'Psalmody, which had been neglected in England beyond what some readers would suppose, the Wesleys took up from the beginning, with a clear-sighted view of its importance, and with a zeal that ensured success. Methodism never could have become what it did without its unparalleled hymn-book. That, perhaps, has been more effective in preserving its evangelical theology than Wesley's Sermons and his Notes on the New Testament. Where one man read the homilies and the exposition, a thousand sang the hymns. All divisions in Christendom have a stamp imprinted on their piety, by which they are easily known. As to the fervour of Methodism, there can be no mistake; and it is owing largely to the concrete and personal character of its psalmody. It does not deal in the calm, intellectual contemplation of abstract themes, however sacred and sublime; but in the experience of believers, as soldiers of Christ, "fighting," "watching," "suffering," "working," and "seeking for full redemption." You catch in them the trumpet-blast, the cry of the wounded, the shout of victory, and the dirge at a warrior's funeral.'
DR. STOUGHTON,
Religion in England in 1800-1850.
