And I know not any thing can be objected here, but that a Prophet perhaps in some instances may assume the Words of _Christ_ or the Saints in following Ages; but it should be observed that this is almost always in such Respects wherein Persons or Circumstances present were typical of what is future, and so their Cases become parallel. By these Considerations we are easily led into the true Method of translating ancient Songs into Christian Worship. Psalms that are purely Doctrinal, or meerly Historical, are Subjects for our Meditation, and may be translated for our present Use with no Variation, if it were possible; and in general, all those Songs of Scripture which the Saints of following Ages may assume for their own: Such are the 1st, the 8th, the 19th, and many others. Some Psalms may be apply'd to our Use by the Alteration of a Pronoun, putting {246} _They_ in the place of We, and changing some Expressions which are not suited to our Case into a Narration or Rehearsal of God's Dealings with others: There are other Divine Songs which cannot properly be accommodated to our Use, and much less be assum'd as our own without very great Alterations, (_viz_.) such as are filled with some very particular Troubles or Enemies of a Person, some Places of Journeying or Residence, some uncommon Circumstances of a Society, to which there is scarce any thing parallel in our Day or Case: Such are many of the Songs of _David_, whose Persecutions and Deliverances were very extraordinary: Again, such as express the Worship paid unto God by carnal Ordinances and Utensils of the Tabernacle and Temple. Now if these be converted into Christian Songs in our Nation, I think the Names of _Ammon_ and _Moab_ may be as properly chang'd into the Names of the chief Enemies of the Gospel, so far as may be without publick Offence: _Judah_ and _Israel_ may be called _England_ and _Scotland_, and the Land of _Canaan_ may be translated into _Great Britain_; The cloudy and typical Expressions of the legal Dispensation should be turned into Evangelical Language, according to the Explications of the New Testament: And when a Christian Psalmist, among the Characters of a Saint, Psal. 15. 5. meets with the Man that _puts not out his Money to Usury_, he ought to exchange _one that is no Oppressor_ for an Oppressor or Extortioner, since Usury {247} is not utterly forbidden to Christians, as it was by the Jewish Law; and wheresoever he finds the Person or Offices of our Lord _Jesus Christ_ in Prophecy, they ought rather to be translated in a way of History, and those Evangelical Truths should be stript of their Vail of Darkness, and drest in such Expressions that Christ may appear in 'em to all that sing. When he comes to Psal. 40. 6. and reads there Words, _Mine Ears hast thou opened_, he should learn from the Apostle to say, _A Body hast thou prepared for me_, Heb. 10. 5. Instead of _binding the Sacrifice with Cords to the Horns of the Altar_, Psal. 118. 27. we should _offer up