ft 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/poeanccOOcond 
 
l_^t 
 
 1 
 
 
 K OCT 15 1931 * 
 
 THE POET 
 
 -•. 
 
 &tai stw^x 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 A CENTENARY COMMEMORATION OF THE LABOURS AND SERVICES 
 LITERARY AND DEVOTIONAL, 
 
 OF TIIE 
 
 REV. ISAAC WATTS, D.D. 
 
 PRECEDED BY REMARKS ON THE ORIGIN OF PSALMODY AND 
 CHRISTIAN HYMNOLOGY IN EARLIER TIMES. 
 
 BY 
 
 • 
 
 JOSIAH CONDER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE CHOIR AND THE ORATORY," 4c. 4c. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1851. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 This Tribute to the Memory of Dr. Isaac 
 Watts, the " Poet of the Sanctuary/' was pre- 
 pared at the request of the Committee of the 
 Congregational Union of England and Wales, 
 conveyed to the Author by their beloved and 
 much-lamented Secretary, the late Rev. Alger- 
 non Wells, in the following terms : — 
 
 u We want an able and interesting memorial 
 on Watts read in the Southampton Assembly : 
 — some historic reference to his times ; some 
 grateful and affectionate references to his cha- 
 racter and services : some tribute to his memory 
 as the sweet singer of our sanctuaries, and to 
 the happy effects, theological and spiritual, of 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 his sacred poetry on our churches for now a 
 century and a quarter; some contrast of our 
 times with his, and some tracing of the astonish- 
 ing progress of events and prospects relative to 
 Christ's blessed kingdom since Dr. Watts fell 
 asleep a century ago ; and such other points as 
 the taste of my friend Mr. Conder will not fail 
 both to suggest and adorn." 
 
 The comprehensive outline thus skilfully 
 traced by Mr. Wells's hand, the Writer has 
 aimed to fill up to the best of his ability. His 
 main difficulty has been, to do justice to his 
 theme within the compass of a public lecture. 
 Some portions of the paper it was found neces- 
 sary to omit in reading ; and a few notes have 
 since been added. It otherwise appears as de- 
 livered at Southampton, Dr. Watts's birthplace, 
 to a numerous assembly of townsmen, by whom 
 his memory is still cherished with affectionate 
 veneration. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. V 
 
 It is now given to the Public, in compliance 
 with the following Resolution, passed by the 
 Assembly of the Congregational Union, Oct. 
 16, 1850, the Eev. Thomas Binney, of London, 
 Chairman. 
 
 u Resolved unanimously, — 
 
 u That this Assembly, having been led by the 
 circumstance of holding its present session in 
 Southampton, to advert to its having been the 
 birth-place of the venerated Isaac Watts, D.D., 
 whose Psalms and Hymns have for more than 
 a century conduced so extensively to the edifi- 
 cation of the churches, to the evangelical spirit 
 of our public worship, and to the solace and 
 comfort of believers ; feels called upon devoutly 
 to recognise the occasion for thanksgiving to the 
 Divine Head of the Church, which is thus pre- 
 sented to them, in the consecrated gifts and 
 labours of that eminent Servant of Christ, and 
 
VI ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 in the blessed results which have accrued from 
 the reformation that he was the instrument of 
 effecting in Congregational Psalmody. 
 
 " And this Assembly further desires to present 
 its grateful acknowledgments to Josiah Conder, 
 Esq., for his interesting and able paper on Dr. 
 Watts, now read to this meeting, and respect- 
 fully entreats Mr. Conder to allow the Essay to 
 be given to the Public." 
 
SYLLABUS. 
 
 Influence of Sacred Song. Psalmody the offspring and 
 handmaid of the Reformation. Origin of Psalmody in France. 
 Marot, Beza, and Calvin. Practice of singing hymns among 
 the Albigenses and the Bohemian Brethren. Introduction of 
 Psalmody into England. Thomas Sternhold and his Successors. 
 No popular hymns furnished by the Sacred Poets of the seven- 
 teenth century. Burns's description of Scotch Psalmody. 
 Richard Baxter, — his love of Psalmody. Specimen of his 
 Sacred Poetry. Philip Henry, — his practice of singing at family 
 worship. Mason's " Songs of Praise. 1 ' Hynmology of the 
 Ancient Church: — Hilary; Ambrose. The Gregorian Chant. 
 Origin of Popular Hynmology in Germany. Change effected by 
 Luther. Dr. Watts the Inventor of Hymns in our Language. 
 Manner of conducting Psalmody in his time. His Apology for 
 his Hymn- Bo ok. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Biographical Notice of Dr. Watts. His Birth and Early 
 Life. Watts the link between the ejected Confessors and the 
 Dissenters of the eighteenth century. Origin of his writing 
 Hymns. His Lyric Poems. Distinctive character and merit 
 of the Hymns in his First Book. His Second Book of Hymns. 
 His Third Book. His greater work, the evangelization of the 
 
Vlll SYLLABUS. 
 
 Psalter. Unreasonable prejudices against his undertaking. 
 Opposite errors of overlaying Christian devotion with Judaism, 
 and of losing the Jewish element of worship in mere senti- 
 ment. Spirit of the Psalms. Importance of preserving the 
 distinction between Psalms and Hymns. Merits of Dr. Watts's 
 Version compared with those of his predecessors : — Denham, 
 Sandys, Milbourne, Woodford, Patrick. Watts's apology for 
 the accommodation of the Psalms to Christian times. Influence 
 of his Psalms and Hymns upon the tone of piety in Dissenting 
 churches. Alexander Knox's remarks upon their providential 
 design. Hymns a more effectual preservative of evangelical 
 piety than a liturgy. The Moravian Hymn-Book. The Wes- 
 leyan Hymn-Book. Theological objections to Watts's Hymns 
 refuted. Their non-sectarian character. Dr. Watts still pre- 
 eminently the Poet of the Sanctuary. 
 
 hi. 
 
 Dr. Watts's other literary productions. "Divine Songs for 
 Children." Works on Education. Origin of Charity Schools in 
 England traced to Protestant Dissenters. State of the Dissenting 
 Interest at the Accession of George II. Secessions from Dissent. 
 Dr. Watts's " Humble Attempt towards the Revival," &c, — the 
 occasion of White's " Letters to a Dissenting Gentleman," and 
 Towgood's Reply. Dr. Watts not a mere Nonconformist: " Essay 
 on Civil Power in Things Sacred." Dr. Watts as a Pulpit 
 Orator. His published Sermons. Dr. Watts as a Theologian. 
 His views of the Doctrine of the Trinity. Refutation of the 
 charge of his having lapsed into Arianism. His own solemn 
 Confession. His last works. His death. Death of Doddridge. 
 Comparative view of Protestant Dissent in 1750 and in 1850. 
 Rise and Progress of Methodism. Formation of Missionary 
 and Bible Societies. Expansion and Resources of the British 
 Empire. The present Era. 
 
THE POET OF THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 It was once remarked by a great Scottish 
 patriot, that the ballads of a nation have more 
 influence than its laws. This may be the 
 case in those earlier stages of civilization, when 
 the traditions of the past operate more power- 
 fully upon the national mind, than either the 
 interests of the present or the prospects of the 
 future; before chivalry has been superseded by 
 municipal law, and feudalism been made to 
 yield to the advance of commercial wealth and 
 civil freedom. In this country, it has long 
 ceased to be true. Few modern ballads or 
 songs have attained a popularity that would 
 entitle them to be styled national ; and the 
 
 B 
 
2 THE POET OF 
 
 most popular can scarcely be regarded as ex- 
 erting on the public mind any important influ- 
 ence. Yet, there is a description of poetry in 
 which more than the power of the ancient bal- 
 lad survives, in shaping the ideas, in refining 
 and elevating the sentiments, in enlivening the 
 social hours, and in cheering the solitary sor- 
 rows of the people ; and, in reference to this 
 class of productions, we feel disposed to parody 
 the remark of Fletcher of Saltoun, and say, — 
 Let who will make the national creeds, if we 
 may but be allowed to make the sacred songs 
 of the people. 
 
 Psalmody — at least Congregational Psalmody 
 — was the offspring and the handmaid of the 
 Reformation. The Latin hymns of the Roman 
 Church were sung or chanted in the cathedrals 
 and chapels by monastic choirs ; but, being in 
 a tongue unknown to the people, they could 
 neither impart religious instruction nor excite 
 devotional feeling. The carols and chant-songs 
 in the vernacular dialects were rarely of an 
 edifying character. In fact, the voice of the 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 3 
 
 people was not heard in the churches of the 
 Latin world. The invention of modern Metrical 
 Psalmody is ascribed, by the learned Bayle, to 
 Clement Marot, the favoured bard of Francis I. ; 
 whose learned friend, Vatable, the Hebrew Pro- 
 fessor, " probably to reclaim him from profane 
 rhymes," suggested the project of translating 
 the Psalms into French verse; and no doubt 
 he assisted the bard, for they are said to be 
 u traduitz en rithme Francais selon la verite 
 Hebraique" Marot published fifty-two Psalms, 
 in a variety of measures. This u holy song- 
 book" was esteemed a gay novelty; and no 
 book was ever more eagerly received by all 
 classes than Marot's Psalms. " In the fervour 
 of that day, they sold faster than the printers 
 could take them off their presses ; but, as they 
 were understood to be songs, and yet were not 
 accompanied with music, every one set them to 
 favourite tunes, commonly those of favourite 
 ballads. Each of the Eoyal Family, and every 
 nobleman, chose a psalm or song which ex- 
 pressed his own personal feelings, adapted to 
 
4 THE POET OF 
 
 his own tune We may conceive the 
 
 ardour with which this novelty was received; 
 for Francis sent to Charles V. Marot's Col- 
 lection, who, both by promises and by pre- 
 sents, encouraged the French bard to proceed 
 with his Version, and entreated Marot to send 
 him, as soon as possible, c Confitemini Domino 
 quoniam bonus] because it was his favourite 
 psalm. And the Spanish, as well as French 
 composers, hastened to set the Psalms of Marot 
 to music. The fashion lasted : for Henry II. 
 set one to an air of his own composing ; Cathe- 
 rine de' Medici had her psalm; and it seems 
 that every one at court adopted some particu- 
 lar psalm for themselves, which they often 
 played on lutes and guitars. Singing psalms 
 in verse was then one of the chief ingredients 
 in the happiness of social life. The universal 
 reception of Marot's Psalms induced Theodore 
 Beza to complete the Collection ; and ten thou- 
 sand copies were immediately dispersed. But 
 these had the advantage of being set to music ; 
 for, we are told, they were admirably fitted to 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 5 
 
 the violin and other musical instruments."* 
 At length, however, the jealousy and alarm of 
 the Roman Catholic priesthood were awakened 
 by the incorporation of psalm-singing with 
 the worship of the Reformed Church. Marot's 
 Psalms were condemned by the Sorbonne ; and 
 the Cardinal de Lorraine succeeded in persuad- 
 ing the French Court to give up at once psalm- 
 singing and reading the Bible, as dangerous 
 and heretical practices. Marot, on the con- 
 demnation of his performance by the Sorbonne, 
 fled to Turin, where he closed in poverty a life 
 of singular vicissitude, in 1544. f 
 
 * Disraeli's "Curiosities of Literature," vol. iv., p. 320. To 
 the " ascetic Calvin " is ascribed the merit of engaging the finest 
 composers to form simple and beautiful airs, and to assist the 
 psalm-singers. Ordinarily, however, the tunes were printed at 
 the end of the Psalter, or of the Bible, without any figured 
 harmony. 
 
 f Marot appears to have embraced the Reformed doctrine 
 early in life, on which he repaired to Geneva; but he subse- 
 quently returned to Lyons, abjured " Calvinism," and served 
 under Francis I. in the Italian campaign of 1535. It was some 
 years later that, at the suggestion of Vatable, and possibly under 
 the influence of compunction, he undertook his Metrical Version 
 of the Psalms. Marot and Beza's Psalms were imitated in Low 
 
m 
 
 b THE POET OF 
 
 This account, however, of the origin of Me- 
 trical Psalmody in France, and of the passion 
 for it which for a time prevailed among all 
 classes, curious and interesting as an historical 
 fact, is not to be received as a correct represen- 
 tation of the first introduction of Psalmody or 
 choral singing into the public worship of the 
 Reformed Churches. Long before this, the Albi- 
 genses, during the hottest season of persecution, 
 are stated to have solaced themselves, in the very 
 prospect of death, with singing the psalms and 
 hymns of their Church. Psalmody was che- 
 rished by the disciples of Wickliffe in our own 
 country. The Bohemian brethren published a 
 hymn-book with musical notes ; from which it 
 
 Dutch metre by Peter Bathen, pastor of the first Reformed 
 Church at Frankfort on Maine, about 1560, — adapted to the 
 French tunes. A new Dutch metrical translation of the 
 " Psalms and the Songs of the Bible " was undertaken by- 
 Philip de Marnix, Lord of St. Aldegonda. A Bohemian ver- 
 sion, by Stryc, said to be of high merit, was published in 
 1590; and, somewhat earlier (about 1565), a Polish version, 
 by Bernard Woiewodka, of Cracow, was printed at Brescz, in 
 Lithuania, at the press from which was issued the Bible of the 
 Pinckzovian Protestants, under the auspices of Prince Radzivil. 
 (Milner's " Life of Watts," p. 350.) 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 7 
 
 appears, that the melodies they used originated 
 in the chants to which the ancient Latin hymns 
 of the Western Church were sung. In the 
 Church of the United Brethren, the practice of 
 singing hymns has ever been held in peculiar 
 estimation ; and it forms a principal part of their 
 daily worship, as well as of their festal and 
 other religious services.* In fact, the revival 
 of congregational singing has always been a 
 marked feature of periods of evangelical light 
 and reformation; and, as the purification of the 
 Jewish Temple, in the reign of Hezekiah, was 
 celebrated with choral songs and harpings, so, 
 in the visions of the Apocalypse, the company 
 of the Lamb on Mount Zion, representing the 
 true Church of Christ, were heard uniting in a 
 new song of triumph, "as the voice of many 
 waters, and the voice of a great thunder, the 
 voice of harpers singing to their harps." t Such 
 
 * Latrobe's " Music of the Church, 11 p. 63. One of the more 
 ancient melodies, sung in times of persecution, is preserved in the 
 Moravian Tune-Book, No. 520; it appears also, under the name 
 of " Mount Tabor," in Seeley's " Devotional Harmony." 
 
 f 2 Chron. xxix. 28; Rev. xiv. 2, 3 ; xv. 2—4. 
 
8 THE POET OF 
 
 an occasion of rejoicing and thanksgiving as the 
 emblematic prediction indicates, was presented 
 by the Eeformation ; while the figurative descrip- 
 tion seems to have been literally realized, in the 
 jubilant outburst of popular feeling which at- 
 tended the great revival of Christianity in the 
 sixteenth century. The people, long excluded 
 from taking part in the services of public wor- 
 ship in their own language, now flocked to the 
 churches, and took especial delight in the sing- 
 ing of psalms. The hymns of the Church were 
 to be heard also in their houses, in their family 
 meetings, — were sung over the tombs of their 
 fathers, and over the cradles of their children. 
 In the reign of Henry VIII., "some poets, 
 such as the times afforded, translated David's 
 Psalms into verse ; and it was a sign by which 
 men's affections to the work of Eeformation were 
 everywhere measured, whether they used to sing 
 these or not." Bishop Jewel, writing to Peter 
 Martyr in 1560, gives the following account of 
 what was then to be witnessed : — " Eeligion is 
 now somewhat more established than it was. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 9 
 
 The people are everywhere exceedingly inclined 
 to the better part. The practice of joining in 
 church music has very much conduced to this. 
 [Magnum ad earn rem momentum attulit ecclesias- 
 tica et popidaris musical] For, as soon as they 
 had commenced singing in public, in one little 
 church in London, immediately not only the 
 churches in the neighbourhood, but even the 
 towns far distant [longe disjunctce civitates] began 
 to vie with each other in the practice. You may 
 now sometimes see at Paul's Cross, after the ser- 
 vice [Jinitd condone], six thousand persons, old 
 and young, of both sexes, all singing together, 
 and praising God. This sadly annoys the mass- 
 priests [sacrijicos] and the devil. For they per- 
 ceive that by this means the sacred discourses 
 sink more deeply into the minds of men, and 
 that their kingdom is weakened and shaken at 
 almost every note [ad singulos pene numeros con- 
 velli et concuti regnum suum.] "* 
 
 * "Zurich Letters," published by the Parker Society, 1042, 
 Letter xxx., p. 71. See also Burnet's " History of the Reforma- 
 tion," Part hi., p. 290. 
 
10 THE POET OF 
 
 Roger Ascham, writing from Augsburg a few 
 years earlier (1551), describes similar scenes in 
 that city: — "Three or four thousand singing 
 together at a time, in a church in this city, is 
 but a trifle."* The practice appears, in fact, to 
 have been introduced into this country from Ger- 
 many and Geneva; for, in the earliest extant 
 Version of the Psalms in English metre, by 
 Sternhold and others, 1562, " the apt notes to 
 sing them withall" are chiefly German melo- 
 dies, many of which are still in use in the Lu- 
 theran and Reformed Churches. In 1570, these 
 melodies were harmonized for four voices, by 
 William Damon. In 1621 appeared Ravens- 
 croft's Collection, the harmonies in which were 
 contributed by twenty-one English musicians, 
 among whom was John Milton, father of the 
 Author of " Paradise Lost," and the composer 
 of the noble church-tune called " York." This 
 Collection seems to have been long regarded as 
 the standard of English Psalmody, f 
 
 * Burney's "Hist, of Music." 
 
 t It is a remarkable fact, that, contemporaneously with the 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 11 
 
 It is remarkable, that Thomas Sternhold, like 
 Marot, lived to complete only fifty-one of the 
 Psalms, which were printed, with a dedication 
 to the King, in 1549, under the following title : 
 "All such Psalms of David as Thomas Stern- 
 holde, late Groome of the King's Majestye's 
 Robes, did in his Lyfetime drawe into Englyshe 
 
 rise of Metrical Psalmody in this country, our ecclesiastical music 
 assumed a new and distinctive character. At a grand commemo- 
 rative performance of ancient cathedral music, at the Chapel Royal, 
 Windsor, Nov. 8, 1850, among other anthems, was sung a "Gloria 
 in Excelsis," by Marbeck, organist of St. George's Chapel, and 
 " the first composer of the Cathedral Service, having published his 
 1 Book of Common Prayer, noted,' in 1550. He narrowly escaped 
 martyrdom, having been convicted on a charge of favouring the 
 Reformation, together with Anthony Person, Robert Trestwood, 
 and Henry Filmer. The latter were burnt below the north ter- 
 race of Windsor Castle ; but Marbeck obtained, through the 
 Bishop of Winchester, the King's pardon. After this, Marbeck 
 wrote several works against Popery." {Times, Nov. 9.) A 
 reference to other anthems performed on this occasion, will show 
 that our national cathedral music dates from the Reformation : — 
 "Litany and Responses," Tallis, 1570; "Lord, for Thy ten- 
 der mercies' sake," Farrant, 1580; Chant, Morley, 1600; "Te 
 Deum," " Benedictus," and Anthem, Gibbons, 1620; Anthems, 
 Dr. Child, 1660; Chant, Humphreys, 1666; Anthem, "O 
 give thanks," Purcell, 1685. To these succeed, in order of 
 date, the compositions of Goldwin, Dr. Croft, Dr. Green, and 
 Dr. Boyce. 
 
12 THE POET OF 
 
 Metre."* Fifty more were versified by Hop- 
 kins, his clerical successor. "Whittingham, the 
 friend of Calvin, successor to Knox at Geneva, 
 and afterwards Dean of Durham, versified five 
 other Psalms, the Decalogue, and the Creed, and 
 furnished the hymns which follow the Singing 
 Psalms in the Old Version. Norton, the trans- 
 lator of Calvin's Institutes, furnished twenty- 
 seven more. Wisdome, Archdeacon of Ely, 
 translated the xxv th Psalm. The eight others, 
 which completed the series, were contributed 
 by authors now unknown. The whole series 
 was published in 1562, and was attached to 
 the Book of Common Prayer. Archdeacon 
 Wisdome furnished a popular hymn, translated 
 from Luther, which is inserted at the end of 
 the Metrical Psalms, commencing thus : — 
 
 " Preserve us, Lord, by Thy dear Word ! 
 From Pope and Turk defend us, Lord ! 
 Which both would thrust out of Thy throne 
 Our Lord Christ Jesus, Thy dear Son."" 
 
 * Sternhold died in 1549. Wood, in his Ailiena Oxoniensis, 
 gives the following account of the circumstances which led to 
 his undertaking his Version. " Being a most zealous reformer, 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 13 
 
 Thomas Warton petulantly stigmatizes the 
 Metrical Psalms of Sternhold and his suc- 
 cessors as "a Puritanic Version;' 7 and asserts, 
 that, notwithstanding that it is stated in the 
 title-page, that they are " set forth and allowed 
 to be sung in all churches," they were never 
 admitted by lawful authority. They were first 
 introduced, he says, by the Puritans, from the 
 Calvinists of Geneva, and afterwards continued 
 by connivance.* Certain it is, that as, on the 
 Continent, psalm-singing came, after a while, to 
 be regarded as an open declaration of Luther- 
 ism and Calvinism, so, in England, the prac- 
 tice so generally popular in the early days of 
 the Reformation, was abandoned to the Puri- 
 
 and a very strict liver, he became so scandalized at the amorous 
 and obscene songs used in the court (of Edward VI.), that he, 
 forsooth, turned into English metre fifty-one of David's Psalms, 
 and caused musical notes to be set to them, thinking thereby that 
 the courtiers would sing them instead of their sonnets; but they 
 did not, some few excepted. However, the poetry and music 
 being admirable, and the best that was made and composed in 
 these times, they were thought fit to be sung in all parochial 
 churches." (Wood's Athen. Oxon. (1691), vol. i., p. 62.) 
 * Disraeli's " Curiosities of Literature, 1 ' vol. iv., p. 220. 
 
14 THE POET OF 
 
 tans and Presbyterians, and became, after the 
 Restoration, almost a peculiarity of Noncon- 
 formity and Methodism. Although the use of 
 the Metrical Psalter has been retained in the 
 Established Church, hymns and sacred songs 
 were, till within a recent date, jealously ex- 
 cluded. In fact, prior to the time of the Sa- 
 cred Poet of Southampton, English Hymnology 
 can scarcely be said to have come into exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Our Sacred Poetry, in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, presents, it is true, a rich treasury of 
 noble verse.* It will be sufficient to men- 
 
 * Many of our earlier writers have left specimens of Metrical 
 Versions of the Psalms. The most remarkable in every respect 
 is that executed by Sir Philip Sidney and his accomplished sister, 
 the Countess of Pembroke, the versification of which is singularly 
 elaborate and harmonious for the period; and there occur passages 
 of great beauty. (See Holland's " Psalmists of Britain," 2 vols., 
 Lond. 1843; Milner's " Life and Times of Watts," pp. 353—366.) 
 Among others who claim mention are, the unfortunate and accom- 
 plished Earl of Surrey (beheaded in 1547), a specimen of whose 
 productions will be found in Montgomery's " Christian Poet," 
 p. 54 ; — Archbishop Parker, of whose " Psalter translated into 
 English Metre, 4to., 1567," specimens are given in the " Christian 
 Poet," p. 83, and in Milner's "Life of Watts," pp. 353, 355; 
 — William Hunnis (or Hunis), gentleman of the Chapel under 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 15 
 
 tion the justly honoured names of William 
 Habingdon, Francis and John Quarles, Sir 
 Henry Wo tton, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, 
 Jeremy Taylor, Richard Baxter, John Norris, 
 and Thomas Ken, some of whose devotional 
 poems are of the highest order of merit, yet 
 furnish scarcely any specimens of hymns suited 
 
 Edward VI. and Elizabeth, author of " Certayne Psalms drawne 
 forth into English Metre, 1550;" — the unknown author of 
 "A Handfull of Honeysuckles, 1585;" (see "Christian Poet," 
 p. 75;) — John Hall (or Ilawle), a surgeon at Maidstone in Kent, 
 author of " Metrical Versions of Certain Psalmes and Chapters of 
 the Proverbs," &c, about 1550; ("Christian Poet," p. 53;) — a 
 Royal author, King James I., whose Version is described by 
 Grainger as " remarkable for its flat simplicity and unmeaning 
 expletives, 1 ' yet which, in parts, is not inferior to that of Rouse; 
 — Lord Bacon; — Francis Davison, 1635; (see specimens in Hol- 
 land's "Psalmists," and "Christian Poet," p. 218;) — George 
 Wither, Davison's contemporary; Bishop Hall; and Sir Henry 
 Wotton, who died Provost of Eton in 1639. Metrical Versions 
 of portions of the Scriptures of much earlier date are extant; some 
 of Anglo-Norman times. A metrical Acts of the Apostles was in 
 use in King Edward VI.'s Chapel. In Benet College Library, 
 Cambridge, is a Metrical History of the events recorded in Gene- 
 sis and Exodus; also, a copy of the Psalms in English metre, 
 attributed to about the year 1300; and two similar works 
 have been preserved in the Bodleian and Cottonian Collections. 
 (Vaughan's Tracts, &c. of Wickliffe, p. lix.; Milner's " Life of 
 Watts," pp. 350, 351.) 
 
16 THE POET OF 
 
 for congregational worship. * And it seems 
 strange, that our great Poet himself, who claims 
 to stand apart from all inferior names, while 
 trying his hand at " doing into verse" (to use 
 his own expression) portions of the Psalms 
 with very indifferent success, should not have 
 attempted to give to devotion the wings of 
 verse. His exquisite Hymn on the Nativity 
 is more properly an ode, and cannot be regarded 
 as furnishing an exception. No English Luther 
 had risen to breathe the living spirit of evan- 
 gelical devotion into heart-stirring verse, adapted 
 to the minds and feelings of the people. Are 
 we to suppose that the want was not felt, — that 
 the popular taste for sacred soiig had yet to be 
 created in this country ? Or was there anything 
 in the aristocratic genius of the Presbyterian 
 polity, that forbade or repressed the free expres- 
 sion of devotion in the songs of the Sanctuary ? 
 
 * The Morning and Evening Hymns of Bishop Ken, Dryden's 
 Version of the " Veni Creator Spiritus," and the two or three 
 hymns ascribed to Addison, are the only ones transmitted to us 
 from the seventeenth century that are in general use. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 17 
 
 It is, at all events, a curious fact, that, while, 
 in Germany, the example set by Luther was 
 speedily followed by the best poets in the land, 
 and its sacred songs came to surpass in quantity 
 and in excellence every other species of poetry 
 in the language, in France, up to very recent 
 times, the churches were still confined to a 
 bad translation of the Psalter, the few hymns 
 composed by divines rather than poets, being 
 characterized by a sorry mediocrity. * In Scot- 
 land, also, Psalmody retains its original rude 
 and rigid character ; yet, like the drone of the 
 national instrument, the meagre, rugged, anti- 
 quated version of Eouse is music to a Scottish 
 ear; especially when associated with some of 
 the fine old melodies which, according to the 
 time in which they are sung or played, serve 
 
 * Scarcely any " cantiques" are extant, prior to those of Benedict 
 Pictet, which first appeared in 1704, and whose example found 
 but few imitators. To Cesar Malan is due the praise of haying, 
 by an advantageous combination of verse and original melodies, 
 powerfully contributed to popularize religious song in the Be- 
 formed communions of Switzerland and France. The " Chants 
 Chretiens" published at Paris in 1834, is a great step in advance 
 in French Hyranology. 
 
18 THE POET OF 
 
 for themes either grave or gay, for dirge or 
 dance, for psalm or ballad. To these. Burns 
 alludes in his exquisite poem, " The Cotter's 
 Saturday Night:" — 
 
 " They chant their artless notes in simple guise; 
 
 They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim : 
 Perhaps Dundee's wild warbling measures rise, 
 
 Or plaintive Martyr's, worthy of the name ; 
 Or noble Elgin beets the heav'n-ward flame, 
 
 The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays. 
 Compared with these, Italian trills are tame; 
 
 The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise; 
 Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise." 
 
 Before we take leave of the Poets of the 
 seventeenth century, we must be allowed to 
 dwell for a short time on the memory of one 
 in whose name Nonconformists may justly glory ; 
 whose praise is in all the churches ; whose prose 
 writings, like those of his great contemporary, 
 Jeremy Taylor, are full of poetry, as his poe- 
 try is full of pathos, — although he never at- 
 tained to skill in versification, and his " poeti- 
 cal fragments" were, as he says, written for 
 himself, and communicated to such as are more 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 19 
 
 for serious verse than for smooth ; who, in his 
 love of music, also, though unaccompanied with 
 musical skill, as well as in other features of his 
 character, bore a resemblance to the great Saxon 
 Reformer. I need scarcely name Richard Baxter, 
 who thus speaks of his own fondness for sacred 
 song : — " For myself, I confess, that harmony 
 and melody are the pleasure and elevation of 
 my soul. I have made a psalm of praise in the 
 holy assembly the chief delightful exercise of 
 my religion and my life, and have helped to 
 bear down all the objections which I have heard 
 against church music, and against the cxlix th 
 and cl th Psalms. It was not the least comfort 
 that I had in the converse of my late dear wife, 
 that our first in the morning and last in bed at 
 night was a psalm of praise, till the hearing of 
 others interrupted it. Let those that savour not 
 melody, leave others to their different appetites, 
 and be content to be so far strangers to their 
 delights." * Who is not reminded by this 
 language, of Paul and Silas, when, at midnight, 
 * Orme's " Life of Baxter," vol. ii., p. 428. 
 
] 
 
 20 THE POET OF 
 
 in the prison at Philippi, they prayed and sang 
 praises to God ? In a poem composed when he 
 was silenced and cast out of the Church, Baxter 
 thus solaces his wounded spirit. 
 
 " As for my friends, they are not lost : 
 
 The several vessels of Thy fleet, 
 Though parted now, by tempests tost, 
 
 Shall safely in the haven meet. 
 Still we are centred all in Thee; 
 
 Members, though distant, of One Head; 
 In the same family we be, 
 
 By the same faith and Spirit led. 
 
 " Before Thy throne we daily meet, 
 
 As joint petitioners to Thee; 
 In spirit we each other greet, 
 
 And shall again each other see. 
 The heavenly hosts, world without end, 
 
 Shall be my company above; 
 And Thou, my best and surest Friend ! 
 
 Who shall divide me from Thy love ? M * 
 
 Yet, neither in the poetical remains of 
 Baxter, nor in the works of any of his con- 
 
 * See Montgomery's "Christian Poet," p. 301. In the fol- 
 lowing poem, " Faith amid Trials," Baxter rises into a still 
 higher and more impassioned strain. See also Orme's " Baxter," 
 vol. ii. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 21 
 
 temporaries, do we find any hymns suited for 
 the service of the Church, or for popular use, 
 although we meet with almost every other 
 description of religious poem. Jerome tells us, 
 that, in his day, " you could not go into the 
 country, but you might hear the plowman at 
 his hallelujahs, the mower at his hymns, and the 
 vine-dresser singing David's Psalms.' 7 * But the 
 English Sacred Poetry of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury was not, and could never have become, the 
 poetry of the people; which may account for 
 its having fallen into neglect. Our forefathers 
 solaced themselves, indeed, with their rude 
 psalmody. It is recorded of Philip Henry, that, 
 in his family worship, he always sang a psalm, 
 with a good variety of proper and pleasant 
 tunes : and u he would say, that a Scripture 
 ground for singing psalms in families, might 
 be taken from Psalm cxviii. 15, — c The voice of 
 rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles 
 of the righteous; 1 and that it is a way to hold 
 forth godliness, like Rahab's scarlet thread, to 
 
 * Cited by Cattermole, " Sacred Poetry," Pre/. 
 
22 THE POET OP 
 
 such as pass by our windows."* It is the 
 more surprising that ; in his family worship, the 
 venerable Nonconformist should have confined 
 himself to the Metrical Psalter, when we advert 
 to the fact, that, in a volume of no ordinary 
 merit, he might have found u Songs of Praise" 
 more in harmony with Christian devotion. The 
 author of the sacred poems so entitled, was 
 John Mason, the grandfather of the author of 
 the Essay on Self-Knowledge. He died in 1694. 
 That the work was once extensively popular, 
 appears from the number of editions through 
 which it passed; and that it should now be 
 nearly forgotten, is, as Mr. Montgomery remarks, 
 " little creditable to the admirers of sacred litera- 
 ture in this country." He assigns to the Author 
 " a middle rank between Quarles and Watts, his 
 talents being equally poised between both."f 
 It is evident, however, that a prejudice of no 
 
 * " Life of Henry," by Sir J. B. Williams, p. 74. 
 
 + "Christian Poet," 18mo., p. 312. Pope, the Wesleys, and 
 Dr. Watts, Mr. Montgomery remarks, appear to have been 
 familiar with the contents of this volume, and to have borrowed 
 from it. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 23 
 
 ordinary strength tied down our forefathers to 
 the exclusive use of the Psalms, as well in their 
 private as in their public worship. Yet they 
 could not be ignorant, that very different was 
 the practice of the primitive Christians, whom 
 Pliny the younger, in his Letter to Trajan, 
 reports to have been in the practice of meeting- 
 together, before daylight, and singing or chant- 
 ing a hymn to Christ as to a God.* That un- 
 inspired compositions were at an early period 
 introduced into the Hymnology of the Church, 
 is proved by the testimony of Eusebius.f Ter- 
 tullian, describing in his Apology the mode of 
 administering the Eucharist, says: "After water 
 is brought for the hands, and lights, we are 
 invited to sing to God, according as each one 
 
 * The phrase used by Pliny, carmen dicere secum invicem, 
 seems to refer to antiphonal or responsive chanting. Eusebius, 
 speaking of the psalms and odes of the primitive Christians, says : 
 Top Aoyov rov Qeov top Xpiurbv vfMvovai SreoXoyovvrsg. 
 And Justin Martyr says : Deum colimus per Cliristum. . . . Per 
 Eum et in eo, se cognosci vult Deus et coli." See Lardner's 
 Works, vol. vii., pp. 22, 40; Latrobe's " Music of the Church,"' 
 p. 239. 
 
 t Hist Eccles., lib. ii. 17; lib. v. 28; lib. vii. 24. 
 
24 THE POET OF 
 
 can propose a subject from the Holy Scriptures, 
 or of his own composing."* "Omitting," re* 
 marks the writer of an erudite paper on the 
 subject, " all mention of the Gnostic Psalms 
 of Bardesanes and his son Harmonius, in the 
 second century, which exercised such vast influ- 
 ence over so many provinces, and which were 
 not driven out of the Christian settlements but 
 through the melting and melancholy hymns of 
 Ephrem the Syrian, we find that, in the third 
 century, Paul of Samosata is expressly declared 
 to have estranged the hearts of abundance of 
 the faithful by his captivating hymns and 
 music. Valentinus appealed to the same pas- 
 sions with equal success. Hilary, of Poictiers, 
 however, especially distinguished himself at 
 this period (the fourth century), by his ortho- 
 dox metrical hymns, and doubtless set them 
 to popular tunes, f With the opening of the 
 
 * This seems to correspond to what was the practice in the 
 Corinthian Church, in apostolic days. 1 Cor. xiv. 26 : " Every- 
 one of you hath a psalm." 
 
 f The book of Hymns attributed to Hilary, was printed at 
 Paris, 4to., 1480. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 25 
 
 fourth century, we find the Donatists adapting 
 their hymns to common airs, which were dis- 
 tinguished for their wild and passionate charac- 
 ter, and l inflamed their enthusiasm,' says Au- 
 gustin, 'as with a trumpet's sound.'* Arius, 
 also, composed hymns to well-known melodies ; 
 and the streets of Constantinople re-echoed in 
 the stilly night to the sound of his heretical 
 and seductive strains.f Even down to the time 
 of Chrysostom, they had not been banished 
 from the Eastern capital; and that illustrious 
 prelate organized a band of orthodox choristers 
 to oppose the current of the Heresiarch's song. 
 But the oldest and greatest hymnologist of 
 the whole West, was undoubtedly Ambrose, the 
 firm-hearted and widely famed Archbishop of 
 Milan. He was in many respects the glory of 
 his century (the fourth), and has left to posterity 
 
 * " Donatistce nos reprehendunt quod sobrie psallimus in ecclesid 
 divina pro cantica prophetarum, cum ipsi ebrietates, suns ad canti- 
 cum psalmorum humano ingenio compositor um, quasi tubas exhorta- 
 tionis inflammanty (August. Confess.) 
 
 + " Besides his * Thalia,' he wrote ballads for sailors, millers, 
 travellers, and others." 
 
26 THE POET OF 
 
 many specimens of liis genius In the 
 
 antiphonal double-chorus first systematized at 
 Antioch by Flavianus and Diodorus, and first 
 introduced into the West by Ambrose himself, 
 sang the multiplied congregations of that early 
 period.* Its majesty and solemn march, its 
 simplicity and popular character, and its manly 
 and noble solidity, invest it with that over- 
 powering influence of which Ambrose speaks, 
 when he compares " the mingled chant of ma- 
 trons and of virgins and of infant voices, in 
 the responses of the Psalms, to the blending 
 sound of many waters!" f 
 
 To St. Ambrose, a considerable number of 
 hymns are attributed: twelve are more espe- 
 cially considered as having a strong claim to be 
 received as his. The a Te Deum," once ascribed 
 to him, is now supposed to have been the pro- 
 
 * According to Theodoret, Socrates ascribes the origin of the 
 Chant to Ignatius. See Burnet's " Hist, of Music," vol. ii., p. 10; 
 Hooker's " Eccles. Pol.," Book v., § 39 ; Latrobe's " Music of the 
 Church," pp. 239—247. 
 
 + Foreign and Colonial Quarterly, No. 1, Jan. 1843. Article, 
 " The Old Hymns and Lays." 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 27 
 
 duction of an unknown member of the Gallic 
 Church. St. Ambrose's Evening Hymn, be- 
 ginning u Dens Creator omnium" is well known. 
 The Morning Hymn, u Lucis Largitor splendide" 
 is ascribed to Hilary. St. Augustin thus describes 
 the effect produced on his mind by the psalmody 
 of the Church : — u The hymns and songs of the 
 Church moved my soul intensely; the truth w^as 
 distilled by them into my heart ; the flame of 
 piety was kindled, and my tears flowed for joy. 
 This practice of singing had been of no long 
 standing at Milan. It began about the year 
 when" Justina persecuted Ambrose. The pious 
 people watched in the church, prepared to die 
 with their pastor. There my mother sustained 
 an eminent part in watching and fasting. Then 
 hymns and psalms, after the manner of the East, 
 were sung, with a view of preserving the people 
 from weariness ; and thence, the custom has 
 spread through Christian churches."* 
 
 * August. Con/ess., lib. ix. See Burney's " Hist, of Music," vol. 
 ii., p. 6. In the fifth century, Prudentius of Saragossa added to 
 the Hymnology of Christendom some hymns still extant. 
 
28 THE POET OF 
 
 It must be borne in mind, that, from the time 
 of the Apostles down to Ambrose, the Latin of 
 the West was the vernacular language of the 
 West, so that the people could intelligently join 
 in the songs of the Church. But, as the Latin 
 language became dissolved into dialects, other 
 changes concurred in excluding the people from 
 taking part in the celebration of public worship. 
 By the Council of Laodicea, its performance was 
 first assigned to a distinct order, styled, kclvovl 
 Kol \pa\rai. Bingham asserts, that these separate 
 choristers were only a temporary provision in- 
 tended to restore the singing to some tolerable 
 degree of harmony, and that it continued to be 
 the usage of the Church for the whole assembly 
 to join ; but the artificial refinements introduced, 
 became at length so numerous and unsuitable, 
 that Gregory the Great prohibited altogether the 
 use of the Ambrosian music, and introduced a 
 new species of chanting, called, from its gravity, 
 Canto Fermo, in which the notes are all of the 
 same length as in our Psalmody. Having se- 
 lected the early ecclesiastical chants, he arranged 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 29 
 
 them in the order afterwards generally adopted 
 in the West. He is the reputed author of other 
 improvements in ecclesiastical music* On the 
 one hand, he is represented as having destroyed 
 the rhythmical character of the chant ; while, on 
 the other hand, it has been deemed questionable, 
 whether the Gregorian chant differed specifically 
 from the Ambrosian, of w r hich we have no cer- 
 tain vestiges.f 
 
 When, at length, the West became finally 
 and universally occupied by the cognate dialects 
 formed by the grafting of the Latin on the 
 Gothic element, the "sacred tongue," as the 
 clerks called the old Eoman speech, connected 
 as it was with a whole system of Roman max- 
 ims, superstitions, and usurpations, could not be 
 quietly given up, by an educated caste, in favour 
 of the barbarous patois; and the priest-led 
 masses, from the northern wilds to Milan, and 
 
 * Burney's " Hist.," vol. ii., pp. 13 — 16. Latrobe's " Music of 
 the Church," p. 41. Ecclesiastical writers assert, that Gregory the 
 Great was the first who separated the chanters from the regular 
 clergy. 
 
 f Busby's " Hist, of Music," vol. i., p. 257. 
 
30 THE POET OF 
 
 thence to the half-pagan Spaniard, the Teutonic, 
 Celtic, and Anglo-Norman tribes, found them- 
 selves listening to the " meaningless strophes 
 of an unknown tongue." The old melodies, in 
 which the people had been accustomed to join, 
 now rapidly disappeared from the public service ; 
 and nothing was heard but the melancholy and 
 never-ceasing drawl of the monkish chants. 
 The various carols and Easter songs were, how- 
 ever, necessarily translated into the vernacular 
 dialects, for the use of the youth in the schools ; 
 and these, with the pilgrimage songs, some of 
 them dating from the days of paganism, and 
 those introduced in the miracle plays and popu- 
 lar ecclesiastical mummeries, gradually indem- 
 nified the people for their exclusion from the 
 services of the Church. In Germany, hymns in 
 the modern language had become common to- 
 wards the era of the invention of Printing, and, 
 though not willingly adopted in the public ser- 
 vice, appear to have been occasionally used in 
 the cloister ; while actual burlesques of the very 
 hymns, chants, and lessons of the Church were 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 31 
 
 multiplied under the influence of that wide- 
 spread licentiousness which threatened with de- 
 struction all the institutions of society. Num- 
 bers of the Church Hymns were set to profane 
 tunes ; and thus it has happened, that, from the 
 veiy earliest times. Church music has been influ- 
 enced by the popular song, and this again by the 
 hymns of the Church. That the old carol me- 
 lodies, originally sung at the yule round-dances 
 of our heathen ancestors,* crept not only into 
 the religious festivities, but even into the autho- 
 rized Church services, is testified by the choral 
 manuscripts and chant-books both of Britain 
 and of the Continent. Sandys observes : " Some 
 of the old psalm-tunes which were preserved at 
 the time of the Reformation, have considerable 
 similarity in style to the old carol tunes ; as, for 
 instance, the Bristol, Salisbury, and Kenchester 
 tunes among Playford's Psalms, and others at- 
 
 * See, on this very curious subject, the Article on the Old 
 Hymns, in the Foreign and Colonial Quarterly. Mankell gives 
 the notes of an old German carol, which dates so far back as the 
 eighth century; and an ancient German Evening Hymn of about 
 the same date is given by the Reviewer. 
 
32 THE POET OF 
 
 tached to the early editions of the English 
 Liturgy."* Hymns and Songs, Songs and 
 Hymns, Choruses and Allelujahs, Kyrie Eleisons 
 and Burthens, have thus been, to a great extent, 
 interchanged. In Germany, the chant-hymn 
 was always a favourite ; and an old German 
 Easter chant, u Christ ist erstanden" is extant, 
 which was popularly sung as early as the year 
 1100, and is doubtless much more ancient. A 
 hymn written about the year 1200, " weh y der 
 schmerzen" is remarkable for its elegant sweet- 
 ness and pathos. A country which, in its own 
 beloved dialects, could produce such compositions, 
 was not likely, it has been remarked, to remain 
 long content with being excluded from under- 
 standing the songs used in the worship of God. 
 
 At length, the Reformation came, and, with it, 
 the emancipation of the Churches from monkish 
 trammels. " Among other great steps taken by 
 Luther, in support of the revival of true religion, 
 he listened to the wishes of the congregations, to 
 recover that share in their own church-songs, of 
 
 * See the Foreign and Colonial Quarterly. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 33 
 
 which their Latin guides had deprived them.* 
 Accordingly, he collected all the old hymns he 
 could find, selected the most beautiful, altered 
 whatever tended to superstition or error, and 
 used them in the public and private worship of 
 God. He himself also added to the stock. Gifted 
 with high feelings, profound learning and piety, 
 natural taste, and an enthusiastic and poetic 
 imagination, Luther composed very many pieces 
 hitherto unsurpassed as religious lyrics. With 
 the airs, he proceeded in the same manner. Old 
 melodies, sacred and profane, he incessantly 
 collected from every quarter, from pilgrimage 
 songs and from minnesinger chants, from clois- 
 ters and from markets, from wandering minstrels 
 and from begging friars ; arranged their sweet 
 notes to his precious words, and thus restored the 
 most beautiful to the public worship. His own 
 
 * From the year 1524, Luther began to publish hymns in the 
 German language; and the sixty- three hymns of the Reformer of 
 Wittenberg gave birth to a prodigious number of other religious 
 songs, especially in the German language. About the same time- 
 apparently, if not earlier, Zamosky, a Bohemian, produced his 
 Pjsne Duchowni, or Spiritual Songs. 
 
34 THE POET OF 
 
 zeal fired his disciples also ; and a sacred band 
 of men skilled in music assembled at his house, 
 and devoted themselves to the rescue, study, and 
 publication of what stores they could bring to- 
 gether. Thus, by this instrument in God's 
 hand, was the noble work nobly, though not 
 faultlessly accomplished. Among its other vari- 
 ous fruits was a remarkable flood of German 
 psalm-books and hymnologies in various forms. 
 And if their number was great, their influence 
 was still greater. They entered largely into the 
 religious services of every Protestant nation of 
 Europe ; and even to other quarters of the Globe 
 has their wave-like flow penetrated."* 
 
 * Foreign and Colonial Quarterly Review. Dr. Wackenagel 
 has arranged his Collection of Church Lays under seven divi- 
 sions : — I. Latin Hymns, from Ambrosius to the last strains of 
 Latin Psalmody by Huss, Melanchthon, and Camerarius, — 1 to 65. 
 II. German Hymns and Leich Songs, from a.d. 750 to the time of 
 Luther, — 65 to 183. III. Luther's Psalms and Hymns, — 184 to 
 222. IV. Church Songs of Germany, from Luther to Herman and 
 Blauer, including the Hymns of the United Brethren and Re- 
 formed Church, — 223 to 630. V. Hymns by unknown authors of 
 the first part of the sixteenth century, — 631 to 692. VI. Spiritual 
 Songs in imitation of Profane Songs, — 693 to 719. VII. Addenda, 
 —720 to 850. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 35 
 
 But, to return to our own country. Here, as 
 we have seen. Dr. Watts has, not without rea- 
 son, been styled by Mr. Montgomery, u almost 
 the inventor of Hymns in our language, so 
 greatly did he improve upon his few and almost 
 forgotten predecessors in the composition of sa- 
 cred song." Not only so ; he was the first who 
 succeeded in overcoming the prejudice which 
 opposed the introduction of Hymns into our 
 Public Worship. It is true, the want of Sacra- 
 mental Hynms had led to attempts to supply 
 the deficiency, by several writers of whom the 
 names only have come down to us. In Bury's 
 u Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual 
 Songs, fitted for Morning and Evening Wor- 
 ship in a Private Family," first published early 
 in the eighteenth century, various Hymn-Books 
 are referred to by the Compiler, as the resources 
 from which his materials were drawn.- Among 
 
 * The copy in my possession is of the fourth edition, published 
 in 1 7*24. The Compiler styles himself, "Samuel Bury, Minister 
 of the Gospel;"" and the following list of the authors or publica- 
 tions made use of is affixed to the Collection: — Barton's Cen- 
 turies; Barton's Hymns; Baxter; Boise's Sacramental Hymns; 
 
36 THE POET OF 
 
 these are Mason's " Songs of Praise/' already 
 referred to.* Yet, the Collection appears not 
 to have been even designed for Public Wor- 
 ship ; and, with the exception of " Sacramental 
 Hymns" which we must suppose to have been 
 intended for the use of the churches on such 
 occasions, it does not appear that any hymns 
 had been received into congregational use. As 
 to the general practice, the testimony of Dr. 
 Watts himself leaves no room for doubt, that 
 some Metrical Version of the Psalms was ex- 
 clusively used in the public service. In the 
 Preface to his u Hymns and Spiritual Songs," 
 the learned and pious Author complains, that, 
 u while we sing the praises of God in His 
 Church, we are employed in that part of wor- 
 ship which of all others is the nearest akin to 
 
 Crashaw's Sacred Poems ; Clarke's Annotations ; Dorrington's 
 Hymns ; Divine Hymns ; Daniel Burgess ; Foxton's Hymns ; 
 Guide to Glory; Herbert; Milbourn's Version of the Psalms; 
 Patrick; Penitential Cries; Scotch Psalms ; Songs of Praise ; Tate 
 and Brady; Vincent's Sacramental Hymns; Woodroof^s Para- 
 phrase. 
 
 * Two of the quaint but striking hymns in this volume, will 
 be found in the Cong. Hymn Book, Nos. 511 and 525. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 37 
 
 heaven ; and 'tis pity that this of all others 
 should be performed the worst upon earth. 
 The Gospel brings us nearer to the heavenly 
 state than all the former dispensations of God 
 amongst men ; and in these last days of the 
 Gospel, we are brought almost within sight of 
 the Kingdom of Our Lord; yet, we are very 
 much unacquainted with the songs of the New 
 Jerusalem,* and unpractised in the work of 
 praise Of all our religious solemni- 
 ties, Psalmody is the most unhappily man- 
 aged. That very action which should elevate us 
 to the most delightful and divine sensations, 
 doth not only flatten our devotion, but too often 
 awakens our regret, and touches all the springs 
 of uneasiness within us." One great occasion of 
 this evil, the learned and devout Author pro- 
 ceeds to say, he has long been convinced, arises 
 " from the matter and words to which we con- 
 fine our songs." " Some of them are almost op- 
 
 * It is evident, that Dr. Watts was a devout student of the 
 New Testament prophecies. The first hymn in his book is taken 
 from Rev. v. 6 — 12; and no fewer than sixteen are upon passages 
 in the Apocalypse. 
 
38 THE POET OF 
 
 posite to the spirit of the Gospel ; many of them, 
 foreign to the state of the Tew Testament, and 
 widely different from the present circumstances 
 of Christians." " By keeping too close to 
 David in the House of God ; the veil of Moses 
 is thrown over our hearts." " Many Ministers 
 and many private Christians/' he says, u have 
 long groaned under this inconvenience, and 
 have wished, rather than attempted a reforma- 
 tion. At their importunate and repeated re- 
 quests, I have for some years past devoted 
 many hours of leisure to this service. Far be 
 it from my thoughts to lay aside the Book of 
 Psalms in public worship. Few can pretend to 
 so great a value for them as myself. It is the 
 most artful, most devotional and divine collec- 
 tion of poesy; and nothing can be supposed 
 more proper to raise a pious soul to heaven 
 than some parts of that Book. Never was a 
 piece of experimental divinity so nobly writ- 
 ten, and so justly reverenced and admired. But 
 it must be acknowledged still, that there are 
 a thousand lines in it which were not made 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 39 
 
 for a church in our days to assume as its 
 
 own." 
 
 Dr. Watts was happily destined to give the 
 noblest proof of his love for the Book of Psalms, 
 by the bold experiment of converting the greater 
 part into Spiritual Songs for the use of Chris- 
 tians. That was, however, the work of after 
 years. This first u attempt for the reformation 
 of Psalmody among the churches," he put forth 
 with misgivings ; yet, humbly hoping that the 
 compositions might be made useful to private 
 Christians as pious meditations, should they not 
 prove acceptable in public worship. 
 
40 THE POET OF 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Having brought down the history of Psal- 
 mody to the time of Dr. Watts, and shown 
 what was the state of things among our own 
 congregations as regards this part of Public 
 Worship, I propose to dwell for a short time on 
 his distinctive merits, first as a writer of sacred 
 songs ; secondly, as a metrical translator of the 
 Psalter; and thirdly, as one who combined in 
 no ordinary degree the characters of poet and 
 philosopher, of sage and saint ; who (in the 
 language of Johnson) "has provided instruc- 
 tion for all ages, from those who are lisping 
 their first lessons, to the enlightened readers of 
 Malebranche and Locke;" and to whom we, as 
 Nonconformists, are more especially under im- 
 perishable obligations, for the happy influence, 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 41 
 
 theological and spiritual, of his sacred poetry on 
 our churches for more than a century. A few 
 biographical details will appropriately introduce 
 the attempt to do justice to his character. 
 
 Isaac Watts was born at Southampton , July 
 17, 1674. He was the eldest of eight children, 
 and was named after his father, who kept a 
 respectable boarding-school in that town, and 
 was a deacon of the Independent church.* 
 His mother was a Miss Taunton. Mr. Watts 
 had suffered for his non-conformity, both in his 
 paternal property and in person, having been 
 more than once imprisoned. During his in- 
 carceration, Mrs. Watts was to be seen sitting 
 on a stone near the prison-door, nursing her 
 infant son, Isaac. Mr. Watts, nevertheless, 
 brought up his large family in much respec- 
 tability, and had the happiness of surviving to 
 see his eldest son " eminent for literature and 
 venerable for piety:" he died in a good old 
 
 * His grandfather, Thomas Watts, was commander of a ship of 
 war, 1656 ; and, " by the blowing up of the ship in the Dutch war, 
 he was drowned in his youth. ,, Dr. Watts speaks of him, in a 
 note to one of his Lyrics, as accomplished and highly esteemed. 
 
42 THE POET OF 
 
 age, February 10, 1736-7. Young Isaac gave 
 early indications of a precocious intellect. At 
 four years old, he began to learn Latin ; at 
 seven, he lisped in numbers. He received his 
 early education in the Free-school at South- 
 ampton, then under the Rev. Mr. Pinhorne, 
 Rector of All Saints', to whom the grateful 
 pupil, at the age of twenty, addressed an ele- 
 gant Latin Ode. In his sixteenth year, having 
 declined a generous offer made for his support 
 at one of the Universities, he was sent to an 
 Academy of some repute in London, kept by 
 the Rev. Thomas Rowe, pastor of the Inde- 
 pendent church then meeting at Girdlers' Hall ; 
 and, three years afterwards, being in his nine- 
 teenth year, he joined in communion with that 
 church. His constitution received irreparable 
 injury from the intemperate ardour with which 
 he at this time pursued his studies. At the 
 age of twenty, he returned to his father's house, 
 where he continued for two years, preparing him- 
 self more expressly for the work of the ministry. 
 The state of his health may have rendered it 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 43 
 
 advisable that he should remain for some time 
 under his father's roof. The first engagement 
 which he accepted, was that of tutor in the 
 family of Sir John Hartopp, Bart., at Stoke 
 Newington. In 1696, he appears to have been 
 called to the ministry;* but his first sermon 
 was preached on the birth-day that completed 
 his twenty-fourth year, A. D. 1698. 
 
 In 1694, the year in which Isaac Watts re- 
 turned to Southampton, to prepare himself in 
 retirement for his future ministerial labours, 
 Philip Henry, John Howe, William Bates, 
 
 * On the Minutes of the Congregational Fund Board, under 
 the date of 9th March, 1696, there is found the following entry : 
 — "Present, the Rev. Mr. Lamer, chairman; Dr. Chauncey, Mr. 
 Gouge, &c. Mr. Gouge is desired to speak with Mr. Shallett, 
 to endeavour that Mr. Watts do go out to the ministr\\" After 
 he was associated with Dr. Chauncey in the pastorship, Mr. 
 Watts became a constant attendant at the meetings of the Board, 
 and continued to be so till within a few years of his death. Dr. 
 Watts was also one of the original four Trustees appointed to 
 administer Mr. Coward's Trust ; and it is an interesting fact, 
 (though it escaped notice at the time of the meetings,) that the 
 reverend Chairman of the Autumnal Assembly held at South- 
 ampton, who has recently been chosen a trustee in the place of 
 the late Rev. W. Walford, is, in that capacity, the personal suc- 
 cessor of Dr. Watts in the direct line of ecclesiastical descent. 
 
44 THE POET OF 
 
 Samuel Annesley, and Matthew Mead, were 
 still living. Within a few years before, the 
 grave had closed over the mortal remains of 
 Owen, Bunyan, Baxter, Flavel, Kosewell, 
 and Steele. Matthew Henry, the son of 
 Philip, though born only twelve years earlier, 
 died nearly thirty years before Dr. Watts, 
 whose life thus forms an intermediate link be- 
 tween the great theologians and confessors of 
 the seventeenth century and their degenerate 
 and frigid successors in the middle of the 
 eighteenth. 
 
 It was during this residence of the youthful 
 student at Southampton, Dr. Gibbons tells us, 
 that he was first led to compose some hymns at 
 his father's suggestion. The compositions sung 
 by the congregation at Southampton being of a 
 very humble description, and little to young 
 Watts's taste, he could not forbear representing 
 the matter to his father, who desired him to try 
 if he could compose better. And thus, one 
 hymn after another was produced, which laid 
 the foundation of his first volume. Local tra- 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 45 
 
 dition has preserved the interesting anecdote, 
 that it was while looking out upon the beautiful 
 scenery of the harbour and river, and the green 
 glades of the New Forest on its further bank, 
 that the idea suggested itself to him, of " a land 
 of pure delight," and of "sweet fields beyond 
 the swelling flood, drest in their living green," 
 as an image of the heavenly Canaan. And the 
 expression in another (the foregoing) hymn — 
 " Not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful 
 breast," may be supposed to be an allusion to 
 the unruffled surface of the waters on a serene 
 summer's evening, tempting to the bather in that 
 sea of rest. 
 
 His earliest publication, however, it is proper 
 to notice, was his " Hora3 Lyricse," which was 
 published in 1706. His first volume of Hymns 
 appeared the following year. * Mr. Watts had, 
 
 * The first edition, published in 1707, contained onh- 78 
 hymns in Book i.; 110 in Book ii.; and 22 with 12 doxologies 
 in Book iii. A Supplement to the first edition was published in 
 1709, by which the hymns in Book i. were increased to 150; in 
 Book ii. to 170; in Book iii. to 25, with 3 more doxologies and 
 4 hosannas. 
 
46 THE POET OF 
 
 by this time, been ordained to tlie pastoral office, 
 (March 18, 1702 ; ) as successor to the Eev. Dr. 
 Chauncey, pastor of the Independent congrega- 
 tion in Mark Lane, to whom he had previously 
 been chosen assistant ; and he had resumed his 
 labours after the interruption occasioned by a 
 painful and alarming illness. In the Preface to 
 his Lyrics, (which seems to have been prefixed 
 to a second edition, as it is dated May 14, 1709,) 
 he modestly pleads, that poetry was not "the 
 business of his life ; " and he thus refers to some 
 of his earlier compositions : — " In the first book 
 are many odes which were written to assist the 
 meditations and worship of vulgar Christians, 
 and with a design to be published in the volume 
 of hymns which have now passed a second im- 
 pression; but, upon the review, I found some 
 expressions that were not suited to the plainest 
 capacity, and the metaphors are too bold to 
 please the weaker Christian ; therefore I have 
 allotted them a place here." Accordingly, in 
 the Preface to the Hymn-Book, he speaks of 
 having been " forced to lay aside many hymns 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 47 
 
 after they were finished, and utterly exclude 
 them from this volume, because of the bolder 
 figures of speech," which, u with many other 
 divine and moral composures, are now printed 
 in a second edition of the Poems entitled Horce 
 Lyricce" It was only by dint of great pains, 
 and as his taste became more chastened, that 
 Watts learned to prune his exuberant fancy, 
 and to correct his too florid phraseology. In 
 the Lyrics, there are numerous imitations, rather 
 than translations, of a modern Latin poet, Mat- 
 thias Casimir, of whose compositions our young- 
 Author appears to have been greatly enamoured. 
 I have in my possession his own copy, — a 
 pocket edition printed at Cambridge, 1684, with 
 his own name written on the fly-leaf, "Is. 
 Watts, pret Is., 1696 ;" and an Index is prefixed 
 in his own hand-writing, showing how fondly 
 he had studied the compositions, which were by 
 no means the happiest model for a young poet. 
 In his highest lyrical flights, indeed, Watts 
 falls far below the elevation and simple gran- 
 deur of some of his later hymns, and wakens 
 
48 THE POET OF 
 
 less admiration than by the inimitable simpli- 
 city of his Divine Songs. There is, however, 
 one poem in the Second Book, which, if not in 
 the purest taste, is interesting as being inscribed 
 to the Rev. John Howe, 1704: — 
 
 " Howe hath an ample orb of soul, 
 Where shining worlds of knowledge roll, 
 Where love, the centre and the pole, 
 Completes the heaven at home.'" 
 
 Watts was in his thirtieth year when he in- 
 scribed this tribute of fervent admiration to the 
 last surviving member of the great band of 
 Nonconformists ejected in 1662. Howe died 
 in the year following, at the age of seventy- 
 five. 
 
 We now turn from the Lyrics to the Hymns. 
 Here Watts had no model, but struck out a 
 new style of composition, which has served as 
 a precedent for his successors. Had he been 
 acquainted with the treasures of the German 
 language, the hymns of Luther and his country- 
 men might have tempted imitation, and perhaps 
 have emboldened him to take a freer, if not 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 49 
 
 a loftier flight and a wider range. But he 
 deemed it necessary to study the usage and the 
 prejudices of the time, to confine himself to 
 four sorts of metre, " fitted to the most common 
 tunes/' and to adapt his compositions to u the 
 level of vulgar capacities ;" it being his u labour, 
 to promote the pious entertainment of souls 
 truly serious, even of the meanest capacity, and 
 at the same time, if possible, not to give disgust 
 to persons of richer sense and more education." 
 In his First Book, " the sense and much of the 
 form of the song" are borrowed from particular 
 portions of Scripture ,* and he u expected to be 
 often censured for a too religious observance of 
 the words of Scripture, whereby the verse is 
 weakened and debased according to the judg- 
 ment of critics." To judge of the merit of these 
 hymns, not only should their design be taken into 
 account, but the execution should be compared 
 with that of paraphrases which profess to keep 
 close to the words of Scripture ; and it will 
 be found that, generally speaking, Dr. Watts's 
 paraphrases are at once more spirited, without 
 
 E 
 
50 THE POET OF 
 
 being less faithful, and more melodious, yet 
 equally close and terse. In the hymns of the 
 First Book, there is, as might be expected, great 
 inequality ; and a large number, including those 
 which are founded upon passages in the Can- 
 ticles, have sunk into disuse. But some of them 
 rank among his happiest efforts, and will be the 
 solace of believers and the edification of our 
 churches as long as the English language is 
 spoken. To refer to only a few, we may par- 
 ticularize, the noble hymn of praise " To the 
 Lamb that was slain," with which the Book 
 opens ; * to the song of victory over death 
 (xvii.) — "O for an overcoming faith;" to the 
 funereal hymn which follows — " Hear what the 
 voice," &c. ; to the paraphrase of 1 Peter i. 
 1 — 5 (xxvi.) — " Blest be the everlasting God;" 
 to that delightful hymn of praise (li.) — "To 
 God the only wise ; " to perhaps the most 
 popular hymn, and deservedly so, in the lan- 
 guage (lxii.) — " Come, let us join our cheerful 
 
 * This is traditionally reported to have been the first in the 
 order of composition also. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 51 
 
 songs/ 7 — and the next, in long measure, on the 
 same theme, is scarcely inferior to it ; to the 
 following one (lxiv.) — u Behold ! what won- 
 drous grace;' 7 to the song for morning or 
 evening (lxxxi.) — u My God, how endless is 
 Thy love! 77 — to the ci st , "Who can describe 
 the joys that rise? 77 — to the ciii rd , "I'm not 
 ashamed to own my Lord, 77 — the cix th , "No 
 more, my God, I boast no more, 77 — the cx th , 
 " There is a house not made with hands, 77 — 
 and the cxxv th , " With joy we meditate the 
 grace; 77 — four excellent paraphrases, if not of 
 the highest order as hymns. Similar felicity of 
 adaptation has secured popularity to the cxxxv th , 
 "Come, dearest Lord, descend and dwell; 77 to 
 the cxxxvii th , " Now to the power of God su- 
 preme ; 77 to the cxxxviii th , " Firm as the earth 
 thy Gospel stands ; 77 and to the cxlv th , " Jesus, in 
 Thee our eyes behold." These seventeen hymns, 
 had Dr. Watts left no others behind him, would 
 have endeared and immortalized his name ; and 
 they have this distinguishing merit, that, for 
 the most part, instead of being mere didactic 
 
52 THE POET OF 
 
 paraphrases or expressions of sentiment, they 
 breathe the true spirit of worship. 
 
 In the Second Book, the form of the hymns is 
 professedly u of mere human composure," and 
 the Author indulged in more " gay and flowery 
 expressions" and brighter images. It is not to be 
 wondered at, that his characteristic excellencies 
 and defects as a poet should in these composi- 
 tions be more prominent. Upon the blemishes, 
 it is not necessary to dwell, further than to 
 express a wish that a larger number of these 
 compositions had been transferred by the pious 
 xluthor to the Horce Lyricce, or that a sounder 
 discretion were exercised in excluding from 
 the public service, hymns adapted only for the 
 closet. Without alluding more distinctly to 
 these, I will simply name a few of the hymns 
 in the Second Book, which are specially adapted 
 for congregational worship, and which are de- 
 servedly popular. 
 
 vii. — " Dread Sovereign, let my evening song." 
 xiv. — " Welcome, sweet day of rest." 
 xxx. — " Come, we that love the Lord." 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 53 
 
 xxxiv. — "Come, Holy Spirit, heaven ly dove."* 
 
 xl. — " Our God, how firm his promise stands." 
 
 xlvi. — " Up to the Lord who reigns on high. 11 
 
 lv. — " Thee we adore, Eternal Name." 
 
 lx. — " Praise, everlasting praise be paid." 
 
 lxv. — " When I can read my title clear." 
 
 lxvi. — " There is a land of pure delight." 
 
 lxvii. — " Great God ! how infinite art Thou ! " 
 
 lxxii. — " Blest morning, whose young dawning rays." 
 
 lxxvi. — " Hosanna to the Prince of Light." 
 
 lxxvii. — " Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears." 
 
 lxxviii. — " When the first Parents of our race." 
 
 lxxix. — " Plunged in a gulf of dark despair." 
 
 l xxx viii. — * Salvation ! Oh, the joyful sound ! " 
 
 xc. — " How sad our state by nature is ! " 
 
 xcix. — " Let the whole race of creatures lie." 
 
 cm. — " Come, happy souls, approach your God." 
 
 civ. — " Raise your triumphant songs." 
 
 cix. — " Lord, we adore Thy vast designs." 
 
 ex. — " And must this body die ? " 
 
 cxiv. — " I sing my Saviour's wondrous death." 
 
 cxix. — " Laden with guilt and full of fears." 
 
 cxxiii. — " Away from every mortal care." 
 
 cxxvi. — " The Lord descending from above." 
 
 ex xx. — (Last part) " Mighty Redeemer, set me free." 
 
 ex xxi. — " Let everlasting glories crown." 
 
 cxxxn. — " We bless the Prophet of The Lord." 
 
 cxxxiii. — " Eternal Spirit, we confess." 
 
 c xxxviii. — " This is the word of truth and love." 
 
 exxxix. — " My dear Redeemer and my Lord." 
 
 * Under protest against the phraseology. 
 
54 THE POET OF 
 
 cxl. — " Give me the wings of faith to rise."* 
 cxlii. — " Not all the blood of beasts." 
 cxl viii. — " Dearest of all the names above." 
 clii. — " Not to the terrors of the Lord." 
 clxv. — " Long have I sat beneath the sound." 
 clxviii. — " Jehovah reigns, His throne is high." 
 clxix. — " The Lord Jehovah reigns." 
 
 These forty well-known hymns (which do not 
 include all that have obtained popularity) ex- 
 hibit a range and variety, an originality and 
 skill in versification, a fervour of piety and an 
 enviable elevation of feeling, which, while they 
 distinguish Dr. Watts from all who preceded 
 him, entitle him still to rank at the head of those 
 who have ministered to the edification and con- 
 solation of the churches by the composition of 
 Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in- 
 
 *, " I was preaching," writes Doddridge in a letter to Watts, 
 " to a large assembly of plain country people, at a village, when, 
 after a sermon from Heb. vi. 12, we sung one of your hymns (the 
 140th of Bookii.); and in that part of the worship, I had the 
 satisfaction to observe tears in the eyes of several of the people. 
 After the service was over, some of them told me, that they were 
 not able to sing, so deeply were their minds affected; and the 
 clerk in particular said, he could hardly utter the words as he gave 
 them out." (See Southey's " Life of Watts," p. lxxi.) 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 55 
 
 spiring and calling forth the melody of the 
 heart. 
 
 In the hymns of the Third Book, Dr. Watts 
 is not, indeed, either so original or so pre-em- 
 inent. Several writers before him had com- 
 posed Sacramental Hymns ; and that, in these, 
 he conformed or condescended more to the taste 
 of the times, seems intimated in his Preface. 
 " There are," he says, u above a hundred hymns 
 in the two former Parts, that may very properly 
 be used in this ordinance, and sometimes, per- 
 haps, appear more suitable than any of these 
 last." A few in the Third Book, however, as well 
 as some of the hymns appended to his Sermons, 
 which have been incorporated with the First 
 Book in recent editions, in place of those which 
 the Author transferred to the Book of Psalms, 
 are of very high merit and interest. 
 
 What, however, Dr. Watts himself regarded 
 as his greater work, was, his " Imitation of the 
 Psalms of David in Christian Language." In 
 this, he especially appears as the Reformer of our 
 Psalmody ,as well as the Evangelizer of the Psalter. 
 
56 THE POET OF 
 
 Upon attempting this " glorious work," his heart 
 was much set. He refers to his design in the 
 Preface to the second edition of his Hymns, 
 and also in that to the Lyric Poems. During a 
 long cessation from public labour, occasioned by 
 severe illness, from 1712 to 1716, he occupied 
 himself with prosecuting this task ; but it was 
 not completed till 1719, when the Psalms were 
 first published, and four thousand copies were 
 sold within the year. In this Metrical Version, 
 Dr. Watts came into comparison with many 
 competitors, as well as into collision with angry 
 prejudices. Notwithstanding its unrivalled merit 
 as an adaptation of the Psalter to evangelical 
 worship, the prejudice and hostility with which 
 so bold an innovation was at the time re- 
 garded by many pious Christians,* are not yet 
 wholly extinct. By degrees, select portions of 
 his Version have found admission into the nu- 
 merous "unauthorized" Collections used in the 
 churches of the Establishment ; (the source from 
 
 * The excellent William Romaine strenuously opposed the 
 evangelization of the Psalter. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 57 
 
 which they are taken being, however, rarely 
 acknowledged;) but, to the present day, the 
 uncouth and baldly literal Versions of " the 
 Puritan" Sternhold, and of the Parliamentary 
 Provost of Eton, maintain respectively their 
 prescriptive value and charm in the estimation 
 of orthodox Episcopalians and jure divino Pres- 
 byterians,* who have no sympathy with Dr. 
 
 * The history of the " Scotch Psalms" is not a little curious. 
 It having been referred by the Long Parliament to the Westmin- 
 ster Assembly of Divines, to propose a Version of the Psalms in 
 the place of Sternhold and Hopkins's, the Assembly sent- up the 
 Version executed by Francis Rouse, Provost of Eton College, with 
 the following report : — " Whereas the honourable House of Com- 
 mons, by an order bearing date, November 20, 1643, have recom- 
 mended the Psalms published by Mr. Rouse to the consideration 
 of the Assembly of Divines, the Assembly has caused them to be 
 carefully perused, and, as they are now altered and amended, do 
 approve them, and humbly conceive they may be useful and pro- 
 fitable to the Church, if they be permitted publicly to be sung." 
 Principal Baillie, writing to his correspondent Spong, in January 
 1646-7, says : — " The Translation of the Psalms is passed long ago 
 in the Assembly : . . . . the Commons passed their order 
 long ago; but the Lords joined not, being solicited by divers of 
 the Assembly, and of the Ministers of London, who love better 
 [than that by Mr. Rouse] the more poetical paraphrase of their col- 
 league Mr. Burton."* (Hanbury's " Memorials," vol. iii., p. 221.) 
 
 * A mistake, evidently, for Barton. 
 
58 THE POET OF 
 
 Watts' s forcibly expressed objections to so hon- 
 ouring the letter above the spirit as to tie down 
 the expression of Christian devotion to the songs 
 
 In a subsequent letter, dated September 14, 1649, Baillie tells 
 Spong : " I think at last we shall get a new Psalter. I have fur- 
 thered that work ever with my best wishes ; but the scruple now 
 arises of it in my mind, [that] the first author of my translation, 
 Mr. Rouse, my good friend, has complied with the Sectaries, and is a 
 member of their Republic. How a Psalter of his framing, albeit 
 with much variation, shall be received by our Church, I do not 
 well know; yet, it is needful we should have one, and a better in 
 haste we cannot have. The Assembly has referred it to the com- 
 mittee to cause print it after the last revision, and to put it in 
 practice." {Ibid, note.) Yet, seven years after this, in Burton's 
 " Parliamentary Diary," mention is made, under the date of January 
 14, 1656-7, of a Report presented by "the Ministers appointed to 
 consider which Version of the Psalms was fittest to be publicly 
 used." " Their Return was, that Mr. Rous's Version was the best, 
 both as to agreeing with the original, and better metre; and that 
 
 Mr. 's Version was a good one too. They desired he might 
 
 be recompensed for his pains." (Burton's " Diary," vol. i., p. 349.) 
 The name left blank, the Editor (Mr. J. T. Rutt) supposes to be 
 intended for " William Barton's." Mr. Rouse is mentioned in 
 Wood's Athence Ooconiensis, as having published " The Psalms 
 of David translated into Metre;" and is described as M.P. for 
 Cornwall, and Provost of Eton College. His being returned to 
 Parliament, is probably what Baillie intends by his being " a mem- 
 ber of their Republic." Nevertheless, this Psalter of his framing 
 was adopted by the Kirk of Scotland, and, singularly enough, is 
 now known only under the name of the Scotch Psalms; having, 
 in Scotland, superseded and excluded every other. Previously to 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 59 
 
 of the Jewish Sanctuary.* Yet ? even Hooker 
 pleads, that the Hymns of the New Testament 
 concern us more than the Songs of David ;f a 
 remark which has a broader application than 
 
 Sternhold, John and Robert Wedderburn, in Scotland, had versi- 
 fied a number of the Psalms; and their Version was used by the 
 Reformed in the North, till it was superseded by that of Rouse. 
 The tenacious preference and peculiar reverence which the Scot- 
 tish Presbyterians retain for this unpolished Version to the present 
 day, is the more remarkable, since, in England, notwithstanding 
 the Parliamentary sanction, it appears never to have been extensively 
 popular. Philip Henry generally used Mr. Barton's; and, in his 
 last will and testament, he bequeathed to each of his four daugh- 
 ters a copy of Poole's Annotations on the Bible, together with 
 " Mr. Barton's last and best translation of the Singing Psalms." 
 (" Life," by Sir J. B. Williams, p. 76.) Yet, had Mr. Barton's 
 Translation given general satisfaction, Baxter would scarcely have 
 undertaken a new Version. Matthew Henry, the son of Philip, is 
 stated to have used, in singing, " David's Psalms or Sacred Hymns, 
 of which (Dr. Watts's not being then published) he compiled a 
 suitable and arranged Collection.'''' (" Life," by Sir J. B. Williams, 
 p. 110.) What Version he used, is not mentioned; and his Collec- 
 tion of Hymns, which would be interesting, does not appear to 
 be extant. 
 
 * Even the Paraphrases usually appended to the Scotch Psalms, 
 are comparatively little used, especially in the Free Church; and 
 the celebrated Dr. Cooke of Belfast has carried his preference for 
 the Psalter so far as to tear out the Paraphrases from his pulpit 
 Bible, that they may never be given out. 
 
 + Eccles. Pol., Book v., § 40. 
 
60 THE POET OF 
 
 his argument required. The ancient practice 
 of chanting the Psalter and other portions of 
 Scripture, has been advocated, as enabling us to 
 sing the praises of God in the very words of 
 inspired Scripture.* No one, however, will now 
 contend for the substitution of chanting for me- 
 trical psalmody; still less can any solid reason be 
 pleaded, for confining our public devotions to a 
 metrical version of the Psalter, to the exclu- 
 sion of evangelical themes of praise, and of 
 all reference to u the new and living way" into 
 the Holy of Holies. It appears to have been 
 strangely overlooked, that, although the entire 
 Book of Psalms may have been publicly read 
 with the other Scriptures, they were never used 
 indiscriminately in the Psalmody either of the 
 Temple or of the Synagogue. Many portions 
 were wholly unsuitable for that purpose; and 
 the Psalter was not in fact the Hymn-Book 
 of the Jewish Church. The indiscriminate 
 use of the Psalms, whether in recitation or in 
 
 * See " Essay on Chanting," by Eustace R. Conder, M.A., pre- 
 fixed to " The Songs of Zion," Lond. 1845. 
 
TIIE SANCTUARY. 61 
 
 singing, has, therefore, no countenance from 
 ancient usage, any more than from reason and 
 propriety. * 
 
 Yet, if to regard the Book of Psalms in the 
 light of a formulary of public devotion, is a 
 great mistake, we cannot honour it too highly, 
 as being, in the language of Augustin, u a 
 kind of epitome of the whole Scripture," — "the 
 choice and flower of all things profitable in 
 other books," says Hooker, — "an anatomy of 
 all the parts of the soul," says Calvin ;f as, in 
 
 * See Lightfoot, cited by Milner, p. 339. 
 
 •j* " Librum nunc non abs re vocare soleo avaro\ii\v omnium 
 amnios partium ; qaando nullum in se affectum quisquam reperiet, 
 cujus in hoc speculo non reluceat imago.'''' Mr. Binney seems to 
 have caught the spirit of Calvin's sentiment in a noble passage in 
 his " Service of Song." Speaking of the Psalms, he says : " They 
 discover secrets, Divine and human; they lay open the holy of 
 holies of both God and man, for they reveal the hidden things 
 belonging to both, as the life of the One is developed in the other. 
 The Psalms are the depositories of the mysteries, the record of the 
 struggles, the wailing when worsted, the pceans when triumphant, 
 of that life. They are the thousand-voiced heart of the Church, 
 uttering from within, from the secret depths and chambers of her 
 being, her spiritual consciousness, all that she remembers, expe- 
 riences, believes; suffers from sin and the flesh, fears from earth 
 or hell, achieves by heavenly succour, and hopes from God and 
 
62 THE POET OF 
 
 fact, a mirror of experimental piety , a treasury 
 of Divine wisdom, in part a prophetic testi- 
 mony to David's Son and Lord, and, moreover, 
 as containing some of the noblest specimens of 
 the true eucharistic spirit of worship. While 
 there is danger, on the one hand, of over-laying 
 as it were Christian devotion with Judaism by 
 " keeping too close to David in the house of 
 God," — by which, as Dr. Watts expresses it, 
 " the veil of Moses is thrown over our hearts," 
 — on the other hand, the use of the Psalter in 
 
 His Christ. They are for all time : they never can be outgrown. 
 No dispensation while the world stands, and continues what it is, 
 can ever raise us above the reach or the need of them. They 
 describe every spiritual vicissitude; they speak to all classes of 
 minds; they command every natural emotion. They are peni- 
 tential, jubilant, adorative, deprecatory; they are tender, mourn- 
 ful, joyous, majestic The effect of some of them in the 
 
 temple service must have been immense With such a 
 
 service and such psalms, it was natural that the Hebrews should 
 love with enthusiasm, and learn with delight, their national 
 anthems, songs, and melodies; nor is it surprising that they were 
 known among the Heathen as a people possessed of these trea- 
 sures of verse, and devoted to their recitation by tongue and harp. 
 Hence it was that their enemies required of them (whether in 
 seriousness or in derision it matters not) * the words of a song,' 
 and said, ' Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' " 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 63 
 
 our public service is especially important, as 
 preserving that Jewish element of profound 
 adoration which must enter into all acceptable 
 worship. The spirit of the Psalms has, indeed, 
 blended but too little with our public devotion. 
 
 One prominent feature of the Psalms, (and it 
 is a distinctive mark of the true religion in 
 every age,) is, the ascription of glory to God as 
 the Creator of all things. Heathenism rears no 
 altars to the Creator. In this character, God is 
 nowhere worshipped, nor can be, except where 
 He is worshipped as a Spirit, in spirit and in 
 truth. The primary relation between the Self- 
 existent Godhead and all created beings, which 
 is the foundation of all acceptable worship as well 
 as of all moral obligation, though rationally de- 
 ducible from the things that are made, is proved 
 by all experience to be cognizable only by 
 faith. " Through faith we understand that the 
 tilings which are seen, were not made of things 
 that appear." The first step in idolatry is, the 
 transmuting of the glory of the Creator into 
 the likeness of things created. But idolatrous 
 
64 THE POET OF 
 
 emblems, while they may represent personal 
 qualities or personified attributes, such as power, 
 wisdom, justice, cannot express or make palpa- 
 ble to the imagination the idea of the Creator. 
 Hence, this only worthy idea of God, from its 
 essential spirituality, escapes from the mind in 
 the incipient stage of degeneracy, till, at length, 
 the worship of God as God becomes lost, the crea- 
 ture being served and worshipped instead of the 
 Creator, who is blessed for evermore. Now, in 
 the Psalms, it is observable, that the glory and 
 incommunicable prerogatives of Jehovah as the 
 Maker, Preserver, and Proprietor of His crea- 
 tures, are the leading theme, ever kept in view 
 as supplying the strongest reason for adoration 
 and praise. "It is He who hath made us, and 
 not we ourselves." " Lord, how manifold are 
 Thy works ! in wisdom hast Thou made them 
 all." "All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord." 
 " Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name 
 in all the earth ! " Such is the language in which 
 the Royal Psalmist gives expression to his 
 devout aspirations and meditations; and upon 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 65 
 
 the fatherly character of the Creator towards 
 the works of His hands, he grounds his confi- 
 dence in the Divine mercy. The language of 
 Our Blessed Lord himself warrants our regard- 
 ing in the same delightful aspect the relation 
 between Our Heavenly Father and His crea- 
 tures as such; a relation which the creature's 
 sin cannot destroy, nor the new relations of the 
 Covenant of Grace supersede. What is the 
 Gospel but a dispensation of redemption and 
 recovery, which, by a second creation, repairs 
 the defaced image of God, impressed on all His 
 works, and restores His creatures to their natural 
 relation as children of their Maker, the objects 
 of the constant beneficence and perpetual care of 
 a "faithful Creator?" 
 
 Such is the Eeligion of the Psalms. But can 
 this element of all true worship, which may be 
 termed characteristically the Hebrew type, be 
 recognised as pervading our modern hymnology? 
 Is God, as Creator, the " Father of Spirits," the 
 distinct Object of praise ? With the exception 
 of metrical versions of the Psalms, how few 
 
 F 
 
66 THE POET OF 
 
 are the hymns which express the sentiment of 
 worship paid to our Maker, or recognise speci- 
 fically those claims to love, gratitude, and trust 
 which rise out of that indissoluble and most 
 sacred of relations ! The hundredth Psalm has 
 been versified in all sorts of metres; but has 
 its spirit been caught and transferred to our 
 worship ? Have the inspired compositions 
 been taken as the model of devotion? Have 
 our children and congregations been taught to 
 sing praises unto Him who made them, because 
 He is their Maker, and because He is good to 
 all, and His tender mercies are over all His 
 works? To give thanks, because His mercy 
 endureth for ever? Or shall it be said, that 
 we are too orthodox, too evangelical to imitate 
 David in this feature of his devotions ? * 
 
 Nor is it in this respect alone, that, while 
 the letter of the Psalms has been superstitiously 
 
 * In Dr. H. F. Binder's Collection, which includes a selection 
 from Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns, of 26 General Hymns of 
 Praise, 23 are from Watts; of 17 on the Divine Perfections, 13; 
 of 23 of praise to God for his providence, 18; and of 38 of praise 
 to the Lord Jesus, 20 are from Watts : total 74, out of 104. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 67 
 
 honoured, their true spirit has failed to trans- 
 fuse itself into our hymns and songs of praise. 
 The eucharistic and jubilant spirit which breathes 
 in the Choral Psalms, the full-toned burst of gra- 
 titude which continually strikes upon the heart 
 in the Votive Psalms, and the rapturous sense of 
 the Divine Perfections which is expressed in those 
 that celebrate the works of God, find scarcely 
 any counterpart in our Christian Hymns.* But 
 for the retention of the Psalms, in entire series, 
 in our Hymn-Books, there is reason to fear, that 
 a still wider departure from the true spirit of 
 worship might have taken place in this part of 
 our public service. 
 
 On this account, it may be questioned, whe- 
 ther it would be either proper or expedient to 
 break down or to obliterate the distinction be- 
 tween metrical versions of the Psalms and the 
 uninspired effusions of devout feeling, by con- 
 
 * Adam's Morning Hymn, (" Paradise Lost," Book v.,) " These 
 are Thy glorious works," is an exquisite paraphrastic imitation of 
 Psalm cxlviii. Thomson's noble Hymn, " These, as they change, 
 Almighty Father, these, 11 is, unhappily, more pantheistic than 
 Christian. 
 
68 THE POET OF 
 
 founding them under a common arrangement. 
 Such sublime compositions as Psalm c, Psalm 
 ciii., Psalm cxvii., Psalm cxlv., and others of the 
 same class, the liturgy of the Church Catholic 
 in every age, seem to be depreciated and treated 
 with too little reverence, when they are mixed 
 up among the sentimental effusions of modern 
 hymnologists. Hitherto, Dr. Watts' s Psalms 
 and Hymns have served, in our congregations, 
 to keep up this useful distinction, and, at the 
 same time, to unite the Old and New Testa- 
 ments in our metrical liturgy, — to combine the 
 Song of Moses with the Song of the Lamb. 
 If our having been for a long time confined to 
 this one Book, may have straitened and fettered, 
 it has at the same time fixed the character of our 
 public devotions ; and to its universal adoption 
 we have been greatly indebted, under Divine 
 Providence, for the preservation of an evan- 
 gelical tone of sentiment in the worship of our 
 churches. The disuse of this Evangelical 
 Psalter, or the merging of it in a Common 
 Hymn-Book, is highly undesirable. Dr. Kippon's 
 
THE SANCTUARY. P)9 
 
 u AiTangemcnt of Watts/' in which the Psalms 
 are interspersed among the Hymns under dif- 
 ferent heads, notwithstanding the advantages 
 which it was thought would attend the adop- 
 tion of this distribution, and the commendable 
 pains bestowed upon the edition, has never come 
 into extensive use ; and, whatever alteration may 
 be thought expedient in the arrangement of the 
 Hymns, the Psalms will always be most accept- 
 able in their Biblical order. * 
 
 * It is not "without mature deliberation that I have adopted 
 the conclusion, that a common or mixed arrangement of Psalms 
 and Hymns would be inexpedient ; not only on account of the 
 peculiar reverence due to the Book of Psalms as a portion of the 
 word of God, but also on the ground, that it is important to 
 preserve in our Sanctuary services the eucharistic spirit of the 
 inspired model of praise and adoration to Jehovah, in combination 
 with the peculiar element of Christian worship. This is quite a 
 distinct question from that which relates to the use of one or more 
 books in our public worship. When the " Congregational Hymn- 
 Book " was first detennined upon, I was one of the minority who 
 urged the expediency of incorporating the greater portion of Dr. 
 Watts's Psalms and Hymns with the Supplement in one book ; 
 but the feeling which prevailed, was adverse to any interference 
 with Dr. Watts's volume. Advantage has since been taken of 
 this decision, in more than one quarter; and Dr. Watts's Psalms 
 and Hymns are being superseded in many of our congregations, 
 together with the Congregational Hymn-Book, by private Selec- 
 
70 THE POET OF 
 
 A few remarks must be made upon the exe- 
 cution of Dr. Watts' s Version, with reference to 
 his predecessors and competitors. In his plan 
 and design, it has been shown, that he was ori- 
 ginal, and a somewhat bold reformer. In his 
 execution, it might be supposed, that he would 
 avail himself of the labours of those who pre- 
 ceded him ; and accordingly, in the Preface to 
 his Psalms, he acknowledges not having scru- 
 pled to borrow lines, in some few psalms, from 
 Sir John Denham, Milbourne, and Tate and 
 Brady, while he had taken the most freedom 
 of that sort with Dr. Patrick, whose style best 
 agreed with his design, though the verse was 
 generally of a lower strain. Originality, he 
 might well deem a secondary consideration, in 
 
 tions. For the reasons above mentioned, I cannot but deplore 
 this ; and it appears to me to have now become imperative, in 
 order to prevent Dr. Watts's work from being to a great extent 
 set aside, and his noblest compositions excluded from congrega- 
 tional use, that his book should be submitted to careful revision, 
 compressed in bulk by the omission of all the portions of the 
 Psalms or entire Hymns that are unsuitable or not used, re- 
 arranged as regards the Hymns, and in this shape made available 
 for the use of our congregations, either as a separate volume, or 
 incorporated with the Supplement. 
 
Till: SAN( Tl ARY. 71 
 
 aiming to present the Psalms in a form adapted 
 for Christian worship; and his correct taste is 
 shown in adopting language upon which he felt 
 he could but slightly improve. 
 
 It is remarkable, that Sir John Denham's 
 Version should have attracted so little notice.* 
 It was undertaken u at the importunate request 
 of many learned friends, both of the clergy and 
 the laity, who thought the Version then in 
 Use contained many imperfections and obsolete 
 words and phrases;" and it was evidently de- 
 signed for the use of the Church. Sir John 
 appears to have been a Hebrew scholar, and 
 laboured to bring his Version as near to the 
 original as a poetical translation would allow. 
 " In this attempt," according to Dr. Johnson's 
 sentence, " he failed ; but," adds the Doctor, " in 
 sacred poetry who has succeeded?" The judg- 
 
 * It is omitted in the list of various editions of Bibles and 
 Parts thereof, and Metrical Versions of the Psalms, by the Rev. 
 Clement Crutwell, prefixed to Bishop Wilson's Bible; although, 
 in this list, we find the Versions of Sandys, Woodford, and 
 Barton, on which Denham makes some observations in his Preface. 
 (Vide "Christian Observer," Jan. 1835, p. 17.) 
 
72 THE POET OF 
 
 ment of the critic on this point, and his informa- 
 tion also, were at fault. In Denham's Version, 
 the Psalms are divided into five books : they are 
 rendered mostly in long metre, some in common 
 metre, and a few in other measures. The 
 Version was not published till nearly fifty years 
 after the death of the Poet, which occurred in 
 1668, when the manuscript, after being sub- 
 mitted to Archbishop Sharp and other eminent 
 judges, was transcribed for the press. That it 
 contains many felicitous lines, will be seen from 
 the following instances in which Dr. Watts has 
 either avowedly borrowed (as he acknowledges 
 in a note to Psalm civ.) or closely followed his 
 Version. 
 
 DENHAM. 
 Psalm 
 
 xxiii. 1. My shepherd is the living Lord. 
 
 Ixxx. 1. Great Shepherd of thy Israel! 
 
 Who Joseph like a flock dost guide, 
 Between the cherubims dost dwell. 
 
 Ixxxix. 1. From age to age I will record 
 
 The truth and mercy of the Lord. 
 His faithfulness as firmly stands, 
 As heaven establish'd by His hands. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 73 
 
 Psalm 
 
 xciv. 1. God, to whom revenge belongs. 
 
 \cv. 1. Come, let us sing Jehovah's praise, 
 And in His name rejoice : 
 To our salvation's Rock we '11 raise, 
 In sacred hynins, our voice. 
 
 c. 1. Ye nations of the earth, rejoice. 
 
 civ. 1 . My soul, thy great Creator praise, 
 When cloth 'd in His celestial rays, 
 He in full majesty appears, 
 And like a robe His glory wears. 
 
 2. The skies are for His curtains spread, 
 Th' unmthom'd deep He makes His bed. 
 The clouds are His triumphant char, 
 The winds His fleeing coursers are. 
 
 3. Angels whom His own breath inspires,, 
 His ministers, are flaming- fires : 
 
 The earth's foundations by His hand 
 Are pois'd, and shall for ever stand. 
 
 7. God from His cloudy cistern pours 
 On the parch'd earth inriching show'rs. 
 
 End. But I shall to my Lord and King 
 Eternal Hallelujahs sing. 
 
 cv. 1. Give thanks to God, invoke His name. 
 
 cxxiv. 1. Had not the Lord maintain'd our side. 
 
 cxlii. 3. My soul was overwhelm'd with woe, 
 But Thou my paths didst know. 
 
74 THE POET OF 
 
 WATTS. 
 
 Psalm 
 xxiii. 1. My shepherd is the living Lord. 
 
 Ixxx. 1. Great Shepherd of thine Israel, 
 
 Who didst between the cherubs dwell. 
 
 lxxxix. 1. For ever shall my song record 
 
 The truth and mercy of the Lord ; 
 
 Mercy and truth for ever stand, 
 
 Like heaven, established by His hand. 
 
 xciv. 1. God, to whom revenge belongs. 
 
 xcv. 1. Sing to the Lord Jehovah's name, 
 And in His strength rejoice; 
 When His salvation is our theme, 
 Exalted be our voice. 
 
 c. 1. Ye nations round the earth, rejoice. 
 
 civ. 1. My soul, thy great Creator praise, 
 When, cloth'd in His celestial rays, 
 He in full majesty appears, 
 And, like a robe, His glory wears. 
 
 2. The heavens are for His curtains spread ; 
 Th' unfathom'd deep He makes His bed ; 
 Clouds are His chariot, when He flies 
 On winged storms across the skies. 
 
 3. Angels, whom His own breath inspires, 
 His ministers, are flaming fires. 
 
 The world's foundations by His hand 
 Are pois'd, and shall for ever stand. 
 
THE 8AKCTUABY. 75 
 
 Psalm 
 civ. 7. God, from His cloudy cistern, pours 
 
 On the parch'd earth enriching show'rs. 
 
 End. I to my God, my heavenly King, 
 Immortal Hallelujahs sing. 
 
 cv. 1. Give thanks to God, invoke His name. 
 
 cxxiv. 1. Had not the Lord maintain'd our side. 
 
 cxlii. 3. My soul was overwhelm'd with woes, 
 My heart began to break. 
 
 Denham's Version is, upon the whole, more 
 vigorous than polished. Sir John states, in his 
 Preface, that he has "kept as near as possible to 
 the letter, and never willingly varied from the 
 sense, unless it be to make it plainer to English 
 ears than the original." He has, in fact, inter- 
 woven the phraseology of our Authorized Trans- 
 lations of the Psalter to so great an extent, that, 
 taking his Version as a whole, it is even in this 
 respect superior to Eouse's Version, the most 
 literal of all, while it is free from those shifts 
 and contrivances which deform the metre of the 
 Scotch Psalms. He reluctantly confined himself 
 to the measures to which the tunes then in use 
 were adapted. As a proof of his superior terse- 
 
76 THE POET OF 
 
 ness and skill in versification, it is sufficient to 
 state, that, in his version of Psalm cii., lie has 
 given, in sixty lines of common metre, all of 
 them rhymed, what Brady and Tate, rhyming 
 only half their lines, have spun out into a hun- 
 dred and four. It is unaccountable, that Den- 
 ham's Version should not have been preferred 
 by the Church of England to the " New Ver- 
 sion," as it is still called; and scarcely less sur- 
 prising, that it should not have been adopted by 
 the Church of Scotland, as entitled to preference 
 over that of Rouse, even in point of fidelity. 
 u I resign to Sir John Denham," says Dr. 
 Watts in his Preface, " the honour of the best 
 poet, if he had given his genius but a just 
 liberty ; yet, his work will ever shine brightest 
 among those that have confined themselves to a 
 mere translation. But that close confinement 
 has often forbid the freedom and glory of verse, 
 and, by cramping his sense, has rendered it 
 sometimes too obscure for a plain reader and the 
 public worship, even though we lived in the 
 days of David and Judaism. These inconve- 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 77 
 
 niences he himself suspects and fears in the 
 Preface."* 
 
 It is singular, that Dr. Watts should have 
 made no reference to Sandys's Version, which 
 Mr. Montgomery justly pronounces u incompar- 
 ably the most poetical Version of the Psalms in 
 the English language." We can scarcely sup- 
 pose him to have been unacquainted with it, or 
 not to have appreciated its merit; but his rea- 
 son may have been, that comparatively few of 
 the Psalms in that Version are in the metres to 
 which the psalm-tunes in use were set, and to 
 which, therefore, Dr. Watts confined himself. 
 Many of Sandys's happiest compositions are in 
 
 * Dr. Watts would natural^ be an admirer of " majestic Den- 
 ham," (as Pope styles him,) for his own taste was formed very 
 much on the same model. He " aimed,' 1 he tells us in the Preface 
 to his Hymns, " at ease of numbers and smoothness of sound, and 
 endeavoured to make the sense plain and obvious. If the verse 
 appears so gentle and flowing as to incur the censure of feebleness, 
 I may honestly affirm, that sometimes it cost me much labour to 
 make it so." These expressions recall Denham's often cited lines 
 on Father Thames : — 
 
 " Though deep, yet clear ; though gentle, yet not dull ; 
 Strong without rage, without o'erflowing fuU." 
 
78 THE POET OF 
 
 trochaic verse, the most graceful and flexible of 
 all English measures, used by Dr. Watts him- 
 self in his Lyrics, but strangely neglected in our 
 Psalmody, although adapted to some of the most 
 beautiful strains of simple melody, and echo- 
 ing the rhythm of the hymns of the Ancient 
 Church.* 
 
 Next to Sandys and Denham, in poetical 
 merit, may fairly rank u Luke Milbourne, a Pres- 
 byter of the Church of England." His u Psalms 
 of David in English Metre," published in 1698, 
 is now as rare a volume as Sir John Denham's. 
 The work is inscribed, in a flowery " Epistle 
 Dedicatory," to His Highness the Duke of 
 Gloucester. Then follows a Preface, addressed 
 "To the Most Reverend Fathers in God the 
 Archbishops, the Right Reverend the Bishops, 
 and the Reverend Clergy of Great Britain and 
 Ireland," which contains a Defence of Psalmody, 
 with much curious information respecting pre- 
 vious metrical translations of the Psalms. 
 
 * A portion of Sandys's noble xcii Ild Psalm, in this measure, is 
 given in the Cong. Hymn-Book, No. 35. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 79 
 
 il Though/' says Milbourne, u the great Sir 
 Philip Sydney translated the whole Book of 
 Psalms into rhyme ; and the pious Bishop Hall, 
 and the renowned Lord Bacon, and it may be 
 some others, turned several particular Psalms 
 into verse, more correct, doubtless, than the for- 
 mer ; yet, there never was any motion towards 
 
 introducing them into churches The 
 
 standard of our English language having been 
 so much altered of late, and Poetry especially 
 having reached its utmost height, by that noble 
 genius appearing in the writings of Sir John 
 Denham, Mr. Waller, and Mr. Cowley, and some 
 later Authors, the roughness and incorrectness 
 of the Ancient Version has appeared the more 
 evident and notorious : the observation of which 
 made Mr. Sandys, Mr. May, Mr. Barnaby, 
 Bishop King, Mr. Barton, Sir John Denham 
 himself, Mr. Smith, Mr. Goodridge, Dr. Patrick, 
 Dr. Woodford, and Dr. Ford, and now very 
 lately Mr. Brady and Mr. Tate, make their seve- 
 ral Translations with different success. Mr. 
 Barnaby's Book and Mr. May's Essay, I have not 
 
80 THE POET OF 
 
 seen. Mr. Sandys's and the Eev. Dr. Wood- 
 ford's are above our ordinary musick: the last 
 especially, whose Author seems to breathe with 
 David's spirit, and to aspire to raptures almost 
 equal with that Divine Psalmist; and whose 
 steps are as nobly followed by that masculine 
 poet, as well as painter, the incomparable Mrs. 
 Beal. Mr. Barton's Version is generally appo- 
 site enough to the Text, but exalted little above 
 the Old. Sir John Denham's I have not seen, 
 but find the admirable Dr. Woodford (a sufficient 
 judge) giving them a noble and, doubtless, a 
 deserved character. That of the Right Reve- 
 rend Bishop of Chichester labours under the 
 unhappy choice of his rhyme (as others have 
 observed) so far as to render that otherwise ex- 
 cellent work ungrateful to the ear. Mr. Smith is 
 very gay, and perhaps too affected, if the Rev- 
 erend Dr. Patrick may be judge, whose own is 
 pious indeed, and generally plain, but an almost 
 unpoetical translation of the most exalted poetry. 
 For Mr. Brady's and Mr. Tate's, since they are 
 now publishing a new and corrected edition of 
 
TIIE SANCTUARY. 81 
 
 their Translation, I shall pass no judgment on 
 that work, whose errors and excellencies I must 
 be content to be ignorant of till it is published. 
 Among those which I have hitherto seen, which 
 are fitted to common tunes, the best, the most 
 elaborate, and the most musical, is that of Dr. 
 Ford; that reverend person having a truly 
 poetical genius, attended with great and solid 
 learning and exemplary piety ; excellent quali- 
 ties for a complete paraphrast. Nor ought Mr. 
 Goodridge, for his zeal and piety in promoting 
 more correct church-music, to be passed with- 
 out a just commendation." 
 
 Of the several Versions here enumerated as 
 then extant, together with the learned Presby- 
 ter's own, Tate and Brady's is the only one that 
 has obtained ecclesiastical sanction, (certainly not 
 for any superior merit,) or that is now even re- 
 membered. Mr. Milbourne appears to have had 
 no mean opinion of his own performance ; and 
 the praise is due to him, of having not scrupled 
 to u adhere to those applications made of several 
 passages by the inspired penmen of the New 
 
82 THE POET OF 
 
 Testament, whom to quit for over-nice and 
 Socinianizing critics/' were " absurd and danger- 
 ous." The following specimens will give a fair 
 idea of his versification, and of his occasional 
 application of passages in the Psalms to Evan- 
 gelical use. 
 
 PSALM VIII th . 
 
 " When I survey the never-resting skies, 
 
 Whose moving arch Thy curious fingers spread, 
 When to the changing moon I raise my eyes, 
 The stars with inexhausted brightness fed : 
 
 " Lord, what 's poor man, or man's polluted race, 
 So pitied, yet so kindly owned by Thee ? 
 How could he hope for such unbounded grace, 
 That for his sake God should incarnate be ? 
 
 " Yet God, for our loved sakes, our nature took, 
 Beneath himself, beneath his angels found : 
 Tho' God-like beauties graced his heavenly look, 
 His sacred head majestic glories crowned.'" 
 
 His xcix th Psalm opens boldly : — 
 
 " Christ reigns ! Let all the people round 
 Beneath his empire quake ! 
 He sits above the cherubs, crowned : 
 Let earth's foundations shake. 1 ' 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 83 
 
 The XIV th thus begins : — 
 
 " Touched with a beam of love divine, 
 My heart, my head, my tongue combine 
 
 To bless the world's Incarnate King. 
 No nimble penman's flying hand 
 More swiftly can his quill command, 
 
 Than I my Saviour's glory sing." 
 
 The first verse of the lxv th recalls Dr. Watts's 
 Common-metre version, but there is no very 
 close resemblance. 
 
 "Praise, Lord, in Sion waits for Thee; 
 
 To Thee our holy vows we pay. 
 
 Thou hearst us; whence, in misery, 
 
 To Thee the suppliant world shall pray." 
 
 In the xlii nd Psalm, Milbourne has succeeded 
 better than most metrical translators, and has 
 not been improved upon by Watts himself. His 
 version of the cxxi st is also terse and happy. 
 
 " Up to the hills I lift my eyes, 
 
 From whence my aids descend : 
 The Lord who made the earth and skies, 
 
 Will sure assistance send. 
 He'll fix thy foot secure; no sleep 
 
 Thy watchman can surprise : 
 That God who Israel safely keeps, 
 
 Ne'er shuts his wakeful eyes." 
 
84 THE POET OF 
 
 In the xxiii rd Psalm, one of the most difficult, 
 on account of its simple beauty, Milbourne has 
 wholly failed ; and Watts has left all preceding 
 paraphrasts far behind. 
 
 Dr. Woodford's " Paraphrase," which Mr. 
 Milbourne describes as " above our ordinary 
 music," appears to have had numerous admirers, 
 since it had reached a second edition in 1678, 
 in 8vo. ; (the first being in 4to. ;) and, prefixed to 
 it are some high-flown complimentary stanzas to 
 the Author, by James Gardiner, followed with a 
 " Pindaric Ode" in eulogy of the performance, 
 from Thomas Flatman. It is also spoken of 
 with commendation by Sir John Denham. As a 
 poet, Dr. Woodford well deserved a place in the 
 "Dunciad." His paraphrase is diffuse, tumid, 
 and insipid. Of his taste and piety, the profane 
 misapplication of portions of the Psalms to the 
 purpose of courtly sycophancy, is a sufficient indi- 
 cation. " The xviii., 1., lxviii., and civ.," he says, 
 " I have done after Mr. Cowley's Pindaric way. 
 .... The xxi. and lxxii., I have, with very 
 little straining of the Text, brought down to our 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 85 
 
 times ; and without offence to any, I hope, in 
 the first, paralleled His Majesty's sufferings 
 with those of David ; in the other, the happi- 
 ness and glory of his kingdom with that of 
 Solomon." We almost scruple to transcribe a 
 specimen of these horrible parodies. 
 
 PSALM XXI st . 
 
 " Great God, who wonders for our land hast done, 
 And sav'd our King, whom Thou mad'st so, 
 Again hast set him on the throne, 
 And made his Father's foes before him bow; 
 Our King shall in Thy strength rejoice, 
 That he was Thine, as well as his own people's choice ! 
 
 " Hence Thou hast brought him, and so fixt him here, 
 
 All say his power is most like Thine ; 
 
 The honours Thou has made him bear, 
 Have rendered him and monarchy divine, 
 
 That for their Kings our sons shall wish 
 Like him they all may be, and all their reigns like his." 
 
 Still more execrable is the profane accommo- 
 dation of the lxxii nd Psalm. Surely nothing less 
 than a mitre could have been a due reward of 
 his bombastic adulation. Yet is this Version, 
 with unaccountable lack of judgment or of im- 
 
86 THE POET OF 
 
 partiality, preferred by Sir John Denham to that 
 of Sandys. In the Preface to his own work, 
 Denham says : " Mr. Sandys is more musical, in 
 some respects, than Dr. Woodford, but as short 
 of him in depth as he is in length ; shorter than 
 he is in his stanzas, but much shorter in his 
 fancy, and more alien to the text. For Dr. 
 Woodford's length is only in order to fluency 
 and roundness of expression, and the better to 
 fit his paraphrase for private meditation and de- 
 light — which I would not willingly have lost. 
 But Mr. Sandys's brevity makes him now and 
 then irregular, obscure, and without that agree- 
 able taste which becomes so weighty an argu- 
 ment." This unworthy piece of criticism seems 
 to have been dictated by pique or some sinister 
 motive ; since, in point of fidelity, as well as in 
 all the other essentials to which reference is 
 made in this disparaging estimate, Sandys's 
 Version has a decided advantage over Denham's 
 own. But it would appear from Mr. Milbourne's 
 Preface, that Dr. Woodford had given a " noble 
 character" to Sir John's Version; and this may 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 87 
 
 partly explain the praise bestowed by the latter 
 upon the Doctor's turgid Paraphrase. 
 
 In the year in which Denham died. Miles 
 Smyth, Secretary to Archbishop Sheldon, pub- 
 lished the " Psalms of King David, paraphrased 
 and turned into English verse, according to the 
 common metre as they are usually sung in parish 
 churches." This is, it may be presumed, the 
 " very gay and perhaps too affected" translation 
 by u Mr. Smith," referred to by Mr. Milboume. 
 In his Preface, the Author tells us, that, con- 
 sidering the divine matter and the sublime 
 poetry of the Psalms, he " could not but blush 
 to think, how that metre in which our parochial 
 churches sing them, had disguised so eminent 
 a part of Holy Writ." The Version, according 
 to Mr. Holland,* " exhibits a firm and ready 
 hand, with not a few touches of taste and deli- 
 cacy, scarcely to have been expected from so 
 comparatively obscure a bard." 
 
 Dr. Patrick's " unpoetical translation," like 
 Rouse's, Barton's, and Baxter's, was formed on 
 
 * See Holland's " Psalmists of Britain." 
 
88 THE POET OF 
 
 the principle of keeping as close to the English 
 Translation as the rude metre will admit of; 
 and on this account, it appears to have found 
 favour among many Nonconformist ministers. 
 Among others, the eminent but eccentric Brad- 
 bury continued to use Patrick's Version after 
 the appearance of Dr. Watts' s Psalms and 
 Hymns, which he bitterly inveighed against 
 as an u attempt to rival it with the Psalmist." * 
 Occasionally, indeed, Milbourne and Darby give 
 u an evangelic turn to the Hebrew sense," and 
 Dr. Patrick "hath gone much beyond them in 
 this respect," says Dr. Watts : " this is the 
 thing that hath introduced him into the favour 
 of so many religious assemblies." f But the 
 very charge of presumption brought against 
 Dr. Watts, and the unintelligent outcry raised 
 against his accommodating the language of 
 David to Christian worship, sufficiently prove, 
 
 * An unlucky clerk, having, on one occasion, when Bradbury 
 was the preacher, given out one of Dr. Watts's stanzas, was 
 stopped by his interposing with " Let us have none of Mr. 
 Watts's whims." (Milner's " Life," p. 395.) 
 
 + Preface to first edition. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 89 
 
 that u the step from Patrick to Watts, was 
 indeed a leap over many a gulf between." 
 
 Whatever Dr. Watts might borrow from his 
 predecessors, he stands alone as the Evangelical 
 Psalmist. His Version is, indeed, the most 
 instructive commentary upon the Psalms, that 
 Ave possess. He appears to have united more 
 of the qualifications of a translator than most 
 of those who have undertaken the task ; and no 
 expositor, perhaps, has been, on the whole, so 
 happy in catching the spirit of the text.* Among 
 the most striking and appropriate of his adap- 
 tations of the Psalms to Christian worship, may 
 be specified, — Psalm ii., s. M., " Maker and Sove- 
 reign Lord," — in which, with great propriety, 
 Our Lord is spoken of as having ascended on 
 high, and claimed to rule the earth; — Psalm 
 viii., c. M., " Lord, our Lord, how wondrous 
 great ! " — one of the finest Christian hymns in 
 
 * It is a lamentable instance of the influence of narrow secta- 
 rian prejudices upon a good man, that Bishop Home has not 
 noticed Dr. Watts's Version, though so much to his purpose; 
 yet, he has cited the florid and stately paraphrases of Merrick 
 and Ogilvie. 
 
90 THE POET OF 
 
 our language; — Psalm xxiv. (from verse 5), 
 applied to Our Lord's Ascension ; — Psalm xxxii., 
 " Blest is the man, for ever blest;" — the ver- 
 sions of Psalms xl., xlv., xlvii. ; — Psalm xlviii., 
 " Lord, when Thou didst ascend on high;" — 
 Psalm lxxi., u My Saviour, my Almighty 
 Friend;" — Psalm lxxii., "Jesus shall reign 
 where'er the sun ; " — Psalm lxxxv., " Salvation 
 is for ever nigh ; " — the second version of Psalm 
 xcvi., beginning, " Let all the earth their voices 
 raise;" — the versions of Psalms xcvii. and 
 xcviii., especially the one beginning, "Joy to 
 the world, The Lord is come ; " — and those of 
 Psalms cxviii., cxxxii., cxxxvi., and cl.* The 
 principle of accommodation, the venerable Psal- 
 modist thus explains and vindicates in the 
 original Preface to his Psalms : — u Where the 
 original runs in the form of prophecy concerning 
 Christ and his salvation, I have given an his- 
 torical turn to the sense: there is no necessity 
 
 * It will be observed, that these are referred to not as the best, 
 though many of them might be so characterized, but as specimens 
 of felicitous adaptation to Christian psalmody. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 91 
 
 that we should always sing in the obscure and 
 doubtful style of prediction, when the things 
 foretold are brought into open light by a full 
 accomplishment. When the Writers of the 
 New Testament have cited or alluded to any 
 part of the Psalms, I have often indulged the 
 liberty of paraphrase according to the words of 
 Christ or his Apostles. And surely this may 
 be esteemed the word of God still, though bor- 
 rowed from several parts of the Holy Scripture. 
 Where the Psalmist describes religion by the 
 fear of God, I have often joined faith and love 
 to it. Where he speaks of the pardon of sin 
 through the mercies of God, I have added the 
 merits of a Saviour. Where he talks of sacri- 
 ficing goats or bullocks, I rather choose to 
 mention the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of 
 God. When he attends the ark with shouting 
 into Zion, I sing the ascension of my Saviour 
 into heaven, or his presence in his Church on 
 earth. Where he promises abundance of wealth, 
 honour, and long life, I have changed some of 
 these typical blessings for grace, glory, and 
 
92 THE POET OF 
 
 life eternal, which are brought to light by the 
 Gospel, and promised in the New Testament. 
 And I am fully satisfied, that more honour is 
 done to Our Blessed Saviour, by speaking his 
 name, his graces and actions, in his own lan- 
 guage, according to the brighter discoveries he 
 hath now made, than by going back again to 
 the Jewish forms of worship and the language 
 of types and figures." 
 
 That the learned and pious Author should 
 have deemed it necessary to use the language 
 of apology, may now appear surprising to per- 
 sons long accustomed to regard his compositions 
 as the mother language of devotion. Yet, as 
 has been already remarked, not only was this 
 accommodation of the Psalms to Christian wor- 
 ship resented when it was a novelty, but the prin- 
 ciple is still practically controverted. Metrical 
 Versions are preferred, which, by their literal 
 rendering of the text, exclude every Evangelical 
 sentiment or expression. Surely this must be 
 highly detrimental to the tone of devout feeling. 
 To suppose that associated Christians are not 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 93 
 
 powerfully influenced by the character of their 
 social worship, would be to contradict all expe- 
 rience. There can be no room to doubt, that 
 Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns have exerted 
 a very salutary influence in keeping alive the 
 flame of Evangelical piety in Congregational 
 churches, amid the wide-spread declension from 
 orthodoxy and frigid formalism of the eigh- 
 teenth century. The observations of a pro- 
 found, though eccentric and mystical Christian 
 philosopher on this point, deserve to be cited. 
 u I almost think," says Alexander Knox, u that 
 he (Dr. Watts) was providentially appointed 
 to furnish the revived movement of associated 
 piety which Divine wisdom foresaw would take 
 place in England, in the eighteenth century, 
 with an unexampled stock of materials for that 
 department (which alone needed to be so pro- 
 vided for) of their joint wvrshijh Examine his 
 poetry, and you will see, that, though converse 
 with God in solitude is not absolutely over- 
 looked, the sheet-anchor is what he calls, the 
 Sanctuary. In particular in the Psalms, you 
 
94 THE POET OF 
 
 find him generally applying to Christian assem- 
 blies, what David said of the Temple service ; 
 as if public ordinances occupied the same su- 
 preme place in the inward and spiritual, as in 
 the outward and carnal dispensation." * This, to 
 the learned mystic, appeared u a semi-Judaism, 
 but a semi-Judaism necessary for the existing 
 circumstances." Under what circumstances can 
 it ever become less necessary to cherish this 
 love of the Sanctuary, — of ordinances which are 
 no u carnal" ritual, but a Xoyt/cr) Xarpda — a real 
 and spiritual worship ? j" 
 
 The spread of Arian principles among the 
 Presbyterian Dissenters of the last century, 
 Mr. Knox would fain ascribe to their not being 
 
 * Knox's " Remains," vol. i., p. 124. That Dr. Watts did not 
 overlook the " nearest and blessedest approach to God on this 
 earth, in the deep privacy of devotion," is sufficiently evinced by 
 such composition as Hyrnns ci. and cxxii. of Book ii. 
 
 *j" The principle which distinguishes the Levitical economy from 
 the Evangelical dispensation, is shown by Mr. Binney to have an 
 important bearing upon the character of Psalmody. " While, in 
 the Jewish Church, it was official and representative, it is to be in 
 the Christian Church, emphatically, Congregational" (" Service 
 of Song," pp. 68—73.) 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 95 
 
 accustomed to the recitation of the Liturgy. 
 Yet, he is compelled to admit, that the Esta- 
 blishment did not preserve its native children 
 from becoming Arians or Socinians ; and the 
 fact is, that modern Arianism sprang up within 
 the pale of the Establishment, whence the con- 
 tagion spread to the Academies of the Dissenters. 
 It was, indeed, the natural product of the Armi- 
 nian divinity of the Church of England school ; 
 the next stage of doctrinal declension from the 
 faith of the Reformers, in that negative process 
 which gradually strips Christianity of all that 
 cannot be made to square with the scanty creed 
 of the philosophic Rationalist.* Without deny- 
 ing that the Liturgy of the Church of England 
 has a tendency to preserve and promote a formal 
 orthodoxy, we must regard the almost total dis- 
 appearance of Evangelical preaching within the 
 Established Church at the period alluded to, as 
 a sufficient proof that the recitation of a Liturgy 
 is no effectual safeguard of piety. The want of 
 
 * See Eclectic Review, 3rd Series, vol. iii., p. 80. (Knox's 
 " Remains.") 
 
96 THE POET OF 
 
 it, therefore, affords no adequate explanation of 
 the melancholy phenomenon presented in the de- 
 clension of religious communities from the faith 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 In the " Songs of the Church," however, we 
 have a much more powerful preservative against 
 mere formalism on the one hand, or doctrinal 
 declension on the other. The variety and choice 
 of which they admit, the pleasure derived from 
 uniting in psalmody, the excitement it furnishes 
 to the social feelings as well as to devout emo- 
 tions, and the expression of personal experi- 
 ence in many of these compositions, all combine 
 to render this part of public worship conducive 
 to the maintenance of what may be termed the 
 corporate life in our religious assemblies, as well 
 as to entwine the sacred themes with the affec- 
 tions and with the best associations of the 
 mind. * Not only so, but the Songs of the 
 Sanctuary are at the same time those of the 
 
 * " It is one of the advantages of devotional singing," observes 
 Southey, "that they who bear a part in it, affect themselves.'" 
 (" Life of Watts," p. lxxii.) 
 
THE BANCTUABY. 97 
 
 home circle; are sung in the family; are taught 
 by the mother to her children; are the aid and 
 theme of private meditation, the solace of the 
 hour of sickness or of sorrow, and the last 
 utterance of the dying saint. So long, there- 
 fore, as the vital elements of the Evangelical 
 faith are embalmed in our metrical liturgy, we 
 have the best security that no manifest depar- 
 ture from the truth will gain ground among our 
 religious teachers. Although the pulpit may 
 contradict the reading-desk, it will not long be 
 in dissonance with the creed of the hymn-book ; 
 at least where the people have any voice in the 
 choice of their pastors and teachers. 
 
 It has already been mentioned, that, in the 
 Church of the United Brethren, the singing of 
 hymns constitutes a very principal part of their 
 daily worship. The Hymn-Book is, among the 
 Brethren, at once a manual of devotion and 
 religious instruction, a symbol of unity, and a 
 very principal means of preserving the distinc- 
 tive characteristics of the Society. Hence, the 
 earnest wish expressed, in the Preface to their 
 
 H 
 
98 THE POET OF 
 
 Tune-Book, " that, scattered as we are in all 
 parts of the world, we may nevertheless be per- 
 fectly uniform also in this part of our worship." 
 Mr. Wesley, who borrowed much of his system 
 of discipline from the Moravian Church, followed 
 their example in making singing an essential 
 part of the devotional service in his chapels ; 
 and the Wesleyan Hymn-Book, which he pre- 
 pared with the aid of his brother Charles, con- 
 tains a number of hymns translated from the 
 German hymnology.* As a symbol of Method- 
 
 * Among these are the following : — 
 
 " High on his everlasting throne." (Moravian Hymn-Book, 868.) 
 
 " Thou hidden love of God, whose height." — Gerhard Tersteegen. 
 
 " Thee will I love, my strength, my tower." — Breithaupt. 
 
 " Shall I for fear of feeble man." — Gerhard Tersteegen. 
 
 " Thou who earnest from above." 
 
 " Now I have found the ground whereon." — Count Zinzendorf. 
 
 " My soul before Thee prostrate lies." 
 
 " Holy Lamb, who thee receive." — Paul Gerhard. 
 
 u Lo God is here, let us adore." — Gerhard Tersteegen. 
 
 "Ye virgin souls arise." 
 
 " Give to the winds thy fears." — Paul Gerhard. 
 
 " Jesus, thy blood and righteousness." — Zinzendorf. 
 
 Also, Hymns 23, 26, 38, 133, 196, 240, 241, 338, 339, 353, 
 373, 431, 492, 586, 610, 673; total, 28. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. !>;> 
 
 ism and a Conncxional band of unity, the 
 Hymn-Book occupies a scarcely less important 
 place in the constitution and religious services 
 of the Wesleyan Methodists, than the Moravian 
 Hymn-Book does in the Brethren's congrega- 
 tions. " Every denomination of Christians/' 
 remarks Mr. Montgomery, in apologizing for 
 what may appear objectionable in the latter, 
 u has a language peculiar to itself, or rather a 
 peculiar dialect of the mother tongue of all 
 Christians, in which the most intelligible and 
 acceptable conveyance of evangelical truths may 
 be made to its own members." " As the Poet 
 of Methodism, Charles Wesley has sung the 
 doctrines of the Gospel as they are expounded 
 among that people, dwelling especially on the 
 personal appropriation of the words of eternal 
 life to the sinner or the saint, as the test of his 
 actual state before God, and admitting nothing 
 less than the full assurance of faith as the privi- 
 lege of believers." * Dr. Watts, on the contrary. 
 the same competent and impartial critic remarks, 
 
 * Preface to the " Christian Palmist" 
 
100 THE POET OF 
 
 " though a conscientious Dissenter, is so entirely 
 catholic in his hymns, that it cannot be dis- 
 covered from any of these, that he belonged 
 to any particular sect. Hence, happily for his 
 fame, or, rather, it ought to be said, happily for 
 the Church of Christ, portions of his Psalms 
 and Hymns have been adopted in most places 
 of worship where congregational singing pre- 
 vails."* It has even been urged in unjust dis- 
 paragement of Dr. Watts's compositions, that, 
 by slight alterations, they have found admis- 
 sion into Socinian Collections. The same may 
 be said, however, of the hymns of Luther, of 
 Cowper, and of other Evangelical hymn- writers ; 
 and except as regards the Psalms of Dr. Watts, 
 the alterations are not slight which could render 
 his compositions compatible with the Socinian 
 or Unitarian creed. On the contrary, the most 
 serious theological objection to Dr. Watts's 
 Hymns, is, that (as his friend the celebrated 
 Henry Grove is stated to have pointed out 
 
 * Sixty-six of Watts's compositions are now included in the 
 Wesleyan Hymn-Book. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 101 
 
 to him) several of the Hymns lay the stress of 
 our redemption upon the compassion of Christ, 
 rather than on the love of The Father who 
 gave His Only-Beloved Son, "that whosoever 
 believe th on Him should have everlasting life."* 
 Yet this exceptionable phraseology is in other 
 Hymns redeemed by the unambiguous ascrip- 
 tion of salvation to the Eternal love of God. 
 
 With reference to an opposite fault that has 
 been found with some of the Hymns, that ex- 
 pressions occur which seem to affirm too exclu- 
 sively the humanity of Christ, the observation 
 of Mr. Knox claims notice; that Protestant 
 Dissenters are generally disposed to il fix their 
 views on the mediatory part of the Christian 
 dispensation," — to be " fond of thinking of ' God 
 manifest in the flesh,' rather than of God as a 
 spirit/' — to "prefer dwelling on the human 
 
 * It is stated by the Rev. S. Palmer, on the authority of the 
 Rev. Dr. Amory, that Dr. Watts expressed his willingness to 
 make the alterations suggested, but that he had parted with the 
 copyright, and could scarcely claim a right to make alterations 
 that might injure the sale. Mr. Milner has carefully investigated 
 the whole story, " Life of Watts," pp. 280—289. 
 
102 THE POET OF 
 
 nature of Christ, rather than on his Divine." 
 "Therefore," he remarks, " they generally use 
 the name Jesus without any honourable addition, 
 (a thing rarely done by the Apostolic writers in 
 their Epistles,) rather than those appellations 
 which designate him as the Lord of Heaven and 
 Earth."* This charge comes strangely from an 
 Anglican mystic, inasmuch as the form of invo- 
 cation objected to might be shown to have been 
 borrowed from the Romish pietists, and to be- 
 long to the language of the convent, rather than 
 of the Sanctuary. But, so far from dwelling too 
 much on the human nature of Christ, orthodox 
 Protestants may be more justly charged with 
 sometimes giving an advantage to the deniers of 
 Our Lord's divinity, by the too prevalent error 
 of merging the distinct apprehension of His per- 
 son, in abstract notions relating to His essential 
 Godhead.| It is one excellence of the theology 
 
 * Knox's " Remains," vol. i., p. 125. 
 
 + " Ita vere a quibusdam dictum est, a Christo homine nos 
 deduct ad Christum Deum." (Calvin, on John xx. 28.) It was 
 when Thomas had had palpable demonstration of the "bodily resur- 
 rection of Christ, that he exclaimed with rapture, " My Lord and 
 my God!" 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 103 
 
 of the Psalms and Hymns, that it is full and 
 explicit upon the mediatorial office and priest- 
 hood of Christ ; (a point upon which the Liturgy 
 of the Church of England and the Romish ser- 
 vice-books are seriously defective ;) and that the 
 way of access to the Throne of Grace, and the 
 Advocacy of our Great High Priest, are kept 
 before the mind of the worshipper, as a ground 
 of confidence and an incentive to gratitude, yet, 
 at the same time, a check to presumption and 
 fanaticism. 
 
 Such, then, substantially, is the Scriptural 
 theology which the use of Watts's Psalms and 
 Hymns has been instrumental in preserving 
 in our churches, by embalming it in our public 
 devotion ; and we surely cannot be mistaken 
 in ascribing to the new life thrown into our 
 psalmody, and to the evangelical character im- 
 pressed upon our worship, by his Book, much of 
 the stedfast faith and sober piety which have 
 honourably characterized the Congregational 
 Denomination. Still, there is nothing in his 
 compositions to foster sectarianism. " I have 
 
104 THE POET OF 
 
 avoided/' says Dr. Watts, in the Preface to his 
 Hymns, "the more obscure and controverted 
 points of Christianity, that we might all obey 
 the direction of the word of God, and * sing his 
 praises with understanding.' (Psalm xlvii. 7.) 
 The contentions and distinguishing words of 
 sects and parties are excluded, that whole assem- 
 blies might assist at the harmony, and different 
 churches join in the same worship without 
 offence." Sensible, at the same time, that some 
 expressions might be unpleasing, he suggests, 
 that he who leads the worship might substitute a 
 better; "for, blessed be God, we are not confined 
 to the words of any man in our public solemni- 
 ties." No man would have rejoiced more sincerely 
 than Dr. Watts himself, that, since his day, our 
 English hymnology has been enriched with so 
 large an accession to the general stock, in every 
 variety of mode, metre, and subject, that, if our 
 obligations to him are not likely to be forgotten, 
 there is yet some danger lest an injustice to 
 his memory, and an injury to our own religious 
 interests, should result from an undue preference 
 
THE SANCTUARY, 105 
 
 for novelty or variety in our public worship. 
 Amid all this opulence of devotional poetry, and 
 of metrical compositions which are instructive 
 and edifying, if not rising into poetry, there 
 remains a comparative paucity of psalms of 
 adoration and songs of praise ; and " in his own 
 peculiar walk, as the Poet of the Sanctuary, Dr. 
 Watts still stands almost alone. 7 '* 
 
 And here this Memoir might end, but that it 
 has been thought proper to advert to those fur- 
 ther services which Dr. Watts rendered to his 
 generation and to posterity by his other labours, 
 and by his saintly example. 
 
 * Preface to Cong. Hymn- Book. 
 
106 THE POET OF 
 
 PART III. 
 
 In an Essay upon the merits and services of 
 Dr. Watts, it would be an inexcusable omission, 
 not to notice his " Divine and Moral Songs for 
 the Use of Children." This invaluable little 
 work was first published about 1720, and 
 obtained almost immediately a popularity as 
 unwonted as permanent. By their exquisite 
 simplicity and felicitous adaptation to the capa- 
 cities of children, these " Songs" have com- 
 manded the admiration of the critic,* while they 
 have, by common consent, been almost univer- 
 sally adopted in pious families, and in Sabbath 
 and other schools, among the earliest lessons of 
 
 * The only publication approaching to them in simplicity and 
 poetical merit, is the almost equally popular " Hymns for Infant 
 Minds," by Mrs. Gilbert and her sister Jane Taylor. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 107 
 
 infancy. On their appearance, edition followed 
 edition, both in England and in America. Up- 
 wards of thirty editions, it is said, are now 
 regularly kept in print in this country; and 
 upon a moderate computation, the annual ave- 
 rage sale cannot be less than from 80,000 to 
 100,000.* 
 
 Nor was this the only publication in which 
 Dr. Watts, to use Dr. Johnson's language of eu- 
 logy, "for children, condescended to lay aside the 
 scholar, the philosopher, and the w^it, to write 
 systems of instruction adapted to their wants 
 and capacities, from the dawn of reason through 
 its gradations of advance in the morning of life." 
 The interest which Dr. Watts took in the ad- 
 vancement of Education w^as, indeed, a marked 
 and honourable feature of his character. No 
 other individual, probably, ever contributed so 
 much by his writings to the improvement of his 
 age in this respect. The institution of a charity- 
 school at Cheshunt, under the patronage of the 
 Abneys, led to his drawing up, in 1720, his 
 
 * Milner's " Life of Watts," p. 372. 
 
108 THE POET OF 
 
 "Art of Reading and Writing English." His 
 Treatise on Logic, originally composed for the 
 use of his pupil, young Hartopp, was pub- 
 lished in 1724, and was soon adopted as a text- 
 book in the Dissenting Academies. It was also 
 introduced into the Universities, and therefore, 
 says Dr. Johnson, " wants no private recom- 
 mendation." In 1725, Dr. Watts put forth his 
 " Knowledge of the Heavens and the Earth made 
 Easy;" "Prayers composed for the Use and 
 Imitation of Children;" and, "A Discourse on 
 the Education of Children and Youth," — a 
 manual for parental guidance. In 1728, he 
 published an " Essay towards the Encourage- 
 ment of Charity Schools, particularly those 
 which are supported by Protestant Dissenters, 
 for teaching the Children of the Poor to read 
 and work ; together with some Apology for those 
 Schools which instruct them to write a plain 
 hand, and fit them for Service, or for the meaner 
 Trades and Labours of Life." The National 
 School Society have claimed for the Established 
 Church, the honour of founding the first English 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 101) 
 
 charity-school, which is stated to have been 
 opened at Westminster in 1698. But, eleven 
 years earlier, in 1687, the first English charity- 
 school had been founded by the Presbyterian 
 congregation meeting in Gravel Lane, South- 
 wark, "as an antidote to the school of one 
 Poulter," a Jesuit, who instructed the children of 
 the poor gratis. u This," observes Mr. Milner, 
 "was during the semi-Popish reign of James II., 
 when Protestantism was threatened by a Catholic 
 monarch, and the principles of his creed were 
 industriously disseminated by Jesuitical emis- 
 saries. The Dissenters commenced their school 
 with forty children ; but these soon increased to 
 a hundred and thirty, who were admitted with- 
 out distinction of parties and denominations, and 
 taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and the 
 principles of religion according to the Assembly's 
 Catechism." Thus, it is true, with reference to 
 these benevolent establishments, as it is with 
 almost every method of usefulness now in opera- 
 tion, that "the Dissenter has led the way for the 
 Churchman, and provoked him by example to 
 
110 THE POET OF 
 
 labours of love."* In his Essay, Dr. Watts, 
 whose candour cannot be impeached, gives the 
 following account of the progress of these insti- 
 tutions : — u Many others were formed by persons 
 of the Established Church, to which several 
 Dissenters subscribed largely. But at last, they 
 found, by sufficient experience, that the children 
 were brought up, in too many of these schools, in 
 principles of disaffection to the present Govern- 
 ment, in bigotted zeal for the word Church, and 
 with a violent enmity and malicious spirit of 
 persecution against all whom they were taught 
 to call Presbyterians, though from many of their 
 hands they received their bread and clothing. 
 It was time, then, for the Dissenters to with- 
 draw that charity which was so abused ; and, 
 since the favour of our rulers gives us leave to 
 educate children according to our sentiments 
 and the dictates of our consciences, some gene- 
 rous spirits among us have made attempts of this 
 kind, and employ their bounty in the support 
 of. a few such schools. And as we hope this 
 
 * Milner's " Life of Watts," pp. 429, 430. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. Ill 
 
 charity will be acceptable to God, and useful to 
 mankind, so we are well assured it will be a sen- 
 sible service to the present Government, which 
 has no friends in the world more sincere and 
 more zealous than the Protestant Dissenters."* 
 Thus, it will be seen, the Jacobites and Nonjurors 
 of that period, endeavoured to get the manage- 
 ment of schools and the control of education into 
 their own hands, from much the same motives 
 that have influenced the Tractarian party in the 
 present day. 
 
 Towards the close of the same year, Dr. 
 Watts published his Book of Catechisms. Pre- 
 viously to the appearance of this Series, the 
 Assembly's Catechism had been chiefly in use, 
 although easier Catechisms had been prepared 
 by Owen, Bowles, Gouge, Matthew Henry, 
 Noble, Cotton, and others ; but these were 
 neither sufficiently general nor popular. Of 
 Dr. "Watts's First and Second Catechisms, it is 
 
 * Milner's "Watts," pp. 430, 431. That this grave charge 
 against the charity-schools of the Establishment was not un- 
 founded, Bishop Gibson admitted. 
 
112 THE POET OF 
 
 unnecessary to say more, than that their uni- 
 versal acceptance has attested their inimitable 
 adaptation to their purpose, and that, as they 
 have never been equalled in this respect, so they 
 are not likely to be ever superseded. In 1730, 
 appeared his " Short View of the whole Scrip- 
 ture History," in Question and Answer ; in- 
 tended as a Sequel to the Catechisms. His 
 last contribution to Educational works was, his 
 "Improvement of the Mind; a Supplement to 
 the Art of Logic ;" published in 1741. By the 
 venerable Author himself, this treatise was re- 
 garded as an incomplete performance, falling 
 short of his original design ; but it has re- 
 ceived this high and emphatic commendation 
 of Dr. Johnson: "Whoever has the care of 
 instructing others, may be charged with defi- 
 ciency in his duty, if this book is not recom- 
 mended." 
 
 Such were the services rendered to the cause 
 of Education by Dr. Watts, in the instruction 
 he has provided for all ages, " from those who 
 are lisping their first lessons, to the students of 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 113 
 
 Malebranche and Locke" and the candidates for 
 the Christian Ministry. 
 
 We have adverted to the truly catholic spirit 
 which was so conspicuous a trait in the character 
 of this saintly man ; but he was not the less a 
 decided Nonconformist, an enlightened political 
 Dissenter, and zealously concerned for the pros- 
 perity of the Dissenting Interest. The state of 
 things among Protestant Dissenters at the acces- 
 sion of George II. to the Throne, was anything 
 but satisfactory. In the Metropolis, the number 
 of places of worship belonging to the Presbyte- 
 rians and Independents in 1730, was within one 
 of the same as in 1695.* In London, and in the 
 West of England, Arianism had begun to exert 
 its deadening and desolating influence. To what- 
 ever cause it was attributable, numerous seces- 
 sions from the ranks of Nonconformity took 
 place, which, says Dr. Edmund Calamy, in Lis 
 historical Journal, " occasioned much speculation 
 and discourse. Some of those who had before 
 gone over from us to the Church, had been scan- 
 
 * Milnert " Life of Watts," p. 473. 
 
 I 
 
114 THE POET OF 
 
 dalous. But it was otherwise as to those who 
 now conformed. They were, generally, persons 
 of sobriety and unblemished character, and might, 
 therefore, be received and caressed by those whom 
 they fell in with, with a better grace. . . . Those 
 that conformed in this reign, as they generally 
 found an easier admission and the way more open 
 to preferment, so did they generally keep their 
 tempers better, and were charged by their Eccle- 
 siastical superiors to take care to do so, with an 
 intimation, that this would be a more likely way 
 to recommend them than an opposite carriage 
 and behaviour. But then, it was easy to be 
 observed, and much taken notice of, that most 
 that conformed about this time, complained much 
 of a spirit of imposition working among the Dis- 
 senters, which discovered itself in the proceedings 
 at Salters' Hall, and on other occasions, after 
 the debates about the Trinity grew warm. Some 
 that complained much and with eagerness of 
 this as a great hardship and discouragement, 
 and inveighed against it with freedom, threw 
 themselves into a Church and legal Establish- 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 115 
 
 merit that was very strict for full subscription, 
 and left no room nor scope to those that were 
 intrusted with the care of the Constitution to 
 make the least allowance for abatements in com- 
 pliance with the difficulties that might be started 
 by such as were scrupulous and tender-spirited. 
 This was, by many, apprehended to have but 
 an odd aspect, and not to be very consistent.''* 
 
 A little further, under the date of May 23, 
 1730, Dr. Calamy writes: " This year, there 
 was a great deal of discoursing and writing about 
 the decay of the Dissenting Interest and the 
 occasion of it.f This occasioned a variety of 
 reflections. Some thought it a little strange, 
 
 * Calamy's " Life and Times," vol. ii., pp. 503 — 507. Among 
 those enumerated as having conformed about this time, or not long 
 before, are, Seeker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 Butler, afterwards Bishop of Durham; (both educated in the Aca- 
 demy of the learned Jeremiah Jones at Tewkesbury;) "the two 
 Jacombs;" two sons of Mr. Billio, who succeeded Dr. Bates at 
 Hackney; Mr. Strickland Gough, whose father died a minister 
 among the Dissenters at Bristol, &c. 
 
 t Mr. Strickland Gough, in " An Inquiry into the Causes of the 
 Decay, 11 ascribed it to " the Dissenters 1 ignorance of their own 
 principles, and ill conduct in the management of their own in- 
 terests;" and shortly afterwards, this censor of his brethren "fell 
 
116 THE POET OF 
 
 that they that, not very long before, were ready 
 enough to boast of their numbers and interest, 
 and the considerableness of their body, should, 
 on a sudden, change their note, and talk of their 
 decays. Others thought, that, if there were any 
 real decays, this way of proceeding was rather 
 likely to increase than abate them, and at the 
 same time give their enemies cause of triumph- 
 ing ; and that it was but an ill way of recom- 
 mending their interest to the regard of any, for 
 themselves to make a noise about its decays. 
 Many of the Church side cried out, as upon 
 divers former occasions, Let but these Dissenters 
 alone, and they will do their own business. And, 
 among the Dissenters, many thought this method 
 grossly imprudent, if it were true that there was 
 a decay of the Dissenting Interest, and really 
 questioned whether there was any real decay or 
 no, all things being considered ; for that, what- 
 soever decrease may have appeared in some 
 
 in with the National Establishment, which, in his Inquiry, he had 
 so much inveighed against." Like several others who conformed, 
 he was un-evangelical in his views. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 117 
 
 places, there were sensible advances in others. 
 But, at the same time, a real decay of serious 
 religion, both in the Church and out of it, was 
 very visible. Therefore, the serious sermon of 
 Mr. David Soame, of Leicestershire, on that sub- 
 ject, the year before, and the i Humble Attempt 
 toward the Revival of Practical Eeligion among 
 Christians, particularly the Protestant Dissenters,' 
 written by Dr. Watts the year after, were very 
 seasonable."* 
 
 Dr. Watts's publication deserves to be better 
 known than it is. It was thoroughly practical ; 
 yet, it undesignedly provoked a controversy. In 
 exhorting the Dissenting body to increased purity 
 of life and more active exertion, he assumed the 
 fact, that they possess advantages for the culti- 
 vation of personal religion, superior to those en- 
 joyed by members of the Established Church, 
 upon which he grounded his appeal to them to 
 act worthy of their principles by improving their 
 privileges. This was construed into an attack 
 upon the hierarchy ; and a champion for the 
 
 * Calamy, vol. ii., pp. 529 — 531. 
 
118 THE POET OF 
 
 Establishment appeared in the Rev. John White, 
 B.D., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, 
 and Vicar of Ospring in Kent, who put forth 
 n Three Letters to a Gentleman dissenting from 
 the Church of England," in which he assailed 
 the Dissenters with arrogance and asperity. 
 Dr. Watts does not appear to have taken any 
 notice of this work ; but the challenge was 
 accepted by the Rev. Micaiah Towgood, of 
 Exeter, whose " Dissenting Gentleman's Let- 
 ters to Mr. White," silenced and deeply mor- 
 tified his antagonist. 
 
 Dr. Watts, however, was not a mere Noncon- 
 formist, like Towgood, whose objections to an 
 Ecclesiastical Establishment would have been re- 
 moved by a scheme of comprehension or a relaxa- 
 tion of the terms of conformity. In his " Essay 
 on Civil Power in Things Sacred ; or, an Inquiry 
 after an established Religion consistent with the 
 just Liberties of Mankind, and practicable under 
 every form of Civil Government," (published in 
 1739,) he has shown the interference of the 
 Magistrate in religious matters to be an unjust 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 11 <) 
 
 and unauthorized usurpation, and lias placed Re- 
 ligious Liberty upon its true foundation. His 
 scheme of a body of State lecturers upon moral 
 and political duties, is, indeed, visionary and open 
 to fatal objections, more especially as being not 
 less dangerous to civil freedom than an Esta- 
 blished Church is hostile to the rights of con- 
 science. But the great principles which are 
 explained and defended in this Essay, are those 
 upon which alone Dissenters can take their stand 
 in opposing all State Establishments of Reli- 
 gion. 
 
 Finally, we have to contemplate Dr. Watts as 
 a pulpit orator, a pastor, a theologian, and a 
 practical writer. In the pulpit, Dr. Johnson 
 records, that " the gravity and propriety of his 
 utterance made his discourses very efficacious," 
 and that u such was his flow of thought, and 
 such his promptitude of language, that, in the 
 latter part of his life, he did not precompose his 
 cursory sermons, but, having adjusted the heads, 
 and sketched out some particulars, trusted for 
 success to his extemporary powers." This plan, 
 
120 THE POET OF 
 
 he earnestly recommends,* anxious to bring 
 about a reformation in the mode of preaching 
 as well as in public worship. " Does Divine 
 Love send dreaming preachers to call dead sin- 
 ners to life?" he exclaims in his sermon on 
 the " Use of the Passions in Religion." " Does 
 God or his Prophets, or Christ and his Apostles, 
 instruct us in this modish art of still life, this 
 1 lethargy of preaching' ? Did the great God 
 ever appoint statues for his ambassadors, to in- 
 
 * u Get the substance of your sermon, which you have prepared 
 for the pulpit, so wrought into your head and heart, by reason and 
 meditation, that you may have it at command, and speak to your 
 hearers with freedom ; not as if you were reading or repeating your 
 lesson to them, but as a man sent to teach and persuade them to 
 faith and holiness If you pray and hope for the assist- 
 ance of the Spirit of God in every part of your work, do not 
 resolve always to confine yourself precisely to the mere words and 
 sentences which you have written down in your preparations. Far 
 be it from me to encourage a preacher to venture into public work 
 without due preparation by study, and a regular composure of his 
 discourse. We must not serve God with what costs us nothing. 
 All our wisest thoughts and cares are due to the sacred service of 
 the Temple. But what I mean is, that we should not impose upon 
 ourselves just such a number of precomposed words and lines to 
 be delivered in the hour, without daring to speak a warm senti- 
 ment that comes fresh upon the mind." 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 121 
 
 vite sinners to his mercy?" " Yet," says John- 
 son, "he did not endeavour to assist his elo- 
 quence by any gesticulations." But, though he 
 used little action in the pulpit, his benign coun- 
 tenance, strong eye, and animated manner com- 
 manded attention ; and his discourses u had all 
 the advantages that could be given them by an 
 impressive elocution and a manner of delivery 
 which, with curious felicity, seems to have been 
 at the same time elaborately studied, yet earnestly 
 sincere."* He is admitted to have been not 
 only the best preacher among the Dissenters of 
 that day, but one of the best of those times. So 
 long as his health permitted, he appears to have 
 sedulously discharged the more private duties of 
 the pastoral office. u To stated and public in- 
 struction," he added familiar visits and personal 
 application, and was careful to improve the op- 
 portunities which conversation offered, of diffus- 
 ing and increasing the influence of religion." f 
 And his anxiety and regret at rinding himself 
 
 * Souther's " Memoir of Watts," p. xxvi. 
 t Johnson's " Life of Watts."' 
 
122 THE POET OF 
 
 incapacitated for these labours, induced him to 
 present to his flock the first volume of his Ser- 
 mons on various subjects, in 1721 ; followed 
 with a second in 1723, and a third in 1727. In 
 the fifth edition of these Sermons, the three 
 volumes in duodecimo were reduced to two in 
 octavo. Mr. Milner characterizes these discourses 
 as " remarkable chiefly for a rich display of 
 evangelical truth and Christian experience;" 
 containing many happy illustrations and pointed 
 appeals to the conscience, and expressed in a 
 plain and perspicuous style. "An occasional 
 redundancy of expression and prolixity in ar- 
 rangement will be overlooked in the striking 
 and impassioned exhibitions of Scripture truth 
 with which they abound."* 
 
 As a theologian, Dr. Watts is considered as 
 having adopted views respecting the Trinity 
 bordering upon Sabellianism. "He evidently," 
 says Alexander Knox, " slided from devotional 
 subjects into metaphysical and miscellaneous 
 researches, for making his way through which 
 
 * Milner's " Life," pp. 379, 380; 386; 426. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 123 
 
 he seems not to have had either sufficient 
 strength or boldness of mind." More candidly 
 and correctly, Southey observes : Watts u ap- 
 proached too near the veil ; and confiding in his 
 own natural and cultivated acuteness, endea- 
 voured sometimes strictly to define what the 
 Scriptures have left indefinite, as if he were 
 possessed of an intellectual prism with which he 
 could decompose the Light of Light." There 
 were times when he was conscious of this ; and 
 in a note to some sermons, published many years 
 after they were written, in which he had expa- 
 tiated on the nature of the Trinity, he confesses, 
 that these were u warmer efforts of imagination 
 than riper years could indulge on a theme so 
 sublime and abstruse. Since I have searched 
 more studiously into the mystery of late," he 
 adds, u I have learned more of my own ignorance ; 
 so that, when I speak of these unsearchables, I 
 abate much of my younger assurance, nor do 
 my later thoughts venture so far into the par- 
 ticular modes of explaining the sacred distinc- 
 tions in the Godhead." In his latest work on 
 
124 THE POET OF 
 
 the subject, published in 1746, (only two years 
 before his death,) entitled, " The Glory of Christ 
 as God-man displayed," the views which he 
 elaborately endeavours to establish, respecting 
 the ante-mundane existence of the human soul 
 of Christ, and his visible appearances as God 
 before his Incarnation, are substantially such as 
 were held by Origen, and as have been main- 
 tained, in modern times, by Bishops Burnet, 
 Gastrell, and Fowler, Dr. H. More, Dr. Thomas 
 Goodwin, Dr. T. Bennet, Mr. Fleming, and Mr. 
 Hussey.* The sentiments which thus received 
 the sanction of his mature intellect, did not 
 materially differ from those which he avowed 
 in his a Four Dissertations relating to the Chris- 
 tian Doctrine of the Trinity," published in 1725 ; 
 so that, during the intervening one and twenty 
 years, his theological views had remained unal- 
 tered. That they underwent no subsequent 
 modification, approximating to Arianism, has 
 been triumphantly demonstrated.! 
 
 * Milner, p. 598. 
 + Milner, p. 603, and Appendix I. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 125 
 
 The -writings of Dr. Watts upon the Tri- 
 nitarian Controversy, Mr. Milner judiciously 
 remarks, u illustrate his mental activity, his 
 boundless desire after truth, his resolution to 
 grapple with the most tremendous difficulties 
 
 in its attainment That he entered upon 
 
 the inquiry with the purest motives, and was 
 led to it with the most benevolent aim, every 
 one must grant. He devoted himself to his 
 task with a sanctity of feeling and a holy de- 
 termination of purpose which we respect and 
 admire, however much we may regret the sub- 
 ject upon which his energies were exhausted. 
 It was not a love of subtile disputation, but a 
 pure and disinterested wish to do good, to heal 
 the distractions of the Church by discovering 
 the regions of unclouded truth, that led him to 
 venture beyond his depth, and boldly enter the 
 wide ocean of Infinite Being." * Any suspicion 
 as to the main Articles of his faith, Southey, 
 with honourable candour, remarks, would be 
 precluded by the affecting language of his 
 
 * Milner, pp. 604—606* 
 
126 THE POET OF 
 
 " Solemn Address to the great and ever blessed 
 God/' drawn up on a review of what he had 
 written on the subject, and designed for a pre- 
 face to these pieces, but not published till after 
 his decease. " In none of his other composi- 
 tions has Watts written with such eloquence, 
 such fulness of feeling, such agony of mind, as 
 in this extraordinary and most passionate sup- 
 plication." Listen to his own language : — 
 
 " Help me, Heavenly Father, for I am quite 
 tired and weary of these human explainings, 
 so various and uncertain. When wilt Thou 
 explain it to me Thyself, O my God, by the 
 secret and certain dictates of Thy Spirit, ac- 
 cording to the intimation of Thy word? Nor 
 let any pride of reason, nor any affectation of 
 novelty, nor any criminal bias whatsoever, turn 
 my heart aside from hearkening to these Divine 
 dictates of Thy word and Thy Spirit. Suffer 
 not any of my native corruptions, nor the vanity 
 of my imagination, to cast a mist over my eyes, 
 while I am searching after the knowledge of 
 Thy mind and will for my eternal salvation. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 127 
 
 I entreat, O most merciful Father, that Thou 
 wilt not suffer the remnant of my short life to 
 be wasted in such endless wanderings in quest 
 of Thee and Thy Son Jesus as a great part 
 of my past days have been ; but let my sin- 
 cere endeavours to know Thee, in all the ways 
 whereby Thou hast discovered Thyself in Thy 
 word, be crowned with such success, that, my 
 soul being established in every needful truth by 
 Thy Holy Spirit, I may spend my remaining 
 life according to the rules of Thy Gospel, and 
 may, with all the holy and happy creation, 
 ascribe glory and honour, wisdom and power 
 to Thee who sittest upon the Throne and to the 
 Lamb for ever and ever." 
 
 " Such were the doubts," continues Southey, 
 which he u subdued, not in a martial posture, 
 but on his knees. In his own sense of insecu- 
 rity, in his struggles against temptation, in his 
 trouble and agony of mind, the mischief ended. 
 The cloud and the darkness came over him, the 
 deep waters seemed rising to overwhelm him ; 
 but he clung to the Rock of his salvation, and 
 
128 THE POET OF 
 
 c blessed God who had not suffered him to aban- 
 don the Gospel of his Son Jesus, and blessed 
 the Holy Spirit who had kept him attentive 
 to the truth disclosed in that Gospel.' His 
 theological works are all designed to enforce 
 and vindicate that truth ; and what he has 
 recorded of the distress in which he involved 
 himself, by his desire of becoming wise beyond 
 what is written, may well deter others from 
 coveting to taste of the fruit of the forbidden 
 tree." " During the whole course of his inno- 
 cent and otherwise most peaceful life, he seems 
 never to have been assailed by any other temp- 
 tation than this of the intellect, never to have 
 been beset with any other troubles than those in 
 which his own subtilty entangled him."* To 
 complete this just and noble eulogy, it is only 
 necessary to add the remark of Dr. Johnson, in 
 referring to his treatises on Theology : — " The 
 truth is, that whatever he took in hand was, by 
 
 * Southey's " Memoir," pp. lxiii. — Ixvii. This last remark is 
 not quite correct. Besides his own bodily sufferings, the miscon- 
 duct of relatives (in 1746) was a sore trouble. (Milner, p. 677.) 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 129 
 
 his incessant solicitude for truth, converted to 
 theology. As piety predominated in his mind, 
 it is diffused over his works." 
 
 In 1747, Dr. Watts published a volume of 
 u Evangelical Discourses," with an " Essay on 
 the Powers and Contests of Flesh and Spirit," 
 appended to it ; dedicated to the Church in 
 Bury Street, and apparently intended as their 
 Pastor's farewell benediction. His last work, 
 u The Rational Foundation of a Christian 
 Church/' one of his most valuable practical 
 pieces, appeared about the same time ; being 
 dated from Stoke Newington, March 25, 1747. 
 It is an interesting fact, that the plan of that 
 most popular practical treatise, u The Eise and 
 Progress of Religion in the Soul," had been 
 drawn out by Dr. Watts ; but, compelled by his 
 growing infirmities to abandon his purpose, he 
 relinquished the task to Dr. Doddridge, who, after 
 some hesitation, yielded to his importunity, and 
 completed the performance. Dr. Watts took the 
 liveliest interest in the composition, and, in a 
 letter to Doddridge, speaks of what he lias 
 
 K 
 
130 THE POET OF 
 
 read as enabling him to recommend it as the 
 best treatise on practical religion in the lan- 
 guage ; and he prays God that it may prove 
 " extensively beneficial/ 7 — a devout supplication, 
 which has been amply fulfilled. The closing 
 scene was worthy of his saintly career; and 
 he expired without a struggle, Nov. 25, 1748, 
 in his seventy-fifth year. His beloved friend, 
 Doddridge, though eight-and-twenty years his 
 junior, survived him only three years ; dying at 
 Lisbon, whither he had gone for the recovery 
 of his health, thirteen days after his arrival, 
 Oct. 26, 1751, aged 50. " Lovely and pleasant 
 in their lives, in their death they were not (long) 
 divided." * 
 
 A century has since elapsed; and while we 
 drop this wreath on the tomb of one whose 
 
 * It may be interesting to state, that, although, as Dr. Watts 
 was never married, he has left no lineal descendants, some of 
 his collateral descendants are locally connected with the town of 
 Southampton; while the name of Taunton, the Doctor's maternal 
 grandfather, is still honoured as that of one of the greatest bene- 
 factors to the town. " Taunton's Charity " is familiar to almost 
 all the inhabitants of Southampton. Mary Watts, the niece of 
 Dr. Isaac Watts, (being the daughter of his brother Thomas,) 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 131 
 
 memory is so justly honoured, and whose praise 
 is in all our churches, let us rejoice in the better 
 times that have since risen upon the Church, 
 and in the wonderful progress which, since his 
 day, the kingdom of Christ has made in the 
 earth. " Say not then, What is the cause that 
 the former days were better than these? for thou 
 dost not inquire wisely concerning this." Watts 
 and Doddridge are names which irradiate a 
 period of gathering gloom and spiritual decay.* 
 In the year which followed the death of Dod- 
 dridge, Dr. John Taylor openly broached the 
 Socinian tenets in his " Scripture Doctrine of 
 the Atonement;" and, under the influence of 
 the writings and labours of Priestley, the Arian- 
 ism of the first part of the eighteenth century 
 developed itself in the Socinianism which rapidly 
 overspread the Presbyterian body in the latter 
 
 was married to Mr. John Chaldecott, the father of Mr. Chaldecott, 
 formerly a banker at Chichester. His daughter married Mr. 
 Thomas Sharp of Romsey, banker; whose widow, Mrs. Sharp, 
 still survives at a very advanced age. 
 
 * Dr. Conder published his " Serious Address,'' occasioned by 
 the decline of Ministerial piety, in 1753. 
 
132 THE POET OF 
 
 half; the boasted triumphs of which, in the 
 language of Robert Hall, " consisted in sinking 
 that section of the Dissenting body that had 
 already departed from the faith, a few degrees 
 lower in the gulf of error." Unsustained by 
 endowments, English Presbyterianism would 
 have died out under this baleful infection. 
 Some ten congregations in the Metropolis, most 
 of them inconsiderable, and less than two hun- 
 dred in other parts of England, are all that re- 
 main to represent that once wealthy and ascend- 
 ant body. Their colleges at Hackney, Exeter, 
 and Warrington are extinct ; and that at Man- 
 chester alone survives. 
 
 Meantime, the Congregational body which, 
 in 1750, probably numbered fewer than 500 
 churches in England, had increased, in 1812, 
 to 800;* and they are now, according to the 
 most careful estimates, not fewer than 2,250 
 (i. 6., 1,800 in England, and 640 in Wales). In 
 1750, Homerton College was the only Theological 
 
 * Bogue and Bennett's estimate. The number of Baptist con- 
 gregations was, 582. 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 133 
 
 Academy among the Congregational Dissenters. 
 The Congregational Fund Board had, as early 
 as 1695, granted aid to young men preparing 
 for the ministry, placing their students under 
 the tutorship and domestic care of various pas- 
 tors. In 1754, the Fund Board united with the 
 H King's Head Society" in the support of an 
 Academy, of which Dr. Conder, Dr. Gibbons, 
 and Mr. Walker were the first tutors.* This 
 Academy was originally at Mile End, whence it 
 was removed to Homerton. The Western Col- 
 lege, which originated with the Congregational 
 Fund Board, was founded about 1752 ; Mr. 
 Coward's Foundation, in 1751 ; Maesborough 
 College, near Botherham, in 1756. Since then 
 have been instituted, Highbury College (founded 
 in 1783, and now, with Homerton, merged in New 
 College); Airedale (1794); Hackney (1796); 
 
 * The Rev. "W. Kingsbury, educated under Drs. Conder 
 Walker, and Gibbons, was ordained at Southampton in 1764 
 (at the age of 21). There were then only 27 church members. 
 The church, now, under the pastoral care of my excellent friend, 
 the Rev. Thos. Adkins, comprises 445 members, an increase of 
 393 since his ordination; and a second Congregational church has 
 recently been formed. 
 
134 THE POET OF 
 
 Spring-hill, Birmingham (1838) ; Lancashire 
 College (1806) ; and Brecon (1838). What- 
 ever there may be in the present aspect of our 
 churches to moderate a boastful estimate, or to 
 excite anxiety or humiliation before God, this 
 may be safely and soberly affirmed ; that, in no 
 country of the world, at any former period, has 
 there existed a body of men equally numerous, 
 consecrated to the service of the Christian min- 
 istry, occupying a higher position in point of 
 attainments and efficiency, or exhibiting so per- 
 fect an agreement in sound doctrine, unshackled 
 by articles or tests, with more exemplariness of 
 character. 
 
 But, not to dwell exclusively upon the state 
 of our own Denomination, and the corresponding 
 rapid growth and general prosperity of that large 
 section of the Congregational body which has 
 assumed the name of Baptist, let it be borne in 
 mind, that this increased vitality and expansion 
 of the Dissenting Interest, have taken place 
 simultaneously with the rise and progress of 
 Methodism, which dates only from 1739, and 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 135 
 
 numbered no more than 76 preachers twenty- 
 eight years afterwards, but which now, with the 
 various Connexions that have branched and 
 separated from the parent stock, boasts of its 
 5,000 chapels,* distributed over every part of 
 the Kingdom. Nor must it be forgotten, that 
 that revival of Ecligion which attended the 
 labours of Whitfield and Wesley, re-acting 
 upon the clergy of the Established Church, has 
 wrought an amazing change within its pale, as 
 regards both the preaching and the morals of 
 its ministers. 
 
 A hundred years ago, the Society for promot- 
 ing Christian Knowledge, the earliest Religious 
 Association formed upon the catholic basis of 
 uniting the efforts of all evangelical denomina- 
 tions, was just commencing its useful labours. 
 The New England Society, formed in 1646, for 
 promoting the evangelization of the Indians ; the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, insti- 
 
 * Viz., Conference Chapels and Preaching-places, 2,472; New- 
 Connexion, 277; Wesleyan Association, 316; Primitive Metho- 
 dist, 1,421 Connexional Chapels, besides "rented chapels." 
 
136 THE POET OF 
 
 tuted in 1701 ; and the Scottish Society, 1709 ; 
 had redeemed British Protestantism from the 
 disgrace of utterly neglecting the claims of the 
 pagan world: but their operations among the 
 heathen were very inconsiderable, and were soon 
 relinquished, with the exception of the support 
 given to the Danish missionaries in Southern 
 India. It is remarkable, that, as Denmark took 
 the lead in these noble efforts, so, to the protec- 
 tion of the Danish Crown, the Serampore Mis- 
 sionaries were indebted, almost a century after- 
 wards, for the opportunity of prosecuting their 
 labours, when British India was closed against 
 them. The Tamul New Testament, executed 
 by Ziegenbalg, and issued from the Mission Press 
 at Zanguebar, afforded a solitary instance of en- 
 lightened zeal, at a period when Biblical literature 
 and philological science were at the lowest ebb 
 in this country. The state of our geographical 
 knowledge was as limited as were our political 
 resources and our missionary zeal. Cook had 
 not then navigated the South Seas; Polynesia 
 and Australia were strange names to the geogra- 
 

 THE SANCTUARY. 137 
 
 pher ; Humboldt had not ascended the Andes ; 
 and even the Mississippi was unexplored; the 
 Brahmapootra was unknown among the rivers of 
 India; the Indo-Chinese nations were scarcely 
 known even by name ; no traveller had ascended 
 the Nile beyond the First Cataract ; and Africa 
 was for the most part a terra incognita. The 
 political position of England was at this time 
 that of a second-rate power, too feeble to cope 
 with the great potentates of the Continent. A 
 hundred years ago, the King of Great Britain 
 could not number above twelve or thirteen mil- 
 lions of subjects, including the population of all 
 the colonies and settlements in the Western 
 Hemisphere. The American Colonies contained 
 not more than three millions ; and the French, 
 then masters of Canada and Louisiana, laid claim 
 to the Valley of the Mississippi, and projected 
 the expulsion of the British Colonists from the 
 New Continent. In India, too, they appeared 
 virtual masters of the Deccan, and threatened 
 the destruction of the British settlements in Ben- 
 gal. "When, in 1757, the Great Lord Chatham 
 
138 THE POET OF 
 
 was called to the lielm of an almost foundering 
 State, the critical position of our national affairs 
 had thrown a deep gloom over the public mind. 
 At one time, England and Prussia had to with- 
 stand the powerful confederacy of France, Aus- 
 tria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony on the Con- 
 tinent, while the two chief maritime powers, 
 Holland and Portugal, were our formidable com- 
 mercial rivals ; Spain still enjoyed her nine vice- 
 royalties in the New World of Columbus, and 
 Portugal held the vast territory of Brazil. But 
 France was the ascendant power, and Paris the 
 literary metropolis of Europe ; while Rome was 
 the recognised centre of Christendom. The Eng- 
 lish language was scarcely spoken or understood 
 by any but natives of the British Isles and their 
 American descendants. Nothing would at that 
 time have appeared more improbable, than that 
 the power of this insulated nation should, within 
 a century, become politically and morally para- 
 mount ; that its chain of Colonies should girdle 
 the Globe ; that its merchants should be inhe- 
 ritors of the Mogul Empire, lords of the Indies 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 139 
 
 and of Guinea ; and that the Anglo-Saxon race 
 and language, naturalized in the Western Hemi- 
 sphere, should spread from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, and displace alike the French in the pro- 
 vinces of the St. Lawrence, and the Spanish in 
 the basin of the Gulf of Mexico. Including the 
 American Kepublic, which, within the last 
 seventy years, has expanded from a few colonies 
 into one-and-thirty States, we have now an 
 aggregate population of at least a hundred and 
 eighty millions of souls — a fifth of the human 
 family — under the dominant influence of one 
 Nation, originally confined to a small Island in 
 the German Ocean, and which a century ago was 
 scarcely able to maintain a footing in America, 
 in India, in Africa, or even on the European 
 Continent. History presents no parallel to this 
 glorious phenomenon. 
 
 In the brief interval, what prodigious events 
 have rapidly succeeded each other ! The Ame- 
 rican Kevolution; — and then, at the sounding 
 of the seventh mystical trumpet, the pouring 
 forth of the vials of Divine wrath on Papal 
 
140 THE POET OF 
 
 Europe ; the overthrow of the French monarchy 
 in 1789, followed by thirty years of European 
 wars ; the rise and fall of the French Empire ; 
 the British conquest of India ; the partial dis- 
 membership and internal exhaustion of the 
 Turkish Empire ; the revolt and independence of 
 the Spanish and Portuguese American Colonies ; 
 the European Re volution of 1830; the forma- 
 tion of the Australian Colonies ; the opening of 
 China to Western commerce and Christian civi- 
 lization ; the almost simultaneous promulgation 
 of edicts of toleration for Christians, by the 
 Head of Islam ; and by the Lord Paramount of 
 the Buddhic Pagan World ; the marvellous fa- 
 cilities of rapid intercommunication created by 
 the development of the power of steam; the 
 progress of geographical discovery; the mar- 
 vellous achievements of our Biblical Transla- 
 tors, and the unprecedented multiplication of 
 the Holy Scriptures in all the dialects of the 
 Earth ; the rival, yet harmonious efforts of our 
 Missionary Societies in all quarters of the Globe ; 
 and, in a word, a greater advance towards the 
 
THE SANCTUARY. 141 
 
 universal diffusion of the Gospel, and the sub- 
 version of heathen idolatry and priestcraft, than 
 had been made in the preceding fifteen centuries. 
 Considering all these achievements and events 
 as the mere preparatory filling up of the valleys, 
 and levelling of the mountains, to make a high- 
 way for The Lord, how glorious are the expec- 
 tations which open before us ! 
 
 Not in the spirit of vain-glorious boasting, 
 but with a devout and awful sense of the high 
 national responsibility attaching to both rulers 
 and people, it becomes us to reflect upon the 
 unparalleled expansion of the wealth and mone- 
 tary power, the commercial enterprise and manu- 
 facturing industry, the territorial empire and 
 moral supremacy, the religious institutions and 
 voluntary munificence and zeal, of Protestant 
 England. God hath not dealed so with any other 
 nation ; and not for our sakes, but for higher 
 and mightier purposes than come within the 
 purview and calculation of secular politicians, 
 has He wrought this. Upon us, as a Denomina- 
 tion, it especially devolves, to hold fast what 
 
142 POET OF THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 Burke has characterized as u the Protestantism 
 of the Protestant Religion/' and to testify, as 
 witnesses, to those cardinal principles which are 
 the proper safeguard of civil and religious free- 
 dom, the true source of national greatness, and 
 the only means of removing the political ob- 
 stacles to the destined triumph of the Kingdom 
 of Christ. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by W. Blanchard & Sons, Millbank Street, Westminster. 
 
flrtparing fov 13u6Ittation. 
 DR. WATTS'S PSALMS AND HYMNS, carefully 
 
 Revised, and Adapted to Congregational Worship; those portions 
 being omitted which are not in general use, and the Hymns 
 arranged in a single Book. By Josiaii Conder. 
 
 " It would be a boon to the Dissenting Congregations, if some one of kindred 
 spirit and competent ability (and such a one might doubtless be found) would 
 give his (Dr. Watts's) Hymns the benefit of a careful correction." — Milner's 
 Life of Waits, p. 27 1. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 SACRED POETRY FOR THE CHOIR AND THE 
 
 ORATORY; including Lyrical Versions of the Psalms, Hymns, 
 and Miscellaneous Poems. Foolscap 8vo., price 4s. 
 
 THE LITERARY HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTA- 
 
 MENT, &c. Demy 8vo., price 14s. 
 
 THE HARMONY OF HISTORY WITH PROPHECY: 
 
 An Exposition of the Apocalypse. Fcap. 8vo., price 7s. 6d. 
 
 NEW AND VALUABLE WORKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 " Every Church should present a copy of this invaluable Work 
 to their Minister." 
 Lectures on Christian Theology. By the late Rev George Payne, 
 L. L.D., Professor of Divinity in the Western College. With a 
 Memoir by Rev. John Pyer, and Reminiscences by Rev. Ralph 
 Wardlaw, D. D. Edited by Rev. Evan Da vies. In two hand- 
 some volumes, 8vo., with Portrait, cloth lettered, 21s. 
 
 "To students, preachers, and pastors, to gentlemen of station and culture, to 
 men of all ranks and conditions that can afford the moderate price, we most cor- 
 dially recommend them, as an invaluable addition to the best portion of our Theo- 
 logy." — British Banner. 
 
 Thirty-seventh Thousand. — This day is published, a New and Revised 
 
 Edition, in larger type, with Portrait, Is.; cloth lettered, Is. 6d., 
 The Conversion and Death-bed Experience of Mrs. Little ; to which 
 is added, A Guide to Peace with God. 
 " Gold, with its untold millions, is a nonentity, compared with the value of this 
 volume, which, we feel assured, has imparted so much comfort and peace to the 
 thousands who have perused it. We say to every individual, Purchase and read 
 this book." 
 
 In a few days will be published, 
 The Tenderness of Jesus. By Rev. J. W. Richardson. 
 Now ready, lHrno., cloth, gilt edges, Is., 
 The Believer's Assurance of Salvation: Is it Attainable? By Rev. 
 W. Davis. 
 
NEW AND VALUABLE WORKS 
 
 This day is published, in foolscap 8vo., the Second and Cheap Edition, 
 with important Additions, price 4s. 6d., 
 
 Spiritual Heroes; or, Sketches of the Puritans, their Character and 
 Times. By Rev. J. Stoughton. 
 
 " It is a volume which should have its place in every Nonconformist family in the 
 Kingdom." — British Quarterly. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 This day is published, in one vol., post 8vo., cloth lettered, 6s., 
 India and the Gospel ; or, an Empire for the Messiah. By the Rev. 
 W. Clarkson, Missionary. With Prefatory Remarks by Rev. 
 T. Archer, D.D. 
 " The book should be circulated by tens of thousands." — Evangelical Magazine. 
 
 Fifth Edition. — In 18mo., cloth, price Is. 6d., with Engravings, 
 Missionary Encouragements in India; or, the Christian Village in 
 Gujurat. By the Rev. William Clarkson. 
 
 " A volume of thrilling interest." 
 
 " We are not surprised that this small volume should have reached a Fifth Edi- 
 tion ; and if its success be proportioned to its merits, many more editions will yet 
 be called for." — British Mothers' Magazine. 
 
 Second Edition. — This day is published, price 2c/., 
 "Thy Past Impressions." By Rev. William Clarkson. To be 
 followed by " Thy Present Position," and " Thy Future Pros- 
 pects." 
 
 " A truly heart-searching little tract, calculated to rouse the lukewarm professor, 
 and to stimulate the devoted Christian. It is one of those publications which 
 ought to have, and which, we think, will have, an immense sale. We say to every 
 Christian, Buy and read this book." — British Mothers' Magazine. 
 
 Illustrations of the Practical Power of Faith, in a Series of Popular 
 Discourses on part of the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. By Rev. Thomas Binney. Second Edition, foolscap 
 8vo., cloth, 5s. 
 
 Patristic Evenings. By John Birt. Post 8vo., cloth, 6s. 
 
 " This is a volume for all : a rich storehouse of general knowledge — the 
 result of immense reading, and not a little reflection." — Christian Witness. 
 
 Egypt: a Popular and Familiar Description of the Land, People, and 
 Produce. With an Introductory Essay, by Rev. T. Boaz, L.L.D., 
 Missionary from Calcutta. Second Edition, with a Map and Fifty 
 Engravings, foolscap 8vo., cloth, 5s. 6d. 
 
 " This account of Egypt has already attained to the honour of a Second 
 Edition, and it is not difficult to prophesy that many more editions will be 
 called for. It is by far the best account of Egypt which we possess ; popu- 
 larly and pleasingly written ; and bringing before the mind's eye a more per- 
 fect picture of the country and its curiosities, its people and their manners, 
 than we ever remember to have had produced by a mere description in words. 
 It is eminently adapted for family reading, and might usefully be introduced 
 into schools as a reading-class book."— Critic. 
 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW 
 
 The Youth of India speaking for Themselves ; being the Substance of 
 the Examination Papers of the Students of the London Missionary 
 Society's Christian Institution, or College, in Calcutta. With a few 
 Introductory Remarks. By Rev. T. Boaz, LL.D. 8vo., l.v. 
 
 Memoir of the Life and Writings of Thomas Cartwright, B.D., 
 the distinguished Puritan Refonner; including the principal Eccle- 
 siastical Movements in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. By Rev. 
 Benjamin Brook. 1 vol. 8vo., cloth, 10s. 6d. 
 
 " It is worth being born to write such a work as this, which furnishes the 
 real character of the Reformation, with an account of its interruption by the 
 secular power, and the efforts of the principal Reformers to carry it to a 
 greater extent, pointing out the only legitimate sources of Reform." — Chris- 
 tian Witness. 
 
 Wesleyan Hymnology; or, a Companion to the Wesleyan Hymn-Book; 
 comprising Remarks — Critical, Explanatory, and Cautionary; de- 
 signed to promote the more profitable use of the Volume. Second 
 Edition. Revised and corrected; with an Appendix, in which the 
 work is vindicated from the censures recently thrown upon it. By 
 Rev. W. P. Burgess. 18mo., cloth, 3s. 
 
 Maratime Discovery and Christian Missions considered in their Mu- 
 tual Relations; comprehending the Discover}' of India, America, 
 and Polynesia; with the First Missions to those Regions; the Rise 
 and Progress of the Missionary Spirit in England, &c. &c. By the 
 Rev. John Campbell, D.D. 8vo., cloth, with many Engravings, 
 12$. 
 
 "A book of greater interest it has seldom been our lot to meet with : we do 
 not recollect, indeed, ever to have perused one with more interest. So tho- 
 roughly, however, is he imbued with the spirit of his noble subject ; so ex- 
 emplary has been his diligence, and so logical his arrangement ; so clear, 
 enlightened, and important are his general principles ; such are his powers of 
 rapid condensation ; such the charm of his earnestness ; such the freedom 
 and skill of his vigorous pencil ; and so truly does he seize upon the charac- 
 teristic features of his diversified topics, that he seems quite as much at home 
 in this novel sphere as when treading the more frequented paths of his profes- 
 sion." — Eclectic Review. 
 
 The Martyr of Erromanga; or, the Philosophy of Missions; illustrated 
 from the Labours, Death, and Character of the late Rev. John Wil- 
 liams. By the Rev. John Campbell, D.D. Third and Cheap 
 Edition, foolscap, cloth, with Portrait, 6*. Large Edition, 10s. 672. 
 
 '* No uninspired book has ever done such service to the cause of Peace as 
 the ' Martyr of Erromanga.' To the prosecution of this Divine-like purpose, 
 he brings a mind of no ordinary powers and acquirements, and reading of 
 a prodigious amount, genius and imagination truly poetical, with a stem 
 honesty of aim, and a sanctified zeal for truth." — Herald of Peace. 
 
 Ten Sermons preached at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-Court Chapel. 
 By Rev. John Campbell, D. D., and Rev. J. W. Richardson. 
 On the following important subjects: — Self-Examination — Self-De- 
 ception; Self- Approval — Self-Condemnation ; Self-Denial — Self-in- 
 dulgence; Self-Distrust — Self- Confidence; Self-Preservation — Self- 
 Destruction. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Profits to be devoted to the erection of Class-rooms for the instruction oi 
 Bible Classes, in connection with the Tabernacle Catechetical School. 
 
 
NEW AND VALUABLE WORKS 
 
 Confessions of a Convert from Baptism IN Water to Baptism 
 WITH Water. Second Edition, foolscap 8vo., cloth, 2s. 
 
 "We regard this work as a good antidote to counteract the flippant and 
 dogmatic statements which are oftentimes advanced on the never-ending sub- 
 ject of Baptism ; and which are continuously made by the most illiberal and 
 least-informed portion of the immersion brethren. We cordially recommend 
 this as a compendious, interesting, and excellent work, well adapted to inform 
 and guard the minds of young persons, and of others who are uninformed, 
 concerning the principal topics involved in the Baptismal controversy." — 
 Wesleyan Association Magazine. 
 
 Recently published, in one handsome volume, 8vo., 
 cloth lettered, price 2s. 60?., 
 
 Lectures on Education, delivered at Crosby Hall. By Edward Baines, 
 Esq., Rev. A. Wells, Rev. R. W. Hamilton, LL.D., D.D., Rev. 
 A. Reed, Edward Miall, Esq., Rev. Henry Richard, and Rev. 
 Robert Ainslie, and published by the Congregational Board of 
 Education. 
 
 American Scenes and Christian Slavery. A recent Tour of Four 
 Thousand Miles in the United States. By Ebenezer Davies, 
 Minister of Mission Chapel, New Amsterdam, Berbice. Post 8vo., 
 cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " It is impossible to do anything approaching to justice to this volume by 
 statement. It must be read to be appreciated. It is one of those books that 
 intelligent persons could read on and on, and for ever. The only page that 
 will be perused with any feeling of uneasiness will be the last, to think that 
 the feast is at an end." — Christian Witness. 
 
 China, and her Spiritual Claims. By the Rev. Evan Davies, late 
 Missionary to the Chinese. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 2s. 
 
 Memoir of the Rev. Samuel Dyer, Missionary to the Chinese. By 
 the same Author. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Parental Comfort in Parental Sorrow, addressed especially to Chris- 
 tian Parents Mourning the Death of Infant Children. By Rev. 
 John Edwards. Royal 32mo., 6d. 
 
 "This is one of those silent comforters that may be placed in the hands of 
 mourning parents, with perfect confidence that the perusal of it will impart 
 consolation, and lead the bereaved ones to trace the hand of a merciful 
 Father in the chastening they suffer."— British Mothers' Magazine. 
 
 "This book is one of a class which will always be interesting, so long as 
 there are children in the world and death among children. It is a tender 
 and edifying treatise which cannot fail to be a favorite with every Christian 
 family." — Christian Witness. 
 
 On Revivals of Religion. By Jonathan Edwards. With Notes and 
 Introduction by Rev. Dr. Patton; and Introductory Preface by 
 Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham. Cheap Edition, royal 8vo., 2s. 
 
 Now ready, for general circulation, price 2s. only, a New Edition of 
 Einney's Lectures on Revivals of Religion. Carefully Revised, with 
 Notes, by the Rev. Dr. Patton; and Introductory Preface by the 
 Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham. 
 
 " Such a course of twenty-two Lectures was never before published in our 
 own or any other language." — Revivalist. 
 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 
 
 The History of the London Missionary Society; comprising an. Ac- 
 count of the Origin of the Society, Biographical Notices of some of 
 its Founders and Missionaries; with a Record of its Progress at 
 Home, and its Operations Abroad. Compiled from Original Docu- 
 ments in the possession of the Society. By Rev. W. Ellis, late 
 Foreign Secretary of the Societ}', and Author of " Polynesian lie- 
 searches." Vol. I. To be completed in 2 vols. 8vo., cloth, 10s. Sd. 
 *** Vol. II. will shortly appear. 
 
 The History of the Revival and Progress of Independency in Eng- 
 land, since the Period of the Reformation. With an Introduction, 
 containing an Account of the Development of the Principles of Inde- 
 pendence in the Age of Christ and his Apostles, and of the Gradual 
 Departure of the Church into Anti- Christian Error, until the Time of 
 the Reformation. By Joseph Fletcher. 4 vols, foolscap 8vo., 
 sewed, Is. 6d. each ; cloth lettered, 2s. 
 
 Scripture Baptism ; being a Series of Familiar Letters to a Friend, in 
 reply to " Christian Baptism," recently published by the Hon. and 
 Rev. Baptist Noel, M.A. By Henry J. Gamble, of Hanover 
 Chapel, Peckham. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 4s. 
 
 Second Thousand. 
 
 The German Reformation in the Nineteenth Century; or, Illustrations 
 
 of Popery in Power, and of Truth in Conflict. With Short Notices 
 
 of the Religious State of Austria, Bavaria, Prussia, and the Baltic 
 
 Provinces of Russia. By Mrs. Stanley Carr. Post 8vo., cloth, 6s. 
 
 " It will afford us sincere pleasure to see this work a companion to every 
 edition, ay, to every copy of D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation." — 
 Manchester Times. 
 
 Christian Baptism : an Inquiry into the Scriptural Evidence of the Mode, 
 the Subject, and the Design of the Rite, and the Meaning of the 
 Term. By Rev. J. H. Godwin. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 6s. 6d. 
 
 The Christian Philosopher triumphing over Death; being a Narra- 
 tive of the Closing Scenes of the Life of the late William Gordon, 
 M.D., F.L.S., of Kingston-upon-Hull. By Rev. Newman Hall, 
 B.A. Eighth Thousand, crown 8vo., cloth, 4s. 
 
 " Language is too poor to give adequate praise to the book before us. We 
 hope that many thousands will be circulated, — that it will be read by the 
 learned and intellectual, by the wealthy and the great, as well as by the poor 
 and the illiterate." — British Mothers' Magazine. 
 
 Forty-fifth Thousand. 
 In demy 18mo., price 6d. 9 and in cloth, gilt edges, Is., 
 
 "It is I;" or, the Voice of Jesus in the Storm. By Rev. Newman 
 Hall, B.A. 
 
 One Hundred and Sixty-second Thousand. 
 
 Price 3c?.; large paper, 4d.; cloth gilt, Is., 
 
 Come to Jesns. By the same Author. 
 
 "A valuable little book; we strongly recommend all our readers to get it." 
 Friendly Visitor. 
 
NEW AND VALUABLE WORKS 
 
 The Scriptural Claims of Teetotalism. Addressed to British Chris- 
 tians. By Rev. Newman Hall, B.A. Third Edition, price 3d. 
 
 " It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby 
 thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." — St. Paul. 
 
 My Baptized One. Thoughts for Thinking Parents. By Benjamin 
 H anbury. Just ready, 18mo., 6d. 
 
 " They brought unto him also infants." — Luke. 
 
 The Vaudois ; comprising Observations made during a Visit to the Val- 
 leys of Piedmont, in the Summer of 1844; together with Remarks 
 Introductory and Interspersed, illustrative of the Origin, History, and 
 Present Circumstances of that Interesting People. By Rev. E. Hen- 
 derson, D.D. Post 8vo., cloth, with Map, 6s. 
 
 The Holy Art of Winning Souls to Christ, exemplified in the Life 
 and Ministry of the late Rev. Morgan Jones, of Trelech. 18mo., 
 cloth, Is. 3d. 
 
 The Crisis of Popular Education: its Statistics, and Relation to the 
 Government. With Notice of the recent "Minutes in Council, " &c. 
 By John Hoppus, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Philosophy and Logic 
 in University College, London. 8vo., 5s. 
 
 Schism; as opposed to the Unity of the Church, especially in the 
 present Times. A Prize Essay. By the same Author. Second 
 Edition, post 8vo., boards, 5s. 
 
 " That they all may be one." 
 
 Agrippa; or, the Nominal Christian invited to Consideration and De- 
 cision. By Rev. John Jefferson. Third Thousand, 18mo., cloth, 
 Is. 6d. 
 
 "A very powerful appeal to the consciences of those who are convinced of 
 the truth of Christianity, but who still linger in a state of indecision. We 
 augur much good from its extensive circulation." — Evangelical Magazine. 
 
 On the Union of the Holy Spirit and the Church in the Conversion 
 of the World. By Rev. T. W. Jenkyn, D.D., F.G.S. Second 
 Edition, foolscap 8vo., cloth lettered, 6s. 
 
 "We bear our willing testimony to the transcendent ability displayed in 
 the work before us. It is profound in thought, close in argumentation, and 
 rich in its illustrations." 
 
 The Extent of the Atonement, in its Relation to God and the Universe. 
 By the same Author. Third Edition, post 8vo., cloth lettered, 7s. 
 
 " We think, with conclusive certainty, that this paramount and transcendent 
 doctrine has never been presented in such a series of lucid disquisitions, and 
 with a comprehension so adapted to the majesty of the subject, in any book 
 published in the United Kingdom." 
 
 Autobiography of William Jones, M.A., Author of "The History of 
 the Waldenses," " Biblical Cyclopaedia," " Lectures on Ecclesiastical 
 History," &c. Edited by his Son. 1 vol. 8vo., cloth lettered, 5s. 
 
 "To libraries, mechanics' institutes, and enterprising students, we would 
 cordially recommend Jones' Autobiography, replete with interest, instruction, 
 and encouragement." — Manchester Times. 
 
 The Jubilee Services of the London Missionary Society; containing 
 the Sermons of Rev. James Parsons, Rev. William Jay, and Dr. 
 Raffles, &c. &c. 1 vol. 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 7 
 
 Aids to Memory; or, the Principal Facta and Dates of the Old Testa- 
 ment History, and of the subsequent History of the Jews, to the 
 Period of the Incarnation, embodied in short Mnemonic Sentences, 
 
 on the plan of Mrs. J. Slater's " Sentential Chronological, " with a 
 Recommendatory Preface by Dr. Yaughan. By Mrs. Jukes. 18mo. 
 cloth, 2s. 
 
 Scotchman Abroad. By Rev. Richard Knill. 6d. 
 
 The Footsteps of Messiah: a Review of Passages in the History of 
 Jesus Christ. By Rev. W. Leask, Author of " Our Era,' 1 " The 
 Evidences of Grace,''' &c. Post 8vo., cloth, 7s.; morocco, elegant, \2s. 
 "The work now before us will not only sustain, but greatly add to the 
 author's well-earned reputation. Such a book was a desideratum in Christian 
 literature. Its thoughts are pure and lofty; its style is animated, flowing, 
 and eloquent ; and whether you read of Jesus in the Temple, or at the Well 
 of Samaria, or on the Mount of Transfiguration, or in the Garden of Geth- 
 semane, you feel that, in the meditations before you, you are led on by one 
 who has sat at his Master's feet, and heard his Master's voice, who is imbued 
 with much of his Master's spirit, and has consecrated to His service the 
 powers of a clear, vigorous, well-cultivated, and devout mind." — Oxford 
 Chronicle. 
 
 Views from Calvary. By the same Author. 18mo., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 " A most delightful book, and will be read with intense interest by hun- 
 dreds of thousands of the members of our churches." 
 
 Unfulfilled Prophecy respecting Eastern Nations, especially the Turks, 
 the Russians, and the Jews. By Rev. A. Macleod. 12mo., cloth, 4s. 
 " To show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." 
 
 Christian Consolation ; or, the Unity of the Divine Procedure, a Source 
 of Comfort to Afflicted Christians. By Rev. Edward Manxering. 
 Second Edition, foolscap 8vo., cloth, 4s. 
 
 Christian Happiness considered, in its Relation to Man, Families, and 
 Churches. Comprising " The Happy Man," " The Happy Family, 1 ' 
 " The Happy Church." By the same Author. Second Edition, 
 18mo., cloth, 2s. 
 
 Recollections of a Tour. A Summer Ramble in Belgium, Germany, 
 and Switzerland; including Sketches of the Minor States of Ger- 
 many, the Fatherland of the Reformation, Modern Reform in Con- 
 tinental Churches, and the Condition of the Dispersed Jews. By 
 Rev. J. W. Massie, D.D., M.R.I.A. Post 8vo. cloth, 9s. 
 
 " It will henceforth be a choice companion to those who shall travel the 
 same regions, and form a most interesting and valuable substitute for such 
 travel to those who can spare neither the time nor the money." — Christian 
 Witness. 
 
 The Evangelical Alliance; its Origin and Development. Containing 
 Personal Notices of its Distinguished Friends in Europe and America. 
 By the same Author. Post 8vo., cloth, 8s. 6d. 
 
 Liberty of Conscience illustrated, and the Social Relations sustained 
 by Christians as Members of the Commonwealth considered. By 
 Rev. J. "VV. Massie, D.D. Post 8vo., sewed, 2s.; cloth, 3s. 
 
 " It is a book of great facts, great principles, pervaded by an earnest spirit 
 of true religion, and the highest patriotism. One of the best signs of the 
 times would be a demand for at least 10,000 copies of this work, which is 
 issued at a price so trifling as to place it within the easy reach of individuals 
 of the most straitened means. " — Christian Witness. 
 
8 NEW AND VALUABLE WORKS 
 
 Exposition, with Practical Observations on the Book of Proverbs. 
 By Matthew Henry. 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 China : its State and Prospects, with especial Reference to the Diffu- 
 sion of the Gospel; containing Allusions to the Antiquity, Extent, 
 Population, Civilization, Literature, Religion, and Manners of the 
 Chinese; with Remarks on the Opium Trade. By Rev. W. H. 
 Medhurst, D.D., Twenty Years a Missionary to the Chinese. 
 Fifth Thousand, 8vo., cloth, 12s. 
 
 Memoir of the Rev. T. S. M'Kean, M.A., Missionary at Tahiti ; who 
 was killed b}- a Musket-shot, during an Engagement between the 
 Natives and the French, on the 30th of June, 1844. By Rev. 
 Joseph A. Miller. With an Introduction by Rev. Arthur 
 Tidman, D.D., Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society. 
 Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 3s. 
 
 %* The profits arising from the sale of the work will be given to the Widow 
 and Children of the Deceased. 
 
 Astronomy and Scripture ; or, Some Illustrations of that Science, and 
 of the Solar, Lunar, Stellar, and Terrestrial Phenomena of Holy 
 "Writ. By the same Author. Foolscap 8vo., with many Illustrations, 
 cloth, 7s.; morocco, elegant, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa. By the Rev. 
 Robert Moffat, Twenty-three Years a Missionary in South Africa. 
 8vo., with Map, and beautifully illustrated, cloth, 12s. 
 
 Cheap Edition, uniform with " Williams's Missionary Enter- 
 prises." Royal 8vo., sewed, 3s.; cloth, 4s. 
 
 The Farewell Services of the Rev. Robert Moffat, at Edinburgh, 
 Manchester, and London; including his last Sermon in England. 
 Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Counsels to a Newly- Wedded Pair ; or, Friendly Suggestions to Hus- 
 bands and Wives. A Companion for the Honey-Moon, and a 
 Remembrancer for Life. With an Appendix, containing Extracts 
 on the Subject of Marriage from the Writings of several Christian 
 Divines. By Rev. John Morison, D.D. Nineteenth Thousand, 
 32mo., white silk, gilt edges, 2s. 6d.; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Memoirs of the Life and Labours of the Rev. R. Morrison, D.D., 
 Missionary to China. By his Widow. With Critical Notes by 
 Professor Kidd. 2 vols. 8vo., cloth, 24s. 
 
 Memoirs of Mrs. Louisa Mundy, of the London Missionary Society's 
 Mission at Chinsurah, Bengal; with Extracts from her Diary and 
 Letters. By her Husband. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 4s. 
 
 " A deeply-interesting book, exhibiting the profoundest piety, and the most 
 energetic and untiring devotion to the cause of Missions. The Memoir of this 
 .gifted and holy woman would not be too highly honoured if printed in letters 
 of gold." — Manchester Times. 
 
 The Wine Question settled, in accordance with the Inductions of 
 Science and the Facts of History; in which particular Reference is 
 made to the Character of. Ancient Drinks, especially the Wines of 
 Scripture. By Rev. B. Parsons. Second Thousand, 12mo., sewed, 
 Is. 6d. 
 
PUBLISHED EY JOHN SXOW. 
 
 Anti-Bacchus : an Essay on the Crimes, Diseases, and other Evils con- 
 nected with the Use of Intoxicating Drinks. By Rev. B. Pak- 
 Fourteenth Thousand, 8vo., sewed. 
 
 • We o r.jure our readers to give this volume an attentive, candid perusal, 
 from a decided conviction that, in proportion as its circulation is promoted, 
 and its contents are impartially read, will be stayed one of the most dreadful 
 evils that ever afflicted the human race.'* — Methodist New -Com tenon Maga- 
 n • 
 
 X w ready, Second Edition, in 18mo., price 4d., 
 A Manual explanatory of Congregational Principles. By Rev. 
 
 George Payne. LL.D. 
 The Missionary's Eeward; or, the Success of the Gospel in the Pacific. 
 By Geo. Prit\hard, Esq., Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at the 
 Navigators" Islands, South Seas. With an Introduction by the 
 Rev. John Angell James. Second Thousand, beautifully illus- 
 trated, foolscap 8vo., cloth, ^. 
 Procrastination ; or, the Vicar's Daughter. A Tale. Third Edition, 
 with Frontispiece, foolscap 8vo., elegantly bound, 3s. 6d. 
 
 u The Third Edition of a deeply-interesting volume, which should be read 
 by every young lady throughout the kingdom." 
 
 Memoirs of the Life of Eev. John "Williams, Missionary to Polyr. 
 
 Compiled from his Journals, Correspondence, and other Authentic 
 Sources. By Rev. E. Pro it. One handsome volume, 8vo., cloth 
 lettered, with Portrait, &c, 12*. 
 
 Cheap Edition, uniform with " Williams's Missionary Enter- 
 prises/' Royal 8vo., sewed, 3s.; cloth 4-. 
 
 Lessons of Life and Death; a Memorial of Sarah Ball. By Eliza- 
 beth Ritchie. Second Edition, cloth, '2s.; silk, 3^. 
 
 •• A beautiful narrative, to which we would earnestly invite the attention of 
 our youthful readers " — Christian Examiner. 
 
 Mamma's Lessons on the History and Geography of Palestine, and 
 other Places mentioned in the Bible. In Simple and Familiar Con- 
 versation. By Anne Maria Sargeant. Square foolscap 8vo^ 
 cloth, with Map and Illustrations, 2s. 6d. 
 
 • A beautiful introduction to the Bible. No child can read it without being 
 better prepared to understand the Scriptures. While the gifted writer does 
 not forget that salvation is the great subject of the Bible, her book is full of 
 facts, taken from history and eastern aufl :ch explain many parts of 
 God's Word. It is an excellent Sunday book for the young/' — Ji. 
 
 .'. ( . 
 
 The Tractarian Heresy; a Voice from Oxford. Tradition; or, the Rule 
 of R b a Belief — The Doctrine of the B lie Church — 
 
 in Ministry; or. Apostolic Succession — The Efficacy of 
 the Sacraments — Auricula: a and Pi — The 
 
 Character and Tendency of Tractarianism. By Rev. J. S*l 
 M.A. Foolscap 8vo., cloth. '5s. 
 
 M It eontama a calm, courteous, and masterly review, and. we think, an un- 
 answerable refutation of all the di. | .n School."' — C 
 Chronicle. 
 
 The Soul: its Nature and Destinies, By Rev. P. Thomson, A.M. Small 
 8vo.. cloth, As. 6d. 
 
10 NEW AND VALUABLE WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 
 
 The Scriptural Argument against Apostolical Succession, in its Fabu- 
 lous Genealogy, its Claim of Supremacy for Peter, its Graduated 
 Scale of Ministerial Orders, and its Perversion of the Rite of Laying 
 on of Hands. By Rev. Thomas Stratten. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 
 4s. 
 
 The Christian's Daily Treasury; being a Religious Exercise for Every 
 Day in the Year. By the late Rev. E. Temple. Third Edition, 
 12mo., cloth, os. 6d. 
 
 The Three Kingdoms, with an Allegory. A Book for the Young. 
 Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 'ds. 
 
 Memoirs of One Hundred Eminent Sunday-School Teachers. With 
 two Essays: — 1st. On the Importance of Sunday Schools. 2nd. On 
 the Office of Sunday-School Teaching. By Rev. Thomas Timpson. 
 Second Thousand, 18mo., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 "We are not surprised to find this exquisite compilation in the Second 
 Thousand. Among all kindred publications, it stands forth by itself, peer- 
 less, arranged in attractions which adapt it to every class. We deem the book 
 a perfect gem; and we predict for it a very extensive popularity." — British 
 Banner. 
 
 The Youth's Key to the Bible ; including the Evidences and History of 
 the Sacred Books, and a Dictionary of every Important Word in 
 the Old and New Testaments. Adapted for the Use of Families and 
 Schools, and Bible Classes. By the same Author. 18mo., sewed, 
 Is.; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 *** Nearly Four Thousand Copies have been sold in a few months. 
 
 Voyages and Travels Round the World. By the Rev. Daniel Tyer- 
 man, and George Bennet, Esq., deputed from the London Mis- 
 sionary Society to visit their various Stations in the South-Sea 
 Islands, China, India, &c, compiled from Original Documents, by 
 James Montgomery, Esq. A New, Revised, and Cheap Edition, 
 with 26 Engravings, 8vo., sewed, 7s.; cloth, 8s. 
 
 Emmaus ; or, Communion with the Saviour at Eventide. By Rev. John 
 Waddington. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, 4s. 
 
 A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South-Sea Islands; 
 
 with Remarks upon the Natural History of the Islands, Origin, 
 Languages, Traditions, and Usages of the Inhabitants. By Rev. 
 John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. Beautifully 
 Illustrated. Forty-second Thousand, post 8vo., cloth, 8s. Cheap 
 Edition, royal 8vo., sewed, 2s. 6d.; cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 A Memoir of the Life and Character of the late Thomas "Wilson, Esq., 
 Treasurer of Highbury College. By his Son. Containing, also, 
 copious Notices of Mr. Wilson, by Rev. Dr. Philip, of Cape Town, 
 and Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham. Second Edition, 8vo., cloth, 
 with Portrait, 8s. 
 
 The Pure in Heart seeing God. Two Sermons, preached at Chapel- 
 street Chapel, Worthing, on Sunday, June 16th, 1847. By Rev. 
 Samuel Brewer. Foolscap 8vo., 6d.; cloth, Is. 
 
 The Principles and Fosition of the Congregational Churches. By Rev. 
 Algernon Wells. 8vo., sewed, 6d. 
 

 
 
 
 yr