"The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof; "The world, and all that inhabit therein.

"For upon the seas hath he founded it,

And upon the floods hath he established it."

How astonishing the favour and condescension! how extraordinary the testimony of his love, when he selected from his infinite dominion a peculiar seat, and a people for himself! What a copious return of gratitude, of holiness, of righteousness, and of all human virtues, does such an obligation demand!" Behold," says Moses, addressing the Israelites, "the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is Jehovah's, thy 'God, the earth also, and all that it containeth. Only he had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and their posterity after them, and he chose you above all people as it is this day day*" Such is evidently the reasoning of David in the following passage, though the chain of argument is not quite so directly displayed:

"Who shall ascend unto the mountain of Jehovah; "And Who shall stand in the seat of his holiness? "He 'whose hands are innocent, and whose heart is

pure:

'Deut. x. 14-16.

"Who hath not put his trust in vanity, "Nor sworn for the purpose of deceit. "He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah, "And righteousness from the God of his salvation. "This is the generation that seeketh him; "That seeketh the face of the God of Jacob."

Thus far is expressive, on the one hand, of the infinite goodness, and condescension of God to the children of Israel; and, on the other hand, of their indispensable obligation to piety and virtue; since he had deigned to make their nation the peculiar seat of his miraculous providence, and to honour them with his actual presence. We may now conceive the procession to have arrived at the gates of the tabernacle. While the ark is brought in, the Levites, divided into two choirs, sing alternately the remainder of the psalm. Indeed, it is not impossible that this mode of singing was pursued through every part of the ode; but towards the conclusion the fact will not admit of a doubt. On the whole, whether we regard the subject, the imagery, or style of this composition, it will be found to possess a certain simple and unaffected (and therefore admirable) sublimity:

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates!

"And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!

"And the king of glory shall enter.
"Who is this king of glory?

"Jehovah mighty and powerful,

"Jehovah powerful in war.

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

"And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!

"And the king of glory shall enter.

"Who is this king of glory?

"Jehovah of hosts, he is the king of glory."

You will easily perceive, that the beauty and sublimity observable in this psalm are of such a peculiar kind as to be perfectly adapted to the subject and the occasion, and to that particular solemnity for which it was composed. You will perceive too, that unless we have some respect to these points, the principal force and elegance will be lost; and even the propriety of the sentiments, the splendour of the diction, the beauty and order of the arrangement, will be almost totally obscured. If such be the state of the case in this single instance, it is surely not unreasonable to conclude, that it is not the only one which stands in need of the light of history to cast a splendour on its beauties. It is surely not unreasonable to infer, that much of the harmony, propriety, and elegance of the sacred poetry must pass unperceived by us,

who can only form distant conjectures of the general design, but are totally ignorant of the particular application*. Thus, of necessity, much of the delicacy of sentiment, much of the felicity of allusion, and the force of expression, must, by the hand of time, be cast into shade; or rather, I should say, totally suppressed and extinguished. The attentive reader will, indeed, frequently feel a want of information, concerning the author, the age, and the occasion of a poem; still more frequently will he find occasion to lament his own ignorance with respect to many facts and circumstances closely connected with the principal subject, and on which, perhaps, its most striking ornaments depend. Lowтн, Lect. 27.

The sudden change of persons, when, by the vehemence of passion, the author is led, as it were

* I wish most earnestly, says Michaelis, that this observation of our autho might be properly attended to by the commentators upon the psalms: since whoever neglects it must of necessity fall into very gross errors. .... Those who will not allow themselves to be ignorant of a great part of the Jewish history, will be apt to explain more of the psalms upon the same principle, and as relating to the same facts, than they ought: whence the poetry will appear tame and languid, abounding in words, but with little variety of deseription, or sentiment,

insensibly, from the narration of an event to the imitation on acting of it, is frequent in the Hebrew poetry; but sometimes the genuine dramatic, or dialogue form, is quite apparent, and the passage will admit of no other explanation. The twentyfourth psalm is evidently of this kind, relating (as I endeavoured in my twenty-seventh lecture to prove) to the transferring of the ark to Mount Sion; and the whole of the transaction is exhibited in a theatrical manner, though the dialogue is not fully obvious till towards the conclusion of the poem-LowтH, Lect. 30.

Amongst the various and beautiful instances of an assemblage of figures, which may be produced, and which so frequently occur in the best writings, one, I believe, has hitherto not been taken notice of; I mean the four last verses of the twenty-fourth psalm.

* Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is the king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battles. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is the king of glory? The Lord of

hosts: he is the king of glory."

There are innumerable instances of this kind in