Beware lest any man spoil you through... what? Idolatry, blasphemy, profligacy? No. Christians are in very little danger from great crimes; but beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. What hath philosophy done, that the apostle should thus guard Christians against it? Did he not know that before his time, while mimics were idly amusing one part of the world, and heroes depopulating another, the peaceable sons of philosophy disturbed nobody, but either improved mankind in their schools, or sat all calm and content in their cells? Did he not observe that in his time Christianity was reputed folly, because it was taught and believed by unlettered people; and that if philosophers could be prevailed on to teach it, it would have instantly acquired a character of wisdom? Whether the common people had understood it or not, they would have reckoned it wise if philosophers had taught it. The apostle knew all this, and, far from courting the aid of learned men to secure eredit to the Gospel, he guards Christians in the text against the future temptation of doing so. Had this caution been given us by any of the other apostles, who had not had the advantage of a learned education, we might have supposed, they censured what they did not understand; but this comes from the disciple of Gamaliel.*

28.] Page 138-143. Devotional Poetry.

The following selection of Psalms and Hymns, is designed only as a specimen of the notation, partially applied here, which might be more extensively applied to these compositions, when they unite the spirit of devotion with the elevated spirit of poetry.

The confinement of the stansa makes it much more unfavourable than other verse, to freedom and variety in pronunciation. The reader is desired to keep in mind the distinction between intensive and common inflection, and to remember that the former occurs in this kind of poetry only where there is direct question or strong emphasis.--In some cases only part of a Psalm or Hymn is taken.

*The selections under this head are extended no farther here, because several of the familiar pieces in the second part of the Exercises are good examples of representation and rhetorical dialogue.

1. PSALM 17. L. M.

1 What sinners válue, I resign;
Lord, 'tis enough that thou art mine:
I shall behold thy blissful face,
And stand complete in righteousness.
2 This life's a dream, an empty show;
But the bright world to which I go,
Hath joys substàntial and sincère ;
When shall I wake and find me there?
3 O. glòrious hour! O.. blèst abode !
I shall be near, and like my God;
And flesh and sin no more control
The sacred pleasures of the soul.
4 My flesh shall slumber in the ground,
Till the last trumpet's joyful sound :
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise,

And in my Saviour's image rise..

Note: In some of the cases where the mark of monotone occurs, there is a little inflection, most commonly downwards.

1 The Lord Jehovah reigns,
And royal state maintains,
His head with awful glories crown'd;
Array'd in robes of light,
Begirt with sov'reign might,
And rays of majesty around.
2 In vain the noisy crowd,

Like billows fierce and loud,
Against thine empire rage and roar ;
In vain with angry spite

The surly nations fight,

And dash

like waves against the shore.

3 Let floods and nations rage,

And all their power engage;
Let swelling tides assault the sky:

The terrors of thy frown

Shall beat their madness down ;
Thy throne for ever.. stands on high.

3.

PSALM 132. C. M.

1 Arise, O King of grace, arise,
And enter to thy rest:

Lo! thy church waits with longing eyes,
Thus to be own'd and blest.

2 Enter with all thy glorious train,
Thy Spirit and thy word;
All that the ark did once contain,
Could no such grace afford.

3 Here mighty God, accept our vows;
Here let thy praise be spread;
Bless the provisions of thy house,
And fill thy poor with bread.

4 Here let the Son of David rèign,

Let God's anointed shine

e;

Justice and truth his court maintain,
With love and power divine.

5 Here let him hold a lasting throne,
And as his kingdom grows,

Fresh honours shall adorn his crown,
And shame confound his foes.

1 Great is the Lord, and works unknown Are his divine employ ;

2

But still his saints are near his throne,
His treasure and his joy.

All power that gods or kings have claim'd
Is found with him alone;

But heathen gods should ne'er be nam'd
Where our JEHOVAH'S known.

3 Which of the stocks and stones they trust
Can give them showers of rain ?
In vain they worship glitt❜ring dust,
And pray to gold in vain.

4 Ye nations, know the living God,
Serve him with faith and fear;
He makes the churches his abode,
And claims your honours there.

1 My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my op'ning lips they break.
2 Ama - zing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul, with all the powers I boast,
Is in the boundless

prospect

lost.

3 Oh may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I róve, where'er I rèst ;
Nor let my weaker passions darę ··
Consent to sin, for GOD is there.

6.

PSALM 146. L. P. M. 1 I'll praise my Maker with my breath; And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers: My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures.

2 Why should I make a man my trust?
Princes must die, and turn to dust:
Vain is the help of flesh and blood;
Their breath departs, their pomp and pow'r,
And thoughts all vanish in an hour;

Nor can they make their promise good.

3 Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel's God; he made the sky,

And earth, and seas, with all their train
His truth forever stands secure ;
He saves th' opprest, he feeds the poor;
And none shall find his promise vain.

7.

HYMN 142, Book 1.

1 Like sheep we went astray,
And broke the fold of God;
Each wand'ring in a diff'rent way,
But all the downward road.

2 How dreadful was the hour,

When God our wand'rings laid,
And did at once his vengeance pour
Upon the Shepherd's head!

3 How glorious was the grace,

When Christ sustain'd the stroke?
His life and blood the shepherd pays,
A ransom for the flock.

8.

HYMN 14, BOOK II.

1 Welcome, sweet day of rest,
That saw the Lord arise;
Welcome to this reviving breast,
And these rejoicing eyes!

2 One day amidst the place

Where my dear God hath been, Is sweeter than ten thousand days Of pleasurable sin.

3 My willing soul would stay

In such a frame as this;

And sit and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss.