1874] CRITICAL STUDY OF THE PSALTER 299 



fit to be a teacher from Scripture who does not study the 

 Bible devotionally, no man is fit to teach whose study is 

 merely devotional, or devotional and rhetorical. On this 

 point there is current so much practical confusion of 

 mind, and the temptations to neglect strict scientific study 

 in premature pursuit of a practical readiness in preaching 

 to which you are exposed during your divinity studies are 

 so many, that you will allow me to point out with reference 

 to the Psalter the grounds for insisting that you should all 

 habituate yourselves to the practice of a strict scientifical 

 and critical examination of Scripture as the necessary 

 groundwork for all really profitable teaching. 



That which commends the Psalter to us as an authori 

 tative book is, of course, its inspiration. But what is 

 it that this inspiration guarantees ? You will perhaps 

 reply infallibility. But that is still a very vague term in 

 its application to a book like the Psalter, in which the 

 communication of matter of fact or religious doctrine is 

 quite subordinate to the expression of religious feeling. 

 On the other hand, it appears from what we have already 

 said that the test at least of the Canonical quality of the 

 Psalter which practically guided the formation of the 

 collection, which commended it to the Old Testament 

 Church and commends it with the authority of Christ 

 Himself to the Church of the New Testament, is its fitness 

 to serve at all times as a model and perfect image of the 

 Spirit of true devotion. The Psalms, that is, are the 

 utterances of men who had learned by the Spirit rightly to 

 understand God s redeeming voice to them, and rightly 

 to return answer thereunto. And because God s voice in 

 revelation brings in all ages though not always with 

 equal clearness the same message of love and grace, so 

 in all ages the right answer of faith must breathe the same 

 spirit and be based on the same model, and the Christian 

 can never be wrong in expressing his devotional feelings 

 in the language of the Psalms. 



But when we begin to teach from the Psalms the case 



