Or this, "I set the Lord before my face, He bears my courage up; My heart and tongue their joy express, Or these four short meter versions of Psalm 25: There are hardly four versions of Psalms in all English hymnology more cherished by Christian believers than these. Those which we have mentioned above are only omitted from the first twenty-five psalms. To go through all the one hundred and fifty in the same way, would fill quite too many pages of the New Englander. But we should be doing our work but slackly, if we did not specify some of the more egregious omissions. We cannot restrain our wonder that no one of the many versions should have been inserted of Psalm xxxii, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered;" or Psalm xxxiii, 4, "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; for praise is comely for the upright;" or of Psalm xl, "I waited patiently for the Lord;" or of Psalm xlviii, "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;" the versification of which is one of Watts's happiest efforts. In what negligent moment was Psalm lxii forgotten? "In true and patient hope, My soul on God attend." What good substitute has been discovered for the versions of Psalm 1xv?" Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;" or what for Psalms lxxxv and lxxxix? And "Salvation is forever nigh The souls that fear and trust the Lord." "Blest are the souls that hear and know Perhaps there is no psalm in the rendering of which versifiers without distinction seem to have caught more of the inspiration of the original, than Psalm lxvii, "God be merciful unto us and bless us. No version of this appears in Plymouth Collection. It will hardly be believed that not a single part of Watts's version of Psalm cxix is to be found in Plymouth Collection! We could not trust the testimony of the "Index of Psalms," and were only satisfied of this unaccountable fact, when we had searched the "Index of First Lines" for them in vain. The reader will not now be surprised that Psalm cxxx, "Out of the depths have I cried;" Psalm cxxxii, 8, "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest;" and Psalm cxxxiii, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;" have all been thought unnecessary to the completeness of Plymouth Collection. Only one of the versions of Psalm cl, "Ŏ praise God in his holiness," is referred to in the "Index of Psalins" but we find another under the head of "Conflicts of the Gospel; Missions and Reform," where the compiler, very naturally, never thought of looking for it, when he was preparing the Index. From the Hymns, omissions have been made no less strange and unreasonable. If there is a hymn in the language more endeared to the affections of believers than the one beginning, "My dear Redeemer and my Lord," we do not recollect it. Why this hymn has been rejected in the compilation before us, it is impossible to conjecture; unless, indeed, it was omitted with the idea that it was so familiar to every one that it was unnecessary to print it. But we cannot continue this tedious labor. Instead of quoting a multitude of instances like the last mentioned, we will merely give what every one will acknowledge to be a fair specimen of the character of the omissions in Plymouth Collection. We copy from the Index of the Connecticut Collection the first lines of all those pieces under the letter B, which are not also in Plymouth Collection. Behold the throne of grace,.. ...... Cowper. Bless, O my soul, the living God,.. Watts. Blest are the sons of peace,.. ..... Watts. Blest are the souls that hear and know,. Watts. Blest is the man whose soul can move,.. Watts. ...Boden. By vows of love together bound,.... .E. T. Fitch. It is perfectly just to judge of a book of this sort by what it does not contain, as well as by what it does contain; and therefore we have spent so much space in discussing the former. It remains to criticise the new material which is introduced into this volume. Only the most conservative of critics will hesitate to admit that there is room in our current popular hymnology for new material to be advantageously employed. But of what sort that material should be, is a question of taste and sentiment to which there will be as many answers as there are churches and church members. In our opinion, our psalmody needs rather to be assimilated to the Scriptural models, both of the Old and New Testaments, than to be made to differ from them. Instead of rejecting the versions of inspired poetry, in favor of modern hymns, we would rather add to their number, and improve their quality. In particular do we need versions of the evangelic hymns in the gospel of Luke, the Magnificat, the Benedictus, and the Nunc dimittis, which are so eminently fitted for Christian worship, and which "the Holy Church throughout all the world" has ever delighted to honor by its use of them, excepting in our own age and nation. The poet who should give these to the church in a becoming English version would thereby confer a blessing upon the church, and establish for himself an enviable monument.* It may be that this desideratum *We learn from "Eutaxia," by Mr. Charles W. Baird, that in the Calvinistic churches of the Continent, the Song of Simeon was always sung at the close of the Lord's Supper. We regard Mr. Baird's elegant version of this Hymn, as one of the best recent contributions to English Psalmody: Now let thy servant, Lord, At length depart in peace; My waiting soul release: For thou my longing eyes hast spared To see thy saving grace, That soon dispensed abroad, And find their help in God: has been supplied by certain hymns in Plymouth Collection; but if so we have been unable to find them, for want of an Index either of subjects or of Scriptures. In the department of ancient Christian hymns, Plymouth Collection is much in advance of ordinary hymn-books. There are two excellent versions of the first part of the Te Deum; one on page 46, under "God-Adoration," and one on page 162, under "Christian Experience." The exquisite hymn of St. Bernard, "Jesu dulcis memoria," is well rendered in Hymn 439, "Jesus, the very thought of thee, With sweetness fills my breast." A singularly beautiful hymn appears on page 139, over the name of Francis Xavier. The Stabat Mater and the Dies Ira have also been inserted; but these are less fitted for practical use in worship, as well as less fortunate in the translation. The Moravian hymn-book has been made to yield store of noble lyrics, fervid with Christian feeling. A few pieces of rare merit have been selected from translations from the German, including that matchless hymn, "O Sacred Head, now wounded." We have seen something already of the selections which have been furnished by the camp-meeting hymnbooks, and unsatisfactory and even revolting as some of these are to a correct taste, yet the presence of such is almost pardonable in view of the striking and plaintive beauty of others. Altogether we may say that where the author has been guided in the selection of hymns, by the test which we have laid down for the selection of tunes,-the actual, tried usefulness of the piece in the church,-his selections are marked by the highest degree of merit. Especially is this true, when such pieces have outlived a local and occasional popularity. In this case we have not only the assurance that the piece is adapted in its nature to practical usefulness, but we may be very confident that the quick poetical instinct of the compiler has selected everything that is lofty and fervid in sentiment, and beautiful and noble in language. Among the many novelties first introduced into a book of worship in Plymouth Collection, we still have the latter assurance. The book is full of the most exquisite poetry. Such an encyclopædia of Christian lyrics has hardly ever before been published. It fully justifies the assertion of the Introduction that "No pains have been spared in collecting materials for this work." Some of the most unpromising places have been . explored for suitable hymns; and, it must be confessed, not altogether without reward; but the success has been very various. The author does not seem distinctly to have apprehended (1,) that there may be good religions poetry, and even good religious lyrics, (as the word is commonly used,) which are not good to sing;-(2,) that there may be good songs of a religiososentimental character which are not suitable for use in the church;-(3,) that there is a large and excellent class of hymns, (for instance, those of a descriptive character,) which can be sung to the people by a competent choir with impressive and edifying effect, but which have no business in a book specifically "for Christian congregations," the foremost principle of which is that "a choir should not sing for the congregation, but incite them to sing, and lead the way." The limits of space forbid us to give many examples in illus tration of these remarks. Out of several extracts from that philosophical and obscure poet, Mrs. Browning, we are surprised that even one or two are suitable for musical purposes. We have no particular fault to find with either the religion or the poetry of Mr. Longfellow's "Lines written in the Arsenal at Springfield;" but we presume that he did not write it with any expectation of seeing any part set to music in a hymn. book. A translation from Van Salis, by the same poet, ("Into the Silent Land," Hymn 1131,) has not only the fault of unfitness for music, but the fault of unintelligible obscurity; while the only religion discernible in it consists in the following piece of undisguised paganism: "O land! O land! For all the broken hearted; The mildest herald by our fate allotted, Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand, To lead us with a gentle hand Into the land of the great departed, Into the silent land!" The three columns of elegiac stanzas by Mrs. Stowe, abounding as they do with beautiful thought and religious feeling, and affording excellent themes for religious meditation, are nevertheless liable to the same objection. But the book is greatly disfigured by the presence of many of the maudlin-religious "hymns" of Tom Moore, and of others who have imitated him. Those familiar with the psychology of drunkenness have remarked that some persons, in the process of intoxication, develop successively a number of different passions, being at one |