Hymnbook: Its Use and Abuse
Table of Contents
The Hymnbook: Its Use and Abuse: Part 1
There are, we suppose, few intelligent Christians of well-balanced mind who would think of calling in question the use of the hymn-book. Most of us have learned to prize it as a special mercy granted to us by the Lord Himself, for our comfort and blessing, not only in the public assembly, but also in private life. The singing of hymns is one of our very sweetest and happiest exercises, and we have the fullest assurance that songs of praise, ascending from the hearts of God's people, are grateful to Him. Scripture abounds not only in intimations and suggestions, but in the clearest and most positive instruction on this interesting and important subject. It leaves not the slightest ground for questioning the rightness, the moral fitness, and the real preciousness of hymns, both in public worship and for private devotion.
Thus, for example, in Matt. 26, and in the corresponding passage in Mark 14, we are told that our Lord and His apostles sang a hymn at the close of the last supper, ere they went forth into the Mount of Olives. Now the inspiring Spirit has not told us what the hymn or psalm was which was sung on this memorable and solemn occasion; but He has recorded the fact for our instruction, and this is quite enough for us. It furnishes us, not only with clear authority, but also with an example of the deepest possible interest, in reference to the practice of singing. If our blessed Lord and His apostles sang a hymn at the supper-table, we need no further authority on the subject.
Such an example ought to be more than sufficient to silence forever all objectors to hymn-singing.
But we have further authority and instruction on this interesting question. In Acts 16 we are told that Paul and Silas sang praises in the prison at Philippi. Here, again, we are not told what they sang; but we are told that they did sing, and, further, we learn that the act of singing was distinct from praying, though connected with it. " They prayed and sang praises." This is as distinct and positive as anything can be. It is perfectly clear that these two beloved and honored servants of Christ would have had no sympathy whatever with those who object to the precious and beautiful exercise of singing. It was, we may be sure, most refreshing to their hearts to give expression in that particular form to their joy in the Lord. And not only was it grateful to them thus to render praise, but also to God to receive it.
But let us turn to the epistles, where, in addition to the living examples furnished in the Acts and Gospels, we have the inspired instructions of the Holy Ghost. Turn to 1 Cor. 14, where we have such ample guidance for the assembly. " What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." Verse 15.
It will perhaps be objected that this passage affords no warrant for the whole assembly joining in the act of singing, inasmuch as the apostle says, " I will sing." It can only, therefore, be viewed as authority for an individual singing a solo. Be this as it may, one thing is evident, that the apostle insists upon communion in the act. A person was not to sing in an unknown tongue. Fellowship and edification were absolutely indispensable in all that went on in the assembly.
However, we are not now dealing with the question of the whole assembly joining in the act of singing, we are merely seeking divine authority for the act itself—the distinct, definite, act of hymn-singing, whether in public or in private.
We must pass over the Epistle to the Galatians as containing nothing on the subject of singing, for, alas! those assemblies were so far gone, even from foundation truth, that they were not in a condition to sing. Weeping, rather than singing, was what was morally fitting in their case. But in Ephesians we read, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess: but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." So also in Colossians, " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
From all these scriptures we learn that the singing of hymns is not only sanctioned by the Holy Ghost, but positively enjoined upon us as a spiritual service. We do not see how this can be called in question by any one who simply bows to the word. Questions may be raised as to the meaning of the terms, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; as to whether they were impromptu effusions sung by individuals, or regular compositions put into writing, known and recognized by Christians in or out of the public assembly. It seems to us that such questions are left open, inasmuch as scripture is silent in reference to them. It is enough for us that the exercise of hymn-singing is distinctly recognized and taught in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit has not thought proper to enter into any details, and hence we are justified in concluding that, in the absence of positive instruction, all discussion is vain. We may rest assured that, if details were needful, we should have them, for the Spirit of God can enter at times into the most minute particulars. But as to whether we should have recognized collections of hymns, or whether it should be the impromptu effusions of individuals, to be listened to by the assembly; or whether the whole assembly was supposed to join in the act of singing the hymn—as to all such questions, it seems to us the word is silent. 1 Cor. 14:15, 16 does most certainly insist upon this, that whatever is sung must be sung in a language that all can understand. " I will sing with the understanding also. Else, when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned, say Amen at the giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest."
Let us not be misunderstood. We do not by any means assert that 1 Cor. 14, or any other passage in the New Testament, affords direct authority for having a hymn-book; but we do assert that edification is promoted by such an arrangement, and this is the end constantly sought and insisted upon by the Holy Ghost.
And can we not recognize the grace and goodness of God toward His people, in enabling one and another of His beloved servants to compose those precious hymns, which stir the very deepest depths of our souls, whether sung in private or in public? Have not most of us tasted the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we lifted up our hearts to Him in some sweet song of praise, composed for our use by some one of His members—composed, may we not say, in a lower sense, by the inspiration of His Spirit? Has He not directed and enabled His servants to render a most blessed service to His assembly by composing psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, to be used in public worship? And what, we may ask, is the difference between a person rising in the public assembly, and by the Spirit giving forth an impromptu effusion, and one composing a hymn in the retirement of his closet, and then publishing it for the use and edification of the whole church?
Now, if it be true that our Lord has made such provision for us—-and who will say He has not?—ought we to despise it, by refusing to use a collection of hymns? Would it not be forsaking our mercies so to do? Will any one deny that the Holy Ghost guides in ^he composition of hymns? And if He guides in the composition, does He not also guide in the use of such hymns?
And, further, who has not felt the power, the blessing, the refreshment, the comfort, the holy elevation of a hymn given out in the Spirit, and sung in full communion by the whole assembly? Have we not often known the entire current of a meeting changed, its spiritual tone raised, and a flood of blessing poured in upon it by a well-chosen hymn sung in the power of the Spirit? Shall all this be given up? Must our assemblies be robbed of the glorious privilege of raising their joint hallelujahs to God and the Lamb? Are we to hang our harps on the willows, and sit in gloomy silence in the presence of our God? Praise is for the present silent in Zion, must it be silent in the church also? Are we to abandon our beautiful hymns? We say " our" hymns, for if it be right for some to do so, it must be right for all. But is it right? Is it of God? Is it in keeping with the scope, spirit, and teaching of holy scripture? We do not, and cannot, believe it.
(To be continued, if the Lord will)
The Hymnbook: Its Use and Abuse: Part 2
There are two sides to every question, and the question now before us is no exception to the rule. Few will be disposed to deny that the hymn-book has its use, both in private and in public. The Spirit of God most graciously deigns to make use of hymns for our comfort, edification, and refreshment when we are all alone; and He uses them as the vehicle of our worship in the public assembly. All this, we assume, will be fully admitted by the great majority of Christians, and hence we shall not occupy the reader's time with any further discussion of this side of the question.
But we must not lose sight of that good old motto, "Audi alteram partem"—Hear the other side. There is, alas! the abuse as well as the use of the hymn-book. This is only what we might expect. If the Spirit makes use of hymns to cheer, refresh, comfort, and edify our souls, we may rest assured the enemy will use hymns to lead us away from the truth of God. We all know what immense power poetry possesses over the human soul. A certain poet once said, "Let me compose the nation's sonnets, and I care not who makes the laws." He felt he could rule the nation by his melodies, at least he could do much toward forming the national mind.
There is a measure of truth in this; and it may be that some of us can, at times, detect ourselves drawing our theology more from the hymn-book than the Bible. Some false idea, clothed in a lovely poetic dress, has gained an entrance into the mind and into the heart, and found a lodgment there, and taken such possession of us, that we have at length begun to regard it in the light of a positive truth of God. It is, of course, generally admitted that we are not to expect in a poet the accuracy of a theologian; but we must not suffer ourselves, through poetic license, to be led away from sound doctrine. We are as responsible to judge the doctrine of a hymn as of any other writing. If I give or lend a book or tract, I am responsible for the doctrine contained in it. How much more so when I sing a hymn, seeing I adopt as my very own the sentiments expressed therein?
Now, let not the reader suppose that we would have him indulge in a judging, criticizing, fault-finding spirit. Nothing is further from our thoughts. We utterly repudiate such a spirit, and hold ourselves responsible to judge it on all occasions, but specially in the matter of hymns.
Still, we must judge. We cannot, or ought not, to sing false doctrine. We surely ought not, while professing to worship God, to deny His truth. We most assuredly ought not, when professedly lifting our hearts to the Lord in songs of praise, to give utterance to sentiments subversive of the very foundations of Christianity, and utterly inconsistent with our position and relationship as children of God. Take, for instance, that familiar stanza,
"The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away."
Is this according to the truth of the Christian's position before God? Clearly not. A Christian is not merely one who " may" wash all his sins away in the precious blood of Christ, but whom Christ, blessed be His name, has washed from every stain. Look at Eph. 1:7. What does it say? "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." So also in Col. 1:14. If I say, " I may wash," it is clear I have not yet done so; and hence I have no business to sing. The singing of a hymn, according to the divine idea, is an act of worship. But a man in his sins—a man with an unpurged conscience—is not a worshipper. In order to worship, I must be consciously in the presence of God, with a perfectly purged conscience. I must be in the light, knowing that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin.
Let the reader see that he is thoroughly clear as to this grand foundation truth. It is of the very last possible importance. A Christian, according to the teaching of the New Testament, is one who knows that all his sins are forgiven—all blotted out as a thick cloud—all cast behind God's back forever. How then can he say, " There may I wash all my sins away?" It is simply denying what Christ has done for him; and surely this is not Christianity. How strange for a Christian to rise and sing about the blood of Christ, and, in the very words of his hymn, deny that his sins are forgiven! No doubt, it would be quite wrong, seriously wrong, for any one to say that his sins are forgiven, if he does not believe it. But then how can he take the place of a worshipper if he doubts the forgiveness of his sins?
It may perhaps be said we are making a great fuss about a word. But what if a word be the index of the entire position and state of the soul? We feel persuaded that the beloved author of the well-known hymn from which we have quoted above, did not, when composing it, enter into the full joy of a known forgiveness. His dear spirit was often beclouded with doubts and fears. He was a most beloved child of God, but, from various causes, he was often afflicted with misgivings as to his full security in Christ. At times, when freed from self-occupation, and lifted above the depressing influence of legality, he could pour forth the sweetest strains; for he truly loved the Lord, though, as he himself tells us, he often longed to know whether he did or not.
Now all this comes out in the expression, " There may I." why not say, "There have I?" Because his precious soul was not up to the mark, and he wrote as he felt. But are the accents of a doubting soul the proper vehicle for christian worship? Assuredly not. Doubts and fears are not worship. The groanings of a soul under law and the breathings of a spiritual worshipper are not the same thing. The " roarings" of an unforgiven soul differ materially from the " songs of deliverance" sung by one who knows and believes that all his sins are forgiven, and forgotten forever.
It is a very serious mistake indeed to use in public worship; hymns which actually deny the very foundations of Christianity. It is, of course, all well enough for people to write as they feel. None of us should ever presume to go beyond our measure, either in writing or speaking. But would it not have been very wrong for Israel when they stood, as a consciously delivered people, on the shore of the Red Sea, to groan as if still in the brick-kilns of Egypt, and under the lash of Pharaoh's task-masters? Unquestionably. The groan was right enough in Egypt; it suited their position and state. But for that very reason it would have been quite out of place on the shore of the Red Sea; and hence to put the dismal stanzas composed by a poet amid the gloom of Egyptian bondage into the lips of a host of triumphant worshippers, would have been a grievous error, involving a positive wrong to the worshippers, and a gross dishonor to the One who had so gloriously delivered them from the power of the enemy.
Nor is it otherwise in the matter of our hymns. We have very little idea of the lowering effect upon the souls of God's people of hymns composed by persons not in the full enjoyment of the blessed liberty of the gospel of God. The expressions used in our devotional exercises take a wonderful hold upon us, and exert a formative influence over our moral and spiritual condition. Hence the seriousness of the question of the hymn-book. We might literally fill volumes with examples of erroneous or defective hymns which are continually sung in religious assemblies; but there is no need for this; our object will be gained if the attention of the christian reader be thoroughly roused in reference to the entire subject. We trust he will see that it is, to say the very least, our bounden duty to examine what we sing by the light of holy scripture, and not to adopt in our worship, language which stands in direct opposition to the gospel of God, and, as a consequence, robs us of the sweet and precious privileges which belong to us as members of the body of Christ, washed from all our sins in His precious blood, and indwelt by the Holy Ghost. Take, for example, the following well-known stanza: -" My soul looks back to see The burden Thou didst bear, When hanging on the accursed tree, And hopes her guilt was there."
Is this up to the mark of New Testament Christianity? Is it merely a matter of hope with the Christian that Christ bore his sins, and his guilt, and his full judgment on the cross? Is it not a divine certainty, attested by the resurrection from among the dead of the blessed Sin-bearer, declared on the authority of Him who cannot he, and brought home to the heart in the power of the Holy Ghost? Such it is, most surely, if we are to be taught exclusively by scripture. True it is that the writer of the hymn may not be, in his own inward self-consciousness, up to the proper christian mark; and he must, of course, write as he feels. But why should one who, through grace, is up to the mark adopt as his own—and that in the holy act of worship—the language of one who is not?
It will, perhaps, be said, and that by not a few, that it is not well to be too confident. We ask, what is the true ground of worship? Is it doubt, or confidence? Is a doubting soul in a fit condition for worship? Surely not. " He that cometh to God must believe that he is." " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in fall assurance of faith"
Thus it is our God would have us to approach Him in sweetest, fullest confidence. He would have us near Him, in the calm confidence and happy liberty which His love warrants and invites us to enjoy. Has He given us any cause to doubt? Is there a shadow of basis on which to raise a question as to His perfect love? Is there any flaw in the work of Christ? Any defect in the testimony of the Holy Ghost? To say so, or think so, would involve a daring insult to the Trinity. Well, then, wherefore should we doubt? Why wound the loving heart of a Savior-God by reserve and suspicion? Is it, can it be, presumption to take God at His word? Nay, it gratifies His heart, and glorifies His name, when we thankfully accept what His grace has bestowed, and trustfully take the true ground of worshippers in His holy presence.
But the melancholy fact is that many of the hymns, prayers, and formularies of the professing church do actually deny the great truths which lie at the foundation of the christian position, and drive the people of God back to the shadows of the Mosaic economy. This may seem severe, but it is true, and we solemnly press the truth on the heart and conscience of the reader. We would entreat him to take this whole question up, and examine it in the light of scripture. It is his bounden duty so to do. We are all called upon to test our utterances by the word of God, to measure our hymn-books by the standard of the New Testament, and with calm decision refuse to use language in our worship which actually robs us of all ground and title to worship.
We trust the reader will not be offended by our statements. God is our witness that nothing is further from our thoughts than to wound the feelings of any one; but we deeply feel the importance of the subject before us, and this is our reason for writing as we do.
We are convinced that serious damage is done to souls, injury to the truth of God, and grief occasioned to the Holy Ghost by many of our utterances in public worship. There are hundreds of thousands of professing Christians who, from week to week, month to month, and year to year, never in their public singing breathe the spirit of adoption; never cry, "Abba, Father;" never celebrate an accomplished redemption; never speak of a risen Savior. They use the language of souls under the law, yea, under the wrath of God, under His governmental infliction. Sometimes they use the very language of our adorable Lord when made sin for us on the cross, and cast out of God's presence, in order that we might be made nigh.
Is not this a matter for serious consideration? Is it not a very solemn thing to find professing Christians ignoring in their public worship all the great characteristic truths of Christianity?—to find them all their lifetime omitting in their singing all that is peculiar to the church of God, the body of Christ? Are we not warranted in earnestly calling the attention of the christian reader to this weighty question?
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)
The Hymnbook: Its Use and Abuse: Part 3
There are two questions which we should ever ask ourselves when about to sing a hymn—first, "Is the hymn true?" Secondly, "Am I true in singing it?" If we cannot answer both these questions in the affirmative, we had better not sing. It is very much better to be silent than to sing what is contrary to sound doctrine, or what is beyond our measure. We should earnestly seek to be true and real in all our utterances, whether in singing or praying. Our God desires truth in the inward parts; and nothing can be more sorrowful to any one who looks at things from a divine standpoint, than to reflect upon the fearful amount of the untrue and the unreal in our public worship. We feel called upon to press the subject, with all possible solemnity, upon the attention of our readers; and we earnestly trust they will accept the word of exhortation, and seek to profit by it.
In our October paper we ventured to offer a few suggestions as to the doctrine of many of our hymns. We might fill a volume with this one branch of our subject; but we must leave the reader to follow out for himself this question, by diligently comparing the hymns which he may be in the habit of singing with the teaching of the New Testament; and if they tally not therewith, let him lay them aside, and seek to express his worship and adoration in words which harmonize with the mind of the Spirit.
Nor is it merely the doctrine of our hymns that demands our attention, but also the tone and character. How very few of our hymns, comparatively, deserve the name of worship-hymns 1 Indeed the very term, " worship," seems but little understood amongst us. Some of us seem to think that any sort of religious singing is worship, albeit we may actually in our song be contradicting the plainest statements of holy scripture; or, if not this, at least singing about ourselves, our experience, our exercises, our conflicts, our doubts and fears, which, we need hardly say, are not worship at all. No doubt they may have been the truthful utterance of those who composed them, but they are not the proper vehicle for the worship and adoration of the church of God. Experience is not worship. It may be very real, very true, very precious. God forbid that any of us should make light of experience. Most assuredly no spiritually-minded person would do so. No one who reads aright Rom. 5:3, 4 could think of depreciating experience. " And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope."
But we repeat the statement, singing about our experience is not worship. In worship the soul is occupied solely with God Himself—with Christ—His Person, His work, His glory; and all this by the power of the Holy Ghost. Hence no hymn can properly be called a worship-hymn which does not bring God and His Christ before the heart. Prayer is not, properly speaking, worship. Most precious it is, need we say? Most needful, absolutely indispensable; but it cannot be said to be worship, inasmuch as in it we are occupied with the question of need—our own need—the need of the church, the need of the workmen and their work. True it is to God we come in our need—come in the name of Jesus, come in the faith of His word, come in the power of the Holy Ghost. But, all the while, prayer is not what can rightly be called pure worship. When we get to heaven there will be no prayer, but there will be worship. " When those living creatures give glory, and honor, and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders"—representing all the redeemed, both the Old Testament saints and the church—"fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, Ο Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Again, "And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them to our God kings and priests; and they shall reign over the earth."
Here we have true worship; and the more our hymns partake of the tone and spirit of these utterances, the more will they merit the title of worship-hymns. We cannot but deplore the paucity of such. Still, we bless God for those we have; and, so far as we are personally concerned, we are quite content to go on singing them until we get to our home above. For example, what can be finer than the following? -Ο Lord, we adore Thee; For Thou art the slain One That livest forever, Enthroned in heaven; Ο Lord, we adore Thee! For Thou hast redeemed us; Our title to glory We read in Thy blood.
Ο God, we acknowledge The depth of Thy riches; For of Thee, and through Thee, And to Thee, are all things; How rich is Thy mercy! How great Thy salvation! We bless Thee, we praise. Thee. Amen, and amen."
Where is the Christian who could not join with all his heart in singing such a song as the above? Let his attainments in the divine life be ever so limited, let his experience be ever so shallow, let his knowledge be ever so elementary, he ought to be able—in spirit at least—to enter into such a precious breathing of worship and adoration. The merest babe in Christ, as well as the most matured and deeply-taught Christian, can praise God for His mercy and goodness, for the riches of His grace, for the fullness of His salvation, for the blessings of accomplished redemption. He can bless the Lamb with cheerful voice. He may not have the same measure of enjoyment in the worship; he may not be able to enter so fully into the depth and power of the song of praise; but his ransomed spirit can render homage and adoration to God and the Lamb. He can lift up his soul in spiritual and true worship, whatever be his capacity.
Take another uncommonly fine sample of a hymn of praise.
" Thou, Lamb of God! didst shed Thy blood.
Thou didst our load of misery bear;
And hast exalted us to share
The rank of kings and priests to God.
To Thee we'd render evermore
The honor, glory, praise that's due;
Might, power, and obedience too,
And in our hearts we Thee adore.
Amen! Amen é
Ο Lord, amen!"
The following partakes of the same lovely tone and character:
Blest Lamb of God! with grateful praise
Our voices now to Thee we raise -
O'er earth to reign, redeemed by blood,
Kingdom and priests are we to God.
Soon, too, in glory shall we sing,
And louder praises to Thee bring;
While every nation, tongue, and tribe,
Strength, glory, might, to Thee ascribe!
Amen! Amen!
Ο Lord, amen!"
Now, one special charm of such hymns as we have here quoted for the reader, is, that all true believers can join in singing them without any hitch or reserve whatsoever. All hymns that have God as their object, and Christ for their subject, can be freely sung by all Christians. It is not so with hymns of experience, if, indeed, such compositions deserve the name of hymns.
Imagine an assembly of Christians singing such a stanza as the following: -
"'Tis a point I long to know,
Oft times it causeth anxious thought,
Do I love the Lord or no?
Am I His? or am I not?"
Could this be called worship? Certainly not. Could an intelligent Christian sing it in spirit and in truth? Most assuredly not. It is far away below the mark. It is the experience of a soul not at liberty, not at rest. It was no doubt very real, very true, the honest expression of the dear writer's feelings; but it is not the language of one who knows that he has passed from death unto life, who knows God as his Father, Christ as his Savior, and the Holy Ghost as the seal which God has put upon him, and the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. A Christian is one who has eternal life, and knows it. He has the Spirit of adoption, and can cry, " Abba, Father." A man who is not clear as to these things, is not yet, intelligently and happily, on the ground of New Testament Christianity. He may no doubt be a divinely-quickened soul, but he knows not the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free.
But, again, an experimental hymn may be entirely beyond our measure. Its language may be such as we could not honestly adopt. It may give expression to the accents of a lofty discipleship, an ardent devotion, a fervent attachment to Christ—which we dare not make our own, inasmuch as we do not feel ourselves up to the mark.
This we consider a very serious point. If it be wrong—as it most certainly is—to sing hymns that are not up to the true christian standing, it is also wrong to sing hymns which are beyond our practical state. We cannot but fear that some of us err greatly in this matter. We use language in our hymns far away beyond our ordinary state and manner of life. In a word, we are not true in what we sing. If others sing hymns that are not true, we are often not true in our singing.
There is very great danger here. We would ask the christian reader if he does not consider this to be a subject demanding our most serious attention? We do not desire to discourage any true-hearted child of God. Far from it. We would much rather seek to cheer, strengthen, and help on all those who really long to follow Christ. But we cannot shut our eyes to solemn facts. We are deeply impressed with the sense of the gross inconsistency between our private habits and our public utterances. We sing of strangership and pilgrimship—of our being dead to the world, crucified with Christ—and all the while our practical life, from Monday morning till Saturday night, is a flat contradiction to the words of our song.
It is not by any means that we can, or would, cast a stone at another. Far be the thought. God is our witness, we write in a spirit of self-judgment. We feel the urgent need of a deeper exercise of heart in the matter of hymn-singing. We sometimes tremble when we compare the language of the hymns with the language of the life. Again and again, when some specially high note of personal devotedness is being sung, the heart asks, "Are we up to this?" Some hymn, composed, it may be, by an aged, deeply-taught servant of Christ—who for many years has flung the world behind him—is given out, and sung by a whole assembly. The writer of the hymn wrote as he felt—wrote in the presence of God; and, through grace, his whole life is, in measure, the exponent of his hymn. There is the true breathing of a devoted heart—a heart that longs ardently after Christ—a heart that truly finds the world a moral waste, and is only waiting and watching for " the bright and morning star." The hymn is most precious. Every true-hearted Christian would desire to be able to adopt it; but how few of us are really up to the mark! No doubt we ought to be. It is the happy privilege of every child of God to tread the very highest pathway of the divine life. We are all called to set our affection on things above, to make Christ our one absorbing object, and to fling aside every worldly entanglement.
All this is most true; but it leaves wholly untouched the question under our consideration. We feel convinced that, as a rule, hymns of experience and deep-toned devotedness are beyond the measure of most of us. It is well to be real and true in our hymns and prayers; and while we should earnestly long for a higher spiritual tone, we certainly should not assume to be higher than we are. If our measure be small, let us own it, and wait on our God to enlarge it. Every true heart can, without a shadow of reserve, join in the following precious aspiration: -
"Ah! Lord, enlarge our scanty thought,
To know the wonders Thou hast wrought;
Unloose our stammering tongues to tell
Thy love immense, unsearchable."
Yes, and every child of God can join in a hymn of praise—a hymn that has Christ for its theme—His Person, His work, His offices, His ways, His coming, His glory,—Himself in short, its Alpha and its Omega. He, blessed be His peerless name, will be our theme forever in that bright and happy home where we so soon hope to be. Then, thank God, there will be no hitch, no discrepancy, no drawback, nothing to judge. All will be in blissful, glorious harmony, and the rapturous hosannahs of the great congregation shall fill the wide universe of God throughout the countless ages of eternity.
" But who that glorious blaze
Of living light shall tell?
Where all His brightness God displays,
And the Lamb's glories dwell.
God and the Lamb shall there
The light and temple be,
And radiant hosts forever share
The unveiled mystery."
Here we close this short series of papers on the subject of the hymn-book. We have done nothing more than offer a few practical hints and suggestions to the christian reader, which we trust he will receive in the spirit in which they are presented. We must confess we long for more reality, more thorough earnestness of heart, more ardent devotedness of spirit, more uprightness of mind, in our private history, and in our public exercises and utterances. We greatly dread the habit of drawing near to God with the lips, while the heart is far from Him. Oh, may He graciously deliver us all from this most dreadful evil, and keep us ever in the moral shelter and deep repose of His own most blessed presence, for His name and glory's sake!
P.S.—We add an admonitory word for those whom it may concern, in reference to the matter of giving out hymns in the assembly. It needs much waiting on the Lord—quite as much as kneeling down to pray, or standing up to speak. If a hymn is not given out in the Spirit, serious damage is done to the whole assembly. The tone of a meeting may be lowered, and the current of communion and worship interrupted by the giving out of an unsuitable hymn. It is a mistake to give out a hymn merely because we think it nice. The question is, does the Lord think it suitable? He is so gracious, that we can count on Him to guide in this, as in all beside, if we only wait on Him in integrity of heart. We are wholly cast upon Him. If we act on the mere impulse of our own feelings, we may make the most serious mistakes. There is very great danger in the matter of giving out hymns, inasmuch as many can do that who never think of leading in prayer, or speaking. It needs real dependence on the Lord.
So also in the matter of starting the tune. Even this needs divine guidance. A hymn may be given out in the Spirit, and yet be marred in the rendering, through want of being properly raised, and carefully led. It often seems like offering a blemished sacrifice when a hymn is sung in a careless, slovenly way. We should sing with all our hearts, and to the very best of our ability; and, above all, the person who leads the hymn should look to the Lord for grace to do it suitably, so that God may be glorified, and the assembly refreshed and edified. These are the grand ends to sought in everything that transpires in the assembly, and they will be attained in proportion as we all cultivate a spirit of worship, and a spirit of service. May our gracious God grant us a very much larger measure of both the one and the other!