275 rhe ofpel-Illyfiery Direa. MIL glorying in hirn,.Pfalm civ. 33, 34. cv. 3. cxlix. 2, and xxxiii. 1, 2, 3, You are never right until you can be heartily merry in the Lord, to aa joy and mirth holfly, James v. 13. Epli. v. ry. and al. fo to get more knowledge, and inftruEìion in heav- tnly myfteries, and in your duty, teaching and ad- monifhing, Col. iii. i6. Many pfalms are Mafchils, (as their title is,) i. e. pfalms of inftruetion. Thus we are to fing fuch pfalms as (peak in the firft perfon, though we cannot apply them to ourfelves as words uttered by 'ourfAves concerning ourfelvts : and in this we do not lie. David (peaks cf Chrift as of him- felf, as a pattern of afiiaion and virtue, to.inlitua others ; and we fing fuch pfalms, not as our words, but words for our inftruaion. And therein we do not lie, any more than the Levites, the fons of Ko- rah, or jeduthun, or other rnuficians bound to fing them, rfalm s, xxx ix, and xlii. Though it be good topen'fonate all the good that we can ; yet we have fo much liber-y in the ufe of pfalms, that though we cannot apply all to ourfelves, as fpeaking and think- ing the fame, 't we fhall anfwer the end, if we fing for our inftrriaion, as in Pfal, vi, xxvi, xlvi, ci, and cxxxi. And Pfalm.s have' a peculiar fitnefs for teaching and jail ruaing becanfe the pleafantnefs of metre faid or lung, is very helpful to the memory. See Dent xxxi. 19, 21. And there is a variety of curious artifice in the placing of words in the pfalms upon this account; and there are fame alphabetical pfalms, asç Pfal. xxv, xxxiv, xxxvii, cxi, cxii, cxix, and exly. And, by the melody of the found, the in- ftruaion comes in with delight, as a phyfical dofe fugared ; and forrow is naturally allayed, to fit the mind for fuiritual joy ; and diftempered paffions np- peafed, 2 Kings 5. I Sam. xvi. 14j 15;, 16, S1 Orpheus, Amphion, and others, were famous for civilizing rude and barbarous people by rnufic. 8. Falling is alfo an ordinance of God to be tiled for the fame purpofe and end, and is commanded to us under the New Teftament, Matth. ix. is. and
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