The principal hymn-writers of the Lutheran school, in the latter part of
the 16th century, were Nikolaus Selnecker, Herman and Hans Sachs, the
shoemaker of Nuremberg, also known in other branches of literature. All
these wrote some good hymns. They were succeeded by men of another sort,
to whom F. A. Cunz gives the name of "master-singers," as having raised
both the poetical and the musical standard of German
hymnody:--Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, Ludwig Helmbold, Johannes Pappus, Martin
Schalling, Rutilius and Sigismund Weingartner. The principal topics of
their hymns (as if with some foretaste of the calamities which were soon
to follow) were the vanity of earthly things, resignation to the Divine
will, and preparation for death and judgment. The well-known English hymn,
"Great God, what do I see and hear," is founded upon one by Ringwaldt. Of
a quite different character were two of great beauty and universal
popularity, composed by Philip Nicolai, a Westphalian pastor, during a
pestilence in 1597, and published by him, with fine chorales, two years
afterwards. One of these (the "Sleepers wake! a voice is calling," of
Mendelssohn's oratorio, _St Paul_) belongs to the family of Advent or New
Jerusalem hymns. The other, a "Song of the believing soul concerning the
Heavenly Bridegroom" ("Wie schön leucht't uns der Morgenstern"--"O morning
Star, how fair and bright"), became the favourite marriage hymn of
Germany.
Period of Thirty Years' War.
The hymns produced during the Thirty Years' War are characteristic of
that unhappy time, which (as Miss Winkworth says) "caused religious men
to look away from this world," and made their songs more and more
expressive of personal feelings. In point of refinement and graces of
style, the hymn-writers of this period excelled their predecessors.
Their taste was chiefly formed by the influence of Martin Opitz, the
founder of what has been called the "first Silesian school" of German
poetry, who died comparatively young in 1639, and who, though not of any
great original genius, exercised much power as a critic. Some of the
best of these works were by men who wrote little. In the famous
battle-song of Gustavus Adolphus, published (1631) after the victory of
Breitenfeld, for the use of his army, "Verzage nicht du Häuflein klein"
("Fear not, O little flock, the foe"), we have almost certainly a
composition of the hero-king himself, the versification corrected by his
chaplain Jakob Fabricius (1593-1654) and the music composed by Michael
Altenburg, whose name has been given to the hymn. This, with Luther's
paraphrase of the 67th Psalm, was sung by Gustavus and his soldiers
before the battle of Lützen in 1632. Two very fine hymns, one of prayer
for deliverance and peace, the other of trust in God under calamities,
were written about the same time by Matthäus Löwenstern, a saddler's
son, poet, musician and statesman, who was ennobled after the peace by
the emperor Ferdinand III. Martin Rinckhart, in 1636, wrote the "Chorus
of God's faithful children" ("Nun danket alle Gott"--"Now thank we all
our God"), introduced by Mendelssohn in his "Lobgesang," which has been
called the "Te Deum" of Germany, being usually sung on occasions of
public thanksgiving. Weissel, in 1635, composed a beautiful Advent hymn
("Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates"), and J. M. Meyfart, professor of
theology at Erfurt, in 1642, a fine adaptation of the ancient "Urbs
beata Hierusalem." The hymn of trust in Providence by George Neumark,
librarian to that duke of Weimar ("Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt
walten"--"Leave God to order all thy ways"), is scarcely, if at all,
inferior to that of Paul Gerhardt on the same theme. Paul Flemming, a
great traveller and lover of nature, who died in 1639, also wrote
excellent compositions, coloured by the same tone of feeling; and some,
of great merit, were composed, soon after the close of the war, by
Louisa Henrietta, electress of Brandenburg, granddaughter of the famous
admiral Coligny, and mother of the first king of Prussia. With these may
be classed (though of later date) a few striking hymns of faith and
prayer under mental anxiety, by Anton Ulrich, duke of Brunswick.
Rist.
Dach.
The most copious, and in their day most esteemed, hymn-writers of the
first half of the 17th century, were Johann Heermann and Johann Rist.
Heermann, a pastor in Silesia, the theatre (in a peculiar degree) of war
and persecution, experienced in his own person a very large share of the
miseries of the time, and several times narrowly escaped a violent
death. His _Devoti musica cordis_, published in 1630, reflects the
feelings natural under such circumstances. With a correct style and good
versification, his tone is subjective, and the burden of his hymns is
not praise, but prayer. Among his works (which enter largely into most
German hymn-books), two of the best are the "Song of Tears" and the
"Song of Comfort," translated by Miss Winkworth in her _Christian
Singers of Germany_. Rist published about 600 hymns, "pressed out of
him," as he said, "by the cross." He was a pastor, and son of a pastor,
in Holstein, and lived after the peace to enjoy many years of
prosperity, being appointed poet-laureate to the emperor and finally
ennobled. The bulk of his hymns, like those of other copious writers,
are of inferior quality; but some, particularly those for Advent,
Epiphany, Easter Eve and on Angels, are very good. They are more
objective than those of Heermann, and written, upon the whole, in a more
manly spirit. Next to Heermann and Rist in fertility of production, and
above them in poetical genius, was Simon Dach, professor of poetry at
Königsberg, who died in 1659. Miss Winkworth ranks him high among German
poets, "for the sweetness of form and depth of tender contemplative
emotion to be found in his verses."
Gerhardt.
Franck.
Scheffler.
The fame of all these writers was eclipsed in the latter part of the
same century by three of the greatest hymnographers whom Germany has
produced--Paul Gerhardt (1604-1676), Johann Franck (1618-1677) and
Johann Scheffler (1624-1677), the founder of the "second Silesian
school," who assumed the name of "Angelus Silesius." Gerhardt is by
universal consent the prince of Lutheran poets. His compositions, which
may be compared, in many respects, to those of the _Christian Year_, are
lyric poems, of considerable length, rather than hymns, though many
hymns have been taken from them. They are, with few exceptions,
subjective, and speak the language of individual experience. They occupy
a middle ground between the masculine simplicity of the old Lutheran
style and the highly wrought religious emotion of the later pietists,
towards whom they on the whole incline. Being nearly all excellent, it
is not easy to distinguish among the 123 those which are entitled to the
highest praise. Two, which were written one during the war and the other
after the conclusion of peace, "Zeuch ein zu deinen Thoren" ("Come to
Thy temple here on earth"), and "Gottlob, nun ist erschollen" ("Thank
God, it hath resounded"), are historically interesting. Of the rest, one
is well known and highly appreciated in English through Wesley's
translation, "Commit thou all thy ways"; and the evening and
spring-tide hymns ("Now all the woods are sleeping" and "Go forth, my
heart, and seek delight") show an exquisite feeling for nature; while
nothing can be more tender and pathetic than "Du bist zwar mein und
bleibest mein" ("Thou'rt mine, yes, still thou art mine own"), on the
death of his son. Franck, who was burgomaster of Guben in Lusatia, has
been considered by some second only to Gerhardt. If so, it is with a
great distance between them. His approach to the later pietists is
closer than that of Gerhardt. His hymns were published, under the title
of _Geistliche und weltliche Gedichte_, in 1674, some of them being
founded on Ambrosian and other Latin originals. Miss Winkworth gives
them the praise of a condensed and polished style and fervid and
impassioned thought. It was after his conversion to Roman Catholicism
that Scheffler adopted the name of "Angelus Silesius," and published in
1657 his hymns, under a fantastic title, and with a still more fantastic
preface. Their keynote is divine love; they are enthusiastic, intense,
exuberant in their sweetness, like those of St Bernard among medieval
poets. An adaptation of one of them, by Wesley, "Thee will I love, my
Strength, my Tower," is familiar to English readers. Those for the first
Sunday after Epiphany, for Sexagesima Sunday and for Trinity Sunday, in
_Lyra Germanica_, are good examples of his excellences, with few of his
defects. His hymns are generally so free from the expression, or even
the indirect suggestion, of Roman Catholic doctrine, that it has been
supposed they were written before his conversion, though published
afterwards. The evangelical churches of Germany found no difficulty in
admitting them to that prominent place in their services which they have
ever since retained.
Pietists.
Towards the end of the 17th century, a new religious school arose, to
which the name of "Pietists" was given, and of which Philipp Jakob
Spener was esteemed the founder. He and his pupils and successors,
August Hermann Francke and Anastasius Freylinghausen, all wrote hymns.
Spener's hymns are not remarkable, and Francke's are not numerous.
Freylinghausen was their chief singer; his rhythm is lively, his music
florid; but, though his book attained extraordinary popularity, he was
surpassed in solid merit by other less fertile writers of the same
school. The "Auf hinauf zu deiner Freude" ("Up, yes, upward to thy
gladness") of Schade may recall to an English reader a hymn by Seagrave,
and more than one by Lyte; the "Malabarian hymn" (as it was called by
Jacobi) of Johann Schütz, "All glory to the Sovereign Good," has been
popular in England as well as Germany; and one of the most exquisite
strains of pious resignation ever written is "Whate'er my God ordains is
right," by Samuel Rodigast.
Neander.
Joachim Neander, a schoolmaster at Düsseldorf, and a friend of Spener
and Schütz (who died before the full development of the "Pietistic"
school), was the first man of eminence in the "Reformed" or Calvinistic
Church who imitated Lutheran hymnody. This he did, while suffering
persecution from the elders of his own church for some other religious
practices, which he had also learnt from Spener's example. As a poet, he
is sometimes deficient in art; but there is feeling, warmth and
sweetness in many of his "Bundeslieder" or "Songs of the Covenant," and
they obtained general favour, both in the Reformed and in Lutheran
congregations. The Summer Hymn ("O Thou true God alone") and that on the
glory of God in creation ("Lo, heaven and earth and sea and air") are
instances of his best style.
Schmolke.
Dessler.
Hiller.
Arnold.
Tersteegen.
Zinzendorf.
With the "Pietists" may be classed Benjamin Schmolke and Dessler,
representatives of the "Orthodox" division of Spener's school; Philipp
Friedrich Hiller, their leading poet in South Germany; Gottfried Arnold
and Gerhard Tersteegen, who were practically independent of
ecclesiastical organization, though connected, one with the "Orthodox"
and the other with the "Reformed" churches; and Nikolaus Ludwig, Graf
von Zinzendorf. Schmolke, a pastor in Silesia, called the Silesian Rist
(1672-1737), was perhaps the most voluminous of all German hymn-writers.
He wrote 1188 religious poems and hymns, a large proportion of which do
not rise above mediocrity. His style, if less refined, is also less
subjective and more simple than that of most of his contemporaries.
Among his best and most attractive works, which indeed, it would be
difficult to praise too highly, are the "Hosianna David's Sohn," for
Palm Sunday--much resembling a shorter hymn by Jeremy Taylor; and the
Ascension, Whitsuntide and Sabbath hymns--"Heavenward doth our journey
tend," "Come deck our feast to-day," and "Light of light, enlighten me."
Dessler was a greater poet than Schmolke. Few hymns, of the subjective
kind, are better than his "I will not let Thee go, Thou Help in time of
need," "O Friend of souls, how well is me," and "Now, the pearly gates
unfold." Hiller (1699-1769), was a pastor in Württemberg who, falling
into ill-health during the latter part of his ministry, published a
_Geistliche Liederhöstlein_ in a didactic vein, with more taste than
power, but (as Miss Winkworth says) in a tone of "deep, thoughtful,
practical piety." They were so well adapted to the wants of his people
that to this day Hiller's Casket is prized, next to their Bibles, by the
peasantry of Württemberg; and the numerous emigrants from that part of
Germany to America and other foreign countries generally take it with
them wherever they go. Arnold, a professor at Giessen, and afterwards a
pastor in Brandenburg, was a man of strong will, uncompromising
character and austere views of life, intolerant and controversial
towards those whose doctrine or practice he disapproved, and more
indifferent to separatism and sectarianism than the "orthodox" generally
thought right. His hymns, like those of Augustus M. Toplady, whom in
these respects he resembled, unite with considerable strength more
gentleness and breadth of sympathy than might be expected from a man of
such a character. Tersteegen (1697-1769), who never formally separated
himself from the "Reformed" communion, in which he was brought up, but
whose sympathies were with the Moravians and with Zinzendorf, was, of
all the more copious German hymn-writers after Luther, perhaps the most
remarkable man. Pietist, mystic and missionary, he was also a great
religious poet. His 111 hymns were published In 1731, in a volume called
_Geistlicher Blumengärtlein inniger_ Seelen. They are intensely
individual, meditative and subjective. Wesley's adaptations of two--"Lo!
God is here; let us adore," and "Thou hidden Love of God, whose
source"--are well known. Among those translated by Miss Winkworth, "O
God, O Spirit, Light of all that live," and "Come, brethren, let us go,"
are specimens which exhibit favourably his manner and power. Miss Cox
speaks of him as "a gentle heaven-inspired soul, whose hymns are the
reflection of a heavenly, happy life, his mind being full of a
child-like simplicity"; and his own poem on the child-character, which
Miss Winkworth has appropriately connected with Innocents' day ("Dear
Soul, couldst thou become a child")--one of his best compositions,
exquisitely conceived and expressed--shows that this was in truth the
ideal which he sought to realize. The hymns of Zinzendorf are often
disfigured by excess in the application of the language and imagery of
human affections to divine objects; and this blemish is also found in
many later Moravian hymns. But one hymn, at least, of Zinzendorf may be
mentioned with unqualified praise, as uniting the merits of force,
simplicity and brevity--"Jesu, geh voran" ("Jesus, lead the way"), which
is taught to most children of religious parents in Germany. Wesley's
"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness" is a translation from Zinzendorf.
Gellert.
The transition from Tersteegen and Zinzendorf to Gellert and Klopstock
marks strongly the reaction against Pietism which took place towards the
middle of the 18th century. The _Geistlichen Oden und Lieder_ of
Christian F. Gellert were published in 1757, and are said to have been
received with an enthusiasm almost like that which "greeted Luther's
hymns on their first appearance." It is a proof of the moderation both
of the author and of his times that they were largely used, not only by
Protestant congregations, but in those German Roman Catholic churches in
which vernacular services had been established through the influence of
the emperor Joseph II. They became the model which was followed by most
succeeding hymn-writers, and exceeded all others in popularity till the
close of the century, when a new wave of thought was generated by the
movement which produced the French Revolution. Since that time they have
been, perhaps, too much depreciated. They are, indeed, cold and
didactic, as compared with Scheffler or Tersteegen; but there is
nevertheless in them a spirit of genuine practical piety; and, if not
marked by genius, they are pure in taste, and often terse, vigorous and
graceful.
Klopstock.
Klopstock, the author of the _Messiah_, cannot be considered great as a
hymn-writer, though his "Sabbath Hymn" (of which there is a version in
_Hymns from the Land of Luther_) is simple and good. Generally his hymns
(ten of which are translated in Sheppard's _Foreign Sacred Lyre_) are
artificial and much too elaborate.
Fouqué.
Of the "romantic" school, which came in with the French Revolution, the
two leading writers are Friedrich Leopold von Hardenberg, called
"Novalis," and Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, the celebrated author of
_Undine_ and _Sintram_--both romance-writers, as well as poets. The
genius of Novalis was early lost to the world; he died in 1801, not
thirty years old. Some of his hymns are very beautiful; but even in such
works as "Though all to Thee were faithless," and "If only He is mine,"
there is a feeling of insulation and of despondency as to good in the
actual world, which was perhaps inseparable from his ecclesiastical
idealism. Fouqué survived till 1843. In his hymns there is the same deep
flow of feeling, richness of imagery and charm of expression which
distinguishes his prose works. The two missionary hymns--"Thou, solemn
Ocean, rollest to the strand," and "In our sails all soft and
sweetly"--and the exquisite composition which finds its motive in the
gospel narrative of blind Bartimeus, "Was du vor tausend Jahren" (finely
translated both by Miss Winkworth and by Miss Cox), are among the best
examples.
Spitta.
The later German hymn-writers of the 19th century belong, generally, to
the revived "Pietistic" school. Some of the best, Johann Baptist von
Albertini, Friedrich Adolf Krummacher, and especially Karl Johann
Philipp Spitta (1801-1859) have produced works not unworthy of the fame
of their nation. Mr Massie, the able translator of Spitta's _Psalter und
Harfe_ (Leipzig, 1833), speaks of it as having "obtained for him in
Germany a popularity only second to that of Paul Gerhardt." In Spitta's
poems (for such they generally are, rather than hymns) the subjective
and meditative tone is tempered, not ungracefully, with a didactic
element; and they are not disfigured by exaggerated sentiment, or by a
too florid and rhetorical style.
6. _British Hymnody._--After the Reformation, the development of hymnody
was retarded, in both parts of Great Britain, by the example and
influence of Geneva. Archbishop Cranmer appears at one time to have been
disposed to follow Luther's course, and to present to the people, in an
English dress, some at least of the hymns of the ancient church. In a
letter to King Henry VIII. (October 7, 1544), among some new
"processions" which he had himself translated, into English, he mentions
the Easter hymn, "Salve, festa dies, toto memorabilis aevo" ("Hail, glad
day, to be joyfully kept through all generations"), of Fortunatus. In
the "Primer" of 1535 (by Marshall) and the one of 1539 (by Bishop Hilsey
of Rochester, published by order of the vicar-general Cromwell) there
had been several rude English hymns, none of them taken from ancient
sources. King Henry's "Primer" of 1545 (commanded by his injunction of
the 6th of May 1545 to be used throughout his dominions) was formed on
the model of the daily offices of the Breviary; and it contains English
metrical translations from some of the best-known Ambrosian and other
early hymns. But in the succeeding reign different views prevailed. A
new direction had been given to the taste of the "Reformed"
congregations in France and Switzerland by the French metrical
translation of the Old Testament Psalms, which appeared about 1540. This
was the joint work of Clement Marot, valet or groom of the chamber to
Francis I., and Theodore Beza, then a mere youth, fresh from his studies
at Orleans.
Marot's Psalms.
Marot's psalms were dedicated to the French king and the ladies of
France, and, being set to popular airs, became fashionable. They were
sung by Francis himself, the queen, the princesses and the courtiers,
upon all sorts of secular occasions, and also, more seriously and
religiously, by the citizens and the common people. They were soon
perceived to be a power on the side of the Reformation. Calvin, who had
settled at Geneva in the year of Marot's return to Paris, was then
organizing his ecclesiastical system. He rejected the hymnody of the
breviaries and missals, and fell back upon the idea, anciently held by
Paul of Samosata, and condemned by the fourth council of Toledo, that
whatever was sung in churches ought to be taken out of the Scriptures.
Marot's Psalter, appearing thus opportunely, was introduced into his new
system of worship, and appended to his catechism. On the other hand, it
was interdicted by the Roman Catholic priesthood. Thus it became a badge
to the one party of the "reformed" profession, and to the other of
heresy.
Sternhold and Hopkins.
The example thus set produced in England the translation commonly known
as the "Old Version" of the Psalms. It was begun by Thomas Sternhold,
whose position in the household of Henry VIII., and afterwards of Edward
VI., was similar to that of Marot with Francis I., and whose services to
the former of those kings were rewarded by a substantial legacy under
his will. Sternhold published versions of nineteen Psalms, with a
dedication to King Edward, and died soon afterwards. A second edition
appeared in 1551, with eighteen more Psalms added, of Sternhold's
translating, and seven others by John Hopkins, a Suffolk clergyman. The
work was continued during Queen Mary's reign by British refugees at
Geneva, the chief of whom were William Whittingham, afterwards dean of
Durham, who succeeded John Knox as minister of the English congregation
there, and William Kethe or Keith, said by Strype to have been a
Scotsman. They published at Geneva in 1556 a service-book, containing
fifty-one English metrical psalms, which number was increased, in later
editions, to eighty-seven. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, this
Genevan Psalmody was at once brought into use in England--first
(according to a letter of Bishop Jewell to Peter Martyr, dated 5th March
1560) in one London church, from which it quickly spread to others both
in London and in other cities. Jewell describes the effect produced by
large congregations, of as many as 6000 persons, young and old, women
and children, singing it after the sermons at St Paul's Cross--adding,
"Id sacrificos et diabolum aegre habet; vident enim sacras conciones hoc
pacto profundius descendere in hominum animos." The first edition of the
completed "Old Version" (containing forty Psalms by Sternhold,
sixty-seven by Hopkins, fifteen by Whittingham, six by Kethe and the
rest by Thomas Norton the dramatist, Robert Wisdom, John Marckant and
Thomas Churchyard) appeared in 1562.
In the meantime, the Books of Common Prayer, of 1549, 1552 and 1559,
had been successively established as law by the acts of uniformity of
Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth. In these no provision was made for the
use of any metrical psalm or hymn on any occasion whatever, except at
the consecration of bishops and the ordination of priests, in which
offices (first added in 1552) an English version of "Veni Creator"
(the longer of the two now in use) was appointed to be "said or sung."
The canticles, "Te Deum," "Benedicite," the Nicene and Athanasian
Creeds, the "Gloria in Excelsis," and some other parts of the
communion and other special offices were also directed to be "said or
sung"; and, by general rubrics, the chanting of the whole service was
allowed.
The silence, however, of the rubrics in these books as to any other
singing was not meant to exclude the use of psalms not expressly
appointed, when they could be used without interfering with the
prescribed order of any service. It was expressly provided by King
Edward's first act of uniformity (by later acts made applicable to the
later books) that it should be lawful "for all men, as well in
churches, chapels, oratories or other places, to use openly any psalms
or prayers taken out of the Bible, at any due time, not letting or
omitting thereby the service, or any part thereof, mentioned in the
book." And Queen Elizabeth, by one of the injunctions issued in the
first year of her reign, declared her desire that the provision made,
"in divers collegiate and also some parish churches, for singing in
the church, so as to promote the laudable service of music," should
continue. After allowing the use of "a modest and distinct song in all
parts of the common prayers of the church, so that the same may be as
plainly understanded as if it were read without singing," the
injunction proceeded thus--"And yet, nevertheless, for the comforting
of such that delight in music, it may be permitted that in the
beginning or in the end of the Common Prayer, 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" (i.e. sense)
"of hymn may be understanded and perceived."
The "Old Version," when published (by John Daye, for the Stationers'
Company, "cum gratia et privilegio Regiae Majestatis"), bore upon the
face of it that it was "newly set forth, and allowed to be sung of the
people in churches, before and after morning and evening prayer, as
also before and after the sermon." The question of its authority has
been at different times much debated, chiefly by Peter Heylyn and
Thomas Warton on one side (both of whom disliked and disparaged it),
and by William Beveridge, bishop of St Asaph, and the Rev. H. J. Todd
on the other. Heylyn says, it was "permitted rather than allowed,"
which seems to be a distinction without much difference. "Allowance,"
which is all that the book claimed for itself, is authorization by way
of permission, not of commandment. Its publication in that form could
hardly have been licensed, nor could it have passed into use as it did
without question, throughout the churches of England, unless it had
been "allowed" by some authority then esteemed to be sufficient.
Whether that authority was royal or ecclesiastical does not appear,
nor (considering the proviso in King Edward's act of uniformity, and
Queen Elizabeth's injunctions) is it very important. No inference can
justly be drawn from the inability of inquirers, in Heylyn's time or
since, to discover any public record bearing upon this subject, many
public documents of that period having been lost.
In this book, as published in 1562, and for many years afterwards, there
were (besides the versified Psalms) eleven metrical versions of the "Te
Deum," canticles, Lord's Prayer (the best of which is that of the
"Benedicite"); and also "Da pacem, Domine," a hymn suitable to the
times, rendered into English from Luther; two original hymns of praise,
to be sung before morning and evening prayer; two penitential hymns (one
of them the "humble lamentation of a sinner"); and a hymn of faith,
beginning, "Lord, in Thee is all my trust." In these respects, and also
in the tunes which accompanied the words (stated by Dr Charles Burney,
in his _History of Music_, to be German, and not French), there was a
departure from the Genevan platform. Some of these hymns, and some of
the psalms also (e.g. those by Robert Wisdom, being alternative
versions), were omitted at a later period; and many alterations and
supposed amendments were from time to time made by unknown hands in the
psalms which remained, so that the text, as now printed, is in many
places different from that of 1562.
Scotch Psalms.
In Scotland, the General Assembly of the kirk caused to be printed at
Edinburgh in 1564, and enjoined the use of, a book entitled _The Form of
Prayers and Ministry of the Sacraments used in the English Church at
Geneva, approved and received by the Church of Scotland; whereto,
besides that was in the former books, are also added sundry other
prayers, with the whole Psalms of David in English metre_. This
contained, from the "Old Version," translations of forty Psalms by
Sternhold, fifteen by Whittingham, twenty-six by Kethe and thirty-five
by Hopkins. Of the remainder two were by John Pulleyn (one of the
Genevan refugees, who became archdeacon of Colchester); six by Robert
Pont, Knox's son-in-law, who was a minister of the kirk, and also a lord
of session; and fourteen signed with the initials I. C., supposed to be
John Craig; one was anonymous, eight were attributed to N., two to M.
and one to T. N. respectively.
So matters continued in both churches until the Civil War. During the
interval, King James I. conceived the project of himself making a new
version of the Psalms, and appears to have translated thirty-one of
them--the correction of which, together with the translation of the
rest, he entrusted to Sir William Alexander, afterwards earl of
Stirling. Sir William having completed his task, King Charles I. had it
examined and approved by several archbishops and bishops of England,
Scotland and Ireland, and caused it to be printed in 1631 at the Oxford
University Press, as the work of King James; and, by an order under the
royal sign manual, recommended its use in all churches of his dominions.
In 1634 he enjoined the Privy Council of Scotland not to suffer any
other psalms, "of any edition whatever," to be printed in or imported
into that kingdom. In 1636 it was republished, and was attached to the
famous Scottish service-book, with which the troubles began in 1637. It
need hardly be added that the king did not succeed in bringing this
Psalter into use in either kingdom.
When the Long Parliament undertook, in 1642, the task of altering the
liturgy, its attention was at the same time directed to psalmody. It had
to judge between two rival translations of the Psalms--one by Francis
Rouse, a member of the House of Commons, afterwards one of Cromwell's
councillors and finally provost of Eton; the other by William Barton, a
clergyman of Leicester. The House of Lords favoured Barton, the House of
Commons Rouse, who had made much use of the labours of Sir William
Alexander. Both versions were printed by order of parliament, and were
referred for consideration to the Westminster Assembly. They decided in
favour of Rouse. His version, as finally amended, was published in 1646,
under an order of the House of Commons dated 14th November 1645. In the
following year it was recommended by the parliament to the General
Assembly at Edinburgh, who appointed a committee, with large powers, to
prepare a revised Psalter, recommending to their consideration not only
Rouse's book but that of 1564, and two other versions (by Zachary Boyd
and Sir William Mure of Rowallan), then lately executed in Scotland. The
result of the labours of this committee was the "Paraphrase" of the
Psalms, which, in 1649-1650, by the concurrent authority of the General
Assembly and the committee of estates, was ordered to be exclusively
used throughout the church of Scotland. Some use was made in the
preparation of this book of the versions to which the attention of the
revisers had been directed, and also of Barton's; but its basis was that
of Rouse. It was received in Scotland with great favour, which it has
ever since retained; and it is fairly entitled to the praise of striking
a tolerable medium between the rude homeliness of the "Old," and the
artificial modernism of the "New" English versions--perhaps as great a
success as was possible for such an undertaking. Sir Walter Scott is
said to have dissuaded any attempt to alter it, and to have pronounced
it, "with all its acknowledged occasional harshness, so beautiful, that
any alterations must eventually prove only so many blemishes." No
further step towards any authorized hymnody was taken by the kirk of
Scotland till the following century.
In England, two changes bearing on church hymnody were made upon the
revision of the prayer-book after the Restoration, in 1661-1662. One was
the addition, in the offices for consecrating bishops and ordaining
priests, of the shorter version of "Veni Creator" ("Come, Holy Ghost,
our souls inspire"), as an alternative form. The other, and more
important, was the insertion of the rubric after the third collect, at
morning and evening prayer: "In quires and places where they sing, here
followeth the anthem." By this rubric synodical and parliamentary
authority was given for the interruption, at that point, of the
prescribed order of the service by singing an anthem, the choice of
which was left to the discretion of the minister. Those actually used,
under this authority, were for some time only unmetrical passages of
scripture, set to music by Blow, Purcell and other composers, of the
same kind with the anthems still generally sung in cathedral and
collegiate churches. But the word "anthem" had no technical
signification which could be an obstacle to the use under this rubric of
metrical hymns.
Tate and Brady.
The "New Version" of the Psalms, by Dr Nicholas Brady and the
poet-laureate Nahum Tate (both Irishmen), appeared in 1696, under the
sanction of an order in council of William III., "allowing and
permitting" its use "in all such churches, chapels and congregations as
should think fit to receive it." Dr Compton, bishop of London,
recommended it to his diocese. No hymns were then appended to it; but
the authors added a "supplement" in 1703, which received an exactly
similar sanction from an order in council of Queen Anne. In that
supplement there were several new versions of the canticles, and of the
"Veni Creator"; a variation of the old "humble lamentation of a sinner";
six hymns for Christmas, Easter and Holy Communion (all versions or
paraphrases of scripture), which are still usually printed at the end of
the prayer-books containing the new version; and a hymn "on the divine
use of music"--all accompanied by tunes. The authors also reprinted,
with very good taste, the excellent version of the "Benedicite" which
appeared in the book of 1562. Of the hymns in this "supplement," one
("While shepherds watched their flocks by night") greatly exceeded the
rest in merit. It has been ascribed to Tate, but it has a character of
simplicity unlike the rest of his works.
Old and new versions compared.
The relative merits of the "Old" and "New" versions have been very
variously estimated. Competent judges have given the old the praise, which
certainly cannot be accorded to the new, of fidelity to the Hebrew. In
both, it must be admitted, that those parts which have poetical merit are
few and far between; but a reverent taste is likely to be more offended by
the frequent sacrifice, in the new, of depth of tone and accuracy of sense
to a fluent commonplace correctness of versification and diction, than by
any excessive homeliness in the old. In both, however, some psalms, or
portions of psalms, are well enough rendered to entitle them to a
permanent place in the hymn-books--especially the 8th, and parts of the
18th Psalm, by Sternhold; the 57th, 84th and 100th, by Hopkins; the 23rd,
34th and 36th, and part of the 148th, by Tate and Brady.
The judgment which a fastidious critic might be disposed to pass upon
both these books may perhaps be considerably mitigated by comparing them
with the works of other labourers in the same field, of whom Holland, in
his interesting volumes entitled _Psalmists of Great Britain_,
enumerates above 150. Some of them have been real poets--the celebrated
earl of Surrey, Sir Philip Sidney and his sister the countess of
Pembroke, George Sandys, George Wither, John Milton and John Keble. In
their versions, as might be expected, there are occasional gleams of
power and beauty, exceeding anything to be found in Sternhold and
Hopkins, or Tate and Brady; but even in the best these are rare, and
chiefly occur where the strict idea of translation has been most widely
departed from. In all of them, as a rule, the life and spirit, which in
prose versions of the psalms are so wonderfully preserved, have
disappeared. The conclusion practically suggested by so many failures is
that the difficulties of metrical translation, always great, are in this
case insuperable; and that, while the psalms like other parts of
scripture are abundantly suggestive of motive and material for
hymnographers, it is by assimilation and adaptation, and not by any
attempt to transform their exact sense into modern poetry, that they may
be best used for this purpose.
The order in council of 1703 is the latest act of any public authority
by which an express sanction has been given to the use of psalms or
hymns in the Church of England. At the end, indeed, of many
Prayer-books, till about the middle of the 19th century, there were
commonly found, besides some of the hymns sanctioned by that order in
council, or of those contained in the book of 1562, a sacramental and
a Christmas hymn by Doddridge; a Christmas hymn (varied by Martin
Madan) from Charles Wesley; an Easter hymn of the 18th century,
beginning "Jesus Christ has risen to-day"; and abridgments Bishop
Ken's Morning and Evening Hymns. These additions first began to be
made in or about 1791, in London editions of the Prayer-book and
Psalter, at the mere will and pleasure (so far as appears) of the
printers. They had no sort of authority.
English congregational hymnody.
In the state of authority, opinion and practice disclosed by the
preceding narrative may be found the true explanation of the fact that,
in the country of Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton, and
notwithstanding the example of Germany, no native congregational hymnody
worthy of the name arose till after the commencement of the 18th
century. Yet there was no want of appreciation of the power and value
of congregational church music. Milton could write, before 1645:--
"There let the pealing organ blow
To the full-voiced quire below
In service high, and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness through mine ear
Dissolve me into ecstasies,
And bring all Heaven before mine eyes."
Thomas Mace, in his _Music's Monument_ (1676), thus described the effect
of psalm-singing before sermons by the congregation in York Minster on
Sundays, during the siege of 1644: "When that vast concording unity of
the whole congregational chorus came thundering in, even so as it made
the very ground shake under us, oh, the unutterable ravishing soul's
delight! in the which I was so transported and wrapt up in high
contemplations that there was no room left in my whole man, body, soul
and spirit, for anything below divine and heavenly raptures; nor could
there possibly be anything to which that very singing might be truly
compared, except the right apprehension or conceiving of that glorious
and miraculous quire, recorded in the scriptures at the dedication of
the temple." Nor was there any want of men well qualified, and by the
turn of their minds predisposed, to shine in this branch of literature.
Some (like Sandys, Boyd and Barton) devoted themselves altogether to
paraphrases of other scriptures as well as the psalms. Others (like
George Herbert, and Francis and John Quarles) moralized, meditated,
soliloquized and allegorized in verse. Without reckoning these, there
were a few, even before the Restoration, who came very near to the ideal
of hymnody.
Wedderburn.
First in time is the Scottish poet John Wedderburn, who translated
several of Luther's hymns, and in his _Compendious Book of Godly and
Spiritual Songs_ added others of his own (or his brothers') composition.
Some of these poems, published before 1560, are of uncommon excellence,
uniting ease and melody of rhythm, and structural skill, with grace of
expression, and simplicity, warmth and reality of religious feeling.
Those entitled "Give me thy heart," "Go, heart," and "Leave me not,"
which will be found in a collection of 1860 called _Sacred Songs of
Scotland_, require little, beyond the change of some archaisms of
language, to adapt them for church or domestic use at the present day.
Dickson.
Next come the two hymns of "The new Jerusalem," by an English Roman
Catholic priest signing himself F. B. P. (supposed to be "Francis Baker,
Presbyter"), and by another Scottish poet, David Dickson, of which the
history is given by Dr Bonar in his edition of Dickson's work. This
(Dickson's), which begins "O mother dear, Jerusalem," and has long been
popular in Scotland, is a variation and amplification by the addition of
a large number of new stanzas of the English original, beginning
"Jerusalem, my happy home," written in Queen Elizabeth's time, and
printed (as appears by a copy in the British Museum) about 1616, when
Dickson was still young. Both have an easy natural flow, and a simple
happy rendering of the beautiful scriptural imagery upon the subject,
with a spirit of primitive devotion uncorrupted by medieval
peculiarities. The English hymn of which some stanzas are now often sung
in churches is the true parent of the several shorter forms,--all of
more than common merit,--which, in modern hymn-books, begin with the
same first line, but afterwards deviate from the original. Kindred to
these is the very fine and faithful translation, by Dickson's
contemporary Drummond of Hawthornden of the ancient "Urbs beata
Hierusalem" ("Jerusalem, that place divine"). Other ancient hymns (two
of Thomas Aquinas, and the "Dies Irae") were also well translated, in
1646, by Richard Crashaw, after he had become a Roman Catholic and had
been deprived by the parliament of his fellowship at Cambridge.
Wither.
Conspicuous among the sacred poets of the first two Stuart reigns in
England was George Wither. His _Hymnes and Songs of the Church_ appeared
in 1622-1623, under a patent of King James I., by which they were
declared "worthy and profitable to be inserted, in convenient manner and
due place, into every English Psalm-book to metre." His _Hallelujah_
(in which some of the former _Hymnes and Songs_ were repeated) followed
in 1641. Some of the _Hymnes and Songs_ were set to music by Orlando
Gibbons, and those in both books were written to be sung, though there
is no evidence that the author contemplated the use of any of them in
churches. They included hymns for every day in the week (founded, as
those contributed nearly a century afterwards by Charles Coffin to the
Parisian Breviary also were, upon the successive works of the days of
creation); hymns for all the church seasons and festivals, including
saints' days; hymns for various public occasions; and hymns of prayer,
meditation and instruction, for all sorts and conditions of men, under a
great variety of circumstances--being at once a "Christian Year" and a
manual of practical piety. Many of them rise to a very high point of
excellence,--particularly the "general invitation to praise God" ("Come,
O come, in pious lays"), with which _Hallelujah_ opens; the
thanksgivings for peace and for victory, the Coronation Hymn, a
Christmas, an Epiphany, and an Easter Hymn, and one for St Bartholomew's
day (Hymns 1, 74, 75, and 84 in part i., and 26, 29, 36 and 54 in part
ii. of _Hallelujah_).
Cosin.
John Cosin, afterwards bishop of Durham, published in 1627 a volume of
"Private Devotions," for the canonical hours and other occasions. In
this there are seven or eight hymns of considerable merit,--among them a
very good version of the Ambrosian "Jam lucis orto sidere," and the
shorter version of the "Veni Creator," which was introduced after the
Restoration into the consecration and ordination services of the Church
of England.
Milton.
The hymns of Milton (on the Nativity, Passion, Circumcision and "at a
Solemn Music"), written about 1629, in his early manhood, were probably
not intended for singing; but they are odes full of characteristic
beauty and power.
Jeremy Taylor.
During the Commonwealth, in 1654, Jeremy Taylor published at the end of
his _Golden Grove_, twenty-one hymns, described by himself as
"celebrating the mysteries and chief festivals of the year, according to
the manner of the ancient church, fitted to the fancy and devotion of
the younger and pious persons, apt for memory, and to be joined, to
their other prayers." Of these, his accomplished editor, Bishop Heber,
justly says:--
"They are in themselves, and on their own account, very interesting
compositions. Their metre, indeed, which is that species of spurious
Pindaric which was fashionable with his contemporaries, is an
obstacle, and must always have been one, to their introduction into
public or private psalmody; and the mixture of that alloy of conceits
and quibbles which was an equally frequent and still greater
defilement of some of the finest poetry of the 17th century will
materially diminish their effect as devotional or descriptive odes.
Yet, with all these faults, they are powerful, affecting, and often
harmonious; there are many passages of which Cowley need not have been
ashamed, and some which remind us, not disadvantageously, of the
corresponding productions of Milton."
He mentions particularly the advent hymn ("Lord, come away"), part of
the hymn "On heaven," and (as "more regular in metre, and in words more
applicable to public devotion") the "Prayer for Charity" ("Full of
mercy, full of love").
Restoration period.
The epoch of the Restoration produced in 1664 Samuel Crossman's _Young
Man's Calling_, with a few "Divine Meditations" in verse attached to it;
in 1668 John Austin's _Devotions in the ancient way of offices, with
psalms, hymns and prayers for every day in the week and every holyday in
the year_; and in 1681 Richard Baxter's _Poetical Fragments_. In these
books there are altogether seven or eight hymns, the whole or parts of
which are extremely good: Crossman's "New Jerusalem" ("Sweet place,
sweet place alone"), one of the best of that class, and "My life's a
shade, my days"; Austin's "Hark, my soul, how everything," "Fain would
my thoughts fly up to Thee," "Lord, now the time returns," "Wake all my
hopes, lift up your eyes"; and Baxter's "My whole, though broken heart,
O Lord," and "Ye holy angels bright." Austin's _Offices_ (he was a Roman
Catholic) seem to have attracted much attention. Theophilus Dorrington,
in 1686, published variations of them under the title of _Reformed_
_Devotions_; George Hickes, the non-juror, wrote one of his numerous
recommendatory prefaces to S. Hopton's edition; and the Wesleys, in
their earliest hymn-book, adopted hymns from them, with little
alteration. These writers were followed by John Mason in 1683, and
Thomas Shepherd in 1692,--the former, a country clergyman, much esteemed
by Baxter and other Nonconformists; the latter himself a Nonconformist,
who finally emigrated to America. Between these two men there was a
close alliance, Shepherd's _Penitential Cries_ being published as an
addition to the _Spiritual Songs_ of Mason. Their hymns came into early
use in several Nonconformist congregations; but, with the exception of
one by Mason ("There is a stream which issues forth"), they are not
suitable for public singing. In those of Mason there is often a very
fine vein of poetry; and later authors have, by extracts or centoes from
different parts of his works (where they were not disfigured by his
general quaintness), constructed several hymns of more than average
excellence.
Three other eminent names of the 17th century remain to be mentioned,
John Dryden, Bishop Ken and Bishop Simon Patrick; with which may be
associated that of Addison, though he wrote in the 18th century.
Dryden, Ken.