Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

special obligations to Dr. RAY PALMER, the Rev. HERVEY D. GANSE, Dr. ALEXANDER R. THOMPSON, Dr. EDWARD HOPPER, the Rev. ARTHUR T. PIERSON, and Miss MARGARET E. WINSLOW.

While our Book has been carefully wrought in every part, special pains have been taken with the Hymns pertaining to Christ and the Christian life. That type of theology which makes the Person of Christ central, is here brought out in song. And while our first care has been to provide for constant and common daily and weekly wants, liberal provision has also been made for special occasions, and particularly for seasons of special religious interest.

The average length of Hymns in this Collection is somewhat greater than usual. Many chipped and fractured gems have thus been restored to their original integrity and beauty. We have seldom shortened a Hymn for merely mechanical reasons. With the quicker movement now generally practised in singing, six stanzas take no more time than used to be required for four. By making each Tune carry the first stanza of a Hymn, room has been found for many single stanzas which had better not be dropped, as well as for many additional Hymns which must otherwise have been excluded.

Immense labor, which, if foreseen, might have been thought impracticable, has been expended upon the text. In every possible instance resort has been had to original sources of information. Standard editions of Authors, instead of Hymn Books, have been employed: as, in the case of Watts, a London edition of all his Writings; and, in the case of the Wesleys, the exhaustive thirteen volume edition of their Poetical Works, recently completed. The Hymnological Library selected for the Union Theological Seminary by Mr. Daniel Sedgwick of London, has been of great service to us. Special acknowledgments are due also to the Rev. FREDERIC M. BIRD, of the Episcopal diocese of New Jersey, whose large library, and larger stores of Hymnological information, have been generously laid

open to us.

With respect to the restoration of Hymns to their original forms, a middle course has been pursued. Innumerable alterations, of one sort or another, have long been current. And most of these alterations are for the worse. In all such cases restoration was felt to be simply a duty. But now and then a Hymn has been altered for the better, and the alteration has been deliberately and almost universally accepted. In such cases restoration was not to be thought of. But, of course, the alteration ought always to be acknowledged.

A word or two in explanation of the editing. The Author's name, if known, is always given in connection with the Hymn. This saves turning to an Index; and is quite as proper as naming the text of the sermon by Book, Chapter, and Verse, instead of quoting it merely as Scripture. At each opening of our Book, the dates of birth and death, if known, are given in brackets, where the Author's name occurs for the first time, or occurs but once. If it occurs again

at the same opening, only the date of the Hymn is given. If the Hymn has two dates, as in the case of Montgomery's "Songs of praise the angels sang," Hymn 68 [1819, 1853], it indicates a revision of the Hymn by the Author himself. Abridgements are also indicated, as well as alterations; so that it may in every case be known whether or not we are singing a favorite Hymn entirely and exactly as the Author wrote it.

The musical editing has been done by JOHN K. PAINE, Professor of Music in Harvard University, and U. C. BURNAP, Organist of the Church on the Heights in Brooklyn, assisted by JAMES FLINT, Organist in Orange, New Jersey. The work they have done must speak for itself. As the aim has been to encourage congregational singing, most of the Tunes are familiar and easy. But some of the best Tunes in the Book are new, and must, of course, be learned and practised before they will be available for congregational use. A few pieces, like Dies Irae, p. 502, Tempest, p. 427, and some others, which musicians will easily recognize, are not meant to be sung by congregations, but by well-trained choirs on special occasions.

NEW YORK March 20, 1874.

ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK,
ZACHARY EDDY,

PHILIP SCHAFF.

Suggestions to Ministers and Directors of Church Music.

1. Do not expect any congregation to sing a new Tune at sight. 2. New Tunes demand either congregational rehearsals, or a well, trained Choir.

3. In the selection of Hymns to be sung by the congregation, be careful to select such Hymns as have familiar Tunes set to them. It is safe to assume that every American congregation is more or less familiar with the following Tunes:

L. M.-Old Hundred Hebron, Hamburg, Ward, Windham, Wells, Duke Street, Uxbridge, Park Street (?) Retreat, Rockingham, Woodworth, Federal Street, Missionary Chant. C. M.-Arlington, Avon, Balerma, Christmas, Coronation, Cowper, Dedham, Dundee, Downs, Heber, Maitland, Mear, Marlow, Naomi, Ortonville, Evan, Peterboro, Woodland. C. P. M.-Meribah, Ganges, Ariel (?)

S. P. M.-Dalston.

S. M.-Boylston, Dennis, Laban, Olmutz, Silver Street, St. Thomas, Lebanon, Watchman 7.-Pleyel's Hymn, Nuremberg, Aletta, Horton (?) Benevento, Martyn, Toplady. 7, 6.—Amsterdam, Missionary Hymn, Webb.

8, 7, 4.—Sicily, Greenville, Zion, Bavaria.

8, 7.-Nettleton, Bartimeus, Stockwell, Wilmot, Shining Shore.

[blocks in formation]

6

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
EXODUS XX. 1-17.

GOD spake all these words, saying:

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. V. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI. Thou shalt not kill.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbors.

[blocks in formation]

Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

THE APOSTLES' CREED.

I BELIEVE in GOD THE FATHER Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in JESUS CHRIST His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the HOLY GHOST; the holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints; the Forgiveness of sins; the Resurrection of the body; and the Life everlasting. Amen.

[blocks in formation]

OPENING CHANT.

OUR FATHER.

Thomas Tallis. (c. 1529-1585.) 1575.

The Lord's Prayer.
Matt. vi. 9-13.

OUR Father, who | art in | heaven, || Hallowed | be — | Thy

[blocks in formation]

Thy kingdom come. || Thy will be done on earth, | as it | is in | heaven.

Give us this day our | daily bread. || And forgive us our debts, as we for- give our debtors.

1

And lead us not | into--temp- | tation, || But de- | liver | us from | evil:

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, || For- ever. | A- |

men.

« AnteriorContinuar »