are the glory of the new dispensation. The early defenders of catholic
doctrine appealed without hesitation to the fact that ‘whatever psalms
and hymns were written by the brethren from the beginning, celebrate
Christ the Word of God by asserting His divinity.’[46]
Orthodox and heretic alike—perhaps the heretic especially—sought to
win acceptance for his teaching, to fix it in the memory of the
congregation by setting it to music. The famous heretic Arius (d. 336)
disseminated his doctrine in hymns which are said to have been written
in metres associated with the most licentious songs. They were
answered by the orthodox hymns of Ambrose. Later heretics, like
Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea (d. 390), followed his example; whilst
St. Augustine himself wrote an acrostic hymn or psalm against Donatist
error. But it was in the beginning as it is in our own day, a man’s
doctrinal aberrations were forgotten, at least for the moment, if he
could write good hymns. So Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, writing
against Nepos, ‘a bishop in Egypt,’ protests that he ‘greatly loves’
Nepos for his skill in psalmody, ‘by which many are still
delighted.’[47]
In an often quoted passage in the _Confessions_, St. Augustine tells
how he was affected to tears by the singing of ‘hymns and canticles,’
and records the introduction at Milan of antiphonal singing ‘according
to the custom of the Eastern regions,’[48] whilst the people watched
in the church ready, if need were, to die with their beloved bishop,
St. Ambrose.
Ambrose of Milan and Hilary of Poictiers divide the glory of
introducing the singing of hymns into the Church of the West. Hilary
compiled a hymn-book—_Liber Hymnorum_—which is only known to us by a
few hymns more or less doubtfully ascribed to him. Ambrose is the
first great Latin hymn-writer who still lives in the songs of the
sanctuary. His hymns are unrhymed, and, as Trench says, of ‘almost
austere simplicity.’
It is as though, building an altar to the living God, he would
observe the Levitical precept, and rear it of unhewn stones, upon
which no tool had been lifted. The great objects of faith in their
simplest expression are felt by him so sufficient to stir all the
deepest affections of the heart, that any attempt to dress them up,
to array them in moving language, were merely superfluous. The
passion is there, but it is latent and represt, a fire burning
inwardly, the glow of an austere enthusiasm, which reveals itself
indeed, but not to every careless beholder. Nor do we presently fail
to observe how truly these poems belonged to their time and to the
circumstances under which they were produced—how suitably the faith
which was in actual conflict with and was just triumphing over, the
powers of this world, found its utterance in hymns such as these,
wherein is no softness, perhaps little tenderness; but a rock-like
firmness, the old Roman stoicism transmuted and glorified into that
nobler Christian courage, which encountered and at length overcame
the world.[49]
To St. Ambrose many of the earlier Latin hymns are attributed, and the
‘Te Deum’ is known in the Breviaries as ‘The Song of St. Ambrose and
St. Austin,’ according to the tradition that it was composed and sung
by them in alternate verses when the latter was baptized at Milan.
The familiar English translation is by an unknown hand. Grand as it
is, there are some verses in which a more literal rendering would have
been still grander. As the Latin text may not be known by some
readers, I give what may be called the received text—
Te Deum laudamus Te Dominum confitemur
Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur
Tibi omnes Angeli Tibi coeli et universae potestates
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth
Pleni sunt coeli et terra majestatis gloriae Tuae
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus
Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia
Patrem immensae majestatis
Venerandum Tuum verum et unicum Filium
Sanctum quoque Paracletum Spiritum
Tu Rex gloriae Christe
Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius
Tu ad liberandum suscepisti hominem non horruisti Virginis uterum
Tu devicto mortis aculeo aperuisti credentibus regna coelorum
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes in gloria Patris
Judex crederis esse venturus
Te ergo quaesumus Tuis famulis subveni quos pretioso sanguine
redemisti
Aeterna fac cum Sanctis Tuis gloria numerari[50]
Salvum fac populum Tuum Domine et benedic haereditati Tuae
Et rege eos et extolle illos usque in aeternum
Per singulos dies benedicimus Te
Et laudamus nomen Tuum in saeculum et in saeculum saeculi
Dignare Domine die isto sine peccato nos custodire
Miserere nostri Domine miserere nostri
Fiat misericordia Tua Domine super nos quemadmodum speravimus in Te
In Te Domine speravi non confundar in aeternum.
In the Prayer-book version we miss the apostles’ ‘glorious choir,’ the
martyrs’ ‘white-robed’ army; and the close would, I think, have been
even more impressive as well as more literal had the last lines read—
O Lord, let Thy mercy be showed upon us, even as we have hoped in
Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I hoped; let me not be ashamed for ever.[51]
In the primitive days, before the rise of the mediæval Papacy, before
the time of Breviary and Mass-book, the singing of hymns was well
established alike in the East and West. In almost every language in
which the gospel was preached, hymns were written, and were used not
only to aid the devotion of the devout worshipper in the services of
the Church, but to arrest and teach the careless wayfarer. Thus Bishop
Aldhelm of Sherborne ‘would sit on the bridge, as the people came out
from Mass to loiter gossiping on their way home, and sing them sacred
lays, teaching them their faith, as it were, in chance verses, and
enlisting in God’s service the national love of music and song. It was
Alfred, himself a singer, who preserved this tale.’[52]
In later days, when the Romish worship had become more elaborate and
formal, it is chiefly in the Breviaries that we find the hymns of the
Church, in Latin, of course, and as little understanded of the people
as the rest of the service. A large number of these hymns are in
existence, and whilst many are disfigured by the idolatrous and often
coarse adoration offered to the Virgin Mary and the saints, and others
dwell with dreadful particularity upon the details of the Passion,
many give worthy and sincere expression to the profoundest experiences
of the devout soul. Some of the best and sweetest of these songs,
which are often reckoned amongst ‘ancient’ hymns, belong to the
degenerate days of the Papacy. They are not only intrinsically
precious, but are gracious evidence that the genuine spirit of
devotion was found, and the voice of praise and prayer and penitence
heard, in quiet places and pure hearts, even in a time of general
apostasy. Any detailed reference to pre-Reformation hymns would be
outside the limits of this lecture, but the translations of Greek and
Latin hymns which are to be found in our modern hymnals will naturally
claim attention at a later stage.
In concluding this brief and necessarily superficial preliminary
sketch, I may refer to a few of the ancient hymns which are probably
little known to the ordinary worshipper.
1. _Syriac._—These are chiefly known to us through the great teacher
and writer, Ephraem Syrus, who died at Edessa in 373. His hymns were
written to counteract the influence of the popular songs of the
heretic Bardesanes, and his son Harmonius. Dr. Bonar, Mrs. Charles,
Mr. Moorsom, and others have translated several of these Syriac hymns;
but they are not likely ever to win such wide acceptance as the Latin
or the Greek hymns, though a few are to be found in modern
collections. Several of the most touching of St. Ephraem’s hymns are
on the death of children, whilst others celebrate the hosannas of the
children at the Triumphal Entry. I give a translation, or ‘imitation,’
by Dr. Bonar of a hymn for the Lord’s Day.