Jesu, source of grace completest, Jesu purest, Jesu sweetest. Jesu, well of power divine, Make me, keep me, seal me thine.” Joseph of the Studium (c.840), because of his many hymns, was called the Hymnographer. He wrote too much to write well. His work is characterized as tautological, tawdry, tedious. Three of his hymns, however, had enough suggestiveness to inspire Dr. Neale to write “Let our choir new anthems raise,” “O happy band of pilgrims,” and “Safe home, safe home in port.” Dr. Neale’s pump seems to have needed but slight priming to bring up stirring lyrics from the deepest spiritual experiences and emotions! The most striking characteristic of the Greek hymnody is its sheer objectivity. It is self-forgetful in its rapt, ecstatic contemplation of the doctrines and facts of the Christian faith. It is never experiential or self-analytical except when it confesses sin and unworthiness. The sustained dignity and elevation of its praise and adoration are other admirable traits. Its consciousness of God, its unflawed acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, its assurance of the indwelling Spirit, give it a liturgical value beyond that of any other ancient hymnody. _Chapter X_ THE LATIN HYMNODY I. THE BEGINNINGS OF LATIN HYMNODY The early disciples in the West were accustomed to use the Greek language, as may be gathered from Paul’s writing his Epistle to the Romans in Greek. It is probable that their religious services were largely in that language until there were Romans enough added to the churches to make the use of Latin necessary. That great ode, the “Te Deum,” comes to us only in a Latin form. The tradition is that it was an antiphon improvised by Ambrose and Augustine on the occasion of the latter’s baptism, but that is doubtless a hero-worshiping fancy of the ninth century. That a good deal of it came from the Greek was to be expected and is quite certain, whether the Dacian Bishop, Nicetius of Remisiana, gathered up the Greek material or not (circa 400). On the other hand, there is no Greek version extant, except a much later one which is evidently a translation from the Latin. It may have been written (or compiled) during the Arian controversy as a creedal song to be sung by clerical or monastic choirs. It may have grown by gradual accretion, from generation to generation, like the Easter hymn “Jesus Christ is risen today,” which, begun in the fourteenth century, was not given final form until 1816. This magnificent ode, for it is a hymn only by a considerable extension of the definition, appears in our modern hymnals only as a chant, and is practically never sung in our non-liturgical congregations. It has been used as a choral text throughout all its history, never as a congregational hymn. It has had unnumbered settings by the greatest composers of Christendom.