THE MOODY AND SANKEY HYMNS AND TUNES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MOODY AND SANKEY HYMNS AND TUNES.

The last number of the Christian Union has two articles on the subject of the Moody and Sankey hymnology. Frank R. Shipman, now a student of theology, writes rather in the defence of the music; it has at least laid a broader basis for the congregational hymn tune. He does not fancy the old four-line hymn. He says :—" It hardly gets going before it stops. Needless to add, the organist then comes in and tooral-loorals and tra-la-las till we are again permitted a small portion of divine praise, and we lay down our harps of a thousands strings convinced that they are not only heavy, but somehow also a destroyer of the spirit of worship." On the other hand, the Rev. Dr. Parker writes a strong paper against them on the ground that there isn't enough in them ; tney are intellectually weak and are not poetic. That is, the most of them, but he goes on to add :—" Finally, lest any man may think that the writer condemns Moody and Sankey hymns and tunes only, he would respectfully, but explicitly, add that the same criticisms herein made would be quite as applicable to a great number of hymns and tunes in our standardhymnaries. These books are padded with utter trash and rubbish." I