The Beginning and the End, The First-born of every creature, The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, The Root and Offspring of David, and many similar titles. So also, though he took flesh, that in it he might suffer and die, it was not the flesh alone that suffered, but the person; and death, which is not annihilation, but the separation of soul and body, no doubt separated his soul from his body: but the Godhead was never divided from either; and they were re-united in his resurrection, never again to be separated; and now constitute the earnest and the pledge of our glorious resurrection at his second coming. In the Psalms, which so largely express the personal experiences of Christ the Head and his body the church, a mixed character like this is very observable: it is sometimes very difficult to determine where the suffering period ends, and where the triumph begins-a difficulty increased by the intimate sympathy which must necessarily subsist between the risen and glorious Head and the still suffering members of the church ;—and in the midst of the deepest gloom of sorrow irradiations of Divinity are continually shooting forth, and touches of tenderness and sympathy mingle with the song of triumph: but if these reasons for it be borne in mind, no serious difficulty will remain. The Psalms are specially addressed to the spirit of man, and we feel that we have a personal interest in them all. They all record either the personal experience of Christ and his people under the present bondage, or look forward with triumph to the time of deliverance, when the Lord shall reign, and his name become excellent through all the earth, and the workers of iniquity shall perish. From the complete sympathy and oneness of Christ, of his body the church, and of each individual of that body, the personal experience of all is the same; and therefore, in a large and general sense, it might be said, that the Psalms equally apply to Christ and his people. But it must ever be borne in mind, that the sufferings of the church were brought upon it by the sin of man, in which Christ had no part; and the deliverance of the church is effected by Christ, in which the church has no part as an agent, but only as a recipient. It must be remembered, too, that the Psalmist himself holds a double character: first, as the Beloved of the Lord, and a type of his beloved Son; secondly, as mere man, looking to Him as his Saviour and Deliverer whom in his first character he had typified. When the Psalmist, therefore, takes to himself the character of the Holy One (Psal. xvi. 10; lxxxvi. 2, 13; lxxxix. 19), it is clearly only as a type of Christ; and the personal holiness of Christ, the only Holy One, is not to be transferred to David, his representative. On the other hand, where the anguish and remorse for sin (li. 9, 14; xxxviii. 4; xl. 12; lxv. 3) are expressed, these must not be transferred to

Christ, further than as sympathising with the miserable condition into which sin has brought the whole species whose nature he took; in which sense the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all (Isai. liii. 6). There are many of the Psalms which are still wholly prophetic, not having been in any respect fulfilled, even incipiently, at present: such as ii.; viii.*; xxi. xxiv.; xxvii.; xxix.; xlv.; xlvi. ; xlvii.; xlviii.; l.; lx. ; lxviii. ; lxxii.; lxxvi.; lxxxv.; lxxxvii.; xciii.; xciv.; xcvi.; xcvii.; xcviii.; xcix.; c.; cxlviii.; cxlix.; cl.

;

The Psalms are chiefly for the present state of suffering and expectancy they are therefore mostly plaintive and mournful, looking forward to consolation at a future time. Isaiah and the other Prophets have a different character: they address men as collective bodies; as communities, and not as individuals. The Psalms begin," Blessed is the man:" Isaiah begins, "Ah sinful nation! a people laden with iniquity." The first distinction is therefore this, that the prophets have to do with visible things primarily, and spiritual things incidentally only; whereas the Psalms are primarily spiritual, and have to do with visible and temporal things only incidentally. It follows also, that time and place and circumstance are necessary elements in the Prophets; and that, to any one who attends to the guidance which these elements afford, the interpretation of the Prophets, as to their scope and general bearing, is not difficult; and that the real difficulty is only concerning the minutiae of interpretation. The scheme and platform on which each of the Prophets laid out his discourse, was the actual state of the people he was then addressing the providence of God had brought about a certain state of things, and the Spirit of God took occasion from thence to put words into the mouth of the Prophet, of exhortation, of reproof, or of prophecy, as the circumstances might require; and in the course of it to introduce the actings and character of that MIGHTY ONE by whom the redemption, restitution, and government of a fallen world was to be achieved; He himself always identified with, and forming a constituent part of, the work of redemption. GoD had at sundry times placed man at the best, with all advantages, and man had failed: the Son of God, becoming son of man, took man at the worst, under every disadvantage, and prevailed; that it might be demonstrated that the excellency of the power was of God, and not of man. The moral guilt of disobedience to the command of God was the first offence of man; and from this perversion of the mainspring of action all kinds of disorder and crime ensued. In Eden, man had every advantage, by the absence of sin from

* Which has been beautifully set forth by Mr. Dodsworth, in two sermons preached in November last, at St. Margaret's Chapel, St. Mary-le-bone.

himself and from the visible world; but he fell. A sinful world was swept away at the deluge; yet the descendants of Noah quickly fell to idolatry at Babel. The cities of the plain were consumed; still the Canaanites went on in their wickedness. The Ten Tribes were carried into captivity; and "the daughter of Zion" repented not, though "left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." "Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth! for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me: the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. They have forsaken the Lord; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more." But lest it might be supposed that all these failures on the part of man proceeded from some imperfection in the work of God, the moral triumph of A MAN was exhibited; and this in circumstances not, as before, at the best, but at the worst. Thus the state of rebellion, corruption, and depravity in the world was the occasion and field on which could best be displayed the character of the Second Adam, on the one hand, and of those he came to redeem, on the other: He exhibiting every moral perfection, and every condescension, to win the hearts of men; and they rejecting, hating, and at length crucifying him. For such an enormity of guilt in mankind an infinite sacrifice was needed, therefore Christ died for its remedy an infinite power was needed, therefore the Holy Spirit was given: and when the world has fully demonstrated its irremediable character, by despising the infinite sacrifice, " trampling under foot the blood of the covenant and counting it an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace," then shall the despised Saviour take to himself his great power, and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. Two things were to be shewn: first, the moral triumphs of faith, hope, and charity, under suffering, and in spite of suffering; and then, the open and visible triumph of good, in the reign of Christ and his saints in righteousness and peace. These things could not be shewn by the same individuals, nor at one time: a people, therefore, are taken as the instruments, and a long period of time. For the development of the moral agency, different individuals accept and reject the offers of salvation; and in those who accept it the same principle is displayed as in the Saviour, by their enduring like persecution and obloquy from those who reject it: and in the fulness of the times the different results are made manifest, by Christ's second coming, to reward his followers and to punish his enemies. This is continually declared in the Prophets; and we, who have seen the first part of it so exactly fulfilled, may clearly perceive

the division between those portions which relate to the suffering, and those which relate to the triumphant, Messiah. Till the resurrection of Christ the division could not be made: even the disciples were "fools, and slow of heart to believe" all that Christ should suffer; and had the Jews "known him" they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. The extreme of human wickedness-the consequence of the Fall-was demonstrated in the rejection and crucifixion of Christ; and by the same act which demonstrated its necessity, 'a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world,' was made there by his one oblation of himself once offered.' The darkness and blindness which came over the nation, and led them to reject Him, are continually spoken of by the Prophets : as Isai. vi. 9, 10; John xii. 41; Isai. xxix. 13; Matt. xv. 8; and many more such passages. This infatuation, it is also declared, shall continue among them as a people during the whole period of their dispersion: for when the prophet (in Isa. vi.) asks, "Lord, how long?" it is answered, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man; and the land be utterly desolate; and the Lord have removed men far away; and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land." This desolation continues for many generations after the first coming of our Lord; for in Luke iv.16-21 he appropriates to himself the beginning of Isai. Ixi. and it is after "the day of vengeance of our God" that (ver. 4)" they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations; "and(ver. 9) their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." In like manner" the terrible one is brought to nought," at the time when "the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel" (Isai. xxix. 20,19; xiii. 11; xxv. 4, 5" terrible ones"). This period of desolation, extending over many generations, is declared by our Lord to be "the acceptable year of the Lord" Luke iv. 21. And the Apostle declares (2 Cor. vi. 2), “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation : which we know, from Isaiah xlix. 6, 8, 13, 25, 26, is the time during which our Lord is "a light to the Gentiles, and salvation to the ends of the earth." At the close of which dispensation the Lord shall say "to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers: I will give Thee for a covenant of the people (of Israel), to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages....Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy

:

"

upon his afflicted....and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered....and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.'

This acceptable year, or day of salvation-which is the whole Gospel dispensation-includes a complicated series of events; the not distinguishing of which has confused some of the interpreters, and led them to apply prophecies which truly belong to acts and agents in the series, to actions or to times which a comparison of Scripture with Scripture forbids. The purpose of God, as declared in his word, required that the Redeemer should come of the seed of David (2 Sam. vii. 13). It required that he should be rejected of men (Isai. xi. 1; liii. 2, 3): "He came unto his own, and his own received him not " (John i. 2). It required that he should make his soul an offering for sin (Isai. liii. 10). It required that those who regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands, should go into captivity (Isai. v. 12): "Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me: therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches" (Isai. xliii. 28). It required that, during this time of scattering and sifting of Israel among the nations, the Lord should be taking out of the Gentiles a people for his name (Amos ix. 9, 12; Acts xv. 15, 17). It requires that the present spoilers and oppressors of Israel be punished and brought low (Isai. xiv. 2, xxxiii. 1; Rev. xiii. 10). It requires that the Lord shall have mercy on Jacob, and shall yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land (Isai. xiv. 1). It requires that the same Seed of David, who was despised and rejected, shall divide a portion with the great, and divide the spoil with the strong (liii. 12). It requires that the Rod of Jesse (Isai. xi. 1) shall become the ensign of the nations (ver. 12): that the Servant, the Branch (Zech. iii. 8), shall become the Man, the Branch (vi. 12; Jer. xxiii. 6, xxxiii. 15; Isai. iv. 2; Ezek. xxxiv. 29). It requires that the breaches of David (Isai. v. 5) be closed up (Amos ix. 11); that the throne of David be established for ever (Isai. ix. 7; xvi. 5; Ezek. xliii. 7); that Jerusalem be then established, and made a praise in the earth, a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God (Isai. Ixii. 7, 3): and that this shall be a time of blessedness and joy to the whole earth (Isai. xi. 6—9; lxv. 21, 25; Amos ix. 13, 15).

We had intended to go through the chief of the prophecies, pointing out those portions already fulfilled and those which are yet to be accomplished; but we found it would be too long for one paper, and we think our readers may now be able to do it for themselves. The causes of the prejudices which exist, and the difficulties which are experienced, may, we think, all