TONES IN THE CHURCH. “ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS' NAME.” EDWARD PERRONET, the author of the most inspiring and triumphant hymn in the English language, is a benefactor whose history is but little known. He was a man of great humility of character, but was sustained amid many vicissitudes of life by an all-victorious faith. He was the son of Rev. Vincent Perronet, an excellent English clergyman of the old school, who was vicar of Shoreham for fifty years. He left the established church in early life, and became a Methodist. He was a bosom friend of Rev. Charles Wesley, in whose diary mention of him may be found, beginning about the year 1750. He was one of the preachers appointed under the patronage of the Countess of Huntingdon, and, adding an ardent zeal to a humble and sympathetic nature, his labors in the ministry were for a time attended with marked success. But Perronet was at heart an opponent of the union of church and state, and at last produced an anonymous poem entitled the "Mitre," a keen. satire on the national establishment. This hostility brought him under the displeasure of the countess. He severed his connection with her society, and became the pastor of a small congregation of Dissenters, to whom he preached till his death, which took place in January, 1792. His death was triumphant, and is an evidence of the sincerity of the piety which inspired his rapturous hymn. Ilis majestic faith seemed to lift his soul above the world, and to antedate that coronation day when the cherubic hosts and the redeemed shall "Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all!" His dying testimony was: "Glory to God in the height of his divinity! Unto his hands I commend my spirit." The following is the original version of Perronet's Jubilant hymn, which has become one of the grandest as well as the most familiar tones of the church: ALL hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall; To crown him Lord of all. Crown him, ye martyrs of your God, Extol the Stem of Jesse's rod, Hail him, ye heirs of David's line, Ye seed of Israel's chosen race, Ye ransomed of the fall, Hail him who saves you by his grace, Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget Go, spread your trophies at his feet, Let every tribe and every tongue "A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD." S. T. COLERIDGE says that Martin Luther did as much for the Reformation by his hymns, as by his translation of the Bible. The hymns of Luther were indeed the battle-cry and trumpet-call of the Reformation: "The children learned them in the cottage, and martyrs sung them on the scaffold." The hymn beginning "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," is the grandest of Luther's hymns, and is in harmony with sublime historical periods, from its very nature, boldness, and sublimity. It was written, according to Welles, in the memorable year when the evangelical princes delivered their protest at the Diet of Spires, from which the word and the meaning of the word "Protestant" is derived. "Luther used often to sing it in 1530, while the Diet of Augsburg was sitting. It soon became the favorite psalm with the people. It was one of the watchwords of the Reformation, cheering armies to conflict, and sustaining believers in the hours of fiery trial. "After Luther's death, when his affectionate coadjutor Melancthon was at Weimar with his banished friends Jonas and Creuziger, he heard a little maid singing this psalm in the street, and said, 'Sing on, my little girl, you little know whom you comfort.' The first line of this hymn is inscribed on Luther's tomb at Wittenburg.” A MIGHTY fortress is our God, Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Did we in our own strength confide, The man of God's own choosing. His name Lord Sabaoth, Our God and Saviour both, He shall our souls deliver. And though this world, with devils filled, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. |