Then come hymns about the book, songs of the Sabbath, hymns by the way, hymns on the waters, hymns of the morning, and songs in the night. Nor will the world ever lose its interest in chapters on marriage songs, and birth-day hymns, or hymns from beneath the cloud, hymns of Gethsemane, and the cross, funeral hymns, judgment hymns, and songs of glory.

To catch the spirit, and to be enriched with the music of the first hymn-book, is to be prepared for daily "speaking to ourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" and a life thus spent will certainly issue in songs of glory.

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Chapter II.

THE FIRST HYMN-BOOK.

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage."

PEAK to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing, and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Happy advice from a happy man! If ever man had his life on earth enriched and brightened by the psalmody of heaven, St. Paul was that man. He seems now and then to be an impersonation of the jubilant religion which he preached. Here and there he uses a threefold form of speech, as if the notion of a Trinity were ever in his mind, and as if the Triune form gave the completest possible expression to his feeling as to that full harmony of fixed belief, triumphant principle, and exultant feeling, to which he called the Christian Church. He challenged the generations of the future to an unbroken service of song, and the family lines of God's children have ever since been singing and chanting in response. Paul had heard the chant of the Temple service, and had so often joined in the songs and hymns of the synagogue that like his fellow apostles of the circumcision, he enjoyed ample means of expression for all the joys of the Holy

Spirit's dispensation. The church of his fathers had treasured the forms of praise which now furnish the kingdom of Christ with hymns and songs for all ages of its militant and triumphant course. Nor is the harmony of inspired truth ever felt to be more impressive than in the use which the blessed Spirit makes of Old Testament psalmody in his work on the souls of New Testament saints. The three inspired songs which graced the manifestation of Immanuel; the rich gush of Mary's devotional joy, the prophetic strain of Zacharias, and the holy song of Simeon, all show the influence of Old Testament style and spirit. "The Word of Christ," as once issued in the law of " Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms," had dwelt in Mary's heart so "richly " as to give its own character to her rapturous utterances. The lips of Zacharias were touched with fire from the very altar before which the Messianic seers had kindled into ecstacy. And Simeon had chanted the hymns of his rapt ancestry until his own inspired sentences breathed in unison with voices from "holy men of old." Mary, and Hannah, and Deborah drank into one another's spirit; and their tones have that likeness and unlikeness which belong to daughters of the same family. The celebration of Old Testament victories and the joy of gospel salvation melt into oneness and harmony in "the song of Moses and the Lamb." And when will earth or heaven cease to echo to the psalms of ancient Zion? Judah's holy song book, "the Book of Psalms, hath exercised the hearts and lips of all saints, and is replenished with the types of all possible spiritual feelings, and suggests the forms of all Godward emotions, and furnishes the choice expressions of all true worship, the utterances of all divine praise

the expressions of all spiritual humility, with the raptures of all spiritual joy." This well-spring in the desert has never failed to refresh the pilgrim church from age to age. Israelite and Samaritan, "Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free," east and west, the old world and the new-all confess the sacred power and sweetness of David's voice; all kindle into songs under his leadership. That ever-living sympathy with the most cherished interests of God's children, that spirituality which so deeply touches the believer's inner man; and that expression which so engages all conditions of men, and adapts itself to all circumstances of humanity; indeed, all the immortal sweetness, grandeur, and power which distinguish the Old Testament Psalms, are found living still, and renewing their freshness in the inspired hymns and songs of those who went up to the Temple in "the last days," and spoke "in other tongues the wonderful works of God, as the Spirit gave them utterance." How much like a psalm of ancient Israel is that early song of the primitive Christians which the spirit has left on record. The little persecuted community sang in the style of their fathers, when they "lift up their voices to God with one accord and said,"

Lord, Thou art God,

Which hast made heaven and earth,
And the sea,

And all that in them is :

Who by the mouth of David

Thy servant, hast said,

Why did the heathen rage

And the people imagine vain things?

The kings of the earth stood up,

And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord,

And against his Christ.

For of a truth,

Against thy Holy Child Jesus,

Whom Thou hast anointed,

Both Herod and Pontius Pilate,

With the Gentiles,

And the people of Israel,

Are gathered together;

For to do whatever thy hand

And thy counsel

Determined before to be done.

And now, Lord!

Behold their threatenings!

And grant unto thy servants,
That with all boldness

They may speak thy word,

By stretching forth thy hand to heal;

And that signs and wonders

May be done

By the name

Of thy Holy Child Jesus.

Nearest akin to these odes of highest inspiration are the songs of the synagogue service. The family features, and much in the distinctive manner, sometimes deeply touch the soul. In their simple grandeur, lofty vigour, solemn measure, and glow of holy feeling, they are felt to be close allies of the anthems of revelation; though not bearing the divine honours of those holier forms into which the Spirit of God once "breathed the breath of life." Would you realize the grand simplicity of primitive hymns? Then go to the synagogue and hear the lineal descendants of God's ancient people sing in their Sabbath morning service