PREFACE. THE THE SACRED AND DEVOTIONAL SONG BOOK will be found to differ from most other compilations of sacred verse, inasmuch as it will comprise, with but few exceptions, only such pieces as have been set to original music, or are capable of being sung to well-known and approved tunes. Where the airs are original, the names of the composers are given; in the other instances, the selection of the tune is left to the judgment of the reader -a task of no great difficulty with those who are in the habit of selecting hymn tunes. As a matter of convenience, the work is divided into two parts, the first is composed of songs of a moral and religious tendency, inculcating some religious truth or illustrating some one of the Christian virtues; the second, or devotional section, comprises only songs of a strictly religious character, in the popular acceptation of this term; these are arranged as nearly as possible as their subjects relate to the "rites and ceremonies of the Church," as set forth in the calendar attached to the Book of Common Prayer. The hymns selected represent all the best writers in this class of literature, ancient and modern, and it is confidently hoped that, while the sources from whence they sprung may be many and varied, it will be found that the stream is pure, and the doctrine they inculcate that founded on the broad principles of Christian faith. To those high dignitaries of the Church, those reverend divines, and others, as well as to the publishers, owners of the copyright of many of the songs and hymns contained in the following pages, who have so generously granted the compiler permission to include them here, he begs to tender his most grateful acknowledgments, and to express a hope that the good seed he has thus been enabled to scatter may spring up in the hearts of his readers and bear fruit abundantly. NOTTING HILL, August 1865. |