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A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship is a hymn book compiled by William Gadsby, a minister of the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists in England. First published in the 19th century, it is still in current use.
William Gadsby, a Strict and Particular Baptist minister, first published his selection of hymns in 1814 in Manchester, printed at the printing works owned by his son John Gadsby. William Gadsby published a later edition in 1838. [1] After his death a further enlarged edition was published including a second supplement selected by J C Philpot, another Strict Baptist Minister. [2] It was written to counteract what Gadsby believed to be Arminian and legalistic tendencies in some of Isaac Watts' Psalms and Hymns. [3] Nevertheless, Gadsby's Selection of Hymns does include many hymns by Isaac Watts.
This hymnal contains 1156 hymns (words only) by various authors. These are primarily, but not exclusively, from the Calvinistic stream of Protestant thought.
The edition currently available includes the following authors, here listed by number of hymns used. Joseph Hart (219); William Gadsby (173); Isaac Watts (145) John Berridge (72); John Newton (63) John Kent (51); Charles Wesley (41); Thomas Kelly (34); Samuel Medley (31); Anne Steele (27); Augustus M. Toplady (24); Richard Burnham (22); Henry Fowler (20); William Cowper (18); Joseph Swain (18); Daniel Herbert (12); Benjamin Beddome (10); John Fawcett (10); William Hammond (10); John Stevens (9); John Adams (9); Phillip Doddridge (8); John Cennick (6).
There are other authors with fewer hymns in this book, as well as eight anonymous contributions.
Gadsby's own hymns are of a high standard. For example, number 667 is worthy of Watts and Charles Wesley, both highly regarded for their hymn writing abilities.
1 IMMORTAL honours rest on Jesus' head;
My God, my Portion, and my Living Bread;
In him I live, upon him cast my care;
He saves from death, destruction, and despair.
2 He is my Refuge in each deep distress;
The Lord my strength & glorious righteousness;
Through floods and flames he leads me safely on,
And daily makes his sovereign goodness known.
3 My every need he richly will supply;
Nor will his mercy ever let me die;
In him there dwells a treasure all divine,
And matchless grace has made that treasure mine.
4 O that my soul could love and praise him more,
His beauties trace, his majesty adore;
Live near his heart, upon his bosom lean;
Obey his voice, and all his will esteem.
The third line of the last verse certainly echoes the thought of Charles Wesley's hymn Thou Shepherd of Israel, and mine, with the line "Eternally held in Thy heart".
Another example from William Gadsby illustrates the Calvinistic flavour of this book. Hymn number 530 describes election in Calvinistic language.
1 ELECTION is a truth divine,
As absolute as free;
Works ne'er can make the blessing mine;
'Tis God's own wise decree.
5 Nor law, nor death, nor hell, nor sin,
Can alter his decree;
The elect eternal life shall win,
And all God's glory see.
The hymnal is currently available in these editions : "Buckram" (standard pew edition), 936p., ISBN 978-0-9510796-2-1; Large print version, 636p., ISBN 978-0-9510796-5-2; Large print (leather), 936p., ISBN 978-0-9510796-3-8,; [4] leather binding and India paper, 895 pp.; hardback, 895 pp.; and a Kivar edition, 473 pp.
The hymn book is used by the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists in England and the United States and a few Old School or Primitive Baptist churches in the United States. Many of the Strict Baptists use the Companion Tune Book, a musical score of 1011 hymn tunes designed as a companion to Gadsby's hymn book. The hymn book was never widely used in churches outside the United Kingdom, but there is some renewed interest in it among Reformed Baptists as devotional poetry.
Gadsby also published Nazarene's Songs, containing about 250 of his own hymns.
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both religious and secular purposes.
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος (hymnos), which means "a song of praise". A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist. The singing or composition of hymns is called hymnody. Collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment.
A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook. They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts ; written melodies are extra, and more recently harmony parts have also been provided.
The hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" was written by Isaac Watts, and published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. It is significant for being an innovative departure from the early English hymn style of only using paraphrased biblical texts, although the first couplet of the second verse paraphrases Galatians 6:14a and the second couplet of the fourth verse paraphrases Gal. 6:14b. The poetry of "When I survey…" may be seen as English literary baroque.
Isaac Watts was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", "Joy to the World", and "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past". He is recognised as the "Godfather of English Hymnody"; many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages.
"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" is a Christian hymn by Charles Wesley on Christian perfection. Judging by general repute, it is among Wesley's finest: "justly famous and beloved, better known than almost any other hymn of Charles Wesley." Judging by its distribution, it is also among his most successful: by the end of the 19th century, it is found in 15 of the 17 hymn books consulted by the authors of Lyric Studies. On a larger scale, it is found almost universally in general collections of the past century, including not only Methodist and Anglican hymn books and commercial and ecumenical collections, but also hymnals published by Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, Brethren, Seventh-day Adventist, Lutheran, Congregationalist, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic traditions, among others including the Churches of Christ. Specifically, it appears in 1,328 of the North American hymnals indexed by the online Dictionary of North American Hymnology, comparable to Newton's "Amazing Grace" (1,036), Wesley's "O for a Thousand Tongues" (1,249), and Watts' "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (1,483), though still well short of Toplady's "Rock of Ages" (2,139) or Wesley's own "Jesu, Lover of my Soul" (2,164).
"Joy to the World" is an English Christmas carol. It was written in 1719 by the English minister and hymnwriter Isaac Watts, and its lyrics are a Christian reinterpretation of Psalm 98. The carol is usually sung to an 1848 arrangement by the American composer Lowell Mason.
The Christian Science Hymnal is a collection of hymns used in Christian Science church services including Sunday services and Wednesday evening testimony meetings, as well as in occasional informal hymn sings.
A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. was the first hymnal of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was published in 1835 by the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
"Rock of Ages" is a popular Christian hymn written by the Reformed Anglican minister Augustus Toplady.
Anne Steele was an English Baptist hymnwriter and essayist. For a full century after her death, she filled a larger place in United States and British hymnals than any other woman.
Kingdom songs are the hymns sung by Jehovah's Witnesses at their religious meetings. Since 1879, the Watch Tower Society has published hymnal lyrics; by the 1920s they had published hundreds of adapted and original songs, and by the 1930s they referred to these as "Kingdom songs" in reference to God's Kingdom.
William Gadsby (1773–1844) was an English Strict Baptist pastor, hymn writer and church planter. He is often seen of as the father of the Strict and Particular Baptist movement in England. Although he was not formally educated, Gadsby was regarded by his contemporaries as an excellent preacher and pastor who championed the cause of social justice and opposed the established Elizabethan Church.
Hymns Ancient and Modern is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitable trust, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd, and as of 2022 it publishes a wide range of hymnals as well as other theological and religious books and magazines, under imprints such as the Canterbury Press and SCM Press.
Gospel Standard is a Strict Baptist denomination that rejects the concept of "offering the gospel", and became institutionally distinct when a magazine of the same name was first published in 1835 by William Gadsby. Such magazine is the tenth oldest monthly magazine still in print in the British Isles.
The "Great Four" are four hymns widely popular in Anglican and other Protestant churches during the 19th century.
"O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness", also titled "O'er Those Gloomy Hills of Darkness", is a Welsh Christian hymn by William Williams Pantycelyn written in 1772. The hymn was written as a missionary hymn; there are conflicting accounts of why the hymn was written. The hymn was later published in 374 hymnals worldwide, though it was censored and altered in the United States by slaveholders for evangelising to slaves. The hymn later fell out of favour with hymn book editors in the 1960s.
"Lo! He comes with clouds descending" is a Christian hymn by Charles Wesley (1707–1788), based on an earlier hymn, "Lo! He cometh, countless Trumpets" by John Cennick (1718–1755). Most commonly sung at Advent, the hymn derives its theological content from the Book of Revelation relating imagery of the Day of Judgment. Considered one of the "Great Four Anglican Hymns" in the 19th century, it is most commonly sung to the tune Helmsley, first published in 1763.