proper Pfalms for the fervice of Christmas day, in our Evangelical Liturgy. To this Pfalm, John the Baptift evidently alluded; beautifully reprefenting CHRIST, as the Bridegroom, and himself, as his Friend, or Bridefman: "I am not THE CHRIST, but am sent before Him: He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom; but the Friend of the Bridegroom, who ftandeth [by] and heareth his voice, rejoiceth with joy, on account of the Bridegroom's voice. This then my joy is compleated." John S. 28. And thus, our Lord, purfuing the Allegory: "Can the Sons of the Bridechamber mourn fo long as the Bridegroom is with them?-finely contrasting the innocent chearfulness of his own difciples," with the rigorous fafts and mortifications of "John the Baptift's disciples," formed on the usage of the Jewish devotees : remarkably recorded by three Evangelifts, Matt. 9. 15; Mark 2. 19; and Luk. 5. 34:-And ftill further unfolded, in the admirable and awakening Parable of the Ten Virgins, attendant on his marriage, Matt. 25. 1.-And following up the fame clue, the Apocalypfe, reprefents the Evangelical Church, prepared, as a Bride adorned for her Husband"-" THE LAMB's wife." Rev. 21. 2, 9. clearly illuftrat, ing the last part of this Pfalm. PSALM XLV. FOR THE PRECENTOR ON THE HEXACHORD; FOR [THE CHORISTERS] THE SONS OF KORAH: A HYMN, An ANTHEM OF LOVES, [or, AN ANTHEM FOR THE BELOVED. Sept. Title.] 1. My Heart is teeming with a good Oracle; 2. I will utter my compofitions touching THE KING: My Tongue is like the pen of a ready Writer. -Thou art moft beautiful above the Sons of Adam, Therefore, hath GOD bleffed Thee for ever. 3. Gird thy fword upon thy thigh, O thou MIGHTY, 4. And in thy majefty, ride profperoufly, For the cause of Truth, Meeknefs and Righteousness; 6." Thy throne, O GOD [is] for ever and ever! A Sceptre of Equity [is] the Sceptre of thy kingdom !— 8. Myrrh, Aloes and Caffia [perfume] all thy garments, 9. Among thy treafures, Kings daughters gratify thee. [Clad] in gold of Ophir : 10. Hearken, O DAUGHTER, confider, and incline thine ear, 11. So fhall THE KING greatly defire thy beauty. 12. And 12. And the Daughter of Tyre [fhall come] with a Gift, The Rich among the People fhall fupplicate thy prefence. The Virgins in her train, her Companions, fhall be brought unte 15. With joy and gladness fhall they be introduced, 16. Instead of thy Fathers jhall be thy Sons; Thou shalt make them Princes, in all the Earth: REMARKS. Among the various gueffes concerning the import of the obfcure Title prefixed to this Pfalm; the most probable, seems to be, that paww Shohannim, denotes fome kind of mufical inftrument with fix ftrings, (from ww, fix.) like as pawbw, expreffes one with three ftrings, 1 Sam. 18. 6; -p, one with eight frings, Pf. 6. Title;-And wy ba, a lute or harp, with ten strings, Pf. 32. 2; and 144. 9.-The last clause, "An Anthem of Loves"--feems to be well explained by the Septuagint, applying it to the MESSIAH,--" An Anthem for THE BELOVED."-Indeed, the remarkable length and precifion of the Title, intimates fufficiently, in what High Eftimation this Prophetic Hymn, was formerly held by the Jewish Church; as it is now in the Chriftian; it being one of the proper Pfalms, appointed to be ufed on Christmas day, by our Liturgy: as celebrating the Spiritual graces, the conquefts, the divinity of Chrift; his everlasting and equitable Dominion; his myftical Union with the Church, or congregation of the Faithful; and the miniftry of his Saints, in propagating his Praife throughout all the Earth, to the end of Time. 1. My heart is teeming with a good Oracle, I will utter my compofitions touching the King, In this noble and animated exordium, the Royal Prophet reprefents himself, as actuated by the overflowing fullness of Divine inspiration, to give vent or "utterance," to the mighty fubject with which his "heart" "labouring."-The Heathen poets frequently adopt the fame imagery: Thus Claudian, in his Epithalamium on the Goddefs Juno: was "Junonis thalames audaci promere cantu MENS CONGESTA jubet." And Martial has well expreffed the Pfalmift's Pen of a ready Writer: "CURRANT VERBA licit, MANUS ef velocior illis ; Nondum LINGUA, fuum DEXTRA peregit opus." ,דבר טוב,I have rendered a good Oracle," because the phrase is elfewhere used to denote a propitious prophecy, spoken by or from THE LORD. Jer. 29. 10. Ifa. 39. 8. The Septuagint render it, Aoyov ayado, here, and in Ifaiah; and in Jeremiah, where the oracular import is is more ftrongly marked by emphatic articles, 210 27 s, by the plural, τες λόγες με τις αγαθός. And the word, 17, Dabar, fingly, is frequently fo understood; as for inftance, in the following paffage, Dan. 10. 1-" In the third year of Cyrus King of Perfia, an Oracle was revealed to Daniel, (whose furname was Beltefhaffar) and the Oracle was true, and its martial import great ; and he underfood the Oracle, and understanding was [given] to him in the Vifion." And as this is the fequel of the Famous Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, the fame word Dabar, fhould be fo rendered, "the Oracle,' in its commencement, 9. 23. whofe mis-translation, "the Commandment," (usually mistaken for the Decree or Edict of Cyrus, or Darius, or Artaxerxes, &c.) has hitherto inextricably embarraffed that moft noble Prophecy. See my Tranflation and Remarks thereon, in THE INSPECTOR, p. 202, and preceding note, p. 146.-In all thefe cafes, the Septuagint rendering of Dabar, is Aoy, which thould be therefore rendered in fimilar cafes, both of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT, "Oracle-where "Word," or "Thing," or "Matter," are inadequate to the occafion, or the context; as in John, 1. 1. &c. 2. Thou art most beautiful above the Sons of Adam. Grace is fhed forth on thy lips; Therefore hath GOD bleed thee for ever." Aben Ezra judiciously remarks that in the original verb, n', IaphIaphitha, (from E, Taph-ah, "pulcher fuit") the repetition of the first fyllable of the Root, is intenfitive, and marks the perfection of perfonal beauty. So Virgil describes that of his Hero Eneas, 4. 141. by a double fuperlative: Ipfe, ante alios pulcherrimus omnes, Infert fe focium Eneas. And in feveral paffages of our Liturgical Pfalms, the double fuperlative is introduced with the finest effect: as in Pf. 82. 6. "I have fayde, ye are Gods: And ye al are chyldren of THE MOST HIGHEST." which I cannot help regretting, has been fuperfeded by the tameness of the fingle fuperlative, "Moft High," or " Highest," in the later Tranflations, where THE SUPREME BEING is the object. An admirable literal Comment on the Paffage in question, is furnished in Milton's charming defcription of Adam by the Angel Gabriel. P. L. 8. 218. Nor are thy Lips ungraceful, Sire of Men, Attend Thee, and each word each motion forms. In this masterly paraphrafe, worthy of the Sublime Original, "Comelinefs," according to our great English Lexicographer, Johnjon, "feems to be that fpecies of Beauty, which excites refpect rather than pleafure:" Vol. III. Churchm. Mag. Nov. 1802. confifting LI 66 confifting in "Dignity and Grandeur of Mien and Look."-And how infinitely more applicable is all this, to THE SECOND ADAM"- THE LORD FROM HEAVEN!" Even when He vailed "the effulgence of his FATHER'S glory;" and " exhaufting himself of that Divine form"-of "that Glory which he had with THE FATHER before the World was," "affumed a fervile form"-" a human figure!" Heb. 1. 3. Phil. 2. 6. 8. John 17. 5.-Who, from his childhood, "advanced in wisdom and fiature, and in grace with Gop and Man"-Luke 2. 52.-" On whom" the HOLY SPIRIT defcended from heaven, and refted on Him, at his folemn baptismal inauguration; according to the Baptift's teftimony as an eye witness, John 1. 33. And who thenceforth, "Spake the Oracles of GOD; for GOD gave him THE SPIRIT immeasureably," John 3. 34. as foretold by Ifaiah 61. 1. and 42. 7. and applied by our Lord to himself, at the opening of his Commiffion, blending both Prophecies together, Luk. 4. 18. "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD is upon ME, He hath Sent Me to publish good tidings To fet at liberty them that are bruifed [with fetters] "This day," faid our Lord, (when he had read the paffage and closed the book) is this fcripture-prophecy (ʼn ypa‡n`avrn) fulfilled in your Ears" "And the eyes of all in the Synagogue were faftened on Him—And all wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his Mouth,” Luk. 4. 20, 22.-And afterwards," the Multitudes" who liftened to his Divine inftructions and to his Incomparable Sermon on the Mount, were Struck with aftonishment at his Teaching; for He taught them "as having authority." Matt. 7. 28. Mark 1. 22. Luk. 4. 32. And And how amazingly infinuating and powerful must have been the tone of his voice and mode of fpeaking, when the woman exclaimed with rapture, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, &c. !—even the officers fent to apprehend him, pleaded in excufe for not doing fo, to the Chief Priests and Pharifees-" Never Man Spake like this Man!" John 8. 46. they who did afterwards apprehend Him, as foon as he had pronounced the words Eye &μ" I am," "retreated backwards, and fell to the ground," appalled; nor durft they, we may prefume, execute their commiffion or lay their unhallowed hands on Him, until encouraged by his own permiffion: "I told you that I am: if then ye feek Mc, let these [meaning his Difciples] retire." John 18. 4, 9. 66 Nor is the Prophet Ifaiah's defcription of the perfon of the Suffering MESSIAH; at all inconfiftent herewith: as having no form nor comelinefs" and "his vifage disfigured more than Man; and his form, more than the Sons of Adam," Ifa. 53. 2. and 52. 14. For this was the na tural refult of the greatnefs of his paffion; when "His Soul was excceding forrowful, [even] unto death"-verifying the Prophet's prediction in the next verfe; that He fhould be "a man of forrows and acquainted with grief," Ifa. 53. 3. Infomuch, that in the poignancy of his agony, in the Garden Garden of Gethsemane, "His fweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground." Matt. 26. 38. Luk. 22. 44.. But what was the native dignity and majefty of his presence, we may collect from the awful and aftonishing circumftances of his Transfiguration, fhortly before his departure," attended by his glorified Servants Mofes, the great founder, and Elijah, the great reftorer of THE LAW; in the fight of his confidential difciples, Peter, James and John, the great Heralds of THE GOSPEL :-and the favoured " eye witneffes of his Majesty," 2 Pet. 1. 16. who themselves beheld his glory; a glory Suitable to the only genuine [SON] of THE FATHER; after THE ORACLE became flesh, and fojourned among Us, full of Grace and Truth," John 1. 14. They who furnished the three Evangelifts Matthew, Mark and Luke, with the following circumstances: "And it came to pass, while He was praying, that the form of his vifage was changed: His vifage fhone as the Sun; and his raiment became dazzling bright, very white as fnow, fuch as no Fuller on earth is able to whiten; white as the light" And the effect of the ftupendous Vifion on the Difciples is thus defcribed" they fell on their face, and were greatly affrighted"-" they were terrified"—" they were oppreffed with fleep."- "But JESUS touched them"-and" when they were thoroughly awake (diaypnyopnoaves), they faw his glory, and the two men ftanding with Him." N. B. Compare with this, OUR LORD's fimilar manifeftations to Daniel, 10. 5, 12, and to John, Revelat. 1. 12, 18. And fee THE INSPECTOR, p. 72. This aftonishing Transfiguration, fo clearly and diftinctly defcribed by the three Evangelifts, from the two original witneffes Peter and John, happening during OUR LORD's incarnation, is fatisfactory evidence of a Divine Nature, intimately blended with his Human Nature; but in a way utterly incomprehenfible to us; it is alfo of the utmost importance, as forming a middle link, between his antecedent and subsequent manifeftations, under the Old and New Difpenfations, as THE GOD OF GLORY," Acts 7. 2. and "THE LORD OF GLORY." 66 1 Cor. 2. 8. It is truly remarkable, that this was the fecond time, that Mofes and Elijah were made fpectators of his glory, on the fame Mount of God, Horeb or Sinai: The appearance to Mofes, is defcribed, Exod. 33. 12, 23. to Elijah, 1 Kings 19. 4, 18,-graciously vouchsafed to both, for their encouragement and fupport under the arduous trials of their Miniftry; after Mofes had fignalized his zeal for THE LORD, by punishing the Idolatrous Ifraelites at Sinai, with the fword of the Levites who ranged themfelves on the LORD's fide," Exod. 32. 15, 19. and after Elijah had flain all the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18. 21, 40. (To be continued.) A SHORT WAY WITH THE METHODISTS. TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN. BE not righteous over-much ;"this is a precept of the royal Preacher. There is danger in exceffes of every kind. Truth itself, carried to an extreme, partakes of the nature of error. "Summum Jus," it has been L1 2 Laid, |