Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, based on scans made available by the Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/christianhymnboo00campiala
A COMPILATION OF PSALMS, HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
CINCINNATI: H. S. BOSWORTH, PUBLISHER. 1870.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by R. M. Bishop, C. H. Gould, W. H. Lape, O. A. Burgess, and J. B. Bowman, _Trustees_, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio.
MIAMI PRINTING COMPANY, Printers, Stereotypers, and Binders, WEST EIGHTH ST., NEAR MAIN.
This Hymn Book is the result of an agreement between Alexander Campbell--the former proprietor of the Christian Hymn Book--and the Christian brotherhood at large, as represented in the American Christian Missionary Society. At the annual meeting of the Society, in 1864, an overture was made by Mr. Campbell, of the copy-right of the Christian Hymn Book, to be held by certain brethren, in trust, on two conditions: 1. That a committee be mutually agreed on by himself and the Society, to revise and enlarge the book, so as to meet the general wishes of the brotherhood of Disciples; 2. That the profits arising from the sale of the book be given to the A. C. M. S. This overture was accepted, and the Committee of Revision was immediately appointed. That Committee, having fulfilled their task, now present the fruit of their labors to the public.
It will be seen that, while the former book was made the basis of this, the work of revision and enlargement has been made as thorough as possible. Still, comparatively few hymns have been expunged. After making as complete an exploration as our time would allow, of the realms of Christian Hymnology, we were more than ever convinced of the value of the labor, judgment, and taste, displayed in the compilation of the book we have so long used and cherished. We have met with no book of equal size, that possesses equal merit. The principal changes we have made, are:
1.--A new classification of subjects--increasing the facility of reference to hymns on the various subjects of song.
2.--An unbroken series of numbers to the hymns, which, while it necessitates the abolition of the formal distinction between Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, enables us to avoid the confusion that constantly grew out of the three series of numbers, which the former classification required.