The Story of Our Hymns Part 1

The Story of Our Hymns.

by Ernest Edwin Ryden.

To the Sweet Memory of Our Bonnie Boy Richard Edward Ryden Who at the Age of Ten Years Went Home to Sing with the Angels.

He is not dead: he only sleeps, Safe in the arms of Him who keeps His lambs secure from earth's alarm, From grief and sin and foes that harm.

He is not dead: he is at rest, Content upon his Saviour's breast; Dear little child, we loved you so, But Jesus loved you more, we know.

He is not dead: the Shepherd came To call His little lamb by name; The gentle Shepherd watch will keep, While His beloved child doth sleep.

He is not dead: by angel bands Now welcomed to the heavenly lands, With theirs a childish voice shall sing Hosannas to the children's King.

He is not dead: though tears may flow, Faith whispers: "It is better so."

With joy we'll meet on that fair sh.o.r.e, Where G.o.d's own children weep no more.

FOREWORD

The hymn lore of the Christian Church offers a fascinating field for profitable research and study. To know the hymns of the Church is to know something of the spiritual strivings and achievements of the people of G.o.d throughout the centuries. Henry Ward Beecher has well said: "Hymns are the jewels which the Church has worn, the pearls, the diamonds, the precious stones, formed into amulets more potent against sorrow and sadness than the most famous charm of the wizard or the magician. And he who knows the way that hymns flowed, knows where the blood of true piety ran, and can trace its veins and arteries to the very heart."

This volume has been inspired by a desire on the part of the author to create deeper love for the great lyrics of the Christian Church. In pursuing this purpose an effort has been made to present such facts and circ.u.mstances surrounding their authors.h.i.+p and composition as will result in a better understanding and appreciation of the hymns themselves.

A hymn is a child of the age in which it was written. For this reason the author has followed a chronological arrangement in an endeavor, not only to set forth the historical background of the hymns, but also to trace the spiritual movements within the Church that gave them birth.

The materials contained in this volume have been gathered from sources too numerous to mention here. The author feels a special sense of grat.i.tude for information drawn from David R. Breed's "The History and Use of Hymns and Hymn-Tunes," Edward S. Ninde's "The Story of the American Hymn," and John Julian's monumental work, "Dictionary of Hymnology." No claim is made to originality, except in the manner of presentation and interpretation. A popular style has been adopted in order to appeal to the lay reader.

Thus we send forth this book with the earnest prayer that it may inspire many hearts to sing with greater devotion the praises of Him who redeemed us with His blood and made us to be kings and priests unto G.o.d.

Ernest Edwin Ryden.

St. Paul, Minnesota, November 14, 1930.

PART I Early Christian Hymnody

The Angelic Hymn

Glory be to G.o.d on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we wors.h.i.+p Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory, O Lord G.o.d, Heavenly King, G.o.d the Father Almighty.

O Lord, the Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord G.o.d, Lamb of G.o.d, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sin of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of G.o.d the Father, have mercy upon us.

For Thou only art holy; Thou only art the Lord; Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of G.o.d the Father. Amen.

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHANTS

The first Christians sang hymns. The Saviour went to His pa.s.sion with a song on His lips. Matthew and Mark agree that the last act of wors.h.i.+p in the Upper Room was the singing of a hymn. "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives."

How we wish that the words of that hymn might have been preserved!

Perhaps they have. Many Biblical scholars believe that they may be found in the so-called _Hallel_ series in the Psaltery, consisting of Psalms 113 to 118 inclusive. It was a practice among the Jews to chant these holy songs at the paschal table. Fraught as they were with Messianic hope, it was fitting that such a hymn should ascend to the skies in the hour when G.o.d's Paschal Lamb was about to be offered.

The Christian Church followed the example of Jesus and His disciples by singing from the Psaltery at its wors.h.i.+p. Paul admonished his converts not to neglect the gift of song. To the Ephesians he wrote: "Be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."

And his exhortation to the Colossians rings like an echo: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonis.h.i.+ng one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto G.o.d."

The praying and singing of Paul and Silas in the midnight gloom of the Philippian dungeon, their feet being made "fast in the stocks," also is a revelation of the large place occupied by song in the lives of the early Christians.

The double reference of the Apostle to "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" would indicate that the Christian Church very early began to use chants and hymns other than those taken from the Psaltery. The younger Pliny, in 112 A.D., wrote to Emperor Trajan from Bithynia that the Christians came together before daylight and sang hymns alternately (_invicem_) "to Christ as G.o.d."

These distinctively Christian chants were the _Gloria in Excelsis_, or the "Angelic Hymn," so called because its opening lines are taken from the song of the angels at Jesus' birth; the _Magnificat_, Mary's song of praise; the _Benedictus_, the song of Zacharias, father of John the Baptist; and the _Nunc Dimittis_, the prayer of the aged Simeon when he held the Christ-child in his arms. Other chants that were used very early in the Christian Church included the _Ter Sanctus_, based on the "thrice holy" of Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8; the _Gloria Patri_, or "Lesser Doxology;" the _Benedicite_, the "Song of the Three Hebrew Children,"

from the Apocrypha; and the _Te Deum Laudamus_, which is sometimes regarded as a later Latin chant, but which undoubtedly was derived from a very ancient hymn of praise.

Eminent Biblical scholars believe that fragments of other primitive Christian hymns have been preserved in the Epistles of Paul and in other portions of the New Testament. Such a fragment is believed to be recorded in 1 Timothy 3:16:

He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

The "faithful saying" to which Paul refers in 2 Timothy 2:11 also is believed to be a quotation from one of these hymns so dear to the Christians:

If we died with Him, We shall also live with Him: If we endure, We shall also reign with Him: If we shall deny Him, He will also deny us: If we are faithless, He abideth faithful; For He cannot deny Himself.

It will be noted how well these pa.s.sages adapt themselves to responsive, or antiphonal, chanting, which was the character of the ancient Christian songs. Other pa.s.sages that are believed to be fragments of ancient hymns are Ephesians 5:14; 1 Timothy 6:15, 16; James 1:17, and Revelation 1:5-7.

There are strong evidences to support the claim that responsive singing in the churches of Asia Minor was introduced during the latter part of the first century by Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, a pupil of the Apostle John. The _Gloria in Excelsis_ was used in matin services about this time, while the _Magnificat_ was sung at vespers. Ignatius suffered martyrdom about 107 A.D. by being torn to pieces by lions in the circus as a despiser of the G.o.ds.

Liturgies also were employed very early in the wors.h.i.+p of the Christian Church. An ancient service known as the "Jerusalem" liturgy was ascribed to the Apostle James, while the so-called "Alexandrian" liturgy claimed as its author Mark, fellow laborer of Paul and companion of Peter. There is much uncertainty surrounding these claims, however.

Both Tertullian and Origen record the fact that there was a rich use of song in family life as well as in public wors.h.i.+p.

The singing of the early Christians was simple and artless. Augustine describes the singing at Alexandria under Athanasius as "more like speaking than singing." Musical instruments were not used. The pipe, tabret, and harp were a.s.sociated so intimately with the sensuous heathen cults, as well as with the wild revelries and shameless performances of the degenerate theatre and circus, that it is easy to understand the prejudice against their use in the Christian wors.h.i.+p.

"A Christian maiden," says Jerome, "ought not even to know what a lyre or a flute is, or what it is used for." Clement of Alexandria writes: "Only one instrument do we use, viz., the word of peace wherewith we honor G.o.d, no longer the old psaltery, trumpet, drum, and flute." Chrysostom expresses himself in like vein: "David formerly sang in psalms, also we sing today with him; he had a lyre with lifeless strings, the Church has a lyre with living strings. Our tongues are the strings of the lyre, with a different tone, indeed, but with a more accordant piety."

The language of the first Christian hymns, like the language of the New Testament, was Greek. The Syriac tongue was also used in some regions, but Greek gradually attained ascendancy.