English Hymns [pp. 64-75]

ENGLISH HYMAS.
ENGLISH HYMNS.
THE average hymn is an anomaly in literature. Its widespread influence, so seemingly disproportionate to its real merit,
is due to the swift communication of a welcome thought, rather
than to any comeliness of language with which that thought is
dressed. In a minor degree this is also the case with national anthems-struck off at a white heat and crudely strong, like new
wine; with patriotic war-songs, where the fervor of the moment
atones for all deficiencies, and with those wisely commonplace
poems which have succeeded in rendering faithfully back to us
the conventional emotions of our own hearts. But the national
anthem can only arouse us when the nation's honor or interests
are at stake; in calmer moments we are languidly unconcerned
about the star-spangled banner, and listen to "God save the
Queen" as to' a decorous prayer. The war-songs cease to thrill
us when the battle-flags are furled, and after many years' acquaintance with "A Psalm of Life" we no longer find in it that depth
of moral philosophy which can be relied on for a vigorous support. But the strength of a hymn lies in the few great facts it
represents, and with which our interests are too vitally connected
to permit us to grow weary of the theme. To the mourner it
whispers consolation; to the despairing, hope; to the weary,
rest; and what wonder that, listening to this voice of comfort,
we cease to be fastidious about halting numbers and imperfect
rhymes. Wide as the sea is its sphere of usefulness; to the illiterate, to the commonplace, and to the learned it carries a healing
message, proving by its catholicity the hidden source from which
it draws its being.
Mr. Samuel Duffield has recently published a bulky and
rather pretentious volume, entitled English, Hymns: Their Authors
and History, in which he has sought to gratify that pious curiosity which a great many good people are presumed to feel concerning the origin and vicissitudes of their favorite songs. Here
we find Newman and Watts, Faber and Wesley, Keble and George
Herbert, with a host of less famous writers, whose poems are
alphabetically indexed and made the subject matter for some
harmless criticism and a vast fund of anecdotes, which go far towards swelling the six hundred and seventy-five pages of which
the book is composed. Some of these tales have so little connec
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