I'll praise my Maker with my breath,
And, when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers:
My days of praise shall ne'er be past
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.

ISAAC WATTS.

“Live while you live,” the epicure would say,
"And seize the pleasures of the present day."
"Live while you live," the sacred preacher cries,
"And give to God each moment as it flies."
Lord, in my life let both united be;

I live in pleasure, when I live to Thee.

People of the living God,

PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

I have sought the world, around,
Paths of sin and sorrow trod,

Peace and comfort nowhere found.
Now to you my spirit turns-
Turns, a fugitive unblest;

Brethren, where your altar burns,
Oh, receive me into rest!

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

"Tis what I know of Thee, my Lord and God,
That fills my soul with peace, my lips with song:
Thou art my health, my joy, my staff, my rod:
Leaning on Thee, in weakness I am strong.
More of Thyself, Oh show me, hour by hour,
More of Thy glory, O my God and Lord;
More of Thyself, in all Thy grace and power;
More of Thy love and truth, Incarnate Word.

HORATIUS BONAR.

My soul, bear thou thy part;
Triumph in God above,
And with a well-tuned heart
Sing thou the songs of love!
Let all thy days

Till life shall end,
Whate'er He send,
Be filled with praise!

RICHARD BAXTER.

XV.

ISAAC WATTS,

PHILIP DODDRIDGE,

JAMES MONTGOMERY,

HORATIUS BONAR,

RICHARD BAXTER.

Our thoughts are next to pass to the consideration of a group of hymn writers who were what is called in England Nonconformists, that is, men who failed to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Church as by civil law established: Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge, James Montgomery, Horatius Bonar, and Richard Baxter. Four of these five take rank amongst the largest contributors to our hymnal, having in all given us fifty-five of our hymns,-Montgomery twenty-one, Watts sixteen, Bonar ten, and Doddridge eight. With Richard Baxter, one of the first and one of the most representative of Nonconformists, they are certainly entitled to our cordial appreciation.

As a matter of course, we place Isaac Watts at the head of the group, inasmuch as, so far as modern hymnology is concerned, he was the first to blaze the way, and for that reason, among others, should be honored with the highest rank.

James Montgomery puts the case with still greater force when he says: "Dr. Watts may also be called the inventor of hymns in our language, for he so far departed from all precedent that few of his compositions resemble those of his forerunners, while he so far established a precedent to all his successors that none have departed from it otherwise than according to the peculiar turn of mind in the writer, and the style