CONTENTS

[I. THE HYMNODY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH] 1 [Religious Character (Biblical and Congregational)] 1 [Poetical Quality (Lyrical Beauty)] 8 [II. THE LUTHERAN HYMN BOOK] 15 [a]Arrangements of Hymns in the Hymnal] 15 [a]Dogmatic Method of Arrangement] 15 [a]Liturgical Method of Arrangement] 15 [GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH HYMNS] 19 [III. EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMNODY] 19 [Early Greek Hymns] 20 [Early Latin Hymns] 22 [IV. MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIAN HYMNODY] 27 [Mediaeval Latin Hymns] 28 [Mediaeval German Hymns] 32 [Mediaeval Scandinavian Hymnody] 34 [The Sequences] 35 [St. Gall] 36 [V. LUTHERAN HYMNOLOGY] 39 [Martin Luther] 41 [German Lutheran Hymnody] 44 [Scandinavian Lutheran Hymnody] 50 [American Lutheran Hymnody] 54 [Conclusion] 61 [a]ADDENDA] [Reformed Church Song] 69 [A List of Hymnists] 71

SECTION I
THE HYMNODY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH

The hymnody of the Lutheran Church is the body of sacred songs sung by the Church. These songs may be studied in their twofold aspect; as to their religious and as to their poetical character; they are church hymns and also sacred poems.

(The Lutheran church hymns have been called psalms. According to old linguistic usage, psalm is the same thing as sacred or religious song, not song in general. In secular Greek the word psalm does not mean song, but it refers more particularly to the ability or technique in playing upon stringed instruments—the Greek word “psalmos” means to play a stringed instrument. By psalm we mean a sacred song or lyric, as of the Old Testament Book of Psalms; a hymn.)

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER

With respect to the religious character of the Lutheran church hymns, it must be quite clear that if these hymns have grown up out of the soil of the Church, if they are expressions of the spirit of the Church, then they ought to reflect quite faithfully the nature and peculiarities of the Church. The Church, the Communion of Saints, where the Gospel is preached in its purity and where the Sacraments are administered according to the teachings of the Gospel, may be considered partly with regard to the unique religious life-content, which is communicated to the faithful through the Word and the Sacraments and which not only unites them to Christ, the Head of the Church, but also unites them with one another; partly with regard to her nature as a congregation, a communion or community in external form with characteristic expressions and order of life. The same twofold point of view arises in our study of the church hymns. The religious character of the church hymn may, therefore, be determined partly from the point of view of religious life, having its source and standard in Holy Writ, and partly from the point of view of the church communion or the congregation, of whose common life the church hymn is an expression and reflection, and whose common purpose it seeks to promote. The religious character of the church hymn thus centers in the fact that both as to content and form it must be Biblical and congregational.

1. The Biblical character of the church hymn:

First of all, the church hymn must be thoroughly Biblical. It cannot move only in the realm of general religious truth, not only sing the praise of certain abstract ideas about God’s being, about the immortality of the soul, about virtue, etc. Not even such subjects as God’s attributes, the providence of God, Creation, “man’s physical and spiritual attributes, reason, will, conscience, nature and purpose,” have any place in the hymns of the Church, when these subjects are treated in an abstract way, isolated from God’s revelation through Jesus Christ and detached from human life. The subject of the church hymn, provided it possesses sound religious character, is, briefly stated, Christ for us and Christ in us; on the one hand the objective saving grace through Jesus Christ, and on the other hand the subjective appropriation of faith, with love and submission and devotion to God. The sphere of the church hymn will not thereby be restricted to an incessant reiteration of the name of Jesus, his wounds and blood, his love, etc. The church hymn sings the praise of God’s entire means of salvation: God’s thoughts and works of love through Christ for humanity; His sure and saving institutions of grace upon earth; the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men unto repentance, faith and sanctification; the benefits, struggles and victories of His kingdom of grace; the glory of the heavenly bridegroom; death and judgment; the world to come and eternal life. All these subjects become the object of the hymns of the Church. The faithful express through the church hymn their ardent desire for these things; they meditate upon these things, they rejoice in their possession, they describe them and they extol them; they adore, thank, and laud their Saviour, and they give themselves up to God. Since the content of positive Christian faith, or God’s revelation of salvation through Jesus Christ, is the principal subject of the church hymn, it is clear that the church hymn must be in perfect harmony with the Word of God, the Bible, the very source of the revelation of salvation. But this does not mean that the Church should use exclusively the hymns of the Bible, as, for example, the Psalms of David. It is perfectly well to use other hymns, provided they are permeated by the Holy Spirit and constitute a vital reproduction of Biblical truths, grown up out of the soul-experiences of the Church in perfect harmony with Holy Writ. Then the liturgical principles of truth and freedom will come into proper use in congregational hymn singing.

With this character of religious truth in the objective sense, or the conformity of the church hymn to Holy Writ, goes also the matter of religious truth in the subjective or psychological sense. This means that the religious experience, expressed in the church hymn, is not merely a product of human imagination, more or less foreign to those who gather their spiritual life and their soul experiences from the fountain of Holy Writ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but it is far more an experience gained from the reality of true spiritual life, and thoroughly accordant therewith, something to which, therefore, every true Christian can easily agree.