OF HYMNS FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. BY WILLIAM LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D. "The Church triumphant in thy love, Their mighty joys we know ; They sing the Lamb in hymns above, WESLEY. EDINBURGH: HUGH PATON, ADAM SQUARE. 1849. PREFACE. In preparing this Selection of Hymns, the Compiler has studiously endeavoured to regulate his labours by the following canons :- 1. That only those pieces of poetry should be admitted which properly belong to the class of Hymns, or songs expressive of pious emotions. Hence he has rejected all merely descriptive, hortatory, argumentative or expository, and all merely doctrinal or ethical poems, however, in other respects, deserving of attention. Where the utterance of pious feeling characterised a poem, he conceived that as entitling it, so far as this first canon is concerned, to a place in such a Selection; and that, whether this feeling is conveyed in the form of direct address to God or not. In this latter respect, he has not deemed it desirable to impose any severe restrictions upon freedom of choice; only where the party addressed is a man or a body of men (such as in the hymn beginning, 66 Come, weary souls with sin distrest," &c. ; or that, so often used at ordinations, beginning, "We bid thee welcome in the name Of Jesus, our exalted head," &c.), the compiler has usually thought it imperative either to alter the form of the hymn, or to reject it altogether. 2. That the hymns admitted be such as are suited for public and united worship. This principle has led to the exclusion of many very beautiful compositions, because they were either purposely adapted only to private use, or because they were not of a kind in which a promiscuous assembly could unite. 3. That no expressions offensive to good taste, inconsistent with good sense, or incompatible with Scripture doctrine be retained. This has led to some omissions in certain of the hymns, and to alterations, more or less extensive, in others. Thus, in Robinson's beautiful hymn, beginning, " Come thou fount of every blessing," &c., the sounding nonsense of the second verse "Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Mount of God's unchanging love"— has been exchanged for what at least makes sense, if it be less sonorous. These alterations, however, have been as sparingly introduced as possible. It has been the Compiler's wish, in every case where another course was not imperatively demanded, to present the hymn as it came from the hand of its author; and he regards with pleasure the restoration, in this Selection, to their original form of many hymns that have been, in other Selections, most needlessly and most recklessly, as it appears to him, meddled with. 4. That hymns adapted to very peculiar metres be avoided. 5. That the hymns be arranged according to their subjects. This has imposed on the Compiler the chief part of the labour he has had in making this Selection; but he is so convinced of the importance of such arrangement, that, without this, he should hardly have regarded his work as worthy of being undertaken at all. The classification he has adopted, commended itself to him by its apparent simplicity and comprehensiveness; though he not unfrequently found it very difficult to determine under which head certain hymns were to be placed, and is quite prepared to find that others may come to a different conclusion, in many instances, from that which he has adopted. Perfect accuracy is, in such a case, altogether unattainable. The great end of arrangement is secured, if the hymns be so classified as to render the |