A.W. Tozer said, "As long as the church can sing the great hymns, it cannot be defeated, for hymns are theology set to music.... Were the Scriptures to be destroyed or made inaccessible to the church, it would not be too difficult to extract from our hymns a complete body of Bible doctrine!"

Don't get me wrong. I like Christian contemporary worship songs. But the old hymns really "get" it. Our sinful nature. Christ's grace and mercy. The message of salvation. Christ's blood washing our sins away. Lyrically, that old stuff just seems... better. For example:

O teach us, Lord, Thy searchless love to know, Thou who hast died! Before our feeble faith, Lord Jesus, show Thy hands and side, that our glad hearts, responsive unto Thine, may wake with all the power of love divine.

Thy death has brought to light the Father's heart and ours has won. And now we contemplate Thee as Thou art God's glorious Son. And know that we are loved with that great love that rests on Thee in those bright courts above.

Thy flesh is meat, Thy blood, blest Savior, shed is drink indeed. On Thee, the true, the heavenly living bread, our souls would feed. And live with Thee in life's eternal home, where sin, nor want, nor woe, nor death can come.

For those who can stomach the acquired taste of very hard music, old hymn-like lyrics can be found beneath the orderly chaos. For example:

I want to bring You all that is in my heart
I want to bring You my everything
But I've failed You so many times
How can I stand here before You
When I begin to steal what only belongs to You
I am able to bring You nothing that isn't already Yours
I am so ashamed of what I ever called my own
Take what I have, take these broken remains
What can I give You that You don't already deserve
You laid down Your life when I refused to give mine

This mp3 dichotomy can be heard here.