UNSUITABLE HYMNS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 5 November 1907, Page 4

UNSUITABLE HYMNS.

According to the Daily Express, au effort is being made to sec;ire another revision of the Church of England hymns. Those for Sunday school children are specially singled out for attack. The Dean of Bristol says that great reform is needed both in words and mu»ic. that there are very few hymns suitable for children, and that many of the words in the hymns arc an insult to educated people. He in-

stances (lie words, ''we are but worms," as an example of the rubbish to be- found in "Hymns Ancient and Modern," man being-, in his opinion, something more than a worm. At tiie congregational services at the Cathedral the Dean never usee the hymns in the appendix, but sometimes includes good English poetry set to music. A well known hymnologist makes even stronger remarks Opening the book at random, he read a couple of verses from No. 190—"For u Bishop":— "So trusting in Thy might, We won a fair renown, So waxing valiant in the fight, He trod tho lion down." He objects to the metaphor as absurd, and to the whole verse as the veriest doggerel. Of two verses of a children's hymn he rightly remarked that would be relegated to the wastepaper basket "There's a wicked spirit Watching round you still, And he tries to tempt you To all harm and ill. But ye must not lieor him, Though 'tis hard for you To Tesist tho evil, And the good to do." He would banish that much-criticised hymn, "0 Paradise, 0 Paradise," which, when sung by children, means that the youngsters are tired of life. A similar pessimism is to be found in cne of the Methodist hymns for children:— "There is a land of love, God's children know it well; A holy place above, Where saints and angels dwell. Little children, come, Come at God's command; Find a sweoter, dearer homo In yonder happy land." How can healthy children bo expectei to sing this surt of thing with sincerity?