ports of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments be taken up and considered until disposed of. The motion was agreed to.

MISSIONARY BISHOPS FOR TEXAS.

A message (No. 52) from the House of Bishops announced the adoption by that House of the following resolution:

Resolved, That the House does hereby constitute the counties of Cass, Titus, Upshur, Wood, Rains, Vantandz, Henderson, Navarro, Hill, Basque, Hamilton, Brown, Coleman, and Runnels, together with all the counties lying north and northwesterly thereof in the State of Texas, and also all the territory north of the county of Tom Green, in said State, a Missionary District, to be known as the Missionary District of Northern Texas; also the counties of Calhoun, Jackson, Lewaca, Gonzales, Caldwell, Hayes, Blanco, Llano, San Saba, McCulloch, Conche, Tom Green, Pecos, and El Paso, together with all the counties and territory in said State south and southwesterly thereof, into a Missionary District of Western Texas.

"And the House of Bishops further informs the House of Deputies that it has nominated as Missionary Bishop of Northern Texas the Rev. Alexander Charles Garrett, D.D., of the Diocese of Nebraska, Dean of Trinity Cathedral, Nebraska; and as Missionary Bishop of Western Texas, the Rev. Robert W. B. Elliott, of the Diocese of Georgia, Rector of St. Philip's Church, Atlanta, in said Diocese."

MISSIONARY BISHOP FOR CALIFORNIA.

A message (No. 53) from the House of Bishops, announced the adoption by that House of the following resolution :

ໃ Resolved, That this House does hereby constitute the counties of Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Sacramento, Amador and El Dorado, together with all counties lying north thereof in the State of California, a Missionary District, to be known as the Missionary District of Northern California.

"And the House of Bishops further informs the House of Deputies that it has nominated as Missionary Bishop of Northern California, the Rev. John H. D. Wingfield, D.D., Rector of St. Paul's Church, Petersburgh, Virginia."

THE HYMNAL.

Mr. SHEFFEY, of Virginia. I call for the Calendar.

The PRESIDENT. The Hymnal was appointed to come up immediately after the matter which was yesterday disposed of.

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Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachusetts. call for the order of the day, and would like to offer a resolution.

The PRESIDENT. The Hymnal is the special order.

Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachustets. Yes, sir, and I offer this resolution in regard to it.

Mr. COPPEE, of Central Pennsylvania. Is the Hymnal in order now?

The PRESIDENT. Yes, sir, it is called for, and I suppose the House had better be informed as to the precise form in which it comes before us. Dr. Huntington has risen to offer a resolution in reference to it. The Committee on the Hymnal submit a report without a resolution, and there is a message from the House of Bishops on the same subject.

Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachusetts. May I ask the Secretary distinctly to state in what form the order of the day is now before us?

The SECRETARY. The report of the Committee on the Hymnal, with the request of the Committee to be discharged. Then there is a message from the House of Bishops which is to be taken from its place

on the Calendar, if it be so desired, and considered with this. It has not been so ordered yet.

Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachusetts. I move, then, that the message of the House of Bishops be taken from the Calendar and considered in this connection, and I will offer my resolution as an amendment to their message.

The PRESIDENT. It is moved to take the message of the House of Bishops on the Hymnal from the Calendar, and consider that in connection with this order of the day.

The motion was agreed to.

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. I have the floor, and decline to allow any resolution to be offered until I present my own. I took the floor yesterday, and gave way for an adjournment, supposing that I would have the floor when it came up to-day.

Mr. SHEFFEY, of Virginia. First let us hear the resolution of the House of Bishops.

The SECRETARY. Message No. 32, from the House of Bishops, announced the passage by that House of the following resolutions:

"Resolved (the House of Deputies concurring), That future editions of the Hymnal shall be printed so as to conform to the revised edition presented by the Joint Committee on the Hymnal, and that no other hymns be allowed in the public worship of the Church except the Hymnal as thus revised, and such hymns and psalms as are now ordinarily bound up with the Book of Common Prayer, provided that any congregation may continue to use the editions of the Hymnal heretofore published, until further action of the Convention.

"Resolved (the House of Deputies concurring), That the Joint Committee on the Hymnal, in pursuance of their own request, be discharged.

"The House of Bishops informs the House of Deputies that it has also adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That the House of Bishops desires here to place upon record their sense of the singular zeal and assiduity of the Joint Committee in the laborious task confided to them for the sound discretion which they have exhibited, and of their patience and kindness in considering objections, and in endeavoring to meet the wishes of the Church, and that a copy of this resolution be communicated to the House of Deputies."

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. Mr. PresidentMr. STARK, of Connecticut. Will the gentleman from Long Island give way to allow a motion to be made in relation to debate on this matter I wish to move to limit the time of speakers in this debate to fifteen minutes.

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. I will give way for that.

Mr. STARK, of Connecticut. I move that the speeches in the debate on the matter now before the House be limited to fifteen minutes.

Rev. Dr. DE KOVEN, of Wisconsin. I would amend by saying "ten minutes."

The PRESIDENT. The question is on the amendment of the Deputy from Wisconsin.

The amendment was agreed to.

The PRESIDENT. The question now is on the motion as amended, to limit the speeches in this debate to ten minutes by each speaker.

The motion was agreed to.

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. The business before the House is the report of the Hymnal Committee, asking to be discharged; with that the resolution of the House of Bishops as read by the Secretary. After that I shall propose the following resolutions:

The question, as I suppose it to be put to us now, is whether we shall go into an interminable critical discussion of the Hymnal, or whether we shall condone the past three years and drop it out, and take these two books and do the best we can with them for a short time to come. It is understood that the House of Bishops propose that this matter shall run along for at least nine years. They cannot bind us, and we cannot bind the next General Convention. All we have to do, I imagine, is to take the two Hymnals precisely as they stand. But, unfortunately, the first thing I have to do is to apologize, The binder, at least in some instances, has inanaged to get into many of the copies here two sets of hymns-in some cases some from the old edition, and also some from the new that should be substituted by the use of the old plates. We shall have to unravel them in the best way we can.

Rev. Dr. ANDREWS, of Virginia. Do I understand Dr. Hall to say that only in a few copies of the Hymnal, as first issued, the binder failed to put in the sheet of corrections, and that all hereafter to be printed will be found correct?

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. All will be found correct. It was a mistake of the binder in binding the revised Hymnal. Some of you, probably, can see that the plates have been got in wrong, and things a little mixed in consequence of this difficulty; but with a little care, probably, the correction can be made.

Again, it is known to the Convention that there were certain matters happening three years ago in regard to the getting out of the edition whereby it appears from the remarkable labor and the very worthy labor of our good brother from Georgia, as he first thought, there were two thousand mistakes

Rev. Dr. BENEDICT, of Georgia. I corrected that afterwards, and reduced them to fifteen hundred.

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. I was going to say twenty-five per cent. would be taken off. Fifteen hundred is a heavy load; but many are merely the changes of numbers, and a great many are changes of commas and things of that kind.

The sheet of "corrections" in the first edition (which is in the hands of members) shows the changes in the new edition; they show its accuracy, and they are not offered, as I understand, simply in the light of being faults, but as mistakes that were made then. I am going to say grant all this, grant that these mistakes were made between the first edition and the second, the question would then arise what powers the Committee supposed themselves to have. It seems that it was stated by Dr. Howe in this House:

"The Committee will ask to be continued until the new General Convention, and then I submit that if their request to be continued should be granted, and this Hymnal should in any sense be adopted, members of this House and any other members of the Church who have any suggestions to make touching the Hymnal shall communicate them in writing to any member of this Committee, they will have due consideration. They will ask to be continued for the purpose of typographical, verbal, and other emendation,'

That seems to have been the understanding in this House, and I am informed was decidedly the understanding in the other House why the Committee should be continued.

I am going to grant that they stretched their powers; I am going to grant that they made a mistake; I am going to grant that there was some difference of opinion between them and the very learned gentleman on hymnology, who made the final corrections. Supposing it ought to be so, "what

are you going to do about it?" as was once asked by a distinguished gentleman who is spending his time in the suburbs of this city. [Laughter.] We have punished these men already; they have been taken, and by the strong arm have been made Bishops and sent wandering around Dioceses. [Laughter.] We ought not to reflect on them further. They have done a great deal of labor for which they have not been thanked; they have taken up a work that I do believe Bishop White was wise in forecasting forty or fifty years ago would be very disastrous whenever it came up in this Convention, and that is, undertaking to criticise a Hymnal in a public body. If we grant all these facts, if we see evidently that what has passed is to be condoned and passed over, it seems to me that the plain, square issue is simply this: Shall we take a revised Hymnal that has now had the benefit of valuable suggestions from various parts of the country, or shall we have none? We have had a valuable paper from Pennsylvania; we view this as a contribution towards a future perfected Hymnal. We can certainly use this Hymnal as it now is, and we are bound not to change it more than is necessary, because we see that in the last few months the funds of that charitable society to which the royalty on the Hymnal goes have been diminished by these criticisms. You have entered into engagements with publishers, so that twelve thousand and more dollars have been gathered as the royalty on the very large amount that has been invested by these publishers. One of them said to me, "I have eight thousand dollars in the Hymnal; I went into it, supposing that it was to be a matter that was not to be thrown up certainly in three years."

It seems to me, therefore, looking on every side of the case, that the pure and simple question is to accept the revised Hymnal as the Bishops proposed it to us; to have the same royalty extended to it as upon the other; to allow the old copies to wear out, and the plates, after being reformed, will give us this revised Hymnal.

The advantages of the revised Hymnal, I understand, are: 1, The general criticism that it has received. It has been under fire. It certainly has been riddled from end to end by bullets and hot shot of all kinds for the last year. Every kind of objection has urged against it that can be imagined, SO that we know about where

been

we stand. I remind you that there is no sich thing as a perfect Hymnal. There is no such thing as a perfect Hymnal in this Church of all others. Why? Because in this Church certain things are to be tolerated, as it is agreed all around, and compromised. There are hymns in the book that I never use and do not want to use. I do not want for example any anapaestic lines like "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,

His cohorts all gleaming with purple and gold." [Laughter.] They may be very well for Sundayschools, but not for a hymn for my people. There are hymns the doctrine of which I do not quite like. There are hymns the taste of which I do not like; but there are many of these hymns that my people have been using for three years with perfect satisfaction. When I first came on the "Hymns Ancient and Modern,' and then came to this Hymnal, it seemed to me as if I had been kept in a dark room in regard to hymnology by the Church for a very long time. There is sufficient in this Hymnal for us all to use and enjoy.

The expense of changing the plates as now proposed will be less than $100. I mean for the ordinary copies, and not much more for the Hymnals with tunes.

The Committee have presented to us now the final digested action, criticised as largely as it has been,

that has approved itself to their wisdom.

the debate, then, may be confined to the main point, it seems to me · that we may at last be able to get at a safe conclusion. I offer, then, this resolution, that we discharge the Committee, and that we concur with the message of the House of Bishops, but that it is the sense of this House that the revised Hymnal now set forth is not regarded as a finality, but that it is authorized for the time being as a tentative process and contribution toward a more perfect and acceptable Hymnal of the future.

Then I think it will be proper that a resolution by Mr. Pierrepont should be appended, taking care of the royalty which has been carefully prepared, and then it seems to me we may go to some other business.

Rev. Dr. RUDDER, of Pennsylvania. I wish to ask a question. Am I to understand that the words just stated by the member from Long Island are to be incorporated in this resolution? Are they a part of this resolution? Are these limitations to come at the end of the resolution of the House of Bishops?

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. I am asked whether I offer this resolution as a part of the vote of the whole question. I do.

Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachusetts. Mr. President, as the resolution I have to offer is in direct conflict with the principle of the resolution offerred by the Deputy from Long Island, I am obliged reluctantly to propose it as a substitute. The object of my resolution is to call attention to an oversight in the report of the Committee as coming from the House of Bishops. Before doing so, however, and in order that we may have the whole subject intelligently before us, would call up from the Calendar, with the permission of the House, the message of the House of Bishops relating to Church music. We shall then have the whole subject before us.

It can be

The SECRETARY. That is not on the Calendar, but before the Committee on Canons. read, however. ["Read."] Message No. 23 from the House of Bishops announced the adoption by that House of the following resolution:

Resolved (the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies concurring), that the following Canon be adopted:

"Of Church Music.

"It shall be the duty of every minister of this Church, with such assistance as he can obtain from persons skilled in music, to give order concerning the tunes to be sung at any time in his Church; and, especially, it shall be his duty to suppress all light and unseemly music, and all indecency and irreverence in the performance, by which vain and ungodly persons profane the service of the sanctuary.

And, further, that this Canon be numbered Canon 21, of Title I., and that the present Canon be numbered Canon 22.

The

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Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachusetts. resolutions I have to offer will test the mind of this Convention as to whether it is our wish that this Hymnal should be, so far as we have it in our power to make it so, a permanency, and in speaking in behalf of making it a manency, I know that while I shall be opposed by Deputies who have come here with special theories of Hymnology to carry through, I shall have the grateful support, if not of this Convention, I am sure of the large body of the worshippers of this Church throughout the land.

I would call attention to the fact, which I said

I would also, before I read my resolutions, forewarn you against supposing that they in any way conflict with the copyright privileges; on the contrary, they are intended more securely to guarantee those privileges, for the point has been raised by a publisher in my hearing a point not well taken. I think, but still one that may be raised--that our copyright is invalidated by this revision. That is a point which I have submitted to a lawyer, and on which I have received from him an adverse decision. Nevertheless it will be well thus to guard against any such question, if we can. These are my resolutions:

"Resolved (the House of Bishops concurring), That in place of the certificate and decision printed on the third page of the revised edition of the Hymnal, the following authentication, duly certified by the proper officers, be substituted, viz.:

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"By the Bishops, the clergy, and the laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in General Convention, in the year of our Lord 1870, this revised Hymnal is set forth and allowed to be used in all congregations of the said Church, and to be bound up with the Book of Common Prayer.

"This Hymnal as now revised is free to be printed and published by all responsible publishers, who shall obtain a license to that effect from the Trustees of the Fund for the relief of widows and orphans of destitute clergymen, and of aged, infirm, and disabled clergymen, and who shall assure to such Trustees a payment, to be applied to the uses of said fund, equivalent to ten per cent. upon the retail selling price; and that the copyright of the Hymnal shall vest in the said Trustees.

"No hymns other than those contained in this Hymnal may lawfully be used in the public wor ship of this Church, save that it shall be lawful to use the Book of Psalms in Metre and hymns set forth in 1832, as well as the Hymnal set forth in 1871, until action to the contrary shall be taken by the General Convention.

"Foot Note.-That Anthems in the words of the Holy Scripture or of the Book of Common Prayer may at any time be used instead of Hymns.

Resolved, That to the sentence on the fourth page of the Revised Hymnal be appended the words, From the joint resolution of the General Convention of 1832.'"

I state that because we have here now an entirely anonymous announcement in quotation marks on the fourth page, with no reference whatever to the source from which it comes. I also introduce the point in regard to anthems, because it legalizes and authorizes a usage which has obtained in this Church in compliance with a very old recommendation of the House of Bishops, and because it meets also objections that may be raised by unintelligent and misinformed persons in congregations of this Church, who suppose that their Rectors are taking undue liberties in introducing anthems into the worship. The authority to which I refer, kindly furnished me by the Historiographer of the Church, may be found in the first volume of Bioren's Journal, page 213.

"It could not but give satisfaction to the Bishops

to recollect that anthems taken from Scripture, and judiciously arranged, may, according to the known allowance of this Church, be sung in congregations at the discretion of their respective ministers."

In place of this vague and only imperfectly remembered suggestion, I offer a distinct resolution. I now ask that these resolutions of mine be read by the Secretary.

Mr.

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The Secretary read the proposed resolutions. Rev. Dr. HUNTINGTON, of Massachusetts. offer this proposition as an amendment to the motion for concurrence with the House of Bishops. Mr. COPPEE, of Central Pennsylvania. President and gentlemen of the Convention, I know so well the value of the remaining time that it was not necessary for such speakers as myself that the resolution, limiting debate to ten minutes, should have been passed. I rise to one point which is, I think, of great importance. It is this-either that the Committee should not be discharged, or that some committee should sit to make alterations which have escaped this Committee, and in some cases very many of those who have had this subject under special consideration.

I am very glad to say my little say at the opening of this debate, for I know that the numbers of those who are opposed to the Hymnal is legion, and that this Convention will have a work of exorcism to do before we settle this question.

The Hymnal is wanted. The Committee has done a great and laborious work, I had almost said a thankless work, in preparing this Hymnal. Sir, I like the Hymnal. I do not consider it a perfect work, and it is not in the power either of this body, or of any Committee, or of any individual man to make a work on this subject that will pass reasonably through the hands of poets and critics at any time. 1 do not propose to touch the question of the principle upon which hymns should be written. I do not propose to show my knowledge of St. Augustine and his views. I do propose to say, however, that in many cases that principle is one in seeming and not in reality. I mean to say that if a hymn should be always in the form of ascription of praise to God or of apostrophe to Him, we should lose some of the very best hymns we have, some that are I was about to say almost essential to our public worship. One of the most distinguished Presbyters in this House said to me, I hope nothing will be done to turn out such a hymn as Onward, Christian Soldiers,' for my children "-he spoke of his children in the Lord"take the roof off the house when they sing it." [Laughter.] So it is with many others. Specially the Committee of the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania has noticed a hymn of Montgomery-" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire " --and that Committee does not consider the matter as relegated into a hymn of proper ascription and apostrophe by the closing stanzas, beginning “Oh, Thou, by whom we come to God."

Now it seems to me that very often it is only in the form that we have not this ascription, that we have not this apostrophe. You have it there; you have it concentrated and made powerful and beautiful at the close; and yet such a hymn would be turned out on this theory. Let any great calamity come over this land, as within the memory of those in this Convention there has been, let a solemn service be ordained in order that we may express our feelings and vent our grief, and in nine cases out of ten the hymn is given out,

"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform,"

and yet that would be pronounced objectionable on this principle.

But I do not propose to dwell upon this point. Alterations are proposed in hymns, and alterations have been made in many of the hymns in the Hymnal which are æsthetical, doctrine, or simply lyrical.

I am willing to grant that where an alteration is simply æsthetical, not much harm might be done, though it seems to imply a necessity for change, for much of our best poetry is not infused with a lyric spirit. It is where doctrine is touched, principally, that I think we do great injustice to those who wrote these hymns.

Sir, we talk about copyright; we talk about an international copyright for all those who write in the English language. We know that if a man's work is touched he goes to the law and the law immediately redresses the wrong. We know that i^ we quote in any literary performance from authors old or new, let us take Homer, if you please, the scholar will mark any alteration that he makes in brackets, SO that it may be known which was Homer's work and which is his. No one would think of quoting Milton or Shakespeare in something which should be considered of high literary character without taking that precaution. Now, sir, the authors who have given us some of our finest hymns are dead. They want not the money that the copyright brings; but the fame-the holy fame, if I may so speak. Sir, they are not only dead, but they are immortal, and it is to preserve the character of doctrine, the aesthetic power, and the logical force of these men that I stand here.

I like the Hymnal. I want these alterations made for the good of the Church. I should rather, therefore, lay down the principle that no alteration shall be made in the hymns of authors who have gone before us, than that there should be any alteration in doctrine. If a hymn be erroneous in doctrine, as some of the hymns of the Eastern Church may be according to our standard; as some of the medieval Latin hymns are, let us put such aside, sorrowfully, if you please, that we cannot use the good, but let us put them aside reverently.

I wish to call the attention of the Convention, by one illustration, to an alteration that has been made in a hymn, and I hope that this will sufficiently strengthen the position that I have taken, that either this Committee should not be discharged, or that the work of carefully examining and revising the subject for the further consideration of the next Convention should be put into some hands.

Rev. Dr. HALL, of Long Island. There is only one member of the Committee on the part of this House left; the others have been made Bishops.

Mr. COPPEE, of Central Pennsylvania. I hope there are a number of clerical members here who would not be averse to being put on the new committee on that account. (Laughter.] If gentlemen will turn to the 265th hymn in the Revised Hymnal, they will see a set of alterations which I think will show something more than a design to alter-something like perfunctory work on the part of the Committee. I have said that they have done hard work, and careful work, usually; but here is a case in which they have failed to do the work well, and if there were no other illustrations to be given, it seems to me that this would be sufficient to keep this matter in the hands of a learned and critical committee. If the gentlemen of the Convention will merely look at the Hymn, No. 265, while I give them the original version of St. Anatolius as translated by Neale, they will see what I mean. Please observe that this Hymn is an illustration of that clause in the Nicene Creed which declares that Christ is God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God.

I have given here the first and second stanzas of this hymn, as one among numerous illustrations of unwarrantable alterations in the original of hymns.

The alterations are in the body of the hymn: the original lines are found on the right in brackets.

They speak for themselves. The chief error is in the second stanza, where the very idea of the author is lost-i.e., that darkness is dissipated by the Light of Light.

The PRESIDENT. The gentleman's time is up. Mr. BLAIR, of Maryland. I move that his time be extended.

Mr. COPPEE, of Central Pennsylvania. I will ask only three minutes. [“Go on.”]

For what purpose this alteration was made it is utterly impossible for me to think.

Mr. PIERREPONT, of Long Island. That is one of the copies in which the wrong plates were put in by the binder, from whose edition I have in my hand a correct copy.

Mr. COPPEE, of Central Pennsylvania. I beg your pardon; it is exactly the same":

"Peril can none be,

Sorrow must fly,

When saith the Light of Light,
'Peace! it is I.'

I have already given the original :

"Sorrow can never be,

Darkness must fly,

When saith the Light of Light,
'Peace! it is I.'"

In the first stanza the dactylic measure is destroyed in the line, "Mariners trembled," and for what purpose I cannot understand.

The original of this hymn was written by a person who knew what he wanted to say, and he said it in very good Greek. Neale tran

slated it very literally and very beautifully. It is now intended for the use of people on the mid-Atlantic, and I cannot see why wail of Euroclydon” should have been stricken out and wail of the tempest-wind" inserted.

I shall not take up the time of the Convention. I wish I had a little more time. I hope that the Committee will be continued or another committee appointed, and proper alterations, of which I have given only one illustration, will be made.

Rev. Dr. DE KOVEN, of Wisconsin. Mr. President, I have only a few words to say. There is before us in the first place a joint resolution of the House of Bishops, the report of our Committee, and an amendment proposed by the Clerical Deputy from Massachusetts. I am in favor, let me say, of

passing the resolution sent down by the House of Bishops, and the report of the Committee; and I am opposed to the proposition of the Clerical Deputy from Massachusetts and for this reason. Everybody knows that there is nothing which is lawful, or can be made lawful by the General Convention, except it be passed by Canon. When, therefore, a joint resolution is passed here, whatever else it is, it is not law. That is a thing which does not need to be proved. Every lawyer in this House, every Canonist, everybody who has been a member of it for any length of time, knows distinctly that whatever may be the force of a joint resolution, it never can have the force of law. It has force, very great force, it has very great moral force; it has such force that it seems to me every loyal person connected with this Church must submit to it. But at the same time it cannot have the force of law. When, therefore, the Clerical Deputy from Massachusetts brings in a resolution which speaks as though this resolution could give the Hymnal the force of law, and states that it is unlawful to do this or the other thing, he is simply stating a thing which is incorrect, and I suppose that the mind of this Church has felt that, and that is the reason why this Hymnal has never been enforced by Canon.

Whatever authority it has had comes from its being adopted by a joint resolution. I suppose the reason for that is that, in the words of the Committee, it cannot be regarded as a finality. It is a tentative thing; it is a contribution towards a Hymnal. We are not in a position to make it permanent; and however one may value this Hymnal, however much he may approve of it, I suppose it is impossible to persuade a majority of this House that at the present time we would on any account accept it as a finality, and make it unlawful to use anything else, however undesirable it may be to use anything else.

Now, I want to say a single word on that subject, which does not affect the action of this House. If i were able to make an amendment to the joint resolution brought down from the House of Bishops, I should propose to omit the words "no other hymns may be used." I do not make that amendment, because I am quite sure at this stage of the proceedings, and under the current impression that prevails in this House, it would not pass. I only want to say one word by way of protest against this idea of this Hymnal being a finality, or that it is undesirable that we should use in the Divine service other Hymns than those in this Hymnal.

I would like to ask how, after all, it is that we get good hymns. Is it from the decisions of committees? Do committees, after all, do anything but register the thought and mind of the Church on the subject of hymns? This is easily seen if you will only consider how difficult it would be for a committee really to select a good hymn. In the first place, in order to select a good hymn, a man has got to have a knowledge of poetry; in the next place, he has got to have a knowledge of what is the kind of poetry that makes up a proper hymn. In the third place, inasmuch as hymns are meant to be sung, he ought to have a certain knowledge of music; and because the hymns are to be used and sung in divine worship it is necessary that he should be sound in theology.

Now, when you consider the character of a committee, and how unlikely it is that there will be on it all these things combined, much more all these things combined in the majority, you can readily understand how very difficult it must be for any Committee to make up, except they register the voice of the Church, a proper hymn. Indeed, the result of the action of