The writers whose hymns appear in the Little Flock came from all walks of life and from various religious connections. Believers evidently most of them were, and valued Christ and His work, though all were not gathered to His Name, some having lived long before that truth was restored to the church. There are hymns from a monk, a bishop, a cardinal, from Methodists, Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians and other denominations, and from those gathered to His Name. This shows that the narrowness of sectarianism did not govern in the choice of hymns. However, many had to be revised as explained more fully in the Preface to the book itself.
It is the purpose of this writer to be as brief as possible with each author, but give enough of the history to assess the spiritual path of the said author. In some cases there is a paucity of information and in some, as will be seen, no information available at this time. There are 126 writers who are identified and there are 25 hymns for which there is no identification. In some cases the story of the writer’s conversion is not available and it is by the words of their hymns that we can form a judgment as to their actual relation with God. There is even a hymn from a Unitarian and we do wonder just how such an one could stand before God in denying both the Father and the Son. Our purpose is to give facts for our readers and therefore this does not mean that this author approves or holds everything said as approved by the Word of God. The reader’s spiritual discernment will have to judge of such details. Our desire is to edify with the accounts of those of our Lord’s servants and people led to write “spiritual songs,” and circumstances under which they were written.
It is intended to arrange the names alphabetically with year of birth, death, and religious affiliation, with a list of the hymn numbers as shown in the Little Flock book.