great names, and especially that of Horne, the charm of whose devotional sweetness had, long ago, won his esteem, ånd, of late years, his warmest affection. If, on this point, I have formed a correct opinion, there are but two rules for the safe and satisfactory application of passages in the Old Testament to the Messiah; namely, the undisputed authority of the New Testament, in the way of reference or of quotation; and the fact that the specific terms of a passage, in their plain, manifest, unforced acceptation, and in the fair scope of the context, so apply to the Saviour, as not to admit of other application but by a violation of ordinary rules of judgment or of grammatical construction. A neglect of these principles has led many excellent men to apply various passages of the Old Testament to the primitive "gospel times" generally and exclusively, (such as Amos ix. 11-14; Isaiah xxviii. 20. xlix. 14-26. lxi. 4-6. lxvi. 5-24.) which evidently, however they may be partially verified in that early season, can only receive their entire accomplishment in the ulterior recovery of the Jews on their final and universal conversion to Christ. In selecting a few specimens of Dr. Good's translations and introductory or connected remarks, I shall commence with that which, in a chronological arrangement, would be placed first in the series. After adverting to various portions of Scripture, which are evidently rhythmical, and as evidently composed by Moses, he proceeds thus :— "There is no great difficulty in assigning the precise occasion on which the present psalm was composed. It is called "The PRAYER of Moses," and was manifestly written during the visitation of some judicial pestilence or other calamity, that produced a tremendous destruction among the people, in which, according to the words of the psalm, Thou overwhelmedst them with a look.* So are we consumed by thine ire, And hurried away by thy wrath. And if we turn to the book of Numbers, we shall find the PRAYER here adverted to, and the calamity so feelingly described, related in an historical detail of the plague of fiery serpents inflicted upon the Israelites on account of their murmuring and refractory spirit at Zalmonah, or Pum, where the people died in great multitudes. The words of the historian are, 'Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned against the Lord and against thee; PRAY THOU unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us:' AND MOSES PRAYED FOR THE PEOPLE.† "The subject of the prayer is in perfect unison with the occasion. The holy supplicant begins with adoring the almighty power of God, and pleads with him as the dwelling-place or home of his people in all generations he draws a forcible picture of the vanity and feebleness of man, and the inequality of the contest between the creature and the Creator. He urges the penitence and abasement of the assembled congregation; and implores for grace to make a due improvement of the awful calamity: So teach us to number our days That we may apply our hearts to wisdom:‡ * For an explanation of this or any other deviation from the common rendering, the reader must consult the explanatory notes upon the several passages. + Num. xxi. 7. Psa. xc. 12. and closes with a humble trust in God's mercy for a removal of the scourge, and a restoration of the divine favour.* "Dr. Kennicott, however, and various other critics, disbelieved this psalm to have been the production of Moses, and refer it to a much later age, though they cannot agree as to what other age it is expressly adapted: some of them even going so late as to the return from the Babylonian captivity. The chief ground for this dissent from the date assigned in the Bible, is an idea that the term of man's life was, at the Mosaic era, much longer than that of seventy or eighty years, as intimated in the present psalm. But such an opinion seems founded on the exceptions from the general rule, rather than the rule itself. The life of Aaron, Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, unquestionably exceeded the age of fourscore considerably, and ran on from a hundred and ten, to a hundred and twenty; but all these were probably instances of special favour. The decree which abbreviated the life of man, as a general rule, to seventy or eighty years, was given as a chastisement upon the whole race of Israelites in the wilderness; and with these few exceptions, none of them, at the date of this psalm, as here conjectured, could have reached more than seventy, and few of them so high a number. But it does not appear that the term of life was lengthened afterwards. Samuel died about seventy years old, David under seventy-one, and Solomon under sixty: and the history of the world shews us that the abbreviation of life in other countries was nearly in the same proportion. *Psalm xc 13-17. "In few words, the very fact of this curtailment of man's duration, as occurring at the period before us, together with the nature of the crime for which the refractory Israelites were punished, their lusting after other food than that they were miraculously supplied with, is clearly hinted at in the eighth and ninth verses of the psalm, and seems very sufficiently to support the present appropriation: Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our SECRET LUSTING in the light of thy countenance. whilst the rapidity of the change, the suddenness as well as the extent of the mortality that passed upon them, is forcibly as well as fearfully expressed in the third verse as well as the fifth: Thou turnest man to dust as thou sayest, Return ye sons of the ground! Thou overwhelmest them with a look." PSALM XC. The Prayer of Moses, the Man of God. 1. O Lord, thou art our dwelling-place 2. 3. From generation to generation. Before the mountains were brought forth, Thou turnest man to dust, as thou sayest * Consult the explanatory note for this rendering. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. While in thy view a thousand years are as a day, A yesterday, when it is by-gone, Or a watch in the night : Thou overwhelmest them with a look. In the morning they were like grass, they were fresh: In the morning it was flourishing and fresh; By the evening it is cut down and withered. So are we consumed by thine anger! And hurried away by thy wrath! Thou hast set our iniquities before thee; We run through our years as a tale. 10. The days of our years are seventy years at their utmost; And if by dint of strength they be eighty years, 11. Yet is their recruiting weariness and vanity; But who regardeth the power of thine anger? 13. That we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Return, O Jehovah!—how long first? 14. O soon let thy loving-kindness replenish us, That we may exult and rejoice all our days. 15. Let us rejoice according to the days thou hast afflicted us, The years we have seen of adversity. 16. Let thy dealing be displayed to thy servants; And thy glory to their children. 17. And let the pleasure of the Lord our God be upon us; And establish thou the work we take in hand, Yea, the work we take in hand, do thou establish. Some portions of the 49th psalm have, I believe, presented greater difficulties to translators than almost |