Editing Hymn (section)

=== Development of Christian hymnody ===
{{Further|Hymnody of continental Europe}}
[[Thomas Aquinas]], in the introduction to his commentary on the Psalms, defined the Christian hymn thus: "''Hymnus est laus Dei cum cantico; canticum autem exultatio mentis de aeternis habita, prorumpens in vocem''." ("A hymn is the praise of God with song; a song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.")<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Aquinas
 | first = Thomas
 | author-link = Thomas Aquinas
 | title = St. Thomas's Introduction to his Exposition of the Psalms of David
 | url = http://www4.desales.edu/~philtheo/loughlin/ATP/Proemium.html
 | access-date = 2008-02-08
 | archive-date = 10 April 2016
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160410143356/http://www4.desales.edu/~philtheo/loughlin/ATP/Proemium.html
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

The [[Protestant Reformation]] resulted in two conflicting attitudes towards hymns. One approach, the [[regulative principle of worship]], favoured by many Zwinglians, Calvinists and some radical reformers, considered anything that was not directly authorised by the Bible to be a novel and Catholic introduction to worship, which was to be rejected. All hymns that were not direct quotations from the Bible fell into this category. Such hymns were banned, along with any form of instrumental musical accompaniment, and organs were removed from churches.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bruinsma |first=Henry A. |date=1954 |title=The Organ Controversy in the Netherlands Reformation to 1640 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/829497 |journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=205–212 |doi=10.2307/829497 |jstor=829497 |issn=0003-0139}}</ref> Instead of hymns, biblical psalms were chanted, most often without accompaniment, to very basic melodies. This was known as [[exclusive psalmody]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Old |first=Hughes Oliphant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXPvqI9fz7QC |title=Worship: Reformed According to Scripture |date=2002-01-01 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-22579-7 |pages=35–57 |language=en}}</ref> Examples of this may still be found in various places, including in some of the [[Scottish Presbyterian|Presbyterian churches of western Scotland]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Regulative Principle of Worship – Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland |url=https://www.fpchurch.org.uk/about-us/how-we-worship/the-regulative-principle-of-worship/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=www.fpchurch.org.uk}}</ref>

{{Listen
 | filename=Ein' Feste Burg.ogg
 | title="Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott"
 | description=Luther's paraphrase of [[Psalm 46]] is a popular [[Lutheran hymn]]
}}
The other Reformation approach, the [[normative principle of worship]], produced a burst of hymn writing and congregational singing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=I. Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6iY-Nc9Q5UC&pg=PA40 |title=Beyond the Bible: Moving from Scripture to Theology |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8010-2775-8 |pages=40–42 |language=en}}</ref> [[Martin Luther]] is notable not only as a reformer, but as the author of hymns including "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("[[A Mighty Fortress Is Our God]]"), "[[Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ]]" ("Praise be to You, Jesus Christ"), and [[List of hymns by Martin Luther|many others]].<ref>Dr. Martin Luther’s Deutsche Geistliche Lieder''. The Hymns of Martin Luther set to their original Melodies with an English version,'' ed. Leonard Woolsey Bacon and Nathan H. Allen (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1884).</ref> Luther and his followers often used their hymns, or chorales, to teach tenets of the faith to worshipers. The first Protestant hymnal was published in Bohemia in 1532 by the [[Unitas Fratrum]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Appendix B: Early German Lutheran and Reformation Hymnals |url=https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/History/early_german_hymnals.htm |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com}}</ref>

Count [[Zinzendorf]], the Lutheran leader of the [[Moravian Church]] in the 18th century wrote some 2,000 hymns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf |url=https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/nikolaus-ludwig-von-zinzendorf |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Hymnology Archive |language=en-US}}</ref>

The earlier English writers tended to paraphrase biblical texts, particularly [[Psalm]]s; [[Isaac Watts]] followed this tradition, but is also credited as having written the first English hymn which was not a direct paraphrase of Scripture.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Wilson-Dickson
 | first = Andrew
 | title = The Story of Christian Music
 | publisher = Lion, [[SPCK]]
 | location = Oxford
 | year = 1992
 | pages = 110–111
 | isbn = 0-281-04626-3
}}</ref> Watts (1674–1748), whose father was an Elder of a dissenter congregation, complained at age 16, that when allowed only psalms to sing, the faithful could not even sing about their Lord, Christ Jesus. His father invited him to see what he could do about it; the result was Watts' first hymn, "Behold the glories of the Lamb".<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Routley
 | first = Erik
 | title = Christian Hymns, An Introduction to Their Story (Audio Book)
 | publisher = Prestige Publications, Inc.
 | location = Princeton
 | year = 1980 
 | page = Part 7, "Isaac Watts, the Liberator of English Hymnody"
}}</ref>
Found in few hymnals today, the hymn has eight stanzas in common metre and is based on Revelation 5:6, 8, 9, 10, 12.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Routley and Richardson
 | title =  A Panorama of Christian Hymnody
 | publisher = G.I.A. Publications, Inc.
 | location = Chicago
 | date = 1979
 | pages = 40–41
 | isbn = 1-57999-352-4
}}</ref>

Relying heavily on Scripture, Watts wrote metered texts based on New Testament passages that brought the Christian faith into the songs of the church. Isaac Watts has been called "the father of English hymnody", but Erik Routley sees him more as "the liberator of English hymnody", because his hymns, and hymns like them, moved worshippers beyond singing only Old Testament psalms, inspiring congregations and revitalizing worship.<ref>{{cite book
 | title = Christian Hymns, An Introduction to Their Story (Audio Book) op. cit.
 | page = Part 7, "Isaac Watts, the Liberator of English Hymnody"
}}</ref>

Later writers took even more freedom, some even including [[allegory]] and [[metaphor]] in their texts.

{{Listen
 | filename=Love Divine All Loves Excelling.oga
 | title="Love Divine All Loves Excelling"
 | description="[[Love Divine, All Loves Excelling]]", one of [[Charles Wesley]]'s most popular hymns, is commonly sung to the tune ''Blaenwern'' composed by W.P.Rowlands
}}
[[Charles Wesley]]'s hymns spread Methodist [[theology]], not only within Methodism, but in most Protestant churches. He developed a new focus: expressing one's personal feelings in the relationship with God as well as the simple worship seen in older hymns.<ref name=":2" /> {{Listen
|title=Battle Hymn of the Republic
|filename=Battle Hymn of the Republic, Frank C. Stanley, Elise Stevenson.ogg
|description=The Battle Hymn of the Republic, performed by [[Frank C. Stanley]], [[Elise Stevenson]], and a mixed quartet in 1908. 
}}

Wesley's contribution, along with the [[Second Great Awakening]] in [[United States|America]] led to a new style called [[Gospel music|gospel]], and a new explosion of sacred music writing with [[Fanny Crosby]], [[Lina Sandell]], [[Philip Bliss]], [[Ira D. Sankey]], and others who produced testimonial music for revivals, camp meetings, and evangelistic crusades.<ref name=":2" /> The tune style or form is technically designated "gospel songs" as distinct from hymns. Gospel songs generally include a refrain (or chorus) and usually (though not always) a faster tempo than the hymns. As examples of the distinction, "[[Amazing Grace]]" is a hymn (no refrain), but "[[How Great Thou Art (hymn)|How Great Thou Art]]" is a gospel song.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Cameron |title=Is There a Difference Between a Hymn and a Song? |url=https://www.afrankvoice.com/hymns-history/is-there-a-difference-between-a-hymn-and-a-song |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=A Frank Voice |language=en-US}}</ref> During the 19th century, the gospel-song genre spread rapidly in Protestantism and to a lesser but still definite extent, in Roman Catholicism;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DjeDje |first=Jacqueline Cogdell |date=1986 |title=Change and Differentiation: The Adoption of Black American Gospel Music in the Catholic Church |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/851995 |journal=Ethnomusicology |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=223–252 |doi=10.2307/851995 |jstor=851995 |issn=0014-1836}}</ref> the gospel-song genre is unknown in the worship ''per se'' by Eastern Orthodox churches, which rely exclusively on traditional chants (a type of hymn).

The [[Methodist Revival]] of the 18th century created an explosion of hymn-writing in [[Welsh language|Welsh]], which continued into the first half of the 19th century. The most prominent names among Welsh hymn-writers are [[William Williams Pantycelyn]] and [[Ann Griffiths]]. The second half of the 19th century witnessed an explosion of hymn tune composition and congregational four-part singing in [[Wales]].<ref>E. Wyn James, 'The Evolution of the Welsh Hymn', in ''Dissenting Praise'', ed. I. Rivers & D. L. Wykes (Oxford University Press, 2011); E. Wyn James, 'Popular Poetry, Methodism, and the Ascendancy of the Hymn', in ''The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature'', ed. Geraint Evans & Helen Fulton (Cambridge University Press, 2019); E. Wyn James, 'German Chorales and American Songs and Solos: Contrasting Chapters in Welsh Congregational Hymn-Singing', ''The Bulletin of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', No. 295, Vol. 22:2 (Spring 2018), 43–53.</ref>

Along with the more classical sacred music of composers ranging from [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier|Charpentier]] (19 ''Hymns,'' H.53 - H.71) to [[Mozart]] to [[Monteverdi]], the [[Catholic Church]] continued to produce many popular hymns such as [[Lead, Kindly Light]], [[Silent Night]], O Sacrament Most Holy, and [[Faith of Our Fathers (hymn)|Faith of Our Fathers]].

In some radical Protestant movements, their own sacred hymns completely replaced the written Bible. An example of this, the ''Book of Life'' (Russian: "Zhivotnaya kniga") is the name of all oral hymns of the [[Doukhobors]], the Russian denomination, similar to western [[Quakers]]. ''The Book of Life of the Doukhobors'' (1909) is firstly printed hymnal containing songs, which to have been composed as an oral piece to be sung aloud.<ref>{{cite book |editor-surname=Peacock |editor-given=Kenneth |title=Songs of the Doukhobors: An Introductory Outline |translator=E. A. Popoff (song texts) |place=Ottawa |publisher=The National Museums of Canada; Queen's Printer of Canada |year=1970 |series=National Museums of Canada Bulletin No. 231, Folklore Series No. 7 |url=https://collections.museedelhistoire.ca/public/objects/common/webmedia.php%3Firn%3D5192506&ved=2ahUKEwjd3v6YrNDzAhWHXSsKHW8tCg8QFnoECAkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2uboqpPg0K3gg_tBlPBkDz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405010942/https://collections.museedelhistoire.ca/public/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=5192506&ved=2ahUKEwjd3v6YrNDzAhWHXSsKHW8tCg8QFnoECAkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2uboqpPg0K3gg_tBlPBkDz |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2023 |format=PDF }}</ref>

Many churches today use contemporary worship music which includes a range of styles often influenced by [[popular music]]. This often leads to some conflict between older and younger congregants (see [[contemporary worship]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moring |first=Mark |date=2011-03-09 |title=Pop Goes the Worship |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/march/popgoesworship.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312194703/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/march/popgoesworship.html |archive-date=2011-03-12 |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=ChristianityToday.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Frankforter |first=A. Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mJD52cIAl9QC |title=Stones for Bread: A Critique of Contemporary Worship |date=2001-01-01 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-22284-0 |pages=11–12 |language=en}}</ref> This is not new; the Christian [[Contemporary Christian Music|pop music]] style began in the late 1960s and became very popular during the 1970s, as young hymnists sought ways in which to make the music of their religion relevant for their generation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frame |first=John M. |url=https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/files/pub/book_previews/John-M-Frame_Contemporary-Worship-Music_Orientation.pdf |title=Contemporary Worship Music: A Biblical Defense |publisher=Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company |year=1997 |isbn=0-87552-212-2 |location=USA |pages=6–8 |language=en}}</ref>

This long tradition has resulted in a wide variety of hymns. Some modern churches include within hymnody the traditional hymn (usually describing God), contemporary worship music (often directed to God) and [[gospel music]] (expressions of one's personal experience of God). This distinction is not perfectly clear; and purists remove the second two types from the classification as hymns. It is a matter of debate, even sometimes within a single congregation, often between revivalist and traditionalist movements.

Swedish composer and musicologist [[Elisabet Wentz-Janacek]] mapped 20,000 melody variants for Swedish hymns and helped create the Swedish Choral Registrar, which displays the wide variety of hymns today.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-01-21|title=Vi gratulerar Elisabet Wentz-Janacek!|url=https://lundsdomkyrka.se/2013/01/21/vi-gratulerar-elisabet-wentz-janacek/|access-date=2021-04-03|website=Lunds domkyrka|language=sv-SE|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227060831/http://lundsdomkyrka.se/2013/01/21/vi-gratulerar-elisabet-wentz-janacek/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In modern times, hymn use has not been limited to strictly religious settings, including secular occasions such as [[Remembrance Day]], and this "secularization" also includes use as sources of musical entertainment or even vehicles for mass emotion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adey |first1=Lionel |title=Hymns and the Christian Myth |date=1986 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-0257-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-l1UD2jIKIC |language=en |page=x}}</ref>

====American developments====
Hymn writing, composition, performance and the publishing of Christian hymnals were prolific in the 19th-century and were often linked to the abolitionist movement by many hymn writers.<ref>{{Citation |last=Caron |first=Nathalie |title=Abolition in the United States as a Religious Social Movement |date=2022 |work=Ending Slavery : The Antislavery Struggle in Perspective |pages=221–246 |editor-last=Aje |editor-first=Lawrence |url=https://books.openedition.org/pulm/22407 |access-date=2024-04-09 |series=Horizons anglophones |place=Montpellier |publisher=Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée |language=en |doi=10.4000/books.pulm.22407 |isbn=978-2-36781-513-8 |editor2-last=Raynaud |editor2-first=Claudine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-12-20 |title=Reminder: 'O Holy Night Started Out As An Abolitionist Anthem |url=https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/music/reminder-o-holy-night-started-out-as-an-abolitionist-anthem/ |language=EN}}</ref> [[Stephen Foster]] wrote a number of hymns that were used during church services during this era of publishing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foster's Complete Songs |url=https://www.library.pitt.edu/foster-songs |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=www.library.pitt.edu}}</ref><!-- references forthcoming -->

Thomas Symmes, a clergyman of the third generation of [[Puritans]] in New England, spread throughout churches a new idea of how to sing hymns, in which anyone could sing a hymn any way they felt led to;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Becker |first=Laura L. |date=1982 |title=Ministers vs. Laymen: The Singing Controversy in Puritan New England, 1720-1740 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/365704 |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=79–96 |doi=10.2307/365704 |jstor=365704 |issn=0028-4866}}</ref> this idea was opposed by a writer of the time, Rev. Thomas Walter, who felt it was "like Five Hundred different Tunes roared out at the same time".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Earle |first=Alice Morse |date=1891 |title=The Sabbath in Puritan New England, Chapter 15 {{!}} The Reformed Reader |url=https://www.reformedreader.org/puritans/sabbath.puritan.newengland/sabbath.puritan.newengland.chapter15.htm |access-date=2024-04-09 |website= |edition=7}}</ref> [[William Billings]], a [[singing school]] teacher, created the first tune book with only American born compositions. Within his books, Billings did not put as much emphasis on "[[common measure]]" - a [[quatrain]] that rhymes ABAB and alternates four-stress and three-stress iambic lines<ref>{{Cite web |title=Common measure |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/common-measure |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref> - which was the typical way hymns were sung. Noting in his preface the fondness of other compilers for tunes in common measure, Billings promised his subscribers a well-balanced collection, with "a Sufficiency in each [[Metre (poetry)|measure]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction - MUSIC IN BOSTON, 1750–1770 |url=https://www.colonialsociety.org//node/3323 |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Colonial Society of Massachusetts |language=en}}</ref> And indeed ''The Singing Master's Assistant'' has many tunes whose declamation is based on the [[Dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]] in [[Duple and quadruple metre|duple time]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The American Musical Landscape - Part III Three Composers and a Song - William Billings (1746-1800) and American Psalmody: a Study of Musical Dissemination |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7gx&chunk.id=d0e2282&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e2276&brand=ucpress |access-date=2024-04-09 |website= |publisher=University of California Press |pages=129}}</ref> Boston's [[Handel and Haydn Society]] aimed at raising the level of church music in America, publishing their "Collection of Church Music" in 1822.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music (Mason, Lowell) - IMSLP |url=https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Boston_Handel_and_Haydn_Society_Collection_of_Church_Music_(Mason,_Lowell) |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=imslp.org}}</ref> In the late 19th century [[Ira D. Sankey]] and [[Dwight L. Moody]] developed the relatively new subcategory of [[gospel hymn]]s.<ref>Music, David. ''Hymnology A Collection of Source Readings''. 1. 1. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996.</ref>

Earlier in the 19th century, the use of musical notation, especially [[shape note]]s, exploded in America, and professional singing masters went from town to town teaching the population how to [[Sight-reading|sing from sight]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shape Note Singing {{!}} Ritual and Worship {{!}} Musical Styles {{!}} Articles and Essays {{!}} The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America {{!}} Digital Collections {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/ritual-and-worship/shape-note-singing/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> instead of the more common [[lining out]] that had been used before that.<ref name="Shepherd">{{cite book |last1=Shepherd |first1=John |title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: VolumeII: Performance and Production, Volume 11 |date=2003 |publisher=A&C Black |page=146}}</ref> During this period hundreds of tune books were published, including [[Benjamin Franklin White|B.F. White's]] ''[[Sacred Harp]]'', and earlier works like the ''Missouri Harmony'', ''[[Kentucky Harmony]]'', [[The Hesperian Harp|''Hesperian Harp'']], D.H. Mansfield's ''The American Vocalist'', ''The Social Harp'', the ''[[Southern Harmony]]'', [[William Walker (composer)|William Walker]]'s ''[[The Christian Harmony|Christian Harmony]]'', [[Jeremiah Ingalls]]' ''Christian Harmony'', and literally many dozens of others. Shape notes were important in the spread of (then) more modern singing styles, with tenor-led 4-part harmony (based on older English [[West gallery music|West Gallery music]]), [[Fuguing tune|fuging]] sections, [[anthem]]s and other more complex features. During this period, hymns were incredibly popular in the United States, and one or more of the above-mentioned tunebooks could be found in almost every household. It is not uncommon to hear accounts of young people and teenagers gathering together to spend an afternoon singing hymns and anthems from tune books, which was considered great fun, and there are surviving accounts of [[Abraham Lincoln]] and his sweetheart singing together from the ''Missouri Harmony'' during his youth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Missouri Harmony 2005 Edition |url=http://stlfasola.org/moharm.htm |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=stlfasola.org}}</ref>

By the 1860s musical reformers like [[Lowell Mason]] (the so-called "better music boys") were actively campaigning for the introduction of more "refined" and modern singing styles,<ref>{{Citation | title = History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650–1886 | last = Tilden | first = William | place = Boston | publisher = GH Ellis | year = 1887 | url = https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofm00tild/page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2024}} and eventually these American tune books were replaced in many churches, starting in the Northeast and urban areas, and spreading out into the countryside as people adopted the gentler, more soothing tones of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] hymnody, and even adopted dedicated, trained [[choir]]s to do their church's singing, rather than having the entire congregation participate. But in many rural areas the old traditions lived on, not in churches, but in weekly, monthly or annual conventions were people would meet to sing from their favorite tunebooks. The most popular one, and the only one that survived continuously in print, was the ''[[Sacred Harp]]'', which could be found in the typical rural Southern home right up until the living tradition was "re-discovered" by [[Alan Lomax]] in the 1960s (although it had been well-documented by [[Musicology|musicologist]] [[George Pullen Jackson]] prior to this). Since then there has been a renaissance in "Sacred Harp singing", with annual conventions popping up in [[United States|all 50 states]] and in a number of European countries recently, including the [[United Kingdom|UK]], [[Germany]], [[Ireland]] and [[Poland]], as well as in [[Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sacredharpbremen.org/|title=Sacred Harp Bremen|website=www.sacredharpbremen.org|access-date=2018-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ukshapenote.org.uk/|title=Welcome|last=Macadam|first=Edwin and Sheila|website=www.ukshapenote.org.uk|access-date=2018-01-04|archive-date=15 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815171257/http://www.ukshapenote.org.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sacredharp86.org/|title=Sacred Harp in Poland {{!}} Polish Sacred Harp Community Website|website=sacredharp86.org|language=pl-PL|access-date=2018-01-04}}</ref>

==== Black America's hymns ====
[[African-American]]s developed a rich hymnody from [[spiritual (music)|spiritual]]s during times of slavery to the modern, lively black gospel style. The first influences of [[African-American culture]] into hymns came from the collection [[Slave Songs of the United States]], compiled by [[William Francis Allen]], who had difficulty pinning them down from the oral tradition, though he succeeded. He points out the awe-inspiring effect of the hymns when sung by their originators.<ref>Music, David. Hymnology A Collection of Source Readings. 1. 1. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996. 179/185–186/192/199/206. Print.</ref> Some of the first hymns in the [[black church]] were renderings of Isaac Watts hymns written in the African-American vernacular English of the time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Salamone |first=Frank A. |title=Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-94180-6 |editor-last=Levinson |editor-first=David |location=New York |pages=17}}</ref>