FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
Church Poetry axd Music, 
 
 H e fit >"»*• 
 
 
 
 
 /?. 
 
 A 
 
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 7 
 
THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN 
 
 QUARTERLY REVIEW. 
 
 DECEMBER, 1857. 
 
 No. XXIII. 
 
48S Church Poetry^m^Mtt^lK/^, 
 
 DE 
 
 CHURCH POETRY AND MUSIC. 
 
 In the first number of this Review we made a quasi promise 
 to discuss the subject of Hymnology, but have hitherto not 
 found time. The fact that the General Assembly have directed 
 the Publication Committee to go fully into this subject, invests 
 it with interest at this moment. To see how thoroughly the 
 Assembly have gone into this matter, we have only to glance at 
 the parts of their plan which have been confided to the Com- 
 mittee. They are, 
 
 1. The purchase of the Church Psalmist, the Psalm and 
 Hymn Book in most general use in our churches. 
 
 2. Authority to arrange for the acquiring, if it can be had 
 at a reasonable price, of the Parish Psalmody, a book used to 
 some extent in the Middle and Southern States. 
 
 3. The Psalter, in the common version, is committed to Rev. 
 Dr. Duffield, of Detroit, to be prepared for chanting. 
 
 4. Drs. Beman, Barnes, and Fisher, are appointed to pre- 
 pare a supplement to the Church Psalmist, that the collection 
 may be as complete as possible. 
 
 5. The Publication Committee are to appoint a committee 
 of three persons, who are to correspond with pastors, leaders 
 of choirs, and other suitable persons, in order to ascertain 
 what tunes are in general use and approved by the churches, 
 that those may be selected that have thus been sanctioned by 
 the general approbation, not only of the present but of past 
 times. The committee will thus be prepared to publish a Tune- 
 book for the Church. 
 
 As all these several objects are in the hands of the Church 
 itself, and thus all selfish and private interests are excluded, 
 the Committee can work to the direct point of securing a com- 
 plete system of apparatus, which may be made the medium 
 through which the praises of God may be suitably celebrated 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 489 
 
 in the sanctuary. We rejoice in the full and free trust which 
 the Assembly have thus reposed in the Committee. They have 
 the opportunity of accomplishing a work that has never yet 
 been fully done by any Protestant Church, and we hope that 
 the thoroughness with which everything actually accomplished 
 by this Committee has been carried out, will be but the earnest 
 of the manner in which its business is ever to be conducted. We 
 had rather that everything undertaken, even if slowly carried 
 on, should be well finished, than that sundry projects should be 
 begun at once, and all imperfectly prosecuted. 
 
 The first broad remark which must be made on the subject 
 of hymnology is, that, considering the elements of power given 
 in this part of Divine worship, there is a signal failure to make 
 of it what it should be. 
 
 God offers Himself as an object of affection and adoration. 
 But he is boundless in his own nature. The impulses of the 
 soul, when it strives to touch infinity, have more than the 
 fullest sway. When the imagination, strengthened by faith, has 
 reached the limits of the created universe, it has passed over 
 only that little portion of Jehovah that has been expressed. 
 Even we, feeble as we are, have a world within us, for which 
 we cannot find fitting expression. The artist, poet, orator, all 
 feel how faint are marble, colors, words, gestures, to body forth 
 the images which the soul finds opening upon its vision. 
 
 Lo ! these are but the whisper of His ways, 
 
 But the thunder of His power, who can understand ! 
 
 God is eternal. Before all worlds, He is. We cannot un- 
 derstand it. We earnestly rejoice that we cannot. What kind 
 of a God would he be whom a creature could comprehend ! The 
 very essence of a creature's glory is to yearn after something 
 better than itself, to go beyond its poor, narrow conditions, and 
 seek for closer and closer union with beings high, pure, and 
 holy. The Highest and Holiest of all has invited us to know 
 and love Himself, and to draw into intimate union with Him. 
 What the religion of Boodh originally meant, at the first and 
 earliest spring of its tradition, by absorption into God, is — 
 
490 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 however now perverted into mere annihilation — in reality the 
 highest and grandest thing of which humanity is capable, or 
 for which it has to hope. 
 
 In this part of Divine service, then, in the language of our 
 Directory for Worship, we "humbly adore the infinite majesty 
 of the living God." Whatever of excellence in word or rhythm, 
 or harmony or elevation of spirit man is capable of, finds scope 
 here. So far from there being any limitation for want of a wide 
 field, the fact is, that we are only straitened by our own inca- 
 pacities. Whatever mortal can do in rising to the immortal, 
 there is here scope for its doing : the range is literally infinite. 
 
 In the fact that hymns speak mainly of redemption, we see 
 another element of their intrinsic power, — if we only knew how 
 to make that power available. We do not know how to express 
 ourselves better than in words we once before used : " As re- 
 demption is the mightiest work the universe has yet known, or 
 perhaps can know, the clearest apprehension of it, and the 
 sublimest aspirations born of it, must be the very highest style 
 of thought and feeling. The nearest approach to the Omni- 
 potent must be the nearest approach to the true sublime, and 
 this must be found in the clearest idea and deepest feeling of 
 the God-man and the Incarnation. The angels bend down 
 continually to look into it, and it is nothing less than the cen- 
 tral idea of eternity and infinity." 
 
 Here we see again, that it is not the subject which fails, 
 but our human power to reach it. The only limitation is the 
 limitation of humanity itself, and its power of expression. 
 
 It is to be added, that the sacredness of Divine praise is a 
 great power, if rightly used. It is only on this principle, that 
 we can account for the fact that such extraordinary psalms as 
 Rouse's Version, and Sternhold and Hopkins have kept their 
 place for centuries in the British Isles and in America, and 
 that such mere commonplace as many of our hymns, are tole- 
 rated in our Church-books. Let any one read the sublime He- 
 brew odes, in the Book of Psalms, in the original, or even in 
 the English version ; remembering, however, that he is reading 
 a prose-translation of vivid poetry ; and turning from this, with 
 his soul aglow, let him find Christian congregations imagining 
 
* 
 
 1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 491 
 
 that they are singing the same thing, when they are following 
 precentor or clerk, uplifting, through his nose, the following : 
 
 A man was famous, and was had 
 
 In es-ti-ma-ti-on, 
 According as he lifted up 
 
 His axe, thick trees upon. 
 
 The intense commonplace of much of the Episcopal book is 
 no better : 
 
 To ten-string'd instruments we'll sing, 
 
 With tuneful psalteries join'd ; 
 And to the harp, with solemn sounds, 
 
 For sacred use design'd. 
 
 It is on the same principle that masses of the most ordinary 
 rhyme are published every year as religious poetry ; pious 
 feeling does not like to reject that which is sincerely written, 
 which contains correct sentiment, and — for the writer at least 
 — real emotion. Hence the standard of secular poetry is often 
 higher than that of religious. 
 
 How true this is, that, where persons are very greatly inte- 
 rested in a subject, they will tolerate the most ordinary and com- 
 monplace expositions of it, is seen in patriotic songs, which are 
 proverbial for homeliness. The same principle finds illustration 
 in domestic poetry — songs of the affections. The feeling, uni- 
 versal and deep as it is, bears upon its current every form of 
 verse, as a river, in flood, carries with it the drift-wood of the 
 whole region. 
 
 But, while all this is true, no one will yet imagine that it is 
 a disadvantage, in writing poetry of country or fireside, that 
 the writer has a strong and overpowering feeling ready to 
 sympathize with him. And so in devotional poetry, that the 
 strongest emotion of which humanity is capable, stands ready 
 to embalm his verse, is a capital advantage for the sacred poet ; 
 that human nature will consecrate it in its holiest hopes and 
 memories is the very hiding of his power. 
 
 Another idea, which shows how great a failure there has been, 
 on the whole, in the power of Divine praise, is, that the form 
 in which it appears, no less than the substance, is of the very 
 
492 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 finest. Surely nothing is more exquisite than music ! God has 
 chosen for his praise the most beautiful of all methods of ex- 
 pression. It is finer than the medium of the artist, though he 
 make the canvas almost speak ; finer than the purest Penteli- 
 can marble, though wrought by Phidias ; finer than Greek 
 Parthenon, or Gothic Cologne, though the one seemed glorious 
 enough to bring the gods to earth, and the other to raise men 
 aspiring flame-like unto heaven ; finer even than the living voice 
 of the orator in his most impassioned moods. 
 
 If the deepest thoughts and emotions of man be at all capa- 
 ble of expression, — if they be not wholly to perish for want of 
 some medium of utterance, then, surely, music is the most per- 
 fect of earthly media for that expression. For what is music? 
 The Almighty has so constructed all sounds in nature that, 
 when brought together under certain circumstances and pro- 
 portions, they produce harmony. This is especially the case 
 with human voices and those instruments which imitate them. 
 The voices of men, women, and children are all diverse ; and 
 yet, by skilful training and arrangement, may be so blended 
 as to produce an exquisite delight. Further, there are feelings, 
 which are very imperfectly expressible in words or gestures. 
 When the nobler and gentler emotions fill men's minds, they 
 naturally flow out in poetry ; instead of finding rhythm and 
 measure fetters, they are felt to be wings. Law is not burden- 
 some except to the lawless, and the accurate orbit of the planet 
 is its perfection. Sacred song, then, is the natural expression 
 of high devotion, and when the rapture of prayer and praise 
 is allied to music worthy of it, we surely have the very noblest 
 form of expression of which man is capable. In this, then, as 
 in all else that belongs to our religion, God has wrought per- 
 fectly, man only is in fault ; we are not straitened in God, but 
 we are straitened in ourselves. 
 
 The old philosophers had an idea, which appears in various 
 forms, about the music of the spheres. " The stars in their 
 courses," says one of them, " perpetually give out music, but it 
 is in sounds too vast and constant to be heard." The idea 
 which lay at the basis of this mode of thought, seems to be that 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 493 
 
 in God's world as he made it there is no jar ; that he created 
 the universe a perfect harmony. Hence they beautifully im- 
 agined that the worlds in their orbits, the winds in their whis- 
 pering breezes and their wildest roarings, the waters as they 
 tunefully trip by the mossy roots and the small pebbles, or 
 pour themselves in masses over the cataract, or lift up their 
 hands on high in tempest on the ocean, — that all these, with 
 whatever else makes up nature, were one choral harmony. And 
 it is very striking to observe how something like this universal 
 chorus fills the imagination of the sacred writers both when 
 speaking of earth and heaven : 
 
 Praise ye the Lord from the heavens : 
 
 Praise him in the heights. 
 
 Praise ye him, all his angels : 
 
 Praise ye him, all his hosts. 
 
 Praise ye him, sun and moon : 
 
 Praise him, all ye stars of light. 
 
 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, 
 
 Ye waters that be above the heavens. 
 
 Praise the Lord from the earth, 
 
 Ye dragons and all deeps : 
 
 Fire and hail ; and snow and vapor : 
 
 Stormy wind fulfilling his word : 
 
 Mountains and all hills ; fruitful trees and all cedars : 
 
 Beasts and all cattle ; creeping things and flying fowl. 
 
 And so when the imagination and faith of the sacred writers 
 fix upon heaven. Ten thousand times ten thousand angels, 
 seraphim and cherubim, " thrones, virtues, dominations, pow- 
 ers," without number, numberless, mingle their voices with the 
 multitude of the ransomed from every kindred and nation and 
 people and tongue which is under the wide heaven, while the 
 new heavens and the new earth responsive, fill the universe 
 with the echoes of their harmony. 
 
 God's Church on earth contains the germ of his universe ; 
 it is a theatre upon which is represented the great principles 
 and emotions of his mighty moral government. God's temple 
 on earth is the type and emblem of his temple above. " Which 
 serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as 
 
404 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make 
 the tabernacle, for see (saith he) that thou make all things 
 according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." If 
 these things be so, then all the services of the Church should 
 be worthy of this high position. 
 
 It is a wonderful thing, when we think of it, how God has 
 made the human race a choir of music. It is surely no acci- 
 dental thing that the deep voice of the mature man in one part, 
 that of the mature woman in another, that of the maiden in 
 a third, and that of the boy in still another part of music, are 
 so constructed by the heavenly Architect of the human frame, 
 as that their union makes a perfect harmony. Especially does 
 this possess a deep meaning when connected with God's com- 
 mand: 
 
 Praise ye the Lord, 
 
 Kings of the earth and all people : 
 
 Princes, and all judges of the earth : 
 
 Both young men and maidens ; 
 
 Old men and children : 
 
 Let them praise the name of the Lord : 
 
 For his name alone is excellent, 
 
 His glory is above the earth and heaven. 
 
 Here is an adaptation of the right hand of the Most High. 
 
 Look a little at the ideal of worship, and see how the Al- 
 mighty has adapted it to all that is in man. Its basis is devo- 
 tion, the worship of the infinitely great and good Being. In 
 prayer especially is the moral nature in exercise, with the 
 emotions of the soul. The intellect, will, and passions, are ad- 
 dressed especially in the solemn communication of the ambas- 
 sador of Christ ; the heart through the senses, human love 
 mingling with divine in the ordinances ; the social principle in 
 the gathering together of the great congregation. But in man 
 besides is the love of beauty, that principle which the Hellenic 
 nation was raised up to illustrate ; that feeling which lies at 
 the basis of the fine arts, of architecture and painting and sta- 
 tuary, poetry and music, the finer graces and loveliness of life 
 and society, the courtesies of intercourse and the sweetness of 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 495 
 
 a refined home. God put it in man, and in worship he would 
 not omit it. Hence praise, with poetry and music. 
 
 David was a man after God's own heart, and when the Lord 
 had given him rest from his enemies round about, as he sat in 
 his palace and thought of the magnificence which had been 
 gathered in a habitation for a child of clay, a sinful man, and 
 fading like the leaf, he turned to Nathan and said, " See now, 
 I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within 
 curtains." And when the Lord forbid him to build the house 
 because he had been a man of war, instead of availing him- 
 self of this as an excuse, as any one but a man great of soul 
 and full of the love of God would have done, he expended 
 countless treasures upon the materials for the Temple, so com- 
 pleted by Solomon as to be the wonder of the world. This is 
 the spirit in which the worship of God should be conducted. 
 No expenditure of time, wealth, or talent is too great that God 
 may be rightly honored. 
 
 All that we can do for our fellow-men depends upon the 
 worship of God. The Church is the centre of all good. Upon 
 its attractiveness depends the virtue of the people more than 
 upon all other causes. Hence with so much pains and expense 
 have our fathers provided for the education of the ministry. 
 For this purpose they built academies and colleges and theolo- 
 gical seminaries at immense cost — cost none too great. For 
 this purpose they have prescribed a long and laborious course 
 of education, that the ministry may be able rightly to conduct 
 the worship of God ; that his temple may be the centre of 
 love, devotion, respect, and delight from the people. In the 
 same spirit ought the architecture of God's temple to be impos- 
 ing, the interior of his house solemn and yet pleasant, and all 
 the services to be so conducted as to satisfy the moral nature, 
 the affections, the intellect, and the imagination, — all that is 
 holy and blessed in man. 
 
 No part of divine worship stood higher in the affections of 
 the Hebrews than sacred song. When the Lord brought them 
 through the Red Sea, Moses made a magnificent hymn of 
 gratitude and triumph, in which he was not withheld by 
 
406 Church Poetry and JIusic. [Dec. 
 
 motives like those of the effeminate religion of our time from 
 rejoicing in God's victory over his enemies. Moses sang this 
 psalm, and the children of Israel — they chanted it high and 
 loud over Egypt's dark sea. " And Miriam the prophetess, 
 the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand ; and all the 
 women went out after her, with timbrels and with dances." 
 In responsive choirs they poured out their patriotic and religious 
 triumph : 
 
 Sing ye to Jehovah ! 
 
 He hath triumphed gloriously ! 
 Horse and rider hath he thrown into the sea ! 
 
 When Deborah and Barak discomfited Sisera at the ancient 
 river Kishon, the stars in their courses fighting against him, 
 the prophetess composed another glorious hymn of triumph : 
 
 Zebulun and Napthali were the people ! 
 
 They jeoparded their lives unto the death 
 
 In the high places of the field! 
 
 my soul ! thou hast trodden down strength ! 
 
 So let all thine enemies perish, Lord ! 
 
 But them that love thee 
 
 Let them be as the sun going forth in his might ! 
 
 When the king of Moab rebelled against Jehoram, king of 
 Israel, the latter allied himself with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 
 and the king of Edom. Perishing for water in the wilderness 
 they came to Elisha the seer. After a severe rebuke of Jeho- 
 ram, and a declaration to the three kings that but for Jehosha- 
 phat he would not look towards them, — so glorious then was 
 the courage of God's ambassadors, — the stern old prophet then 
 gave what seems to us the strange order, " Now bring me a 
 minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, 
 that the hand of the Lord came upon him." So when Saul 
 was troubled by an evil spirit, it was the harp of David that 
 soothed him. 
 
 There is another striking narrative in the twentieth chapter 
 of Second Chronicles. A confederation of fierce tribes was 
 formed against Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The king pro- 
 claimed a fast, and all Judah stood before the Lord, with their 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 497 
 
 little ones, their wives and their children. When they had 
 humbled themselves and prayed — " then upon Jahaziel, the son 
 of Zechariah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of 
 the Lord in the midst of the congregation." When his tri- 
 umphant prophecy was silent, and Jehoshaphat with all Judah 
 had bowed their heads before the Lord, then stood up the Levites 
 to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. 
 On the next day, as they went to the battle, Jehoshaphat 
 " appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the 
 beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to 
 say, Praise the Lord ; for his mercy endureth forever. And 
 when they began to sing and Upraise, the Lord set ambushments 
 against the children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, which 
 were come against Judah; and they were smitten." Such 
 honor did the Lord put upon holy song. 
 
 To the Temple service in the praise of God were devoted by 
 David four thousand Levites. These he divided into twenty- 
 four classes, who were placed under the instruction of two 
 hundred and eighty-eight teachers. At their head, as com- 
 manders of this musical host, were Asaph, Heman, and Jedu- 
 thun. To Asaph was assigned the care of instruments of per- 
 cussion ; to Heman, whose skill is compared to the wisdom of 
 Solomon, was confided the wind instruments ; and to Jeduthun 
 or Ethan, whom some think to be the Greek Orpheus, stringed 
 instruments. Heman's three daughters are mentioned as 
 skilled in music. On the return from Babylon the Jews brought 
 a choir of two hundred musicians. We find, then, that the prac- 
 tice of the ancient Church corresponded with our theory of the 
 value of this part of divine worship. 
 
 In looking for the causes of this failure properly to dignify 
 divine praise, it is necessary to examine the faults of the hymns 
 in common use. 
 
 One is that they are too didactic. Say what we may of the 
 influence of custom and cultivation, it lies in the nature of 
 human mind to prefer the concrete to the abstract. A regu- 
 larly didactic poem is not lyric ; we must sacrifice the one or 
 the other characteristic. Of course it does not follow that a 
 
 vol. vi. — 32 
 
403 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 lyric song is not instructive, but the instruction must be either 
 in the way of expressed feeling, or example, or concentrated 
 apophthegm. "We take a specimen of each from Dr. Watts. 
 For instance, of the first kind, combining instruction with lyric 
 feeling : 
 
 One glance of thine, one piercing ray 
 
 Would kindle darkness into day. 
 
 "Where the omniscience of God is powerfully taught. 
 Of the second, we may quote an almost perfect figure, which 
 is concrete didactic : 
 
 The haughty sinner I have seen, 
 
 Not fearing man, nor God ; 
 Like a tall bay-tree, fair and green, 
 
 Spreading his arms abroad. 
 
 And lo ! he vanished from the ground, 
 
 Destroyed by hands unseen ; 
 Nor root, nor branch, nor leaf was found 
 
 Where all that pride had been. 
 
 A choir must be a very bad one, who will not sing these 
 stanzas expressively. 
 
 Of the third, we give an example which possesses in some 
 measure all three excellences ; feeling, picturesqueness, and 
 sententiousness: 
 
 Some walk in honors gaudy show; 
 
 Some dig for golden ore ; 
 They toil for heirs, they know not who, 
 
 And straight are seen no more. 
 
 But other hymnologists, and Watts himself, are not always 
 so happy. Many hymns will immediately occur to our readers 
 as resting on a dead level of commonplace exhortation and in- 
 struction, and tending to produce dulness in a whole congre- 
 gation. 
 
 Another fault is sentimentality. W r e admit the difficulty of 
 drawing the line between true feeling and mere sentiment. 
 Persons, too, are so differently constructed, that what appears 
 affected to one is natural to another : one class would call a 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 499 
 
 hymn sweet, while another would call it sentimental. Still, the 
 difference is founded upon nature, and it is one of the sternest 
 requisites, if any one would write sacred songs which will live, 
 that he should understand just where this line is drawn. 
 
 "Feeling," said the late Miss Landon, " weeps over the 
 grave of a friend, sentiment plants the rose and the willow to 
 weep too." The feeling of sorrow for bereavement at death 
 is universal ; refined and recherche methods of expressing it 
 would not carry popular sympathy. One of the points of 
 difference is that a hymn must not be for the few but for the 
 many. "The pulpit," Isaac Taylor says, "belongs to the 
 people," because cultivated persons can learn the will of God 
 from books, but the masses rely upon oral instruction. It is 
 so with hymns. A sacred song that the humblest cannot un- 
 derstand may be considered a failure. The true hymn is such 
 an one as the reader remembers hearing five thousand people 
 in Kentucky sing : 
 
 Through many dangers, toils, and snares, 
 
 I have already come ; 
 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far. 
 
 And grace will bring me home. 
 
 Montgomery has the same fault, in part. What more beauti- 
 ful than, 
 
 The dead are like the stars by day, 
 
 Withdrawn from human eye, 
 Yet not extinct, they hold their way 
 In glory through the sky. 
 
 Yet it is not a good stanza for a hymn ; the feeling in some 
 way evaporates while we are admiring the figure. It were un- 
 just to call it a conceit, and yet, while singing or repeating it, 
 one is rather looking at a thing than feeling it. 
 
 o o o 
 
 In further illustration of this idea, we might remark that 
 Moore was an admirable song-writer for a certain class of 
 society, but even if he had possessed the necessary moral quali- 
 fications, his style of thought would have prevented success as a 
 writer of hymns. Thus, how beautiful the figure, akin to Mont- 
 gomery's : 
 
500 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 Then sorrow touched by thee grows bright, 
 
 With more than rapture's ray, 
 As darkness shows us worlds of light 
 
 "We never saw by day. 
 
 Beautiful as this is, the thought is not obvious. It could 
 never carry with it a popular assembly. 
 
 There is something of the same fault in Kirke White. One 
 or two of his hymns come within the magic circle of popular- 
 ity — or at least one. But usually they do not. What a beau- 
 tiful sacred poem is the hymn which contains this stanza : 
 
 Howl, winds of night; your force combine; 
 
 Without his high behest, 
 Ye shall not, in the mountain pine, 
 
 Disturb the sparrow's nest. 
 
 Yet, as a hymn, it is not successful. It is too recondite ; the 
 imagery takes the mind off from the feeling; it is too individual. 
 We feel the difference so soon as we repeat a verse of a true 
 hymn upon the power of God : 
 
 Beneath the shadow of thy throne, 
 
 Thy saints have dwelt secure ; 
 Sufficient is thine arm alone, 
 
 And our defence is sure. 
 
 The same criticism must be made upon Bishop Heber, not- 
 withstanding the Missionary Hymn. For instance, what a 
 beautiful poem on death he has written : 
 
 Beneath our feet, and o'er our head, 
 
 Is equal warning given ; 
 Beneath us lie the countless dead, 
 
 Above us is the heaven. 
 
 But it has not attained popularity as a hymn. Compare 
 Charles Wesley for the reason : 
 
 One family we dwell in him, 
 
 One church above, beneath, 
 Though now divided by the stream, 
 
 The narrow stream of death. 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 501 
 
 3. A third fault is one that has been nearly banished from 
 our hymn books — the making of our sacred songs too erotic. 
 We regret to say that the spirit of our time is not only adverse 
 to this, but tends almost to dislike of anything tender and en- 
 dearing in the personal communion of the believer and his Lord. 
 No one can enter into the heart of the Song of Songs, or the 
 expressions of the apostles John and Paul, in relation to union 
 between the Christian and our blessed Lord, without feeling 
 that the Church in our day is in danger of losing that intense 
 and loving individualism which is the life of religion. 
 
 Still there have been in some of the Methodist and Mora- 
 vian hymns, and possibly in some of our own, expressions 
 which good taste cannot sanction. One trembles, at times, 
 when reading such works as those of Mrs. Rowe and Madame 
 Guyon, lest he may have overpassed the limits of reverence. 
 The Romish legends, as that of St. Catharine and the stigmata, 
 fostered these feelings, and they are to be guarded against. 
 Yet, we sigh sometimes, in this conventional age, for a feeling 
 in the Church which could make such a danger possible. For 
 one Elizabeth of Bavaria, we have scores of decorous persons, 
 whose love to the Redeemer is of so general and feeble a sort, 
 that we need not earnestly condemn this error. 
 
 4. The opposite fault is frigidness in psalms and hymns. 
 There can be no question that some that are sung, leave the 
 congregation much colder than they found it. We have opened 
 the Congregational Book at a hymn by Enfield. What effect 
 could singing the following stanzas have but a frigid one ? 
 
 How vain of wisdom's gift the boast ! 
 Of reason's lamp how faint the ray ! 
 
 Follies and sins, a countless sum 
 
 Are crowded in life's little span ; 
 How ill, alas ! does pride become 
 
 That erring, guilty, creature man ! 
 
 Good sentiments ! but certainly not lyric. 
 The injury done by forcing congregations to sing five or six 
 frigid or merely didactic verses, which are totally destitute of 
 
Church Poetry and Jlasic. [Dec. 
 
 true poetic fire, is greater than even ministers always see. The 
 worship of God should be a perfect whole ; the attention should 
 be arrested at the beginning, and kept up without flagging to the 
 close ; but to this end, prayers, sermons, and psalmody, should 
 correspond and be filled with a common feeling. Unless wor- 
 ship excite emotion, it has failed of its primary object. 
 
 The characteristics of a true psalm or hymn are something 
 like the following : 
 
 The first condition is evangelical feeling. This is indispens- 
 able. It is an element which is but seldom found in any poetry 
 not composed expressly for the sanctuary, and too often not even 
 there. What is the Gospel ? The Almighty, in the eternal 
 ages past, determined to gather for himself a glorious company 
 of beings. They were to be created in his own image, of high 
 natures, free, but with possibility of change. They were to be 
 tried ; multitudes of them passing through innumerable and 
 sore difficulties, where every joint of their harness should be 
 proved, and almost every possibility of impairing their loyalty 
 exhausted. These blessed myriads, so tried and found faith- 
 ful, were to be confirmed in pure and perfect holiness, and with 
 confidence entire, and now unimpairable, they are to start 
 afresh on a high and most glorious career of usefulness and 
 enjoyment. These are the picked men of the universe, the 
 chosen of the Almighty, the elect of God. The foundation of 
 this mighty and transcendent system is laid in the life and 
 death of the Son of God, and the central life and love of the 
 universe of holy creatures, is their life from Him and love to 
 Him. 
 
 The song of the elect on their march to celestial glory, the 
 mourn and the lament, the love and the sorrow, the affection 
 for each other and their crucified Lord, the battle and the vic- 
 tory of the Sacramental Host, — these are what we call the 
 psalms and the hymns of the Church. 
 
 Who is sufficient for these things ? In catching the glorious 
 idea and carrying it out, Watts and Charles Wesley are, beyond 
 all question, pre-eminent. 
 
 There is something very beautiful in the character of Philip 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 503 
 
 Doddridge. He did everything well. As a theological pro- 
 fessor, he was eminently useful ; his sermons were the delight 
 of his time, and greatly profitable ; his Rise and Progress is a 
 religious classic, meeting a state of mind and heart which seems 
 well-nigh universal ; his conversation fitted him to be the favo- 
 rite of the most polished circles, while of hymn-writers — below 
 the highest — he is one of the best. We need only mention the 
 first lines of his hymns : 
 
 Jesus, I love thy charming name. — 
 Do I not love thee, oh ! my Lord ? — 
 Hark, the glad sound, the Saviour comes. — 
 Xow let our cheerful eyes survey. — 
 Ye golden lamps of heaven, farewell. 
 
 There are two stanzas of Doddridge's, however, generally 
 printed in different hymns, which should be together, and which 
 we agree with Professor Tayler Lewis in thinking among the 
 noblest hymn-writing in any language : 
 
 ! Tis God's all-animating voice, 
 
 That calls thee from on high ; 
 ? Tis his own hand presents the prize 
 
 To thine aspiring eye. 
 
 Behold Jehovah's royal hand 
 
 A radiant crown display, 
 Whose gems with vivid lustre shine 
 
 When suns and stars decay. 
 
 John Newton is eminently evangelical, with much deep and 
 tender feeling, but little of the fire of poetry; while Mrs. Steele, 
 in all that is sweet and plaintive in Christian expression, is de- 
 servedly and universally admired. 
 
 Xo Christian ever lived who did not love Cowper ; and the 
 whole Church owe a debt of love to Mrs. Browning for her ex- 
 quisite eulogy : 
 
 Nor ever shall he be in praise 
 
 By wise or good forsaken : 
 Xamed softly, as the household name 
 
 Of one whom God has taken. 
 
504 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 The very world, by God's constraint, 
 From falsehood's ways removing, 
 
 Its women and its men became, 
 Beside him, true and loving. 
 
 Cowper has given us : 
 
 There is a fountain filled with blood. — 
 Far from the world, oh Lord, I flee. — 
 Hark, my soul ! it is the Lord. — 
 for a closer walk with God. 
 
 And one to which we will refer in another connection. 
 
 It is remarkable that there are several examples of authors 
 writing one, and one only, superior hymn. 
 
 Kelly, who has published a number of hymns, some of them 
 both excellent and popular, has written one of remarkable 
 beauty, " The head that once was crowned with thorns." 
 
 Another example is D. Turner, the exquisite hymn founded 
 on the apostle's expression, "Seen of angels:" " Beyond the 
 glittering, starry skies." 
 
 Miss Williams has written a single hymn that will always 
 keep its place, "While thee I seek, protecting power." 
 
 There is one remarkable hymn by Ockum, " Awaked by 
 Sinai's awful sound." 
 
 Sternhold and Hopkins have one sublime psalm, " The Lord 
 descended from above." 
 
 Muhlenberg: " I would not live alway." 
 
 A remarkable example is the old hymn, whose author is un- 
 known, "Jerusalem ! my happy home." 
 
 Toplady has written, " Rock of ages, cleft for me." 
 
 And W. M. Bunting, "0 God ! how often hath thine ear." 
 
 A second and essential characteristic of a good hymn is the 
 union of lyric feeling with rhythmical flow . 
 
 We have already said that a hymn must be evangelical ; when 
 we add to this that it must be lyric, we make an addition that 
 is easier understood than expressed. It must be fit to be sung ; 
 it must express emotion ; the emotion must be such as a mul- 
 titude can feel, and it must be such as they can feel together. 
 The tide of emotion must bear the heart along with it ; and it 
 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and 31usic. 5C5 
 
 ought to be so sustained as to increase in intensity to the end. 
 For this purpose, it is obvious that the hymn must be short ; 
 the vividness of lyric feeling forbids it to be long sustained. 
 
 The form is rhythm. Rhythm is the succession or flow of 
 sound or motion in harmonious arrangement. It is the same 
 in principle as symmetry in sculpture or architecture. "We are 
 free, in English poetry, from the difficulties which beset the 
 Greek, because, understanding how to pronounce the language, 
 we are not troubled with long and short syllables, but go by 
 our ear. Rhythm corresponds to what we call time in music, 
 or in hymns metre. It is quite different from tune. Common 
 metre, for instance, can be sung to hundreds of tunes. If a 
 soldier cannot keep time to music, he is drilled mechanically to 
 step with others, else he makes a jar through a whole regiment. 
 
 In Moore's Canadian Boat Song, the distinction is well- 
 marked : 
 
 Faintly as tolls the evening chime, 
 
 Our voices keep time, and our oars keep time. 
 
 Rhythm, then, is the musical flow of language. The world 
 is full of rhythms, in sound, speech, motion, everywhere. 
 
 Beauty of words, and the art by which sound is the echo of 
 sense, is by no means to be despised in hymns. Anything 
 which adds to beauty and enjoyment in sacred praise, provided 
 it do not interfere with devotion, is to be approved. The He- 
 brew poet did not despise the use of alliteration, or the expres- 
 siveness derived from union of voice and sound. There is 
 more of this in the hymns that are popular than would be sup- 
 posed. For instance, of alliteration : 
 
 To show thy love, by morning light, 
 And talk of all thy truth at night. 
 And bless his works, and bless his word. 
 Like brutes they live, like brutes they die. 
 High as the heavens our voices raise. 
 And earth with her ten thousand tongues. 
 Wide as the world is thy command. 
 Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood. 
 
50G Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 But timorous mortals start and shrink. 
 Could we but climb -where Moses stood. 
 
 Of expressive and beautiful words : 
 
 And thy soft wings, celestial dove. 
 Seize the kind promise while it waits. 
 At thy rebuke the billows die. 
 The earth lies still and fears. 
 There is a stream whose gentle flow. 
 
 Hymns may be very obviously divided into subjective and- 
 objective. Of the former kind, those which express the personal 
 experience of the writer, and of course of all who enter into 
 the spirit of the hymn — the productions of no uninspired man 
 probably can be compared with those of Charles Wesley. Wo 
 make a few extracts of hymns, not familiar, as we imagine, to 
 our readers. We think they will thank us for the enjoyment 
 they afford to every person of taste and piety. We would 
 remind the reader, just here, of the fact that a large number of 
 the Psalms of David are made up of statements of his own ex- 
 perience, and that these have always been the delight of Chris- 
 tians in every age. We insert the following hymn as Wesley 
 wrote it. It is generally published in a mutilated and injured 
 form. 
 
 Come, let us join our friends above, 
 
 That have obtained the prize, 
 And on the eagle wings of love, 
 
 To joys celestial rise : 
 Let all the saints terrestrial sing, 
 
 With those to glory gone ; 
 For all the servants of our King, 
 In earth and heaven, are one. 
 
 One family we dwell in Him, 
 
 One Church above, beneath, 
 Though now divided by the stream, 
 
 The narrow stream of death : 
 One army of the living God, 
 
 To his command we bow ; 
 Part of the host have crossed the flood, 
 
 And part are crossing now. 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and 3Iusic. 507 
 
 Ten thousand to their endless home 
 
 This solemn moment fly; 
 And we are to the margin come, 
 
 And we expect to die : 
 His militant embodied host, 
 
 With wishful looks we stand, 
 And long to see that happy coast, 
 
 And reach the heavenly land. 
 
 Our old companions in distress 
 
 We haste again to see, 
 And eager long for our release 
 
 And full felicity : 
 Even now by faith we join our hands 
 
 With those that went before ; 
 And greet the blood-besprinkled bands 
 
 On the eternal shore. 
 
 Our spirits too shall quickly join, 
 
 Like theirs with glory crowned, 
 And shout to see our Captain's sign, 
 
 To hear his trumpet sound. 
 that we now might grasp our Guide ! 
 
 that the word were given ! 
 Come, Lord of hosts, the waves divide, 
 
 And land us all in heaven ! 
 
 We give part of a hymn, which, in a mutilated form, is very 
 popular in the West. 
 
 what hath Jesus bought for me ? 
 Before my ravish'd eyes 
 
 Rivers of life divine I see, 
 
 And trees of Paradise : 
 They flourish in perpetual bloom, 
 
 Fruit every month they give ; 
 And to the healing leaves who come 
 
 Eternally shall live. 
 
 1 see a world of spirits bright, 
 
 Who reap the pleasures there ; 
 They all are robed in purest white, 
 
 And conquering palms they bear : 
 Adorned by their Redeemer's grace, 
 
 They close pursue the Lamb ; 
 
508 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 And every shining front displays 
 The unutterable Name. 
 
 They drink the vivifying stream, 
 
 They pluck the ambrosial fruit, 
 And each records the praise of Him, 
 
 Who tuned his golden lute : 
 At once they strike the harmonious wire, 
 
 And hymn the great Three-One : 
 He hears! he smiles ! and all the choir 
 
 Fall down before his throne ! 
 
 Oh ! what are all my sufferings here, 
 
 If, Lord, thou count me meet 
 "With that enraptured host to appear, 
 
 And worship at thy feet ! 
 Give joy or grief, give ease or pain, 
 
 Take life or friends away ; 
 I come, to find them all again 
 
 In that eternal day ! 
 
 We have hesitated a little about quoting a third hymn of 
 heaven. There is a class of our readers, however, that we are 
 sure will like the following : 
 
 To that Jerusalem above 
 
 With singing I repair ; 
 While in the flesh, my hope and love, 
 
 My heart and soul, are there : 
 There my exalted Saviour stands, 
 
 My merciful High Priest, 
 And still extends his wounded hands, 
 
 To take me to his breast. 
 
 "What is there here to court my stay, 
 
 Or hold me back from home, 
 While angels beckon me away, 
 
 And Jesus bids me come ? 
 Shall I regret my parted friends, 
 
 Still in the vale confined ? 
 Nay, but whene'er my soul ascends, 
 
 They will not stay behind. 
 
 Oh, what a blessed hope is ours ! 
 While here on earth we stay, 
 
1857.] * Church Poetry and Music. 509 
 
 We more than taste the heavenly powers, 
 
 And antedate that day : 
 We feel the resurrection near, 
 
 Our life in Christ concealed, 
 And with his glorious presence here 
 
 Our earthen vessels filled. 
 
 Oh, would he more of heaven bestow, 
 
 And let the vessel break, 
 And let our ransomed spirits go 
 
 To grasp the God we seek : 
 In rapturous awe on Him to gaze, 
 
 Who bought the right for me ; 
 And shout, and wonder at his grace 
 
 Through all eternity ! 
 
 Breadth or massiveness in handling is the appropriate attri- 
 bute of the objective hymn. 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way, 
 
 is a fine specimen. Dr. Watts excels all others in this species 
 of hymn. The specimens, of course, are too familiar to quote, 
 and need only be indicated. 
 
 We are not sure but one psalm of this kind, by Watts, is the 
 finest in the world. We mean 
 
 Before Jehovah's awful throne. 
 
 Another, which we have always greatly admired, is the 
 
 148th Psalm : 
 
 Loud hallelujahs to the Lord ! 
 
 There is a hymn of Watts, that is admirable in a critical 
 point of view, obeying the rule of beginning quietly and rising 
 gradually in greater and greater majesty : 
 
 How should the sons of Adam's race, 
 Be pure before their God ? 
 
 Each stanza rises above the preceding, until the close : 
 
 He walks upon the stormy sea, 
 
 Flies on the stormy wind : 
 There's none can trace his wondrous way. 
 
 Or his dark footsteps find. 
 
510 Church Poetry and Jfusic. [Dec. 
 
 In the minor key is 
 
 Lord ! what a thoughtless wretch was I — 
 
 A psalni, that has the peculiar ring of the old Hebrew, is 
 one that we are, perhaps, peculiar in admiring — the seventy- 
 sixth : 
 
 In Judah, God of old was known ! 
 
 Millions, it may be said, have been softened and elevated by 
 
 How pleasant, how divinely fair ! 
 
 And 
 
 Sweet is the work, — my God ! my King ! 
 The ninety-third Psalm is compact as well as massive : 
 Jehovah reigns ; he dwells in light. 
 
 It is, perhaps, in consequence of the necessity of this quality 
 to a sacred song, made as it is to upbear the devotion of multi- 
 tudes, that so very few good hymns have been written by 
 women. We should certainly have supposed that the fact 
 would be otherwise. Looking at the great number of truly 
 pious women ; at the warmth of their nature ; at the delight 
 they take in the exercises of public worship, — we should have 
 supposed that many sacred lyrics would bear their names. It 
 is well known, however, that the number of them is few, and 
 that nearly all that have acquired any popularity are plaintive 
 and penitential. 
 
 We should have supposed that Mrs. Hemans, and especially 
 Mrs. Browning, would write delicious hymns. But their poetry 
 is too recherche ; the imagination, or the fancy, is rather indivi- 
 dual than general, and there is a want of that massiveness that 
 fits a poem for popular use, just as a woman would be delight- 
 ful in conversation but out of place as an orator. The authoress 
 of the *' Cry of the Human," and "lie giveth his beloved 
 Sleep," probably could not address effectively an audience of 
 two thousand men ; and hymn-writing, after all, is like oratory. 
 It forms words that thrill thousands of all classes and cha- 
 racters, and thrill them all at once. Words, that will do this. 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 511 
 
 must be at the same time simple and dramatic, understood in 
 a moment, and yet carrying profound feeling, — those universal 
 things that are "borne inward unto souls afar." 
 
 It is essential, that a hymn contain a clear thought that can 
 be recognized at once. Thoughts that are entangled, that re- 
 quire time for reflection, like the most of Wordsworth's, much 
 of Coleridge and Shelley, and some of the finest sonnets in the 
 language, are entirely unsuitable for hymns. The same canon 
 requires that a hymn be not crowded with thought. It should 
 flow like a clear brook through a wood, pellucid, fresh, reflect- 
 ing leaves and skies, musical, yet still onward to its goal. 
 What fine unity of thought runs through the Psalms of David ! 
 yet it is such thought as belongs to universal humanity. The 
 ninetieth Psalm, for example — the Prayer of Moses, the man of 
 God — on human frailty and Divine strength ; or the ninety-first 
 — protection to those who love God ; cr the ninety-second — 
 the elevation of heart in praise, and the brutishness of those 
 w T ho never look upward to God ; or the ninety-third — the majesty 
 of Jehovah, before whom nothing can live but holiness. And 
 so we might almost pass through the Psalms, and find every- 
 thing illustrative of this principle. Nothing can possibly be 
 more false than the idea that a sacred song can be permanently 
 successful without clear and valuable thoughts ; but impractical 
 men are forever confounding philosophic ideas with those that 
 are living and breathing, coming fresh from one heart to set 
 on fire the hearts of all. Nor are the latter class of thoughts 
 inferior in interest or value to the former ; they only differ as 
 water in a stagnant marsh from the same water upbearing 
 navies on its bosom, or when converted into vapor, carrying 
 along prodigious masses by its elastic force. 
 
 The imagery of a hymn must be appropriate, and, as far 
 as possible, Scriptural. The reasons for this are obvious. One 
 is, that true taste requires everything to be appropriate and in 
 keeping. We know so little of religion beyond what is revealed, 
 that it is safest to keep, as closely as possible, to the written 
 Word. The jealousy with which the Secession and Covenanter 
 Churches guard psalmody, refusing to sing anything but Scrip- 
 
' r )12 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 ture, has its origin in a noble feeling of loyalty to God. It is 
 true, that they allow their principle, in its practical application, 
 to degenerate into the ludicrous. Instead of chanting the 
 words of our noble English version, they prefer to sing Rouse's 
 wretched attempt at versification. We would do well, however, 
 to adhere to their principle, and, in our hymnology, keep as 
 close to the Word of God as possible. Sentiment and classic 
 style are a poor substitute for the sublime truths of revelation. 
 
 Besides, it is plain, that any other imagery than that of 
 Scripture, unless used very sparingly and chastely, will draw 
 off the mind from devotion. The associations of ideas are so 
 innumerable ; the mind is so quick in suggestion and analogy, 
 that in an instant a classic or romantic illustration will carry it 
 off from the evangelic current of thought. It is even import- 
 ant, we think, to observe the difference between words that are 
 generally used in romantic and classic and in sacred poetry. 
 If it be said that our hymns will grow monotonous, if confined 
 to one round of expression, we remark that words are never 
 commonplace in themselves, and that, however dogged they 
 may be by use, they can be rendered entirely fresh by proper 
 setting and disposition. 
 
 It is only necessary to add, that if we desire to carry the 
 masses with us — and this is indispensable to the very idea of a 
 true hymn — there is no way so effectual as to keep close to 
 that Book, every word of which is familiar to every Christian. 
 We need not complain of want of variety. No one who has 
 studied Scripture deeply will ever make this objection. In 
 truth, the masters of the lyre, even in secular poetry, resort 
 to this unfailing fountain of imagery. Milton is full of it. The 
 infidel Shelley greatly admired it, and some of Byron's most 
 magnificent sonnets are simply the Hebrew imagery of Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 We have always felt that, in this respect, the well-known 
 hymn of Dr. Watts is almost perfect : 
 
 There is a land of pure delight. 
 Every image is scriptural, every suggestion appropriate, every 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 513 
 
 association holy. We doubt whether any uninspired produc- 
 tion has oftener softened the heart or moistened the eyelids. 
 
 Passing, for the present, the subject of the alteration of 
 hymns, we remark, that omissions are not always judiciously 
 made. Some parts of a comparatively long sacred song might 
 suit one mood of feeling in a congregation, and other parts a 
 different mood. It is a question, whether the whole of some 
 such songs had not better be inserted, that selections may be 
 made at the moment. We only refer here to some of very 
 superior merit. 
 
 There is a hymn of Erskine, in which he describes the songs 
 of heaven in view of Redemption. Almost all the books give 
 the more vague and general parts of it — the beginning and 
 conclusion — but omit its heart, the parts that are most expres- 
 sive and picturesque. We have seen these stanzas but in one 
 book. We never have heard anything sung in church with 
 more effect. We quote from memory : 
 
 But when to Calvary they turn 
 
 Silent their harps abide ; 
 Suspended songs a moment mourn 
 
 The God that loved and died. 
 
 Then, all at once, to loudest strains 
 
 They summon every chord, 
 Tell how he triumphed o'er his pains, 
 
 And chant their living Lord. 
 
 In that exquisite hymn, 
 
 Behold the glories of the Lamb, 
 
 the angels, the Church triumphant, and the Church militant, 
 sing in chorus the praises of the Redeemer. A popular book 
 omits the stanza which connects us with the heavenly host, 
 leaving us out of the concert : 
 
 Thou hast redeemed our souls with blood, 
 
 Hast set the prisoners free — 
 Hast made us kings and priests to God, 
 
 And we shall reign with Thee ! 
 
 We would suggest to those who have charge of this interest- 
 vol. vi. — 33 
 
514 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 ing and responsible duty of selecting the sacred songs of the 
 Church, that they examine the old hymns and ancient chorals. 
 Xo one would wish to modernize the language of the Scrip- 
 tures, but it may be questioned whether we have not been too 
 anxious to remove their archaic aspect from our hymns. Fort- 
 lage, author of the Gresange Christliche Vorzeit, thus speaks 
 of the old Latin hymns : " As we listen, the soul welters in 
 deep and strong emotion. From this has arisen whatever of 
 most sublime, magnificent, and fair, the sacred poetry of Chris- 
 tendom has brought to light. In it the organ-pipes, which 
 thunder through heaven and earth, seem in full play, as, with 
 shudders of inner unworthiness, with cries and melting tears, 
 with jubilant shouts over the goodness of God, and plaints and 
 sighs over Adam's fall, and with triumphant strains that praise 
 the great Redemption, they thrill through the universe."* 
 
 Dr. Daniel, again, in his Comments on the Hymns of the 
 Old Latin Church, " has sought to show that in them we must 
 look for the originals of many a strain and stave still sounding 
 in the Churches of modern Christendom. Stephenson, in his 
 ' Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church,' has preserved for us 
 some of the canticles which were sung and chanted by our 
 English forefathers ; and though the hymnology of the English 
 language is very far from containing so many additions to its 
 contents from the Latin, as are found in the tongues of the 
 continent, yet is the sacred poetry of the middle ages an ap- 
 preciable element, even in the liturgy and worship of English 
 Protestantism." "Among the many examples of German 
 hymns translated by Luther from the Latin ; the best known 
 are, perhaps, 
 
 Nun komm der Heiden Heiland — 
 
 From the 
 
 Veni Redemptor gentium, 
 
 of Ambrose, and the 
 
 Christ, der du bist Tag und Licht — 
 
 From the 
 
 Christe, qui lux es et dies. 
 
 * North Am. Rev. clxxvi. 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music. 515 
 
 To these we may add, such reproductions by other hands, 
 as those in which the ' Urbs beata' repeats its 'Vision of Peace :' 
 
 Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt. 
 
 Or as when the ' ecce homo' of sacred Latin verse, the pas- 
 sion hymn of St. Bernard, 
 
 Salve caput cruentatum, 
 
 haunts us again in Paul Gerhard's touching version ; 
 
 Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, 
 Voll Schmerz und roller Holm."* 
 
 A kindred subject to this of the old chorals is the reflection 
 of different Churches in their hymns. Expressions are not 
 more varied in human faces than the phase of Christianity 
 which is characteristically presented in the psalmody of dif- 
 ferent Churches. An expert could probably tell almost at once 
 to what Church a particular hymn belonged, ever, where no 
 doctrines peculiar to that denomination are expressed. 
 
 The Moravian hymns, of which there are clear traces in 
 Charles Wesley, are affectionate, simple, sometimes passionate, 
 and all tend at once to the Redeemer. The genius of this re- 
 markable people is at once seen in their sacred poetry. Faith 
 in Christ is their characteristic. They cling in simple love to 
 the cross. The world has reached them less than other people. 
 Their hymns have been spoken of as sometimes erotic, but they 
 are not probably so to them. The same faith that leads them 
 to Greenland and South Africa to take up the very worst cases 
 of humanity, because they are the worst, leads them to gather 
 like children around their common Saviour, and sing hymns 
 that are almost domestic. The moral is, that we should engraft 
 something of the best and finest element of the hymnology of 
 each Church upon our own. Does any one doubt for a moment 
 that we doctrinal, business-like, dry Presbyterians, would be 
 improved by something of the affectionate, home-like character 
 of the Moravians ? If so, it will do us good to sing some of 
 their hymns, and soften under their quiet influence. 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
516 Church Poetry and 3Iusic. [Dec. 
 
 Branching from this Moravian idea are two somewhat diverse 
 from each other, — the Lutheran and Reformed on the one 
 hand, and the Methodist on the other. The German language 
 is considered as unusually rich in hymns. The quiet charac- 
 ter of the Moravians is seen in the Lutheran psalmody, but 
 there is a distinction, nevertheless. The sinewy massiveness of 
 Luther is felt in some of them ; the contemplative and some- 
 what phlegmatic element of the nation is seen in others ; while 
 Christianity appears, though not deficient in depth, in its his- 
 toric rather than in its doctrinal aspect. While a translation 
 of these hymns is extremely difficult, yet their spirit might be 
 very advantageously transferred. 
 
 The subjective tendency of the Moravian hymns appears in 
 an exaggerated form in the Methodist, combined, however, with 
 a fervor of devotion which any Church might gladly welcome. 
 It must be acknowledged that some of the popular Methodist 
 hymns are deficient in taste ; but the genius and piety of Charles 
 Wesley has idealized all that is noblest and most excellent in 
 the denomination. His hymns are making their way into all 
 collections, and bearing with them the faith, and love, and active 
 piety, characteristic of a people to whom has been committed 
 especially the pioneer work of the Church. 
 
 Episcopacy has not added as much to hymnology as we should 
 have expected from its learning, refinement, and efficiency. It 
 has contented itself with a passive recipiency of some of the old 
 Catholic chants and chorals, and for psalms prefers the collec- 
 tion which comes nearest to Rouse, the most commonplace of 
 attempts to versify the Psalms of David. It is in other ways 
 than in these meagre performances that we are to be benefited 
 by Episcopal experience ; their churchly spirit comes to us in 
 the chants and other parts of their service. 
 
 The Congregationalists are eclectic. Their characteristic 
 absence of special church feeling is seen in their adoption into 
 their collections of every form of sacred song, from an ancient 
 choral to a Unitarian ode or a melody of Thomas Moore. Yet, 
 unfettered as they are, they have brought in much that is 
 beautiful, and they are well-known as most diligent cultivators 
 of sacred music. 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Mum. 517 
 
 The genius and spirit of Watts seem to have commended 
 themselves so thoroughly to Presbyterians as to show a charac- 
 teristic likeness. His traits, accordingly, are clear doctrinal 
 statement ; Scriptural imagery ; the atonement as central to 
 Christianity ; reverent devotion ; a lofty but steady and serious 
 imagination, and a subdued feeling, as fearing to overstep the 
 limits belonging to the sinful creature. It were well if Presby- 
 terians could borrow from other Churches a more social and 
 cheerful spirit, more simplicity and affectionateness, and if they 
 could gain in richness what they might healthfully lose in for- 
 mality. In carefully avoiding everything sensuous, Presbyte- 
 rianism sometimes degenerates into dryness, and in instinctively 
 informing its services with manliness carried to severity, it loses 
 in sweetness and tenderness. 
 
 We are greatly delighted that our Church has taken up with 
 unanimity the subject of chanting the psalms, and that it is 
 committed to so competent a person as Dr. Duffield. We hope 
 that this work will speedily be issued by the Publication Com- 
 mittee, and that provision will then be made for its introduction 
 into all our churches. The chants ought not merely to be used 
 as voluntaries by the church choirs, but should be introduced 
 occasionally in place of the regular psalm or hymn. Our ser- 
 vice needs to be enriched without losing its simplicity. The 
 accord of the people can best be given in our service through 
 its musical form. The same chant beino; sung to the same 
 psalm, it will soon be caught up by the people. 
 
 Chanting, perhaps, comes nearest to the ancient choral ser- 
 vice. It is singular that those whose principles require them 
 to adhere to the words of Scripture, should object to that wor- 
 ship which uses the ipsis&ima verba of our common Bible. It 
 is a source of much pleasure to us that our Church is not so 
 fettered but that she can use whatever is valuable in other 
 forms of worship, provided only they are for edification among 
 her own people. 
 
 There is but one other topic which we desire to include in 
 this Article. It is the necessity and duty of congregational 
 singing. We have no hesitation in stating our opinion in the 
 
518 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 broadest and most unqualified manner. It is, that there is no 
 suitable icorship unless the ivhole congregation sing. In all 
 churches which have liturgical services there is an arrangement 
 for the people to join in the worship audibly. They pronounce 
 the Amen ; they murmur the Lord's prayer ; they repeat the 
 creed ; in some services they make other responses. Presbyte- 
 rianism rejects the whole ; the minister conducts the entire 
 audible service. Still, there remain the praises of God in the 
 sanctuary, the highest effort of which humanity is capable, sus- 
 tained by all the power of poetry and music, and the devotion 
 of an ardent spirit. If a thousand voices swell together in 
 harmony to God, we can dispense with the audible sound in 
 the responsive service. 
 
 When a choir is composed, as we have seen one, of near 
 fifty persons, there is some excuse for it, but even then it is the 
 wrong way. We may endure it, but we never can make it 
 right. The people of God, old and young, rich and poor, should 
 sing the praises of God. If they are not taught in music, they 
 ought to be taught. Six hundred performers sing and play 
 in Handel's Creation ; why not train a thousand men, women, 
 and children, to sing the praises of God ? It matters not how 
 much time it takes to train them. Take the time. It matters 
 not how much it costs. Pay the price. Jehovah is worthy of 
 it, and human beings can be engaged in no nobler work. 
 
 We know that there are many objections. We do not care 
 for the objections. A small choir to sing for God's people is 
 wrong, and it cannot be made right. We have no kind of 
 objection to a choir as a leader of the congregation, provided 
 always that it does not exemplify the political motto, " Power 
 is always stealing from the many to the few." We are per- 
 fectly inflexible in this matter ; the whole congregation ought 
 to sing, and some plan must be devised to accomplish it. 
 
 Here, as elsewhere, there are two feelings that are perfectly 
 distinct. One is a refined sentiment. This is gratified by ex- 
 quisite singing — the highest form of art, such as is attained by 
 the opera. This steals into Christian congregations insidi- 
 ously, and finds its gratification in scientific playing and sing- 
 
1857.] Church Poetry and Music, 519 
 
 ing. It is the sentiment of the few and not of the many. The 
 other feeling is that of the vast majority of mankind. It does 
 not reject science or art. It is not opposed to a grand organ 
 or to music of a high order. But it considers these to be 
 mere accessories. The Christian, besides worshipping God in 
 secret and in his family, desires to praise him worthily in the 
 great congregation. That this may be done, some worthy 
 method must be found to unite multitudes together in one act 
 of devotion. All hearts must be lifted up together. But it 
 will not accomplish the full desire of the soul, if they be lifted 
 up silently ; praise must have voice as well as gesture. The 
 model is in the Apocalypse. "And when he had taken the 
 book, the four living creatures, and four and twenty elders fell 
 down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and 
 golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And 
 they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the 
 book, and to open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and 
 hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, 
 and tongue, and people and nation ; and hast made us unto 
 our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth." 
 This is the beginning of the praise sung by the ransomed 
 Church. Now the angels mingle with the strain. " And I 
 beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the 
 throne, and the living creatures and the elders ; and the num- 
 ber of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
 sands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
 and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." Now the 
 universe join the Church and the angels. "And every crea- 
 ture which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, 
 and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I 
 saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto 
 him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever 
 and ever." 
 
 The fitting representative type of this in our temples, upon 
 which gold and art and eloquence have been lavished without stint 
 to make them worthy of their Divine inhabitant, is considered 
 
520 Church Poetry and Music. [Dec. 
 
 to be the hiring of the voices of — two women, a man, and a 
 boy. "We hope the anticlimax will do some good. 
 
 We are opposed to paying the members of choirs, except the 
 organist and the leader. Let them cultivate music and teach 
 the people. But God's Church should sing themselves. If 
 some half dozen singers are hired, the "young men and 
 maidens" will not sing with them, and the whole becomes a 
 "performance," paid for and duly executed. 
 
 The praises of God cannot be suitably sung without volume 
 as well as melody. Say what we may of the heart, no man 
 worships thoroughly who does not use his voice. Why not 
 receive the communion with the heart only ? These fashions 
 of letting the minister stand up by himself to pray as if it were 
 his business, and three or four people in the gallery to sing as 
 if it were their business, are ruinous to the very idea of devo- 
 tion. When God's ambassador says, "Let us pray," let the 
 people rise and stand up uncovered and reverent before God ; 
 aud when he says, "Let us sing to the praise of God," let a 
 thousand voices swell to heaven like the sound of many waters. 
 We go to church to worship God ; to worship together ; that 
 heart may enkindle heart; to feel the communion of saints; to 
 gaze at the throne of our Father, Saviour, Comforter, through 
 tears of joy and longing. A cold, formal service robs God and 
 man ; as a bright, rich and affectionate one, makes the church 
 the home of God, and the very gate of heaven. 
 
THE 
 
 PKESBYTEEIAN 
 
 QUARTERLY REVIEW. 
 
 VOL, VI 
 
 BENJ. J. WALLACE, EDITOR 
 
 ALBERT BARNES, THOMAS BRAINERD, JOHN JENKINS, AND 
 JOEL PARKER, Associate Editors. 
 
 "WITH THE ASSISTANCE 0? 
 
 LANE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 
 
 JEC TAMES COXSIMEBATFR. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE, No. 1334 CHESTNUT ST. 
 
 NEW YORK: ITISON k PHINNEY, AND FIELD * CRAIGHEAD. 
 
 1858. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 
 
 BENJ. J. WALLACE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 PRINTED BY C SHERMAN' £ SON, 
 619 St. James Street. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. VI. 
 
 No. XXI. 
 
 ARTICLE PAGE 
 
 I. Exclusivism — Part II, 1 
 
 II. Thoughts ox Attic Tragedy, 28 
 
 III. Will the Jews, as a Natiox, be Restored to their own 
 
 Land? 46 
 
 IV. McWhorter ox the Memorial Name, 86 
 
 V. American Literature, - 106 
 
 VI. History of Public Worship, 133 
 
 VII. Notices of New Books, 154 
 
 Xo. XXII. 
 
 I. God's Arraxgemexts Successful, 177 
 
 II. Sketch of the Life axd Character of Rev. Isaac Ax- 
 
 dersox, D.B., 194 
 
 III. DlSCRIMIXATIXG PREACHIXG,. 210 
 
 IV. The Gexeral Assembly of 1857, 226 
 
 V. Revisiox of the Exglish Bible, 255 
 
 VI. Charlotte Broxte, 285 
 
 VII. Comte's Positive Philosophy, 311 
 
 VIII. Notices of New Books, ------- 332 
 
If 
 
 Contents, 
 
 No. XXIIL 
 
 ARTICLE ?AGE 
 
 I. John Wycliffe,. - 353 
 
 II. The Settlement of Maryland. 379 
 
 III. The Office of Deacon, 409 
 
 IV. Theory of Public Worship, 425 
 
 V. Exegetical View of Rom. vjii, 19-23 r -."-.-- 451 
 
 VI. Church Poetry and Music, 488 
 
 Note on the General Assembly ? s Answer to the Protest 
 
 on Slavery, 521 
 
 No. XXIV. 
 
 I. Abelard, 529 
 
 II. Spiritual Discipline of the Jesuits, 559 
 
 III. Personal Reminiscences of Dr. Griffin, ... - 587 
 
 IV. Hymn Makers and Hymn Menders, 605 
 
 V. Dr. Barclay's City of the Great King, - 637 
 
 VI. Tennyson, 656 
 
 Note on the General Assembly's Answer to the Protest 
 
 on Slavery, 686 
 
 VII. Notices of Ne*w Books, 691 
 
r 
 
 % 
 
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