The Bishop explains his views thus: “ The correspondence of one verse or line with another, I call parallelism. When a proposition is delivered, and a second is subjoined to it, or drawn under it, equivalent or contrasted with it in sense, or similar to it in the form of grammatical construction, these I call parallel lines; and the words or phrases, answering one to another in the corresponding lines, parallel terms.” The Bishop's illustrations are brought from different portions of the poetical books. We will restrict ourselves to the Psalter. As an example of synonymous parallelism, i.e. “when the same sentiment is repeated in different but equivalent terms,” the Bishop adduces the following passage from the 114th Psalm : “ When Israel went out from Egypt; The house of Jacob from a strange people : As an example of antithetic parallelism, i.e., "when two lines correspond with one another by an opposition of terms and sentiments," a kind of writing which abounds in the Proverbs of Solomon, the Bishop adduces the following from Ps. xx. 7,8: “ These in chariots, and those in horses ; But we are risen, and maintain ourselves firm.” Of the third form of parallelism which the Bishop calls synthetic or constructive-i.e., “where the parallelism consists only in the similar form of construction,”-the following illustration will suffice: “Mountains, and all hills ; Fruit-trees, and all cedars : (Psa. cxlviii. 9—11.) To these three kinds of parallelism Bishop Jebb adds a fourth, which he calls the introverted ; i. e., “that, whatever be the number of lines, the first line shall be parallel with the last; the second with the penultimate; and so throughout." Of this kind of parallelism, Bishop Jebb adduces the following instance from Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2 :Vol. 68.-No. 382. 5 A 233 Tarra, cos . La 1853ace mas te verted ise zucca 0 ľe com-TCDit weir Fris site Sri Lan, c. 3. 36 ta pezas, Tere en í u.3: Esra Esceu cos Goca 20.0" 2. m . 1.) “The Sost scd sri Ses se bere desidered. si coce, as eccsreiei, ad as a riscus secze; the izieredze oc ses ra7 be scecozed peec tetral; the seccci, scaricareiz par ei voie ; sed the skind veice Bere. The stse seeus te cocia tèe character of a creersei codien in reinc.-iis stron is in Gui; the size Se, to describe Es Essi deseanico,-iis stall apfeir bein G in . The sercedate gostrsin may be regarded as descrictive of tże czermaizce ecerse parsued by teose who desire to be good and baggy: they are passengers; but they ko ibeir destissnoc, sed skey locg for it; at a distance from the terre, teey are scocus to arrive there; the Tery bigb ways to Jerusiem are in their heart. And what is tte casequence? Afectica szrocos si difficulties; the parched and sandy desert becomes a rich wen-watered alley; and they cheertany adracce from strength to strength, from one degree of virtuous protciency to another." It may be desirable to add to what has been already stated on the subject of inverted paralelism, that the order in which the words are arranged is sometimes inverted, as well as the order of the lines, and that by this inversion additional emphasis is given to the sentiment expressed, as e.g. in Psalm vi. 16, quoted by the late Ur. Thrupp in his valuable preliminary Éssay to his “ Introduction to the Stady and C se of the Psalms.** “Return shall his mischief upon his own head, And upon his own pate his viclent dealing shall come down." There were doubtless many rules and usages of poetical composition which were familiar to the sacred writers, but which are now hopelessly lost. One of the distinctive characteristics, however, of their poetry is, that being unfettered by many of those rhythmical laws which create so much difficulty in the translation of the poetry of other nations into a foreign tongue, the Hebrew poetry is, pre-eminently, the poetry of all ages and of all lands, and its distinctive beauties are capable, with comparatively little loss of life and energy, of being transferred into all languages, and being appreciated by all nations. It is a singular fact, and one suggestive of the light in which the Jews themselves regarded their sacred poetry, that there is no distinction, in the greater part of the Hebrew MSS., between the poetry and the prose. “Dr. Kennicott,” Mr. Phillips observes, “has stated at the end of the Psalms, in his Edition of the Hebrew Bible, that of the 233 MSS. of the Book of Psalms which he consulted, only 79 of them he found to be poetically arranged.” VI. We now proceed to consider, very briefly, some of the distinctive characteristics of the subject-matter of the Psalms. And (I) as regards doctrine, we are disposed to attach much greater weight than is commonly ascribed to it, to the teaching of the Psalms. We are so accustomed to regard the Psalter in a devotional and experimental light, that we are scarcely sensible, for the most part, of the true value of its disclosures (1) respecting the Being and perfections of the Deity; (2) the nature and offices of angels ; (3) the corruption of human nature, and its need of renewal; and (4) a future state of rewards and punishments. (1) Respecting the doctrine of the Trinity, we admit that it was not fully disclosed until the times of the New Testament. It is not difficult to apprehend the corruptions by which its earlier manifestation would, in all probability, have been attended, as the result of the polytheistic propensities of the Jews; nor is it easy to see, on the other hand, how the doctrine itself could have been clearly unfolded, previously to the his. torical developments afforded to mankind, in the incarnation of the Word, and the outpouring of the Spirit. At the same time, it is impossible rightly to apprehend Psalms such as the 2nd, the 45th, the 72nd, and the 110th; or to mark the frequent appeals to the Psalter which occur alike in the Gospels and the Epistles, in support of our Lord's claims, not only as the Son of David, but also as the Son of God, and not to be sensible how important, both in His own eyes and in those of His Apostles, was the testimony borne, erd, andments affordely unfolded," band, how the of the de :: E SILEHk, in this dica of the inSee h i sar este o segels implied in their 17€, 1 . sars set forth in the Book of Psalms. TEET LE Tegezte. As e nges the sert ve and praise of GOS, ES Set Tette boot is tbe defence and providecu care En pes je, szà siso in tbe destruction of His Eesnes PS3 II. 1, ; Icr.7; T. 1. 6; sci. 11, 12; G i tai we ai do ust for the punon of guardian 45 8. tied to which teintndaa's; moch less do we S ATSETAI 1 Stressig oor sapications to them, CXTI: Sieci zease ens rezerstion to be es. Tere is no 3. 10 O tte Psalmes bear clearer or srcu testDST 125 1o de Euseetzt szfaldess of sin, and We see of God. It is I respect that the religion cibe Bitje presets SO STEES OCITIES to the religions of LED sine. Dase jocs S3 esn's fste or mis naze Tee Bte retess sus the canon of the Divine 1*: es t.si beri tie saser IT prorokes the Divine sib, sodeloses 10 the Drire rengeance. The Law sza the Pris ecosi ber statements conoerning the Leibocsess of s i c osture, as being essentially coposed 10 ide mirësed of God, and as erecting a barrier, r perste ontbenost of past, between the creatare and the Cresict. Ite pse isis beses se this, awaken within the ecoscience a serse cat's esietares, bra description of what it was fe'i to be br besseres szi ercourse as to seek the sare penT Tcbikerialsresording the results of their C a rides errenize of the Drie rury. “They there fone" w ies Lailer in Es Commentary on the 130th Psalm, #kich te simboles to hard, ard which he designates a P ort Eli, as tea birz tłe forgreness of sins to the tederer, wirboat the art, and without works) that feel sach titter tem tarces, bare bere an example itat David in himself fe.tard bad expert Eze of the like. For it maketh the temptation much more greces, when they which are thus afflicted feel that as to then it seemerh) which none else do feel but ther alone. Te most learn, tterefore, that even the godly bare erer sutered the same afflictions, and hare been beaten down eren to death with the terrors of the law and sin; as we may see bere to the example of David, crying, eren as it were out of beil, and saying, “Out of the depths do I cry unto Thee, O Lord.'” And again, when showing from verse 4 of the same Psalm, how “ David tarned himself from desperation, to an assured bripe and trust in God's mercy," the same writer thus €2oulds ile Gospel method of salvation, which was afterwards proclaimed by St. Paul as having been “ preached before" in the Psalter. “For when we look to our sins, it cannot be but we must needs be vexed and fall to desperation. But we must not fasten our eyes upon our sins only, but must look unto the mercy seat; so that, albeit we cannot deny but that we are sinners, yet the remission of sins we may not deny. And why is the remission of sins promised, if sinners may not enjoy the same? .... Thus David setteth forth in this verse the sum and effect of all true Christian doctrine, and that sun which giveth light unto the Church. For while this doctrine standeth, the Church shall stand and flourish. But when this doctrine faileth, the Church must needs fail and fall to ruin.” (4.) Whilst it was reserved for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bring to light the doctrine of life and incorruption, it cannot, we think, be denied that there were given to the Jews, under the older dispensation, many and increasingly distinct intimations on the subject of a future state of rewards and punishments. Of these, no inconsiderable a portion is included within the Psalter. These are of two kinds; (i.) those which, under the figure of deliverance from individual or national distress, contain the pledge of that literal reviving from the dead which they pre-suppose ; and (ii.) those which seem directly to point to a future and eternal existence. Under the former of these heads we may adduce, by way of illustration, the following passages : (i.) “ O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave (sheol) : Thou hast kept me alive (brought me alive, or quickened me), that I should not go down to the pit (from among those who go down to the pit).” (Psa. xxx. 3.) “For Thou hast delivered my soul from death : wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the land of the living ?” (Psa. lvi. 13.) “ Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” (Psa. lxxi. 20.) . (ii.) Amongst the passages which point more directly to a future state, we may enumerate the following:-" Therefore the ungodly shall not stand (or rise) in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” (Psa. i. 5.) It matters little, as regards the general drift of this passage, whether we interpret the word rendered in the English version “ stand” in the same sense as in Malachi iii. 2, “Who shall stand when He appeareth ?” (where, however, another Hebrew word is employed), or whether, with the Greek and Latin versions, we translate it “rise.” (LXX. åvaordovrat, Vulg. resurgent.) In either case this passage must be understood, not as denying the universality of a future judgment, but, in confor |