Table Of ContentThe Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christian Hymn Book, by Various
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Title: The Christian Hymn Book
A Compilation of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original
and Selected, by A. Campbell and Others
Author: Various
Release Date: June 20, 2014 [EBook #46041]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHRISTIAN HYMN BOOK ***
Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, based on scans made available
by the Internet Archive,
https://archive.org/details/christianhymnboo00campiala
THE
CHRISTIAN HYMN BOOK:
A COMPILATION OF
PSALMS, HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS,
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
BY
A. CAMPBELL AND OTHERS.
REVISED AND ENLARGED BY A COMMITTEE.
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.
[3]
[4]
ISAAC ERRETT,
W. K. PENDLETON,
W. T. MOORE,
T. M. ALLEN,
A. S. HAYDEN.
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[5]
MIAMI PRINTING COMPANY,
Printers, Stereotypers, and Binders,
WEST EIGHTH ST., NEAR MAIN.
INTRODUCTION.
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.
3.—The numbering of the stanzas of every hymn, for easy reference, when any stanza is omitted in singing.
4.—An arrangement of meters, under every heading.
5.—A greatly enlarged number and variety of hymns, suited to the diversified wants of personal, social, and public devotion.
We take pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness to numerous brethren, for counsel and assistance; especially to Elder William Baxter,
whose collected material and original contributions have been cheerfully placed at our disposal.
While we have admitted a few original hymns, prepared expressly for this work, the additions have been made mostly from the old
authors, or from the new resources furnished by the living authors of our own and other lands. It is believed that the work is brought fully
up to the resources and demands of the present time.
Knowing that in Christian families, the Hymn Book is generally the most popular book of sacred poetry, and, not seldom, the sole resource
of the family in that department, we have felt the importance of a large variety of the choicest lyrical productions that our language affords.
We have done what our time and means would allow, toward this end. We hope that it may minister to the comfort, strength, and purity of
the Church of God; throw over many a hearth-stone, and many a weary pilgrim-path, the sweet radiance of heavenly song; and give fresh
encouragement to the cultivation of all pious sentiments and emotions, alike in the closet, the family, the prayer-meeting, and the public
assembly.
Cincinnati, O., August 7, 1865.
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
The works and the word of God.
Psalm 19.
The heavens declare thy glory, Lord!
In every star thy wisdom shines;
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But when our eyes behold thy word,
We read thy name in fairer lines.
The rolling sun, the changing light,
And nights and days, thy power confess;
But the blest volume thou hast writ,
Reveals thy justice and thy grace.
Sun, moon, and stars, convey thy praise
Round the whole earth, and never stand;
So when thy truth began its race,
It touched and glanced on every land.
Nor shall thy spreading gospel rest
Till through the world thy truth has run;
Till Christ has all the nations blest
That see the light, or feel the sun.
Great Sun of Righteousness! arise;
Bless the dark world with heavenly light:
Thy gospel makes the simple wise,
Thy laws are pure, thy judgments right.
Thy noblest wonders here we view,
In souls renewed, and sins forgiven;
Lord! cleanse my sins, my soul renew,
And make thy word my guide to heaven.
Watts.
Divine love displayed, etc.
To thee my heart, Eternal King!
Would now its thankful tribute bring,
To thee its humble homage raise
In songs of ardent, grateful praise.
All nature shows thy boundless love,
In worlds below and worlds above;
But in thy blesséd word I trace
The richer glories of thy grace.
There what delightful truths are given;
There Jesus shows the way to heaven;
His name salutes my listening ear,
Revives my heart and checks my fear.
There Jesus bids our sorrows cease,
And gives the laboring conscience peace;
Raises our grateful feelings high,
And points to mansions in the sky.
For love like this, O, may our song
Through endless years thy praise prolong;
And distant climes thy name adore,
Till time and nature are no more!
Exeter Coll.
Nature and revelation.
The starry firmament on high,
And all the glories of the sky,
Yet shine not to thy praise, O Lord,
So brightly as thy written word.
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The hopes that holy word supplies,
Its truths divine and precepts wise—
In each a heavenly beam I see,
And every beam conducts to thee.
Almighty Lord! the sun shall fail,
The moon forget her nightly tale,
And deepest silence hush on high
The radiant chorus of the sky—
But fixed for everlasting years,
Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,
Thy word shall shine in cloudless day
When heaven and earth have passed away.
Grant.
Strength and peace from the divine word.
There is a stream whose gentle flow
Supplies the city of our God;
Life, love, and joy, still gliding through,
And watering our divine abode.
That sacred stream, thy holy word,
Supports our faith, our fear controls;
Sweet peace thy promises afford,
And give new strength to fainting souls.
Watts.
The Scriptures our light and guide.
When Israel through the desert passed,
A fiery pillar went before,
To guide them through the dreary waste,
And lessen the fatigues they bore.
Such is thy glorious word, O God;
’Tis for our light and guidance given;
It sheds a luster all abroad,
And points the path to bliss and heaven.
It fills the soul with sweet delight,
And quickens its inactive powers;
It sets our wandering footsteps right,
Displays thy love and kindles ours.
Its promises rejoice our hearts;
Its doctrine is divinely true;
Knowledge and pleasure it imparts;
It comforts and instructs us too.
Ye favored lands, who have this word!
Ye saints, who feel its saving power!
Unite your tongues to praise the Lord,
And his distinguished grace adore.
Beddome.
Their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19:4.
Upon the gospel’s sacred page
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The gathered beams of ages shine;
And, as it hastens, every age
But makes its brightness more divine.
On mightier wing, in loftier flight,
From year to year, does knowledge soar;
And, as it soars, the gospel light
Becomes effulgent more and more.
More glorious still, as centuries roll,
New regions blest, new powers unfurled;
Expanding with the expanding soul,
Its radiance shall o’erflow the world;
Flow to restore, but not destroy;
As when the cloudless lamp of day
Pours out its flood of light and joy,
And sweeps the lingering mist away.
Bowring.
Hold fast the form of sound words.
2 Tim. 1:13.
God’s law demands one living faith,
Not a gaunt crowd of lifeless creeds;
Its warrant is a firm “God saith;”
Its claim, not words, but living deeds.
Yet, Lord, forgive; thy simple law
Grows tarnished in our earthly grasp;
Pure in itself, without a flaw,
It dims in our too-worldly clasp.
We handle it with unwashed hands;
We stain it with unhallowed breath;
We gloss it with device of man’s,
And hide thine image underneath.
Forgive the sacrilege, and take
From off our souls th’ unworthy stain;
And show us, for thy Son’s dear sake
Thy pure and perfect law again.
Briggs.
The entrance of thy word giveth light.
Psalm 119:130.
I love the volume of thy word;
What light and joy those leaves afford
To souls benighted and distressed!
Thy precepts guide my doubtful way,
Thy fear forbids my feet to stray,
Thy promise leads my heart to rest.
Thy threatenings wake my slumbering eyes,
And warn me where my danger lies;
But ’tis thy blessed gospel, Lord,
That makes my guilty conscience clean,
Converts my soul, subdues my sin,
And gives a free, but large reward.
Who knows the errors of his thoughts?
My God, forgive my secret faults,
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And from presumptuous sins restrain;
Accept my poor attempts of praise,
That I have read thy book of grace,
And book of nature, not in vain.
Watts.
Thy word is a lamp.
Psalm 119:105.
How precious is the book divine,
By inspiration given!
Bright as a lamp its precepts shine,
To guide our souls to heaven.
It sweetly cheers our drooping hearts
In this dark vale of tears;
Life, light, and joy, it still imparts,
And quells our rising fears.
This lamp, through all the tedious night
Of life, shall guide our way,
Till we behold the clearer light
Of an eternal day.
Fawcett.
Thy testimonies are my delight.
Psalm 119:24.
Father of Mercies! in thy word
What endless glory shines!
For ever be thine name adored
For these celestial lines!
Here may the wretched sons of want
Exhaustless riches find;
Riches above what earth can grant,
And lasting as the mind.
Here the fair tree of knowledge grows,
And yields a rich repast:
Sublimer sweets than nature knows
Invite the longing taste.
Here springs of consolation rise
To cheer the fainting mind,
And thirsty souls receive supplies,
And sweet refreshment find.
Here the Redeemer’s welcome voice,
Spreads heavenly peace around;
And life and everlasting joys
Attend the blissful sound.
O may these heavenly pages be
My ever dear delight;
And still new beauties may I see,
And still increasing light.
Divine Instructor! gracious Lord,
Be thou for ever near;
Teach me to love thy sacred word,
And view my Saviour there!
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A light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105.
What glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun!
It gives a light to every age—
It gives but borrows none.
The hand that gave it, still supplies
His gracious light and heat;
His truths upon the nations rise—
They rise, but never set.
Let everlasting thanks be thine
For such a bright display,
As makes the world of darkness shine
With beams of heavenly day.
My soul rejoices to pursue
The paths of truth and love,
Till glory breaks upon my view
In brighter worlds above.
Cowper.
Thy law is my delight.
Psalm 119:174.
Lord, I have made thy word my choice,
My lasting heritage;
There shall my noblest powers rejoice,
My warmest thoughts engage.
I’ll read the histories of thy love,
And keep thy laws in sight;
While through the promises I rove,
With ever fresh delight.
’Tis a broad land, of wealth unknown,
Where springs of life arise,
Seeds of immortal bliss are sown,
And hidden glory lies.
The best relief that mourners have;
It makes our sorrows blest;
Our fairest hope beyond the grave,
And our eternal rest.
Watts.
Revelation welcomed.
Hail, sacred truth! whose piercing rays
Dispel the shades of night,
Diffusing o’er a sinful world
The healing beams of light.
Thy word, O Lord, with friendly aid,
Restores our wandering feet,
Converts the sorrows of the mind
To joys divinely sweet.
O, send thy light and truth abroad,
In all their radiant blaze;
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And bid the admiring world adore
The glories of thy grace.
O, how I love thy law.
Psalm 119:97.
O how I love thy holy law!
’Tis daily my delight;
And thence my meditations draw
Divine advice by night.
I wake before the dawn of day,
To meditate thy word;
My soul with longing melts away,
To bear thy gospel, Lord.
How doth thy word my heart engage,
How well employ my tongue;
And in my tiresome pilgrimage,
Yields me a heavenly song.
When nature sinks, and spirits droop,
Thy promises of grace
Are pillars to support my hope,
And there I write thy praise.
Watts.
Wherewithal shall a young man, etc.
Psalm 119:9.
How shall the young secure their hearts,
And guard their lives from sin?
Thy word the choicest rules imparts
To keep the conscience clean.
’Tis like the sun, a heavenly light,
That guides us all the day,
And through the dangers of the night,
A lamp to lead our way.
Thy precepts make us truly wise;
We hate the sinner’s road;
We hate our own vain thoughts that rise,
But love the law, O God.
Thy word is everlasting truth;
How pure is every page!
That holy book shall guide our youth
And well support our age.
Watts.
Word of the everlasting God.
Lamp of our feet! whereby we trace
Our path when wont to stray;
Stream from the fount of heavenly grace!
Brook by the traveler’s way!
Bread of our souls, whereon we feed!
True manna from on high!
Our guide and chart! wherein we read
Of realms beyond the sky.
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Pillar of fire through watches dark,
And radiant cloud by day!
When waves would whelm our tossing bark,
Our anchor and our stay!
Word of the everlasting God!
Will of his glorious Son!
Without thee how could earth be trod,
Or heaven itself be won?
Barton.
Quicken me according to thy word.
Psalm 119:25.
O Lord, thy precepts I survey:
I keep thy law in sight,
Through all the business of the day,
To form my actions right.
My heart in midnight silence cries,
“How sweet thy comforts be!”
My thoughts in holy wonder rise,
And bring their thanks to thee.
Watts.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
Psalm 19:7.
O Lord, thy perfect word
Directs our steps aright;
Nor can all other books afford
Such profit or delight.
Celestial light it sheds
To cheer this vale below;
To distant lands its glory spreads,
And streams of mercy flow.
True wisdom it imparts;
Commands our hope and fear:
O may we hide it in our hearts,
And feel its influence there!
Beddome.
The books of nature and Scripture.
Behold! the lofty sky
Declares its maker, God;
And all his starry works, on high,
Proclaim his power abroad.
The darkness and the light
Still keep their course the same;
While night to day, and day to night,
Divinely teach his name.
In every different land,
Their general voice is known;
They show the wonders of his hand,
And orders of his throne.
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Ye Christian lands! rejoice;
Here he reveals his word;
We are not left to nature’s voice,
To bid us know the Lord.
Watts.
My Bible.
My Bible! book divine!
Precious treasure! thou art mine:
Mine to tell me whence I came;
Mine to teach me what I am;
Mine to chide me when I rove;
Mine to show a Saviour’s love;
Mine thou art to guide and guard;
Mine to punish or reward;
Mine to comfort in distress,
Suffering in this wilderness;
Mine to show, by living faith,
Man can triumph over death;
Mine to tell of joys to come,
And the rebel sinner’s doom:
O thou holy book divine!
Precious treasure thou art mine!
Book of grace.
Book of grace, and book of glory!
Gift of God to age and youth;
Wondrous in thy sacred story,
Bright, bright with truth.
Book of love! in accents tender,
Speaking unto such as we;
May it lead us, Lord, to render
All, all to thee.
Book of hope! the spirit sighing,
Consolation finds in thee;
As it hears the Saviour crying—
“Come, come to me.”
Book of life! when we reposing,
Bid farewell to friends we love
Give us for the life then closing,
Life, life above.
The word more precious than gold.
Precious Bible! what a treasure
Does the word of God afford!
All I want for life or pleasure,
Food and med’cine, shield and sword:
Let the world account me poor,
Having this I need no more.
Food to which the world’s a stranger,
Here my hungry soul enjoys;
Of excess there is no danger—
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Though it fills, it never cloys:
On a dying Christ I feed,
He is meat and drink indeed!
When my faith is faint and sickly,
Or when Satan wounds my mind;
Cordials to revive me quickly,
Healing med’cines here I find:
To the promises I flee,
Each affords a remedy.
In the hour of dark temptation,
Satan can not make me yield;
For the word of consolation
Is to me a mighty shield:
While the scripture truths are sure,
From his malice I’m secure.
Vain his threats to overcome me,
When I take the Spirit’s sword;
Then, with ease, I drive him from me;
Satan trembles at the word:
’Tis a sword for conquest made,
Keen the edge, and strong the blade.
Shall I envy, then, the miser,
Doating on his golden store?
Sure I am, or should be, wiser;
I am rich—’tis he is poor:
Jesus gives me in his word,
Food and med’cine, shield and sword.
Newton.
The family Bible.
How painfully pleasing the fond recollection
Of youthful connections and innocent joy,
When blessed with parental advice and affection,
Surrounded with mercies—with peace from on high!
I still view the chairs of my father and mother,
The seats of their offspring as ranged on each hand;
And that richest of books which excelled every other,
The family Bible that lay on the stand:
The old-fashioned Bible, the dear blesséd Bible,
The family Bible that lay on the stand.
That Bible, the volume of God’s inspiration,
At morn and at evening could yield us delight;
And the prayer of our sire was a sweet invocation
For mercy by day and for safety through night;
Our hymn of thanksgiving with harmony swelling,
All warm from the heart of the family band,
Has raised us from earth to that rapturous dwelling
Described in the Bible that lay on the stand:
The old-fashioned Bible, the dear, blesséd Bible,
The family Bible that lay on the stand.
Ye scenes of tranquillity, long have we parted,
My hopes almost gone, and my parents no more:
In sorrow and sadness I live broken-hearted,
And wander unknown on a far distant shore;
Yet how can I doubt a dear Saviour’s protection,
Forgetful of gifts from his bountiful hand!
O let me with patience receive his correction,
And think of the Bible that lay on the stand:
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The old-fashioned Bible, the dear, blesséd Bible,
The family Bible that lay on the stand.
GOD: HIS BEING AND PERFECTIONS.
Great is the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord! ’tis good to raise
Our hearts and voices in his praise:
His nature and his works invite
To make this duty our delight.
Great is the Lord! and great his might,
And all his glories infinite:
His wisdom vast, and knows no bound;
A deep where all our thoughts are drowned.
He loves the meek, rewards the just,
Humbles the wicked in the dust,
Melts and subdues the stubborn soul,
And makes the broken spirit whole.
His saints are precious in his sight;
He views his children with delight;
He sees their hope, he knows their fear,
Approves and loves his image there.
Watts.
Eternity of God.
Ere mountains reared their forms sublime,
Or heaven and earth in order stood—
Before the birth of ancient time,
From everlasting thou art God.
A thousand ages, in their flight,
With thee are as a fleeting day;
Past, present, future, to thy sight
At once their various scenes display.
But our brief life’s a shadowy dream,
A passing thought, that soon is o’er,
That fades with morning’s earliest beam,
And fills the musing mind no more.
To us, O Lord, the wisdom give
Each passing moment so to spend,
That we at length with thee may live,
Where life and bliss shall never end.
F. Lyte.
“How unsearchable are thy judgments.”
Rom. 11:33.
Lord, my weak thought in vain would climb
To search the starry vault profound:
In vain would wing her flight sublime,
To find creation’s outmost bound.
But weaker yet that thought must prove
To search thy great eternal plan—
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Thy sovereign counsels, born of love
Long ages ere the world began.
When my dim reason would demand
Why that, or this, thou dost ordain,
By some vast deep I seem to stand,
Whose secrets I must ask in vain.
When doubts disturb my troubled breast,
And all is dark as night to me,
Here, as on solid rock, I rest;
That so it seemeth good to thee.
Be this my joy, that evermore
Thou rulest all things at thy will:
Thy sovereign wisdom I adore,
And calmly, sweetly trust thee still.
Ray Palmer.
Omnipresence of God.
Father of spirits! nature’s God,
Our inmost thoughts are known to thee:
Thou, Lord, canst hear each idle word,
And every private action see.
Could we, on morning’s swiftest wings,
Pursue our flight through trackless air,
Or dive beneath deep ocean’s springs,
Thy presence still would meet us there.
In vain may guilt attempt to fly,
Concealed beneath the pall of night:
One glance from thy all-piercing eye,
Can kindle darkness into light.
Search thou our hearts, and there destroy
Each evil thought, each secret sin,
And fit us for those realms of joy
Where naught impure shall enter in.
The Lord reigneth.
Psalm 96:10.
Jehovah reigns; his throne is high;
His robes are light and majesty;
His glory shines with beams so bright
No mortal can sustain the sight.
His terrors keep the world in awe;
His justice guards his holy law;
His love reveals a smiling face.
His truth and promise seal the grace.
Through all his works his wisdom shines,
And baffles Satan’s deep designs;
His power is sovereign to fulfill
The noblest counsels of his will.
And will this glorious Lord descend
To be my father and my friend?
Then let my songs with angels join;
Heaven is secure, if God be mine.
Watts.
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Psalm 100.
With one consent let all the earth
To God their cheerful voices raise;
Glad homage pay, with awful mirth,
And sing before him songs of praise:
Convinced that he is God alone,
From whom both we and all proceed;
We, whom he chooses for his own,
The flock that he vouchsafes to keep.
O, enter, then, his temple gate,
Thence to his courts devoutly press;
And still your grateful hymns repeat,
And still his name with praises bless.
For he’s the Lord supremely good,
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth, which always firmly stood,
To endless ages shall endure.
Doddridge.
Of him are all things.
Rom. 11:36.
O source divine, and life of all,
The fount of being’s wondrous sea!
Thy depth would every heart appall,
That saw not love supreme in thee.
We shrink before thy vast abyss,
Where worlds on worlds eternal brood;
We know thee truly but in this—
That thou bestowest all our good.
And so, ’mid boundless time and space,
O grant us still in thee to dwell,
And through the ceaseless web to trace
Thy presence working all things well!
Sterling.
In him we live and move.
Acts 17:28.
Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord!
Essential life’s unbounded sea!
What lives and moves, lives by thy word;
It lives, and moves, and is, from thee!
Whate’er in earth, or sea, or sky,
Or shuns, or meets, the wandering thought,
Escapes, or strikes, the searching eye,
By thee was to existence brought.
High is thy power above all hight;
Whate’er thy will decrees is done:
Thy wisdom, holiness and might
Can by no finite mind be known.
What our dim eyes could never see,
Is plain and naked in thy sight;
What thickest darkness vails, to thee
Shines clearly as the morning light.
