The sun., 1908-12-06


paany 81 Mot raeps u y.
Frop. tAe Spsttstor.
The use OF hymns a. an Integral pAEa Of
public worship % one OF the great legaoies
which HSbFaism has bsauoathsd / Chris
hanity. With the Hebrew raoo religious
feeling found In song its natural expression.
and the Psalter, or -Book OF Praises, com
piled as II now stands for the service OF the
Temple. ia at once the earliest and best Of
hymn boohB. Nowhere else In the ancient
world, neither around the Acropolis nor
the Capitol. do there linger like memories
Of 'eaored sons" as around the hill Of Sion,
The first and most sacred traditions Of the
Christian faith arc associated with its
melodies. II was with the singing Of "A
hymn" that the Last Supper closed; the nrst
outburst OF Q new born hope took form
In the "Maenincat" and the "Ntno Dimittis-.
while on the first threat OF persecution Il 1.
IN lifting UP their voices 10 God with one
accord that the little company" Of beliey-
ers ct onoe find comfort. Aud whereyer
the Gospel went there the use Of hymns went
with u. 81. Paul bids his Gentle converts
'admonis1 one another In salms and
hymns and spiritual sones": Sc. John, draw
ing the image doubtless from the forms OF
earthly worship, pictures tho redeemed AZ
singing the song OF Moses the servant Of
God. spd the song Of the Lamb; while the
heather Pfiny few years later notes "a
marked characteristic Of Christian seryics
the singing'of hymn to Christ as God,s
and from that period onward tho develcp.
ment OF Greek and Latin hymnolosy was
continuous and Immense. English hymns.
however. are Of late birth. and their historv
10 comprised IN the too brief period of M tle
more than two centuries The use of Latin
in the services Of the Roman Church and
the absence OF an, English Bible we're long
fatal 10 Engltah hymHology. while after
the Reformation the severe spirit Of Puri.
tanlsm repudiated that 'merrimsnt" which
induces men either 70 compose or to sing
psalms
1t is only from about the year 1914. wbsn
Thomas Ken had composed his three famous
hymns, that the great roll cf English hymn
writers. soon to be ennobicd by the parnes
Of Isaac Watts and Of the Wesleys, can ba
said 10 have its origin. although to-day our
treasury OF hymns 10 only less rich than that
Of Germany. We suffer. indeed. now not
from dearth but from abundance. To
write a good hymn Is one OF the hardest
tasks, but unhappily to write a poor one
10 supremely easy, and In the multiplicity
OF choice unakers Of hymn books seem TO be-
guided by no true standard Of merit. Ambi-
tious dosgerel set of by some patchy
rhymes or recommended by some popular
tune too often deRrades what ought 10 ba
one Of the noblest and most inspiring forma
OF compon worship To pass, for instance
from the prayer book or. the Bible TO VOL
ume which addresses the Deity as -Inetfably
Sublime" must be shock to any sensitive
mind And who can raise the Trisagions
or 4Extol the Stem Of Jesse's Rod ana re-
tain any respect for his native tongue? Or
who can singWithout auslm such lines as
Bring yor harps and bring your odors,
SweepEhe string and pour tho lay
when in tle very verse set at the head q,
this efusitn he reads that wonderful phrase
which tels how the four and twenty elders'
bring bfore the throne golden vials full
Of odoT. which are the prayers OF saints?
Nowh9c assuredly can the distinction
between poetic imagery and vulgar realism
be mfe clearly illustrated than by setting
the words bring your odors." as used by
the triter Of this so-called hymn, side by
sidehgith the original which they parody.
whih perhaps the lines with which he CON
clufes
ConsubttantIal, CoeternaI,
While unendlng ages run
se the two worst lines that have ever mas
caeraded as poetry.
But to recount all that Is mean and up-
worthy In our hymnals would be a weary
task. 1t Is OF more concern to consider
what hymn should be, and although
where there is such large scope for variety
any definition must be imperfect, may It
not justly be said that good hymn ought
to he, at once simple and sublime? Just
as in the famous phrase quoted by LopRi.
nus-1God said. Let there be light: and there
was light the words are of the simplest,
and yet become sublime by catching, as
he puts 10, the echo OF great SOUL so It
should be with hymn, which must be
written In the common speech aud yet at
the same time transcend it, At least all
those hymns which by general consent are
the noblest-such, for example, as 20 God,
our help In ages past, or There Is q
land OF pure delisht"-seem TO answer TO
such definition. To sing such hymns ia
to be raised for time above the common
level Of life. 10 be caught up. as IL were,
into q higher world. and that although the
words themselves are or the clearest and
simplest. But indeed the more we reflect
the more perhaps 1t will appear that, re-
garded from the point Of view of art, SIM
plicity In hymn Is q crucial test Of merit.
Lofty and inspiring thoughts lie ready to
the writer's hand. and the proof Of bis skill
Is that they should stir q quick and lively
so that what is at once
grasped by the mind may produce an im-
The object OF a hymn Is to evoke feeling,
and feeling-as distinguished from mere
excitement-has its roots in the under
standing. 80 that the words Of hymn. even
though they may give food for meditation.
must be such that their large meaning is
wholly clear. Doubtless In the effort to be
simple It Is fatally easy to become mean.
prosaic and almost vulgar; but even the
rudest -paraphfase' by Tate and Brady is
preferable to such an attempt at fine writ
Ing as ia to be found. for instance, in
that too popular hymn which begins Grown
Him. the Virgins Son. ''and then proceeds
10 address our Lord as:
Fruit OF the mystic Ross
Az Of that Rose the Stem;
Thereof whence mercy ever dows
Tho Babe OF Bethlehem.
In not this symbolism run mad? Do the
words convey any ennobling thought?
Or do they convey any thought at all?
To US st least they seem wholly without