Hoping that an examination of the hymns, etc., referred to in the note, and of others which they may suggest, will show that the distinction claimed really exists, let us turn to the Book of Psalms. These inspired lyrics have usually been regarded as Psalms, without reference to their contents, or the purpose for which they were really intended. They are often spoken of as containing only "matter of praise ;" yet it can not have escaped notice that many of them contain no address to God. More than sixty of them accord with our definition of a Spiritual Song, nearly seventy contain prayers, and only about twenty have the form, or contain matter of praise to God. An examination of their titles, (which Dr. Alexander regards as authentic) will show that the classifications here proposed are recognized in them; four are entitled Prayers, and at the close of the seventy-second, many others are, impliedly, so named; seventeen are called "Songs," and thirteen others have the title "Song or Psalm," so that one-fifth of the whole number are thus designated.

Among these sacred poems we find the types not only of the three great classes of lyrics, but of all the varieties of the Hymn and the Spiritual Song. The 65th, 89th, and 145th, are the grandest specimens of the Psalm. The 17th, 35th, and 143d, are examples of the first class of Hymns; the 51st and 102d of the penitential; the 19th is a most admirable model of the meditative Hymn; the 91st, 119th,* and 139th belong to the same class; and the 73d and 92d are Hymns of faith and trust. Of the didactic Song, the 1st, 2d, 23d, and 37th are good examples; the 52d and 53d belong to the second class; and the 33d, the 95th-100th, the 146th150th, and many others, to the third class of Spiritual Songs.

"Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me." One important object aimed at in the presentation of these views, is to call attention to the subject of praise in connection with the services of the sanctuary. Are Christian people aware how seldom any thing in the form of praise to God is sung? Having observed with care for some years, we can affirm that

*All but three of its sections contain petitions.

it is not uncommon to attend church for weeks in succession without hearing in the singing a single ascription to God. True, many ministers are accustomed to exhort us to "sing to the praise of God," and this not unfrequently when the selection is addressed entirely to human beings, or does not contain the name of God!

It has been stated that we have but few true Psalms; probably none who have not given special attention to the subject are aware how few there are. A Doxology is a brief Psalm. The three elements of a Doxology, (as given, in substance, by Prof. J. A. Alexander, Sermon X, Vol. I) are : It is always and exclusively addressed to God; it should contain an ascription of praise, and a wish that others may join in praising him; but a large part of the stanzas, called Doxologies, are mere exhortations to others, to praise God, without even the form of a direct address to Jehovah! Can the singing of such exhortations be regarded as praise to God? Will he accept it as such? When the minister invites the congregation to sing praise to God, the response should be, We praise thee, O God! But we shall not now indicate the changes that need to be made in our Psalmody in order that praise may become a part of our worship; we leave this topic without further remark, hoping that the subject will receive such attention as it deserves.

It is proper to add that, as might be expected, the tunes appropriate to each of these classes differ as widely as the lyrics to which they should be sung. Psalms should be sung to tunes of a grand, stately and majestic movement, like Old Hundred, Park Street, Missionary Chant, Patmos, Shawmut, etc. Hymns should generally be set to tunes of a quiet, smooth, gliding character, and having but a very moderate compass, as Hamburg, Malvern, Ward, Naomi, Balerma, Boylston, Dennis, etc. Spiritual Songs, (with a few exceptions) require the most lively, animated tunes, and those having the greatest range of notes properly employed in sacred music; as Uxbridge, Duke Street, Deerfield, Christmas, Coronation, St. Thomas, Laban, Ariel, Lucas, etc.

A little attention to the subject will convince any one that

It is one

our tunes differ in character as here represented. of the most painful inflictions to be compelled to hear a humble prayer, or a penitential hymn, sung to a lively song tune, or to one so difficult or intricate that all thought of the meaning is lost on the part of the choir, in the effort to execute the music, and on the part of the congregation in their sympathy for the execution perpetrated.

We confidently believe that the practical recognition of this classification of the hymns and tunes will aid greatly in solving the problem of congregational singing. It will be found that three or four psalm, hymn, and song tunes in each of the three most common metres, and one or two of each in metres less frequently used, together with four or five good chants, (which all could easily learn) will answer all purposes; and such a number of tunes could be learned so generally and so thoroughly, that they could soon be sung well by the great body of a congregation. The secret of the good singing in the Protestant churches in Germany, and in many of the Lutheran churches in this country, may be found in the fact that all learn them.

In regard to social meetings, we believe that a selection of twenty psalms, fifty or sixty hymns, and as many sacred songs, could easily be made, which would meet the wants of such meetings better than any existing collection. The tunes needed for such a selection, would not number more than twenty-five or thirty.

Of the practical bearings of the foregoing views, the aid which a clear understanding of the proposed classification may afford to those who conduct the services of the sanctuary, or lead in social meetings, we do not propose to speak. We leave the subject with those who love the courts of the Lord, hoping that its discussion may do something for the improvement of one of the most important departments of public worship.

ART. V.-TRACES OF AN EXPECTED REDEEMER IN

PROFANE LITERATURE.

By REV. ISAAC S. HARTLEY, New York.

EVERYTHING pertaining to Jesus Christ, his person, history and doctrine, is important. None will question this, who are familiar with the religious thoughts and opinions, which, through the ages, have exercised dominant influence in the world. Aside from their relations to a future life, it is a selfevident proposition, that the doctrines and teachings of Christ, as founded in righteousness and aiming at the wellbeing of mankind, rise immeasurably above all other theories and doctrines which philosophers and teachers have endeavored to impress upon the race.

The world by wisdom knew not God. What more have the wisest uninspired men achieved, than to confute each other's systems? The world has advanced, but the elements which have entered into its progress, may all be traced to the historic person of Jesus Christ. He alone is its real centre, and every line of truth and light proceeds from him. Thus has it ever been, and thus will it be in the world's future.

But it is not our purpose to write the history of Jesus Christ, nor to show the necessity of his advent, nor yet to demonstrate wherein consist the elements of his power: rather admitting Christ's real nature and character, that he is the Son of God-" God manifest in the flesh," let the inquiry be confined to a consideration of this leading question: Does there not run through, and has there not been apparent in nearly every religious creed or belief, the idea of a Saviour, and a coming Saviour; and is not this same Saviour, he whom the Scriptures introduce to us as Jesus Christ, the Son of Joseph and Mary, the only-begotten Son of God? Such is the question it is proposed to consider.

It has been said that Christ's claim as the Saviour of the world rests purely upon his own testimony; whereas that man can be the real Saviour of Mankind, who is witnessed to, not by himself but by the testimony of all peoples. Grant this

to the opponent of Christianity; let man arrogate the right to say what shall be the character of the testimony concerning a deliverer to the race; yet we ask: Does not nearly every early religious creed, from the narrowest to the broadest, from the simplest to the most philosophic, point to a coming Saviour? Was not this their life and power, their hope, their salt, the element in them which has preserved them from total decay?

Beyond all question, it was in Paradise where man first. enjoyed communion with his Maker; and in this spot, also,

where occured that scene which led God to cease further personal fellowship with him. The Fall thus established, and the early pair driven from the Garden, it was in other localities that they and their children sought a home. Whither they journeyed, or how rapidly their descendants increased, is not to the present purpose. But give centuries to the lives of the founders of the race, and locate the migrations of their children wherever you please, wherever they did wander, they carried with them not simply a recollection of their primal innocence and of the joys which had been the experience of the race in Eden; but in sacred gardens, groves or inclosures, in Eden, as a model, it was where they rendered that worship to God which they believed still to be his due. And what is to be noted, is not simply the early attested truth, that man was expelled from Eden, or that the gardens or inclosures of the first worshipers were modeled upon the traditions of the garden from which their parents had been driven; but with all this in them there was a river, as the river of life in Eden; and in the midst a tree, as the tree of knowledge in the midst of Eden; and guarded entrances, as were also the entrances to Eden's inclosure; and altars; and among them, one dedicated to one whom both the Grecians and Romans, in preserving for us this wondrous. fact, call Hercules; or, as he is defined again and again, the Saviour, in whose person, as the deliverer, they believed was to be vanquished that great serpent, who, as their parents and tradition had informed them, introduced sin into the world, and all its consequent woes. Now how far these same