Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-13
A REMARKABLE HISTORY OF HYMNS.

Thirty Thousand Hymns CONFERENCE.-The
Work Of Twenty Years.
From the New York Sun.
A remarkable history Of hymnology com.
piled after laborious research of twenty
years, by John Julian vicar of Wincobank, has
just been published in London and is exciting
the wonder and admiration Of the religious
world. 1t is said to be q triumph Of Typography
as well as OF erudition. Mr.. Julian or his as
sistant, Mr. Mearns, in collecting material for
the work either visited most Of the great Ii
braries OF Europe or communicated with the
Librarians. They have consulted 10 600 manu-
scripts and annotated about 3d. 900 hymns.
More than 1000 600 words or about loo col
umns OF the Sun, have been written by the
editor himself. Every line in the book has
been revised In proof from five to ten times.
Every hymn with history has a special article
devoted to it, and there are biographies of all
the known writers of hymns from the earliest
Greek fathers, who gave metrical form Of re-
ligious thought, down to the youngest curste
who has added to the store Of sacred song.
h!mnology In various. countries, tongues and
denominations Is treated under separate head
ings
A review Of the book in an English newspa-
per says that mot the least interesting Of the
many conclusions to be drawn from the work il
the discovery of the wide range of HYMN writ
citation to many who know Sir Nathaniel Bar
naby as one OF the greatest authorities on naval
construction to find that he il the author of
many hymns which have found acceptance at
any rate among his Baptist friends.
A matter worth remark is the limitation of the
spheres In which certain hymns find currency.
considerations OF geography, as well as theo-
logical temper. determine the choice. The
tendency Is. OF course, toward comprehensive
ness, each school borrowing in succession from
a frDn slr ~ nfn H. nalx~ D..A Al
ton is still marked. In America, for instance
subjective, contemplating, quasi philosophic
verse holds the place which is given in Eng nd
and In Germany to works which are more dis
tinctly expressions of worship.
I'm the estimation of Mr.. Julian a hymn is
any copy OF verses that has been included in
hymn book or designed or adapted for con-
gregational singing. The total number salts
fylng this criterion Is, Mr.. Julian estimates,
not less than 400 090; and it is curious to learn
that, following the order of languages, the
greatest number have been composed in Ger
man. English hymns come next, then Latin
and finally Greek. The comparative barren
ness OF the Romance and Slavonic languages is
to be explained, no doubt, by the hold which
fixed ritual and traditional forms have on the
Greek and Roman churches. The very earli-
est hymns, such as My Soul Doth Magnify the
Lord and the quotations in the epistes were
of course, in Greek and ITO years elapsed be-
tore the voice of sacred song found expression
IN second tongue. That was Syriac. Then
followed two more centuries till that long and
still nnclosed cycle OF Latin hymn writing began,
to which our modern collections still owe the
most melodious and passionate of their lyrics.
Ii Is pleasing to an English churchman to know
that when the seahof silence was taken from
the young tongues of the west the strain of
prayer and praise was first outpoured in early
English"
Many lovers of sacred music may be sur.
prised, after reading Mr.. Julians book, to
learn the origin of their favorite hymns. The
various notifications of Brock of Ages" are
traced from the time of the first appearance of
single verse in the Gospel Magazine of ITS
down to the latest variant. Probably few peo-
pie are aware that Guide Us, Oh, Thou Great
Jehovah, is a translation Of Welsh original
written in the middle of the last century. Mr..
Julian presents to US sixteen versions of
"Adeste Fideles, L9ti Triumpliantes" in COM
mon use.and twenty-five which are less known.
Or the ''Dies Ir@" the numbers are: In COM
mon use, 10; not in common use, 49, Every
one OF these has been separately noted and all
have been critically compared. The biograph-
Icai sketches of hymn writer's and translators
are not all complimentary. Logan is handled
without gloves. He it was who published q
book OF hymns, including the beautiful and
popular Where High the Heavenly Temple
Stands. and passed them off as original COM
positions. 1t was found that he had unblush-
inSly appropriated the hymns. They were
really written by dead friend, whose manu-
scripts Logan had obtained under pretext of q
desire to serve his memory.