Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

PREFACE.

This Hymnal is intended for the home, the pastor's study, and the layman's center-table.

I have undertaken to give :

First. A biographical sketch of each author and translator of whom there are more than three hundred.

Second. The origin and history of the hymn, with such reliable matters of interest concerning it as could be gathered.

Third. The original title and text, where the hymn has been altered.
Fourth. The passage of Scripture upon which the hymn is based.

Fifth. The book, paper, or magazine in which the hymn first appeared, with the date of its publication.

Information has been chiefly derived from original sources by reference to the published works of the authors, many of which are rare and difficult to find; and by correspondence with writers who are still living. Where information has been obtained from other sources, the author or book relied upon has received due credit.

The authorship of a few of the "unknown" hymns has not been discovered. The personal history of some hymn-writers is very meager, indeed, and doubtless some interesting historic facts have wholly escaped the editor's notice.

I dare not say that there are no mistakes in this work, but neither care nor labor has been spared to avoid them. Hundreds of books have been examined, and much time has been spent in its preparation.

The lover of devotional poetry is in the most delightful company. Valuable hymns are the product of genius, piety, and learning. It is safe to say that no good hymn was ever written by an author who did not possess at least one of these talents. Many writers are favored with two of them, and some with all three. The student of hymns is, therefore, cultivating head, heart, and tongue at the same time. It is to be feared that this most valuable study is too much neglected, and, if this book shall stimulate to greater appreciation and love for this department of literature, one great object of the work will be accomplished.

I desire to express my great obligation to the many editors and authors who have so kindly replied to my letters of inquiry; and especially to Mr. David Creamer, of Baltimore; and Professor F. M. Bird, of Lehigh University; also to the Rev. James Martineau, D.D., George J. Stevenson, M.A., and Mr. W. T. Brooke, of London, for valuable assistance.

I wish also to mention the name of a man no longer living, but whose work remains, and will always be a help to the student of hymnology, Mr. Daniel Sedgwick, of London.

I trust that this work will be of some service to the cause of God among

men.

CHARLES S. NUTTER.

TILTON, N. H., Feb. 15, 1884.

The author has received many letters from scholarly and devout men testifying to their high appreciation of Hymn Studies. The gratitude of pious hearts is indeed precious.

The work has been carefully revised, and a brief but important History of the Official Hymn Book appended. See page 476.

HAVERHILL, MASS., July, 1888.

C. S. N.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

It is gratifying to witness the revival of interest in the grand old hymns of the Church. This book has been one of the means to that end. It has been thoroughly revised once more, brought up to date, and again sent forth with the hope that by its use the hymns may be better understood and the men who wrote them better appreciated. "Sing ye praises with understanding." -Psalm xlvii, 7.

ST. ALBANS, VT., April, 1897.

C. S. N.

[blocks in formation]

Consecration...

456-475

Of First Lines of Hymns..

435-445

Entire Sanctification and Christian Growth..476-545

Of Authors..

446-451

Unfaithfulness and Backsliding Lamented...546-562

Of Scripture Texts.

452-455

Christian Activity.

563-609

Of Subjects

455-462

Trial, Suffering, and Submission..

610-683

Of Hymns for Social Worship

...462

Prayer, Praise, and Communion with God...684-762

Of First Lines of Stanzas

463-468

THE CHURCH.

RITUAL.

General Hymns...

763-779

Baptism

469-472

Fellowship and Unity.

780-807

Reception of Members.

..472-473

The Ministry...

808-825

The Lord's Supper..

473-475

HYMN STUDIES.

1 Exultant praise to the Redeemer. C.M.

0

FOR a thousand tongues, to sing
My great Redeemer's praise;

The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of his grace !

2 My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread through all the earth abroad, The honors of thy name.

3 Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease; 'Tis music in the sinner's ears,

'Tis life, and health, and peace.

4 He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean;

His blood availed for me.

[blocks in formation]

The author's title was: For the Anniversary Day of One's Conversion. It was written in 1739 to celebrate the first anniversary of his spiritual birth, and was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1740. One word only has been changed. Wesley wrote the second line, "My dear Redeemer's praise."

The hymn is part of a poem of eighteen stanzas which is here given; it was taken out bodily where the asterisks are inserted.

The rapture of the first verse, "O for a thousand tongues to sing," is explained by what goes before, especially verses two and five.

1 Glory to God, and praise and love, Be ever, ever given;

By saints below and saints above,

The Church in earth and heaven.

2 On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of righteousness arose,
On my benighted soul he shone,
And filled it with repose.

3 Sudden expired the legal strife;
'Twas then I ceased to grieve.

My second, real, living life,
I then began to live.

4 Then with my heart I first believed, Believed with faith divine;

Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Saviour mine.

5 I felt my Lord's atoning blood
Close to my soul applied;
Me, me he loved--the Son of God
For me, for me he died!

6 I found, and owned his promise true, Ascertained of my part,

My pardon passed in heaven I knew, When written on my heart.

[blocks in formation]

13 Look unto him, ye nations; own
Your God, ye fallen race;
Look, and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.

14 See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain;
His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man.

15 Harlots, and publicans, and thieves,
In holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes,
From crimes as great as mine.

16 Murderers, and all ye hellish crew,
Ye sons of lust and pride,
Believe the Saviour died for you;
For me the Saviour died.

17 Awake from guilty nature's sleep,
And Christ shall give you light;
Cast all your sins into the deep,
And wash the Ethiop white.

18 With me, your chief, ye then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

The Rev. Charles Wesley, A.M., the poet or

Methodism, was born at the Epworth parsonage in 1707. He was piously and studiously trained, and took his first degree at Oxford in 1728, when twenty-one years of age. It was while a student

at Christ Church College that Wesley and a few friends, by strict attention to duty and correct deportment, won the derisive epithet of " Methodist." In 1735 he was ordained, and accompanied his brother John to Georgia as a missionary. Soon afterward he returned to England. In 1738 he and his brother became acquainted with Peter Böhler, a Moravian preacher, who" expounded unto them the way of God more perfectly." It was on Whitsunday, May 21, 1738, that Charles Wesley believed to the saving of his soul, and received the witness of pardon and adoption. He was an earnest and successful itinerant minister for more than twenty years, after which his labors were chiefly confined to London and its vicinity. He died in 1788.

As a hymnist Charles Wesley has few equals and no superiors. The exact number of his bymns cannot be ascertained, for the reason that several volumes of poems were published conjointly by himself and his brother John, and in many cases it is impossible to say positively which was the author of a particular hymn.

The Wesleyan Conference published the Poetical Works of J. and C. Wesley-1868-1872-in thirteen volumes. In such a mass of writing the wonder is not that all is not excellent, but that so much is valuable. The poets of the eighteenth century did not rewrite and refine their works as those of the nineteenth have done. Wesley partook of the charaeteristic of the age, and instead of correcting and polishing what he had written, wrote more. Nothing but a consummate genius saved him from the perdition of voluminous authors.

2

COME

[blocks in formation]

YOME, let us join our cheerful songs With angels round the throne; Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, But all their joys are one.

2 "Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry, "To be exalted thus!"

"Worthy the Lamb!" our hearts reply,
"For he was slain for us."

3 Jesus is worthy to receive
Honor and power divine;
And blessings more than we can give,
Be, Lord, forever thine.

4 The whole creation join in one,
To bless the sacred name
Of him that sits upon the throne,
And to adore the Lamb.

ISAAC WATTS.

From Hymns and Spiritual Songs, book i, 1707. The author's title was: Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, worshiped by all the Creation.

The scriptural basis of this favorite hymn is Rev. v, 11-18;

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

Watts wrote "lips" instead of "hearts" in the third line of the second stanza. The following stanza has been omitted; its place is between the third and fourth verses of the hymn:

"Let all that dwell above the sky, And air, and earth, and seas, Conspire to lift thy glories high, And speak thine endless praise."

The Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D., was born in Southampton, in 1674; he was a precocious child, very quiet and studious; and was sent, in 1690, to an academy in London, where he remained three years. The next few years were spent in study and in writing. Watts preached his first sermon in 1698, and in 1702 he became pastor of an Independent church in London, a position which he held until the time of his death, in 1748. Dr. Watts was small of stature and of feeble health. Much of the actual work of his parish was performed by an as

sistant.

Many writers have compared the hymns of Watts with those of Wesley, and have discussed their relative merits; some giving preference to one, and some to the other, author. Such work is useless. The two differ so widely as to be scarcely capable of comparison. Watts excels Wesley and all others in grandeur and sublimity. Wesley exceeds all others in expressing the power of love and the joy of salvation. He is, par excellence, the sweet singer of Israel. These two writers grandly supplement each other. They are both princes, ay, kings of song; but each in his own realm.

The poctical works of Dr. Watts are: Hora Lyrica, London, 1706; Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in three books, 1707; The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, 1719; and Divine and Moral Songs for Children, 1720.

[blocks in formation]
« PoprzedniaDalej »