only four. For the conviction both of the Jews and deists, other arguments are to be urged; arguments from undeniable miracles openly wrought, and plain prophecies literally fulfilled. Such proofs are 'for them that believe not.' And such have been repeatedly urged, in their full force, by the many able champions, who have stood forth (success evermore attend their labours!) in defence of the evidences of Christianity. Expositions and meditations, like those in the subsequent pages, serve not, nor are intended to serve, for them who believe not, but for them who believe;" who will exercise their faculties in discerning and contemplating the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and who are going on unto perfection; to increase their faith, and inflame their charity to delight them in prosperity, to comfort them in adversity, to edify them at all times. Such effects, the author doubts not, will be experienced by believers, who will read this book with an honest and good heart, with seriousness and attention; for though he humbly trusts it will not be deemed altogether unworthy a place in the libraries of the learned, he builds chiefly on that approbation which he is solicitous it should receive in the closets of the devout; as considering, that it is love, heavenly love, which 'never faileth; but whether there be prophecies they shall fail; whether there be tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we 11 Cor. xiv. 22. prophesy in part: but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." They who find not the wished-for satisfaction in one portion, will find it in another; they who disapprove of an interpretation at the first reading, may, perhaps, approve of it at the second; and they who still continue to disapprove of some particulars, will not therefore disdain to accept the benefit of the rest. He has written to gratify no sect or party, but for the common service of all who call upon the name of Jesus, wheresoever dispersed, and howsoever distressed, upon the earth. When he views the innumerable unhappy dif ferences among Christians, all of whom are equally oppressed with the cares and calamities of life, he often calls to mind those beautiful and affecting words which Milton represents Adam as addressing to Eve, after they had wearied themselves with mutual complaints and accusations of each other : But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame Each other's burden in our share of woe. B. x. V. 958. Enough has been given to the arts of controversy. Let something be given to the studies of piety and a holy life. If we can once unite in these, our tempers may be better disposed to unite in doctrine. When we shall be duly prepared to receive it, "God may reveal even this unto us." To increase the number of disputes among us, is, therefore, by 1 Cor. xiii. 8. no means the intent of this publication. The author having, for many years, accustomed himself to consider and apply the Psalms, while he recited them, according to the method now laid down, has never failed to experience the unspeakable benefit of it, both in public and in private; and would wish, if it so pleased God, that death might find him employed in meditations of this kind.' He has likewise frequently taken occasion, in the course of his ministry, to explain a Psalm, upon the same plan, from the pulpit; and whenever he has done so, whether the audience were learned or unlearned, polite or rustic, he has generally had the happiness to find the discourse, in an especial manner, noticed and remembered. But still many may be of a different opinion, who may conscientiously believe the doctrines, and practise the duties of the Gospel, whether they see them shadowed out in the Psalms or not. Such will enjoy their own liberty, and permit their brethren to do the same. Or, if they shall think it necessary to take up the polemical pen, he desires only to receive that treatment which he has himself shown to every writer, cited or referred to by him. In 1 "I have lost a world of thime," said the learned Salmasius, on his death-bed; "If I had one year more, I would spend it in reading David's Psalms, and Paul's Epistles." 2 Detur igitur erratis meis venia: ipse demum exemplo meo mihi prosim, qui neminem eorum, a quibus dissenserim, contumeliis affeci; qui non, vitio criticorum, in diversæ sententiæ propugnatores acriter invectus sum; qui denique eam veniam antecessoribus meis libens tribui, quam ab iis, qui hæc in manus sumturi sint, velim impetrare. Pearce in Præfat. ad edit. Cic. de Oratore. stead of engaging in a tedious, and perhaps, unprofitable altercation upon the subject, he feels himself at present much rather inclined, in such a case, to follow, at his proper distance, the amiable example of his greatly respected Diocesan, who reprinted in England the objections made by a foreign professor, to some parts of his Lectures on the Hebrew Poetry, and left the public to form its own judgment between them.* From that Public, the author of the following work is now to expect the determination of his fate. Should its sentence be in his disfavour, nothing further remains to be said, than that he has honestly and faithfully endeavoured to serve it, to the utmost of his power, in the way in which he thought himself best able; and to give the world some account of that time, and those opportunities, which by the providence of a gracious God, and the munificence of a pious Founder, he has long enjoyed in the happy retirement of a college. "In his si quæ sunt, quæ mihi minus persuasit Vir Clarissimus, ea malui hoc modo libero lectorum nostrorum judicio permittere, quam in disceptationem et controversiam injucundam, et fortasse infructuosam, vocare."-Lowth, in Præf. ad edit. 2dam Prælect. de Sacra Poesi Hebræorum. "Authors should avoid, as much as they can," says another very learned critic, "replies and rejoinders, the usual consequences of which are, loss of time and loss of temper. Happy is he who is engaged in controversy with his own passions, and comes off superior; who makes it his endeavour, that his follies and weak. nesses may die before him, and who daily meditates on mortality and immortality."-Jortin's Preface to his Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, p. xxxiv. TABLE OF PSALMS. That the reader may the more easily turn to such Psalms as will best suit the present state of his mind, according to the different circumstances, whether external or internal, into which, by the changes and chances of life, or the variations of temper and disposition, he may, at any time, be thrown, the common Table of Psalms, classed under their several subjects, is here subjoined. PRAYERS. I. Prayers for pardon of sin. Psalm 6, 25, 38, 51, 130. Psalms styled Penitential, 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143. II. Prayers composed when the Psalmist was deprived of an opportunity of the public exercise of religion. 43, 63, 84. Psalm 42, III. Prayers wherein the Psalmist seems extremely dejected, though not totally deprived of consolation, under his afflictions. Psalm 13, 22, 69, 77, 88, 143. IV. Prayers wherein the Psalmist asketh help of God, in consideration of his own integrity, and the uprightness of his cause. Psalm 7, 17, 26, 35. V. Prayers expressing the firmest trust and confidence in God under afflictions. Psalm 3, 16, 27, 31, 54, 56, 57, 61, 62, 71, 86. |