The Singing Church: The Hymns It Wrote and Sang

In considering the origin of the Christian hymn, one must remember that it is an outgrowth of man’s innate impulse to express his feelings in hymns and songs. That impulse is co...

Before undertaking the study of the hymn in its various aspects and relations, theoretical and practical, it should be very carefully defined. This is all the more necessary bec...

It has been said that the two great books which every minister should study are the Bible and human nature. A third great book may be added, in which the foregoing two unite in...

[1]In regular services, single verse tunes may be played through, but only the last half of double verse tunes should be allowed, lest the momentum gained by the introductory co...

THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND TREATMENT OF HYMNS 266 I THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF HYMNS. II THE TREATMENT OF HYMNS. EPILOGUE 274 REFERENCES AND NOTES 277 GENERAL INDEX 285 INDEX OF HYMNS 291

[1]“It was their love of social psalmody that made Methodist hymnody what it was, and it was the desire to better parochial psalmody that furnished John Wesley with the original...

This book merits the careful study of the minister, the choir master, the organist, and others who wish to vitalize public and private worship by an intelligent use of our Chris...

[1]The instinct to use song in worship was recognized so long ago as 1695 by Dr. Hickman: “There never was any land so barbarous, or any people so polite, but have always approa...

[1]“To get behind the hymnbook to the men and women who wrote its contents, and to the events, whether personal or public, out of which it sprang and which it so graciously mirr...

[1]Dr. Phelps goes on to say, “Yet the greatest of these, that grace which above all else vitalizes a true hymn, is that which makes it true—its fidelity to the realities of rel...

[1]There is frequent lament that in the translations of Greek, Latin, and German hymns into English much of the original beauty is lost. But the converse is also true: that such...

[1]Comparing the English church with the German, Horder exclaims: “The Puritans, indeed, had in their midst a finer poet than Luther, but they never introduced even Milton’s sup...

[1]As an indication of how prevalent this singing of religious hymns was, we note the fact that in 1512, twelve years before Luther’s first hymnbook appeared, a collection of Ro...

THE PURPOSE AND VALUE OF HYMNS 40 I THE IMPULSE TO WRITE HYMNS. II PURPOSE IN WRITING HYMNS. The Influence of Purpose. The Purpose Must Affect Only the Practical Aspects. III PU...

WHAT IS A HYMN? 25 I DEFINITION OF THE HYMN. Importance of Accurate Definition. Inadequate Definition. Definition Must Be Based on Practical Considerations. Types of Hymns. Defi...

[2]Dr. Louis F. Benson says of Charles Wesley’s “Jesus, lover of my soul”: “The suspicion remains that the secret of its appeal lies in a poetic beauty that the average man feel...

[1]Dr. Louis F. Benson has well characterized this Psalter in its influence on French character: “The metrical Psalter made the Huguenot character. No doubt a character nourishe...

[2]When Moody was superintendent of a Sunday school in Chicago, he had a vicious boy in one of the classes whom he had reprimanded again and again for disturbing the meeting. Fi...

[1]The condition of congregational singing at this time is reported by Rev. Thomas Walter as follows: “Our tunes are left to the mercy of every unskilful throat to chop and alte...

[1]The vagaries of credit for writing given hymns is illustrated in the appearance of the intensely Calvinistic Toplady’s name as the writer of Charles Wesley’s intensely Armini...

[1]“But the emotional life, strongest, no doubt, in youth, remains a lifelong element of personality and especially of the religious personality. Feeling is not merely an integr...

THE STUDY OF HYMNS 229 I IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF HYMNS. II PERSONAL ADVANTAGES OF SUCH STUDY OF HYMNS. Literary Pleasure. Literary Culture. Development of Emotional Nature. I...

THE LITERARY ASPECT OF HYMNS 53 I WHAT MAKES THE HYMN LITERATURE? Its Character as a Transcript of Life. Its Wide Distribution. Its Acceptance Through Many Generations. Its Prof...

THE EMENDATION OF HYMNS 63 I THE CHANGES IN OUR HYMNS. Early Changes. The Abuse of the Editorial Revision. The Return to the Originals. II PRINCIPLES OF EQUITY INVOLVED IN THESE...

[1]The Oxford or Tractarian Movement on the one hand sought a deeper spiritual life than was then prevalent, and on the other emphasized the solidarity of the Church of Christ b...

THE CONTENT OF THE HYMN 76 I ITS RELATION TO GOD. Thanksgiving. Prayer for Future Blessing. Adoration. The Hymn of Communion. II RELATION TO THE SINGER. The Hymn of Emotion. The...

THE WESLEYS AND THEIR ERA 180 I THE INFLUENCE OF WATTS ON THE WESLEYS. II THE HOME OF THE WESLEYS. III THE MORAVIAN INFLUENCE. IV JOHN WESLEY. V CHARLES WESLEY. VI CHARLES WESLE...

METRICAL PSALMODY 148 I CALVIN’S CONCEPTION OF CONGREGATIONAL SINGING. II CALVIN’S FOLLOWERS MORE EXTREME. III MAROT’S SUCCESSFUL VERSIONS. IV DEVELOPMENT OF THE GENEVAN PSALTER...

THE GOSPEL HYMN 89 Lack of Discrimination. Wrong Assumptions of the Opposition. Unfairness in Comparisons Made. Criteria for Evaluation. Gospel Hymns and the Unsaved. Gospel Hym...

[1]Dr. Harris says of his discovery, “The manuscript had been lying with a heap of other stray leaves of manuscript on the shelves of my library without awakening any suspicion...

THE PRACTICAL USE OF HYMNS 248 I THE HYMN AS A MEANS TO AN END. II ANALYSIS OF PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF HYMNS. III THE USE OF HYMNS FOR CREATING RELIGIOUS INTEREST. IV THE HYMN...

THE SELECTION OF HYMNS 256 I SELECTION SHOULD SECURE UNITY OF SERVICE. Narrow Conception of Unity. Broader Conception of Unity. Unity Based on Purpose. II SUGGESTIVE SELECTIONS...

APOSTOLIC ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 103 SACRED SONG IN THE NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The Rise of Sacred Song in Apostolic Times. Apostolic Emphasis of Sacred Song. Traces of Hymns in t...

THE LATER GERMAN HYMNODY 137 I THE RISING STANDARD OF LITERARY VALUES. II THE GOLDEN AGE OF GERMAN HYMNODY. III THE PIETISTIC HYMN-WRITERS. IV GERMAN REFORMED HYMNODY. V TRANSIT...

Apostolic Origin and Development. The Post-Apostolic Hymn. The Greek Hymnody. The Latin Hymnody. Luther and the German Hymn. The Later German Hymnody. Metrical Psalmody. The Eng...

ISAAC WATTS AND HIS PERIOD 168 I THE HYMNIC NEED OF THE TIME. II THE LIFE OF WATTS. III WATTS AS A HYMN-WRITER. IV WATTS’ ARGUMENT FOR THE HYMN. V WATTS’ INSISTENCE ON PRACTICAB...

HYMNS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 193 I RISE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE IN THE ENGLISH CHURCH. II EARLY COLLECTIONS OF EVANGELICAL HYMNS. III EVANGELICAL HYMN-WRITERS. IV HYMN-WRITERS OF TH...

THE ENGLISH HYMN BEFORE WATTS 158 I THE EARLIEST ENGLISH HYMN. II ENGLISH HYMNODY SUBMERGED BY REFORMED PSALMODY. III ENGLISH LITERARY IDEALS UNFAVORABLE TO HYMN-WRITING. IV THE...

AMERICAN HYMNODY 209 I THE TRANSITION FROM PSALMODY TO HYMNODY. II THE INTRODUCTION OF WATTS’ HYMNS. III THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN HYMNODY. IV COLLECTIONS OF AMERICAN HYMNS. V...