FOR SOCIAL AND PRIVATE WORSHIP, ALTERED TO A DEVOTIONAL FORM. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY WAIT, GREENE, AND CO. 1827. BV 350 •485 PREFACE. in use. THIS small collection of hymns is compiled on a principle somewhat different from any now It was thought that the singing of hymns, being an act of devotion, should, like prayer, be a direct address to the Supreme Being; and that when exercised by a social circle, should be offered in plural language, to signify their joint cooperation. From inattention to these principles, many of the hymns in our best collections, cannot be sung in concert, by many persons of devotional feelings, without a strong sense of impropriety. On this principle the following hymns have been selected; and such alterations have been made as to give them this character. The collection, it is hoped, will be found adapted to social and family worship; and the hymns are reduced to a small number, to make a cheap and portable volume. A2 1 ALMIGHTY Father, gracious Lord, Our hearts thy mercies would record, 2 In life's first dawn, our tender frame Before we could pronounce thy name, Or breathe our infant prayer. 3 When life hung trembling on a breath, 'T was thine almighty love That saved us from impending death, 4 Each rolling year new favors brought From thy exhaustless store; But ah! in vain our laboring thought |