nation, causing us to retrace our steps, constraining us, one and all, by the influences of his Holy Spirit to bow the knee, and implore with sincerity for pardon and forgiveness for our TRAITOROUS conduct, as a nation, to HIM, even JESUS OF NAZARETH, who is over all, God blessed for ever, the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS: even HIM who hath declared "BEHOLD I COME QUICKLY, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. xxii. 12.

Believe me, to remain, dear Madam, with unfeigned thanks for the inflexible course which you are steering amid the breakers of popery, liberalism, and all other kinds of Infidelity, very respectfully and faithfully, yours,

HENRY DOWNES, COM. R.N. An unworthy member of the Established Church.

Ladbroke Terrace, Kensington.

Nov. 7, 1842.

NOTES ON THE PSALMS.

No. I.

INTRODUCTION.

"OF all the Books of the Old Testament," says Bishop Horsley, (Sermon on Ps. ii. 1.) "the Book of Psalms is the most universally read, but, I fear, as little as any understood." *** “ Of many Psalms, David himself was undoubtedly the author; and that those of his composition were prophetic, we have David's own authority, which may well be allowed to overpower a host of modern expositors. For thus king David, at the close of his life, describes himself and his sacred songs. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, the Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.' 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2. It was the word of Jehovah's Spirit, therefore, which was uttered by David's tongue. But it should seem, the Spirit of Jehovah would not be wanted to enable a mere man to make complaint of his own enemies, to describe his own sufferings, just as he felt them, and his own escapes, just as they happened. But the Spirit of Jehovah described by David's utterance, what was known to that Spirit only, and which that Spirit only could describe; so that, if

David be allowed to have had any knowledge of the true subject of his own compositions, it was nothing in his own life, but something put into his mind by the Holy Spirit of God: and the misapplication of the Psalms to the literal David has done more mischief than the misapplication of any other parts of the Scripture, among those who profess the belief of the Christian Religion."

Such is the recorded opinion of one of the most pious and learned critics whom our honoured national Church has ever produced: one whose expositions of prophecy were clear and literal in an age when the few who heeded the predictions of scripture at all gave them a mystic and spiritualized interpretation; a system begun by the Church of Rome, and unfortunately continued by the Church of England, until within a very recent period; a system by which every word is deprived of its right meaning,—by which Israel does not mean Israel, but Gentile believers,-Judah ditto ditto,—Jerusalem is not Jerusalem, but perhaps heaven, or perhaps the Gentile Church,-Zion is not Zion, but this same Gentile Church again,-captivity is not captivity, but sin in the heart, the kingdom is not a kingdom, but heaven above, and so on, till the Jewish nation, the chosen people of God, are coolly shouldered out of every blessing promised, every glory foretold, thongh they are left quite at liberty to appropriate all the

curses.

Now I beg it may clearly be understood that, in this and the following Notes, it is purposed, by God's assistance, to take the opposite view, and to maintain that in the Psalms, as elsewhere in the prophecies, Israel and Judah, Jerusalem and Zion, captivity,

deliverance, kingdom, glory, &c. do really mean what they mean in the historical parts of the Old Testament. That they may have a spiritual and mystic meaning, I would be the last to deny; but that they have primarily a literal common-sense signification, I would be one of the first to maintain.

It has often been remarked that the circumstances of the times throw new light on the meaning of Scripture. It is a quality of the Divine books, that they have many meanings under one expression. Man has seldom more than one sense in what he says; God has many, as many as the varied wants of His creatures can demand. His word is not written for one age, nor for one nation; but for all time and all people.

The apostolic epistles are striking instances of this fact. They were originally written to men of Ephesus, or of Colosse, or to the "twelve tribes scattered abroad," and these found in them instruction for their difficult path, and solutions of their doubts and questions. But is there any Church, in the old world or the new, that has not also found profit, guidance and blessing in these same epistles, though under circumstances widely different from those persons to whom they were first addressed. Being divinely inspired, they suffice for all; and it is the same with the Book of Psalms. Every age has found a blessing in these exquisite poems; David spoke for thousands when he spoke of himself. What Christian heart has not been cheered and enlightened, while it has found a language for all its wants, woes and desires in this exhaustless treasury? -But it is not their application to individual experience that we are now about to study, but those

manifold allusions to times present and immediately future, which lie strewn through the whole book; sometimes like the lump of pure gold, left visible and splendid on the bank of the mountain torrent, at others, like the small but precious grains among the sands of the river. There is a continued strain of Millennarian prediction running the whole parallel to many of the most striking passages of the prophets; it is a thread amid the web, a key-note throughout the melody, a vein across the mountain, an under-current through the lake,-call it what you will, but it is there; and the circumstances of these latter days throw a fresh light on its course.

To this I purpose to draw the attention of my readers. I have nothing new nor curious to advance, no discoveries to reveal; I have only to write down the observations made during a quiet perusal of this Divine collection of poetry and prophecy, and thus to point out a few allusions which may perhaps have escaped the notice of some devout students of the Psalms.

Perhaps it may be well to premise that, in the term Millennarian, I purpose to include all that relates to the present and future history of the Jews, their dispersion, restoration, and oppression in Jerusalem, the siege of the city, its deliverance, the second advent, the first resurrection, the reign of Messiah and His saints on the regenerated earth, (" in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory,") Matt. xix. 28. the tremendous struggle at the close of the Thousand Years, and the final resurrection and judgment of the ungodly.

To prove the truth of these views is not my present object, but only to show the support they derive