Ministry Monday: The Anglican Hymn Book

The Anglican Hymn Book contained 663 hymns, many of them of an evangelical nature. The publication was a success, and a second printing took place in September of that year. This did not satisfy the churches as further printings occurred in January 1970 and May 1975, the last containing a supplement of 49 tunes. The opening paragraphs to the Preface - reproduced below - presents the raison d’être for this new hymnal.

“It is many years since a completely new hymn book appeared for use in the Church of England. The present book took its origin from a recognition of the need to replace The Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer and The Church Hymnal for the Christian Year. It is, however, in no sense a mere revision of those books. It is entirely new.”

“We were appointed as a Committee to prepare the new book in 1959 and in the course of our work we have examined thousands of hymns from many traditions of Christian worship. We have sought to provide a book at once satisfactory in words and music and faithful in doctrine to Scripture and the Book of Common Prayer. Within these requirements the book supplies hymns old and new from translations of the praise of the early Church to new compositions written within recent years. There is, for instance, one hymn based on the New English Bible version of the Magnificat. We have tried to provide an accurate text, without being pedantic. Defects of tone, imagery and even plain sense were carefully looked for, and hymns found unsatisfactory on any of those grounds were amended or rejected. As a result, the text, we believe, will stand a rigorous examination and emerge approved as a form of praise and worship that congregations may fitly sing together. . . .”

“In making this collection, we have tried to envisage the needs of the whole church, both now and in the future. We pray, finally, that God may bless those who use this book and that it may be the means of bringing glory to His Name.”

There is a list of the hymns in the book here.

A number of new hymn books were published in the 1960s, mostly in connection with the Free Churches and their publishers. To the writer’s memory, the independent, non-denominational Free Churches the long-standing hymn books in general use were Sacred Songs and Solos - of the long-past Moody/Sankey evangelical crusades, with 1200 hymns and songs - and The Keswick Hymn Book containing 558 hymns - associated with the annual Christian conference held in that lakeside town. Both these books were published by the well-known evangelical press, Marshall, Morgan and Scott who, it is thought, were the publishers of another long-standing hymn book, Hymns of Light and Love containing 905 hymns including, surprisingly, the Anglican Te Deum. Another hymn book of long-standing, and still available in 1965, was Redemption Songs with 951 hymns and 48 choruses. This was published by another Christian press, Pickering and Inglis.

Another publisher within the independent Free Church fellowship was Scripture Union and Children’s Special Service Mission (SU/CSSM). In 1964 they published Hymns of Faith containing 659 hymns. This was a logical follow-on from the original Golden Bells through the Golden Hymnal of previous years.

A transient, small hymn book containing 100 hymns was the Billy Graham Song Book published by the organisation for the evangelical crusades in Britain involving the evangelist of that name during the 1960s. By its very nature this book would have had a limited and restricted life.

Within the same decade, The Psalms and Hymns Trust - the imprint of the Baptist Union - published The Baptist Hymn Book in 1962. This book contained 843 hymns and chants and superseded The Baptist Church Hymnal of 1933. Other churches in the Free Church denominations - Methodist, Presbyterian and United Reformed - may also have issued new hymn books. But The Anglican Hymn Book published by Church Society 50 years ago this month, was an even greater success. In 1975, there was even a Churchman article celebrating the book's 10th anniversary!

Editor's Note: Church Society has coincidentally been contacted by a source who has about 100 copies of The Anglican Hymn Book, which they would be happy to give away to anyone who wants them. If that's you, do let us know here in the Church Society office and we can put you in touch.