The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-10-22
(Dr. Theodore H. Cuyler i'm The En-
ternrisp


terprise.)
1t is remarkable fact that the finest
hymns in the English language were not
composed by celebrated poets, but. with
the exception of those by Cowper and
Montgomery, they are the productions of
ministers of sthe Gospel and of godly
women. 1heAlist of ministers is headed
by Watts, Charles Wesley Toplady.
Doddridge -,ewton, Keble. Newman.
Lyle, Bonar and Ray Palmer The list
OF female hymn writer's is headed by
Charlotte Elnott, Mrs. Sarah +. Adams.
Miss Havergall and Mrs Prentiss. %
| these may be added our blind sonlgstreSs.
Fanny Crosby, whose productions have
not much poetic merit and vet are
sung by millions all around the globe.
"A perfect hymn need not be artistically
a perfect poem, mach less is it mere
expression of deyout spiritual experience.
hut it must be addressed directly to the
Divine Being. The immortal hymns
that never wear ont are not pious SELF
colloquies or sermons to our fell0w-crcat-
tires; they an point upward. If my read
erS wall run their eyes over the thirty or
forty universal fayoGites that have stood
iphe test of wide usage and voice the
neart sentiments Of Gods people i'm all
I lands, they Will find that they are either
metrical prayer, or metrtcal praise or
both combined. Millions of piouS verses
have been written, but the standard
songs of solid gold could MI be contained
in a small booklet, and they were com
posed by mem or wCsntn whose genius
was largely a genius fer godliness
o,1p 81
king of English hymns is Rock of
Ages" Augustus TGplady was the son of
q British officer, and was converted 10y
the simple, fervid SERMON of an mnedu-
Gated eXhorter, delivered in harm, in
CodymgaGu. Ireland He became the
Vicar of Broad Hembury, i'm DevonShire.
and his jealous career. which was like
that ''of a racehorse, all nerve and fire.
ended at the early age Of thlrty-eight.
He Was waging a not doctrinal cont1O-
versy with John Wesley, I'm which both
Combatants INDUCED in some astoniSh
ing personalities and one day in March
1776. he published in The Gospel Ma.a-
zine four stanZas. entitled "A diving and
dying prayer for the hottest believer in
the world" These four hurriedly writ
ten verses are the Immortal Rock of
ices" which Prince Albert repeated on
his dying bed, which Gladstone translat-
ed into Latin, which are in every evan
gelical hymn book, and of which If has
has been truly said that mo other Eng
lish hymn has laid so broad and firm a
grasp on the English-Speah.ng world J
would rather he the author of this
n.atchiess prayer-Song than of Millions
Paradise Lost
1t is a curious fact that the next most
popular hymn i'll our language should
have been composed by one of the two
brothers with whom Toplady had his
warm conflict / rather rejoice in this
fact, for it shows how all Christian com
troversialists must ground arms before
the cross of Christ. Charles Wesley
the greatest of Methodist singers. and
Chalmers. the greatest OF Presbyterian
preachers. hang side by side on my study
wall in loving fellowship. If ever there
was born singer it was Charles Wesley:
me ate, drank. slept. and dreamed of lit
tie else hut making hymIs. OF all his
over six thousand hymns. the unquestion-
ed masterpiece is Jesus. Lover of Ny
Soul 1t is the queen of all the lays Of
holy love, the passionate year1ring OF
redeemed soul for its Redeemer. Its tig
trres of speech vary in one lime we see a
storm-tossed voyager crying out for shell
ter from the tempest: an another line We
see a child nesting i'm Is mothers arms:
but the central Thought never changes.
On, how many of us in dark hours Ct
trial have poured ont our trout Al hearts
i'll these two beseeching lime
Leave, ah, leave me not alone.
Still support and comfort met
Wesley composed this superb hymn in
early life, within few months of the
date of the beginning of Methodism.
Is there any American hymn that can
be named after these two crown jewels
of British hymnology? Yes, there is cne,
and the only one that / can now think
of. In the year 1880, young teacher in
school in New York City. who had been
a dry goods clerk i'm Boston, and lind just
graduated from Yale college, tat the age
of twenty sat down cne AFTERNOON
and wrote four verses, which he said
were horn of my own sl0ul." His eyes
SWAN with tears while he wrote. Two
Years afterward this young Mr.. Ray Pal
mer was met by Lowell Mason i'll BoS
ton. and asked to FURNISH a hymn for a
nag mqlSic book soon to be ISSUED. Pal
mer drew out of his pocket the four
verses beginning with the words. My
faith looks UP to Thee. He handed them
to Mason, and thus secured his own
immortality.
Drmling his long ministry my beloved
friend Palmer wrote several graceful and
devout hymns, but he had struck twelve
at the start A few years before his
death he officated at a communion SER
vice in my Lafayette Avenue church in
Brooklyn. While the cup was being
passed to the communicates the dear old
man broke ont, and with tIemmlous voice
sang his own heavenly lines,
My faith looks UP to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divinep'
Next to these three absolutely perfect
productions. if | were called upon to
name fourth would ndicat Charlotte
Il