Lord of life and glory. By their agency, it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief, when he made his soul an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10.

2. Gen. xxii. 16, 18. "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.". The carnal nation of the Jews were hereby made an obvious type of Christ's spiritual Israel, who are a great multitude, which no man can number. The Messiah, who is this seed of Abraham, began to accomplish this prediction when he vanquished the powers of darkness on the cross, and when he began to destroy their kingdom and establish his own on its ruins; and he will complete it in the latter day's glory, when "all dominions shall serve and obey him," Dan. vii. 27.

3. Gen. xlix. 10. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be," &c. This prophecy marks the regal dignity of the tribe of Judah, and its abject situation at the birth of Shiloh, with the utmost historic precision. The legislative authority really did continue in the house of David, and the Asmonean family, till the time of Herod, who slew the infants of Bethlehem. And when Jesus was about ten or twelve years of age, Menelaus, the son of Herod, was deposed, and Judea governed by a pagan proconsul, who deprived the Jews of their power of inflicting capital punishment. With regard to the gathering of the people to the Shiloh, we need only appeal to the early progress of Christianity, and to the promises of its universal diffusion. "Every knee shall bow to him, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

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4. Deut. xviii. 15. "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken,' &c. This prediction is applied to Jesus by Philip, John i. 45.-by Peter, Acts iii. 22.—and by Stephen, vii. 37. and it peculiarly identifies his character. Moses delivered the people from bondage by a cloud of miracles; he instituted the priesthood, and imposed the law with supreme authority; he talked with his Maker face to face, and his countenance reflected the glory of God. Jesus alone has done the same; and this prophecy can be referred to none but him.

5. Psalm ii. " Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." This son cannot be Solomon, for he had no war, nor any of David's sons, for their kingdom was very small. But it applies to Christ, the Son, with peculiar fulness and propriety, and it is adduced by St. Paul to prove his godhead, Heb. i. 5. The former part of the psalm expresses the rage of the Jewish and pagan rulers against Christ, and his servants; and the latter the permanency and extent of his kingdom. The psalm closes with an address to the princes of the earth, entreating them to embrace his mercy, lest his long-suffering should turn to anger, and his slighted mercy into terrible vengeance.

6. Psalm xvi. 10, &c. "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." We cannot place this prophecy

in a happier view than St. Peter has placed it in the second chapter of the Acts. He proves that David could not speak this of himself, because he slept with his fathers, and saw corruption; but being actuated by a spirit of prophecy, and knowing that God had sworn to raise up of his seed the Messiah, he spake of Jesus, whom God raised up the third day from the dead, and seated at his own right hand.

7. Psalm xxii. " My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me? I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him : let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him. They gape upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws : and thou hast brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me about, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me they have pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell; all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots for my But be not thou far from me, O Lord! O my strength, haste thee to help me! Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me (extricating me) from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee."

vesture.

The sacred writings no where inform us of David being in this calamitous situation. That the psalm is prophetic, is apparent from the latter part, where it speaks of the conversion of all nations to the worship and kingdom of the Lord. And the former part is obviously applied by the evangelists to the sufferings of Christ, who prayed in this language in the garden, and on the cross. The Jews, like the unruly bulls of Bashan clamored for his blood, and mocked him at his crucifixion in these very words, Mat. xxvii. 29. 34. His hands and feet

were pierced by the nails: and his bones dislocated when the cross was jirked into the rock. The Roman soldiers parted his raiment, and cast lots for his coat; and he made himself known to his brethren after his resurrection from the dead. The piercing of his hands and feet is more remarkable still; for in that age no such mode of execution was known among the Jews.

8. Psalm xl. 6, 8. " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, lo! I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God! yea thy law is within my heart.' This passage is

quoted by St. Paul, Heb.x. 5, 6. to prove the insufficiency of the ceremonial sacrifices, which were no more than shadows of the oblation of the body of Christ, which was offered up on the cross once for all. By the one offering of himself he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified. That is, he hath perfected the atonement which is the cause both of our justification and sanctification through the good pleasure of God.

9. Psalm xlv. "My heart is enditing a good matter (I speak of things which I have made touching the king,) my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips; therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty! with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness: and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the king's enemies, when the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever! the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with gladness above thy fellows." Transporting were the views which the prophet here had of the majesty and grace of

Christ; the subjugation or destruction of his foes, and the glory of his immovable throne. This psalm cannot be restricted to Solomon, because the epithet, "O God!" is quite too strong; and he had no war. But when applied to Christ, it is correctly true. Besides, the remaining verses speak of the church as his bride; and add, that he should make his “children princes in all the earth." Now we do not read that Solomon had more than one son who wore a diadem; and his reign, by adhering to rash and inexperienced counsellors, was very inauspicious; nor do we read that any of this family ever reigned out of Judea.

10. Psalm Ixviii. 17, 18. " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." From the Lord's ascension in the cloud from Mount Sinai, the prophet is inspired to contemplate his ascension from Mount Olivet; his triumph over sin, and Satan, and death; and the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which he communicated to the rebellious Jews and Gentiles on their conversion to God. So St. Paul has applied this prophecy, Ephesians iv. 8.

11. The whole of the sixty-ninth psalm is prophetic. From the first to the twenty-second verse, we have a striking description of the innocence and sufferings of Christ. It is too long for insertion here, we shall therefore select those expressions on which the greatest emphasis ought to be placed. "I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into the waters where the floods overflow me. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head; they that would destroy me (being mine enemies wrongfully) are mighty. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. They that sit in the gate speak against me, and I was the song of the drunkards. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for com