Old Hymnals and Hymn Books

History is awash with tales of the importance of hymns and hymnody. One such tale, perhaps embellished a little with the retelling of successive generations, tells of a German Lutheran immigrant family who had settled in eastern Pennsylvania prior to the beginning of the French/Indian war.  During the war, the family's house was attacked by Indians aligned with the French and all those home were murdered with the exception of the 10 year old daughter, Regina, who was taken as a slave and renamed, White Lily. Regina's mother was not home at the time of the attack and not finding her daughter's body among the carnage realized she must have been taken. Years after, when the war had ended, the British returned those captured by the Indians to a camp in Carlisle where Regina's mother went to look for her daughter. Unable to find her daughter, the mother feared the worst until a man asked her whether there was something that might remind her daughter of her childhood and the last time they were together. When the mother began to sing her favorite hymn, Regina immediately recognized it and sprung from the crowd to hold her mother. 

This is one of many, many stories illustrating the importance of a hymn to an individual.  But hymn singing, by its very nature, is a communal activity.  Usually, we sing hymns as part of a congregation and, often, the singing of a hymn binds those who share a common belief and passion.  A clear example of the meaning and power hymns can have for a large group of people is given in the numerous account of hymns sung by soldiers operating in the mires of Flanders during the Great War.  Frequently, Germans recounted hearing across no man's land the British troops roaring out William Williams's Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.

Just as there are endless stories about the meaning of a hymn to an individual or group of individuals, each hymn and hymnal has behind it a story.  And these are the stories, the stories behind the great hymns and hymn makers, I hope to look at in a little more depth on this site.