Lord! and shall angels have their songs
And men no tunes to raise?
Oh, may we lose our useless tongues,
When they forget to praise.

(From William Billings' Shepherds, Rejoice!, infra)

Praise, early on in this thread soddy recommended "anything by Billings" (especially Shiloh, to which you replied you only had one hymn by Billings, When Jesus Wept. Is this the same as the one I think of as a canon (as distinct from a hymn), whose melody can be heard here? (If you scroll down a few inches and click on the MIDI link that says "Kanono kvarvoca : MIDI LBR" you can hear it as a four-voice canon.) If this is not the "When Jesus Wept" you have, please provide details! Chester, which was one of the Billings pieces soddy mentioned, is probably easier to locate in a collection of Revolutionary War music than in a hymnic context. Anyhow, with Christmas on the horizon, here's a Billings Christmas hymn that I think is pretty darn neat:

Another Billings Hymn:

SHEPHERDS REJOICE

(William Billings)

1
`Shepherds, rejoice, lift up your eyes,
And send your fears away;
News from the regions of the skies:
A Saviour's born today!
Jesus, the God whom angels fear,
Comes down to dwell with you!
Today he makes his entrance here,
But not as monarchs do.

2
`No gold or purple swaddling bands,
Nor royal shining things;
A manger for his cradle stands,
And holds the King of Kings.
Go, shepherds, where the infant lies,
And see his humble throne;
With tears of joy in all your eyes,
Go, shepherds, kiss the Son.'

3
Thus Gabriel sang, and straight around
The heavenly armies throng;
They tune their harps to lofty sound,
And thus conclude the song;
`Glory to God that reigns above,
Let peace surround the earth;
Mortals shall know their Maker's love
At their Redeemer's birth.'

4
Lord! and shall angels have their songs
And men no tunes to raise?
Oh, may we lose our useless tongues,
When they forget to praise.
Glory to God that reigns above,
That pitied us forlorn;
We join to sing our Maker's love,
For there's a Saviour born.

You can get a MIDI of it here where I have posted it in my online hymnal.

LBR