1853 FREEWILL BAPTIST. The Psalmody - An Ant-Slavery Hymnal Issued After Fugitive Slave Act.

A rather nicely preserved example of the important 1853 edition of the Freewill Psalmody. Unlike many denominational bodies of the era, the Freewill Baptists were fiercely anti-slavery and supportive of temperance and social reform, and intentionally incorporated explicitly abolitionist hymns into their regular congregational singing.

There Psalmody includes an entire dedicated section of explicit anti-slavery hymns. These include:

Hymn 909, "All men are equal in their birth," which presents a direct theological argument for universal human equality and against racial caste systems

Hymn 911, "What mean ye that ye bruise and bind," which offers a scathing lyrical condemnation of slaveholders and physical bondage.

Hymn 915, "How long shall Afric's sons," a lamentation calling for the deliverance of enslaved Black Americans.

Hymn 919, "Strike off my galling fetters, strike," which is written from the

Hymn 920, "'Break every yoke,' the gospel cries," framing total abolition as an imperative, non-negotiable command of Christian scripture.

923, "Oppression shall not always reign," an anthem predicting the ultimate divine destruction of systemic slavery.

Etc. 

The Psalmody: A Collection of Hymns for Public and Social Worship. Compiled by Order of the Freewill Baptist General Conference. Dover, N. H. Freewill Baptist Printing Establishment. Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry. 1853. 701pp.

Good + in original full calf , some rubbing as shown, but very solid. Some sporadic foxign as shown, corner loss to morocco title onlay on spine. A better than usual copy of a desirable hymnal.