The New Hymn Book by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 13, 1869

The New Hymn Book.

By James White

This book has now been in our hands long enough to enable us to judge of its merits. I have examined it with some care, and can freely say, I like it. Many of the hymns which were found to be defective either in sentiment or composition have been remodeled and corrected. Some, not often used, have been rejected, to make room for others which are suited for general use.

The music in this book, I believe, will meet with general favor. It cannot be expected that such a book should contain all the pieces that our several friends would desire to see in it; to please all, a very large collection would be required. But it does contain a selection of long, common, and short meters, large enough for the use of our churches, with a fair and useful variety of other meters. And while the number of tunes in these several measures is large enough to serve the purposes of worship for all time, they will be found unexceptionable in style; they are truly church music, suitable for the purpose for which they were selected—to aid in the pure worship of God.

It was foreseen by the compilers that so great changes would necessarily be made in many hymns that the old and new books could not well be used together; and the publication of the new was deferred till the calls were so urgent that it could be deferred no longer. We shall, therefore, expect to see all the churches provide themselves with the new books as soon as convenient. J. H. W.