HYMN STUDIES. 1 Exultant praise to the Redeemer. 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, C.M. To spread through all the earth abroad, 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, His blood can make the foulest clean; 5 He speaks, and, listening to his voice, New life the dead receive; The mournful, broken hearts rejoice; 6 Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb, CHARLES WESLEY. 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 On my benighted soul he shone, 3 Sudden expired the legal strife; 4 Then with my heart I first believed, 5 I felt my Lord's atoning blood 6 I found, and owned his promise true, Ascertained of my part, My pardon passed in heaven I knew, When written on my heart. 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: His soul was once an offering made 15 Harlots, and publicans, and thieves, In holy triumph join! Saved is the sinner that believes, 16 Murderers, and all ye hellish crew, 17 Awake from guilty nature's sleep, 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 hymns 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. "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." third line of the second stanza. "Let all that dwell above the sky, And speak thine endless praise." The Wesleyan Conference published the Poetical The Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D., was born in SouthWorks of J. and C. Wesley—1868–1872—in thirteen | ampton, in 1674; he was a precocious child, very volumes. In such a mass of writing the wonder is quiet and studious; and was sent, in 1690, to an not that all is not excellent, but that so much is val- academy in London, where he remained three years. uable. The poets of the eighteenth century did not The next few years were spent in study and in rewrite and refine their works as those of the nine- writing. Watts preached his first sermon in 1698, teenth have done. Wesley partook of the charac-and in 1702 he became pastor of an Independent teristic 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. 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 assistant. 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 poetical 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. 3 Come, worship at his throne, Come, bow before the Lord; 4 To-day attend his voice, ISAAC WATTS. The original contains two additional stanzas. Title: A Psalm before Sermon. Date, 1719. The hymn is an excellent paraphrase of part of Psalm xev: O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." The author's title was: Before singing of Hymns, by Way of Introduction. The hymn was evidently founded on Rev. xv, 3: "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." The original contains fourteen verses, and is quaint and good. It was altered by Martin Madan in 1760. Only one word is changed in the first stanza. Hammond wrote, "Tune every heart," etc. The second stanza is not changed; the third and fifth are entirely new; the fourth is evidently suggested by the author's last stanza: "Sing till you hear Christ say, And sing your souls to heaven.” From Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. By William Hammond, A.B., late of St. John's College, Cambridge, London, 1745. Rev. William Hammond was a Moravian Methodist. Little is known of his personal history. He published an original volume of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, in 1745. Two of them, at least, are still popular. The date of his birth is January 6, 1719. He died in 1783. 5 STA S. M. Praise and thanksgiving. 2 Though high above all praise, 3 O for the living flame From his own altar brought, 4 God is our strength and song, Then be his love in Christ proclaimed 5 Stand up, and bless the Lord; JAMES MONTGOMERY. From the author's Christian Psalmist, 1825. The first part of this hymn is evidently founded upon Neh. ix, 5: "Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise." Original title: Exhortation to Praise and Thanksgiving. The author wrote "minds" instead of "souls" in the third stanza. The hymn has been improved by the omission of one inferior stanza, the fourth, of the original, which is not equal to its fellows: 4 "There with benign regard, James Montgomery holds an enviable place among English hymnists. He was the son of a Moravian minister; was born in Scotland in 1771; was religiously instructed at home, and while attending a Moravian school, at Fulneck, Eng., made a public profession of religion by uniting with the Moravian Church. As he grew up, however, the pleasures of the world led him astray. The influence of early education preserved him from gross sins, but he was not at peace with God. After many years of doubt and dissatisfaction, he was led to look to the Saviour of his youth, and found rest. At his own request he was re-admitted into the Moravian congregation at Fulneck, when forty-three years of age. He expressed his feelings at the time in the following lines: "People of the living God, I have sought the world around, Peace and comfort nowhere found. O receive me into rest." 3 Come, holy Comforter, In this glad hour: 4 To thee, great One and Three, Hence, evermore: Love and adore! CHARLES WESLEY. One stanza, the second, has been omitted: "Jesus, our Lord, arise, And make them fall; It is somewhat doubtful that Wesley wrote this hymn. It is found printed on a leaflet, dated about 1757, together with two hymns that are undoubtedly Charles Wesley's. Therefore this is Montgomery was an editor by profession; and, supposed to be his also. If his, however, it is for publishing what were then called libelous arti-strange that he never claimed it, and never pubcles, was twice fined and imprisoned in the Castle lished it in any of his poetical works. The Rev. of York: once, in 1795, for three months, and once, Martin Madan published it in his collection, third in the following year, for six months. While im- edition, 1763; and, it is said, gave Walter Shirley prisoned he wrote his first book of poems, entitled permission to use it. Now, if it was Wesley's, how Prison Amusements. In addition to several poetical was it that Madan claimed it; and, if it was works, he published three volumes of hymns: Songs Madan's, how happened it that Wesley printed it of Zion: being Imitations of Psalms, 1822; The Chris-six years previously? It probably belongs to neitian Psalmist, 1825; Original Hymns for Public, ther of them. It is an imitation of the English Private, and Social Devotion, 1853. He died in 1854. national anthem, "God save the King;" unknown. "author S. M. Thy promised presence claim; 2 Thy name salvation is, Which here we come to prove; Thy name is life, and health, and peace, 3 Not in the name of pride Or selfishness we meet; From nature's paths we turn aside, And worldly thoughts forget, |