We continue our look at hymnbooks published by and for the Brethren.  By the late 1850s, there was increasing pressure on the Annual Meeting of the German Baptist Brethren to authorize the creation of a new improved and enlarged hymnbook for the Brethren.  It should be noted that by this time the annual gathering of elders and laity within the church, known as Annual Meeting, had evolved into a decision-making body that came to govern all aspects of Brethren life and thought.  It was natural for those who desired a new hymnbook to bring this question before Annual Meeting, in contrast to the earlier practice of leading figures in the church, who were often printers as well, to take this project on as a private venture.  This hymnbook would thus be the first such book authorized by Annual Meeting.

In 1860 Annual Meeting appointed a committee of five to compile a new hymnbook.  However, the distance among committee members and the impact of the Civil War forced the committee to defer this task to one man: James Quinter.  Quinter had become one of the leading elders in the church by the latter 1850s.  Self-educated, as were many of the leading figures in the church at this time, he was still well-qualified for the job.  In 1856, he had joined Henry Kurtz as one of the editors of the Gospel Visitor, the only paper serving the interests of the Brethren at the time.  He also was moderately progressive, supporting such controversial “innovations” as higher education, Sunday Schools, evangelistic or revival meetings, and foreign missions.  Unlike a younger contemporary, Henry Holsinger, however, he always respected the counsel of the church and knew when to defer to the perceived consensus of the Brethren.

In 1867 Quinter published his hymnbook, entitled A Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs; suited to the Various Kinds of Christian Worship; and Especially Designed for, and Adapted to, the Fraternity of the Brethren.  Such a verbose title, typical of the day, needed a shorter title; it came to be known by the title printed on the book’s spine: The Brethren’s Hymn Book.

This hymnbook broke new ground for Brethren hymnody.  It retained a number of features of earlier hymnbooks: words only, no musical notation; the metrical designation for each hymn to aid the chorister’s choice of a tune; and an index of scriptural references.  But unlike earlier hymnbooks, the hymns were arranged topically, rather than alphabetically by first line, and authors of the hymns were identified, though not all were correct, an issue common to hymnals of the day.

The original charge to the committee of five was to retain as many of the hymns from the current English hymnbook of choice, A Choice Selection of Hymns, as possible.  Thus 240 of the 293 hymns in the “revised and enlarged” edition of this hymnbook were retained.  While 43 hymns were drawn from other Brethren hymnbooks, over 500 hymns came from non-Brethren sources, resulting in a work that contained 818 hymns.  Quinter drew these hymns from the over one hundred hymnals that he had in his personal collection.  It was Quinter’s hope that this enlarged collection of hymns could not only expand the repertoire of hymns sung by the Brethren in their worship services but also serve the Brethren in their private devotions.

Quinter’s hymnbook served the Brethren well for many decades.  Its last edition appeared in 1901, the same year that the German Baptist Brethren (renamed the Church of the Brethren in 1908) produced their first hymnal with notes.

by Dale Stoffer, Brethren Archives