Why do some 200 - 300 year old English Christian songs and poems start with the word "and"?
It bothers me a lot that I do not understand what "and" means when it is used at the beginning of these songs. I am a native English speaker from Canada. If anyone knows, please help me. I don't want suggestions, I want solid answers. I have looked it up on google to no avail, so I thought that there must be a subreddit for asking questions like this.
Thank you all if you can help.
Here are some examples of songs and poems that fit this criteria:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Can_It_Be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alas!_and_Did_My_Saviour_Bleed
https://hymnary.org/text/and_are_we_yet_alive
And at this link I searched for all texts on hymnary.org that start with the word "and".
https://hymnary.org/search?qu=%20textName%3A%5Eand%20in%3Atexts