Ixxxix. 27. I will make him MY FIRST "BORN, higher than the kings of the earth."

Verse 9. "Thou shalt rule them with an iron sceptre, "And crush them, like a potter's vessel."

For God declares: "I will execute ven66 geance in anger and fury, upon the Gen"tiles, such as they have not heard." Micah v. 15.

Instead of the present Masoretic reading, Dyn, (Terohim, or more fully Dyn, Terōhim, in twenty-eight MSS. Kennicott,) "thou shalt bruise or break them”—from the

;רעע ,in the sense of the Chaldee רוע verb

the Septuagint evidently read with different

points, D, Tirhim, waves auт85, “thou

ποιμανεις αυτές,

"shalt guide or rule them," from the verb,

,רעה

ny, "to feed" as a shepherd his flock *. And the word is used in the sense of severe or rigorous rule, in Jer. xxii. 22. "The wind shall feed on thy pastors"-(compare

*Hence it appears, that however useful the present system of Masoretic punctuation may be, in furnishing the sense of the Jewish Church, at the time it was made; it is by no means to be relied on, in critical cases, such as the prophecies concerning the MESSIAH.

Jer. iv. 12) and in Ezek. xi. 7. “ I fed the "flock of slaughter," or the flock destined for slaughter. In both these cases, the Septuagint rendering is waμave; which is in the present instance supported by the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic; and established beyond a doubt, by a triple reference to this text, Rev. ii. 27, and xii. 5, and xix. 15. And this last passage, Rev. xix. 11-18, (explanatory of Isa. lxiii. 1, 6,) furnishes the fullest and most tremendous commentary on this text, and on the parallel, Ps. cx. 4, descriptive of that dreadful havoc and destruction, that will be inflicted in the day of vengeance, on the adversaries of THE LORD and of HIS CHRIST,-not by David himself, to whom it is utterly inapplicable ;— but by one of inconceivably greater authority, 66 THE ROOT and OFFSPRING OF DAVID." Rev. xxii. 16.

By a striking instance of ominous infatuation, the secret symbol, or watch-word of Voltaire's Antichristian Conspiracy, was the following blasphemy against CHRIST ECRASEZ L'INFAME," Crush the Wretch!!!" who, by a righteous retaliation, will “ crush

"them

“ them like a potter's vessel”—and will" grind "them to powder." Matt. xxi. 44. Luke xx. 18. during the empire of the rejected stone, Dan. ii. 34, 35.

Verse 10.

"Ponder now therefore, O ye

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kings," &c.

From this, to the end, is the Psalmist's solemn exhortation to "the kings and judges "of the earth," to pay the joint worship, or "religious service" and "reverence *" due

,את יהוה

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to," THE LORD," and " [Chald. for 12, Heb.] "THE SON," as they wished to deprecate the judicial vengeance to be inflicted by the latter-who, to his enemies, will be "a consuming fire," Heb. xii. 29; but "the author of eternal life and salvation "to those who obey Him," Acts iii. 15. Heb. v. 9.-" To the end, that All may honour THE SON, according as they honour "THE FATHER: He that honoureth not

They will reverence MY SON"-Matt. xxi. 37."Thou gavest me no kiss”—Luke vii. 45.-" Hail Mas"ter! and kissed him"-Matt. xxvi. 49.-"Neverthe"less, when THE SON OF MAN cometh, will he find FAITH upon the Earth?"-Luke xviii. 8.

"THE SON, honoureth not THE FATHER "who sent Him." John v. 22, 23.

Verse 12." Blessed are all that trust in HIM."

The verb, non, throughout the Old Testament, signifies religious trust, belief, or faith, here recommended towards THE SON, -And accordingly, OUR LORD declares, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in ME," Matt. xi. 6. "For Gon

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so loved the world, that He gave HIS SON, "THE ONLY GENUINE, to the end that

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•

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every believer in Him should not perish, “but have eternal life.” John iii. 16. And OUR LORD thus comforts his desponding disciples; "Let not your heart be troubled: "Believe in GOD, and believe in ME "In MY FATHER's house are many mansions “ —I am going away to prepare a place for you-And will come back and take you to myself:-that where I am, there may ye "be also." John xiv. 1, 3. In the " many "mansions" of bliss, therefore, is reserved, the final reward of the tried " patience and "faith of the Saints" who shall have been “purified” and “perfected" (in humble imitation

66 in

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tation of their great MASTER) by sufferings in this life and who, at his second coming, power and great glory," shall be raised at "the first resurrection," or "resurrection of the just," as "the first fruits," thenceto live and reign with CHRIST;" the Kingdom of GOD shall come, "or prevail on Earth, as in Heaven," during the long prophetic period of " a thousand $6 years" after which, at the end of the world, they are to be translated (as "the

forth when

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quick") alive in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, at the general resurrection of the dead; and so " to be always with THE "LORD," in Heaven, Compare Luke xiv, 14. John v, 24, 29. 1 Thess. iv. 15, 17. Rev. xiii. 10, and xiv, 12, 13, and xx. 4, 15.See this momentous distinction of the Two Resurrections,discussed, in THE INSPECTOR, p. 68, 78, and in THE IRISH PURSUITS OF LITERATURE, Art. Second Thoughts, p. 43, 45.

The devout conclusion of this Hymn, Blessed are all that trust in HIM," is evidently inapplicable to David considered as its object; and aware of this, which is ruin

ous