Oh, life hath many a cloudy day, And many griefs and wrongs! Yet all along its checkered way "He giveth songs." HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 410X.226 COPYRIGHT 1880 By E. P. DUTTON & CO. NEW YORK: J. J. LITTLE & CO., PRINTERS, 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE. PREFACE. IN grief and joy, in shadow and sunshine, by night and day, to men and women of every clime, every age, every degree of poetic talent and culture, "He giveth songs." Their mission of hope, cheer, strength, encouragement, and consolation, is twofold, first to the special soul that sings, and afterwards to all earnest souls that listen. How well they fulfill this double ministry, may be inferred from the many collections of religious songs that have been made, and, doubtless, will continue to be made. For, as the years go on, there are new songs by new singers; and though the old never cease to delight us with their solidity of thought and the pleasant quaintness of their phraseology and versification, the new wear the kindly charm of every-day likeness-they are the voices of our own time, breathing of our own hopes, fears, needs, and aspirations, and we cannot choose but listen. Yet, wheth er the songs be old or new, sung loudly and clearly, or low and falteringly, by voices trained and skilled, or careless and untutored, the burden is always the same,-the great Heart of Humanity uplifting itself, with more or less of the patience of hope, to its God; and waiting—aye, yearning--for the day when it shall sing the "new song" and drink the " new wine" of His Kingdom. The voices are many, but the love and faith are one; and the concord, we may dare to believe, is sweet not only to our earthly ears, but to that Divine Listener who scorns not to receive as our gifts to Him that which He first so richly bestowed on us. This collection is made up of songs old and new, known and unknown, ancient and modern,-put side by side, the better to allow of comparison, and bring out the charm of contrast. It is drawn from many sources,former collections, old magazines and newspapers, in a few cases from tenacious memories; but, for obvious reasons, poems have been preferred which are not comprised in other collections of the day. So far as possible, the names of the authors are given; two only are represented so largely as to appear on the title-page. One of these is so well |