HYMNS.
[To TUE EDITOR OF TUE " SPECTATOE:] SIR,—The writer of the admirable article on "Hymns" in the Spectator of November 21st twice very justly cites one of Isaac Watts's finest psalms as a model of noble sacred song. The first line as there quoted is not, however, what Watts wrote. It is Watts altered by John Wesley, and altered very much for the worse. From the tone and spirit of your reviewer, I am not without hope of his ooncurrenee in the feeling that in changing " Our God, our help in ages past," to " 0 God, our help in ages past," Wesley grievously weakened the force of the direct personal invocation emphasised in " Our." As Wesley's version has been adopted universally in Methodist, and generally in Church of England, selections, the emasculated form has largely supplanted Watts's original, with its robust claim to the devout boldness of access taught in the Lord's Prayer and counselled by St. Paul,—which is a pity. Imagine the loss that would be involved in substituting " 0 Father, who art in Heaven," for " Our Father, which."—
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