ADVERSARIA.

THE DEVIL, Asábados, OUR ACCUSER. Cannot the accuser [the devil,] truly say to the Judge, [Jesus Christ, at the day of judgment,] they were thine by creation, but mine by their own choice: thou didst redeem them, indeed, but they sold themselves to me for a trifle, or for an unsatisfying interest: thou diedst for them, but they obeyed my commandments; I gave them nothing; I promised them nothing but the filthy pleasure of a night, or the joys of madness, or the delights of a disease. I never hanged upon the cross three long hours for them, nor endured the labours of a poor life thirty-three years together for their interest; only, when they were thine by the merit of thy death, they quickly became mine by the demerit of their ingratitude; and, when thou hadst clothed their soul withthy robe, and adorned them by thy graces, we stripped them naked as their shame, and only put on a robe of darkness, and they thought themselves secure, and went dancing to their grave like a drunkard to a fight, or a fly unto a candle; and therefore they that did partake with us in our faults, must divide with us in our portion and fearful interest. This is a sad story, because it ends in death, and there is nothing to abate or lessen the calamity. It concerns us, therefore, to consider in time, that he that tempts us will accuse us, and what he calls pleasant now, he shall then say was nothing, and all the gains that now invite earthly souls and mean persons to vanity, was nothing but the seeds of folly, and the harvest is pain and sorrow and shame eternal. But, then, since this horrour proceeds upon the account of so many accusers, God hath put it in our power, by a timely accusation of ourselves in the tribunal of the court Christian, to prevent all the arts of aggravation which at doomsday shall load foolish and undiscerning souls. He that accuses himself of his crimes here, means to forsake them, and looks upon them on all sides, and spies out his deformity, and is taught to hate them, he is instructed and prayed for, he prevents the anger of God and defeats the devil's malice; and, by making shame the instrument of repentance, he takes away the sting, and makes that to be his medicine which otherwise would be his death. By accusing ourselves we shall make the devil's malice useless, and our own consciences clear, and be reconciled to the Judge by the severities of an early repentance, and then we need to fear no accusers. Jer. Taylor's Sermons, I. pp. 42, 43. Lond. 1807.

BISHOP BEVERIDGE ON MATT. xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore and teach, Πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε, which more properly may be ren. dered, go ye therefore and disciple all nations, or, make the persons of all nations to be my disciples, that is, Christians. That this is the true meaning of the words, is plain and clear, from the right notion of the word here used, are, which coming from uaderns, a disciple, it always signifieth either to be, or to make disciples, wheresoever it occurs in all the scriptures, as unonrevleis, Matt. xiii. 52, which is in

the distribution of alms, and in the exercise of every other Christian virtue.

"In regard to the last point you touch upon-the liberality of the rich towards the poor-it ought undoubtedly to be proportioned to their wealth; and they should rather exceed than fall short of the strict line of duty. They should give with a willing heart and a Jiberal hand. 6 Charge them,' says the apostle, that are rich in this world, that they do good; that they be rich in good works; ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may attain eternal life.' But it is not said here or any where else, that I can recollect, that the rich are to deny themselves necessaries. The young man in the gospel indeed is commanded, if he would be perfect, to sell all that he had and give to the poor;' and the first disciples had 'all things in common.' But no one, I believe, thinks, that we are now obliged, or called upon by our duty, or by any principle of Christianity, to do either of these things. Neither, I apprehend, are we now required to part with necessaries, in order to relieve the poor. If we do, it is without question highly commendable; but it is po where required as a duty. It is out of their abundance, that is, their superfluities, that St. Paul directs the rich Corinthians to contribute to the support of their poorer brethren; but he does not command them to give their all. The poor widow indeed, who threw ber mite into the treasury, gave all her living; and therefore gave more, and would have a greater reward, than the rich, who gave from their abundance. Still however, what they gave was of some value, and was not rejected; and they are not to be discouraged from going even so far. But the further they go, and the greater sacrifices they make for the benefit of the poor, the greater will be their recompense : For he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth plenteously shall reap also plenteously.' At all events, they ought most certainly not to consume on their pleasures, their amusements, their vanities and their pride, even the overflowings of their fortune. They should not indulge in needless splendour, magnifi. cence and elegance of living, nor be anxious to raise great families, or to leave immoderate fortunes behind them. Whatever can be fairly spared from the necessary and unavoidable expenses of their situation in life, and from that reasonable and decent provision, which they are bound to make for their families and dependents after their death, they ought undoubtedly to appropriate to the relief of the poor, the support of religion, and the benefit of mankind. If they go beyond this-if they part even with necessaries to feed the poorthey deserve great praise: they draw nearer to that perfection, which was recommended to the young man in the gospel, and great will be their treasure in heaven. But I do not find that this is enjoined in scripture, any more than selling all we have to give to the poor.

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Upon the whole, I see nothing in your case, that need give you any serious uneasiness or alarm. Although we should all aim at the

very highest point of perfection in the Christian temper and character, yet too many of us, God knows, must expect to fall short of it, some in a greater, some in a less degree; and there must be many grievous errours and defects even in our very best services; yet these we hope will be forgiven, and our imperfect efforts accepted through the merits of our Redeemer. In our Father's house, we are told, are many mansions, and different gradations of happiness. Some will be rewarded with more and some with less, according to the different progress they have made in Christian excellence; but no humble, serious, conscientious Christian, who sincerely wishes and strives, as far as he is able, to devote his heart and life principally to God; who is supremely and habitually governed by a desire to know, and a disposition to do his will, and endeavours, under the influence of these motives, to live as much as possible to his glory; who, though he cannot arrive at the perfection he aims at, in his sentiments and feelings, affections and actions, yet uses his utmost efforts to come as near it as he can; and in the meanwhile sees and deplores and labours to correct his failings,-no such pious Christian as this will, I humbly conceive, be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, and from some share, whatever that may be, of future recompense."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

ON ALTERING THE BOOK OF PSALMS AND HYMNS.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 120.)

In the early days of the English church it was thought a matter of the first importance to make the regular and well established forms of worship as perfect as possible. For this purpose the learning and talents of the kingdom were put in requisition, and nothing was wanting which the patronage of the great, or the piety of the good could contribute to render the Book of Common Prayer altogether worthy of the sacred use for which it was intended. The singing of metrical psalms was not then thought to be an essential part of the service, but merely an appendage of much the same use and importance as the voluntary airs on the organ are considered now. Consequently much less attention was paid to rendering the psalms into verse, or to the selection of hymns, than to the prosaick forms which were considered complete of themselves. The case is now very different, and the singing of metrical compositions has become almost a constituent part of the service. It is now a matter of course that a few stanzas of devotional poetry should be sung at almost every celebration of divine worship. Whether this advanced rank which psalm singing holds in our service tends to the cherishing of a devotional spirit, and to the increase of edification or not, is a question, which if it were not sufficiently clear, it is now too late to discuss. That rank is now held by right of possession. It rests so firmly on the basis of universal and long conceded assent, as not now to be moved. There is no alternative but to make the service worthy of the place it holds.

That species of poetry proper for the use of the church, in which success is allowed by all to be most difficult, was not to be brought to perfection at once, or by the exertions or the genius of a single individual. Its career of advancement, compared with that of the other departments of poetry, was late begun, and slowly pursued. That small, but valuable additions, however, have, from time to time, been made to its stock, no person of information and taste will be disposed to deny. That these should be gathered up, and from them formed a manual of devotion, which might be worthy of its place by the side of our Common Prayer has long been an object of desire both in this and in the mother church. It is well known that the subject has been agitated in England, and though nothing of the kind we contemplate has yet been generally established, yet attempts have been made, and collections of metrical hymns have received the sanction even of archiepiscopal authority.

But why should we not be contented with the version of Tate and Brady? Is it not excellent? Is it not the best extant? It certainly is excellent, and as a complete version it unquestionably is the best. But what occasion have we for a complete version, or is there any propriety in furnishing this department of our manual with a full version of the psalms into metre?

The psalms are in general in the form of the ode, indited by the Holy Spirit for forms of devotion, and admirably adapted to the use of the church in all ages. But there is no kind of composition whatever which can with less propriety be divided, and used in separate portions, than the ode. This is a way in which I am persuaded the psalms were never designed to be used. The bold figures, the wild and protracted digressions, tlie intermixture of historical facts shaped to a moral use, are characteristicks of the ode, which in the inspired samples are well suited to the purpose of publick worship, if the composition be used entire, as they are used in the portions appointed for daily morning and evening prayer. But almost every feature which distinguishes the ode forbids that it should be mutilated. If used whole every part of it has an important weight and bearing. There is no excrescency, no useless member. But a detached portion, by losing its connexion, almost necessarily loses its original design and meaning as a part of the ode. Indeed, it can with no more propriety be considered a part of the ode than a fallen stone is a part of the edifice. I do not say that parts of Tate and Brady's version may not be extracted, which are not admirably well suited to the purpose for which they are used. I only say that such extracts lose their distinctive character as psalms. They lose the particular application and meaning which they sustain as parts of the finished compositions to which they belong. Nevertheless they may be precisely what is wanted for the metrical part of our service, and there is much in that ancient and excellent version which I should be very sorry to see exIcluded from our book.

If the psalms in metre were to be sung in our churches each entire, there would then be good reason why we should have a complete ver

sion, and I should even doubt the propriety of ever supplying their place by mere human composition. But to sing the psalms entire, except in very few instances, is out of the question. There are parts, which though admirable in their connexion, cannot be sung in a detached state. The length of the psalm with which they stand connected, and the short time allotted to this part of the service, forbid that the whole should be sung at once. Why then should such parts be inserted at all, since they can never be used for publick worship, and serve only to increase the size of the book, and the perplexity of selecting portions suitable to be sung in a detached state. And as for those parts which are beautiful and sublimely devotional even when removed from their place in the ode, as extracts, I see no difference between them and hymns, nor any reason why they should stand in our books as psalms, connected with parts, the use of which is proscribed by the nature of our service, when they never are and never can be used except as hymns. And why should it be thought necessary to adopt the whole version of Tate and Brady, because we wish to retain many parts of it that are admirably done and happily suited to the state of our service, any more than to take every hymn an author may have attempted because he has produced one too excellent to be passed by? If a selection were made not only from the version now in use, but from every other source where sacred poetry might be found sufficiently excellent and appropriate to the purpose of publick wor ship, why might not the whole be disposed of upon some general principles of arrangement, which would tend to render the work more complete, and facilitate an acquaintance with it.

The portion of metre usually sung in our churches, varies, I believe from three to five stanzas, seldom five, and oftener two than six. As almost all the psalms, and the greater part of the hymns, in our present book, exceed the proper portion to be used at once, an inconvenience arises in selecting, and in giving out the most suitable parts. Now there is as little necessity of retaining this inconvenience, as there is advantage to counterbalance it. Why may not all this labour and perplexity of selecting be performed at once, by those who are best qualified to perform it. Why may not the whole be distributed into portions varying within the limits of a moderate single performance?

These observations are made upon the supposition that some change is thought by the committee to be at this time necessary. It ought to be remembered that it is not the greatness of a change, but its frequency that is so prejudicial to devotion, and so dangerous to the Church. If an alteration in our book of metrical psalms and hymns is necessary, it should by all means be thorough. If owing to the circumstances of its origin, and the unsettled course of human affairs, a change must be endured, let the book be brought as near to perfection as the present state of sacred poetry will admit. A slight alteration will be satisfactory to no one. It will occasion all the inconvenience of a greater, without the advantages. It will afford a precedent for another, without removing the plea upon which the necessity of the first was