168

LESSONS ON THE PSALMS.

No. I.

I SUPPOSE there is no part of Holy Scripture we all read so often, and are so familiar with, as the Book of Psalms. Most of us know many portions of it by heart, and its expressions occur readily to our lips whenever we are in adversity or sorrow. And yet it is not an easy book to understand, but the kind of cadence which runs throughout it makes it easy to retain the words. I need scarcely remind you, that nearly all the Psalms were written by King David; spoken indeed by his mouth, and written by his hand, but inspired by the Holy Ghost.

He was the second king of Israel, and lived about one thousand and twenty years before Christ. He was also one of the many types of our Saviour whom God from time to time raised up amongst the Jews, to keep alive their faith in the promised Messiah.

Of these types there were four more preeminent than the others, each one of whom set forth a different part of our Saviour's life and office. Firs.ly, Isaac, who set forth His nativity and death, and showed how God would "take His Son, His only Son," and offer Him up as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Secondly, Moses, who, by bringing the Jews up out of Egypt, and giving them the Law, showed how Christ should deliver His people from the state of captivity to sin in which we are all born, and should give them that new and perfect Law of the New Testament, of which the Law

of Moses was the forerunner. Thirdly, Joshua, sometimes called Jesus, who led the Jews out of the wilderness into the Promised Land, whose warlike and gigantic inhabitants he conquered, and dispossessed of their fenced cities, thereby showing how our Saviour should fight with, and conquer the powers of evil, and should lead all who prove themselves His faithful soldiers and servants, out of the wilderness of this life into that better promised land, the Kingdom of Heaven, where He has prepared a place for us. Fourthly, David, whose office it was by his kingship, to declare how, when the conquest of those powers of evil was completed, and the people of God were brought into that Kingdom, Christ should reign over them for evermore, and should set His seat " upon His holy hill of Sion." Even as he, David, reigned over the Jews, and established his throne in Jerusalem, so should the Messiah, in the end of the world reign visibly over His people, and establish His Throne in that great city, the holy Jerusalem, whose twelve gates should be twelve pearls, and whose streets should be paved with pure gold, transparent as glass, and into which nothing which is evil should enter.

Though commonly called the Psalms of David, David did not write them all; some were written before his time, and some long after. They are poems of different meanings; some are historical, some prophetical, some peni tential, and others hymns of praise. In almost all there is a literal meaning, and a spiritual meaning, the latter having reference to our Saviour, nor are the Penitential Psalms any

exception to this, although the language of one who is humbled in the dust by the weight of his sins-for upon Him who was without spot and blemish was laid the iniquity of us all, and so the strains of sorrow and penitence are fitting for His mouth. In reading the Psalms it is always necessary to bear in mind this twofold meaning, without which many of them would be incomprehensible; as David sometimes speaks in one verse in his own character, and in the next in that of his prophetical character, the promised Messiah. There are besides, other Psalms which cannot be classed under either of these four heads, some of prayer, some of admonition, and some of instruction. The first Psalm with which the book opens, seems to belong to this last division, for it describes first the happiness and prosperity of the righteous, and secondly, the misery and ruin of the wicked.

I will conclude these remarks, by stating that I intend only to give a series of lessons on the Psalms appointed for particular days, which I shall take in the order in which they stand in the Prayer Book. The clear and right understanding of these will, I believe, prove a key to most of the rest, and they will afford us an opportunity of studying the prophetical view of our Blessed Saviour's Birth, Temptation, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, together with the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the establishment of His Kingdom upon earth.

In accordance with this plan, I shall com mence the next number with the second Psalm.

171

POETRY.

THE SORROWFUL CAT OF THE SQUARE.

A TRUE STORY.

On the dusty sill of a window,
That looked on a dreary Square,
Where one house is just like another,
From kitchen to roof and stair,
Where the dismal pathway creeping
Midst the chimney-sweeper trees,
Locked in with an iron grating,
Is the cheerfullest sight one sees.
A kitten once lay musing,

And her thoughts were bright and gay,
For a few warm straggling sunbeams,
On her nose and ear-tips lay;

And they lighted her glistening whiskers,
And revealed on the sill the dust,
Exposing both good and evil,

As sunbeams always must.

So she lay with half-closed eyelids,
In her tabby coat so soft,
Disdaining to notice the buzzing
Of a poor weak fly aloft.

And she thought, "it is vastly pleasant
To sit here and gaze about!

I am glad that I took the trouble
From my dull little bed to jump out;

"For though it is lined with soft drugget,
And as warm as a bed can be,

Yet it stands in a rather dark corner,
And I like to see all I can see.

I suppose I shall have for my breakfast
Another such excellent feast,

As they gave me last evening for supper,
No doubt there'll be cream at the least!

"How my mother would lift up her eyebrows, If she saw me drinking cream,

For she said, when I went out to service,
Of such dainties I must not dream.
But now I am come up to London,
And she never expected that,

For 'tis not every good-looking kitten,
That becomes a fine London cat!

"And I really was rather sorry
To leave little Scamp behind,

But he had a white spot on his forehead,
And pretended he did not mind.

'Twas my perfect and exquisite tabby,
That caught my young lady's eye;
But poor Scamp growing up very shabby,
In the country won't signify.

Perhaps I shall take my breakfast
From my mistress's very own cup;
I'm beginning to feel very hungry
And wish she would make haste up.
Why the sun has been risen these six hours,
"Twill really be mid-day soon.

If

my mother could hear that we breakfast But an hour or two before noon!

"The early bird' may get the worm,'
And the early cat the mouse;

But we don't think of birds or worms,
Or such common things in this house!
Dear me, there's a cat stealing over
The opposite roof, I declare!
She's as rough as a fox, and so bony!
And what dreadfully dirty hair!

"And how vulgar and unbecoming
To go prowling about like that!
One could never expect such behaviour
From a regular London cat!