evangelical writers. The sacred character of the whole book is established by the testimony of our Saviour and his apostles, who, in various parts of the New Testament, appropriate the predictions of the Psalms as obviously apposite to the circumstances of their lives, and as intentionally preconcerted to describe them."-"The veneration for the Psalms has in all ages of the church been considerable. The fathers assure us, that in the earlier times the whole book of Psalms was generally learnt by heart; and that the ministers of every gradation were expected to be able to repeat them from memory."-" These invaluable Scriptures are daily repeated without weariness, though their beauties are often overlooked in familiar and habitual perusal. As hymns immediately addressed to the Deity, they reduce righteousness to practice; and while we acquire the sentiments, we perform the offices of piety; as while we supplicate for blessings, we celebrate the memorial of former mercies; and while in the exercise of devotion, faith is enlivened by the display of prophecy."-" Josephus asserts, and most of the antient writers maintain, that the Psalms were composed in metre. They have undoubtedly a peculiar conformation of sentences, and a measured distribution of parts. Many of them are elegiac, and

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and most of David's are of the lyric kind. There is no sufficient reason, however, to believe, as some writers have imagined, that they were written in rhyme, or in any of the Grecian measures. Some of them are acrostic; and though the regulations of the Hebrew measure are now lost, there can be no doubt, from their harmonious modulation, that they were written with some kind of metrical order; and they must have been composed in accommodation to the measure to which they were set. The Masoretic writers have marked them in a manner different from the other sacred writings. The Hebrew copies and the Septuagint version of this book, contain the same number of Psalms; only the Septuagint translators have, for some reason which does not appear, thrown the ninth and tenth into one, as also the 114th and 115th; and have divided the 116th and 147th each into two (f)."

"The Proverbs, as we are informed at the beginning and in other parts of the book, were written by Solomon, the son of David, a man, as the sacred writings assure us, peculiarly endued with divine wisdom. Whatever ideas of his superior understanding we may be led to form by the particulars recorded of his judg

(f) Gray,

ment

ment and attainments, we shall find them amply justified, on perusing the works which remain in testimony of his abilities. This enlightened monarch, being desirous of employing the wisdom which he had received to the advantage of mankind, produced several works for their instruction: of these, however, three only were admitted into the canon of the sacred writ by Ezra, the others being either. not designed for religious instruction, or so mutilated by time and accident, as to have been judged imperfect. The book of Proverbs, that of Ecclesiastes, and that of the Song of Solomon, are all that remain of him, who is related to have spoken 3000 proverbs, whose songs were 1005, and who spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; who spake also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes.' If, however, many valuable writings of Solomon have perished, we have reason to be grateful for what still remains. Of hist proverbs and songs the most excellent have been providențially preserved; and as we possess his doctrinal and moral works, we have no right to murmur at the loss of his physical and philosophical productions (g)." The book of (g) Gray. Proverbs

Proverbs may be considered as divided into five parts; the first part consists of the first nine chapters, which are a kind of preface, and contain general cautions and exhortations from a teacher to his pupil. The second part extends from the beginning of the tenth chapter, to the 17th verse of the 22d chapter, and contains what may strictly and properly be called Proverbs, given in short unconnected sentences, and adapted to the instruction of youth. In the third part, which reaches from the 17th verse of the 22d chapter to the end of the 24th chapter, the pupil is addressed in the second person as being present; and the precepts are delivered in a less sententious and more connected style. The fourth part extends from the beginning of the 25th to the end of the 29th chapter, and consists of "Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out," that is, selected from a much greater number. Who these "men of Hezekiah" were, we are not told; but they were probably "the prophets whom he employed to restore the service and writings of the church, as Eliakim, and Joab, and Shebnah, and probably Hosea, Micah, and even Isaiah, who all flourished in the reign of that monarch, and doubtless co-operated with his endeavours to re-establish true reli gion among the Jews. These proverbs, indeed, appear

appear to have been selected by some collectors after the time of Solomon, as they repeat some which he had previously introduced in the former part of the book (h)." The fifth part consists of the 30th and 31st chapters, the former of which contains "the words of Agur the son of Jakeh," and the latter "the words of king Lemuel, that his mother taught him;" but we are not informed either here, or in any other part of Scripture, when or where Agur or Lemuel lived. Indeed many of the antient fathers considered these chapters also as the work of Solomon, and were of opinion, that he intended to describe himself under the names of Agur and Lemuel; but this is a point which must be left in uncertainty. There are in this book many beautiful descriptions and personifications; the diction is highly polished; and there is a concise and energetic turn of expression, which is peculiar to this species of writing.

The book of Ecclesiastes is called "The Words of the Preacher, the son of David king of Jerusalem," that is, of Solomon, who, from the great excellency of his instructions, was emphatically styled the Preacher. The author also describes his wisdom, his riches, his writings, and his works, in a manner applicable only to Solo(h) Gray.

mon;