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" and mighty-He is the King of Glory."

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this Pfalm Bishop Lowth remarks, "Cantûs quidem "alternatio potuit fortaffe per totum obtinere; in extremâ certe odæ parte manifefto deprehenditur." Præl. xxvii.

The book of Pfalms thus becomes a fubject of very interesting critical enquiry; but they engage our attention on a much higher account likewife; they contain paffages confolatory, eucharistical, penitential, deprecatory, the most pathetic and affecting : hence they have, with the greatest propriety, been made part of our daily service of prayer. Yet it must be confeffed that, though thus the subject of our daily meditation, they abound with many difficulties, arifing partly from our ignorance of the particular occafions on which they were written, and of the customs and manners of the inhabitants of the Eastern countries; partly from errors of the text, and fometimes from falfe tranflation. Hence we often feel the course of our devotion interrupted by the occurrence of a paffage which appears inexplicable, or perhaps inconfiftent with what precedes or follows. It is to be hoped therefore that a revifal of our present verfions will not be an uninteresting attempt, in which it is proposed to adhere as closely as may be to the language, and preserve the spirit of thofe venerable tranflations, which are adopted by our Church; still however incorporating fuch cor

rections as can be derived from the labours of our modern critics; many of the most learned and pious of whom have particularly bestowed their attention on this fubject, not inferior perhaps in either of these effential qualities to those great and good men who first began this valuable work.

Although it was an opinion very generally held amongst the fathers, that the Pfalms contained prophecies not only of the Meffias, but likewise of the temporal calamities of the Jews, their exiles, and the various fortunes of the Chriftian Church, yet it is now generally agreed that these prophecies relate folely to Christ. But again there arifes here another more difficult and important question, namely to afcertain which are the Pfalms which do thus prophecy of him. And here thofe Pfalms are chiefly to be confidered, which are cited in the New Teftament, as it might be fuppofed that the Disciples would have had recourfe to the most decifive arguments in favour of the divine miffion of Chrift. But a little enquiry will fhew us, that this is not the cafe; relying on the strength of facts for the truth of the dispensation, they paid but flight attention to the argument from prophecy; and when they cite paffages from the Old Testament, they appear to do fo rather in the way of accommodation to the particular occafion before them. That they did fometimes quote the fcriptures in this way of accommodation

wgos oixesov σnowov, is fhewn very clearly by Starck, from the various occafions on which the lxix. Pfalm is referred to in the New Teftament. It is cited in John ii. 17. xv. 25. xix. 28, 29. Acts i. 20. Rom. xi. 9. and xv. 3. Now according to the firft quotation in John ii. 17. it would foretell the punishment of

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money changers, and of thofe that fold oxen and fheep and doves in the Temple. According to Rom. xv. 3. it treats of the merits of Christ, who pleased not himself, but confidered the fins of others to be his own. According to John xv. 25. it describes the hatred of the Jews to Chrift. According to John xix. 28, 29. the paffion of our Saviour on the Crofs; according to Rom. xi. 9. the rejection of the Jews; and according to Acts i. 20. the death of the traitor Judas, and the election of the Apostle Matthias. Now though fome of these circumstances might be confiftent in the fame prophecy, yet altogether they are not fo. Befides thefe could not be the events prophefied of, unless Christ be the perfon who is the speaker throughout the Pfalm: but that this cannot poffibly be the case is very evident: and first, from the curfes and imprecations mentioned verse 22. 25. which it fhould feem, as Starck obferves, cannot be afcribed without blafphemy to Christ, the author of all mercy and forgiveness. Secondly, the 10th verfe likewife fhews that Christ is not the fubject of the Pfalm, for he was never reproached for fafting; on the contrary, he was faid to be the

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companion of wine-bibbers and gluttons. Thirdly, it appears from verfes 33. 35. that the speaker was one of the captive Jews of Babylon. It follows therefore that the citations of this Pfalm in the New Testament are mere allufions, in which the circumstances in the Pfalm are compared with the subject matter, and are brought forward folely by way of illustration. Again in Matt. xiii. 34, 35. we read, "without a parable fpake he not unto “ them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, faying, I will open my mouth in

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parables, I will utter things which have been kept "fecret from the foundation of the world:" which paffage is taken from Pfalm lxxviii. 2. but no one ever yet, fays Starck, except St. Jerom, ranked this amongst the prophetical Pfalms. It is entirely and purely historical; and from beginning to the end relates the fortunes of the Ifraelites from their leaving Egypt to the time of David: yet it is cited by St. Matthew formally as a prophecy. Are we then to confider the whole Pfalm as prophetical, or the fecond verfe only? whichever fide we take, fays Starck, we fall into an abfurdity. "This is no pro"phecy, fays Dr. Jortin, though it be faid to be ful"filled: for any thing may be faid to be fulfilled “when it can be pertinently applied; the meaning "here is, that what the Pfalmift faid of his way of teaching might juftly be faid of these discourses " of Christ." Fortin's Remarks. The Jews were ac

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customed to quote the Scriptures in this way of accommodation, and from them the difciples adopted it; but particularly St. Paul, and whoever was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. But St. Paul has not only adopted the allegorising manner of the Jews, but has in one instance even had recourse to the mystical explication of the Jews themselves, as in 1 Cor. x. 3. where he speaks of the fpiritual rock which followed the Ifraelites in the defert, and afforded them water wherefoever they went. Which fact is related by the author of the Tofephoth Iom

פי הבאר כתב הרב" בארה של מרים שהייתה הלך : tbobb עם בני ישראל במדבר ופיר' בדרך חיים שבכל מקום שהיו הולכים הבאר עלה וינובע מים ונברא אל הבאר

הזה פה ויצאו המים בכל מקום אשר הולכים:

That is, Os putei, fcribit R. Barthenora, de fonte Miriam (vide Num. xx. 1.) eum profectum effe cum filiis Ifrael in deferto. Et explicatio ejus eft in Derec Chaim (or the commentary which R. Leo wrote on the Fathers) quod ubicunque locorum profecti fuerint, fons afcendit, & aquam præbuerit. Fonti porro os creatum eft, & prodierunt aquæ ubicunque locorum iter faciebant. Now furely no man can confider this as an authentic fact, and St. Paul's explication as an authentic explication, but as a mere accommodation, fuited to the particular purpose which he had in view. In like manner St. Matthew could not but fee that the first four verses· of the 11th chapter of Hofea are purely historical,

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