,- 224 rREFACE. if the same happy talent were employed in dressing the scenes of religion in their proper figures of majesty, sweetness, and terror ? The wonders of creating power, of redeeming love, and renewing grace, ought not to be thus impiously neglected by those whom heaven has endued with a gift so proper to adorn and cultivate them ; an art whose sweet insinuations might almost convey piety in resisting na- ture, and melt the hardest souls to the love of virtue. The affairs of .this life, with their reference to a life to come, would shine brighter in a dramatic description ; nor is there any need or any reason why we should always borrow the plan or his- tory from the ancient Jews, or primitive martyrs ; though several of these would furnish out noble materials for this sort of poesy : But modern scenes would be better understood by most readers, and the application woúld be much more easy. The anguish of inward guilt, the secret stings and racks and scourges of conscience, the sweet retiring hours, and seraphical joys of devotion ; the victory of a resolved soul over a thousand temptations ; the inimitable love and passion of a dying God ;the awful glories of the last tribunal ; the grand decisive sentence, from which there is no appeal ; and the consequent transports or horrors of the two eternal worlds ; these things may be variously disposed, and form many poems. How might suchper- formances, under a divine blessing, call back the dying piety of the nation to life and beauty? This would make religion appear like itself, and confound the blas- phemies of a profligate world, ignorant of pious pleasures. But we have reason to fear, that the tuneful men of our day have not raised their ambition to so divine a pitch; I should rejoice to see more of this celestial fire kindled within them ; for the flashes that break out in some present and past writings, betray an infernal source. This the incomparable Mr. Cowley, in the latter end of his preface, and the ingenious Sir Richard Blackmore, in the begin- ning of his, have so pathetically describedand lamented, that I rather refer the reader to mourn with them, than detain and tire him here. These gentlemen, in their large and laboured works of poesy, have given the world happy examplesof what they wish and encourage in prose; the one in a rich variety of thought and fancy, the other in all the shining colours of profuse and florid diction. If shorter sonnets were composed on sublime subjects, such as the psalms of David, and'the holy transports interposed in the other sacred writings, or suchas the moral odes of Horace, and the ancient Lyrics ; I persuade myself, that the christian preacher would find abundant aid from the poet, in his design to diffuse virtue, -and allure souls to God. If the heart were first inflamed from heaven, and the muse were not left alone to form the devotion, and pursue a cold scent, but only called in as an assistant to the worship, then the song would end where the inspiration ceases; the whole composure would be of 'a piece, all meridian light and meridian fercour; and the same pious flame would be propagated, and kept glowing in the heart of him that reads. Some of the shorter odes of the two poets now mentioned, and a few of. the Reverend Mr. Norris's essays in verse, are con- . vincing instances of the success of this.proposal. It is my opinion also, that the free and unconfined numbers of Binder, or the noble measures of Milton without rhyme, would best maintain the dignity of the theme, as well as give a loose to the devout soul, nor check the raptures of her faith and love. Though in my feeble attempts of this kind, I have too often fet- tered my thoughts in the narrow metre of our old psalm- translators; Ihavecon- tracted and cramped the sense, or rendered itobscure and feeble, by the too speedy and regular returns of rhyme. If my friends expect any reason of the following composures, and of the first or second publication, I intreat them to accept of this account. The title assures them that poesy is not the business of my life ; and if I seized those hours of leisure, wherein my soul was in a more sprightly frame, to entertain them or myself with a divine or moral song, I hope I shall find an easy pardon. 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 impression; but upon the review, I found some expressions that were not spited to the plainest capacity', and the
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