F44 
 

 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 SCB 
 
 mm 
 
 
D 
 
 i s c o u i s m. 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 DIVINE O K D I N A N C E 
 
 O F 
 
 S I'N G I N G P S A L M S. 
 
 INTENDED TO PROVE, 
 
 I. That the Tinging of Pfalms is a 
 Part of that focial or publick 
 Worfhip which God hath ap- 
 pointed in his Word. 
 
 II. That there are Parts of the fa- 
 cred Scriptures adapted to the 
 Purpofe of finging, which ought 
 to be ufed in the publick Wor- 
 Ihip of the Church, till the End 
 of Time. 
 
 ITI. That the fcripture Songs are 
 
 the only Forms of Pfalmody, 
 which ought to be ufed in the 
 folemn and publick Worfhip of 
 the Church. 
 IV. That, in the publick Praifes of 
 the Church, the Mufick, or out- 
 ward Part, ought to be conducted 
 with Decency and Simplicity; 
 and in Subferviency to the fpiri- 
 tual Part, which is chiefly to be 
 regarded. 
 
 To which is added, an A P P E N D I X, in two numbers. 
 
 No. I. Contains a brief Kiftory of Pfalmody. No. II. Contains 
 
 a Review of Dr. Waits'' 's Imitation of the Pfalms of 
 
 David, as corrected and enlarged by Joel Barlow. 
 
 & : 
 
 i) JOHN ANDERS 'ON, Minifier of the Gefpd, and Member of 
 the AJfociate Prefbytcry of Pennfylvania. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 Printed by WILLIAM T V N G, Books-eller, N°. Ji? 
 Second-Street, the corner of Chsjnut-Stre.et. 
 
 MjDCCjXCJ, 
 

 P R E F A C E.. 
 
 WHEN our forefathers, in the fixteenth century, remon- 
 ftrated againft the falfe doctrine, fuperftition, and i~ 
 dolatry of the church of Rome, they conftantly appealed to th£ 
 Holy Scriptures as the fupreme judge in all controverfies of re- 
 ligion : but though the principle of this appeal be the founda- 
 tion of the Proteftant religion ; yet, there are ufages, even in 
 churches called Reformed, inconfiftent with a due adherence to 
 that principle. 
 
 It is true, the fcripture is greatly abufed by thofe who are 
 not careful to diftinguifh what is recorded as a ceremonial law 
 or a fhadow of good things to come, from what is appointed to 
 be of (landing ufe in the New Teftament church. But no 
 more can this abufe juftify the introduction of thofe things into 
 the worfhip of God which are not mentioned in his word, than 
 the mifreprefentation of the law, by fome heedlefs or ill-difpof- 
 ed perfons, would juftify the utter contempt of it in .others. 
 The vanity of the common pleas for uninftituted forms of re- 
 ligious worfhip, fuch as, antiquity, human authority, cuftom, 
 their tendency to promote devotion, has long ago been fuffici- 
 ently difcovered. Yet, unfupported as they are, by right rea- 
 fou or the authority of fcripture, thofe uninftituted forms of 
 worfhip ftill keep their ground ; for they pleafe the fenfes and 
 imagination ; and man's depraved nature, an enemy to the 
 Ipiritual worfhip of God, will always prefer what is pleafmg to 
 the fenfes and imagination, to what is of divine inftitution. 
 
 Men wearied of the unadorned fimplicity of fpiritual wor- 
 
 (hip, have tried feveral expedients to render it fomewhat 
 
 ntertaining and agreeable. Of thefe expedients, none has 
 
 oeen more applauded, or more generally received, than that 
 
 which is considered in the following difcourfe. 
 
 The whole hiftory of the church fhews that nothing has con- 
 ributed more to deftroy its peace, than men's obftinate attach- 
 nent to what themfelves or others have added to divine infti- 
 utions. This is bigotry indeed ; and moft of the mournful 
 Uvifionsofthe church may juftly be afcribed to it. 
 
 
iv P 11 E F A C E. 
 
 The danger, that arifes to the fouls of men from; fnch hu- 
 man devices, is great and alarming. Taken up with thefe de- 
 vices, they forget that it is only through the blefling of God in 
 Chrift, upon his own inftittttions, that we have any ground to 
 «xpect that communion with him, without which our religious 
 exercifes are vain. It is not meant, that, where fuch corrup- 
 tion in any meafure prevails, the word and ordinances of Chrift 
 have no faving effect at all. Ke fulfils in his elect, all the 
 good pleafure of his goodnefs, and the work of faith whir pow- 
 er. But we learn from his word, that men's attachment to 
 thefe devices, where they are once admitted, . befides be* 
 ing evil in itfelf, is inordinate, and attended with an under valu-.- 
 ing and neglect of God's own institutions: for it is in vain to • 
 imagine, that men will ufe moderation in following what ought ~ 
 
 not to be followed at all. 
 
 I 
 
 It may be added, that the Sermon on Pfalmody 10 often 
 referred to in the enfuing difcourfe, was publifhed laft year by 
 the Rev. John Black, pallor of the upper Prefbyterian congre- 
 gation of Marfh Creek : many of the objections are taken from 
 that fermon > becaufe no other publication occurred in which 
 they are Hated with more force and plaufibility. 
 
 That God, who hath chofen the foolifh things of the world 
 to confound the wife, the weak things of the world to confound 
 the things that are mighty: the bale things, yea, and things; 
 that are not, to bring to nought the things that are ; may ac- 
 company this publication with his effectual blefling, is,' through 
 grace, the prayer of- the author. 
 
 E R R A T A. 
 
 Page 9, line 9, after praife read as well as with prayer. Page j 3, line 5 
 in the note after Ifai. for iv, read 1. Page. 36, line ai, from the head of 
 the page after any i read thing. Page 76, line 6, Delete all the. 
 
 
A 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 DIVINE ORDINANCE 
 
 O T 
 
 IINGING PSALM S- 
 
 [attH. xx vi. 30. And when they had Jung an hymn, they went 
 out into the mount of Olives. 
 
 r"TT"HAT particular hymn or pfalm this was, we are not 
 
 YY told. That it was (what fome fuppofe) a hymn com- 
 
 Med by onr Lord himfelf on that occaiion, feeins by no means 
 
 probable, as that it was one of the Old Teftament Pfalms. 
 
 hat none of thefe were fuitable to the new ordinance which 
 
 i had been celebrating is eafiiy afTerted ; but may as eaiily 
 
 ! denied ; and with more reafon ; for the fubftance of this 
 
 dinance was nothing but what the church had been finging of, 
 
 along from the giving of the firft promife. It is allowed on 
 
 hands that the church of God had been accsiltorned to fing 
 
 ne of the pfalms on fimilar occasions. It was not our Lord's 
 
 inner to lay afide the ufe of the Old Teftament fcriptures ; but 
 
 her to recommend and encourage it. Out of the book of 
 
 1ms, particularly, he ufed frequently to quote paflages and 
 
 ply them to himfelf. Befides, if our Lord had dictated a 
 
 w hymn on the occafion, it is natural to think, that ; fd re- 
 
 rkable and uncommon a circumftance, would hardly have 
 
 n pafTed over by the evangelift unnoticed : Whereas there 
 
 ot the fame reafon to expect that the evangelift would be fo 
 
 ticular, on the fuppolition that our Lord fang one of the 
 
 Ims that were in common ufe. At any rate, there is no ex- 
 
 pie here to warrant any man's dictating new hymns or 
 
 lms to be ufed in public worfhip. 
 
 B 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 With refpect to what was Tung on this occafion, we cart 
 gather no more from the original word ufed by the evangeliftj 
 than that it was fome compoiition adapted to the purpoie oi 
 
 fnging praifcs.* 
 
 The apoftle, in ColofT. iii. 16. gives us three names for 
 fuch compoiition s ; Pfalms, hymns, and fpiritual fongs. Pfaltt, 
 l'eems to be the general name : Hence that collection of then: 
 which comprehends fo great a variety, is called the book oj 
 Pfalms. Hymns and fpiritual fongs are particular forts to be 
 found among the Pfalms : Thus the 145th and following Pfalrm 
 are Hymns, which have praife for their more immediate and ex- 
 prefs purpoie : aad thofe entitled, Mafchil, that is, giving in- 
 ftruction, may be called fpiritual fongs, as being more directly 
 intended for promoting our fpiritual knowledge. \ All thefe forts 
 (whatever explication of the terms be preferred) are to be 
 found among the fongs of the Old Teftament : and therefore it 
 cannot be laid, with any colour of reafon, that they are nol 
 here intended. Nor can it be any argument to this purpoie 
 that the word of Chrift is faid to be the matter of thefe fongs 
 for it is not poffible for any who believe (as all Chriftians pro 
 fefs to do, who are not Socinians) that the Spirit of Chrift die 
 tated what we have written in the Old Teftament, as well a 
 what we have in the New, to be a perpetual rule to thechurc 
 of God on earth, to doubt whether the one be the word c 
 Chrift as well as the other; or whether the word which th 
 apoftle exhorted the Coloflians to have dwelling in them richl) 
 was the word contained in thofe fcriptures which Chrift enjoh 
 us to fearch, as what abundantly teftify of him. It is true, an 
 
 I 
 
 * The Greek verb is rendered tofng praifes, in Acts xvi. 25. It may I 
 ubferved for the fake of fuch as are unacquainted with that language, th 
 there is no fubftantive noun in the original anfwering the word hym 
 it might be rendered, when they hadfung; for the Englifh verb is fometim 
 ufed, in this appropriated fenfe, to fignify an ordinary part of divi 
 worfhip. 
 
 f The explication here offered is not pretended to be founded in t 
 etymology of the words; but was fuggefted by what appears to be the m 
 ordinary acceptation of them. An obfervation, which has been freque 
 ly made, may be here added, in the words of Dr. Gill, upon Ephef. v. ( 
 " Thefe three words anfwer to Mitfmorim, Tehiltim, Shirim, the fevc 
 titles of David's pfalms ; from whence it feems to be the intention of 
 apoftle, that thefe fhould be fung in gofpel churches." 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 rticle of divine truth, efpecially an article to which we are 
 ailed, at any time, in a particular manner, to bear teftimony, 
 lay be called, emphatically, a word ov faying of Chrift : So this 
 hrafe may be understood in the following texts : Whofoever fliall 
 e afhamed of me or of my words in this adulterous a?id finfu I ge- 
 neration, of him alfo fhall the S9n of man be afhamed, when he 
 ometh in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels * Thou haft 
 I little ftrength, and haft kept my word.f In Inch paffages, fome 
 vord of Chrift, fome article of his doctrine, muft be under- 
 tood, which, being a part of our public profeffion, expofeth 
 is to the reproach of the world, and of which we are, therefore, 
 n danger of being afhamed. But when we fpeak of the duty 
 >f having the word of Chrift dwelling in as richly, it muft be 
 mderftood of the word of God in general, that is contained in 
 he fcriptures of the Old and New Teftaments. In {hort, it 
 ppears that the duty of Tinging is inculcated in this text, and 
 n Ephef. v. 19. but if we would know wh?t particular forms 
 if Pfalmody ought to be ufed in the public worfhip of the church, 
 /e muft make fome further ufe of our Lord's injunction, to 
 'earch the fcriptures. 
 
 Whatever was the hymn which our Lord and his difciples 
 ow fung, it was, no doubt, fuitable to the occafioni ; to the 
 onclufion of the folemn ordinances which they had been cele- 
 rating, and to his entrance upon the aftonifhing fcene of his 
 ft 1'urFerings. Chrift had now to drink up the brook in the way , 
 ie torrent of divine wrath due to our (ins; and there is no 
 
 * Mark viii. 38. f Revel, iii. 8. 
 
 \ It is the opinion of many commentators, that what our Lord fung on 
 is occafion W3s the Hallel y which the Jews were obliged to fing on the 
 ght of the pafTover, confining of fix pfalms, namely, the 113, 114, 115, 
 16, 117, and Il3. Part of this Hallel, (namely, the 113, and 114, 
 alms) was fung before the eating of the pafchal lamb, and the reft im- 
 ediately after. " Now" fays the learned Dr. Gill, " the laft part of the 
 allel, Chrift deferred to the :lofe of hisfupper; there being many things 
 
 it pertinent to him, and proper on this occafion, particularly, Pfal. cxv. 
 
 and cxvi. 12 — 15 and cxviii. 22 — 27. And the Jews themfelves fay, 
 at " the forrows of the Mefiiah" are contained in this part. That this 
 the hymn which Chrift and his apoftles fung, may be rather thought, 
 an that it was one of his own compofmg, fince not only he but all the 
 fciples fung it ; and, therefore, muft be what they were acquainted 
 ith." 
 
( * ) 
 
 <£oubt but that lie now fung in the faith of lifting up his bead in 
 his refurreclion and afcenlion. Nor is it to be doubted that the 
 faith of the difciples was really exercifed on tins occafion, 
 though it fuffered a moll difmal eclipfe a little afterward. 
 
 . On account q£ the attempts which are made in our day to 
 corrupt the divine ordinance of fmging pfalms, we hope it 
 v.'ill not be deemed unfeafbnable to take occafion from the 
 words now read, to enter into a particular confederation of the 
 fubjedt, and to endeavour fome illuftration, as the Lord is plea- 
 ded to direct, of the following proportions : 
 
 I. That the Tinging of Pfalms is a part of that 
 focial or publick worfhip which God hath appoint- 
 ed in his word. 
 
 II. That there are parts of the facred feriptures 
 adapted to the purpofe of ringing, which ought 
 to be ufed in the publick worfhip of the church, 
 till the end of time. 
 
 III. That the fcripture fongs are the only forms 
 of Pialmody, which ought to be ufed in the fo- 
 lemn. and publick worfhip of the church, till the 
 end of rime. 
 
 IV. That, in -the publick praifes of the church, 
 the mufic, or outward part, ought to be condii&ed 
 with decency and Simplicity; and in fubferviency 
 to the fpiritual part, which is chiefly to be re- 
 garded. 
 
 We proceed to a brief confideration of 
 
 The Firft Propofition* 
 
 That the finging of pfalms is a part of that focial 
 or public worfhip which God hath appointed in his 
 word. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 Ir is, indeed, a natural fentiment, that the perfections and 
 works of him that made us, fhould be celebrated in fongs of 
 praife. As men's affections towards other objects are excited 
 and expreffcd by poetical compofuions and mufical founds ; fo 
 it feems fit, that the fame means ihould be ufed to exprefs and 
 promote thofe affections of love, reverence, admiration, and 
 gladnefs, that ought to be exerciied in the worfhip of the Su- 
 preme Being. Hence the Heathens ufed to honour their falfe 
 gods with fongs of praife ; both being parts of that worfhip 
 which right reafon directs us to give to the true God. 
 
 But as it is the prerogative of the moft high God to pre- 
 fcribe the manner of his own worfhip j fo our proper warrant 
 for this religious fervice lies in the precepts and approved exam- 
 ples of his word. To this pnrpofe is that which we haye in the 
 105th Pfalm : Sing unto him .* jing pfabns : talk ye of all his won- 
 drous deeds among the people. Again in the $pth Pfalm : Thou haft 
 girded me with gladnefs , to the end that my glory may jing praife /« 
 thee. David calls his tongue his glory, as it was employed in utter- 
 ing the praifes of the Lord ; the moft noble and honourable ex- 
 ercife in which a rational creature can ever be engaged. We 
 have a particular account of the practice of the Old Teftament 
 church in this part of divine worfhip.. Singing the praifes of 
 God, being plainly of a moral nature, can never be confidered 
 as belonging to the ceremonial part of Old Teftament worfhip j 
 and, therefore, the precepts and examples recorded in the Old 
 Teftament are a fufficient warrant for our practice in this mat- 
 ter. In the New Teftament, we have precepts on this fubject 
 in the paffdges already mentioned of the epiftles to the Ephefians 
 and Colofiians*-; we have the example of Paul and Silas fmging 
 praifes in the prifon at midnight ; and that of our Lord Jefus 
 Chrift, who, as our text iniorms us, in the fame night where- 
 in he was betrayed, joined with his difciples in fmging a Pfalm. 
 Nor can it well be controverted, that fmging, of ibme fort or 
 another, has always had a place in the pubhck worfhip of the 
 church of God, fince the days of David and Solomon. The 
 purity of this ordinance is the more to be contended for, in 
 regard that, of all the exerciies of Gad's woiiliip en earth, 
 it bears the neareft refemblance to the eternal cxercife of the 
 
 B 2 
 • Sec alfo Jaroc* v. 13, 
 
( io ) 
 
 faints in heaven. Let us hold in juft abhorrence the opinion of 
 the Quakers, who would banifh tb/s, with the facraments and 
 other ordinances of Chrift, out of his church. Let us deteft 
 the ungodly practice of fome, who, from falfe notions of de- 
 licacy and good- breeding, choofe to fit filent at church in the 
 time of finging. And let us beware of encouraging the intro- 
 duction of thofe modes of finging, which, being too complex 
 and artificial, tend to impofe filence on a great part of our 
 worfhipping affemblies. 
 
 The Second Propo/ition. 
 
 That there are parts of the facred fcriptures a- 
 dapted to the purpofe of finging, which ought to 
 be ufed in the publick worfhip of the church , till 
 the end of time. 
 
 What we have to offer for explaining and confirming 
 this proportion, ihall be comprehended under four obferva- 
 tions. 
 
 The firft is, That there are portions of fcriptttre peculiarly a- 
 dapted to this part of divine worfhip. This is evidently the cafe 
 with the book of Pfalms. Let us obferve the fuitablenefs both 
 of the matter and form of them to fuch a defign. As to the 
 matter, it is fuch as the glory of God and the welfare of our 
 fouls are moll nearly concerned in ; confifting of truths con- 
 cerning the perfections and the works of God ; concerning 
 the perfon and offices of our Immanuel ; concerning the cha- 
 racter and condition of natural men; concerning the character, 
 afflictions and confolations of the fainrs ; concerning the Lord's 
 manner of dealing with the church, and with her enemie?. 
 Every part of the Pfalms is calculated for promoting the know- 
 ledge of God and of ourfelves, or for reproof and direction, or 
 for the fupport of our faith and hope. As to the form, they 
 feear the title of Pfalms or Song?, which implies that they are 
 defigned to be ufed in finging. Their brevity in general is 
 well adapted to that end : as alfo, the concife, abrupt man- { 
 ner of expreffio.n j the lively'turns, the bold, and alinott 
 continual uie of metaphors, exclamations, personifications, and 
 
( 'I ) 
 
 all the other figures which areufed to give force and animation 
 to poetical compofition.* Thefe are the characteristics of the 
 fcripture fongs ; and thefe were, no doubt, defigned by him 
 who knows our frame, to be fubfervient to thofe Spiritual affec- 
 tions with which our meditations on the matter of the pfalms 
 ought to be attended. 
 
 * As the fame excellencies for which a work of human art is celebrated, 
 may be obferved in an infinitely eminent degree in the works of God ; fo 
 many of the fame beauties which have been admired in Pindar and other 
 lyric poets, are confpicuous in the fcripture fongs : though the former, it 
 muft be owned, be to the latter, but as the cold and unprofitable glittering 
 ©f a glow worm, to the animating influence of the fun fhining in his 
 ftrength. It may, therefore, be of ufe here, to confider a little the nature 
 of that fpecies of human compofition, called, the Ode. The writer of an 
 Ode h not confined to the track marked out by any preceding poet or cri- 
 tick. He may prefs forward with a generous freedom to attain his end : on- 
 ly he muft take care that all be natural, eafy, and unaffected. The exor- 
 dium or introduction fhould be fhort; fo that the reader may find himfelf 
 engaged in the principal fubject of the poem before he be aware. In the 
 conduct of it, the various matter ought to be fo difpofed, that every fenti- 
 ment and expreffion may derive new grace and energy from the propriety 
 of its place or connexion : which connexion muft appear by the bold and 
 ftriking exhibition of the things themfelves, and not by a formal ufe of 
 connecting particles. The conclufion ought to be, in a great meafure, ab- 
 rupt and unexpected ; and yet, evidently, the finifhing of a judicious plan. 
 As to the ftyle and manner of compofition, it muft be varied aecording to 
 the fubject ; fometimes more gay and flowery, fometimes more grave and 
 fublime ; but always of peculiar delicacy, and fuch as, the more clofely it 
 is examined, approves itfelf the more to a perfon of real tafte and difcera- 
 ment. The Ode delights in metaphors and images taken from the works 
 ©f nature ; in allufions to the mod interefting pafiages of hiftory ; in fhort 
 but lively descriptions ; and, when it rifes to a very fublime or pathetic 
 ftrain, in frequent perfonifications. 
 
 As to the Hebrew numbers or verfifkation, we know little : it was well 
 adapted, no doubt, to the mufick of the Ifraelites, 
 
 But who, that has any tafte for poetical compofition, can read the fcrip- 
 ture fongs without obferving and admiring the force and elegance c*f ex- 
 preffion ; the beauty and grandeur of metaphors and fentiments ; and the 
 graces which arife from a happy arrangement ? 
 
 We may obferve three clafles of the fcripture fongs. Thofe of the firft 
 clafs have fweetnefs for their diftinguifhing character. They reprefent the 
 mild and placid affections; love,defire, hope, moderate joy or grief. Thus 
 the royal Pfalmift, while he was an exile in the wildernefs of Judea, fvveet- 
 ly exprefies love and defire in the fixty third Pfalm. The eightieth re- 
 prefents grief joined with fome hope ; the eighty fifths hope approaching 
 to joy. The ninety fecond i?, throughout, the language of a finccre, but 
 temperate gladnefs. What can be fweeter than the reprefentation of Cod 
 
( {• ) 
 
 Observation II. Thefe pfalms were given to the church 
 as forms of Pfahnody, and not as patterns according to which 
 other form r wjre to be compofed for the ufe of the church in her 
 public worjhip. The Lord's defign in giving thefe fongs is to 
 be gathered from fcripture examples of the ufe of them. We 
 have plenty of examples of the ufe of them as forms of pfalmody, 
 but none of perfons without infpiration compoling pfalms for 
 public worfbip, in imitation of the infpired fongs. Many of the 
 pfalms are directed to the chief muiician, or to him who was 
 the leader in the divine fongs of the tabernacle or the tem- 
 ple, to be immediately ufed in the worlhipof it : And we read, 
 in the twenty-ninth chapter of the fecond book of Chronicles, 
 towards the clofe, that Hezekiah the king, and the princes com- 
 manded the Levites to Jiug praife unto the Lord with the words of 
 David, and of Jfiph the Jeer. 
 
 Objection. Are there not Chriltians qualified to compofe 
 hymns, as well as to pray, after the fcripture patterns? <4 The 
 gracious Saviuur has provided and left in his word, and by the 
 ordinary influences of his Holy Spirit, fufficient furniture of light, 
 gifts and graces, for all the parts of religious worfhip, without 
 leaving a fyftem, or litiargy, in the precife words of which we 
 ihould either pray, or praife, or preach."* 
 
 Answer., i. The meafure of our attainments, or of the in- 
 fluences of the Holy Spirit with which we are favoured, is, by 
 
 as a Shepherd, in the twenty third Pfalm ? To this clafs belong feveral 
 Pfalms which celebrate the beneficence of God in his works of grace and 
 providence, fuch as the fixty fifth ; or the lovelinefs of concord among 
 brethren, as the hundred and thirty third The fecond cbfs is of thole 
 Pfalms which have fublimiiy for their diftinguifhing character ; as the 
 eighteenth, the twenty fourth, the fixty eighth, the fiftieth, the fong of 
 Mofes at the Red fea, and that of Habakkuk. The fame ode or Pfalm, in 
 different parts or expreffions, often affords ftriking examples both of fiveet- 
 nefs and of fublimity , as the eighty firfi, the ninety firft, the feventy fevenjh, 
 the nineteenth, and others. The Pfalms of this middle character form a 
 third clafs. The reader who would fee this fubject handled at length, and 
 in a learned and judicious manner, may confult Dr. Lowth's elegant Pre- 
 lections de facra poefa Htbrwum. 
 
 A Sermofi on Pfalmody, by Mr. Black. Page 38. 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 no means/ the rule of duty. To fuppofe that we are warrant- 
 ed to do any thing, merely becaufe we are furnifhed with the 
 means of doing it, is a molt dangerous principle, pregnant, in- 
 deed, with all the excelTes of libertinifm andenthuihfm. Thefe 
 two queftions, What is our duty ? and How we may be en- 
 couraged and enabled to do it ? are always to be kept diftinct.. 
 The precepts and examples of the written word afford a com- 
 plete anfwer to the former ; and *he exhibition of rich grace 
 in our Lord Jefus Chiift, and in the great and precious promifes, 
 a no lels complete anfwer to the latter. 
 
 2. With refpeet to the ufe of a form, there is a great dif- 
 ference between finging in public worfhip, and the other two 
 things mentioned in the objection, namely, prayer and preach- 
 ing. As to preaching, there is, perhaps, no denomination of 
 Chriflians among whom it is reflrkted to a fet form of words. 
 And as to any ferviie ule of forms that Hill prevails in the pub- 
 lic prayers of any of the reformed churches, it is, undoubtedly, 
 to be reckoned among their corruptions ; being a part of the 
 Antichriftian leaven which Proteftants ought to purge our. 
 The reafon is, that there is not a fingle precept or example in 
 the word of God, to warrant it. That word, which is our on- 
 ly rule, fays nothing at all of our praying in words which other 
 men have prefcribed to us ; nor of the Head of the Church hav- 
 ing veiled any fet of men with a right of prefcribing fuch 
 words. We have plenty of examples in fcripture of fecial 
 prayer; in which one mull have always fpoken as the mouth 
 of the reft ; bur there is not the lealt intimation, that a prefcrib- 
 ed form of words was uled in any of thefe inftances. The fcrip- 
 ture abounds with exhortations, directions, and promifes con- 
 cerning prayer : but we have not a hint of the ufe or neceflity 
 of fet forms. It mull be fometh'mg elie, therefore, than a fin- 
 gle concern to follow the rule, of the divine word, that has in- 
 duced any church to admit fuch forms. But we have many 
 portions of fcripture exprefsly defigned to be tiled as forms of 
 pfalmody ; and divinely approved examples of the church's ufe 
 of them accordingly ; nay, there is not a fingle fcripture ex- 
 ample of finging in focial or public worfhip, in which it can be 
 proved that any other words were ufed than thole of theinfpired 
 fongs. Of two ways of religious worfhip, when one is war- 
 ranted by plain fcripture examples, and the other by none at 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 all, a ferious Cbriftian, one fliould think, need not be at any lofs 
 to determine which is ro be followed.* 
 
 3. The truth is, our opponents do not mean to fet afide 
 forms of words in fioging; a?, indeed, there can be no fuch 
 thing as public finging without fome form of words. They 
 mean only an exchange of forms : the infpired fongs, or thofe 
 verfionsof them, which are f the molt literal, faithful, and unaf- 
 fected reprefentations of the original text, muft, it feems, be 
 laid afide ; that loofe imitations (tranflations not being propof- 
 ed or intended) of the facred fongs, or what men have compof- 
 ed, according to their notions of elegance or juft arrangement, 
 may be introduced. And thefe forms of human compofure muft 
 firftbe only allowed or recommended, till the people be fome- 
 how inured to them ; and fa at lail prepared to bear an appoint- 
 ment or impofition of them by eccleliaftical authority.-]- When 
 once the public mind is found to acquiefce in human forms of 
 praiie, the way will be prepared for human prefcribed forms 
 of prayer; the principle of adding to, or improving upon the 
 divine inftitutions being the fame in both cafes. Thus one hu- 
 man invention was added to another, till the Antichriftian fy- 
 ftem of fuperftition and idolatry was completed, under which 
 the Christian world groaned, for lb many centuries. 
 
 * Thofe who plead for the nfe of fet forms of prayer in public worlhip, 
 attempt to draw an argument from the ufe of fuch forms in finging But 
 it is certain, there is a fpecifick difference between prayer and finging. For 
 though our finging ought always to be accompanied with inward prayer; 
 yet the matter fung is as often in a doctrinal, hiftorical, or hortatory form, 
 as in that which is proper for prayer. Public finging is rather a profefiion 
 of joint concurrence in the matter fung, as a fubje<fl of inftruihve and be- 
 lieving med itation, than what is, properly fpeaking, prayer. Hence we read 
 of teaching and admoniftuKg one another, but never of praying, in Pfalms, 
 hymns, and fpiritual fongs. Hence our anceflors, tbe Prefbyterians in 
 Britain, ufed to complain of the church of England, becaufe, in fome of 
 their cathedrals, they fung their prayers. It may be further obferved he-re, 
 that it feems to be no final! prefumption againft the ufc of fet forms of 
 prayer in public worfhip, tint thofe parts of fcripture which have the ap- 
 pearance of fuch forms, are appropriated to another ufe, namely, that of 
 finging. 
 
 f " Error, (fays Mr. Hog of Carnock, in one of hispieces publifhed about 
 the time that profeffor Simfon broached his herefies,) error is modeft in 
 its firft approaches, but afterwards it fpeaks more refolutely, according to 
 the entertainment it finds." 
 
( 'J ) 
 
 Observation III. The infpired firms of PJalmody were 
 given to the church to be fung in her public and folemn worjhip till 
 the e?idofthe world. It may fafely be laid down as a maxim, 
 That whatever form of worfhip God hath appointed, ought to 
 he obferved till the end of time ; unlefs he himfelf declare that 
 it is only of a temporary nature, or that he is pleafed at a 
 certain period to abrogate it. It is certain, that he once ap- 
 pointed his church to ling his praife in the words of David 
 and of Afaph : and where have we any intimation of his 
 will that the church fhould ceafe to do fo, before the end of ■ 
 the world I It is true, thole ceremonial inftitutions which 
 were fhadows of Chrift as not yet come, fuch as, the legal 
 facrifices, purifications, the obfervation of meats and days, 
 were abrogated when he was actually come ; and, likewife, 
 whatever other ordinances ferved to keep up the partition 
 wall between the Jews and Gentiles. But the Tinging of the 
 infpired Pfalms was no typical fervice ; and fo far are they 
 from belonging to the partition wall between the Jews and Gen- 
 tiles, that the Gentiles are therein often invited to join with the 
 church in the divine praifes : As in the fixty feventh Pfalm, 
 Let the people praife thee, God ; let all the people praife thee : 
 let the nations be glad a?id fing for joy. And in another place, 
 Say among the heathen, that the Lord reigneth. Make a joyful 
 noife unto the Lord, all the earth. While the Pfilms are fung 
 in the public affemblies of the church, David, Afaph, and the 
 other penmen, who lpake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghoft, ftill continue to celebrate the praifes of God in the 
 church ; as they fometimes intimate they were to do to the end 
 of time. I will fing, fays one of them, the mercies of the Lord 
 for ever. I will blefs thy name, fays another of them, fir ever 
 and ever. Again, / will ??iake thy name be re??icmbered through 
 all generations. 
 
 Objection. * The Jewifti fyftem of Pfalmody was exactly 
 ftfited to the difpenfation under which that people were placed ; 
 and many of them" [of the Pfalms belonging to that fyftem] 
 " have fuch exprefs reference to the peculiarities of the Jewifh 
 worftiip — have thofe ordinances of it which the apoftle calls 
 worldly, weak, poor, &c. fo interwoven with their fubject mat- 
 ter, that they cannot univerfally fait the gofpel-difpenfation, 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 which is (o widely different from the Jewifli, and under which 
 thefe ordinances are entirely abolifhed."* 
 
 Answer i. We allow that the Pfalms were well fuited to 
 the ftate of the church under the Old Teftament difpenfation. 
 But if by fuitablenefs the objector means (what he undoubtedly 
 wught to mean) the fitneis or tendency of the Pfalms to promote 
 the fpiritual edification of church-members, or to convey the 
 knowledge of gofpel-truths ; for there never was nor will be 
 any real edification but in proportion to the attainment of the 
 faving knowledge of the gofpel ; if this be what the objector . 
 means by fuitablenefs, then it will not be difficult to (hew that 
 the Pfalms are not lefs, but rather more fuitable to the ftate of 
 the church under the New Teftament difpenfation, than they 
 were to the ftate of it under the old. Suppcfe a perfon to have 
 paffed his whole life without ever feeing the fun; the light of 
 his days having been only fuch as we have before the fun-rifing, 
 or after fun-fetting. Suppofe him, however, to have heard fuch 
 accounts of the fun, as gave him fome notion of the figure, mo- 
 tion, and beneficial influence of that majeftic luminary. The 
 following remarkable text, in the fourth of Malachi, might be in- 
 telligible and inftructive to fach a perfon : Unto you that fear my 
 na?m Jh all the Sun of right eou fiefs arife with healing in his wings. 
 And yet it may well be laid, it would be itill more fuitable to 
 the cafe of a perfon who had actually beheld the fun mining in 
 his ftrength. Again, when the book of Job was written, it 
 could not be unfuitable to any real knowledge of the earth 
 ♦which men had then attained, (and not the lefs fuitable for be- 
 ing contrary to their prejudices,) to be informed, that God hatig- 
 eththe earth upon nothing.^ And yet there can be no impropri- 
 ety in faying, that it is more fuitable to the prefent itate of 
 human knowledge, when philofophy and the difcoveries of na- 
 vigation, have placed the truth concerning the fpherical figure 
 of the earth in fuch a clear and illuftridus point of view. Thus 
 many paffages in the book of Pfalms, which might be very ob- 
 fcure to an Old Teftament believer, have fuch abundant light 
 poured upon them by the New Teftament revelations, that the 
 weakeft. Chriftian can be at no lots about the meaning of them. 
 When an Old Teftament believer read, in the book of Pfalms, 
 
 * A Sermon on Pfalmody, Page 20. f Job xxvi. 7. 
 
 
•( '7 ) 
 
 of one who was to fay unto God, Sacrifice and offering thote 
 wouldejl not : lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is 'written if 
 vie, — .Of one who was to have his hands and his feet pierced ; who 
 ivas to be brought to the dujl of death ; and yet wh& was to fee no 
 corruption ; and who was to be a priefl for ever after the order of 
 Melchizedec ; and to whom the Lord would fay , Sit thou at 7iiy right 
 hand, until I make thirie enemies thy footflool : further, when he 
 
 ma 
 
 Ihould read iuch evangelical expreflions as thefe; / will 
 mention of thy right eoufnefs, even of thine only ; be furety to thy 
 fervant for good: when an Old Teitament believer of ordinary 
 attainments read fuch expreflions as thefe, it would require 
 much inftrucYion, much meditation, and many errands to the 
 throne of grace, to bring him to any tolerable apprehenfion of 
 the true meaning of them. Whereas now any feriousChriPtian, 
 acquainted with the New Teitament, in reading the fame paf- 
 fages, and in the diligent ufe of the fame means, can more clear- 
 ly dilcern both that meaning, and the admirable firnefs of the 
 words to exprefs it. Thus the fuperior light of the New Tef- 
 tament difpenfation, inftead of rendering the ufe of the Pfalms 
 in the public worflf.p of the church lefs fuitable, makes it more 
 ib; that light fervmg to difclofe to our view the manifold wii- 
 dom of God contained in the words of the infpired fongs. Sure- 
 ty if we know our privileges, and if our fouls profit by them, 
 we will enter, more eafiiy and fully than Old Teftament be- 
 lievers could ordinarily do, into the fpirit of what the Pfalmiit 
 declares concerning his faith and hope of falvation, concern- 
 ing his godly forrow for fin, concerning the conflict between 
 faith and fenfe, between the flefii and the fpirit, concerning' 
 the marks and evidences of faving grace, concerning the cale 
 of the church as a kingdom not of this world, but hated 
 by it.* 
 
 C 
 * Perhaps fume may object to what is here advanced, That, if our un- 
 dcrffandiug the Pfalms better than church-members under the Old Tefta- 
 ment, be a warrant for our finging them, the fame reafoning might he made 
 tife of for our obfervation of the ceremonial law. It is anfwered, in the 
 firft place, that the writer is not her<* advancing an argument for finging 
 'the Pfalms; he is only arifwering an objection. He is far from thinking- 
 that our fuperior advantages for undcrflanding the Pfalms might be proper- 
 ly adduced as a proof that we ou^hc to ling them; but they are fufiicient 
 *o fhow that the pretended obfeurity of the Pfalms ought not to deter us 
 fr.-<m doing fo. And, in the fecond place, we have anothtr and weightier 
 rcafem againft the pvadice of the ceremonial law than the obfeurity of it, 
 
( iS ) 
 
 P. Thf. ceremonial inftitutions were indeed carnal and 
 KivtrUHy ordinances, weak and beggarly elements, when abltraeted 
 from Chrift,or as they wererepreiented by the judaizing teach- 
 ers, (againft whom tlie apoltle is difputing when he ufes thefe 
 c xprefiions.) that i% when the practice of any of them was 
 reprejented as nece-fCary in order to the juflification of a finner 
 fefore God, or when they were put in the place of, or fome- 
 how joined with, the righteoufnefs of our Lord Jefus Chrift, in 
 the affur of juftification. But, in this view, they are repre- 
 sented as beggarly elements, no lei's in the Plalms than in the e- 
 piltles of Paul. To this purpole is that which we have in the 
 fortieth pfalm : Sacrifice and offering thou didft not def'ire ; mine 
 ears h.tjl thou opened: burnt -offering and [in- offering haji thou not 
 required. And again, in the fiftieth, J will take no bullock out of 
 thy houfe, nor he-goats out of thy folds. Will I eat the fiefh of bulls f 
 ♦.■■• drink the b'ood of goats ? Thefe ceremonial nfages of the Old 
 Teftament difpenfation may alio be faid to be beggarly ele- 
 ments, conlidered with regard to the obligation which the church 
 was then under to the practice of them ; and on account of 
 the fcanty meafure of gofpel-light which was, thereby, actually 
 .communicated to the bulk of church-members, compared with 
 the abundant meafure of that light which is enjoyed under the 
 jvjew Teltament difpenfation. This deficiency of light arole, 
 narriy, from the veil that was upon their hearts, through their 
 natural bias towards the way of the broken covenant of works ; 
 partly, from the r^ceffary condition of the church under that 
 difpenfation, while the Son of God was not yet actually incar- 
 nate. But it is utterly denied, that the conlideration of the ce- 
 remonial inftitutions as types or metaphors, ferving to fliadow 
 forth Chriit and his benefits < v which is the only conlideration of 
 thefe inftitutions which was ever warrantable in finging the 
 plains) is a poor or beggarly element, unfuitable to the condi- 
 tion or" the church under the New Teitament, In this view, 
 the uiao-es of the ceremonial law are, like our Lord's parables, 
 repreieutations of earthly -things ufed, not to. veil or darken, but 
 
 jiamely, tl^at it was the meaning of that practice, that Chrift was not yet 
 come, or that the partitiorf-wali tl ill remained between Jews and Gentiles; 
 and therefore the retaining of that practice, at this time, is not oftiy un- 
 fce'Cefiary, but pernicious, implying; a total renunciation of the ChrilHan 
 religion. It is hoped that no one will make the abfurd and blalphemotg 
 luppohtion, that this rcalou is applicable to the finging of the Pialms. 
 
 3 
 
( >9 ) 
 
 to illuftrate fpiritual and heavenly things Thar they actually 
 do anfwer this purpoie, is what a perfon needs not be told, 
 who is diligent in the practical and believing u!e of his Bible. 
 One inftawce may be given with refpect to that mod import- 
 ant gofpel- truth, that the fufferings and death of our Lord Jefus 
 Chrift are of a vicarious and fatisfaetory nature. There is no 
 argument for this truth by which the Socinians appear to be 
 more confounded, than by that which is drawn horn the plain* 
 declarations concerning the fubftitntion of the Jewilh facrificcs 
 in the place of the offerer. There is no polhbility of finding 
 even fo much as a plauiible evalion of this argument, upon the 
 principle, that thefe were defigned by God to be ihadows, and 
 as exac c t representations, as earthly things could afford, of the 
 tile and end of Chrift' s death ; a principle which it is the mani- 
 feit fcope of one whole book of the New Teltamcnt, the epii- 
 tle to the Hebrews, to eftablifh. So tliatthey have no alterna- 
 tive but to deny that principle, or to admit the vicarious nature 
 of Chrift's death. For another inftance, we may mention the 
 very inftruclive and affecting manner in which the ceremonial 
 law concerning the plague of leprol'y fets forth the abominable 
 nature of fin, the fymptoms of its power and dominion, the to- 
 tal deftruction that it brings upon thofe who temain under its 
 dominion; and the manner in which the remedy tevcuitd ia 
 the gofpel is effectually applied* 
 
 It may further be obferved, that, if the Pfalms fhould not 
 be fang on account of allulions to the facrificaJ and other iifVge's 
 of the Old Teftameut, the fame objection will be againft rfce 
 language of the New Tettament ; which is full of iuchi aftuliaris. 
 This lort of language was quite familiar to the apoflies, not bt- 
 cauie it was the language of the religion in which they had Lce;i 
 educated : No, but for an infinitely better realon, namely, th;-.c 
 the Holy Ghoit judged it to be thehtteit of all human languages 
 for the purpoie of revealing the glorious Object of our fas in : 
 Chrift our pajfover is f aerified d for us. He gave hi?i;fiffor us an 
 offering and a faerifice to Cod irf a fweet fmehittg favour: /.Vn. • 
 big, therefore, brethren, boldu'fs to enter into the holiejt by the 
 biQod of Jefus, by a new and truing way which he hath confer aicd 
 for us through the vail, that is to Jay, his flejh : and, having an 
 high Prieji over, the houfe of God; ictus draw near with a true heart 
 m full ajjurana f 'faith } Living w biSArtfyrk '..:.,' ft .::. .... . 1 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 POhfcienciti and our bodies ivajhed with pure water. It would be 
 eafy to multiply examples out of the New Teftament, in which 
 references to the peculiarities of the Jewifh worfliip are as much 
 interwoven) to ufe the objector's phraie, with the Jubjitt mxtttr, 
 as in any patfages of the Claims.* 
 
 Objection. "With what propriety can church members 
 now call upon one another to praife God with the harp, the 
 pfaltery, the timbre), and dance; — and to blow the trumpet 
 in the new moon ; when at the fame time, they mean not at 
 all to do any fuch thing ? Upon what principles can we intreat 
 God to do good to Zion with this declaration in ouv mouths, 
 that then helhoukl be pleafed with whole burnt-offerings and bul- 
 locks which the church fliould offer upon his altar ? Under the 
 Jewifh difpenfation, fuch offerings were proper — they Were di- 
 vine ordinances — and the pious worfiiippers not only exprelled 
 them in words, but intended and actually performed them; 
 but no Chriftian believes he fliould prefcnt fuch offering, or if 
 he did, that they would be pleafingto God, Can we, conliilent- 
 !y with truth, fay in our fangs of praife, that fparrows and 
 iwallows build by the altar of God, and that .they are bleffed 
 ■\\ ho travel through the dry valley of Baca, dig wells in it, and 
 collect the rain in pools, to fupply themfelves with drink, whilft 
 they are coming from a diltant part of Judea, to celebrate 
 the annual feftivals at Jerufalem. Whilft the Jewifli economy 
 lafled, this c<;nld be iung with truth : but now it cannot — . 
 tftefe things exift no more. It mult be very abfurd, if not a 
 kind of mockery, to approach the Molt High with exprefiions in 
 our mouths, to which \yc havs either no meaning at all, or one 
 
 * " No al'ufior?, metaphors, or fimilies, could be fitter forexprefling and 
 explain ing the myfteries of the gofpel, than the typical ordinances of the 
 Old Teftament, in which both the figu and the thing fignified are of God, 
 and fitted to each other by his wifdorn. Accordingly, the feviptures life 
 the jewifh ceremonies, not only to exprefs theft-ate and exercife of the 
 < hureh on earth, but even in defcrihing the exercifes of the faints in hea- 
 ven. So that the ob eclors only declare their ignorance, when they pre- 
 tend that the language of the New Teftament is different from that of 
 the Old ; nothing being more evident to fuch as are acquainted with both, 
 than that they are precifcly the fame. We are the circumcifion. He is 
 a JeiO that is one imvarrlly. Peace be to all that ivalk according to this rule, 
 ti ,:d ontheJfratlofGuJ. ' Ts are an holy ftiefthood to ojer up Spiritual Jaeri- 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 very-different from their obvious Ct-vJe, and tint which th:y 
 were originally intended to convey/'* 
 
 Answer, i. It isoften inftrticYive to fiog the Payings of others 
 though they may not be altogether applicable to our own cir- 
 cumiiances. The "words wefmg, areoften ro be coafidei ed, not as 
 ours, but as the worda of the iacred writer, or oi ioiue other. 
 Sometimes we ling the words of the church's enemies: 6V/- , 
 an J let us cut them (iff from being a nation : that the nam; ^j Jjra- 
 el may be no more in remembrance. Sometimes the words or the 
 faints, declaring their great attainments are in our ^ mouths 
 though they may be far from being applicable to our prefent cafe; 
 as when the iSalmift fays, My heart is fixed, God, my heart h fixed. 
 I underhand more than the ancirnis. Thei'e paffages, on the princi- 
 ple of the objector, could not befung with truth by church- mem- 
 bers in general, even under the O.d Teitamem, more than the 
 paffuges which he fpecities, can be futig toHh truth under th«* 
 New* Hut fureiy we may with tiuth iingludi pailages as it- 
 prefent the language, the exereiies, or attainments of etfcej>: 
 The poetical fbyie renders them proper to he lung : and to fup- 
 pofe that they afford no fpiritual iuihuctron (with which the 
 Lord's people in all ages have found them to be fraught) is to 
 betray grois ignorance of the things of God, and to cult a blal- 
 phemous reflection upon tlira who gave tueto to us for quc 
 learning.^ 
 
 1. It is a common figure of fpeech that makes u r e of ; n in- 
 dividual, or a particular, to reprefeni a whole fpecies or kind. 
 The Jiork in the heavens knoweth her of pointed times, and the turtle 
 and the crane, and the fw allow, obferve the time of their coming : 
 that is ah the birds ofthefe feveral kinds are led' by mi-lmct r<>- 
 do fo. And often, by thi> figure, a particular thing is i.itd as a. 
 reprcfentative of fometlhng elfe of a general natare^ even in 
 times and places u herein trie thing it> employed- d</es not exiif. 
 Thus, when the merciful providence of God turns wars inu> 
 peace ? it may ftill be laid, die fotah the ixriu, and burns lot 
 chariot in the fire .* though every body knows that neither bow t 
 nor chariots are ikjw made ttle of in war* Where a people en- 
 y.y tiie bit (lings of civd liberty, and oi beh:? governed by \d\\ s. 
 
 C 2 
 . * A fcra&oa uu P.ilruec'y, pagps 30, 31. f EUun. :.v. 4. 
 
( M ) 
 
 made by thdr own confent, they may be Paid to ft every :na-n- 
 tinder his vine and under h'a fig-tree ; and little regard would be 
 cine ro the frigid remark, that there was not a vine or fig-tree 
 to be feen amongft them. To give only another example, bc- 
 caufeit bears a manifeft analogy to one of the paffages refer i ed 
 to in the objection, when a poetical writer difcovers that fire 
 and fublimity of genius which are fuppofed to be neceffary to 
 litccefs in the compofition of odes, it may be laid, 
 
 u He wakes to extacy the living lyre,*' 
 
 Though it is well known he never handled or even faw fuch 
 a mulical inftrument. Now, fome of the pfalms mentioned in 
 the objection, may he confulered as examples of this beautiful 
 figure. The harp, the pfaltery, the timbrel, and dance, re- 
 prefent that variety of talents, gifts, or graces which the 
 Lord ha? bellowed on church-members, and which are all to 
 be employed as fo many means or inflruments of mewing 
 forth his praife. In like manner, the cfFerings and who c 
 burnt-offerings which were made under the ceremonial law, 
 Jhould be coniidered as reprefentatives of all other fuitable 
 profeffions of faith and obedience made by church-members. 
 Thus whatever comfort and refrefhment the Lord affords his 
 people who are pilgrims on this earth, by his fpecial providence 
 or by the influence of his Spirit, is reprefented by the particular 
 comfortable refrefiiment that fome of the people of Ifrael had in 
 going to attend on their annual folemnities, nvho pafitig through 
 the valley of Baca y make it a well : the rain alfo filletb the pools* 
 The truth is, this objection is much to the fame purpofe as if a 
 per foil fhould fay, when he reads the precept, Thou J))alt uot 
 mliZzte the ox that treadeth out the cons, I am not concerned in 
 this prohibition, for 1 have no ox that treadeth out corn. We 
 are to guard againft fuch manner of treating the fcripture, left 
 we be found guilty of a grievous breach of the third command- 
 ment, by a profane trifling with his word. 
 
 3. If there is any force of reafon in the objection, it mi- 
 litates again ft the finging of the Pfalms, in the ordinary public 
 worfhip of the Old Teitament church, as well a? in that of the 
 "New. If they could not with propriety fmg the Pfalms, unlefs 
 where they had harps, pfalteries, organs, and cymbals, or where 
 Sacrifices were offered ; then they could not be lung in farai- 
 
( n ) 
 
 lies ©r fynagognes, or any where but at Jerufalem ; for ft was 
 in the tern pie llone, (at lead from the time of David,) that 
 God was to be worfhipped with inftrumental mufic or the cf- 
 ferino- of iacrifices. But, it feems, there were fbme of the 
 PfaloTs, which neither the priefts who officiated regularly in 
 the temple, nor the inhabitants of Jerufalem or its environs, 
 could fing with any propriety. Why ? becaofe they knew no- 
 thing (except, as w« ourfelves under the New Ttftament may- 
 know, by the testimony of others) of coming fromdiitant parts 
 of Judea to celebrate the annual festivals, of digging wells by 
 the way, or of the joy which the pious travellers experienced 
 when the fhowers of ruin filled their wells. Thus, if it were a 
 valid objection againft finging luch pafTages of the Pfalms as 
 thole now alluded to, that we cannot fing them in any other 
 than a hiftorical and figurative fenfe, then they irnift have been 
 as inimitable to the greateft part of church-members under the 
 Oid Teitament, as they are now. 
 
 Besides, if ft be true which the objector alleges, namely, 
 that any fpiritual or evangelical fenfe, which is affixed to thefe 
 words in hnging them, is " one very different from their obvi* 
 cus fenfe, and from that which they were originally intended 
 to convey ;" if this be true, it is not conceivable how thefe paf- 
 fages could be calculated for the edification of the church under 
 theOldTeftament more than under the New : for it is certain, 
 that nothing but fpiritual and evangelical truth, could ever edi- 
 fy the church of God, or build up the members thereof, in holi- 
 nefs and comfort through faith unto falvation : But, according 
 to the objector, the words ufed by the Pfalmift, in the pafTages 
 alluded to, were not originally intended to exprefs an^ fuch 
 truths ! ! 1 
 
 4. The fame rules are to he obferved in the interpreta- 
 tion of the Pfalms, as in the interpretation of other places of 
 fcripture. If the literal fenfe of a text be agreeable to the a- 
 nalogy of faith, or to the general ftrain of icripture doctrine, 
 and to the fcope and connexion of the place ; then it is to be 
 taken literally. But if the literal fenfe be contrary to the cur- 
 rent of (criprure doctrine, if it be trivial, affording no fpiritual 
 or practical imtruetion, if it be inimitable to the fcope and con- 
 nexion of the place ; then it is neceffiry to depart from the 
 
( *4 ) 
 
 literal fenfe ; the piffage muft be taken figuratively. In this 
 cafe, to inliit upon the literal meaning is rather an attempt to 
 burlefque the icripture, than a ferious endeavour to come at its 
 true meaning. Any perfon muft be fenfible of this, whenever 
 he tries to take fuch expreflions as the following in the literal 
 fenfe : Purge me with hy[fop • Make the bones •which thou haft 
 broken rejoice ; The mountains jh 'all bring jorth peace ; Blejfjd are 
 ye that /bus be fide ail waters » Lei the- dead bury their dead; 
 IV her sfo ever the car cafe is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 
 We are no lets in danger of error by taking the figurative parts 
 of Icripture literally, than by taking the literal figuratively, 
 as is manifeft in the cafe of the Anthropomorphizes, the Millen- 
 arians, the Papitls, and many other hererical feels.* Nor does 
 it follow that becsufe a paffage of fcripture is figurative, there- 
 fore it is obfeure : Figures, and efpecially metaphors, which a- 
 bound in all languages, are often ufed by fpeakers or writers as 
 the molt proper means for bringing their readers or hearers to 
 a clear and diftindt apprehenfion of what they want to commu- 
 nicate : They anfwer this purpofe, when they are exactly a- 
 dapted to the fubjecl., or to that part of it which they are brought 
 to illuftrate j when they are taken from common objects or 
 occurrences, or from things with which we either are or ought 
 to be well acquainted. To a perfon who has been accuitomtd 
 to the daily reading of the fcriptures, many of thefe figures 
 muft be fo familiar, that he can be at no lofs to underiland 
 them. For example, when he reads the hundred and fiftieth. 
 Plulm, in which men are called upon to praifethe Lord with the 
 
 * The Anthropomorphltes afcribed a human fhape to God, becaufe the 
 fcriptuix fpeaks of his eyes, ears, hands, &c. 1'he MilUnaria**, underUand^ 
 ing Rejel. xx. 4, 5, 6. literally, maintain that, before tluv lait day, a 
 number of men, namely, faints and martyrs, will be railed from the dead*; 
 and that the whole church then upon earth, will enjoy uninterrupted pros- 
 perity, exempted from all affliction, and having our Saviour vifibiy among 
 them, for a thouland years. The Papifs pretend to ground their abfurti 
 doctrine of tranl'ubilantiation upon trie literal fenfe of the words, This is 
 tny body. The Quakers pretend (though they are far from thinking the ho- 
 lv Icripture to be the only rule of faith and practice) to ground their ab- 
 fird opinion of the unlavvfulntfs of oaths upon thefe words of James, S-wcar 
 not ut alt ; and their no lefs abfurd opinion of the unlawfulnei - of defen- 
 sive war, upon thefe words of our Saviour, IVhofouver Jhall finite thee on thy 
 right check , turn tb \ Lbu the other a'fo ; not heeding tk-e true fcope of thtie 
 places, nor yet the analogy of faith > or the current difctrice of the fcripture 
 ex ihc lu' -jtcTs 'P'-l-wK v\. 
 
( tt ) 
 
 Pfaltery and harp, with the timbrel and dance, with ftrisged 
 iuftruments and organs, and upon the high-founding cymbals ; 
 he contiders, firft, that it is abftird to fuppofe that ail men are 
 here commanded to play upon mnlical inftruments : feccndly, 
 that the ute of inftrumental mufic in religious worfhip was con- 
 fined to the temple even under the Old Teftament ; and there- 
 fore was typical : and, thirdly, that the praife here meant is the 
 dury of ail reafonable creatures, in which they are all exhort- 
 ed to join; and therefore it cannot be underftood of any rites 
 or modes of worfhip that are merely local and typical. He 
 therefore concludes, that the exerciie of praifing which we are 
 here called to, is no other than that of glorifying God with our 
 bodies and fpirits which are his: and that the Pfahnift ufes 
 fuch an enumeration of particulars ; fuch a vehemence of re- 
 petition, to fignify that we fliould employ all the means that 
 grace and providence afford us in celebrating his praife ; that 
 we fliould praife him with all our heart, mind, foul, and (Length. 
 He is alio convinced, that there is the greateft propriety in the 
 figurative expreflions here ufed ; in regard- that all that was 
 then known of the muf;cal 3rt amongft men, is employed to let 
 forth the inteni'enef° of that fpiritual exerciie of praife, which the 
 glorious excellencies and works of our God call for from hia 
 creatures, and efpeciaily from his redeemed one?.* Such a per- 
 ron can be at no lois with refpeit to the meaning of the cloie of 
 the fifty firft Pfalni : he fees clearly that tbs offerings and whole 
 burnt offerings of' bullocks with which the Lord is iaul lohepleaf- 
 ed, cannot be underftood merely of the outward i ires ; of which 
 the Pfalmift fays in a foregoing verfe, Thou defireft not fieri- 
 fice ; tkm deligkte ft. rist in burnt-offering j together with many 
 other pafTages to the fame purpole. It mult be plain to the 
 Periods enquirer, that what the Lord was well pleafed with was 
 (that which is common to Old and New Ttftament believers) 
 their bring the offering of Chrift to God in the exerciie of faith, 
 
 * Vos eilis tuba, pfalterium, cythara, tympanum, organum, ct cymba- 
 lajubjlationig bene fonantia, quia confonantia. Vr;s eftis hxc omnia. Ni- 
 hil rile, nihil tnnfitorium, nihil hicludicum, vel lubricrum ; et quia fapcrc 
 ftcundum carnem mors eft, cmnis ipiritus laudet Dominum. Avgvjlinvs 
 in loium. That is, Ye are the trumpet, the pfaitery, the harp, the organ 
 and the cymbals of joy that are well founding, becaufe agreeing together : 
 nothing mean, tranfitory, ,'udicrous or vain is meant here : and, fince 
 it is death to be carnally minded, let ever)' one with his fpirit praife the 
 Lerd. 
 
and in obedience to bis command; and, in that way, prefent- 
 iug themft Ives and their icrvices, the calves of their lips, unto 
 God. Such an enquirer wi-11 recollect, that believers are laid 
 to be a holy priejlhood to offer Jpiritual facrifices, acceptable to G<sA 
 through J ejus Chrifi ; and that Chriit is called our altar in the 
 New Ttitament.* This is no arbitrary interpretation ; no 
 impofed meaning : but what we are naturally and necefTarily 
 led to by the words, taken in confiftency with the context, and 
 with the whole tenor of icripture ; and to take the words of 
 fcripture any other way, is but to abul'e them. Again, fuch a 
 per Ion when he lings theie words in the third verie of 'be 
 eighty fourth Pfalm, The /p arrow hath Jouud an hou/e, and the 
 /wallow a nejl for her/elf, where Jhe may lay her young, &c.f, 
 will be naturally led to fome fuch meditation as this t Chuit 
 faith to his diiciples, Fear not : ye are of more value than ma- 
 fey fparrows : Is it not my King and my God that iupplies the 
 wants of the fparrow and the fwallow ? and will he not much, 
 more fatisfy that ardent defire ot communion with himlelf, in 
 his ordinances, which he hath created ill my foul ? To give 
 another instance, a ferious Chriflian can never be fatisfied that 
 no more is meant by the reprefentation, in the fame Pfalm, of 
 thole pacing through the valley of Baca, and making a we//, 
 while the r ain Jilleth the pools , thaw merely the digging of a well, 
 by a company of Israelites in |&eir way to Jerulalcm: Full, 
 
 * Hofea xiv. 2. Heb. xiii. 10. I Pet. ii. 5. 
 
 f It is difficult to conceive how the fparrows and Swallows would be 
 Suffered to build their neSts on or even, (i( the Pfalmift's words would bear 
 it) by or near the attars, where there was Rich a continual reSort of people, 
 and where the pi ieus were daily officiating. This difficulty, and thedif- 
 tindive point Separating the words, thine attars, Lord <j Lofts, t.iy iiav and 
 tny God, from the foregoing part of the verfc, lead us to agree with thole 
 interpreters who confide? what is laid of the fparrow and the Swallow, aa 
 included in a parenthefis, and taking a Supplement from the fecond vcrSe; 
 read thus, JVLyfoultonocth ; or my ficjh and my heart crittb out for ihint al- 
 ters, Lord, t5V. Or, perhaj s,the laft } art of the third verfe may be fim- 
 ply confidered as an abrupt exclamation ; v.hile the Pfalmift is reflecting 
 on the care of Providence towards the birds, directing them to what is 
 Suitable to their rcSpective conditions, he is Suddenly llruck with a view of 
 the Lord's Special mercy, roanifeftcd in tlit ordinances of his grace; and 
 dries out in an extacy of delight, Thine altars, 1 ord of hofls, my J-ing and 
 tny GoJ\ thine altars, and the Sweet communion with thee which I have 
 enjoyed there, are more datable to the cafe of my foul, than the chcfifhilig 
 v.armtl; hi the n.il i» to the tui-lcr young < f the fi arrow or fwallow. 
 
I 37 ) 
 
 bcc?ufe tbis fenfe is jejune, and could afford nofpirirual inftrwc- 
 tion, either underthe Old or New Tellament difpenfation: Se- 
 condly, becaufe the Holy Spirit fpeaks of this as a diftinguifh- 
 ing privilege of the Lord's people. Thirdly, becai-'e the ef- 
 fect of the rain filling the pools is defcribed in too magnificent 
 terms to be anderftood of the effect of mere natural rain. They 
 go from jlrength to jlrength i everyone of them appear et!» before 
 God in Z':tn. Belides, even though we fhould underitanri the 
 words of the fpecial providence only, that was exerciled about 
 the Lord's people in attending on ordinances, they will Hill be 
 a* proper to be fung under the New Teftament, as they were 
 under the Old ; and lurely, if profeffed Chriltians were duly 
 careful in giving a diligent attendance on the ordinances of 
 the rrofpel, they could not be at any lofs to enter into the fpirit 
 of thefe words. On the whole, it is apparent that the paffages 
 al'uded to in the objection give no ground for this rafti and un- 
 guarded affertion ; " That ibme of the Pfalms, in their plain 
 and literal l'enl'e — the fenie in which they were ufed under the 
 Old Teftament difpenfation, are not fuited to gofpel-times." 
 
 u Some of the Pfalrn%" Fays the objector, not ail ; for he al- 
 lows that " many of them fo excellently exf refs the exercifcs 
 of a pious and devout heart, and fo fublimeiy extol the Moft 
 High, without any reference to the peculiarities of that dilpenfa- 
 tion which is now abolifhed, that they contain matter proper 
 to be lung to the end of the world."* 
 
 It is true, that fome of the Pfalms may be more fuirable to 
 the prefent cafe of a peribn, or people, than others. Some are 
 more adapted to an afflicted condition ; others to a profperous 
 one: Some may be called penetential, and others thanklgiving 
 pfalms. And perfons are at liberty to fix on fuch of the pfalms. 
 for their prefent ule, as they judge to be moft fuitable to their 
 circumftances, attainments, or frame of mind. But it does not 
 follow from this, that there are fome of the Pfalms which it is 
 warrantable, and others which it is unwarrantable, to ling un- 
 der the New Teilament. For it is warrantable to fing, as well 
 as read, paffages of fcripture that may refpeet actuation or con- 
 dition that is quite different from our own. While we are fea- 
 
 * A Sermon on Pfalmody. Page 31. 
 
( *8 ) 
 
 fible of our fmall progrefs in the way of true gbdlinefs, as judg- 
 ing ourfelves to have hardly, as yet, entered into it, we ought, 
 notwithstanding this, to fing of the high attainments of the pen- 
 pie of Go ! recorded in fcripturc ; giving him heart v thanks for 
 all the kindnefs he has mown to any of Adam's family. Though 
 we may, at prefent, be in a comfortable frame of fpirit, it may 
 be very profitable to fing the mournful {brains of the Pfalmilt; 
 that we may be prepared for a day of trouble, nothing being 
 more dangerous than fecurity; that when we meet with trial*, 
 we may be furniflied with this necelTary and comfortable prepa- 
 ration, even a knowledge that no temptation hath taken us but 
 that which is common to the Lord's people. Though we fliould 
 labour to attain a well-grounded aiTurance, that the Lord hath 
 not appointed us to wrath ; but to obtain faivation through Jefus 
 Chrifi ; yet we are to fing of his vindielive juftice, difplayed in 
 'the punilhment of the wicked, as well as of the riches of his 
 grace and mercy to his own people. In finging, we are not 
 only to exnrcfs our grateful fenfe of all his benefits, but our cor- 
 dial acqniefcence in his juft judgments: Tims, it is our duty to 
 fing the Pfalms that exprefs the fatisfaction that^the* faints have, 
 in the contemplation of the glory of TSoct as fhiniDg in the out- 
 pouring of his wrath upoja his and their enemies ; that is, upon 
 fuch as obftinately and impenitentjy perlirt: in their enmity a- 
 gainft him and his people : though ignorant men, who condder 
 • riot that the words which we fing, are the words of the Holy 
 Ghoft, and not our own, miftake and reproach the exercife, as 
 if we were therein curfing our perfonal enemies ; an<J as if the 
 Holy Spirit would ever dictate fongs for the ufe of the chtifch, 
 •whether under the Old or New Teftament, breathing a fpirit 
 of revenge : a fort of fongs which ought to be afcribed to him 
 who was a murderer from the beginning. 
 
 Further, as it cannot be pretended that the diftinction of 
 the Pfalms into fuch as may, and fuch as may not warrantably 
 be fung under the New Teftament is to be found in the Bible ; 
 ib the reafons offered in fupport of it are vain, and frivolous. 
 That which is moftiy .infilled on, namely, that it is improper to 
 iing the Piah-ns which abound with references to. the ceremonial 
 aifages of the Old Teftament, would, indeed have fome weight, 
 if alltiding to thefe ufages were the fame thing with praeViling 
 them i or if it were as bad a thing to make ufe of a thief in a 
 
/ 
 
 *9 
 
 fimilie or metaphor, as to be one : But the truth is, metaphor.' 
 and co nparif >ns are often ufed for illull rations, and it makes no 
 difference what objects they are taken from, provided they 
 ferve that purpofe. Thus our Lord compares his ter.dcr.o,i - 
 tern tor Jerufalem to when gathering her chickens under her v*en*s ; 
 and to exprefs the fudderfhefs of his coming, he fays, Ihht'd, I 
 ttme as a thief in the night. It is ihameful for a member of ihe 
 Njw Teframent church to complain of the al'utipns in the Plaints 
 to the ceremonial ufages as rendering them ebfeure ; fince'thls 
 obfeurity mull neceffurily have been far greater k\\u\<j.y the Oljl 
 Teftament. Even the ceremonial law ought, in fome refpect 1 , 
 to be as familiar to us, and better undetftood by us", than it was 
 by the Jews; Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for 
 our learning, that we through faith a/id patience of the fqriftur.es 
 wight have hope. y 
 
 After all, our opponents are far from l%ir?g explicit in this 
 matter. Error always loves to involve itie'f in 'ambiguous and 
 indeterminate expreilion. We cannot certainly know from all 
 that thefe men have fpoken or written on the fubjecl, whether 
 or not they mean abfolutetf to condemn the Hnging of fome of 
 the Pfahns in.the public worfiiip of the New Teiiamejat churcfi 
 as linful ; nor have they fo much as given us an exhtpgatory in- 
 ?ex of the condemned Pialins. Such an index, uponVheir hypo- 
 thefis, is exceedingly neceflary : for if the ringing or fome of' 
 the Pfahns be a mere peculiarity of the Oia Tell'ament difpen- 
 fation, like the offering of facrifi.es, or the middle wall of parti- 
 tion between Jews and Gentiles, then, to b*e lure, we hava 
 much need to be we'll apprizgjj which are the abrogated P fa lms, 
 and which we ought to beware of tinging. It is true, the Jew- 
 ish converts were borne with for a while in their attachment 
 to fome of their old ceremonies. But it <does not appear that 
 tills indulgence was continued to any after the canon of fcrip- 
 ture wasdofed. So that if the tinging of any of the Old Ttf- 
 t anient (bugs be mere Juda'im, it nu.it now be a dangerous, 
 nay, a pernicious cultom. 
 
 The ilnging of the fcripture fongs a pernicious cuftom ! $<<>' 
 the church of Rome ufed to account the common pracVict oi 
 reading the holy fcriptures. , 
 
 • Before we quit this proportion, we may add, 
 
 D 
 
 ' 
 
( 3° ) 
 
 A fourth obfervation, which is, That as verfe tranjlathnr 
 arc neccjfary for the ufe of our churches in their public and fo/emn 
 ivorfoip ; jo thofe franjlations ought to he preferred, that vioji hap- 
 /•/</)' and txattty reprefent both the matter ami form of the fcripture- 
 Jongs. Men may nfe whatever freedoms they judge proper 
 with other books written in foreign languages; in order to a- 
 <t-apt them to the tafte or to the ufe of the people into whole 
 language they translate them. But fuch freedoms are altoge- 
 ther illicit in transiting the holy fcriptures. " The original 
 text," to u r e the words of an old Puritan, Mr. John Canne, to 
 whom the lovers of the Bible are much indebted for his judici- 
 ous marginal references, " ought to be tranflated, as much as 
 pofiible, even word for word, without departing from the letter 
 of lcriptnre in the leaft. F«;r it is neceffary to preferve the let- 
 ter entire, how inconvenient, yea, how abl'urd foever and harfli 
 it may feem to .men's carnal reafon : Becauje the foohjbnefs of 
 Cod is io'fer than men. The lcriptnre metaphors muft not be 
 omitted, nor mif-tranflated one for another. Many words of 
 icripture which to fome may feem unfruitful, and afford not 
 much matter in the letter, yet, according to the manifo/d ioifdo?x 
 of God, have an excellent meaning of the Spirit in them. The 
 original particles are to be minded, and fpecial notice taken of 
 them, as a thing of great concernment to lhevv the connexion 
 of the text and context." 
 
 These are the principles, upon which every translation of 
 the facred writings ought to be formed. A tranflation of the 
 holy fcriptures is to be valued in proportion as it reprefents not 
 merely the fenfe, but the very words and phrafesof the origi- 
 nal. Not that we are to have any religious regard to one lan- 
 guage above another, or to any fet of founds or fyllables; all 
 iuch regard being grofsly fuperititious : but as we believe that 
 the words of the facred writings were dictated by the Holy Spi- 
 rit ; fo we believe that thefe words, having been chofen by in- 
 rinite wifdom, are the fitted and the belt, whether they be con- 
 sidered in relation to the things taught, or in relation to thofe 
 whom they were defigned to teach. Hence it follows that, of 
 two tranflations, both made by fuch as were duly qualified for 
 the work, and lincei ely itudious of preferring the entire fenfe 
 of the original; but the one t\ee, purpofely reprefenting the 
 fenfe only ; the other literal) and, as much as poflible, word 
 
 3 
 
( 3« ) 
 
 for word, the latter ought, without hefitation, to be chofe-n. 
 And that for two real cms. Fit ft, becaufe the latter takes the 
 only proper way to preferve the whole fenfe of the original j 
 And, fecondly, becaufe the latter method of tranflating ibews a 
 becoming regard to the choice which the wifdom of God lias 
 made of words to exprefs what he has been pleafed to reveal to 
 us. A verfe tranflation of any of the poetical parts of the fcrip- 
 ture ought to be formed upon the fame principles : None of the 
 original words ought to be neglected; and thete ought to be 
 very few fupplements ; and thefe only fuch as are plainly and 
 neceffarily implied in the original Words. SkcIi a verfe tranfla- 
 tion will give hs the fcripture fongs entire ; the fame beginning 
 and ending; the fame order of fentences, and of members of 
 fentences, a6 in the facred original. It is not the bufmefs of the 
 tranflator to think how he himfelf would choofe to expi els what 
 he takes to be the fenfe of the Pfalmift ; or hoj^ it may be ac- 
 commodated to men's fuppofed refinement of tafte, or even to 
 the ftate of the church under the New Teftamcnt difpenfation. 
 His only concern ought to be that each word in the original may 
 have an exactly correfponding word or phrafe in his tranilatior ; 
 its relation to the words going before and following being t lie 
 fame in both. Such a traSn flat ion will give m, — not the words 
 which man's wifdom teacher^, but which the Holy Ghojl teacheth. 
 We do not fay, that we have, or expect, an abfoluieiy perfect 
 or fault lefs tranflation ; but that the verfe tranflation which ad- 
 heres the mofl clolely to the principles now laid down, is to be 
 preferred; as giving us not only the mutter, but the words 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Objection, u Still the form is merely human, utile ft we 
 fuppofe the tranflator was divinely infpired, when he verlified 
 the Plalms, and that the Holy Spirit dictated to him the veiy 
 phrales and mealure of his verfe."* 
 
 Answer. The efteem of a tranftV.tion of the fcripture Qnag! 
 according to the degree in which it correfponds, not only in 
 fenfe, but in words and phrafes, with the original, is a very dif- 
 ferent thing from pretending that it was made by immediate 
 divine infpiration : its exact ne Is being the fruit of Warning, of 
 
 1 A Sermon on Pfalmotlj. Page 37. 
 
( 3* ) 
 
 much application to the irudy of the holy fcriptnres, together 
 with the aids which the Lord ordinarily affords his people in 
 whatever work he calls them to. What the objector means by 
 the form, he does not precifely determine ; but one fliould think, 
 that the words and phrales, the metaphors and allufions, toge- 
 ther with the order and relation in which they Hand to one stn- 
 tfher, belong to the form of any composition in profe or verfe : 
 and thele, in the translation of the icripture tongs, as well as in 
 the original, i'o far as they exactly correfpond with one another, 
 are fuch as were divinely chofen; and therefore he that calls 
 tlism merely human, cannot be free from the guilt of fpeaking 
 reproachfully of the divine word. There are fome pnrpofes 
 which the original text alone can fully aniwer ; fuch as, thole 
 of examining and judging translations, of vindicating the true 
 reading or the true fenle agair.il the exceptions of adverfarie?, 
 vf correcting the miftakes of tranferibers, and, in fine, of exhi- 
 biting that revelation which God hath given us in its full per- 
 fection. But itsil it remains a truth, that lb far as the words of 
 any tranflatioli are exactly anfwerable to thole of the facred o- 
 riginal; not only the matter, bur the form is divine; the words 
 arc in mtrrii rne words of me Haly Gholt, as the Hebrew or 
 Greek words ; and are as proper for our learning, thai we, 
 through faith and patience of the firipture, might have hope. As 
 to the verification, it is only a circum'tance ufed for the con- 
 venience of Tinging; and by no means incompatible with a due 
 care to retain the word? of the Holy Ghoft, or the form as 
 now de'eribed. Take the firft Pfalm in the verfion ant honied 
 by rhe church of Scotland for an example. The fit ft line of that 
 •verlion is a more adequate representation of the emphafis of 
 the two Uril wordi of the original ; it is a more (trictly litend 
 tranilation of them, than that which we hive in profe. What- 
 ever faults may be charged upon th.it translation, they are not 
 inch as arife from a deligned neglect of the phrafeology of the 
 facred original: a religious regard to the principles now laid 
 down ismanifeft through the whole of ir. 
 
 OBjEcrios-. Is it not an ordinary cuitom with minillers 
 and private Chriftianr,, in felecting a palfage to he lung on 
 anV occallon, to take fo many veries out of one or two Plalm?, 
 as'thcy judge proper? Is not this much the fame with what 
 Dr. Watts has done in putting together fuch parts of a Pfalm 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 as belonged to the fame fubjeft, and Farming a phin hymn ou| 
 out of them f In this cafe, the matter is divine, though the 
 form be human. 
 
 Answer. There is a great difference between a minifter 
 or private Chriitian choofing a portion for divine worihip one 
 of the infpired fongp, and his chooling one out of fucii compo- 
 fitions as thofe oLDr. Watts.* In the former cafe, he has 
 the whole of the fcripture fongs before him, in a verfion 
 which adheres clofely to the original; and out of thefe he 
 may choofe what he judges molt fuitable to the cccaiion, 
 according to what he takes to be the real meaning of the 
 Holy Spirit. But, in the latter cafe, he has not the Pfalms 
 or icripture- fongs themfelves, but only the views or notions 
 which the doctor had of them, expreffed in bis own puerile 
 way. Further, when a miniiter or private Chriitian tingles 
 out two or three verfes of a Plalm for the prefent occaiion, he 
 does not mean to lay down any rule for the direction of other 
 miniiters or private Chrittians on future cecafions : but whet* 
 inch a compofuion as that of Dr. Watts is ufed in public wor- 
 ihip, a rule is there laid down, that church-members are to fing 
 fuch verfes of a Plalm, in fuch order and connexion^ in fuch a 
 fenfe and meaning, as the Doctor has prefcribed. 
 
 With regard to the diftinction betwen matter and form, it 
 may be laid of the Weftminiler-Confeffton with as much pro- 
 priety, as of any hymns of human compofure, that the matter 
 of it is divine ; becaufe it is a phin declaration of icripture 
 truths. But when we exactly recite a pafTage of fcripture 
 both the matter and form of what is recited is divine : it make* 
 no difference in what language it be recited. And fa far as a 
 verfe translator gives us the words and phrafes, in the fame or- 
 der and relation which they (land in to one another in the ori- 
 ginal language, fo far his. tranflation retains this form. 
 
 D 2. 
 
 * " If the Scripture fongs were to be ne\*Iy hmnftated by a perfo-n who 
 was fkilled in them enough to admire them and to difcern their excellen- 
 cies, ibmething 1 decent might he expected from him; b:it a perfon whm h 
 an enemy to the Scripture fofrgs, and who has vilified them fo much as- 
 Dr. Watts, could not he expected to render them otherwife than very 
 wretchedly, which he has done accordingly, in conHliency v/ith tub owa. 
 exceptions againft than..'* C\ 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 It is obfervable, that thofe who are againft afcfertainkig or 
 declaring the particular doctrines of the Bible, in oppofition Do 
 the errors and corruptions of the times, in any.confeiiion of faith, 
 or public teftimony, for divine truth, have it always in their 
 mouth, That the Bible is their teftirnony ; and that they will 
 not fubfcribe to any human compofures, or to any words but 
 the words of fcripture. They have been often told that the 
 grofieft heretic will do the fame : and that without foch an ad- 
 herence to fpecified articles of truth, we make no fuitable ap- 
 pearance on the fide of it, againft the artifices of its adverfa- 
 rie>, nor can the honefl lovqps of jonnd doftrtne know whe- 
 ther we are for them or againft them. But they heed no fuch ex- 
 postulations : They are, no doubt, men of more moderation 
 than to prnfefs adherence to points of doctrine, which a great 
 many wife and good men could never understand or admit. 
 For their part, they think it futficient to profefs, as all good 
 Christians do, to have a reverence for the Bible. One fhoulcl 
 expect that thefe moderate gentlemen would have fome zeal 
 for one thing at leall ; that is, the purity and excellency of the 
 letter of the fcriptnres. But here we are utterly dilappointed ; 
 for no (boner do they hear, that fome celebrated Doctors have 
 difcovered that the Hebrew vowel-points (according to which 
 that language has been ufually read, and all the translations in 
 life amono- Proteftants have been formed) were the invention 
 of the Maforeth, fome Jews who either understood not, or 
 wanted to corrupt the Old Teftament ; that the received read- 
 ing of the Hebrew fcriptures abounds with errors; that the 
 Socinians are now found to have been in the right, when they 
 held the Hebrew text of the Old Teftament and the Greek of 
 the New to be irreparably corrupted ; and further, that the 
 PSalms of the Old Teftament are but Jewifli Pfalms, that ought 
 not to be fung in the Chriftian church without a great many al- 
 terations and accommodations to our fuperior light; that David, 
 who is reckoned the author of moft of them, was no eftimable 
 character, particularly, that he was a man of a very rancor- 
 ous difpofition, not having attained the mild and benevolent 
 fyirit of the golpel.* No fooner do our modern Latltudinarian 
 
 * " The PJalmift was fo far r rom raffing his enemies that fee prayed fat 
 iihem. But as fur m?, nitben they yictt fick, my clothing •was fadcini-b. I 
 IwmMed m-j foul imth fafiinv, anJ my prayer returned into my oiun bofom. T he* 
 kavcJ mvftlf as thaujh hi had ban my friend or brflber. J 1'rwed deivn 'wv^ihy 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 Chriftians hear thefe opinion?, than they imbibe them as greed- 
 ily, as if there was not a wile or good man in the world that 
 rejected them. In rain are they told, that inch opinions tend 
 to diicredit the letter of the fcriptoffes, tor which they ufod 
 to profefs lb great a veneration : that they tend ro render the 
 ienfe of Scripture quite indeterminate, a mere thing of wax. 
 The enemies to creeds and coufeflions look upon thefe things 
 as promifmg figns of the fuccefs of their fcheme : for if the 
 letter of Icripture be not authentic, then to be lure, there iau 
 be n ) ascertaining of particular articles of revealed truth ; as 
 in a teftimony or confeffion of faith : and men will vary the 
 letter, as they ufed formerly to vary the the meaning, accord- 
 ing to any reverie that fuits their fancy. 
 
 The Third Proportion. 
 
 That the Scripture -fongs are the only forms of 
 Pfahnody which ought to be ufed in the public and 
 folemn worfhip of the church of ChrifL 
 
 The firft argument we fhall offer in fupport of this propositi- 
 on arifes from the conlideration, that the infpired longs are 
 forms of pfalinody which God appointed to be ufed in the pub- 
 lic and folemn worfhip of his church : This principle being evi- 
 dent from what was advanced on the former propofition con- 
 cerning their being called Pfa/ms, fym/ts, or fongs, concerning 
 the direction of them to lhe chief mulician, to be ufed in 
 the public praifes of the temple, and concerning the divine- 
 ly recorded and approved example of the Okl Teitament 
 church. We have alio feen that this appointment was 
 no peculiarity of the Jewifh church ; no temporary ufage ; but 
 is to continue unto the end of the world. We now proceed 
 a ilep further ; and aifert, that the infpired fongs alow? are ap- 
 pointed to this ufe ; there being nothing in the precepts or ex- 
 amples of the fcriptures, from which it can be inferred, that 
 the Lord Chrifl ever appointed any other than the infpired fongs, 
 
 as oie that mourneth for Lis mother, Pfalm XXXV. 13, I 4. Thofe who fee no- 
 thing in the Plalm, but David and his hiftory, paflions and circumftances, 
 are Grangers to the fenfe of the Holy Spirit in them : Though thofe who, 
 in our days, deprdciate the Pia'.ms appear fometimes to he as great ftran^- 
 trs to the characler of David, as to the mind of ths Holy Ghoft." C. 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 to be tifed in the public and folemn worfiiip of his church. ~\Vc 
 argue here from the (Hence of fcripture with regard to the 
 ufe of other fongs in public worfhip. And furely there is much 
 truth in that faying of Luther, That a Chriftian mould account it 
 a fufiicient confutation of any erroneous doctrine, to fay, That 
 there is no fuch thing in the Bible. To them that regard the 
 holy Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice ; and re- 
 ject all ways or means of worshipping God that are not appoint- 
 ed in his word, it will be of no avail to fay that the practice of 
 introducing hymns of human compofure into the worfiiip of God, 
 by in the judgment of many wife and good men, rational, ufe- 
 ful, and fuitable to the attainments of the church under the 
 New Teftament ; or to ufe ever lb much lively and pathetic 
 declamation to that purpofe ; while the principal recommenda- 
 tion, a word of divine appointment, is wanting. It fhould firft 
 he eftablifhed, either by the expref* words of icripture, or by 
 neceffary confequences ariling from them, that fuch an ufage 
 is, indeed, a divine ordinance ; and then Chriftians may be ex- 
 cited to receive and obferve it by rational confidcrations, of the 
 ufefulnefs and luitablenefs of it. It is true, there are none of 
 ' our Lord's ordinances, nor any,.properly belonging to them, but 
 what has fome ufe, or end worthy of the glorious Inftitutor, 
 nor can they be rightly oblerved without a fingle regard to that 
 uie or end : but then we muft have the authority of his word 
 both for the ufage itfelf, and for the primary ufe and end of it. 
 Secondary rational confiderations of the advantages that attend 
 it may follow. But to employ thefe, in the firft place, is a me- 
 thod that may be and indeed commonly is taken to jollify fuper- 
 ftitious or even idolatrous practices. 
 
 Exception I. Though it fhould be allowed, that there are 
 fome Pfalms or longs which God hath appointed us to (ing : yet 
 we hope, he will regard with acceptance, thofe who fing other 
 fongs agreeable to the fcripture, and calculated to excite religi- 
 ous and devout affections. It is the practice of eminently pious 
 people. 
 
 Answer. It is» no doubt, a very hard chapter in the book 
 of providence, that there fliould be fuch important differences! 
 among many who, we believe, are equally dear to the Lord 
 Chriit. But it is at our peril, if we put the moil eminent faint. 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 in the world in (Thrift's place, or make men's opinions the rule 
 of our faith or practice. Befides, what is an unallowed failing 
 in one, may, and, it is to be feared, often does prove a fatal fnare 
 to another, whole itate and circumltances are different. It is 
 a pernicious norion, that becaufe iuch a good man is chargeable 
 with a particular evil abfolutely confidered ; therefore, per- 
 illing in the fame evil, is no more dangerous to another, whofe 
 light, com ictions, profcilion, or other attainments, have been 
 very different. 
 
 With regard to the exception it is to be obferved, that 
 fince the Lord has given us fo many fcripmre fongs which he 
 hath appointed to be ufed incur public praifes, if we thrufl 
 afide thefe fongs, were it ever lb little, from the ltation which 
 the Lord's appointment hath arnVned them, we fliall be charge- 
 able with trampling upon his legiflative authority. The Ob- 
 ject of our worfhip is one, and we are to offer him only one 
 fort of worfliip, namely, that which he hath appointed in his 
 word. The Papifls are fomewhat coniiftent in uling two forts 
 of hymns in their public wc; {hip ; becaufe they have two forts 
 of religious worfhip ; their bafria, or the higheu; kind which 
 they give to the Mod High Gvd ; and their Dou/ia, an inferi- 
 or kind, which they fupnofe to be due to faints and angeh, and 
 to which their own compofures may be fuitable enough. Such 
 at plan may likewife tally very well with the way of the Arians 
 and Socinians, who not only worfliip the Supreme Deity, but al'.'o 
 a perfonage whom they look upon only as a very exalted crea- 
 ture. Rut we profefs to worfhip none but him whofe nam: atone 
 is Jehovah, the mo Jl high over all the earth. 
 
 Exception II. But may not the general command teach 
 and admonljl) one another in Pfalms^ hymns and jptriiual fongs, 
 warrant a perfon who has a talent for poetry to compote hymns 
 for the ufeof our worshipping afTemblies ? 
 
 Answer. No more than the general cori^pand to teach and 
 adiuoniih one another, will warrant a perfon who has a talent 
 for (peaking, to take upon him to preach, m the Methodift way 
 of audaciously trampling upon the order of Chrift's houfe. Sure- 
 ly the Mafter of the houfe will come ihortly, and call his profef- 
 fed ferv.uits to an account as to the regard they have paid to 
 the order of the home : Surely he will reckon with them as la 
 
( .8 ) 
 
 many of his command?, which they have treated with contempt 
 under the names of mere externals, circumltantials, matters of 
 doubtful difputation, and the like : he will reckon with them- 
 about the whole form of the houfe, about the outgoings and in- 
 comings of it, about all the ordinances of it*. But with re- 
 gard to the Methodift, though, in afluming the character of a 
 preacher, he is chargeable with running without being regular- 
 ly called, and has ground to fear that he will have nothing to 
 anfwer, when the Lord puts this queftion to him, Who required 
 this at your hands P Yet he might have ufed his knowledge, if 
 if he has any, and his utterance, to the edification of his fellow 
 Clihltiam, without going; out of his own fphere. In like man- 
 ner, poetical genius may be otherwife employed than in bafe- 
 ly attempting to corrupt the worfhip of God. No perfon, at 
 lealt no Chriftian, that reads Mr. Pope's Median, or Mr. Addi- 
 fon's hymn beginning with thei'e words, When all thy mercies 
 &c. but heartily wifhes that our language were enriched with 
 many compofitions of the fame kind. The brigheft genius can- 
 not be better employed than in afiiilingthe private meditations 
 of Chriilians: Befldes, thofe that have acquired a true taite for 
 the beauties of the facred writings, and a critical knowledge of 
 the Hebrew language, might lay out their talents to good ad- 
 vantage, in giving us clofe and correct tranflations of the (crip* 
 tnre longs in tolerably fmooth verfe, avoiding the paraphraitic 
 and itiil more the imitative manner; uling no expreilions, no 
 metaphors, no method, but what they cleat ly difcern according 
 to all ilrietnefs of grammatical and analytical accuracy, to be 
 the expreffions, the metaphors, the method of the Holy Spirit. 
 Milton has given us a fpecimen of this kind in his tranllations of 
 fbme of the l'ialms. 
 
 Exception III. " In the fourteenth chapter of the fir ft 
 epiltle to the Corinthians, the apoltle mentions, among the fpi- 
 ritii'.l gifts of the Corinthians, that of dictating a plalm to be 
 fung in public w^urdiip, (compare verles I J and 26.) Now if 
 Chriilians IhouldTing no compofitions in the worlhipof God, but 
 thoi'e contained in the book of Claims ufed by the Jews, there 
 could be no need, nay, there could be no room tor a Ipiritual 
 gift, i. e. extraordinary infpiration, to enable them to propofe 
 a pfahn to be fung in divine worfhip; for, upon thisiuppofiLion, 
 
 * Ezck. xiiii. io, 11. 
 
( 3? ) 
 
 very compofltion they flioukl ufe, was written for them long 
 before. Bat it is evident, that there was, in the firil age of 
 Chnltianiry, fuel) a gift, and various Christians were divinely 
 infpired to utter a pfalm in the public aifembly."* 
 
 Answer. As to this gift of dictating new Pfalm.«, no regard 
 is due to any inference that may be drawn from it, till the real- 
 ity of it be proved, either by fcripture or by credible human 
 tcllimony. As to the latter fort of evidence, namely, that of 
 human hiitory, it may be confidered in another place : at pre- 
 ient we obt'erve, that it is a principle which we have constantly 
 maintained in our controverfies with the church of Rome ; nay, 
 it ii as, in a manner, the ground work of the glorious reforma- 
 tion from Popery, That no examples of the practice, of the 
 church handed down in human hiitories or traditions, is a war- 
 rant for any ufage in the worlhip of God, which is not author- 
 ised by the precepts or approved examples of fcripture. This 
 has been demonltrated abundantly by our writers againft the 
 Popifh errors. Indeed, to deny that the Scripture is the only 
 rule, is, in effect:, to deny that it is any rule at all ; for the mo- 
 ment we begin to make anything a rule of our faith or practice, 
 bc(ides the fcripture, we turn afide from it : Nothing that fays 
 lefs than the Scripture can be our rule ; for, iince there is no-* 
 thing fuperfluous or unneceffary in the fcripture, what fays lefs 
 mult be inadequate : Nothing that fays more can be our rule ; 
 for the overplus is either neceifary or unneceffary. If it Ue un- 
 neceffary, it is utterly to be rejected as endlefs, fuperftitious, 
 and inconfiftent with the nature of a rule. If it be neceflary, 
 then the fcripture is no proper rule at all ; for though we 
 ihoukl attain conformity to it, we would (till want what is ne- 
 ceffary ; and no man of common lenfe would ufe that as a rule for 
 meafuring a yard, which wanted feveral inches neceifary to 
 make a yard. The fcripture is abundant in afferting itfelf to 
 be the only rule, to which nothing is to be added, and from which 
 nothing is to be taken. Let us only confult the following places 
 Deut. iv. 2- and v. 32. and xii. 32. Proverbs xxx. 5, 6. 
 Gal. i. 8. Revel, xxii. 18, 19. and a few other plates, which 
 direct us to the fcripture as the only rule of faith and obedience. 
 Deur. xvii. 18, 19. Iia. viii. 20. Luke xvii. 29. Acts xxiv, 
 14- 1 Corinth, iv. 6. 
 
 • A Sermon oh Pfclmody, Pages 24 25. 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 SETTING afide, therefore, human authority, let its confioVr 
 whether the p&ffkge referred to in the exception affords any 
 ground for afferting that, in the apoftolic age, other compofures 
 than the infpired iongs were ufed in the public praifes of the 
 cjiurch. The words of the apoille are thefe : How is it then, bre- 
 thren? IV hen y c co?uc together, every one of yon hath a pfahn, hath 
 a dotfrine, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Concerning 
 thefe words w e offer the following obferyations : I. Suppofing 
 the objector's view of thefe words to be right, which is, that to 
 have a Pfahn (ignifies to have the gift of dictating one, and that all" 
 the particulars herefpecified, are to be taken for extraordinary 
 gifts: yet his confequence, namely, that other forms of Pfai- 
 inody than thofewe have in fcripturc, ought to be ufed in the 
 ordinary public worfhip of the New Tcilatnent church, may 
 be juft'.y denied : becaufe we cannot reafon from what is ex- 
 traordinary, and from what, like the gift of tongues, was only 
 of a temporary nature, to what is the ordinary duty of the church 
 of Chriii to the end of time. Beiides, we cannot reafon from 
 the ufe of Pfalrtis, which, upon the objector's hypothen\ muft 
 have been, both as to matter and to form, infpired Halms, to 
 the ufe of thefe which he mud allow, as to form at lead, ra be 
 uninfpired. The objector's view of the words mould rather 
 lead us to continue in the ufe of thofe Pfalms which we know 
 are, both as to matter find form, infpired. 2. It is far (torn ■ 
 being clear, that/o have a pfahn (ignifies to delate one that had ' 
 never been hedrd oj before. The apolHe's expreflion is evi- 
 dently fufceptible of another interpretation ; namely, that of 
 propofmg or making a proper feleclion and application of a , 
 Pfalm j in which a very valuable fpiritual gift might be exer- 
 cifed. It is no fufficient objection to this view of the words, 
 that it does not imply extraordinary infpiration ; for the apof- 
 tle mentions feveral exercifes that do not, in tbemfelves, im- 
 ply it, nobody will lay that for a member of the Chriitian 
 Church to have a dottrine, or to have an interpretation, extra- 
 ordinary or immediate infpiration is neceffiry. Thefe are of 
 ordinary and (tanding ufe in the church ; as well as the gift of 
 making a proper choice of a Pfalm for the ufe of a worfhip- 
 ping aflembiy. Befides, a perfon might be led by an extraor- 
 dinary impuile in fixing on a particular Pfalm, exactly adapted 
 to the occalion, as well as in dictating a new one : and even 
 upon the objector's hypothecs, there is nothing extraordinary 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 in the matter of either exercife ; but only in the fucklen and 
 lurprifing manner in which the gift was attained or exerciferi. 
 Nor is, there any thing in th?.? fcopeof the apoftle in this place, 
 which obligeth us to relinquilhthe interpretation now mention- 
 ed, and to admit that of the objector ; becaufe the diforder 
 which the apoftle rej)roves would be the fame, whether old or 
 new l'falms were b-oughr forth. And furely the exprefnon it- 
 self, taken abftractly, is not equivalent to that of dictating new 
 F faints ; and therefore mud be very inefficient to be aground 
 upon which to build the fuppofition of the exercife of an ex- 
 traordinary gift in the apoftolic age, of which there is no men- 
 tion in any other part of fcripture. q. The objector is by no 
 means happy in feeking a warrant for a particular mode of 
 worfliip, in a place of fcripture that lets before us the disorderly 
 proceedings of the Corinthian church, not that we may imitate 
 them, but tha* we may beware of them. Even though the a- 
 poltle had faid that fome of the Corinthians had dictated new 
 Pialms, it might be fuppofed, agreeably enough to the icope of 
 the apoftle, that this was one of the abufes of their Spiritual 
 gifts ; for it is plain from his reproofs, that thefe gifts were 
 liable to be abuied : They might abufe that extraordinary 
 knowledge and utterance which the Lord had bellowed on 
 them, by dictating pfalms, as well as by praying in an unknown 
 tongue, or by interrupting thole that l'poke, with a confiifion 
 of voices. The Spiritual g'fts were of the Holy Glioil ; but 
 the abufes were wholly of thernfelves. Indeed, when the a- 
 poftle fays, I tuill fmg -with thefpirit, and IwiUfutg with the mi- 
 derjlandiug aijo, he ieems to intimate, that they abufed their 
 •gifts in iinging, as well as in praying or prophefying; their 
 iinging, being perhaps in an unknown tongue, or fome how fuch 
 as the people could not join in to their education.* 
 
 The truth is, that we are not informed in this text, what 
 particular Pfalms ought to be ufed in pubtick wor/hip : only we 
 are here admonished to guard again!!: whatever tends to dilor- 
 
 E 
 
 * One of the Commentators in Pool's Synopfis givc3 this explication 
 of two words here uicd by the apoftles. Spirit ut hie jpfum aniinum five 
 affeclum orantis aut pfalentis ; intdlsctus, autcm, orationcm intfclligibi- 
 lem, fignificat ; that is, lb: Spirit figniiies the mind or affection (.1 ^him. 
 that prays or fings; but the ».nl erf. aiding Signifies a manner of fpeakin" 
 that is intelligible te other*. 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 der and multiformity therein. That it is not without reafon 
 the introduction of hymns of human compofure has been com- 
 plained of, as having fuch a tendency, may appear afterwards. 
 We now proceed to 
 
 The Second Argument', which is taken from the fulnefs 
 and futficiency of the fcripture-fyftem of Pfalmody. This is 
 a natural conclusion from the infinite wifdom of its divine Au- 
 thor. All the cafes and circumltances of his people from the 
 beginning to the end of the world, are ever prefentto his view; 
 and his love to them being equal to his knowledge, we may al- 
 lure ourielves, that (fince he has been gracioufly pleafed to give 
 them a i'yftem of fongs, which, as hath been (hown in illuitrat* 
 ing the fecond proportion, is to be ufed in his worfhip, and to 
 encourage them all the days of thi years of their p Igr'uuage) it 
 will be fuch as they will find to be always iuitable to their cafe. 
 Accordingly, there is no article of fcripture doitrine but what 
 is more or lefs infilled upon in the fcripture fongs. There is 
 no gracious experience or fpiritual exercife but what is therein 
 exemplified. There is no crofs or comfort that we meet with, 
 but we have words of the Holy Ghoil in the fcripture ibngs 
 that are proper to exprefs our fenfe of the Lord's hand in it j 
 our fenfe of his wifdom, power, righteoufneis, fovereignty, 
 mercy, and faithfulnefs therein mamfefted. The feelings of 
 the heart both in a gracelefs and in a gracious ftate are here re- 
 prefented by him who alone knows the heart perfectly. As to 
 true patriotifm, or concern for the welfare of the church, furely, 
 the pureft fpirit of it breathes in the fcripture fongs : they 
 teach us to make the cafe of the church our own ; nay, to prefer 
 her welfare /<? our chief joy.* 
 
 Now, if fuch be the fufficiency of the fcripture fongs ; and 
 if they were appointed, as we have ihewn in illuftrating the 
 fecond proportion, to be ufed in the publick praifes of the church 
 unto the end of time; then the introduction of other forms of 
 Pfalmodyinto the publick won'hip of the church, mult be unne- 
 cessary and iuexcufable. 
 
 Exception, i. Does not this argument prove too much? 
 For if there be fuch a fulnefs of matter in the fcripture longs ; 
 
 * Pfulm exxxvii. 5, 6. 
 
f 43 ) 
 
 then we need no other compofitions either in profe or verfe, 
 for our edification. 
 
 Answer. We are not fpeaking here of the fcripture fang;* 
 under the general view of their being means of edification ; but 
 we fpeak of them only as conftituting a fy Item of Pfalmody 
 for the ule of the church in her public worfhip. Compofitions 
 in profe or verfe, wherein the truths of the gofpel are clearly 
 and jndicioufly illultrated, are communications good to the idfs of 
 edifying: and there is no doubt, but when we are enjoined fo 
 edfy one another with the words of Chrift, we are enjoined to 
 do fo by writing, as well as by word of mouth. The truth i?, 
 the linging of pfalms in public worfhip is but one of the various 
 means which the Lord hath appointed for our edification : and 
 therefore when we fpeak of the fufficiency of the fcripture fy- 
 ftem of Pfalmody, our meaning is, not that the fyftem ren- 
 ders other means unnecefTary , but that it is fufficient for the 
 proper ufe of one mean, namely, that of linking in puolic wor- 
 fhip : And the Lord's having given us fuch a variety of fongs 
 in his word, as is fufficient to anfwer all the various occafions 
 of finging in public worship, is an intimation that no other 
 fhould be ufed therein. If the Lord had given us only two or 
 three fongs, there might have been fome pretence for the 
 complaint of being confined to them ; hut fince thofe which he 
 hath given us, are fo numerous, and adapted by infinite wif- 
 dom to all the various conditions of the church and her mem- 
 bers, there can be no colour of reafon for the ule of any other 
 in public worfnip. 
 
 Exception. 2. " Thofe Scriptures" (pafTages of fcripture) 
 " which teach us to pray and praife ; and, indeed to do all our 
 acts of religious worfhip in the name of the Lord Jefus, in inch 
 a manner as our Lord himfeif exprefdy tell? his difciples they 
 had never done before, molt evidently fhew that Chriftians 
 fhould not confine themfelves to the forms of worlhip ufed un- 
 der the former difpenfation ; but that in prayer, praife, kc. 
 they fhould have according to the light and fulnefs of the gof- 
 pel, a more exprefs reference to the name, the perfon, and of- 
 fices of the Lord Jefus Chrift, than is to be found in any difco- 
 veries or compofitions under the law. If we confine ourfelves 
 to the Pfalms of David, we ihall exclude from our longs of 
 
( H ) 
 
 praife the diftingnifhing glories of the gofpel, and (till hold the 
 veil upon the lovely face of the Redeemer : we mall uugrate- 
 fully reject the light, and refolutely continue in the obfcurity of 
 the former difpenfation : All this is evident from the following 
 feriptures — And whatfoever ye Jhall ajk in ?ny name, faith the 
 Saviour, that will 1 do ; that the Father may be glorified in the 
 Sou. And again, Vtrily, verily I fay unto yon, whatfoever ye 
 Jhall ajk the Father' hi my name, he will give it yon. Hitherto ye 
 have ajki d nothing in my name : ajk, and ye fljall receive that 
 your joy may be full. The thne cemeth when I Jhall no more 
 /peak to yen in parables, but IJhall Jhew you plainly of the Fa- 
 ther, /It that day yz Jhall ajk in my name. 
 
 " These are remarkable paffages, declaring the duty and 
 the privilege of Chriflians, beyond what was difcovered to the 
 Jews, or even to Chrift's own difciples before that time. Hi- 
 
 ihjrto, lays he, ye have ajked nothing in my name. This was 
 the cafe in the Jewim worfhip, and is fo itill."* 
 
 Answer i. The objector's expreffion about confining our- 
 /elves to the Tfalms of David, feems to imply that all he con- 
 tends for, is the liberty of fmging fome other fcripture-fongs 
 than what we have in the collection of them entitled, The 
 Book of Pfalms. But this is by no means the cafe : for he tt'Is 
 us that " the pfalms, hymns, and fpiritual fongs, in which the 
 afpoftle exhorted the Collcfiians to te^ach one another, were not 
 only thole which were then compofed and in wit in the Chrii- 
 tain Church, but alio thofe which from the iulnefs of the word 
 ofChrift dwelling in believer?, they might be enabled from 
 time to time to compofe for their mutual edification, and the 
 glory of God." He alio af-ferts that " the gracious Saviour has 
 provided and left in his word, and by the ordinary influences 
 of his Holy Spirit, fuificient furniture of liglr, gilts, and graces, 
 for all the parts of religious worfhip, without leaving a lylteni 
 or liturgy, in the precil'e words of which we fhculd either 
 pray, or praife, or preach." Thus it is evidently the objector's 
 opinion, that we are no otherwife bound to the ufe of any 
 fciipure forms of words whatever in our public tinging, than 
 in prayer or preaching. Accordingly the compositions, which 
 our opponents recommend to be ul'ed in public worfhip, are 
 
 ♦ A Sermon on P&lmody, &c. Pages 27, 32, 15, 16. 
 
( 4J ) 
 
 pot at all clofe or literal transitions of any of the fcriprnre 
 fangs : but rather a fort of original compoiirionsof the authors, 
 into which, as it iiiits their own plan, they deign, now and 
 then, to introduce a detached expreflion or half-ientenre from 
 the fcripture fongs, the names of which are abfurdly enough 
 placed at the head of them. Our opponents have one hundred 
 and fifty of the Pfalms, and feveral other infpired longs, from 
 which to make their 'choice : but they Mill prefer human com- 
 pofures, as if they had loft a relilh for the good and wholelbir.e 
 wortrs of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who, by his Spirit, gave ail 
 thele fongs to the church. 
 
 2. The objector moft unjuflly reprefents the Old Tefta- 
 ment-church as making no ufc of the name of drift in their 
 prayers or praifes. If they made no ufe of that infinitely pre- 
 cious name, it was not for want of a revelation of it : for we 
 are afThred, in the tenth chapter of the Acts, and forty third 
 verfe, That -to him give all the prophets ivhnefs, that, through his 
 name, ivhofoever believeth en him, Jhall receive rem/fon of ftus. 
 Surely the prophets bearing witnels of Chrift, neceffanly implies 
 in it their declaration of his name ; and the Old Teftament 
 faints, whole faith usdoubtedly correfponded with the teftimo- 
 ny of the prophets, mull hive known and believed that they 
 Would receive the forgivenefs of fins through his name ; and 
 that, through the fame blelfed name, their per Ions,, prayeis, 
 prailes, gracious thoughts, defires, refolutions, engagements, 
 conflicts with fin, and aims at walking in the way of duty, 
 mould all be accepted. Accordingly, the prophers are very 
 particular in -declaring his name : See among other places, Ifa, 
 ix. 6. Jerem. xxiii. 6. Zcchar. xii. 6. God's face Which 
 the faints under that difpenfation fought continually, was jt.lt 
 a clear manifestation of Chrift's name. We find them expref- 
 ly pleading upon his name. Let the' words of my mouth and the 
 meditations of ?ny heart be acceptable in thy fight, Lord, my 
 Jiraigth and my Redeemer, Caufe thy face to Jhine on thy fine- 
 tuary, for the Lord's fake. Bihold, Cod, our Jhield, and took 
 upon the face of thine anointed. Chrift is often called, Red.*, m- 
 er, Saviour, and the Lord's Attainted One, in the Old Testa- 
 ment -,* which names are equivalent to J-fts Chrift. 
 
 £ 2 
 * Ifaiah xlv. 21, %%. and iix. 20. PJtal. ii. 2. &c. 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 Having adduced thefe words of our Lord to his difciplesr, 
 
 Hitherto have ye ajked nothing in viy name, the objector add?, 
 *f This was the cafe in the Jewifli worfhip, and is f© {till with 
 them." It was probably from inadvertence that this remark 
 efcaped the objector ; not duly confidering how many danger- 
 ous errors mult be included in an opinion, that would lead us to 
 form a judgment of the worfhip of the church of God under the 
 Old Ttitamenr, fi om the ridiculous worfhip of the modern 
 Jews. With refpect to our Saviour's words, it is necei'Iary to 
 obferve, that, in fcripture, negative exprelfions are often to be 
 understood comparatively : As when it is faid, By my nam; 
 Jehovah was I not known to them. I will have mercy, and net 
 facrifice. We wrejfle not again ft f.ejh and blood, but again]} 
 principalities, againfl powers. The paifage adduced by the ob- 
 jector may be underftood in the fame manner ; it is as if our 
 Saviour had faid to the difciples, Ye have not alked largely, or 
 with the full affurance of faith, as my name warrants you to 
 afk. It is not fe properly the condition of the Old Teftament 
 church, as the perfonal exercife and attainment of the difci- 
 ples that our Lord is here fpeaking of. Our Lord's complaint 
 of their having alked nothing in his name is often fadly applica- 
 ble flill to the perfonal cafe and exercife of Chriftians: they 
 being ftraitened in themfelves, notwithstanding the abundant 
 freedom of accefs with boldnefs and confidence, that faith has 
 in and through his name. The truth is, however fmall we 
 Iuppofe the light of the Old Teftament church to have been, 
 true believers under that difpenfation, had a real and faving 
 knowledge of the name of Chrilt, as that by which alone there 
 could be any acceptable drawing near to God. This they 
 were taught by the firft promife, by all the prophets, by the 
 ceremonial law, and particularly, by the mercy feat. With- 
 out admitting this, we mull either iuppofe that they came to 
 God in fome other way than by Chriit ; or that they could 
 come unto God by him without the knowledge of his name : 
 and then we will neceflarily be led into the opinion, of fa.lv a> 
 tion being attainable by heathens without ever hearing of his 
 n;./.:e; an opinion that nwniftilly tends to fub vert the Chris- 
 tian religion. 
 
 3. We are to guard agamft meafuring (as the objector feems 
 to do) what is contained m the Old Teftament fcriocureaby the 
 
C 47 ) 
 
 actual attainments of Old Teftament church-members. For 
 the gofpcl with all its diftinguifhing glories is as reaily, though 
 not lb clearly, contained in the Old Te-ftament fcriptures, as in 
 the New. Paul declared, that the thing- which he faid were 
 no other than thofe which the prophets and Mcfes did fay J?;ou\t 
 
 4. We ought to diftinguifh between the fcriptures of the 
 Old Teftament tiken by themlelves or without the New Tef- 
 tament, and the fame writings taken in connexion with the 
 New Teftament. Though the Old Teftament fcriptures, taken 
 by themfelves, may well be faid to be far more obfcnre than 
 thofe of the New; yet, through the abundant light reflected up- 
 on the Old Teftament from the New, we may now difcern 
 the gofpel of Chrift as clearly and plainly in the one as in the 
 other. J lift as by the light of the fun we difcern other objects 
 full as clearly as the body of the fun itfelf. The veil was upon the 
 law and the prophets before the coming of Chrift, but he came 
 and drew afide the veil, that we may behold his lovely face 
 ihewing itfelf in all the Old Teftament fcriptures. 
 
 5. Though we maintain that the Ptalms are calculated in 
 the beft manner, to exprefs the praifes of the glory of God, as 
 fhining in the face of Jelus Chrift, even under the New Tefta- 
 ment difpenfation ; yet it does not follow, that their fublimity 
 rendered them unfuitable to the condition of church-members 
 under the Old Teftament : becaufe the object of the church's 
 praife is always to be fpoken of in the higheft degree : and 
 therefore the lame terms may be 11 fed in expreffing our fenfe 
 of his glorious excellencies, even when the particulars which 
 are mentioned as grounds of praife, are different. Be fides, they 
 were to praife him not only for his attributes in general, for 
 the works that he had done, or was then doing, but alio for 
 thofe works and difcoveries of himfelf, which he had promifed. 
 Some of the expreilions which we meet with in the Pfalms ap- 
 pear, at firft view, to have more relation to the Old Teftament 
 difpenfation, as when the ufages of the ceremonial law are al- 
 luded to : And other palfages appear to be more adapted to the 
 New Teftament difpenfation, as when the cleaih, refun cctiou, 
 and aicenfioa of Chrift are represented as paft events; T^ey 
 pierced my hands and my feet; Thou haft afcended an high , &c. 
 
( 4? ) 
 
 But the truth is, they were adapted by their omnifcient Author 
 to the condition of his people in all fucceeding ages and genera- 
 tions. It is not faith, but unbelief, or worldly wifdom, that re- 
 prefents the fcripture fongs as improper for the ufe of the mili- 
 tant church, in any period after the giving of them. 
 
 Exception 3. " Let us fuppofe a perfon who knew not 
 What religion we profefTed, were to come into our worfhipping 
 affemblies, week after week, year after year, and hear our 
 longs of praife : would he by them learn the word nf Chtifl 
 which the apoftle enjoins us to teach, particularly in our pr^ifes ? 
 Or rather, would he not, from this part of our religious fervice, 
 form the fame opinion of us that he would of an affembly of 
 worshipping Jews."* 
 
 Answer, i. We have fliewn already that the diitincYion be- 
 tween the Old and New Teftament difpenfation does not lie 
 in the form of Pfahnody ; the Holy Spirit having given us one 
 in the Old Tell, ment defigned for the ufe of the church till the 
 end of the world. If the modern Jews, and other heretics, ufe 
 the Pfalms, as they do the other fcriptures, in a falie and blaf- 
 phemous ienie, we are not, therefore, to be deterred from ufmg 
 them in their true Icnfe, and according to the mind of the Ho- 
 ly Spirit. 
 
 2. As to that part of the exception which refpectsthe teach- 
 ing of the word of Chrift, though we are to receive instruction 
 in linging as in prayer ; yet fingiug and teaching, formally con- 
 fidered, are to be diftinguifhed from one another. f Our fing- 
 ihg fuppoies that we are already initrucled in the nrft princi- 
 
 * A fcrmon on Pfalmody. Page, 24. 
 
 \ Agreeably to what is here faid, the author of the Sermon on Pfalmo- 
 dy obferves, that reading and ringing are dill in 61 ordinances. " In finging 
 praifes," fays he, " God is the immediate object, and the primary ead is to 
 celebrate his fupreme glory and perfection, in himieif, and in his works and 
 Way*; in reading, the primary end is iiftiuclion and edification." Thefc 
 words fuiiiciently anfwer the exception which is here under conlideration. 
 But all that the author has faid about the diltinction between finging and ^ 
 reading coniiits well enough with the truth of this propofition : That, if 
 it be improper to fing thofe parrs of flrirture which the Lord gave to 
 hi* church for the pur^ofc of linking, it mull be uifo improper to read 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 les of our holy religion : for we can never fing praifes with 
 nderfland'mff) unlei's we have fome previous acquaintance with 
 he grounds or fubject of our praifes. Though the apoftle ex- 
 torts Chriftians that were of fome ftanding in the church, to 
 each and admonhh one another in pfalms, hymns, and Spiritual 
 bugs; he does not fay that fuch finging is the proper way of 
 >eginnin£ the inftruction of a perfon who is grofdy ignorant. 
 The propofal, therefore, of teaching a ilranger the word of 
 Zbrift by public finging' only, is abfurd : iince there are other 
 neans more fuitable to his cafe. And, indeed, neither ftrangers, 
 ior even fuch as are brought up amongft ourfelves, can rea forc- 
 ibly expect either to underftand or attain the end of public 
 praifes, or of baptifm and the Lord's fupper, while catechiling, 
 Tarn ily-worfnip and instruction, fecret prayer, and fecret read- 
 ing the fcriptures, are neglected. While perfons allow thcm- 
 felves in the neglect of thefe private duties, they know neither 
 What they hear, nor what they fing, in our public siTemblies. 
 While they thus evidence that they care not whether they 
 bring forth fruit in God's vineyard or not, they have reafon to 
 fear that he is about to cut them down as cumberers of the 
 ground. 
 
 Exception 4. It feems proper that a particular church 
 fhould have new forms of pfa'mody exprefs.ly adapred to the 
 dilpenfations of providence, as they occur. How can the fcrip- 
 ture forms of k'falmody be fuificient in this refpec"t ? 
 
 Answer. It is not the defign of a form of Pfalmody to give 
 a narration of particular events, which is the province of hi (lo- 
 ry ; but rather to celebrate the praifes of the divine power, 
 wiiclom, rigbteoufnefs, mercy, and faithfulnefs, rnanifefted in 
 fuch events or providential difpenfations. And there are no 
 dilpenfations, profperous or adverfe, but we may find a form 
 of words in fome of the fcripture feng*, fuitable to exprefs our 
 
 them ; for the obfeurity, Judaifra, &c. of the Pfalms mufl hinder the edi- 
 fication of church-members in reading as well as in finging them. It is 
 true, that reading and finging have, each cf them, fomething peculiar to 
 itfelf. But the objections againft the public finging of the fcripture fongs, 
 manifeilly refpect that which is common to both. For example, b<-th 
 fhould be accommodated to the capacities of church-members, and to the 
 gofpcl difpenfatioa. Sermon on Pfalmody. Pages 35, $6. 
 
( 5° ) 
 
 fenfe of the Lord's doing therein ; to exprefs the admiration, jf* 
 reverence, or gratitude ; the faith, hope, and love, which ought 
 to be exerciftd on fuch an occalion. 
 
 To conclude what we have to offer on the fufficiency of 
 the fcripture fongs as a fyftem of Pfalmody for public worfhip, 
 we fliall only fay farther, that the more we confider the ex- 
 tent and variety of this fyftem, we fee the more clearly the 
 ignorance or prefumption of pretending to fubftitute another 
 in its place, or even to find room for a fupplement. 
 
 The Third Argument for the exclnfive ufe of the fcripture 
 fongs in the public praiies of the church, arifes from the qua- 
 lity or fuperior excellence of thofe divine fongs. God hath 
 given the fcripture fongs, as we have feen, for this u'e or end, 
 namely, to be the Handing form of public Pfalmody both un- 
 der the Old and the New Teftament. And (ince he has defign- 
 ed them to this end, we muft conclude that they are the beft 
 adapted to it : for God's v)ork is p erf eft : noihhig is to be added 
 to it, or taken from it. He doeth all things -well. How prelum p- 
 tnous, then, is it for men to pretend that the fcripture fongs 
 are more proper for being ufed in the worfhip of God, as al- 
 tered by men, and accommodated to their tafte, than as deliv- 
 ered to us by the Holy Spirit ! " Let the writings of men con- 
 tain ever (o many valuable truths, (till we are not alhamed to 
 declare, that never man fpake like God.* 
 
 Farther, no other forms of Pfalmody can approve them- 
 felves to the f pi ritual tafte of Chriftians, like the fcripture 
 fongs. For the truths of God's word (though always fweet 
 to the renewed tafte) are like water, which is found to be 
 fweeter when drunk immediately out of the fountain : There 
 is an authority, a rcnjefty, a fpiritual favour, a generous rich- 
 neis in the words of the Holy Gholl, which it is in vain to ex- 
 pert in any other. 
 
 Besides, the words that the Holy Spirit hath put into our 
 mouths for tinging the divine praifes, are the words upon which 
 
 • Declaration and Teftimony by the Alfociatc Prefbytery of Pennsyl- 
 vania, Part third, article fixth. 
 
( » ) 
 
 tt'eWve the beft ground to expect the divine blefling ; and to 
 BBsft that they w iii prove a vehicle or mean of conveying the 
 quickening and refrefhing influences of the Holy Spirit to our 
 ouls. It confifts with the experience of the Lord's people, that 
 rhe Holy Spirit uiuaUy gives them the mod fenfible relief and 
 rftectual' counfel and comfort, by bringing to remembrance, o- 
 ^enino-, and applying his own words. But what realon have we 
 :o expert that he will co-operate with men's words intro- 
 duced into that place which he hath appointed his own words 
 to occupy ? 
 
 Exception. If the inimitable excellence of Ike fcripture 
 Pongs fliould hinder us from uling any hymns of human Compo- 
 fure in public worfhip, lhould not the fame excellence in the 
 ditcourfes and forms of prayer recorded in fcripture, oblige us 
 to confine ourielves to thefe in preaching and prayer f 
 
 Answer. Befides what has been already offered concern- 
 ing the Lord's peculiar appointment in the cafe of forms of 
 Fialmody ; we may obferve, that the ufe of forms appears to 
 be as inconfiftent with the fcriptural nature of preaching and 
 i prayer, as it is agreeable to that of Tinging in fecial wojfhip. 
 It is no way improper, as we have already feen, to fing a 
 hymn as the language and fentiments of others ; fometimes 
 fexprefling our own cafe and experience, fometimes not. But 
 [what we deliver in preaching or prayer, we always deliver 
 (as our own fentiments and language. The more excellent 
 any compofition is, it may be the more improper for our ufe 
 in thefe exercifes ; becaufe, in thefe, whatever we utter that 
 is above our own knowledge or experience, is but hypfcerify 
 and affectation. The effect of fmging is not diminished, but 
 increaied, by the exaetnefs with which a performer adheres to 
 the words of a correct, and pathetic ode. But if a condemned 
 criminal were profefTediy to ufe the lame formality in plead- 
 ing for his life, if it appeared >hat he only repeated, as a fchool 
 boy does his talk, fome proper form of words compofed for 
 him by another, every one would be fhocked at the grofs ab- 
 furdity. Now in preaching or praying, we fhould jull fpeak, 
 as we would do, were we in the circumftances of inch a poor 
 criminal ; that is, we fhould ufe no other language than our 
 prefent views or feelings naturally iuggeii. More particularly, 
 
( S2 ) 
 
 we may obferve, that, in preaching, we profefs to declare, 
 according to any meafure of knowledge the Lord has enabled 
 us in the ufe of means to attain, what is contained in the 
 ienfe of the words of the Holy Spirit ; — and to fliew how 
 they are profitable for doctrine, or how they are profitable 
 for reproof ; and for other things belonging to the furtherance 
 of the Chriftian life. Now, for a perfon profeffing to do all 
 this, to do nothing but repeat the words of fcripture, is only 
 to mock the hearer?.* As to prayer, we Ihould confider what 
 our clefires really are ; and next, what of them are fcriptural 
 and what not : Thole alone that are fcriptural, or agreeable 
 to the precepts and promifes of the word, are to be expreifed 
 in prayer : As for fuch as are not fo, we are to pray for de 
 liverance from them. This rule being duly obferved, we 
 ought to ufe no other language than what ferves to exprefi 
 our own fcriptural defires. Even in focial prayer, a perfon 
 cannot, without hypocrify, utter any other fcriptural petitions 
 .than what are, in fome real meafure, his own defires, and while 
 they are fcriptural (and not imprudently reftricled to fome- 
 thing of a perfoni.1 or peculiar nature which would be more 
 
 * The Socinians and Quakers pretend to exprefs their own anti-fcrip- 
 tural notions in the words of fcripture. This affectation is very blame 
 a'.de ; Firft, as it leads people to take up with the mere found of" words ii 
 detached cxpreffions, without considering the fcope of the facred write: 
 where thefe expreffions are ufed : And Secondly, becatife the mere repe 
 titionof the words of fcripture, when a perfon is called to declare wha 
 he takes to be the doctrine of it on a particular head, has much the ai 
 of an attempt to deceive ; it being no proper anfvver to the queftion, bu 
 an evafion of it. An boneft man, on the fame occafion, would expre.f 
 the view he had of fuch a doctrine, in his own words, as clearly and full; 
 as he could. 
 
 N. B. It is hoped, the candid reader will underftand the above remark 
 as refpeeting men's explanations and defences of their religious tenets 
 and efpecially when aplaufible accommodation of a text is advanced int 
 the place of an argument. There is a judicious application of fcriptuf 
 exprefhon which is very favoury and edifying, as, i. When the words 
 fcripture are applied to a point of doctrine, which the context and fcop 
 of the place fhew, they were originally meant to exprefs. 2. When a 
 expreffion is applied to fome matter of Ghriftian practice or experienc 
 manifcflly parallel to what is fpoken of in the place from which the tj 
 preflion is taken 3. In prayer, when the words of fcripture exprefs ill 
 fcfife that we really have of our wants, of our fins, ^nd our mercies, the 
 are the happieft wc can employ. 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 proper for fecret prayer) others ought heartily to join in ihem, 
 the natural unattested expreifion of the prefenl deiires of him 
 vho fpeaks, correfpottding with the prefent deiires of thole 
 who join with him, being the proper, appointed mean of the 
 communion of the Lord's people in that exercife. Befides, 
 the promile of the Spirit hath foch an exprefs and peculiar re- 
 ipect to prayer above other duties, as cannot well be under- 
 Itood of any thing lefs than a peculiar affiltance in directing 
 •us what 10 pray for, -and m the utterance of our requeils.* 
 This peculiar agency of the Spirit in prayer, cannot be unrier- 
 (lood merely of the exercife of grace : for th£t is by the Holy 
 Spirit in other duties no lefs than in prayer. Now, our being 
 confined to let forms of prayer, is not cnly illimitable to the 
 nature of prayer as it is an expreflion of our defnes ; but al- 
 io to the 1'peciaiity of that afliltance which the Lord the Spirit 
 affords his people in prayer above other duties. 
 
 The 'kit argument we fliall ufe againft departing from the 
 Scripture fyftem of Pfalmody, is drawn from the dangerous 
 confeqiiences of doing fo. While men have been attempting 
 to juitiiy the introduction of human forms of Pfalmody, they 
 ftill pretend, that they have a great elreem and veneration for 
 the icripture longs, and that all they plead for is the lawfulness 
 pf tiling human compofures in conjunction with them ; but much 
 of the realigning, fuch as it is, which they employ in fupport of 
 the ufe of fuch human compoiures in public worfhip, and indeed 
 the ufe of them itfelf, once introduced, (lince men are always 
 fonder of their own inventions than divine inftitutions,) have 
 a manileiV. tendency to exclude the ufe of the Icripture longs 
 altogether. Accultomed to human forms of Pfalmody in their 
 public worftnp, the people will gradually, it is to be feared, lofe 
 any taite they ever had for the fcripture fongs. They wiii, 
 at laft, have as little difpoiirion to read or meditate on them, 
 as to ling them. In v.wn will they be exhorted to rGvere the 
 facred fcriptures in all its parts as the word of God. The ne- 
 glect of the Icripture fongs in the public praifes of the church, 
 whatever ingenious things may be laid ia juftifieation of it, will 
 naturally lead the bulk ot church-members to neglect even the 
 private ufe of them. Thus, notwithftanding the line apologies 
 
 F 
 
 * Zcchar. xii. io. Rem. viii. 26. Jode 20. 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 of the Romifli doctors for the ufe of images in their worfhip; 
 inch as, that they do not mean to direct their worfhip to the 
 images, or to place any confidence in them ; yet it is well known 
 that the poor ignorant people that that are led by them, do ac- 
 tually coniider theie images as objects of confidence and adora- 
 tion.* 
 
 Further, the advocates for the nfe of human com^ofures 
 in the public praifes of the church, have been led to (peak 
 blafphemoufly of the fcripture fongs, calling them JewiJJ? pfahns, 
 turfing pjalmsy and the like; — and alio to difparage the whole 
 Old Teliament : teaching that it did not direct perifhing iin- 
 uers to our Lord Jefus Cnrilt, as the only way of their accefs 
 to and acceptance with God; or to make ufe of his name as 
 their great plea with God ; and that the New Teftament alone 
 (and conlequently not at all the Old) " declares the worfhip 
 and ordinances which the King and Head of the church hath 
 appointed for his followers novv."f Such tenets ufed to be 
 iligir.atized in the Proteitant churches as Socinian tenets :£ in- 
 
 * " To give another inftance from the hi (lory of Popery : the worfhip of 
 faints was firit introduced as fit to he added to the worfhip of God ; but 
 the policy of the Romifh church having gained this point, the worfhip of 
 God has difappeared, in a great liieafure, out of their public fervice, being 
 lupplanted by that of the faints. Preachers beg the affiftance of the blef- 
 ictl Vigin in the beginning oi tfuir fermons, and the whole of the Pfalms 
 are profanely applied to her in a blafphemous work, entitled," Our Lady's 
 Pi'alter." C. 
 
 ■J- A Sermon on Pfalmody. Pages 15, and 3^. 
 
 ] The following extracYfrom the work of a Dutch divine who flourifh- 
 ed in the bi ginning of the prefent century, may futisfy the leader of the 
 truth of what is here afferted ; the book being only a fhort view of the 
 common doctrine of the Proteftant churches : Ferperam Sociniani volurUy 
 ike. The Socinians falfcly maintain that the following things were added 
 under the New Tedament ; 1. The ivorjhip of the Son ; though' it was cx- 
 jirefsly enjoined under the Old Teftamenr, Pfah ii. 12. Kifs the Son; 
 and exercifed, Gen. xlviii. 6. The angel -who redeemed me from all evil, lief 
 the lads ! 2. The ivorfip of the Father in the S0/1 as Mediator ; which was 
 alfo enjoined under that dilpeniation, failh in the Mefliah being preferr- 
 ed, Hub. ii. 4. The jujl by hs fuitbjhall liw, and exereiied, Plalm Ixxx. 
 l6. 18. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Sun of man 
 whom thou mad'el] ftrotig for thy/elf Dan. ix. 1J. For the Lords fake, 
 3. The duty t.J fraying ; which was enjoined Pfalm 1. IJ. Call upon me 
 in the day of U»ubk A &Cj and txcrcifed by all the faints. 4. That form of 
 
( JJ ) 
 
 deed they well accord with the denial of Chri(l*s divinity, and 
 with the blafphemous opinion that he was no King or He:-.d < f 
 the church before his incarnation ; but not at all with the op- 
 pofite truths. 
 
 The authoritative impofingofa human fyftem of Pfalmody, 
 whether in order to be ul'ed in public worfhip by it 1 elf, or as a 
 
 trayer which Chrlfl taught his difclples, commonly ailed the Lor a* 's prayer ; which 
 is no new duty, but only a help in difcharging an old one; nor indeed 
 contains any thing new as to things or the order of them. Murck'ii Chrif- 
 tian t '1 beohgia Medulla, Cap. xii. The Anabaptifts, fays another fyfte- 
 matic writer, think that the Old Teftament is now abrogated, becauicwe 
 are faid to be not under the law, but under grace, confounding the law 
 with the Old Teftament : The Socinians are of the fame opinion, beca-ufe 
 they maintain, that the religion of the Old Teftament is effentially dirfer- 
 cnt from the religion of the New Teftament ; in regard that, under the 
 Old Teftament, men were faved by the cbfervation of the law; while 
 we are faved by the observation of the gofptl : they think, therefore, that 
 the reading of the Old Teftament is now not neceffary, or at leaft lefs 
 ufeful. On the contrary, the Reformed maintain that even under tha 
 New Teftament the divine authority of both Teftaments is the fame; and, 
 therefore, that the Old Teftament is as neceffary and ufeful to be read, 
 as the New : Our reafor . are, I. That the books of the Old Teftameit 
 are of divine infpiration as well as thofe of the New, z Tim. iii. 16. 
 2 Pit. i. 20, 21. and, therefore, of infallible truth and authority. 2. 
 That the Old Teftament was given to the church for a rule of faith and 
 manners as well as the New, Pfalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Rom. iii 2. and ix. 
 4. 3. Nor do we read of its abrogation in the New Teftament. 4. But 
 on the contrary it is confirmed by the command of Chrift, John v 39. 
 Matth. v. 17, r3. by his practice, Luke xxiv. 29. and by his referring 
 us to it, Luke xvi. 29. Befides, he made ufe of the Old .Teftament con- 
 tinually in refuting his adverfaries, Matth. iv. 7. and xix 13. and xii. 3, 
 4. and xxii. 29, 43. which was alfo the practice of the apoftles; of Peter, 
 Act. iii. 20. Of Paul, Acts xviii. 28. &c. 5. The ^hole doctrine of th-.j 
 New Teftament is contained in the Old. Paul, Acts xxvi. 22. declares 
 that he faid nothing hefide what is contained in the Old Teftament. T^ 
 much is this the cafe, that the Bereans examined the doctrine of the New 
 Teftament by the Old, Acts xvii. 1 1. To JefuS, indeed, ail rhe prophets 
 arc fdd to hear teftimony, As x 40. Luke xxiv. 27. 6. Nay, feme ar- 
 ticles of our faith are delivered more clearly and at greater length in the 
 Old than in the New Teftament, as the articles concerning 'he cr-.ation nf 
 the word, the fall of man, &c. 7. The Old Teftament is laid to be the 
 foundation of faith, and of the Chr.ftian church, Eph. ii. 20. Acts xxiv, 
 14. 8. Great and manifold is the ufefulnefs of the Oid Teftament, e- 
 ven under the New, 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16, 17. Rom. xv. .«. MaflricbV* 
 TbeereticQ-Praciica Theologia, Libra [jrlmo, ca^itefesundo, Se«ft. xxxv. 
 
( 5* ) 
 
 fupplement to the infpired fongs, would be no lefs than an act 
 trf' in fufferable tyranny ; bscaufe no church has any authority 
 from the Lord Chrilt for To doing. No judicature on earth can 
 produce fuch evidence either of the neceility of fuch a human 
 lyftein of Pfalmody, or yet of the fufficiency of the particular 
 one they fix upon, to anfwer the various cafes and neceflities 
 of Christians, as is absolutely neceiTary to make the impofition 
 of it any way reafonable. On the other hand, if a church re- 
 commends the ule of hymns of human compofure, and yet lays 
 down no rule, eftabiifhes no fyftem of thefe compol'ures; there 
 can he no uniformity in the worihip of God maintained, ac- 
 cording to the Preibyterian, that is, the fcriptnral plan of church- 
 order. Every congregation will continually be getting new 
 hymns. Parties or factions will be continually ariling from 
 a capricious attachment to different fets of hymns. Nor will 
 there be any W&y of fettling fuch diipmes ; no mortal being 
 able to give any tolerable reafon for preferring one of thefe 
 lets of hymns to another. 
 
 But the chief danger arifes from the principle upon which 
 human compol'ures are introduced into the public Pialmody of 
 the church, namely, that the ordinances of God may be im- 
 proved upon by the addition of human devices. The principle 
 being allowed in one inftance, however frriall it may feem in 
 itfelf, the way will be prepared for organs, images, holy days, 
 iet forms of prayer, altars, iurplices, or any thing that may fuit 
 the ruling taite and manners of the times. 
 
 The prevalence of this fcheme will be both a caufe and an 
 evidence of the great and general prevalence of ignorance and 
 irreligion. In fuch a night feafon, the enemy will, no doubt, be 
 bufy in lowing tare;, that is, in diffeminathgher. lies; and hymns, 
 it is likely, will be a very fuccefsful and unfufpected mean of 
 conveying them into the minds of the people, while they are 
 lulled, afleep by the charms of mulic and poetry.* 
 
 It is vain to fay, that the power of godlinefs prevailed in 
 the early ages of the church, even after the introduction of fuch 
 
 * The Methodifts actually introduce their peculiar doctrines into hymns 
 of their ovu conipofition, which they artfully intermix with others that 
 cxprcis different doctrines : 
 
( S7 } 
 
 hy-mnsintotheir worfhip ; for we may now fee, tliat this cuftoip 
 was one of the evils which prepared the way for the grand a- 
 poitacy, and an inihumem of promoting it. And fince the re- 
 
 To give a few in (lances; — the dy&rine of univerful redemption occurs 
 frequently in their hymns, 
 
 „_♦-'. ,* -. , r Pae:e 3d of the Pocket Hymn 
 
 H.s foul was once an offering made \ ^ ^ d ^^ 
 
 For every foul of. man : £ Coke ^ ^7 ^^ 
 
 What fliall I do to make it known 
 
 What thou for all mankind haft done ? Ibid page 126. 
 
 One of their pailoral hymns begins thus, 
 
 Lover* of pleafure more than God, 
 
 For you he fuffered pain ; 
 Swearers, for you he fpilt his blood; 
 
 And fliall he bleed in vain? 
 
 The Arminian doctrine of man's natural ability to will and dufomethiug 
 in order to fecure falvation, is eften taught, 
 
 may we thus enfure 
 
 A lot among the hie ft ; 
 And watch a moment to fecure 
 
 An everlafting reft. - - Ibid. Page 17. 
 
 A charge tokeep v I have, 
 
 A never-dying foul to fave. - - Ibid. Page 70. 
 
 In the following pafTagc, from another hymn, a natural and legal refo- 
 lution, formed upon a natural apprdienfion of e;wnai mifcry, isignofant'y 
 put for faving faith. 
 
 Wliile they enjoy their Saviour's love 
 
 Muft I in torments dwell ? 
 Ah ! no; 1 ftill may turn and live ; 
 
 For ftill his wrath delays 
 He now vouchfafes a kind reprieve 
 
 And offers me his grace. 
 
 1 will accept his offers now, 
 ' From every fin depart, 
 
 Perform my oft repeated vow, 
 
 And render him my heart. 
 1 will improve what I receive, 
 
 The grace through jefus given : 
 Sure, if with God on earth I live, 
 
 To hve with God in heaven. 
 F 2 
 
( 5S ) 
 
 formation that has been attained by the Proteftant churches, the 
 admiffion of this and other corruptions into the worfhip of God, 
 will be far more inexcufable than before the rife of Antichriit. 
 It feeing that the guilt and danger of corrupting the ordinances 
 of the Lord Chrift, by a mixture of human devices, will be in- 
 created, as the time of his fecond coming draws near. Hence 
 he prefTes us to a ftedfaft adherence to our holy profeflion, from 
 the confideration of the fuddennefs of his coming: Behold, I 
 come quickly : hold that fa J) which thou haft. 
 
 This, it feems, is converfion, according to the Methodift fcheme. But 
 we have no natural ability to think a right thought, and far lefs to turn 
 thoroughly to God upon an appreheniion of hell. Therefore the method 
 of converfion that is here exemplified is building without a foundation. 
 Matth. vii. 26, 27. Ifai. iv. 11. Luke xiv. 28, 29, 30. 
 
 The doctrine of perfection in this life is a favourite theme. 
 
 Let me in thy spirit live : 
 
 Live, till all thy life I know, 
 
 Perfect through my Lord below. * Ibid. Page 43. 
 
 Let me be now in thee 
 
 A new fpotlefs creature : 
 
 Perfect, when I walk before thee, 
 
 Soon or late, then tranflute 
 
 To the realms of glory. - 6 Ibid. Page 50. 
 
 make me all like thee 
 Before I hence remove: 
 Let nne thy witnefs live, 
 
 When fm is all deftroyed. - - Ibid. Page 87. 
 
 They reprefent their attainment as above that of the angels 
 
 The pardoning God I know, 
 And feel the blood applied : 
 
 1 view the Lamb in his own light 
 
 Whom angels dimly fee. * Ibid. Page 27. 
 
 Another doctrine which they teach in their hymns is the liablerrefs of 
 the faints to fail away totally and finally. 
 
 I rode on the fky, 
 
 i'reely jollified I I 
 
 Ah ! where am I now, 
 
 "When was it, or how 
 
 That I fcli from my heaven of grace ? ftid. 203, 
 
( S9 ) 
 
 The Fourth Propofition. 
 
 That, in the public praifes of the church, the 
 outward part ought to be concluded with decency 
 and flmplicity ; but the fpiritual part ought chiefly 
 to be regarded. 
 
 The decency in. the manner of Tinging, that ought to be 
 ftudied by worfnipping families or congregations, is fuch an ar- 
 greement or harmony of voices as may fitly reprefenr an agree- 
 ment of minds, in understanding and believing what is lung, and 
 in the exercife of fuitable gracious affections. 
 
 It Should be remembered that the proper means of exciting 
 thefe gracious affections, is not the mufic, but the precious truths 
 of God as conveyed to us in his own word. It is true, mufic 
 Serves to excite natural affections; but it is a delufion tofuppofe 
 that it will, in like manner, excite thole that are fupsrnatural 
 and heavenly ; for fuch affections Spring from nothing but faith 
 apprehending the word, or Chrift Jelus in that word. It is in 
 believing, not through the utterance or hearing of rrmfical founds, 
 that the Cod of hope fills us with joy and peace. Hence nothing 
 can be a mean of exciting gracious affections any ot^erwife than 
 as it is a mean of begetting or increasing our faith \ or of en- 
 lightening our understandings in the true and folid knowledge of 
 Chrift. When the matter is rightly confidered, it will be found, 
 that the u!e of mulical airs or tunes in religious worfhip, is far 
 more limited and circumfcribed than is generally^imagined. A 
 few of them, that are chiefly recommended-' by their gravity 
 and fimplicity, may be neceflary to rep^ef ent the hearty agree- 
 ment of gofpel-worfhippers; and >o" prevent the temptation to 
 heart-wandering or diffraction of mind arifingfrom a rude con- 
 fufion of voices. Thofe who expect greater advantages to re- 
 ligious worfhip from the art of mufic, will either find themf elves 
 miferably difappointed, or, what is infinitely worJe, they will 
 be led to miStake lbme carnal reveries or enihufiaftic delufitms, 
 for the exercife of faving grace and fpiritual affections in the 
 worfhip of God. Further, when men propofe any thing more 
 by their ufe of the art of mufic in religious worfhip, than the 
 prefer vation of outward order, or the preventing of that dii- 
 
( «o . ) 
 
 traction of mind, which the want of that order is apt to occ*- 
 fion ; when they employ the charm? of mulic to excite devout 
 and Spiritual affections; the native confequence is, not only that, 
 in truth, the affections to which thcfe epithets juilly belong, c:n\ 
 never be attained by any fuch means; but the attempt, leading 
 to the ufe of complicated airs in which the art is moll difplayed, 
 in producing the molt perfect and affecting melody, has a ma- 
 nifeft tendency to that detraction of mind, which a more fim- 
 ple and -artlefs concord id finging; would be a proper mean of 
 preventing. For worfhippers are always diftracled, or drawn 
 away from their proper exercife, when their attention to the 
 modulations of the voice is greater than to the matter of the 
 fcripture longs ; or when their affections are moved rather by 
 the fweetnefs of the mufic, than by any fpiritu.il or believing 
 views of the things of God. This diftraclion of mind is increaf- 
 ed, when a fort of mufic is employed, which is unfuitable to the 
 gravity and folemnity of religious worfhip; as, when fuch light 
 airs are introduced, as, from the principle of affociation, fugged 
 the idea of profane and ordinary finging. But it is worft of all, 
 when men begin to place religion in any particular mode of 
 finging ; as when it is reckoned that more homage or fervice is 
 done to God, by finging what are called parts, or by finging 
 alternately, than by that manner of finging which is more plain 
 and artlefs: Becaufe it never can be fhown that God has requir- 
 ed fuch particular modes of finging in his worfhip: and there- 
 fore thofe who infift upon them, as rendering our worlhip more 
 acceptable to God, cannot be acquitted of fuperflition. 
 
 Upon thefe principles, our Rritifli anceftors, (whether de- 
 nominated Puritans or Prefbyterians) Mho were lb valiant for 
 the truth upon the earth, who did and differed fo much to hand 
 down the ordinances of Chrift to us in their purity, condem- 
 ned the following particulars in the public finging of the church 
 of England, particularly in the worlhip of their cathedrals. 
 
 First, with regard to organs and other mufical inftruments, 
 they looked upon the ufe of them in the worlhip of God under 
 the New Teftament, as quite unwarrantable. It is true, that 
 inftrumental mufick was ufed in the worfhip of God under tks 
 Old Teftament. But this ufe of it, after the time of David 
 {and it does not appear that it was ordinarily ufed in divine 
 
( 61 ) 
 
 worfhip before his time) was confined to the temple, which 
 was the great theatre of the ceremonial worfhip. The following 
 words in the twenty ninth chapter of fecond Chronicles, repre- 
 sent it as a circumitance that attended the offering of facrifices : 
 And the Levitcs flood with the inflruments of David, and the 
 frit fls with the trumpets. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the 
 burnt offering upon the altar ; and when the burnt offering began 
 the /bug of the Lord began with the trumpets and with the injiru- 
 meats ordained by David king of IfracL And ail the congrega- 
 tion wirjh pped, end the fingers fang, and the trumpets founded i 
 and alt this continued until the burnt offering was fiuifhed. 
 
 Plato calls instrumental mnfic an unmeaning thing. It has 
 indeed no meaning, but what is annexed to it by fancy, or by 
 institution- As to fancy, inftead of indulging it in the exer- 
 cifes of religion, it is a very great part of the bufinefs of thofe 
 who aim at worfhip ping God in fpirit, rejoicing in Chrilt JeSus, 
 to curb and reftrain it, to watch and pray againft it : and 
 therefore, fuch worfhippers will guard againft a fanciful annex- 
 ing of religious and devout ideas to inftrnmental mufic, as in- 
 cluding both enthafiafm and luperftition in it : Enthafiafm, as it 
 implies the undue influence of imagination in our wor/hip; fu? 
 perdition, as we have no divine warrant for connecting fuch 
 religious ideas with fuch particular founds of an organ, harpfi- 
 chord, or any other mufical inftrnment. It is allowed, how- 
 ever, that a meaning may be annexed to instrumental mufic 
 by inftitution. Thus it is by institution that one fort of inttru- 
 mental mufic becomes a fignal to prepare for battle; another 
 fort of it a fignal to retreat. Thus the cymbal?, pfaheries, and 
 harps, the incenfe, the lamps, and many other things in the 
 temple, were in themftlves without meaning ; but, by God's 
 appointment, they became Significant types or Shadows of good 
 thing* to come. The instrumental mulic, attending the burnt 
 offerings of the temple, Signified the joy and triumph which a- 
 rife to believers from the Sacrifice of our Lord Jefus Chrift. 
 Thin, in the Revelation of John, (a book full of allufiens to the 
 nfagesof the ceremonial law) the Standing of believers with 
 everiaSting joy upon the foundation of the Redeemers righte- 
 oufneSs, is reprefented by their flan Jing upon the fea oj glafs 
 nangled with fire, having the harps of God,"* The practice wf 
 * ilev. xv. a. 
 
( 62 ) 
 
 instrumental mufic, declared, (as every other part of ceremoni- 
 al" worfhip did) that Chrift was not yet coine ; and therefore 
 muft now be utterly unwarrantable : This is to Judaize in- 
 deed. Befides, inftrumental mufic is inconfiftent with the fim- 
 plicity of New Teltament worfhip ; which allows us to admit 
 no other forms of worfhip, than i'uch as are enjoined in the 
 moral law, which is the lame under both Teftaments, together 
 with baptifm and the Lord's iupper, and the change of the day 
 for obferving the moral duty of a fabbath to the Lord : Tliefe 
 three are appointed m the New Teltament. The principle 
 upon which one human invention, or the practice of one Old 
 Teltament ceremony is admitted into the worfhip of God, will 
 plead as Itrongly for the admiffion of a hundred. Protectant 
 churches are the more inexcufable in retaining this corruption, 
 as they have not the pretence of antiquity for it, which is the 
 common plea for many other corruptions ; for it has not been 
 pretended that inftrumental mufic was ufed in the church bs- 
 fore the feventh century.* 
 
 Secondly, Another thing in the worfhip of the church of 
 England, and efpecially in their'cathedrals, which the Puritans 
 tefbfied againft, was, that the finging of the divine praifes, in 
 theie churches, is reirricted to fd many perfons appointed to 
 that bufinefs ; others hardly ever joining in the exercife, as not 
 
 * Some fay, that Pope Vitalicn introduced the organ about the year 
 606: Others, that it was not introduced till the year 8ao, in the reign of 
 Lewis the Debonnair. But Cajetanus, a writer of the Popifh communion, 
 owns that organs were not ufed in the worfhip of the church, even in the 
 time of Thomas Aquinas, that is, in the 13th century. And Cajetanus's 
 opinion is fupported by thefe words of Thomas : " The church," fays he, 
 '• does not employ muiical inftruments, fuch as harps, and pfalteries in the 
 divine praifes, lead fhe fhould feem to judaize." A paffage in a treatife 
 by Zepperus, concerning the Mofaic law, intimates, that organs are retained 
 in fome of the reformed churches; " Wnere/' fays he, " after all the 
 parts of divine worfhip are ended, and the congregation difmiffed, then 
 the mufic of the organs is ftruck up. This is allowed for a political end, 
 namely, for the fake of thofe who defire to he intertained with inftrumen- 
 tal mufic." De Lege Mofaica, Lib. 4. Cap. 9. The fame author 
 maintains, that the inftrumental mufic which the Jews ufed in the worfhip 
 of God, belonged to the ceremonial law, and is now abolifhed. Calvin 
 thinks that mufical inftruments are no more fit to be ufed in the worfhip 
 of the Chriftian church, than inccufe, lamps, and other fhadows of the law 
 of Mules. 
 
( 63 ) 
 
 being required by the rules of their cathedral worfliip : though 
 the fcripture always vepi eients finging praijes to Cod, hy\<\ /peak- 
 ing to thjmfelves in Pfalms, hymns, and fplritual Pongs, as the 
 common duty and exercife of church-members. The lingers, 
 whom David was directed, (no doubt, by the l».]y Spirit) to ap- 
 point, were Levites, and their office related to the infta umental 
 and peculiar mufic of the temple, and was undoubtedly ceremo- 
 nial. With refpecl to the Pfahmjla, or lingers of the New Telta- 
 ment church, as they are not mentioned in fcripture, fo they 
 were never heard of in the Chriftian church, till about the be- 
 ginning of the fourth century. For, from the apoftolic age 
 till then, finging was a part cf divine worfliip, in which the 
 whole body of the church always joined together : no fuch re- 
 finement in finging being then arfectcd, as rendered it imprac- 
 ticable for pcrfons unfkilled in mufic as an art. 
 
 Thirdly, The Puritans and Preibyterians confidered the 
 manner of finging in the cathedrals and other churches of 
 England, as inconfiften-t with the fimplicity of New Teftament 
 worfhip, in the following refpect : In thefe churches various 
 parts of mufic, fuch as, bap, tenor, treble , and counter , were 
 performed together ; fo many finging one part, fo many ano- 
 ther. This formed what is called a Symphony. Their finging 
 was alfo alternate or refponfive ; in regard that fo much of the 
 matter would be fung by the' whole band of fingers; and fo 
 much of it by a part only : and fometimes the matter would 
 be divided amongft them, fo many iinging one ftanza, fo ma- 
 ny another ; fometimes vocal mufic was ufed ilone, fometimes 
 it was accompanied by the admired notes of the organ. Thefe 
 fantaflic manoeuvres our fober anceitors allowed might do ve- 
 ry well for worldly amufements, or to divert children ; but 
 were quite alien from the fimplicity and gravity of the New 
 Teftament worfliip. Nor could the antiquity of this praclice 
 be pleaded in its favour. For though we ihould allow that 
 fome alternate finging had crept into the worfliip of the church 
 as early as the fourth or fifth century ; yet there f eems to have 
 been little ufe of mufic as an art, in divine worfhip, or at lead 
 no fyftem like that which is now called Harmony or Symphony, 
 till after the feventh century.* Whenfoever it was introduc- 
 
 * It was about the year of our Lord 735, that Pope Gregory the fifth, 
 iatroduced what was the-n called, by way of distinction, Cuntus Mupcalh, 
 
( 64 ) 
 
 ed, it is a manifefl: departure from the fimplicity of New 
 Teftament worlhip ; and of dangerous tendency : for hereby 
 the manner of ringing becomes the principal object ; the mat- 
 ter is little attended to. One mould think that perlbns would 
 not be very form of this mode of Tinging, if they were exerci- 
 led like Bernard, who, in his meditations, challenges himfelf, 
 after public worihip, for having had more delight in the modu- 
 lation of the voice, than real compunction of h: art : or like Augal- 
 tiue, who lays in his confeflions, When I kippeu td he more 
 moved with the mufic, than with the matter Jung, J coujefs that 
 1 fin mojl grievoujly ; and in that cafe 1 would ch oof e rather not 
 to hear any Iinging. Indeed, according to the mode of Iinging 
 we now fpeak of, fo many are the divifions, repetitions, and 
 paui.es ; and fuch is the attention given to the different parts, 
 that, iniiead of the manner being lb ordered that the matter 
 fung may be chiefly regarded,, and that all may join in the ex- 
 ercil'e of praife, the mufical abilities of a part of the congre- 
 gation are displayed for an entertainment to thofe who do not 
 chooie to fing. Thus, one part of the aflembly is kept from 
 prailing God by liitening to the voices of the other ; while 
 thele are no lei's diverted from that duly by attention to muli- 
 cal rules, and an anxiety to merit the approbation of thofe 
 who hear them. 
 
 It is but a poor apology for this mode of finging, that it 
 may allure ilrangers to attend on the ordinances ot religion. 
 For it is by no means a proper way of proving the warranta- 
 blenefsof any practice, to alledge that it has fome external ad- 
 vantages attending it : for there are few corruptions in princi- 
 
 fmging acccording to the art of mufic ; that Is, when a choir of boys fung 
 an air or tune with four different modulations of the voice at the fan^c 
 time; thus forming a Symphony; which, lays Danseus, in his li'agoge, 
 part 4th. is nothing elfe out a corruption of ecclefiaftical finging; having 
 nothing of piety in it, hut only calculated to pleale the ear. It is true, 
 a kind of alurnate or rei'ponftvc way of iinging fee ma to have been in life 
 in the time of oocratcs, the ecclthaftical hiftorian, that is, in the fifth cen- 
 tury. He tells a ftory, in the eight chapter of his fixth book, of Ignatius 
 having introduced this kind of finging into th^ worfhip of the church at 
 Antioch, in conference of his having l'een a vifion of angels who lung 
 the praifes of the holy Trinity in this manner : a very grois fable indeed. 
 TheoJoret, a hiftorian of the fame century, afcribes the introduction of 
 this cuftom to l T iavian and Diodorus, who ktm to have been contempwry 
 with him. 
 
 
( 6s ) 
 
 Befoie=?, 
 
 ple.or gra&ice. but may be defended in this waf. Bcitf< 
 a perfon have no other motive to attend public ordinances 
 to be entertained by good Tinging ; if be be one ct tho!e 
 
 Who, when convenient, to the church repair, 
 
 Not for the doctrine, but the mufic there : 
 it is no way probable, that he will give much attention to any 
 thing except what was his principal object. Preacher?* toe, 
 will be led to fhorteri their iermon*, in order tint there may 
 be the more tinging for the fake of" iirangers ; to whom t! ,* 
 preaching of the everlaftinggofpe!, i=, it feem«, no entei ;tainmet*c 
 or indncement to continue their attendar.ee. We are, to b ; 
 furc, too much enlightned in the prefent age, to be taoght by 
 one of the old Popilh fchoolmen ; yet, it is hoped, a feutenco 
 of Thomas Aquinas may be repeated without ojfence. Dec- 
 trine, fays he, and preaching are much VtVtt itbbU means of ex- 
 citing men to devotion, than J'nging. 
 ■ 
 
 Fourthly. The Puritans and Prefoyterians alfo complain- 
 ed, that in the cathedrals and other churches of England, thty 
 fimz p l * f Te let to an artificial and complex kind of mujic ; in 
 the unging of which none could pollibly join but fuch as weie 
 acquainted with mulic as an art. The palfages thus tel ro mbiic 
 were called Anthems* The words of fbme of thcie anthem", it 
 was alio alledged, were improper for being fang, fuch as, thu« 
 Creed, and the verfes taken from the eleventh chapter of the 
 gofpel of John, from the nineteenth of Job, and from the j'ixlh 
 of the firit epiftle to Timothy. The non-conformift*, of whom 
 we now fpeak, infilled that the church of England, like the 
 other reformed churches, fhould ufe a verfe trauflation of the 
 Pfalms, in Tinging which, a fevv plain tunes would be all the 
 mufic necelfary for public worlhip. 
 
 Fiithly. The Prefbyteriaus alfo teftified againft the Ting- 
 ing of human compolures in public wchYip. Tney complained, 
 
 * How much more regard is paid to the mufic than to the words of 
 fuch Anthems, is well known. " In the union of Poetry and Mufic," 
 fays Dr. Gregory in his Comparative View, ** ; the Mufic fhould lit i'ubicr- 
 vient to the Poetry : — 'the very reverfe is the common practice; the Pue- 
 try is ever made fuhfervicnt to the Mufic. Handel made thole \\h*> cukt- 
 pofed the words of his Oratorios, alter and t'raufpofe than, as he th 
 belt fuitcd his Mufic." 
 
( 66 ) 
 
 that, in many of the churches of England, the hymn, entitled, 
 Tc Dcinn, was oftner fang, than any of the infpired fongs.* 
 
 Such was the Teftimony of our faithful predeceflfors againft 
 the corruptions of the ordinance of iinging that had taken 
 place in the church of England \\ a teftimony which they held 
 at the peril of all that was dear to them in a world. How in- 
 ex.cuieable will we be, if, in compliance with the prevailing 
 humour of the day, we neglect to hold faft the lame tcftimon y : 
 efpecially, conlidering, that our forefathers bound themfelves, 
 and us their pofterity, by a folemn oath and covenant,;}: to 
 hoid t'dH every part of l'criptural reformation which they had 
 attained i Shall we again admit any of thefe abominations 
 which the Lord's people were led, through his good hand upon 
 them, to purge out i 
 
 * The holy fathers, Ambrofe and Augufhinc, if we may believe Cardi- 
 nal Bellarmine, compoled this hymn by divine infpiration, and lung it al- 
 ternately at the baptifm of Auguftine, to the aihmilhment of the whole 
 congregation that wituelTtd it : a ltory proper enough, to be lure, for thole 
 
 that are given up tojfrong delujions to believe lies. 
 
 ■\ We refer the reader for further fatisfaetion, as to the foregoing par- 
 ticulars, to Mr. Calderwood's Altare Datnafccn*m y and other vindication* 
 of the Non-conformiils. 
 
 \ That we may be under an additional obligation to endeavour to pre- 
 ferv:. the purity of God's ordinances, by an oath or covenant entered into 
 for that purpofe.is the do&rine of the Wellminlter Confeflion concerning 
 ■vows : Chap. xxii. feci. vi. where a vow is declared to be that whereby 
 we more JlriZlly bind our/elves to nectjfury duties, or to ether things fo far and fc 
 long as they may f.tly conduce hereunto. Thus, as Mr. Durham obferves on 
 the third command, " though our engagement to moral duties cannot 
 make the obligation of God^s command greater, yet we thereby join out 
 approbation and content to that, whereby, as by a pofitive fuper-added 
 voluntary confent, wg bind ourfclves ; fo that, in fome refpeel, we have 
 two bonds (the law and our oath both) for one : — the latter makes the 
 former have a more deep imprefiion upon us." But fome fay, What have 
 we in this land to do with the covenant engagements that were entered 
 into in Britain ? Anfvver, Thole American churches, which aonlift, ei- 
 ther wholly or chiefly, of perfons who, themfelws or their forefathers 
 have been members of the the Britifh churches, after thefe churches hac 
 entered into the lolcmn covenant engagements in queltion, cannot be fre< 
 from the obligation of them : for with refpect to contracts or engage- 
 ' m'ents of a public nature, fuch as thefe undoubtedly were, (the matte, o 
 them alfo being no other than moral dutj) if the majority of any churcl 
 
( *7 ) 
 
 But it is not enough that we avoid thefe corruptions in the. 
 external part of this ordinance : it nearly concerns us, while 
 we have the Lord's fong m our mouths, that we be, at the 
 lame time, making melody to him with our hearts. It is par- 
 ticularly neceiTiry that v; e have and exercife a f;)iritual un- 
 derftanding in this part of divine worlhip : for it is written in 
 the forty ieventh Pfalm, Sing ye praifis ivtth undemanding. 
 It is but mocking; of God, to have his words in our mouth, 
 while we do not know or contider the meaning of them. Peo- 
 ple fhould not neglect to bring their Bibles to the -place of wor- 
 ihip ; and, in the time of hnging, it is proper, that, intttad 
 
 be confeffedly under the obligation of them, that church it/elf cannot, 
 confidently w;th the common law of human focietv, be denied to be under 
 the lame obligation : For if this be denied, it muft be for one or other of 
 the following reafons; either I. Bccavd'e it was unlawful to enter into 
 thefe engagements at all ; or 2- Becaufe they were binding upon that ge- 
 neration only that entered into them, and not upon poOerity ; or 3. Be- 
 caufe, though the prefent generation in Britain and Ireland be under the 
 obligation of them, yet the Engliih or Irifh who are fettled in America, 
 are heed from that obligation by croffing the Atlantic Ocean ; or, 4. Be- 
 caufe, though it be allowed that the majority of any church are under the 
 obligation of thefe engagements, yet the church itfelf is free from it. 
 But all thefe reafons arc abi'urd and unfcriptural. The firffc is contrary to 
 the doctrine of the above mentioned chapter of our Confeflion of Faith, 
 .founded on the precepts, promiies, and examples of the Lord's word, with 
 re f peel to vowing and ("wearing to the Lord our God : See Pfalm lxxvi. 11. 
 Ifai. xix. 18, 21. Ezra x. Nehem. x. The fecond is contrary to the gene- 
 ral fenfe of mankind, for when, in any other cafe, was the poller ty of 
 thofc who, as a fociety entered into an oath, (the matter of which is law- 
 ful and neceffary, having a manifeft refpec! to pollerity) denied to be un- 
 .der the obligation of fuch an oath? It was by no means a peculiarity of 
 the people of Ifracl, but what was agreeable to the common nature of hu- 
 man focieties, that the covenant which they entered into at Sinai, is all 
 along under the Old Teftament, confidered as obligatory upon them. 
 .The abfurdity of the third reafon mull neceffarily flrike every one, who 
 refleds, that the great God, the party iworn to in thefe engagements, and 
 the duty (to which they bind us) of holding faft whatever icriptural re- 
 formation has been attained, are the fame all over the world. As to the 
 fourth, it is contrary to the common order of human fociety : nay, it is 
 hardly conceiveable how the majority of individuals that compofe a 
 church, fhould be unc)er a folemn covenant engagement to public refor- 
 mation, and yet the church -i tie If not under it/ Thus, a profeffi ng peo- 
 ple, in the circumltame we have fpecified, cannot deny, that they are 
 * under the obligation of thofe folemn covenant engagements, without 
 great abfurdity, and treachery towards God. 
 
( w ) 
 
 /.'.l; on i'i- con negation, they fhouhl keep their eye or 
 series that, are fang, that they may the better have th< 
 •. fe of tliern.* 
 
 I:; the next place, we are to fing in the excreife of faith 
 The {criptrtre-fuugs abound with expi tflzons of an appfopri 
 . ing faith: as, iruhe beginning of the eighteenth l-'fal.n. 1 wit 
 
 ?i" &% ° Lord >,n jiraigih : The lord h ?vj rock and 7ny for 
 
 * When people attend on public ordinances, they ought, by no means 
 t j fceglecl t,; bring their foibles along with them : I. It is neccflury to Ravi 
 I teir Bibles, as when the P folia k read before finging, it is proper for th< 
 
 jurci- to loo!; to the paJ&ge propefed to be fung in the prole tranflatioi 
 i r the better underftanding of it. i. in what is commonly called a Leo 
 t ire, t.'ie speaker, having r^adfo many vcrfes of i'cripture, endeavours t< 
 i;c\v firft the defiga of the whole; next, the connexion that the vtrfei 
 : ad h.ivj with one another; and, thirdly, to point out the force and pro- 
 ] i-ty of th3 words 2nd phrafes ufedby the Holy Sphit : and, fourthly, ti 
 i,)ccii'y fotneof the principal dcelrines or practical directions plainly in- 
 4 laded pr implied in the v.o;ds.. This exercife, though the heft calculate* 
 L,r edification, is become the mofl difregarded part of cur public miniftra- 
 1 hni. '1 he preachers may, perhaps, be in f..ult as well as the hearers : 
 J. ill cue thing is evident from the very nature of this kind of difcourie 
 fhat, not being addreffed to the affections, but to the judgment, it mwl 
 i e un]irofitahl«i to carelcfs and inattentive hearers. Indeed -the things fpo- 
 1 en of are inch as ought always to intereft our affections in the highefl dc- 
 3 ree : but what is here faid refpecls the form of dilcourfe. Now, there 
 1 no probability at all that a hearer will give any proper attention, who 
 \ ill riot take the pains to uCc fo natural and obvious a mean of fixing it 
 : s that of bringing his Bible to the place of worfhip, of keeping his eye 
 c 11 the verfes whilfi the minifler reads them, and points out the connexios 
 1 .id the drift ol them ; and alfo on the words and phrafes whilfl he is 
 
 < udeavouring to ihew the f>rce and propriety of them, and to deduce 
 practical obfervations from them. 3 Each particular even of a populai 
 3 rmon is, or ought to be, confirmed by one or two pertinent texts. Now 
 if any of thefe texts be either read by the.fpeaker, or be fuch as the hear- 
 
 < r is unacquainted with, it mufl be of great ufe to have his Bd).e that he 
 may feelt them out and mark them immediately. When the palfa^es are 
 marked, and the hearer reviews them afterward, they will help him tore- 
 «-dlec~t the particular ohfervations which they were brought to confirm, 
 How can a perfon that h concerned to profit by the word, neglecl [o ob- 
 vious a help to the remembrance of it ? 4. People in the country live ge- 
 nerally at a confidcrable dillancc from their churches, in which cafe it is 
 > ecefi'ary that they bring their Bibles along with them, that they may bfi 
 t icm in the intervals of public worfhip : They fliould then be reviewing 
 tie paffage of ftripture they have been hearing explained ; and praying 
 over it ; or if they convcrfe with one another, the Bible fhould furnifl; 
 
( (") ) 
 
 trc/Sf and my deliverer, my God, my flrength, in lahbin 7 ivi{t 
 irujtj my buckler, and the horn of my fahation, my high ftf&er* 
 And in another place, In God is my falva'.ion and my glory 1 : ths 
 rock of my flrenglkjny refugs is in God. In firiging Inch paffa- 
 ges, we iliould be deeply concerned to obtain like precious faith. 
 The exercile of the faints, reprefented in the Plalms, teach- 
 eth us to know the various workings of our unb'.lief, and how 
 to maintain a confticl with it. The word that we ling is to be 
 received, not as the word of men, but as it is, in truth, the 
 word of God, which worketh effectually in us. And as we 
 have no gracious accefs to, nor acceptance with God, but in 
 our Lord Jefus Chrift ; fo we are particularly to remember 
 that our facrifices of praife are acceptable to God only by Jefus 
 Chrift: nor are we ever to think that we apprehend the i'ehfe 
 " which the fcripture fongs were originally intended to con- 
 vey," wnlefs we have a fpiritua] clifcernment of them, as fuli of 
 Chrift, full of his glory and fuitablenefs to our cafe. Further, 
 confidering the difficult y of this duty, and the peculiar bads- 
 wardnefsof our hearts to the exereiie of praife, confidering she 
 deadnefs of our affections, what other courfe fhould we take, 
 when the Lord calls us to ling his praife, than that of effayirig 
 to look by faith to our Lotd Jefus Chrift, the repofttory of ail 
 the good of the new covenant, that his grace and bpirit rnav 
 animate and encourage us to it, and grant us a God-glorifying 
 and heart-enlarging exercile in u I And according to our faith, 
 fo will our performance of this duty be. Let us look to him 
 for prefent lbpplies of grace according to the prefent calls, ta» 
 duty. 
 
 Further, it is neeeiTary that our Ringing be attended -vith 
 
 the exercile of gracious affect-ions. Singing is' a natural and 
 
 proper expreffion of our affections ; and as the ringing ot PQi1m» 
 
 k the ordinance of God^ fo we are to look to him that it may be 
 
 G 2 
 
 them with the fubje&s of their convtrfation : or if they 'rpp'afc- of provi- 
 dential difpenfutions, it fiiould be in the way of comparing rhtm with 
 icripture. It is, in a manner, the whole bufinefs of mir.ifters jnft to point 
 out to their people fuch dodtrin^s, reproofs, or inllrudioos of the Bible as- 
 are fai table to their cafe ; other than they find written there they have no 
 eommrfiion to deliver. So that they mujl be conhtnuUy refcrrkiv to it ; 
 »ud how can perfons be duly taking bud what tfty ll-a'r, who ncg)e<9t to> 
 bru;^ their bilks along with them by which they arc V: ^oge of it? 
 
( 70 ) 
 
 „ 
 
 an efTecluil mean of promoting the exercife of thofe graciot: 
 ;>!Firelions in our fouls, of which it is fo proper an expreflion. 
 For it mnft argue a m>)ft flnpid infen'ibility to fmg the lively 
 reprefentations, we have in the l'falms, of God's glorious excel- 
 lencies, without the greateit reverence and aftonimmenr, with- 
 out b-ing concerned to attain a fuperlative love of him who is 
 the object of our praife ; or to fing of the guilt and pollution of 
 opr fi i without a heart-felt grief and hatred of it ; or to fing of 
 the eternal falvation of his people through a Redeemer, includ- 
 ing their various temporal deliverances, without gratitude and 
 j >y ; or to fing of the judgments that he executes upon the 
 wicked, without fear and trembling.* 
 
 I r i e , moreover, to be obferved here, that we are by no means 
 to ground our expectation of fpiritual profit to our fouls, upon 
 *ny natural connexion that may appear to be between any out- 
 v/ard exercife and the emotions or paflions of our minds: be- 
 t iufe the connexion between any outward exercife and the 
 goo4 of our fouls U purely fupernatural, depending upon the 
 appointment and blefting of Chrifl, and the working of his Spi- 
 rit ; according to thefe words of our Saviour, The Spirit is that 
 u*!j;ch q'tickuieth, th: fujh profit eth nothing. The words which I 
 Jpl&k unto you, thy are fpirit and they are life. It is true, the 
 wifdjm and g >odnefs of GoJ is conspicuous in pitching upon 
 thefe outward exercifes for the purpoies of religion which are 
 j;r>ft becoming, eafy, and natural to iu: fo much io f indeed, as 
 » •> intimate fufhViently to us, that we ought, by no mean3, to 
 
 • ))fider the difficulty, the excellency, or the power of religion 
 n; lying in fuch outward things Bodily exercife, lays the apof- 
 i !e, prjfi. cth little ; but godunefs is profitable unto all things. Un- 
 <!ri b,.idy exerc'fie are comprehended all the outward exercifes 
 that we ufe in the duties ol religion, whether thofe of voice, 
 « : ,elture, or any other, coafulered with refpeel to their natural 
 
 * ffj.ft or tendency. In this view, they are oppofed to godlinels; 
 ;uij with kk fninunl profit- Bit when thefe. exercifes proceed 
 i.on a reg ird to G.kI's authority in the appointment of them, 
 ;. id art attended with a believing eL*pendeuee on hi> grace and 
 Sptrir according to his pro.niic, then they truly belong to that 
 
 * Yfyi r^fcr the reader for a fuller account of the manner of finding, to 
 .". I - M irfluil's fcrnion <>n <l the j^ro^ricty of fiugingMu IC'.fco J DuviJ, 
 '.. L'.i^ia. \v !•»:(}■'.■:;•• ;' ,rart! r. a'r*v ilx i)i i'hvf."u. - 
 
( 7i ) 
 
 gaJlinefs which is profitable to all things. Their profirablenefc, in 
 this view, arifes not from any natural virtue or tendency in 
 thefe exercifes themfelves, but only from the Lord's inftitution, 
 and bleffing, and the effectual working of his Spirit. We are to 
 be diligent in the ufe of means and ordinances ; but to ex- 
 pect any deliverance to our fouls from the natural virtue or ten- 
 dency of any outward exercifes we may ufe in obierving them, 
 is to deceive ourfelves; nay, it is highly provoking to God, be- 
 caufe hereby we make idols of them, and put them in the place 
 of his grace and Spirit. The ground, therefore, upon which we 
 are to look for fpiritual profit by finging Pfalms, is by no means 
 the natural power and influence of the art of mufic; but folely 
 the Lord's appointment, and the promife of his Spirit to make 
 his ordinances effectual to our falvaiion. As much mufic as pre- 
 ferves outward decency and order, is all that the inftitution of 
 Chrill requires in order to the edification of our fouls: and no 
 farther fpiritual benefit is to be expected from a higher degree 
 of artificial melody. We may as well place religion in holy- 
 days, in pictures, in beads, as in certain mulical arrangements. 
 
 We (hall now conclude with a few reflections. 
 
 I. We fhould be efpecially thankful for, and ftudious to pre- 
 ferve, in purity, the ordinances that the Lord hath appointed 
 in his word, thefe being the only outward means which he will 
 biels and make effectual for the beginning and carrying on of a 
 work of fanctification in our fouls. While corruptions of thefe 
 ordinances prevail, it is neceffary, th-t fuchasdefire to be found 
 faithful to the Lord Chrift, to the prefent and following genera- 
 tions, unite in bearing a public and particular teftimony againil 
 fuch corruptions : The church mentions the Lord's granting his 
 people the banner of fuch a teftimony as great matter of tlntnk- 
 iulaefs amidtl all the lad things {he had to lament. Thou baft* 
 grj.n a banner to them that fear thse : that it may be difplayed be* 
 cau/e of the truth. Woe to that people from whom this banner, 
 after fo.ne dil'play of it among them, is wholly removed. The 
 Lord is laying of them, They are joined to their idols : let them 
 alone. 
 
 2. It bee >mss us to humble ourfelves in the fight of the Lord 
 fa l..w hiitpUies of ou: holy things, putkuhrly v, uli r.i'pect 
 
k 7a ft 
 
 to the duty of fi nging praife. Such as, not finging with the 
 voice lit all, though the tongue be given us as our glor)', tha, 
 we may therewith glorify God : neglecting or undervaluing 
 opportunities of being eng'ged in this duty : not being ex- 
 ercifed, when we are going to fmg, in looking up to the Lord 
 for his gt\:ce and Spirit to fit and enable us to praife : not being 
 duly attentive to the matter lung, or concerned to attain a 
 right fpiritual underftanding of it ; or the particular applica- 
 tion of it to our own cafe : not aiming at communion with 
 God in this exercife, as defiring and hoping to praife him for 
 ever; being chargeable with much heart- wanderingand a dead 
 frame of mind in it : not having fuitable impreflions of the 
 greatnefs and goodnefs of God in Chrift : not being duly ex- 
 ercifed in trufting in him for the meFcies of which we fiug ; 
 or in acquiefcing in the threatenings of the word againlt the 
 unbelieving and impenitent : not ftirring up our fouls and all 
 that is within us to blefs and magnify his name : not fludying. 
 to have -abating thoughts of ourielves,- and large and exalted 
 thoughts of him : not walking in love, which would IweetJy 
 conftrain us to this duty, and make us delight in it. In fhorr, 
 the evils we are guilty of as to this ordinance only, are innu- 
 merable ; and urge us to make an immediate application to 
 thg bkod oj fprinkiing, which fpcaketh better things than that "of 
 JbcU 
 
 «?. Though the praifes of the Lord mould be in our mouths 
 habitually or continually, yet there ate occafions, even in this 
 vale of tears, in which the exercife of finging is peculiarly 
 feafonable. For example, it very properly follows the par- 
 ticipation of the Lord's fupper: our Saviour and his difciples 
 fung an hymn after the firlb celebration of this ordinance. 
 Surely, if we have had any right chfcernment of the Lord's 
 body at his table, it will difpofe us to ling of his righteoufncfs 
 and falvation.* Again, if the Lord has granted us any fenfi- 
 ble deliverance from our fpiritual enemies, or any fenfible be- 
 ginning of a victory over them, it ill becomes us to neglect 
 the praifes of that free and fovercign grace which has done 
 
 * TK-" principal head* of this difcoisrfe were delivered on Monday 
 after the celebration of the JLoru'fc ll-ipoer. at Muddy-CVeek, in June- 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 all. To this purpofe, it is faid, in the in fen pt ion of the eigh- 
 teenth Pfalm, that David /pake unto the Lord all the" words of 
 tb'.s Jong, hi the day that the L-ord delivered him Jrom the hand 
 cf all his enetfiics, and Jrom the hand of Saul. Faith leads the 
 Lord's people to ling even under the crofs, efpecially when 
 they are fuffering for the caufe of Chrill ; as Paul and Sila«, 
 when they were thrull into the inner prifon, and their feet 
 in ide fall in the (locks, not only prayed at midnight, but fang 
 fratfis to Cod. 
 
 4 From the view we have taken of this fubjecl we may 
 -undcrltand what confthutes the harmony of the church's fong : 
 it is the fame word of Chrill being in the mouth and in the 
 heart of believers. Having the fame fpirit of faith, they are 
 al! taught to Jing as it were a new fong, unanimouflv faying in 
 faith, Thou wajt fain, and haj} redeemed us to God by thy blood. 
 The -myitery of the right manner of ringing this long cannot 
 be difcovercd by all the natural wifdom, fagacity, and diligence 
 in the world. The true underllanding of it is peculiar to thole 
 v ho hear and learn of the Father. No man could learn that 
 Jong, but the hundred and forty four thou/and who were redeem- 
 ed jiom the earth.* 
 
 We may add a word to two forts of perfons : Firft, to fuch 
 as are brought under deep concern about attaining the faving 
 knowledge of this new fong. To fuch we fay, Have you ceat- 
 ed from the fong of the worldling, being convinced that the 
 riches, honours, and pleafures of the world are vanity and vex- 
 ation of fpirit ? Have the fnares of it in which ye have been 
 molt entangled been made bitter as death to you ? Have you 
 ceafjd from the fong of the legaiift ; not daring to mention 
 •your own righteoufnefs, (which you fee to be filthy rags indeed) 
 before a holy God as the ground of your acceptance with him ? 
 Dare you fing of nothing but Chrill and what is in Chrill? 
 Senlible of your ignorance of this new fong, are you looking 
 to the Lord that he may teach you? Behold we bring you good 
 tidings of great joy ; namely, That the Lord our Cod hath rafed 
 up unto us a prophet, like unto Mojes, but infinitely greater than 
 Moles. It is his work and office to teach us this new fong ; and 
 
 * Revel, xiv. a. 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 he teachcth powerfully and irrefritibly ; and it Is neceifary 
 that he do fo, becaufe we are ucterly unwilling to learn it, till 
 he make us willing. He unftops our ears, and makes the 
 tongue of the dumb to ling. O what a miracle is it that any 
 of Adam's ruined fanily fhould ever learn this new long! 
 Both Mie pur chafe of it by the blood of the Son of God, and 
 the effecting of it by the power of the Holy Ghoft, are mira- 
 culous. The redemption we call you to receive, as what God 
 is now making over to you as a free gift, includes both the price 
 and the power by which we are brought to fing this new long: 
 the power being as victorious, effectual, and everlafting, as the 
 price was rich and fatisfactory to the law and juitice of God. 
 None can. have any more intereft in the one than in the other. 
 Indeed, if ye hive got any proper view of the finftilnefs and 
 mifery of your natural date, you will acknowledge freely that 
 you ftand fully in as much need of the one, as of the other: and 
 ye will look upon the heretics that would leperare them as (in 
 attempting to do fo) real enemies of your falvation. This 
 long is begun in the day of effectual calling : and in whomloe- 
 ver it is thus really begun, it will infallibly be continued till it 
 be exalted to the periect manner of tinning within the veil. 
 
 fe> o _ . 
 
 The language aimed at by thefeebkft exercife of faith is that 
 of the Walmift, J will Jing praifes unto my Cod, while I have a- 
 ?/y being :* any being, either out of the body or in the body, ei- 
 ther in time or eternity. JVhoJoever beiieveth, Jhall not be ajha- 
 med : it is iinpoffible that the imalleif. meafure of faith mould 
 ever be di (appointed. The expeilation of the poor, (or even any 
 part or degree of a believing expectation, iingly grounded on 
 the Lord's word) jhall not pvrijh for ever. As thy faith is, Jo 
 Jhall it be unto thee. All true believers, believe in Chrifl far 
 life everlafling.f We have no true faith, unlefs we believe 
 the record of God concerning his Son. And this is his record, 
 that he hath given to u: eternal life, and ih s life is in his Son.\ 
 It is true, that this faith, as to its exercife, in many that belong 
 to the Lord, is but weak and wavering: fo that they are apt 
 to call their faith unbelief; as the Father of the child mention- 
 ed in the ninth chapter of the gol'pel of Mark, faying, Lord, 
 I believe, help thou ?uine unbelief. But their great concern is to 
 be ihengtliened and eilabiiihed in the faith; keeping up the 
 
 * Pfalm cxlvi. a. f I Tim. i. 16. } I John v. II. 
 
( 7J ) 
 
 earned cry, Lord, increafe our faith : as for fuch as are reding 
 fatisfied with a weak and wavering faith, trulting to it as fuf- 
 ficient to cany them to heaven ; they are in a grofs delufion, 
 taking up with a notion or fancy, never having known at all 
 what it is to believe on the Son of God. Jf ye have indeed 
 begun to learn this new fong, you will be deeply fenfible of 
 your ignorance ; ready to fay with Agur, Surely, I am more 
 -brutijh than any ?uaii y and have not the under/landing of a man i 
 I neither learned wifdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. 
 You will not be able to find words to exprefs how much you 
 prize the Lord Jefus as your prophet, your Zaphnatb-paaneah, 
 the Revealer ot iecrets, who teacheth you to (ing the new fong. 
 You will delight in his word, which is the matter of that fong; 
 and you will relifh, in a peculiar manner, thofe pans of the word 
 which bear the form and defignation of fongs. You will be con- 
 cerned that the whole tenor of your converfation, being fuch 
 as becometh the gofpel, may be one continued fong of praife to 
 your God and Redeemer ; according to what is written in the 
 fiftieth Ffalm, IVhofo offer cth praife, ghrifieth jne : and to him 
 that ordcreth his conversation aright, will I jhew the falvation of 
 Cod. You will be ftudying, in your place and ftation, to invite 
 others to join in this fong : like the woman of Samaria, who as 
 loon as fhe became acquainted with Chrid herfelf, began to 
 fay to her fellow-citizens, Come, fee a man that told vie all things 
 that ever 1 did : is not this the Chrift P In fine, you will have 
 a real delire and longing to join in the exalted drains of the 
 glorified company that are now around the throne. 
 
 The other fort of perfons to whom we would offer a word, 
 •is thole who care for none of thefe things : who neither 
 know nor delire to learn any other fong than that of the world- 
 ling or that of the legalid. The bulk of men are of this 
 character. This is efpecially the cafe with the prefent genera- 
 tion ; as is evident from the prevailing neglect and contempt 
 of God's word and ordinances; which are now confidered as 
 an amulement, or, at mod, as deferving fome encouragement, 
 only on account of their tendency to promote the order and 
 decency of civil fociety : which is really an utter contempt of 
 them ; becauie whtlft they are not regarded or obferved for 
 the ends for which he appointed them, they are, in truth, not 
 regarded at ali as his ordinances, but rather uefpifed. Fuither, 
 
( 76 ) 
 
 it is too manifeft, that the bulk of the prefent generation be- 
 long to this flats, from their neglect of prayer, in fecret anil 
 in their families ; from their loathing the honey-comb of the 
 gofpel in its purity and fimplicity ; from the readinefs with 
 which the grofTeft herefies that can be broached are Iw allow- 
 ed by multitudes; from the unanimity with which all the differ- 
 ent parties amongft us, join together in condemning and at- 
 tempting to crufh any public teftimOny for truth, as if it impli- 
 ed bigotry, un.charitablenefs, and what not ; from the fafhion- 
 able contempt of religious principles, the mod contradictory 
 opinions in matters of religion being looked upon as equally true, 
 or equally harmlefs, which a man may either receive or reject 
 without being either better or worle ; from the manifold im- 
 moralities wliich are not only committed, but juftihed and glo- 
 ried in. Were they afhamed when they had committed abomina- 
 tion P nay, they were not at all ajhamed, neither could they blujh : 
 therefore /ball they fall among them that fall ; at the time that 
 I vijit them, they jhall be caft down, faith the Lord.* God has 
 been continuing to fpeak to this generation by his word and by 
 "his rod : but, both having been defpifed, we have reafon to be 
 apprehenlive, that he is about to fpeak to them in Inch a man- 
 ner as they will not be able to get ihifted. The deep fecurity 
 in which men are Co univerfally funk is a fymptom (that ought 
 to alarm fuch as are capable of taking notice of it) of fome 
 waftefuland wide-fpreading calamity being not far off, in order 
 to. give an effectual confutation of the Atheiilical and infidel 
 principles that are now become falhionable. For the Lord is 
 known by the judgments which he executeth. Wherefore we fay 
 to the carelefs ones of this generation, Be it known unto you, 
 men and brethren, that through this man, whom ye have hitherto 
 fet at nought, even our Lord jefus Chrift, is preached unto you 
 the jorgivenefs of fins. And by him all that believe are juftified 
 from all things, from which ye could not b: jujlifed by the jaw cf 
 Mofes. Beware, therejore, left that come upon you which is fpo- 
 keti of in the prophets : Behold, ye defpifers, and wonder, and 
 perifh : for I work a work in your days ; a work which you Jhall 
 tn no zvij'e believe, though a 7iian declare it unto you.f A day of 
 public calamity may loon come : at any rate, death is certain 
 and inevitable : and you know not how foon it may come to 
 
 , * Jcrcrr. vi. 15. f Atfts xiii- 3? — 41 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 any one of you having no fecurity for rhe prolongation of life 
 to another day, to another hour, or minute. Now there is an 
 opportunity of learning the new fong ,• there will be no learn- 
 ing of it in a future (late : unlefs you begin tofmgthe new fong 
 now, you will hereafter, excluded from thefocietyof the heaven- 
 ly fingers, have to howl, and weep, and gnafh your teeth under the 
 load of divine wrath, along with devils and the other damned, 
 through eternity. How long, ye ftmple ones, will ye love fimpli- 
 city P and the /corners delight in their /coming, and fools hate 
 knowledge P Turn you at my reproof : bihold 1 will pour out my 
 Spirit unto you ; I will ?nake known my words unto you, Beca^f 
 I have called, and ye refufed ; I have jlr etched out my hand, m. J 
 no man regarded: but ye have fet at nought ad my counfel and 
 would none of my reproof I alfo will laugh at your calamity, I 
 willl mock when y.ur fear cometh ; when your fear comtth as de- 
 flation, and your deJJrucliou cometh as a whirlwind ; when di/lrefs 
 and anguifh co??ieth upon you* You know not how loon your 
 day of grace may be ended : but, as yet, Chrilt is laying, Be- 
 hold me, behold me. The Holy Spirit is faying, To-day, if ye 
 will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation ; 
 as in the day of temptation in the wildernefs ; when the children 
 of Ifrael tempted me, proved me, and f aw my work ; Unto whom £ 
 fware in my wrath, thut they Jhould not enter into my rejL Let 
 us, therefore, fear, leji a promife being left us of enter mp into h,s 
 re/l, any of us fhould 'come /hort of it } through uubeliej. 
 
 * Prov. i. %% 27. Pfal. xcv. 7, 8, 9, 11. 
 
 H 3 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 THE writer of this, not having the opportunity of confut- 
 ing books that he wilhed, is far from pretending to be 
 able to give a hiftory of pfalmody ; but he hopes to be excufed 
 with every candid reader in attempting to obviate fome preju- 
 dices that have prevailed on this iubjc-ct,by the following obser- 
 vations. 
 
 I. Though it could be (hewn, that the fmging of human 
 compofures in publick worfbip, obtained as early ?.s the begin- 
 ning of the fecond century, yet this would not be (ufficient to 
 juftify the practice from the charge of fuperitition. Becaufe, 
 (as hath been mown abundintly by our writers in the Popifh 
 ant! Epifcopa! controverfieb) there wei e manifold corruptions 
 in docfrine and worlh'.p, which, even in that early period, pre- 
 vailed very generally in the Chriftian church. In the begin- 
 ning of the fecond century, Papias, bifimp of Hierapolis, lup- 
 pofed to have been a difciple of the apoille John, and of great 
 aurhority among the primitive Chrifliam, taught, as Eufebiws 
 informs us, that, ajter the re/un-eft'icUy there Jbottld be a ihonf-vid 
 
 years , in whifih Chrijl Jhould reign en earth per/anally. We learn 
 from Juftia Martyr's apology, that they mixed the Facramental 
 wine with water ; from Tertullian, that they ufed oil in the ad- 
 ministration of baptifm ; and from Cyprian, that the Lord's 
 flipper was given to infants.* It was a principal fubjecl of con- 
 troverfy, on what day Eafter ought to be celebrated, though 
 there is no divine warrant for the celebration of it at all. Thin 
 the nearnefs of the ancient churches to the times of the apolilcs 
 did not fecure them from error and iuperfliticn. 
 
 II. Several arguments that have been ufed in fepport of 
 the opinion, that hymns of human compofure were fung in the 
 
 * Juftini Apolog. ad Antoninum Pium. — Tertullian dc fcaptifmo Cap. 7. 
 Cyprian, epiit. Uz.. 
 
( 8° ) 
 
 rnblick worfnip of the church in the early ages of Christianity, 
 -re far from being conclufive. There is indeed a pafTage of Ter- 
 niHiah, quoted by Grotius, on Matrh. xxvi. 30. which intimate?, 
 that it was the cuftom in fome Chnfiian aifemblies for every 
 church member to be called forth to ting to tlje praife of God, if 
 •' -ny thing proper for that exercife occurred to him, either out of 
 f he f'criptures, or of his own gift. Ut quifgut de fcripturis, vel da 
 f ret no i/igemo t poUfi, provocatur in medium Deo_ canere. But, 
 • hat thrfe words dciciibe is the tinging of individuals, every one 
 according to his memory or l)is peculiar gift. It may, perhaps, 
 be eonhdercd as fome remains of thefe extraordinary gifts of 
 prophefying which are faid to have continued in the church, for 
 iome time after the : deceafe of the apoftles. *" The prophefying 
 which the apoftle fpeaks of, in Corinth, xi. 5. is under/toed by 
 j /.any interpreters of finging the praifes of Cod. So the word 
 items to be afed in 1 Chron. xxv. 1, 2, 3. 1 Sam. x. 5. At 
 any rate, what is referred to in this, and fimilar paifages that we 
 ■ ueet with in writers of the fecond and third centuries, appears to 
 J ave been, either irregular, or the exercife of an extraordinary 
 j.;:ft : in either of which cafes it is quite improper for imitation. 
 We know of no hymns dictated in this manner, which ever came 
 i ;io ufe in the ordinary public!: wt.rfhipof the church. If there 
 had been any fucb, one ihould think, there would have been 
 iome collection of them, either extant, or at leaft mentioned by 
 J .ftiii Martyr, Cyptian, or fome other eminent ecclefiaftical wri- 
 ter of the hi ft three centui its. But among them there appears 
 10 be a deep filence on this head. 
 
 Some alledge, that the finging of human compofures is refer- 
 red to, in an exprefHon that is ufed in Pliny's epiltle to Trajan, 
 concerning the cafe of thole Chrifliaus, whom he had examined. 
 The pafTage is to this purpofe: "A namelels libel wasprefented 
 containing the names of many. As to thofe who denied them- 
 ielves ever to hive been Chriltians, when, after my example, 
 they had invecafed the t v ods, and offered wine and incenfe to 
 }our fhnue, which for that purpofe I commanded to be brought, 
 v ith the images of the gods: and likewiie blafphemed Cbnit, 
 (which it is faid no true Chnfiian can be compelled to do,) I 
 ciififtifFed them. Others, mentioned alfo in the libel, confcfled, 
 that they had for met ly been Chriftians, but that they had r#- 
 munssd that religion, fome of them tin ee years ago, others ma- 
 
C 81 ) 
 
 ny year?, and one twenty five years. Ail which paid their re 
 verence to your (tatue, and the images of the gods, and blai- 
 phemed Chrift. They affirm, that the whole fault, or error of 
 the Chriftians con lifted in this ; That it was their ufuai practice, 
 upon a fet, folemn day, to meet together before fort-rifing, and 
 to fing among thcmfei/es, a fymnjfi Chrift, as to Cod, and to 
 oblige themfelves by a folemn oath, to ddfnmit no wickedneis." 
 As to thefe words, it is nccf-dary to ohferve, that the practice 
 here defcribed is not what " Pliny himfeif, or any other fpie* 
 that might creep into Christian aifemblies M had been witnefTes 
 of: bitt what fome penbns, who confeiTed that they had for- 
 merly been Chriftians declared, upon their examination by a 
 heathen judge. Thefe spoliates knew very well, that the 
 Chriftians worshipped the Son in their prayers and praifes as 
 well as the Father. And it was natural for perfbns, in their 
 cafe, to name the Son, Jefus Chriil - , in order to render the 
 woribip, which they had been prevailed on to renounce, and 
 which was all the crime they had to alledge againil their <;..^v* 
 dam brethren, the more odious to the heathen perfecucors.. 
 
 Om this fubjeel, as on many Gibers, the accounts which ec~ 
 ck-'iaiticr.l writers of the firft three centuries give us of the 
 practice of the church, feems to be very defective We meet 
 withpaiuges which intimate > that, in fome churches, Tinging, as 
 a dirtinet part of publick worfnip, was, for a coniiderabie time, 
 quite neglected. Augufline tells us that the church of Milan 
 lirft began to fing in the time of /\mbrole. and that of Africa 
 m his own time. * 
 
 That the publick Raging ef human cora-pofures was of no 
 good name in the primitive ages of Chviftianky, is highly pro- 
 bable from the following pafhge in the decrees of the council 
 of Laodicea, held about the middle of the fourth century. l:i 
 canon 50b, it is decreed, that no iJtonxvcr \*.\y.%T y pfalms of 
 private or bum an cwiptfure, jhinld be fang in churche.^ nor aitt 
 fooks ready which ere not cauttkunf, 
 
 III. We have fuch hiftorieal evidence as may fatisfv us, that 
 the fcripture Pfalms were king in the v/ or/hip of the church of 
 
 11 2 
 * Ca/i/ef. lib, it cap 7. znA Ii.t.d3atl Kb. £. 
 
( 82 ) 
 
 God before the fourth century. Tertullhn, a writer of the 
 third century, enumerating the exercifes of the church's pub- 
 lic worfhip, mentions the fingtng of pfklms, as well as the read- 
 ing of the fcriptures, and the delivery of fermons.* And in 
 another place, he intimates that the 133d Pfalm was lung at 
 the eucharift.f Nor can we think that the writers of the 
 fourth and fifth centuries would have mentioned (as they do) 
 the Tinging of pfalms as the common and ancient practice of 
 the church, if it had not been in ule before the fourth century. 
 Cyril of Jerufalem,J and Jerom, both writers of the fourth 
 century 9 tell us that the thirty firft and finrty fifth pfalms were 
 liing at the eucharift. Auguftine plainly intimates that this 
 Was the practice of his own church ; for in one of his homi- 
 Jies,§ he takes notice, firfr, of the reading of the epiftle, and 
 i hen, of fingtng the 65th pfalm. The following paifage from 
 CafEan, a writer of the fifth century, in vindication of the E- 
 gyptian monks, is remarkable. " Our elders " fays he, (peak- 
 ing as a member of their fociety, " have not changed the anci- 
 ent cuflom of iinging pfalms ; but the devotions are perform* 
 i el in the fame order as they were formerly in the meetings by 
 night- Fop the hymns which it had been the cuftom in this 
 country to fmg at the end of the night-vigils that were conclu- 
 ded alter cock-crowing, immediately before the dawn, were 
 the fame hymns which they ling at this day, namely, the 148th, 
 and following Pfalms, the 50th, the 62d, and Both;/'** 
 
 From this paffage, it is evident, Firft, that the Pialms of Da- 
 \ id were called hymns : and, therefore, when we read in the 
 ancient writers of iinging an hymn, without any farther txj.l ca- 
 tion, we are gather to undcrftand it of a fcripture long, than of 
 a human compofition. Secondly, it is evident, thar, in Caflian's 
 tine, the iinging of Da: id's Pfalms was an ancient practice, 
 anthjua caifnctudo Pfaimtifitwx which it could not then be cal- 
 led with any propriety, if it had not been in \A'e before the 
 fourth century. Hence, in order to vindicate the Egyptian 
 monks from the charge of novelty, he tells us, that they lung, 
 the Pialms of David, and not any new hymns of human com- 
 poljare. 
 
 * Dc anima, cap. 0. f De JeJHlU*, Cap T3. \ Catech. I.lyfl. 5. n. 17. 
 $ otnu. 10. i.i verbis apufletf ** Qafiian, lib. 3. cap. 6. 
 
( 83 ) 
 
 Though Caffian was much infected with the error and fu« 
 perflation of his time, yet no writer is fa id to give a better ac- 
 count of the ancient ufages of the church. 
 
 From an expreffion that occurs in fome writers of the fourth 
 century, namely, That the pfahns of David began to be fang at 
 fuch a time a?id place ,- it has been concluded, that, before that 
 time, ibrne other fongs, or hymns of human compolure were 
 fang in publick worfhip ; but very unjuftly : for the pa/Tages in 
 which that expreflion is ufed, are to be underftood, not of the 
 Pi'alms of David coming in the place of human compofures for- 
 merly ufed ; but of the exercife of finging, which, before, had 
 been quite neglected ; the pfalms having been- -only read, like 
 other parts of fcripture. So Auguftine is to be understood, when 
 he complains of the malicious oppolition which one Hilary made 
 to the way of (inging hymns out of the book of Pi'alms : which 
 under his miniftry, began to be ufed in the publick worfhip at 
 Carthage, either before the offering, or when that which had 
 been offered, was diftributed to the people.* 
 
 1^. We have great reafon to be alarmed at the introduction 
 of hymns of human compofure into our public worfhip : becanfe 
 the public finging of fuch hymns has ofren been made ufe of to 
 prepare the way for, or to recommend, other fcheme* of herefy 
 and corruption. The infnaring doxology of the Arians is well 
 known, in which they ufed to alcribe Glory to the Father, through 
 the So;: and the Holy Ghoji. The worfhip of the virgin Mary and 
 oiher laints, in the church of Rome, appears to have been intro- 
 duced, and is ftill m^ch promoted, by the hymns that are fnng 
 t> [heir praife. That the pretence of woifhippers being more 
 Uvely and devout in finging hymns of human comrolure, than 
 in finging the fcripture long?, is not new, appears from the fol- 
 lowi: g paii^ge ot Auguitine :f The Dor.atijis, fays he, reproach 
 i,'s y beoaufi, at church, ivejoberly ji?ig the divine jongi oj the pro- 
 ph-ts, while they inflame their minds with the poetical cowpohtions 
 oj human genius, 
 
 V. All the Reformed churches ufe the whole book of Pfafms 
 i-i their public prail'es: and the bed Reformed, in I heir, pure ft 
 times, ufed no other. Though iome of them, among other, 
 * lletrad- lib. 5. ■}• Epift. 119, c. 18. Tom- s> 
 
[ 84 ) 
 
 Popifh corruptions, retained that of finging a few human eom- 
 pofures ; yet the principle which is now to much infilled upo:>, 
 namely, That the Pfalms of David are unfuitable to the (late or 
 privileges of the New Teltament church, was unknown amoncr 
 Proteftants in the early days of the Reformation. It is perfectly 
 agreeable to the harmony of their confefi) >ns, tit ecclejia pnbiice 
 cantanda non perviittat, uiji qu& projiant in Jcripturis s That the 
 church mould allow nothing to be fang in her public worthy 
 but what is found in the holy fcriptures. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 THE public has been lately informed, that the Synod of New- 
 York and Philadelphia, " appointed a committee to examine the 
 different verfions of the Book of Pfalms, to which they could 
 have accefs, and from them to {elect fuch a collection as they 
 mould judge belt ; and to lay it before the Synod, at a future 
 meeting, for their confederation." 
 
 That, <l in purfuar:ce of this appointment the Committee 
 proceeded on the bufmefs ; and, after a confidcrable time, re- 
 ported to this purpofe ; That having compared fuch verfions as 
 they could obtain, they did not apprehend any fo well calculated 
 for Chriitian worfhip as that of Dr. Watts, as amended by Mr* 
 i>-r!ow of New England :" That " the verfion, thus amended, 
 Was then laid before the Synod for their con ^deration, who, 
 after mature deliberation, gave it their judicial fanclion, a« 
 may be feen in a pointed extract from their minutes, bound up 
 with the (aid veri'ion."* 
 
 This is a matter, in which, as it afTecls the purity of divine 
 worfliip, the whole Chriflian church is deeply concerned : It h f 
 indeed, our duty to fubmit to the determination of church com is 
 concerning articles of faith, or the manner of divine woriiup, 
 when they are (what they ought to be) only examples of tl tf 
 due exercile of that authority which Ch; iit hath given his mi- 
 ftitlers, to join rogethc-r in exhibiting and applying, as particu- 
 lar cafes require, tne rule of his word, contained in the fcrip- 
 tUres of the Old and New Teltameuts. But it is no 1 leis our 
 * Wit: BiacVs fermoflon Tfalniody. Page 46. 
 
( 8s ) 
 
 duty, to bear testimony againft fuch of their determinations as 
 are contrary to his word. Hence Christians ought, by no mean?, 
 toacquiefce in the fynedical determination now mentioned, till 
 they have ferionfly and impartially considered, whether the 
 imitation of the Pfalms of David, by Doctor Watts, as corrected 
 by Mr. Barlow, ought to be preferred, as more proper to be 
 fung in our churches, than a clofeand faithful traRilation of thofe 
 Pialms. As a mean of exciting church-members to this inquiry, 
 and of afliit'tng them in ir, the following obiervations and rubles 
 of examples out of the Imitation, as corrected by Mr. Barlow, 
 are humbly offered. 
 
 Seel. I. Of the Title of this Book. 
 
 This performance has been called a verfion or tranflatlcn* 
 But the comparing of a Tingle verfe of it with the original is 
 fufficient to convince any one of the impropriety of this title : 
 A title which is the more improper, as it is evident, that Dr. 
 Watts himfelf did not mean to give his work to the public under 
 the notion of a tranflation, but in his preface, as well as in the 
 title-page, calls it an Imitation of the Pfalms. The difference 
 between a trar.fhtion and an imitation is commonly well 
 enough understood. He is not a tranilator who does not lay 
 the lame thing in one language which his author fays in another. 
 But he may be a very good imitator of an author ; he may co- 
 py his manner ; and yet fay very duferent things. Tranflation 
 requires diligence and faithfuloefs : imitation gives full play to 
 invention. Dr. Clarke tranflated Homer into Latin ; but Vir- 
 gii imitated him in the fame language. Thus, Phaedrus repre- 
 ients himfelf as an imitator, not a tranilator, of iEfop, when he 
 fays of his fables, 
 
 £)uas iEfopeas, non iEfopi, nomino. 
 
 The words of God, as well as his works, are inimitable. 
 There is none like unto thee, Lord ; neither are there any works 
 like unto thy -works. The bold pretence, therefore, of imita- 
 ting the Pfalms of David, is to ule a freedom with them, as if 
 they were the word of man, and not, what they are in truth, 
 the word of God. They that are of a contrite heart, trcinble at 
 his word,* 
 
 * Ifa. Ixvi. 2. 
 
( 86 ) 
 
 Se&. II, A review of Dr. Watts's imitation of the 
 firft Pfalm. 
 
 I suppose it will be allowed, that there is as little variation 
 from the original in the imitation of the firft Pfalm as in any 
 other. Indeed, it cannot be denied that, in the moft, it is far 
 greater: for in this, (what cannot be faid of the molt part of 
 the imitation,) we have all the verfes, and in the fame order 
 as in the original Pfalm. That the reader may judge how little 
 of the language of the original is retained in the imitation, he is 
 prefented with the following copy of the imitation of the firft 
 Pfalrn ; the words or phrafes different from thole of the original 
 being printed in italics. 
 
 1 Blefs*c! is the man who Jhuns the place, 
 
 Where finners love to meet ; 
 Who fears to tread their kicked ways, 
 And hates the fcoffer's (eat. 
 
 2 But in the ftatutes of the Lord 
 
 Hath plac'd his chief delight ; 
 By day he reads or hears the word, 
 And meditates by night. 
 
 3 [He like a plant of generous kind 
 
 By living waters let, 
 Safe from the Jforms and hlafling wind, 
 Enjoys a peaceful ft ate. ~\ 
 
 4 Green as the leaf, and ever fair, 
 
 Shall h's profejjion fhine ; 
 
 While fruits »f holinefs appear, 
 
 Like clufters on the -dine. 
 
 $ Not fo the impious and unjnft 
 What vain dejigns they form i 
 Their hopes are b.own away like duft, 
 
 Or chalf before the ftorm. ^ 
 
 6 Sinners in judgment fnall not (land 
 A m on g the fons o f grace , 
 When Chrifl the Judge at his right ha?:d 
 Appoints the faints a place \ 
 
( 87 ) 
 
 7 Mis eye beholds the path they tread, 
 His heart approves it well ; 
 But crooked ways of Tinners lead 
 Doivn to the gates of hell. 
 
 It is to be obferved, that there are no fuch Hebrew idioms 
 in this Pfalm, no fuch allufions to ancient rites, as could afford 
 the Doctor the leaft pretence for his departure from the lan- 
 guage of the original. 
 
 Whenever we are tempted to think that fome other mode 
 of expreffion would be better than that which is ufed by the in- 
 fpired writer, we have reafon to believe that we mifapprehend 
 the true meaning of the palfage, or the force of the particular 
 expreflion. The truth of this obfervation is, in fome meafure, 
 iUuflrated by the following remarks on the Doctor's imitation 
 of this Pfalm. 
 
 Walking in the coun/el of the ungodly means more than /htm* 
 tiing the place where [inner s love to meet ; for counfel here fignifies 
 whatever the ungodly would advife to, or whatever they deli- 
 berately defign ; which comprehends a great deal more than 
 the Doctor's phrafe. He f peaks of the pallions of fearing and 
 hating ; but the Pialmift uies fuch expreflions as properly delci ibe 
 the habitual practice. The repetition of the negative particle is 
 a beauty which the Doctor overlooked; otherwife, one (hould 
 think, he would have endeavoured to preferve it in fome of his 
 imitations. The fame obfervation may be made with refpect 
 to the three words, ungodly, fmners, /corners ; of which many 
 judicious commentators coniider the fecond as letting forth a 
 worfe character than the firft ; and the third, a woj fe than ei- 
 ther of the two former : Such being the progrefs of that apof- 
 tacy from which the Lord preferveth the faithful. 
 
 In the fecond verfe, the Pfalmift teacheth us, that it is the 
 diftinguifhing character of the godly, to be endowed with a new 
 principle of delight in the law of the Lord, and to be habitually 
 meditating on it. The Doctor adds reading and heaiing the 
 word ; but without any propriety, thefe being afcribed to un- 
 believers as well as believers, Matt. xxii. 31. James i. 25. 
 To be fure, none are godly who neglect the reading and hear- 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 ing of the word : but that which diftinguiflies the' truly godly 
 from others is their habitual meditation on the word with fpiritual 
 delight, Pfal. cxix. o. 7. Jerem. xv. 16. Belides, no good 
 reafon can be given for the Doctor's dijiinguifhing the night as 
 the proper featbn of meditation, when the Pfalmifl had repre- 
 fented day and night, indifcriminately r as the feafon of it ; and, 
 in a text jull now cited, he reprefents this meditation as his ex- 
 ercife all the day. 
 
 In the third verfe, the Pfalmifl: compares the godly man to 
 a tree planted by the rivers of water. But the Doctor, attend- 
 ing to improve upon the Pfalmifl, has fubfhtuted a plant of ge- 
 7ierous kind' This implies that the fruitfulnefs and perpetual 
 verdure of the tree (which the Doctor has changed, for what 
 :eafon is not known, into a plant,*) are to be alcribed, partly 
 at Ieaft, to the generofity or excellency of its nature or kind, 
 and not folely, as the Pfalmifl's expreflion would lead us to 
 think, to its plantation by the rivers of water : The Doctor's 
 expreflion is contrary to the fpiritual defign of this metaphor ; 
 which is to teach us, agreeably to what we are taught in other 
 places of fcripture, as in Hofea xiv. 8. Ephef. ii. 8, 9, 10. that 
 our fanclification is to be wholly afcribed to Jelus Chrift, to the 
 fulnefs of his grace and Spirit, reprefented by the rivers of wa- 
 ters ; and not to any thing good or generous in our own nature. 
 What the Doctor adds about be'mjrfafe from the forms and blaft- 
 i:ig winds, and enjoying a peacejul fate, is a wandering not only 
 from the language and fentiments of the Pfalmift, but from the 
 fubject : for what the Pfalmifl is here considering, is the continu- 
 ed fruitfulnefs of the tree, as proceeding from a permanent caufe. 
 BeCules, the reader or finger that follows the Doctor, will be 
 led into fuch an enquiry about the confilleucy of thefe two 
 lines, with many places of fcripture, which tell us, that the god- 
 ly are toffed with tempefls, and engaged in a continual warfare, 
 as mufl greatly divert the mind from the particular point to 
 which we are led by the fimplicity and precifion of the words 
 of the Pfalmifl. In the fourth verfe of the Doctor's imitation, 
 lie runs away with two words of the Pialmill, the leaf and fruit, 
 
 * A plant, fays a very good judge of the Englifh Language, is any ve- 
 getable production arifing from feed ; but, fecms confined to fuch as arc 
 not very large. Thus faplings are the Isrgcft that ftiould be called plants. 
 
( ft ) 
 
 and gives us a loofe defcant upon them. He would here engage 
 us in another difficult enquiry, namely, Whether, by the unfad- 
 ing leaf, the Pfalmiil means the prof, 'ffi 'on of the Pfalmiil, as dif- 
 tinguifhed from the fruits of hotinefs : a difficult enquiry, for this 
 among other reafons, Th-tt the profeflion of an upright heart is 
 itfelf a fruit of holinefs, Matt. x. 32. Rom. x. to. In this tx- 
 prelfion, his leaf jh all not fade, the Pfalmift ieems to prevent a 
 mifapprehenfion of the meaning of the foregoing expreflion, 
 that bringeth forth his fruit in feafon ; as if it meant, that the 
 godly man is like fruit-bearing trees in refpeet of the circum- 
 itance of their leaf fading in the winter. -No, he is like a fruit- 
 bearing tree, that is alio an ever-green. For though he will be 
 careful to do good works of this or the other kind in their res- 
 pective feafons ; yet there is no (eafon in which, lb far as grsce 
 is in exercife, he will not be iludious of doing good works of 
 one kind or another. This view of the words is agreeable to 
 the ibope of the Pialmift, which is to fet forth the perpetual 
 fruitfulnefs of that principle of grace, or of delight in the law of 
 the Lord, which is in the godly. 
 
 Further, the Doctor never can be excufed for omitting, in 
 all his three imitations of this Pialm, that emphatical and in- 
 ftruclive expreihon, //.' his fcafon ; fmce there is fo much of the 
 beauty of a holy practice in giving every duty its own time ard 
 place. The Doctor ought to have confined himitlf to the ih ti- 
 tration of the fimilie of the Pfalmift ; but, inftead of doing !o, 
 he introduces another of his own ; as if he thought, that the for- 
 me. was not fufficiently clear or pertinent, witbout the addition 
 ot'cluflers on the vine. Thefe, to be fure, are very beautiful and 
 delicious j but what they have to do here, the Doctor himfelt 
 fhould have told : for it is not an ordinary capacity that can dif- 
 cover it. It is obviou>, that the introduction of any thing, thai 
 diftinguifties the vine from other fruit trees, was quire ioteign 
 to the deiign of the Pfalmift; 
 
 The exprefllon, whatsoever he doth foali prof per, is wholly o- 
 naitted in the Doctor's rirlt and fecond imitations? but at lait, 
 in the third, he gives us two lines iu place of it : 
 
 And heaven will /bine with kindejl beams 
 On every work h;s hands begin. 
 i 
 
( 9° ) 
 
 Some unthinking readers may be more taken with this florid 
 exprtffion than with that of the' Pfalmit. But two thing* will 
 occur to a coniiderate perfon : Firft, that the metaphor here 
 introduced by the Doctor, being quire different from' the fimilie 
 cf the Pfabhift, does not ealily unite with it, but rather hinders 
 its effect. Secondly, that any meaning that can be put upon the 
 common- place expreflion of heaven Jhhi'mg with kindeft foam, 
 namely, iiippoling it to fignify the caufe of profpering, is fully 
 held forth to us by the Pl'almilb in that part of the fiinile, in 
 which the rivers of waters 'die reprefented as the caufe of fruit- 
 ful nefs. 
 
 In the imitation of the fourth verfe of this Pfalm, we have 
 an example of the bad effect of multiplying words unnecefTarily. 
 Fit It, we are informed, that the pet ions here fpoken of, are 
 both impious and imjuft ; as if fome iviphus perfons might efcape 
 this deih uetion, provided they were not alfo unjujl. The fe- 
 cofifl line of thisilanza, (though the Doctor's punctuation would 
 lead us to expect fomething wonderful in i%) is fuperfluous, the 
 fenfeof it being ibfficiently expreffed in the third line ; in which 
 he fay?, Their hopes are blown away like dull before the ilorm. 
 But this is far from the fignificance of the Plalmift's exprcfrion, 
 which includes their perfons, profejfions, and works, as well as 
 their hopes. Surely thele veries of the Doctor mult be exceed" 
 jngly difgufting to a perfon who has any proper relifh for the 
 noble dm pitch y of the original ; The ungodly are not Jl : but are 
 like the chaff, which the wind driveth away. 
 
 In the next verfe two words are ufed, ungodly and fumers, 
 which, though often ufed as iyncnimoir*, are of different deri- 
 vation and import; and it is not without defigh that they are 
 both ufed here ; it is to teach w, that no fort of tranfgreflbrs, 
 not even thofe that elude the fevereit. trial of men, fhall efcape 
 the judgment of God. Again, the Pfalmift reprei'epts ft andixg 
 in judgment, and /landing in the ajjuuluy oj the righteous, in differ- 
 ent members of the verfe, as what are to be conlidered diitinct- 
 ly. Thele diflinetions, which are ilrongly marked in the ori- 
 ginal, are utterly neglected in the Doctor's imitation. It is not 
 the defign of the Pfalmift: here, to iliew which of the perfons of 
 the Godhead is to appear as Judge, or to defcribe the order of 
 the judgment j but only to teach us, that the molt exact difcri- 
 
( 9' ) 
 
 initiation of perfons according to their refpective cliaracTers, 
 will then be made. That the fecond Perfofi of the Godhead 
 will be Judge, and that the faints will be placed at his right 
 hand on the day of judgment, are revealed truths, but the intro- 
 duction of them here, is impertinent. 
 
 In the lift verfe of this Pfalm, we have a beautiful example 
 
 of the fcriptural brevity. In the fir it member of cite verfe, as, 
 indeed, in many other places of fcripfure, the verb to hum, is 
 tiled figuratively, to fignify the delight, which the Lord takes 
 in obferving the fruits >f his own grace in his people. When 
 the Doctor lay?, He beholds and approves the path they tread, 
 he expreffes fomewliat of the fenfe, but in a profaic and fpiiit- 
 lefs manner. The anii hefis between the eye and the heart is a 
 child:fh conceit: It fuits'Dr. Watts, but not the divine original; 
 The lift member of this verfe is, Ths way of the ungaijy /Ball 
 feri/h. Here ihe way of the ungodly, by a figure, is put for the 
 ungodly themfelves. This metonymy ferves, in a lively man- 
 ner, to reprefent their obftinate attachment to the : .r de(tru£Uve 
 courle?. But the Do'ilor omits the figure, and tells his reader 
 (what is, no doubt, fomewhatof the fenfe, and would have been 
 fofferable in a fermon) that the crocked ways of 'firmer* lead them 
 down to the gates of bell.* Who that has, not to lay any reve- 
 rence for the word of pod, but even any relifh for composition-, 
 can bear to fee ibch diunels palled upon them, a> a representa- 
 tion of the noble conciuiion of the firlt Pfalm? The liuiy of the 
 ungodly /hall perl/b- 
 
 That the reader may fee the great difference between iiicli 
 an imitation of the Pfalms as we have now been, reviewing, 
 •and a verfe translation of them, it may not be improper here to 
 lay before him the firft Pfalm, taken from the verfe transition 
 ufed by the church of Scotland j the fupplementary words bein g 
 printed in Italics. 
 
 That man hath perfect bleiTednefs 
 
 Who walketh not aft ray 
 In counfel of ungodly men, 
 
 Nor Hands in tinners way. 
 
 ' * If he hid faid to tUdeptht of belt, It Would hare been more fu^V.c te- 
 the fenfe of the tc)\t, than U iterates of it. 
 
( 9* ) 
 
 Nor fitteth in the fcorners chair. 
 
 But placeth his delight 
 Upon God's law, and meditates 
 
 On his law day and night. 
 
 lie fhall be like a tree that grow s 
 
 Near planted by a river, 
 Which in his feafun yields his fruit, 
 
 And his leaf fadeth never : 
 
 And all lie doth (hall profper well. 
 
 The wicked are not fo : 
 But like they are unto the chaff, 
 
 Which wind drives to and fro. 
 
 In judgment, therefore, fhall not {land 
 
 Such as ungodly are, 
 Nor in th' a'fembly of the juft, 
 
 Shall wicked men appear. 
 
 For why P the way of godly men 
 
 Unto the Lord is known : 
 Whereas the way of wicked men 
 
 Shall quite be overthrown. 
 
 Sect. III. Examples of the fenfe ofthePfalms of 
 David rniireprefented by Dr. Watts's Imitation of 
 them, as corrected and enlarged by Mr. Barlow. 
 
 Doctor Watts fays, that he has tranflaled the fecond Pfalm 
 accord'mg to the divine pattern, Afis iv. 24. &c. But he con- 
 founds the translation in the 25" and 26 verlesof that parTage, 
 with the ufe and application of the Pfalm in verfes 27 and 28. 
 The Pfalms ouo.hr to be read and fun 2; in an exact and literal 
 tranflation, like that in ver. 2 5 and 26. rhat the church and par- 
 ticular members of it may, every day, make tiiat peculiar im- 
 provement of them which the peculiir circumftancesof the day 
 may require, after the example here fet us by the apoftles. 
 As to the Doctor's tranflation, it is jult in the manner of the 
 imitation of the Hi it pfalm, which we have already conlidered. 
 
 The reader is defired to obferve, that the following are not 
 meant as examples of mere defects or inaccuracies in the re- 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 presentation which the imitation gives of the fenfe of the 
 pfalms: A tolerable account of thefe would make a larger vo- 
 lume than the imitation itfelf. But they are paffages in which 
 another doctrine appears to be taught than what is to be found 
 in the original pfalms. 
 
 The Lord declares his heavenly birth, Pfal. ii. long metre 5". 
 The epithet [heavenly} applied to the neceifarv eternal gene- 
 ration of the Son, is inadequate, and therefore improper. If 
 the Doctor meant our Lord's miraculous birth of the virgin 
 Mary, he miftakes the meaning of the Pfalmift, or rather 1 
 grofsly perverts it. 
 
 Juftice and truth attend thee ftill, 
 .Hut mercy is thy choice. 
 
 Pfal. xlv. common metre. S- 
 
 There is nothing in the original that reprefents mercy as 
 more properly the choice of Chi ill than juftice and truth. 
 
 Ths world a J mires her heavenly drefs 
 
 Ibid. 2d. part, long metre 2» 
 
 There is no fuch thing in the original : and furely if by drifk 
 the doctor meant go/pel hol'imfs, it is rather hated than admired 
 by the world.. John xv. 19.. 
 
 Should fudden vengeance feize my breathy 
 
 I muft pronounce thee juft in death ;, 
 And if my foui were lent to nelly 
 
 The righteous law approves it welli. 
 
 Pfal. Ii. fii ft part, long metre. £. 
 
 This is the language of unbelief, or of a perfon who confi- 
 ders himfelf as (landing in relation to God according to the te- 
 nor of the covenant of works. A. language which could* have 
 no place in a reprefentation of the exercife cf true repentance 
 exemplified in David, after the Lord had affured him that his 
 iniquity was put away. Compare the infer iption of this Pfaltaj 
 with 2. Sam., xii. 13.. 
 
 Thh lifj's a dream, an empty Jbevj : 
 But the bright world ro which 1 go, 
 Hath joys fubfiantiat and fincere. 
 
 Pfal. xvii. lorg ratre. 4, 
 I 2 
 
( 94 ) 
 
 It is true, that the prefent life and its enjoyments, confidered 
 as a portion, and without refpect to another Lie, or let in oppo- 
 fition to fpirttual bleflings, are an empty (hew ; but the prefent 
 life, even as contradiftinguhlied from the future, is very impor- 
 tant, as it is a preparation for the future : and the joys of true 
 Chriftians, while here, are fitbfta?nial and [metre, however 
 irnri.ll • even their temporal comforts are real fatisfadtions ; God 
 himfelf, the fubftance of all joy, being enjoyed in them. 
 
 A foul oppreft with fin's defert 
 My God will ne'er defpife. 
 
 Pfal. li. 2d. part, com. met. 4. 
 
 Cain and Judas had nothing of that broken and contrite 
 heart, which the pfalmift fpeaks of, and yet, it is manifeft, 
 their foul's were opprefTed with the defert of iin. 
 
 Vain hopes, and vain inventions all, 
 To 'fcape the rage of hell. 
 
 Pfal. Iv. com. met. 6. 
 
 It does not appear to be the defign of the pfalmift m the 6, 
 7, and 8 verfes of this Pfalm, to exprefs his hopes, or to lay 
 down any plas for his efcape, but to let forth the difagreeable- 
 nels merely of his tituation by a beautiful figure. 
 
 He makes the faint and finner prove 
 The common blefiings of his love, 
 
 Ixviii. 3d. part, ,4. 
 
 Saints and tinners mare often in common the bounties of pro- 
 vidence ; fothat, according to Solomon's observation, we can- 
 not diilinguiih love and hatred in this way. But no paflage of 
 Jcnpture is recollected that reprefents God as having a common 
 love to faints and tinners j and tinners, too, that are to be eter- 
 nally rejected. 
 
 When foes intidious- wound my name, 
 
 And tempt my foul aftray ; 
 Then let them fall with lifting flianve 
 
 To their own plots a prey. Ixx. 2. 
 
 Tt is much more like a Chriftian to pray ss the Pfalmift doe*, 
 that our enemies may be turned back, than that they fhould be 
 ltitlertd to go on in their plots, till they fall a pr<ty to- riiem :. 
 Sn3 tfpeciuily, when their fall is to be attended, not merely 
 
( 9J >■ 
 
 with fuch a temporary fhame as may be conducive to their re- 
 jpeatance, bat with a ihame that is lafting and indelible. 
 
 Thy firft born Son, adornM and bleft 
 
 With power and grace above the reft. Ixxx. n. 
 
 Chriil i?, indeed, the Son of God, not through the power 
 
 or grace committed to him as Mediator, but by an eternal and 
 
 incomorehenfible generation : But this is not the Sonfhip which 
 
 the Pialmiffc here ipeaks of : The name here given him is the 
 
 Jon of man not the Son of God. 
 
 " Yet, Oh! that all my fainrs 
 
 u Would hearken to my voice." Ixxxi. c. 
 
 The Lord often ufes this form of expreffion with refpecl to 
 the vifible church, which is here called Ifrael or his people, as 
 in Deateron. v. 29. xxxii. 29. Luke xix, 42. It is not recol- 
 lected that the fame form of exprefMon is any where in fcrip- 
 ture ufed, with relpect to fuch as are already real faints, 
 
 Wiii his rich gi r ts the heavenly dove 
 
 Defcends and fills the place, 
 While Chrift reveals his wondrous love, 
 
 And fheds abroad his grace. lxxxiv. com. met. 3. 
 
 Here diftinct offices are afligned to the Son and the Holy 
 Spirit ; the latter descending and filling the houle, while the 
 former reveals and fheds abroad his grace. This way of dif- 
 tinguifhing the offices of thefe two perfons of the Godhead has 
 no warrant from this Pfalvn or any other place of lcripture. 
 The Son's revealing his grace is none of the things by which 
 he is diitinguifhed from the Holy Spirit : nay, it is by the Ho- 
 ly Spirit that the Son reveals his love and grace to us. It is 
 of importance to take notice of this, becaule there are fo ma- 
 ivy enthufiajh in our day who fpeak of a Chrift within them, in 
 inch a manner, as utterly to confound the purchaie of redemp- 
 tion by the Son, with the Holy Spirit's application of it. 
 
 O happy fouls, that pray 
 
 Where God appoints to heat, lxxxiv. fhort met. 5. 
 
 An unguarded expre(T:on which has nothing ro countenance 
 it in the Words of the P&totft. God has appointed us to pray 
 every where (this is the language of the New Tcftamenr) 
 without wrath or doubling. 
 
( 9<5 ) 
 
 Thus to the Son he fware and faid, 
 With thee my covenant firj} is made. 
 
 Ixxxix. id. part, long metre. 2; 
 
 The word firft feems to imply, that the covenant of grace 
 is to be made with orliers in the fame or like fenfe in which it 
 was made with Chriit. Bur, agreeably to this Pfalrr. and other 
 places of fcripture, it is to be maintained, that what was a 
 covenant of works to Chrifl:, is a covenant of grace and abso- 
 lutely free promife to us. No believer is a party, contracting 
 or performing the proper condition therein. Chritt alone is fo* 
 lfai. xlii. 1, 6. liii. 10, 11, 12. lxiii. 3. 
 
 Remember, Lord, our mortal ftate, 
 How frail our life, how fliort our date ! 
 
 Ixxxix. 6th. part. 
 
 The lafl: part of this Pfalm is a lamentation of the low ftate 
 of the church, of the various tokens of the Lord's difpleafure, 
 the breaking down of the outward fences, the reproaches of 
 enemies, &c. But the imitator turns it into a fort of medita- 
 tion on man's mortality, running away with fome of the words 
 of the 47 and 48 verfes, regardlefs of the fcope or connexion 
 of them. 
 
 Believe, and take the promis'd refti 
 
 Obey, and be for ever bleil. 
 
 xcv. long metre, 7. 
 
 Here, obey and be bleft, or, in other words, do and live, 
 is reorefented as parallel to believe and be faved : If this re- 
 prefentation be juft, then there is no efTentiai difference be- 
 tween law and goi'pel, between falvation by works and falva- 
 tion by faith: or faith is but another name for obedience or 
 good works. 
 
 Mercy and truth on all are met. lxxxv. 2d. part 2 
 
 He comes to make his blefiings flow 
 
 Far as th: cur/a is found. xcviii. 2d. part 3; 
 
 Thefe expreffions feem very extravagant : as there is no- 
 thing in the original Pialms to countenance them ; fo they can- 
 not well be juftiried but upon the blafphemous principle of uni ■• 
 verfal falvation. 
 
( 97 ) 
 
 Remember what thy mercy did 
 For Jacob's race, thy chofen feed; 
 And with the fame falvation blel's 
 The meanell fuppliant of thy grace. 
 
 cvi. ift. part. 3. 
 
 This is far lefs in the language of the New TeSlament than 
 the original: for t lie imitator confines the love here fpoken of 
 to the outward distinction of Ifrael from other nations, and the 
 falvation here mentioned to a temporal falvation. The words 
 of the PfalmiStj Remember me with that love, &c. may well be 
 under flood of God's eternal electing love, and his Spiritual fal- 
 vation. 
 
 I ehoofe the path of heavenly truth, 
 
 And glory in my choice. cxix. 3d. part ?, 
 
 If choice here Signifies any acl: or habit of the mind, (and 
 what elfe can it fignify here ?) this glorying is equally far from 
 the meaning of the 30 and 14 verfes of this Pfalm, and from a 
 gofpel Spirit. The apoftle fpeaks a very different language, 
 Gal. vi. 14. Philip, iii. 8,9. 
 
 What wonders hath his wifdom done ! 
 
 Hoiv mighty is his hand! 
 Heaven, earth and fea he fram'd alone 
 
 How wide is his command! 
 
 cxxxvi. common metre, 2. 
 
 Why has the imitator altered that fweet word fo often re- 
 peated in this Plalm, His mercy endureth for ever ; and often 
 put laboured expreffions of a different import in place of it? 
 Is tiiis, too, unfuitabie to the gofpel dispensation il i 
 
 Thou art ray portion when I die, 
 
 Be thou my refuge here. cxiii. 4. 
 
 The Ffalmift declares, that God was his portion in the land of 
 the living : that is, here as well as hereafter; while he lived, 
 as well as when he died. Carnal men perfuade themfelves that 
 they would have God for their portion when they die : but in 
 the mean time, prefer the vanities of the world and the plea* 
 lures of Sin. 
 
( 98 ) 
 
 Seel. IV. Examples of the ftrain of difcourfe ufed 
 in the Pfalms being altered by the Imitator. 
 
 Erery attentive reader muft have obferved,that iathe Pfalms 
 of David, there are various kinds of difcourfe, fuch as, afler- 
 t ion or doctrine, exhortation, prayer, narrative, promifes, 
 threatenings. It cannot be difputed by any who believe that 
 all fcripture is gh,en by iiifyiration of Cod, that which foever of 
 thefe kinds of difcourfe is ufed in any place of fcripture, it is ti- 
 led to anfwer fome important and necefiary enc\ : and no other 
 kind of difcourfe would be fo proper in the fame place or con- 
 nexion. He cannot therefore, be acquitted from the charge of 
 prefumption, who, in any place of fcripture, fubftitutes another 
 kind of difcourfe, inftead of that which is aclually ufed, as if he 
 had found out one better adapted to the true fcope and defign 
 of that place. Altering the ftrain of difcourfe is one way 
 which the imitator has taken to disfigure the Pfalms. In read- 
 ing the xxxvii. i, 3, 4, j. the idea naturally occurs of an af- 
 fectionate tutor exhorting and encouraging a beloved pupil 
 in circumftances of great diftrefs and danger. Every expreffi- 
 on is dictated by the moft tender regard and fympathy. This 
 beauty is quite loft, by the imitator's rejection of the hortatory 
 form of difcourfe. 
 
 The Genus dicendi, or mode of Speaking is 
 
 In the original, 
 
 Pfalm iv. 4, 5. An exhorta- 
 tion. 
 xxv. 22 A prayer, 
 xxviii. 7. An account 
 of the PfalmilVs paft 
 experiences. 
 
 0. A prayer. 
 
 xliv. 4, 5. A profeffi- 
 on of faith and refolv- 
 ed obedience, — -with a 
 prayer. 
 
 In the imitation. 
 
 A profeflion that has too 
 much the air of boaiiing. 
 An aifertion. 
 
 A prediction, or foretelling 
 what was to be his attainment. 
 
 A conditional vow or refo> 
 lution. 
 
 A narrative. 
 
( 99 ) 
 
 In the Original. 
 
 Pfalm xlix. I. An addrefs to 
 the inhabitants of the 
 world. 
 lii. B . A profeflion of 
 the particular applica- 
 tion of faith. 
 
 lv. 22. An exhortation. 
 
 lx. 4. An acknowledge- 
 ment of the Lord's 
 mercy. 
 
 lxii. 5. A moft beauti- 
 ful afojlrophc, or ad- 
 drefs to his foul. 
 
 Ixxxix. 6. The words 
 of the church. 
 
 cxliii. 11, 12. A prayer. 
 
 In the Imitation. 
 
 An addrefs to the fons of 
 
 pride. 
 
 A general propofition. 
 
 A profefiion or declaration 
 cf his prefent exercife. 
 
 A prayer. 
 
 An affertion. 
 
 The words cf the Father to 
 the Son. 
 
 An inference from the tenth 
 verfe. 
 
 It may be obferved here, that the Pfalms, in their original 
 form, fet before us the affections, deliverance?, and exercilesof 
 the faints, as real examples lor our encouragement in faith and 
 prayer, and for our imitation. Now, when the Doctor chan- 
 ges the Pl'aimift's representation of his own particular cafe into 
 a ceneral maxim, or into a reprefentation of what is common 
 toVil the godly, we are deprived of the advantages now men- 
 tioned. In the imitation of the eighteenth Pfalm we have a 
 fictitious deliverance from temptation, which is not David's, and 
 'which the Imitator does not give as his, inilead of the real one. 
 
 Seel, V. Example?, of the Arrangement or Method 
 of the Pfalms being altered by the Imitator. 
 
 That it was the defign of the Holy Spirit, that we mould at- 
 tend to the method he has been pleafed to make ufe of in the 
 fcriptures, is evident, from the neceility of obferving the ar- 
 rangement and connexion of any difcourfe, in order tothe right 
 understanding of it; from the connecting particles wirh which 
 the fcriptures abound ; from the light we obtain as to the meun- 
 
( loo ) 
 
 ing of a text, by a careful attention to the context; and from the 
 dangerous errors into which many fall, by taking up with detach- 
 ed expreflions, withour conlidering their connexion with what 
 goes before and what follows. All the fcriptures having been 
 dictated by the Holy Spirit, there is, in every part of them, an 
 arrangement of matter, that is the fitted to anfwer his delign : 
 And therefore, the fuppofition that a different arrangement of 
 the matter of the Pfalms, is Receifary in order to render them 
 more proper to be read or lung in puhlick worfhip, implies, either 
 that the Pfalms were notdeligned to be ufed in publick woilhip, or 
 that the Holy Spirit is not the author of them. It is ab!u 'd, to re- 
 prefent the occalional ufe of various texts in prayer and preaching 
 as any way parallel to the Imitator's arrangement of the matter of 
 the I'ialrcp. The former is not fubftituted, as the latter, inilead of 
 the arrangement given by divine infpiration. When we ufe a 
 variety of texts in prayer and preaching, we only mean to ex- 
 prefs the fenfe we have of the fuitablenefs of fuch texts to our 
 own prefent view, and civcumftances. But the Imitator gives 
 the publick his arrangement of the matter of the Pfalms as 
 more fuitable than that of the original, to the ltate of the 
 church under the New Teftament difpeufation, to the end of 
 the world ; for he mentions no other limitation of their fupe- 
 rior fuitablenefs. And we are told in the preface to Mr. Bar- 
 low's edition, that "were it not" [had it not been"] "for his 
 [_Dr. Watts' s] appropriaiion of fome pfalms, and his omiflion 
 of a few Others, his veriion would, doubtlefs, have been ufed 
 for many ages, without any amendment : " Now, that ap- 
 propriation having been corrected, and that omiflion iupplied by 
 the labours of Mr. Barlow, it follows undoubtedly, according 
 to this prefacer, that the Doctor's verlion, in its prefent ftate, 
 fhould be ufed for many ages without any further amendment. 
 But this utterly deitroys the parallel between Dr. Watts's ar- 
 rangement of iheverfes of the Pfalms, and the occalional appli- 
 cation which is made of the various texts of (capture in prayer 
 or preaching: For, in order to make them parallel, neither his 
 arrangement, nor any other ought to be of ltanding ufe. We 
 ought to have new poetical imitations every week, every day. 
 The brain^ of our Dwights and of our Barlows ought to teem 
 for ever with fuch productions. The truth is, we have no war- 
 rant, either to call the mere repetition of fcripiure, prayer, or 
 preaching ; or to efteem any alterations of the fcripture Pial- 
 
( 101 ) 
 
 mody, or any humanly devifed arrangements of it more proper 
 for our pub-lick tinging, than the arrangements dictated by the 
 Holy Spirit. And the pretended worship of God by fuch a 
 preference, having no warrant in tbe precept?, promi:e~, or 
 example of fcriptures, is but will-wcrfhip. 
 
 N. B. The verfes mentioned in the following examples 
 are all quoted according to our Bible translation of the Pfalms. 
 
 In the xxi. Pfalm, David, having declared the Lord's peculiar 
 kindnels to his own people in verfes 19, 20, and to himfelf hi 
 the 21, is naturally led, in the 22, to relate a pafiage of his own 
 experience. The imitator, dilfathfied with this order, has 
 thought proper to connect the lad mentioned verfe with the 
 prayer, in the 15 and 16 verier. 
 
 In . the xxxvii Pfalm we have in the 2d part of the imita- 
 tion, the 16, 2r, 26, 2f, 30, 31 verfes, and in the :d parr, 
 the 23, 24, 23, 29, 34, 35, 3^ 
 
 In the 1. Pfalm, the 15 and 23 verfes are joined together. 
 
 In Pfalm lxviii. tbe 1 — 6, 32 — 35 verfes are put Together 
 in one hymn, and the 1 7 and 18th are wrought up hito anothei ; 
 and the 19, 9, 20, 21, 22 verfes con. pole a third * 
 
 * To one who has given this Pfalm a flight perufal the fentences ap- 
 pear abrupt and unconnected. But if we attend to the occafion, whicu 
 was the removing of the ark to Zion, and confidcr David's frame at that 
 time, (fee the hiiiory, % Sam. vi- 12 23.) this apparent want of con- 
 ns .ion will appear very natural. When one is greatly elevated, anil 
 tranfported with joy, on fome great occafion, lively failics, and rapid tran- 
 fitionsof thought are natural. The mind feizes eagerly the delightful ob- 
 jects that in quick fucccfiion prefert themfolves : and if, at the fame time, 
 we give our thoughts vent in languxge, we exprei's them abrupt 1 ;/, and do 
 not wait to mark the minute and a.lmoft imperceptible circumllaJTces or 
 caufes that fugged them. Befidts, there is a real connexion among tne 
 parts of this Pfalm : there is a method purfued, exatliy adapted to the mat- 
 ter, and the fcope of it, though it may not be fo obvious as in fome other 
 Pialms. . y ee Pool, and other judicious commentators. 
 
 We fhould be cautious of attempting to accommodate the works or word 
 of God, to our notions of regular arrangement : kit we only expoie our 
 own ignorance and want of talle; like thofe gardeners, who, as a fine 
 writer obferves, " fpoil the natural beauty of their trees and ft. rubs, while 
 they attempt to improve it by cutting them in the fhape of pyramids, bn*-, 
 or beafts." But it is not only foolifh, but impious to attempt to anatftd ;'. ; 
 wrd of GocL 
 
 K * 
 
( S°0 ) 
 
 In Pfalm Ixxi. ver. 16 is joined to the three laft verfes ; and 
 the intermediate ones come afterward into a feparate hymn. 
 
 In Pfalm Ixxxvii. any thing in the imitation, that is like the 
 laft verfe comes before the matter of the 5 and 6. 
 
 Pfalm cxix. much tranfpofed. 
 
 Pfalm cxxxv. is imitated in the following order : ver. 1 — 4, 
 14, 19, 5—12. 
 
 The verfes omitted occafion a continual variation from the 
 order and connexion of the original ; often a different begin- 
 ning, as in the xxxi. and a different ending, as in the li. 
 
 Seel. VI. Verfes of the Pfalms omitted by the 
 Imitaror. 
 
 If we confuler the work of Dr. Watts as a verfion, or tranf- 
 lation, as fome have affected to call it, the defigned omiffion of 
 Jo manv verfes, renders it good for nothing. If we confider it 
 as a collection of as much of the book of Pfalms, as the Doctor 
 thought fit for Chriftian worfhip, a reproach is call upon the re- 
 mainder, as unfit for it; although the wifdom of God appointed 
 
 the whole of the Pfalms to be lung in his worlhip what the 
 
 Doctor has left out, as well as what he has retained. 
 
 A Lift of verfes omitted in Dr. Watts's imitation 
 of the Pfalms of David, corrected and enlarged 
 by Joel Barlow. 
 
 Pfalm. 
 
 Verfe. 
 
 Pfalm. 
 
 Verfe. 
 
 
 v. 
 
 1, 2. 
 
 xxxviii. 
 
 2. 
 
 
 vii 
 
 7- 
 
 xl. 
 
 12, 13, I4> 
 
 15, 16, 
 
 X. 
 
 32,33, 3i, 39> 4o. 
 
 
 17- 
 
 
 Xvii. 
 
 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, ?, 
 
 xli. 
 
 4—13 
 
 
 
 0, 10, n, 12. 
 
 xlvii. 
 
 2, 3, 4- 
 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 11, 12. 
 
 xlix. 
 
 'A 3, 4, 5, 
 
 16 17, 
 
 xxxii. 
 
 8,9, 10, 11. 
 
 
 18. 
 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 1 — 11, 16,— 28. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 12, 11, 12. 
 
 Ji. 
 
 6, i3, 19. 
 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 17, l*> 19, 20. 
 
 
 
 
( 103 ) 
 
 Pfalm. Verfe. Pfalm. Verfe. 
 
 lv. 9, 10, II, 12, 13, cv. 16—26. 
 
 14.* cvi. 6, 9, 10,15—42. 
 
 lvii. 4, 6. cviii. 7— *3« 
 
 lviii. 3. cix. 5 — 3i. 
 
 lx. 6. 7, 3, 9. cxvi. 9, 10. n. 
 
 Ixi. 6, 7, 8. cxvrl. I'h *£ 
 
 Ixii. 3, 4, 5, 6/7. cxix. 4> &, 7, 8,12, t 7, 
 
 lxni. ji. 2£, 23, 31, 43> 45, 
 
 lxviii. 7,8,10—16,23,24, 47, 48, 5 ? > rttbs, 
 
 25, 27, 23. 66, 77, 83, 84, 4'5, 
 
 Ixix. 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 86,87,88,95,101, 
 
 28. i°2, 106, 108, 109, 
 
 lxxi. t, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, ir7, 124, 126,131, 
 
 12, 1?. 134, i36> 137, i3 3 > 
 
 Jxxiv. 5, 23. 139? M*> 142, 144, 
 
 lxxviii. 40 — 72. 145, M^> T 49> JI > J > 
 
 lxxix. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12. 152, I5 5> J 5 7, l6 7, 
 
 lxxx. 18. • 168, 169, 172, 173- 
 
 Ixxxi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. cxxix. 8. 
 lxxxvi. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, cxxxvii. 8, 9. 
 
 15, 1 6, 17. cxxxviii. 4, 5. 
 
 lxxxviii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. cxxxix. 19, 20. 
 
 xcii. 8. cxl. 6 — 11. 
 
 xciv. 3,4,5,6,15. cxli. 1, 1, 8, 9, 10. 
 
 xcvi. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. cxliv. 7,8,9,10,11, 
 
 cii. 22. d. 3, 4, 5. 
 
 The above is not given as a complete lift of paffages omit- 
 ted. Befides whole verfes, a long lift might have been made 
 of parts of verfes omitted : Haw inexcufable is the Imitator 
 
 in leaving out fuch expredions as thefe, Who hath nut lifted up 
 his Joulio vanity ; Cod fctteth the folitary in families 
 
 ? 
 
 Sect, VII. Metaphors and (milks of the Pfalms left 
 out by the Imitator. 
 
 The omilTion of thefe metaphors, whether plain language or 
 other metaphors be fubftituted in the room of them, implies a 
 
 * It isaftonifhinghow the imitator could ovetlook a piuTage fo peculi- 
 arly beautiful and affecting as this defcriptios of David's buffering, from 
 one who had been hi* intimate friend. 
 
( I0 4 ) 
 
 dishonourably reflexion upon the author of the Pfalms: For if 
 plain language would anfvver ihe author's purpole as well, rne- 
 nphors are unnece^ary and improper: And if other meta- 
 phors be preferable, the author has made a wrong choice. The 
 imitator^ otniHinn, therefore, of fo many metaphors of the Pfalms 
 cannot well be reconciled to that profound reverence and fu- 
 perlative efteem which is due to all the words of God. The 
 Lord's peopje find the fcripture metaphors and families to be in- 
 comparably fitter for fetting forth fpiritual things, incomparably 
 more favoury and pregnant with inftrucTlon, than any other. 
 
 A lift of Metaphors and Similes in the Pfalms left 
 out in the Imitation. 
 
 VCtlm in. 9, I 2. Like a patter's vetted. Kifs the Son. 
 
 Thou, O Lord, art a ihieli for me. Thou haft 
 fmitten the check bone, &c. d 
 
 v. 9. Their throat is an open fepnichre. 
 vii. 1 J. lie made a pit, and digged it. 
 x. 9. He lieth in wait fecretly as a lion in his den. 
 xiii. 3. Enlighten mine eyes, 
 xiv. 4. Who eat up my people as bread. 
 xxi. 12. Thou (halt make ready thine arrows upon thy 
 
 firing?, 
 xxii. 14. 1 am poured out like water. 
 xxvii. 9. Lead me in a plain path, 
 xxxvit. 20 The enemies of the Lord fhall be as the fat 
 
 of lambs. 
 xxxviii. 5. My wounds ftink and are corrupt becaufe of 
 my foolifhnefs. 
 13. I, as a deaf man, heard not, &c. 
 y'.i. 3. Thou wilt turn all his bed in his ficknefs. 
 xlii. 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noife of thy wa- 
 ter-fpotts. 
 10. As with a fword in my bones, — mine enemies 
 reproach me. 
 xliv. 3. Thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of 
 thy countenance. 
 19. Thou haft covered us with the fiutdow of 
 death. 
 
( Jo; ) 
 
 Pfal. xlv. §. All thy garments fmell of myrrh, aloes, and 
 caflia, &c. 
 xlv. i 4. The virgins, her companions that follow her 
 
 fhall be brought unto thee. 
 xlix. When the iniquity of my heels (hall ccmpafs 
 
 me. 
 li. 7. Purge me with hyflbp. 
 
 lii. 2. Thy tongue devifeth mifchief, like a fharp 
 
 razor. 
 lv\ 21. His words were fofter than oil, yet were they 
 
 drawn fwords. 
 Ivii. 4. My foul is among lions. 
 Iviii. 10. He fhall wafli his feet in the blood of the 
 
 wicked, 
 lx. 3. Thou haft made us drink the wine of afton- 
 
 ifhment. 
 lxiii. 5. My foui fhall be fatisfied as with marrow and 
 
 fatnefs. 
 lxvi. 11, 1 2. Thou broughteft us into a net : thou laidefl 
 
 afflicYion upon our loins. 
 Ixxii, 3. The mountains fhall bring forth peace to the 
 people, and the little hills by righteoufnefs. 
 9. His enemies fhall lick the duft. 
 14. Precious {hall their blood be in his fight. 
 16. There fnail be an handful of corn in the earth 
 upon the top of the mountains ; the fruit there- 
 of fhall fliake i'ke Lebanon. 
 Ixxiv. 14. Thou gaveft him (the Leviathan) to be meat 
 
 to the people inhabiting the wildernefs. 
 lxxv. ;. I bear up the pillars of the land. 
 
 8. In the hand of the Lord is a cup; and the 
 wine is red : it is full of mixture, and he. pout- 
 eth out the fame ; but the dregs thereof all the 
 wicked cf the earth fiall wring out and 
 drink. 
 lxxiii. 4. There are no bands in their death. 
 6. Pride compaffeth them as a chain. 
 ic Waters of a full cup are wrung out to them, 
 ] 7. I went into the fancluary. 
 21. I was pricked i.i my reins. 
 Ixxvii. 2. My fore ran in the ufeht. 
 
 1. 2 
 
( '06 ) 
 
 Pfal. Ixxx. Stir up thy flrength. 
 
 14. Look down from heaven, and behold, and vi- 
 fit this vine. 
 lxxxi. 10. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 
 
 16. He would have fed them with the fined of 
 the wheat, 
 lxxxii. 5. All the foundations of the earth are out of 
 
 courfe. 
 lxxxii. 13. Make them (the combined enemies of Ifra- 
 
 el) like a wheel. 
 Ixxxiv. 6. Pafling through the valley of Bacca, make it 
 
 a well : the rain alfo filleth the pools. 
 xcii. 10. My horn lhalt thou exalt, like the horn of the 
 Unieorn. 
 12. The righteous fiiall flourifh like the palm- 
 tree, 
 xcvlii. $. Let the floods clap hands, 
 ciii. 5. Thy youth is renewed like the eagles, 
 rxii. 9. His horn fhall be exalted with honour. 
 cxiii. 7. He lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, 
 cxxvii. 4. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, fo 
 
 are children of the youth, 
 cxxviii. 3. Thy children, like olive plants, round about 
 
 thy table. 
 cxxix. 3. The plowers plowed upon my back ; they 
 
 made long their furrows, 
 cxxxi. 1. Mine eyes are not lofty, 
 cxxxii. 17. There will I make the horn of David to bud; 
 
 I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed, 
 cxlviii. 1 4. He exalteth the horn of his people. 
 
 8c<ft. VIII. Remarks on Dr. Watts's Imitation 
 with refpect to Compofition. 
 
 Though an author's manner of compofition is hardly of fuffi- 
 cient importance to have any place in a difccurfe concerning 
 what relates to the purity of God*s worfhip; yet, as it is fome- 
 times fuggefted, that the ule of Dr. Watts's imitation would 
 render our ptiblick (urging, more agreeable to perfons of what 
 ir. called a refined rafte ; anil as, in proportion to the progrefs of 
 karftiBg among us, the publick will h-aye a greater relilhfor cor- 
 
 sfe 
 
( 107 ) 
 
 reclnefs in compofition, it may not be atniPs to offer fome re- 
 marks on the Doctor's performance in this view. 
 
 His inaccuracy in reprefentingthe fenfe of the Pfalms is ma- 
 nifeft : and we need not be furprized to find a performance, 
 the whole of which is one continued debafement of a noble, of 
 a divine original, abound with inaccuracies, even when confi- 
 dered by itfelf, or without regard to that original. The fol- 
 lowing is a lift of fome of the grofTeft errors in compofuion ; 
 under each of which are given examples out of this imitation, 
 as corrected and enlarged by Mr Barlow. 
 
 I. Ungrammatical or bald expressions, that is, fuch 
 as are contrary to the rules of grammar, to the idiom ©f our 
 language, and to the acceptation of words among good writers. 
 
 1. Inftances of an improper ufe, or application of words. 
 
 Pfal. Ixiiu 2d. part com. metre, 3. " While I purfue my God. ,r 
 
 It is proper to fpeak of following the Lord, but not ofpurfw 
 big him, as one does an enemy, whom he has defeated. 
 
 Pfal. Ixvi. ift. part 6. " Ye faints fulfil his praife. " 
 iii. com. met. 7. Arife, O Lord fulfil thy grace. 
 ix. 1 ft. part S Whole works his grace Julfil. 
 
 We commonly fpeak of fulfilling a prom ife or prophecy ; but to 
 fulfil praife or grace, is a phrafeology peculiar to the Imitator. 
 
 Pfal. cxix 5th. parr, 6. And there I write thy praife. 
 
 xl. long metre. 7. And all creation tune thy praife. 
 
 We write a book, or tune a mufical inftrumcnt, but to write 
 or tune praife, is not Englifn. 
 
 2. Inftances of impropriety in conftruclion. The following 
 infinitives do not eafily unite with the verbs going before. 
 
 Pfal, xix. lit. part 4. We are not left to nature's voice 
 To bid us know the Lord. 
 Ixxiii.fhort m. 6. But I, with flawing tears, 
 Indulged my doubts to rife, 
 
 3. Inftance ofabfurd collocation. 
 
 Pfal. xci 1 ft. part; i. He that hath made his refuge God. 
 
( io8 ) 
 
 This is juft as if, inftead of faying, A certain method of teach- 
 ing made the boys good fcholars, a perfon Ihould fay, It made 
 good fcholars boys. 
 
 4. Inftances of an improper ufe of Ellipfis. It is true 
 "words may fometimes be left out, agreeably enough to the Idi- 
 om of our language: but fuch broken incompleat expreflions as 
 the following are quite unjullifiable. 
 
 rfal. lxxxix. 2d part. 4. Thou mak'ftthe fleeping billows roll> 
 The rolling billows fleep. 
 
 Taking thefe words as they ftand according to the idiom of 
 our language, we conclude that the author means, that when 
 the fleeping billows roll, then the rolling billows fleep : As this 
 is nonfenfe, we at laft find out that the author meant an ellip- 
 fis. But our language will not bear it. 
 
 Pfal. Ixxxiv. 5th p. 4. Once have I fworn, (J need no more.) 
 civ. 14. He gives them wfdom where to dwell, 
 
 iv. long metre 5. But, Lord, thy light and love we//vy. 
 
 Inftead of we pray for thy light, &c. 
 
 5. Inftances of improper circumlocution. 
 
 Pfal. Ixv. long metre, 2d p. 5. He fettles in * peaceful form. 
 
 The author means in peace. 
 
 vi. long metre 5. My thought! are tempted. 
 
 xxx vi. com. metre 1. Their thoughts believe. 
 
 Inftead of I am t:mpted, they believe. 
 
 6. Inftances of tautology, or ungrammatical fuperfluity of 
 words. 
 
 Pfal. cxxxix. lft p. 1. m. 4. Amazing knowledge vafl and great* 
 com. m. 4. Within thy circling arms 1 lie. 
 Endofid oh every fide. 
 xxvi. com. m* 7. When mortal comforts die. 
 
 lxxi. 2 J. p. 6. His death has brought my foes to fhame. 
 
 And fav'd me by his blood. 
 
 His blood here can fi-gnify nothing but his death j fo that the 
 Imitator fays, His death faved me by his death. 
 
( *°9 ) 
 
 II. The abuse cf figures and metaphors. As tVie 
 proper ufe of thefe constitutes one of the greattft beauties of 
 compofuion; fo the introduction of them without judgment or 
 tafte, is one of the greateft blemiflies. Good writers are fpar- 
 ing in the ufe of them : the worft are full of them : who, as 
 Mr. Pope fays, 
 
 Wich gold and jewels cover every part, 
 And hide with ornaments their want cf art. 
 
 1. The following inftancesof Perfonification areinfufferable; 
 The firft is a perfoniflcation of praife, 
 
 Pfal. Ixxxv. 3. We wait for praife to tuxe our voice. 
 
 Another, of the thoughts : 
 
 cxix. part 6th. 3. My thoughts in holy wonder rife. 
 
 And bring their thanks to thee. 
 
 Another, of the hours : 
 
 cxxi. long met. 3. He fpreads the evening veil, and keeps 
 The filent hours, whiie Ifrael ileeps, 
 
 Here the hours are brought in as mutes : and the Supreme 
 Being is reprefented as keeping them, while Ifrael, whole du- 
 ty it is to keep them, is afieep. What {hail we think of a 
 compofuion in which divine fubjeets are treated in fo ridiculous 
 a manner ? 
 
 2. There are frequent inilances of metaphors incongmoufly 
 heaped upon one another. 
 
 Pfal. xl. ift. part, 2. And from my bands releasM my feet* 
 
 Deep bonds of miry clay. 
 
 It is very proper to compare an afflicted condition to the 
 fituation of one entangled in miry chy, but when the Doctor 
 makes bonds or ropes cf this clay, calling them deep ropes, our 
 ideas are quite confounded. 
 
 Pfal. lx. 2. Thy frowning mantle fpreads the iky. 
 
 The imitator might be allowed to reprefent a large cloud a? 
 a mantle : but when this mantle frowns, it becomes a perfon : 
 and then we hardly know what it is, whether a cloud, a man- 
 tle, or a perfon. 
 
( no ) 
 
 Pfal. cxxv. 3. What though the Father's rod 
 
 Drop a cbaftening ftroke ? 
 
 It is proper to reprefent an affliction as the ftroke of a rod : 
 but to talk of flrokes dropping from a rod, is ridiculous. 
 
 3. Inftances in which the figure and plain expreflion are 
 jumbled into one confufed mafs. 
 
 Pfal, xlviii. 2d. part, $. Rites adored with gold. 
 
 li. long met. 2d. part, 6. No Jewifii types could cleanje me fo. 
 viii. coalmen metre, 7. Thefe letter glories of the Son 
 
 Slione through the flejh/y cloud. 
 xix. 2. The dawning and the dying light, 
 
 xxxv i. long metre, 2. Wife are the "wonders of thy hand, 
 cxxxix. 2d. p. longm. 4. Thefinifli'd7fc<f#/^rj of the mind, 
 
 4. Ihftances of metaphor carried to a ridiculous extreme. 
 
 Pfal. xliv. 10. Down to the duft our foul is bowed, 
 And dies upon the ground, 
 cxxxiii. as the 12 2d pfal. 2. The oil through all the room 
 Diffu-'d a choice perfume, 
 Ran through his robes and kiefs' d 
 hisfcet. 
 
 III. Want of connexion between the parts of fentences. 
 
 Pfal. lxv. 2d p. com. m. 3. IVhen clouds diftil in fruitful mowers, 
 The Author is divine. 
 
 As if he were not always divine. 
 
 cxxv. 5. But if we trace thofe wicked ways, 
 
 That the old ferpent drew, 
 The wrath that drove him firft to hell 
 Shall fmite his followers too. 
 
 Surely that wrath will fmite the followers of the old ferpent* 
 whether we trace thofe wicked ways, or not. 
 
 IV. Anticlimax, in which the 2d line finks below the firft. 
 
 Pfal. xix. ifc part. 3. They fhew the wonders of his hand, 
 And ordtrs of his throne, 
 xxii. iftp. com. m. 8. They.nail my hands, they pierce my 
 feet, 
 And try to vex my heart. 
 
( '" ) 
 
 Pfal. cxxxvii. 2. Let dire deftrucYion feize this guilty frame, 
 My hand mall perilb, and my voice iiia.ll ceafe. 
 
 V. Low expression, puerile conceits, and a man- 
 ner bordering on the Burlesqjje. 
 
 r. Inftances ofexpreflion too low for the fubjecr.. 
 
 Pfal. xvi. ift p. com. m. $. He gives me fvveet advice by day, 
 
 And gentle hints by night 
 xlv. ift p. 1. m. 3. Drefs thee in arms, moll mighty Lord, 
 lxv. 3d p. 1. Viiits the paftures every fpring. 
 
 cxxxiii. com. m. I. Lo, what an entertaining fight 
 Thefe friendly brethren prove. 
 
 2. Inftances of puerile conceits. 
 
 Pfal. xxii. 1. m. 5. They wound his he*d, his hands, his feet. 
 Till ftreams ot blood each other meet. 
 xv v. fhort m. 2. When will thy /W/r/aiiift my feet. 
 cxix. part ill. 2. With their whole heart ihey leek the 
 
 Lord, 
 And ferve him with their hands. 
 cvii. 4th part, 3. When land \sfar and death is nigh. 
 5th part, 6. Sailors rejoice to fofe their fears. 
 
 3. Sometimes the doctor feems to imitate Kudibras, rather 
 than David. 
 
 Pfal. xxii. 1. m. 4. O favage people ! cruel priefls ! 
 
 How they Hood round like raging beafts. 
 Ixviii. ill p. 3. He rides and thunders through the Iky. 
 Ixxiv. 5. How are the (eats of worfhip broke? 
 
 They tear the buildings down. 
 lxxxix. 1. p. 2. Are not thy fervants cay by day, 
 
 Sent to their graves and turn'd to clay ? 
 Lord, where's thy kindnefs to the juft I 
 
 VI. Inanity, that is, when pafuges either convey no 
 meaning, or, at ieait, no fort of inftruclion. 
 
 Pfal. xxix. 3. The fearful hart and frighted hind 
 Leap at the terror of the found. 
 
 Surely, it does not require a very terrible found to make the 
 hart and hind leap, efpecially when the one is fearful and the 
 other frighted. 
 
( II* ) 
 
 Pfal. civ. 8. From pleafant trees which fhade the brink, 
 The lark and linnet light to drink. 
 
 What a phenomenon is here ! The wonder lies, not in their 
 drinking, but in their lighting to drink. 
 
 Pfal. lxxxviii. 3. A<=, loft in lonely grief, I tread 
 
 The mournful man (ions of the dead, 
 Or to fotne throng' d affembly go, 
 While here forgot and there unknown, 
 The charge renews my piercing woe. 
 
 This reprefentation of a perfon as alone in the midft of a 
 throng' d affembly, and the change, fimply confidered, from *.he 
 manfions of the dead to the fociety of the living, ferving to re- 
 new his piercing woe, is too hard to be undeiitood. 
 
 VII. Pure rant and extravagance. 
 
 Pfal. lv. com. m. 3. I groan with every breath ! 
 
 cxxvi. 4. Make drops of facred forrow rife 
 
 To rivers of delight. 
 cxxxix. 1 IV p. com. metre, 8. I fly beyond the weft, 
 cxlvii. longm. I. Let heaven begin the folemn word, 
 And found it dreadful down to hell. 
 
 A larger collection of examples might eafily be made from 
 the Imitation, but what we have given is fufficient for our pur- 
 pofe. If the preference given to Dr. Watts's Imitation had 
 been only a fa(hionable folly in matters of literatuie; if it had 
 been only an attempt to pervert the public taile, by bringing a 
 wretched compofuion into credit ; though, even in that cafe, I 
 am far from thinking repreheniion unneccllaty, I would, how- 
 ever, have left the bufiueis to others of fuperior learning and 
 experience in fuch matters, and have fpared the reader and my- 
 felf the trouble of fo tedious an examination. But ir is the 
 common duty of Chriftians to bear tefli.nony againft the indig- 
 nity done to the word of God, and againft the corruption of his 
 worfliip. 
 
 FINIS.