The Singing Church: The Hymns It Wrote and SangLorenz, Edmund S. (Edmund Simon)
Religion
The Singing Church: The Hymns It Wrote and Sang
Lorenz, Edmund S. (Edmund Simon)
Hymns -- History and criticism
There are other limits that need to be considered. A hymn may properly
be the vehicle for a confession of sin or of spiritual unworthiness;
but it should not take exaggerated forms of expression that only a few
could honestly adopt. The same is somewhat true of hymns of
consecration. Some hymns are title deeds to gifts to Jesus Christ so
comprehensive that few could sincerely subscribe to them. All these
hymns, though they may have been spontaneous outbursts from the hearts
of the writers, will seem unreal and forced to the singer, and will
only aggravate the mechanical unreality and the unwitting insincerity
that vitiate the average service of song.
_The Hymn of Meditation._
The hymn of meditation is less emotional than that of personal
experience or feeling. It is quiet in rhetorical style and gentle in
mood. Its purpose is not didactic, although it often superficially
seems to be so. It is occupied with doctrinal truth only in an
inferential way. It contemplates all religious truth, whether
doctrinal or ethical, in an objective, impersonal way and notes its
implications and corollaries. It is, therefore, emotionally negative,
blending with the other elements of the service rather than
controlling them.
Perhaps as typical an instance as can be cited is Bishop Bickersteth’s
“Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.”
Charles Wesley’s meditation on the Christian’s duties, “A charge to
keep I have,” is another hymn of this class. Faber’s “There’s a
wideness in God’s mercy” (“Was there ever kinder shepherd”) is also in
the meditative mood.
_The Hymn of Exhortation._
At first blush it may seem a little absurd that the members of a
congregation should sing at each other such a hymn as “Stand up, stand
up for Jesus” or “Work, for the night is coming.” But this is an
artificial and not a genuine objection. The instinct of the human race
is toward the singing of just such hortatory songs as these. The
Marseillaise Hymn, which was one of the strongest influences leading
to the French Revolution, is simply an exhortation, but it swept the
French people off their feet and helped prepare the way for the great
transformation of the social structure of the nation. The Church has
gone on producing and singing these hortatory hymns throughout all
generations from the time of David until now, because the impulse is
native to the human heart.
_The Didactic Hymn._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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