LESSON FOURTEEN
KNOWING THE HYMNS

Eph. 5:19 Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.

Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.

CRUCIAL POINTS OF THE CONTENTS OF THE HYMNS

To know the hymns we have to know some of the crucial points of the contents of the hymns. First, we must know some of the hymns on the blessing and experience of the Triune God. The word blessing is used here not to refer to the good things the Triune God has given us but to the praise, the blessing, we offer to Him. An example of a good hymn on the blessing of the Triune God is #7—“Glory, glory, to the Father!”—and an example of a good hymn on the experience of the Triune God is #608—“What mystery, the Father, Son, and Spirit.” We also need to know hymns in the categories of the praise of the Father and the praise of the Lord.

Another crucial point of the contents of the hymns is the filling of the Spirit. Some have used the term the fullness of the Spirit, The Bible reveals that there are two aspects of the filling of the Spirit—the inward filling for life and the outward filling for power. The Greek word pleroo refers to the inward filling and the Greek word pletho refers to the outward filling.

We also need to know hymns concerning the identi¬fication with Christ. I feel that identification is a better word than union. We are not just united to be together with Christ, but we are actually one with Christ. A number of hymns in this section of our hymnal were written by A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Many of these deeper and excellent hymns written by A. B. Simpson cannot be found in today’s hymnals of the Christian and Missionary Alliance churches, but we have included them in our hymnal.

The experience of Christ is another crucial point of the contents of the hymns. Hymn #499—“Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace!”—and #501—“O glorious Christ, Savior mine” are excellent hymns in this category. We also need to know the hymns on the crucial points of the inner life, the church, the assurance of salvation, consecration, and comfort in trials.

We also need to know the hymns on the crucial points of spiritual warfare, the gospel, the meetings, the hope of glory, and the ultimate manifestation. (Speaking Christ for the Building of the Body of Christ, ch. 17)

Twenty-nine Categories in Hymns

The contents of the hymns have a total of 29 categories, including: Blessing of the Trinity, Worship of the Father, Praise of the Lord, Fullness of the Spirit, Assurance and Joy of Salvation, Consecration, Union with Christ, Experience of Christ, Experience of God, Gloying in the Cross, the Way of the Cross, the Resurrection Life, Encouragement, Comfort in Trials, Divine Healing, Prayer, the Church, Meetings, Spiritual Warfare, Serving, Preaching of the Gospel, Baptism, the Lord’s Day, the Kingdom, Hope of Glory, Ultimate Manifestation, and Gospel. (cf. The Contents of Hymns)

THE SENSATION OF THE HYMNS

If we learn to sense the hymns, we can know their standard. The sensation comes from the thought of the hymn. When we select a hymn for a meeting, we must do it according to our sensation based on the thought of the hymn. The sensation of a hymn also refers to its taste. Whether or not certain foods are delicious is determined by their taste. We want to know the hymns not only in an objective way but also in a subjective way by learning to taste them.

THE TUNE OF THE HYMNS

The tune of the hymns is also an important aspect of our knowing the hymns. Many good hymns can be killed by a poor melody. When we complied our hymnal, we picked up this important point of having the proper and uplifted melody for the hymns. We listened to the melodies that we selected to see whether they fit the thought and the sensation of the hymns with which they were matched. All of the new hymns written by us for our hymnal were composed with an old melody. We did not compose any new melodies. “Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace!” was written to the tune of Charles Wesley’s famous hymn—“And can it be that I should gain.” This melody for #499 stirs up people’s desire and feeling. I treasure many of the melodies composed in the last century and at the beginning of this century. After the second world war, most of the melodies that came out could not match those earlier sacred melodies. For instance, the tunes for “Rock of Ages” (#1058) and “Jesus, lover of my soul” (#1057) are very solid. We should try to follow that kind of style in our composing of the hymns.

LEARNING TO SPEAK THE HYMNS IN OUR MEETINGS

In conclusion, if we are going to have meetings according to the scriptural way, we must know the hymns. We have to know the crucial points of the contents of the hymns, the sensation of the hymns, and the tune of the hymns. And we must remember that the hymns are not only for singing, but they also are even more for speaking in the meetings. Our speaking of the proper hymns to one another and our singing of them to the Lord will enrich, enliven, uplift, refresh, and strengthen the meetings.

We need to learn to speak the hymns in our meetings. This practice with Christ as the center is refreshing, nourishing, edifying, and building up. If all the saints in the Lord’s recovery practiced speaking the hymns in the meetings, the meetings would be living, refreshing, and rich. This would give all the saints a way to share their enjoyment with others. We should pick up the burden to speak the hymns and endeavor to do it in our locality. (Speaking Christ for the Building of the Body of Christ, pp. 75-86)

References: Speaking Christ for the Building of the Body of Christ, ch. 17.