Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-02
Immortal npnln8 ano Ubeir Autbor8


One of the most edifying and pious forms
of Christian worship is that of sacred sone'
and when the Christian lifts his voice in
tunefuI prayer to the words OF speciaiiy
attractive hymn he naturally asks for In
formation as to the hymn writer's name
and whence came the hymn. AS may De
easily Imagined, there is wealth OF his
torfc interest In connection with nearly all
of these immortal works and their writer's
Hmvnology Is a branch of study, like any
other scholastic pursuit. and in every king
dom and republic historians have anaiyzeo'
classified and compared and settled their
text Even their impelling causes ana sur
roundings are known. When one sings INC
"Te Deum Iaudamus'' II is discovered tha'
n had its antecedent In the Greek liturgy
hut this sequence is not confined 10 one
hymn by any means, for other sequeis so
may be additionally ascribed 10 Aiip.V s.'
bishop of Milan; to the spohtahepu5
1900 81 81 Augustine and the holy Am
brose and II may be said that the I-a.i
Language contains the best OF the e..
and the inspiration of many OF tne III
German HYMNS Thus In the mfooie aees
there was born a treasure of sacred song
that has been so well preserved ana saieiy
kent as never to be lost again
The history of the song OF praise III nv
medieval and modern Christian church Is
both simple and beautiful. 1t began 1ar
hack I'm the chants and psalms of the He
brews Then it changed TO the SyFlac anu
Crock and then to Latin. Next it was
caught ND in the old high German poetry,
and at length became the modern Ehghsh
hymn. . ,.,,.o,,,as
These Latin hymns We're in themselves
borrowed from the Greek. hymns Weie
even then sung to the 20
musical instruments, though the inference
&c said 10 be pretty strong that the carry
Christians avoided some things tha' "eIe
Jewish In the Catacombs, Where every
manner of ordinary symbol may be round
there is stated to be neither pipe nor harp;
Fverything betokens a rude. uncultiVated
simplicity. 80
Christianity. when the savior ana ms Us US
ciples had sung a hymn they LETT the place
where they had observed the Passover ana
went out to the Mount OF owes Inns
HYMN was the great 'Hallel. consisting OF
psalms cxii to cxviii inclusive. The ll3th
and Hath are said TO have been sung pre-
vious to the feast; the others after II. mus
II is known that this was the nrst hymn OF
praise in the Christian church "Hallel, IL
NAV be said. is the essence OF all true
psalmody-trust, Thanksgiving, praise
~"
The .Magnifcat" of Mary. the ''Nunc
Dimittis" of old Simeon, and the Gloria In
Fxcelsis Dec" of the angels at Bethlehem
NAV be said to antedate this hymn of the
Savior and His apostles. These furnished
to the early Christians their first impress
sions of praise. At the last supper. with It's
pathetic union of Jewish and Christian
ideas, is also the place at which the Psa ms
of David and the spiritual songs or the
primitive Christian were united.
In the early days of Christian worship
only the simplest and most fervent forms OF
this worship were caught. Inc Veheratloh
that they had for the Lord led Phny 10
write that they sung alternately among
themselves hymn to Christ as God
famous writer has said that these early
Christians sung at prayers in the morning,
at their work and usually at their meals.
also In the field one might have heard
the plowman at his hallelujahs, the mower
singing his hymn, and others chanting Da-
vid's psalms. Song was. in fact, notable
feature Of primitive Christianity.
The language of these hymns was either
syriac or Greek, though by degrees the
Greek obtained precedence, and as the
Latin hymns did not arrive until after the
fourth century. the period between the as
cension and that era belongs to the Greek
language.
Sacred song had to begin with three
terms-psalm. hymn or spiritual song; and
II also seems plain that the composition as
well as the singing Of these hymns and
songs might be the result of sudden emotion
or inspiration. Thus extemporaneous or
private authorship of such psalmody was
not uncommon.
Coming from the New Testament may be
mentioned such memorable anthems of
praise as the 'Magnificat." the Benedict
us" Gloria in Excelsis Dec" and the
"Nunc Dimittis." all taken from the single
gospel of Luke, wherein It has been said
that more than any other, the sweet, sad
music of humanity" can be found.
There were in the early church eight
classic expressions of song worship. con-
sisting of The Lesser Doxology" c'Gloria
Patria'D; The Greater Doxology' C'Goria
in Excelsis'D; The Ter Sanctus "a cheru-
bical hymn; The Hallelujah;' The Bene-
dicit" ('.The Song of the Three Children'D,
which is taken from the ApocrYpha and