Illuminations
O for a Thousand Hymns to Sing!
by Anthony Esolen
When I tell people that the Christian churches possess thousands of excellent hymns, most of them neglected or forgotten, they narrow their eyes and seem skeptical. They might question my taste in lyrics, but I tell them I have been teaching poetry for more than thirty years, and what I read and teach spans three millennia and a good dozen languages and cultures.
I won't get into why so few of our contemporaries can write a competent hymn, much less a fine one. The reasons have to do with the obliteration of poetic genres and the absence of poetry from the lived experience of common people.
"But we have culled out a lot of trash," my skeptic will say, nervously. That is a slander on the old hymnals. People may hit upon a dog here or there—usually something we wouldn't sing now because an important word has changed in meaning and would sound ridiculous. Still, if you comb through old hymnals, you are far more likely to find gems you had never seen or heard before.
Take the Hymnal for American Youth (1924), edited by H. Augustine Smith, "Professor of Church Worship, Music, Hymnody, and Pageantry," Boston University. That title of his suggests another world from ours, a world where church worship, music, and hymnody were considered fit objects of study for sharp minds; and that suggests a degree of seriousness and diligence, and a bounty of workers in the field, that we do not now have.
Indeed, Professor Smith intended his hymnal to be educational, to "stir the hymn-singing world"—for there was a hymn-singing world—"to a new appreciation of this wonder book," that is, the hymnal, any hymnal you would find in your church. For the hymnal "ought to be a fascinating volume of history, biography, nature descriptions, ethics and religion." Hence, his Hymnal for American Youth was supplemented by pamphlets, "one on how to tell hymn stories to children, another on how to interpret and lead hymns for mass singing." Because his compilation was for youth, he kept the scores straightforward, and he took care to provide "unusual strength in the sections devoted to the Life and Ministry of Jesus, Purity and Self Control, Conflict and Heroism, Human Service and Brotherhood, Freedom and Justice, Patriotism and Democracy, Peace, World Brotherhood, and Missions."
Nothing effeminate there.
Multiple Shades of Meaning
One of the most powerful entries is a hymn copyrighted by the YMCA and written by William Chatterton Dix (1837–1898), well known for "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus," "What Child Is This," and many others. It is "Come Unto Me, Ye Weary," arranged by L. B. McWhood to an air from Handel's Messiah, "And He shall feed His flock." The combination is stupendous. I urge the reader to find the melody and apply the words to it, words I will give as they appear in this hymnal, with repetitions to fit the score:
"Come unto me, ye weary,
And I will give you rest."
O blessed voice of Jesus,
Which comes to hearts oppressed,
Which comes to hearts oppressed!
It tells of benediction,
Of pardon, grace, and peace,
Of joy that hath no ending,
Of love which cannot cease;
Of joy that hath no ending,
Of love, of love which cannot cease.
Handel's air brings out in lyrical form the shades of feeling with which one might sing the repeated words, for we never do sing them to the same notes—joyful, solemn, meditative, soaring, peaceful.
Anthony Esolen is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Thales College and the author of over 30 books, including Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church (Tan, with a CD), Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture (Regnery), and The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord (Ignatius). He has also translated Dante’s Divine Comedy (Random House) and, with his wife Debra, publishes the web magazine Word and Song (anthonyesolen.substack.com). He is a senior editor of Touchstone.
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