Page:Our Hymns.djvu/188

 168 OUR HYMXS :

The well-known hymn

&quot; Jesus, my all, to Leaven is gone,&quot; No. 334,

expressive of the poet s own experience, is No. 64 in the last- mentioned collection. It is headed in the original

&quot; Following Christ, the sinner s way to God,&quot;

and consists of nine stanzas. Hymns 341 and 890 are also in the same collection. The compilers have wisely dispensed with several inferior verses. There is little poetry in Cennick s hymns, and the favourite words, phrases, and doctrines of the writer s particular school appear with unpleasant frequency. Here and there we are offended by such &quot;couplets as

&quot; Louder we than any ought Jesus and His grace to shout ;&quot;

but they are full of Christian fervour, and of the lessons of the writer s singular experience. They are generally written in the form of dialogues ; each pair of lines being complete in itself, and the last two of the four printed in italics, as if to be repeated in response.

&quot; Children of the Heavenly King.&quot; No. G30.

This is also by Cennick, and bears date 1743. Of the same date also is hymn 396.

To Cennick also we are indebted for

&quot; Lo ! He comes with clouds descending,&quot; No. 418 ; one of the finest hymns ever written. His hymn begins &quot; Lo ! He cometh ; countless trumpets.&quot;

It first appeared in a Dublin collection, entitled &quot; A Collection of Sacred Hymns,&quot; 1752. To it belongs the credit of being the first attempt to render the thoughts and sentiments of the &quot; Dies me &quot; in this fine appropriate measure : the flowing majestic lines first, then the first trumpet note of the chorus, then the full sounding line at the close ; upon which, to change the figure, the whole verse rests gracefully, but firmly. There were many

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