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WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN,

No. 608 Chestnut Street.

1858.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by

WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN,

In the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

PREFACE.

MANY intelligent Christians have long yearned for a Collection of Hymns, by which might be more fully realized the idea and feeling of worship, in the songs of the Family and the Church. In the present collection an attempt has been made to meet this want. Its essential and pervading character results from the following views.

1. Praise is an act of worship. It is so, equally at least, with preaching and prayer. In preaching, in the true conception of it, God addresses men. Reverently to hear and obey, is to worship. In prayer and praise men address God. Devoutly to offer these, is also to worship, in the most direct form. The only proper object of worship, is God. God, therefore, directly or impliedly, is to be regarded in the songs of his people.

This principle touches Hymns of a purely didactic character. Admirable as they often are as a means of instruction, they are too indirect as a means of worship. They are therefore not numerous in this collection. When admitted, an attempt has been made to give them an upward bearing-a look towards God; to render them, to some extent, the utterance of prayer and praise, as well as of doctrine.

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