23492.1.7 HARVAK OCT 11 1895 LIBRARY Dr. C. L. Gibson, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1845, BY BENJAMIN PERKINS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. BOSTON: S. N. DICKINSON, PRINTER, -10-95 PREFACE. So far as is known to the compiler, this volume is the first of the kind published in this country. Within a few years past, several collections similar in their general character have appeared in England. German literature, too, is any thing but deficient in this department. A specimen may be found in Knapp's Liederschatz, B. II., where it will be seen, that hymns 3057- 3081 are expressly for the sick. There have also been for many years distinct collections in that language; Lavater's Lieder für Leidende, 1787, 8vo. Hymns for Sufferers'-Auswahl der besten Trostgesänge für Leidende, von J. S. Fest. Leipsic, 1789. 8vo. 'Selections of the best Consolatory Songs for Sufferers.' That such collections are desirable would seem quite obvious. The sick and suffering are generally unable to listen, or to read, with attention, for any length of time continuously. An adaptation, therefore, to their case will be found in the |