Bowdler again

Another hymn Bowdlerised...

You know:

Sojourners in this vale of tears
We sinners make our prayers through thee,
Remind thy Son that he has paid
The price of our iniquity.

Well not any more. Now we have:

Sojourners in this vale of tears
We sinners make our prayers through thee,
Remind us all that we are saved
In spite of our iniquity.

What is that about? It's not a rejection of Our Lady's intercession, as each verse still concludes 'pray for me.'

I can only assume that it is some idiot not happy with the idea of Our Lord having to be reminded.

And I say idiot, because if that is the objection, the person concerned is both a theological and a scriptural dunce.

Of course Our Lord doesn't need reminding because He is forgetful. But to make that objection is to fail to realise that we almost always have to speak of God using human metaphors. Just this morning in today's Mass we had 'Is your anger for ever.' One can't read the Old Testament intelligently unless one grasps this basic fact...

And as ever, there was no acknowledgement of the Bowdlerising in the hymn book, which strikes me as both dishonest, and damaging of the reputation of the poor writers whose work they adulterate.

No wicked men, no blasphemy....

We had it again at Mass today. That bowdlerised version of 'I'll sing a hymn to Mary.'

The last lines of each verse should be:

When wicked men blaspheme thee,
I'll love and bless thy name.

But in our hymn book they are now:

Oh may I imitate you
And magnify God's name.

A worthy sentiment, perhaps, but why change it?

Are there no wicked man any more? Do we no longer even believe in wickedness? Is there no longer any sin of blasphemy? (For to say simply that there is no blasphemy is clearly ridiculous).

And above all, why credit the lyrics to John Wyse without acknowledging that Thos Bowdler or his heir has got at them!