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THE

BOSTON

SUNDAY SCHOOL

HYMN BOOK;

WITH DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES.

BY LEWIS G. PRAY.

Though unworthy of thine ear,
Deign our humble songs to hear;
Purer praise we hope to bring,
When around thy throne we sing.

APPROVED BY THE

SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY, BOSTON.

REVISED EDITION.

BOSTON:

BENJAMIN H. GREENE,

124 Washington Street.

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Stereotyped by

GEORGE A. CURTIS,

NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

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B V 520 • prz 1844

PREFACE.

THE Hymn Book, of which this is the preface, is a revised edition of the one entitled the " Boston Sunday School Hymn Book," first published in 1833, of which six editions found a ready sale, and which, as the editor thinks, has given to it the sanction of public approbation.

Since that time, many new hymns have been written or published, far surpassing in excellence many of those which were then accessible to the editor, and some new wants in our schools, have been created or felt; which circumstances united, have seemed to render a revision of the work necessary. Accordingly, quite a number of those hymns considered the least appropriate and valuable in the first edition, have been discarded from, and a large number of a better class, about a hundred, have been added to, this. The intention has been to make it strictly, a Sunday School Hymn Book. Not a hymn, it is believed, has been retained or added, which is not adapted to some simple and suitable air, to the purposes and objects of the Sunday School, to the minds and hearts of the young, and to the great end of exciting the deepest piety, and the purest and highest devotional sentiment and feeling.

As Sunday School Anniversaries and Rural and Religious Celebrations have become, as it were, a part of our moral means of religious influence and instruction, some of the best hymns which have been written for, or suited to, these occasions, will be found in this edition; and as many new tunes and pleasant and popular airs have been

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