PREFACE. 33 ble to scripture may be sung, though it be composed by men uninspired ; I have not been so curious and exact in striving every where to express the ancient sense and meaning of David ; but have rather expressed myself, as 1 may suppose David would have done,bad be lived in the daysof Christianity. And by this means, perhaps, 1 have sometimes hit upon the true intent of the Spirit of God in those verses, farther and clearer than David himself could ever discover, as St. Peter encourages me to hope, 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. where he acknowledges that the ancient prophets who foretold of the grace that should come to us, were in some measure ignorant of this great salvation ; for though they testified of the sufferings of Christ and his glory, yet they were forced to search and enquire after the meaning of what they spake or wrote. In several other places I hope my reader will find a natural ex- position of many a dark and doubtful text, and some new beauties and con- nections of thought discovered in the Jewish. poet, though not in the language of a Jew. In all places I have kept my grand design in view, and that is, to teach my author to speak like a Christian. For why should I now address God my Saviour in a song, with burnt - sacrifices of failings, and with the incense of rams ? Why should 1 pray to be sprinkled with hyssop, or recur to the blood of bollocks and goats? Why should I bind my sacri- fice with cords to the horns of an altar, or sing the praises of God to high - sounding cymbals, when the gospel has shewn me a nobler atonement for sin, and appointed a purer and more spiritual worship? ` Why must I join with David in his legal or prophetic language, to curse my enemies, when my Saviour, in his sermons, has taught me to love and bless them ? Why may not a Christian omit all those passages of the Jewish psalmist, that tend to fill the mind with overwhelming sorrows, despairing thoughts, or bitter per- sonal resentments, none of which are well suited to the spirit of Christianity, which is a dispensation of hope, and joy, and love ? What need is there that 1 should wrap up the shining honours of my Redeemer in the dark and shadowy language of a religion that is now for ever abolished ; especially when Christians are so vehemently warned, in the epistles of St. Paul, against a judaizing spirit, in their worship as well as doctrine ? And what fault can there be in enlarging a little on the more useful subjects in the style of the gospel, where the psalm gives any occasion, since the whole religion of the Jews is censured often in the New Testament as a defective and imperfect thing ? Though I have aimed to provide for a variety of affairs in the Christian life, by the different metres, paraphrases, and divisions of the psalms, of which I shall speak particularly; yet, after all, there are a great many cir- cumstances that attend common Christians, which cannot be agreeably ex- pressed by any paraphrase on the words of David ; and for these 1 have endeavoured to provide in my book of hymns, that Christians might have something to sing in divine worship, answerable to most or all their occasions. In the preface to that book I have sheen the insufficiency of the common versions of the psalms, and given further reasons for my present attempt. I am not so vain as to expect, that the few short hints I have mentioned in that preface, or in this, should be sufficient to justify my performances in the judgment of all men, nor to convince and satisfy those who have long maintained different sentiments. All the favour therefore that I desire of my reaaers, is this, that they would not censure this work till they have read my discourse of psalmody, which I hope will shortly be published ; but let them read it with serious attention, and bring with them a generous and sincere soul, ready to be convinced, and to receive truth wheresoever it can be found. In that treatise I have given a large and particular account how the psalms of Jewish cdmposure ought to be translated for Christian worship, and justified the rules I fay down by such reasons, as seem to carry in them most plentiful evidence, and a fair conviction. VOL. IX. C
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