5. In all ages this individualistic participation in mass singing has been natural and spontaneous. The children of Israel sang an individualistic “I and My” hymn in rejoicing over the army of Pharaoh. The psalms are largely “I and My” hymns of praise, of prayer, and of confession. David sings, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”
It is too much to expect that every singer shall apprehend the full import of the words he sings; to accuse him of insincerity and hypocrisy if he fails to rise to their level, or if he takes them on his lips thoughtlessly, is uncharitable. In most cases the fault lies with the leader of the service who does not bring out the meaning and does not prepare the minds and hearts of the singers for the hymn about to be sung.
It is, therefore, not a question of the first person singular, but of the kind of personal experience that finds a voice. Is it artificial or genuine? Is it morbid or wholesome? Is it depressing or stimulating to the spiritual life? Is it an experience to which all have attained or may attain, in terms all can accept, or is it morbid, fanatical, extravagant?
No congregation should be expected to sing offhand with Faber,
“I love Thee so, I know not how
My transports to control,”
or
“Oh, dearest Jesus, I have grown
Childish with love of thee.”
There are other limits that need to be considered. A hymn may properly be the vehicle for a confession of sin or of spiritual unworthiness; but it should not take exaggerated forms of expression that only a few could honestly adopt. The same is somewhat true of hymns of consecration. Some hymns are title deeds to gifts to Jesus Christ so comprehensive that few could sincerely subscribe to them. All these hymns, though they may have been spontaneous outbursts from the hearts of the writers, will seem unreal and forced to the singer, and will only aggravate the mechanical unreality and the unwitting insincerity that vitiate the average service of song.