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^Hra^E; I I j£ W%i THE BENSON LIBRARY OF HYMNOLOGY EndowedbytheReverend LouisFitzgeraldBenson,d.d. t - LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY _^.« No m m ; V ,</&~*<c - U . / Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://archive.org/details/baptitheOOphil :.I ' '- . THE Hymn Baptist Book. PHILADELPHIA: BIBLE AND PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 530ARCH STREET. ENTEREDACCORDINGTOACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1871, BY THE Bible and Publication Society, IN THE OFFICEOFTHE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON. a PREFACE. The reparationofanewhymn book fortheuseofourBaptistchurcheshasbeen longandearnestlyurgeduponthisSociety. Sonumerousandpressinghadtheseappeals become, that the Board was no longerjustified in bearing alone the responsibility of inaction, and accordingly, in 1867, at the Anniversaries in Chicago, the subject was referred to t—heSociety. TheSocietyappointedacommitteewho reportedthefollowing resolutions: 1st. "Thattheyregardthepublicationofanewhymnbookfortheuseofourchurcheidesirable andimportant. 2d. "ThattheydeemtheAmericanBap;istPublicationSocietythesuitablevehicloforgivingtbe denominationitabookof»acredsongs." Theworkthusinaugurated hasbeensteadilypursued. Ithasprovedtobeoneofno commonmagnitude,involvingthestudyofalmostallthehymnsinthelanguage. Ithas also involvedextensivecorrespondencewithcompetent personsin different partsofthe cwoeurnetrdyeienmoetdotnolybeastthoetihmepierrjfuecdtgimoennstofofthpearbtiocouklsarinhyumsen,s,anbduthoalwsothteoseleiamrnpejrufaetctwihoants couldbestberemedied. Thepresentvolumeistheresultofourefforts. Initspreparationithasbeenouraim tofurnish,noteverything,butthe best. Should some favorite hymn be missed,itneed not be supposed to have escaped our attention; out of many thousand hymns, one thousandonlyweretobechosen. Somehymns,endearedbysacredassociationsandthat wewouldgladly'haveretained,hadnecessarilytobeomitted Inthe preparation ofthis book,we haveconstantlyremembered thatitistobeused bythosewhoareborn ofGod. Theideal oftheserviceofChristian song isdeclared in the words ofthe Apostle Paul,"I will sing with the spirit,and I will sing with the understanding also." Hymns which express those emotions that are the fruits ofthe Spirit have been specially sought, and those which utter merely natural feelings or humansentimentalismhavebeen,asfaraspossible,rejected. "Wehaveaimedtomakea bookwhichshall beemphaticallyabookofpraise,embodyingthewarm outcrushines of Christian emotion,—ofpenitence,faith,hope, love,joy,peace,and holyaspiration,— book which shall be full of Him whom God hath highly exalted,giving him aname, which isaboveeveryname; that at the nameofJesuseverykneeshould bow,and that everytongueshouldconfessthatJesusChristisLord,tothegloryofGodtheFather. May hewho inhabits the praises ofIsrael accept from his redeemed people these offeringsofgratefulandadoringlove.