Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America Book of Psalms

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The Committee entrusted with the task Of selecting tunes for The Book of Psalms has earnestly sought for such and only such as are suitable for an inspired Psalter designed for use by all God's worshipping people. To reach the desired result certain definite principles and rules were constantly kept in mind giving a fixed standard according to which the selections were made: (1) Nothing but sacred music, in the strictest sense of the term, was deemed worthy Of a place in this collection. (2) Each tune should be a suitable vehicle for giving expression to the sentiment Of the Psalm or portion of Psalm to which it is to be sung. (3) Tunes should be such as the average congregation under emcient leadership can readily learn to sing. (4) All the tunes should have such durable qualities as will enable them to stand the test of long and frequent use. (5) The number of tunes should be so limited as to render it possible for congregations to learn to sing them all. To accomplish these results the field Of sacred music was carefully canvassed. Selec tions were made from the old composers as well as the new. Every tune was judged on its merits. Doubtless some people will miss certain favorites, but when any tune was rejected it was because, in the judgment of the majority of the Committee, it did not measure up to the standard, or because there was another and a better tune to take its place.