ON THE EVIDENCE ONLY. “Oh, sir, a great deal. I don't care about the charge itself that never troubled me; but that you should think it possible I could do it-there's the thing that cuts me to pieces!" "Yes," replied the master, looking on his old servant with new eyes- and he uttered the words very deliberately" that is a wrong I have done you which I can never undo; but it shall not be without its good effects, for it shall teach me a lesson which I thought I had learnt, but I hadn't, and that is, to make very sure of the evidence on which I seriously condemn another." However, although that wound could not at once be healed, the restoration of confidence did much towards recovery, and the doctor's medicine began to tell from that time forward. In the meanwhile Mr. Tomkins prudently yielded to a sudden impulse to become a citizen of some foreign land more free than England, and thither he went accordingly, no man gainsaying it. Mr. Bale frequently looked in upon his cashier during his convalescence; he seemed to like having a chat with him in spite of the manifold rising generation. He was even once seen with the youngest Pollington upon his knee for a limited time. Nor was the intercourse without result. The words of the old judge were destined by means of it to bear a yet further application, and to bring forth fruit yet more valuable. "I have been thinking," said Mr. Bale, on one of these occasions, "what an immense amount of misery is caused in this world by the habit of rashly judging one another; it is frightful to contemplate. Why, people who justly pride themselves on their integrity will pass sentence on their fellows, or, which is the same thing, if not worse, accept the sentence passed on them by others, upon evidence which would not stand fire two minutes in a court of justice, even if it could be got into the witness box at all. There is myself. I used to think I was a just man; and yet how near I was causing the death of an honest man, and making a family fatherless, upon suspicions which a little common sense and a very little investigation proved to be without foundation." A family does make one cling to life, sir," said the cashier, not knowing what else to say. "I am afraid it would make me rather weary of it," said the bachelor, laughing.; "however, we all cling to life, in fact, though to a man who has faithfully tried to do his duty there is not much to be afraid of in parting with it." "I should dread the thought of dying if that were all I had to trust in," replied the other, earnestly. 639 "It may be so with many, perhaps most people, for they have neglected their duty; but for a man like you, who have always been strict and punctilious in duty, and who have been so particular in religion besides, what can there be to fear from a just and good Creator ? " "He judges on the evidence only, as you were saying just now.” Exactly so, and therefore there can be no misjudging." "But that evidence may be, nay, must be, damning beyond all conception, since He seeth not as man seeth, and His thoughts are not our thoughts." A very little time ago and Mr. Bale would have tossed aside such doctrine as this with disdain, but now it fell in so with the train of his thoughts for some days past that he only said, after a pause"That gives us a very severe and gloomy notion of God. I have always liked to think that whereas our fellow-creatures in judging of us must needs mix up truth with error, more or less, God knows nothing but the truth." "Yes," replied the other in his simplicity, "but the whole truth." "Then if, in spite of all our endeavours to do our duty, the testimony of the Almighty is dead against us, what hope is there for any one, even the best of us ?" "There is One ready to speak for us—that is our hope." 66 'I don't know what you mean." 'I mean that there is One who ever liveth to make intercession for us; and the simple and sufficient evidence He bears in our favour is that He has died for us." "You mean our Saviour. There is something in that. How strange that I never took it in that plain light before." "And so, to use your own expression again, as God can only condemn on the evidence of our sin, so He will forgive us on the evidence only of our Saviour's atoning death." "And it satisfies Heaven's law," said the master. "There's something in that.” Yes; and that something, working in Stephen Bale's mind, and watered by the dew of heaven, grew into much. It made him in course of time a true Christian man. Thus the familiar words of the judge were twice blessed to him: they made him slow to condemn others, which is Christian charity; and they made him swift to condemn himself, which makes Christ precious. THE END. WHEN THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY. ITTLE Freddy was very tired. He was only seven years old, but he seemed to have been walking a long, long time on that winding road, which would at last take him to the land on the other side of the river. Every now and then a child passed him, holding its mother's hand, and looking up into her loving, smiling face, with the utter trust of childhood. Then Freddy would feel more tired than ever, for he was not strong like other children, and his mother died a long time ago. Only two things he remembered to have heard her say. One was, that whenever he saw the veiled figure in front of him, he was to follow it. The other was, that at the end of the road there was a river, across which there was no bridge, and that on the bank on the other side of it he would find a man with a loving face, standing with his arms stretched out to receive him. And he had asked, "Won't you go with me through the river, mother?" for he was frightened. But his mother had shaken her head sadly, and said, "No, my child, no one may do that." And then, the next morning, he had awakened, to find his mother gone. Ever since he had followed the dim veiled figure, which from time to time he caught sight of in front of him, alone. Sometimes, indeed, he grew very weary, and sat down, crying a little, to think how weak, and lonely, and tired he felt. But when he looked up he found that he had lost sight of the figure, and that was the worst trouble of all, for he had no other guide to show him the way to the land where he should find the man with the loving face. All the other people went too quickly for his halting footsteps; only the veiled figure was patient enough never to go too fast. Therefore, when he had thus lost sight of it, in alarm he gazed and gazed into the shadows, and cried to it to come back; and in a little while he saw it again moving on slowly and softly in front. Could he ever go through the water alone? he, so frail, so weak, with nothing in those deep waters for hand to grasp or foot to cling to. Might not the man with the loving face help him a little? But no; his mother had said nothing of that. And so he journeyed on day by day, sometimes over smooth mossy turf, and past sweet flowers which bent and swayed in the soft wind, and caught the flame of the sunset; sometimes over rough, stony, uneven places where every other footstep was a stumble, and where often the stones and thorns cut deep into his tiny childish feet. Each day it seemed as if he grew a little more weary, and found it harder to walk. But still the shadowy figure led, and he followed. One evening it suddenly turned off the path and moved straight towards the river. "Oh, not yet! not yet!" he cried; "I cannot cross yet. Oh, mother, help me, help me!" and even as he spoke, the sound of the deep sobbing waters came more and more distinctly upon his ear. Then, too, his strength seemed to fail him, and the little lame foot that had halted so long gave way, and, at last, a few paces from the river, he fell down, and could go no further. "Not now, " he still moaned from time to time. "Not now! oh, my mother!" And then a great drowsiness came over him, and he slept. When he awoke, for the first time in his life he felt quite well. He opened his eyes, and, behold, he was on the bank on the other side of the river, through which loving arms had borne him in his sleep; while in front of him stood the veiled figure, with its hands stretched out to receive him. And then the shadowy drapery fell away, and he saw that it was the Man with the loving face who had been with him all the time, and with a glad cry he ran to him. And the words the Man said, as he bent over him, were these: "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee." "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I F. E. P. comfort you." "THE QUIVER" BIBLE CLASS. 235. What words of Nehemiah are sometimes quoted as against neglect of duty? 236. In Ps. lxix. 9 we have the words, "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me." By whom are these words quoted as referring to our blessed Lord? 237. On the occasion of the anointing of kings it was usual for the high priest to pour the anointing oil on the head of the person thus anointed. Mention an occasion when this was done by a prophet. 238. Quote some words which picture the terrible effects of famine upon the human frame. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 608. 222. 2 Peter i. 18. 223. 1 Cor. xiv. 16. 22-1. Hiram, King of Tyre, the men of that city being at that time very skilful in all manner of metal work, graving, &c. (2 Chron. ii. 14). 225. Deut. xxxiv. 6. 226. Acts xxii. 20. 227. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 228. Eccles. x. 20. 229. Luke xxiii. 50. BY THE REV. CANON ELLIOTT, M.A., VICAR OF WINKFIELD, BERKS. HERE are few subjects which are fraught with greater difficulty than is the right interpretation of the socalled imprecatory psalms-by which term is meant those psalms in which God's retributive justice is not only denounced, but invoked against the transgressors of His law-in which the Psalmist not only acquiesces in the execution of God's vengeance, but prays that that vengeance may be executed speedily. state of light and of knowledge, will not admit of a perfect solution. There are few who love and reverence God's Word who have not found themselves perplexed by these psalms, and who have not, at some period of their life, been assailed by doubts and misgivings how far they can lawfully as Christians take part in the rehearsal of words which seem to breathe a spirit alien from that of Christ, and of that gospel which He and His apostles proclaimed. Now, in addition to the interest which necessarily attaches to the right interpretation of every portion of God's Word, there is a special importance attaching to the Psalter, not only by reason of its constant recitation in the public services of many branches of the Church, but also inasmuch as it is in a pre-eminent degree the treasure-house from which the Church universal has in all ages drawn unfailing supplies of wisdom and of instruction in life, and the source from whence it has derived hope and strong consolation in death. Assuming, then, that the difficulty attending the right interpretation of these psalms is not only a real difficulty, but one which is very generally if not universally experienced, it is proposed first to consider some of the methods to which recourse has been had, with a view to explain or to remove this difficulty; and, secondly, to state what appears to the writer as the most satisfactory explanation of a problem which, in our present imperfect 66 First, then, it has been not unfrequently urged that the passages in question are to be regarded simply as prophecies of the doom which awaits the wicked, and not as expressing any desire on the part of the Psalmist that that doom should receive its accomplishment. Thus, e.g., in Psalm cix. (one of the most remarkable of the imprecatory psalms), verse 29 may be translated either as it is in the authorised version, “ Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame: and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle"; or it may be translated simply as a prophecy-"Mine adversaries shall be clothed with shame, and they shall be covered with their own confusion as with a mantle." It will suffice to observe, with regard to this proposed solution of the difficulty, that it applies only to some of the passages in which it exists; and that, whilst there are exegetical reasons of great weight for regarding it as inapplicable to many of the places in which it is possible to adopt it, there are places in which it is absolutely inapplicable; for, in the case of all those passages in which the second person is employed, the Hebrew imperative is just as clearly marked as it is in our own language, and, consequently, words such as those which occur in Psalm xxviii. 4, "Give them according to their deeds... give them after the works of their hands: render to them their desert;" or again, such as those in Psalm lxix. 27, "Add iniquity unto their iniquity," admit of no other translation than that which they bear in our own English Bibles. A second solution of the difficulty has been sought in the endeavour to represent the passages in question as only quoted by the Psalmists, but not as adopted by them. In regard to this, as to the THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS. 66 proposed solution already mentioned, we would observe that it is an explanation which is undoubtedly applicable to some particular passages, in which it is not only possible, but highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the words which are thus introduced should be regarded as those not of the Psalmist but of his enemies. Thus, e. g., in regard to Psalm xli. ver. 5, where we read, Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?" the transition from the plural number to the singular, as well as the general drift of the passage, will leave little doubt on the mind of the reader that the Psalmist is here recording, not his own desire as regards his enemies, but their desire respecting him. So clear, indeed, was this to the mind of our own translators, that in the 8th verse of this psalm they have supplied the words, say they," which words, though not absolutely necessary in order to support this interpretation of the passage, appear to be properly introduced, with a view to the clearer apprehension of its meaning on the part of the English reader. 66 In like manner, as regards Psalm cix., the like transition in verse 6 from the plural to the singular number naturally suggests the view which has been adopted by some interpreters, that the word "saying "is to be understood, and that verses 6—20 are to be regarded not as the words of the Psalmist but as those of his enemies-not as expressing his desire respecting them, but, on the contrary, as expressing their desire respecting him. 643 excludes the application of the first of the solu tions proposed, viz., that the passage is simply prophetical; whilst the whole context, as well as the words quoted, is equally conclusive against the admissibility in this case of the second solution which has been proposed, viz., that the words are to be regarded not as those of the Psalmist himself but of his adversaries. One more proposed solution requires to be noticed. It is that the passages in question are consistent with the lower morality of the Old Testament dispensation, but are altogether irreconcilable with the higher morality of Christ's new law of love. This proposed explanation-one which finds favour with many persons in the present day-like those which have already been considered, seems open not only to serious but to fatal objections. For (1) we must remember that the new commandment of love is a command which is old as well as new-old, in that the law as well as the gospel enjoined the precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Lev. xix. 17); whilst new, as regards its exposition and application, by the life and by the death of the Redeemer. the highest degree, adopted by our blessed Lord and by His apostles, as applicable not only to the Christian Church but also and directly to Himself. But (2) this proposed solution not only leaves unexplained the fact of the universal adoption of the Psalter as the heritage of the Christian Church from the earliest ages, but it leaves unexplained also the yet more remarkable fact that we find passages from those very psalms in which the diffiIt will suffice to observe regarding this explana-culties to which reference has been made exist in tion, that whether it can or cannot be reconciled with the fact that some of the words thus ascribed to the Psalmist's enemies are cited by St. Peter as prophetically descriptive of the act of Judas (Acts i. 20), the adoption in verse 20 by the Psalmist of the imprecations of his enemies, if such they be, involves precisely the same difficulty as that which it is sought to remove; and, further, that the proposed solution is confessedly inapplicable to other psalms in which similar expressions occur, which can be explained only as the Psalmist's own prayer with regard to his enemies. Psalm lxix. will suffice by way of illustration. In verses 22-26 we read as follows: "Let their table become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents." In these verses the particular form of the verb where the third person is used, and the direct prayer in verse 24, "Pour out Thine indignation upon them" (to which allusion has already been made), as also in verse 27, "Add iniquity unto their iniquity" (in both of which cases the verb is in the second person), : The allusions in the New Testament to Psalms xli., lxix., and cix. will suffice to elucidate this point. In our blessed Lord's discourse with His apostles after the Last Supper, He thus expressly applies to Himself the 9th verse of Psalm xli.: "But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me" (John xiii. 18.) Now, if we turn to the following verse of the same psalm we shall read thus: But Thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them." Is it possible, we would ask, to suppose that our Lord would have thus applied one verse of this psalm to Himself had the very verse which follows been incapable of any explanation which would bring it into harmony with the genius and temper of the Christian dispensation? The same remark applies yet more forcibly to Psalm lxix., a psalm from which a larger number of citations is found in the New Testament than from any other. The application of this psalm to our Lord is beyond dispute. It was He whom His enemies "hated without a cause" (compare ver. 4 with John xv. 25); |