AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, IN THREE BOOKS. I. Collected from the Scriptures. BY I. WATTS, D. D. THE THIRTY-SEVENTH EDITION. REVELATION V. 9. And they fung a new Song, faying, Thou art worthy, &c. for thou Soliti effent (i. e. Christiani) convenire, carmenque Chrifto quali Plinius in Epift. LONDON: M.DCC.LXXXIII, THE PREFA C WHILE we E. WHILE we fing the praises of our GoD in his church, we are employed in that part of worship, which, of all others, is the nearest a kin to heaven; and it is a pity that this, of all others, fhould be performed the worst upon earth. The gospel brings us nearer to the heavenly ftate than all the former difpenfations of GOD amongst men: and in thefe laft days of the gofpel, we are brought almoft within fight of the kingdom of our Lord; yet we are very much unacquainted with the fongs of the New Jerufalem, and unpractised in the works of praise. To fee the dull indifference, the negligent and the thoughtless air, that fits upon the faces of a whole affembly, while the pfalin is on their lips, might tempt even a charitable obferver to fufpect the fervency of inward religion and it is much to be feared that the minds of moft of the worshippers are abfent or unconcerned. Perhaps the modes of preaching in the best churches ftill want fome degrees of reformation; nor are the methods of prayer so perfect as to stand in need of no correction or improvement, but of all our religious folemnities, pfalmody is the moft unhappily managed. That very action which fhould elevate us to the moft delightful and divine fenfation, doth not only flat our devotion, but too often awaken our regret, and touches all the fprings of uneafinefs within us. I have been long convinced, that one great Occafion of this evil arifes from the matter and |