Good hymns are an immense blessing to the Church of Christ. I believe the last day alone will show the world the real amount of good they have done. They suit all, both rich and poor. There is an elevating, stirring, soothing, spiritualizing, effect about a thoroughly good hymn, which nothing else can produce. It sticks in men's memories when texts are forgotten. It trains men for heaven, where praise is one of the principal occupations. Preaching and praying shall one day cease for ever; but praise shall never die. The makers of good ballads are said to sway national opinion. The writers of good hymns, in like manner, are those who leave the deepest marks on the face of the Church.
But really good hymns are exceedingly rare. There are only a few men in any age who can write them. You may name hundreds of first-rate preachers for one first-rate writer of hymns. Hundreds of so-called hymns fill up our collections of congregational psalmody, which are really not hymns at all. They are very sound, very scriptural, very proper, very correct, very tolerably rhymed; but they are not real, live, genuine hymns. There is no life about them. At best they are tame, pointless, weak, and milk-and-watery.
~ J.C. Ryle
What are some of your favourite hymns that stick in your mind and move your heart?
Some songs that we have now are really just pretty tunes that have little or no doctrine, but they are popular. I think we have lost a lot. I think we do not focus on Gods word the way we used to and the songs we now sing reflect that. Many of them go something like this. Praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord. Halleujah Halleujah praise the lord.
ReplyDeleteThere are of course notable exceptions. I do recommend the the Gettys
It is Well gives me goosebumps. Still.
ReplyDeleteI really like hymns, and I'm sad that churches these days seem to not use them. :(