I'm sure we all know the old joke of the bride's mother giving her daughter
advice on her wedding day.
' Just remember three things in church' she said, ' Aisle, Altar, Hymn'.
From the Greek hymnos, meaning 'song of praise', a hymn is a song used in
Christian worship.
In the worship of the early Church all music was rendered by the clergy and
congregation. In the 6th century, choirs of trained singers were gradually
introduced into major churches throughout the western world.
The Congregationalist hymn writer, Isaac Watts (1674-1748), provided the
impetus for the development of English hymns in the late 17th century.
Among his well-known hymns are 'When I survey the wondrous cross', Jesus
shall reign where'er the sun' and ' O God our help in ages past'.
The Church of England officially recognised hymn singing in 1820.
'Hymns Ancient and Modern', edited by H. W. Baker (1821-77) in 1861 and
subsequently revised on many occasions, incorporated many of the traditional
office hymns.
'Songs of Praise', edited by Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw, first
published in 1925 was a national hymnal intented for use by Christians of
all denominations.
Since that time numerous hymnals have appeared. Perhaps the most widely-used
is ' Come and Praise', a BBC hymnal for primary schools, which contains
several enigmatic songs by Sidney Carter.
Written and contributed by Philip Lloyd.
