FRQM THE LIBR&RX OF
TRJNliTY COLLEGE
^/jf^r;
ZL~^/X*~* /&
THE ENGLISH HYMN
LOUIS F.BENSON
HYMNS
AND
Spiritual Songs.
IuT#ee BOOKS.
I. Collected from the Scriptures.
II. Compos'd on Divine Subje&s,
III. Prepared for the Lord's Supper.
With an JESS AY
Towards the Improvement of Chri-
ftian Pfalmody, by the Uf&pf E-
vangelical Hymns in Worflup, as
well as the Pialins of David.
By /. WATTS.
4nt ilxv fung a nev Song, frying, Thou+rt
vortfy, &c. for tfou vaji fain and hxjtrc-
dtcmcd us, &c. Rev. $. 9.
Solid eflent (i. t. Cbriftiani) convenirc, ear-
menque Chrifto quafi Deo cjicere. Pliniw
L O N D O N y
Printed by J tfumfreys, for Jolm Lawrence,
at the Angel in the Povttrey. 1 707.
* r
PACSIMII.F OF THE TITLE PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF DOCTOR
WATTS' "HYMNS"
THE
ENGLISH HYMN
Its Development and
Use In Worship
By
LOUIS F. BENSON
D.D. (Penna.)
PHILADELPHIA
THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF
PUBLICATION
1915
Copyright, 1915, by
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
139944
2 B92
PREFACE
It will be a part of our present task to show how rela
tively modern a practice the singing of hymns is in the
Churches of our English tongue, and with what struggle
they won their place. To love hymns in eighteenth century
Scotland was to be accused of heresy; in England it was to
be convicted of that worse thing, "enthusiasm." "I gave
her privately a crown," wrote Dr. Johnson of a girl who
came to the sacrament in a bed-gown, "though I saw
Hart's hymns in her hand." 1 What seemed memorable
to that kind heart was not his act of charity, but his having
surmounted on the occasion a churchman's rooted prejudice
against hymns. They bore the stamp of a clamorous dis
sent, and it took the attrition of a protracted circulation to
rub off that mark. Not till after the middle of the nine
teenth century did the English Hymn win the general
esteem which Germany had given to her hymns since the
Reformation.
To our literary critics it bears the mark of dissent still,
and they find it irksome to give to hymns the attention so
cheerfully bestowed on folk-poetry, ballads and lullabies.
Remembering that Cowper sometimes "reaches the sim
plicity of greatness," says Dr. Schelling in his study of the
English Lyric, 2 "we may accept . . . even the 'Olney
Hymns/ though we need not read them." For Watts,
whose noble hymn, "Our God, our Help in ages past," a
million Englishmen are singing with voices broken by the
strain of war, and for the Wesley s, whose songs might
almost be said to have deflected the current of English
history, the most that our critic is able to do, as he passes
on his singing way, is to accord them "the respect that
^Prayers and Meditations, Easter day, 1764: Works of Johnson,
Oxford, 1825, vol. ix, p. 221.
2 Felix E. Schelling, The English Lyric, Boston, 1913, p. 139.
v
VI
PREFACE
honest devotional effort (even when versified) should
properly inspire." 3
We also, as best we may, shall have to consider in its
natural historical connections the question of the relations
to literature of an English Hymnody that has proved so
virile. Indeed, the literature of power, whether a Wesley's
for the upbuilding of a Kingdom or a Kipling's for the
buttressing of an empire, is ever an unchartered libertine.
It will sometimes preach, while it pretends to sing, and
even tread on a critical canon or two as it hews its way to
men's hearts.
Just now we are not defending hymns but alleging the
circumstances making it inevitable that anything in the
line of a serious study of the English Hymn should be so
long deferred, and that our English Hymnology should lag
so far behind the German. Daniel Sedgwick, a self-taught
second-hand bookseller of London (1814-1879), was ac
tually the first collector of the hymn books, and to his little
shop in Sun-street, Bishopsgate, used to resort so many of
the editors as cared enough for the hymns they were han
dling to inquire into their authorship and text. And yet in
a scientific age the collection and study of old psalm and
hymn books, which are the remains and record of the
spiritual life of contemporaneous Christians, would seem
just as rational as the collection and classification of fossil
shells, which are the remains and record of the animal life
of contemporaneous mollusca. "Really it has awakened,"
wrote a reader of one of the ensuing chapters, "the sus
picion that there is no better point of view from which to
study the development and the reactions of Christian belief
than that offered by Hymnody. This is not strange; for
after all beliefs of the first rate in influence receive and, I
have the impression, always have received their best and
final embodiment in poetry and especially lyric poetry."
Once begun the serious study of English Hymns has
proceeded rapidly enough. In the eighth edition of the
Ibid., p. 136.
PREFACE vii
Encyclopedia Britannica the whole subject of Hymns cov
ered only two pages, which in the ninth edition expanded
to eighteen. And by 1892 a considerable company of
investigators made possible the publication of Dr. John
Julian's A Dictionary of Hymnology; since when the sources
and history of most of our hymns (though not their text)
have been rescued from what in many cases was a very
teasing obscurity.
In recognition of the new study, and with a venturous
hope of contributing to its advancement, The Faculty of
The Theological Seminary at Princeton in 1903 invited the
present writer to deliver a course of lectures on the L. P.
Stone Foundation upon a subject connected with Hymnol
ogy. He decided, with their approval, to go back to the
very beginnings of Congregational Song in that branch of
the Church with which the Seminary is allied, and to trace
the origins, development and decline of the practice of
singing metrical Psalm versions which became the charac
teristic feature of worship in the Reformed Churches of
various tongues. The lectures were delivered in February,
1907, under the title, "The Psalmody of the Reformed
Churches." 4
Soon afterward an invitation came for a second course
of lectures. And it seemed natural to resume the history'
of Congregational Song at the point where the former
course had left it, and to take up the subsequent or hymn
singing period in the Churches that most concern us, those
that speak our English tongue. The second course was
delivered in February, 1910, under the title, "The Hymnody
of the English-speaking Churches." This second course
of lectures was reconstructed and rewritten to a larger scale,
and printed in The Princeton Theological Review in the
July number of 1910 and during the years 1912-1914. Once
more revised and partly rewritten in the unending struggle
4 Of these the first, upon the Psalmody of the Calvinistic Reforma
tion, was printed with additions in The Journal of The Presbyterian
Historical Society for March, June, and September, 1909.
viii PREFACE
after accuracy, expanded and rounded out in an attempt
to cover the entire field, they form the contents of the
present volume.
The change in the title of the book from that of the
lectures is made for the sake of lucidity. It implies no
change in the theme, the point of view, or the method of
treatment; and it is as well that these should be set forth
as clearly as may be. There are of course more ways than
one of treating the English Hymn historically. The most
obvious is to take up the writers of hymns chronologically,
to group them in periods, and to treat their lives and writ
ings consecutively. This is to deal with Hymnody as a
minor branch of lyrical poetry, and to apply to it the
familiar method of the "Manual of English Literature."
The method is handy and gives us a conspectus of hymn
writing that for some purposes is useful. Nevertheless the
fact that most hymn writers are studiously ignored in the
manuals of English Literature themselves seems to suggest
either that the theme is a very insignificant one or else that
something is wanting in the manner of its presentation.
The truth is that if the methods of the literary historian
are not misapplied to Hymnody, they are at least inade
quate. A hymn may or may not happen to be literature;
in any case it is something more. Its sphere, its motive,
its canons and its use are different. It belongs with the
things of the spirit, in the sphere of religious experience
and communion with God. Its special sphere is worship,
and its fundamental relations are not literary but liturgical.
Of all definitions of the Hymn that which claims least
for it best defines it: it is liturgical verse. In the daily
service book of the old Latin Church the Hymnus was the
versified part of the Divine Office, and our democratic ideals
of worship have changed neither its definition 5 nor function.
"To apply the word Hymn to some strangely interlaced passages of
rhythmical prose in the service books of the Greek Church, and to
the prose Te Deum and canticles of the English Prayer Book, is
convenient but need not be misleading. We speak of the "prose poems"
of a Carlyle without affecting the definition of poetry.
PREFACE ix
The English Hymn gains its historical significance and its
present importance from its inclusion in the hymnal that is
put into the hands of the people as the authorized vehicle of
their common praise in our Protestant Churches. And the
whole body of hymns that have been or are so included
constitutes "The Hymnody of the English-speaking
Churches."
This point of view is sedulously maintained in the
present book, and determines its method. Hymnody is
regarded as the later phase of Protestant Church Song.
We shall endeavor to show how far the Hymn was from
the mind of Churches given over to the custom of psalm
singing, and how as that mind was turning toward hymns,
they began to shape themselves out of devotional poetry
on the one hand and metrical psalms on the other; how
one strong will took control of the situation, fixed the
definite type of the English Hymn, and engineered a move
ment to introduce it into public worship. We shall follow
the fortunes of this movement and also study the develop
ment of the Hymn itself, as with succeeding generations
fresh minds came to deal with it and new religious and
literary forces and influences successively played upon it.
Our special concern is to follow down the main stream
of Hymnody and of hymn singing from its springs to its
present fulness. But no by-stream of Hymnody has been
consciously neglected. Some of these denominational
hymnodies are no more than canals cut to carry the waters
of the main stream to a new territory, but others are inlets
through which new springs enrich the main current. In
any case they are of interest to the dwellers along their
shores ; and we have set up sign-boards at the various points
of junction so that readers intent to follow the main stream
need not be diverted.
It will be evident that for the purposes of such a study
the hymn books in actual use in the different Churches at
various times become our principal sources, and that they,
with the proceedings of the authoritative bodies in the
x PREFACE
several denominations and the lives and works of the hymn
writers, constitute the materials which we have to handle.
The recovery of these materials, notably of the hymn
books, from the litter of the past is no light task ; and it is
only after twenty-five years of assiduous collecting that
the present writer has ventured to bring his studies to so
much of a conclusion as is here attained. He can at least
aver that he has dealt with his sources at first hand.
With this understanding of the importance attached to
hymn books, it will seem natural that the full titles of so
many of them should be run into the text as a part of the
narrative rather than relegated to a "bibliography." It may
be that these, together with an abundance of foot-notes, ap
pear to be so many snags in the course of fluent reading.
But to an inquiring mind foot-notes are likely to prove the
better part of a book; and even the gentle reader should
learn to accept them as a pledge of good faith. Many books
would never have been printed had their authors felt obliged
to disclose their sources and authorities. It might too be
urged that foot-notes, used judiciously, serve to relieve the
narrative from an ever impending dulness; and dulness is
a fault which author and reader might well conspire to be
rid of at any cost save the sacrifice of precision: for in
accuracy is more than a fault, it is a sin.
If the writer were more confident of having pursued a
way, in part untrodden, in the spirit of wholesome scholar
ship, he would have liked to dedicate his book to the
reverend and learned Faculty of The Theological Seminary
at Princeton, whose sympathy and encouragement helped
toward its undertaking and have acted as a spur to its
completion.
March, 19 id.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY: PSALMODY AND HYMNODY 19
1. Early Religious Lyrics in English 19
2. Congregational Song as a Church Ordinance 20
3. Psalmody and Hymnody as Rival Systems of Congrega
tional Song 21
4. The English-speaking Peoples become Psalm Singers .... 25
II. THE HYMNS APPENDED TO THE METRICAL PSALTERS (1561-1635)
NOT THE NUCLEUS OF AN ENGLISH HYMNODY 26
1. The Hymns Appended to the English Psalter 27
2. The Hymns Appended to the Scottish Psalter 32
III. THE PROMISE OF AN ENGLISH HYMNODY BY TRANSLATING THE
OLD LATIN CHURCH HYMNS (1538-1559) FAILS 37
IV. THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN FROM THE METRICAL
PSALM 45
(1) By way of improving its literary character 46
(2) By accommodating its contents to present circumstances . 51
(3) By extending the principle of Paraphrase to other parts
of the Bible 55
V. THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN FROM DEVOTIONAL
POETRY 63
1. Lack of the Hymnic Motive in pre-Restoration Poets,
except Wither 63
2. The new Hymn Writing (1664-1693): the Predecessors of
Watts 68
CHAPTER II
THE LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS
I. THE DENOMINATIONAL DIVISIONS OF CHURCH SONG AT THE
RESTORATION (1660) 73
II. JOHN PLAYFORD LEADS A MOVEMENT TO INTRODUCE HYMN
SINGING IN THE REESTABLISHED CHURCH (1671-1708).. 75
III. RICHARD BAXTER LEADS A MOVEMENT TO INTRODUCE HYMNS
AMONG THE EJECTED PRESBYTERIANS (1661-1708) 82
IV. THE ATTITUDE OF THE SEPARATISTS . . . 91
1. The General Baptists oppose "Promiscuous Singing". ... 91
2. The Society of Friends excludes "Conjoint Singing" 94
xi
xii CONTENTS
PAGE
3. Benjamin Keach introduces Hymns among the Particular
Baptists 96
4. The Independents join with the Presbyterians in intro
ducing Hymns 101
CHAPTER III
DOCTOR WAtTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY"
I. His PROPOSAL OF AN EVANGELICAL "SYSTEM OF PRAISE" (1707). 108
II. His FULFILMENT: "WATTS'S PSALMS AND HYMNS" 113
III. His SUCCESS: THE ERA OF WATTS 122
I. In England 122
1. He dominates the worship of the Independents. . . 122
2. His ascendency over the Presbyterians terminates in
a Unitarian Hymnody 130
3. His ascendency over the Baptists leads up to a
Homiletical Hymnody 142
II. In Scotland 147
1. His Influence: the "Translations and Paraphrases"
(1745-1781). . 147
2. Early Scottish Hymn Singing 154
CHAPTER IV
DR. WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" (Continued)
IV. His SUCCESS: THE ERA OF WATTS IN AMERICA 161
I. The Congregationalists (1735-1834) 161
1. The Great Awakening turns the Churches to his
Evangelical "System of Praise" 161
2. An American School of Church Music 169
3. The Liberals compile "Non-Trinitarian" Hymn
Books (1753-1823) 172
II. The Presbyterians (1739-1827) 177
1. "New Side" Churches venture to sing Watts' "Im
itations" 177
2. The Great "Psalmody Controversy" 186
3. Hymn Singing under the new (1788) "Directory
for Worship" 191
III. The Baptists (1754-1827) 196
1. Their gradual Adoption of Watts' "Psalms and
Hymns" 196
2. Obstacles to Watts' Ascendency 198
(1) Their desire for denominational Hymn Books 198
(2) Their predilection for "Spiritual Songs". ... 201
V. His INFLUENCE UPON THE ENGLISH HYMN 205
He was not "the Inventor of Hymns in our Language". . . . 205
CONTENTS xiii
PAGE
But established a definite type of Congregational Hymn. . . . 207
Its sphere the Common Ground of Experience 207
Its form evolved from the Metrical Psalm 207
Its content not the paraphrase of Scripture but an evan
gelical response to it 208
VI. His INFLUENCE UPON HYMN WRITING: THE SCHOOL OF WATTS 210
VII. His INFLUENCE UPON HYMN SINGING 216
He led in the establishment of Congregational Hymn Sing
ing in the stead of Psalm Singing 216
CHAPTER V
THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL
I. ITS ANTECEDENTS AND BEGINNINGS (1721-1738) 219
1. John Wesley aims to uplift Parochial Psalmody. 219
2. The Moravians reveal to him the spiritual potentiality
of the Hymn 223
3. He makes Hymn Books as a missionary, and as an asso
ciate of Moravians 225
II. THE METHODIST HYMNODY (1739-1904) 228
1. The "Movement," and Charles Wesley as its Poet 228
2. Hymn Books for "The People called Methodists" 235
III. THE METHODIST SINGING 239
1. John Wesley as Music-master 239
2. The new Type of Congregational Song 241
IV. THE PART OF THE WESLEYS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ENGLISH HYMN 244
1. Their great enrichment of Hymnody: by writing, trans
lating, and editing 244
2. Their Modification of the Ideal of the Hymn 247
(1) The Evangelistic Hymn 247
(2) The fervid Hymn of Individual Experience 248
(3) The Churchly Hymn . . 251
(4) The new Poetic Standard of Hymnody 252
V. THE WESLEYAN HYMNS IN THE CHURCH AT LARGE 255
The fervid Hymn singing does not spread into the Churches. 256
Obstacles to the Diffusion of the Hymns 256
(1) The body of the Hymns ill-adapted to general use. . . 257
(2) The "Reproach of Methodism" precludes a general
knowledge of them 257
CHAPTER VI
THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL (Continued)
VI. THE MORAVIAN HYMNODY 262
i. After the Breach with Wesley the Moravians develop an
eccentric Hymnody (1741-1754) 262
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
2. Wesley repudiates it (1749) 267
3. The Normal Period of Moravian Hymnody (1789-1901). 270
VII. DEFLEXIONS OF METHODIST SONG AFTER WESLEY'S DEATH . . . 274
(1) The Methodist New Connexion (1796) 275
(2) Primitive Methodists ( 1809) 275
(3) United Methodist Free Churches (1827) 278
(4) Bible Christians (1819) 279
VIII. THE HYMNODY OF AMERICAN METHODISM 280
1. Wesley's effort to control it ^(1784) 280
2. The Struggle between "Mr. Wesley's Hymns" and Pop
ular Songs (1784-1848) 285
3. A New Type: The Camp Meeting Hymn (1800) (Chris
tians and Cumberland Presbyterians) 291
4. Efforts to reinstate and to modernize the Wesleyan
Hymnody (1847-1905) 298
IX. DIVERGING CURRENTS OF AMERICAN METHODIST HYMNODY. . . 305
(1) The Reformed Methodist Church (1814) 305
(2) The Methodist Society (1820) 306
(3) The African Methodist Episcopal Church (1818). ..... 306
(4) Methodist Protestants (1830) 307
(5) Wesleyan Methodists and Free Methodists (1843) 310
(6) Review of American Methodist Hymnody 310
A ppendix(7) The United Brethren in Christ ( 1 826- 1 890) 3 1 2
(8) The Evangelical Association (1834-1877) 314
CHAPTER VII
THE HYMNODY OF THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL
I. IN WHITEFIELD'S CIRCLE (1741-1; 70) 315
II. IN LADY HUNTINGDON'S CONNEXION (1764-1865) 319
III. SOME BY-STREAMS OF THE HYMNODY (1748-1808) 325
IV. IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND (1760-1819) 328
1. Introduction of Hymn Singing by the early Evangelicals
(1760-1776) 328
2. "Olney Hymns" (1779) fills out the Type of the Evan
gelical Hymn 336
3. Movements to introduce Hymns in the main body of the
Church (1724-1816) 340
(1) The Stand-fasts 340
(2) The less extreme Conservatives 341
(3) Hymn Books for private use 342
(4) Hymn Books of the London Charities 343
(5) Hymns within the covers of the Prayer Book 345
4. The Period of Compromise: "Psalms and Hymns" in
Parish Churches (1785-1819) 349
CONTENTS xv
CHAPTER VIII
THE EVANGELICAL HYMNODY IN AMERICA
PAGE
I. ITS ADOPTION DELAYED BY VARIOUS CAUSES 358
II. ITS USE BY THE BAPTISTS 361
1. Its early welcome among Regular Baptists (1790-1850). . 361
2. Diverging currents of Baptist Hymnody 366
(1) Freewill Baptists (1797) 366
(2) The Bunkers (1791) 367
(3) The Mennonites 368
(4) The Church of God (1825) 369
(5) The Disciples of Christ (1827) 370
III. MAKING ITS WAY INTO CONGREGATIONAL AND PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCHES 372
1. The Era of Revival (1790-1832): "Village Hymns" 372
2. The Era of Compromise (1828-1857): "Psalms and
Hymns" 380
(1) Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns (1831) 380
(2) Old school Psalms and Hymns (1843) 382
(3) New school Psalms and Hymns (1843) 383
(4) Presbyterian Hymnody in the '40*3 386
(5) Congregationalist Psalms and Hymns (1836-1845). 388
IV. HYMN SINGING IN THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH 390
1. The Beginning of Hymn Singing (1786) 390
2. The Evangelical Period (1789-1858) 396
V. ENGLISH HYMNS IN THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH (1767-1868) 402
VI. ENGLISH HYMNS IN THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH (1800-
858) 408
VII. ENGLISH HYMNS IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH (1756-1859) 410
VIII. DIVERSE CURRENTS OF HYMNODY 420
1. Early Universalist Hymns (1776-1849) 421
2. Swedenborgian Hymnody (1792-1830) 426
3. "Shaker Music" (1774-1893) 427
4. Adventist Hymns (1843-1887) 428
5. Mormon Hymns (1830-1891) 431
CHAPTER IX
THE HYMNODY OF THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT
I. THE LITERARY HYMN 435
II. REGINALD HEBER'S ROMANTIC HYMNAL (1827) 437
III. THE LITERARY MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 443
I. In the Church of England 443
1. It is overshadowed by the Liturgical Movement. . . 443
2. A later Literary School (1862-1899) 44 6
xvi CONTENTS
PAGE
II. James Martineau provides Unitarians with a "Poetry
of pure Devotion" (1840) 449
III. The Baptists cling to a Homiletical Hymnody (1827-
1879) ' 45i
IV. The Enrichment of Congregationalist Hymnody 453
1. The Ministers of Leeds break the Watts tradition
(1853) 453
2. The Rivulet Controversy (1856) 454
3. The Advance toward Heber's Ideal: Loss and
Gain (1859-1887) 456
IV. THE LITERARY MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 460
I. "Songs of the Liberal Faith" 460
1. A notable series of Hymn Books (1830-1864). . . . 460
2. Unitarian Hymnody (1830-1864) 468
3. Modern Tendencies (1861-1894) 470
II. THE ENRICHMENT OF CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRES
BYTERIAN HYMNODY is LEFT TO PRIVATE ENTERPRISE . 473
1. Henry Ward Beecher leads the movement for Con
gregational Singing (1851) 473
2. The Enrichment of Hymnody for Homiletical Ends
(1855-1858) 474
3. The New Type of Church Hymnal (1855) 477
4. Dr. Robinson's popular Hymnals (1862-1875) 478
III. OTHER DENOMINATIONS FOLLOW THE UNITARIAN LEAD. 480
1. "The Christian Hymn Book" (1863) 480
2. The new Universalist Hymnody (1846-1895) 481
V. THE OFFSET: THE "GOSPEL HYMN" (1851 to date) 482
CHAPTER X
THE HYMNODY OF THE OXFORD REVIVAL
I. IT DOMINATES THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 493
1. The Movement to restore the "primitive" Church
Hymnody (1833) 493
2. The Result: the Liturgical Hymn 497
3. Early Tractarian Hymnals: John Mason Neale (1836-
1858) 500
4. The Emergence of "Hymns Ancient and Modern" (1861) 506
5. The Anglican Hymnody and Church Music 514
II. OXFORD INFLUENCES ON THE HYMNODY OF ENGLISH DISSENT. . 522
1. Liturgical Ideals in Congregationalist and Baptist Wor
ship (1861-1900) 522
2. The Presbyterians enrich Anglican Music (1866) 525
3. Catholic Apostolic Hymnody (1864) 528
4. Swedenborgian Hymnody (1790-1880) 529
CONTENTS xvii
PAGE
III. OXFORD INFLUENCES IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND: PRESBY
TERIAN HYMN SINGING 530
1. The Changes in United.Presbyterian Hymnody (1848-1877) 530
2. The Hymnody of the Kirk falls into the hands .of the
Liturgical Party (1845-1885) 531
3. The Free Church remodels its Hymn Book (1882) 536
4. Scottish Hymn Writing 537
5. Unauthorized Hymn Singing by Irish Presbyterians (1830-
1894) 539
6. The movement for a Common Hymnal yields to Oxford
Influences (1870-1898) 540
IV. OXFORD INFLUENCES ON AMERICAN HYMNODY . . 543
1. The Appeal of the Latin Hymn (1840-1861) 543
2. Hymns Ancient and Modern in the Protestant Episcopal
Church (1859-1892) 544
3. The Liturgical Controversy in the German Reformed
Church (1857) 54 8
4. The new Reformed Dutch Hymnody (1868-1891) 550
5. Hymns Ancient and Modern in the Presbyterian Church
(1866-1895) 551
6. A new type of Congregationalist Hymnal (1887-1893). . . 557
7. The Baptists maintain the Homiletical Type till the Cen
tury's End 558
8. The Lutherans develop a churchly Hymnody (1863-1899). 560
9. Anglican Hymnody accommodated to the "New Church"
(1863-1911) 563
CHAPTER XI
TWENTIETH CENTURY HYMNODY
I. THE INFLUENCES THAT HAVE MOULDED IT 565
II. HOW FAR AFFECTED BY MODERN EVANGELISM 567
III. ITS MORE EXACTING LITERARY STANDARD 567
IV. ITS REVERSION TO A MOTIVE MORE STRICTLY DEVOTIONAL 570
V. ITS THEOLOGY .' 574
1 . Changing religious thought makes this a Period of Revision. 574
2. The New Theology demands a new Hymnody 578
VI. THE HYMNODY OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 584
INDEX 591
CHAPTER I
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
I
INTRODUCTORY: PSALMODY AND HYMNODY
i. EARLY RELIGIOUS LYRICS IN ENGLISH
There were English hymns long before the Reforma
tion. Carol singing was brought over from France at a
very early date, and by the XHIth century the Norman
carols began to give way to those in English, often retain
ing the French refrain, and introducing Latin lines taken
mostly from the church service. The Carol was devoted
especially to rehearsing the events of the Nativity, but it
passed into spiritual lullabies and the Complaint of Mary,
or of Christ, on the one hand, and into secular songs of
the feasts and sports of Yule-tide on the other. Not carols
only but a variety of religious and ethical songs mingled
freely with those of an amorous or convivial or humorous
sort, sung in the markets, ale-houses and halls, and through
the country side, by the wandering minstrels, themselves
often in minor orders of the Church. Beside these were
the less homely hymns to Christ and the Virgin, and more
or less mystical devotional verses, such as were written in
the monasteries.
These early effusions must be classed as hymns, in our
familiar use of that word to designate religious lyrics. But
hymns, in the stricter sense of "church song" or "liturgical
verse," they were not in fact or in the minds of the clerks
who composed them; to whom a "Hymn" meant the stanzas
appointed to be read or sung in the Office for the day, of
course in the Latin language. The early religious lyrics
19
20 THE ENGLISH HYMN
have a very real interest of their own, and are doubtless
worthy of more attention than they have as yet received. 1
But their connection with the English Hymnody after
wards to be developed as the Church Song of Protestantism
is of the slightest. They did not furnish a foundation for
that Hymnody or give any promise of its coming. The
nearest approach to a bond of connection is found in the
Christmas Carol, which before the Reformation was
allowed to be sung in parish churches in conjunction with
Christmas festivities, and which, rather by revival than
survival, is making its way into Protestant Church
Hymnody.
But between this modern Church Hymnody and the old
religious English lyrics lies the deep chasm of the Reforma
tion, with its breach in church order, and the fresh start on
the Protestant side, under democratic ideals of worship, of
a people singing songs in their own tongue. The Latin
Hymn sung by the choir is the expression of the old order
and ideals; the Congregational Hymn sung by the people
in the vernacular is equally typical of the new.
2. CONGREGATIONAL SONG AS A CHURCH ORDINANCE
The Congregational Hymn is thus distinctively the child
of the Reformation, and indeed its paternity is quite com
monly ascribed to Luther himself. Such ascription is not
in accordance with the facts. The singing of religious songs
by the people began to play its part in different localities
on the continent of Europe, with the first stirring of the
new life in the Western Church that culminated in the
Reformation of the XVIth century. With the gathering
'Prof. F. M. Padelford's chapter on "Transition English Song Col
lections" in The Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. ii,
1908, was something of a novelty in such a connection. The appended
bibliography includes many of the printed sources of the songs. For
the Carol, see Edmondstoune Duncan, The Story of the Carol, London,
191 1 ; and Thos. Helmore in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, Lon
don, 2nd ed., 1907, art. "Carols," and supplement, p. 1619.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 21
of the followers of John Hus in Bohemia into congrega
tions, popular song becomes definitely Congregational Song.
A vernacular Hymnody of considerable proportions was
created by the Hussites, and provided with suitable melodies.
These hymns and tunes were embodied in books designed
for the worshippers' hands rather than for the choir. Thus
the congregational hymn-book of the modern type had its
origin, and congregational singing of hymns took its place
as a recognized part of the new kind of worship. 2
The foundations of Congregational Song as a church
ordinance were therefore laid before the beginnings of the
Reformation in Germany under Luther and in Switzerland
under Calvin. Congregational Song must be regarded as the
liturgical expression of principles common to Protestantism,
that were embodied in Lutheranism and Calvinism alike.
It is of course true that Congregational Song received a
great impulse and development from Luther's hands, and
that his work in establishing it claims the priority over
Calvin's, upon whom Luther's success doubtless exercised
marked influence. But Congregational Song cannot be
rightly regarded as the distinctive possession of either sys
tem, nor can it be fairly claimed that the one reformer
showed more zeal in establishing it than the other.
3. PSALMODY AND HYMNODY AS RIVAL SYSTEMS OF
CONGREGATIONAL SONG
We have now to note and to explain the fact that while
congregational singing was as much a feature of the new
Protestantism in England and Scotland as in Germany, it
nevertheless happened that German Protestantism proceeded
at once to develop a rich German Hymnody, whereas there
was no English Hymnody in any effective sense until the
2 The earliest recorded hymn book of the Bohemian Brethren bears
the date 1505. For their Hymnody see Edmund de Schweinitz, The
History of the Church known as The Unitas Fratrum, 2nd ed., Beth
lehem, Pa., 1901 ; and J. T. Mueller in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnol-
ogy, art. "Bohemian Hymnody."
22 THE ENGLISH HYMN
XVIIIth century. It happened so in brief because the
Churches in England and Scotland in arranging for the
participation of the people in the service of praise, adopted
the model set up by Calvin in Geneva as over against that
set up by Luther. The practical effect of this was, in a
word, that both the English and Scottish Churches became
psalm singers as distinguished from hymn singers. The
Metrical Psalm was thus the substitute for the Hymn in
England and Scotland, and became the effective obstacle to
the production and use of English hymns.
To understand the ground of this supremacy of the
Psalm, and the suppression of the Hymn involved in it, we
must go back to the minds of the two great leaders of the
Reformation, antagonistic as they were in temperament and
taste and divided in many matters of principle. Their
diverse points of view are nowhere more conspicuous than
in their conceptions of Protestant worship; and among other
issues thus raised was one regarded by each as of great
practical importance, What shall the people be permitted
and encouraged to sing in public worship?
In reconstructing the musical side of church worship two
proclivities of his own strongly influenced Luther. One
was his love for the old German folk-song, for social sing
ing and for the music of the household and family. The
other was his affectionate regard for the ritual of the old
Church, especially the Latin hymns which for many cen
turies had made a part of the Daily Office. The utility
of their metrical form was obvious. And the fact that
hymns were free compositions, not confined to Scriptural
paraphrase, constituted no objection to them in Luther's
mind, but on the other hand suggested an opportunity of
filling the Hymn-Form with the doctrines and inspira
tions of the new evangel. Luther adopted without hesita
tion the Metrical Hymn of human composition as a
permanent element of his cultus. And he provided German
hymns set to suitable tunes, and put the hymn books into
the hands of the people. From the beginning, therefore,
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 23
Lutheran song became Hymnody in the narrower sense of
the word. This Lutheran Hymnody was based indiscrim
inately on Scripture, the Latin and Hussite hymns, popular
songs, and the thoughts and feelings of the writer. And
from Luther's time to the present the composition of German
hymns has proceeded without a break, and their congre
gational use has continued to be a characteristic feature
of Lutheran worship.
Calvin on the other hand was impressed with the frivolity
of current French song, and impatient of any melody in
any wise associated with it. To the music of the old Church
and its elaborate ritual he was possibly indifferent by tem
perament, but certainly hostile through a conscientious con
viction that it was a purely human contrivance and the
scaffolding of a merely formal religion. In arranging a
worship for the Reformed Church he proposed to ignore
the historical development of worship in the Latin Church,
and to reinstate the simpler conditions of the primitive
Church. He would have nothing in the cultus which could
not claim the express authority of Scripture. He found
Scriptural precedent for the ordinance of Congregational
Song, and saw the advantage of the metrical hymn-form.
But the Church's imprimatur oh the "Hymn of human
composure" gave it no sanctity in his mind. And the
Breviary itself showed how readily the Hymn served as the
embodiment of false doctrine. And so, without denying
the breadth of St. Paul's allowance of "Psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs," and without denying the Church's
right to make its own hymns, he rested upon the propo
sition that there could be no better songs than the inspired
songs of Scripture. He established the precedent of Church
Song taken from the word of God itself, and practically
confined to the canonical Psalms. The authority of Calvin's
opinion and example was such that the usage of singing
metrical psalms as instituted at Geneva followed the spread
of Calvinistic doctrine through the world as a recognized
feature of church order. It became as characteristic of
24 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the Reformed cultus as hymn singing was of the Lutheran
cultus.
The new Protestant Church Song was thus from the
first divided into two separate streams, having Luther and
Calvin as their respective sources, and differing in their
actual contents. If we attempt to put this new Protestant
song in relation to the service of praise in the historic
cultus of the Latin Church which it replaced, it appears that
the Lutheran Hymnody and the Reformed Psalmody agree
in taking the service of praise out of the hands of the choir
and restoring it to the congregation, and, with that end in
view, in rendering it in the vernacular tongue. But the
Lutheran Hymn must be regarded as the lineal successor of
the Latin hymns of the Breviary, and as carrying forward
the usage of hymn singing without a break. The Calvinistic
psalm, on the other hand, would have to be regarded as
the lineal successor of the old church Psalmody, that ren
dering of the Latin prose Psalter in stated portions which
constituted the main feature of the Daily Office. It is true
that the Calvinistic psalm was run into the mould of the
metrical hymn, and being a metrical formula of congrega
tional praise, it may be called a hymn, in the larger sense of
that word. But in reality it marked a breach with the
extra-Biblical Hymnody of the Western Church, and of the
Hussites and Lutherans. It represented a popularization
of the old church Psalmody that offered itself as a substi
tute for Hymnody, whether old or new. Henceforward, for
two centuries and a half at least, the Hymn and the Metri
cal Psalm stand side by side as representing clearly differ
entiated and even opposing systems of congregational
Church Song. 3
"The necessity of marking this distinction is the justification of the
word "Hymnody," even though objected to by purists as lacking the
highest sanction. Philologically "Hymnody" would seem to be the
analogue of "Psalmody," and practically would seem to be a necessity
to express the practice of singing hymns, and also the body of the
hymns thus sung. The current employment of "Psalmody" to express
these things simply ignores the history of two centuries, and obscures
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 25
4. THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES BECOME PSALM
SINGERS
Which of these contrasting types of Church Song was to
establish itself among English-speaking peoples was at first
by no means clear. Both in England and Scotland the
impulse behind the early Reformation movement was
Lutheran, and in each country the leaders endeavored to
forward the movement by means of religious songs of
Lutheran type, and in part derived from Lutheran sources.
In England this effort was ineffective. Some years
later than 1531 Myles Coverdale issued the first English
hymn-book, his Goostly Psalmes and Spirituall Songes
drawen out of the holy Scripture, based on the Witten
berg hymn books. These dull songs made little appeal to the
people, and at the same time they were in advance of the
limits of the scheme of reform then proposed by Henry
VIII. In 1546 the King put the Goostly Psalmes among the
prohibited books, and brought its ineffectual career to an end.
the facts: and when, as by some recent writers, the word "Psalmody"
is actually applied to the body of the tunes to which hymns are sung,
we seem to reach a point at which, the article exhibited and the label
attached to it have no obvious connection. English writers in general,
dealing specifically with hymns, have used the word "Hymnology" to
describe the collective body of them or some part of it. Thus James
King gathers the body of hymns in widest use in the Church of
England under the title Anglican Hymnology (London, 1885) ; and,
as if to prove that we have not misunderstood him, entitles his first
chapter "History of Ancient and Mediaeval Hymnology." When Mr.
Courthope tells us (A History of English Poetry, vol. v, London, 1905,
pp. 328, 336), that "Hymnology had its rise among the Nonconform
ists," and that "the style of English Hymnology reaches its highest
level" in certain hymns of Dr. Watts, we may not question the law
fulness of his use of the terms but we must affirm its inexpediency.
When we have gathered our specimens from the quarry or mine, we
have not gathered its "mineralogy" but its minerals, from which the
brain and not the hand must construct their mineralogy. Just so,
dealing at present with the English Hymn and its liturgical use, it
would appear that the word "Hymnody" describes the materials for
our study; and that the word "Hymnology" expresses rather that
ordered knowledge of hymns to which a study such as ours may be
expected to contribute.
26 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In Scotland, on the other hand, Coverdale's contem
poraries, the Wedderburns, successfully introduced among
the people hymns and songs based on Lutheran models.
These played a great part in the development of the Refor
mation, down to and beyond the formal organization of the
Reformed Church of Scotland. 4
But in both countries the influence of Calvin prevailed
over that of Luther, and determined among other things
the form of Church Song. The Scottish Church, under
Knox's influence, discarded the Wedderburn Hymnody and
adopted the Genevan system of Metrical Psalmody into its
constitution. The English Church adopted Metrical Psal
mody just as effectively, but less formally, as something not
provided for in the Prayer Book system, but yet "allowed"
to adhere to the margin of that system. Practically both
English-speaking Churches entered upon an era of psalm
singing which was to be little disturbed through two
centuries.
II
THE HYMNS APPENDED TO THE METRICAL
PSALTERS (1561-1635) NOT THE NUCLEUS
OF AN ENGLISH HYMNODY
And yet neither in England nor Scotland was the psalm
book which was put into the hands of the people confined
exclusively to canonical Psalms. In both countries the
authorized Psalter included not only a complete metrical
4 We have regarded the Coverdale episode in England and that of the
Wedderburns in Scotland as belonging logically and chronologically to
the earlier movement to establish Psalmody rather than to the later
movement to establish Hymnody. Their fuller treatment falls there
fore within the scope of the history of Metrical Psalmody. There is an
accessible reprint of Coverdale's book (without the music) in the
Parker Society's edition of his Remains (Cambridge, 1846). Of the
Wedderburn book there is David Laing's annotated reprint (Edinburgh,
1868), and Dr. A. F. Mitchell's more elaborate edition of The gude and
godlie Ballatis for the Scottish Text Society (1897). See also his The
Wedderburns and their work (Edinburgh and London, 1867).
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 27
version of the Psalms but also an appended group, relatively
small, of hymns and metrical paraphrases of other Scrip
tural passages and Prayer Book materials.
This common feature, as also the identity of much of
the contents of the two Psalters, is explained by the fact
that they had a common origin. Both Psalters represent
the carrying forward in their respective countries, on some
what differing lines, of the work begun by the Marian exiles
at Geneva. Knox, Whittingham and others of the Puritan
party of exiles who were deeply under Calvin's influence,
were particularly impressed by the psalm singing he had set
up in his little French congregation. In preparing a service
book for their own people to take the place of the Prayer
Book, 5 they determined to introduce psalm singing, and
began the preparation of an English psalm book, of which
Calvin's French Psalter was inevitably the model. But even
at Geneva, the fountain head of Metrical Psalmody, the
addiction to psalms was not absolutely exclusive. The first
edition of Calvin's Genevan Psalter (1542) included
metrical versions of the Song of Simeon, the Command
ments, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed; in the complete
and final form of the Psalter (1562) the outside material
consisted of the Song of Simeon and Commandments versi
fied and two metrical graces at meals. There was thus no
departure from Genevan precedent made by including hymns
in the English and Scottish Psalters; but in each case the
appended hymns were more numerous and more diverse,
and demand examination especially as to the actual sig
nificance of their appearance there.
i. THE HYMNS APPENDED TO THE ENGLISH PSALTER
The nucleus of the English Psalter, the earliest psalm
book of the exiles at Geneva, was annexed to their Forme
*The forme of prayers and ministration of the sacraments, &c.,
vsed in the Englishe Congregation at Geneua: and approued by the
famous and godly learned man, John Caluyn. Imprinted at Geneua
by John Crespin, M.D.LVL
28 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of prayers of 1556 already referred to as One and fiftie
Psalmes of Dauid in Englishe metre, and beyond the
psalms contained only the Commandments versified by
Whittingham. Not only the progress of the Psalter itself
but also a gradual increase in the number of appended pieces
is traced through the earliest surviving English-printed
edition of 1560, and in English and Genevan editions both
of 1561.
The English Psalter (commonly called Sternhold and
Hopkins, or the Old Version) appeared in its completed
form from the press of John Day at London, with a title
not without significance for our inquiry : The whole Booke
of Psalmes, collected into Englysh metre by T. Starnhold,
I. Hopkins & others: conferred with the Ebrue, with apt
Notes to sing them withal, Faithfully perused and alowed
according to thordre appointed in the Queues maiesties
Iniunctions. Very mete to be vsed of all sortes of peo'ple
priuately for their solace & comfort: laying apart all vn-
godly Songes and Ballades, which tende only to the norish-
ing of vyce, and corrupting of youth. [Followed by two
texts and imprint]. An. 1562.
Included in this Psalter, sharing such authorization as it
had, are two groups of metrical hymns, one immediately
preceding and one following the "PSALMS OF DAVID."
In the preliminary edition of 1561 they had numbered seven
teen, in the completed edition of 1562 they number nine
teen, and in editions immediately succeeding they attain a
total of twenty-three pieces. In the edition of 1562 the
hymns are as follows:
Before the Psalms
1. Veni Creator. "Come Holy Ghost eternal God."
[Venite. In 1562 there is only a reference to Ps. 95 as serving for
the Venite of 1561.]
2. Te Deum. "We praise thee God."
3. Benedicite. "O all ye works of God the lord."
4. Benedictus. "The only lorde of Israel."
5. Magnificat. "My soule doth magnifye the Lord."
6. Nunc dimittis. "O Lord be cause my harts desire."
7. .Creed of Athanasius. "What man soeuer he be that."
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 29
8. Lamentation of a Sinner. "O Lord turn not away thy face."
9. Humble Sute of the Sinner. "O Lorde of whom I do depend."
10. Lord's Prayer (D. C. M.). "Our father which in heauen art."
11. Commandments (D. C. M.). "Hark Israel, and what I say."
After the Psalms
1. Commandments (L. M.). "Attend my people and geue eare" :
followed by "A Prayer."
2. Lord's Prayer (8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8.). "Our father which in heauen art."
3. XII Articles of the Faith. "All my belief, and confidence."
4. A Prayer before Sermon. "Come holie spirit the God of might."
5. Da pacem. "Giue peace in these our daies O Lord."
6. The Lamentation. "O Lord in thee is all my trust."
7. Thanksgiving after receiving the Lord's Supper. "The Lord be
thanked for his gifts."
8. "Preserue vs Lord by thy deare word."
In succeeding editions the Venite of 1561 ("O come and
let vs now reioyce") was restored and the following ad
ditional hymns appeared :
1. Before Morning Prayer. "Prayse the Lord O ye Gentiles all."
2. Before Evening Prayer. "Behold now geue heede suche as be."
3. Complaint of a Sinner. "Where rightuousnesse doth say."
All but two of the hymns of 1562 have their "proper
tunes" provided : in the remaining cases suitable tunes are
indicated. We have thus before us what seems at first
sight a not inconsiderable provision for congregational use
in the Church of England of hymns as distinguished from
psalms. But there are some considerations tending to
modify this impression. It was, in the first place, a famil
iar device at the time to cast in metrical form, and set to
music, doctrinal or other material for use by the people.
This was partly with a view to furnish religious songs and
partly to assist the memory to retain things regarded as
desirable for the people to know, and was independent of
the question of what should be sung in church. There
was, in the second place, no hesitation on the part of the
compilers of the early Psalters in joining to the Psalm
versions matter intended for such private use. Witness the
graces for the family meal in the Genevan Psalter, the
treatise on music and "A Forme of Prayer to bee vsed in
30 THE ENGLISH HYMN
priuate houses euery Morning and Euening" in the Eng
lish Psalter of 1562. And, in the third place, it appears
from the title pages of the English Psalter that it was in
tended for use outside of church. The title of the editions
of 1561-1562 contained the words: "Very mete to be vsed
of all sorts of people priuately." It was not until 1566
that the title page of the Psalter claimed authorization for
its use in church. 6
It is then obvious that the presence of these hymns in
the English Psalter does not of itself imply, either in inten
tion or in fact, their use in the church services. As to the
actual significance of their inclusion one must form his
own conclusions.
Turning first to the prefixed hymns, the Prayer Book
complexion of the whole group is at once apparent. If
we regard the "Lamentation" and "Humble Sute" as rep
resenting the elements of Confession of Sin and Prayer
for Pardon and Peace incorporated in the Order for Daily
Prayer in 1552, then the entire group represents The Book
of Common Prayer in the same way that the paraphrases
of Psalms represent the canonical Book of Psalms. We
judge it to be the work of the mediating party who wished
to remove the Genevan taint from the transplanted
Psalmody by mingling Prayer Book materials with the
Scriptural songs of the people. They may have found their
precedent in the Latin Psalters of the old Church, in which
canticles and the creed and Lord's- Prayer were added to
the Psalter proper. That these paraphrases of Prayer Book
*In 1566 the title reads : Newly e set foorth and allowed to bee soong
of the people together, in Churches, before and after Morning and
Euening prayer: as also before and after the Sermon, and moreouer
in private houses. . . . But in this matter the opinion of many since
was voiced by George Wither in his pamphlet, The Scholar's Purgatory
(1624) : "that those metrical Psalms were never commanded to be used
in divine service, or in our public congregations, by any canon or ec
clesiastical constitution, though many of the vulgar be of that opinion.
But whatsoever the Stationers do in their title page pretend to that
purpose, they being first allowed for private devotion only, crept into
public use by toleration rather than by command."
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 31
materials were intended for use in church services seems
unlikely from the point of view here suggested. There
is no evidence that they were so used except in so far as the
Puritans of that or a later period ventured to substitute
these metrical versions for the corresponding prose passages
in the required Prayer Book service; their aim being to
avoid the necessity of chanting them.
Turning to the affixed hymns the atmosphere is notably
different, and is plainly that of Strassburg, with its Lu
theran hymnody. The version of the Lord's Prayer (by
Dr. Cox) is a rendering of Luther's metrical version and
is set to his tune. The "Da Pacem" is a close translation
of Wolfgang Capito's German hymn ("Gieb Fried zu unser
Zeit, O Herr"), made by Edmund Grindal, a Marian exile
at Strassburg. The last hymn of 1562 is a rendering by
Wisdom of Luther's famous prayer for aid against Turk and
infidel, and is set to his tune. We judge therefore that the
later group of hymns reflects the influence of a party which
in exile abroad had become familiar with Lutheran hym
nody and who favored some recognition of hymns at home ;
and moreover that a place in the Psalter was gained for
these few hymns in expectation or at least hope of getting
them sung in the church services. In favor of this view
we note the rubrics of No. 4, "to bee sung before the ser
mon," and of two of the added hymns, "to bee sung before
Morning prayer," "to bee sung before 'Evening prayer."
All three correspond precisely with the church uses desig
nated on the title-page of the 1566 edition already quoted.
As regards the expectation of church use for these hymns
we can say that it was realized in the case of the Com
munion Thanksgiving. George Wither, writing in 1623,
says : 7 "We haue a custome among us, that, during the time
of administring the blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Sup
per, there is some Psalme or hymne sung, the better to keepe
the thoughts of the Communicants from wandring after
7 The Hymnes and Songs of the Church, ed. 1623, p. 63 : Fair's
reprint, p. 271.
32 THE ENGLISH HYMN
vaine objects." This was the hymn that shared such em
ployment with psalms. It was sung while seated by the
portion of the congregation which had already communi
cated or which awaited their turn to communicate, and its
great length (124 lines) suggests that such use was fore
seen. But such use was disassociated from the actual ad
ministration of* the Sacrament and in a sense semi-private;
and it may well be that some parishes made such use of this
particular hymn which otherwise admitted psalms alone to
the church services.
On the whole these hymns present no more than an
insignificant exception to the statement that the Church of
England became a psalm singing church. At the first
they proved no impediment to the advancing tide of Psalm
ody. There was no time when their voice could be dis
tinguished from the volume of Psalmody that filled the land.
A movement to make use of them developed on the Puritan
side; but they were not destined to form the nucleus of
an ultimate Hymnal nor to point the way toward it. As
time passed there appeared a tendency to reduce their
number. In a London edition of 1713, bound up with
the Prayer Book, they number only sixteen : in a Cambridge
University Press edition of 1737, only thirteen. From the
Baskerville edition of 1762 they have disappeared alto
gether. In later movements to introduce hymns into church
worship the hymns of the early Psalter played but an insig
nificant part.
2. THE HYMNS APPENDED TO THE SCOTTISH PSALTER
The first edition of the psalm book for the Scottish
Church appeared in 1564 and 1565 as a constituent part
(without separate title-page) of The forme of prayers and
ministration of the sacraments &c vsed in the English
Church at Geneua, approued and receiued by the Churche
of Scotland, whereunto besydes that was in the former
bokes, are also added sondrie other prayers, with the whole
Psalmes of Dauid in English meter . . . ( Edinburgh :
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 33
Robert Lekprevick). 8 Unlike the "former bokes" at Geneva,
and the English Psalter of two years before, the psalms
were unaccompanied by paraphrases or hymns.
Oddly enough the song first appended to the Scottish
Psalter was a mere love song, appearing in an unlicensed
edition of 1568; an impertinent intrusion by its printer,
Thomas Bassandyne, which invoked the intervention of the
General Assembly, who ordered him to call in the copies
sold, and to "delete the said baudie song out of the end of
the psalm books." 9
At the same time Bassandyne was ordered to abstain
from printing anything "without licence of the Supreme
Magistrate, and revising of sick things as pertain to religion
be some of the Kirk appointed for that purpose." But in
1575 Bassandyne again printed the Psalter as The CL.
Psalms of David in English metre. With the forme of
prayers &c. 10 In this (apparently without objection from
the Assembly) four hymns were appended to the Psalms :
The Commandments (with the "Prayer" following), the
Lord's Prayer (Cox), the Lamentation ("O Lord, in Thee
is all my trust") and Veni Creator. And thereafter the
inclusion of some hymns was the rule rather than the ex
ception in the Scottish Psalter. In the edition of 1595 there
"Several copies are extant. For facsimile of title-page see Neil
Livingston, The Scottish Metrical Psalter of A. D. 1635. Reprinted
. . . and illustrated by dissertations, &c., folio, Glasgow, 1864, p. 72 ; and,
for description of contents, pp. 13, 27 ff., and appendix. For a collation,
see Dickson and Edmond, Annals of Scottish Printing, Cambridge, 1890,
pp. 220 ff.
8 No copy has survived. For the action of the Assembly see the
Maitland Club ed. of The Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland,
part i, pp. 125, 126. For the text of the "Baudie Song" ("Welcume
Fortoun, welcum againe,") see Charles G. M'Crie, The Public Worship
of Presbyterian Scotland, Edinburgh, 1892, appendix H. It had already
appeared in the 1567 edition of the Wedderburn The gude and godlie
Ballatis.
10 No complete copy survives, but the late D. Laing's copy and one at
the Bodleian, Oxford, contain the Psalms. For a collation of the
latter, see Dickson and Edmond, op. cit., pp. 309 ff ., and for description
of contents see Livingston, ut supra.
34 THE ENGLISH HYMN
were ten, all evidently copied from the English Psalter. In
1615 appeared 'The Song of Moses," a Scottish paraphrase
of Deuteronomy xxxii in forty-three D. C. M. stanzas,
divided into six parts for singing "to the tune of the Third
Psalme." It was placed before the title page of the Psalms,
with a note by the printer (Andro Hart), explaining why
he had inserted it and recommending it to the church. 11 In
the edition of 1635 the hymns attained a maximum of
thirteen; eleven selected from the English Psalter, two of
Scottish origin; the Song of Moses, and "A Spiritual
Song," beginning "What greater wealth than a contented
minde?"
The whole list thus appearing is as follows :
1. Commandments (L. M.). "Attend my people": with the "Prayer."
2. Lord's Prayer (Cox's).
3. Veni Creator.
4. Nunc dimittis.
5. XII Articles.
6. The Humble Sute. "O Lord, on whom I do depend."
7. The Lamentation. "O Lord, turn not."
8. The Complaint. "Where righteousnesse doth say."
9. Magnificat.
10. The Lamentation. "O Lord, in thee."
11. The Song of Moses.
12. Thanksgiving after the Lord's Supper.
13. A Spirituall Song.
The questions that concern us are whether these appended
hymns were authorized, and, if so, for use in church wor
ship, and whether by making use of them the Church of
Scotland was at first, and to that extent, a hymn singing
church.
No express authorization of them has been shown. On
the other hand their appearance was known to the Assem
blies, and not rebuked as the appearance of "Welcume
n A godly brother, to whom he announced his intention of reprinting
the Psalter, expressed surprise that the Song of Moses had never
found place in earlier editions. Hart thereupon requested him to
prepare a metrical version for insertion in the forthcoming edition.
The song is signed "I. M.," and its author has been identified as
James Melville, nephew of Andrew and minister of Kilrenny.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 35
Fortotm" had been. We must then say that the hymns were
tacitly allowed. Such careful students as Dr. Horatius
Bonar and Dr. Sprott have assumed as a matter of course
that this action or lack of action on the part of the Assembly
was with a view to the church use of the hymns in public
worship. 12 This assumption involves the position that mis
cellaneous hymn singing was so much a matter of common
consent among Scottish reformers that the appearing of a
group of hymns for church worship along with the psalms
was not a thing requiring action or even notice by the
church authorities. For this there is no evidence in their
writings or recorded practice or in the rubrics of the
Common Order. The probabilities seem to point in a direc
tion precisely opposite. They suggest that the addition of
hymns was made so easily simply because their use in church
worship was not proposed, and because the singing of
spiritual songs by the people or their use as means for in
structing the young was acceptable to all. That no one of
these hymns was ever used in any Scottish church cannot
be affirmed, but if so there is no known record of it. But
that the appendix of hymns did not constitute a church
hymn book, and that the hymns were not used continuously
or generally can be affirmed with confidence, and proved by
reference to successive editions of the Psalter itself. No
hymns are known to have been appended till 1575, when
they number four. In the editions of 1587, 1594 and 1595,
they number ten. In 1599 there is but one (the "Lamenta
tion"). In 1602 there are again ten : in one edition of 1611
three, and in another, a small and cheap edition for general
"Dr. Bonar in Catechisms of the Scottish Reformation (London,
1866), p. 302: Dr. Sprott in The Worship and Offices of the Church
of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 33. They are answered with warmth
by D. Hay Fleming in The Hymnology of the Scottish Reformation
(Reprinted from "Original Secession Magazine"), 1884. It seems to
be the rule in Scotland that those favoring the use of hymns see clearly
that the church has always allowed them, while those opposing hymns
are concerned to maintain what was until lately the church's un
varying practice.
36 THE ENGLISH HYMN
use, there are none at all. In 1615 there are ten affixed, and
one prefixed on the printer's own motion. In 1629 there is
only one hymn. In 1635 there are thirteen, and the "Song"
prefixed by the printer in 1615 appears in the appendage
with the earlier hymns. The editions of the Scottish Psalter
were numerous, in order that the people might have their
own copies; the days of "lining out the Psalm" were not
yet ; 13 and plainly the Psalters in their hands did not furnish
the materials for the congregational singing of the hymns.
We do not know under what auspices the hymns were
added to the Scottish Psalters. It has already become evi
dent that the printers exercised some liberty in this connec
tion, and that the appendage to the English Psalter fur
nished a motive and also the materials. We can only
surmise the reasons that guided the selection of English
material. The apocryphal Benedicite, the Te Deum and
Creed of Athanasius, would be regarded as inexpedient ; the
alternative Commandments and Lord's Prayer, and the
Venite ("see Psalm 95") as surplusage; the other omitted
hymns as perhaps unnecessary or unattractive.
In Scotland as in England the hymns appended to the
Psalter failed to furnish the nucleus of a future hymn book.
The increase of their number in 1635 did not imply a
movement to make larger use of them in worship, and when
the Psalms of David in meeter were prepared in 1649-50
there seems to have been no thought given to reprinting the
earlier hymns but rather to the question of adding Scriptural
paraphrases in the strict sense.
As the result of our examination we are compelled to
conclude that in spite of appearance's the hymns appended to
the English and Scottish Psalters must be regarded as an
episode, and one of no great significance, in the history of
Psalmody rather than as a link in the continutiy of the de
velopment of the English Hymn. Their relation to church
worship is indeterminate. They did not become the nucleus
of a hymnal. They were hardly even prophetic of the lines
18 C/. Livingston, op. cii., p. 3.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 37
on which the Hymn developed; for the demand for hymns
grew out of long experience in singing metrical psalms, and
not out of any satisfaction in the use of appended hymns.
Ill
THE PROMISE OF AN ENGLISH HYMNODY BY
TRANSLATING THE OLD LATIN CHURCH
HYMNS (1538-1559) FAILS
The most striking feature of the hymns appended to the
English and Scottish Psalters is the appearance in each of
a translation of the old Latin church hymn, Veni Creator
Spiritus, which was in the Breviary and had also a place of
special honor in the Pontifical. It suggests at first sight a
purpose of giving the old church Hymnody some recogni
tion along with the new Psalmody, but it had in reality no
such significance. In the case of Scotland the appearance
of this hymn had probably no significance one way or the
other. Under Knox's influence the Genevan model had been
transported to Scotland bodily, and there was no question
among the reformers of continuing the Latin Hymnody or
any other features of the old church services. Whoever
chose the hymns for the Scottish Psalter found this one in
the English Psalter, chose it and inserted it for reasons we
do not know and for uses we can only surmise. But in
England the situation was different. The course taken by
the Reformation there left ample opportunities for the in
troduction of an English Hymnody on the lines of the old
Latin Hymnody so familiar and so dear to many ; of which
opportunities the occasion of adding an appendix of hymns
to the metrical Psalter may be regarded as the last. What
the appearance of the Veni Creator alone in this appendix
really signifies is not a purpose to embrace this final oppor
tunity, but rather an acquiescence in a situation in which,
with the single exception of Veni Creator, the whole area
of the Latin Hymnody had been excluded from the worship
38 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the Reformed Church of England. And, before taking
up the lines upon which an English Hymnody did develop,
its failure to develop on the line that seems most natural
and inviting demands some consideration.
There had been from the very first the promise of such
development through the simple process of turning the Latin
hymns into English; a process happening to be consistent
with the scope and direction of the plans of Henry VIII.
Apart from the efforts of reformers the Church had al
ready shown some purpose of meeting the desire of the laity
for a more intelligent part in worship. This showed itself
first in the Horae or Primer, the layman's book of private
devotion, whether at home or in church; containing offices
for the hours, commandments, creed, litany, the penitential
and other Psalms, with various prayers and materials for
devotion and sometimes for instruction; and including in
the offices the hymns proper to the time. The Ms. Sarum
Primer of the beginning of the I5th century, is already
wholly in English and the hymns are translated into prose. 14
In printed editions of Sarum Primers from 1538, the hymns
are versified in a rude way, not apparently for singing and
certainly not for singing in church. From the Sarum
Primers grew a modified and unauthorized type, of which
Marshall's Primer of c. 1534 is the earliest survivor. 15 The
hand of reform is disclosed by the omission of hymns to
the Virgin; the Latin hymns of the Sarum Primer are re
jected, and new hymns are furnished on the Latin model :
another effort by an unknown hand toward supplying a
Reformed Hymnody, and paralleling in a small way that of
Coverdale.
By J 539 Henry VIII takes the Primer in hand, and
through Bishop Hilsey issues one based on the Sarum. 16 In
1545 appeared the first of many editions of The Primer set
"Reprinted in Maskell's Monumenta ritualia Ecclesiae Anglicanac,
vol. iii.
"E. Hoskins, Sarum and York Primers, with kindred books, Lon
don, 1901, No. 115, and see pp. 193 ff.
"Hoskins, No. 142 and see pp. 225 ff.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 39
fvrth by the hinge's maiestie & his clergie, to be taught
lerned, and red; & none other to be vsed thorowout all his
Dominions." l7 By royal injunction prefixed, this book
became the sole authorized primer ; the selling, use or teach
ing of any of the earlier ones being prohibited.
The hymns of this King's Primer are a fresh selection,
taken with one exception from the Sarum Breviary. They
mark a great advance over their predecessors in the primers
and in Coverdale: the sweetness of their spiritual tone and
the excellence of their verse are still appealing. In this book
our Long Metre takes its place as the English equivalent
of the Iambic Dimeter of the Ambrosian Hymns; and the
Trochaic 73 is also successfully introduced.
Before the publication of this Primer for private use,
the first step had already been taken toward introducing
the vernacular into the public worship of the church. The
Convocation of 1542 ordered that twice on every Sunday
and holy day a chapter of the Bible in English should be
read to the people; and in 1544 was set forth a "Litany
with suffrages" in English, to be used in processions. 18
Cranmer had also made a beginning in providing English
versions of the hymns used in the public services. A letter
he sent to the King a few months after the publication of the
English Litany, encloses, with other translations and music,
a draft of a version of the hymn Salve festa dies set to the
Gregorian melody. "I have travailed," Cranmer says, "to
make the verses in English. ... I made them only for
a proof to see how English would do in song. But, by
cause mine English verses want the grace and facility that
I would wish they had, your majesty may cause some other
to make them again, that can do the same in more pleasant
English and phrase." 19
There is no evidence that any use was made of Cran
mer 's hymn or of his suggestion to employ a more cunning
"The title is from a reprint of the edition of 1546 (xvii August).
^Private prayers of Queen Elisabeth. Parker Society ed : appendix.
Misc. Writings and Letters of Cranmer. Parker Soc. ed., p. 412.
40 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hand. In fact during the remainder of Henry's reign no
further steps were taken toward vernacular services.
But when under Edward VI the way was opened to in
troduce English service books, neither the First Prayer Book
of 1549 nor the Second of 1552, contained any of the
hymns which were an essential part of the offices from which
the Prayer Book Services were framed, except a rendering
of the Veni Creator Spiritus in the ordinal of 1550. The
little that is known of the genesis of the First Prayer Book
throws scanty light on this omission. The recently printed
Ms. of Cranmer's two drafts of his successive schemes of
liturgical revision bears no dates. 20 The first is the scheme
of a revised Breviary, containing offices for all the canonical
hours, in the Latin language throughout, and based on the
Reformed Breviary of Cardinal Quignon. 21 The second
draft seems to belong to the early years of Edward VI's
reign, and marks the transition from the "Divine Office" of
the ancient Church to the "Morning and Evening Prayer"
of the Church of England. The "Hours" are reduced to
two, Matins and Vespers, and the Lord's Prayer and Les
sons are in English. Of the Latin hymns of the Breviaries,
twenty-six are retained, fourteen being assigned to the days
of the week, twelve to the seasons of the Church year. 22
For some reason Cranmer did not use the Breviaries as the
sources of his hymns, but took them from the Elucida-
torium Ecclesiaslicum of Clichtoveus, one of the earliest
collectors of hymns, following his text. 23 Four of the
hymns had never appeared in an English office book, and
of these one is by Clichtoveus himself. 24 In the preface of
his draft Cranmer says : "We have left only a few hymns
which appeared to be more ancient and more beautiful than
the rest." 25 In thus dealing with the hymns. Cranmer was
20 First printed in Gasquet and Bishop, Edward VI and the Book of
Common Prayer, London, 1890.
u lbid., p. 37. "Ibid., p. 32.
"Ibid., pp. 353 ff- and 334.
2 *Ibid., p. 354 and note.
"Ibid., p. 37.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 41
following the example of Quignon, and to some extent his
preface here follows the words of Quignon's. The preface
to the First Prayer Book of Edward VI is little more than
a translation of the preface to this second of Cranmer's
drafts; but as there are no Office Hymns in the Prayer Book
the reference to them just quoted of course drops out. 26
Cranmer's draft shows a purpose of reducing the num
ber of the hymns in use, and a preference for the ancient
hymns as against those more recently added to the Breviar
ies. But it does not explain why in turning his services
into English he should have omitted metrical hymns alto
gether from his Prayer Book. And no adequate explana
tion of this singular omission has ever yet been offered.
Mr. Frere, in his New History of the Book of Common
Prayer, says that Cranmer omitted the hymns because he
had "failed in his attempts to reproduce them in English
dress, as he had planned to do." 27 The two difficulties in
the way of accepting this explanation are: 1st that some
English versions were already at hand in the King's Primer,
which were themselves available and whose existence argues
that a capacity to translate other hymns was not lacking. 28
2nd that English hymns not only failed to appear in the
28 See the two prefaces in parallel columns in Gasquet and Bishop,
appendix iii.
^London, 1901, pp. 309 f.
28 The following may serve as a specimen of these hymns. It is from
the edition of August 17, 1546, as "Reprinted without any Alteration"
(n. d.).
"Felowe of thy fathers lyght,
Lyght of light and day most bryght,
Christ that chaseth awaye nyghte,
Ayde vs for to pray aright.
Driue out darknes, from our mindes.
Driue away the flocke of fendes,
Drousynes, take from our eyes,
That from slouth we may aryse.
Christ vouchsafe mercy to geue,
To vs all that do beleue,
Let it profit vs that pray
All that we do syng or say. Amen."
42 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Prayer Book, but they actually disappeared from the new
Primer of 1553, which is based on The Book of Common
Prayer, and contains no metrical hymns, unless rhymed
graces be so called. 29 This exclusion of hymns in them
selves so good from the place already gained in the Primer
seems to imply that the omission of hymns from the Prayer
Book arose from a change of sentiment or judgment in
regard to them, with which even the new Primer had to
accord. In the vacillation of Cranmer's mind between
Lutheranism and Calvinism, his omission of the hymns
from the Prayer Book is a priori explicable as due to either
influence. He might have argued that the true place of
the Hymn was not in the structure of the Offices, where
it would be rendered by the choir, but in a hymn-book,
where it could be sung by the people, according to the
Lutheran precedent. But the absence of hymns from the
Primer tells against this explanation. He might, on the
other hand, have been sufficiently under the influence of
his Calvinistic advisers to feel that hymns of human com
position had but a doubtful place in public worship. There
are indications in the Zurich Letters confirming such a
supposition; and of the two explanations of Cranmer's
change of sentiment it is the more probable.
Whatever Cranmer's motives were, his action, together
with the growing predilection of the people for metrical
Psalms, proved decisive in excluding the old church hymns
from the worship of the Church of England. Hymns ap
peared again in Elizabeth's Primer of 1559; and in the 49th
of her Injunctions of that year it was permitted "that in the
beginning or in the end of the Common Prayers, either at
morning or evening, there may be sung an hymn or such
like song to the praise of Almighty God, in the best sort
of melody and music that may be conveniently devised,
having respect that the sentence of the hymn may be under-
standed and perceived." It has been suggested 30 that this
"Liturgies of Edward VI. Parker. Soc. ed., pp. 357-384.
""By H. L. Bennett in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 344*.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 43
Injunction contemplated the introduction, among other
things, of naturalized Latin hymns. Doubtless the Injunc
tion was broad enough to accomplish such an end if the
desire for it existed, but its own declaration of purpose
("for the comforting of such that delight in music") and
its language throughout make clear its intention to permit
anthems by the choir of florid music in addition to the
plain-song which it prescribes for general use. It became
in fact the recognized authorization at once of the anthem
by the choir and of the Genevan Psalm by the people.
And when the completed Psalter of 1562 was prepared
no advantage was taken of the opportunity to provide ver
sions of Latin hymns. It is likely that the interests repre
sented in the prefixed group of "churchly" hymns were not
solicitous for the introduction of hymns of any sort into
public worship. They found the Veni Creator in the Or
dinal, and it fell in with their purpose of giving a Prayer
Book tone to their appendage of hymns. There is at least
no evidence of any desire to modify Cranmer's rejection
of the old church Hymnody.
Nor did any such proposal follow. The Metrical Psalm
had prevailed. The Latin Hymn remained in the possession
of the Roman Catholic Church, and successive editions
of the Roman Primer witness its efforts that its people
should know the hymns in their own tongue. In the
Primer of 1604 (Antwerp) appeared an English version of
the Vesper hymns from the Breviary. This was replaced
in that of 1615 (Mechlin) by another version of the same.
Twenty of the translations in this Primer have been claimed
for Drummond of Hawthornden, a Scottish Protestant of
the prelatic type, and printed as his by the editor of the
1711 Edinburgh edition of his works. 31 The Primer of
81 They are printed in W. C. Ward's "Muses' Library" ed. of Drum
mond, London, 1894, but the editor follows Orby Shipley (Annus
Sanctus, London, 1884, vol. i, preface pp. 12 ff.) in doubting Drum-
mond's authorship. For the opposite view, see Wm. T. Brooke in
Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, pp. 312, 313.
44 THE ENGLISH HYMN
1685 has still another version of the hymns; and in that of
I7o6 32 the whole circle of the Breviary hymns is represented
by English versions which are regarded 33 as owing their
origin to the distinguished poet Dryden and as being in
large part his own work.
This body of vernacular hymns for the use of Catholic
laymen had of course no bearing upon the services of their
Church, and no influence on those of the Church of Eng
land. 34 It gradually passed, with the Primer itself, out of
use and largely out of recollection until freshly studied in
our own time by the Rev. Orby Shipley, an Anglican
clergyman who passed into the Roman Church in 1877.
But side by side with the Roman Primers appeared numer
ous editions of Primers of the Henry VIII type, from
which devout Anglicans with Roman leanings could use
versions of old church hymns in their private devotions.
One of them, John Cosin, afterwards Bishop of Norwich,
aimed at a general introduction of offices in Primer fashion
in his A Collection of private devotions in the practice
of the ancient Church called the Houres of Prayer (1627),
renamed, the year following, by William Prynne, "Mr.
Cozens His Couzening Devotions." It contained numerous
versions of hymns for the canonical hours, and from it
Cosin's own version of Veni Creator passed into The Book
of Common Prayer of 1662, of which he was one of the
revisers. There are other evidences that there still lingered
in the English Church a feeling for and a feeling after the
old Office Hymns which the Church had rejected. But it
was confined within a narrow circle and it gradually waned.
K The Primer, or Office of the B. Virgin Mary, reins' d: with a new
and approved version of the Church-Hymns throughout the Year:
to which are added the remaining Hymns of the Roman Breviary.
Printed in the Year 1706.
M By Orby Shipley, who prints a full selection in his Annus Sanctus.
For Dryden's claims of authorship, see preface, pp. 9-12.
81 Dry den's version of Veni Creator in the 1706 Primer has become
familiar in Protestant use. It had, however, appeared in part iii of
his Miscellanies, 1693, and in Tonson's folio edition of Dryden's Poems
in 1701.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 45
It was not without its influence in turning the minds of
devotional poets toward the hymn- form. But by the
XVIIIth century the whole area of Latin Hymnody had
become, to the Church of England clergy, a remote and un
known country, vaguely indicated as "Popish." It was
destined to remain so until the Oxford Revival of the XlXth
century, whose leaders encountered much reproach in their
efforts to explore it.
And indeed the causes of this neglect lay deeper than even
Protestant prejudice. Not till Romanticism, whose spiritual
child the Oxford Movement was, loosed the fetters of
Classicism were men's minds free to appreciate the old
Hymnody and many other things that interest us.
IV
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
FROM THE METRICAL PSALM
The modern practice of singing hymns in English-speak
ing Churches grew, as has been intimated already, out of
the Psalmody actually practised in those Churches. It
found its occasion in the dissatisfaction with which the
body of metrical psalms, substantially alike in England
and Scotland, came to be regarded by many of those who
were expected to sing them. It found its opportunity in
growing indifference toward Psalmody as a church ordi
nance, and the consequent degradation into which the prac
tice of Psalmody as a musical performance was allowed
to fall. This indifference and neglect was occasioned partly
at least by the fact that the strict principle of an exclusive
use of psalms in worship had lost something of the earlier
force of its appeal to the conscience, and psalms had failed
to express fully the thoughts and emotions of the Christian
heart.
The new Hymn itself was partly an outspreading of the
Metrical Psalm from its original basis of being a strict trans-
46 THE ENGLISH HYMN
lation, to embrace a freer method of paraphrase, to include
other parts of Scripture, to become an "imitation" or ex
position of Scripture, and finally a hymn more or less sug
gested by Scripture. It was partly also a development of
the impulse to write devotional poetry, to which a hymnic
turn was given by the felt need of hymns at first for
private and then for public use. In the moulding of its
form the precedent of the Metrical Psalm no doubt pre
dominated, but at the same time the older Latin ideal of
the Hymn, kept alive by Roman Catholic books of devotion,
was not without influence, by way of suggestion especially,
upon the English Hymn.
The evolution of the Hymn from the Metrical Psalm
may perhaps be distinguished as proceeding along three
lines, more or less synchronous.
(i) By way of an effort to improve the literary char
acter of the authorized Psalters.
Our ineradicable conviction that one choosing the medium
of verse should justify his choice by the artistic character
of his work gives us a poor point of view from which to
regard Metrical Psalmody. It was a utilitarian device,
based on devotion to the letter of God's word, aiming
merely to cast it into measured and rhyming lines which
plain people could sing to simple melodies, as they sang
their ballads. The Swiss and French Calvinists, it is true,
were able to make large use of the work of Clement Marot,
the outstanding poet of France, and secured a version of
one third of the Psalter which satisfied Calvin for its ac
curacy and the whole of France for its beauty. In Eng
land and Scotland it was otherwise. The men who made
their Psalters were not poets nor even good craftsmen.
The poor and prosaic character of their work was an un
conscious testimony that English prose was the natural
medium of a literal translation of the Hebrew Psalms, and
that resort to verse had secured singableness at the expense
of literal fidelity; and, on the other hand, that the desire
to be as literal as the English metre allowed, had joined
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 47
with the authors' meagre poetic gifts, to produce a metrical
version devoid of the grace or charm of poetry.
Therefore the English and Scottish Psalters were, from
the beginning of the XVIIth century, subject to two in
fluences. One was the Puritan demand for greater literal-
ness. This culminated in the New England version, the
famous Bay Psalm Book of 1640, and in the Scottish re
cension of the Psalter recommended by the Westminster
Assembly, commonly called Rous's Version, 1650. These
represented the Puritan movement to maintain Psalmody
in its purity. It was an effectual movement in Scotland.
But with the exclusion of the Puritans from the Church of
England the movement did little permanently, except to
remain as unsettlement and a desire for revision.
The other influence upon the Psalters was that of literary
culture, which regarded them with growing dissatisfaction.
The earlier private versions following the publication of
Sternhold and Hopkins, those, for example, of Archbishop
Parker, Sir Philip Sidney and his sister, Sir John Harring
ton, and Sir John Davies, in England, and of Alexander
Montgomerie in Scotland, were literary efforts or intended
for private use, and some remained in Ms. They were no
doubt in their way protests against the current Psalters.
But in 1619 George Wither in his A Preparation to the
Psalter laboriously cleared the ground for the introduction
of a better version than that employed since the Reform
ation. And his The Psalms of David translated into lyrick
verse (1632), and also The Psalms of King David trans
lated by King James (1631), were deliberate attempts to
impose upon the people of England and Scotland respec
tively new versions of the Psalms, of which they had no
appreciation. The one was ordered to be bound up with
every copy of the Bible issued in England, the other was
bound up with Laud's Prayer Book for the Scottish Church :
and both were futile enough.
Such desire and ability to improve the Psalter as there
was in Scotland found its final expression in The Psalms of
48 THE ENGLISH HYMN
David in meeter, 1650, in which painstaking work the pre
ponderance of the Puritan motive did not prevent an ad
vance in expression and in smoothness. In England the
desire to improve the Psalter was confined to the educated
minority. It was expressed, for a long time ineffectually,
in criticisms and protests and in private versions of the
Book of Psalms offered more or less frankly in the place
of the current one. Of these George Sandys' A para
phrase upon the Psalms of David attained real literary dis
tinction and was set to music in 1638 by Henry Lawes.
It failed, however, to attain any wide use, for which it was
indeed poorly adapted.
But in 1695 appeared specimen sheets of a new Psalter
by two Irishmen, Nahum Tate, whom William III had
made Poet Laureate, and Dr. Nicholas Brady, who had been
zealous for the Prince of Orange in the Revolution, and
was then a Royal Chaplain, and the holder also of a London
living. Their joint work was completed and published
at London in 1696 as A new Version^ of the Psalms of
David, fitted to the tunes used in Churches. By N. Tate
and N. Brady. Both writers were in royal favor, and on
December 3 of the year of its publication, their version
was by the King in Council "Allowed and Permitted to be
used in all Churches, Chappels, and Congregations, as shall
think fit to receive the same." In May, 1698, the Bishop of
London "persuaded it may take off that unhappy Objection,
which has hitherto lain against the Singing Psalms," "heart
ily recommended the Use of this Version to all his Brethren
within his Diocess."
What at present concerns us is to determine the nature of
the influence this book was fitted to exert on a psalm sing
ing church. The impression it makes upon ourselves, accus
tomed to the use of hymns, is not difficult to define. Our
opinions might differ as to details, but we are likely to agree
85 The designation of New Version thus given has ever since clung
to it as distinguishing it from the Old Version of Sternhold and
Hopkins.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 49
that these new Psalm versions fluent and rhythmical and
eminently singable as they are, following closely the Scrip
ture and yet yielding to the devices of rhetoric as they do,
often make upon us the impression of being hymns rather
than psalms in the stricter sense. We feel, at times cer
tainly, as though we had a hymn book in hand, and indeed
recognize a number of pieces long familiar to us as hymns. 36
What we wish, however, is to know the impression made
by the New Version at the time upon one who was accus
tomed and attached to singing psalms of the Old Version in
church worship.
Fortunately we have the testimony of one who regarded
the attachment of the plain people to Sternhold and Hopkins
as a sheet-anchor of English religion, and who has given
us the impression made upon him by an examination of
Tate and Brady. It occurs in A Defence of the Book of
Psalms, collected into English metre, by Thomas Sternhold,
John Hopkins, and others. With critical observations on
the late New Version, compar'd with the Old. By William
Beveridge, D.D., late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. (Lon
don, 1710). He says:
"I do not hear, that this [New Version} was ever conferred with the
Hebrew, as the other was; nor so much as that any of our Bishops,
or other learned in that Language, were appointed or authorized to do
it. And there is too much cause to suspect, that it was never done.
For, if we may take our Measures of its agreeing or disagreeing with
the Hebrew Text, from its agreeing or not agreeing with the Psalms
in the New Translation of the Bible, made out of the Hebrew, we
may thence conclude, that there was not the Care taken about this,
as there was about the Old Version. So far, at least, as I am able
to judge, Who having got a Sight of this New Translation of the
Psalms in Verse, could not satisfy my own Mind about it, without
comparing it with the New Translation in Prose. Which I had no
sooner begun, but I found so many Variations, that I thought to have
gather'd together all that I judged to be so, throughout the whole
Book, without any other Design, but for my own Satisfaction. But
38 Among such: the 34th, "Thro* all the changing Scenes of life";
the 42nd, "As pants the Hart for cooling Streams"; the 5ist, "Have
Mercy, Lord, on me"; the 84th, "O God of Hosts, the mighty Lord";
and the 93rd, "With Glory clad, with Strength array'd."
50 THE ENGLISH HYMN
when I had gone a little way, I found them multiply so fast upon me,
that I could see no end, and, therefore, was forced to give it over,
and to content myself with observing the reason of it; which, to me,
seem'd to be this : That, whereas the Composers and Reviewers of the
Old Translation had nothing else in their Eye, but to give us the true
Sense of each place in as few Words as could be in Verse, and, there
fore, keep close to the Text, without deviating from it, upon any
account: In this New Translation, there is so much regard had to
the Poetry, the Style, the Running of the Verse, and such-like in
considerable Circumstances, that it was almost impossible to avoid
going from the Text, and altering the true Sense and Meaning of it.
For, hence it came to pass, that although the Authors, doubtless,
designed a true Translation, yet other things crowding into their
Heads at the same time, justled that Design so, that it could not
always take effect." 37
We conclude that the impression made by the New Ver
sion upon the lovers of the old Psalter was not very differ
ent from that it makes upon ourselves. They recognized
in it the proposal of a new standard in Church of England
Psalmody, a proposed exchange of the Reformation prin
ciple of a close translation of the letter of Scripture for that
of a rhetorical paraphrase.
And this perception on their part determined and limited
the career of the New Version within the Church of Eng
land. It never became the Psalter of the whole Church.
It never dispossessed the Old Version in many a village and
country side parish, where, partly from conviction, partly
owing to the force of use and wont, successive generations
of the congregations went on singing the Old Version until
well toward the middle of the nineteenth century. But it
worked its way, often against resistance, into one and an
other parish church of London and its neighborhood, until
it became preeminently the London Psalter, and into widen
ing circles beyond, as those concerned for the improvement
of Psalmody were able to have their way.
On the whole, the influence of the New Version was
very considerable. It set up in the Church of England a
new standard of Psalmody, with the same authorization as
37 P P . 39-41.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 51
the older one, that of a Paraphrase which had something
of the freer lyrical spirit of the Hymn as against the re
strictions of the Metrical Psalm. It is not unfair to say
that the spirit and tendency of the New Version appears
in the fact that it proved most acceptable to those least bent
on maintaining the older type of Psalmody and whose
minds were turning toward hymns; that a movement to
ward introducing them was connected with it, apparently
from the beginning, and that by means of its "Supplement"
it became the actual medium by which hymns were intro
duced into many churches in and beyond London.
(2) The second line of the development of the Hymn
from the Metrical Psalm was by way of an effort to accom
modate the Scriptural text to the circumstances of present
day worshippers.
In the first enthusiasm at being in the possession of God's
word in the vernacular, there was no desire to choose among
Psalms equally inspired; and the custom was to sing the
Psalter through in course. But after some experience the
Reformed clergy in all the Churches exercised the right of
selection. Even so there remained the inconvenience of
singing certain statements in the selected Psalms inappli
cable to the congregation. This became more conspicuous
when each statement was put into the congregation's mouth
separately and distinctly in the process of "lining out" be
fore singing. In England both the selection and the lining
of the psalm fell into the hands of the parish clerk. And
to him fell consequently the opportunity of omitting or
even altering any lines he regarded as inopportune. While
freely exercised, the remedy was irregular, inconvenient to
those who could read, and dependent at best upon the dis
cretion and readiness of a class of officials not characteris
tically gifted with either. The difficulty was in fact in
herent in the strict conception of Psalmody itself, and
hardly capable of remedy within its own limits.
A much more serious inconvenience in confining the con
gregational praise to the Psalter made itself felt in Eng-
52 THE ENGLISH HYMN
land as it was felt in every country where the Reformed
cultus had been introduced. It arose from the fact that the
canonical Psalms represented one dispensation and the wor
shippers another; and the difficulty was that of satisfying
Christian devotion with the songs of an earlier stage of
revelation. In all Reformed Churches the congregations
had been duly trained in the evangelical interpretation of the
Psalms; and its expression was a commonplace of preaching
and public prayer. The individual believer was of course
expected to have in mind the evangelical implications of
what he sang; but nevertheless it remained true that the
Psalmody was his peculiar opportunity for expression in the
church service, and that in Psalmody he could not name
his Saviour's name. There was no real solution of this
difficulty short of the inauguration of a Christian Hym-
nody; and toward this solution the Psalmody of all coun
tries inevitably tended.
In England toward the end of the XVIIth century the
mass of the people were not ready for so radical a change,
and the expedient suggested itself of accommodating the
Psalmody to the circumstances of the Christian dispensation
by introducing the familiar evangelical interpretations of
the Psalms into their actual text. In this way it seemed pos
sible to attain the desired end, while leaving the accustomed
form and manner of Psalmody entirely unimpaired and with
changes in the words of inspiration only in the sense of
interpreting them.
The name of Dr. Watts became, from the second decade
of the XVIIIth century, so inevitably associated with this
method of accommodating the Psalms, and his influence
told so overwhelmingly in favor of its adoption and spread,
that it becomes difficult to realize that he was not the in
ventor of it. He had, however, an English predecessor in
John Patrick, "Preacher to the Charter-House, London."
Patrick was one of the divines who hoped to remedy the
low estate of Psalmody in the Church of England after
the Restoration by producing a version of the Psalms more
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 53
acceptable than Sternhold and Hopkins. He published in
1679 A Century of select Psalms and portions of the Psalms
of David, especially those of praise. His work had less in
fluence in the Church of England than with Nonconform
ists. Richard Baxter in i68i 38 contrasts the work of the
brothers Patrick. One by his Friendly Debate has done all
in his power to destroy concord, the other by his Psalms
"hath so far reconciled the nonconformists that divers of
them use his Psalms in their congregations, though they
have their old ones, Rouses . . . the New Englands . . .
the Scots (agreed on by two nations)" and others, "in
competition with it."
Dr. Watts 39 attributed the welcome given to Patrick's
version by Nonconformists to the fact "that he hath made
use of the present language of Christianity in several
Psalms, and left out many of the Judaisms."
"This," he says, "is the Thing that hath introduced him into the
Favour of so many religious Assemblies. Even those very Persons that
have an Aversion to sing any thing in Worship but David's Psalms
have been led insensibly to fall in with Dr. Patrick's Performance by
a Relish of pious Pleasure; never considering that his Work is by no
means a just Translation, but a Paraphrase; and there are scarce any
that have departed farther from the inspired Words of Scripture than
he hath often done, in order to suit his Thoughts to the State and
Worship of Christianity. This I esteem his peculiar Excellency in
those Psalms wherein he has practis'd it."
In this spirit of accommodation to Christian feeling Pat
rick did not hesitate to introduce the name of Christ, and
to address to Him specifically passages inviting such inter
pretation. 40
Patrick also, as his title-page indicates, exercised freely
the right of selection, the same privilege, he asserts in his
^Preface to his Poetical Fragments.
39 Preface to The Psalms of David imitated, 1719; p. vi.
*E. g., Psalm cxviii, part 2, verse 26:
"Blest Saviour! that from God to us
On this kind errand came,
We welcome thee; and bless all those
That spread thy Glorious Fame."
54 THE ENGLISH HYMN
preface, as every parish clerk practises; and he frankly
avows that there is much in the Psalter unsuited, in his
opinion, to Christian use. ,In the preface to A Century of
Psalms, he says :
"I considered and pitched upon, those Psalms or portions of them
which were most proper and of most general use to us Chris
tians. . . . But I balked those whose whole aspect was upon David's
personal troubles, or Israel's particular condition, or related to the
Jewish and legal Oeconomy, ... or where they express a temper
not so suitable to the mild and gentle spirit of the Gospel, such as our
Saviour repressed hi his Disciples, not allowing imprecations of
vengeance against our Enemies, but rather praying for them ; espe
cially when that prophetick spirit do's not now rest upon us, that did
upon David. . . ."
The popularity of Patrick's version made these princi
ples of evangelical interpretation and of selection familiar in
Nonconformist circles, and did something to undermine the
supremacy of the Old Version within the Church of Eng
land, into some of whose parishes Patrick's version gradu
ally worked its way. By 1691 his Century had reached its
fifth edition, and in that year he rounded it out to a full
version of the Psalter, which continued to be reprinted till
the middle of the XVIIIth century as The Psalms of David
in metre: fitted to the tunes used in parish-churches.
But Patrick's special importance is as the forerunner and
exemplar of Dr. Watts, who in his work of turning the
Psalms into Christian hymns frankly announced himself as
following out more fully the lines instituted by Patrick. The
full extent of Watts' obligations to his predecessor is indeed
somewhat surprising. They cover not only the rhetorical
style and rhythmical treatment, but extend to the language
itself. Many lines in the two versions are identical; many
more are reproduced by W 7 atts with some alteration; and
there are even whole stanzas which he has borrowed sub
stantially unchanged. Dr. Watts announced his purpose to
be to "exceed" Dr. Patrick by applying his method to every
Psalm and by improving upon his verse. 41
"Preface to The Psalms of David imitated.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 55
It was Patrick, therefore, who first, occupied successfully
this middle ground between the Metrical Psalm and the
English Hymn. Actual priority in the device of giving an
evangelical turn to the Metrical Psalm belongs neither to
Patrick nor Watts. Both were anticipated by Luther, and
by the authors of Psalters in Switzerland and Holland. But
in England the priority rests with Patrick.
(3) The third line of the development of the Hymn
from the Metrical Psalm was by extension of the principle
of Scripture paraphrase to cover the evangelical hymns and
other parts of the Bible.
Such extension was implicitly recognized in the original
Calvinistic settlement of Church Song. No divine prescrip
tion was claimed for the Psalter. Calvin's Genevan Psalter
included as a matter of fact such materials as the Com
mandments and Nunc Dimittis. From the first days of
psalm singing in England, a series of efforts began to pro
vide paraphrases of other parts of Scripture for singing.
The Song of Solomon was especially favored, and before
the completion of the metrical Psalter, the first fourteen
chapters of The Actes of the Apostles, translated into
Englyshe metre, and dedicated to the Kynges most excellent
Maiestye, by Christofer Tye, Doctor in Musyke. . . . wyth
notes to eche chapter, to synge and also to play upon the
Lute (1553), 42 were actually sung in Edward Vlth's chapel.
But both in England and Scotland the zeal of the people
was for Psalmody, and the other paraphrases took no hold.
Versions of the, evangelical canticles and other Prayer
Book materials, were prefixed, as has already appeared, to
the Psalter of 1562, without it may be any intention of
church use. If we are to believe Warton, William Whyt-
tingham introduced their use at once into his church at
Durham, "to accommodate every part of the service to the
psalmodic tone." 43 However this may be, there was a
* 2 There is a facsimile in Robt. Steele, The earliest English Music
Printing, London, 1903, figure 13.
"History of English Poetry, Hazlitt's ed., 1871, vol. iv, p. 130.
56 THE ENGLISH HYMN
movement in the XVIIth century to sing these paraphrases
in place of the corresponding prose passages in the Prayer
Book. One notes that in 1621, apparently for the first time,
the hymns appended to Sternhold and Hopkins are displayed
in the title, in The whole Booke of Psalmes: with the
Hymnes evangelicall, and songs spirituall. Composed into
4 parts by sundry authors, . . . newly corrected and en
larged by Tho: Rauenscroft. This was a private venture,
but became a standard in Psalmody, and may have influenced
or merely recorded a changing fashion. The movement to
utilize the paraphrases was not to enlarge the Psalmody so
much as to get the canticles out of the hands of the choir
and into those of the people. In effect it made paraphrases,
of the canticles especially, a part of Psalmody in numer
ous Puritan churches. It is surprising to find that this
practice survived the Restoration, and left traces in
XVIIIth century worship. 44
Apart from this there was a movement toward
Scriptural paraphrases in both England and Scotland
with a view of supplementing the felt deficiencies of
Psalmody.
In Scotland this showed itself in the proceedings result
ing in the new Psalter of 1649-50. The hymns of the old
Scottish Psalter seem to have been ignored, and attention
was fixed upon the work of a small number of writers who
were claimants for recognition.
Foremost among them was the influential but eccentric
Zachary Boyd, three times Rector and twice Vice-Chan
cellor of the University of Glasgow, in whose library a
mass of his work in paraphrasing Scripture remains in
Ms. Boyd published in 1644 The Garden of Zion, con
taining in the first volume metrical histories of Scripture
44 "It ought to be noted, that both the sixty-seventh and hundredth
Psalms, being inserted in the Common Prayer-Books in the ordinary
version, ought so to be used, and not to be sung in Sternhold and
Hopkins, or any other metre; as is now the custom in too many
churches." Chas. Wheatly, A rational Illustration of the Book of
Common Prayer, cap. 3, Sect. 13.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 57
characters, and in the second, metrical versions of Job,
Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Solomon's Song. Under a sepa
rate title, but with continuous paging was appended The
Holy Songs of the Old and New Testament. In or about
1646 he published The Psalmes of David in meeter. The
earliest copy known is of the 3rd edition of 1648, and copies
of this were sent to most of the Presbyteries with a preface
reading like a challenge to attention. To this edition "The
Songs of the Old and New Testament/' numbering 16,
were appended.
The same act of the General Assembly of 1647 which or
dered the revision of Rous's Psalms had also recommended
"That Mr. Zachary Boyd be at the paines to translate the
other Scriptural Songs in meeter, and to report his travels
also to the Commission of Assembly, that after their exam
ination thereof, they may send the same to Presbyteries to
be there considered until the next Generall Assembly." 45
The Assembly of 1648, in sending down the amended Rons,
also appointed "Master John Adamson and Mr. Thomas
Crafurd to revise the Labours of Mr. Zachary Boyd upon
the other Scripturall Songs," with a view to reporting them
to the next Assembly. 46 There is no record of such a
report upon Boyd's songs having reached the Assembly.
David Leitch, minister of Ellon, had also presented some
hymns of his own to the Commission of the Assembly in
1648, who took steps to further his labors, but do not
seem to have brought them before the Assembly itself. 47
In February, 1650, the Commission called upon the Rev.
Robert Lowrie, then of Edinburgh, to exhibit his work in
versifying the Scripture songs.
With this request the effort to introduce Scripture songs
ceased, and the new Psalter appeared without them. This
result has been attributed somewhat vaguely to the "troub-
**Acts of the General Assemblies, 1638-1649; ed. 1691, p. 354.
46 /Wd., p. 428.
47 See D. J. Maclagan, The Scottish Paraphrases, Edinburgh, 1889,
PP. 2, 3.
58 THE ENGLISH HYMN
lous times." 48 The record itself suggests a sufficient ex
planation in the evident fact that the songs offered as avail
able did not commend themselves to the Assembly or its
Commission; a situation readily accounted for by an ex
amination of Boyd's crude work. We may agree with
Maclagan 49 that those who had the improvement of the
Psalmody in hand thought it prudent to have the new
Psalter established as soon as possible without waiting for
Scriptural songs, which they expected would follow as soon
as a collection could be agreed on. With this expectation the
"troublous times" no doubt interfered.
In the years preceding the Revolution Patrick Symson,
an "outed" minister, deprived of his benefice at Renfrew,
occupied his compelled leisure by paraphrasing Scripture.
He published in 1685 a ^tle book of Spiritual Songs or
holy Poems. A garden of true delight, containing all the
Scripture-Songs that are not in the Book of Psalms, to
gether with several sweet prophetical and evangelical Scrip
tures, meet to be composed into songs. Translated into
English meeter, and fitted to be sung with any of the com
mon tunes of the Psalms (Edinburgh: Anderson).
Symson's preface assumes that the Church's purpose to
add the other Scriptural songs to the Psalms still holds
good ; and in this he was plainly justified, as after-proceed
ings showed. But his preface recognizes also that in "put
ting many more Scriptures into song than were intended
for such by the Spirit," he is merely trying experiments,
the success of which the Church must judge.
The General Assembly resumed its sessions after the
Revolution of 1689; and in December, 1695, Symson be
came its moderator. In the month following, there was a
reference of his Spiritual Songs to the Commission for re
vision. 50 Owing to the loss of the records further proceed
ings cannot be followed, till in April, 1705, the Commission
48 Rev. Jas. Mearns in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 1023.
"The Scottish Paraphrases, p. 2.
M See Maclagan, op. cit., p. 6.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 59
was directed to revise Symson's book for public use, and re
port to the next Assembly. The work was put into the
hands of two committees, one for the East, and one for the
West. The committees agreed to exclude Symson's experi
ments in versifying passages of Scripture that were not
songs, so far as their public use was concerned, "seeing if
other places of Holy Scripture should be turned into meeter,
there would be no end." But they reported 26 versions of
Scripture songs as available after revision by a hand skilled
in "poecie." These the Assembly of 1706 sent down to
the Presbyteries for examination and report. 51 So slight
was the response that the Assembly of 1707 continued the
reference. 52 That of 1708 ordered the Commission to ex
amine the songs in the light of amendments suggested by
Presbyteries, and then to establish and issue them for pub
lic use, as was formerly done with the Psalms in I64Q. 53
The Commission appealed to the Synods for help in the
matter, and failed to elicit any of consequence. It became
plain that the Church felt no interest in the songs offered
it, and the Commission allowed the whole project to drop. 54
This whole movement toward paraphrases in Scotland
presents some curious features. We see, on the one hand,
a stirring within the church of dissatisfaction with the cur
rent Psalmody and of sympathy with the movement of the
time to modify it. We see the ideal of the Hymn evolving
itself in men's minds, and gradually seeking expression in
their work. We see, on the other hand, practical hindrances
preventing any realization of the ideal in Scotland. There
was, to begin with, the prejudice of the plain people in
favor of the familiar Psalms. There was also the hindrance
from leadership which did not see its way clearly, and was
misled by the ambitious influences of authorship. But the
greatest hindrance of all was the paraphrasers themselves,
51 Acts of the General Assembly, Edinburgh, 1843, p. 392.
K Ibid., p. 419.
Ibid., p. 430.
B4 See Maclagan, op. cit., p. 9.
60 THE ENGLISH HYMN
whose work seemed to be the only available embodiment of
the new movement. Their work was of a quality so poor,
so far below even the standard of the Metrical Psalms, that
it gave even those most zealous for enlarging the Psalmody
a feeling of helplessness and indecision, soon merging into
hopelessness.
In Scotland, then, we have first to note the work of Boyd
and Symson as marking the beginning of the development
of the Hymn from the Psalm, and then to note that their
work became practically a bar to the introduction of para
phrases into Scotland. The attempt to introduce their work
into public use reacted in favor of pure Psalmody. The de
sire for other Scripture songs never perhaps died out, but
when those of Symson were consigned to oblivion in 1709
the whole movement followed them, not to emerge again
until the general Assembly of 1741.
In England the contemporaneous movement to supple
ment the Psalms with other Scripture songs found its fullest
expression in the work of William Barton. Barton has
been well described as a "conforming Puritan," and was
probably vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester, at his death. Dur
ing the whole of the Civil War period and long after the
Restoration he pursued two projects for the betterment of
Church Song with unflagging zeal. He stands at and, it
must be said, he crosses the dividing line between the old
Psalmody and the new Hymnody, and his work faces both
ways.
His earlier project was in line with the Puritan demand
for a "purer" version of the Psalter. He published in 1644
The Book of Psalms in metre close and proper to the
Hebrew. It was favorably received, and its third edition
(1646) was recommended by the Lords to the Westminster
Assembly as their preferred version. The contest between
the partisans of Rous and Barton prevented any version
from receiving the imprimatur of Parliament. It was a
great sorrow to Barton that his version failed to displace
the old Psalter, but the substance of it entered to some
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 61
extent into the Scottish Psalms of David in meeter of
1650.
In the preface to his Psalter Barton gave preeminence to
the Psalms, and emphasized their appropriateness to present
day use. But in 1659 he took an opposite direction, and
published A Century of select Hymns, increased in 1670 to
Two Centuries,^ and, after his death, published complete
by his son as Six Centuries of select Hymns and Spiritual
Songs collected out of the Holy Bible (London, 1688).
In the preface to the Centuries, Barton came out boldly
for hymns, with the proviso that they be founded on Scrip
ture. He cited the example of the Apostles and early
Church and of the Bohemian Brethren. The hymns of the
Latin Church, on the other hand, proved how "horrid blas
phemy" creeps into hymns forsaking the Scripture basis.
He condemns the "Complaint of a Sinner" and "Humble
Sute" in the Old Version as nonsensical or erroneous. But
in applying his principle to his own work, he allowed him
self great liberties. It was enough that his hymns were
"collected out of the Bible." He selects passages and in
dividual texts from one Testament or both, turns them into
verses, and weaves them into the unity of a mosaic hymn :
each hymn and often each stanza being preceded by the
"proof texts." Three of his Six Centuries are "Psalm
Hymns," in which he deals in the same way with the
Psalms, omitting what he regards as unsuitable, and ex
pounding "dark passages."
Are these productions translations or paraphrases or
hymns? In relation to the individual texts dealt with they
55 Some malign influences were working against Barton. He com
plains that the appearance of his Two Centuries was obstructed for
three years by fraud and injuriousness; that Four Centuries appeared
in 1668 without his knowledge and through deceit; that the adoption
of his Psalter was thwarted by enemies; and that an edition of 1500
was printed by stealth to supply Scottish churches that much pre
ferred it to the officially adopted Psalms in meeter. Barton's protest
that he had no aim but that of promoting godliness perhaps furnishes
a key. Some may have thought so much zeal had an eye for personal
glory and profit, and have set about to diminish or share them.
62 THE ENGLISH HYMN
are translations, adhering closely to the English prose ver
sion. In their freedom in handling and combining unre
lated texts, they suggest the paraphrase. In motive and
intention and in their general effect they are clearly hymns.
Their author so named them : they were so regarded by his
contemporaries 50 and by the hymn writers who followed
him. 67
Barton's work thus occupies the very point of transition
between the Metrical Psalm and the Hymn, and its influence
was very marked upon English Hymnody. In his own
Church his immediate influence was barred by the Restora
tion, when the singing of Sternhold and Hopkins was re
sumed just where it had left off at the Puritan Revolution,
and without spirit enough to seek improvement. But among
the Independents Barton's hymns as well as his psalms were
68 In a copy of the 1688 ed. of the Centuries a contemporary Ms. index
is bound in, showing "In what page of the Hymn Book Composed by
Mr. Wm. Barton to find any Scripture Therein translated."
67 "These hymns of Mr. Barton" : Simon Browne, Hymns, 1720,
preface. The following (from Century I) will illustrate Barton's
method and manner:
HYMN 151. Mediator.
All People, &c.
/ Tim. 2. 5.
ONE God there is, and one alone,
and Mediator none but one;
The man whom we Christ Jesus call,
who gave himself full price for all.
I Joh. 2. i, 3.
If any sin, we have on high
an Advocate to qualifie,
Jesus the Just, whose blood was spilt
to expiate our hanious guilt.
Rev. 5. 13.
Blessing and glory and renown
to him that on the Throne sits down,
And to the Lamb of God therefore
be praise and honour evermore.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 63
widely introduced and used in some places for a long time. 58
They accustomed the people to New Testament song and
to a freer handling of Scripture than obtained under Psalm
ody. It was among the Independents that the new school
of hymn writers was to arise and conquer the churches.
And it was on them that Barton's influence told most, and
through them that he helped to fix the type and character of
the English Hymn as based upon Scripture and saturated
with it. There was no essential difference between Barton's
hymns collected out of Scripture and the succeeding hymns
based upon Scripture. Dr. Watts in the preface to his
Hymns and Spiritual Songs of 1707, has his eye on Barton
when he says : "I might have brought some Text or other,
and applied it to the Margin of every Verse if this method
had been as Useful as it was easy." 59
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
FROM DEVOTIONAL POETRY
i. LACK OF THE HYMNIC MOTIVE IN PRE-RESTORATION
POETS, EXCEPT WITHER
The Reformation settlement of Congregational Song on
the basis of the Metrical Psalm was a turning away from the
historic source of Hymnody in the Latin Church. It in
volved also an indefinite postponement of any enterprise to
ward producing an original English Hymnody. The few
original hymns appended to the Psalters were not so much
a promise and beginning of such a Hymnody as a closing of
the account. In Churches given over to the singing of
metrical versions of Scripture the motive toward producing
hymns was largely lacking. Verse writing suggested by
ideals of worship took the current form of paraphrasing
'"'The last ed. of the Centuries was in 1768.
B9 P. xi.
64 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the Psalms. Devotional verse felt free to clothe itself in
elaborated metres and to express itself in ways alien to the
unpoetic mind. To Spenser in Elizabeth's time and to
Milton in the Puritan period the "Hymn" meant the same
thing. It was a religious ode.
Ben Jonson, on the other hand, kept within the stricter
limits in the three hymns appearing in his Underwoods,
with the result that his "Hymn on the Nativity of my
Saviour" is still sung. 60 It is not however in the great poets
of any time that we seek the origins and development of
Hymnody. Their genius shrinks from liturgical restraints,
and their pride from what Tennyson called the common-
placeness of hymns.
Of the first group of religious poets under Elizabeth and
James, Southwell was a Roman Catholic priest; and some
of his carols and devotional pieces are now regarded as
contributions to the Hymnody of his Church. Sir John
Davies translated Psalms, but his "Hymnes" were addressed
to Queen Elizabeth. The Fletchers aimed at no contribu
tion to Hymnody, though the "Drop, drop, slow tears" of
Phineas has been recently adopted. 61 Donne was a convert
from Catholicism, and wrote generally in an esoteric style,
but his touching lyric "Wilt Thou forgive" was frequently
sung in his presence as an anthem by the choristers of St.
Paul's Cathedral. 62 Some minor poets of these reigns, such
as George Gascoigne, William Hunnis, Sir Nicholas Breton,
Humfry Gifford, Francis Kinwelmersh, Timothy Kendall
and John Norden, furnish here and there among the more
numerous Psalm versions a few simple devotional strains,
generally personal and meditative and not intended for
music, which may nevertheless be regarded as hymns. 63
Elizabeth's reign and the years following were noted for
9 "I sing the birth was born to-night" ; no. 63 in The Oxford Hymn
Book, Clarendon Press, 1908.
81 No. 98 in The English Hymnal, Oxford, 1906.
62 Walton, Lives, 1670.
"Most of them may be found in the three volumes of Select Poetry,
chiefly devotional, published by the Parker Society.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 65
an abundance of lyrical poetry adapted to music for solo
or part singing in the home and friendly circle to the ac
companiment of lute or viol. Among the song writers and
musicians, so often amorous or frankly pagan, Dr. Thomas
Campion, who was unquestionably a poet and musician,
deserves also to be ranked as a hymn writer. In his Two
Bookes of Ayres (c. 1613), "Pure Hymns, such as the
Seventh Day loves, do lead," the first book being given
over to "Diuine and Morall Songs." In these true spiritual
feeling is combined with lyrical beauty to a very unusual
degree, and a number are indeed hymns even in the practical
sense. His "Never weather-beaten sail more willing beat
to shore" is among the loveliest of the lyrics expressing
the heavenly-home sickness, and was included by Josiah
Conder in his Congregational Hymn Book of 1836. His
effective "View me, Lord, a work of Thine" is in The
Oxford Hymn Book, and other lyrics are equally available.
Campion in his treatise on Counterpoint showed him
self observant of the current Psalmody, but he found
his way to the Hymn through the avenue of the song
book. 64
Quite apart from the song books, and indeed a marked
exception to the general trend of its time was The Hymnes
and Songs of the Church (1623) of George Wither. It is
in two parts, the first of Scriptural paraphrases, the second
of hymns for the festivals, holy days and special occasions
of the church. The hymns show a remarkable appreciation
of the office and character of the Hymn, in their tone of
simple piety, their method and structure. Many of them
were repeated, many added, in Wither's Halelviah or,
Britans Second Remembrancer (1641), a personal and
household handbook of praise.
"For the song books see Shorter Elizabethan Poems in Arber's "Eng
lish Garner," especially A. H. Bullen's introduction. Campion, long
neglected, is now accessible in Bullen's charming volume, Thomas
Campion: songs and masques, London and New York, 1903, in "The
Muses' Library."
66 THE ENGLISH HYMN
But the thing really remarkable is the appearance, so un
related to its time and surroundings, of this fully formed
hymn book for the Church of England. What its effect
might have been upon the church worship and upon the
development of a Church Hymnody, can only be surmised.
Wither, in his ambition and his sore need of money, ob
tained from James I a patent that his Hymnes and Songs
should be bound up with every copy issued of the metrical
Psalter. The effect of this extraordinary proceeding was
disastrous. It aroused the animosity of the Company of
Stationers, who resorted to every expedient to make the
patent a dead letter until they secured its revocation. 65
They were responsible for preventing the circulation of
Wither 's hymns; as a result of which the hymns soon
passed into oblivion and left singularly little influence behind
them. 66
In the group of sacred poets who flourished in the second
quarter of the XVIIth century, Quarles, Herbert, Crashaw,
Traherne and Vaughan, and even in Herrick and other of
the court group, it is not difficult to find materials more or
less available for the hymn book, even though no such use
occurred to the writers. Quarles had the ear of the plain
people, and contributed six Psalm versions to the famous
Bay Psalm Book of 1640, but he had little lyrical feeling.
It has been thought 67 that some of his Emblems might be
adapted as hymns. But Traherne's "An Hymn upon St.
Bartholomew's Day" is merely meditative verse. Herbert
delighted in sacred song, often singing his own pieces to
the viol. His actual connection with Hymnody came
through the appearance in 1697 of Select Hymns from Mr.
"See E. Fair's preface to his reprint of The Hymnes and Songs
in the "Library of Old Authors": and cf. Notes and Queries for
week ending January 13, 1912.
66 Two have been rescued, and have found a modest place in modern
use: "Come, O come, with pious lays," and "Behold the Sun that
seemed but now." These are perhaps Wither's best.
"By Dr. Grosart, who yields Quarles considerable unearned space
in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 67
Herbert's Temple, in which a C. M. recension of some of
his verses was attempted, and through his later influence
upon the Wesleys. In Donne's poetry English devotional
verse had recovered something of the churchly and Catholic
spirit which had been repressed in the Church of England,
and this Herbert inherited from Donne. But neither sought
or found the plane on which the Congregational Hymn
moves. Crashaw learned to worship in Herbert's Temple,
and published his own religious verses as Steps to the
Temple in 1646. He had gone over to the Church of
Rome, and, apart even from their structure, the mystical
contents of his hymns befit the ascetic retreat rather than
the church. He turned some of the Latin hymns into
English, and his notable version of Dies Irae is among the
earliest English versions. No doubt Vaughan, who also
learned his spirituality from Herbert, came the nearest of
the group to the spirit and form of the Hymn. His Silex
scintillans: or sacred poems and private eiaculations ap
peared in 1650 (2nd ed., 1655) ; and from it a considerable
number of hymns have passed into the hymn books. Of
these the best known are "My soul, there is a countrie" and
"Up to those bright and glorious hills."
The work of this company of devotional poets of the
time of Charles I constitutes no doubt an epoch in the
history of English Sacred Poetry, but it did not either in
intent or in result mark the beginning of an English Hym-
nody. It is easy to discern in the poets a common purpose
to set apart their gifts to devotional use, but it is idle to ask
if they might not have dedicated them to the use of public
devotions, to have laid in other words the foundation of an
English Hymnody that should be lyrical. The public use
of hymns rather than psalms in worship was not as yet in
the air. Of all the company, Wither alone had it in mind,
and in his conception the Hymn was not lyrical but didactic
and wooden, and as much like current Psalm versions as
might be ; as his own proposed Hymnes, in such strong con-
trast with his poetry, so -amply prove.
68 THE ENGLISH HYMN
2. THE NEW HYMN WRITING (1664-1693): THE
PREDECESSORS OF WATTS
But after the Restoration, with the palpable decadence
of the newly restored Psalmody in the Church of England,
as also among Nonconformists, and with the feeling after
hymns that was in both English and Scottish air, there came
a decided change in the aim and character of devotional
verse. The Metrical Psalm, though it was to linger, had
played its part : the paraphrase gave little satisfaction to the
conscious or unconscious feeling after hymns; and, with
the new demand, devotional feeling and homiletic intent
expressed themselves in English hymns. It is likely that the
revival of the "Catholic" element in Anglicanism, exhibited
in Donne's and Herbert's poetry, played some part in this
change by turning the attention of many back to the old
church Hymnody of the office books and to the English
versions of it always kept extant in England by Roman
Catholic poets and in current books of private devotions.
This influence appears in the "Psalms" for Sunday and
season in the Sermons and devotions (1659) of Thomas
Pestell, a former chaplain of Charles I ; and of which some
use as hymns has been made recently. Jeremy Taylor's
The Golden Grove, or a Manual of daily Prayers and
Letanies fitted to the days of the week, (1655) is itself
Primerwise, arid its hymns are "Festival Hymns accord
ing to the manner of the Ancient Church." 68 Taylor,
it is true, did not succeed in finding the plane of the Con
gregational Hymn, but it will appear that the same influences
were not wanting upon some of the earliest of his suc
cessors who did.
With Crossman (1664) and Ken (c. 1674) in the Eng
lish Church, and Austin (1668) who had left it for the
""Bishop Heber adapted two hymns from The Golden Grove: "Lord,
come away, why dost Thou stay?" and "Full of mercy, full of love"
(Hymns, 1827). The former was improved by Lord Nelson for The
Sarum Hymnal 1868, and passed into Church Hymns ("Draw nigh to
Thy Jerusalem, O Lord' ).
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 69
Roman, we may begin that succession of modern English
hymn writers which has never failed up to the present time.
Samuel Grossman was one of the ejected ministers of
1662, but soon afterward he conformed, and became Dean
of Bristol. In 1664 he published The Young Man's Moni
tor, to which was appended (with separate pagination)
The Young Man's Meditation, or some few sacred Poems
upon select subjects and Scriptures. These are in the psalm
metres, and are clearly hymns. That they were thought
more likely to be read than sung we may infer from the
motto used : "A Verse may find him whom a Sermon flies."
Two of these hymns were brought to modern notice by
Lord Selborne, and are found in current hymnbooks. 69
Grossman's work suggests Puritan rather than Catholic
influences.
A striking group of thirty-nine hymns 70 appeared in
John Austin's Devotions, in the ancient way of Offices: with
Psalms, Hymns and Prayers; for every day in the week,
and every holiday in the year (Paris, 1668). It was a most
influential book, of which four editions preserved its
Roman form; and which, modified twice for Anglican use,
was reprinted as late as 1856. Except for two or three from
Crashaw the hymns are original, 71 and give Austin a dis
tinguished place among the earliest English hymn writers.
There is ample evidence that these fervid hymns found im
mediate acceptance beyond the bounds of Austin's own
Church. As we shall see, they were at once appropriated
by those endeavoring to introduce Hymnody into the Church
of England.
Thomas Ken had been educated at Winchester College
under the Puritan regime, and returned to it in some
capacity in 1665. ^ n J ^74 ne published A Manual of
Prayers for the use of the scholars of Winchester College,
which contained the injunction : "Be sure to sing the Morn-
89 "My Song is love unknown," and "My Life's a Shade, my daies."
7 43 in 3rd ed. : the additions perhaps by the editor.
71 The best may be found in Lord Selborne's Book of Praise.
70 THE ENGLISH HYMN
ing and Evening Hymn in your chamber devoutly." Though
Ken's Morning and Evening hymns, now so well known,
were not included in the Manual till after 1694, we may
conclude that they were thus in use within a few years of
the Restoration. In these we can hardly fail to recognize
an independent beginning of modern hymn writing and
singing; not developed out of Puritan precedents, but sug
gested by the models of the Breviary. The Latin hymns
had been sung in the daily services of Winchester College
up to the Reformation, and not improbably until Ken's
own school days. 72 But in any case a Breviary, Missal and
several works on the Liturgy were among Ken's cherished
books. 73 He was evidently attracted by the old church
ritual, and his hymns have caught the tone of the Breviary
Hymns. 74
Bishop Ken's hymns have had a marked influence upon
English Hymnody in the direction of simplicity, but it must
not be assumed that they had immediate influence upon the
situation of their time. The Manual was a popular little
book, often reprinted, but it is to be remembered that the
hymns were not in it till the close of the XVIIth century.
They were apparently sung in the school from Ms. or
printed sheets, and only in 1692 were published in a pam
phlet without Ken's knowledge or approval. 75 Until then
at least they could not have been widely known.
Richard Baxter, an ejected minister of 1662, has left on
record 70 his enthusiasm for psalm singing, and left also
an unpublished version of the Psalms. But his Poetical
Fragments of 1681 contained several original hymns. 77
"See E. H. Plumptre, Life of Thomas Ken, n. d., vol. i, p. 34.
Ibid., vol. ii, appendix ii, p. 297.
74 Ken plainly knew also Sir Thomas Browne's bedside hymn in
Religio Medici, "The night is come, like to the day."
75 See Dr. Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology, 2nd ed., p. 1650.
78 Epistle to the Reader in Poetical Fragments, 1681.
"The hymn "Now [Lord] it belongs not to my care," taken from his
"My whole, though broken heart, O Lord," is still widely used. His
Paraphrase on the Psalms was printed in 1692.
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH HYMN 71
They were intended for singing, with the stanzas numbered,
and a reference of each hymn to the appropriate psalm-tune.
While his contribution to modern Hymnody is but small,
his figure seems to have stood for something like a centre
of the Restoration Hymn Movement, as the close friend of
Mason and apparently the begetter of Barton, who traces
his work to Baxter's request that he versify the Te Deum. 78
The work of John Mason, rector of Water-Stratford,
was at the time far more influential than Ken's. He pub
lished in 1683 Spiritual Songs, or Songs of Praise to Al
mighty God upon several occasions. Together with the
Song of Songs. . . . paraphrased in English verse. To
this, in 1693, tne inferior Penitential Cries of his friend
Thomas Shepherd were added.
Mason's preface is a call to sing God's praises, and the
songs are in the C. M. of the psalm book, and numbered
as in a hymn book. 79 They are not paraphrases, but free
hymns, and it is curious to note the effort to connect them
at least mechanically with the strict paraphrases of Solo
mon's Song.
Mason worked within the limits of the Church of Eng
land, but his close friendship with Baxter and the associa
tion of his work with that of the nonconformist Shepherd,
indicate no doubt his real position and sympathies. The
great circulation and influence of his hymns was among
Nonconformists. His book was in its 8th edition at the
date of the appearance of Watts' Hymns. Mason's work
had a great influence on Watts, and must be credited with
a considerable share both in moulding and in popularizing
the English Hymn.
It thus appears that between the dates of the Restoration
and the Revolution there arose a not inconsiderable group
of original hymn writers, whose work in volume, in char
acter, and in influence, counted for something in the history
78 See "Epistle" in his Two Centuries.
9 "My Lord, my Love, was crucified," and "Now from the altar of
my heart," are the most familiar.
72 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of the English Hymn. It is clear that these earlier writers
deprive Dr. Watts of that extreme originality often ascribed
to him as "The father of the English Hymn." And yet we
shall not be far out of the way if we regard this earlier
group as the Predecessors of Dr. Watts. Their work was
necessarily somewhat tentative, because it was not until the
appearance of Watts' Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707
that the type of the English Hymn was definitely de
termined.
CHAPTER II
THE LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS
I
THE DENOMINATIONAL DIVISIONS OF CHURCH
SONG AT THE RESTORATION (1660)
We have considered the development of the English
Hymn from the Metrical Psalm. As the Metrical Psalm
had been originally cast into the mould of the Congrega
tional Hymn, the change was in the subject matter rather
than in the form. This change we have followed through
its several phases, from a close translation of canonical
Scripture, to a freer paraphrase first of Psalms then of
other Scriptural songs, and up to the point where the pur
pose of turning Scriptural materials into metre met the
impulse to give hymnic form to devotional poetry, and
coincided in the production of hymns, freely composed and
yet more or less based upon Scripture.
The movement toward hymns was always a liturgical
one. It had for its motive the enrichment of English wor
ship rather than of English literature. The same thing was
true of the Hymn Movement in the period following the
Restoration. But what gave it special significance was the
weakened hold of the old Psalmody upon the people, the
number of men who concerned themselves with the new
movement, and the acceptable character of the new hymns
themselves. Under such conditions hymn singing began
to be practicable, and there followed almost at once a series
of experiments in that direction, out of which has developed
the now general practice of singing hymns in English-speak
ing Churches.
73
74 THE ENGLISH HYMN
We have now, therefore, to trace these early efforts to
introduce the new hymns into public worship. They lie
within the same period as the tentative hymn writing with
which they were closely related; beginning soon after the
Restoration of 1660, and culminating with the publication
in 1707 of Watts' Hymns and Spiritual Songs, which
marked an epoch in the use of hymns as well as in their
composition.
During the whole of this period we may exclude Scot
land from consideration ; for such movement toward hymns
as appeared there during these years did not get beyond
the "Scripture Songs" stage, and even so far was quite
ineffective.
Turning to England, it is to find the ecclesiastical situa
tion such as makes impracticable anything like a concerted
movement to introduce hymns into worship. At the Restora
tion the Church of England regains its established position
and reinstates the Prayer Book services. The various com
munities already formed outside the church, principally
Independents, Baptists and Friends, refuse to conform to
these services, and become "dissenters." The Presbyterian
elements which had maintained Puritan ideals of worship
within the Church are by the ejectment of their clergy in
1662 forced to take up a position alongside the dissenters.
This whole body of dissent, beyond agreeing in disuse of
the Prayer Book, fails to find a common basis for worship;
and each of the new sects proceeds to deal with questions
of worship in its own way. The breach in the uniformity
of English worship thus becomes permanent. The Con
venticle Act of 1664 does nothing to heal the breach, and
very little in the way of suppressing the novel types of
worship.
As with worship in general in the Restoration period, so
with Congregational Song in particular. It ceases to be a
common stream, but divides into denominational branches.
Along these branches severally we have to look for the
introduction of hymns into public worship.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 75
II
JOHN PLAYFORD LEADS A MOVEMENT TO IN
TRODUCE HYMN SINGING IN THE RE
ESTABLISHED CHIJRCH (1671-1708)
In resuming the Prayer Book services and the old Psalm
ody at the Restoration, there was much needing to be re
habilitated. The dilapidations of the Commonwealth period
told most severely against worship of the cathedral or
choral type. The choirs had been scattered, and many of
the organs destroyed. But even the reinstatement of Con
gregational Psalmody in parish churches was effected with
some difficulty. The authorities were indifferent, the people
unconcerned and irreverent, and the ability to read and sing
music was largely lost. John Playford tells us that "almost
all the choice tunes are lost, and out of use in our
Churches." 1 The practice of lining out the psalm had come
in, but even in London there were few parish clerks who
could set the tune correctly: "It having been a custom
during the late wars and since to choose men into such
places, more for their poverty than skill or ability, whereby
this part of God's service hath been so ridiculously per
formed in most places that it is now brought into scorn and
derision by many people." 2
It was in connection with his efforts to improve these
musical conditions that John Playford attempted to intro
duce the new hymns into parochial worship. He was a
music publisher of prominence, with a shop in the Inner
Temple, and since 1653 parish clerk of the Temple Church. 3
His Introduction to the skill of Musick (London, 1654) was
already a standard when in 1671 he issued his Psalms and
Hymns in solemn musick of foure parts on the common
1 Preface to Psalms and Hymns, 1671.
3 The account of this interesting man in The Dictionary of National
Biography needs to be corrected by that in Grove's Dictionary of Music;
and the numerous allusions to him in the Diary of Mr. Pepys (who
often "went to Playford's") add the human touch.
;6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tunes to the Psalms in metre: used in Parish-Churches.
Also six Hymns for one voyce to the organ. This book is
not a new musical setting of the authorized Psalter with its
appendage of hymns, or indeed a Psalter of any sort. It is
a selection of "Psalms and Hymns" mingling together for
the first time on a common footing. The hymns are not
segregated, but interspersed among the psalms; each hymn
following the psalm tune to which it is set. The psalms
were chosen from various current Psalters, including the
authorized Sternhold and Hopkins. The hymns number
seventeen. 4 Of these, fourteen are taken from John Austin's
Roman Catholic Devotions in the ancient way of Offices,
published three years earlier. The remaining three seem
to have been written or acquired for this book, and deserve
mention in connection with early hymn writing. One in
C.M. (to "Canterbury Tune") begins "O Lord my Saviour
and support" : one in the metre of the I48th Psalm begins
"Praise to our God proclaim"; and both are anonymous.
The third, entitled "A Hymn for Good Friday," begins
"See, sinful soul, thy Saviour's suffering see," and is signed
"W. Stroud, D.D."
None of these hymns was introduced into church use by
means of Playford's book, which was not kindly received.
He attributed its failure to its folio size and its not con
taining all the Psalms in their order, which "made it not
so useful to carry to Church." 5 To which considerations
must be added' the fact that the tunes, partly from Ravens-
croft and partly new, were arranged for male voices, and
were beyond the reach of the skill of the period. Apart
from such inconveniences of detail, Playford's general pro
posal of substituting a selection of "Psalms and Hymns"
for the accepted system of Psalmody was too precipitate.
Having thus made his first venture with a musician's in
dependence and failed, Playford turned a publisher's eye
4 The six "Divine Songs for One Voyce" at the end of the book
may be excluded as not being hymns in the usual sense of the word.
8 Preface of 1677.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 77
toward the actual market. He made up his mind that what
was practicable was an edition of the Old Version in port
able size to take the place of Ravenscroft's, with some in
felicities of the ancient text corrected, and with the tunes
set in plain counterpoint for mixed voices. In 1677 he pub
lished: The whole Book of Psalms: with the usual Hymns
and Spiritual Songs; together ivith all the ancient and
proper tunes sung in churches, with some of later use. Com
pos' d in three parts, cantus, medius, & bassus: in a more
plain and useful method than hath been formerly published.
The phrase "with the usual Hymns" creates the impres
sion that in profiting by his experience of 1671 Play ford
gave over his attempt to introduce new hymns, and was
now simply reprinting the hymns that had always been
appended to the Old Version. He did, in fact, drop all but
one of the hymns offered in 1671 ; and we may infer that
they had not proved acceptable. But in his preface he
still maintains the parity of psalms and hymns, and cites
the precedents of "The usual Hymns" and of Barton's Two
Centuries of select Hymns. In the body of his book he
preserves the form of the original appendages of hymns,
one before and one following the psalms, but he deals very
freely with the contents. In the group before the psalms
he retains the Veni Creator, Te Deum, Benedictus, Magni
ficat and Nunc Dimittis of the Old Version, adds Cosin's
Veni Creator, and provides new metrical versions of the
Lord's Prayer, Creed and Commandments. The group fol
lowing the psalms, entitled "The Rest of the Solemn
Hymns," begins with the Benedicite, followed by four of
the Old Version hymns (ther Humble Suit, the Lamentation,
"O Lord in Thee," and the Prayer after the Command
ments). Then follow:
Hymn after Communion, "All glory be to God on high" ( a version
of Gloria in Excelsis).
Hymn for Sunday, "Behold we come dear Lord to thee" (by John
Austin).
Morning tjymn, "Now that the Day-star doth arise" (Cosin's version
of Jam lucis orto sidere}.
78 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Hymn on Divine Use of Musick, "We sing to thee whos wisdom
form'd" (it had appeared in Dr. Natl. Ingelo's Bentivoglio and Urania,
London, 1660).
Remembering that Playford was adapting himself to
current taste, both his freedom in dealing with the old
hymns of the Psalter and his restraint in introducing new
hymns show how slight a hold hymns of any sort had upon
the people. The actual influence of Playford's book was
by way of prolonging the period of psalm singing. It be
came the standard setting of the Old Version. During the
rest of the XVIIth and for much of the XVIIIth century it
was the dependence of these who clung to the old ways,
reaching its twentieth edition in 1757. During this long
period Playford's appendages of hymns kept their place in
his Psalter, and his Psalter was carried to church by great
numbers of people. But it cannot be affirmed that they
made much more use of the new hymns than their fathers
had made of the hymns originally printed in the Psalters.
An addiction to the continued use of the Old Version be
came, in fact, the particular form in which indifference or
opposition to hymns expressed itself.
But at the opening of the XVIIIth century two books
appeared that aimed at the introduction of hymns into pa
rochial worship; in the one case as supplementing the use
of the Old Version, in the other that of the New. The
more ambitious of these two books was the private venture
of Henry Playford, who had succeeded to the business of
his father, John Playford, and was ambitious to carry for
ward his father's work. He published in 1701 The Divine
Companion; or, David's Harp new tun'd. Being a choice
collection of new and easy Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems.
The words of the Psalms being collected from the newest
versions. Compos'd by the best Masters and fitted for the
use of those, who already understand Mr. John Playford's
Psalms in three parts. To be used in churches or private
families, for their greater advancement of divine music.
This book was designed as a supplement to the Old Version
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 79
used in the churches, with a view to its being bound up
with John Playford's musical edition first published in
1677. Its plan and purpose, however, were taken from the
earlier Play ford book of 1671. It opened with six Psalm
versions set to tunes by Dr. Blow. These were followed by
twelve hymns set by various composers, to which in later
editions more hymns were added. At the end was a group
of anthems. In the hymns John Austin predominates, as he
did in 1671 ; but Crashaw, Herbert and Drummond are also
represented.
The Divine Companion had a temporary success; that is
to say, its reprinting was several times called for. This
success is to be attributed mainly to its tunes rather than
to the richness of its hymnody, but the words of the hymns
set to the new tunes cannot have been altogether overlooked.
To what extent or in what quarters they may have been
introduced into parochial worship does not appear. Such
use was readily accomplished in parishes where lining was
practised. Not one of them played any part in the future
hymnody of the Church of England. It may be, on the
other hand, that Playford's book exercised a certain influ
ence in keeping the idea of hymn singing before the mind
of the Church of England.
The other of the books referred to as appearing at the
opening of the XVIIIth century was much more modest in
form, but it had a more substantial backing, and was to
prove much more influential. It was directly connected
with the current movement to improve Psalmody repre
sented by the New Version of Tate and Brady published in
1 696. Even the party of progress in Psalmody was no
doubt more immediately concerned to get a more literary
version of the Psalms than to introduce hymns. The Neiv
Version first appeared without music and without even "the
usual hymns," but in all probability a provision of suitable
tunes and a small appendage of hymns was a part of the
original scheme. At the end of the second edition of
"See chapter i, part iv.
8o THE ENGLISH HYMN
1698 there is an announcement of "A Supplement to the
New Version/' to contain "The Usual Hymns," "Select
Psalms done in particular Measures," with "A Collection
of the most usual Church-Tunes." It contains also a
promise of "Additional Hymns for the Holy Sacrament,
Festivals, &c."
The Supplement to the New Version of Psalms by Dr.
Brady and Mr. Tate appeared in 1700 (London, printed by
J. Heptinstall), in sheets with a view to binding up with
the New Version'. In respect of hymns, the standpoint of
the Supplement differs little from that of Playford's Whole
Book. It has sixteen hymns in all. Ten are simply fresh
paraphrases (in the fluent style of the New Version itself)
of "the usual hymns." The "Additional Hymns" promised
in the advertisement are six :
1. Song of the Angels at the Nativity. "While Shepherds watch'd
their Flocks by Night."
2. For Easter-Day [First Hymn]. "Since Christ, our Passover, is
slain."
3. [Second Hymn], "Christ from the Dead is rais'd, and made."
Three Hymns for Holy Communion.
4. Hymn I. "Thou God, all Glory, Honour, Pow'r."
5. Hymn II. "All ye, who faithful Servants are."
6. Hymn III. The Thanksgiving in the Church Communion-Service.
"To God be Glory, Peace on Earth."
These also are paraphrases, five of Scriptural passages,
one of the Gloria in E.rcclsis; and the Scripture texts are
noted here as carefully as by William Barton himself. This
little group of hymns, marking no advance in principle over
Playford's, was yet of much more significance in the history
of the Hymn ; owing to its association with the New Ver
sion which looked toward the future rather than with the
Old Version which was a survival from the past. These
hymns were thus sown on comparatively good ground, and
if they did not spring up immediately and if they did not
multiply, they, at all events, were not trodden under the
feet of the psalm singers.
The Supplement to the New Version was authorized for
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 81
use in churches by the Queen and Council on July 30, 1703.
It became a very popular little book, often reprinted, but
not a constituent part of the Psalter, as the appendages of
the Old Version had been. It is the exception rather than
the rule to find the Supplement even bound in with the
XVIIIth century copies of Tate and Brady, which have sur
vived in great numbers. It follows that the hymns of the
Supplement could not have been sung as freely as the
psalms in churches using Tate and Brady, unless they were
lined out. But they evoked a limited interest, which it was
attempted to quicken by adding three hymns to the sixth
edition of I7o8. 7
This group of hymns in the Supplement marks the limit
of anything in the nature of an authorized provision for
hymn singing in the Church of England during the period
under review. It was sufficient to establish the principle
that hymns were allowable as supplementary to the psalms.
The actual practice of parochial hymn singing which it
represents must seem small, when we remember that Tate
and Brady was only then making headway into London
churches, and for long afterward was hardly known beyond
the bounds of that diocese. These hymns served for a be
ginning in a time of apathy and musical decadence, and
were destined under happier conditions to be taken up and
enlarged in number, and even to be embodied within the
sacred covers of the Prayer Book itself as a recognized
feature of Church of England worship.
The Supplement does not, of course, stand for the whole
body of hymn singing within the Church of England at
the time. There was no likelihood of interference with the
general or occasional use of other hymns from the various
books that were, as we have seen, available; and it is alto
gether likely that they found such use by some of progres
sive spirit. And we have also to take account of the ad-
7 They were the Benedicite and a recast of "O Lord, turn not thy
Face away," from the Old Version appendage, and the "Hymn on the
Divine Use of Musick" from Playford's Psalter of 1677.
82 THE ENGLISH HYMN
vances toward hymn singing on that Puritan side of the
Church which had least regard for the Prayer Book system,
under the leadership of such men as Barton, Baxter, and
Mason, and the Puritan recurrence to the hymns appended
to the Old Version.
Ill
RICHARD BAXTER LEADS A MOVEMENT TO
INTRODUCE HYMNS AMONG THE EJECTED
PRESBYTERIANS (1661-1708)
The subject-matter of Congregational Song was one of
the very numerous issues raised by the Presbyterian divines
in the Church of England before the Savoy Conference of
1 66 1 called by Charles II "to advise upon and review the
said Book of Common prayer." 8 They took the Puritan
attitude of seeking for "a purer version" than the accepted
Sternhold and Hopkins. The Xllth of their exceptions
against the liturgy was as follows :
"XII. Because singing of Psalms is a considerable part of Publick
Worship, we desire that the Version set forth and allowed to be
sung in Churches may be mended, or that we may have leave to
make use of a purer Version."
In Baxter's "Reformed Liturgy," which seems to have
been presented at the same time, 9 there is something like a
bill of particulars :
"Concerning the Psalms for Publick use. We desire that, instead of
the imperfect version of the Psalms in Meeter now in use, Mr. William
Bartons Version, and that perused and approved by the Church of
"For the King's warrant for the Conference, see The Grand Debate
between the most Reverend the Bishops, and the Presbyterian Divines,
appointed by His Sacred Majesty, as Commissioners for the review
and alteration of the Book of Common Prayer ; &c. London, Printed
1661, p. (iv.) : more fully in E. Cardwell's Conferences . . . con
nected with the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, Oxford, 2nd
ed, 1841, pp. 298 ff.
C/. Cardwell, op. cit., p. 260.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 83
Scotland there in use (being the best that we have seen) may be
received and corrected by some skilful men, and both allowed (for
grateful variety) to be Printed together on several Columes or Pages,
and publickly used; At least until a better than either of them shall
be made." *'
In view of the actual status of Psalmody in the Church
of England, and of the terms of the King's warrant, it is
not surprising that the bishops should have answered the
Presbyterian exception and desire by saying, "Singing of
Psalms in metre is no part of the Liturgy, and so no part
of our commission." 11 But the Presbyterians chose to
regard this as quibbling, and replied :
"If the word Liturgy signifie the publick Worship, God forbid we
should exclude the singing of Psalms : And sure you have no fitter
way of singing than in Meeter. . . . We hope you make no ques
tion, whether singing Psalms, and Hymns were part of the Primitive
Liturgy, and seeing they are set forth, and allowed to be sung in all
Churches of all the people together, why should they be denied to be
part of the Liturgy? We understand not the reason of this." 12
In 'The Grounds of Nonconformity of the Ministers
who were Ejected," afterwards drawn up by Calamy, among
"other things ... by some possibly less regarded" was
that in order to subscribe to the Prayer Book "They must
consent to the Mistranslation of the Psalter." 13
These extracts make it abundantly plain that the Presby
terians had much zeal for psalm singing, and that they
demanded authorization for a more correct version of the
Scripture Psalms. But they make it equally clear that an
insistence that congregational song be confined to canonical
Psalms or even to Scriptural songs was no part of the
Presbyterian position or demand. They raised no objection
10 A Petition for Peace: with the reformation of the Liturgy. As
it was presented to the Right Reverend Bishops, by the Divines ap
pointed by His Majesties Commission to treat with them about the
alteration of it. London, printed Anno Dom. MDCLXI., p. 41.
"Cardwell, op. cit., p. 342.
*~The Grand Debate, p. 79.
"Edmund Calamy, An Abridgement of Mr. Baxter's History of his
Life and Times, etc., 2nd ed., London, 1713, vol. i, p. 234.
84 THE ENGLISH HYMN
to the hymns of the Old Version bound up with the Prayer
Book, whether paraphrases or "of human composure." On
the contrary the "Reformed Liturgy" drawn up by Baxter,
but laid before the Savoy Conference with the general
consent of the Presbyterian divines, 14 as a desired alternative
to certain parts of The Book of Common Prayer, contains
this rubric at the end of "The Order of celebrating the
Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ" : "Next sing
some part of the Hymn in meeter, or some other fit Psalm of
Praise (as the 23. 116. or 103. or 100, &c.)." 16 The hymn
referred to is the Thanksgiving at the end of the Old Ver
sion ("The Lord be thanked for his gifts") ; and the rubric
reflects the accustomed use by these divines not only of
this hymn but of others appended to the Psalter, with a
special- predilection for the metrical paraphrases of Prayer
Book canticles.
"Those that published the Old Church-Psalms," Baxter
said in the preface to his own posthumous Paraphrase on
the Psalms of David in metre, with other Hymns (London
1692), "added many useful Hymns, that are still printed
with the Psalms in Metre." And he makes clear the actual
limits of the Presbyterian position by saying in explanation
of the literalness of his own version of the Scripture Psalms,
"I durst not venture on the Paraphrastical great liberty
of others; I durst make Hymns of my own, or explain the
Apocryphal ; but I feared adding to God's Word, and mak
ing my own to pass for God's."
Baxter's hymn making has been already referred to; but
he was in fact the leader at once of the Presbyterians
and of the movement to introduce hymn singing into the
churches. He was, as has already been said, "the only
begetter" of William Barton's Centuries of Hymns, which
14 Calamy, op. cit., vol. I, p. 158.
10 The petition was that "the several particulars" of this liturgy "be
inserted into the several respective places" .of the Prayer Book, "and
left to the Ministers choice to use the one or the other." A Petition
for Peace, p. 22.
Ibid. f p. 58.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 85
began to appear in 1659, but he occupied ground far in ad
vance of Barton's ventures. He held that hymns had been
sung from the beginning; that "doubtless Paul meaneth not
only David's Psalms, when he bids men sing with grace in
their hearts, Psalms, and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs : Yea,
it is past doubt, that Hymns more suitable to Gospel-times,
may and ought to be now used: And if used, they must be
premeditated ; how else shall Congregations sing them ? And
if premeditated, they must be some way imposed; How
else shall the Congregations all joyn in the same." 17
It is not likely that most, or perhaps many, of Baxter's
colleagues shared to the full these advanced views of his
singularly independent mind and temper : nor did his influ
ence establish a distinctive Presbyterian usage of hymn
singing. The years following the Ejectment of 1662 were
years of poverty and distress, if not of actual persecution,
for many of the ministers who had been driven from their
parsonages and livings. The Conventicle Act and the Five
Mile Act interfered with the assembling of Presbyterian
congregations. The groups of people who still gathered
about their ejected pastors for the simple rites of worship,
so far as they ventured to sing at all, doubtless satisfied their
craving for a purer version of the Psalms by employing
some one of the current Psalters of the more literal type.
With the Revolution of 1688 and the Toleration Act of
William and Mary in the year following, Presbyterian wor
ship came under the sanction of the law, and in a single
generation hundreds of Presbyterian meeting houses were
built throughout England. They conformed to a common
pattern. Internally the great canopied pulpit dominated:
beneath it a desk for the precentor, or, more often, "the
table pew," with the communion table in the centre, and
around it the seats which were then or later occupied by
the singers on non-sacramental occasions. 18 In the failure
"Preface to Paraphrase on the Psalms.
18 C/. A. H. Drysdale, History of the Presbyterians in England,
London, 1889, p. 443.
86 THE ENGLISH HYMN
to establish any church organization, no general principle
regulated the congregational song, and no book was pro
vided for common use by the congregations. Psalm singing
prevailed, and the Scottish Psalms of David in meeter of
1650 seems to have been adopted pretty generally. The
pastors were free to supplement the psalms with hymns,
and, in the prevalence of the practice of "lining," could
accomplish it without providing books for the congregation.
Among the ministers of the later or meeting house era of
Presbyterianism there was much diversity of sentiment and
practice in the matter of hymn singing. Matthew Henry,
who, like Baxter, took great delight in Psalmody, both in
public and private, favored hymn singing but preferred
Scriptural psalms and hymns to those wholly of human
composition as likely to have more of matter and less of
fancy. 19 He prepared and printed in 1695 a little volume
of Family Hymns, altered and enlarged in a second edition
of 1702. It was designed to encourage Psalmody in the
home and thus to improve the singing in church, and was
introduced by him into his own services. 20 With the ex
ception of Te Deurn, the hymns are taken from Scripture,
current translations being freely used. Verses out of sev
eral Psalms are gathered together to make up a hymn, in
the manner of Barton, with whose standpoint Henry's book
may be said to agree.
On the other hand James Pierce of Exeter, whose Arian
leanings were not yet suspected, held the strictest views in
the way of confining Church Song to the inspired Psalms,
discontinuing even the use of the doxology. In his Vindi-
ciae fratrum dissentientium in Anglia 21 he argued for the
19 J. B. Williams, Memoirs of the Rev. Matthew Henry, London,
1828, p. no.
20 1 bid., p. no.
"London, 1710. In English, as A Vindication of the Dissenters,
London, 1717. In 1786 Mr. Brand Hollis reprinted from it A Tractate
on Music (London), for distribution in the First Church of Boston,
with a view to meeting the movement to procure an organ for that
church.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 87
use of "plain tunes," and, strenuously, against the employ
ment of instrumental music, Pierce's attitude toward hymns
was exceptional rather than characteristic of the Presby-
terianism of the time; and it is quite likely that any who
shared in it may have sought an Old Testament Psalmody
as offering an available refuge from rising Christological
perplexities.
The temper and tone of current English Presbyterianism
was better represented in the persons of the Presbyterian
divines of Dublin and the south of Ireland. It had indeed
been carried there by the eminent Joseph Boyse, just as
the Scottish type had been transplanted in the North of
Ireland. By his hymn writing Boyse is entitled to a place
among the predecessors of Dr. Watts, but in view of the
lack of permanence 22 in his contributions to Hymnody,
he is more interesting as one of the early leaders in Presby
terian hymn singing. He published in 1693 Sacramental
Hymns collected (chiefly) out of such passages of the New
Testament as contain the most suitable matter of Divine
Praises in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. To which
is added one hymn relating to Baptism and another to the
Ministry. By J. Boyse, with some by other hands. This
appeared at Dublin, and in the same year at London from
the press of Thomas Parkhurst, the printer of Matthew
Henry's Family Hymns. It contains forty-one pieces by
Boyse, one by George Herbert, and two by Simon Patrick ;
and in the baptismal hymn immersion is the only mode
recognized. In 1701 he published at Dublin Family Hymns
for morning and evening worship. With some for the
Lord's Days. . . . All taken out of the Psalms of David.
To each volume is prefixed the recommendation of six
Dublin ministers, a significant testimony as to local senti
ment and usage.
Of Boyse's resolute Presbyterianism there can be no
question. But if we take the whole body of Noncon-
22 Two stanzas by him were included in James Martineau's Hymns
for the Christian Church and Home, London, 1840 (No. 42).
88 THE ENGLISH HYMN
formist meeting houses in England at the beginning of the
XVIIIth century, it is by no means easy to make partition
of them between Presbyterians and Independents, who
showed so marked a disposition to affiliate. This uncer
tainty applies to the sentiments of the congregations, to
the affiliations of the ministers who occupied the pulpits,
even to the terms of the trust-deeds by which the meeting
houses were held. And it applies, of course, to the hymn
singing. Presbyterianism was not destined to establish it
self in England, and its meeting houses were about to fall
into the control of men of Arian theology. The congre
gational song of these meetings was first to come under
the domination of Dr. Watts, and then to develop into a
Unitarian Hymnody. Apart from this stream of Church
Song, thus diverted from its original channel, the early
Presbyterian hymn singing seems to have no part or repre
sentation in the great Hymn Movement of the XVIIIth
century, which it is customary to trace to its source in Inde
pendency. But the actual facts seem to be that behind the
early Nonconformist hymn singing there was no Independ
ent leader before Watts so influential and so outspoken as
Richard Baxter, and that the Presbyterian divines had an
inadequately recognized share in laying the foundations of
modern English Hymnody.
Too little notice has been taken, for instance, of the efforts
of Samuel Bury, a Presbyterian leader in Suffolk. He made
a careful study of all available sources of hymns, and (ap
parently some years before Watts first printed his hymns),
published A Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual
Songs, fitted for morning and evening worship in a private
family, but containing also sacramental hymns. He pre
fixed a long list of his sources, including among others
Barton, Baxter, Boyse, Crashaw, Dorrington, Burgess,
Herbert, Patrick, Mason and Shepherd, Tate and Brady,
and Woodford. His work stands in the shadow of his
great contemporary and looms small there; but in view of
the fact that Bury's book reached a third edition in 1713
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 89
and a fourth in 1724, it could not have been without influ
ence upon the situation. 23
As pointing apparently in the same direction, mention
may be made of a movement to better congregational sing
ing in the last years of the older London Presbyter ianism.
Moved by the unsatisfactory conditions of public worship
and especially of the neglect and unskillful performance
of Psalmody in Nonconformist churches, a Society of gen
tlemen in the (then) Presbyterian Meeting at the King's
Weigh House in Little Eastcheap employed a teacher of
Psalmody and established a course of Friday lectures. The
Psalmody Lectures were published by them in 1 708 as Prac
tical Discourses of Singing in the worship of God: preactid
at the Friday Lecture in Eastcheap. By several Ministers.
Of the six lecturers all but one were Presbyterian min
isters. 24
This movement was not primarily to encourage the intro
duction of hymn singing, but it tended strongly that way.
The opening lecturer declared : "I conceive that whatever
Songs are Scriptural, are the proper Object of Singing. . . .
For I can by no means be of their mind, who in the public
Congregations would confine us to that collection of the
Jewish Psalmody, which is call'd the Psalms of David." 25
The fourth lecturer approves Mr. Stennett's hymns as
23 The fullest notice of Bury's book is in J. Conder, The Poet of the
Sanctuary, London, 1851, p. 35. For Bury himself, see The Diet, of
Nat. Biography, and the references there, especially Murch's Hist, of
Presb. and Genl. Bapt. Churches in W. of England, 1835, pp. 107 ff.
The date of Bury's book is unknown to the writer. It seems to be
referred to in the advt. at end of Henry's Family Hymns, 1702.
24 They were Jabez Earle, William Harris, Thomas Reynolds, John
Newman and Benjamin Gravener. That the sixth, Thomas Bradbury,
was Independent, aided perhaps to broaden the reach of the movement.
He was a singular selection. He knew nothing of music, was without
poetical taste, became the great opponent of Dr. Watts' scheme for
improving Psalmody, refused to allow Watts' Psalms or Hymns to be
sung in his presence, and used Patrick's version to the end of his life.
Cf. W. Wilson, History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches . . ,
in London, London, 1808-14, vol. iii, pp. 527, 528,
2B Mr. Earle : p. 4.
90 THE ENGLISH HYMN
"those excellent Composures wherewith" he "hath oblig'd
the Christian Church." 26 The fifth lecturer commends Mr.
Watts' views of a New Testament Hymnody in the essay
prefixed to the Hymns of 1707, which he has "seen since
the Composure of this Discourse." 27 The last lecture is a
review of the part played by psalm singing since the Refor
mation, and the frequent quotations from Tate and Brady
suggest that the lecturer 28 was content to sing their New
Version of the Psalter.
This interesting movement 29 began before the publica
tion of Watts' Hymns, and was inspired by the same distress
at the conditions of Nonconformist Psalmody. Originally
independent of him, it came to accept his leadership. W.
Lawrence, the teacher of Psalmody at the Weigh House,
had made a Ms. collection of tunes for "The Gentlemen of
the Society" supporting the Friday Lecture. Upon the
appearance of Watts' The Psalms of David imitated, the
collection was at once adapted to it, and published the same
year as A Collection of Tunes suited to the various metres
in Mr. Watts's Imitation of the Psalms of David or Dr.
Patrick's Version, fit to be bound up with either (London,
by W. Pearson for John Clark, 1719). 30 The Gentlemen of
the Friday Lecture continued their good work for congre
gational singing many years. But Lawrence's book has
already brought us to the period at which Dr. Watts' Psalms
and Hymns began to dominate the worship of the old Pres
byterian Meetings.
26 Mr. Reynolds: p. 103.
27 Mr. Newman: p. 154.
'"'Mr. Gravener.
28 J. S. Curwen in his Studies in Worship Music, ist Series, London,
n. d., p. 88, credits it to the "Independents."
*C/. Hymns ancient and modern: Historical edition, London, 1909,
pp. Ixxxv, Ixxxvi. Lawrence's successor, Nathaniel Gawthorn, pub
lished Harmonia Perfecta, a complete Collection of Psalm Tunes in
four parts (London, 1730), chiefly transposed from Ravenscroft, and
dedicated "To the Gentlemen who support the Friday Lecture in
Eastcheap; and for a course of years have encouraged Psalmody."
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 91
IV
THE ATTITUDE OF THE SEPARATISTS
We now turn to consider the situation in those religious
bodies which had already formed dissenting communities
outside the walls of the Church of England, and entered
upon the Restoration period with traditions already ac
quired. There were marked divergences in their attitude
not only toward psalm singing but toward Congregational
Praise itself as a Christian ordinance. Two of these bodies,
the Arminian Baptists and the Society of Friends, on the
one hand, had taken up an attitude of actual hostility toward
singing in public worship. The other two, the Calvinistic
Baptists and the Independents, had struggled against the
spread of the same hostility within their ranks, and during
the period now under review emerged from the struggle to
become jointly instrumental in introducing the English
Hymn into actual liturgical use.
At the left we may group together the General or Ar
minian Baptists and the Society of Friends, as sharing the
opinion that singing by the congregation should have no
place in the public worship of God.
i. THE GENERAL BAPTISTS OPPOSE "PROMISCUOUS
SINGING"
To explain the origins of the great "Controversie of Sing
ing/' and the attitude of the General Baptists in England
toward Congregational Song, we must go back to about
the year i6o6, 31 when John Smyth, pastor of a congregation
of Separatists at Gainsborough, led his people in a flight to
Amsterdam. Once there he found that his real sympathies
were not with the principles and practices of the congre
gation of English exiles already on the ground, but rather
with the Dutch Mennonites. He developed intense antipathy
to infant baptism, and, failing to secure believers' baptism
8l Henry M. Dexter, The true Story of John Smyth, Boston, 1881,
p. 2.
92 THE ENGLISH HYMN
at the hands of the Mennonites, in 1608 baptized himself,
thus becoming "the Se-Baptist of Church history." 32 He
formed a separate congregation with anti-Calvinistic princi
ples, adopting not only the theology of the Mennonites,
but many of those peculiar practices of their worship that
anticipated the Quaker meeting.
In setting forth The Differences of the Churches of the
Separation (n. pi., 1608), Smyth held that the New Cove
nant is spiritual, proceeding out of the heart, and that read
ing out of a book is no part of spiritual worship, but an
invention of the man of sin. "We hold, that seeing sing
ing a psalm is a part of spiritual worship, it is unlawful to
have the book before the eye in time of singing a psalm." 33
These principles reduce the possibility of singing in wor
ship to the instance of an individual feeling impelled to
compose and utter a spontaneous song. And Robert Baillie
testifies that such was the practice in Smyth's congrega
tion. 34
After the formation of the denomination of General
Baptists in England as the result of the labors of Smyth
and his disciples, Thomas Grantham, as their mouthpiece,
published his Christianismus Primitivus (London 1678).
In this he held that the New Testament recognizes no
promiscuous singing, and no singing by the rules of art,
but only the utterance of psalms and hymns sung by such
as God hat 1 i fitted thereto by the help of His Spirit for
the edification of the listening church. If all sing, there
were none to be edified; if pleasant tunes are used, that
would bring music and instruments back; if other men's
words are sung, that would open the way to the similar use
of forms of prayer also.
At a General Baptist Assembly in 1689 it appeared that
82 Ed. Arber, Story of the Pilgrim Fathers, London, 1897, p. 13?-
33 Quoted from the copy in Bodleian Library by R. Barclay, The
Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Commonwealth, 2nd ed.,
London, 1877, p. 106.
34 A Dissvasive from the err ours of the times, London, 1645.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 93
a small minority of congregations had begun "promiscuous"
singing of psalms. The Assembly called upon them to show
"what psalms they made use of for the matter, and what
rules they did settle upon for the manner." In response
there was produced
"Not the metres composed by Messrs. Sternhold and Hopkins, but
a book of metres composed by one Mr. Barton, and the rules pro
duced to sing these Psalms as set down sccundum artem; viz., as the
musicians do sing according to their gamut, Sol, fa, la, my, ray, &c.,
&c. ; which appeared so strangely foreign to the evangelical worship
that it was not conceived anywise safe for the churches to admit such
carnal formalities; but to rest satisfied in this, till we can see some
thing more perfect in this case, that as prayer of one in the church is
the prayer of the whole, as a church, so the singing of one in the
church is the singing of the whole church; and as he that prayeth in
the church is to perform the service as of the ability which God
giveth, even so, he that singeth praises in the church ought to per
form that service as of the ability received of God; that as a mourn
ful voice becomes the duty of prayer, so a joyful voice, with gravity,
becomes the duty of praising God with a song in the Church of God." *
This judgment, received with "the general approbation
of the Assembly," is interesting not only as showing that
the great majority had not advanced a step beyond the po
sition of Grantham in 1671, but also for the circumstances
that occasioned it, as showing the movement of the time
beginning to penetrate the isolation of a peculiar sect. It
seems to have got no farther within General Baptist circles
during the period under review. There is apparently no
record of a change of practice until well toward the middle
of the XVIIIth century. In 1733 the General Assembly
received a complaint from Northamptonshire that some of
its churches "had fallen into the way of singing the Psalms
of David, or other men's composures, with tunable notes,
and a mixed multitude; which way of singing appears to us
wholly unwarrantable from the Word of God." But the
mood or judgment of the Assembly had at length changed.
It admitted that congregational singing was an innovation,
practised by "some very few," yet was not a sufficient
35 J. J. Goadby, Bye-Paths in Baptist History, London, n. d., pp. 347,
348.
94 THE ENGLISH HYMN
ground for excluding them. The Assembly could find no
clear statement in Scripture as to the manner of singing.
It would that all were of one mind, "but as the weakness of
human understanding is such that things appear in different
lights to different persons, such a concord is rather to be
desired than expected in this world. It expressed on the
whole an unwillingness to dispute the question or to impose
upon all the general opinion and practice. 36
It may be inferred that the influence of Dr. Watts had
begun to be felt by General Baptists, but their actual asso
ciations were closer with the later Wesleyan movement.
And it was by means of the fervid influences of the Meth
odist Revival that General Baptist churches were to be
multiplied and to become hymn singing churches.
2. THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS EXCLUDES "CONJOINT
SINGING"
The Society of Friends took up a position that opposed
singing as practised in the public worship of the time and
led to the exclusion of all song from their own meetings.
Whether, with Hodgkin, 37 we regard George Fox as an
original thinker, or conclude with R. Barclay 38 that his
tenets and practices were to a large extent borrowed from
the Mennonites and Arminian Baptists, there can be no
doubt of the wide area of opinion and practice held by them
in common. There is no appreciable difference between the
General Baptist and the Quaker position as regards Church
Song. It is to be remembered also that Fox's movement
was, like that of the General Baptists, an immediate revolt
not from Laudian Episcopacy but from Puritan theology
and practice. While he "was to bring people off from all
the world's religions, which are vain, . . . and prayings,
and singings, which stood in forms without power," 39 and
""Goadby, op. cit., p. 348.
"Thomas Hodgkin, George Fox, London, 1896, p. vi.
S8 O/>. cit., chap. v.
'"Quoted in Hodgkin's George Fox, p. 35.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 95
while he held up mass book and common prayer and direc
tory to unpartitioned scorn, it was the Directory which
immediately confronted him, and the Puritan Psalmody
which constituted the "singings" audible by him.
The early Friends were not opposed to all singing in
public worship. Among several references thereto in Fox's
Journal is one of 1655 to the effect that "Tho: Holme &
Eliz: Holme: att a meetinge in Underbarrow : were much
exercised by y e power of y e Lorde in songes and Hymms
& made melody & rejoyced : & y e life was raised thereby &
refreshed in many: in y* meetinge." 40 Three years later
Fox wrote : "Those who are moved to sing with under
standing, making melody to the Lord in their hearts we
own; if it be in meeter, we own it." 41 By an official pro
nouncement of the Yearly Meeting of 1675 "Serious sigh
ing, sencible groaning and reverent singing" are recognized
as divers operations of the Spirit and power of God, and
not to be quenched or discouraged, unless immoderate. 42
This evidently refers to the utterance of an individual, under
the direct motion of the Spirit. As formulated by Barclay
in his Apology?* (nth proposition, 26) the singing of
psalms is a true part of God's worship, but the formal cus
tomary way of singing in the congregation has no Scriptural
nor even Christian ground. To put expressions of the reli
gious experiences of blessed David into the mouths of the
wicked and profane is to make them utter great and horrid
lies in the sight of God. Acceptable singing must proceed
from the Spirit indwelling in the heart. Artificial music,
of organs or vocal, has no New Testament warrant.
40 The Journal of George Fox, ed. from the Mss. by Norman
Penney, Cambridge, at the University Press, 1911, vol. ii, p. 326. All
the references to singing in worship seem to have been left imprinted
until this edition appeared (see vol. i. p. 442) ; a fact not without
suggestiveness.
41 G. Fox and Huggerthorne, Truth's Defence against the refined
subtility of the Serpent, 1658, p. 21.
42 See R. Barclay, op. cit., p. 461.
""Printed in the year 1678" (n. p.) ; pp. 288, 289.
96 THE ENGLISH HYMN
The singing thus recognized has been compared to that
of the singing evangelist introduced in the Moody and
Sankey campaigns, 44 but seems more akin to the inspira
tional utterances of the early Christian assemblies. Such
as it was, it was strongly opposed by some from the first, 45
and soon died out. "Conjoint" singing of psalms or hymns
taken from a book or the lips of a precentor, was never
at any time tolerated in the Friends' meetings. It ranged
in Fox's mind with images and crosses, prescribed prayers
and sprinkling of infants, as one of the vain traditions and
worldly ceremonials from which it was his peculiar mission
to deliver men. So far as the actual practice of the meetings
is concerned, the result would have been the same in any
case, as the repudiation of the musical art by the early
Friends must soon have made congregational song quite
impracticable.
With this attitude of opposition to the established Psalm
ody, the Friends, of course, have had no part in its transi
tion to our modern hymn singing. Members of that body
have not hesitated to contribute hymns to the common stock,
but only in the last half century or so has a movement begun
in England and America to introduce general hymn singing
(even the hymnal with musical notes) into the Quaker
meeting.
3. BENJAMIN KEACH INTRODUCES HYMNS AMONG THE
PARTICULAR BAPTISTS
Among the Particular (or Calvinistic) Baptists there
was, to say the least, nothing like unanimity in agreeing
with their Arminian brethren concerning Congregational
Song.
The very full records of the Broadmead Church of
Bristol left by Edward Terrill are silent on this point from
1640 to 1670. But from 1671 to 1685 they show that
congregational singing was statedly practised, under all the
"R. Barclay, pp. 461, 462.
4!4 R. Barclay, p. 462; Fox's Journal, vol. I. p. 442.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 97
menaces of persecution. 46 There was, however, a second
Baptist congregation in Bristol; and, when in 1675, a joint
meeting was proposed, some of its members "were ready
to sing Psalms with others beside the church," but a minority
"Scrupled to sing in metre as [the Psalms] were trans
lated," and asked permission to keep their hats on or to
retire while this was doing. 47 From this and other facts
we may infer that there were considerable differences of
sentiment and practice among the Particular Baptists.
It was in one of the congregations which had declined
to sing that the use of hymns as distinct from psalms be
gan. 48 The innovator was its pastor, Benjamin Keach, a
young man who had originally shared the sentiments of
the General Baptists, among whom he was reared. 49 In
1668 he became pastor of a congregation of Particular
Baptists of South wark, which prospered under him and built
a meeting house on Horsley-down.
Keach was convinced that Congregational Song was an
ordinance of Christ, and undertook to realize his convic
tions among his own people. He first obtained their consent
to sing at the close of the Lord's Supper. In the Epistle
Dedicatory to his Breach repaired, dated April 3, 1691, he
fixes the date as "16 or 18 years" earlier, which gives from
1673 to 1675. After some six years of this practice, his
church agreed to sing also on "public Thanksgiving days" ;
and about 1690 they agreed to sing the praises of God every
Lord's day. 50
The songs thus introduced were not metrical psalms, but
hymns suitable to the occasion, in manuscript and mostly or
altogether composed by Keach himself.
"The Records of the Church of Christ meeting in Broad-mead,
Bristol, 1640-1687, London, 1847, pp. 159, 222, 228, 230, 232, 233, 236,
237, 238, 248, 253, 256, 291, 305, 312, 339, 421, 443, 465.
4T Broadmead Records, p. 242.
"Thos. Crosby, History of the English Baptists, London, 1838-40,
vol. iv. p. 299.
"Crosby, op. cit. } vol. iv. p. 270.
98 THE ENGLISH HYMN
A very small minority of Keach's congregation had op
posed the movement, and this more frequent use of hymns
precipitated a bitter controversy; the dissenters being led
by Isaac Marlow, who in 1690 printed A brief Discourse
concerning Singing in the publick worship of God in the
Gospel Church (London, printed for the Author). Her
cules Collins in the appendix to his Orthodox Christian,
published in 1680, had urged the duty of congregational
singing, as had Keach himself in his Tropes and Figures
(1682) and Treatise on Baptism (1689). J onn Bunyan
also in his Solomon's Temple spiritualised (1688), speaks
of it as a divine institution in the public worship of the
church, to whose members it should be confined. At the
First General Assembly of Particular Baptists in 1689
Keach challenged that body to debate the matter. The
debate seems to have been entered upon but not concluded,
the Assembly thinking "it not convenient to spend much
time that way." 51
The controversy thus opened continued for several years.
Keach responded to Marlow in his The Breach repaired in
God's Worship or, singing of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual
Songs, proved to be an holy ordinance of Jesus Christ
(London 1691), a treatise of 192 pages with an appendix
against Marlow covering 50 more. Marlow replied in The
Truth soberly defended (1692) ; and other writers on both
sides entered the fray. The points actually at issue were
afterwards 52 stated by Marlow as three: (i) Whether the
only vocal singing in the Apostolic Church was not the
exercise of an extraordinary gift of the Spirit. (2)
Whether the use of a set form of words in artificial rhymes
is allowable. (3) Whether the minister sang alone, or a
promiscuous assembly together, sanctified and profane, men
and women (even though the latter were enjoined to keep
silence in the churches).
By 1692 the controversy had become so heated and
51 Goadby, op. cit., p. 332.
62 In his Controversie brought to an end, 1696.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 99
abusive that the General Assembly took it in hand, and
appointed a committee of seven to examine the pamphlets.
Upon their report the Assembly rebuked the pamphleteers,
and urged the people neither "to buy, sell, give or disperse"
certain pamphlets, including Marlow's Truth soberly de
fended.
Crosby's statement that "a stop was thus put to the
troubles that threatened the baptized churches upon this
controversy" 53 is clearly unjustified. Mario w and his fol
lowers set up an independent congregation without singing ;
and in 1696 he published his Controversie of Singing
brought to an end, and which in fact served only to renew
it. The General Assembly had decided nothing except that
the peace should be kept, but in omitting to decide against
singing they left the churches free. And Crosby is no doubt
right in saying that "many of them from that time sung
the praises of God in their public assemblies who had not
used that practice before." 54
The deeper issues raised in this "controversie of Sing
ing" tended to relegate the question between psalms and
hymns to a position of inferior interest and importance.
Many Baptist congregations introducing singing confined
themselves to psalms without question. It was so generally
at Broadmead, but the records show the singing of a hymn
as early as 1678, written and handed up by Edward Ter-
rill. 55 A late comer into the controversy, the famous John
Gill, in his Discourse on Singing of Psalms, 1734 (2nd Ed.
1751), denies not that hymns may be useful, but care must
be taken to conform them to Scripture and the analogy of
faith; and on the whole he judges them "in a good measure,
unnecessary." 56
But the foundations of hymn singing in Particular Bap-
History of the Baptists, vol. iii. p. 270. Cf. Joseph Ivimey, History
of the English Baptists, London, 1811-1814, vol. ii. pp. 374, 375.
"Crosby, vol. iii. p. 271.
"Records, pp. 389, 39O-
56 2nd ed., p. 45.
ioo THE ENGLISH HYMN
tist churches had been permanently laid by Keach, and a
beginning of Baptist Hymnody made.
Keach printed some of his hymns as early as 1676 in
his War with the powers of darkness (4th Ed.), and three
hundred of them as Spiritual Melody in 1691. The Sacra
mental Hymns which Joseph Boyse printed at Dublin in
1693 nas sometimes been regarded as the first Baptist hymn
book. But the immersionist type of the baptismal hymn
contained in that book will not serve to detach Boyse from
his dearly beloved and heroically defended Presbytery.
The Lord's Supper furnished a natural occasion for the
introduction of evangelical hymns. And Joseph Stennett,
who in 1690 became pastor of a Seventh-Day Baptist
Church in Devonshire Square, London, began to use there
sacramental hymns of his own composition. They circu
lated without, through Ms. copies made "by some Persons
who heard them dictated ["lined"] in Publick." 57 Other
congregations expressed a desire to use the hymns, and in
1697 Stennett published them as Hymns in commemoration
of the Sufferings of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ,
compos'd for the celebration of his Holy Supper. They
reached a second edition in 1705, and a third in 1709. He
published also in 1712 a tractate of twelve Hymns compos'd
for the celebration of the holy ordinance of Baptism, of
which there was a second edition in 1722. Stennett had
been in contact with the "controversie of Singing," and as a
preface to his earlier book printed a justification of con
gregational singing from the hand of one who had been
trained in opposition to it, but had changed his views. Sten-
nett's hymns were admired and used beyond the bounds
of the Baptist denomination ; some indeed have continued in
use to our own day. 58 How they affected the Eastcheap
lecturer has already appeared. It is of more moment that
they attracted the attention of young Isaac Watts, under
8T " Advertisement" in the Hymns . . . for the . . . Holy Supper.
'"That most widely familiar, "Another six days' work is done," ap
peared in neither of the above publications.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 101
whose influence Baptist Hymnody was about to pass. His
appropriation of several of Stennett's lines into his own
work entitles Stennett to be regarded as one of the models
from whom Watts worked out his own conception of the
English Hymn.
4. THE INDEPENDENTS JOIN WITH THE PRESBYTERIANS IN
INTRODUCING HYMNS
There is no reason to doubt that the early Independents
as a class were in substantial accord with the general Puri
tan position as to the singing of psalms. Such certainly
was the case with the church of the exiled Separatists at
Amsterdam. When John Smyth of Gainsborough devel
oped there his peculiar views of spiritual worship, they
found little sympathy. Ains worth in his Defence of the
Holy Scriptures, worship and ministerie used in the Chris
tian churches separated from Antichrist: against the chal
lenges, cavils and contradiction of Mr. Smyth, in 1609,
professes himself unable to understand why Smyth should
not use psalm singing in the services of his church, and he
speaks for the whole body of the earlier exiles in saying,
we "do content ourselves with joint harmonious singing of
the Psalms of Holy Scripture, to the instruction and com
forts of our hearts, and praise of our God." 59 In 1612
Ainsworth prepared a complete metrical Psalter for the use
of the exiles, accompanying it with tunes and also with a
prose rendering for comparison and with annotations for
critical study. Some of these versions in Ms. may have
been already in use; the printed Psalter was used both in
the Amsterdam church and in Robinson's at Leyden, and
was by the Pilgrim Fathers out of the Leyden congrega
tion taken to New England.
It cannot, however, be said that when Smyth and his
followers formed themselves into a Baptist congregation,
they left behind them no elements of controversy as to the
^Defence, quoted in B. Hanbury, Hist. Memorials relating to the
Independents, London, 1839, vol. i. p. 181.
102 THE ENGLISH HYMN
propriety of congregational psalm singing. The extreme
spirit of individualism developed, and the Puritan ingenuity
in raising "cases of conscience" led to much difference of
opinion among the Independents on this as on other ques
tions. The hesitation of the Westminster Assembly in deal
ing with the subject was doubtless with a view to including
the largest possible Independent support. The prevalent
opinion among them perhaps asked no more than that the
subject be left free, especially as regards the choice of a
specific version. But there were troublesome minorities
that objected to congregational singing per se, or like that
represented by Mr. Nye, 60 who took Barrowe's earlier posi
tion of protest against translating the Psalms into English
metre, 61 though it is not clear how they proposed to make
the singing of a prose version practicable. Some of these
controversialists were especially active at the time. John
Cotton essayed to cover the whole ground of controversy
in his Singing of Psalms a Gospel-ordinance, printed at
London in 1647, and again in 1650. No doubt he includes
Old England and New, Baptist and Independent, describ
ing his view of the general situation, in his opening sen
tence : "To prevent the godly-minded from making melody
to the Lord in Singing his Praises with one accord, . . .
Satan hath mightily bestirred himself to breed a discord in
the hearts of some by filling their heads with foure heads of
scruples about the Duty." These scruples related to singing
with the voice as against singing in the heart; as to who
may properly be allowed to join in it in public worship
(women, carnal men, &c.) ; as to the subject matter of
praise; and as to metrical versions and invented tunes.
Cotton's defence adds nothing, and was not intended to
add anything, to the general doctrine of Psalmody held by
the Reformed Churches, which it essays to vindicate on the
usual Scriptural grounds.
"Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie, Edinburgh, 1841, 1842, vol.
ii. p. 121.
"See Hanbury, Memorials, vol. i. p. 61.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 103
The "controversie of Singing" had spent its force before
the period of the Restoration, and seems to have ended
in a general adoption of psalm singing in Independent con
gregations. Several churches are on record in the preceding
years as resolving to maintain or take up the "Singing of
Psalms." 62 And in June, 1663, Dr. Goodwin and Mr.
Nye, as well as Mr. Caryl, in their interview with Charles II,
were able to report that "we have in our churches all parts
of worship, as preaching, praying, reading, and singing of
psalms, and the sacraments." 63 None the less the con
troversy had produced the familiar effect of stripping from
the controverted practice its earlier delight. A conviction
of duty is, after all, an inadequate basis for song.
And then, too, the Independents felt the full stress of the
persecutions that followed the Act of Uniformity. The
Conventicle Act bore hardly upon established congregations
with well known places of meeting, to whom the houses of
great Puritan families, which often provided shelter and
even places for worship to the Presbyterians, were not open.
During the enforcement of these Acts, their services could
be held only in secluded places and at unexpected hours, with
a guard at the door to give notice of interruption. It is
obvious that with the need of avoiding observation by
neighbors and passers by, singing would be the first "part
of worship" to suffer. Speaking of one of the periods of
persecution, Neale says that in the meetings "they never
sung Psalms." 84 Equally suggestive is a record under date
of April i, 1682, of a church once meeting at St. Thomas',
Southwark : "We met at Mr. Russell's, in Ironmonger Lane,
where Mr. Lambert, of Deadman's Place, Southwark, ad
ministered to us the ordinance of the Lord's supper, and
we sang a psalm in a low voice." 65
**Cf. Curwen, Studies in Worship Music, ist Series, pp. 83, 84.
"Letter of Wm. Hooke, quoted in J. Waddington, Congregational
History, 1567-1700, London, 1874, p. 579.
"History of the Puritans, part v. chap. ii. : ed. 1837, vol. iii. p. 265.
"Quoted in Worship Music, p. 84.
104 THE ENGLISH HYMN
These conditions of restraint ceased with the Revolution
of 1688, which brought freedom of worship and a begin
ning of a meeting house building era to Independents as to
Presbyterians. The lengthy sermon and protracted extem
poraneous prayer were the main features of worship in the
Independent meeting houses. They left little opportunity
for psalm singing, and there is no evidence that the new
conditions put new heart into it. The singing was still
confined to canonical Psalms. While Sternhold and Hop
kins had been largely given up, no other version was received
in common. Some who craved a "pure" version favored
Barton's, and others the Bay Psalm Book of the New Eng
land divines. Nathaniel Homes, afterwards one of the
ejected ministers, had called attention to it as early as 1644
in his Gospel Musick, reprinting its preface with approval.
Three English editions had already appeared and more were
to follow, though not necessarily for exclusively English
use. Among those who turned toward a modified Psalter
Patrick's version became the favorite.
The singing of hymns in Independent meeting-houses
began in the last quarter of the XVIIth century, 66 intro
duced there as elsewhere by divines who had become restless
under the limitations of an Old Testament Psalmody. With
the right of each congregation to regulate its own worship
and the prevalence of the practice of lining out the words,
the use of hymns in manuscript required merely the agree
ment of pastor and people. With the fraternization of
Independents and Presbyterians, and the frequent occupancy
of Independent pulpits by Presbyterian divines, it would be
difficult to distinguish a separate origin of hymn singing in
either body. It would be still more difficult to show that the
impulse came from the Independent side.
60 To the 3rd book of R. Davis' Hymns, hereafter referred to, was
added a group of hymns with the note : "The following Hymns were
found in Mr. Browning's Study, and used by him at the Lord's Table."
Browning was Davis' predecessor as pastor at Rothwell, and according
to Glass (Early Hist, of Independent Church at Rothwell, n. d.) his
pastorate ended in 1685.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 105
During the last decade of the century hymn singing
reached the stage that called for printed hymn books. The
Family Hymns of Matthew Henry, has been already re
ferred to as published in 1695, though the New Testament
hymns were not added till the second edition of 1702. The
publisher's advertisement at the end of the 1702 issue shows
quite an array of hymn books available at that date, and
gives a clue as to what had been and was then in use. There
are Mason's Spiritual Songs in its seventh edition, with the
Penitential Cries of Shepherd, in its fifth edition : the Pres
byterian Boyse's Sacramental Hymns: A Collection of
Divine Hymns, upon several occasions, suited to our com
mon tunes, for the use of devout Christians, in singing the
praises of God, published in 1694, and gathered from six
authors, including Baxter and Mason : Select Hymns, taken
out of Mr. Herberts Temple: Bury's A Collection of Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, fitted for morning and evening
worship in a private family: Baxter's Poetical Fragments
in its third edition: and Barton's Six Centuries of select
Hymns and Spiritual Songs in its fourth edition.
This list is substantially a catalogue of the earliest hymn-
books of the Independents, as also of the Presbyterians.
Simon Browne, in the preface to his Hymns and Spiritual
Songs, London, 1720, mentioning the books of Barton,
Mason and Shepherd, adds : "Beside some collections from
private hands, and an attempt to turn some of Mr. Herbert's
poems into common metre, these I have mention'd were all
the hymns I know to have been in common use, either in
private families, or Christian-assemblies, till within a few
years past." 67
To these must be added Stennett's two little books of
sacramental hymns, and also a volume of 168 Hymns com
posed on several subjects and on divers occasions (date
unknown) by Richard Davis, the Independent minister of
Rothwell, to which some hymns by others were added in a
second edition in 1694. These warm but artless hymns,
6T p. 16 of preface.
io6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
possibly not known to Browne, were acceptable in Davis's
Rothwell congregation and in his evangelistic work through
the midland counties, and went further. 68 They were com
mended by John Gill, 69 and were reprinted in London as
late as 1833.
These books make it evident enough that there was a
beginning of Independent hymn singing before Watts. We
have indeed his own testimony that some ministers had
already commenced to use "evangelical hymns." 71 But such
use was exceptional ; the books marking the tentative efforts
of progressive individuals rather than the general practice.
In the great body of the meeting houses the singing of
psalms obtained exclusively, though not perhaps very jeal
ously. And this occasioned the remark of Enoch Watts,
that "a load of scandal" lay on the Independents "for their
imagined aversion to poetry." 72
In view of the new leaven about to be introduced into
this situation, and of the fact that from among the Inde
pendents was to arise the principal agent of the effective
transition from the old Psalmody to the new Hymnody, it is
interesting to get as vivid a view as may be of the actual
practice of psalm singing by the Independents at the be
ginning of the XVIIIth century, which constitutes the back
ground against which the work of Dr. Watts is to be set.
There is no difficulty in reconstructing its salient features.
The congregational leadership was in the hands of a pre
centor, generally of most meagre attainments. The singing
was still dominated by the universal practice of lining out
the psalm. Very few tunes were used, and in rendering
08 This early book of Davis was distinctively from the Independent
side. He and all his works were repudiated by the Presbyterian mem
bers of the London "Meeting of Ministers" and by Presbyterians gen
erally. Cf. R. W. Dale, History of English Congregationalism, Lon
don, 1907, pp. 479 ff.
69 See preface to 7th edition, 1748.
A brief List of Hymn Books for sale by Charles Higham, Lon
don, 1893.
"Essay prefixed to 1st edition of his Hymns, 1707.
"His letter in Th. Milner, Life of Isaac Watts, London, 1834, P- 178.
LITURGICAL USE OF ENGLISH HYMNS 107
these all the notes were reduced to "a constant uniformity
of time." Each note was dwelt upon so long as "puts the
Congregation quite out of breath in singing five or six
stanzas." 73 Musical ignorance and incapacity accompanied
by indifference seems to have been very general, but the
Psalmody as practised hardly related itself to music. The
people carried no psalm books to church, had neither text
nor note before them, and must often have failed to^catch
or comprehend the line as the precentor gave it out. In
strumental music was excluded by common consent. 74 Many
of the people took no part in the psalmody; most of these
failing through apathy, but some consciences even at that
date had not come through the "controversie of Singing,"
and refrained for cause. 75
The apathy of the people doubtless extended to many of
their leaders, who as a class were no longer of the educated
type of the pastors furnished by the Ejectment. To some
extent the people's apathy was even a reflection of the
exclusive interest of the average Independent minister of
the period in the sermon and prayer. Dr. Watts' own im
pressions of the Independent psalmody as set against his
ideals of the ordinance of Congregational Song are re
corded as follows in the preface to his Hymns of 1707:
"While we sing the Praises of our God in his Church, we are em-
ploy'd in that part of Worship which of all others is the nearest a-kin
to Heaven; and 'tis pity that this of all others should be perform'd
the worst upon Earth. . . . To see the dull Indifference, the negligent
and the thoughtless Air that sits upon the Faces of a whole Assembly
while the Psalm is on their Lips, might tempt even a charitable Ob
server, to suspect the Fervency of inward Religion, and 'tis much to
be fear'd that the Minds of most of the Worshippers are absent
or unconcern'd. . . . But of all our Religious Solemnities Psalmodie
is the most unhappily manag'd. That very Action which should elevate
us to the most delightful and divine Sensations doth not only flat our
Devotion, but too often awakens our Regret, and touches all the
Springs of Uneasiness within us."
78 Watts, preface to The Psalms of David imitated, 1719.
^Practical Discourses of Singing (already cited), pp. 137, 191.
Ibid., Sermon iv.
CHAPTER III
DR. WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY"
HIS PROPOSAL OF AN EVANGELICAL "SYSTEM
OF PRAISE" (1707)
With the work of Isaac Watts (1674-1748) a new epoch
began in English Church Song. Behind it was a great
personality, clear of vision, fertile of resource, dominant in
leadership. And no small part of his equipment was his
youthfulness. 1 He planned and began his work in the
ardor of youth, its singleness of conviction, its preference
of radical remedies over compromise, its comparative dis
regard of other people's feelings.
There is no better way of approach to Watts' work than
that of comparison with the contemporaneous Eastcheap
movement toward bettering Nonconformist Psalmody. 2
Both dealt with the same conditions, and sought to under
mine the indifference that had produced them. But they
differed both in. diagnosis and in the remedy proposed.
The Eastcheap lecturers put the emphasis on "The Duty
of Singing in the Worship of God." 3 The failure to com
prehend this duty had brought about the current neglect and
1 "Many of Dr. Watts's hymns were not, it is understood, written
by Dr. Watts at all, but by young Mr. Watts; not by that venerable
man with venerable wig, who figures opposite so many a title-page,
but by a young immature Christian, who afterwards became this ven
erable and truly admirable person." Thomas Toke Lynch, in Memoir
of him, ed. by Wm. White, London, 1874, p. 95-
2 See the account of it in chapter ii, part iii.
'Practical Discourses of Singing in the Worship of God, London,
1708, preface, p. iii.
108
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 109
unskillful performance of Psalmody. As to what should be
sung they were not agreed. Three favored, or took for
granted, the singing of psalms; three favored supplement
ing psalms with New Testament songs; the other simply
recounted the triumphs of psalm singing in the past. But
Watts attributed the great part of current indifference to the
use of psalms, and exposed the foundations on which Church
Song had been laid at the Calvinistic Reformation as in
adequate to support a Christian ordinance of Praise :
"I have been long convinc'd, that one great Occasion of this Evil
arises from the Matter and Words to which we confine all our Songs.
Some of 'em are almost opposite to the Spirit of the Gospel: Many
of them foreign to the State of the New-Testament, and widely dif
ferent from the present Circumstances of Christians. Hence it comes
to pass that when spiritual Affections are excited within us, and our
Souls are raised a little above this Earth in the beginning of a Psalm,
we are check'd on a sudden in our Ascent toward Heaven by some
Expressions that are more suited to the Days of Carnal Ordinances,
and fit only to be sung in the Worldly Sanctuary. When we are just
entring into an Evangelic Frame by some of the Glories of the
Gospel presented in the brightest Figures of Judaism, yet the very
next Line perhaps which the Clerk parcels out unto us, hath some
thing in it so extremely Jewish and cloudy, that darkens our Sight of
God the Saviour : Thus by keeping too close to David in the House
of God, the Vail of Moses is thrown over our Hearts. While we
are kindling into divine Love by the Meditations of the loving
kindness of God and the Multitude of his tender Mercies, within
a few Verses some dreadful Curse against Men is propos'd to our
Lips. . . . Some Sentences of the Psalmist that are expressive of
the Temper of our own Hearts and the Circumstances of our Lives
may Compose our Spirits to Seriousness, and allure us to a sweet
Retirement within our selves ; but we meet with a following Line which
so peculiarly belongs but to one Action or Hour of the Life of David
or Asaph, that breaks off our Song in the midst; our Consciences are
affrighted lest we should speak a Falsehood unto God." 4
If Watts had been alone in these views, probably he
would have failed. He goes on to say that
"Many Ministers and many private Christians have long groan'd
under this Inconvenience, and have wish'd rather than attempted a
Reformation: At their importunate and repeated Requests I have for
some Years past devoted many Hours of leisure to this Service." 8
'Preface to Hymns, 1707, pp. iv-vi.
6 Ibid., p. vi.
no THE ENGLISH HYMN
In the way of remedying the low state of Psalmody it is
not clear that the Eastcheap lecturers had anything in mind
beyond quickening the sense of duty to sing, and attention
to musical instruction such as the Society of Gentlemen
furnished at the King's Weigh House. Watts, on the
other hand, believing that the cause of trouble lay in the
matter and words commonly sung, proposed a renovation
of Psalmody itself. He set up a new standard of Church
Song, having these criteria :
First, it should be evangelical: not in the sense that New
Testament songs be allowed to ''supplement" Old Testament
Psalms, but so that the whole body of Church Song be
brought within the light of the gospel.
Second, it should be freely composed, as against the
Reformation standard of strict adherence to the letter of
Scripture or the later paraphrasing of Scripture.
Third, it should express the thoughts and feelings of the
singers, and not merely recall the circumstances or record
the sentiments of David or Asaph or another.
From this point of view Watts planned a full-rounded
''system" of evangelical Hymnody. This system, in form
rather than contents, was in two separate parts; one being
"imitations" of canonical Psalms, the other being hymns
more or less Scriptural in content.
I. As TO PSALMS. Watts had no intention of laying them
aside. 6 But he drew a sharp distinction between reading the
Psalms and singing them, and between the right methods
of translating them for the particular use designed. He
held that the Psalms are to be read as God's word to us,
and for that end must be translated as literally as possible. 7
Such translation must be in English prose, since the exigen
cies of rhythm and rhyme make a really faithful rendering
of the Hebrew into English verse an impossible thing. 8
Incidentally therefore he held that those who believed we
Ibid., P. vi.
7 "A short Essay toward the Improvement of Psalmody," 1707, p. 243.
9 Ibid., pp. 241-242.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" in
may sing nothing but the pure word of God must resort to
a prose translation, and must learn the Hebrew music or at
least employ the method of chanting practiced in English
cathedrals. 9
For himself he believed that Congregational Song should
represent not God's word to us, but our word to God, and
that the thoughts and language of the Psalms could be
employed only so far as we could properly make them our
own. 10 Ancient Jewish songs were to be accommodated to
modern Gospel worship. 11 This involved the omission of
several Psalms and numerous other passages "improper for
any person but the Royal Author" ; 12 also the adaptation of
the remaining material so as to make David always speak
as Watts had reason to believe he would have spoken
if he had been a fully instructed Christian living in the day
and under the circumstances of Watts himself. 13 Such
adaptation was really a two- fold process, making David
speak like a Christian and making him a contemporary of
Watts.
For the first process, that of "Christianizing" the Psalms,
Watts claimed precedents, especially Dr. Patrick's. 14 But
Watts contemplated from the first, and ultimately himself
carried out, a reconstruction along this line far more sys
tematic and thoroughgoing than any one had hitherto ven
tured upon. On this subject his feelings were deeply stirred,
and he wrote and acted with a studied aggressiveness that
aimed to conquer, but did nothing to conciliate, those whom
he styled "the Patrons of another Opinion."
The second process, however, that of making David a
contemporary, was surely Watts' own conception, and it
involved some curious transformations of the sacred text.
"Judah and Israel may be called England and Scotland, and
Ibid., p. 243.
w lbid., p. 244.
"Ibid., p. 254, and preface to Psalms, &c., 1719, p. xvi.
"Preface to Psalms, &c., p. viii.
""Essay," pp. 252-254.
"Preface to Psalms, &c., p. vi.
ii2 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the land of Canaan may be translated into Great Britain." 15
Historical allusions must be modified accordingly. David
must be made to play the part of an orthodox and patriotic
English Christian of the early XVtllth century, and all
royal references must be accommodated to the person of the
reigning sovereign. Only thus, in Watts' words, can the
Psalms "be converted into Christian Songs in our Nation." 16
If this seem to us now a doubtful device', and seemed then to
a watchful remnant of psalm singers nothing short of sac
rilege, it did not offend the general taste of the time, and
proved no impediment to the widespread approval of Watts'
scheme for the improvement of Psalmody.
II. As TO HYMNS. Watts' plan included also the com
posing of "Spiritual Songs of a more evangelic frame for
the Use of Divine Worship under the Gospel." Their use
in worship he supports in his "Essay" by five argu
ments : 17
First. A Psalm properly translated for Christian use is
no longer inspired as to form and language : only its mate
rials are borrowed from God's word. It is just as lawful
to use other Scriptural thoughts, and compose them into a
spiritual song.
Second. The very ends and design of Psalmody demand
songs that shall respond to the fullness of God's revelation
of Himself. God's revelation in Christ, and our own de
votions responding to it, require Gospel songs.
Third. The Scriptures themselves, especially Eph : v,
19-20, and Col: iii, 16-17, command us to sing and give
thanks in the name of Christ. Why shall we pray and
preach in that name, and sing under terms of the Law?
Fourth. The Book of Psalms does not provide for all
occasions of Christian praise, or express all Christian ex
periences.
Fifth. The primitive "Gifts of the Spirit" covered alike
16 "Essay," p. 246.
"Ibid., p. 246.
"Ibid., pp. 256-266.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 113
preaching, prayer and song. It is admitted by all that,
under the present administration of Grace, ministers are by
study and diligence to acquire and cultivate gifts of preach
ing and prayer. Why shall they not also seek to acquire and
cultivate the capacity of composing spiritual songs, and
exercise it along with the other parts of worship, preaching
and prayer?
II
HIS FULFILMENT: "WATTS'S PSALMS AND
HYMNS"
With this understanding of Watts' "Scheme for the
Renovation of Psalmody," we may go forward to consider
his own contributions to it.
Dr. Gibbons made himself responsible for the familiar
account of the beginnings of Watts' hymn writing, upon
information received from the Rev. John Morgan, who
claimed to have obtained it from Watts' colleague, Samuel
Price. 18 It is to the effect that young Watts, having ex
pressed to his father his disapproval of the hymns sung at
the Southampton meeting house, was invited to improve
upon them. The hymns in question were those of Barton,
of whom Watts' brother Enoch wrote: "Honest Barton
chimes us asleep." 19 Watts furnished a specimen hymn,
which was so successful that it was followed by others,
until a considerable number were in use by the congrega
tion.
This account rests on hearsay evidence, but is probably
substantially true. As early as March, 1700, Watts' brother
wrote, reminding him of importunities already made to
put the hymns into print for the common good. 20
^Memoirs of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D. By Thos. Gibbons, Lon
don, 1780, p. 254.
"Life, Times and Correspondence of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D.
By Thos. Milner, London, 1834, P- 1 77>
^Milner, op. cit., pp. 176 f.
ii4 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts printed his first volume of verse in December
I 75 21 as Horae Lyricae: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind.
In two books. I. Songs &c. sacred to Devotion. II. Odes,
Elegys, &c. to Vertue Loyalty and Friendship. By I.
Watts. London, printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John
Lawrence, at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey.
MDCCVI.
The preface is a protest against the moral decadence of
current poetry, and a justification of religious themes as
suitable for poetic treatment. Book I contains twenty-five
hymns and four Psalm paraphrases in the metres of the
Old Version, and eleven religious songs or pieces of vary
ing metrical form. In Book II Watts spreads his wings
"in the free and unconfin'd Measures of Pindar" (which
he regarded as best maintaining the dignity of religious
themes, and giving a loose to the devout soul), 22 in blank
verse and in other metres.
The book as a whole is addressed to lovers of poetry, and
Watts' explanation of the inclusion of the hymns reveals
much of his mind and purpose. They "were never written
with a design to appear before the Judges of Wit, but only
to assist the Meditations and Worship of Vulgar Chris
tians." They are a small part of two hundred hymns of
the same kind ready for public use if these are approved by
the world. They are divided from their fellows and here
printed because "in most of These there are some Expres
sions which are 'not suited to the plainest Capacities, and
differ too much from the usual Methods of Speech in which
Holy Things are proposed to the general Part of Man
kind." 23 This partition of his materials was final. The
hymns were augmented in the second edition of the Horae
(1709), but they always constituted a distinct group apart
"It bears date 1706. For the actual time of publishing, see the
writer's note in The Journal of The Presbyterian Historical Society
for Sept., 1902, p. 358.
22 Preface, p. [vii].
23 Pp. [viii, ix].
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 115
from his Hymns and Spiritual Songs for congregational
use, within whose covers they never appeared. 24
It appears then that Watts' admission of some hymns to
a place among his poems was not with a view of showing
that hymns could be made poetic, but was the result of a
winnowing process in which the body of his hymns was
freed from the suspicion of being literary. He accounted
himself a religious poet, with a right to address "the
Judges of Wit." He felt also a real sympathy with plain
people and a call to provide them with hymns on the level
of the unpoetic mind. This note of conscientious conde
scension in his hymn writing he never failed to sound on
every available occasion. He chose the humbler task, and
thus inadvertently secured a permanent fame to which his
poetical effusions give him a doubtful title. 25 What is
more to the point, he thus freed his hymns from the arti
ficial standards and to a large extent from the perverted
taste of his time. Having demonstrated in the Horae that
he could compose pindarics, he expected "to be for ever free
from the Temptation of making or mending Poems
again," 26 and was ready to give his hymns to the churches.
The body of the Hymns appeared in July, I7O7, 27 in a
i6mo. volume, entitled Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In
three Books. I. Collected from the Scriptures. II. Com-
pos'd on Divine subjects. III. Prepared for the Lord's
"Some of the hymns from the Horae came into use after Watts'
death. The two most familiar are: "Father, how wide thy Glory
shines!" and "Eternal Power! whose high Abode."
25 On the strength of his Horae Lyricae, Watts found a niche in
Johnson's Lives of the Poets. A later historian discerns that Watts'
"real artistic successes" are attained in his best hymns: (Courthope,
History of English Poetry, vol. v., 1905, p. 336). For a favorable
view of his metrical experiments, see George Saintsbury, History of
English Prosody, vol. ii, 1908, pp. 508, 509.
^Preface to 2nd ed. of Horae Lyricae (1709), which is a very dif
ferent book from the first edition.
27 See "Autobiographical Table" reproduced in E. P. Hood, Isaac
Watts; his life and writings, his homes and friends; London, Rel. Tr.
Soc., n. d., p. 345.
n6 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Supper. With an Essay towards the improvement of Chris
tian Psalmody, by the use of evangelical Hymns in wor
ship, as well as the Psalms of David. By I. Watts. London,
printed by J. Humfreys, for John Lawrence, at the Angel
in the Poultrey, i/o/. 28 The hymns numbered 210, fol
lowed by a group of doxologies, at least three of which
must be accounted as hymns. Their arrangement humored
current prejudices. Those willing to sing paraphrases only
might find 78 in the first book : those willing to sing hymns
at the Communion only might find 22 in the third book :
those welcoming "free composures" had no more in the
second book. The hymns were confined to three metres,
Long, Common and Short. An inspection of the original
text of the hymns shows that the differences between it
and the familiar text of later issues are fewer and less im
portant than might have been expected. 29
28 The first edition of the Hymns was almost thumbed out of ex
istence. At the publication of Dr. Julian's scholarly Dictionary of
Hymnology in 1892, every copy was supposed to have perished (see
2nd ed., p. 1724). The announcement of the sale of a copy at Sotheby's,
London, in Dec. 1901, attracted wide attention, and it brought 140.
There are now at least two copies in this country, one in the New
York Public Library and one in the writer's collection. An article
in The Guardian for January 29, 1902, by Rev. James Mearns, was
the first account of this epoch-making book ever published. For
collation and bibliographical data of this and subsequent editions,
with facsimiles of title pages of eds. I and 2, see the writer's paper
on 'The Early Editions of Doctor Watts's Hymns" in The Journal of
The Presbyterian Historical Society for June, 1902.
29 The following are among the more interesting of these:
''Come, we that love the Lord," has for its closing lines:
"We're marching thro' Immanuel's Ground
To a more joyful Sky."
"Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," has in the second verse:
"Look, how we grovel here below,
And hug these trifling Toys."
"When I can read my Title clear," closes thus:
"Nor dares a Wave of Trouble roll
Across my peaceful Breast."
"When I survey the wondrous Cross," has for its second line:
"Where the young Prince of Glory dy'd."
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 117
In a lengthy preface Watts restated and overstated his
sense of condescension in his task as an intent to write
down to "the Level of Vulgar Capacities" and to furnish
in Book I hymns for the meanest of Christians. 30 This
language he modified in the second edition. But the fullest
and most characteristic expression of his views on Psalmody
is contained in "A Short Essay toward the Improvement
of Psalmody," from which quotations have been already
made. It covers pages 233-276 in the first edition, and did
not appear again in print until the collected Works after
Watts' death. 31 It was his purpose to prepare a fuller
treatise on Psalmody, which he never executed. 32
The Hymns being printed, Watts invited criticisms from
his friends, and continued his writing. In April, 1709, "the
Second Edition. Corrected and much Enlarged," appeared.
Some fifty lines of the original hymns were altered, and
"Why do we mourn departing Friends?" has in the fifth verse:
"Thence he arose and clim'd the Sky."
"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?" has at the close of the second
verse :
"While the firm mark of Wrath Divine
His Soul in Anguish stood?"
"Now to the Lord a noble Song!" has in the fifth verse, "ye Skies"
(for "ye heavens"), and at the close of the hymn:
"And play his Name on Harps of Gold!"
In 1707 Watts was capable of offering this to the churches for
congregational use (Bk. I, No. 24, vv. 5.6) :
"5. There the dark Earth and gloomy Shades
Shall clasp their naked Body round,
And welcome their delicious Limbs
With the cold Kisses of the Ground.
"6. Pale Death shall riot on their Souls,
Their Flesh shall noisom Vermine eat,
The Just shall in the Morning rise
And find their Tyrants at their Feet."
""Preface, pp. viii, x.
81 There were no less than seven collective editions of Dr. Watts'
Works : the earliest being that of 1753, in 6 vols., 4to., ed. by Drs. Jen
nings and Doddridge.
82 "Advertisement" to the 2nd ed. of Hymns.
n8 THE ENGLISH HYMN
145 additional hymns appeared here, and also in a separate
supplement to the first edition, printed at the same time.
With this second edition the department of Hymns in
Watts' System of Praise was completed. None of the
hymns written later was incorporated in subsequent
editions; and although Watts toward the end of his life
expressed a desire to make some changes of text to accom
modate its expressions to modified theological views, no
such changes were ever made. 33 This situation is partly
explained by the fact that Watts parted with the copyright
of the Hymns, apparently in 1709. They thus passed out
of his control, although a note in the seventh edition of
1720 shows that he still exercised a certain supervision of
their printing.
Turning now to the Psalms :
Among the hymns of the first part of the Horae was a
little group of four Psalm versions, with the inscription
"An Essay on a few of David's Psalms Translated into
Plain Verse, in Language more agreeable to the clearer
Revelations of the Gospel;" showing that the System of
Praise as just described lay in Watts' mind in its integrity
from a very early date. And these versions did in fact
prove to be the actual nucleus of his own The Psalms of
David imitated, as published 13 years later. But it is alto
gether unlikely that Watts originally proposed to depend
altogether upon his own resources for filling out his pro
posed System of Praise. The work he entered upon as his
own was the department of Hymns.
We can readily trace the evolution of his purpose regard
ing the Psalms. In the first edition of his Hymns, 1707,
he included in all among the Scripture paraphrases four
teen Psalm versions. Referring to them in his preface,
he says :
"After this manner should I rejoice to see a good part of the
33 For a discussion of the evidence concerning Watts' desire to
accommodate the text to his later views, see the writer's paper already
cited, pp. 276-279.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 119
Book of Psalms fitted for the use of our Churches, and David con
verted into a Christian. In the first, second and third Psalms es
pecially, I have attempted a Specimen of what I desire and hope some
more capable Genius will undertake. 34
In the preface to the 2nd edition of the Hymns, two years
later (1709), Watts states: "Because I cannot persuade
others to attempt this glorious Work, I have suffered myself
to be persuaded to begin it, and have, thro' Divine Good
ness, already proceeded half way thro'." In the preface to
the third edition (1712), he speaks of being daily urged
to proceed in the work, of having been hindered by pro
fessional duties, and of his expectation "e're long to fulfill
my Designs." The long illness beginning in that year de
barred Watts from his pulpit, but afforded the opportunity
of finishing his work upon the Psalms.
The results appeared in 1719 in a i6mo volume with the
title: The Psalms of David imitated in the language of
the New Testament, and apply 'd to the Christian state and
worship. By L Watts. (London: printed for J. Clark,
R. Ford and R. Cruttenden).
The volume presents to the eye a marked contrast with
the early editions of the Hymns, which were rather cheap
and poor. Its fine paper and open page, its engraved head
pieces and vignettes, suggest an assured welcome. Numer
ous copies survive with each page set in a frame of hand-
ruling, and bound in richly tooled red morocco, in the style
of luxurious Prayer Books of the period.
The book contains versions of 138 Psalms; the remaining
12, and some passages from those retained, being excluded
from Watts' System as unsuitable for Christian use.
Psalms are divided and passages transposed for con
siderations of convenience; a note explaining that the cus
tom of singing with excessively prolonged notes makes
impracticable the singing of more than six or eight verses
at one time. 85 Of many Psalms versions in two or three
"Pp. x, xi.
"Preface, p. xxiv.
120 THE ENGLISH HYMN
metres are provided, differing at times in the degree of
closeness to the original, at times in the Christian inter
pretation adopted. 36
A characteristic feature is the notes appended to the
Psalms, sometimes critical or hermeneutical ; often frankly
written in the first person, to tell the reader his reasons for
what he did, or of the lines he borrowed from some earlier
translator. These notes, and the preface of twenty-nine
pages, entitled "An Enquiry into the right Way of fitting
the Book of Psalms for Christian Worship," were omitted
from the second edition, appearing the same year as the
first, but in smaller and cheaper form. At the close of
this preface Watts characteristically claimed the "Pleasure
of being the First who have brought down the Royal
Author into the common Affairs of the Christian Life, and
led the Psalmist of Israel into the Church of Christ, with
out any thing of a Jew about him."
With the publication of The Psalms of David imitated
in the forty-sixth year of his life, the System of Praise
which Watts had begun as a youth, and carried forward
through years of ill-health, was complete. He was by no
means unaware of the importance of his performance, and
anticipated something at least of the success it attained. In
a note appended to the 1720 edition of the Hymns, he says :
"It is presumed that" [The Psalms imitated} "in conjunction with
this, may appear to be such a sufficient Provision for Psalmody, as to
answer most Occasions of the Christian Life: And, if an Author's own
Opinion may be taken, he esteems it the greatest Work that ever he
has publish'd, or ever hopes to do, for the use of the Churches."
This judgment has been sometimes quoted as referring
only to his work upon the Psalms, but it plainly includes
his whole System of Praise.
Some notice must also be taken of Dr. Watts' work in
hymn writing outside the limits of this System of Praise.
Of this the most important was the Divine Songs attempted
in easy language, for the use of children, with some addi-
M Ibid., p. xxvii.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 121
tional composures, which had already appeared in 1715.
This book had its origin in the request of a friend for
hymns to be used in connection with his catechetical instruc
tions. Both for its contents and its influence it is worthy to
stand beside the Psalms and Hymns; for it must be re
garded as the fountain-head of the afterwards extensive
Children's Hymnody in the English language; though its
constant reprinting for a century was as a book of verse
or a chap book, and not as a children's hymn book. In
the course of time objection came to be made to the appro
priateness of its theological teachings. But Watts' original
preface makes it abundantly clear that he aimed to avoid
anything like theological partisanship, and sought to put
into simple verse the beliefs and the tone of thought that
were generally held at the time. He claimed that "children
of high and low degree, of the Church of England or dis
senters, whether baptized in infancy or not, may join to
gether in these songs." 37
In three volumes of Sermons, appearing in 1721, 1723,
and 1727, Watts printed hymns suitable to the subjects
of discourse. In his Reliquiae Juveniles: miscellaneous
thoughts in prose and verse (London, 1734), Watts re
turned to "the Service of the Muse" he had abjured twenty-
five years earlier, and the hymnic element is very small. It
is even smaller in the volume, Remnants of Time, printed
from his papers after his death. From these sources nu
merous hymns ultimately found their way into hymn books
and into common use, and in 1806 John Dobell printed
Dr. Watts s Fourth Book of Spiritual Hymns, which he
had gathered together in his zeal that nothing be over
looked. Nevertheless the Hymns of 1707-09 and The
Psalms imitated of 1719, which by the middle of the
"Preface, in the early editions. "For their epoch, they were not far
from perfection, as publishers saw." F. J. Harvey Darton in The Cam
bridge History of English Literature, vol. xi, 1914, p. 413. For
Abraham Cheere and other forerunners of Watts in writing hymns
for children, see Julian, Dictionary, art. "Children's Hymns."
122 THE ENGLISH HYMN
XVIIIth century began to appear bound together in a
single handy volume, contained Watts's System of Praise
in its entirety. 38
Ill
HIS SUCCESS: THE ERA OF WATTS
I. IN ENGLAND
i. HE DOMINATES THE WORSHIP OF THE INDEPENDENTS
From their first appearance Watts' Hymns proved a
spiritual delight to many, and were introduced into such
congregations as were prepared to receive them. On the
other hand many Independent congregations continued their
psalm singing without regard to the new hymns, so strong
was conservative habit and prejudice against hymns. In
view of the extraordinary success ultimately attained, it is
easy to form an exaggerated idea of the facility of their
actual introduction into public worship.
The English Independent congregations at the time
(1707) probably numbered from 350 to 400, and were much
reduced both in size and zeal. 39 The fact that each con
gregation was free to sing what it chose and under no obli
gation to make record of the choice, and the further fact
that one copy in a precentor's hands might serve a whole
congregation, make it difficult to trace or estimate the
process of introducing Watts' Hymns. If we are to follow
Walter Wilson, the historian of London Dissenting
Churches, the Hymns must have found their earliest wel
come in the provinces. Writing in 1810, under the full
sway of the Watts tradition, he says :
*The hymns appearing in the so-called Posthumous Works (Lon
don, 1779, 2 vols.) had either appeared before or else were by another
hand. Cf. Gibbons, Memoirs of Watts, appendix ii.
39 C/. R. W. Dale, History of English Congregationalism, London,
1907, bk. v, chap. v.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 123
"The poetry of Watts was received but slowly into most of our
congregations. It is only of late years that it has acquired so general
a patronage, and even in the present day there are many who prefer
the rhyming of Brady and Tate, or the bald version of the Scotch.
The reason is, mankind are afraid of innovation, and it is only by de
grees that their prejudices are loosened." 4
The actual demand for the Hymns can be judged from
the editions called for. The first edition of 1707 was ex
hausted apparently before the end of I7o8, 41 but the second
did not appear until April, 1709, being delayed in the print
ing. The third edition appeared in 1712, the fourth in
1714. At the appearance of The Psalms of David imitated
in 1719, the Hymns were in their sixth edition; the seventh
following in 1720.
The Psalm Imitations, though rousing intense hostility in
a minority, found a double welcome, from those wishing
to use psalms and hymns jointly, and from those ready for
modified Psalm versions though not as yet for hymns. We
have Watts' own testimony that some thousands of copies
were sold within a year of publication. 42 Within ten years
seven editions were called for. The practical effect of in
troducing the Imitations was to extend the use of the
Hymns also. Congregations used to Dr. Patrick's versions
seemed to be taking but a short step in passing to Watts'
Imitations. But, the step once taken, they found them
selves within the area of a free Christian Hymnody, in
which the distinction between Psalm and Hymn seemed
hardly more than a convenience in classification and a
deference to accustomed usage.
The strengthening hold of the Hymns appears from the
preface of Simon Browne's Hymns and Spiritual Songs,
published in 1720 at London, where he had come as pastor
of "The Old Jewry." Its lengthy justification of hymn
singing was doubtless directed to the London congregations
*The History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches . . . in
London, &c., vol. iii, 1810, p. 527.
41 Milner, op. cit., p. 229.
4 'Note to the 7th ed. of Hymns.
124 THE ENGLISH HYMN
to which Wilson referred. But Browne found it wise, even
at that early day, to disclaim any purpose of superseding
Watts' Hymns: "The World, I hope, will not do me the
injury to think, that I aim at being his rival. These hymns
are design'd as a supplement to his, not intended to sup
plant them. 'Twill satisfy my ambition, if they may assist
the devotion of private Christians, or publick assemblies,
upon such subjects as he hath not touched." 43
Twenty- four years later Doddridge was able to say to
Watts :
"Above all I congratulate you that by your sacred poetry, especially
by your Psalms, and your Hymns, you are leading the worship and I
trust also animating the devotion of myriads in our public assemblies
every Sabbath, and in their families and closets every day. This,
Sir, at least so far as it relates to the service of the sanctuary, is an
unparalleled favour by which God hath been pleased to distinguish
you, I may boldly say it, beyond any of his servants now upon earth." **
After forty years more the predilection of Independent
congregations for Watts' hymns had become so jealous
that Dr. Gibbons felt called upon to introduce a volume of
his own compositions in these terms :
"But, though [Watts] has done much and perhaps in a happier
Manner than what any after him may be able to perform, yet he has
by no Means precluded the Endeavours of others in the same Service.
Are there not Subjects untouched by him in the almost infinite Extent
of spiritual Matter that may be very suitably wrought up into sacred
Songs? And is it not a Pleasure to the human Mind not to be perpet
ually restrained to the same Odes, but to have something new with
which to employ -itself, though it should not be equal in Composition
with what it has been entertained already; and why should not new
Hymns as well as new Sermons be sent into the World, or if the last
have proved serviceable, why may not the former?" 45
The situation revealed by this apology and plea had not
come about by authority or contrivance, but by the deepen
ing love of the people for the hymns of Watts. He had
sought and found the plane of their thought and emotion,
"Preface, p. [xv].
"Doddridge to Watts, Dec. 13, 1744, in Gibbons, Memoirs, p. 306.
"Preface to the Hymns adapted to Divine worship of 1784, pp.
xii, xiii.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 125
and in the general response of their hearts had found his
just reward. An illustration of this is furnished by Dr.
Doddridge, in a letter to Dr. Watts, dated April 5, 1731 : 4U
"On Tuesday last, I was preaching to a large assembly of plain
country people at a village a few miles off, when, after a sermon
from Hebrews, vi. 12, we sang one of your hymns, which, if I
remember right, was the I40th of the 2nd book, and in that part of
the worship I had the satisfaction to observe tears in the eyes of
several of the people; and after the service was over, some of them
told me that they were not able to sing, so deeply were their minds
affected 1 and the clerk, in particular, said he could hardly utter the
words as he gave them out. They were most of them poor people,
who work for their living, yet, on the mention of your name, I found
that they had read several of your books with great delight ; and that
your psalms and hymns were almost their daily entertainment: and
when one of the company said, 'What if Dr. Watts should come down
to Northampton!' another replied, with remarkable warmth, The very
sight of him would be as good as an ordinance to me.' "
The feeling for Watts' Psalms and Hymns thus grew
into an intense personal loyalty. It is well known that as
late as the XlXth century there were many older Congre-
gationalists who refused to sing any other hymns, and who
kept their seats when such were announced. 47
The supremacy which Watts gained and for a long time
kept in the worship of the Independent churches (as also
far beyond them) was indeed a triumph of personal in
fluence and of principles that at first seemed radical enough.
If we seek a date at which his domination of Independent
worship culminated, that is to say when the use of his
Psalms and Hymns came nearest to unanimity, and there
was least disposition to look beyond its covers it would
lie probably somewhere between the middle and end of the
XVIIIth century. But Watts' Psalms and Hymns kept
their place in the hearts of his people, and continued to be
used, either alone or supplemented, until far into the XlXth.
If we include all the religious bodies that used them, their
actual circulation and use must have continually increased,
"Philip Doddridge's Correspondence and Diary, London, 1829-31,
vol. iii, pp. 74, 75.
47 C/. W. G. Horder, The Hymn Lover, London, n. d., p. 100.
126 THE ENGLISH HYMN
till past the middle of the XlXth century. It is calculated
that in its first twenty-five years a new edition appeared
every year, and claimed that as late as 1864 60,000 copies
were sold within the year. 48
Striking as are these facts, some of the claims made for
Watts go beyond them. It is difficult to follow even so
competent a hymnologist as Mr. Garrett Horder, when he
says that "For more than a century Watts remained undis
puted master of the hymnody of the Independents. No
other hymns than his were heard in any of the assemblies" ;
and again, that "for more than a century Watts was the
only hymnist of the Independent sanctuaries of our land." 49
Where is the place of that century in the calendar? And
is such absolute uniformity predicable of any single year
of either the XVIIIth or XlXth centuries? It is hardly
conceivable even under the workings of a Uniformity Act,
and least so among Independents. We have to take account
of the little band of opponents and detractors, led by
Thomas Bradbury within their ranks, and by Romaine 50
without, who accused Watts of lampooning 51 and "bur
lesquing" 52 the Psalter, and refused to sing "Watts'
Whims" : 53 also of the congregations in which psalm sing
ing long continued, 54 partly for conscience' sake, more often
doggedly.
Moreover the very success of Watts' Hymns raised up
a succession of imitators, and their use called forth a suc
cession of "Supplements." These Supplements did not re
spond to any demand of the people for more hymns, but
arose from the ambition of ministers to get their own hymns
43 Duncan Campbell, Hymns and Hymn Makers, London, 1898, p. 38.
* 9 The Hymn Lover, ^p. 100.
50 "Why should Dr. Watts . . . take the precedence of the Holy
Ghost?" Romaine, Essay on Psalmody, i/75, p. 106.
"Bradbury to Watts, March 7, 1725-6, in Watts' Posthumous Works,
vol. ii, p. 202.
"Watts to Bradbury, March 15, 1725-6, Ibid., vol. ii, p. 212.
"Wilson's Dissenting Churches, vol. iii, p. 527.
"C/. Wilson, as already quoted.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 127
into use, or their wish for hymns illustrative of a greater
number of sermon topics. It is true that their supple
mentary form bore the strongest testimony to Watts' as
cendency, but they also prevented that ascendency from
becoming complete. Some gained a considerable circula
tion. Even the relatively unsuccessful ones were doubtless
used in the compiler's own congregation and more or less
in the congregations of his friends.
These Supplements began in 1720 with Simon Browne's
Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In three Books (London),
containing 266 hymns, all by himself. This reached a
second edition in 1741, a third in 1760, and a number of
the hymns continued in later use. 55 In 1769 Dr. Thomas
Gibbons (Watts' biographer) published a collection, partly
original, of Hymns adapted to Divine worship: in two
Books (London) ; and a second (entirely original) in 1784,
under the same title. Their narrow welcome and use ap
pears from the statement in the 1784 preface that some
copies of the earlier book remained unsold. Nor was the
later book ever reprinted. George Burder, author of the
once famous Village Sermons, published in 1784 A Collec
tion of Hymns from various authors, designed as a Sup
plement to Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns. He aimed to
gather up the best hymns published since Watts' death by
such writers as Doddridge, Newton and Cowper, the Wes-
leys, and Toplady. His book met a warm welcome, found
continuous use, and by 1840 had reached its thirty-seventh
edition. So far was Burder from wishing to dislodge Watts
from his supremacy that he published in 1812 an edition
of the Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs by the Rev.
Isaac Watts, D.D., with some improvement in their ar
rangement. William Jay of Bath, a warm admirer of
B8 A recast of his "Come, holy spirit, heav'nly dove," is still familiar.
Browne aimed at "the improvement of Psalmody." He bound up with
his Hymns "A Sett of Tunes in 3 Parts (Mostly New)," wrote a
"book" of hymns in "uncommon metres," and designated an appro
priate tune for each hymn.
128 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts, but desiring a greater variety of metres and cor
responding tunes, published in 1791 Selection of Hymns
of peculiar metre, intended for the use of the Congregation
meeting in Argyle Chapel. It reached a second edition in
1797, and became the basis of his Hymns as an Appendix to
Dr. Watts (Bath, 1833). The supplementing of Watts
assumed great proportions in A Collection of above six hun
dred Hymns: designed as a nezv Supplement to Dr. Watts' s
Psalms and Hymns. By the Rev. Edward Williams, D.D.,
and the Rev. James Boden (Doncaster, 1801 ). It reached a
second edition in 1803, a third in 1806, and a fifth in 1812.
Dr. Williams also printed an improved edition of The
Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, claiming that "as the
current editions are almost innumerable, so by far the
greater number of them are shamefully incorrect." John
Dobell sought even greater bulk in his A new Selection of
seven hundred evangelical Hymns . . . intended as a Sup-
plement to Dr. Watts 's Psalms and Hymns (London,
1806). After additions the title read more than-eight hun
dred, and Dobell arranged for binding in with it his Dr.
Watts' s Fourth Book of Spiritual Hymns. In the Hymns,
partly collected, and partly original, designed as a supple
ment to Dr. Watts' Psalms and Hymns: by William Bengo
Collyer, D.D. (London, 1812), no less than 979 hymns
were provided, 57 of them original. Thomas Russell's A
Collection of Hymns designed as an Appendix, &c. (Lon
don, 1813), was somewhat smaller and was more popular,
attaining its twenty-second edition in 1843. Dr. Andrew
Reed's Supplement of 1817 became the nucleus of his more
important Hymn Book of 1842. Something in the way
of concerted action as to Hymnody began to seem expedi
ent, and in 1822 a committee of ministers in Leeds pub
lished A Selection of Hymns for the use of the Protestant
Dissenting Congregations of the Independent Order in
Leeds.
This succession of "Supplements" to Dr. Watts' tells its
own story of a progress so natural and inevitable as to
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 129
require little emphasis were it not for the curious and
familiar assumption of the exclusive use of Watts' Psalms
and Hymns, which even Dr. Conder expressed in 1851 by
speaking of "our having been for a long time confined to
this one Book." 56
When the Congregational Union undertook the prepara
tion of an official hymn book for general use, Dr. Conder
and others who discerned the signs of the times favored a
selection of Watts' best and of hymns by others in a single
volume. 57 But the majority were unwilling to give up
"Watts Entire"; and in 1836 The Congregational Hymn
Book appeared as still A Supplement to Dr. W aits' s Psalms
and Hymns, containing a good selection of 620 hymns
edited by Dr. Conder. The result was that in the years
following many congregations gave up the use both of
Watts and The Congregational Hymn Book in favor of
private collections more compact and convenient.
The striking ascendency of Dr. Watts over Independent
worship had at last reached its inevitable end. The re
action, equally inevitable to a popularity so great as to be
undiscriminating, soon followed. It was discovered that a
considerable percentage of Watts' work was prosaic and
mechanical, and sometimes in questionable taste. People
began to wonder why the churches had so long allowed a
single mind to dominate their song. A winnowing of the
familiar Psalms and Hymns began, and has steadily pro
ceeded to our own time, with the result that in some recent
Congregationalist hymnals Dr. Watts' contributions are
outnumbered by the Methodist Wesley and the high church
Neale. It is, however, to be said that the adoption of a
hymn book by a single author had not seemed strange to
congregations accustomed to one version of the Psalms.
And we may agree with Conder 58 that the addiction of the
Independents to Watts fixed the character of their devo-
M Josiah Conder, The Poet of the Sanctuary, London, 1851, p. 68.
"Ibid., p. 69.
**Ibid., p. 68.
I 3 o THE ENGLISH HYMN
tions, and under Providence preserved an evangelical tone
of sentiment in their church worship.
2. His. ASCENDENCY OVER THE PRESBYTERIANS TER
MINATES IN A UNITARIAN HYMNODY
The measure of welcome given by Presbyterians to the
Psalms and Hymns of Watts is hardly to be distinguished
from that of the Independents with whom they fraternized.
Some congregations, desiring an evangelical Hymnody,
were ready to introduce the Hymns; some awaited the
appearance of the Psalms; others were prejudiced in favor
of the stricter type of Psalmody.
It was the refusal in 1717 of James Peirce, pastor of a
psalm singing congregation at Exeter, to continue the ac
customed singing of the doxology after the psalm that
marked the beginning of the end of English Presbyterian-
ism. 59 He might, and probably did, allege his objection to
sing anything but the words of Psalms. 60 But the dox
ology was specifically Trinitarian, and the time one of dread
lest the Arianism that had affected the Church of England
should spread to Dissent. Peirce denied holding Arian
views, but refused as tyrranous the demand of a committee
exercising Presbyter ial charge of the five Exeter meetings
that he sign a declaration of belief in the Trinity. In this
refusal he had wide sympathy. As a result of the Salters'
Hall controversy of I7I9, 61 to which it gave rise, the
majority of Presbyterian ministers became committed to
the attitude of non-subscription to any doctrinal formulas.
In the fifty years following, most of the churches that did
not die out or seek a refuge in Independency yielded one
by one to the influences of the time, and drifted through
"McCrie, Annals of English Presbytery, London, 1872, p. 301.
80 C/. Drysdale, History of Presbyterianism in England, London,
1889, p. 500.
"For an account of it see H. S. Skeats, A History of the Free
Churches of England, 2nd ed., London, 1869, pp. 302 ff. Watts, like
Calamy, refused to attend the meeting at Salters' Hall.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 131
various stages of Arian belief into the developed Unitarian-
ism of the latter part of the XVIIIth century.
During the earlier of these years the propriety of using
Watts' Psalms and Hymns remained unquestioned. But it
was inevitable that certain passages should be confronted
by the new opinions, especially the "Song of Praise to the
ever-blessed Trinity," as Watts entitled the doxologies at
the end of his volume of Hymns.
Martin Tomkins, dismissed from a dissenting pulpit as
an Arian, and attending the Mare Street Presbyterian Meet
ing at Hackney, frequently protested against the use of the
doxologies there. The pastor, the Rev. John Barker, one
of the minority for subscription, declined to discontinue the
custom. Tomkins printed in 1 738 A calm Enquiry whether
we have any warrant, from Scripture, for addressing our
selves, in a way of prayer or praise, directly to the Holy
Spirit, etc.; prefaced by a letter to Mr. Barker, repeating
his protests, and reinforced by quotations from Watts' later
works. In a letter to Dr. Watts, dated April 21, 1738, Mr.
Tomkins put to him the direct question,
"Whether you now approve of what you have said concerning the
Gloria Patri, in your Book of Hymns; and whether, upon your present
notion of the Spirit, you can esteem some of those Doxologies you
have given us there, I will not say, 'as some of the noblest parts of
Christian worship,' but as proper Christian worship? And if not,
whether you may not think it becoming you, as a lover of truth, and
as a Christian minister, to declare as much to the world; and not
suffer such forms of worship to be recommended by your name and
authority, to the use of the Christian Church in the present time and
in future generations?"
On the margin of this letter (then in Mr. Palmer's posses
sion) Dr. Watts had endorsed some twenty remarks, and
opposite the last paragraph wrote :
"I freely answer, I wish some things were corrected. But the ques
tion with me is this: as I wrote them in sincerity at that time, is it
not more for the edification of Christians, and the glory of God, to let
them stand, than to ruin the usefulness of the whole book, by correct
ing them now, and perhaps bring further and false suspicions on my
present opinions? Besides, I might tell you, that of all the books I
have written, that particular copy is not mine. I sold it for a trifle to
132 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Mr. Lawrence near thirty years ago, and his posterity make money of
it to this day, and I can scarce claim a right to make any alteration
in the book which would injure the sale of it." 81
A perhaps exaggerated impression of the change in Dr.
Watts' views served to endear his Psalms and Hymns to the
Presbyterians. Some congregations, by the simple expedient
of omitting certain passages and the doxologies, kept them
in use until the end of the XVIIIth century. 63 But long
before that various ministers, by modifying or supplement
ing Watts, had prepared for their congregations praise
books more consonant with the new views. In most of
them Watts' text was freely "tinkered." The report was
industriously circulated that he had planned and even exe
cuted a revision of his Hymns on Arian lines, all evidence
of which was suppressed at his death. 64 The report was
plainly unwarranted, but it encouraged the hymn book
makers to do for him what they supposed he would have
done on his own behalf.
The eminent Michaijah Towgood is thought to be the
editor of A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Divine
worship (London, 1757; 2nd ed. : 1779). In it Watts
was supplemented by Tate and Brady, Addison, Doddridge
and Browne. Michael Pope of the Leather Lane Meeting,
London, followed with A Collection of Psalms and Hymns
for Divine worship (London, 1760). Of these more than
half were from Watts, freely altered; and there were
original contributions from Kippis, Grove and other Pres-
byterians k Two books, the first partly, the second wholly,
edited by Dr. Enfield, had a much longer life: A new
Collection of Psalms proper for Christian worship (Liver
pool, 1764), and Hymns for public worship, selected from
82 These documents were printed from the originals by the Rev.
Samuel Palmer in his notes to Johnson's Life of Watts (1790- They
were reprinted in the Boston Memoirs of Watts and Doddridge (1793),
and substantially in Milner.
M C/. preface to A Collection of Hymns and Psalms, ed. by Kippis
et. al. 1795.
"See "The Early Editions of Watts's Hymns," already cited.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 133
various authors, and intended as a Supplement to Dr.
Watts' s Psalms (Warrington, 1772). To the latter the
editor's neighbor, Mrs. Barbauld, contributed six hymns,
two of which are still sung. An abridgment of Dr. Watts' s
Psalms and Hymns, with some alterations, &c. (cir. 1780),
edited by W. Wood and B. Carpenter, is interesting for
its reversion to that author and restoration in the main of
his text.
The new "Presbyterianism" had already been augmented
by recruits from the Church of England, who brought with
them a taste for liturgical worship. A series of psalm and
hymn collections appended to Forms of Prayer began with
A Form of Prayer and a new Collection of Psalms, for the
use of a Congregation of Protestant Dissenters in Liver
pool (Liverpool, I763). 05 Theophilus Lindsey's A Collec
tion of Psalms and Hymns for public worship, which fol
lowed in 1774, was appended to Dr. Samuel Clarke's rescen-
sion of the Prayer Book. The most interesting of the
group is A Collection of Hymns for public worship: on the
general principles of natural and revealed Religion (Salis
bury, 1778). It aimed at the common denominator, shun
ning spheres of controversy. It reflects also the poetic
feeling of one of its editors, Benjamin Williams, last min
ister of the old Presbyterian congregation in Salisbury : it
has metrical variety, and attains a flavor of letters.
By this time the number of available hymn books was
considerable in England, and two were about to appear in
the North of Ireland, where the Scottish Psalms in meeter
had so far continued in vogue : the Hymns for the use of
the Presbyterian Congregation in Lisburn (Belfast, 1787),
and a Londonderry Collection of Psalms and Hymns proper
for Christian worship (1788). The older Presbyterianism
was being completely submerged by Unitarianism of the
more aggressive type, as represented by Priestley, leaving
05 C/. an interesting note by Jas. Martineau in the index to The
University Hymn Book, Cambridge, Mass., 1895, under "Collet,
Samuel."
134 THE ENGLISH HYMN
hardly a vestige of its earlier denominational existence
beyond the name "Presbyterian" still applied to Unitarian
chapels. Newcome Cappe of York endeavored to keep to
common ground by confining himself to Psalms in A Selec
tion of Psalms for social worship (1786), and George
Walker of Nottingham published A Collection of Psalms
and Hymns for public worship, unmixed with the disputed
doctrines of any sect (Warrington, 1788). But Priestley
himself, in his Psalms and Hymns for the use of the New
Meeting in Birmingham (1790), freely modified Watts
"for the sake of rendering the sentiment unexceptionable
to Unitarian Christians." "It is to long use only," he
claimed in the preface, "that many of Watts's own verses
are indebted for the little offence they now give even to
the ear, and much more to the understanding." Unhappily
the fire by which the mob destroyed his dwelling and the
New Meeting House consumed the new hymn books also
to such an extent that his people had to fall back upon
Watts' Psalms and Hymns in their unexpurgated form, as
used at the Old Meeting.
In London and its vicinity "the generality of the Presby
terian Societies [had] contented themselves solely with Dr.
Watts's Psalms." 66 To correct this four ministers, headed
by the venerable and admirable Andrew Kippis, combined
to issue A Collection of Hymns and Psalms for public and
private worship; selected and prepared by Andrew Kippis,
D.D., F.R.S., & F.S.A.; Abraham Rees, D.D., F.R.S.,
F.L.S.; the Rev. Thomas Jcrvis, and the Rev. Thomas
Morgan, LL.D., London, 1 795. Its 690 pieces were selected
and pruned "to promote just and rational sentiments of
religion." There was a second edition in 1797, and supple
ments in 1807 an d 1852. This collection found a wider
acceptance and use than any of its predecessors, which were
mostly confined to the localities in which their several
editors ministered. It was probably fairly representative
of the Unitarianism of the XVIIIth and early XlXth cen-
68 Preface to the Kippis Collection, 1795.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 135
turies. But the celebration of the Divine nature and works
to which it was mainly devoted does not appear to have
aroused any warmth of feeling in the compilers, and their
avoidance of the area of personal Christian experience
seems to leave the worshipper a spectator at Bethlehem and
Calvary rather than a participant in redemption. 67
The individualism of the Unitarian movement militated
not only against a standard of doctrine but even against a
common hymn book. English and Irish Unitarian Hym-
nody has no corporate history, but proceeds by a succession
of individual hymn books; and in their production the
years following the publication of the Kippis Collection
were the most active. The earlier period of Unitarian
Hymnody may be regarded as ended when in 1840 Dr.
Martineau published his Hymns for the Christian Church
and Home. And it has been estimated that in the forty-five
years intervening between Kippis and Martineau on an
average one Unitarian hymn book, large or small, was
issued every year. 68 Of these the most significant, from the
point of view of circulation and use, were Robert Aspland's
A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Unitarian worship
(i8io), 69 Dr. Lant Carpenter's A Selection of Psalms and
Hymns for social and private worship (Exeter, 1812), and
A Selection of Hymns and Psalms for Christian worship.
By H. E. Howse, jun. (Bath, 1830). Howse claimed no
"superior assortment of hymns," but offered to the poor
"a good sized Hymn Book at a low price" (in 321110 is.),
and seems thus to have met a need.
But a few collections of the period have a special interest
as bearing upon the development of a Unitarian Hymnody.
The need of it, and also the ideal of it as presented to the
minds of the early leaders, are set forth in George Walker's
preface of 1788:
"Cf. a Unitarian estimate in Julian, Diet. Hymn., p. 1193.
^Valentine D. Davis in Julian, ut supra.
69 In this the term "Unitarian" seems to have first appeared on the
title-page of a hymn book.
136 THE ENGLISH HYMN
"The great change in religious faith which has taken place in this
island, since the period in which the different collections of Psalms
or Hymns of most general acceptation were first introduced, has
rendered it highly improper, if not absolutely criminal, to continue
any longer in the use of what the mind at present revolts from.
Whatever be the faith of any society, no worship ought to be presented
to God, which contradicts that faith. It had indeed been well if the
peculiarities of religious faith had never intruded into a part of
worship, whose characteristic features are gratitude, and a virtuous
conformity to the will of God. As our predecessors however unhap
pily thought otherwise, it is the principal object of this collection
to remove the offence, which their doctrinal zeal has occasioned to
their successors."
The ideal thus set forth of a Hymnody doct finally color
less was that held in common by perhaps all the early
leaders; and prior editors of Unitarian hymn books had
not only sought to contribute new hymns according with
it, but had felt free to "accommodate" to it hymns already
in use. But the acrid vigor of Walker's insistence on the
pressing duty of modifying existing hymns was occasioned
by the persistence of the people's predilection for the one
version of the Psalms bearing an "evangelical interpreta
tion" and their doubtless illogical attachment to the evan
gelical hymns of Watts and Doddridge. Walker applied his
principle (especially to Watts) with a strong though un
skilled hand; "the alterations bearing no small proportion
to the whole work, and in many of the psalms and hymns
the retaining the name of the original author must be
considered as a mere acknowledgment of the source from
which the composition was derived." 70 In this course he
was followed by subsequent editors, with the inevitable
result that in extracting the color of doctrine from the
hymns, much of their vigor and warmth also passed out.
The first generation of Unitarians, who had been familiar
with the original text of these hymns, objected to the
changes, but in course of time, as the modified texts passed
from book to book, only the more curious were aware that
Watts, Doddridge, Wesley, Toplady, Newton, and Cowper
"Preface, p. vii.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 137
had expressed themselves quite otherwise than in the lines
bearing their names in the Unitarian hymn books. 71 But
Robert Wallace, a minister at Chesterfield, became dis
satisfied with the "altogether unwarranted" liberties editors
had taken with the originals, and with the method itself of
obtaining a Unitarian Hymnody by a process of expurgating
orthodox hymns. He was influenced also 72 by Mrs.
Barbauld's plea 73 for more warmth and a freer scope for
the language of the affections than was then thought per
missible in Unitarian worship. He gave much time to
preparing a hymn book in which "no wanton or unadvised
deviations" from the originals were admitted and for which
new hymns were sought. It appeared as A Selection of
Hymns for public and private worship (Chesterfield, 1822;
2nd ed., 1826), a notable rather than very influential step
in the right direction.
In the debates and contests between Evangelicals and
Unitarians little attention had been given to Unitarian
hymn books. In the legal proceedings respecting the Lady
Hewley Fund, among numerous Unitarian publications
introduced into the pleadings to exhibit their tenets, no
reference appears to have been made to the hymns used in
their chapels. But in 1834 the editor of The Christian
Observer, the great Evangelical organ, happened to take up
a hymn book that for two and a half years had been in
"Some of the hymn book editors were no exception. Thus Dr.
Lant Carpenter, explaining his references to his sources, says: "A
large proportion of the older hymns were in the first instance taken
from collections in common use among Unitarians, with which I had
long been familiar, and which therefore might appear to me less
altered from the originals than they really were." The Christian
Observer, Oct., 1834, p. 594.
"See his preface of 1822.
^Devotional pieces, compiled from the Psalms and the Book of Job ;
to which are prefixed Thoughts on the devotional taste, &c. (London,
I 775)> PP- 14 ff- Both the selection and essay were coldly received
by the Priestley circle of Unitarians to whom no doubt it was espe
cially addressed, as also by the public. Cf. Grace A. Ellis, Memoir of
A. L. Barbauld, Boston, 1874, vol. i, p. 74.
138 THE ENGLISH HYMN
his hands for review, and "utterly forgotten," A Collec
tion of Hymns for the use of Unitarian Christians in public
worship and in the private culture of the religious affections
(Bristol, 1831). This book, edited by Dr. Lant Carpenter,
differed in no respect from numerous predecessors in the
extent and freedom of its use of evangelical hymns "accom
modated" to Unitarian views. But to the editor the method
was plainly a novelty, and in a belated review he subjected
both method and results to a scathing condemnation. 74
For "torturing the sacred strains of orthodox lyrists till
they uttered sounds utterly discrepant to those intended by
their authors" he charged the editor with "heinous crimes
against right feeling," "indecent, unfeeling, and pregnant
with enormous evils," but in so far as the mutilations were
acknowledged and fairly pointed out, not with dishonesty.
He found, however, numerous hymns of evangelical
writers, whose names were attached to them, seriously
altered and without any indication of such changes being
given. These alterations he characterized as "secret and
disingenuous," misleading, and "in truth the most dis
gracefully dishonest."
The subsequent debate made it clear that in the omission
of indications of alteration Dr. Carpenter was guilty of
nothing worse than that ignorance of his materials and
carelessness in their handling that obtained generally among
the compilers of hymn books. But the larger questions
raised in this debate are still of living interest. The prac
tice of signing an author's name to what he did not write
is even now common enough, but ought to find no defender.
The question of the extent to which an editor is justified
in "accommodating" the sentiments of another's hymn to
the views of himself or his constituency is larger and more
difficult. It involves matters of principle, expediency and
good taste; and every editor must decide them for himself.
The Christian Observer was doubtless unaware that honored
7 *The review is in the number for July, 1834; for the subsequent
debate see the numbers for October and December of the same year.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY'' 139
editors of its own school had "accommodated" the Wesleys'
hymns to Calvinism by expunging such phrases as favored
"universal redemption," "the second rest," and the like.
To bind an editor of any school by a rigid rule that a hymn
must in all cases be taken verbatim or left alone would
not promote the best interests of Hymnody. On the other
hand, an expurgated Hymnody such as was developed by
early Unitarianism is well adapted to promote just such
bad feeling as The Christian Observer manifested, and at
best fails to win one's regard.
This was the view taken of the current Unitarian Hym
nody by the accomplished John R. Beard of Manchester,
whether or not he was influenced by the unpleasant debate
in the pages of The Christian Observer. To him "it seemed
a sort of reflection on either the talent or the devotional
feeling" of Unitarians that they were "necessitated to em
ploy in their psalmody the compositions of Trinitarian
and Calvinistic writers" "in an altered if not mutilated
shape." The necessary adaptation involved frequently
"matters of high doctrinal importance," tending "to create
in the minds of Unitarian compilers a certain jealousy
which, in pruning away the exuberance of orthodoxy, de
stroyed sometimes the richness of scriptural truth," and
involving changes "alien from the original spirit of the
hymn" and "in many cases repugnant to taste and
feeling." 75
"The natural resource," Mr. Beard said, "is to prepare
a collection of hymns composed exclusively by Unita
rians." 76 His hymn book, so prepared, appeared as A
Collection of Hymns for public and private worship. Com
piled by John R. Beard. London and Manchester, i#j/.
Of living writers whom he enlisted in his project Dr.
Bowring leads with 82 hymns; William Gaskell follows
with 79, J. C. Wallace with 64, J. R. Wreford with 55,
75 From his preface of 1837.
T8 In his proposals printed in The Christian Teacher and Chronicle,
1836.
HO THE ENGLISH HYMN
J. Johns with 35, Jacob Brettell with 16, Harriet Martineau
and Jane Roscoe with 5 each, Hugh Hutton with 3, William
S. Roscoe with i. Of the generation that had passed, Mrs.
Barbauld, then regarded as its foremost Unitarian hymn
writer, leads with 14 hymns, John Taylor follows with 12,
Edmund Butcher and William Roscoe with 8 each, Emily
Taylor with 7, Sir J. E. Smith with 6, W. Lamport with 3,
Dr. Estlin and Dr. Drummond with 2 each, William
Drennan and P. Houghton with i each. If to these names
we add George Dyer, John J. Taylor and Lant Carpenter
of Beard's contemporaries and Helen Maria Williams
(author of "While Thee I Seek, protecting Power") of
the prior generation, the representation of the later Uni
tarian hymn writers is practically complete. There are
also no less than 56 hymns by American Unitarians. The
representation of the earlier writers is far less inclusive.
Of the original Arian or semi-Arian group, including Henry
Grove, Thomas Scott, Roger Flexman, and John Breckell,
there are no hymns. Of the writers of developing Uni-
tarianism, there are 6 by Henry Moore, 4 by Thomas
Jervis and i by William Enfield, but Benjamin Williams,
Andrew Kippis and George Walker are not represented.
Beard's Collection is thus an anthology of the original
hymn writing of a developed Unitarianism, and affords a
basis for estimating it as affecting the ideal of the Hymn
and as contributing to the store of hymns. Unitarian
Hymnody should be set not only against Dr. Watts' System
of Praise which made its background, but also against the
Hymnody of Christian Experience developed, as will duly
appear, by the great XVIIIth century Revival. Its criterion
is doctrinal. It is a protest against and a substitute for
hymns "with sectarian peculiarities" (by which we may
understand what is called evangelical doctrine) and "the
fervors of fanaticism" 77 (by which we may understand
Methodism). This sense of protest accounts for the devo
tional coldness and aloofness from Christianity of the
"Beard's preface.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 141
earlier hymn writing, and this sense of reconstruction
accounts for a gradual return to the area of Christian
experience and that "warmth of the true Christian life"
sought for and expressed in Beard's Collection. Apart from
the doctrinal feature the Unitarian Hymnody showed no
special development of the Hymn in any way. The Arian
hymns had affiliated strongly with Metrical Psalmody; the
Unitarian hymns to a large extent pertain to the realm of
devotional poetry rather than of Hymnody proper; and
of both the proportion is small that can be said to rise
above the level of the commonplace. 78 Among Beard's
contributors time has set the seal of approval on the work
of two. Sir John Bowring found a ground where all
Christian hearts may meet in such hymns as "God is Love,
His mercy brightens," and "In the cross of Christ I glory";
as did also John R. Wreford in his "Lord, I believe; Thy
power I own," and "When my love to Christ grows weak."
Among Unitarians themselves, Beard's Collection was less
used as a source book for later compilers in England than
in the United States.
As a protest against hymn tinkering and as a novel effort
to reconstruct Unitarian Hymnody out of materials ex
clusively Unitarian Beard's Collection is of permanent
interest. As a hymn book intended for congregational use
it was a complete failure. It involved an entire separation
of Unitarian Praise from the main stream of English
Hymnody, the renunciation of all the great hymns of the
Church, however unexceptionable from the Unitarian
standpoint; and for this the ministers and congregations
were by no means ready. "The plan strikes us," said The
Christian Examiner, "as most extraordinary. 79 And in this
"This is Henry Ware jr's estimate of Beard's Collection "We
are not certain that there exist any better than a few of the best of
these. There are many that are only tolerable, and some that are
intolerable; many incomplete, many prosaic and commonplace, and
some unsuited to use in public worship." The Christian Examiner
(Boston), March, 1838, p. 94.
"November, 1836, p. 271.
142 THE ENGLISH HYMN
judgment most people are likely to concur. As a protest
also against the "accommodation" of orthodox hymns,
Beard's efforts were to prove equally in vain.
After the rise of this new Unitarian Hymnody there
was no further (old) Presbyterian Psalmody or Hymnody
in England, beyond that of a faithful remnant in the
Northern counties and some scattered congregations of
resident Scotchmen, until the formation in 1836 of the
Presbyterian Church in England, which began its career by
harking back to The Psalms of David in meeter of 1650.
3. His ASCENDENCY OVER THE BAPTISTS LEADS UP TO
A HOMILETICAL HYMNODY
Among the older General Baptist churches the strong
prejudice against public singing lingered through much of
the XVIIIth century, encasing their worship in a hard shell
which even the influence of Watts found it hard to pene
trate. And as one by one these churches yielded to the
modern spirit, it would be hard to measure his part in the
many inducements to the change. There was no notable
church extension in the denomination until the Methodist
Revival, when numerous congregations of those led to
adopt Baptist sentiments were organized in Yorkshire and
neighboring counties. These new churches came at once
within the influence of Methodist hymn singing. With
some seceders from the Old Connexion they formed in 1770
the New Connexion, under whose auspices the first General
Baptist hymn book appeared at Halifax in 1772 as Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, mostly collected from various authors;
with a few that have not been published before. In 1785
Samuel Deacon, a village 'clockmaker and pastor of Barton,
published his original hymns as A new composition of
Hymns and Poems chieHy on Divine subjects; designed for
the amusement and edification of Christians of all denomi
nations, more particularly those of the General Baptist per
suasion (Leicester, 1785). These homely hymns had much
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 143
of the revival spirit, and became known by the name of
Barton Hymns, which was given them in the second edition
(I797)-
In 1791 the General Baptist Association authorized a
new hymn book, which appeared in 1793 as Hymns and
Spiritual Songs, selected from various authors (London,
D. Taylor). But in 1800 John Deacon, who had helped to
compile it, issued on his own account A new and large Col
lection of Hymns and Psalms (London, H. D. Symonds) ;
and this, after winning its unauthorized way among the
churches, was revised by a Committee of the General Bap
tist Association, and in 1830 formally adopted as the hymn
book of the Connexion, 80 under the title of The General
Baptist Hymn Book.
Among Particular Baptist churches some were already
singing hymns, especially on sacramental occasions, when
Watts' Hymns first appeared. His Hymns, and later his
Psalms, doctrinally acceptable, fell in with the desire to
enlarge the use of hymns, and helped much also to create
such a desire. It is significant that after the appearance of
Stennett's two little booklets of sacramental hymns no Bap
tist hymn book was published until 1 769. There is little diffi
culty in filling the apparent gap of half a century. It was
the time when Watts' Psalms and Hymns were gradually
working their way into the churches and into the hearts of
the Particular Baptists, and establishing there a place only
second to that they held among his own people.
But one effect of the use of Watts' hymns was to en
courage the habit of employing the last hymn in the service
as an application of the sermon. In the course of time it
became apparent that the Hymns were not in sufficient
variety to cover all the sermon themes. Preachers were
led to search other books for hymns pertinent to their ser
mons, and a number to compose hymns of their own on the
Watts model, to be lined, out to the people after the ser-
80 C/. H. S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers and their Hymns, Port
land, Me., n. d., p. 632.
144 THE ENGLISH HYMN
mon. 81 . With some of these compositions in hand, but
especially in view of the publication in 1760 of the hymns of
Miss Anne Steele, two pastors, John Ash of Pershore and
Caleb Evans of Bristol, felt that the time had come for a
Baptist hymn book. They published at Bristol in 1769
A Collection of Hymns adapted to public worship. As it
was designed to supersede Watts' Psalms and Hymns, many
of his best hymns were included. Of the new Baptist
writers, there were 62 by Miss Steele, and some by Bed-
dome, Daniel Turner, Joseph Stennett, and James Newton.
It was well received, and continued in use for more than
half a century, reaching a tenth edition in 1827. But it was
far indeed from superseding Watts in Baptist use. So
many churches remained which were unwilling to give up
his Psalms and Hymns and yet desired other and especially
Baptist hymns, that John Rippon, Gill's successor at Carter
Lane, published in 1787 A Selection of Hymns from the
best authors, intended to be an Appendix to Dr. Watts's
Psalms and Hymns (London, T. Wilkins). This book of
588 hymns was conceived in the interest of the "Hymn after
Sermon," in the belief that "A too great Variety is a thing
scarcely to be conceived of," and full use was made of the
Hymnody of the Wesleyan and Evangelical revival. 82
Rippon's judgment and taste, his command of originals, and
his editorial discretion, were such as to ensure lasting suc
cess, and to secure to himself a permanent place in the
history of hymn singing. His Selection reached its tenth
edition in 1800, enlarged by sixty hymns, and was again
enlarged in 1827. After Rippon's death, it appeared in
1844, increased by an addition of 400 hymns, as The Com
prehensive Rippon, containing 1174 hymns. When we
remember that these were an appendix to "Watts entire,"
we become aware of the lengths to which the homiletical
81 C/. preface to Rippon's Selection, 1787. Rippon states that only
then was the practice of singing without lining "gaining ground" in
some congregations "in London, at Bristol, and elsewhere."
"Preface, p. 3.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 145
conception and use of hymns naturally leads. Well had
Rippon feared, in introducing his original 588 hymns, "that
after sermon there will be many Subjects sought for in
vain, both in this Appendix, and in Dr. Watts." 83
Rippon's Selection became, in connection with Watts, a
standard of Baptist Hymnody, which it did so much to
enlarge. It served also as a source book for the makers of
many hymn books in the Church outside, in a period when
hymnal making was largely done with scissors ; and by this
means Rippon has permanently impressed himself upon the
Churches as having influenced their choice of hymns. His
book in itself carries forward Particular Baptist Hymnody
to our own time, being used in Spurgeon's Tabernacle till
1866 in connection with Watts. 84 It was also a link of
connection between Baptist Hymnody in England and
America, and was reprinted in New York as early as 1792.
There appeared, however, from one motive or another,
a considerable number of other Baptist collections during
the earlier years of the XlXth century. One line of these
represents the desire of hymn writers to give currency to
their own compositions. Among such, not of sufficient
importance to be grouped with the Baptist "School of
Watts" hereafter to be noticed, were : Jonathan Franklin's
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, composed for the use of the
Baptist Church at Croyden, Surrey (1801 ; 3rd ed., 1823) ;
W. Augustus Clarke's eccentric Hymns doctrinal and ex
perimental for the free-born citizens of Zion (1801); W.
W. Home's Sion's Harmony of Praise (1823), with 98
originals and the declaration, "I am happy to class with
those whom I have denominated choristers" ; and John H.
Hinton's (116) Hymns by a Minister (i833). 85
Another line of hymn books purposed no more than to
supplement Watts or Watts and Rippon on themes over-
M Preface, p. 4.
"Preface to Spurgeon's Our own Hymn Book.
"Sketches and specimen hymns of these writers may be found in
Burrage, op. cit.
146 THE ENGLISH HYMN
i
looked by them. Such were James Upton's A Collection of
Hymns designed as a Supplement to Dr. Watts's Psalms
and Hymns (1814; 3rd ed., 1818) ; George Francis' A
Selection of Hymns (1824) ; and the much more successful
A New Selection of Hymns (1828), compiled by a com
mittee of Particular Baptist ministers, and edited by W.
Groser; of which 60,000 copies were sold in ten years. 86
It was enlarged in 1838 as A Selection of Hymns for the
use of Baptist Congregations, and a supplement was added
as late as 1871. More independent of the Watts tradition
were John Bailey's Sion's Melody (1813) with some origi
nals; James H. Evans' Psalms and Hymns, selected chiefly
for public worship, and the Scottish A Selection of Hymns
adapted for divine worship of Christopher Anderson, both
of 1818; and John Stenson's The Baptist's Hymn Book
(1838) with many of his own hymns.
Still a third line of hymn books came from the high
Calvinistic element among Particular Baptists, and repre
sented their dissatisfaction on doctrinal grounds with the
continued use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns and the sup
plementary Selection of Rippon. In turning from Unita-
rianism to the rigid wing of the Particular Baptists, we have
crossed from the extreme left to the extreme right of the
theology of dissent; and while the Unitarians were re
nouncing Watts' Psalms and Hymns as "Trinitarian and
Calvinistic," the high Calvinist Baptists were turning from
them as not sufficiently differentiated from Arminianism.
A new Selection of Hymns by John Stevens of Meard's
Court Chapel, London, appeared in 1809, an< ^ as rearranged
by J. S. Anderson in 1871 is still in use. William Gadsby,
who like Stevens was a writer of hymns, published A Selec
tion of Hymns for public worship in 1814. To this nucleus
a second part of 157 of his own hymns, a supplement com
piled by him, nearly the whole of Hart's Hymns, and a
further supplement by J. C. Philpot, were successively
annexed; and the whole, edited by Gadsby's son John, is still
"Preface, ed. 1838, p. i.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 147
in use as Gadsby's Hymns. 87 Some of the Hymns in Watts'
and Rippon's books give, Gadsby said in his original preface,
"as legal a sound as if they had been forged at a certain
foundry," the allusion being of course to Wesley's meeting
house known by that name. Edward Mote published in
1836 Hymns of praise. A new Selection of Gospel Hymns,
containing all the excellencies of our spiritual poets, and
many originals. For the use of all spiritual worshippers.
To Mote spirituality and Calvinism were inseparable, and
his collection, which reached a third edition in 1853, is an
anthology of Calvinistic praise. The latest of the group,
and probably the one in largest present use, appeared in
1837 as The Saints' Melody. By David Denham. Denham
disparaged neither Watts nor Rippon, but rendered them
superfluous by the very extent of his collection gathered
and arranged to illustrate the Five Points of Calvinism.
By a curious coincidence, hardly undesigned, his book and
its supplement (now known as Denham 3 s Selection) and the
rival selection of Gadsby with its supplements, attain to an
identical total of 1138 hymns. It would seem that all
varying tastes among the high Calvinist element thus found
a provision as ample as it has proved permanent.
II. IN SCOTLAND
i. His INFLUENCE: THE "TRANSLATIONS AND
PARAPHRASES" (1745, 1781)
In Scotland Watts' Psalms and Hymns circulated largely,
and their influence brought about a renewal of the long
shelved movement for what was called "The improvement
of the Psalmody." In 1741 an overture came before the
General Assembly proposing that some Scripture passages
"John Gadsby also published A Companion to Gadsby's Selection of
Hymns and illustrative Memoirs of Hymn-writers and compilers (4th
ed., 1870). "The work has now reached its 4th Edition. Had I
written only smooth things, it would probably ere this have reached
its loth," p. 157.
148 THE ENGLISH HYMN
be turned into metre for use in public worship. This was
the beginning of the movement out of which came the
famous "Scottish Paraphrases." 88
The proposal had come at the very close of the session,
and was referred to the Assembly's Commission without
discussion. That probably would have been the end, had
not the Presbytery of Dundee interested itself, and secured
from the Assembly of 1742 the appointment of a committee
to make a collection of paraphrases. This committee ac
complishing nothing, it was enlarged, and in 1 745 presented
a collection of forty-five paraphrases. After much debate
the Assembly agreed so far as to order these printed and
sent down to Presbyteries for their "observations" on them
and on the whole project. 89 They appeared in July, 1745,
as Translations and Paraphrases of several passages of
Sacred Scripture. Collected and prepared by a Committee
appointed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scot
land. And by the Act of last Assembly, transmitted to
Presbyteries for their consideration. Edinburgh, printed
by Robert Fleming and Company, Printers to the Church of
Scotland, MDCCXLV.
This pioneer volume of Scottish Presbyterian Hymnody
reveals the extent to which Dr. Watts* influence was
behind the movement toward hymns. Of the forty-five
pieces, no less than nineteen are by him, five are by his
follower Doddridge, and several others are based upon
hymns of Watts. In the Scottish contributions and com
pilations which make up the remainder, the manner of Watts
is hardly less evident. In both the title and preface of
the volume care is taken to emphasize the purely Scrip
tural character of the proposed additions to Psalmody, and
the securing of this end furnishes the only obvious justifi
cation of the system of hymn tinkering which the compilers
""Extracts from the minutes of General Assembly and of Presby
teries covering the movement are conveniently gathered in Maclagan,
The Scottish Paraphrases, Edinburgh, 1889, pp. 167 ff.
*'Acts of General Assembly. Edinburgh, 1843, p. 681.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 149
carried to a great extreme. The paraphrases so printed
had as yet no status, and by refraining from any report
upon them the Presbyteries succeeded in blocking their
authorization. A determined minority kept the matter alive
for ten years. It being alleged in 1749 that the confusions
incident to the Jacobite rising had caused the copies of the
Paraphrases in the hands of numerous Presbyteries to be
mislaid, a new edition was printed in 1750, and again sent
down. Perhaps to satisfy the minority, these amended
paraphrases were authorized for private use, and they ob
tained some unauthorized public use. 90 But their approval
still awaited the action of Presbyteries. In 1755 it ap
peared that thirty-two Presbyteries had never yet acted on.
the Paraphrases. Such determined opposition seems to have
disheartened the progressives, and while the delinquent
Presbyteries were formally ordered to report to the next
Assembly, the whole project was allowed once more to
drop out of sight as still impracticable.
The agitation of the proposal to enlarge the Psalmody
acted as a constant stimulus to hymn production, and nu
merous collections of original hymns were published within
the bounds of the Church of Scotland. That of John
Forbes, Some Scriptural Hymns, selected from sundry pas
sages of Holy Writ, intended for the service of the Church
in secret or society, as may be thought agreeable (Aberdeen,
1757), plainly presents his productions as candidates for
liturgical use; and hence they are kept within the limits
of paraphrase. John Willison, on the other hand, in his
One hundred Gospel Hymns (Edinburgh, 1747), profess
edly refrains from paraphrasing Scripture, "seeing this
design is under consideration by publick authority, and com
mitted to hands more capable." He offers freely composed
gospel hymns as "much adapted to Sacramental Occasions" ;
presumably for meditative use, as he could hardly have con
templated their liturgical employment at that date. Wil
liam Cruden, in his Hymns on a variety of Divine subjects
"Preface to edition of 1781.
150 THE ENGLISH HYMN
(Aberdeen, 1761), takes a middle course, which may be
described as a more or less free paraphrasing of Scripture;
hardly presuming to suppose he can contribute to the en
largement of church Psalmody he so earnestly desires, but
hoping that the use of his hymns in families "may be at
tended with no impropriety." Cruden's preface is interest
ing as showing the state of feeling which underlay the
movement for the authorization of paraphrases:
"Several attempts have been made of late years to improve our
Psalmody: and yet when we consider the vast extent of the subject,
its inconceivable importance to mankind, and how delightful a field the
plan of redemption spreads to view; 'tis surprizing that more has
not been done in that way; especially when many subjects, dry and
uninteresting, are every day canvassed, and almost exhausted by the
unwearied efforts of genius. Also when so loud a cry has been raised
of late, thro' many corners of our national church, for the reformation
of our music in the praises of the sanctuary; it might have been
expected that frequent attempts would have been made, to enlarge the
matter of our Psalmody, by an addition of New Testament Hymns
suited to these days of clearer light, and superior advantages vouch
safed to us above former ages."
It may be presumed that such views and feelings were
gradually extending, but it was not till twenty years had
elapsed from the failure of 1755 that the Paraphrases were
again brought to the attention of the General Assembly.
In 1775 the Presbytery of Glasgow and Ayr sent up an
overture alleging that many ministers and congregations
desired to employ them in worship, and praying that their
use be authorized. This overture resulted in the appoint
ment of a committee who entered systematically upon the
compilation of an enlarged collection of paraphrases, and
after some disagreements on their part and the customary
postponements on the part of the Assembly, were able to
present their completed work to the Assembly of 1781, and
to solicit definite action upon it. The Assembly passed an
"Interim act anent the Psalmody," sending down the Para
phrases to the Presbyteries for examination and report,
"and in the meantime they allow this collection of Sacred
Poems to be used in public worship in congregations where
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 151
the Minister finds it for edification." 91 The committee was
authorized to correct and publish the collection, and the
exclusive right to print it was vested in James Dickson,
printer to the Church. This act, however lacking in finality,
is the authorization on which the use of the Paraphrases has
ever since rested. Excepting to extend the printer's patent,
the Assembly has at no time taken further action concern
ing them. It is probable that those who had at heart the
enlargement of the Psalmody, thought it prudent to rest
satisfied with what they had gained. Most of the Presby
teries also were content to take no action. That of Kirk-
caldy, on the other hand, condemned the collection as de
fective in execution ; and expressed their unanimous opinion
that it ought to be rejected. 92
The new collection appeared in 1781 as Translations and
Paraphrases, in verse, of several passages of Sacred Scrip
ture. Collected and prepared by a Committee of the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in order to be sung
in churches. Edinburgh, printed and sold by J. Dickson,
Printer to tht Church of Scotland, MDCCLXXXL
It included the forty-five paraphrases of the earlier
edition, often much revised, and twenty-two that were new;
among the later several of the best-known, such as "Few
are thy days, and full of woe," "Come, let us to the Lord
our God," and "Where high the heavenly temple stands." 93
Apart from their inherent value, the interest of the Para
phrases of 1781 lies in their success. They mark no de
velopment in the principles of Scottish Psalmody, but they
embody the means by which the earlier authorization of
paraphrases became actually carried out in public worship.
"Extract from "Act of the Assembly," in 1781 ed. of Paraphrases.
92 Maclagan, op. cit., p. 183.
93 The last of these is one of several regarding which an interminable
controversy as to their authorship has been waged between the parti
sans of Michael Bruce, a young poet, and of the Rev. John Logan,
one of the Assembly's committee. For a partial bibliography of the
very voluminous controversial literature, see Julian's Diet, of Hym-
nology, p. 189.
152 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In one respect, however, the collection of 1781 registers an
advance. At the end appears a little group of ''Hymns."
The preface offers no explanation, saying merely, "a few
Hymns are subjoined." Of these hymns, three are Addi-
son's, first appearing in the Spectator, one is Watts'
("Bless'd morning, whose young dawning rays"), and the
last is probably of Scottish origin ("The hour of my de
parture's come"). Most of these are decidedly "hymns of
human composure," and constitute an apparently uncon-
sidered intrusion of free Hymnody into the Scriptural Para
phrases of the Scottish Church.
The use of the Paraphrases being not of obligation, their
introduction into the worship of the parish churches was
by no means universal, and was not always accomplished
without disturbance. Where minister and people were
agreed in wishing the Paraphrases, their introduction in
volved no more than the protest or perhaps secession of one
or more irreconcilables. At Leith, in 1782, where the Rev.
John Logan, one of the active spirits in the movement, and
the alleged author of a number of the Paraphrases, gave
notice on his own responsibility that the "Additional Psalm
ody was to be introduced into the public worship, Sabbath
next," 94 the session met and protested against the precipi
tant manner of making the change, but seem to have sub
mitted. There were, however, many among the ministers
and people of the Scottish Church, who never received the
Paraphrases, or took any part in singing them, to the end
of their lives. Although they were soon customarily printed
along with the Metrical Psalms and bound up with them
at the end of the Bibles, from numerous pulpits they were
never announced, and from numerous private copies of the
Bible containing them they were torn out or pasted down. 95
This opposition was partly that of the advocates of the
singing of psalms alone, but by no means altogether. It
was a time of bitter feeling, and, in the minds of many
"Maclagan, op. cit., p. 40.
M Cf. J. S. Curwen, Worship Music, ist series, p. 166.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 153
Evangelicals, the movement for enlarging the Psalmody
had been allowed to fall into the hands of the party of
"Moderates." The presence in the Assembly's committee
of Logan, and the Blairs, the Wisharts, Gumming, Robert
son and Alexander Carlyle, made such association inevi
table in the case of the Paraphrases of 1781. Dr. Martin
of Monimail, one of the minority of the committee, claimed
that he had no proper share in the compilation, and that the
results were not what he was led to expect. 96 He may have
been prejudiced by the fact that all but one of his own
compositions, and all those "of a pious lady of his acquaint
ance" which he fathered, were rejected ; but he was one of
many who looked at the Paraphrases as unsound in some
particulars and as lacking generally in evangelical tone and
feeling.
The attitude of the Secession in regard to Church Song
does not appear to have differed greatly from that of the
Church of Scotland. Soon after the secession of 1733, the
attitude of the Burgher portion is revealed by the determina
tion of the Associate Synod in 1748 to enlarge its Psalmody.
Ralph Erskine had published his Gospel Sonnets in 1726-
I734, 97 and had become a seceder in 1737. The Synod
recommended him to put the songs of Scripture into metre
for its use, basing its action upon the similar recommenda
tion of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland of
1647 to Zachary Boyd. 98 A committee was afterwards
appointed to examine Mr. Erskine's work, but his death in
1752 stayed the whole project of enlarging the Psalmody.
The subject did not come up again till 1787, and nothing
was actually done till the Synod in 1812 authorized the use
of "the Paraphrases and Hymns of the Church of Scot-
"See letter of his grandson in Free Church Magazine, August, 1847.
* T In 1726 as Gospel Canticles; in 1734 as Gospel Sonnets or Spiritual
Songs. It contains little entitling Erskine to rank as a hymn writer.
The early Moravian editors adapted some material from it, and his
"O send me down a draught of love" (taken from a longer piece)
was in the Scottish Presbyterian Hymnal of 1876.
"See D. Fraser, Life of Erskine, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 508, note.
154 THE ENGLISH HYMN
land." " The anti-Burgher portion of the Secession seems
to have occupied a similar position. Their Solemn Warn
ing of 1758 does not deal with Psalmody, but their original
position was doubtless that of the manifesto of the General
Associate Synod of 1804. It places the Psalms and New
Testament songs on a common plane of privilege as the
divinely inspired and only authorized Church Song. Its
only protest is against all allegation of a lack of evangelical
spirit in the Psalms, and against substituting for them
"hymns of human composition containing erroneous doc
trine/' 10
While the principles of the Secession favored New Testa
ment songs, it is probable that the Paraphrases of the
Church of Scotland, which happened to contain the only
New Testament songs practicable, were not employed in
the services of either branch. In this way the Seceders
furnished a refuge for many who came from parishes in
which the Paraphrases were used; but it was only by
further secessions from their own ranks that the principle
of a restricted Psalmody was ultimately maintained.
2. EARLY SCOTTISH HYMN SINGING
Another branch of separated Presbyterians carried for
ward the process of enlarging the Psalmody in advance of
the Church of Scotland itself. This was the Presbytery of
Relief, formed in 1761, and, until merged in the United
Presbyterian Church in 1847, known as the Relief Church.
Some of these men were not contented to be confined to the
Paraphrases of the mother Church, principally because they
lacked clear evangelical expression. 101 James Steuart
showed the way to a new Hymnody, and in 1 786 printed at
Glasgow Sacred Songs and Hymns on various passages of
"On this whole subject, see Maclagan, op. cit., pp. 17-19; and also
Me Crie, The Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland, Edinburgh,
1892, pp. 196-301.
^Narrative and Testimony . . . by the General Associate Synod,
1804, pp. 163, 169.
101 C/. Maclagan, op. cit. f p. 28; McCrie, op cit., p. 306.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 155
Scripture; selected for the Congregation at Anderstoun, and
introduced it into the worship of his church. It offended
those of the congregation opposed to "human hymns," some
of whom seceded, but the book was retained. Hutchison of
Paisley adopted Steuart's book with the addition of new
hymns, and still more were added by James Dun of Glas
gow. The ground being thus prepared, the Synod in 1793
was overtured on the subject, and, after hearing from the
Presbyteries, agreed in 1794 to enlarge the Psalmody not
only by paraphrases of Scripture, but by hymns agreeable
to its tenor. A committee was appointed to select them,
which included Messrs. Steuart, Dun and Hutchison, and
they, doubtless as had been arranged, at once reported,
recommending the book compiled by Steuart and completed
by Dun. The book was approved by Synod, and published
at Glasgow in 1794 with a new title as Sacred Songs and
Hymns on various passages of Scripture, approved by the
Synod of Relief, and recommended to be sung in the Con
gregations under their inspection. The book contains 231
hymns, "collected from several authors," the hymns of
Watts leading. The preface is frank in its justification of
a New Testament Hymnody, but there is perhaps a certain
lack of candor in its statement that the hymns following
are, when not paraphrases of passages of Scripture, founded
upon individual texts. To justify this statement, each hymn
is preceded by a reference to its Scriptural source; that of
Addison's "When all Thy mercies, O my God," being
Psalm civ, 34, "My meditation of Him shall be sweet:
I will be glad in the Lord" : that of Cowper's "O for
a closer walk with God" being Genesis v, 24, "Enoch
walked with God." 102 The anticipated opposition, whether
or not thus hoodwinked, proved not very serious, and
the new hymn book was soon in use throughout the Relief
Church. 103 According to the historian of that Church, the
102 C/. McCrie, op. cit., p. 307.
108 It was revised in 1833, and was a progenitor of the Hymn Book
of the United Presbyterian Church, 1852.
156 THE ENGLISH HYMN
new book developed a new animation in the service of
praise, and was followed by "a corresponding improvement
in church music." 104
The Relief Church was not the first religious body in
Scotland to make use of free hymns and to introduce a
hymn book into its services. The Glassites, or Sandeman-
ians, while adhering to psalm singing in their public wor
ship, used in their fellowship meetings the Christian Songs,
whose first edition appeared in 1749 at Edinburgh, and
which we shall notice more fully in another connection. 105
After the Scots Old Independents were founded in 1768
there was an open channel to and fro between their Hym-
nody and that of the Glassites. Many Glassite hymns were
in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Glasgow, 1781), which
reached a seventh edition in 1798, and in A Selection of
Hymns adapted to public worship (Glasgow, 1819), which
with changes and additions is still used by this disappearing
sect. The hymn book of these Independents had been
preceded by a publication of Psalms . . . or Hymns
founded on some important passages of Holy Scripture
(Edinburgh, 1777). These were the work of Alexander
Pirie, a man of parts who found a refuge among the Inde
pendents after prosecution for heresy in both branches of
the Secession. Eleven of these hymns passed into the
Synod of Relief's book of 1794. 106
A little booklet, A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual
Songs (Glasgow, 1755) and the later A Collection of
Hymns for Christian worship (Edinburgh, 1762) and A
Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, extracted from
various authors, and published for the use of Christians of
all denominations (Edinburgh, I778), 107 all suggest the
m G. Struthers, History of the Relief Church, 1843, P- 3?6.
108 Under "The Hymnody of the Evangelical Revival."
108 One is still remembered : "With Mary's love without her fear,"
and all are of the Watts type.
10T These early Scottish hymn books the writer has not come upon,
one) of the Rev. James Mearns. See Julian, Dictionary, p. 1026.
and he owes his knowledge of them to the hand (always a careful
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 157
introduction of hymns into some Scottish congregations of
the independent sort. But Congregationalism there had
no hymn book till the appearance at Edinburgh in 1800 of
A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Tabernacles in
Scotland, which continued in use for half a century. It
was nevertheless an inadequate, ill-arranged and injudi
ciously "tinkered" collection. And, with a view to displace
it in his "Church in Albion Street Chapel, Glasgow," 108
the famous Ralph Wardlaw laboriously prepared A Selec
tion of Hymns for public worship (Glasgow, 1803). An
improvement on the "Tabernacle Collection," and bearing
a distinguished name, it attained much popularity, as evi
denced by thirteen editions. But here also the hymns were
badly arranged and more than badly "tinkered." Ward-
law's Selection is still referred to as the source of eleven
hymns by himself there appearing, of which "Lift up to
God the voice of praise" and "Christ of all my hopes the
ground" are widely used. 109 The only other Congrega-
tionalist hymn book of the period was A Collection of
Hymns from the best authors, adapted both for public and
family worship. Selected and arranged by Greville Ewing
and George Payne (Glasgow, 1814). This publication was
perhaps thought to be expedient after the unpleasantness
that had arisen between the respective Glasgow congrega
tions under Wardlaw and Ewing, 110 and it attained to
eleven editions, but except in greater fulness it marked little
advance over Wardlaw' s Selection.
Baptist hymn singing also had an early beginning in
Scotland. Sir William Sinclair, Bart., composed and printed
for the use of the Baptist church he formed in his castle
of Keiss in Caithness, and of which he was pastor, A Col
lection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs. By Sir William
Sinclair, Minister of the Gospel of God, and servant of
108 See W. L. Alexander, Memoirs of Ralph Wardlaw, Edinburgh,
1856, pp. 69-71.
109 All of the hymns are in the Memoirs, appendix C.
Memoirs, pp. 114 f.
158 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Jesus Christ (i75i). m In the same year as the Relief
collection there appeared A Collection of Christian Songs
and Hymns in three Books (Glasgow, 1786) which by
change and supplementing became eventually Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs in three Books, selected for
use in the Scotch Baptist Churches (new impression, en
larged, Glasgow, 1841). Its very title suggests the con
tinuing influence of Dr. Watts, but the hymns were selected
from a variety, of sources, including the Glassite Christian
Songs, and were subjected to free alteration in the interests
of orthodoxy. The ninth edition (1827) was made notable
by prefixing to each hymn a descriptive epithet, such as
"cheerful," "grave," "plaintive," or even "cheerful & plain
tive." This was with a view to the selection of a suitable
tune. There were also some foot-notes showing how "this
hymn may be altered to suit a single person." This col
lection was the standard of Praise in the limited number of
Scottish Baptist churches for two generations.
And no doubt the hymns of John Barclay were sung
in the assemblies of the Bereans, who followed him out
of the Church of Scotland. Barclay thought the singing of
secular songs a great sin, and would confine the singing of
spiritual songs to true believers. Them he would have to
sing at all times, and, inconsistently denying that there was
any distinction between sacred and secular music, composed
for them hymns and paraphrases in a great variety of
metres adapted to the airs of Scottish songs. 112 The
earliest of these appeared as Rejoice evermore: or Christ
all in all. An original publication consisting of spiritual
songs, collected from the Holy Scriptures; . . . Glasgow:
printed by W. Bell, for the Author. M. DCC. LXXVII.
There followed A Select Collection of new original spiritual
songs, paraphrases, and translations; together with the
most useful and agreeable of these formerly published
(Edinburgh, 1776); and (beside his metrical version of
1M It was reprinted in 1870. See Julian's Dictionary, p. 1027.
"'Barclay's views are set forth in the preface to Rejoice Evermore.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 159
the Psalms) one other collection, entitled The Experience
and Example of the Lord Jesus Christ illustrated and im
proved for the consolation of the Church, making a copious
variety of subjects for the purpose of Divine praise ( Edin
burgh, 1783). The whole number of hymns and para
phrases thus appearing is very large, and must have
responded to some welcome from the congregations Barclay
founded. Beyond their bounds, these striking hymns did
not go, and they are unknown to the hymn books. 113
Barclay must be relegated to the ranks of unsuccessful
paraphrasers in Scotland, stirred by Watts' example, but not
inspired with like gifts.
But, so far as Presbyterian Scotland is concerned, the
Relief Church was the first to carry forward the enlarge
ment of Psalmody to the full freedom of an evangelical
Hymnody, officially embodied in a church hymn book, and
used by authority in public worship.
In the Church of Scotland no further action followed the
ad interim allowance of the Translations and Paraphrases
in 1781. The close of the XVIIIth century was a period of
indifference and of that slovenly performance of public
worship pictured in the anonymous A Letter from a Black-
smith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scot
land. The enlargement of the Psalmody came before the
Assembly again early in the XlXth century, and specimens
of "Additional Psalmody" were submitted in 1811, 1814
and 1820. The latter were printed as Additional Psalmody;
submitted to the General Assembly, 1820; and printed by
their order, for the inspection of Presbyteries (Edinburgh;
Peter Hill & Company, 1821). Its thirty-two Psalm ver
sions aim at introducing metrical variety : its seventeen para
phrases of other Scriptures include "Father, whate'er of
worldly bliss" (I Tim. vi, 6-8), and "Lo! he comes with
clouds descending" (Rev. i, 7). These efforts were quite
futile and deservedly so. And nothing was accomplished
118 Two of Barclay's hymns may be found in Odenheimer and Bird,
Songs of the Spirit, N. Y., 1871.
160 THE ENGLISH HYMN
until after the middle of the XlXth century, when the
Church came under the general influences that play upon
and mould modern Church Song in all denominations, not
ably the powerful influences emanating from Oxford.
Meanwhile the Church was left to its historic Psalter of
1650, and the paraphrases and five appended hymns of
1781. The Paraphrases were not only the first, but remain
the only characteristic Hymnody of the Church of Scot
land. They were of the school of Watts, but the new Scot
tish writers and a deft editorial hand gave them a marked
individuality. The latest historian of Scottish Literature
has not hesitated to say that they "form incomparably the
best collection of sacred lyrics, for its size, which has ever
been made in the English language." 114 There are few who
would deny to them a dignified restraint, a grave devotion
and a somewhat haunting sonorousness of rhythm. But
they owed their origin to the desire for a distinctively
evangelical Hymnody; and it is not difficult to understand
that they should be regarded by many as somewhat lacking
in contents and somewhat cold in tone.
114 J. H. Millar, Literary History of Scotland, New York, 1903, p. 379.
CHAPTER IV
DR. WATTS' "RENOVATION OF PSALMODY"
(Continued)
IV
HIS SUCCESS : THE ERA OF WATTS IN AMERICA
I. THE CONGREGATIONALISTS (1735-1834)
i. THE GREAT AWAKENING TURNS THE CHURCHES TO
HIS EVANGELICAL "SYSTEM OF PRAISE"
When Watts' Hymns of 1707 and his The Psalms of
David imitated of 1719 appeared, the Puritan sense of the
duty of singing psalms prevailed generally in New England,
although "cases of conscience" still kept alive the memory
of the "controversie of Singing." * But the total neglect of
music had compelled the suspension of all singing in some
congregations, and in others had brought about conditions
in Church Praise which the Rev. Mr. Symmes described as
"indecent." 2 In the lack of music books and the inability
to sing by note, a very few tunes were sung from memory,
"tortured and twisted as every unskillful throat saw fit,"
producing a medley of discordant noises; something, as
Mr. Walter reports, 3 like five hundred different tunes
roared out at the same time," with the singers often
l Cases of conscience about singing of Psalms, Boston, 1723. It is
reprinted in S. H. Emory, The Ministry of Taunton, 2 vols., Boston,
1853, vol. i, pp. 269 ff.
2 The Reasonableness of Regular Singing, Boston, 1720.
*The Grounds and Rules of Musick explained, by Thomas Walter,
A.M., Boston, 1721.
161
162 THE ENGLISH HYMN
one or two words apart, and in a manner so drawling
that he himself has "twice in one note paused to take
breath."
Inconceivable as it seems, this disorder had acquired the
force of a tradition, and the attempt to better it involved
the churches in years of bitter controversy between the
advocates of "the usual way" and those determined to
introduce "regular singing."
Through these confusions the voice of Watts did not
reach the people at all. He none the less had his eye on
New England. Before The Psalms of David imitated was
printed, some were submitted in Ms. to Cotton Mather for
his examination and approval : 4 the iO7th Psalm as printed
was entitled "A Psalm for New England" : he sent over
copies of all his books, and was, through correspondence
with Colman and others, kept informed of conditions.
Meantime he was content to bide his time, and discouraged
his friends from premature efforts to introduce his System
of Praise. 5
The first American reprint of The Psalms imitated came
from the Philadelphia press of Benjamin Franklin in 1729.
It represents his admiration for Watts rather than any
actual demand, since Franklin two years afterwards com
plained of its remaining unsold upon his shelves. 6 Franklin
published another reprint in 1741; and in the same year
appeared the first Boston edition from the press of Rogers
and Fowle.
The first American reprint of the Hymns appeared in
Boston, 1739 (J. Draper for D. Henchman) : 7 the first
4 See letter in George Hood, A History of Music in New England,
Boston, 1846, p. 155.
"See his correspondence in Proceedings of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society, 2nd series, vol. ix, especially pp. 397, 401, 408.
'In his "An Apology for Printers" (June 10, 1751) : reprinted in
A. H. Smyth's ed. of Franklin's Writings, N. Y., 1905, &c., vol. ii,
P- 173. Cf. Paul L. Ford, The many-sided Franklin, N. Y., 1899, p.
195. where is a facsimile of the title page of 1729.
'Not in Evans' American Bibliography.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 163
Philadelphia edition in 1742 (Franklin) : the first New
York edition (Hugh Gaine) in I752. 8
Throughout New England it was only as one and an
other parish first reestablished the old Psalmody on a
musical basis, that any need was felt for more singable
materials than The Bay Psalm Book furnished. Even then
there was no general turning toward Watts. It was rather
in congregations deeply moved by the revival influences of
"The Great Awakening" that the desire arose for song
more in consonance with the revival preaching and more
expressive of the evangelical fervor which the preaching
aroused. The coming of Whitefield and his large share
in the Great Awakening might be presupposed to favor
the introduction of the hymns of the Wesleyan Revival,
with which he had some association in England. But he
was no singing evangelist, and never a propagandist of the
Methodist Hymnody : he preferred a sober strain of song,
and greatly admired Watts' Psalms and Hymns.
At Northampton itself Jonathan Edwards, returning
from a journey, found that the congregation had begun to
sing Watts' Hymns in his absence ; "and sang nothing else,
and neglected the Psalms wholly." He "disliked not their
making some use of the Hymns ; but did not like their set
ting aside the Psalms," and compromised by arranging that
when they sang "three times upon the Sabbath," they
should sing "an Hymn, or part of a Hymn of Dr. Watts',
the last time, viz: at the conclusion of afternoon exercise." 9
This was in 1742, and shows how with the spread of
8 The early American reprints of Watts may be grouped as follows:
Psalms alone: Philadelphia, 1729, 1741, 1753, 1757, 1760, 1766, 1773.
Boston, 1741, 1743, 1761, 1763, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1770, 1771, 1772 (2),
!?73 (2). New York, 1754, 1756, 1760, 1761, 1772. Woodbridge, 1760.
Portsmouth, 1762. Norwich, 1773, 1774.
Hymns alone: Boston, 1739, 1743, 1769, 1771, 1772 (2), 1775. Phila
delphia, 1742, 1767, 1771, 1772. New York, 1752, 1771. Norwich, 1775.
Psalms and Hymns together (earlier issues were sometimes bound
together) : New York, 1761. Boston, 1767, 1773. Philadelphia, 1778.
"Letter of Edwards in Proceedings of Mass. Hist. Soc., 2nd series,
vol. x, p. 429.
164 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the revival the people began to sing from Watts with a
certain spontaneity in which sincerity counted for more
than precedent. The singing was not confined to the meet
ings. John White reports 10 that at Gloucester in 1744 the
singing of Watts' Hymns had taken the place of the usual
diversions of the people when met together. A new phe
nomenon was the "singing through the streets, and in
Ferry-Boats" by companies of people coming or going be
tween the meetings. To this Chauncy objected as "osten
tatious." 11 Gilbert Tennent, in a letter in The Pennsylvania
Gazette, refused to defend it : 12 Jonathan Edwards on the
other hand failed to find any valid objection against it. 13
Edwards thought "abounding in singing," both in and out
of meeting, a natural expression of the feelings awakened. 14
The disorderly singing in meeting, and the careless singing
of sacred words at home, 15 he liked no better than
Chauncy. 16 To the objection taken by many to the "mak
ing use of Hymns of humane Composure," Edwards re
sponded in terms as decided as those of Watts himself. 17
In parishes which kept to the old Psalmody through the
Revival period, the introduction of either the Imitations or
Hymns of Watts involved difficulties. Apart from the
prejudice of many against hymns 18 and their affection for
The Bay Psalm Book, the free character of Watts' Imita
tions and his omission of several Psalms 19 told against it.
There was also a preference of many others, especially
l The Christian History, Boston, vol. i, 1743, p. 41.
"Seasonable Thoughts on the state of Religion in New England,
Boston, 1743, p. 126.
12 Reprinted in his The Examiner, examined, or Gilbert Tennent
harmonious, Phila., 1743", pp. 64-66.
"Some Thoughts concerning the present Revival of Religion in
New-England, Boston, 1742, pp. 317-323.
"Some Thoughts, p. 182.
"Ibid., p. 316.
"Seasonable Thoughts, p. 239.
"Some Thoughts, p. 184.
u Cf. Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc., 2nd series, vol. ix, pp. 401, 408.
"Ibid., p. 369.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 165
the "liberal"-minded, for the smooth renderings of Tate and
Brady. 20
The parish of Spencer, Mass., affords an illustration of
the actual situation. After making trial for some time of
Tate and Brady, the church met in June, 1761, and decided
to restore The Bay. Psalm Book for four Sabbaths, then to
use Watts' Imitations till September, and finally meet for
decision. At the meeting the vote stood, for The Bay Psalm
Book, 33; for Watts, 14; for Tate and Brady, 6. It was
agreed to refer the matter to three ministers, who recom
mended a trial of Tate and Brady for six months. After
eight years adherence to The Bay Psalm Book, it was voted
in May, 1769, to make the trial of Tate and Brady as
recommended. There was a dissatisfied minority, and -it
was agreed to use The Bay Psalm Book and Watts jointly
"till the church and congregation shall come to a better un
derstanding as to what version may be sung." This arrange
ment continued until October, 1769, when it was agreed
to adopt Watts' Psalms and Hymns, by a vote of 26 in
his favor, and "about 6 votes for the old version." 21 Even
so Spencer was years ahead of very many New England
parishes.
A number of churches followed the lead of the Brattle
Street Church, to which we shall more particularly refer, in
adopting Tate and Brady, supplemented by a selection of
hymns taken mostly from Watts: Worcester in 1761, 22
Newton in I77O, 23 Charlestown in I772, 24 Westminster in
!773. 25 The Old South of Boston balked at the freedom of
Watts' Imitations, and requested Thomas Prince to make a
revision of The Bay Psalm Book, to which, as published and
introduced in 1758, was added an appendix of fifty hymns,
., P. 369.
21 Jas. Draper, History of Spencer, Massachusetts, Worcester, 2nd
ed., n. d., pp. no, HI.
22 W. Lincoln, Hist, of Worcester, 1837, p. 179.
28 F. Jackson, Hist, of Newton, 1854, P- I $6.
^Memorial Hist, of Boston, vol. ii, p. 319.
*W. S. Heywood, Hist, of Westminster, 1893, p. 282.
166 THE ENGLISH HYMN
all but eight of which are from Watts. 26 On the other hand
the Imitations, without the Hymns, were adopted by the
South Church at Portsmouth, N. H., as early as 1763 ; 27
and in 1769 Byfield voted to "make trial" of both. 28
The parishes were thus feeling their way and of many
minds. The use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns did not be
come general throughout New England Congregationalism
until after the Revolution. They were introduced at the
Old South in Boston in 1786: in 1790 at Worcester 29 and
Newton: 30 in 1791 at Shrewsbury. 31 To make the Imita
tions palatable at that epoch to the newly won liberties of
America, some changes were necessary in those passages in
which Watts had made David appear as a patriotic English
man. Outside of Connecticut these changes were made
without common action of the churches, under the auspices
of private printers.
Connecticut, which had its distinctive church government,
took also a distinctive attitude toward Watts. In the first
place its adoption of his System of Praise included only
the Imitations. In the second place, the Connecticut Asso
ciation superintended two revisions of their text, with a
view of "accommodating it to America" and also of filling
out the omitted Psalms. The earlier of these 32 appeared at
M The Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New
Testament, . . . being the New England Psalm Book revised and im
proved . . . with an addition of fifty other Hymns . . . Boston: N.E.,
1758^ 2nd ed., 17.73.
W C. W. Brewster, Rambles about Portsmouth, 2nd series, 1869, p.
338.
"Joshua Coffin, Sketch of Hist, of Newbury, &c., 1845, p. 235.
"Lincoln, p. 179.
""Jackson, p. 141.
ai A. H. Ward, History of Shrewsbury, 1847, P- 179-
"The history of these various adaptations of Watts' Psalms to
American conditions is an interesting and distinctive episode in the
progress of American Church Song. But in spirit and intent they
were a prolongation of the older Psalmody, to whose history a fuller
account of them may be relegated. The writer has attempted such an
account in "The American Revisions of Watts's Psalms" in The Jour
nal of The Presbyterian Historical Society, for June and Sept., 1903.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 167
Hartford in 1785 as Doctor Watts' s Imitation of the Psalms
of David, corrected and enlarged by Joel Barlow. To which
is added a Collection of Hymns; the whole applied to the
state of the Christian Church in general. Hartford: printed
by Barlow and Babcock. M, DCC, LXXXV. The later
was made with the concurrence of the Presbyterian General
Assembly, and appeared at Hartford in 1801 as The Psalms
of David . . . by I. Watts, D.D. A new edition, in which
the Psalms, omitted by Dr. Watts, are versified, local pas
sages are altered, and a number of Psalms are versified
anew, in proper metres. By Timothy D wight, D.D., Presi
dent of Yale College. At the request of The General Asso
ciation of Connecticut. To the Psalms is added a Selection
of Hymns: Hartford: printed by Hudson and Goodwin.
i8oi. 33 In the third place, the Connecticut Association,
while proposing to retain The Psalms imitated as the main
feature of Church Praise, provided at each revision its
own collection of hymns (in the stead of Watts' Hymns)
as an appendix to the Psalms. The hymns appended to
Barlow's revision numbered 70, selected from Watts, with
a few originals added. Like the revision itself, they were
set aside when Barlow's name became discredited in Con
necticut. D wight, between his own preference for a large
collection and that of a number of his advisers for a small
one, 34 compromised on an appendix of 263 hymns. Of
these 1 68 were from Watts, 95 by other writers, mostly of
Watts' school. "Dwight's Watts" was received with great
favour and used in Connecticut churches, perhaps without
an exception; and in some was retained for over thirty
years. 35
Dwight's book was not interfered with by The Hartford
Selection of Hymns, 1799, edited by Nathan Strong, Abel
"In this appeared the familiar "I love Thy Kingdom, Lord," as a
rendering of the I37th Psalm.
"See his preface of 1800.
K Cf. O. E. Daggett, "The Psalms in Worship," The New Eng-
lander, July, 1846, p. 328.
1 68 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Flint, and Joseph Steward. This reached an eighth edition
in 1821, but was especially designed for use in connection
with revival services. Some pastors were, however, finding
Dwight's selection of hymns too limited. He had spoken in
his preface of the "so great reverence" for Watts in this
country at that time. Of this, Samuel Worcester of Salem,
warmly interested in Church Song, was made painfully
aware. He thought room could be made for the new hymns
desired and for a selection of tunes in one volume with
Watts' Psalms and Hymns by the process of dropping some
of the less used psalms and hymns and shortening the longer
ones. A volume so made up he published at Boston in
1815 as Christian Psalmody, in four parts; comprising Dr.
Watts' s Psalms abridged; Dr. Watts' s Hymns abridged;
select Hymns from other authors; and select Harmony.
The churches resented this mode of dealing with Watts,
and the book was met by charges of "mangling," "ampu
tating," and "robbing" Watts, and by calls for "Watts
entire." 36 In view of this prejudice and demand and the
solicitation of his publisher, Worcester abandoned his Chris
tian Psalmody, enlarged the selection of hymns it contained,
and, against his own taste and judgment, appended them
to the complete Psalms and Hymns of Watts. The new
collection appeared at Boston in 1819 as The Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D.,
to which are added select Hymns from other authors; and
directions for musical expression. By Samuel Worcester,
D.D. It was revised in 1823, and again in 1834 by his son,
and came into wide use throughout New England and even
beyond it. Familiarly known as "Watts and Select," it
became one of the best recognized channels of Watts'
ascendency over Church Song, and so continued as long as
the churches were disposed to regard the ever widening area
of English Hymnody in the light of an appendage to Watts'
Psalms and Hymns.
W S. M. Worcester, Life of Rev. Samuel Worcester, Boston, 1852,
vol. ii, p. 267.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 169
2. AN AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CHURCH Music
The transition from the older Psalmody to Watts in New
England became associated with a great change in the
character of the tunes used in the churches. The formation
of singing societies and choirs led to a desire for tunes less
simple than the accustomed settings of the older psalm
tunes, and in greater variety. Reprints appeared at Boston
and Newburyport of recent English tune books by William
Tans'ur and Aaron Williams, and became very popular ; and
a group of native composers began to introduce com
positions of their own into the tune books and choirs. The
most notable of these and the most influential in effecting
the change was an eccentric but gifted tanner's apprentice
of Boston, William Billings, who had printed in 1770 his
first book of original compositions, as The New-England
Psalm-Singer: or, American Chorister, containing a number
of Psalm-tunes, Anthems and Canons. In four or five parts.
[Never before published.] Composed by William Billings,
a native of Boston, in New England (Boston, Edes and
Gill) . The book proved acceptable to New England singing
schools. During the war Billings wrote or adapted patriotic
psalms, and set them to stirring melodies of his own com
position. His original "Let tyrants shake their iron rod,"
to his tune "Chester," and his "Lamentation over Boston,"
beginning "By the Rivers of Watertown we sat down and
wept," are now best remembered. 37 The words stirred
the patriotic heart, and with their striking melodies were
sung at home and by the choirs, and especially in the mili
tary camps. The New England soldiers learned the words
by heart, and every fifer the tunes, and carried them to
whatever part of the country duty called them.
In 1778 Billings published at Boston The Singing Mas
ters Assistant, or Key to practical Music. Its tunes of
lively rhythm and captivating melody, with much inde-
87 Words and music may be found in his The Singing Master's
Assistant, 1778; the former as No. 12, the latter as No. 33.
1 70 THE ENGLISH HYMN
pendence of movement in the various voice-parts and some
unexpected harmonic results, proved very popular with
singing schools and church choirs, and drove out the slower
and more solemn psalm-tunes. Billings established a dis
tinctively American school of church music, 38 carried on
by Jacob Kimball, Oliver Holden, 39 Daniel Reed, 40 Timothy
Swan, 41 and others, who were his followers; and it domi
nated Congregational Song in New England for many
years.
The new music, while tickling the senses, lacked the
reverence and spiritual feeling of the old. But the close of
the Revolution was particularly distinguished for the
absence of just those qualities; and the swing and virility
of the new tunes suited the occasion, while the exciting
contests of the voice-parts gave welcome occupation to the
singing schools and the new choirs.
The reader of The Diary of William Bentley, D.D.,
Pastor of the East Church, Salem, Massachusetts* 2 cover
ing 1784-1802, can follow the agitated efforts to improve
the Psalmody in a parish where the minister was bent on
bettering the singing, the visits of successive ''professors,"
the fortunes of a parochial singing-school, thought by some
personality and work of this one-eyed, illtaught, and en
thusiastic natural genius, form an engaging theme, from whatever
view-point it be approached. The only adequate materials for study
ing him are the music, treatises, prefaces, &c., contained in the series
of his tune books. The most satisfactory approaches to the musical
side of his work are found in Dr. F. R. Ritter's Music in America,
new. ed., New York, 1890, chap, iii; and Louis C. Elson's The History
of American Music, New York, 1904, chap. i. Something of the
human side appears in George P. Upton's Musical Pastels, Chicago,
1902, in a sketch of him, wrongly entitled "The first American Com
poser." It is now well established that both Hopkinson and Lyon were
his predecessors (see O. G. Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson and James
Lyon, Washington, 1905) ; though the fact abates nothing of Billings'
original force.
"Composer of "Coronation."
"Composer of "Lisbon" and "Windham."
"Composer of "China."
"Salem, Mass., 1905, 1907.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 171
to encourage immorality, the introduction of instrumental
music; 43 and he will find also a brief outline of the history
of New England Psalmody. 44
The new style of church music did not spread over New
England without considerable protest. Andrew Law of
Connecticut, one of the most successful "Professors of
Psalmody" contemporaneous with Billings, resisted his in
fluence from the first, and in his numerous books of instruc
tion and of tunes aimed to avoid the seductive "fuguing
tunes." By the beginning of the XlXth century the protest
against the new music became more pronounced. The
Middlesex Musical Society voiced the opposition in the
preface to its Middlesex Collection of Church Music: or,
Ancient Psalmody revived (Boston, 1807) :
'The spirit and flavor of old wine are always depressed by the
commixture of new. . . . The principal design of [this work] is, to form
and improve a taste for music, well adapted to promote religion and
piety. . . . Patronage and co-operation are earnestly solicited, from all
those in the community, who are well disposed to the public institutions
of religion, and desirous that the singing in our solemn assemblies
may be performed 'with the spirit and with the understanding.' And
it is hoped the time is not far distant, when none will have the temerity
to advocate or countenance profaning the house of the LORD, by offer
ing a Babel confusion of tongues, as an act of homage in divine
worship."
This reads like a retort to the preface of The First
Church Collection of sacred musick of the previous year :
"In the knowledge and practice of sacred musick, as might justly
be expected, the psalmodists of the elder continent are vastly superior
to those of America. But is this fact a sufficient reason for the total
disuse of American musick? . . . Instead therefore of ridiculing the
productions of our age and country, and indiscriminately condemning
to oblivion the incipient efforts of the American composer, let us,
while we reject his worst, commend his best; and, by using them
alternately with the labours of able masters, form him to a riper
judgment and a purer taste ... In the exercise therefore of that
charity, which teaches us not to please ourselves merely, but our
Christian brethren also, with a view to their edification, we humbly
commit our endeavours to their use."
"There is now no ground of complaint against the catholics."
"Vol. ii, p. 371.
172 THE ENGLISH HYMN
We thus get the atmosphere of the controversy which
helped to clear the air, and which, together with the spread
of better musical knowledge and taste, eventually prepared
the way for the Lowell Mason epoch in American church
music.
It is likely that the most voluminous of the composers
of this period, Samuel Holyoke of Massachusetts, counted
himself a reformer, and that he regarded The Columbian
Repository of sacred harmony (Exeter, N. H., n. d.),
published in the . first decade of the XlXth century, as
adapted to forward the reaction from the extremes of the
Billings school. Whether it was so or not, his book remains
as a colossal monument of the ascendency of Watts over
the congregational praise of New England. This folio
volume of 496 pages contains nothing less than a complete
reprint of Watts' Psalms of David imitated** and his Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, with every Psalm version and hymn
set to its special tune in four parts. As an offering to New
England choirs, unable to read at sight or to use so great
a variety of music, it was ineffective from the first; but as
a New England tribute to Dr. Watts its testimony remains
unimpaired.
The closing pages of Holyoke's book are occupied by a
"Supplement" of tunes "suited to Metres in Dr. Belknap's
and Tate & Brady's Psalms and Hymns, which are not in
Dr. Watts'." This supplement serves to remind us that a
dissenting type of Congregationalist Hymnody had already
risen in New England, which now demands consideration.
3. THE LIBERALS COMPILE "NON-TRINITARIAN" HYMN
BOOKS (1753-1823)
The church at Brattle Square, Boston, had been the first
"Holyoke seems to have taken as his text of The Psalms imitated an
Americanized version first printed by Isaiah Thomas at Worcester in
1786, and characterized by its omission of the C. M. Version of Psalm
21.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 173
to break away from the fixed order of New England Con
gregationalism. Though regarded as radical, it was or
ganized upon the basis of the Westminster Confession, and
in the matter of Church Praise was most conservative.
When Thomas Brattle, whose will was probated May 23,
1713, bequeathed his organ to the church, the congregation
voted that they did not think it proper to use the same in
the public worship of God. 46 To the efforts of its pastor,
Benjamin Colman, Watts attributed the introduction of his
Imitations into several New England parishes. 47 In 1739
Colman got his church to vote for a collection of hymns to
be selected from Watts, but found that even the attempt to
use a new version of the Psalms so endangered the peace
of the church that he decided to leave things as they were. 48
Nevertheless the Brattle Street Church, after Colman's
death, led the way in hymn singing among Boston churches,
adopting in 1753 Tate and Brady with an appendix of
hymns to be selected by a committee. 49 This appeared in
1754 as Appendix, containing a number of Hymns, taken
chiefly from Dr. Watts's Scriptural Collection, and was
enlarged from time to time to include 103 hymns. 50 Tate
and Brady with this appendix, and sometimes with D.
Bayley's Essex Harmony or his Psalm Singer's Assistant,
bound in, appeared often in the next half century, and be
came the means of introducing hymns of Watts into a num
ber of parishes.
The installation of Jonathan Mayhew over the West
Church in 1747 was the first definite recognition of the
*"S. K. Lothrop, History of Brattle-Street Church, Boston, 1851, pp.
61, 62: more fully in "The first Organ in America," New England
Magazine, Oct., 1902, pp. 212 ff.
"Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc., 2nd series, vol. ix, pp. 365, 397.
"Ibid., p. 365.
49 See preface to "Brattle Square Collection," 1825.
w The hymns numbered 77-100 in the Appendix to Tate and Brady
published by S. Kneeland, Boston, 1760, were an addition to the
Brattle Street Appendix made by Mather Byles for the Hollis Street
Church.
174 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Arian opinions and tendencies which had crossed over from
English Presbyter ian i sm ; and by the last quarter of the
century nearly all the Congregationalist pulpits in and near
Boston were filled by Unitarians. 51
Mayhew found Tate and Brady in use at the West
Church, and asked for no change during his life, though
a choir took the place of the precentor about I754- 52 No
hymns were sung in the West Church till the appearance in
1783 of A Collection of Hymns, more particularly designed
for the use of the West Society in Boston, (2nd ed. 1803;
3rd, 1806) , 53 Its opening hymns were entitled "Toleration"
and "Persecution," but it contained also hymns on "Jesus,
worshipped by all the Creation," "The Atonement of
Christ," and "Christ's Propitiation improved." William
Bentley of the East Church, Salem, already an avowed
Unitarian, 54 followed with A Colection of Hymns for pub-
lick worship (Salem, n. d. but I788), 55 which reached a
third edition, and was used in the East Church until i842. 56
Its only interest lies in the selection, at so early a date, of
the Salisbury Collection of 1778 as the source of nearly all
its hymns. Six years later Jeremy Belknap "performed a
very important service for the non-Trinitarian churches" 57
by publishing Sacred Poetry. Consisting of Psalms and
Hymns, adapted to Christian devotion, in public and private.
Selected from the best authors, with variations and addi
tions (Boston, 1795). This important (it has been called
n Cf. A. P. Peabody in The Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii, pp.
467 ff.
K Chas. Lowell, Discourse in the West Church, Boston, 1820, p. 26.
"Bentley says it was edited by Dr. Howard. See his Diary, vol. ii,
P- 37i.
"Ibid., vol. i, p. 08.
B6 In the "Bibliography" of the Diary, vol. i, p. xxxvii, it is dated
1789, but came from the printer in November, 1788 (vol. i, p. 109).
The writer's copy was "The Gift of Rev. Mr. Bentley, 1789." For an
interesting defence of the theology of his Collection, made to his
father, see Diary, vol. i, p. 114.
K Diary, vol. i, p. xiii.
"Dr. Peabody in Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii, p. 473.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 175
"famous") 58 book has been described by Dr. Peabody 59 "as
an index of the religious belief and feeling of the churches
that welcomed its advent." If so, it would be easy to show
that the churches held all the cardinal doctrines of Calvin
ism. But Belknap's own curious point of view is thus
revealed in his preface :
"In this selection those Christians, who do not scruple to sing
praise to their Redeemer and Sanctifier, will find materials for such a
sublime enjoyment; whilst others whose tenderness of conscience may
oblige them to confine their addresses, to the Father only will find no
deficiency of matter suited to their idea of 'the chaste and awful spirit
of devotion.'" 60
Belknap's book won great favor, and continued to satisfy
a considerable proportion of the "non-Trinitarian churches"
through and beyond the first quarter of the XlXth cen
tury. 61 Freeman's A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for
publick worship (Boston, 1799: 2nd ed., 1813), for King's
Chapel, was made from its American predecessors just
referred to, the English books from the Liverpool Collec
tion of 1763 to Enfield's of 1795, and Tate and Brady. In
1808, the year of Henry Ware's election as Hollis Professor
at Harvard, the Brattle Street Church annexed to its col
lection Hymns for public worship. Part ii; whose exclusion
of "most of the capital doctrines of the gospel" was at once
challenged by The Panoplist. Q2> From the Panoplist's point
of view William Emerson's A Collection of Psalms and
Hymns (Boston, 1808), was even more open to the same
charge. His book was ineffective, but interesting for an
attempt to refine and enrich "Columbian musick" by "pre
fixing to each psalm and hymn the name of a tune, well
M By Dr. S. A. Eliot, in Heralds of a Liberal Faith, Boston, 1910,
vol. i, p. 103.
M ut supra.
"In Watts' familiar line "Save in the death of Christ my God,"
Belknap's only alteration was the substitution of "But" for "Save."
61 2nd ed., 1797; 3rd, 1801 ; 4th, 1804; 5th, 1808; new. ed., 1812, often
reprinted.
82 See the review in the number for Sept. 1808; the reply of "Brattle
Street" and editorial comments thereon in the Nov. number.
176 THE ENGLISH HYMN
composed and judicially chosen" as "a valuable auxiliary
to musical bands."
To Philadelphia Unitarianism came directly from Eng
land with Dr. Priestley; and in 1812 Ralph Eddowes and
James Taylor, who had charge of the little congregation
Priestley founded, published A Selection of sacred Poetry,
consisting of Psalms and Hymns from Watts, Doddridge,
Merrick, Scott, Cowper, Barbauld, Steele, and others. 63
Eddowes had already published a tract on The inconsistency
of several passages in Doctor Watts's Hymns with Scrip
ture and with each other. 64 But, the inexpediency of using
"Watts entire" being thus demonstrated, Eddowes drew
freely from him and other evangelical sources, and in his
collection of 606 hymns aimed not unsuccessfully to avoid
offence to the orthodox bodies that enveloped his little con
gregation.
Little account of the Philadelphia book was taken in New
England, although the situation there was regarded as un
satisfactory. It was becoming a matter of reproach that
numerous churches, though now enrolled on the "liberal"
side, persisted in using Watts' Psalms and Hymns, to which
they had formerly become attached. 65 And not less so that
of all the books aiming to supersede Watts or Psalm ver
sions, the "only collection now in common use" was Belk-
nap's with "its unnatural combination of eager Arianism
and half-willing Orthodoxy." 66 Two books were prepared
with a view of meeting this situation. The earlier was
Henry F. Sewall's A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, for
social and private worship (N. Y. 1820; 2nd ed., 1827).
This urbane expression of "a calm and rational faith" was
favorably regarded by Boston periodicals, 67 but failed of
adoption by New England churches. It retains, however,
M 2nd ed., 1818; 3rd, 1828; 4th, 1846.
"Included in A Coll. of Pieces and Tracts pub. by the First Unitarian
Society, Phila., 1810.
"The Christian Disciple, vol. iii, 1821, p. 341.
"Ibid., pp. 76, 362.
"E. g. The Christian Disciple for 1821, pp. 76, 360-369.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 177
the distinction of introducing five originals of William Cul-
len Bryant. The other book had a nearly similar title, A
Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for social and private
worship (Andover, 1821; 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1824; nth
ed., Boston, 1832). It was compiled by J. P. Dabney, with
an eye for practical considerations : being smaller, cheaper,
better arranged, and with less tinkering of familiar texts,
than Sewall's. It came into very considerable, though far
from universal, use in the churches. We may perhaps re
gard these two books, and the new West Church Collection
of 1823, as closing the earlier series of liberal or Unitarian
hymn books ; to be followed in turn by the remarkable series
of a more "literary" type that distinguished the mid-century.
The books of this early period are characterized by their
omissions rather than their inclusions, as being the work
of men (except perhaps Freeman), who "had not made up
their own minds" "on the subject of the nature and offices
of Jesus." 68 Meantime they avoided the area "still con
troverted among Christians" (Sewall), and "what savors of
party spirit and sectarian notions" (Emerson). This meant
practically to alter or omit the older hymns of evangelical
implication and to multiply hymns confined to "the natural
or universal aspects of religion." It resulted, except in the
case of Belknap's anomalous book, in a marked coldness of
tone as contrasted with Watts'. Belknap, Emerson, Ed-
dowes and Sewall avowedly aim to adapt their books to
"Christians in general." Dabney is the only one who rec
ognizes that his "cannot meet with very general acceptance."
II. THE PRESBYTERIANS (1739-1827)
i. "NEW SIDE" CHURCHES VENTURE TO SING WATTS'
"IMITATIONS"
The Presbyterian Church of the colonies was by its varied
inheritance and its own practice a psalm singing Church.
68 Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Sprague, Annals of the American Uni
tarian Pulpit, New York, 1865, p. 245.
178 THE ENGLISH HYMN
It cannot, however, be claimed that an exclusively Scriptural
Psalmody was made a church principle, since the Adopting
Act of 1729 failed to include the Westminster Directory for
Worship as a part of its written constitution. Neither was
there any special psalm book in prescribed or even general
use. But the hold of the Scottish type of Psalmody was
materially strengthened by the great volume of immigration
from the North of Ireland. The Scotch-Irish brought with
them The Psalms of David in meeter bound in with their
Bibles, and to their minds almost a part of it. They had
been accustomed to a Scriptural Psalmody as of course:
few of them knew any psalm book but their own : and they
were not of the temper that is personally concerned with
the literary or musical development of Church Song.
Thus reinforced, the whole lump of Presbyterianism be
came more impervious than some other Churches were to
the leaven of Watts' influence. Indeed, the Scotch-Irish
gift for colonization tended to remove whole sections of
the Church beyond contact with that influence. It carried
large numbers away from the established centres of civiliza
tion, and segregated them in frontier settlements, where
their own ways were unquestioned and their minds became
incurious. And so it could happen, that, when in 1763 the
reunited Synod of New York and Philadelphia was ques
tioned as to whether churches were at liberty "to sing Dr.
Watts's imitation of David's Psalms," the Synod was not
prepared to give a full answer, "as a great number of this
body have never particularly considered Dr. Watts's imi
tation." 69
There was, on the other hand, within the Church an
aggressive element, Scotch and Scotch-Irish, well informed
as to Watts' work and influence, and fully prepared to resist
it. And just beyond the Church's borders a number of
small bodies were forming, who represented one or other
type of Scottish dissent; unalterably set in principle on the
strictest platform of psalm singing, and in practice con-
**Records of the Presbyterian Church, ed. 1904, p. 331.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 179
fined to "Rous' Version." Neither their principles nor in
terest called them to quench the embers of strife in the
larger body or to refuse a refuge to the disaffected.
Under these circumstances it was inevitable that Presby
terian hymn singing should be deferred, and that its intro
duction should involve controversy. There was indeed no
general desire to sing hymns among Colonial Presbyterians.
The progressives asked no more than liberty to choose their
own psalm book; and it was not till the beginning of the
XlXth century that the Church formally authorized the use
of any designated hymn book.
The first influence that modified the uniformity of the
old Psalmody, among Presbyterians as among Congrega-
tionalists, was the quickened evangelical fervor aroused by
the Great Awakening; which revival became indeed the oc
casion of splitting the Church itself in 1741 into "New Side"
and "Old Side" synods.
This influence is nowhere more clearly brought out than
in the apologia of the Trustees of the Church in New York
for the change in their congregational Psalmody : 70
"That during the times of the Revival of Religion in the years 1739,
1740 and 1741 when God said to this church, arise, shine for thy light
is come, &c., there was a vast accession of people to this Light and
to the brightness of this churches rising; in that period the poetick
writings particularly the Hymns of the sweet singer of our Israel
became of excellent service and for the divine relish which in the
use of them had affected many minds. During that remarkable season,
many of the people became desirous of introducing some one of the
New Versions of the Psalms, into the stated publick worship of the
congregation; and from their knowledge and experience of their
suitableness to animate and raise their own devotion, hoping this might
produce the same effect on others. After this matter had been some
years under consideration and by the private use of the New Version,
the old Version had become every day to the Taste of many more
and more flat, dull, insipid and undevotional . . . and it had been
judged that no objection could arise against introducing Doctor Watts
version but from ignorance of the difference between the old version
and that, or from some unreasonable prejudice, the ministers, elders,
deacons and trustees with the approbation of the principal part of the
70 Ms. Journal, quoted in Briggs, American Presbyterianism, New
York, 1885, pp. 280, 281.
i8o THE ENGLISH HYMN
congregation, . . . desired that, that version might be proposed to the
congregation to be introduced in a months time unless sufficient reason
to the contrary should be signified to Mr. Pemberton in the mean
time."
The minority at once organized as a Scotch Presbyterian
Society, and complained to Presbytery, which body referred
the matter to the (New Side) Synod of New York. Synod
in 1752 appointed a committee to adjust the difficulties,
with power to authorize the use of Watts' Imitations, and
a larger committee in 1753. In 1754 Synod adopted the
findings of this committee objecting to certain proceedings,
but deciding that "since Dr. Watts's version is introduced
in this church, and is well adapted for Christian worship,
and received by many Presbyterian congregations, both in
America and Great Britain, they cannot but judge it best
for the well-being of the congregation under their present
circumstances, that they should be continued." 71 The dis
turbance in New York continuing, the Synod of 1755
directed "that the Scotch version be used equally with the
other." 72 This direction was not obeyed. The Synod of
1756 rebuked the majority for their adherence to Watts,
but also revoked their order of the previous year; thus
leaving Wattts' Imitations in sole possession of the field. 73
The offended minority withdrew from the New York
church to form "The Scotch Church," which was taken
under the care of the Associate Presbytery, representing
one of the secessions from the Church of Scotland.
The introduction of the "new version" into churches
newly established involved less difficulty. That at New-
buryport, organized by Whitefield's supporters in 1746, used
Watts' Imitations from the beginning; and they were
recommended by the Presbytery of Boston as "well adapted
to the New Testament Church." 74 Newburyport and its
^Records, p. 260.
"Ibid., p. 267.
"Ibid., p. 275.
74 H. C. Hovey, Origin and Annals of "The Old South" in
buryport, Boston, 1896, p. 53.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 181
Presbytery were independent, but the process of church
extension under the New Side Synod of New York
developed some similar situations. Samuel Davies, whom
the Presbytery of New Castle ordained for missionary work
in Virginia, introduced there not only The Psalms imitated
but even the Hymns of Watts. Two of the former were
sung at the installation of John Todd over a Hanover
congregation on November 12, 1752, and printed in full in
connection with Davies' Installation sermon. 75 In 1755 he
wrote from Hanover that Watts' Psalms and Hymns were
"the system of psalmody the Dissenters use in these parts/'
and in the same year made requisition upon the London
Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge for "a good
number" of the Psalms and Hymns for the use of his black
people. He had found there are no books they learn so
soon or take such pleasure in, as they have "a kind of
ecstatic delight in psalmody." 76 Davies' use of the Hymns
was independent and exceptional at that date; and in con
nection with the writing and publication of hymns of his
own composition, makes him a pioneer of Hymnody in the
American Presbyterian Church.
After Davies' departure for Princeton John Todd "was
called to wear his mantle" ; and when a petition was pre
sented to the recently formed Presbytery of Hanover,
"desiring their opinion, whether Dr. Watts's psalmody
might with safety be used in the churches," Todd delivered
by invitation of that body a trenchant defence of "Gospel
Songs" and of the use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns as
"the best now extant" : An humble attempt towards the
improvement of Psalmody: The propriety, necessity and
use, of Evangelical Psalms, in Christian worship. Delivered
at a meeting of the Presbytery of Hanover in Virginia,
~'*A Sermon preached at the Installation of the Revd. Mr. John
Todd, Glasgow, 1754, pp. 17, 113.
^Letters from the Rev. Mr. Davies, 2nd ed., London, 1757, p. 12;
W. H. Foote, Sketches of Virginia [first series], Philada., 1850, pp.
286, 289.
182 THE ENGLISH HYMN
October 6th, 1762 (Philadelphia: Andrew Steuart, 1763).
"I am fully persuaded," he said, "that the churches in these
parts have received very great advantage from [Watts']
excellent compositions, especially his sacramental hymns."
By others in the Presbytery this opinion was not shared.
Even on the New Side the change in the Psalmody was
hesitating and gradual. The Old Side churches furnished
no occasion for the Synod of Philadelphia to adjudicate on
Psalmody during the whole period of the schism. When in
1763 the query already noted as to the status of "Dr. Watts's
imitation" in the reunited Church reached the Synod of
New York and Philadelphia, it is plain that recent investi
gation had convinced many that the Imitations could not
be regarded as Psalm- versions. In the Synod of 1764 there
was hot debate, and the situation was difficult between
lingering Old Side scruples and the New Side precedent in
the New York case. No conclusion could be reached till the
Synod of 1765 compromised upon a hesitating allowance
of the Imitations in these terms :
"The Synod judged it best, in present circumstances, only to declare
that they look on the inspired Psalms in Scripture, to be proper matter
to be sung in Divine worship, according to their original design and
the practice of the Christian churches, yet will not forbid those to
use the imitation of them whose judgment and inclination lead them
to do so." 77
In the very year of this query, John Miller, by training
a Congregationalist, was complained of to the Presbytery of
Lewes, Delaware, for introducing Watts' Imitations into
his Duck Creek charge. The Presbytery sustained him, but
his other charge at Dover, continued to sing "Rous' Ver
sion" for many years. 78
At Philadelphia, in the Second Church, initiated by
Whitefield's visit, and shepherded by Gilbert Tennent, no
steps toward changing the Psalmody were ventured on till
1773. At the Whitefield Memorial Service, October 14,
"Records, p. 345.
78 S. Miller, Life of Samuel Miller, Phila., 1869, vol. i, p. 22.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 183
1770, Watts' hymn, "A Funeral Thought," and Wesley's
"Ah ! lovely appearance of death," taken from Whitefield's
hymn book, were sung by a company of young people, 79
but doubtless regarded as "anthems." 80 On March 15,
1773, the congregation voted to introduce Watts' Imita
tions. So much protest was made that a second congrega
tional meeting was held on March 22, which ratified the
choice by a vote of 38 for Watts, and 8 for Rous. 81 The
minority vainly petitioned the session to reinstate "Rous"
as the only way to restore order and peace, and appealed to
the First Presbytery of Philadelphia, which refused to
interfere, "as the aforesaid Psalms are used by a large
Number of the Congregations within the Bounds of the
Synod, and the Synod have allowed the use of them." 82
An appeal brought the matter once more before the reunited
Synod. That body in 1774 declined to decide the case on
its merits, on the belated plea that it had no time to con
sider the versions in question; but in view of earlier per
missions to use "Dr. Watts's imitation," refused "to make
any order to forbid the congregation to continue the prac
tice now begun." 83
Thus once more the matter of changing the Psalmody
was left to the decision of the congregation concerned, and
the way was officially left open both for the forbearance
which Synod earnestly enjoined, and for the years of bitter
parochial strife which its decision assured. Meantime, in
the years preceding the Revolution, the change to Watts
was effected in some parishes, and in many more the advo
cates of such change were steadily increasing in number.
In many minds the wish for improvement in the substance
of Praise must have been accompanied also by a longing for
n j. Sproat, Discourse occasioned by the death of George Whitefield,
Phila., 1771.
'"The New Side Synod of N. Y. had recommended the disuse of
anthems on the Lord's Day. Records, p. 260.
81 Ms. minutes.
S2 Ms. minutes, May 21, 1773.
^Records, p. 448.
184 THE ENGLISH HYMN
its better rendering. The Presbyterian Psalmody of the
time appears to have been as deplorable as that of New
England before "regular" singing was introduced. The
adhesion to "Rous" carried with it generally an exclusive
regard for the few "common tunes" to which that version
had been sung in the old country. The ability to render
them with musical correctness had long been lost, and the
universal practice was to have the psalms lined out by a
precentor, who might or might not know the rudiments of
music. John Adams, accustomed to the New England im
provements, reports that even in New York in 1774, the
Psalmody of the "Old Presbyterian Society" is "in the old
way, as we call it all the drawling, quavering, discord in
the world." 84 Attending the college chapel at Princeton,
seven days later (August 27), he notes that the scholars
sing as badly as the Presbyterians at New York." 85 It is
altogether unlikely that much better conditions prevailed in
towns and settlements less accessible to observant travellers.
There had been, however, at Philadelphia a beginning of
"the art of psalmody," in which many Presbyterians were
concerned, and as early as 1760 a school in which it was
taught. 86 In 1761-2 James Lyon, a Nassau-Hall graduate
of 1759 and afterwards a Presbyterian clergyman, pub
lished by subscription the most elaborate book of church
music that had yet appeared in the colonies : Urania, or
a choice Collection of Psalm-Tunes, Anthems, and Hymns,
from the most, approv'd authors, with some entirely new:
in two, three, and four parts: the whole peculiarly adapted
to the use of churches and private families: to which are
prefix 'd the plainest, & most necessary rules of psalmody.
**Works of John Adams, vol. ii, Boston, 1850, p. 348.
"Ibid., p. 356.
88 O. G. Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, Washington,
I 95> P- I2 7- As early as 1763 there appeared at Philadelphia from the
press of Anthony Armbruster, Tunes in three parts, for the several
metres of Dr. IVatts's version of the Psalms; some of which tunes
are new. Price one shilling & sixpence, stitched. There was a 2nd
ed. in 1764.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 185
By James Lyon, A.B. (Philadelphia). Among the sub
scribers are many connected with Nassau-Hall, and
prominent Presbyterian clergy and laymen in Philadelphia
and elsewhere. It was followed by The lawfulness, excel
lency and advantage of instrumental musick in the public
worship of God, urg'd and enforc'd, from Scripture, and the
examples of the far greater part of Christians in all ages.
Addressed to all (particularly the Presbyterians and Bap
tists) who have hitherto been taught to look upon the use
of instrumental musick in the worship of God as unlawful.
By a Presbyterian (Philadelphia, Wm. Dunlap, 1763).
This Presbyterian plea for the organ is with a view of im
proving the congregational singing in the Philadelphia
churches, of which the writer says that "the miserable
Manner in which this Part of their Worship is dron'd out,
seems rather to imitate the Braying of Asses, than the
divine Melody so often recommended in Scripture." 87
But the list of subscribers prefixed to some early copies
of Urania shows that "the art of psalmody" had attracted
the attention of some influential men in the Second Church.
And, from the young people's choir of 1770 already re
ferred to, and the ensuing struggle to introduce Watts, we
may infer that some beginning was soon attempted in the
way of bettering church music there. But any such attempt
there or elsewhere was effectually blocked by the Revolu
tion.
OT P. 19. There is a copy in The Pennsylvania Historical Society.
The pamphlet appeared in April, and was so readily bought that Dun-
lap advertised a 2nd ed. on June 16. In the same month a burlesque
2nd ed. was advertised as published by Andrew Steuart, viz. A Cud-
gell to drive the Devil out of every Christian place of worship: Be
ing a second edition (with necessary improvements, which now render
the sense entirely plain) of The lawfulness, excellency and advantage,
of instrumental music, in the public worship of God, but chiefly of
organs. (Sonneck, op. cit., pp. 131, 132. Hildeburn, No. 1883).
"Presbyterian" states that St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, was "the
only English Congregation in the Province" having an organ at that
time, though the two other Episcopal churches were then raising
organ funds (pp. 28, 30).
1 86 THE ENGLISH HYMN
In the decimated and impoverished congregations at the
close of the war, Psalmody was maintained with difficulty.
The complaint 88 that the services had largely "lost even the
appearance of devotion" may be explained by the religious
apathy and irreverence which the Revolution left behind it.
But the fact that "many" did "not join in singing the
praises of God" or give their attention to the singing in
progress, is partly at least explained by the deplorable con
ditions to which the singing was reduced. If it was so bad
musically before the war, it was certainly no better after
ward. Samuel Blair at Neshaminy describes the congre
gations as "drolling out the tones of ill-measured dullness,
or jarring with harsh discord."
2. THE GREAT "PSALMODY CONTROVERSY"
From other points of view than the musical, there was
apparent need of some reconstruction of Presbyterian
Psalmody. The number of those using or wishing to use
Watts' Imitations and even his hymns, was always grow
ing; but, even so, The Psalms of David imitated contained
many objectionable allusions to the British sovereign and
state. On the other hand, in almost every congregation in
the Scotch and Irish settlements of the South and West
there was at least a determined minority resisting change.
Any suggestion, on the part of the more progressive ele
ment, of Watts' superiority, was enough to turn a congre
gation into a -debating society. Any effort to introduce
Watts into public worship was to disturb and often to
convulse a parish, if not indeed a larger area.
It may have been with a hope of uniting the two parties
that a proposal was made to the Synod of 1785, with a view
of attaining "the nearest uniformity that is practicable,"
that "the Synod choose out, and order some of their number
to take the assistance of all the versions in our power, and
""Preface to proposed Directory for Worship, in A Draught of the
Form of the Government and Discipline of the Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A., New York, S. & J. Loudon, 1787, p. 53-
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 187
compose for us a version more suitable to our circumstances
and taste than any we now have." 89 After some debate,
the proposal was carried by a small majority. The com
mittee reported progress in 1786, and was continued. No
further report from them is recorded. The minutes of the
Synod of 1787 contain the bare statement: "The Synod did
allow and do allow, that Dr. Watts's imitation of David's
Psalms, as revised by Mr. Barlow, be sung in the churches
and families under their care." 90 There is nothing in the
record to connect this with any previous action; but John
Black, who was present, stated in a sermon at Marsh-
Creek in I790, 91 that the action was taken upon the report
of the committee theretofore appointed, to the effect, that
having compared such versions as they could obtain, they
did not apprehend any so well calculated for Christian
worship, as that of Dr. Watts, as amended by Mr. Barlow
of New England." He adds tKat Barlow's Watts "was
then laid before Synod for their consideration, who, after
mature deliberation, gave it their judicial sanction."
But the unexpected part of Mr. Black's testimony is what
follows, to the effect that "the committee had also added a
book of hymns to this version; but it was laid aside; not
because Synod disapproved of the thing in itself, but because
some parts of the collection seemed to them exceptionable."
There is no reason to question his testimony as to the pro
posed book, and his interpretation of the mind of the Synod
is confirmed by the fact that its committee to prepare a new
Directory for Worship embodied hymn singing in their
draught of their Directory printed in that same year. That
the Synod in 1787 was already prepared to examine a
specific hymn book on its merits goes far to explain why
hymn singing slipped into the written constitution of the
Church with so little debate or even notice. Even so, two
^Records, pp. 513, 514, 522.
"Ibid., p. 535-
91 The duty of Christians, in singing the praise of God, explained.
A Sermon. By John Black. Carlisle, Kline & Reynolds, 1790, p. 46.
1 88 THE ENGLISH HYMN
questions remain to puzzle us. First: if any hymns were
considered in 1787, why not Watts' Hymns, which were
not "exceptionable," had become dear to many, and were
beginning to find their way into churches, without authori
zation? Second: what was the "book of hymns" added by
the committee? It would seem probable that it was the
appendix of seventy hymns (mostly from Watts; a few
of his own), which Barlow added to his revision of Watts'
Imitations as presented to, and adopted by, the General
Association of Connecticut. Nevertheless surviving copies
of one of the first issues of Barlozv's Watts containing the
certificate of its authorization by Synod, and printed at
Philadelphia in 1 787 by Francis Bailey, have, bound in with
the psalms and bearing a separate title, 92 a collection of
139 hymns, whose presence in that connection has not been
explained. The collection is of unusual excellence and
variety for that time, being brightened by lyrics of both
the Wesley brothers, Miss Steele and others later than
Watts. In view of the fact that such men of culture as
Dr. Ewing, Dr. Robert Davidson, and Dr. Alison, were
on the committee, it remains as an interesting possibility
that this collection is the first tentative hymn book of Ameri
can Presbyterianism.
The approval of Barlow's Watts by the Synod of 1787
involved no change of attitude, except that it gave finality
to a position which heretofore might seem to be held tenta
tively. Synod's action was taken in full view of the con
troversy then raging in the South and West between the
partisans of "Rous" and those of Watts, in the presence
indeed of representatives of both sides from the disturbed
K Hymns suited to the Christian worship in the United States of
America. Philadelphia: printed by Francis Bailey, at Yorick's Head,
in Market Street. MDCCLXXXVII. The title of the edition of
"Barlow's Watts" which it follows reads: Psalms, carefully suited to
the Christian worship in the United States of America. Being an
improvement of the Old Version of the Psalms of David. Allowed by
the reverend Synod of New York and Philadelphia, to be used in
churches and private families (Same imprint and date).
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 189
Presbytery of Abingdon. 93 The pleas of neither side moved
Synod from its position : it would not commit the Church
to any type of Psalmody; it had already approved both
"Rous" and Watts for use in worship, and approved both
still; any question as to which should be preferred in any
given case was a parochial issue, to be handled forbearingly
no doubt, but not to be brought before Synod. 94
The issue between "Rous" and Watts was thenceforward,
then, merely a parochial issue. But, in the years following,
the aggregate of* parishes affected by it was so great, and
the consequences so serious, as to make these years of con
troversy something like a distinct era in the history of the
Presbyterian Church.
In Virginia the issue was definitely framed in a fruitless
appeal to the Presbytery of Hanover to discipline the Rev.
Charles Cummings for abetting the use of Watts. But Mr.
Cummings was forced out of his charges by the uneasiness
of his people; and the atmosphere of party feeling is re
vealed by the inquiry from some in various congregations
to Presbytery in 1784, as to whether they would be endan
gered by attending upon the Word preached by Mr. Cum
mings. 95 In Tennessee the Psalmody question played a
principal part in the tumultuous disorders in the newly
formed Presbytery of Abingdon, which came before the
Synod of 1787. In the North Carolina settlements every
proposal to introduce Watts bred trouble. At New Provi
dence the use of his Imitations for one Sunday by a pulpit
supply (William C. Davis) started the suspicion that the
pastor (James Wallis) had connived with him, and per
manently disrupted the church, the minority forming a
separate congregation. 96 At Poplar Tent, where, about
1785, Mr. Archibald, the pastor, determined to introduce
^Records, p. 515.
"Ibid., p. 537-
m Cf. W. H. Foote, Sketches of Virginia, second series, 2nd ed.,
Philadelphia, 1856, pp. 124, 125.
W W. H. Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, New York, 1846, p. 249.
THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts upon his own authority, some of the Rous party left
and some stayed to interrupt the worship. 97 The result of
the controversy in North Carolina was a permanent schism ;
those favoring a strict Psalmody withdrawing to form an
Associate Presbytery.
The fiercest heat attained in the controversy, and the
greatest devastation it left behind, were in the new settle
ments of Kentucky. Elsewhere the Rous advocates might
be regarded as acting on the defensive, but in Kentucky
their cause found an aggressive champion in the person of
the Rev. Adam Rankin, who came to Lexington in 1784.
He sincerely thought he heard a divine call to purge the
Church of the taint in its Congregational Song, and his
enthusiasm for the exclusive use of psalms not only pos
sessed his mind but perverted it. When he found in 1785,
at the Cane Run conference of the young churches, that
his associates were not in sympathy with him nor anxious
to agitate a vexed question, he at once entered upon a cam
paign of fierce and bitter polemic, in the role of a prophet
hurling epithets upon his opposers. Censured by Presbytery
for traducing his brethren and barring the singers of Watts
from the Communion, and suspended for contumacy, he
and his supporters withdrew to form what came to be called
"the Rankinite Schism," composed of twelve congregations,
whose fortunes we need not follow. 98
The Rankin polemics and schism threw a blight upon
Kentucky Presbyterianism from which few if any congre
gations escaped. The spirit of dissension was kept alive for
years, and in many places Psalmody became the main issue
and concern of religion. Internal feuds prevented attention
to the inroads of vice and infidelity, and the high promise
of Presbyterianism lapsed into spiritual and material de
cline.
"Ibid., p. 442.
* 8 For the "Rankin Schism" see R. Davidson, History of the Presby
terian Church in Kentucky, New York, 1847, chap. 3, and "Origin of
the Rankinites" in Evangelical Record, Lexington, vol. ii, Sept., 1813.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 191
In Pennsylvania, East and West, the ground was laid for
the fire of controversy, but the change to the new Psalmody
was made with less disturbance, because more gradually and
with more of the spirit of mutual concession. In Philadel
phia the change was effected in the Third Church unani
mously in 1788." In the West the Presbytery of Redstone,
through its entire career, kept its records clear of any allu
sion to the Psalmody controversy. Watts' Imitations, and
afterwards his Hymns, found their way into the churches
through the homes, and frequently were used at first in
rotation with "Rous." 100 In some churches, even the use
of the Imitations was postponed, as in the First Church of
Carlisle, until well into the XlXth century. 101
3. HYMN SINGING UNDER THE NEW (1788) "DIRECTORY
FOR WORSHIP"
The real issue in the Rous- Watts controversy was not
between a literal or a freer Psalmody, but between an Old
Testament Psalmody and an evangelical Hymnody. That
issue once decided, it remained for the Church to embody
its convictions and practice in the constitution then being
framed. This was effected by Synodical adoption of The
Directory for the worship of God, of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America, on May 16, 1788.
Unlike some other parts of the draught reported by the com
mittee of 1787, its chapter "Of the Singing of Psalms" was
adopted intact. The title of the chapter is still that of the
corresponding chapter of the Westminster Directory of
1644, but where the opening sentence of the original had
declared "the duty of Christians to praise God publiquely
by singing of Psalms," the new Directory asserts that such
duty is to be fulfilled "by singing psalms or hymns." The
"J. W. Scott, An Historical Sketch of the Pine Street, or Third
Pres. Church, Philadelphia, 1837, p. 31.
100 Jos. Smith, Old Redstone, Philadelphia, 1854, p. 290.
101 C. P. Wing, History of the First Pres. Ch. of Carlisle, Carlisle,
1877, p. 167. Watts was not used till 1824.
192 THE ENGLISH HYMN
other changes deal with the propriety of cultivating a
knowledge of music, of giving up the practice of lining,
and of devoting more time to "this excellent part of divine
service" than was usual.
The cultivation of music thus enjoined began at once in
some churches, in others had already begun under the
numerous "Instructors of Psalmody" raised up under the
impulse imparted by Billings, especially Andrew Law of
Connecticut. These teachers went from place to place,
establishing "Psalmody classes." In the region around
Philadelphia, the Presbyterian churches shared in a gen
eral 102 movement to improve sacred music, under the leader
ship of Andrew Adgate. He founded there in 1784 an
"Institution for Promoting the Knowledge of Psalmody,"
afterwards the "Uranian Academy." 103 In 1787 he was
preparing to establish "an Institution for Cultivating
Church Music free to all." 104 Samuel Blair paid tribute
to his benevolence, assiduity and success, and rejoiced in
the great improvement he had effected, saying that "Public
worship hath assumed, comparatively, a celestial grace;
and the temples of religion, . . . now resound with vibra
tions of well-ordered and commanding melody." 105 Mr.
Blair's wish that Adgate's "important services" may con
tinue with the encouragement of all denominations" 106 was
thwarted by his falling a victim to the yellow fever epidemic
of 1793, while serving on the Committee of Alleviation. 107
This movement to improve singing was inevitably a move-
102 Saml. Blair, Discourse (1789), p. 25, note.
108 Sonneck, op. cit., pp. 183, 184.
""Preface to his Psalms and Hymns.
*A Discourse on Psalmody. Delivered by the Rev. Samuel Blair,
in the Presbyterian Church in Neshaminy, at a public concert, given
by Mr. Spicer, Master in sacred music: under the superintendency of
Mr. Erwin, Pastor of that Church (Philadelphia, John McColloch,
1789). This scarce pamphlet is the principal evidence of the Presby
terian participation in the Adgate movement, and was published "to
enliven and diffuse the spirit of improvement in Psalmody" (preface).
1M Ibid., p. 25, note.
l< "Minutes of the Committee, Philadelphia, 1848, pp. 45, 200.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 193
rnent toward the use of Watts or of other hymns. The
monotony of metre and rude rhythms of "Rous' version"
would not serve the purpose of the "masters in sacred
music." That is why, in so many parish records, the giving
up of lining and the adoption of Watts are recorded as a
single entry. 108 Copies have survived of Select Psalms and
Hymns for the use of Mr. Ad gate's pupils: and proper for
all singing-schools. Philadelphia: Printed at the Uranian
Press, by Young and M'Culloch, Corner of Chestnut &
Second Street. MDCCLXXXVII. The forty hymns were
chosen from Watts, Wesley, Steele and others, aiming at
metrical variety. Adgate and his colleague, "Mr. Spicer,"
had also their own music books : the Uranian Instructions
of 1787, Rudiments of Music (1788), Selection of Sacred
Harmony (1788), Philadelphia Harmony (1788); all
originally Adgate's, and sometimes, in later editions, car
ried forward by Spicer. The Art of Singing, and other
works of Andrew Law, also played a considerable part in
the improvement of Presbyterian singing.
No immediate steps were taken by the General Assembly
in providing the hymns to be sung under the new Directory.
In the minds of many, "Hymns" and "Watts" were synony
mous. The use of the Hymns and Spiritual Songs was not
formally authorized until 1802 ; but at least as early as 1788
editions of Barlow's Watts, bearing the clerk's certificate
of Synod's authorization, appeared with the Hymns bound
in. Evidently some churches did not await their authoriza
tion. Watts' Hymns may be called the first hymn book
of American Presbyterianism, disregarding the proposed
book of 1787. The second was an independent local ven
ture, with two title pages : A Version of the Book of Psalms,
selected from the most approved versions. . . . Approved
of by the Presbytery of Charleston: and A Collection of
Hymns for public and private worship. Approved of by
the Presbytery of Charleston, (both) Charleston, Printed by
108 E. g. in the Third Church of Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 1788.
194 THE ENGLISH HYMN
/. Mclver, No. 47, Bay, MDCCXCVI. This book was pre
pared by Dr. George Buist of Charleston with the advice
of Dr. Hugh Blair. 109 The hymns are from many
sources, including the English Arian hymn books, and with
a preference for the Scottish Paraphrases. The book was
used by the Presbyterian churches in the city and neighbor
hood of Charleston until at least iSoQ. 110
What must be regarded as the third Presbyterian hymn
book was the small collection annexed by President Dwight
to his revision of Watts' Imitations for the Connecticut
Association, to take the place of Barlow's; inasmuch as
these hymns were specifically allowed by the General As
sembly of 1802, in connection with the revised Psalms, and
at the same time as the allowance of Watts' Hymns. 111 The
Assembly had cooperated in securing Dwight's revision of
the Imitations, as it had cooperated with other projects of
the Connecticut Association; but apparently without shar
ing the prejudice aroused by Barlow and without much,
interest in the results of Dr. Dwight's labors. And in the
end it appears to have been satisfied that churches under
Connecticut influence, or which preferred Dwight to Bar
low, should make use both of his revised Imitations and his
collection of hymns. 112
The great body of the Church had no apparent desire for
a hymn book of their own. As early as 1796 the Assembly
was overtured to appoint a committee to compile one, but
the proposal was allowed to lie on the table. 113 In 1817 the
Presbytery of Philadelphia sent up to the Assembly for its
approbation "a copy of a collection of Hymns, intended
for the use of society meetings; the Presbytery having
declined to express their opinion of the book, thinking it
109 Preface.
^Sermons by the Reverend George Buist, D.D., New York, 1809,
vol. i, pp. 311, 312, note.
^Minutes 1789-1820, p. 249.
112 On this subject see the writer's "The American Revisions of
Watts's Psalms," already cited, pp. 25-26.
^Minutes, ut supra, p. 116.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 195
proper that it should be submitted to the Assembly." 114
This was presumably Hymns for social worship, collected
from various authors ( Philadelphia : W. W. Woodward,
1817), the work of James P. Wilson, pastor of the First
Church of Philadelphia. It contained 181 hymns, and in
intent and contents ranges with the "Supplements to
Watts." After reference to a committee, the consideration
of the book was indefinitely postponed. 115 No further
attempt was made to prepare a hymn book for the special
use of the Church till the proceedings that culminated in
the Psalms and Hymns of 1831.
In recognizing hymn singing in its constitution the
Church was far from the intention of cutting itself off
from psalm singing. It approved, rather, Dr. Watts'
System of Praise as a whole, with its two departments of
Psalms and Hymns. Nor did the desire for an evangelical
Hymnody among the people imply dissatisfaction with
Watts' Imitations. Probably no parish introduced his
Hymns apart from the Psalms : some had them bound up
with Barlow's Revision from the first: many remained
satisfied with the revised Psalms alone. The use of Bar
low's Watts became so widespread as to make it the
characteristic praise book of Presbyterianism, and the addi
tion to it of the Hymns became a more and more common
practice till toward the end of the first quarter of the XlXth
century, when it may be regarded as practically universal.
Hindered as it was by the Scottish predilection for an Old
Testament Psalmody, the Presbyterian Church was slower
than some others in attaining the full measure of Dr. Watts'
System of Praise, but perhaps in no Church did his ascend
ency become more complete. It was a result so belated that,
when viewed in connection with the progress of English
Hymnody as a whole, it- seems like a step backward. A
full century had passed since the first appearance of Watts'
Hymns. The area of Hymnody had been widened perma-
m /Wd., p. 641.
Ibid., p. 667.
196 THE ENGLISH HYMN
nently under the Evangelical Revival, and its contents
greatly enriched not only by fresh hymns but by new types
of hymns. During the first quarter of the XlXth century
the only apparent contact of the Presbyterian Church with
this newer Hymnody was through the proffer of Dr.
Wilson's little book of 1817 ; 116 its only dealing with it was
to "postpone indefinitely."
III. THE BAPTISTS (1754-1827)
i. THEIR GRADUAL ADOPTION OF WATTS' "PSALMS AND
HYMNS"
If the earliest New England Baptists practised psalm
singing at all, they probably, like their neighbors, lined the
psalms out of The Bay Psalm Book. But the Baptist immi
grants had come out of the heated atmosphere of the "con-
troversie of Singing," and many of them during the years
when persecution had favored the habit of not singing, lest
attention be attracted to the meetings.
The First Church of Boston introduced singing before
1728, lining the psalms until I759; 117 the Newport church
during the short pastorate of John Cromer, beginning
in I726. 118 In the First Church of Providence there was
no singing till the coming of President Manning in 1771.
Even then its introduction was only accomplished by allow
ing the women to vote for it, and caused a division. 119
In the Middle Colonies and to some extent in the South
ern, the introduction of singing into Baptist churches was
effected through the influence of a body of Welsh Baptists
"'Even Dr. Wilson did not know that his i?6th hymn, "Jesus ! lover
of my soul," was by one of the Wesleys.
117 N. E. Wood, History of the First Baptist Church of Boston,
Philadelphia, 1899, pp. 220, 243.
118 A. H. Newman, History of the Baptist Churches in the United
States, ed., Philada., 1898, p. 115.
119 R. A. Guild, History of Brown University, Boston, 1867, pp.
207-210.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 197
settled on the Welsh Tract in Delaware. 120 They adopted
in 1716 an English Confession of Faith of 1689, but with
the addition of two articles from a confession published by
Benjamin Keach and his son Elias in 1697, one being on the
duty "Of Singing Psalms, &c." 121 The increase of immi
gration soon made Philadelphia a Baptist centre, and in
1742 the Philadelphia Association ordered the printing of
a new edition of the Confession of 1689 as their own, 122
with the insertion of two articles, one on the singing of
Psalms, 123 the other on laying on of hands upon baptized
believers. These articles, thus incorporated in their doc
trinal statement, prove to be identical with those of Keach
as already adopted by the church on the Welsh Tract in
I7i6. 124 "
The Bay Psalm Book was probably in use in and around
Philadelphia as well as in New England. In Boston the
First Church changed to Tate and Brady in 1740, "so long
as no objection should be offered against it" : 125 the Bald
win Place Church sang Tate and Brady till about I77O. 126
And it may be that some Baptist demand in and around
Philadelphia helped to encourage Franklin to reprint that
version in 1733.
In America as in England Baptists were not greatly con
cerned to preserve a strict Psalmody, owing partly to the
desire for sacramental hymns. When the "controversie of
""Morgan Edwards, Materials toward a history of the Baptists in
Delaware State, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History, vol. ix, p. 52.
121 W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith, Philadelphia
[1911], p. 294.
^Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, 1707-1807,
Philada., 1851, p. 46.
128 "Singing psalms met with some opposition, especially at Cohansey" :
Morgan Edwards, ut supra.
1M A Confession of Faith . . . Adopted by the Baptist Association
met at Philadelphia, Sept. 25, 1742. . . . To which are added, Two
Articles, vis. Of Imposition of Hands, and Singing of Psalms, in
Publick Worship: Philadelphia, B. Franklin, 1743; often reprinted.
125 N. E. Wood, op. cit., p. 220.
129 D. C. Eddy, Memorial Sermon, Boston, 1865, p. 30.
198 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Singing" was disposed of, the introduction of hymns hardly
raised an issue.
But the Great Awakening was less immediately effective
in modifying the practice of the Baptist churches of New
England than of the Congregational. The Baptist churches
had largely lapsed into a cold "Arminianism," and held
aloof from the earlier stages of the Revival, partly because
they regarded it as a Calvinistic movement, and partly from
a sense of isolation from their neighbors. The Revival had
first to create "New Light" churches, and to modify the
theology and the spirit of the old churches before the evan
gelical Psalms and Hymns of Watts could commend them
selves to New England Baptists.
In the churches centering at Philadelphia the atmosphere
was different, and the way more prepared by the evangelical
Calvinism already prevailing in them. Franklin's reprints
of The Psalms imitated in 1741 and of the Hymns in 1742
were probably used in some of them about Philadelphia. In
Boston, Tate and Brady was not displaced by Watts' Psalms
and Hymns till after 1770 in the Baldwin Place Church, 127
and in 1771 in the First Church. 128 Their adoption became
ultimately very widespread, and they rooted themselves deep
in the hearts of a great body of Baptists.
2. OBSTACLES TO WATTS' ASCENDENCY
But several considerations tended to impede to some
extent the ascendency of Watts in American Baptist
Hymnody.
There was, first, the tendency to establish a denomina
tional Hymnody, especially to supply hymns suitable to
"believers' baptism." Morgan Edwards has preserved the
hymn that had been used at the "Baptisterion" on the banks
of the Schuylkill, just beyond Philadelphia. 129 The earliest
127 D. C Eddy, op. cit., p. 30.
128 N. E. Wood, op. cit., p. 266.
^Materials towards a history of the Baptists in Pennsylvania, vol.
i, Philada., J. Crukshank, 1770, pp. 131, 132.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 199
American Baptist hymn book, Hymns and Spiritual Songs,
collected from the works of several authors (Newport,
1766), opens with sixteen hymns on Baptism. And so, in
1808, after the appearance of many books, the anonymous
The Boston Collection of sacred and devotional Hymns
"was compiled principally with a view to accommodate the
Baptist Churches of Boston and its vicinity, who have long
desired such a collection, for the purpose of singing at the
administration of" Baptism.
From the first, however, the desire of many went beyond
baptismal hymns. They wanted Baptist hymn books, that
should make available the new store of hymns, Baptist and
other, written since Watts' time and made current in Eng
lish collections ; and many were moved to contribute hymns
of their own composition. The independent and individual
istic spirit combined with denominational insistence, that
has always characterized Baptists, developed and has main
tained a striking proclivity toward the multiplication of
hymn books. The great array of these tends to obscure the
actual extent of the use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns in
Baptist congregations.
The Newport book was followed by two at Philadelphia :
A choice Collection of Hymns, in which are some never
before printed. Philadelphia: printed in the year 1782
and A choice Collection of Hymns, from various authors,
adapted to publick worship: designed for the edification of
the pious of all denominations; but more particularly for
the use of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia (Enoch Story,
1784). Both of these appear to have been prepared for his
following of "Universal Baptists" by Elhanan Winchester,
after his exclusion from the pulpit of the First Baptist
Church. The latter is said to have been used in the Church
of the German Baptist Brethren (Bunkers) already formed
at Germantown. 131 It certainly furnished much of the ma-
130 Not in Hildeburn's Issues of the Pennsylvania Press. The writ
er's copy is recorded by Evans.
181 Ms. note in the writer's copy.
200 THE ENGLISH HYMN
terials of the Brethren's first English hymn book, The
Christians Duty, printed in I79I. 132
In 1788 the Philadelphia Association determined to have
an official book for the associated churches. 133 It appeared
as A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, done under the ap
pointment of the Philadelphia* Association. By Samuel
Jones, D.D. and Burgis Allison, A.M. (Philadelphia, R.
Aitken & Son, 1790 : 2nd ed., 1801 ; 4th, 1819) . The psalms
were all from Watts: most of the hymns from Rippon's
Selection (London, 1786) and one "printed in London,
1774" ; apparently Conyers'. The book was highly regarded
within and beyond the Association. Hymns on different
spiritual subjects (Norwich, 1792) by Benjamin Cleve
land, 134 as also the later Hymns and Spiritual Songs on
various subjects. By the Rev. Ebenezer Jayne ( Morristown,
1809), were offerings of original contributions, of which
Cleveland's hymn, "Oh, could I find from day to day," alone
survived.
John Stanford, lately come from England to New York,
prepared A Collection of evangelical Hymns (T. and J.
Swords, 1792) for the use of the congregation gathered in
his school room. It included selections not only from
Watts but from the best English hymn writers of the time.
And John Asplund, lately come from Sweden, and still
remembered by his Baptist Register, was responsible for an
American reprint of Richard Burnham's New Hymns
(Thomas Hall-, Boston, 1796). The outspoken Calvinism
of these hymns was perhaps the reason for their reprinting.
It is likely that many of the Baptist hymn books were
not intended to replace Watts in church worship : a number
bore on their title-pages the assurance that they were only
supplements to his Psalms and Hymns. Of these the most
popular, here as in England, was Rippon's Selection. Two
182 See chap, viii, II, 2, (2).
lt3 Minutes, p. 239.
184 C/. H. S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers and their Hymns, Port
land, Me., n. d., pp. 223, 641.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 201
reprints of it appeared in 1792, at New York and Elizabeth,
and were followed by others, in various places. A Selection
of evangelical Hymns supplementary to Doctor Rippon
(Burlington, N. J. : S. C. Ustic) appeared in 1807: and a
further attempt to enrich his Selection was made by Dr.
William Staughton in an edition to which he added An
Appendix, from the Olney Hymns, with additional Hymns,
original 1 ^ and selected (Philadelphia: W. W. Woodward,
1813; rev. and corn, 1827).
In a more independent spirit William Parkinson, of the
First Church in New York, published in 1809 A Selection
of Hymns and Spiritual Songs . . . as an Appendix to
Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns, which, he says in his
preface, "in most congregations of Christians are constantly
used." William Collier's A new Selection of Hymns (Bos
ton, 1812), was also a supplement to Watts. That such
books were actually used in connection with Watts appears
from the preface of Daniel Dodge's A Selection of Hymns
and Psalms (Wilmington, 1808), an effort to combine the
best from Watts and Rippon for the convenience of those
who found it burdensome to carry both books to church,
but could not agree to dispense with either; "some being
passionately fond of one and some of the other." A later
book, Thomas B. Ripley's A Selection of Hymns for Con
ference and Prayer Meetings (Portland, Me., 1821 : 2nd ed.,
Bangor, 1831) also called itself a Supplement to Watts.
A second consideration tending to impede the ascendency
of Watts was the preference of a considerable proportion
of Baptist people for songs of a lower literary grade. The
strength of the Church was among the uncultured ; its exten
sion was by means of evangelistic methods. "The mass of
the Baptists were indifferent or hostile to ministerial educa
tion." They craved highly emotional preaching and songs
of the same type in free rhythms that could be sung to
popular melodies with choruses.
135 Staughton had printed a volume of Juvenile Poems, and wrote
many hymns in a style no longer in vogue.
202 THE ENGLISH HYMN
This showed itself as early as I784 136 in the Divine
Hymns, or Spiritual Songs (Norwich) of Joshua Smith,
a New Hampshire layman, and others, which gave currency
to the hymn on "Christ the Appletree," 137 and made odd
additions to other hymns. This book in varying forms 138
was very popular. Its 1803 edition was the first hymn book
used in the First Church of Portland, Maine. 139 "Spiritual
songs" appeared in most Baptist hymn books. John Court
ney's The Christian's Pocket Companion (Richmond, 1805 :
rev. ed., 1831) contained "one hundred and seventy-eight
pages of" them. They were sung also without book.
"This kind of composition," says Mr. Parkinson in 1809,
"has, for several years past been greatly abused Songs
have been circulated, not only in Ms. but also in print,
which have been so barbarous in language, so unequal in
numbers, and so defective in rhyme, as to excite disgust in
all persons even of tolerable understanding in these things ;
what is infinitely worse, so extremely unsound in doctrine,
that no discerning Christian can sing or hear them without
pain." Believing that "many of them, notwithstanding,
contain valuable ideas," Mr. Parkinson aimed to "lessen
the use of several hymn books now in common circulation"
by furnishing "those who choose to make use of them
with a greater variety and more correct edition of what
are called Spiritual Songs than they now possess." 140 We
may judge existing conditions by the character of some
of the 170 songs appended to Parkinson's Selection with
a view of ameliorating them. In the first Newton's un-
188 Brmley catalogue, lot 6038.
187 The first stanza of this hymn ran (ed. 1794) :
"The tree of life, my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green ;
The trees of nature fruitless be,
Compar'd with Christ the Appletree."
188 For some of the known editions, see W. DeL. Love, Samson
Occum, Boston, n. d., p. 180, nofre.
1TO Burrage, op. cit., p. 643.
""Preface to Parkinson's Selection, 1809.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 203
fortunate lines are altered to serve as a refrain after each
stanza :
"Then be entreated now to stop
For unless you warning take,
Ere you are aware you'll drop
Into the burning lake."
The third is "A Dream" of Judgment Day. The fifth is
entitled "Miss Hataway's Experience" and includes her con
versation with "an uncle from whom she had large expecta
tions." The fifteenth begins, "Ye scarlet-colour'd sinners,
come."
Parkinson's Selection had reached a third edition in 1817,
and Southern Baptists had called for three editions of Jesse
Mercer's The Cluster of Spiritual Songs, Divine Hymns and
social Poems: being chiefly a collection (Augusta, Ga.).
By this time the new zeal for missions was developing a
demand for an educated ministry, and drawing a sharp line
of cleavage between its advocates and the "anti-effort"
Baptists. In the Hymnody the line was not so sharply
drawn, but as a rule the less educated congregations, espe
cially in the South, carried forward the use of "Spiritual
Songs." An especial favorite was Starke Dupuy's Hymns
and Spiritual Songs, selected and original (Louisville, c.
1818: 22nd ed., 1841 ; revised by J. M. Peck, 1843), em -
tional and often illiterate. Even in New England David
Benedict's The Pawtucket Collection of Conference Hymns
(1817) reached an eighth edition (1843). I n Kentucky
Absolom Graves' Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs (with
in of the latter), appearing in 1825, reached a second
edition in 1829. In Virginia Andrew Broadus published
in 1828 his Dover Selection of Spiritual Songs by recom
mendation of the Dover Association, but in his better
Virginia Selection of 1836 the "spiritual song" element is
apologized for as an allowance made for "popular liking."
William Dossey's The Choice; in two parts (3rd ed., 1830)
was largely used in the South, and included over a hundred
of his own hymns.
204 THE ENGLISH HYMN
There were, on the other hand, many Baptist churches,
especially in the North and East, 141 which had yielded very
partially or not at all to "popular liking," and had never
given up the use of Watts' Psalms and Hymns. But their
pastors had required hymns to supplement Watts, and the
people complained of the inconvenience of using more than
one book and the difficulty of finding the hymns as given
out. This led to something like a concerted effort to con
serve the better type of Baptist Hymnody. James M.
Winchell, who had developed congregational song in his
First Church of Boston, 142 published there in 1818 An
arrangement of the Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
of . . . Watts, to which are added, indexes . . . to
facilitate the use of the whole . . . , with which was bound
up A Selection of more than three hundred Hymns, from
the most approved authors (1819). "Winchell's Watts"
attained, and for many years held, in New England a use
so wide that it has been described as "universal." 143 In
1820 the same office was performed for the churches center
ing at Philadelphia by The Psalms and Hymns of Dr.
Watts, arranged by Dr. Rip p on; with Dr. Rippon's Selection
in one volume. An improved edition appeared in 1827, and
was commended to the churches by a large number of
ministers as the best hymn book "in use among Chris
tians." 144 In the copies of this edition a portrait of Dr.
Watts was not unfitly prefixed.
141 Samuel Holyoke published in 1804 The Christian Harmonist:
containing a set of tunes adapted to all the metres in Mr. Rippon's
Selection of Hymns, in the Collection of Hymns by Mr. Joshua Smith,
and in Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns (Salem). It was "designed for
the use of the Baptist churches in the United States"; and the three
books named are plainly those in most general use in the class of
churches which Mr. Holyoke regarded as likely to patronize his
enterprise.
142 C/. R. H. Neale, Address at sooth Anniversary of First Baptist
Church, Boston, 1865, p. 38.
143 Neale, ut supra.
144 C/. "recommendations" preserved in Sommers and Dagg's ed.,
Phila., D. Clark, 1838.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 205
V
HIS INFLUENCE UPON THE ENGLISH HYMN
In attempting now to estimate the place of Dr. Watts in
the history of the English Hymn, it is convenient to dis
tinguish the bearings of his work and influence upon the
development of the Hymn itself, upon the production of
hymns, and upon hymn singing.
As to the Hymn. Watts undertook to construct Congre
gational Song de novo. He offered his System of Praise
to the churches as a substitute for all that they had been
accustomed to sing; and as such it came to be received in
its full scope and entirety by vast numbers of people to
whom the old Psalmody, or the earlier Hymnody, became
as though they had never been. Even to historians of Eng
lish Hymnody the work of Watts has bulked so large as to
throw a deep shadow of obscurity over all his predecessors.
Thus Montgomery makes the oft-quoted remark that
"Watts may almost be called the inventor of hymns in our
language" ; regarding him as so far departing from all prec
edent, "that few of his compositions resemble those of his
forerunners," and as establishing a precedent to all his
successors. 145 Again, Mr. Horder in his Hymn Lover ^
calls Watts "the real founder of English Hymnody," and
claims that "what Ambrose was to the Latins ; what Clement
Marot was to the French ; what Luther was to the Germans ;
that, and perhaps more, was Watts to the English."
It is difficult to regard Watts, as Montgomery does, as
altogether or almost the inventor of English hymns; and
surely Mr. Horder has put Watts' work somewhat out of
perspective. Ambrose stands at the fountain head of all
metrical Congregational Song; and Sternhold, not Watts,
is the English sponsor of the movement to provide the
people with vernacular songs, which Luther and Marot
represent. When Watts wrote, great stores of metrical
The Christian Psalmist, Glasgow, 1825, Introductory Essay, p. xx.
148 W. G. Horder, The Hymn Lover, London, n. d., p. 96.
206 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Psalm versions had been accumulating for a century and a
half. Some passages from these Watts incorporated into
his own work: many more, equally available, lay ready to
his hand. Even the "Christianized" Psalms of Watts were
a development rather than a creation, as has already ap
peared. Of hymns, in the narrower sense, there were many,
and of good hymns not a few. If Watts had lacked his
gift of hymn writing but retained his practical sagacity, he
could have compiled an English hymn book out of existing
materials, whose excellence would not be questioned today.
With Marckant, Austin, Wither, Cosin, Herbert, Tate,
Mason, Ken, Baxter, Herrick, Grossman and Stennett, still
holding a place in our hymn books, it is idle to regard Watts
as inventing the English Hymn.
It may even be that Watts could not write a better hymn
than Ken's Morning and Evening hymns, a more useful
Christmas hymn than Tate's "While shepherds watched,"
or a Sunday hymn with more of tender charm than Mason's
"My Lord, my Love, was crucified." But he could bring to
bear upon his hymn writing a discernment, and a combina
tion of resources, spiritual, intellectual, poetic, utilitarian,
possessed by none of his predecessors or all of them if put
together. He was not alone in perceiving that an acceptable
evangelical Church Song was a spiritual need of his time,
but he had the ability to foresee, as other men could not, the
possibilities and limitations of the Congregational Hymn in
filling that need. With great assiduity he dedicated his
ample gifts to the embodiment of what he saw. He pro
duced a whole cycle of religious song which his own ardent
faith made devotional, which his manly and lucid mind made
simple and strong, which his poetic feeling and craftman-
ship made rhythmical and often lyrical, and which his
sympathy with the people made hymnic. Probably the
whole body of his work appealed alike to the people of his
time, whose spiritual needs he so clearly apprehended. The
larger part of his work proved to be an abiding enrichment
of Church Song, and to many its only adequate expression.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 207
His best hymns remain permanently, after the winnowing
of two centuries, among the classics of devotion.
But Watts' work was more than an extensive reinforce
ment of the stores of available hymns. By the force of its
very fitness it established a definite and permanent type of
English Hymn. And this type, rather than any particular
hymns, is the real expression of Watts' mind and purpose,
and constitutes his special discovery. Purposing to con
struct Church Song anew, he sought for the true basis of a
sympathetic devotion. He found it not in a poet's mind, but
in the thoughts and feelings and aspirations held in common
by the largest number of Christians. That common ground
he selected as the available area of Congregational Song,
within which he sank his foundations, and proceeded to
erect his System of Praise on lines kept within the same
limits by careful measurement. By this criterion Watts'
work may be tried, both as to form and substance.
(a) As to Form. Watts invented no hymn measures,
but fell back upon the rudimentary forms of verse used in
psalm singing. In the original edition of his Hymns, he
confined himself to the three simplest and most often used
metres of the current Sternhold and Hopkins, common,
long and short. In the second edition, he added the metre
of their I48th Psalm, 6. 6. 6. 6. 4. 4. 4. 4. In The Psalms
imitated he rendered "some few Psalms in Stanza's of six,
eight or twelve lines, to the best of the old Tunes." He
sought no musical development of Congregational Song,
beyond a better rendering of the psalm tunes. He rather
accommodated himself to the conditions of musical decad
ence surrounding him, with a view-to immediate usefulness ;
saying, 147 "I have seldom permitted a Stop in the middle of a
Line, and seldom left the end of a Line without one, to com
port a little with the unhappy Mixture of Reading and
Singing, which cannot presently be reformed."
The Hymn Form thus indicated is even simpler and more
restricted than that of the earlier Metrical Psalm. But in
14T Preface of 1719, p. xxvii.
208 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Watts' own hands the succession of rhythmic periods
acquires a dignity of cadence peculiarly satisfying, and, with
his pure and nervous English, constitutes a hymn style in
pleasing contrast with the halting measures of Sternhold
and Hopkins and the rather rippling effects of Tate and
Brady. With his eye on the practical requirements of com
mon song, Watts gave to the Hymn Form other features
that distinguish it from the formlessness of the Metrical
Psalm : the adaptation of the opening line to make a quick
appeal, the singleness of theme that holds the attention
undivided, the brevity and compactness of structure and the
progression of thought toward a climax, that give the
Hymn a unity.
(b) As to Substance. The content of the Hymn, as
Watts conceived it, was Scriptural, as being a response to
Scripture. It was an evangelical interpretation of revealed
truths as appropriated by the believer. The adoration of
God in nature and providence being expressed in the Psalms,
the great theme of the Hymn proper became the Gospel in
the full width of its range, including man's deliverance from
the terrors of the law. The Hymn thus became primarily
an expression of Christian experience.
This raises the question whether Watts stands sponsor
for the homiletical ideal of the Hymn, as against the
liturgical. He was trained in that conception of worship
which the sermon and not the season dominates ; and plainly
he designed his hymns to meet the demand from the pulpit
for hymns that would illustrate and enforce the sermon
themes. This demand was undoubtedly one of the moving
causes in the change of Nonconformist Praise from
Psalmody to Hymnody. Granting that the sermon was
Scriptural, Watts' conception of the Hymn as a response
to Scripture made such an use of hymns natural ; and, grant
ing that the minds and hearts of the people were centred in
the sermon, the homiletical use of hymns would not neces
sarily interfere with the best interests of Congregational
Song.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 209
Whether for good or ill, there is no doubt that Watts,
both by his example in appending hymns to his own printed
sermons, and by supplying so many hymns adapted to being
appended to other people's sermons, greatly encouraged the
homiletical use of hymns. But his hymns are seldom homi
lies, and they are made liturgical, in the broad sense of that
word, by confinement within the common ground of Chris
tian experience and avoidance of individualism, whether
elevated or eccentric. They are filled also with reverence
and a deep sense of God's majesty and goodness, that evoke
a recurring note of adoration and praise. And, before com
mitting Watts to the homiletical ideal of the Hymn, we
must remember that his own hymns were designed to be
used in connection with psalms as a single System of Praise.
In doctrine the hymns of Watts were Calvinistic in tone
and often in detail. This was not from any polemical intent,
but because Calvinism was the form of belief held in com
mon by the writer and the singers. He aimed to avoid "the
more obscure and controverted Points of Christianity" and
"the Contentious and Distinguishing Words of Sects and
Parties . . . that whole Assemblies might assist at the
Harmony, and different Churches join in the same Worship
without Offence." He held that in "Treatises of Divinity
which are to be read in private," precision of statement
should be aimed at, but that in hymns expressions should
be sought "such as are capable of an extensive Sense, and
may be used with a charitable Latitude. . . . that what is
provided for publick Worship shou'd give to sincere Con
sciences as little Vexation and Disturbance as possible." 148
This was no more than to carry into the sphere of belief
the same search for the common ground he had already
made in the sphere of experience. Watts lived long enough
to see the common ground of belief much narrowed by the
Arian movement, and to read the polemical Hymnody of
the Calvinistic controversy. And in the course of time
it has no doubt become impracticable for the Churches to
""Preface of 1707, pp. vii, viii.
210 THE ENGLISH HYMN
confine their Hymnody to the things held in common.
Nevertheless there are but few today who would question
the soundness of the principle announced by Watts, or seek
to use the Hymn as a weapon of polemics rather than as a
bond of union.
Of Watts' determination to keep the Hymn within the
common ground in the sphere of the understanding, nothing
needs to be said, beyond noting his success in carrying out
that aim. His remarks upon the subject were in fact
addressed to literary critics, who he feared would misunder
stand the purpose of his work. But in the aim itself there
was nothing really novel. It involved nothing more than
loyalty to the Protestant principle that every part of public
worship should be conducted in a language understood by
the people.
VI
HIS INFLUENCE UPON HYMN WRITING:
THE SCHOOL OF WATTS
Upon the production of hymns also Dr. Watts' work
exercised a great influence, not wholly for good. The art
that hides art beneath apparent simplicity seems to the
observer to be the most imitable of all literary forms : and
a success so striking as that of Watts inevitably breeds
imitators. Moreover the reiterated assurances of Watts'
prefaces that his hymns were not poetry, but only measured
verse written down to the level of the meanest capacity, were
a distinct encouragement to many who could not write
poetry to believe they could write hymns. In this way
Watts' hymns became a direct model for the construction of
other hymns, and he became unconsciously the founder of
a school of hymn writers.
The five familiar hymns of Joseph Addison appeared in
The Spectator between July and October, 1712, five years
after the publication of Watts' Hymns. When two had thus
appeared, there followed in the number for August 19, an
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 211
unsigned letter from Watts himself, alleging that the read
ing of them had encouraged him to try his own hand, and
accompanied by a version of Psalm 114, afterwards in
cluded in The Psalms imitated. Looking behind this pleas
antry, we may infer the actual connection between the two
writers to be that Watts' example and influence had en
couraged the older poet to write hymns. But Addison had
his own thoughts and style, and if an actual follower of
Watts in hymn writing, was no imitator of him, and was
not especially of his school.
The exact measure of Watts' influence upon the Wesley s
is not easily appraised. We know that when John Wesley
went on his mission to Georgia, he took with him the Psalms
and Hymns, and that in his first hymn book, printed at
Charleston in 1737, a large part of the contents is by Watts.
Some of his hymns found permanent place in the Wesleyan
books, and both brothers felt high admiration for them.
But other influences affected the Wesleys more deeply, and
are more evident in their original and translated work.
Watts served them by way of suggestion and encourage
ment rather than as furnishing a model for their own
hymns.
With Watts' contemporary and friend, Dr. Doddridge,
it is different. His hymn writing was one of several lamps
"kindled at Watts' torch." 149 The hymns were homiletical
in motive, mostly intended to be sung in his own chapel at
the Castle Hill, Northampton, after the particular sermon
in the glow of whose composition they were composed.
After Doddridge's death 370 of the hymns were published
by his friend Job Orton, with quite superfluous notes, as
Hymns founded on various texts in the Holy Scriptures.
By the late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D. (Salop,
I 755)- They reached a second edition in 1759, and a third
in 1766, with small additions. Many reprints followed and
the Hymns gained the place of a standard publication. The
book does not range technically with the "Supplements to
""His Rise and Progress and Catechism in verse were others.
212 THE ENGLISH HYMN
V
Watts," but already in 1755 a letter of Mrs. Doddridge
speaks of numerous ministers intending to introduce it in
that capacity, 150 and such it actually became in fact. The
effect of it was to augment by so much the available body of
hymns of the Watts type, covering some new themes and
special occasions with hymns of decided merit and useful
ness. Doddridge must be accounted first scholar in the
school of Watts. Chronologically he had been preceded
by Simon Browne. But Browne's hymns as a whole hardly
justified their existence, whereas Doddridge's constituted
a worthy extension of Watts', and the best of them attained
a position to be described as classical.
Dr. Thomas Gibbons, the next in the succession of Inde
pendent hymn writers, took his impulse from Watts, with
out sharing Watts' gift. Nor could he succeed in getting
either of his collections already referred to into the churches.
The earlier one has, however, the special interest of con
taining the hymns of his friend President Davies of Prince
ton, whose Mss. had come into Gibbons' hands. And
President Davies' hymns remain as an interesting testimony
of how far Watts' influence had spread. They attained
wider liturgical use than those of Gibbons, and at least two
of them 151 have proved permanently useful. But in the
work of both writers we can detect the beginnings of that
process which perpetuates the form and manner of a literary
type apart from its original inspiration. Neither Watts
nor Doddridge had been free from a tendency to prosaic
dullness, and at the weaker hands of their imitators this
tendency found a marked development.
The most popular, after Watts, of XVIIIth century Inde
pendent hymn-writers, was Joseph Hart, who is usually
reckoned a disciple of the school of Watts. He published
"'John Stoughton, Philip Doddridge, ed. Boston, 1853, P- 120, note.
161 These are "Lord, I am thine, entirely thine," and "Great God of
Wonders ! all thy Ways." For a reprint of Davies' hymns and a
study of them by the present writer, see Journal of The Presbyterian
Historical Society for Sept. and Dec., 1904.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 213
in 1759 (119) Hymns composed on various subjects, 'with
the Author's experience, to which later supplements added
some hundred more. They were introduced in his own
chapel in Jewin Street, London, with immediate acceptance,
and gained a wide use among Calvinistic Nonconformists
of different connections. Repeated editions were called for,
and their reprinting has continued till the present time. An
inspection of these hymns makes it evident that Hart was
not of Watts' school. His work addresses a lower plane of
education and taste than Watts, with his eminently respect
able surroundings, had in mind. Moreover a congregation
bred to sing only psalms and hymns of the Watts type could
not have carried these strange measures, which were fitted
to the melodies of the Methodist Revival. These warm and
even passionate strains are explained by Hart's associations
with the Moravians, in one of whose chapels he was con
verted, and these new measures he learned in his attendance
at the Tabernacle at Moorfields. Hart belongs rather with
that evangelistic movement, with which, whether Calvinistic
or Arminian, Watts had little sympathy.
On the Baptist side of Independency also, Watts became
a controlling influence. We have already traced the begin
nings of a Particular Baptist Hymnody down to Stennett's
Hymns for the Holy Ordinance of Baptism of 1712. Then
followed a breach in Baptist hymn making. In the thirty-
seven years following, the silence was broken only by two
faint voices. In 1 734 Mrs. Anne Button appended a group
of hymns to her poem on The Wonders of Grace, and in
1747 Daniel Turner of Reading published Divine Songs,
Hymns and other Poems. 152
The year 1750 begins a new period in Baptist hymn writ
ing, but it is a Hymnody of the school of Watts. Ben
jamin Wallin's Evangelical Hymns and Songs of that year
counted for something, but two volumes of Poems on
subjects chiefly devotional, by Theodosia (Bristol, 1760)
'"Turner is best known through his enlargement (pub. 1794) of
Jas. Fanch's "Beyond the glittering starry skies."
214 THE ENGLISH HYMN
counted for much. The hymns of Anne Steele appearing
thus, and in a posthumous third volume (Bristol, 1780),
were framed on the familiar model, but added a new note
to the contents of the English Hymn. Exchanging the
common ground for the feminine standpoint, she gave us
the Hymn of Introspection and of intense devotion to
Christ's person, expressed in fervid terms of heightened
emotion. Composing under the shadow of affliction and ill-
health, she added to English Hymnody the plaintive, senti
mental note.
A number of these hymns remain in common use, and
Miss Steele is still regarded as the foremost Baptist hymn
writer. But the measure of our regard for her hymns
reflects but faintly the enthusiasm of their welcome. Those
concerned for a Baptist Hymnody soon perceived that a
great light had arisen among themselves : it had become
practicable to consider the compilation of denominational
hymn books to supplement Watts. Through these, already
noted, her hymns became known in all English Churches;
and through reprints of these and also a Boston reprint of
her poems, 153 they became eventually familiar in America.
So far reaching and so deep was the impression made by
Miss Steele that when Jeremy Belknap published his Sacred
Poetry at Boston, 1795, he was moved to include her hymns
to an extent justifying him in devoting nearly half of his
preface to a biographical sketch of her. And when the
people of Trinity Church, Boston, grew weary of the
authorized Psalmody, and the vestry ventured in 1808 to
print a parochial hymn book, 59 of its 152 hymns are Miss
Steele's; a tribute, as the preface explains, "to her poetical
superiority, and to the ardent spirit of devotion which
breathes in her compositions." It is easy to understand that
the depth and sincerity of feeling in Miss Steele's hymns
made Tate and Brady and even Watts seem cold. But in
the course of time it has become plain to many that those
The Works of Mrs. Anne Steele, Boston, 1808, 2 vols., i6mo.
(a reprint of the English ed. of 1780). "Mrs." was a courtesy title.
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 215
of her hymns that were most closely patterned on Watts
were also those best adapted to congregational use.
There were now practical inducements for hymn writing,
and the years from 1760 till towards the close of the
XVIIIth century constitute what is still the only very sig
nificant era of Baptist Hymnody. Miss Steele was fol
lowed in 1768 by John Needham of Bristol, whose Hymns
devotional and moral on various subjects added 263 to the
available store, but added nothing in the way of advance
on his great model, Dr. Watts, whom he closely imitated.
At the West, Benjamin Beddome was producing a weekly
hymn for use after his sermon at Bourton. Some of these
appeared in Baptist hymn books during his life, and in
1817 no less than 830 were gathered up by Robert Hall as
Hymns adapted to public worship or family devotion, now
first published from the manuscripts of the late Rev. B.
Beddome, M.A. In merit and in actual use Beddome stands
beside Miss Steele. During the same period John Ryland
of Northampton was contributing hymns to The Gospel
Magazine and to current hymn books. John Fellows printed
his Hymns on Believers' Baptism in 1773 and Hymns in a
great variety of metres in 1776. John Fawcett published
in 1782 his Hymns adapted to the circumstances of public
worship and private devotion (Leeds). Richard Burnham
began to publish his New Hymns in 1783, and Samuel
Medley gathered into several volumes, beginning with 1785,
his hymns that had appeared in leaflets and periodicals.
The hymns of Samuel Stennett were contributed to Rippon's
Selection of 1787. And we may close the list with the
Walworth Hymns of Joseph Swain (London, 1792), who
could follow the traditional model as well as any, but
had also a distinct gift for a somewhat freer spiritual
song. All of these men are still of some interest to the
student of English hymns : they contributed to the per
manent body of Evangelical Hymnody, and retain a minor
place in current hymnals. Such as they were, they, with
Miss Steele, represent the golden age of Baptist Hymnody,
216 THE ENGLISH HYMN
and serve to show how it shone with a light reflected from
the person and work of Dr. Watts.
Beyond the bounds of Independency his influence is just
as apparent in the hymn writers of the later Presbyterian
and Unitarian group, of whom Joseph Grigg and Mrs. Bar-
bauld are most familiar; and in Scotland in the work of
Ralph Erskine and the writers of the Translations and Para
phrases. Indeed the whole history of English hymn writing
points back to the fact that Watts established once for all a
definite type of Hymn. Partly because of its essential
fitness, and partly from the accident of its furnishing a
mould which is the easiest to fill out, it has happened that
from his time till ours the work of hymn writers without
special force or inspiration of their own has tended to
revert to the original model.
VII
HIS INFLUENCE UPON HYMN SINGING
After all, the Hymn is intended to be sung. The Hymn
Form and the writing of hymns have little significance apart
from hymn singing. And it is so with the work of Dr.
Watts. Whatever importance be attached to his influence
upon the ideal of the English Hymn and upon hymn compo
sition, any final estimate of his place in Hymnody must be
based upon the. record of his success in getting his hymns
sung. For that was the sum of his achievement. His
greatest influence, that is to say, lay in his undoubted leader
ship in the establishment and extension of hymn singing
as a part of congregational worship in the stead of the
ordinance of psalm singing maintained since the Reforma
tion.
We have already said that he may not be regarded as the
"Inventor of the English Hymn." It is equally true that he
cannot with strict accuracy be called the founder of the
ordinance of hymn singing in our English-speaking
"RENOVATION OF PSALMODY" 217
Churches. The Restoration Movement toward hymn sing
ing cannot justly be ignored, any more than the early hymn
writers can be overlooked. Hymn singing had begun
before Watts, and hymn books were in use before the
publication of his. Nevertheless it is his figure that stands
out against the deplorable conditions of Psalmody at the
beginning of the XVIIIth century. He does not stand
alone, but his personality commands the situation, his mind
plans the remedy purely from personal resources, and his
strong will overcomes the force of tradition, of conviction,
of sacred associations, of habit, of prejudice, and, not least,
of indifference. The aggressiveness and even bitterness of
tone assumed by Watts in his prefaces and treatise on
Psalmody, standing in contrast to his habitual moderation,
mark his method of a deliberate attack 'upon the position
of the psalm singers; to whom indeed some things therein
said seemed little short of blasphemous. He raised the issue
squarely of Hymn against Psalm. While The Psalms
imitated did actually serve as a bridge over which numerous
psalm singers crossed almost unconsciously into Hymnody,
Watts himself did not offer them as a compromise or half
way measure, but only as a supplement to his Hymns, first
published, and followed by the Psalms after an interval of
twelve years.
This assault upon the Metrical Psalm might have counted
for little, might indeed have proved a destructive influence,
if Watts had not been able to replace the overthrown Psalm
ody with a Hymnody that satisfied the religious sentiment
more completely, and yet retained a sufficiency of the
familiar form and tone of the accustomed psalm. The num
ber of those who read Watts' arguments against Metrical
Psalmody was limited, though his views were widely spread
for at least a century by means of debates and "Psalmody
sermons." But to a multitude of devout hearts the evan
gelical Psalms and Hymns in themselves furnished an incon
trovertible argument against a longer continuance in the old
Psalmody. It is this wonderful adaptation of Watts'
218 THE ENGLISH HYMN
System of Praise to meet the situation and to change it
that gives it some consideration to be regarded as a work
of genius.
The full scope of Dr. Watts' personal agency in the move
ment which has transformed all but a comparatively insig
nificant minority of English-speaking Churches from psalm
singing into hymn singing Churches, it is impossible to
estimate. His more immediate influence was confined to
the Nonconformist Churches of England and to Churches
of corresponding type in America; and even in these oper
ated more slowly than is sometimes imagined. Watts had
many friends and admirers in the Church of England, and
among them not a few who would gladly have witnessed
the introduction of his System of Praise. But as against
Anglican tradition his influence was immediately ineffective.
Upon the unchurched masses whom the Wesleys reached
with their preaching and hymns, Watts had no influence,
and for them a quite moderate degree of concern. When
we set the Watts movement against the two other XVIIIth
century movements, that were to introduce hymn singing
among the unchurched and into the Church of England
respectively, the two features that stand out are : first,
that the priority lay with Watts, and that his influence to
an undetermined extent permeated the others: and second,
that while the two other movements were connected with
revivals and dependent upon stimulated emotions, the move
ment inaugurated by Watts was not in intent revivalistic,
but purely liturgical, a sober and deliberate undertaking for
the "Renovation of Psalmody" in the ordinary worship of
the Church.
CHAPTER V
THE HYMNODY OF THE METHODIST REVIVAL
ITS ANTECEDENTS AND BEGINNINGS
(1721-1738)
i. JOHN WESLEY AIMS TO UPLIFT PAROCHIAL PSALMODY
During the early decades of the XVIIIth century the
Hymns and The Psalms imitated of Watts were gradually
but surely replacing the older metrical psalms in the Non
conformist churches of England, and establishing them
selves there as the norm of Congregational Praise. In
the parish churches, on the other hand, the use of hymns of
any sort was sporadic and occasional, while the singing of
metrical psalms was the universal practice. In the country
side and villages the Old Version of Sternhold and Hop
kins was still used, but in London and a few towns, the
New Version of Tate and Brady was beginning to get a
hearing. The hymns of Watts had given a new spiritual
interest to congregational song in the chapels which the
New Version failed to impart to that of the city churches
introducing it. But in church and chapel alike the clinging
to the old custom of lining out the psalm and the dull and
drawling rendering of the notes emphasized the continued
indifference to the. musical side of Psalmody. In London
churches a disposition was manifesting itself to relegate
the singing altogether to a choir made up of "charity
children" or such others as were available.
Such were the conditions of Congregational Song at the
beginning of the Methodist Movement within the Church
of England toward the middle of the century. In connec-
219
220 THE ENGLISH HYMN
tion with this Movement, the singing of hymns gained not
only a great extension but also a quite new power and
import. It recovered the emotional fervor of the first sing
ing of vernacular psalms by the Huguenots, and repeated
the spiritual triumphs of the Reformation Psalmody. In
the same connection the English Hymn itself acquired a
new development in several directions, and Hymnody was
permanently enriched by a large body of available hymns,
many of which remain in present use, and some of which
attain the highest rank.
The leader who played the part in Methodist Hymnody
which Calvin had taken in Huguenot Psalmody was, con
trary perhaps to the general impression, John Wesley and
not his brother Charles. He planned it, prepared the
ground, introduced and fostered it, moulded and adminis
tered it, and also restrained its excesses. But Charles Wes
ley, by reason of the bulk and quality of his contributions
to the new Hymnody, became distinctively the Poet of
Methodism; and indeed contests with Watts the first place
as a writer of English hymns. In the matter of dates and
precedence it is convenient to remember that Charles Wesley
was born at the Ep worth rectory in 1707,* the very year
of publication of Watts' Hymns; his brother John four and
a half years earlier. John Wesley published his first hymn
book in 1737, eighteen years after Watts had completed his
System of Praise with the publication of The Psalms of
David imitated in 1719. And two years later Charles printed
his first hymns.
There was much in the inheritance and early training of
the Wesley brothers which explains their interest in Hym
nody, and which prepared them for their great work in it.
There was, to begin with, in both a strong inherited bent
toward poetry and the poetic expression of feeling. Samuel
Wesley, the father, printed a volume of his verses (Maggots,
'December i8th, Old Style. For the discussion as to year see
John Tel ford, The Life of Charles Wesley, rev. ed., London, 1900,
pp. 19, 20.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 221
1685) before leaving Oxford, and followed it with a series
of later poems of which The Life of our Blessed Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ (1693) is best known. Careless and
too voluminous, these works are yet not wanting in imagina
tive and forceful expression. In the Psalm versions ap
pended to his The pious communicant rightly prepared
(1700), and elsewhere, Samuel Wesley showed himself
as by no means an incapable hymn writer. 2 It was no acci
dent that five of his children, Samuel, Jr., 3 John, Charles,
Emilia, and Mehetabel, exhibited in varying degrees the
poetic gift, and cultivated the art of verse. We find the
father in 1706 recommending his son Samuel to make
"translations of the Bible into verse" in the effort to recon
cile fancy and devotion; and in 1725 approving verses on
the 85th Psalm by his son John, who was then contemplat
ing an entrance into holy orders. 4
It may be added that the children of Ep worth rectory
were trained to social singing of psalms, and apparently of
hymns, in the family circle ; a somewhat unusual custom at
the time, the neglect of which Samuel Wesley attributed to
the general decay of piety and the uninteresting character
of the Psalm versions and of their tunes. 5 The attitude of
the Ep worth household toward current Church of England
Psalmody was the same that Watts had taken toward Non
conformist Psalmody. Before Watts' Hymns appeared,
Samuel Wesley wrote to his son Samuel of the "sorry
Sternhold Psalms/' 6 and in a paper in the Athenian Oracle
2 One of his hymns, "Behold the Saviour of Mankind," still has place
in the Methodist hymn books of England and America. In the first
impressions of the Dunciad (1728), Pope pilloried S. Wesley along
with Watts; both names being afterwards erased, perhaps owing to
protestations from without. Cf. Geo. J. Stevenson, Memorials of the
Wesley Family, London [1876], p. 68.
"Two of his hymns are retained in the English Methodist Hymn
Book.
4 L. Tyerman, Life and Times of Samuel Wesley, London, 1866,
pp. 311, 392.
*Ibid., p. 311.
9 1 bid., p. 310.
222 THE ENGLISH HYMN
complains that most of the psalm tunes are so vile that even
Orpheus could not make good music of them. He describes
the usual rendering of the psalms as "the reading them at
such a lame rate, tearing them limb from limb, and leaving
sense, cadency, and all at the mercy of the clerk's nose." 7
In his Advice to a young Clergyman, referring to efforts
to improve the singing at Epworth Church, he attributes the
preference of the common people for Sternhold and Hop
kins' version over that of Tate and Brady to their "strange
genius at understanding nonsense." 8
John Wesley, in his turn, ridiculed the Psalmody of the
town churches as "the miserable, scandalous doggerel of
Sternhold and Hopkins" ; at first droned out, two staves at
a time, by "a poor humdrum wretch," and then "bawled
out" "by a handful of wild, unawakened striplings" "who
neither feel nor understand" what they "scream," while
the congregation is "lolling at ease, or in the indecent pos
ture of sitting, drawling out one word after another." 9
Our particular concern with these passages is in their
exhibition of the young Wesley s as already in the accus
tomed exercise of social Psalmody, and of John especially
as deeply moved by the degraded conditions of parochial
Psalmody. For 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 motive of his work in Hymnody.
The social singing of psalms and hymns passed naturally
from the Epworth rectory to the meetings of the Holy Club
that Charles Wesley founded at Oxford in the spring of
1729, for the cultivation of method in study, devotion and
good works, 10 and of which John became the leader on
his return to Oxford in November of the same year. John
''Ibid., pp. 311, 312.
8 Thos. Jackson, Life of Charles Wesley, London, 1841, vol. ii, p. 509.
8 L. Tyerman, Life and Times of John Wesley, 5th ed., London,
1880, vol. ii, pp. 282, 283.
10 "This gained me the harmless name of Methodist." Chas. Wesley
to Chandler (28 April, 1785).
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 223
was an admiring reader of Dr. Watts 11 and of course
familiar with Watts' work in Hymnody; and, in view of
Wesley's later dealings with them, we may infer that Watts'
Psalms and Hymns, in connection perhaps with Tate and
Brady's New Version, furnished the materials for the sing
ing of the Holy Club. 12
2. THE MORAVIANS REVEAL TO HIM THE SPIRITUAL
POTENTIALITY OF THE HYMN
When John Wesley determined on the missionary life,
and on October 14, 1735, embarked for the new colony of
Georgia, he was accompanied by his brother Charles 13 and
Benjamin Ingham; they being three out of thirteen Oxford
"Methodists." And Wesley's account of their common life
on board the "Simmons" reads much like a protracted meet
ing of the Holy Club. The minds of both brothers had
come under the influence of Tauler, Law, and other mystical
divines, but both were Anglican clergymen of the severe
high church type. They aimed at a devotional and church
life that was "primitive," and were scrupulous in the ob
servance of rites and ceremonies, the weekly fasts and
Eucharist, and Baptism by trine immersion; and were of a
spirit too intolerant for missionary success. 14
u The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., ed. by Nehemiah
Curnock, standard ed., London and New York, n. d., vol. i, p. 139, note.
This edition of the famous Journal, with its decipherment of the
imprinted Diaries, is indispensable to understanding the development
of Wesley's mind and work in Hymnody as in other directions.
12 C/. Journal, vol. i, p. 243, note.
18 Though Charles went as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe, he
was ordained just before starting, that he might officiate in the colo
nies. Diet, of Nat. Biography, art "Chas. Wesley"; Thos. Jackson,
Life of Charles Wesley, London, 1841, vol. i, p. 44.
14 The claim of some modern Anglicans that the Wesleys were high
churchmen is successful enough as to this early period of their lives
(1725-1738), and within those limits freely admitted by Methodist
writers. Cf. Jas. H. Rigg, The Churchmanship of John Wesley, rev.
ed., London [1887], "chap, ii, Period of ritualistic high churchman-
ship." For a more carefully discriminating statement, see Journal,
vol. i, p. 167, note.
224 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Wesley's kit included a considerable collection of books.
Among them were some that became the sources of Wes-
leyan Hymnody: Tate and Brady's New Version of the
Psalms, and apparently the Supplement, with its tunes;
Watts' Psalms and Hymns; George Herbert's Poems;
Hickes' edition of Devotions in the ancient way of Offices,
containing John Austin's hymns; the Divine Dialogues
with Divine Hymns of Henry More ; Dean Brevint's Chris
tian Sacrament and Sacrifice; and some of the works of
Norris of Bemerton. Hymns by others, including his
father and brother Samuel, were among his manuscript
materials.
The brothers had as fellow-voyagers twenty-six German
Moravian colonists, with their new bishop, David Nitsch-
mann. The Moravians made much of hymn singing on
board in all weathers, and in the stress of storm it became
the characteristic expression of an unruffled faith. 15 On
the third day John Wesley began the study of German,
"in order to converse with" the Moravians, and soon took
part in their daily worship. 16
This intercourse with the Germans marks the beginning
of Moravian influence upon the spiritual life of both Wes-
leys, and was to have a marked effect on Wesleyan Hym
nody. Its immediate effect was to make an indelible
impression of the spiritual possibilities of the Hymn and
of a fervid type of hymn singing far removed from the
dull parochial Psalmody or congregational praise of Non
conformist chapels. The fervor and spontaneity of this
Moravian song was ultimately to be reproduced in the hymn
singing of Methodist meetings. A secondary effect was
to turn John Wesley to the study of the German Moravian
Hymnody, and to set him to the making of English trans
lations. 17 The Journal for October 27, 1735, has the entry,
^Journal, vol. i, p. 142.
Ibid., vol. i, pp. 1 10, 113.
"C/. Sermon cxxi in The Works of John Wesley, ed. New York,
1831, vol. ii, p. 443.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 225
"Began Gesang-Buch." This has been identified 18 as the
first of the hymn books for the congregation at Herrnhut,
published that same year by Count Zinzendorf : Das Gesang-
Buch der Gemeine in Hvrrnhut. Wesley had also access,
either on shipboard or in Georgia, to the pietistic hymn
books of Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Geist-reiches
Gesang-Buch, den Kern alter und neuer Lie der, &c. ( Halle,
1704), and its second part, Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-
Buch , &c., appearing in I7I4. 19 These became the German
sources of the Wesleyan Hymnody, and are of decided
import.
3. ftE MAKES HYMN BOOKS AS A MISSIONARY, AND AS AN
ASSOCIATE OF MORAVIANS
One of the disclosures of Wesley's newly deciphered
diary is the grip which hymns took upon his mind and
heart, when once he had caught the fervor of Moravian
Hymnody; the share of his daily life given over to hymn
singing; his assiduous study of hymns, sometimes continu
ing through the working hours of successive days. The
English Hymn, that had found so capable a tutor as \Vatts,
had been waiting for so devoted a lover as Wesley. He
at once began, and pursued with extraordinary carefulness,
the selection, revision, translation and composition of
hymns for the varied uses of his American ministrations.
He introduced hymn singing into those "companies" formed
at Savannah and Frederica, which were the prototype of the
Methodist "society," 20 and even into the Sunday church
services. In the list of grievances against Wesley presented
by the Grand Jury for Savannah in August, 1737, the first
was his alterations of the authorized metrical psalms, and
^Journal, vol. ii, p. 6.
"The two parts, combined into one under the title of the first, by
G. A. Francke, appearing at Halle in 1741, remain the best expression
of the Hymnody of the Pietistic Revival, from which the Methodist
Revival drew not only some of its hymns but also some of its earliest
tunes.
Journal, vol i, pp. 228, 229.
226 THE ENGLISH HYMN
the second his "introducing into the church and service at
-the Altar compositions of psalms and hymns not inspected
or authorized by any proper judicature." 21
These psalms and hymns were at first a manuscript col
lection, 22 and Wesley tested them by repeated readings and
discussions with friends, as well as in the sick-room and in
social devotions. 23 He then arranged with Lewis Timothy
of Charleston to print a selection of them. 24
This, Wesley's first hymn book, appeared as Collection
of Psalms and Hymns. Charles-town, i?3f, without his
name; a roughly printed little volume of 74 pages. 25 Of
its pieces, numbered as 70, one half are from Watts, 7 from
John Austin, 6 adapted from George Herbert, 2 -from
Addison; and the Wesleys are represented by 15: 5 of
Samuel, Sr., 5 of Samuel, Jr., and 5 translated from the
German by John himself. There is none by Charles
Wesley, 26 who had returned to England. The pieces are
grouped in three divisions, as "Psalms and Hymns for
Sunday" (hymns of general praise) ; "for Wednesday or
Friday" (suitable for fast days) ; and "for Saturday"
(hymns especially addressed to God as the Creator of all
things). Beyond the "primitive usage" recognized in this
grouping, there is little or nothing to suggest high church
views, and no provision for festivals or sacraments. The
outstanding feature of the collection is indeed the submis-
* l lbid., vol. i, p. 385.
Ibid., vol. i, p, 230 n.
**Ibid., vol. i, pp. 243, 259, 269 n.
Ibid., vol. i, pp. 257 n., 275, 347. Wesley was reading the proofs
in April, 1737 : p. 349.
25 Long lost to sight, it was reprinted (though not in facsimile as
stated) by Dr. George Osborn in 1882, from what was supposed to be
the only surviving copy. For the history of this copy, see Rev. R.
Green, The Works of John and Charles Wesley: a Bibliography,
London, 1896, p. 12, and additional note in the 2nd ed., 1906, p. i.
There is another copy in the Lenox Collection of the New York
Public Library.
20 Probably the explanation is that ". . . his Mss. were not at his
brother's disposal." A. E. Gregory, The Hymn-book of the Modern
Church, London, 1904, p. 156.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 227
sion of Wesley's churchliness to his good judgment in giving
the foremost place to Dr. Watts, the dissenter.
Wesley reached England, on his return, on February i,
1738; bringing from Georgia a sense of spiritual and minis
terial defeat. He came into close affiliation with London
Moravians, and, under Peter Border's advice, he, with his
brother Charles and others, formed "our little society" on
May i, 1738, at the home and book-shop of James Hutton.
It afterwards removed to Fetter Lane, and, though in con
nection with the Church of England, became the nucleus
both of organized Methodism and of organized English
Moravianism. 27
It was no doubt for the use of this, and like societies at
Bristol and Oxford, 28 that John Wesley printed, without
editor's or publisher's name, his second hymn book : A Col
lection of Psalms and Hymns. London: printed in the
year 1738 The little book is eclectic. The threefold
grouping of the hymns, intended to represent the usage of
"antiquity," is retained from the 1737 book. Watts still
leads, with 36 numbers out of a total of 76. The Church
Psalmody is represented by 16 of Tate and Brady's ver
sions; the Prayer Book by the Veni Creator; and Bishop
Ken's three hymns may be included with these. Mysticism
is represented by four selections from Norris of Bemerton,
and Moravianism by four translations from the Herrnhut
collection; English poetry by Herbert, Dryden, Addison
and Roscommon.
With this little book, the earlier and preparatory stages
of Wesley's work for Hymnody are brought to a close.
Its contents illustrate and embody most of the influences
that played upon Methodist Hymnody or became its
sources; except indeed that it contained nothing of the work
Journal, vol. i, p. 458.
*Ibid., vol. i, p. 458.
29 The only known copies are in the Didsbury College Library and
the Archepiscopal Library at Lambeth. There is a full description
of its contents in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley,
ed. by G. Osborn [13 vols.], London, 1868 seq., vol. ii, pp. 35-42.
228 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of Wesley's father and brothers ; of Charles, notably, whose
great gift waited for the deepening of his spiritual experi
ence and the inspiration he drew from the stirring scenes
of the coming revival.
II
THE METHODIST HYMNODY (1739-1904)
i. THE "MOVEMENT," AND CHARLES WESLEY AS ITS POET
While living in London, in close association with Mora
vians and under their influence, the Wesleys passed through
those remarkable spiritual experiences which brought to
both the rest and joy of faith, and determined their future
careers. Charles dated his evangelical conversion as on
Whitsunday (May 21), 1738; John his as on the Wednes
day following (May 24).
Charles began at once to proclaim his new hope to such
friends as would hear him, and to preach in the churches,
as long as they would receive him. In the summer of 1739
he entered that itinerant ministry, in Whitefield's way, that
during seventeen years carried him through England and
Wales, and twice into Ireland. John first visited the Mora
vians at Herrnhut. Returning in September, 1738, he
found his immediate sphere in the "Religious Societies,"
more or less Moravian in complexion, which in London
and elsewhere supplemented the Church services with less
formal devotions. To these meetings he preached his new
way of "saving-faith" ; teaching them to sing the hymns he
had gathered and translated. The first word in his resumed
diary, under the date of September 20, 1738, is "Singing." 30
In the spring of 1739 he went to Bristol at Whitefield's
entreaty, to carry on the work already begun there, and on
May 12 laid the corner-stone of "The New Room," really
the first Methodist Chapel. Late in the same year he
^Journal, vol. ii, p. 75; and see p. 71, note.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 229
founded at London his own "United Society," and on
November 1 1 first preached in the disused King's Foundery
in Moorfields, which, purchased and refitted, became the
headquarters of Methodism. From this year Wesley
ordinarily counted the foundation of the Methodist So
cieties.
In this memorable year appeared the third of the Wes-
leyan hymn collections, the first to bear the name of either
brother, as Hymns and sacred Poems. Published by John
Wesley, M.A. Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; and
Charles Wesley, M.A. Student of Christ -Church, Oxford.
[Colossians iii. 16]. London: printed by William Strahan;
and sold by James Hutton, Bookseller, at the Bible and
Sun, without Temple-Bar; and at Mr. Bray's, a Brazier in
Little-Britain. MDCCXXXIX. Of this there were three
editions within the year, and two subsequently. 31 Its con
tents are in two parts, containing 64 and 75 pieces, some
of them hymns for singing, and some poems for reading.
No less than 42 are adaptations from George Herbert, and
there are 22 of Wesley's renderings from the German.
Some "Verses" were included which "were wrote upon the
Scheme of the Mystick Divines," and the preface of eight
pages is largely devoted to a renunciation and exposure of
their errors.
This book reflects the spiritual experiences of the year,
and is itself memorable as the first printing of hymns from
Charles Wesley's pen. The second part opens with a hymn
beginning, "Where shall my wand'ring Soul begin?" This
is probably the hymn he commenced the day after his con
version, broken off "for fear of pride," but finished under
the encouragement of Bray the mechanic, and sung with
"great joy" when, on the Wednesday evening, John came
to announce his own faith in Christ. 32 It was thus the first
hymn of the Methodist Revival. Toward the close of the
volume appeared the fine group of festival hymns which
81 Green, Bibliography, p. 15.
82 Chas. Wesley's Diary, May 23, 24, 1738.
230 TH'E ENGLISH HYMN
afterwards helped to recommend hymns to the Church of
England. 33
Charles Wesley had written hymns already, but with his
new experience the fountain of spiritual song opened
within, which was never to fail him. Thenceforward he
became distinctively the poet of the new Movement, and
poured forth psalms and hymns in a stream uninterrupted
until his death. But his hymns did not come from the
cloisters. In the early years of the Revival, he was as
active and ardent an evangelist as John himself. "He
loved the stir, the tumult, the triumph of those great out
door gatherings, where testimony must be borne before
mobs which might at any time endanger the property and
even the lives of preacher and hearers . . . [He] was
moved to his highest flights of praise by hard-won victories
amongst his wild hearers in Cornwall, or Moorfields, at
Kingswood, or Walsall." 34 The composition of the hymns
was thus closely related to the progress of the Revival,
which they in turn did much to foster; and the long series
of books and tracts in which they appeared are an essential
part of the Revival records.
The poetical publications of John and Charles Wesley,
jointly or separately, cover a period of fifty-three years, and
number fifty-six (excluding tune-books) ; and the contents
of not less than thirty-six of these are exclusively original,
with much original work appearing in the collective
volumes. The rnajority appeared without name of author
or editor; eight under John's name, three under Charles',
and six under their joint names. 35
33 "Hark how all the Welkin rings" (Christmas-Day} ; "Sons of Men,
behold from far" (Epiphany)', '"Christ the Lord is ris'n to Day'"
(Easter-Day) ; "Hail the Day that sees Him rise" (Ascension-Day) ;
"Granted is the Saviour's Prayer" (Whitsunday).
"Gregory, The Hymn Book of the Modern Church, p. 160.
35 Of the numerous short-lists of these publications, none seems to
be both accurate and complete. The best bibliography is Green's: and
he contributed to Telford's The Methodist Hymn Book illustrated
(2nd ed. rev., London, n. d. [1909], pp. 497 ff.) a convenient list of the
works in which the hymns therein included first appeared.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 231
The custom afterward grew up of ascribing to Charles
Wesley's pen not only the hymns published under his name
but also all those published under the joint names or anony
mously, excepting only the translations and very few origi
nals admittedly written by John. Such a conclusion never
rested on solid ground, and is gradually yielding to the
conviction that John's share in the hymn writing was
greater than had been supposed; a conviction which the
recently published notes of his diary tend to strengthen.
The editors of the Wesleyan Methodist hymn book of 1875
went so far as to affix merely the letter "W" to "those
hymns which first appeared in publications for which the
Wesleys were jointly responsible" (including "Jesu, Lover
of my Soul" under this category) ; on the ground that "it
cannot be determined with certainty to which of the two
brothers a hymn should be ascribed." 36 This course proved
very unwelcome to Methodists, 37 and has since been de
parted from. But the uncertainty remains none the less.
There is some evidence that the brothers agreed not to
distinguish their several contributions of the hymns pub
lished jointly. 38 It is however to be noted that this uncer
tainty pertains chiefly to the early publications, and that as
the Revival progressed, John grew content to leave the
hymn writing to his brother, and also that, in giving its
permanent form to Methodist Hymnody, he admitted that
"but a small part of these hymns is of my own com
posing." 39
The brothers cooperated again in a second collection of
Hymns and sacred Poems, 1740. Its title-page, barring
the date, is identical with that of 1739, with whose later
editions it was incorporated. It added to English Hym-
38 Note prefixed to "Index to the Hymns."
37 See Telford, The Meth. Hy. Bk. illus., p. 12.
^See David Creamer, Methodist Hymnology, New York, 1848, p.
18; Osborn, The Poetical Works, vol. viii, p. xv.
89 John Wesley's preface to the Large Hymn Book of 1780. On the
whole subject consult Osborn, The Poetical Works, vol. viii, pp. 15, 16;
Telford, Meth. Hy. Bk. illus., pp. 8-12; Journal, vol. i, p. 477, note.
232 THE ENGLISH HYMN
nody three famous hymns, usually ascribed to Charles
Wesley: "Jesu, Lover of my Soul/' "O for a thousand
tongues to sing," and "Christ, whose glory fills the skies."
While not formally a hymn book for the societies, this,
with the 1739 volume, contributed not less than 100 hymns
to the permanent Methodist Hymnody. Its contents are
distinctively Methodist. The preface sets forth Wesley's
doctrine of Christian Perfection. There is a "Hymn for
the Kingswood Colliers," one "To be sung in a Tumult,"
one "On admission of any person into the Society," and a
group on "The Love-Feast." Wesley had taken an impas
sioned stand against the doctrine of Election in a sermon
published as Free Grace in the autumn of 1739, after
Whitefield had gone to America. Appended was a long
hymn on "Universal Redemption." This hymn, with an
other, on the same theme, were now included in the new
book, adding to the great offense already taken by White-
field. 40 The sermon and the hymn led to the separation
of the Revival forces into two camps, the Calvinistic under
Whitefield, the Arminian under Wesley, to the organization
of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion and of Calvinistic Meth
odism in Wales. 41
In deep depression at the defection from the inmost circle
and the consequent confusions, the Wesleys printed at
Bristol early in 1741, and then in London, a tractate of
eighteen hymns, as Hymns on God's everlasting love. To
which is added 'the cry of a reprobate, and the Horrible
Decree, followed by a second tractate with the same title;
the two being afterwards combined. The hymns mingle
most tender appeals with scathing satire of the doctrines
of the opposition, described as "hellish" and "satanic," and
40 "My dear, dear Brethren, Why did you throw out the bone of
contention: Why did you print that sermon against predestination?
Why did you, in particular, my dear brother Charles, affix your hymn,
and join in putting out your late hymn-book?" Letter of Whitefield,
Feb. i, 1741. Tyerman, Life of Geo. Whitefield, New York, 1877, vol.
i, p. 465.
"Tyerman, Life of John Wesley, vol. i, p. 317.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 233
presented with little fairness. The hymns are on fire with
excitement and indignation at what threatened to undo the
prospects of the Movement. The Wesleys had the precedent
of the Reformers in employing satire and invective in their
Hymnody. We may nevertheless count it fortunate that
their work, immensely effective as it was at the time, was
not of such a character as to establish a new precedent for
the Controversial Hymn.
The success of these hymn tracts, scattered broadcast,
read and sung in Methodist homes and societies, is prob
ably responsible for the long series of hymn tracts in which
further Wesleyan hymns were published. Capable of being
printed quickly to meet the occasion, sold for a few pence
and readily bought, the hymn tract became a favorite instru
ment for the inspiration and instruction of the early Meth
odists, and for cultivating their spirit of devotion. The
series of hymn tracts ran for fifty years (1741-1791), num
bering not less than thirty.
A small group offered hymns for times of civil disquiet
and Methodist persecution: Hymns for times of trouble
and persecution (1744); Hymns for times of trouble
(n. d.), Hymns zvritten in the time of the tumults (1780).
Another provided for national occasions and passing
events Hymns for the public Thanksgiving-Day (1746),
Hymns for New Year's Day (1750), Hymns occasioned
by the Earthquake, 1750 (2 parts), Hymns for the year
1756, Hymns on the expected Invasion (1759), and for
Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 1759, Hymns for the National
Fast, 1782, and two numbers of Hymns for the Nation in
1782. Another provided for the festivals of the old Church
Year : Hymns for the Nativity ( 1 745 ) ; and Hymns for
our Lord's Resurrection, for Ascension Day, Hymns of
Petition and Thanksgiving (Whitsunday), and Gloria Patri
(Trinity), all of 1746. With these we may group A Hymn
at the Sacrament (1744), two numbers of Funeral Hymns
(1746, 1759), and Hymns for the Watchnight (1746).
For the household were Graces before meat (1746), Hymns
234 THE ENGLISH HYMN
for children (1746, 1791), and Preparation for death
(1772). More general in character were a little Collection
of Hymns (1742) for the poor, Hymns for those that seek,
and those that have, redemption in the Blood of Jesus
Christ (1747, 10 editions), the most important of them all;
and Hymns of Intercession (1758).
Charles Wesley (for the bulk of the work was his) was
thus the poet-laureate of Methodism, with an ode for every
occasion. Such a companionship of hymns through pass
ing years was never provided before or since, and was an
unique feature in the upbuilding of Methodist character.
In the extension also of the Revival, these hymn tracts,
widely distributed among the poor and degraded, played a
considerable part.
Returning now to the date at which the series of hymn
tracts began, we find that the Wesleys again cooperated
in publishing a third volume of Hymns and sacred Poems,
1742, whose preface and "many of the following verses''
dealt with Christian Perfection. This volume contributed
a hundred hymns to the permanent Methodist Hymnody.
A special interest attaches to the joint publication of Hymns
on the Lord's Supper. With a preface concerning the
Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice. Extracted from Doctor
Brevint (Bristol, 1745). Its 166 hymns testify to the deep
reverence for the sacramental side of religion that charac
terized both brothers, and the demand for ten editions
shows how much those views influenced the earlier Meth
odist worship. 42
Independently of John, Charles Wesley published by
subscription in 1749 Hymns and sacred Poems. In two
volumes. By Charles Wesley, M.A., Student of Christ-
Church, Oxford (Bristol). His friends took 1145 copies
^In 1871 the whole book (together with John Wesley's earlier
Companion to the Altar) was reprinted as The Eucharistic Manuals
of John and Charles Wesley. The aim of the editor (W. E. Button)
was to make it appear that the Wesleys held sacramental views in
accord with those of the modern Catholic party.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 235
of these volumes, 43 which contain many acceptable hymns,
and whose profits helped him to set up housekeeping at
Bristol. While partly laid aside, Charles Wesley occupied
himself with writing versified comments on Scripture texts,
often original, sometimes following earlier commentators.
These, to the great number of 2030, he published as Short
Hymns on select passages of the Holy Scripture (2 vols.,
J 763), from which nearly a hundred were taken into Meth
odist Hymnody. Four years later he printed Hymns for
the use of families, and on various occasions, many of
which relate to his own household and friendships, and
hallow the daily life of the home.
Charles Wesley wrote hymns to the very end, and left
behind him in manuscript three small quarto volumes of
hymns and sacred poems, an uncompleted metrical version
of the Psalms and five quarto volumes of hymns on the
Gospels and Acts. 44 The Psalms were printed in The
Arminian Magazine, and all have been printed with pious
care in Dr. Osborn's edition of The Poetical Works. It is
the great number of the short hymns on Scripture texts
that accounts for the vast total of Charles Wesley's work.
2. HYMN BOOKS FOR "THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS"
Most of the books and tracts we have enumerated as
those in which the Wesleyan Hymns first appeared were
used to sing from in the revival services, societies, bands
or classes. A number are to be regarded as hymn books.
But from the first establishment of Sunday, as well as
weekday, services Wesley felt the necessity of providing
hymn books that should be cheap, compact, and sufficiently
inclusive. The earliest of these was A Collection of Psalms
and Hymns. Published by John Wesley, M.A. (London,
1741) ; sold at one shilling in binding, and containing 152
pieces. This was kept in print during the whole of Wesley's
life, remaining in use till superseded by the Supplement
l3 Telford, Life of Charles Wesley, p. 248.
44 C/. Jackson, Life of Charles Wesley, vol. ii, p. 457.
236 THE ENGLISH HYMN
of 1831. An abridgment of it was bound up with The
Sunday Service of 1784, and used in congregations employ
ing that service. 45 In 1753 he published Hymns and
Spiritual Songs, intended for the use of real Christians of
all denominations, made up entirely of selections from the
Hymns and sacred Poems of 1739, 1740 and 1742. This
became distinctively the Methodist hymn book, remaining
in common use till the appearance of "The Large Hymn
Book" of 1780, and in poorer societies long afterward. A
volume of Select Hymns was also published in 1761 with
tunes, and in 1773 printed without the tunes. In Wesley's
judgment the societies were thus amply supplied with hymn
books; "so that it may be doubted whether any religious
community in the world has a greater variety of
them." 46
Yet this very variety was an inconvenience to people who
could not afford to buy so many books, but wished for
more of the hymns than any one volume contained. An
urgent demand arose for a more inclusive collection. Wes
ley resisted it for years. But after the opening of the City
Road Chapel in 1778 he yielded, and began his prepara
tions. The new book was announced on the cover of The
Arminian Magazine for October, 1779, and appeared in
1780 as A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People
called Methodists. London: printed by J. Par amor e, at the
Foundery: with the now famous preface, dated Oct. 20,
1779, and signed by John Wesley. It was published at
three shillings, and contained 525 hymns; all taken from
the brothers' previous publications, and all but ten written
by members of the Wesley family. They were grouped
under the heads of Christian experience, and designed to
constitute "a little body of experimental and practical
divinity." 47
This collection became at once the book of common song
46 C/. Green, Bibliography, nos. 30, 376, 378.
"Preface of 1779.
"Preface.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 237
in Methodist congregations. 48 After Wesley's death it was
tampered with by the manager of the Methodist Publish
ing House, who made a succession of alterations, beginning
with the 1793 edition, and culminating in that of I797, 49
which dropped 24 hymns Wesley had chosen, and added 65
(including "Jesu, Lover of my Soul") which he had not
included. The Conference of 1799 appointed a committee
"to reduce the large Hymn Book to its primitive simplicity
as published in the second edition," 50 which was attempted,
partly then, and partly later, but never carried out in
strictness. In 1831 some changes were made, and a "Sup
plement" added. This served until 1875, when the book
was revised, and "A new Supplement" added, nearly as
large as the original Collection. 51 It was not until 1900,
one hundred and nine years after Wesley's death, that steps
were taken, even then reluctantly, for a thorough revision
and remodelling of Wesley's Collection. The revision was
made largely in the spirit of catholicity, to which even the
fervor of Wesleyanism has been compelled to bow, and
the new book appeared in 1904 as The Methodist Hymn
Book. 52 For the first time the name of John Wesley dis
appears from the title of the hymn book, and his arrange
ment of the hymns is given up; but even so nearly one half
of the contents is ascribed to Charles. The whole number
of hymns is 981, and some 300 are of the XlXth century.
4S The Morning Hymn Book also continued to be used, in accordance
with Wesley's preference for hymns of thanksgiving and prayer rather
than hymns describing inward states for use in public worship. Cf.
"Early Methodist Psalmody" in A New History of Methodism, ed. by
J. W. Townsend et aL, London, 1909, vol. ii, p. 561.
49 For the editions, see Green, Bibliography, No. 348.
50 Wesley had, however, made "corrections" for the 3rd ed., 1782.
61 The edition of 1831 is fully annotated in Geo.' J. Stevenson, The
Methodist Hymn Book and its associations, London, 1869: that of
1875 in his The Methodist Hymn Book illustrated, London, 2nd ed.,
1894.
"For an interesting account of the method of revision, see Tel ford,
The Methodist Hymn Book illustrated, London, n. d., pp. 12-14. Tel-
ford does for the new book what Stevenson did for the old.
238 THE ENGLISH HYMN
As Charles Wesley wrote hymns, so John compiled hymn
books, to the end of his life. A Collection of Psalms and
Hymns for the Lord's Day (1784) has been referred to as
bound up with The Sunday Service. In spite of the fulness
of the Collection of 1780, it appeared, to Wesley's vexation,
that societies were using hymns he had not authorized.
This was largely through the agency of Robert Spence, a
York bookseller. He published in 1781 A Collection of
Hymns from various authors, enlarged as A Pocket Hymn
Book, designed as a constant companion for the pious: col
lected from various authors. A large proportion of the
hymns were taken without authority or acknowledgment
from various Wesley publications. Apparently to offset it,
and also to include some good hymns omitted from the 1780
Collection, but widely called for, 53 Wesley published in
1785 A Pocket Hymn Book, for the use of Christians of
all denominations. It was not reprinted, but under the
advice of Conference Wesley reprinted the Spence book
in 1787 (London: printed by J. Paramore; with the same
title as that of 1785), expunging 37 hymns as dull and
prosaic, or "grievous doggerel." Spence submitted to Wes
ley's authority, 54 but his little book afterward became a
favorite in America.
In extreme old age, Wesley published his last collection,
Hymns for children (1790), chosen from his brother's
Hymns for children and others of riper years (1763).
These hymns show that the Wesleys were minded to carry
on the Children's Hymnody Watts had begun, but many
are beyond a child's comprehension. In an interesting
little preface Wesley contrasts Watts' method of writing
down to the child's level with his brother's efforts to lift up
the child to his own: his brother's hymns are "in such
plain and easy language as even children may understand;
but when they do understand them they will be children
no longer."
"Preface.
"Tyerman, John Wesley, vol. iii, p. 539.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 239
III
THE METHODIST SINGING
i. JOHN WESLEY AS MUSIC-MASTER
Wesley gave the same forethought and attention to the
musical as to the literary side of Methodist Song, keeping
its direction in his own hands. His equipment for this
undertaking was his sound musical feeling, a very limited
technical knowledge, and an unusual practical sense. Per
ceiving the importance of the Hymn Tune to the purpose
he had in view, he provided a body of "authorized" hymn
tunes, and expected that none other should be sung by
his followers. His cardinal principle was that the tunes
should invite the participation of all the people; and, next,
should keep within the limits of sobriety and reverence.
The tunes were to express the words, avoiding "vain
repetitions" to fill out the music. Florid and fuguing tunes
he likened to "Lancashire hornpipes." 55
Wesley prepared four Methodist tune books, and perhaps
consented to the use of two more. As early as 1742 he
printed A Collection of Tunes, set to music, as they are
commonly sung at the Foundery. 5 The hymns set are those
of the three volumes of Hymns and sacred Poems. Its
price of six pence was intended to make it available to the
poor; and in printing the melody alone he appealed to the
unskillful. The book was so full of musical errors as to
defeat its own end, but is interesting as showing the tunes
first used at the Foundery. There are only three of the Old
Version psalm tunes. Very few of these remained in the
actual use of parish churches, and these were inevitably
associated with the dull, drawling parochial Psalmody. The
tunes of the Supplement to the New Version were freely
drawn upon; six German melodies, which Wesley had
"Minutes of Conference, 1768.
88 A reprint was bound up with that of the Charleston collection
of 1737.
240 THE ENGLISH HYMN
sung with the Moravians, were taken from Freyling-
hausen's Gesang-Buch; and some eleven tunes were appar
ently new. 57
The conversion in 1746 of Mrs. Rich, wife of the pro
prietor of Covent Garden Theater, put Charles Wesley in
touch with the London musical circle in which J. F. Lampe,
Handel and others moved. 58 Handel set three of Charles'
hymns to music. Lampe published a musical setting of
twenty- four as Hymns on the great Festivals, and other
occasions (London, 1746; 4to). Handel's tunes were not
printed: Lampe's were generally admired, and their use
was "allowed" in Methodist services. The store of Meth
odist tunes was increased by the adaptation of popular
melodies and by local tunes which Wesley came upon in his
travels. 59
Some of these tunes, with others, were gathered together
by Thomas Butts, a companion of the Wesleys, in his Har-
monia Sacra (c. 1753). Wesley commended this book, but
objected to its more florid tunes, which he thought irrev
erent, and its old Psalm tunes, which he thought dull. Wes
ley's own Sacred Melody, published in 1761, to bind up
with the Select Hymns of that year, is little more than an
amended reproduction of Butts' book, omitting the objec
tionable tunes. The 102 tunes of Sacred Melody represent
all those in use with Wesley's approval. 60 A class of tunes
of a more florid type, and characterized by much repetition
of the words and breaking up of the lines, came into such
wide popularity later that they were known in time as "The
Old Methodist Tunes." As a matter of fact these tunes
represented the taste of the later eighteenth century in
67 C/. J. T. Lightwood, Hymn Tunes and their story, London, n. d.
pp. 121-125.
"Telford, Charles Wesley, pp. 150-154, 230-234.
"Lightwood, op. cit., p. 128.
80 "All the tunes in common use among us." Wesley's preface. For
a good characterization of the contents of Sacred Melody, see "Early
Methodist Psalmody" in A new History of Methodism, vol. ii, appendix
C, pp. 558-560.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 241
general and not of the Methodists in particular as distin
guished either from churchmen or dissenters. 61
In speaking of the actual Methodist tunes Wesley says
in the preface to his Sacred Melody of 1761 that he had
been engaged for twenty years endeavoring to persuade
musicians to follow his directions in setting down the tunes,
but in vain. He has at last prevailed, and the tunes are
here "pricked true, exactly as I desire all our congregations
may sing them." In this book appeared Wesley's "Direc
tions for Singing," to be observed carefully in order that
"this part of Divine worship may be the more acceptable
to God, as well as more profitable" to singer and hearer.
These seven rules became canonical, and are, briefly : "Learn
these tunes before any others; sing them exactly as printed;
sing all of them; sing lustily; sing modestly; sing in time;
above all sing spiritually, with an eye to God in every
word." They exhibit the practical mind and indomitable
will of Wesley covering the minutest details of Methodist
Song. And both Wesley's Journal and the minutes of the
Annual Conferences show how closely the observance of
these rules was looked after, and any breach of them in
spirit or letter detected.
2. THE NEW TYPE OF CONGREGATIONAL SONG
Behind these regulations there was a marked spontaneity
in the early Methodist singing. It was the utterance of
simple and unlettered hearts in whom the Wesleyan evangel
had awakened a great happiness. They sang because their
overcharged feelings could not keep from singing. The
new hymns both fed and expressed the new feelings; and
the thrill of spiritual passion leaped from heart to heart of
a great concourse singing together "Blow ye the trumpet,
blow," "O for a thousand tongues to sing," or "Soldiers of
Christ, arise."
This Methodist Song in its spiritual spontaneity, its
fervor and its gladness, fulfilled to a remarkable degree the
81 C/. Lightwood, op. cit., chaps, v and viii.
242 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Apostolic ideal of Christian Song; and the injunctions of
Wesley inevitably recall the figure of St. Paul, striving
not to stimulate so much as to regulate the "tongues," and
dealing prudently with their excesses and infelicities. The
Methodist excesses at the first were simply the noise of too
much physical exuberance and the confusions inevitable to
singers musically ignorant. Wesley instructed his preach
ers to interrupt the noisy hymn, and interpolate questions
to the congregation: "Now do you know what you said
last? Did it suit your case? Did you sing it as to God,
with the spirit and understanding also?" 62 The ignorant,
he insisted, should be taught to sing by note and accept
ably. 63 On their behalf he himself published two tractates :
A short Introduction to Music, and The Grounds of vocal
Music. Refined, scholarly, of Anglican training and with
churchly sympathies, neither of the Wesleys conceived or
abetted congregational song that was vulgar in its literary
contents or flippant in music or indecorous in expression.
They cultivated a Hymnody that should be reverently and
decently ordered without any sacrifice of its heartiness.
As time went on the excesses of exuberance naturally less
ened, and were followed by the creeping in of formality.
Wesley thought slow singing in itself tended to formality,
doubtless having in mind the droning of the psalms in parish
churches of the time. 64 But a new danger arose with
the formation of a body of "Singers" to lead the worship of
the chapels. The singing originally had required little
leadership. Until the hymns were familiar or the people
could read, the lines were read out, and the tune started by
the preacher or any one available. As hymn and tune grew
familiar, they sounded forth impulsively. But with church
organization came the choir; and, with the choir, first the
more intricate tune, then the anthem, and finally the organ.
The Minutes of 1768 protest against the florid tunes.
Those of 1787 prohibit the introduction of anthems, as
"Minutes of Conference, 1746.
"Minutes, 1765. "Minutes, 1768.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 243
not properly joint worship. In 1796 an exception was
allowed on special occasions. On such occasions, it
appears from the Minutes of 1800, even "theatrical"
singers had been introduced into the chapels to sing
elaborate solos and choruses. A few years later Richard
Watson printed a pamphlet on Singing Men and Women,
rebuking them as a class for unduly magnifying their
office. 65
The question of instrumental music had little import
during Wesley's life. In the open air meetings the great
volume of sound would have drowned out any accompani
ment, as it often drowned out the voices of those sent to
break up the meetings. And in none of the chapels were
the circumstances of the people such as to make likely any
proposal to install an organ. The bass-viol seems to have
been first introduced, as a support to the leader's voice. The
clarionet and other instruments followed, as was the custom
in the parish churches also. Not more than three chapels
introduced the organ while Wesley lived. 66 The Minutes
of 1796 prohibit organs until proposed by the Conference.
The Minutes of 1808 show that some had already been
introduced, but consent is refused to the erection of any
more. The introduction of an organ in Brunswick Chapel,
Leeds, produced bitter controversy and a secession of
"Protestant Methodists," whose protest was against instru
mental music. Daniel Isaac's Vocal Melody, or, Singing
the only music sanctioned by divine authority, in the public
worship of Christians (York, 1827), reveals in its title the
ground of this protest; although Isaac himself refused to
join the seceders. In this, as in much beside, the Church
Song of Methodism has since yielded to modern influences.
Practically all of the 9,000 churches of Wesleyan Meth
odism in England to-day have their organ and choir; 67 and
in 1910 a monthly periodical, The Choir, was established
85 Curwen, Worship Music, 1st series, p. 57.
A new History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 515
"The Choir for January, 1910, p. I.
244 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in the interests of Methodist church music. The congrega
tional singing of present day Methodism has also exchanged
something of its early fervor for the more tempered enthu
siasm that comes with years and educational progress.
But it still retains a certain characteristic flavor of its own ;
a certain potentiality also of regaining the old warmth and
volume under the stimulus of revival preaching.
IV
THE PART OF THE WESLEYS IN THE DEVELOP
MENT OF THE ENGLISH HYMN
It is evident that a place must be given to the Wesleyan
Hymnody in the history of religion itself. The Wesley s
inaugurated a great spiritual revival; and their hymns did
as much as any human agency to kindle and replenish its
fervor. They conducted the propaganda of a new theology :
we can scan Wesley's sermons to discover its contents, but
in the hymns it was sung by multitudes; and of the two
media of its dissemination, the song was probably the more
effective. John Wesley led an ecclesiastical revolt, and,
failing to conquer his own Church, established a new one
of phenomenal proportions : the hymns prefigured the con
stitution of the new Church and formed the manual of
its spiritual discipline. The Wesleyan Hymns are thus
deeply written into the religious history of English-speaking
peoples. We might sum up the Wesleys' work in Hymnody
by saying that they perceived the spiritual possibilities of
hymns and of hymn singing, and that they realized them,
apparently to the full.
With this glimpse toward the wider bearings of their
work, it remains nevertheless to estimate more precisely the
place and importance of the Wesleys in the history of the
English Hymn and the extension of hymn singing. It will
be convenient to regard their work as :
i. A great enrichment of the stores of English Hymns.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 245
The work of Charles Wesley as a hymn writer attained
vast proportions, including some 6,500 hymns. In dis
tinguishing major from minor poets, it is customary to
regard the mere bulk of an author's production as an evi
dence of power and an element of impressiveness. The
same consideration doubtless applies to hymn writers. But
in Charles Wesley's case his inventiveness and facility were
coupled with a total inability for self-criticism. The in
ward impulse to give rhythmical expression to convictions
and feelings hardened into a habit. And this, stimulated
by the assurance of an eager welcome for anything he
might publish, led him to produce a considerable body of
material in no way worthy of his own powers.
But for all practical purposes the contribution of Charles
Wesley to devotional poetry was confined to the limits of
the selection made by his brother John for the Methodist
Collection of 1780, and its supplements. The pamphlets
and volumes in which the hymns originally appeared were
allowed to go out of print, and dropped out of sight; and
some part of his work remained unpublished. The Meth
odists were so well satisfied with their hymn book as to be
incurious as regards the outlying material. Moreover,
Charles Wesley had remained a consistent churchman to
the end. He had controverted many of his brother's
opinions, and protested against his whole course in estab
lishing an independent Methodist Church. Loyalty to John
Wesley's memory left the Methodists indisposed toward any
attempt to magnify the name or reputation of Charles. His
family deemed it prudent to keep his manuscripts and family
papers in careful custody, and it was not till after Miss
Wesley's death in 1828 that they passed into the possession
of the Wesleyan Conference. 68 No adequate biography of
Charles Wesley was written until 1841. No attempt was
made to collect the numerous poetical publications, or even
to prepare any connected account of them, until 1848, when
an American, Joseph Creamer of Baltimore, published his
^See Jackson, Life of Charles Wesley, preface.
246 THE ENGLISH HYMN
Methodist Hymnology* 9 The whole body of the Wesleyan
Hymns was not collected and printed until in 1868-1872
the London Conference Office published The Poetical
Works of John and Charles Wesley in thirteen I2mo
volumes.
But while in this way the presentation of Charles Wes
ley's work as a whole was deferred, and his actual contri
bution to Hymnody narrowed down to the contents of the
Methodist Collection, even so that contribution was un-
precedentedly large. .Even in the first edition the number
of hymns counted as his was about as large as in the entire
System of Praise of Dr. Watts, and in the revision of
1875 it attained the great total of 724 hymns. The whole
number of these hymns must be regarded as having come
into actual use. If any escaped being sung, it was never
theless read devotionally. After a century and a quarter
the revisers of 1904 speak of "the delicate task of removing
hymns from Wesley's original book," 70 and their new
Methodist Hymn Book retains 429 hymns ascribed to
Charles Wesley. His whole contribution to English Hym
nody cannot therefore be estimated in figures smaller than
these, and the number of his hymns in actual use to-day has
been estimated as 5OO. 71
Beside such figures the contribution of John Wesley is
relatively small. His share in writing the original hymns
cannot now be determined. In the Collection of 1780,
twenty-seven numbers are admittedly his, mostly renderings
from the German. These, though few, give him an unique
place as a hymn writer at the head of the small band who
have transferred foreign hymns so deftly that they breathe
naturally under English skies. A number of them may
fairly be included among the classics of English Hymnody.
""The Wesleyan Hymnology of Rev. Wm. P. Burgess (London,
1845, 2nd ed. 1846), was simply "A Companion to the Wesleyan Hymn
Book," with brief remarks on the hymns, intended to promote their
profitable use.
'"Preface to the Meth Hy. Bk., p. iv.
"Gregory, op. cit., p. 165.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 247
But John Wesley, in connection with the exercise of the
new function of an Administrator of hymn singing, stands
related to the whole body of the Wesleyan Hymns as their
editor. The editor's function is at all times essential to
the well-being of Congregational Praise, and Wesley was
the first of note in the long line of English hymnal com
pilers. He exercised his function autocratically, but on
the whole with distinguished success. Charles Wesley's
hymns owe much to the strong hand of his brother, not
only for the winnowing they so much needed, but for the
verbal revision to which he subjected them insistently, be
fore their first appearing and after it. His entire freedom
in this respect has been regarded as inconsistent with the
protest in the preface of the Collection against the alteration
of his own or his brother's hymns by other hands. "I
desire," he says, "they would not attempt to mend them;
for they really are not able. None of them is able to mend
either the sense or the verse." 72 There is nothing in the
protest inconsistent with the practice. Wesley sincerely
believed he could improve other people's hymns, whether
Watts' or his brother's, and along with this self-confidence
had a total lack of confidence in the ability of other "hymn-
tinkerers." The results in his case went far to justify the
self-confidence. Unhappily the practice rather than the
protest established a precedent for an editorial custom of
"tinkering" hymns which afterward went to great lengths,
and only too often failed to justify itself.
2. The work of the Wesley s modified the ideal of the
English Hymn itself, both on its spiritual and literary sides,
and established new types of hymns. No one can turn from
the earlier hymns to the Wesleyan without being conscious
of a change of atmosphere, a heightening of emotion, a
novelty of theme, a new manner of expression.
( i). This change reveals itself, first, through a new evan
gelistic note in the hymns. In the quiet of his study Watts
"Both Whitefield and Toplady were among those who in their
published hymn books had already offended in this direction.
248 THE ENGLISH HYMN
had aimed to improve the character of the Service of Praise.
The Wesley s struck a new note, the proclamation of an
unlimited atonement and free gospel, with the yearning
cry of the field preacher to "all that pass by." They
sounded it in revival hymns, directly addressed to sinners,
and glowing with the exhorter's excitement. They aimed
' to bring the unchurched and unsaved within the sound of
the gospel, and to use song as a means of his conversion and
upbuilding. And so, when the hymns were gathered into
the Methodist Collection, the first section of the book bore
the title, "Exhorting and Entreating to return to God."
The Wesleys may be said to have introduced the Evange
listic Hymn, as we use that term to-day. Their lead was
more or less followed through the whole breadth of the
Evangelical Revival, and by the extending line of latter-
day revivalists. There will always be some to contend that
evangelistic hymns should be confined to revival meetings
as distinguished from the Church's stated worship, and
that a rhymed appeal to sinners is not a hymn in any true
sense. But the quickened sense of responsibility for evan
gelization which spread from the Methodist Movement into
all the Churches has learned to regard such questions as
largely academic. The Evangelistic Hymn has a secure
place not only in the ordinary church hymnal but even in
the collections of the straitest Anglicans. For this the Wes
leys are responsible, even though the evangelistic hymns
of Charles Wesley have not as a class come into much use
beyond Methodism. Each subsequent revival has tended
to develop its own Hymnody. But for the character of
too much of this later Hymnody the Wesleys cannot justly
be regarded as responsible. The Evangelistic Hymn as
conceived by them is simple, direct and tender; expressed
in rippling measures that would catch the ear of the passer
by and assist his memory. But from triviality and from
vulgarity the Wesleyan hymns are characteristically free.
(2). The work of the Wesleys, notably of Charles,
greatly affected the Hymn of Christian Experience. At his
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 249
hands this becomes the predominating theme of Hymnody.
He felt an impulse to translate every new spiritual experi
ence into song; and the spiritual needs of the converts, as
disclosed in the class-meetings, broke through his natural
reserve, and called upon him to bare the deepest feelings of
his soul, and lay them at the feet of those who needed his
sympathy and guidance. The hymns are frankly autobio
graphical. They portray, without any effort to tone down
his own heightened emotions to the average level, his per
sonal spiritual history: his unrest and even agony under
bondage to the law, his instantaneous conversion and the
assurance of faith, the period of ecstatic joy, the ups and
downs of the pilgrim progress to the "second rest," his
delight in the anticipation of death.
In this way the Methodist Hymnody developed into some
thing more than a body of Church Song. As finally
gathered into the Collection of 1780, it constituted what
John Wesley called the fullest account of Scriptural Chris
tianity in existence. The whole area of the operations of
the Spirit in the heart is there charted out with firmness
and precision. The experiences are primarily the Wesleys'
own. But it was a feature of their method to anticipate,
and in a remarkable degree to evoke, in their converts a
repetition of their own experiences. And the Hymnody
did much in developing the type of piety we still describe
as Methodist. Methodist though it was, Dr. Martineau,
the Unitarian, wrote of it in 1869 : 73 "After the Scrip
tures, the Wesley Hymn Book appears to me the grandest
instrument of popular religious culture that Christendom
has ever produced."
This conception of the Hymn, and this turning of the
congregational praise book into a manual of spiritual dis
cipline, were not the expression of the Wesleys' theory of
worship imposed upon the Revival. They were rather the
result of the Revival experiences with the poor and unlet
tered, the observation of the great educative power that lay
73 Life and Letters of James Martineau, New York, 1902, vol. ii, p. 99.
250 THE ENGLISH HYMN
in the use of hymns which the Revival itself had called
forth and shaped. In the fulness and precision of its deal
ings with the Christian life, the Methodist Collection re
mains unique, but its new emphasis on the Hymn of
Experience became a precedent, and was extended through
the various channels of Hymnody that more or less directly
had their source in the Revival.
The value of the precedent thus established will be vari
ously appraised. From the liturgical point of view the
Hymn of Experience seems to violate the traditions, and
to create a new standard of Church Praise. Instead of a
congregation uttering its corporate praise with a common
voice, we have a gathering of individuals conducting their
private devotions in audible unison. And when the Hymn
of Experience becomes autobiographical, it gives rise to
the double question, how far its writer's individual experi
ence is fitted to be a norm of Christian experience in gen
eral, and how far putting another's experience into the
mouth of a promiscuous congregation lends itself to the
promotion of religious insincerity.
In applying these tests to Charles Wesley's autobio
graphical hymns, there is no occasion to separate the body
of them from the Wesleyan Method, of which they became
the effective instrument. In the case of a great majority
of them, their use has been confined within the limits of
Methodism. Of the remainder some, by reason of their
emotional intensity and spiritual exaltation, are clearly un
fitted for general and indiscriminate use. 74 Others have
awakened a response in the common heart of English-speak
ing Christendom ; though even in the case of some of these
there is no unanimity of opinion as to the fitness of such
intimate strains for general worship. 75
"They are too good for such purposes." Burgess, op. tit., p. 266.
". g., of "Jesu, Lover of my Soul," Canon Ellerton, the hymn
writer, has said "Most clergymen, I suppose, would hesitate before
selecting it as the vehicle of the ordinary worship of a mixed congre
gation." H. Housman, John Ellerton, London, 1896, p. 237.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 251
(3). The work of the Wesley s led the way toward a
churchly or Liturgical Hymnody. The idea of celebrating
the Christian festivals in verse had of course been held in
common by many devotional poets : even that of a "Chris
tian Year" which should be a poetic illustration of the
Prayer Book began with Bishop Ken rather than with
Keble. But in the Wesleys' time the thought of a "Hymnal
Companion to the Prayer Book" was not in men's minds,
and the work of Wither in that direction had been long
forgotten.
The Wesleys had planned to carry on their work in the
Church of their fathers, and as late as 1750 printed hymns
under their names as "Presbyters of the Church of Eng
land." 76 The group of hymn tracts for various festivals of
the Christian Year contains some of the best hymns of
that type in the language, and perhaps indicates the line on
which the Wesleyan Hymnody would have developed apart
from the revival influences. Even after the Church proved
inhospitable to the Wesleys' work and their hymns, the
brothers remained in its ministry, churchmen at heart and
to a great extent in practice.
The Hymns on the Lord's Supper of 1745 would seem
a strange intrusion into the body of their experimental
Hymnody, if we did not understand how the Church service
and the Methodist meeting continued, in the mind of both
brothers, to exist side by side, each complementing the
other. They regarded the Lord's Supper as the crown of
Christian worship, and held it in profoundest reverence.
This book of 1745 is the witness of their desire that their
followers should share their views. It is a "hymnal com
panion" to the Prayer Book "Order of the Administration
of the Lord's Supper," by no means neglectful of the
"Catholic" aspects of that service. John Wesley required
of his people frequent communions in their parish churches ;
and, after the permanent organization of fyfethodism as a
separate church, arranged for it a liturgical and sacramental
n Hymns on the Lord's Supper (title pages of some editions).
252 THE ENGLISH HYMN
scheme of worship, modified from The Book of Common
Prayer, with its own Hymnody "for the Lord's Day" serv
ices. The churchly and sacramental proclivities of the
Wesleys permanently impressed themselves on English
Methodism, and, as embodied in its Hymnody, differentiate
that Hymnody from the early Nonconformist "System of
Praise," and no less from later types of Revival Hymnody,
which give scant recognition to church or sacrament.
"Never at any time was there a danger of the Methodist
Societies cutting themselves off from the Catholic Church
by neglect of the Sacraments, or of their becoming an
exclusively evangelistic organization on the plan of the
Salvation Army." 77 There was thus nothing anomalous in
the fact that the Wesleys should be the first within the
bounds of the Church of England to celebrate its festival
days in adequate songs and to provide a Sacramental
Hymnody.
(4). The work of the Wesleys set up a new standard in
Hymnody on its literary side. Their hymns are in line
with the earlier devotional poets rather than with Watts.
They controverted Watts' canon of hymn writing and laid
down a new one, a hymn should be a poem.
John Wesley's taking' to Georgia a copy of Herbert's
Poems, and his repeated efforts to utilize its verses in his
hymn books, are significant. The brothers had been trained
in the very atmosphere of sacred poetry. Samuel Wesley's
preface to his An Epistle to a friend concerning Poetry
(1700) was a vigorous, even violent, philippic against the
profligacy and "infidel principles" of current letters, espe
cially poetry; and all the poets of the Ep worth rectory
aimed to rebut the prevailing notion that religion offered no
fit themes to poetry. So far the standpoint of Watts and
the Wesleys was one, but only so far.
Watts insisted that the Hymn must be kept outside the
realm of poetry, stripped of poetic suggestiveness, and be
written down to the level of the meanest capacity. Wesley
"Gregory, Hymn Book of the Modern Church, p. 177.
HYMNODY OF METHODIST REVIVAL 253
maintained that the Hymn should be a religious lyric and
create the impression of lyrical poetry; that the masses
must be lifted up to the level of the Hymn, and made to
feel the beauty and inspiration of poetry. By this standard
he tried not only the work of Watts, but of his brother
Charles, of a group of whose hymns he said, "Some are
bad, some mean, some most excellently good." 78 And when
his Methodist "System of Praise" was finally complete, he
made the proud boast : 79 -
"May I be permitted to add a few words with regard to the
poetry? ... In these Hymns there is no doggerel, no botches,
nothing put in to patch up the rhyme, no feeble expletives.
Here is nothing turgid or bombast on the one hand, or low and
creeping on the other. . . . Here are (allow me to say) both
the purity, the strength and the elegance of the ENGLISH
language: and at the same time the utmost simplicity and plain
ness, suited to every capacity. Lastly, I desire men of taste to
judge (these are the only competent judges;) whether there is
not in some of the following verses, the true Spirit of Poetry:
such as cannot be acquired by art and labour; but must be the
gift of nature. By labour a man may become a tolerable imi
tator of SPENSER, SHAKESPEAR, or MILTON, and may
heap together pretty compound epithets, as PALE-EYED,
WEAK-EYED, and the like. But unless he is born a Poet,
he will never attain the genuine SPIRIT OF POETRY."
In the judgment of a recent historian of English Poetry, 80
Wesley "was fully justified" in making this boast, and his
brother Charles was "the most admirable devotional lyric
poet in the English language."
Incidental to the poetic freedom with which Charles Wes
ley wrote was the marked metrical development he gave to
the English Hymn. Tate and Brady in the new Psalmody,
Journal, December 15, 1788.
"In preface to the Collection of 1780.
80 W. J. Courthope, A History of English Poetry, vol. v, London,
1905, p. 343. Prof. Felix E. Schelling, in his more recent 
