IN the Established Churches of England and Scotland, the words of Dr Watts are sung every Lord's-day, although the authorship is often unsurmised by the worshippers; and, in many instances, owing to the material changes which have been made, the author, were he to revisit our world, could hardly identify his own compositions. Our readers have here a sample of the old wine undiluted and unadulterated; and even those to whom the specimens are most familiar, will not deem their introduction irksome or unwelcome.

In the first of the following hymns, Mr Milner ("Life and Times of Dr Watts," page 276) says, that Dr Watts "avails himself of a beautiful idea from Gray's Fragment on Vicissitude,'" quoting the well-known passage

"See the wretch that long has tost,

On the thorny bed of pain,
At length repair his vigour lost,
And breathe and walk again;
The meanest floweret of the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,
To him are opening paradise."

It may be questioned whether there is more than a casual coincidence between the two poets. At all events, Watts could not have borrowed from Gray, as the above hymn was published nine years before the author of the "Fragment on Vicissitude" was born!

Thomson's beautiful " Hymn of the Seasons," as every one remembers, concludes with the line

"Come, then, expressive silence, muse His praise."

The first book of Watts's "Lyric Poems," with a reference to Psalm lxv., "Tibi silet, O Deus," ends with the stanza

"God is in heaven, and men below;

Be short, our tunes; our words, be few;
A sacred reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues."

The Lyrics were published in 1705, and, if we mistake not, Thomson's hymn was first published in 1730. Is it at all unlikely that the cadence of the earlier poem, lingering in a congenial memory, reappeared in the later and more exquisite production? In many cases of seeming plagiarism, it is extremely difficult to distinguish betwixt unconscious absorption and deliberate abstraction; and there can be no question, that some of the most curious examples of "parallel passages," are in the same category with those accidental coincidences which are constantly occurring in the history of scientific discovery.

The Lord's Day.

Bless'd morning, whose young dawning rays
Beheld our rising God;

That saw Him triumph o'er the dust,

And leave His last abode!

In the cold prison of a tomb
The dead Redeemer lay,

Till the revolving skies had brought
The third, th' appointed day.

Hell and the grave unite their force
To hold our God in vain ;
The sleeping Conqueror arose,
And burst their feeble chain.

To Thy great name, Almighty Lord,
These sacred hours we pay,
And loud hosannas shall proclaim
The triumph of the day.

Salvation and immortal praise

To our victorious King;

Let heaven and earth, and rocks and seas,

With glad hosannas ring.

The Lamb of God Worshipped by the whole Creation.

Come let us join our cheerful songs

With angels round the throne;

Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,

But all their joys are one.

"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,

"To be exalted thus: "

"Worthy the Lamb," our lips reply,

"For He was slain for us."

Jesus is worthy to receive

Honour and power divine;

HYMNS.

And blessings more than we can give,
Be, Lord, for ever Thine.

Let all that dwell above the sky,
And air, and earth, and seas,
Conspire to lift Thy glories high,

And speak Thine endless praise :

The whole creation join in one,
To bless the sacred name
Of Him that sits upon the throne,
And to adore the Lamb.

The Righteousness of Christ.

No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done:
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of Thy Son.

Now for the love I bear His name,
What was my gain I count my loss;
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to His cross.

Yes, and I must and will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus' sake:
O may my soul be found in Him,
And of His righteousness partake!

The best obedience of my hands,
Dares not appear before Thy throne;
But faith can answer Thy demands,
By pleading what my Lord has done.

Faith in Christ our Sacrifice.

Not all the blood of beasts

On Jewish altars slain,

Could give the guilty conscience peace,

Or wash away the stain.

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