PART III. WHEREIN ARE NOTICED IN CONSECUTIVE ORDER THE HYMNS IN THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL HYMN-BOOK, WITH REMARKS CRITICAL, HISTORICAL, EXPLANATORY, &c. HYMN 1. "O for a thousand tongues to sing."-C. Wesley. THIS hymn was first published in 1739, and was probably composed just one year after the conversion of John and Charles Wesley. It is entitled, "For the Anniversary of One's Conversion." It originally comprised eighteen verses, that which constitutes the first in the Hymn-book being the seventh. The following are the four opening stanzas : 66 Glory to God, and praise, and love, By saints below, and saints above, "On this glad day the glorious Sun "Sudden expired the legal strife ; 'Twas then I ceased to grieve; My second, real, living life, I then began to live. "Then with my heart I first believed, Believed with faith divine, Power with the Holy Ghost received Of the remaining omitted verses, the subjoined two, 15 and 16, are very remarkable: from them, it will appear, that Mr. Charles Wesley did not adopt the opinion entertained by many persons, that licentiousness is a subject of such a nature as not to admit of any direct notice, much less open exposure :— "Harlots, and publicans, and thieves, In holy triumph join! Saved is the sinner, that believes, "Murd'rers, and all ye hellish crew, In verse 6, the poet of Methodism has expressed the same ideas as Pope in the "Messiah :". "The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold : The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, HYMN 2. "Come, ye sinners, poor and needy."-Hart. The title of this hymn is, "Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ." The author wrote the first line thus : "Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched;" and the fourth,— "Full of pity, join'd with power." The second stanza, as originally published, commences with, "Ho!" and the third ends with "rising beam." The first line of the fifth stanza reads, "View him grov'ling in the garden ;” the third line of verse 6, "venture wholly ;" and the hymn concludes thus,— "Sinners here may sing the same." HYMN 3. "Come, sinners, to the gospel feast."-C. Wesley. A paraphrase of Luke xiv, 16-24, entitled, "The Great Supper," and has twenty-four verses; those which compose our hymn are the first, second, twelfth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, and twentyfourth. The second and third lines of verse 6 read thus, "Behold the bleeding sacrifice! His offer'd love make haste t' embrace." HYMN 4. "Sinners, turn, why will ye die ?"-C. Wesley. An expansion of part of Ezek. xviii, 31: "Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" The first four of sixteen stanzas. Hymn 14 is part of the same composition. HYMN 5. 66 Sinners, obey the gospel word."-C. Wesley. Come, for all things are now ready." Luke xiv, 17. The second line of verse 5, part first, commences, "Is ready;" and the first line of verse 3, second part, "The godly grief." The first two lines of the second, and last line of the fifth, stanza, part first, are plain allusions to the return of the prodigal son, as presented in the well-known parable. HYMN 6. "Blow ye the trumpet, blow."-C. Wesley. A Hymn for New-Year's Day. See pages 185, 186. This hymn is founded upon the year of Jubilee, as appointed in the Jewish law. See Leviticus xxv. It presents an attractive contrast between that law and the redemption wrought for mankind by the shedding of the Saviour's blood. The fifth verse is almost a paraphrase of that portion of the law which enjoins the return of all alienated property to its original owners. It is presented as a type of the free salvation which is offered to all men through the atonement of Jesus. HYMN 7. "O all that pass by, To Jesus draw near." C. Wesley. These two are "Hymns on God's Everlasting Love." From hymn 8 one stanza, the first, has been omitted. HYMN 9. "Weary souls, that wander wide."-C. Wesley. A "Redemption Hymn," entitled the "Invitation." HYMN 10. "Lovers of pleasure more than God."-C. Wesley. Part of hymn 111. HYMN 11. "Awake, Jerusalem, awake."-C. Wesley. From a paraphrase of the fifty-second chapter of Isaiah, comprising thirty-two stanzas. HYMN 12. "Ho! every one that thirsts, draw nigh."—C. Wesley. The first nine stanzas of a paraphrase of the fiftyfifth chapter of Isaiah, consisting of thirty-one stanzas. HYMN 13. "Let every mortal ear attend."-Watts. "The Invitation of the Gospel: or, Spiritual Food and Clothing." Isaiah lv, 1, &c. Nine stanzas; the sixth, seventh, and eighth, being omitted from the Hymn-book. HYMN 14. "Let the beasts their breath resign.-C. Wesley. HYMN 15. "See, sinners, in the gospel glass." HYMN 16. "Sinners, believe the gospel word."-C. Wesley. These two are portions of a hymn of eighteen verses, entitled, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all Men." Hymn 199 is the latter part of the same poem. The fourth verse of hymn 16 contains an affecting allusion to Matt. xxiii, 37-39: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets," &c. HYMN 17. "Sinners, the call obey."-C. Wesley. "For Times of Trouble and Persecution." Eight stanzas: the third, fourth, and fifth, being omitted from the Hymn-book, the last of which is subjoined : "See how his meteors glare! (The tokens understand,) Famine, and pestilence, and war, Signs in the heavens see, And hear the speaking rod; Sinner, the judgment points to thee, Prepare to meet thy God!" HYMN 18. "Ye thirsty for God, To Jesus give ear."-C. Wesley. "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”—John vii, 37. HYMN 19. "Lord, we are vile, conceived in sin.”—Watts. 66 Original and actual Sin confessed." Second part of Psalm 51. Dr. Watts wrote the third and fourth lines of verse 3,.thus, "O make me wise betimes to spy My danger and my remedy." This hymn is a faithful representation of man in his natural state of corruption, and his recovery by the blood of atonement. The last line of the fourth stanza, "The leprosy lies deep within," is a figurative allusion to the description of the leprosy in Lev. xiii. And the fifth and sixth stanzas, |