Hymns and Spiritual Songs (book)

For many years after the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin's claim that non-Biblical music was inappropriate was popularly held.

But, Jonathan Swift and Samuel Johnson parodied Calvin's beliefs, claiming that religion and poetry could not mix because the poetry could be damaged:[1] Swift claimed that "the smallest quantity of religion, like a single drop of Malt-Liquor in Claret, will muddy and discompose the brightest Poetical Genius.

The paucity of its topicks enforces perpetual repetition, and the sanctity of the matter rejects the ornaments of figurative diction.

"[4] His Hymns were printed in A Translation of the Psalms of David, Attempted in the Spirit of Christianity, and Adapted to the Divine Service, a volume published in 1765.

They were not reprinted until Christopher Smart's daughter, Elizabeth LeNoir, published Miscellaneous Poems, which contained changed versions of hymn 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 28, and 32.

[14] The Hymns generally follow the festivals and fasts that were important to Anglican tradition but they also include four "Solemn Days": the "Martyrdom of the Blessed King Charles the First" on 30 January, the "King's Restoration" on 29 May, the "Accession of the Ruling Monarch" on 25 October and the "Most Traiterous and bloody intended Massacre by Gunpowder" on 5 November.