The Number of the Hymn always answers to the number of the page; thus Hymn 33 433 570 Page 33 570 The Number that follows the Names of the Tunes The figures at the foot of the pages give the exact Number of the Hymns, throughout the book, including the different Parts which belong to some of them. ERRATA. Hynm 173, 2d p., line 3, read, And him ye heavens. 212, 3d p., line 3, read, Contentment can find. 226, 2d p., line 4, read, Which through the Gospel. PREFACE. THE Hymns, Original and Selected, which are interspersed through this Edition, appear before the Religious Public with no higher ambition than of being, in some measure, of the humble and happy FAMILY, which, through the astonishing goodness of the God of Providence and Grace, have met the favourable acceptance of more than TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS, chiefly in this country; saying nothing of the numerous Editions through which the Work has passed in AMERICA. This circumstance, unless "myself is to myself unknown," I cannot-I dare not, presume to mention, but with deep humility, and with unfeigned gratitude, in his presence with whom are the issues of all our endeavours to promote his glory, And should he be pleased, in his infinite condescension, yet to grant it a portion of the gracious notice with which he has to this day honoured the former Editions, his glory shall be mingled with every Ho, sanna of the remaining station of the Wilderness; and then with all the Hallelujahs of Saints and Angels in the Land of Songs, for ever. And now, in the language of a former Preface, with all the solemnity of an entire Dedication, I commit the volume to Thy care, patronage, and special blessing, O Thou infinitely beautiful and bountiful Being! to whom I am, of all the sons of Adam, peculiarly indebted; beseeching thee, for • The interspersed Hymns may be had alone. 66 iv the sake of my crucified and exalted Redeemer, to grant, "That however weak and contemptible this "work may seem in the eyes of the children of the 'world, and however imperfect it really may be, as "well as the author of it unworthy; it may, never"theless, live before thee, and, through a divine 66 power, be mighty" to lessen the miseries and to increase the holiness and bliss of multitudes, "in "distant places, and in generations yet to come! Impute it not, O God, as a culpable ambition, if I "desire, that, whatever becomes of my name, this "Work may be propagated far abroad; that it may "reach to those who are yet unborn, and teach them 66 thy name and thy praise, when the author has long "dwelt in the dust; that so, when he shall appear before thee in the great day of final accounts, his "joy may be increased, and his crown brightened, "by numbers before unknown to each other and to " him! But if this petition be too great to be "granted to one who pretends no claim to hope for "being favoured with the least, give him to be, in "thine almighty hand, the blessed instrument of "converting and saving one soul; and if it be but one, and that the meanest and weakest of all the human "race, though it should be amidst a thousand disappointments with respect to others, yet it shall be "the subject of immortal songs of praise to thee, O "blessed God, for and by every soul whom, through "the blood of Jesus, and the grace of thy Spirit, "thou hast saved; and everlasting honours shall be "ascribed to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, by the innumerable company of angels, "and by the general assembly, and the church of "the first-born in heaven. Amen." |