A Hundred Hymns. (Religious Tract Society.)—The editors of the Sunday
at Home invited their readers some little time ago to vote for their favourite hymns. Three thousand five hundred replied to this invitation, and here we have the result of the lists which they sent in. The hundred hymns which came out with the greatest number of votes are given, and given, too—for this is a noteworthy point—" as a rule in their original form, although in some cases with omissions." Short biographical notices of the writers, with now and then a portrait, are prefixed. The first ten are the following :—(1), "Rock of Ages" (Toplady),—this obtained 3,215 votes ; (2), "Abide with me" (Lyte) ; (3), " Jesu, lover of my soul" (C. Wesley) ; (4), "Just as I am" (Charlotte Elliott) ; (5), "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds" (John Newton) ; (6), "Thy will be done" (Charlotte Elliott) ; (7), "Nearer to Thee" (Sarah Flower Adams) ; (8), "Sun of my soul" (Keble) ; (9), "I heard the voice of Jesus say" (Horatius Bonar) ;. (10), "Art thou weary, art thou languid ?" (J. M. Neale, after Stephen the Sabaite). "From Greenland's icy mountains," "When I survey the wondrous Cross," and "Lead, kindly light" stand respectively 13,14, and 15. The hundred hymns come from something less than sixty authors. Of authors, Watts and Charles Wesley head the list with seven each. Then come Cowper and Dr. Boner, with five each ; Heber and J. M. Neale, with four (two of the latter being adaptations from Bernard of Clugny) ; Dod- dridge, Charlotte Elliott, F. W. Faber, James Montgomery, and Tate and Brady claim three each. Eight are represented by two specimens, the remainder by one. It may be noticed that "Hymns, Ancient and Modern," which maybe taken as expressing the tastes of average Anglican congregations, contain seventy-six out of the hundred. The first twenty-four may be found in this compilation. No. 25, "There is a fountain filled with blood," is excluded, with the assent, we should think, of most sober-minded persons. The next fourteen are to be found. Only Iwo, therefore, out of the first forty are missing.
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