X
PREFACE.
may be added, that the low price at which the small edition is offered, will place it within the reach of the humblest means.
The testimonies I have received, from time to time, from those of my brethren who have adopted the book into their Churches, as to the improvement already effected in their congregational singing, have been peculiarly gratifying.
I am glad to be able to say that, though 64 pages have been added to the work in each edition, I find I am under no necessity of adding to the price: the best proof, I trust, I can give of my anxiety to serve the Church without any view to personal emolument.
In conclusion, I may be permitted to say that, in selecting the Hymns I have sought to lay aside every party or personal predilection. Whenever I found a really good Hymn- a Hymn in harmony with the teaching of Scripture and of the Church, calculated to aid public or private devotion, to promote the honour and glory of Christ and the good of His people, whatever might be its source, ancient, medieval, or modern, I thankfully adopted it. I would add that, however gratifying it might be to me personally to witness the extensive adoption of this work, on which I have spent so large an amount of time and labour, yet I hope and desire it only in the proportion it is likely to serve the great ends to which I have alluded.
WILLIAM MERCER.
Leavy Greave, Dec. 5, 1856.
* Cheap editions of the Hymns without Music, in good type, have recently been published.
THIRD PREFACE.
THE present Editions contain a few alterations, which have been made at the special instance of some earnest well- wishers to the work. I felt, moreover, that its recent introduction into St. Paul's Cathedral, at the Special Evening Services, laid me under an additional obligation to render the book as perfect as human care could make it.
The whole of the music, with the exception of two tunes( Coburg or Christmas Hymn, and Gotha) composed by H. R. H. the Prince Consort, and inserted by his gracious permission, has undergone another and most anxious revision by Mr. Goss. The harmonies may now safely be pronounced to be no longer susceptible of improvement.
Some valuable suggestions kindly tendered by the Dean of St. Paul's, I have gladly adopted.
WILLIAM MERCER.
Feb. 3, 1859.
PREFACE TO THE QUARTO EDITION.
THE" Church Psalter and Hymn Book" has already been introduced into several Cathedrals, and the aspiration uttered at the close of the first Preface is being realized." The Common Tune" is no longer" uplifted by the worshippers of Parochial Churches" only: it once more" resounds through the lofty aisles of the Cathedral."