Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Publishers _HARPER & BROTHERS_ _New York and London_ 1931
_Copyright, 1931, by Harper & Brothers. Printed in the U. S. A. First Edition_ _D-F_
_There’s lots of music in ’em, the hymns of long ago; An’ when some gray-haired brother sings the ones I used to know I sorter want to take a hand—I think o’ days gone by— “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye.”_
_There’s lots of music in ’em—those dear, sweet hymns of old, With visions bright of lands of light and shining streets of gold; And I hear ’em ringing—singing, where memory dreaming stands, “From Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral strands.”_
_We hardly needed singin’ books in them old days: we knew The words, the tunes, of every one, the dear old hymn book through! We had no blaring trumpets then, no organs built for show; We only sang to praise the Lord, “from whom all blessings flow.”_
_An’ so I love the dear old hymns, and when my time shall come— Before the light has left me and my singing lips are dumb— If I can only hear ’em then, I’ll pass, without a sigh, “To Canaan’s fair and happy land, where my possessions lie!”_
—Frank L. Stanton in _The Atlanta Constitution_
Preface xi I. A Singing Faith 1 II. Songs in the Night 29 III. Hymns Mothers Loved 52 IV. When Preachers Sing 67 V. Songs of Soldiers 80 VI. Heard within Prison Walls 95 VII. The Music of Submerged Lives 103 VIII. Songs of Salvation 113 IX. “The Old Rugged Cross” 127 X. Hymns of Youth 136 XI. Hymns As Prayers 153 XII. Songs of the Negroes 165 XIII. Christmas and Easter Melodies 173 XIV. Funeral Music 188 XV. Hymns on Patriotic Occasions 204 Index of Hymns 217
Half a million hymns, it is estimated, are written in more than two hundred languages and dialects in which Christianity is preached. Some of these are translations, but many are original expressions of the Christian faith. This extraordinary production is an impressive testimony from Christian experience.
Having for many years made a study of the influence of hymns in human experience, I have during that time gleaned material from newspapers, periodicals (both American and British) and books; and to both the authors and the publishers of these I here express my indebtedness. Little is said in this volume concerning the origin of hymns and tunes, or of their place in literature. These aspects of the subject are well discussed in “The English Hymn” by Louis F. Benson, “The Hymn as Literature” by J. B. Reeves, “The Story of the Hymns and Tunes” by T. Brown and H. Butterworth, “The Evolution of the English Hymn” by F. J. Gillman, “Stories of Great Hymns of the Church” by Silas H. Paine, “English Hymns: Their Authors and History” by S. W. Duffield, and many others.