PREFACE. Of the three kinds of poetical composition, which, in accordance with the Apostle's direction, have ever been in use in the Church, "Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs," two are supplied by inspiration. We have no need, through God's bounty, to turn our thoughts, to the composition of Psalms or Songs; and, to judge from the attempts which have been made, doubtless we are unequal to it. And the unapproachable excellence of the two which have been supplied serves to suggest the difficulties which beset the composition 2 |