Those "Little" Songs
I do not want to spoil for any person a single one of the beautiful popular religious songs. I rejoice in them all, and sing them all with great heartiness.
But I am impelled to enter a protest against a certain tendency that is plainly observable and that ought to be corrected. If it showed any hint of cessation, I should keep still, but it is increasing rather than waning.
I refer to the large number of popular religious songs based on the adjective "little." They are good songs, and therefore I will not name them; but glance over almost any recent song-book and you will find it full of songs about "little deeds of kindness," "little bits of love," "little acts of mercy," "little gleams of sunshine," "little words of cheer," and so on, till the word "little" has been applied to just about everything that a Christian can be or do.
I cannot help feeling that though a "little" of this is a good thing, so much of it is belittling. I am longing for some great big songs, songs that take us out of the littleness of our lives into the largeness that is possible for us; songs that teach us to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God. Little prayers are good, but give me, for a change, a vast prayer, a prayer with the universe for its scope and all time for its field. Little words of kindness are good, but let us, once in a while, get our mouths enlarged as was Hannah's, and say some of the everlasting big things that wait to be said. A little bit of love is beautiful; but, using it for the little bits of places, give us also some songs of the great, wide, all-comprehending loves that sweep over lives and nations and worlds.
I am sure to be misunderstood even though I repeat that I love these little songs about little things. I love them and I want to keep right on singing them; but right by the side of them, once in a while,—and rather often, too,—I want to see more of the biggest possible songs about the biggest possible things.