Faint Praise
Damning with faint praise is a well known rhetorical device,
examples of which can be found in current campaign oratory. There is another twist
of logic, not so well known, that could be called praising with faint damns. It
could, and probably does, occur in criminal cases at law. The defendant's lawyer
may admit that the accused did indeed once make a minor mistake and that of course
he cannot claim to be absolutely perfect; and by this admission the lawyer hopes
to direct the jury's attention away from the very serious crime of which he is accused.
This device also occurs in instances in which the gospel is diluted.
Man, instead of being portrayed as thoroughly guilty and dead in sin, is partly
exonerated by softening the charge. Plain language, like miserable sinners, is avoided.
Take for example the familiar hymn, Beneath the Cross of Jesus.
At the ending of the second stanza, the author wrote:
And from my stricken heart with tears
Two wonders I confess:
The wonders of redeeming love
And my own worthlessness.
It may not be too surprising that some cheap gospel songbooks,
edited by persons of Arminian tendencies, have altered this beautiful hymn so that
the last line reads:
And my unworthiness.
But it is more unfortunate when this dilution of the gospel finds
a place in hymn books that are supposed to be Calvinistic. In 1955 there was published
The Hymnbook, with the approval of the northern Presbyterian church, the southern
Presbyterian church, the United Presbyterian church, the Reformed Church of America,
and with one editor from the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church. Beneath the
Cross of Jesus is number 190 in that hymnbook.
Now it is hard to believe that the editors were unaware of what
the author had written. In the excellent hymnal, revised in 1911, and used for years
in the U.S.A. church, the hymn, number 470, is correctly printed. Therefore the
change must have been deliberate. It is certainly deleterious.
First of all, it dilutes the gospel. Instead of recognizing man's
complete lack of merit before God, the change softens worthlessness to unworthiness.
Man is no longer pictured as a miserable sinner, guilty of the wrath and curse of
God; but rather man is said merely to be unworthy. What pride is concealed in this
admission of unworthiness! Of course I am not perfect, the hymn now says, but still
I am not completely evil.
The change not only dilutes the gospel, but it also makes nonsense
of the hymn. The author knew what she was writing. One may doubt that the modern
editors had a clear idea of how their change changed the hymn into nonsense.
The author confesses two wonders. One wonder is the utter sinfulness of man. The
contrast is sharp. But the new version says that it is a wonder that man is unworthy
before God. Such praise with faint damns hardly indicates a wonder. There is no
longer any reason for the tears of a stricken heart. The hymn has here been reduced
to nonsense. But Calvinism is not nonsense —
And from my stricken heart with tears
Two wonders I confess:
The wonders of redeeming love
And my own worthlessness.
G.H.C.
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