“The only way to test a Hymn, is, not merely to read it silently, or even aloud, but to sing it, over and over again, to its own tune. There is nothing in this little book that has not been abundantly subjected to this test before being offered to the public. The fact, that in part of my work I have written words for other people’s music, in another part have written music for other people’s words, while in the rest I furnish both words and music myself, is some evidence that I have bestowed equal care and labor upon both the things which are essential to good Hymnody. The reason why we have so much of unsatisfactory material thrust upon the Church, is that, for the most part, the writers of the words have known little about music, and the writers of music have had little taste or power in the poetic field, and therefore there was no felt organic connection betwixt the two.”
Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Preface to Third Edition of Carols, Hymns, and Songs