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 The Christian Intelligencer [ L 
 
 July 4, 1906. 
 
 Origin of the Hymnody of the Reformed 
 Dutch Church 
 
 BY JOHN BODINE THOMPSON, D.D. 
 
 '"FHE Hebrew Psalms are so called because they were 
 * sung to the music of the Psaltery. The Greek trans- 
 lators called them also hymns because because they were 
 sung to the praise of Jehovah. So Augustine defines a 
 hymn as "praise to God with song." As a recent writer 
 puts it, "Hymn-singing is a devotional approach to God in 
 our emotions." 
 
 Three facts may be regarded and treated as axioms of 
 hymnody: That a certain specific arrangement of tones 
 with specifically differing intervals constitutes a musical 
 scale, that expression intensifies emotion, and that man 
 becomes like the being he worships. Worship is the ex- 
 pression of proper emotion toward God ; and the more 
 nearly complete the expression, the more effective and ac- 
 ceptable the worship. If the expression be in both the lan- 
 guage of the intellect and the language of the emotions, in 
 both words and music, development Godward is thereby 
 doubly promoted. 
 
 Words give expression to both thought and feeling. If 
 they be rhythmically arranged they constitute poetry. The 
 rhythmical expression of melodious sounds is music. Music 
 can suggest thought, but cannot express it. It can, how- 
 ever, express emotion beyond the utmost power of words 
 to utter. It is only when emotion has curdled into thought 
 that it can find even partial expression in words. 
 
 As music is superior, on the one hand, to poetry with re- 
 gard to emotion generally, so is it superior, on the other 
 hand, to painting with regard to devotion specially. Paint- 
 ing concerns itself chiefly with the outer world of sense; 
 music with the inner world of spirit. Painting speaks to 
 us through the eye ; music through the ear. The former 
 can promote human progress ; the latter, personal piety. 
 "Faith cometh by hearing." 
 
With this may be compared the teaching of Aristotle 
 that the visible is a sign for the intellect; but the audible 
 produces conformity of character. This is not to disparage 
 the sense of sight through which chiefly luiowledge enters 
 into the soul, but to indicate simply one respect in which 
 hearing is superior to it. Painting and poetry and music 
 all develop the appreciation of the beautiful. Beauty in- 
 cludes three elements/ and the predominance of one or the 
 
 other of these causes it to be called either physical beauty, 
 intellectual beauty, or moral beauty, the last of course 
 being superior in value to both the others. So the prophet, 
 extolling Jehovah, mentions first the manifestations of his 
 power and goodness in bringing blessing to his people 
 and then, naming the chief of his moral perfections, in- 
 cludes all his perfections in the culminating clause of the 
 rapturous ejaculation: 
 
 How great is His goodness, 
 And how great is His beauty ! 
 God is the sum and source of all beauty, and He has given 
 beauty to his world in order that by the study thereof we 
 may in this respect also be developed toward him. 
 
 The first Christian hymns were the Hebrew Psalms. 
 They were sung to the tunes with which they are still 
 printed, "the accents" being also musical notes. Many of 
 these tunes were at first popular melodies, as the titles indi- 
 cate, but the "Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" of 
 the Colossians and Ephesians and Bithynians must have 
 been sung to Greek music with its many modes or scales, 
 each expressing its own peculiar kind of emotion. The 
 Phrygian mode was enthusiastic, the Ionian gay, the Lydian 
 sensuous, and the Dorian solemn. Seven other modes are 
 mentioned by ancient writers. 
 
 Before the Reformation the service of song in the House 
 of the Lord was restricted (doubtless for the sake of de- 
 corum) to the clergy, by whom it was rendered in an un- 
 known tongue. Luther was the first to restore this part 
 of public worship to the people. His psalmbook was pub- 
 lished in [522J Calvin's in 1538. The Geneva Psalmbook 
 (prepared under Calvin's direction) became the model for 
 those of the other Reformed churches. The Psalms were 
 fied in French by Clement Marot and Theodore Beza. 
 I In- tunes were furnished by Louis Bourgeois and Pierre 
 
Dagues, mostly from popular melodies. They were after- 
 wards harmonized and arranged by Claude Goudimel and 
 Claude Le Jeune. 
 
 No other psalmbook has ever aroused so much enthu- 
 siasm as this. It was with these psalms and tunes that 
 the Huguenots enlivened their homes, rushed into battle, 
 cheered their prison cells, and triumphed at the stake. 
 
 As early as 1539 license was granted to Simon Cock to 
 print a version of the Psalms in Flemish verse, and it 
 was printed the next year at 'Antwerp with music from 
 familiar ballads. But it never attained the popularity of 
 Tilman Susato's versification in Dutch, issued also in 1540 
 at Antorf. 
 
 The first Reformed Dutch church in the world was or- 
 ganized among the refugees in London in 1548 and a metri- 
 cal version of the Psalms in their own tongue was pro- 
 vided for them by John Uytenhoven of Ghent, who was 
 there, assisting Cranmer in the reformation of the English 
 Church. I do not know how much he was indebted (if 
 at all) to Susato's Souter Liedckens (psalm songs) ; but 
 these psalms prepared by Uytenhoven were sung by the 
 Netherland churches "Under the Cross." They did not, 
 however, awaken the enthusiasm produced by the Hugue- 
 not version. 
 
 In 1565, therefore, Peter Dathen translated the Geneva 
 psalmbook into Dutch, preserving the metres and trans- 
 ferring the melodies. This translation was endorsed by 
 the Synod of Wesel, and "entered into the very flesh and 
 blood of the Reformed Netherlanders." In 1573 Ambrose 
 Lobwasser translated the Geneva Psalmbook into German, 
 "preserving the metres and transferring the melodies" as 
 Dathen had done, and these tunes sung to the same psalms 
 in the various languages constituted for centuries a band 
 of brotherhood among the Reformed churches throughout 
 the world. 
 
 In 1619 ProfessorDathen's translation of the Genevan 
 Psalm-book was approved by the Synod of Dort and it was 
 used by the Reformed Dutch churches everywhere. Tamils 
 and Malays sang its songs in their own tongues, and it 
 was in common use in America until the Dutch language 
 gave place to the English a hundred years after New 
 Netherland became New York and New Jersey. 
 
Then the Consistory of the Church in New York im- 
 ported type from the fatherland, and employed Francis 
 Hopkinson, the eminent litterateur (who afterward was 
 one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from 
 New Jersey), to prepare a version of the psalms "in the 
 same manner as they are versified in Low Dutch," yet "ac- 
 cording to the genius of the English tongue." A letter 
 from him shows that he performed this difficult task "to 
 the great satisfaction of the Dutch congregation.' , They 
 paid him for his services a hundred and forty-five pounds. 
 The book was issued with the explanation that it "is greatly 
 indebted to that of Dr. Brady and Mr. Tate, some of the 
 psalms being transcribed verbatim from their version, and 
 others altered so as to fit them to the music used in the 
 Dutch churches." It was conformed to the rule of the 
 Synod of Dort and was adopted by all the Dutch churches 
 in America which used the English language. 
 
The Christian Intelligencer 
 
 July 11, 1906. 
 
 The First Psalm Book of the Reformed Dutch 
 Church in America 
 
 BY JOHN BODINE THOMPSON, D.D. 
 II. 
 
 /^\N this side of the ocean The General Synod of the 
 ^■^ Reformed Dutch Church in America succeeded to 
 the authority of' the Synod of Dort, and determined upon 
 "A new version out of other collections of English psalms 
 m repute and received in the Reformed Churches." The 
 work was entrusted to a committee consisting of the min- 
 isters : John H. Livingston, Eilardus Westerlo, William 
 Linn, James R. Hardenbergh, Dirck Romeyn, Solomon 
 Froeligh and Isaac Blauvelt. They were instructed to 
 select only "From the book of the New York congrega- 
 tion, from Tate and Brady, and from Dr. Watts/' unless 
 it should be necessary for the sake of Orthodoxy to seek 
 some other source. 
 
 An American edition of Tate and Brady's version had 
 been published in 1741. From it the psalms in use in the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States were 
 taken. In 1741 also was published in America an edition 
 of Dr. Watts's "Psalms of David, imitated in the language 
 of the New Testament." The work was accurately de- 
 scribed by its title. While it was in progress, Dr. Watts 
 wrote to Cotton Mather : "It is not a translation of David 
 that I pretend, but an imitation of him so nearly in Chris- 
 tian hymns that the Jewish psalmist may plainly appear, 
 yet leave Judaism behind." From that day to this the dis- 
 tinction between English psalms and hymns has been a dis- 
 tinction without a difference, though the Biblical psalms are, 
 of course, the normative of all Christian hymns. 
 
The churches, however, could no longer be restricted to 
 even a Christianized version of the Jewish psalm book, and 
 the committee was instructed to add "Some well composed 
 spiritual hymns." Copies of the hymns they selected seem 
 to have been submitted to the succeeding session of 
 Synod, but not the whole book, the committee explaining 
 that it was "in press." However, the Synod of 1789 per- 
 ceived "with much satisfaction that the English psalms, 
 together with the selection of hymns formerly approved by 
 Synodical decrees have been happily committed to the 
 press and are printed and already in use in many congre- 
 gations." The hymns had been selected and arranged for 
 the purpose of conveying doctrinal instruction. The first 
 began with the stanza : 
 
 Substantial comfort will not grow 
 
 In Nature's barren soil; 
 All we can boast till Christ we know 
 
 Is vanity and toil. 
 
 I fear it is now too late to hope to discover the author 
 of this and other instructive hymns written apparently for 
 this book. Numbers 1 to 52 were arranged according to the 
 sections of the Heidelbergh catechism that they might be 
 easily found for singing consecutively in connection with 
 the exposition of the catechism on the fifty-two Lord's 
 Days of the year. Numbers 53 to 73 were intended for use 
 at the Lord's Supper, and numbers 74 to 100 were mis- 
 cellaneous. This book was enlarged in 1812 and again in 
 1830. The first enlargement was made on the petition of 
 the Classis of New York referred to General Synod by the 
 Particular Synod of New York. At the request of Synod, 
 Dr. Livingston selected 173 hymns, which were added to 
 those already in use. To this book Dr. Livingston's por- 
 trait was prefixed. : The second enlargement consisted of 
 172 hymns selected by Dr. Thomas DeWitt, chairman of 
 a committee appointed for that purpose. These were called 
 "Book II.," the preceding addition being now named "Book 
 I." The book thus enlarged was approved by the Synod 
 of 1831. 
 
 From the beginning the Reformed Churches had protested 
 against the doctrine that "ignorance is the mother of de- 
 votion," and had endeavored to induce their adherents to 
 
learn to read. But in America they had not taken pains 
 to cultivate music, the language of the emotions, though,, 
 for the purpose of promoting the piety of their adherents, 
 the Reformers had given quite as much attention to music 
 as to reading. For centuries music had been one of the 
 seven studies constituting the curriculum of every uni- 
 versity in Europe; but the limitations of life in a new land 
 prevented the settlers from giving it its proper place in 
 either the colleges or the churches established in the wilder- 
 ness. Only very recently has it been introduced into the 
 curriculum of American universities, and however pleasing 
 it may be, can hardly be regarded nowadays as a "help to 
 devotion." The struggle for existence in a new country 
 left little leisure for learning to sing. The consequence 
 was an increasing degeneracy in this respect. Generation 
 after generation grew up with little ability to participate 
 thus in divine worship, and content to be hearers only. 
 Not understanding how the practice of worship, both in 
 public and in private, was thus hindered by lack of ability 
 to sing (without which in this busy day divine contempla- 
 tion has well-nigh ceased), a condition ensued which there 
 is still deep reason to deplore. 
 
The Christian Intelligencer 
 
 July 18, 1906. 
 
 The Book of Psalms and Hymns of the R. P. D. 
 
 Church in America 
 
 in. 
 
 BY JOHN BODINE THOMPSON, D.D. 
 
 ' I 'HE extensive revivals of religion which occurred be- 
 * tween 1720 and 1740 and again between 1820 and 1840 
 were accompanied and followed by an awakening also to 
 the importance of sacred music. An appeal for help went 
 up to the General Synod of 1836, and another to that of 
 1837. But it was not clear what could be done. In 1840, 
 however, Synod threw the responsibility on the Classes 
 and urged upon them "attention to sacred music in order 
 to elevate its standard in their respective churches." It 
 also advised "the introduction of music in the district 
 schools." This was probably the first recognition by any 
 religious organization in America of the Pestalozzian edu- 
 cational movement based upon the fact that children are 
 even more susceptible than adults to the influence of music 
 (as every mother knows who sings her child to sleep). 
 Two years later Synod appointed a committee to prepare a 
 hymnbook for Sunday schools under its care. In 184^ the 
 Chairman Rev. Dr. John P. Knox reported a book of 331 
 hymns entitled "Sabbath School and Social Hymns of the 
 Reformed Dutch Church." It was not until 1862 that it 
 went so far as formally to advise "the introduction of 
 music in the district schools." 
 
 \n 1845 the Synod, remembering that the church in the 
 house is also the church, and that in many houses the 
 P>almbook contained the only poetry (or, at least the only 
 religious poetry) to which the members of the family had 
 access, declared its conviction that "the selection of a 
 
sound, vigorous and Christian literature for our youth is 
 an enterprise of the highest importance and one in which 
 all our ministers, elders, and churches should co-operate." 
 To facilitate this, Synod appointed a committee to prepare 
 a Psalmbook "with the addition of such new hymns as 
 may make the collection more complete." The committee 
 consisted of the Rev. Drs. Isaac Ferris, Thomas DeWitt, 
 and Thomas M. Strong, with the Elders John D. Kesse 
 and William Woram. The next year they reported 348 
 additional hymns properly digested with those already in 
 use, making a total of 1,009 hymns besides the 171 Psalms 
 and their "parts." Among these were many new and ex- 
 cellent hymns. The arrangement was more nearly that of 
 the Westminster than of the Heidelbergh Catechism. The 
 additional hymns were printed separately also, and the 
 approval of Synod was heartily given. 
 
 The sciolistic clamor for "the original form" had not 
 yet arisen, and the good judgment of the editors was 
 shown, for example, in adopting Montgomery's condensa- 
 tion of Toplady's "Rock of Ages" into three six-line 
 stanzas ; which none of their successors have ventured to 
 do, though none of them have had the hardihood to restore 
 all the crudities of the original. This collection was so 
 large that Synod allowed it to be published without any 
 doctrinal appendix, the committee explaining that they had 
 "endeavored to make the poetical liturgy of the church 
 complete." 
 
 At the next session of Synod objection was made to this 
 book by the Classis of Bergen and the North Classis of 
 Long Island that it included "ninety preaching hymns," 
 "hymns of praise to dead saints," and "heretical expres- 
 sions," as well as "mixture of metaphor" and "nonsense," 
 and that still other hymns were "not devotional." In so 
 large a book there might be ground for some of these 
 objections. Two or three of them were frankly admitted, 
 and alterations made. Others were shown to be overstated, 
 and explanations were given. At its next session, on re- 
 quest of the Classis of Orange, Synod voted to allow also 
 "an edition of the former Book of Psalms and Hymns as 
 the same was in use in the church previous to the Synod 
 of 1847." It 9eems that with this action all were satisfied. 
 
In [856 the Board of Publication, following a Scottish 
 
 precedent, issued an edition of the Psalms and hymns with 
 a little book of tunes bound within the same covers at the 
 top; but this book proved to be too large for convenience. 
 
 In 1858 Synod gave the Classes permission to receive 
 churches desiring to continue the use of the Scottish ver- 
 sion of the Psalms. 
 
 During the nineteenth century there was great develop-, 
 ment in both literature and music. Excellent translations 
 of hymns and new hymns of equal excellence were added 
 to the stores of English literature. Music was commonly 
 written in four parts. The best tunes were derived from 
 the works of the Great Masters. But only small portions 
 of these were available for popular use. Under inspiration 
 differing from that of the Masters only in degree others 
 composed tunes which expressed the sentiment of the words 
 to which they were set in such musical language as could 
 be "understanded of the people." 
 
 "Hold the Fort for I am Coming" may serve as a.n illus- 
 tration. This spiritual song was based upon the message 
 sent during the Civil War from the top of Mount Kenesaw 
 to Allatoona, whose garrison, thus encouraged, held the 
 fort until deliverance came. 
 
 As this statement has been disputed, I insert here part of 
 an autograph letter in my possession : 
 
 Headquarters Army of the United States. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., June 22, 1875. 
 John B. Thompson, Catskill, N. Y. 
 
 My Dear Sir: I am just back from Boston and find your letter 
 of June 12 with enclosures, and was glad to learn for the first time 
 that one of the hymns of Messrs. Moody and Sankey of London 
 was founded on the defence of Allatoona. You will find the incident 
 described in full in the memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Vol. 
 H, in the chapter "Pursuit of Hood," October, 1874. (Of course it 
 should be 1864.) Allatoona was held by a small garrison, was im- 
 portant, and I was marching to its relief. The enemy had got there 
 first with a superior force, and had cut all the telegraph lines. I 
 got on the top of Kenesaw, eighteen miles distant, from which we 
 could see faintly the assault, but were still too far off to be felt; 
 but I telegraphed the fact of our coming, by signal flag. I don't think 
 I used the words "Hold the fort." That, however, was the duty 
 of the garrison, and they did it manfully. Truly your friend, 
 
 W. T. Sherman, General 
 
 Reading of this incident, the late Philip Paul Bliss (to 
 
 whom earth was a parable of heaven) was moved to write 
 
 the hymn and tune which were soon sung round the world. 
 
It is not a great hymn, nor a great tune; but it has done 
 great good. In this connection the following letter will be 
 of interest : 
 
 Chicago, 30th June, 1875. 
 
 Dear Sir and Brother: Yours with the complimentary superscrip- 
 tion came directly. The Lord be praised for the closing paragraph, 
 "100 recent converts." I rejoice with you for them. You may not 
 get this in time for Sunday, but I'd like to have "Hold the Fort" 
 sung, especially for young Christians. 
 
 The Lord gave the song, words and music, July 1 to 6, 1870, 
 while I was busy with preparing my first book, "The Charm." The 
 words entire, and the chorus of the music, came first to me, sug- 
 gested by an army incident where the commander signalled across 
 the valley, over the heads of the enemy, the message, "Hold the fort, 
 I am coming." The fort was held against a foe greatly outnumbering 
 them. And so our Commander says to us, "I will come again," "Be 
 of good cheer, I have overcome the world"; "Hold that fast which 
 thou hast." 
 
 Brother Sankey has sent me a copy of the song translated into 
 German. It has also been used in India and Africa, I am told. 
 May the Lord continue to bless it by using it for His glory, and 
 may those who sing and hear it be made more watchful till He comes. 
 
 Yours in Him, 
 
 P. P. Bliss. 
 
 It will be remembered that this "man greatly beloved" 
 held the fort even to the death at Ashtabula, where, in 
 order to rescue his wife, he re-entered the car which proved 
 to be the chariot of fire by means of which they both went 
 up into heaven, December 29, 1876. 
 
The Christian Intelligencer 
 
 July 25, 1906. 
 
 "Hymns of the Church," Etc. 
 
 BY JOHN liODJNE THOMPSON, D.D. 
 IV. 
 npJIE Reformed Church in America had never had a 
 "* book of English hymns set to music. Individuals in 
 other denominations had attempted to make such books. 
 As early as 1810 Samuel Hoiyoke had printed the "Colom- 
 bian Repository," in which he achieved the prodigious task 
 of fitting a different tune to every one of Watt's hymns. 
 About the middle of the century several books of more 
 convenient size appeared with hymns and tunes on the 
 same page, most of them prepared for private gain, and 
 therefore rather below than above the average taste and 
 intellect, as all books of this kind must be, for pecuniary 
 profit. One or two of the congregations in the Reformed 
 Church ventured, in spite of the constitutional law, to in- 
 troduce such books; but the result was unsatisfactory. 
 Generally the music was too poor to please those who 
 could sing or to induce those who could not sing to try 
 to learn. And the hymns were as common-place as the 
 tunes. Meanwhile the Church was growing restless. Sev- 
 eral ministers (without knowledge of each others move- 
 ments) began to make collections. Consistories took pains 
 to establish singing classes for both adults and children. 
 It seemed as if we might be on the verge of another era. 
 The time was ripe for a new departure and the occasion 
 was not far to seek. 
 
 The Synod of 1868 met in Hudson, N. Y. Thither 
 came the Rev. Dr. Zachary Eddy, pastor of the Church on 
 the Heights in Brooklyn, with 119 hymns selected by him. 
 
His design was to make a book for use in the South Gas- 
 sis of Long Island. That Classis had approved the project 
 and now sent him to Synod to secure its consent to 
 the plan. One of the members of this Synod was the Rev. 
 John Bodine Thompson, pastor of the Old Dutch Church 
 of Sleepy Hollow at Tarrytown. He brought to Synod 
 131 hymns which he had selected. At his suggestion Dr. 
 Eddy added these to his, and asked the approval of the 
 whole 250 by Synod. The request was referred to a special 
 committee of which Mr. Thompson was chairman. Col- 
 lections of hymns made by the Rev. Drs. Rufus W. Clark 
 and Anson Du Bois were also presented to Synod and 
 referred to the same committee. From the four collec- 
 tions thus submitted they selected 350 hymns and advised 
 the making of a book of hymns and tunes for the whole 
 Church. The report was adopted and the work entrusted 
 to a committee of which Mr. Thompson was made chair- 
 man. The other members were the Rev. Drs. Ashbel 
 Green Vermilye, of Utica, and Alexander Ramsay Thomp- 
 son, of New York City. 
 
 This "Committee on Hymnology," as it was called, 
 planned to issue three books for use respectively, in 
 church, prayer-meetings, and Sunday-schools. The first 
 they decided to call "Hymns of the Church." In the prep- 
 aration of this they requested and obtained the hearty and 
 constant co-operation of the Rev. Dr. Eddy. At the re- 
 quest of the committee, and to supply a felt need, he wrote 
 hymn 229 : 
 
 Jesus, enthroned and glorified 
 
 At Thy Almighty Father's side, 
 Thy people's prayer inspire! 
 
 Thou art alive forevermore; 
 
 Oh then on us Thy spirit pour; 
 Baptize us now with fire! 
 
 The need for good tunes was even greater than that for 
 hymns. The work of the musical editor whom Dr. Eddy 
 had partially engaged was not satisfactory and Mr. Uzziah 
 C. Burnap, organist of the Church on the Heights, was 
 selected in his stead. He discharged his duties acceptably, 
 under the supervision, chiefly, of Drs. Eddy and Alexander 
 R. Thompson, who were both singers. 
 
Forty chants were added to the book in hope that the 
 many who from lack of early culture were unable to sing 
 the tunes in common use might be induced to join in the 
 recitative still in vogue in the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 But it seems impossible to induce those accustomed to 
 the melodies and harmonies of modern lyrical song to 
 revert to the cantillation of prose (or of prosaic verse), 
 though the atavistic endeavor still continues. 
 
 The publishing house with which Dr. Eddy had been ne- 
 gotiating readily undertook the publication and made the 
 mechanical part of the work as great an advance on any 
 of its predecessors as were the literary and musical parts. 
 The book was not published until it had been submitted to 
 the Synod of 1869, by which it was recommended to "All 
 churches, families and individuals within their com- 
 munion." The book was too large, but, nevertheless, Synod 
 insisted upon binding wi/hin the same covers the 
 liturgy and doctrinal standards. The arrangement, as 
 usual, indicated the progress of doctrine. It was not con- 
 formed to either of the Catechisms; yet it was doctrinal. 
 Beginning with the persons of the Trinity, it included under 
 the heading, "The Holy Spirit," hymns of the Christian 
 life, followed these with hymns on the Church and its in- 
 stitutions, on missions, and for other acts and occasions of 
 special worship. 
 
 Perhaps this book was too good. Perhaps the literary 
 and musical standards were both too high. Perhaps it 
 followed ancient usage too closely. The committee had 
 desired that it should have an educational value also; 
 and in this they were not disappointed. It had an elevat- 
 ing effect. A few years' experience, however, showed 
 that a hundred of the tunes were too difficult for use in 
 many congregations. On conference with a committee of 
 Synod appointed for the purpose, simpler tunes were sub- 
 stituted. A considerable number of the hymns also were 
 scarcely suited to the need of the average worshipper; 
 but change in them was thought impracticable. 
 
 In their report to Synod the committee on llymnology 
 had said: "Several congregations of Presbyterian, Congre- 
 
gational, and other denominations are preparing to intro- 
 duce the book at once." Not long after, however, these con- 
 gregations adopted other books issued by the same pub- 
 lishers. The book was a collection, rather than a selec- 
 tion. It included all the hymns desired by the editors 
 and by those in whose taste they had confidence. When 
 they first sat down together to examine the 1,180 numbers 
 of the collection then in use they found but 324 which 
 any of them ever had, or ever would have, sung in public 
 worship ; yet they made a collection which reached 1,007 
 numbers ! "Hymns Ancient and Modern" had but 400 
 numbers and was selling at the rate of a million a year. 
 The largest Presbyterian church in New York City had 
 used only 383 hymns in seven years, and only 288 of these 
 more than once. 
 
 Study of such facts warranted the conclusion that the 
 divine plan for development Godward had been misap- 
 prehended. Too much pains had been taken to conserve, 
 not only the ends, but also the methods of procedure of 
 past ages. There seemed to be now a desire for hymns 
 and tunes which should express devotional feeling unhin- 
 dered by the inclusion of so large a proportion of informa- 
 tion, merely. Instruction was to be expected from the 
 pulpit rather than from the choir. The best Christian cul- 
 ture no longer desired to worship in public by the use of 
 hymns chiefly didactic, dogmatic, descriptive, hortatory, 
 introspective or eulogistic of individuals or institutions. It 
 was against such hymns that the Classis of Bergen and 
 the North Classis of Long Island had remonstrated twenty 
 years before. 
 
 Moreover, it was now becoming clear that only the poetry 
 called "lyrical" is appropriate for musical expression, as 
 indeed, the adjective "lyrical" indicates. Lyrical poetry is 
 more emotional than any other. In its loftiest flights it 
 is almost as emotional and vague as music. In its highest 
 strains the thought is scarcely distinguishable from the 
 form. This may be noticed especially in the snatches of 
 music used by Shakespeare. Sometimes the whole instruc- 
 
lion of the play is summed up emotionally in a half dozen 
 lines of lyrical verse. The emotion has become so in- 
 tense that it can find adequate expression only in the terms 
 of music. The language of the intellect fails. Only that 
 oi the emotions is available. The most intelligent Chris- 
 tians have arrived at Augustine's definition, and desire to 
 sing only (or chiefly at least) hymns of praise. Indeed, 
 what we call psalms the Royal Psalmist himself calls praises 
 U'lIiUoth). 
 
 And a mere concourse of sweet sounds no longer suf- 
 fices for worship. Knowledge and experience have com- 
 bined to produce desire that the music should express the 
 same kind of emotion as the words, and not a merely 
 >imilar emotion of another quality. There are indications 
 that we may be at the beginning of a stage of progress 
 which shall some day issue in a distinction between differ- 
 ent kinds of music as definite as that of the ancient Greeks, 
 and m the recognition of a mode impossible in any Pagan 
 cultus. People are beginning to distinguish between music 
 that is merely or chiefly sentimental and that which, posi- 
 tively devotional, lifts the soul directly toward God. 
 
 So long ago as 1637 the Rev. Henry Sydenham, of 
 London, preaching on this subject, said: "There is noth- 
 ing more betraying us to sensuality than some kinds of 
 music ; than others none more advancing us to 
 God." Dryden's "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" teaches the 
 same truth; which is illustrated, also, by Tolstoi in one of 
 hi* brochures. Yet organists and choirs and hymn-book 
 makers mostly seem in utter ignorance of these import- 
 ant distinctions! More than half a century ago Richard 
 Storrs Willis, returning from the funeral of his child, 
 saw her little shoe lying near the piano, sat down and as- 
 suaged his grief by singing an impromptu song "To My 
 Baby's Shoe." After his death a young musician read the 
 score, harmonized it, and set it to the words of a hymn 
 in a book he was preparing, crediting it to himself! It is 
 pretty, and plaintive and popular, because sentimental. But 
 it is not devotional ! And many people think they are de- 
 
votional when they are only sentimental ! Hence the popu- 
 larity of many modern hymn and tune books. 
 
 In 1871 the committee on Hymnology submitted to Synod 
 proof sheets of a book entitled "Hymns of Prayer and 
 Praise." As Hymns of the Church was the first, so this 
 was the second book with tunes authorized by General 
 Synod. It was printed by the publishers of Hymns of the 
 Church in the same handsome style. The care of seeing 
 both these books through the press devolved very largely 
 upon the Rev. Dr. Alexander R. Thompson, who was easy 
 of access from the office of the printer. His time and 
 talent were given to the work ungrudgingly and without 
 restraint. His thoroughly refined tastes gave him a strong- 
 ly liturgical tendency. He was urgent that "Hymns of 
 Prayer and Praise" should be arranged in the order of 
 "The Church Year/' Dr. Vermilye objected. Eventually 
 the suggestion of the chairman was adopted, and the ar- 
 rangement was that of events in the life of Christ. But 
 this was hardly a Via Media. However, the book had an 
 educational value. Churches also in other denominations 
 who desired a better class of hymns and tunes than were 
 common in prayer meetings used it. Several years after- 
 ward it was unexpectedly found in use also on the Pa- 
 cific coast. 
 
 When it was about ready for the press the chairman 
 (because of absence from the country) withdrew from the 
 committee, and the proposed Sunday-school book was never 
 completed, though the material had been approved by the 
 Synod of 1870. Dr. Vermilye succeeded to the chairman- 
 ship and the committee continued to pay the royalty into 
 the treasury of Synod until discharged at its own re- 
 quest in 1885. 
 
The Christian Intelligencer 
 
 August 8, 1906. 
 
 'Christian Praise" 
 
 BY JOHN BODINE THOMPSON, D.D. 
 
 V. 
 
 A FTER the publication of Hymns of the Church the 
 members of the committee which prepared it were an- 
 noyed because it was not pushed among the Presbyterian 
 Churches also where it was desired by some pastors, and 
 where it was hoped it might also have an educative influ- 
 ence. They recognized also that it was too large; and 
 the chairman of the committee determined to make a 
 book on a different plan. The plan would make it a small 
 book. It might be an unpopular book. But it would suit 
 those like minded with the compiler. It could not be used 
 in the Reformed Churches; but the Presbyterian churches 
 were without restraint upon their hymnody — and some of 
 them might want it. 
 
 William Hinchman Piatt was an elder in the First 
 Church of Tarrytown, a man of refined taste as well as of 
 both literary and musical culture. He had had experience 
 also as an instructor and leader of choirs in both large 
 and small churches in the country and in the city. He and 
 his pastor held the same opinions, and together they made 
 the book, described by its title, "Christian Praise." The 
 title was chosen by Mr. Piatt, who so clearly recognized 
 the fact that what is sung in churches should be praise, and 
 that of a specifically Christian character. The arrange- 
 ment was not doctrinal but devotional. The metres were 
 separate, and the style in each passed gradually from the 
 grave and dignified to the more emotional and varied. 
 
Hymns and tunes alike were chosen to express and incite 
 and develop Christian feeling. The musical language and 
 the literary language were upon opposite pages, allowing a 
 choice of either of three tunes, each expressing in its own 
 way the emotion of the hymns opposite. For, however 
 true it may be that only one tune can be the perfect ex- 
 pression of the thought of a hymn as it lay in the mind of 
 the author, it is also true that each worshipper has his own 
 conception of that meaning and is entitled to the privilege 
 of expressing it in appropriate music within his power to 
 execute. 
 
 The directions for the use of the book said : "If the ob- 
 ject be to impress the feelings and prepare for acts of wor- 
 ship, one of the special adaptations or one of the tunes of 
 the higher and more difficult style may be sung by the 
 trained choir. If the object be to express the feelings in 
 direct acts of worship, one of the simpler tunes in which 
 all can join should be used. The book is specially de- 
 signed for this end, while fostering progress also in the 
 appreciation of musical language." The very different 
 tunes "Metuchen" and "Mine Forever," composed for this 
 work by the musical editor, illustrate the views with which 
 ^ was prepared. 
 
 In concession to custom, as many as 454 hymns were 
 included, and a full topical index of first lines (with the 
 names of the tunes) afforded facilities for those who still 
 might choose to select hymns chiefly for the enforcement 
 of doctrine. The introduction was written by the Rev. 
 Dr. Roswell C. Hitchcock, who had "long entertained the 
 views underlying this work" and was now "glad to see 
 them so happily carried out." With such endorsement the 
 book sold, not only on the Atlantic coast, but also beyond 
 the Mississippi. Baptist churches demanded an edition for 
 their use, and of this there vvere issued also large paper 
 copies, now rare. 
 
 The compilers (who owned the copyright) kept it out of 
 the Reformed churches until, on the death of the publisher, 
 the plates were purchased by the Board of Publication, at 
 whose request the book was approved and recommended 
 for use in the churches by the General Synod of 1879. To 
 
this edition were appended (at the request of the Board) 
 126 miscellaneous hymns and tunes for social worship. 
 The interest of the musical editor was bought by the Board 
 for one thousand dollars, and that of the literary editor 
 was given without compensation. Synod consented to the 
 
 publication with only the catechism and the sacramental 
 forms appended. However, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, 
 and the Ten Commandments were printed on the usual 
 "blank leaves," thus facilitating its use also as a church 
 service book. 
 
 The Synod of 1880 declared, "the book is so excellent 
 there cannot be a better !" In order to avoid competition 
 with the Hymns of the Church the book was advertised 
 chiefly for social worship ; yet it made its way. The Board 
 of Publication reports the sale of more copies of it than 
 have been sold of any other authorized hymnbook of the 
 Reformed Church in America. To meet the continuing 
 demand, new plates were prepared at the begining of the 
 year 1902, without consulting the surviving editor. 
 
 This book was so w r ell appreciated by an elder (who 
 afterward returned to the denomination from which he had 
 come) that he obtained from the Board the privilege of 
 using its material in a smaller book which he proposed to 
 prepare. That book when printed was found to have 
 most of the distinctive features of Christian Praise, its 
 hymns and tunes on opposite pages, its adaptations, one of 
 the two tunes composed for it by the musical editor, etc., 
 etc. The wealthy compiler had plates prepared, and then 
 gave the whole to one of the great publishing societies of 
 the country. The application to the Synod of 1888 for 
 the endorsement of this rival to its own publications, as 
 well as of one prepared by the Rev. Drs. Eddy and 
 Hitchcock, was not granted by General Synod, which had 
 never, as yet, allowed its churches to be exploited for the 
 pecuniary benefit of individuals. 
 
 Another book named "Christian Praise" was issued by 
 a New York firm which, on remonstrance, changed the 
 title to "Sorfgs of Christian Praise," this change being 
 deemed sufficient to avoid the penalties of the copyright 
 law of the United States. 
 
The Christian I n telligencer 
 
 August 15, 1906. 
 
 "The Church Hymnary" 
 
 BY JOHN B. THOMPSON, D.D. 
 VI. 
 
 jyfR. EDWIN A. BEDELL, organist of the Madison 
 Avenue Reformed Church in Albany, had a laudable 
 desire for a book of his own making, and prepared it with 
 care. It was entitled "Lauda Zion," and was submitted 
 in manuscript to a committee of General Synod, whose 
 working members were the Rev. Drs. Edward A. Collier 
 and William A. Clark, both well-known for their musical 
 as well as literary taste and culture. 
 
 Five years before Dr. Collier had been chairman of a 
 committee to consider some proposed action on church 
 hymnody and had made a report showing that he held 
 the views which underlie Christian praise. His report 
 was adopted, declaring it "inexpedient that any action be 
 taken at this time." 
 
 Dr. Clark was chairman of a committee to "examine and 
 report on hymn-books," and to this committee Dr. Collier 
 was added in 1889. These hymnologists gave many weeks 
 to the most careful study of the book which, as it came 
 into their hands, contained about 1,400 hymns. About 600 
 of these were excluded and about 200 others inserted. The 
 name was changed to "The Church Hymnary," and the 
 book was endorsed by the Synod of 1890. 
 
 It is a thoroughly modern book. While Isaac Watts and 
 Charles Wesley furnish as usual more hymns than any 
 other two authors, and there are 31 by James Montgomery, 
 there are 35 by John Mason Neale and 30 by Horatius 
 Bonar. Among American authors, 16 are credited to Ray 
 Palmer, 11 to Thomas Hastings, and 3 to each of the per- 
 sons whose names here follow : Leonard Bacon, William 
 Cullen Bryant, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, George Washington 
 
Doane, William Augustus Muhlenberg, Edwin Pond Par- 
 ker, Samuel Francis Smith, Alexander Ramsay Thompson, 
 and Denis Wortman. And the music is still more modern. 
 As many as 49 tunes are credited to John Bacchus Dykes, 
 42 to Lowell Mason, 40 to Joseph Barnby, 27 to Arthur 
 Seymour Sullivan, 17 to Edward John Hopkins, and as 
 many to Uzziah C. Burnap, the musical editor of hymns of 
 the church. 
 
 The arrangement is doctrinal, but practical, rather than 
 theoretical. It begins with worship, its opening, offerings, 
 and close; continues with the Scriptures; the Trinity; 
 Christian life and experience ; the church, its building, 
 ministry, sacraments, and work, especially missions ; times 
 and seasons; special occasions; the last things; and closes 
 with the usual doxologies, responses and chants. 
 
 The Synod of 1897 declared it "widely esteemed as the 
 ideal manual of praise for the sanctuary." It has met with 
 acceptance also in Congregational, Presbyterian and Bap- 
 tist Churches, and (it is understood) has proved highly re- 
 munerative. The twentieth century edition displaces a few 
 unnecessary hymns and adds a few desirable ones. The 
 tune called "St. Petersburgh" bears the mark of the late 
 Rev. Dr. Guido F. Verbeck, of Japan, who gave informa- 
 tion that the Russian bands always play it with the slur at 
 the beginning of the last line of the alto, and his sugges- 
 tion was at once adopted. In 1862 the Board of Publica- 
 tion issued the "Fulton Street Hymnbook for the use of 
 Union Prayer Meetings, Sabbath Schools and Families.'' 
 In 1881 a book of hymns and tunes, called "Spiritual Songs 
 for Sunday Schools," prepared by the Rev. Dr. Charles S. 
 Robinson, was submitted for the approval of Synod. After 
 prolonged debate the matter was referred to the Board of 
 Publication "with powers." This quasi approval encour- 
 aged similar applications, and the representatives of com- 
 pilers and publishers year after year sought the imprimatur 
 of Synod (in the words of a committee of investigation) 
 f<»r "one hymnbook and another, and again another, as 
 wave succeeds wave." But Synod persistently refused to be 
 
thus instrumental in the promotion of private gain until 
 the year 1890. 
 
 In 1898 a committee was appointed "to consider the 
 matter of Sunday School Hymnbooks." This committee 
 consisted of the Rev. Dr. Collier, the Rev. Dr. Denis Wort- 
 man and the Rev. Benjamin E. Dickhaut. 
 
 After careful and prolonged consideration the committee 
 decided to recommend the "Sunday School Hymnal" of the 
 (German) Reformed Church in the United States, in which 
 had been incorporated a considerable number of sugges- 
 tions made by this committe'e. The book was well planned 
 to lead up to, and not away from, "the service of song in 
 the house of the Lord." It was approved by the General 
 Synod of 1900, and the favor with which it was received 
 showed a great improvement in popular taste, which has 
 been still more elevated by this publication. "It rings 
 with praise !" 
 
 The General Synod of 1792 approved the psalms and 
 hymns in the French language prepared by Marot and 
 Beza ; and in German those published at Marburgh and 
 Amsterdam^ and used in Germany, the Netherlands, and 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 In 1853 the Rev. John C. Guldin presented to Synod a 
 petition "in relation to the preparation and publication of a 
 book in the German language, which should contain also a 
 metrical version of the Hebrew psalms. In compliance 
 with this request Synod appointed a committee to choose 
 and arrange the material for such a book and to submit it, 
 when ready, to another committee consisting of the Rev. 
 Drs. Thomas De Witt, William Henry Campbell, and John 
 Proudfit, whose approval should be the warrant to have it 
 "printed without delay." The committee to prepare the 
 book consisted of the Rev. John C. Guldin, the Rev. Dr. 
 Joseph Berg, and the elder Berky, though Dr. Berg was 
 not able to take part in the work, which devolved almost 
 entirely upon the competent and excellent chairman (who 
 must really have been engaged in it for a long time before 
 the application to Synod). It was published in 1854 with 
 the title, "Die Psalmen Davids, nebst einer Sammlung 
 
geistlicher Lieder, fur oeffentlichen und Privat-Gottes- 
 dienst" (The Psalms of David, with a Collection of Spiri- 
 tual Songs, for public and private worship). 
 
 It was used in all the German-speaking churches of the 
 denomination and was adopted also by the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States. It is an excellent book, and 
 the preface is a valuable contribution to hymnology. It 
 includes admirable "remarks upon the music" by the mus- 
 ical editor, Dr. C. W. Lange, who was the organist of the 
 Evangelical Mission Church in New York. 
 
 The Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in 
 America has published two hymn and tune books in the 
 German language. The first, issued in i860, was called 
 the "Evangelische Kinder-harfe fur Christliche Schulen" 
 (Children's Harp for Christian Schools). The second, 
 issued in 1884, was called "Evangeliseher Liederkranz : fur 
 kirche, schule und haus" (A Wreath of Songs for church, 
 school and house). In 1890 Synod resolved that "the Ger- 
 man congregations of the Church be permitted to use in 
 their church services the hymnbook published by the Ger- 
 man Reformed Church in the United States." 
 
 No attempt has ever been made by the General Synod 
 to control the use of hymns in the churches of the de- 
 nomination still speaking the Dutch language. 
 
The Christian I ntelligencer 
 
 September 18, 1907. 
 
 The Rev. John B. Thompson, D.D. 
 
 BY E. TANJORE CORWIN, D.D. 
 
 A NOTHER of our standard-bearers has fallen, but at 
 ** a ripe old age. Rev. Dr. Thompson, so well knc*vn 
 in the assemblies and institutions of our Church, laid aside 
 his earthly armor on September 4th. He was born in 
 1830, and if he had lived until October 14th he would have 
 been seventy-seven years old. The oldest child of his 
 parents, of large size and vigorous physique, he early de- 
 veloped a fondness for study, and determined to take a 
 college course. His father was the Hon. Joseph Thomp- 
 son, who, after being for fifteen years judge of the Hunter- 
 don county court, was, for another fifteen years, judge of 
 the Somerset county court. Dr. Thompson's early man- 
 hood was devoted to the affairs of practical life, and the 
 business knowledge thus acquired, fitted him to be a sym- 
 pathetic counselor and friend of youth during the whole 
 of his ministry. He belongs to a family of teachers, and 
 never ceased to be a helper of the young in their endeavors 
 for the acquirement of knowledge. 
 He prepared for college under the instruction of his 
 
 uncle, Rev. William J. Thompson, long known as Tutor 
 '1 hompson, who was rector of the New Brunswick Gram- 
 mar School from 1846-1862. The nephew became an as- 
 sistant teacher in the grammar school when only fifteen 
 years of age, and at sixteen he became a public school 
 teacher. At nineteen he entered the Junior Class at Rutgers 
 College, graduating in 1851. He afterward had charge, first 
 of a classical school ; then of all the schools in Somerville ; 
 then of a classical school in Flemington, and afterward 
 was teacher of natural sciences in the Trenton Academy. 
 
 For three years he was the agent of the New Jersey 
 State Teachers' Association, holding teachers' institutes 
 
and lecturing on education. He took a deep interest in 
 the movement to establish public libraries throughout the 
 state. In his travels he advocated the establishment of a 
 normal school for the training of teachers. He entered 
 the Theological Seminary in 1855, and graduated in 1858. 
 
 The knowledge of men and affairs thus obtained facili- 
 tated his subsequent work as a minister of the Gospel. 
 It qualified him also for services as a member of the 
 Board of Education, and as an explorer for the Board of 
 Domestic Missions, by which he was sent out to select 
 suitable locations for churches in the West. Declining to 
 receive even his traveling expenses, he offered himself to 
 undertake the work at Omaha, where the terminus of the 
 Pacific Railroad had just been fixed; but more conservative 
 counsels prevailed. 
 
 It was his custom in the earlier part of his ministry to 
 give the morning to his study, the afternoon to his parish, 
 and the evening to his family. Careful economy of time 
 enabled him to pursue also his favorite literary studies, of 
 which the Church reaped the benefit when it made him 
 chairman of the Committee to provide Hymn Books for 
 public and social worship. He was also a member of one 
 of the former committees on the revision of the Liturgy, 
 and one of the preachers of the series of Centennial Dis- 
 courses in 1876. In this discourse he demonstrated the 
 raise n d'etre of the Church of his fathers. He empha- 
 sized its importance as a Church with a voluntary Liturgy, 
 and with Doctrinal Standards whose keynote was Union 
 with Christ. 
 
 After about a dozen years of service in three successive 
 charges, namely, seven years at Metuchen, three years at 
 Tarrytown, and three years at Saugerties, he went to 
 Europe, and there cast in his lot with the recently or- 
 ganized Chiesa Libera Italiana, or The Evangelical Church 
 of Italy, of which the famous orator, Alessandro Gavazzi, 
 was the principal evangelist. With him he twice made the 
 tour of the American churches, north, south, east and 
 west. Their efforts during two summer vacations secured 
 for the work in Italy $50,000. 
 
 Retiming to America, he accepted the call to the Church 
 of Teekskill in 1873. Finding the nearby church of Cort- 
 
landtown, or Montrose, on the point of extinction, he took 
 the pastoral charge of that also, and did not forsake it 
 until he had secured for it a pastor and provided for his 
 salary. 
 
 In 1874 he was invited by the Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions to become a theological professor in Japan, but he 
 declined the offer. He then accepted the call to Catskill, 
 where his longest and most effective work was done. Here 
 he remained for ten years. This charge he resigned to 
 accept that of the Presbyterian Church adjoining the 
 grounds of the University of California, at Berkeley in 
 that State. The church was then small and feeble, and the 
 proffered salary much less than that to which he had been 
 accustomed; but the opportunity for usefulness seemed 
 wider, and was heartily embraced. And he did not disap- 
 point the expectation. While serving this Berkeley church 
 he also became editor of The Occident, the Presbyterian 
 paper of the Pacific Coast, and also served as a professor 
 in the Theological Seminary of San Francisco. 
 
 Again overworked, another season of rest from intel- 
 lectual labor was imperatively ordered by physicians. He 
 again visited Italy. A year later he returned to California 
 and spent a year in laying out and establishing the "Pres- 
 byterian Summer Resort," called "Inverness," he giving 
 this place its name. 
 
 His health being now restored, he came back to his 
 native New Jersey, and supplied, in succession, three of ' 
 the churches of Trenton during the years 1890 and 1891, 
 when he took the pastoral charge of the newly established 
 church of Highland Park, across the Raritan from New 
 Brunswick, where he spent five years of pastoral work, his 
 final pastoral charge, resigning there in i€>g6. 
 
 He then removed to Trenton and devoted himself to 
 literary and historical pursuits. Making original re- 
 searches there in the archives of the State he rescued not" 
 a few important facts from oblivion which were worked up 
 in magazine articles by himself or others. 
 
 His publications have been numerous in the shape of 
 addresses, sermons, magazine articles, chiefly in the re- 
 ligious press. A list of them down to 1902 may be seen 
 in the Manual of the Reformed Church. The Hymn 
 Books which he issued in connection with Rev. Drs. A. 
 
G. Vermilye and Alexander R. Thompson have had an un- 
 usually large circulation, and are yet in demand after 
 more than thirty years. His Discourse in the volume 
 styled "Centennial Discourses," 1*876, entitled "The Im- 
 movable Attachment of the Reformed Church in America 
 to its own Heirlooms of Faith and Order," with its copious 
 
 notes, was a masterpiece of information and interest, and 
 is a standard on its subject. He was also a voluminous 
 writer in his prime, not only in his own Church paper, The 
 Christian Intelligencer, but also in The Sower, The Ad- 
 vance, The Interior, The Christian Union, The Christian 
 at Work, The New York Observer, The New York Evan- 
 gelist, The Presbyterian, The Sunday School Times, etc. 
 
 His pamphlet on "The Evolution of the American Col- 
 lege, 1894," is especially valuable. He spent about a year 
 in its preparation. His article styled "The Middle of the 
 Century" — the nineteenth century, in Dr. David Murray's 
 "History of Education in New Jersey," 1899, is a masterly 
 and exhaustive article on the development of the educa- 
 tional system in our State. His articles in papers and 
 magazines would be numbered by hundreds. 
 
 Said Dr. David Cole concerning Dr. Thompson at the 
 bi-centennial of the Tarrytown Church : "He was grad- 
 uated in succession from both our New Brunswick insti- 
 tutions and was licensed to our ministry in 1858^ having 
 done grand service for almost a decade before he began 
 his seminary course in teaching and in general educational 
 work in New Jersey. Coming of a sturdy stock, he enjoys 
 the sound mind in the sound body. And having received 
 the best instructional advantages, he represents the mind 
 of naturally quick and keen perceptive power, cultured 
 and refined through direct study, and through years of in- 
 tercourse with leading scholars both at home and abroad, 
 and capable of and delighting in the closest analytical 
 thinking. He has held several of our own pulpits. He 
 is distinguished as a minutely accurate scholar, an active 
 and voluminous author, and one of the foremost men in 
 our Reformed Church ministry." 
 
THE FUNERAL. 
 
 The funeral took place on Saturday, September 7th, in 
 the Readington Church. The pastor, Rev. B. V. D. 
 Wyckoff, conducted the funeral services, giving a very ex- 
 cellent account of the general activities of Dr. Thompson 
 through his long ministry of forty-nine years. Rev. Dr. 
 Corwin followed in an address, referring to their long- 
 continued friendship and some of the scholarly habits of 
 Dr. Thompson; of the Hymn Book he had prepared in 
 connection with others, and which had been so largely cir- 
 culated in the Church. A number of clergymen were 
 present. Rev. Dr. Lefevre conducted the devotional ex- 
 ercises, and the Rev. Dr. Wilson Phraner peformed the 
 committal service. 
 
 TRIBUTE OF THE CHURCH OF CATSKILL, N. Y. 
 
 The late Rev. John Bodine Thompson, D.D., was pastor 
 of the Catskill Reformed Church from 1874 to 1884. During 
 that period he endeared himself to the church and the 
 community by his sturdy Christian character and his in- 
 tegrity both as man and as minister. His ability as a 
 scholar, and especially his success as a teacher of Biblical 
 truth, are unsurpassed in the history of this church. 
 
 In after years, it was here that he loved to come when 
 seeking rest and recreation in the vacation season. There 
 are many in Catskill with whom his acquaintance and 
 friendship were continued until the last. His interest in 
 this church and his many kindnesses to her ministers and 
 members, long after he had ceased to be officially con- 
 nected with the organization, have made his memory here 
 doubly blessed. While we mourn with Dr. Thompson's 
 family in their deep affliction, yet we wish hereby to record 
 our gratitude to God for the benefits we have received 
 through His servant. It is our prayer that his example 
 of noble and self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of Christ 
 may remain with us in the hallowed memory of our friend 
 and former pastor. 
 
 Be it resolved that this expression of our love and af- 
 fection for Dr. Thompson be published in The Christian 
 Intelligencer and recorded on the minutes of Consistory; 
 and that a copy be sent to his family. 
 
(Signed) William Van Orden, John D. Ahreet, Amadee 
 Raynor, Charles H. Van Orden, Charles Ernst, William 
 Palmatier, Thomas Bell, John Fiero, W. Irving Jen- 
 nings, George C. Fox, Joseph Malcolm, Frederick A. 
 Stahl, Irving H. Berg. 
 Catskill, N. Y., September 10, 1907. 
 
 An Appreciation 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN BR0WNLEE V00RHEES 
 
 THE Intelligencer of September nth contained a brief 
 notice of the death of Dr. Thompson on September 
 4th. The writer is not competent to pay a worthy tribute 
 to his life and character, his services to learning and 
 scholarship, but out of a great indebtedness for favors 
 which cannot be repaid he extends this appreciation. 
 
 To have known Dr. Thompson was to have had acquaint- 
 ance with one who before all else was a great scholar, a 
 great Christian scholar. Truth was a consuming passion. 
 With Pascal he held, "The first of all Christian truths is 
 that truth shall be loved above all." Never at truth's shrine 
 knelt a more devoted disciple, "strong in will to strive, to 
 seek, to find." The foundations of his learning were laid 
 in a generation uncursed by the mania of specialization. 
 Hence his scholarship had the note of catholicity, and his 
 preaching an opulent fullness like the flow of the full- 
 banked stream. His sermons never trickled, for the river 
 "was fed from many springs. Philosophy, history, litera- 
 ture, science, all were drawn upon, and from their depths. 
 To him there were no closed rooms in the temple of wis- 
 dom. He knocked at every door, and each door opened at 
 his touch. Nature endowed him richly for the student life. 
 A single reading of a book threshed the grain from the 
 chaff and what was good was stored in a marvelous mem- 
 ory, to be drawn upon at need. 
 
 His scholarship also had the note of originality. Of how 
 few men can it truthfully be said, "they do their own think- 
 ing"? Most prefer their thought in predigested form — war- 
 ranted not to injure the most delicate constitution. But Dr. 
 Thompson's philosophy and theology bore no trade-mark. 
 
They were his own, forged by his own hand and beaten 
 into shape on his own mental anvil. He accepted, for ex- 
 ample, the theory of evolution at a time when most theolo- 
 gians had for it only fear and detestation. He thought 
 through the problems it presented and rejoiced in the con- 
 tributions which it made to our knowledge of God's work- 
 ings. It made for a larger faith, that while "earth changes, 
 the soul and God stand sure." 
 
 From his originality came that most beautiful and in- 
 spiring characteristic of his thinking; it ever faced the 
 future. Few possessed his knowledge of the past, none 
 were less wedded to the past. Few appreciated more high- 
 ly the contributions of the past, none believed more pro- 
 foundly in the contributions of the future. He did not 
 despise the ancient land-marks, but he did not forget that 
 ancient land-marks stand only for the circumscribed 'and 
 already surveyed. His reverence for the past is indicated 
 by his centennial discourse, "The Attachment of the Re- 
 formed Church to its Own Heirlooms of Faith and Order" ; 
 his confidence in the future is revealed by his address be- 
 fore the New York Ministerial Association on "Progress in 
 Theology." But this facing of the future was not an intel- 
 lectual characteristic only; everything which stood for 
 I progress had his sympathy. No forward movement ever 
 failed to enlist his enthusiastic support. 
 
 It is possible, however, for scholarship to degenerate 
 
 into scholasticism; and learning in theology does not al- 
 
 J ways imply depth of spiritual life. But those who were 
 
 privileged to have Dr. Thompson as their preacher soon 
 
 I learned that he drew water from the deep wells of a per- 
 
 J sonal experience in the things of faith. Side by side with 
 
 the vast learning was a rich vein of mysticism, qualifying 
 
 ' him to interpret the life of the spirit as they only are able 
 
 who can say, "I have felt." It was characteristic that his 
 
 .. last sermon before the General Synod should be on the 
 
 work of the spirit, "The Other Paraclete." And those who 
 
 J heard knew not which to admire the more, the philosophic 
 
 ] grasp of the first part of the discourse, or the devotional 
 
 character of the latter. 
 
 Dr. Thompson's was a strong personality, intense in its 
 likes and dislikes. He had sympathy with all earnest en- 
 
deavor, however simple and humble. Those who tried and 
 those who needed ever found a friend in him. But for 
 all self-seeking and pretense he had an unmasked contempt*. 
 Shallowness of every sort he loathed, in particular super- 
 ficiality of scholarship. Not many knew him on terms of 
 personal intimacy, for his heart was not on his sleeve *and 
 the latch string did not hang out for every passer-by. But 
 the few to whom the door was opened were rich in a friend- 
 ship of a great mind and a great heart. And their present 
 sorrow is the measure of the greatness of their loss. 
 1 1 76 Woody Crest avenue, New York City. 
 
 above,'* 
 
 Seemd to uphold " Church Militant M with pure bands 
 
 of love ! 
 Men say, from "Natural causes* 9 we view th' ethereal 
 
 sight : 
 Christians know, at God's command th' electric sparks 
 
 ignite : 
 Like — as when the " Holy Child" in "Bethlehem" 
 
 was born — 
 " A Star before wise men went," of an ^common form : 
 " It " seem'd a brilliant " Meteor " coursing through 
 
 the air, 
 Sent by the Great Creator : — Philosophers ! beware — 
 
 " The Great Meteor," of Tuesday Nov. 12th 1861, was seen as 
 described by the Spectator — over the trees in the N.E. close to 
 the Honse, called, Mylor Vicarage, Cornwall. 
 
 One spectator, counted " seven stars " in a Vine, on the back of 
 the cone. 
 
 " It is supposed to have fallen from the head of the Constellation 
 Draco: 1 
 
1H 
 
 
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