The Hymn-Book of the Modern Church: Brief studies of hymns and hymn-writersGregory, Arthur E. (Arthur Edwin)
Religion
The Hymn-Book of the Modern Church: Brief studies of hymns and hymn-writers
Gregory, Arthur E. (Arthur Edwin)
Hymn writers; Hymns, English -- History and criticism
I have spoken of the advantage of diversity in Church hymnals, but
there remains a further and very interesting question. How far does
the study of hymns and hymn-books encourage the hope of a reunion of
hearts in the Church of God, rent, as it now is, by many unhappy
divisions?
In an Appendix I give a list of nearly a hundred and sixty hymns,
which are found in the four representative Non-episcopal hymnals and
in one or both of two representative Anglican books. These hymns are
the foundation material of what may be called the hymn-book of the
modern Church. Canon Ellerton said, ‘The study of Nonconformist
hymn-books does not encourage me in any hopes of what is sometimes
called Home Reunion.’ My own study of modern hymn-books leads to an
opposite conclusion. It is a commonplace of hymnology that in all good
hymn-books you find contributions from men of widely different
theological schools. But it is not in the fact that the choir of the
Church includes Watts, Wesley, Heber, Montgomery, Newman, Keble, Lyte,
Charlotte Elliott, Mrs. Alexander, Faber, S. J. Stone, Caswall, Bonar,
Rawson, Neale, and others, that I see the most hopeful sign. A still
more notable and instructive sign of the times is that alike in the
most familiar and in the most solemn moments of life we draw nigh to
God with the same words. Our morning and our evening hymns, our
Christmas carols and our Easter anthems, are one. In the time of
utmost need we turn to the Saviour with the same cry—
Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come.
Our battle-songs, our penitential prayers, our hymns of adoration, are
the same. We even tell the story of our conversion in the same words—
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto Me and rest.
We teach our children to sing the same songs in school and in the
family.
Even more impressive is the fact that in the Holy Communion the same
hymns are sung in the great cathedral, where men kneel before the high
altar, and in the homely village chapel, where simple folk sit down at
the Lord’s Table. Charles Wesley the poet of Methodism, Doddridge the
Nonconformist pastor, Montgomery the Moravian bookseller, Rawson the
Congregational lawyer, Bonar the Scotch Presbyterian, Bickersteth the
Anglican bishop, are the writers whose hymns are common to all
Englishmen as they break the bread and drink the wine in memory of
their Redeemer’s death.
We know no distinction of creed or Church when we sing—
Come, let us join our friends above,
That have obtained the prize;
and we are all one as we entrust our dead to the Lord of Life—
Father, in Thy gracious keeping,
Leave we now Thy servant sleeping.
And when, wearied of earth and longing to depart and be with Christ,
we lift our eyes to the eternal city, our Father’s house on high, the
hymns of St. Bernard of Cluny or of Samuel Crossman are on the lips of
all—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account