Te is comparatively few books that reach a second edition and still fewer that survive the author by a operation. Tt is the innocent ambition of many preachers to publish a volume of sermons and on account of their association' with someone whom they know and respect. Yot we trust these productions were not without value at the time of their delivers. Perhaps the fate of even the most ephemeral hymns is not quite as bad as that of sermons, but it is not entirely unlike it. They express a passing mood, or, if they do something more than that, they do. so in thought forms that have become obsolete, For that reason we must be brave' enough now and then to discard an old book, It is a commonplace amongst us that, though the Gospel is eternal, has to be restated in the language and' thought forms of every passing generation. The timeless Gospel has to be expressed in timely terms, otherwise it will not be understood Even the Book of Common Prayer has come up for revision. We shall not enter into the controversy that has arisen around that subject, except to point out that there would have been no resistance to that revision if there had been no attempt to exploit it for other purposes, and 80, in harmony with a neverceasing process. of rewsion observable in all spheres of if we have been compelled to change our book.
'A Perennial Spirit 2—But notice a second advantage of revision: it admits hymns that are new. While the express: sion of praise and prayer may change, the spirit of praise Is Perennial. If we had any method of stabilizing a hymn-book for too long a period, we should be guilty of that most serious sin of limiting the Holy One of Israel. Dunne the forty odd years in which our old hymnal was in use, men and women had been making melody in. their hearts to the Lord without being strictly limited to its pages. Now and then one has arisen who could express that spirit of praise in original composition, so that Chri tian people have been able to with gladness:—"Thow hast put a new song in my mouth."
God retains the right to-inspire men in the twentieth cent much as in the first or the teenth. That is one of the implie tions of our doctrine of the Holy Ghost, for Jesus promised that the Spirit' of Truth should never leave His people, but should abide yeth them for ever, and has not that living Presence in the Church been proved and expressed by the bestowal of the gift of inspired song to devout men and women in every generation? It follows that 'a place must be found for the best of the newer hymns. Is it recognise ed that, when our old hymn-book was compiled, the now famous hymn of Dr. George Matheson, "I love that wilt mot let me jo," which is known and sung in all parts of the world, was only just written and was too new to be included.
Another hymn that I hope we shall soon be able to sing with ease com-nces:—
"These, thins shall be: 9 loftier race Than o'er the world hath known, shall rise"
It was, indeed, written in 1880, but was not used as a hymn until twenty years ago, and, although the hymn "The day Thou gayest Lord is ended" was composed before four older book was compiled, it was not contained within its pages and so it was not until Easter evening that we were able to sing: it without using a separate book. We might go on to enumerate some of the newer hymns and thereby: show how great would be our loss if we were not able to keep the door open for the newer expressions the spirit of praise.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.