by Ruth Ellis Messenger, Ph.D. THE HYMN SOCIETY OF AMERICA New York City 1942...

Carl F. Price , Editor Copies of these papers at 25 cents each may be obtained from the Executive Secretary of the Hymn Society. Note : Inquire before ordering as some numbers are temporarily out of print. Dr. Reginald L. McAll, 2268 Sedgwick Avenue New York 53, N. Y. Copyright, 1942, by Hymn Society of America Reprinted 1949 There is no part of the general field of Christian hymnology so baffling to the student or so full of difficulties as the one under consideration in this paper. Many accoun

At the threshold of Christianity the student crosses from the literary environment of the Old Testament into that of the New. But in actual practice the Hebrew psalms were never given up, and to this day are treasured in every branch of the faith. In the early centuries they formed the bulk of Christian hymnody. References to their use appear throughout the New Testament and are familiar to all. And, moreover, the influence of the Hebrew psalms upon the composition of new hymns is apparent even

The transition, therefore, to the canticles of the New Testament was easy and perhaps inevitable. The Benedictus , Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ( Luke 1:68-79 ), spoken by Zacharias, the Nunc dimittis , Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ( Luke 2:29-32 ), by Simeon, and above all the Magnificat , My soul doth magnify the Lord ( Luke 1:46-55 ), from the lips of the Virgin Mother, are among the most famous of early Christian hymns, which, together with the song of the angelic

Christian practice reveals a third type of Hebrew influence, the liturgical, which brought about the use of the psalms in public worship, together with other elements familiar in the synagogue. At the close of a service of this kind, made up of prayers, readings, psalms and preaching, the eucharist was celebrated. Early writings, for example, the Apologia of Justin Martyr, 100?-165, [19] the Didache [20] and the Apostolic Constitutions , [21] testify to a somewhat fixed type of worship, which, v

Christianity expanded, as we have seen, in the environment of eastern Mediterranean culture. Its original heritage was that of Judaism, but within the first century it had entered upon the conquest of the Gentile world. As that conquest proceeded and the penetration of new ideas into pagan thought continued, a corresponding reaction of paganism upon the new faith took place. With the general aspects of this phenomenon all are familiar. It is significant here only in the field of lyrical expressi

Turning once more to the authentic Christian hymns of the first three centuries and this time omitting those which appear in liturgical sources, we observe three distinct linguistic groups, the Syriac, the Greek and the Latin. The most familiar of the Syriac hymns were written by Ephraem Syrus (b. 307), who strove to counteract the influence of the Gnostic poets, especially that of his countryman, Bardesanes. Strictly speaking, he belongs to the first half of the fourth century but should be con

Reviewing the total pagan influence, both Greek and Latin, upon Christian hymnody, it must be understood that, in comparison with Semitic pressure in its wider implication, as well as the strictly Hebraic, pagan influence was relatively slight. It was a matter of centuries before the Hebrew psalms were permitted any rivals whatever in the usage of worship, except other biblical citations or such poems as might be produced by unquestioned churchmen. Even these were sparingly used, for psalmi idio