He begins with Hallelujah, and intending to have a full chorus to join him in afcribing all glory to God in the highest, he calls upon the holy angels and the heavenly hofts to affift; then he addreffes himself to the active powers in nature, which praise God by doing his will and obeying his decree; afterwards he calls upon the earth with every thing in it, and on it, animate, and inanimate: For these fulfill his commandments, and keep his laws, and fo praise him: At last he comes to mankind, and requires high and low, kings and all people, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men, and maidens, old men and children, to join with him in praising the name of the Lord: For his name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven: He also exalteth the power of his people, the praife of all his faints, even of the children of Ifrael, a people near unto him. Hallelujah.

This was the state of the cafe in the old teftament: And in the new we read of the very children among the Jews, who could with their understanding fing, "Hofanna to the fon of David, bleffed

is he that cometh in the name of the "Lord, Hofanna in the highest." They could apply to Chrift the 118th pfalm. And we know from prophane history, E

that

that the firft Chriftians in all their meetings used to fing the praises of Jefus their God. They would not fit down to meat, or rise up without a pfalm. Jerom says, you might have heard the ploughmen and reapers in the fields finging pfalms: Yea, feveral of them could repeat the whole book in Hebrew. Church history relates many particulars upon this fubject. But the divine record is decifive. It contains commands to fing, directions how to fing, and promises to them who do fing aright, in the congregation.

1. As to the commands, one instance may fuffice, because they are fo frequently repeated in the 95th pfalm; the fubject of which is fo plain, as not to need any title prefixed to it. It treats of the praises. of God the Saviour. The church being met together in one place, the members of it call upon one another to join in. public finging of pfalms: They propose to celebrate the greatnefs of the power and love of their Jefus. They know their own backwardness to this high duty; they find how unequal their best praises are to the infinite glory of his person, and how far thefe are below the vast debt, which they owe him, therefore they exhort one another again and again to endeavor to give him higher, ftill higher

thanks;

thanks; but as they cannot fhew forth all his praise, they would therefore lengthen out the fong, and be continually glorifying him for the wonders, which he has done for their falvation. For this purpofe the holy Ghoft has put thofe words into their mouths.

1. O come ye, and we will with loud voices praise Jehovah, we will make the air ring with finging to the ftrength of our Jefus :

2. We will enter into his presence to pay him our homage, and we will make the air ring with pfalms unto his praise :

3. For Jehovah is the great God, and the great king above all (that is called) gods:

4. Because under his power are the deepest parts of the earth, and to him belong the highest parts of the mountains:

5. Because to him belongeth the fea, and he made it, and his hands have formed the dry land:

6. O come then, we will proftrate our felves, we will bow down, we will bend our knees before Jehovah our maker :

7. For he is our God, and we are the people under his paftoral care, and the flock under his protection.

Then the holy Ghoft encourages them to hold faft this their confidence in Chrift,

and the rejoicing of their hope firm unto the end, as Heb. iii. 7, &c.

8. This day, when ye fhall hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation (of your fathers) when they tempted me in the wilderness,

9. For your fathers tempted me, they tried me, (through their unbelief) altho' they faw my miraculous works:

10. Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, (they grieved the holy Spirit), and I faid, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not acknowleged my way (Chrift)

11. Wherefore I fware in my wrath, that they fhould not enter into my rest. How clear and full is this authority! Here is an hymn given by the inspiration of the almighty, in which believers encourage and admonish one another to fing pfalms, and to fing them whenever they come with the great congregation into the prefence of their Jefus, joining hearts and voices in his worship and praife: They fing earnestly, aloud, with thankf giving, they repeat the fong, they bow down and bend the knee to the creator of the world and the fupporter of it, who is also their maker in an especial fenfe, as he had made them new creatures by his regenerating Spirit, and thereby taken

them

them into a covenant relation, he their God, and they his people; he their fhepherd, and they his flock; he making ample provifion for them, and they receiving it thankfully at his hands; he fpeaking to them, and his fheep hear his voice and follow him, not tempting Chrift as the Jews tempted him in the wilderness and entered not into his reft, but they by believing enter now into his reft, and by and by into that reft, which remaineth for the people of God.

From this fingle paffage without mentioning others it is very evident, that finging pfalms in public worship is commanded of God, but this will be clearer still if we weigh the

2. Directions given in fcripture concerning the finging of them. Thefe have been mentioned before in the fifth chapter. We read in the book of pfalms, that finging in the worship of God is the service of the renewed mind, and of the rejoicing heart. The man, who is enabled by believing to fee his oneness with Jefus, and to enjoy the Father's love in him, will fing, as the fweet pfalmift of Ifrael did, with his understanding and with all his heart: He will rejoice in the Lord and be glad in the God of his falvation: In every way, that he can, and with every faculty,

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