N01640:27
Psalterium Americanum. The Book of Psalms, in a translation exactly conformed unto the original;…
Psalterium Americanum. The Book of Psalms, in a translation exactly conformed unto the original; but all in blank verse. : Fitted unto the tunes commonly used in our churches. Which pure offering is accompanied with illustrations, digging for hidden treasures in it; and rules to employ it upon the glorious and various intentions of it. : Whereunto are added, some other portions of the sacred Scripture, to enrich the cantional.
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland for B. Eliot, 1718
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
BRIEFLY, Upon any Difference in this, from the former and common Translation, if the more Learned Reader will please to Examine the Original, there will be no Fear of its being Justified. But then, this Translation may deserve some Thanks from the ⟨p. xi⟩Religious part of Mankind, for having tendered a plain, clear, fair sense of many Passages, which have hitherto been so Translated, that People could scarce tell how well to understand them: In which regard, this very Translation alone, without any of the Notes that wait upon it, may be esteemed a Commentary.
BRIEFLY, Upon any Difference in this, from the former and common Translation, if the more Learned Reader will please to Examine the Original, there will be no Fear of its being Justified. But then, this Translation may deserve some Thanks from the ⟨p. xi⟩Religious part of Mankind, for having tendred a plain, clear, fair sense of many Passages, which have hitherto been so Translated, that People could scarce tell how well to understand them: In which regard, this very Translation alone, without any of the Notes that wait upon it, may be esteemed a Commentary.
§. 5. MOST certainly, our Translation of the PSALMS, without the Fetters of Rhyme upon it, can be justly esteemed no prejudice to the Character of Poetry in the performance. For indeed, however it is now appropriated, according to the true sense of the Term, to Rhythm it self a Similis Desinentia, or, a likeness of sound in the last Syllables of the Verse, is not essential. Old Bede will give you such a Definition of Rhythm, and bring other Authorities besides Austins for it, that Scaliger thereupon holds, all Verses wherein Regard is had unto the Number of Syllables, to have a claim unto it. Be that as the Critics on the Term shall please, our Translation is all in Metre; and really more tied unto Measure, than the Original appears to have been, by all the Examinations that have as yet been employed upon it. For, however it might be with the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy, and with the