THE TRUE PSALMODY: Chapter I.

THE BIBLE PSALMS, THE MATTER OF THE CHURCH’S PRAISE.

CHAPTER I.

THE BOOK OF PSALMS IS A COMPLETE MANUAL OF PRAISE.

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I. It presents the most comprehensive delineation of the perfections of God; and of the character of His government. “Here,” in the words of Tholuck, “is God praised, who, before the mountains, the earth, and the world had been created, is from everlasting to everlasting—who surrounds his creatures, inquiring everywhere—whose presence cannot be avoided, whether in heaven above, or the depth below—from whom darkness cannot hide—who reigns as the Lord omnipotent, from the beginning, in the heavens—who thunders in his might—who telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names—who is good unto all, has compassion on all his works, and giveth food

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to the young ravens which cry—who delighteth not in the strength of the horse nor the legs of a man, but taketh pleasure in them that fear him and hope in his mercy—who, like as a father pitieth his children, pitieth those that fear him, and dealeth not with us after our sins, nor rewardeth us according to our iniquities. Whatever truths and praises can be said of the wisdom, eternity, omnipotence, holiness, and mercy of God, are expressed in the Psalms, such as Psalms xc. xci. xcvii. xxxiii. ciii. civ. and cxxxix. Here is a piety which, on the one hand losing itself full of praise in the care of God, as in Psalm cxix., preserves on the other, a clear and opened eye for his glory in nature, before whose view the declaration in the book of the law and that in the book of nature entirely commingle, (Psalm xix.) Here we have the unceasing praise of God—in gloomy as well as in joyous days, for mercies temporal and spiritual—in every variety of tone and expression. The last psalms (cxlvii. cxlviii. and cl.,) the many-toned echo of the entire book, or like the end of a long chain, call with their unceasing ‘Praise ye the Lord,’ upon Israel and all mankind, the heights and the depths and the heavenly spirits, to offer the sacrifice of their praise to the Lord. Those who adhere to the erroneous opinion (Psalms xxix. civ. cxlv.) that the God of Israel was the God of

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the nation only in that sense, that the people believed, besides Him, in other though impotent heathen deities, may derive more correct views from the Psalms. ‘For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.’ (Psalm xlvii. 7, 8.) ‘O God of our salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea.’ (Psalm lxv. 5.) ‘Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.’ (Psalm lxxxvi. 8—10.)”

“Contrasted with the gods of the heathen, which are less than their worshippers, which have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not—the God of Israel appears as the living God, who governs the world, and that in righteousness; who maintaineth the right and cause of the innocent, and sitteth enthroned as the righteous Judge, (Psalm ix. 5;) who throweth the ungodly into a ditch, and causeth their desire to perish, (Psalms vii. 17; cxii. 10;) who preserveth the soul of His saints, and delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked, (Psalm xxvii. 10;) who heareth the cry of the righteous,

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(Psalm xxxiv. 18;) delivereth them out of all trouble, and maketh their eyes to see their desire upon their enemies, (Psalm liv. 9;) who causeth the godly to prosper in whatsoever he doeth, (Psalm i. 3.) In a word, these Psalms express the truths, so manifest and momentous, that the government of the one true God, of even this world which he has Himself created, is based on justice—that evil is ever condemned by its inflexible laws—that its condemnation will sooner or later be visible to all in heaven and on earth, while to all, “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart,” (Ps. xcvii. 2.*)

II. The Living God is praised in these Psalms, as subsisting in Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We here adopt the language of Mr. Gordon. “Three persons in one Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the God to whom they ascribe praise. If it could be shown, that they spoke only of the Father, and of him obscurely, it would be a very weighty objection against employing them in Christian worship; for the glorious mystery of the Trinity is most clearly revealed to us, and ought to enter into our praises. But nothing is more evident than this, that the object of all their ascriptions is, Three in One. It cannot

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* Tholuck’s Com. on Psalms, pp. 33, 34

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be denied, that they employ the name Jehovah in the same sense in which it is used in other parts of Scripture; and every one who believes the doctrine of the Trinity, will admit, that this name is applied to each of the persons. This much will show, that a trinity of persons is discernible in the Psalms. But we find each of the three persons particularly mentioned: ‘He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation’—89th, verse 26. Upon reading the Psalm carefully over, it will appear, that the speaker in this verse is God the Father, the first person of the Trinity. The person spoken of, is called David. God showed great mercy unto David, and conferred many remarkable blessings upon him; admitted him to great nearness, and gave him a very high character,—he was a man according to God’s own heart; yet it will be impossible to find a proper application for all that is here said, in his history. Many things are here said, that cannot be predicated of any creature, viz. ‘Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations’—‘Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help on one that is mighty—He shall cry, Thou art my Father’—‘I will make him my first born, higher than kings of any land. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.’

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But to him who was David’s Son according to the flesh, and who is often in Scripture called David, they will apply with the utmost propriety; and of him are they spoken. Here, then, are the Father and the Son both mentioned.

“In the 47th Psalm, the Holy Ghost calls to shout with the voice of triumph; and the reason he assigns for it is, ‘God has gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.’ Then he calls on the church to break forth in rapture: ‘Sing praise to God; sing praise, sing praise unto our King; sing praises, for God is King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding; God reigneth over the heathen.’—To no event other than the ascension and inauguration of Christ to his throne, can this passage possibly be applied. When God, in human nature, went up to the third heavens, in triumph over his enemies, He went up as King of all the earth; for all power both in heaven and earth was given into his hand; and he was by a special relation, King of the church. He went up with a right to take possession of the heathen as his inheritance. So that every circumstance perfectly agrees with this description; and we conclude with a full conviction, that it is God the Son, incarnate, who is here receiving the praise of the church. The same event is described in the 68th, from the 18th verse, to the end, where solemn

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praise is offered up unto Christ as Lord. And the proper application of this passage is settled in Eph. iv. 7.

In the 2d Psalm, the ineffable Sonship is expressed: ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.’* In the 45th, his Deity and the eternity of his kingdom are asserted: ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.’† In the 102d, creating power is ascribed unto the Son: ‘And thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundations of the earth; the heavens also are the works of thy hands.’‡

In the 51st, the Holy Ghost is introduced: ‘Take not thy Holy Spirit away; stay me with thy free Spirit.’ In the 104th, creating power is ascribed to him: ‘Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created.’ And in the 139th, we are taught to ascribe omniscience to him: ‘Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or flee from thy presence?’”§

III. The Psalms furnish a full and accurate exhibition of man’s natural state and character before God, and in contrast with His ineffable majesty and holiness: thus summed up by the same eminent writer from whom we have already quoted.

“Our apprehension of the majesty and holiness of

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* Heb. i. 5.

† Heb. i. 8.

‡ Ibid. verse 10.

§ Alexander Gordon’s “Design and Use of the Book of Psalms,” Phila. 1822. Mr. Gordon was pastor of the Associate Presbyterian congregation, Guinston.

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God should be accompanied by a sense of our own nothingness and sin.” The Psalmist, alluding to the statement in Genesis, speaks of man as made a little lower than God, (Luther,) that God hath put all things under his feet, and glories in the fact that man, though externally more helpless than any other creature, does by virtue of his God-like soul wield the government of nature. (Ps. viii.) Yet how defective is that dominion at present! (Vide ad. Ps. viii. 7.) How small is the manifestation of that dignity, the capacity of which man certainly possesses; how circumscribed and humbling his present bodily existence; how much exposed to accident and how soon destroyed! Hence David says, ‘The Lord knoweth our frame: he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.’ (Ps. ciii. 14—16.) ‘Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.’ (Ps. lxii. 9.) And in the eighth Psalm, which celebrates the dignity of man, he exclaims, in contemplation of the infinity and greatness of God in his works, ‘What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?’ Thus do the Psalms speak of the impotency and finiteness of man. Thus our perish-

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able condition is by no means the necessary and absolute barrier of created existence, but the effect of internal discord originated by sin. It manifests ‘the wrath of God because of sin.’ (Cf. Ps. xc. 7—9.) The authors of the Psalms are so alive to a sense of guilt, that the voice of their conscience is audible amid all the accidental trials and sorrows of life and the mischiefs perpetrated by enemies, and that they acknowledge the justice of the Divine chastisements. (Ad. Ps. xxxviii. 21; cxli. 5.) They feel themselves not entitled to the reception of Divine blessings without the confession of their unworthiness. The exultant spring song of praise in Psalm lxv. is preceded by a confession of sin. They acknowledge that were God to enter into judgment with man, and to mark his iniquities, none could stand before him; (Ps. cxxx. 3; cxliii. 2; cf. 1 Kings viii. 46; Eccl. vii. 21; Job ix. 2; xiv. 4; xv. 14–16;) that unconscious sin, regarded as a condition which apparently contradicts the original of a pure and holy human kind, needs the Divine forgiveness; that sinfulness does not enter into our nature by imitation from without, but that it is in us from the first stages of our existence. (Ps. li. 7.) Far from seeking a ground for justification in our native depravity, David made that confession to indicate the sincerity of his repentance and to show that he was alive to the full ex-

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tent of his guilt. What an evidence of the depth of the perception of sin is furnished in expressions of pain and grief like those in Psalm xxxii. ‘My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.’ While natural reason talks only of trespasses against the moral law or man, and on that account remains so cold at the commission of sin, every transgression is regarded in the Psalms as a trespass against the Divine word and the living God, whose will originates the moral law. ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.’ (Ps. cxix. 11.) Conscious of his greatest offence against man, he cries, ‘Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,’ rightly apprehending that the most objectionable element of sin is its encroachment upon the Divine law and the proof of man’s wilful separation from and opposition to God. Where is to be found a more touching confession of a guilt-convicted conscience than in Psalm xxxii. 3, 4? ‘When I kept silence (intended to conceal,) my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.’ The Psalmists occasionally speak of innocence and the purity of their hands, (Ps. vii. 9; xviii. 21—26; xvii. 3; xxvi. 2—6; xli. 13,) but the preceding observations

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clearly show that they refer not to absolute integrity before God, but rather to guiltlessness towards man. In Psalm xxxviii. the experience of affliction awakes a painful sense of guilt in David, and yet he gives expression to the consciousness of his innocence. He says (Ps. lxix. 4,) ‘They that hate me without a cause, are more than the hairs of mine head,’ and then adds, ‘O God, thou knowest my foolishness: and my sins are not hid from thee.’ (Cf. in Ps. xxv. verses 7, 11, 18, with verses 19–21, and in Ps. xli. verse 5, with verse 13.) The assertion of his purity in Psalm xvii. 3, 4, is preceded by ‘Let my sentence come forth from thy presence: let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.’ It is incontestably clear from Psalm vii. 3–5, that David refers in verse 8, ‘Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity, that is in me,’ to righteousness and integrity in relation to specific accusations. And if such were not the case, might not a man, while assuring us of the sincerity of his piety, be at the same time conscious of daily failings and multiform guilt? Such sincerity shows itself when we delight in the commandments of God, and strive to obey them; though the surmounting of obstacles constitutes the business of this life. Who would have expected a confession of sin (Ps. xl. 12,) after the description of a heart so completely resigned to

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the will of God, as that which precedes it? The same Asaph who declares God to be his sole consolation and portion, was not far from joining in the outrage of the wicked, ‘that there is no righteous God in heaven.’ (Ps. lxxiii.) How frequently occur expressions like these: ‘I will keep thy statutes, I will not forget thy word,’ in Psalm cxix.; but that prevents not David from praying, ‘Let thy merciful kindness be for my comfort.” (Ps. cxix. 76.) It is to be noticed, that however much the Psalmists refer to their integrity, they never demand, but supplicate aid and deliverance at the hands of the righteous God: that they hope in that name by which the Lord had named himself, (Exod. xxxiv. 6,) ‘Merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.’ (Psalms xxxi. 4; xl. 12; lxix. 30: cxix. 77; xli. 4; xxv. 11; lii. 11; lxxxix. 9; ciii. 8; cxlv. 8.”)*

IV. The Psalms are full of Christ. As this is a fact, vital to our argument, we enter somewhat into detail; for the Psalms exhibit our Saviour,—

(1.) In His Person, incarnation and exaltation. We employ the words of Sommerville: “When the Apostle of the Gentiles would teach the Hebrews the superiority of Christ to all angels—that he is ‘God over all, blessed for ever,’ the object of wor-

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* Tholuck’s Introduc., pp. 37–39.

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ship in heaven and on earth, he appeals almost exclusively to the Book of Psalms. Of seven quotations, in the first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, from the Old Testament, six are from the Psalms of David; and some have supposed that the seventh is from the same book. To show the necessary subserviency of the incarnation of Christ to the work of redemption, he refers to the Book of Psalms, in three cases out of four. (Heb. i. ii.) To prove the paramount claim of Messiah, as a prophet and legislator, in comparison with Moses himself, Paul adduces the Psalms. (Heb. iii. iv. 1–13.) When he would show the divine origin, the dignity, the efficiency, the permanence of the priesthood of Christ, its superiority, in both sacrifice and intercession, to the Aaronic, he turns to the Psalms. (Heb. iv. v.) When he brings forward the doctrine of his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and his investiture with universal authority, he shows that the same is taught in the Book of Psalms.” (Rom. xv. 25–28; Heb. ii. 8, 9.)*

(2.) In all His Offices: “As God-man, he sustains a three-fold office, viz. of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king. As a prophet he teaches the church, and leads his brethren into the knowledge of the name of God, viz., of what God is, what he

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* Sommerville on Psalmody, pp. 107–108, ed. 1858.

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has done, and what he will in due time perform; and these heads comprehend all that ever has been or will be revealed of the perfections and purposes of God. In the 22d Psalm, he declares his purpose and inclination to this great work: ‘I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee,’ verse 22. In the 40th, he speaks of this work as already accomplished: ‘I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation,’ verses 9, 10. It is evident that the same person speaks in the verses immediately before, who speaks in these; and all may be satisfied that it is Christ who speaks, by reading the 5th to the 9th verses inclusive, of the 10th chapter of the Hebrews.

“Of his priesthood we have a most particular account, in the 110th Psalm: ‘The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek,’ verse 4. In the 40th, we find him entering on the discharge of this office: ‘Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me. To do thy will, O my God, I take delight; yea, thy law is within my

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heart,’ ver. 7, 8. In contemplation of his combat with the powers of darkness, and his endurance of the punishment of the sins which he had taken upon himself, he prays in the remainder of the Psalm for Divine assistance. And while engaged in presenting his one offering, through the eternal Spirit, without spot unto God, his thoughts and feelings are expressed in a most moving manner, in the 22d; and in the 31st, we have the very words with which he poured out his soul unto death: ‘Into thy hand I commit my spirit,’ verse 5.

His anointing set him apart also to the office of King of the church, and head over all things. In the 2d Psalm this is particularly mentioned: ‘Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion,’ verse 6. In the 45th and 89th, we find the perpetuity of his throne and kingdom: ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever’—‘His seed and throne shall endure as the days of heaven.’ In the same 45th, and also in the 72d, we have the nature of his government described: ‘The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre’—‘He shall judge the people with righteousness, and the poor with equity.’ In the 16th, his resurrection from the dead is celebrated; in which he arose as a mighty conqueror over death and him that had the power of it:—‘Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption,’ verse 10. (Acts ii.

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27–31.) His triumphant ascent into the third heavens, we have already seen, is celebrated in the 47th: ‘God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet;’ and in the 68th, ‘Thou hast ascended up on high; thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men.’ The triumph with which he was received into paradise, is expressed in the 24th: ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory,’ verses 9, 10. In the 110th, the Psalmist speaks of his inauguration: ‘The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool,’ verse 1. (Heb. x. 12, 13.) The universal authority which he will exercise, till the period come when his wrath shall kindle against his enemies, and burn to the lowest hell, is described in the 2d and 8th, which last compare with Heb. ii. 6, 7, 8.”*

(3.) In His tenderness and compassion, His fidelity and constancy. He is the “shepherd,” compassionate and bountiful, (Ps. xxiii. lxxx.) The Almighty and vigilant guardian, (Ps. cxxi.) The faithful and gracious rewarder, (Ps. xviii.) More faithful and constant than father or mother,

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* Gordon, pp. 38–41.

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(Ps. xxvii.) The sure portion of the believer, and of the redeemed and glorified, (Ps. xvi. lxxiii. cxix.)

(4.) In the extensive triumphs of His Gospel and Kingdom. Thus when the apostle Paul would trace the setting up of a ministry, &c., in the church for the “edifying of the body of Christ,” he quotes (chap. 18,) from the Book of Psalms. When he would confirm the right of the Gentiles to the Gospel and its privileges, he again resorts to the Book of Psalms: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy:” as it is written, “For this cause, I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again, praise the Lord all ye Gentiles, and laud him all ye people.” (Rom. xv. 8, 9, 11.*)

No less clearly do the Psalms exhibit, “The subjugation of his enemies, implying the confounding of Satan’s policy, and the destruction of his kingdom; with all those interests that hang upon it, viz., Pagan idolatry, Popish superstition, and Mahomedan delusion. And the extension of his kingdom, which implies the diffusion of Gospel know-

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* Sommerville, p. 109.

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ledge, by the various means of grace; the conversion of the Jews, and the Gentile nations, to the true religion. (To accomplish all this, we have reason to expect an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit.) An outline of all these great events we have beautifully foretold in the 72d. It applies indeed to Solomon and his kingdom, as types; but it applies truly and properly to Christ and his kingdom. ‘He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.—He shall judge the poor of thy people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.’—Such is the character of his administration. ‘He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; and as showers that water the earth:’ such the abundant influences of his Holy Spirit. ‘He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him.—The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts, Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.

“And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba.’—Such shall be the extent and prosperity of his kingdom. ‘There shall be a handful of corn in the earth, on the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Leba-

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non, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.’ Such will be the glorious success of the everlasting Gospel, by which the immortal seed of the word shall be sown, until ‘all nations shall call him blessed,’ and ‘the whole earth shall be filled with his glory;’ which is the highest and last wish of David the son of Jesse, and of all true Christians.”*

(5.) Even in most of the leading particulars of his life. The following have been selected by Sommerville, “1st. The rejection of Christ by the Jewish doctors. ‘The stone which the builders refused, is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.’ The application of these words is made by Jesus himself, and twice by Peter. Compare Matt. xxi. 42: Acts iv. 11: 1 Pet. ii. 7—8, with Ps. cxviii. 22—23.

“2d. The circumstances of his public entrance into Jerusalem are declared in the spirit of prophecy. ‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.’ The Saviour points out the application of these words. He enters Jerusalem, seated on an ass, attended by a multitude, some spreading

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* Gordon, pp. 48–49.

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their garments in the way, some strewing branches all proclaiming, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest:’ and he displays his authority as a Son over his own house by turning those out of the temple who had converted his Father’s residence into a place of merchandise. ‘And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what they say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea: have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?’ The priests and scribes are silent. The enemy and avenger is stilled. Compare Ps. viii. 2, with Matt. xxi. 5—16.

“3d. In the Psalms the combination of all nations against the Saviour is revealed. ‘The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.’ And we learn the views of the disciples respecting the passage from the following words: ‘For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

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for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.’ Ps. ii. 2—3, compared with Acts iv. 26—28.

“4th, The partition of Christ’s raiment, when he is being crucified, with the particular mode by which his seamless coat was disposed of, is set before us in the Book of Psalms. ‘They part my garment among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.’ How literally was this verified in the man of Nazareth! So literal was the accomplishment, that no man can doubt that Messiah speaks in the twenty-second Psalm, by the mouth of David. As the words of the Son of David, it was received by the Evangelist. ‘Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part: and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots.’ (John xix. 23, 24.)

“5th. The Jews read and sang in the Psalms the Saviour’s pathetic expression of his sense of desertion, in the hour when the powers of darkness were let loose, and his expression of confidential reliance when about to give up the ghost. ‘My

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God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Into thine hand I commit my spirit,’ Ps. xxii. 1 and xxxi. 5, compared with Matt. xxvii. 46, and Luke xxiii. 46.”*

In all this detail, we have but furnished some examples for the purpose of showing how comprehensive is the view presented by this inspired manual of the Person, offices, works, life and triumphs of the Church’s Redeemer and King: enough to satisfy the considerate and candid that we need not to sing of Christ, and celebrate his work of mediation, pass beyond its limits.

V. The Psalms contain the richest fund of Christian experience. They abound, as we have already seen, in acknowledgments of the felt insignificance of man. There are to be found in them, heart-broken confessions of sin in its guilt, defilement and power, (Psa. li. xix. xxxii. cxxx., &c.:) most earnest supplications for pardon, (Psa. xxx. &c.:) these prayers addressed to God as a merciful God, and in dependence upon the “blood of sprinkling,” (Ps. li. xxxii. &c.:) a deep and abiding sense of the absolute need of divine teaching, and of the help of the Spirit of Christ, (Ps. xxx. 11. cxxxix.:) ardent spiritual desires and affections, (Ps. xliii. xliv. lxiii. lxxiii. cxix.:) strong faith, sometimes con-

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* Sommerville, pp. 109–112.

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flicting with remaining unbelief, (Ps. iii. iv. &c.:) gratitude and thanksgiving on almost every page: hopes of heavenly blessedness, (Ps. xvi. lxxiii.:) deep interest in the welfare of the Church, of friends, of brethren, of mankind, (Ps. cxxii. xxxv. xcv. xcvi. cxix. &c.:) the duty and the happy results of true Christian unity, (Ps. cxxii. cxxxiii.:) happy anticipations of the church’s millenial glory and peace, extension and prosperity, (Ps. lxxii. xcvi. &c.:) adoring praise every where throughout the Psalms, rising to the loftiest strains, (Ps. cxlix. cl.:) high esteem of the word of God, and devout recognition of His law, in its extent, purity, spirituality and obligation, (Ps. xix. xxv. cxix.)

Such is the Book of Psalms, and more than this. Such too, has been the estimate ever put upon it by the most eminent Christians, and Christian teachers, ancient and modern. We furnish some of their sayings. Chrysostom says, “The grace of the Holy Ghost hath so ordered it, that the Psalms of David should be recited and sung night and day. In the Church’s vigils—in the morning—at funeral solemnities—the first, the midst, and the last, is David. In private houses, where virgins spin—in the monasteries—in the deserts, where men converse with God—the first, the midst, and the last, is David. In the night when men sleep, he wakes them up to sing; and collecting the ser-

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vants of God into angelic troops, turns earth into heaven, and of men makes angels, chanting David’s Psalms.” Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in the fourth century, says, “They appear to me a mirror of the soul of every one who sings them; they enable him to perceive his own emotions, and to express them in the words of the Psalms. He who hears them read receives them as if they were spoken for him. Conscience-struck, he will either humbly repent, or hearing how the trust of believers was rewarded by God, rejoice as if his mercy were promised to him in particular, and begin to thank God. Yes, in its pages you find portrayed man’s whole life, the emotion of his soul and the frames of his mind. We cannot conceive of anything richer than the Book of Psalms. If you need penitence, if anguish or temptation have befallen you, if you have escaped persecution and oppression, or are immersed in deep affliction, concerning each and all you may find instruction, and state it to God in the words of the Psalter!” Let us add Ambrose, the pious bishop of Milan, in the fourth century: “The law instructs, history informs, prophecy predicts, correction censures, and morals exhort.—In the Book of Psalms you find the fruit of all these, as well as a remedy for the salvation of the soul. The Psalter deserves to be called, the praise of God, the glory of man, the voice of the

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Church, and the most beneficial confession of faith. The Psalms teach me to avoid sin, and to unlearn my being ashamed of repentance. In the Psalms, delight and instruction vie with one another: we sing for enjoyment, and read for instruction.” Augustine relates with deep feeling, in his Confessions, what a treasure the Psalms were to him at the time of his conversion: “How did I then,” says he in addressing God, “converse with thee, when I read the Psalms of David, those songs full of faith, those accents which exclude all pride! How did I address thee in those Psalms; how did they kindle my love to thee; how did they animate me, if possible, to read them out to the whole world as a protest against the pride of the human race. And yet they are sung in the whole world, ‘nothing is hid from their heat.’* How violent was my indignation against the Manichæans (the heretical sect, who entirely rejected the Old Testament,) and yet felt pity for their not knowing those holy riches, those remedies, and their raging against the antidote that might have healed them. I wish they had been at my side—yet without my knowledge—beheld my countenance and heard my voice, when I read the fourth Psalm—what a blessing it was to me! Oh, that they could have heard—but

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* A beautiful allusion to Psalm xix. 7.

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without my knowledge of their being within hearing (lest they should fancy I were speaking for their sakes,)—what I said to thee at the occasion of those words.” He then states with profound emotion, what passed in his soul at the reading of every separate verse of that Psalm.”

The words of Luther’s pregnant Preface to the Psalter are well known: we make from it the following extract: “The human heart is like a vessel in a tempestuous sea, tossed to and fro by the storms from the four quarters of the world. Fear and care of future mishap are roaring here; grief and sadness on account of present evil there. Hope and courage respecting future happiness are blowing here; while assurance and joy on account of present good are sounding there. Such tempests teach one to be in earnest now to open, and now to pour out one’s heart. He who is in fear and trouble talks in other strains about mishap than he who lives in joy; and he who lives in joy in other strains about joy than he who lives in fear. It comes not from the heart (they say) when a sad one tries to laugh and a glad one to weep; i.e. his heart is neither opened nor poured out. But what do you find most in the Psalms? Earnest speech in all manner of tempests. Where can you find more appropriate expressions of joy than in the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving? You look

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right into the heart of saints, as into fair and pleasant gardens or heaven itself, and behold beautiful, laughing, and delicate flowers of all manner of fair and joyous thoughts towards God and his love springing lustily into life. Again, where can you find more profound, plaintive, and wretched words of grief than in the Psalms of complaint? Once more, you look into the heart of saints as into death or hell. How gloomy and dark their mournful visions of God! So again, when the Psalms speak of fear and hope, they abound in words so significant, that no painter could thus portray, no Cicero nor orator thus describe them.” Let us now hear Calvin. In the Preface of his Exposition of the Psalms, he mentions with holy earnestness the blessing he himself had derived from being engaged in that work, and the aid with which his own experience, both temporal and spiritual, furnished him in the Exposition of the Psalms of the Bible. But let him speak for himself. “If the reading of my Commentaries yield to the Church of God as much blessing as their preparation has conferred upon me, I shall never repent having undertaken the task.” “Not without good grounds am I wont to call this book an anatomy of all parts of the soul, since no one can experience emotions, whose portrait he could not behold reflected in its mirror. Yes, the Holy Spirit has there depicted

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in the most vivid manner every species of pain, affliction, fear, doubt, hope, care, anxiety, and turbulent emotion, through which the hearts of men are chased. Other portions of the Scriptures contain commandments, whose transmission the Lord enjoined upon his servants; but in the Psalms, the Prophets communing with God and uncovering their inmost feelings, call and urge every reader to self-examination to such a degree, that of the numerous infirmities to which we are liable, and of the many failings which oppress us, not one remains concealed. How great and rare again for the human heart to be thus driven out of all its hiding-places, liberated from hypocrisy (that most fearful of vices,) and exposed to the light. Lastly, if calling on God is the surest means of our salvation—if better and more reliable directions for it than those contained in the Book of Psalms are not to be obtained, then every one who reads this book has attained to an essential part of the Divine doctrine. Earnest prayer originates in our sense of need; afterwards in our faith in the Divine promises. The reader of the Psalms finds himself both aroused to feel his misery, and exhorted to seek for its remedy. You cannot read anywhere more glorious praises of God’s peculiar grace towards his Church or of his works; you cannot find anywhere such an enumeration of man’s deliverances or praises for

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the glorious proofs of his fatherly care for us, or a more perfect representation to praise him becomingly, or more fervent exhortations to the discharge of that holy duty. But however rich the book may prove in all these respects to fit us for a holy, pious and just life, its chief lesson is how we are to bear the cross, and to give the true evidence of our obedience, by parting with our affections, to submit ourselves to God, to suffer our lives to be entirely guided by his will, so that the bitterest trial, because he sends it, seems sweet to us. Finally, not only is the goodness of God praised in general terms to secure our perfect resignation to him, and to expect his aid in every time of need, but the free forgiveness of our sins, which alone can effect our peace of conscience and reconciliation to God, are in particular so strongly recommended, that there is nothing wanting to the knowledge of eternal life.”* Tholuck himself says, “Who can remain untouched on hearing the words of David at the beginning of the Psalm of thanksgiving, which he sung towards the close of his life, and which may be regarded as the result of his experience of life? ‘I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.’ (Psalm xviii. 1.) ‘Thou art my Lord, all my goods I prefer not to thee.’ (Psalm xvi. 2.) ‘This I know, for

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* Tholuck’s Com., pp. 5–9.

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God is for me.’ No Christian could describe in sweeter language the peace of reconciliation than we find it done in Psalms xvi. xxiii. ciii. lxxiii. xxvi. xxvii. lxxi. 14–24, etc. How happy must have been their communion with God who say, ‘How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings: they are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou makest them drink of the river of thy pleasures.’ (Psalm xxxvi. 8, 9.) ‘Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.’ (Psalm lxv. 5.) ‘Thy loving-kindness is better than life—when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.’ (Psalm lxiii. 4, 7.”)* We add the well-known testimony of the eminent Edwards. “The oil that was used in anointing David was a type of the Spirit of God; and the type and the anti-type were given both together, as we are told, 1 Sam. xvi. 13. ‘Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.’—One way that his Spirit influenced him was by inspiring him to show forth Christ, and the glorious things of his redemption, in divine songs, sweetly

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* Ibid. p. 39–40.

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expressing the breathings of a pious soul, full of the admiration of the glorious things of the Redeemer, inflamed with divine love and elevated praise; and therefore he is called the sweet Psalmist of Israel, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. The main subjects of these songs were the glorious things of the gospel, as is evident by the interpretation that is often put upon them, and the use that is made of them in the New Testament; for there is no one book of the Old Testament that is so often quoted in the New, as the book of Psalms. Joyfully did this holy man sing of those great things of Christ’s redemption, that had been the hope and expectation of God’s church and people from the beginning,—and joyfully did others follow him in it, as Asaph, Heman, and others.—Here Christ is spoken of—in multitudes of songs, speaking of his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, his satisfaction, intercession; his prophetical, kingly, and priestly office; his glorious benefits in this life and that which is to come; his union with the church, and the blessedness of the church in him; his calling of the Gentiles, the future glory of the church near the end of the world, and Christ’s coming to the final judgment. All these things, and many more, concerning Christ and his redemption, are abundantly spoken of in the Book of Psalms.”

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“This was a glorious advancement of the affair of redemption, as God hereby gave his church a book of divine songs for their use in that part of their public worship, namely, singing his praise throughout all ages to the end of the world. It is manifest the book of Psalms was given of God for this end. It was used in the church of Israel by God’s appointment. And we find that the same are appointed in the New Testament to be made use of in the Christian church, in their worship: Eph. v. 19; Col. iii. 16—In Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. So they have been, and will, to the end of the world, be made use of in the church to celebrate the praises of God.” “The Psalms of David were penned for the use of the Church of God in its public worship, not only in that age, but in other ages; as being fitted to express the religion of all saints, in all ages, as well as the religion of the Psalmist.”

“They present religion to us,” says Bishop Horne, “in its most engaging dress; communicating truths which philosophy could never investigate, in a style which poetry can never equal; while history is made the vehicle of prophecy, and creation lends all its charms to paint the glories of redemption.”

What more does the Church require? In these Psalms of the Bible, we may celebrate the glorious

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perfections of our God, and his righteous and benevolent dominion over the earth, and the heavens: we may express our most humble and evangelical convictions of insignificancy and unworthiness, in contrast with the ineffable majesty, the immaculate purity, the infinite righteousness of Jehovah: we may contemplate in these inspired songs, and magnify the Person, work, grace and fulness of Jesus Christ: we are here furnished with language in which to express the most lowly, as also the most enlarged and elevated gracious affections: we are here provided with prayers and arguments to enforce our petitions, suited to every emergency and every trial: as we sing these Psalms, we may anticipate with sure hope, the future deliverances, triumphs, prosperity and universal extension of the Church of Christ on earth, with the entire subjugation or utter ruin of her enemies and his; and thus foresee with joy and praise, the glorious issue of the dispensation of mercy, in the ultimate establishment of the mediatorial dominion to the ends of the earth; reaching forth to the final judgment and to the unseen glories of the heavenly state and the everlasting blessedness of God’s redeemed.

Why, then, any other book of Psalms or hymns? And should not the very fact, that such a book, so complete and perfect, has been given to the Church, go far to satisfy us that no other manual of praise

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was ever to supersede this—that none can take its place, or, with God’s approbation, come in competition with it?

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