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this! Were even thofe rare divines of the last age farther gone in guilt and abfurdity, who, in all the long-robed gravity of their wifdom, folemnly burlefqued the Pfalms, and that in the name of the Lord, after prayers read, and a bleffing implored that they might be enabled fuitably to apply and improve? And fo with a vengeance they did apply and improve-how fuitably, let the world judge! The King-the Lord's Anointed his righteoufnefs-his righteous caufe -his glory filling the whole land his flourishing crown-righteous fceptre-peace of his government, &c. To whom were all thofe elogiums from the Pfalms applied? To the Lord, of whom they were meant? No. To David? Nor to him neither. To whom then? To whom but to the good King Charles of bleffed memory! Let Eikon Bafiliké and Dr. Juxon fpeak the reft, and tell the world one manner in which the Pfalms have been abused to the vileft of -purpofes and let all others who chufe contend in this point for the palm of impiety and downright jarwith Bonaventure the Monk, who applied in an abominable piece of his (rendered afterwards infallible by his Holiness at Rome, fo they call their pope) every word of the Pfalms, fpeaking of the Lord Jefus, to his virgin mother. But thofe who have ears to hear, let them hear, and beware of wrefting the holy word, left they wreft it to their own deftruction; after the manner of a certain celebrated plunderer of hills and glens, who was wont to evade the edge of the eighth commandment, by alledging, that Mofes was no friend to honeft gentlemen of his profession, when he faid, Thou shalt not fteal;' but that David, a far better fellow, had repealed that law of Mofes, when he said, Pfalm 1. to. The cattle upon a thousand hills are mine.'.

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You fee now, it was not of yesterday that the Palms began to be perverted; nor in one manner only. But to conjure, if it be poffible, at least to ef

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fay it, all thofe dreams and delufions, puns and forgeries, upon the book of Pfalms, let it be seriously weighed, if it be lawful for us to give an interpretation of any part thereof different from, that is, contrary to, what the Holy Ghost hath given. Would not you plainly fay, that the man openly blafphemed, who thould give another interpretation of the parables' of the fower and feeds, of the wheat and tares, than the Lord hath given? And why, pray, fhould not we look with equal deteftation and contempt upon the man who fhould deal fo by the Pfalms, or any other part of the Holy Scriptures? Here, perhaps, you will fay, that some of the Pfalms may be fafely explained in the manner you speak of, there is no queftion; but would you have us to explain the whole of them after the fame fashion? Yes indeed; the whole hundred and fifty; if fo be the Spirit by whom they were infpired hath given us a key fo to do.-Make that appear, and the controversy is at an end.-Amen. Here we reft the iffue. Take your Bible then with the parallel places, and finish the proof yourself. You will find your profit in the purfuit, and the procefs of the argument fimple and eafy, if you afford but a rhoderate degree of candour and attention."

A, Carefully mark all the Pfalms whereof you fee any part applied to Chrift in the New Teftament, as fpoken of him, or by him. Now, where any part of a Pfalm is explained as fpoken of, or in the person' of Christ, so must the whole of that Pfalm, whatever feeming objections lie against it; for this obvious reafon, that (as will appear by occular demonftration, if you read the places in queftion) the whole of every fuch Pfalm is fpoken in one perfon, who is himfelf* frequently the continued fubject of the Pfalm from the beginning to the end thereof; and every thing befides in the Pfalm is but a predicate, as they fay, or declaration of the fame subject, or (which does not alter the cafe) an imprecation, or a prayer, or a bleffing,

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bleffing, or a defcription, or a narrative, uttered by the fame perfon.

There are indeed a few Pfalms which seem to be in the way of dialogue, or chorus; fuch as Pfalm.ii. xxiv. xlv. xci. cii. cxxi. cxxxii. and perhaps feveral others; yet thofe are all evidently so full of Meffiah the Lord, that, though there be a change of perfons speaking in them, they make no infringement upon the gene-> ral rule here advanced; founded, not on a metaphyfical fubtlety, but on plain common fenfe, level with every one's apprehenfion who in fuch matters knows but the right hand from the left. For illuftration, take the following examples: Pfal. xl. 6-9, is brought in, Heb. x. 5. as fpoken by Chrift: fhew a change of perfon in the speaker, and indeed the alledged interpretation of the reft of the Pfalm falls to the ground; allow the speaker the fame, and it stands good, in fpite of all the power of contradiction andi wit.-Pfalm xviii. 49, is applied, Rom. xv. 9. as fpoken by Chrift concerning his bringing the Gen tiles into the fellowship of the gofpel: therefore, as the fpeaker is one, the whole Pfalm is defcriptive of the warfare and victory of Meffiah, the Prince, bringing judgment to victory.-Pfalm xxxv. 19. is quoted by the Lord, John xv. 25. as spoken of himself: his words are remarkable, (left we should retain fome. ridiculous notion of a type and antitype); But this cometh to pafs, that it might be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated Me without a caufe. Pfalm lxix. 9. is also introduced in a very. obfervable manner, Rom. xv. 3. Even Chrift pleafed not himself; but as it is written, the reproaches. of them that reproached thee are fallen upon Me." Not a word of David! This Pfalm is more frequently quoted of Chrift in exprefs words, than any other in the book.-Pfalm lxviii. 18. is explained, Eph. iv.. 8. of Chrift's afcenfion, receiving and giving of the Holy Ghoft.-Pfalm xlix. 4, and ixxviii. 2.. are faid

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to be fulfilled, Matth. xiii. 35. when the Lord began to open his mouth in parables: this interpretation lets us into the meaning of the hiftorical Pfalms, which are fo many Old Teftament parables, wherein the Lord himself is the hiftorian.-Pfalm Ivii. 7. and cviii. 3. quoted of Christ, Rom. xv. 9. where harp and pfaltery are called upon to awake and praife, will let us into the meaning of all thofe Pfalms where all fuch inftruments of mufic, organs, and thofe of ten ftrings, are introduced, with cymbals and dances, into the worship of God; being defigned, in the temple-service, for figures to exprefs that fpiritual worhip, joy, and exultation, which are uttered in har monious concert by the mouths of all the redeemed affembly and church of the firft-born, in the power and communion of the one Spirit; which fame dances, organs, and inftruments of mufic of all kinds were never more to be employed in fuch fervice, after that difpenfation, and earthly economy, whereof they were a part, along with the temple and facrifices, were fet afide and abolished for ever, when the true temple and facrifice, even the Lord Chrift, was come: otherways, if fuch things had been to continue in ufe among the churches of Chrift, we should certainly have had fome precept or example left us by him, or his apoftles, without which, the ufing of them in churches must be as ridiculous abfurdity, fuperftition, and will-worship, as if you were to blow trumpets at the new moon-to circumcife yourself and your fons after the example of Abraham--to prefent yourself with all your family three times a-year before the Lord at Jerufalem-or, after the manner of Jofiah, and upon the fame authority, to make a covenant with the Lord and all the people, according to all the words and manner found written in the book of the law of the Lord by the hand of his fervant Mofes and indeed, in this laft particular piece of Jewish fervice, you will find thoufands, and ten

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thousands of your fellow-fubjects, at their very hearts bloodily in earnest to join you. Such perfons would do well to confider the spirit of the apoftle's doctrine, Gal. v. 15. where we are plainly given to underftand, that, if we acknowledge our obligation in part to bear that yoke and burden, we are bound to the whole; and that the nature of that fame acknowledged part is like the poisonous fly in the apothecary's ointment; Chrift fhall profit us nothing; nay, Chrift fhall be our death, and not our life: for, if light had not come, there had been no condemnation for walking in darknefs. But of this by the bye. -Pfalm cxvi. 10. is applied, 2 Cor. iv. 13. as fpoken by Chrift. So alfo Pfalm cxvii 1. in Rom. xv. II. -Ffaim cxviii. 22. in like manner, Matth. xxi. 42. -And, to mention no more under this head, Pfalm cxix. upon the true application whereof fo much de pends, as for fubftance, in many other places, fo in particular, ver. 139. parallel to Pfalm lxix. 9. is brought by the Holy Ghoft, who leads into all truth, unto the remembrance of the difciples, John ii. 17. as written before-hand of the Lord, the purger of his Father's houfe, My zeal, the zeal of thine houfe hath confumed me, hath eaten me up.' And the very fentence which the Lord paffeth, Matth. vii. 23. upon those whom he there condemns, you read verbatim, ver. 115. of this Pfalm, Depart from me, ye

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that work iniquity.' So you fee this cxixth Pfalm, and the Sermon upon the Mount, are spoken by the fame perfon: and, alas! you are blind, if you do not fee them both running in the fame ftrain and fpirit, explaining, vindicating, establishing the law in that very fenfe in which he alone, who is perfect as his Father is perfect, fulfilled it in his heart, in his life, in his death, according to the perfection of Jehovah's felf. Rejoice, O believer!

Thefe few examples, out of fifty others equally elear, which might have been brought, may fuffice

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