New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-12-04
riding the meaning of the death o


the line Angel guards from Thee surround
u.s. should be eliminated from the evening
hymn, Saviour. breathe an evening o'ess-
Ing"
Fortunately for the aesthetic sense OF the
churchgoer. the symboiical has so thor
oughly swallowed up the literal meaning
Of tho opening lines Of Cowper's well
known hymn, There Il q fountain filed
with blood. drawn from Immanuels
VEINS" that in most persons Is not Affected
This hymn was written in an age when
many leaders in Protestant Christian
churches placed doctrine and moral teach
Ing above beauty Of imagery and did not
hesitate to use plain. forceful language and
strong pictures to express their ideas IN
hymns.
Good taste has dictated the suppression
Of verses IN more than one Of the well
known HYMNS Of to-day. From Watts
hymn. ALIAS! and did my Savior bleed?'
this has been excised in some OF the newer
hymnals:
THY body slain, sweet Jesus. thine.
And bath'd in its own blood.
While. all expos'd to wrath divine.
Tho glorious suffre stoodT'
Stanza has been dropped from Watts S
hymn. when survey the wondrous
cross" by some editors Of hymnals. such
as the Presbyterian and Methodist. 1t
runs:
His dying crimson. like robe,
Spreads er his body on the tree:
Then am I dead to all the globe,
And all the globe Is dead to me-.
Taste has eliminated many old hymns.
The lur.d and forceful imagination OK the
. old writer's with their strong belief IN the
vigorous doctrines of the time and In the
horrors OF the future punishment awaiting
those who did not fly to the mercy seat
finds many illustrations that would hardly
be tolerated in hymnal to-day one al
most sees the glowing Goals kindl'ns into
white heat ready for the guilty sinner
about to be "blown to kingdom come as
he reads these verses from one Of Watts's
hymns:
adore and tremble, for our God
Is consuming fire!
His jealous eyes with wrath inf1ame,
And raise his vengeance higher.
Almighty vengeance, how 1t burns!
How bright his fury glows!
Vast magazines of plaques and storms
Lie TREASURED for his foes.
N~o-N~-
Are forc'd into flame;
But kindled, oh! how fierce they blaze!
And rend all natures frame
The last verse picturing the rescued" as
viewing the destruction of the worlds from
a safe place sums up in this truly Chris
tan fashion:
Thy hand shall on rebeilious kings
A fiery tempest pour;
While We beneath thy sheltring wings.
Thy lust revenge adore"
There is a sort of Dantesque colorng in
this hymn written by the immortal Watts:
My thoughts awful subjects ROLL
Damnation and the dead;
What horrors seize the guilty soul,
Upon a dying bed.
Ling ring about these mortal shores,
She makes a long delay;
TIL. like hooi with repid force.
Death sweeps the wretch away.
Then swift and dreadful she descends
Down to the fiery coast.
Amongst abominable fiends,
Herself a frighted ghost.
There endless crowds of sinners lie.
And darkness makes their chains:
Tortur'd with keen despair they cry;
Yet wait for fercer palms.
Satan was a very real personality to the
old hymn writer's Here is what the same
writer thought about him:
Now Satan comes with dreadful roar,
And threatens to destroy:
He worries whom he can't devour.
With malicious joy
A clustering old chap!
AS for the end of the world, imagination
lavished itself upon this cataclysmic event:
1.-The living look with dread:
The frighted dead arise.
Start from the monumental bed,
And lift their CHASTITY eyes,
The huge celestial bodies roll
Amidst the gen'ral fire;
And shrvel parchment scroll,
And all in smoke expire"
o there will be mourning, mourning,
mourning. mourning,
Q. there will be mourning, at the Judgment
seat Of Christ
Because parents and children, wives
and husbands brothers and sisters
friends and neighbors'' and pastors and
people will part to meet no more and
angels will meet to part no more"
All thought was focused on preparation
to meet a Joyful DOOM.
Farewell, dear friends must be gone,
/ have no home or stay with you;
I'll take my staff and travel on,
Till / a better world do view.
Farewell, poor careless sinners, too,
1t grieves my heart to leave you here.
Eternal vengeance waits for you;
o turn and find salvation near"
''Il march to Canaan's land,
I'll land on Canaan's shore;
Where pleasure never end,
Where troubles come no more.
Farewell. farewell, farewell,
Ny loving friends, farewell.
The preparation was not easy. accord
ing to the author of the hymn. "A Sick Bed
Reflection:
HOPES of recov'ry my fond heart INDUCED.
TIL my physician, to my great amaZement,
Kindly informed me that my case was
desperate,
Death was approaching"