III. THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HYMNODY Wherever Watts had been able to overthrow the tyranny of the metrical versions, he seemed to have instituted a tyranny of his own, to the detriment of the development of an American hymnody. But here and there lonesome birds were singing songs of their own, early harbingers of the springtime of American sacred song. Samuel Davies, the eloquent President of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, began writing hymns in the middle of the eighteenth century that were accepted in English hymnbooks before they became generally known in America. Their quality may be judged from his hymn of consecration: “Lord, I am thine, entirely thine, Purchased and saved by blood divine; With full consent thine I would be And own thy sovereign right in me.” The other verses are equally good, if not superior. Mather Byles, the brilliant Tory preacher of Boston, was a poet of no mean pretentions and in close touch with Swift, Pope, and Watts. He wrote hymns that served their purpose in his day and generation, but have not been recognized since, partly because of his political attitude and his advanced views, being one of the first to use Watts’ Hymns in his congregation. His somewhat oratorical style is evident in his hymn on the greatness of God: “Who can behold the blazing light? Who can approach consuming flame? None but thy wisdom knows thy might; None but thy word can speak thy name.” Another early songbird was Samson Occom, the Mohegan Indian, who raised the money in England which later became the financial nucleus of the present Dartmouth College. His autobiographical hymn, “Waked by the Gospel’s joyful sound,” was widely used in England and translated into Welsh, among whom it was used in their revivals and “led many hundred sinners to the cross of Christ.” Harry Alline (1748-1783) was the most copious hymn writer of that early day, his _Hymns and Spiritual Songs_ containing four hundred and eighty-seven Hymns, all from his own pen. His “Amazing sight, the Saviour stands, And knocks at every door! Ten thousand blessings in his hands To satisfy the poor,” was quite a favorite for many years, but was finally submerged in the larger tide of sacred song that sprang up through the years. The scholarly and eloquent Nathan Strong in his _Hartford Selection_ used several hymns of his own. His patriotic hymn, “Swell the anthem, raise the song,” has had a long life of wide usefulness.