Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

strains of the very highest mood, such as may engage and engross all the noblest faculties, feelings and forces of our nature, and call forth all the loftiest emotions of which the human soul is capable: admiration, veneration, holy love and a sacred and unselfish joy. We must have hymns which shall bring our minds into direct contact with the mind of God, our hearts into sympathy, fellowship and interchange with the heart of infinite Love. Of this class we had already some of the grandest of hymnic compositions. What could surpass in sublimity "O God, of good the unfathomed sea"? What could transcend in majesty the ascription of glory to the attributes of God, beginning "Thine, Lord, is wisdom"? (Hymn 241, ver. 2.) What challenge to worship could be more exhilarating than "Praise ye the Lord, 'tis good to raise"? It breaks upon a congregation like the cheery chime of Sabbath-bells. Generous exultation in the character and works of God, how heavenly is this delighting in Him as the Creator and Conserver of all things, as our covenanted God, "God, even our own God." "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." Yet if in any class of hymns a numerical deficiency could be alleged against our Collection, it was here. This naturally arose from the fact that Methodist services were originally, for the most part, revival services, supplementary to those of the Established Church or Nonconformist congregation. It was just as natural that when Methodism was gradually shaped by the Providence and Spirit of God into a more complete and distinct Church organization, it should introduce into its public services a larger element of adoration and direct worship. Thus the Additional

Hymns and the Supplement considerably increased our resources in this department of the service of song. But in the enlarged HymnBook we have a profusion of "Hymns of Adoration," not by any means confined to the section bearing that title, but forming a large proportion of some other sections, especially the Select Psalms. Amongst these hymns we may instance President Davies' "Great God of wonders!" H. 656, with the adoring refrain

"Who is a pardoning God like Thee?

Or who has grace so rich and free?" ; C. Wesley's fine paraphrase on "In Him we live, etc. ; "the magnificent ascription composed more than a thousand years ago, for simple grandeur unsurpassable, the very culmination of rapturous homage "the quintessence of praise": "The strain upraise of joy and praise." H. 663. As sung and played, for example, between the Lessons, at Beverley Road Chapel, at the last Hull Conference, this is almost overwhelming. Most precious again is the adaptation of Doddridge's "O God of Bethel," H. 664, which has taken such hold on the heart of Scotland, and lights up the fire of holy gratitude on many a Christian hearth. Surely the families that call upon God's name cannot desire a sweeter or more tender upbreathing of domestic devotion! And then the Select Psalms, which we must notice separately, abound in strains of lofty thanksgiving. So where

we were said to have had some scarcity, we have now rich store, and the Methodist chapel need not envy any cathedral hymnary its Glorias and its anthems.

But besides these songs of Christian theism, no hymn-book in Christendom is so replenished with acts of harmonious adoration to the Trinity, and to each of the three glorious

[ocr errors]

Persons distinctly,-Hymns to the Father, to the Son, to the Spirit,—as the psalmody of Methodism. No Unitarian hymn-book, resolutely restricted to that one aspect of revelation, could give fuller, freer or more filial acknowledgment to the Fatherhood of God, than that of a people distinguished by their devotion to the Son and Spirit. But our Collection does not, like theirs, dishonour the Father by dishonouring the Son, or affront the Father and the Son by ignoring the Divine Spirit. The late Professor Maurice justly attributed the wonderful success of Methodism, in great measure, to the clearness, strength and fidelity of its presentation, both in sermon and song, of the distinctive doctrines of the Christian revelation. Methodism was a profoundly theological as well as a practical and popular revival. As Charles Wesley taught us to sing:

"The people that in darkness lay,
The confines of eternal night,
We, we have seen a Gospel day,
The glorious beams of heavenly light;
His SPIRIT in our hearts hath shone,
And showed the Father in the Son."

The bearing of the doctrine of the Trinity on personal experience has never been so luminously displayed as in the Methodist Hymn-Book.

And then the songs of praise to Christ, how frequent and how fervid! The spies of Pliny did not overhear more rapturous "hymns to Christ, as God," at the Sunday morning gatherings of the Christians of the second century, than may be heard in the Methodist congregations of to-day. Mr. Martineau, the best of modern Unitarians, expresses his surprise and humiliation at the fact that Unitarianism has never produced a hymn to compare with "Jesu! Lover of my soul." How should it ? How can the stream of praise rise above its level? Unitarianism could

never, either in earth or heaven, sing the 66 song of Moses and of the Lamb." Yet even this section of the Hymn-Book has received invaluable. accessions. Such are Cowper's beautifully picturesque, exquisitely melodious and touchingly evangelical paraphrase of Proverbs viii. 22—31. "Ere God had built the mountains," H. 667; five fine additional hymns from the Wesley Poetry, 668-670, 673, 674, at once soaringly doctrinal and searchingly experimental; Bishop Doane's deservedly popular, compact little lyric," Thou art the Way, etc.," H. 671, and Dr. Wardlaw's companion hymn (672) on Phil. i. 21, each a consecrated "alabaster-box of spikenard, very precious," with so much in them of the sweet-smelling savour of Charles Wesley. Then we have two other lovely hymns, which form part of the patrimony of the whole Church of Christ: John Newton's "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds," St. Bernard's "Jesu, the very thought of Thee;

besides

Cennick's "Thou great Redeemer, dying Lamb," and Perronet's " All hail the power of Jesu's name": the last two immeasurably inferior to the others in poetic merit, with no claim to admission into a Golden Treasury of sacred literature, but with the authoritative imprimatur of all but universal popularity.

And then what a homage to the Holy Spirit is paid in the Methodist Hymn-Book! as is most meet. The chronicles of Methodism form a grand chapter in the history of the Dispensation of the Spirit. Romanism, naturally and of necessity, slights the Spirit of God. can allow no Comforter to rival Mary; no Paraclete but the painter's idol; no Divine Illuminator Who should presume to do aught but glorify the Vatican and prompt the Pope. Its wild, sensuous,

It

heathenish Virgin-worship requires another afflatus than that of the Holy Ghost. A dignitary of the Established Church, preaching in London not long since, made the comparative neglect of the Spirit, in Anglican hymns and preaching, the subject of his discourse. A member of the English Church who was present remarked afterwards, "He could not make the same complaint of a Methodist chapel." The recognition of the Person and offices of the Divine Spirit is indeed one of the finest and most prominent features of the Prayer-Book; and Monk's five hymns for Whitsuntide, and "Our blessed Redeemer e'er He breathed," are of a high class.

But nowhere is the Spirit's power so acknowledged and invoked as in Methodist psalmody and teaching. But great as was our wealth of hymns on the Spirit our stock has been richly augmented. We have a second version of the Veni Creator, H. 751, besides Dryden's vigorous and musical lines, H. 752, the simpler, more antique and less diffuse, though less stately, rendering in the Ordination Service. The third line in the second verse of Dryden's rendering is also much improved by the substitution of "thrice holy" for "immortal fire." Then we have King Robert's sweet and homely triplets, "Holy Ghost! my Comforter," H. 753; then, five fresh Pentecostal psalms from the Wesley poetry, all pulsing with the genius and the faith of our own sweet singer; Hs. 757, 758, 760, 761, 766. Hymn 759 of the enlarged book is substantially the same as Hymn 653 of the old Supplement, but a clear advantage is gained by the restoration of the hymn to its original integrity. Every sensitive reader must have been struck with the strange inferiority in workmanship of the first

[ocr errors]

three verses of the hymn as it stands in the Supplement to that of the rest of the composition; the former is mere prentice-work," the latter bears the unquestionable impress of the master's hand. The fact is, the three tame verses which now yield place to the genuine, are of uncertain authorship, and were unaccountably substituted for the far happier lines of Charles Wesley himself. The hymn in its original form and late rescension has a clear continuity and artistic oneness; it is 66 woven from the top throughout." The intruded verses were like an unfulled patch on a royal robe.

Then we have Bishop Heber's "Spirit of truth! on this Thy day," H. 767, with its tranquillizing rhythm and its gleaming antitheses, like one of Goldsmith's lyric gems. Next comes William M. Bunting's heart-touching, almost heart-breaking, confession of secret sins; preparatory to the Renewal of the Covenant: "Holy Spirit! pity me," H. 768; which falls upon the soul like the measured beat of muffled bells, all solemn-sweet; subduing and yet soothing; with its unforced alliterations and clean-carved contrasts. After this we hail one of the few hymns in which the genius of Lynch does itself justice, "Gracious Spirit, dwell with me!" H. 769, with a strange ring of William Bunting in it, but less pensive, bolder and more buoyant, with ever and again a hint of Charles Wesley's animation and vigour. Then, another of William Bunting's "Blest Spirit! from the eternal Sire;" a prayerful and penitent presentation of the Spirit's offices, yet piercingly practical, e.g. :—

"If e'er to forms of truth I gave

The homage due, great Lord, to Thee, E'er deemed the cross could, spell-like,

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

In catholicity of Christian sympathy and sentiment, the HymnBook is a model and a marvel. Its range of authorship, as to time, place, denomination and schools of religious thought is wonderful. Not to mention versions of the Hebrew psalms, nearly all the Christian centuries have been laid under contribution, from the simple matin-song of St. Ambrose, in the fourth century of our era, to the freshest compositions of living writers. As to geographical association, our Collection might almost be called an International Exhibition of sacred poetry: not the three kingdoms only, but France, Spain, Germany, Italy, America and India, have furnished intellectual fabrics of the finest texture and the loveliest form. In this Hymn-Book, as in heaven, all the churches of the saints, and all the forms and classes in the school of Christ, form one accordant choir, in which the harmony is the more perfect, the more ecstatic, from the fact that all the parts are sung. We have patristic psalms, mediæval melodies, hymns of the Reformation, Anglican anthems, the very flower of Nonconformist psalmody, the most rapturous strains of German pietism, Moravian minstrelsy in its healthiest tones, a recent Roman Catholic composition,* in addition to our own

* It is noteworthy that Mr. Pearsall

unrivalled Wesleyan wealth of song. All parties in the Established Church, High, Broad and Low, have reached a common meeting-place at last—in the Hymn-Book of the Methodists. Bishop Wordsworth finds in the Methodist pulpit a trysting-tree, in the Methodist singing-pew a platform, where he holds sweet fellowship, not only with Deans Alford, Milman and Stanley, and Archdeacon Hare, but also with John Newton and Hugh Stowell; and beyond this can fraternize in the ministry of song with God-anointed, God-acknowledged men whose endowments and commission in other sacred services he refuses to recognise. Here too all shades of Revelation-revering Nonconformity blend in one broad bow of melting, sunlit truth, which touches the zenith, and unites the opposite horizons of eternal verity. Here, the too selfreliantly and impulsively speculative, and therefore restless and at times bewildered, Lynch is heard. most touchingly imploring the great Spirit's light, along with the brightfaced, bright-faithed Raffles and the evangelic, enterprising Reed. fact, on all the forts of Zion, whether looking north or south, towards the sunset or the sunrising, the "watchmen lift up the voice; with the voice together" do" they sing:" and through all the variations of tone and accent, bewraying but the province or the personality of each, there ring the same glorious watchwords: the love of the Father, the redeeming pity of the Son, and the sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost.

In

And surely thus it ought to be! How hateful and how harmful, to hear a sectarian Shibboleth or Sibboleth hissing through the psalmody of

Smith has published a selection from Faber's hymns, with preface by his own pen.

a Church, like the sibilation of a serpent in the garden of God! The acknowledgment and adoption of that which is good and true in an individual or a system by no means involves complicity in or condonation of the error and the evil. The admission of Dean Stanley's poem on the Transfiguration does not commit us to an almost creedless, almost Churchless Christianity, any more than the reception of Bishop Wordsworth's lofty hymns on the Ascension, and his sweet, spiritstirring Sabbath song (Hs. 720, 958), makes us party to his unworthy attempt to compel

a

Methodist minister to engrave a denial of his commission and an insult to his brotherhood on the tombstone of his dead.*

And catholicity of taste is quite as prominent in the HymnBook as that of Christian sympathy. Here we have the three varieties which Inspiration enjoins: not only "psalms and hymns," but also "spiritual songs." We have as wide a range of style as of subject, from the loftier flights of consecrated genius to humble and homely effusions which scarcely rise above the level of metrical prose: the latter, compared with the former, being but as the chirping and twittering of the sparrow and the swallow in the eaves of the temple, in contrast with the song of saint and seraphim within. a Hymn-Book designed for all ranks, temperaments and stages of intellectual culture, must have this variety, this contrast. Even amongst persons of equal educational advantages, what strange divergences of taste! What Sir Robert Peel said of political convictions is to the full as true of taste in psalmody: to

And

* It is pleasant to record that no one gave permission to include copyright hymns in the Methodist Collection more handsomely than Bishop Wordsworth.

its formation "the feelings of the heart have contributed more than * If, the slow process of reasoning. according to the proverb, tastes are not proper subjects of disputation, then they are very improper subjects for dogmatism or uncompromising disagreement. No Methodist can without gross arrogance wish to make his personal tastes, and those of his present sympathizers, normal to the whole Connexion. To any one who would even like to see his own preferences and antipathies dominate throughout the hymnody of his Church, one can only put the patriarch's question, "Should it be according to thy mind?" Doubtless, it will require some time for the newlyacquired hymns to gather about them the endearing prestige of strains familiar from our childhood. It cannot reasonably be expected that every one who has rejoiced in the rich flavour of the old hymns will straightway desire the new. one will be surprised to hear his neighbour say, "The old is better." Several years elapsed before the Supplement could make good its foothold in the affections of many, whose tastes had been formed on the model of the older sections. No less a poet and critic than Montgomery pronounced the Supplement, as compared with the Hymn-Book, to be "as the Apocrypha compared with the Bible." And he was not the only one to whom that indefensible analogy at first occurred. Yet the Supplement won its way. And we have no misgiving as to the speedy popularity of the recently adopted hymns. In any case, there could scarcely be a more unsuitable, a more perversely chosen subject of contention, or occasion of discord, than the very organ of harmony, the vehicle of acvery

No

* Speech on Repeal of the Union, 1834.

« AnteriorContinuar »