the valued possession of the Church in all English-speaking
lands.

IV. One does not proceed far before making some discoveries which may
account, to a certain extent, for the neglect of Greek hymnody by men who
are best qualified to pursue the study of it. The writers are not poets,
in the true sense, and their language is not Greek as we have known it.

(1) None of the hymn-writers in the service-books or out of them is a
poet of more than ordinary merit; although, when John of Damascus forgets
his adversaries, and dispenses with his rhythmical peculiarities and
gives forth the utterance of his deep emotional nature, he proves himself
to be worthy of the title--the greatest of Greek Christian poets.

(2) The Greek language lived long and died slowly, and the Christian
hymn-writers wrote in its decadence. It was then an instrument that has
lost its fineness, and keenness, and polish--worn out and
ineffective,--not the language of the men whose thoughts still charm the
world, and who by its deft use gained for themselves and for their work
immortality. It has little of the subtilty of expression, the variety of
cadence, or the intellectual possibility, of the Greek of Homer, Plato,
and Aristophanes. It is a language, moreover, crippled by the
introduction of ecclesiastical and theological terms and phrases, which
stubbornly refuse to lend themselves to classical rhythm. Such a language
cannot be expected to have attraction for men to whom the ancient poets
are a delight.

(3) The hymns of the Greek Church are all in rhythmical prose--strangely
Oriental in appearance--with the exception of those by John of Damascus,
which are in iambics; and difficulties confront one on every page. What
lines will reward the work of rendering? Prayer, Gospel, psalm, hymn, and
exhortation follow each other, and are sometimes strangely interlaced.
Where does one begin and another end? Then, there is meaningless
repetition which must be passed over, and expressions demanding
modification. The symbolism is extravagant, and sometimes a single hymn
is crowded with figures the most grotesque. The Mariolatry is excessive,
and the hagiolatry offensive. Sifting and pruning are needed before a
cento can be formed which would commend itself to modern taste.

But when all that is said, there remains much that is both beautiful and
attractive. Some of the hymns and fragments are most chaste,--beautiful
and tender in their simple expression of Gosp