_Acknowledgements._ I wish to acknowledge valuable help received from the following and to express hereby my gratitude to them: to Dr. Robert McCutchan, author of _Our Hymnody_, who generously responded to my request for information on a dozen or more hymns on which I had no data; to Dr. Henry Wilder Foote, of Harvard University, author of _Three Centuries of American Hymnody_, for biographical material on several hymn writers, and the use of books from his private library; to Dr. Reginald McAll, Executive Secretary of the Hymn Society of America for helpful material; to Dr. Ruth Messenger, Archivist for the Hymn Society of America, who furnished nearly all the Latin originals, and the Italian original of Savonarola’s hymn, and information concerning these hymns; to Dr. Armin Heussler, author of a forth-coming handbook to the _Evangelical hymnal_, for material on several of the chorales; to Wm. Runyan of the Hope Publishing Company, and to Dr. John Trowbridge of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, for information concerning several of the gospel songs; to Dr. Cornelius Krahn who made the rich hymnic treasures of the Mennonite Historical Library at Bethel College available to me; to the late Rev. C. E. Krehbiel who loaned me material from his private library for this work but did not live to see its completion; to B. Bargen for help in preparing the manuscript for publication; to Mrs. Beatrice Buller for reading the manuscripts and proofs of the German chorales; to my wife, Charity Steiner Hostetler, who read all the manuscripts and proofs and whose constant interest and assistance were indispensable; and to others, too numerous to mention, who in any way facilitated the completion of the work. The book, written during spare moments of a busy pastorate, is sent forth with the prayer that, in spite of errors and imperfections, it may inspire all who use it to sing with greater devotion the praises of Him who loved us and redeemed us. Lester Hostetler The Parsonage Bethel College Mennonite Church North Newton, Kansas January 20, 1949 EXPLANATORY NOTES In the interest of brevity and to avoid repetition, certain recurring words are abbreviated: _Hymnary_ is used for _Mennonite Hymnary_. _c._ (_circa_) means approximate date. _Tr._ is prefixed to the names of all translators. _Anon._ (anonymous) means without any name acknowledged, as that of author or composer. The word “Number” has been omitted: thus Hymn 22 means Hymn No. 22. _Cf._ means compare. (Latin: confer).