of the Messiah, in that he is to be the Supreme Ruler of the worlds,
for the Father "hath put all things under his feet." 2. To bring
out the fact that Jesus was truly human as well as divine. For
this cause "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels on account of suffering death, that by the grace of God he
might taste death for every man." Jesus, therefore, is both divine
and human; he is both God and man, and as such is in every way
able to accomplish the great work of human salvation. The pas-
sage is well calculated to iustrate and bring out this thought, and
it is well calculated to do it as it stood in the Greek of the Septua-
gint. This Greek version was in universal use both among Jews
and Christians. It was made by the Jews themselves; it was used
in their synagogues, being read every Sabbath. It was indeed com-
monly received by them as an almost inspired production, many
receiving it as such. The apostles, therefore, read the Septuagint
and quoted from it. The old Hebrew was a dead language to the
great body of the people, and had been ever since the captivity.
There was no other way in which the apostle could reason directly
with the great mass of the people out of the Scriptures, except
through the Septuagint version. He uses it, therefore, and does
not go into nice questions of criticism as to how much more
means than ayyeλoç. It was sufficient for him that the Septuagint
rendering was appropriate to his purpose, and expressed the mean-
ing of the original sufficiently near. Besides, he was himself an
inspired teacher, and thus was able to sanction the doctrine con-
tained in the Septuagint rendering of the passage, though it might
not be a literally correct translation of the inspired Hebrew. The
doctrine of verbal inspiration does not require the sacred writers,
as some seem to suppose, to quote each other verbatim et literatim,
or to give their accounts of the same transactions in the same lan-
guage. Even David reproducing the eighteenth Psalm, probably
for another occasion, varies very materially from the original copy
given in the Book of Samuel. So, also, there are important varia-
tions in the fifty-third Psalm from the fourteenth, which would
seem to have been the original copy. The same fact may also be
observed in the fourth chapter of Micah, first three verses, and the
second chapter of Isaiah, first four verses. The Spirit inspires the
prophet to use words on one occasion which on another occasion
by another prophet he rejects and substitutes by others. The
evangelists Matthew and Luke do not use the same words in re-
porting the Sermon on the Mount, nor do they use the same words
in reporting the same facts. There are variations the reasons of
which may not be obvious to us, and yet all is consistent with the

doctrine of a verbal inspiration. Variations would be often required, indeed, on new occasions and when new objects are in view. And each writer must be left to exercise his own individuality. "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," at the same time that they "speak as they are moved by the Holy Ghost."

We therefore reject the explanation commonly given to namely, that of angels, as utterly without philological foundation. The reason why the Septuagint and Chaldee adopted it, was on account of the apparent theological difficulty that man should be represented "as a little lower than God." But the difficulty is greatly relieved when we remember that the psalmist speaks of man as he came from the hand of his Maker, and not of man as fallen. This is clear from this and the following verses, as compared with the account of the Creation in Gen. i, 27, 28: "And God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea, the fowl of heaven, and over every creeping thing which creepeth upon the earth." How very like this is the description of man in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth verses of this psalm: "Thou didst make him to want but little of God;" that is, God created man in his own image," and the repetition follows for the sake of emphasis: "In the image of God created he him." Thou didst crown him with glory and honor, Thou didst make him ruler over the works of thy hands, Thou didst place all things under his feet. Sheep and oxen, all of them, and also the cattle of the field, the bird of heaven and fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea." The passage of the psalm is so entirely alike that in Genesis, we cannot avoid referring it to man in his primitive condition. We hence infer that this palm, taken in connection with the account of man's creation, teaches the doctrine that in dignity, as first created, he was superior to the angels, and next in order to the Divine Being.

66

This view further receives support from the fact that in the New Testament various passages show that man, redeemed and glorified, reassumes his primeval dignity, and is elevated above angels. "Are they not all ministering spirits, (says Paul, Heb. i, 14,) sent forth to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation?" Do ye not know (says Paul to the brethren at Corinth, 1 Cor. vi, 2,) the saints shall judge the world; yea, "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" In the visions of the Apocalyptist the saints are seen nearest the throne, yea, that a suitable impression may be FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XII.-41

made on the minds of the saints as to their future dignity and glory, the Lord Jesus himself declares : To him that overcometh I will give to sit with me in my throne, even as I have overcome and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev. iii, 21. Thus we hold, according to the Scriptures, the eighth Psalm teaches no absurdity when it represents man in his primitive and glorified state as second only to the Lord of all.

It now only remains for us to present a translation of this psalm, with some brief explanatory notes.

How excellent is thy name in all the earth;

Which glory of thine place thou above (or upon) the heavens.

3. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thy enemies;

To still the enemy and the avenger.

4. When I behold thy heavens the work of thy fingers;

The moon and the stars which thou hast made.

5. What is man that thou art mindful of him,
And the Son of Man that thou visitest him.

6. Thou hast made him to want a little of God;
With glory and honor thou hast crowned him.

7. Thou hast made him ruler over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast placed all things under his feet.

8. Sheep and oxen all of them,

And also the beast of the field.

9. The fowl of heaven and the fish of the sea,
And what passeth through the paths of the seas.
10. O Jehovah our God,

How excellent is thy name in all the earth.

NOTES.

Verse 1. naby, upon the harp of Gath, or in the Gathic style, in the sense of Gathic, of Gath, the city of the Philistines, occurs frequently. Compare Joshua xiii, 3; 2 Sam. vi, 10, 11; xv, 18. "It is worthy of remark," says Hengstenberg, "that all the three psalms distinguished by this name (besides this, lxxxi and lxxxiv) are of a joyful, thanksgiving character, from which it may be inferred that the gittith was an instrument of cheerful sound or lively air."

Verse 2., name. How excellent is thy name, not thy mere

name, but the being expressed by the name. The name is the

mere sign; the thing signified is in the mind of the psalmist. So the Lord's Prayer, Hallowed be thy name, that is, the Lord. This is Hebraistic usage.

, give or place thou, imperative of 3, Hengstenberg will have this an infinitive construct used as a noun. Final, he says, is the feminine termination, but he fails to give us any other instances. We ought not for any subjective reasons to give up a well-known imperative form which occurs in other passages in more than a score of instances. See, for example, Gen. xxx, 26; xlii, 37; Numbers xi, 13; xxvii, 4; Josh. xiv, 12; xv, 19; 1 Sam. ii, 15; viii, 6; ix, 23; xxi, 4; xxv, 8. It is useless to quote further. See Concordance. We therefore translate with Gesenius, which glory of thine set thou [also] above the heavens, that is, let thy glory thus manifested here on earth be also acknowledged and celebrated throughout the whole universe.

Verse 3. i, children in general; p, infant children, children at the breast. Hence we render out of the mouths of children and infants [even children yet at the breast] thou hast ordained strength because of thy enemies; that is, even little children by their unconscious praise of his glory, as seen in the beautiful landscape, the shining sun, the glowing moon and stars, which even the infant mind observes and is pleased with, put to shame the miserable hardihood of infidelity and atheism. Our Lord, as related in Matt. xxi, 16, rebuked the Pharisees who could not contain themselves because children were crying to him Hosanna, by bringing to their remembrance the third verse of this psalm: "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"

Verses 4 and 5. What is man from, to be weak, frail, referring especially to his bodily nature, used intentionally instead of or . The knot to be untied here is this: Does David refer to man in his fallen or in his primitive condition? Weakness and frailty would be more naturally attributed to him in his fallen condition, and this is the view which we prefer.

Observe that man and Son of man, by the parallelism, refer to the same person.

Verse 6. For remarks on this verse see § 3 of the introduction. With honor and glory thou crownest him. The common designation of royal honor and majesty. Compare Psa. xxi, 5; xlv, 3; Jer. xxii, 18; 1 Chron. xxix, 25.

Verse 7. Thou hast placed all things under his feet. This can be fulfilled by man, as the apostle argues, only in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see not yet all things put under him,

[man,] but we see Jesus, who [in human nature] was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. This is really and prospectively fulfilled in Jesus; all things are or will soon be put under him.

Verses 8 and 9. Man had a much more complete dominion over the lower orders of animals in his primitive condition than now. The animal creation then spontaneously obeyed him. After the fall they obey only by compulsion.

Verse 10. It is fitting that the same ascription of praise should end this psalm with that which commenced it. God be praised for his goodness to his creature man!

ART. VIII-THE LORD'S SUPPER.

THE term sacramentum originally signified, in ecclesiastical usage, any of the mysteries of religion. The Vulgate renders μvornotov by sacramentum. The word received its more definite signification during the controversy on the number of the sacraments; it is applied by the Protestant Church to the rites of baptism and the Lord's Supper only. Augustine's definition of a sacrament is, “Sacramentum est sacra rei signum." Luther defined a sacrament to be, "Those observances, appointed by God, in which one makes use of a visible thing, which has the divine word of command and of promise." The Protestant idea of the sacraments is more definitely embodied in the Heidelburg Catechism, and the twentyfifth of the thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. For obvious reasons, we need not quote from either of these

sources.

The term "Lord's Supper" was introduced by the apostle Paul, (1 Cor. xi, 20;) he also speaks of the "Lord's table," (1 Cor. x, 20 ;) in these terms he may include both the love-feast and the eucharist, which, in his day, were usually celebrated together. The “breaking of bread" (Acts ii 42) is commonly supposed to refer to this rite.

Though the Church received this holy sacrament from the hands of the apostles with a simple and childlike faith, yet speculations upon its character and effects were very early indulged. From simply believing that they thereby held communion with Christ, the early Christians soon proceeded to theorize on the manner of that com