as in a certain sense to be applicable to any great king, of fable or of history, of ancient or of modern times. And these things are, indeed, applicable to Solomon, because he was a great king, but for no other reason. They are no otherwise applicable to him, than to King Priam or Agamemnon, to King Tarquin or King Herod, to a king of Persia or a king of Egypt, a king of Jewry or a king of England. But those circumstances of the description which are properly characteristic, are evidently appropriate to some particular king,—not common to any and to all. Every one of these circumstances, in the psalmist's description of his king, positively exclude King Solomon; being manifestly contradictory to the history of his reign, inconsistent with the tenor of his private life, and not verified in the fortunes of his family. There are, again, other circumstances, which clearly exclude every earthly king,-such as the salutation of the king by the title of God, in a manner in which that title never is applied to any created being; and the promise of the endless perpetuity of his kingdom. At the same time, every particular of the description, interpreted according to the usual and established significance of the figured style of prophecy, is applicable to and expressive of some circumstance in the mystical union betwixt Christ and his church. A greater, therefore, than Solomon is here."-Horsley's Serm. vol. i. p. 75.

SECT. XV.

ADORED BY ANGELS.

Ps. xcvii. 7.

"Worship him, all ye angels!"

THAT the Being to whom supreme adoration is here required, is "JEHOVAH the God of the whole earth," (v. 1, 5.) none can doubt. But it is doubted whether this is the passage cited in Heb. i. 6. as an attribution of homage by angels to Christ. It is of little importance, whether beings of a superior rank be there intended, or those human messengers of the divine will, the prophets, mentioned in the first verse of the Epistle. * The Epistle reads differently from both the Hebrew and the Septuagint; not indeed as to the sense, but in the form of expression: "Let all the angels of God worship him." The Calm Inquirer, and the Annotator on the Improved Version (if indeed these can be reckoned two persons), following Whiston, Sykes, and Samuel Crellius, affirm that the quotation is from the Septuagint translation of Deut. xxxii. 43.; a passage of very doubtful au

* See Note [A] at the end of this Section.

thenticity, not being found in the Hebrew text, nor in any of the other ancient versions. Its absence from the Arabic affords no faint presumption that it was not in the copy of the Septuagint, from which that version was made; and its variations in the different manuscripts of the Septuagint itself, afford another presumption against its genuineness. All things considered, it appears not improbable, that some revisor or editor of the Greek Pentateuch made the insertion from the Psalm before us,* or, with a mistaken zeal for apostolic accuracy, from the citation in the Epistle.

But the Annotator does not scruple to assure us, that the passage" is spoken of the Hebrew nation, and therefore cannot be understood of religious worship." If this writer be willing to abide by the issue of his own logic, we may reply to him, that the words are NOT " spoken of the Hebrew nation;" but that the antecedent to the relative is JEHOVAH, and, that, "therefore, they MUST be understood of religious worship.‡

66

If the quotation were intended to be from the Psalm, the difference in the words is immaterial to the sense, and is not greater than occurs in some instances of passages from the Old Testament introduced into the New.§

* So Pierce suggests.

+ See Note [B] at the end of this Section. See Note [C] at the end of this Section. See Note [D] at the end of this Section.

The manner in which the citation is adduced seems to be, not at first sight, but on a more intimate inspection, allusive to the scope and purport of the Psalm. When he introduceth the first

begotten to the world, he saith

Where

shall we find any thing corresponding to this? Nothing in the least resembling it is found in the preceding context of the passage in Deuteronomy. But, admitting with the most learned and rational interpreter among the modern Jews,* that the Psalm refers to the Messiah, we find the context in that Psalm such as, in the most sublime manner and with the imagery usually applied to the same subject in the prophetic writings, plainly INTRODUCES HIM TO THE WORLD. After a splendid introduction, describing the awful majesty of Him, at whose dominion the world is called upon to rejoice, the prophet declares, that "the heavens" (the most exalted instruments employed in promulgating the divine will) announce, and all the nations of the world receive "his righteousness and glory;" the very terms by which the prophets often describe the doctrine and reign of the Messiah:† he predicts the abolition of idolatry and the punishments of those who shall obstinately adhere to it: he calls on the angels to do their homage to this Illustrious Sovereign: and then represents the exultation of the true church of God among the Jews, on account of the extension of

* David Kimchi. He says that the Psalms xciii. to ci. contain the mystery of the Messiah. Rosenm, sen, in Heb. i. 6. † Is. xl. 5. li. 4—8. Ps. xcviii. 2, 3.

his holy and gracious empire over the gentiles.Thus does the Lord God of the holy prophets INTRODUCE THE FIRST-BEGOTTEN TO THE WORLD.

But it is not necessary to insist upon this, satisfactory as I think it must appear to an impartial person. For the bare purpose of our argument, it is not important to which place of scripture the writer of the Epistle had reference. In either case, the pronoun which represents the object to whom adoration is commanded to be paid, has most clearly no other antecedent than "the Lord of the whole earth,"* who " who "lifteth up his hand to hea

ven, and saith, I live for ever."†

* Ps. xcvii. 5

+ Deut. xxxii. 40.