DOWLING’S CONFERENCE HYMNS.
A NEW COLLECTION OF HYMNS,
DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR USE IN
Conference and Prayer Meetings,
AND FAMILY WORSHIP.
BY J. DOWLING, D.D.
The design of the present compilation is, in the first place, to add to the life and spirituality of the Conference and the Prayer Meeting; and, secondly, to be an acceptable pocket companion to the Christian, in the family or in the closet.
From most of the Conference hymn books which the editor has examined, a large number of devotional pieces, cherished in the memory and the hearts of the fathers and mothers in our American Zion, have been excluded; probably because the poetry was not regarded as of a sufficiently high order of excellence. The opinion of the present editor is, that sacred songs, embodying scriptural sentiments and genuine religious experience—when not objectionable on the score of vulgarity or grammatical inaccuracy—should not be discarded because they fail to stand the test of a rigid poetical censorship.
To mention a few of the favorite pieces omitted in some recent collections, many Christians will at once recognize the following, associated as some of them are with their sweetest seasons of holy religious enjoyment:—“Sweet land of rest, for thee I sigh”—“Whither goest thou, pilgrim stranger”—“The Lord into his garden comes”—“Farewell, dear friends, I must be gone”—“Amen, amen, my soul replies”—“Come, my brethren, let us try”—“Vain, delusive world, adieu”—“O come, my loving neighbors, will you go to glory with me”—“Let thy kingdom, blessed Saviour”—“There is a land of pleasure”—“O tell me no more of this world’s vain store”—“To-day, if you will hear his voice”—“Beside the gospel pool”—“The Good Old Way,” commencing, “Lift up your heads, Immanuel’s friends”—“The Harvest Home,” commencing, “This is the field, the world below”—“The Bower of Prayer”—“The Saints’ Sweet Home”—and Newton’s pious and expressive pieces—“The Beggar’s Prayer,” commencing, “Encouraged by thy word, of mercy to the poor”—The “Dying Thief,” commencing, “Sovereign grace hath power alone”—and, “The Lord will provide,” commencing, “Though troubles assail and dangers affright.”
One great motive in the present work was to restore, for the use of the Editor’s own congregation and of such others as desire them, the above, and a number of similar devotional and familiar “Sacred Songs,” omitted in some recent Conference hymn books.
▶ Copies for examination furnished gratis to post-paid applications—unbound copies sent by mail.
Published by EDWARD H. FLETCHER,
141 Nassau Street, N. Y.