304 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1870- 



enjoyed did not interfere with the law that all sanctifica- 

 tion is gradual, so neither did they violate the law that 

 all revelation is gradual. And so we are always apt to 

 go wrong if we begin to draw inferences from the Psalms 

 without clearly keeping in view the amount of light that 

 the writers possessed. But in public teaching one must 

 draw inferences. It is impossible, even were it desirable, 

 to remain wholly in the region of subjective devotional 

 feeling. And the moment one begins to argue, to general 

 ise, to theologise, every step must be guarded by the 

 closest scientific study. It will never do to be content to 

 deal with proof-texts at haphazard, just as we can draw 

 them from so varied a collection as our Psalms. The 

 subjective fitness of each utterance in the Psalter can form 

 the basis for an objective theological inference only when 

 the relations of the utterance, not only to the textual 

 context but to the whole position of the singer, are clearly 

 laid down. And so it comes about that the Psalms, 

 though the plainest of all books for purposes of simple 

 devotion, demand in those who would use them for 

 teaching a patient labour, a clearness of judgment, an 

 exactness of analysis of the very highest kind. Every 

 individual Psalm, which for the most part is found stand 

 ing as an isolated fragment, must be again built into its 

 place in the historical and theological development of the 

 old Covenant, into its place in the spiritual life of the 

 singer, before we can exhaust its meaning. It is, of course, 

 not often possible, and not often necessary, to give exact 

 place and date of authorship ; but at least we must 

 always aim at a historical exposition to the extent of 

 reconstructing in as full detail as may be the kind of 

 circumstances and experience from which the Psalm 

 sprang, and the general state of the Church s growth at 

 the time. The precise degree of exactness with which 

 these desiderata can be satisfied cannot, of course, appear 

 even approximately till we have made some way in 

 discussing the various questions of introduction to which 



