CONTENTS of the FOREIGN ARTICLES,

in the APPENDIX to this Volume.

N. B. For the CONTENTS of the Foreign Articles in the Cor-

RESPONDENCE, inferted in the Reviews for March and May,

Jee the GENERAL INDEX, with which they are incorporated.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For JANUARY, 1777.

ART. I. A Commentary on the Book of Pfalms. In which the literal, or historical Senfe, as they relate to King David, and the People of Ifrael, is illuftrated; and their Application to Meffiah, to the Church, and to Individuals, as Members thereof, is pointed out: With a View to render the Ufe of the Pfalter pleafing and profitable to all Orders and Degrees of Chriftians. By George Horne, D. D. Prefident of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majefty. 4to. 2 Vols. 11. Is. Boards. Oxford printed. London, fold by Rivington, &c. 1776.

HE acknowledged antiquity of the books of the Old Teftament alone recommends them to our high regard 3 and when they are confidered as containing a divine revelation, it will not appear furprifing that they have employed the ftudious attention of those among the learned, who were beft acquainted with them; and that they have been productive of many other volumes. The Pfalms are an admirable collection of ancient poetry, and, viewed in that light only, are highly to be valued: but they are ineftimable, on account of the religious and moral purposes which they are calculated to promote. They have accordingly met with many expofitors. The ancients, as this Writer properly obferves, were chiefly employed in making fpiritual or evangelical applications of them. The moderns have fet themselves to inveftigate with diligence, and afcertain with accuracy, their literal fcope and meaning. Piety and devotion, he adds, characterize the writings of the ancients; the commentaries of the moderns difplay more learning and judgment. To bring them in fome degree together, is the defign of the work before us, in which the Author has not laboured to point out what feemed wrong in either, but to extract what he judged to be right from both; to make, fays he, the annotations of the latter, a ground-work for imVOL. LVI. provements

B

provements like thofe of the former; and thus to conftruct an edifice folid as well as fpecious.

Dr. Horne expreffes, in ftrong terms, the respect and gratitude due from all lovers of the facred writings, to thofe who have laboured in the field of literal criticism; of whofe works he has endeavoured to avail himself: but he apprehends that the fpiritual fenfe has not been fufficiently attended to; and this confideration, we are told, gave birth to the present Commentary.

By the fpiritual fenfe, this Writer does not merely understand that natural expofition and application of the Pfalmift's expreffions and fentiments by which the piety of the Reader may be awakened and cherished, and he may be comforted and animated according to his circumftances and duties: but he means by this phrafe, the prophetical or mystical fenfe; fuppofing, in the words of one of the Fathers, that," almost all the Pfalms are spoken in the person of Chrift, being addreffed by the Son to the Father, that is by Chrift to God."

Such is this Writer's general notion, and on this idea he preceeds, not wholly neglecting what he terms the literal fenfe, though attending principally to the other.

Where, fays he, the literal fenfe was plain, it is noticed only fo far as was nect ffary to make an application, or form a reflexion. Where there appeared any obfcurity, or difficulty, recourfe was had to the beft critics, and that folution which feemed the most fatisfac'tory, given in the concifeft manner. Much labour hath here been beltowed, where little appears. The plan of every Pfalm hath been attentively studied, with the connection and dependence of its parts, which it is the defign of the argument, to each pfalm, to exhibit in one view, and of the Commentary to purfue and explain from beginning to end.The refult of fuch critical inquiries as were found neceffary to be made, is given in as few words as poffible; often, only by inferting into a verfe, or fubjoining to it, that fenfe of a word, or phrafe, which feemed, on mature deliberation, to be the best; as it was deemed improper to clog, with prolix difquifitions of this kind, a work intended for general ufe. The Reader will, however, reap the benefit of many fuch, which have been carefully confulted for him. And he will not, it is prefumed, have reafon to complain, that any verfe is paffed over without a tolerably confiftent interpretation, and fome ufeful improvement.'

But the Chriftian redemption is, Dr. Horne apprehends, the chief fubject of thefe divine hymns; which for the greater part are to be confidered as the language of Chrift and his Church. To fupport this fentiment, he alleges feveral confiderations; fuch as that, the ancient Jews were taught to regard the Meffiah as the capital object of the Pfalter; that the primitive Fathers of the Chriftian Church united in fuch an explication; and above all, that many paffages are cited from hence by Chrift and his apoftles, and applied in this manner.

Whatever

Whatever may be the opinion of those who perufe his volumes, the pious and learned Writer expreffes, in a very strong manner, the fatisfaction he has found in compofing them. On this topic he speaks with a kind of enthufiafm, and breaks out in the following rhapfody:

"Could the Author flatter himself, that any one would have half the pleasure in reading the following expofition, which he hath had in writing it, he would not fear the lofs of his labour. The employment detached him from the bustle and hurry of life, the din of politics, and the noife of folly; vanity and vexation flew away for à feason, care and difquietude came not near his dwelling. He arose, fresh as the morning to his task; the filence of the night invited him to purfue it; and he can truly fay that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every Pfalm improved infinitely on his acquaintance with it, and no one gave him uneafinefs but the laft; for then he grieved that his work was done. Happier hours than those which have been spent in these meditations on the fongs of Sion, he never expects to fee in this world. Very pleasantly did they pafs, and moved fmoothly and fwiftly along; for, when thus engaged, he counted no time. They are gone, but have left a relish and a fragrance on the mind, and the remembrance of them is fweet.'

We congratulate the Author on the pleafure he has received from an employment, fo well fuited to his character and ftation, especially in the retirement of a college. How far his judgment, as to the application of the greater part of the Pfalms, is confonant with the TRUTH, we do not pretend to determine. The double fenfe of prophecy, is in itself a difficulty, but it seems that its reality cannot but be admitted by confiftent believers in a revelation. It has found able advocates of later years; from fome of whofe writings, fuch as thofe of Lord Bacon, Bp. Chandler, Bp. Lowth, Dr. Hurd, Mr. Merrick, and Mr. Mudge, pertinent quotations are here produced. Thefe authors (to whom feveral others might be added, as, particularly, the learned Mr. Pierce of Exeter) fupport the interpretation of fome Pfalms from which citations are made in the New Teftament as prophetical of Chrift, and fome of these writers, to whom may be added, as quoted in this performance, the great Erasmus and Dr. Allix, favour that more general expofition of the Pfalms, in this manner, for which Dr. Horne pleads, and on which his commentary proceeds.

But though it fhould be allowed that there are hymns in this collection written under the influence of the fpirit of prophecy, which, enveloped in a kind of allegory, predict gospel times and events, it is not eafy to admit that fuch a fentiment should be extended in the degree to which it is carried by this Commentator. There are paffages cited in the New Testament which may receive a good fenfe as illuftrated, or fulfilled, under the Chriftian difpenfation, while they might not