An Essay on Hymnody

IS HERESY MORE HARMFUL WHEN PREACHED OR WHEN SUNG?

'Tis hard to say if greater harm is done
When heresy is preached or when it's sung,
But I will argue that the latter's worse—
More virulent is heresy in verse.
For heresy may do much greater harm
Once melody and rhythm have disarmed
One's judgment, and one's reason has been charmed
(With ease the foe may take the citadel
That's guarded by a sleeping sentinel);
And songs make us partake in heresy
Which makes us guilty of complicity;
And sermons stay not long between the ears
But song words linger in our heads for years
—The music and the metre make them stick.
You disagree? Go ask a heretic—
Ask Arius who spread his lies through song
And like the piper led astray the throng,
Or ask the merchants, those who bait their snares
With music, and with jingles flog their wares.

A CALL FOR FEWER, SHORTER & BETTER SONGS

There is a mighty power in a song
And they can wreak great havoc when they're wrong.
This is the reason why I join with him
Who called for fewer, better, shorter hymns:
For fewer, for we sing too many songs,
Reducing services to sing-a-longs;
For shorter, though for mine it would suffice
Were we to sing each once instead of thrice;
For better, for so much of what we sing
Is far from fit to set before our King:
The music is banal, the words jejune,
—“They're fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate tunes”.
So said a critic once (he was too kind),
But things have changed since then, I think you'll find.
The music's better, but the words are worse;
It seems that the relationship's inverse.
There may be some exceptions, it is true
Where both are good, but these alas! are few.

A CRITIQUE OF CONTEMPORARY HYMNODY:

I. On hymns in the indicative

It's difficult to know where to begin
Our catalogue of folly, crime and sin.
I think it's best if we start with the worst,
So let us start with sin, with the accursed,
Those wicked hymns in the indicative
That make us sing of how we ought to live
As though we do—that is, they make us lie
When they should teach us truths for which to die!
Or make us sing of feelings we don't feel
Thus make the ones we do feel seem unreal;
—They make the false seem true and real seem fake,
And just as bad as these are those that make
Our mouths make promises we cannot keep.
—Such “hymns” make devils smile—and angels weep.
These pretty, pious perjuries we chant
Do nought but school us in religious cant.
What should we do when asked to sing such dross?
Stand silently? Or sing with fingers crossed?
Stand silently, I say, with folded arms
And to yourself recite your fav'rite psalm.

II. On the tailoring of theology to fit the tune

Some tailor their theology to fit
Their tunes and snip off any excess bit,
As if the writer cares more for effect
Than whether the theology's correct.

III. On excessive subjectivity in hymns

Some make themselves the subjects of their song
Instead of Christ, and as we sing along,
They lure us from the Rock of history
Into the mire of subjectivity.
In my opinion, in these so-called “hymns”
There's far too much of us, too little Him

IV. On excessive repetition in songs

Some songs have lines we sing repeatedly
Some songs have lines we sing repeatedly
Some songs have lines we sing repeatedly
Some songs have lines we sing repeatedly ... (repeat x2).
We rightly mock the heathen's mindless chants
And then we sing ourselves into a trance
(If not into a trance, at least a daze)
Through endless repetition of a phrase.
I ask, Is this a Christian way to praise?
Why surely not! For Christians it is wrong
To babble on like pagans in our songs.

V. On clumsily setting Scripture to music

Some take a slab of scripture, roughly hewn
And, having tried to stick it to a tune,
With no regard for metre or for stress,
They tell us it's a song (who would have guessed?).
The music wars against the words and they
Against the tune. I wonder, I must say,
If such as these read poetry at all
(Apart from verse by old McGonagall).

VI. On premature publication

Some serve their songs half-baked—how many times
Have we sung songs whose first verse scans and rhymes,
Whose second sort of rhymes and kind of scans,
And third's in meters measureless to man.
And then, as we proceed from verse to verse,
The quality declines from bad to worse:
The writer, running short of rhyming words,
Has half-rhymes in the second, third-rhymes in the third.
These 'prentices who've yet to learn their craft
And rush to print a promising first draft
Thereby do both themselves and us a wrong:
They rob themselves of praise, us of a song
(The good Lord's gifts to His whole church belong).

VII. On the use of jargon and hebraisms

Some fail to keep their lyrics jargon-free,
Forgetting few of us hold ThDs;
And why is it our poets still persist
In using words known but to Hebraists?
A Hebrew word is understood by Jews
—But aren't they mainly Gentiles in our pews?
If prayer and sacrament are in their tongue
—And what is preached—then why not what is sung?
How many know what “Hallelujah” means?
(By “know” I don't mean they can somehow glean.)
Perhaps some know—to most of us by far
It's simply Christian-speak for “la de da”;
But we should know? The fact is that we don't;
Perhaps we'll guess? It's likely that we won't.
It may be true that some have some idea
—That's not enough! The meaning must be clear!
If not, then though God may be glorified
His congregation won't be edified.
So write in English, make plain what is meant—
Call shovels spades and tabernacles tents.

CRITIQUE OF OUR SERVICE LEADERS

I. On the excessive repetition of songs

Not solely to our psalmists is blame due—
The fault lies with our service leaders, too;
For they're the ones who choose the songs we sing
And some of them commit a grievous sin:
We're forced to sing our fav'rites 'til we hate
What once we loved; the smoothest songs will grate,
The noblest sentiments begin to bore,
When we've sung them ten-thousand times—or more!

II. On the failure to sing old songs

Some service leaders are to fashion slaves
To be up with the latest's all they crave;
They will not choose a single song apart
From those that are atop the worship charts.
The Bible says to sing new songs—that's true
—But show me where it says “and only new”.
While some the psalmist's orders disobey
—That which is old and mouldy's all they'll play
Selecting only those songs that were sung,
—Indeed, were old—when Adam was still young.

CONCERNING PSALMISTS

I. On the rarity of the psalmist's talent

Of old few did the prophet's mantle wear;
Though they were scarce, a psalmist was more rare;
In few men's purses has the Lord combined
The talents of a poet and divine;
He sov'reignly gives diff'rent gifts to each
Yet some will sing, whose talent's but to teach.
And though their heads are sound and hearts are good,
It seems their ears are cloth and tongues are wood.
We cannot fault their sound theology
—Nor can we praise alas! their poetry.

II. On the preparation of a psalmist

I don't deny if God so wills, He might
Make any man a Cædmon overnight.
Though this is true, it generally seems
A poet's made by drafting, not by dreams.
And thus it is most would-be psalmists need
To water and to cultivate the seed
(Of course, the writer and his hearers know
It is not he, but God who makes it grow);
Like prophets, psalmists must fan into flame
The gift of God—the principle's the same.
So let not psalmists preparation scorn
—“For a good poet's made as well as born”,
And those who would be psalmists must immerse
Themselves from childhood in both kinds of verse,
That is, in “Chapter and” and poetry,
In scripture and in song, continu'lly—
The former, that they'll learn the words to speak;
The latter, that they may learn their technique.
Last, he who would write hymns must meditate
Upon God's Word, or, rather, ruminate
On it like animals that chew the cud
Until such time as Bibline is his blood,
Must read and mark and inwardly digest
The golden truths his verses shall express—
Be like the bees translating what he eats
From pollen precious into honey sweet.

Issue 08 Editorial Top 10 Reasons for Going to Church God’s Kingdom, God’s People Consumer Church vs. Corporate Church Church Service Evangelism and Guilt An Essay on Hymnody Denominations Faithful Horticulture At Its Finest Bodily Functions Church: An Optional Extra? Hippocampus Extensions About Issues Ben Karen

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