RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Hymnologry
1765-67, but the result was received with strong disapproval. The entrance of rationalism into Sweden led to a desire for a new hymnal, which was provided in 1793 in the " Upsala Hymnal," practically revised in 1814 by a commission. More popular was the hymnal by Johan Olof Wallin, Stockholm, 1816, and supplements were made to this from time to time. (F. Nielsen-)-.)
IX. English Hymns: From the Anglo-Saxon period of history only faint indications of sacred song have come down. Thus Bishop Aldi. Before the helm (q.v.; d. 709) is said to have Reformation, mingled sacred and secular songs as an aid to Evangelization. The hymn of Cffidmon (q.v.) was not intended for the service of song. There are Latin hymns extant with Anglo- Saxon glosses (cf. The Latin Hymns of the Anglo- Saxon Church, ed. J. Stevenson for the Surtees Society, Newcastle, 1851), and there are, besides, paraphrases of the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria Patri; but these are properly meditational and do not belong to hymnody as a part of divine service. Further indications of early English hymnody are carols-and hymns to the Virgin. But all that can be said with assurance of the period before the Reformation is that the practise of the Latin Church governed, that much material is known out of which hymns might be made, and some of it was utilized in later periods, but that this material was not intended as more than pious meditation on religious themes. The best of this material is represented in the so-called Primers, founded on the Sarum Use and the Roman Breviary, which are known to have been in use at least during 1360-1700. They contained prose or rimed translations of parts of the service, including prayers.
After the Reformation the intensity of the contest
between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and
the large place taken by the English
2. The Bible in popular affection made the
Psalters, use of even the great Latin hymns distasteful. Consequently, while singing became a part of public worship, hardly anything was used except versions of portions of Scripture, of which large parts, especially the Psalms, were put into metrical form (see Psalmody). As a result, the period 1550-1700 has been called the period of the Metrical Psalters, during which more than 350 versions of the Psalms were begun, and about 125 were completed. Yet throughout there were indications that the hymnody of the Church was not to be confined to Scriptural material. Thus Miles Coverdale's Goostly Psalmes and Spiritual Songs (before 1539) represents the desire to embody the spirit of the German Reformers, and it consequently includes translations of some of the hymns of Luther as well as paraphrases of Latin hymns and versions of the Psalms. The principal trend of the period, however, is exhibited by what came to be known in later times as " The Old Version," begun by Thomas Sternhold (q.v.), an official at the courts of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Sternhold's purpose in publishing was to provide sacred songs for the people, though the version was begun for his own " godly solace "; the pieces were set to music by him. The meters employed were the short and
common meters of popular ballads. The first edition (undated, probably 1548) contained only nineteen psalms, but the number in subsequent editions was enlarged with the aid of Sternhold's disciples, John Hopkins and Thomas Norton, till all the psalms were rendered into English verse as early as 1562, the result being the well-known " Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter " or " Old Version," which, being combined with the Book of Common Prayer, continued in use for about a century. This was followed by two varieties which had more or less of popular favor, the Genevan, influenced by the French version of Marot, and the Scottish, put forth by the General Assembly of 1564, which had more than 140 tunes attached. Another version, known as " The Scottish Psalter," included mainly settings by F. Rous, and was completed by the General Assembly of 1649 and authorized by that of 1650, to which Biblical Paraphrases was added in the period 1745-81. Meanwhile, in 1559 Queen Elizabeth gave permission to use at the beginning and end of divine service " any hymn or such like song to the praise of Almighty God," and this permission both shows that hymn-writing had already begun, and gave a distinct impetus to this kind of composition. Six hymns were appended to the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter and were publicly used, and for seventy-five years such writers as Robert Herrick (1591-1674), John Donne, and George Herbert (qq.v.) composed hymns which were sung, while renderings were made of parts of the treasures of the Latin Church, including " Hierusalem, my happie home."
The first attempt at a hymn-book as distinguished from a psalter was Hymns and Songs of the Church
by George Wither (q.v.,) issued in
3. The Rise 1623 with a patent from James I. per-
of the mitting it to be bound with the Psal-
Hymnals. ter. It consisted of two parts, (1)
metrical paraphrases of Scripture, (2) hymns for the church festivals and special occasions. It was republished in enlarged form as Hallelujah, Britain's Second Remembrancer in 1641. But the Puritan sentiment, which soon became dominant, preferred the Psalms in meter, while the hymn-writers were principally royalists. This led the way in England to " The New Version " known also as "Tate and Brady" (1st ed. 1696; 2ded. 1698; with supplement, 1702), issued with the approval of William III., and in America to the Bay Psalm Book (q.v.). The New Version differed from the Old in that it was written in varied meter, and it became the standard and influenced all subsequent hymnody. In 1782 five hymns were added to it, and later others were admitted. Meanwhile such writers as Henry Vaughan, Jeremy Taylor, Thomas Ken (morning and evening hymns and the Doxology), and Joseph Addison (" The spacious firmament on high ") had been writing hymns which, in original or revised form, have been permanent possessions. In 1683 John Mason published Songs of Praise, which ran through many editions, and furnished the basis for several hymns still in current use. But under lingering Puritan sentiment the singing of hymns was still prohibited. The Baptists became involved in con-
Hymnologry