By these Considerations we are easily led into the true Method of translating ancient Songs into Christian Worship. Psalms that are purely Doctrinal, or meerly Historical, are Subjects for our Meditation, and may be translated for our present Use with no Variation, if it were possible; and in general, all those Songs of Scripture which the Saints of following Ages may assume for their own: Such are the 1st, the 8th, the 19th, and many others. Some Psalms may be apply'd to our Use by the Alteration of a Pronoun, putting {246} They in the place of We, and changing some Expressions which are not suited to our Case into a Narration or Rehearsal of God's Dealings with others: There are other Divine Songs which cannot properly be accommodated to our Use, and much less be assum'd as our own without very great Alterations, (viz.) such as are filled with some very particular Troubles or Enemies of a Person, some Places of Journeying or Residence, some uncommon Circumstances of a Society, to which there is scarce any thing parallel in our Day or Case: Such are many of the Songs of David, whose Persecutions and Deliverances were very extraordinary: Again, such as express the Worship paid unto God by carnal Ordinances and Utensils of the Tabernacle and Temple. Now if these be converted into Christian Songs in our Nation, I think the Names of Ammon and Moab may be as properly chang'd into the Names of the chief Enemies of the Gospel, so far as may be without publick Offence: Judah and Israel may be called England and Scotland, and the Land of Canaan may be translated into Great Britain; The cloudy and typical Expressions of the legal Dispensation should be turned into Evangelical Language, according to the Explications of the New Testament: And when a Christian Psalmist, among the Characters of a Saint, Psal. 15. 5. meets with the Man that puts not out his Money to Usury, he ought to exchange one that is no Oppressor for an Oppressor or Extortioner, since Usury {247} is not utterly forbidden to Christians, as it was by the Jewish Law; and wheresoever he finds the Person or Offices of our Lord Jesus Christ in Prophecy, they ought rather to be translated in a way of History, and those Evangelical Truths should be stript of their Vail of Darkness, and drest in such Expressions that Christ may appear in 'em to all that sing. When he comes to Psal. 40. 6. and reads there Words, Mine Ears hast thou opened, he should learn from the Apostle to say, A Body hast thou prepared for me, Heb. 10. 5. Instead of binding the Sacrifice with Cords to the Horns of the Altar, Psal. 118. 27. we should offer up Spiritual Sacrifices (that is the Prayer and Praise of the Heart and Tongue) acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. 2. 5. Where there are any dark Expressions, and difficult to be understood in the Hebrew Songs, these should be left out in our Psalmody, or at least made very plain by a Paraphrase. Where there are Sentences, or whole Psalms, that can very difficultly be accommodated to our Times, they may be utterly omitted. Such is Psal. 150. part of the 38, 45, 60, 68, 81, 108. and some others, as well as a great part of the Song of Solomon.
Perhaps 'twill be objected here, that the Book of Psalms would hereby be rendred very imperfect, and some weak Persons might imagine this Attempt to fall under the Censure of Rev. 22. 18, 19. that is, of taking away from, or adding to the Words of the Book {248} of God. But 'tis not difficult to reply that though the whole Book: of Psalms was given to be read by us as God's Word for our Use and Instruction, yet it will never follow from thence that the whole was written as a Psalter for the Christian Church to use in Singing. For if this were the Design of it, then every Psalm, and every Line of it might be at one time or another proper to be sung by Christians: But there are many hundred Verses in that Book which a Christian cannot properly assume in singing without a considerable Alteration of the Words, or at least without putting a very different Meaning upon them, from what David had when he wrote them; and therefore there is no necessity of translating always intire Psalms, nor of preparing the whole Book for English Psalmody. I might here add also Dr. Patrick's Apology in his Century of Psalms first publish'd, that he took but the same Liberty which is allow'd to every Parish-Clerk, to chuse what Psalm and what Verses of it he would propose to the People to sing.
Give me leave here to mention several Passages which were hardly made for Christian Lips to assume without some Alteration: Psal. 68. 13, 14, 15, 16. Tho ye have lain among the Pots, yet shall ye be as the Wings of a Dove cover'd with Silver, and her Feathers with yellow Gold: When the Almighty scatter'd Kings in it, it was white as Snow in Salmon. The Hill of God is as the Hill of Bashan, &c. Why leap ye, ye Hills, &c; ver. 25. {249} The Singers went before, the Players on Instruments followed after, amongst them were the Damsels playing with Timbrels: Bless ye God in the Congregation, even the Lord from the Fountain of Israel: There is little Benjamin with their Ruler, the Princes of Judah and their Council, the Princes of Zebulun, and the Princes of Naphtali. Because of thy Temple at Jerusalem Kings shall bring Presents unto thee. Rebuke the Company of Spearmen, the Multitude of Bulls, with the Calves of the People, till every one submit himself with Pieces of Silver. Psal. 71. 2, 3, &c. Take a Psalm, and bring hither the Timbrel, the pleasant Harp with the Psaltery, blow up the Trumpet in the New Moon, in the Time appointed on our solemn Feast-Day, &c. Psal. 84. 3, 6. The Sparrow hath found an House, and the Swallow a Nest for her self, where she may lay her Young, even thine Altars, O Lord of Hosts, &c. Blessed is the Man whose Strength is in thee, in whose Heart are the Ways of them, who passing thro the Valley of Bacha make it a Well, the Rain also filleth the Pools. Psal: 108. 2, 7, 8, 9. Awake Psaltery and Harp, I my self will awake early. God hath spoken in his Holiness; I will rejoyce, I will divide Shechem_, and mete out the Vally of_ Succoth; Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim also is the Strength of mine Head, Judah is my Lawgiver, Moab is my Washpot, over Edom will I cast out my Shoe, over Philistia will I triumph; Who will bring me into the strong City, who will lead me into Edom Psal. 69, 8 & 109. are so full of Cursings {250} that they hardly become the Tongue of a Follower of the blessed Jesus, who dying pray'd for his own Enemies; Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Psal. 134. is suited to the Temple or Tabernacle-Worship; the Title is, A Song of Degrees, that is, as Interpreters believe, to be sung as the Kings of Israel went up by Steps or Degrees to the House of God; In the two first Verses the King calls upon the Levites, which by Night stand in the House of the Lord, to lift up their Hands in the Sanctuary, and to bless the Lord; the 3d Verse is an Antiphona or Reply of the Levites to the King; the Lord that made Heaven and Earth bless thee out of Zion. 'Twould be endless to give an Account of all the Paragraphs of ancient Songs, which can scarce ever be accommodated to Gospel-Worship.
The Patrons of another Opinion will say we must sing the Words of David, and apply them in our Meditation to the things of the New Testament: But can we believe this to be the best Method of worshiping God, to sing one thing and mean another? besides that the very literal Sense of many of many of these Expressions is exceeding deep and difficult, and not one in twenty of a religious Assembly can possibly understand them at this Distance from the Jewish Days; therefore to keep close to the Language of David, we must break the Commands of God by David, who requires that we sing his Praises with Understanding, Psal. 47.7. And I am {251} perswaded, that St. Paul if he lived in our Age and Nation, would no more advise us to sing unintelligible Sentences in London, than himself would sing in an unknown Tongue at Corinth, 1 Cor. 14. 15, 19. After all, if the literal Sense were known, yet the Application of many Verses of David to our State and Circumstances was never design'd, and is utterly impossible; and even where it is possible, yet 'tis so exceeding difficult that very few Persons in an Assembly are capable of it; and when they attempt it, if their Thoughts should be enquir'd one by one, you would find very various, wretched, and contradictory Meanings put upon the Words of the Hebrew Psalmist, and all for want of an Evangelical Translation of him. 'Tis very obvious and common to observe that Persons of Seriousness and Judgment that consider what they sing, are often forced to break off in the midst, to omit whole Lines and Verses, even where the best of our present Translations at used; and thus the Tune, and the Sense, and their Devotion is interrupted at once, because they dare not sing without understanding, and almost against their Consciences. Whereas the more unthinking Multitude go on singing in chearful Ignorance wheresoever the Clerk guides them, a-cross the River Jordan, thro' the Land of Gebal, Ammon and Amalek; He leads 'em into the strong City, he brings them into Edom; Anon they follow him thro' the Valley of Bacha, till they come up to Jerusalem; they wait upon him into {252} the Court of Burnt-Offerings, and bind their Sacrifice with Cords to the Horns of the Altar; they enter so far into the Temple, till they join their Song in Consort with the high sounding Cymbals, their Thoughts are be-darkened with the Smoke of Incense, and cover'd with Jewish Veils. Such Expressions as these are the beauties and Perfections of a Hebrew Song, they paint every thing to the Life: Such Language was suited by Infinite Wisdom to raise the Affections of the Saints of that Day: But I fear they do but sink our Devotion, and hurt our Worship.
I esteem the Book of Psalms the most valuable Part of the Old Testament upon many Accounts: I advise the Reading and Meditation of it more frequently than any single Book of Scripture; and what I advise I practise. Nothing is more proper to furnish our Souls with devout Thoughts, and lead us into a World of Spiritual Experiences: The Expressions of it that are not Jewish or peculiar, give us constant Assistance in Prayer and in Praise: But yet if we would prepare David's Psalms to be sung by Christian Lips, we should, observe these two plain Rules.
First, They ought to be translated its such a Manner as we have reason to believe David would have compos'd 'em if he had lived in our Day: And therefore his Poems are given as a Pattern to be imitated in our Composures, rather than as the precise and invariable Matter of our Psalmody. 'Tis one of the Excellencies of Scripture-Songs, that they {253} are exactly suited to the very Purpose and Design for which they were written, and that both in the Matter, in the Stile, and in all their Ornaments: This gives Life and Strength to the Expression, it presents Objects to the Ears and to the Eyes, and touches the Heart in the most affecting Manner. David's Language is adapted to his own Devotion, and to the Worship of the Jewish Church; he mentions the very Places of his Journies, or Retirements, of his Sorrows, or his Successes; He names the Nations that were Enemies of the Church, or that shall be its Friends and tho for the most part he leaves the single Persons of his Time nameless in the Body of his Psalm, yet he describes them there with great Particularity, and often names them in the Title. This gives us abundant Ground to infer, that should the Sweet-Singer of Israel return from the Dead into our Age, he would not sing the Words of his own Psalms without considerable Alteration; and were he now to transcribe them, he would make them speak the present Circumstances of the Church, and that in the Language of the New Testament: He would see frequent Occasion to insert the Cross of Christ in his Song, and often interline the Confessions of his Sins with the Blood of the Lamb; often would he describe the Glories and the Triumphs of our blessed Lord in long and flowing Verse, even as St. Paul, when he mentions the Name and Honours of Christ can hardly part his Lips from 'em again: {254} His Expressions would run ever bright and clear; such as here and there we find in a single Verse of his old Composures, when he is transported beyond himself, and carried far away from Jewish Shadows by the Spirit of Prophecy and the Gospel. We have the more abundant Reason to believe this, if we observe, that all along the sacred History as the Revelations of God and his Grace were made plainer, so the Songs of the Saints express'd that Grace and those Revelations according to the Measure of their Clearness and Increase. Let us begin at the Song of Moses, Exod. 15. and proceed to David and Solomon, to the Song of the Virgin Mary, of Zecharias, Simeon, and the Angels, the Hosanna of the young Children, the Praises paid to God by the Disciples in the Acts, the Doxologies of Paul, and the Songs of the Christian Church in the Book of the Revelations: Every Beam of new Light that broke into the World gave occasion of fresh joy to the Saints, and they were taught to sing of Salvation in all the Degrees of its advancing Glory.
Secondly, In the Translation of Jewish Songs for Gospel-Worship, if Scripture affords us any Example, we should be ready to follow it, and the Management thereof should be a Pattern for us. Now tho the Disciples and primitive Christians had so many and so vast Occasions for Praise, yet I know but two Pieces of Songs they borrow'd from the Book of Psalms. One is mention'd in Luke 19.38.
{255} Where the Disciples assume a Part of a Verse from the 118th Psalm, but sing it with Alterations and Additions to the Words of David.
The other is the Beginning of the second Palm, sung by Peter and John and their Company, Acts 4. 23, 24, &c. You find there an Addition of Praise in the Beginning, Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth, and the Sea, and all that in them is. Then there is a Narration of what David spoke, who by the Mouth of thy servant David hast said, &c. Next follow the two first Verses of that Psalm, but not in the very Words of the Psalmist: Afterwards an Explication of the Heathen and the People, (viz.) the Gentiles and Israel: The Kings and the Rulers, (viz.) Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Holy Child Jesus, is God's anointed. Then there is an Enlargement of the Matter of Fact by a Consideration of the Hand of God in it, and the Song concludes with the breathing of their Desires towards God for Mercies most precisely suited to their Day and Duty; and you find when they had sung, they went to Prayer in the Assembly, and then they preached the Word of God by the holy Ghost, and with amazing Success. O may I live to see Psalmody perform'd in these evangelick Beauties of Holiness! May these Ears of mine be entertain'd with such Devotion in Publick, such Prayer, such Preaching, and such Praise! May these Eyes behold such returning Glory in the Churches! Then my Soul shall be all Admiration, my Tongue {256} shall humbly attempt to mingle in the Worship, and assist the Harmony and the Joy.
After we have found the true Method of translating Jewish Songs for the Use of the Christian Church, let us enquire also how lawful and necessary 'tis to compose Spiritual Songs of a more evangelic Frame for the Use of Divine Worship under the Gospel.