song of the aged priest Zacharias on the birth of his son John. (Luke i. 68.) Such doubtless was the character, and such perhaps were the very words of the hymns to which Pliny refers in his letter to the Emperor Trajan, about IIO A.D., in which he testifies that the Christians offered praise to Christ as God. His letter at least indicates that at the opening of the second century the Christian Church was using in its worship hymns other than those of Jewish origin. As time passed on the number of these Christian hymns multiplied. We learn from Eusebius that in the first half of the third century there was a profusion of sacred song, very little of which now remains. The only entire hymn belonging to this period, which has come down to us, is that attributed to Clemens of Alexandria, about 220 A.D., though he himself attributes it to an earlier author. Titus Flavius Clemens was a convert from paganism. Ordained a presbyter he became the successor of Pantænus in the catechetical school of Alexandria. Origen was one of his pupils. The English translation of his hymn below is by the Rev. Henry Martyn Dexter, D.D., editor of The Congregationalist, Boston. “Shepherd of tender youth, "Thou art our holy Lord, The all-subduing Word, Healer of strife: Thou didst thyself abase, That from sin's deep disgrace "Thou art the great High Priest; Thou hast prepared the feast Of heavenly love; While in our mortal pain Help thou dost not disdain, "Ever be thou our guide, Our shepherd and our pride, By thy perennial word Lead us where thou hast trod, Make our faith strong. "So now, and till we die, Infants, and the glad throng To Christ our King." CHAPTER II GREEK AND LATIN HYMNS The first systematic attempts in Christian hymnody were the outgrowth of orthodox opposition to heresy. The oldest distinctive hymn-writers were Gnostics, and following them the Arians, who sought to propagate their errors, as Luther long after sought to propagate the truths of his reform, through sacred song. This began in the second century, when Bardesanes, of the Syrian Church, wrote hymns in imitation of the psalms, but with Gnostic additions. He was followed by Valentinus of Alexandria and by others, until the songs of the heretics had received wide circulation. So far as we can find, however, no concerted attempt was made to counteract this influence until the early years of the fourth century. When, under Constantine, Christianity became the religion of the state, the songs employed in public worship assumed new and greater importance as a part of the liturgy of the church; then it was that the leaders of the orthodox party adopted distinct measures for the introduction of a suitable body of Christian hyinns. The hymns of Arius and of the Gnostics were not only the more numerous, but also the more popular, inasmuch as they inculcated practical graces and duties, while the orthodox hymns were few in number and consisted chiefly of dogmatic formulas. But a new era in hymnology was now at hand, in which the great Greek hymns, in large variety, were to be given to the church. 1. The herald of this important movement however was not a Greek, but a Syrian. He is known in history as Ephrem (or Ephraim) Syrus. He was born at Nisibis in northern Mesopotamia, A.D. 307, and died at Edessa, 373. He was the most distinguished father of the Syrian Church, and a voluminous writer on theological and kindred subjects. His zeal for the faith was doubtless heightened by his attendance upon the Council of Nicæa, A.D. 325, when he was only eighteen years old, and thence until his death he was the champion of orthodoxy. His hymns. were written in the same meters as those of the Gnostics, evidently to advance his purpose, and exercised a mighty influence. The great hymnic era was thereby introduced and a large number of hymnographers followed him in both Syriac and Greek. So far, however, as known to the writer, there is no translation of any of his hymns in the collections now in use. GREEK HYMNS The next great name of this era, and the first of its Greek hymnographers, is Gregorius Nazianzenus (St. Gregory Nazianzen). He was born in the town whose name is affixed to his own, in Cappadocia, A.D. 325. His father was a bishop, and he himself became one. He is reckoned as one of the greatest of the Greek fathers. His life was full of adventure. His education, began in Cappadocia, was continued in Alexandria and Athens, continuing for ten years in the latter place, where he was a fellow-student of Julian the Apostate. After serving as his father's coadjutor he was made bishop of Constantinople (A.D. 379), where he spent two years. The closing years of his life were passed in retirement, during which most of his hymns were written. The following verses from the translation of one of Gregory's finest hymns is from "Songs and Hymns of Earliest Greek Christian Poets," by the Rev. Allen W. Chatfield of England. One may derive from it a good idea of his fine culture, his elevated style, and his devout orthodoxy. "O thou the One supreme o'er all! For by what other name May we upon thy greatness call "How, unapproached, shall mind of man And pierce and find thee out, and scan "Unuttered thou! all uttered things “And lo! all things abide in thee, And through the complex whole |