taining 113 hymns (1868). This hymn-book has, it is believed, obtained the largest circulation of any 2. Referred to as, A. and M.

(6.) Psalms and Hymns, selected by the Rev. Charles Kemble (1853); it contains 880 hymns, and is used in upwards of one thousand churches. Referred to as, Kemble.

(7.) Church Psalter and Hymn-book, edited by the Rev. William Mercer. Oxford edition, revised, 1864; earlier edition, 1859. This valuable collection contains 511 hymns, and is used in several cathedrals and in one thousand other churches. Referred to as, Mercer.

(8.) The Year of Praise, edited by the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury. Contains 326 hymns for the Sundays and Holidays of the year. Referred to as, Alford.

(9.) Lyra Britannica, a collection of 660 hymns printed from the genuine texts, edited by the Rev. Charles Rogers. Without endorsing Mr. Rogers's words in the Preface, who says, "It may be found, on a careful examination, that no truly classical British hymn has been omitted," it may be freely conceded that this volume, from the merit of the selections and from the costly care bestowed on the text, is of the utmost use to a compiler. Referred to as, Rogers.

(10.) Psalms and Hymns edited by the Rev. W. J. Hall (1836), approved by the late Bishop Blomfield, and usually known

as The Mitre Hymn Book." It contains 450 psalms and hymns. Referred to as, Hall.

(11.) Psalms and Hymns selected for some of the churches in

Marylebone, chiefly under the auspices of the late Rev. J.

H. Gurney. It contains 300 hymns. Referred to as, Marylebone.

(12.) Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship, selected for the use of the parish churches in Islington. Enlarged edition

2 In Mackeson's Guide to the Churches of London and its Suburbs for 1869, it appears that

Hymns Ancient and Modern are used in
Christian Knowledge Society Hymn Book
Mercer

Hall, "The Mitre Hymn Book"

Kemble

150 churches.

136

53

42

32

No other book at that time, nearly eighteen months ago, seems to have been used in more than ten metropolitan churches; but changes are occurring every month.

(1862). It contains 503 psalms and hymns. Referred to as, Islington.

(13.) Psalms and Hymns for public worship, edited by the late Rev. H. V. Elliott. This tasteful selection contains 383 psalms and hymns, and has had a very wide circulation. Referred to as, Elliott.

(14.) The People's Hymnal, reissued 1868, is the exponent of the Mediæval Sacerdotal School. It contains 600 hymns and metrical litanies. Referred to as, People's.

(15.) The Hymnal edited by the Rev. R. R. Chope. It contains 300 hymns. Referred to as, Chope.

(16.) The Church Hymnal. New edition, with additional hymns (1867), published by Bell and Daldy. It contains 289 hymns and psalms. Referred to as, Bell.

(17.) Psalms and Hymns (enlarged edition) edited by the Right Rev. T. B. Morrell, D.D., Coadjutor Bishop of Edinburgh, and the Rev. W. W. How. This careful selection contains 284 psalms and hymns, and among them some of high merit by the latter editor. Referred to as, Morrell and How.

(18.) Hymns adapted to the Christian Seasons, edited by the Rev. T. V. French, Missionary in Lahore. It contains 180 psalms and hymns, and betrays the cultivated classical taste of the editor in every page. Referred to as, French. (19.) Hymns for use in Church, edited by the Rev. W. J. Irons, D.D. It contains, with the Supplement, 113 hymns, and will be prized as showing the mind of the distinguished translator of the "Dies Ira." Referred to as, Irons.

(20.) The Sarum Hymnal, edited by Earl Nelson and others (1868) This important contribution to the hymnals of our Church is founded on the Salisbury Hymn Book (1857). It contains 320 hymns. Referred to as, Sarum.

(21.) Hymnal for the Church and Home, edited by the Rev. B. A.

Marshall, under the sanction of the late Bishop of Carlisle (1868). It contains 540 hymns; and great care has been bestowed on securing the genuine text. Referred to as, Carlisle. (22.) Psalms and Hymns for the Church, School, and Home, edited by the Rev. D. T. Barry. This excellent selection contains 471 psalms and hymns. Referred to as, Barry. (23.) The Church and Home Metrical Psalter and Hymnal, edited by the Rev. W. Windle. It contains nearly 600 psalms and hymns. Referred to as, Windle.

4. The above hymnals have been my friends in council. Not to mention others, again and again, when in perplexity, through their respective hymnals, I have consulted the Tract Committee of the venerable Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; or availed myself of the judicial wisdom of Sir Roundell Palmer; or learned to appreciate the practical good sense of Irish; or proved the sweetness and rhythmical beauty of Hymns Ancient and Modern; or enriched my store from the wealth of Mercer; or taken counsel with the scholarship of Alford; or gathered much from the singular discrimination of Morrell and How; or felt convinced by the admirable taste of Sarum; or cheerfully acknowledged to myself how much wiser Kemble and Barry were than my first unaided opinion. Again and again I have modified or reversed my previous decision from the effect of their combined or preponderating judgment. Some hymns have been admitted which my own feeling-I do not here speak of matters of doctrine, but of taste-would have led me to reject; and some are cast out which my own love, very likely founded on old associations, would have led me to retain. And therefore, though I could not and dare not abdicate the responsibility of Editor (the editor of a hymnal cannot escape being responsible for every line), I yet submit the book to my readers as the result of many minds, not indeed often personally, but yet practically, advised with and consulted.

The above list contains hymnals adopted and used by all parties and schools of thought. It would be idle for the Editor to affect sympathy with the distinctive characteristics of all. In the great majority of the hymns, it is true that the harmony of doctrine is most remarkable—as if Christians forgot their differences when singing the praises of their God; but it is also true that there are insertions in some hymnals, and omissions in others, which go far beyond, or fall short of, the Catholic Protestant Evangelical principles maintained by the Fathers and Reformers of our Church. Thus, to take the crucial test of sacramental hymns, one of the volumes noted above contains many hymns on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the doctrine of which is hardly to be distinguished from that of

Rome; while another does not allude to the Sacrament of Baptism at all. But this wide divergence, and even direct antagonism, manifest in hymns admitted and omitted, only makes their testimony the stronger to those which contrasted hymnals unite in adopting. This testimony of the few conflicting witnesses is crowned by the concordance of the many consentient ones. With regard, therefore, to far the larger portion of the hymns now submitted to the reader, it is believed that, by the collation of these hymnals, ample materials are placed in his hands for arriving at a conclusion, whether they have received sufficient sanction or not to claim their place in a Church hymnal. Thus, for example, if, with regard to any hymn about which question might arise, it was found to have been adopted by S.P.C.K., Palmer, A. and M., Mercer, Kemble, an obvious and sure guarantee would be afforded that it contained nothing distasteful to any large number in the Church. It is not to be expected that every hymn should be so fortunate as to have received the sanction of all these five important compilations; but if a hymn were admitted by Irish, Alford, Morrell and How, Sarum, Barry, very nearly the same guarantee would have been given. The same observation applies in measure to the other hymnals collated. And sometimes two or three well-known names are sufficient sponsorship for a hymn.

5. I would now state on what general principles this hymnal is compiled. It is designed to be what its name indicates—a Companion to "The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the United Church of Great Britain and Ireland." The tables of contents correspond. The order of the ecclesiastical year (with one exception, see No. XX. below) is observed. It is not, indeed, thought well to assign to every hymn its position under a certain Sunday or holy day, which seems to hamper its free use on other occasions; but they are all ranged under those divisions of the Prayer-book with which their subjects most easily coalesce.

In some compilations the significance of the order in which the hymns stand is so lightly esteemed, that they are arranged

alphabetically. This may have its convenience for facility of reference, but would be utterly unsuitable for a hymnal designed to catch as far as possible the spirit of our Liturgy. The bare suggestion of arranging the prayers and collects alphabetically would be sufficient to negative the adoption of any such plan3. No one can read the weighty paragraphs of Bishop Wordsworth's "Introduction to the Book of Psalms" without subscribing to the words of S. Augustine there quoted: "Ordo Psalmorum mihi magni sacramenti videtur continere secretum." And if this order were necessary in the compilation of the inspired utterances of the sweet Psalmists of Israel, much less can the Church of God afford to dispense with order in the uninspired offices of devotion which she places in the hands of her children.

The following are the subjects and numbers of the 400 hymns in this hymnal, arranged under their respective heads.

I. Morning Prayer. Eight hymns, which are suitable for early worship, whether in the House of God or in private and domestic devotion.

II. Evening Prayer. Thirteen hymns for the close of day, suitable either for public or private prayer.

III. The Creeds at Morning Prayer. A division occupying the place

assigned in the Prayer-book to the Creed of S. Athanasius. Two hymns for frequent use on the adoration of the Eternal Trinity in Unity.

IV. The Litany. Four supplicatory hymns, for use in times of humiliation and of need.

V. Prayers and Thanksgivings upon Several Occasions.

PRAYERS: Seven hymns on (1) the main judgments treated
of in the Prayer-book-Dearth, War, Pestilence; (2) the
Ember Weeks; (3) Parliament; (4) Intercession for all
Conditions of Men.

THANKSGIVINGS: Ten hymns, including; (1) General Thanks

3 Wesley, though his hymn-book lacks the invaluable ground-plan of truth, which our Prayer-book supplies, says in his Preface, "And this is done in regular order. The hymns are not carelessly jumbled together, but carefully ranged under proper heads, according to the experience of real Christians. So that this book is in effect a little body of experimental and practical divinity."