Reformed Church in America— containing, in addition to the psalms, 788 hymns. An edition with music has been published within three or lour years past, under
the title of Tht Book of Praise. In 1862 the Ftdton Street Hymnrbook, which is used in the celebrated daily- noon prayer -meeting which bears the name of that street, and numbering 326 hymns, was published, and "recommended to the- churches" by the Synod.
In this chronological sketch no reference has been made to books in the French and German languages; but so long ago as 1792 the Synod approved and rec- ommended, in the French language, the psalms and hymns compiled by Theodore de Beza and La Marot ; and in the German language, the psalms and hymns, published at Marburg and Amsterdam, used in the lie- formed churches in Germany, in the Netherlands, and Pennsylvania, In October, 1852, a valuable and large collect!!. n of hymns in the German language was print- ed by order of the General Synod, for use in the German churches of this denomination. It was compiled by the late Rev. John C. Guldin, of New York. Rev. Joseph I'. Berg, D.D.. and Rev. Abraham Berky. since then a German Hymn-book for Sunday-schools, with music, has been issued. The General Synod of 1869 sanctioned a new volume, entitled Hymns of the Church, with times, which N now- coming in use in many congregations. The full history of the preparation of this elegant vol- ume is given in the Report of the Synod. In many re- spects it is the most admirable collection of hymns for public worship now in use among Protestant denomina- tions. It numbers 1007 hymns, together with many chants, sentences, etc. The music, which is designed to promote congregational singing, i- "| a \. ry high or- der. The wide range of topics, the rich selection from the most celebrated devotional lyrics of all ages, and its line adaptation to the great purpose of the praises of God, entitle it to a foremost place among modern collec- tions. The committee who made the compilation were Lev. .John B. Thompson, Rev. Ashbel G. Vermilye, D.D., Rev. Alexander K. Thompson, D.D.. with whom was as- sociated, as a prominent co-laborer, the Lev. Zachary
Eddy,D.D. This 1 k and the previous one are now
both in use in the Reformed Church in America. It has also been introduced into a number of churches of other denominations.
The hymn-books of the various other Christian de- nominations embrace a large proportion of the psalms and hymns which have become the property of »lie Church universal, and of these it is necessary only to give the titles, which we subjoin in a list of all hymn- I ks. Hut there are hymns and hymnals characteris- tic of the particular doctrines, ordinances, and Spirit of the Methodists so distinctive in these respects that we append a history of their hymn-books, recognising there- by the general assertion that their hymns and tunes b.-i\ e been among the greatest instrumentalities ot their immense successes.
The origin of the first collection of hymns in use among the Methodists of this country cannot be satis- factorily ascertained. In 177:'. one ot Wesley's publica- tions, divided into three books— 1. Hymns and Spiritual Songs; •_>. Psalms and Hymns;;;. Redemption Hymns (16th ed. Bristol).— was reprinted by [saac Collins, in
Burlington, N. J. At the formati f the Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1784, Wesley's abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer, with a "Collection of l'salms and Hymns" appended, wa^ adopted by the new com- munion. It was not. however, long employed. There is extant a copy of the Pocket Hymn-book (9th ed. Phila. 1788 I, This contains 250 hymns. We may infer from the Dumber of Methodists in the country that the first
edition may have been published about 1785 or 1786.
There is also an edition "revised and improved," copy- righted in 1802 by Ezekiel Cooper. Tins contains 320
hymns. In 1808 a sup). lenient was added by bishop Asbury. containing .".:!7 hymns, the whole being pub- lished ill two books. This was revised under tie mi-
PSALMODY
u:.
pcrvision of Nathan Bangs in the year 1820. To this again a supplement was added in 1836. The General Conference of 1848 appointed a committee to carefully revise the then existing book, and to "judiciously mul- tiply the number of hymns.*' Their work was com- pleted, and approved by the Book Committee, the edit- ors of the Book Concern, and finally by the bishops, by whom it was commended to the Church in May, L849. A revision of this hymn-book was undertaken in 1876 by order of that year's General Conference, and it is completed at our writing (1878). The Hymnal, so it is entitled, is to be the sole book containing songs of praise to be used hereafter in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, after the sep- aration, in 1846 ordered the preparation of a collection specially designed for its members, which was in some respects a decided improvement on the book of 1820 with supplement. The various smaller bodies of Meth- odists have employed books prepared bjr themselves.
During the last twenty years nearly every religious organization has revised its " book of praise," and we ap- pend a list of these standard collections used in America and England :
A. England.