Godfrey Thring: The Church of England Hymn Book, New edition, 1883. In this edition the Preface, dated Easter 1882, is followed by a reprint of the Preface to the First edition, dated Advent 1879. (Transcription of Title page and Prefaces from copy in St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden.)
The book contained 672 hymns, + The National Anthem, + 58 hymns for the Visitation of the Sick and Private Use.
[Title page, 1883]
[Preface, 1883]
When the Compiler published the first edition of the Church of England Hymn-book, he could not help feeling at the time that although he had spent many years on the work, it was still far from being as complete as he wished, and that another year at the least was required to bring it up even to the standard at which he himself aimed; but from various circumstances he was, against his own judgment, compelled to publish at the time he did. Now, however, he has no cause to regret this, for in preparing a new and permanent edition, he has not only been able to rectify mistakes and omissions, and to supply more accurate information on many points not previously ascertained, but to profit by the advice and criticisms so freely offered to him on all sides. To some of these latter he has been unable to yield, as he holds to his opinion that the principles on which the book is founded are the right ones, and to those principles he adheres: it has therefore been a great source of gratification to him to find both from public and private sources that they are fully approved by the most thoughtful of his critics, and that in their opinion there is still room for a book drawn on the lines that he has laid down.
The work has, however, been greatly improved, not only in those points which, - although obtained by great labour and research - will probably be noticed only by experts, but in many other ways which the Compiler trusts may make it more worthy of the great object of which he has never lost sight.
Some hymns in the first edition have been omitted, as hardly coming up to the standard at which the Compiler aimed; and from fifty to sixty hymns have been added. In addition to this, several new features have been introduced. A Processional hymn (forming the only exception to the alphabetical order in which the hymns are arranged under their several headings) has been selected for all the principal Church Seasons, and Holy Communion hymns, suitable for use at these seasons, have likewise been chosen. Hymns have also been provided for Flower Services, and for Orphans; a long needed want of a good hymn for the Institution of a Clergyman to a Parish has been supplied, and a hymn for Scientific Associations and other like meetings has been added, as well as an index of the first lines of the originals of translated hymns, with the names of the authors.
In addition to the Rev. Prebendary H.W.Hutton and Major G.A.Crawford, to whose judgment and learning he owed so much in his first edition, and which have been unweariedly continued ever since, the Compiler's special thanks are due to the Rev. John Ellerton, Rector of Barnes, the well-known hymn writer and able editor of Notes to Church Hymns, and the Rev. John Julian, Vicar of Wincobank, Sheffield, the learned editor of Murray's forthcoming Dictionary of Hymnology, who have spared no pains in offering friendly criticisms, and in giving other much valued assistance, which has helped to make the book what it is. His thanks are also due to Mr W.T.Brooke of Richmond Road, London, the liberal owner of one of the finest collections of hymn-books in the kingdom, and the Rev. James Mearns, Coldstream, Scotland, for the kind manner in which they have aided him in collating texts, clearing up difficulties, and for other assistance freely and generously given. To the latter he is also indebted for the index of the first lines of the originals of translated hymns.
The Compiler trusts that the labour of many years may not have been altogether in vain, but that it may contribute something towards raising the standard of the hymns in our Public Services; and more especially to rescue some portion of them from that manifest unreality which must strike every thoughtful person, when hearing - as is often the case - hymns sung by a general congregation which are altogether unfit for public worship, and which, however beautiful some of them may be in themselves, only become real when heard from the lips of some dying person, or of one very far advanced on the road to holiness. We have, alas, unreality enough already, without teaching it.
Blots and imperfections will doubtless still be discovered, but the Compiler offers the fruit of his labours, such as it is, in the humble hope and with a heartfelt prayer that it may tend in some small way to promote the glory of God, and the good of His Church on earth.
HORNBLOTTON RECTORY: Easter, 1882
[Preface, 1st edn 1879]
In adding another to the many Hymn-books already in circulation, the Compiler does not feel that any apology is necessary. Without life there can be no progress, and without progress there can be no real life; and few things perhaps more clearly show how much real life exists in the Church at the present day than the great improvements that have been made in our hymn-books, and the number of good hymns that have been written during the last thirty years. But although the time is past when any rhyme, however childish, was thought good enough to be sung in our churches, yet from the number to be found in the most popular hymn-books of so-called hymns, which are either mere statements of doctrine in rhymed prose, or effusions of false sentiment and almost profane familiarity, it is clear that the time has not yet come for the authorized hymnal advocated by not a few. Even admitting the existence of some minor advantages which such a compilation might possess, and setting aside for the moment the difficult question as to the persons to whom such a work could be entrusted and the principles on which it should be carried out, it may be suggested that no such collection could be imposed, like a liturgy, authoritatively on the Church; that many congregations would be dissatisfied with a hymnal which did not reflect their own doctrinal views, and that no collection, however carefully compiled, could remain exempt from the necessity of frequent periodical revisions to meet the inevitable changes required, and to admit of the incorporation of new hymns of merit. On the other hand, the very arguments which may be urged against an authorised hymnal are in themselves a call for further progress, in order that hymns which offend both the taste and conscience, and which in a literary point of view have no pretensions to be included in a national hymn-book, may be weeded out, and their places supplied, so far as possible, with worthier matter, And this is the more necessary, since greater attention has hitherto been given to the music than to the hymns themselves.
It has been the aim of the Compiler in the following pages to do in some small measure for the words of the hymns what has already been done in a much larger measure for the music, with the hope of making a further step towards raising the taste of the worshippers in our churches, and leading them to think as much of the meaning of the words that they are singing as of the tune to which those words are sung.
Of the principles which have guided him in the execution of his task he would now wish to say a few words.
He has, in the first place, been earnestly desirous of avoiding everything that might give to the book the impression of a party character, as he believes that any hymnal which endeavours to be fairly representative of that comprehensiveness of which the Church of England is such an eminent example should be drawn on no exclusive lines; for not only are congregations, by such a system, deprived of the use of some of the best hymns in our language, but the broad and primitive principles on which our Church is founded are narrowed; while those divisions, which it should be our great object to bring to an end, are encouraged and perpetuated. The Church of England is not the Church of a sect but of a nation; her Prayer-book is the much-prized inheritance of all Churchmen, not of a party.
The hymns, therefore, in the following pages have been selected from every source at the Compiler's command, many of them being new, and others hitherto but little known. In their selection, the Compiler has had present to his mind the following tests, - that each hymn should reach a certain standard of literary excellence, and should contain nothing contrary to the Church's teaching as set forth in her Prayer-book and Articles. To maintain an equal standard of excellence throughout was of course impracticable, and there are hymns - chiefly among those for use on special occasions - which the Compiler would gladly see exchanged for others; but he trusts that at all events there are none breathing that forced, exaggerated, and unhealthy sentiment with which some hymnals in large circulation abound. More especially has the Compiler taken care to omit all hymns, or passages in hymns, which contain those ecstatic longings and prayers for death, not only unreal in themselves, but, in his judgment, positively profane when put into the mouths of an ordinary congregation.
With regard to the text of the hymns, the Compiler has followed, as far as it can be ascertained, that of the authors; adopting, indeed, in some cases those alterations which have been generally accepted as real improvements, but otherwise adhering to the original text. The chief exception to this rule is that the Compiler has ventured to change some of those over-familiar epithets which are often applied to our Blessed Lord; and to make some slight alterations, where the choice seemed to lie between making an alteration or rejecting the hymn altogether. Great care has, however, been taken to alter as little as possible; in almost all such alterations the consent of the author has been first obtained, and in those instances where the Compiler has written or altered a stanza or hymn so much that it has in effect become a new one, he has affixed his initials.
The general arrangement is according to the order of the Book of Common Prayer; those hymns, however, which are applicable only to a particular season or day being placed under their several headings; all others, though in many cases suitable for a particular season or day, - with the exception of those to which attention will be drawn by a note, - are placed under the heading of `General Hymns;' so that no hymn, as is so often the case now, will be practically rendered useless for the greater part of the year through being placed under a particular heading. In the latter part of the book will be found hymns for all additional services as occasion may require.
Although it has been thought advisable to number the `Hymns for Children and School,' and those for *`Visitation of the Sick and Private Use,' as forming part of the same book, they may, if desired, be obtained bound separately. In regard to the latter, the Compiler takes this opportunity of saying, that he has not thought it necessary to bind himself down strictly to the hymn proper, but has introduced some short sacred poems; for such hymns being as a rule required for reading rather than singing, a greater latitude of choice is not only allowable but desirable.
_____________________________________________* These hymns are, in the new edition, numbered separately. _____________________________________________
The Compiler has made what he has been told is a somewhat dangerous experiment in introducing marks of expression in an edition of hymns without tunes. But he thinks it as much the duty of everyone who can sing to join in the singing, as it is of everyone who can read to join in the responses; and as it appears to him that these marks will help an ordinary congregation to join in the hymns with more care, attention, and feeling than they commonly do, he has not hesitated to adopt them.
The Compiler has often been asked whether he intends to publish a book of tunes. To this question he is unable to give an answer at present, although to a certain extent preparations have been made for such a work. The matter is, however, of secondary importance, because every congregation is absolutely bound to the particular hymn-book which happens to have been chosen for their use, while this is not the case with tunes, since few organists take their tunes exclusively from one book, but can, and do, select those which they think best. Thus a book of tunes adapted to any particular hymn-book is not to the public in general of the same consequence as the words of the hymns themselves; from the one there is an easy escape, from the other there is none.
In addition to the usual Indexes, the Compiler has added an Index of Texts as well as of Authors, so that by the aid of the former anyone who wishes to find a hymn suitable for the services of any day in the year, may at a glance see if there be a hymn with a text taken from the Epistle, Gospel, Psalms, or Lessons of the day.
There are also a few blank leaves at the end of the book, on which may be added any hymns which for local or other reasons it may be desirable to adopt.
It may perhaps be thought that the collection is too large, and that it would have been better to confine it to some three or four hundred of the best hymns to be found. It must, however, be remembered that the question is not how to compile a book which shall contain a limited number of hymns approved, in a literary point of view, by persons of the highest and most cultivated taste, but to form a collection which shall best satisfy the present requirements of our Church. All hymnals, for the present at any rate, must be to a certain extent of a tentative character. Many of the best hymns are still but little known, and only require time and good music to take their places in the first rank, whilst there are others which, either from having been set to good tunes, or from their having become from long use familiar to our ears, it would be found impossible to omit. Besides these, there is a large number of hymns which, though perhaps they do not take their place in the front rank, are yet too good and too useful to be neglected. As regards such, time alone can solve the question as to which shall be retained. Added together, these necessarily form a large collection; but not too large, if we are to have a hymn-book as wide as the Church of England herself in its sympathies, from which all, within legitimate and rational bounds, may obtain hymns suitable for their use.
It now only remains for the Compiler to return his best thanks to all those who have either aided him in the preparation of, or contributed to, his work; and more especially does he desire to thank the authors, who have without exception given him free permision to use any oftheir hymns of which they themselves retain the copyright. As their names are all to be found both at the foot oftheir hymns and in the Index of Authors, it is unnecessary to repeat them here. His thanks are also due to the following Publishers . . . [list of copyright acknowledgements] .
As the absence of a few well-known hymns cannot fail to be observed, the Compiler feels it due to himself to state that the omission arises from no neglect on his part, but from the fact of the compilers of `Hymns, Ancient and Modern' having, unlike other compilers and authors, refused to allow the insertion of hymns of which they hold the copyright.
The Compiler has taken every possible care to avoid infringement of copyright, and he trusts that any oversight in this matter, if such there be, may be pardoned: he is not, however, without hope that the time is not far distant when publishers and compilers, as well as authors, will be ready, in the interest of the Church at large, to yield their rights - without any application even being made - in all cases where hymns are required solely for the purpose of Public Worship.
The Compiler cannot conclude without expressing his special obligations to the Rev. H.W.Hutton, Prebendary and Priest-Vicar of Lincoln Cathedral, and to Major G.A.Crawford. To the taste and judgment of Mr Hutton the marks of expression added to the hymns are entirely due, and the work owes much in every way to his help and general supervision; while Major Crawford has most kindly assisted in the revision of the proof-sheets with the learning and accuracy which characterise his Biographical Index to the Church Hymnal.
HORNBLOTTON RECTORY: Advent, 1879
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