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AND

HYMNS,

FOR

OCIAL AND PRIVATE WORSHIP:

CAREFULLY SELECTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORS,

BY DAVID PICKERING.

"Sing ye praises with understanding." DAVID.

HUDSON:

PRINTED BY ASHBEL STODDARD.

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SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, SS.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirtieth day of September, in the forty-seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, DAVID PICKERING of the said District hath deposited in this office the title of a book the right whereof he claims as proprietor in the words following, to wit:

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PSALMS AND HYMNS, for social and private worship: carefully selected from the best authors. By David Pickering. Sing ye praises with understanding." DAVID. In conformity to the Act of Congresss of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled "an Act, supplementary to an act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints,"

JAMES DILL,
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.

PREFACE.

THE Compiler, in offering the following Selection of sacred Poetry to the inspection and use of his christian Friends, deems it expedient to lay before them a few reasons which have induced him to undertake a work of so important a nature.

Most of the collections now in use among the Societies, professing faith in the "restitution of all things," contain sentiments to which a multitude of the Brethren (though firm believers in the ultimate purity and happiness of the universe) feel that they cannot conscientiously subscribe.

In the collections hitherto in use, too great a proportion of the Hymns have been adapted to private devotion, which has necessarily abridged the number and variety for public worship, and lessened their utility in the assemblies of the saints.

Although there exists no innate repugnance between taste and devotion, yet many highly cultivated minds have found just cause to complain of their frequent disunion in the poetry used by our Churches.

It has also been a subject of regret that suitable care has not been taken in former selections to avoid irregular accents. This defect not only renders the poetry difficult tofthe reader, but greatly impairs the harmony of vocal Praise.

There remains one more defect which is common to all the compilations that are now in use. A great number of the Hymns are nearly useless for the service of public devotion by reason of their unnecessary length, which fatigues the performer, without adding to the religious entertainment of the assembly. And it would be useless to that a part of them might be omitted; for such omissions would generally impair the sense of the whole, and introduce confusion.

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In the following Selection, the utmost care has been observed to avoid the introduction of sentiments that might

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