have been influenced by that natural feeling common to humanity, which partially blinds us to those unavoidable imperfections that belong to all the labours of man; but which are more obvious to other eyes than to our own. Upon his own motives to the task he has undertaken, he reposes his trust of pardon with his God, for any venial errors that may have blotted his labour of love. He has designed a work equally useful to his younger ministering brethren in the pulpit, for the devotional exercises of the family circle, and for the closet of the meditative Christian. Much, however, of the good which these Lectures are designed to impart, must owe its birth to the temper and frame of mind in which they are listened to or perused. And that course which the Preacher recommended to his hearers, the Author would now suggest to his readers-the perusal, (in the Prayer Book) of the verses of each Psalm, as they are noted down, before entering on the Commentary.

The Theologian may possibly marvel at the presumed temerity of a new Commentary on the Psalms, after the labours of more learned writers, devoted exclusively to the subject: but should he extend his acquaintance with this unpretending volume, he will discover no presumptuous competition with their respective works, no rash invasion of the learned Authors' sacred territory, no secret appropriation of their patented rights. These Lectures aspire only to the merit of usefulness, as a practical guide to the better understanding and more perfect enjoyment of the spiritual character of the Psalms, than can be attained (without aid) by the generality of readers; whether in their religious services or by their own fire-side. For, as the good Bishop

Horne himself exclaims, "Is it not to be feared, that for want of such instruction, the repetition of the Psalms, as performed by multitudes, is but one degree above mechanism? And is it not a melancholy reflection, to be made at the close of a long life, that after reciting them at proper seasons, through the greatest part of it, no more should be known of their true meaning and application, than when the Psalter was first taken in hand at school?"

Wherever a borrowed passage appears, it is duly acknowledged: but it has not been thought necessary to encumber the pages with the marks of quotation [""] to the language of Holy Writ, as often as it is interwoven with that of the Author: nor will the use of it, unacknowledged, be deemed a literary piracy. Where so much of that language is used, the marks would tend only to confuse the eye of the reader, and impart no equivalent advantage.

INTRODUCTION,

ADDRESSED TO THE CONGREGATION PRESENT AT THE

FIRST LECTURE.

It is my intention, brethren, now to commence,* and under God's blessing to continue, an Exposition of the Psalm or Psalms appointed as a part of each Sunday's Service. THE BOOK OF PSALMS is a treasury of divine instruction which has no equal among the Old Testament writings; and as a proof of the estimation in which it has ever been held, both the Jewish and the Christian Churches have, in succession and together, retained these effusions of enlightened piety in their religious services. Their great value consists in their practical character: for until the days of the Evangelists, nothing had been bequeathed to the Church of God of equal simplicity and beauty and force, with the Book of Psalms. It contains little that is mysterious, and nothing which may not be comprehended by the most unlearned, after a brief attention to its subject-matters as they arise. Our familiarity with the Psalms furnishes another reason, why I hope to impress my hearers with a fuller understanding, and a deeper interest in them, by a weekly Exposition. The result, however, I must leave to Him whose testimony is sure, and who giveth wisdom to the simple.

* Sept. 7, 1845.

LECTURES ON THE PSALMS.

LECTURE I.

PSALM 1.

Happiness is unquestionably the end and aim of our being. The longing after it is a part and parcel of our nature. But since that nature was defiled by the original transgression of God's law, we have gone astray from the only path which leads to the consummation so devoutly to be wished. The heathen tribes, no less than ourselves, have been, and are, in pursuit of what is deemed the chief good; but they wander on in error, while to us a light is vouchsafed, which imposes upon us a far weightier responsibility for our attainment or loss of the bliss that is, unquestionably, the inheritance of the undying soul. The sweet Psalmist of Israel, in his three-fold character of prophet, priest, and king, laboured in his generation to dispel the mists that darken our understanding upon this all-important subject. He penned his sublime compositions, it is true, under the imperfect light of the Legal Dispensation; but it must be remembered, that the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ; and the promised Messiah came, according to his own declaration, not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. In this introductory Psalm, therefore, the sacred penman argues on the requirements of the Law, as the then only known conditions of attaining the universally desired happiness; and this happiness he sets forth under figures or similitudes, which are plain to the most uninstructed mind.

Ver. 1-4. Though all men are professedly engaged in the pursuit of happiness, the Psalmist here enumerates three distinct classes, the tendency of whose lives is at utter variance with the means, by which divine revelation and the human conscience teach us it is to be obtained. But such is the influence of these classes in the world at large, through individual contamination, that the pious Instructor of his people opens the sacred work he was now meditating, with the declaration that the highest state of blessedness we can attain to in this life is, freedom from the pollution of evil example and evil counsel.

B

And here are distinct descriptions of men against whom he warns us: the ungodly, the sinner, and the unbeliever, that is, the scorner. Familiarity with either of these classes is unquestionably dangerous. The ungodly man may be simply neglectful of all religious observances, while he is not chargeable with gross offences against morality, nor with the violation of human laws: but his example in the matter of an irreligious life is dangerous, and may be infectious. Again, the open and notorious sinner may be seen occasionally to appear in the House of God; may never have been heard to argue against the force and validity of God's commandments; may sometimes manifest the compunctious visitings of conscience for his deeds of darkness: but he has no restraining influence operating within him; and if he can beguile another into immoral fellowship with him, his success goes far to confirm himself in evil habits: how then can friendship or familiarity with such persons be less than dangerous? We come now to the climax of human blindness, human folly, and human madness, in the character of the infidel or scorner. We may nevertheless see an example of this suicidal class, in whom, perhaps, is not discoverable the absence of the social virtues, or the neglect of social duties: he is peradventure a kind master, a faithful husband, a fond parent, an inoffensive neighbour; and may claim perhaps, as the world goes, an average share of integrity in all his dealings with others. But seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him! And what is the damning passion of the infidel, but self-conceit? He is in his own estimation wiser than his teachers are. We are however considering the effects of his influence upon others, and the danger of too close an intimacy with him. For the immediate effects we must look into the habits of his family, his household, and those who are more remotely dependant upon him. We must look to his own movements through life, for the development of the ruling and cherished blindness