them in others. If he would edify others, he must himself be edified.

This principle, though extensively disregarded even by pious musicians, is just as obvious in its application to this subject, as it is in reference to pulpit oratory, or social prayer. It is all a mistake to suppose that music is a species of mental mechanism, which will secure its own ends on the mere principle of laborious accuracy or tasteful execution. Singers are moral agents, accountable to the Searcher of hearts for the feelings, and motives, and habits, which they cultivate and call into exercise, within the house of God. It is a solemn business to be engaged in the work of angels and seraphs; delightful, indeed, to the heart of intelligent, pious susceptibility, but awfully hazardous to the soul of the thoughtless, the irreverent, and the profane. There are worthy men in the Christian connexion who think little of this whole matter. Even among professors of religion, there are choristers and teachers who seem to have almost their whole attention directed away from the spiritual claims of edification. But they are fundamentally wrong.

Nor should children be made chief performers in the house of God. "Old men and maidens," as well as young men and children, are exhorted to take part in the service. If Christian influences are to be exerted by the public performances, they must be carried there by those who are truly pious. The Kenaniahs, the Asaphs, the Hemans, and the Jeduthuns, the evangelists, the elders, and the teachers of religion, must, as far as possible, be found in the ranks of cultivation. Children should not withhold their hosannas; they should be universally and thoroughly instructed in the office of sacred song: but the ministers and professed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ must not be guilty of practical indifference to his praises, if they would find them a real source of devout edification. Multitudes, who are now mute in the house of God, might be enlisted in the delightful service, if they only realized the full measure of their accountability. Feeble lungs would be

me strong, decayed voices would renew their vigor;

and the jargon of dissonant notes would be hushed to silence under the general influence of enlightened cultivation. The devotional advantages of such a scene, may, under the blessing of God, be realized, when parents and teachers will consent to make sacred music a necessary branch of Christian education.

Cultivation, however, must not be confined to children and youth. It must be carried religiously into the various classes of adults. The family circle, the weekly lecture, the conference meeting, and the circle for prayer, must, in some way, be made to realize its hallowed influChristians need not expect to reap such influences as these, where they have never sowed them.

ences.

Such views as the above have influenced the Compilers uniformly, from the commencement of their undertaking. The subjects of divine song have been enlarged, and palpable poetical blemishes have been removed: while the musical hints and references have not been made so mechanical in their arrangement as to entirely supersede the necessity of personal attention among those who lead in the public service. Emotions form the only proper basis of musical expression; and these are in their own nature incommensurable. General hints, therefore, are all that can be attempted with any prospect of success.

But we must here dismiss the subject, and close our remarks by the explanation of

Some of the tunes referred to, having this mark (ex) affixed to them, are, by the power of emphasis, to be sung with varied expression, corresponding with the sentiments found in the Psalm or Hymn.

PSALMS.

1.

Ρ

FIRST PART. C. M.-Dunchurch.

Way and end of the righteous and the wicked.

1 BLEST is the man who shuns the place
Where sinners love to meet;

Who fears to tread their wicked ways,
And hates the scoffer's seat:

2 But in the statutes of the Lord
Has placed his chief delight;
By day he reads or hears the word,
And meditates by night.

3 He, like a plant of gen'rous kind,
By living waters set,

Safe from the storm and blasting wind,
Enjoys a peaceful state.

cr 4 Green as the leaf, and ever fair,
Shall his profession shine;
While fruits of holiness appear,
Like clusters on the vine.

PAUSE.

cx 5 Not so the impious and unjust;
What vain designs they form!
Their hopes are blown away like dust,
Or chaff before the storm.

f

m 6 Sinners in judgment shall not stand
Among the sons of grace,

When Christ the Judge at his right hand
Appoints his saints their place.

p 7 His eye beholds the path they tread,
His heart approves it well;

f. ex While crooked ways of sinners lead Down to the gates of hell.

1.

vi

SECOND PART. L. M.-Uxbridge.
Way of the righteous and the wicked.

1 HAPPY the man whose cautious feet
Shun the broad way that sinners go,
Who hates the place where Atheists meet,
And fears to talk as scoffers do.

2 He loves t' employ his morning light
Among the statutes of the Lord;
And spends the wakeful hours of night,
Pleased with the wonders of his word.
3 He, like a plant by gentle streams,
Shall flourish in immortal green;

And heaven will shine with mildest beams
On every work his hands begin.

ex 4 But sinners find their counsels cross'd;
As chaff before the tempest flies,
So shall their hopes be blown and lost,
When the last trumpet shakes the skies.

f

1.

THIRD PART. L. M.-Park-street.
Same subject.

1 THRICE happy he who shuns the way
That leads ungodly men astray;

Who fears to stand where sinners meet,
Nor with the scorner takes his seat.

2 The law of God is his delight;
That cloud by day, that fire by night,
Shall be his comfort in distress,

And guide him through life's wilderness.
3 His works shall prosper: he shall be
A fruitful, fair, unwith'ring tree,
That, planted where the river flows,
Nor drought, nor frost, nor mildew knows.

f 4 Not so the wicked; they are cast

ag

di

1.

Like. chaff upon the whirlwind's blast:
In judgment they shall quake for dread,
Nor with the righteous lift their head.
Montgomery.

FOURTH PART. S. M.-Watchman.
Same subject.

I THE man is ever blest

Who shuns the sinners' ways,
Among their councils never stands,
Nor takes the scorner's place.