THE NEW BIBLE HYMN-BOOK
Compiled by Henry J. Waters
Fast-Print Publishing. 640 pages. £15.00
ISBN 978 1 784 562 908
For a start, it’s unique. It is also big, devout and modestly priced. In a true labour of love, this retired GP has assembled no fewer than 2,146 hymns – words only, but otherwise out-Sankeying Sankey.
The Preface and Index reveal which sources he most values. Gadsby’s and Spurgeon’s hymn-books provide over 1,000 overlapping items each, as do Denham’s Collection and Gospel Hymns. Dr Waters also gives percentages; 40% of Olney Hymns, 85% of Grace Hymns, 72% of Christian Hymns.
Among authors, Isaac Watts has 169 entries (excellent!), John Newton 126, Charles Wesley 114, William Gadsby 101, Joseph Hart 80, Richard Burnham (who?) 58. Easily the 20th-century’s top scorer is Vernon Higham, also with 58.
Absentees include Perry, Pratt Green, Townend, and (most regrettably) David Preston. With one apiece are Michael Baughen, Amy Carmichael, Percy Dearmer, Eluned Harrison and Michael Saward. This indicates the book’s doctrinal and historical stance.
But its distinctive and dominant feature is the Scripture arrangement; every hymn has a Bible text and they come in Bible order – 453 from the Psalms, 146 from John’s Gospel, etc. (Some connections are missed: ‘O thou who camest from above’ is assigned to Luke 3 rather than Leviticus 6.) This pattern follows the lead of Watts, Newton, Doddridge and Routley. So, perhaps the book’s main impact is the reminder that the first resource of the hymnwriter and the hymn-chooser should be the Bible, confirming the connection between what we sing and what we read, hear and believe.
I remain unsure by what right modern editors impose Victorian patterns of capital letters on everyone from Watts to Dudley-Smith. The pages are enriched by small portraits of 60 hymn-writers, and by Sally Magnusson’s brief Foreword.
