Excerpt from The New Psalms and Hymns: Published by Authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, A. D. 1901

The Committee was exceedingly fortunate in securing the services of Prof. Joseph Maclean and Prof. John P. Campbell, ph.d., as Musical Editors. Sincere thanks are expressed, in this public way, for the invaluable and self-denying labor of these gentlemen, wrought in love for the Church and the praise of God.

In the whole work of selecting hymns and tunes, and in their adaptation to each other, the Church was largely consulted, both in the original compilation as reported to the Assembly, and in the subsequent changes made in deference to criticisms and suggestions.

As to the hymns, a sincere effort was made to retain all those belonging to the older body of hymnology, that seemed to be endeared by use to the Church at large, and to select the very best of those that may be classed as new. Under the limitation not to make too large a book, it is apparent that, in both classes of hymns, some had to be omitted which many persons might have selected.

A large number of the versions of Psalms has been distributed through the book, under appropriate classification. An index of these, at the beginning of the book, puts them within as easy reach as if arranged separately, after the old way.

In editing the text of the hymns, the Committee endeavored, as far as pos sible, to present them as originally written, unless there was good reason for the contrary. In the case of some very familiar hymns it seemed better to retain an altered text, which had endeared itself to the Church by use. In this work, last ing thanks are due to Rev. Louis E. Benson, D.D., Editor of the hymnal, for the free use that has been allowed of that excellent book of praise, as also for his personal assistance in verifying the texts of hymns not found in that collection, and in settling many points of authorship and date.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.