UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 149 



the ' Son of David' who is the principal and real 

 subject. David's complaints against his enemies 

 are the Messiah's complaints David's afflictions 

 are the Messiah's sufferings David's penitential 

 supplications are the petitions of the Mes- 

 siah, under the burden of the imputed guilt of 

 man; and David's songs of triumph are the 

 Messiah's thanksgivings for his victory over sin 

 and death. In short, every part of the book of 

 Psalms has a double object. 



" They go in general under the name of the 

 Psalms of David : he probably gave a regular 

 form to the musical part of the Jewish service ; 

 but there is good reason for supposing them to 

 be the compositions of various authors ; some 

 more ancient than the time of King David, and 

 some of a later age. Of many, he was un- 

 doubtedly the author ; and we know, from his 

 own words, that those of his composition were 

 prophetic ' David, the son of Jesse, the sweet 

 psalmist of Israel, said, the spirit of Jehovah 

 spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.' 



" The psalms are all poems of the lyric kind, 

 that is, adapted to music, but with great variety 

 in the style of composition. Some are simply 

 odes, elegiac, or pathetic, or moral ; but a great 

 proportion of them are a sort of dramatic ode, 

 consisting of dialogues between persons sustain- 

 ing different characters. These persons are fre- 

 quently the Psalmist himself, or the chorus of 



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