte (1820-1849), a member of the talented
family to which we owe such striking works, finds a place
among the hymnists by the following hymns — "Oppressed
with sin and woe," which she calls "Confidence;"
"Believe not those who say," six verses from "The
Narrow Way;" "Spirit of Faith! be thou my guide,"
a selection from "The Three Guides;" and "I hoped that
with the brave and strong," the last verses she ever wrote.
AU are touched with that melancholy but strenuous tone
which pervaded her life. There is in it that unmistakable
note of reality and conviction which ever gives power to
hymns. Edwyn Paxton Hood (1820-1885), a versatile and
voluminous author. His hymns suffer, as did his

186 TEE EYMN LOVER.
books, from the haste with which all his work was
done. Still, when this has been said, it must be
acknowledged that his hymns are marked by an
originaUty and freshness which are so often lacking in
such productions. They were thrown off when he was
moved by some scene, or event, or expression, which
moved him deeply. In my judgment, the following are
the most noteworthy, and strike a new note in hymnody.
The one I quote was suggested by a scene he witnessed
when the waves were dashing over the breakwater at
Portland, bringing to his mind the words of our Lord
concerning the house on the sand and on the rock.
Unfortunately, its verses are somewhat irregular- in metre ;
this, perhaps, lends force to them, but renders it more
difficult for them to be wedded to music : —

Saviour and master.
These sayings of Thine,
Help me to make them
Doings of mine;
Words that like beams
Of humanity shine.
By them let me build up
The holy, divine.
Not on the sand. Lord!
Oh, not on the sand ;
On the rock, on the rock,
Let my heritage stand.
Beyond the floods raging.
Beyond the rude storm,
Where the rain cannot injure,
Nor Ughtning deform.
Up on the rock. Lord !
Up high on the rock,
I have reeled, I have trembled
Beneath the rude shock.
To the Eock of the ages.
To Thee, Lord, to Thee !
From the storm and the tempest
I flee. Lord. I flee !

INCREASE OF POETIG ELEMENTS. 187
Not on the sand. Lord !
Oh, not on the sand:
On the rock, on the rock.
Let my heritage stand.
Saviour and Master,
These sayings of Thine,
Help me to make them
Doings of mine.
His well-known hymn for children, " God, who hast
made the daisies," is well suited for their use, but might
have been wrought into a closer unity of idea: His
hymn, " Heart-broken and weary, where'er thou may'st
be," is marked by great depth of feeUng, but its form is
not equal to its emotion. It is, however, a great favourite
with many. The same remarks apply to " Sing a hymn
to Jesus." Had Mr. Hood received the advantages of
academic training in his early days, the loss of which he
so deeply regretted, he would probably have been one of
the most popular hymnists of his time. He possessed
unmistakable genius, but was not sufficiently careful and
critical of his own work.
Sir Henry Williams Baker, Bart. (1821-1877), is
chiefiy remarkable as one of the Editors of that
phenomenally successful collection, "Hymns Ancient and
Modern." In my judgment, he had little original power
as a hymnist, but some of his hymns have become popular
from their inclusion in the collection already named.
His best hymns are — " 0 God of love, 0 King of peace,"
" How welcome was the caU," " Lord, Thy word
abideth," '' There is a blessed home." But they are the
work of a man familiar with hymns rather than of the
original hymnist. The same remark applies to his trans
lations — they owe much to previous workers.
Thomas Toke Lynch (1818-1871) is as remarkable for
originality as Sir H. W. Baker was for the absence of it.

188 THE HYMN LOVER.
Indeed, he is one of the most original and poetic hymnists
that could be named. His little volume, " The Rivulet,"
which raised such a storm in the theological atmosphere of
the Free Churches, is pure, fresh, sparkling — trae to its
name. It conveys truth, as did the Parables of our Lord,
by means of the sights and sounds of nature. It is like a
breath from the hills, rather than, as so many hymns are,
from the study, or the cloister, or the hall of theology. It
is the work of the poet, not of the divine. It was not meant
to exclude other hymns from his congregation, but only
as a supplement to Dr. Watts, and so to add to the some
what solid provision of that book, some fresher strains.
And the marvel of " The Rivulet " is that so great a
sufferer as its author was all his days should have been
able to produce such buoyant and inspiring verses. It is
a lark-like song, which cheers the soul even of the sad and
sombre. It was so original, that the folk who can only
recognise truth in the doctrinal dress to which they have
been accustomed, called it heresy, and did their best to
cast and keep it out of the Synagogue. In relation to
such, Mr. Lynch relieved his mind by the production
of "Songs Controversial, by Silent Long; fifteen songs,
uttering a new protest." As these are unknown to the
majority of readers in our day, I quote one which he
called " A Negative Affair ; showing that when a man
palms off his negative ' stuff ' upon the public as
Christian, there is always somebody acute enough to
detect the imposition" —
When sugar in the lump I see,
I know that it is there:
Melt it, and then I soon suspect
A negative affair;
Where is the sugar, sir? I eay.
Let me both taste and see :

INCREASE OF POETIG ELEMENTS. 189
Sweetness instead of sugar, sir,
You'U not palm off on me.
Don't teU me that the sugai'-lumps
When dropt in water oleai'.
That they may make the water sweet,
Themselves must disappear;
For common sense, sir, such as mine.
The lumps themselves must see;
Sweetness instead of sugar, sir,
You'll not palm off on me.
For instance, sii', in every hymn
Sound doctrine yon must state
As clearly as a dead man's name
Is on his coffin-plate ;
Religion, sir, is only fudge, —
Let's have theology;
Sweetness instead of sugar, sir,
You'U not palm off on me.
These Unes may still be commended to all those who would
insist that hymns should be a vehicle for theological rather
than reUgious expression. For a time, Mr. Lynch's de
tractors succeeded. But all such successes are short-lived.
Years after its publication, when Mr. Miller, in 1869,
published his "Singers and Songs of the Church," he
could only name six hymns by Mr. Lynch as having
passed into Hymnals, but to-day he would have largely
to extend the list. "The Baptist Hymnal" (1879)
contains eleven, " Congregational Hymns " (1884),
fourteeen, and the "Congregational Church Hymnal"
nine of his hymns. Even now, however, they have not
passed, with one exception — " Gracious Spirit, dwell
with me" — into Church of England Hymnals, which, up
to the present, have been rather shy of really poetic
hymns, preferring those of a more markedly doctrinal
type. Its hymns, for the most part, are more akin to
the Creeds than the Parables and the Sermon on the
Mount, with which Mr. Lynch's have so much more

190 THE HYMN LOVER.
affinity. But the time will come when Mr. Lynch's
hymns will be sung as freely in stately churches as they
are now in Dissenting Conventicles, and they will do
much to remove the charge of Dean Stanley as to the
" uniform pedestrian style which is unfortunately
familiar to English Churchmen in the vast mass of the
hymns contained in ' Hymns Ancient and Modern,' " and
wiU give freshness to the song of the Episcopal Church.
I quote the following, which are Uttle known, as
illustrations of the freshness of his style, and of his
habit of dealing with aspects of truth seldom, if ever,
dealt with in hymns : —
Where is thy God, my soul?
Is He within Thy heart;
Or ruler of a distant realm
In which thou hast no part?
Where is thy God, my soulV
Only in stars and sun ;
Or have the holy words of truth
His Ught in every one?
Where is thy God, my soul ?
Confined to Scripture's page ;
Or does His Spirit check and guide
The spirit of each age?
O Ruler of the sky,
Eule Thou within my heart:
O. great Adorner of the world.
Thy light of life impart.
Giver of holy words.
Bestow Thy holy power,
And aid me, whether work or thought
Engage the varying hour.
In Thee have I my help.
As all my fathers had;
I'll trust Thee when I'm sorrowful.
And serve Thee when I'm glad.
The following contains a terse exposition of trae
Christian Socialism'—

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 191
O Lord, Thou art not fickle;
Our hope is not in vain;
The harvest for the sickle
Will ripen yet again.
But though enough be given
For all the world to eat.
Sin with Thy love has striven
Its bounty to defeat.
Were men to one another
As kind as God to aU,
Then no man on his brother
For help would vainly caU.
On none for idle wasting
Would honest labour frown;
And none, to riches hasting.
Would tread his neighbour down.
No man enough posseses
UntU he has to spare ;
Possession no man blesses
While self is aU his care.
For blessings on our labour,
O, then, in hope we pray.
When love unto our neighbour
Is ripening every day.
What a delightful introduction to the reading or exposi
tion of Scripture is found in the foUowing lines ; —
Chiist in His Word draws near ;
Hush, moaning voice of fear.
He bids thee cease;
With songs sincere and sweet
Let us arise, and meet
Him who comes forth to greet
Our souls with peace.
Eising above thy care.
Meet Him as in the air,
O weary heart :
Put on joy's sacred dress ;
Lo, as He comes to blets,
Quite from Thy weariness
Set free thou ai't.
For works of love and praise
He brings thee summer days.
Warm days and bright;
Winter is past and gone,
Now He, salvation's Sun,
Shineth on every one
With mercy's Ught.

192 THE HYMN LOVER.
From the bright sky above.
Clad in His robes of love,
'Tis He, our Lord:
Dim earth itself grows clear.
As His light draweth near :
0 let us hush and hear
His holy word.
How exquisitely the spirit of the Kingdom of God is set
forth, by illustrations drawn from the natural world, in
the lyric utterance below : —
Lift up your heads, rejoice,
Eedemption draweth nigh ;
Now breathes a softer air.
Now shines a milder sky ;
The early trees put forth
Their new and tender leaf;
Hushed is the moaning wind
That told of winter's grief.
Lift up your heads, rejoice,
Redemption draweth nigh;
Now mount the laden clouds,
Now fiames the darkening sky.
The early scattered drops
Descend with heavy fall,
And to the waiting earth
The hidden thunders caU.
Lift up your heads, rejoice,
Eedemption draweth nigh ;
O note the varying signs
Of earth, and air, and sky :
The God of glory comes
In gentleness and might.
To comfort and alarm,
To succour and to smite.
He comes, the wide world's King;
He comes, the true heart's Friend;
New gladness to begin,
And ancient wrong to end;
He comes, to fill with light
The weary waiting eye:
Lift up your heads, rejoice,
Eedemption draweth nigh.
The most popular of Mr. Lynch's hymns up to tiie present
time, however, are the following : — " Gracious Spirit,
dweU with me," "0 where is He that trod the sea,"

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 193
" Now have we met that we may ask,'' " Dismiss me not
Thy service. Lord," " The Lord is rich and merciful,"
" How calmly the evening once more is descending,"
" Love me, 0 Lord, forgivingly," " Oft when of God we
ask." "The Rivulet" also contains many poems not
suitable for pubUc worship, but admirably adapted to
freshen the religious life. For my own part, I should
put that work above Mr. Keble's " Christian Year " for
the spontaneity of its poetry.
James Drummond Bums (1823-1864), like Mr. Lynch,
was a sufferer for many years from illness, and, like
him, was richly gifted with poetic power. His hymns
are amongst the most pathetic and tender of recent
production. A man of rare refinement and saintly
character, showing that the Presbyterian Church, usually
supposed to foster only the more vigorous and even hard
type of character, numbers among its members men
who deserve to be ranked with those nurtured in more
cloistral ways. I should assign a very high place to
such hymns as " StUl with Thee, 0 my God," " 0 Thou
whose tender feet have trod," and " Thou, Lord, art
Love, and everywhere," which has so often been mangled
by editors that I quote it as penned by the author : —
Thou, Lord, art Love — and everywhere
Thy name is brightly shown.
Beneath, on earth 'Thy footstool fau-,
Above, in heaven Thy throne.
Thy word is Love — in lines of gold
'There mercy prints its trace ;
In Nature we Thy steps behold,
The Gospel shows 'Thy face.
Thy ways are Love — though they transcend
Our feeble range of sight.
They wind through darkness to their end,
In everlasting light.

194 THE HYMN LOVER.
Thy thoughts are Love, and Jesus is
"The Uving voice they find;
His love lights up the vast abyss
Of the Etemal Mind.
Thy chastisements are Love — more deep
'They stamp the seal divine ;
And by a sweet compulsion keep
Our spirits nearer Thine.
Thy heaven is the abode of Love —
O blessfed Lord, that we
May there, when time's dim shades remove
Be gathered home to Thee ;
There with Thy resting saints to faU
Adoring round Thy throne ;
Where all shaU love Thee, Lord, and all
ShaU in Thy love be one.
whUst almost equal are — " Not, Lord, unto that mount
of dread," " As helpless as a child who clings," and " At
Thy feet, our God and Father." His hymn on Samuel,
"Hushed was the evening hymn," is one of the loveUest
for children, in the language, and deserves to rank
with, even if it does not excel, the best of Mrs. C. F.
Alexander's. It may be unknown to some of my readers,
and I therefore quote it:
Hushed was the evening hymn.
The Temple courts were dark ;
The lamp was burning dim
Before the sacred ark ;
When suddenly a voice divine
Eang through the sUence of the shrine.
The old man, meek and mild.
The priest of Israel, slept ;
His watch the Temple chUd,
The little Levite kept ;
And what from EU's sense was sealed,
The Lord to Hannah's son revealed.
Oh ! give me Samuel's ear,
The open ear, 0 Lord,
AUve and quick to hear
Each whisper of Thy word:
Like him to answer at Thy call.
And to obey Thee first of aU.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 195
Oh ! give me Samuel's heart,
A lowly heart that waits.
When in Thy house Thou art,
Or watches at Thy gates.
By day and night, a heart that still
Moves at the breathing of Thy wUl.
Oh ! give me Samuel's mind,
A sweet, unmm'muring faith.
Obedient and resigned
To Thee in life and death ;
That I may read with child-Uke eyes
Truths that are hidden from the wise.
Some of Mr. Burns' translations from the German are of
great merit, as may be seen from the following rendering
of a hymn by Joachim Neander : —
Heaven and earth, and sea and air,
StiU their Maker's praise declare ;
Thou, my soul, as loudly sing.
To thy God thy praises bring.
See the sun his power awakes.
As through clouds his glory breaks ;
See the moon and stars of light.
Praising God in stUlest night.
See how God this roUing globe
Swathes with beauty like a robe;
Forests, fields, and living things.
Each its Maker's glory sings.
Through the air Thy praises meet.
Birds are singing clear and sweet ;
Fire, and storm, and wind. Thy wiU
As 'Thy ministers fulfil.
The ocean waves Thy glory teU,
At Thy touch they sink and swell :
From the weU-spring to the sea.
Rivers murmur. Lord, of Thee.
Ah ! my God, what wonders Ue
Hid in Thine infinity !
Stamp upon my inmost heart
What I am, and what Thou art.
Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864), the daughter of
B. W. Procter, better known as Barry Cornwall, under
which mm de plume his poems were pubUshed, was the
authoress of the weU-known and delightful "Legends

196 THE HYMN LOVER.
and Lyrics," to which, after her death, her friend Charles
Dickens prefixed a beautiful and touching sketch of her
life, in which the following touching incident is recorded :
" In the spring of the year 1853, I observed, as conductor
of the weekly journal, Household Words, a short poem
among the proffered contributions, very different, as I
thought, from the shoal of verses perpetuaUy seething
through the office of such a periodical, and possessing much
more merit. Its authoress was quite imknown to me. She
was one Miss Mary Berwick, whom I had never heard of ;
and she was to be addressed by letter, if addressed at all,
at a circulating library in the western district of London.
Through this channel. Miss Berwick was informed that
her poem was accepted, and invited to send another. She
oompUed, and became a regular and frequent contributor.
Many letters passed between the journal and Miss
Berwick, but Miss Berwick herself was never seen.
How ,we came gradually to establish, at the office of
Household Words, that we knew all about Miss Berwick,
I have never discovered. But we settled somehow, to our
complete satisfaction, that she was governess in a family ;
that she went to Italy in that capacity, and returned ; and
that she had long been in the same family. We reaUy
knew nothing whatever of her, except that she was
remarkably business-like, punctual, seU-reUant, and
reliable, so I suppose we insensibly invented the rest.
For myself, my mother was not a more real personage to
me, than Miss Berwick, the governess, became. This
went on until December, 1854, when the Christmas
number, entitled ' The Seven Poor TraveUers,' was sent
to press. Happening to be going to dine that day with
an old and dear friend distinguished in literature as

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 197

Barry ComwaU, I took with me an early proof of that
number, and remarked, as I laid it on the drawing-room
table, that it contained a very pretty poem, written by a
certain Miss Berwick. Next day brought me the dis
closure that I had so spoken of the poem to the mother of
its writer, in its writer's presence, and that the name had
been assumed by Barry ComwaU's eldest daughter— Miss
Adelaide Anne Procter." In recent years, when Editors
came to see that poetic character did not disqualify, but
rather fitted verses for inclusion in their coUeetions, many
hymns have been drawn from these volumes for the
worship of the Church, and have acquired a great
popularity, which is ever increasing. Some of these have
very great merit, notably the foUowing, which I print
in order to bring them under the notice of future Editors
of Hymnals. The first she caUs " Thankfulness " : —
*Our God, we thank Thee, who hast made
The earth so bright.
So fiiU of splendour and of joy.
Beauty and light ;
So many glorious things are here.
Noble and right !
We thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made
Joy to abound ;
So many gentle thoughts and deeds
CircUng us round.
That in the darkest spot of earth
Some love is found.
We thank Thee more that aU our joy
Is touched with pain ;
That shadows fall on brightest hours.
That thorns remain ;
So that earth's bliss may be our guide.
And not our chain.
For Thou who knowest. Lord, how soon
Our weak heart clings.
Hast given us joys, tender and true.
Yet all with wings.
So that we see, gleaming on high.
Diviner things !
* In the original, the singula!' numocr is usea.

198 THE HYMN LOVER
We thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast kept
The best in store ;
We have enough, yet not too much,
To long for more ;
A yearning for a deeper peace.
Not known before.
We thank Thee, Lord, that here our souls.
Though amply blest.
Can never find, although they seek,
A perfect rest —
Nor ever shall, untU they lean
On Jesus' breast !
The foUowing, caUed " The PUgrims," is well known
through Henry Leslie's exquisite musical setting: —
The way is long and dreary.
The path is bleak and hare.
Our feet are worn and weai'y,
But we will not despair ;
More heavy was Thy Wden,
More desolate Thy way,
O Lamb of God ! who takest
The sin of the world away.
Have mercy upen us.
The snows lie thick around us.
In the dark and gloomy night ;
And the tempest waUs above us,
And the stai's have hid their light ;
But blacker was the darkness
Ecund Calvary 's cross that day ;
O Lamb of God ! who takest
The sin of the world away.
Have mercy upon us.
Our hearts are faint with sorrow.
Heavy and hard to bear ;
For we dread the bitter morrow.
But we wiU not despair ;
Thou knowest aU our anguish,
And Thou wilt bid it cease:
O Lamb of God ! who takest
The sin of the world away.
Give us Thy peace !
The next is her poem entitled " The Peace of God "—
We ask for Peace, 0 Lord !
Thy children ask Thy peace ;
Not what the world caUs rest,
That toU and cai'e should cease.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 199
That through bright sunny hours
Calm Ufe should fleet away.
And tranquil night should fade
In smUing day ; —
It is not for such Peace that we would pray.
We ask for Peace, 0 Lord !
Yet not to stand secure.
Girt round with iron pride.
Contented to endm'e :
Crushing the gentle strings
That human hearts should know.
Untouched by others' joy.
Or others' woe ; —
Thou, O dear Lord, wUt never teach us so.
We ask Thy Peace, O Lord !
Through storm, and fear, and strife.
To Ught and guide us on.
Through a long, struggling Ufe ;
WhUe no success or gain
ShaU cheer the desperate fight.
Or nerve, what the world calls
Our wasted might, —
Yet pressing through the darkness to the Ught.
It is Thine own, O Lord ;
Who toU while others sleep.
Who sow with loving care
What other hands shaU reap:
They lean on Thee entranced.
In calm and perfect rest :
Give us that Peace, O Lord,
Divine and blest.
Thou keepest for those hearts who love Thee best.
The last is, perhaps, more suitable for private than public
worship : —
I do not ask, O Lord, that life may be
A pleasant road ;
I do not ask that Thou wotUdst take from me
Aught of its load.
I do not ask that flowers should always spring
Beneath my feet ;
I know too weU the poison and the sting
Of things too sweet.
For one thing only. Lord, dear Lord, I plead :
Lead me aright.
Though strength should falter, and though heart should bleed.
Through Peace to Light.

200 THE HYMN LOVER.
1 do not ask, 0 Lord, that Thou shouldst shed
FuU radiance here ;
Give but a ray of peace, that 1 may tread
Without a fear.
1 do not ask my cross to understand.
My way to see ;
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand
And follow Thee.
Joy is Uke restless day : but peace divine
Like quiet night ;
Lead me, 0 Lord, tiU perfect day shall shine
Through Peace to Light.
I am bound to say that a want of discernment of what
really constitutes a hymn has led certain Editors to include
some pieces from Miss Procter's works, very beautiful in
themselves, but more fit for private reading than pubUc
worship. This is an error in judgment which needs
to be guarded against. But, on the other hand, verses
caimot be too poetic for use in worship, if they are really
hymns. This is a lesson which Churoh of England
Editors need to learn. They have not learnt it yet, as
may be seen by the fact that they have not, so far as my
knowledge goes, included a single hymn from this gifted
authoress in their coUeetions. Congregations would
thank them if they did, and they have good right to
complain that, as yet, they have not done so. There is
only one drawback to some of her hynms — that they are
not metrically uniform, but they are so good that com
posers should arrange their music to suit them.
Frances Eidley Havergal (1836-1879), a devoted and
saintly woman, the daughter of the hymnist and musician,
the Eev. W. H. Havergal, M.A., had a great gift of
lyric expression, and much facility in its use, to which
her deeply religious nature constantly moved her. She
was a very proUfio writer of hymns and reUgious poems,
which have had a very wide circulation, and exerted

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 201

a great influence. They have done much to foster that
warmer and more consecrated type of religion which is
one of the remarkable features of our time, and is the
real barrier against the spirit of scepticism which is so
common, whilst they show how independent of dogmatic
formularies is the religious life. Some of her hymns touch
a very high point of vigour and exceUence, whUst others
are rather diffuse and weak in texture. The finest are
the foUowing — " Lord, speak to me, that I may speak,
" 0 Saviour, precious Saviour," " Golden harps are
sounding," "Take my Ufe, and let it be," "TeU it
out among the heathen " (a noble missionary hymn),
and "Another year is dawning," a hymn for the New
Year, of great tenderness : —
Another year is dawning.
Dear Master, let it be ,
In working or in waiting ,
Another year with Thee.
Another year of leaning
Upon thy loving breast.
Of ever-deepening trustfulness.
Of quiet, happy rest.
Another year of mercies,
Ot faithfulness and grace ;
Another year of gladness
In the shining of Thy face.
Another year of progress.
Another year of praise.
Another year of proving
Thy presence " aU the days."
Another year of service.
Of witness for Thy love ;
Another year of training
For better work above.
Another year is dawning.
Dear Master, let it be.
On eaith, or else in heaven
Another year for Thee !

202 THE HYMN LOVER.
Among the minor contributors to the hymnody of this
period, I may class together, in alphabetical, rather than
chronological order —
WilUam HUey Bathurst (1796-1877), vicar of Barwick-
in-Elmet, Yorkshire, who pubUshed, in 1830, " Psalms
and Hynms for PubUc and Private Use." Two of his
hymns are of merit, "0, Saviour, may we never rest,"
and " Jesus, Thy Church, with longing eyes."
To John Emest Bode (1816-1874), we owe the fine
hymn of consecration, which is specially suitable to
occasions of Adult Baptism (far more suitable than most
hymns written speciaUy for that service), or the reception
of members into the fellowship of the Church : —
0 Jesus I have promised
To serve Thee to the end ;
Be Thou for ever near me.
My Master and my Friend !
I shall not fear the battle
If Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If Thou wUt be my Guide.
O let me hear Thee speaking
In accents clear and stUl,
Above the storms of passion
The murmur of self-wUl.
O speak ! to re-assure me.
To hasten or control ;
O speak ! to make me listen.
Thou Guardian of my soul.
O let me see Thy features,
The look that once could make
So many a true disciple
Leave all things for Thy sake ;
The look that beamed on Peter,
When he Thy name denied ;
The look that draws Thy loved ones
Close to Thy piercM side.
O Jesu ! Thou hast promised.
To aU who foUow Thee,
That where Thou art in glory.
There shaU Thy servant be ;

INCEEASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 203
And, Jesu, I have promised.
To seive Thee to the end ;
O give me grace to follow
My Master and my Friend !
James Baldwin Brown, B.A. (1821-1884), the eloquent
and original minister of the Brixton Independent Church,
the whole spirit of whose life is gathered up and con
centrated in the foUowing striking hymn : ^—
Thou, who our faithless hearts canst read.
And know'st each weakness there ;
Poor, trembling, faint, with Thee we plead,
O turn not from our prayer.
We cannot grasp from hour to hour
The truths Thy gospel saith ;
Then aid us by Thy heavenly power.
And so increase our faith.
That we may trust Thy guardian care,
When no kind hand we see ;
That we may lift our souls in prayer
Undoubtingly to Thee.
Help us to gaze on things unseen
By eyes of mortal sight ;
To pierce through earth's dark veil, and gleam
Some beams of heavenly Ught.
Thy glorious presence may we see.
When earth's last tie is riven ;
In faith then trust om- souls to Thee,
TiU we awake in heaven.
George Burden Bubier (1823-1869), Professor of
Theology and PhUosophy at Spring HUl CoUege,
Birmingham, who compiled a Sunday School Hymn
Book of unusual exceUence, to which he contributed
eleven hymns, deserves remembrance for a few hymns
which remind us somewhat of Dr. By rom' s — "I would
commune with Thee, my God," " Great is Thy mercy,
Lord," "My God, I love Thee for Thyself," "A fitly
spoken word," and " Blest be the God of love "
WilUam GaskeU, M.A. (1805-1884), minister of
Cross Street Unitarian Chapel, Manchester, and

204 THE HYMN LOVER.
husband of the celebrated authoress of that name, a man
of fine Christian character and spirit, wrote a few hymns
of singular delicacy of thought and beauty of expression,
which richly deserve even wider acceptance than they
have yet received. I quote one of his hymns, that
readers may judge for themselves : —
Though lowly here our lot may be.
High work have we to do.
In faith, O Lord, to follow 'Thee,
Whose lot was lowly too.
Our days of darkness we may bear.
Strong in our Father's love ;
We lean on His almighty arm.
And fix our hopes above.
Our lives enriched with gentle thoughts
And loving deeds may be.
As streams that still the nobler grow.
The nearer to the sea.
To duty firm, to conscience true.
However tried and pressed.
In God's cleai' sight high work we do.
If we but do our best.
Thus may we make the lowliest lot
With rays of glory bright ;
Thus may we turn a crown of thorns
Into a crown of light.
" 0 God, who know'st how frail we are," is also of great
merit. WiUiam Freeman Lloyd (1791-1853), one of the
secretaries of the Sunday School Union, and Editor of
various magazines for the young, was the author of the
hymn of trust, " My times are in Thy hand."
Alfred James Morris (1814-1868), minister of HoUoway
Congregational Church, and author of many original
reUgious works, wrote a few hymns, the best of which—-
and it is very good — is " Blest Saviour, let me be a
chUd." It was included in his book for children, " The
Shepherd and His Lambs," a hymn suitable to young and
old alike. Here it is : —

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 206
Blest Saviour, let me be a chUd,
A Uttle ohUd of Thine ;
Thou hast on infant spiiits smUed,
O kindly smUe on mine.
Make me a child in simple ways.
In heart more simple stUl ;
Believing aU the Father says.
And doing all His wUl.
Give me a nature pure and true,
My evU one control ;
And day by day Thy grace renew
The chUdhood of my soul."
May this sweet spirit ne'er depart,
'Midst aU my joys and cares ;
And may I he a child in heart,
Although a man in years.
WilUam Pennefather, M.A. (1816-1873), the founder of
the Mildmay Conference, was the author of two hymns of
great exceUence, which are not nearly so well known
as they richly deserve to be, that I quote them. The
flrst, on Pentecost, is one of the finest we possess on that
subject : — Oh Lord ! " with one accord,"
We gather round Thy throne.
To hear Thy holy Word,
To worship Thee alone.
Now send from heaven the Holy Ghost,
Be this another Pentecost !
We have no strength to meet
The storms that round us lower
Keep 'Thou our trembling feet
In every trying hour ;
More than victorious shaU we be
If girded with Thy panoply.
Where is the mighty wind
That shook the holy place.
That gladdened every mind.
And brightened every face.
And where the cloven tongues of flame
That marked each foUower of the Lamb ?
There is no change in Thee,
Lord God the Holy Ghost,
Thy glorious Majesty
Is as at Pentecost !

206 TEE EYMN LOVER.
O may our loosened tongues proclaim.
That Thou, our God, art stiU the tame !
And may that living wave.
That issues from on high.
Whose golden waters lave
The throne eternaUy,
Flow down in power ou us to-day.
And none shaU go unblessed away !
The second is remarkable for the terseness and force of
its expression. In this respect it is a model : —
Jesus ! stand among us
In Thy risen power.
Let this time of worship
Be a hallowed hour.
Breathe the Holy Spirit
Into every heart.
Bid thei fears and sorrows
From each soul depart.
Thus, with quickened footsteps.
We'll pursue our way.
Watching for the dawning
Of th' Eternal Day !
GreviUe Phillimore, M.A. (1821-1884), one of the
Editors of " The Parish |Hymn Book," and vicar of Down
Ampney, in Gloucestershire, wrote a few hymns of more
than average merit. Indeed, one, " 0 Lord of health
and Ufe, what tongue can teU," is of great exceUence.
WilUam Morley Punshon (1824-1881), an eloquent
preacher of the Methodist Church, pubUshed a volume of
poems caUed " Sabbath Chimes," in which there is the
foUowing hymn for Sunday Evening of remarkable beauty
and tenderness : —
We rose to-day with anthems sweet.
To sing before the mercy-seat.
And ere the darkness round us feU,
We bade the grateful vespers swell.
Whate'er has risen from heart sincere,
Each upward glance of filial fear.
Each true resolve, each solemn vow,
Jesus our Lord ! accept them now.

INCREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 207
0 let each foUowing Sabbath yield
For our loved work an ampler field,
A sturdier hatred of the wrong,
A stronger purpose to grow strong.
Whate'er beneath Thy searching eyes
Has wrought to spoU our sacrifice,
'Mid this sweet stiUness while we bow,
Jesus our Lord ! forgive us now.
And teach us erring souls to win.
And hide their multitude of sin ;
To tread in Christ's long-suffering way.
And grow more Uke Him day by day.
So as our Sabbaths hasten past.
And rounding years bring nigh the last;
When sinks the sun behind the hUl,
When all the weary wheels stand stiU ;
When by our bed the lovedones weep.
And death-dews o'er the forehead creep,
And vain is help or hope from men ;
Jesus om' Lord ! receive us then.
George Wade Eobinson (1838-1877), a devoted minister
of the Congregational Church, had a considerable power,
both of poetic thought and expression, as will be evident
to all who have read his little book, " Songs in God's
World," from which, with some sUght transposition, I
took the foUowing verses for inclusion in my " Congre
gational Hymns." They are marked by the tenderness
and pathos which characterised aU his writings— due, it
may be, in part, to the shadow, ever deepening around
him, of that coming death, which, at so early an age,
closed his earnest career : —
Strangers and pUgrims here below,
In want, in weakness, and in woe.
To whom, O Jesus, should we go.
To whom but unto Thee ?
To whom, when hating what is ill.
We find our strength unequal stiU
To do, although we love, "Thy wiU,
To whom but unto Thee ?
To whom, with all our faults and fears.
With aU our toils and all our tears,

208 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Pouring them into loving ears,
To whom but unto Thee ?
To whom, when all around appears
Against us, and too anxious fears
Look trembling up the coming years.
To whom but unto Thee ?
To whom, when gloomy Death appals.
And the cold shadow darkly falls
Along OUT happy household walls.
To whom but unto Thee ?
Emily Taylor (1795-1872), a member of the Unitarian
Church, and Editor of " Memories of some Contemporary
Poets," was the authoress of " Come to the house of
prayer," and a very suggestive hymn descriptive of the
loss that would arise to beUevers if the gifts of God were
ours, but we without the power to approach Him in
prayer. The idea is so beautiful, and its expression so
unique in hymnody, that I venture to quote it : —
0 Source of good ! around me spread.
Ten thousand thousand blessings lie ;
By m'ght Thy mercy guards my head —
By day I feel Thee ever nigh.
Yet if to taste Thy gifts were aU
Thy bounteous hand bestowed on me ; —
No leave upon Thy name to call,
And gain access by prayer to 'Thee ;
How would my spirit, sorrowing,
'Mid aU those gifts have sighed, — to feel
It knew not the refreshing spring
That ceaseless flows to soothe and heal.
No chain to hind the wandering soul.
No Unk connecting earth and heaven.
No Father's pitying kind control,
No chUd repenting and forgiven !
But now the voice of prayer is heard.
When strength departs and comforts flee ;
And man may act upon that word —
" Seek, and He shall be found of Thee."
WilUam Whitmg (1825-1878), choirmaster of Win
chester CoUege, was the author of what is certainly the
most popular hymn for " those at sea." It is a good
hymn, but its popularity is partly due, I fancy, to the

INGREASE OF POETIC ELEMENTS. 209
music to which it was wedded in "Hymns Ancient and
Modem." There are hymns whose constant use is as
much due to this cause as to their intrinsic merit. No
other hymn from Mr. 'Whiting's pen has gained currency
in the Church.
Sarah WUliams was the gifted authoress of many poems,
which she pubUshed under the nom de plume of " Sadie."
Her early death cut short the promise of a career of con
siderable usefulness in Uterature. The following lines
from her pen seem to me singularly tender and beautiful.
I quote them in the hope that they may catch the eye of
Hymnal Editors, and lead to their inclusion in future
coUeetions, as I happen to know that, where used, they
have become greatly beloved. Three versos are omitted,
as unsuitable for pubUo worship.
Because 1 knew not when my life was good.
And when there was a light upon my path,
But turned my soul perversely to the dark —
O Lord, I do repent.
Because I held upon my selfish road.
And left my brother wounded by the way.
And called ambition duty, and pressed on —
O Lord, I do repent.
Because I spent the strength Thou gavest me
111 struggle which Thou never didst ordain.
And have but dregs of Ufe to offer Thee —
O Lord, I do repent.
Because I was impatient, would not wait.
But thi'ust my impious hand across Thy threads.
And man'cd the pattern drawn out for my Ufe —
O Lord, 1 do repent.
Because Thou hast borne with me aU this while,
Hast smitten me with love until I weep.
Hast called me as a mother calls her cMld —
0 Lord, I do repent.
It wiU be evident, from what I have written, that the
middle of the present century has been remarkable for
the production of a large number of hymns, of a very
high order of merit. Probably no age has been more

210 THE HYMN LOVER.
fruitful in this respect. I question whether, in any
period of the same length, so many fine hymns have
been written. This is to be ascribed to many causes,
not merely to the large place which hymns now fill in the
worship of the Church, but to the revived religious Ufe,
the superior culture, the widely spread poetic gift and
spirit, as well as to the increase of musical culture, aU of
which have exerted a great influence. What, in earlier
times, took ages to produce, has been produced almost
within the Umits of a generation. Indeed, the Church
would not be ill supplied with song if she were
dependent on the productions of the last half century
It has been in hymnody as fruitful as the Elizabethan
age was in dramatic works. We have scarcely yet
realised the wealth of our recent hymnody; since hymnists
rarely reach their true position till time has removed
them from our gaze. Age does not soften hymns as it
does pictures, but it enables us to regard them with less
of prejudice, whilst use famUiarises, and helps us to
realise their beauty. Many an old hymn, through usage
or the lapse of time, gains a glory it does not deserve
Many a new hymn is not valued as it should be through
lack of these. There is no gift for which the Church
deserves to be more profoundly grateful than for the great
succession of singers who have of late enriched her
song, and so ennobled her worship. These, in days to
come, wUl reach their true place, and their age be
regarded as among the classic ones of hymnody.

211

CHAPTER XV.

EECENT HYMNISTS.— 1.
BoEN 1796—1820.
Thehe must surely be to the hymn-writer a deep joy in
knowing that his verses have kindled the hearts of
multitudes to worship, and risen on the wings of music
to the ear of heaven. I can conceive of few things
that would waken more real, though it may be quiet,
satisfaction. Bishop Ken deemed it would be an addition
to his happiness in the happier world, if he should
know that his devotional poems were answering on earth
the purpose for which he had piously composed them : —
And should the weU-meant songs I leave behind,
With Jesus' lovers an acceptance find,
'Twill heighten e'en the joys of heaven to know.
That in my verse the saints hymn God below.
It has not always faUen to the lot of even the noblest
hymnists to reap this reward during life, for not till they
had passed away did their verses enter into the worship-
song of the Church. The worth of many a noble hymn has
not been discovered until its author had gone over to the
majority. But many an author in our day has had the joy
of knowing that his hymns have been warmly welcomed by
the Church, and that they have risen in choral song from
the lips of devout worshippers. There are many hymnists.

212 THE HYMN LOVER.
happily still spared to us, who must rejoice in the thought
that scarcely a Sunday passes in which their hymns do
not both kindle and express the devout feelings of men
in a multitude of churches in this and other English-
speaking lands, many of them being widely separated in
doctrine, in ritual, in ecclesiastical forms, from that to
which they themselves belong. In many a case hymns are
sung in assembUes in whose worship their authors would
scarcely care to join, and whose doctrines they heartily con
demn. The words of Dean, and Bishop, and Cardinal, are
used in lowly conventicles where their stately canonicals
would seem quite out of place, whilst, on the other hand,
the hymns of many an unadorned Layman belonging to the
simpler Free Churches are sung by white-robed choristers
and priests under the fretted roofs of venerable cathedrals.
Thus one touch of (what is better than nature) grace
makes the whole Church kin. Thus the hymns of the
Presbyterian Bonar, and the Independent Watts, have
passed into use and are sung as parts of a richly
ornate service ; whilst, on the other hand, hymns by
Cardinal Newman, Bishop Christopher Wordsworth, and
Father Caswall have found their way into the simple
services of village chapels. There is no bond of union
stronger or more spiritual than that furnished by hymns
which have sprung out of hearts kindled to lyric expression
by the vision of Christ and His peerless work on behalf of
men. Thus Christian feeling is proved to be mightier and
more important in securing unity than the particular
formulas which the minds of men have fashioned for its
expression. For nowhere is the real unity, underlying all

RECENT HYMNISTS.— I. 213
diversity, of the Church more clearly revealed than in the
hymnody of these modern days. There are no helpers in
the great work of quickening and deepening reUgious life
whose aid is more precious than those whose love reaches
its noblest expression in sacred song. Of late years the
Church has been blessed with a large number of such
helpers. Perhaps in no age has the number been so large,
or the quality of the songs they have given us so high.
From all quarters such songs have come ; from laymen
like George Eawson and Chatterton Dix, from the clergy
of every rank, from the humble curate or country pastor to
the right reverend bishop and the princely cardinal ; nay,
even woman has had no mean place in this high work, for
in many a church where women's voices may not be heard
in speech, they are heard in holy song (as in the hymns
by Miss Havergal and Miss EUiott in "Hymns Ancient
and Modem"). Thus the lyric fervour sets at nought
all ecclesiastical restrictions, all doctrinal exclusivenesses.
Thus may we catch gleams of the time when the whole
Christian company shaU be gathered, if not into one fold,
yet into one flock, under the great Shepherd, Christ. For
of that time so greatly desired, and often sought in such
fooUsh ways, the truest heralds are the hymnists whose
hearts are touched by the spirit of Christ.
It is only bare justice to say that of Uving hymnists,
the EstabUshed Church furnishes the greater number ;
amongst these must, of right, be included, some who now
belong to the Eoman Communion ; but whose hymns were
written before they left the church of their fathers.
Sir Edward Denny (bom 1796), is one of the few

214 THE HYMN LOVER.
writers of hymns belonging to that section of the Church,
known as " The Brethren." His hymns are, of course,
imbued by the special doctrines of that sect, and this unfits
most of them for general use in the Church at large ; but
in some, the Christian and lyric nature of their author
overpowers his doctrinal prepossessions, and such hymns
from his pen are of great force and merit.. Examples of
this may be found in his hymn : —
What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone
Around Thy steps below ;
What patient love was seen in all
Thy Ufe and death of woe.
For ever on Thy burden'd heart
A weight of sorrow hung ;
Yet no ungentle, murmuring word
Escaped Thy silent tongue.
Thy foes might hate, despise, revile,
'Thy friends unfaithful prove.
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love.
Oh ! give us hearts to love like Thee,
Like Thee, 0 Lord, to grieve
Far more for others' sins, than all
The wrongs that we receive.
One with Thyself, may every eye
In us. Thy brethren, see
The gentleness and grace that spring
From union. Lord, with Thee.
And in his really fine Missionary Hymn : —
Light of the lonely pilgrim's heart.
Star of the coming day.
Arise, and with Thy morning; beams.
Chase all our griefs away :
Come, blessfed Lord, bid every shore
And answering island sing
The praises of Thy royal Name,
And own Thee as their King.
Bid the whole earth, responsive now
To the bright world above.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— I. 215
Break forth in rapturous strains of joy.
In memory of Thy love.
Lord, Lord, Thy fair creation groans,
The air, the earth, the sea.
In unison with aU our hearts,
And calls aloud for Thee.
Come, then, with aU Thy quickening power.
With one awakening smile.
And bid the serpent's trail no more
The beauteous realms defile :
Thine was the cross, with all its fruit
Of gi'ace and peace divine ;
Be Thine the crown of glory now.
The palm of victory Thine.
Here again we see how the Christian spirit stretches over
all dividing and narrowing enclosures of doctrinal forms.
The first quarter of the present century is remarkable
as having given to us some of the most notable hymnists
which the Church has ever possessd. In this respect it is
one of the golden ages of hymnody, only equalled by one
or two similar periods.
Matthew Bridges (bom 1800), originaUy a member of
the AngUcan, but now of the Eoman Church, is a writer
with a great lyric gift, which in my judgment he has
allowed to be marred by the carnal views of Christian
truth prevalent in the church to which he now belongs. It
is not so with aU the hymnists of that Communion (with
Cardinal Newman, for example, whose mind seizes the
more spiritual aspects of Christianity) ; but it is so with
Mr. Bridges, as may be seen from the foUowing hymn ;
magnificent in some of its parts, but in others carnal and
sensuous to the last degree. This is speciaUy so in the
third and fifth verses, which lay stress on the physical
rather than the spiritual offering of our Lord : —

216 THE HYMN LOVER.
Crown Him with many crowns.
The Lamb upon His throne ;
Hark ! how the heavenly anthem drowns
AU music but its own.
A.wake, my soul, and sing
Of Him who died for thee ;
And hail Him as thy matchless King,
Through aU eternity.
Crown Him the Virgin's Son,
The God incarnate born ;
Whose arm those crimson trophies won
Which now His brow adorn.
Fruit of the mystic rose.
As of that rose the stem;
Tlie Eoot, whence mercy eve]- flows.
The Babe of Bethlehem.
Crown Him the Lord of Love :
Behold His hands and side,
Eich wounds, yet visible above.
In beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky
Can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye
At mysteries so bright.
Crown Him the Lord of peace.
Whose power a sceptre sways
From pole to pole, that wars may ce.-.se
And aU be prayer and praise.
His reign shall know no end,
And round His pierced feet
Fair flowers of Paradise extend
Their fragrance ever sweet.
Crown Him the Lord of years,
The Potentate of time.
Creator of the rolling spheres,
Ineffably sublime.
Glazed in a sea of light,
Whose everlasting waves
Reflect His form, the Infinite,
Who Uves and loves and saves.
Crown Him the Lord of heaven.
One with the Father known ;
And the blest Spirit through Him given,
From yonder triune throne.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— 1. 217
All liail ! Redeemer, hail !
For Thou hast died for me ;
Thy praise shall never, never fail.
Throughout eternity.
John Henry Newman (1801-1894), fiUed a very distin
guished place in the inteUectual, ecclesiastical, theological
thought of his age. His early reUgious life was fostered
by the somewhat narrow evangeUcalism which prevaUed in
the earUer years of this century ; gradually he passed to a
type of Christianity which is now described as AngUcan, and
after Ungering and hesitating for some time on the border
land which separates High Anglicanism from Romanism,
moved, as is clear from the self -revelation of his inner life
in his marvellous book " Apologia pro vita sua," by the idea
that there is and can be only one visible church, he
entered the fold which it must be confessed has the best
claim to fulfil that supposed requirement. Such an idea
of the churoh is, to my way of thinking, not only utterly
unscriptural, but utterly unspiritual, but when it takes
possession of the mind there can, in the nature of things,
be no resting place but in the Roman Communion. The
forces which fix a man's ecclesiastical position are,
however, too subtle to be fully analysed, and may leave
the moral and spiritual character to a large extent
imtouched. It is curious to notice how two men, the
offspring of the same parents, both of exceptional abUity
and nobiUty of character, should be so widely severed as
John Henry and Francis WiUiam Newman; the first
becoming a Cardinal of the Roman CathoUc church, and
the second a prominent and eloquent apostle of Theism.
Strange to say, both have laid bare much of their

218 TEE EYMN LOVER.
inner spiritual history. The first in the book to which I
have already referred, " Apologia pro vita sua," and
the second in " Phases of Faith, or Passages from the
History of my Creed." The Cardinal has been one of the
most voluminous and powerful writers of our time, and is
indeed one of the greatest masters of a noble English
style. Some passages in his sermons are poems in aU but
form. But he is known to a far larger circle by his hymn
" Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom," which
is now one of the most deservedly popular in the
English language. Those who desire to see the effects
which high culture may have on hymn-production should
compare it with the hymn on the same subject, "Guide
me, 0 Thou great Jehovah ! " by the Welsh writer,
W. WiUiams (probably the only Welsh hymn, which has
foimd its way into popular use, in English), but which has
been largely supplanted by the more poetic hymn of
Cardinal Newman. The story of its composition is told as
foUows in the " Apologia " * —
" I got to Castro-Giovanni, and was laid up there for
nearly three weeks. Towards the end of May I set off for
Palermo, taking three days for the journey. Before start
ing from my inn in the moming of May 26th or 27th,
I sat down on my bed and began to sob bitterly. My
servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me.
I could only answer, ' I have a work to do in England.'
I was aching to get home ; yet for want of a vessel I was
kept at Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the
churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did
*" Apologia pro vita sua," p. 99 (1864).

RECEIPT EYMNISTS.— L 219
not attend any services. I knew nothing of the Presence
of the Blessed Sacrament there. At last I got off in an
orange boat, bound for MarseiUes. We were becalmed a
whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio. Then it was that I
wrote the Unes ' Lead, kindly Light,' which have since
become well known. I was writing verses nearly the
whole time of my passage ; at length I got to Marseilles,
and set off for England. The fatigue of traveUing was
too much for me, and I was laid up for several days at
Lyons. At last I got off again, and did not stop night or
day till I reached England, and my mother's house. My
brother had arrived from Persia only a few hours before.
This was on the Tuesday. The following Sunday,
July 14th, Mr. Keble preached the Assize Sermon in the
University Pulpit. It was pubUshed under the title of
' National Apostasy.' I have ever considered and kept
the day as the start of the religious movement in 1833."
Another hymn of great force and beauty from his pen is
the foUowing, which forms " The fifth choir of Angelicals,"
in his greatest poem, " The Dream of Gerontius."
Praise to the Holiest in the height.
And in the depth be praise :
In aU His words most wonderful.
Most sure in aU His ways !
O loving wisdom of our God !
When aU was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
O wisest love ! that flesh and blood.
Which did in Adam (aU,
Should strive afresh against their foe.
Should strive and should prevail.
O generous love ! that He, who hiiiote
In man for man the foe.

220 TEE EYMN LOVER
The double agony in man
For man should undergo.
And in the garden secretly.
And on the a-oss on high.
Should teach His brethren, and inspire
To suffer and to die.
Praise to the Holiest in the height.
And in the depth be praise :
In all His words most wonderful.
Most sm'e in all His ways.
The hymn called " Desolation," written, Uke " Lead,
kindly Light," at the time of his great doubt and anxiety
in 1833, "off Sardinia," though not quite suitable for
public worship, is exquisitely beautiful and suggestive : —
O say not thou art left of God,
Because His tokens in the sky
Thou canst not read ; this earth He trod
To teach thee He was ever nigh.
He sees beneath the fig-tree green
Nathaniel con His sacred lore ;
Shouldst thou the closet seek, unseen
He enters through the unopened door.
And when thou liest, by slumber bound,
Outwearied in the Christian fight.
In glory, girt with saints around.
He stands above thee through the night.
When friends to Emmaus bend their couree,
He joins, although He holds their eyes :
Or, shouldst thou feel some fever's force,
He takes thy hand. He bids thee rise.
Or, on a voyage, when calms prevail.
And prison thee upon the sea.
He walks the waves. He wings the sail.
The shore is gained, and thou art free.
Dr. Newman has translated many hynms from the Latin
Breviary, and as was to be expected from such a man, they
are models of what translations should be. The following
is a fine example : —
Now that the sun is gleaming bright.
Implore wo, bendiug low.

RECENT EYMNISTS.— L 221
That He, the uncreated Light,
May guide us as we go.
No sinful word, nor deed of wrong.
Nor thoughts that idly rove.
But simple truth be on our tongue,
And in our hearts be love.
And while the hours in order flow,
O Christ, securely fence
Our gates, beleaguered by the foe.
The gate of every sense.
And grant that to Thine honour. Lord,
Our daily toil may tend :
That we begin it at Thy Word,
And in Thy favour end.
Dr. Newman was one of the chief contributors to the
"Lyra Apostolica," where his verses appear under the
signature of a Greek delta, and in 1868 he gathered his
poems together and pubUshed them xmder the modest title —
" Yerses on various occasions." This is one of the most
beautiful and suggestive volumes of reUgious poetry in the
language. Those on Scripture Character are fuU of fine
insight, expressed in the most terse and vigorous language.
I may be permitted to travel a little out of the path marked
out for myself in these pages, and quote the one on
" Moses," which, though not a hymn, is only one degree
removed therefrom.* This may lead readers to seek
further acquaintance with Dr. Newman's suggestive verses.
Moses, the patriot fierce, became
The meekest man on earth.
To show us how love's quick'ning flame
Can give our souls new birth.
Moses, the man of meekest heart.
Lost Canaan by self-will,
* By his kind permission, I have been enabled to introduce the
finest of his scripture poems into my work, "The Poets' Bible"
(Ward, Lock ifc Co.V

222 TEE EYMN LOVER.

To show, where grace has done its part.
How sin defiles us still.
Thou who hast taught me in Thy fear.
Yet seest me frail at best,
O grant me loss with Moses here.
To gain his future rest.
James Martineau (bom 1805), the most distinguished
preacher of the age in the Unitarian body, one of the
greatest phUosophers, and certainly the most eloquent, of
his time, has edited two hymnals for the use of his own
section of the Church, and written, though without
appending his name to them, two or three hymns of great
beauty. The one quoted below was included in my
"Congregational Hymns" without any ascription of
authorship. On receiving the volume Prof. F. M. Bird,
the most erudite hymnologist of America, wrote to me
saying he beUeved the hymn was by James Martineau,
and urging me to ask him. I appended his name in the
copy I was revising, and on the printers suddenly calling
for copy for a new edition, I sent them the volume in
which I had appended his name to the hymn. I had
previously written to ask him if the hymn was from his
pen, and he replied that he was not at liberty to reUeve
it of its anonymity. Forgetful of the fact that his name
had been added to the hymn, the new edition came out
ascribing the authorship to him. I then called to explain
the circumstance, and he told me that the hymn had been
written nearly forty years before, and he fancied that
some German hymn had been running in his head at the
time he composed it, and so he scarcely liked to claim it
as his own. Probably only the suggestion came from a
German source, and to all intents and purposes the hymn

REGENT EYMNISTS.— I. 223
is by him. At aU events, it is very fine, as my readers
wiU see : — Thy way is in the deep, O Lord !
E'en there we'll go with Thee :
We'll meet the tempest at Thy word,
And walk upon the sea.
Poor tremblers at His rougher wind.
Why do we doubt Him so ?
Who gives the storm a path, wUl find
The way our feet shall go.
A moment may His hand be lost.
Drear moment of delay !
We cry, " Lord, keep the tempest-tost,"
And safe we're borne away.
The Lord yields nothing to our fears,
And flies fi.'om selfish care ;
But comes Himself, where'er He hears
The voice of loving prayer.
O happy soul of faith divine !
Thy victory how sure !
The love that kindles joy is thine,
The patience to endure.
Come, Lord of peace ! our griefs dispel.
And wipe our tears away :
'Tis Thine, to order all things well.
And ours to bless Thy sway.
One other hymn is also ascribed to him ; very striking,
but scarcely so suitable for pubUc worship. It begins
" A voice upon the midnight air."
George Rawson (1807-1889), is a man whose leisure
hours have been largely occupied with meditation on sacred
themes. I am told that his Bible is neatly annotated
with his own devout musings as well as by Ulustrations
drawn from a wide range of reading. But every now
and then his thoughts have found expression in verse.
His first songs saw the Ught under the signature,
" A Leeds Layman." and for a long time he refused

224 TEE EYMN LOVER.
permission to append his name to his hymns, so that
they appeared anonymously ; but at last, what had been
before an open secret to the few, ceased to be a secret at
all, and in nearly every hymnal of a truly eclectic character
one, or even more, hymns from his pen appeared with
his name appended. Still later, in 1877, all the hymns
he had then written were coUected and published under
the title " Hymns, Yerses, and Chants," by George Rawson.
Quite recently (1885) a Uttle volume caUed " Songs of
Spiritual Thought" was issued by the Religious Tract
Society, containing a selection of hymns from the former
volume, together with others written since its publication.
I have before me the original volume with the additions,
in the venerable author's own handwriting, of all the
hymns he has since produced, together with improved
readings of some of the earlier ones. I am bound to say,
that with one or two exceptions, the earlier are finer than
the later hymns. The best fruits are from the tree of
middle life. Yery rich and diversified they are. Indeed,
diversity of style and treatment is one of the character
istics of this little volume. There is an entire absence of
the monotony which renders the collected hymns of so
many of the earlier hymnists unattractive. Each hymn
seems like an idea which has possessed the author's mind,
and then gradually taken on its appropriate dress. Stand
ing flrst in the volume are Mr. Rawson's renderings of
certain of the Psalms. Some of these are but variations
from renderings by other hands. There are three ver
sions of the twenty -third Psalm ; in one of these, it is
evident that the beautiful one of Francis Rous in the

RECENT HYMNISTS.— L 225
Scotch Psalter is ringing in the author's ears. Dr. Watts's
version of the 148th Psalm must have been in his mind
when he wrote his version of the same Psalm ; but Mr.
Rawson's is far the finer of the two, indeed, it is one of
the grandest versions of a Psalm in our English tongue.
Praise ye the Lord ! immortal quire.
In heavenly heights above.
With hai'p and voice and souls of fire.
Burning with perfect love.
Shine to His glory, worlds of light !
Ye miUion suns of space,
Fair moons and glittering stars of night,
Running your mystic race !
Ye gorgeous clouds, that deck the sky
With crystal, crimson, gold,
And rainbow arches raised on high.
The Ught of light unfold !
Lift to Jehovah, wintry main.
Your grand white hands in prayer ;
StiU summer seas, in dulcet strain
Murmur hosannas there !
Do homage, breezy ocean floor.
With many-twinkUng sign ;
Majestic calms, be hushed before
The Holiness Divine.
Storm, lightning, thunder, haU and snow,
WUd winds that keep His word.
With the old mountains far below.
Unite to bless the Lord.
His name, ye forests, wave along :
Whisper it, every flower ;
Bii'ds, beasts, and insects, swell the song
'That tells His love and power.
And round the wide world let it roU,
WhUst man ehaU lead it on ;
Join every ransomed human soul.
In glorious unison !
Come, aged man ! come little chUd !
Youth, maiden, peasant, king —
To God in Jesus reconciled.
Your haUelujahs bring !

226 TEE HYMN LOVER.
The all-creating Deity,
Maker of earth and heaven !
The great redeeming Majesty,
To Him the praise be given
When we pass from his versions of certain of the Psalms
to his hynms, the work is, of course more original, save in
one or two instances where the hymn is clearly suggested
by one from another author. This is the case with his
lovely hymn full of a quiet earnestness, written in 1853,
which begins " In the dark and cloudy day." A
poet-artist, who has been fortunate enough to win
the benediction of John Ruskin, says that this hymn
brought to him some of the sweet repose George Herbert
is wont to give. In the dark and cloudy day.
When earth's riches flee away.
And the last hope wiU not stay, —
My Saviom', comfort me.
When thf secret idol's gone.
That my poor heart yearned upon,
Desolate, bereft alone.
My Saviour, comfort me.
Thou who wast so sorely tried,
In the darkness crucified.
Bid me in Thy love confide :
My Saviour, comfort me.
In these hours of sad distress,
Let me know He loves no lets,
Bid me trust His faithfulness ;
My Saviour, comfort me.
Not unduly let me grieve.
Meekly the kind stripes receive,
Let me humbly stiU beUeve ;
My Saviour, comfort me.
So it shaU be good for me
Much afilicted now to be.
If Thou wUt but tenderly.
My Saviour, comfort me.
Beautiful as it is, it is not equal to Herrick' s Litany, as

RECENT EYMNISTS.— I. 227
our readers may see if they refer to page 75 of this work,
which surely must have been in Mr. Eawson's mind at the
time he wrote the foregoing hymn. Most akin in form
and spirit to the hymn I have quoted is what is perhaps
Mr. Eawson's best-known one, a Litany to the
Comforter; of which, the Hon. Eoden Noel says, "It is
a hymn one prizes greatly." Indeed, the Litany form
seems speciaUy suited to Mr. Eawson's genius.
Come to our poor nature's night,
With Thy blessed inward light.
Holy Ghost, the infinite ;
Comforter Divine.
We are sinful — cleanse ue. Lord,
Sick and faint — Thy strength afford,
Lost — untU by Thee restored.
Comforter Divine.
Orphans are our souls, and poor.
Give us from Thy heavenly store.
Faith, love, joy, for evermore.
Comforter Divine.
Like the dew Thy peace distU ;
Guide, subdue our wayward wiU,
Things of Christ unfolding stiU,
Comforter Divine.
Gentle, awful, holy Guest,
Make Thy temple in each breast ;
There Thy presence be confessed.
Comforter Divine.
With us, for us, intercede,
And with voiceless groanings plead.
Our unutterable need.
Comforter Divine
In^is ' Abba, Father,' cry,
Earnest of the bUss on high ;
Seal of immortality.
Comforter Divine.
Search for us the depths of God ;
Upwards by the staiTy road.
Bear us to Thy high abode.
Comforter Divine.

228 THE HYMN LOVER.
But whUst Mr. Eawson often owes his inspiration to the
hynms of previous writers, he is far from being a mere
imitator. In his writings we notice some of the most dis
tinctive and original notes in modern hymnody. Subjects
and treatment are both new and quite his own. What
can be finer or more suited to the theme than his verses
on Pastor Eobinson' s advice to the Pilgrim Fathers ? " He
charged us, if God should reveal anything to us by any
other instruments of His, to be as ready to receive it as
any truth by his ministry ; for he was very confident the
Lord had more Ught and truth yet to break forth out of
His holy word." We limit not the truth of God,
To our poor reach of mind.
By notions of our day and sect.
Crude, partial, and confined ;
No, let a new and better hope
Within our hearts be stirred ;
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from His word.
Who dares to bind to his duU sense.
The oracles of heaven.
For all the nations, tongues, and climes.
And aU the ages given ;
That universe, how much unknown !
That ocean unexplored !
The Lord hath yet more Ught and truth
To break forth from His word.
DarkUng our great forefathers went
The first steps of the way :
'Twas but the dawning, yet to grow
Into the perfect day.
And grow it shall ; our glorious Sun
More lervid rays afford ;
The Lord hath yet more Ught and truth
To break forth from His word.
The valleys past, ascending still,
Our souls would higher oUmb,
And look down from supernal heights
On all the bygone time.

RECENT EYMNISTS.— I. 229

Upward we press ; the air is clear.
And the sphere-music heard ;
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from His word.
0 Father, Son, and Spirit, send
Us increase from above ;
Enlarge, expand all Christian souls
To comprehend Thy love !
And make us aU go on to know,
With nobler powers conferred.
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from His word.
What verses more appropriate to be sung when a valiant
soldier of Christ has finished the fight and gone to his
reward than the foUowing ? —
Captain and Saviour of the host
Of Christian chivalry ;
We bless Thee for our comrade true.
Now summoned up to Thee.
We bless Thee for his every step
In faithful foUowing Thee ;
And for his good fight fought so well.
And crowned with victory.
We thank Thee that the wayworn sleeps
The sleep in Jesus blest ;
The purified and ransomed soul
Hath entered into rest.
We bless Thee that his humble love
Hath met with such regard :
We bless Thee for his blessedness,
And for his rich reward.
Our age is rich in hymns for Sunday evenmg. Some of
our modern hymnists, indeed, have been happiest in their
hymns for this season. Its sacredness seems to have
stirred aU their poetic power. But for quiet tendemess
and pathos the verses which follow are excelled by none.
Thou who hast known the careworn breast.
The weary need of sleep's deep balm.
Come Saviour, ere we go tj rest.
And breathe around Thy perfect calm.

230 TEE HYMN LOVER.
Thy presence gives us chUdlike trust.
Gladness and hope without alloy.
The faith that triumphs o'er the dust.
And gloamings of eternal joy.
Stand in our midst, dear Lord, and say,
'Peace be to you this evening hour ;
Then aU the struggles of the day
Vanish before 'Thy loving power.
Blest is the pUgrimage to heaven,
A little neai'er every night ;
Christ to our earthly darkness given,
TUl in His glory there is Ught.
FuU of a healthy spiritual feeling and with a metre and
rhythm singularly bright and appropriate is the foUowing:
Walking with Thee, my God,
Saviom- benign ;
DaUy confer on me
Converse divine ;
Jesus in Thee restored,
Brother and Holy Lord,
Let it be mine.
Walking with Thee, my God,
Like as a chUd
Leans on his father's strength,
Crossing the wild ;
And by the way is taught
Lessons of holy thought.
Faith undefiled.
Darkness and earthly mists.
How do they flee.
Far underneath my feet.
Walking with Thee :
Pure is that upper air,
Cloudless the prospect there.
Walking with 'Thee.
Walking in reverence
Humbly with Thee,
Yet from all abject fear
Lovingly free :
E'en as a friend with friend.
Cheered to the journey's end,
Walking with Thee !

RECENT HYMNISTS.— I. 231
Then Thy companions here
Walking with Thee,
Rise to a higher life.
Soul liberty.
They are not here to love.
But to the home above,
Taken by Thee.
Gently translated, they
Pass out of sight ;
Gone ! as the morning stars
Flee with the night :
Taken to endless day ! —
So may I fade away
Into Thy light.
It was to be expected that such a nature as Mr. Rawson's
would be speciaUy moved by what is certainly the most
tender and pathetic of all the services of the church — ^the
Supper of the Lord — and some of his finest hymns have
been written for this holy feast of remembrance. The
hymn by which he is perhaps most widely known is one
out of many he has written for that service. This has
reached far beyond the bounds of the Church to which Mr.
Rawson belongs, and is sung in churches widely severed
from his own in their conception of that ordinance. It
appears in an altered, but certainly not improved form in
"Church Hymns." I do not Uke the fifth verse, since
it points to a physical resurrection of the body, for which
there is no warrant in Scripture.
By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored,
We keep the memory adored,
And show the death of our dear Lord
UntU He come.
His body, broken in our stead.
Is here, in this memorial bread.
And so our feeble love is fed
Until He come.

232 THE HYMN LOVER.
The streams of His dread agony.
His life-blood shed for us, we see :
The wine shaU teU the mystery,
UntU He come.
And thus that dark betrayal-night
With the last advent we unite.
By one blest chain of loving rite.
Until He come.
UntU the trump of God be heard.
Until the ancient graves be stirred.
And with the great commanding word,
The Lord shaU come.
0 blessed hope ! with this elate.
Let not our hearts be desolate,
But strong in faith, in patience, wait
Until He come.
I have already said that his later hymns lack the dis
tinctiveness and vigour of the best of his earUer ones. An
exception must, however, be made in the case of one
hymn, Ukewise a Communion hymn, which he was good
enough to send me in MS., and which appeared first of
all in my own hymnal. It is intended for Use after the
service. Like the first disciples
In their strange glad hour.
We have seen the Master
In His risen power.
In this rite have owned Him,
As the Christ adored :
In His living presence.
We have seen the Lord.
O that face of suffering.
Wounded hands and side.
Say to each — ' 1 loved thee.
And for thee I died.'
Hear His voice of triumph.
Death's dark reign is o'er,
I am He that liveth,
Liveth evermore.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— L 233
My death hath redeemed you.
Now for you I live.
Uttermost, etemal.
Is the love I give.
'Lo ! I'm with you always
TiU the ages cease.'
Lord, we rest believing ;
Lord, in Thee is peace.

Such hymns as these are likely to hold a permanent place
in the hjrmnody of the churches in which they are
already used, and to find their way into other commu
nions, since they axe full of a true Christian feeling,
expressed in forms that are at once poetic and devout.
Horatius Bonar, of Edinburgh (1808-1889), who is
one of the most popular of recent hymnists, presents
to us the strange spectacle of an author whose hymns
have passed into use in nearly every section of the Church,
but whose own congregation refused to aUow them to
be sung, and rigidly adhered to the Scottish Psalms
and Paraphrases. WhUst equaUy remarkable is the
fact, that, though he belonged to a strongly Calvinistic
body, his hymns abound in the most ecstatic assertions
of the universal love of God. Here, as in so many
other cases, the heart was wiser than the head — the
poet than the theologian. "When the soul soars the
highest, the limitations of earth sink out of sight. Just
as the Unitarian whose heart is kindled by the lyric fire,
sees more in Christ than his reasoning theological brother
of the same church, so the strong Calvinist, when moved
in heart to poetic expression, sees that "the love of God
is broader than the measures of man's mind." We are

234 THE HYMN LOVER.
safer with the poet than the theologian. Take, as an
iUustration of this, the foUowing from Dr. Bonar : —
O love of God, how strong and true 1
Eternal, and yet ever new,
Uncomprehended and unbought.
Beyond all knowledge and aU thought !
O love of God, how deep and great !
Far deeper than man's deepest hate ;
Self-fed, self-kindled like the Ught,
Changeless, etemal, infinite !
O heavenly love, how precious stiU,
In days of weariness and Ul,
In nights of pain and helplessness.
To heal, to comfort, and to bless !
O wide-embracing, wondrous love,
We read thee in the sky above.
We read thee in the earth below.
In seas that sweU, and streams that flow I
We read thee best in Him who came
To bear for us the cross of shame.
Sent by the Father from on high.
Our Ufe to live, our death to die.
We read thee in the tears once shed
Over doomed Salem's guUty head.
In the cold tomb of Bethany,
And blood drops of Gethsemane.
We read thy power to bless and save.
E'en in the darkness of the gi'ave;
StUl more in resurrection Ught,
We read the fulness of thy might.
O love of God, our shield and stay
Through all the perils of our way ;
Eternal love, in thee we rest.
For ever safe, for ever blest !
The most widely known and loved of his hymns are — " I
heard the voice of Jesus say," caUed " A Yoice from
uGaUlee;" "A few more years shaU roll," probably
suggested by two Unes in Peter Abelard's hymn —

RECENT HYMNISTS.— I. 235
lUic nee Sabbato
Succedit Sabbatum,
Perpes laetitia
Sabbatizantium.
" Thy way, not mine, 0 Lord," " I lay my sins on Jesus,"
" Calm me, my God, and keep me calm," " Lord, give me
light to do Thy work," " Go, labour on, spend and be
spent;" "When the weary, seeking rest," modelled on
the pattern of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the
Temple. But the foUowing richly deserve notice. This
is very fine, in substance and expression : —
Bear Thou my burden. Thou who bear'st my sin ;
Both are too heavy. Lord, for me to bear;
Oh, take them, call them Thine; yes. Thine, though mine;
And give me calm repose in hours of fear and care.
Let me not fret because of evU men ;
Smooth Thou each angry ripple of my soul ;
RevUed, O let me not revUe again.
And ever let Thy hand my rising warmth control.
Let not my peace be broken when the wrong
Conquers the right, but let me stUl wait on ;
The day of right is coming, late, but long.
Long right beneath the sway of the aU-righteous One.
When truth is overborne and error reigns.
When clamour lords it over patient love.
Give the brave calmness which from wrath refrains.
Yet from the steadfast course decUnes one foot to move.
When love no refuge finds but sUent faith.
When meekness fain would hide its heavy head.
When trustful truth, shunning the words of wrath,
Waits for the day of right, so long, so long delayed ;
Beneath the load of crosses and of cares.
Of thwarted plans, of rude and spiteful words ;
O bear me up, when this weak flesh despairs,
And the one arm which faith can lean on is the Lord's.
As is this, touched with the same spirit : —
Not what I am, O Lord, but what Thou art !
That, that alone, can be my soiU's true rest ;
Thy love, not mine, bids fear and doubt depart,
And stiUs the tempest of my tossing breast.

236 THE HYMN LOVER.
It is Thy perfect love that casts out fear ;
I know the voice that speaks the " It is I " ;
And in these weU-known words of heavenly cheer
I hear the joy that bids each sorrow fly.
Thy name is Love ' I hear it from yon cross ;
Thy name is Love ! I read it in yon tomb;
AU meaner love is perishable dross.
But this shaU light me through time's thickest gloom.
It blesses now, and shaU for ever bless.
It saves me now, and shall for ever save ;
It holds me up in days of helplessness.
It bears me safely o'er each swelling wave.
Girt with the love of God on every side.
Breathing that love as heaven's own healing air,
I work or wait, stiU following my Guide,
Braving each foe, escaping every snare.
'Tis what I know of Thee, my Lord and God,
That fiUs my soul with peace, my Ups with song ;
Thou art my health, my joy, my staff, my rod.
Leaning on Thee, in weakness 1 am strong.
I am aU want and hunger ; this faint heart
Pines for a fulness which it finds not here ;
Dear ones are leaving, and, as they depart.
Make room within for something yet more dear.
More of Thyself, O diow me, hour by hour.
More of Thy glory, O my God and Lord ;
More of Thyself, in aU 'Thy grace and power;
More of Thy love and truth. Incarnate Word.
This is brief, but beautiful : —
O Love that casts out fear,
O Love that casts out sin.
Tarry no more without,
But come and dweU within.
True Sunlight of the soul.
Surround me as 1 go;
So shaU my way be safe.
My feet no straying know.
Great Love of God, come in,
WeU-spring of heavenly peace.
Thou Living Water, come.
Spring up, and never cease.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-I. 237

Bold and lyric is: — Speak, lips of mine,
And teU abroad
The praises of thy God.
Speak, stammering tongue.
In gladdest tone.
Make BQs high praises known.
Speak, sea and earth,
Heaven's utmost star.
Speak from your realms afar,
Take up the note.
And send it round
Creation's farthest bound.
Speak, heaven of heavens.
Wherein our God
Has made His bright abode.
Speak, angels speak.
In songs proclaim
His everlasting name.
Speak, son of dust.
Thy flesh He took.
And heaven for thee forsook.
Speak, chUd of death.
Thy death He died;
Bless thou the Crucified.
One of his most beautiful and poetic hymns is : —
Light of the world ! for ever, ever shining ;
There is no change in Thee ;
True Light of life, all joy and health enshrining.
Thou canst not fade nor fiee.
Thou hast arisen ; but Thou declinest never :
To-day shines as the past ;
AU that Thou wast. Thou art, and shalt be ever ;
Brightness from firat to last !
Night visits not Thy sky, nor storm, nor sadness ;
Day fiUs up aU its blue :
UnfaUing beauty, and unfaltering gladness.
And love for ever new !
Light of the world ! undimming and unsetting,
O shine each mist away !
Banish the fear, the falsehood, and the fretting.
Be om- unchanging day !

238 THE HYMN LOVER.

Strong, and yet tender, is : —
Through good report and evfl. Lord !
StiU guided by Thy faithful word,
Om' staff, our buckler, and our sword,
We foUow Thee.
In sUence of the lonely night.
In fullest glow of day's clear light,
Through life's strange windings, dark or bright.
We foUow Thee.
Great Master ! point Thou out the way,
Nor suffer Thou our steps to stray ;
Then in the path that leads to day.
We follow Thee.
Thou hast passed on before our face ;
Thy footsteps on the way we trace ;
O keep us, aid us by Thy grace, —
We foUow Thee.
Whom have we in the heaven above ?
Whom on this earth, save Thee, to love ?
Still in Thy light we onward move.
We foUow Thee.
A very inspiring hymn is : —
SliaU this life of mine be wasted ?
ShaU this vineyard lie untUled ?
ShaU true joy remain untasted.
And the soul abide unfiUed ?
ShaU the God-given hours be scattered,
Like the leaves upon the plain ?
ShaU the blossoms die unwatered
By the drops of heavenly rain ?
Shall the heart stUl spend its treasures
Ou the things that fade and die ?
Shall it court the hollow pleasures
Of bewUdering vanity P
No, we were not bom to trifle
Life away in dreams of sin ;
No, we must not, dare not stifle
Longings such as these within.
Swiftly moving upward, onward.
Let our souls in faith arise,
Calmly gazing skyward, sunward.
Let us fix our steadfast eyes

RECENT HYMNISTS.-I. 239
Where the cross, God's love revealing.
Sets the fettered spirit free ;
Where it sheds its wondrous heaUng,
There, O soul, thy rest shaU be.
Then no longer idly dreaming
ShaU we fling our years away ;
But, each precious hour redeeming.
Wait for the eternal day.
God, the Father of creation.
Son, the Saviour of mankind,
Spirit of illumination.
Make us Thine in heart and mind.
The foUowing yearning intercession for children is very
beautiful : — Father, our chUdren keep !
We know not what is coming on the earth ;
Beneath the shadow of Thy heavenly wing,
O keep them, keep them, 'Thou who gav'st them buth.
Father, di'aw nearer us !
Draw firmer round us Thy protecting arm ;
O clasp otu: children closer to Thy side.
Uninjured in the day of earth's alarm.
Them in Thy chambers hide !
O hide them and preserve them calm and safe.
When sin abounds, and error flows abroad,
And Satan tempts, and human passions chafe.
O keep them undefiled !
Unspotted from a tempting world of sin ;
That, clothed in white, through the bright city-gates.
They may with us in triumph enter in.
Some of his Communion hymns are finely adapted to
that service, notably the foUowing : —
Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face ;
Here would I touch and handle things unseen ;
Here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace.
And aU my weariness upon Thee lean.
Here would I feed upon the bread of God ;
Here drink with Thee the royal wine of heaven ;
Here would I lay aside each earthly load ;
Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven.
This is the hour of banquet and of song.
This is the heavenly table spread for me ;

240 THE HYMN LOVER.
Here let me feast, and feasting, still prolong
The brief bright hour of feUowship with Thee.
Too soon we rise : the symbols disappear :
The feast, though not the love, is past and gone ;
The bread and wine remove, but Thou art here.
Nearer than ever, stUl my Shield and Sun.
Feast after feast thus comes and passes by.
Yet, passing, points to the glad feast above.
Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy.
The Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love.
Dr. Bonar has written many works in prose, but he wUl
be remembered by his hymns, many of which are likely
to keep a permanent place in the Church's song.
Jane Borthwick (bom 1813), is known chiefly as joint
authoress with her sister, Mrs. Findlater, of " Hymns from
the Land of Luther," one of the flnest collections of
translation from the German we possess in the English
tongue. But she possesses, as most good hymn translators
do, real poetic faculty of her own. A translation is a poor
affair if the original does not pass through a poet's mind
before it appears in its new language. That Miss
Borthwick has such a mind is clear from the foUowing
hymn ; one of the most tender and pathetic of its kind in
existence : —
Thou knowest. Lord, the weariness and sorrow
Of the sad heart that comes to Thee for rest ;
Cares of to-day, and burdens for to-morrow.
Blessings implored, and sins to be confessed ;
We come before Thee at Thy gracious word.
And lay them at Thy feet : Thou knowest Lord.
Thou knowest aU the past ; how long and bUndly
On the dark mountains the lost wanderer strayed ;
How the good Shepherd foUowed, and how kindly
He bore it home, upon His shoulders laid ;
And healed the bleeding wounds and soothed the pain,
And brought back life, and hope, and strength again.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-L 241
Thou knowest aU the present ; each temptation.
Each toUsome duty, each foreboding fear ;
All to each one assigned of tribulation.
Or to belovfed ones, than self more dear ;
AU pensive memories, as we journey on.
Longings for vanished smUes and voices gone.
Thou knowest jjl the future ; gleams of gladness
By stormy clouds too quickly overcast ;
Hours of sweet fellowship and parting sadness.
And the dark river to be crossed at last ;
O what could hope and confidence afford
To tread that path ; but this. Thou knowest. Lord V
Thou knowest, not alone as God, all knowing ;
As Man, our mortal weakness. Thou hast proved ;
On earth, with purest sympathies o'erflowing,
O Saviour, Thou hast wept, and Thou hast loved ;
And love and sorrow still to Thee may come.
And find a hiding-place, a rest, a home.
Therefore we come. Thy gentle call obeying,
And lay our sins and sorrows at Thy feet ,
On everlasting strength our weakness staying.
Clothed in Thy robe of righteousness complete,
Then rising and refreshed we leave Thy throne.
And foUow on to know as we are known.
EquaUy good, but in quite another strain is : —
Gome, labour on !
Who dares stand idle on the harvest-plain,
WhUe aU around him waves the golden grain ?
And to each servant does the Master say,
' Go work to-day.
Come, labour on !
Claim the high caUing angels cannot share.
To young and old the Gospel-gladness bear ;
Redeem the time ; its hours too swiftly fly.
The night draws nigh.
Come, labour on !
The enemy is watching night and day.
To sow the tares, to snatch the seed away ;
WhUe we in sleep our duty have forgot.
He slumbered not.
Come, labour on !
Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear !
No arms so weak, but may do service here ;
By hands the feeblest can our God fulfil
His righteous will.

242 THE HYMN LOVER.
Come, labour on !
No time for rest, tiU glows the western sky.
While the long shadows o'er our pathway lie.
And a glad sound comes with the setting sun —
' Servants, weU done !
Come, labour on !
The toU is pleasant, and the harvest sure,
Blessfed are those who to the end endure ;
How full their joy, how deep their rest shaU be,
O Lord, with Thee !
The foUowing hymn from C. J. P. Spitta may be taken as
a specimen of her translations : —
We praise and bless Thee, gracious Lord,
Our Saviour, kind and true.
For aU the old things passed away.
For all Thou hast made new.
New hopes, new purposes, desires.
And joys. Thy grace has given ;
Old ties are broken from the earth.
New ties attach to heaven.
But yet, how much must be destroyed
How much renewed must be.
Ere we can fully stand complete
In likeness. Lord, to Thee !
Thou, only Thou, must carry on
The work Thou hast begun ;
Of Thine own strength Thou must impart.
In Thine own ways to run.
Ah ! leave us not ; from day to day
Revive, restore again ;
Our feeble steps do Thou direct.
Our enemies restrain.
So shall we faultless stand at last,
Before Thy Father's throne ;
The blessedness for ever ours.
The glory aU Thine own.
"Jesus, stiU lead on," from the German of Count
Zinzendorf is too well-known to need quoting. As a
specimen of her sister's (Sarah Findlater) genius for
translation, I quote her rendering of Gerhardt

RECENT HYMNISTS.-I. 243
Tersteegen's magnificent hymn often sadly marred by
editors : — Lord our God, in reverence lowly.
The hosts of heaven call Thee ' holy,'
From cherubim and seraphim.
From angel phalanx, far extending.
In fuller tones is stiU ascending
The ' holy,' ' holy,' of their hymn ;
The fount of joy Thou art.
Ever fiUing every heart.
Ever! Ever!
We, too, are Thine, and with them sing,
' Thou, Lord, and only Thou, art King.'
Lord, there are bending now before Thee,
The elders with their crown&d glory.
The first born of the blessfed band ;
There, too, earth's ransomed and forgiven
Brought by the Saviour safe to heaven.
In glad unnumbered myriads stand ;
Loud are the songs of praise
Their mingled voices raise,
Ever! Ever!
We, too, are Thine, and with them sing,
' Thou, Ijord, and only Thou, art King.'
They sing in sweet and endless numbei-s
The wondrous love that never slumbers.
And of the wisdom, power, and might.
The truth and faithfulness abiding.
And over aU Thy works presiding.
But they can scarcely praise aright ;
For jdl is never sung.
Even by seraph's tongue.
Never ! Never !
We, too, are Thine, and with them sing,
' Thou, Lord, and only Thou, art King.'
Oh ! come, reveal Thyself more fuUy,
That we may learn to praise more truly ;
Make every heart a temple true.
Filled with 'Thy glory overflowing.
More of Thy love each morning showing,
And waking praises loud and new ;
Here let Thy peace divine
Over Thy children shine.
Ever! Ever!
And glad or sad, we joining sing,
' Thou, Lord, and only Thou, art King.'

244 THE EYMN LOVER.

Both sisters prefer to be known under the signature
H. L. L. (Hymns from the Land of Luther), but I beUeve
I am right in ascribing those I have named as I have
done. Henry Downton (1818-1885), for many years Chaplain
of the English Church at Geneva, and after Rector of
Hopton, Norfolk, is the author of many hymns, and
translations from the French, chiefly of Yinet, which he
has gathered into a little volume, " Hymns and Yerses,
Original and Translated." He possesses, in very marked
degree, the faculty for hymn composition. He has been
most successful in verses written for the opening and
close of the year. One of these, ' ' For Thy mercy and
Thy grace," has become very popular, whUst another,
which I quote . below, is on the high road to a like
popularity, which it richly deserves. I omit the first
four lines, which seem to me to mar the general effect of
the hymn. Sing we, brethren, faithful-hearted.
Lift the solemn voiie again
O'er another year departed
Of our threescore years and ten.
Lo, a theme for deepest sadness.
In ourselves with sin defiled ;
Lo, a theme for holiest gladness.
In our Father recouciled.
In the dust we bend before Thee,
Lord of sinless hosts above ;
Yet in lowliest joy adore Thee,
God of mercy, grace, and love.
Gracious Saviour ! Thou hast lengthened
And hast blessed our mortal span.
And in our weak hearts hast strengthened
What Thy grace alone began.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— L 246
StiU, when danger shaU betide us.
Be Thy warning whisper heard ;
Keep us at Thy feet, and guide us
By Thy Spirit and Thy word.
Let Thy favour and Thy blessing
Crown the year we now begin ;
Let us all. Thy strength possessing.
Grow in grace and vanquish sin.
Storms are round us, hearts are quailing.
Signs in heaven and earth and sea ;
But, when heaven and earth are faiUng,
Saviour, we wiU trust in Thee.
Thomas Hincks (born 1818), a minister of the Unitarian
Church, who has acquired a considerable reputation for
his scientific researches, has written a few hymns, which
were first included in a collection called " Yespers,"
prepared for the congregation at Mill HUl Chapel, Leeds,
to which he formerly ministered. They resemble the
hymns of many writers of his own section of the Church
in America : in their subdued feeling, their gracefulness
of expression, and a certain refined and spiritual love for
the place of worship. The finest is the following : —
Heavenly Father, by whose care
Comes again this hour of prayer.
In the evening stUlness, we
Grateful raise our hearts to Thee;
To our spirits, as we bend.
Peace and holy comfort send.
Gladly we Thy presence seek:
Father ! to our spirits speak :
Call us from the world away;
StiU our passions' reckless play;
On our inner darkness shine;
Bend our wayward will to Thine.
In this quiet eventide
May our souls with Thee abide.
Own Thy presence, feel Thy power.
Through this consecrated hour ;
And from peaceful vesper-prayer
Purer, stronger spirits bear.

246 THE HYMN LOVER.
George Rundle Prynne (born 1818), vicar of St. Peter's,
Plymouth, wrote several hymns for a coUection he edited,
under the title, "A Hymnal, suited for the Services of
the Churoh, together with a selection of Introits."
The one notable hymn, which has since passed into
many coUeetions, is " Jesu, meek and gentle," equally
suitable for use by adults and chUdren. His hymns
have recently been included in " The Soldier's Dying
Yision, and other Poems."
James Hamilton (1819-1896), vicar of Doulting,
Shepton MaUet, has written several hymns, which are
chiefiy used in churches of the Anglican order. One for
midnight services is of great beauty. In the original,
the third line of the fijst verse reads
"We deck Thine altar, Lord, with light,"
but, in order to adapt it to churches in which there is no
altar, I ventured to alter the Une as it stands below — an
alteration since adopted in other Hymnals : —
Across the sky the shades of night
This winter's eve are fleeting :
We come to Thee the Life and Light,
In solemn worship meeting :
And as the year's last hours go by.
We lift to Thee our earnest cry,
Once more Thy love entreating.
Before Thee, Lord, subdued we bow.
To Thee our prayers addres.siug ;
Recounting aU 'Thy mercies now.
And all our sins confessing ;
Beseeching Thee, this coming year.
To hold us in Thy faith and fear.
And crown us with Thy blessing.
And while we kneel, we Uft our eyes
To dear ones gone before us ;
Safe housed vrith Thee in Paradise,
Their spirits hovering o'er us :

RECENT HYMNISTS.-L 247
And beg of Thee, when Ufe is past.
To re-unite us aU, at last.
And to our lost restore us.
We gather up, in this brief hour.
The memory of Thy mercies ;
Thy wondrous goodness, love, and power.
Our grateful song rehearses :
For Thou hast been our Strength and Stay
In many a dark and dreary day
Of sorrow and reverses.
In many an hour, when fear and dread
Like evU speUs have bound us.
And clouds were gathering overhead.
Thy Providence hath found us :
In many a night when waves ran high.
Thy gracious Presence drawing nigh
Hath made aU calm around us.
Then, O great God, in years to come.
Whatever fate betide us.
Right onward through our journey home
Be Thou at hand to guide us :
Nor leave us till, at close of life.
Safe from all perils, toil, and strife.
Heaven shall unfold and hide us.
WiUiam Cowper, in his " Table Talk," says that
Nature seldom —
Vouchsafes to man a poet's just pretence —
Fervency, freedom, fluency ot thought,
Harmony, strength, words exquisitely sought ;
Fancy that from the bow that spans the sky.
Brings colours, dipp'd in heav'n, that never die ;
A soul exalted above eai'th, a mind
Skill'd in the characters that form mankind.
*****
'Twere new, indeed, to see a bard aU fire,
Touch'd with a coal from heav'n, assume the lyre.
And tell the world, stiU kindUng as he sung.
With more than mortal music on his tongue ;
That He who died below, and reigns above.
Inspires the song, and that His name is Love.
If such characteristics be rare in the poet, they are still
more rare in the hymnist. It would be difficult, perhaps

248 THE HYMN LOVER.
impossible, to name a hymnist in whom such transcendent
qualities are united. But many of these qualities —
fervency, freedom, fluency of thought — are very con
spicuous, and are, indeed, the prominent quaUties in the
hymns of Thomas Hornblower Gill. Indeed, before I
made his personal acquaintance, or knew anything of his
spiritual history, I was struck with the freedom, and yet
the fervency of his song ; the breadth of his thought,
and yet the truly evangelical tone which pervaded it.
This was a puzzle to me, and in my first interview with
him, I expiessed my surprise. The story of his life which
he then narrated, at once removed the mystery from my
mind, as it will do from that of others who may have read
his hymns with a similar perplexity. He was bom at
Birmingham, on the 10th February, 1819, and educated at
the well-known King Edward's Grammar School, in that
town, under Dr. Jeune, who afterwards became Bishop of
Peterborough. He took a distinguished place in the school,
and would have passed thence to the University of Oxford,
but his conscientious religious scruples prevented him
subscribing to the articles of the Church of England, with"
out which the University could not then be entered. This
led to his becoming for the rest of his life a student-recluse,
giving himself up chiefly to classical and historical studies.
Such a life has been, of course, singularly devoid of out
ward incident. All that can be chronicled is connected
with the production and publication of his various works.
The real interest of his life centres, however, in the
singular and almost unique influences which have com
bined to form his character, and determine his thinking.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-L 249
Here is to be found the trae clue to the strange combina
tion of breadth of thought with the fervency and
evangelical character of his hymns. He was trained in the
Priestley School of Unitarianism which had its head-quarters
in his native town, where Dr. Priestley exercised his
ministry. Later in life a breath of warm evangelical
feeling passed over him. This was closely connected with,
and largely fostered by, an acquaintance with the hymns
and lyrics of Dr. Watts, of whom he is an ardent admirer.
If I understand him rightly, he came of a Puritan stock,
but his immediate ancestors had fallen under the influence
of Unitarianism, in which he was brought up. Indeed, he
calls himself a Puritan of the Puritans, and when he
wants to describe himself more fully he calls himself " An
Emersonian Puritan." The careful reader of his hymns
will discern the freshness and freedom from restraint, so
characteristic of the Unitarian school of thought with the
fervour and passionate devotion to be observed in Puritan
circles. These two distinctive features of his hymns,
features so rarely combined, are fully accounted for by
his ancestry and training. The late Dr. Freeman Clarke,
of America, used to caU him " A more-intellectual Charles
Wesley." This is a little too eulogistic, but is on the whole
a happy description, since there is in his hymns much of
the fire of the great Methodist singer, with an intellectual
vigour and subtlety of thought which are only here and
there to be found in the hymns of Charies Wesley, to whom,
however, he is not equal in force and directness of diction.
Those who may desire to gain a fuller insight into the
spiritual history of this remarkable hymnist will find much

250 THE HYMN LOVER.
of his thought and feeling reflected in the life he has
written of his friend Franklin Howarth, who passed
through an experience very Uke to his own. The volume
was pubUshed in 1883, under the title " The Triumph of
Christ— Memorials of Franklin Howarth," by T. H. GiU.
This seems to me a kind of oblique biography of himself.
Besides this he has pubUshed " The Fortunes of Faith, or
Church and State," a poem of considerable length, with
much of the fire of youth against Church EstabUshments
(1841); "The Anniversaries — poems in commemoration of
Great Men and Great Events " (1858) ; "The Golden Chain
of Praise" (1869); "The Papal Drama," an historical
essay (1866), and "Luther's Birthday" (hymns) (1883.)
He is now engaged on "A History of the Germans," which
he scarcely expects to finish. He also edited the second
hymn-book issued by the late George Dawson, of Birming
ham. Altogether he has written over 200 hymns, 165 of
these were pubUshed in "The Golden Chain of Praise," of
which an enlarged edition was issued in 1895. His friend.
Dr. R. W. Dale, of Birmingham, was a great admirer of his
hymns, and introduced no less than 40 into his coUection
caUed " The EngUsh Hymn Book." Half that number
were included in " The Baptist Hymnal," eleven in my
own " Congregational Hymns," and the same number in
Dr. Martineau's " Hymns of Praise and Prayer," whilst
in Dr. Odenheimer and F. M. Bird's " Songs of the
Spirit," there are 23, one of these, "Lord God, by
whom aU change is wrought," having been written for
that work. Up to the present time, and with one excep
tion — " 0 mean may seem this house of clay," his hymns

RECENT HYMNISTS.-L 251
have been confined to coUeetions used in the Free
Churches, which desire suggestiveness of thought, and
rely, for the deepening of spiritual Ufe more upon the power
of truth over the mind than upon external ritual. But in
the Free Churches they are becoming increasingly known
and valued. The following are the most popular, " 0 mean
may seem this house of clay," our double kindred to
Emmanuel as suggested by " The second man was the Lord
from heaven," and " as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shaU also bear the image of the heavenly " —
O mean may seem this house of clay.
Yet 'twas the Lord's abode ;
Our feet may mourn this thorny way.
Yet here Immanuel trod.
This fleshly robe the Lord did wear.
This watch the Lord did keep.
These burdens sore the Lord did bear,
These tears the Lord did weep.
* * * *
Our very fraUty brings us near
Unto the Lord of heaven ;
To every grief, to every tear.
Such glory strange is given.
But not this fleshly robe alona
ShaU link us, Lord, to Thee ;
Not only in the tear and moan
Shall the dear kindred be.
We shaU be reckoned for Thine own.
Because Thy heaven we share.
Because we sing around Thy throne,
And Thy bright raiment wear.
* * * *
O mighty grace, our Ufe to live.
To make our earth divine :
O mighty grace. Thy heaven to give.
And lift our life to Thine.
Yes, strange the gift and marveUous
By Thee received and given !
Thou tookest woe and death for us.
And we receive Thy heaven.

252 THE HYMN LOVER.
"Our God! our God! Thou shinest here" is a noble
hymn suggested by the words of John Milton — " The
power of Thy grace is not passed away with the primitive
times, as fond and faithless men foolishly imagine, but
Thy kingdom is now at hand, and Thou standing at the
door." This is one of his finest and most characteristic
hymns — Our God ! our God ! Thou shinest here,
Thine own this latter day :
To us Thy radiant steps appear :
We watch Thy glorious way.
Thou tookest once our flesh ; Thy face
Once on our darkness shone :
Yet through each age new births of grace
Still make Thy glory known.
Not only olden ages felt
The presence of the Lord ;
Not only with the fathers dwelt
Thy 'Spirit and Thy word.
Doth not the Spirit still descend
And bring the heavenly fire ?
Doth not He stiU Thy Church extend.
And waiting souls inspire ?
Come, Holy Ghost ! in us arise ;
Be this 'Thy mighty hour !
And make Thy willing people wise
To know Thy day of power !
Pour down Thy fire in us to glow.
Thy might in us to dwell ;
Again Thy works of wonder show.
Thy blessed secrets tell.
Bear us aloft, more glad, more strong,
On Thy celestial wing.
And grant us grace to look and long
For our returning King.
He draweth near, He standeth by.
He fiUs our eyes, our ears ;
' Come, King of grace," Thy people cry,
" And bring the glorious years ! "
Closely aUied to the foregoing is a hymn on the passage in
Zech. vin. 21, " Let us go to seek the Lord " : —

RECENT HYMNISTS.-I 253
O saints of old ! not yours alone
These words most high shall be ;
We take the glory for om' own ;
Lord ! we are seeking Thee.
Not only when ascends the song,
And soundeth sweet the Word ;
Not only "midst the Sabbath throng,"
Our souls would seek the Lord,
We mingle with another throng,
And other words we speak ;
To other business we belong.
But StiU our Lord we seek.
We would not to our daily task
Without our God repair ;
But in the world Thy presence ask.
And seek Thy glory there.
Would we against some wrong be bold.
And break some yoke abhorred ;
Amidst the strife and stir behold
The seekers of the Lord ;
* * * *
When on Thy glorious works we gaze.
We fain would seek Thee there :
Our gladness in their beauty raise
To joy in Thee, First Fair !
O everywhere, O every day.
Thy grace is still outpoured ;
We work, we watch, we strive, we pray ;
Behold Thy seekers. Lord !
The sweetness of subjection to Christ is delightfully set
forth in the following hymn —
Dear Lord and Master mine,
Thy happy servant see !
My Conqueror ! with what joy divine !
IThy captive cUngs to 'Thee !
I love Thy yoke to wear,
To feel Thy gracious bands.
Sweetly restrained by Thy care.
And happy in Thy hands.
No bar would 1 remove,
No bond would I unbind ;
Within the limits of Thy love
FuU liberty I find.

254 THE HYMN LOVER.
I would not walk alone.
But still with Thee, my Lord ;
At every step my blindness own.
And ask of Thee the road.
The weakness I enjoy
That casts me on I'hy breast ;
The conflicts that Thy strength employ.
Make me divinely blest.
Dear Lord and Master mine.
Still keep Thy servant true ;
My Guardian and my Guide Divine,
Bring, bring Thy pUgrim through.
My Conqueror and my King,
StiU keep me in Thy train ;
And with Thee Thy glad captive bring.
When Thou return'st to reign.
Mr. GUI is a passionate lover of nature, upon which he
looks with most reUgious gaze, finding therein " Parables
of God," as wUl be seen from the two hymns which foUow,
which seem to me equally beautiful. The first is on
" The Witness of Earth to Heaven."—
What sweetness on Thine earth doth dwell !
How precious, Lord, these gifts of Thine !
Yet sweeter messages they tell.
These earnests of deUghts divine.
Yes ! glory out of glory breaks.
More than the gift itself is given ;
Each gift a glorious promise makes ;
Thine earth doth prophesy of heaven.
These mighty hiUs we joy to climb.
These happy streams we wander by.
Reveal the eternal hills sublime —
Of God's own river prophesy.
These odours blest, these gracious flowers.
These sweet sounds that around us rise.
Give tidings ot the heavenly bowers.
Prelude angelic harmonies.
These vernal hours, what news they bring !
What tidings these bright summers tell !
They fore-announce the eternal spring.
Foreshow the Light Ineffable.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-I. 255
^ * 4: »
Lord, from Thy gifts to Thee we rise.
But with more strength we soar above.
Upon these glorious prophecies.
These earnests of Thy dearer love.
The second is on the "Divine Renewer,'' suggested by
"Thou renewest the face of the earth," and "Be
renewed in the spirit of your mind " : —
The glory of the spring, how sweet !
The new born Ufe, how glad !
What joy. the happy earth to greet.
In new bright raiment clad.
Divine Eenewer ! Thee I bless ;
I greet Thy going forth :
1 love Thee in the loveliness
Of Thy renewfed earth.
But 0 these wonders of Thy grace,
These nobler works of Thine,
These marvels sweeter far to trace.
These new births more divine !
These sinful souls Thou haUowest,
These hearts Thou makest new.
These mourning souls by Thee made blest
These faithless hearts made true :
This new-born glow of faith so strong
This bloom of love so fair ;
This new-born ecstasy of song
And fragrancy of prayer !
Creator, Spirit, work in me
These wonders sweet of Thine !
Divine Renewer, graciously
Renew this heart of mine ;
StUl let new Ufe and strength upspring,
StUl let new joy be given !
And grant the glad new song to ring
Through the new earth and heaven.
His New Year's hymn strikes a new and quite original
note, and is fuU of life and tendemess : —
Break, new-horn year, on glad eyes break !
Melodious voices move !
On, rolUng Time ! thou canst not make
'The Father cease to love.

266 THE HYMN LOVER.
The parted year had wingfed feet ;
The Saviom' still doth stay :
The New Year comes; but. Spirit sweet
Thou goest not away.
Our hearts in tears may oft run o'er ;
But, Lord, Thy smile stUl beams ;
Our sins are swelling evermore ;
But pardoning grace stiU streams.
Lord ! from this year more service win.
More glory, more delight;
O make its hours less sad with sin.
Its days with Thee more bright !
Then we may bless its precious things
If earthly cheer should come.
Or gladsome mount on angel wings
If Thou shouldst take us home.

Space wiU not permit me to give further Ulustrations.
These will suffice to show that Mr. GiU, lover and student
of Dr. Watts though he be, is, to use Goethe's distinc
tion, no mere echo, but a voice. His hymns, as to their
substance, seem to me, marked by the foUowing character
istics : (1) A remarkable absence of, and even opposition
to, all antiquarian and sacerdotal ideas of Christianity,
being rather fiUed with the conception that the Spirit of
God is working as reaUy and as mightily now as in the
flrst age of the Church's history. (2) A keen and
searching discernment between the spuit and letter of the
gospel; and (3) By often really profound thought on
Scripture themes. As to their style, I may notice
(1) A certain quaintness of expression, reminding the
reader of George Wither or John Mason, but rendered
clearer by his study and appreciation of Dr. Watts. (2)
Great warmth of feeUng, leading to the use of very
expressive epithets, but kept within due bounds, save in

RECENT EYMNISTS.— L 257
exceptional cases, by a taste singularly pure and chaste.
(3) Often there is to be noticed a happy adaptation of
metre and rhythm to the subject of the hymn. In
some cases the tune gave birth to the hymn. Mr. Gill
is only kept from reaching the very highest place as a
hymnist by too great subtlety of thought and expression.
This renders many of his hymns more suitable for private
reading than public praise.
The value of Mr. Gill's hymns is largely due to the
fact to which he caUs attention in the preface to " The
Golden Chain of Praise," that they enshrine the spiritual
experience of their author ; to this is due their Uving
force. They are not the product of the mere thinker or
rhymer, but of one impelled by great spiritual impulses.
Mr. GiU rarely, if ever, wrote unless moved thereto by
what he does not hesitate to call " inspiration."
In an extract from an unpubUshed autobiography
which he has been good enongh to communicate to me, he
says " I fully believe in tides of song which we cannot
command and cannot restrain ; in seasons of inspiration
which come and go, not at our bidding, wherein the soul,
in the fuUest possession and happiest exercise of aU its
powers, is yet borne along by a power beyond itself. More
than twice or thrice have I been borne along on such a
tide. I have known three or four such seasons, and have
vainly striven to prolong them. Then, hymns have
streamed forth day after day, week after week ; not with
out the diUgent co-operation of all my powers, but with
their unforced, free, gladsome, almost unconscious co-opera
tion. At other times I have set myself to write hynms, and

258 TEE HYMN LOVER.
with some effort have accomphshed the task ; but the task
was not worth accomplishing — the song had no life, no
power, no glow.
" These seasons of inspiration had their rise in some high
and happy estate of the soul, in some new revelation ol
spiritual truth, in some ascent of the spirit into a diviner
region ; on one occasion in the concurrence of a bright
outward experience with a blessed inward stir. Each new
birth of grace was attended by a fresh stream of song.
Between these seasons I have now and then produced a
strain, not without worth, but these gushes of song lay
apart from the great tides whereof I have spoken."
Here lies the secret of Mr. Gill's power, moved himself
as he produced his hymns, they move others to fresher and
more spiritual worship.

259

CHAPTEE XVI.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— II.
BOEN 1821 ET SECt.
Edward Hayes Plumptre (1821-1891), Dean of Wells,
the accomplished scholar, to whom we owe such valuable
work in many departments— as translator: of Dante,
jSlschylus, Sophocles; as poet: "Lazarus," " Master and
Scholar," " Things Old and New" ; as theologian: "The
Spirits in Prison " ; as biographer : " The Life and Letters
of Bishop Ken" ; as biblical critic: many works on parts
of both the Old and New Testament — has written a few
hymns, which only lack the lyric fire to make them
excellent. Were that present, and were they a Uttle more
condensed, they would be even more valuable than they
are. Dr. Plumptre, however, takes more space to move
in than a hymn affords. The finest, and most lyric of
his productions, is the following, which seems to me to
stand apart from aU his others: —
Rejoice, ye pure in heart.
Rejoice, give thanks and sing
Your festal banner wave on high.
The Cross of Christ your King.

260 THE HYMN LOVER.
With all the angel-choks,
With aU the saints on earth,
Pour out the strains of joy and bliss.
True rapture, noblest mirth.
Your clear hosannas raise.
And hallelujahs loud,
WhUst answering echoes upward float,
Like wreaths of inoense-doud.
With voice as fuU and strong
As ocean's surging praise.
Send forth the hymns our fathers loved.
The psalms of ancient days.
Yes, on, through life's long path,
StiU chanting as ye go.
From youth to age, by night and day.
In gladness and in woe.
StUl lift your standai'd high,
StUl march in fii'm array.
As warriors thi'ough the darkness toil,
TUl dawns the golden day.
At last the march shall end.
The wearied ones shaU rest.
The pUgrims find their Father's house,
Jerusalem the blest.
Then on, ye pure in heart,
Eejoioe, give thanks, and sing ;
Your festal banner wave on high,
The Cross of Christ your Bjng.
Praise Him who rules on high.
Whom heaven and earth adore.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
One God for evermore.
Next in merit I should place the foUowing, for a Time of
Pestilence : —
Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old
Was strong to heal and save ;
It triumphed o'er disease and death.
O'er darkness and the grave :
To Thee they went, the blind, the dumb.
The palsied and the lame.
The leper with his tainted life.
The sick with fevered frame;

RECENT EYMNISTS.— IL 261
And lo. Thy touch brought life and health.
Gave speech, and strength, and sight ;
And youth renewed and frenzy calmed
Owned Thee, the Lord of Light.
And now, O Lord, be near to bless.
Almighty as of yore,
In crowded street, by restless couch.
As by Gennesareth's shore.
Though love and might no longer heal
By touch, or word, or look;
Though they who do Thy work must read
Thy laws in Nature's book :
Yet come to heal the sick man's soul.
Come, cleanse the leprous taint ;
Give joy and peace where aU is strife.
And strength where aU is faint.
Be Thou our great DeUverer stiU,
Thou Lord of Ufe and death,
Eestore and quicken, soothe and bless
With Thine almighty breath:
To hands that work and eyes that see
Give wisdom's heavenly lore.
That whole and sick, and weak and strong.
May praise Thee evermore.
His other hymns are admirable in sentiment, but not
nimble enough in their movement.
Francis Turner Palgrave(l 824-1 897), whose hymns strike
a new note, is the eldest son of Sir Francis Palgrave, the
weU-known historian, and his wife EUzabeth, from whom he
derives his second name. He was born in Great Yarmouth
on the 28th of September, 1824. From 1838 to 1843 he
spent at the Charterhouse School, whence he passed to
Balliol CoUege, Oxford, of which he became a scholar in
1842. In 1846 he was elected FeUow of Exeter CoUege,
and in 1847 took a first class in the classical schools.
Leaving the University of Oxford, Mr. Palgrave was
engaged for a considerable time in the Education Depart
ment of the Privy CouncU, from which he retired in 1884.

262 TEE EYMN LOVER.

During that time he was private secretary to Earl
GranviUe, who was then Lord President. In the
foUowing year he was elected Professor of Poetry in the
University of Oxford.
The foUowing works have proceeded from his pen: —
" IdyUs and Songs " (1854), " Art Catalogue of the Great
Exhibition" (1862), "Essays on Art" (1869), and
" Lyrical Poems " (1871). He has also edited "The
Golden Treasury of EngUsh Lyrics " (1861), " Sir Walter
Scott's Poems, with Life" (1867), " Chrysomela— a
selection from Herrick," and " The Yisions of England"
(1881), and "The Treasuiy of Sacred Song" (1889).
He is best known, however, by his coUection of
EngUsh lyrics, which is a model of editing, and
appeared in 1867, foUowed by enlarged editions in 1868
and 1870. His object was " To try and write hymns
which should have more distinct matter for thought and
feeling than many in our collections offer, and so, perhaps,
be of a Uttle use and comfort to readers." His hymns
admirably fulfil this purpose. To those who are famiUar
with the monotony and dulness of the vast mass of hymns,
it is a great reUef to turn to Mr. Palgrave's with their dis
tinctiveness of theme, their marked individuality, and
delicacy of phrasing. The exaggerated tone, expressive of
feeUngs far above the range of ordinary mortals, so often
found in hymns, is conspicuous by its absence, and in its
place there is what Mr. Keble, in the preface to his
" Christian Year," calls "a sober standard in matters of
practical reUgion." Then his hynms are expressive of the
feelings which are characteristic of the Christian heart

RECENT EYMNISTS.— II. 263
in our own day — its difficulties, its perplexities, its long
ings. Professor Palgrave seems to me to have a singularly
true idea of what a hymn should be, and how poetry and
reUgious feeling should be blended in its production. If
I may quote from a letter addressed by him to myself,
" The main reason for the inferiority of hymns to ordinary
lyrics Ues, I think, simply in the fact that the true end of
poetry is Pleasure, not Instruction. It may and should
often teach, but always through such pleasure as this fine
art can give. Hence, the didactic element which hynms
always do and ought to include is very apt to lower the
poetical quaUty. The strict laws of poetry are in fact
inappUcable in this region, and it is only a critic who
has no sympathy with the object of hymns can complain
that these laws are more or less set aside." But it is
quite clear from Mr. Palgrave's own hymns that he regards
the poetic as an essential element in every hymn worthy
of the name — ^that the didactic purpose should be suffused
with keen and high emotion which is sure to take on lyric
forms; whUst in hynms of pure worship the didactic
element falls quite into the backgroimd. The stronger
the lyric element, the more will the hymn bear the soul
aloft. And the more cultivated taste of the present day is
not satisfied with the mere rhymed prose which passed
current in earUer days, but demands verse in which the
religious feeUng is so strong that it naturaUy takes on
lyric forms. Hence, the hymns most frequently sung in
our day are those which are the product of the vision and
faculty divine. In this respect the advance is very
evident. Sternhold and Hopkins had to give way to IsEiac

264 THE HYMN LOVER.
Watts. Watts was largely ecUpsed by the more lyric
Charles Wesley, whilst aU but the finest of his have had
to yield to the selected ones of many a poetic hymnist of
our own time. The age, too, demands verses which shall
express its own feelings and not those of a bygone time.
And those hymnists are the most popular who, being in
deepest sympathy with the real feeUngs of the age, are
able to give these the fullest and most lyric expression.
Amongst these. Professor Palgrave's hymns deserve a place
of high honour for their sobriety of thought, their fidelity
to the actual feeling of the time, their refined and yet
poetical expression. Here and there he fails in melodious
ness of utterance or in suitabiUty of metre, but these
defects are so slight that I do not care to dweU on them.
Perhaps the best known of his hymns are those for
Moming and Evening ; the former beginning " Lord God
of morning and of night," and the latter, " 0 Light of
life, 0 Saviour dear," both of which conclude with the
fine doxology (second only in merit to the well-known one
of good Bishop Ken) —
Praise God, om' Maker and our Friend ;
Praise Him through time, tiU time shall end,
TiU psalm and song His name adore
Through heaven's great day of evermore.
The chUd's hymn " Thou that once on mother's knee,"
is one of the few reaUy fine children's hymns iu the
language. The above are too well-known for it to be
necessary to quote them; but others which are only
graduaUy flnding their way into use and favour are not
so weU known, and I wUl therefore append them.
How trae, how free from other-worldliness is the

RECENT HYMNISTS.— IL 265
conception of the kingdom of God in the foUowing hymn
suggested by our Lord's saying, "For behold the kingdom
of God is within you " : —
O Thou not made with hands.
Not throned above the skies.
Not waUed with shining waUs,
Nor framed with stones of price,
More bright than gold or gem.
God's own Jerusalem.
Where'er the gentle heart
Finds courage from above ;
Where'er the heart forsook
Warms with the breath of love ;
Where faith bids fear depart.
City of God ! thou art.
Thou art where'er the proud
In humbleness melts down ;
Where self itself yields up ;
Where martyrs win their crown ;
Where faithful souls possess
Themselves in perfect peace.
Where in Ufe's common ways
With cheerful feet we go ;
Where in His steps we tread
Who trod the way of woe ;
Where He is in the heart,
City of God ! thou art.
Not throned above the skies
Nor golden- walled afar ;
But where Christ's two or three
In His name gathered are ;
Be in the midst of them,
God's own Jerusalem.
How accurately, and yet how tenderly, the difficulty
and longing of our day for faith in the unseen Christ is
expressed in the foUowing verses, " Faith and sight in the
latter days" : — Thou say'st ' Take up thy cros.-,,
O man, and foUow me ;
The night is black, the feet are slack.
Yet we would foUow Thee.

266 TEE HYMN LOVER.
But O dear Lord, we cry.
That we Thy face could see !
Thy blessfed face one moment's space —
Then might we foUow Thee !
Dim tracts of time divide
Those golden days from me;
Thy voice comes strange o'er years of change;
How can we follow Thee ?
Comes faint and far Thy voice
From vales of GalUee ;
Thy vision fades in ancient shades ;
How should we foUow Thee ?
O heavy cross — of faith
In what we cannot see :
As once of yore Thyself restore
And help to follow Thee !
If not as once Thou oam'st
In true humanity.
Come yet as guest within the breast
'That burns to follow Thee.
Within our heart of hearts
In nearest nearness be :
Set up Thy throne within Thine own : —
Go, Lord ! we follow Thee.
How true is the abasement of spirit before the thought
of God in this terse and yet pathetic hymn which he
calls " Through and thiough" : —
Infeliz, quis me liberabit ?
We name Thy Name, 0 God,
As our God call on Thee,
Though the dark heart meantime
Far from Thy ways may be.
And we can own Thy law.
And we can sing Thy songs,
WhUe the sad inner soul
To sin and shame belongs.
On us Thy love may glow,
As the pure midday fire
On some foul spot looks down ;
And yet the mire be mire.
Then spare us not Thy fires.
The searching light and pain ;

REGENT EYMNISTS.— IL 267
Burn out our sin ; and last,
With Thy love heal again.
Touched with a Uke spirit, but yet suffused with faith, is
the hymn which foUows ; " Lost and Found," in which
the real influence of sin is seen and traced out with rare
insight — Though we long, in sin-wrought blindness,
From Thy gracious paths have straj'ed.
Cold to Thee and all Thy kindness,
WUful, reckless, or afraid ;
Through dim clouds that gather round us
Thou has sought, and TThou hast found ua.
Oft from Thee we veil our faces.
Children-like, to cheat Thine eyes ;
Sin. and hope to hide the traces ;
From ourselves, ourselves disguise ;
'Neath the webs enwoven round us
Thy soul-piercing glance has found us.
Sudden, 'midst our idle chorus.
O'er our sin Thy thunders roU,
Death his signal waves before us.
Night and terror take the soul ;
Till through double darkness round us
Looks a star, — and Thou hast found u?i.
O most merciful, most holy.
Light Thy wanderers on their way ;
Keep us ever Thine, Thine whoUy,
Suffer us no more to stray !
Cloud and stoi'm oft gather round ua ;
We were lost, but Thou hast found us.
How fuU of emotion, how picturesque in its description of
the course of our Lord is this "Litany to the name of
Jesus" — Thrice-holy Name ! — that sweeter sounds
Than streams which down the valley run.
And teUs of more than human love.
And more than human power in one ;
Fil'st o'er the manger-cradle heard.
Heard since through aU the choirs on high ;- -
O ChUd of Mary, Son of God,
Eternal, hear Thy children's cry !
While at Thy blessfed Name we bow,
Lord Jesus, be amongst us now !

268 THE HYMN LOVER.
Within our earth-dimmed souls caU up
The vision of Thy human years ;
The mount of the transfigured form ;
The garden of the bitter tears ;
The cross upreared in darkening skies ;
The thorn-wreathed head ; the bleeding side ;
And whisper in the heart, ¦ For you,
For you I left the heavens, and died.'
W bile at the blessfed Name we how.
Lord Jesus, be amongst us now !
Ah ! with faith's surest inmost ej-e
The riven rock-hewn bed we see,
CTntreasured of its heavenly guest, —
Triumphant over Death in Thee!
And O ! when Thou, our Saviour Judge,
Again shaU come in glory here.
With love upon Thy children look,
And bid us read our pardon clear !
WhUe at the blessfed Name we bow.
Lord Jesus, be amongst us now !
These are but examples of Professor Palgrave's styles.
The reader will see how varied and distinctive they are.
Their author seems never to write untU some distinct idea
has possessed his mind, and then with the deep earnest
ness of a Christian soul, and the skUl and taste of the
accomplished scholar, the idea clothes itself with apt and
beautiful expression. Like a trae artist, Mr. Palgrave is
reticent in utterance. His coUected hymns are all included
in a tiny pocket volume of 51 pages, but nothing is in
cluded which is without worth. If I am not greatly mis
taken there is in store for many of his hymns a growing
popularity, since they are weU calculated to foster and
keep aUve a piety, not of a noisy kind, but alter the
manner and spirit of the Great Master, Christ.
William Walsham How (1823-1897), who for many
years was the devoted Bishop of Bedford — why that title
should have been given to a see which had nothing to do

RECENT EYMNISTS:— IL 269
with Bedford, but was chiefly composed of the East
End of London, is a mystery to the unecclesiastical
mind! — but who afterwards occupied the newly con
stituted see of Wakefield, contributed an unusually large
number of fine hymns to the store of church song. His
pubUshed volume, in which he coUected his scattered
hymns, contains fifty-four, and scarcely a hymn is to be
found in it without merit. Its perusal forces on the
mind the conclusion, that the standard of hymnody has
been greatly raised during recent years. A considerable
proportion of the hymns in this volume have passed into
general use. The best known are the following — they
are too well known to need quotation — "We give Thee
but Thine own," a fine hymn for use at the offertory ;
" 0 Jesu, Thou art standing," a forcible and yet pathetic
hymn on Jesus at the door; "For aU the saints who
from their labour rest," a thanksgiving for departed
saints." All these are included in " Hymns Ancient and
Modem." His hymns for certain seasons of the natural
year seem to me very felicitous. Here is the one on
summer : —
Summer suns are glowing over land and sea,
Happy Ught is flowing bountiful and free.
Everything rejoices in the meUow rays,
AU earth's thousand voices sweU the psalm of praise.
God's free mercy streameth over all the world,
And His banner gleameth everywhere unfurled.
Broad and deep and glorious as the heaven above
Shines in might victorious His eternal love.
Lord, upon our blindness Thy pure radiance pour.
For Thy lovingkindness makes us love Thee more.
And when clouds are drifting dark across our sky.
Then, the veU upUfting, Father, be Thou nigh.

270 THE HYMN LOVER.
We wiU never doubt Thee, though Thou veU Thy light.
Life is dark without Thee ; death with Thee is bright.
Light of light ! shine o'er us on our pilgrim way,
Go Thou still before us to the endless day.
This is his hymn for autumn : —
The year is swiftly waning ;
The summer days are past :
And life, brief life, is speeding ;
The end is nearing fast.
The ever-changing seasons
In silence come and go ;
But Thou, Eternal Father,
No time or change canst know.
O pour Thy grace upon us.
That we may worthier be.
Each year that passes o'er us.
To dweU in heaven with Thee.
Behold the bending orchards
With bounteous fruit are crowned ;
Lord, in our hearts more richly
Let heavenly fruits abound.
Oh, by each mercy sent us.
And by each grief and pain.
By blessings like the sunshine.
And sorrows like the rain —
Our barren hearts make fruitful
With evei'y goodly grace.
That we Thy name may haUow,
And see at last Thy face.
This is his hymn for winter : —
Winter reigneth o'er the land.
Freezing with its icy breath.
Dead and bare the tail trees stand ;
AU is chill and drear as death.
Yet it seemeth but a day
Since the summer flowers were here.
Since they stacked the balmy hay.
Since they reaped the golden ear.
Sunny days are past and gone :
So the years go, speeding fast.
Onward ever each new one
Swifter speeding than the last.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— IL 271
Life is waning, life is brief ;
Death, like winter, standeth nigh ;
Each one, like the falling leaf.
Soon shall fade, and faU, and die.
But the sleeping earth shall wake.
And the flowers shall burst in bloom,
And aU nature rising break
Glorious from its wintry tomb.
So, Lord, after slumber blest.
Comes a bright awakening.
And our flesh in hope shall rest
Of a never-fading spring.
The following, on "It is I, be not afraid," is very
tender : — When the dark waves round us roU,
And we look in vain for aid.
Speak, Lord, to the trembUng soul, —
" It is I ; be not afraid."
When we dimly trace Thy form
In mysterous clouds arrayed.
Be the echo of the storm, —
" It is I ; be not afraid."
When our brightest hopes depart.
When our fairest visions fade.
Whisper to the fainting heart, —
" It is I ; be not afraid."
When we weep beside the bier,
Where some weU-loved foi'm is laid,
O may then the mourner hear, —
'' It is I ; be not afraid."
When with wearing, hopeless pain.
Sinks the spirit sore dismayed,
Breathe Thou then the comfort-strain —
" It Is I ; be not afraid."
When we feel the end is near.
Passing into death's dark shade.
May the voice be strong and clear, —
" It is I ; be not afraid."
One of the best hymns on the Word of God is the
foUowing : —

272 THE HYMN LOVER.
O Word of God Incarnate,
0 Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging,
O Light of our dark skv ;
We praise Thee for the radiance
That from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps.
Shines on from age to age.
The Churoh from Thee, her Master,
Eeceived the gift Divine ;
And StiU that light she lifteth
O'er all the earth to shine.
It is the golden casket
Where gems of truth are stored;
It is the heaven-drawn picture
Of Thee, the living Word.
It fioateth Uke a banner
Before God's host unfurled
It shineth like a beacon
Above the darkling world ;
It is the chai't and compass.
That o'er life's surging sea,
'Mid mists and rocks and quicksands,
StUl guides, O Christ, to Thee
0 make Thy Church, dear Saviour,
A lamp of burnished gold.
To bear before the nations
Thy true Ught, as of old.
O teach Thy wandering pilgrims
By this their path to trace.
Till, clouds and darkness ended.
They see Thee face to face.
Of his hymns for chUdren I will speak in the chapter on
that subject. Useful as has been Bishop How's work in
other directions, he wiU probably be longest remembered
by the hymns he has contributed to the worship of the
Church. Godfrey Thri'ng (born 1823), late rector of AUord-with-
Homblotton, Somerset, is one of the most considerable
contributors to hymnody of our time. A large pro-

RECENT HYMNI8TS.—II 273
portion of his hymns have passed into actual use.
" The Church of England Hymn Book," edited by him,
which touches a higher Uterary and poetic level than
any other specially prepared for that church, contains
fifty-nine hymns from his pen; to say nothing of
verses added to hymns by other writers. This is too
large a number to be inserted in a single coUection
from the same pen, and forms the defect of the book ; stiU
it must be acknowledged that most of his hymns are
of great merit. His Evening Hymn, in its amended form,
is, perhaps, one of his finest. In it, the first Une of
the second verse spoke of " Our life is but a fading
dawn." This was afterwards altered to " Our Ufe is
but an autumn day," which is an improvement, since
the dawn does not fade, but grows to the perfect day.
Mr. Stopford Brooke says the alteration was made at
his suggestion, but Mr. Thring has no recoUeotion of
such a suggestion. I quote the hymn in its amended
form : — The radiant morn hath passed away.
And spent too soon her golden store
The shadows of departing day
Creep on once more.
Oar Ufe is but an autumn day.
Its glorious noon how quickly past ; —
Lead us, O Christ, Thou Living Way,
Safe home at last.
Oh ! by Thy soul-inspu-ing grace
UpUft our heai'ts to realms on high ;
Help us to look to that bright place
Beyond the sky ; —
Where Ught, asd Ufe, and joy and peace
In undivided empire reign.
And thronging angels never cease
Their deathless strain ; —

274 THE HYMN LOVER.
Where saints are clothed in spotless white.
And evening shadows never fall.
Where Thou, Eternal Light of Light
Art Lord of all.
Equally beautiful and most picturesque is "Fierce raged
the tempest o'er the deep," which in few words calls
up the whole scene of the stUling of the tempest. It is
far finer than the ancient hymn, on the same subject,
by St. Anatolius "Fierce was the wUd bUlow." His
Sunday morning hymn is very lovely : —
HaU, sacred day of earthly rest.
From toU and trouble free ;
HaU, quiet spirit, bringing peace
And joy to me.
A holy stillness, breathing calm
On aU the world around.
Uplifts my soul, O God, to Thee,
Where rest is found.
No sound of jaixing strife is heard.
As weekly labours cease ;
No voice, but those that sweetly sing
Sweet songs of peace.
AU earthly things appear to fade.
As, rising high and higher.
The yearning voices strive to join
The heavenly choir.
For those who sing with saints below.
Glad songs of heavenly love,
ShaU sing, when songs on earth have ceased.
With saints above.
Accept, 0 God, my hymn of praise
That Thou this day hast given.
Sweet foretaste of that endless day
Of rest in heaven.
" Saviour, blessed Saviour " is very lyric, but would have
been improved by compression. The following is a very
happy and spiritual, rendering of the idea of the coming of
Christ:—

RECENT HYMNISTS.— IL 276
Jesus came — the heavens adoring —
Came with peace from realms on high ;
Jesus came for man's redemption.
Lowly came on earth to die :
HaUelujah ! HaUelujah ;
Came in deep humUity.
Jesus comes again in mercy.
When our hearts are bowed with care ;
Jesus comes again in answer
To an earnest, heart-felt prayer ;
HaUelujah ! Hallelujah !
Comes to save us from despafr.
Jesus comes to hearts rejoicing.
Bringing news of sins forgiven ;
Jesus comes in sounds of gladness.
Leading souls redeemed to heaven ;
Hallelujah! HaUelujah!
Now the gate of death is riven.
Jesus comes in joy and sorrow
Shares alike our hopes and fears ;
Jesus comes, whate'er befalls us.
Glads our hearts , and dries om' tears ;
Hallelujah! HaUelujah!
Cheering e'en our faUing years.
Jesus comes on clouds triumphant.
When the heav.ens shall pass away ;
Jesus comes again in glory ; —
Let us then our homage pay,
Hallelujah ! ever suiging,
TUl the dawn of endless day.
His hymn on the "Holy Spirit" is both beautiful and
original in conception : —
Hear us. Thou that broodedst
O'er the watery deep.
Waking all creation
From its primal sleep ;
Holy Spirit, breathing
Breath of life divine.
Breathe into our spirits.
Blending them with Thine.
Light and Life Immortal ! !
Hear us as we raise
Hearts, as well as voices.
Mingling prayer and praise.

276 THE HYMN LOVER.
When the sun ariseth
In the cloudless sky.
May we feel Thy presence.
Holy Spirit, nigh ;
Shed Thy radiance o'er us,
Keep it cloudless still.
Through the day before us,
Pei'fecting Thy will.
Light and Life Immortal ! etc.
When the fight is fierceht
In the noontide heat.
Bear us. Holy Spirit,
To our Saviour's feet.
There to find a refuge
TUl our work is done
There to fight the battle
TiU the battle's won.
Light and Life Immortal ! etc.
If the day be falling
Sadly as it goes.
Slowly in its sadness
Sinking to its close.
May Thy love in mercy
Kindling, hear it die.
Cast a ray of glory.
O'er our evening sky.
Light and Life Immortal ! etc.
Morning, noon, and evening,
Whensoe'er it be,
Grant us, gracious Spirit,
Quickening life in Thee ;
Life, that gives us, living,
Life of heavenly love.
Life, that brings us, dying.
Life from heaven above.
Light and Lite Immortal ! etc.
To him we owe what is probably the finest version for
singing of Luther's " Ein feste burg ist unser Gott."
Carlyle's version is ruggedly good, but not adapted for
worship. Walter Chalmers Smith (bom 1824), minister of the
Free High Church, Edinburgh is widely known by his

RECENT HYMNISTS.— IL 277
published poems— "Olrig Grange," " Hilda among the
Broken Gods," "North Country Folk," " KUdrostan,"
"The Bishop's Walk," &c., which are among the fiLnest
produced in recent years in Scotland. In 1867 Dr. Smith
published a small volume, " Hymns of Christ and the
Christian Life," and though he afterwards regretted its
publication, it contains fine materials, which only need
revision and slight alterations to render their metre correct,
to make noble hymns for worship. Two of these were
subjected to this at my request by Dr. Smith, and
included in my " Congregational Hynms." They have
already become favourites in the churches in which that
collection is used. Readers may judge whether they are
not of high exceUence. The first is on " The King
Eternal, Immortal, Invisible " : —
Immortal, invisible, God only wise.
In Ught inaccessible hid from our eyes.
Most blessfed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious. Thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and sUent as Ught,
Nor wanting, nor wasting. Thou rulest in might ;
Thy Justice Uke mountains high soaring above ;
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
To aU, life Thou givest — to both great and smaU ;
In aU life Thou Uvest, the true Ufe of aU ;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree.
And wither and perish — but nought ohangeth Thee.
To-day and to-morrow with Thee stUl are Now ;
Nor trouble, nor sorrow, nor care. Lord, hast Thou ;
Nor passion doth fever, nor age can decay.
The same God for ever that was yesterday.
Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiliag their sight !
But of aU Thy rich graces this grace. Lord, impart.
Take the veU from our faces, the veil from our heart.

278 TEE HYMN LOVER.
All laud we would render ; O help us to see,
'Tis only the splendour of light hideth Thee ;
And so let Thy glory. Almighty, impart.
Through Christ in the story. Thy Christ to the heart.
The second on " The Lord reigneth, let the earth
rejoice" is equally fine; the third verse especiaUy is as
musical as it is picturesque : —
Lord, God Omnipotent,
Lord God alone.
High o'er the firmament
Planting Thy Throne,
Curtained about with light.
Under Thy feet a bright
Pavement of stars.
No shade of darksome night
Thy glory mars.
Sun, moon, and stars fulfil
Their times by Thee ;
Angels to do Thy will
Fleet Ughtnings be ;
Eain, haU, and frost and snow.
And all the winds that blow.
Are at Thy nod ;
Oceans and tempests know
Their mighty God.
Thou breathest ou the earth.
And there is spring.
Leaf buds come bm'sting forth.
All the birds sing.
Flocks on the hiUs are seen
Herds on the meadows green,
Forests rejoice,
AU that had sUent been
Lifts up its voice.
Thou art our fortress strong.
Our sun and shield.
Thou art our triumph-song
On battle field ;
By Thee we vanquish stUl
World foe and carnal wUl,
AU heU's array;
Thou wUt Thy plan fulfil.
Plot as they may.

REGENT HYMNISTS.-IL 279
Lord God Omnipotent,
'Bide with Thy flock ;
0 keep them, when they faint,
Safe on the Eock ;
Show them Thy tender grace.
And the Ught of Thy face
To them accord :
Praise to Thy holiness.
Praise to the Lord.
This hymn offers a fine opportunity for a musician to wed
to noble music.
George MacDonald (bom 1824), widely known as a
writer of fiction, pervaded by strong reUgious conviction,
and by means of which he has deeply influenced the
theological thought of the present age, carrying the ideas
which mark the school of Thomas Erskine, Macleod
Campbell, and Frederick Denison Maurice, into a far
wider circle than their works ever reached, has written a
good deal of poetry marked by flue reUgious insight, but
scarcely brought to sufficient clearness of expression to
become popular. At the request of the Editors of
" Hymns and Sacred Songs for Sunday Schools and Social
Worship " (1873), he wrote several hymns which have
since undergone careful revision, and been included in his
"Works of Fancy and Imagination" (10 vols.). These
are highly poetic, touched with a fine Christian mysticism
and deaUng with aspects of truth which ordinary hymnists
have rarely discerned, and certainly have not expressed in
their writings. The finest of his hymns are the foUowing,
which as they are known only to a Umited circle, and
have passed into few hymnals, I quote. The first shaU be
one on " The Son of Man " :—

280 THE HYMN LOVER.

0 Son of Man — Thy name by choice —
Our hope, our joy, our lite.
Make us like Thee, whose gentle voice
Was never heard in strife.
Holy and harmless, undefiled.
On earth Thou wert alone ;
Come from the depths of heaven, a child.
To make the lost Thine own.
To be a glory in our night.
And bring us fr'om above.
The way heaven's children live aU bright,
With self-forgetting love.
In all things Uke Thy brethren made,
0 teach us how to be
With meekness, gentleness, arrayed.
In all things like to Thee.
The second is on " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven " : —
Our Father, hear our longing prayer.
And help this prayer to flow.
That humble thoughts, which are Thy care.
May Uve in us and grow.
For lowly heai'ts shall understand
The peace, the calm deUght,
Of dweUing in Thy heavenly land,
A pleasure in Thy sight.
Give us humiUty, that so
Thy reign may come within,
And when Thy children homeward go.
We too may enter in.
Hear us, our Saviour ! ours Thou art.
Though we are not Uke Thee ;
Give us Thy Spirit in a heart
Large, lowly, trusting, free.
The finest, certainly the most poetic, is one which lays
stress on the fact that " The meek inherit the earth " : —
A quiet heart, submissive, meek.
Father, do Thou bestow.
Which more than granted will not seek
To have, or give, or know.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— IL 281
Each little hUl then holds its gift
Forth to my joying eyes ;
Each mighty mountain wiU upUft
My spirit to the skies.
Lo, then the running water sounds
With gladsome secret things !
The sUent water more abounds.
And more the hidden springs.
Sweet murmurs then the trees wiU send.
To hold the birds in song ;
The waving grass its tribute lend
Low music to prolong.
The sun wiU cast gi'eat crowns of Ught,
On waves that anthems roar ;
The dusky biUows break at night
In flashes on the shore.
Yea, every lily's shining cup.
The hum of hidden bee,
The odours floating mingled up.
With insect revelry, —
AU hues, all harmonies divine.
The holy earth about.
Their souls will send forth into mine.
My soul to widen out.
And thus the great earth 1 shaU hold
A perfect gift of Thine,
Eicher by these, a thousand-fold.
Than if broad lands were mine.
With the increase ol spkitual insight in the Church, such
hymns as these are sure to be more largely appreciated
and used.
Lawrence Tuttiett (1826-1897), ol St. Andrews, N.B.,
was gifted with a peculiar power of tender expression, and
his hymns have a certain distinctness of thought, which
makes them of great value. This wUl be evident from
the examples I quote below ; no two are at all aUke. In
his most tender style is the following : —

282 THE HYMN LOVER.

O Jesu, ever present,
0 Shepherd, ever kind.
Thy very Name is music
'To ear, and heart, and mind.
It woke my wondering childhood
To muse on things above ;
It drew my harder manhood
With cords of mighty love.
How oft to sure destruction
My feet had gone astray,
Wert Thou not, patient Shepherd,
The Guardian of my way.
How oft in darkness faUen,
And wounded sore by sin,
Thy Hand has gently raised me.
And heaUng balm poured in.
0 Shepherd good, I follow
Wherever Thou wUt lead ;
No matter where the pasture
With Thee at hand to feed.
Thy voice, in life so mighty.
In death shall make me bold ;
O bring my ransomed spirit
To Thine eternal fold.
The foUowing hymn on the coming of Christ the Judge, is
very searching and powerful with a strain of subdued
tenderness running through it : —
O quickly come, dread Judge of all ;
For awful though Thine Advent be,
AU shadows from the truth will faU,
And falsehood die in sight of Thee :
O quickly come : for doubt and fear
Like clouds dissolve when Thou art near.
0 quickly come, great King of aU ;
Reign all around us, and within ;
Let sin no more our souls enthral.
Let pain and sorrow die with sin :
O quickly come : for Thou alone
Canst make Thy scattered people one.
O quickly come, true Life of all.
For death is mighty aU around ;
On every home his shadows fall.
On every heart his mark is found :
O quickly come : for grief and pain
Can never cloud Thy glorious reign.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-IL 283
O quickly come, true Light of all ;
For gloomy night broods o'er our way ;
And weakly souls begin to fall
With weary watching for the day .
O quickly come : for round Thy throne
No eye is blind, no night is known.
The foUowing is a very spiritual and yet strongly ethical
hymn : — O grant us light, that we may know
The wisdom 'Thou alone canst give ;
That ti'uth may guide where'er we go,
And virtue bless where'er we Uve.
O grant us light, that we may see
Where error lurks in human lore.
And turn om' doubting minds to Thee,
And love Thy simple word the more.
O grant us light, that we may learn
How dead is life from Thee apart ;
How sm-e is joy for aU who turn
To Thee an undivided heart.
0 grant us light, in grief and pain.
To Uft our burdened hearts above.
And count the very cross a gain.
And bless our Father's hidden love.
O grant us light, when soon or late
AU earthly scenes shaU pass away.
In Thee to find the open gate
To deathless home and endless day.
Probably the most popular of his hymns is that for the
New Year : — Father, here we dedicate
All our time to Thee,
In whatever worldly state
Thou wouldst have us be ;
Not from trouble, loss, or care
Freedom would we claim ;
This alone shaU be our prayer,
" Glorify Thy name."
Can a chUd pretend to choose
Where or how to live ?
Can a Father's love refuse
What is best to give ?

284 THE HYMN LOVER.
More Thou grantest every day
Than the best can claim ;
Nor withholdest aught that may
" Glorify Thy Name."
If in mercy Thou wUt spare
Joys that yet are ours.
If our future life may bear
Some few brighter flowers ;
Let our glad hearts, while they sfng.
Thee in all proclaim ;
And whate'er this year may bring,
" Glorify Thy Name."
If we must, in grief and loss.
Thy behest obey.
If beneath the shadowing cross
Lies om' homeward way.
We wUl think what Thy dear Son
Once for us became.
And repeat, tiU Ufe is done,
" Glorify Thy Name."
John EUerton, M.A. (1826-1893), vicar of White
Rothing, was, in my judgment, one of, if not the very
greatest of modem hymnists. He is not quite so lyric as
Bishop Walsham How, nor gifted with so popular a style
as Dr. Bonar, nor so delicate and statuesque as Cardinal
Newman, nor so pathetic as George Rawson, nor so quaint
as Thomas Hornblower GiU, but for the union of strength
and tendemess he is exceUed by no hymnist of our
day. He had, too, at his command, a variety of style and
subject which is a very rare gift among the contributors
to the hymnody of the Churoh. The best known of his
hymns is that for Sunday evening, " Saviour again to Thy
dear Name we raise," which is as tenderly spiritual as it
is ethically strong. It is too weU known to require
quoting, and is sung perhaps as frequently as the hymns
for the same season by Ken, Lyte, or Keble. Deeply
solemn and impressive is his hymn on the Cracifixion: —

HE CENT HYMNISTS.-IL 285
Throned upon the awful Tree,
King of grief, I watch with Thee ;
Darkness veUs Thine anguished face.
None its lines of woe can trace.
None can teU what pangs unknown
Hold Thee sUent and alone.
SUent through those three dread hours.
Wrestling with the evU powers.
Left alone with human sin.
Gloom around Thee and within,
TiU the appointed time is nigh,
TiU the Lamb of God may die.
Hark that cry that peals aloud
Upward through the whelming cloud !
Thou, the Father's only Son.
Thou, His own Anointed One.
Thou dost ask him — " Can it be ?
Why hast Thou forsaken Me ? "
Lord, should fear and anguish roll
Darkly o'er my sinful soul.
Thou, who once wast thus bereft
That Thine own might ne'er be left —
Teach me by that bitter cry
In the gloom to know Thee nigh.
The most powerful of his hymns, however, is that on
" AU Uve unto Him," which is at once a protest against
the unworthy ideas of death, which have so often
prevaUed, and an assertion of the fact that life foUows at
once, and not after a long interval of sleep, on departure
from the present world : —
God of the Uving, in whose eyes,
UnveUed Thy whole creation lies ;
AU souls are Thine ; we must not say
That those are dead who pass away ;
From this our world of flesh set free.
We know them Uving unto Thee.
Released from earthly toU and strife.
With Thee is hidden stUl their Ufe ;
Thine are thefr thoughts, their works, their powers,
AU Thine, and yet most truly ours ;
For weU we know, where'er they be.
Our dead are living unto Thee.

286 THE HYMN LOVER.
Not spilt Uke water on the ground.
Not wrapped in dreamless sleep profound.
Not wandering in unknown despair
Beyond Thy voice. Thine arm. Thy care ;
Not left to lie like fallen tree ;
Not dead, but living unto Thee.
Thy word is true. Thy will is just ;
To Thee we leave them. Lord, iu trust ;
And bless Thee for the love which gave
Thy Son to fill a human grave.
That none might fear that world to see.
Where aU are Uving unto Thee.
0 Breather into men of breath,
0 Holder of the keys of death,
0 Giver of the life within,
Save us from death, the death of sin ;
That body, soul, and spirit, be
For ever living unto Thee.
It is strange that the writer of such a hymn should have
also written the weU -known "Now the labourer's task is
over," with its refrain, " Leave we now Thy servant
sleeping," which is in direct contradiction to the far
nobler idea of death contained in the Une "Not wrapped
in dreamless sleep profound." His Sunday morning hymn
is cast in a very firm and rousing key : —
This is the day of Light !
Let there be Ught to-day !
0 Dayspring, rise upon our night.
And chase its gloom away.
This is the day of Rest !
Our failing strength renew ;
On weary brain and troubled breast
Shed Thou Thy freshening dew.
This is the day of Peace I
Thy Peace our spirits fill ;
Bid Thou the blasts of discord cease :
The waves of strife be stiU.
This is the day of Prayer !
Let earth to heaven draw near ;
Lift up our hearts to seek Thee there.
Come down to meet us here.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-IL 287
This is the First of days !
Send forth Thy quickening breath.
And wake dead souls to love and praise,
0 Vanquisher of Death !
I am inclined to reckon his other hymns for Sunday
evening, though not so well known, yet as equal in merit
and perhaps more original than the one named. The
assertion of the continuance of worship ; the failing note
of one land being taken up by the opening one of others
is exceedingly fine in the following hymn : —
The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended.
The darkness faUs at Thy behest ;
To Thee our morning hymns ascended.
Thy praise shall hallow now our rest.
We thank Thee that Thy Church unsleeping,
WhUe earth rolls onward into Ught,
Through aU the world her watch is keeping.
And rests not now by day or night.
As o'er each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day.
The voice of prayer is never silent.
Nor dies the strain of praise away.
The sun, that bids us rest, is waking
Our brethren 'neath the western sky.
And hour by hour fresh Ups are making
Thy wondrous doings heard ou high.
So be it. Lord ; Thy throne shall never.
Like earth's proud empires, pass away ;
But stand, and rule, and grow for ever,
Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway.
"WTiUst the foUowing is charming, as a close to the
Worship of the Sabbath : —
The Lord be with us as we bend
His blessings to receive ;
His gift of peace upon us send.
Before His courts we leave.
The Lord be with us as we walk
Along our homeward road ;
In sUent thought, or friendly talk.
Our hearts be still with God.

288 THE HYMN LOVER.
The Lord be with us till the night
Shall close the day of rest :
Be He of every heart the Light,
Of every home the Guest,
And when our nightly prayers we say.
His watch He still shall keep.
Crown with His grace His own blest day.
And guard His people's sleep.
His National Hymn is well worthy of the theme. The
description of England as " A garden fenced with sUver
sea " is very happy, probably suggested by Shakespeare's
Une — " This precious stone set in a silver sea "
Praise to our God, whose bounteous hand.
Prepared of old our glorious land ;
A garden fenced with silver sea ;
A people prosperous, bold, and free.
Praise to our God ; through all our pajsl
His mighty arm hath held us fast ;
Till wars and perils, toUs and tears,
Have brought the rich and peaceful years.
Praise to our God ; the vine He set
Within our coasts is fruitful yet ;
Ou many a shore her seedlings grow ;
'Neath many a sun her clusters glow.
Praise to our God ; His power alone
Can keep unmoved our ancient throne.
Sustained by councils wise and just.
And guarded by a people's trust.
Praise to our God, who stUl forbears,
Who StiU this guilty nation spares ;
Who calls us StiU to seek His face.
And lengthens out our day of grace.
Praise to our God ; though chastenings stern.
Our evU dross should throughly burn ;
His rod and staff, from age to age.
Shall rule and guide His heritage !
One of the best hymns for a mid-day service in the week
is from his pen —
Behold us. Lord, a little space
From daily toU set free.
And met within this peaceful place.
To rest awhUe with Thee.

RECENT EYMNISTS.— II. 289
Around us roUs the ceaseless tide
Of business, toil, and care ;
And scarcely dare we turn aside
For one brief hour of prayer.
Yet these are not the only walls
Wherein Thou may'st be sought ;
On homeliest work Thy blessing falls.
In truth and patience wrought.
Thine is the forge, the loom, the mart.
The wealth of land and sea ;
The worlds of science and of art ,
Revealed and ruled by Thee.
Then let us prove our heavenly birth
In all we do and know ;
And own that King of aU the earth
Art Thou, and not Thy foe.
Work shall he prayer, if aU be wrought
As Thou wouldst have it done ;
And prayer, by Thee inspired and taught.
Itself with work be one.
His translations are quite equal to his original hymns.
I may instance as very successful efforts in this difficult
task the following : — the weU-known " Sing HaUelujah
forth in duteous praise," from the Mozarabic Breviary of
the 5th century ; " Welcome happy Morning, age to
age shall say," from Yenantius Fortunatus ; whilst the
foUowing, from an anonymous Latin author, is finely
expressed : —
0 Strength and Stay upholding aU creation.
Who ever dost Thyself unmoved abide.
Yet day by day the light iu due gradation
From hour to hour through aU its changes guide ;
Grant to life's day a calm imclouded ending,
An eve untouched by shadows of decay.
The brightness of a holy deathbed blending
With dawning glories of the Eternal day.
It should be added that not only has Mr. EUerton done
fine work as a hymnist and translator, but he has also

290 THE HYMN LOVER.

done much, by his editorial labours, to lift hymnody to a
higher level.
Stopford Augustus Brooke (bom 1832), formerly
the eloquent minister of Bedford Chapel, Bloomsbury,
whose departure from the Church of England, for
theological reasons, created so much stir, is a man of
a highly poetic temperament. In his student days, at
Trinity CoUege, Dublin, he carried off the prize for
English verse, and has also published two volumes —
"Riquet of the Tuft" and "Poems," the latter of
which has, in my judgment, great poetic merit. Mr.
Brooke prepared, for the use of his own congregation, a
coUection caUed " Christian Hymns," in which he dealt
in a very free way with the hymns of other writers,
adapting them to express his own views of Christian
truth. In some instances, he took the hymns of Charles
Wesley and other hymnists, and inserted in them a few
lines of his own ; in other cases, he wrote a hymn and
made it to open with a line or two irom other sources.
In no coUection with which I am acquainted has an
editor treated the original texts of other writers with
such freedom. The purist in such matters is horrified at
the result, but one ignorant of the originals may be dis
posed to say that the collection is of considerable value.
Some of the hymns from Mr. Brooke's own pen are
exquisitely beautiful. The finest is the foUowing, of
which I give the best verses : —
When the Lord of Love was here,
Happy hearts to Him were dear,
'JChough His heart was sad ;

RECENT HYMNISTS.— IL 291

Worn and lonely for our sake.
Yet He turned aside to make
All the weary glad.
Meek and lowly were His ways.
From His loving grew His praise.
From His giving, prayer :
AU the outcasts thronged to hear.
All the sorrowful drew near
To enjoy His care.
When He walked the fields. He drew
From the flowers, and birds, and dew.
Parables of God ;
For within His heart of love
AU the soul of man did move,
God had His abode.
FiU us with Thy deep desire,
AU the sinful to inspire.
With the Father's life :
Free us from the cares that press
On the heart of worldliness.
From the fret and strife.
Lord, be ours Thy power to keep
In the very heart of grief.
And in trial, love.
In our meekness to be wise.
And through sorrow to arise
To our God above.
Nearly, though not quite equal, is the following : —
Immortal Love, within whose righteous will
Is always peace ;
0 pity me, storm-tossed on waves of ill.
Let passion cease ;
Come down in power within my heart to reign.
For I am weak, and struggle has been vain.
The days are gone, when far and wide my will
Drove me astray ;
And now I fain would climb the arduous hill.
That narrow way
Which leads through mist and rocks to Thine abode ;
ToUing for man and Thee, Almighty God.
Whate'er of pain Thy loving hand aUot,
I gladly bear ;

292 THE HYMN LOVER.
Only, O Lord, let peace be not forgot.
Nor yet Thy care.
Freedom from storms, and wUd desires within.
Peace from the fierce oppression of my sin.
So may I, far away, when evening falls
On Ufe and love.
Arrive at last the holy, happy halls.
With Thee above.
Wounded yet healed, sin-laden yet forgiven,
And sure that goodness is my only heaven.
To Miss Leeson we owe verses one, two, and six, to Mr.
Brooke the remaining verses, of the following beautiful
hymn for children : —
In the dark and silent night,
Blessfed Lord, be Thou my light.
So shaU nothing me affright. HaUelujah !
Safely shadowed 'neath Thy wing.
Help Thy little one to sing
Glory to the heavenly King. HaUelujah I
AU is stiU ; the evening star
Bides upon its golden car ;
In its Ught Thy glories are. HaUelujah !
And the moon, whose gentle ray
Glimmers Uke a softer day.
Seems to whisper, " Watch and pray." HaUelujah !
Softly nestled Uke a dove,
I am happy in Thy love ;
Angels watch me from above. Hallelujah I
Angels sing, and so would 1,
While upon my bed I lie,
Praise my Father sUently. HaUelujah !
As a specimen of the way in which Mr. Brooke has dealt
with and completed the work of other writers, I give the
following, the nucleus of which is a hymn ol Lamartine's,
to which Mr. Whittier lent a new tendemess by his trans
lation, and Mr. Brooke completed, -with, as I think,
certain Unes of Charles Wesley running in his mind at
the time he did his work : —

RECENT EYMNISTS.— II. 293

Mysterious Spirit, unto whom
Is known my sad and earth-bound frame ;
Thou whom my soul, 'midst doubt and gloom,
Adoreth with a perfect flame ;
Give me the speed of bird or wind.
Or torrent rushing to the sea.
That soaring upwards I may find
My resting place in Thee.
Thoughts of my soul, how swift ye go.
Swift as the eagle's wing of fire
Or arrows from the Ughtning's bow.
To God, the goal of my desire !
The weary tempest sleeps at last.
The torrent in the sea finds rest ;
Let me not always be outcast.
Lord ! take me to Thy breast.
My prayer hath pierced to God — the Ufe,
The resmTection power is mine :
From sin and grief, from pain and strife,
I rise on wings of love divine ;
Swifter than torrent, tempest, Ught,
I fly to my serene abode.
And on the last and holiest height.
Find rest and joy in God.
Mr. Brooke's mind is so steeped in the works of the
EngUsh poets, that it must be very difficult to separate
himself, in his hymn writing, from their influence,
although in some of his hymns — ^for example, the first I
have quoted — I do not trace any such influence. That,
and others, seem to be quite original.
William Tidd Matson (born 1833), a minister of the
Congregational Church possesses considerable mastery of
the art of hymn composition, and has written many hymns
for music which already existed. In this task he has
been very successful ; but this is an inversion of the trae
order — music should be written for words, not words for
music. Sense should come before sound. StiU, bearing in
mind the conditions under which many of his hymns have

294 THE HYMN LOVER.

been produced, they are very creditable performances, as
may be seen by the following, both of which were written
to be sung to German chorales : —
God is in His temple.
The Almighty Father !
Round His footstool let us gather : —
Him with adoration
Serve, the Lord most holy.
Who hath mercy on the lowly.
Let us raise
Hymns of praise.
For His great salvation : —
God is in His temple !
Christ comes to His temple :
We, His word receiving.
Are made happy in believing.
Lo ! from sin delivered !
He hath turned our sadness.
Our deep gloom to Ught and gladness !
Let us raise
Hymns of praise.
For our bonds are severed : —
Christ comes to His temple !
Come and claim Thy temple.
Gracious Holy Spirit !
In our heai'ts Thy home inherit : —
Make in us 'Thy dwelUng ;
Thy high work fulfilling.
Into ours Thy wiU instilling ;
TiU we raise
Hymns of praise.
Beyond mortal telling.
In the eternal temple !
This is his best. The metre of the music rendered his
task in the foUowing more difficult, but still it is a clever
piece of work : —
Glory, glory to God in the Highest 1
Angels in chorus joyfully cry ;
Glory, glory to God in the Highest !
Trembling and weak our voices reply :
Fain would we echo their anthem above.
Fain would we sing to the fountain of love

RECENT EYMNISTS.— II. 295
Glory to God in the Highest !
What though but feebly our accents arise.
Deigning to hearken, He bends from the skies ;
Glory to God in the Highest 1
Glory, glory to God in the Highest !
Bright beaming stars of midnight proclaim.
Glory, glory to God in the Highest !
AU nature peals forth in praise to His name.
Warbles the woodland, and whispers the breeze.
Roar out the torrents and tempest-tossed seas.
Glory to God in the Highest !
Loudly creation stiU ceaseless prolongs.
Praise to her Maker in aU her glad songs.
Glory to God in the Highest !
Glory, glory to God in the Highest !
Joining the choir, our tribute we bring ;
Glory, glory to God in the Highest ;
Mortals, break sUence. gratefully sing.
Reigning in majesty, thronfed above.
Yours is the royallest gift of His love —
Glory to God in the Highest !
Spread through creation. His grandeur we traco.
Only in man He revealeth His grace.
Glory to God in the Highest !
His best-known hymn is " Lord, I was bUnd : I could not
see," which consists of a series of antitheses which are
effective, but a little too sharply and even hardly drawn.
Lord, I was blind : I could not see
In Thy man'ed visage any grace ;
But now the beauty of Thy face
In radiant vision dawns on me.
Lord, I was deaf: I could not hear
The thrilUng music of Thy voice ;
But now I hear Thee and rejoice.
And all Thy uttered words are dear.
Lord, I was dumb : I could not speak
The grace and glory of Thy Name ;
But now, as touched with Uving flame.
My Ups Tliine eager praises wake.
Lord, 1 was dead : I covUd not stir
My lifeless soul to come to Thee ;
But now, since Thou hast quickened me,
1 rise from sin's dark sepulchre.

296 THE HYMN LOVER.
Lord, Thou hast made the bUnd to see,
The deaf to hear, the dumb to speak.
The dead to live ; and lo, I break
The chains of my captivity.
The following is a very good hymn of an ethical type, but
with a very weak ending : —
Teach me, 0 Lord, Thy holy way.
And give me an obedient mind.
That iu Thy service I may find
My soul's delight from day to day.
Guide me, O Saviour, with Thy hand,
And so control my thoughts and deeds,
That I may tread the path which leads
Right onward to the blessfed land.
Help me, 0 Saviour, here to trace
The sacred![footsteps Thou hast trod,
And meekly walking with my God,
To grow in goodness,truth, and grace.
Guard me, O Lord, that I may ne'er
Forsake the right, or do the wrong ;
Against temptation make me strong.
And round me spread Thy sheltering care.
Bless me in every task, O Lord,
Begun, continued, done for Thee ;
Fulfil Thy perfect work in me ;
And Thine abounding grace afford.
Richard Frederick Littledale (1833-1890), some of
whose hymns appeared under the signature A. L. P
(a London Priest), and who was one of the chief editors
of "The People's Hymnal" prepared for the High
Anglican section of the Church, both as an original
hymnist and a translator, has done excellent work. One
ol the most vigorous and lyric hymns of thanksgiving for
rain after drought is the loUowing. It is so lyric that
it almost sings itself : —
0 sing to the Lord,
Whose bountiful hand
Again doth acord
His gifts to the land.

RECENT HYMNISTS.-IL 297

His clouds have shed down
Their plenteousness here.
His goodness shaU crown
The hopes of the year.
In clefts of the hiUs
The founts He hath burst
And poureth their riUs
Through valleys athfrst.
The river of God
The pastures hath blest.
The dry, withered sod
In greenness is drest.
And every fold
ShaU team with its sheep,
With harvests of gold
The fields shall be deep.
The vales shaU rejoice
With laughter and song.
And man's grateful voice
The music prolong.
So too may He pour
The Last and the First,
His graces in store
On spirits athfrst.
TiU, when the great Day
Of Harvest hath come,
He takes us away
To gai'ner at home.
Almost equal is his hymn for those at sea : —
O God, who metest in Thine hand
The waters of the mighty sea,
And barrest ocean with the sand
By Thy perpetual decree ;
What time the floods Uft up their voice
And break in anger on the shore,
When deep to deep caUs with the noise
Of waterspouts and biUows' roar ;
When they who to the sea go down,
And in the waters ply their toU,
Are lifted on the surge's crown.
And plunged where seething eddies boil ;

298 THE HYMN LOVER.
Rule then, O Lord, the ocean's wrath.
And bind the tempest with Thy wUl ;
Tread, as of old, the water's path.
And speak Thy bidding, " Peace, be still."
So with Thy mercies ever new
Thy servants set from peril free.
And bring them. Pilot, wise and true.
Unto the port where they would be.
And when there shall be sea no more.
Save that of mingled flame and glass,
Where goes no galley sped by oar.
Where gaUant ships no longer pass.
When dawns the Resurrection morn.
Upon that shore, O Jesu, stand.
And give Thy pilgrims, faint and worn,
Theu' welcome to the Happy Land.
The foUowing translation of a hymn for the Burial of a
ChUd, from the Paris Missal is admirable : —
Let no tears to-day be shed.
Holy is this narrow bed. Hallelujah !
Death eternal Ufe bestows.
Open heaven's portal throws. HaUelujah !
And no perU waits at last
Ilim who now away hath past. HaUelujah !
Not salvation hardly won.
Not the meed of race weU run ;
HaUelujah !
But the pity of the Lord
Gives His ohUd a fuU reward. Hallelujah !
Grants the prize without the course ;
Crowns without the battle's force.
HaUelujah !
God, who loveth innocence.
Hastes to take His darling hence.
Hallelujah !
Christ, when this sad life is done.
Join us to Thy Uttle one. HaUelujah !

RECENT EYMNLSTS.—LI. 299
And in Thine own tender love,
Bring us to the home above. HaUelujah !
Sabine Baring Gould (bom 1834), Yicar ol Lew
Trenchard, Devonshire, an accompUshed and prolific
author, has written but few hymns, but those are of
a very high order. To him we owe one of the most
beautiful and deservedly popiUar chUdren' s hymns in
the language, " Now the day is over " ; whUst lor adults
he has written the stirring processional " Onward, Chris
tian soldiers." To him we also owe the fine rendering
ol Ingemann's Danish hymn, " Through the night of
doubt and sorrow." These are all too well known to
need quotation.
WilUam Chatterton Dix (bom 1837) has been cited by
Lord Selbome as an example of the fact that the power
of hymn writing stiU exists in our day. A citation trae
but needless, since our lot has been oast not in an age
in which the lyric fire burns lower, but rather brighter,
than in any preceding age. Mr. Dix is a highly gifted
hymn writer. Some of his less known compositions are
touched by the High Church spirit, to which section he
belongs, but the best are too deeply Christian to show
any special theological or ecclesiastical bias. The most
popular is the weU known " As with gladness men of
old," revised by the author at the suggestion of the
Editors of " Hymns Ancient and Modem." Nearly
equal, however, is the foUowing — a most successful hymn
of invitation — ^the most difficult subject to treat in verse
without a preaching, if not a pharisaic tone, making those

300 TEE HYMN LOVER.
who sing to pose as saints singing to sinners. This
danger Mr. Dix has successfully avoided, as my readers
may see : — " Come unto Me, ye weary,
And I wiU give you rest,"
O blessfed voice of Jesus,
Which comes to hearts oppressed.
It teUs of benediction.
Of pardon, grace, and peace.
Of joy that hath no ending.
Of love which cannot cease.
" Come unto Me, dear children.
And I will give you Light."
0 loving voice of Jesus,
Which comes to cheer the night.
Our hearts were filled with sadness,
And we had lost om' way.
But moming brings us gladness.
And songs the break of day.
" Come unto Me, ye fainting.
And I wiU give you Life."
0 peaceful voice of Jesus,
Which comes to end om- strife.
The foe is stem and eager.
The fight is fierce and long.
But Thou hast made us mighty.
And stronger than the strong.
" And whosoever cometh
I will not cast him out."
0 patient love of Jesus,
Which drives away our doubt ;
Which caUs us, very sinners.
Unworthy though we be
Of love so free and boundless.
To come, dear Lord, to Thee !
But the most perfect in the melody of its words — ^the
hymn is musical, even as it is read — is his Harvest
hymn. I do not know where one more perfect and
melodious could be found : —

REGENT HYMNISTS.-IL 301

To Thee, O Lord, our hearts we raise
In hymns of adoration.
To Thee bring sacrifice of praise
With shouts of exultation ;
Bright robes of gold the fields adorn.
The hiUs with joy are ringing.
The valleys stand so thick with corn
That even they are singing.
And now, on this our festal day.
Thy bounteous Hand confessing.
Upon Thine altar. Lord, we lay
The first-fruits of Thy blessing ;
By Thee the souls of men are fed
With gifts of grace supernal,
Thou, who dost give us earthly bread,
Give us the Bread Eternal.
We bear the burden of the day.
And often toU seems dreary ;
But labour ends with sunset ray.
And rest comes for the weary ;
May we, the angel-reaping o'er.
Stand at the last accepted,
Christ's golden sheaves for evermore
To garners bright elected.
Oh, blessfed is that land of God,
Where saints abide for ever ;
Where golden fields spread far and broad.
Where flows the crystal river :
The strains of all its holy throng
With om-s to-day are blending ;
Thrice blessfed is that haivest-song
Which never hath an ending.
Parts of this hymn have been very happUy woven into
Sir John Stainer's fine anthem, " Ye shall dweU in the
land." Samuel John Stone (bom 1839), who is now Rector of AU
Hallows, London Wall, has written many hynms, some of
which have acquired a world-wide popularity. The hymn
by which he is best known is "Weary of earth, and laden
with my sin," which appeared ficrst of aU in ' 'Lyra Fidelium,
Twelve Hymns on the Apostles' Creed" (1866). It is

302 THE HYMN LOVER.
the hymn on Article X, " The Forgiveness of Sins."
Since its first publication, it has been slightly altered by
the author. The last lines originally read —
Like that sweet nard let my. devotion prove.
Greatly forgiven, how I greatly love.
which now reads —
Like Mary's gift let my devotion prove.
Forgiven greatly, how I greatly love.
Next in popularity to this is " The Church's one founda
tion," which is the hymn on Article IX in Lyra Ftdelium,
" The Holy CathoUc Church, the Communion of Saints."
But of stUl greater merit is the foUowing hymn for the
close of the year : —
The old year's long campaign is o'er
Behold a new begun ;
Not yet is closed the holy war.
Not yet the triumph won.
Out of his stiU and deep repose
We hear the old year say :
" Go forth again to meet your foes.
Ye chUdren of the day !
" Go forth ! firm faith in every heart.
Bright hope on every helm.
Through that shall pierce no fiery dart.
And this no fear o'erwhelm.
Go in the spirit and the might
Of Him who led the way ;
Close with the legions of the night.
Ye chUdren of the day."
So forth we go to meet the strife.
We will not fear nor fly ;
Love we the holy warrior's Ufe,
His death we hope to die.
We slumber not, that charge in view,
" ToU on while toU ye may.
Then night wUl be no night to you,
Ye chUdren of the day."

REGENT HYMNISTS.— IL 303

Lord God, our Glory, Three in One,
Thine own sustain, defend ;
And give, though dim this earthly sun.
Thy true light to the end ;
TUl morning tread the darkness down,
And night be swept away.
And infinite, sweet triumph crown
Thy chUdren of the day.
Nearly equal, too, is the following : —
Dark is the sky that overhangs my soul.
The mists are thick that through the vaUey roll.
But as I tread, I cheer my heart and say,
" When the day breaks the shadows flee away."
Unholy phantoms from the deep arise.
And gather through the gloom before mine eyes ;
But aU shall vanish at the dawning ray, —
" When the day breaks the shadows flee away."
I bear the lamp my Master gave to me.
Burning and shining must it ever be.
And I must tend it till the night decay, —
" TiU the day break, and shadows flee away."
He maketh aU things good unto His own.
For them in every darkness light is sown ;
He wiU make good the gloom of this my day, —
TUl that day break, and shadows flee away.
He wiU be near me in the awful hour
When the last foe shall come in blackest power ;
And He wiU hear me when at last I pray —
" Let the day break, the shadows flee away ! "
In Him, my God, my Glory, I will trust :
Awake and sing, O dwellers in the dust !
Who shall come, will come, and wiU not delay, —
His day will break, those shadows flee away !
Mr. Stone is the author of " The Knight of Intercession,"
and also of the hymn used at the Thanksgiving Service
for the recovery of the Prince of Wales, at St. Paul's.
To Gerald Moultrie (1829-1885) we owe the following
fine rendering of the magnificent Midnight Hymn of the
Greek Church, which deserves quotation, both on account

304 THE HYMN LOVER.
of the impressiveness of the original and the admirable
way in which it has been translated : —
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night.
And blest is he whose loins are girt, whose lamp is burning bright ;
But woe to that duU servant, whom his Master shall surpri.se
With lamp untrimmed, unburning, and with slumber in his eyes.
Do thou, my soul, beware, beware lest thou in sleep sink down.
Lest thou be given o'er to death, and lose the golden crown ;
Rut see that thou be sober, with a watchful eye, and thus
Cry — Holy, Holy, Holy God, have mercy upon us.
That Day, the Day of Fear, shall come ; my soul, slack not thy toil.
But Ught thy lamp, and feed it well, and make it bright with oU ;
Thou knowest not how soon may sound the cry at eventide,
" Behold, the Bridegroom comes. Arise ! Go forth to meet the
Bride."
Beware, my soul ; take thou good heed, lest thou in slumber lie.
And, like the foolish, stand without, and knock, and vainly cry ;
But watch, and bear thy lamp undimmed, and Christ shaU gird thee
on
His own bright Wedding Robe of Light — the Glory of the Son.
Ada Cross, nee Cambridge (bom 1844), is the authoress
of two volumes, entitled "Hymns on the Litany" and
"Hymns on the Holy Communion," from which several
of great beauty have passed into recent hymnals. One
for Sunday moming, " The dawn of God's dear Sabbath,"
and another for the Communion, "Jesu, great Redeemer,
source of life divine," are of great merit, and are now
widely known.
EUzabeth Charles, nie Rundle (died 1897), was the well-
known authoress of " The Schonberg Cotta Family," and
many stories of a religious historical type. Her book
" The Yoice of Christian Life in Song" is an admirable
contribution to that subject, and contains many good
translations of the hymns of other lands. I have already

REGENT HYMNISTS.-IL 305
quoted (p. 51) an example, in her rendering of one of the
hymns of the Venerable Bede. But she has written some
admirable original hymns, most of them included in her
volume of poems " The Three Wakings " ; these are both
original and suggestive. As they are not widely known,
I will quote what are in my judgment the best. The
following is fuU of spiritual insight into the work which
the Cross is intended to effect in our hearts : —
Never further than Thy cross.
Never higher than Thy feet ;
Here earth's precious things seem dross.
Here earth's bitter things grow sweet.
Gazing thus our sin we see.
Learn Thy love whUe gazing thus ;
Sin which laid the cross on Thee,
Love which bore the cross for us.
Here we learn to serve and give,
And, rejoicing, self deny ;
Here we gather love to Uve,
Here we gather faith to die.
Symbols of our liberty
And our service here unite ;
Captives, by Thy cross set free.
Soldiers of Thy cross we fight.
Pressing onwards as we can,
StiU to this our hearts must tend ;
Where our earUest hopes began.
There our last aspirings end.
TUl amid the Hosts of Light,
We in Thee redeemed, complete.
Through Thy cross made pure and white.
Cast our crowns before Thy feet.
Her hymn for the Communion lifts our eyes from the dead
to the Uving Christ in a very striking way : —
Around a table, not a tomb.
He wiUed our gathering-place to be ;
When going to prepare our home.
Our Saviour said — " Remember Me." W

306 THE HYMN LOVER.
We kneel around no sculptured stone.
Marking the place where Jesus lay ;
Empty the tomb, the angels gone.
The stone for ever roUed away.
Nay ! sculptured stones are for the dead !
Thy three dark days of death are o'er ;
Thou art the Life, our Uving Head,
Our Uving Light for evermore ;
Of no fond reUcs, sadly dear,
0 Master ! are Thine own possest ;
The crown of thorns, the cross, the spear.
The purple robe, the seamless vest.
Nay, reUcs are for those who mourn
The memory of an absent friend ;
Not absent Thou, nor we forlorn !
" With you each day untU the end I "
Thus round Thy table, not Thy tomb.
We keep Thy sacred feast with Thee ;
Until within the Father's home
Our endless gathering-place shaU be.
The foUowing may be objected to, as not being in the
strictest sense a hymn, but it is so rousing, so fuU of a
large sympathy, that both Bishop Bickersteth in his
"Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer,"
and I, in my "Congregational Hymns," could not resist
the temptation to stretch a point, so as to include it. My
readers shaU judge whether we were wise or not in so
doing : —
Is Thy cruse of comfort wasting ? rise and share it with another,
And through aU the years of famine it shaU serve thee and thy
brother.
Love divine wiU fill thy storehouse, or thy handful stiU renew ;
Scanty fare for one will often make a royal feast for two.
For the heart grows rich in giving ; all its wealth is Uving grain ;
Seeds which mUdew in the gamer, scattered, fiU with gold the plain.
Is thy burden hard and heavy f do thy steps drag wearily ?
Help to bear thy brother's burden ; God wiU bear both it and thee.

REGENT HYMNISTS.— IL 307
Numb and weary on the mountains, wouldst thou sleep amidst the
snow?
Chafe that frozen form beside thee, and together both shaU glow.
Ai't thou stricken in Ufe's battle ? Many wounded round thee moan ;
Lavish on their wounds thy balsams, and that balm shall heal thine
own.
Is the heart a weU left empty ? None but God its void can fiU ;
Nothing hut a ceaseless fountain can its ceaseless longings stiU.
Is the heart a Uving power? self-entvrined, its strength sinks low ;
It can only live in loving, and by serving love wiU grow.
Anna Laetitia Waring is remarkable for the quiet trast
fulness of the hymns which have proceeded from her pen.
This is their distinctive exceUence, their mechanism is
somewhat faulty ; the accent and rhythm might be
improved, but the spirit that breathes through them is so
deeply and truly Christian, that these minor defects are
almost forgotten. A strict judge would perhaps pronounce
them more suitable for times of quiet meditation than for
those of pubUc worship, but their quieting power has over
ridden critical considerations, and drawn them into a large
number of hymnals for church use. The most popular is
the widely-known " Father, I know that aU my Ufe," but
quite equal are the less known : —
My heart is resting, O my God,
I wiU give thanks and sing ;
My heart is at the secret source
Of every precious thing :
Now the frail vessel Thou hast made
No hand but Thine shaU fiU ;
For the waters of this world have faUed,
And I am thirsty stiU.
I thirst for springs of heavenly life,
And here aU day they rise ;
I seek the treasure of Thy love.
And close at hand it lies ;

308 THE HYMN LOVER.
And a new song is in my mouth
To long-loved music set.
Glory to Thee for siU the grace
1 have not tasted yet.
Glory to Thee for strength withheld,
For want and weakness known ;
And the fear that sends me to Thyself
For what is most my own :
I have a heritage of joy
That yet I must not see ;
But the hand that bled to make it mine
Is keeping it for me.
My heart is resting, 0 my God,
My heart is in 'Thy care ;
1 hear the voice of joy and health
Resounding everywhere :
" Thou art my portion," saith my soul,
Ten thousand voices say.
And the music of their glad Amen
WUl never die away.

And :—

Sweet is the solace of Thy love.
My heavenly Friend to me,
WhUe through the hidden way of faith
I journey home with Thee,
Learning by quiet thankfulness
As a dear chUd to be.
Though from the shadow of Thy peace
My feet would often stray.
Thy mercy foUows all my steps.
And wiU not turn away;
Yea, Thou wilt comfort me at last.
As none beneath Thee may.
0 there is nothing in the world
To weigh against Thy wUl :
E'en the dark times I dread the most,
Thy covenant fulfil ;
And when the pleasant morning dawns,
I find Thee with me still.
Then in the secret of my soiU,
Though hosts my peace invade.
Though through a waste and weary land
My lonely way be made.
Thou, even Thou, wUt comfort me —
I need not be afraid.

RECENT EYMNISTS.— IL 309

StUl in the solitary place
I would awhUe abide,
TiU with the solace of Thy love
My heart is satisfied ;
And all my hopes of happiness
Stay calmly at Thy side.
"WhUst perhaps the most tenderly trustful of aU is : —
Go not far from me, O my Strength,
Whom all my times obey ;
Take from me anything Thou wUt,
But go not Thou away ;
And let the storm that does Thy work
Deal with me as it may.
On Thy compassion I repose.
In weakness and distress ;
I wUl not ask for greater ease.
Lest I should love Thee less :
O 'tis a blessfed thing for me
To need Thy tenderness.
Thy love has many a lighted path
No outward eye can trace ;
And my heart sees Thee in the deep.
Though darkness cloud Thy face.
And communes with Thee 'mid the storm.
As in a secret place.
When I am feeble as a child
And flesh and heart give way.
Then on Thy everlasting strength.
With passive trust I stay.
And the rough wind becomes a song,
The darkness shines Uke day.
There is no death for me to fear.
For Christ, my Lord, hath died ;
There is no curse in this my pain.
For He was crucified ;
And it is feUowship with Him
That keeps me near His side.
John Page Hopps, Minister of the Free Christian Church,
Croydon, and a leader of the more emotional section of the
Unitarian Church, possesses in a very high degree the
faculty for hymn writing. He discerns what too many of

310 THE HYMN LOVER.
those who belong to his section of the church f aU to
discern ; that the Church is not a school of phUosophy,
where the intellect alone should be called into play, but
that whilst the intellect should be appealed to, the heart
should not be overlooked, and that worship should not be
mere meditation, but a service, kindling mind and heart
aUke for the conflict and work of life. Having this idea of
worship, Mr. Hopps's hymns are not as many proceeding
from English Unitarians — mere poems appealing to the
mind, but fuU of lyric fire and tendemess. Like those of
Sir John Bowring, they are full of the evangeUcal spirit,
if the doctrine which usuaUy goes under that name be
wanting. That this is so is clear from a fact communicated
to me by a friend, that his Missionary Hymn, which I
quote below, is more frequently sung than any other at the
Monthly Prayer Meetings held at the Mission House of the
London Society. In my opinion it is one of the finest
hymns of its class ever written. The imion of tendemess
and boldness is very striking : —
Father, let Thy kingdom come, 
Let it come with living power ;
Speak at length the final word.
Usher in the triumph hour.
As it came in days of old.
In the deepest hearts of men.
When Thy martyrs died for Thee,
Let it come, O God, again.
Tyrant thrones and idol shrines.
Let them from their place be hurled ;
Enter on Thy better reign, —
Wear the crown of this poor world.
0 what long, sad yeai's have gone.
Since Thy Church was taught this prayer I
O what eyes have watched and wept
For the dawning everywhere I

RECENT HYMNISTS.— II. 311
Break, triumphant day of God !
Break at last, our hearts to cheer ;
Throbbing souls and holy songs
Wait to haU Thy dawning here.
Empires, temples, sceptres, thrones, —
May they aU for God be won !
And, in every human heart,
Father, let Thy kingdom come.
In a very different strain, but weU suited to its subject is
his hymn for winter : —
Cold and cheerless, dark and drear,
Wintry days and night appear ;
But they aU in order stand :
This is stUl God's goodly land.
Wind, and ice, and shrouding snow
At Thy bidding come and go ;
Clouds obscure or planets shine.
But they serve Thee, and are Thine.
Flowers have faded from the plain.
But their mother-roots remain ;
In the chUly earth they lie.
Waiting for the warmer sky.
Leaves and flowers and golden grain
God wUl bring all back again ;
They shall come in beauty drest —
This is but their time of rest.
Thee we praise, then. Father dear.
E'en for winter, dark and drear ;
All things Ue within Thy mind.
Ever loving, ever kind.
One of the best hymns for chUdren is the foUowing from
his pen. A large number of hymns of this class are, to use
John Wesley's phrase, " namby-pambical," and not calcu
lated to leave any real moral or spiritual influence on the
mind of a chUd ; but this hymn can scarcely fail to
influence both the heart and Ufe of the chUd for good. It
has deservedly passed into most of the best hynmals for
children, and is used in churches and schools of widely
different theological prepossessions.

312 THE HYMN LOVER.
Father, lead me day by day.
Ever in Thine own sweet way ;
Teach me to be pure and true.
Show me what I ought to do.
When in danger, make me brave ;
Make me know that Thou canst save :
Keep me safe by Thy dear side ;
Let me in Thy love abide.
When I'm tempted to do wrong.
Make me steadfast, wise, and strong ;
And when aU alone I stand.
Shield me with Thy mighty hand.
When my heart is full of glee.
Help me to remember Thee, —
Happy most of aU to know
That my Father loves me so.
When my work seems hard and dry,
May I press on cheerily ;
Help me patiently to bear
Pain and hardship, toU and care.
May I see the good and bright.
When they pass before my sight ;
May I hear the heavenly voice
When the pure and wise rejoice.
May I do the good I know.
Be Thy loving child below.
Then at last go home to Thee,
Evermore Thy child to be.
The foUowing hymn, suitable for use on behalf of chUdren,
is a perfect little gem, and can scarcely be read without
emotion. I once quoted it to a friend, and the feeling,
which he was unable to repress, was a striking witness
to its pathos. God bless the little chUdren,
The faces sweet and fair.
The bright young eyes, so strangely wise,
The bonny silken hair.
God love the Uttle children, —
The angels at the door ;
The music sweet of Uttle feet
That patter on the floor.

REGENT HYMNISTS.-IL 313
God help the Uttle children.
Who cheer our saddest hours.
And shame our fears for future years.
And give us winter flowers.
God keep the Uttle children
Whom we no more can see ;
Fled from their nest, and gone to rest.
Where we desire to be.
It should be added that Mr. Hopps has edited "Hymns,
Chants, and Anthems," a selection in exceUent taste, but
erring, as his own hymns do not, somewhat in the direction
of being in parts a collection of poems rather than as it
should have been, exclusively of hymns suitable to be
sung.

314

CHAPTER XVII.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— MINOR CONTRIBUTORS.
Among minor contributors to hymnody may be men
tioned, in alphabetical rather than chronological order,
the foUowing : —
Alfred Ainger, Reader at the Temple, and Canon of
Bristol, whose Life and Edition of the works of Charles
Lamb are so weU known, to whom we owe a Uttle hymn,
terse in expression, and true in sentiment : —
0 Lord ! with toU our days are fiUed,
They rarely leave us free ;
0 give us space to seek for grace
In happy thoughts of Thee.
Yet hear us, Uttle though we ask :
Oh ! leave us not alone ;
In every thought, and word, and task.
Be near us, though unknown.
StiU lead us, wandering in the dark ;
StUl send us heavenly food.
And mark, as none on earth can mark.
Our struggle to be good.
Alfred Barry, formerly Principal of King's CoUege,
London, and until recently Bishop of Sydney, whose
hymn for Sunday morning, though not equal to some for
that season, is yet far above the average : —
As Thou didst rest, 0 Father, o'er nature's finished birth.
As Thou didst in Thy work rejoice, and bless the new-bom earth.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— MINOR CONTRIBUTORS. 315
So give us now that Sabbath rest, which makes Thy children free.
Free for the work of love to man, of thankfulness to Thee.
But in Thy worship. Father, 0 Uft our souls above,
By holy word, by prayer and hymn, by eucharistic love ;
TiU e'en the dull cold work of earth, the earth which Christ hath troJ,
ShaU be itself a silent prayer, to raise us up to God.
So lead us on to heaven, where in Thy presence blest
" The wicked cease from troubUng, and the weary are at rest."
Where faith is lost iu vision, where love hath no alloy,
And through eternity there flows the deepening stream of joy.
To Thee, who giv'st us freedom, our Father and our King ;
To Thee, the Risen Lord of Ufe, our ransomed spirits sing ;
Thou fiU'st the Church iu earth and heaven, 0 Holy Ghost — to Thee
In warfare's toil, in victory's rest, etemal glory be.
John Stuart Blackie (1809-1895), widely known as, for
many years, the accompUshed, but sUghtly eccentric
Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh, who
is said to have made his students speak this melodious and
nervous language in his classes, has not only written much
in prose, but also a good deal in verse, chiefly of a secular
kind (if such a distinction may be permitted), but in his
"Lays and Legends of Ancient Greece" occurs the foUow
ing hymn, written on his marriage tour, which is permeated
by the boldness and breeziness which characterise his
unique personality, and is as different from the duU
commonplace of many of the didactic hymn writers, as
his weU-loved Scotch mountains are from the monotonous
levels of Essex. When sung to F. C. Maker's noble tune
"Windermere," it freshens a congregation Uke a breeze
from the heather-clad hiUs the author loves so weU : —
Angels holy,
High and lowly.
Sing the praises of the Lord !
Earth and sky, all living nature,
Man, the stamp of thy Creator,
Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord !

316 THE HYMN LOVER.

Sun and moon bright.
Night and moonlight.
Starry temples azure-floored ;
Cloud and rain, and wUd wind's madness.
Sons of God that shout for gladness.
Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord !
Ocean hoary,
TeU His glory.
Cliffs, where tumbling seas have roared !
Pulse of waters, blithely beating.
Wave advancing, wave retreating.
Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord !
Eock and highland.
Wood and iSand,
Crag, where eagle's pride hath soared ;
Mighty mountains, purple-breasted.
Peaks cloud-cleaving, snowy-crested,
Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord !
RoUing river,
Praise Him ever.
From the mountain's deep vein poured ;
SUver fountain, clearly gushing.
Troubled torrent, madly rushing.
Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord !
Bond and free man.
Land and sea man.
Earth, vrith peoples widely stored.
Wanderer lone o'er prairies ample,
Full- voiced choir, in costly temple
Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord !
Praise Him ever,
Bounteous Giver ;
Praise Him, Father, Friend, and Lord,
Each glad soul its free course winging.
Each glad voice its free song singing :
Praise the great and mighty Lord !
Abel Gerald WUson Blunt (bom 1827), the Yicar of
Chelsea, has written a few hymns of merit, the best of
which, it may also be added, the best yet written for the
purpose, is one for Flower Services. It would be difficult
to excel it : —

EECENT HYMNLSTS.—MLNOR CONTRIBUTORS. 317
Here, Lord, we offer Thee aU that is fafrest.
Bloom from the garden, and flowers from the field ;
Gifts from the stricken ones, knowing Thou carest
More for the love than the wealth that we yield.
Send, Lord, by these to the sick and the dying.
Speak to their hearts with a message of peace :
Comfort the sad, who in weakness are lying.
Grant the departing a gentle release.
Eaise, Lord, to health again those who have sickened,
Fair be their lives as the roses in bloom ;
Give of Thy gi'ace to the souls thou hast quickened.
Gladness for sorrow, and brightness for gloom.
We, Lord, like flowers, must bloom and must wither.
We, Uke these blossoms, must fade and must die ;
Gather us, Lord, to Thy bosom for ever.
Grant ua a place in Thy home in the sky.
Robert Brown Borthwick (1840-1894), formerly Yicar
of All Saints', Scarborough, was more conspicuous for his
labours as an Editor of both hymns and tunes, than for his
original contributions to hymnody, but one of his hymns,
for the Lord's Supper, beginning "0 Holy Jesu, Prince of
Peace," though lacking the compactness of thought and
expression necessary to a reaUy popular hymn, is yet of
very considerable merit.
WilUam Bright, M.A. (bom 1824), Canon of Christ
Church, Oxford, is the author of a small volume of
" Hymns and Poems," from which the foUowing hymn for
Sunday evening of great excellence has passed into many
ooUections : —
And now the wants are told, that brought
Thy children to Thy knee ;
Here lingering stUl, we ask for naught,
But simply worship Thee.
The hope of heaven's eternal days
Absorbs not all the heart.
That gives Thee glory, love, and praise,
For being what Thou art.

318 THE HYMN LOVER.
0 wondrous peace, in thought to dweU
On excellence divine ;
To know that naught in man can tell
How fair Thy beauties shine.
0 Thou, above all blessing blest.
O'er thanks exalted far.
Thy very greatness is a rest
I'd weaklings as we are.
For when we feel the praise of Thee
A task beyond our powers.
We say, " A perfect God is He,
And He is fully ours."
AU glory to the Father be
All glory to the Son,
All glory. Holy Ghost, to Thee,
While endless ages run.
Ellen Elizabeth Burman is the authoress of a hymn
which has the rare merit of insisting that it is far
more difficult to live than to die weU. It was included in
her "Poetical Remains,'' 1862. It is a hymn that would
have satisfied George Eliot, whose disUke of " other-
worldUness " was so pronounced, and who is usually
credited with that (which, however, was S. T. Coleridge's)
expressive phrase : —
Teach me to live ! 'Tis easier far to die —
Gently and silently to pass away —
On earth's long night to close the heavy eye.
And waken in the glorious realms of day.
Teach me that harder lesson — how to Uve
To serve Thee in the darkest paths of Ufe ;
Arm me for conflict now, fresh vigour give.
And make me more than conqueror in the strife.
Teach me to Uve Thy purpose to fulfil ;
Bright for Thy glory let my taper shine :
Each day renew, remould the stubborn will.
Closer roimd Thee my heart's affections twine.
Teach me to hve for self and sin no more,
But use the time remaining to me yet.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— MINOR GONTRIRUTORS. 319
Not mine own pleasure seeking as before.
Wasting no precious hours in vain regret.
Teach me Uve ! No idler let me be.
But in Thy service hand and heart employ.
Prepared to do Thy bidding cheerfully —
Be this my highest and my holiest joy.
Teach me to Uve — my daily cross to bear.
Nor murmur though I bend beneath its load ;
Only be with me ; let me feel Thee near ;
Thy smUe sheds gladness on the darkened road.
Teach me to Uve and find my life in Thee,
Looking from earth and earthly things away ;
Let me not falter, but untiringly
Press on, and gain new strength and power each day.
Teach me to Uve ! with kindly words for aU,
Wearing no cold repulsive brow of gloom,
Waiting with cheerful patience tUl Thy caU
Summons my spirit to its heavenly home.
A lady, who desires to preserve her anonymity, and to
be known only as E. B., is the author of two or three
hymns, one of which, for Evening, deserves to be ranked
¦with the many favourite ones we possess lor that season.
It has very high quaUties, and is remarkable both lor
the vigour ol its thought and the tenderness of its
style. I append the finest verses— the fourth is very
remarkable : —
Father, now the day is over.
As the sun sinks in the west.
Ere the night creep slowly round us.
Ere soft slumber be our guest,
Let us bless Thee that to-day
Thou, our God, hast been our stay.
Lord, we need no earthly temple.
For, where we Thy love have found.
All Thy humblest creatures teach us
Where we are is holy ground :
Lord, we need no holier place
Than where we Thy love can trace.

320 THE HYMN LOVER.
For the love of friends we bless Thee,
Who to-day our joys have shared.
Whose true hearts, spread out before us.
Have Thy love to us declared ;
For each thought of truth and love
They have echoed from above.
For the mystic bond which binds us
Each to each, and aU to Thee,
And with aU the past entwines us,
In the world's long harmony ;
For each striving human soul
Which is part of Thy great whole.
Pour Thy spirit. Lord, upon us,
Guard us in unconscious sleep ;
Be that Spirit ever with us
WhUe death-slumbers o'er ua creep;
And, our Ufe's long journey past.
We are safe with Thee at last !
Samuel Childs Clarke, vicar of Thorverton, Devon, is
one of the many helpers which our time has had to a
better psalmody, and for this he wiU be chiefly remem
bered ; but two of his hymns are so distinctive as to
deserve record. One of these is a Harvest Hymn,
beginning, "Great Giver of aU good, to Thee again,"
and the other a Festival one, " 0 Thou who dweUest
in eternity."
Frances Power Cobbe (born 1822) is weU-known by
her contributions to periodical Uterature, and her
published volumes, many of which are eloquent defences
of Theism. She has also edited the works of Theodore
Parker. Miss Cobbe has, however, written one hymn, so
beautiful that it deserves quotation : —
God draws a cloud over each gleaming moi'n, —
Wouldst thou ask why f
It is because all noblest things are bom
In agony.

REGENT HYMNI8TS.—MIN0R OONTRIBUTORS. 321
Only upon some cross of pain or woe
God's Son may lie :
Each soul redeemed from self and sin must know
Its Calvary.
Yet we must crave neither for joy nor grief;
God chooses best :
He only knows our sick soul's best relief,
And gives us rest.
More than our feeble hearts can ever pine
For holiness,
That Father in His tenderness divine,
Yearneth to bless.
He never sends a joy not meant in love,
StiU less a pain ;
Our gratitude the sunUght faUs to prove ;
Our faith, the rain.
In His hands we are safe. We falter on
Through storm and mire :
Above, beside, around us, there is One
WUl never tire.
What though we fall, — and bruised and wounded Ue,
Om' lips in dust !
God's arm shaU Uft us up to victory !
In Him we trust.
For neither life nor death, nor things below.
Nor things above.
Can ever sever ua, that we should go
From His great love.
George Thomas Coster (bom 1835), now minister of the
Congregational Church at Stroud, has from his student days
been addicted to poetic composition, lor which, especially
in relation to the interpretation of Scripture character, he
possesses a decided genius. He has published " Lorrine,
and other poems," "The Lay of St. Peter," "Hymns
and Poems," and " Red Roofs," whilst he is represented in
my " Poets' Bible " by fine poems on " Esau at the grave
of Isaac," &c. Many of his hymns are above the average,
but the Missionary Hymn which I append is very dis-

322 THE EYMN LOVER.
tinctive and charming, and should be a favourite at the
services for which it was written : —
From north and south, and east and west,
When shall the peoples, long unblest.
All find their everlasting rest,
0 Christ, in Thee?
When shall the climes of ageless snow
Be with the Gospel light aglow.
And aU men their Eedeemer know,
0 Christ, in Thee ?
When on each southern balmy coast,
ShaU ransomed men, in countless host.
Else, heart and voice, to make sweet boast,
O Christ, in Thee ?
0 when in aU the orient lands,
From cities white and flaming sands,
Shall men lift dedicated hands,
0 Christ, to Thee ?
O when shall heathen darkness roll
Away in light, from pole to pole.
And endless day by every soiU
Be found in Thee?
Bring, Lord, the long-predicted hour.
The ages' diadem and flower.
When all shall find their Eefuge, Tower,
And Home in Thee !
His hymn for Sabbath use at sea, though not equal to
the former, has some fine touches in it : —
Lord of the sea ! afar from land
We still within Thy presence stand :
Now grant us grace to worship Thee,
And keep our Sabbath on the sea.
Be banished care, be banished fear !
Our hearts into calm waters steer ;
So may they rest although we roam.
And on the deep be stiU at home.
Be calm without and calm within.
And aU om' worship free from sin ;
And as of Thee Thy aervanta hear,
0 let us feel that Thou art near !

RECENT EYMNISTS.— MINOR OONTRIBUTORS. 323
Thy blessing, gracious Lord, we crave ;
Thou oft didst sail the Hebrew wave ; —
Sail with us now that, joyful, we
May keep our Sabbath on the sea.
Thine is the sea, as Thine the land ;
We stUl within Thy presence stand ;
In Thy bleat Spirit's Ught may we
Find mercy's gate upon the sea !
It is strange that Mr. Coster's hymns should have been so
overlooked by most Editors of Hymnals prepared for use
in that section of the Church to which he belongs.
John Brooke Greenwood, of Manchester (bom 1828), has
written many hymns and short reUgious poems, which
appeared in various magazines. One of these was included
in the "Annus Sanctus," edited by the Rev. Orby Shipley,
on the principle that no hymn or poem should be admitted
to its pages, save those written by members of the Roman
Communion. In this coUection is included "The Return
of the dove," with the initial S., of which Mr. Greenwood,
a member of the Congregational Church, is the author.
Astonished to flnd it there I set myself to uni-avel the
mystery, and found that Mr. Greenwood's verses came
into the hands of a relation of his belonging to the Roman
Church, who gave them to her priest ; through him they
found their way into a Roman CathoUc newspaper. Mr.
Shipley flnding them there concluded they were by a
member of that communion, and included them in his
"Annus Sanctus," where they figure among the verses of
monks, priests, bishops, and cardinals. Alter this, who
shall say that a heretic may not have some sUght chance
ol heaven? I quote two hynms by Mr. Greenwood, which
seem to me to be his best efforts. The first, a Marriage
Hymn, is becoming a lavourite lor that service : —

324 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Crown with Thy benediction
This sacrament of love ;
And make this hallowed union
Foretaste of heaven above :
Let pure and perfect gladness,
Let pure and perfect rest.
And peace that knows no sadness.
Thy presence. Lord, attest.
As onee in Eden's springtime.
As once at Cana's feast.
So consecrate this Bridal —
Be Thou its Guest and Priest !
With sunshine wreathe the altar.
Chase every cloud away.
Nor let their voices falter
Who pUght their troth to-day.
God bless the Bride and Bridegroom,
And fill with joy their life ;
Keep them, through all its changes.
True husband, faithful wife !
If Thou wUt smile upon them.
They shall not need the sun ;
This thought their hearts rejoicing —
Henceforth, not twain but one.
With Thy great love befriend them.
The love that casts out fear ;
And make a rainbow round them
For every falling tear :
Till, all their sheaves well-garnered.
Heaven's harvest-home they raise,
Where love, that knows no ending.
Inspires more perfect praise.
The second, a Baptismal hymn, is very tender, and
admirably suited to that service : —
What shaU we render. Lord, to Thee
Who hast enriched our lives with love.
And in our midst has set this child
To link our hearts to things above ?
We thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast given
Such answer to our hopes and fears ¦
Has sent thia Uttle one from heaven.
Glad reeompence for all our tears.

RECENT HYMNLSTS.—MLNOR CONTBLBUTORS. 325
To nestle dove-like, in our home.
And fill our lives with joy and Ught ;
Make sunshine when the shadows come.
And parents' hearts to Thee unite.
To wean our souls from self and sin.
To nobler uses, higher claims ;
A life of service that shall win
Thy benediction on its aims.
Baptize our households from above,
0 gentle Shepherd of the sheep !
And, with Thy ministry of love.
Our tender nurslings safely keep.
We bring our Uttle ones to Thee ;
Their angels always see Thy face :
The Everlasting arms shall be
Our children's quiet resting place.
Thomas Hughes (1823-1896), known in every EngUsh-
speaking country as the author of " Tom Brown's School
Days," is the author of one hymn, written at the request
of the Hon. Mrs. Norton, for " Lays of the Sanctuary,"
a poetical collection published for a charitable purpose,
but it is so good, and so gathers up and expresses the
inmost spirit of the author, that it deserves mention and
quotation. Mr. Hughes told me that he never attempted
to write another hymn. It is such a hymn as his dear
friend Charles Kingsley would have rejoiced to sing : —
0 God of Truth, whose Uving word
Upholds whate'er hath breath.
Look down on Thy creation. Lord,
Enslaved by sin and death.
Set up Thy standard. Lord, that we.
Who claim a heavenly birth.
May march with Thee to smite the Ues
That vex Thy groaning earth.
Ah ! would we join that blest array.
And foUo-w in the might
Of Him the Faithful and the True,
In raiment clean and white !

326 THE HYMN LOVER.
We fight for truth, we fight for God,
Poor slaves of lies and sin !
He who would fight for Thee on earth.
Must first be true within.
Then, God of Truth, for whom we long.
Thou who wilt hear our prayer.
Do Thine own battle iu our hearts.
And slay the falsehood there.
Still smite ! stiU burn ! tUl naught is left
But God's own truth and love ;
Then, Lord, as morning dew come down.
Rest on us from above.
Yea, come ! then, tried as in the fire.
From every lie set free.
Thy perfect truth ahall dweU in us.
And we shaU live in Thee.
John JuUan (born 1839), Yicar of Wincobank, Sheffield,
is best known as Editor of the "Dictionary of Hymnology,"
pubUshed by Mr. John Murray, to which he has devoted
years of labour, and is the standard work of reference
on that subject, but he has written two or three hymns
which have a certain merit, but lack that inexpressible
something — spontaneity — the vision and faculty divine,
which make words to glow, and kindle other minds.
They are not sufficiently quick in their movement to be
effective, they are the work of the hymnologist rather
than the poet, but yet the refrain of the foUowing hymn
is very impressive : —
0 God of God ! 0 Light of Light !
Thou Prince of Peace, Thou King of Kmgs ;
To Thee, where angels know no night.
The song of praise for ever rings : —
To Him who sits upon the throne.
The Lamb once slain for sinful men,
Be honour, might ; all by Him won ;
Glory and praise ! Amen, Amen.

RECENT HYMNISTS.— MINOR CONTRIBUTORS. 327
Deep in the Prophets' sacred page.
Grand in the Poets' wingfed word,
Slowly in type, from age to age.
Nations beheld their coming Lord ;
Till through the deep Judean night,
Eang out the song, " GoodwUl to men ';
Hymned by the firstborn sons of light,
Ee-echoed now — ' GoodwUl,' Amen.
That life of truth, those deeds of love.
That death of pain, 'mid hate and scorn ;
These aU are past, and now above.
He reigns oui King ! once crowned with thorn.
" Lift up your heads, ye heavenly gates,"
So sang His hosts, unheard by men ;
" Lift up your hearts, for you He waits,"
" We Uft them up ! Amen, Amen ! "
Nations afar, in ignorance deep ;
Isles of the sea. where darkness lay ;
These hear His voice, they wake from sleep.
And throng vpith joy the upward way.
Thy cry with us, " Send forth Thy light,"
0 Lamb, once slain for sinful men;
Burst Satan's bonds, O God of Might,
Set all men free ! Amen, Amen.
Sing to the Lord a glorious song.
Sing to His name. His love forth tell ;
Sing on, heaven's host. His praise prolong;
Sing, ye who now on earth do dwell : —
Worthy the Lamb for sinners slain.
From angels, praise ; and thanks from men.
Worthy the Lamb, enthroned to reign,
Gloi'y and power ! Amen, Amen.
The same kind of remark applies to his Christmas hymn
for children, "Sweetly sang the angels in the clear
calm Ught."
Mary Fawler Maude (born 1848) deserves mention for
the terse and striking hymn, "Thine for ever, God of
love." EUza Fanny Morris, nee Goffe (born 1821), was the
authoress of a little work, " The Yoice and the Reply "

328 THE EYMN LOVER.
(1858), in the second part of which is found the hymn,
" God of pity, God of grace," by which she is now well
known. It is called " The Prayer in the Temple." She
has written other hynms, but none of them equal to the
one I have named.
Charles Edward-Mudie (1818-1891), the founder of the
well-known library which goes under his name, has
written a few poems chiefly sacred, which have been
collected and pubUshed under the title " Stray leaves."
The one hymn which has passed into many collections,
and become very popular among the Free Churches, is the
foUowing, which has great merit : —
I lift my heart to Thee,
Saviour Divine,
For Thou art aU to me.
And I am Thine.
Is there on earth a closer bond than this —
That 'my Beloved's mine, and I am His ' ?
Thine am I by aU ties ;
But chiefly Thine,
That through Thy sacrifice
Thou, Lord, art mine.
By Thine own cords of love, so sweetly wound
Around me, I to Thee am closely bound.
To Thee, Thou bleeding Lamb,
I all things owe ;
All that I have and am.
And aU I know.
All that I have is now no longer mine.
And I am not mine own, — Lord, I am Thine.
How can I, Lord, withhold
Life's brightest hour
From Thee ; or gathered gold.
Or any power V
Why should I keep one precious thing from Thee,
When Thou hast given Thine own dear self for me ?

RECENT HYMNISTS.— MINOR CONTRIBUTORS. 329
I pray Thee, Saviour, keep
Me in Thy love.
Until death's holy sleep
Shall me remove
To that fair realm, where, sin and son'ow o'er.
Thou and Thine own ai'e one for evermore.
Some writers are forced into the company of hymnists,
who never expected to be. Harriet Parr (better
known under her nom de plume of Holme Lee) is an
example of this. In 1856 she wrote, for Charles Dickens,
a portion of the Christmas story " The wreck of the
Golden Mary." The narrative which connects the various
parts together is that the " Golden Mary " on her voyage
to CaUfomia, encoimters an iceberg, and is wrecked. The
crew and passengers take to their boats, and, to whUe away
the time, relate their experiences. Poor Dick Tarrant
tells his tale, and then says : " What can it be that brings
aU these old things over in my mind ? There's a child's
hymn I and Tom used to say at my mother's knee when
we were Uttle ones, keeps running through my thoughts.
It's the stars, may be. There was a Uttle window by my
bed that I used to watch them at — a window in my room
at home in Cheshire ; and if I was ever afraid, as boys will
be after reading a good ghost story, I would keep on saying
it tiU I feU asleep." " That was a good mother of yours,
Dick ; could you say that hymn now, do you think ? some of
us would Uke to hear it." "It's as clear in my mind at
this minute, as if my mother was here listening to me,"
said Dick, and he repeated : —
Hear my prayer, O heavenly Father,
Ere I lay me down to sleep ;
Bid Thine angels, pure and holy,
Eound my bed their vigU keep.

330 THE HYMN LOVER.
Great my sins are, but Thy mercy
Far outweighs them every one ;
Down before the cross I cast them.
Trusting iu Thy help alone.
Keep me, through this night of peril.
Underneath its boundless shade ;
Take me to 'Thy rest, I pray Thee,
When my pilgrimage is made.
None shall measure out Thy patience
By the span of human thought :
None shall bound the tender mercies
Which Thy holy Son hath wrought.
Pardon all my past transgressions.
Give me strength for days to come :
Guide and guard me with Thy blessing
TUl Thine angels lid me home.
It was first included in the " Congregational Hymn Book."
Little did the authoress dream that her verses would be
put to such a use, and become as they have, so deservedly
popular. This is the only hymn we owe to her pen.
Catherine Pennefather, nee King, to whose husband we
owe several hymns of great beauty, has written one of
great tendemess, which expresses the purpose which has
marked the life work of its author, " Not now, my child,
a Uttle more rough tossing."
To Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (born 1835) — who must
not be confounded with the American, John Pierpont —
we owe one of the most delightful hymns of thankfulness
in the language. The refrain, in the original, ran thus :
" Christ, our God, to Thee we raise," but by most
editors, it has been changed to the version I append : —
For the beauty of the earth.
For the beauty of the skies.
For the love which from our birth
Over and around ua Ues ;
Father, unto Thee we raise
This, our sacrifice of praise.

REGENT EYMNISTS.— MINOR CONTRIBUTORS. 331
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night.
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of Ught ;
Father, unto 'Thee we raise
This, our sacrifice of praise.
For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight.
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight ;
Father, unto Thee we raise
This, our sacrifice of praise.
For the joy of human love.
Brother, sister, parent, child.
Friends on earth, and friends above.
For aU gentle thoughts and mUd ;
Father, unto Thee we raise
This, our sacrifice of praise.
For each perfect gift of Thine
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine.
Flowers of earth, and buds of heaven ;
Father, imto Thee we raise
This, our sacrifice of praise.
For Thy Churoh that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Its pure .sacrifice of love ;
Father, unto Thee we raise
This, our sacrifice of praise.
Richard Hayes Robinson (1842-1892), of Bath, is the
author of the beautiful little hymn, " Holy Father, cheer
our way."
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1897), the sister of
Dante Gabriel and WilUam Michael Rossetti, is better
known as a poet than as a hymnist. Her poems take
very high rank, and often remind us of those of the
greatest poetess of England — Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

332 TEE EYMN LOVER.
I question whether Miss Rossetti ever wrote verses with a
view to use in worship, but the exquisite beauty of some
of her shorter poems has led some editors to include them
in their collections. They are, however, more suited to
private than public worship, as may be seen from the
following specimen : —
I would have gone ; God bade me stay :
I would have worked ; God bade me rest :
He broke my will from day to day,
He read my yearnings, unexpressed.
And said them nay.
Now I would stay ; God bids me go :
Now I would rest ; God bids me work.
He breaks my heart, toaaed to and fro.
My soul is wrung with doubts that lurk
And vex it so.
I go. Lord, where Thou sendest me ;
Day after day I plod and moil :
But, Christ, my God, when wiU it be
That I may let alone my toil
And rest with Thee ?
Jane Euphemia Saxby, nie Browne (born 1811), the
author of "The Dove on the Cross," is numbered among
the hymnists by the foUowing exquisite hymn, which
appeared in the volume I have named : —
Show me the way, 0 Lord,
And make it plain ;
I would obey Thy Word,
Speak yet again ;
I wiU not take one step uutU I know
Which way it is that Thou wouldst have me go.
0 Lord, I cannot see :
Vouchsafe me light :
The mist bewilders me.
Impedes my sight :
Hold Thou my hand, and lead me by Thy eide ;
I dare not go alone, — be Thou my Guide.

RECENT EYMNISTS.- MINOR CONTRIBUTORS. 333
I will be patient. Lord,
Truatful and still ;
I will not doubt Thy Word ;
My hopes fulfil :
How can I perish, cUnging to Thy side.
My Comforter, my Saviour, and my Guide P
Charles Smith (bom 1844) is the author of two hymns,
one of which especially deserves mention. It was
written at my suggestion for " The Book of Praise for
Children," which at the time, I was compiling. Its author
made many attempts, and at last almost gave up the task
in despair, when a sudden inspiration enabled him to
write the following hymn, which is quite original in
conception, and expressed with great beauty. It was
afterwards revised for insertion in " Congregational
Hymns," where it appears as quoted below. The com
parison of the path of duty to a shining golden street is
particularly happy : —
Lord ! when through sin I wander
So very far from Thee,
I think in some far country,
Thy sinless home must be ;
But when with heartfelt sorrow
I pray Thee to forgive.
Thy pardon is so perfect.
That in Thy heaven I Uve.
That heaven. Lord, so surrounds me,
That when I do the right.
The saddest path of duty
Is Ughtened by its Ught :
I know not what its glories
Before Thy throne must be.
But here Thy smUing presence
Is heaven on earth to me.
To love the right and do it,
Is to my heart so sweet.
It makes the path of duty
A shining golden street :

334 THE HYMN LOVER.
Give me Thy strength, 0 Father,
To choose this path each day,
Theu heaven within, about me,
Shall compass all my way.
The other is a hymn for chUdren on " Joy and Sorrow
aUke from God," and is of merit, though not equal to
the one I have quoted.
George Hunt Smyttan (1825-1870) has shown the use
which may be made of Scripture incident, when rightly
treated, in the sharply-cut hymn : —
Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild ;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted and yet undefiled.
Sxmbeams scorching all the day.
Chilly dewdrops nightly shed :
Prowling beasts about Thy way ;
Stones Thy piUow, earth Thy bed.
Lord, if Satan, vexing sore.
Flesh or apirit should aaaail.
Thou hast vanquished him before ;
Grant we may not faint or fail.
So shaU we have peace divine ;
HoUer gladness ours shall be ;
Round us, too, shall angels shine.
Such aa ministered to Thee.
Keep, 0 keep us. Saviour dear.
Ever constant by Thy side ;
That with Thee we may appear
At th' etemal Eastertide.
David Thomas (1813-1894), for many years minister of
the Congregational Church at StockweU, for whose use
he compUed " The BibUcal Liturgy," and Editor of The
HomiUst, has written several hymns, which were included
in the "Liturgy" I have named. One of these is
pathetic and tender in no ordinary degree : —

RECENT HYMNISTS.— MINOR CONTRIBUTORS. 335
Shew pity. Lord, for we are fraU and faint ;
We fade away, O Ust to our complaint !
We fade away, like fiowera in the sun ;
We just begin, and then om' work is done.
Shew pity. Lord, our souls are sore distressed ;
As troubled seas, our natures have no rest ;
As troubled seas that surging beat the shore.
We throb and heave, ever and evermore.
Shew pity. Lord, our grief is iu our sin :
We would be cleansed, 0 make us pure within !
We would be cleansed, for this we cry to Thee ;
Thy word of love can make the conscience free.
Shew pity. Lord, inspire our hearts with love ;
That holy love which draws the soul above ;
That holy love which makes us one with Thee,
And with Thy saints, through all eternity.
Henry TweUs (born 1832), rector of Waltham, Melton
Mowbray, will be long remembered, and deservedly, by
his hymn for Sunday evening, one of the finest we possess,
" At even ere the sun was set." Scarcely a hymnal now
appears in which this is not included.

336

CHAPTER XVIII.

GERMAN HYMNS.
Gbemant holds a place of pre-eminence for her hymns.
In sacred poetry, she has had no writers at all to be com
pared with John Milton, George Herbert, Henry Yaughan,
John Keble, and a host of others that might be named.
Probably now our store of EngUsh Hymnody is equal, but
before the present century it was far inferior to that of
Germany. The reasons for this pre-eminence are twofold :
the much earlier period (two or three centuries) at which
the Germans began to cultivate hymn-writing, and their
greater love for music, so that no sooner was a hymn
written than it was at once set to music and its
life and influence secured. " As far back as we hear
anything of the German race, we hear of their love for
song. They sang hymns, we are told, in their heathen
worship, and lays in honour of their heroes at theU
banquets, and their heaven was pictured as echoing with
the songs of the brave heroes who had died in battle."*
Their love of music was not, however, checked or
diverted from a reUgious use by Calvinism, which
had but a very sUght hold of the German mind. The
more strongly churches have been influenced by the
* Winkworth's " Christian Singers of Germany," p. 6.

GERMAN HYMNS. 337
theology of Calvin, the less disposed have they been to
admit Art, whether in the form of Music, Poetry, or
Painting, as a handmaid to their worship. And so we
find, that, whUst England was content with such versions
of the Psalms as Sternhold and Hopkins, Germany
possessed a noble collection of hymns in the vernacular.
Mrs. Charles, in her "Yoice of Christian Life in Song,"
attempts to explain the Calvinistic dislike to hynms in
pubUc worship in the foUowing way : — " None of the
strictly Calvinistic communities have a hymn-book dating
back to the Reformation. It cannot, surely, be their
doctrines which caused this ; many of the best-known and
most deeply -treasured hymns of Germany and England have
been written by those who receive the doctrines known as
Calvinistic. Nor can it proceed from any pecuUarity of
race, or deficiency in popular love of music and song.
French and Scotch national character are too dissimUar
to explain the resemblance ; whilst France has many
national melodies and songs, and Scotland is pecuUarly
rich in both. Is not the cause, then, simply the common
ideal of external ecclesiastical forms which pervaded all
the churches reformed on the Genevan type? The
intervening chapters of ecclesiastical history were, as it
were, folded up, as too blotted and marred for truth to
be read to profit in them ; and, next to the first chapter
of Church History in the Acts of the Apostles, was to
stand, as the second chapter, the history of the Reformed
Churches. Words were to resume their original Bible
meaning ; nothing was to be received that could not be
traced back to the Divine hand. Ecclesiastical order was
to be such as St. Paul had estabUshed, or had found
estabUshed ; clearly to be traced, it was beUeved, in the

338 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Acts and Apostolical Epistles. And, since the inspiration
which glowed on the gifted lips of apostolic days existed
no longer, and the "psalms and hynms and spiritual songs"
in which St. Paul had deUghted formed no part of the
New Testament canon, recourse must be had to an older
liturgy, inspired throughout, at once most human and
most divine. Thus the Book of Psalms became the
hymn-book of the Reformed Churches ; adapted to grave
and solemn music, in metrical translations whose one aim
and glory was to render into measures which could be
sung the very words of the Hebrew Psalms."
This seems to me a very insufficient explanation of the
matter, since such a position would have led them to
confine all their worship — prayers and sermons, as well
as hymns — ^to Bible forms. This they did not do. It
seems to me that the Calvinist had a rooted disUke
to the aid of Art, whether in poetry, or music, or
architecture, in the service of reUgion. In his mind,
there lay an other-worldliness of a very pronounced type,
so that although he dilated on the song and music of
heaven, he would not admit these to any place in the
Church on earth. The more rigid of the Calvinists
excluded song of every kind, even that drawn from
scripture sources, from worship.
The hymnody of Germany sprang from very small
beginnings, and only gradually came into existence. In
the earUest times, whilst the land was under the sway of
Rome — there, as in England — hymns fiUed but a smaU
place in worship ; and those that were used had been
drawn from Latin writers chiefly of the Gregorian or
Ambrosian schools. In the earliest times of the
German Church "the only part which the people

GERMAN EYMNS. 339
were aUowed to take in the services of the Church was
to sing, or rather to shout, the ' Kyrie Eleison ' in the
Litany, and that only at extraordinary seasons, such as
processions, pilgrimages, the transposition of reUcs,
funerals, the consecration of churches, and other simUar
occasions."* " These words were frequently repeated,
sometimes two or three hundred times in one service,
and were apt to degenerate into a kind of scarcely
articulate shout, as is proved by the early appearance,
even in writing, of such forms as ' Kyrieles.' But soon
after Notker had created the Latin Sequence, the priests
began to imitate it in German, in order to furnish the
people with some intelUgible words in place of the mere
outcry to which they had become accustomed. They
wrote irregular verses, every strophe of which ended
with the words ' Kyrie Eleison,' from the last syllables of
which these earliest German hymns were called Leisen."-\
The earUest of these which has been handed down to us
is on Peter, which runs as foUows : —
Our dear Lord of grace hath given
To St. Peter power in heaven.
That he may uphold alway,
AU who hope in him, and say
Kyrie eleison !
Christe eleison !
Therefore must he stand before
The heavenly kingdom's mighty door ;
There wiU he an entrance give
To those who shall be bid to Uve :
Kyrie eleison !
Christe eleison !
Let us to God's servant pray,
AU, with loudest voice to-day.
That om' souls, which else were lost,
May dwell among the heavenly host :
Kyrie eleison !
Christe eleison !
* Kurtz's " Church Histoi'y," vol. i, p. 547.
f Winkworth's " Christian Singers of Germany," p. 28.

340 THE HYMN LOVER.
This was the humble beginning of German Hymnody.
Somewhat later, in the twelfth century, much of the
native feeling found expression through the Minne
singers, whose songs were in the vernacular, and of a
much more finished character. Many of these, though
not distinctly religious, were yet touched with Christian
feeUng ; some were distinctly reUgious, and did much to
meet and satisfy the craving for lyric and musical
expression on the part of the people. The Leisen, too,
came into more general use, and grew to a greater finish,
as may be seen from the foUowing verses, afterwards
adopted by Luther as part of his own hymns : —
Christ the Lord is risen.
Out of Death's dark prison.
Let us aU rejoice to-day,
Christ shaU be our hope and stay :
Kyrie eleison.
Alleluia, AUeluia, Alleluia !
Let us all rejoice to-day;
Christ shaU be our hope and stay.
Kyi'ie eleison.
Many of the great Latin hymns were translated
into German, and found their way into occasional use, and a
large number of reUgious poems were composed.
M. Wackemagel has coUected nearly 1,500 pieces by 85
authors, belonging to the time before the Reformation.
Some of these were composed for different classes and
occasions — such as pilgrims, boatmen, &c., or to be sung
in battle. The oldest German Easter Hymn belongs to
the tweUth century.
To the heretical sects of the time is due both the
composition of much of the reUgious poetry, and,
as in the case of the Syriac and Greek churches, its
introduction into the pubUc worship of the Church. The
school of Mystics, to which Tauler belonged, by the

GERMAN EYMNS. 341
impetus it gave to the study of the Bible (the first
complete version of it into Gemian was by a Mystic —
Matthias of Beheim), prepared the way for a nobler
hymnody ; and to this, I fancy, is due the fact that many
of the early hymns are little more than Bible
narrative in verse — the form of that verse being
due to the influence exerted by the Yolkslied, or popular
song of the time, which was largely in the baUad style.
The foUowing are specimens, which, by reason of their
simplicity and freshness, seem to me very beautiful : —
The first is on the Incarnation —
A ship comes saUing onwards
With a precious freight on board ;
It bears the only Son of God,
It bears the Eternal Word.
A precious freight it brings us,
Glides gently on, yet fast ;
Its saUs are filled with Holy Love,
The Spirit is its mast.
And now it casteth anchor,
The ship hath touched the land ;
God's Word hath taken flesh, the Son
Among us men doth stand.
At Bethlehem, in the manger.
He Ues, a babe of days ;
For us He gives Himself to death,
O give ffim thanks and praise.

Whoe'er would hope in gladness
To kiss this Holy Chfld,
Must suffer many a pain and woe
Patient like Him and mUd ;

Must die with Him to evil
And rise to righteousness.
That so with Christ he too may share
Eternal Ufe and bliss.

342 TEE HYMN LOVER.

The second is on the Resurrection —
There went three damsels ere break of day.
To the Holy Grave they took their way ;
They fain would anoint the Lord once more
As Mary Magdalene did before. Alleluia.
The damsels each to other made moan,
" Who will roU us away the stone,
That we may enter ia amain
To anoint the Lord as we are fain ? "
FuU precious spices and salve they brought,
But when they came to the spot they sought.
Behold the grave doth open stand.
An angel sitteth on either hand.
" Ye maidens, be not fiUed with feai
He whom ye seek. He is not here ;
Behold the raiment white and fair
Which the Lord was wrapped in, lieth there.
" Ye maidens, do not here delay,
Te must to Galilee away ;
To GalUee ye now must go,
For there the Lord Himself wiU show."
But Mary Magdalene could not depart,
Seeking the Lord, she wept apart ;
What saw she in a little while ?
She saw our Lord upon her emile.
In garb and wise He met her there
As were He a gardener, and did bear
A spade within His holy hand.
As would He dig the garden land.
" O teU me, gentle Gardener thou.
Where hast thou laid my Master now ?
Where thou hast hidden Him bid me know ,
Or my heart must break beneath its woe."
Scarce could He speak a single word.
Ere she beheld it was the Lord ;
She kneeleth down on the cold bare stone.
She hath found her Lord, and she alone.
" Touch me not, Mary Magdalene,
But tell the brethren what thou hast seen;
Touch me not now with human hand,
UntU I ascend to my Father's land." Alleluia.

GERMAN HYMNS. 343
Some of the popular songs of the time, too, were
themselves adapted to a religious use, so that, in some
cases, the religious supplanted, in public esteem, the
secular versions. The following is an adaptation of the
song of a wandering artisan, beginning " Innsbruck, I
must forsake thee " : —
0 World, 1 muat forsake thee,
And far away betake me.
To seek my native shore ;
So long I've dwelt iu sadness
I wish not now for gladness.
Earth's joys for me are o'er.
Sore is my grief and lonely.
And I can teU it only
To Thee, my Friend most sure
God, let Thy hand uphold me,
Thy pitying heart enfold me.
For else I am most poor.
My Refuge where I hide me.
From Thee shaU nought divide me.
No pain, no poverty :
Nought is too bad to bear it.
If Thou art there to share it ;
My heart asks only Thee.
But it was not tiU the year 1467, when the foUowers
of John Hubs formed themselves into a separate Church,
that hymns came into common use in the mother tongue.
Huss himself laid stress on the people taking part in the
song of the Church, and, with a view to this, composed a
number of excellent hymns in the Bohemian. These,
together with many that had previously existed, were
collected by Lucas, a Senior or Bishop of the "Brethren,"
and formed the " first hymn-book of original compositions
in the vernacular to be found in any Western nation
which had once owned the supremacy of Rome. Before
this, there were two or three collections of German
versions of the Latin Hymns and Sequences."*
* Winkworth's " Christian Singers of Germany," p. 95.

344 THE EYMN LOVER.
But, after aU, we must wait till the Reformation for
the great outburst of German Hymnody. Before
this, the whole influence of the Roman Church,
then dominant in the land, was against hymn singing
in the vernacular, which could only flourish among the
sects, more or less, under its ban. It was only
the resolute who had courage enough to defy the
dominant Church. In Germany, as in England, the
Dissenters were the flrst hymn-singers, and in both
countries this fact restricted the sphere of hymnody. It
could not take on national forms. It always, more
or less, bore the mark of reproach. In Germany,
the Reformation altered aU this ; indeed, hymn-
singing was one great means by which the Reformation
movement was fostered. AU before were but as the
fore-gleams of the coming glory. One of the first things
Luther set himself to do, after he had given the German
people a translation of the Bible, was to furnish them
with a German Liturgy ; and, to render this complete, he
felt that he must give them German hymns in the place
of the Latin Hymns and Sequences which had formerly
been sung in the Roman Churoh. He saw clearly the
large part which hymns might fill in the religion of so
musical a people as his countrymen. He says: — "Fori
would fain see aU arts, especially music, in the service of
Him who has given and created them." On this point,
he differed widely from the men who led the Calvinistic
Churches. He was of a more human type than Calvin —
had a larger heart, and a more gracious idea of reUgion.
He reached a point which it took some generations for the
Calvinists to reach, if, indeed, they ever quite reached it.
The Puritans, indeed, had in their midst a finer poet than

GERMAN EYMNS. 345
Luther, but they never introduced even MUton' s superb
renderings of certain of the Psalms into their worship.
What a use Luther would have put Milton to, if he had
been a member ol his Church ! What songs he would
have written ! Aye, and what music, too ! To his friend
Spalatin, Luther writes : — " It is my intention, after the
example of the prophets and the ancient fathers, to make
German psalms for the people ; that is, spiritual songs,
whereby the Word of God may be kept aUve among them
by singing. We seek, therefore, everywhere for poets.
Now, as you are such a master of the German tongue,
and are so mighty and eloquent therein, I entreat you to
join hands with us in this work, and to turn one of the
psalms into a hymn, according to the pattern (i.e., an
attempt of my own) that I here send you. But I desire
that all new-fangled words from the Court should be left
out ; that the words may be all quite plain and common,
such as the common people may understand, yet pure, and
skUfuUy handled ; and next, that the meaning should be
given clearly and graciously, according to the sense of the
psalm itself."
" The miner's son, who, in his school-days, had caroUed
for bread before the doors of the burghers of Eisenach,
remembered the old melodies when the hearts of the
people were looking to him for the ' bread which satis-
fieth,' and gave forth out of his treasure-house things
new and old. The great Reformer of the German
Church was also her first great singer. Luther gave the
German people their hymn-book as well as their Bible.
He brought over some of the best old hymns into the new
worship ; not word by word, in the ferry-boat of a literal
translation, but entire and Uving, like Israel through the

346 THE HYMN LOVER.
Jordan, when the priests' feet, bearing the ark, swept
back the waters."*
Thirty-seven hymns he certainly wrote. Some have
said more, but probably they are in error. Of these,
twelve were translations from the Latin, four new
versions of the German Leisen, and twenty-one original
compositions. These came at once into use, and had not
to encounter the long-continued opposition which hymns
in England had, where they only graduaUy became
incorporated into the common song of the Church.
Luther's hymns were at once printed and carried all
over the country by wandering students and pedlars ;
some of them even found their way into Roman CathoUc
churches, so that a Romanist declared: "The whole
people is singing itself into the Lutheran doctrine."
Many hymn-books now appeared, four of which contained
most of his hymns, and for them he wrote prefaces.
After four or five years, Luther taught the people in his
own church at Wittenberg to sing in worship, and then
the custom spread very swiftly. " Of these, the earUest,
the Enchiridion pubUshed at Erfurt in 1524 was first
placed in the people's hands for reading whUe the choir
was singing, for the congregation was so unused to joining
in the public service, that they could not, at once, adopt
the new practice."!
By far the best known of Luther's hynms is that on
the forty-sixth psalm, which Frederick the Great called
" God Almighty's Grenadier March," and which is
usually supposed to have been written on his way to
the Diet of Worms, on account of the likeness of the

*" Voice of Christian Life in Song," p. 256.
t Winkworth's " Christian Singers of Germany," p. 109.

GERMAN HYMNS. 347
third verse to Luther's celebrated and oft-quoted reply to
Spalatin, who would have dissuaded him from the journey,
" If there were as many devils in Worms as there are
tiles on the roofs, I would go and not be afraid." Others
think that it was composed at the close of the Second
Diet of Spires in 1529, which revoked the reUgious
liberty granted in the previous one of 1526, when
four Protestant provinces and fifteen free cities protested,
out of which sprang the name Protestant — a name seldom
used in Germany, where the word Evangelical is
used, but constantly in England.
It is impossible to fix, with certainty, the occasion
which gave birta to this hymn. All the efforts to do so
have sprung out ol conjecture and internal probabUity.
Perhaps the most nervous translation is that by Thomas
Carlyle, which I append, but that already quoted in
Chapter xvi, by Godfrey Thring, is more suitable lor use
in pubUc worship : —
A safe stronghold our God is stUl,
A trusty shield and weapon :
He'll help us clear from all the Ul
That hath us now o'ertaken.
The ancient prince of heU
Hath risen with purpose feU ;
Strong maU of craft and power
He weareth in this hour :
On earth is not his feUow.
With force of arms we nothing can ;
FuU soon were we down-ridden ;
But for us fights the proper Man,
Whom God Himself hath bidden.
Ask ye. Who is this same ?
Christ Jesus is His name.
The Lord Sabaoth's Son :
He, and no other one,
ShaU conquer in the battle.

348 TEE EYMN LOVER.
And were this world all devUs o'er.
And watching to devom' us,
We lay it not to heart so sore ;
Not they can overpower us.
And let the prince of Ul
Look grim as e'er he wUl,
He harms us not a whit :
For why ? his doom is writ ;
A word shall quickly slay him.
God's word ! for all their craft and force.
One moment wiU not Unger ;
But, spite of heU, shall have its course :
'Tia written by Hia finger.
And though they take our life.
Goods, honour, children, wife ;
Yet is their profit smaU :
These things shaU vanish aU ;
The city of God remaineth.
This is now the most popular of Luther's hymns, but one
which he called " A thanksgiving for the highest benefits
which God has shown in Christ," a kind of doctrinal
confession, was at the time, as is not to be wondered at,
more popular. " A curious use was made of it in the year
1557, when a number of princes belonging to the reformed
reUgion being assembled at Frankfort, they wished to
have an evangeUcal service in the church of St. Bartholo
mew. A large congregation assembled, but the pulpit
was occupied by a Roman Catholic priest, who proceeded
to preach according to his own views. After Ustening
for some time in indignant silence, the whole congregation
rose and began to sing this hymn, till they fairly sang the
priest out of church. Its tune is that known in England
as Luther's Hymn, and tradition says that Luther noted
it down from the singing of a travelling artisan." " 'Out
of the depths I cry to Thee ' he sang when recovering
from a fainting fit, brought on by the intensity of
spiritual conflict ; and when, at last, his dead body was

GERMAN EYMNS 349
borne through HaUe, on its way to its last resting place
at Wittenberg, his countrymen thronged into the Church
where it was laid, and, amidst their tears and sobs, sang
this hymn beside it " : —
Out of the depths I cry to Thee,
Lord God, 0 hear my wailing !
Thy gracious ear incline to me,
And make my prayer avaUing :
On my misdeeds in mercy look,
O deign to blot them from Thy book.
Or who can stand before Thee ?
Thy sovereign grace and boundless love
Make Thee, O Lord, forgiving ;
My purest thoughts and deeds but prove
Sin in my heart is living :
None guUtless in Thy sight appear.
All who approach Thy throne must fear.
And humbly trust 'Thy mercy.
Thou canst be merciful while just,
Tius is my hope's foundation ;
On Thy redeeming grace I trust.
Grant me, then. Thy salvation :
Shielded by Thee I stand secm'e.
Thy word is firm. Thy promise sure.
And I rely upon Thee.
Like those who watch for midnight's hour
To haU the dawning morrow
I wait for Thee, I tmst Thy power.
Unmoved by doubt or soitow.
So thus let Israel hope in Thee,
And he shaU find Thy mercy free,
And Thy redemption plenteous.
Where'er the greatest sins abound,
By grace they are exceeded ;
Thy helping hand is always found
With aid, where aid is needed ;
Thy hand, the only hand to save.
WiU rescue Israel from the grave.
And pardon his transgression.
His sweet Christmas Hymn, " Yon Himmel hoch da
komm ich her," was written in 1531, for his Uttle son
Hans, who was then four years old. It was described in

350 TEE HYMN LOVER.
the flrst editions of his hymn book as " A children's song
from the second chapter of St. Luke, drawn up by Dr.
M. L."
Oh ! let us all be glad to-day.
And with the shepherds homage pay :
Come, see what God to us hath given.
His only Son, sent down from heaven.
Awake, my soul ! from sadness rise.
Come, see what in the manger Ues :
Who is this smUing infant child ? —
'Tis Uttle Jesus, sweet and mild.
Twice welcome, O thou heavenly Guest,
To save a world vrith sin distressed :
Com'st Thou in lowly guise for me ?
What homage shall I give to Thee ?
Ah ! Lord eternal, heavenly King,
Hast Thou become so mean a thing ;
And hast Thou left Thy blissful seat.
To rest where colts and oxen eat ?
Were this wide world much wider made.
With gold and costly gems arrayed :
E'en then, by far too mean 'twould be.
To make a little crib for Thee.
No sUken robes smround Thy head,
A bunch of hay is all Thy bed !
Where Thou, a King so rich and great.
Art bright as in Thy heavenly state.
Jesus, my Saviour, come to me —
Make here a little crib for Thee :
A bed make in this heart of mine,
That 1 may aye remember Thine.
Then fi'om my soul glad songs shall ring 
Of Thee each day I'U gaily sing :
The glad hosannas wiU 1 raise
From heart that loves to sing Thy praise.
"From the old Latin Psahnody, he gave a free rhymed
translation of the Te Beum, and several of the Ambrosian
hymns. The Funeral Hymn, 'Media m vita in morte
sumus ' (see Chapter Y), composed by Notker, a monk of
St. GaU, A.D. 900 (the first Unes of which appear in our

GERMAN HYMNS. 351
Burial Service), he poured forth anew in three verses, and
infused into it a tone of confidence and hope very faintly
audible in the origuial."*
I have lingered over Luther's work in hymnody, not
because he is largely represented in our English collections
— this is not the case : partly because many of his
hymns were written for a condition of reUgious thought
so different from that which now prevails, and partly
because, in the main, they are in a style and metre which
suit the German, but do not suit the EngUsh style of
music ; the former is more massive and soUd, the latter
lighter and quicker in movement. This accounts for the
fact that, from the great stores ol German hymnody,
comparatively lew have become naturalised and popular in
England, and even those that have, owe much ol their
popularity to the fact that, passing through the mind of
English translators, they have caught much of the English
spirit ; in the most popular translations, though the ideas
are German, the style is English. Slavishly literal trans
lations have always been faUures. Only when a really
poetic mind has done the work of translation, have they
caught the ear, and moved the heart, of English folk.
But I have tarried over Luther rather because he is the
real founder in Germany — as was Dr. Watts in England —
of a really popular hymnody in the common speech of the
people. Concerning the hymnists who followed, I can
only speak, and give illustrations, of those whose hymns
have come, through translations, into English use. This
will be clear when I say that the " Liederschatz " of
Albrecht Knapp includes a Ust of no less than four
hundred writers. * " Voice of Christian Life iu Song," p. 257.

352 THE HYMN LOVER.

Luther's principal co-workers in hymnody were Justus
Jonas, his coUeague in the department of theology at
Wittenberg (who assisted Luther in preparing metrical
versions of the Psalms), and Paul Eber, who held a simUar
relationship to Melancthon.
Nicholas Decius, (died 1529) a converted monk, is weU-
known by his German version of the " Gloria in Excelsis,"
which, when wedded to its fine chorale, became popular,
and was sung by all classes of the people, and on the most
sturing occasions, aU over Germany. Mendelssohn intro
duced it into his Oratorio, St. Paul. The foUowing
translation of it is by W. Bartholomew : —
To God on high be thanks and praise.
Who deigns our bonds to sever :
His cares our drooping souls upraise.
And harm shaU reach us never :
On Him we rest, with faith assured.
Of aU that Uve, the mighty Lord,
For ever and for ever.
" The general character of Lutheran hymnology in the
sixteenth century is its true churchliness and popular
style. It is doctrinal, devotional, and bears the impress
of objectiveness. The poet does not give vent to his own
frame of mind, his individual feelings, but the Church
itself, through his lips, confesses, believes, comforts,
praises, and adores.
"At the same time, it is traly popular, trathful,
natural, cordial, bold, and fearless in expression ; moving
with rapid steps; no pausing, no retrospect, no minute
delineations, or extended descriptions, no didactic demon
strations. In its outward form, it foUowed the old
German epos, and popular nan-ative poetry, and aimed.

GERMAN HYMNS. 353
above all, at being not only read but sung, and simg by
the congregation."*
So popular had hymns become, that even royal and
noble personages, like the Elector John of Saxony, and
the Margrave George of Brandenburg, became contributors
to this department. Southern Germany now began to
take its share in this work. Hans Sachs, of Nuremburg,
the shoemaker (bom 1494), wrote and pubUshed more
than 6,000 poems of every kind, amongst which there
were many hymns. One of these, " 'Why art thou thus
cast down, my heart?" is included in "The Chorale
Book for England." He had great fears that now his
countrymen had become freed Irom the yoke ol Rome
they would quarrel among themselves, and he therefore
exhorts them to " Love God above all, and thy neighbour
as thyself; against that doctrine ban and edict, clergy
and laity, school and preaching, monks and old women,
will alike be powerless."
Among the Bohemian Brethren arose several writers of
great exceUence ; notably Michael Weiss, (died 1540) pastor
of the German-speaking congregations of Landskron and
Fulnek, who translated the best of the Bohemian hymns into
German for their use, and contributed some of his own.
One ol the finest is the loUowing Evening Hymn, which
has been included in a lew EngUsh coUeetions : —
Now God be with us, for the night is closing,
The light and darkness are of hie disposing ;
And 'neath His shadow here to rest we yield us.
For He wUl shield us.
Let evU thoughts and spirits flee before us ;
TiU morning cometh, watch, O Master, o'er us ;
In soul and body Thou from harm defend us,
Thine angels send us.
* Kurtz's " Church History," vol. u, p. 123. A 2

354 THE HYMN LOVER.
Let holy thoughts be ours when sleep o'ertakes us,
Our earUest thoughts be Thine when morning wakes ua ;
All day serve Thee, in all that we are doing,
Thy praise pursuing.
As Thy beloved, soothe the sick and weeping,
And bid the prisoner lose his griefs in sleeping ;
Widows and orphans we to Thee commend them,
Do Thou befriend them.
We have no refuge, none on eai'th to aid us.
Save Thee, 0 Father, who Thine own hast made us ;
But Thy dear presence will not leave them lonely
Who seek Thee only.
Father, Thy name be praised, Thy kingdom given.
Thy wUl be done on earth as 'tis in heaven ;
Keep us in Ufe, forgive our sins, deliver
Us now and ever. Amen.
"The two friends and fellow-helpers, the pastor and
precentor of Joachimsthal — Johann Matthesius and
Nicolas Hermann," did excellent work, but of a simpler
and freer kind than most of their predecessors. From
the former we have "My inmost heart now raises"
("Chorale Book," No. 164), which was used as a daily
morning hymn by Gustavus Adolphus, and often sung by
his army as their morning prayer. From the latter, we
have " The happy sunshine all is gone " (" Chorale
Book," No. 166), and " Now hush your cries, and shed
no tear" (Lyra Germanica, II, p. 251).
In the latter part of the sixteenth century, a different
spirit appears in German Hymnody — ^it is like the age
which followed Watts and Wesley — a kind of after-glow.
Hymn-writing had become fashionable and common, with
the usual results, that its spontaneity and freshness
departed. StiU, even in this age, striking hymns
appeared. To it we owe Ringwaldt's hymn, " Great
God, what do I see and hear," which has undergone so
many changes in our English coUeetions; and PhUip
Nicolai's grand hymn, which owes its solemn tone to the

GERMAN HYMNS. 355
..emarkable circumstances under which it was written : —
" In 1597, during a fearful pestUence in Westphalia,
where he was pastor of the Uttle town of Unna, more
than 1,400 persons died in a very short time, and from his
window he saw all the funerals pass to the graveyard
close at hand. From these scenes of death, he turned to
the study of St. Augustine's ' City of God,' and the
contemplation of the etemal life, and so absorbed himself
in them, that he remained cheerful and weU amid the
siuTounding distress." Here is the hymn : —
Wake, awake, for night is flying :
The watchmen on the heights are crying
Awake, Jerusalem, arise !
Midnight's solemn hour is toUing,
His chariot- wheels are nearer rolUng,
He comes ; prepare, ye Vii'gins wise ;
Rise up ; with willing feet
Go forth, the Bridegi'oom meet :
AUeluia !
Bear through the night your weU-trimmed light.
Speed forth to join the marriage rite.
Sion hears the watchmen singing.
Her heart with deep deUght is springing.
At once she wakes, she hastes away :
Forth her Bridegroom hastens glorious,
In grace arrayed, by ti'uth victorious ;
Her gi'ief is joy, her night is day :
HaU, Worthy Champion,
Christ, God Almighty's Son :
Alleluia!
We haste along, in pomp of song.
And gladsome join the marriage throng.
Hear Thy praise, O Lord, ascending
From tongues of men and angels, blending.
With harp and lute and psaltery.
By Thy pearly gates in wonder
We stand and sweU the voice of thunder.
In bursts of choral melody :
No vision ever brought.
No ear hath ever caught.
Such bliss and joy :
We raise the song, we sweU the throng,
To praise Thee ages aU along.

356 THE HYMN LOVER.
Which is stiU better known by its use, in the foUowing
form, in Mendelssohn's St. Paul: — •
Sleepers, wake ! a voice is caUing ;
It is the Watchman on the walls.
Thou city of Jerusalem !
For lo ! the Bridegi'oom comes.
Arise, and take your lamps.
Hallelujah !
Awake ! His kingdom is at hand !
Go forth, go forth to meet your Lord !
Equally striking is the foUowing from his pen :—
Behold how glorious is yon sky !
Lo ! there the righteous never die.
But dwell in peace for ever :
Then who would wear this earthly clay.
When bid to cast Ufe's chains away.
And win Thy gracious favour ?
Holy, holy, O forgive us ;
And receive us, heavenly Father,
When around 'Thy throne we gather.
Confiding iu Thy sacred word.
Our Saviour is our hope, O Lord,
The guiding star before us ;
Our Shepherd, leading us the way.
If from Thy paths our footsteps stray.
To Thee He wUl restore us :
Holy, Holy, ever hear us.
And receive us, while we gather
Round Thy throne, Almighty Father.
To these hymns he composed chorales, which added
largely to their popularity.
"The flrst period of hymn development in the 17th cen
tury, embraces that of the Thirty Years' War (1618-48).
David's Psalms become the model and type of the poets ;
and the most eamest hymns of comfort in trouble, of
imperishable value, spring from the trials of the times.
This, of course, caused prominence to be given to
personal matters. The influence of Opitz is also seen
in church hymns, inasmuch as more care is given to
precision and purity of language, as weU as to a fiuent

GERMAN HYMNS. 357
and pleasing measure. Instead of the expressive brevity
and vigorous terseness of earUer times, we meet with a
certain cordial expansion and enlargement of the
thought." *
In 1644, Martin Riukart composed what is certainly the
most popular, and also one of the most beautiful hymns,
the " Te Deum " of Germany, used on all great occasions
ol national thanksgiving, and which Mendelssohn intro
duced into his Hymn of Praise.
Now thank we aU our God,
With heart, and hands, and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done.
In whom His world rejoices ;
Who, from our mothers' arms.
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love.
And stiU is ours to-day.
O may this bounteous God
Through aU our life be near us.
With ever joyful hearts
And blessfed peace to cheer us :
And keep us in His grace.
And guide us when perplexed.
And free us from aU ills
In this world and the next.
All praise and thanka to God
The Father, now be given.
The Son, and Him who reigns
With Them in highest heaven —
The One Eternal God,
Whom earth and heaven adore, —
For thus it was, is now.
And shall be evermore.
It was written on the prospect ol peace alter the Thirty
Years' War. The first two verses are a metrical version
of a passage in the apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus,
which reads as foUows: — "Now, therefore, bless ye the
God of aU, who only doeth wondrous things everywhere.

* Kurtz's " Church Historj-," vol. U, p. 190.

358 TEE EYMN LOVER.
who exalteth our days from the womb, and dealeth with
us according to His mercy. He grants us joylulness ol
heart, and that peace may be in our days in Israel for
ever ; that He would confirm His mercy with us, and
deliver us at His time." The following rendering is by
WiUiam Bartholomew : —
Let aU men praise the Lord,
In worship lowly bending ;
On His most holy word.
Redeemed from woe, depending.
He gracious is, and just.
From childhood us doth lead ;
On Him we place our trust
And hope, in time of need.
Glory and praise to God, —
To Father, Son, be given.
And to the Holy Ghost, —
On high, enthroned in heaven.
Praise to the Triune God ;
With powerful arm and strong.
He changeth night to day ;
Praise Him with grateful song.
Miss Winkworth's account of Rinkart is so interesting,
and shows how much hymns owe, not merely to innate
faculty, but to the circumstances of the writer, that I
append it: — "This simple but noble expression of trust
and praise, with its fine chorale, was composed by Martin
Rinkart, in 1644, when the hope of a general peace was
dawning on the country. He was one of those provincial
clergymen to whom Germany had so much reason to be
gi-ateful. The son ol a poor coppersmith, he made his
way at the University ol Leipsic by dint ol industry and
his musical gifts, took orders, and was precentor of the
church at Eisleben, and at the age of thirty-one was
offered the place of Archdeacon at his native town of
EUenburg, in Saxony. He went there as the war broke
out, and died just after the peace, and throughout these

GERMAN HYMNS. 359
thirty-one years he stood by his flock, and helped them to
the utmost, under every kind of distress. Of course, he
had to endure the quartering of soldiers in his house, and
frequent plunderings of his little stock of grain and house
hold goods. But these were small things. The plague of
1637 visited EUenburg with extraordinary severity ; the
town was overcrowded with fugitives from the country
districts, where the Swedes had been spreading devasta
tion, and in this one year eight thousand persons died in
it. The whole of the town council except three persons,
a terrible number of school children, and the clergymen
of the neighbouring parish, were all canied off ; and
Rinkart had to do the work of three men, and did it
manfully at the beds of the sick and dying. He buried
more than four thousand persons, but through all his
labours he himself remained perfectly well. The pestUence
was followed by a famine so extreme that thirty or forty
p(Tsons might be seen fighting in the streets for a dead
cat or crow. Rinkart, with the burgomaster and one
other citizen, did what could be done to organise
assistance, and gave away everything but the barest
rations for his own f amUy, so that his door was surrounded
by a crowd of poor starving wretches, who found it their
only refuge. After aU this suffering came the Swedes
once more, and imposed upon the unhappy town a tribute
of thirty thousand florins. Rinkart ventured to the camp
to intreat the general for mercy, and when it was refused,
turned to the citizens who foUowed him, saying, ' Come,
my children, we can find no hearing, no mercy with men,
let us take refuge with God.' He fell on his knees, and
prayed with such touching earnestness that the Swedish
general relented, and lowered his demand at last to two

360 THE HYMN LOVER.
thousand florins. So great were Rinkart's own losses and
charities that he had the utmost difficulty in flnding bread
and clothes for his children, and was forced to mortgage
his future income for several years. Yet how little his
spirit was broken by aU these calamities is shown by this
hymn, and others that he wrote ; some, indeed, speaking
of his country's sorrows, but all breathing the same spirit
of unbounded trust and readiness to give thanks."
To a period a little later belongs Paul Gerhardt, (1606-
1676) perhaps the sweetest of the German hymnists. Miss
Winkworth gives the following graphic account of his
life : — " He was born in 1606, in a Uttle town, Grafin-
hainichen, in Saxony, where his father was burgomaster.
The whole of his youth and early manhood fell in the
time of war. That it must have been a period fuU of
disappointment and hope deferred for him, is clear enough
when we flnd a man of his powers at the age of forty-
five stiU only a private tutor, and candidate for holy
orders. In 1651 he was living in this capacity in the
family of an advocate named Berthold, in Berlin. He
had already written many hymns, but was as yet unable
to publish them ; and he was in love with Berthold's
daughter, but had no Uving to marry upon. About the
close of that year, however, the living of a country place
called Mittenwalde was offered him ; he was ordained,
and in 1655 he at last married Anna Maria Berthold.
At Mittenwalde he passed six quiet years, during which
he began to publish his hymns, which immediately
attracted great attention, and were quickly adopted into
the hymn-books of Brandenburg and Saxony. His name
thus became known, and in 1657 he was invited to the
great church of St. Nicholas, in Berlin, where his Ufe

GERMAN HYMNS. 361
was soon both a busy and an honourable one. He
worked most assiduously and successfully in his pastoral
duties ; he brought out many hymns, which were caught
up by the people much as Luther's had been of old ; and
he was the lavourite preacher of the city, whom crowds
flocked to hear. He is described to us as a man of
middle height, of quiet but firm and cheerful bearing ;
while his preaching is said to have been very eamest and
persuasive, and full of Christian love and charity, which
he practised as well as preached by never turning a
beggar from his doors, and receiving widows and orphans
who needed help and shelter into his own house. His
religion and his temperament alike made him cheerful,
and not aU the many disappointments of his life seem
ever to have embittered his mood ; but he had a very
tender and scrupulous conscience, and wherever a question
of conscience seemed to him to be involved, he was liable
to great mental confiict, and an exaggerated estimate of
trifles. In theology he was an ardent Lutheran." His
portrait in the church at Liibben bears the inscription :
" Theologus in cribro Satanse versatus," a divine sifted
in Satan's sieve.
For spontaneity, simplicity, purity, he stands pre
eminent among the German writers, and is perhaps the
greatest favourite in England, so much so that I need
only mention his hymns. The following are the flnest :
"Jesus, Thy boundless love to me," translated by John
Wesley ; " 0 Sacred Head, onee wounded," a hymn by
Bernard of Clairvaux, which owes much to Gerhardt's
handling, translated by Dr. J. W. Alexander ; " Commit
thou all thy griefs," translated by John Wesley ; and
"Evening and Morning," translated by Richard Massie.

362 THE HYMN LOVER.
The Electress Louisa of Brandenburg deserves mention
as a hymnist of no mean order
George Neumarck (1621-1681) deserves very high rank,
and is indeed one of the most famous of German hymnists.
Of him, the following touching story is told : — " About
two years after the close of the Thirty Years' War in
Germany, George Neumarck lived in a poor street in
Hamburg. Obtaining a precarious livelihood by playing
on the violoncello, after a whUe he fell sick, and was
unable to go his usual rounds. As this was his only
means of support, he was soon reduced to great straits,
and was compelled to part with his instrument to a Jew,
who, with characteristic sharpness, lent him on it a sum
much below its value for two weeks, alter which, if it
were not redeemed, it was to be forfeited. As he gave it
up, he looked lovingly at it, and tearfully asked the Jew
if he might play one more tune upon it. ' You don't
know,' he said, ' how hard it is to part with it. For ten
years it has been my companion ; if I had nothing else, I
had it ; and it spoke to me, and sung back to me. Of all
the sad hearts that have left your door, there has been
none so sad as mine.' His voice grew thick ; then pausing
for a moment, he seized the instrument and commenced a
tune so exquisitely soft that even the Jew Ustened, in
spite of himself. A few more strains, and he sung to his
own melody, two stanzas of his own hymn, ' Life is
weary ; Saviour take me.' Suddenly the key changed ;
a few bars, and the melody poured forth itself anew, and
his lace lighted up with a smile as he sung ' Yet who
knows the cross is precious.' Then laying down the
instrament, he said : ' As God will, I am still,' and
rushed from the shop. Going out into the darkness, he

GERMAN HYMNS. 363
stumbled against a stranger, who seemed to have been
listening at the door, and who said to him : ' Could you
tell me where I could obtain a copy of that song ? I would
willingly give a florin for it.' 'My good friend,' said
Neumarck, ' I will give it you without the florin.' The
stranger was valet to the Swedish ambassador, and to him
the poet told the story ol his trials. He, in his turn, told
his master, who, being in want of a private secretary,
engaged Neumarck at once, and so his troubles ended.
But with his first money he redeemed his instrument, and,
on obtaining it, he called his landlady, and his friends and
neighbours, to hear him play on it again. Soon his room
was flUed, and he sung, to his own accompaniment,
his own sweet hymn, of which this is one stanza : —
Leave God to order all thy ways.
And hope in Him whate'er betide ;
Thou'lt fiiid Him, in the evil days.
Thine aU sufScient strength and guide.
Who trusts in God's unchanging love,
BuUds on the rook that naught can move.
The following hymns from his pen are growing in favour
in our country. The flrst has been translated by
Catherine Winkworth : —
If thou but suffer God to guide thee.
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He'U give thee strength, whate'er betide thee.
And bear thee through the evU days ;
Who tmst in God's unchanging love,
BuUd on the Eock that nought can move.
Only be stU], and wait His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate'er thy Father's pleasure
And aU-discerning love hath sent ;
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
Nor think, amid the heat of trial,
That God hath oast thee off unheard.
That he whose hopes meet no denial
Must sm'cly he of God preferred ;

364 THE HYMN LOVER.
Time passes and much change doth bring.
And sets a bound to everything.
All are alike before the Highest ;
'Tis easy to our God, we know.
To raise thee up, though low thou liest,
To make the rich man poor and low ;
True wonders stiU by Him are wrought,
Who setteth up and brings to nought.
Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving.
So do thine own part faithfuUy,
And trust His word, though undeserving,
Thou yet shalt find it tme for thee ;
God never yet forsook at need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.
The second has been translated by W. Bartholomew and
introduced by Mendelssohn into his oratorio of St. Paul.
To Thee, 0 Lord, 1 yield my spirit.
Who break'st in love this mortal chain ;
My life I but from Thee inherit.
And death becomes my chiefest gain.
In Thee 1 Uve, in Thee I die,
Content — for Thou art ever nigh.
Angehis Silesius, whose real name was Johann Scheffler,
(1624-1677) but who adopted the name Angelus after a
Spanish Mystic, John of Angelus, of the 16th century,
adding Silesius to it because of his birth at Breslau, in
SUesia, a physician, so deeply influenced by the Mystic
writers, that he found no congenial atmosphere in the some
what dogmatic and doctrinal Lutheranism of his time — a
man of wide charity — ^is a hymnist of great excellence, as
may be seen from the following translation by Catherine
Winkworth : —
O Love, who formedst me to wear
The image of Thy Godhead here ;
Who soughtest me with tender care
Through all my wanderings wild and drear ;
O Love, I give myself to Thee,
Thine ever, only Thine to be.
0 Love, who once in time wast slain.
Pierced thi'ough and through with bitter woe;

GERMAN HYMNS. 365
O Love, who wrestUng thus didst gain
That we eternal joy might know ;
O Love, I give myself to 'Thee,
Thine ever, only Thine to be.
0 Love, of whom is truth and light.
The Word and Spirit, life and power,
Whose heart was bared to them that smite.
To shield us in our trial hour ;
O Love, I give myself to Thee,
Thine ever, only Thine to be
O Love, who thus hast bound me fast,
Beneath that gentle yoke of Thine ;
Love who hast conquered me at last,
And rapt away this heart of mine ;
O Love, I give myself to Thee,
Thine ever, only Thine to be.
0 Love, who soon shalt bid me rise
From out this dying life of ours ;
O Love, who once above yon skies
Shall set me in the fadeless bowers ;
O Love, I give myself to Thee,
Thine ever, only Thine to be.
Equally beautiful is the following, translated by John
Wesley : — Thee wiU I love, my strength, my tower
Thee wiU I love, my joy, my crown ;
Thee will I love with all my power.
In aU Thy works, and Thee alone.
Thee wiU I love, tiU the pure fire
FUls my whole soul with strong desire.
I thank Thee, uncreated Sun,
That Thy bright beams on me have shined ;
I thank 'Thee, who has overthi'own
My foes, and healed my wounded mind ;
I thank Thee, Lord, whose quickening voice
Bids my freed heart in Thee rejoice.
Uphold me in the doubtful race.
Nor suffei me again to stray ;
Strengthen my feet with steady pace
StiU to press forward in Thy way ;
My soul and flesh, 0 Lord of might.
Transfigure with Thy heavenly Ught.
Thee wUl I love, my joy, my crown ;
Thee wiU I love, my Lord, my God ;

366 THE HYMN LOVER.
Thee will I love, beneath Thy frown
Or smUe — Thy sceptre or Thy rod ;
What though my flesh and heart decay
Thee shaU I love in endless day !
Some of his spiritual aphorisms, too, are very suggestive :
" Th' Unspeakable, that men use God to call,
Utters and shows itself in the One Word to all.
God ia aU virtue's aim, its impulse and its prize.
In Him its sole reward, its only ' wherefore ' lies.
The nobler aught, the commoner 'twUl be,
God and His sunshine to the world are free.
My God, how oft do I Thy gifts implore.
Yet know I crave Thyself, oh, how much more !
Give what Thou wilt, eternal life or aught.
If Thou withhold Thyself, Thou giv'st me nought.
All goodness flows from God, therefore 'tis His alone ;
EvU springs up in thee, that may'st thou call thy own.
Is aught of good in thee ? Give God the praise of aU ;
To claim it for thine own, is ever man's true FaU.
The noblest prayer is, when one evermore
Grows inly liker that he kneels before.
Faith by itself is dead, it cannot Uve and move
Till into it is breathed the Uving soul of Love.
The rose demands no reasons, she blooms and scents the air.
Nor asks if any aee her, nor knows that she is fafr.
How fairly shines the snow, whene'er the sun's bright beams
lUume and colour it with heavenly gleams ;
So shines thy soul, white, dazzUng as the snow.
When o'er it plays the Day-spring's radiant glow."
Belonging to the same school as Scheffler is Knorr von
Rosenroth, (1636-1689) a pious baron and diplomatist,
whose " Dayspring of Eternity " (Chorale Book, No. 159)
is a lovely hymn, probably composed during a walk at
the time of sunrise.
The Pietists (1660—1750) produced many good
hymnists, among whom I may mention as known by
translations in English, Frederick Rudolph Louis, Baron
von Cauitz, (1664-1699) Chamberlain to Prince Elector
Frederick WilUam, whose morning hymn is very flne.

GERMAN HYMNS. 367
Come, my soul, thou must be waking.
Now is breaking
O'er the earth another day :
Come to Him who made this splendour.
See thou render
AU thy feeble strength can pay.
Gladly hail the sun returning ;
Ready burning
Be the incense of thy powers :
For the night is safely ended,
God hath tended
With His care thy helpless hours.
Pray that He may prosper ever
Each endeavour.
When thine aim is good and trae ;
But that He may ever thwart thee.
And convert thee,
When thou evil wouldst pursue.
Think that He thy ways beholdeth.
He unfoldeth
Every fault that lurks within ;
He the hidden shame glossed over
Can discover.
And discern each deed of ein.
Our God's bounteous gifts abuse not,
Light refuse not.
But His Spirit's voice obey ;
Thou with Him shalt dweU beholding.
Light unfolding
AU things in unclouded day.
Mayst thou on Ufe's morrow.
Free from sorrow.
Pass away in slumber sweet ;
And, released from death's dark sadness,
Rise in gladness.
That far brighter sun to greet.
When dying he asked to be lifted to the open window,
and his eyes beaming with joy exclaimed : " Oh ! if the
sight of this created sun is so charming and beautiful,
what will be the sight of the unspeakable glory of the
Creator Himself ? "
Laurentius LaurentU, (1660-1722) is weU known by
his hymn, " Rejoice, all ye beUevers."

368 THE HYMN LOVER.
Charles Henry von Bogatzsky (1690-1774) is known in
England rather by his " Golden Treasury," which used
to be one of the most favourite books of devotion, than by
his hymns, some of which, however, are of great merit.
Joachim Neander (1640-1680), a Bishop of the Church
of the United Brethren, who must not be confounded with
the great Church Historian of the same name, was one of
the most poetic of the German hymnists, as may be seen
from the following translation by J. D. Burns : —
Heaven and earth, and sea and air,
StiU their Maker's praiae declare ;
Thou, my soul, as loudly sing.
To thy God thy praises bring.
See the sun his power awakes.
As through clouds his glory breaks ;
See the moon and stars of light,
Praising God in stiUest night.
See how God this rolling globe
Swathes with beauty Uke a robe ;
Forests, fields, and living things.
Each its Maker's glory sings.
Through the air Thy praises meet,
Bu'ds are singing clear and sweet ;
Fire, and storm, and wind. Thy will
As 'Thy ministers fulfil.
The ocean waves Thy glory tell.
At Thy touch they sink and swell ;
From the well-spring to the sea.
Rivers murmur. Lord, of Thee.
Ah ! my God, what wonders lie
Hid in Thine infinity !
Stamp upon my inmost heart
What I am, and what Thou art.
"The Pietistic School" were distinguished as hymn-
writers by a scriptural-practical and devotional tendency,
the spiritual life of believers, the breaking through
of grace in conversion, growth in holiness, the changing
conditions, experiences, and feelings in the life of
the soul, were made the objects of contemplation

GERMAN HYMNS. 369
and description. Their hymns are for the most part
no longer for the congregation, for the people,
for common worship, but more for individual edification,
and for the closet. There are only,' relatively speaking,
a few hymns of this school that form an exception, and
stUl deserve the name of church-hymns. When pietism
declined, the spiritual-poetical inspiration awakened by it
declined also graduaUy ; it lost its original truth, power
and depth, and degenerated into sentimentality and
spiritless trifling with figures, allegories, and phrases." *
To the period between 1690 and 1760 belongs Gerhard
Tersteegen (1697-1769) " a mystic of the purest type," and
one of the most notable of German hymnists. He is known
and loved in England through John Wesley's fine trans
lations of his hymns, "Lo! God is here, let us adore," and
" Thou hidden love of God," and probably will be by the
hymn which Mrs. Sarah Findlater has rendered so
magnificently, " Lord, our God, in reverence lowly,"
quoted in Chap. XY.
Nicholas Lewis, Count and Lord of Zinzendorf and
Pottendorf (1700-1760), was remarkable for his early
piety. When quite a child he wrote Uttle notes to Jesus,
and threw them out of the window, in the hope that
He would find them. His youthful piety was deepened
by the sight of an .Ecce Homo in the picture gaUery at
Dusseldorf bearing the inscription:. "All this I have
done for thee ; what doest thou for Me ? " His earlier
years were spent as a layman in philanthropic and
missionary work, but later he was ordained, and became a
Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren, an office
he afterwards — on account of false accusation — resigned.
* Kurtz's " Church History," Vol. U, p. 235. E 2

370 THE HYMN LOVER.
His latter days were spent at Hermhut, where he died
May 6th, 1760. His last words to his son-in-law were :
" Now, my dear son, I am going to the Saviour. I am
ready ; I am quite resigned to the wiU of my Lord. If
He is no longer willing to make use of me here, I am
quite ready to go to Him ; for there is nothing more in
my way." He was the real founder of the Moravian
Church as it is known to us, the previous form of which,
known as the Bohemian Brethren, was of an altogether
different type. He was a most prolific hymn-writer —
more than 2,000 are said to be from his pen — but a
large number are very inferior productions. The best
known are "Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness," and
"Jesus, still lead on," which is "the first taught
to the children in almott every German household."
One of his great faults was the exaggerated way in which
he spoke of the physical sufferings of Christ. Miss
Winkworth says : " Many of his hymns speak of the
blood and wounds of Jesus, making a bed in his wounded
side, &c., in a way of which it is impossible to give
instances." This is a fault common to writers widely
severed, as Romanist and Ultra-EvangeUcal. To the
same Moravian company belongs Luise H. von Haym
(1724-1782), Superintendent of the Unmarried Sisters'
House at Hermhut, whose chUd's hymn, translated by
Catherine Winkworth, is very beautiful —
Seeing I am Jesus' lamb.
Ever glad at heart 1 am
O'er my Shepherd kind and good.
Who provides me daily food,
And His lamb by name doth caU
For He knows and loves us all.
Guided by His gentle staff.
Where the sunny pastures laugh.

GERMAN HYMNS. 371
I go in and out and feed,
Lacking nothing that I need ;
When I thirst my feet He brings
To the fresh and living springs.
Must I not rejoice for this ?
He is mine and I am His,
And when these bright days are past
Safely in His arms at last.
He wfll bear me home to heaven.
Ah, what joy hath Jesus given !
This is the most favourite children's hymn in Germany.
It is learnt and loved by nearly all Protestant children,
and is the common prayer which daily they repeat.
StiU later we meet with Christian Fiirchtegott Gellert
(1715-1769), Professor of Poetry and Moral Philosophy in
Leipsic University (Lessing and Goethe were among his
pupils), the author of " Spiritual Odes and Songs," which
Miss Winkworth says ' ' were greeted with an enthusiasm
almost like that which greeted Luther's hymns on their
first appearance." "'The reverence and affection
which GeUert received from all the young men was
extraordinary. His lecture-room was always crowded to
the utmost ; and Gellert's beautiful soul, purity of wUl,
his admonitions, warnings and entreaties, deUvered in a
somewhat hollow and sad voice, produced a deep
impression. A figure not tall, but slender without being
thin, soft rather mournful eyes, a very beautiful brow, all
rendered his presence agreeable.' Nor was his influence
conflned to his class-room : a peasant one day laid a load
of firewood at his door as a thank-offering for the pleasure
derived from his fables ; a young Prussian officer sent him
a sum of money, entreating him to accept the gift from
one whose heart had been raised by his writings ; and
these were but instances of innumerable simUar presents
which GeUert used generaUy to bestow on the poor.

372 THE HYMN LOVER.
Princes and great people of all kinds made pilgrimages to
see him ; even Frederick the Great had an interview with
him, and pronounced him the most reasonable German
professor he had ever come across." " A ramour having
spread in Coburg that Gellert had hanged himself, he
repUed to a friend on hearing it : ' Write to the Coburgers
I have and shaU be hanging
For ever on my Lord.' "
The hymn by which he is known in England is " Jesus
Uves, no longer now," translated by Frances Elizabeth
Cox, to whom we owe many fine translations from the
German. To the same period belong Johann Andreas Cramer,
and Friedrich GottUeb Klopstock (1724-1803,— whose
poem, " The Messiah," was once so popular) ; whUst
still later there is NovaUs (1772-1801— many of their
poems were translated by George MacDonald, in a Uttle
volume called "Exotics"), and Spitta, Knapp, Gerok,
Louise Hensel, and Meta Haussar ; some of whose
hymns have been translated by Richard Massie, but
few have passed from their writings into Church use,
save in the case of Spitta (1801-1859), fr-om whom many
have been taken, through the renderings of Mr. Massie,
in his Lyra Bomestioa. These deserve to be more widely
known, as my readers may see by the foUowing
specimens. Yery fuU of quiet confidence is the
following : —
We are the Lord's, whether we Uve or die ;
We are the Lord's, who for us aU hath died ;
We are the Lord's, and heirs of the Most High,
We are the Lord's, and shall the Lord's abide.
We are the Lord's — to Him, then, let ua live.
With soul and body, both with deeds and words,
While heart, and tongue, and life assurance give.
Of the most precious truth : we are thu Lord's.

GERMAN HYMNS. 373
We are the Lord's, — so shall our hearts ne'er faU,
For one bright star its steady light affords.
To cheer and guide us through the gloomy vale.
It is this blessed word : we are the Lord's !
We are the Lord's, who will preseive us stUl,
When none beside Him help to us accords ;
In death's last conflict we wiU fear no ill.
Thy word abideth true : we are the Lord's !
The foUowing is as true in sentiment as it is beautiful
in expression : —
We praise and bless Thee, gracious Lord,
Our Saviour, kind and true.
For aU the old things passed away.
For aU Thou hast made new.
New hopes, new purposes, desires.
And joys. Thy grace has given;
Old ties are broken from the earth.
New ties attach to heaven.
But yet, how much must be destroyed.
How much renewed must be.
Ere we can fuUy stand complete
In likeness, Lord, to Thee !
Thou, only Thou must cai'ry on
The work Thou hast begun ;
Of Thine own strength Thou must impart
In Thine own ways to run.
Ah ! leave us not ; from day to day
Revive, restore again ;
Our feeble steps do Thou direct.
Our enemies restrain.
So shaU we faultless stand at last.
Before Thy Father's throne ;
The blessedness for ever ours.
The glory all Thine own.
Here is his exquisite hymn caUing us by the thought
of what we have received, to impart to others : —
0 Thou whose grace first found us,
Whose love our hearts first won.
Thou hast with mercies crowned ua,
As none beside hath done.
Thy mercies bid us bless Thee.
'Thy mercies bid us pray.
That others too may praise Thee,
And understand Thy way.

374 THE HYMN LOVER.
Thy mercies bid us witness
T'he truth of Thy dear word.
That all may taste its sweetness.
And bow before the Lord.
And since Thou wert not stricken
For us alone, but all.
Lord, many save and quicken. —
We ai'e too few and small !
Here is his lovely Evening Hymn : —
0 Lord, who by Thy presence hast made light
The heat and burden of the toUsome day.
Be with me also in the sUent night.
Be with me when the dayUght fades away.
As Thou hast given me strength upon the way.
So deign at evening to become my Guest ;
As Thou hast shared the labours of the day,
So also deign to share and bless my rest.
How sad and cold, if Thou be absent. Lord,
The evening leaves me, and my heart how dead !
But, if Thy presence grace my humble board,
I seem with heavenly manna to be fed.
Fraught with rich blessing, breathing sweet repose.
The calm of evening settles on my breast ;
If Thou be with me when my labours close.
No more is needed to complete my rest.
Come, then, O Lord, and deign to be my Guest,
After the day's confusion, toU, and din ;
0 come to bring me peace, and joy, and rest.
To give salvation, and to pardon sin !
Bind up the wounds, assuage the aching smart.
Left in my bosom from the day just past.
And let me, on a Father's loving heart.
Forget my griefs, and find sweet rest at last !
"In Thy service will I ever," is almost, if not quite,
equal to the foregoing.
England has drawn little from German hymnody of a
later time than this — chiefiy because her own writers
have furnished ample material, but partly because the
more recent productions of Germany lack the force and
distinctiveness of earlier times. Doubtless more would
have been drawn from the earlier writers, but that their
hvmna are so lengthy, and oast in rather a ponderous

GERMAN HYMNS. 375
style, lacking the conciseness and crispness of the finest
English hymns. They may be suitable to the land of
their birth, but they certainly are not to the EngUsh
taste. It is best that the staple hymns of each country
should be redolent of the soil, or of a soil akin to its own.
The hymns that have been drawn from this source are
very precious, and we could iU spare them, but it would
be a mistake to increase the present proportion of
German, or, indeed, of any foreign hymns, in our
collections. All hymnals which have started with the
idea of increasing that proportion, have been a failure in
regard to popular use, and are only valuable as illustrative
of German hymnody. Our churches, however, owe a
great debt to Catherine Winkworth, Frances EUzabeth
Cox, Richard Massie, Jane Borthwick, and her sister —
Mrs. Findlater, James Drummond Burns, for their
admirable renderings of German hymns, and, in an earlier
age, to John Wesley, whose translations have probably
never been surpassed.
I will conclude this chapter by the following extract
from Alexander Smith, on German hymns in general : —
" In glancing over these German hymns one
is struck by their adaptation to the seasons and
occurrences of ordinary Ule. Obviously, too, the
writers' reUgion was not a Sunday matter only ; it had
its place in the week-days as well. In these hymns there
is little gloom ; a healthy, human cheerfulness pervades
many of them — and this is surely as it ought to be. These
hymns, as I have said, are adapted to the occasion of
ordinary life, and this speaks favourably of the piety
which produced them. I do not suppose that we English
are less religious than other nations, but we are

376 THE HYMN LOVER.
undemonstrative in this, as in most things. We have the
sincerest horror of over-dressing ourselves in fine senti
ments. We are a Uttle shy of religion. We give it a
day entirely to itself, and make it a stranger to the other
six. We confine it in churches, or in the closet at home,
and never think of taking it with us to the street, or into
our business, or with us to the festival, or the gathering
of friends. Dr. Arnold used to complain that he could
get reUgious subjects treated in a masterly way, but could
not get common subjects treated in a religious spirit. The
Germans have done better ; they have melted down the
Sunday into the week. They have hymns embodying
confessions of sin ; hymns on the near prospect of death ;
and they have — what is more important — spiritual songs
that may be sung by soldiers on the march, by artisans at
the loom, by the peasant foUowing his team, by the mother
among her children, and by the maiden sitting at her
wheel listening lor the steps ol her lover. Religion is
thus brought in to refine and haUow the sweet necessities
and emotions of Ufe, to cheer its weariness, and to exalt
its sordidness. The German life revolves like the viUage
festival with the pastor in the midst — joy and laughter
and merry games do not fear the holy man, for he wears
no unkindness in his eye ; but his presence checks every
thing boisterous or unseemly ! — the rude word, the
petulant act — and when it has run its course, he uplifts
his hands and leaves his benediction on his chUdren.
" The Lyra Germanica contains the utterances of pious
German souls in all conditions of life during many
centuries. In it hymns are to be found written not only
by poor clergymen, and still poorer precentors, by riband-
manufacturers and shoemakers, who, amid rade environ-

GERMAN HYMNS. 377
ments, had a touch of celestial melody in their hearts ;
but by noble ladies and gentlemen and crowned kings.
The oldest in the coUection is one written by King Robert
of France about the year 1000. It is beautifuUy simple
and pathetic. State is laid aside with the crown, pride
with the royal robe, and Lazarus at Dives' gate could not
have written out of a lowUer heart. The kingly brow
may bear itself high enough before men, the voice may be
commanding and imperious enough, cutting through con
tradiction as with a sword ; but before the Highest all is
humbleness and bended knees. Other compositions there
are, scattered through the volume, by great personages :
several by Louisa Henrietta, Electress of Brandenburg,
and Anton ULrick, Duke of Brunswick — aU written two
hundred years ago. These are genuine poems, full of
faith and charity, and calm trust in God. They are all
dead now, these noble gentlemen and gentlewomen ; their
warfare, successful or adverse, has been long closed ; but
they gleam yet in my lancy, like the white effigies in
tombs in dim cathedrals, the marble palms pressed together
on the marble breast, the sword by the side of the knight,
the psalter by the side of the lady, and flowing around
them the scrolls on which are inscribed the texts of
resurrection."*

' Dreamthorpe," by Alexander Smith.

378

CHAPTEE XIX.

FRENCH AND OTHER HYMNS.
OuE English Hymnals owe comparatively little to any
of the continental nations except the Gemian. This is
probably due in part to the fact, that all the Latin races
are under the sway of the Roman See, whose doctrine
differs largely from ours, whilst in their church worship
little space is left for the use of hymns. Had France
been Protestant, and therefore psalm-singing, as her lyric
gift is quite as strong, if not stronger than that of
Germany, she would probably have furnished us with
as large, if not a larger, proportion than we have
drawn from Germany, especially if her Protestantism
had been of the Lutheran rather than the Calvinistic
type.* Even the hymns we have taken from France
were chiefly written in the Latin tongue for use in
French Breviaries. Of some of these I have spoken in
earlier chapters of this book in my account of the
hymns of Adam of St. Victor, the Bernards, and King
* " In Switzerland, in the Protestant Church of France, and to
some extent in Holland, the spread of the German hymns has been
checked by the influen«e of the Calvinistic churches, which have
always feared to give a prominent place to Art of any kind in the
worship of God — rather, indeed, have allowed it to creep in on
sufferance, than delighted to introduce it as a freewUl offering of
beauty." — Winkworth's " Christian Singers of Germany,' p. 4.

FRENCH AND OTHER HYMNS. 379
Robert of France ; but to later times belong the follow
ing, from whose Latin hymns, translations have passed
into some of our English Hymnals : —
From Claude de Santeiiil, otherwise known as Santolius
Maglorianus (1628-1684) we have " Thrice Holy God,
of wondrous might " {Ter sancte, ter potens Beus) ; whilst
from his brother, J. B. de Santeiiil (Santolius Victorinus),
(1630-1697), we have "In stature grows the Heavenly
Child" {Bivine, crescebas, Puer), "0 Christ, who hast
prepared a place " {Nobis, Olympo redditus), "Long time
the faUen human race " {Pulsum supernis sedibus), trans
lated by J. Chandler; and "Not by the Martyr's death
alone " {Non pa/rta solo sanguine), translated by Isaac
WUliams. To Charles Coffin (1676-1749), we owe "God from on
high hath heard " {Jam desinant suspiria), translated by
Bishop Woodford; "Great Mover of all hearts, whose
hand " {Supreme Motor cordium), translated by Isaac
WilUams; and "As now the sun's declining rays"
{Labente jam solis rota), " On Jordan's bank the Baptist's
cry" {Jorda/nis oras prcevia), "What star is this, more
glorious far" {Quae stella sole pulehrior), "0 Lord, how
joyful 'tis to see" {0 quam juvat fratres, Beus), translated
by John Chandler.
From Nicolas le Toumeaux, of the latter part of the
17th century, we have " Morn's roseate hues have decked
the sky " {Awrora lucis dum novae), translated by W.
Cooke. WiUiam Cowper translated certain of the Cwntiques
Spirituels of Madame Guyon, which contained about 900
pieces, mostly written to popular baUad tunes. The

380 THE HYMN LOVER.
finest of these is the foUowing, touched with the peculiar
and beautiful mysticism of that devoted woman : —
0 Thou by long experience tried.
Near whom no grief can long abide.
My Lord ! how full of sweet content
Mj' years of pUgrimage are spent.
All scenes alike engaging prove
To souls impressed with sacred love ;
Where'er they dweU, they dwell with Thee,
In heaven, in earth, or on the sea.
To me remains nor place nor time ;
My country is in every cUme ;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God ia there.
WhUe place we seek or place we shun.
The soul finds happiness in none ;
But with my God to guide my way,
'Tis equal joy to go or stay.
Could I be cast where Thou art not.
That were indeed a dreadful lot :
But regions none remote I oaU,
Secm-e of finding God in aU.
Then let me to His throne repair.
And never be a stranger there :
Then love divine shall be my guard.
And peace and safety my reward.
Most of the hymns drawn from and written in the
French language come to us, as was to be expected, from
Protestant sources in Switzerland. Csesar Malan (1787-
1864) was a voluminous hymnist, exceeding Dr. Watts in
the number of his compositions, but being more akin to
Charles Wesleyin their character. He is said by his biographer
to have written at least a thousand hymns ! They were
translated into EngUsh in 1825 by Ingram Cobbin
{"Hymns by the Rev. Ccesar Malan translated into English
verse") ; and in 1866 by Miss Arnold {Lyra Evangelica).
The best known is the following, translated by G. W.
Bethune : — It is not death to die —
To leave this weary road.
And 'midst the brotherhood on high.
To be at home with God.

FRENCH AND OTHER HYMNS. 381
It is not death to close
The eye long dimmed by tears.
And wake in glorious repose
To spend eternal years.
It is not death to bear
The wrench that sets ua free
From dungeon-chain to breathe the air
Of boundless liberty.
It is not death to fling
Aside this mortal dust.
And rise on strong exulting wing.
To Uve among the just.
Jesus, Thou Prince of Life,
Thy chosen cannot die :
Like Thee they conquer in the strife.
To reign with Thee on high.
Malan was also a musician, and set his hymns to music.
To Jean Frederic Oberlin (1740-1826) is usually ascribed
the fine hymn (translated by Lucy Wilson) " 0 Lord, Thy
heavenly grace impart " ; but there is reason to believe
that it was neither Oberlin's composition nor translation.
The religious movement started by Robert Haldane in the
earliest years of the present century gave rise to a School
of Swiss Hymnody, to which Dr. Merle D'Aubigne, Felix
Neff, and others contributed. At a somewhat later period
(1834) the "Chants Chretiens" were pubUshed in Paris
by Henri Lutteroth, in which were included extracts from
Racine, Corneille, and Pictet, and hymns by Adolphe
Monod, Alexander Yinet, and others. This is stUl the
most popular Hymnal in the Reformed Church.
To Adolphe Monod (1812-1856), the saintly and
accomplished Pastor of Paris, we owe the striking hymn,
" Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow," which has found its
way into certain English Hymnals. The foUowing trans
lation of his " Que ne puis-je, 6 mon Dieu," by Mr.
Downton, deserves notice : —

382 THE HYMN LOVER.
God of my health ! I would Thy praise proclaim
And tell to earth and heaven Thy wondrous Name,
Declare the transports of my thankful breast.
And say to aU the world that I am blest !
Blest — when I heai' Thee speak, and when that word
Which said, " Let there be Ught," within me heard.
Stoops to instruct me, calms my spuit's strife.
And guides my footsteps in the path of life.
Blest — when I speak to Thee, and though but dust.
Lift to Thy throne my worship and my trust.
With freedom to my Father, as a ohUd ;
With trembUng to my God, as sin defiled.
Blest, when Thy day, which saw from Chaos' mount
Thy work come forth. Thy Fu'st-born from the fount.
Gathers within Thy courts th' adoring throng.
Our zeal's weak fiame re-kindUng, bright and strong !
Blest — when, beneath Thy strokes, my faithful God,
Smitten in love, in love I Mss the rod :
Weeping, but waiting Thy returning smUe,
And near the Cross, and for a little whUe.
Blest — ^when, assaulted by the tempter's power.
The Cross my armour, and the Lamb my tower,
KneeUng I triumph — issuing from the fray
A bleeding conqueror — my Ufe a prey !
Blest — ever blest ! my Brother, He who died ;
His Father mine ; His Spii'it stiU my Guide :
What can earth give ? what can hell take away.
When God and heaven are mine, are mine for aye ?
Alexander Yinet (1797-1867), the devout and thought
ful Professor of Theology at Lausanne, wrote many
hymns, most of which appeared first in the " Semeur," a
paper to which he often contributed. They are marked
by the devout thoughtfulness and deUcate phrasing which
are characteristic of his discourses. Seven of these have
been translated by the Rev. Henry Downton, M.A., for
many years the EngUsh Chaplain at Geneva, and mcluded
in his " Hymns and Yerses : Original and Translated,"
1873. The following is a specimen. It is a translation
of his " Roi des Angea " : —

FRENCH AND OTHER HYMNS. 383
King Divine !
Song of mine
Can it reach Thy heaven and Thee ?
And wilt Thou
Stoop so low
'That Thy love shaU visit me ?
Deeps profound
Who shaU sound
Without faith, their mystery ?
Could my prayer,
Father ! dare
AU so weak, to rise to Thee,
But that Thou
Deign'st to bow
In Thy tender love to me ?
Love untold
Humbly told.
Faith adores the mystery.
From the abyss
Up to bliss.
High to God's eternal throne.
Mounts my prayer, —
Waiting there.
Waiting on His grace alone.
Saviour dear !
Bend Thine ear.
Of my faith the tribute own.
Lord of aU !
Hear my caU,
For Thyself, Thyself I cry :
Art Thou near ?
Nought 1 fear ;
Art Thou absent ? then I die.
Helper mine.
King divine.
In me reign eternally !
Few finer hymns are to be found in French than the
foUowing — which is a translation by Mr. Downton — of
"Je suis d toi," by M. Edmond Scherer, Editor of
Le Temps : —
Lord, I am Thine, all glory to Thy Name ;
I to Thy law my life, myself resign :
Of right 'Thou dost my love, my worship claim,
And I am Thine !

384 THE HYMN LOVER.
In paths of doubt I wandered lost of yore.
When lo ! upon my path Thou deigndst to shine :
Once was my heart a void, and death in store
Now I am Thine !
The world erewhUe enchained my captive soul.
But now I dweU beneath Thy rule divine :
Sweet is Thy yoke ; on Thee my cares I roll.
For I am Thine !
Me to receive with welcome to Thy heart
Thine arms outstretched and looks of love combine :
O Lord I come ; I choose that better part.
Thine, whoUy Thme !
Possessing Thee, I am of all possest,
And 'tis by faith this happy lot is mine :
Upon Thy bosom. Lord, in peace and rest.
Thine, only Thine !
None from Thy book of life shall blot my name,
No tempter from Thy paths my steps incline ;
'Tis death, 'tis Ufe, Thy piercing glance of flame.
But I am Thine !
While on this earth I sojourn by Thy will,
My Saviour and my God, that will be mine,
TUl safe in Heaven I bless Thy mercy stiU,
For ever Thine !
French Hymnody as a whole is marked by so great a
deUoacy of expression that it is almost impossible to
reproduce it in our English tongue, and by a subjective
tone which renders its hymns more suitable for private
than pubUc worship.
From the Italian, we have " Glory be to Jesus" ( Fwa,
viva Gesu .'J, translated by Edward Caswall. It is taken
from the Aspirazione Bivote of the 17th or 18th century.
And "Praised be the Lord our God," a translation of
the "Cantico delle Creature," sometimes called " Cantico
deUe Sole " by St. Francis of Assissi. It was written
about the year 1224, and sung daily in the little Convent
of Portiuncala. It has been included, with some modifi
cations to adapt it for present day use, in " Worship
Song."

FRENCE AND OTEEB EYMNS. 385
Many of the hymns of Denmark have been translated
by GUbert Tait, but none of these have passed into
common use. One, however, by Elias ElkUdsen Naur,
Professor in the Gymnasium at Odense, in Funen, who
died in 1728, seems to me very beautiful, and though not
quite suitable for public worship, deserves a place among
hymns for private use : —
When my tongue can sing no more.
When my Ups have ceased to pray.
Silent, may I still adore, —
Eager, Saviour, seek Thy way !
Hear, 0 Christ, my latest sigh ;
Open wide the gates ou high,
For my soul, which angels bear
Home to glory, deathless, rare ; —
Home to heaven's kingdom sweet ;
Home to join the chosen band,
Seraph, seraphim to meet :
Home to courts where reigneth grand
Mercy's Monarch ; home to dweU
With the God who loves me well ;
Home to all my fathers dear ;
Home my Christ to serve and fear.
The one Danish hymn-writer that has become well-known
in this country is Bernhardt Severin Ingemann (1789-
1862), who was born in Denmark the 28th May, 1789.
His father was a clergyman, and he was also intended for
the Church. At a comparatively early age he published
his poems, mostly of a romantic character, concerning
which there was much division of opinion.
He afterwards pubUshed a series of romantic-patriotic
descriptions of the hero kings of the middle ages,
undoubtedly greatly infiuenced by the writings of Sir
Walter Scott. These books are stiU, and will probably
continue to be, the most popular reading amongst the
Danish people. Whilst he thus roused the patriotic spirit
of his countrymen, his early religious training manifested
c2

386 THE HYMN LOVER.
itself in his hymns, which form a conspicuous part in the
Danish Church and School Service. Manly vigour, and
almost childlike tendemess, together with true faith and a
firm belief that there will be light after the darkness, form
the most prominent features in his hymns. Scarcely was
any poet more appreciated by his country than Ingemann.
On his 70th birthday the Danish children presented him
with a splendid golden horn. The subscriptions were
Umited to a halfpenny, and every chUd throughout the
land gave its mite toward the man, who perhaps even in
the same degree as Hans Christian Andersen, had cheered
their childhood. He died a few years after greatly
lamented. Few, who ever saw the old poet and his amiable wife —
PhUemon and Baucis they were called — in their quiet
cottage in the beautiful Soro' surrounded by roses, are
Ukely to forget them.
Through Mr. Baring-Gould's fine rendering, one of his
hymns— a singularly inspiring one — " Through the night
of doubt and sorrow " (Igjennem Nat og TraengselJ, has
established itself in English favour.
In her "Yoice of Christian Life in Song," Mis. Charles
has given translations of a few Swedish hymns, but, so far
as I know, none from this source have passed into English
use. The battle-song of Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden,
is probably unique in this respect, that the thoughts were
his, and their versification by another. Here is the story : —
"The brave king was no man of letters. The fire of
faith which burned in his heart was more wont to fuse
the iron of heroic deeds than the gold of beautiful words.
But the thoughts were in his heart; had they not inspired
him in march and battlefield ? So he told his chaplain,

FRENCH AND OTHER HYMNS. 387
Dr. Jacob Fabricius what his thoughts were, and the
chaplain moulded them into three verses of a hymn, and
the simple-hearted hero took them ever afterwards as his
battle-song." Be not dismay' d, thou Uttle flock.
Although the foe's fierce battle shook
Loud on all sides assail thee.
Though o'er thy faU they laugh secure.
Their triumph cannot long endure ;
Let not thy courage fail thee.
Thy cause is God's : go at His call.
And to His hand commit Thy aU ;
Fear thou no ill impending :
Hia Gideon shaU arise for thee,
God's Word and people manfully.
In God's own time defending.
Our hope is sure in Jesus' might ;
Against themselves the godless fight.
Themselves, not us, distressing ;
Shame and contempt their lot shall be :
God is with us, with Him are we.
To us belongs Hia blessing.
Wales is rich in hymns — so say those who are
acquainted with its hymnody ; but, probably on account
of the difficulty of rendering them into the English
language, only two have come into our hymnals : "Guide
me, 0 Thou great Jehovah," and " O'er the gloomy hills
of darkness," by WUliam WiUiams. The Rev. H. Elvet
Lewis has published a volume of translations of Welsh
hymns.

388

CHAPTEE XX.

AMERICAN HYMNS.
Geiat as is the past of EngUsh literature, its future is
likely to be still greater, both on account of the increase
of the English-speaking race, and the variety of lands in
which its lot is now cast, for there wUl be not only a
greater number of contributors to the stores of English
literature, but the peoples, cUmate, condition, and
scenery will probably give rise to new types both of
thought and expression. At present America is the only
EngUsh-speaking offshoot from the mother country which
has existed long enough to develop a literature of its own.
Australia is budding into letters, especially of the poetic
kind, but, although the promise is great, the time of fruit
is not yet. In the case of America, however, there has
been sufficient time for the bud, the blossom, the slowly-
forming fruit, and now we near the harvest, if not the fuU
one, yet the first ingatherings of one which bids fair to
rival that of the old counti-y.
My concern in the present chapter is only with one
small part of this Uterary harvest, one which some would
exclude as altogether unworthy of a place therein, and
not altogether without good reason, since a very large
number of the hymns of the past have been so destitute
of literary grace or poetic inspiration as to be quite
unworthy of a place in literature. Dr. Johnson said of

AMERICAN HYMNS. 389
Dr. Watts, ' ' that he had succeeded in doing better than
others, what no one had succeeded in doing well." There
was, at that time, a measure of truth in that saying. But
before Dr. Watts there had been writers who had written
fine hymns, even judged from a Uterary standpoint, so
that even then materials existed for a good, if not a large,
coUection of EngUsh hymns, which, from a variety of
causes, had been strangely overlooked and neglected ;
whilst among Dr. Watts' six hundred hymns, many of
which are very inferior, there are a few grand hymns ;
and since his time many writers have produced hymns
which an unprejudiced judgment would include among
the literary treasures of the English-speaking race.
Amongst such, the hymns of our friends across the
Atlantic hold no small or undistinguished place. Indeed,
some of the finest work of this kind of recent times has
had to travel across the ocean which separates us from
that great country.
The excellence of much American hymn-work is due to
certain causes which do not prevail in England. One of
these is the absence of an EstabUshed Church, with its
venerable and greatly-loved Liturgy, which allows less
space for hymn-singing than do the churches which rely
on extemporaneous utterance in their devotional services.
Of course there is an Episcopal Church in America, which,
Uke its elder sister in this country, retains — ^though in an
altered form — the Book of Common Prayer in its worship,
but that Church is neither the dominant, nor the most
infiuential, nor the most numerous Church of that land.
The great majority of the American Churches rely, either
altogether or in part, on extemporaneous utterance in
their devotional services, and so leave a larger place open

390 THE HYMN LOVER.
for the singing of hymns, than Churches whose services
are wholly liturgical.
Another reason for the excellence of much American
hymn-writing is to be found in the custom which prevails
of inviting those with poetic power to contribute verses
for the great anniversaries in their history — social,
national, ecclesiastical. This has drawn into the ranks
of the hymnists some of the most notable writers.
Scarcely an American poet of any eminence could be
named who has not been led to consecrate his genius to
hymn-production. Some of the finest hymns by American
authors have had this origin. In England, the names of
our greater poets are conspicuous by their absence from
the roll of the hymnists. They have either not thought
of hymns as a form for the expression of their genius,
or have deemed them unworthy of their powers. And our
national customs have done nothing to call out their
genius in that direction, save occasionally by asking for an
ode, or poem, or song, for some great celebration. What
glorious additions to our hymnals might have been made if
Lord Tennyson, or Robert Browning, or Lewis Morris
had been asked to compose hymns for great occasions, as
Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier, and
others, have been in America !
It should also be noted that the American poets have
been more deeply touched by religious feeling than their
brothers in England, so that their poetry is more
devotional in its tone. This has made it possible to
extract verses from their poems, which, though not
written as hymns, have been eminently suited for use in
worship.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 391
All these causes combined have conspired to produce a
mass of verses which are very remarkable.
Hymn-writing in America began with the present
century. Before that time only metrical versions of the
Psalms were in use ; the flrst collection having been the
celebrated Bay Psalm Book, or New England version,
published in 1640, of which it is said that no less than 70
editions were printed in Boston, London, and Edinburgh.
This was revised in 1767 by Thomas Prince, but was soon
superseded by Tate and Brady's version. Rather later
(1750-1780) editions of Tate and Brady were issued with
a supplement of hymns, chiefly from Dr. Watts. At the
end of the 18th century many editions of Dr. Watts'
Psalms and Hymns were pubUshed, in some of which the
Psalms were amended, by Joel Barlow in 1785, and by
Timothy Dwight in 1800. After this time the Metrical
Psalms were issued, with hymns appended ; in the
Episcopal Church, the version of Tate and Brady, and in
the Presbyterian and Congregational, Watts' version being
used. But as time went on, the Psalms fell more and
more into the background, and hymns became prominent.
The hymns used in America have been chiefly drawn
from English sources, hardly a tenth part being of
native origin. In many collections the proportion of
American hymns is much smaller — in the "Methodist
Episcopal Hymn Book" of 1849, only 50 out of a total of
1,148 are American; in the "Baptist Service of Song" there
are 100 out of a total of 1,129; so that though the store
of American hymns is by no means smaU, and is constantly
increasing, yet, as was to be expected from a new
community, it is insigniflcant compared with that of
England, which, through many centuries, has been

392 THE EYMN LOVER.
gradually accumulating. But in the future America is
destined, I believe, to contribute a larger proportion of
hymns, and to exert an immense influence on our EngUsh
Hymnody. A great number of American hymnists are quite un
known and entirely unrepresented in our English
collections. My concern in the present chapter is chiefly
with those whose hymns have found a place in our
own hymnals, and these represent the freshest and most
vigorous writers of the new country. I wiU group them
under the various Churches to which they belong.
From the Protestant Episcopal Church, hymns by about
ten writers have been included in English collections.
Henry Ustic Onderdonk, D.D. (1789-1868), second
Bishop of Pennsylvania, who is best known by the hymn
of Invitation, which begins, " The Spirit in our hearts."
WilUam Augustus Muhlenberg, D.D. (1796-1879), the
great-grandson of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the
founder of the German Lutheran Churoh in America,
whose Baptismal hymn, " Saviour, who Thy flock art
feeding," has deservedly become popular.
George Washington Doane, D.D. (1799-1869), Bishop
of New Jersey, was the author of the weU-known hymn,
" Thou art the way : to Thee alone ; " and the Missionary
hymn quoted below, a very striking and poetic utterance.
Fling out the banner ! let it float
Skyward and seaward, high and wide ;
The sun shall Ught its shining folds.
The Cross on which the Saviour died.
FUng out the banner ! angels bend
In anxious sUence o'er the sign ;
And vainly seek to comprehend
The wonder of the Love Divine.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 393

FUng out the banner ! heathen lands
ShaU see from far the glorious sight,
And nations crowding to he born.
Baptise their spirits in its light.
FUng out the banner ! sin-sick souls
That sink and perish in the strife,
ShaU touch in faith its radiant hem.
And spring immortal into life.
FUng out the banner ! let it float
Skyward and seaward, high and wide.
Our glory, only in the Cross ;
Our only hope, the Crucified !
Fling out the banner ! wide and high.
Seaward and skyward, let it shine :
Nor skill, nor might, nor nierit ours ;
We conquer only in that Sign.
Charies WUliam Everest, M.A. (1814-1877), for thirty-
one years Rector of Hampden, near New-Haven, Conn., to
whom we owe a fine hymn which has been so wretchedly
mangled, especially in the third verse, in nearly every
English collection, that I quote it in its proper form.
Take up thy cross, the Saviour said.
If thou wouldst My disciple be ;
Take up thy cross with willing heart.
And humbly foUow after Me.
Take up thy cross ; let not its weight
FUl thy weak soul with vain alarm ;
His strength shall bear thy spirit up.
And brace thy heart, and nerve thine arm
Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame.
And let thy fooUsh pride be stUl ;
Thy Lord refused not e'en to die
Upon a cross, on Calvai'y's hill.
Take up thy cross, then, in His strength.
And calmly sin's wild deluge brave ;
'Twill guide thee to a better home.
And point to glory o'er the grave.
Take up thy cross, and foUow on,
No]' think till death to lay it down ;
For only he who bears the croaa
May hope to wear the glorious crown.

394 THE HYMN LOVER.
In nearly every EngUsh hymnal, save my own, the
third verse is made to read thus —
Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame ;
Nor let thy foolish pride rebel ;
Thy Lord for thee the cross endured.
To save thy soul from death and hell.
A more shameless attempt to lorce dogma into a hymn,
singularly free from it, I do not remember.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1812-1896), known all over the
world as the authoress of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," and the
sister of Henry Ward Beecher, of whom, alter hearing in
London most ol the chiel preachers, she exclaimed, " Oh,
for haU-an-hour of my brother Hem-y," is the authoress
of hymns that are greatly prized in churches which do not
regard poetry in hymns as a fatal disqualification for then-
use in public worship. The best known, and they are
very beautiful, are the following : — " When winds are
raging o'er the upper ocean;" "StiU, still with Thee,
when purple morning breaketh ; " and the hymn on
" Abide with Me."
That mystic word of Thine, 0 sovereign Lord,
Is all too pure, too high, too deep for me ;
Weary of striving, and with longing faint,
I breathe it back again in prayer to Thee !
Abide in me, I pray, and I in Thee !
From this good hour, O leave me never more !
Then shaU the discord cease, the wound be healed,
The Ufe-long bleeding of the soul be o'er.
Abide in me ; o'ershadow by Thy love
Each half-formed purpose, and dark thought of sin ;
Quench, ere it rise, each selfish, low desire.
And keep my soul, as Thine, calm and divine.
As some rare perfume in a vase of clay
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own.
So, when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul,
AU heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 395
Abide in me ; there have been moments blest
When I have heard Thy voice and felt Thy power,
Then evU lost its gi'asp, and passion hushed.
Owned the divine enchantment of the hour.
These were but seasons, beautiful and rare ;
Abide in me, and they shaU ever be ;
Fulfil at once 'I?hy precept and my prayer —
Come, and abide in me, and I in Thee.
Arthur Cleveland Coxe, D.D. (1818-1896), Bishop
of Western New York, is known by three hymns, all of
which are of great merit. "How beauteous were the
marks divine ! " " Saviour, sprinkle many nations ! "
— one of the finest of our Missionary hymns — and the
very fine verse usually set to a part-song : " Now pray
we for our country," but originaUy written : " Now
pray we for our Mother."
He is also the author of another hymn of no little
merit, but lacking the unity of thought and compactness
of expression of those we have named — "Breath of the
Lord, 0 Spirit blest."
EUza Scudder (1821-1896) possessed a poetic gift equal
to that of Mrs. Beecher Stowe, with a greater mastery of
hymn forms, which renders her productions more available
for public worship. Her tiny little volume of only fifty
pages, " Hymns and Sonnets," by E.S., is more worthy of
retention than many a portly volume. In my judgment,
two of her hymns, especially, are amongst the very finest
of modern times — ^there is strength, tendemess, melody—
every quality needful to a good hymn to be found in
them. This is high praise, but my readers shall judge
for themselves by the foUowing. The first she calls
"Truth"— Thou long disowned, revUed, oppressed.
Strange Friend of human kind.
Seeking through weary years a rest
Within our hearts to flnd ; —

396 THE HYMN LOVER.
How late Thy bright and awful brow
Breaks through these clouds of sin :
Hail, Truth Divine ! we know Thee now,
Angel of God, come in !
Come, though with purifying fire
And swift-dividing sword.
Thou of all nations the Desire,
Earth waits Thy cleansing word
Struck by the lightning of Thy glance.
Let old oppressions die ;
Before Thy cloudless countenance
Let fear and falsehood fly.
Anoint our eyes with healing grace.
To see, aa not before,
Our Father in our brother's face.
Our Maker in His poor.
Flood our dark life with golden day :
Convince, subdue, enthral ;
Then to a mightier yield Thy sway.
And Love be aU in aU.
The second is on " The Love of God "^•
Thou Grace Divine, enefrcling all,
A shoreless, boundless sea.
Wherein at last our souls must faU ;
0 Love of God most free.
When over dizzy heights we go,
A soft hand bUnds our eyes.
And we are guided safe and slow ;
0 Love of God most wise.
And though we turn us from Thy face.
And wander wide and long,
Thou hold'st us still in kind embrace ;
0 Love of God most strong.
The saddened heart, the restless soul.
The toil-worn frame and mind.
Alike confess Thy sweet control,
O Love of God moat kind.
But not alone Thy care we claim,
Our wayward steps to win ;
We know Thee by a dearer name ;
O Love of God within.
And filled and quickened by Thy breath.
Our souls are strong and free.
To rise o'er sin and fear and death ;
O Love of God ! to Thee.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 397
Her hymn on " Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or
whither shaU I flee from Thy presence ?" which she caUs
" The Quest," is lovely, but a Uttle too subtle for public
worship. Her "Vesper Hymn" and "Collect for
Ascension Day " are both admirable.
When the Church fr-ees herself from a blind clinging to
old hymns, simply because they are old, and becomes free
to receive whatever is worthy, for her worship-song. Miss
Scudder will be more largely represented in our hymnals.
I shall be glad if my reference to her should direct
any future editors to a consideration of her exquisite
hymns. Turning to the Presbyterian section of the Churoh
in America, there is little to detain us. She has no Bonar
in her ranks. All her writers are more or less echoes.
Samuel Davies (1723-1761), the successor of Jonathan
Edwards as President of Princeton CoUege, is remem
bered as the author of the striking hymn, " Great God of
wonders, aU Thy ways," which used to be popular, but is
somewhat fading in popularity on account of its very
strong expressions concerning sinners.
James WaddeU Alexander, D.D. (1804-1859), is
remembered as the translator ol the best version of
Paul Gerhardt's noble hymn, "0 Haupt voU Blut und
Wunden," which begins, "0 Sacred Head, now
wounded," and of a version of the "Stabat Mater"
by Jacopone da Tode.
Thomas Mackellar (born 1812) is the author of many
hymns, which have a certain popularity in America, but I
have not been able, though I have examined them
carefully, to discern a single one distinctive enough to
be worthy of importation into England.

398 THE HYMN LOVER.
George Duffield, M.A. (1818-1888), successively
pastor of Presbyterian churches in Brooklyn, Bloomfield,
Philadelphia, and the West, is the author of one of
the best known and most popular of American hymns.
As no other hymn from his pen has the force of " Stand
up ! stand up for Jesus ! " it is natural to conclude
that this hymn owes much to the affecting circumstances
under which it was written. In 1858 the Rev. Dudley A.
Tyng had been engaged in a remarkable mission in
PhUadelphia, and on the Sunday before his death had
preached in Jaynes Hall one of the most stirring sermons
of modern times, so that out of the 5,000 present at the
delivery, at least a thousand are beUeved to have been
converted. On the following Wednesday he left his study
for a moment, and went to a bam where a mule was
at work on a horse-power, shelling com. Patting him on
the neck, the sleeve of his sUk study-gown caught in the
cogs of the wheel, and his arm was torn out by the roots,
and in a few hours he died. Just before his death he sent
the message, " Stand up for Jesus ! " to those assembled
at the Young Men's Christian Association prayer-meeting
—a message which suggested this hymn, and formed the
concluding exhortation of the funeral sermon for Mr.
Tyng, which was preached from Eph. vi. 14 by its author.
It was printed as a fiy-leaf for the Sunday-school scholars
by the superintendent ; thence it found its way into a
Baptist newspaper, and afterwards passed, either ip its
EngUsh or in translated forms, aU over the world. It, was
the favourite song of the Christian soldiers in the army of
the James in the American war. The original contains
two more verses than are usuaUy now printed m most
hymnals.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 399
To Thomas Hastings, Mus. Doc. (1784-1872), we owe
three hymns, " Now be the gospel banner I " " Hail to the
brightness of Zion's glad morning!" and " Return, 0
wanderer, to thy home I " which is an appeal rather than,
in the truest sense, a hymn. It was suggested by the
closing words of a sermon to which Dr. Hastings listened
in 1830 — " Sinner, come home ! come home ! come
home ! "
Of the other hymn-writers of this section of the
Church, about twenty in number, there is no need to
speak, as their hymns are little known in this country.
The Congregational Church in America has produced a
considerable number of hymnists, very few of whom are
represented in English Hymnals.
Timothy Dwight, D.D. (1752-1817). President of Yale
CoUege, whose "Theology" used to be much in favour,
published, by request, a revised version of Watts' Psalms,
and such hymns as he thought suitable. He did his work
as Professor in spite of failure of sight consequent on
smaU pox, which rendered it impossible for him, during
forty years, to read consecutively for fifteen minutes out
of the twenty -four hours ; whilst the pain behind the
eyeballs and in the frontal region of the brain was
agonising. The hymn by which he is known in England
is, "I love Thy Kingdom, Lord," which is marked by
great simplicity and pathos.
Ray Palmer, D.D. (1808-1888), pastor of churches at
Bath, Albany, Bellevue Avenue, and also Corresponding
Secretary of the American Congregational Union, is by
far the most notable hymnist and translator of the
American Congregational Church. His hymn, " My faith
looks up to Thee," is known aU over the world. The

400 THE HYMN LOVER.
story of its origin is thus given in Duffield's "EngUsh
Hymns" : —
" The hymn was written in 1830, but not pubUshed (as
a hymn) until 1 832. The author was in New York City,
' between his college and theological studies,' and was in
poor health, and a teacher in a ladies' school. Dr. Palmer
says : ' I gave form to what I felt by writing, with Uttle
effort, the stanzas. I recollect I wrote them with very
tender emotion, and ended the last Une with tears.' The
manuscript was then placed in a pocket-book, where it
remained for some time. Its true discoverer was Lowell
Mason, the musician, who asked young Palmer if he had
not some hymn or hymns to contribute to his new book.
The pocket-book was produced, and the Uttle hymn (then
between two and three years old, and never previously
utilised, though it had been in print as a poem) was
brought to light. Dr. Mason was attracted by it, and
desired a copy. They stepped together into a store (it
was in Boston), and the copy was made and taken away
without further comment. On carefully reading the
hymn at home. Dr. Mason was so interested that he
wrote for it the tune ' Olivet,' to which it is usuaUy
sung. Two or three days later, he again met the author
in the street, and scarcely waiting to salute him, he said,
' Mr. Palmer, you may live many years, and do many
good things, but I think you will be best known to
posterity as the author of " My faith looks up to
Thee." ' "
The full pubUcation of this hymn occurred in 1832,
but it received no particular notice in America. It had,
however, obtained a reprint in some religious papers,
from one of which the Rev. Andrew Reed, D.D., of

AMERICAN HYMNS. 401
London, secured it while he was in that country, Dr.
Reed took it away for his prospective hynm-book, and
pubUshed it anonymously. "It had," said Dr. J. G.
Rankin, " several years of transatlantic life before it was
much known in America, and possibly was indebted to its
foreign and imcertain origin for its first recognition here,
as many another native production has been." " As
originally written " (says Mr. Frederick Saunders, in
" Evenings with the Sacred Poets "), " the hymn con
sisted of six stanzas ; the fijst two are omitted, four only
being given in the Church collections. It has been
translated into Arabic, and much used at missionary
stations in Turkey. It has not only been translated into
TamU, but into Tahitian and the Mahratta, and wiU doubt
less find its way wherever the Bible has penetrated." We
have ourselves seen it in Chinese, and, in fact, it is to be
found wherever American missionaries have rendered into
native tongues the hymns famiUar to their home churches.
Its first appearance in America was in "Spiritual Songs
for Social Worship " (by Dp. Thomas Hastings and Dr.
LoweU Mason), in 1832. In this book, the tune is
entitled " My faith looks up to Thee," but is the same as
" Olivet." EquaUy good, but in quite a different strain, being
richer in thought but less pathetic in expression, is
the foUowing, which should be more widely known than
it is : — Lord, my weak thought in vain would climb
To search the starry vault profound ;
In vain would wing her flight subUme,
To find creation's utmost bound.
But weaker yet that thought must prove
To search thy great eternal plan,
Thy sovereign counsels, born of love
Long ages ere the world began. n 2

402 THE EYMN LOVER.
When my dim reason would demand
Why that, or this, Thou dost ordain.
By some vast deen I seem to stand
"Whose secrets I must ask in vain.
When doubts disturb my troubled breast.
And aU is dark as night to me,
Here, as on solid rock, I rest, —
That so it seemeth good to Thee.
Be this my joy, that evermore
Thou rulest aU things at Thy wUl;
Thy sovereign wisdom I adore.
And calmly, sweetly, trust 'Thee stUl.
In a strain betwixt the two is the loUowing : —
Jesus, these eyes have never seen
That radiant form of Thine ;
The veil of sense hangs dark between
Thy blessed face and mine.
I see Thee not, I hear Thee not.
Yet art Thou oft with me ;
And earth has ne'er so dear a spot
As where I meet with Thee.
Like some bright dream, that comes unsought.
When slumbers o'er me roll,
Thine image ever fills my thought.
And charms my ravished soul.
Yea, though I have not seen, and still
Must rest in faith alone,
I love Thee, dearest Lord, and wiU,
Unseen but not unknown.
When death these mortal eyes shall seal.
And still this throbbing heart ;
The rending veil shaU Thee reveal
AU glorious as Thou art.
Quite equal to these are some ol his translations — fr-om
Robert II. ol France, " Come, Holy Ghost, in love " ;
from St. Bernard ol Clairvaux, "Jesus, Thou joy ol
loving hearts," one ol the finest Communion hymns we
possess ; and from anonymous Latin authors, " I give my
heart to Thee," and " 0 bread to pilgrims given."
During the last three or four days of his life. Dr. Ray
Palmer lay most of the time apparently unconscious.

AMERICAN EYMNS. 403
When told by his son at the beginning of this time that
the end was near, he answered " Thank God," in a louder
tone of voice than he had employed for some time.
Occasionally he would be heard to repeat to himseU a
hymn of faith and praise, now one of Wesley's and now
one of his own. The last words he was heard to utter
were spoken not many hours before his death. His lips
were seen to move, and listening ears caught a few
syllables, inarticulately spoken, of the last verse of his
hymn entitled, " Jesus, these eyes have never seen '' —
When death these mortal eyes shall seal.
And stiU this throbbing heart.
The rending veU shall Thee reveal
All glorious as Thou art."
Dr. Ray Palmer is the most widely-known and deeply-
loved hymnist of America.
The Baptist body, like the Congregationalist, has had a
large number of hymnists, but there is no one amongst
them at all to be compared with Ray Palmer. If we
except Philip Bliss (1838-1876), who has become popular
by hymns from his pen included in " Sacred Songs and
Solos," edited by Ira D. Sankey, and Samuel Francis
Smith, D.D., bom 1808, who wrote what is practicaUy
the American national hymn, " My country! 'tis ol thee,"
and who wrote four verses to complete Alaric A. Watts'
hymn, ""When shall we meet again," there is no writer
of this Church who has secured sufficient notice in
England to deserve mention.
The Methodist Churoh has been so dominated by the
hymns of Charles Wesley that practically she has done
nothing to enrich the stores of American song. Beyond
three writers of chUdren's hymns — Dr. WilUam Hunter
(1811-1877), Dr. Thomas 0. Summers (1812-1882), and

404 TEE EYMN LOVER.

Fanny J. Van Alstyne (bom 1823), I do not discover a
single hymnist represented in English coUeetions. A
great hymn writer like Charles Wesley — perhaps the
greatest the Church has ever had— naturaUy so fills the
worship of the Church he did so much to found, as to
discourage others from entering the field, or putting their
work into comparison with his.
The Unitarian Church never had a Watts or Wesley
to express its conceptions of religion, and so there was a
more open field for those in its midst who possessed the
poetic gifts. To quote the words of a great authority
on American Hymnody, belonging to the Episcopal
Church : "It possessed a large share of the best blood
and brain in the most cultivated section of America." It
has probably contributed the most finished hymns to the
treasury of American song. This is not to be wondered
at, when it is remembered that the great majority of the
more noteworthy poets of America belong to this Church
— William CuUen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jones
Very, James Russell LoweU.
It must be remembered that, in the main, the Unitarian
Church in America has been far nearer to orthodoxy,
both in doctrine and spirit, than that which goes under
the same name in England. Many of its hymns are
sufficient evidence of this ; so much so that when, many
years ago, tho ReUgious Tract Society published a volume
caUed Lyra Americana, the Editor, in his preface, said :
" It would be difficult, or even impossible, to determine
the ecclesiastical or doctrinal status of each writer from
the internal evidence afforded by his poetry. The great
object of their adoration and their grateful love is Christ

AMERLCAN HYMNS. 405
crucified. All are one in Him. Differences are merged
in a common unity when He is the theme. With ' diver
sity of gifts ' there is but ' one spirit.' ' They know
but one Saviour, and one God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in us aU.'" In a
book thus prefaced, I found, out of a total of one
hundred and twenty-four hymns, at the very lowest
computation, forty-three by writers who belong to the
Unitarian Church. But the Editor, judging them only
by their productions, declares that they aU are one in
Christ. And the unprejudiced mind which goes over the
chief hymns ol this school wUl agree with this dictum.
The spirit is eminently and deeply Christian, lar more so
than in a large number which might be named by
orthodox writers. Readers may judge for themselves by
the specimens which I append.
Taking them in chronological order, we have —
John Pierpont (1786-1866), whose life was varied and
remarkable. After graduating at Yale CoUege, he taught
for a time both in an academy and in a private family,
then he studied law, and became a barrister — a profession
which conscientious scruples led him to give up, and he
gave himself to Uterary and commercial pursuits. At
last he entered the Cambridge Divinity School, where he
graduated in 1818, and up tiU 1869 was engaged in
the reg-ular ministry over various Unitarian Churches.
When the war broke out in 1861, he became chaplain to
the Massachusetts regiment, but his increasing infirmities
compeUed him to retire, and the rest of his Ufe was
employed in the Treasury Department at Washington in
ananging its Decisions. His hymns combine terseness and

406 THE HYMN LOVER.
tendemess in an unusual degree, as may be seen in the
one by which he is best known in England : —
O Thou, to whom in ancient time
The lyre of Hebrew bards was strung ;
Whom kings adored in songs sublime.
And prophets praised with glowing tongue :
Not now on Zion's height alone.
Thy favoured worshippers may dwell.
Nor where at sultry noon Thy Son
Sat weary, by the patriarch's well :
From every place below the skies.
The grateful song, the fervent prayer.
The incense of the heart, may rise
To heaven, and flnd acceptance there.
To Thee shaU age with snowy hair.
And strength and beauty, bend the knee ;
And chUdhood lisp with reverent air.
Its praises and its prayers to Thee.
O Thou, to whom, in ancient time.
The lyre of prophet-bards was strung, —
To Thee, at last, in evei-y clime,
ShaU temples rise and praise be sung.
This hymn was written for the opening of the
Independent Congregational Church in Bartin Square,
Salem, Massachusetts, December 7th, 1824, to which
reference is made in the foUowing verse, which is usually
omitted : — In this. Thy house, whose doors we now
For social worship, first unfold.
To thee the suppliant throng shaU bow,
WhUe circling years on years are rolled.
His Morning and Evening Hymns for a child are marked
by the characters to which I have already referred, and
are very beautiful.
Henry Ware, junior (1794-1843), eldest son of the
HolUs Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, was pastor of
the Second Church at Boston, in which charge, on account
of illness, he had fc* a time as colleague Ralph Waldo
Emerson. Mr. Ware afterwards became Professor of

AMERICAN HYMNS. 407
Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care in the Cambridge
Theological School, a post he held from 1829 to 1842,
and, exhausted by his arduous work, retired to
Framingham, where he died. Dr. Ware was a hymnist
of a very high order. Some of his hymns are full of
lyrio fire. Perhaps the finest is the foUowing :¦ —
Lift your glad voices in triumph on high.
For Jesus has risen, and man cannot die ;
Vain were the terrors that gathered around Him,
And short the dominion of death and the grave ;
He burst fi'om the fetters of darkness that bound Him,
Resplendent in glory to Uve and to save.
Loud waa the choi'us of angels on high.
The Saviour hath risen, and man shall not die.
Glory to God, in fuU anthems of joy ;
The being He gave us death cannot destroy ;
Sad were the Ufe we must part with to-morrow.
If tears were our birthright, and death were our end ;
But Jesus hath cheered the dark valley of sorrow.
And bade us, immortal, to heaven ascend.
Lift, then, your voices in triumph on high.
For Jesus hath risen, and man shaU not die !
Probably the best hymn we possess for the opening of
an organ we owe to him.
AU nature's works His praise declare.
To whom they aU belong ;
There is a voice in every star.
In every breeze a song.
Sweet music fiUs the world abroad
With strains of love and power ;
The stormy sea sings praise to God,
The thunder and the shower.
To God the tribes of ocean cry.
And birds upon the wing ;
To God the powers that dweU on high
Their tuneful tribute bring.
Like them, let man the throne surround.
With them, loud chorus raise,
WhUe instruments of loftier sound
Assist his feeble praise.
Great God, to Thee we consecrate
Our voices and our skUl ;
We bid the peaUng organ wjiit
To speak alone Thy wUl.

408 THE HYMN LOVER.
O teach its rich and sweUing notes
To Uft our souls on high.
And while the music round us floats.
Let earth-born passion die.
The loUowing, suitable for family gatherings, is
exquisitely tender : —
In this glad hour, when chUdren meet.
And home with them thefr children bring,
Our hearts with one affection beat.
One song of praise our voices sing.
For aU the faithful, loved and dear.
Whom Thou so kindly. Lord, hast given,
For those who still are with us here,
And those who wait for us in heaven ; —
For every past and present joy.
For, honour, competence, and health,
For hopes which time may not destroy.
Our soul's imperishable wealth ;
For aU, accept our humble praise ;
StiU bless us, Father, by Thy love ;
And when are closed our mortal days.
Unite us in one home above.
WiUiam CuUen Bryant (1794-1881), by some regarded
as the finest poet of America, has contributed hymns of
great deUcacy and beauty. These were included in a little
book published in 1864, which contained nineteen hymns;
another Ulustration of the fact that the nobler the poet
the more reticent he is in the composition of hymns. The
best known of his hymns in England, was written for the
dedication of a church in Prince Square, New York,
afterwards destroyed by fire.
Thou, whose unmeasured temple stands
Built over earth and sea.
Accept the waUs that human hands
Have raised, O God, to Thee.
And let the Comforter and Friend,
Thy Holy Spirit, meet
With those who here in worship bend
Before Thy mercy-seat.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 409
May they who err be guided here
To find the better way ;
And they who mourn, and they who fear.
Be strengthened as they pray.
May faith grow firm, and love grow warm.
And haUowed wishes rise.
While round these peaceful waUs the storm
Of earth-born passion dies.
The following hymn for Home Missions is the finest we
possess for such a purpose : —
Look from Thy sphere of endless day,
0 God of mercy and of might ;
In pity look on those who stray
Benighted, in this land of Ught.
In peopled vale, iu lonely glen.
In crowded mart, by stream or sea.
How many of the sons of men
Hear not the message sent from Thee,
Send forth Thy heralds. Lord, to call
The thoughtless young, the hardened old,
A scattered homeless flock, till aU
Be gathered to Thy peaceful fold.
Send them Thy mighty word to speak.
Till faith shall dawn, and doubt depart,
To awe the bold, to stay the weak.
And bind and heal the broken heart.
Then aU these wastes, a dreary scene.
That make us sadden as we gaze,
ShaU grow, with living waters green.
And lift to heaven the voice of praise.
The foUowing beautiful hymn of Intercession for
Children has usuaUy been ascribed to W. C. Bryant;
but is by the Rev. WiUiam Bryant, born in 1850 at
Folkestone, England, and now Editor of the Michigan
Presbyterian. It was written at Elizabeth, New Jersey,
and appeared in the New York Witness, June, 1875.
Standing forth on life's rough way,
Father, guide them ;
Oh ! we know not what of harm
May betide them !
'Neath the shadow of Thy wing,
Father, hide them ;
Walking, sleeping. Lord, we pray.
Go beside them.

410 THE EYMN LOVER.
When in prayer they cry to Thee,
Thou wilt hear them :
From the stains of sin and shame
Thou wilt clear them ;
'Mid the quicksands and the rocks.
Thou wilt steer them ;
In temptation, trial, grief.
Be Thou near them.
Unto Thee we give them up.
Lord, receive them ;
In the world we know must be
Much to grieve them —
Many striving oft and strong
To deceive them :
Trustful, in Thy hands of love
We must leave them.
WilUam Henry Furness (1802-1896) was for more
than half a century minister of the Congregational
Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. He has been a
voluminous and able writer on many subjects, and an
eloquent advocate of freedom and peace. To a volume of
prayers, called "Domestic Worship," he appended six
hymns, one of which for Evening is in my judgment the
most suggestive we possess. It embodies the exquisite idea
of Blanco White's sonnet — ^probably the finest in the
language, beginning, "Mysterious night, when our first
parents knew." Slowly, by Thy hand unfurled,
Down around the weary world
FaUs the darkness ; O how still
Is the working of Thy will !
Mighty Maker, here am I,
Work in me as silently ;
VeU the day's distracting sights ;
Show me heaven's eternal lights.
From the darkened sky come forth
Countless stars— a wondrous birth !
So may gleams of glory start
From this dim abyss, my heart.
Living worlds to view be brought
In the boundless realms of thought.
High and infinite desires.
Flaming like those upper fires !

AMERLCAN EYMNS. 411
Holy Truth, Eternal Right-
Let them break upon my sight;
Let them shine serenely still,
And with light my being fill.
Thou who dwellest there, I know
DweUest here within me too ;
May the perfect love of God
Here, as there, be shed abroad.
Let my soul attuned be
To the heavenly harmony
Which, beyond the power of sound.
FiUs the universe around.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), who fiUs so large a
place in American literature, and exercised so deep an
infiuenee on religious thought both in that country and in
England, is represented in many English Hymnals by the
following hymn, which is very distinctive and beautiful: —
We love the venerable house
Our fathers built to God : —
In heaven are kept theii gi'ateful vows.
Their dust endears the sod.
Here holy thoughts a light have shed
From many a radiant face.
And prayers of tender hope have spread
A perfume through the place.
And anxious hearts have pondered here
The mystery of life.
And prayed the eternal Light to cleai'
Their doubts and aid their strife.
From humble tenements around
Came up the pensive train.
And in the Church a blessing found.
That filled their homes again;
For faith, and peace, and mighty love, ¦
That from the Godhead flow.
Showed them the life of heaven above
Springs from the Ufe below.
They live with God, their homes are dust ;
Yet here their children pray.
And in this fleeting life-time trust
To find the narrow way.
On him who by the altar stands.
On him Thy blessing fall !
Speak through his lips Thy pure commands
Thou Heart, that lovest all.

412 TEE HYMN LOVER.
"All before us lies the way" has often been ascribed
to Emerson, but it is by EUza Thayer Clapp, and first
appeared in "The Dial," edited by Margaret Fuller, and
to which Emerson contributed.
Frederick Henry Hedge (1805-1890) was one of the most
accompUshed scholars of America, and occupied the post of
Professor of German Literature at Harvard College. In
conjunction with Bishop Huntington he edited " Hymns
for the Church," where most of his own hymns are to be
found. Perhaps the most striking of his original hymns
is the following, which is finding its way into many
EngUsh Hymnals. It is finished ! Man of Sorrows !
From Thy cross our frailty bon'Ows
Strength to bear and conquer thus !
WhUe extended there we view Thee,
Mighty Sufferer ! draw us to Thee,
Sufferer victorious !
Not in vain for us uplifted,
Man of Sorrows, wonder gifted.
May that sacred emblem be ;
Lifted high amid the ages.
Guide of heroes, saints, and sages,
May it guide us stiU to Thee !
StiU to Thee ! whose love unbounded.
Sorrow's depths for us hath sounded.
Perfected by conflicts sore.
Honoured be Thy cross for ever ;
Star that points our high endeavour
Whither Thou hast gone before !
His work as a translator is very fine. His rendering of
Luther's famous "Ein feste burg ist unser Gott," is of
very high merit. The same may be said of his translation
of the " Yeni Sancte Spiritus."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1883), the most
popular, though, in my judgment, not the greatest poet of
America, has written much sacred poetry of a very tender

AMERICAN EYMNS. 413
kind; but although some editors have included his "Psalm
of Life," and his "Hymn for his Brother's Ordination," in
their Hymnals, I cannot say that these can rightly be
accounted hymns, or that he should be included among the
hymnists. Sarah Elizabeth Miles (bom 1807) wrote in her early
days three hymns which her father (Nathaniel W.
Appleton) recognised as worthy, and sent to be printed.
One of these is of great merit, and is known aU over the
EngUsh-speaking world. It first appeared in 1827 in the
"Christian Examiner." The following is the full and
correct text ; it has often been altered, but not improved :
Thou who didst stoop below
To drain the cup of woe.
Wearing the form of fraU mortaUty ;
Thy bles'fed labours done.
Thy crown of victory won.
Hast passed from earth, passed to Thy throne on high.
Our eyes behold Thee not.
Yet hast Thou not forgot
Those who have placed their hope, their trust in Thee
Before Thy Father's face
Thou hast prepared a place.
That where Thou art, there they may also be.
It was no path of flowers.
Which, through this world of ours,
Belovfed of the Father, Thou didst tread ;
And shall we, in dismay
Shrink from the narrow way.
When clouds and darkness are around it spread ?
O Thou, who art our life.
Be with us through the strife ;
Thy holy head by earth's fierce storms was bowed :
Raise Thou our eyes above.
To see a Father's love
Beam, like a bow of promise, through the cloud.
And O, if thoughts of gloom
Should hover o'er the tomb.
That light of love our guiding star shaU be :
Our spirit shall not dread
The shadowy path to tread,
Friend, Guardian, Saviour, which doth lead to Thee.

414 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Stephen Greenleal Bulfinch (1809-1870), who minis
tered to various churches in the body to which he belonged,
was a man of beautiful spirit, a good classical scholar, and
possessed considerable poetic power. Many of his hymns
appeared in " Lays of the Gospel." Three of these are
becoming increasingly popular. One of the most poetic
ol our hymns for " The Sabbath-day " is from his pen.
HaU to the Sabbath-day,
The day divinely given.
When men to God their homage pay.
And earth draws near to heaven.
Lord, in Thy sacred hour.
Within Thy courts we bend ;
And bless Thy love, and own Thy power.
Our Father and our Friend.
But Thou art not alone
In courts by mortals trod ;
Nor only is the day Thine own
When crowds adore their God.
Thy temple is the arch
Of yon unmeasured sky ;
Thy Sabbath the stupendous march
Of vast Eternity.
Lord, may that holier day
Dawn on Thy servants' sight :
And grant us in "Thy courts to pray
Of pm'e, unclouded light.
Singularly tender and sympathetic is the following: —
Most gracious Saviour ! 'twas not Thine
To spurn the erring from Thy sight ;
Nor did Thy smile of love divine
Turn from the penitent its Ught.
Shall we who own the Christian name,
A brother's fault too sternly view.
Or think Thy holy name can blame.
The tear to human frailty due ?
May we, while human guilt awakes
Upon our cheek the generous glow.
Spare the offender's heart that breaks
Beneath its load of shame and woe.

AMERLCAN EYMNS. 415
Conscious of frailty, may we yield
Forgiveness of the wrongs we bear ;
And strive the penitent to shield
From further sin or dark despair.
And when our own offences weigh
Upon our hearts with anguish sore.
May we remember Thou didst say,
" In peace depart, but sin no more."
His hymn for the Communion strikes a new note, and is
full of a large-hearted charity.
We gather to the sacred board,
Perchance a scanty band ;
But with us in sublime accord
What mighty armies stand !
In creed and rite howe'er apart.
One Saviour stiU we own.
And pour the worship of the heart
Before our Father's throne.
A thousand spires o'er hUl and vale
Point to the same blue heaven ;
A thousand voices teU the tale
Of grace through Jesus given.
High choirs, in Europe's ancient fanes,
Praise Him for man who died ;
And o'er the boundless Western plains
His name is glorified.
Around His tomb, on Salem's height,
Greek and Armenian bend ;
And through aU Lapland's months of night
The peasants' hymns asc^id.
Are we not brethren ? Saviour dear !
Then may we walk in love.
Joint subjects of Thy kingdom here,
Joint heirs of bUss above !
WhUst the following moves along a Une very rare in
hymns : — Hath not thy heart within thee burned
At evening's calm and holy hour.
As if its inmost depths discerned
The presence of a loftier Power ?
Hast thou not heard 'mid forest glades,
WhUe ancient rivers murmured by,
A voice from forth the eternal shades.
That spake a present Deity ?

416 TEE EYMN LOVER.
And as upon the sacred page,
Thine eye in rapt attention turned
O'er records of a holier age.
Hath not thy heart within thee bumed ?
It was the voice of God, that spake
In sUence to thy silent heart ;
And bade each holier thought awake.
And every dream of earth depart.
Voice of our God, O yet be near I
In low, sweet accents, whisper peace ;
Direct us on our pathway here ;
Then bid in heaven our wanderings cease.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D. (1809-1894), whose
delightlul books, "The Autocrat ol the Breakfast Table,"
and the "Poet" and the " Professor" in the same series,
are known and prized by aU lovers of suggestive thought
and beautiful English, fiUs a small place among American
hymnists, but fills it as no one else could do. Every
reader of the "Professor at the Breakfast Table" will have
been struck with the loUowing Sunday hymn, with which
one ol its chapters closes : —
Lord of aU being ! throned afar.
Thy glory flames from sun and st.-r.
Centre and sun of every sphere.
Yet to each loving heart how near !
Sun of our life ! Thy quickening ray
Sheds on our path the glow of day :
Star of our hope ! Thy softened light
Cheers the long watches of the night.
Our midnight is Thy smile withdrawn.
Our noontide is Thy gracious dawn.
Our rainbow arch Thy mercy's sign,
AU save the clouds of sin are Thine !
Lord of all life, below, above.
Whose light is trath, whose warmth is love ;
Before Thy ever blazing throne
We ask no lustre of our own.
Grant us Thy truth to make us free.
And kindUng hearts that bum for Thee;
TUl aU Thy living altai's claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame.

AMERICAN EYMNS. ill
EquaUy beautiful, but even more tender, is the following
hymn of Trust : —
O Love Divine, that stooped to share
Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear.
On Thee we cast each eai'th-born care :
We smUe at pain whUe Thou art near !
Though long the weary way we tread.
And sorrow crown each lingering year ;
No path we shun, no darkness dread.
Our hearts stiU whispering. Thou art near.
When drooping pleasure turns to grief.
And trembling faith is changed to fear :
The murmuring wind, the quivering leaf,
ShaU softly teU us. Thou art near !
On Thee we fling our burdening woe,
0 Love Divine, for ever dear :
Content to suffer, while we know.
Living and dying. Thou ai-t near !
Less known, but very beautiful, is his latest written
hymn — " Our Father, while our hearts unlearn."
There are three hymnists born in the same year (1810)
who deserve notice. The flrst is —
Edmund Henry Sears, D.D. (1810-1876), one of the
most spiritual teachers of the American Unitarian Church,
to whom we owe the volume, "The Heart of Christianity,"
has given us two Christmas hymns. The flrst of these,
which begins, " Calm on the Ustening ear of night," is
probably the more popular in America, and is described by
Dr. WendeU Holmes as "one of the finest and most
beautiful hymns ever written." The second, beginning,
" It came upon the midnight clear," is the more popular
in England, and is, I think, the finer of the two. Dr.
Morison of Milton says of this hymn : " I always feel that
however poor my Christmas sermon may be, the reading
and singing of this hymn are enough to make up for aU
deficiencies." It is happUy too weU known to need
quotation here. E 2

418 TEE EYMN LOVER.

The second is —
Chandler Robbins, D.D. (1810-1882), the successor of
Ralph Waldo Emerson in the charge of the Second Church
in Boston, did much good work in improving American
hymnody. If for no other, he deserves remembrance as
the author of the following hymn for the close of worship :
Lo ! the day of rest deolineth.
Gather fast the shades of night ;
May the Sun that ever shineth
FUl our souls with heavenly Ught.
Softly now the dew is falling :
Peace o'er all the scene is spread ;
On His children, meekly caUing,
Purer influence God will shed.
While Thine ear of love addressing.
Thus our parting hymn we sing —
Father, give Thine evening blessing ;
Fold us safe beneath Thy wing.
Of this hymn the following story is told : — A company of
Bostonians, among whom was Mrs. HUl, a daughter of Dr.
Robbins, were returning from England in a Cunard
steamer. An aged Scotch Presbyterian minister and his
wife were among the passengers. The party were singing
hymns on deck at the close of a lovely Sabbath day, when
the clergyman went to his state-room and brought a book
of hymns and tunes to show them what he said was the
sweetest hymn he knew, set to the sweetest tune. What
was the Boston lady's surprise to hear him repeat the lines
which her own father had written : " Lo ! the day of rest
decUneth," and begin to sing " Bedford Street " — a tune
composed for the- words by Mr. L. B. Barnes, President of
the Handel and Haydn Society, and named after the
author's own church, which was in Bedford Street,
Boston.* Gf. Putnam's " Singers of Songs of the Liberal Faith,'' p. 309.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 419
The third is—
James Freeman Clarke, D.D. ( 1 8 1 0-1 888), was one ol the
most erudite and popular authors ol America. For many
years he was minister ol the Church ol the Disciples in
Boston, and lor a part ol the time held the Prolessorship
ol Natural Theology and Christian Doctrine in the Theo
logical School at Cambridge. Many ol his hymns are
worthy of a place in our English collections. At present,
however, only one, perhaps the most distinctive and
beautiful of them aU, is known at aU widely on this side
of the Atlantic. Dear Friend, whose presence in the house.
Whose gracious word benign.
Could once, at Cana's wedding-feast.
Change water into wine —
Come, visit us, and when dull work
Grows weary, Une on line,
Revive our souls, and make us see
Life's water glow as wine.
Gay mirth shaU deepen into joy.
Earth's hope shaU grow divine.
When Jesus visits us, to turn
Life's water into wine.
The social talk, the evening fire.
The homely household shrine.
Shall glow with angel- visits when
The Lord pours out the wine.
For when self-seeking turna to love,
Which knows not mine and thine.
The miracle again is wrought,
And water changed to wine.
WilUam Heni-y Burleigh (1812-1871), on his mothei-'s
side a descendant of Governor WUliam Bradford of the
Mayflower, was the harbourmaster of New York, and an
eamest advocate of temperance and freedom. He wrote
many hynms, through which there runs a mingled strain
of tendemess and confidence which is very beautiful.

420 THE HYMN LOVER.
They are becoming better known and more largely used in
this country. The most popular are the foUowing : —
Father ! beneath Thy sheltering wing
In sweet security we rest.
And fear no evU earth can bring,
In life, in death, supremely blest.
For life is good, whose tidal flow
The motions of Thy will obeys :
And death is good, that makes us know
The life divine that aU things sways.
And good it is to bear the cross,
And so '1 hy perfect peace to win ;
And naught is Ul, nor brings us loss.
Nor works us haim, save only sin.
Redeemed from this, we ask no more,
But trust the love that saves to guide —
The grace that yields so rich a store,
Will grant us all we need beside.
This, too, is of great merit —
StiU wUl we trust, though eai'th seems dark and dreary.
And the heart faint beneath His chastening rod.
Though rough and steep our pathway, worn and weary,
StUl wUl we trust in God !
Our eyes see dimly tUl by faith anointed.
And our blind choosing brings us grief and pain ;
Through Him alone, who hath our way appointed.
We find our peace again.
Choose for us, God, nor let our weak preferring
Cheat our poor souls of good Thou hast designed :
Choose for us, God ; Thy wisdom is unerring.
And we are fools and blind.
So from our sky the night shall furi her shadows,
And day pour gladness through her golden gates :
Om' rough path leads to flower-enamelled meadows,
Where joy our coming waits.
Let us press on : in patient self-denial,
Accept the hardship, shrink not from the loss :
Our guerdon lies beyond the hour of trial.
Our crown beyond the cross.
In a similar vein are the foUowing:— 'f We ask not that
our path be always bright ;" " When gladness gilds our
prosperous day;" "Lead us, 0 Father, in the paths of

AMERICAN HYMNS. 421
peace ; " whilst his Morning Hymn is one of the finest we
possess for that season.
For the dear love that kept us through the night.
And gave our senses to sleep's gentle sway —
For the new miracle of dawning light
Flushing the east with prophecies of day.
We thank Thee, O our God !
For the fresh Ufe that through our being flows
With its full tide to strengthen and to bleas —
For calm sweet thoughts, upspringing from repose
To bear to Thee their song of thankfulneaa.
We praise Thee, 0 our God !
Day uttereth speech to day, and night to night
'Tells of Thy power and glory. So would we.
Thy chUdren, duly, with the morning light,
Or at stUl eve, upon the bended knee
Adore Thee, O our God !
Thou know'st our needs, Thy fulness wUl supply.
Our bUndness — let Thy hand stUl lead us on,
TiU, visited by the dayspring from on high
Our prayer, one only, " Let Thy will be done ! "
We breathe to Thee, O God!
Samuel LongfeUow (i819-1892), brother of the poet
H. W. LongfeUow, gave a large amount of attention to
Hymnody, and, with Samuel Johnson, compiled one of the
best of American hymnals, "Hymns of the Spirit." For
the "Book of Yespers" he wrote the two evening hymns
now so well known in this country, ' ' Now on land and sea
descending," and "Again as evening's shadow faUs;"
very fine they are. But beyond these the following are
finding their way into EngUsh hynmals : —
" Prayer for inspiration : "
Holy Spirit, Trath Divine !
Dawn upon this soul of mine;
Word of God, and inward Light.
Wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Holy Spirit, Love Divine !
Glow within this heart of mine ;
Kindle every high desire ;
Perish self in Thy pure fire !

422 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Holy Spirit, Power Divine !
FUl and nerve this will of mine ;
By Thee may I strongly live.
Bravely bear, and nobly strive !
Holy Spirit, Eight Divine !
King, within my conscience reign :
Be my Lord, and I shall be
Firmly bound, for ever free.
Holy Spirit, Peace Divine !
StiU this restless heart of mine :
Speak to calm this tossing sea.
Stayed in Thy tranquillity.
Holy Spirit, Joy Divine !
Gladden Thou this heart of mine ;
In the desert ways I'll sing,
Spring, 0 Well, for ever spring !
" A New Commandment : "
Beneath the shadow of the cross,
As earthly hopes remove;
His new commandment Jesus gives.
His blessed word of love.
O bond of union, strong and deep 1
O bond of perfect peace !
Not e'en the Ufted cross can harm.
If we but hold to this.
Then, Jesus, be Thy spirit ours,
And swift our feet shall move
To deeds of pure self-sacrifice.
And the sweet tasks of love.
And " The Church Universal : "
One holy church of God appears
Through every age and race,
Unwasted by the lapse of years.
Unchanged by changing place.
From oldest time, on farthest shores.
Beneath the pine or palm.
One unseen presence she adores.
With silence or with psalm.
Her priests are aU God's faithful sons.
To serve the world raised up ;
The pure in heart her baptised ones.
Love her communion-cup.
The truth is her prophetic gift.
The soul her sacred page ;
And feet on mercy's errand swift.
Do make her pilgrimage.

AMERLCAN EYMNS. 423
O living Church, thine errand speed.
Fulfil thy task sublime;
With bread of life earth's hunger feed ;
Redeem the evil time !
Jones Yery (1813-1880), was a preacher without pastoral
charge, who devoted his time chiefly to Uterai-y pursuits.
There are those who regard him as one of the foremost
poets of America. His hymns are very beautiful, but
more suited for private reading and family worship than
for public worship. The best known are the following: —
" Father ! Thy wonders do not singly stand ; " " Father !
there is no change to Uve with Thee ; " " WUt Thou not
visit me?"
James RusseU LoweU (1819-1891), the delightful
literary critic, the versatile poet, the successful diplomatist,
deserves a place among the hymnists for his beautiful
Christmas Carol — " What means this glory round our
feet?" but his lines on " Freedom " are weU suited for
singing. Thomas Wentworth Higginson (bom 1823), a descendant
of the Rev. Francis Higginson, one of the Puritan
settlers of America — originally a pastor of a Free Church
at Worcester, and afterwards a colonel of black troops in
the American War, in which he was wounded, is one of
the literati of America, but he is at the same time one of
its most remarkable hymnists. In his recently pubUshed
book — " Cheerful Yesterdays," he has given a fascinating
account of his earlier life. In his hymns there is a
warmth and vigour and tenderness which are aU too rare.
They grow more dear the better they are known. Take
the loUowing as examples : —

424 TEE EYMN LOVER.
" The Mystery of God:"
No human eyes Thy face may see ;
No human thought Thy form may know ;
But all creation dwells in Thee,
And Thy great life through all doth flow ;
And yet, O strange and wondrous thought !
Thou art a God who hearest prayer.
And every heart with sorrow fraught
To seek Thy present aid may dare.
And though most weak our efforts seem
Into one creed these thoughts to bind.
And vain the intellectual dream.
To aee and know th' Eternal Mind ;
Yet Thou wflt turn them not aside.
Who cannot solve Thy life divine.
But would give up aU reason's pride
To know their hearts approved by Thine.
And Thine unceasing love gave birth
To our dear Lord, Thy holy Son,
Who left a perfect proof on earth.
That Duty, Love, and Trust are one.
So though we faint on Ufe's dark hiU,
And thought grow weak and knowledge flee.
Yet faith shall teach us courage still.
And love shall guide us on to Thee.
"I will arise and go to my Father;"
To Thine eternal arms, O God,
Take us. Thine erring chUdren, in ;
From dangerous paths too boldly trod.
From wandering thoughts and dreams of sin.
Those arms were round om' chUdhood's ways,
A guard through helpless years to be ;
0 leave not our maturer days.
We still are helpless without Thee !
We trusted hope and pride and strength ;
Our strength proved false, our pride was vain.
Our dreams have faded all at length —
We come to Thee, 0 Lord, again !
A guide to trembling steps yet be !
Give us of Thine eternal power !
So shall our paths aU lead to Thee,
And life stUl smUe, Uke chUdhood's hour.
Mr. Higginson's volume of poems — " The Afternoon
Landscape " — includes all his hymns.

AMERLCAN EYMNS. 425
Alice Cary (1820-1871) and her sister Phoebe Cary
(1824-1871) wrote much verse ol a suggestive kind from
which striking hymns have been culled. " One sweetly
solemn thought," by Phoebe, is well known, but the
following hymns by Alice are of high merit — " Our days
are few and full of strife," " Earth with its dark and
dreadful Uls," " 0 day to sweet religious thought," and
" To Him who is the Ufe of life."
Lucy Larcom (1826-1893) is fairly well known by her
hymn " When for me the silent oar," but others from her
pen richly deserve to be known, especially the one
beginning — " In Christ I feel the heart of God."
To Mary Ann Lathbury (born 1841) we owe the hymn
" Break Thou the bread of Ufe," which is perfect in its
simplicity, and "Day is dying in the west," which deserves
a place in the front rank of Evening hymns.
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) belonged to
the Society of Friends. His writings, patheticaUy
beautiful beyond those of any poet of America, are
becoming increasingly prized, and are exerting an
immense influence on the reUgious thought and feeling
of England
It is strange to find among the Quakers, whose as
sembUes are never enlivened or inspired by song, one
contributing so many verses to the worship song of the
Church at large. Few of these were written for use in
pubUc worship, but many of his verses are so beautiful, so
pathetic, so charged with the tenderest Christian leeling,
that they have again and again been arranged and inserted
in recent Hymnals. His greatest hymn is one extending
to thirty-nine verses, caUed "Our Master," from which
many contributions have been taken. At first only a very
lew verses were taken, but these have gradually been

426 TEE EYMN LOVER.
increased untU now nearly the whole hymn has lound its
way into public worship. I give one part as a specimen.
Our Friend,jour Brother, and our Lord,
What may Thy service be ?
Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word.
But simply following Thee.
Thoujudgest us; Thy purity
Doth aU our lusts condemn ;
The love that draws us nearer Thee
Is hot with wrath to them.
Our thoughts Ue open to Thy sight.
And naked to Thy glance :
Our secret sins are in the Ught
Of Thy pure countenance.
Yet weak and blinded though we be.
Thou dost our service own ;
We bring our varying gifts to Thee,
And Thou rejectest none.
To Thee our fuU humanity,
Its joys and pains, belong ;
The wrong of man to man on Thee
Inflicts a deeper wrong.
Deep strike Thy roots, O heavenly Vine,
Within our eai'thly sod.
Most human and yet most divine.
The flower of man and God !
Apai't from Thee aU gain is loas.
All labour vainly done ;
The solemn shadow of Thy Cross
Is better than the sun.
Alone, O love ineffable !
Thy saving name is given ;
To tm'n aside from Thee is hell.
To walk with Thee is heaven.
We faintly hear, we dimly see,
In differing phrase we pray :
But dim or clear, we own in Thee
The Light, the Truth, the Way !
Other examples ol adaptations from Mr. Whittier may
be found in the foUowing :—" To weary hearts, to
mournmg homes," from "The Angel of Patience," a
free paraphrase from the German. "Another hand is
beckoning us," from "Gone." " AU as God wiUs who

AMERICAN EYMNS. 427
wisely heeds," from "My Psalm." " With silence only
as their benediction," fr-om "To my Friend on the death
of his Sister." " Shall we grow weary in our watch,"
from " The Cypress-Tree of Ceylon," beneath which
venerable Jogees or saints sit, silent and motionless,
patiently awaiting the faUing of a leaf.
What can be finer than such hymns as the following : -
Dear Lord and Father of mankind.
Forgive our feverish ways !
Eeclothe us iu our rightful mind ;
In purer lives. Thy service find.
In deeper reverence, praise.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee !
O calm of hUls above !
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love !
With that deep hush subduing aU
Oui' words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call.
As noiseless let 'Thy blessing fall.
As feU Thy manna down.
Drop Thy stiU dews of quietness,
TiU all our strivings cease :
Take from om' souls the strain and stress ;
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
Breathe through the pulses of desire
Thy coolness and 'Thy balm ;
Let sense be dumb, — its heats expire :
Speak through the eai'thquake, wind, and fire,
O still small voice of calm !
Or the hymn written lor the Anniversary of the
Children's Mission, Boston, 1878: —
Thine are aU the gifts, 0 God !
Thine the broken bread ;
Let the naked feet be shod.
And the starving fed.
Let Thy children, by Thy grace.
Give as they abound,
TiU the poor have breathing-space.
And the lost are found.

428 TEE EYMN LOVER.

Wiser than the miser's hoards
Is the giver's choice ;
Sweeter than the song of birds
Is the thankful voice.
Welcome smiles on faces sad
As the flowers of spring ;
Let the tender hearts be glad
With the joy they bring.
Or that for the American Horticultural Society, 1882:
O Painter of the fruits and flowers,
We own Thy wise design.
Whereby these human hands of ours
May share the works of Thine !
Apart from Thee, we plant in vaui
The root, and sow the seed ;
Thy early and Thy latter rain.
Thy sun and dew we need.
Our toU is sweet with thankfulness,
Om' burden is our boon ;
The curse of eai'th'a grey morning ia
The blessing of its noon.
Why search the wide world everywhere.
For Eden's unknown ground ? —
That garden of the primal pair
May never more be found.
But, blest by Thee, our patient toU
May right the ancient wrong.
And give to every clime and soil
The beauty lost so long.
Our homestead, flowers, and fruited trees.
May Eden's orchard shame ;
We taste the tempting sweets of these.
Like Eve, without her blame.
And North and South, and East and West,
The pride of every zone ;
The fairest, i'arest,and the best.
May all be made our own.
Its earliest shrines the young world sought.
In hiU-groves, and in bowers ;
The fittest oflerings thither brought
Were Thy own fruits and flowers.
And StUl with reverent hands we cuU
Thy gifts each year renewed ;
The good is always beautiful.
The beautiful is good.

AMERICAN HYMNS. 429
Or that for the opening, of Plymouth Church, St. Paul,
Mianesota: — All things are Thine : no gifts have we,
Lord of aU gifts ! to offer Thee ;
And hence with grateful hearts to-day,
Thy own before Thy feet we lay.
Thy will waa in the buUders' thought ;
Thy hand unseen amidst us wrought ;
Through mortal motive, scheme, and plan.
Thy wise eternal purpose ran.
No lack Thy perfect fulness knew ;
From human neede, and longings grew
This houae of prayer, this hcine of rest
In the fair garden of the West.
In weakness and in want we caU
On Thee for whom the heavens are small ;
Thy glory is Thy children's good.
Their joy Thy tender Fatherhood.
O Father ! deign these waUs to bless ;
Fill with Thy love their emptiness ;
And let their door a gateway be
To lead us trom ourselves to Thee !
Where can a hymn for the aged be found, so real, so
tender, so truly humble in its tone, as the following,
included in one of his last volumes, "The Bay of the Seven
Islands and other Poems, 1883."
When on my day of life the night is falling.
And, in the winds from unsunned spaces blown,
I hear far voices out of darkness caUing
My feet to paths unknown.
Thou who hast made my home of life so pleasant,
Leave not its tenant when its waUs decay ;
O Love Divine, O Helper ever present.
Be Thou my strength and stay !
Be near me when all else is from me di'ifting.^
Earth, sky, home's pictures, days of shade and shine,
And kindly" faces to my own upUfting
The love which answers mine.
I have but Thee, my Father! let Thy Spfrit
Be with me then to comfort and uphold ;
No gate of pearl, no branch of palm I merit.
Nor street of shining gold.

430 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Suffice it if.— my good and ill unreckoned.
And both forgiven through Thy abounding grace —
I find myself by hands familiar beckoned
Unto my fitting place.
Some humble door among Thy many mansions.
Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease.
And flows for ever through heaven's green expansions
The river of Thy peace.
There, from the music round about me stealing,
I fain would learn the new and holy song,
And find at last, beneath Thy trees of healing.
The life for which I long.
Such hymns are endearing their author to an ever-
increasing number, and wherever sung speedUy become
favourites. The examples I have given, and they are only a few
flowers out of the great garden of American song, are
sufficient to show not only what our friends across the
Atlantic have done, but what may be expected from them
in the future. It is not too much to say, that any
hymnal which does not draw, and that largely, on the
stores ol American hymnody, must fall very far short of
being an ideal one. And editors of the hymnals of the
future will be more richly repaid for their search in this
quarter than for one devoted to the ancient treasury of
the Church — the best of which have been already utUised,
and many of which represented a less pure and Christ
like Gospel than those of modem times. Of this
department it may be truly said, " Thou hast kept the
good wine until now."

431

CHAPTER XXL

CHILDREN'S HYMNS.
It was late in the history of the Church before any
special provision was deemed necessary for the worship
of children. It was probably thought sufficient to admit
them to the Church by the rites of Baptism and Confirma
tion, and if they sang at aU, they had to be content with
the provision made for their elders. The only ancient
hymn for children existing is that of Clemens
Alexandrinus, which I quote below in Dr. Dexter' s
translation. It will be seen that this is a hymn on behalf
of chUdren, rather than one to be sung by them : —
Shepherd of tender youth.
Guiding, in love and truth,
Thi'ough devious ways :
Christ, our triumphant King,
We come Thy name to sing.
And here our children bring,
To shout Thy praise.
Thou art our Holy Lord,
The all-subduing Word,
Healer of strife;
Thou didst Thyself abase.
That from sin's deep disgrace
Thou mightest save our race,
And give us life.
O wisdom's Great High Priest,
Thou hast prepared the feast
Of holy love ;
And in our mortal pain.
None calls on Thee in vain ;
Help Thou dost not refrain, —
Help from above.

432 THE HYMN LOVER.
Be ever near our side.
Our Shepherd and our Guide,
Our staff and song :
Jesus, Thou Christ of God,
By Thy perennial word,
Lead us where Thou hast trod ;
Make our faith strong.
So now, and till we die,
Sound we Thy praises high.
And joyful sing.
Infants, and the glad throng
Who to Thy Church belong.
Unite, and swell the song
To Christ our King.
That children sang hymns is clear from the story of the
seven boys who sang "Gloria, laus, et honor" (see
p. 51) before the Emperor Louis, and so obtained St.
Theodulph's Uberation from prison, but it may be doubted
whether any beyond the smallest provision was made of
verses suited to their young minds. Even of the early
carols, none seem to have been composed for the young
The ancient hymns which were used in some of the great
pubUc schools of England, and which have been preserved
to our own day, have no special adaptation to this
purpose. Indeed, it is pretty clear from the title to
the 1560 edition of Sternhold and Hopkins, that, at that
time, ordinary hymns were considered suitable enough for
children. The foUo-wing extract shows this — of that
version, it says : — " Very much to be used of all sorts of
people privately, for their godly solace and comfort ;
laiying aparte aU ungodly songs and baUades, which tend
only to the nourishing of vice and con-upting of youth."
Here and there a hymn may be found for chUdren in the
17th century in the writings of Wither, Herrick, and
Jeremy Taylor, but even these do not seem to have been
intended for use in public worship. Good Bishop Ken's
three hymns, now so well known, were written for use in

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 433
Winchester College, and are almost equally suited for
adults and for the young. In the beginning of the 18th
century, Bishop George Hickes gives in "The Little Office
for two or more Young Ladies under the same Governess,"
a translation of Bernard's "Jesu dulcis Memoria," for use
at any time. This shows pretty clearly what the ideas of
those times were on this matter. To all intents and
purposes, no special provision was made for chUdren until
Dr. Watts published his "Divine and Moral Songs," so
that he is the flrst founder of the choir of the chUdren
as weU as that of their elders. The dedication seems to
show that he was led to write such hymns for the use of
the chUdren of Sir Thomas Abney, to whose house he
went for a short ¦visit, and remained for the rest of his Ufe,
never wearing out his welcome ; but the preface speaks of
the book as having been written at the request of a friend
engaged in catechising, who had doubtless felt the need for
hymns more suitable to chUdren than then existed. The
work gained, as it deserved, a great success, and edition after
edition of it appeared, both in London and the provinces.
These " Divine and Moral Songs " must not be judged, as
they too often have been, from the standpoint of our own
time, which has attained to a more gracious theology, and
possesses so flne a store of children's hymns. This would
be as unfair as to judge Copernicus or Galileo from the
standpoint of the age of the Hefschels. The flrst worker
in any fleld is of necessity a pioneer, and only roughly
tills the land he occupies ; it remains for his successors to
reach a higher style of culture. Dr. Watts's hymns
enshrine the theology and taste of his age; it could not be
otherwise. They have been thrown into the shade by the
finer work of his successors ; but we must give him his
p 2

434 THE EYMN LOVER.
due as opening and first cultivating the fleld of children's
hymnody. Moreover, as he never married, the instinct
and knowledge of fatherhood were hidden from him,
and his hymns for children, as a consequence, suffer.
Without doubt, the flnest from his pen is his Cradle
Hymn, which, it must be confessed, Uke too many
so-caUed chUdren's hymns, is suited for singing, not by,
but on behalf of, children. It has of late somewhat
dropped out of sight, and I therefore quote it : —
Hush, dear chUd, Ue stiU and slumber.
Holy angels guard thy bed.
Heavenly blessings without number
Gently faUing on thy head.
Sleep, my babe ; thy food and raiment,
Houae and home, thy frienda provide,
AU without thy care and payment ;
AU thy wants are weU supplied
How much better thou'rt attended
Than the Son of God could be,
When from heaven He descended.
And became a child like thee.
Soft and easy is thy cradle :
Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay.
When His birthplace was a stable.
And His softest bed was hay.
Was there nothing but a manger
Wretched sinners could afford.
To receive the heavenly Stranger ?
Did they thus affront their Lord ?
See the joyful shepherds round Him,
Telling wonders from the sky ;
Where they sought Him, there they found Him,
With His virgin-mother by.
'Twas to save thee, chUd, from dying,
That thy blest Redeemer came ;
He by groans and bitter crying
Saved thee from burning flame.
Mayst thou live to know and fear Him,
•Trust and love Him all thy days ;
Then go dweU for ever near Him,
See His face, and sing His praise.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 436
Many of his hymns are stiU remembered, though Uttle
sung: — "How doth the Uttle busy bee," '"Tis the voice of
the sluggard," " Let dogs delight to bark and bite," whUe
others, such aa "I sing the almighty power of God," are
as frequently sung by adults as children, for whom they
are equally suited. For a considerable time. Dr. Watts's
hymns for children practicaUy held undisputed possession
of the field. In 1764, Cennick pubUshed at Dublin
" Hymns for Children," in 2 vols. ; only one copy of this,
(in the Fulneck Library), is known to exist, but later
Moravian coUeetions drew many hymns from this source,
and one or two in altered, but not improved, forms may be
found in chUdren's hymn books of our own time. The
following is probably the best : —
0 Thou, before whose Father's face
The chUdren's angels stand.
Grant me, a helpless ohUd, the grace.
That Thy angeUo band
May watch my ways and guard my bed,
And minister to me,
TUl I in death shall bow my head.
And go to live with Thee.
Happy the chUdren who are gone,
'To Jesus Christ in peace.
Who stand around His glorious throne.
Clad in His righteousness.
The Saviour whom they loved whUe here
Hath wiped their tears away ;
They never more can grieve, or fear.
Or sin, or go astray.
In ceaseless happiness they view
Our Saviour's smUing face ;
That face once marred, in which below
Men saw no comeliness.
Methinks I hear them joyful sing
(Ten thousands do the same),
' ' Salvation to the immortal King,
To God and to the Lamb ! "

436 THE HYMN LOVER.
O that I may so favoured be.
With them above to join ;
O that, like them, I Christ may see.
And He be ever mine.
Grant me but this, Thou great High priest
And when I'm here no more.
Convey me home to endless rest.
Where Thou art gone before.
Charles Wesley attempted, in 1763, to make provision
for chUdren's song, by the pubUcation of his " Hymns for
ChUdren," but with Uttle succeas, aince he started with
the wrong idea, attempting to Uft children up to the
level of adults, merely adapting his compositions to them
by simpUcity ol diction. Only one hymn from this
source ever gained any popularity : —
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child ;
Pity my simpUcity,
Suffer me to come to Thee.
Fain I would to Thee be brought ;
Dearest God, forbid it not :
Give me, dearest God, a place
In the kingdom of Thy grace.
Put Thy hands upon my head,
Let me in Thine arms be stayed ;
Let me lean upon Thy breast.
Lull me, luU me. Lord, to rest.
Hold me fast in Thy embrace.
Let me see Thy smUing face.
Give me. Lord, Thy blessing give;
Pray for me, and I shaU live.
I shall Uve the simple Ufe,
Free from sin's uneasy strife.
Sweetly ignorant of ill.
Innocent and happy stiU.
Oh that I may ne ver know
What the wicked people do !
Sin is contrary to "Thee,
Sin is the forbidden tree.
Keep me from the great offence,
Guard my helpless innocence ;
Hide me, from aU evil hide.
Self and stubbornness and pride.

CHILDREN'S HYNN8. 437
Lamb of God, I look to Thee ;
Thou shalt my Example be;
Thou art gentle, meek, and mUd,
Thou wast once a little child.
Fain I would be as Thou art ;
Give me Thy obedient heart.
Thou art pitiful and kind ;
Let me have Thy loving mind.
Meek and lowly may I be ;
Thou art aU humUity.
Let me to my betters bow ;
Subject to Thy parents Thou.
Let me above all fvUfil
God my heavenly Father's will ;
Never His good Spirit grieve.
Only to His glory Uve.
Thou didst Uve to God alone,
Thou didst never seek Thine own ;
Thou Thyself didst never please,
God was aU Thy happiness.
Loving Jesu, gentle Lamb,
In Thy gracious hands I am.
Make me. Saviour, what Thou art.
Live Thyself within my heart.
I shall then show forth Thy praise,
Serve Thee aU my happy days :
Then the world shall always see
Christ, the Holy ChUd, in me.
Up to this time the idea prevailed that the same author
could provide a coUection of hymns for chUdren as well
as for adults, and that if he could do the one he
could also do the other. But now the idea began to
dawn that a hymn book, Uke the Prayer Book and
the Bible, required variety in its authorship. One of
the earUest collections contained one hundred and four
hymns, made up of forty-four by Dr. Watts, thirty-
five of the Olney hynms, two by Dr. Hawker, the
Editor, and a few by other writers. This may serve
as a sample of the sort ol thing that was then done.
But it was not tUl Women, with their deeper insight
into, and tenderer sympathy with child Ule, entered

438 THE HYMN LOVER.
on this field, that anything like adequate or suitable
provision was made for chUdren's song. Indeed, it may
be that the way in which the church repressed woman,
and kept her from bearing a part in its work, accounts,
to some extent, for the lateness ol the development of
children's hymnody. With the entrance of woman on
this sphere there arises a new era. Henceforward she
becomes the chief contributor. It will be noticed that
a very large proportion of the writers mentioned in this
chapter belong to that sex. This was to be expected.
The new era da-wned in 1810, when Ann and Jane
Taylor issued their "Hymns for Infant Minds." These
threw into the shade aU previous ones for chUdren
save the best by Dr. Watts, and for many years were
the chief favourites. Like Dr. Watts's, many of
them look rather poor by the aide of the stUl finer
work of our day, but they mark a distinct step in
advance of all that preceded, and the foUowing stUl
hold, and are Ukely to hold their ground. By Ann
Taylor, afterwards Mrs. GUbert (1782-1866) :—" Great
God, and wUt Thou condescend," " God is in heaven,
can He hear," "Jesus who Uved above the sky," "The
God of heaven is pleased to see," and "A Captain forth
to battle went," perhaps rather more of a poem than a
hymn, but which should be better known; whilat by
Jane Taylor (1783-1824) there are "When daily I kneel
down to pray," " Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour,"
"Love and kindness we must measure." Perhaps most
popular of aU is "Good David, whose psalms have so often
been sung;" to which of the sisters this is due is not
known with certainty. Jane Taylor gives the foUowing
account of her method ol writing her chUdren's hymns :—

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 439
" 1 think I have some idea of what a child's hymn ought
to be ; and when I commenced the task, it was with the
presumptuous determination that nothing should faU short
of the standard I had formed in my mind. In order to do
this, my method was to shut my eyes, and imagine the
presence of some pretty Uttle mortal, and then endeavour
to catch, as it were, the very language it would use on the
subject before me. If in any instances I have succeeded,
to this Uttle imaginary being I should attribute my success,
and I have faUed so frequently, because so frequently I was
compeUed to say, ' Now you may go, my dear ; I ahaU finiah
thia hymn myself.' " It is rather a curious thing, that the
hynms written by Helen, daughter of Martin Taylor, and
niece of Ann and Jane Taylor, which were published under
the titie of "The Sabbath BeU," and "Missionary Hymns,"
though in some senses equal to, and perhaps finer, than her
better-known aunts', ahould have almoat eacaped notice.
Until I drew forth aome of their treasures and included them
in " The Book of Praise for Children," they had almost
entirely been lost sight of. I have an impression that
whilst the "Hymns lor Infant Minds" are Ukely to wane
in popularity, some of those by Helen Taylor are likely to
become more widely known and used. They seem to me to
reach a higher literary standard, to be more picturesque,
and to be more fiUed with the wider thoughts of religion
that now prevaU. I anticipate for them a great future.
My readers shall judge for themselves. Here is one of
the finest missionary hymns ever written for chUdren : —
There is joy above the skies
If a sinner, only one.
Lifts to Thee, 0 Lord, his eyes ;
And Thy holy wiU is done.
Earth and heaven will happy he
When aU nations worship Thee !

440 THE EYMN LOVER.

If we live to see those days.
Live to hear the holy songs,
How wiU better hymns of praise
Pass in muaic from our tongues !
Happier chUdren we shall be
When Thy glory we shall see.
Now like waters gushing up.
Are the thankful thoughts we think
For the good and pleasant cup
We have every day to drink.
Happy Chiistian chUdren, we
Every day Thy mercy aee !
But the glory wiU be bright.
Brighter than our words can show;
When aU kingdoms see the Ught
When aU lands Thy goodness know !
Earth and heaven wUl happy be
When the heathen worship Thee !
This is almost equal : —
O, let us aU be glad and sing,
Like angels in the sky.
With aU our hearts to God our King —
Hosanna let us cry !
He placed us in this happy land.
Like bloaaoms in the sun —
Like open blossoms we should stand.
Rejoicing every one.
But whUe we praise Him, let us pray
For countries dark and sad.
That they may hear the word one day.
Which makes our land ao glad.
That heathen men may bend their kneea
To one great Name alone.
And idols hewed from forest trees
To moles and bats be thrown.
These are from her tiny volume " Missionary Hymns for
the use of Children," published in 1846. The foUowing
from her " Sabbath BeUs " (both vols, are very rare) seems
to me very trae and beautiful, and far more Ukely to do a
child good than most of the hymns about heaven that have
been written for them : —

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 441
I love that holy scriptm'e.
Where I am truly told
About the heavenly city.
With waU of precious gold ;
About the shining river.
That goeth thro' the street, —
The boughs of life above it.
With fruit and blossoms sweet.
About the good and perfect,
With crowns Uke yonder sun,
Who won those shining garlands
Where chUdren's feet may run.
This world is sometimes happy.
With pleasant things 1 love ;
But it must be far better.
To dweU in heaven above.
Not that the waUs are golden.
The gates are always bright ;
Not that the river poureth
Through every street its Ught.
Not that a pleasant music
From golden harps is stirred.
And every sound is sweeter
Than ear hath ever heard.
But there shall never enter.
The dark rude thoughts of sin.
That here, are always watching.
To come the heart within.
And there we shall not find it
So very hard to be
Gentle and true and patient
For we the Lord shaU see.
And so we shaU grow Uke Him
AU holy things to love ;
Oh ! it must be far better
To dwell in heaven above !
The number ol hymn-writers lor chUdren now begins to be
large, and the ideal stiU higher. Writers begin to recog-
niae the lact that a hymn to be really loved by chUdren
must above aU things be quick in movement, and
picturesque in treatment of its subject. These are the
great essentials. Montgomery wrote many for the
Sheffield Whitsuntide gatherings of Sunday schools, but

442 THE HYMN LOVER.
these, though marked by his high qualities, have never
become popiUar. The writer of thia period who showed
that he knew exactly what is required in a chUdren's
hymn, but who unfortunately died too early to leave more
than one or two, was Thomas Rawson Taylor (1807-
1835). The following from his pen has never been
excelled : — There was a time when chUdren sang
The Saviour's praise with sacred glee.
And aU the hiUs of Judah rang
With their exulting Jubilee.
O to have joined their rapturous songs.
And sweUed their sweet hosannas high.
And blessed Him with our feeble tongues
As He — the Man of grief — went by !
But Christ is now a glorious King,
And angels in His presence bow ;
The humble songs that we can sing —
O ! will He — can He — hear them now 1
He can — He will— He loves to hear
The notes which babes and auckUnga raise :
Jesus, we come with trembling fear,
O teach our hearts and tongues to praise !
We join the hosts around Thy throne.
Who once, Uke us, the desert trod :
And thus we make their song our own —
' Hosanna to the Son of God ! '
A far finer and healthier hymn than his better-known one
for adults " I'm but a stranger here," with its depreciation
of earth.
EUzabeth Parson, nie Rooker (born 1812), wrote two
hymns which have been exceedingly popular, and are fuU
of melody and movement— " Jesus, we love to meet," and
" 0 happy land ! 0 happy land ! "
Mrs. Shelly, nie Jackson, wrote " Lord, a little band
and lowly," a hymn set in a very tender key, under the
following circumstances, which may show that the most
effective hynms are usuaUy not laboui-ed compositions,

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 443
but thrown o3 in a moment of inspiration. "At a Sunday
School meeting in Manchester, the Rev. John Curwen one
evening gave a lecture on singing. He sang a very
pretty and simple tune, to which he said he had no
axUtable worda, and wished that some one would write a
hymn to it. I wrote these verses, and gave them to
him after the close of the meeting."*
Many writers now essayed the task of providing
children with hymns, but none with very great success.
John Burton, Dorothy Ann Thnipp, J. Cawood, and
others who belonged to the EvangeUcal school. The
leaders of the Tractarian movement felt the need of
hymna embodying their doctrine, and an attempt was
made in "The ChUd's Christian Year" (1841) to meet
the want, but this, though a pleasant book for reading,
was utterly unsuitable for use in schools. Its chief
contributors, John Keble, Joseph Anstiee, Isaac WUUams,
and John Henry Newman, did not possess the gifts for
such a work. In my judgment, though some wUl differ
from me on this point, the same may be said of Dr.
Neale's " Hymna for Children " ; they do not catch the
ear of chUdren. Indeed, Dr. Neale owea hia diatinguished
place, not to hia original hymns, but to his versions from
ancient writers. I do not think a reaUy popiUar hymn for
children can be named from any member of the High
Church party until 1848, when Mrs. CecU Frances
Alexander put forth her " Hymns for Children," which at
once created a new school, and became its model.
She saw that hymns for chUdren should not only be in
plain language, but that they should be picturesque.
* •' Biographical Notes on the New ChUd's Own Hymn Book,"
by J. S. Curwen.

444 THE HYMN LOVER.
pathetic, and not confined to the severe metres which had
so long held possession of the fleld. Before her there is
no writer, save Thomas Rawson Taylor, who fuUy realised
this. In some of her hymns. High Church doctrine is
prominent, and robs them of their beauty, but in the
majority, she writes so largely as a poetess, that formal
doctrine is not apparent. Her hymns are too weU-known
to need quotation. The best are "Once in royal David's
City;" "Every morning the red sun" — to which Mr.
Moss's tune, "St. Silas," is one of the most exquisite
settings for a chUdren's hymn ever produced ; " We
are but Uttle children weak;" "All things bright and
beautiful." One Uttle known, and not included in her
published books, is the foUowing, written for a clergyman
in Liverpool, which seems to me speciaUy picturesque: —
Once in the town of Bethlehem,
Far away across the sea.
There was laid a little Baby,
On a Virgin mother's knee.
O Saviour ! gentle Saviour !
Hear Thy little children sing.
The God of our Salvation,
The Child that is our King.
It was not a stately palace
Where that little Baby lay.
With taU servants to attend Him,
And red guards to keep the way,
0 Saviour ! gentle Saviour ! &c.
But the oxen stood ai'ound Him,
In a stable, low and 'dim —
In the world He had created.
There was not a room for Him !
0 Saviour ! gentle Saviom' ! &e.
For He left His Father's glory.
And the golden haUa above.
And He took our human nature,
In the greatness of His love.
0 Saviour ! gentle Saviour ! &c.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 445
Of His infinite compassion.
He can feel our want and woe.
For He suffered. He waa tempted
When He lived our life below.
0 Saviour ! gentle Saviour ! &c.
StUl His childhood's bright example
Gives a light to our poor homes :
From the blood of His atoning
Still our hope of pardon comes.
O Saviour ! gentle Saviour ! &o.
Still He stands and pleads in heaven
For us weak and sin-defiled,
God who is a man for ever,
Jesus who was once a child.
O Saviour ! gentle Saviour ! &c.
Esther Wiglesworth, who belongs to the same school
of religioua thought, has produced some fine hymns for
children, which deserve to be more widely known. The
following may be taken as an Ulustration : —
God sets a stUl small voice
Deep every soul within ;
It guideth to the right.
And warneth us of sin.
If we that voice obey,
Cleai'er its tones will be,
TiU all God's wiU for us
Clear as noonday we see.
If we that voice neglect.
Fainter will be its tone ;
If still unheeded, it
WiU leave us quite alone.
O grief ! to be allowed
To go our own wild way ;
Lord, hold Thy chUdren back.
Lest we so sadly stray.
And help us to attend
To Thy sweet voice divine ;
Then, in the judgment day.
Own us, good Lord, as Thine.
The Rev. John Curwen only wrote two hymns, one of
which had a curious origin. "A hymn with a similar flrst
line had been inserted in a new edition of the " Child's
Own Hymn Book," without the knowledge that it was

446 THE HYMN LOVER.
copyright. At the last moment, when the index was
stereotyped, and the book was at press, Mr. Curwen
discovered the authorship, and permission to insert it
was refused, either for love or money, by the owner of
the copyright. As a way out of the difficulty, he ¦wrote
this hymn, which now appears in almost every chUdren's
coUection. Its more extended popularity dates from the
time when it came back, with a tune and a chorus, from
America "*: — I'm a little pilgrim.
And a stranger here ;
Though this world is pleasant.
Sin is always near.
[Jesus loves our pUgrim band.
He wiU lead us by the hand ;
Lead us to the better land —
To our home on high.]
Mine's a better country.
Where there is no sin.
Where the tones of sorrow
Never enter in.
But a little pUgrim
Must have garments clean.
If he'd wear the white robes.
And 'with Christ be seen.
Jesus, cleanse and save me.
Teach me to obey ;
Holy Spirit, guide me
On my heavenly way.
I'm a little pilgrim.
And a stranger here.
But my home in heaven
Cometh ever near.
Mr. Curwen did much, however, to stimulate chUdren's
hymnody by the pubUcation of " The ChUd's Own Hymn
Book," which, at the time it was issued, was far the most
suitable collection in exiatence. Indeed, I am not sure

"Biographical Notes on the New ChUd's Own Hymn Book,'
by J. S. Curwen.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 447
that it is not the first collection which reaUy deserved
such a title. Beyond many, even of our own day, it
kept in view the characteristics which should mark a
hymnal for children.
The most noteworthy of modern hymnists for chUdren
are the foUowing.
Among women hymnists, we have Mary Lundie Duncan
(1814-1840), the authoress of one of the best known of
chUdren'a hymns, " Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me,"
which was included in her tiny book, "Rhymes for my
ChUdren." This is probably more frequently used as a Uttle
child's evening prayer than any other hymn.
Dorothy Ann Thrupp (1779-1847) is remembered by
one hymn, which used to be a great favourite with Uttle
children, " A Uttle ship was on the sea."
Anne Shepherd, nee Houlditch (1809-1867), -wrote a
little book, " Hymns adapted for the comprehension of
Infant Minds," in which was included "Around the
throne ol God in heaven," which, when children sung
more about heaven, was a great favourite. It ia very
lyric and effective.
EUzabeth Strafford's hymns are well adapted, in their
sentiment, for chUdren, but they lack picturesqueness
and melody, and so have never become popular. Perhaps
the best is : — Once to our world there came
A little holy child ;
Gentle and good and mild.
And Jesus waa His name.
He suffered want and pain
Was slighted, scorned, and poor;
All this He did endure.
That we in heaven might reign.

448 THE HYMN LOVER.
He never disobeyed
Hia Father's sacred laws ;
We only were the cause
Why grief on Him was laid .
And yet He loves us still ;
Nor grudges aught we cost ;
No sinner would be lost
According to His wiU.
Oh ! that indeed we couM
Our naughty ways forsake.
And for our pattern take
This Saviour kind and good.
The path that Jesus trod
Oh may we also tread,
Jesus, our living head.
Lead Thou us up to God.
Jane E. Leeson, who, after a period of retirement
from the world, passed away in 1883, wrote many verses
for children, which were included in " Hymns and
Scenes of Childhood " (1842). They are more remarkable
for the suitabiUty of their ideas, than their form and
style, to the young. The foUowing, which is her best
may serve as a apecimen : —
Sweet the lessons Jesus taught,
When to Him fond pai'ents brought
Babes for whom they blessing sought —
Little ones, like me.
Jesus did not answer nay.
Bid them come another day ;
Jesus did not turn away
Little ones, Uke me.
No, my Saviour's hand waa laid
Softly on each infant head ;
Jesus, when He blessed them, said
Let them come to Me.
Babes may stUl His blessing share •
Lambs are His pecuUar care ;
He will in His bosom bear
Little ones, like me.
Saviour, on my infant head
Let Thy gi'acious hand be laid,
WhUe I do as Thou hast said.
Coming unto Thee.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 449
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), of whom I have
already apoken, haa written, aa was to be expected, very
good hymns for chUdren. Her version of the Lord's
Prayer is both tender and concise : —
God in heaven, hear our singing,
Only little ones are we.
Yet, a great petition bringing.
Father, now we come to Thee.
Let Thy kingdom come, we pray Thee,
Let the world in Thee find rest ;
Let all know Thee, and obey Thee,
Loving, praising, blessing, blest.
Let the sweet and joyful story
Of the Saviour's wondrous love
Make on eai'th a song of glory.
Like the angels' song above.
Send Thy Spirit's mighty shower.
Bring the heathen to 'Thy Throne,
For the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, are Thine own.
The following is rather an address to a chUd than a
hymn, but if that be overlooked, it is of great merit : —
God wUl take care of you. All through the day
Jesus is near you, to keep you from ill ;
Waking or resting, at work or at play,
Jesus is with you, and watching you stUl.
He wUl take care of you. AU through the night
Jesus, the Shepherd, His little one keeps ;
Daikness to Him is the same as the Ught,
He never slumbers, and He never sleeps.
He wUl take care of you. All through the year.
Crowning each day with His kindness and love ;
Sending you blessings, and shielding from fear.
Leading you on to the bright home above.
He wUl take care of you. Yes. to the end
Nothing can alter His love for His own ;
Children, be glad that you have such a Friend ;
He will not leave you one moment alone. o- 2

450 THE HYMN LOVER.
Among male authors we have —
John Henley (1800-1842), a minister of the Wesleyan
Church, wrote " Children of Jerusalem," a hymn
singularly crisp and effective, and greatly Uked by
children. James Edmeston (1791-1867), already mentioned in a
previous chapter, wrote many hymns for children, of
which the best known is "Little travellers Zionwards,"
which is now made to commence with the second verse,
"Who are they whose little feet," which used to be
frequently sung in Sunday Schools.
Andrew Yoimg (born 1807), formerly Head-master of
Madras College, iu the University of St. Andrews',
is the author of the very bright, and, on the whole,
healthy hymn on heaven, " There is a happy land."
" The story of the origin of thia hymn, kindly
supplied by Mr. Colin Brown, of Glasgow, is
interesting. One of the songs which the Indian palan
quin bearers sing as they go, was set to English words
about thirty years ago. It became very popular, its
burden being ' There is a happy land, where care's
unknown.' This song was sung one evening by a lady in
Edinburgh, and heard by Mr. Young, then teacher of
Niddry School. Being much touched by the beauty of
the music, and of the opening idea of the worda, Mr.
Young was led to write the exquisite hymn, ' There is a
happy land, far, far away,' to suit the music."*
John Burton's (1803-1877) hymn, " Saviour, whUe my
heart is tender," is one of the most tender and graceful
* ¦' Biographical Notes on the New Child's Own Hymn Book,"
by J. S. Curwen.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 461
hymns of consecration for the young we possess ; whilst
to another author of precisely the same name (1773-1822)
we owe the most popular children's hymn on the Bible,
beginning " Holy Bible, Book Divine."
Henry Bateman (1802-1872) published a Uttle volume
of hynms for children, called " Sunday SunaUne,"
remarkable for aimpUcity and naturalness of tone. It
is a pity that they are all in one metre, and of the
same number of verses, aince this renders them some
what monotonous ; but some of them are very good.
The use made of Scripture events is often very happy
The following are amongst the beat : —
In my soft bed, when quite alone,
God watches me with care :
Sees me at rising, kneeUng down.
And listens to my prayer.
He foUows me through aU the day.
Knows everything I do :
Remembers every word I say.
My thoughts, and temper too.
If I am kind, God knows it weU :
If I am cross. He hears :
A falsehood, from the truth, can tell :
He sees my smUes, and tears.
Great God, my footsteps guide, and bless.
That this to me may be
A thankfulness and happiness.
That, " Thou God seest me."
The thought of the laat verse is very fine. The following,
on the Bible, too, is good : —
The good old Book ! with histories
Of many a bygone age ;
And promises and prophecies
On almost every page.
The glorious Psalms, so full of thought
And teaching good and wise !
And everywhere examples fraught
With human sympathies.

452 THE HYMN LOVER.

The holy Ufe of Christ, our Lord,
His love so pure and free.
And every kind and gentle word
That helps and teaches me.
Wonderful Book ! oh, fill my heart.
Great God, with Thy true fear :
And, as I read. Thy grace impart
To make it plain and dear.
Mr. Bateman also -wrote a hymn for adults that is worthy
of a place in our coUeetions : —
Light of the world ! whose kind and gentle care
Is joy and rest.
Whose counsels and commands so gracious are.
Wisest and best.
Shine on my path, dear Lord, and guard the way,
Lest my poor heart, forgetting, go astray.
Lord of my life, my soul's most pure desire.
Its hope and peace !
Let not the faith Thy loving words inspire
Falter, or cease ;
But be to me, true Friend, my chief deUght,
And safely guide, that every step be right.
My blessfed Lord, what bliss to feel Thee near.
Faithful and true ;
To trust in Thee, without one doubt or fear,
Thy wiU to do ;
And aU the whUe to know that Thou, our Friend,
Art blessing, and wUt bless us to the end,
And then, oh then ! when sorrow's night is o'er.
Life's dayUght come.
And we are safe within heaven's golden door.
At home, at home !
How fuU of glad rejoicing will we raise.
Saviour, to Thee, our everlasting praise.
Richard Henry Smith, the founder and minister of
several Congregational churches, whose books on Art
were appreciative and suggestive, -wrote a few hymns for
chUdren. The one quoted below, for a little chUd, is
remarkable for its simpUcity : —
I am a Uttle chUd,
And Jesus cares for me.
For even me He wants
His little child to be.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 453
Jesus would take me up.
And keep me on His knee,
And fold me in His arms.
His Uttle chUd to be.
And I wUl go to Him,
And I wUl let Him see
How glad 1 am to come.
His little chUd to be.
And I wiU stay with Him,
For Jesus wishes me.
Though I grow big and old,
His Uttle chUd to be.
Of the hymna by Mra. Shepcote, whose "Hymns
for Infant Children " are weU suited to those for whom
they were written, the following is probably the best : —
Jesus, holy, undefiled.
Listen to a little chUd,
Thou hast sent the glorious Ught,
Chasing far the sUent night.
Thou hast sent the sun to shine
O'er this glorious world of Thine,
Warmth to give, and pleasant glow
On each tender flower below.
Now the Uttle birds arise.
Chirping gaUy in the skies ;
Thee their tiny voices praise
In the early songs they raise.
Thou, by whom the birds are fed.
Give to me my daily bread ;
And Thy Holy Spirit give.
Without Whom I cannot Uve.
Make me. Lord, obedient, mfld.
As becomes a Uttle child ;
All day long, in every way.
Teach me what to do and say.
Help me never to forget
That in Thy great book is set
AU that children think and say.
For the awful Judgment Day.
Let me never say a word
That wUl make Thee angry, Lord ;
Help me so to Uve in love
As Thine angels do above

454 THE HYMN LOVER.
Make me. Lord, in work and play.
Thine more truly every day.
And when Thou at last shall come.
Take me to Thy heavenly home.
Emily E. S. EUiot is the authoress of two hymns which
are poetic and original in form. Both of them are on the
birth of Christ, and are deservedly popular. They should
be in every coUection for children's use. To render them
still more -widely known, I quote them : —
There came a Uttle ChUd to earth
Long ago !
And the angels of God proclaimed His birth.
High and low.
Out in the night, so calm and stiU,
Their song was heard ;
For they knew that the ChUd on Bethlehem's hiU
Was Christ the Lord.
Far away in a goodly land.
Fair and bright,
ChUdren with crowns of glory stand
Robed in white ;
In white more pure than the spotless snow.
And their tongues unite
In the psalm which the angels sang long ago
On Christmas night.
They sing how the Lord of that world so fair
A Child was born ;
And that they might a crown of glory wear,
Wore a crown of thorn ;
And in mortal weakness, in want and pain.
Came forth to die ;
That the chUdren of earth might for ever reign
With Him on high.
He hath put on His kingly apparel now,
In that goodly land.
And He leads to where fountains of water flow
That chosen band.
And for evermore, in their robes so fair
And undefiled.
Those ransomed children His praise declare
Who was once a child.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 465
The second is equaUy suitable for those of riper age : —
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown
When Thou camest to earth for me :
But in Bethlehem's home was ;there found no'room
For Thy holy nativity.
O come to my heart. Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang.
Proclaiming Thy royzd degree ;
But in lowly bfrth Thou didst come to earth,
And in great humility :
O come to my heart. Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
The foxes found rest, and the birds had their nest
In the shade of the cedar tree ;
But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,
In the deserts of Galilee.
O come to my heart. Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word
That should set Thy people free ;
But with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary:
O come to my heart. Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
When heaven's arches shall ring and her choir shall sing
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home, saying, " Yet there is room,
'There is room at My side for Thee " :
And my heai't shaU rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me.
Jemima Luke (born 1813) is the authoress of the well-
known hymn, which deserves to be reckoned olaaaic, ' ' I
think when I read that sweet story of old," and which
makes us wonder that she never foUowed it up by the
production of others. It was written in a stage coach,
for a -village school near Poimdsford Park, Bath, where
the writer's father resided.
Mrs. H. P. Hawkins, one of the Editors of "The
Home Hymn Book," which, both for its words and
their musical setting, deserves very high praiae, has
written several hymns for children, all of which are

456 THE HYMN LOVER.
tender and beautiful in a very high degree. Perhaps the
finest are the foUowing. The first is for Evening : —
Kind Shepherd, see, Thy little lamb
Comes very tired to 'Thee ;
0 fold me in Thy loving arms.
And smUe on me.
I've wandered from Thy fold to-day,
And could not hear "Thee call,
And oh, I was not happy then.
Nor glad at aU.
I want, dear Saviour, to be good.
And follow close to Thee,
Through flowery meads and pastures green.
And happy be.
Thou kind, good Shepherd, in Thy fold
1 evermore would keep.
In morning's Ught or evening's shade,
And while I sleep.
But now, dear Jesus, let me lay
My head upon Thy breast ;
I am too tired to teU Thee more.
Thou know'st the rest.
The second is for Morning : —
Thy Uttle one, O Saviour dear.
Has just awoke from sleep.
And through the coming day I know
Thou wilt in safety keep.
Thou hast been watching over me.
Through aU the long, dark night :
The darkness is not dark to Thee,
Because Thou art the Light.
I felt so safe and happy. Lord,
Although 1 could not see.
And softly whispered, ere I slept,
" O God, Thou seest me."
I think Thou'rt smiling on me now.
For all seems bright and glad.
But when I'm naughty. Saviour dear.
My heart is always sad.
I want Thy kind and loving smUe
To light me all the way ;
O, keep me, then, from doing wrong,
Or gi'ieving Thee to-day.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 457
E. C. W., who prefers to keep her anonymity, deserves
mention for the simplicity and tendemess of her hymns
for children. They were first included in my ' ' Book of
Praise for Children." This, for Evening, is very
beautiful : — My Father, hear my prayer
Before I go to rest ;
It is Thy little chUd
That cometh to be blest.
Forgive me aU my sin.
And let me sleep this night
In safety and in peace
UntU the morning light.
Lord, help me every day
To love Thee more and more.
And try to do Thy wUl
Much better than before.
Now look upon me. Lord,
Ere I lie down to rest ;
It is Thy little chUd
That cometh to be blest.
As ia the foUo-wing : —
Lord, Who hast made me Thy dear chUd,
And loved me tenderly.
Oh, hear me when I come to own
My many faults to Thee !
How often I have thought that I
A better child would be.
More gentle, loving, kind, and true.
And pleasing unto Thee.
And yet I have not conquered sin.
Nor striven as I should :
I have not always looked to Thee
When trying to be good.
Yet turn not from me, dearest Lord,
But aU my faults forgive ;
And grant that I may love Thee more
Each day on earth I Uve.
To Jeannette ThreUall (1821-1880) we owe one of
the finest ol our hymns lor chUdren, which has every
characteristic needful for such a composition : —

458 THE HYMN LOVER.
Hosanna ! loud hosanna !
The little children sang :
Through piUared court and temple
The lovely anthem rang ;
To Jesus, who had blessed them.
Close folded to His breast.
The chUdren sang their praises.
The simplest and the best.
From Olivet they foUowed,
'Midst an exultant crowd.
Waving the victor palm branch,
And shouting clear and loud :
Bright angels joined the chorus,
Beyond the cloudless sky —
" Hosanna in the highest :
Glory to God on high ! "
Fair leaves of silvery oUve
They strewed upon the ground.
Whilst Salem's circling mountains
Echoed the joyful sound :
The Lord of men and angels
Rode on in lowly state.
Nor scorned that little children
Should on his bidding wait.
" Hosanna in the highest ! "
That ancient song we sing ;
For Christ is our Redeemer,
The Lord of heaven our King :
Oh ! may we ever praise Him
With heart, and life, and voice,
And in His blissful presence
EternaUy rejoice !
Sarah Doudney (bom 1842) is better known by her
stories than her hymns, but the latter deserve, and will
probably secure, a larger place in collections for children
than they have, aa yet, received, as may be judged from
the following (published in 1871) : —
For all Thy care we bless Thee,
0 Father, God of might \
For golden hours of moming,
And quiet hours of night ;
Thine is the arm that shields us
When danger threatens nigh,
And Thine the hand that yields us
Rich gifts of earth and sky.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 459
For aU Thy love we bless Thee;
No mortal lips can speak
Thy comfort to the weary,
'Thy pity for the weak :
By Thee life's path is brightened
With sunshine and with song ;
The hea-vy loads are lightened.
The feeble hearts made strong.
For all Thy tmth we bless Thee ;
Om' human vows are fraU,
But through the strife of ages
Thy word can never faU ;
The kingdoms shall be broken.
The mighty ones wiU faU,
The promise Thou hast apoken
ShaU triumph over aU.
O teach us how to praise Thee,
And touch our lips with fii'e !
Yea, let Thy Dove descending.
Our hearts and minds inspire ;
Thus toiling, watching, sUiging,
We tread our desert way.
And every hour is bringing
Nearer the dawn of day.
To turn to the other sex : —
John EUerton (1826-1893), has done exceUent work in
this department. The foUowing hymn is as remarkable
for its lyric as its practical tone : —
Day by day we magnify Thee, —
When our hymns in school we raise ;
DaUy work begun and ended.
With the daUy voice of praise.
Day by day we magnify Thee, —
When, as each new day is born.
On our knees, at home, we bleas Thee
For the mercies of the morn.
Day by day we magnify Thee, —
In our hymns before we sleep ;
Angels hear them, watching by us.
Christ's dear lambs aU night to keep.
Day by day we magnify Thee, —
Not in words of praise alone ;
Trathful Ups, and meek obedience.
Show Thy glory in Thine own.

460 THE HYMN LOVER.
Day by day we magnify Thee, —
-When, for Jesu's sake, we try
Every wrong to bear with patience.
Every sin to mortify.
Day by day we magnify Thee, —
"TUl our days on earth shall cease.
Till we rest from these our labours.
Waiting for Thy day in peace.
Then on that eternal morning.
With Thy great redeemfed host.
May we fuUy magnify Thee—
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
WUUam Walaham How, of whoee hymns for Church
use I have spoken in a pre-vious chapter, has also -written
some admirable ones for children. The foUo-wing, which
appeared, I believe, for the first time in my " Book of
Praise for ChUdren," is equal to those of Ann and Jane
Taylor, but touched with an altogether tenderer spirit,
which is so characteristic of the theology of our day : —
It is a thing most wonderful.
Almost too wonderful to be.
That God's own Son should come from heaven,
And die to save a chUd Uke me.
And yet I know that it is true :
He came to this poor world below.
And wept, and toUed, and mourned, and died,
Only because He loved us so.
I cannot tell how He could love
A chUd so weak and tuU of sin ;
His love muat be moat wonderful.
If He could die my love to win.
I sometimes think about the cross.
And shut my eyes, and try to see
The cruel nails and crown of thorns.
And Jesus crucified for me.
But even could I see Him die,
I could but see a little part
Of that great Love, which, Uke a fire,
Is always burning in His heart.
It is most wonderful to know
His love for me so free and sure ;
But 'tis more wonderful to see
My love for Him ao faint and poor.

CHILDREN'S HYMNS. 461
And yet 1 want to love Thee, Lord,
O Ught the flame within my heart.
And I wiU love Thee more and more,
UntU I see Thee as Thou ai't.
In an altogether bolder and more jubilant strain is the
foUowing, with separate verses for boys and girls : —
Come, praise your Lord and Saviour
In strains of holy mfrth ;
Give thanks to Him, 0 children.
Who Uved a child on earth.
He loved the little children.
And called them to His side.
His loving arms embraced them
And for their sake He died.
{Boys only).
O Jesu, we would praise Thee,
With songs of holy joy.
For Thou on eaith didst sojom'n
A pure and spotless boy.
Make us, like 'Thee, obedient.
Like Thee, from sin-stains free,
Like Thee, in God's own temple,
In lowly home, Uke Thee
{Girls only).
O Jesu, we too praise Thee,
The lowly maiden's Son :
In Thee all gentlest graces
Are gathered into one ;
Oh ! give that best adornment
That Christian maid can wear.
The meek and quiet spirit
Which shone in Thee so fair
{Ail).
O Lord, with voices blended.
We sing our songs of praise :
Be Thou the light and pattern
Of aU our childhood's days ;
And lead us ever onward.
That, while we stay below,
We may, like Thee, O Jesu,
In grace and wisdom grow.
Both Bishop How and Mr. EUerton have also done good
service by the taste and judgment they have brought to
bear on the Children's Hymnals which they have borne a
part in editing.

462 THE EYMN LOVER.
Thomas Benson Pollock, of Birmingham (1836-1896),
deserves mention as the author of a number of Metrical
Litanies, some of which are admirably suited for chUdren's
use, as may be seen from the foUowing Litany, of which
I quote the firat part : —
Jesu, from Thy throne on high.
Far above the bright blue sky.
Look on us with loving eye.
Hear us, Holy Jesu.
Little chUdren need not fear
When they know that Thou art near,
Thou dost love ua. Saviour dear.
Hear us, Holy Jesu.
Little lambs may come to Thee ;
Thou wilt fold ua tenderly.
And om' careful Shepherd be.
Hear ua, Holy .Jesu.
Little Uves may be divine.
Little deeds of love may shine,
Little ones be wholly Thine,
Hear us. Holy Jesu.
Little hearts may love Thee well.
Little Ups Thy love may tell :
Little hymns Thy praises aweU,
Heal' ua. Holy Jesu.
Jesu, once an infant smaU,
Cradled in the oxen's ataU,
Though the God and Lord of aU,
Heai' us, Holy Jesu.
Once a child so good and fair.
Feeling want and toU and cai'e.
All that we may have to bear.
Hear us. Holy Jean.
Jeau, Thou dost love us stUl,
And it is Thy holy wiU
That we should be safe from iU :
Hear us. Holy Jesu.
Fold us to Thy loving breast.
There may we, in happy rest.
Feel that we indeed ai'e blest
Hear us, Holy Jesu.

CELLDREN'S HYMNS. 463
Benjamin Waugh (born 1839), whose " Sunday
Evenings with my Children" are so well known, and
whose untiring labours on behalf of children, in
connection with the London Society for their protection,
deserve grateful record, has written many hynms for
children, which have not, as yet, come into use ao
largely as their merit deserves. The foUo-wing enforces,
with great tendemess, a much needed idea : —
Where is Jesus, little chUdren 'I
Is He up in heaven f
Has God taken back the present
Which of old was given ?
Where is Jesus, little chUdren ?
Is He in a book ?
Has He ceased to talk to people,
And on them to look ?
Where is Jesus, little chUdreu ?
With us evermore
He is here, and we may find him
Shut within this door.
Jesus is a lovely spfrit.
Lowly, pure, and kind ;
Feeling in the hearts of people,
Thinking in their mind.
Self-forgetting, gentle mercy.
Love that will not die.
These betray the heart of Jesus,
TeU us He is nigh.
Shut within the souls of chUdren,
Jesus makes His home ;
Where the heart has heard Him knocking,
And has bid Him come.
Jesus, make in us Thy dweUing ;
Come with us to live ;
And to each and aU our doings
Thy dear beauty give.
This, too, is equally good: —
I'U come to Thee, O Jesus Christ !
I'll Thy disciple be ;
Not tears, not deeds, but self I'll bring.
Because Thou caUest me.

464 THE HYMN LOVER.

I'U follow Thee to watch Thy ways.
From manger on to grave ;
For, step by step, 'tis thus 1 learn
Thy sovereign power to save.
I'U strive to do Thy blessed wUl,
Renounce my foolish ways,
And live a Ufe," though stained hy sin.
More worthy of Thy grace,
I'll hope through aU my mortal days
Thee by my aide to find ;
To feast my eyes, to fh-e my heart,
To beautify my mind.
I'll sing Thee here, my spirit's Prince,
And foUow in Thy train.
Until Thy wUl my place shall change.
And death shaU be my gain ;
Then, brighter far than summer's sun.
More glad than marriage joy.
In serving, praising, crowning 'i?hee.
Eternal life employ.
This, though rather a tender appeal from the child to the
teacher, is yet very natural : —
O, who will show me Jesus Christ ?
O, who will take my hand ?
And lead to Him whose worda they say
A chUd can understand !
Will some one let me see the face
Which made the chUdren smile.
And lead me through the crowd and throng
And stop with me awhile ?
Will some one let me feel the touch
Which made the chUdren weU,
Cast out the e-vil things within.
And made the good ones dwell ?
They say that He is somewhere now ;
Will some one show me where ?
WiU thoae who know just take my hand.
And kindly lead me there ?
It seems as if I heard a caU :
" Come, little child, to me."
O, Jesus, put it in some heart
To bring me unto Thee.

CELLDREN'S HYMNS. 465
Newman Hall (bom 1816), who has written many hymns
for adults, which do not seem to me very distinctive or
original, has, however, struck a really beautiful note in the
following hymn for children ; which, he tells me, came
into his mind aa he was walking down Hampstead Hill: —
Day again is dawning.
Darkness flies away.
Now from sleep awaking
Let me rise and pray.
Jesus, tender Shepherd,
^'Vatching while I slept.
Bless the little lambkin
Thou hast safely kept.
Help me. Lord, to praise Thee,
For my cosy bed ;
For my clothes and playthings.
For my daily bread ;
For my darling mother,
For my father dear ;
For the friends who love rao.
Far away and near.
Robin bUthe is chirping.
Glad the night is o'er ;
Larks the light are greeting.
Singing as they soar ;
I'm Thy little birdie,
May I ever sing.
Goodness making music
Unto Christ my King.
Daisies now are turning
Bright eyes to the sun ;
And the light is shining
On them every one :
I'm Thy Uttle flower,
Jesus, shine on me,
Turning all my lifetime
Grateful eyes to Thee.
I omit the doxology, as experience has shown that it is
not suitable for chUdren, and somewhat mars the simplicity
of the previous verses.
. Sabine Baring Gould (bom 1834), vicar of Lew
Trenchard, to whom we owe the fine rendering from the
Danish of Ingemann's hymn, "Through the night of

466 THE HYMN LOVER.
doubt and sorrow," and who is the author of " Onward,
Christian soldiers, marching as to war," also -wrote an
Evening Hymn for children, remarkable for its aimpUcity
and picturesqueness, "Now the day is over." It is one
of the finest children's hymns for that season in the
language. Albert Midlane (born 1825) haa written many hymns,
most of which do not rise above mediocrity ; but one for
children, " There's a friend for little children," has
attained to great popularity, and is included in most
children's hymnals. It has the picturesqueness and
melody which are so vital to a good hymn for chUdren.
Some of WUliam Chatterton Dix's hymns, to which I
have already referred (see page 299), are suitable, and,
indeed, prized by children, but the following one, written
specially for them, seems to me singularly healthy and
beautiful :-^ In our work, and in our play,
Jesu, be Thou ever near.
Guarding, guiding, all the day.
Keeping in Thy holy fear.
Thou didst toU, a lowly ChUd
In the far-off Holy land.
Blessing labour undefiled.
Pure, and honest of the hand.
Thou wilt bless our playhour too.
If we ask Thy succour strong;
Watch o'er all we eay or do.
Hold us back from guilt and wrong.
Oh ! how happy thus to spend
Work and playtime in His sight,
TUl the Rest which shall not end,
TUl the Day which knows no night.
Francis Turner Palgrave, of whom I have spoken in
a previous chapter, has written some of the best hymns
lor chUdi-en m the language, among which may be named

CELLDREN'S HYMNS. 467
" Thou that once on mother's knee," and the foUowing
Moming Hymn, which should be better kno-wn than it is:
O God, who, when the night was deep.
Hast kept me safe, and lent ine sleep.
Now with Thy sun Thou bid'st me rise.
And look around with older eyes.
Each bleasfed morning Thou dost give,
1 have one morning le-is to live ;
O help me so this day to spend.
To mak e me fitter for the end.
O bid all e-vil wishes fly,
The fretful word, and idle eye ;
Help me to think, in all 1 do,
" God sees me : would He have it so? "
Make ray first wish and thought to be
For others sooner than for me ;
And let me pardon them, as I
Hope for God's pardon when I die.
Be with me when I work and play.
Be with me now and every day.
Be near me, when I pray Thee hear ;
And when I pray not. Lord, be near.
His Evening Hymn, beginning " 0 Lord, who, when Thy
cross was nigh," is not quite equal to that for Morning.
Among hymns by anonymous writers, mention should
be made of the following: — "Little children, wake and
Usten," "The fields are all white," and "0, what can UtUe
hands do ? "
Perhaps the only hymn (if that word be used in its
proper sense) for children by one of the great English
poets, is the following, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
which is very simple and beautiful : —
Ere on my bed ray Umbs I lay,
God grant me grace my prayers to say ;
0 God, preserve my mother dear
In strength and health for many a year.
And O preserve my father too,
And may I pay him reverence due ;
And may I my best thoughts employ
To be my parents' hope and joy.

468 TEE HYMN LOVER.
And now, O Lord, to me impart
An innocent and grateful heart,
That after my last sleep I may
Awake to Thy eternal day.
It is to be regretted that the greater poets did not
consecrate their powers to such a work. WTiat noble
verses we might have had, if a man like Charles Eangsley
had written verses for chUdren, suffused -with the spirit of
his lovely poem addressed to a child, which I cannot
forbear quoting : —
My fairest child, I have no song to give you :
No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray ;
Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you
For every daj'.
Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever :
Do noble things, not dream them all day long ;
And so make life, death, and that vast forever
One grand, sweet song.
The only hymnal of any merit for chUdren of the
Roman CathoUc Churoh, is that issued by the Rev.
Henry Formby, under the title of " School Songs."
Concerning the authorship of the hymns included in this
book, the Editor gives no hint ; some are probably from
his own pen. This is one of the best : —
When Jesus halted on hia way.
And many throng'd to see.
Though some forbade, yet would He say,
" Come, little ones, to me."
0, happy then that infant band
That gathered round His knee.
And happy they who kias'd the hand
That bled to set them free.
Had I been near Him on that day.
His gracious smile to see ;
Had I been near to hear Him say,
" Come, little ones, to me " —
0, what were then a throne above.
Or seraph's seat on high.
Compared with one sweet glance of love
From that all-pitying eye !

CELLDREN'S HYMNS. 469
Yet hast Thou not, my Lord and God,
Though ou Thy throne above,
StiU here on earth Thy own abode.
The altar of Thy love.
0, thither, then, let me repair,
Thy gracious smile to see.
And hear Thee aay, in stillness there.
" Come, little one, to Me."
Though no hymnal for children of any great value has
been issued by the Roman CathoUc Church, yet many in
that communion have written good hymns for chUdren ;
among whom may be named Father Stansfeld, and the
Sister Mary Clare of Kenmare, who has, however, since
left the Roman for a Protestant Church, whose Easter
Hymn I append : —
Hark, the angels bright are singing
In the glorious Easter sky :
Jesus from the grave has risen,
Jesus now no more may die.
Alleluia, alleluia, this is what the angels say,
AUeluia, alleluia, we will siag with them to-day.
Pilate's soldiers tried to keep
Jesus fast within the grave ;
And they put a seal and atone
Upon the entrance to the cave.
Alleluia, alleluia, &c.
But when three days paaaed away.
At the awful midnight hour,
Jesus rose all gloriously
By His own almighty power.
Alleluia, alleluia, &c.
We must die aa Jesua died.
But we, too, from death shall rise,
Theu with Him, if we are good.
We shall reign beyond the skies.
Alleluia, alleluia, &c.
No greater success has been reached in hymn writing
for children than by Matilda Barbara Betham-Edwards
(born 1836)— widely known by her works of fiction —
especiaUy in the foUowing verses : —

470 THE HYMN LOVER.
God make my life a little light
Within the world to glow ;
A little flame that bumeth bright,
"Wherever I may go.
God make my life a little flower.
That giveth joy to all.
Content to bloom in native bower,
Although the place be small.
God make my life a little song
That comforteth the sad ;
That helpeth others to be strong.
And makes the singer glad.
God make my life a little staff.
Whereon the weak may rest.
That so what health and strength I have
May serve my neighbours best.
God make my life a little hymn
Of tenderness and praise ;
Of faith— that never waxeth dim.
In aU His wondrous ways.
Less known, but equally beautiful, is this Evening Hymn
from her pen : —
The little birds now seek their nest ;
The baby sleeps ou mother's breast;
Thou givest all Thy children rest,
God of the weary.
The sailor prayeth on the sea :
The little ones at mother's knee ;
Now comes the penitent to Thee,
God of the weary.
The orphan puts away his fears ;
The troubled hopes for happier years ;
Thou driest all the mourner's tears,
God of the weary.
Thou sendest rest to tir^d feet,
To little toilers slumber sweet.
To aching hearts repose complete,
God of the weary.
In grief, perplexity, or pain.
None ever come to Thee iu vain ;
Thou makest life a joy again,
God of the weary.
We sleep that we may wake renewed.
To serve Thee as Thy children should.
With love, and zeal, and gratitude,
God of the weary.

CELLDREN'S EYMNS. 471
Even the Jews have, of late, felt the need of hymns
for the use of the children in their schools. A few years
ago, a selection from " The Book of Praise for Children,"
edited by myself, was prepared and published by a Jewish
lady, and, strange to say, its origin frankly acknowledged
on the title page, and the name of the Editor of the
' original book given. Not a aingle hymn by any Jewish
writer was added, probably because they have never
entered on this field.
It is pleasant to note that the sickly sentimentalism
which once prevailed in not a few children's hymns, in
which they were made to express disgust at earth, and
longing for heaven, such as in " Here we suffer grief and
pain," and " I want to be an angel," is, save in quarters
least spiritually enUghtened, dying out, and before long
wUl probably be regarded as a folly of the past. To
help on such a result, I edited and published, many
years ago, " The Book of Praise for ChUdren," which, I
have been glad to know, was the begmnmg of a more
healthy style of chUdren's hymnal ; but, in spite of aU
that has since been done, and aU the improvement that
has been made, the ideal children's hymnal is yet a thing
of the future. The existing materials are now ample,
and aU that is -wanted is an Editor with sufficient
critical discrimination to discern the really good, and
sufficient courage rigorously to exclude the unworthy.

472

CHAPTER XXII.

MISSION HYMNS.
In most great revivals of reUgion, alike in ancient and
modem times, song has played a very important part.
Thia waa the case in early times both in the Eastem and
Western Churches, and later — in the days of the Refor
mation — both in Germany and England. But in such
times there does not aeem to have aprung up, as in later
ones, a distinct type of hymns, but the ordinary ones of
the Church were deemed suitable. The great Methodist
revival of the last century would seem to have been the
first which gave birth to a class of hymns speciaUy
written for revival ser-vices. That movement, however,
was fortunate in having for one of its leaders a really
great hymnist, perhaps the greateat the Church haa yet
produced. The hymns of Charles Wesley, however, though
suffused -with religious feeUng, friU ol emotional
expression, and cast in lorms eminently adapted to fit
them for popular use, were nevertheless so touched with
the essentially poetic nature of their author that they
were adopted not only in the gatherings of the rade and
unlettered, but also in the ordinary worship of the
Churches. Doubtless hundreds, if not thousands, of his
hymns were used during the first Methodist revival which
have since been neglected, and are now only to be found

MISSION EYMNS. 473
in the coUected edition of his works, now used
merely as a work of reference.
More recent re-yivals of religion have not been so
fortunate as to possess hymnists with the exceptional abUity
of Charles Wesley. Dr. Bonar is probably the only
example of a reaUy great hymnist in modern times who
has consecrated his gifts to the production of verses
specially adapted for times of religious revival. The
leaders, therefore, of such movements have been compelled
to faU back on hymns which had established themselves
already in the favour of the Church, and for the novelties
which they deemed essential to their coUeetions they have
been driven to writers of a very inferior type. And we
find, as a consequence, singularly few hymns of permanent
value have been produced. Here and there we meet with
a hymn of merit, such as "Hark! 'tis the watchman's
cry," by an anonymous writer (which though pubUshed
tn "The Revival," has not been included in the well-
known Mission Hymnals), and "There were ninety-and-
nine which safely lay," by EUzabeth C. Clephane ; but
modem revival movements have been strikingly deficient
in the production of hymns of any great value. A large
number ol hymns have indeed been written lor mission
services, but they are either so devoid ol poetic inspiration
or Uterary merit, or are so marred by objectionable
elements or crude theology, that they have not passed into
the general worship of the Church. To many of them
the remark of Lord Lindsay applies : " The metaphors, it
should be observed, derived from love and marriage, as
typical of union with God, have given sanction to very
reprehensible language and imagery, not only among
the Mystic poets of the East, but among the

474 TEE EYMN LOVER.
hymn- writers of Christendom."* Such popularity as
they have attained is to be ascribed to the Uvely tunes to
which they have been wedded, and the catching, easy
choruses by which they are accompanied. The great
success of " Sacred Songs and Solos," by Ira D. Sankey,
has chiefiy arisen from theae causes, for most of the new
hymns included are exceedingly duU and altogether
lacking in the elements which would catch the popular
ear, but the bright melodious music, and the chorus in
which the common people can readUy join, is an excuse for
aU shortcomings. Indeed, in many caaea the words seem
to have been -written for the music, and are destitute of
all that goes to make up a worthy hymn. Illustrations of
thia will occur to all thoughtful readers of " Songs and
Solos." It is a great misfortune that a collection which
has attained such a phenomenal popularity waa not com
piled with greater care and taste, since its music might
have given currency to hymns of a far higher and more
helpful type. Mr. Sankey himself seems to have felt this,
for he once said, "I find it much more difficult to get
good words than good music. Our best words come from
England ; the music which best suits our purpose comes
from America."! '^^^ common people would sing the
nobler hymns of the Church just as readily were they set
to easy and melodious tunes if suitable choruses were
added. This remark applies in a still stronger degree to
many of the hymns used by the Salvation Army. " Songs
and Soloa " are claaaic compared with "The Salvation
Soldier's Song Book," in which such verses as the
foUowing occur. * " Lectures on Christian Art," page 77.
t" Studies in Worship Music," vol. ii, p. 39.

MISSION HYMNS. 475

The Devil and me, we can't agree,
I hate him, and he hates me ;
He had me once, but he let me go.
He wants me again, but I will not go.
The publicans are crying out.
Because the Ai'my is going about ;
But still about we mean to go.
And rout the DevU and every foe.
We'll sing and pray, and we'll believe.
And sinners shall the truth receive ;
We'll preach the truth in every town.
And puU the Devil's kingdom down.
My old companions, fare you well,
I will not go with you to hell ;
My happy comrades are so kind,
I've left the world and the Devil behind.
This is not to be wondered at when the method of their
production is remembered. It is said that "there are four
men at headquarters whose business it is to keep a look
out for new tunes, write ' Army ' words to them, anange
them for brass bands, and see them through the press."*
It will of course be said that by meana of such move
ments hymns have been made popular, and are sung
on week-days as weU aa Sundays, in the shop aa weU as in
the Church, in the street as well as in the midst of
worship. This seems a gain, and it ia such, if devout
feeUng be in the heart when they are sung. But it is
quite as poaaible to render sacred things common as to
render common things sacred. People may almost as weU
sing the Devil's songs as sing the Lord's songs in an
utterly careless spirit. There is a good deal of truth in
the following words of Montaigne : — " It is not without
very good reason, in my opinion, that the Church interdicts
the promiscuous, rash, and indiscreet use of the sacred
and divine songs -with which the Holy Ghost inspired
King David. We ought not to mix God in our actions
* " Studies in Worship Music,'' vol. ii, pp. 24-25.

476 THE EYMN LOVER.
but with the highest reverence and honour. That poesy
is too divine to be employed only to exercise the lungs
and to delight our ears. It ought to come from the aoul
and not from the tongue. It ia not fit that a boy in a
shop, amongst his vain and frivolous thoughts should be
permitted to entertain and divert himseU with psalmody."
Indeed, even Marot' s translations of the Psalms, whose
superior quaUty and sacredness should have preserved
them from such a use, were sung aU over France, and
especially in Paris, by the courtiers and courtesans of that
corrupt court and city, and for a time it was the fashion
to sing them — a fashion which had little influence on the
spiritual or even ethical life of the aingers.
Aubrey de Yere well says : —
Ye who would build the chm'ches of the Lord,
See that ye make the western portals low :
Let no one enter who disdains to bow.
High truths profanely gazed at, unadored.
Will be abused at first, at last abhorred.
Doggerel tends to such irreverence, whUst hymns of the
nobler sort usually, though not alway, tend to uplift and
solemnise the minds even of the careless.
There is another danger in relation to hymns of a
revival kind. They are naturaUy and properly occupied
with the initial stage of the Christian life — faith in our
Lord Jesus Chriat — but in too many caaes they are re
tained as the permanent and only coUection for worship.
For this they are certainly not suited, since they leave
untouched many of the great truths which should after
wards occupy the mind, whilst they are not only
singularly deficient in those ethical elements by which
faith should be directed into right channels, but in some
cases they even cast contempt on what Christ laid so

MLSSLON EYMNS. 477
much stress — the doing of the -will ol God — as in the
following verses, which are an exaggerated and one-sided
delineation of faith : —
Nothing either great or smaU — nothing, sinner, no ;
Jesus did it, did it all, long, long ago.
" It is finish'd! " Yes, indeed, finish'd evei-y jot,
Sinner, this is all you need ; tell me, is it not ?
When He from His lofty throne stooped to do and die.
Everything was fuUy done. Hearken to His cry —
" Weary, working, burden'd one, wherefore toU you so?"
Cease your doing : aU was done long, long ago.
Till to Jesus' work you cling by a simple faith,
" Doing " is a deadly thing — " doing " ends in death.
Cast your deadly " doing " do-wn — down at Jesus' feet ;
Stand " in Him," in Him alone, gloriously " complete."
And the result is often seen in a religion more erotic
than spiritual ; more sentimental than practical. Their
theology, indeed, is sadly one-sided, and wanting in some
of the elements moat conspicuous in the teaching of our
Lord and His Apostles. It is a great misfortune for any
Christian community to be restricted to hymns suitable
enough for the origination of the Christian life, but not
full or varied enough for its after culture. Thia is Uke
making the lesson books of the Infant class suffice for the
whole course of education. The piety of the Church is thus
emasculated, and fails in that robustness which should be
one of its chief characteristics. And men and women
love rather to sing about reUgion than to practise it —
they easily acquire a habit of singing words to sweet
music with but very little regard to the meaning of the
words themselves. The precept addressed in the ancient
Church to the Choregus needs to be borne in mind by all
who sing holy songs : — " See that what thou singest with
thy lip, thou believest also in thine heart, and what thou
believest in thine heart, thou practisest also in thy Ufe."

478

CHAPTEE XXIII.

OF ALTERATIONS IN HYMNS.
The special cross most hymn--writers have had to complain
of, and yet to bear, is the alteration of their verses
by Editors of Hymnals. In • many cases, however, these
very writers have themselves done a considerable amount
of alteration to hymns by other authors. John Wesley,
in the preface to his hymn-book, complains bitterly of the
way in which his brother Charles's hymns had been
altered. James Montgomery, in the preface to the
collected edition of his hymns, makes a similar complaint.
But with a strange inconsistency, both of them had been
guUty of the very thing they blame in others. John
Wesley, in his "Hymn Book for Methodists," altered
the hymns of Herbert, Sandys, Austin, and Watts ; and
in his '* Christian Paalmiat," James Montgomery did
the same in the case of other writers. It would be
difficult, indeed, to find a hymn-booh for actual use in
public worship in which a like course haa not been adopted.
Collections of hymns could be named in which the original
texts of hymns, as written by their authors, have been
duly preserved ; but these were edited on purely litera/ry
principles, and without any -view to being used by
worshippers. Adaptation to worship makes a vast
difference, and renders necessary a totally distinct method
on the part of the compiler, who is compelled to consider

OF ALTERATLONS IN HYMNS. 479
the needs, not of a literary class only, but of many clasaea,
to make sure that the verses are metrically correct, and so
capable of being wedded to music ; and that the terms
used should be in good taste. He must, moreover, see
to it that the verses are in general agreement with the
religious views of the congregations for whose use hia
hymnal ia intended. Such considerations render altera
tions in the case of certain hymns, if they are to be
included, imperatively necessary. Moreover, some hymns
are the result of gradual gro-wth, and represent the work,
not only of the original author, but of succeeding
hymnists. Examples of this are to be found in such
hymna as " 0 God of Bethel, by whose hand," and " Lo,
He comes, with clouds descending." To present these in
their original forms would be weU in a Thesaurus of
Hymns, for purposes of reference or private reading, but
would render them distasteful to the great bulk of wor
shippers. Moreover, some alterations have so estabUshed
themselves in pubUc favour, that they are accepted aa the
acknowledged forms in which the hymns should appear.
It would show pedantry, and not skilful editing, to give
Charles Wesley's hymn, "Hark! how all the welkin
rings," in its original form, and not in that in which it
is known all over the world, as "Hark! the herald
angels sing." In some cases hymn-writera have welcomed
certain alterationa as being improvementa, and afterwards
pubUshed them in their acknowledged texts. If my
readers wUl pardon the personal reference — I once said
of a certain hymn by a U-ying writer, " That is a fine
hymn," to which he at once replied, " It owes much to
your revision." In the case of hymns by writers still
amongst us, permission should undoubtedly be sought and

480 THE HYMN LOVER.
obtained for any desired alteration, and without such
permiaaion they should not be adopted. In most cases,
where the alterationa are baaed on inteUigent criticism,
and render the hymn more perfect, they are gladly
welcomed. Every one who has set his hand to the task
of editing a hymnal knows full weU that it is impossible
to adhere in every case to the form in which hymns first
appeared, or even where altered by their authors, to the
text finaUy adopted by them.
But when all this has been said, it muat be acknow
ledged that, beyond every other form of composition,
hymns have suffered at the hands of incompetent or
bungling editors, whose alterations, in the vast majority
of cases, have been unmistakably for the worse, and
very rarely for the better. In many cases, the men who
have undertaken the task of editing hymnals have not
had a spark of poetic insight or literary abiUty. The
canon that should guide an editor in the matter of
alteration is, that he shoiUd first of all know the original
form in which the hynms appeared (which, unhappUy,
many do not), and that he should not make the sUghtest
alteration without a distinct and inteUigible reason — a
reason which should commend itself to any critic of taste
and judgment. This would preserve our hymnals from
the senseleaa and ailly mutUations for which so many of
them are at present conspicuous. I will give a few
examples of this from a book which offends more fre
quently and flagrantly against this canon than any -with
which I am acquainted. Here are a few instances :—
John Morrison -wrote " Long hath the lUght of sorrow
reigned," his mind fuU of the length of the night of
which he was thinking ; the whole force of which was

OF ALTERATLONS IN HYMNS. 481
taken out by the compilers rendering it " The night of
sorrow long hath reigned." The keynote of J. D. Bums'
lovely hymn is struck in the flrst Une, " Still with Thee,
0 my God," which is developed in the after verses of the
hymn, where the different portions of the life are
enumerated. The compUers struck out the key word
dill, and gave us thia feeble Une, with ita aenaeless
redupUcation of the name of God, " With Thee, my
Lord, my God." Dr. Faber' a grand hymn, " I worahip
Thee, sweet wUl of God," is so mangled as to be
unrecognisable, and in most of the verses the theme — the
wUl of God — is conspicuous by its absence. Charles
Wesley's lovely lyric on " WreatUng Jacob," the
loveUeat he ever wrote, too perfect to be touched
even by the greatest hand, is reduced to the veriest
commonplace in many of its parts. One verse of
KeUy's fine hymn on " The Cross " is rendered
absolute nonsense. Dr. Bonar's fine litany, " When
the weary, seeking rest," is arranged ao that the
refrain of each verse answers to the Unes which go
before — Hear then, in love, O Lord, the cry.
In heaven. Thy dwelling-place on high.
By the substitution of Thou for then, the whole symmetry
of the hymn is destroyed. Such treatment of hymns,
unjustified either by theological or Uterary considerations,
deserves to be pilloried, so as to serve as a waming to
future compilers. It is an offence not only against the
writers whose hymns have been thus mangled, but
against the reUgious body for whose uae it was
compUed. ^ 2

482 TEE HYMN LOVER.
When alterations are made for theological reasons they
should be based on sound principles, and not made to
pander to some silly popular prejudice, as in the case of
Dean Milman's hymn " When our heads are bowed with
woe," which ig clearly an appeal to the Christ on His
human side, and therefore addresses Him as " Gracious
Son of Mary, hear." To alter this line to "Jesu, Son of
David, hear," ia not only to miss the point of the whole
hymn, but to yield to a ailly and ultra-Proteatant prejudice.
When an objection was raiaed to the original line by a
member of the Committee for preparing " The Scottish
Hymnal," that it would tend to Mariolatry, Dr. Robertson,
of the Greyfriars Church, rose with fiushed face and cried
aloud, " That line can only lead to Mariolatry if our con
gregations consist exclusively of bom idiots," which
happily ended the debate. Many a theological alteration
in hymns has had no better justification.
When alterations are made on Uterary grounds it should
be quite clear that the change is in that sense an improve
ment. It is such when worda which once had a particular
meaning, which has since become obsolete, are altered for
their present equivalents, orwhen wordspei-mittedby theless
fastidious taste of an earlier time are made to give way to
those more in harmony with present ideas. Thus an editor is
justified in substituting for the word frequently used by the
older hymnists, "bowels," the more acceptable word
"heart." Alterations are justifiable when verses not originaUy writ
ten with a view to being sung, and not metrically accurate,
are rendered so by re-vision, as in the case of Sir Thomas
Browne's grand hymn, "The night is come, Uke to the

OF ALTERATLONS LN HYMNS. 483
day,"* or Bishop Jeremy Taylor's on Christ entering into
Jerusalem, or some of Miss Waring' s deUghtful com
positions. If hymns like these are to be used in pubUc
* 1 append an admirable rendering of this hymn for use in worship,
kindly prepared for me by Dr. George MacDonald, which shows how
exceedingly alight are the jdterations which often need to be made.
I regret that this version did not come into my hands before
the publication of my " Congregational Hymns." If it had, I should
certainly have inserted it instead of the version there adopted. My
readers ahould compare this rendering with the original as printed
on p. 77. The night is come : like to the day
Depart not Thou, great God, away.
Let not my sins, black as the night.
Eclipse the lustre of Thy light.
*Keep my horizon, for to me.
The sun makes not the day, but Thee
0 Thou, whose nature cannot sleep,
Z^on my temples aentry keep ;
Guard me against those watchful foes
Whose eyes are open while mine close ;
And let no dreams my head infest
But such as Jacob's temples blest.
WhUe I do rest, my soul advance.
And make my sleep a holy trance,
tThat I may, when my rest is vvrought.
Awake into sorae holy thought ;
And with as active vigour run
My course as doth the nimble sun.
Sleep is a death. Oh make me try
By sleeping what it is to die ;
And down aa gently lay my head
Upon my grave as now mv bed.
Howe'er 1 rest, great God, let me
Awake again at least with Thee.
And thus assured, behold 1 Ue
Securely, or to wake or die.
These are my drowsy days — in vain
I do now wake to sleep again.
JO come that hour when sleep is o'er.
And I shall wake for evermore.
' Keep still in my horizon, for to me
The sun makes not the day, but Thee.
But is a preposition for without.
+ Changed for the accent.
i O come that hour when I shall never
Sleep again, but wake for ever.
The rhyme, being a feminine one, is awkward for smgers.

484 TEE EYMN LOVER.
worahip such re-vision must be undertaken. Even then,
however, the alterations should be the least that are
necessary. Beyond these, however, there are verses where the
thoughts are beautiful, and eminently adapted to quicken
devotional feeUng, but cast in a form unsuited for use in
worship. It is a perfectly justifiable thing to recast such,
and if it be done skilfuUy, as in the case of Francis
Quarles's hymn, by that eminent hymnist, Henry Francis
Lyte, " Long did I toil, and knew no earthly rest," the
result may be gratefully accepted. Such a work,
however, needs both poetic feeling and skilful
manipulation. Akin to the question of alteration is the justifiableness
of the omission of verses. This must be conceded on
three grounds : first, that many hymns are far too long
for use in pubUc worship; second, that in most long
hymns there are inferior verses, which mar rather than
improve their effect; third, that some of the finest hymns
in the language, such as Father Faber'a, contain verses
whose sentiment would exclude them from aU Protestant
worahip. But whUst this exclusion be aUowed, care
must be taken (which, alas ! has often been wanting), to
preserve the symmetry and course of tiiought of the
hymn. Too many editors have only cared to reduce
hymns to the required length, careless altogether whether
they preserved their structural unity or not. In many a
caae, the very verse on which the whole meaning of the
hymn turned has been carelessly omitted, as in Mont
gomery's fine hymn, " Songs of praise the angels sang,"
the two parts of which are brought into unity by the
verse which asks : —

OF ALTERATLONS IN EYMNS. 485

And shaU man alone be dumb
TiU that glorious kingdom come ?
And then answers : —
No ! the Church delights to raise
Psalms and hymns and songs of praise.
or in Keble's " There is a book who runs may read,"
where the visible Book of Nature is made to suggest the
invisible one of Grace, and the reason why the soiU does
not at once pass from the one to the other is indicated in
the following verse, too often omitted by editors : —
Two worlds are ours : 'tis only sin
Forbids us to descry
The mystic heaven and earth within.
Plain as the sea and sky.
To omit such verses is Uke building a house and lea-ving
out the paaaage which connects the various rooms.
As to the question whether additions to already existing
hymns are justifiable, I -wiU not pronounce a definite
opinion. I wiU only say this, that if a hymn be worth
retaining, it ia very improbable that the writer can be
found who wiU add to it without aomething like a patch
work effect. In the case of hymns by writers of an
earUer time, it is almoat impossible to avoid this, since
every age has its o-wn undefinable manner, which can
scarcely be caught by writers of a later day. " Hymns
Ancient and Modem " furnish many illustrations of the
futiUty of such attempts. The critical ear is offended by
passing from verses by Dr. Watts to additiona in the same
metre, but in a more modem style, from the pen of the
compilers of that popular work ; whilst Bishop Bicker
steth, in attempting to add to Cardinal Ne-wman's
incomparable hymn, "Lead, kindly light," and perhaps
render it a Uttle more definitely orthodox, has, by the
comparison of styles, only revealed more fully the glory

486 TEE EYMN LOVER.
of the original verses and the poverty of the added one.
An editor might as well attempt to add a book to the
"Iliad," or a scene to "Hamlet ! "
A man should not enter on the work of editing a
Hymnal unless he ia prepared to touch -with reverent
hand the treasures of thought and feeling with which he
has to deal ; only absolute neceasity should lead him to
alter, omit from, or add to hymns — in many cases, the
offspring of the holiest moments of saintly Uves.

487

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE NEW ERA IN HYMNODY.
The late Dean Stanley, in a brief estimate of the poetry
of John and Charles Wesley, relates the foUo-wing
significant incident : "A distinguished critic of our
times, in hia profeaaorial chair at Oxford, is reported
to have held out in one hand ' The Golden Treasury
of English Lyrics,' coUected by Francis Turner Palgrave,
and in the other ' The Book of Praise,' coUected from
all English hymnody by Lord Selbome, and to have
asked ' Why is it that " The Golden Treasury " contains
almost nothing that is bad, and why is it that the
" Book of Praise " contains almost nothing that is
good?'" And the Dean then proceeded to give this
three-fold answer to the question : — (1) that the moment
poetry is made a vehicle of theological argument it
becomes essentially prosaic, as much or almost aa much
as if it were employed for arguments on poUtical or
phUosophical problems ; (2) that the very greatness of
the worda which, either from BibUcal or ecclesiastical
usage, have been consecrated to the sublime thoughts
of reUgion, mialeads the writer into the beUef that
they are of themselves sufficient to carry on the poetical
afflatus ; and (3) the temptation which BibUcal metaphors
have afforded of pursuing into detail, and especiaUy

488 THE HYMN LOVER.
into anatomical detail, expressions derived from the
physical structure of the human frame.
A careful examination of the books of Mr. Palgrave
and Lord Selbome, however, brings to Ught other
reasons for the vast superiority of the lyrical over the
hymnal coUection, amongst which these may be men
tioned. (1) Both by nature and training Mr. Palgrave
was fitted for the work of editing a coUection of lyrics,
but as much cannot be said of Lord Selbome, whUst it
may even be affirmed that his legal training rather
unfitted him for editing such a work as " The Book of
Praiae." And so it has come to pass that whilst Mr.
Palgrave recognised the real lyric note wherever he
heard it, Lord Selbome, hearing did not hear, so that
aome of the finest sacred lyrics of earUer days are
sought for in vain in hia pages. The reader cannot
find there such noble examples of poetic hymnody as
Herrick' s lovely Utany, "In the dark and cloudy day," or
John Mason's "Thou wast, 0 God, and Thou wast blest,"
Sir Thomaa Browne' a " The night is come, Uke to the
day ; " Madame Guion's nobly mjtstical hymn, kno-wn to
English-apeaking folk through Cowper's translation, " 0
Thou by long experience tried ; " John Milton's version of
the 84th Psalm, " How lovely are Thy dwellings. Lord,"
and many others belonging to earlier days, which might
be named ; whilst, if we come to our own time, aome of
the greatest names are conspicuous by their absence. It
seems scarcely possible, but it is true, nevertheless, that
not a single hymn by Father Faber (in some senses, the
finest hymnist of the century), Adelaide Ann Procter,
Thomas Hornblower Gill, George Rawson, and many
others, can be found in a book which professes to

TEE NEW ERA IN EYMNODY. 489

represent "the best English hymn- writers." If my
memory serves me aright, I have seen somewhere a remark
of Lord Selborne's that Mr. Dix's hymn, " As with
gladness men of old," shows that the power of hymn-
writing has not departed. Departed! Who but a lawyer,
held in the iron chain of precedent, would ever think of
the power of hymn-writing as likely to depart? Rather
has it in the present century flourished in a way to which
no previous one can lay claim. Dean Stanley seems to
have felt this, since, in the article from which I have
already quoted, speaking of the uniform pedestrian_style
which ia unfortunately familiar, to EngUah Churchmen in
the vast mass of the verses contained in " Hymns Ancient
and Modem," says : " It is the EngUsh poet of the
nineteenth century, not the Latin hymnodists of the
fourteenth or fifteenth that have furnished whatever there
is of poetical in the coUection." It is very greatly to be
regretted that a recent editor should have put in a
plea for the retention of such inferior hymns, supporting
it, as he does, by a reference to the popularity of national
ballads.* No illustration could have been more unfortu
nate, since the ballads that still hold their ground are full
of lyric fire — a quality in which the hymns of inferior
writers are singularly deficient. It ia the absence of such
lyric fire from a multitude of hymns still printed which
prevents their being sung, and only renders them an
incumbrance to the hymnals in which they are retained,
hindering them from being valued as a hymnal should be.
This is one of the lessons that the Church at large sorely
needs to lay to heart. Up to the present time she has
*Dr. AUon in the preface to the "Congregational Psalmist
Hvmnal."

490 TEE EYMN LOVER.
given, or rather hymn-book editors have forced upon her
hymns of the past which once had a place because none
better were obtainable, hymns which satiafied the cruder
taste of those less cultured days, but which are no longer
acceptable to intelUgent worshippers. In the Episcopal
church this remark applies to the hymns of early and
mediaeval times, of which but a very smaU number
deserve, on their merits, to be retained, and in the
Nonconformist churches to the great mass of the hymns by
Watts and Wesley, both of whom wrote far too much for
it to be possible that all should be of a high quality.
Watts wrote between five and six hundred hymna, whUat
C. Wesley wrote as many thousands. AU Nonconformist
hymnals with anything like official sanction have too
large an infusion of hymns from these and similar
aources. The "Wesleyan Methodist Hymn-Book" is
chiefly from the pen of the Wesleys — the hymns
of other writers are only supplemental thereto. The
" Congregational Hymn Book," consisting of 1,000
hymna, contains 393 by Dr. Watts. The "Baptist
Hymnal," containing 920, has 59 of Watts's ; whilst the
recently-issued and unofficial hymnal edited by Dr. AUon
has 65, a fourteenth of the whole. The result is that the
remark of the Oxford professor with regard to "The Book
of Praise " applies to the great majority of hynmals.
The insertion of a large number of mediocre and even
inferior hymna on the ground that they were written by
authora whose compoaitiona, on account of the paucity of
good hymnists, were once highly valued, gives a tone of
dulness and insipidity to the coUeetions in which they
form so large a part. It renders them like a wUderness in

TEE NEW ERA IN EYMNODY. 491
which the oases are few and far apart. And one result is
that to most persons of cultivated taste, they seldom, if
ever, become, as they should, manuals of devotion for
private and family use. In this respect the great majority
of hymnal editors have not kept pace either with the
tastes or the wishes of the people for whom they cater.
This is capable of proof from the actual usage of the
Church. The hymna actually used in the Eatabliahed
Church are chiefly the more poetic of the older times
and thoae by recent or still living writers ; whilst in
churches of the Baptist and Independent order, hymns
by Watta and those of hia achool are rapidly passing out
of use, only the flnest retaining their hold on the
affections of the worshippers. It would seem, therefore,
that the day of rhymed prose of which Dr. Watts's
hymns, save in some twenty-five or thirty examples,
consists, is over, and that the church in both its
Episcopal and Nonconformiat branches is longing to be
free from aU but the noblest hynms, whether ancient
or mediaeval, or those of Watts and hia foUowers.
Indeed, the reason that once existed for the former
bondage no longer holds. Our forefathers in the
EstabUshed Church were obliged to be content with
Stemhold and Hopkins, or Tate and Brady, because
no sweeter singers were available. Our forefathers in
Independency were content with Watts because he held
the field, with scarcely a competitor. But this is no
longer the case. The hymnists whose works are now
avaUable are legion. The "Dictionary of Hymnology,"
pubUshed by Mr. Murray, under the editorship of
ths Rev John JuUan, includes accounts of no less
than 3,000 hymn-writers and 30,000 hymns, so that

492 TEE EYMN LOVER.
there is an almost boundless treasury on which the
church may draw for her worship-song. And this wiU
render it possible for the church to have hymnals of
which it may be said that in them "there is almost
nothing that is bad." There is, indeed, no reason why
collections for the purpose of worship as good as the
" Golden Treasury of Lyrics," by Mr. Palgrave, is for
reading, should not be at the command of our churches.
By means of auch they might be lifted to a nobler and
more spiritual worship, which would ere long produce
corresponding results both in heart and life.
James Montgomery, in the preface to his "Christian
Psalmist," published in 1825, aays, " Hymns, looking at
the multitude and mass of them, appear to have been
written by all kinds of persons except poets." This
remark to a certain extent still holds good, but in a less
degree than when he penned it. It may still be said that
in hymnody the poets of the first order are conspicuous by
their absence ; but poeta, who, if they do not stand in the
first rank, are yet really poets, are more and more con
spicuous by their presence. Some little very real poetry
may be found among the older treasures ol hymnody,
though auch poetic hymns were not incorporated with the
earlier hymnals. I reler to hymns by Herrick, Francis
Quarles, Sir Thomas Browne, George Herbert, and others;
but in recent years there may be numbered among the
hymnists of our own country, such poets as WilUam
Cowper, Felicia Dorothea Hemans, Henry Francis Lyte,
Frederick WUliam Faber, John Keble, John Henry
Ne-wman, Francis Turner Palgrave, Walter Chalmers
Smith, and others; whilst if we pass across the sea to
our kinsmen in the New World, scarcely a poet can be

TEE NEW ERA LN EYMNODY. 493
named who has not produced hymns. R. W. Emerson,
W. C. Bryant, J. G. Whittier, and 0. W. Holmes, are aU
represented in hymnals. The reason for this union of the
poet and hymnist in America is to be found in two facts —
one being that all, or nearly all, the American poets were
deeply reUgious men, definitely associated at some time in
their history -with particular churches ; the other being that
where, in England, a speech would be asked for aome
great occaaion, in America it ia the castom to ask for an
ode to be recited, or a hymn to be sung. No one who has
considered the subject can doubt that, in our age, poetry
in the form of hymns is being furnished for the use of the
Church in a degree unknown, or known but rarely, in
earlier daya. Even those hymniata who can acarcely be
classed as poets, and who have not produced poems, are
more filled with the poetic spirit than was the caae in
earUer days.
It is not too much to say, therefore, that we have of
late entered on a new era in relation to hymnody, and that
the hynmals of the future wiU be more poetic than those
of the past. A hymn should be a lyric poem. Rhymed
prose deaUng with theological doctrine is not a hymn.
There must be that indescribable element we call poetic,
proceeding from " the vision and the faculty divine," to
render verses, though metrically faultleas, a hymn.
Wanting this, they want the very life blood of a true
hymn. This is the great point of difference between
earUer and modern hymns taken as a whole. There are
exceptions. Hymns could be mentioned belonging to
every age in which the trae poetic note can be heard.
In Gregory the Great's " Now, when the dusky shades of
night retreating." In Godescalcus's " The strain upraise

494 TEE EYMN LOVER.
of joy and praiae." In Bernard of Clairvaux'a "0 Jesus,
King most wonderful," and "Jesus, the very thought of
Thee," from his "Jesu dulcis memoria." In Bernard of
Clugny'a "To thee, 0 dear, dear country," and other
centos from his " Hora Novissima." In the "Dies Irse,"
theologically terrible as it is. Even Dr. Watts, prosaic as
most of his hymns are, now and then catches the poetic
fire, as in " I'll praise my Maker with my breath,"
" When I survey the wondrous cross," " Hear what the
voice from heaven proclaims,'' and others which might be
named. From Charles Wesley's thouaanda, many grand
poetic hymns may be culled, notably " Come, 0 thou
TraveUer unknown" (which Dr. Watts said waa worth all
the hymns he had ever written), " 0 Love di-vine, how
sweet thou art," "Jesus, Lover of my soul," and others;
but stiU, speaking broadly, it may be said that the poetic
element is more conspicuous in the hymns of the later
than of the earUer time. And the reasons for this are not
far to seek. One may be found in the fact that, amid the
paucity of hymns in earUer times, the writers too often
strove to pro-vide hymns in sufficient numbers whoUy to
supply the needs of the churches to which they belonged.
This was probably the case with Ambrose, at MUan ; it
certainly was ao -with Dr. Watts, who in his own person
provided for the worship-aong of the Independents : for a
century, at least, no other hymns than his were commonly
sung in their assembUes ; and with Charles Wesley, who,
with his brother John, may be said to have met aU the
needs of the great Methodist body for a Uke period.
But now no man feels charged with the duty of
pro-viding the entire hymnody of his particular church.
Thomas Kelly was probably the last hymmst who

THE NEW ERA LN HYMNODY. 495

attempted to rival Watta in the number of the hymna he
wrote ; in fact, he excelled him, since he wrote 700, where
Watts only wrote about 500. No church now draws its
hymnody from a single author. Even the Methodists have
added hymns by other writers to those by the founders of
their great Church. No man, therefore, attempta to
prodiice hymns by the hundred. Quality rather than
quantity is the end now sought. Where formerly, hymnals
were the product of one or two writers, they are now
composed of the writings ol hundreds. My own hymnal
represents the work ol nearly 450 writers and translators.
The all ol one writer has given way to the best of many.
Thus quality and variety are increasingly the characteristica
of our modern hymnala. Every coUection at all worthy
of use is compiled on an eclectic principle, and draws ita
materiala from all the Chriatian ages, lands, and churches.
Another reason may be found in the fact that in earUer
times the educated who could appreciate that which is
poetic were few compared with those too illiterate for such
appreciation. The spread of culture has changed, or ia rapidly
changing aU this. The scheme of national education now
at work includes the teaching of English literature, so that
the scholars grow famiUar with aome of ita noblest works
both in prose and verse. This renders the mind capable of
appreciating what in former times would have been quite
beyond such appreciation. Literature, once the possession
of the few, is fast becoming the privilege of the many.
It wiU not be long before it wUl be impossible to present
a hymnal too poetic for common uae.
Closely connected -with this is the freer theological
spirit of our day. In earUer times a Churchman would
have looked askance at hymns by a Nonconformist, a

496 TEE EYMN LOVER.
Trinitarian at hymns by a Unitarian ; but this is no
longer the case. The Presbyterian Bonar, the Inde
pendent Watts, the Roman CathoUc Newman, are aU
represented in "Hymns Ancient and Modem," whilst
Churchmen of every shade of opinion, Quakera, and even
Unitarians, are represented in recent hymnala of the
Free Churches. This shows how, in spite of all ' our
ecclesiastical and theological strife, there is growing up a
real religious unity. Hymns are regarded less and less as
the media for the expression of theological opinion, and
more and more aa the expreaaion of religious feelings —
feelings common to believers in every church. The
noblest hynms of our day may be sung by men of widely
differing views. They move more in the realm of poetry,
which deals with the essentials rather than the accidents
of the faith. Their writers dwell in a more distinctively
religious atmosphere — a larger realm in which their
feelings and thoughts can move more freely. Dogmatic
theology strikes at the very life of poetry. Even the
dogmatist ceases to be a dogmatist when he becomes a
poet. And so the decay of dogmatism is synchronous with
the growth of poetry in hynms. Even Father Faber
sinks from poetry into prose when he makes his hymns the
vehicle for Roman teaching. Dr. Newman ceases to be
the theological disputant whUst deaUng -with the essentials
of Christianity in his verses. There is scarcely a trace of
Calvinism in the hynms of Dr. Bonar. No one would
know that Sir John Bowring was a Unitarian from his
hymns, certainly not from his best-kno-wn one, "In the
cross of Chriat I glory." As some one has said: "there is
little heresy in hymns," for poetry, dealing as it does with
the essentials of things, leaves behind points of difference.

TEE NEW ERA IN EYMNODY. 497

which, after aU, are not of the essence of the matter.
WhUst it may stiU further be noted that the poetic spirit
so characteristic of our age has not only prepared men to
appreciate poetry in hymns, but has also quickened a larger
number to attempt their production. In earUer days the
Nonconformists were the chief contributors to hymnody ;
but in recent days Churchmen have more than rivalled
them in thia respect. This has brought a new element
into our hymnody. Culture is more e-vident in recent
than in early hymns. In thia the Universities have
exercised a deep and widespread influence. Our modem
hymnody owes not a Uttle to the classical training,
especially the verse-making of Cambridge and Oxford,
particularly the latter. The versifying in the classical
languages — much-ridiculed, and often justly so— has had
much to do with the change. In this respect, if in no
other, it has had its uses. University culture is a very
marked feature in the hymn-writing, not only of Dean
Milman, John Keble, J. H. Newman, F. T. Palgrave,
John EUerton, Bishop How, Dean Plumptre, and others
who might be named belonging to the EngUsh Church,
but also in that of the finest American hymnists. Their
hymns often combine the fervour of less cultured hymnists
¦with greater purity of taste. The poetic feeling ia both
quickened and refined by the atmosphere and pursuits of
the places in which the formative years of their life were
paased. It is only bare justice to acknowledge how
valuable are the contributions which many of the cultured
sons of the Established Church have made to the hymnals
of our age. The hymns most frequently sung, even in
our Nonconformist churches, have been drawn from this
source, in many cases almost displacing hynms on the
k2

498 TEE HYMN LOVER.
same subjects by earUer writers. Dr. Newman's hymn,
-written whUst he was in the EngUah Church, " Lead,
kindly light," has almost taken the place ol the Welsh
hymn, " Guide me, 0 Thou great Jehovah," a fine hymn,
but disfigured by the unpoetio line, " Death ol death, and
heU's destraction," whilst Bishop Ken's great hymn, "All
praise to Thee, my God, this night," is not sung half so
frequently at evening services as Lyte's •' Abide -with
me, fast faUs the eventide," or Keble's " Sun of my
soul, thou Saviour dear," or EUerton's " Saviour,
again to Thy dear name we raise." This is to be
accounted . for by the greater tenderness of these more
recent hymnists. Hymns of what may be called a harder
type are fast being displaced by those in which the
pathetic note ia more clearly heard —
Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care.
And come, Uke the benediction
Which follows after prayer.
The hymns of earUer days were chiefly -written by
men whose reUgious ideas were so saturated by theology
that their hymns became of necessity theology in verse —
their prayers, their hopes, their joys, expressed them
selves naturaUy in theologic language. Their starting-
point was doctrinal, they were students of theology
even more than of Scripture, and so the hymn-book
became a modified manual of theology.
In nothing waa the theological preposaeasion of the
older hymnists more manifest than in their versions of the
Psalms ; here the Jewish singer becomes often a Calvinist
of the pureat type, all " the five points " are brought in,
the struggles, needs, yearnings, fears, proper to the Ule ol
that day, and even of this are rejected, to be replaced by

THE NEW ERA IN EYMNODY. 499
others of quite a diflerent kind, proper only to men
living in an atmosphere poisoned by the fume of creeds
— sovereignty, satisfaction, purchase, perseverance, and
perdition usurping and utterly transforming the words
and thoughts of the sweet singer of Israel. (See Psalms
69, 51, and many others in Watts's version.) Of course
every Psalm was not thus treated, but about as many as
would allow of it were so treated. It should be noted,
however, that the Scotch version does not offend in this
way, but is an actual version of the Biblical Psalms.
In that age dogmatic theology waa aupreme, and hence
it will be found that very rarely did its hymns grow
out ol Scripture scenes or events, aave those on which
theology haa too often exclusively fixed its gaze, auch
aa the Birth, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and
Ascension of our Lord. Few, indeed, are the hymns by
writers ol the older time which grew out of the other
scenes and works of our Lord's miniatry. It seems to
me that the -writers of later times, and of our own
age, have drawn their inspiration rather from the Gospels
than book divinity, and are, therefore, less theological
and more biblical. Nearly every great scene in our
Lord'a career has given birth to some hymn, not merely,
as formerly, the opening and closing scenes of that
ministry, but the visit to the Temple, the Baptism in
the Jordan, the Temptation, the Miracles of healing or
power, the Entry into Jerusalem. The representation
of Christ is thus much fuller. It is no longer an
outline sketch, but more like a flnished picture. This
has rendered our modern hymns more picturesque, more
-vi-vid, and so more helpful to the worshipper. One ol

500 TEE EYMN LOVER.
our modem hymn-books is called " The Hymnal Com
panion to the Book of Common Prayer." A reaUy
good hymn-book ought to be a companion to the New
Testament — a veritable " Christ in Song."
The theological standpoint of many of the earUer
hymn--wTiters had this further effect on their hymns,
that there was not sufficient thought of the needs and
times of worship. How few of their hymns are suitable
for the opening and close of public worship ! — ^how few
thoae for moming and evening ! Hymns of this kind
have to be drawn almost exclusively from the writers
of the present century. Thia remark does not apply
to the hymna of the Latin Breviaries, which are rich
in verses for the various times of the day, but then
theae have only of late found their way, by means of
English translations, into our hymnals. Nearly all our
much-loved and often-sung evening hymns are by
writers either U-ving or recently departed. And
the same remark may be made as to hymns for the
various seasons of the year. To aU such sublunary
matters the elder -writers, immersed in theological
questions, were quite obli-vious. So regardful. were they
of the future world that the present one seemed beneath
their notice. The spirit of their time is well aet forth
in the worda of Mr. Cecil — " I want to see no more
sea, hills, valleys, flelds, abbeys, or castles. I feel
vanity pervading everything but etemity and ita concerns,
and perceive these things to be suited to children."
There waa indeed a subtle kind of Manichaeism abroad,
which regarded this as the devU's world rather than
God's, and interest in it, or love for its beauty, waa
reckoned a sign of worldUness. Men might gather

TEE NEW ERA IN EYMNODY. 501
for worship amid the freshness of spring, or the glory
of summer, or the meUownesa of autumn, or the froat
of winter, but no hymna roae from their lips in harmony
with the aeason. Praise for the visible world, for its
beauty, its variety, its loveliness, was a thing almost
unheard of, in the worship of former times. A new
feeling has gro-wu up in relation to the world, thanks
to the influence of poeta Uke Wordsworth, or proae-
writers like Charles Kingsley, or scientists whose name
is legion. It is felt that thankfulness for the present
world ia as much a duty as anticipation of the world
to come. It is considered no mark of piety to grumble
at our earth or call it a waste howling wilderness, but
the sign that the piety is either absent, or of an un
healthy kind. And with the growth of this feeling,
hymns of a new order — full of discernment for the
beauty of the world, full of thankfulness on its account —
have come into existence. Do we gather for worship on a
lovely morning of spring, we can sing,
" The glory of the spring how sweet."
Amid the richer foliage and beauty of the summer we
can sing, " Summer suns are glowing."
As the leaves grow to a golden tint we can sing,
with a regretful feelmg for the passing of the summer,
" The year is swiftly waning."
As -winter strides with u-on tread over the earth, we
can comfort ourselves with the touching words—
And yet God's love is not withdrawn,
His life within the keen air breathes.
His beauty paints the crimson dawn.
And clothes the boughs with glittering wreaths.

502 THE HYMN LOVER.
0 God ! who giv'st the winter's cold
As well as summer's joyous rays.
Us warmly in Thy love enfold.
And keep us through life's wintry days.
So intent were the older writers on the unseen world,
that scarcely a hymn is to be found in their writings
expreaaive of harvest joys ; indeed, for the most part they
ao intenaely regarded the soul of man, that in -view of it
all the other parts and faculties of his nature seemed
nothing worth. Without any diminution of regard for
man's soul, but rather with a clearer discernment of its
spiritual nature, our modern hymniata include in their
thought hia whole humanity as belonging to God. And
ao a more human feeling runa through their hymns.
They express real sorrows and joys, not imaginary ones.
Their hymns spring out of the human heart, and not
out of theological thoughts concerning man. Many of
the older hymns are far off from men, pitched in too
high a key to be sung quite truthfuUy by ordinary men
and women. They are not suited for " human nature's
daUy food." They delight in generaUties, and so their
words are vague, whether they utter the note of
contrition or of praise. For the most part we discern
the theologian rhyming about sin, rather than the peni
tent confessing his wrong-doing; theologic thought of the
world, not discernment and thankfulness for its beauty ;
the ecclesiastic zealous for jchurch relationships rather
than one filled -with the enthusiasm of humanity, and
keenly aUve to the brotherhood of man. The actual
feelings and aspirations of men rarely find expression in
the ordinai-y hymnody of the older time. Its producers
turn rather to the doctrinal than the practical parts of
Scripture, and embody the arguments rather than express

THE NEW ERA LN HYMNODY. 503
the spirit they should waken in the hearts ol men. In
seeking expression lor many ol the leelings of the
Christian Ufe, especially such as sympathy, calmness,
humiUty, generosity, we are obliged to turn to the works
of hymnists of our own age. The Gospel heard in our
pulpita has grown more sympathetic, and our song must
be in harmony with our teaching. Sermon and song must
keep touch -with, and be supplemental of, each other.
Those who come to our churches do not want to give
utterance to theological platitudes, but to speak out of
their hearts to their Father. Conscious of manifold
failure, they long to confess the actual sins they have
committed. Burdened -with life's many trials, they would
lay down their burden at their Father's feet. Often filled
with sorrow as are their hearts, they would be assured of
a Divine sympathy, whilst amid their seasons of prosperity
they would discern the hand, and give thanks to the
Giver of aU good. Who are the men able to give voice
to theic feelings so fuUy as those whose lot has been cast
amid Uke surroundings, troubled by the same doubts,
harrassed by the same temptations, burdened with the
same anxieties, filled with the same joys ?
I wUl undertake to say that the hymna by far the most
frequently sung in our day are those produced during the
present century. The extraordinary popularity of Mr.
Sankey's " Songs and Solos " is due to the hymns by
recent writers, in its pages; those by earlier ones are rarely
used. 01 course, among the older hymns there are some
so instinct with lile, so really songs ol the heart, that
they Uve, and are likely to Uve. Only a living hymnody
has much chance of surviving. " The deadest of aU dead
things," says a recent author, "is a dead theology," and

504 THE HYMN LOVER.
it may be added that the deadest of aU dead things ia a
hymn which haa aprung out of a dead theology. Being
dead, they wUl soon be buried out of the sight of aU, save
antiquarian hymnologists. Their removal from the pages
of our hymn-books would be an unmixed blessing, and
would render such books more valued, not only as helps to
public worship, but as companions for a quiet hour -within
the home.
In his introduction to " The English Poets," edited by
T. H. Ward, Mr. Matthew Arnold says: "The future of
poetry is immense, because in poetry where it is worthy
of its high destinies, our race, as time goes on, wUl find
an ever surer and surer stay. There is not a creed which
is not shaken, not an accredited dogma which is not sho-wn
to be questionable, not a received tradition which does not
threaten to dissolve. Our reUgion haa materialised itseU
in the fact, in the auppoaed fact, or has attached its
emotion to the fact, and now the fact is faiUng it. But
for poetry the idea ia everything ; the rest is a world of
iUusion, of divine Ulusion. Poetry attaches its emotion to
the idea ; the idea is the fact. The strongest part of our
reUgion to-day is its unconscious poetry."
Now, in this, as in most of Mr. Arnold's utterances,
there is much that is valuable, and much that is the
reverse. I do not agree with him when he says that the
fact is failing us. We are getting ever nearer to the fact,
and relying more and more upon it. Christ, the etemal
fact, is appearing ever more near and distinct to the eyes
of men, and just in proportion to the degree in which
many of the dogmas and creeds of the past are fading
from our sight does His peerless PersonaUty shine out
the more clearly. With this proviso, I do agree -with

THE NEW ERA IN HYMNODY. 505
him when he speaks ol poetry reaching the idea, or,
as I should preler to say, the essence of everything.
Theologians and commentators, who, -with a few noble
exceptions, never get beneath the surface, wUl have to
give way to the poeta — the aeers who really see —
see into the heart of things. " It is so to a large extent
even now. Where commentaries used to occupy the shelves
of ministers, their place is largely taken by the works of
the best poets. Tennyson and Browning are exerting a
deeper influence on the theological thought of the age than
the professed theologians. The most revealing portions of
the Old Testament scriptures have come to us through
Prophet and Psalmist, who were the Hebrew analogues of
the modem poet. The portions of the Old Testament,
most potent in ottr religious thinking, are its poetical
books, and the most inspiring preachers of Christianity in
recent times have been men of poetic insight. To say
nothing of men happUy still spared to us, and to confine
ourselves, to those known to the elders of the present
generation, I may name Frederick WUliam Robertaon, of
Brighton, Thomas Toke Lynch, Thomas Jones, Alexander
Raleigh, James Baldwin Bro-wn, John Ker, Horace
BushneU, and Henry Ward Beecher. The only aermona
that Uve and are read are those with the poetic
insight. In his remarkable essay on " Our Goapel
a Gift to the Imagination," in the volume entitled, " The
Moral Uses of Dark Things," Dr. BushneU institutes
a comparison between Turretin and Bunyan, in which the
loUowing striking paaaage occura : " The venerable
dogmatiser (Turretin) is already lar gone by . . . but
the glorious Bunyan fire atUl burna, becauae it is fire,
kindles the world's imagination, more and more, and

506 THE EYMN LOVER.
claims a right to Uve tUl the sun dies out in the sky. His
PUgrim stUl holds on his way, stUl fresh and atrong as
ever— nay, fresher and stronger than ever — never to be
put off the road tUl the last traveUer is conducted in."
AU theological books which do not possess the poetic
insight soon cease to be read, and, as a theological book-
seUer once told me, find their way to the mill to furnish
paper for the inscription of fresher thought. And the
same principle holds good of hymns; only those aUve with
poetry, which is another way of saying, instinct with Ufe,
keep their hold over the hearts of men. But thoae which
are thua aUve, aince to be ao they muat touch the reality
of the gospel, Uve on amid aU the changes of theological
thought. The mere drapery of truth may be removed ;
she herself remains, and only the men who have gazed
thereon and embodied their -vision in their verse, keep
their place in the worship of the church. Changes of
theological thought do not touch auch hynms because they
enshrine not the vanishing, but the permanent in
Christianity. Even the uncultured recognise the presence
of life in a hymn; and though editors may include the
dead, which ought to have been buried, in their hymnals,
the people will consign them to the obUvion they deserve.
As Dr. BushneU well aays — and his remarks have a close
bearing on the subject before us — " This endeavour to get
the truths of religion awj,y from the imagination into
propositions of the speculative understanding, makes
a most dreary and sad history. ...
They were plants alive and in flower, but now the flowers
are gone, the juices are dried, and the skeleton parts
packed away and classified in the dry herbarium called
theology." The mass of the older hymns were written in

THE NEW ERA IN HYMNODY. 507
times when " theology " was dominant, and their writers
busied themselves with the herbarium rather than walked
amid the Uving gardens of truth, and so their writings
smack of the theological muaeum, instead of being beauti
ful and fragrant as freshly -plucked flowers. A writer may
be found here and there who walked in the living garden,
whilst some, occupied chiefly with the herbarium, strayed
now and again into the garden of life. Every now and
then Dr. Watts flnds his way to the fresher air, and when
he does, his hymns are living ones, and rightly hold their
place in the Church's worship-aong. Happily, the her
barium timeja nearly over, and now the theologian has to
give way to the poet. I once handed a copy of my own
Hymnal to a distinguished Roman ecclesiastic, who has
himself produced some U-ving hymns, and as he turned its
pages he exclaimed, " But this is poetry." I replied,
" What right has it to be there unless it be poetry ? "
In so far as this U-ving spirit pervades our song -will our
hymnals be in touch with the age, and if they are not,
they are unsuited to it. You may as weU try to clothe men
of to-day with the armour of the barons, as expect them
to sing hymns charged with the thoughts of an age that
has departed. In ao far as the poetic afflatus is in the older
hymns, they are not for an age, but for all time ; but in
ao far as thia is wanting, their day is over. They are no
more fitted for our time than the HomiUes of the English
Church are for the congregations which gather in that
Church to-day. The sermons of Jeremy Taylor might be
used with profit because they are alive, but the HomUies
would empty any church ! Our plea is for living hymns,
to whatever age they may belong, or from whosoever's
pen they may come. Such hymns wiU, for the most part,

508 TEE EYMN LOVER.
be found aa reaUy in touch with our present thought as
with that of the age in which they first saw the light.
We can rejoice in the " Pilgrim's Progress," though most
of the sermons of that period would send us quickly to
sleep. And we can sing the Te Beum -with aa much
lervour as the devoted loUowers of Ambrose did in his
church at MUan centuries ago. Dr. Neale, with a poet's
instinct, drew from the atorehouaea ol the Ancient Church
aome ol her living hymns, and they are among the greateat
favouritea of this nineteenth century, whilst a mass of
hymns of later times, which lack the poetic life, remain
in our hymnala unsung, and even unread. We must let
the dead bury their dead, for we cannot galvanise them
into life, no matter how powerful be the battery we may
employ. And when they are buried, our hymn-books -wUl
be among our most highly-prized treasures, and best aids
to devotion. Editors and editorial committees want more
courage. A very competent editor of a well-known
Hymnal once told me, when I criticised his work, "My
committee would include many hymns I wanted left out,
and would not put in many I greatly desired to include."
The result ia that the book is not nearly so good as it
would have been if the editor had been allowed to have
his way. Congregations are often in advance of their
leaders, and show far greater readiness to appreciate really
good hymns than those leaders suppose. Worshippers are
tired of the didactic hymns they are often called upon to
sing, whUst many of them stand -with closed lips when
hymns expressive of long-since discarded conceptions of
the Gospel are announced in the church. Their quickened
consciences revolt against doctrines which cast a darkening
shadow over the fair face of truth, and they stand with

THE NEW ERA IN HYMNODY. 609
closed lips when they should be singing the praise of the
Great Father. They have learnt that He ia better than the
beat they can conceive of, and they demand hymns which
will enable them, like the Psalmist of the olden time, to
cry, " So -will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my
exceeding joy ; yea, upon the harp -wiU I praise Thee, 0
God, my God." And when within the pages of our
hymnals none but auch hymns are included, the worahip
of the church will, more than in the past, lead us up to
" those shining table-lands to which our God is Sun and
Moon."

510

WORKS OF REFERENCE.

ARTICLES ON HYMNS IN
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, edited by Dr. W.
Smith and Professor Cheetham.
Enclyclopsedia Britannica (9th edition).
Maolintock's and Strong's Oyolopsedia.
DANIEL. Thesaurus Hymnologious. 5 vols. Leipsic, 1855-6.
MONE. Hymni Latini Medu Ae-vi. Freiburg, 1853.
KOCH. Geschichte des KirchenUeds und Kirchengesangs
der ChristHchen. 4 vols. Stuttgart, 1856.
AUGUSTI. De Hymnis Syrorum Sacris. Wratislaw, 1841.
BIEAGHI. Inni Sineeri e Oarmi di Sant' Ambrogio. MUan, 1862.
EBEET. Geschichte der Christlich-Lateinischen Literatur.
Leipsic, 1874.
KEHEEIN, J. , Lateinische Sequenges des Mittelalters. Mainz, 1873.
NEWMAN, J. H. Hymni Ecclesise e Bre-viariis Sarisbu-
riense Romano, &o. 1838.
 Hymni Ecclesise e Bre-viario Parisiense. 1839.
NEALE, J. M. Hymni Ecclesise. 1851.
 Sequeutise ex Missalibus. 1852.
 Hymns of the Eastern Church. London, 1862.
 Mediseval Hymns and Sequences (3rd edition). 1866.
MILLBE, Josiah. Singers and Songs of the Church. 1869.
OHAELES, Elizabeth. The Yoice of Christian Life in
Song (3rd edition). 1872.
OEEAMEE, D. Methodist Hymnology. 1848.
PUTNAM, A. P. Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith.
Boston, 1875.
DUFFIELD, S. W. EngUsh Hymns : Their Authors and
History (3rd edition). New York, 1888.
WINKWORTH, 0. Christian Singers of Germany. London, 1869.
KUBLEE, Theodoee. Historical Notes to the Lyra Ger
manica. London, 1865.
MACDONALD, Geoege. England's Antiphon. London, 3sr. D.

WORKS OF REFERENCE. 511
CHRISTOPHERS, S. W. Hymn- Writers and their Hymns.
 The New Methodist Hymn-Book, and its Writers.
BIGG, L. C. English Hymnology. 1873.
PEBSCOTT, J. E. Christian Hymns and Hymn- Writers.
Cambridge, 1886.
KING, James. Anglican Hymnology. London, 1885.
SCHAPF, Philip. Christ in Song. London, 1870.
EOGEES, Chaeles. Lyra Britannica (2nd edition). London, 1868.
ODENHEIMEE, W. H. and BIED, F. W. Songs of the
Spirit. New York, 1874.
HOOD, B. P. Isaac Watta : His Life and Writings.
GLASS, H. A. The Story of the Psalters. London, 1888.
KEE, John. The Psalms in History and Biography. Edinburgh, 1886.
WEANGHAM, D. S. The Liturgical Poetry ol Adam ol
St. Yictor. London, 1881.
CUEWEN, J. S. Biographical Notes to The Child's Own
Hymn Book.
JULIAN, John. A Dictionary of Hymnology. London, 1892.
TEENOH, E. C. Sacred Latin Poetry. London, 1864.
THE NOTES IN
The Irish Church Hymn Book.
The Book of Praise, edited by Lord Selbome (5th
edition). London, 1865.
The Free Church Hymn Book. Edinburgh, 1882.
Hymns for Church and Home, edited by W. F.
Stevenson.
Church Hymns, annotated by J. EUerton.
The Presbyterian Hymnal, edited by James Thin. 1888.
Hymnale Ecclesise Sarisburiensis, edited by W. Stubbs,
0. Marriott, and A. C. Wilson. Littlemore, 1850.
The Treasury of American Sacred Song, edited by
W. Garrett Horder. London, 1896.
THE INDEX OF AUTHOES IN
W. T. Brooke's edition of GUes Fletcher's " Christ's
Yictory and Triumph." London, 1888.
The Church of England Hymn Book, edited by Godfrey
Thring. London, 1882.
Worship-Song, edited by W. Garrett Horder. London, 1894.
Primitive Methodist Hymnal. London, 1887.
The Treasury of Sacred Song, edited by F. T. Palgrave. 1889.

513

INDEX OF NAMES.

PAGE
... 234
55, 378 160
.. 160
.. 94
.. 144

Abelard, Peter 
Adam 01 St. Victor 
Adams (n^e Flower), Sarali
Addiscott, Henry 
Addison, Joseph 
Adkins, Thomas 
Adolphus, Gustavus, of Sweden ... 386
Ainger, Alfred  ... 314
Alexander, Mrs. Cecil Frances 443
Alexander, J. W. ... 361,397
Alexander, William Lindsay  168
Alford, Henry, D.D  168
Allen, James  127
Alstyne (see Van Alstyne) 
Ambrose, St  37, 42, 86, 41, 159
AnatoHns, St  39,184,274
Andrew, St., of Crete  89
Anstiee, Joseph  165,443
Anton, IJlrick, Duke of Brunswick 377
Arnold, Miss  380
Aquinas, Thomas  53
Athenagoras  34
Auber, Harriet  140
Austin, John  78
Bacon, Lord  70
Baker, Francis, Priest  81
Baker, Sir Henry Williams, Bart. ... 187
Bakewell, John  122
Barbauld, Anna Lcetitia  129
Bardesanes  35
Baring, Gould (see Gould) 
Barlow, Joel  391
Barry, Alfred  314
Bartholomew, William ... 352,358,864
Barton, Bemard  147
Barton, W  60,70,86
Bateman, Henry  451
Bathurst, William Hiley  202
Batty, Christopher  119
Baxter, Eichard  97,80
Beddome, Beniamin  121
Bede, Venerable  50
Benedictis (see De Benedictis) 
Bemard of Clairvaux ... 58, 361, 402, 494
Bemard of Morlais, or Clugny 59, 494
Berridge, John  119
Berwick, Miss  196,197
Bethune, G, W  380
B^za, Theodore  66
Bickersteth, Bishop  485
Binney, Thomas  156
Blackie, John Stuart  315
Blacklock, Thomas  122
Blackmore  67
Bliss, Philip  403
Blunt, Abel Gerald Wilson  316
Bode, John Emest  202

PAGE
Bogatzsky, Charles Henry von ... 368
Bonar, Horatius  233,473,481
Borthwick, Jane  240,375
Borthwick, Eobert Brown  317
Bowring, Sir John  151,152,496
Brady ftee Tate) 
Brady, Nicholas  93
Bridges, Matthew  216
Bright, WiUiam  317
Bronte, Anne  1&^
Brooke, Stopford Augustus  890
Brown, James Baldwin  20,7
Brown, Dr. Morton  14<
Browne, Simon  104
Browne, Sir Thomas ... 77, 92, 482, 488
Brace, Michael  108,120
Bryant, WiUiam Cullen  404,408
Bubier, George Burden  2,'?"
Bulfinch, Stephen Greenleaf  41i
Burder, Dr. G  130,13.;
Burgess, Dr  37
Burleigh, William Henry  419
Burman, EUen EUzabeth  318
Bums, James Drummond... 193,375,481
Burton, John  443,460
Butcher, Edmund  132
Byrom, John  106
CalTin  66
Cambridge, Ada (see Cross) 
Cameron, -WilUam  131
Campbell, Thomas  140
Canitz, Frederick Eudolph Louis
Baron von  366
Carlyle, Joseph Dacre  143
Carlyle, Thomas  347
Cary, Alice and Phoebe  425
Caswall, Edward  173,384
Cawood, John  140,443
Cennick, John  120,435
Chandler, John  169,379
Charlemagne  49
Charles {nie Eundle), EUzabeth 37, 304, 386
Chrysostom  36
Churchyard  68
Clare, Sister Mary, of Kenmare ... 469
Clarke, James Freeman  419
Clarke, Samuel Childs  320
Clement, of Alexandria  34, 431
Clephane, EUzabeth C  473
Cobbe, Frances Power  820
Cobbin, Ingram  380
Coffin, Charies  ... 169,379
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor  467
CoUyer, WilliamBengo  144
Conder, Josiah  149
Cooke, W  879
Comeille  381

L 2

514

THE HYMN LOVER.

161,
43, 152, 284, 459,

Anne

PAGE
49,77
. 821

372, 375396 68
372 78
168
148304 89
446

Cosin, Bishop 
Coster, George Thomas
Coverdale, Miles 
Cowper, WUUam  117, 123, 379, 488
Cox, Frances Elizabeth ...
Coxe, Arthur Cleveland ...
Craig 
Cramer, Johann Andreas . . .
Crashaw, Eichard 
Crewdson {nSe Fox), Jane ..
Croly, George 
Cross {nie Cambridge), Ada
Crossman, Samuel 
Curwen, John 
Da Toda (see Tode) 
D'Aubigne, Dr. Merle  381
Davies, Sir John  106
Davies, Samuel  897
De Benedictis, Jacobus  53
Decius, Nicholas  362
Denny, Sir Edward  213
De SanteuU, Claude  879
De Santeiiil, J. B  879
Dexter, Dr  431
Dickson, Da-vid  81
Dix, WUliam Chatterton ... 299, 466, 488
Doane, George Washington
DobeU, John  132
Doddridge, PhUip  106
Doudney, Sarah  468
Downton, Eev. Henry  881-883
Dryden, John  90
Dirfiield, George ...
Duncan, Mary Lundie  447
Dwight, Timothy  391,399
E.B 
Eber, Paul 
E.C.W 
Edmeston, James
EUerton, John ...
ElUott, Charlotte .
EUiot, BmUy E. S 
EUiot [nie Marshall), JuUa
Emerson, Charles Chauncy
Emerson, Ealph Waldo  404,
Ephrem of Edessa  35,37,
Evans, Jonathan ...
Everest, Charles WiUiam . .

467
450498 167464169412411
,88 130

Faber, Father
Fabricius, Dr. Jacob
Fawcett, John 
Findlater, Sarah 
Flatman ... 
Flowerdew, Alice 
FoUen, Eliza Lee 
Formby, Eev. Henry ...
Fortunatus, Venantius
Fountain, John 
Fox, Jane (see Crewdson)
Francis, Benjamin
Furness, William Henry
Fumivall, Mr. 

179, 469, 481, 488

 128
242, 369, 875
 92
 138
... 168
 468
.. . . 46
 122
'.'.'. '.'.'. 127
 410
 71

GaskeU, William  208
GeUert, Christian Fiirchtegott ... 371
George, Margrave of Brandenberg 353
Gerhardt, Paul  360,361,397
Gerok  372
Gibbons, Dr. Thomas  122
Gilbert, Mrs. (see Taylor) 
GUI, Thomas Hornblower ... 88, 248, 488
Godescalcus  60,185,493
Goffe, Eliza Faimy (see Morris) . . .
Goode, WiUiam  133
Gould, Sabine Baring ... 299, 386, 466
Grant, James  118
Grant, Sir Eobert  148
Greenwood, John Brooke  323
Greg, Samuel   174
Gregory, The Great  46,48,493
Grigg, Joseph  117
GrUnbeck, Esther  107
Gurney, John Hampden  158
Guyon, Madame  379,488
Haldane, Eobert  381
Hall, Bishop Joseph  92
HaU, Ne-wman  466
Hanulton, James  246
Hammond, WiUiam  117
Harmonius  35
Harris, John  157
Hart, Joseph  118
Hastings, Thomas  899
Haussar, Meta  872
Havergal, Frances Ridley  200,449
Haweis, Thomas  126
Hawker, Dr  487
Hawkesworth, Dr. John  119
Hawkins, Mrs. H. P  466
Haym, Luise H. von  370
Heber, Bishop  72,144
Hedge, Frederick Henry  412
Hemans, Felicia Dorothea  156
Henley John  450
Henry, Matthew  98
Hensel, Luise  372
Herbert, G«orge  76,88,386
Hermann, Nicolas  854
Herrick, Eobert  74,432,488
Hickes, Bishop George  433
Higginson, Thomas "Wentworth ... 423
Hill, Eowlaud  130
Hincks, Thomas  245
HL.L  244
Hogg, James  140
Holmes, Oliver WendeU ... 390,404,416
Hood, Edwyn Paxton  185
Hopkins (see Sternhold) 
Hopps, John Page ...  809
Home, Bishop  126
Houlditch, Anne (see Shepherd) ...
How, William Walsham  268,460
Hughes, Thomas  325
Humphreys, Joseph  122
Hunter, Dr. Wilham  403
Hupton, Job  134
Hutton, James  119

INDEX OF NAMES.

515

PAGE
Ingemann, Bernhardt Severin  885
Irons, William Josiah  52,171
Jackson (see Mrs. SheUy) 
Jacobi  IW
James.King of England  67. 70
John, Dill apcene St  39,184
John. Elector of Saxony  363
Johnson, Samuel  421
Jonas, Justus  352
Jones, Edmund  134
Joseph, St., of the Studium  184
JuUan, John  826
Keble, John ... 81,151,182,386,448, 486, 498
 140
 136, 138, 481
39,90,128,153,482,498
 134

... 70
... 468
... 122
... 372
861, 372

425 367
329 448
887

292

Keith, George
KeUy.ThomasKen, Bishop ...
Kent, John ...
Kethe 
King, Bishop 
Kingsley, Charles 
Kippis, Andrew 
Klopstock, Friedrich GottUeb ...
Knapp, Albrecht 
Lamartine 
Larcom, Lucy 
Laureniiii, Laurentius 
Lee, Holine 
Leeson, Jane B 
Lewis, Eev. H. Elvet 
Le Toumeaux (see Toumeaux)
Littledale, Eichard Frederick ...
Lloyd, WiUiam Freeman 
Logan, John 
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, Samuel 
Louisa Henrietta, Electress of Bran
denburg  362,377
LoweU, James EusseU  404,423
Lucas  S43
Luke, Jemima   *5o
Luther  99,340,844,350
Lutteroth, Henri  881
Lynch, Thomas Toke  187
Lyte, Henry Francis 151, 152, 154, 484, 498
... 173
279, 372

... 296
... 204
108, 130
404, 412421

McCheyne, Eobert Murray
MacDonald, George ...
MackeUar, Thomas ...
Maitland, Fanny Fuller
Malan, Csesar 
Mant, Eichard 
Marckant, John 
Mardley, John 
Marot, Clement 
Marriott, John 
Martineau, James
Marvell, Andrew  _"''
Mary, Countess of Pembroke  70
Mason, John  ^5, 97, 488
Mason, WiUiam  126
Massie, Eichard  361,372,376
Matson, William Tidd  293
Matthesius, Johann  364

148
380 140 72 7266
143222

PAGK
Maude, Mary Fawler  327
Medley, Samuel  128
Merrick, James  121
Middleton, Thomas Fanshaw  134
Midlane, Albert  466
MUes, Sarah Elizabeth  413
Mills, Elizabeth  160
Milman, Dean  151, 4fB
MUton, John  78,336,488
Monod, Adolphe  381
MonseU, John Samuel Bewley  169
Montgomery, James ... 138,441,484,492
Moore, Thomas  141
More, Henry  80
Morris, Alfred James  204
Morris {nie Goffe), Eliza Fanny 327
Morrison, John  181,480
Moultrie, Gerald  303
Mudie, Charles Edward  328
Muhlenberg, WilliamAugustus 392
Naur, Elias ElkUdsen  884
Neale, Dr. Mason 69, 134, 183, 443
Neander, Joachim  368
Neff, FeUx  381
Neumarck, George  362
Nevin, Edward H  425
Newman, Cardinal 158, 217, 443, 485, 498
Newton, James  127
Ne-wton, John  117,128,142
Nicolai, PhUip  854
Noel, Gerard  143
Notker  61,350
NovaUs  372
Nunn, Marianne  142
OberUn, Jean Frederic  381
OUvers, Thomas  126
Onderdonk, Henry Ustic  392
Opie, Amelia  184
Palgrave, Francis Turner  261,466
Pahner, Eay  399,403
Park, Thomas  133
Parr, Harriet  329
Parson (Ti^e Eooker), EUzabeth ... 442
Patrick  67,70
Pearce^ Samuel  134
Permefather Me King), Catherine 330
Pennefather, -WUliam  206
Perronett, Edward  126
Phillimore, GreviUe  208
Pictit  381
Pierpoint, FolUott SandJbrd  330
Pierpont, John  405
Plumptre, Edward Hayes  34, "259
Pollock, Thomas Benson  462
Pope, Alexander  104
Prince, Thomas  391
Procter, Adelaide Anne  196,488
Prynne, George Eundle  246
Punshon, William Morley  206
Quarles, Francis  155,484
Eacine  381
Eaffles, Thomas  144, 149
Eawson, George  223,488

516

THE HYMN LOVER.

Eeed, Eev. Andrew ..
Eingwaldt 
Einkart, Martin 
Eobbios, Chandler
Eobert II, King of France

377,

PAGE
148, 400
144, 364
... 857
... 418
61, 879, 402 207
831 127 90
366831

Eobinson, George Wade
Eobinson, Eichard Hayes 
Eobinson, Eobert 
Booker, Elizabeth (see Parson)
Eoscommon, Earl of 
Eosenroth, Knorr von 
Eosetti, Christina Georgina . . .
Eous 
Bundle, EUzabeth (see Charles)
Eussell, Arthur Tozer  160
Eyland,John  131
Sachs, Hans  853
Sandys, George  70,73
Sankey, IraD  403,474
Santeiiil, De (see De Santeuil)
Santolius, Maglorianus  879
Santolius, Victorinus  379
Saxby («^e Browne), Jane Euphemia 332
Scheffler, Johann  .364
Scherer, M. Edmond  883
Scott,Thomas  117
Scudder, Eliza  895
Seagrave, Eobert  106
Sears, Edmund Henry  417
SheUy (n^fi Jackson), Mra  442
Shepcote, Mrs  463
Shepherd (w^e Houlditch), Anne ... 447
Shepherd, Eev. Thomas  85,88,97
Shirley, W.W  127
Shrabsole, WiUiam  133
Sidney, Sir PhiUp  24,70
SUesius, Angelus  364
Smith, Charles  338
Smith, Sir James Edward  132
Smith, Eichard Henry  452
Smith, Samuel Francis  408
Smith, Walter Chalmers  276
Smyttan, George Hunt  384
Spitta, C.J. P  242,372
Spirrgeon, Eev. C. H  134
Stainer, Sir John  301
Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn  176
Stansfeld, Father  469
Steele, Anne  119
Stennett, Joseph  94
Stennett, Dr. Samuel  126
Stephen, St., The Sabaite  89, 184
Stemhold and Hopkin ... 67, 72, 70, 93
Stone, Samuel John  301
Stowe, Harriet Beecher  394
Strafford, Elizabeth  447
Summers, Dr. Thomas 0  403
Swain, Joseph  138

Tait, GUbert 
Tate, Nahum 
Tate and Brady 
Taylor, Ann (Mrs. Gilbert)

... 384 98
67, 391
... 438

78,
161,

Taylor, Ann and Jane
Taylor, Clare 
Taylor, EmUy 
Taylor, Helen 
Taylor, Jane 
Taylor, Bishop Jeremy
Taylor, John 
Taylor, Thomas Eawson
Terateegen, Gerhardt . . .
Theodulph, of Orleans
Thomas, David 
Thomas, of Celano 
ThrelfaU, Jeannette 
Thring, Godfrey 
Thrupp, Dorothy Ann 
Tode, Jacopone da 
Toplady, Augustus Montague...
Toumeaux, Nicholas le 
Trench , Eichard Chenevix 
Turner, Daniel ...
Tuttiett, Lawrence
TweUs, Henry
Upton, James
Van Alstyne, Fanny J.
Vaughan, Henry . . .
Very, Jones 
Vinet, Alexander...
Voke, Mrs 

PAGE
.. 488
.. 122

Wardlaw, Ealph ...
Ware, jun., Henry
Waring, Anna Lcetitia . . .
Watts, Alaric A 
Watts, Dr. 24, 67, 69, 70, 86,
113, 389,
Waugh, Benjamin 
Wedderbum 
Weiss, Michael 
Wesley, Charles, 70, 109, UO,
Wesley, John 109, 110, 114,
Wesley, Samuel 
Wesley, jun., Samuel 
¦White, Henry Kirke 
Whiting, William 
-Whittier, John Greenleaf...
"Whittingham 
Wiglesworth, Esther 
Williams, Helen Maria ...
WilUams, Isaac 
WiUiams, Sarah 
Williams, WiUiam 
WUson, Lucy 
Winkworth, Catherine
Wither, George 
Woodd, BasU 
Woodford, Bishop
Wordsworth, Christopher,
Xavier, Francis 
Young, Andrew 
Zimmem 
Zinzendorf, Count ... ,

432,483 ... 91
442,444 242, 369
51,184
... 334
... 52
... 457
272,847443,447 897 128
379 161
11828133S133404
... 89,336
... 404,423
... 381,382
 189
 143
 406
... 307,483
 403
96, 112,
891, 433, 485
 463
 66
 353
112,436, 479, 481, 494
361, 866, 375
... 93,109
... ... 106
. ... 147
 208
, 292, 390, 425
 68
 44S183
158, 379, 443
 209
... 218,887
 881
. 368, 864, 375
24, 67, 73, 432
 133
 379
 163
 174
 460

242, 369

517

INDEX OE EIRST LINES OE HYMNS.

PAQE
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide 154, 498
A Captain forth to battle went . . . 438
According to Thy gracious word . . . 139
Across the sky the shades of night 246
Adore, my soul, that awful name . . . 132
Adoro te devote, latens Deitas ... 54
A few more years shall roll  234
A fitly apoken word  203
A^ain as evening's shadow falls . . .
Again returns the day of holy rest
A hymn of glory let us sing 
Alas ! my God, that we should be . . .
A little ship was on the sea
All as God wills who wisely heeds . . .
All before us lies the way 
Alleluia ! song of sweetness 
All glory, laud, and honour 
All hail the power of Jesu's name 126, 135
All nature's works His praise^declare 407
All praise to Thee, my God, thisnight 91, 498
All things are Thine, no gifts have
we  ... 
All things bright and beautiful . . .
Almighty God, Thy word is cast ...
Always with us, always with us ...
Ajid is there. Lord, a cross for me t
And now the wants are told, that
brought 
Angels holy 
Angels, roU the rock away 
Animula, vagula, blandula 
Another nana is beckoning us 
Another six days' work is done
Another year has fled, renew 
Another year is dawning 
A quiet heart, submissive, meek . . .
Arm of the Lord, awake! awake! ..
Around a table, not a tomb
Around the throne of God in heaven
Art thou weary, art thou languid ?
39, 184
A safe stronghold our God is still . . . 347
As helpless as a child who clings . . . 194
As now the sun's declining rays 159, 379
A ship comes sailing onwards  341
As the sun's enlivening eye  124
As Thou didst rest, O Father, o'er
nature's finished birth 
As with gladness men of old 
At even ere the sun was set 
At Thy feet, our God and Father ...
Aurora lucis dum novae 
A voice upon the midnight air 
Awake, and sing the song 

421 126 5189
447427 412184184

429 444140425 160
317 315
117 105426 94
161 2t)l280
133 305447

314489 335194379223117

PAGE
Awake, my aoul, in joyful lays .. 128
Awake, sweet harp of Judah, wake 148
Bear Thou my burden. Thou who
bear'st my sia  235
Because I knew not when my life
was good  209
Behold a Stranger at the door ... 117
Behold how glorioia is yon sky .. 356
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh in
the middle of the night  304
Behold, the expected time  140
Behold the glories of the Lamb ... 98
Behold the mountain of the Lord ... 130
Behold the Saviour of mankind ... 93
Behold us, Lord, a little space ... 283
Beneath the shadow of the cross ... 422
Be not dismay'd thou little flock . . . 386
Beyond, beyond that botrndless sea 150
Birds have their quiet nest  170
Blest be the God of love  203
Blest be the tie that binds  128
Blest be Thy love, dear Lord  79
Blest day of God, most calm, most
bright  88
Bleot Saviour, let me be a child . . . 204
Bread of Heaven, on Thee we feed 150
Break, new-bom year, on glad eyes
Breath of the Lord, 0 Spirit blest'*.! 395
Brief life is here oiu- portion ... 59, 185
Bright as the sun's meridian blaze . . 133
Bright queen of heaven, God's vir
gin spouse   89
Bright the vision that delighted ... 141
By Christ redeemed, in Christ res
tored ... „  231
Calm me,myGod, and keep me calm 235
Cahn on the listening ear of night 417
Captain and Saviour of the host ... 229
Captain of Thine enlisted host ... 119
Childreu of Jerusalem  ¦450
Children of the heavenly King ... 120
Christ in His word draws near ... 191
Christ is our Comer stone  159
Christ is my light, my life, my care 102
Christ leads me through no darker
rooms ...  - 81
Christ, the Lord, is risen to-day 113, 340
Christian, dost thou see them ? ... 39
Christian, seek not yet repose . ... 157
Christians, awake, salute the happy
mom  105
Cold and cheerless, dark and drear 311
Comci gracious Spirit, heavenly dove 104
Come, Holy Ghost, in love  4fl2

518

THE HYMN LOVER.

Come, Holy Ghost, om* hearts inspire 113
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire 77
Come, Holy Spirit, come  118
Come, labour on !  241
Come, let us join our cheerful songs 102
Come, let us join our friends above 113
Come, let us to the Lord our God ... 131
Come, my soul, thou must be waking 367
Come, 0 come, with sacred lays ... 73
Come, O Thou Traveller unknown,113,494
Come, praise your Lord and Saviour 461
Come, Thou fount of every blessing 127
Come to our poor nature's night . . 227
Come to the house of prayer  208
Come unto Me, ye weary  300
Come, ye faithful, raise the anthem 134
Come, ye saints, and raise an anthem 134
Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched 118
Come, ye thankful people, come .. 168
Committhou allthy griefs ... 114,361
Creator Spirit, by whose aid  90
Crown Hun with many crowns . , , 216
Crown with Thy benediction  324
Curb for the stubborn steed  34
Dark is the sky that overhangs my
soul 
Darkly rose the guilty moming
Day again is dawning 
Day by day the manna fell 
Day by day we magnify Thee ...
Day of -wrath ! 0 day of mourning 172
Dayspring of Etemity  366
Dear Angel, ever at my side ... 183, 469
Dear Friend, whose presence in the
house  419
Dear Jesus, ever at my side  183
Dear Lord and Father of maiJdnd 427
Dear Lord and Master mine  253
Deathless principle, arise  1 29
Descend to Thy Jerusalem, 0 Lord 78
Did Christ o'er sinners weep?  121
Dismiss me not Thy aervice, Lord 193
Divine, crescebas, Puer  379
Ein feste btirg ist unser Gott ... 276, 412
Enthroned on high. Almighty Lord 127
Tj!va ClnA irsr^A \y„;^*¦ i-\.^ «  j._;  f^H

303 166
465150 459

Bre God had built the mountains ... 125
Ere I sleep, for every favour  120
Ere on my bed my hmbs I lay  467
Etemal God I we look to Thee ... 121
Etemal Light, Etemal Light  156
Evening and morning  361
Every momintr the red sun  444
Exalted mistress, whose command
prevails  9
Faith, 'tis a precious grace ... 121
Far from thesenarrowscenesof night 119
Far from the world, O Lord, I See 125
Father! beneath Thy sheltering wing 420
Father, by Thy love and rower ... 166
Father, here we dedicate  283
Father, I know that all my life ... 307
Father, lead me day by day  312
Father, let Thy kingdom come ... 310
Father, now the day is over  319

PAGE
Father of love, our Guide and Friend 172
Father of mercies, bow Thine ear ... 121
Father, our children keep  239
Fathei-! there is no change to live
with Thee  ... 423
Father ! Thy wonders do not singly
stand  423
Father, we humbly pray  165
Father, whate'er of earthly bliss .. 119
Fierce raged the tempest o'er the
deep  274
Fierce was the wild billow  274
Fling out the banner ! let it float ... 392
For all the saints who from their
labour rest  269
For all Thy care we bless Thee ... 458
For a season called to part  124
For ever to behold Him shine  133
Forgive me, dearest Lord, for Thy
dearSon  92
For the beauty of the earth  330
Forthedearlovethatkeptus through
the night  421
For thee, O dear, dear coxmtry ... 185
For Thy dear saint, O Lord  141
For Thy mercy and Thy grace ... 244
Forty days and forty nights  334
Forward be our watchword  168
Fountain of mercy, God of love ... 133
From all evil, all temptation  152
From Greenland's icy moimtains ... 145
From north and south, and east and
west  322
From the recesses of a lowly spirit 152
Glad sight, the Holy Church  36
Gloria, laus, et honor  432
Glorious things of thee are apoken 124
Glory, and laud, and honour  51
Glory be to Jesus  384
Glory, glory to God in the highest... 294
Glory to God on high  127
Glory to Thee, my God, this night... 91
Glory to Thee, my God, who safe has
kept  91
Go, labour on, spend and be spent . 235
Go not far from me, O my strength 309
God bless the little diildren  312
God draws a cloud over each gleam
ing morn  320
God from on high hath heard  379
God in heaven, hear our singing ... 449
God is in heaven, can he hear  438
God is in His temple  294
God is love. His mercy bri 'htens ... 152
God is love, by Him upholden  170
God make my life a little light ... 470
God moves in a mysterious way ... 125
God of my health ! I would Thy
praise proclaim  382
God of pity, God of grace  328
God of the living, in whose eyes ... 285
God sets a still small voice  445
God, who hast made the daisies ... 187
God will take care of you, all through
the day  449

INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS.

519

PAGE I
Golden harps are sounding  201
Good David, whose psalms have so
often heen sung  438
Grace ! grace ! oh that's a joyful
sound  107
Grace, 'tis a charming sound  107
Gracious Spirit, dweU with me 189, 192
Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost  165
Great Giver of all good, to Thee
again  320
Great God, and wilt Thou con
descend  438
Great God, as seasons disappear ... 132
Great God of wonders, all Thy ways 397
Great God, the nations of the earth 122
Great God, what do I see and hear 144, 864
Great King of nations, hear  158
Great Mover of all hearts, whose
hand  379
Great is Thy mercy. Lord  208
Great the joy when Christians meet 131
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah 218, 387, 498
Hail ! Father, whose creating call... 105
Hail, festal day, ever exalted high... 48
Hail ! gladdening Light, of His pure
glory poured  32
Hail, sacred day of earthly rest ... 274
Hail ! Thou once despised Jesus .. 122
Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad
morning  399
Hail to the Lord's Anointed  189
Hail to the Sabbath day  414
Hand in hand with angels  426
Happy sons of Israel  73
Hark! how all the welkin rings ... 479
Hark, my soul, how everything ... 79
Hark ! my soul it is the Lord  125
Hark ! the angels bright are sin^g 469
Hark ! the glad sound, the Saviour
comes  107
Hark! the herald angels sing... 118,479
Hark ! the song of Jubilee  139
Hark! the sound of holy voices,
chanting at the crystal sea  165
Hark ! the voice of love and mercy 130
Hark ! 'tis the watchman's cry ... 473
Hasten, O sinner, to be wise  117-
Hath not thy heart within thee
bumed  415
He calls us to a day of gladness ... 37
He is gone beyond the skies  178
He Imelt, the Saviour knelt and
prayed  1^6
He sendeth sun. He sendeth shower 160
He spoke, and straight our hearts
and brains  ¦• 10^
Head of the Church, our risen Lord 1 50
Head of the Church triumphant ... 113
Hear my prayer, O heavenly Father 829
Hear us, Thou that broodedst . . . 275
Hear what the voice from heaven
proclaims  101,494

Heart-broken and weary, where'er
thou may'st be  187
Heaven and earth, and sea and air 195, 368
Heavenly Father, by whose care ... 245
Heavenly Father, to whose eye 160
Here, Lord, we offer Thee all that is
fairest  317
Here, 0 my Lord, I see Thee face to
face  239
Here we suffer grief and pain  471
High in yonder realms of light ... 149
Holy Bible, Book Divine  461
Holy Father, cheer our wajr  331
Holy Father, whom we praise  166
Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty 146
Holy, holy Lord  160
Holy Spirit, Lord of Light  60
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine  421
Hosanna! loud hosanna!  458
Hosanna to the living Lord  147
How are Thy servants blest, O Lord 95
Howbeauteouswerethemarksdivine 395
How blest the righteouswhen he dies 130
How bright those glorious spirits
shine  131
How doth the little busy bee  435
How calmly the evening once more
is descending  193
How firm a foundation, ye saints of
the Lord  140
How lovely are Thy dwellings fair . . 78
How lovely are Thy dwellings, Lord 488
How shall I follow Him I serve . . . 150
Howsweet,howheavenlyis the sighr; 133
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 124
How welcome was the call  187
Humbly I adore Thee, hidden Deity 64
Hush,dearchild,liestillandslumber 434
Hushed was the evening hymn ... 194
I am a little child  452
Idonotask,0 Lord, that life may be 199
I give my heart to Thee  402
I heard the voice of Jesus say  284
I lay my sins on Jesus ...  235
I hft my heart to Thee  328
I'll come to Thee, 0 Jesus Christ ! 463
I'll praise my Maker with my breath 101, 494
I'll purge my famUy around  101
I love that holy scripture  441
I love Thy kingdom. Lord  399
I'm a little pilgrim  446
I'm but a stranger here  161, 442
I'm kneeling at the threshold  168
I sing the almighty power of God . . . 435
I think when I read that sweet story
of old  «5
I want to be an angel  471
I wish to have no wishes left  182
I worship Thee, sweet will of Godl81,481
IwouldcommunewithThee,myGod 203
I would have gone ; God bade me

520

TEE HYMN LOVER.

PAGE
If God His voice of tempest rears ... 102
If human kindness meets return ... 148
If thou but suffer God to guide thee 363
Igjennem Nat og Traengsel  -386
nuc nee Sabbato  -. •¦¦ 235
Immortal, invisible, God onlywise . 277
Immortal Love, within whose right-
eouswiU  ,„ ¦•¦ 291
In all things like Thy brethren, Thou 166
In mv soft bed, when quite alone ... 461
In mir work, and in our play  466
In sleep's serene oblivion laid  119
InstaturegrowstheHeavenlyChild 379
Interval of grateful shade  108
In the dark and cloudy day ... 226, 448
In the dark and .silent night  292
In the cross of Christ I glory ... 152, 496
In the hour of my distress  75
In the midst of life we are in death 61
In this glad hour, when children
meet  ^Of
In Thy service will I ever  374
In token that thou shalt not fear ... 169
Is not this our King and Prophet ... 172
is thy cruse of comfort wasting?
risp' and share it with another ... 806
It came upon the midnight dear ... 417
It is a thing most wonderful  460
It is flnished 1 Man of Sorrows ... 412
It is not death to die  880
Jam desinant suspiria  379
Jerusalem, my happy home ... 81,92
Jerusalem on high my j oy and city is 90
Jerusalem the golden... ... 69,186
Je suis a. toi  383
Jesu dulcis memoria ... 53,58,174,433
Jesu, from Thy throne on high ... 462
Jesu, great Eedeemer, source of life
divine  304
Jesu, meek and gentle  246
Jesu, the very thought of Thee ... 58
Jesus, and can it ever be  117
' esus, at Thy command .- ... ... 129
Jesus came— the heavens adoring... 276
Jesus, cast a look on me  120
Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour 438
Jesus, foigive us  182
Jesus, holy, undefiled  453
Jesus, I my cross have taken  155
Jesus lives, no longer now ... 371
Jesus, lover of my soul  113,494
Jesus, my all, tc heaven is gone .. 120
JeiTin 1 sta.nd'among us  206
Jesus, still lead on  242,370
Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me ... 447
Jesus, these eyes have never seen 402-403
Jesus, the very thought of Thee 174, 494
Jesu, Thou joy of loving hearts 58, 402
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 370
Jesus, Thy boundless love to me 114, 361
JeflUS,TbvChurch,withlongingeyes 202
Jesus, we love to meet  442
Jesus, where'er Thy people meet ... 126

PAGE
.. 438
.. 379
.. 167

Jesus, who lived above the sky
Jordanis oras prsevia 
Just as I am, without one plea
Kind Shepherd, see Thy little lamb 466
KingDivine!  ^^
Labente jam solis rota  879
Labouring and heavy laden  170
Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace 147
Lauded be Thy name for ever 140
Laudes Deo concinat orbis universus 62
Lead, kindly light, amid the encir
cling gloom  218,485,498
Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us 152
Lead us, O Father, in the paths of
peace  ^20
Lpad us with Thy gentle sway ... 152
Leader of faithful souls and Guide 113
Leaning on Thee, my Guide, my
Friend  167
Leave God to order all thy ways ... 363
Let all men know that all men move 162
Let all men praise the Lord  368
Let all theworldineveryeomersing 76
Let dogs delight to bark and bite ... 435
Let me be vriSi Thee where Thou art 167
Let no tears to-day he shed  298
Lei5 party names no more  121
Let us with a gladsome mind  78
Life is weary ; Saviour take me ... 862
Lift up to God the voice of praise .. , 143
Lift up your heads, rejoice  192
Lift up your heads, ye gates  138
Lift your glad voices in triumph on
high  407
Lightof the lonely pilgrim's heart... 214
Light of the world 1 for ever, ever
shining  237
Light of the world ! whose kind and
gentle care  452
Light up this house with glory, Lord 157
Like the first disciples  282
Little childi'en, wake and listen ... 467
Little Travellers Zionwards  450
Lo, God is here, let us adore ... 114, 369
Lo, He comes, with clouds descend
ing  120,479
Lo ! He cometh, countless trumpets 121
Lo 1 the day of rest dedineth  418
Lo I the storms of life are breaking 169
Long did I toil, and knew no earthly
rest  156,484
Long hath the night of sorrow
reigned  480
Long time the fallen human race ... 379
Look from Thy sphere of endless
day   409
Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious 137
Lord, a little band and lowly  442
Lord, as to Thy dear cross we flee... 168
Lord, at Thy feet we sinners lie ... 104
Lord, come away   78
Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing 131
Lord give me light to do Thy work 2.35

INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS.

521

PAGE
Lord God, by whom all change is
wrought  250
Lord God of moming and of night 264
Lord, G"d Omnipotent  278
Lord, have mercy when we pray . . . 151
Lord, I am Thine, all glory to Thy
name  383
Lord, I was blind, I could not see . . . 295
Lord, in this Thy mercy's day  158
Lord, it belongs not to my care ... 80
Lord, it,is good for us to be  177
Lord, like the publican I stand . . , 149
Lord, living here are we  73, 74
Lord, my weak thought in vain
would climb  401
Lord, now my sleep does me forsake 91
Lord of all being \ throned afar . . . 416
Lord of mercy and of might  147
Lord of the harvest, once again . . . 166
Lord of the li¦^ing harvest  170
Lord of the sea ! afar from land . . . 322
Lord our God, in reverence lowly 243, 369
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak 201
Lord, that I may learn of Thee ... 120
Lord, Thou didst arise and say . . 151
Lord, Thou in all things like wert
made  166
Lord, Thy word abideth  187
Lord, we come before Thee now . . . 118
Lord, when through sin I wander . . . 333
Lord, when we bend before Thy
throne  144
Lord, Who hast made me Thy deai
child  457
Love and kindness we must measure 438
Love me, O Lord, forgivingly  193
Lowly and solemn be  155
Make channels for the streams of
love  162
Master, it is good to be  177
Media in vita in morte smnus  350
Mighty God, while angels bless Thee 127
Millions within Thy courts have met 139
Mom's roseate hues have decked the
sky  379
Mortals awake, with angels join . . . 128
Moses, the patriot fierce, became . . . 221
Most gracious Saviour ! 'twas not
Thine  414
Much in sorrow^ oft in woe  148
My country ! 'tis of thee  403
My fairest child, I have no song to
give you  468
My faith looks up to Thee  399
My Father, hear my prayer  457
My God, and is Thy table spread ... i07
My God, how wonderful Thou art... 180
My God, I love Thee for Thyself ... 203
My God, I love Thee, not because . . . 174
My God, is any hour so sweet  157
My God, my Father, while I stray... 157
My heart is resting, O my God ... 307
My inmost heart now raises  354
My life's a shade, my days  90

¦11^ T ¦¦ . , PAGE
My Lord, m the anger of His heart,
has pimished me  9
My song is love unknown ... ... ... 90
My soul, there is a countrie ... 89
My spirit longeth for Thee ... '.'.'. 105
My thoughts ou awful subjects roll 102
My times are in Thy hand  204
Mysterious Spirit, unto whom  293
Nearer, my God, to Thee  160
Never further than Thy cross  305
Nobis, Olympo, redditus  379
No human eyes Thy face may see ... 424
Non parta solo sanguine  379
Not by the Martyr's death alone ... 379
Not Lord, un*:o that mount of dread 194
Not now, my child, a little more
rough tossing  330
Not what I am, O Lord, but what
Thou art  235
Nothing either great or small —
nothing, sinner, no  447
Now be the gospel banner  399
Now from the alt ir of our hearts ... 87
Now God be with us, for the night
is closing  353
Now have we met that we may ask 193
Nowhushyourcries, aadshednotear 354
Now is the accepted time  132
Now let our souls on wings sublime 122
Now on land and sea descending 421
Nowpray we for our country  395
Now pray we for our Mother  395
Now thank we all our God  357
Now that the daylight fills the sky 42
Now that the sun is gleaming bright 220
Now the day is over  299, 466
Now, when the dusky shades of night
retreating  49,493
O bread to pilgrims given  402
O CJirist, our hope and heart's desire 169
O Christ, who hast prepared a place 379
O come and mourn with me awhile 183
O day most calm, most bright . . 88
O day of rest and gladness  165
O Father, hear our longing prayer. . . 280
O for a closer walk with God  125
O for a thou ^and tongues to sing . . . 113
O give thanks to Him who made . . . 150
O God of Bethel, bywhose hand 108, 130, 479
O God of God ! O Light of Light ! 326
O God of Hosts, the mighty Lord ... 93
O God of Hfe, whose power benign 161
O God of love, O King of peace ... 187
O God of truth, whose living word 325
O God ! Thy power is wonderful ... 180
O God, who know'st howfrailwe are 204
O God, who metefit in Thine hand 297
O God, who, wl en the night was deep 467
O grant us liglit, that we may know 283
O happy band of pQgrims  184
O happy land ! 0 happy land ! ... 442
O Haupt voU Blut und "Wunden ... 397

522

THE HYMN LOVER.

PAGE
O Holy Jesu, Prince of Peace  317
O Holy Saviour, Friend unseen ... 157
O Jesu, ever present  282
O Jesu, Eang most wonderful ... 58, 174
O Jesu, Lord of heavenly grace ... 42
O Jesu, Thou art standing  269
O Jesus, I have promised  202
O Jesus, King most wonderful  494
O Jesus, Lord of heavenly grace ... 159
O let us all be glad and sing  440
O Light of Life, O Saviour dear ... 264
O Lord, another day is flown  148
O Lord Divine, how sweet Thou art 112
O Lord, how happy should we be . . . 166
O Lord, how joyfid 'tis to see  379
O Lord, I would delight in Thee ... 132
O Lord of health and life, what
tongue can tell  206
O Lord of heaven and earth and sea 165
O Lord of hosts, whose glory fills... 185
O Lord, Thine everlasting grace ... 114
O Lord, Thou art not fickle  191
O Lord, Thy heavenly grace impart 381
O Lord, turn not Thy face from me 72
O Lord, who by Thy presence hast
madelight  374
O Lord, who, when Thy cross was
nigh  467
O Lord, with toil our days are filled 314
O Love, divine and golden  170
O Love Divine, how sweet thou art 494
O Love Divine, that stooped to share 417
O love of God, how strong and true 234
O Love that casts out fear  236
O Love, who formedst me to wear... 364
0 lovely voices of the sky  156
O Master, it is good to be  177
0 mean may seem this house of clay 250, 251
O Painter of the fruits and fiowers 428
O Paradise ! O Paradise !  182
0 quam juvat fratres, Deus  379
O quickly come, dreaa Judge of all 282
O Sacred Head, now wounded  397
O Sacred Head, once woimded. . , 58, 361
O saints of old ! not yours alone . . . 253
O Saviour, I have nought to plead 168
O Saviour, may we never rest  202
O Saviour, precious Saviour  201
O say not Thou art left of God ... 220
O show me not my Saviour dying . . . 150
O sing to the Lord  296
O Son of Man— Thy name by choice 280
O Source of good ! around me spread 208
O Spirit of the living God  139
O Strength and Stay upholding all
creation  ... 289
O teach us more of Thy blest ways 119
O thou accomplished, great Hafi-cht 6
O Thou, before whose Father's face 435
O Thou by long experience tried 380, 488
O Thoufromwhomallgoodnessflows 127
O Thou not I lade with hands  265
O Thou, to whom in ancient time ... 406
O Thou who camest from above ... 112

PAGE
O Thou who dry'st the mourner's
tear  142
O Thou who dwellest in eternity . . . 320
O Thou whose grace first found us... 373
O Thou, whose own vast temple
stands  409
O Thou whose tender feet have trod 193
O timely happy, timely wise  153
O, what can little hands do  467
O, what shall I do, my Saviour to
praise  113
O where is He that trod the sea ... 192
O where shall rest be found  139
O, who will show me Jesus Christ . . . 464
O Word of God Incarnate  272
O world, I must forsake thee  343
O worship the King  148
O worship the Lord in the beauty of
holiness  170
O Zion, afflicted with wave upon
wave  118
O'er the gloomy hills of darkness . . . 387
Of the glorious Body telling  53
Oft when of God we ask  193
Oh ! let us all be glad to-day  350
Oh Lord ! with one accord  205
Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow . . . 381
On the dewy breath of even  159
On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry 379
Once iu royal David's city  444
Once in the town of Bethlehem ... 444
Once to our world there came  447
One holy church of God appears ... 422
One sweetly solemn thought  425
One there is above all others  142
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching
as to war  460
Oppressed with sin and woe  185
Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed 140
Our dear Lord of grace hath given 339
Our God ! our God 1 Thou shinest
here  252
Our God, our help in ages past ... 101
Our God, we thank Thee, who hast
made  197
Our Friend, our Brother, and our
Lord  426
Out of the depths I cry to Thee 348, 349
Pance lingua gloriosi  48, 53
Phosilaron  31,34
Praise, Lord, for Thee in Zion waits 155
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven 155
Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore
Him  141
Praise to our God, whose bounteous
hand  288
Praise to the Holiest in the height 219
Praise ye the Lord I immortal quire 225
Pulsum supernis sedibus  379
Ouae stella sole pulehrior  379
Q,ue ne puis-je 6 mon Dieu  381
Quiet, Lord, my froward heart ... 124

INDEX OF FIRST LLNES OF EYMNS.

523

PAOE
Rejoice, all ye beUevers ... ... 307
Rejoice, ye pure iu heart  259
Return, O wanderer, return  144
Return, O wanderer, to Thy home. . . 399
Ride on, ride on in majesty  151
Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings 106
Rock of Ages, cleft for me ... 128, 135
Roides Anges  382
Round the Lord in glory seated . . . 141

Salve Caput cruentatum  58
Saviour, again to Thy dear name we 284, 498
186274 151
156395 148
450392370

Saviour and Master ... .
Saviour, blessed Saviour .
Saviour, breathe an evening blessing
Saviour, now receive him 
Saviour, sprinkle many nations ..
Saviour, when in dust to Thee
Saviour, while my heart is tender . .
Saviour, who Thy flock art feeding
SeeingI am Jesu's lamb 
Shall this life of mme be wasted .
Shall we grow weary in our watch.
Shepherd of tender youth ... .
Shew pity. Lord, for we are frail and
faint 
Show me the way, O Lord
Since Jesus freely did appear
Sing a hymn to Jesus 
Sing Hallelujah forth in duteous
praise  42,289
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle 48
Sing to the Lord a joyful song
Sing to the Lord of harvest 
Sing to the Lord our might 
Sing we, brethren, faithiul-hearted
Sleepers, wake ! a voice is calling . . .
Slowly, by Thy hand unfurled
Slowly, slowly darkening 
Soldiers of Christ, arise 
Son of God, to Thee I cry 
Songs of praise the angels sang . . .
Souls of men, why will ye scatter . . .
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's
dark sea 
Speak, lips of mine 
Spirit Divine attend our prayers ...
Spirit of Christ, Thine eamest give
Stand up! stand up for Jesus 
standing forth on life's rough way
Stay,Master,stayupon this heavenly
hm ... ...  175,177
StiU, still with Thee, when purple
moming breaketh  394
Still wiU we trust, though earth
seems dark and dreary  420
Still with Thee, O my God - . . 193, 481
Strangers and pilgrims here below 207
Summer suns are glowing over land
and sea  269
Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear
153, 154, 498
Supreme Motor cordium  379

427
431

335

120187

170
170 155244
356410 175113
141484 182
142 237148154
398409

Sweet is the solace of Thy love 308
Sweet is the Spirit's strain  ]R7
Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we gr» ,.. 182
Sweet the lessons Jesus taught . . . 448
Sweet the moments, rich in blessing 127
Sweetly sang the angels in the clear
calm Ught  327

Take my life, and let it be  201
Take up Thy cross, the Saviour said 393
Teach me, O Lord, Thy holy way ... 296
Teach me, my God and King  76
Teach me to Uve ! 'tis easier far to
die  318
Tell it out among the heathen  201
Ten thousand times ten thousand . . . 169
Ter sancte, ter potens Deus  379
That mystic word of Thine, O
Sovereign Lord  394
That Thou, O Lord, art ever nigh . . , 140
The chfld leans on its parent's breast 159
The Church's One Foundation ... 302
The dawn of God's dear Sabbath ... 304
The day Thou gavest Lord, is ended 287
The day is gently sinking to a close 165
The day is past and over  39, 184
The dayj O Lord, is spent  185
The devfl and me, we can't agree . . . 475
The festal mom, my God, is come... 122
The fields are all white  467
The foe behind, the deep before . . . 185
The GaUlean fishers toil  165
The glory of the spring, how sweet 255
The God of Abraham praise  126
The God of heaven is pleased to see 438
The God of Love my Shepherd is ... 76
The good old Book ! with histories 451
The happy mom is eome  127
The happy sunshine all is gone . . . 354
The Head that once was crowned
vrith thoma  137
The Uttle birds now seek their nest 470
TheUvelongniffhtwe'vetoiledinvain 154
The Lord be with us as we bend . . . 287
The Lord is come on Syrian sofl . . . 178
The Lord is King, and weareth ... 73
The Lord is King, Uft up Thy voice 150
The Lord is rich and merciful  193
The Lord my pasture shall prepare 94
The Lordof might from Sinai's brow 147
The Lord of Sabbath let us praise 105
The Lord wfll come, and not be slow 78
The moming flowers display their
sweets  105
The night is come, like to the day
77, 482, 483, 488
Thenightofsorrowlonghathreigned 481
The old. year's long campaign ia o'er 302
The pilgrims of the night  182
The race that long in darkness pined 131
The radiant mom hath passed away 273
The Royal Banners forward go ... 47
The Son of God goes forth to war... 147
The spacious firmament on high ... 94

524

THE HYMN LOVER.

PAGE
The Spirit in our hearts  392
The springtide hour brings leaf and
flower  ... 170
The strain upraise of joy and praise 60, 184, 493
The sun is sinking fast  174
The Voice that breathed o'er Eden 154
The way is long and dreary  198
The year is swiftly waning  270
Thee wfll I love, my strength, my
tower  114,365
There came a Uttle Child to earth . . . 454
There is a blessed home  187
Thereisabookwhorunsmayread 154, 485
There is a dweUing-plaee above ... 141
There is a fountain filled with blood 125
There is a happy land  450
Thereis joy above the skies ... 439
There is no sorrow, Lord, too light 168
There's a friend for little children... 466
There was a time when chfldren sang 161, 442
There went three damsels ere break
of day  342
There were ninety and nine which
safely lay  473
Thine are aU the gifts. O God  427
Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old 260
Thine for ever, God of love  327
This is the day of Light  286
Thou art gone to the grave, but we
will not deplore Thee  147
Thou art, 0 God, the life and Ught 142
Thou art the way : to Thee alone ... 392
Thoubrightnessof ThyFather'sface 159
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy
kingly crown  455
Thou Grace Divine, encircling all . . . 396
Thou gracious God and kind  134
Thou hidden love of God, whose
height  114.369
Thou hidden source of calm repose 113
Thou knowest. Lord, the weariness
and sorrow  ,  240
Thou long disowned, reviled, op
pressed  395
Thou, Lord, art Love, and every
where  193
Thou say'st, take up thy cross ... 265
Thou Son of God and Son of man... 132
Thou that once on mother's knee 264, 467
Thou wast, 0 God, and Thou wast
blest  87,488
Thou who didst stoop below  413
Thou who hast known the careworn
breast  229
Thou, who our faithless hearts canst
read ...  203
Thou, whose Almighty word ... . 143
Thou, whose unmeasured temple
stands  408
Though lowly here om- lot may be. . . 204
Though we long in sin-wrought
blindness  267
Thrice holy God of wondrous might 379

PAGE
Thrice-holy Name ! — that sweeter
sounds...  267
Throned upon the awful Tree ... 285
Through aU the changing scenes of
Ufe ... .  93
Through centuries of sin and woe. . . 158
Through good report and evil, Lord 238
ThroughthedayThy love has spared
us  137
Through the night of doubt and
sorrow. . .  299, 386, 465
Throw away Thy rod  76
Thus far my God hath led me on 128
Thy home is with the humble. Lord 182
Thy little one, O Saviour dear  456
Thy way is in the deep, O Lord ... 223
Thy way, not mine, O Lord  235.
'Tis for conquering kings to gain , 159
'Tisgonethat bright and orbed blaze 153
'Tis the day of ressurrection ... 39, 184
' Tis the voice of the sluggard  435
To God be glory, peace on earth ... 93
To God on high be thanks and praise 352
To Thee, O dear, dear country ... 59
To Thee, O dear, dear Saviour 170
To Thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit 364
To Thee, O Lord, our hearts we raise 301
To Thine etemal arms, O God ... 424
To weary hearts, to mourning homes 426
Up to those bright and gladsome
hiUs  89
Veni, Creator, Spiritus  42,90
Veni Sancte Spiritus  42, 60, 90, 412
Vexilla Regis prodeunt  47
Vital spark of heavenly flame  104
Viva, viva Gesu !  384
Von Himmel hoch da komm ich her 349
Wakej awake, for night is flying ... 355
Walk in thelight, so shalt thou know 147
Walking witti Thee, my God  230
We are but Uttle children weak . . 444
We are the Lord's, whether we live
or die   372
We ask for peace, O Lord  198
We ask not that our path be always
bright   420
We gather to the sacred board ... 41 5
We give Thee but Thine own  269
We limit not the truth of God . . 228
We love the venerable house  411
We love Thee, Lord, yet not alone 159
We name Thy Name, O God  266
We praise and bless Thee, gracious
Lord   242,373
We praise, we bless Thee, Lord, we
confess Thee  161
We praise, we worship Thee, O God 42
We rose to-day with anthems sweet 206
We saw Thee not when Thou didst
come  158
We sing His love who once was slain 130
We sing the praise of Him who died 137

INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS.

525

PAGE
We sing to Thee, Thou Son of God 120
We speak of the realms of the blest 160
Weary and sad, a wanderer fi;om
Thee  170
Weary of earth, and laden with my
sin  301
Welcome, happy morning, age to
age shall say  289
We've no abiding city here  137
What grace, O Lord, and beauty
shone  214
What shall we render. Lord, to Thee 324
What star is this more glorious far 379
What sweetness on Thine earth doth
dweU  254
When all Thy mercies, O my God ... 95
When daily I kneel down to pray . . . 438
When for me the silent oar  425
When gathering clouds around I
view  148
When gladness gflds our prosperous
day   420
When I survey life's varied scene . . . 119
When I survey the wondrous cross 101, 494
When Jesus halted on His way 468
When Jordan hush'd his waters stfll 141
When my tongue can sing no more 385
When on my day of Ufe the night is
falUng  429
When on Sinai's top I see  139
When our heads are bowed with woe 151, 482
When rising from the bed of death 95

PAGE
When shaU we meet again  403
When sugar in the lump I see  188
When the dark waves round us roU 271
WTien the Lord of love was here . . . 290
When the Paschal evening f eU . . . 178
When the weary, seeking rest. . . 235, 481
When this passing world is done ... 173
When winds are raging o'er the
upper ocean  394
Where high the heavenly temple
stands  130
Where is thy God, my soul ?  190
Where is Jesus, Uttle children ? , . . 463
Where shaU we learn to die ?  178
While shepherds watched their flocks
by night  93
While Thee I seek, protecting power 133
While with ceaseless course the sun 124
Who are they whose Uttle feet ? ... 450
Why art Thou thus cast down, my
heart  353
Wilt Thou not visit me?  423
Winter reigneth o'er the land  270
With silence only as their benediction 427
With Thee, my Lord, my God  481
Te holy angels bright  81
Ye messengers of Christ  1^
Te servants of the Lord  106
Tes, God is good  158
Testerday, with exultation  57
Tet who knows the cross is precious 362
Tour harps, ye trembling saints . . . 129

526

INDEX OF TITLES OF HYMNS.

Abide with me 
All Uve unto Him 
All Saints' Day 
Angel of Patience, The ... .
Ascension Day, CoUect for
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
ttieirs is the kingdom of heaven...
Carmen Sseculare  , 
Church Universal , The 
Children's Song from the Second
Chapter of St. Luke, A 
Comforter, The 
Covenant and Confidence of Faith,
The 
Cross, The 
Cypress tree of Ceylon, The 

PAGE
.. 394
.. 2S5
,. 423
. 426
,. 397

10
422
350
140 80
481 427

Dayspring of Etemity  366
De contemptu mundi  59
Desolation  220
DiesL-SB  52, 172
Divine Renewer, The  245
Elixir, The  76
Faith and sight in the latter days . . .
Freedom 

Gloria in Excelsis .
Gone 

265423
31, 34, 352
 426

Holy Catholic Church, the Commu
nion of Saints, The  302
Holy Spirit, The  276
Home Missions  409
Hora Novissima  59,185
Hymn for his brother's ordination 413
I am debtor  173
I will ari-e and go to my Father ... 424
Intercession for ChUdren  409
It is I, be not afraid  271
Joy and sorrow alike from God . . . 334
Jubflus of St. Bemard  58
King Etemal, Immortal, Invisible,
The ...  277
Litany to the Holy Spirit  74
Litany to the name of Jesus  267
Living and Dying Prayer for the
HoUest Believer in the world, A. . . 128

Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.
The  278
Lost and Found  267
Love of God, The...
Love of Jesus, The
Meditation for Wednesday in Pas
sion Week, A  106
Meek inherit the earth, The  280
My Psalm  427
Mystery of God, The  424
New Commandment, A
Our Master 
Peace of God, The  198
Pil^ims, The
Praise for Inspiration. . .  421
Prayer for the moming, A  91
Prayer in the Temple, The
Psalm of Life
Quest, The 
Return of the Dove
Rosy Hymn 
Sabbath Day, The...
Second Advent of Christ, or Christ
coming to Jerusalem in triumph,
The  -.  78
Shame of Jesus conquered by love 117
Son of Man, The  279
Song to the Time "Diana," A  81

Stabat Mater ,
Sweetness of Jesus, The

52, 53, 397 71

TeDeum  42,350
Thankfulness  197
Thanksgiving for the highest bene
fits which God has shown in Christ 348
Through and through  266
To my friend on the death of his
sister  427
Transfiguration, The  175
Truth  395
VesperHymn  397
Voice from Galflee, A  234
Wedding Hymn  120
Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit 397
Witness of earth to heaven, The ... 254
Wrestling Jacob  481

THE MUSICAL HERALD:
A Journal for the Professor, Amateur and Student of Music,
With which is inoobporated the " Tonio Sol-pa Repobteb.*'

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Music. — Each number contains music
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aovel services and i^acred concerts are reported.
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