6 A COLLECTION OF PSALMS AND HYMNS FOR THE SANCTUARY. "Sing us one of the songs of Zion." PSALM CXXxvii. 3. "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.' Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. Stereotyped by GEORGE A. CURTIS; NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. во THIS collection of devotional poems was made in compliance with the request of the Society to which the Compiler ministers, the one in use among them being out of print. The very number of the collections now found in our churches suggested, if it did not justify, the compilation of still another; for a choice among them is difficult, and the facilities of the press for performing its work anew present themselves, perhaps too readily. This collection, of course, will show all the imperfections which belong to every work of the kind, as exhibiting the peculiar taste, judgment, preferences, and prejudices of an individual compiler. It may besides have other defects not chargeable upon our common deficiencies. The object of the Compiler has been to bring together the best Sacred Lyrics in our language, as well those the sentiments of which convey instruction conformed to the Scriptures, as those of a simply devotional strain. The Scriptures are the inspiring source of the sentiments, and the rich treasury of much of the language of the best lyrics; and therefore it seems right and good to affix sacred texts to the poems, whenever the sentiment or language is close enough to admit the connection. A good hymn may often do very much to aid and impress a sermon or a prayer. All sacred poems are the common property of all Christians. Whatever epithet, attached to the simple name of Christian, may have expressed the peculiar religious views of the writers, all that they have written or sung belongs to the church universal. We have equal liberty to employ their melodies when they harmonize with our ears, our minds, and our souls |