Sunday Reading.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 109, 22 April 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sunday Reading.

THE CHURCHES.

TOPLADY’S HYMNS.

rXPVBLISHED LETTERS AND POEMS.

Manv hitherto unpublished hymns and letters of Augustus M. Top adj (•iiithor of “ Rock of Agcs_) will Vo published in the new life of the poet which is being prepared by Mr. Wright (states a writer in the Daily K Mr.’ Wright believes that sorno ot Toplady’s best - compositions have jet to see the light. Opining a large saf< in the course of ,tn interview which I had with l>’ n L b- omdit out a pile of decoloured man> s/rints in Topladv s handwriting. •‘Here ’ said Mr- Wright, “are notes of set mons, letters summaries of pamphlets, and hymns many of which haxc novtr been ptibiLshcd. ’ , Viifokling one of the MSS.. he pointed <mt that >1 was a record of a conversation between Toplady and Thomas Olivers, tim autbi.r ot the hymn ’ The God of Abraham Praise.” Hie subject of the convcrsjition, which took place ]sf> years ago, was the same which Air. R. Blati hford attempted to revive three vears ago—viz... detc’munition ajid free will. Topladv was a Calvinist ana Olivers an Arminian. In tho course of lJje conversation. Toplady makes tit’s of the following words, which I was rnrmittid to copy. S|>eaking to Olivers, lie says: "A ou ate honest and consistent, but I cannot call you orthodox. You suppose in.’n to poiwess a degree of independence and self-command which not an angel in heavon can dare to jay claim io. Absolute indep-ndencc—self-determination —is an attribute only, and properly divine. If I thought you I>rsscsseil of it. I should immediately lull down and worship yon as God.” Mr. Wright pointed out a circumstance which is not generally known to hymnologists. that three of Cowper’s Lost knon n hymns—"O for a closer walk with God.” "Gcd moves in a mysterious iviy,” .tnd “There is a fountain filled with bleed”—were published in a eoiketion of hymns issued by Toplady tl.no years before the celebrated Olney Hvmns acre is-ued.

“Was Toplady ever in love?” is one of the questions discussed by Mr. Wright in his new b.x k. As T.iplady lived and d’ed a bar helor, and severely crit’cised John Wesley’s love affairs, it will l>e interesting to read what Mr. Wright has to say on the subject. CANADIAN CHCRCH UNION. The Rev. Dr. Griffiths Thomas, now of Toronto, Canada, writes in the London "Record” :—“Your columns do not eeem to have contained sufficient account of tho far-rcaching action taken by our brethren of the Prut-slant Episcopal Church in the United States at their ne.'iit convention at Cincinnati. For many years now a. proposal has b en brought forward to change the name of the Church, the word •prot.slant’ in the title being the objectionable feature. This year a. compromise, was propos. d whereby some agreed t > the i< mcval of th© word T’rotr slant' if others would not urge the adoption of the word •Catholic.’ The name of the (.hutch would then bo ‘The Episcopal Church.’ The bishops and the clergy assented, but the laity, by a majority of one. nfused. It would seem from this that the chanpo is likely to bo made ’.it suns future convention, though ’u uid bo curious if 'Th© Epis(ipnl Church’ liecr-nv-s the title, ocean- e quite apart fn.m th© Methodist Episcopal Church, there are Roman and Greek Epi-scapaiians in America, aiid t!:o claim ■to lie ’The Episcopal CliiiTch’ will hardly ba allowed without v.-iy definite protest. A leading Epifilopahan clergyman. Di. George Hod-, g.s, has •-aid that 'as b ug as the effort to <han_e the title is interpreted to mean that the- sympathies cf the Church are with the Roman and Greek Churches rather than with Congregational and I’resby tfrian Piotc.stanti’, iho old adjective will b-i’ maintained; but that when the spirit of the Church is unmistakable, and her kinship with her English-speak.ng neighbours is no king r a niatU r of debate, then the name mil be of no importance. ’’

JOTTINGS. Canon llcn-ley Henson. cf Westminster. in a letter to -‘The Times.’'on the Revised lersion of the Bible, says: —" Since my ..wn oidination 23 years ago 1 imv.' never used in public ministry any version save the Rcvi-eu; and nevrr have J had the .slightest reason for doubting that tlio congrega-te-ns have approved its use and been greatly assisted thereby to understand the lc s ns I am much more confident now than then as to the wisdom of replacing on the lecterns of the* parish church's the Authorised Version by the Revi-v d. Monover, 1 know a goon !• any ;n< imibento who have taken this cour-e. ami who have arrived at tho same :; >ncliision. Not a single' instance is km>v a to me in which the Revised V: r-'on has bten abandoned after having lu 'ti adopted. Experience may be trusted to d- immstrate its superiority.” I ii“ Oxfoid University J’res.s will ie.lebr.it ? the T'erventc naiy of the Auth ii d Version of the Holy Bible by issuing shortly a photographic rcpiodiictam < I the Black Ixilter etlition of d’ll. ihe -iz< of the reprint will be 11J inches by 84 inches. Mr. Alfred \\. Pollard has written a bibliographical :ntr< dti'-tion of upwards of -50 pages, >n which ho dost rilies, first, the earlier English translations. 1380-1,582 (the nvcliffo Tyndale’s Now Testanmnt. Coverdale's Bible. Matthew’s Bible, the (.rent Bibles, the Geneva Bible, the Bishops' Bible, tho Rheims New Testament); oocendlv. the Bible of bill itself, giving a l ; st of the revi-ers and the rules by which thev were '•■'iind : and. thirdly, the later' hi.st ry <>f this B ble. The volume will contain ‘ rhe Translators to tlie Reader.” various illustrative document's, and. of course, the Apocrypha. Mr. Henry Frowde also announces a cheaper reprint >n Roman type, page for page of tiie edit io prineeps, similar to that publish d by the Oxford Uliivrr.sitv Press in 1833. the extraordinary ac'-iiracv of whi h. Mr. Pollard savs. has bcr eveiyu here a. knowledged. Tins velum ’ wdl be 8 inchc.s by .54 inches, and villain contain Mr. Pollards intro duction.