The Psalms of Life

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Excerpt from The Psalms of Life: A Compilation of Psalms, Hymns, Chants, Anthems, &C, , Embodying the Spiritual, Progressive and Reformatory Sentiment of the Present AgeThe Theology of the present differs from that of the past in so far as its views of God and of our relations to him and to each other, and of our present and future existence, take a much broader scope, and grasp with the hands of a stronger and more rational faith the great fact of Immortality. For the people of this age we want the poetical fervor of our own times, we want the ideas by which our thoughts and feelings are inspired, embodied in verse, so that our songs of praise, our words of cheer, and our devotional aspirations may be harmonious responses to the highest conceptions of the soul.And we have these. The poetry of to-day is replete with the hopes and faiths of to-day. It is practical, and at the same time glowing with a spiritual beauty commensurate with the loftiest ideality of the mind. It has been called forth by the stirring events transpiring around us, - it is the living inspiration of our age, is adapted to a faith in a present revelation from the spirit-world, and is fully expressive of the high and glorious impulses of Divinity within us that move our thoughts to action in behalf of an absolute freedom of mind and body.The result of an effort to gather this poetry and present it in connection with an appropriate selection of music is found in this volume. In the pursuit of this object we have not forgotten the past. Our ancestry had much in common with us, as we have already remarked, and we would not disown it. The Past comes to us, bearing as an offering to place upon the altar of the Present, the sweet and fervid devotional songs of our fathers. Gladly we accept them, and love them for the beauties they enshrine. They are wreathed with a glowing immortality, and the generations of our own times and of the future will find hope, and strength, and comfortings in them.The selections of music will be recognized by all who have had experience in singing, to comprise tunes with which they have before met, and around which associations gather that have established them as favourites. In addition to these are several original compositions and new arrangements. The collection of chants will be found unusually large, a feature that their rapidly increasing use will at once commend, and one which enables us to furnish a number of poems not suited to common tunes, but which will be highly valued for the sentiments they represent.Our thanks are tendered to the owners of copyright on music for permission of use, as, also, to those individuals in various parts of the Union, who have in various ways manifested their interest in the progress of the work. With the hope that it may meet their expectations and supply our present wants, and that every reform, - religious, political, social, and domestic, may find within it that which will cheer the soldier in life's great battle, wreathe the brows of the despairing with stars of hope, and lead all to a firmer trust in God and love for one-another, The Psalms of Life are submitted to the People.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.