My knowledge of that life is small;

The eye of faith is dim:

But 't is enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him."

There was reform within the Romish Church as well as without. Not all the saints were Protestants. At the very time that Luther was thundering against the abuses of the Church, a devout Roman Catholic was having great success as a missionary in India and Japan. His name was Francis Xavier. He was one of the founders of the Order of Jesuits. Although this society is infamous in history for its persecutions, and is in disfavor at the present time for its political intriguing, yet originally it was a missionary organization. The members pledged themselves to go into some foreign field. Xavier did not carry out his pledge for many years. But finally he sailed for India; and the last years of his life were spent there and in Japan. It is said that he used to go through the streets of the cities where he labored, ringing a bell to call the people to confessional. His success was great, but transient. He baptized multitudes, but their conversion was more a change of religion than a change of heart.

However, Xavier himself was a devout and zealous man, although some of his methods may

be questioned. He wrote the following hymn which reveals a devotion equal to St. Bernard's:

"My God, I love Thee, not because

I hope to gain a heaven thereby,

Nor yet because who love Thee not
Are lost eternally.

Not from the hope of gaining aught,

Not seeking a reward,

But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord!

So would I love Thee, dearest Lord,
And in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my most loving King."

"Jerusalem, my happy home," was also written about this time, and probably by a Roman Catholic. It is worthy to be classed with the "heaven hymns" of Bernard of Cluny.

The hymns of the Reformation and the succeeding period have a stern character. They are apt to be doctrinal and pervaded with severity. But Mrs. Charles says they speak of confidence in God, in trial and conflict. They call Him a Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer.

CHAPTER III.

Watts, Doddridge, and Newton.

For two hundred years the English Churches sang nothing but metrical psalms. The words were usually unpoetic, and the music heavy and slow. These qualities made their rendering very tedious. One day the young Isaac Watts complained of them to his father, and, in the course of the conversation, expressed the opinion that he could write better hymns himself. His father encouraged him to try. He wrote the hymn beginning:

"Behold the glories of the Lamb,
Amidst His Father's throne;
Prepare new honors for His name,
And songs before unknown."

It was sung in the church the next Sunday. The people were so delighted with it that they asked him to write another. This was the beginning of his life-work. In the next few years he wrote many hymns.

At the age of twenty-four Watts entered the

ministry of the Independent Church, and became one of the greatest preachers of his time. His ideal for sermons was as high as his ideal for hymns. He expresses it thus:

"That is a good sermon which draws my heart nearer to God; which makes the grace of Christ sweeter to my soul, and the commands of Christ easy and delightful; that is an excellent discourse, indeed, which enables me to mortify some unruly sin, to vanquish some strong temptation, and weans me from the enticements of this lower world; which bears me above all the disquietude of this lower life, which fits me for the hour of death, and makes me desirous of appearing before Jesus Christ, my Lord."

In another place he says, "Divine love did not send dreaming preachers to call dead sinners to life." It seems unfortunate that a preacher with such ideals should have a short ministry.

But Watts had injured himself in childhood by overstudy. It is said that he commenced the study of Latin at four years of age, Greek at nine, French at ten, and Hebrew at thirteen. He was so diligent in his application to his work that he did not take proper recreation and rest. The result was that when he reached manhood he was practically an invalid. Most of the work of his parish had to be done by an assistant. After he was thirty-eight he seldom even preached.

But his ill-health did not impair his usefulness. Indeed, it broadened the sphere of his influence. James Montgomery says: "Every Sabbath, in every region of the earth where his native tongue is spoken, thousands and tens of thousands of voices are sending the sacrifices of prayer and praise to God in the strains he prepared for them a century ago."

As metrical versions of the Psalms were the hymns of that time, Dr. Watts founded many of his hymns on the Psalms. Indeed he published a Psalter. Many of the pieces it contained were very ordinary compositions, yet the book, as a whole, was far superior to any previous Psalter. "O God, our help in ages past," was perhaps the greatest piece in the book. The people appreciated the value of this new version of the Psalms, and four thousand copies were sold the first year.

But Watts was too original to confine himself to the Psalms. He said: "What need is there that I should wrap up the shining honors of my Redeemer in the dark and shadowy language of a religion forever abolished?" So, long before he published his Psalter, he published a volume called "Hymns and Spiritual Songs." It was the first attempt ever made in England to supersede the Psalter. Consequently it met with bitter opposition. Devout persons regarded it as sacrilegious to sing uninspired hymns. For nearly thirty years his best hymns were excluded from