136 OUR HYMNS I
act of poetical composition. Of some of the above works several editions appeared during the author s life, and other editions were published afterwards.
In the preface to his collection, which consisted for the most part of Charles s hymns, John says, " In these hymns there is no doggerel, no botches, nothing put in to patch up the rhyme : no feeble expletives. Here is nothing turgid or bombast, on the one hand ; or low and creeping, on the other. Here are no cant expressions, no words without meaning. Here are (allow me to say) both the purity, the strength, and the elegance of the English language, and at the same time the utmost simplicity and plain ness, suited to every capacity ! " And this statement is not exaggeration, but the simple truth.
As a hymn-writer, Charles Wesley takes his place by the side of Dr. Watts ; and it is an open question to which the preference should be given. Wesley certainly surpassed Watts in the number and average excellence of his hymns. In these respects Wesley stands first in the whole history of Christian literature. Of Dr. Watts s numerous hymns, many must be rejected as poor and altogether below the average. There is nothing to choose between the two writers in respect to their adherence to Scripture and their knowledge of Christian experience : in these respects both leave nothing to desire. But each writer shows some traces of the influence of the system he maintained ; Wesley speaking more of the active effort and perfectibility of man, and Watts more of the helplessness of man and the sovereign will of God.
And if we occasionally meet with a verse in the hymns of the Wesleys that does not commend itself to our judgments, nor seem exactly in harmony with Scripture, the following note given in the preface to the " Hymns and Sacred Poems," 1739, may remove our astonishment. It shows that some of the hymns were produced before the authors were rooted and grounded in the faith. It is as follows : " Some verses, it may be observed, in the following collection were wrote upon the scheme of the mystic divines ; and these, it is owned, we once had in great veneration,
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