I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

Twenty-sixth Edition.

PSALM ci. 1.

BOSTON:

CHARLES J. HENDEE,

AND

G. W. PALMER AND COMPANY.

BV

350

682

1839

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835. by CARTER, HENDEE, & Co.

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

PREFACE.

As some account may be expected, of the principles on which this collection of hymns was made, it will be here given in a few words.

My main object has been, to gather from the exist ing body of divine poetry, those hymns which I deemed the best calculated to be sung in our churches. I consequently adopted all which appeared to me to possess the requisite poetical and devotional character, without regard to the particular denomination of Christians to which their authors belonged. Hymns from Wesley's collection, and some Moravian hymns from the Christian Psalmist of Montgomery, I regard as among the richest contents of this volume. Their delightful fervour, though by some it may be called methodistical, will be thought by others, I trust, to be the true spirit of devotional Christian poetry.

I have taken care to alter as little as possible from my originals, and to obtain all hymns, whenever it was practicable, as their authors wrote and published them. The effusions of Watts and Doddridge, the two principal classics in this high and difficult spe

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