ing observation and only refers to the context, inferring thence that different persons of the Godhead are addressed in the course of the Psalm. (page 564.) “The psalm he observes (LXVIII) commences with an address to God in the third person. At verse 7th he is addressed in the second person, the second person is retained till verse 11th and is resumed again in this the 18th verse. If one person be not addressed from the beginning, therefore, it is certain that he who ascended on high identified by Paul as (hrist, is God who went forth before the people through the wilderness." How is it possible that the Editor, a diligent student of the Bible for thirty or forty years, should not know that in addressing God, the third person and also the second are constantly used in immediate sequence, and that this variation is considered a rhetorical trope in Hebrew and Arabic as well as in almost all the Asiatic languages from being supposed to convey notions of the omnipresence and pervading influence of the deity. To prove this assertion, I could quote a great many instances even from the single book of Psalms, such as Psalm 3-5. &c. and in a single ch. 2 Samuel XXII. 3. 49. in which God is addressed both in the second and third persons; but as the Editor might perhaps allege in those cases,

though in defiance both of the idiom of the Hebrew and of common sense, that in all these instances David in spirit meant the first and the second persons of the Go heal by the variety of persons; I shall quote the translation of some lines of the Qoran by Sale and of a Jewish prayer, in which the same variety of persons is used, and where it cannot be imagined that different persous of the Godhead are meant to be therein addressed. Alqoran ch. I. "Praise be to God the Lord of all creatures, the most merciful, the king of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious, not of those against whom thou art incensed, not of those who go astray". Can Mohummad here be supposed to have alluded in spirit to the first and second persous of God, or has he not rather used those phrases according to the common practice of the language? The following lines are from a Jewish book of prayers written in Hebrew and translated into English.* “Sabbath morning service. Therefore all whom God hath formed, shall glorify and bless him; they shall ascribe praise, honor, and glory unto the king who hath

* Compiled by the Revd. Solomon Hirschell, translated by Messrs. Justins Barnet and Joseph, and printed in London by E. Justins 1803, . K k

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formed all things; and who through his holiness, causeth his people Israel to inherit rest on the holy sabbath. Thy name, O Lord our God! shall be sanctified." "Morning service His words also are living, permanent, faithful, and desirable for ever, even unto all ages, as well those which he hath spoken concerning our ancestors, as those concerning us, our chil dren, our generations, and the generations of the seed of Israel, thy servants, both the first and the last." A thousand similar instances

might be adduced,

In the Qoran it is further remarkable that the same change of person is adopted when God is represented as speaking of himself. Alqoran II. 5. "Set not up therefore any equals unto God against your own know. ledge. If ye be in doubt concerning that revelation, which we have sent down unto our servant, produce a chapter like unto it and call upon your witnesses besides God, if ye say truth." Moreover we find in the Jewish scriptures that in speaking of a third party both the second and the third personal pronouns are sometimes used Hosea II. 15-17. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her

youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. "And it shall be at that day saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali." For I will take away the manes of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name." (19) “ And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies." The public may now judge what weight the argument of the Editor ought to carry with it; and whether I adduced only a "Jewish dream" in applying verse 18 originally to Moses or whether the Editor rather has not founded his position on the ground. of mere imagination. To me, as an Asiatic, nothing can appear more strange than an attempt to deduce the deity of Jesus from an address by David to the omnipresent God couched in both the second and third persons. I will moreover confidently appeal to the context to satisfy any unprejudiced person that the Psalmist in verse 18th had Moses alone in view. The Psalm it will be recollected was written on the specific occasion of the removal of the ark, which was done according to the instructions delivered to Moses by God on mount Sinai. David accordingly reca

pitulates in the preceding verses of the Psalm the wonderful mercies of God in delivering Israel from the Egyptians and leading them towards the promised land. In the 15, 16, and 17th verses Sinai is thus mentioned. "The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills, this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in: yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." In verse 18 immediately after mention of the word Sinai the holy place he goes on, thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea for the rebellious also; that the Lord God might dwell among them;-the very reason to which in the Book of Exodus the construction of the ark, whose removal was taking place, is assigned. From this it appears evident that the gifts alluded to were those granted on mount Sinai; and the only question that remains is who was it that received those gifts for men? I leave this to be answered by the candid reader. There are besides many other passages in the writings of the psalmist where David after addressing the supreme father of the universe, abruptly addresses himself to