2. Come, ye sinners, poor and needy. 233. Glory to God on high. 76. O! for a glance of heavenly day. 283. That doleful night before his death. 570. Vain man, thy fond pursuits forbear. By REV. WILLIAM HAMMOND: 122. Lord, we come before thee now. By J. STRAPHAN: 645. Mercy descending from above. By MARIA DE FLUERY: 684. Thou sweet gliding Kedron, by thy silver streams. 644. As wave on wave, years pass away. By DR. KENNADAY: 611. Great God! who laid on Sion's mount: By HART and WATTS: 234. Celestial Dove, descend from high. By WATTS and WESLEY: 268. From all that dwell below the skies. By AUTHORS UNKNOWN: 487. All hail! happy day. C. Wesley 2 ley, 1957 139. In boundless mercy, gracious Lord, appear. 547. My span of life will soon be done. Mr. C Cowper. 273. O thou God of my salvation. Celin 391. Peace, troubled soul, thou need'st not fear. Sam. Es king. The hymns in the Hymn-book are numbered as 697; but many of them are composed of two or more parts. If each part were counted as a separate hymn, (as is the case in the English Hymn-book,) then the number would be considerably increased, and would correspond with the number of first lines in the "Index to the Hymns Ves." But, according to the present arrangement, the book does not contain near so many hymns as the index indicates. When classified agreeably to their respective authors, they will stand thus: PART II. COMPREHENDING NOTICES OF THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. In the year 1738, John and Charles Wesley became acquainted with Peter Bohler, a minister of the Moravian Church, from whom they received "an evangelical view of the promises of a free justification or pardon of sin, through the atonement of Christ alone," and immediately began to preach this doctrine. They and a few others now formed themselves into a religious society, which met in Fetter-lane. "It appears to have been about this period," says Mr. Jackson, "that the Wesleys published their first Hymn-book, probably for the use of this society, at its weekly meetings, as well as for private, domestic, and social use-for they were accustomed to devotional singing in their general intercourse with their friends. It is a small duodecimo volume of eighty-four pages, and bears the title of 'A COLLECTION OF PSALMS AND HYMNS. LONDON: PRINTED IN THE YEAR MDCCXXXVIII.' It has no printer's name, and no preface, to determine its authorship, but its general cast of sentiment is exactly that of the two Wesleys, just before they obtained the Christian salvation. The hymns are selected from various authors, chiefly Dr. Watts: but some are original, and these they afterward published in their joint names. Five are from the German, and one is from the Spanish. Most of these, Mr. John Wesley subsequently inserted in the collection which he formed for the use of the Methodist congregations." The volume here described the writer has never seen, nor is it mentioned in the list of poetical publications in the last volume of Mr. Wesley's Works; and the only additional information to the above he has been able to obtain, is the incidental allusion to the Hymn-book, contained in the following extract from the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine:* "In October of the same year (1738) he (J. Wesley) expounded at three societies in Oxford, and was grieved to find 'prudence had made one of them leave off singing of psalms.' He had just then published a small collection of twenty-three psalms and forty-six hymns, price 8d.; designed, no doubt, for such communities-not having as yet established any separate society of his own." In the year 1739 they published a volume, bearing the title, "HYMNS AND SACRED POEMS. BY JOHN WESLEY, M. A., FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD, AND CHARLES WESLEY, M. A., STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD." It is a duodecimo of two hundred and twenty-three pages. The preface to this volume, remarks Mr. Jackson, is a document of very superior value, and distinctly points out the change which had taken place in the theological views of the writers. They say: "Some verses, it may be observed, in the following collection, were wrote upon the scheme of the mystic divines. And these, it is owned, we once had in great veneration, as the best explainers of the gospel of Christ. But we are now convinced that we therein greatly erred, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the power of God." * Vol. lxviii, 1845, page 1076. Art., "Methodism in Former Days." By Thomas Marriott, Esq. |