While I lived without the Lord, Empty hopes and groundless fear Made the sport of every wind. 'Now I see, whate'er betide, 'When a sense of sin and thrall "Cast," he said, " on me thy care; Quand je vivais sans le Seigneur, 'Maintenant, O Jésus! je vois 'Depuis le jour où tu m'as pris, "Repose-toi donc sur mes soins," Sans raisonner prends confiance: 'Seigneur, je veux abandonner 'Mais si tu vois mon lâche cœur There is a fountain filled with blood,' two different versions will be found in the Chants Chrétiens, and the Choix de Cantiques; but neither of them is very happy. No names of authors are given in this collection, and we are unable to distinguish those which are new. The Editors state, that, in publishing this new collection, they have thought it desirable to preserve those versions of the Psalms which have been most happily executed, and such ancient hymns as have acquired the greatest popularity. Of the modern hymns, a certain number have already appeared, and are here reprinted with the consent of their authors or of the editors of the publications in which they were originally inserted. We might,' it is added, have drawn more largely from the "Chants de Sion" of M. Malan; but we have been unwilling to avail ourselves otherwise than sparingly of the express permission which the Author so readily granted. That work, which on so many grounds recommends itself to Christians, appeared to us to form a whole of itself; and we have therefore confined ourselves to borrowing from it a very small number. The hymns entirely new in this Collection are very numerous. We are indebted for them to friends who agree with us in appreciating the great advantages of uniting in a work of this kind, the experiences of many Christians. For, if such a collection ought to be the echo of the Word of God, it is desirable also, that it should be the echo of the Church; that is to say, that it should repeat the word of God as it has been felt, through successive ages, by different Christians; that it should, so to speak, reproduce their accent. Each hymn appears to us to be a voice raised in the name of the thousands of disciples who have been the most closely allied to the author in character and circumstances; and all these voices united, when millions of other voices shall come to join with them, will form, in some sort, that hymn of the Universal Church, of which some strains were heard by the Apostle John.' This is a beautiful idea; and even now, the true succession and unity of the Church of Christ are displayed in nothing more conspicuously than in the hymns transmitted from age to age, from church to church, from language to language, and in which Christians of different communions are found maintaining, in spite of their various modes, a uniformity of letter, as well as of spirit in their worship. In the hymnology of the Church, the multitude of those who believe, how divided soever in sect, seem to have all things common. But why obscure this delightful fact by concealing the names of those who have contributed to this common stock? In our own Collections, it is honourable to the better spirit of our age, to see the hymns of Watts and Doddridge, Wesley and Montgomery admitted into the Psalmody of the Episcopal Church, and indiscriminately blended with those of Merrick, Kenn, Heber, and Noel. The suppression of the names, however, is a concession to bigotry, which conceals and weakens the force of the testimony thus borne to the Oneness of the Church. Let it not be said, that, if the hymn be excellent, it matters not who was the writer. The hymns written by departed saints, or which were sung by those who have already crossed the flood,' form one link between the Church militant and the spirits of the just made perfect. Nor is it possible for the most sectarian spirit not to be in some degree softened and con ciliated by finding the universal language of devotion spoken, with scarcely a difference of accent, by members of other communions. The very tunes, too, that have been composed by Luther, or Milton, or some venerated servant of God, or that we know to have been sung by armies of confessors or bands of saintly exiles, to have resounded in the edifices where our fathers worshipped, or to have cheered the solitary hours and dying moments of the pious who have gone before, have a charm beyond that of mere melody. In the present Collection, we find several psalm-tunes by William Franc, bearing the date of 1552; and others by Henry Scheidemann, Neumarck, and Severus Gastorius, of the seventeenth century; also, Luther's well-known hymn, and several ancient German airs. With these are blended more modern compositions by Haydn, Handel, Pleyel, Viotti, Beethoven, Webbe, Borniansky, &c., and several tunes composed expressly for the words; among which are several very sweet compositions by M. Malan and M. Bost. We do not think the airs borrowed from the works of the great composers above mentioned in all cases happily adapted to the words. The dead march in Saul is injudiciously chosen for a version of the ciiid Psalm; a cantique for Easter is set to the music of Luther's awful hymn, Great God, what do I see and hear'; and with an equal disregard of both rhythm and the character of the melody, Handel's touching air, 'He was eyes unto the blind,' is chosen for a hymn of which we give the first verse:— 6 As we are noticing the flaws in this otherwise beautiful selection of melodies, we may as well express our astonishment that a single air only is taken from the works of Mozart, and that one by no means well adapted for psalmody; and that the treasures of Continental Sacred Music should seem to be so little known to the Editors, that the name of Haydn, without any distinction of Christian name, is subjoined to the compositions of Michael and of Joseph. In the event of a new edition, we would strongly recommend to the attention of the Editors, Mr. Latrobe's invaluable selections from the Works of the great foreign Com posers. To return to the Cantiques. Among other estimable men who have contributed to the revival and improvement of French Psalmody, Felix Neff deserves honourable mention. We find in this Collection, a hymn of his, 'Ne te desoles point, Sion!' of which Mr. Montgomery has furnished a translation*. We should have been glad to know whether any others are by the Apostle of the French Alps. Not having M. Malan's " Songs of Zion" at hand, we are unable to detect his contributions; but there is a very pleasing version of Psalm xxxiv., the air for which (No. xcv.) is his composition, and, we presume, the words also. There is a free, but, upon the whole, happy version of a very difficult Psalm, the lxxxviith. In general, the versions are feeble from diffuseness. The reader will be pleased, we think, with the following specimen. Dans mes profonds ennuis, 2. Si ta rigueur extrême 3. En Dieu je me console Dans mes plus grands malheurs ; Apaise mes douleurs. Mon cœur vers lui regarde 4. Qu' Israël sur Dieu fonde Il nous rachètera : De toutes nos souffrances Il nous delivrera.' There is a free but not very happy version of the xxiiid Psalm, (cant. 152,) and a more literal one in the "Choix de Cantiques." *See Eclectic, July 1833, p. 57. (Vol. X. N.S.) Our readers will be better pleased with the following simple stanzas, which happily imitate the metaphor without adhering to the form of the Psalm. 'Je ne connais pas la disette, Car L'Eternel est mon berger; Tu ne repoussas un agneau. Eternel, avec confiance Je me suis retiré vers toi. Tu ne romps pas ton alliance; The general character of these Cantiques is not so well adapted for congregational singing as for private and domestic worship; and some of them savour a little too much, perhaps, of the mysticism of Madame de Guion. Upon the whole, however, we have been much pleased and interested with this Collection, which seems to indicate a new era, not only in French Psalmody, but in the annals of a Church which has produced in other days its reformers and martyrs. Long has this sister Church of the Reformation lain either prostrate and bleeding under persecution, or dormant through lethargy; but she is now at length apparently awaking to put on strength, to put on her beautiful garments.' 6 Art. II. 1. Reasons for Attachment and Conformity to the Church of England. By the Rev. R. Meek, Rector of Brixton Deverill, Wilts. Second Edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged. 12mo., pp. xxiv. 300. Price 5s. 2. Letters to a Dissenting Minister, of the Congregational Independent Denomination, containing Remarks on the Principles of that Sect, and the Author's Reasons for leaving it, and conforming to the Church of England. By L. S. E. 12mo, pp. 379. London, 1834. 3. The Scriptural Provision for the Maintenance and Propagation of Christianity, stated; and the Lawfulness and Necessity of Exclusive Ecclesiastical Establishments, examined: a Sermon, preached in Zion Chapel, Attercliffe, on Lord's Day, Feb. 23rd, 1834. By the Rev. J. W. H. Pritchard. 8vo. pp. 36. 1834. 4. The Connexion between Church and State unfolded; in an Essay. By G. Barrow Kidd, Minister of Roe-Street Chapel, Macclesfield. 8vo. pp. 32. 1834. |