A very important change from the original of many hymns is the omission of some of the less valuable stanzas, or even a condensation of some of them by omitting unattractive lines.
“Oh for a thousand tongues to sing,” the fine hymn that opens all but recent Methodist hymnals, originally began, “Glory to God and praise and love,” and had eighteen stanzas. The hymn as now used consists of stanzas 7 to 12 of the original. Some hymnals omit stanza 10.
In the Trinity hymn sometimes ascribed to Charles Wesley, “Come, Thou Almighty King,” the second of the original five stanzas is always omitted:
“Jesus, our Lord, arise, Scatter our enemies, And make them fall; Let thine almighty aid Our sure defense be made, Our souls on thee be stayed; Lord, hear our call.”
The evident imitation of the second stanza of the British National anthem is too obvious:
“O Lord, our God, arise, Scatter his enemies, And make them fall. Frustrate their knavish tricks, Confound their politics, On Him our hearts we fix; God save the King.”
In Bishop Brooks’ original of “O little town of Bethlehem,” so widely known and used, the fourth stanza is omitted:
“Where children, pure and happy, Pray to the Blessed Child; Where misery cries out to thee, Son of the Mother mild; Where charity stands watching, And faith holds wide the door, The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, And Christmas comes once more.”
The reasons are not far to seek: the double rhyme in the third line is so forced as to be awkward; the first two lines refer to Jesus in the third person, but the next two in the second; more important still, the stanza does not make a sufficient addition to the value of the hymn to warrant the added length.
“Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, thine, And bathed in its own blood, While all exposed to wrath divine, The glorious suff’rer stood,”
if retained, despite its medieval picture of our suffering Lord, would have added nothing to Watts’ noble hymn, “Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,” but rather would have hemmed the progress of its thought and feeling.
Few of the lovers of Robinson’s classic hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,” would have enjoyed singing and visualizing the omitted fourth stanza,
“O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see thy lovely face! _Richly clothed in blood-washed linen_, How I’ll sing thy sovereign grace!”
