THE TEXT OF DR. WATTS.
rTo TIM EDITOR OP TIM "8esersren.1 SIR,—Hymns are meant for congregational singing ; and it is surely mere pedantry to object to their wording being altered so as to adapt them better to their purpose. • In many cases a text, decidedly superior in every way to the original, has by a process of natural selection been gradually evolved. Among such improvements I should reckon the substitution of "0 God, our help in ages past," for "Our God, our help in ages past." Even more obvious, as it seems to me, is the superiority of "Time, like an ever-rolling stream" to "Time, like an over-rolling stream." Is it certain, by the way, that Isaac Watts wrote " over-rolling " P In the nine-volume edition of his works, 1812-3, Vol. IX., p. 88, it is "ever-rolling." As regards that other famous hymn, "There is a laud of pure delight," I have seen it stated that the lines—
"Sweat fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dressed in living green "— were suggested by the view of the coast of the Isle of Wight as seen across Southampton Water. Watts was a native of Southampton, and spent part of his early life there.—I am,
Previous page
