I /Si] rev. WILLIAM smith, d. d. 47 



Yorktown, which was in fact the end of the Revolution, and when 

 the Congress prescribed the 13th of December, 1781, as a day of 

 general Thanksgiving and Prayer throughout the United States. 

 This latter sermon, I think, is in one of Dr. Smith's best styles : a 

 style, at all events, one of his most natural and easy. 

 The text was from Exodus xv. i : 



" I will sing unto the Lord: for He hath triumphed gloriously." 



After a few words de circonstancc the preacher breaks forth : 



Songs, or Hymns of praise and triumph, addressed to the great 

 Creator of Heaven and earth (or to the Divinities considered by the 

 nations that knew not the true God, as the supreme benefactors of man- 

 kind), were among the oldest and most exalted compositions of Poets, 

 and other writers, inspired as well as uninspired. 



There is something in Poetry and Music admirably suited to divine 

 and lofty subjects; and it is natural for the soul of man, when struck 

 with anything surprisingly great, good, or marvellously new, to break 

 forth beyond the ccmaion modes of speech, into the most rapturous 

 strains of expression, accompanied with correspondent Attitudes of 

 Body and Modulations of Voice. Even the untutored savages around 

 us furnish proofs of this ! 



Hence it arose, that Poetry and Music were originally appropriated 

 and confined to the worship of the Supreme God, or the divinities of 

 the nations, to whom He was not known ; and the best and wisest men 

 of all ages have had recourse to divine Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 

 the effusions of the soul to the almighty Lord of heaven and earth. 



Ere yet temples were built, or fixed hours of devotion set apart ; 

 when the voice of Conscience could be heard, and the busy scenes of 

 Art had not seduced away the attention of Man from the grand scenes 

 of Nature; the great Progenitors of our Race, and Patriarchs of Man- 

 kind, as they tended their flocks onward from pasture to pasture, as 

 they beheld the refreshing Rains descend, and the Sun, in his turn, 

 pour down his refulgent beams, to vivify and fertilize the earth, and to 

 rejoice tlie heart of man and of every living creature; or when they 

 v/ere struck with any more surprising effect or manifestation of Almighty 

 Power and Goodness, kindling their admiration and gratitude — that 

 auspicious moment they embraced, as the Tongue or Organ of Praise 

 for the whole Animal Creation on earth, and rapt into sacred extasy, 

 poured forth their unpremeditated strains to that adorable God, the 

 author of all this bounty, who formed the earth, the Sun and INIoon 

 which they beheld; that poised the clouds in air, that enriched their 

 bosoms with treasure and bade them drop down in fatness, to rejoice 

 herb, and beast, and man. 



