Baptist hymnody, British

Baptists in England were divided into two main groupings until the end of the 19th century: the General Baptists, who were Arminian in theology, and the Particular Baptists, who were Calvinist. These groupings reflected different historical origins, and different theologies and practices, including attitudes to congregational singing. Most churches of both groups formed the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland (now the Baptist Union of Great Britain — BUGB) in the 19th century, though a significant number of Particular Baptist Churches instead formed Strict Baptist Associations and Unions (now known as Grace Baptists). The differences of belief and practice within most churches within the Baptist Union tended to diminish and disappear during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this article the two branches will therefore be treated separately until the end of the 19th century, and then together up to the present time.

General Baptists

John Smyth’s first English Baptist Church in Amsterdam in 1607 believed that all worship should be directly and instantly inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that not only sermons but also any Scripture used must come from memory. Any singing which took place in the worship of that church would have been ecstatic solo singing of words from the Psalms or improvised words sung to improvised melody, the activity understood as part of ‘prophesying’. Writing in 1649, Edward Draper said ‘To singe Psalmes in the Gospel is a special gift given to some particular member in the church, whereby he doth bless, praise or magnifie the Lord through the mighty operation of the Spirit.’ One such member was Katherine Sutton, who published some of her songs in 1663 ‘for the edification of others’. She is one of the first known woman hymn writers. Throughout the 17th century the vast majority of General Baptists strongly disapproved of congregational singing for three main reasons. First, they were very opposed to formalism in worship, and feared that use of human words would open the door for fixed prayers and liturgies. Second, they were concerned to avoid what they conceived was worldly in worship. ‘Once permit the singing …pleasant tunes, and you will bring music and even instruments back into public worship, and then farewell to all solemnity’, wrote Thomas Grantham in his Christianismus Primitivus (1678). The third reason was that uncommitted people present in worship who joined in Christian song would be expressing sentiments they did not believe or understand, thereby introducing hypocrisy. The General Baptist Assembly of 1689 considered the question of ‘promiscuous singing’ and decided that ‘it was not conceived anywise safe for the churches to admit such carnal formalities.’

In spite of this, a minority of General Baptist Churches began to adopt congregational singing during the first half of the 18th century. The 1733 General Assembly heard the report that some churches in Northamptonshire had ‘fallen into the way of singing the Psalms of David, or other men’s composures, with tunable notes, and a mixed multitude.’ The Assembly did not make a firm ruling against the practice, but left the matter as an open question, though many churches and ministers remained bitterly opposed to congregational singing. From the middle of the century, influenced by the Methodist Revival but not wishing to join it, many new congregations of General Baptists were formed, particularly in the Midlands and Yorkshire. They were very committed to hymn singing, and unlike many of the older General Baptist churches, some of which were drifting into Unitarianism, held strong evangelical beliefs. In 1770 a ‘New Connexion of General Baptists’ was formed, which soon produced a hymnbook. In 1785, Samuel Deacon of Barton, near Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, published a volume of original hymns, A New Composition of Hymns and Poems chiefly on Divine Subjects, usually known as ‘Barton Hymns’. In 1791, the Assembly sanctioned a new collection of hymns, so in 1793 John Deacon of Leicester produced A Selection of Hymns. A second edition with a large Appendix appeared in 1804, making a total of 746 hymns. This came into general use, and a committee appointed by the Annual Association revised it before it was adopted as The General Baptist Hymn Book in 1830. Another volume properly entitled Hymns and Spiritual Songs selected from various authors but usually known as ‘Dan Taylor’s Hymns’ also appeared in 1793 (Dan Taylor was the leader of the New Connexion). Some controversy and conflict continued until the 1780s, but by the close of the century singing in public worship had become universal among the General Baptists.

In 1851 The New Hymn Book, compiled by the brothers J.B. and J.C. Pike, replaced The General Baptist Hymn Book as the official book after revision by a committee. An Appendix with 80 modern hymns was added later, but in 1877 the Association decided to produce a new book which would include many of the best modern hymns. W.R. Stevenson of Nottingham was appointed editor, assisted by nine other ministers. They published The Baptist Hymnal in 1879. The word ‘General’ was deliberately omitted from the title, partly in recognition of the disappearance of the old doctrinal divisions among Baptists, but also in the hope, which was realised, that the book would also be used by churches from the Particular Baptist tradition. In 1880, under the leadership of the same editor, the General Baptist Association published the School Hymnal which contained 343 hymns for the young, intended for use by Sunday Schools and families.

Particular Baptists

Particular Baptists regarded congregational singing with more favour, reflecting their links with Jean Calvin*’s Geneva and a tradition of singing metrical psalms. Metrical psalms and other Scripture paraphrases were used by the Puritans, and by the Separatists and Independents who followed them. Some of these churches became convinced of believer’s baptism, but continued to worship in the style to which they were accustomed. A few early hymns can be dated to the 1650s. Anna Trapnell, a Fifth Monarchist Baptist, published a collection of her own prayers and spiritual songs as The Cry of a Stone (1654) and Thomas Tillam, a Seventh-Day Baptist from the north of England, published three hymns of his own composition in 1657. The records of Broadmead Baptist Church, Bristol, show that in 1671 a previous Sheriff, Mr Wright, complained against them that he could hear them singing psalms in their meeting house from his home in Hallier’s Lane. A second Baptist Church at the time, referred to as ‘Mr Gifford’s people’, sang psalms, though they drew the line at metrical psalms, and during the singing, kept their hats on or even left before it began. John Bunyan*, himself a Particular Baptist of the time, often portrays his characters singing in The Pilgrim’s Progress, though there was no singing in his Bedford Church until after his death. Ironically, ‘Who would true valour see’* did not become widely used until the 20th century, unlike ‘He that is down needs fear no fall’* which appeared in early books but has largely fallen out of use among British Baptists. Benjamin Keach*, pastor of the Horsley Down Church, London, pioneered regular congregational hymn singing in about 1673 by using an appropriate hymn at the close of the Lord’s Supper, following the example of Jesus and his disciples according to Matthew and Mark. Hymns also came to be sung at baptisms, on thanksgiving days and other special occasions. Keach wrote them himself and published a collection of nearly 300 in 1691 as Spiritual Melody. By then, his church had agreed to sing hymns every Lord’s Day. Interestingly, although the first congregation regularly to sing hymns in public worship, they had not previously been in the habit of singing psalms.

In the 1680s there was a most unseemly dispute among London Particular Baptists for and against congregational singing, which may well have been in part a power struggle. Not surprisingly, one main protagonist was Benjamin Keach. His main opponent was Isaac Marlow, an influential layman opposed to hymn singing, who left Horsley Down Church for the Mile End Green Church. He was a reasonably prosperous jeweller by trade, and was Treasurer to the Assembly. His later theological writings suggest that he resented what he saw as ministerial dominance in church affairs, represented in this case by Keach. In the early stages, the disputees marshalled genuine theological arguments, but the controversy deteriorated into vitriolic personal attacks. Marlow complained of being called ‘a ridiculous scribbler’ with a ‘brazen forehead’, but there were similar faults on both sides. Unfortunately, many London Baptist leaders were drawn into the dispute and elder statesmen such as Hanserd Knollys and William Kiffin found themselves on opposite sides. Much Baptist spiritual energy was dissipated. However, the General Assembly of General and Particular Baptists of 1689 intervened, and a truce followed. Marlow left London for Leominster; the practice of congregational singing gradually prevailed, and new hymns were written in increasing numbers.

One significant writer was Joseph Stennett*, whose works spanned the new century. His Hymns for the Lord’s Supper was published in 1697, while those for Baptism appeared in 1712, designed to complement metrical psalms. Stennett’s hymns continued in widespread use, several finding a place in John Rippon*’s Selection of Hymns* (see below) and continuing in use until at least the middle of the 19th century. Various other ministers wrote hymns and published them, but none has proved to be of lasting value (Samuel Stennett*, grandson of Joseph, was one, but his hymns are undistinguished). However, the following thirty years or so saw a great outpouring of hymns from such Particular Baptists as Benjamin Beddome*, Robert Robinson* (‘Come, thou fount of every blessing’*), John Fawcett* (‘Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing’*), John Ryland* (‘Let us sing the King Messiah’*), Samuel Medley* (‘I know that my Redeemer lives’*), Joseph Swain* and Job Hupton* (‘Come, ye faithful, raise the anthem’*). Examples of the work of all these writers are found in the Baptist Hymn Book of 1962.

In 1769, John Ash* of Pershore and Caleb Evans* of Bristol published the first true Baptist hymn book, A Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship (often known as ‘The Bristol Hymn Book’), containing 412 hymns by various writers. This went through at least 8 editions, the last published in Norwich with a small supplement. In 1789, St Mary’s Baptist Church, Norwich, which had already bought copies of this book for its choir, bought a further 12 hymnbooks ‘for ye poor’. The implication must be that the better-off members of the church owned their own copies, and brought them along to worship. This further suggests that the hymns were sung continuously, rather than being ‘lined out’.

In 1787, John Rippon of London published A Selection of Hymns from the best authors, intended to be an Appendix to Dr Watts’s Hymns and Psalms (it also included material from Isaac Watts*’s other writings such as Horae Lyricae). Among other non-Baptist authors represented are Philip Doddridge*. The quality of his and Watts’s work, together with the appearance of Tate* and Brady*’s ‘New Version’* of the Psalms (1696) helped to secure the victory of congregational singing among the Particular Baptists. Rippon’s Selection passed through very many editions, the 10th and 27th being greatly enlarged. After the copyright expired in 1844, many rival editions appeared with various additions and alterations. Five years after the publication of his Selection, Rippon collaborated with Thomas Walker to publish A Selection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes from the Best Authors in three and four parts... intended for use with Watts’s Hymns and Psalms as well as with his own Selection, probably in 1792. It contained over 300 tunes, and was the first book to include musical dynamics and tempo indications.

One significant Baptist writer whose work appeared in both the Bristol book and in Rippon’s Selection was Anne Steele*, daughter of William Steele of Broughton, Hampshire, who wrote a large number of hymns, publishing two volumes in 1760 under the pseudonym ‘Theodosia’, while a third volume appeared posthumously. They became very widely used, two still appearing in BHB (1962), including ‘Father of mercies, in thy word’*. Also appearing in Rippon’s book was ‘How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord’*, whose authorship is attributed only to ‘K’. ‘K’ may well have been a contemporary Baptist; if so, this fits the pattern of Baptist hymn writers only producing small numbers of generally acceptable hymns. One important figure of this period was John Ryland, who founded the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792 and became its secretary in 1815, combining this with being Pastor of Broadmead Baptist Church, Bristol, and Principal of Bristol Baptist College. He wrote 99 hymns, of which the best known is ‘Let us sing the King Messiah’, a paraphrase of Psalm 45 which first appeared in a collection of hymns used at missionary prayer meetings in Bristol. It is found in BHB and BPW.

The next significant Particular Baptist book came when John Haddon, Senior, a printer, published A New Selection of Hymns in 1828. All profits were to go to widows and orphans of Baptist ministers and missionaries. This widely used book was revised and enlarged in 1838, and again in 1871 by a supplement entitled Praise Waiteth. His son, also John Haddon, prepared a new book containing 1000 hymns called Psalms and Hymns, first published in 1858; again, profits were for widows and orphans. A ‘Psalms and Hymns Trust’ oversaw the distribution of the charity, and in due course came to own the copyrights and printing plates of Psalms and Hymns. The charity extended its purposes into publishing hymn books for the Baptist denomination generally and became the leading force in 20th Century British Baptist hymnody. In 1880, a supplement to Haddon’s book appeared under the editorship of J. T. Wigner which added 271 hymns, mostly modern. The same editors produced a companion book intended mainly for Sunday Schools called Psalms and Hymns for the Young. In its various editions, Psalms and Hymns sold nearly three million copies.

The more Calvinistic Churches tended to use William Gadsby*’s Selection of Hymns for Public Worship, first published in 1814. Gadsby was a stocking-weaver from the Midlands, who had little formal education but who became a pastor. A ‘High Calvinist’, he moved to Manchester in 1805 where he stayed until his death in 1844. His Selection was intended to replace several books in use: Watts’s Psalms and Hymns and Rippon’s Selection (both too Arminian in theology for Gadsby’s taste), and the Independent Joseph Hart*’s Hymns Composed on Various Subjects, first published in 1759. Gadsby’s book was issued in a revised edition with a Supplement in 1838. Subsequent alterations and additions enlarged the book to contain 1130 hymns by 1900, including over 250 hymns composed by Gadsby himself. Although hymns by non-Calvinist writers appeared, they were altered to make them theologically acceptable. For instance, in Charles Wesley*’s ‘Light of those whose dreary dwelling’*, the phrase ‘Universal Saviour’ was changed to ‘Dear Exalted Saviour’ . Gadsby’s Hymns continues in use among the Strict Baptists (Grace Baptists) into the 21st Century. Two less used collections were both called The Selection — one by D. Denham (1837) and the other by J. Stevens, both of London.

Although many Victorian Baptists wrote hymns, no single significant writer emerged, and almost all of their work proved transient, even among Baptists. By the time of the Baptist Hymn Book of 1962 (BHB), only a few little-used hymns for special occasions remained — one on believer’s baptism by Baptist Wriothesley Noel*, (‘Glory to God’), one suitable for an anniversary or the opening of a new building by Frederic William Goadby* (‘O Thou whose hand hath brought us’*), a Sunday evening hymn by T. V. Tymms (‘Our Day of Praise is ended’, originally ‘Another Sabbath ended’) and an early-morning prayer meeting hymn by C. H. Spurgeon* (‘Sweetly the holy hymn’*). Two children’s hymns by William Henry Parker* achieved more widespread use, namely ‘Holy Spirit, hear us’* and especially ‘Tell me the stories of Jesus’*. The century saw a number of collections of hymns published for individual churches, notably Spurgeon’s Our Own Hymn-Book of 1866 for the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which contained 1129 hymns and psalms, and was used by other congregations of Spurgeon foundation or under his influence through the training of Pastors.

20th Century

At the very end of the 19th century, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland came to an agreement with the Psalms and Hymns Trustees to publish a new hymnbook for what was a newly united denomination, the ‘New Connexion’ having been by then incorporated in the Union. S. G. Green, who had shared in the preparation of Psalms and Hymns, chaired the editorial committee which made a conservative selection, largely from what was familiar in hymnody, including metrical litanies, chants and anthems. The result was the Baptist Church Hymnal (BCH), which appeared in 1900. In this book began the trends (which accelerated throughout the 20th century) of losing the older specifically Baptist hymns, and including very little of distinction by new Baptist authors. Only one newcomer to this book, William Edward Winks* of Cardiff, is still represented in BHB and then only by a single little-used hymn for missionary valediction (‘Lord, Thy servants forth are going’*). A revised edition, Baptist Church Hymnal (Revised), was published in 1933 under the chairmanship of Carey Bonner*. He had been editor of The Sunday School Hymnary, published by the National Sunday School Union in 1905, and co-editor of The Christian Endeavour Hymnal of 1896. The Christian Endeavour movement began as a devotional meeting for young people, whose great value was that all its members were involved in its meetings in leading prayer, reading Scripture or delivering a devotional address. It was effective as a lay training programme, and very many Baptist Churches had active groups until the mid-20th century. Because of the reluctance of people to leave, it became established as an adult movement too, holding national conventions and electing a National President. Carey Bonner was also very involved in Child Songs, widely used among infants in day and Sunday schools during the first two thirds of the 20th century, contributing tunes under a large number of pseudonyms. Among the new Baptist writers in the Baptist Church Hymnal (Revised) were Marianne Farningham*, whose resolutely up-beat rewriting of Charlotte Elliott*’s ‘Just as I am, without one plea’* — ‘Just as I am, Thine own to be’* achieved some currency, even beyond Baptist circles; and William Young Fullerton*, whose ‘I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship’* is arguably the best Christian lyric written for the tune LONDONDERRY AIR; it remains in general usage. Other new writers who found some acceptance among Baptists include Walter John Mathams*, whose ‘Christ of the upward way’ was a popular hymn in services of believer’s baptism; and L. J. Egerton Smith, whose re-writing of William Walsham How*’s ‘For all the saints who from their labours rest’*, beginning ‘For all the love’ was set (illegally) to Vaughan Williams*’s SINE NOMINE and sung by several generations of Baptists (Vaughan Williams’s will forbids copyright permission for the tune to anything other than ‘For all the saints’).

In 1930 the Carey Press, the publishing arm of the Baptist Missionary Society named after the great missionary William Carey, published Hymns for Today, a collection of 118 hymns intended for young people’s meetings and Summer Schools. This included translations of Indian Christian lyrics, none of which commended themselves for general use. In 1946, Stanley Voke and Stephen Winward compiled Hymns of Worship and Communion, a small collection which aimed to give priority to the theological content of the hymns.

In January 1954, the Psalms and Hymns Trust began to consider the need for a new book, and by the end of the year an editorial committee was in place. The decision was taken to produce a new book and not another revision of Baptist Church Hymnal. In 1962 the Baptist Hymn Book (BHB) was published, containing 777 hymns, plus a selection of Psalms intended for chanting in the Anglican style. Although a new book, it retained two-thirds of the contents of Baptist Church Hymnal (Revised). The compilers were greatly influenced by both Congregational Praise and The BBC Hymn Book, both dating from 1951, but they also reflected Baptist enthusiasm for the Billy Graham Evangelistic events in Britain in the 1950s by including such hymns as ‘Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine’*. They seem also to have felt the need to demonstrate denominational loyalty, because hymns of questionable merit appeared by two leading Baptist scholars, H. Wheeler Robinson and T. R. Glover. With much more justification, ‘Our Father God, Thy name we raise’, which is a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer from the Anabaptist Ausbund (first edition, 1564) is included in a fine translation by E.A. Payne, at the time General Secretary of the Baptist Union. Dr Payne described the Ausbund as ‘the first Free Church Hymnal’. It is perhaps surprising that the first British Baptists in Amsterdam either did not come across the tradition of singing such hymns among the Mennonites they must have met there, or rejected the practice. Denominational sentiment also seems to have led to the inclusion of ‘O thou my soul, forget no more’*, a translation by Joshua Marshman*, one of the Baptist Missionary Society’s first missionaries in India, of ‘Je Jone Apon Pan’ by Krishna Pal*, their first Indian convert. More significantly, Richard Birch Hoyle*’s fine translation from the French of ‘Thine be the glory, Risen conqu’ring Son’* made its Baptist debut as did ‘Child in the manger’*, translated from Mary Macdonald*’s Gaelic. Of other newly published material, only R.D. Browne’s ‘Thou, Lord, hast given Thyself for our healing’ and Hugh Martin’s ‘Christ who welcomed little children’ achieved much currency even among Baptists. The latter is valued as one of the best hymns suitable for a service of infant presentation, the Baptist ceremony for naming and welcoming babies. Hugh Martin was also responsible for a new final verse for ‘Tell me the stories of Jesus’* which ends the hymn with the resurrection rather than the crucifixion, making a better theological balance.

BHB, though widely adopted by Baptist Churches, was just too early to be much influenced by the revolutions in hymnody, worship and churchmanship which began in the 1960s. These revolutions included the language of public worship, with the change from the King James version of the Bible to various modern translations, the modernisation of the language of public prayer, and the beginning of the ‘explosion’ of new hymn writing. In the music of worship, they included the popularisation and democratisation of music and culture which saw the decline in four-part harmony singing and the end of the virtual monopoly of organ accompaniment, the rise of the worship song and pop-music-influenced lyrics and tunes. New technology brought the growth of local publication by duplication, over-head projection and computer data projection. Social and theological changes were beginning to loosen denominational loyalty, seen in the rise of the formal ecumenical movement, and in the informal involvement between churches, and between para-church bodies among Evangelicals and those influenced by charismatic renewal. As a result of the early stages of these processes, the Psalms and Hymns Trust soon discerned the need for a supplement of recent material and so in 1974 published Praise for Today, a collection of 104 mostly new hymns and songs. E.P. Sharpe, who had served on the editorial committee of the Baptist Hymn Book and chaired its music sub-committee, chaired both editorial and music committees of the new book. In publication style and general content, Praise for Today was influenced by the Anglican 100 Hymns for Today [100HfT] (1969), but other influences can also be discerned, including that of the New Catholic Hymnal (NCH, 1971). Most of the material did not come from Baptist sources: the book drew heavily on the work of Fred Kaan*, Brian Wren* and Fred Pratt Green*. Three hymns by Daniel Thambyrajah Niles*, a Sri Lankan Methodist, made their appearance, including ‘Father in heaven’*, part of a deliberate effort to replace traditional European missionary hymns by hymns produced by younger Christian churches. Other Baptist contributions came from Peter Tongeman* and Keith Clements whose ‘Father of glory’ was also to be selected for Baptist Praise and Worship. Praise for Today was not a great success and did not run to a second printing. Its bias towards newly written but traditionally styled hymns, often about the social and political implications of Christianity and set to indifferent music, was out of step with the trend among British Baptists to become increasingly conservative theologically, and informal, populist and pietistic in worship, trends which accelerated and became almost universal under the charismatic renewal movement of the closing years of the 20th century.

By the 1980s, sales of BHB had plummeted, and the Psalms and Hymns Trust again considered the production of a new book. It was not assumed that such a book was necessary or viable in the light of all the changes already mentioned, as well as the competition from interdenominational and para-church books such as Mission Praise, Hymns for Today’s Church (HFTC) and Songs and Hymns of Fellowship. However, the Trust did eventually conclude that a new Baptist book was needed, so a committee started work in 1984. The United Reformed Church was also just starting to produce its book, RS, but was unwilling to co-operate. The Baptist committee consulted many churches and individuals to survey what was valued in BHB by those who still used it, and this indicated that less than half its hymns were in regular use. The compilers of the new book made the policy decision to modernise and make inclusive the language of traditional hymns so far as possible. Recognising the continuing flow of newly written material and its accessibility to local congregations, as well as changes in local church life which were diminishing the opportunities for hymn singing, the committee opted for a ‘core’ book of about 550 hymns and songs. The compilers hoped the book would introduce congregations to the whole range of contemporary hymns, not only the socially aware hymns of Fred Kaan and Brian Wren, and the more traditional offerings of Christopher Idle* and Timothy Dudley-Smith*, but also Taizé* chants, Iona Community* songs, and the hymns and choruses of Graham Kendrick* and the charismatic renewal writers. They did not want the book to be just a collection of what was already known and accepted, so they searched widely among published books and solicited unpublished material from Baptists which was assessed without any knowledge of authorship. The book, entitled Baptist Praise and Worship (BPW), appeared in 1991. Among the new Baptist writers were Christopher Ellis, who had revived the practice of writing hymns for his congregations. Perhaps his best contribution is ‘Passover God we remember your faithfulness’, which links the Holy Communion with the Exodus experience. Other Baptist writers included Betty Stanley, Deborah Rooke, Mollie Knight, who wrote a metrical version of the Beatitudes ‘How blest the poor who love the Lord’, David Turner, Joyce Woolford, and Peter Tongeman. David Goodbourn contributed a fine metrical paraphrase of the Great Thanksgiving at Holy Communion, ‘Father, it is right and fitting’, and Pam Pettit a hymn based on Martin Luther King’s great speech ‘I have a dream’. Perhaps one of its most important contributions is a revised version of Fred Pratt Green’s version of Dietrich Bonhoeffer*’s poem ‘By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered’*, which had the approval of the translator, particularly for the last stanza. For financial reasons, BPW was published in partnership with the Oxford University Press, and since it was only adopted by a minority of BUGB churches, probably no more than 25%, it went out of print after only a few years. The sales were much less than previous books, and since the Trustees received a royalty only on each copy sold, the Psalms and Hymns Trustees no longer had the resources to produce a hymnbook for British Baptists, even if conventional books continued to be used in worship. The Trust was therefore wound up.

Although the main denominational books were used in public worship by most Churches until the late 20th century, a minority used other books, such as Sankey*’s Sacred Songs and Solos. From middle to late Victorian times onward, many local churches functioned as an overlapping group of organisations, probably including a Sunday School, a Women’s Meeting, and perhaps some or all of a Christian Endeavour Group, a Band of Hope, a ‘Pleasant Sunday Afternoon’ and a Youth Fellowship. These sub-groups were quite likely to use other books for their meetings. Thus, the Sunday school would have used the Sunday School Hymnary, the Christian Endeavour its own Hymnal and the Band of Hope a Temperance Hymn Book. The Women’s Meeting could have used Alexander’s Hymns and the Youth Fellowship the CSSM, Golden Bells or its ‘Chorus’ books. Sometimes use of another book became official. For instance, it was suggested to the deacons at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, London in 1883 that Sankey’s book might be used at the Church’s Monday Evening Prayer Meeting. Thus the hymn repertory of individual Baptists was very likely to be far broader than an examination of the denominational books alone would suggest.

Looking back over the history of Baptists and their hymnody, a clear trend may be discerned. In the early days, hymnody was heavily based first on the metrical psalms and on the largely objective doctrinal hymns of writers such as Watts and Doddridge. The first Baptist writers tended to concentrate on doctrinal hymns about Baptism or the Lord’s Supper, or specially written hymns to underline and reinforce a sermon topic. Although the hymns of the Methodist Revival continued to have a substantial doctrinal content, they showed an increased emphasis on personal experience which influenced Baptists greatly. This tendency to focus on experience developed during the 19th century, particularly with the hymns and songs of Sankey and other American writers. All the denominational books endeavoured to keep a theological balance in their contents, but most Churches became increasingly experience-driven. By the second half of the 20th century, the ‘doctrinal’ hymns on believer’s baptism in BHB were unused by most Baptists, being replaced in baptismal services by such hymns as ‘O Jesus, I have promised’* , ‘Just as I am, without one plea’*, or ‘One more step along the world I go’*, hymns which focused on the experience of the baptismal candidates. By the end of the 20th century most traditional hymns had disappeared from most BUGB churches, having been replaced by extrovert and triumphalist worship songs, often based on a narrow selection of verses from the Psalms, and songs of personal experience. The preoccupation with experience became so extreme, that many songs are about yearning for experience, ‘I really want to worship you, O Lord....’, suggesting that many see worship no longer primarily as ‘divine worship’, but more as a means of personal spiritual development and fulfilment. Another change is that whereas the main Baptist hymnbooks had always been eclectic, drawing from all ages and denominations, present-day songs are largely contemporary and very largely drawn only from the charismatic/conservative evangelical constituency, leading to a narrowing of congregational experience and loss of catholicity. John Rippon, writing the Preface to his Selection in 1787, said ‘It has given me no small pleasure, to unite, as far as I could, different Denominations of Ministers, and Christians on Earth, in the same noble Work, which shall for ever employ them above. It has not been my Enquiry, whose Hymns shall I choose, but what, Hymns; and hence it will be seen, that Churchmen and Dissenters, Watts and Tate, Wesley and Toplady, England and America sing Side by Side, and very often join in the same Triumph, using the same words.’ Sadly, this is no longer true of the worship of most British Baptists; but there are signs of growing unease, and perhaps in due course, other contemporary riches will be discovered and older ones remembered.

Michael Ball

Further Reading

1. Carey Bonner, Some Baptist Hymnists, from the Seventeenth Century to Modern Times (London: the Baptist Union, 1937).
2. Hugh Martin, ed., A Companion to the Baptist Church Hymnal, Revised, by J.O. Barrett, et al. (London: Psalms and Hymns Trust, 1953).
3. ———, ed., The Baptist Hymn Book Companion, by J. Ithel Jones, e. al. (London: Psalms and Hymns Trust, 1962, Revised Edition, 1967).