Hew Morrison Collection > Laoidhean o'n scrioptur naomha; chum bhi air an seinn ann an Aora' Dhe

^'J TREFACE.
a much warmer reception than i^ has hi-*
thcrto found,) observes that ^' Many of theni
(the Psalms) are very unsuitable to Chris-
tian worship, and some of them altogether
imintelligible to plain illiterate men. — In a
prose version of the Scripturer-;, it may be
proper to render every word literally; but it
ought to be considered whether many passages
that appear liarsh, may not be capable of a
softer rendering. At any rate, in a book of
Christian devotion, there should certainly be
no room for curses: and as no metrical version
can be exactlylitcral, so neither is it to be
wisiied that it should, at theexpence of cither
pei'^picuity or devolio!!."
But, granting to the present version of the
Fsidms all those excellencies v.hicli its most
sanguine admirers have attributed to it, still,
it is manifestly obvious, that a Collection of
ifymns, drav.n from the numerous portions of
►Scripture, which arc at least equally calcula-
t«d to impress, to comfort, and to enliven, as
the Psalms are, is very much wanted in the
Highlands. The Assembly's Paraphrases have,
no doubt, been iseful in this way. But any
thing like a ccmplete Collection, liowever
much desired by many, has hitherto been
unknown in these parts.
In such a Collection, it is desirable, that
theie le no Hymns admitted, wliich all the
ciiildren of (iod cannot readily agree in sing-
ij)g,- — that at first bight they thould appea?