34 ritsrAC S. If I might presume so much, I would irltreat them also to forget their younger prejudices for a season, so far as to make a few experiments of these songs , and try whether they are not suited, through divine grace, to kindle in them a fire of zeal and love, and to exalt the willing soul to an evangelic temper of joy and praise. And if they shall find, by sweet experience, any devout affections raised, and a holy frame of' mind awakened within them by these attempts of Christian psalmistry ; I persuade myself, that 1 shall re- ceive their thanks, and be assisted by their prayers towards the recovery of my health, and my public labours in the church of Christ. Whatsoever sen- timents they had formerly entertained, yet surely they will not suffer their old and doubtful opinions to prevail against their own inward sensations of piety and religious joy. Before I conclude, I must add a few things concerning my division of the Psalms, and my manner of versifying. Of the Division of the Psalms.' In many of these sacred songs it is evident, that the psalmist had several dis- tinct cases in view at the same time: As Psalm Ixv. the first four or five verses describe the temple worship of prayer and praise ; the following verses represent the providence of God in the seasons of the year. So in Psalm lxviii. the first six verses declare the majesty andmercy of God, and from the seventh verse to the sixteenth, Israel is brought from Egypt, to fix divine worship at Jerusalem. The seventeenth and eighteenth are a prophecy of the ascension of Christ. Verse 24, &c. describes a religious procession, &c. The like may be observed in many other psalms, especially such as represent some complicated sorrows, or joys of the psalmist. Now it is not to be supposed that Christians should have all the samè distinct occasions of meditation, complaint or praise, much lésa all at the same time to be mentioned before God; therefore I have divided many psalms into several parts, and disposed them into distinct hymns on those various subjects that may be' proper matter for christian psalmody. Besides, that excessive long tone of voice, that stretches out every syllable in our public singing, allows us neither time nor spirits to sing above six or eight stanzas at once, and sometimes we makè use of but three or four: Therefore I have reduced almost all the work into hymns of such a length, as may suit the usual custom of the churches ; that they may not singbroken fragments of sense, as is too often done, and spoil the beauty of this worship; but may finish a whole song and subject at once.' Por this end I have been forced to transpose, or omit, some of the verses; and, by this means, some will object, that I have left out some useful and significant lines, Perhaps so : But if I had not, the clerk would have left them out, to save the time for other parts of worship ; and I desire but the same liberty which he has to choose which verses shall be sung. Yet I think it will be seldom found that I have omitted' any useful psalm, or verse, whose sense is not abundantly repeated in other parts of the book; and what I have left out in one metre I have often inserted in another. When. the occasion or subject are much the same throughout a long psalm, I have either abridged the verses, or divided the psalm by pauses, after the French manner, where the seme would admit an interruption, that the worship may not be tiresome. Of the Verse. I resign to Sir John Denham 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 ren- dered it sometimes too obscure for a plain reader and the public worship, even though we lived in the days of David and Judaism. These inconveniences he himself suspects, and fears in the prefaces
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=