Before coming to the further study of the negro spirituals, it will be well to inquire into the nature of the favorite standard church hymns commonly used by the negroes in their church services. A comparison may then be made with the popular folk-songs. The favorite songs and most common themes sung by the negroes may best be seen at their prayer meetings or class meetings, or at such gatherings as require no formality. One may attend week after week and hear the same songs and feel the same pathos emanating from the songs which the worshippers have learned to sing and love. They enjoy singing of _heaven_ and _rest_ and _luxury_ where _ease_ abounds and where _Sabbaths_ have no end. They love to sing the praises of the Deliverer who shall free them from life's toils. They have chosen the "good old" songs that have vividness and concrete imagery in them; they have placed a new feeling into them and a different interpretation. The meaning of the words and the sentiment of the song are transcended by the expression in the singing. The accustomed manner, together with their responsive feeling, absorb whatever of pure devotion might have existed in their attitude--the sinking itself becoming devotion. The negro looks always to some future state for happiness and sings often: This earth, he cries, is not my place; I seek my place in heaven. The negroes sing with a peculiar faith the common stanzas of their hymns: "We've seen our foes before us flee," "We've seen the timid lose their fears", "We've seen the prisoners burst their chains", "We've seen the guilty lose their stains." So, too, they conceive, as of old, of the eternal rest and sing, with its full stanzas: How sweet a Sabbath thus to spend, In hope of one that ne'er shall end. The singing of these hymns is beautiful and impressive, testifying to the truth that their favorites appeal to the fitness of worship and accord with the ideal of rhythmical perfection as expressed in the feeling of the worshipper.