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With cords of humanity I drew them,
With bands of affection.

And I was to them as [a kind master]

That eafed the yoke from their jaws."

The Chaldee Paraphrase on this paffage, is eminently juft and beauti

ful:

"When Ifrael was a child, I did love him,

And out of Egypt did I call my fons.

I fent my prophets to teach them, but they fhunned their fight,
Sacrificing to idols and burning incenfe to images:
Nevertheless, I led Ifrael, by the angel fent from my prefence,
In the right way; and I carried them as it were in my arms:
But they knew not that from my prefence, compaffion
Yearned upon them; as dear children are ufually drawn,
I drew them by force of affection: And my Oracle

Was unto them as a kind husbandman,

Who easeth the fhoulder of his oxen, [from the yoke]
And loofeth the bridle in their jaws."

And accordingly, OUR LORD's gracious invitation to all that were oppreffed with the load of their fins, was couched in fimilar imagery: Matt. 11, 28-30.

"Come unto ME all ye that toil and are burdened,
And I will give you reft:

Take my yoke upon you,

And learn of Me, (for I am meek and lowly in heart)
And ye fhall find reft to your fouls:

For my yoke is eafy, and my burden, light"

Verfe 4. "He that fitteth in the Heavens fhall Smile."

The permanent majefty of THE SUPREME LORD is here finely defcribed; by fitting in the Heavens; who "miles" contemptuoufly, at the impotent rage and vain rebellion of his Foes, without deigning to speak.

This imagery is customary in facred and profane claffics:-As in the following comment of Prov. 1, 24.

1. "Because, I called, and

ye

refused

I ftretched out my hand, and none regarded :

I alfo, will smile at your calamity,

And deride, when your confternation cometh."

2. Γελα δ ο Δαίμων επ' ανδρι θερμεργώ.

"THE DEITY Smiles at a paffionate man." 3." [JUPITER] IPSE furentem Rifit."

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And THE REGENT shall deride them:

Verfe 5. Then fhall He Speak, &c.

Eschylus.
Statius.

THE REGENT, (which in my last communication, was fhewn to be the import of, 178,) is reprefented as the fpeaker in this and the following verses to suppose as ufually, THE SUPREME LORD to speak on this occafion, miferably embaraffes the connexion of this admirable Ode; and seems

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to have originated from that unfortunate confounding of the fignifications of and, 78, by the fame ambiguous rendering, Kugi LORD, throughout the Septuagint and following verfions; for want of " acquiring clear, diftinct, and correct ideas, of these most important elementary terms," fee p. 179. And this, led no less than 61 MSS. of Kennicot's, and 31 of De Roffi's collations, to fubftitute here a false reading ', for the true ; which are contrafted in this Pfalm, as well as in the parallel Pfalm, 110, 1. "THE LORD (7) faid to THE REGENT (17)" where there can be no doubt of the diftinction; and of the application of the latter to JESUS CHRIST, Matt. 22, 44.

Verfe 6. Nevertheless, I was ordained KING—

On SION my Holy Mount.

-i. e. Notwithstanding your rejection of me for your King, I was ordained or confecrated KING, and my holy mount Calvary (a part of Sion) the fcene of my crucifixion, was made the scene of my exaltation.

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This rejection and fubfequent exaltation, is finely allegorized by OUR LORD, in the parable of." A certain man or NOBLE BIRTH (Evyerns) who travelled into a far country, to acquire for himself a KINGDOM, and then to return but his citizens hated him, and fent after him a metlage, faying, We will not that this man should reign over us, &c. Luk. 19, 12-27. According to the Maforetic punctuation, the verb 'no (Nafachti) is active, "I ordained" my king, &c. fuppofing THE SUPREME LORD to be the speaker; and this is followed by the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, and almost all the modern translations: but according to the foregoing tranflation, the verb fhould be pointed paflively, no (Nifachti), "I was ordained," fuppofing the Regent to declare his ordination to the regal dignity by the fupreme Lord: for the Septuagint, (whofe authority in this Pfalm is of the highest weight, because, fanctioned by the New Teftament) renders : Εγω δη κατεςαθην βασιλευς υπ' Αυτὲ. "But I was appointed King by Him. And is followed by the Vulgate, and the Arabic copy of GuyAnd all these, judiciously confider the Iod final in, ', (Melchi) not as the affix of the first perfon, "my King", but merely as paragogic or redundant or it rather expreffes the word as taken not abfolutely, but in regimen, or relatively, denoting, as in the parallel pfalm, 110, 4. p-bo, (Melchi-zedek) "King of Righteousness.”

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The fame verb is ufed paffively, Nifachti, in that fublime defcription of the primeval birth of WISDOM perfonified, Prov. 8, 22; (and no where actively, Nafachti, in the whole range of the Old Teftament)

THE LORD got ME, the beginning of his way,

Before his works of Old;

From eternity was I ordained*, from first,

Long before the earth;

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When as yet there were no fountains teeming with water,

Before the mountains were established, before the hills,

Was I born."

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With infinite propriety therefore, is the fame term repeated, at the New birth or refurrection of JESUS CHRIST, and in the fame fenfe.

Profeffor Dathe, endeavors to support the common tranflation founded on the Maforetic punctuation, by the authority of the Chaldee paraphrase followed by Aquila and Symmachus; and alfo by that of the New Testament, Acts, 4, 27. But thefe verfions are greatly inferior to the Septuagint, in this cafe; and the expreffion of the Evangelift "Thy holy child JESUS whom thou didst anoint"—is plainly equivalent to, "who was anointed by thee."-As will appear from two parallel paffages: Act. 17, 31. God hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by a Man, for whom He ordained it; (w wptoe) affording affurance to all, by having raised him from the Dead." (avarnoas autov en vengwv.) and Rom. 1, 3-4. "HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD who was born of David's feed, according to the flesh; but who was ordained (T8 ogrodeVTO) Son OF GOD in power, according to the spirit of holiness, from the time of his refurrection from the dead." ( avasaσews vergwv). In these two masterly comments, our great mystagogue Paul, has given the appropriate rendering of, in the fame verb, ow; which is nearly fynonymous with the rendering of the Septuagint, snu, but rather more appofite; while the import of the active and paffive conftructions thereof, are the same :— both evidently dictated by one and the fame SPIRIT.

The present state of Sion and Calvary, is curious and awfully inftructive, as defcribed by the most intelligent modern travellers, Sandys, Maundrel, and Hafelquist.

According to Maundrell, "The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is founded upon Mount Calvary, which is a fiall eminency, or hill, upon the greater mount of Moriah, [2 Chron. 3, 1. Pf. 48, 2.] It was anciently appropriated to the execution of malefactors, and therefore shut out of the walls of the city, as an execrable and polluted place. But fince it was made the Altar on which was offered up the precious and all-fufficient facrifice for the fins of the whole world, it has recovered itself from that infamy; and has always been reverenced and reforted to, with fuch devotion by all Chriftians, that it has attracted the city round it, and ftands now in the midst of Jerufalem a great part of the hill of Sion being Jhut out of the walls, to make room for the admiflion of Calvary.”

And now by a moft difaftrous reverse, the once "Holy hill of Sion," that "pleafant place," "the delight of the whole Earth," as it is filed in fcripture, "Is now (as we learn from Haffelquift) a defart, flat and level; fituated immediately without the ramparts. It is occupied by, and left to the Chriftians for a burial place, where all denominations of them bury their dead by a most righteous retribution!--and Haffelquist himself,

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tanized on the dry and poor Sion, and found fome common herbs there; Garlick, Buckler-Muftard, Trefoil, and Shrubby Horfetail." So compleatly has OUR LORD's fentence of demolition been verified, Luk. 19, 44. And when JESUS approached, and faw the city, he wept over it, faying, O that thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day [of refpite] the things concerning thy peace! but now are they hidden from thine eyes: for the days will come upon thee, when thine enemies fhall caft a trench about thee, and thall compafs thee round, and hem thee in on every fide, and fhall level thee to the ground, and thy children within thee, and shall not leave in thee one flone upon another; because thou knoweft not the

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feafon of thy vifitation!"-fo often foretold, Deut. 28, 52. Pí. 79, 1. Ifa. 6, 11. Dan. 9, 26, &c.

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In this most pathetic apoftrophe, there seems to be an elegant allusion to the name of the city-Jerufalem, (b) compounded of they Shall fee peace" Pf. 128, 6. which OUR LORD here declares, was hidden from their eyes." Its moft ancient quarter was Salem, Gen. 14, 18, founded by Melchizedek, according to Jofephus, p. 1292, where there was "a tabernacle," in David's days, Pf. 76, 2. And when the City of David, in Mount Sion, was added thereto, the whole was called Jerufalem, 1 Chron. 11, 4, in allufion to the name given by Abraham, Gen. 22, 14, to Mount Calvary, the appointed scene of his intended facrifice, of his only genuine fon Ifaac; typical of the great expiatory facrifice of the SON OF GOD, in the fulness of time, on the fame fpot: for, according to tradition, the altar of Ifaac, was only a few yards diftant from the foot of the Crofs; fee Sandys's Travels, p. 126. "And Abraham called the name of that place, (IAHOH IIREH) "THE LORD WILL PROVIDE," according as he had faid that day, on the Mount; "THE LORD WILL PROVIDE, &c. alluding to verf. 8, 7 bx, (ÆLOHIM IIREH) "GOD WILL PROVIDE himself THE LAMB for facrifice, my fon." For this was his ambiguous anfwer to the natural enquiry of Ijaac, Where is THE LAMB for facrifice?" And that this is the correct tranflation and meaning of that important Text, Gen. 22, 14. (fo miferably and unintelligibly rendered in our English Bible!) will further appear from a manifeft illufion. thereto, by the prophet Isaiah, 25, 7—8.

"And (THE LORD) will deftroy on this Mount, the face
Of the covering, which covered all the peoples,

And the vail which was spread over all the Gentiles:

Death fhall be Swallowed up in victory.

And the REGENT LORD will wipe off the tear from all faces,
And will remove the reproach of his people off the whole earth;
For THE LORD hath spoken."

And as hw, Salem, fignifies not only "peace,", but a "peace-offering, or expiatory facrifice, Exod. 20, 24, and 24, 5. Amos 5, 22. (whence CHRIST "himself" is called "our peace," Ephef. 2, 14.) the phrafe, awns, (Iireh-Salem) "He will provide peace," is plainly equivalent to Abraham's ambiguous prophecy-"GOD will provide himself the Lamb for facrifice," and is admirably contrafted with the name of the city, They

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fhall fee peace;" to which OUR LORD again feems to allude and predict, Matt. 83, 59.

For the clue to thefe etymological and topographical remarks, I was indebted to the following curious paffage in Jojippon, or the Pfeudo-Jofephus, B. 6. Chap. 82, p. 362, of Gagnier's Latin tranflation.

"O Jerufalem, City of the Great King, by what name fhall I call thee this day! Was not thy name firft called wa (Zebus) from the name of the Jebufite, who began to inhabit a city in thy land? Next, thy name was called px (Tfedek); and from thy name on Iehuram, was thy king called, pp Melchi-Tfedek, for he was a "juft king," who reigned over thee with juftice. In his days alfo, thy name was called, w (Salem), as is written in the Law. (Gen. 14, 18) And Abraham our father, (on whom be peace) chose to poffefs thee by inheritance, and to plant in thee the plant of his good works. Therefore the Tabernacle of GOD,

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even then was fettled in thee, when He revealed himself to Abraham our Father, (on whom be peace). In thee was the place of his Sanctuary, because he bound his fon, his only fon, on the fummit of one of thy mounts, which indeed is the Holy and fanctified Mount Moriah. Still further waft thou enlarged, when thou wert called by the name, obw (Ierufalem) from the name, by which Abraham our Father, (on whom be peace) called the place of thy Sanctuary 187 mm, Iahoh Iireh "The Lord will fee". Already then, was thy name Salem; and therefore thy name fignifies, obw, He will fee peace; because GOD will fee (or regard) the place of thy fanctuary, fo long as it fhall be perfect and without fpot; but He will hide his face from it, when it thall be stained with fpot, as it is this day!"

From this excellent Jewish commentary, it appears that in Abraham's days, and long after, Calvary was the holieft part of the whole Mount of Moriah, until the Temple was built; and even then, the Sanctuary or Holy of Holies, was by divine appointment, placed at the Weft end of Solomon's Temple, pointing to Calvary; but the Temple Hill, Pf. 48, 2, which was the Northern fummit of Sion, (Jebus, or the City of David, occupying the Southern, or higheft fummit) gradually affumed to itself the name of the whole Mount, Moriah; 2 Chron. 3, 1, and Calvary fell into ftrange and unmerited neglect and contempt, until it recovered and improved its priftine fanctity after the Refurrection; being crowned with the magnificent and fpacious Temple of the Holy Sepulchre, covering its whole Area, and including part of Golgotha, built by the piety and munificence of the Emprefs Helena, mother of Conftantine the great. “On this Holy Hill of Calvary" therefore, (the true Sion) was OUR LORD ordained KING."

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The MESSIAH ftill proceeds to speak in continuation, to inform the world of the validity and unlimited extent of his sway; by reciting the divine decree promulged at his Ordination: the word, s may ambiguously denote either the noun, x, "GOD," or the prepofition "To, concerning," &c. In the latter acceptation, the paffage may be rendered “ I will declare, concerning the decree" as in Pf. 69, 27, where the verb 750, is fo connected:

"For they perfecute him, whom Thou haft fmitten,

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And talk concerning the grief of those whom Thou hast wounded.”

i. e. they debate how to grieve"-Bat the former is more authoritative, and is fupported by the Septuagint verfion, Διαγγελων [ Διαγγελῶ το προςαγμα Κιριδ. It is ftrange, how the author of the anonymous notes in Merrick's Annotations, could propose rendering, “I will declare, O God, the decree" when followed by, "THE LORD Jaid unto me"-more especially, as the declaration was plainly made to the Kings and Judges of the Earth", verf. 10, to warn them of the danger of difobedience; or, how he, (who is fuppofed to be Archbishop Secker) and alfo Profeffor Dathe, could confound, "To" and, "The" or reprefent them as equivalent:-not a fingle MSS, according to De Roi, reads ns, for s.

Verí,

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