Hymnological Studies, by Matthew N. Lundquist: a Project Gutenberg eBook

This humble little work is the outcome of personal interest and some lecture work in the field of Hymnology. I trust that this little volume will be of some value, especially to fellow Lutheran organists and choir directors. For further study the student is referred to John Julian’s great “Dictionary of Hymnology” and Benson’s “The English Hymn,” as well as works by Duffield, Breed, Ninde, and others. Every organist and choir director ought to read “The Hymn as Literature” by Jeremiah Bascom Reeves.

SECTION I
THE HYMNODY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH

The hymnody of the Lutheran Church is the body of sacred songs sung by the Church. These songs may be studied in their twofold aspect; as to their religious and as to their poetical character; they are church hymns and also sacred poems.

(The Lutheran church hymns have been called psalms. According to old linguistic usage, psalm is the same thing as sacred or religious song, not song in general. In secular Greek the word psalm does not mean song, but it refers more particularly to the ability or technique in playing upon stringed instruments—the Greek word “psalmos” means to play a stringed instrument. By psalm we mean a sacred song or lyric, as of the Old Testament Book of Psalms; a hymn.)

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER

With respect to the religious character of the Lutheran church hymns, it must be quite clear that if these hymns have grown up out of the soil of the Church, if they are expressions of the spirit of the Church, then they ought to reflect quite faithfully the nature and peculiarities of the Church. The Church, the Communion of Saints, where the Gospel is preached in its purity and where the Sacraments are administered 2 according to the teachings of the Gospel, may be considered partly with regard to the unique religious life-content, which is communicated to the faithful through the Word and the Sacraments and which not only unites them to Christ, the Head of the Church, but also unites them with one another; partly with regard to her nature as a congregation, a communion or community in external form with characteristic expressions and order of life. The same twofold point of view arises in our study of the church hymns. The religious character of the church hymn may, therefore, be determined partly from the point of view of religious life, having its source and standard in Holy Writ, and partly from the point of view of the church communion or the congregation, of whose common life the church hymn is an expression and reflection, and whose common purpose it seeks to promote. The religious character of the church hymn thus centers in the fact that both as to content and form it must be Biblical and congregational.

First of all, the church hymn must be thoroughly Biblical. It cannot move only in the realm of general religious truth, not only sing the praise of certain abstract ideas about God’s being, about the immortality of the soul, about virtue, etc. Not even such subjects as God’s attributes, the providence of God, Creation, “man’s physical and spiritual attributes, reason, will, conscience, nature and purpose,” have any place in the hymns of the Church, when these subjects are treated in an abstract way, isolated from God’s revelation through Jesus Christ and detached from human life. The subject of the church hymn, provided it possesses 3 sound religious character, is, briefly stated, Christ for us and Christ in us; on the one hand the objective saving grace through Jesus Christ, and on the other hand the subjective appropriation of faith, with love and submission and devotion to God. The sphere of the church hymn will not thereby be restricted to an incessant reiteration of the name of Jesus, his wounds and blood, his love, etc. The church hymn sings the praise of God’s entire means of salvation: God’s thoughts and works of love through Christ for humanity; His sure and saving institutions of grace upon earth; the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men unto repentance, faith and sanctification; the benefits, struggles and victories of His kingdom of grace; the glory of the heavenly bridegroom; death and judgment; the world to come and eternal life. All these subjects become the object of the hymns of the Church. The faithful express through the church hymn their ardent desire for these things; they meditate upon these things, they rejoice in their possession, they describe them and they extol them; they adore, thank, and laud their Saviour, and they give themselves up to God. Since the content of positive Christian faith, or God’s revelation of salvation through Jesus Christ, is the principal subject of the church hymn, it is clear that the church hymn must be in perfect harmony with the Word of God, the Bible, the very source of the revelation of salvation. But this does not mean that the Church should use exclusively the hymns of the Bible, as, for example, the Psalms of David. It is perfectly well to use other hymns, provided they are permeated by the Holy Spirit and constitute a vital reproduction of Biblical truths, grown up out of the soul-experiences of the Church in 4 perfect harmony with Holy Writ. Then the liturgical principles of truth and freedom will come into proper use in congregational hymn singing.

With this character of religious truth in the objective sense, or the conformity of the church hymn to Holy Writ, goes also the matter of religious truth in the subjective or psychological sense. This means that the religious experience, expressed in the church hymn, is not merely a product of human imagination, more or less foreign to those who gather their spiritual life and their soul experiences from the fountain of Holy Writ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but it is far more an experience gained from the reality of true spiritual life, and thoroughly accordant therewith, something to which, therefore, every true Christian can easily agree.

Finally, the Biblical character of the true church hymn reveals itself also in the style of language, which follows very closely Biblical expression, idiom and form. The language of the church hymn harmonizes very well with that type of religious language which has attained a deep appreciation among Christians; the language of the popular old religious books of the Church; Biblical language. This old hymnic language possesses very decidedly a character of immortality, depending upon the character of the content, whose linguistic garb it is, and with which it has become so closely united. As the content is rooted in eternity and fundamentally consists of God’s incorruptible thoughts and works, so the hymnic language, which is the vessel for these realities of the eternal world, in a way also attains a character of eternity. The history of the church hymns also shows very clearly that whenever this peculiar 5 character of hymnic language has been disregarded, whenever there have been vigorous attempts at modernization of the good old church hymns, when new and modern hymns have been sought, to satisfy some modern aesthetic or aristocratic need, then the true church hymn has suffered very greatly and lost much of its original soundness and genuineness. Indeed, the hymn writer, like any other poet, is influenced more or less by his age; his hymns may show more or less the influence of the peculiar turn of mind, the stage of development and the demands of the age in which he lives; personal ability as a poet and personal life experiences may be distinctly reflected in his hymns. But it should also be true, that if the poet is a sincere student and lover of the Bible and delights in singing its praises, then his hymns ought to possess Biblical tone and content, since there is a very close union between content and form in every human religious product. A church hymn possessing Biblical tone and language ought to be understood and appreciated by the present age. Biblical language is antique but it will never be antiquated; it is old but eternally new and youthful. In all ages and in all churches the thoroughly Biblical church hymn holds the prize for youthful health and beauty.

In the second place, the church hymn should be suitable for use in the congregation, it should possess a congregational character. This quality of the church hymn implies, of course, that it must not contain anything which is at variance with the confession or the doctrines of the Church. The Lutheran Church may use 6 hymns that have been written by non-Lutheran hymn writers, provided these hymns contain nothing offensive to sound Lutheran doctrine. So Lutheran hymnals may contain hymns taken from the Reformed Churches, and Reformed church hymnals may contain many Lutheran hymns.

The congregational element in the Lutheran church hymn further means that it must be free from all unsound and unjustifiable subjectivity. The church hymn is the work of a poet who is vitally united with the religious organism—he is a member of the Church—and from this consciousness of perfect communion his hymns emerge. Writes Dr. Martin Luther: “Church hymns are so called, because the Church has accepted them and uses them as if produced by the Church and as her own hymns. We do not say: thus sings Ambrose, Gregory the Great, Prudentius, Sedulius; but we say: thus sings the Christian Church. It is the songs of the Church that Ambrose, Prudentius and others sing with the Church and the Church with them; when they are dead and gone, the Church remains, and continues to sing their songs.” Personal poetic gifts and temporal conditions and circumstances influence the church hymns. The true church hymn does not lack individuality; but it is free from individualism. The experiences which the church hymn expresses, the soul states which it describes, should not be of an extreme, a singular or an abnormal character, but they should be normal and common to the Church. Not that the church hymn must restrict itself to what every member, in whatsoever condition of spiritual life, would readily subscribe to. Such a requirement would be unreasonable, because the participants in divine worship have reached different 7 stages of spiritual development; in fact, this would restrict the subject matter of the church hymn to only certain general facts and abstract ideas. But it must be required of every church hymn that it express only such religious experiences as are in the main common to the whole communion of the faithful, only such soul states and spiritual stages of development as are essentially experienced by every true Christian.

If the requirement of community in the church hymnody permits dealing with special situations and experiences in the realm of spiritual life, then it ought to follow that this character of community will not be violated if the content of the church hymn bears upon certain external conditions and circumstances in which the entire congregation never can find itself at any one time. Since there are liturgical acts which directly affect only certain individuals in the congregation, not the congregation as a whole, there may be church hymns for certain individuals and special occasions. There are church hymns for marriage, confirmation, ordination, etc. It is also perfectly well to have church hymns for the aged, for the sick, for the dying, for prisoners, in time of war, etc. Since the church members should be kindly and lovingly interested in each other, the congregation may well give expression to certain sympathetic feelings in the church hymns. But such conditions and circumstances in the life of an individual as are quite exceptional and of special interest only to him, not to the congregation as such, are unsuitable as subjects for church hymns, since they may quite easily form a disturbing digression from that character of community which should distinguish the church hymns as such. Hymns “for a father or a mother at 8 New Year, for a poor young man, for a young lady, for a blind man,” and the like, really have no place in the hymnal.

The congregational character of the church hymn also finds expression in the language and style of presentation. This must be plain and clear, so that the hymn may be easily understood and appreciated by all who possess a reasonable religious training, young or old. The mode of expression is original, naive, true-hearted and graphic. The true church hymn avoids startling phrases, prettiness, and mere rhetoric.

THE POETICAL QUALITY

The other point of view from which the church hymn may be considered is the poetical; the church hymn is a song thus a product of poetical art. Before attempting to analyze the poetical quality of the church hymn, it may be well to consider what kinds of poetry are used in the hymnody of the Church.

The three main kinds of poetry are the epic, the drama, and the lyric. Epic and drama are not extensively used in the Lutheran Church. Works exist which show that the graphic and plastic style of epic poetry has been employed in the Christian Church when stories from sacred history were paraphrased in metrical form. The Gospel lessons have often been read or chanted in metrical form, as hymns. This poetical work may be classified as didactic hymnody with an epic touch. The epic, strictly speaking, requires an imaginative adornment of the historical material to be treated, and this cannot very well be applied to Biblical history without a certain amount of injury. Besides, it would be difficult to excel the beauty of the Biblical presentation, 9 with its pre-eminent epic vividness and simplicity. The mediaeval Church employed the dramatic form in the mysteries and miracles, religious plays, which were used especially at great festival occasions to present to the laity in a dramatic and effective way the historical facts pertaining to the festival. More closely related to the Christian cultus was the Passion play, performed by the clergy in the churches during Lent. The Passion play, and a number of dramatic-liturgical ceremonies, especially at Christmas and Easter, were quite freely employed in the early Lutheran Church. But this dramatic activity did not remain permanently in the Lutheran Church. Perhaps the Church felt that the dramatic reproduction of Biblical history did not harmonize very well with that element of personal truth which must exist throughout the cultus and which may suffer injury as the dramatic illusion becomes greater.

While epic and dramatic poetry have little or no place in the Evangelical Lutheran cultus, and so can not very well be employed in the hymnody of the Church, the third kind of poetry, the lyric, is very extensively used. A noteworthy characteristic of lyrical poetry is that the object of the song is most closely united with the singing subject; they are as one; the object lives within the subject and is the real content of the subject. If the cultus is a meeting between God and the Church, in which God imparts his gifts to the congregation and the latter faithfully receives, enjoys, and acknowledges the divine gifts of grace; a meeting, in other words, in which the divine objects join the worshipping subject, in which the latter is permeated by the former, then it seems only very natural that religious lyrical poetry should here find its proper use; when the worshipping 10 congregation gives expression to its life of faith and love through sacred song, through the hymns of the Church, these hymns are lyrical poetry.

Although the fusion of the object and the subject is a characteristic feature of all religious lyrics, it is to be noted that these two elements, the objective and the subjective, are never present in equal degree in the church hymns, but that the one or the other element predominates, wherefore it becomes necessary to classify the church hymns into the relatively objective hymns and the relatively subjective hymns. To the former class belong the hymn proper and the didactic or doctrinal hymns; the latter class, the lyrical hymns in a narrower sense, consists of what may be called hymns of experience and sacrifice. The hymn proper sings the praises of God’s majesty and highness, God’s glorious works and attributes, not as something wholly outside of the subject, yet something which is looked up to with worshipful joy and admiration. “A mighty Fortress is our God” is a good example of this class of church hymns. The didactic or doctrinal hymn presents for quiet and instructive contemplation either certain facts from sacred history or certain parts of the Lutheran doctrine. Examples of this kind are “Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein” and “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.” In these relatively objective hymns, true church hymns, the objective element is more or less permeated by the life, emotion, and sympathy of the subject. In the hymn proper the subject sings its own joy and its jubilation in the great God and His glorious works. The didactic or doctrinal hymn is not merely rhymed history or rhymed dogmatics, but in it the divine events and truths are celebrated as treasures 11 of faith, sources of spiritual life; by means of it the congregation embraces, acknowledges and utters its confident Yea and Amen to the divine revelation of salvation. The relatively subjective church hymns, the lyrical church hymns in a restricted sense, may be characterized as hymns of experience, because they describe and express religious life in its inner experience, emotions, conditions and manifestations, or because they include meditations which a Christian engages in because of his inner and outer condition; to this class of church hymns belong also the so-called hymns of sacrifice, which are more directly an expression of individual devotion to Jesus Christ. Since the chiefly subjective hymns, because of their nature, are subject to the danger of losing themselves in the individual and the incidental, it is very important that they be supported and permeated by a sound religious philosophy. God’s revelation of salvation, especially Jesus Christ, who in His person and work is at once the vital cause, the life, and the living standard of all the various phenomena and forms in the world of divine grace and truth, must form the background which everywhere gleams forth in the hymnody of the Church, the sun that gives light and warmth to the content, the perfect law which restricts the description and keeps the subjectivity within proper bounds.

Since the church hymn is lyrical poetry, it should be beautiful. But the beauty of the church hymn consists in what? It must be emphasized that this beauty is not something applied to the church hymn from without, but this beauty grows up naturally and spontaneously out of the subject which is to be celebrated in song. This beauty is nothing else than the faithful 12 reflection, the telling concrete revelation of its inner harmony, nobility and sublimity. The communion of the congregation with God through Jesus Christ, which seeks concrete expression in the church hymn, is in itself the highest, the most noble, and the most harmonious of all the realities of human life. When this divine communion seeks expression in the church hymn, then the poetical art to be employed must be such as will adequately express and convey the emotions and experiences peculiar to this communion. The inner harmony of the matter should reveal itself in the poetical form of presentation as outer harmony, as beauty. The entire tone of the church hymn will then become, by an inner necessity, graceful, elevated, sublime. It is to be noted that this hymnic beauty is modified according to the specific character of the hymn. In the church hymn proper, like “Ein’ feste Burg,” this hymnic beauty is more elevated, majestic, sublime. In the didactic or doctrinal hymn, it is characterized by the purity, positiveness, and sonorousness of the faithful testimony of truth. In the lyrical church hymn in a restricted sense, it is more colored by subjective qualities such as fervor, sincerity, and affection. The lyrical beauty of the church hymn is free from ostentation; it is distinguished by simplicity and naturalness. This simplicity of expression is a poetical as well as a congregational requirement. Also, the entire presentation of the subject must bear the impress of spontaneity, of freshness. The church hymn should not present abstract ideas, reflective thought, conceptions, and definitions; but, instead, it should present to the eyes of the heart living pictures, concrete realities; just as the Biblical presentation, which the church hymn must follow, and 13 Christianity itself, which the church hymn must reflect, pre-eminently possess this character of concrete and vital reality.

The beauty of the church hymn implies further that its line of thought and disposition be clear and well arranged, that each stanza express a complete thought, and that there be not too many stanzas—the church hymn must not be too long. The phraseology, syntax and metrical form must be free from such defects as mar and desecrate the sublime content of the hymn or make it offensive, unclear, or even incomprehensible to the congregation. This does not mean to commend that vandalism whereby modernists have sought to remove from the old church hymns every obsolete word and construction as well as everything which seemed to be at variance with the rules of secular poetry—a process whereby many excellent old church hymns have been deprived of their original power and simplicity. Most certainly, revision and purification of the outer form of the old church hymns is sometimes necessary, in order to make them popularly intelligible and usable. But such revision and purification should be undertaken only by Christians of poetic mind and sound authority.

SECTION II
THE LUTHERAN HYMN BOOK OR THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE HYMNS IN THE HYMNAL

Two different hymnological methods of disposition have arisen historically within the Church, namely, the dogmatic or the dogmatic-ethical method, and the liturgical method. The former method came into existence in the eighteenth century. By this method the hymns in the hymnal are arranged according to the usual order of dogmatics. For an illustration of this method of arranging the hymns, look into almost any good hymnal of the Reformed Church; The Methodist Hymnal, for example. The liturgical method is the original, the standard, and the correct method of disposition. In support of this assertion, it may be well to observe that since the Lutheran hymnal is a liturgical book, a book intended for the needs of the worshipping congregation, the succession of the hymns as well as their content and character should reflect the spirit of the Church, as it finds immediate expression in the cultus and its various acts, and as it seeks indirectly to exert a hallowing influence on social life in larger or smaller circles.

It may be well to take a general view of the main factors or stages of this liturgical work of the Church, so as to see more clearly what subjects may be considered in the hymn book and in what order the various subjects or rubrics may follow each other.

The reason and the vital basis for the existence of the Church is God’s revelation of salvation through Jesus Christ, i. e., the incarnation and the work of redemption of the Son of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit; and these divine works of salvation are the great objectives of the three great church festivals, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, around which the cycles and days of the church year are grouped. The Church is the result of this revelation. Therefore our attention turns towards the Church, her nature, her establishment, and her extension in this world through missionary activity; further, toward her inner growth, by which she gives expression to her religious and harmonious life as a communion in solemn divine worship, and through her sacred acts and order consecrates human life unto a vessel for divine life. But this self-edification is brought about in the Church only through the Holy Spirit who dwells and lives within the Church and in and through the Church and her institutions of grace produces in the hearts of the redeemed personal conversion, sanctification, and salvation. Thus the Church grows both outwardly and inwardly and proceeds towards her eternal perfection. But the Church has to do not only with purely spiritual conditions, things divine and eternal. By her life she seeks to permeate, sanctify, and glorify all conditions, even the temporal. The Church seeks to penetrate, in a highly beneficial way, the civic community, to ennoble its affairs and impart support and exhortation both to the governing and the governed, in times of prosperity and in times of trouble. The Church is deeply interested in her educational institutions, these nurseries of time and eternity; the Christian school is not only a creation of 17 the Church, but it needs the whole-hearted support of the Church. The Church is also deeply interested in the welfare of domestic life—she seeks to make the home a happy Christian home. The Church also desires to support and accompany the individual member throughout his course of life, especially in its more difficult stages, so that this temporal life may lead to eternal life.

If these are the most important factors in ecclesiastical-liturgical activity, and if the church hymnal is to be in perfect harmony with the life of the Church, then the hymns in the hymnal may be arranged as follows: 1. Festival Hymns, arranged according to the festivals, cycles and holy-days of the church year—Advent, Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, etc. 2. Hymns about the Church and ecclesiastical acts: the Word, the Church, Missions, ecclesiastical acts (worship, Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, confirmation, ordination and installation, dedication of churches, etc., also marriage and burial). 3. Hymns about the Christian life: repentance, faith, justification and state of grace, sanctification (the fruits of regeneration, prayer, cross and consolation), the completion (the resurrection, judgment, eternity). 4. Hymns for certain people, times and circumstances: the Christian community (fatherland, the authorities and the subjects, judges and those suing for justice, temporal necessities, war and peace, plagues and calamities, etc.), the Christian school or Christian education, the Christian home (husband and wife, parents and children, master and servant, morning and evening hymns, etc.), conditions in the life of an individual (health, sickness, death, etc.).

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH HYMNS

SECTION III
EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMNODY
To About 600 A. D.

The Christians of the first century sang hymns, both in private and in public worship. The writings of the New Testament testify to this fact, as for example 1 Cor., chapter 14, also the well known places Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16. To begin with the Christians sang the hymns of the Old Testament, especially the Psalms of David. Among early Christian songs, we note the following: the Gloria in excelsis Deo (the angelic hymn), the Gloria Patri, the Ter Sanctus (Isaiah 6:3), the Hallelujah, the Benedicite, the Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29), the Magnificat (Luke 1:46), the Benedictus (Luke 1:68), and the Te Deum Laudamus.

From Paul’s references to sacred song in his epistles we learn that the early Christians possessed hymns of their own composition, besides the Bible songs. But we know very little about these very early hymns of the Apostolic Age; we know of no great hymn writer of that age. One of the earliest hymn writers that we know of is Clement of Alexandria, who lived about 200 A. D. To him is attributed the Greek hymn, “Shepherd of tender youth,” which has been regarded as the 20 first Christian hymn. It is found in most of our standard American hymnals—number 282 in Common Service Book. In 1846 this hymn was freely translated into English by Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn Dexter, editor of The Congregationalist, Boston.

EARLY GREEK HYMNS

Looking at the Christian ancestry of our church hymnody, in a narrower way, it may be said that its history goes back to the hymn writing of christianized Greece—1500 years back—1500 years of Christian hymn writing and hymn singing. The church hymnody of the different countries varies, of course, in time and duration. A German, for example, finds about seven hundred years of German hymn writing in his hymn book. We have inherited and appropriated this common legacy.

In Syria there arose in the second century several prolific hymn writers. They were Gnostics, who sought to propagate their heretical teachings through sacred song. Bardesanes and his son Harmonius were the leaders of this Gnostic hymnody in the Syriac Church. This heretical hymnody was the negative cause of the great hymn writing of Ephrem Syrus, who was born at Nisibis in Northern Mesopotamia, 307 A. D., and died at Edessa, 373. He is regarded as the foremost representative of the orthodox hymnody of the old Syriac Church. In order to counteract the dangerous influences of Gnosticism, Ephrem Syrus produced a large number of fine hymns, which became very popular throughout the Eastern Church. Thus a new era in Christian hymnody was introduced. See pages 63-68 in “The Hymn as Literature,” by J. B. Reeves.

Like the Gnostics of Syria in the second century, so also the Arians of Constantinople in the fourth century sought to propagate their heretical doctrines through sacred song. Again great champions of orthodoxy arose, men like Ephrem Syrus, who produced fine hymns, mainly in defense of the doctrines of the Trinity and Christ’s divine nature. Among early well known Greek hymn writers we note the following: Gregory of Nazianzus (died 389), Anatolius (seventh or eighth century), St. Andrew of Jerusalem (660-732), St. Cosmas, the Melodist (died about 760), St. John of Damascus (died about 780), St. Stephen of St. Sabas (died 794), and St. Joseph the Hymnographer (died about 840). As examples of their hymns we have “O Thou the One supreme o’er all” by Gregory, “The day is past and over” by Anatolius, “The day of resurrection” by St. John of Damascus, and “Art thou weary, art thou languid” by St. Stephen. Rev. Dr. John Mason Neale (1818-1866) of East Grimstead, England, has produced many excellent translations of the old Greek hymns, which are found in nearly all modern hymnals.

In the Eastern Church, as early as the third century, the custom of singing had become so general as to be recognized as one of the Church’s predominating features. In the Eastern Church, at Antioch, antiphonal congregational hymn singing had its origin, and from thence spread in all directions in the fourth century. An interesting fact comes to light in connection with the use the Eastern Church made of its hymns. Theodoret, in his historical writings, tells us that “while Chrysostom (347-407) was bishop of Constantinople, at the opening of the fifth century, the orthodox Christians were in the habit of assembling themselves in the 22 public squares, then marching in midnight processions, through the city, singing sacred songs, in order to combat those who were enemies of Christ’s divinity.” This is a testimony concerning the anti-Arian hymnody.

The early hymnody of the Eastern Church possesses a great deal of poetic beauty and fine rhetorical style. But many of these old Greek hymns indulge in a certain amount of tedious broadness and dogmatic prosiness. They are often vague and fantastic. Fine language seems often to be of greater importance than spiritual content. In the Eastern Church sacred song never received the development and the place in the life and the cultus of the congregation as in the Western Church. During the last half of the third century the Eastern Church advocated the use of the Psalms of David only in divine service. It must also be borne in mind that attempts were made in the Eastern Church about the middle of the fourth century to suppress congregational singing. The character of the hymns that were produced in the Eastern Church, their bombastic and often turgid style, their complicated rhythmical structure, and their unpractical Christianity, prevented them from becoming a property of the common people.

EARLY LATIN HYMNS

Early sacred song in the Western Church is characterized by noble simplicity and clearness in form, as well as by a more practical Christianity; fine qualities which go to make the old Latin hymns more accessible and serviceable to us than the old Greek hymns.

The fourth century witnessed a remarkable activity in Latin hymnody. The Western Church was far more active in the hymnological field than the Eastern Church. 23 One of the founders of Latin hymnody was St. Hilary, the good bishop of Poitiers, great scholar, and great defender of the Christian faith. During his exile (356-360) in Phrygia, St. Hilary came in touch with Arian hymn singing. When he was permitted to return to Gaul, he brought with him a great enthusiasm for hymn singing. He edited the first hymn book of the Western Church, and introduced singing of orthodox hymns among his people. He died in 368 A. D.

But the great author and leader of Latin hymnody is, undoubtedly, St. Ambrose, the admirable and amiable bishop of Milan. He was born in 340 and died on Good Friday, 397. St. Ambrose has been called the father of Latin church song, because of his great work in hymnody and church music. The first stanza of one of his beautiful hymns is here quoted.

Prudentius (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens) is a prominent Latin hymn writer of this period. He was born in Spain, 348 A. D. Prudentius has been called “the first great Christian poet.” With him the Latin, the language of a stern and hard people, is, as it were, tempered by faith. He, like most of the early Latin hymnists, sings the praises of the faith, hope and love of the Christian Church. The subjective, with its “I,” “me” and “mine,” so characteristic of modern hymnody, had no place in the hymns of Prudentius. He received high honors from the Roman emperor, but in old age he preferred to devote himself quietly to religious literary 24 work. He died about 410 A. D. We quote the first stanza of a beautiful Christmas hymn, Corde natus ex Parentis, from Prudentius, the translation by Neale.

St. Patrick (fifth century), called the Apostle of Ireland, wrote several hymns for his people. Coelius Sedulius, of the fifth century, wrote several great Latin hymns, among which we refer to one that has been sung quite extensively, namely, A solis ortus cardine—From lands that see the sun arise.

Gregory the Great (545-604) and Venantius Fortunatus (530-609) mark a period of transition in the hymn singing of the Western Church. It was at this time, about 600 A. D., that the Ambrosian church song was superseded by the Gregorian. Here it was that congregational song in the Western Church was abandoned and that part of public worship given over to the priests and the monks. The only part the congregation took was in a few responses. Gregory the Great was a man of unusual ability. He was pope from 590 until his death in 604. He was a zealous missionary to Britain, great as a champion against the heretics, and great as a preacher, but his best service to the Church is undoubtedly his liturgical and musical contribution. He strove to make public worship worthy of Him to whom it was rendered. It must be borne in mind that 25 good congregational singing was something which presented great and perplexing problems in those days. The Gregorian chants, still in use, after a lapse of more than a dozen centuries, show the Gregorian style and indicate how Gregory changed the melodious and flowing hymns of St. Ambrose into the more severe and solemn style of the new period. But we have several hymns from Gregory’s pen which indicate that he was not without the Ambrosian spirit. Take, for example, his beautiful hymn,

Venantius Fortunatus, the troubadour, holds a very important place in early Latin hymnody. He wrote one of the greatest hymns of the Western Church, namely, Vexilla Regis—The royal banners forward go, the Cross shines forth in mystic glow. We quote the first stanza of another great hymn by Fortunatus, a grand Easter hymn.

Simplicity, depth, fervor, divine sentiment, full-hearted confession, are some of the outstanding characteristics of the early Latin hymns. They are, on the whole, Scriptural, pure, and devotional. The key-note in these venerable old hymns consists of the main points 26 of Christianity, the protection and care of the Father, the redemption of Christ, the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, strains of thanksgiving and praise, invocation of God’s support against the devil, the flesh and the world.

SECTION IV
MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIAN HYMNODY
A. D. 600-1520

When the Western Church passed into the mediaeval era of its history, about 600 A. D., we find church song in a new and different situation. During the ancient era of the Christian Church, it may be said that church song was, for the most part, a song of the people of God, a congregational song. Attempts had been made before this time, it is true, to suppress congregational song, but they had proven more or less unsuccessful. During the Middle Ages, however, the Church was successful in definitely transferring church song from the people to the clergy and a well trained clerical choir. Latin was the liturgical language of the entire Western Church, wherefore the mediaeval church hymns were written in that language. The Carolingian age, productive in so many respects, also produced a number of very beautiful hymns, resembling the best productions of the Ambrosian era of hymnody. Charlemagne was not only a zealous promoter but also a practiser of sacred poesy. In the ninth century Notker Balbulus of St. Gall monastery produced hymns called Sequences, which differed in their metrical structure from the older hymns. These Sequences had three or six lines in each verse, while the verses of the older hymns had four lines each. In a subsequent chapter we shall speak 28 more fully of the Sequences and their remarkable birthplace.

Passing over into the mediaeval Church, we find that our church hymnody had three different sources in the time before the Reformation. One source was the Latin church hymnody. The second source consisted of the German songs, called Leisen. The third source was the religious folk-song of the common people.

MEDIAEVAL LATIN HYMNS

During the second half of the Middle Ages, beginning with the eleventh century, a number of great hymn writers arose. King Robert of France, who died 1031 A. D., probably wrote one of the greatest hymns of the Latin Church, namely, Veni Sancte Spiritus. Dr. S. W. Duffield claims that this great Sequence was written by Hermannus Contractus, the crippled monk of Reichenau, in the eleventh century.

Bernard of Cluny and Bernard of Clairvaux are two Latin hymn writers who hold a very important place in Christian hymnody. From Bernard of Cluny (twelfth century) comes the well known hymn, “Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest.” This hymn comes from his famous and only poem Laus Patriae Celestis which consists of some three thousand lines of dactylic hexameter. We quote the first stanza of another well known hymn that comes from the same poem.

From St. Bernard of Clairvaux we have such great hymns as “Light of the anxious heart,” “Wide open are Thy hands,” “O Jesus, King most wonderful,” “Jesus, the very thought of Thee,” “Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,” and “O Sacred Head, now wounded.” St. Bernard was born in Fountaines, Burgundy, 1091. History speaks of him as highly imaginative, great champion of the faith, great orator, great teacher, founder and abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux, and leader in mediaeval mysticism. He died in 1153. Luther called him “the best monk that ever lived.” Hymns from the two Bernards can be found in any standard modern hymn book and they are worth careful study.

Adam of St. Victor (twelfth century) is another important Latin hymnist. He was choirmaster at the great St. Victor monastery at Paris. Trench speaks of him as “the foremost among the sacred Latin poets of the Middle Ages.”

Thomas of Celano, whose birthplace is unknown, was one of the first members of the Franciscan order. In 1221 he went to Germany and remained there for nine years; then he returned to Italy, where he died in 1255. Thomas of Celano wrote the greatest hymn of the Latin Church—Dies Irae. There are nineteen verses to this great Sequence, of which we quote the first two. The translation is by Wm. J. Irons.

Thomas Aquinas was born in a Neapolitan castle, Italy, about 1225. He was a Dominican and the strongest of the scholastics, theological professor at several universities, Doctor of Theology from Paris, also called Doctor Angelicus. He was a prolific writer; his Summa Theologiae is a great dogmatic work. He died in a prominent monastery at Naples in 1274. Thomas Aquinas produced a number of excellent hymns. His “Lauda, Sion, salvatorem” is generally regarded as one of the greatest hymns of Latin hymnody. It can be found in almost any standard hymnal, beginning “Sion, to thy Saviour singing.”

Jacoponus (died 1306) wrote one of the greatest hymns of the Roman Church, namely, Stabat Mater Dolorosa. This hymn is found in many Protestant hymnals, beginning “At the Cross her station keeping.” Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) of Holland and John Huss (1369-1415) of Bohemia, made valuable contributions to mediaeval hymnody.

These Latin hymn writers have produced hymns which are characterized by deep ardor, great love of Christ, and soul-stirring earnestness. The Latin church hymnody is very wealthy indeed; more than 20,000 Latin church hymns have been discovered. Of these Latin hymns we have appropriated a large number of beautiful festival church hymns. Their form is very plain. Without any comment the festival subject is presented in a very plain and simple statement of the event in question. The singer loses himself in his subject; 31 there is nothing here of self-assertion. Note such hymns as “A great and mighty wonder,” “All praise to Thee, Eternal Lord,” “The strife is o’er, the battle done,” “Christ, the Lord, is ris’n today,” “Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,” etc.

Mightily through the ages sound the hymns of penance and judgment; perhaps too strong at times. Note that mighty and most powerful hymn, Dies irae, dies illa. But the mediaeval hymnody is not without the evangelical spirit; this is clearly seen in our hymn books, especially in the Communion hymns. In spite of magic and abuse, it was nevertheless in the Holy Communion that the true Christian of the Middle Ages came closest to Christ. Note two mediaeval Communion hymns:

This hymn comes from John Huss and was translated by Martin Luther. The other Communion hymn is “Jesu dulcis memoria,” probably by St. Bernard of Clairvaux:

It is a very difficult task to translate these old Latin hymns; much is lost by the translation. It is not an easy matter to construct a bridge between the great 32 glow of St. Bernard’s mysticism and the powerful, yet cold faith of the seventeenth century. If “Jesu dulcis memoria” was not written by St. Bernard, it must have been written by one of his devout pupils. We are here at the very fountain-head of Christian poetry, so closely related to the Song of Solomon, i. e., it presents the relation of the faithful to Christ—the love of the bride to the bridegroom. From this circle came the great hymn “O Sacred Head, now wounded,” translated and perfected by Paul Gerhardt.

No wonder that the schools and cathedrals clung so tenaciously to the old Latin hymnody. It exerted great influence. Too bad, indeed, that we have permitted this Latin song to become extinct. Perhaps our taste in things religious would not have declined so low, and religious song would not have come to be despised so generally, had our good leaders realized that there are better things than American jazz.

MEDIAEVAL GERMAN HYMNS

Along with this Latin-clerical church song there existed in the Germanic mediaeval Church a religious popular poetry or congregational song. Under the hierarchic autocracy of the Gregorian song it had gone so far that the active participation of the congregation in public worship was reduced to a joining only in the response Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy upon us), repeated one hundred or more times at any one church service. But in the sad tones of this Kyrie Eleison, this cry for compassion from a people spiritually oppressed and enslaved, there emerged in the Germanic mediaeval Church the first attempts at congregational song in the vernacular. At the close of the ninth century they 33 began to supply the tune of the mechanically repeated Kyrie Eleison with religious verses in the language of the people. Every verse of these songs ended with the refrain Kyrie Eleison. Thus arose the first German church hymns called Kirleison or Leisen, as they had grown out of and ended with the Kyrie Eleison.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when significant religious awakenings and the Crusades (1096-1273) stirred up great enthusiasm among the people, these German hymns took on new life and gained great favor among the people. These religious songs of the people were used more and more freely both in public worship and at other religious and secular festive occasions. Some of these mediaeval German hymns or Leisen are: Also heilig ist der Tag; Mitten wir im Leben sind; Christ ist erstanden; Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist. One of the best of these Leisen is,

But even though the people sang these hymns in the church services, such singing was merely tolerated and had no set place. These German hymns of the people were different from the Latin hymns of the cloisters. They possess a more simple, popular and hearty key-note, though their form may be poor and their style rugged. But these hymns, with their singable tunes, were greatly loved by the people, and so they lived and thrived in the hearts of the common people during the deplorable times and conditions of the mediaeval 34 Church. The secular Minnesingers (thirteenth century) and the Meistersingers (fourteenth century) exerted considerable influence upon German hymnody, especially with respect to poetic form and music. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the “Brethren of the Common Life” (Netherlands) and the significant religious movements associated with John Wycliffe and John Huss gave to hymnody in the vernacular a powerful revival and a purer evangelical content. Desirable Latin hymns were translated and new hymns in the vernacular were written. The Germans and the Bohemians possessed, before 1500, about five hundred church hymns in the vernacular. In the fifteenth century the Bohemians sang these hymns in the regular church services.

MEDIAEVAL SCANDINAVIAN HYMNODY

Because of the close connection which existed in mediaeval times between Germanic countries and peoples,—a natural outcome of their racial affinity,—it was quite natural that the movements of mediaeval hymnody in Germany would become known among the people of the North. The Swedish mediaeval Church possessed a hymnody both in Latin and in Swedish. Only a very few of the Swedish mediaeval religious songs remain to-day. These popular religious songs, like secular folk songs and ballads, were transmitted not in writing but as a living tradition on the lips of the people from generation to generation. Thus only very few of these old Swedish religious songs have survived the century of the Reformation. By way of example we may note the old mediaeval song, “The blessed day which we behold”—this is found in all Swedish Lutheran 35 hymn books. It existed in the fourteenth century. In its present form it has been greatly improved by the greatest of Swedish hymnologists, J. O. Wallin. Ericus Olai is the only known Swedish hymn writer of mediaeval times. One of his hymns, “The Rich Man,” a metrical paraphrase of the Gospel lesson which deals with the rich man and Lazarus, Olaus Petri, the great Swedish reformer, included in the first Swedish Lutheran hymn book. It was also included in the Swedish Lutheran hymn book of 1695. An interesting and valuable testimony concerning the fact that also in the Swedish mediaeval Church the people were allowed to sing in public worship, is found in the answer that King Gustavus I gave to the complaint of the Dalecarlians, in 1527. Among other things, the king says that “it is an old custom in our country, in our churches, to sing in Swedish and praise God, and it is well that this is done in our own language, which we understand, and not in Latin, which we do not understand.”

THE SEQUENCES

The Sequences were religious liturgical songs, which developed from the florid vocalizations upon the last syllable of the Hallelujah. At first only a melody or tune with words, but later on it became an art form both in music and in sacred poetry. Musically often of finer quality than the hymn. The Sequences usually consisted of two verses, three lines to each verse, with the same melody for each of the two verses. The form seems to have originated at the convent of St. Gall in Switzerland, about 875 A. D. During the later part of the mediaeval era the Sequences became very popular, and the number of Sequences that were sung in the 36 Catholic Church reached nearly one thousand. The church music decisions of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) operated very strongly against the Sequences, and so they practically disappeared about 1570. Only five Sequences were retained, namely, Victime paschali laudes, Veni Sancte Spiritus, Lauda Sion salvatorem, Stabat Mater dolorosa, and Dies Irae.

ST. GALL

We close our study of mediaeval hymnody with a story about St. Gall. St. Gall is a very remarkable old monastery. Men of quite different minds and dispositions got along very amicably under the Benedictine rule at St. Gall. Among its one hundred monks there were in the ninth century four monks whose names were well known throughout the Western Church, namely, the learned Ratpert, the enthusiastic Notker, the highly gifted and greatly admired artist Tutilo, and the unrivalled hand-printer of books, Sintram, whose very beautiful handwriting was greatly admired throughout Europe. Ratpert, a stern educator, never sparing the rod, and not deeply interested in his devotional exercises—a great scholar. Notker Balbulus (stammerer), the saint-like, ascetic tune-writer and plant specialist, who had strange visions and lived in another world—a dreamer. Then there was also the ingenious, humorous Tutilo. These three monks were as different as three highly gifted persons could be, and yet they were always as one soul. Ratpert respected Tutilo’s fine scholarship; at night they were often found with Notker Balbulus in the writing-room, comparing and improving the works that Sintram was about to copy. Notker who wrote many fine hymn tunes, wanted them sung by 37 Tutilo who was a good singer and clever performer upon several musical instruments. Tutilo wrote several excellent hymn tunes, and he also produced several noble hymns of which the most popular are Hodie cantandus, Viri Galilei, and Gaudete et cantate.

Notker’s genuine affection for Tutilo was not disturbed by Tutilo’s good-natured submission to unreasonable monastic regulations, which Notker regarded as symbolically significant. The Benedictine regulations were meant for the monasteries of southern Italy, and did not suit the convent of St. Gall very well. A midday nap was one of the Benedictine regulations, and so the monks of St. Gall had to retire and sleep two or three hours at midday every day. The Benedictine rule prescribed a diet of fish, fruit and vegetables—the usual diet of southern Italy. But fish and fruit were difficult to secure at St. Gall; meat, which was plentiful, was forbidden. And so the diet of St. Gall consisted mainly of pulse and pap. Notker who was the guardian of the discipline of the monastery, never had an occasion to bring up any reproach against Tutilo. Tutilo observed the midday nap, and flavoured with merriment the monotonous diet which maintained his splendid mortal clay.

SECTION V
LUTHERAN HYMNOLOGY
1520—

The Reformation of the sixteenth century put life into congregational hymn singing. Before this time it had been heard only in strains, broken, timid, and vague. The Reformation endowed congregational hymn singing with a sonorousness and power, as never before in the history of the Church. One of the main principles of the Reformation was that all Christians, as a spiritual priesthood (Rev. 1:6 and 1 Pet. 2:5), are privileged and obliged to approach God and bring Him their offering, without human mediators and deputies, only because of the merits of Christ, the one true mediator; and this not only individually in private life but also in public worship. The Reformation brought into play all serviceable forces and means to promote and make possible the realization of this principle in the cultus. The reformers sought to make the liturgy intelligible and accessible to the common people—for the Latin they substituted the language of the people, and the congregation was given an opportunity to take an active part in public worship. It was perfectly natural that church song could not remain in its mediaeval form, an exclusive privilege of the clergy, but be transferred to the people. And so popular church hymns were produced. Luther became the leader also in this great work. What 40 kind of hymns he wanted, is quite clearly seen in one of his letters to the electoral court chaplain, Spalatin, whom he called upon to assist in this hymnological work: “I am willing to make German psalms for the people, after the example of the prophets and the ancient fathers; that is, spiritual hymns whereby the Word of God, through singing, may conserve itself among the people.” Later on in the same letter, he makes the following suggestion: “I desire, however, that new-fangled words, and courtly expressions, be omitted, in order that the language may be the simplest and most familiar to the people, and yet, at the same time, pure, and well suited to the clear sense of the psalm.” Such church hymns, thoroughly Biblical and at the same time popular, the great reformer wanted for the people. And Luther produced several church hymns, which have never been surpassed and rarely equaled. He translated and versified Davidic Psalms; he translated and revised old Latin hymns; he revised several old religious folk songs; and he wrote several original hymns. He was not alone in this hymnological work; many able assistants came forward. Thus the great Lutheran hymnody began.[1]

The outstanding merit of these church hymns is that they proclaim and extol God’s great works of love, in words and strains that burst forth from the very 41 soul of the people—immediately they became the property of the people. As silent and yet as most eloquent witnesses of evangelical truth, these hymns made their way even to distant lands and awakened the languishing hearts of the people to new life, to joy and praise. The annals of the Reformation are rich in the most remarkable testimonies concerning these things, how the Lutheran hymns powerfully conquered the love of the people and how the people heartily sang them in the churches and in the homes, in weal and woe. And this great legacy from the Reformation era, the Lutheran Church has preserved, used well, and richly increased. The church hymn is the special glory of the Lutheran Church. No church communion can be compared to the Lutheran Church in this respect. Not without reason has the Lutheran Church been called the singing church.

MARTIN LUTHER

When we think of the Lutheran hymnody from the historical point of view, we must dwell, if but briefly, on its classical formation in the motherland of the Lutheran Church, Germany. Something permanent and peculiarly typical is present in the hymnody of the Reformation days.

With respect to Luther himself, his best hymns are our most precious possession. “Ein’ feste Burg” is known the world over. Christians everywhere are familiar with it.

At first Luther did not seem to be aware of his poetical gifts. It was not until in July, 1523, when two Belgian martyrs of the Lutheran Church had been burnt at the stake, that Luther’s first poetical product came 42 into existence—in the folk song style. This song, “Ein neues Lied wir heben an,” spread very rapidly throughout Germany. Soon thereafter came two hymns, one about penance, and one about faith: “Out of the depths I cry to Thee” and “Dear Christians one and all rejoice.” They were supplied with tunes and spread very rapidly throughout the land.

1524 was the hymn-year of the Reformation. 24 of Luther’s 37 hymns appeared in various publications. “Ein’ feste Burg” seems to belong to the year 1527. Luther’s musical assistants were Conrad Rupf and Johann Walther. It is said that while these two musicians sat at the table, busy with the writing of the music, Luther walked about the large room and tried the tunes, singing them, or playing them on his flute. When we stop to consider what was then formed and created, we see clearly that this is a historical situation of epoch-making significance. Luther at the church door in Wittenberg, Luther at Worms, at Wartburg, in his home; so also Luther with his musical friends, creating or remodelling poetry and music for the new Church—a central figure in the history of the Church.

To characterize Luther’s hymns is no easy task, because of their richness. Luther’s soul possessed an enormous span of faith and spiritual life. It experienced the mediaeval thunder-tones of judgment as well as the brightness of the Gospel. Compare, for example, the two hymns, “Though in midst of life we be” and “Dear Christians one and all rejoice.” Compare the following stanza from “Ein feste Burg,”

The Word they still shall let remain,

Nor any thanks have for it;

He’s by our side upon the plain

With His good gifts and Spirit.

Take they then our life,

Goods, fame, child, and wife,

When their worst is done,

They yet have nothing won:

The Kingdom ours remaineth.

It is obvious that in “Dear Christians one and all rejoice”—Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein—we have the outline of Luther’s entire experience of faith, from the moment he felt himself condemned by God till he could triumph in songs of praise. This hymn forms a very clear parallel to his exposition of the Second Article.

Most of Luther’s hymns ought to be found in our English Lutheran hymn books. They are noble church hymns—all Lutherans should know them. The Church Militant is one of Luther’s chief subjects. Note his great heroic hymn “Ein feste Burg.” Note also one of his last hymns:

Powerful and courageous Lutheran hymns! Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein—Look down, O Lord, from heaven behold—seems to be as valid against the disintegrating subjectivism and super-culture of our time as against the age in which it was born, which dissolved God’s kingdom and divine will at pleasure and put uncontrolled human will in their place. Whether this refers to clericalism and papism or modern culture and mass dominion, makes little or no difference; the result in both cases is destruction.

Nearly all of Luther’s hymns close with words of praise—note this consciousness of communion with Christ. Take for example the last stanza of “Christ lag in Todesbanden”:

GERMAN HYMNODY

The history of German hymnody after 1500 may be divided into five periods: 1) the foundation period, including the time of the Reformation and down to the 45 close of the sixteenth century; 2) the period of prosperity, from about 1600 to about 1700; 3) the period of subjectivism, embracing the time from 1700 to 1750; 4) the period of decline, from 1750 to about 1820; 5) a time of renovation and general development, from about 1820 to about 1900.

To present a clear, yet reasonably complete, survey of the history of the church hymn in Germany during the century of the Reformation, is not an easy task. The period is rich in victories and reverses. It embraces not only the first victories of the new Church but also the Counter-Reformation with its regaining of lost ground. It includes the sad story of the internal struggles of the early Lutheran Church, which resulted in dissension and weakness, bitterness and discouragement. All this is reflected in the hymnody of the Church. The sixteenth century produced many great hymnists, to whom we are greatly indebted. Luther’s hymns alone would form a valuable little hymn book. But it would be still more valuable, if we included in it the best Lutheran church hymns of the entire century. A hymn book containing all the great Lutheran church hymns of the sixteenth century—a remarkable Lutheran hymn book.

The Reformation hymnody possesses a preponderatingly objective character. Definite and true evangelical faith is its keynote. Christ’s redemption and the sinner’s justification by faith are the outstanding expressions in this hymnody. The human and the individual, the subjective, receives a secondary place. In fact there is hardly any indication in this hymnody of a proper coalescence of the subjective and the objective. A great many of the hymns are translations of old 46 Greek and Latin hymns. But the thoughts are hearty, vigorous, powerful, and serious. The outward form is simple, even faulty at times. Yet it is the song of earnest and sincere Christians.

The foremost hymnist of this period is, of course, Martin Luther. Other great hymnists of this period are Justus Jonas, Paul Eber, Paul Speratus, Nikolaus Decius, Lazarus Spengler, Nikolaus Hermann, Barthol. Ringwaldt, and Nikolaus Selnecker. Michael Weiss of Bohemia belongs to this period, because he produced a number of excellent German translations of church hymns which had been in use among the followers of John Huss.

The second period of German hymnody, the seventeenth century, may be regarded as one of great prosperity. In it the objective and the subjective seem to attain a fine balance. The church hymn now comes more directly from the soul of the communion of the faithful. In form and expression there is healthy progress. A very fine type of lyrical poetry develops. During the first years of this period we note such excellent hymnists as L. Helmbold, Martin Schalling, Valerius Herberger, and Philipp Nicolai. Among hymn writers during the hard times of the Thirty Years War, who produced excellent hymns of consolation, powerful hymns, we note especially John Heermann, Paul Fleming, J. M. Meyfart, Martin Rinkart, John Rist, and Simon Dach. The objective-subjective hymnody of the seventeenth century, in its purest and noblest form, is to be found in the hymns of Paul Gerhardt, writer of more than one hundred hymns, in which the ardor and fervor of Christian subjectivity attained a most happy union with the firm evangelical faith and the noble 47 popular elements of the Reformation period. He is one of the greatest German hymn writers, if not the greatest. With him we note Georg Neumark, J. Franck, and M. Schirmer.

The third period, from the end of the seventeenth century to about 1750, may be called the age of subjective hymnody. To this period belong such great hymn writers as Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius) and Countess Ludemilia Elisabeth of Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt. Both of these hymn writers are quite strongly inclined towards sound Mysticism. At the opening of the eighteenth century, Pietism brought about a great awakening in hymn writing. Several of the followers of Spener and Francke produced a large number of devotional hymns which are full of sound and sincere piety in simple and noble form. To this group of hymn writers belong Samuel Rodigast, Gottfried Arnold, Johann Freylinghausen, Herrnschmidt, Richter, Countess Emilie Juliane of Schwartzburg, J. J. Rambach, and Woltersdorf. In this connection we must also mention Gerhard Tersteegen, a preacher without a church, and a leader among “awakened souls.” The followers of J. A. Bengel, or the so-called Bible Theologians, produced a number of fine devotional hymns. Leading hymn writers in this group are Johann Mentzer and Phillip Friedrich Hiller. Count Zinzendorf, the great leader among the Herrnhuters, or Moravian Brethren, wrote a number of excellent hymns. Besides these hymnological fruits of Pietism, the orthodox tendency did not remain unproductive. Pietism exerted considerable influence upon the orthodox hymnody. To this group of orthodox hymn writers belong Erdmann Neumeister, Benjamin Schmolck, and Salomo Franck. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century 48 a dull and degraded Pietism began to react upon sacred poetry. A sound and vigorous tone was superseded by the subjective and lyrical effusions of the individual. The hymns began to treat more and more of personal feelings and soul experiences, of events and situations in private life. A number of poor hymn books appeared. Public taste for the right kind of church song was spoiled. This paved the way for a hymnological revolution, brought about mainly by Rationalism, during the last half of the eighteenth century.

The fourth period, the era of decline, includes the last half of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth. This is the time of the destructive influences of Neologism or Rationalism in Germany. German hymnody suffered. Rationalism is a denial of positive Christian life, and lacks sympathy for the primitive, the simple, and the popular. It cannot attend to the needs of the common people. It possesses a character of superficial and heartless intellectualism. Reason was made the highest authority in all religious matters. Genuine hymn writing could not grow up in a soil which was destitute both of poetry and of true Christianity. The dominion of rationalism in German hymnody began about the middle of the eighteenth century with a revision of the old church hymns in accordance with the new ideas of the age, an age of enlightenment and illumination. To begin with this hymnological revision was mainly in the interest of form. Severity, irregularity and archaism in expression and style, in rhyme and meter, etc., had to be eliminated from the church hymns. Up-to-date language had to be used. The revision of form was soon followed by a revision of content. Old ideas in the hymns had to be removed. The church 49 hymns had to be in harmony with the new ethical ideas of the age. A great work in hymnological vandalism was in progress. It was not sufficient to merely improve the old hymns. Most of the grand old church hymns were dropped and new ones produced—new hymns which were in perfect harmony with the new ideas of the age. The new hymn book was to be a kind of textbook in moral philosophy. The new hymn book should instruct the people in many useful things. Hymns were written on such subjects as profitable economy, extravagance, superstition, scepticism, quiet and peaceful life, contentedness, integrity, the right use of pleasure, commerce, agriculture, vaccination, sleep, etc. The direction was not heavenward so much as worldward.

The leading hymnological revisor or editor was Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803). He also wrote a few original hymns. One of the best hymn writers of this hymnological era was Christian Fuerchtegott Gellert (1715-1769). He wrote a number of excellent hymns. Johann Casper Lavater (1741-1801) was perhaps the greatest hymn writer of this period.

The fifth period of German hymnody, an era of renovation, from about 1825 to about 1910, is known not so much for original hymn writing as for its general return to the best of old German hymnody. The neological hymn books of the preceding period were condemned and rejected. New hymn books were published, which contained the best church hymns of all times. Outstanding hymnological compilers and editors are Dr. Hermann Adalbert Daniel, Dr. Carl Eduard Philipp Wackernagel, and Stip. Albert Knapp and Dr. Carl Johann Spitta are important German hymnists of this period. Important English translators are Miss Catherine 50 Winkworth, Miss Frances Elizabeth Cox, Miss Jane Borthwick and her sister—Mrs. Findlater, Rev. Richard Massie, and Rev. A. Tozar Russell.

SCANDINAVIAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY

The Reformation era, the sixteenth century.—The hymnody of the Scandinavian Church during this period was, for the most part, an echo of that of the German mother Church. Among important hymnists of this period we note Hans Taussen, Hans Tomissön, Cl. Töndebinder and Nils Jespersen of the Danish Church. In the Swedish Church we note especially the two brothers, Olaus and Laurentius Petri, the two great Swedish reformers, students under Dr. Martin Luther at the University of Wittenberg. The first Swedish Lutheran hymn book was issued by Olaus Petri, 1526, called “Swedish Songs” (about ten hymns). Revised and enlarged editions of this hymn book appeared in 1530 and 1536. In this first Swedish Lutheran hymn book we find hymns by the Swedish poet Olaf Swensson, who distinguished himself as a zealous polemic against the Roman Catholic Church and “Antichrist” (the pope). In 1567 appeared another Swedish Lutheran hymn book, containing 99 hymns, which has been called “the hymn book of Laurentius Petri,” because it contained many translations and several original hymns by him. A revised and enlarged edition of this hymn book appeared in 1572. In this hymnal appeared the popular and beautiful Swedish Lutheran hymn, “A sinful man, who lay in trance of sin, he heard a voice from heaven: Awake, awake, list to the Word that comfort gives.” It has been claimed by several authorities that this hymn is the foremost hymn in the Swedish literature of the 51 sixteenth century, and also one of the greatest of Swedish Lutheran hymns. It is probably the work of Laurentius Petri Gothus.

Scandinavian Lutheran hymnody may be divided into five hymnological periods, similar to the five periods of German Lutheran hymnody. The hymnological periods of German and Scandinavian hymnody are parallel.

The second period, the seventeenth century.—The seventeenth century is said to be the days of glory in the history of Scandinavian Lutheran hymnody—its foremost period. While the Danish hymnists Hans Sthen, A. Arreboe, and especially T. Kingo wrote their hymns, the hymnody of the Swedish Church developed somewhat independently, with Swedish fervor and virility in connection with Biblical and practical simplicity in the best sense. The advance of this period on the Reformation era was much greater in the Swedish Church than in the German Church. It is also to be noted that the highest point in Swedish Lutheran hymn writing was reached in the later part of the seventeenth century, somewhat later than in Germany. Important Swedish hymnists of this period are Samuel Columbus, Erik Lindsköld, Petrus Brask, Gustaf Ollon, Israel Kolmodin, Jacob Boethius, Jakob Arrhenius, and especially the two bishops, Haquin Spegel and Jesper Swedberg. The Swedish Lutheran hymnal of 1695 was a masterwork.

The third period, from 1700 to 1750.—The Scandinavian Church was not subject to the hymnological fluctuations that the German Church experienced in this period, because the excellent Swedish hymnal of 52 1695 remained throughout the 18th century as the only official and popular hymn book. Efforts were made to produce new hymnals. About 1765 appeared an orthodox hymnal, “sound in doctrine and unpoetical”—called the Celsic hymnal, because O. Celsius had a great deal to do with its compilation. Pietistic and Moravianistic hymnals appeared. As an example of the Pietistic hymnals we note “The Songs of Moses and the Lamb,” by Lybecker, 1717. “The Songs of Zion” was a Moravianistic product, published about 1745. The Danes and the Norwegians were fortunate in having as their foremost hymnist the great H. A. Brorson, a most noble Pietistic hymn writer.

The fourth period.—This period includes the last half of the eighteenth century and the first fifteen years of the nineteenth. The neological spirit did not get into the church life of Sweden as thoroughly as in Germany. This fortunate condition is plainly seen in the hymnody of the Swedish Church. The hymnal that was published in 1793, the year of the 200th anniversary of the important Church Council at Upsala (1593), contained very few new hymns, and the old hymns retained were only slightly revised. But this hymnal was not accepted by the Swedish Church. About twenty years later, in 1814, appeared a new project in the matter of a revised and improved hymnal, the result of neological efforts to produce new church hymns. Many very able hymnists united in this great hymnological project, to show what genius and good taste can accomplish. It was a great work, but, on the whole, unsuccessful—too fine, perhaps.

The fifth period, the nineteenth century.—The hymnological situation in Sweden in the nineteenth century 53 was somewhat similar to that in Germany. But it is hardly a question of returning to the old, because neological activities were not able to deprive the Swedish Church of her old hymnody. Efforts to give to the Church a large number of the best of the old church hymns (Greek, Latin, German and Scandinavian), carefully edited, and some new Swedish church hymns, resulted in the important Swedish Hymnal of 1819. It has remained to this day (1925) the official and popular Hymnal of the Swedish Church. It is the Swedish hymn book of the Augustana Synod. With respect to the old church hymns in the hymnal, it may be said that much was gained by this work of revision. Most of the new hymns are excellent. A few of the hymns betray neological influences. On the whole, however, the Hymnal of 1819 is a very fine Lutheran hymn book. It contains 500 hymns. Revision is undoubtedly needed, and such work has been going on for some time.

Among Swedish hymn writers who contributed to the Hymnal of 1819 we note especially Bishop J. O. Wallin (died 1839) and Bishop F. M. Franzen (died 1847). Wallin produced 128 original hymns and revised or translated very many old and new hymns. The Hymnal of 1819 has often been called Wallin’s Hymnal. Most of his hymns are immortal masterpieces. Franzen produced 22 original hymns. As a hymnist Franzen possessed less rhetorical elevation and force than Wallin, but he is fully equal to Wallin not only in the Biblical-evangelical quality of the content but also in the lyrical heartiness of the tone as well as in the transparency and simplicity of the language. Other important Swedish hymn writers of this period are Samuel J. Hedborn (died 1849) and Erik Gustaf Geijer (died 1847). Johan 54 Henrik Thomander and Per Wieselgren are the editors of the Swedish Hymnal (1819) that is used in the Swedish Lutheran Augustana Synod, U. S. A.

In the Danish Church the well known N. F. S. Grundtvig (died 1872) has rendered great service as a reviser of old church hymns and writer of several excellent original hymns. The Norwegian Lutheran hymn book by Rev. M. B. Landstad (died 1881) is a very important hymnological work. It is a popular hymnal in the Norwegian Church. An important Swedish hymn book was published in Finland in 1880, which contained many excellent old church hymns from Swedish and German sources, but also several new hymns by such well known Finnish scholars as Johan Ludvig Runeberg (died 1877), Zacharias Topelius (died 1898), and others.

Bishop J. O. Wallin brought about a very high hymnic standard in the Swedish Church—perhaps the highest hymnic standard in the entire Lutheran world. When we examine what Grundtvig and Landstad gave the Danish and Norwegian churches, we find a great deal of the folk song element in that hymnody—not an unwholesome attribute. Wallin’s work belongs rather to the sphere of the solemn and sublime church hymn. The hymnody of the Swedish Lutheran Church is among the finest in the whole field of Lutheran hymnology, a church hymnody born in the days of the Reformation, four hundred years ago.

AMERICAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY

The early Lutherans in America came from lands where church song had attained high position and where a large number of noble church hymns had been produced. 55 The early German Lutherans sang from a great variety of hymn books which they had brought with them from the homeland. Dr. Henry Eyster Jacobs makes the following statement in “A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States”: “Muhlenberg had complained greatly of the variety of hymn books in use in the congregations, and generally within the same congregation. Of these, the Marburg hymn book gained precedence, and an American edition was published by Christopher Saur, Germantown, in 1762.” This hymn book contained over six hundred hymns.

About the same thing may be said of the earlier Lutheran immigrants, the Dutch and the Swedes. About 1675 the Swedes appealed to the King of Sweden for 12 Bibles, 100 hymn books, etc. In 1696 a ship carrying missionaries and a large supply of books left Sweden for America.

The work of organizing the early Lutheran Church in America fell to Rev. Dr. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, often called the Patriarch of the American Lutheran Church. He came to Philadelphia in 1742. The first Evangelical Lutheran Synod in America was organized by Muhlenberg at Philadelphia in 1748. This body is known as the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States. In 1782 this synod resolved to have a new hymn book printed for the united congregations. A hymn book committee was appointed and given the following instructions: “As far as possible to follow the arrangement of the Halle hymn book, and not to omit any of the old standard hymns, especially of Luther and Paul Gerhardt.” This German hymn book appeared in 1786, having been prepared by 56 Muhlenberg, Kunze, and Helmuth. Poor health prevented Muhlenberg from taking a more active part in the compilation of this hymn book. While it was used extensively, it seems that the book did not fully meet the wishes of the synod. Apparently the active editors, especially Dr. Helmuth, had not been successful in the selection and revision of the hymns. The inter-denominational (Lutheran and Reformed) hymn book of 1817, the “Gemeinschaftliches Gesangbuch,” was an inferior hymnological work. It was meant to take the place of the Pennsylvania hymn book of 1786. In 1849 the Ministerium of Pennsylvania published a new hymn book, prepared chiefly by Dr. C. R. Demme. The Synods of New York and West Pennsylvania co-operated in this issue. Although popular, this Pennsylvania hymn book did not measure up to that of 1786. About the middle of the nineteenth century, several German Lutheran hymn books were published by different synods. The Kirchenbuch of the General Council, published in 1877, is a hymnological work of high merit.

The first English Lutheran hymn book used in America was the “Psalmodia Germanica” of 1725, 1732, and 1756. It came to America from London, England. It contained 122 hymns, several by Luther and Paul Gerhardt. In 1795 Dr. John C. Kunze of New York published “A Hymn and Prayer Book, for the use of such Lutheran Churches as use the English language.” Its 240 hymns were gathered from German Lutheran, Moravian, English and American sources. In 1797 Rev. George Strebeck issued “A Collection of Evangelical Hymns, made from Different Authors and Collections, for the English Lutheran Church in New York.” This was a rather un-Lutheran hymn book. Rev. Strebeck 57 and his New York congregation went over to the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1806 Rev. Ralph Williston published “A Choice Selection of Evangelical Hymns from Various Authors, for the Use of the English Lutheran Church in New York.” While this hymn book met with popularity within the New York Ministerium, it was not a Lutheran hymn book. Most of its hymns were taken from Watts and Charles Wesley. Rev. Williston and his New York congregation also went over to the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1815 appeared “A Collection of Hymns and a Liturgy for the Use of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.” Published by order of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the State of New York. The editors were Drs. Quitman and Wackerhagen. This book contained 520 carefully selected hymns.

A number of English hymn books were published before 1850, but they were found more or less unsatisfactory. Some of them were quite un-Lutheran. In 1863 the Ministerium of Pennsylvania decided to issue a new English hymn book. A hymn book committee was appointed, which did very thorough work. This resulted in the publication of the Church Book by the General Council in 1868. This is undoubtedly one of the best English Lutheran hymn books of the American Lutheran Church. It has been highly praised by prominent hymnologists of Europe, and it has remained a very popular English hymn book throughout the American Lutheran Church for over fifty years. It has passed through several editions.

Rev. Justus Falckner (1672-1723) wrote what may be called the first American Lutheran hymn. He is said to be the first German Lutheran pastor in America 58 and was ordained by the Swedish Lutheran pastors in Gloria Dei Church at Wicaco in 1703. This was the first Lutheran ordination in America. We quote here the first two stanzas of Rev. Justus Falckner’s beautiful hymn. The hymn was originally written in German—“Auf, ihr Christen, Christi Glieder.”

The American Lutheran Church cannot as yet point to an American Lutheran hymnist like Paul Gerhardt or John Olof Wallin. The English Lutheran hymn books in America contain translations of German, Scandinavian, old Greek, and old Latin hymns, also a large number of carefully selected English (Reformed) hymns. The matter of translating great German and Scandinavian Lutheran hymns into English is a very difficult task. But there are Lutherans in America who write hymns worthy of more general acceptance. They would find it if it were, first of all, accorded to them by their fellow-Lutherans of other synods. So long as the hymn writers of another synod are largely ignored in American Lutheran synodical hymnals, it is not to be expected 59 that what they write will find its way into the hymnals of other denominations. Among the most successful translators and hymn writers within the American Lutheran Church the following may be mentioned: Rev. H. Brueckner, Rev. Dr. Matthias Loy, Rev. Dr. Charles Poterfield Krauth, Rev. John Casper Mattes, Rev. Dr. Alfred Ramsey, Rev. Dr. Charles William Schaeffer, Rev. Dr. Joseph Augustus Seiss, Mrs. Harriett Reynolds Spaeth, Rev. Dr. C. H. L. Schuette, Miss Anna Hoppe, and Rev. Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann. Miss Catherine Winkworth, Anglican, has produced a large number of excellent translations of German Lutheran hymns.

Several excellent English Lutheran hymn books have been published within the American Lutheran Church. Perhaps the foremost work is the Common Service Book, authorized by the General Synod, the General Council, and the United Synod in the South. The Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, published by order of the First English District of the Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States, is a worthy American Lutheran hymn book. The Wartburg Hymnal, edited by Professor O. Hardwig and published by Wartburg Publishing House, is noteworthy. The Scandinavian Lutherans have also published commendable hymn books. The new Hymnal of the Augustana Synod (1925) is excellent. Hymn book committees are at work on the compilation of better and more serviceable English Lutheran hymnals.

The history of hymnody in the American Lutheran Church is in many respects discouraging. A prominent American Lutheran theologian recently made the following statement: “Few of our ministers have ever had an appreciation of the treasures of Lutheran church 60 song” The training of the clergy in hymnology and church music is not what it ought to be. The education of the church organist and choir director is woefully deficient. More serious study in liturgics, hymnology and church music is needed. Yet some very good work has been done by American Lutheran hymnists, hymnologists and church musicians. The Memoirs of the Lutheran Liturgical Association contain much valuable information concerning American Lutheran church song; so also the Essays on Church Music, volumes which contain papers read at Lutheran church music conventions held chiefly in Pennsylvania. Other sources of information are: “The English Hymn” by Dr. Louis F. Benson, pages 410-420 and 560-563. “The Lutheran Cyclopedia” by Jacobs and Haas, pages 235-238 and 96-97. “A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States” by Henry Eyster Jacobs, the references to hymn books and hymns. History of the Liturgical Development of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, vol. XVII, page 93, Lutheran Church Review. The Common Service Book and Hymnal, vol. XXXVII, page 289, Lutheran Church Review.

CONCLUSION

How old is Lutheran church song? Four hundred years—the historical age of the most vigorous production in the realm of sacred song. We must not forget that one thousand popular evangelical Lutheran church hymns are a selection from perhaps one hundred thousand church hymns. What a great vital power! Is there any reason to believe that this vitality is about to cease? Is Lutheran hymn writing a thing of the past? The power to create is not yet extinct. The hymnody of the Church is steadily conquering new ground. In the Episcopal Church the church hymn has taken on greater and greater significance. Wherever evangelical missionary work is gaining ground, the church hymns find favor. So long as the Lutheran Church lives, Lutheran church song will flourish.

Even from the literary point of view, this Lutheran hymnic vitality ought to be appreciated. Is it not strange that poets whose work will be forgotten after a few decades, are treated at length in our histories of literature, while this body of song, which has stood the test of centuries, scarcely receives mention? Yet our Lutheran church hymn has perhaps very few literary competitors. As a representation of life, does it not fitly take its place beside the many legends that have delighted the children of old India, or Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, or the metrical romances of the Middle Ages, or Dante’s Divine Comedy, or a great Shakespearean drama, or the songs of the Israelites?

But it is not because the Lutheran church hymn is great poetry that it lives. It is because of the life of the Church, the life of souls, the life of the Christian faith, that the church hymn lives. From this it draws its life and becomes an ever fresh source of spiritual life.

Looking at the church hymn from this point of view, looking at the content of the church hymn, the outlook widens and goes far beyond the time of four hundred years.

If the history of our evangelical church hymn has reference more particularly to the historical evolution of the content and the making of the form, then this history embraces several thousand years of the religious development of our race. This holds good also from the literary point of view. It is obvious that our popular Lutheran church hymns contain material from all classical ages revealed by history, from the first literary days of old Israel down to the present time, and this very often in the most intimate fusion.

Take for example one of F. M. Franzen’s greatest hymns, the first stanza of which follows:

How much there is in that stanza! And it is only the first stanza of a truly great Lutheran church hymn. 63 In all this, which may seem quite commonplace, there really is something truly wonderful; an old, old story about the life of faith and its expression in song and worship—an exceedingly beautiful testimony about the fulness of God’s work in the history of spiritual life on earth.

Our hymnological annotations must draw to a close. They may be regarded as observations and reflections during the study of a great subject: Our Lutheran church song. Perhaps they will be of some value to those who have much to do with Lutheran hymn singing as well as to those who teach and instruct our young people in this branch of our ecclesiastical inheritance.

Much must be done before we can really claim that the American Lutheran Church has fully taken over this rich legacy.

A church hymn sung by a Lutheran congregation as it should be sung—that may at first thought seem to be a very simple and insignificant matter. But taken in its historical and religious connections, the matter is far from simple or insignificant. And taken as a problem—it is not easily solved. Its relations to the facts and conditions of spiritual life extend far and wide. Hymnological study gives us an idea of these things. Our Lutheran hymnody is four hundred years old—many of our best Lutheran hymns are four hundred years old—four hundred years, think of it, full of ups and downs, ecclesiastically and politically—four hundred years of sacred song through all kinds of significant life experiences. Four hundred years—turn to mediaeval and modern history.

Looking at the history of the church hymn, we may lay down as a fundamental principle that the church 64 hymn cannot live without connection with the life that has passed through the ages, from the prophets of old, Christ, the Reformation, and down to the present. Only in this connection does the church hymn possess a positive significance or the significance of a life-promoting factor.

The correctness of this principle may be confirmed from actual experience. In the history of languishing and dying church song, we can read about languishing and dying Christian nations—nations in deplorable condition both ecclesiastically and nationally—nations of emigration, non-patriotism, and of little or no sense of duty—nations of imported religious thinking and poorly translated songs.

The question has often been raised: Does the American Lutheran Church really sing? Yes and No—for the most part No. Most of our American Lutheran country congregations do not sing. How about the city churches? A sad affair! In most cases the situation is far from ideal. A church hymn, a Lutheran church hymn, cannot be sung properly by those who forget God, Bible, history, etc., in order to practise a little general culture and enjoy a little tasty personal aesthetics. If a noble Lutheran church hymn is sung, it is usually sung by the choir, perhaps as a concert number, disconnected from its vital connection. And detached from its connection, the noble Lutheran church hymn becomes, like everything else that has vital significance, nothing. That which does not really hang together, becomes patchwork, bandages, finery, rags—we may praise it enthusiastically. Very much like American culture—sorry to say. Uniting, cementing, productive LIFE is lacking.

Many American Lutheran churches do not sing Lutheran church hymns at all. How deplorable! We often attend Lutheran church services where not a single Lutheran church hymn or Lutheran chorale is sung. Here is a serious flaw in American Lutheran education and leadership. How about the hymn singing in our American Lutheran Sunday schools? Would it not be well to sing at least one Lutheran church hymn each Sunday? Or shall we permit Lutheran hymnody to die? Is great Lutheran hymnody a thing of the past?

But what is the most serious thing that our American Lutheran congregational hymn singing lacks? One thing—LIFE. That is our great problem—life in our church song—new life—LIFE. With this go all the difficulties of the problem of life.

Since it is the business of the Church to sing the church hymn, the question becomes very complicated. So many factors must co-operate in this matter, if we are to get anywhere—to sing a Lutheran church hymn as it should be sung. Our American Lutheran colleges and theological seminaries will have to undertake more serious educational work in the important field of hymnology and church music. A strong summer school of Lutheran church music, liturgics and hymnology would be very valuable.

Take the familiar situation: The great festival hymn of the Reformation is sung. We have before us altar, pulpit, pipe organ; we have before us minister, organist, choir, congregation. The ideal of the problem is a harmonious co-operation between all if we are to have VITAL worship and VITAL song.

The good pastor of a large Lutheran church in Connecticut thanked his organist and choirmaster in a 66 very hearty way after a fine Sunday morning service. The good organist and choirmaster answered: “Well, who cannot play and sing when the pastor preaches such soul-stirring sermons and conducts the liturgy so beautifully?” And the good pastor replied: “Well, who cannot preach and conduct the liturgy when the organist and choirmaster does such excellent work?” That is real co-operation—they helped each other in a beautiful way. They co-operated in the selection of hymns and choir music—every Tuesday or Wednesday evening that pastor and organist were together in conference concerning the song of the church. That is work very much worth while for the Church service.

In our thousands of Lutheran churches throughout the United States of America, the American Lutheran Church is to be built up and built together into ONE great Church, into ONE people that really sings—a people of God.

But when here devoutly soareth

High the temple-anthem sweet,

Grief grows calm, no plaint outpoureth—

Hearts with holy rapture beat:

Free from earthly clouds the soul

Presses toward a higher goal,

Takes from hope the comfort given,

Speaks e’en now the tongue of heaven.

O my soul, thy wing ascending,

Yet on Salem’s mount shall rest;

There where cherub-harps are blending

With the singing of the blest;

Let thy note of praise and prayer

To thy God precede thee there,

While e’en yet a care-worn mortal,

Still without thy Father’s portal.

Let us, Christians, here that wander,

As our fathers in their day,

Piously together ponder,

Gladly sing and meekly pray;

Be the children’s voices raised

To the God their fathers praised.

Let Thy bounty failing never

Be on us and all forever.

(From J. O. Wallin)

ADDENDA
REFORMED CHURCH SONG

The founders of the so-called Reformed Church, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, sought to restore apostolic simplicity in the matter of public worship. All images and ornaments were removed from the Reformed churches. The altars were changed to plain tables. Musical instruments were not allowed in the churches. Zwingli made the sermon the chief part of the church service. The Latin chants and songs were abolished, and their places were seldom filled with congregational singing in the vernacular. With regard to church service, Calvin had on the whole the same views as Zwingli. He introduced, however, congregational singing, using translated and versified portions of the Psalms of David.

Thus the Reformed Church turned to Biblical Psalmody. Early versifiers of Davidic Psalms were Clement Marot (1495-1544), Theodore Beza (1519-1605), and Ambrosius Lobwasser (1515-1585). Joachim Neander (1650-1680), Gerhard Tersteegen (1697-1769), and Lavater (died 1801) are important Reformed hymnists. The Genevan Psalter, by Marot and Beza, a successful and influential hymnological work, appeared about the middle of the sixteenth century. Ambrosius Lobwasser produced a German edition of the Genevan Psalter in 1573, which became very popular and exerted considerable influence. English Psalmody presents such important names as Miles Coverdale (1487-1569), George 70 Buchanan (1506-1582), Thomas Sternhold (sixteenth century), John Hopkins, Nahum Tate, Nicholas Brady, and Isaac Watts. In Scotch Psalmody the Royal Psalter and the celebrated Rous’ Version are significant hymnological works. The Bay Psalmist or the New England Version was America’s first hymn book. For further study of Reformed church song we recommend “The Hymn as Literature,” by J. B. Reeves, also Benson’s “The English Hymn.”

A LIST OF HYMN WRITERS
(Mainly Lutheran)

Arrhenius, Rev. Jacob, Upsala University professor, b. 1642, d. 1725, great Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Bengel, J. A., consistorial counselor in Stuttgart, Bible Theologian, b. 1687, d. 1752.

Beza, Theodore, b. 1519, Burgundy, professor at Lausanne, preacher at Geneva, French Switzerland, d. 1605.

Borthwick, Miss Jane Laurie, b. 1813, d. 1897, important English translator of German hymns.

Brorson, Hans Adolf, bishop in Danish Church, b. 1694, d. 1764, important Danish hymnist.

Canitz, Friedrich Rudolph Ludwig, Freiherr von, b. 1654, d. 1699, German Lutheran.

Cassel, Karl Gustaf, state official, b. 1783, d. 1866, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens), b. cir. 170, d. cir. 220, Greek hymnist.

Cox, Miss Frances Elizabeth, b. 1812, d. 1897, English translator of German hymns.

Dachstein, Wolfgang, organist at St. Thomas Church, Strassburg, left monastic life 1524, German Lutheran hymnist.

Dilluer, J., dean in Swedish Church, b. 1785, d. 1862, important Swedish Lutheran hymnologist.

Findlater, Mrs. Sarah (Borthwick), b. 1823, d. 1907, English translator of German hymns.

Franzen, Frans Michael, bishop, b. 1772, d. 1847, great Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Gardie, Magnus Gabriel de la, chancellor, count, etc., b. 1622, d. 1688, Swedish hymnist.

Geijer, Erik Gustaf, Upsala University professor, great Swedish poet, historian, b. 1783, d. 1847, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Gerdes (Gerdessen), Johann, pastor of German Church, Stockholm, Sweden, b. 1624, d. 1673.

Gesenius, Rev. Dr. Justus, court chaplain, court preacher, b. 1601, d. 1673, German Lutheran hymnist.

Gripenhjelm, Edmund, Upsala University professor, senator, etc., b. 1622, d. 1675, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Gustavus Adolphus, one of Sweden’s greatest kings, great conquering hero of oppressed Protestantism, b. 1594, fell in the battle of Lützen, November 6, 1632.

Gyllenborg, Gustaf Fredrik, count, Secretary of State, great Swedish poet, b. 1731, d. 1808.

Hauge, A., dean in Norwegian Church, b. 1815, d. 1892, important Norwegian hymnist and hymnologist.

Hedborn, Samuel J., court chaplain, pastor, great Swedish poet, b. 1783, d. 1849, great Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Hermann, Nicolaus, schoolmaster, cantor and organist, d. 1561, important German-Bohemian hymnist.

Hoppe, Miss Anna, of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin, American Lutheran hymnist.

Huss, Johann, b. 1369 at Hussinecz, Bohemia, precursor of the Reformation, follower of John Wycliffe, pastor in Prague, rector of University of Prague, excommunicated by the Pope as an arch-heretic, burned at the stake during the Catholic Church Council at Constance, July, 1415.

Ingemann, Bernhardt Severin, poet, professor, b. 1789, d. 1862, great Danish Lutheran hymnist.

Jacobs, Henry Eyster, D.D., LL.D., S.T.D., b. 1844, Pennsylvania, dean Philadelphia Theological Seminary, Lutheran Theologian and Author.

Kock, Karl Anton, lawyer and government official, b. 1788, d. 1843, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Kolmodin, Israel, professor of theology, Upsala University, b. 1643, d. 1709, great Swedish hymnist.

Lagerlöf, Peter, Upsala University professor, historian, scientist, poet, b. 1648, d. 1699, Swedish hymnist.

Laurenti, Laurentius, b. 1660, Schleswig, d. 1722, Cantor, Director of Music, Roman Catholic Church, Bremen, Lutheran.

Laurinus, Laurentius Laurentii, rector, pastor, b. 1573, d. 1655, Swedish hymnist.

Lindschöld, Erik, government official, b. 1634, d. 1690, important Swedish hymnist.

Lohman, Karl Johan, pastor, Doctor of Theology, b. 1694, d. 1759, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Loy, Rev. Dr. Mathias, President of Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, b. 1828, Pennsylvania, d. 1915, American Lutheran hymnist.

Marot, Clement, first Reformed versifier of Davidic Psalms, Geneva, French Switzerland, b. about 1495, d. about 1544.

Massie, Richard, pastor, b. 1800, d. 1887, Anglican, important English translator of German hymns.

Melanchthon, Philip, Wittenberg University professor, Praeceptor Germaniae, Luther’s important assistant, b. 1497, d. 1560.

Meuslin, Rev. Wolfgang, theological professor, b. 1497, d. 1563, German hymnist.

Meyfart, Rev. Johann Matthaeus, Erfurt University professor, b. 1590, d. 1642, German Lutheran hymnist.

Mortensön Töndebinder, Claus, pastor, b. about 1500, d. about 1577, important early Danish Lutheran hymnist.

Muraeus, Rev. Stefan Larsson, court chaplain, b. about 1600, d. 1675, Swedish hymnist.

Neander, Joachim, b. 1650, d. 1680, important German Reformed pietistic hymnist.

Neale, Rev. Dr. John Mason, hymnologist and liturgiologist, b. 1818, d. 1866, important English translator of Greek and Latin hymns.

Neumeister, Rev. Erdmann, court preacher, etc., b. 1671, d. 1756, German Lutheran hymnist.

Notker Balbulus, Benedictine monk, warden at St. Gall, d. 912, important writer of Sequences.

Nyström, Per Olof, government official, b. 1764, d. 1830, Swedish Lutheran Hymnist.

Olearius, Rev. Dr. Johann, general superintendent Halle and Weissenfels, b. 1611, d. 1684, German Lutheran hymnist.

Petri, Laurentius, b. 1499, d. 1573, Upsala University professor and rector, first Lutheran archbishop of Sweden, pupil and follower of Dr. Martin Luther, editor of one of earliest Swedish Lutheran hymn books, important Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Petri, Olaus, b. 1493, d. 1552, pastor, great champion of Lutheranism in Sweden, pupil and follower of Dr. Martin Luther, editor of first Swedish Lutheran hymn book, important Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Prudentius, Aurelius Clemens, bishop, b. 348, d. 413, great early Latin hymnist.

Rambach, Rev. Dr. Johann Jakob, professor of theology, b. 1693, d. 1735, German Lutheran hymnist.

Ramsey, Rev. Dr. Alfred, b. 1860, Pennsylvania, professor, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Chicago.

Reed, Rev. Dr. Luther D., b. 1873, Pennsylvania, professor, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

Rudbeck, Olof, Upsala University professor, b. 1660, d. 1740, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Rudbeckius, Rev. Petrus Johannes, Upsala University professor, b. 1578, d. 1629, Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Schaeffer, Rev. Dr. Charles William, b. 1813, d. 1898, professor Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

Scheffler (Angelus Silesius), Johann, physician, Lutheran, later Franciscan, b. 1624, d. 1677, German hymnist.

Selnecker, Rev. Dr. Nikolaus, superintendent, b. 1530, d. 1592, early German Lutheran hymnist.

Spegel, Haquin, court chaplain, archbishop, poet, b. 1645, d. 1714, important Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

Spengler, Lazarus, close friend of Luther, b. 1479, d. 1534, German Lutheran hymnist.

Spitta, Rev. Karl Johann Philipp, b. 1801, d. 1859, important German Lutheran hymnist.

Swedberg, Jesper, bishop, b. 1653, d. 1735, father of Emanuel Swedenborg, great Swedish hymnist.

Synesius of Cyrene, bishop of Ptolemais, b. cir. 395, d. 430, early Greek hymnist.

Thomander, Johan Henrik, bishop, b. 1798, d. 1865, important Swedish Lutheran hymnologist.

Thomas Aquinas, confessor and the Angelical Doctor, Dominican, b. cir. 1225, d. 1274, Latin hymnist.

Topelius, Z., great Finnish scholar, b. 1818, d. 1898, important Finnish Lutheran hymnist.

Wallin, Rev. Dr. Johan Olof, archbishop, b. 1779, d. 1839, greatest Swedish Lutheran hymnist and hymnologist.

Walther, Johann, choirmaster and cantor, Torgau, Luther’s musical assistant, b. 1496, d. 1570, German Lutheran hymnist.

Weisse, Rev. Michael, monk, later Bohemian Brethren’s Unity, b. cir. 1480, d. 1534.

Wieselgren, Per, cathedral dean, Gothenburg, b. 1800, d. 1877, important Swedish Lutheran hymnist and hymnologist.

Winkworth, Miss Catherine, b. 1829, d. 1878, great English translator of German hymns.

Ödmann, Samuel, pastor, professor of theology, author, b. 1750, d. 1829, great Swedish Lutheran hymnist.

FOOTNOTES

Transcriber’s Notes

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hymnological Studies

Hymnological Studies

PREFACE

CONTENTS

SECTION I
THE HYMNODY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER

THE POETICAL QUALITY

SECTION II
THE LUTHERAN HYMN BOOK OR THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE HYMNS IN THE HYMNAL

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH HYMNS

SECTION III
EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMNODY
To About 600 A. D.

EARLY GREEK HYMNS

EARLY LATIN HYMNS

SECTION IV
MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIAN HYMNODY
A. D. 600-1520

MEDIAEVAL LATIN HYMNS

MEDIAEVAL GERMAN HYMNS

MEDIAEVAL SCANDINAVIAN HYMNODY

THE SEQUENCES

ST. GALL

SECTION V
LUTHERAN HYMNOLOGY
1520—

MARTIN LUTHER

GERMAN HYMNODY

SCANDINAVIAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY

AMERICAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY

CONCLUSION

ADDENDA
REFORMED CHURCH SONG

A LIST OF HYMN WRITERS
(Mainly Lutheran)

FOOTNOTES

Transcriber’s Notes

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hymnological Studies

Hymnological Studies

PREFACE

CONTENTS

SECTION I THE HYMNODY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER

THE POETICAL QUALITY

SECTION II THE LUTHERAN HYMN BOOK OR THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE HYMNS IN THE HYMNAL

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH HYMNS

SECTION III EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMNODY To About 600 A. D.

EARLY GREEK HYMNS

EARLY LATIN HYMNS

SECTION IV MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIAN HYMNODY A. D. 600-1520

MEDIAEVAL LATIN HYMNS

MEDIAEVAL GERMAN HYMNS

MEDIAEVAL SCANDINAVIAN HYMNODY

THE SEQUENCES

ST. GALL

SECTION V LUTHERAN HYMNOLOGY 1520—

MARTIN LUTHER

GERMAN HYMNODY

SCANDINAVIAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY

AMERICAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY

CONCLUSION

ADDENDA REFORMED CHURCH SONG

A LIST OF HYMN WRITERS (Mainly Lutheran)

FOOTNOTES

Transcriber’s Notes

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

SECTION I
THE HYMNODY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH

SECTION II
THE LUTHERAN HYMN BOOK OR THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE HYMNS IN THE HYMNAL

SECTION III
EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMNODY
To About 600 A. D.

SECTION IV
MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIAN HYMNODY
A. D. 600-1520

SECTION V
LUTHERAN HYMNOLOGY
1520—

ADDENDA
REFORMED CHURCH SONG

A LIST OF HYMN WRITERS
(Mainly Lutheran)