HYMN ("T Avos). This term as used by the Greeks primarily signified simply a song (comp. Hom. Od. Viii. 429 ; Hes. Op. et D. 659; Pindar 0/. i. 70 ; xi. 74 ; hthm. iv. 74 ; Pyth. x. 82; Aesch. Eum. 331; Soph. Antig. 8o9 ; Plat. Rey). v. p. 459, E, etc.); we find instances even in which the cognate verb byveip is used in a bad sense (Oa& Xcus itcXcippciperat, Eustath. p. 634, comp. Soph. Elect. 382 ; Oea'. Tyr. 1275; Eurip. Med. 425) ; but usage ultimately appropriated the term to songs in praise of the gods. We know that among the Greeks, as among most of the nations of antiquity, the chanting of songs in praise of their gods was an approved part of their worship (Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. p. 633, ed. Sylburg. ; Por phyr. de Abstin. iv. sec. 8 ; Phurnutus de Nat. Deor. c. 14; Alex. ab Alex. Ctn. Dies iv. c. 17, s. f. ; Spanbeim in not. ad Callimachum, p. 2 ; comp. Meiners, Geschichte aller Religionen, c. 13); and even at their festive entertainments such songs were sometimes sung (Athen. Deipnos. xiv., xv. 14 ; Polyb. Hist. iv. 20, ed. Ernesti). Besides those hymns to different deities which have come down to us as the composition of Callimachus, Orpheus, Homer, Linus, Cleanthes, Sappho, and others, we may with confidence refer to the c,horal odes of the tragedians as affording specimens of these sacred songs, such of them at least as were of a lyric character (Snedorf, De Hynznis Vet. Grcrc. p. 19). Such songs were properly called hymns. Hence Arrian says distinctly (De Exped. Alex. iv. II, 2), tiprot Air es TO1)S 5-fan ToLoOprat, earatpot 82. is rip Opt:in-our, So also Phavorinus ; rpds 9edp 4;87). Augustine (in Ps. lxxii.) thus fully states the meaning of the term : Hymni laudes sunt Dei cum cantico. Hymni cantus sunt, continenter laudes Dei. Si sit laus, et non sit Dei non est hymnus. Si sit laus et Dei laus, et non cantatur, non est hymnus. Oportet ergo ut si sit hymnus, habeat haec tria et laudem et Dei et canticum.' In the LXX. the word i3/...vos and its cognates are used as representing several Hebrew words ; but in almost every case the reference is to songs of praise or thanksgiving to God. In the N. T. this is the invariable usage of the terms.
Our Lord and his disciples after the institution of the Supper Sang an hymn' (Ukortjcrapres) before they went out to the Mount of Olives (Matt. xxvi. 3o; Mark xiv. 26). There is every reason to be lieve that what was sung on this occasion was the latter part of the Hallel, Ps. exv.-cxviii. [HALLEL]. When Paul and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi at midnight they prayed and sang praises unto God' (iip.vouv rds, S-Ebp, Acts xvi. 25). Whether what they sang were some of the ancient psalms or spontaneous utterances of adoration and worship, we have no means of determining. In writing to the Ephesians (v. 19), and again to the Colossians (iii. 16), the apostle enjoins the use of hymns in the social worship of Christians, classing them with psalms and spiritual songs OpaX,uois Kat 13,urots Kal Pais rvezniartKais). In what relation these stood to each other is a question which has occasioned considerable differences of opinion. According to some, the distinction between them was one of subject; according to others it was merely one of form, having respect to the manner in which they were sung ; whilst others contend that the source whence they were derived, and the general charac ter of the composition, determined the difference between them. Under these leading opinions,
endless differences of minor opinion have been ad vocated. Of those who adopt the first opinion is St. Jerome, who thinks that the hymn was devoted to the celebration of the divthe majesty and good ness, that the psalm was cccupied with themes of an ethical nature, and that the spiritual ode was occupied with things above, and the subtle discus sion of the concert of the world, and the order and concord of creation (Comment. in Eph. v. 19). Others, again, who hold the same general view, state the difference thus :—The psalm belongs to ethics ; the hymn, as setting forth the praises of God for redemption, to theology ; and the ode, as celebrating the works of God in creation and provi dence, to natural science (Thomasius, in Prafa tionibus, p. 525). All this, however, is purely arbi trary. The second opinion was held by Augus tine, Basil, Hilary, and others of the Christian Fathers, and has been adopted by several in more recent times. By some who take this view, the distinction is supposed to lie in this, that the ipaXi.ie/ were compositions which were chanted to the accompaniment of an instrument, the ybcar7)plov, the Visvot songs of adoration uttered by the voice alone, and the Oat, short chants uttered also only by the voice (Aug. Enarrat. in Ps. ill. ; Das. Mag. in Ps. xxix. ; Greg. Nyss, Tr. ii. Psalmos, ch. iii., etc.) ; while others think that the distinction is to be determined by reference to the Hebrew ter minology o4-14ei, t6rin, which is in fact determining nothing, as the distinction between these is itself entirely uncerta:n. The third opinion is that of Beza (Nov. Test., in loc.), and Grotius (Comment. ad Matt. xxvi. 30, et h. l.); they think that by Psalms are designated the sacred songs bearing that name collectively in the O. T. cancn ; by hymns such extemporary songs of praise as we have in the song of Deborah, Hannah, Zachariah, and Mary, and such as the apostle and his com panion sang in the prison at Philippi ; and by odes premeditated compositions of a more elaborate nature and stricter form than hymns. To this in the general most subsequent inquirers have given their consent ; only, some think that the term psalms' should not be restricted to the composi tions bearing that name in the O. T., but should be extended to all of a similar character which might be composed for the use of the Church in later times ; and that by spiritual odes' are to be understood specifically all sacred songs, of whatever kind, composed by special inspiration of the Holy Ghost (9-corveuaro(). The former of these modifi cations is rendered almost imperative by Con xiv. 26 ; and the latter by the general sense of the adjective 71WeVilaTLK6S in the N. T. Not a few desTairing of satisfactorily discriminating these three kinds of sacred song, have contended that the Apostle merely accumulates terms for the sake of force, and that no distinction between them is to be sought (Clem. Alex., P,cdag. ii. 4, p. 565 ; Cleri cus, in not. apud Hammonclii annott., in loc., etc.); but this otiose method of disposing of the difficulty has been repudiated by most.