“Let every kindred, every tribe On this terrestrial ball, To him all majesty ascribe, And crown him Lord of all.” Omitting one or two more stanzas, Dr. John Rippon has added a last stanza that puts a fitting climax to the whole hymn: “Oh, that, with yonder sacred throng, We at his feet may fall! We’ll join the everlasting song, And crown him Lord of all.” Edward Mote began his widely-used hymn, “My hope is built on nothing less,” with a “stumble on the threshold,” writing “Nor earth nor hell my soul shall move,” a very unintelligent plunging _in medias res_. Was it Bradbury, who wrote the popular and effective tune that gave the hymn wings, that had the happy impulse to combine parts of the first and second stanzas, using the first two lines of the second stanza and the last two of the first? This gave an arresting first line and eliminated a line impossible to put on the lips of a general congregation, “Midst all the hell I feel within.” The very familiar and useful hymn of George Heath, “My soul, be on thy guard,” is a notable example of the value of a competent editor’s emendations. In stanza three Heath wrote, “Ne’er think the vict’ry won, Nor _once at ease sit down_; _Thy arduous work_ will not be done Till thou _hast got thy_ crown.” Again in the fourth stanza he wrote, “Fight on, my soul, till death. God will thy work applaud, Reveal his love at thy last breath, And take to his abode.” The improvement in both stanzas, as found in our hymnals, is obvious at a glance. Even so finished a poet as the distinguished historian Milman disfigured his noble Palm Sunday hymn, “Ride on, ride on in majesty,” by such a line as “Thine humble beast pursues its road,” which Murray changed to the graceful and appealing line, “Saviour meek, pursue thy road.” Space is wanting to exhaust the various changes in hymns that are amply justified if their most effective use is to be secured. It is sufficient to say that changes of text must increase the perspicuity, precision, propriety, and force of the hymn. Single phrases may wisely be modified if a change corrects a wrong accent, makes a line more euphonious, adds to its vividness, expressiveness, or vigor, increases its dignity, clarifies the sense, or better adapts it to public use. _Chapter V_ THE CONTENT OF THE HYMN The hymn is not an independent entity, sufficient unto itself, whose whole purpose is to be beautiful and to give pleasure to those responsive to its charm. The hymn has a definite message, is big with purpose. It is related to its writer in satisfying the urge for expression of ideas that will give him power over the thoughts and feelings of others, or of emotions that demand to be voiced forth in the mystic expressiveness of rhythm and rhyme. It is related to God as the original source of its impulse and as the recipient of its response in love and praise.