\fft to. r "K '•r* ^C^; -**>^V *>*^L^ r 5 £A; *&f- •;; -£?* ~f£r- O.SO L. - >* ^7 hjr^^> ' <^ SCS «H* /6* ^307 REMARKS ON THE INNOVATIONS PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD. PROPOSED BY THE FREE PRESBYTERY OF HAMILTON WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE TRANSLATIONS AND PARAPHRASES SANCTIONED FOR THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1751. " %%xcmx\>t tije pufcltftc (ate* of t!)g (Sfyuttfy toUfyin From a " booke" printed by command of the Generall Assemblie, 15G7, and " set Joortn by John Knoxe, Minister" and " sighted" by Willock, Craig, Pont, Row, David Lindesay, and others, thereto " appointed by the said GeneraU Asserablie" EDINBURGH: BELL & BKADFUTE, 12 BANK STREET. MDCCCLIV. .at > w *. Al.KX. WUIJUK, RUKTKft, C JA54Lb'» COtKT, T.IMN1.1 KUH. ScS* 1 ^ REMARKS, &c My reason, for giving thus fully and publicly ray opinions on the matters raised by the overture passed by the Presbytery of Hamilton, and brought into the discussion thereon, is, that the real importance of the movement, which that reverend body has been pleased to originate, is little likely to be appreciated by the great mass of the members of the Free Church, or its consequences to be timeously considered by them. In point of fact, their overture and the discussion thereupon seems to have brought forth no manifestation of interest at all. Most people, I presume, look upon it as an amusing Presbyterial episode — a little outbreak of peculiar local feeling — which being thrown up, enables its authors and subjects to profit, at their leisure, by the evacuation. So far as I know, the public prints have thought fit only to notice the thing in the way of abridg- ing the full report which appeared in the " Scottish Guardian." No human being has deemed it necessary to take any special or particular notice of it, from which circumstance I infer that it is let alone because it is sure to be tossed aside by the General Assembly, or that it is a thing, so transparently ridiculous, as not to be worth the serious attention of any one. I am of a different opinion. The Presbytery of Hamilton have, by a majority, passed an overture ; it is even now in tran- situ to the General Assembly ; it cannot be arrested in that pro- gress, even by the majority that passed it ; it must come up to the Assembly in May next, and that venerable Court must adju- dicate upon it ; and if that overture asks the Assembly for the introduction of innovations so varied and multiplied, as, if enter- tained, completely to alter the entire form and order of Presby- terian worship, the which, I shall in these pages endeavour to prove, it is of vast importance that the mind of the whole Church should be turned to the subject, that, as the fruit of mature deliberation, a proper conclusion may be arrived at. The only thing in the procedure of the Presbytery of Hamil- ton which entitles them to thanks, I take to be the period which they have chosen for propounding their innovations. It gives time for other Presbyteries to consider the matter, and to over- ture also in the terms which duty may dictate. Had the over- ture been passed at their meeting in May, the Presbytery of Hamilton would probably have had the field to themselves ; but as they have given good and long warning, they may be assured that theirs will not be the only overture on the subject of psalmody; and also that there will be some overtures differing toto ccelo from theirs ; for the other Presbyteries are now bound to take up the question, and say to what extent they concur in the tenets, opinions, and grievances of the Presbytery of Hamilton. Should the Assembly merely throw the overture over the table, in my poor opinion, the question would not be settled. In every large body there must be a per-centage of persons given to change. Amongst us there is, I think, a small party rather too genteel to be the admirers of almost anything that is purely Scottish, and who would prefer the assimilation of all indicative of our nationality, to the notions which they have picked up in the course of their travels. Such persons would not give up their appetite for innovation under the circumstances supposed. Therefore I would desire the whole Presbyteries of the Church, and the entire people within her pale, to consider the question ; to declare their views to the Assembly in a manner so unmis- takeable, as that a clear and authoritative voice may be given forth upon the subject — so clear, that the Presbytery of Hamilton on the one hand, or those who think with me on the other, must regard the question as finally determined and settled ; and, what- ever we may think of the decision come to, we all must hold that during the course of our natural lives, it would be inexpedient for any of us to renew the discussion. But should the Assembly pass the overture, then there must be a Ten Year's Conflict about psalmody ; for if the Barrier Act is in any one conceivable instance to be applied, it must be in regard to this overture. The very terms of the Act shew that it was prepared specially to meet cases of this kind. The Barrier Act, which has in later times been regarded as a stalking-horse, which all, when it pleases them, may bestride, I think it right, to give ad longum, and not only so, but to give its antecedents. The Act of 30th August 1639, the year succeeding the memor- able Assembly of Glasgow 1638, is this, — " The Generall Assembly, desiring that the intended Refor- mation being recovered, may be established, Ordains that no Novation which may disturbe the peace of the Church, and make division, be suddenly proponed and enacted : But so as the motion be first communicate to the severall Synods, Presbyteries, and Kirks, that the matter may be approved by all at home, and Commissioners may come well prepared, unanimously to con- clude a solide deliberation upon these poiunts in the Generall Assembly." This was the first indication of what is popularly termed the Barrier Act. Mr Buchan may profitably ponder how the fathers -of the Second Reformation would have judged of the " Nova- tions" proposed by him, and his young friends. Another step in the same direction seems to have been taken in the Aberdeen Assembly of 1640. In my copy of the Acts I have found no reference to the subject, but the Act " anent Nova- tions" August 1641, furnishes another link towards the concate- nation of the Barrier Act. Here it is, — " Since it hath pleased God to vouchsafe us the libertie of yearly General Assemblies, It is ordained according to the Acts of the Assembly at Edinburgh 1639, and at Aberdene 1640, that no Novation in Doctrine, Worship, or Government, be brought in, or practised in this Kirk, unless it be first propounded, ex- amined, and allowed in the General Assembly, and that trans- gressions in this kind be censured by Presbyteries and Synods." Passing over the dreary times of civil commotion and bloody persecution to which the Church was long exposed ; I remark that when her liberties were again secured by the Revolution of 1688, she set herself to mature, what might guard her against sudden innovations ; and nine years thereafter, the " Barrier Act " was passed. Here it is entire, title and all. "IX. " Act anent the method of passing Acts of Assembly, of general concern to the Church, and for -preventing of Innovations. " Eadem Sessione. * " The General Assembly, taking to their consideration, the Over- ture and Act made in the last Assembly, concerning Innovations, and having heard the report of the several Commissioners from Presbyteries, to whom the consideration of the same was recom- mended, in order to its being more ripely Advised, and Determined in this Assembly; And considering the frequent Practice of former Assemblies of this Church, and that it will mightily conduce to the exact Obedience of the Acts of Assemblies, that General * Edinburgh, Bth January 1697, Post Meridiem, Sess. 6. Assemblies be very deliberate in making of the same, and that the whole Church have a previous knowledge thereof, and their Opinion be had therein, and for preventing any sudden Altera- tion, or Innovation, or other Prejudice to the Church, in either Doctrine, or Worship, or Discipline, or Government thereof, now happily Established ; Do therefore Appoint, Enact and Declare, That before any General Assembly of this Church, shall pass any Acts, which are to be binding Rules and Constitu- tions to the Church, the same Acts be first proposed as Over- tures to the Assembly, and being by them passed as such, be remitted to the Consideration of the several Presbyteries of this Church, and their Opinions and Consent Reported by their Commissioners, to the next General Assembly following, who may then pass the same in Acts, if the more General Opinion of the Church, thus had, agree thereunto." Well, we shall have debate and discussion on this subject year after year. Not only so, but there will be as keen discussion without as well as within the Church Courts. Had it been some new theory about the Greek Article, or some new phase of a subtle heresy, the people would have waited respectfully for the decision of their spiritual guides. But on the subject of music all think they are entitled to decide, — those who do not know a note of music — those who, for the life of them, could not sing one tune — those who have neither taste nor ear, as well as those who know more or less of melody — and if proof of this be needed, I may only refer to the speeches of the Hamilton brethren — and to the lines which I, minimus minimornm, am now penning. Some stress is laid by the members of the Presbytery on the circumstance of the movement being originated by a father in the Church. It is indeed affecting in the extreme, to find a father of the Church, mourning because his children are in a languish- ing state for want of such novelties. If age be a virtue, I beg only to say, I am as old as he — and, perchance, have had as full opportunities of noting all the possible circumstances and re- sponsibilities of ministerial life as he. And thus I desire simply to be forgiven by the young brethren in the Presbytery of Hamil- ton for treating the subject, thrown forth on the public by them and their father, sans ceremonie, or in plain Scotch language, I shall call a " spade " — " a spade," and give the best blow I can to the man, whoever he may be, that holds the views propounded ; while I will be willing also, in most perfect good humour, to sub- mit to the heaviest blow that can be dealt by any one, who, with good cause shewn, may object to mine. I am called upon to speak very plainly regarding notions propounded by persons whom I much revere. But I shall most earnestly strive to let nothing drop from my pen inconsistent with the respect to which they are entitled. So I come at once to the overture of the Presbytery of Hamil- ton, and the discussion on the occasion of its passing. Such ministers of the Church as have deemed it worth while to consult our ecclesiastical records, will agree with me that a proposition like this was never submitted to the General Assembly even in the most rampant times of Moderatism. In the palmiest days of its ascendancy, none ever ventured upon any proposal so outrageous, as this, in regard to the forms of worship. And the honour, if such they deem it, belongs to Mr Buchan and his supporters, of proposing a change in our Presbyterian worship that never entered into the head of any man from the days of John Knox down to the present hour — unless the modi- fied Episcopacy, or rather Prelacy, of Charles may furnish a par- allel. Happily the Hamilton brethren have not the same means of enforcing their innovations, as had the traitor king, called in England a martyr, and as had his profligate son ; so that there is, at the least, a hope that we may survive the present onslaught, even although it comes proh pudor ! from what one of them calls " the very head-quarters of the district of the Covenanters." I would make another preliminary remark ; and it is, that my readers would consider the unnecessary amount of heated, nay, violent feelings expressed. It is commonly held that everything is lawful in time of war, although there are conventional rules that, with civilized nations, at all times, regulate its atrocities. But in the present instance no "casus belli" had occurred, and as I can afford to do it, and adopt the term, which a learned member of the press said was the proper expression, no " cans a belli' had ap- peared. We were in a state of profound peace, not dreaming of any invasion of the order established by our fathers and homolo- gated by us. We thought there was neither a chance of war, nor a cause of war. We were adhering to the rules and orders of the directory for the worship of God, believing that we were under our vine and under our fig-tree, with none to make us afraid. Had the movements of the Presbytery of Hamilton been at all akin to the polite protocoling that the great powers long pursued, before taking an active part in the Eastern war, it would have been no more than was due to their brethren. But when, before a " casus belli" had arrived — before one opponent was in the field — because none knew, that what they deemed dear was the sub- ject of assault— before any provocation had been given — or any 8 irritating word had either been spoken or written, the Presbytery of Hamilton came down in force on the whole of broad Scotland, as the Russians did the other day on the ships embayed at Sinope. I deem it a matter of much gratulation that, after all, we will not be massacred as were the poor Turks, who, there, were cer- tainly sine ope. We will obtain help from whence, in the history of our Church, it has often come before. But my brethren in the Presbytery of Hamilton must not be angry, if, after looking back to their violent language, altogether improper in the commencement of a controversy, and only, in part, justifiable after the war had been begun, and was raging, an humble individual, pursuant to the publicly and uncontradicted desire of one of their number, should try to gratify the longing of Mr Buchanan, who said, that " he would like to see any member of this Presbytery, or of any Presbytery, take up that matter piecemeal, as their reverend father had done, and answer it as thoroughly as he believed Mr Buchan had confirmed it," by giving his own notions, as a member of another Presbytery, on the points raised. But I must plead for liberty to enter upon the consideration of the subject, as I have stated, " sans cere- monies A war has taken place, while no war had been de- clared. The conduct of its proclaimers, with no combatant in the field, has been violent in the extreme. I will therefore take courage to speak to one and all of them plainly, and I will endeavour (and hope to succeed also) to frame my remarks, so that they cannot possibly be half so unpleasant to them, as their remarks are offensive to me, and to very many in the Free Church, who think with me. The overture and the reported speeches of its promoters are, in their own nature, so astounding, so defiant of fact, sense, and true Presbyterian feeling and doctrine, that, fearing it might be thought I was misrepresenting their views, I append the report, ad longum, as it appeared in the " Scottish Guardian " of date 25th November last.* This is the only full report of the pro- ceedings, which I have seen. But referring to the Appendix for the discussion, it will be advantageous here to insert the over- ture itself, thus it runs : — " Whereas the celebration of God's praise is an important part of public worship, and it is at once the duty and privilege of the Church to give due prominence thereto, and to take order that it be conducted in the most suitable and edifying manner : And whereas the whole Word of God is of use herein, whether in furnishing the songs themselves, in which the faith, hope, love, * See Appendix, No I. and all the other gracious affections of spiritual worshippers are to find expression, or in supplying the materials out of which these songs are to be composed, and the same has been recog- nised by this Church in not only appointing one entire book of Scripture to be sung in worship, but also in authorising the use of paraphrases and hymns collected from various portions of God's Word, as part of her psalmody : And whereas of the hymns so authorised some are found not to be adapted to the purpose designed in their selection, and some are open to objec- tion on the ground of erroneous exhibitions of Divine truth, it is right and fitting that all such should be withdrawn : And whereas others of said collection are of great spiritual excellence, and have proved most edifying to the souls of God's people, it is im- portant that they should be continued in use : And whereas many portions of God's Word eminently suited to the purposes of worship, and manifestly designed to be so employed, do not form part of the psalmody in use in this Church, it is for edifica- tion that they be used in the exercises of social worship : And whereas the Christian psalmody with which our language is en- riched and adorned, furnishes the means of making important additions to the hymns now in use in this Church, it is expedient that a selection should be made therefrom of such as are distin- guished by fulness of evangelical truth and depth of spiritual feeling, and in which believers of every name are wont to cele- brate Jehovah's praise, and that the same should be incorporated with the presently authorised collection : " It is humbly overtured by the Free Presbytery of Hamilton to the Venerable the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, that the Assembly would be pleased to take this sub- ject into their serious consideration ; and give effect to the views which are hereinbefore set forth, in such way as to their wisdom may seem fit." I am unable to say whether Mr Buchan is to be regarded as a father in the Church, but he is certainly so regarded in the Presbytery of Hamilton, and, most undoubtedly, he is the father of the above overture which has been passed by that reverend body, and therefore I commence by considering it, and the re- marks which he made on occasion of its introduction. The opening sentence of the preamble as to the Church taking order that " the celebration of God's praise " have " due prominence," and be conducted in the "most suitable and edifying manner," is eminently unfair. And his remarks upon this part of his subject are eminently uncandid. I regret to be obliged to use so strong a word, but it is the mildest of many that 10 occur to me as proper. He says that " he was struck* to find, as a historical fact, that at the period of the Reformation abroad and in our own country, much larger attention was given to the psalmody of the Church, and a greater degree of prominence than had been given at a later period," I am not called upon to enter into the antiquarianism of the subject, except incidentally, in the course of my remarks. At this stage of the discussion, I beg only to say that if I was struck at all, by what struck Mr Buchan so strangely, it must have been well-nigh half a century ago ; and although there is a dash of truth running through his statement — which, being truth, I do not impugn — there is insinuated at the same time so much of transparent ignorance of what really was done in regard to psal- mody in the Reforming times, that I must decline the recognition of Mr Buchan as any authority on the subject, unless he pro- duces the grounds on which he founds his allegations. His opinion to me is nil ; but if he can substantiate his views, I will at once come before the public fully retracting what I have ad- vanced, and what I have to advance. I have looked carefully to the state of psalmody at the Reformation. If Mr Buchan had taken the same precaution, he would not have referred to the psalmody of that era in the terms that he has done. But waiv- ing the antiquarianism of the subject, and, as I may tell my readers in confidence, drawing my pen through a long paragraph, thereto referring, 1 return to the unfairness and want of candour that are suggested by this commencing portion of the overture. Mr Buchan speaks in the overture of " the larger attention," and " the greater prominence given by the Church to the psalmody at the Reformation," than at a later period. I pro- nounced this to be unfair and uncandid. I say it is unfair to speak on such a subject in evident ignorance of what was done in regard to psalmody in the times of old — and uncandid utterly to ignore the great advance towards its improvement made in the last few years. A good deal may be done for preventing my pamphlet swell- ing out to enormous dimensions, if I here state it as a " histori- cal fact," that psalmody, in the sense in which he and I employ the word, was created by the Reformation. Metrical psalms never existed before — although the melodies, which came to be called t% the common tunes, " were anterior, in some cases, there * The italics here are mine, I may mention, for contradistinguishing them from those which ate given in the "Guardian." Ilisso unusual for reporters, and the "Guardian" ha3 some of the best in Scotland, to introduce italics, that I suspect Mr Buchan ?nust have seen a proof of his speech, and that I may hold it as corrected by him. 11 is ground for conjecturing, in very much the form which they present in the oldest psalters ; and that one unvarying symptom of the revival of the work of the Lord, was the manifestation of a craving on the part of all for the grave sweet melodies of the Reformation, which have never been equalled and never sur- passed. Into the history of their treatment in Scotland, I do not enter ; although I could, possibly, furnish a page of such a history as would be to a great extent new to Mr Buchan. But according to the theory which all history supports, a re- vival of the work of the Lord is uniformly followed by a revival of psalmody. The Disruption, viewed from one point, w r as unde- niably a revival of religion in Scotland. It was immediately fol- lowed by a revival of psalmody, and it is unfair, and uncandidalso in Mr Buchan to ignore what the Church, of which he is a minis- ter, has actually done. A movement had taken place prior to the Disruption, not in the way of countenancing such plans as Dr Blair, Principal Baird, Dr Brunton, and Dr Andrew Thomson ad- vocated, — happily without success, — but to restore the psalmody of the Church to its ancient simplicity and beauty — discounte- nancing paraphrases, and keeping the Psalms of David in honoured use. Many more good things besides this that betokened a visita- tion of the Spirit of God were in progress ; when it was found that the Disruption solved many a difficulty, and this among the rest. The Free Church of Scotland had the honour of producing the best and cheapest book of practical psalmody that Scotland has ever seen — consisting of our own old classic melodies and more modern ones akin to them. To the large 8vo. edition of that work, nothing similar, for intrinsic worth and beautiful typo- graphy, had ever been seen in Scotland before. It attained the highest approval of the greatest musical authorities in Britain, and the Free Church lies under obligations to Mr Hogarth and Mr Hately the compilers of it, which will perhaps in another age be more fully acknowledged and appreciated than they have been as yet. The expurgation from our psalmody of the vile trash which had been mixed up with it since the days of Arnold and Calcott is a service which ought not to be forgotten. Mr Hately and Mr James Bridges, W. S., under whose guidance, as convener of the psalmody committee, the work was prepared, have done more than any other two men in Scotland for weed- ing out the ranting theatrical and worthless tunes, that bad taste and Moderatism united, succeeded in forcing upon the people of Scotland. Possibly Mr Buchan and other fathers had a hand in leading to the suppression of the " Psalmody of the Free Church of Scotland," and aiding in the movement, which, pandering to 12 the vitiated taste created by the introduction of the ing," procured the obliteration of the improvements on the har- monies which Mr Hogarth and Mr Hately had introduced, and the enlargement of the book by the addition of a number of tunes, scarcely tolerable in Presbyterian worship, and the issue of it under the name of " The National Psalmody of Scotland." I was one of many who never approved of the change — but, under the circumstances, it obtained the sanction of the Assembly ; and thus no man is entitled to say or to insinuate that the Church has not given, and in the main rightly too, " due prominence " to this important subject. Neither did it become Mr Buchan to forget that possibly it was the fault rather of the ministers and people who declined to comply with the recommendations of the " Psalmody Committee of the Free Church of Scotland," al- though these were approved by the Assembly, that the psalmody is in several places very bad, and in the Presbytery of Hamilton so execrable, that, but for the testimony of his friend Mr Hamil- ton, it would have been deemed incredible. Every one who has given an attentive consideration to the subject, and who has had the means of observing the results of the measures adopted, during the last ten years, knows that in all the congre- gations that condescended to seek instruction, there has been a marked and marvellous improvement, both in execution and in taste ; that the " grave sweet melodies " which are not only approved, but doated on by the most eminent living musicians, are in the ascendant, and by universal consent of those who can take their proper parts in singing, such music as Mr Hamilton recommends, is utterly discarded, with exception possibly of some ranting tunes found in R. A. Smith's collection,* which, from old recollections, are in some places still sparingly intro- duced. In a considerable number of congregations in town and country that I know, who have sought suitable instruction, — and this has been sought and found through various channels — in some instances an approach has been made to perfection, and all have been improved ; and their neighbours, who were too conceited to go to learn, have been shamed into an effort to imitate these congregations. It is much to be deplored that the Presbytery * I would not be understood as detracting from the respect which is due to the memory of R. A. Smith, the author of " Morven,'' " Selma," (for it is his), " St Mirrens," and others. He evidently had a correct taste in psalmody ; and Scotland should honour him for this — that his book shows that he had quietly exerted an important influence in stopping the flood of musical innovations which the late Dr Andrew Thomson, sound upon all points except psalmody, found even his great and well-merited influence insufficient to introduce. No one who has looked over Dr Thomson's book, can be otherwise than thankful that it was superseded by the more harmless production of Mr Smith. 13 of Hamilton is so far behind; but the measures they propose will never mend the matter. Training and practising alone can do it — no disparagement to Acts of Assembly — liable, as in their case, to be disregarded — the which causes great pain to every true adherent of the Church. Mr Buchan however may count all these proceedings anti- quated, and hold that the " Psalmody of the Free Church of Scotland" whether in its pure and original form, or as the " National psalmody ," should now be put into a glass case, and preserved as a curiosity, and that it should be reckoned ungen- teel to refer to it, except as a relic of the past. But he surely cannot have forgotten that the very last Assembly took some active steps in this matter, very much I say, to the surprise of many, who in their simplicity had never dreamed of such measures as were then proposed. Their sincerity and zeal, however, may be gathered from the fact, that in connection with psalmody, the Assembly so far deviated from customary form, as to " call for the report of a sub-committee of the Education Committee," doubt- less appointed in virtue of powers confided to that committee by the Supreme Court — and to approve generally thereof. That report promised great things, and amongst the rest, a new book of psalmody. Although, as its first paragraph informs the house, they had been appointed little more than a year before the pre- senting of their first report, and " had little time to carry their plans into execution," they conceived the idea of superseding the publications that had been sanctioned by the Church before, and promised another that was to end discord on the harmonious subject of psalmody. Well, it has appeared at length — and Mr Buchan, in consequence, is bound to admit that the Church is not regardless of the subject. He may count this little book scarcely worth the sixpence charged for it. Looking at its shrunken dimensions he may quote from the " Rejected Addresses " the splendid Johnsonian sentence, " Parturient mountains oft-times produce muscipular abortions," — but still the Church has furnish- ed him with another " authorised" book of psalmody. Will he introduce it ? I fear neither he nor his neighbour Mr Hamilton will. For, unfortunately ! it contains, " Coleshill," — the latter however, may be softened when he finds that it does not contain " Crowle." But whatever their notion of the book may be, they are not entitled, with it lying before them, to assert that the Church has been unmindful of the improvement of psalmody. I count the book in question a thing quite unnecessary — a better and a cheaper book had been provided by the Church before. Still the tunes selected, with few exceptions are good, and their 14 character is such as to constitute a real, although unintended compliment to those, who toiled for many years, and under the directions of the Assembly, for the improvement of psalmody. In its general complexion it is akin to "the Psalmody of the Free Church of Scotland "—although the name of that work seems studiously excluded from the preface to the little book. * Mr Buchanan, whose craving for a " piecemeal " dissection of 3Ir Buchan's speech, I am attempting to gratify, tries to put the matter on the proper basis by saying, — " the doubt about the expediency of the movement was met by the simple question, are we in a right position at present in regard to the Church's psalmody?" A plain question is entitled to a plain and direct answer. I say you are not ; but it does not follow that all the congregations of the Church are in the state of those in the Pres- bytery of Hamilton. In the case of many congregations in the Free Church, putting the same question, I would not certainly say that any of them is in a state of absolute perfection ; but this I am prepared to say, that those who have acted according to the directions of the General Assembly, are perfection itself as compared and contrasted with those, who, refusing friendly hints from high musical authorities, as well as from their own eccle- siastical superiors, are now complaining of the present state of psalmody in our Church. Had they taken, years ago, the coun- sel of the Church, they would have this day been in a better position. Refusing however to reform their music, or to avail * Waiving all other questions regarding the little book, I would like to know, from some competent authority, on what ground or for what reason its Introduction, of which in May last it was said that it had " been for some time ready," and which, as part and parcel of the report, obtained the Assembly's sanction, has been so altered that in the preface to the "Scottish Psalmody," there appears the deletion of this clause tabled before the Assembly on the 31st May last, and for which my readers may search in vain in the Introduction as it appears in the new book. It is this : — " Accordingly in several instances, arrangements which were found to be musically ungrammatical, although sanctioned by a majority of works, have been rejected, and their places supplied by the finest harmonies,'' ccc. The parties interested in the works referred to, the " majority " of them containing errors in musical gram- mar, will each one look to his own. The only one that £ care for is that which has been sanctioned by the Church to which I belong, and I would respectfully ask the committee that submitted their preface to the last Assembly, containing the above, if the expunging of the offensive statement in the preface as really prefixed to the book, can be held as a suitable apology for charging the M majority of works '' consulted by them as containing arrangements " musically ungrammatical." I care for none of them but that sanctioned by our Church, and I ask the Convener and his whole com- mittee, and the whole musical world to instance from beginning to end one harmonic blunder in the " Psalmody of the Free Church of Scotland " I would beg farther, as 1 am putting questions to know whether the changes made in " Morven," and others, are to be regarded merely as proofs of peculiar tastes, or violations of the grammar of music ? Or whether the mangling of " Morven " is to be regarded as a left-handed compliment to R. A. Smith, the author of that most beautiful tune P 15 themselves of means recommended, and, in part, provided pur- suant to the directions of the General Assembly — they are in such a state, quoad psalmody, as is not to be found in any other part or portion of this kingdom of Scotland. The Church, I maintain, is not to blame for the state of things in the Presbytery of Hamilton. She has provided the best practical psalmody that has appeared in the memory of any living man, and conform to the correct models of the olden time that have come down to us from our fathers ; and if they will not be at the trouble of learning it, they have themselves to blame. We cannot afford to cast these away even to pleasure Mr Buchanan, and Mr Hamilton, with Mr Buchan, to boot, but as this topic will meet me again, I now proceed to the next point raised in the overture, — and that is, the large subject of the materials for God's worship and praise. The materiel of worship is far more important than the form and manner of it — although for reasons that will afterwards ap- pear, I attach great importance to the forms of the public worship of God. Deeming, as I do, the entire of Mr Buchan's overture and speech a tesselation of fallacies of all shapes and sizes, from be- ginning to end; not being able to subscribe to any view or senti- ment given or expressed by him ; and finding that the meagre array of facts on which he founds, are no facts at all ; yea, that the production of his solitary " historic fact" proves only that he has not been at the trouble to enquire into the history of psal- mody — differing from him in toto upon all points, I have a diffi- culty in selecting from the heterogeneous materials that compose the mosaic of his overture and speech, the more salient specimens. I shall endeavour to surmount this difficulty, and select for re- mark some of what are evidently deemed by him the foundations on which his overture rests. Many minor points may be taken up incidentally in my progress, not a few of them when I come to consider the remarks of Mr Hamilton. It matters little whether I commence at the beginning or the end of the overture. I find it will most conduce to brevity, if I begin from a point approaching its caudal regions. The overture says, " Whereas many portions of God's Word eminently suited to the purposes of worship, and manifestly de- signed to be so employed, do not form part of the psalmody in use in this Church," &c. In his speech he comes to particulars, — " Take for example, the 15th chapter of Exodus." He counts that by the exclusion 16 of that the Church is " injured" and deprived of a portion of her psalmody. " Then, in the 2d chapter of Samuel, there was Hannah's song in reference to a domestic event." He then re- fers to the bulk of Isaiah, quoting Lowth, with whom every tyro is acquainted; then in the New Testament, Mary's song in re- ference to another " domestic event," although the ground-work is the song of Hannah ; and in the " 15th chapter of Revelations a magnificent epitome of Moses' song." Mr Buchan, the other day, on occasion of three ministers tabling their reasons of dissent from the resolution to transmit his overture, said, or is reported to have said, that " when the reasons which had now been read were put into his hand, he doubted whether the authors of them were serious and in earnest. That doubt was only for a moment. The brethren whose names were appended to these reasons, were grave and godly men, and always spoke and acted seriously — would he could say wisely also." Very strong language, and scarcely paternal to be applied to an influential minority of his own brethren in the Presbytery of Hamilton. Still I thank him for it as furnishing me with words suitable, mutatis mutandis, to be applied to himself. I hope he will hold them as so applied in reference to the point I have just taken up. I cannot believe that he is either " serious" or " in earnest" on the matters just referred to, except on the hypothesis that he has taken so little pains to acquaint himself with his subject, as actually not to know that the thing pointed at in the overture, broached, with its details, in his speech, has been already done, and with the sanction of the Church, as he will see by consulting the Acts 1706-7-8. There is, so far as I know, not the least impediment in his way, if he wishes to resort to the use of all the songs, hymns, portions of prophecy, &c, that he specifies. They are made ready to his hand, were sanctioned by the Church before he was born, and nothing in the world prevents him at this moment from using them. I have them lying before me, and find that they embrace, curiously enough, «//that Mr Buchan gave as specimens of his cravings, and of course much more. Mr Buchan may be incredulous. It is no wonder that he should be bewildered in a path which a few years ago Principal Lee, apparently did not clearly see his way through. I cannot afford space for gratifying Mr Buchan by furnishing him with all that he has specified as desirable, — but I will give him the entire of one that he specially notices, viz., " Hannah's song in connection with a domestic event" A strange and irreverend way, surely, of speaking concerning the advent, in answer to prayer, of one of the mightiest of the Lord's prophets, and of the deliverers of Israel; but let that pass. Here is — " SONG V. 11 The Song of Hannah the Mother of Samuel. " i. Sam., ii. 1. " IVO neart rejoiceth in the Lord : AL in God my horn on high Is raised, and my mouth enlarg'd against mine enemy : Because I am made very glad in thy salvation. 2 There is none holy as the Lord beside Thee there is none, Nor like our God is any rock. 3 Talk not so proudly then : And let no more your speeches be so arrogant and vain. For why ! Jehovah is a God of knowledge most complete : And by him duly weighed are, men's actions, small and great. 4 The bows are broken of those men that mighty were, and stout ; And they that stumbled formerly, with strength are girt about. 5 Those have hir'd out themselves for who had been full before ; [bread And they that hungry were, have ceast And Hannah prayed and said: — So that she who was barren ouce, hath brought forth seven ; whereas, She's waxed feeble, which before, in children fruitful was. 6 The Lord is he who kills, and who alive from death doth save : The Lord brings down to hell, and he, doth bring up from the grave. 7 The Lord makes poor, and he it is that riches doth bestow : The Lord casts down and those exalts, that formerly were low. 8 The poor he raiseth from the dust ; and from the dunghill he, Lifts up the beggar, making them, to sit in high degree. Among great princes, and the throne of glory to obtain, In heritage : for to the Lord earth's pillars do pertain ; And he hath set the world on them. 9 His saints feet keepeth he : But, as for wicked men, they shall in darkness silent be : to be so any more For no man shall by strength prevail, 10 Who with the Lord contend Quite crushed shall be : from heaven shall he upon them thunder send. Earth's utmost ends the Lord shall judge : he strength will give his king : And his anointed horn will raise above each other thing." I am somewhat surprised that he calls for Mary's Song, which he has already in No. 36 of his "authorised?' Paraphrases, with- out calling also for the Song of Simeon. It is given in the 38th Paraphrase ; but I will give him the commencement of it in the collection to which I am alluding. The italics and capitals are not mine. " Behold, in Salem was a man, whose name was Simeon ; 18 The same was just, and toward God warm in affection " Waiting for the Messiah, who most truly may be call'd Israel's Consolation ; by whom men are regal'd." And so on for twenty verses more. I repeat, there is nothing to prevent Mr Buchan introducing these above next Sabbath. I do not advise this, however, as I can find the songs of Hannah, Mary, and Simeon in substance and to a great extent, verbatim in the book of Psalms. Mr Buchan, in happy ignorance that the thing had been done before he was born by others, who, although good men, were not quite correct in their ideas of psalmody, and, what is better, in a modest mistrust of the powers of his friends to versify them, says, — "by the way, that he saw no reason why some of these poetical portions of the Scriptures should not be sung in the words of the literal translation without being paraphrased at all. Indeed, he would consider that an improvement, and hoped the time was not distant when it might be generally introduced." It is very curious that it is only " by the way" that Mr Buchan touches upon this momentous subject. Does he realise what is involved in his suggestions. I presume not. He thinks the Psalms of David furnish him too small a scope for the worship of God. He has asked the Assembly to grant to him what it had granted before he was born. He now says, " by the way," virtually that the portion of Scripture which he refers to should be given to him in " the literal translation." Thus he repudiates the productions of a former age, of which he seems to be igno- rant, and which, I grieve to say, the Church has placed at his disposal for use at any moment when his taste permits him to avail himself of what, by common consent, has been allowed to sink into oblivion. The above proposal for the introduction into the public wor- ship of God of various portions of the book of God, already ver- sified with the sanction of the Church in the words of the " literal translation, without being paraphrased at all," implies, on the part of Mr Buchan. a proposal for the introduction into the Free Church of Scotland of the practices — 1st, Of Chaunting; or, 2d, Of Intoning. Very great subjects these are doubtless, but I count them in a Presbyterian community not very indisposable. Then, chaunt- 19 ing, what is it ? and what was it in the olden time ? I answer, a most convenient, and not very melodious, way of getting over a great deal of ground in a short time. When priest-ridden devo- tees, or earnest priests that bestrode others, had to repeat hun- dreds of Ave Marias and Pater Nosters every day of their lives, the chaunt, formerly turned to a better use, became, in virtue of its corruption, a most convenient thing for those who had penance of that sort to do. During the singing of one stave in the time of Coleshill, by means of chaunting, a nun might have told all her beads, and a monk might, by activity in chaunting, have got over his " Office." But I suspend my judgment in the case. The next and only possible alternative is intoning. Had I to tell my readers, who do not know the thing, what it really con- sists of, I would say, from having oftener than once listened to it, that it is, as like as can be, to the effect that would be produced by the reading, of every paragraph which I have written, on the key of the two first notes of " Coleshill" and making the closing syllable to descend upon the third. If they will kindly make a trial of intoning, they will find this a veritable description of it, and will be reminded of Pope's lines in his " Dunciad," — "So swells each windpipe ; ass intones to ass, Harmonic twang !" It is surely fair to ask Mr Buchan which of these he prefers ; or are we to have a taste of both ? Shall it be chaunting ? That is the most irreverend of all forms of known worship; according to which, as practised in the Church of England, many of the verses chaunted must have their words run over with a rapidity that Scottish Presbyterians, who happily never heard chaunting, will best estimate the velocity frequently required, by being told that the speed required in enunciation, must be equal to that of singing " Tullochgorum,"in its proper time. The chaunt is a fixed quantity, and, like a barber's chair, suits all verses short or long, eminently simple in all the forms and phases which I have ever found in use. By means of the organ time is kept. The long- est verse in the prose version, gets exactly the same time, and no more, as is accorded to the shortest, which never could be done, by a large body of people, without a mechanical check. " In choirs and places where they" chaunt, the organist thunders away, looking only to his music-book, and, heedless whether many or few words have to be got over, he leaves the people to follow him as they best can, covering all want of simultaneousness among them, by the power of his instrument. I say it most sincerely, that I can- not conceive chaunting being done, with any approach to decency, B 20 without instrumental music. Is Mr Buchan, then, despising the violins, violoncellos, flutes, and flageolets, which I have often seen in congregations in England, prepared to introduce the organ ; or, if instrumental music is to be introduced at all, could he afford to gratify Scotchmen like me, who cling to the fragments of our nationality, by proposing the bagpipe instead ? Bellarmine has admitted that there was no instrumental music in worship until after the seventh century. I rather think the bagpipe thus is more venerable from antiquity than the organ. But much as I like the latter in the parlour, the bagpipe would please me as well in the church. What, then, shall it be ? If intoning, I ask, is the whole con- gregation to intone ? If so, they need no training worth talking of for the exercise. Each one in a simple monotone, such as best suits his voice, has to get over the ground as fast as possible, taking great care, however, to introduce a cadence, on the minor key, at the end of each psalm or passage chaunted, and then start off again. Even this cadence is not absolutely required, and strict adherence to the prevailing monotone is not essential, as is known to those who ever heard a batch of monks pater-ing their offices, a synagogue of Jews babel-ing their prayers, or her Majesty's Commons on a night of keen debate, when caught the Speaker's eye and for hours prevented the appearance of the Minister. If, on the other hand, the minister is to be the only intoner, I suspect the people will first marvel at the strange elocution, and then depart — never to return. I am sure I would do so. If the simplest form of intoning is adopted, then one soli- tary xote of the gamut is alone requisite. I would certainly pre- fer association with those, of whom " he was aware, who even, in regard to music, would be satisfied with one tune." A whole tune is surely better than a single note. But if it is to be chaunting, then 1 only say that I pity the un- fortunate precentor who may be coaxed into conducting the ex- periment, for I have a strong presentiment that the inheritors of the spirit of Jenny Geddes are not quite defunct, and that he may get such a compliment as she bestowed upon the chaunter in St Giles, on the memorable occasion when she addressed the precursor of aright reverend Father in "the Church," " Outte, zowe vile-ane! Dooest zowe sale mess at mye louggef In the history of the introduction of metrical psalms and hymns into the Reformed Churches of Scotland and England, we find a good reason for, at the least, resisting further innova- tions. In the Churches of Geneva it had its origin. The trans- lation by Clement Marriot being approved at Geneva, the 21 Psalms began to be sung in private houses, and by degrees were introduced into the public worship of God, in all the Churches of the French, Bohemian, and other nations that had embraced the Reformed Religion. About the year 1550, a translation of the psalms into English metre was commenced by Thomas Sternhold, of the privy chamber of King Edward VI. He translated 37 psalms ; the rest were done by John Hopkins, William Whittingham, and others. These were sung, at first, only in private families, but at length were allowed in the public worship of the Church of England. The attention of the Church in Scotland was at once turned to this volume. It was taken as the base of the Scottish Psalter, Many alterations were made upon it by John Knox, and, during his ministry in Edinburgh, it was introduced. The Church of our fathers had thus the honour of first introducing metrical psalms into the Churches of Britain. This version continued in use, with its approved, beautiful, and characteristic music, with little variation, except changes in spelling, until another, proposed in 1647, appeared in the form of the present version. The acts of Assembly connected with its introduction require special notice. I cannot give them at length ; I can only give extracts ; but I will give dates that will enable any one, by con- sulting them, to say whether or not I give them fairly. My first extract then is from the Act, entituled — " Edinburgh, 28th Avgust 1647, Postmeridiem, Sess. xxv. " Act for revising the Paraphrase of the Psalmes brought from England, with a recommendation for Translating the other Scripturall Songs in Meeter. " The General Assembly having considered the report of the Committee, concerning the Paraphrase of the Psalmes sent from England : And finding that it is very necessary that the said Paraphrase be yet revised ; therefore doth appoint Master John Adamson to examine the first fourty Psalmes," &c. " And be- cause some Psalmes in that Paraphrasie sent from England are composed in verses which do not agree with the common tunes, Therefore, it is also recommended that these Psalmes be likewise turned in other verses which may agree to the common tunes, that is, having the first line of eight syllabs, and the second of six, that so both versions being together, use may bee made of either of them in congregations as shall be found convenient: b 2 22 And the Assembly doth further recommend, That M. Zachary Boyd, be at the pains to translate the other Scriptural Songs in meeter, and to report his travels," &c. The Assembly, of the following year, viz., 1648, passed an Act, entituled, — " Act for examining the Paraphrase of the Psalms and other Scriptural Songs. " The General Assembly Appoints Rouse Paraphrase of the Psalms, with the corrections thereof now given in, &c," "to be sent to Presbyteries, That they may carefully revise and ex- amine the same, &c." " And the Assembly recommends to Master John Adamson, and Mr Thomas Crafurd, to revise the labours of Mr Zachary Boyd upon the other Scripturall Songs, and to prepare a report, &c." In the Assembly 1649, a reference is made in these terms : " Reference to the Commission for publick affaires, for re- examining the Paraphrase of the Psalmes, and the emitt- ing the same for publick use." I need not quote farther from this Act. It remains to speak for itself. The Presbytery of Hamilton, doubtless, understand its bearing and import, and as it is, like other acts I have referred to, an unrepealed law of the " Church of our fathers," they should consider, before May arrives, what defence they can make of their chosen position. There is one word, and that a most important one, that peers out in one of the Acts of Assembly which I have partially quoted. It is the word " Rouse," the spelling is taken exactly from the printed Acts of Assembly. The general impression was that the psalms presently in use, consist of an amendment of the version of Rouse. The version which thus bears his name is much more the work of another. Even antiquarians have been puzzled to find out w r ho Rouse, as his name is written in the Acts of Assembly, or Rous as it is otherwise given, really was. The introduction of his name into an Act of the Assembly, in connec- tion with the version of metrical Psalms presently in use, led, long ago, to inquisitions regarding him. All that the most plodding antiquarians could make out, was, that he was a gentle- man of estate — a Member of Parliament in the time of Charles I an honoured partizan of Cromwell — and that he died Provost of Eton in 1659. Much mystery has been found connected with the name and the history of Rouse. When the question is put, whence came our present "authorised" version of the Psalms? the answer is 23 usually given "It is Rouses version." To the question, who was Rouse ? few can give an answer ; none, I believe, can point to his biography. Rouse's Paraphrase of the Psalms before the Assembly, 1647, was merely an alteration of another version by an abler man, who, on many accounts, was unpopular with the Church and people of Scotland. In consequence of his unfortuate antecedents, — in consequence of the hatred of the English to any that sprung from Scotland, — in consequence of the troublous times on which he was cast — the wisest, the most learned, and the most virtuous of British Sovereigns has, by novelists and so-called historians, been handed down to posterity as merely a pedantic fool, while his tutor, the learned Buchanan, figures, I believe still, as he did in my young days, as the " Kings Fool." It is not so much to Rouse, or to those who suggested altera- tions on the Paraphrase from England that we are indebted for our present version, as to King James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England. I am no Jacobite, no admirer of many things done by him, nor of many principles held by him. But no one can candidly ex- amine his works without concluding that he was one of the most accomplished men, and one of the most profound thinkers of the time. Were some one, possessed of a portion of Carlile's genius and industry, to take up the subject, I think, despite of Sir Walter Scott's writings, in which even his personal chastity is held up to ridicule, it might be proved that in many respects he has for ages past, been as systematically maligned, as we recently found Oliver Cromwell had been. The first book of the " Basilicon Doron' is in theology and diction, quite a masterpiece; no living theologian could prepare a book of counsel for the Prince of Wales that in splendour of thought, beauty and chastity of lan- guage, strictest adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of God's Word, could surpass it. The dedication of it " to Henry, my dearest Son and natural Successor," is powerful, and, in all the circumstances, deeply affecting. The Prince Henry, his first-born, was removed by death, and the unfortunate Charles became the inheritor of what had been designed for his elder brother. My reader will possibly excuse a digression for a little on this subject. This singular work was meant to meet no eye but that of him for whom it was intended. King James took the greatest precautions for secresy. " I only permitted," he says, " seven of them to be printed ; the printer being first sworn for secresie, and these seven I dispersed amongst some of my trustiest servants, to be closely kept by them," so as 24 to make sure that some of them would remain after him, "as witnesses to my sonne, both of the honest integritie of my heart, and of my fatherly affection and naturall care towards him." But contrary to his " intention and expectation," the book got out and was •< vented," and the royal author in the introduction from which I am quoting, defends himself against the critiques made upon the work.* The original introduction to the Prince Henry concludes thus : " To conclude, then, I charge you, as ever yee think to deserve my fatherly blessing, to follow and put in practise, as farre as lyeth in you, the pr&cepts hereafter following : (these pointed evidently, nay, exclusively, in " the First Booke" to the cultivation of per- sonal piety, for its title is, " Of a King's Christian Dvetie to- wards God." On the merits of the second and third books there is room for diversity of opinion ) : " And if yee follow the con- trary course, I take the great God to reeord that this Booke shall one day be a witnesse betwixt mee and you ; and shall procure to bee ratified in heaven the curse that in that case here I give unto you. For I protest before that great God, I had rather not bee a father and childlesse, than bee a father of wicked children. But hoping, yea, even promising unto my selfe, that God, who in his great bless- ing sent you unto mee, shall in the same blessing, as hee hath given mee a sonne, so make him a good and a godly sonne, not repenting him of his mercie shewed unto mee, I end, with my earnest prager to God to worke effectually into you the fruites of that blessing which herefrom my heart I bestow upon you. Your loving Father, J. R." Believing that a little breathing time may do no harm to Mr Buchan, I will prolong this digression by making a short extract from the " baziaikon aqpon," which will gently lead us back to the matter of the Psalms. King James thus counselled his son : — " As for teaching you the forme of your prayers, the Psalmes of David are the meetest school-master that ye can be acquainted with, (next the prayer of our Saviour, which is the only rule of prayer,) whereout of, as of most rich and pure fountaines, ye may learn all forme of prayer necessarie for your comfort at all occasions ; and so much the fitter are they for you than for the common sort, in respect the composer thereof was a king, and, therefore, best behoved to know a king's wants, and what things * The Works of the Most High and Mightie Prince, James, bj the graco of God, King, &c. London, 1616, p. 139. 25 were meetest to be required by a king at God's hand for reraedie thereof, " Use often to pray when ye are quietest, especially forget it not in your bed, how oft soever ye doe it at other times : for publike prayer serveth as much for example as for any particular comfort to the supplicant. " In your prayer bee neither over strange with God, like the ignorant common sort that prayeth nothing but out of bookes, nor yet over homely with him, like some of the vain pharisaicall Puritans that think they can rule him upon their fingers ; the former way will breede an uncouth coldnesse in you towards him, the other will breede in you a contempt of him. But in your prayer to God speake with all reverence ; for if a subject will not speak but reverently to a king, much lesse should any flesh presume to talke with God as with his companion." So said King James in counselling his firstborn, soon to be taken away from him. And I ask " of any of you that is a father," whether sounder or weightier counsel could by any have been given to your firstborn son. King James, therefore, is not to be set down as a fool, or little better. He was not only one of the most learned, but the most accomplished person, I do not say Prince, of his age, for he him- self most distinctly admits that royalty is a mere casual adjunct to the man. And he very earnestly presses upon his eldest born, " that being borne to be a king, ye are rather borne to onus, than honos ; not excelling all your people so farre in ranke and honour, as in daily care and hazardous paines-taking, for the dutifull administration of that great office, that God hath laide upon your shoulders." These are some of the most secret thoughts of King James, which the world would never have known, had he not been baffled in his careful endeavours to keep this book from every human eye except one. Mr Buchan will be pleased to notice that King James forms an estimate of the " Psalmes of David," totally different from that adopted by him and all his supporters. For, as I shall afterwards attempt to show, their whole course is a disparage- ment of that Sacred Book which is an epitome of all that the Lord has seen meet to reveal to man from the beginning even until now, and which was given for the special use of the Church, in the matter of praise, which has been so employed since the days of David, and which will form the basis of the praise which the ransomed of the Lord shall offer to him eternally in the heavens. 26 Xing James was of this mind, and he has left behind proof of his veneration for the Psalms in the most tangible of all forms, viz., a translation of them from beginning to end, and that in language so polished, versification so smooth, and altogether so faithfully following the original, that those who are acquainted with them, will be little grateful to Rouse and others for several of the changes introduced by them. I have before me a copy of the book of which Dr Beattie, writing in 1778 to Dr Blair, on the " improvement of psalmody in Scotland," says, " I never saw but one copy ; which is a small folio, printed at London in 1836, with this title, 4 The Psalms of King David translated by King James.' The work does honour to this learned monarch." I have also before me a copy of the same work of an earlier date.* No one can examine this book without concurring in the opinion given by the author of the " Minstrel," — " the style seems to me superior to that of every other Scotch writer of that age, Hawthornden excepted," — or without at once coming to the conclusion of Dr Beattie, that the work of King James is indeed " the ground-work of the version of the metrical psalms now in use." Moreover the collater of the two versions will agree with Dr Beattie in his remark, that " those compilers have not always equalled the royal versifier, where they intended, no doubt, to excel him." The translation of King James is altogether original. He did not condescend to adopt a single line from the previous version by Sternhold, Hopkins, &c. It is his own. And, making allow- ance for an occasional Scotticism, which very seldom appears, it is one of the most beautiful specimens of the genuine old Saxon language that is extant. And I have a great and growing sus- picion that King James gave to the present version of the Bible, much of the elegant simplicity of diction, and general felicity of translation, which elevates it above all previous versions and all subsequent ones also. King James was the " principal mover and author " of this great work. He had the " vehement and perpe- tuated desire of accomplishing it," — and, I doubt not, aided the avowed translators by his " learned and judicious " suggestions. I am possessed of five English versions prior to his times, running downwards from the days of Edward VI. to the version now in use, which was fostered by the authority, and aided, as I think, by the learning and piety of King James VI. I have seen many * I have been " struck," as Mr Buchan would say, at finding, although 1 have searched carefully for it, no evidence that Dr Isaac Witts, Sir Walter Scott, or, in- deed, any writer on the subject of psalmody had ever teen the collection of King James, Its music is alike unknown. 27 more — and I agree entirely with those who think that our present English version, with all its alleged, and its few real blemishes, is beyond compare the best that Britain has ever seen. I am sorry to find that in his great work, " The History of the English Bible," the late Rev. Christopher Anderson, whose laborious and valuable researches demand that his memory be revered, and the work of his life treasured up, although not in all points implicitly followed, has written evidently under a strong prejudice against King James ; but, although he laboured hard to deprive him of all credit in regard to the present version of the Bible, he signally failed in making out his case. Were his main reason admitted ; viz., that it cannot be proved that the King gave money for aiding the work, it does not follow that he did not give the aid of his profound and polished scholarship to the work. And while Mr Anderson was obliged to admit, that money was a very scarce commodity with James, he might have admitted also that the King might have otherwise contributed in a shape more valuable by far than mere money. It is not as a mere compliment to King James that the present version is dedicated to him, but, so far as I am led to believe, from such investigations as I have been able to make, it is an honest, and at the same time, a merited eulogium on that monarch. The present version of the Bible has been referred to as one of the most powerful means whereby the English language has been preserved in purity. The pure beautiful Saxon of the Bible has been regarded as the sheet-anchor which prevented our vocabu- lary from drifting away in any and every direction. All the works of King James, and his translation of the Psalms in par- ticular, are in the same polished, simple, beautiful language that obtains in the English Bible — language very different from what prevailed at the time, and for at least a century after his days. Gradually however a change was superinduced. Our words and our spelling too have returned to the standard, introduced I believe by King James ; and as I have already hinted, I trust some one will arise to do justice to the memory of that great man. On a recent occasion the Prince Albert did honour to himself, and justified the opinion generally entertained of him, that his high station is only the adjunct and appendage, of a man learned, scrutinising, observing, and impartial, as he is kind and condes- cending — by his public allusion to King James. His Royal Highness referred to him in terms of the highest respect, and eulo- gised the wisdom which distinguished several of his measures, which have had no parallel since his times. In those days little 28 substantial aid was obtained from Parliaments, and the monarch was to a far larger extent, than now, entitled to the praise or deserving of the blame attachable to his various acts. Prince Albert, at all events, does not regard King James as a fool. I will give my readers the means of more fully testing this matter than Dr Beattie furnishes in his letter to Dr Hugh Blair. Let the reader collate the following with the present version, and he will see to what extent Rouse and others have availed themselves, without acknowledgment, of the labours of King James. From " The Psalmes of King DAVID, Translated by King JAMES. London : Printed by Thomas Harper, 1636." PSAL. CI. Sing this as the %\st Psalme* »mcrcp hull, ano* judgement Sing, to thee Eortr, Sino; $ hull, antf huSelp tn a perfect map, mp selfe hull carrp, Sttll. 2 bijeit tn mercp unto me hull thou he pleas'o* to come, 3t hutij a perfect heart hull hialfce hutjn'n mp IjottSe at ijome. 3 #o hucfcetr thing hefore mine epeS S&all for an object he ; 3t ijate tijeiv mork tfjat turn asttre, it Sijall not cleahe to me* 4 $[ heart tyt^po^U to he perherse depart from me Straight sljall, a person gtheu to uucfcetrneSSe $ hull not fcnom at all. 5 J^tm fo£o in* netajjhour prfhtlp troth slander $ Shall kill, a l)auo;l)tn loofce, a £eart that's proutr, 3E no map Suffer hull. 6 ^Htne epeS Sljall on the fattljf ul look tijat tljep man irtoell ixittfi me ; iofio toalfceth in a perfect Soap he Shall mp Serhant he. 7 $one that ifotl) use to morfc trecett hritlnn mp ijottSe sfjall&mell, Ije Sfcall not tarrp in mp Sight mho Ipes trot!) lohe to tell. 8 C|je iotckeU of the lantr hetimes Shall he ttestropetr hp me, tfjat from tlje (Slitp of t£e 3lor& til Boers raseo* map he; I give another specimen, and for a special reason select the closing verses of the 122d Psalm. 6 ©en prap tljat tn Jerusalem man ehermore he peace ; &ll tijep t£at thee entirelp lohe, Shall prosper tn eac£ place. 7 JHap happn peace for ehermore, foitlnn thp malls rematne ; &no* let thp palaces tn t&em proSperitp contatne. 8 Jfor mp hclobeh* companions SafceS, ano* hretfcren treare to me ; $ nom hrith all mp Ijeart hitll Sap, map peace hutjnn t£ee he. 9 (Jfhen for t£e £ouse fohiclj irotlj helong unto our C&oh* t&e Uortf, $ earnestlp mill care fcoto thou mapst mith all gootr he Stor'tr. * The curious in psalmody will, I believe, look in vain for the beautiful melody re- ferred to in Andro Hart. 29 The above are from the folio black letter edition, 1636, which also contains the " common tunes." For the purpose, appar- ently of introducing the old hundred psalm tune, the common measure version in the edition of 1631 makes way for a version in long measure. I give the translation as it stands in the 24mo edition for collation with the second version of Psalm C. From " The Psalmes of King DAVID, translated by King JAMES, Oxford. Printed by William Turner, Printer to the famous University, mdcxxxi." PSALME C. 1 Make to the Lord a joy full noise, all lands, who him adore : 2 With gladnesse serue the Lord, and come with singing him before. 3 Know that the Lord, he is our God, he, not ourselves vs fram'd. Wee are his people, and the sheepe that his owne flocke are nam'd. 4 When as you enter at his gates, his praise deserv'd proclaime : And when you come vnto his court, give thankes, and blesse his name. 5 For loe, the Lord is wholly good, which doth to all extend : His mercy everlasting is, his truth shall never end. The version of King James was only partially adopted, I presume because the godly men, that had charge of the " Paraphrasie " from England, were most earnestly intent on making their version a true and proper translation. Such it is ; and towards obtaining this correctness as a translation, many of the beautiful and truly poetic verses of King James have been displaced. At times he was too diffuse and paraphrastic, and in amending such errors, they, as well as Rouse, fell into the opposite error. For example, the 25th and 26th verses of Psalm xviii stand thus in the prose version in our common Bible. 30 25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful ; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. 26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure ; and with the fro ward thou wilt shew thyself froward. The rendering of these verses in our metrical psalms is cer- tainly unhappy. 25 " Thou gracious to the gracious art, to upright men upright : 26 Pure to the pure, froward thou kyth'st unto the froward might." As a contrast to these renderings, I give another extract from the Psalmody of Knox, which is taken unchanged from the version of Sternhold and Hopkins, and shall then give the translation of King James. From the Scottish Psalmody, 1578. Psalme XVIII. 24 " ©oto fault but& frim tijat Join fe fte £oIn Hortr at£o : 8ntr tottf} t|je gutre antr bertuou* men rng&t nertuou*In hull tro. 25 &ntr to t£e lontna; antr ((fleet, tf>i) luit Ujofo hull re$erbue, gntr t£ou hult u£e tljt hurfcti men a£ hricfctt men tre^erbue. From the Translation by King JAMES, 1636. PSAL. XVIII. 24 With Jtm t£at fe to merrp ijtben, t£ou memfull hult fie ; antr tijou hult uprtajjt fce hull) Ijtm, tj»at upright fa hutD tijee. 26 CJou inttlj t£e pure to fie most pure hult sfcefo tijngeKe tn Xoue; antr t£ou hut!) t£em tljat frotoartr are, fault Ufcetofae i rotoartr proue. The amenders of King James' version aimed at condensation. They desired as far as possible to make it a translation and not a paraphrase. For this end, they in many instances rejected the smooth verses of his Majesty, containing in their diffuseness some rich poetical ideas, as for example in the 2d verse of the 137th Psalm. 31 " Wee did hang up our silent harps, though once a comfort chiefe. Where shadowie willowes (darkning earth), did seeme to flatter griefe." To fidelity of translation everything was sacrificed, and the few blemishes that appear, are to be traced, mainly to this cause. In the judgment of Dr Beattie and Sir Walter Scott, each of whom was specially asked, and pointedly declined to undertake a new version, we have on the whole the best transla- tion that has ever appeared. There is no doubt that the metrical psalms were revised and introduced by John Knox prior to 1560. And the oldest copy that I have seen, shows that he and his colleagues set their faces like a flint against paraphrases and hymns. There is one poem, and only one appended to the Psalms. It seems introduced for the illustration of a doctrine, antagonistic to some of the most dangerous errors of the Papists. My readers will be pleased by my giving this very ancient and beautiful bal- lad entire. art pluugeir in pain, ®oti) sic!) anir seto for tfjg xtlitl &toeit Cfjrist toilt iijoto uof tljcu appeir ®o comfort t!>ame tijat comfort laift ? Weill t^ou not ioto tijine eir to fjeir? HorO Jfesus tome anir 6e not slaftL iFor tijau sail t^ine receive tljeir rest, W^tix jot), tijeir fclgs, tljeir perfite peis, &nfcf se t^g face of tresure 6est, ® &or& t^at trots our 3fogcs iucrcis* Wfytn sal tliou gibe tljose uofcle crofoues €tut)ilft tijiue atoiu 6lu& Ijcs Oeirlg 6orf)t; QLfytn sail t^ose palmes anir ^ie reuotoues J3e gibeu in grace most ricijelg toroc!)t £Hf)eu sail tl)g saintis re&emetr treir jFrom fiaile to fclgsse remobetr 6c, &u», stoetest Christ, tljg stoett boice ijeir, Come unto me 33a6es come to me, Come regue in gogs eteruallie, (Some regne in 6lgs tijat !>es na eulr, (Bum tijairfoir, 3Lortr, cum Christ, toe prag ©ur presses grieff toitf) speiB amentr. ^aist tf)e, ® 3LorO, $aist tfjc, E sag, ®o potore on me t|e giftis of grace, ©fiat toficn tf)is life must flit atoag En t)tibin toitl) flje E mag Ijabe place, ampere t^oto Ooest raigne etemallg WLitl) Ooir qufjiltt ones iritr trouu ge sentr : ©EJfjere angels singis coutinuallg, ©o tlje fce praise toorlir toitljout eulr. The above " Lamentatioun" was the sole and only thing ap- pended to the ancient Scottish Psalter. Yet John Knox was well aware of Luther's hymns, and certainly of the 700 hymns in the Bohemian Church. Why did he then, in a manner so em- 33 phatic, discountenance their introduction into the public worship of God ? A reason can be easily found. The hymns of Luther were mainly designed as a means of instructing the people. Taking advantage of the access which the wandering minstrel had to the ear of the people in those days, the humbler co-ad- jutors of Luther sung these hymns in the public streets, and travelled from city to city, and from village to village, singing their " godly ballands ;" seeking in this way to communicate to the people some of the saving truths of the gospel. These hymns then, were originally intended to be sermons, not " said" but " sung." The reforming minstrel sang, and the people listened. John Knox had a more excellent way. Discarding such humble expedients, he substituted the powerful preaching of the gospel. In his own case, he felt that he was not so much called to use his pen for the instruction of a coming age, as to labour assiduously in preaching the gospel to the perishing then around him. This is the reason why the published works of the master- spirit of the age are confined to so small a compass. But in the course of time, the " Lamentatioun" disappeared, but some hymns or paraphrases began to make their appearance. I believe it is to Andro Hart that we are indebted for them. He seems to have caught the Lutheran infection as to hymns, for in 1590, he published with honesty and simplicity of purpose, a collection of " Spirituall Songs' "and sundries of other Ballats changed out of prophane sanges for the prevention of sin and harlotrie" which were meant to supersede the profane songs then in use ; they were sung to the tunes that were most popular in those days, such as " John, come, kiss me noo," " Go, from my window, go" — and altogether are of such a character as would make the modern reader to believe that they had been prepared for the purpose of parodying sacred truth, and turning the laugh against it. Yet it was not so, Andro Hart had more piety than taste or poetic genius, and the tenor of his life and labours proves that in the preparation even of these ridiculous ballads, he was sincerely bent on a good design. He seems to have used his privilege as a printer for giving currency in another direction to the hymns or ballads in which he delighted. The oldest versions of the Psalter printed by him, shew that he had a hankering after such things. For, al- though no authority was ever given by the Church, he appended even so early as 1611, three hymns to the book of Psalms. He then proceeded to attach the hymns prefixed and affixed to Sternhold and Hopkins' psalms, and to make some strange addi- tions from other, and now unknown sources. For example, he 34 gives the Song of Moses from Deut. xxxii., from which, printed 1635, I extract for Mr Buchan's edification a stanza, — " Thou also drank the juice like blood of berries noble wine ; And that unmixed whole and douce, and pickand wonder fine. " But Jesurun, when hee grew fat, then hee began to fling : Thour't foule, and fate, and finger-fed, thy paunches down do hing." * It would seem that the extraordinary character of such produc- tions drew towards them the attention of the Church, for the " Scriptural Songs" are referred to in the Acts 1647-8, as well as the Psalms. There appears to have been a benevolent intention of amending them, but the Assembly seems to have abandoned the task in despair ; and when it sanctioned the present version of the Psalms in 1649, the spiritual songs were dropped altogether. The Psalms of David were alone sanctioned for the public wor- ship of God. It continued thus till 1 T08. During a fearful period of tur- moil, conflict, and persecution, the Church had not a single paraphrase, song, or hymn ; and what Mr Buchan may well be " struck " at, is this, she never missed them. For although such hymn books, as he bepraises, may be valued by some as pretty toys in peaceful and prating times, they will be found nothing but an incumbrance and a weariness in the day of battle and of suffering. When men, for Christ and His gospel's sake, are braving the loss of all things, they need a stronger nourishment than such dilutions contain. In 1708 the collection, to which I have several times referred, came into use. Containing little good, and little absolutely bad, this insipid mass of verbiage was allowed to slip into utter oblivion. It was never formally discharged, and is the only collection that has a formal sanction by the Church for use in the public worship of God. The next collection is that entitled " Scripture Songs, or Translations and Paraphrases," &c, was sanctioned by the General Assembly, and " recommended to be used in private * There lingers somewhere in the West, according to tradition, another version of this last verse. Mr Buchan should ferret out this lectio varians, for it would be a savoury contribution to any committee charged with the concoction of hymns. I refrain from giving it, as it is not my practice to make any allegation, except upon authority. 35 families;' 1751. This is by far the best collection of Sacred poems that has ever been produced. As they have so completely disappeared from public view, that many, even of our ministers, never saw them, I think my readers will be pleased to find them given verbatim in the Appendix.* On the subject of their introduction, and also that of the paraphrases and hymns presently in use, I make an extract from one of a series of articles on the paraphrases which appeared in the Free Church Magazine for 1847, prefacing that I have tested the accuracy of all its allegations, and am prepared to defend them. " The paraphrases in common use stand only on the semblance of ecclesiastical approval and sanction. The old Paraphrases were openly and honestly introduced. For several years in succession tbe subject was deemed so important as to appear prominently in the printed Acts. The returns from presbyteries were not only asked, but commanded in the most public manner ; and, after all, tbe Paraphrases were sanctioned by Assembly, only as suitable for the use of "private families." We have already stated how the desire to have them sanctioned for the service of the sanctuary, expressed in only one overture, furnished a pretext for intermeddling w T ith them. And how was the plot carried out? There is nothing more still and stealthy in the history of that torpid time. The subject w^as never deemed of such importance as to place it in the roll of the printed Acts. It is in the meagre abridgment of proceedings that the public could learn anything about the matter at all. The Abridgment for 1781, after stating that consideration of the report given in on Saturday, 2Hth of May, was postponed to a future diet, contains only the following notice of this important subject : — The report of the Committee on Translations and Paraphrases from Scripture produced and read ; the report agreed to, and the committee continued to make what corrections they may think necessary on the Paraphrases printed ; and thereafter to transmit copies of the same to presbyteries for their perusal : The printer for the Church to have the sole privilege of printing and publishing these translations and Para- phrases for the space of five years. — Acts of Assembly, Abridgment, June 1, 1781. Will it be believed, that from that day to this there is no mention of the Paraphrases in the Acts of Assemblies, except when, at quinquen- nial intervals, or sometimes longer, the printer required to have his patent renewed ! Or could it be inferred that the above was an intima- tion to the Church of the Assembly's sanction of the Paraphrases for public worship ? We have ground for asserting that the above quota- tion from the printed Abridgment is an unfair and disingenuous repre- Sce Appendix, No. II. 36 sentation of what the Assembly actually did, on the day in question, for which the Clerks of Assembly, or the Committee on printing the Acts, should have been placed at the bar. But all passed over smoothly, without protest or remonstrance — almost without notice. We believe that those, who were in the secret, found the matter ticklish, and wished it to be gone about with all imaginable quietness. On Friday, a day always famous for thin Assemblies, and on which particular Friday there was the dullest conceivable roll of business, the Paraphrases were disposed of; but not, as the Church at large was bound to infer from the only authentic and accessible record, simply to be sent to presbyteries "for their perusal." We were fortunately led, in the course of our in- quiries, to suspect the ingenuousness of the account given above ; and we have also fortunately become possessed of an authenticated extract of the proceedings of that day under the hand of the present Clerk of Assembly, w T hich, after referring to the report of the Committee on Psalmody, instructs that the Assembly proceeded to enact, in terms of its suggestions, as follows : — Which (viz. the report) being considered by the General Assembly, and they having deliberated thereupon, the Assembly appoints these Translations and Paraphrases to be transmitted to the several presby- teries of the Church, in order that they may report their opinion con- cerning them to the ensuing General Assembly ; and in the meantime allows this collection of sacred poems to be used in public worship in con- gregations, where the minister finds it for edification. The General Assembly renews the appointment of their committee, with powers to judge of any corrections or alterations of these poems that may be suggest- ed previous to the transmission of the same ; and with directions to cause a proper number of copies, with such corrections as they approve, to be printed for the consideration of presbyteries and tor public use. The General Assembly likewise ordains the expense already incurred, by printing this collection for the inspection of the members of this Assem- bly, to be defrayed from the public funds of the Church ; and in order to prevent it from being printed in any careless or incorrect manner, they appoint the printer of the Church, under the direction of their committee, to print and publish the same for sale; and that he may be enabled to sell the copies at a moderate price, they grant to him the exclusive privilege of printing and publishing this collection of Trans- lations and Paraphrases for the term of five years. But it may be said, the above Act was prefixed to the earliest editions of the Paraphrases. We have two of them before us, and admit the fact ; but this was a round-about way of informing the Church that it had been resolved upon to introduce them into the public worship of God. The more appropriate way, surely, would have been honestly to record it among the res gesto? of the Assembly, rather than to throw at once, and without warning, upon the country a collection of hymns bearing on their front that they were "collected and prepared" " in order to BE SUNG IN CHURCHES.' 37 But there is an "advertisement," not subscribed by Dr Drysdale, the then clerk of Assembly, but which could not have been inserted by Dick- son, " printer to the Church of Scotland," in his privileged edition, with- out the concurrence of all parties concerned with the Paraphrases, which, to prevent caviling, we give it entire : — " As it has been the general sentiment of devout persons, that it would be of advantage to enlarge the Psalmody in public worship, by joining with the Psalms of David some other passages of Scripture, both from the Old and the New Testament, this design has been at several times under the deliberation of the Church of Scotland. In consequence of an Act of the General Assembly, appointing a committee to prepare some Paraphrases of Sacred Writ in verse for this purpose, a collection of such Paraphrases w r as published in the year 1745, and has been used in several churches in public worship. " It having been represented to the General Assembly, in the year 1775, that it was proper this collection should be revised, and some ad- ditions made to it, a committee was appointed, with instructions to re- ceive and consider any corrections or additional materials that might be laid before them. " By this committee the collection now published has been prepared. All the Translations and Paraphrases which had appeared in the former publication are in substance retained ; but they have been revised with care. Many alterations, and it is hoped, improvements, are made upon them. A considerable number of new Paraphrases are added. They are all now arranged according to the order in which the several pas- sages of Scripture lie in the Bible, and a few hymns are subjoined." Now it appears from this advertisement that the old Paraphrases were published in 1745. This is incorrect — the excuse of many for not attending to the public and imperative order of the Assembly, as to presbyteries judging of the old Paraphrases at that time, was, that in the tumult of the rebellion of 1745, the copies transmitted for consider- ation of presbyteries had, in many cases, disappeared. It was not until 175.1 that the collection was printed for sale. But in the second paragraph of the above w T e find the allegation — " It having been represented to the General Assembly in the year 1 775, that it ivas proper this collection should be revised and some additions made to it, a committee was appointed" &c. Now we hesitate not to say, that no such " representation " was ever made. We have the entire minutes of the Assembly of 1775 quoad hoc. The only representation made to it, was by the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and its prayer is given, word for word, at the commencement of this article ; and on referring to it, it appears that its sole and only petition was — that ministers, finding it for edification, should be allowed to use the old Paraphrases in their several congregations ; or, that the Assembly would take other proper steps " for introducing them into the public worship/' No word of revision, no mention of additions, as alleged in the introduction. We not only say that it contains a falsehood, but considering that the " adver- c 2 38 tiseraent " could not have been introduced but by " authority," and that the " authority " behoved to have the deliverance of 1775 in view, at the very time of sanctioning the " advertisement," we scruple not to pronounce it a deliberate falsehood, the penning of which, is full of in- famy to all concerned, whether they were committee-men, or clerks, or juvenile paraphrasts. It is most evident that the finding of 1781 was designed to settle the question. How else could copies have been sanctioned for " public use," and for general sale $ They direct them to be transmitted to pres- byteries for their opinion. This was never obtained. We believe it was never desired. Ministers were allowed " in the meantime " — that is, we presume, until the presbyteries should have the opportunity of examining and pronouncing — to use them in public worship, where it was found for edification. But this is all the sanction which they have ever obtained. Upwards of half a century has passed away, and we are still in the midst of "the meantime" condescended on in the Act. The paraphrasts and their committee have all gone to their place — their plot to extinguish the very remembrance of the old spiritual songs has all but succeeded ; the people have become habituated to the effusions, which, with so much adroitness, were quietly insinuated amongst them ; nay, they and their pastors in many instances are not aware that any thing better had been provided for them than what they now possess. It thus appears that the paraphrases and hymns were not sanctioned at all. The Church, therefore, has nothing whatever to do with them. Should she set herself to amend them, she would be homologating Mr Buchan's allegation that they had been " authorised." She may, with as good reason, be asked to revise and amend John Wesley's hymns, or Watt's, or Tate and Brady's psalms, or even the Book of Common Prayer, as to do this. She is in the position at this moment of being able to re- pudiate the whole concern, and out of regard to her own con- sistency and dignity, to call upon all her children to cease giving to these productions — concocted with a view to the obliteration of evangelical truth, stealthily emerged from the darkness of the cabal, by cunning and by falsehood palmed upon an unsus- pecting people — any measure of countenance or regard. Amend the paraphrases and hymns ! That is, on all sides, deemed an impossibility. The United Presbyterian Church has surmounted the difficulty, and it is proposed in the Presbyterian Church in England to do so in the same way, by inserting in their respective hymn books such as they deem suitable, leaving out the rest — thus giving the go-bye to many of the works of Logan and his associates. I have been much amused by examining how these reverend bodies proceeded in their selection of paraphrases and hymns, 39 said by Mr Buchan to be "authorised. They are not quite in unison ; for the United Presbyterian Church has retained 39 paraphrases, that is "forty save one." Ominous number! The propounders of the English hymns, I presume, did not relish a number suggestive of the stripes on certain occasions threatened and commanded, so they propose retaining 40 paraphrases. The love of the hymns, however, is twice as strong among the United Presbyterians as it is in England, for they put their im- primatur on two of the hymns, while the English brethren have ventured to propose the retention of one only. Curiously enough, they reach the same result. The paraphrases and hymns re- tained by each are in number 41 ; the which circumstance shews that, in the deliberate judgment of the U. P. Church, and the patrons of the English hymn book, thirty-one out of 72 of the pieces now in use should be discharged. I rejoice when, with a clear conscience, I can commend any- thing done by the Establishment of Scotland. I have been gladdened sometimes by the discovery that there is " life even in a mussel." A committee " on the overtures anent a new trans- lation of the Psalms, and an authorised collection of Sacred Hymns," presided over by a Mr David Play fair, who, being rather young for enacting the part of Dr Blair, I must hold to be in the place of Logan, through him, repudiates the paraphrases, and declines to meddle with them at all, using these unkind words — " In regard to the paraphrases and five hymns at present in use, which even their greatest admirers, it is believed, cannot de- fend as faultless, your Committee felt that they could not do otherwise than waive all consideration of their merits," on the ground that their duty was, in brief, to prepare a collection of sacred hymns, as suggested by the Presbytery of Linlithgow, which seems to be, in the Establishment, the counterpart of our Presbytery of Hamilton, in so far as hymns are concerned. This committee, then, has, in the most open and manly way, cast the paraphrases and hymns overboard, and it has set itself with such superhuman energy to gratify the cravings of the ob- scure Presbytery of Linlithgow, as may well excite the envy of the Presbytery of Hamilton. Mr Play fair and his committee fell, however, into one great error, which should be avoided by the Presbytery of Hamilton, when they find themselves in a majority. The committee of the Establishment resolved to exclude their own productions, and laid down the rule " That no compositions be deemed admissible which may have been either composed with a view to this selection, or have not been long enough published," &c. Now, this is cruel 40 and impolitic too. Suppose Lord Robertson, Dr John Cumming, and other poets that might be named, had offered contributions ; their verses must be declined. This is surely the height of cruelty. And the height of impolicy it is, when the convener of a cold committee wants to create what he calls a " three-fold flame," and announces that there shall be no free-trade in regard to the fuel. Nevertheless they have got on marvellously. The quantity collected, notwithstanding the above restriction, seems to have been immense. The report to the Assembly refers to a whole " volume of Sacred Hymns," collected by the late Mr Thomas Grainger, one of the most eminent civil-engineers that Scotland has ever seen, as well as to the " very large number of different hymns named by" " all the members of your committee, who were invited to co-operate in the work of selection." Flooded with hvmns, they succeeded, as the convener says in his report, in reducing them to 230. Then there is such a bustle and a pother about the elements of the " three-fold flame," an amount of labour — expense — printing — proof after proof — anxious and careful consideration — that one is relieved to be in- formed that, on the 24th of May last, " as the issue of their la- bours, your committee have the pleasure of announcing" that they had prepared " a selection of One hundred and fifty Hymns." Why the number 150 was selected I do not know, unless it was suggested by frequent meditation on the minimum stipend, or by the casual remembrance that as the Psalms are 150 in number, there should be an equal number of hymns placed against them — the psalms, of course, standing " upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people," the hymns standing " upon Mount Ebal to curse." The Presbytery of Hamilton is thus countenanced by high authorities. All the Churches around are flying from the Psalms of David, and have taken or are seeking a hiding-place in hymns. They may triumphantly inquire why we should not follow their example ? I offer no remark on the proceedings of the communities referred to. They have a perfect right to alter their " public lace," as seems good to them, but the course they have entered upon shows that if the ancient simplicity and purity of God's worship in Scotland is to be maintained at all, the singular honour of conserving it is within the grasp of the Free Church of Scotland. She is even now called upon to be the jealous guardian of our national psalmody, to serve herself openly heir to the principles and practices, avowed by Knox, adopted by the Church of our fathers, maintained inviolate to the present hour, 41 unless this statement is to be modified by the unpleasant recol- lection of the songs of 1708. We have the Psalms of David, and the " common tunes." These it will be an honour to guard, abandoned as they are by all around us : and we should so use the one and the other, that any one entering casually into any of our Kirks, should, from its " public face," perceive that, for the time, he is in fellowship with a people to whom the very dust of the Scottish Zion is dear ; and who continue to sympathise with the earnest eulogium pronounced by Sir Walter Scott, on our version of the Psalms. — " Their antiquity is also a circum- stance striking to the imagination, and possessing a corresponding hifluence upon the feelings. They are the very words and accents of our early reformers — sung by them in woe and gratitude, in the fields, in the Churches, and on the scaffold." He adds in his letter to Principal Baird. — I have written a long letter, that " I might satisfy you in what a serious point of view I regard anything con- nected with our national worship." But it may be thought that I am forgetful of the fact that Mr Buchan said that " he was clearly of opinion that the Psalms of David must always form a large portion of our psalmody, but there was a principle involved," &c. My eye has been upon this sentence from the beginning, and I answer his clear opinion by informing him, in his own words, that he is under " a great mistake." He is not " clearly of opinion," in regard to that or any other branch of the psalmody question. This he himself triumphantly establishes in the very next sentence, wherein he asks fc4 how many of them are sung ? " and actually declares that 6k he only once knew an instance in which a minister sung the psalms from beginning to end," — and " the whole of the psalms were never sung, and when ministers had selected a certain number," they were l * perpetually moving in a circle larger or smaller, of particular psalms, and in a few weeks, generally speaking, they had gone their round of them, and must just begin again." Does language like this, worse than any ever employed, even by Isaac Watts, betoken any honest desire to retain the Psalms of David ? Does it not on the contrary, especially in connection with his other remarks, prove that he can barely tolerate them ; and that there is no reason why the books of Numbers, Ecclesias- tes, Proverbs, and Nehemiah, should not, in the matter of God's praise be put on the same footing as the book of Psalms ? I re- peat, that he is under a great mistake in supposing that he is " clearly of opinion" in this matter. He is as much mystified re- garding his own opinion, as he is bewildered regarding his facts. 42 Mr Buchan must have been isolated indeed, if, what I have quoted above anent singing the psalms from beginning to end, " and moving in a circle," be the limit of his experience. It is most extraordinary that he seems not to know that the most eminent men in the Church, have always been found the lovers and users of the psalms, in many cases exclusively, and in others almost so. He knows only of one minister who sung the psalms through- out. I knew, and have known a great many who sung them in course. In one of the largest, most intelligent, and most influ- ential of our congregations, the psalms have been systematically sung in course for many years past, and the congregation never absented itself " till the first psalm was over." He spoke also of there being " a feeling that it indicated a higher tone of spiritual discernment that some were able to find in the psalms all that they wanted, although others did not." He mentions this in a way which indicates that the subjects of such a feeling are to be blamed. I confess that such a feeling exists in many a mind, and I beg to be pardoned also for holding that it is a warranted feeling; not that I hold the exclusive or almost exclusive use of the psalms the sure and certain index of a higher tone of spiritual discernment, but this I know and am persuaded of, that a hankering after paraphrases and hymns, and their frequent use, betokens a sickly and impoverished ministry, and an exceeding low tone of spiritual discernment. It has been my privilege to be the hearer occasionally, and of late statedly, of some of the most eminent, and most honoured ministers of Christ, which, during this century, Scotland has seen, and the Psalms were the staple of their praises. I do not remember a single instance of any man whose honour was "in all the Churches," shewing a love for paraphrases and hymns. It has been my lot also to witness moderation, in its coldest phases, and from a large experience I came to know, when the worship was commenced with " Few- are thy days and full of woe;" or, " Ye indolent and slothful rise," and such like, that there was small chance of much that would be good to the use of edifying. 3Ir Buchanan, who, indeed, has dared me or any one, to take up a pen on this subject, would feel hurt, I daresay, if some little notice were not taken of his remarks. He said he " would put it to the brethren whether they believed that though they might find suitable psalms, the bulk of the congregation would see the bearing of the psalm upon the subject of discourse " Waiving for a moment the important question, " what was the subject of discourse?" I would say, prima facie, that the people have not been either rightly or sufficiently instructed. But he 43 adds, " He certainly felt great difficulty himself in finding psalms to answer the matter on which he had to speak, especially when the same subject occupied several days in the exposition." Now I have no means of knowing what the subjects selected by Mr Buchanan may have been ; but this I am certain of, that if they embraced the most important subjects that a Christian minister can or ought to treat, he would find no difficulty in get- ting apposite passages in the Psalms, provided he made that marvellous book the object of thorough research. He could easily get some printed helps, and if much at a loss, he might consult some aged disciple, who might direct his attention to por- tions eminently suitable for all proper subjects. But I would take the liberty of suggesting a touchstone to the younger breth- ren. It would be well to spend, with Cruden and Indices in hand, several hours before they concluded that passages suitable for their subjects, were not in the Psalms, and if they were obliged to give up their quest in despair, then I would humbly suggest that instead of blaming the Psalms, it might be as pro- per to enquire whether there might not be something wrong in the discourse, and instead of substituting something for the Psalms of David, to substitute a new sermon in place of the one that was found not in unison with the Psalms of David. I, at least, would have put my sermon in the fire under such cir- cumstances ; and stick to our old materials of worship, comforting myself with the reflection that I would at least get the com- mendation, which by an enthusiastic, though not very intelligent admirer of a certain preacher, was accorded; when, unable to de- fend any other part of his performances, she triumphantly ex- claimed to her opponent, " but ye canna deny that he had bonnie jjsalms." And to wind up on this subject with Mr Buchanan and Mr Buchan too, I will put the thing upon this simple issue : and I dare any member of the Presbytery of Hamilton or any reader of these pages to contradict this position, — that the invariable result of the introduction of hymns has been the banishment of the Psalms of David. I should like to know the man that ever on one solitary occasion heard one of the Psalms of David given out in a Wesleyan Congregation. I put the same question to those who have frequented the Independent Congregations in England. Did any of them ever find a psalm given out unless it was one of " Watts " Psalms so called, of which much might have been said had space permitted. 1 put the same question to those who have had the means of knowing the course pursued in the Episcopal Church of England, — when, and how often did they 44 find a metrical psalm given out ? Although the grave, stately music of the olden time is preserved, the psalms, whether by Sternhold and Hopkins, or by Tate and Brady, are put to^the wall, to make way for hymns varied in their character as the north differs from the south, and introduced like our present paraphrases and hymns, without any authority at all. I put the same question also to those of our brethren who have had the means of examining the state of psalmody in the American Churches. The Psalms of David are scarcely ever to be met with, are everywhere cast aside, to the vitiating of the spiritual taste of the people and the marring of their edification. The same results will follow the introduction of hymns in this country as has been remarked in others. If a stop is not put at once to this flood of innovations, the younger brethren may live to see the Psalms of David practically, it may not be formally, thrust out of the sanctuary of God, and poor parodies of God's Word offered in their place in God's worship. When that day shall come, it will not be long ere everything distinctive, national, characteristic, and, I will add, scriptural too, will be undermined and unsupported, because exposed to this in addition to other dangers — the perils of innovating brethren. The Church of Knox, Melville, Henderson, Welsh, and Chalmers will cease to exist except in the memories of dreaming and doating antiquarians. I trust the time is far distant when the time-honoured Church of Scotland shall perish so ingloriously — die, in truth, " as a fool dieth," not overborne by assaults from without, but decayed by, I shall not say tchat, from within ; and I believe that there are many many thousands in her communion, who, when made fully ac- quainted with the emergency, will come forward with the daunt- less determination of their fathers, to aid in averting the dire catastrophe. But to return — Mr Buchan in his overture speaks of the Church appointing " one entire book of Scripture to be sung in worship," and in his speech he argues that those who are pleased with this, are " under a great mistake/' The possibility of his being " under a great mistake" seems not to have occurred to him, for the col- lection to which I have already referred contains two entire books of Scripture, viz., the Song of Solomon and the Lamentations of Jeremiah ; and, to say nothing of others, thirty-five pages, are in ray copy, devoted to the paraphrasing of large portions of the book of Isaiah. When Mr Buchan should have known that it was competent for him to re-introduce these Songs and Hymns, that, by universal consent, have been allowed to fall into a de- 45 served oblivion, he might rather have adopted a different phra- seology. It would have comported better with the facts of the case, if, instead of saying that the Church had appointed " one entire book of Scripture to be sung in worship," he had said that the Church had appointed the Book of Scripture, which was spe- cially designed, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, for the worship of God, and so used by the Church of God from the days of David down to the present time to be thus received. It is not seemly to place the " Book of Psalms," the authors being, Moses, David, Asaph, and others, on the same platform with each and every other " book " in the Bible. Mr Buchan's doctrines demand, if fully carried out, that the whole Bible, that is, every book in the Bible, should be available, and be employed in the worship of God. He has said that the psalms, I presume he means the portions of them deemed singable by him, will be got over in " a few weeks." What time would be required for getting over the whole Bible ? According to the forms of Presbyterian worship, those, who were children, when the singing commenced at Genesis, would be gray -headed long before it pro- gressed to Revelations, and again began its " perpetual circle." But surely it will be admitted, by most, that it is not for edifi- cation that the matter for the praise of God should be very diffuse. Men are called upon to " search the Scriptures," but not to bring into public worship every part thereof. All things are to be done " decently and in order;" the book of Psalms, looking merely to its size, is long enough. It is of the length which Infinite wisdom decided to be most suitable for the use of God's worshippers. It is neither too long nor too short, but of the dimensions which must be approved of, not only by a sense of reverence for the source whence it is derived, but also by the conclusions of right reason. Mr Buchan has asked how many of the psalms are sung ? Let him ask how many of the U. P. hymns have been sung, and let him calculate the time that would be required for getting over them and beginning again. Whether he may think so or not, it is a " great mistake " either for ministers or music-sellers, to prepare hundreds of hymns, or to hawk hundreds of tunes ; for while the first hearing of some of both would be wished to be the last, there are many psalms, and some " common tunes " too, which some would de- sire to have often repeated. Except in the case of those who can sing anything at sight, and the number of such in country places is not large, the introduction of several hundreds of tunes 46 or anthems is just the best thing for closing the mouths of the people. Now, as I am heartily wearied of remarking on Mr Buchan, I will indulge in an episode again, before going to graver matter, and taking farewell of him. There is much ambiguity to my simple mind, in regard to the sense of the word " psalmody " as employed by him. I do not well know whether he attaches a precise meaning to it. At one time he speaks as if he was treating of " music," and I thought when he said that " he had been at pains to compare a great variety of collections," he had been conning over the innumerable collection of psalm tunes with which the country has been del- uged. Well — I am imbedded among books of psalm tunes from 1599 down to the present hour. I have a pretty good stock of my own ; but I have access also to a whole library consisting of the tune-books, good, bad, and indifferent, that have appeared for centuries past. I am well acquainted with Allison, Playford, Ravenscroft, and many others. I am well acquainted moreover with an infinity of books suited to the English taste. Last and best of all, I am acquainted with the i4 common tunes," over which, oftener than once, the Church has thrown the mantle of her protection. But although I may have a little more to say on the subject of psalmody under the name of music, when I come to notice the observations of Mr Hamilton, I will here quit this subject, and may possibly to some extent resume it, while remarking on Mr Hamilton. For I am inclined to think that Mr Buchan did not so much refer to the manner, (that is the music), as to the mat- ter, (that is the hymns, &c,) in the praise of God. Well — I confess I was wrong in supposing that he referred to collections of music, for in the next breath he speaks of " the Christian Psalmody in use in many of the Churches," — and to these, apparently it is, that he refers, when he says that he had been at pains to compare a great variety of collections." I have had the means of doing the same thing, and what is better, I have done it. My means of access to music and to collections of " Christian Psalmody," may be very meagre as compared with those at the command of Mr Buchan, but I have found no affluence, but on the contrary poverty, abject poverty, whether in the music or the hymns that 1 have seen. But I must speak with hesitation and humility, for I have been unable, with all the diligence I could exercise, ever to get a glimpse of the work to which lie refers in his speech, viz., " the Christian Psalmody in use in many of the Churches" Where is it to be found ? No bibliopole that I know, ever heard of it. I 47 do not believe that it has an existence except in the imagination of Mr Buchan. The Psalms of David constitute the Christian Psalmody, and it approaches to profanity to call anything else by the name of psalmody. Supposing hymns and songs ten thousand times superior to the trash that Mr Buchan has formally and publicly commeuded were obtruded on the Church, no man has a right to say that they are Psalmody, far less Christian Psalmody. In this matter the Wesleyans are honest and consistent, — the word psalmody is never heard amongst them. But it is equally unbecoming in Mr Buchan and his friends, as professed theologians, to refer to the Book of Psalms as they have done. There seems on their part much going to counte- nance the childish delusion that the Old Testament is all law, and the New Testament all gospel. There is, at all events, little account taken of the Christology of the Old Testament. The Book of Psalms is an epitome of the Bible, as I have said be- fore. It has been indited by the Spirit of God for the special use of the Church in praise. But instead of my attempting to deal with the Presbytery of Hamilton on this point, I will intro- duce them to some more formidable antagonists, one and all of whom they are bound to refute. Here, then, is an extract from the introduction to Alison's superb folio, printed 1599; a complete copy of which, and some think the only complete copy in the kingdom, through the kind- ness of a friend, lies before me. After referring to the use to be made of the whole of God's Word, he says : " But because the whole Booke of God to idle schollers may seeme too tedious, we have the Psalmes of David more compen- diously teaching doctrine fit for us : for if we could see the danger of sinne, they wil shew it : if we would know how to turn from sinne they will teach it : if we would praise God for his mercy receaued, they can direct us : if we would pray to be delivered from misery, they will be good guides vnto us : yea, in every good action wee shall finde in the Psalmes sufficient instruction for vs. And that our meditations in the Psalmes may not want their de- light, we have that excellent gift of God, the Art of Musick to accompany them." 1 make an extract also from the introduction to Plavford's elaborate book of psalmody, printed 1671 : " The hymns and Psalms of Moses and David, so famous in the Jewish Church, are to this day in use in the Church of Christ. What esteem our blessed Saviour had of them we may read in St Matthew xxvi. 30, where we find him and his disciples singing 48 an Hymn: which Learned Doctor Hammond judges to have con- tained all the Psalms from the 112th to the 11 9th, those being very suitable to the Solemnity of the Paschal Lamb. The Disciples of our Lord after him express likewise the pious esteem they had of Singing Praises as an holy Duty. St James ad- viseth, chap. v. 16, Is any afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing Psalms." I now produce a more modern apology for the psalms. Should Mr Buchan succeed in refuting it, I must join his ranks. It is from Horne, and in these words : — " Composed upon particular occasions, yet designed for general use ; delivered out as services for Israelites under the Law, yet no less adapted to the circumstances of Christians under the Gospel, they present religion to us in the most engaging dress ; communicating truths which philosophy could never investigate, in a style which poetry can never equal ; while history is made the vehicle of prophecy, and creation lends all its charms to paint the glories of redemption. " Calculated alike to profit and to please, they inform the under- standing, elevate the affections, and entertain the imagination. Indited, under the influence of him, to whom all hearts are known, and all events foreknown, they suit mankind in all situa- tions, grateful as the manna which descended from above, and conformed itself to every palate. The fairest productions of human wit, after a few perusals, like gathered flowers wither in our hands, and loose their fragrancy ; but these unfading plants of paradise, become, as we are accustomed to them, still more and more beautiful ; their bloom appears to be daily heightened ; fresh odours are emitted, and new sweets extracted from them. He who hath once tasted their excellencies, will desire to taste them yet again ; and he who tastes them oftenest, will relish them best." I will now, without quotation, present one out of many vol- umes to Mr Buchan, which it would be necessary for him to refute. It is An Apology for the Book of Psalms, by the Rev. Dr Gilbert M'Master, printed at Philadelphia in 1852. In that work he will find all the arguments on his side met, and, as I think, conclusively disposed of. It would be a good service to a good cause to have that work reprinted, prior to the meeting of the General Assembly. In 1852 it had reached its fourth edition ; and happening to know that a much honoured minister of Christ, not of the Free Church, is the friend and correspon- dent of Dr M'Master, I would venture to suggest that he might undertake the re-publication. It would be most seasonable. 49 I will ask him, or any of his friends to set aside the entire of the Lecture on the Theology of the Old Testament given by Dr Duncan in 1850. Those that make it a study, will rise above what he calls the Christologia vulgaris, and come to appreciate the singular beauty, as well as force of his remark, that the pas- sages usually selected in controversy as Messianic, " are but the culminating points of the rock whose foundations lie deep in the ocean of Old Testament Scripture" I leave these and other things with Mr Buchan, to be refuted at his leisure, asking simply, for want of space, that he will be pleased to hold everything stated by him, unnoticed in this pam- phlet, as wholly impugned and contradicted. I come now to Mr Hamilton's remarks. There is in them such a display of shallow acquaintance with the points raised, and likely to be raised, in this controversy, so much transparent ignorance of the facts and history of the matters alluded to — as well as so little knowledge of the cherished feelings — prejudices he may call them — of Scottish men, so little apparent heartiness in the conservation of the precious truths of God, as handed down to us, in virtue of our fathers telling them, to us, their pos- terity — so much levity and flippancy, and in regard to others such gross indelicacy, that Mr Hamilton may be glad that I am one who will sincerely try to be as gentle in my remarks as duty will allow. And I trust that, as Mr Buchan insinuates the wisdom of the Presbytery is on his side of the chair, Mr Hamil- ton will not soon again fall into the error of acting on the old maxim — " dulce est desipere in loco" In giving my views on his statements, I shall be very careful not to travel beyond the limits of his short, but extraordinary speech. I repeat then, that the remarks of Mr Hamilton demand notice on many grounds. He thinks we have " fallen very much behind in Scotland in the matter of Psalmody." He says, " singing was now looked upon as a very subordinate part of Divine worship." He speaks in illustration of his remarks, of the terms applied by the people in his neighbourhood " the preachings" to the ki services on communion occasions." He speaks of its being " too much the feeling of the people in coming to Church, that they were coming to hear a very learned homily upon some particular text, and that it was no matter though the praise was hurried over in four lines of a psalm, and every other part of the service cut down so that the minister got time to ser- monise." I believe I was preaching the gospel at the time when Mr Hamilton was acquiring the elements of his learning, and nothing has been more strongly impressed upon me in the course of my subsequent experience than this, that I was so little able 50 to prepare a learned homily. I have come to be, and I trust Mr Hamilton will pardon me for it, an advocate of a learned ministry, a consequent admirer of learned homilies ; and I have also come to think that the people of the Free Church have shown, by their provision for the training of the aspirants to the ministry, that they want to have learned homilies — aye and learned lectures, and learned popular discourses too. Intelligent Scotchmen will not long listen with contentment to the produc- tions of an " infant school " of theology — and all of them, who are well instructed, will give the importance which Paul did to the preaching of the word, whether a man, specially set apart for that office, nicknames it " sermonising," or anything else. The Church calls upon all her members, young and old, to praise God, and to pray unto God — but she demands that the " sermonising" be conducted exclusively by men who have had every opportun- ity of being enabled to prepare " learned homilies ;" and it surely is not. for those who should have acquired that ability, to sneer at the preaching of the word in a way that certainly is little coun- tenanced, whatever Mr Hamilton may allege, as to the practice of the primitive Christians, by the precept or the example of our Lord and his apostles. Christ sent them forth to preach and to teach — they gave themselves to the work — and we, in our attempts to follow them, are bound to remember that we have good authority for holding that "by the foolishness of preaching, God saves them that believe." Still, differing as I do from Mr Hamilton as to the value of what he calls " sermonising," I agree with him that it is a grievous evil if the other parts of worship are elbowed out of the way to make room for it exclusively. I am sure this is not in conformity with the decent, and well balanced order prescribed in our Directory for public worship. A due prominence is given therein to everv part of the service, to the singing as well as to the sermon I say, if such a thing as " the praise being hurried over in four iines of a psalm, and every other part of the service cut down, so that the minister got time to sermonise," obtains anvwhere, and 1 never heard of such a thing before, the prac- tice ought at once to be terminated as eminently unpresbyterian, and inconsistent either with edification or common sense. But if the psalmody proceeds in the style to which Mr Hamilton is accus- tomed — the like of which I never imagined to have had an exis- tence in Scotland, and which, but for his declaration on the floor of a Church court, I could never have credited — why, in that case, I say, four lines of a psalm are even enough. I have tried to sing four lines in the style he specifies, and although my lungs 51 are pretty good, I gave it up in despair. I was able to sing only two notes in the time of which he complains. The man who could sing four lines in the mode Mr Hamilton is accustomed to, must be a curiosity, and the people who could hear four such verses sung consecutively, must be endowed with far more patience than I at least possess. In my helplessness I betook me to an instrument, and, with watch in hand, began, giving half-a-minute, neither more nor less, to each note of " Coleshill." The effect was astounding. The prolonged monotony frightened my household from its propriety. By special desire I stopped short half-way, for this among other reasons, that I had become fearful of the effects, of continuing the concert, even upon the leathern lungs of my instrument. Let any one that has access to organ, harmonicum, or seraphin honestly make the experiment, and see if it be possible to get human beings to listen to more than half of the tune. Mr Hamilton talks of "such old drawling tunes as Coleshill and Crole," (Crowle I presume is meant), "each note occupying half-a-minute in the singing of it." When one is brought near to Cocker he treads on sure ground. Well, let us take the first of these tunes, Coleshill. Mr Hamilton is right in saying that it is w old ;" I love it all the more for this reason ; but he is quite wrong in calling it " drawling," unless it is sung in the style with which he is familiar. In my poor way I tried the time required for singing it as I was taught, and I got over four lines without hurry in fifty seconds ; but taking half-a-minute to each note, as Mr Hamilton insinuates is the practice, 960 seconds would be required for the singing of four lines, that is, the space of sixteen minutes. The singing of four verses or sixteen lines in this fashion would occupy 3960 seconds, or one hour and six minutes, I do not wonder, then, at the existence of the practice which Mr Hamilton, not in a place where it would be possible to suppose he was jok- ing, but in his place as a member of one of the Presbyteries of the Church, affirms, is a good reason for asking the supreme court to abate the nuisance. Neither do I wonder at such a practice being found necessary, and the brethren who have adopted it are to be excused — for if in such places as Mr Hamilton refers to, there were three portions sung of four verses each, that is, forty-eight lines in all, the time occupied would be up- wards of three mortal hours in mere singing. This would indeed put prayers, " sermonising," and everything into a corner. Mr Hamilton, from some reason which does not appear from his report — and which certainly does not flow out of anything reported in the speech of Mr Smith — and which moreover has D 52 no connection whatever with his argument, says, " he would like to sing the psalms at Shotts with "Mr Smith from beginning to end." Mr Smith very wisely declined the proffered infliction. In his case, or in any case, I would have done the same. But supposing Mr Smith had agreed to the proposal, most gra- tuitously proffered to him, what would have been the result, it* he had agreed to sing the psalms with Mr Hamilton "from begin- ning to end?" — and had, as he doubtless would have been solicited to do, taken an occasional top-dressing of paraphrases and hymns ? and gave to the work two days a-week, and made up his mind to sing with Mr Hamilton for two hours each day — it would have taken, counting the time as Mr Hamilton does, about three years to have accomplished the task. Mr Hamilton of course has a more excellent way — but his singing with Mr Smith of the psalms from beginning to end must needs be in the strict half-minute style, so that Mr Smith might have a clear idea of what he was desired to condemn. But what does he mean by sermonising ? Does he know that there is no such vocable in the English language ? If he wants grand words, he should, at all events, copy, as too many of my young friends do, the example of brother Jonathan, who loves " good dictionary words." This word is a low, vulgar, un- classical term, used seldom, but by careless men, for ridiculing things sacred, and bringing God's ordinance of a preached gospel into contempt. Instead of speaking of the minister getting time "to sermonise," he should have said "time to sermon" or " time for sermocinaiion" or " time to officiate as a sermocinator" I am no admirer of all things in England — but 1 think if our old Scottish feelings are to be held up to ridicule, it should either be in our own delightful patois, or at the very least in the standard language of the Queen. In using the expression referred to, Mr Hamilton was not a whit more dignified or clas- sical than if, m5tead of addressing his congregation as his " friends," or his " brethren," he had saluted them as his "chums," or his " tulips." But there is more and worse ; he adds, " he believed if he or anv other minister were to spend one portion of the day in read- ing the Word of God. in praise and prayer, the people would go home perfectly outraged." * And this elicited the laughter of the * On the Lord's day, and the occasions he refers to. the people have a right to all that ty study, thought, pains, and prayers their minister is enabled to emit. But everything should be in its place. The powerful and learned, searching and affec- tionate preaching of the gospel v\iil be always longed for by an exercised people. When, as, alas ! is still in too many instances the case, the people have no minister, 53 grave and reverend court. I am glad to hear that even a motive, little better than " the fear of the people," prevents the introduction of a practice so unseriptural and anti-protestant as that referred to. But I think if half the Sabbath-day was so spent by a minister conducting the service, the people would do well to go home "perfectly outraged." I rejoice to learn from Mi- Hamilton that, they are acquainted with the undeniably true dogma derived from the Word of God, that " the Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith unto sal- vation." The people who have ministers solemnly set apart for teaching them this, amongst other great truths of God, have, I repeat, a good right and title to go home "perfectly outraged," if what is hinted at by Mr Hamilton were really put in practice; and not only so, but they would be entitled, aye and would be bound to come and tell their ecclesiastical superiors, that the public preaching and teaching of the Word and truth of God was put into a corner — and I am sure they would obtain redress, and the minister would be ordered in season and out of season to preach the gospel, and that as learnedly as his gifts, when tasked to the uttermost, would admit of. But the common people call "the services on communion occasions," " the preachings." In so doing the) are not speaking English, for no such noun substantive is in the language. But I can make many apologies for the people. When they know the Bible true, per- chance they may know little more. I am glad that they did not use the term " preachments," which is English, and by the high- est authority declared to be " a sermon mentioned in contempt," or " a discourse affectedly solemn," The good folks only fol- lowed the example of their betters, and coined a word for them- selves, with this difference however, that it does not seem alleged to have been in contempt of things sacred, but for denoting the currency of a series of what Mr Hamilton terms " communion services." 1 think they are not to be blamed much for calling them " the preachings." Uneducated men, as well as foreigners, may be pardoned for speaking in broken English. But I ask Mr and are " as sheep without a shepherd," they do well to meet together for the wor- ship of God, even although " their eyes do not see their teachers." But Mr Hamilton may be told that the most eloquent, able, powerful, profound preacher that Scotland at this moment perhaps possesses, is accustomed on the day of "common prayers," which in his case is Thursday, to do no more than read the Word of God and engage in prayer and praise. The people on these occasious are drawn out in such numbers as would overfill such a church as, I presume, Mr Hamilton's to be in respect of size. D 2 54 Hamilton, who is a gentleman and a scholar, what phraseology the good people are to employ. I agree with him it should not be " the preachings,"— but even that is not so bad as his expres- sion, " the services." The latter smells of Popery ; the former does not, for every one knows that the Papists have not to com- plain of what, making use of the participle of an English verb, I will term " sermoning" But then they have the very word which Mr Hamilton employs, services. Even the borrowers of Rome's trappings have so arranged it, that no one can visit a bookseller's shop without finding beautifully bound books labelled the Church Service. Would it then be an improvement if his people got the hint to say that they were going, not to the "preachings," but to " service," or going " to prayers," or going to chapel, or going to confession, or to mass. I think, although it might be horrifying to ears that in England have lost their Scotch acuteness— the best of all answers given in classical language, although not English, would be, " Na ! Na ! I'm ga'in' to the Kirk." And let neither Cockney nor Scotchman despise the word till he knows its origin. It is Kv^iov OtKog, " the house of the Lord," contracted till it came to be in modern spelling Kuyrioik, and then by a subsequent contraction " Kirk ;" a word that is better far than Church. So I would advise all Scotchmen to remove the diffi- culty of Mr Hamilton, by saying that they are going neither to Church nor Chapel, to prayers nor services, but simply to the " Kirk." As to the word "service," I must say that I utterly abomi- nate it, as applied to the public worship of God, and I have good reason ; for, while knowing about a score of meanings attached to it, the only one that would suit Mr Hamilton occurs frequently in the works of an author of whom a famous pope said, " His books will get reverence by age, for there are in them such seeds of eternity, that they shall continue till the last fire shall devour all learning." So said an infallible pope nearly three centuries since. His words seem in the course of verification ; for when Presbyterian ministers talk of services, and are dying for hymn books, and want many prayers and little preaching, it is clear that the end fore- seen by the cunning Pontiff, will not fail, in our times, for the want of those, who, not dreaming at all of the results of their present course, are in truth aiding and carrying forward measures cherished for centuries by the popes of Rome. But I must return to the remark of Mr Hamilton. " We had fallen much behind in Scotland in the matter of psalmody." I 55 am glad that his adoption of the term " we," and the revelations which he makes of the incredible state of psalmody in his district — I mean incredible to people happily out of it, except for his asseveration made in a Church court — goes to exempt other parts of Scotland from the pitiable condition in which, as to psalmody, " the very head-quarters of the district of the Covenanters," ac- cording to his shewing, now lies. He does not tell us how this deplorable issue has been reached, nor does he indicate any de- finite remedy, except as we are left to infer, that he and his friends in the Presbytery are to mend the matter by importing the ranting tunes which are in use in the dissenting congrega- tions in England, — and I grieve to say in the course of being in- troduced into the Churches there, that up to this time were re- garded as affiliated with the Church of Scotland. The man who sneers at Coleshill cannot believe that there is anything in Scottish music worth preserving, or attempting to improve. But I venture to assert, and dare him to the proof, that except in what he calls " the head-quarters of the district of the Covenanters," Scotland is behind in the matter of psalmody. Until the last few years Scotland had fallen from the high posi- tion which for ages she had occupied, but this was just in virtue of the introduction of puerile and miserable rants into the ser- vice of the sanctuary, of which it may be said, as of savourless salt, that they are " neither fit for the land nor yet for the dung- hill" — " that they are good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trod- den under foot of men." It may be news to Mr Hamilton that Scotland has national music — that she needs to borrow music from no nation in Europe, and that she requires only permission to retain her own. Eng- land has little music that can be called national, and there is nothing in the kind of psalmody which Mr Hamilton seems anxious to introduce, that in the proper sense of the term, can be termed national. Our Scottish music, on the other hand, is of native growth, so distinctive in its general character, as to have compelled musicians, after pondering in amazement over its plaintive and soothing melodies, from the constant use of the concordant tones, the third and fifth of the scale ending often on the fifth and sometimes on the sixth, to coin for it a new name, and call its scale the Caledonian. Of course Mr Hamilton could not have spoken so confidently on the subject of psalmody, without being prepared to treat as nothing all that has been done, of late years, for improving the taste of the people, and leading them back to the appreciation of the pure, simple Scottish melodies with which their fathers 56 were familiar. From not a few congregations the ranting im- portations from England have been ejected ; and the congrega- tions that have sought instruction under men that really knew what sacred music is, and always ought to be, have so profited in the science of music, and in the part singing of our own grave, sweet melodies, as to have no desire at all lor tunes akin to the trumpery and theatrical productions which eighty or ninety years ago were patronised in the ascendency of Moderatism, and which, since the Disruption, have to a great extent been weeded out from the services of the sanctuary, in congregations where there was created a desire for correct and proper psalmody. I venture to suggest that instead of making poor Coleshill, and all that sing it in the half minute fashion, a nuisance, and a laughing-stock to all around, it would be better for Mr Hamilton to send his pre- centor to a competent musician for instruction, and possibly well for himself to copy the example of older ministers, and repair to the same quarter also for tuition, provided always they are not within the range of these words of Rousseau : — " But if thou art calm and tranquil, amidst the transports of that great art, if thou feelest no delirium, no ecstacy ; if thou art only moved with pleasure, at what should transport thee with rapture, dost thou dare to ask what genius is ? Profane not, vulgar man, that name sublime ! What does it import thee to know what thou canst never feel?" But Mr Hamilton requires to be told that Scotland did not fall behind in psalmody until moderate ascendency fell upon a device similar to that which has unhappily been taken, proprio motu, by the United Presbyterian Church, and, with grief and shame I add, proposed by the Presbyterian Church in England, which has secured the approval of Mr Buchan, and I presume of Mr Hamilton too. The introduction of such hymn books as they have compiled, of which more anon, necessitates the introduc- tion of an immense number of tunes at present unknown, except among Methodists, Independents, and Ranters. Should the Free Church copy them, and adopt such namby-pamby collections as they have prepared, she will indeed have fallen very much be- hind — so far behind, that I much fear she will have scarcely cour- age to follow. But it was not so in other times. Scotland was the first teacher in music of those nations, that, profiting by her lessons, are now in the opinion of the vulgar the authors and inventors of pure harmony. * Mr Hamilton doubtless knows, that iu the revival of the fine arts which took place about 1513, music received a great impulse in Italy under Palestrina, some of whose elaborate fugue com- 57 positions are to the present day used in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. But although he was the great musical reformer of his time, and was called the " Father of harmony," all his composi- tions are in the strict canon or fugue style. It was reserved for another who lived a little later, really to reform the music of Italy. I refer to Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, of whom Blancanus, in his " Chronologia Mathemati- corum, as quoted by Sir John Hawkins, thus speaks, — " The most noble Carolus Gesualdus, Prince of Venuseum, was the prince of musicians of our age, he having recalled the rythme into music, introduced such a style of modulation, that other musicians yielded the preference to him ; and all singers and players on stringed instruments, laying aside that of others, everywhere eagerly embraced his music." This Prince of Venosa or Venuseum, became acquainted with the native music of Scotland. Like a master, as he was, he valued it, and modelled the Italian music by it ; and it is fortunate for the honour of Scotland that the record of the important fact is preserved by no less an authority than Alessandro Tassoni, in his " Pensieri diversi" In regard to James I. of Scotland, he says — " We may reckon among us moderns, James, King of Scot- land, who not only composed many sacred pieces of vocal musick, but also of himself invented a new kind of music, plaintive and melancholy, different from all other, in which he has been imitated by Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, who in our age has improved music with new and admirable inventions." * Had Mr Hamilton and those who are allied with him in this matter of psalmody, consulted Fordoun, Major, Lord Elibank, Sir John Hawkins, and others that might be named, he would have paused before taking the position he has assumed in re- gard to Scottish music, and might perchance have chimed in with the following remarks penned almost a century ago : — " How would some of the dillettante in musick, of the present times, sneer with contempt to be told, that the Italians, the patriarchs of modern musick, owe the reformation of their musick to the early introduction of Scottish melodies into it ; yet nothing is more certain, as is proved not only from the candid acknow- * " Noi ancora possiamo connumerar tra nostri Sacopo Re di Scozia, che nop pur cose sacre compose in Canto, ma trova da se stesso, una nuova musica, lamente- vole e mesta, differente da tultie Paltre, nel cha poi e stato imitato da Carlo Gesu- aldo, Principe de Venosa, che in questa nostra eta ha illustrata anch' egla la musica con nuove miribili invenzioni." Pensieri Universi, libro 10, cap. 23. 58 ledgment of Tassoni, but from the testimony of the Italian musick itself, before the Prince of Venosa's time." I think then, that having possessed from remote antiquity, music admitted by the highest authorities to be of the rarest ex~ cellence, to have been taken as the model for reformation in lands that have, proverbially, been famed for their musical attain- ments — nay, containing, according to the conjectures of an authority, whose conjectures on this subject are possibly as valuable, and may turn out as true as those of Sir Isaac Newton on other subjects, — " the excellency of the antient Greek musick, of which we are told such wonderful effects" — it is quite fair to ask why we must abandon it ? and what is to be substituted in its place ? Mr Buchan says little in his overture on this point, but he says a good deal in his speech. With the exception of desiring the introduction of chaunting in our Presbyterian Churches, although he does not use the Prelatic or Popish term — while the gist of his speech is, that he craves more ample materials for praise — he speaks in the highest terms of the hymn book of the Presbyterian Church ; but it was only a second perusal of his speech that showed me the occasion he had given to his supporter Mr Hamilton, for coming down in so ridiculous a fashion, on the poor head of Coleshill. He introduces the thing by saying " that there were some, too, he was aware, who even, in regard to music, would be satisfied with one tune." This, it will be observed, is a general statement, and its illustration is found in the remark, "that one of the best men he ever knew was in the habit of singing Coleshill, at family worship, daily, for fifty years." This is quite the sort of thing to be sneered at by young men. I have not been disposed rightly to profit, to my shame be it said, by my musical instructors many years ago, who made me acquainted, and capable also to take part in, no- body knows how many anthems and capriccios. But I have so far surmounted the mischievous musical education of my youth, that I cannot sympathise with Mr Buchan in what he says in regard to the worthy man, that in family worship, maintained, be it remembered for fifty years, and used only one tune. But he speaks of the " district of the Covenanters" as the birth-place of this overture, and thinks that this circumstance will give it importance in the judgment of persons beyond the bounds of the Presbytery of Hamilton. I had thought that the district of the Covenant had been somewhat more extensive, and that it embraced north, south, east, as well as west in Scotland. But not to dwell on this, I would ask all who revere the memory 59 and generally maintain the principles of the persecuted and suf- fering servants of Christ in this land, to deem it the hallowed soil where they testified and suffered, and very greatly to mistrust the suggestions of those who deem their casual location in one of the covenanting districts a reason for leading those around them to ignore every part, if not the whole of their principles at least very many of their practices. I look with a feeling of solemn interest to the districts, which were peculiarly the scenes of their labours and their sufferings, and I think the feeling is not superstitious ; but I regard mainly the great principles for which they contended, viz., for " Christ's Crown and Kingdom" as their banners, still preserved, shew, and because of these I do feel solemnised when perchance I found myself in the particular localities where men, "of whom the world was not worthy," testified, suffered, bled, and died, whether the places were the bounds of Hamilton Presbytery, Ayr, the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, St Andrews, or elsewhere. Why, no further gone than during the last summer and autumn months in my " quarters" as they are termed, I found that on the very grounds tenanted by me, two servants of God were burnt on the 27th day of August 1534, for adherence to Christ and to his truth. Their ashes had been scattered over the adjoining space. When I came to know this, my garden and fields became more precious in my sight, and I told the pro- prietor that, if they were mine, 1 would not rest until I had erected some frail memorial to their honoured memory. I am thus not insensible to the honour due especially to sufferers in this king- dom, but to all who in the olden times testified for Christ at the risk of the loss of all things ; and, indeed, without being altogether insensible of the honour of alliance with them, I could not dis- parage them or refuse favourably to regard the opinions of those on whom their " mantle " has fallen, for I find an ancestor of my own signing the special copy of the Confession of Faith, still pre- served in the Advocates' Library, that had been prepared for re- ceiving the adhesion of the estates of the kingdom in 1638. But what, by any confessor of the olden time, would have been thought of such crude, un-presbyterian notions as are propounded by Mr Hamilton. Suppose he had addressed to Peden what he addressed to the Presbytery of Hamilton, what would have been the reply ? It would have been a monosyllable, the full emphasis of which none but a Scotchman can ever understand. He would have used a word which occurs in his published remains, and was by him deemed quite enough for the demolition of laboured pleadings for things improper. The word was — "'wa!" In 60 the Greek I believe it is V7rxyi. It was thus the short translation into Scotch of the word used on a certain occasion by the Saviour. Suppose he had suggested to Peden, or Guthrie, or Cameron, or to John Knox himself his craving for a more lively devotion, and suggested that some namby-pamby hymns should be substi- tuted for the Psalms of David, and sung, as in the United Pres- terian Churches, and soon may be in the Presbyterian Churches in England, to such tunes as " Deil tak' the wars," what would have been the result ? I can conceive nothing so likely as his being treated as Richie Moniplies did a person whose errand he did not relish. What did you say to her? asked his master : " I gae her sic a look" said Richie, " as suld hae gi'en her a heart- scaud o' ever comin' to me on sic errands." Mr Hamilton's father, like the writer of this, had for years the means of hearing most "lively" music, for, every Sabbath morning, he could not but overhear the lively devotion of a neighbouring congregation, v/ho sang their hymns to such tunes as " The banks and braes of bonny Doon" and " Carle now the king's come.'" Now, would this style be sufficiently "lively" for him? Or, to put a case, what would be thought of any father in the Church, after the delivery of a "learned homily," giving out the U. P. hymn, — wt Let hs go to Bethlehem, where the Eastern Magi pray," Or this other in the collection, which certainly has a very sus- picious, even a suicidal look, — " Let me dwell on 'Golgotha ; Weep and love my life away ;" — And Hately leading off in some tripping infant-school tune ; or taking from the proposed English hymn book that which com- mences with the exquisite truism, — '• Friend after friend departs ; Who has not lost a friend?" Or suppose that we had a hymn-book of our own, and the moderator of the General Assembly on the day when the report of the Sustentation Committee is to be given in, should select the exceedingly appropriate hymn, so descriptive of the plans and labours of that most important and most industrious Com- mittee as to be well worthy of a place, — " How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour ! And gather honey all the clay From every opening flower. 61 " How skilfully she builds her cell ! How neat she spreads the wax ! And labours hard to store it well With the sweet food she makes. " In works of labour and of skill Let ine be busy too ; For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do." I say, suppose this actually done, would not the Assembly be- come the laughing-stock of the country, and deservedly so ? Yet the above hymn is better far than many, in the two collections referred to, and better than some of Mr Buchan's " authorised" paraphrases, that embody literally nothing of any special doctrine of revealed truth ; whereas this can be said for the above, that it faithfully confesses the existence, personality, activity, and malig- nity of Satan, — doctrines that should have a more prominent place in public teaching than, I fear, they have at the present time. But Mr Hamilton has made some remarks in regard to Eng- land and ministers in England, that a sense of duty does not allow me to pass unnoticed. I shall endeavour to speak of Mr Hamilton's relative with a greater regard to delicacy than he himself has shown. The esteemed minister to whom he refers, whom to know is at the same time to love, will pardon me for saying that his relative is totally mistaken in the theory which he propounds. Every Scotchman who has had the op- portunity of considering the state of psalmody in England gene- rally, and in London particularly, has had cause to lament that several of the London congregations do furnish so little con- genial to a Scotchman. While they are strangers in that modern Babylon it is quite natural that they go and hear all sorts of men that in any way are eminent, or presumed so to be ; but when in the course of their wanderings, they reached the Scotch Church, Kegent Square, they found relief in meeting a thorough Scotchman as the minister, the Psalms of David and the " com- mon tunes" in honour, and, in short, found in the wilderness of London, a resting place. I utterly decline taking up the grounds suggested by the friend of the minister referred to. I entertain towards him greater respect than would admit of the introduction of his name into a controversy like this — and in the way proposed. I reserve many of my thoughts on this question, and shall produce only those that refer mainly to the many matters that affect us in Scotland, and the cadets of our families that go to England. Mr Hamilton speaks of numbers being often lost to 62 the Church of their fathers, because they had not a more lively music. He is under a perfect mistake ; and the case which he has selected proves it. The concourse of Scotchmen to the church in London, which he has indicated, is not for the causes which he specifies. Again and again I have found that the attraction was, that there was a minister, who, living for a long time in London, had not lost his nationality, and in this respect resembled Waugh, and Love, and Irving. To strangers from Scotland it was refresh- ing to be asked to sing the Psalms of David, and to find the whole frame-work of the simple order of Presbyterian worship stedfastly maintained. But if that is to be invaded, and innova- tions be allowed to creep in — above all, if such notions as Mr Hamilton propounds, are to be in the ascendent, I shall con- clude that the Free Church of Scotland has ceased to have much in common with the Presbyterian Church in England, and I for one, shall certainly not again recommend, as I have often done already, any of my young friends going to England, to join themselves spe- cially to a Church, a number of whose ministers and office-bearers seem bent on the ignoring of all the forms of worship known to their fathers. I shall say in such a case, go wherever you can find the gospel faithfully preached, and keep far away from the places where all the forms of Presbyterianism are obliterated, and try, God helping you, to remember, when those you deemed standard-bearers are fainting, the principles that you learned at home, and for which your fathers died. If Mr Hamilton really means to advocate his very peculiar views for the advancement of the Presbyterian Church in Eng- land, he should enquire whether, in so far as his suggestions are concerned, he is not doing the best thing possible for severing the only link that unites it with the Free Church, and weakening the hands of those who have, for many years by-gone, been labour- ing to exhibit a thorough Presbyterian testimony in England in internals as well as externals. Mr Hamilton says, he believed "that one great reason why Scotchmen going to England were often lost to the Church of their fathers, was just because they found a more lively devotion in other Churches in the matter of praise than in Presbyterian Churches ; so that he thought there was no occasion for hesitation or delicacy in saying," &c. When a man has made up his mind, and formed his principles, he may state them on all occasions without hesitation ; but there are many occasions when good sense and right reason will invoke the aid of " delicacy." Let Mr Hamilton judge whether he has acted " wisely " in saying that 63 in the matter on hand " there was no occasion for hesitation or delicacy." He is under a total mistake in supposing that Scotchmen going to England are lost " to the Church of their fathers," for the " one great reason " which he specifies. True blue, hard-headed Scotchmen are not very easily lost even in London. But if those whom they would fain trust and honour as their guides show that they have lost themselves, they will soon perceive the danger of longer following them. I could sit with much more comfort and profit in any place of worship, where neither the minister nor people ever knew anything better than the hymns and music which Mr Hamilton recommends, than in a Church which is stripping itself of every association connecting it with the olden time — which is not Presbyterian in its public face — but only Presbyterian in name. Yet Mr Hamilton, or some one on his side less flippant than he, may say, why go to such extremes, why not meet us at least half way — " why not give us some more hymns and some more music, and strengthen the hands of the brethren in England?" and be "glad that it (viz. the overture) was brought forward when such men as Mr Buchan were in the Church to guide the current that was setting in in favour of the improvement indicated !" To all such puling and wheedling proposals, I say " No. No. NO, a thousand times." The proposals of Mr Buchan and Mr Hamilton are utterly untenable. Let them provide, whether by means of sordid tradesmen who look only to their profits, or of committees scarcely fledged, and of very questionable authority, any amount of music; those who think with me will not only say we do not want it, but also, we will not sing it, and will not con- descend even to making the effort to learn it. Welcome any one who will teach us to sing better such melodies as were handed down to us by our fathers ! But we want neither the assistance nor the counsel of those who are bent on the introduction of in- sane inanities into the worship of God. If they provide more music we will not sing it. If they provide a hymn book we will cast it into the fire ; with all the dourness and doggedness of aroused and determined Scotchmen we will resist every proposal related to that of Mr Hamilton, even in the tenth degree ; and he may rely upon it that a goodly phalanx will he arrayed against him in May next, jealously guarding the integrity of the forms of worship handed down to us by our honoured ecclesiastical ancestors. He may term us a set of impracticable and untractable bigots, and marvel at our showing a pertinacity on the other side equal to 64 his own. Be it so. We have at all events given him fair and honest warning that we will find ways and means to obtain word about with him and his friends in the General Assembly, and that we will act on the spirit which led the rude soldiers of the Scottish Guard of King Louis when aroused for the defence of what they called their privileges, to listen with patience to the final state- ment of an aged man-at-arms, "aye, and we will be hanged by nane but Saunders , the auld marshalman o' our ain body." So say I and my friends. If a fools-cap or a cap of any sort must be superadded to the present grave and comely garb of the Free Church of Scotland, Mr Hamilton and his father Mr Buchan, will not be recognised by Scotchmen as the proper parties to impose it ; none under the rank of the " auld Marshalmen o' our ain bodie" should attempt it; I and my friends will wait in hope that none of these will ever make the attempt. My readers will be so good as notice that I have received im- plicitly every allegation made by Mr Buchan and his brethren. Although I have remarked freely upon some of them, I have hitherto received without contradiction or dispute, what they have formally propounded as facts, within the range of their own per- sonal knowledge. But Mr Buchan has made one statement which, 1 frankly say, I cannot believe, and in regard to which, with all possible respect, I must hold him to have been mistaken or misinformed. It is when, referring with approbation to "the hymn book recently issued by the United Presbyterian Synod," he says : — " It has also been particularly gratifying to him to learn that one of the leading ministers of that Church had expressed himself willing to delay the publication of that collection, if he could by that secure any movement in that direction on the -part of the Free Church." I do not believe that any minister, least of all, any leading minister, of a Church, with which we are at perfect peace, could have lent himself to such a conspiracy for the changing of all things in the public worship of God amongst us. The thing is incredible. No man of standing in the Church, to which he re- fers, could have done it. i will not believe this till Mr Buchan gives the name and surname of the person he refers to ; and I will not believe it even then, unless I find that the party referred to, confesses that he was actually aiding and abetting in a con- spiracy for the overturning of the outward form and frame-work of the worship of God in the Free Church of Scotland. I re- peat, I cannot, without good evidence, believe this ; and if com- 65 pelled by overwhelming demonstration to credit it, my grief would be great. But if Mr Buchan is persuaded of it, he is surely bound to remind his young friends of the penalties connected with the following of " Divisive courses ;" to instruct them that in the Presbytery they have much latitude, but that it is the greatest crime, analogous to Treason in things civil, to lend for one moment an ear to parties without who are plotting the destruction of our distinctive forms of worship. It might be well also for him to remind his young friends of the solemn engagements they came under before God and before man to maintain the worship, as well as the doctrine and discipline of this Church. These things ought not to be trifled with. Ordination vows are very serious things. In drawing to a close I must notice the remark of Mr Buchan, homologated, I think, by his friends who voted for his overture, whereby he wishes it to be believed that, in his opinion, the Free Church had many things peculiar and distinctive, and these be (Mr B.) held sacred ; and, " he might be allowed to add, that his attachment to all that is distinctive in her position and prin- ciples was gaining strength, — that now more than ever he held by the ancient landmarks" ! ! ! " Ancient landmarks" forsooth ! Why does he not specify what some of these may be ? Does he expect to get any one that has studied even a few pages of a school history of Scotland to concur with him in saying — 1. That the adoption of such a hymn book as that of the United Presbyterian or English Churches is reverencing any " ancient landmark" known to the Church or people of Scotland ? 2. Does he mean to say ditto about his proposal to sing certain parts of the Scriptures in the words of the literal translation without being paraphrased — which he " hopes soon to see intro- duced ?" And when he speaks of there being " no difficulty in adapting them to music," &c, does he mean to recommend the chaunts of the Popish and English Churches, or does he prefer the beautiful system of " intoning " as practiced, with great effect, not long ago at St Barnabas. 3. Does he mean to say ditto in connection with the ignoring a set of scriptural hymns and spiritual songs which the Church did sanction about a century and a half ago ; and ignoring the prayer of his own Synod which has been lying disregarded on the table of the General Assembly for three quarters of a century ? And lastly, and to conclude under this head, is it out of a pen- chant for the " ancient landmarks" that in his overture and in his 66 speech he talks over and over again of the Church having autho- rised the paraphrases and hymns ? 4. Does he mean farther that it was out of respect for "an- cient landmarks" that he has omitted in his overture to suggest the repeal of the Act 1647, the standard law of the Church on the subject, and also the Act of 1713. Mr Buchan must, when he looks at these Acts, perceive that neither chaunting, nor iutonations, nor the U. P. or E. P. hymns or music could pass the guage. Let him, by a supplementary overture, ask the repeal of these statutes, and, before the Barrier Act has shewn its inherent power, he will have had most abundant scope for exhibiting the grounds on which, although obliged to plead for the abrogation of these " ancient statutes," he is still to be numbered among the venerators of the "ancient landmarks." 5. Is it in consistency with a professed admiration of the "an- cient landmarks," to anticipate in terms indicating blame, that when in a congregation a new tune was introduced, some would object to it as unnecessary. Mr Buchan has forgotten that a great many people want no new tunes, but wish to have the " old" like Coleshill, or the new based on the old models, like Torwood and a few of the same character. He has also forgotten that the greatest living master of practical psalmody, viz. Hullah^ whose great work is commended by the Reverend and talented editor of the modern edition, or rather fac-simile of the music of Ravens- croft, has in as many words said that whatever new thing might be needed in this age of advancement, it certainly was not a new psalm tune. Apart, and away altogether, from my native antipathy to hymns, I am opposed to them on this ground, that history shews, that whensoever they were anxiously desired, the Psalms of David became of less repute. At the time when the paraphrases now in use, were concocting, Dr Beattie was requested to give a new version of the psalms; when, under Principal Baird, the same thing was attempted, Sir Walter Scott was also requested to give a new version of the psalms. Dr Beattie and Sir Walter Scott, with good reasons given, declined the task. Lord Byron, it is rumoured, was willing to take it up. The late Dr Brunton managed to get a number of transmogrified psalms and presented them to the General Assembly. Dr Andrew Thomson referring in his book of psalmody to the procedure of Dr Brunton's com- mittee, savs, writing in lb20, " We have been restricted both by our desire to give little or nothing but what is fit for congrega- tional use, and also by the paucity of metres in our National 61 Church psalmody. The latter defect we hope to get remedied by the exertions of the Psalmody Committee of the General As- sembly. As soon as their labours are brought to a close," &c, " we shall publish our Second Part.'" Happily this was never done. Happily also R. A. Smitb checked some of the musical pruriencies of Dr Thomson. But some adjoining churches hav- ing now got the additional " metres" which Dr Andrew Thomson could not obtain, forgot that they needed music for them also. Being possessed of the U. P. hymns, I went as I thought to head- quarters for the music. I was told that there was none provided ; but that the most suitable was what 1 find is now published iu connection with R A. Smith's work, and which, certainly, is little better than a canister tied to its tail. The case is not more different to-day, than it was a century ago. Whensoever a flood of paraphrases and hymns was threat- ened, there was a dead certainty of an attack upon the Psalms of David. It is so at the present time; the Establishment has 150 hymns under consideration. I have never been so fortunate as to see them, and supposing I had, I could have made no use of them, for they were on all hands held to be private — but they have also a version of the Psalms of David awaiting their judgment. Selections from it were presented to the last Assembly. From these I cull out one, which I ask my readers to collate with the analogous lines from King James' version,* or the common version. These are the verses that, from time immemorial, have been sung at the close of our General Assemblies, to the tune of St Paul's. How the new version would suit, let my readers judge. Here it is, — PSALM CXXII. Pray that Jerus'lem may, in peace For ever, more and more, increase. 4 All those, whose bosoms inly glow With ardent love to thee, Shall have an unremitting flow Of rich prosperity. May peace abound within thy walls, And gladness in thy Lordly halls. 5 For their sakes whom I love so well — My brethren and my friends, Peace, I will say, within thee dwell, — That peace which never ends. Because of God-Jehovah's fane, Thy welfare v. ill I seek to gain. * See page 28. 68 We may see then what kind of psalms would be given, to super- sede the present version. As it is in the Establishment, so it would be with us. Some ridiculous parody like that proposed for that body, of which I have given a specimen, would soon present itself for superseding the present version of the psalms. I do not believe that our friends are any thing, but purely mistaken in the supposition, that a lot of hymns would content them. They would, I am persuaded, care little for more hymns if our common Iambic rythm were adhered to. No ! let them say as they please in the U. P. the E. P. and the Established Churches, it is more metres, and consequently more music that is wanted. The Iambic rythm must give place to the Anapestic, and then Coles- hill must make way for " deil tali the wars" In these hymn books, already, the number of " particular measures" is enormous. And when the rythm is faultless, the words are in so many cases wedded to complicated anthems that there is no doubt that the purpose of the Innovators was to revolutionise the music, and, in such a way, as to exclude the people from joining in the services of the sanctuary. No congregation, for instance, could ever be taught properly to sing the anthem " Before Jehovah's awful throne." A band of trained singers alone could do it, and these would be discomposed unless the people kept silence. I must now leave the whole subject for the present ; not that I have exhausted it, for, thanks to the Presbytery of Hamilton, it is inexhaustible. But my patience, and that of my reader too, is wholly exhausted. Other opportunities may occur. Mr Buchan cannot fail to overture the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr on the subject, and if, for any cause, he deserts his overture, some of the minority, in whose proceedings I only regret that there was not more of bold- ness, are bound to take it up. I saw in their remarks, however, a most gratifying indication of sound, though to a great extent unexplained views, on this important subject, and their reasons of dissent contain the germs of a noble testimony — whatever Mr Buchan may think. How their reasons were refused a place on the Record I know not, and I do not inquire ; but the allusion to them in the " Scottish Guardian" of January 31st, shews that, on the question of psalmody, they do not need to be lectured by Mr Buchan. All that the " Guardian" says in substance, is, that the reasons of dissent from the resolution to transmit an overture " characterised the overture — as inexpedient, hurtful to the feelings of many godly •peo-ple in the land, inconsistent with the genius and spirit of Presbytery, dishonouring to God's word, and likely to be 69 followed by other innovations and encroachments." These are very weighty assertions. Mr Buchan has not attempted to refute one of them. He only sneers at the men who tabled them. They can well afford to endure this, for, they may rely upon it, they are not alone, and unsympathised with. I believe them to re- present the overwhelming majority in the Church — but we shall see in May. In anticipating more innovations, the brethren in the minority are right. Suppose chaunting — intoning — hymn books — lively music — learned homilies at a discount — ministers, called to preach the gospel, spending the half of the Sabbath day without any " word of exhortation" to the people — the devoutness shewn, by aged disciples, time immemorial, held up to open contempt — the measures of the Free Church framed, so as to countenance people in England and elsewhere, in their wanderings away from Presbyterianism, and to outrage all the cherished recollections, and ridicule what, at the very least goes to indicate that we have "ten righteous men" amongst us, — all these things, and a few more, are advocated in the Presbytery of Hamilton. But there are other innovations, such as; — unwonted postures in worship — the dispensation of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper without tables — the adjournment to dinner after the morning meeting, to come back in the afternoon for the purpose of communicating — the substituting in many places in the country, worship in the evening in place of the afternoon. When Mr Buchan approves of the U. P. hymns he will not object to take an Innovation or two from the Established Church. It was overtured in May last to empower ministers to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper m private houses" Another overture, at the same period, calls not only for dispensing with tables, of limited dimensions, which require to be occupied "five, six, eight, or more times" "during the same day," but also for dispensing with "addresses or exhortations to the communicants at the Table." It is quite clear that, by the slightest effort, in the way of search, innumerable innovations may he found. Looking to the merry rate at which the Churches around are threatening to move, Mr Buchan may apply to us the lines of D'Israeli, ex- chancellor of the exchequer^ " Why leans Childe Dacre on the wall when all the rest are dancing ?" Yet if such things are introduced, what becomes of the " pub- lick face" of the Church which John Knox prayed might be preserved in this realm. Meanwhile it is the duty, as much of those that think with Mr 70 Buchan, as of those that adhere to the brethren, whom he thinks he has vanquished, to take every constitutional means through Overtures from Kirk-sessions, Presbyteries, and Provincial Synods, to give the General Assembly the means and opportunity of knowing the true feelings of the people of Scotland. Every one of our Presbyteries and Synods, not to say every one of our Kirk-sessions, and congregations, should speak up and out on this question ; so nearly and dearly affecting every interest in the Free Church. All I ask for, is, that there may be a free, and, above all, a full expression of the general mind of the Free Church of Scotland. When that has been obtained — whether it may be favourable, or adverse to my views, I will hold that I have only to shew a prac- tical acquiescence in the decision, whether I approve of it or not. I trust the Presbytery of Hamilton will resolve upon doing the same. A conclusive settlement, one way or another, is impera- tively demanded. No half-measure will do. The evident idea of the majority in the Presbytery of Hamilton is, that they are labouring for an improvement, in the matter and manner of the public worship of God ; and it is to be inferred that, when they find that they are determinedly opposed, they will set down their antagonists as men who are behind the spirit of the age, — men who cannot gambol with them in the airy regions of frothy music, and inflated hymns — men who have neither ap- petite nor relish for the luxuries that they crave, and who are thus to be held worthy of small regard. They avow themselves thus to be " the strong." Venturing with all humility to speak for myself and others, I will confess that we are " the weak." But we may fairly ask the Presbytery to give a deliverance on Romans xv. 1,2. " We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour, for his good, in edification." There is a large and a tender care shewn, in the word of God, for the " weak." We then in this matter will glory in our weak- ness ; if thereby, our brethren may be persuaded to shew the for- bearance which is enjoined. Nothing should be done by them to cause " the weak brother to offend," nothing " to wound the weak conscience." To the " weak they should become as weak, that they miofht gain the weak." They might put on '' bowels of mercy and of kindness." Up to this period they have been coming down in power, aye, and in great and needless wrath, too. With an omniverous crav- ing for innovations of all sorts, which, if gratified, would soon 71 cause " their paunches clown to hing" they are quite like the man mentioned by the Apostle, who " believeth that he may eat all things" It is not so with us. We cannot relish the racy delicates that they desire for tickling their palates ; we cannot stomach their hymns and music, and many things of theirs, besides. We must be content to confess that our humble type is to be found in the Epistle already quoted — "another who is weak, eateth herbs." Our petition to our brethren, then is, not that they would ask us to spread a richer table — not that they would instruct us how best to obliterate our native senses of taste and smell, and gradually lead us to relish what is now a perfect scunner to us ; — but this poor, simple, reasonable request, and literally nothing more, that they would be so kind as allow us to " eat our herbs" in peace and quietness. POSTS CBIPTUM. The author of the above remarks has seen no necessity for giving his name, because the nature of the subject is such, that the humblest member of the Free Church of Scotland, is equally entitled to a hearing, with the most able and distinguished. The question, raised by the Presbytery of Hamilton, is pre-emin- ently a popular question. The people can understand it, and they will take it up ; and pronounce upon it, one way or another, uninfluenced by the authority of names. He wishes to guard himself against the supposition, that by publishing anonymously, he shrinks from the responsibility connected with any of the fore- going statements. He thinks that the facts which he adduces, .should be allowed to speak for themselves. His opinions may be either received, or rejected, as the divided state of opinion on the subject may dictate. He has been careful to inform himself on every point which he alleges, and had written almost the entire of his pamphlet, without deciding whether he should issue it anonymously or no. He has chosen the former course. But if he finds that in any part or portion of the large, and, by many, unknown field, that he has travelled over, he has fallen into the simplest error, he will on the instant, and without waiting to be asked so to do, give ample explanation, or retraction. If he has made any mis-statements, in regard to the subject, or rather con- geries of subjects handled, he thinks he will make the discovery ( himself, quite as soon as any member of the Presbytery of Ham- ilton, and will act accordingly. Errata. In page 63, for " insane inanities" read ;i inane insanities." In footnote page 57, for " Sacopio Re. &c," read " Jacopo Re, &c." And for " Pensieri Universi" read ; ' Pensieri Diversi." %* Finding, unexpectedly, that I had a morsel of space re- maining : I thought I could not do better than devote it to the purpose of asking the Presbytery of Hamilton to refute a work, pregnant with learning and research, by " Joseph T. Cooper, Pastor of the Second Associate Presbyterian Congrega- tion, Philadelphia." I give them, in brief, what 1 wish them to superadd to the passages they are required to refute in pages 47, 48, 49. 1 wish them to understand, that I most emphatically demand from them, as men of letters, and theologians, the refutation, of this, and all that I have already submitted to them, and that I will accept nothing in lieu of refutation. " It appears, from these statements, \st, That nothing but inspired songs were sung in the Church in the earliest times 2d, That the introduction of hymns of human composition was an innovation introduced into the Christian Church after she had entered on a course of declension, which not only met with opposition, but was con- demned and forbidden by a council of the Church so late as the year 561. 3d, That it was by the abettors of error that this was most practiced, and that one reason why it was dreaded by the orthodox, was the use which was made of it fur diffusing heretical opinions. 4th, That it was not till so late a council as that of Toledo, in 633, when, it is generally admitted, that Popery had become full-blown, that it came to be approved of. 5th, That even then it was not defended by an appeal to apostolic authority, or as sanctioned by the practice of the early fathers of the Church. On the contrary, it is admitted that it had no countenance from antiquity, and the poetical compositions recommended are of no earlier date than the fourth century, in which Ambrose and Hilary flourished. Moreover, it is by an appeal to other innovations, such as forms of prayer and liturgies, that the new practice is sought to be vindicated, and by such a trifling argument, as that the ancient hymns and doxologies taken from Scripture were not wholly free from human additions, which they could scarcely be. unless they were sung in Hebrew. The question now at issue, or which is practically agitated, is not whether other poetical parts of Scrip- ture, as well as the Psalms of David, may be sung in the public worship of God, but whether in public praise the Church is to employ only the inspired songs with which we are furnished in the Scriptures, or hymns of human composition and loose para- phrases of Scripture, which, if things progress as they are doing, threaten to sup- plant the Psalms, or put them in the shade in most of the churches. Where, then, do the ahettors of the practice of employing hymns of human composition in the public praise of God, find their warrant for this? In the Bible? Xo, it is not to be found there. In the practice of the Christian Church in the days of her greatest purity ? Xo, the evidence of any thing of this kind in her best days is wanting. Yea, the opposite, we find, is furnished. Where, then, is it found? In the same source to which Puseyites have gone to find stvpping-stoncs to carry them I u k to Popery.*' APPENDIX. No. I. Extract from the Scottish Guardian, 25th November 1853. HAMILTON FREE PRESBYTERY. The Free Church Presbytery of Hamilton met on Tuesday, — the Rev. Mr Jaffray, Moderator. OVERTURE ANENT PSALMODY. Mr Buchan then brought forward the motion of which he had given notice at last meeting. He said, that in proposing a motion on a sub- ject of this kind he might state, at the outset, that he did it under a deep feeling of its importance, and also of his own responsibility in in- troducing the subject to the attention of the Presbytery, and through the Presbytery to the attention of the Church at large. But he had not rashly taken this step, but had well considered it, and trusted to be able to satisfy his brethren that it was a matter worthy of their attention, and worthy of the attention of the Church generally. The overture was in these terms : — [The Overture is given in page 8.] He thought that apart from the merits of the overture, the terms in which it was expressed could not be found liable to objection. "What- ever might be done with the overture, there were certain things in it in which all of them must concur. He need not argue, as if it required proof, that the celebration of God's praise was an important part of public worship, or that it was the duty of the Church to give due pro- minence thereto, — whatever some of them might think was to be consi- dered as due prominence. For his own part, he thought that the measure of attention given to the subject of psalmody at present was unequal to its importance. It was the only portion of the services of the sanctuary in which the congregation audibly joined, and it was, on that account, all the more important that it should be so arranged that they might engage in it with delight and fervency, and with the understanding. He was struck to find, as a historical fact, that at the period of the Reformation abroad and in our own country, much larger attention was given to the psalmody of the Church and a greater degree of prominence D 2 APPENDIX. than had been given at a later period. It was not necessary for him to prove what the overture stated, that it was the duty of the Church to take order that the psalmody be conducted in the most suitable and edifying manner. The Church had agreed that, in the first place, one book of the Word of God was peculiarly adapted and intended for the praise of God, and had also recognised the use of certain paraphrases of other portions of Scripture, and a few hymns. Some would be pleased if only one book of the Bible had been allowed by the Church to be used in congregations. But, he apprehended, they were under a great mistake. Let them try it by whatever test they pleased, it could not be shewn that the book of Psalms was the only portion of the Word of God which should be used in singing His praises. He said so the more earnestly because he had such an affection for the psalms, that whatever might come of the overture, and whatever additions might be made to the hymns, — and he trusted there would be a large addition, — he felt that the psalms ought ever to form a very large and leading portion of the service. But he felt that we should do honour to the Word of God by using every part of it, in so far as it naturally admitted of being transferred to the exercise of praise. Many passages, not in the psalms, were clearly intended, from their structure, to be used for that purpose, and the Church had recognised the fact in sanctioning the collection of paraphrases and hymns. The overture stated that some of these were found not to be adapted to the purpose of their selection, and that some were objectionable as giving erroneous exhibitions of divine truth, and ought therefore to be withdrawn. He believed there could be no dif- ference of opinion on this point. Mr Buchan then referred to the 16th, the 17th, and 47th paraphrases, and the 3d hymn as examples. These, he said, were only specimens, and he thought there could be no doubt that they should not be used in Christian worship. He thought he was doing service to the Church in faithfully calling attention to these things in hymns of praise recognised by it, and which were opposed to the Word of God and the edification of His people. The next portion of the overture stated that others of our collection of paraphrases and hymns were of great spiritual excellence, had proved edifying to the souls of God's people, and ought to be continued in use. He thought it was difficult for any one to examine the paraphrases without seeing that while a considerable proportion of them should be withdrawn, others were of great excellence. Mr Buchan called attention particu- larly to the 39th, 43d, 44th, 46th, 48th, 53d, 64th, 65th, and 66th para- phrases, all of which he thought should be retained, — for, of course, it was by no means the purpose of his overture to introduce a change for the sake of changing. Then his overture proposed that a further selec- tion should be made of hymns and paraphrases suitable for the exercises of praise. It might be said that the Book of Psalms was enough for that purpose, but that was a matter of opinion. Some might find it enough for them, but others might not ; and he took his stand upon the principle that they should do honour to the Word of God by using for the exercises of praise all those passages, whether in the psalms or not, APPENDIX. 6 which were plainly adapted for that purpose. There were some, too, he was aware, who even, in regard to music, would be satisfied with one tune. One of the best men he ever knew was in the habit of sing- ing Coleshill at family worship, daily, for fifty years. He had no doubt whatever that in every congregation when a new tune was introduced, there would always be found those who would object that it was unneces- sary. And some had a feeling that it indicated a higher tone of spiritual discernment that they were able to find in the psalms all that they wanted, although others did not. Now, he was clearly of opinion that the Psalms of David must always form a large portion of our psalmody, but there was a principle involved in this question, and they were not at liberty to exclude from the worship of God those other portions of Scripture which God had evidently given for that purpose. If it was said that there are 150 psalms, he would ask in reply — How many of these are sung ? He only once knew an instance in which a minister sung the psalms through from beginning to end, and the effect of it was that the congregation did not, for the most part, come in till the first psalm was over. The whole of the psalms were never sung, and when ministers had selected a certain number, they would find that they were perpetually moving in a circle, larger or smaller, of particular psalms, and in a few weeks, generally speaking, they had gone their round of them and must just begin again. But let them look to other portions of the Word of God. Take, for example, the 15th chapter of Exodus. Will it be maintained that that was not intended to be sung by the Church of Christ in her public offices, or that, in being excluded from her psalmody, she was not injured — deprived of a portion of her patri- mony ? Then, in the 2d chapter of Samuel, there was Hannah's song, in reference to a domestic event. Almost every part of Isaiah, with the exception of the historical portions, was adapted for praise, as was shown by Bishop Lowth on the poetry of Isaiah. In the New Testament they had Mary's song, and in the 15th chapter of Revelations a magni- ficent epitome of Moses' song. He might say, by the way, that he saw no reason why some of these poetical portions of the Scriptures should not be sung in the words of the literal translation without being para- phrased at all. Indeed, he would consider that an improvement, and hoped the time was not distant when it might be generally introduced. There was no difficulty in adapting them to music ; and if the matter was earnestly gone about, there would be no difficulty in teaching con- gregations to sing them. Then, in regard to the Christian psalmody in use in many of the churches, he had been at pains to compare a great variety of collections, — the result of which was a conviction that there was such affluence that the only difficulty would be in making a selection. He referred, among others, to the hymn-book recently issued by the United Presbyterian Synod, which he thought reflected great credit on that body, and formed an important contribution, on the whole, to the cause of evangelical religion. It had alone been particularly gratifying to him to learn that one of the leading min- isters of that Church had expressed himself willing to delay the d 2 4 APPENDIX. publication of that collection if he could by that secure any movement in that direction on the part of the Free Church, in the hope that such an attempt on her part would result in a collection which all parties might have found suitable for use. The Free Church had many things peculiar and distinctive, and these he (Mr B.) held sacred. He might be allowed to add, that his attachment to all that is distinctive in her position and principles was gaining strength — that now more than ever he held by the ancient land-marks. But more than ever, also, was he anxious to unite, on common ground, so far as that was practicable, with all of every name who love the Lord Jesus Christ. He looked forward to the time when the cause of Christ would triumph in Scot- land, and an united testimony be raised clearly and triumphantly in His name. He wished, if possible, to contribute to that great purpose, and was persuaded that if this matter was not taken up by the Church and arranged now, it might not be so well done when the men who had led the Free Church into her present position had departed from the scene. It was because he had wished to advance the cause of Christ and the prosperity of the Free Church of Scotland, — it was on this account that, as one of the older brethren, and one intensely devoted to the Free Church, and to her distinctive principles, that he made this proposal, which, besides affording scope for the spiritual exercises of Christ's people, would establish a fresh bond of union between them and other Churches ; so that, when brethren from England came to Scot- land, they would have the same hymns sung that were used in their own country, and Scotchmen going to England would find themselves no strangers when they went into Churches there ; and so, without any compromise of principle, the ties of brotherly love would be strength- ened, and Christian sympathy cherished and increased. Mr Anderson seconded the adoption of the overture without re- mark. Mr M'Gown moved that the overture be not transmitted. He did so, he said, very much on the ground of the inexpediency of introduc- ing this matter, which might raise a controversy to some extent disas- trous to the Church. If he thought it expedient, in present circum- stances, to go into the question, he believed he could very easily sub- stantiate the view of it which he himself took ; but he proposed the amendment at present entirely with respect to the inexpediency of moving in a matter on which there was such diversity of opinion, and that, too, immediately after the Church had happily terminated other controversies, which threatened to be of a painful kind. He was not one of those who found it difficult to discover a psalm suitable to the subjects chosen in course of his ministrations. Mr Smith seconded the amendment. He did so chiefly for the rea- sons already hinted at. There could be no doubt that there was not only great difference of opinion in the Church upon this subject, but also a good deal of strong feeling, stronger feeling than he had himself, in regard to the impropriety of introducing anything in addition to the psalms, and very specially anything other than unadulterated transla- APPENDIX. 5 tion of Scripture. If there were time, a good deal might be said in de- fence of the position that nothing should be used in the praise of God but inspired psalmody. He did not think there was any great urgency in this matter; as there were paraphrases of Scripture in addition to the psalms, which were allowed to be used in the Church, he thought that there was no pressing call for an addition. In regard to the ex- punging of certain paraphrases, he saw no great call for raising this question on that account ; the objectionable passages were few, and he did not think they were ever sung. He would decidedly object to the introduction of hymns of human composition. Uninspired psalmody might be useful in private, but he would most decidedly object to its introduction in the public worship of God. Much as we valued Boston and Owen, and other eminent divines, no one would think of reading their works from the pulpit as part of the exercises. Like Mr M'Gown, he felt no difficulty in getting psalms suitable to texts, and so far from an adherence to the psalms having the effect of bringing the minister and congregation round in a circle, he could say that for the first ten years of his ministry he avoided singing the same psalm twice in half-a- year, and yet he used the psalms, and nothing else, and did not intend to use anything else, however many hymns might be provided. But he grounded his opposition to the overture principally on the inexpe- diency of such a movement in present circumstances. There was a very fair compromise at present between those who disapproved of para- phrases and hymns and those who adopted them, and he would be sorry that such a controversy, which could hardly fail to be injurious to the Church, should be raised in the General Assembly. He would like that members, in voting upon the motion and amendment, would re- member, that, in voting for the amendment on the ground of the inex- pediency of the motion, they were not committed to his or any parti- cular views on the use of psalms, hymns, and paraphrases. He hoped that no other Presbytery would follow in this direction, and that if the overture was carried, it might yet be prevented coming before the Assembly. Mr Jackson did not enter into Mr Smith's views that only the psalms should be used in public worship ; and if Mr Buchan's motion only had reference to Scripture paraphrases, he could have supported it, but as it also proposed the addition of hymns, he must vote against it. Mr Hamilton felt that the Presbytery was much indebted to Mr Buchan for bringing forward this motion. We had fallen very much behind in Scotland in the matter of psalmody. Singing was now looked upon as a very subordinate part of Divine worship. The very phrase " the preachings," by which the services on communion occa- sions were distinguished, showed the notion of the people that it was just a time for hearing a number of different ministers preaching. He felt that it was too much the feeling of the people in coming to church, that they were coming to hear a very learned homily upon some par- ticular text, and that it was no matter though the praise was hurried APPENDIX. over in four lines of a psalm, and every other part of the service cut down so that the minister got time to sermonize. He believed if he or any other minister were to spend one portion of the day in reading the Word of God, in praise and prayer, the people would go home perfectly outraged — and yet this was very much the practice with the primitive Christians, who spent the greater part of the time devoted to public worship on Sabbath in praise and prayer, and reading the Scriptures, accompanying the reading with short comments. He would like to sing the psalms at Shotts with Mr Smith, from beginning to end — (Mr Smith — I did not say that) — but he did not stand up for the exclusive use of divinely inspired poetry. He saw no objection to the use of hymns if they were in accordance with the Word of God, for he saw no reason why they should not adopt the language of pious men who poured out the spirit of devotion in the form of praise. And he trusted that a motion of this kind coming from the very head-quarters of the district of the Covenanters, would have the greater effect upon the Church, by showing them that the mantle which had fallen upon the successors of these worthies, was somewhat different from what it had sometimes been thought to be. He believed that one great reason why Scotchmen going to England were often lost to the Church of their fathers, was just because they found a more lively devotion in other Churches in the matter of praise than in Presbyterian Churches ; so that — he thought there was no occasion for hesitation or delicacy in saying it — it was only such men as his brother who kept together Presbyterian congregations at all, and this solely on account of their own eminent talents. But the adoption by the Church of the motion made by Mr Buchan would strengthen the hands of their brethren in England ; and he was glad that it was brought forward when such men as Mr Buchan were in the Church to guide the current which was setting in in favour of the improvement indicated. It was not by con- fining themselves to the Psalms of David, and to such old, drawling tunes as Coleshill and Crole — each note occupying half a minute in the singing of it — that they would give scope to the devotional feelings, and he felt that it was quite inexpedient to adhere to the old style, in the mistaken notion that they would thereby remain more orthodox than other Churches. Mr Buchanan had listened with great delight to the overture, and the very able speech of Mr Buchan. He would like to see any member of this Presbytery, or of any Presbytery, take up that motion piecemeal, as their reverend father had done, and answer it as thoroughly as he believed Mr Buchan had confirmed it. The doubt about the expediency of the movement was met by the simple question — Are we in a right position at present in regard to the Church's psalmody? To his mind it was very clear that they were not; and if so, and if it required very large amendment, the sooner they were in the controversy the better. If they were not confined to inspired language in prayer, what possible reason could there be why they should be confined to it in praise? He would put it to the brethren APPENDIX. 7 whether they really believed that though they might find suitable psalms, the bulk of the congregation would see the bearing of the psalms upon the subject of discourse. He certainly felt great difficulty himself in finding psalms to answer the matter on which he had to speak, especially when the same subject occupied several days in the exposition. Of course, it was understood that although a hymn-book were sanctioned, no congregation or minister was compelled to use it. Mr Lawson said that his mind went very much with the motion in everything except that he was not quite sure whether it was right to sing words that were other than translations of the Psalms, or of other parts of Scripture. Perhaps, on full consideration, he might sympa- thise with all the views taken in the motion, but in the meantime he should record his vote against it, on the ground of its inexpediency at present, since there was no great urgency. Mr Rankin thought it quite fair to ask that since it was admitted that certain paraphrases and hymns were objectionable, they should be expunged. He had expected to hear from the mover and seconder of the amendment some reasons for their dread of the agitation of such questions, but none such had been given, and he thought that Mr Buchan's statement that they were really much circumscribed by the exclusive use of the Psalms, remained unanswered by anything that had been said. Mr Balfour said that as to tha argument that uninspired composi- tions should not be used in Divine worship, it should be remembered that one part of the service consisted in addressing the people from God, and, of course, Scripture, with comments, must then be exclusively given, but when the minister addressed God, in name of the people, he did not entirely use Scripture language, and so, when the whole con- gregation addressed God in praise, there was no obligation upon them to use only inspired words. Mr Jackson said that in prayer, the more they used Scripture language the better. Mr Smith said that the difference between the two cases put by Mr Balfour was this, that in the singing of praise, we must have a form, and since they had got a form in inspired language, they should adhere to it. Mr Buchan said that he would not prolong the discussion by any- thing like a formal or elaborate reply, which, indeed, was not necessary, as he had not been able to discover that any attempt had been made to argue the overture on its merits, much less to meet the arguments with which it had been maintained. Let him, however, congratulate the Presbytery on the perfect kindness with which the debate had been carried on, on all sides — a circumstance peculiarly gratifying to him as an evidence that the fears entertained by the brethren who supported the amendment, of the discussion of this subject giving rise to animosities in the Church, were altogether unfounded, unless, indeed, they imagined that brethren elsewhere did not cherish towards each other the same love and esteem that were expressed here. The only 8 APPENDIX. thing, from first to last, urged against the overture was the inexpediency of doing so. But when or to what overture was the same objection not made ? and when, on the part of those now making the objection, would it ever be considered expedient to discuss the question ? Be- sides, the grounds on which that was rested proved that it was not the inexpediency of discussion as such that was in view — for, by one of the brethren the Presbytery had been told that he would agree to an overture if it proposed only to make additions from Scripture, and by another that he would concur in a proposal to expunge objectionable paraphrases. But did not that imply discussion ? Then, it was fitting that any movement of this kind should originate, not in one of the more prominent Presbyteries, which are commonly, though erroneously, supposed to monopolise the origination of public measures, nor with brethren who were perpetually before the eye of the community, but in a provincial Presbytery, and with men who were known to be not only not ambitious of taking part in the public discussions of the Church, but confining their services to humbler spheres, rejoiced that the counsels of the Church were guided by other and abler men. The vote was then taken, transmit or not transmit, with the following result : — Transmit. — Messrs Buchan, Anderson, Hamilton, Buchanan, Connell, Balfour, ministers, and three elders — 9. Not transmit. — Messrs M'Gown, Jackson, Lawson, Smith, and one elder — 5. The motion was accordingly carried by a majority of four. Mr Smith, Mr M'Gown, and Mr Jackson dissented. Mr Lawson and the elder who voted with the minority did not feel so strongly upon the subject as to adhere to the dissent. The Presbytery, before separating, agreed to recommend the Church at Dalzell to the Sustentation Committee, in prospect of the settlement of Mr Ogilvie over them. APPENDIX No. II. In now furnishing an exact copy of the Old Paraphrases, I deem it necessary to say a few words in addition to what is found in my " Remarks" on the subject of their preparation. The "Advertisement" given at their commencement from the edition of 1754 is, so far as it goes, the same verbatim which appears in the editions subsequent to 1751, when the Assembly recommended the collection " to be used in Private Families," has, in subsequent editions, this superadded at the close, — instead of the words " admitted into this new Impression," — "admitted into their edition of 1751, from which this was printed" It may interest some, at least, to know that the care bestowed upon the Old Paraphrases, betwixt 1745, when they were printed as mere proofs, and 1751, when they were sanctioned for use in "Private Families," was very great, and that it may be judged of by collation of the proof- copy of 1745 and the authorised copies thereafter issued. It occurred to me, but only as an after-thought, that, having collated these versions, it might gratify a number to have the means of judging of the difference betwixt the proof and the sanctioned copy. Accordingly, although it may somewhat deform the pages of the Appendix, I have put in as much of the proof-copy as could be put in the form of foot-notes with- out discomposing the good Old Paraphrases, which I had in situ. The minute verbal alterations, some of them very interesting, however, I do not give ; but I have given, so far as space permitted, the more salient points of these alterations. Everything given in the foot-notes is from the proof of 1745, with the solitary exception of the final note connected with the last paraphrase, which is my own. The proof of 1745 contained this prefix: — " Edinburgh, 18th May 1745. " The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland had laid before them, by their Committee, some Pieces of Sacred Poesy, under the title of Translations and Paraphrases of several passages of Sacred Scrip- ture, composed by private persons : And tho' the Assembly have not sufficient time to consider these Poems maturely, so as to approve or disapprove of them ; yet they judge the same may be printed : and do remit the consideration of them to the several Presbyteries, in order to their transmitting their observations to the next General Assembly : that they, or any subsequent Assembly may give such orders about the 10 whole affair, as they shall judge for edification : And the Assembly appoint this their Resolution to be prefixed to the impression. " Extracted by Will. Grant, CI. Eccl. Scot." The collater of the Old Paraphrases with those in some places now used will see a great difference in arrangement. The modern Paraphrases are given in the order of the books of the Bible, The old ones are ar- ranged with a regard to the order of events. Commencing with our Lord's advent, they go on continuously to his resurrection, and end with the songs which his ransomed shall sing in the heavens. A his- tory — logically connected and complete — is thus given in the Old, 'while the New is disjointed and unconnected. U TRANSLATIONS* AND PARAPHRASES OF \ SEVERAL PASSAGES OF SACRED SCPIPTURE. COLLECTED AND PREPARED By a Committee appointed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. And, by the Act of Aflembly 1745, tranfmitted to Presbyteriks for their confideration. The Third Edition Revised and corrected according to Appoint- ment of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1749. PRINTED in the YEAR M,DCC,LIV." * The Title of subsequent editions ran thus :— " Scripture Songs, or Translations," &c. "ADVERTISEMENT. IT has been often and earnestly desired, by pious and devout Persons to Lave our Psalmody enlarged, by joining with the Psalms of David some other Scriptural Songs, out of the New Testament as well as the Old. The Church of Scotland had this Design in View not long after the Revolution, and it has been at different Times under their Deliberation, as appears by several Acts and Recommendations of General Assemblies. By Act of Assembly 1742, a Committee was appointed to collect and prepare Translations and Paraphrases of Sacred Writ in Verse : This Committee having made no Report, the Assembly 1744 renewed their Appointment on them for this Purpose, and added some others to their Number. In Consequence of these Appointments of the Assembly, Letters were writ, in Name of this Com- mittee, to the several Presbyteries, desiring them to send any Materials they could furnish for this pious Design. These Poems, which are now Printed, and transmitted to Presbyteries, by Act of Assembly, as partly collected from the Pious and ingenious Dr. Watts, and some other Writers, with such alterations as appeared to fit them more for the pre- sent Purpose ; and partly furnished by Ministers of this Church. The Use for which they were intended required Simplicity and Plainness of Composition and Stile. The Committee who prepared them chiefly aimed at having the Sense of Scripture expressed in easy Verse ; such as might be fitted to raise devotion, might be intelligible to all, and might rise above Contempt from Persons of better taste. The General Assembly 1749 did, by their Act, transmit these Trans- lations and Paraphrases to the Committee, with Instructions to con- sider the Amendments which have been Offered by Presbyteries, to admit such as they judge proper and material, and to cause print a new Impression of the Collection so amended, in order to its being again transmitted to Presbyteries : Accordingly the proposed Amendments have been carefully considered and examined by the Commitee, and many of them admitted into this new Impression." "TRANSLATIONS AND PARAPHRASES SACRED SCRIPTURE I. luke ii., 8-15. xxxvu. (a) 1 1T7HILE humble shepherds watch 'd v V their flocks in Bethleh'm's fields by night, An angel sent from heav'n appear'd, and fill'd the fields with light. 2 Fear not, said he, (for sudden dread, had seiz'd their troubled mind,) Glad tidings of great joy I bring, to you, and all mankind. 3 To you in David's town, this day is born, of David's line, The Saviour, who is Christ the Lord ; and this shall be the sign : 4 The heav'nly babe you there shall find to human view display'd, All meanly wrapt in swadling band?, and in a manger laid. 5 Thus spake the seraph, and forthwith appear'd a shining throng Of angels praising God, and thus address'd their joyful song : 6 All glory be to God on high, and to the earth be peace ; Good will is shown by heav'n to men, and never more shall cease, (b) The Song of Mary. ii. luke i., 4G-5G. xxxvi. 1 1VJ~Y soul and spirit fill'd with joy, lfi my God and Saviour praise ; Whose goodness did from poor estate his humble handmaid raise. 2 Me bless'd of God, the God of pow'r, all ages shall confess ; Whose name is holy, and whose love his saints shall ever bless. 3 Strength with his arm th' Almighty shew'd ; the proud he did confound ; (a) The numbers at the end of these lines refer to the modern Paraphrases. (6) " Good will henceforth from heav'n to men, begin and never cease." He cast the mighty from their seat ; the meek and humble crown'd. 4 The hungry with good thiugs are fill'd ; the rich with hunger pin'd : He sent his servant Isr'cl help ; and call'd his love to mind : 5 Which to our father's ancient raco his oath did once ensure, To Abrah'm, and his chosen seed, for ever to endure. The Song of Simeon. in. luke ii., 29-33. xxxvm. 1 TVTOW let thy servant die in peace, 1 1 from this vain world dismist : I've seen thy great salvation, Lord ; and hasten to my rest. 2 Thy long-expected grace, disclos'd before the people's view, Hath prov'd thy love was constant and promises Avere true. [still, 3 This is the sun, whose cheering ray, through Gentile darkness spreads : Pours glory round thy chosen race, and blessings on their heads. iv. luke iv., 18, 19. xxxix. 1 TT ARK, the glad sound, the Saviour XI comes ! the Saviour promis'd long : Let every heart a throne prepare, and every voice a song ! 2 On him the Spirit, largely shed, exerts its sacred fire : Wisdom and might, and zeal and love, his holy breast inspire. 3 He comes, the pris'ners to relieve in Satan's bondage held : The gates of brass before him burst ; the iron fetters yield. 4 He comes, from thickest clouds of vice to clear the darken'd mind ; And, from on high, a saving light to pour upon the blind, (c) (c) " He comes from the thick scales of vice to clear the mental ray; And on the eye-halls of the blind to pour celestial day." Lfi PARAPHRASES X. XI. And distant lands and isles have felt the riches of thy grace. 7 Thou hast redeem'd ns with thy hast set the pris'ners free ; [blood; Hast made us kings and priests to and we shall reign with thee. [God; 8 Hark ! how tlr adoring hosts above with songs surround the throne : Ten thousand thousand are their tongues. but all their hearts are one. 9 Worthy the Lamb tha t dy *d, they cry. to be exalted tl Worthy the Lamb ! let us reply, for he was slain for us. 10 Jesus is worthy to receive honour and pow'r divine : And blessings, more than we can O Lord ! be ever thine. [give, 11 Let all that dwell above the sky. let air. and earth, and sea-. Conspire to lift thy glories high, and speak thine endless praise ! 12 The whole creation join in one, t«> bless the sacred name Of him that sits upon the throne, and to adore the Lamb ! The Lord's Prayer. x. matt. vi.. 9-14. XXXIII. 1 "HATHER of all ! we bow to thee, J- who dwetl'st in heaven ador'd ; But present still through ail thy works the universal Lord. 2 All hallowed be thy sacred name, all the nations known : Advance the kingdom of thy grace ; and let thy glory come. 3 A grateful homage may we yield, with hearts resignM to thee : And as in heav'n thy will is done, on earth so let it be. 4 From day to day we humbly own the hand that feeds us still. Give us our bread : and may we r contented in thy will. 5 Our sins and trespasses we own ; O may they be forgiv'n ! That mercy we to others show, we pray the like from heav'n. C Our life let still thy grace direct ; from evil guard our way ; And in temptation's fatal path permit us not to stray. 7 For thine the pow'r, the kingdom ; all glory's due to r [thine ; Thine from eternity they were : and thine shall ever be ! 1 Cor. xiii. i 1 TiHO' all men's eloquence adorn'd JL my sweet persuading tongue ; Tho' I could speak in higher strain* than ever angel sung ; ! 2 Tho' prophesy my soul inspir'd, and made all myst'ries plain : Yet, were I void of Christian love, these gifts were all in vain. 3 Xay, tho' my faith, with boundless pow'r, ev'n mountains could remove ; I still am nothing, if I'm void of charity and Love. 4 Tho' with my goods the poor I fed ; my body to the flame, In quest of martyrdom. I gave ; ev'n this were all in vain. 5 Love suffers long ; love envies not, but love is ever kin She never boasteth of herself, nor proudly lifts the mind. 6 Love no unseemly carriage shows ; she bears no selfish view ; But lays her own advantage by, her neighbours to pursue. 7 Love harbours no suspicious thought ; is patient to the bad ; Griev'd when she hears of sins and and in the truth is glad, [crimes • 8 Love beareth much, much she be- she[hopes still for the best : [lieves ; Love still witb meekness doth endure, tho' much with hardship prest. 9 Love still shall hold an endless reign on earth, and heav'n above. When tongues shall cease, and pro- phets fail, and every gift but love. 10 Here all our gifts imperfect are ; rp but better days draw nigh, : r When full perfection's reign shall and all these shadows fly. [come, 11 Like children here we speak and whom childish toys amuse: [think, Our souls, when they to manhood come, | will slight their present views. 1 2 Here, dark and dim. as through a veil, is God and truth beheld ! Then shall we sec. as face to face, and God shall be unveil'd. tth, hope and love, now dwell on and earth by them L blest : [earth, But faith and hope mu.-t yield to love, of every grace the best. 14 Hope shall to full fruition rise, and faith be sight, above : PARAPHRASES XII. XIII. XIV. XT. 17 These are the means, but this the end: for saints for ever love. XII. 1-13. LIX xiii. job i., 21. in- 1 1YTAKED as from the earth we came, 1 ' and enter'd life at first, We to the earth return again, and mingle with our dust. 2 The dear delights we here enjoy, and fondly call our own, Are but short favours lent us now, to be repaid anon. 3 'Tis God that lifts our comforts high or sinks them to the grave : He gives, and takes, (bless'd be his he takes but what he gave, [name ! 4 Peace, all our angry passions, then ; let each rebellious sigh Be silent, at his sov'reign will, and every murmur die. 5 If smiling mercy crown our lives, its praises shall be spread ; And we'll adore tiie justice too that strikes our comforts dead. xiv. john xiv., 1-5. XLII. 1 T ET not your hearts, with anxious -L* thoughts. be troubled or dismny'd ; But trust to Providence divine, and trust my gracious aid. 2 I to my Father's house return : there num'rous mansions stand : And glory manifold abounds through all the happy land. 3 If no such happy land there were, the truth I'd have declar'd ; And not with vain delusive hopes you easy minds ensnar'd. 4 Now, in your name, I go before, to take possession there : And, in the land of promis'd rest, your mansion to prepare. 5 But thence I shall return again, and take you home with me : Then shall we meet, to part no more, and still together be ! 6 Thus whither I am bound you know ; and I have shewn the road : For I'm the true and living way, that leads the soul to God. to raise our sonls to God. (b) [sent, j xv. john xiv., 25-29. xlh. 12 Tho' harsh and grievous now they 1 "VTOU now must hear my voice no and spread a field of woe : [seem, A more: 1 DEHOLD, what witnesses unseen, -D encompass us around ; Men once like us, with suff 'ring try'd, but now with glory crowird. 2 Like them, inspir'd with patient heart, your Christian race begin: By each incumb'rance laid aside, and every fav'rite sin. 3 A pattern, nobler far than theirs, demands our first regard : Jesus, who leads us in our faith, and crowns it with reward, («) 4 To him, your glorious chief, look up, whom future joy could move To bear the cross, despise the shame ; and now he reigns above. 5 If he the scorn of sinners vile with patience could sustain, Becomes it us, with hearts opprest, to murmur or complain ? C Have yon, like him, to blood, to death, with all temptations strove ? And is the Word divine forgot, which speaks a father's love ? 7 My Son, saith he, with patient mind endure the chastening rod ; Believe, when by affliction try'd, that thou art lov'd of God. 8 His children thus, most dear to him, their heav'nly Father trains, Through all the hard experience led of sorrows and of pains. 9 'Tis thus we know he owns us his, when we correction share ; Nor wander, as a bastard race, without our Father's care. 10 A Father's voice, with rev'rence, we on earth have often heard : The Father of our spirits, then, how r much should we regard ? 11 Our fathers here, with erring hand, may sometimes deal the rod : But heav'n's wise chastisements are Yet, planted there, the peaceful fruits of righteousness shall grow. 13 Then let our hearts no more despond, our hands be weak no more : Still trust your heav'nly Father's and still his ways adore. [love, (a) This verse was super-added. (6) " But all Heaven's chastisements are wim, and raise the soul to God." more my Father calls me home : But soon from heav'n, the Holy Ghost, your comforter shall come. Him God the Father, in my name, will send, your guide to be ; (c) Reviving ev'ry sacred truth that ye have heard from me. (c) " Him God at my desire will send, your friend, your guide to be;" 18 PARAPHRASES XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. 3 Peace to your souls I, parting, give ; my peace to you bequeath : I brought the precious gift from heav'n, and seal it with my death. 4 I give not like this world, whose with vain pretence impose : [hopes Seek ye my peace, and trust my words, and ye shall find repose. 5 I know you're griev'd, because I said, that you and I must part : But when you hear I'm to return, how should it chear your heart '? 6 If, with a pure and grateful love, to me your bosoms glow, You'll share my joy, since I have said I to my Father go. xvi. isaiah xl., 27-31. XXII. 1 WHY pour'st thou forth thine i V anxious plant, despairing of relief ; As if the Lord o'erlook'd thy cause, and did not heed thy grief? 2 Hast thou forgot th' Almighty name that form'd the earth and sea ? And can an all-creating arm grow weary or decay ? 3 Supreme in wisdom, as in pow'r, that rock of ages stand : Tho' him thou canst not see, nor trace the working of his hands. 4 He gives the conquest to the weak, supports the fainting heart ; And courage in the evil hour his strength'ing aids impart. 5 Mere mortal pow'r shall fade and die, and youthful vigour cca But they that wait upon the Lord shall feel their strength increase. 6 They, with unweary'd feet, shall tread the path of life divine : They still, with growing ardor, move ; with growing brightness shine. 7 On eagles' wings they mount, they soar ; their wings are faith and love : Till, past the cloudy regions here, they rise to heav'n above. XVII. 1 XXIV. isaiah xlix., 13-17. YE heav'ns, send forth your praising song! earth, raise thy voice below ! Let hills and mountains join the hymn : and joy through nature flow ! 2 Behold, how gracious is our God ! with what comforting strains (a) 2 " To vindicate my words and thoughts, I'll make no mere pretence, Not one of all my thousand faults, can bear a just defence." He chears the sorrows of our heart, and banishes our pains ! 3 Cease ye, when days of darkness fall, with troubled hearts to mourn ; As if the Lord could leave a saint forsciken or forlorn. 4 Can a fond mother e'er forget the infant of her womb ? And 'mongst a thousand tender thoughts, her suckling have no room ? 5 Yet, saith the Lord, should nature change, and mothers monsters prove ; Siou still dwells upon the heart of everlasting love. 6 Deep on the palms of both my hands I have engrav'd her name : My hands shall raise her ruin'd walls, and build her broken frame. xviii. job ix., 2-10. vii, 1 TTOW should the sons of Adam's -O- be pure before their God ! [race If he contend in righteousness, we fall beneath his rod. 2 If he should scan my words and thoughts, with strict inquiring eyes; Could I, for one of thousand faults, the least excuse devise? (a) 3 Strong is his arm, his heart is wise ; what vain presumers dare Against their Maker's hand to rise, or 'tempt th' unequal war ? 4 He makes the mountains feel his and their old seats forsake ; [wrath, The trembling earth desert her place, and all her pillars shake, (b) 5 He bids the sun forbear to rise, th' obedient sun forbears : His hand with sackcloth spreads the and seals up all the stars. [skies, G He walks upon the raging sea, flies on the stormy wind : There's none can trace his wond'rous or his dark footsteps find. [way, xix. titus iii., 3-9. lvi. 1 T ORD, we confess our num'rous Jj faults : how great our guilt has been ! Foolish and vain were all our thoughts, and all our lives were sin. 2 But, O my soul ! for ever praise, for ever love his name ; (b) 4 " Mountains by his Almighty wrath from their old seats are torn : He shakes the earth from south to north and all her pillars mourn."' PARAPHRASES XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. 10 Who turns thy feet from dang'rous of folly, sin, and shame. [ways, 3 'Tis not by works of righteousness, which we ourselves have done ; But we are sav'd by sov'reign grace, abounding through his son. 4 'Tis from the mercy of our God, that all our hopes begin : His mercy sav'd our souls from death, and wash'd our souls from sin. 5 His Spirit, through the Saviour shed, its sacred fire imparts : Refines our dross ; and love divine does kindle in our hearts. 6 Thence, rais'd from death, we live and, justify'd by grace, [a-new ; We shall appear in glory too, and see our Father's face. 7 Let all who hold this faith and hope, in holy deeds abound ; Thus only faith is genuine prov'd, by active virtue crown'd. XX. JOHN iil. , 14-19. XLI. A S when the Hebrew prophet rais'd(a) -£i. the brazen serpent high, The wounded look'd, and straight were the people ceas'd to die. (b) [cur'd, 2 Look upward in the dying hour, and live, the prophet cries : So Christ performs a nobler cure, when faith lifts up her eyes. 3 High one the cross the Saviour hung ; high in the heav'ns he reigns ; Here sinners, by th' old serpent stung, look, and forget their pains. 4 Such was the pity of our God ; Mankind he lov'd so well, He sent his Son to bear our sins, and save our souls from hell. 5 Not to condemn the sons of men the Son of God appeared ; But that salvations joyful sound might from this mouth be heard, (c) 6 Let sinners hearken to his voice, believe on him and live ; He'll guide them in the paths of bliss, and peace and pardon give. 7 But vengeance just for ever lies on all the rebel race, Who God's eternal Son despise, and scorn his offer'd grace. xxr. rom. iii., 19-22. xlvi. 1 TTAIX are the hopes the sons of men V on their own works have built ; (a) " Of old the Hebrew prophet rais'd." (6) "The wounded felt immediate ease, The camp forbore to die." (c) " No weapons in his hand are seen nor voice of terror heard." Their hearts by nature, all unclean, and all their actions, guilt. 2 Let Jew and Gentle stop their mouths, without a murm'ring word, And the whole race of Adam stand guilty before the Lord. 3 Xo hope can on the law be built of justifying grace ; The law, that shows the sinner's guilt, condemns him to his face, (d) 4 Jesus, how glorious is thy grace ! when in thy name we trust, Our faith receives a righteousness that makes the sinner just. XXII. rom. vi., 1, 2, 6. XL VII. 1 A XD shall we then go on to sin J\. because thy grace abounds ? Or crucify the Lord again, and open all his wounds ; 2 Great God ! forbid the impious nor let it e'er be said, [thought ; That we, whose sins are crucify'd, should raise them from the dead. 3 Nay, now we will be slaves no more, since Christ hath made us free ; Has nail'd our tyrants to his cross, and bought our liberty. xxili. rom. ii., 4, 5. XLV. 1 ttXGRATEFUL sinner! whence U this scorn of God's long-suff 'ring grace ? And whence this madness, that insults th' Almighty to his face ? 2 Is it because his patience waits, and pitying bowels move, You multiply transgressions more, and spurn his richest love ? 3 Dost thou not know, self- blinded man! his goodness is design'd To move repentance in thy soul, and melt thy hardn'd mind ? 4 Is all the treasur'd wrath so small, you treasure up still more ? Tho' not eternal rolling years, can e'er exhaust the store. 5 Swift doth the day of vengeance come, that must your sentence seal, And righteous judgments, now uu- in awful pomp reveal. [known, 6 Alarm'd and melted at the thought, our conqner'd hearts should bow ; And, to escape th' avenger then, embrace the Saviour now. (d) v. 3. " In vain we ask God's righteous law to justify us now ; s : Since to convince and to condemn is all the law can do." 20 PARAPHRASES XXIY. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. xxrr. job viii., 11-22. vr. 1 QAY, grows the rash without the O mire ? the flag without the stream ? Green and uncut, it quickly fades ; the wicked's fate's the same. 2 Slight is his hope, cut off and broke, or if entire it rise, Tet, as the spider's web, when try'd, it yieldeth, breaks, and flies. 3 Fix'd on his house he leans, his house and all his props decay ; He holds it fast, but faster still the tott'ring frame gives way. 4 Though, in his garden, to the sun his boughs with verdure smile ; Though, deeply fix'd, his spreading unshaken stand a Avhile : [roots 5 Yet, when from heav'n his sentence he's hurried from his place ; [flies, It then denies him for its Lord, nor owns it knew his face. 6 Lo, this the joy of wicked men, who heav'n's just laws despise ; They quickly fall, and in their room as quickly others rise. 7 But God his pow'r will for the just, with tender care employ : He'll fill their mouths with songs of praise, and fill their hearts with joy. XXV. LUKE xv., 13-25. xx. 1 "DEHOLD the wretch, whose lust -t) and wine had wasted his estate ; He begs a share amongst the swine, to taste the husks they eat. 2 Whilst I with hunger die, he cries, and starve in foreign land, The meanest in my father's house is fed with bounteous hand, (a) 3 I'll go, and, with a mournful tongue, fall doAvn before his face : Father, I've sinn'd 'gainst heav'n and nor can deserve thy grace, [thee, 4 He said, and hastened to his home, to seek his father's love : The father saw him from a-far, (b) and all his bowels move. 5 He ran, and fell upon his neck, embrac'd and kiss'd his son ; The grieving prodigal bewail'd (c) The follies he had done. 6 Bring forth the fairest robe for him, the joyful father said ; To him each mark of grace be shown. and every honour paid. (a) " My fathers house has lirze supplies and bounteous are his hands." ( ■) " The father saw the rebel come," (e) " The rebel's heart with sorrow braka for follies he had done." 7 A day of feasting I ordain ; let mirth and joy abound : My son was dead, and lives again ; was lost, and now is found. xxvi. Mat. xi., 25, to the end. xxxiv. 1 "VT7TTH solemn thanksgiving, our V V Lord his Father thus address'd : For ever may the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth be blest. 2 Who from the wise and prudent hast thy heav'nly truths conceal'd f Which yet to weak and simple babes thou plainly has reveal'd. 3 Ev'n so thou, Father ! hast ordain'd thy wise decree to stand ; Nor men, nor angels may presume the reason to demand. 4 All pow'r my Father me hath given ; for me he knows and loves : Him none can know, but they to whom the Son a Saviour proves. 5 Come then, all weary lab'ring souls, with guilt and fears opprest ; By faith your burdens on me cast, and I will give you rest. 6 Your willing necks bend to my yoke, and own my rightful sway : My pattern learn to imitate, and all my laws obey. 7 Leam from your meek and humble a meek and humble mind ; [Lord, And thus your weary troubled hearts shall rest and quiet find. 8 Gentle and easy is my yoke ; my yoke the sinner frees : And the light burden I impose, a heavier load doth ejjse. XXVII. ISAIAH lv. XXVI. 1 TTO ! ye that thirst, approach the Xl of ever-flowing bliss ; [spring Free to the poor life's waters flow, and bought without a price. 2 Why bargain ye for earthly goods, where fruitless is the cost ? In vanity ye waste your days, and all your labour's lost : (d) 3 To me incline your willing ear, so shall your souls be blest : And fed with truth, and real good, attain their native rest. 4 Hear ye, and live for evermore ! my mercy shall renew The hope that gladden'd David's in covenant with you. [heart, 5 Him for my witness, have I rais'd, your leader, and your chief : (<£) " Why, following unsubstantial goods, spend ye a fruitless cost, In vanity beguile your days, find find your labour lost.'* PARAPHRASES XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. 21 The nations he shall call, and they i be bless'd in his belief. 6 Behold great prophet ! Lands un- known, and lands that knew not thee, Shall hasten to thy call ; and God in thee exalted be. 7 Seek ye the Lord, whilst yet his ear is open to your call : Whilst offerY! mercy yet is near, before his footstool fall 8 Now let the sons of vice repent : from sin the sinner cease : To God returning, they shall meet their God's returning grace. 9 He pardons with o'erfiowing love ; for, hear the voice divine : My nature, as 'tis not like yours, so nor my ways as thine. 10 But far as heav'n's resplendent orbs beyond earth's spot extend ; So far my nature, thoughts and ways, your ways and thoughts transcend. 11 For as the rains from heav'n distil, nor thither tend again ; But swell the earth with fruitful juice and all its tribes sustain : 12 So not a word that flows from me shall ineffectual fall ; (a) But universal nature prove obsequious to my call. 13 With joy and peace, shall then be led the glad converted lands : The mountains then shall seem to sing, the trees to clap their hands. 14 For briers then, and thorny wilds, shall firs and myrtles spring : Thus shall it ever last ; and all to God shall praises sing. xxviii. isaiah ii., 2-6. xviii. 1 TN latter days the mount of God, J- his sacred house, shall rise Above the mountains and the hills, and strike the wond'ring eyes. 2 To this the joyful nations round, all tribes and tongues shall flow ; Up to the house of God, they'll say, to Jacob's God we'll go. 3 To us he'll point the ways of truth ; the sacred path we'll Lead ; From Salem and from Zion Hill, his law shall then proceed. 4 Among the nations and the isles, as judge supreme he'll sit : And, vested with unbounded pow'r, will punish or acquit. 5 No strife shall rage, nor angry feuds disturb these peaceful years ; (a) " shall unaccomplished fall." To plough -shares then they'll beat their swords, to pruning-hooks their spears. 6 Then nation shan't 'gainst nation, rise, and slanghter'd hosts deplore: They'll lay the useless trumpet by, and study war no more. 7 O come ye, then, of Jacob's house, our hearts now let us join ; And, walking in the light of God, with holy beauties shine. xxix. isaiah xxvi., 1-G. XX. 1 ]J OW honourable is the place, XX where we, adoring stand ; Zion, the glory of the earth, and beauty of the land ! 2 Bulwarks of mighty grace defend the city where we dwell : The walls, of strong salvation made, defy th' assaults of hell. 3 Lift up the everlasting gates ! the doors wide open fling ; Enter, ye nations, that obey the statutes of our King. 4 Here shall you taste umningled joys, and live in perfect peace ; You that have known Jehovah's name, and trusted in his grace. 5 Trust in the Lord, for ever trust, and banish all your fears ; Strength in the Lord Jehovah dwells, eternal as his years. 6 What tho' the rebels dwell on high, his arm shall bring them low ; Low- as the caverns of the grave, their lofty heads shall bow, 7 On Babylon our feet shall tread, in that rejoicing hour ; The ruins of her walls shall spread a pavement for the poor. xxx. 1 johx iii., 1-4. lxiii. 1 T)EHOLD th' amazing height of love -O the Father hath bestow'd On us, the sinful sons of men, to call us sons of God ! 2 Conceal'd as yet this honour lies, by this dark world unknown ; So the world knew not when he came, God's everlasting Son. 3 High is the character we bear ; but higher Ave shall rise: Tho' what we'll be in future worlds is hid from mortal eyes. 4 But this we know, when he, whom now Heav'n veils from mortal eyes, Shall in his Father's glory come, and call the dead to rise : 5 At that blest day, we shall transform'd into his likeness be ; 22 PARAPHRASES XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. Because our raptur'd souls shall then unveil'd their Saviour see. (a) 6 A hope so great, and so divine, may trials well endure ; Refine the soul from sense andsin, as Christ himself is pure. xxxi. Hab. iii., 17, 18. xxxn. 1 WHAT tho' no flowers the fig-tree ' ' clothe, tho' vines their fruit deny; The labours of the olive fail, and fields no meat supply ? 2 Tho' from the fold, with sad surprize, my flocks cut off I see ; Tho' famine pines in empty stall where cattle us'd to be ; 3 Yet in the Lord will I be glad, and glory in his love : In him I'll joy, who will the God of my salvation prove. 4 God is the treasure of my soul ; a source of sacred joy, Which no afflictions can controul, nor death itself destroy, (b) xxxn. 2 tim. i., 12. LIV. 1 T 'M not asham'd to own my Lord, -L or to defend his cause ; Maintain the glory of his cross, and honour all his laws. 2 Jesus, my God ! I know his name, his name is all my trust : Nor will he put rny soul to shame, nor let my hope be lost. 3 Firm as his throne, his promise stands ; and he can well secure What I've committed to his hands, 'till the decisive hour. 4 Then will he own my worthless name before his Father's face ; And in the New Jerusalem appoint my soul a place. xxxiii. 2 tim. iv., 6, 7, 8, and 18. lv. 1 ]\/rY race is run ; my warfare's o'er ; I'i- the solemn hour is nigh When, offer'd up to God, my soul shall wing its flight on high, (c) 2 With hcav'nly weapons I have fought the battles of the Lord ; Finish'd my course, and kept the faith, and wait the sure reward. 3 God has laid up in heav'n for me a crown which cannot fade ; The righteous Judge, at that great shall place it on my head. [day, (a) The 4th and 5th verses were substituted hi place of the following four lines : — " But this we know, our souls shall then their God and Saviour see, Unveiled behold him, and transformed into his likeness be." (b) See Appendix No III. 4 Nor hath the King of Grace decreed this prize for me alone ; But all that love and long to see, th' appearance of his Son. 5 Jesus, the Lord, shall guard my steps from ev'ry ill design ; And to his heav'nly kingdom safe preserve this soul of mine. 6 God is my everlasting aid ; and hell shall rage in vain : To him be highest glory paid, and endless praise. Amen. xxxiv. heb. xiii., 20, 21. lx. 1 71 ATHER of peace, and God of love ! J- Ave own thy pow'r to save ; By which our mighty Shepherd rose victorious o'er the grave. 2 Him from the dead thou broughtst when, by his sacred blood, [ngain, Confirm'd and seal'd for evermore th' eternal cov'nant stood, (d) 3 O may thy spirit seal our souls, and mould them to thy will ; That our weak hearts no more mar but keep thy precepts still, [stray, 4 Work in us all thy holy will to man by Jesus shewn ; Till we, thro' him, improving still, at last approach thy throne. xxxv. rom. viii., 31, to the end. xlviii. 1 IVfOW let our souls ascend above 1 1 the fears of guilt and woe : God is for us our friend declar'd ; who then can be our foe ? 2 He who his Son, most dear and lov'd, for us gave up to die, Will he withhold a lesser gift, or ought that's good deny? 3 Behold, all blessings seal'd in this, the highest pledge of love ; All grace and peace on earth below, and endless life above ! 4 Who now shall dare to charge with whom God hath justify'd ? [guilt Or who is he that shall condemn, since Christ the Saviour dy'd ? 5 He died, — but he is risen again, triumphant from the grave ; And pleads for us at Gods right-hand, omnipotent to save. 6 Then, who can e'er divide us more from Christ, and love divine ? (c) " Death may dissolve my body now, and bear my spirit home ; Why do my minutes move so slow, nor thy salvation come ? " (d) Substituted for this — •■ We triumph in that Saviour's name, still watchful for our good, Who brought th* eternal covenant down and pealed it with his blood." PARAPHRASES XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. 23 Or what dissolve the sacred band, that joins our souls to him ? 7 Let troubles rise, and dangers roar, and days of darkness fall ; Through him all terrors Ave'll defy, and more than conquer all. 8 Nor death, nor life, nor heav'n, nor nor time's destroying sway, [hell, Can e'er efface us from his heart, or make his love decay. 9 Each future period this will bless, as it has bless'd the past : He lov'd us from the first of time, and loves us to the last. xxxvi. prov. viii., 1, 22-36. xm. 1 QHALL heav'nly wisdom cry aloud, and not her speech be heard V The voice of God's eternal word, deserves it no regard ? 2 I was th' Almighty's chief delight, his everlasting Son : Before the first of all his works, creation, was begun. 3 Before the skies, and flying clouds, before the solid land ; Before the fields, before the floods, I dwelt at bis right-hand. 4 When he adorn'd the arch of heav'n, and built it, I was there. To order when the sun should rise, and marshal ev'ry star. 5 When ocean's bed he measur'd out, and spread the flowing deep ; 1 gave the flood a firm decree, in its own bounds to keep. 6 When, hung amid'st the empty space, the earth was balanc'd well, With joy I saw the mansion, where the sons of men should dwell. 7 My thoughts from everlasting days, on their salvation ran ; E'er sin was known, or Adam's dust was fashion'd into man. 8 Now, therefore, hearken to my words, ye children, and be wise : Happy the man that keeps my ways ; the man that shuns them, dies. 9 'Tis I that point the path of life, and give the best reward : Life shall be his that follows me, and favour from the Lord. 10 Surely they to themselves are foes, who 'gainst my word rebel : And they who my instructions hate do court the road to hell, (a) (a) " Foes to themselves alone are they who 'gainst my word rehel : They wrong their souls who injure me, and court the road to hell." XXXVII. GENESIS 1. 1 TVf OW, let the spacious world arise, 1 1 said the Creator Lord: At once th' obedient earth and skies rose, at his sovereign word. 2 Dark was the deep, the waters lay confus'd, and drown'd the land : He call'd the light ; a new-born day attends on his command. 3 He bids the clouds ascend on high ; the clouds ascend, and bear A wat'ry treasure to the sky, and float on softer air. 4 The liquid element below was gather'd by his hand : The roiling seas together flow, and leave the solid land. 5 With herbs and plants (a flow'ry birth) the naked globe he crown'd, E'er there was rain to bless the earth, or sun to warm the ground. 6 Then he adorn'd the upper skies ; behold the sun appears : The moon and stars in order rise, to mark out months and years. 7 Out of the deep th' Almighty King did vital beings frame ; And painted fowls of ev'ry wing, and fish of ev'ry name. 8 He gave the lion, and the worm, at once their wond'rous birth ; And grazing beasts, of various form, rose from the teeming earth. 9 Then, chief o'er all his works below, at last was Adam made : His Maker's image bless'd his soul, and glory crown'd his head, (b) 10 Thus, glorious in the Maker's eye, the young creation stood : He saw the building from on high, his word pronounc'd it good. XXXVIII. REV. XXL, 1-9. LXVII. 1 T O, what a glorious sight appears lJ to our believing eyes ! The earth and seas are pass'd away, and the old rolling skies. 2 From heav'n the new Jerus'lem all worthy of its Lord : [comes, See, all things now at last renew'd, and paradise restor'd. 3 Attending angels shout for joy, and the bright armies sing : Mortals ! behold the sacred seat of our descending King. 4 The God of glory down to men removes his bless'd abode : (b) " Adam was framed of equal clay the Sov'reign of the rest : Designed for nobler ends than tliey, with God's own image bless'd." 24 PARAPHRASES XXXIX. XL. XLI. XLII. He dwells with men ; his people they, and lie his people's God. 5 His gracious hand shall wipe the tears from evYy weeping eve ; And pains and groans, and griefs, and and deatli itself, shall die. [fears, 6 Behold I change all human things ! Thus speaks th' eternal One ; The world shall vanish from its place, and time shall cease to run. 7 I am the first, aud I the Last, through endless years the same ; I AM is my memorial still, and my eternal name. 8 Such favours as a God can give, my royal grace bestows : Ho ! ye that thirst, come taste the stream where life and pleasure flows. 9 The saint that triumphs o'er his sins, I'll own him for a son ; The whole creation shall reward the conquests he has won. 1 But bloody hands and hearts unclean, and all the lying race ; The faithless and the scoffing crew, that spurn at offer'd grace ; 11 They shall be taken from my sight, bound fast in iron chains ; And headlong plung'd into the lake where fire and darkness reigns. 12 may I stand before the Lamb , when earth and seas are fled ! And bear the judge pronounce my with blessings on my head ! [name, 13 How long, dear Saviour. O how long shall this bright hour delay? Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, and bring the promis'd day. xxxix. job iii., 17-20. iv. 1 TTOW still and peaceful is the grave ! H that silent bed how blest ! The wicked there from troubling and there the weary rest. [cease, 2 There the freed pris'ner groans no beneath life's galling load ; more Mute is th' oppressor's cruel voice, and broke the tyrant's rod. 3 There slaves and masters equal lye, and share the same repose : The small and great are there ; and friends now mingle with their foes. XL. 1 PET. i., 3-5. LXI. 1 "DLESS'D be the everlasting God, -D the Father of our Lord : Be his abounding mercy prais'd, his Majesty ador'd. When from the dead he rais'd his Son, and call'd him to the sky. He gave our souls a lively hope, That they should never die. What though our inbred sins require our flesh to see the dust : Yet as the Lord our Saviour rose, so all his foll'wcrs must. There's an inheritance divine reserv'd against that day ; Tis uncorrupted. undetiTd, and cannot waste away. | 5 Saints, by the pow'r of God, are kept till the salvation come: We walk by faith, as strangers here, till Christ shall call us home. xli. 1 con. xv.. 52, to the end. l. 1 TT7HEN the last trumpet's awful » V voice this rending earth shall shake, The op'ning graves shall yield their and dust to life awake. [charge, 2 These bodies, then, so corrupt now, shall incorrupted rise : Mortal they fell, but rise to life immortal in the skies. Behold, what heav'nlv prophets sung, is now at last fulfilf'd ; That death should yield his ancient and quit the vanquished field, [reign, I 4 Let faith exalt her joyful voice, and thus begin to sing : [now? O Grave ! where be thy triumphs and where, O Death ! thy sting? 5 Thy sting was sin. and conscious guilt, 'twas this that arm'd thy dart : The law gave that its strength and to pierce the sinner's heart, [force ' 6 But God, whose name be everbless'd ! disarms that foe we dread ; And makes us conqu'rors when we die, through Christ our living head. 7 Then fix'd and constant be your and in his grace abound : [hearts, Through him your labour's not in vain, with such an issue crown'd. XLII. 2 con. v., 1-11. LI. 1 OOOX shall this earthly frame dis- ^ in deatli and ruins lye : [solv'd, But better mansions wait our soul, prepar'd above the sky. 2 An house eternal, built by God, shall clothe a purer mind, When once these prison-walls shall in which 'tis now confin'd. [fall, 3 Hence burden'd with this load of clay, our weary'd spirits groan : [free, Till death's" kind hand" shall set them and God shall bring them home. PARAPHRASES XLIII. XLIV. XLV 25 4 Not that we wish the soul rmcloth'd, might from this body fly ; But animate a purer frame, with life that cannot die. 5 Such are the hopes that wait the just ; these hopes their God hath giv'n : His spirit is the earnest now, and seals their souls for heav'n. 6 We walk by faith of joys to come ; faith lives upon his word : But, while this body is our home, we mourn an absent Lord. 7 What faith rejoices to believe, we long and pant to see : AVe would be absent from the flesh, and present, Lord, with thee. 8 But still, or here, or going hence, to this our labours tend, That, in his service spent, our life may in his favour end. 9 For, lo I before the Son, as Judge, th' assembled world shall stand, To take the punishment, or prize, from his impartial hand. 10 Impartial retributions then our different lives await : Our present actions, good or bad, shall fix our future fate. xliii. rev. vii., 13-17. lxvi. 1 T1HESE glorious minds, how bright -*- they shine, whence all their white array ? Plow came they to the happy seats of everlasting day ? 2^Lo ! these are they, to endless joy, from suff'rings great who came, And wash'd their raiment white in blood, the blood of Christ the Lamb, (a) 3 Now they approach a holy God, and bow before his throne, With hearts enlarg'd to serve him still, and make his glory known. 4 His presence fills each heart with joy tune's ev'ry mouth to sing ; By day, by night, the bless'd abodes with glad hosannas ring. 5 Hunger and thirst are felt no more, nor suns with scorching ray : (a) " And washed their raiment in the blood, of Christ the dying Lamb." God is their sun, whose cheering beams diffuse eternal day. 6 The Lamb shall lead his heavenly where living fountains rise ; [flock And love divine shall wipe away the sorrows of their eyes. xliv. gen. xxviii., 20, 21, 22. u. 1 r\ GOD of Bethel, by whose hand \J thine Is'rael still is fed ! W T ho through this weary pilgrimage hast all our fathers led. 2 To thee our humble vows we raise ; to thee address our pray'r ; And in thy kind and faithful breast deposit all our care. 3 If thou, through each perplexing path, wilt be our constant guide ; If thou wilt daily bread supply, and raiment wilt provide ; 4 If thou Avilt spread thy wings around, till these our wanderings cease, And at our Father's lov'd abode, our souls arrive in peace. 5 To thee, as to our cov'nant God, we'll our whole selves resign ; And count that not our tenth alone, but all we have is thine. xlv. (b) rev. i., 5-9. 1 npO him that lov'd the souls of men, J- and wash'd us in his blood ; To royal honours rais'd our head, and made us priests to God : 2 To him let ev'ry tongue be praise, and ev'ry heart be love ! All grateful honours paid on earth, and nobler songs above ! 3 Behold, on flying clouds he comes ! his saints shall bless the day ; Whilst they that pierc'd him, sadly in anguish and dismay. [mourn 4 I am the first, and I the last ; time centres all in me, Th' Almighty God, who was, and is, and evermore shall be ! (6) No alteration was made on this, from 1745 to the present time. It is the only one that passed un- mutilated through the hands of the compilers of the present unauthorised collection. FINIS. '20 APPENDIX, N . III. (See Foot-note, page 22.) XXXI. PARAPHRASE. FROM THE PROOF OF 1745. 1 Secure the Saint's foundation stands, nor shall his hopes remove, Sustained by God's Almighty hand and sheltered in his love. 2 Fig trees and olive plants may fail, and vines their fruits deny : Famine thro' all the fields prevail, and Flocks and Herds may die : 3 Yet in the Lord will I be glad, and glory in his Love : In him I'll joy, who will the God of my salvation prove. 4 Lord, may we feel thy cheering beams and taste thy sweet repose ! We will not mourn these perished streams when such a fountain flows. ALEX. WAUUtB, I'KINTKR, 6. JAMES'S COUBT, LAWHNARKET, BDIKBDSGH xjc ■J& ?V\