Page:The English Hymnal (1906, lyrics only).djvu/8

 shall at the same time exhibit the characteristic virtue of hymnody,—its witness, namely, to the fact that in the worship of God Christians are drawn the closer together as they are drawn more closely to the one Lord. In Christian song Churches have forgotten their quarrels and men have lost their limitations, because they have reached the higher ground where the soul is content to affirm and to adore. The hymns of Christendom show more clearly than anything else that there is even now such a thing as the unity of the Spirit.

Little explanation is needed of the principles which governed the selection and arrangement of the hymns. The new work, inserted in every case to fill an acknowledged gap or to introduce a tune of special excellence, must stand or fall on its merits. One feature, however, requires a word of comment. Hymns are printed, wherever possible, as their authors wrote them. To many it will be a surprise to find that the ascription of a hymn to this or that author, when it was given at all in hymnals of the last century, was very often misleading. The public now has the opportunity of comparing many originals with their altered versions; and few, we venture to predict, will deny that they had been altered for the worse. Occasionally, indeed, the music requires the removal of an extra word if a hymn is to be used at all, as for instance in Neale's hymn. No. 137 (The Day of Resurrection), and in Milton's, No. 532 (Let us with a gladsome mind); but although these hymns are marked as altered, none of their