Hymnology
Hymnology "Poetry and its twin sister music are the most sublime and spiritual arts, and are much more akin to the genius of Christianity, and minister far more copiously to the purposes of devotion and edification than architecture, painting, and sculpture. They employ word and tone, and can speak thereby more directly to the spirit than the plastic arts by stone and color, and give more adequate expression to the whole wealth of the world of thought and feeling. In the Old Testament, as is well known, they were essential parts of divine worship; and so they have been in all ages, and almost all branches of the Christian Church. Of the various species of religious poetry, the hymn is the earliest and most important. It has a rich history, in which the deepest experiences of Christian life are stored. But it attained full bloom (as we will notice below) in the evangelical Church of the German and English tongue, where it, like the Bible, became for the first time truly the possession of the people, instead of being restricted to priest or choir" (Schaff, Ch. History). "A hymn is a lyrical discourse to the feelings. It should either excite or express feeling. The recitation of historical facts, descriptions of scenery, narrations of events, meditations. may all tend to inspire feeling. Hymns are not to be excluded, therefore, because they are deficient in lyrical form or in feeling, if experience shows that they have power to excite pious emotions. Not many of. Newton's hymns can be called poetical, yet few hymns in the English language are more useful" (Beecher, Preface to the Plymouth Collection). The hymn, as such, is not intended to be didactic, and yet it is one of the surest means of conveying "sound doctrine," and of perpetuating it in the Church. The Greek and Latin fathers well understood this. Bardesanes (see below) "diffused his Gnostic errors in Syriac hymns; and till that language ceased to be the living organ of thought, the Syrian fathers adopted this mode of inculcating truth in metrical compositions. The hymns of Arius were great favorites, and contributed to spread his peculiar doctrines. Chrysostom found the hymns of Arian worship so attractive that he took care to counteract the effect of them as much as possible by providing the Catholic Church with metrical compositions. Augustine also composed a hymn in order to check the errors of the Donatists, whom he represents as making great use of newly composed hymns for the propagation of their opinions. The writings of Ephraem Syrus, of the 4th century, contain hymns on various topics, relating chiefly to the religious questions of the day which agitated the Church." Yet a mere setting forth of Christian doctrine in verse does not constitute a hymn; the thoughts and the language of the Scriptures must be reproduced in a lyrical way in order to serve the needs of song. The most popular and lasting hymns are those which are most lyrical in form, and at the same time most deeply penetrated with Christian life and feeling. Nor can hymns, in the proper sense of the word, be other than popular. The Romish Church discourages congregational worship, and therefore she produces few hymns, notwithstanding the number of beautiful religious compositions, which are to be found in her offices, and the fine metrical productions of the Middle Ages, of which more in a later portion of this article. Hymns for Protestants, being "composed for congregational use, must express all the varieties of emotion common to the Christian. They must include in their wide range the trembling of the sinner, the hope and joy of the believer; they must sound the alarm to the impenitent, and cheer the afflicted; they must summon the Church to an earnest following of her Redeemer, go down with the dying to the vale of death, and make it vocal with the notes of triumph; they must attend the Christian in every step of his life as a heavenly melody. There can be nothing esoteric in the hymn. Besides' this, the hymn, skillfully linked with music, becomes the companion of a Christian's solitary hours. It is the property of a good lyric to exist in the mind as a spiritual presence; and thus, as a 'hidden soul of harmony,' it dwells, a soul in the soul, and rises, often unsought, into distinct consciousness. The worldly Gothe advised, as a means of making life less commonplace, that one should 'every day, at least, hear a little song or read a good poem.' Happier he who, from his abundant acquaintance with Christian lyrics, has the song within him; who can follow the purer counsel of Paul, and 'speak to himself in hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in his heart to the Lord' (Eph 5:19)" (Methodist Quarterly, July, 1849). For the vocal execution of hymns as a part of Church service, SEE SINGING; and for their instrumental accompaniments, SEE MUSIC.
On the question of the use of hymns of human composition. in the Church, there were disputes at a very early period. The Council of Braga (Portugal), A.D. 563; forbade the use of any form of song except psalms and passages of Scripture (Canon 12). On this subject, Bingham remarks that it was in ancient times "no objection against the psalmody of the Church that she sometimes made use of psalms and hymns of human composition, besides those of the sacred and inspired writers. For though St. Austin reflects upon the Donatists for their psalms of human composition, yet it was not merely because they were human, but because they preferred them to the divine hymns of Scripture, and their indecent way of chanting them, to the grave and sober method of the Church. St. Austin himself made a psalm of many parts, in imitation of the 119th Psalm; and this he did for the use of his people, to preserve them from the errors of Donatus. It would be absurd to think that he who made a psalm himself for the people to sing should quarrel with other psalms merely because they were of human composition. It has been demonstrated that there always were such psalms, and hymns, and doxologies composed by pious men, and used in the Church from the first foundation of it; nor did any but Paulus Samosatensis take exception to the use of them; and he did so not because they were of human composition, but because they contained a doctrine contrary to his own private opinions. St. Hilary and St. Ambrose made many such hymns, which, when some muttered against in the Spanish churches because they were of human composition, the fourth Council of Toledo made a decree to confirm the use of them. together with the doxologies 'Glory be to the Father,' etc., 'Glory be to God on high,' threatening excommunication to any that should reject them. The only thing of weight to be urged against all this is a canon of the Council of Laodicea, which forbids all ἰδιωτικοὺς ψαλμούς, all private psalms, and all uncanonical books to be read in the Church. For it might seem that by private psalms they mean all hymns of human composition. But it was intended rather to exclude apocryphal, hymns, such as went under the name of Solomon, as Balzamon and Zonaras understand it, or else such as were not approved by public authority in the Church. If it be extended further, it contradicts the current practice of the whole Church besides, and cannot, in reason, be construed as ally more than a private order for the churches of that province, made upon some particular reasons unknown to us at this day. Notwithstanding, therefore, any argument to be drawn from this canon, it is evident the ancients made no scruple of using psalms or hymns of human composition, provided they were pious and orthodox for the substance, and composed by men of eminence, and received by just authority, and not brought in clandestinely into the Church" (Orig. Eccles. bk. 14:ch. 1).
The Christian Church, in all periods, has been accustomed, as we have already stated, to use psalms and hymns in public worship. The psalms are portions of the Psalms of David; the hymns are human compositions. On the history of singing in worship generally, SEE PSALMODY, under which head will also be given an account of the standard hymnbooks in the several evangelical denominations.
I. Ancient Hymns. — A few hymns have come down to us from very remote antiquity. "Basil cites an evening hymn from an unknown author, which he describes as in his time (4th century) very ancient, handed down from the fathers, and in use among the people. Dr. J. Pye Smith considers it the oldest hymn extant. The following is his translation of it: "Jesus Christ, Joyful light of the holy! Glory of the Eternal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father! Having now come to the setting of the sun, beholding the evening light, we praise the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God. Thou art worthy to be praised of sacred voices, at all seasons, ( Son of God, who givest life. Wherefore the universe glorifieth thee!" (Coleman, Ancient Christianity, ch. 16:§ 5). From the letter of the elder Pliny to Trajan we know that as early as the beginning of the 2nd century the Christians praised Christ as their God in songs; and from Eusebius (Eccles.
Hist. 5, 28) we learn that there existed a whole multitude of such songs. But the oldest hymn to Christ, remaining to us complete from the period of persecution, is that of Clemens Alexandrinus (q.v.). It is given in full Greek and Latin, in Coleman (1. c.): see also Piper Cementis Hymnus is Salvatorem (Götting. 1835), and Balt, Defensio fidei Nicceae, § 111, ch. 2, cited by Coleman. "Though regarded as a poetical production, it has little claim to consideration; it shows the strain of the devotion of the early Christians: we see in it the heart of primitive piety laboring to give utterance to its emotions of wonder, love, and gratitude, in view of the offices and character of the Redeemer. It is not found in the later offices of the Church, because, as is supposed, it was thought to resemble, in its measure and antiphonal structure, the songs used in pagan worship" (Coleman, Prim. Church, p. 370). The oldest Christian hymn-writers, however, were mostly Gnostics in their doctrines, and they seem to have used their songs as "a popular means of commending and propagating their errors." The first of these was Bardesanes, in the Syrian Church of the 2nd century, who wrote in imitation of the Psalms 150 hymns, with Gnostic additions. Valentinus of Alexandria belongs also to the oldest hymn- writers (comp. Muinter, Odae Gnosticae, Copenh. 1712). The Gloria in Excelsis (q.v.), which is still retained in use, is ascribed to the third century. SEE ANGELICAL HYMN.
1. Oriental and Greek. — The Therapeutae in Egypt sang in their assemblies old hymns transmitted by tradition. When, under Constantine the Great, Christianity became the religion of the state, the hymns acquired the importance of regular liturgical Church songs. Ephraem Syrus (q.v.), in the 4th century, who may be considered as the representative of the whole Syrian hymnology, sought to bring the heretical hymns of the Gnostics into disuse. In the Eastern Church the hymns of Arius had, by their practical Christian spirit, acquired more popularity than the orthodox hymns, which consisted mostly of an assemblage of dogmatic formulas. To oppose this tendency, Gregory of Nazianzum and Synesius composed a number of new orthodox hymns but, not being adapted to the comprehension of the people generally, these did not become popular, and thus failed to answer the purpose of the writers. Sacred poetry in general began to decline among the Greeks; and as in the next century the strife concerning the adoration of Mary and the saints began, the orthodox hymns became mere songs of praise to these. Such are the hymns of Cosmas, bishop of Majumena (780); Andreas, bishop of Crete (660-732); Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople (634-734); John Damascenus in the 8th century, and Theophanes, metropolitan of Nicea, and Josephus, deacon of Constantinople, in the 9th.
In the history of hymnology, Schaff distinguishes three periods, both in the Greek and Latin Church poetry:
(1.) that of formation, while it was slowly throwing off classical meters and inventing its peculiar style, down to about 650;
(2.) that of perfection, down to 820;
(3.) that of decline and decay, to 1400, or to the fall of Constantinople. "The first period, beautiful as are some of the odes of Gregory Nazianzen and Sophronius of Jerusalem has impressed scarcely any traces on the Greek office books. The flourishing period of Greek poetry coincides with the period of the image controversies, and the most eminent poets were at the same time advocates of images; pre-eminent among them being John of Damascus, who has the double honor of being the greatest theologian and the greatest poet of the Greek Church. The flower of Greek poetry belongs, therefore, to a later division of our history. Yet, since we find at least the rise of it in the 5th century, we shall give here a brief description of its peculiar character. The earliest poets of the Greek Church, especially Gregory Nazianzen in the 4th, and Sophronius of Jerusalem in the 7th century, employed the classical meters, which are entirely unsuitable to Christian ideas and Church song, and therefore gradually fell out of use. Rhyme found-no entrance into the Greek Church. In its stead the metrical or harmonic prose was adopted from the Hebrew poetry and the earliest Christian hymns of Mary, Zacharias, Simeon, and the angelic host. Anatolius of Constantinople († 458) was the first to renounce the tyranny of the classic meter and strike out a new path. The essential points in the peculiar system of the Greek versification are the following: The first stanza, which forms the model of the succeeding ones, is called in technical language Hirmos, because it draws the others after it. The succeeding stanzas are called Troparia (stanzas), and are divided, for chanting, by commas, without regard to the sense. A number of troparia, from three to twenty or more, form an Ode, and this corresponds to the Latin Sequence, which was introduced about the same time by the monk Notker in St. Gall. Each ode is founded on a hirmos, and ends with a troparion in praise of the holy Virgin. The odes are commonly arranged (probably after the example of such Psalms as the 25th, 112th, and 119th) in acrostic, sometimes in alphabetic order. Nine odes form a Canon. The older odes on the great events of the incarnation, the resurrection, and the ascension, are sometimes sublime; but the later long canons, in glorification of unknown martyrs, are extremely prosaic and tedious, and full of elements foreign to the Gospel. Even the best hymnological productions of the East lack the healthful simplicity, naturalness, fervor, and depth of the Latin and of the evangelical Protestant hymn.
"The Greek Church poetry is contained in the liturgical books, especially in the twelve volumes of the Menmea, which correspond to the Latin Breviary, and consist, for the most part, of poetic or half poetic odes in rhythmic prose. These treasures, on which nine centuries have wrought, have hitherto been almost exclusively confined to the Oriental Church, and, in fact, yield but few grains of gold for general use. Neale has latterly made a happy effort to reproduce and make accessible in modern English meters, with very considerable abridgments, the most valuable hymns of the Greek Church. We give a few specimens of Neale's translations of hymns of 't. Anatolius, patriarch of Constantinople, who attended the Council of Chalcedon (451). The first is a Christmas hymn, commencing in Greek: Μέγα καὶ παράδοξονθαῦμα.
'A great and mighty wonder, The festal makes secure: The Virgin bears the Infant With Virgin-honor pure.
The Word is made incarnate, And yet remains on high: And cherubim sing anthems To shepherds from the sky.
And we with them triumphant Repeat the hymn again: "To GOD on high be glory, And peace on earth to men!" While thus they sing your Monarch, Those bright angelic bands, Rejoice, ye vales and mountains Ye oceans, clap your hands!
Since all He comes to ransom, By all be He adored, The Infant born in Bethlehem, The Savior and the LORD!
Now idol forms shall perish, All error shall decay And CHIRST shall wield His scepter, Our LORD and GOD for aye.'
Another specimen of a Christmas hymn by the same, commencing ἐν Βηθλεέμ:
'In Bethlehem is He born! Maker of all things, everlasting God! He opens Eden's gate, Monarch of ages! Thence the fiery sword Gives glorious passage; thence, The severing mid-wall overthrown, the powers Of earth and Heaven are one; Angels and men renew their ancient league, The pure rejoin the pure, In happy union! Now the Virgin-womb Like some cherubic throne Containeth Him, the Uncontainable: Bears Him, whom while they bear The seraphs tremble! bears Him, as He comes To shower upon the world The fullness of His everlasting love!'
One more on Christ calming the storm, ζοφερᾶς τρικμίας, as reproduced by Neale:
'Fierce was the wild billow, Dark was the night; Oars labor'd heavily; Foam glimmer'd white; Mariners trembled; Peril was nigh; Then said the God of God, "Peace! It is." Ridge of the mountain-wave, Lower thy crest!
Wail of Euroclydon, Be thou at rest! Peril can none be Sorrow must fly Where saith the Light of light, "Peace! It is I.
Jesu, Deliverer! Come Thou to me: Soothe Thou my voyaging Over life's sea! Thou, when the storm of death Roars sweeping by, Whisper, O Truth of truth! "Peace! 'tis I."
2. Latin Church. — Of far more importance to the Christian Church than the Greek are the Latin hymns produced in the earlier ages, or the period covering the 4th to the 16th centuries. Though smaller in compass, Latin hymnology far surpasses the Greek "in artless simplicity and truth, and in richness, vigor, and fullness of thought, and is much more akin to the Protestant spirit. With objective churchly character it combines deeper feeling and more subjective appropriation and experience of salvation, and hence more warmth and fervor than the Greek. It forms in these respects the transition to the evangelical hymn, which gives the most beautiful and profound expression to the personal enjoyment of the Savior and his redeeming grace. The best Latin hymns have come through the Roman Breviary into general use, and through translations and reproductions have become naturalized in Protestant churches. They treat, for the most part, of the great facts of salvation and the fundamental doctrines of Christianity" (Schaff, Ch. Hist. 2, 585). But many of them, like the later productions of the Greek Church, are devoted to the praises of Mary and the martyrs, and are vitiated with all manner of superstitions. One of the oldest writers of Latin hymns is Hilary of Poitiers (Pictaviensis), who died in 368. Banished to Phrygia, he was incited by hearing the singing of Arian hymns to compose some for the Orthodox Church, and among these productions his Lucis largitor splendide is the most celebrated. There is no doubt that the authorship of a great many hymns is spurious, especially in the case of Ambrose (q.v.), bishop of Milan, who died in 397, and who is generally considered the proper father of Latin Church song. Among his genuine productions we find the grand hymns O lux beata trinitas; Veni redemptor omnium; Deus creator omnium, etc. The so-called Ambrosian song of praise, Te deum laudamus, "by far the most celebrated hymn," formerly ascribed to Ambrose, "which alone would have made his name immortal," and which, with the Gloria in excelsis, is "'by far the most valuable legacy of the old Catholic Church poetry, and which will be prayed and sung with devotion in all parts of Christendom to the end of time," he is said to have composed for the baptism of Augustine. But it is now agreed by our best critics that this hymn was written at a later date (Schaff, Ch. Hist. ii, 592). Another distinguished hymn writer of the Middle Age was Augustine, 'the greatest theologian among the Church fathers († 430), whose soul was filled with the genuine essence of poetry." He is said to have composed the resurrection hymn, Cum rex gloriae Christus; the hymn on the glory of Paradise, Ad perennis vitae fontem Mens sitivit arida, and others. Damascus, bishop of Rome († 384), who is said to have been the author of the rhyme of which we spoke above, is perhaps not less celebrated than the preceding names. Very prominently rank also Prudentins, in Spain († 405), whom Neale calls "the prince of primitive Christian poets," the author of Jam moesta quiesce querela, and others; Paulinus of Nola; Sedulius, who composed two Christmas hymns, A solis ortus cardine and Hostis Herodes impie; Enodius, bishop of Pavia († 521); and Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers (about 600), who wrote the passion hymns, Pange lingua gloriosi Praelium certaminis and Vexillca regis prodeunt. These hymns (the text and translations of most of which are given by Schaff, 1. c.) soon became popular, and though many of them, long in use in the Church, were not to be set aside, still the Council of Toledo (633) recommended the use only of such hymns as those of Hilary, Ambrose, etc., in public worship. Gregory the Great, who introduced a new system of singing into the Church SEE GREGORIAN CHANT, also composed hymns, among others the Rex Christefactor omnium; Primo dierum omnium, generally regarded as his best, etc. After him the most noteworthy hymn-writers are Isidorus, bishop of Sevilla; Eugenius, Ildefonsus, and Julianus, bishops of Toledo; and Beda Venerabilis. Charlemagne (8th century), who introduced the Gregorian chant into France and Germany, also attempted sacred poetry, and is said to be the author of the Pentecost hymn, Veni creator spiritus, though others ascribe it, and perhaps on better grounds, to Rhabanus Maurus. Alcuin and Paulus Diaconus also composed hymns. Although Christianity, during that century and the next, spread through France, Germany, and northwards, yet Latin hymns remained in exclusive use during the whole of the Middle Ages, as the clergy alone took an active part in divine worship. In the 9th century appeared some noteworthy hymn-writers. Theodulf, bishop of Orleans, whose Gloria laus et honor tibi was always sung on Palm Sunday; Rhabanus Maurus; Walafrid Strabo, the first German hymn- writer; Notker († 912), who introduced the use of sequences and recitatives in the hymns, and composed the renowned alternate chant, Media vita in morfe sumus. During the 10th and 11th centuries sacred poetry was cultivated by the Benedictines of Constance, among whom Hermann of Veringen († 1054) was especially distinguished. King Robert of France wrote the Pentecost hymn, Veni sancte ritus; Petrus Damiani wrote also penitential hymns. To the 11th century belongs the alternate hymn to Mary entitled Salve Reginae mater misericordiae. In the 12th century hymnwriting flourished, particularly in France, where we notice Marbord (1123); Hillebert of Tours; Petrus Venerabilis; Adam of St. Victor; Bernard- of Clairvaux, author of the Salve ad faciem Jesu, and the hymn beginning Salve caput cruentatum; Abelard, writer of the Annunciation hymn, Mttit ad virginem; and Bernard of Cluny, author of "The Celestial Country," about A.D. 1145. It was, moreover, a practice of conventual discipline to connect hymns with all the various offices of daily life: thus there were hymns to be sung before and after the meals, on the lighting of lamps for the night, on fasts, etc. In the 13th century the sentimentalism of the Franciscans became a rich source of poetry, and the Latin hymns perhaps attained their highest perfection under writers of that order. Francis of Assisi himself wrote sacred poetry. Among the Franciscan hymn writers are especially to be noticed Thomas of Celano (after 1255), author of the grand Judgment hymn, Dies irae dies illa SEE DIES IRAE; Bonaventura; Jacoponus, who wrote the Stabat mater dolorosa and Stabat mater speciosa. SEE STABAT MATER. Among the Dominicans, Thomas Aquinas distinguished himself by his Pange lingua gloriosi and Lauda Sion Salvatorem. After attaining this eminence Latin hymns retrograded again during the 14th and 15th centuries, and became mere rhymed pieces. The mystics Henry Suso (q.v.) and Thomas a Kempis (q.v.) alone deserve mention among the writers of good hymns.
On hymns of the Ancient and Middle Ages, see Bingham, Oriq. Eccles. bk. 13 chap. 5, and bk. 14 chap. 1; Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, sive hymnorum, etc., collectio amplissima (Leipz. 1841-56, 5 vols. 8vo); a good selection in Königsfeld, Lat. Hymnen und Gesdnge, in which the Latin- and German versions are printed face to face, with an Introd. and notes by A.W. von Schlegel (Bonn, 1847, 12mo, and second collection 1865, 12mo); Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, chiefly Lyrical, with Notes,
etc. (2nd ed. Lond. 1864, 18mo); Coleman, Apostolic and Primitive Church, ch. 12; Coleman, Ancient Christianity, ch. 16; Walch, De Hymnis Eccles. Apostolicae (Jena, 1837); Rambach, Anthologie Christl. Gesange (Altona, 1817-33); Bjorn, Hymni Vet. Patrum Christ. Eccles. (Hafn. 1818); Kehrein, Lateinische Anthologie (Frankf. 1840); (Ultramontane) Mone, Lat. Hymnen des Mittelalters (Freib. 18i53.sq., 3 vols 8vo.); Moll, Hymnasarium (Halle, 1861, 18mo); Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchenleid (Lpz. 1864-65, 2 vols.), part of vol. 1, p. 9-362; Chandler, Hymns of the Primitive Church (Lond. 1837); Neale, Hymns' of the Eastern Church (3rd edit. London, 1866); Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (3rd ed. London, 1867); The Voice of Christian Life in Song, or Hymns and Hymn writers of many Lands and Ages (N.Y. 1864, 12mo); Miller, Our Hymns, their Authors and Origin (Lond. 1866, 12mo); Koch, Gesch. d. Kirchenl. (2nd edit. Stuttgart, 1852 sq., 4 vols., especially, 1, 10- 30); Edilestand du Meril, Poesies populaires Latines anterieres tau douzieme siecle (Paris, 1843); Fortlage, Gesange Christl. Vorzeit (Berlin, 1844); Milman, Latin Christianity, 8:302 sq.; Hill, English Monasticism, p. 324-373 (on mediaeval books and hymns); Rheimvald, Kirchl. Archaöl. p. 262 sq.; Augusti, tiandb. der christl. Archaöl. 2, 106 sq.; Riddle, Christian Antiquities, p. 384 sq.; Martigny, Dict. des Antiquites, p. 475 sq.; Christ. Examiner, 28 art. 1; Christian Remembrancer, 44, art. 4; N. Amer. Rev. 1857, art. 4; and on the first six centuries a very excellent article, first published in the British and Foreign Ev. Rev. (Oct. 1866), in Schaff, Ch. Hist. 3:575 sq.
II. A Modern Hymnography. —
1. German. — The origin of German hymns, which are without question the richest of any in modern tongues, may be traced to the 9th century. But the history of German hymnology, strictly speaking, does not begin earlier than the Reformation. For "it was not until the people possessed the Word of God, and liberty to worship him in their own language, that such a body of songs could be created, though vernacular hymns and sacred lyrics had existed in Germany throughout the Middle Ages. It was then that a great outburst of national poetry and music took place, which reflected the spirit of those times; and on a somewhat smaller scale the same thing has happened both before and since that time. at every great crisis in the history of the German people." The most marked of these periods are, besides the Reformation, the 12th and 13th centuries, or the Crusading period, and- the latter part of the 17th, and 18th centuries. The earliest attempts at German hymns are traced to the 9th century. For some centuries preceding the Roman Church had abandoned congregational singing, and the hymns formed part of the liturgical service performed by the priests and the canonical singers. In some churches, however, the people still continued 'the old practice of uttering the response Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, at certain intervals during the singing of the Latin hymns and psalms, which finally degenerated into a confused clamor of voices. The first attempt to remedy this was made by adding, soon after Notker, who originated the Latin Sequence or Prose, a few German rhymes to the Kyrie Eleison, "from the last syllables of which these earliest German hymns were called Leisen." But as they were never used in Mass service, but were confined to popular festivals, pilgrimages, and the like, they did not come into general use, and it may be said that the real employment of Leisen (or Leiche, as they were also called) did not begin before the 12th century. At that time they had become the common property of the German people, and hymns in the vernacular were freely produced, among them the oldest German Easter hymn, Christus ist auferstanden, attributed to Sperrvogel, which has descended to our own day as a verse of one of Luther's best hymns:
Christ the Lord is risen Out of death's dark prison; Let us all rejoice today, Christ shall be our hope and stay: Kyrie eleison. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Several of the great Latin hymns were also translated into German, and although their use in the Church was more or less restricted, and was always regarded with suspicion by the more papal of the clergy, yet they continued to be favored by the people, as is fully evinced by the quantity of sacred verse written from this time onwards. Thus Wackernagel, in his work on religious poetry, prior to the Reformation (Das deutsche Kirchenleid v. d. altest. Zeit bis zu Anfang d. 17 th Jahrhundert), exhibits nearly 1500 specimens, and the names of no less than 85 different poets, with many anonymous authors. Among the writers named we find not a few of the celebrated knightly mine-singers, as Hartmann von deer Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Walther von der Vogelweide, and others. But the German sacred songs of this time, like the old Latin hymns, were confined to addressing the saints, and, above all, the Virgin Mary. "The former class is not very important, either as to number or to quality; but the Marien-Lielder and, in a minor degree, Annen-Lieder (hymns to Mary and to Anne), constitute a very large anti well-known class among the poems of the ante-Reformation times in Germany. ... They form a sort of spiritual counterpart to the minne-songs or love-songs addressed to his earthly lady by the knight. It was easy to transfer the turn of expression and tone of thought from the earthly object to the heavenly one, and the degree to which this is done is to us very often startling. The honors and titles belonging to our Lord Jesus Christ are attributed to his mother; God is said to have created the world by her, and to have rested in her on the seventh day; she is said to have risen from the grave on the third day, and ascended into heaven; she is addressed not only as a persuasive mediator with her Son, but as herself the chief source of mercy and help, especially in the hour of death and at the day of judgment. By degrees, her mother is invested with some of her own attributes; for it is said, if Christ would obey his own mother, ought not she much more to obey hers? So a set of hymns to Anne sprang up, in which she is entreated to afford aid in death, and obtain pardon for the sinners from Christ and Mary, who will refuse her nothing" (Winkworth, Christiana Singers of Germany, p. 96, 97). SEE HYPERDULIA. It is no wonder that in the face of such extravagances Wackernagel is constrained to say that the existence of so many godless hymns addressed to the Virgin and the saints, or teaching the whole doctrine of indulgences, is an indisputable testimony to the degeneracy into which the nation had fallen, rendering the Reformation necessary; and that the existence of so many breathing an unstained Christianity is at the same time a witness to the preservation of so much true religion as made the Reformation at all possible. The use of German hymns was taken up by the heretical sects that began to spring up under the persecuting influence of Rome. The German Flagellants, the Bohemians, the Waldenses, and the Mystics, who all encouraged the study of the Scriptures, of course favored the singing of German hymns; and they contributed not a few sacred songs themselves to those already existing. Thus the Mystic Tauler (q.v.) (to whom was long attributed the Theologia Germania. in all probability the work of Nicholas of Basle) wrote several hymns, which became widely known. His best, perhaps, are the following:
WHAT I MUST DO.
"From outward creatures I must flee, And seek heart-oneness deep within If I would draw my soul to Thee, O God, and keep it pure from sin," etc.
ONLY JESUS.
"O Jesu Christ, most good, most fair, More fragrant than May's flowery air Who Thee within his soul doth bear, True cause for joy hath won!
But would one have Thee in his heart, From all self-will he must depart; God's bidding only where thou art Must evermore be done.
Where Jesus thus doth truly dwell, His presence doth all tumults quell, And transient cares of earth dispel Like mists before the sun," etc.
A marked improvement, however, took place in German hymnology during the 15th century, especially near its close. The chief hymn-writer of this period was Henry of Laufenberg, who was particularly active in transforming secular into religious songs, as was frequent at this time; he also translated for the Germans many of the old Latin hymns. One of the best specimens of a religious song transformed we cite here. The original was "Innsbruck, I must forsake thee."
FAREWELL.
O world, I must forsake thee, And far away betake me, To seek my native shore; So long I've dwelt in sadness, I wish not now for gladness, Earth's joys for me are o'er.
Sore is my grief and lonely, And I can tell it only To Thee, my Friend most sure! God, let Thy hand uphold me,
Thy pitying heart enfold me, For else I am most poor. My refuge where I hide me, From Thee shall naught divide me,
No pain, no poverty: Naught is too bad to fear it, If Thou art there to share it; My heart asks only Thee.
Many of these transformed hymns were preserved, like the one above cited, through the Reformation. Another very popular hymn, Den liebsten puelen den ich Fan der ist in des Himels Trone, was transformed from the song "Den liebsten puelen den ich han der liegt beim Wirt im Keller." Of the transformation of ballads by the minnesingers into hymns to Mary and Anne we have already spoken. We return, therefore, to Laufenberg, and cite one of his hymns, which well deserves to be called not only one of the best of his age, but one of the loveliest sacred songs that has ever been written. We copy the first stanza of it from Mrs. Winkworth (p. 93):
CRADLE SONG.
Ah Jesu Christ, my Lord most dear, As Thou wast once an infant here, So give this little child, I pray, Thy grace and blessings day by day: Ah Jesu, Lord divine, Guard me this babe of mine!
Laufenberg also wrote and widely introduced the use of many hymns in mixed Latin and German, a kind of verse which was the favorite amusement of the monks, and which had acquired considerable popularityat his time. The best known of these productions was a Christmas carol, dating from the 14th century, In dulci jubilo, Nu signet und seid fro. Peter Dresdensis was generally, but erroneously, regarded as the author of these perhaps properly termed "Mixed Hymns." His real work, however, lay in the strenuous efforts he made to introduce hymns in the vernacular more freely into public worship, especially into the service of the Mass," from which they had, as we have already had occasion to observe, been excluded. But these efforts met with violent opposition from the Church, and the use of hymns in the vernacular still continued to be almost exclusively confined to festivals and like occasions. Among these vernacular hymns are particularly celebrated "Ein Kindelein so lobelich," "Christ fure zu Himmel," "Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeist," "Wir danken dir lieber Herre," etc. After the invention of the art of printing, the followers of Huss, who had formed themselves into a separate and organized Church of their own in 1467 (Bohemian and Moravian Brethren), and who made it one of their distinctive peculiarities to use hymns in the vernacular, as their service was mainly conducted in their mother tongue, especially their prayers, gave new encouragement to the writing of German hymns. In 1504, Lucas, then chief of the Bohemians, collected 400 of the most popular of the German hymns and had them printed. This is "the first example of a hymn-book composed of original compositions in the vernacular to be found in any Western nation which had once owned the supremacy of Rome." Previous to this time, towards the close of the 15th century, there existed two or three collections of German versions of the Latin hymns and sequences, but they are of very inferior merit.
The Reformation in the 16th century marks the next era in the history of German hymnology. The introduction of the vernacular into the liturgy of the Church gave an impulse to the German language that was only eclipsed by Luther's translation of the Bible for the edification and education of the entire German people. But it was Luther's aim not only to furnish his followers the Book of books, but also to introduce everywhere the singing of such hymns as already existed in the vernacular, and by the creation of a taste among the people for German sacred 'song to promote its cultivation. Of this he set himself the best example. As in the cause of religion he knew how to enlist a large circle of eminent men and scholars to carry out his great designs, so also, with a true appreciation of sacred art, both in poetry and song, he soon gathered about him many friends, who became the compilers of several collections of hymns, that were issued from the press at remarkably short intervals. SEE PSALMODY. Luther himself, besides translating anew many of the Latin hymns, "which he counted among the good things that God's power and wonderful working had kept alive amid so much corruption," and, besides transforming or reproducing some four of the early German hymns, composed some twenty-one in the vernacular, most of which are known in our own day by most of the Protestant nations of the globe, and some of which are particular favorites even with the English-speaking people. The special object of the composition of these hymns, into which Luther threw "all his own fervent faith and deep devotion;" was undoubtedly "to give the people a short, clear confession of faith, easy to be remembered. For the doctrines which Luther propagated were yet too new to be well understood by all as he desired them to be. He wished men to know what they professed. Protestantism meant the profession of a faith by choice, and not by compulsion; a belief that was cherished by the confessor, and not a blind following after the teacher. He required a comprehension of his great doctrines of justification by faith, of the one Mediator between God and man, which gave peace to the conscience by delivering it from the burden of the past sins, and a new spring of life to the soul by showing men that their dependence was not on anything in themselves, on no works of their own performance, but on the infinite love and mercy of God, which he had manifested to all mankind in his Son; of his doctrine of the universal priesthood of all believers, which put a new spirit into the Church, by vindicating for every member of it his right and duty to offer for himself the sacrifice of praise and prayer, and to study for himself God's word in the Scriptures" (comp. Winkworth, p. 105). One of Luther's hymns best known to us is that founded on the 46th Psalm, the famous "Marseillaise of the Reformation," as Heine called it. He is generally supposed to have written it on his way to the Diet of Worms. Some, however, think that it was composed at the close of the second Diet of Spire (1529). It has been again and again translated. Mrs. Winkworth gives us the following:
THE STRONGHOLD.
A sure stronghold our God is he, A trusty shield and weapon; Our help he'll be, and set us free, Whatever ill may happen.
That old malicious foe Intends us deadly woe; Armed with the strength of hell, And deepest craft as well
On earth is not his fellow. Through our own force we nothing can, Straight were we lost forever, But for us fights the proper Man
By God sent to deliver. Ask ye who this may be? Christ Jesus named is he, Of Sabaoth the Lord,
Sole God to be adored; Tis he must win the battle. And were the world with devils filled, All eager to devour us,
Our souls to fear should little yield; They cannot overpower us. Their dreaded prince no more Can harm us as of yore;
Look grim as e'er he may, Doomed is his ancient sway, A word can overthrow him. Still shall they leave that world its might,
And yet no thanks shall merit; Still is he with us in the fight By his good gifts and Spirit. E'en should they take our life,
Goods, honor, children, wife, Though all of these were gone, Yet nothing have they won God's kingdom ours abideth!
Another hymn of Luther's which has gained a worldwide circulation is the one that was written by him on the burning of two martyrs for their faith at Brussels in 1523, and which was translated, or, rather, transformed by D'Aubigne in his History of the Reformation, beginning,
"Flung to the heedless winds, Or on the waters cast, Their ashes shall be watched, And gathered at the last," etc.
As an example of the songs he transformed most successfully, we quote the old ditty,
"O thou naughty Judas! What hast thou done, To betray our Master, God's only Son!
Therefore must thou suffer Hell's agony Lucifer's companion Must forever be. Kyrie, Eleison!"
This Luther changed to the following:
"Twas our great transgression And our sore misdeed Made the Lord our Saviour On the cross to bleed.
Not then on thee, poor Judas, Nor on that Jewish crew, Our vengeance dare we visit- We are to blame, not you. Kyrie, Eleison!
"All hail to thee, Christ Jesus, Who hungest on the tree, And bor'st for our transgressions Both shame and agony. Now beside thy Father
Reignest thou on high; Bless us all our lifetime, Take us when we die! Kyrie, Eleison!"
(Christian Examiner, 1860, p. 239 sq.)
Of the friends whom Luther was successful in enlisting as writers for his new hymnbooks we have space here to mention only the most prominent names. One of them, Justus Jonas, was a colleague of Luther and Melancthon at the University of Wittenberg. His special service was the transformation of the Psalms into metrical German versions, "'choosing, as one can well understand, those which speak of David's sufferings from his enemies, and his trust in God's deliverance." One of his best is on the 124th Psalm, beginning thus:
"If God were not upon our side, When foes around us rage; Were not Himself our Help and Guide, When bitter war they wage Were He not Israel's mighty Shield, To whom their utmost crafts must yield, We surely must have perished."
Another of Luther's co laborers was Paul Eber, whose hymns have "a tone of tenderness and pathos which is much less characteristic of this period than the grave, manly trustfulness of Luther and Jonas." But they became very extensively known, and during the trying period of the Thirty-years' War they were constantly heard both in public and around the family hearthstone. A special favorite at that time was the one, composed when the imperial armies were besieging Wittenberg (1547), beginning:
"When, in the hour of utmost need, We know not where to look for aid, When days and nights of anxious thought Nor help nor comfort yet have brought,
Then this our comfort is alone, That we may meet before Thy throne, And cry, O faithful God, to Thee, For rescue from our misery."
Two of Eber's hymns for the dying have been great favorites by the side of deathbeds and at funerals, not only among the German Protestants, but also among the Roman Catholics. The one is Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott (Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God); the other is the following childlike expression of perfect trust, beautifully rendered by Mr. Winkworth (p. 12):
DEATH IN THE LORD.
"I fall asleep in Jesu's arms, Sin washed away, hushed all alarms, For his dear blood, his righteousness, My jewels are, my glorious dress,
Wherein before my God I stand When I shall reach the heavenly land. With peace and joy I now depart, God's child I am with all my heart:
I thank thee, Death; thou leadest me To that true life where I would be. So cleansed by Christ I fear not Death, Lord Jesu, strengthen thou my faith!"
But Luther and his associates were only the founders of the new German hymnology, which soon spread over a much more extended field. Hymn- writers became common all over the land, and their number is legion, so that it is almost impossible for us, in our limited space, to give more than a brief account of the most distinguished, and the names only of those of lesser note. Thus Nicholas Decius, a converted monk, produced a translation of the Gloria in Excelsis ("Allein Gott in der Hoh', sei Ehr.," All glory be to God on high), which, with its noble chorale, soon came into use all over Germany. Paul Speratus (von Spretten), the chaplain of the duke of Prussia, is perhaps the most noted of all the hymnologists of this period, and is best known as the author of the hymn on the doctrine of Justification by faith:
"Salvation hath come down to us Of freest grace and love, Works cannot stand before God's law, A broken reed they prove; Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, He must for all our sins atone, He is our one Redeemer."
This, in Luther's day, was as popular among the Germans as one of his own hymns. Indeed, it is said that when Luther first heard it sung by a beggar on the roadside he gave him the last coin he had. Princes also became sacred poets, such as the margrave of Brandenburg and Hesse, known as the author of:
"Grant me, eternal God, such grace That no distress May cause me e'er to flee from Thee," etc.
The elector John of Saxony was also, at that time, courted among hymn- writers, but it now appears that he never wrote any hymns himself, although he was passionately fond of them. Hans Sachs (1494-1576), the celebrated and popular poet of this period, also wrote sacred verse, and figures not less prominently than the persons whose names we have already mentioned. The most famous of his hymns he wrote during the siege of Nuremberg, his native city, in 1561: "Why art thou thus cast down, my heart?" (Warum betrübst du dich mein Herz?). He wrote also a very beautiful hymn on the explicit confidence in the saving merits of Christ, entitled "The Mediator," which is translated by Mrs. Winkworth (Christ. Sing. p. 134). Among the Bohemian Brethren, who. as is well known, were on intimate terms with the Lutherans, Michael Weiss is distinguished both as the translator of Bohemian hymns into German, and as the author of a number of beautiful German hymns. Two of them, "Once he came in blessing," and the well-known "Christ, the Lord, is risen again" (Christus ist erstanden von des Todes Banden), translated into English by Mrs. Winkworth, may be found in her Lyra Gernanica, 2, 62, and in Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 15, 259. Not less worthy of notice, though perhaps not quite so prominent in their day, are Johann Matthesius († 1561) and Nicholas Hermann († 1561). The former wrote, among others, the beautiful morning hymn, "My inmost heart now raises" (Aus meines Herzen's Grunde), which was a favorite with king Gustavus Adolphus Hermann's hymns are to be found in nearly all German hymn-books. Among his best hymns are' Lobt Gott ihr Christen allzugleich, and Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist. Mrs. Winkworth gives Matthesius's "Miner's Song" (p. 144) and Hermann's "Hymn for the Dying." In the latter half of the 16th, and even at the opening of the 17th century, a gradual decline is manifest in the quality of the hymns, though the quantity continued. They were now no longer the spontaneous production of men of all classes, moved to worship God in songs of praise, but the work of professional hymnologists. "Still this period, too, has some very good and fine hymns, but a marked change of tone is perceptible in most of them; they are no longer filled with the joyful welcome of a new day: they more often lament the wickedness of the age, and anticipate coming evil times, or the end of the world itself." Most prominent among the hymn-writers of this period are the following:
(1.) Ambrose Lobwasser, who translated the French Psalter of Marot and Beza; but the literary merit of the work was rather mediocre. "It does not rise above the level of a sort of rhymed prose, and it furnished an unfortunate model for a flood of very prosaic rhymed paraphrases of doctrinal statements or passages of Scripture, which became wonderfully numerous at this time."
(2.) Bartholomaeus Ringwaldt (1530-98) is the author of the hymn, in England erroneously attributed to Luther, "Great God, what do I see and hear," which was written in imitation of the "Dies irae, dies illa." He really deserves to be placed first among the hymnologists of this period. It is incorporated in the New Congregational Hymn-book (London), No. 420. His hymns partake of the penitential style, by which, as above remarked, this period is characterized. One of his best on "Penitence" Mrs. Winkworth has clothed in English dress (p. 149).
(3.) Nicolaus Selnecker (1530-92), author of Gleich wie sein Haus der Vogel baut, based on the 84th Psalm.
(4.) Louis Helmboldt, the poet laureate of the emperor Maximilian, who wrote "The true Christian's Vade-Mecum" (From God shall naught divide me, Mrs. Winkworth, p. 154), which is contained in all German hymn- books, "and has rooted itself among the people." To this period belong also Martin Schalling (15321608), among whose hymns Herzlich lieb hab' ich Dich o Herr ("O Lord, I love thee," in Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 609) is best known; Kaspar Melissander ("Herr, wie du willst, so schick's mit mir"), Mart. Moller, Mart. Behemb. Mart. Rutilius ("Ach; Herr u. Gott, wie gross u. schwer!"), Job. Pappus ("Ich hab mein Sach' Gott heimgestellt"), and more especially Philip Nicolai (1556-1608), who was the first to reintroduce, after the Reformation, the mystical union of Christ with the soul in his hymns, whence they have often been called the 'Hymns of the Love of Jesus." His two best hymns have gained a remarkable popularity, "and are indeed admirable for their fervor of emotion and mastery over difficult but musical rhythms." They are, Wachet auf; ruft uns die Stimme ("Wake, awake, for night is flying," in Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 382; in the New Congregational Hymn-book, No. 749), and Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern ("How lovely shines the Star," Christ in Song, p. 551), which latter especially "became so popular that its tunes were often chimed by city bells, lines and verses were printed from it by way of ornament on the common earthenware of the country, and it was invariably used at weddings and certain festivals." All German hymnbooks still contain it, though in a somewhat modified form.
The tempest of war which for thirty years swept over Germany, and caused a tale of disasters from which it would seem society could have never recovered, even promoted, or at least did not impede in any way, the literary and intellectual activity of the German mind; and this period is not only recognized as having been signalized by "a great outburst of religious song," but as having produced the most famous hymnologists of Germany. First among these stands the great Martin Opitz (1597-1639), of the Silesian school of German poets, who greatly improved all German poetry. He wrote many versions of some of the epistles, and of many of the Psalms, and of the Song of Solomon. But his original versions are by far the best; e.g. his morning hymn, "O Light, who out of Light wast born" (Winkworth, p. 173). Next to him we find Paul Fleming (q.v.) (1609-40), author of "In allen unseren Thaten." But most famous at this time were undoubtedly Johann von Rist (q.v.) (1607-67), Johann Heermann (q.v.) (1685-1647), and, a little later, Paul Gerhard (q.v.) (1606-76), who was the greatest of them all, "the prince of German hymnists." Rist wrote as many as 600 to 700 religious poems and hymns, "intended to supply every possible requirement of public worship or private experience." His best are perhaps "Werde munter mein Gemuthe," "Auf, auf ihr Reichsgenossen," and "Werde Licht, du Volk der Heiden" (translation in Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 118). Heermann's best hymns are "Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen" (Christ in Song, p. 171), "Jesu. deine tiefe Wunden," "Zion Klage mit Angst u. Schmerzen" (Winkworth, p. 198), "Fruth Morgens da die Sonn' aufgeht" (Christ in Song. p. 263), and "O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht" (Christ in Song, p. 116). Very beautiful is the following (transl. by Mrs. Winkworth):
IN TEMPTATION.
"Jesu, victor over sin, Help me now the fight to win. Thou didst vanquish once, I know, Him who seeks my overthrow; So to Thee my faith will cleave, And her hold will never leave,
Till the weary battle's done, And the final triumph won; For I too through Thee may win, Victory over death and sin."
In Gerhard's hands the German hymn reached its highest perfection, and his name is to the German justly dearer than that of any other save Luther. His hymns are "'pervaded by a spirit of the most cheerful and healthy piety- a piety which shows itself not merely in direct devotion to God and to Christ, but in a pure and childlike love of nature, and good will towards men. They exemplify Coleridge's lines:
'He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.'
They have the homely simplicity of Luther's, and a strength like his, if not quite equal to it, with a versatility, smoothness, and literary finish not to be found hi Luther's, and unsurpassed in any period of German hymnology" (Christian Examiner, 1860, p. 247). Gerhardt has been aptly considered "the typical poet of the Lutheran Church, as Herbert is of the English;" but it must not be thought that he was by any means a voluminous writer. On the contrary, he only wrote altogether about 120 hymns. His life and writings have been dwelt upon so much in detail that we can do no better here than leave him with a few words of tribute so ably paid by Mrs. Winkworth: "His hymns seem to be the spontaneous outpouring of a heart that overflows with love, trust, and praise; his language is simple and pure; if it has sometimes a touch of homeliness, it has no vulgarism, and at times it rises to a beauty and grace which always gives the impression of being unstudied, yet could hardly have been improved by art.
His tenderness and fervor never degenerate into the sentimentality and petty conceits which were already becoming fashionable in his days, nor his penitent and sorrow into that morbid despondency . for which the disappointments of his own life might have furnished some excuse." Other hymn-writers of this period are Andreas Gryphius (1616-64) of the same country as Opitz, and, like him, also a great writer of secular literature; Martin Rinkart (q.v.), the writer of Nun danket alle Gott ("Let all men praise the Lord"); Simor Dach (q.v.), author of Ich bin ja Herr in Deinec Maccht; Heinrich Albertus (1604-68), whose best hymn is considered to be Gott d. Himnels u. d. Erden; Geors 'Weissel (first half of the 17th century), who wrote Mach hoch die Thür. die Thor macht weit (in Christ in Song, p 17); the electoress Louisa Henrietta of Brandenburg who composed in 1649, after the death of her first husband, the hymn Jesus, meine Zuversicht, well known in the English dress, "Jesus, my Redeemer, lives" (see Christ; in Song, p. 265); Ernst Chr. Homburg (1605-81), whose hymns were published together under the title Geistliche Lieder (Naumb. 1758). Perhaps his best hymn is Jesu meines Lebens Leben, or "Christ, the life of all the living' (Christ in Song, p. 183); another, hardly less beautiful, is his well-known "Man of Sorrows." Johann Frank (1618 77), "who ranks only second to Gerhardt as a hymn writer, and, with him, marks the transition from the earlier to the later school of German religious poetry," published his sacred songs under the title of Geistliches Zion (Guben, 1764). One of his best is Schmücke dich o liebe Seele, "Deck thyself, my soul" (Winkworth, Lyra Germanica, ii, 133; Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 590). We add here only Georg Neumark (q.v.) (1621-81), for a time professor of poetry and poet laureate at the University of Königsberg, whose most famous hymn is Wer nut den lieben Gott lasst walten, "Leave God to order all thy ways" (Lyra Germanica, p. 152); J.M. Meyfarth (15901642), Jerusalem du hochgebaute Stadt, translated in the Christian Examiner, 69, 254 ("Jerusalem, thou high-built, fair abode"), and in Lyra Germnanica, 2, 285); Friedrich V. Spee (1591 or 1595-1635), a Roman Catholic, who labored earnestly to introduce vernacular hymns into the divine service of his Church. wrote Auf, auf, Gott will gelobet sein; Johann Jacob Balde (160368), also a Roman Catholic, but he wrote mostly in Latin (his sacred poems being published under the title of Carmina Lyrica); Georg Philippians Harsdorfer (1607-58), of Southern Germany; A.H. Buchholz (1607-71); Johann Olearius (1611-84), belonging to a family who in this century were hymn-writers of some note.
Angelus Silesius (1624-77) (as a Lutheran, Johann Scheffer) wrote beautiful hymns, 205 of which were published under the title of Heilige Seelenlust, oder Geistliche Hirtenlieder (Bresl. 1657, and often). Particularly excellent are his Ich will dich lieben meine Stairke ("Thee will I love, my strength, my tower"), and Liebe, die Du sich zum Bilde ("O Love, who formedst me," in Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 414; Christian Examiner, 69, 245). Angelus was the founder of the so-called second Silesian School of poets, as Opitz is regarded as the leader of the first. They wrote both secular and religious poetry, but the latter far excels the former. To this school belonged Homburg,. mentioned above; the two countesses of Schwarzburg Rudolfstadt; Knorr V. Rosenroth (1636-89), who wrote the lovely little hymn, Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit ("Dayspring of eternity"); Christian Scriver, author of Jesu meiner Seele Leben, and others; Sigismund v. Birken (1626-81), who, with Harsdorfer, already noticed, belonged to the sentimental school; Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer (1635-99), G. Hoffmann, B. Pratorius, Johann Neunherz, Kaspar Neumann who wrote Auf mein Herz des Herrn, also Tug, O Gott von dem wir Alles haben, and many others.
In striking contrast with the formal and unspiritual hymns of the second Silesian school stand the poetical writings of the so-called Pictists, originating with Spener, "who for nearly a hundred years exerted a most powerful influence both on the religious and social life of Germany." The representatives of this school are Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705); his friend and associate, August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), the founder of the Halle Orphan Asylum; Anastasius Freylinghausen, a son-in-law of Franke, who wrote 44 hymns, and published (1704) a collection which remained for some generations the favorite collection for private reading among pious persons in Germany. To the same period belong J. C. Schade; Fr. von Canitz; Joachim Ner ander (1640-80), of the Reformed Church, who wrote Lobe den Herrn den Machtigen; Johann C. Schütz, author of Sei Lob u. Ehr dent hochsten Gut; Christian Tittius; Adolph Drese; Samuel Rodigast, who composed in 1675 the world-renowned Was Gott that, das ist wohlgethan ("Whate'er my God ordains is right"); J. Ad. Hasslocher; Christ. Pressovius; Laur. Laurenti, whose best hymn Dr. Schaff designates Ermunztert euch ihr Frommen ("Rejoice all ye believers," in Christ in Song p. e 383); J. B. Freistein; C. Ginther. Halt im Gedachtniss e Jesum Christ; Sal. Liskovius; J. T. Breithaupt; J. Lange; J. D. Herrnschmid; Christ. F. Richter; J. G. 'Wolf; Chr. A. Bernstein; Chr. J. Koitsch; J. Tribechov vius; J. J. Winkler; J. H. Schrider; J. E. Schmidt; P. Lackmann; J. Chr. Lange; L. A. Gotter; B. Crasselius, Heiligster Jesu Heiligungsquelle; M. Müller; A. Hinkelmann; H. G. Neuss; A. Creutzberg; J. Muthmann; Ernst Lange (1650-1727), Im Abend blinkt der Morgenstern, or "The wondering sages trace from far" (Christ in Song, p. 120); L. J. Schlicht; C. H. von Bogatzky, the celebrated author of the "Golden Treasury" (Das goldene Schatzkstlein), also one of the compilers of the "Cothen Hymn-book;" J. J. Rambach; T. L. K. Allendorf L. F. F. Lehr; J. S. Kunth; E. G. Woltirsdorf, and many others. There were also the Wurtembergers, the best representatives of the pietism of South Germany, of whom Albert Bengel (1687-1732) may be looked upon as a prominent leader, though as a hymn-writer he was far excelled by another great light of this section of Germany, Philip Friedrich Hiller (1699-1769), who took Paul Gerhardt for his model. He published several volumes of hymns, of which the "Casket of Spiritual Songs" (Geistliches Liederklstlein), containing only his own sacred songs, "obtained very wide popularity," and is "still the commonest book in Wirtemberg next to the Bible itself" (Winkworth, p. 283 sq.). Here deserve mention, also, J. R. Hedinger, S. Urlsperger, F. O. Hilleri Ph. H. Weissensee, E. L. Fischer, J. Chr. Storr, —
Ph; D. Bark, Chr. Fr. Ottinger, Chr. K. L. von Pfeil; J. T. von Moser, and still others. The school of Spener developed the Mystics and Separatists, who also furnished a number of contributors to hymnology; but, although some of them were quite able, the influence of the new schools, as a whole, on hymnology "was, for the most part, simply mischievous, and their hymn-books contain about the worst specimens to be found-poor as poetry, fiercely intolerant towards their fellow-Christians, and full of a fantastic and irreverent adoration of the Redeemer" (Winkworth, Christian Singers of Germany, p. 290). The only hymnologists who really deserve praise are Gottfried Arnold (1666-1714) and Gerhard Tersteegen (16971769). The former, although an extensive writer on Church History, etc., is, indeed, best remembered in our day by his hymns, of which he wrote 130, and among them several of very great beauty. Perhaps the best of Arnold's hymns is his deeply thoughtful "How bless'd to all thy followers, Lord, the road," etc. Tersteegen (q.v.), who, although he never actually separated from the Reformed Church to which he belonged, was none the less "a Mystic of the purest type," wrote more than 100 hymns; but he has become especially familiar to English-speaking Christians by the English dress which Wesley gave to two of his best hymns-" Lo! God is here; let us adore," and "Thou hidden love of God, whose height," etc. Lesser lights of these schools are J. Dippel, J. W. Petersen, G. Arnold, and others.
Here also, finally, deserve notice the hymn-writers of the Moravians, who have had no despicable influence on hymnology. Of especial credit are a few of count Zinzendorf's hymns, who, unfortunately, cared more for their quantity than their quality; he wrote more than 2000, many of which, naturally enough, found a place in English hymn-books. His own sect has inserted 128. Charles Wesley also translated some of them. Among his best are "Jesus, still lead on" (Jesu geh voran), and "Jesus, thy blood and righteousness" (Christi Blut u. Gerechtigkeit). We might also mention in the same connection J. Nitschmann, Chr. David, L. J. Dober, F. von Watteville, A. G. Spangenberg, Louisa von Hayni, and others.
By the end of the century the influence of pietism had made itself felt even among the so-called "orthodox," who imitated the Pietists in producing many hymns which may be counted among the best written at this time. Of the representatives of this school we name a few: Benjamin Schmolke, who wrote more than 1000 hymns, many of which have been translated into English. Among his best we count "Welcome victor in the strife"
(Wilkommen Held ims Streite), and "Heavenward doth our journey tend" (Himamelan geht unsre Bathn). Wolfgang G. Dessler wrote Wie wohl ist mir o Freund der Seelen (Christ in Song, p. 491, 555, 342); and Salomon Frank; Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele ("Deck thyself, my soul," in Lyra Germanica, 2, 133; Christ in Song, p. 590). Here deserve mention, also, Erdmann Neumeister, B. Marperger, J. G. Hermann, J. Chr. Wentzel, F. Fabricius, P. Busch, J. Lehmus, and others; of the Reformed Church: J. J. Spreug, C. Zollikofer, and, later. J. E. Lavater.
Modern German Hymnologists. — Towards the close of the 18th century Germany was waking to a new era in literature. But the philosophic, or, as some acutely call it, "the critical doubting" religion of this period by no means affected hymnology favorably, "for really good hymns must have in them something of the nature of the popular song; they must spring from a cordial, unquestioning faith, which has no misgivings about the response it will evoke from other hearts." The influence of the Leibnitz-Wolfian philosophy, and of Gottsched's school of poetry, caused the sacred songs to be of a dry, stiff, and artificial style. "Even the classical hymns, though consecrated by association, could no longer satisfy the more pedantic taste of the age, and there sprang up a perfect mania for altering them, and for making new collections of such modernized versions.... These alterations generally consisted in diluting the old vigor, substituting 'virtue' for 'holiness' or 'faith,' 'the Supreme Being' for 'our faithful God,' and so on," so that these modified hymns may be said to have been changed from religious to moral songs. SEE PSALMODY. One, however, whose songs, on account of their "rational piety and quiet good taste," deserve especial praise, is Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (q.v.). Other hymnologists of this time, for the mention of whose names we have only space here, are J. A. Schlegel, J. F. von Cronegk, J. P. Uz, J. F. Lowen, J. S. Diterich, J. S. Patzke, J. F. Feddersen, B. Münter, J. F. Mudre, H. C. Heeren, J. A. Hermes, F.W. Loder, J. Eschenburg, J. Chr. Frobing, S. G. Biirde, Chr. F. Neander, B. Hang, Christ. G. Goz, and others. The pathetical direction was taken by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (q.v.), in his Aufersteh'n, ja aulfersteh'n. He was followed by J. A. Cramer, a very popular hymnologist, and a friend of Gellert and Klopstock, G. P. Funk, C.W. Ramler, Chr. Chr. Sturm, A. H. Niemeyer, Chr. F. Dan, Schubart, and others.
But the one really "great step" that was made in German hymnology at this time was the official sanction of the use of vernacular hymns in the Roman Catholic churches of South Germany and Austria. Naturally enough, many of the Roman Catholic hymns of the period are translations from the Latin; many of the original compositions follow closely in style both Gellert and Klopstock; nay, the productions of several Protestant hymnologists, especially those of the two last-named poets, were even used in the Roman Catholic Church, of course often in a somewhat modified and even distorted form. , Of their own hymn-writers, the following deserve especial mention: J. M. Sailer (bishop of Ratisbon), J. M. Fenneberg, J. H. C. von Wessenberg, J. Sperl, and J. Franz. Here deserve notice also the Moravians, Chr. Gregor, H. von Bruiinigk, C. von Wobeser, G. H. Loskiel, J. J. Bossart, and others; the Würtemburgers, C. F. Hartmann, W. L. Hosch, Chr. Ad. Daun, I. Hahn, Christ. G. Pregizer; in other German provinces, C. Liebich, Mat.th. Claudius, J. G. Schiner; and in the Reformed Church, H. Annoni, F. A. Krummacher, Jung-Stillilg, G. Menkein; the forerunner of the latest period is Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis).
Present German Hymnology. — The most modern period begins with the war of liberation (1813-15), and with the reawakening of a genuine religious life, which, after all, is slowly gaining the upper hand over that generally supposed dominating skepticism. Although in the modern productions the subjective greatly predominates, and they are still rather the work of art instead of popular songs, yet they do not quite attain to the force and condensed pregnancy of the classic hymns, so that there is very apparent in them a striving after objectivity, and "they have at least much sweetness, earnestness, and simplicity." To the Romantic school of which Novalis was mentioned belong E. M. Arndt, M. von Schenkendorf, Fr. H. de la Motte Fouque, Louise Hensel, and Fr. Rückert. Of the other latest Lutheran hymnologists, whose most prominent representatives are Alb. Knapp,Vict. Strauss, J. C. Ph. Spitta, Chr. R. H. Puchta, C. A. Doring, deserve mention here: Chr. C. J. Asscelenfeld, J. F. Bahnmaier, Chr. G. Barth, J. Bentz, Ed. Eyth, F. A. Feldhoff, G.W. Fink, W. R. Freudenthal, C. von Grüneisen, W. Hey, Christ. G. Kern, J. Fr. Möller, Chr. F. H. Sachse, R. Stier, and Chr. H. Zeller; among the Reformed, J.P. Lange. Among the Moravians, the highest rank in this period belongs to J. B. von Albertini, one of their bishops, whose hymns, it is said, Schleiermacher asked to have read to him in his dying hours. C. B. Garve here deserves also high encomiums as a hymnologist. Among the Roman Catholics, whose prominent model is Spee, "with all the defects, no less than the beauties of style," the Virgin serving as the most usual theme, M. von Diepenbrock deserves especial mention. The extent of German hymnology may be inferred from the fact that the Evangelical Church alone has produced no less than 80,000 hymns. SEE PSALMODY. (J. H. W.)
2. English. — The sacred poetry of England antedates by many generations its true hymnology. The author of England's Antiphon (George Macdonald) devotes an interesting chapter to the sacred lyrics of the 13th century, in which he gives specimens of genuine devotional song from the Percy Society publications, taken from MSS. in the British Museum, and ascribed to the reign of Edward I. "Mary at the Cross," "The Mourning Disciple," and the "Canonical Hours" of William of Shoreham furnish illustrations of most tender and scriptural verse, but are written in a dialect that needs frequent translation into modern English. The "Miracle Plays" were originally introduced by the Normans after the Conquest, and are written in Norman French, but in 1338 the pope permitted them to be translated into English. In this 14th century "the father of English poetry," Geoffrey Chaucer, gave a new voice to Christian song. It was full two hundred years from his advent before England produced another really great poet. But the age of Elizabeth, as if to make up for the barrenness of preceding centuries, is remarkable for the great number of its writers of sacred verse, as well as for its other literary prodigies. In a selection made and edited by Edward Farr, Esq., for the "Parker Society," consisting. chiefly of devotional poems, he has given the names and brief biographical notices of no less than one hundred and thirty-seven different authors. Among the illustrious writers of sacred verses in this era we find queen Elizabeth, archbishop Parker, Edmund Spenser, George Gascoigne, Michael Drayton, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, the Fletcher brothers Giles and Phineas, Dr. Donne, George Withers, Lord Bacon, the countess of Pembroke (sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and joint author with him of a version of the Psalms). Later still we find quaint old Philip Quarles, and Robert Southwell, the martyr monk, and their contemporary, sweet George Herbert. The great dramatists of that golden age have left here and there some outbursts of deep religious poetry and song, which at least show forth their obligations to the Bible and to the Christianity of the period. Haywood, Shirley, and Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shakespeare, greatest of all, swell the hymnic chorus. But the dramatic gave way gradually to lyric poetry, and in the succeeding century we have an increasing number of devout poets, of whom the immortal Milton must always be the chief. Yet the singular fact remains that during all these ages there was "nothing like a People's Hymn-book in England." It is true that Christian worship was not without its temple songs. The Psalms of David, the Te Deum, the Magnificat, the Glorias, and the "Song of the Angels," the "Ambrosian Hymn," and some of the hymns of the Middle Ages, were chanted in the churches and cathedrals. But the so-called hymns of Spenser and Milton, and of minor writers, never entered into the Christian heart, life, and worship of British Christianity. Germany possessed a classic literature of this sort a century and a half before England had a hymnal. The rude version of the Psalms by Sternhold and Hopkins, the smoother but' insipid version of Brady and Tate which superseded it, and the more faithful Scottish version, which was the work of an English Puritan (Rouse), were sung by those whose stern revolt against Romanism led them to reject even what was really good and scriptural in her order of worship and liturgical books. The faults of the age are conspicuous in its poetry. It is intellectual, metaphysical, reflective, literary, full of "quips,. and cranks, and wanton wiles;" cumbrous and overdone. With very few exceptions, there is nothing that people would care to sing, or could sing, for there is little of that emotional element which goes out in musical expression. The rhymes are rude and irregular, and the very art of the poetry seems to defy any attempts to set it to popular music. For "people cannot think and sing; they can only feel and sing." Even Milton's magnificent hymn, "On the Morning 'of Christ's Nativity," is not adapted to common Sabbath worship; and there are few of George Herbert's verses that survive in the songs of the sanctuary.
The period succeeding this revival of literature produced some Christian poets of note, and a few hymns, which survive their authors. Bunyan, and Baxter, and Jeremy Taylor all wrote verses, but their prose had more of poetry in it than their attempts at song. Among those whose good old hymns have stood the test of time, we must not forget the Rev. John Mason, of Water-Stratford, who died in 1694, author of "Come, dearest Lord, and feed thy sheep, on this sweet day of rest," "Now from the altar of our hearts," "What shall I render to my God?" etc. He published a volume of "Spiritual Songs" in 1686. Dr. Watts borrowed much from him. The good non-juror, bishop Ken (1637-1711), bequeathed to Christendom his famous "Morning and Evening Hymns," and that matchless doxology, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." Next comes Joseph Addison, whose elegant version of the nineteenth Psalm, commencing "The spacious firmament on high," first appeared in the Spectator in 1712, at the close of an article on "the right means to strengthen faith;" and about the same time was published his sweet paraphrase of the twenty-third Psalm. Perhaps the most familiar of his hymns is that beginning "When all thy mercies, O my God." SEE ADDISON.
The Reformation in England did not, as in Germany, grow by the spontaneous utterance of popular Christian song. That was left for the period of the great evangelical revival, which crowned the last century with its blessings. All that had been done before was as the broad and deep foundation-work, rude and unchiseled, but strong and essential to the majestic superstructure, which has risen upon it. The stream of Christian verse flowed on in its old channels until the publication of the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts began a new era in English hymnology. The poet Montgomery says that "Dr. Watts may almost be called the inventor of hymns in our language, for he so far departed from all precedent that few of his compositions resemble those of his forerunners, while he so far established a precedent to all his successors that none have departed from it otherwise than according to the peculiar turn of mind of the writer, and the style of expressing Christian truth employed by the denomination to which he belonged." Dissenter as he was, his Psalms and Hymns are so catholic in their spirit that many of them have been adopted by all denominations of Protestant Christians in their Sabbath worship. His Divine Songs for Children, and some of his Psalms, will live while' the language endures. The defects of his style are obvious in many of his lyrics, which evince haste and negligence, faulty rhymes, and a prosing feebleness of expression. Yet he broke bravely through the mannerisms of preceding ages, and inaugurated a style of Christian hymnology which has alike enriched the evangelical poetry of the English tongue, and filled the temples and homes of the race that speaks that language with the most delightful praises of the Most High. His example was soon followed with success by others. But to him belongs the undisputed honor of being the great presenter of the immense chorus which he will forever lead in these glorious harmonies. His first hymn was given to the Church under circumstances of prophetic interest. He had complained to some official in the Independent church of Southampton, of which his father was a deacon. "that the hymnists of the day were sadly out of taste." "Give us something better, young man," was the reply. The young man did it, and the Church was invited to close its evening service with a new hymn, which commenced,
"Behold the glories of the Lamb Amidst His Father's throne; Prepare new honors for His name, And songs before unknown."
From that time his ever-ready muse gave forth, in strains which are almost divine, "harmonies" for his Savior's name! and "songs before unknown." We need only indicate a few of the first lines: "When I survey the wondrous cross," "My God, the spring of all my joys," "When I can read my title clear," "Come, ye that love the Lord," "Come, let us join our cheerful songs," "He dies, the friend of sinners dies." His "Cradle Hymn" has taught countless mothers and children to sing of Jesus, and the angels and manger of Bethlehem: "Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber." It was while looking out from his quiet chamber window at Southampton "upon the beautiful scenery of the harbor and river, and upon the green glades of the New Forest on its farther bank, that the idea suggested itself of the image of the heavenly Canaan," which he soon embodied in those sweetest of all his verses, "There is a land of pure delight," etc. SEE WATTS.
Only seven years before the first edition of Watts's Hymns was given to the world, Philip Doddridge was born (1702); and before the death of his great predecessor, whose verses cheered his own dying hours in a distant land, he had published most of his sweetest hymns. Some of these are imperishable, for they have become part of the spiritual life of our Protestant Christianity. Many of them grew out of and were appended to his sermons, which he crystallized into such hymns as "Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love" (Heb 4:9), "Jesus, I love thy charming name" (1Pe 5:7). His Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, which was written at the suggestion of Dr. Watts, and has beep translated into the leading languages of Europe, and his Family Expositor of the New Testament, are monuments of his wonderful religious power and usefulness. But his hymns will be sung where his larger works are never heard of, and the world will never cease to echo the strains of such songs as "Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve!" "Hark, the glad sound, the Savior's come!" "Grace, 'tis a charming sound," "Ye golden lamps of heaven, farewell!" SEE DODDRIDGE.
The most voluminous and successful of all English hymnists is the Rev. Charles Wesley. Over seven thousand psalms and hymns were written by his facile pen; and these were merely the by-play of a tireless itinerant evangelist, who, with his more celebrated brother John, himself also a hymn-writer of no mean powers, preached the Gospel in the Old and New worlds, and gave a new style to Christian song. Their history, labors, persecutions, and triumphs are so well known that we need only mention their sainted names. John Wesley was the author or translator of several excellent hymns, and a capital-critic on hymnology. Of Charles Wesley's hymns a large number have taken a more than classic place in our poetic literature. The Christian Church will never cease to sing "Oh love divine, how sweet thou art!" "Jesus, lover of my soul," "Hark! the herald angels sing,""The earth with all its fullness owns," "Come, let us join our friends above." Dr. Watts said of Charles Wesley's inimitable rendering of the wrestling of Jacob at Peniel with the angel, "That single poem, 'Wrestling Jacob,' is worth all the verses which I have ever written." Doubtless much of the power of his hymns is attributable to the circumstances which gave rise to them, and to his facility in giving them the most fresh and vivid forms of expression. On the last projecting rock on Land's End, Cornwall, he stood and wrote that memorable hymn," Lo! on a narrow neck of land," etc. His judgment hymn, commencing "Stand, the omnipotent decree," and two others, were written and published in 1756, just after the destruction of the city of Lisbon by an earthquake. "Glory to God, whose sovereign grace," was written for the Kingswood colliers, whose wonderful conversion, under the preaching of Whitefield and the Wesleys, was among the miracles of grace which attended their apostolic ministry. "Oh for a thousand tongues, to sing my great Redeemer's praise," commemorates his own spiritual birth, and was written in response to a German friend, the Moravian Peter Boehler, who said to him, when hesitating to confess publicly his conversion, "If you had a thousand tongues you should publish it with them all." Another powerful accessory of the Wesleyan hymns was the music with which many of them were accompanied. The great composer Handel set some of them to noble tunes, the MSS. of which are still preserved in the library of Cambridge University. But their greatest interest and success doubtless comes from their scriptural character, their immense range over all varieties of Christian experience, and their intimate relation to the great revival of religion of which these remarkable men and their compeers were the leading instruments. (A striking illustration of all these features is given in the hymn at once expository and experimental-of which we have space for only part of one stanza:
"Tis mystery all-the Immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design? * * * Tis mercy all! let earth adore: Let angel minds inquire no more.")
They were among the providential and gracious developments of a period whose influences, at the end of a hundred years, are yet only beginning to show forth the high praises of their Master. SEE WESLEY, JOHN and SEE WESLEY, CHARLES.
We have given more space to these celebrated hymn writers because of their historical relations to the new sera of devotional and sanctuary song which they introduced. From that period the number, variety, and excellence of the contributions to our Christian lyrics has increased, until the hymnology of the English 'tongue is second only to that of Germany in volume and diversity. The literary' character of these productions has been raised to a higher standard, and their scriptural and experimental value has been tested both by their denominational uses, and by that truly catholic spirit which has made them the property of the Church Universal. Inferior compositions have been gradually dropped, and replaced by others of undoubted merit, until the collections of the various Christian churches have overflowed with the very best hymns of all ages. The most remarkable evidence of these statements is found in the recent attention given to the history and literature of our sacred poetry by English and American writers, who have patiently explored the whole field, and have garnered its treasures in many admirable collections. Referring our readers to these accessible publications, we can devote the limited space left in this article only to brief notices of the principal contributors to the volume of divine praises since the Wesleys died.
Of their contemporaries, we can never forget Augustus Toplady (1741- 1778), and his almost inspired hymn, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me," and others of his excellent collection. SEE TOPLAY. Nor will the churches cease to sing the magnificent strains of his theological opponent, Thomas Olivers (1725-1799), in his judgment hymn, beginning "Come, immortal King of glory." SEE OLIVERS. Along with them came William Williams (1717-1791), the Methodist "Watts of Wales," singing "O'er the gloomy hills of darkness," and "Guide me, oh thou great Jehovah;" and John Cennick, the devout Moravian, to whom we are indebted for two of the finest hymns ever written-" Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings," and "Lo! he comes with clouds descending." The latter has been erroneously attributed to Olivers, in whose judgment hymn are stanzas which it resembles in some respects, but a close inspection shows them to be entirely different productions. Cennick's hymn first appeared in a "Collection of Sacred Hymns" in 1752. SEE CENNICK. Next in order appeared the collection of hymns by the Rev. Benjamin Beddome (1717- 1795), a Baptist clergyman, whom a London congregation could not tempt to leave his little flock at Bourton, where he labored fifty-two years, and preached and sang of Jesus. He was the author of "Did Christ o'er sinners weep?" "Faith, 'tis a precious grace," "Let party names no more," etc. Thomas Haweis, chaplain to the countess of Huntington, a theological author of note, and one of the founders of the London Missionary Society (1739-1820), was the author of over two hundred and fifty hymns, some of which are favorites still; but to the countess herself, the patron and friend of Whitefield, and Berridge, and Romaine, we are indebted for such undying-hymns as "Oh! when my righteous judge shall come," "We soon shall hear the midnight cry." She died in 1791, at the age of eighty-four, having devoted her fortune and life to the cause of Christ. Some of the sweetest hymns for the Church and the home which this age produced were written by the daughter of a Baptist clergyman at Broughton, Miss Anne Steele (1716-1778). She withheld her name from her poems, but the English-speaking Christian world still sings from its myriad hearts and tongues, "Father, whatever of earthly bliss," "Jesus, my Lord, in thy dear name unite All things my heart calls great, or good, or sweet," etc.; "Come, ye that love the Savior's name;" and some of her sacramental hymns are fine specimens of Christian song.
The next hymnbook of importance that appeared in Great Britain was the Olney Hymns, which is the joint production of those gifted and illustrious men, so different in their characters and lives, and yet so united in the love of Christ-the Rev. John Newton and William Cowper. To this book Newton furnished two hundred and eighty-six hymns, and Cowper sixty- two. It was published first in 1779, before Cowper's reputation as a poet was made. The hymns were written between 1767 and 1779, and doubtless would have contained more of Cowper's contributions but for a return of his insanity. The history of these noble coworkers for Christ is too well known to require more than this allusion. Their deep personal experiences are written in many of their delightful verses, and reflected in the Christian life of succeeding generations. Who that remembers Newton's marvelous conversion, and his subsequent life of piety and distinguished usefulness, until his death at the age of eighty-two (1807), will not appreciate the fervor with which he sang,
"Amazing grace! how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me;"
or
"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer's ear;"
or
"Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings;"
or
"Day of judgment, day of wonders, Hark! the trumpet's awful sound?"
SEE NEWTON, JOHN. And the English language itself must die before Cowper's plaintive music ceases to vibrate through believers' souls in those almost perfect hymns in which he wrote out and yet veiled the strange, sweet, and attractive experiences of his own religious life: "To Jesus, the crown of my hope," "Far from the world, O Lord, I flee," "Oh! for a closer walk with God," "There is a fountain filled with blood," "God moves in a mysterious way." It has been well said by Dr. Cheever that "if Cowper had never given to the Church on earth but a single score of those exquisite breathings of a pious heart and creations of his own genius, it had been a bequest worth a life of suffering to accomplish." SEE COWPER. 5
It was long before another bard arose to take up the lyre, which this gentle singer laid down. A few strains come floating through the succeeding years, such as Robinson's "Come, thou fount of every blessing," and "Jesus, and can it ever be, a mortal man ashamed of thee!" written in 1774 by Thomas Green of Ware, then a precocious boy of only ten years! Of female hymnists we have at this period Mrs. Barbauld (1743-1825) and Jane Taylor, both of whom left some sweet hymns for the sanctuary. The former will be best remembered by her beautiful lines on the death of a believer" Sweet is the scene when Christians die;" the latter by her Hymns for Infant Minds. To them we must add Miss Hannah More (1744-1833), whose practical Christian prose writings possess a masculine vigor and Biblical earnestness, and whose poetry, although not of the highest order, yet often overflows with melody and tender feeling. Her Christmas hymn, "Oh! how wondrous is the story of our Redeemer's birth," is a favorable specimen. Among the minor poets of this period we mention Dr. John Ryland, born in, 1753, author of "In all my Lord's appointed ways," "Lord, teach a little child to pray," "Sovereign Ruler of the skies," "O Lord, I would delight in thee;" and the Rev. John Logan, who died in 1788, at the age of forty, a Scottish preacher famed for his eloquence, who wrote such hymns as "Where high the heavenly temple stands," "Oh, city of the Lord, begin the universal song," "Oh God of Bethel! by whose hand thy people still are fed," "The hour of my departure's come," etc. To the poet of the poor, Rev. George Crabbe, we are indebted for those delightful lines, "Pilgrim, burdened with thy sin, come the way to Zion's gate;" and to Rev. Samuel Medley, a Baptist minister of Liverpool (1738-1799), for the stirring lyrics, "Mortals, awake! with angels join," and "Awake, my soul, in joyful lays." The name of Henry Kirke White (1785-1808) will ever live in the splendid hymn in which he sang the story of the birth of the Redeemer and of his own conversion, "When marshaled on the mighty plain." From his pen also flowed those characteristic hymns beginning "The Lord our God is full of might," "O Lord, another day is flown," "Through sorrow's night and danger's path." SEE HENRY K. WHITE. The coronation hymn, "All hail the power of Jesus' name," was written by the Rev. Edward Perronet, an English dissenting clergyman, who died at Canterbury in 1792, exclaiming, "Glory to God in the height of his divinity, glory to God in the depth of his humanity, glory to God in his all-sufficiency, and into his hands I commend my spirit!" The grand tune which has always been associated with these lines was composed for them by a Mr. Shrubsole, a friend of the author, and organist at the chapel of Spa Fields, London, 1784-1806. We can only allude in a sentence to the well-known occasional hymns of the great poets, Pope and Dryden, Wordsworth, Campbell, Moore, Southey, and some of their associates.
But the Church Universal owes a greater debt to James Montgomery (1771-1854). No man since the days of Cowper has added so many admirable versions of the Psalms and noble hymns to the English language as this gifted Moravian, whose prolific muse never ceased to lavish its treasures until. at fourscore years, he went up higher. His paraphrase of the seventy-second Psalm, commencing "Hail to the Lord's anointed," is a classic full of the old Hebrew fire and of the best modern missionary spirit. His "Thrice holy" (Isa 6:3), beginning "Holy, holy, holy Lord," seems to blend the voices of "saints and seraphim" in one glorious prophetic anthem. Of his other hymns we need only name the Hallelujah, "Hark! the song of Jubilee;" the Christmas choruses, "Angels from the realms of glory," and "Hail to the Lord's anointed;" the song of heaven," Forever with the Lord;" the hymn on the death of an aged minister, "Servant of God, well done," written in memory of his friend, Rev. Thomas Taylor; and that on the decease of the Rev. John Owen, secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, "Go to the grave in all thy glorious prime." His verses, "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire," "Oh! where shall rest be found?" "What are these in bright array?" are only a few of the priceless gems which he has set in the crown of our Christian praises. SEE MONTGOMERY, JAMES.
In this later period of English hymnology many and very sweet have been the singers and their sacred songs. There is Henry F. Lyte, the rector of Brixham (1793-1847), author of "Jesus, I my cross have taken," and of those delightful "hymns from beneath the cloud," "My spirit on thy care, blest Savior, I recline." and he last that he ever wrote, "Abide with me, fast falls the eventide." It was of his Tales in Verse that professor Wilson, in the "Noctes Ambrosianae," wrote, "Now that is the right kind of religious poetry. He ought to give us another volume." That volume soon came, entitled Poems, chiefly religious. The female hymnists increase in number and in power in this period. Mrs. Felicia Hemans, Caroline Bowles, and others of great repute, lead the way with their sweet music. We have learned to sing "Nearer, my God, to thee," from Miss Sarah F. Adams, who died in 1849 in her old home, Dorsetshire; and Charlotte Elliott, of Torquay, struck a new chord for all the world when she wrote, in 1836, those inimitable verses, "Just as I am, without one plea." She is the author of several volumes, and furnished one hundred and seventeen hymns to The Invalid's Hymnbook, the last edition of which she supervised. Mrs. Barret Browning, Mrs. Charles, of "Schonberg Cotta" fame, Miss Adelaide Proctor, Mary Howitt, and the Bronte sisters — Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, Isabella Craig, and Mrs. Craik, formerly Miss Mulock, author of John Halifix, Gentleman, are among the later chief singers of their sex whose verses have enriched our hymnals. Sir John Bowring, born in 1792, author of "In the cross of Christ I glory," "Watchman, tell us of the night;" the dean of St. Paul's, Dr. Henry Hart Milman, archbishop Trench, John Keble, with his Christian Year, the poet leader of the Anglican Catholic movement in the English establishment, Alexander Knox, Allan Cunningham, Robert Pollok, bishop Heber with his glorious advent, and judgment, and missionary hymns, Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, canon Wordsworth, and the late dean Alford, of Westminster Abbey, Faber, the devout Romish hymnist, and Dr. John H. Newman, once of Oxford and now of Rome, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, and John R. M'Duff, the Scottish preachers, with Horatius Bonar, of Kelso, author of the delightful Hymns of Faith and Hope, many of which are already familiar as household words, and Edward H. Bickersteth, whose poem "Yesterday, to-day, and forever" is "one of the most remarkable of the age" all these, and more whom we cannot even name, swell the majestic volume of our most recent British sacred song. It is not any exaggeration to say that many of their hymns will compare favorably with the best that preceded them, and that some of them can never die while their mother tongue is the vehicle of Christian praise.
3. American Poetry was not cultivated in our heroic age for its own sake, and the singers were few and far between. The churches mostly used the psalms and hymns which they brought with them from the Old World until after the Revolutionary War. President Davies (1724-1761) left some poems, among which his lines on the birth of an infant, and the noble hymn commencing "Great God of wonders! all thy ways," are most familiar. The celebrated Dr. Timothy Dwight, at the request of the Congregational ministers of Connecticut, revised the psalms of Dr. Watts, and added over twenty of his own versifications to the volume. Of all that he wrote, however, none have such beauty and vitality, as his rendering of Psalm 119, "How precious is the Book divine!" Psalm 137, "I love thy kingdom, Lord;" and of Psalm 150, "In Zion's sacred gates." These are universal favorites. In his preface to that admirable volume, Christ in Song, Dr. Philip Schaff says, "The Lyra Sacra of America is well represented. Although only about thirty years old, it is far richer than our British friends are aware of." Abundant proof of its richness is furnished in the Hymns of Immanuel, which the author has gathered into this remarkable collection of Christological poetry, a number of which were furnished by their authors for this work. It is scarcely necessary in these pages to quote at any length those hymns which have been adopted into nearly all of the recent books of praise for the various denominations. We shall therefore only refer to the most noted authors, and give parts of some of the hymns which seem destined to secure a permanent place in our American hymnals. The earlier poets — Percival, Pierpont, Henry Ware, Jr., Richard H. Dana, Washington Alston, John Neal, N. P.Willis, Brainard, J.W. Eastburn, Carlos Wilcox, Hillhouse, with Bryant, Longfellow, Tuckerman, and Whittier, who are still living-have all made occasional contributions to the stock of popular hymns, chiefly of the Unitarian and 'Universalist bodies. The clergy of the American churches have probably been the most fertile contributors to this department of sanctuary worship during this period.
The late bishop Doane (q.v.), of New Jersey, wrote some very beautiful hymns, which long ago passed beyond the body of which he was a champion into the hymnals of other churches. His evening hymn is worthy of comparison even with that of good bishop Ken: 'Softly now the light of day." There is a trumpet-like music in his majestic lines on the Banner of the Cross, which reminds us of Heber and Milman: "Fling out the banner! let it float," etc. The same Church has also given us Dr.W. A. Muhlenbergh's well-known hymn, "I would not live alway," and other delightful verses from his now patriarchal muse. Another bishop, Dr. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, among his fine Christian ballads and poems, has rendered into verse, with more spirit and power than any other English writer, those words of Christ, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." To the late Dr. James W. Alexander (q.v.) we owe the best version in our language of Gerhardt's imperishable hymn, "Oh sacred head! now wounded." One of the most chaste and fervid of our hymn-writers was the late Dr. George W. Bethune (q.v.), author of "It is not death to die," "Oh Jesus, when I think of thee, thy manger, cross, and crown," and many other well-known lyrics. The Rev. Dr. Alexander R. Thompson, of the Reformed Church, New York, has published some admirable original hymns for Christmas and Easter, and very spirited, translations from ancient and mediaeval hymns. We specify only his version of the "Aurora coelum purpurit," which, with others from his pen, are given in full in Schaff's Christ in Song. Quite in another line, but not less happy, is a new hymn by the Rev. Hervey D. Ganse, a popular clergyman of the same Church in New York City. It is the story of Bartimaeus, so sweetly told that we regret we have not space for at least a part of it. There are no more delightful hymns in the language than those of the Rev. Ray Palmer, D.D., a Congregational clergyman, author of Hymns of my holy Hours, Hymns and sacred Pieces, and many sacred poems. That "selectest and most perfect of our modern hymns," "My faith looks up to thee," etc., was composed in 1830. It has been translated into Arabic, Tamil,. Tahitian, the Mahratta, and other languages, and seems destined to follow the Cross over the whole world. Among his other hymns are those beginning "Jesus, these eyes have never seen that radiant form of thine;" "Alone with thee! alone with thee! O friend divine," "O Jesus! sweet the tears I shed," "Jesus! thou joy of loving hearts," etc.
The Rev. Russell S. Cook (q.v.) wrote and sent to Miss Elliott, the author of "Just as I am, without one plea," a counterpart to her own sweet hymn, so beautiful and complete that it seems almost as if the same pen had given them both to the world: "Just as thou art! without one trace," etc. It has since been incorporated with Sir Roundell Palmer's Book of Praise and several American hymnbooks.
It would be inexcusable, in a summary like this, to omit a hearty tribute of acknowledgment to the female hymn-writers of our country. First among these, Mrs. Sigourney, who may be called the Hannah More of America, has:an established place among these honored authors, although most of her poetry was written in blank verse, or in meter not adapted to Church music. Yet her anniversary hymns for Sunday-schools and missionary meetings have been very popular. Her verses are full of a tender, devotional spirit, and expressed in chaste and beautiful language. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in some of her Religious Poems, published in 1867, has caught the spirit of the inspired word, and rendered its utterances into verse with singular felicity. We may instance the fine hymns commencing "When winds are raging in the upper ocean," "Life's mystery deep, restless as the ocean," "That mystic word of thine. O sovereign Lord," and the one entitled "Still, still with thee." The Cary sisters, Phoebe and Alice, have added a few graceful and touching hymns to our Lyra Americana, and have been particularly successful in their writing for the young. That favorite and delightful hymn (which reminds us of Cowper's sensitive strains), "I love to steal a while away from every cumbering care," was written by Mrs. Phoebe H. Brown after being interrupted while at prayer. On giving up her only son to preach Christ to the heathen, she wrote that sweet missionary hymn beginning
"Go messenger of love, and bear Upon thy gentle wing The song which seraphs love to hear, And angels joy to sing."
Many a revival of religion has been sought and promoted in the use of her familiar strains,
"O Lord, Thy work revive In Zion's gloomy hour."
These are but specimens of a few of our best female hymnists. Many-others we cannot even mention, to whom the whole Church owes a debt of gratitude for "psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs," in which they have taught her to "make melody unto the Lord." For additional literature, SEE PSALMODY. (W. J. R. T.)
