William Gadsby Hymns , Days of Old,,,,,, Beautiful Hymns,,,, in this Book ( 1 Chapel Library • 2603 West Wright St. • Pensacola, Florida 32505 USA Sending Christ-centered materials from prior centur ies worldwide Worldwide: please use the online downloads worldwide without c harge. In North America: please write for a printed copy sent completely wit hout charge. Chapel Library does not necessarily agree with all the doctrinal positions of the authors it publishes . We do not ask for donations, send promotional maili ngs, or share mailing lists. © Copyright 2010 Chapel Library. G ADSBY ’ S H YMNS An Introductory Selection Introduction William Gadsby (1773-1844) was a well-known Baptist pastor, church planter, and hymn writer in his day . One of his most beloved hymns, Immortal Honors , is included in this booklet (667). William Gadsby compiled a collection of hymns in 1838 that was later enlarged by J.C. Philpot. The curren t edition contains 1,156 hymns. Still in print, it is peerless in its sheer volume and stands unique in Baptist history. Well-k nown writers such as Watts, Newton, and Cowper grac e its pages, as well as the delightful works of Hart, Berridge, Gad sby, and others. The hymns so richly express the va ried experience of God’s people that numerous churches use it for publ ic worship despite doctrinal differences with those who published it. The Gadsby Hymnal is a monument to the warmth, depth, and godly devot ion of our Strict Baptist brethren. It is hoped tha t this introduction will inspire many to acquire and make use of this underutilized treasure. Many of Ga dsby’s hymns are no- table for their reflections on the inner struggles of the Christian. These are precious indeed. We wou ld note, however, that the normal state of a Christian is one of rejoicing in the Lord. This is maintained even as he morns o ver his inner corrup- tions. To be healthy, a Christian must take respons ibility to live out his faith in good conscience an d be prepared to fight gloomy apprehensions with the whole armor of God. All original numbering, brackets, meter notations, and archaic spelling have been retained. Brackets i ndicate sections that can be omitted without losing the theme of the hymn. Hymn meters are noted at the top of each hym n. They appear as L.M., C.M., 7s, 11s, etc. These allow the words to be matched to tunes with the same meter. As in poet ry, “meter” refers to the rhythmic and syllabic structure of the words. M eter markings on hymn tunes indicate the number of syllables in each line of the hymn. Meter rating is done by simply co unting the syllables in each line. A hymn tune mark ed 7s, for example, has seven syllables (or beats) per line. A hymn wit h the meter 8.6.8.6, has eight syllables in the fir st line, six in the second, eight in the third, six in the fourth, and so on. S ome meters are used so frequently they have acquire d names of their own: 8.6.8.6 is known as Common Meter (C.M.), 6.6.8.6 is known as Short Meter (S.M.), and 8.8.8.8 is known as Long Meter (L.M.)
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 02:05:51 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015