Hymnal a new book to many Christian worshipers and would invest the service of song with an interest and helpfulness that it never can possess without such study. No other book used so largely and so constantly by Christian people is studied so little by them as the Church hymnal. A study of these biographies will reveal the fact that the great singers of the Church have not been idlers who spent their days in retirement and meditation, but they were in most instances busy workers; and most of their hymns were produced when their lives were full of toil and self-sacrificing service. It is the men who build and the soldiers who are winning victories that not only go forward to achievement and to conquest with songs upon their lips, but many of them, while they wrought and fought, themselves made these songs that sing of service and of victory. It would be difficult to bring together in one volume three hundred and six nobler and more useful men and women than those who have written the hymns found in this Hymnal. It is a glorious company! Happy they who make their acquaintance and enjoy their fellowship! Following the "Biographical Index of Authors" we give an alphabetical "Index of the Composers” which will be found to contain under each name a few facts of special interest to musicians, singers, and others. A poem can never really become a hymn until it has a tune, and the popularity and power of many a hymn is due not less to the tune to which it is set than to its intrinsic literary and religious merits as a hymn. This being true, it follows that no study of the hymns and hymn writers can be altogether satisfactory and complete that is not coupled with a study of the hymn-tunes and those who wrote them. For this section of our volume, however, we can only claim to have presented such facts as we could gather from the limited sources of information at our command. Concerning some of the composers it has been impossible to get any trustworthy information. That many hundreds of volumes had to be consulted in order to make an annotated hymnal such as this is, will be manifest to every reader. The authors have in most instances had access to the original works of nearly all the poets whose hymns find a place in this collection; and for information they have, as a rule, gone directly to these original sources. But they have not failed to appreciate and avail themselves of the many excellent works in hymnology recently published, without which the preparation of such a volume as this would have been impossible. These works are referred to and quoted from throughout the volume. The basis of this work is found in Hymn Studies (1884) by my colaborer, Dr. C. S. Nutter, and in the writer's volume titled Our Hymns and Their Authors (1889), these being annotated editions, respectively, of the former hymnals of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. By far the greatest contribution to modern English hymnology is the monumental work of Dr. John Julian, of England, titled A Dictionary of Hymnology. To it we are most deeply indebted. Other books of which we desire to make special and grateful mention are: The Methodist Hymn Book Illustrated, by Rev. John Telford; English Hymns, by Dr. Samuel W. Duffield; Annotations upon the Popular Hymns, by Dr. Charles S. Robinson. Readers who wish to make a more careful and extended study of hymnology and Church music will find the "Bibliography of Hymnology" (see page 470) helpful in many ways. This author desires to say in conclusion that the fellowship of Dr. Nutter and himself in the preparation of this volume has been most agreeable. While the entire volume is a joint publication, it may be of interest to some readers to know that the hymns were distributed evenly between the two authors for annotation, Dr. Nutter taking all the odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, and so on throughout the volume) and the writer taking the even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, and so on throughout the volume). The reader will understand, therefore, that with but few exceptions the notes under the odd numbers were prepared by Dr. Nutter and those under the even numbers by the undersigned. Each author, however, in the writing of his notes, has had the benefit of a critical reading and suggestions from his colleague. The biographical sketches of hymn writers and other portions of the volume were prepared by the authors jointly in such a manner as to make it difficult, and in some instances impossible, to distinguish the work of each. In the preparation of the "Index of Composers" Dr. Nutter has performed the larger service, while the undersigned author is more particularly responsible for the preparation of the "Index of Subjects," the "Index of Scripture Texts," and the "Bibliography of Hymnology." If the publication of this volume shall lead even a portion of the ministry and membership of the two Churches represented to a higher appreciation of their excellent Hymnal and to a more intelligent and spiritual use of the hymns found therein, the authors will feel that they are fully rewarded for the years of investigation and toil they have spent in collecting these facts concerning the hymns and hymn writers of the Church. VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, WILBUR F. TILLETT. BISHOPS' PREFACE TO HYMNAL THIS Hymnal is the result of the labors of a joint Commission of twentytwo ministers and laymen appointed in equal numbers by the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; the double purpose being to provide a worthy manual of song for use in the public and private worship of Almighty God, and to testify to the world the essential unity of the two great branches of Episcopal Methodism. The fruit of their toil we now lay before the churches with confidence and joy with confidence because we feel warranted in saying that the book is an admirable compilation of sacred lyrics; and with joy because we trust that for many long years it will prove to be a visible and potent bond of union. among all our people. We gladly note that the hymns of the Wesleys are given the prominence which justly belongs to them in any collection to be used by Methodists. But the book will be found to contain also the choicest work of the other hymn writers of the eighteenth century, namely, Doddridge, Watts, Cowper, Newton, Montgomery, and a very considerable number of new hymns selected after a wide examination of the body of religious verse produced during the last seventy-five years. The hymns admitted have been selected from the ancient and modern treasuries of religious poetry. They are the expression of sound doctrine and healthful Christian experience, and it is believed will greatly enrich our worship and bring us into closer fellowship with believers in all lands and in all ages. Such verbal changes as have been made in the hymns are in most cases. a return to the original and preferable forms. Some stanzas have been wholly excluded on the ground that they contain imagery offensive to modern taste, and others have been omitted to secure desirable brevity. The Commission did not venture to make arbitrary or capricious alterations. In only a very few cases have hymns been divorced from the tunes to which long use has wedded them. For, some familiar hymns alternate tunes have been provided, either with a view to please both branches of the church or to secure a better musical expression for the words than is given by the tune now familiar. Many new tunes by the more eminent modern composers of church music have been introduced. Much care has been given to the selection of these tunes, which we are assured will be found to be devotional in spirit, well fitted to the hymns to which they are set, and adapted to use by the great congregation. And now, praying that this Hymnal, prepared by a joint Commission whose brotherly harmony was never once broken and whose final meeting was a Pentecost, may be abundantly blessed of God to the edification of believing souls and to the glory of his name, we commend it to our churches, and we earnestly hope that it may everywhere supplant those unauthorized publications which often teach what organized Methodism does not hold, and which, by excluding the nobler music of the earlier and later days, prevent the growth of a true musical taste. Your servants in Christ, THOMAS BOWMAN, S. M. MERRILL, E. G. ANDREWS, H. W. WARREN, C. D. Foss, J. W. HAMILTON, HENRY SPELLMEYER, W. F. McDOWELL, J. W. BASHFORD, T. B. NEELY, Bishops Methodist Episcopal Church. J. C. KEENER, O. P. FITZGERALD, E. E. Hoss, A. C. SMITH, Bishops Methodist Episcopal HISTORIC NOTE IN accordance with authority given by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Bishops of the respective churches appointed as members of the Joint Commission for the preparation of a common Hymnal the following persons: On the recommendation of the above Joint Commission, Professor Karl P. Harrington, of the Wesleyan University, and Professor Peter C. Lutkin, of the Northwestern University, were appointed musical editors. (xv) |