30 PREFACE. and fears of Asaph and David ? Why must Christians be 'forbid all other melody, bnt what arises from the victories and deliverances of the Jews ? David would have thought it very hard to have been confined to the words of Moses, and sung nothing else, on all his rejoicing -days, but the drowning of Pharoah in the fifteenth of Exodus. He might have supposed it a little un reasonable, when he had peculiar occasions of mournful music, if he had been forced to keep close to Moses's prayer in the ninetieth psalm, and always sung over the shortness of human life, especially if he were not permitted the liberty of a paraphrase : And yet the special concerns of David and Moses were much more a -kin to each other, than ours are to either of them? and they were both of the same religion, but ours is very different. It is true, that David Iras left us a richer variety of holy songs, than all that went before him: but, rich as it is, it is still far short of the glorious things that we Christians bave to sing before theLord. We, and our churches have our own special affairs as well as they : Now if by a little turn of their words, or by the changeof a short sentence, we may express our own medi- tations, joys, and desires in the verse of those ancient psalmists, why should we forbid this sweet privilege ? Why should we under the Christian dispen- sation be tied up to forms more then the Jews themselves were, and such as are much more improper for our age and state too : Let us remember, that the very power of singing was given to human nature chiefly for this purpose, that our own warmest affections of soul might break out into natural or divine melody, and that the tongue of the worshipper might express his own heart. I confess it is not unlawful, nor absurd for a person of knowledge and skill in divine things, to sing any part of the Jewish psalm book, and consi- der it merely as the word of God ; from which, by wise meditation, he may draw some pious inferences for his own use : For instruction is allowed to be one end of psalmody. But where the words are obscure hebraisms, or where the poet personates a Jew, a soldier, or a king, speaking to himself, or to God, this mode of instruction in a song seems not so natural or easy even to the most skilful Christian, and it is almost impracticable to the greatest part of mankind : And both the wise and the weak must confess this, that it does by no means raise their own devotion so well, as if they were speaking in their own persons, and expressing their own sense : Besides that the weaker Christian is ready to chime in with the words he sings, and use them as his own, though they are never so foreign to his purpose. Now though it cannot be, that a large book of lively devotions should be so framed, as to have every line perfectly suited to all the circumstances of every worshipper; but, after the writer's utmost care, there will still be room for christian wisdom to exercise the thoughts aright in singing, when the words seem improper to our particular case: Yet, as far as possible, every difficulty of this kind should be removed, and such sentences should by no means be chosen, which can scarce be used, in their proper sense, by any that are present. I could never persuade myself, that the best way to raise a devout frame in plain Christians, was to bring a king, or a captain, into their churches, and let him lead and dictate the worship in his own style of royalty, or in the language of a field of battle.. Does every menial servant in the assembly know bow to use these words devoutly? namely, When I receive the congre- gation I will judge uprightly; Ps. lxxv. 2. A bow of steel is broken by Heine arms. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me; Psal. xviii. 34, 44.. Would f encourage a parish clerk to stand up iu the midst of a country church, and bid all the people join with his words, and say, I will press thee upon the psaltery; or, I will open my dark saying upon the harp : When even our cathedrals sing only to the sound of an organ, oust of the,meaner
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