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THE

CONGREGATIONAL PSALMIST:

A

COLLECTION OF PSALM TUNES

ADAPTED TO

A SELECTION OF HYMNS CONTAINED IN THE PSALMIST,

AND INTENDED

FOR CONGREGATIONAL USE IN BAPTIST CHURCHES.

"Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.”—Psalm lxvii. 3.

ROCHESTER:

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM N. SAGE.

1855.

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in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Northern District of New York.

N. B. The hymns retain the numbers which they bear in the Psalmist. When a hymn is given out to be sung by the congregation, the page on which the hymn may be found in this book should also be announced.

When the choir alone is expected to sing, the hymn should be given out directly from the Psalmist.

THOMAS B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER AND ELECTROTYPER, 82 & 84 BEEKMAN STREET, N. Y.

PREFACE.

THE design of this little book is to promote and to facilitate the practice of congregational singing in Baptist churches.* It has originated in no feeling of opposition to choirs. Indeed, in the present state of musical cultivation in our country, the compiler hardly sees how choirs can well be dispensed with. Rightly constituted and led, thoroughly trained, performing their part in the spirit of true devotion, and observant of the proprieties of God's house, they cannot be too highly appreciated. And there can be no just objection to the separate performance to some extent, by them, of pieces so unfamiliar or artistic as to preclude the congregation at large from joining in them. On the contrary, the effect in elevating the musical taste of the people is much to be desired, for music has its laws, just as all else of which God is the author, and the more closely those laws are conformed to, the more perfectly, other things being equal, must the design of this part of divine worship be attained.

Still, it is to be remembered that the choir does nothing which it is not presumed to do in the name of the whole congregation. No true theory of public worship can recognize it as doing aught in its own distinctive capacity. Hence the inquiry very pertinently arises, how far a congregation is justifiable in delegating to a select few acts of worship which are presumed to be rendered by all. The conclusion to which such an inquiry inevitably conducts, is, that a choir, regarded in any other light but as leaders and helpers to the congregation, is unauthorized, and of mischievous tendency. For self-display, or for any mere artistic purpose, no where have choirs less a right to be than in the house of God, no matter how skillful their performances, nor how largely they may add to the attractions of the sanctuary.

* A few tunes and hymns have been inserted more particularly suited to social and familiar religious meetings.

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