It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine

We can choose three hymns from our hymnal to illustrate what we mean by the standard of the hymns—#70, #154, and #152. These hymns are concerning our love for the Lord and His love for us. The standard of hymn #70—"Oh, how I love Jesus"—is very low in life, truth, experience, and revelation. Hymn #154—"It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine"—is of a much higher standard. The first verse of this hymn says:

It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine,
My Savior, Jesus; yet this soul of mine
Would of Thy love in all its breadth and length,
Its height and depth, its everlasting strength,
Know more and more.

After introducing the focus in the Lord's table meeting, we may sense that the spirit of the meeting is not strong enough. In this case we need to strengthen it. Hymns, #154, "It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine," may be considered a strengthening hymn concerning the Lord's love. To choose a hymn such as #171, "Lord Jesus Christ, our heart feels sweet/ Whene'er we think on Thee," would not be appropriate, because it turns from the Lord's love to the Lord Himself. It is more suitable to serve as a concluding hymn, which is not for uplifting the spirit but for drawing the meeting to an end.

Not only does a meeting have sections, but a hymn also has its sections. Hymns, #154 may be divided into three sections. Stanzas I through 3 are the first section, stanzas 4 through 6 are the second, and stanza 7 is the third. Another example is hymn #128 in the Chinese hymnal, which can be sung in at least four sections: stanzas 1 through 4 as the introduction, stanzas 5 through 8 as a strengthening section, stanzas 9 through 11 as a section lifting up the spirit, and stanzas 12 and 13 as a concluding section. When the phrases are different, the feeling is also different, just as the Lord addressed the Father in different ways with different significances. In Matthew 11 He addressed God as "Father" because at that time the Lord was rejected by the world (vv. 20-25). Father indicates the intimate relationship between the Lord and the Father. In John 17 He addressed God as "Holy Father" (v. 11) because He was asking the Father to sanctify the church so that it would not belong to the world. In Matthew 27:46 the Lord addressed God as "My God" because on the cross the Lord took the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18) and thus could pray not to the Father but only to God.

Some hymns may be in the same category and of the same subject but have a different feeling. Every hymn has its feeling. For example, "It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine" (Hymns, #154) is a hymn for remembering the Lord and has the Lord's love as its subject. The feeling of this hymn is fine, sweet, and tender. The feeling of other hymns may not be as fine as this one, even though their subject is the Lord's love. Some hymns have a fine feeling and are also poetic. Other hymns, however, may not be poetic. In learning the hymns, we need to know their categories and subject so that we can further distinguish them according to their feeling.