PREFACE.
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the fear of offending a small minority. In the long run the plainest and most perspicuous sermons are always the most popular and most useful. Let us apply this principle to Christian praise, and let us not be needlessly afraid of simple, manly, plain hymns, because they have a somewhat rough outside. In all composition, whether of prose or poetry, it is a cardinal mistake to sacrifice strength for the sake of smoothness. Some of the roughest hymns in this volume are the very hymns which many have learned to love most and remember best.
I now send forth" the Additional Hymnbook," with an earnest prayer that it may be found useful, and may help forward Christ's cause in the world. I regard with deep satisfaction the growing taste for hymn- singing and praise, as an essential part of Christian worship. It is one of the healthiest signs of our times. There is an old and quaint, but most true saying, " When the sun begins to rise, the birds begin to sing." The application, as the Puritans would say, is easy. Nothing is so likely to heal" our unhappy divisions," and to make us of one mind, as an increased spirit of praise as well as prayer.
Stradbroke Vicarage, September, 1875.
J.C. RYLE.
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