Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: them. And so doubtless they would be, if they had come down to us perfect and entire, without any errors, omissions, or additions. But?by whomsoever they were written?this does not seem to have been the case, as might be made to appear from more than one consideration; and particularly, I think, from some of those which, for distinction’s sake, I would call historical titles; I mean such as pretend to give us the history, or the occasion on which a Psalm was written. Some of these seem to have been prefixed by transcribers upon their own conjectures, or, perhaps, upon some uncertain traditions. And, if so, they can have little more authority than if any modern commentators were to affix their opinions or conjectures as to the occasion upon which any of the Psalms were written. But, however this be?and though, as has been hinted, there seem to be some errors and omissions, occasioned by the mistakes of transcribers, and the injuries of time, even in those which we may reasonably suppose to have been affixed as above?yet, surely, they deserve our attention, and the best enquiries we can make into their design and meaning. Hitherto, indeed, they have been interpreted and understood in a way which renders them of little or no use: but the occasion of this has been only, I conceive, want of attention to this subject, and giving too much credit to Lexicographers and others who would persuade us that they relate?chiefly at least?to the chapter{Section 4music, or to the persons that sang, and the instruments which were used to accompany them when sung in the Temple. To do justice to the subject is, indeed, above my small abilities, and I freely own myself unequal to the undertaking. But yet, through the blessing of God, I hope I may do something, by writing thus my thoughts, my fan…