DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: ******** DISTRICT CLERK'S OFFICE BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twelfth day of L. S. May, A. D. 1819, and in the forty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, James M. Winchell, James Loring, Ensign Lincoln, and Thomas Edmands, of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof they aim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "A Selection of more than three hundred Hymns, from the most approved Authors, on a great variety of subjects. Among which are all the Hymns of Dr. Watts, adapted to Public and Private Worship, not found in the Editions now in use. By JAMES M. WINCHELL, A. M. Paster of the First Baptist Church in Boston." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned:" and also to an Act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein men tioned; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical, and other Prints." PREFACE. THE number of Hymns in this Selection has been limited to a little over three hundred, for the purpose of rendering it convenient to bind them in the same volume with the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, to which they are designed as a Supplement. For the same purpose also, some of the Hymns have been abridged, that the volume might not be extended to an immoderate size. In one respect at least, it is thought, this Selection will be preferable to any now in circulation. It contains the whole of the Sacred Poetry of Dr. Watts, adapted to the purposes of devotion and praise, not found in the common editions. An addition of nearly eighty Hymns from the pen of that "sweet singer in Israel," to those already in use, cannnot but be highly grateful to the Christian public. In point of sentiment and poetry, they will be found worthy of the just celebrity of their distinguished author. Of the character of the other hymns, it is left for the public to judge. Care has been taken to give as great a variety as the limits of the work would admit. Many excellent Hymns on particular subjects might have been inserted, but they would have excluded others on subjects equally important. A primary object, after giving the whole of Dr. Watts, has been to select the best Hymns on subjects which he had omitted: and the compi ler flatters himself that this work, containing as it does MORE THAN A THOUSAND Psalms and Hymns, of approved excellence, will furnish the churches of Christ with a supply of sacred poetry, better suited to all subjects and occasions, than any heretofore published: while, by throwing the whole into one volume, the price is reduced, and the confusion arising from the use of two books, avoided. It affords me no small gratification, that both the plan and the select Hymns have received the approbation of many whose judgment and taste the public have long been accustomed to respect. But the consideration that the book may be used in the same congregation with the common editions of Watts, will probably best recommend it to the attention of Christians. It has long been a subject of regret among judicious persons, of all religious denominations, that so many hymns should have obtained circulation, which are entirely destitute of poetic merit, and which serve only to corrupt the taste, and excite the passions without benefiting the heart. The injurious effects of such hymns it is hoped the use of this Supplement will have a tendency to counteract, and at the same time preserve entire those inimitable compositions of Dr. Watts, which many persons of late, have discovered too much willingness to mutilate or neglect. No seiection, however excellent, should be suffered to supersede the use of them. "It is deemed unnecessary to make any apology for taking a few hymns, from authors who differ in doctrinal sentiments, from myself and the churches with which I am in connexion. The hymns themselves, superiour in their kind, and on subjects in which all real Christians agree, must and will be their own apology." May the great Head of the Church bless this humble effort to promote His glory, and the beauty of Christian worship. JAMES M. WINCHELL. BOSTON, May, 1819. |