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CHOICE COLLECTION

O F

SPIRITUAL and DIVINE

HYMNS,

Taken from various AUTHORS;

Intended for the Ufe of those few, who are indeed,
or defire to be, Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth,
and are determined to know nothing but JESUS
CHRIST and him crucified.

By C.

O fing unto the Lord a new Song.
Worthy is the Lamb that was flain
Speaking to yourselves in Palms,

HA

Pfa. xcvi. 1.

Rev. v. 12.

and Hymns, and Spiri

tual Songs, finging and making melody in your hearts
unto the Lord. Eph. v. 19

BRISTOL:

Printed by WILLIAM PINE, in Wine-tract.

M.DCC.LXXVI.

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To all the FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS, efpecially thofe whom the LORD hath called me to watch over. and feed with the word of his

MY DEAREST BRETHREN,

THE

grace.

HE following collection of fpiritual and divine Hymns, taken from various Authors, are (as a small cup of cold water humbly prefented

to you in the name of our LORD JESUS

CHRIST; intended as a means to refresh your weary fpirits whilft in your pilgrimage, through this howling wilderness and dreary defert.

Thefe facred fongs want no recommendation. TRUTH carries its own evidence and will speak for itself. I fhall therefore only add, that accord-ing to my humble opinion, thele Hymns appear to me very excellent; they contain the very marrow and effence of the pure undefiled gospel of JESUS CHRIST: and are most tweetly adapted to the state of every one, taught of the meek and lowly Jefus; from the leaft to the greateft in God'shouse and in fhort, to every one that is only under the left drawings and influences of the HOLY COMFORTER, the SPIRIT of TRUTH.

2

in

In chufing and collecting of them (which hath been a very folemn and weighty matter with me before the Lord) I have ftudied to please but ONE; viz. THE HOLY ONE of Ifrael; IMMANUEL, GOD with US: in doing which I am fure I shall not difplease those few, that are indeed God's people. And therefore I don't doubt but all fuch as are truly fimple in heart, and poor in fpirit, who look beyond the fhadow to the fubftance, and have a real tafte and relifh for the fufferings and death of Jefus, (from whence all our bleflings flow both in time and in eternity) and are determined to know nothing but JESUS CHRIST and him crucified, will find in this collection of Hymns, fome fweet and favory food, fuitable to the various ftates and conditions of their minds.

The volume is fwelled to a much larger fize than I at firft intended. But Providence having put in my way, fome very choice Hymns, which appear to me, truly evangelical, and full of fweet heart-felt experience; and which at the fame time open ina plain, intelligible manner the leading and effential truths in the holy golpel: I thought therefore thefe Hymns would answer another valuable end, and might be fubftituted in the place of many religi ous books, which in general treat only of the theory of the gospel, and the fentiments and peculiar opinions, of fallible men and therefore rather injure than edify the mind. The greatest part of these hymns have already been made ufe of in our little focieties, which God hath remat rkably owned and blessed, above every other compofition or collection we ever met with. Besides there is an univerfal call for the fame, (many of which are juft

out

out of print) which were the principal motives that induced me to publish this edition.

And here I would beg leave to drop a ferious, and I hope a feafonable word of advice, to you my dear brethren, altho' it may feem rather foreign to this subject, yet I truft it will not prove altogether unprofitable. And that is, moft earnestly to recommend to your ferious ftudy above every other book, in folemn prayer and faith, that fo much neglected, but truly precious book of God, the HOLY BIBLE, which alone is able (through the divine teachings of the Holy Ghoft) to make you truly wife to falvation. And by which alone we must all stand or fall, in that awful and tremendous. day, "when God fhall judge the world in RIGHTEOUSNESS by THAT MAN, whom he hath ordained."* And therefore ought to be the constant study of our whole lives.

'Tis, my dear brethren, "the fword of the Spirit," the only weapon the enemy of our fouls cares for, because it alone can effectually destroy his kingdom; and is therefore, what every foldier fighting under the banner of Jefus Chrift, flands in abfolute need of: neither can he by any means, fight the LORD's battles without it. And I am fully perfwaded, that if this two-edged fword, THE WORD OF GOD, were made more ufe .of, IN THE SPIRIT; all our moft fubtle and potent enemies, the world, flesh and devil (with whom there is a continual war) muft inevitably fall before us: and it would be impoffible we could fail of victory.

But let us, my dear brethren, take heed. Re

*Acts xvii. 31. + Eph. vi. 17.

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