Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

A few more years shall roll
O'er these dark hills of time.

From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat.

As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase.

Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might, Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight.

His are the thousand sparkling rills
That from a thousand fountains burst,
And fill with music all the hills,

And yet, he said, "I thirst."

Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings.

Hell's foundations tremble
At the shout of praise.

O, beautiful for patriot's dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears.

These scattered lines from the hymn-book indicate how this type of lyric, though it uses few and simple,

words and the simplest form of verse, and though it may appear excessively plain, can convey large ideas and stir deep emotions. And Poetry is to the discerning mind none the less gracious when, meetly clad, she moves as a ministering spirit among all sorts and conditions of men, bearing consolation and courage and amplitude of spirit, inspiring charity and rightness of life and faith in eternal Providence.

CHAPTER II

HYMNS ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL

HE congregational singing of hymns came into

THE

the Christian church by unbroken tradition from the old Hebrew worship. Both the hymns and the manner of singing them were continued, clearly, by the primitive Christians without any sense of change. The compilation of the old Hebrew book of religious lyrical poems, it seems, was begun for the Temple by that marvelous figure, David, who stands a towering figure as musician, statesman, warrior, athlete, economist, king, deep sinner, great man of God, and world's greatest hymnist; and it not only continued to be the hymn-book of the primitive church but is to-day still unaltered-except as translations necessarily alter poetry-a treasury of hymnody for general Christendom. The various branches of the church have various hymnals, official and unofficial, but the Book of Psalms is the book of lyrics that all agree upon and use. There is no good book of worship of any kind used by any section of Christianity in which the Psalms do not hold an important place. It is perhaps not going too far to name this old book of hymns as the most often quoted and generally the most familiar single book in the possession of Occidental civilization. It is not

strange, therefore, considering the place it holds today and considering the peculiar intimacy of the early Christians with it, that they quite naturally retained it as their own. One may not read the records far and fail to perceive indications of its continuous presence in the thought and affection of these people; that is, if one is at all familiar with the spirit and poetical manner of the Psalms. How near this book of poetry is to the heart of Christianity is indicated by its intimate connection with the life of Christ himself, from the story of the Annunciation on. His last words from the cross are quotations from the hymns of his people, Psalms 32:1 and 31:5. The writers of the gospel and the epistles, concise and swift-moving as their style generally is, find time and occasion, according to a careful study made by Professor Crawford H. Toy, of Harvard, in his "Quotations in the New Testament," for 137 quotations from the Psalms. That the writers of the New Testament in their stupendous earnestness quote verses of lyrical poetry to so large an extent has its significance. It shows surely that this poetry was not only deeply based in the common popular affection but it stood in a place of highest intellectual power and literary dignity. The early Christians continued to sing, as their forefathers had done, from their most familiar and best beloved book.

But while this was the main source of its hymns, the church did not confine itself, even from the very early days, entirely to the Psalms. In the Book of Luke, Chapters I and II, are recorded four new

hymns; the song of Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, beginning, "Blessed art thou among women"; the song of the Virgin Mary, "My soul doth magnify the Lord"; the song of Zacharias, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel"; and the song of Simeon, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." It is not certain when these particular new songs were first sung in primitive places of worship.

The office of hymn singing in the early Christian church was much the same as it is found over the world to-day, especially among what are known as the more liberal branches of the church. This is evident from the descriptions we have of the singing of the time; few and concise descriptions they are, but quite clear. The first account of the singing of a hymn by an assemblage of Christians is given by both Matthew and Mark in identical words. The story is told with characteristic brevity and impressiveness. "And when they had sung an hymn [kai vuváσavтes] they went out into the Mount of Olives."

It was at a meeting which took place in a large upper room, the guest-chamber of a house in Jerusalem. There were thirteen persons present, Christ and his twelve disciples. They had supper together, the last, a final solemn conference or communion. Church historians believe they can say with certainty that the hymn sung here was a part of the "Hallel," beginning with the ninety-fifth Psalm, "O come let us sing," and closing with the one hundred and eighteenth, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for