2. English.— The sacred poetry of England antedates by many generations its true hymnologj'. The author of England's Antiphon (George Macdonald) devotes an interesting chapter to the sacred lyrics of the loth cen- turj-, in which he gives specimens of genuine devo- tional song from the Percy Society publications, taken from MSS. in the British Museum, and ascribed to the reign of Edward I. " Mary at the Cross," " The ]\Iourn- ing Disciple," and the " Canonical Hours" of William of Shoreham furnish illustrations of most tender and scrip- tural verse, but are written in a dialect that needs fre- quent translation into modern English. The " Bliracle Plays" were originally introduced by the Normans after the Conquest, and are written in Norman French, but in 1338 the pope permitted them to be translated into English. In this 14th century "the father of English po- etry," Geoffrey Chaucer, gave a new voice to Christian song. It was full two hundred j'ears from his advent be- fore England ])ro(hiec(l another really great poet. But the age of Klizabith, as if to make up for the barrenness of preceding centuries, is remarkable for the great num- ber of its writers of sacred verse, as well as for its other literary prodigies. In a selection made and edited by Edward Farr, Esq., for the " Parker Society," consisting chiefly of devotional poems, he has gi\ en the names and brief l^iographical notices of no less than one hundred and thirty-seven different authors. Among the illus- trious writers of sacred verses in this a-ra we find queen Elizabeth, archbishop Parker, Edmmid Spenser, George
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Gascoigne, ISIichael Drayton, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Pliilip Sidney, the Fletcher brothers— Giles and Phin- eas, Dr. Donne, (ieorge Withers, lord Bacon, the count- ess of Pembroke (sister of Sir I'hilip Sidney, and joint author with liim of a version of the Psalms). Later still we find quaint okl Philip Quarles, and liobert Southwell, the martyr monk, and their contemporary, sweet George Herbert. The great dramatists of tliat golden age have left here, and there some outbursts of deep religious po- etry and song, which at least show forth their obhga- tions to the Bible and to the Christianity of the period. Haywood, Shirley, and Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shakespeare, greatest of all, swell the hymnic chorus. But the dramatic gave way gradually to lyric poetrj', and in the succeeding century we have an increasing number of devout poets, of whom the im- mortal ]Milton must always be the chief. Yet the sin- gular fact remains that during all these ages there was " nothing like a People's Hymn-book in England." It is true that Christian worship was not without its tem- ple songs. The Psalms of David, the Te Beiim, the 3IagniJicat, the Glorias, and the " Song of the Angels," the " Ambrosian Hymn," and some of the hymns of the Middle Ages, were chanted in the churches and ca- theilrals. But the so-called hymns of Spenser and Mil- ton, and of minor writers, never entered into the Chris- tian heart, life, and worship of British Christianity. Germany possessed a classic literature of this sort a cen- tury and a half before England had a liymnal. The rude version of the Psalms by Sternhold and Hopkins, the smoother but insipid version of Brady and Tate which superseded it, and the more faithfid Scottish version, which was the work of an English Puritan (Rouse), were sung by those whose stern revolt against Romanism led them to reject even what was really good and scriptural in her order of worship and litur- gical books. The faults of tlie age are conspicuous in its poetry. It is intellectual, metaphysical, reflective, literary, full of "quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles;" cumbrous and overdone. With very few exceptions, there is nothing that people would care to sing, or could sing, for there is little of that emotional element winch goes out in masical expression. The rhymes are rude and irregular, and the A-ery art of tlie poetry seems to defy any attempts to set it to popular music. For '• peo- ple cannot think and sing; they can only feel and sing." Even Milton's magnificent hymn, " On the Morning of Christ's Nativity," is not adapted to common Sabbath worship ; and there are few of George Herbert's verses that survive in the songs of the sanctuary.
The period succeeding this revival of literature pro- duced some Christian poets of note, and a few hymns •which survive their authors. Bunyan, and Baxter, and Jeremy Taylor all wrote verses, but their prose had more of poetry in it than their attempts at song. Among those whose good old hymns have stood the test of time, we must not forget the Rev. John Jlason, of Wa- ter-Stratford, who died in 1G94, author of " Come, dear- est Lord, and feed thy sheep; on this sweet day of rest," " Now from the altar of our hearts," " Wliat sliall I ren- der to my God?" etc. He published a volume of "Spiritual Songs" in 1G8G. Dr. Watts borrowed much from him. The good non-juror, bishop Ken (1G37-1711), bequeathed to Christendom his famous '•^Morning and Evening Hymns," and that matchless doxology, " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." Next comes Jo- seph Addison, whose elegant version of the nineteenth Psalm, commencing " The spacious firmament on high," first appeared in the Spectator in 1712, at the close of an article on "the right means to strengthen faith;" and about the same time was published his sweet para- phrase of the twenty-third Psalm. Perhajis the most familiar of his hymns is that beginning " When all thy mercies, O my God." See Addisox.