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lation of praise is one of our most exalted duties, and the time necessary to its due celebration will always ascend up before God, as a memorial of our love and gratitude to the author and giver of every good and perfect gift.

It is impossible to apply any portions of our time to better account, than those which we spend in the oblation of God's most worthy praise in the daily service of the Church. In no act of holy worship does mortal man so much resemble a glorified spirit, as when he is engaged with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all the energies of his ear and voice, in chanting forth the songs of Sion.

Perhaps the objector thinks, that prolonging the time of" setting forth God's most worthy praise" beyond the usual time of reading it, may prove an exeuse for the minister's shortening his sermon in proportion. And what if it should? Is sermonizing a duty equal to that of giving glory to God in the highest?

A sermon is not mentioned, in the exhortation, as one of the enumerated ends of assembling for public worship; but, "to hear God's holy word, and to set forth his most worthy praise," are particularly specified as congregational duties. To each of these there is a time, as well as a place for celebration. And, if God's holy word is precious in our eyes, the time necessary to reading it will not appear tedious; and whensoever the appointed

portions of it are announced by the minister, the language of our affections will be," speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth :" and the time requisite for "setting forth the most worthy praise," of the God of our salvation, will be time profitably employed, if, preparatory to the celebration of every act of praise, our mental cogitations are, "O God, my heart is ready, I will sing and give praise; for it is a good thing to sing praises unto thy name, O thou Most Highest."

It may be asked-Can any portions of our time be more agreeably, or more profitably spent, than in making "a joyful noise before the Lord the King-in singing psalms to his name-and making his praise to be glorious?" Let the objector say,—what portions of time that are spent in this world have so near an alliance to the joyful eternity of the redeemed of the Lord in their mansions of glory, as those, which are employed in presenting oblations of the sweet-smelling incense of praise? To the redeemed of the Lord, in their abodes of bliss, how precious will those portions of time appear, which, on earth, they had spent in the praises of the author and giver of all their mercies! When the remembrance of every unpleasant time or occurrence shall have been erased from their minds, the recollection of their holy jubilations in the Church militant will heighten their relish for the hallelujahs of the Church triumphant.

Seeing then, that God is the giver of every moment of our time, how ill does it become any of us to speak, or even to think, of too much time being spent in vocal acts of gratitude and praise? I say not, of what temper of mind this grudging of time, for "setting forth the most worthy praise" of the God of our salvation, is the index; but this I say, a change of heart and affections, in the objector, is absolutely necessary before he be capable of relishing the incessant hallelujahs, which are to be chanted in the triumphant Church of our Lord, even Christy "when time shall be no more."

OBJECTION VI.

"So great is the difference between metre psalmody and chanting, that my ears can never be reconciled to it."

REPLY.

None of the human senses is so susceptible of prejudices as that of hearing; and we are more under the influence of this sense than that of seeing. Hearing hath been called the intellectual sense, because instruction can be communicated to the mind more promptly by the ear than by the

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vehicle of all the other senses put together. But notwithstanding the super-excellency of this sense, it is extremely liable to perversion, and when once led astray, it is hard to be corrected, as sounds are too fleeting to be made the subjects of examination, as the objects of the other senses

are.

It were impossible for the most erudite musician, by arguments, to convince a man of a vitiated taste, that his ear is corrupted. Arguments may irritate, but can never produce conviction. If he can only be persuaded to give a patient hearing to music of a superior excellency than that to which his ear hath been habituated, the door of improvement is sufficiently opened; and if it is not shut again by the hand of peevishness or impatience, the point is gained.

Setting aside the application of music to religious purposes, the ear sitting in judgment upon the three sorts of music, namely, Chanting, Metre Psalmody, and Song Tunes, would naturally determine in favour of the latter, and estimate the others according to their similarity or dissimilarity to the object of its preference, And why? because song music admits of all the curvatures and flexions which are capable of exciting its tenderest sensibilities, and of eliciting the energies of all the animal passions; the words are pronounced with their proper accents, emphasis, and pauses, and come to the mind in sufficiently quick succes

sion, so as not to keep it a moment in suspense for their meaning.

The reasons why an ear unbiassed in favour of metre music, would disapprobate it, are, the tardiness of its sounds, its syllabic dislocations, and its general neglect of all accent, emphasis, and punctuation. The time for conveying sentiment to the mind in this way, being so much protracted beyond the time of doing it in the ordinary course of reading or speaking, would infallibly produce impatience, and impatience disgust.

In forming a judgment upon the merits or demerits of chanting, the disinterested ear would hesitate and deliberate; and without deciding at a first hearing, would say to the plaintiff," I would hear thee again."

And verily this seems to have been the case with many of the first converts to Christianity. Several of the ancient Fathers inform us, that idolators frequented the Christian assemblies, some as spies, others out of mere curiosity, to hear the Christians' doctrine, or to hear their music. With the amiableness and rationality of the one, some were delighted; with the simplicity, novelty, and grandeur of the other, multitudes were so captivated, that they thought favourably of the God to whom it was addressed, and desired to be enrolled in the number of catechumens before they departed. What first captivated their ears, next captivated their hearts..

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