The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-24


lt may not DO an altogether inappropriate
Saturday evening thought, that many Of the
hymns we sing upon the Sabbath are suguarly
unsuitcd for modes Of worship. Not a few of
them are monsirous in rhyme and totally dssu-
tu'e of eleyatiug ideas. In the public manifesto
ton Of religion, IN the posse sion Of IT, sincerity
OF heart is Of course the one thing needful That
possessed, the deceDcy and order and beauty re.
snlting from a conscientious employment Of taste
aud talent are not to be condemned. They are
to garnish religion, to modesuy embelish all its
impressions. The duty of worshipping God is
not rendered less susceptible because all the gifts
Of mind and heart are employed to their most
refined extent in its performance
The beauty Of one Of Dr. WATTS mos. popular
hymns IS greatly marrcd by IT, execrablo rhymes.
In the sixteen lines generally sung Of the hymn
'Why should start, and fear tj die" only three
words are joined 10 corresponding rhymes. Die
is made 20 harmonic with jon, are with there.
meet with gate, and haste with passed. The
beauty Of the last verse, especially, Is almost
ncutrazed. How can the heart be duly affected
when the taste is outraged with such rhymes as
arc found in the following verse -
Jesus can make a dying bed
while on MS breast lean my head,
ANA breathe my life out swoetly there
Take the following hymn by TAYLOR: its
rhymes arc perfect but its pQotcIl merit is about
on par with the gratuItous contributions to the
poets corner of a country newspaper r.
How long someiincs dag appears
And weeks, how lo-g aIe theyl
Months move as slow as 1.-THE years
would never pass away.
But even years are passing by.
And soon must all be gone;
For day by day as minutes fly,
Eternity comes
This is news truly! Days are long, and so are
weeks, and months are longer yeti
And though years are longer even than months,
the poet makes haste to assure us not only that
they will soon be gone, but that eternity is ap-
proaching Having duly impressed this fact
upon us, the poet makes the startling announce
ment -
Days, months and years must have an end,
'TirH aliags haze as long 10 spend
As UheH first begun.
Wonderful as this discovery Is, and ingeniously
as! it is announced by the poet, he claims no
superior intelligence on that account. On the
contrary he expressly says
Great God a creature cannot tell
only pray that mqy dwell
That long, long time with Thee.
The piety here is very good, but the poetry
very bad.
As an instance of the decidedly familiar in
church poetry, take the lines -
Prayer Is appointed 10 convey
The blessings God designs to give;
Long as they live should Christians pray,
For only while they pray they live.
We have very beautiful hymns, but 1t has often
occurred to many religious people of taste and
literary culture, that the words by which they
are accustomed in bymn-books to express devo-
tion and praise arc too often clumsily put toge-
ther, or barren of ideas. We admire the purity,
the beauty, the majesty the submty of Scrip
tural language. Why should they not be sedu-
lousy retainedi Why should they ever be
defomed and mutilated in versifcations of the
psalms, or travestied by the attempts of modern
poets at hymns The best treasures of the intel
lect should be lavshed upon the poetry which
we dedicate to the service of religion. Our
hymns should include all that is most majestic
in the domain Of poetry. Faulty rhymes here
and there are. it may be said, trivial errors But
in the first place, it must be remembered they jar
upon a refined taste, and are too often made the
exponents of what is little better than nonsense.