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LARGE

HYMN BOOK,

FOR THE USE OF THE

PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.

BY HUGH BOURNE.

I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding
also. 1 Cor. xiv. 15.

ILLUME.

BEMERSLEY, near TUNSTALL:

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST
CONNEXION, BY J. BOURNE.

1824.

Entered at Stationers' Hall.

PREFACE.

THE singing service, or service of song, is used, in scripture, to set forth the praises of God, to record his wondrous works, and make known his goodness and loving kindness to the children of men; it is used also for reproof, correction, admonition, and instruction in righteousness.

On the Service of Song in the Old Testament.

The first service of this kind, of which we have any knowledge, is recorded in Job, xxxviii. 6, 7, where the Lord himself informs us that when he laid the foundations of the earth, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." This shows us that there was joy in heaven when creation first arose; and when God makes a new creation in the hearts of sinners, there is joy both in heaven and on earth. In Luke, xv. 7, our Lord speaks of joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth; and on earth, the children of God rejoice in the work of the Lord. On such occasions, they might say, as in hymn 20,

"Thee, in thy glorious realms, they praise
And bow before thy throne!

We, in the kingdom of thy grace;

The kingdoms are but one."

When the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm, and through the Red sea, on dry ground, they raised a song of triumph unto the Lord, saying, “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. Exod.xv. When the nation thus sung unto the Lord, their united voices would sound like the voice of many waters.

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When Moses had nearly finished his course, and before he went up to the top of Pisgah to view the land and die, he, by the Eternal Spirit, delivered a song for correction, exhortation, and instruction in righteousness and said, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew." Deut. xxxii. 2.

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