INQUIRY INTO THE PRIVILEGE AND DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, IN THE EXERCISE OF Sacred Praise: A CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY OF SCRIPTURE SONGS AN ENLARGED REVIEW of the ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY OF THE PSALMODY OF AND AN EXAMINATION of "An Apology for the Book of Psalms," BY GILBERT M’MASTER, A. M. BY THOMAS DICKSON BAIRD, A. M. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.-Psalms, 1. 23. But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, Pittsburgh: PRINTED BY EICHBAUM AND JOHNSTON. 1825. Western District of Pennsylvania, to wIT: SEAL. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the nineteenth day of January, in the forty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1825, Thomas Dickson Baird, A. M. of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit: An Inquiry into the privilege and duty of the christian church, in the exercise of Sacred Praise: a chronology and history of scripture songs from the creation; an enlarged review of the ancient and modern history of the psalmody of the christian church, and an Examination of an "Apology for the Book of Psalms," by Gilbert M'Master, A. M-By Thomas Dickson Baird, A. M. pastor of the congregation of Lebanon, Pa. In conformity to the act of the congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned."-And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." WM. WALKER, Clerk of the Western District of Pennsylvania. To return my sincere acknowledgments for your approbation of my former essay-to own with gratitude the many kindnesses of a well tried and constant friend, who had the principal direction of my education-and to express the satisfaction I realize in having shared, not only the friendship, but the confidential am liarity of so distinguished a patron of piety and literature; I send you the following sheets over the mountains, which have for some years raised their "cloud capp'd" summits between us. Could I cease to remember, or to feel, the friendship of many of the most respectable of the fathers and brethren of our Church, it would evince, at the same time, my insensibility and my ingratitude. But to yourself in the South, and to a Rev. brother in the West, I am under greater obligations, on the ground of real, solid, practical friendship, than to all others besides. DR. MOSES WADDELL, of Athens, Georgia, and the REV. JAMES CULBERTSON, of Zanesville, Ohio, will therefore, indulge the desire of associating their names on this page, as the particular friends of the author. Next to the desire and hope that this book may, in some reasonable degree, merit your approbation, is my solicitude that it should obtain it. To enjoy the favourable opinion of a few characters of acknowledged eminence, in the religious and literary world, such as before expressed their approbation of my performance, will more than counterbalance all the obloquy with which I have hitherto been distinguished, and of which I may reasonably anticipate a repetition. I had, indeed, once indulged the hope of presenting you with a work of a very different character-a work, the execution of which, your friendly partiality had some years since assigned to my pen; but which, from my peculiar circumstances, is not likely soon to be performed. Were I desirous, however, of becoming an author, and left to the selection of my sub ject, without any adventitious circumstances to influence my choice, the doctrine of sovereign grace would be that on which I would enter, perhaps, in preference to all others; and which, it is possible, may yet be attempted, if life, health and opportunity permit. As this, however, with all future events, depend entirely on the will of providence-it may be accomplish ed-it may never be attempted. But amidst all earthly changes, while reason retains its throne and memory its power, you may believe in the sentiments of esteem and respect with which I am, Lebanon, near Pittsburgh, Jan. 12, 1825. Ever yours, T. D. BAIRD |