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JUDSON, Adoniram. b. Maldon, Massachusetts, 9 August 1788; d. at sea on the Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal), 12 April 1850. Judson, considered by many as the first American foreign missionary, spent almost forty years in Myanmar (Burma) where he translated the Bible into Burmese, published religious tracts in the indigenous language, completed a Burmese grammar, compiled a Burmese-English dictionary (published posthumously), established Baptist churches in Myanmar, and authored several...
Afflicted souls, to Jesus dear. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
Published in Fawcett's Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782). It was headed 'As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii 25.'. It had seven stanzas, each ending with graceful variations on the same line:
Afflicted souls, to Jesus dear,Thy Saviour's gracious promise hear, His faithful word declares to thee, That as thy days, thy strength shall be.
Let not thy heart despond and...
Alas, what hourly dangers rise. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
From Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760), where the author was named as 'Theodosia'. It was entitled 'Watchfulness and Prayer, Matt. 26: 41'. The reference is to the verse beginning 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation'. It had six stanzas:
Alas, what hourly dangers rise! What snares beset my way! To heaven then let me lift my eyes, And hourly watch and pray.
How oft my mournful thoughts complain, ...
FLOWERDEW, Alice. b. 1759; d. Ipswich, Suffolk, 23 September 1830. Her maiden name is unknown (JJ, p. 379). She married Daniel Flowerdew, who for some years held a Government appointment in Jamaica. He died in 1801, and she suffered further distress when her son, Charles Frederic Flowerdew, died on 29 November 1802, aged 21. She opened a school in Islington. She later lived in Bury St Edmunds, where she continued to teach, and Ipswich. She has been variously described as a General Baptist and a...
All prophets hail thee, from of old rejoicing. Thomas Alexander Lacey* (1853-1931).
This is one of the few hymns on the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as related in Luke 2: 22-33. It is a translation of a Latin hymn attributed to Hrabanus Maurus* (ca. 780-856) beginning 'Quod chorus vatum venerandus olim'. It was translated into fluent Sapphic stanzas:
All prophets hail thee, from of old announcing, By the inbreathèd Spirit of the Father, God's Mother, bringing prophecies to...
Another Sabbath ended. T. Vincent Tymms* (1842-1921).
According to JJ, p. 1190, this was one of the hymns by Tymms printed in the 1880 Supplement to the Baptist Psalms and Hymns of 1858, and in the Baptist Psalms and Hymns for School and Home (n.d.). It was included in the Baptist Church Hymnal (1900), preceded by a quotation: 'The shadows of the evening are stretched out – Jeremiah vi. 4.' It had four graceful stanzas, expressing the ideal of a Sunday that has now disappeared from British...
Another six days' work is done. Joseph Stennett* (1663-1713).
This hymn appeared in fourteen 4-line stanzas in The Works of the Late Reverend and Learned Mr. Joseph Stennett (1732). With alterations, it appeared in a greatly shortened form in several collections, notably the collection by John Ash* and Caleb Evans*, A Collection of Hymns adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769; see Ash and Evans's A Collection of Hymns*), in six stanzas, entitled 'Hymn on the Sabbath'. It crossed the Atlantic...
Baptists in England were divided into two main groupings until the end of the 19th century: the General Baptists, who were Arminian in theology, and the Particular Baptists, who were Calvinist. These groupings reflected different historical origins, and different theologies and practices, including attitudes to congregational singing. Most churches of both groups formed the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland (now the Baptist Union of Great Britain — BUGB) in the 19th century, though a...
Baptist hymnody, USA
17th and 18th Centuries
Baptist beginnings in the American colonies occurred with the establishment of churches at Providence (1639) and Newport (1644), Rhode Island. By the end of the 17th century there were 24 churches, all but one of them located in New England or the middle colonies.
These early congregations were principally formed by British immigrants and their song practices generally reflected those of Baptists in the Mother Country (see Baptist hymnody, British*)....
NOEL, The Hon. Baptist Wriothesley. b. Edinburgh, 10 July 1799; d. Stanmore, Middlesex, 19 January 1873. Born into a noble family (see Burke's Peerage, 1939, p. 1055; the name 'Baptist' was common in the family), he was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge (MA 1821). He studied law, and entered Lincoln's Inn, but against the wishes of his family he became an Anglican priest, curate of Cossington, Leicestershire, and then minister of a proprietary chapel in London (St...
MANLY, Basil [Junior]. b. Edgefield County, South Carolina, 19 December 1825; d. 31 January 1892. He was the son of Basil Manly, a Baptist minister, and Sarah Murray Rudolph Manly. His father became pastor of First Baptist Church, Charleston—the most prominent Baptist pulpit in the Deep South—and left that position to become the second president of the University of Alabama. The senior Manly promulgated a biblical defense of slavery, led in the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention, and...
BEDDOME, Benjamin. b. Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, 23 January 1717; d. Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, 3 September 1795. He was the son of a Baptist minister. He intended to become a doctor, and was apprenticed to a Bristol surgeon; but he moved to London and became a member of the Prescott Street Baptist Church in 1739. At that church he was called to the ministry, and in 1740 he moved to Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. He remained there as Baptist pastor for the remainder of...
FRANCIS, Benjamin. b. Wales, 1734; d. Horsley, Gloucestershire, 14 December 1799. Francis was a Welsh speaker, who wrote hymns in Welsh and English, and edited a Welsh hymnbook (Aleluia: neu Hymnau perthynol I addoliad cyhoeddus, Caerfyrddin, 1774). JJ, p. 386, lists five hymns in Welsh that were in use in 1892. He trained at the Baptist College, Bristol, and served as a minister at Sodbury (Old Sodbury and Chipping Sodbury), Gloucestershire, and then, from 1757 to 1799, at Horsley, near...
KEACH, Benjamin. b. Stoke Hammond, near Leighton Buzzard, Buckinghamshire, 29 February 1640; d. London, 18 July 1704. He was apprenticed to a tailor. His early reading and experience inclined him towards Calvinism and adult baptism, and by 1658 he was preaching and ministering to a Baptist congregation at Winslow, Buckinghamshire. In 1664 he published The Child's Instructor, a book which contained not only the basic educational information (reading, writing, arithmetic) but also material...
Gillman, Robert (Bob). b. West Ham, London, 16 June 1946. Bob Gillman received his education in the Borough of West Ham, including the local Catholic Junior School followed by South West Ham Technical School, finishing his education at Abbs Cross Technical School in Hornchurch. Retired now, his career included performing, composing, and pursuing his interest in steam-driven trains while managing a printing company. After passing the qualifying exams, Gillman worked for the London Underground...
DRAPER, Bourne Hall. b. Cumnor, near Oxford, 1775; d. Southampton, 12 October 1843. He was born into a Church of England family that was too poor to send him for training as an ordinand. He worked as a printer's apprentice at the Clarendon Press, Oxford. He became a Baptist, and when his apprenticeship was ended, he went to study (1802-04) at the Baptist Academy, Bristol, under John Ryland* (Junior, 1753-1825). Ordained in 1804, he became pastor of a Baptist Church at Chipping Norton, and then...
Woolston, C. Herbert. b. Camden, New Jersey, 7 April 1856; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 20 May 1927.A pastor, gospel song writer, and sleight-of-hand magician, Clarence Herbert Woolston claimed that he had 'addressed many more than 1,000,000 children' (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1927, p. 4).
The son of Isaiah S. and Sarah B. Woolston, Herbert attended public schools in Camden, New Jersey, and the South Jersey Institute at Bridgeton. He entered the ministry under the influence of evangelist...
HAWN, (Charles) Michael. b. Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 22 September 1948. An eminent multi-cultural/global hymnologist, singer, teacher, and author, his scholarly articles and books on global music and worship, cross-cultural worship, and enlivening congregational song are premier resources. Hawn is noted for his engaging, hands-on style of teaching, the mentorship of former students, many of whom are now an international group of scholars, church musicians, ministers, professors, teachers, song...
EVANS, Caleb. b. Bristol, 12 November 1737; d. 9 August 1791. Evans lived in Bristol for almost all of his life. His father, Hugh Evans, was pastor at Broadmead Baptist Church and President of the Bristol Baptist Academy run by the church. After training at the Mile End Academy in London, Caleb was baptised at Little Wild Street Baptist Church, and called to ministry in 1757, becoming associate minister with Josiah Thompson at Unicorn Yard Baptist church in London. In 1759 he was called to join...
BONNER, Carey. b. Southwark, London, 1 May 1859; d. Muswell Hill, London, 16 June 1938. Born in London, the son of a Baptist minister, who gave him his Christian name in admiration of the great Baptist missionary, William Carey (1761-1834). After working in London for a publisher, Bonner trained for the Baptist ministry at Rawdon Baptist College, Leeds, and was ordained in 1884. He was minister at Oakfield Union Church, Sale, Cheshire (1884-95), and at Portland Chapel, Southampton (1895-1900)....
SPURGEON, Charles Haddon. b. Kelvedon, Essex, 19 June 1834; d. Menton, France, 31 January 1892. He was the elder son of a clerk to a coal merchant who was also a Baptist lay preacher and who later became an independent minister. Charles went to school in Colchester and later spent a few months at an agricultural college. He joined the Baptist Church on 3 May 1850 and in spite of his extreme youth almost immediately began his preaching ministry. After short period in teaching, he became a...
Christians, if your hearts be warm. John Leland* (1754–1841).
Leland probably composed this hymn in 1788, and it appeared in print two years later in Richard Broaddus and Andrew Broaddus, Collection of Sacred Ballads (unpaged, Caroline Co, Virginia, 1790). The first page scan in Hymnary.org is from Divine Hymns, or Spiritual Songs: for the use of religious assemblies and private Christians (Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1794), where it was headed 'Admonition to Christian Duties':
Christians,...
BARROWS, Clifford Burton. b. Ceres, California, 6 April 1923; d. Charlotte, North Carolina, 15 November 2016. 'Cliff' Barrows, longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, majored in sacred music at Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina (BA, 1944), and in 1944 was ordained by a Baptist congregation in his hometown of Ceres, California.
After serving as assistant pastor at Temple Baptist Church in St Paul, Minnesota for one year, he joined the...
Come and taste, along with me. John Leland* (1754–1841).
This hymn was entitled 'The Christian's Consolation'. It was probably first published in 1801, in at least three collections: Richard Allen*, A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs: from various authors (Philadelphia: T. L. Plowman, 1801); Richard Allen, A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns (Philadelphia: John Ormrod, 1801); and Josiah Goddard, A New and Beautiful Collection of Select Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Walpole, New...
Come to our dark nature's night. George Rawson* (1807-1889).
This hymn was printed in Psalms, Hymns, and passages of Scripture for Christian Worship (1853), the 'Leeds Hymn Book', a book in which Rawson assisted the local Congregationalist editors. There were originally nine stanzas, as found in the Primitive Methodist Hymnal (1887, 1889):
Come to our dark nature's nightWith thy blessèd inward light,Holy Ghost, the Infinite, Comforter Divine.
We are sinful; cleanse us, Lord:Sick and...
Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine. Adoniram Judson* (1788-1850).
'Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine' is the most widely sung of three hymns written by Adoniram Judson. This four-stanza hymn is extracted from Judson's seven-stanza baptism hymn 'Our Savior bowed beneath the wave'*. The original hymn, written ca. 1829 and first printed in Thomas Ripley's A Selection of Hymns, for Conference & Prayer Meetings, and Other Occasions, Second Edition (1831), appeared under the title 'Hymn written by Mr....
Come, sinner, to the gospel feast. Nineteenth century, author unknown.
This hymn is annotated under Charles Wesley*'s 'Come, sinners, to the Gospel feast'* in JJ, p. 251. It is attributed in some books, such as Henry Ward Beecher*'s Plymouth Collection*, to 'Huntingdon' (see 'Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon'*). There were many variants of hymns in editions of the Countess of Huntingdon's hymnals, and the first line obviously derives from Wesley's hymn: but this hymn is exceptional in...
Come, weary souls with sin distressed. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
From Poems on Subjects chiefly devotional (1760). It was entitled 'Weary Souls invited to Rest. Mat. xi. 28.' It is a versification of the beautifully expressed and very comforting saying, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' It had five stanzas:
Come weary souls with sin distrest, The Saviour offers heavenly rest; The kind, the gracious call obey, And cast your gloomy sins...
Come, ye that love the Savior's name. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
This was Hymn CXXVI in John Ash* and Caleb Evans*s Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769). It was entitled 'The King of Saints' and attributed to 'T.', for Theodosia, the name chosen by Steele for her hymns. It had eight stanzas:
Come, ye that love the Savior's Name, And joy to make it known; The Sovereign of your Hearts proclaim, And bow before His Throne.
Behold your King, your Savior crown'd With...
MUSIC, David Wayne. b. Ardmore, Oklahoma, 28 January 1949. Music was educated at California Baptist College (BA in music, 1970), and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MCM 1973, DMA 1977). From 1977 to 1980 he served as a full-time minister of music in Tennessee. At California Baptist College in Riverside (1980-1990) he directed the Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and College Singers, and was a member of the faculty Baroque ensemble. He taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological...
Dear Refuge of my weary soul. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
From Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760). It was entitled 'God the only Refuge of the Troubled Mind.' It had eight stanzas:
Dear Refuge of my weary soul, On thee, when sorrows rise: On thee, when waves of trouble roll, My fainting hope relies.
While hope revives, though prest with fears, And I can say, my God, Beneath thy feet I spread my cares, And pour my woes abroad.
To thee, I tell each rising grief, For thou...
LOFTIS, Deborah Carlton. b. Richmond, Virginia, 7 November 1951. Loftis grew up in a family that sang together. Although neither of her parents had formal musical training, she learned her first songs on the piano from her father. Once in school, she took piano lessons and sang in school and church choirs. While reared in the Southern Baptist church and ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1983, when that denomination underwent changes in the last decades of the 20th century, her...
BOATNER, Edward Hammond. b. New Orleans, Louisiana, 13 November 1898; d. New York City, 16 June 1981. Edward Boatner was a multi-talented musician recognized as a composer, choral conductor, and singer as well as author of plays, stories, and music education materials. He was especially noted for essays in African American history and his concertized arrangements of African American spirituals*.
He was the son of an itinerant Methodist minister Dr. Daniel Webster Boatner (?1854— ). His surname...
PRUDEN, Edward Hughes. b. Chase City, Virginia, 30 August 1903; d. Richmond, Virginia, 1987. After school in Chase City, Pruden was educated at the University of Richmond, Virginia, a Baptist school attended by pre-ministerial students (graduated 1925), followed by the Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (MDiv). Further graduate study followed at Yale, and Edinburgh, Scotland (PhD). He was awarded a DD at the age of 29 from the University of Richmond (the youngest person ever to...
MOTE, Edward. b. London, 21 January 1797; d. Horsham, Sussex, 13 November 1874. He worked in London as a cabinet-maker. He was greatly influenced by the preaching of the Revd John Hyatt at George Whitefield*'s Tottenham Court Road chapel. Mote became a Baptist minister, serving as pastor of a Baptist Chapel at Horsham, Sussex (1852-74) until his death.
His hymn writing had begun long before his ordination: the hymn by which he is remembered, 'My hope is built on nothing less'*, was published in...
BALL, Eli, b. Marlborough, Vermont, 2 November 1786; d. Richmond, Virginia, 21 July 1853. He was the son of Samuel H. Ball and Phebe Taylor Ball, the younger brother of Amos Ball, and the twin of Pheobe Ball. Following limited former education, he was tutored in Boston by Daniel Stafford in classics and by Caleb Blood in ministerial studies. He served congregations in Malden and Wilmington, Massachusetts; Lansingburg, New York; and Middletown, Connecticut, before moving to Virginia in...
WESTBURY, Eliza. b. Hackleton, Northamptonshire, 1808 (Baptized 22 May); d. 11 April 1828. She was a member of Hackleton Baptist Church (among its founders in 1781 had been the local shoemaker, William Carey, who became a famous missionary and was instrumental in establishing the Baptist Missionary Society). Westbury learned to read and write at Sabbath School. She was a lace-maker and a Particular Baptist. Converted to an evangelical faith in 1826, she subsequently wrote about 150 hymns: 71...
Andrews, Emily Snider. b. Athens, Alabama, 20 February 1986. Andrews, an ordained Baptist minister and pastoral musician, has taught courses in music and worship at Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California, and the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Church Music Studies, Mercer University, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia (2014-). Andrews is a graduate of Samford University Birmingham, Alabama (BM in Church Music), and Baylor University, Waco, Texas (MM. Church Music, and MDiv. 2012)....
Far from these narrow scenes of night. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
This was published in Steele's Poems on Subjects, chiefly Devotional (1760), in 11 stanzas. It was preceded by 'The Promised Land. Isaiah XXXIII. 17.' This refers to the visionary verse which must have inspired Steele: 'Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.' The text in the 1780 Edition of Poems..., chiefly Devotional was:
Far from these narrow scenes of night Unbounded...
Father, whate'er of earthly bliss. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
This hymn is not found in JJ, but it was chosen for inclusion by the compilers of A&M (1904), and it remained in A&M books until it was omitted by the editors of A&MNS. It consists of the last three stanzas of a hymn in ten stanzas. The hymn in Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) was entitled 'Desiring Resignation and Thankfulness'. It began:
When I survey life's varied scene, Amid the darkest hours...
Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians
The Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians (FABM) is a volunteer organization for church musicians with denominational affiliation to the American Baptist Churches, USA. The Fellowship was officially formed in February 1964 when Dr Jet Turner and several other interested persons met in Cincinnati, Ohio with Dr Kenneth L. Cober*, who was at that time Executive Director for the Division of Christian Education for the American Baptist Convention. At that...
Fountain of mercy, God of love. Alice Flowerdew* (1759-1830).
This is from the Third Edition of Flowerdew's Poems, on Moral and Religious Subjects (1811). It was entitled 'Harvest Hymn', and is of some interest as preceding the general establishment of Harvest Festival services. It had six stanzas:
Fountain of mercy, God of love!
How rich Thy bounties are!
The rolling seasons, as they move,
Proclaim Thy constant care.
When, in the bosom of the earth,
The sower hid the grain,
...
ROWLEY, Francis Harold. b. Hilton, New York, 25 July 1854; d. Boston, Massachusetts, 14 February 1952. Born in upper New York State, he was educated at the University of Rochester (BA 1875) and Rochester Theological Seminary (BD 1878). He became a Baptist minister, serving at Titusville, Pennsylvania (1879-84), North Adams, Massachusetts (1884-92), Oak Park, Illinois (1892-96), Fall River, Mass. (1896-1900), and First Baptist Church, Boston, Mass. (1900-1910).
On taking early retirement in...
Gadsby's Hymns
William Gadsby* (1773-1844) is famous for his Selection of Hymns for Public Worship (Manchester, 1814), which he published in the same year as a collection of his own work, The Nazarene's Songs: being a Composition of Original Hymns by William Gadsby (Manchester, 1814). Edition after edition followed, with enlargements and supplements (1838, 1844, 1850, 1854, and thereafter) and it is still in print. These were words-only books: tune books, Companion Tunes to Gadsby's hymn book,...
Give me a clean heart. Margaret Pleasant Douroux* (1941- ).
This was Douroux's first song, written in 1970. It caught on after Thurston G. Frazier (1930-1974), founder of the 'Voices of Hope' choir, who was Douroux's mentor and predecessor at the Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, Los Angeles, introduced it at a national gospel convention (Gordon, 2006).
Douroux composed the song when encouraged by her grandmother to pray for the people of Mount Mariah Baptist Church, where her father...
Give of your best to the Master. Howard B. Grose*(1851-1939).
This was published in The Endeavor Hymnal (New York, 1902). It had three stanzas with a refrain:
Give of your best to the Master, Give of the strength of your youth, Throw your soul's fresh, glowing ardor Into the battle for truth. Jesus has set the example, Dauntless was He, young and brave: Give Him your loyal devotion, Give Him the best that you have.
Refrain:
Give of your best to the Master, Give of the strength of...
Great God, this sacred day of Thine. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
First published in John Ash* and Caleb Evans*'s Collection of Hymns adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769). It was entitled 'Hymn for the Lord's Day Morning'. It had four stanzas. The following text is from the Third Edition of 1778:
Great God, this sacred Day of Thine, Demands our Soul's collected Powers: May we employ in Work divine, These solemn, these devoted Hours! O may our Souls, adoring, own, The Grace, which calls...
Great God, to thee my evening song. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
In Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) this was entitled 'An Evening Hymn'. It had nine stanzas:
Great God, to thee my ev'ning song With humble gratitude I raise:O let thy mercy tune my tongue, And fill my heart with lively praise.
Mercy, that rich unbounded shore, Does my unnumber'd wants relieve;Among thy daily, craving poor, On thy all-bounteous hand I live.
My days unclouded, as they pass, And ev'ry...
FOSDICK, Harry Emerson. b. Buffalo, New York, 24 May 1878; d. Bronxville, New York, 5 Oct 1969. Fosdick was educated at Colgate College, Hamilton, New York (BA, 1900); Union Theological Seminary (BD, 1904), and Columbia University (MA, 1908)., the latter two in New York City. Following Baptist ordination in 1903, he was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey (1904-15), and then taught homiletics and practical theology at Union Theological Seminary in 1915, interrupted by a...
Holy Spirit, breathe on me. Baylus B. McKinney* (1886-1952).
This hymn was copyrighted by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and published in Songs of Victory (of which McKinney was the music editor) in 1937. It was published in The Broadman Hymnal (Nashville, 1940: McKinney was again music editor). It is a rewriting, with a refrain, of 'Breathe on me, breath of God'* by Edwin Hatch*, dated 1878. In The Broadman Hymnal it was attributed to Hatch; McKinney was named as...
How can I say that I love the Lord ('Koinonia'). V. Michael McKay* (1952— ).
In the context of Christian worship, this worship song functions as a song of greeting near the beginning of worship or at the passing of the peace—a time of reconciliation before receiving communion when God's love for us in Christ is visible in a shared meal at the table. This intimate family meal is an expression of the fellowship, sharing, and participation of the Body of Christ.
The text is as follows:
How can...
How oft, alas, this wretched heart. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
In Volume I of Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) this hymn was entitled 'Pardoning Love'. The title was followed by two references, 'Jer.III.22. Hos. XIV.4.':
How oft, alas, this wretched heart Has wandered from the Lord!How oft my roving thoughts depart, Forgetful of his word!
Yet sovereign mercy calls, Return: Dear Lord, and may I come! My vile ingratitude I mourn; Oh take the wanderer home.
And...
How precious is the book divine. John Fawcett* (1740-1817)
First published in his Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782), on the Holy Scriptures. It had six 4-line stanzas. It was headed 'Ps. cxix.105. Thy word is a Lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.'
It was printed in three stanzas only (1, 5 and 6) in Rippon's Selection of Hymns* (1787):
How precious is the book divine, By inspiration given! Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine To...
How sweet, how heavenly is the sight. Joseph Swain* (1761-1796)
According to JJ, this hymn is found in Swain's Walworth Hymns (1792, 1796). An earlier publication, however, was in Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, in verse and prose: and hymns for social worship (1791). It had five 4-line stanzas, and was entitled 'The Grace of Christian Love':
How sweet, how heav'nly is the sight, When those that love the Lord In one another's peace delight, And so fulfil his word.
When each can...
GROSE, Howard Benjamin. b. Millerton, New York, 5 September 1851; d. Ballston Spa, New York, 19 May 1939. Educated at the University of Chicago (BA) and the University of Rochester, New York State (MA), he worked as a journalist before becoming a Baptist minister in 1883. He pastored congregations in Poughkeepsie, New York (1883-87) and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1888-90) before turning to academic life. He had spoken at a memorial service for a classmate, Edward Olson, President of the...
MARTIN, Hugh. b. Glasgow, 7 April 1890; d. East Grinstead, Sussex, 2 July 1964. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Baptist College. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Student Christian Movement in 1914, and worked for the SCM until 1950; he was one of the founders of the SCM Press, and later editor of the Press. An eminent Baptist, he was Moderator of the Free Church Federal Council, 1953-54. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1955.
For the SCM Press he wrote or...
McELRATH, Hugh Thomas. b. Murray, Kentucky, USA, 13 November 1921; d. Penney Farms, Florida, USA, 8 May 2008. McElrath was a renowned Southern Baptist hymnologist, seminary professor, church musician, and music missionary who combined high intellectual achievement and skilled musicianship with a devout Christian faith rooted in Baptist tradition. He attended Murray State College [today Murray State University], Murray, Kentucky (BA, 1943), and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary...
Humble souls who seek salvation. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
According to JJ, this appeared in Hymns on Believers' Baptism (Birmingham, 1773), edited by John Fellows. In Fawcett's Hymns: adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782) it had the heading 'Invitation to follow the Lamb. Matt. iii. 15.' It had three stanzas:
Humble souls, who seek salvation, Thro' the Lamb's redeeming blood, Hear the voice of revelation, Tread the path that Jesus trod. Flee to...
I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship. William Young Fullerton* (1857-1932).
This four-stanza hymn was written to be sung to LONDONDERRY AIR, the plangent tune from Fullerton's native Northern Ireland. Probably the first use of the tune with a hymn was in SofP (1925), when it was set to Frank Fletcher*'s 'O Son of Man, our hero strong and tender'*.
The date of composition of the words is uncertain, but must be before 1930, when they were printed in a Baptist supplement for young...
I my Ebenezer raise. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
First published in ten stanzas in Fawcett's Hymns: adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782). It was entitled 'A Birth-Day Hymn', and headed '1 Sam. vii.12. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.' It is one of several hymns that used this text (cf. Robert Robinson*, 'Come, thou fount of every blessing'*) in which Samuel celebrated a victory over the Philistines by erecting a stone and calling the name of it...
I set myself against the Lord. John Leland* (1754–1841).
This hymn was probably first printed in two books published in 1793: Eleazar Clay, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, selected from Several Approved Authors, Recommended by the Baptist General Committee of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia: John Dixon), and John Peak, A New Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Third Edition (Vermont: Alden Spooner, 1793). It had ten stanzas in the meter of 8.8.6.8.8.6:
I set myself against the Lord,Despised his...
If when you give the best of your service (He Understands; He'll Say, ''Well Done''). Lucie Eddie Campbell-Williams* (1885-1963).
This was composed in 1933 for the annual gathering of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., and quickly became one of the all-time Convention favorites. African American scholar Horace Clarence Boyer* notes:
From 1930 to 1962, [Campbell] introduced a new song each year at the National Baptist Convention. Her songs became gospel standards, sung by all races...
In all my Lord's appointed ways. John Ryland* (1753-1825).
This hymn is part of a one of nine stanzas, beginning 'When Abraham's servant to procure' [a wife for Isaac], first published in the Gospel Magazine, May 1773, with the heading 'Hinder me not – Gen. xxiv. 56.' (JJ, p. 984). It was included in Rippon's Selection of Hymns* (1787), in a section entitled 'Baptism', with a note, 'This Hymn may begin at the 6th verse.' The customary text is taken from the end of the hymn, stanzas 6-9:
In...
In the harvest field there is work to do. Christopher Rubey Blackall (1830-1924).
The first printing of this hymn in Hymnary.org. dates from 1870, and this is likely to be its date of composition. It was presumably written after Blackall's service as a doctor in the Civil War, and during his first years as secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society for the North West. It was based on the traditional interpretation of the harvest image in Matthew 9: 37-8 and Luke 10: 2, and it is...
In unity we lift our song. Ken Medema* (1943 – ).
This hymn was composed in 1983 and premiered by Medema at a Southern Baptist Women in Ministry Conference held at Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, on 8 June 1985. It was also sung at the first convocation of the Alliance of Baptists, a reforming offshoot of the Southern Baptist Convention, in March 1987 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Set to the tune of Martin Luther*'s EIN FESTE BURG, the music combines with the text to invoke a Reformation...
ORR, James Edwin. b. Belfast, Northern Ireland, 12 January 1912; d. Asheville, North Carolina, 22 April 1987. As a young man he became a travelling evangelist, beginning in 1933, visiting many countries. It was during one of these visits, to an Easter Conference at Ngaruwahia, New Zealand in 1936, that he wrote the hymn by which he has become known, 'Search me, O God, and know my heart today'*. He later became assistant pastor of the People's Church, Toronto, Canada; he was ordained to the...
NEWTON, James. b. Chenies, on the Buckinghamshire/ Hertfordshire border, 1732, date unknown; d. Bristol, 1790, date unknown. As a young man he went to London, where he became a Baptist. He was appointed assistant to a Baptist minister (J. Tommas) at Bristol in 1757; in 1770 he became a tutor at the Baptist College, Bristol, a post that he held until his death.
James Newton is known as the author of one hymn, 'Proclaim,' saith Christ, 'my wondrous grace'*.
JRW
MERCER, Jesse. b. Halifax County, North Carolina, 16 December 1769; d. Butts County, Georgia, 6 September 1841. Mercer was a prominent Baptist minister, and essentially the founder of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. His main contribution to hymnody was The Cluster of Spiritual Songs ('Mercer's 'Cluster'*), a words-only collection that provided texts for William Walker*'s Southern Harmony* and other important shape-note collections.
Jesse Mercer was the first of eight children born to Silas...
Jesus calls the children dear (Jesus loves the little children). C. Herbert Woolston* (1856–1927).
C. Herbert Woolston's extensive ministry to children as a magician and author led to the composition of this text. Most children connected to Christian churches in the United States between 1930 and 2000 most likely learned the refrain of the original hymn either in Sunday (Church) School, a children's choir, or a domestic setting:
Refrain:
Jesus loves the little children,All the children of the...
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. Richard Hutton, or Richard Hutchins, 18th Century, dates unknown.
The first line of this carol is 'The tree of life my soul hath seen'. It is found in Volume 1 of Divine, Moral, and Historical Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse. Containing many Valuable Originals, Communicated by Various Correspondents, and other Pieces extracted from different Authors, and antient Manuscripts. The Whole being such a Collection of Miscellaneous Thoughts, as will tend not only to...
ASH, John. b. 1724; d. Pershore, Worcestershire, 10 April 1779. Ash was received for training at Bristol Academy in July 1740, commended by the Loughwood Baptist Church, Devon. His only church was at Pershore, where he was ordained in 1751. He published several grammars and dictionaries, and also Sentiments on Education Collected from the best writers (2 vols, London, 1777); his section 'On female accomplishments' was much liked by Anne Steele*. He was a friend of Caleb Evans*. The close...
FAWCETT, John. b. Lidget Green, Bradford, West Yorkshire, 6 January 1740; d. 25 July 1817. He was the son of Stephen Fawcett, who died young. Influenced while an apprentice by the preaching of George Whitefield on John 3: 14, he was interested in Methodism but joined the Particular Baptists in Bradford. He entered the ministry, and in May 1764 became minister at the small, damp Wainsgate Baptist Church high in the hills at Old Town above Hebden Bridge, where his remuneration never exceeded £25...
RIPPON, John. b. Tiverton, Devon, 29 April 1751; d. London, 17 December 1836. Born into a devout Baptist family, he studied at the Bristol Baptist Academy (1769-73) and became pastor of the influential Carter Lane Particular Baptist Church in Southwark, London, where he served from 1773 until his death 63 years later. Active in all denominational and many Dissenting activities, Rippon promoted a moderate Calvinism and encouraged many new ventures in Baptist life. He published the Baptist Annual...
RYLAND, John. b. Warwick, 29 January 1753; d. Bristol, 25 June 1825. He was the son of a Baptist pastor, John Collett Ryland (1723-1792), a notable figure in 18th-century Baptist circles (he was baptized by Benjamin Beddome* and his funeral sermon was preached by John Rippon*). To distinguish himself from his forceful parent, the son called himself 'John Ryland, Junior'. In 1759 John Collett Ryland moved to Northampton as pastor: he taught his son Hebrew and Greek, and John Ryland Junior is...
STENNETT, Joseph. b. Abingdon, Berkshire, 1663; d. Knaphill, Buckinghamshire, 11 July 1713. He was educated at Wallingford Grammar School. He moved to London in 1685, joining the Seventh Day Baptist Congregation at Pinners' Hall, Broad Street in 1686 and becoming pastor there in 1690. As a Seventh Day Baptist, he was free to preach in other chapels in London on Sundays, and he became widely known and respected as an eminent nonconformist. He married Susanna, daughter of George Guill, a Huguenot...
SWAIN, Joseph. b. Birmingham, 1761; d. London, 16 April 1796. His parents died when he was very young, and he was apprenticed to an engraver in Birmingham, completing his training in London, where he had gone to live with his brother. In 1782 he 'came under the conviction of sin' (ODNB) and was baptized in 1783 by John Rippon*. In 1792 he became minister of East Street Baptist Chapel, Walworth, South London: in spite of a split in the congregation between Strict and Particular Baptists and...
COBER, Kenneth Lorne. b. Dayton, Ohio, 12 July 1902; d. Penney Farms, Florida, 21 September 1993. Born the son of missionaries, Cober was raised in Puerto Rico. He was educated at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, New York. He held pastorates at First Baptist Church, Canandaigua, New York, and Lafayette Avenue Baptist Church, Buffalo, New York; then served as executive director of the Division of Christian Education for the American...
KAISER, Kurt Frederick. b. Chicago, 17 December 1934; d. Waco, Texas, 12 November 2018. Kaiser grew up in a family that loved hymns; his father Otto was chairman of a Plymouth Brethren hymnbook committee. Kurt was educated at The American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (BM, 1958, MM, 1959). A gifted pianist, composer, arranger, and record producer, he was associated with Word Music in Waco, Texas from 1959 to 1989. Kaiser was a founding member...
SCHULTZ, Lawrence Edmond ('Larry E.'). b. Tulsa, Oklahoma, 3 October 1965. Larry E. Schultz is a composer of hymn texts and music and an active church musician. He received his early training in music through churches in Tulsa, Oklahoma. From age thirteen, he participated as vocalist, pianist, trumpeter, choral conductor, and congregational song leader. At age fifteen, he became the part-time Minister of Music for Tulsa's Phoenix Avenue Baptist Church, his home congregation, and was ordained to...
CAMPBELL-WILLIAMS, Lucie Eddie. b. Duck Hill, Mississippi, 30 April 1885; d. Nashville, Tennessee, 3 January 1963.
Early years, education, and career
Hymn writer, singer, music director, educator, and mentor to scores of African American church musicians, Campbell, one of nine children, was the daughter of formerly enslaved African Americans in Mississippi. She rose to be one of the most important figures of her era in African American gospel song, and the most prominent voice in shaping the...
MACDONALD, Mary (née MacDougall). b. Ardtun, Isle of Mull, 1789; d. Ardtun, 21 May 1872. She was the daughter of a farmer; she married a crofter, Neil Macdonald. A devout Baptist, she wrote hymns and poems in Gaelic which she sang at her spinning wheel. The best known is probably 'Leanabh an aigh', verses of which were roughly translated as 'Child in the manger'* by Lachlan Macbean* for his Songs and Hymns of the Scottish Highlands (1888) and set to the Highland melody called in hymnbooks...
HOY, Matilda T. (née Durham). b. Spartanburg County, South Carolina, 17 January 1815; d. Hoy's Crossing, Cobb County, Georgia, 30 July 1901. Miss Durham composed or arranged three tunes published by William Walker* in Southern Harmony and Musical Companion during 1835-1840. It appears likely that Matilda Durham knew Walker, who had moved to the Spartanburg area before 1830. Other residents of the area whose tunes appeared in Southern Harmony* were B. F. White* and the Rev. John Gill Landrum...
The Cluster of Spiritual Songs, Divine Hymns, and Sacred Poems ('Mercer's Cluster'). Compiled by Jesse Mercer* (1769-1841).
Mercer's Cluster, or 'The Cluster', as it is often called, is a collection of text-only verse compiled by Jesse Mercer. The collection was especially important as a source of texts for William Walker*'s Southern Harmony* and other collections in the development of Shape-note hymnody* and Baptist hymnody in America (see Baptist hymnody, USA*).
The first two editions were...
HOLDEN, Oliver. b. Shirley, Massachusetts, 18 September 1765; d. Charlestown, Massachusetts, 4 September 1844. Holden had just a few months of musical training in a singing school. He was apprenticed to a carpenter and practised that trade in the Boston area after settling in nearby Charlestown, Massachusetts, in the early 1780s. However, he was drawn to sacred music, which he had studied briefly in singing school (class lessons in musical rudiments and choral singing). Through individual study...
RUPPEL, Paul Ernst. b. Esslingen am Neckar, 18 July 1913; d. Neukirchen-Vluyn, 27 November 2006. He came from a Baptist family, which moved to Kassel in 1924, where his father, an office manager, obtained a post with the Christian free-church publisher J.G. Oncken (with whom Ruppel junior later published Morgensternlieder in 1961). He studied music at the Württembergische Hochschule für Musik at Stuttgart, where he was taught choral singing by Richard Gölz, and orchestral work by Helmut...
TONGEMAN, Peter Henry Kelway. b. Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, 21 November 1929. Educated at Palmer's School, Grays, Essex, and Spurgeon's College, London, he became a Baptist minister, serving at Luton, Northampton, Enfield, New Milton, Tunbridge Wells and Romsey, Hampshire (he retired to Romsey). He was President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (1995-96). He was active in the educational work of the Scripture Union, editing its Teaching over 13s from 1976 to 1981, and writing Thirteen Plus...
BLYCKER, Philip Walter. b. Chicago, Illinois, 22 March 1939; d. Roseburg, Oregon, 11 June 2023. Philip Blycker (also known as Felipe Blycker J. in Spanish publications), was a missionary, hymn writer, composer, and hymnal editor. He was raised in the evangelical tradition as a Baptist. Taking piano and trumpet lessons during his youth, he received degrees from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina (B.M.E., 1960) and VanderCook College of Music in Chicago (MMus Ed., 1966). He...
Praise for Today (1974). Praise for Today was published in 1974 by the Baptist Church's Psalms and Hymns Trust as a supplement to the Baptist Hymn Book (BHB,1962). It contained 104 hymns and songs arranged alphabetically. The preface noted that although only twelve years had elapsed since the publication of BHB, 'many new hymns and tunes have been written in the intervening years, and are still being written, which by their choice of contemporary themes and use of up-to-date musical idiom, have...
Praise! (2000)! A result of collaboration between FIEC (the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches), and the Grace Baptists, this hymnbook was published in 2000. Chaired by Brian Edwards, an Editorial Board of twelve co-ordinated the work of several smaller groups in selecting its 999 items. The book broke new ground in two main directions; it was the first major work from this constituency to face the issue of archaic language, eliminating what were regarded as obsolete pronouns and...
Preachers and teachers would make their appeal ('Something Within'). Lucie Eddie Campbell-Williams* (1885-1963).
Composed in 1919, this was one of the earliest and most enduring hymns composed by Lucie Eddie Campbell. Charles Walker provides information on the song's genesis:
The song was dedicated to a blind gospel singer named Connie Rosemund, who inspired it. Mr. Rosemund customarily played his guitar on Beale Street [a street in Memphis, Tennessee], and people put coins in his little...
HUDSON, Ralph E. b. Napoleon, Ohio, 9 July 1843; d. Cleveland, Ohio, 14 June 1901. The family moved to Philadelphia when he was a child. During the Civil War he served in the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was a nurse in Annapolis General Hospital, 1862-63. He was given an honourable discharge in 1864. A good musician, he taught music at Mount Vernon College, Alliance, Ohio, and later became a music publisher there. He was a licensed preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He published...
COLEMAN, Robert Henry. b. Bardstown, Kentucky, 1 November 1869; d. Dallas, Texas, 13 February 1946. Coleman attended Georgetown College, Kentucky before moving to Plano, Texas where he operated a drugstore and edited the Plano Courier. During 1903-09, and 1915-46 he served as assistant secretary of the Dallas YMCA and administrative assistant and director of congregational singing at First Baptist Church, Dallas, where George W. Truett (1867-1944) was pastor. Coleman was business manager of the...
STENNETT, Samuel. b. Exeter, 1 June 1727; d. Muswell Hill, Middlesex, 24 August 1795. He was the grandson of Joseph Stennett*, and one of a line of father-to-son Baptist pastors. He was born at Exeter, where his father was pastor at the time. When he was ten his father moved to London, to the Baptist congregation in Little Wild Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Samuel was educated in London, after which he became assistant to his father. He took over as pastor in 1758, and remained there until his...
GRAY, Scotty. b. Lytle, Texas, 8 May 1934. Scholar and writer on hymnody, Gray was educated at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, and Baylor University, Waco, Texas (double major in church music and music education, 1955). This was followed by graduate study at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (1955-56), and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MCM - Master of Church Music, 1959: dissertation, 'The Use of “Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott” as a Cantus...
MARAK, Simon Kara. b. near Kamrup, Assam, India, 1877; d. Jorhat, Assam, India, 16 February 1975. Simon Marak, an ethic A·chik (Garo) man, was a schoolteacher, pastor, and missionary in Assam, a state in far northeastern India. He received his primary education from the Guwahati Government School with the financial assistance of the Kamrup Baptist Association (1907–09) and continued his study at the Government Training School (1909–12), supplementing his early years of teaching with work as a...
In 1944 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (founded in 1859) instituted a program leading to a degree in church music. President Ellis A. Fuller (1891-1950) was officially head of the program, but it was guided by Donald E. Winters (1910-1989) and Frances Weaver Winters (1908-1993), who included hymnology in its curriculum. In a reorganization of the seminary in 1953, a School of Church Music was established. Its name was changed in 1998 to School of Church Music and...
YORK, Terry Wayne. b. Atchison, Kansas, 29 March 1949. York attended California Baptist College (BA, 1973), and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (MCM, 1975: thesis, 'The practice of lining out in congregational singing'); (DMA, 1985: dissertation, 'Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (1856-1932): composer, author, and editor in the gospel tradition'). He has served as minister of music and youth, Southside Baptist Church, Tempe, Arizona (1976-77), and First Southern Baptist Church, Sacramento,...
WALKER, Thomas. b. 1764; d. 5 July 1827. An alto singer, teacher, and composer active in London, he began to play an important part in Baptist hymnody as musical adviser to John Rippon*, minister of the prominent Baptist church at Carter Lane in the City of London. From about 1793 he was Rippon's chief musical adviser, and appears to have been the musical editor of successive editions of Rippon's Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes from about 1792 to 1825. According to Manley, this tunebook...
McKAY, V. Michael. b. Alexandria, Louisiana, 8 May 1952. V. Michael McKay grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, where his grandfather was a Baptist preacher. His grandmother sang hymns to him at home and while riding in the car, embedding in him a love for the people's song at an early age. It was out of this experience that he felt a calling to make composition and music making as his life's work (Defender, 2018, n.p.). He named his publishing company, Schaff Music Publishing, after his...
NIX, Verolga. b. Cleveland, Ohio, 6 April 1933; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 December 2014. The daughter of Rev. Andrew W. Nix Sr. and Ida A. Nix, Verolga Nix was a noted pianist, choral conductor, composer, arranger of gospel songs and African American spirituals*, and co-editor of the influential Songs of Zion (Nashville, 1981) with Judge Jefferson Cleveland*.
Her musical education began with voice and piano study at age six. She became organist at Mount Zion Baptist Church (Holmesburg,...
FORBIS, Wesley Lee. b. Chickasha, Oklahoma 31 October 1930; d. Goodlettsville, Tennessee, 14 January 2011. Forbis attended the University of Tulsa (BMusEd, 1952; MA in religion, 1955; thesis: 'Music in the Old Testament: A Survey,' 1959); Baylor University, Waco, Texas (MA, 1966; thesis: 'Christian Hymnody: A survey'); and Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University), Nashville, Tennessee (PhD, 1968; dissertation, 'The Galin-Paris-Cheve Method of Rhythmic Instruction: A History'. Forbis...
Townsend, Willa Ann Hadley. b. Nashville, Tennessee, 22 April 1880; d. Nashville, 24 April 1947. A Black educator devoted to improving the lives of African Americans, she was a civic leader, church musician, and editor/compiler of three influential Black collections of hymns, gospel songs, and African American spirituals*.
The daughter of Samuel Porterfield Hadley (1849–1905) and Mary Hadley, she received her education in the Nashville Public Schools, Fisk University, Nashville, Roger Williams...
DOANE, William Howard. b. Preston, New London County, Connecticut, 3 February 1832; d. South Orange, New Jersey, 24 December 1915. Doane was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, composer, and hymnbook compiler best known for his collaborations with Robert Lowry* on numerous Sunday School collections and his frequent partnering with Fanny Crosby* in providing over 1,000 hymn tunes for her Gospel texts. Approximately 30 of his over 2,200 tunes remain in common use.
Born to Joseph...
FULLERTON, William Young. b. Belfast, 8 March 1857; d. Bedford Park, Middlesex, 17 August 1932. Born into a Presbyterian family, he was greatly affected as a young man by hearing Charles Haddon Spurgeon* preach. He enrolled at Spurgeon's College to train for the Baptist ministry, and served in various churches, notably Melbourne Hall, Leicester, where in 1894 he succeeded the outstanding F.B. Meyer (1847-1929). Fullerton became Home Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, 1912/13 to...
With water freely flowing. Larry E. Schultz* (1965).
This is the most frequently published hymn by the author. It appears in Celebrating Grace (2010), Community of Christ Sings (2013), and Voices Together (2020). It describes the symbolism of freely flowing water in Christian baptism. The is appropriate for the Epiphany season on the second week of January, at a baptismal service, or during a confirmation of faith.
The author entered this hymn in a Baptism Hymn Search sponsored by Orange...
World Praise (1993). Commissioned for the 1995 World Baptist Congress, World Praise gathered hymns and songs from different parts of the world, primarily outside North America and Western Europe, with the aim of encouraging churches to share each other's musical worship resources. The editors, David Peacock* and Geoff Weaver*, had the aim of encouraging the Western church to receive the music of other churches, so that we might, as the book's preface states, 'rejoice with those who rejoice and...