Half-Hours with the Methodist Hymn-Book
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HALF- HOURS WITH ‘ T H E M E T H O D I S T ’ HY MN - BOOK MARY CH A MPNE SS LONDON CH A R E L S H . KE LLY 2 CASTLE 51 CI TY R D A , . ND 2 6 PATE RNOSTE R ROW E , , . C . MY MOTHE R P R E F A C E As on eZo f the Secretaries of the Methodist - Hymn book Committee , I have been asked to write a few words of introduction to the book Miss Champn ess has compiled . I do so with the greater pleasure because of the intention which has inspired the writing . Miss Champ ness has not attempted an exhaustive account - of the new Hymn Book . That may be ex pecte d shortly from another hand and in another form . This is a more modest , and certainly a more popular, service rendered to - the Church , the class room , and the Christian home . The writer has specially desired to help local preachers and members of Wesley ll Guilds . She wi really help also a much larger circle . To know who wrote the hymns we sing , and under What circumstances they were written , and for what purpose , cannot fail to assist devotion and enrich experience . VI PREFACE A local preacher or class - leader who is familiar s with the hymns he uses , who know their origin , and at least some of their associations , will make a selection more suggestive of hol y thought , and more appropriate to the needs of the moment , than if he knew only the d wor s on the actual page . - In compiling the - Hymn Book the Com mittee steadily kept in View not only the great city church or mission hall , not only the statelier occasions of public worship , but also those homelier and more experimental uses which have also been very present in ’ Miss Champn ess s mind whilst writing this admirable little book . Those who during four years devoted their best thought to the - task of producing a hymn book which , whilst preserving the distinctive features of Wesley ’ s Collection of Hymns , should also include as many hymns of the universal Church as the limitations of size and price permitted , will rej oice that their work has found such hearty acceptance and popular exposition in those circles in which the name of Mary Champ ness is honoured and beloved . NEHEMIAH CU RNOCK . C O N T E N T S C HARLE S WE S LE Y AND HI S HYMNS ’ J OHN WE S LE Y S HYMNS AND TRANS LATIONS GRE E K AND LATIN HYMNS OTHE R FORE I GN H MNS THE R U HORS AND Y , I A T TRANS LATORS E NGLI S H HYMNS B E FORE THE WE S LE YS HYMNS WRITTE N B Y OTHE R THAN ME THODI STS I N THE E IGHTE E NTH CE NTURY viii HYMNS B Y ME THODI STS VIII ‘ MODE RN CONTRI B UTI ONS To THE ME THODI ST HYMN- B OOK HYMNS FROM AME RI CA I WOME N HYMN-VV RITE R S INTRODUCTION There David standes with harpe in hand As maister of the Q ue ere Tenne thousand times that man were blest That might this musicke hear Te Deum dothe Sant Ambrose singe S ant Augustine dothe the like Ould Simeon and Z acharie H aue not their songes to se eke Our Ladie singes magn ificat With tune s urpassin ge swe et e And all the virgin ns beare their parte i f S tin ge aboue her eete . THESE stanz as from the old J erusalem hym n may well stand as the motto of any modern - - hymn book . It is really in hymn singing ‘ that one believes in the Holy Catholic Church , ’ the Communion of Saints . Our creeds divide us , but in our hymns we are one . We are di ’ not vided , All one body we . Singing in this book we hear a wonderful choir of saints . From the old days come the Hebrew psalmists , who taught Christen dom how to praise then come Ould ’ ma n ific at Simeon , our Ladie singing g , and Zacharie then we may listen with the ’ disciples to the Master saying the B l esse ds o f then to the hymns of the early Church , which the younger Pliny says , These Chris tians in Bithynia , on a stated day , before it was light , sang hymns to Christ as God . ‘ ’ So we can Sing the Veni Creator Spiritus , either in Bishop Cosin s translation or ’ Dryden s verse . From the Eastern Church come ‘ Art thou ’ weary and others . With sainted monks of we the Middle Ages sing Jesu , the very thought of Thee and O come , all ye Luther leads a great body of German R efor — mation singers monks turned pastors , work men singing at their craft ; and we hear E in feste Burg ist unser Gott ringing out . B ouri n o n Mystics , like Mme . de g and the unknown Spaniard from whom J ohn Wesley got O God , my God, my all Thou art the ’ ‘ hardy Norseman , who gave us Through the night of doubt and sorrow — how the choir grows Then Englishmen : the daunt INTRODUCTION ‘ less little Ken , who tells Charles II . of his r faults Isaac Watts , born while his fathe ’ is in j ail for conscience sake ' ; the schoolboy Milton , with Let us with a gladsome mind f - Addison , from the co fee house where he writes the S p ectator papers ; S tern hol d and — Hopkins , Tate and Brady the Wesleys old Samuel , young Samuel , Charles and J ohn ; poor Cowper , with the sad songs that cheer n o w so many ; Newton , once a blasphemer , o f j oining St . Bernard in finding the name J esus sweet Dr . Doddridge , Grigg , Francis , Hart Montgomery from his printing office n Toplady , with the hymn so far greater tha himself . Then the Methodist writers , from Tommy Olivers down to Judge Waddy - a goodly party ; old Bakewell , Dr . Bunting , Pun sho n Smetham Dr . , and . Then clergy men Dean Alford , Drs . Chandler and Neale Hare , Heber , Kingsley , and Lyte ; Mil man , Pusey , Stanley , Thring , Wordsworth , How, Keble . English Churchmen who left an d us for Rome , like Newman , Potter , Faber , j oin in this choir , with O Saviour ’ bless us ere we go , Lead , kindly Light , ’ and Brightly gleams our banner . ' Nonconformist singers such as Bonar , Con d er , Lynch , and Rawson j oin the song while from over the sea come a band of Americans P . P . Bliss , Bryant , Washington Gladden , Oliver Wendell Holmes , Whittier . And f rom all sides come women singers Christina H aver al B radfiel d Rossetti , Miss g , Miss , Char lotte Elliott , Mrs . Adams , Mrs . Luke , Miss e . Hankey , Anne Bront , Miss Procter And these are of all shades of belief Methodists and Baptists , Unitarians and Romanists , Brethren and Moravians (for , a s Mr . Horder says , There is little heresy ‘ in hymns in sweet consent unite their ’ Alleluia . Then we must think of those in all parts ( of the world who are j oining these singers . Wherever Christian Missions have gone , there has gone the singing of hymns and we may take it for granted that all the best - known hymns are now sung in every land where the language has been reduced to writing by the f missionaries . One of the first e forts , after s ome part of the Bible has been translated I NTRODUCTION xiii ’ of the Germans in Luther s time , sing them ’ ’ selves into the doctrine . So J esu , Lover , ’ ’ and Rock of Ages , When I survey , and ’ Take my life , we may be sure are being sung in other lands as in ours , and I find ’ from Dr . Julian s article on Missions and Hymns that the following hymns are sung in the following tongues , among others Christians , awake is carolled by Esquimaux and Indians Stand up , stand up for J esus by the poor oppressed people of the Congo and When His salvation bringing is sung there too ! From Greenland ’ s icy moun ’ tains is sung in Greenland by the Esquimaux ; One there is among all others is well loved by the men of Uganda ; How beauteous ’ are their feet rings out in Bishop P atteson s Melanesia , and the natives there j oin us in ’ a Etern l Father , strong to save , and The ’ ’ Church s one foundation . The rough and strong people of Bechuana sing The King of love my Shepherd is in Borneo they o 0 j in other Christians in singing , come , ’ all ye faithful ; and Hindu and Sindi , Canarese and Tamil , help the natives of British India to sing Lord , speak to me , xiv INTRODUCTION that I may Speak , Art thou weary , Holy , ’ holy , holy , and Tell it out among the ’ heathen that the Lord is King . Truly , are not the hymns of the Christian Church a ‘ ’ marvellous help in this tellin g on t The whole of the old Wesleyan Hymn - Book has been translated into Cingalese by en thusiastic missionaries All the best —known - hymns are in Chinese hymn books . >x< ak >k >x< I n compiling this little book , I have tried (not always successfully) to keep clear of is criticism . It meant to be not so much a help to preachers in Choosing hymns for a service , as a help to the interest of the hymns when chosen , for themselves and for their , congregation . Wherever possible , I have found either some account of the writer , or some association with the hymn itself , which may tend towards this .