ABSTRACT
The hymn book occupied an increasingly important place in religious life in nineteenth-century Britain. Many different religious groups issued hymnals during the course of the century, ranging from small-scale local productions to official denominational publications. Often, the production of a hymnal was a key part in establishing a religious identity for a particular group. The many Methodist groups that proliferated during the nineteenth century typically issued a hymnal early in their existence by marking the important role. Methodists traditionally attached to hymn singing, while also affirming its particular content as being in accordance with their own beliefs and practices. This chapter explores the prefaces of two nineteenth-century Anglican hymnals, the Evangelical Christian Psalmody and the high-church Hymnal Noted. As hymnody was a relatively new phenomenon in the denomination, compilers of hymnals were often at great pains to justify its place within worship and therefore give clear insights into their theological understandings of hymnody.
