September 1929
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The Gospel Song M ovem ent B y P rof . J ohn B issell T rowbridge (Director Music Dept., Bible Institute o f Los Angeles)
tural in thought and free in style. He published his “Hymns and Spiritual Songs” in 1707. These works of Watts were well received and soon widely used in Eng land. But in America the process of adoption was slow, owing to the suspicious attitude of the Colonists regarding anything from England. The great Wesleyan revival produced results in Eng land that literally transformed society, and the singing of hymns was a large factor in all meetings. This was espe cially true in the great open-air gatherings. Whitefield used Watts’ hymns in his American campaigns; and the stern Jonathan Edwards used music effectively and testi fied to the wonderful way in which “grace was poured out” through song in his meetings. All this was accom plished in spite of the slow and cumbersome psalm tunes that were in vogue and the scarcity of books with notes. The handicap of primitive musical advantages in America could only be overcome by the slow process of growth. In the meantime, the crude attempts of William Billings and others of his school in the 18th century both helped and hindered. His compositions were bombastic and stilted and yet he wrote some hymns and war songs that set the Revolutionary patriots to singing in the camps and at the home fireside, even as George F. Root’s songs did eighty-five years later during the Civil War. E arly R eformers of C hurch M usic in A merica The work of Lowell Mason as a reformer in church music began to be felt in the Eastern States about 1830. He has been called “The Father of American Church Music,” but he was not a Gospel-song writer. His hymn tunes are of the staid conservative type. He was a teacher and promoter primarily, and two of his most noted pupils went out to write songs that carried his principles into the realm of Gospel music. William Bradbury was the older of the two and as a young organist and choir director in the Baptist Tabernacle, New York, he began what was probably his greatest contribution to the cause, in his children’s choir work., Starting with a singing class for children in his own church, the work spread city-wide until he had his hands full with classes numbering sev eral hundred each and resulting in annual “Juvenile Music Festivals” that for several years were events that at tracted wide attention. Bradbury developed a real style of writing for juveniles, illustrations of which are seen in “Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us,” “Jesus Loves Me,” “He Leadeth Me,” and “The Solid Rock.” Songs of this type were being sung in Sunday schools throughout the country in the ’50’s and ’60’s, and were among the earliest efforts in the use of real Gospel Singing. The claim that the Gospel Song was “born” in New castle, England, in 1873, is thus seen to be “stretching a point.” This movement did not spring into being full grown “over night.” The work of Mr. Sankey simply brought out its first definite designation as such. This Was its first real challenge to the world for recognition. The appeal of the people for a simpler form of religious expression was being definitely recognised in 1840—-it was being realised in 1873.
Bfeg p a g HE Hymnody of the 19th and 20th centuries has TivW' been noticeably affected in technique, and greatly enriched in spiritual power, by the so- called Gospel-song movement. Being the out- IMAr growth of a great religious awakening it is evan- l x-li gelistic both in conception and outworking. Only those churches and individuals that believe in an aggres sive Bible program are enthusiastic about the Gospel song. Some of the more conservative of the Gospel songs have found their way into the standard hymnals, and so have a chance to testify alongside of the old veteran hymn that has stood the test of centuries. The Gospel song, as a rule, is sung with a dash and vigor unknown to the old psalm and hymn tune. In this way it has improved the congregational singing of the old hymns by a process of emulation and demonstration. Taking definite form in the Moody and Sankey Cam paigns in England in ¿873, which were simultaneous with the work of Whittle, and Bliss in America, the Gospel song has developed in scope and quality and its wide use has been a mighty factor in the greatest evangelistic cam paigns ever known. These evangelistic meetings have been nation-wide and world-wide in their sweep, under Moody, Torrey, Chapman, Biederwolf, Sunday, and many lesser lights, having associated with them such outstanding sing ers and leaders as Sankey, Towner, Stebbins, McGrana- han, Alexander and Rodeheaver. S ources of th e N ew M ovement The streams of influence that were converging to give impetus to this musical epoch have their sources far back in national and religious history. In the successive re ligious awakenings since the Reformation there was a reaching out after something—a need recognized but not clearly defined. But as we view it in retrospect we see that this need was a simpler and more spontaneous ex pression of religious emotion—a more direct lyrical word ing of personal religious experience, and the desire to give a definite Gospel message with a hortative appeal. With the removal of the ban on congregational singing that came with the launching of the Reformation, the Psalms were again taken as the fountainhead of praise. Luther arranged his great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” from Psalm 46. Calvin and Knox promoted the publica tion of the Genevan Psalter, and leaders in every country brought out versions of the Psalms. In England there was the Rouse version, Sternhold and Hopkins’ (known as the “old version” ), Tate and Brady’s (the “new ver sion” ), and these were followed in 1719 by Watts’ para phrases in which he sought to couch the Psalms in New Testament language, thus making many of them real hymns. An example of this is ( “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun,” a paraphrase of Psalm 72. Watts made a systematic attempt to create a new standard of congregational singing, and laid down definite principles to work by: First, he set himself the task of versifying all the Psalms “as I may suppose David would have done had he lived in the days of Christianity.” Second, he sought to improve the Hymnody by writing hymns Scrip
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