If any authority for the use of hymns were needed beyond the unfailing urge of a sanctified soul to find expression for its spiritual experiences and to persuade other souls to seek a like blessed privilege, there would be ample provision in the development of religious song in the Jewish church, in the participation of Jesus in such a song at so high a peak of religious solemnity as the institution of “The Lord’s Supper,”[11] in the use of song by the Apostles in their private meetings and in unusual personal experiences from the very beginning,[12] in the exhortations of Paul[13] and James,[14] and in the choral scenes of the great Apocalypse.[15] _The Use of Hymns in the Development of the Christian Church._ But the use God has made of song through the succeeding centuries of the development of the Christian Church, is an even more striking indication of the high importance placed upon sacred song by the divine mind. The results of the thoughtful use of song, both in ancient times and the recent past, abundantly illustrate its value and are genuine laboratory proof of its power in deepening the spirituality of individuals, of communities, and even of nations. The hymns of Huss and of Luther, the psalmody of Calvin and of Knox, the preparatory effect of the hymns of Watts for the great Second Reformation in England and its intensification by the hymns of the Wesleys, the joyous singing of rudely fashioned psalms and the newly introduced hymns in the Great Awakening in New England, the great evangelistic movement in America and in England with its enthusiastic singing of unpretentious Gospel songs—all establish on unquestionably scientific basis the spiritual value of sacred song. _Cultural Value of Hymns._ Compare the number of people in any given city or community who read poetry in any of its forms with the number of church attendants who read, even when they do not sing, from three to eight hymns every Lord’s Day. In literary influence, unconsciously absorbed, this wide use of hymns is vastly more effective upon the public at large than the more intensive and conscious influence of distinctly literary verse. Millions of homes in Great Britain and America have copies of the Bible and of some hymnbook, while few of them have books of poetry. Phrases from hymns and psalms are a large part of the religious vocabulary of millions. They are quoted not only in sermons, but in essays and general writings and in the public press, perhaps more generally than are poems. They have been appreciated by the greatest minds, who found them to be of great comfort and even delight, including such men as Benjamin Franklin (who first issued Watts’ hymns in America), George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and William Ewart Gladstone. They deeply interested the man, Matthew Arnold, although the literary critic, Matthew Arnold, had no use for them. _Spiritual Value of Hymns._