Songs and hymns with good theology

Correct, friend.

 

And Paul told the Athenians, "He giveth to all life and breath and all things."

 

Good theology???????? Hasn't human sinfulness anything to do with it? Good old missionary bishop Heber certainly thought otherwise ("Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see"). If we sing those words, we're asking God to help us to see something that is not true.
But there are other things wrong with W.C.Smith's hymn, apart from confusing God with His creation (and let's spell "pantheist" correctly):
"Unresting" - coming from a man who preached against the Sabbath, this is not unexpected, but God save me from singing it again!
"unhasting" - tell that to Jeremiah (1v12)!
"silent" - tell that to the Israelites at Sinai (and to those who hear God speak through His Word)!
All in all, "Immortal, invisible", whilst reasonably good poetry, is not a spiritual song. However, in fairness, I must say one thing in its favour: In most of our hymnbooks it has been mutilated to accommodate (non-American) unitarians, etc. (possibly for school assemblies). The original version additionally called upon God to remove the veil from our hearts and through Christ in the story impart His Christ to our heart. I was wrong to believe, as I did for some years, that Smith was a unitarian.

 

I was going to ask "Which Wedding Song?" but I thought I'd Google "The Wedding Song" first. I came across this - is this the one you meant?:

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love,
there is Love.

Well a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love,
there is Love.

Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
For if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love,
there is Love.

Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love,
there is Love.

​

Sounds rather muddled to me. "Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part". "Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again." And dragging the "where two or thre are gathered together" verse (Matthew 18.20) from its context and applying it to marriage seems forced, to say the least.

 

One of my favorites with the original wording. Some new hymnals have changed forced to caused.

Afflictions, though they seem severe;
In mercy oft are sent;
They stopped the prodigal’s career,
And forced him to repent.

 

This is my favorite verse too, but you left out the best part. The verse concludes with:

Mild He lays His glory by
born that man no more may die
born to raise the sons of earth
born to give them second birth.

 

My all time favorite Hymn...

HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION

1787

How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word;
What more can he say than to you he hath said?
To you, who to Jesus, for refuge have fled.

Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

That soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes:
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never - no, never, no, never forsake!

:thumbs:

 

I quite agree about Richard Keene's "How Firm a Foundation" - it's been pointed out in several sermons I have heard that there are as many repeated negatives in the original Greek of the requisite Bible verse as there are in the last line of that hymn. However, for sheer consistency in soundness, conciseness, fullness of doctrinal content, keeping to the point, unstiltedness, and avoidance of poetic bathos, you cannot beat John Newton ("Afflictions though they seem severe" is one of his that I didn't know of) - as far as I can tell, in any of his hymns (unless, of course, you count the Divinely inspired Psalms and other Bible Songs): "Why should I fear the darkest hour?", "Begone unbelief", "Come, my soul, thy suit prepare", etc. Can anyone quote me just one Newton hymn that's in any way remotely dodgy? And Hart, apart from his occasional descent into subjectivism, is almost as good. I also recommend the traditional modern, Christopher Idle's work. A lot of people like "Immortal honours rest on Jesus' head" (just to mention something by a Baptist). Nothing wrong with it, but I just get the feeling that lines 2 onward are an extended digression from the theme of line 1 - but that's probably just me.
As for "When all the hearts of men with love are filled", on the other hand ...
Yes, it's documented: William Young Fullerton was a Baptist and friend of Spurgeon.
Oops!
As regards Christmas Carols, what's seriously wrong with "O little town of Bethlehem"? Sorry, another episcopalian.