A FUSS ABOUT A HYMN BOOK . "HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN" REVISED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 4.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 34

A FUSS ABOUT A HYMN BOOK . "HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN" REVISED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 4.

This week's sensation is not the Anglo- • Russian crisis, but — the issue of a new edition of an old hymn book ! No, I am not exaggerating. I am relating the simple truth. But I will explain. ', Yesterday the mysterious and tmidentified " proprietor " of " Hymns Ancient and Modern " brought out a new and revised edition, which is stated to have been in course of preparation for 10 years. Its appearance has been heralded with a free flourish of trumpets, and the event has greatly excited many others than Anglican churclim-en, because many hymns which have undergone "revision" — it would perhaps be rudfe to say "tampering" — are th& property nob oniy of the Church of Eug- ■ land but oi tho entire Christian world. That the revisers have exercised immense zeal is self-evident. Would that they bad remembered' the advice attributed to Tallyrand, "Point de zele ! " For unhappily their zeal has rot been " according nnio knowledge" — or discretion either! i For- " Hymns Ancient and Modern " is i no ordinary hymnal. It has grown up into 1 a part or tue national and- religious life all j over the- English-speaking world, in New j Zealand almost as much as in England, ' while many of its hymns are justly claimed i a« belonging to fill Christianity, and by no j means exclusively to any Church or sect. Any alteration in these is naturally resented, even if such change be in closer conformity to the author's original intention. Take, for example, the famotis Christmas hymn by Charles Wosley, which from time (almost) immemorial has begun, ! Hark! the herald angel 3 sing, i G-lory to the new-born King! , The revisers think they haye discovered I that Wesley himself began it in this flabby , and futile way, I Hark! how all the welkin rings, ! Glory to the King of Kings! i — and so they have adopted this doggre-I. Whether Wesley himeelf or some subsequent reviser made the change to the current versicu, everyone with" a particle of taste w:li agree that in either case "second thoughts are best." I don't fancy we shall j ever hear a New Zealand congregation singj Ing that bosh about ''the welkin'' — at anyrate I hope not. But this is only one instance- out of I many. Of course there are many, very i many, utterly &illy and' trashy and twaddly hymns in the old- edition. But roany of I these are still retained in the new edition, while others, which, despite their silliness or ."unreality, had afr least the merit either of beauty in themselves or else of being •" wedded to fine and elevating music, are ruthlessly, excised. Thus the following attractive and popular hymns, among others, have*' been kicked out:-~ " Angel voices, ever singing." " Brightly gleam 3 our banner." " Christ in highest Heaven, enthroned." " Christ is risen." " Christ the Lord is risen to-day." " Father of all, from land and sea." " Have mercy on us, G-od Most High." " Safe home, safe home in port." Also the following really fine and impressive hymns have been wantonly altered either by excision, addition, or substitution : — "Now the daylight- fills the sky." " At even, ere the sun was set." " Weary of earth, and laden- with my sin." " Now the labourer's task is' o'er." " The radiant mom hath passed away." " Sweet the moments-. " Jesxis Chi ist is risen to-day." " Our Blest' Redeemer." " The day is past and over." " Sweet Saviour, bless us." *" The royal banners forward go." " The strife is o'er." " Lord of our life." " Hail to the Lord's anointed." " Brief life is here our portion." " God moves in. a mysterious way." " Oft in danger." " Days and moments quickly flying." " O Jesu, I have promised." " Jesu, lover of my soul." " Thou arj; coming, O my Saviour." "Lord Jesus, thuik on me." "All things bright and beautiful." " ' Forward'!' ber ous watchword." "Days and moments" sees- an addition of five extra verses, " whose banality." says one reviewer, "it would be hard v to beat! " Some cf- the new hymns are so extraordinary in their wording as to be- utterly unmeaning in their effect when sung. Just ' look at this first 'verse of one: — Almighty Father, unoriginate, Whom no man hatH seen ever, nor can see, Who reignest blessed and- only Potentate. Light unapproachable encircling Thee-; Almighty Father, hallow'd be Thy name, Who ever art unchangeably the same. Or the following- refrain to each verse of another ; — When the earth shall be- fill'd with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea-. How singable ! The new book is not"rea"y "Hymns Ancient and Modern " at all, which it resembles little more, save in a few .details, than does " The Hymnary " or " Church Hymns." It is practically a new hymn book, and not merely the old book" rearranged and brought up to date by the addition of later hymns. This fact is emphasised by the cover. "Hymns Ancient and Modern " had always been issued, like the majority of hymnals,, in a dark cover, and with a distinctive design made up of straight lines. All editions of the new book are covered in bright red, with more- or less of a fancy design, consisting of a sacred monogram within a wreath, together with the lettering, the whole surrounded by a border of vine leaves s and fruit. The new book consists of a total of 642 hymns, being an increase of four on bhe old edition. It comprises 110' new hymnsj 105 of the old hymns are omitted, 62 hymns are so greatly altered that the version in the old book is entirely superseded, 105 hymns are altered to a less extent, 21 hymns have veises added, while 19 have verses omitted. Already some most scathing rev-iews have appeared. One London paper tcr-day says: ' ' There are certain, books in the world the alteration — or editing, as it is commonly called — of whioh is- an impertinent offerers to the whole English-speaking race. No rights of authors or publishers-- no singleor joint decisions of proprietors or committees count for anything in connection witti these works. Consider a book, for instance. liUa Ancient aad Modera,' ©i

whioh a new edition is issued to-day. Here is a volume of words and music to the rhythm of which a generation of men, women, and children have lived and worked, arid suffered and died. The little children have been christened and taught their earliest words of prayer from it ; memories of a million saored days are bound up with it ; it has been a living, breathing part of newly-awakened spiritual life ; it Has soothed thousands of frightened souls when all love has seemed to be lying dead on some friend's deathbed, when, parents have left them alone and helpless, when some small child has gone out trembling to lands whence it can stretch out no hand for a kindly human touch, where not even those loved mortal voices can reach its eternity of weal or woe. Such, work has passed beyond the petty realm of copyright law or its owner's whims. . . . ' Hymns Ancient and Modern ' is on a far higher level, both as a matter of poetry and popularity, than all the others put together ; and the mere fact that the book has so rapidly and completely dominated the English Church should have precluded the possibility of tampering/ with, it, except in reply jQ a prolonged, widespread public demand, and with the consent .of all the authorities of the Church. . . . The well-known American gentleman, who wished that he had- had the management . of the ' Creation ' has a painful number of successors among our modern clergy. There is a vicar of a welL-known London parish who declines to read* the lessons either from "then old or revised editions of his Bible, but reads out a running translation of his own from- the portion of the Scripture appointed for the day, a feat before which even the a-ehievement of the gentleman who wrote- a fourth verse to * Lead, kindly light ' pales into insignificance." And the reviewer concludes: "I close this norice of one of the most objectionable books which has ever come before me. Its authors will be well advised to withdraw it promptly and completely from circulation before their bad taste, and bad poetry, and bad theology become a public ; joke." ; Another London paper says, inter alia: "The utterly silly custom of 'processing' round th& church ro the singing of hymns (an absolutely modern and an absolutely ■ unmeaning piece of ritual) is provided for by the addition of as feeble a piece of nonsense ever called a> hymn — ' Gliding through the shadows.' In the children's hymns the paucity of good hymns is stilt a marked deficiency. A good deal of pure ' gush' has been taken oat, but the compilers are to be blamed for putting' in some equally bad spocimens in place of those that have gone. With regard to excisions, one is glad to note that the ' recessionals ' have come out. ■ The only possible meaning of tho word is that the hymn under this heading should be sung, -walking- backwards, and. sq far as history records, none of .tlie, ritualists -in their wildest dreams, of SaTum. ok any other kind .of ritual ever startled , their- congregations by indulging in these freaks. Among the hymns for saints'; days, one for St. George ■ quite rightly comes in, j>nd the idiotic one for St. Matthew's Day, long; the subject of derision alike by the godly and ungodly, is sacrificed." Even in. the midst of. the Anglo-Russian crisis, this laying o£ iconoclastic hands on such a work as Hymns Ancient and' Modern has not merely called- forth strong condemnation, but has even produced actual excitement. People had beguu to regard Hymns Ancient and Modern as a work of direct inspiration and quite as> sacrosanct as the Prayer Book, if not as the Bible itself. I remember a venerated cle-rgymarj of JNew . Zealand expressing deep indignation because in the early edition of 'the old Hymns . Ancient and Modern tho comic rhyme of ," power" and "cure" in "Rock of Ages" , was amended, so that the line after " Be of sin the double cure " ■ Eead " Cleanse from guilt and make me pure,' Instead of " Cleanse me from its guilt and power. ' In any case, the adoption of the new ver- ■ sion will be a source of severe heart bur n- . ing, as it will render utterly useless all the old books, which could only be used By means of a comwlicated method o£ bookkeeping and " cross entry," as the numbers aTe •all re-arranged. Rude commentators conjecture- that the lucrative demand for the old edition may haye begun to slacken, and that a new attraction thus became a commercial necessity. There never was such a literary gold mine as Hymns Ancient and Modern,, and it is not our. prising -that a ! " new lead " should be eagerly desired. But . from any other view thaa the monetary, the i fresh departure does seem exceedingly ill- ' advised and distinctly- regr&ttable. t