that the Jews received them as a part of their sacred Scriptures, considering them generally composed under greater or less degrees of supernatural inspiration; and that for many hundred years before the birth of CHRIST, they believed, and do still believe, them to contain descriptions of, and references to, the MESSIAH; his character and the objects He was to accomplish.

I would observe likewise, that as several of these Psalms apparently relate merely to the particular circumstances of David individually, or to the immediate state of the Jews of his time, so does it appear, that even in some of those Psalms which are deemed decidedly prophetic, the leading design may still have been to express sentiments and feelings, adapted to those temporary circumstances, yet at the same time blended with extraneous matter of a higher cast, explicable only by the light of subsequent events, and of a nature not to be foreseen by human sagacity.

We proceed now to the examination, whether any thing of this supernatural kind is indeed to be found in these compositions, and then we shall

enquire what further collateral evidence they bear of Divine origin. For this purpose, we shall consider the Evidences arising,

1st, From the prophecies they contain:

2dly, From the peculiar views they exhibit of the nature and government of the DIVINE BEING, and of the consequent relation of mankind to Him.

1. THE PROPHECIES.

THE Second Psalm is in the following words: 1 Why do the heathen so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed.

3"Let us break their bonds asunder, (say they) and cast away their cords from us."

4 He that dwelleth in heaven, shall laugh them to scorn; the LORD shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall He speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion.

7 I will preach the law whereof the Lord hath said unto me; Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee:

8 Desire of me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance, aud the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be learned, ye that are judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD in fear, and rejoice unto Him with reverence.

12 Kiss the SON lest He be angry, and so ye perish from the right way; if his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little: -blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.

It will readily be admitted, that the first six verses serve very correctly to express the violent, yet fruitless opposition, encountered by Christianity at its first introduction, and especially by its Founder, from both Jews and Gentiles.

Now that they actually do relate to the MESSIAH, will appear, I apprehend, beyond all question from the verses following to the end, which on any other supposition are absolutely unintelligible; but which on this interpretation are pointed and clear, beyond the usual obscurity of prophecy; for to whom but the Messiah, could David possibly apply these words ?—

"I will preach the Law whereof the LORD “hath said unto me: Thou art my Son, this "day have I begotten Thee.”

"Desire of me, and I shall give Thee the "Heathen for thine inheritance; and the utter"most parts of the earth for thy possession." Or those: "Kiss the Son lest he be angry; if ❝his wrath be kindled, yea but a little ;-bless"ed are all they that put their trust in Him."

The designation of the MESSIAH, under the character of The Son, is very remarkable; and the effects of his displeasure are described in terms, applicable surely to Him alone, of all human beings, WHO shall "come to judge the quick "and the dead," and will finally "reward every man according to his works.”

* 2 Tim, iv. 1.

I appeal to the common sense of the attentive reader whether we are not warranted in pronouncing, that some passages of this Psalm (the 7th and last verses especially) could not refer to any thing in the immediate circumstances of David, or of his family, or his people; and that, as a whole, it cannot be otherwise understood than as a prediction of a future peculiar Ruler and Lawgiver; a prediction remarkably fulfilled one thousand years afterwards, in the person of CHRIST, who did preach a new law, whereof it is a distinguishing article, that He was The only begotten Son of God: whose law, after encountering the furious rage and vain opposition, both of the Heathen and Jewish Rulers and People, yet finally triumphed over both; and while "the LORD," in the aweful destructions of Jerusalem by Titus, and in the signal dispersion of its guilty inhabitants, “ vexed them in his sore displeasure,” its Divine Author received" the (then) Heathen world "for his inheritance," and has for ages been acknowledged " King over Sion," by "the "uttermost parts of the earth."