for when thus engaged, he counted no time. They are gone, but have left a relish and a fragrance upon the mind, and the remembrance of them is

sweet.

But, alas! these are the fond effusions of parental tenderness. Others will view the production with very different eyes; and the harsh voice of inexorable criticism will too soon awaken him from his pleasing dream. He is not insensible, that many learned and good men, whom he does not therefore value and respect the less, have conceived strong prejudices against the scheme of interpretation here pursued; and he knows how little the generality of modern Christians have been accustomed to speculations of this kind; which it may likewise, perhaps, be said, will give occasion to the scoffs of our adversaries, the Jews and the deists. Yet, if in the preceding pages it hath been made to appear, that the application of the Psalms to evangelical subjects, times, and circumstances, stands upon firm ground; that it may be prosecuted upon a regular and consistent plan; and that it is not only expedient, but even necessary, to render the use of them in our devotions rational and profitable; will it be presumption in him to hope that, upon a calm and dispassionate review of the matter, prejudices may subside, and be done away? If men, in these days, have not been accustomed to such contemplations, is it not high time they should become so? Can they begin too soon to study, and make themselves masters of a science which promises to its votaries

so much entertainment, as well as improvement ; which recommends the Scriptures to persons of true taste and genius, as books intended equally for our delight and instruction; which demonstrates the ways of celestial wisdom to be ways of pleasantness, and all her paths to be peace indeed? From the most sober, deliberate, and attentive survey of the sentiments which prevailed upon this point, in the first ages of the Church, when the apostolical method of citing and expounding the Psalms was fresh upon the minds of their followers, the author cannot but be confident that his Commentary, if it had then made its appearance, would have been universally received and approved, as to the general design of it, by the whole Christian world. And however the Jews, in their present state of alienation and unbelief, may reject and set at nought such applications of their Scriptures to our Messiah and his chosen people, as they certainly will do; he is not less confident that, whenever the happy and glorious day of their conversion shall come, and the veil shall be taken from their hearts, they will behold the Psalter in that light in which he has endeavoured to place it'. As to the deists,

1 "If this appears to be the case in so many of the Psalms (namely, that they are predictive of MESSIAH), how strongly does it justify our Lord's appeal to them as treating of Him! And what a noble argument may hence arise, for the conviction and conversion of that extraordinary people, to whom they were originally communicated, when once the veil that is on their hearts shall be taken away, as by the same Spirit of prophecy we are assured it shall!"-The Bishop of CARLISLE'S Theory of Religion, p. 176, 6th edit. With what transports of zeal and devotion, of

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they, while they continue such, can have neither lot nor part in this matter; for giving no credit to the Scripture account of things, either in the Old Testament or the New, to discourse with them concerning a connexion and analogy subsisting between the one and the other, is to reason about a fifth sense with a man who has only four. For the conviction both of the Jews and deists, other arguments are to be urged; arguments from undeniable miracles openly wrought, and plain prophecies literally fulfilled. Such proofs are 'for them that believe not." And such have been repeatedly urged, in their full force, by the many able champions who have stood forth (success evermore attend their labours !) in defence of the evidences of Christianity. Expositions and meditations, like those in the subsequent pages, serve not, nor are intended to serve, "for them who believe not, but for them who believe;" who will exercise their faculties in discerning and contemplating the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and who are going on unto perfection; to

faith and love, will they recite these holy hymns, in the day when the whole body of the Jews returning to the Lord their God, shall acknowledge their unparalleled crime in the murder of their King, and their penitential sorrow for the same, perhaps, as his Lordship intimates, in the words of the fifty-first Psalm: "Deliver me from BLOOD-GUILTINESS, O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not SACRIFICE, else would I give it; thou delightest not in BURNT-OFFERING. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. O do good in thy good pleasure to Zion; build thou the walls of JERUSALEM !"

1 1 Cor. xiv. 22.

increase their faith, and inflame their charity; to delight them in prosperity, to comfort them in adversity, to edify them at all times. Such effects, the author doubts not, will be experienced by believers, who will read his book with an honest and good heart, with seriousness and attention; for though he humbly trusts it will not be deemed altogether unworthy a place in the libraries of the learned, he builds chiefly on that approbation which he is solicitous it should receive in the closets of the devout; as considering, that it is LOVE, heavenly LOVE, which "never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." They who find not the wished-for satisfaction in one portion, will find it in another; they who disapprove of an interpretation at the first reading, may, perhaps, approve of it at the second; and they who still continue to disapprove of some particulars, will not therefore disdain to accept the benefit of the rest. He has written to gratify no sect or party, but for the common service of all who call on the name of JESUS, wheresoever dispersed, and howsoever distressed, upon the earth. When he views the innumerable unhappy differences among Christians, all of whom are equally oppressed with the cares and calamities of life, he often calls to

11 Cor. xiii. 8.

mind those beautiful and affecting words which Milton represents Adam as addressing to Eve, after they had wearied themselves with mutual complaints and accusations of each other :

But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame

Each other, blam'd enough elsewhere; but strive
In offices of love, how we may lighten

Each other's burden in our share of woe.

B. x. V. 958.

Enough has been given to the arts of controversy. Let something be given to the studies of piety and a holy life. If we can once unite in these, our tempers may be better disposed to unite in doctrine. When we shall be duly prepared to receive it, "God may reveal even this unto us." To increase the number of disputes among us, is, therefore, by no means the intent of this publication. The author having, for many years, accustomed himself to consider and apply the Psalms, while he recited them, according to the method now laid down, has never failed to experience the unspeakable benefit of it, both in public and in private; and would wish, if it so pleased God, that death might find him employed in meditations of this kind'. He has likewise frequently taken occasion, in the course of his ministry, to explain a Psalm, upon the same plan, from the pulpit; and whenever he has done so, whether the audience were learned or unlearned, polite or rustic, he has generally had the happiness to find the discourse, in

1 "I have lost a world of time," said the learned SALMASIUS, on his death-bed; "if I had one year more, I would spend it in reading DAVID'S PSALMS, and PAUL'S EPISTLES."