But the question may arise whether this is not after all a mere difference of arrangement-as, for example, in the Congregational Hymn and Tune Book, which contains all the matter of the Connecticut Psalms and Hymns, arranged in connection with printed music for congregational singing. We answer that if it were merely a difference of arrangement, it would not therefore be insignificant, for the distinction between the psalms and other songs for worship, ought to be kept in mind by being kept in sight. But in the present instance, as in both the others to which we have referred, it is much more than a difference of arrangement. To make this plain, let the reader open the Connecticut Psalm-book at the beginning, and the Bible at the book of Psalms. The first of those old Hebrew odes of worship to the living God that were chanted so long ago beneath the sky of Palestine, and which have guided for so many ages and in so many varieties of speech, the worship of the universal church, is represented here by three versions: "Blest is the man who shuns the place;"-" The man is ever blest ;" and "Happy the man whose cautious feet." How spirited is each!-how beautiful!-how faithful to the spirit and sense of the original! Which of them would any pastor willingly expunge from the book which he uses in conducting public worship? Which of them would any Christian parent consent to leave out of the book which is to do more than any catechism can do towards forming the religious character of his children? Yet all these three are omitted from the Sabbath Hymn-Book, and that first Psalm is absolutely unrepresented in the collection. The second Psalm is represented in the Connecticut book by two versions: "Why did the nations join to slay ;" and "Now Christ ascends on high." The third is represented by three versions: "My God, how many are my fears;"-"The tempter to my soul hath said ;" and "O Lord, how many are my foes." But neither the second Psalm nor the third is represented by any version. or imitation in the Andover book. The fourth Psalm is sented in the Connecticut book by two versions: "Lord, thou wilt hear me when I pray ;" and "O God of grace and righteousness:"-of which the first finds favor in the sight of

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the Andover compilers. One version of the fifth Psalm has a place in the Andover book: "Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear;”—but, in addition to that, the Connecticut book gives from W. Goode, "Whene'er the morning rays appear." The Connecticut Psalm-book gives four versions of the sixth Psalm: "Lord, I can suffer thy rebukes ;"-" In anger, Lord, rebuke me not;"-"In mercy, not in wrath, rebuke;"—and "Gently, gently, lay thy rod;"-the first three from Watts, the fourth from Lyte. Of these the Andover Hymn-Book gives only the last. The seventh Psalm is represented by two versions in the book of Psalms and Hymns, and by none in the Sabbath Hymn-Book. The eighth Psalm is represented in one book by five versions, four from Watts, and the fifth from W. Goode; in the other, two from Watts are given, and for the remaining three is substituted one of Tate and Brady's handiwork, beginning,

"O thou to whom all creatures bow,
Within this earthly frame."

We need not proceed in these details. It may suffice to say, that of the one hundred and fifty Psalms, only ninety are represented in the Andover book by anything that pretends to be a version even of a single fragment. Some of the omissions, we must say, are quite surprising. Would any pastor, for example, feel as if it would be practicable for him to conduct public worship, year after year, without being permitted ever to give out any one of Watts's four versions from the thirty-second Psalm, as found in the Connecticut Psalms and Hymns? Which of them would any church be willing to strike out from its liturgy of song? Who can tell us which of the four is most exquisite in beauty and melody,—or which it is that utters most felicitously the very thought and spirit of the original? Which of them is not too familiar to be quoted here? Or which of them, if quoted entire, familiar as it is, would fail to be read with as deep a joy as if it had never been seen before? The short meter version in four stanzas,

"O blessed souls are they,"

the common meter version in five stanzas,

t

"Happy the man to whom his God

No more imputes his sin,"

and the two long meter versions of different portions of the
Psalm, the first, of ver. 1, 2,

"Blest is the man, forever blest,

Whose guilt is pardoned by his God,"

and the other of ver. 3-8,

"While I keep silence and conceal

My heavy guilt within my heart,"

are like the different parts of a majestic harmony. Each one
brings out, as it were, better than any other, its own share of
the manifold riches contained in the original inspiration of the
Psalm. Yet of this most evangelical and most poetic Psalm,
the Sabbath Hymn-Book gives no version at all, nor any
pretense of one.

Doubtless the Andover compilers, one and all, like the poet
in the "Rehearsal," would be "happy to explain," and could
give reasons in abundance, satisfactory to many minds, for
omitting from their collection so many of the Psalms. Doubt-
less they have done this not capriciously, nor at hap-hazard,
but according to some theory of their own. Our design in
pointing out these omissions, is not to condemn peremptorily
the principle (whatever it may be) which has determined their
selections and their omissions, but to show, by this example,
that if the Psalms are not put by themselves, according to the
old fashion, in the place of honor, the churches are likely to
lose them altogether from "the service of song in the house of
the Lord." It is for the churches to say now, under the guid-
ance of their pastors, whether they will finally give up the old
theory of a Psalm-book, with hymns and spiritual songs
appended, and have nothing but a Hymn-book for use in their
families and in their worshiping assemblies. The three books
that have been last offered to the Congregational churches in
this country, are alike in this respect, the Plymouth Col-
lection, the Congregational Hymn-Book, and the Sabbath
Hymn-Book, and where they are introduced, the Psalms, as
such, are given up. We have an opinion on this point; and
our examination of these three books confirms it. Our opinion

1

is, that the Psalms, versified in the method of which Watts has given the most illustrious example, are the sheet-anchor of our system of worship-that without them we shall be continually drifting away from the simple directness of a truly spiritual worship, with all the shifting tides of subjective sentimentalism in religious experience, and with all the changes of mental philosophy in its relations to theology.

A second difference between the two books in their idea and conception, is less obviously intimated in their respective titlepages. One is, "Psalms and Hymns for Christian use and worship," the other is a " Sabbath Hymn-book for the service of song in the house of the Lord." The old idea and use of the New England Psalm-book made it a book for the family and for the closet as well as for the church in its Sabbath assemblies. It was not for the singers' gallery only, nor for the meeting-house only-still less was it, after the fashion of some "up-town" city churches in these days, a mere libretto, explanatory of the operatic performances in the organ-loft-it was carried home at the close of public worship, (save when the family was rich enough, as all families now are, to have duplicate copies for the pew and for the dwelling ;) and at home it was a manual of worship and of religious nurture and influence, less formal indeed than the catechism, but more efficacious to inform the mind and to mold the heart-as the theology of intellect is always less efficacious than the theology of feeling and affection. The Connecticut book was compiled by men who were, in some degree, influenced by the old theory of the uses of such a book. In their "Directions" for the use of this book, they have a section for "Pastors and others conducting public worship," a section for "those who direct the singing," and a section for "worshipers generally." Under this last head, after commending "the habitual and general use of psalms and hymns in private and family worship," they say,

Although certain Hymns, in this book, are placed by themselves, as chiefly appropriate to occasions of private and domestic devotion, the use of the book at home ought not to be limited to those Hymns. The whole book should be a household book to the families, and a closet book to the individuals, of the congregations in which it is used for public worship. The versions of Psalms, when com

pared with each other, and with the scriptural text to which each version is referred, will be found to constitute a lucid evangelical exposition of almost every sentence of that portion of the written word. The Hymns, if studied in their arrangement, will be an efficient help to catechetical and other didactic instruction, in impressing the system of evangelical truth, not merely upon the memory, but, by God's blessing, upon the heart."

It is not our purpose to assume or to argue that this theory in regard to the usefulness of a book of psalms and hymns is the true theory. We only say that this theory evidently had an effect upon the compilation of the book prepared and published by the General Association of Connecticut. The opposite theory presided over the compilation of Church Psalmody, and made it what it is. It can hardly be supposed that the compilers of that book regarded it in any other light than as a book for the meeting-house, and preeminently for the use of choirs. It is a book to be left in the pews. Who would ever think of carrying it home and reading it as a book of devotional poetry? Who, except under the force of habits previously formed, would ever think of using it in the family as a means of religious instruction, or in the closet for personal edification? The musical hieroglyphics in the margin, show what it was made for. Far be it from us to imply that the same theory domineered in the same degree over the compilation of the new book now before us. Dr. Lowell Mason is a wiser man, as well as older, than he was when he made the Church Psalmody. Yet the title page tells what the book is, without one unmeaning word. The influence of the musician betrays itself too often. An example of this occurs in that fine hymn of Charles Wesley's, "Rejoice, the Lord is king." All other collections, in which that hymn is found, so far as our knowledge extends, give the chorus of that hymn, repeated in every stanza, thus,

"Lift up the heart, lift up the voice,

Rejoice aloud, ye saints rejoice,"

which, (for some musical reason surely, and no other,) is changed by the Sabbath Hymn Book into

"Lift up your hearts, lift up your voice;

Rejoice!-again, I say, rejoice!"

But here we touch the vexed question of changes in the