Compare Old with New

I would like to post some words from a hymnbook that I have that contains both older and newer songs. I attempt to show the superiority of the traditional hymns by comparing them.

First, the words to “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken” by Isaac Newton:

Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
He, Whose Word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for His own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
Thou may’st smile at all thy foes.

See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love;
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove:
Who can faint while such a river
Ever flows their thirst t’assuage?
Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver,
Never fails from age to age.

Round each habitation hovering,
See the cloud and fire appear!
For a glory and a cov’ring
Showing that the Lord is near.
Thus deriving from our banner
Light by night and shade by day;
Safe they feed upon the manna
Which He gives them when they pray.

Blest inhabitants of Zion,
Washed in the Redeemer’s blood!
Jesus, Whom their souls rely on,
Makes them kings and priests to God.
’Tis His love His people raises,
Over self to reign as kings,
And as priests, His solemn praises
Each for a thank offering brings.

Savior, if of Zion’s city,
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in Thy Name.
Fading is the worldling’s pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
None but Zion’s children know.

Now compare that to “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” by Doris Akers


There's a sweet sweet spirit in this place
And I know that it's the spirit of the Lord

There are sweet expressions on each face
And I know that it's the presence of the Lord

Chorus:
Sweet Holy Spirit
Sweet heavenly dove
Stay right here with us
Filling us with your love
And for these blessings
We lift our hearts in praise (hearts in praise)
Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived
When we shall leave this place

Which one is rich, full, and adequately expresses the glory and grace of God?

 

I get confused. Let's try a test:

Match.

1. Isaac Newton

2. Isaac Watts

3. Isaac Hays

4. John Newton

5. Fig Newton

6. Olivia Newton-John

Possible matches:

a. Famous hymn writer

b. Hymn writer, slightly less famous than the other one

c. The gravity guy

d. British singer

e. Singer, definitely not British

f. A wonderful little treat enjoyed by millions each day

You have 30 minutes to complete the exam and no looking on your neigbor's paper.

Scoring legend:

1 right: Get some help brother.
2-3 right: Not bad
3-4 right: Give me some help brother.
5-6 right: How can you know all that?

 

I wish I had been there! Me and Rippon were sharing some experiences by PM along these lines. His was singing "Glorious Things" at 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and mine was at a prayer meeting in Virginia with "And Can It Be". The old hymns can really be moving. Unfortunately in America we've become so accustomed to them that they have become just words we say like robots. Pity.

 

That's a good point, I don't think I can refute it - I've heard some of those chants, and, well...YUK!

So let me clarify my meaning - I'm not saying OLDEST is better, but let me narrow it down to the age of the reformation up to around 1800 or so. That period will probably never be surpassed in hymn writing.

So true, so true. My experience exactly. Some years ago as I was studying some history, I was shocked by the beauty and clarity of the writing, and as you say, even by common people. Seems at that time you were either educated properly or not at all.

I wonder if the problem today is that because our culture is so obsessed with egalitarianism that aspirations that someone might have to refine the language is not promoted because the great "majority" in our land are put off by it, seeing it as snobbery. In fact what we see is just the opposite - the more street-based the language is, the more it is promoted, and anyone that objects is immediately labed a racist, bigot, pharisee, legalist, narrowminded, etc. I mean which does God want us to do - grow in knowledge, or magnify our ignorance? Our education system has taught us that the only knowledge that is useful is that which lands a job. Anything beyond that is "intellectualism", something for odd people that have nothing to do but sit around and speculate about the meaning of life - and a danger to our concept of "democracy". That's where we are and it is reflected in our institutions including our churches. Praxis is the rule of the day. Only that which has practical use is desired. The validation for today's average church is in the popularity of the program. The egalitarian, democratic church of today does not have the Bible as its final authority (the first Baptist distinctive) - it has attendance records as its final authority. Well enough of that for now.

 

I don't know what you mean by "line out". Can you expand?

 

Rbell Thanks for that explanation. I've witnessed that very thing. In south Alabama near my homeplace, sacred harp singers used to come on t.v. every Sunday morning (Channel 4 Dothan AL). They usually got off to a rough start but by the time they all got in sync it was a wonderful sound.

 

Oh man, don't even get me started on the things I've missed since moving to New Jersey! I grew up on Gene Reagan Farm Show and Wrestling on Saturday p.m.'s And did you ever see that early morning show with Red with the chicken-clucking theme song? I used to get up early just to hear the song!