THE

SACRED HARP.

“Sweet Harp of Zion
With trembling hand I wake thy holy strain ;
With trembling hand I sweep thy sacred chord,
That poured of old its music to the Lord.”

PREFACE.

In offering to the Public a new and very much enlarged edition of the SACRED HARP, the Publisher has to return his most grateful acknowledgments for the very favourable reception given to this little compilation on its first appearance. Further selections have since been carefully gleaned from every recent publication of merit, on the subject of sacred poetry; and no exertion has been spared to render the Work still more deserying of the favour it has received.

To enter into a laboured defence of devotional poetry here, would be superfluous and out of place. Though the harp of the sweet singer of Israel hangs silent on the willow, and will not respond to the touch of less hallowed hands, Religion is yet acknowledged to be in its very nature, of all subjects, the one best suited to the exercise of high and pure poetical talent; and the specimens collected in this volume, will, it is hoped, evince that such talent has been here successfully exerted.

“ To allay the perturbations of the mind, and to set the affections to a right tune; to celebrate, in glorious and lofty hymns, the