Article October 13, 1934 Issue

Our Hymnal

KATE SPEAR CORNELL

It is recorded that at the close of the last supper, when they had sung a hymn, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Mount of Olives, and there he continued talking with them. Jesus knew he was about to be betrayed by Judas Iscariot and given into the hands of the high priest. Still, he and his disciples sang the passover hymn of prayer and praise to God.

Within a prison, with their feet made fast in stocks, Paul and Silas sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them and "immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed." In the midst of persecution, and unjustly jailed, these two men did not repine and complain that God had forsaken them. They were so filled with the spirit of love, so confident, that they sang; and that joyous acknowledgment of God, we read, freed not only themselves, but also those who listened.

We are told in Colossians to admonish "one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." If we obey the admonition to sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, how healing our songs will be! To sing a hymn with the consciousness of its spiritual meaning and its power to help us realize heaven, and to bring forth blessings in the midst of a church service, would inspire and heal and make manifest that spirit which speaks of Truth and Love.

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