Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see, Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea; Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in Three Persons, blessèd Trinity. 7-MILTON'S PSALM OF PRAISE MILTON, our greatest poet save one, wrote only one hymn that has been found to help men- as a hymn. It is a paraphrase of Psalm cxxxvi. written when he was a boy of fifteen at St. Paul's School, and its length — twenty-four stanzas precludes its general use. Those verses found most helpful by general usage are the following: LET us, with a gladsome mind, Praise the Lord, for He is kind: For His mercies aye endure, Let us sound His name abroad, For of gods He is the God: Ever faithful, ever sure. He, with all commanding might, For His mercies aye endure, Ever faithful, ever sure. He the golden-tressed sun All things living He doth feed: He His chosen race did bless, He hath, with a piteous eye, Let us, then, with gladsome mind, TUNE "INNOCENTS." 8-ADDISON'S "GRATITUDE” (18th Century). "I PERCEIVE," said Mr. Andrew Lang recently, "that either the best English poets have not written hymns, or that their hymns are unpopular with readers of the Sunday at Home." Yet Milton was represented, and Cowper and Keble and Newman. Addison can hardly claim to be one of the best English poets, although he is one of the most famous essayists; but his contributions to Hymns that have Helped are by no means unimportant. Of these one of the most generally used is his poem originally published in the Spectator at the close of an essay on gratitude.1 WHE 7HEN all Thy mercies, O my God, Transported with the view, I'm lost Oh how shall words with equal warmth The gratitude declare, That glows within my thankful heart? Thy providence my life sustained, Unnumbered comforts on my soul When in the slippery paths of youth Thine arm, unseen, conveyed me safe, 1 On the appearance of the first edition of this work a correspondent wrote calling my attention to the fact that in the Athenæum of July 10, 1880, and in the Phonetic Journal of March 12, 1887, it was conclusively proved that the author of this hymn was not Addison, but one Richard Richmond, rector of Walton-on-the-Hill, Lancashire, 1690-1720. On the other hand, Mr. T. M. Healy, M. P., wrote saying that the late Sir Isaac Pitman, in an interesting inquiry as to the authorship of this hymn and the other attributed to Addison on page 232. claimed both as the work of Andrew Marvel, the "incorrup tible Commoner." When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou Ten thousand thousand precious gifts Nor is the least a cheerful heart, Through every period of my life 9- PROFESSOR BLACKIE'S CHANT OF PRAISE (19th Century). THE late Professor Blackie wrote much that is forgotten, but his Chant of Praise will live. It was sent me by one who had felt the glory and inspiration of its nature-worship cheer him like a sea-breeze. It is the nineteenth-century version of the sentiment which Milton expressed in the seventeenth and Addison in the eighteenth, each in the mode of his day and generation. NGELS holy, A High and lowly, Sing the praises of the Lord! Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord! Sun and moon bright, Night and moonlight, Starry temples azure-floored; Cloud and rain, and wild winds' madness, Ocean hoary, Cliffs, where tumbling seas have roared! Pulse of waters, blithely beating, Wave advancing, wave retreating, Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord! Rock and high land, Crag, where eagle's pride hath soared; Praise Him ever, From the mountain's deep vein poured; Silver fountain, clearly gushing, Troubled torrent, madly rushing, Praise ye, praise ye, God the Lord! Bond and free man, Land and seaman, Earth, with peoples widely stored, Praise Him ever, Bounteous Giver; Praise Him, Father, Friend, and Lord! |