Jesus Is the Bridge

Old Fashioned Hymns Lyrics

Lyrics to Hymns in the Public Domain, and Hymn Writer Biographies, Sheet Music, and Stories Behind the Songs

Search for the Lyrics in a Song:

Lyrics A to G | Lyrics H to M | Lyrics N to Y

05/27/2008: Full-length midi files added for about 200 hymns!  Note that these are not the midi files associated with the lyrics files, which are very short.  For a complete list of available midi files, go here.

Until about the middle of the last century, hymns were an integral part of worship in every church.  That started to change in the 1960's, and more "modern" styles of music began to replace traditional hymns.  Today, there is controversy about what is called CCM, or Contemporary Christian Music/  Rather than hymnals, many, if not the majority, of churches use screens, projection devices, and Power Point to show the words of hymns, if they're sung at all, and "praise and worship" music.

It is certainly true that the spirit of worship is more important than its form, and it is possible to worship God with contemporary.  It is also true that many older hymns reflected the secular music styles of their time.  The problem, though, is that when congregations seek a form of worship based on a "good beat", and the same style they hear on radio or watch on TV, the emphasis can easily shift from worshipping God to worshipping the medium.  Rather than letting emotion flow out of worship, this approach assumes that worship will come out of emotion.  That can happen, but more often than not the "worship experience" is little more than an emotional fix, and a kind of mass hysteria.

The hymns presented in these pages have lasted because their message is sound.  Many, if not all, of the praise choruses we sang in the 1970's are rarely used now, if at all.  These kinds of songs come and go, just like all genres of popular music.  When a song lasts for 100 years, even 300 years, it's because it has a message that's as valid now as when it was first written/

I pray that you will find many more years of blessing from the songs presented here.

The world's largest supplier of sheet music may have what you need if you can't find it here:  Christian Sheet Music

Lyrics A to G | Lyrics H to M | Lyrics N to Y