_First_, If it be the duty of the Churches to sing Psalms, they must necessarily be turned into such a sort of Verse and Metre as will best fit them for the whole Church to join in the Worship: Now this will be very different from a Translation of the original Language word for word; for the Lines must be confined to a certain number of Syllables, and the Stanza or Verse to a certain number of Lines, that so the Tune being short the people may be acquainted with it, and be ready to sing without much difficulty; whereas if the Words were merely translated out of the _Hebrew_ as they are for reading, every Psalm must be set through to music, and every Syllable in it must have a particular musical Note belonging to itself, as in Anthems {242} that are sung in Cathedrals: But this would be so exceeding difficult to practise, that it would utterly exclude the greatest part of every Congregation from a Capacity of obeying God's Command to sing. Now, in reducing a _Hebrew_ or a _Greek_ Song to a Form tolerably fit to be sung by an _English_ Congregation, here and there a Word of the Original must be omitted, now and then a Word or two superadded, and frequently a Sentence or an Expression a little alter'd and chang'd into another that is something a-kin to it: And yet greater Alterations must the Psalm suffer if we will have any thing to do with Rhime; those that have labour'd with utmost Toil to keep very close to the Hebrew have found it impossible; and when they have attain'd it most, have made but very poor Music for a Christian Church. For it will often happen, that one of the most affectionate and most Spiritual Words in the Prose will not submit to its due Place in the Metre, or does not end with a proper Sound, and then it must be secluded, and another of less proper Sense be put in the Room of it: Hereby some of the chief Beauties and Excellencies of _David_'s Poetry will be omitted and lost, which if not reviv'd again, or recompenc'd by some lively or pathetic Expression in the _English_, will necessarily debase the Divine Song into Dullness and Contempt: And hereby also it becomes so far different from the inspired Words in the Original Languages, that it is very hard for any Man to say, {243} that the Version of _Hopkins_ and _Sternhold_, the _New-England_ or the _Scots_ Psalms, are in a strict Sense the Word of God. Those Persons therefore that will allow nothing to be sung but the words of inspiration or Scripture ought to learn the Hebrew Music, and sing in the Jewish Language; or at least I can find no Congregation with which they can heartily join according to their own Principles, but the Congregation of _Choristers_ in Cathedral Churches, who are the only _Levites_ that _sing Praise unto the Lord with the Words of_ David _and_ Asaph _the Seer_, 2 Chron. 29. 30.