When Jesus wept

When Jesus wept. William Billings* (1746-1800)   When Jesus wept, the falling tear In mercy flowed beyond all bound. When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear Seized all the guilty world around.  Perhaps the most frequently republished work of William Billings (Edwards, p. 7), ‘When Jesus Wept’ was first published in his 1770 collection titled The New-England Psalm-Singer. This volume of music, the first book of music entirely composed by an American born in America, consisted of more than 120 original works that the subtitle of his book indicates consisted of ‘a Number of Psalm-Tunes, Anthems, and Canons’. This volume contained a lengthy section on how to read music, as was the custom for...