“Baptist beginnings in the New World are generally
traced to the founding of the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island,
in 1639. From this modest beginning the number of Baptist churches in America
grew slowly but steadily until the Revolutionary War.
“Church music in these congregations—where it existed at all—generally consisted only of congregational singing. Some churches followed a Zwinglian tradition that excluded all song from the sanctuary. The churches that did sing mainly adhered to the Calvinist practice of singing only metrical Scripture (principally the Psalms) in unison without instrumental or choral accompaniment...By 1766, the time appeared ripe for the publication of the first Baptist hymnal to be compiled in the Colonies, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, collected from the works of several authors. Because of its generic title (Hymns and Spiritual Songs), which was used by many other hymnals of the day, the work is usually called the ‘Newport Collection’ after the place of its publication, Newport, Rhode Island. Though the word ‘Baptist’ did not appear on the title page, the contents and what is known of the people involved in its publication make it evident that the book was both compiled by and intended for Baptists.”
“Church music in these congregations—where it existed at all—generally consisted only of congregational singing. Some churches followed a Zwinglian tradition that excluded all song from the sanctuary. The churches that did sing mainly adhered to the Calvinist practice of singing only metrical Scripture (principally the Psalms) in unison without instrumental or choral accompaniment...By 1766, the time appeared ripe for the publication of the first Baptist hymnal to be compiled in the Colonies, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, collected from the works of several authors. Because of its generic title (Hymns and Spiritual Songs), which was used by many other hymnals of the day, the work is usually called the ‘Newport Collection’ after the place of its publication, Newport, Rhode Island. Though the word ‘Baptist’ did not appear on the title page, the contents and what is known of the people involved in its publication make it evident that the book was both compiled by and intended for Baptists.”
Click here to download and read the rest of The Newport Collection: the First Baptist hymnal in America - 1766, by David W. Music
2 comments:
Jim, if I'm not mistaken I have a Canadian Baptist hymnal in my collection. I'm not home right now to look and can't remember the name of it.
I enjoy hearing the stories behind the hymns. Dr. W. J. Reynolds gives a lot of this information in his companion to the (Southern) Baptist Hymnal. I'm sure a lot of other denominational hymnal companions do the same, but his is the only one with which I'm familiar.
The story behind the writing of "It is Well" by Horatio Spafford is a favorite of mine. It's easy to say "it is well" when things are going well, but when they went bad he was still willing and able to say it.
Jim, I looked at the book I have and it is entitled "Baptist Hymnary" (or, The Hymnary for Use in Baptist Churches). It is copyrighted 1916 and was approved by the United Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, and the Baptist Union of Western Canada. It is a very large songbook with nearly 900 pages. My particular copy is black leather-bound so that it looks very much like a Bible.
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