FRANK J. FUNSTON is, by profession, a teacher in Victorian High Schools, and has been stationed for 23 years past at Essendon High School. He is a member of North Essendon church and has served extensively on brotherhood committees, with over 20 years in the Social Service Department. Since 1942, he has written monthly articles on hymns for "The Australian Christian" and, since 1948, has been Secretary of the Federal Hymn Book Committee.

      There is evidence that many in our churches are seeking the path which our selected title suggests--that "towards a better hymnody." Otherwise we would find preachers and presiding brethren ready to adopt without question hymns as from a printed list, whether the message might have been Bible study, a temperance or a missionary message or something else to which the hymns of the printed list were quite irrelevant. It still remains a rarity to find in most of our churches, however, that close welding into an orderly whole of the hymns, prayers, readings, communion talk and address a service.

      At this point, there could perhaps go on record the suggestion that a very useful adjunct to any hymnal is a list of Scripture references.

      The preacher speaking from a particular text or incident of Scripture would save much time and search if he could immediately put his hand on a group of appropriate hymns from which a selection could be made.

      It would be an attractive, but here impracticable, project to chart the whole stream of hymnody. Some little knowledge of it is, in fact, desirable if our hymns are to make the maximum contribution of enrichment to our worship. We could seek the springs from which the stream rises, what are its main tributaries--sombre or sparkling, restful or tumultuous, clouded or clear as they may be, but each bringing its distinctive contribution. We could inspect the shallows, the deeps and the occasional whirlpools along its course. Power plants there are in places, and unfortunately, too, commercial interests are here and there to corrupt what should be a pure stream. Nevertheless, legitimate commerce of prayer, devotion, praise and doctrine are borne along on its waters.

      The present writer is able to draw for one purpose or another on hymnals containing (according to an approximate statistical method of estimation!) at least 12,000 different English hymns. Many hundreds of these he has been able to use, mainly to throw light on individual authors and their hymns. Upon such reserves, it would be necessary for somebody to lay heavy toll if anything worthwhile and developmental were to be attempted respecting the song-life of the church.

      It may well be that a candid statement from one person's point of view of some of the things which should be aimed at in a better hymnody will stimulate others, by way of corroboration, shifted emphasis or even contradiction to lead out to sounder conclusions. In the present effort we will seek solutions from four points of view--and in arranging these will work toward fields to which we have given most thought.

      First in this method of arrangement, then (since the present writer sorrowfully admits that his knowledge of music is just nil), we place

      We need tunes which are not just catchy or temporary; instead, let us seek and use those that are robust and dignified without being stodgy or highbrow or difficult. There is no question about great musicians having contributed to the church's music; a search through the index to composers in various hymnals brought out the names of Haydn, Handel, Bach, Parry, Sullivan, Purcell, Roberton--and the names have been so casually selected that they may be neither representative nor typical.

      Nobody who knows anything of the history of religious revivals from the days of Moody and Sankey down to Billy Graham could possibly query that there is a place for the lighter music of the gospel song with its catchy phrase, its resounding refrain and its sometimes disconnected lines of thought, but it is not on such foundations that a worthy and lasting all-purpose hymnody is built.

      Further, music should not only be good, but also appropriate. Let it not be thought that we underrate either the ability or the desire to serve which is demonstrated by our organists. It is not, however, unknown for organists to be only too well aware of the great extent to which tunes of one metre are interchangeable over a wide number of hymns. A result could be that immediately the letters C.M., S.M., etc., are sighted, the thought of a certain tune and the idea "this'll do" come into mind. The occasion has been known when, absolutely without valid reason, the same tune has been used twice in a service.

      It cannot be said too firmly that while tunes may be to a great extent interchangeable, it is far better to retain the distinctive tune to which words have become wedded than to experiment or improvise with a tune which no more than "fits" (as far as the metre is concerned) but which could be quite inadequate as to either the spirit of the hymn or its historic associations. To illustrate by rather obvious examples the points just made: (i) Should the tunes for "Thou whose almighty word" and the National Anthem, or those for, "For ever with the Lord" and "Crown Him with many crowns," be interchanged freely? or (ii) Who, having once sung "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah" to the tune, "Cwm Rhondda," would willingly go back to one of the dozen other tunes to which it is set in various hymnals?

      It is by no means probable that we have reached for every hymn a "definitive" tune (to replace earlier ones and become "permanent"). We quote three cases in point: The much-loved psalm version, "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want," dates from the Scottish Psalter of 1650, but "Crimond," the tune so beautifully wedded to it, was not written until 1872. Similarly, the English translation (from the Welsh) of "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah" appeared in 1771, but its best-known tune, "Cwm Rhondda," did not appear until 1905. The present writer will not readily forget one strange experience of 1955; in a short car journey, following an expression of interest in hymns, the Methodist minister of a country centre in the Cape Province, South Africa. together with his wife and his Anglican colleague, sang for the Australian visitor, Wesley's "Love divine, all loves excelling"--very familiar as to words, but now to an attractive Afrikaans tune.

      Because to the writer it is another foreign field, we place next after music,

      All hymnody is related to God, if not actually addressed to Him. It must therefore express correct thoughts, concerning Him. Here we might interpolate a distinction which has at times been cut between a hymn and a gospel song. The former was defined by Augustine as "praise of God in song" but this definition needs to be amplified to meet modern conceptions. Either of the following might be nearer the mark: "A form of words appropriate to be sung or chanted in public devotions," or "A metrical composition, divided into stanzas that a congregation can sing by repeating the tune to each one." The gospel song may take a variety of forms; examples demonstrating entreaty, invitation, warning, repentance, consecration, prayer, confidence, challenge, assurance of salvation, hope for the future--all could come readily to the minds of many readers.

      The theology of the creeds has often been a bone of contention, but the theology of hymns may often fulfil a very different function, and be quite constructive in the direction of binding together different groups of Christians. Thus very perfunctory search of an Anglican and a Methodist hymnal could show that, while each had hymns from their own and the other body, both also had large numbers of hymns from Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Quaker and other sources.

      Many of our hymns do a definite service in making the very words of Scripture the songs of the church or in building the church's songs around Scripture. The fact that the whole of the Psalms has been versified by literally hundreds of authors, indicates laudable attempts to transfer the hymnody of the Old Testament to the church of the New Testament. A few outstanding examples of "Scripture hymns" may be quoted here: (1) In the hymn, "I heard the voice of Jesus say," the writer three times over quotes the words of Jesus (as accurately as versification permits) and then links each quotation with his own experiences. (2) The hymn. "How firm a foundation," aims at a very simple demonstration that our faith rests firmly in "His excellent word." Beyond the introductory verse, there is hardly a word that is not directly from Scripture, as the reading of Isaiah 40-46 will quickly verify. (3) Gospel songs like "The gospel bells are ringing," and "The gospel of Thy grace," are rich in Scripture quotations.

      But there are two elements of danger--one inherent in the writer of the hymn, the other in the user. Firstly, because hymn-writing talent it neither confined to one branch of the Christian church, nor indeed flourishes more markedly in one branch than another, there must be a certain amount of "screening" rather than indiscriminate use of hymns. To put no sharper point to it, while it may be quite in order for us to sing:

      it seems highly improbable that Protestant churches would use the lines only five hymns further on in the same hymnal:

      Or, again, the one author may write two hymns--one almost universally admissible, and the other for a limited field only. Thus Frederick William Faber's hymn:

(with a few necessary amendments from the original) is cherished everywhere, but another hymn of his:

would most emphatically be resisted!

      Secondly, it is futile to look for "a full gospel" in every hymn. No hymn need be suspect because its writer is not theologically precisely in step with those who use it. As we have all heard sermons with which we would agree--but only up to a point--so some of our best hymns are pruned of verses theologically unacceptable, and other excellent hymns have very little of theology in them. No sermon, no passage of Scripture, and no hymn contains a full gospel, nor can they be expected to do so. We certainly do not reject from the Church's treasury of song such hymns as "Lead, kindly light," "Dear Lord and Father of mankind," and "Lord of all being, throned afar" because their authors happen to be respectively the Roman Catholic Newman, the Quaker, Whittier, and the Unitarian Holmes.

      Whatever defects our hymns may show we can be assured that many real theologians, saints and Bible scholars, as well as many with real Christian experience and insight, have contributed to our hymnals.

      Then, our hymns should exemplify

      Nobody surely thinks that scholarship and spirituality are either equivalent or inseparable. But if we are to offer to God "gifts most rare," it is by no means too much to include in our offering the gifts of scholarship. It is unfortunate that many of the "gospel songs" written within the last century are of very low literary standard--both hymnody itself and the Churches using such material are thereby done a disservice from some points of view. Part of the blame can just be laid at the door of the "mass-production" methods sometimes employed--one writer ("naming no names") was, for example, over many years under contract to publishing firms to produce three hymns per week. Under such conditions, no writer can attain top standard on any, but rare occasions.

      We forbear to mention some of "the horrors of hymnody"--whole verses which defy analysis either grammatically or as to their spiritual content, and others so utterly muddled or absurd in their figures of speech that it would become difficult to use them once one came to give some clear thought, to the expressions used.

      But there is no need to rely on these poverty-stricken samples--hosts of hymns have lovely lines and memorable phrases which are well within the reach of the humblest worshippers. Over the centuries, several accorded the title of Poet Laureate, have contributed to our hymnals; others who have been just as truly national poets on both sides of the Atlantic, have also made choice offerings. Thus the names of Tennyson, Longfellow, Cowper, Kipling, Lowell, Whittier and Bridges--to select almost at random--appear in a wide variety of modern hymnals.

      There are the hymnists who "show their paces" (to use all appropriate figure!) in a wide variety of metres. Outstanding specialists like John Mason Neale succeed in the "impossibly difficult"

task of rendering into excellent and free-moving English verse some of the extremely complex and difficult metres of the Greek and Latin hymns of the early church. Others, like Faber, boldly attempt metres which must surely be original and have proved a sore trial (or a stirring challenge) to composers setting them to music. As nearly as our calculations go, one metre can be described as 12.11.12.11.5.5.11.5.5.12.-12.12.12; moreover, it seems to be followed accurately through its three verses!

      To attempt to select hymns or authors for special mention for their graceful phrasing or happy turn of expression would be a task fraught with hazards. It was not without meaning, however, to the history of hymnody that, in the early part of last century, Reginald Heber won the University Newdigate Prize for poetry, and John Keble was Professor of Poetry at Oxford. Terms like "consistent grace of literary expression" and "exquisitely delicate, and refined thoughts, expressed in the most delicate and refined language" have certainly not been merited by all of those who (to use a Heber phrase) "follow in their train"!

      Instead, then, of attempting any major general task regarding literary excellences, we will here limit ourselves to two minor manifestations in this field. (1) Those involving structure include progression or development in thought. Of this, whatever we may think of its general tone, there could hardly be a more perfect example than Theodore Monod's hymn, "Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow." The final lines of its four verses, in a perfectly graduated scale, read in order, "All of self and none of Thee," "Some of self and some of Thee," "Less of self and more of Thee," and, finally, "None of self and all of Thee." An interesting variation is parallelism in structure. Few hymns demonstrate this more accurately than when the first line of each verse in a hymn already noted is found to be "I heard the voice of Jesus say"; the next three lines are very close to the exact words of Jesus, and the remaining four a witness of the effect of acceptance of His promises. Other hymns, again, have a certain amount of parallelism and then, in a final verse, present the cumulative effect of earlier ones. Thus we have verses beginning: "Thou art the Way," "Thou art the Truth," "Thou art the Life," and a final verse collecting these into a line, "Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life." In another case, verses close with "Give us Thy joy," "Give us Thy peace," "Give us Thy light" and "Give us Thy grace," the first line of the final verse reading, "Thy joy, Thy peace, Thy light, Thy grace."

      (2) Minor elegances often very effectively used by poets who are "masters of sound" include alliteration and assonance. Whittier's lovely poem, "At last," abound in these--"In the wind from unsunned spaces blown," "Some humble door among Thy many mansions, some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease." Henry van Dyke's "Joyful, joyful we adore Thee" has about sixteen examples such as "God of glory, Lord of love," "Drive the dark of doubt away," "Mortals join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began." F. L. Hosmer is not far behind in "Father, to Thee we look in all our sorrow"; in it, we find "fond hopes fail," "vain cares that vex," "faith singeth still her song."

      All things considered, we can rest assured that real poets have contributed to our hymnals, and that compilers and editors with strong poetic sense have brought together many of the church's compilations.

      Our final main point is that, for best results, we must take notice of

      Too many of us have had our Christian experience in areas where hymnody is limited, and if our sacred song is to be improved, we must ask and give satisfactory answers to a number of questions. Many hymns, because of sheer merit, or because of their deep enshrinement in the church's history or affections are common to all denominations. Are we using these? If the answer is in the negative, we are surely bound to question why we are not. It is lamentably true in the cases of quite a few of the great hymns of the faith that we can give no really satisfactory answer here. Worse still, it is also definitely true that quite a large number of hymns which are by every yardstick (theology, poetry, music) substandard are found in the hymnal of practically no religious body but our own. Again we can give no adequate answer. The retort that "we've always had them and I suppose we always will," is certainly not acceptable.

      Perhaps lines of improvement may be suggested:

      (1) We could surely make better use of our present hymnody.

      Some of our best preachers do not keep a list of hymns used in their services and therefore neither avoid undue repetition of hymns well-liked by themselves or their congregations, nor make any use whatever of equally good hymns just as readily available. Would the consciences of all preachers, choir-leaders, song-leaders, organists and presidents be clear if they were asked what attempts they have made recently to introduce new hymns (or reintroduce forgotten ones) to the congregations they serve?

      Great care must always be taken to cheek and recheck every detail. It is not long since we were in a church (of another religious body!) in a large country centre and heard the minister announce a particular psalm, only to be in formed: "Wrong number." Thereupon he read out the opening lines of Part I of the correct psalm--and the organist began playing the tune for Part II. The most unedifying contest which followed--between those who, obeying their minister even when he was wrong, managed to force the tune to fit (in places) and those who accepted the obvious lead of the organ--continued to at least the fifth verse, by which time the diehards of the former group gave up the struggle, maybe to relapse into a sullen silence. "Brethren, these things ought not to be."

      Let us be under no illusions about the habit of "cutting out verses." Surely those who edit hymnals are not the only ones with the right to exercise this prerogative! Many of our existing hymns are, for many and varied reasons, only fragments of earlier productions. One Bernard of Morlaix, in the twelfth century, wrote a Latin poem of about 3,000 lines. That great translator and hymnologist, John Mason Neale, just over a hundred years ago, put about 450 lines into English verse. From these, how could we possibly use in the Church's praise lines mentioning

      Or, how unwise would we be to dispense with the heavenly vision of "Jerusalem the golden" or "Brief life is here our portion" because of these associates of theirs in a Latin poem of eight centuries ago?

      Annie Ross Cousin wrote, from her study of the writings of Samuel Rutherford, a poem of nineteen

verses, many of them very touching in their references to the devoted personal ministries of that saint to his flock at Anwoth. Obviously, we would not find these personal Sentiments of worth in our worship, but surely, whatever may be our opinions on other grounds, this alone does not disqualify from occasional use "The sands of time are sinking."

      Undoubtedly there are occasions when judicious further pruning of verses from the printed forms in which we have them is justified. It may be such unfortunate affairs as over-long sermons (already heard or in prospect) or trying weather conditions--or it may be that there could be no more fitting conclusion to a service than the rich benediction of a single verse, but whatever the occasion for limiting the number of verses to be sung, let it be done intelligently and only after a careful examination so that there is no marked break in the continuity of thought. Once and again, we have been invited to sing three verses printed in four-line form when, unfortunately, the organist was to use an eight-line tune--just another of those errors, which once pointed out, may

      seem obvious but they continue to be made. The remedy, equally obvious is, of course, thorough preparation of every detail beforehand.

      Our present hymnody can be brought to more vigorous life by the use of special services, in the preparation of which some little knowledge of hymnology or some specific research is necessary and can prove very rewarding. Such services need not in any way glorify the hymns themselves or exalt their writers, but can add more lustre to the names and the offices of the Christ of the hymns. Worthwhile services can be built around the hymns of a particular century, those of one individual author or those coming from a distinctive religious body. Hymns from the Latin, the Greek or the German, an international group or hymns on a special text or topic can be equally valuable.

      The favourite hymns of the particular congregation being served (as revealed by a ballot taken a week or two earlier) have more than once in the writer's experience formed a revealing and stimulating basis for a special service.

      (2) The intelligent use of hymns written in a special form would deepen their meaning.

      One has in mind as examples three hymns written with the specific intention, of being sung responsively. Both "Art thou weary? art thou languid?" and "Peace, perfect peace," as well as "Who is He in yonder stall?" are in question and answer form throughout, and could be sung most impressively if that is taken into account. It takes no stroke of musical or other genius to devise effective treatment for the narrative hymn: "The sinner and the song." No very useful purpose, devotionally or otherwise, seems to be served by a well-known form of "competitive singing"--the "Ladies-sing-the-first-two-lines, men-the-next-two, and-all-together-in-the-chorus" type of thing.

      (3) As a brotherhood, we must he alive to the possibilities of using new hymns.

      By no means do all hymn-writers belong to centuries other than our own. The compilers of our present "Churches of Christ Hymn Book" must have been very alert to secure, for publication in 1931, Professor Tweedy's noble hymn "Eternal God, Whose power upholds both flower and flaming star"--written as late as 1929. The Graham Crusade in Melbourne could be claimed to have taught all Victoria to sing "How great Thou art"--from what we can gather of it, a very recent translation of a

Russian hymn, but massive in its doctrinal emphasis, noble and dignified in both words and music.

      Examination of the work of scores of poets, who have at times touched on sacred themes, suggests that there remains little indeed of hymnic, value that has not already been put to the service of the church. Further, some verse that does remain unused is in metres for which tunes are not readily available, if indeed at all.

      Hosts of hymns have been "made to order," and this can still be done. Tweedy's hymn, mentioned just above, was written in a competition for a missionary hymn; T. H. Scambler's "The call of God resounding" was similarly a competition hymn for temperance purposes; "From Greenland's icy mountains," by the young Reginald Heber (afterwards Bishop of Calcutta), was written one Saturday evening for a missionary service the following day; the ageless carol, "Silent night," took shape--both words and music--to meet an emergency situation for the Christmas service in a Tyrolean village church; records of hymnal compilation over and again show editors or compilers "conscripting" the services of one and another, to write a hymn to meet a particular need.

      The great storehouses of Latin, Greek and German hymns, not to mention the more poetic sections of scripture, have been turned over and over for hymnic material a thousand times, with glorious results, but do we know how rewarding such a search through Scandinavian, Russian, Dutch or other material might prove? So many Christians from European churches are now in Australia, that some very fruitful enquiries might be possible in this field. Examples are known where the magic touch of a skilled translator of the first rank, has converted crude original material into a poetic gem. The mission fields are now producing their indigenous hymns, many of them weaving into Christian song some of the older national traditions. At least one hymn, written originally in Marathi by an Indian Christian ("One who is all unfit to count" by Narayan Tilak) appears today in the Methodist Hymn Book. Another, from the Bengali of William Carey's first Hindu convert, is in the Baptist Hymnal. It opens with the line: "O thou, my soul, forget no more." What possibilities do the mission fields of the world hold for a reinvigorated, albeit borrowed, hymnody in lands which earlier saw the light?

      Maybe the psychologists can explain why young people, up to their teens, indulge in poetic composition far more than folk in later life. Whatever the explanation, every high school magazine and the young people's pages in every newspaper bear witness to the truth of the statement. If the lyric fire is there, could anything be done in our Bible schools, our Endeavour societies or our youth clubs to fan it to a flame? Is there a possibility of our youth directors and other youth workers deliberately planning this as just one more of the lines of enthusiastic service into which our young people may be directed and inspired?

      Even if it would have to be expressed in less exalted strains, the psalmist's oft-repeated statement of intention to sing a new song (as in Psalms 33, 96, 98, 144 and 149) is worthy of emulation today!

      As we come to the end of our study, we must ask what, after all, we can hope to achieve by a better hymnody? The reply can perhaps be left safely enough to the hymnwriters themselves. Some

answers would be "ever-joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us," "new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven," "more love to Thee, O Christ," "a pardon sealed with Jesus' blood," "a closer walk with God," "manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary, rest." We cannot wholly agree with the critic who claimed that William Hammond had ascribed to sacred song a power greater than it actually possesses when he wrote:

      At the very least, we can sing on, still hoping! If we cannot achieve it all, we would still be unwise not to make the attempt.

      Hymns referred to in this pamphlet numbers, as in the Churches include the following, with their of Christ Hymn Book:--

680 Art thou weary?
86 Awake and sing the song
625 Brief life is here our portion
109 Crown Him with many crowns
374 Dear Lord and Father
328 Eternal God, whose power
463 Faith of our fathers
382 Father, to Thee we look
628 For ever with the Lord
331 Prom Greenland's icy mountains
868 Glory be to Jesus
858 God save the Queen
384 Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah
549 How firm a foundation
397 I heard the voice
635 Jerusalem, the golden
32 Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee
411 Lead, kindly light
35 Lord of all being
422 Love divine, all loves excelling
499 O the bitter shame
430 O Thou who didst on earth
560 Peace, perfect peace
74 Silent night
589 The call of God resounding
712 The gospel bells are ringing
713 The gospel of Thy grace
648 The sands of time
131 Thou art the Way
64 Thou whose almighty word
85 Who is He?