Himes, Paul; Wilson, Jonathan. A Selection of Hymns, from the Best Authors; By Elders Paul Himes and Jonathan Wilson. Greenfield, Mass: Clark and Hunt | (C. J. Newcomb, Printer, Deerfield), 1818. [8501]
Full leather, brown leather title label, worn & rubbed but with no cracks, 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, lacks all blanks, text block with primitive stitch repair, some leaves tattered, some closed tears, foxing. Misnumbered, with p. 46 then p. 65, with no loss of text or leaves; p. 175 skips to p. 179 with no loss (verso & recto of same leaf), then repeats nos. 177-179 on different text pp.; leaf 207-208 torn with loss 25% affecting many lines; small chip pp. 231-132 affecting edge of 3 lines; pill-sized hole leaf pp. 289-90; ends p. 358 (of 360), lacking the last 2 pp. of the Index. Good. Full leather.
Shaw & Shoemaker 44320.
"Baptist congregations in this period had an active devotional life beyond Sunday worship. Evangelistic meetings, revivals, conference meetings, and social worship all called for less formal hymnody, often characterized as 'spiritual songs.' Collections of these texts, often linked with folk tunes, were also used for services in churches that worshiped in a more popular style...
"The continuance of the awakenings is reflected in the Selection of Hymns [Greenfield MA: Ansel Phelps, 1817] by Paul Himes and Jonathan Wilson. The compilers, identified simply as 'Elders' on the title page, assembled 221 texts. The orientation of the book is exemplified by hymn 58, 'Come all who are New Lights indeed,' which uses the term 'New Light(s)' sixteen times in eleven stanzas. Anna Beeman's 'What think ye, my friends, of the preaching of John' and 'In Jordan's tide the baptist stands.' which uses the word 'immersion' to describe the baptism of Jesus, are other examples of the book's emphasis on the new birth and the rite of Christian initiation. This book was reprinted in 1818 and 1823." - Music & Richardson, "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story", p. 166 & 169.