Lessons of Old Hymns

Try to describe "yearning". Try to define "providence". Try to teach a young mind what a thirsty soul feels like. How do you describe what only life and experience can wrought. 

There is a language, some would say a spiritual language, found in music that speaks directly to the soul, unlike verbal expression. The combination of this language with spiritual truths defines worship and is found beautifully in old hymns.

Old hymns move me, defining emotions and giving words to thoughts and feelings. I recently bought an old hymn book, dated 1937, on Amazon. My $5.37 investment has blessed my heart immensely. I love reading these hymns, many that I've never heard before. 

Here is one from a 1650 Scottish Psalter:

My thirsty soul longs ardently, 

Yea, faints Thy courts to see; 

My very heart and flesh cry out, 

O living God, for Thee.

Here's another written for children:

Christ watches me, His little lamb, cares for me day and night,

That I may be his own in heaven: So angels clad in white

Shall sing their "Glory, glory", For my sake in the height.

And when trials come, this beautiful late 18th century hymn is poignant:

Should thy mercy send me Sorrow, toil and woe,

Or should pain attend me on my path below,

Grant that I may never Fail thy hand to see;

Grant that I may ever cast my care on thee.

When my last hour cometh, fraught with strife and pain,

When my dust returneth to the dust again,

On thy truth relying, thro that mortal strife; 

Jesus, take me dying, to eternal life.