rivers and streams of water;" I would interpret it of the effusion of divine grace, so often figured in Scripture under the image of that fluid so necessary for the support of human life, and I would translate the passage before us in the following manner, with but a small deviation from our version, "he shall make," or give "to drink of the stream on the way, and thus shall he raise up the head." The Hebrew scholar will perceive that the change in the original is but of one conjugation to another, and affects only the vowel points, an unessential part of the language; he may, perhaps, agree with me, that the original word which we have translated "brook," is best explained as a current of water, which makes its way among interposing hills, and whose course is perceptible, but by the verdure of its banks, and the riches of its overhanging foliage, and therefore, forming no unsuitable image of the operations of the Spirit, whose influence is often compared to "rain upon the mown hay, or showers that water the earth," who maketh his fruits to "spring up as among the grass, like willows by the water courses;" and that this interpretation which has been hinted by an obscure, but learned critic, giving meaning to a passage confessedly difficult, and presenting a most cheer

ing contrast for Christ's servants and soldiers, with the fate that awaits the impenitent, forms no inconsistent conclusion to a Psalm, which developes with such amazing accuracy the agency of God in man's redemption, his bounty in promising, his faithfulness in executing, the destruction which awaits the impenitent, and the blessings which are prepared for the righteous.

May these awful truths be brought home with power to our hearts, may we receive Messiah as our King, believe in him as our Prophet, and trust in his atonement as our Priest, and when the day of his visitation comes, may we be enabled to say, "Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us this is our Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."—Amen.

NOTES TO SERMONS XVI. AND XVII.

Page 311.-Whether in regard, &c. i de Twv padμõv βίβλος, τὸ ἐκ πάντων ὠφέλιμον περιείληφε. προφητεύει τα μέλ λόντα, ἱστοριας ὑπομιμνήσκει, νομοθετεῖ τῷ βίῳ, υποτίθεται τὰ πρακτέα· καὶ ἀπαξαπλῶς κοινον ταμιεῖόν ἐστιν ἀγαθῶν διδαγ μάτων, τό ἑκάστῳ πρόσφορον κατὰ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐξευρίσκουσα. -Basil. Hom. in Ps. 1.

Page 312.-A late most learned commentator, &c. Dr. Adam Clarke.

Page 313.-Consecrated to the public service, &c. There is reason to believe that, from a very early period, the Psalms of David were employed in public worship by the Jews. The Hallel, or Passover Hymn, which our blessed Lord is said to have sung with his disciples, consisted of the Psalms from cxiii. to cxviii. inclusive; and they have been constantly used in the worship of the Christian Church. Page 314.-Bishop Horseley. Horseley's Psalms. i. xiv. In that drama, &c. Vide Horseley's Psalms,

p. xv.

Page 316.-None of the sacred, &c. Matt. xxii. 55. and pp. loc.; Acts ii. 56. 1 Cor. xv. 25. Heb. i. v. vii. &c. The observations which occur in the note, page 152–157, to the present learned Bishop of Chester's "Dissertation on the Traditional Knowledge of a Promised Redeemer," are so satisfactory, that I shall satisfy myself with referring to them. They prove the general concurrence of our Lord's contemporaries as to the interpretation of the Psalm; the straits to

which the modern Jews are reduced by their application of it; and the false reasoning as well as loose religion which hangs upon the modern school of German divinity, in attempting to explain it otherwise than of Christ, and, if of Christ, as a prophecy. I shall only add, in proof the same opinion being held by the early Christian Church, a few authorities from the early Fathers: Clement in Epist. ad Cor. 36. applies it to Christ; Barnabas, in chap. xii. interprets it similarly; Justin Martyr, in Dial. cum. Tryph. and Tertull. advers. Mar. refute the Jews, who applied it to Hezekiah; Lactantius Jns. Div. iv. 12. not only follows their footsteps, but seems to point at its reference to the ascension of Christ; Origin, Eusebius, and Chrysostom, are of the same opinion, as to its direct application to the Redeemer. In the beginning of the last century, a controversy of some consequence was excited among the German Protestants, by Masson's applying the Psalm to David; he was refuted by Martin, Lampe, and others. Since that time many German Divines, following the footsteps of Mendelsohn, have attempted to apply it to David and others. Ilgenius supposes it to be a congratulatory ode on the taking of Rabba; Eckman supposes that it was written and addressed to David after the translation of the ark, and that the allegorical and typical meaning was never thought of until after the Babylonish captivity. Herder entirely applies it to David; Pfeiffer understands the first and second verses of the Philistines, and the last of the Israelites' passage of the Jordan; Borkh interprets it of Solomon; and De Wette going still farther, characterises the application of this Psalm to the Messiah, as absurd and impious, and supposes it to be an ode addressed to some Asmonæan Prince, probably to John Hyrcanus, who he thinks was in a peculiar sense a royal priest. Vide Bergman Comment. in Psal. cx. 12-20. Such interpretations disfiguring such learning as these critics generally possess, read an awful lesson to the students in theology.

Page 319.—The learned Venema. "Est oraculi divini partim ad Dominum Davidis, partem ad Davidem pertinentis