June 1929
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of Galilee and with all His disciples, and on His way to cast out a legion of his demons, set to work to try to sink them all to the bottom of Galilee. But how impossible! Our little ship may toss and roll, and seem at times about to sink, but if He is with us in the ship, it cannot sink. Hallelujah! But Satan had a special purpose in attacking that boat that night. He wanted to stop the Lord Jesus on His way to deliver that poor man on the other side of the sea. The devil does not like to be displaced, and knowing that his time for the possession of that man was limited, that if Jesus reached the poor victim, the demons would be cast out, he made his last desperate effort to prevent His cross ing the sea. Satan has been in possession of those dark heathen lands ever since the Fall of man. Where no Gospel Light shines, he has complete undisputed control, and none to challenge him. Think you that he will welcome the Gospel messenger who proposes in the name of the Lord Jesus to displace him? Nay. We may expect a storm. Paul had a riot in almost every city he entered with the Gospel message. Blessed be1His name! Jesus is Victor on land and sea. He who spoke rebuking the winds and the waves,,and they instantly obeyed Him, can also cast out two thousand demons at His word. We go not in our own name, but in
His almighty name alone. “A ll power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore!” To attempt this terrific conflict in our own name would be like a babe going to war with a giant. The God of the lad David will slay the strong man, the Philistine Giant Goliath. Please pray for these two young Chinese brethren who are taking up the work in Samarinda, on the east coast of Dutch Borneo. They have both had a real call from the Lord, and have both given up much to follow Him to this new work. They are the only witnesses for the Lord Jesus on the entire east coast of Dutch Borneo,—a coast line of about 500 miles. There are about fifteen ports like Samarinda on this coast, all of which must have a witness for the Lord Jesus. Who will open a Chapel at Balik- papan, at Pasir, at Stagen, at Redah, at Tarakan? There appear to be five main rivers from the interior of Borneo which serve as the highways into the land of the Dyaks. Pray that ere long we shall have missionaries ready to go up these rivers with the Gospel message. In a later article I want to tell praying people at home more about this new field which the Lord is surely opening up to us. Borneo, with the one exception of New Guinea, is the largest island in the world. Who will hear the cry from the other shore ? Who will help deliver this man of Borneo and set him singing the praises of our Lord Jesus Christ? faith—and the Post-Reformation period continued the stern character of religious thought, which was reflected in the hymns and songs in common use. In a later century we see also the strange case of Toplady writing “Rock of Ages” to counteract the teaching of the Wesleys. In the eighteenth century the missionary and devo tional spirit began to gain the ascendency in the hymns of the Protestant churches of Europe and America, and not until then do we find women writers appearing in the ranks of the hyrimists. This is very natural and is a tribute to the finer, clearer and. more intuitive perception of spirit ual values that we associate with the feminine mind and heart. T h e T wo T heodo sia s The first important name on the list of woman hymn writers is that of Anne Steele (1716-1778), the daughter of a merchant-preacher who labored without salary in the little Baptist church of Broughton in Hampshire, Eng land, for the greater part of his life. Anne was a dutiful minister’s daughter and lived her life quietly in this vil lage, which was only fifteen miles from the home of Watts, with whom she was contemporary. Her life was one of suffering, both physical and mental, and this is reflected in her hymns, which she wrote largely in the common meter which was so popular in the eighteenth century, using the nom-de-plume “Theodosia.” One of her best-known hymns begins with that beautiful stanza: ate
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Woman’s Place in Hymnology B y P ro f . J o h n B is s e l l T rowbridge (Director Music Department, Bible Institute of Los Angeles )
UCH of the initial activity in Christian hymn writing during the early centuries grew out of . religious controversy. The Arians and Gnostics propagated error in this way. Bard- esanes of the Syrian Church was a prolific writer of heretical hymns in the second cen
tury and he was followed by Valentinus of Alexandria and many others, until the subtle and attractive influence of their false teaching was widespread. Christianity, under Constantine, became the state re ligion, and it was then that steps were taken toi improve the hymns. The leader in this movement was Ephraim Syrus, the Greek writer of the fourth century, who recog nized the evil influence of many hymns in common use, and in one of his homilies says:
In the resorts of Bardesanes There are songs and melodies. For, seeing that young persons Loved sweet music, By the harmony of his songs He corrupted their minds.
In meeting this situation Ephraim felt a heavy re sponsibility in writing hymns for the people, “in the midst of whom he stood, a spiritual harper, and arranged for them different kinds of songs and taught them the varia tion of chants until the whole city was gathered to him and the party of the adversary was put to shame.” Luther’s use of music also took on a phase of the con troversial in that it was real propaganda for the reformed
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