2 Chronicles 29:27 after King Hezekiah purified and restored the Temple of the LORD
As the offering (of our life to the Savior) began, the Song of the Lord began.
Psalm 42:8
At night (the LORD's) song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.
1 Corinthians 14:15 (ESV)
I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
(Have you ever awakened from a sound sleep with a hymn playing in your mind?)
Psalm 96:1 (NLT)
Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!
Ephesians 5:19
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.
Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Martin Luther
Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.
Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
Isaac Watts age 7
http://songsandhymns.org/people/detail/isaac-watts
"I" - I am a vile, polluted lump of earth
"S" - So I've continued ever since my birth
"A" - Although Jehovah, grace doth daily give me
"A" - As sure this monster, Satan, will deceive me
"C" - Come therefore, Lord, from Satan's claws relieve me.
"W" - Wash me in Thy blood, O Christ
"A" - And grace divine impart
"T" - Then search and try the corners of my heart
"T" - That I in all things may be fit to do
"S" - Service to Thee, and Thy praise too.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/w/a/t/watts_i.htm
A.W. Tozer We Travel An Appointed Way
Sometimes our hearts are strangely stubborn and will not soften or grow tender no matter how much praying we do. At such times, it is often found that the reading or singing of a good hymn will melt the ice jam and start the inward affections flowing. That is one of the uses of the hymnbook. Human emotions are curious and difficult to arouse, and there is always a danger that they may be aroused by the wrong means and for the wrong reasons.
The human heart is like an orchestra, and it is important that when the soul starts to sound its melodies, a David or a Bernard or a Watts or a Wesley should be on the podium. Constant devotion to the hymnbook will guarantee this happy event and will, conversely protect the heart from being led by evil conductors.
Every Christian should have lying beside his Bible a copy of some standard hymn book. He should read out of one and sing out of the other, and he will be surprised and delighted to discover how much they are alike. Gifted Christian poets have in many of our great hymns set truth to music. Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley (possibly above all others) were able to marry the harp of David to the Epistles of Paul and to give us singing doctrine, ecstatic theology that delights while it enlightens.
The Cyber Hymnal™ http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Then Sings My Soul, 150 of the World's Greatest Hymn Stories, Books 1 & 2, by Robert J. Morgan