Edmund S. Lorenz

“ Others find their means of voicing what they feel totally inadequate. The hymns they sing and appropriate to themselves unstop their silent tongue. High tides of spiritual blessings, times of refreshing when Christ is near to the soul, hours of privilege when the whispering of the Holy Spirit is heard, victories over fierce or subtle temptation when God’s grace proves sufficient, moments of God’s overshadowing presence when the whole world is transfigured, and a thousand other marvelous experiences in the Christian life—all call for hymns to express them. ”

“ From ev'ry mountain side
Let freedom ring!
2 My native country, thee,--
Land of the noble, free,--
Thy name--I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
3 Let music swell the breeze,
And ring, from all the trees,
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,--
The sound prolong.
4 Our fathers' God! to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us, by thy might,
Great God, our King! ”

“ They trace the religious life of every man as he travels from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. They unfold the spiritual drama of man, his hopes and fears, his aspirations and affections, his failures and victories; each chequered experience trembles into songs, and scarcely a note is missing. Springing from the heart of the eighteenth century, their music seems to drown its licentiousness and frivolity in paeans of praise.” (Frederick J. Gillman, in The Evolution of the English Hymn.) ”

“ When their words of love and cheer
Fall no longer on our ear,
Hush! be ev'ry murmur dumb,
It is only "Till he come!"
3 Clouds and darkness round us press;
Would we have one sorrow less?
All the sharpness of the cross,
All that tells the world is loss,
Death, and darkness, and the tomb
Pain us only "Till he come!"
4 See, the feast of love is spread,
Drink the wine and eat the bread:
Sweet memorials, till the Lord
Call us round his heavn'ly board;
Some from earth, from glory some,
Severed only "Till he come!" ”

“ Are they careless or irreverent in mood as they gather: can he sober their minds and awe their souls with a consciousness of God’s actual presence with a solemn hymn and its impressive tune? How shall he use the singing of the hymns to affect and win the unsaved whom he plans to invite to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Master? In a thousand ways the intelligent and adroit minister can make his hymns count largely in accomplishing his beneficent purposes. ”

“ Roll down their golden sand--
From many an ancient river,
From many a palmy plain--
They call us to deliver
Their land from error's chain.
2 Shall we, whose souls are lighted
By wisdom from on high,
Shall we to man benighted
The light of life deny?
Salvation! oh, salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
Till earth's remotest nation
Has learned Messiah's name.
3 Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye waters, roll,
Till like a sea of glory
It spreads from pole to pole,
Till o'er our ransomed nature
The Lamb, for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator,
In bliss returns to reign. ”

“ The waters of life are now flowing for thee;
No price is demanded, the Savior is here,
Redemption is purchased, salvation is free.
2 Delay not, delay not; why longer abuse
The love and compassion of Jesus, thy God?
A fountain is opened,--how canst thou refuse
To wash, and be cleansed in his pardoning blood?
3 Delay not, delay not, oh, sinner! to come,
For mercy still lingers and calls thee to-day;
Her voice is not heard in the vale of the tomb,--
Her message, unheeded, will soon pass away.
4 Delay not, delay not; the Spirit of grace,
Long grieved and resisted, may take its sad flight ”

“ Where a hymn has allusions not likely to be recognized by the average singer, they ought to be made plain. How many of the millions who have sung the well-known hymn, “Come, thou Fount of every blessing,” knew what the word “Ebenezer” signified? Striking phrases, packed with deep thought and feeling, like Matheson’s
“I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be,”
should have their treasures brought to light, lest the average churchgoer should overlook them. ”

“ The Glory of the Church.
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
He, whose word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for his own abode;
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes.
2 See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove;
Who can faint, while such a river,
Ever flows their thirst t' assuage?--
Grace, which, like the Lord, the Giver,
Never fails from age to age. ”

“ We shall find the Hebrew voice of worship not only leading the songs of the Apostolic Church, but through all the succeeding ages sounding the controlling note of all Christian praise. David and the sons of Asaph led the choirs and congregations in chapel and church and cathedral as truly as they did those in the temple and synagogues. Christianity gave the Psalms a larger, more inspiring message and a more literary and more musical setting; but the thrumming of David’s harp has been heard through all the long centuries and is still heard around the world. ”

“ The few cloudy mornings that dawn on us here
Are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer.
2 I would not live alway; no, welcome the tomb!
Since Jesus has lain there, I dread not its gloom;
There sweet be my rest till he bid me arise,
To hail him in triumph descending the skies.
3 Who, who would live alway, away from his God,
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode,
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains,
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns;
4 Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,
Their Savior and brethren transported to greet ”