The idea of an elaborate classification according to the Church
seasons, so usual in modern Anglican hymnals, had not yet become
popular. Bishop Ken’s _Hymns for all the Festivals of the Year_[118]
(published in 1721, ten years after his death), the precursor and, to
some extent, the inspiration of the _Christian Year_, was not intended
for use as a hymn-book. Wither’s _Hymns and Songs of the Church_
(1623) provided for all the chief festivals, saints’ days, and other
occasional services. About forty years later (1661) Dr. Eaton, Vicar
of Bishop’s Castle, Salop, published _The Holy Calendar_, but his
poems were not intended to be sung. The Wesleys issued a number of
pamphlets containing hymns for the great festivals, and it would not
be difficult to select from their various publications a ‘Christian
year,’ in which every hymn was suitable for public worship. But the
pieces would need to be gathered, for the brothers did not contemplate
the use of their hymn-books in Church services; they were designed for
the preaching-house, the open-air service, and the class-meeting. The
Nonconformist Churches had adopted the custom early in the century,
but in the Church of England hymn-singing was still, and for many
years after, an irregularity, if not an offence.
First and greatest of Charles Wesley’s festival hymns is the Christmas
carol
Hark! how all the welkin rings,
‘Glory to the King of kings.’
It was published in 1739, and is not impossibly one of the ‘many sweet
hymns’ which were sung in the household of General Oglethorpe.
Whitefield made some popular alterations, and included it in his
_Collection_, in 1753. In 1782 it found a place in the Prayer-book,
after the new version of the Psalms. It was omitted from Wesley’s
_Collection_, but was inserted in the supplement of 1830—nearly a
century after its composition.