they leave the marks of their teeth. From close observation, I am convinced that all the serpents thus exhibited have their poisonous fangs extracted; and the Psalmist seems to have had his eye on this circumstance, when he says, 'Break their teeth.' "Living animals have been repeatedly offered to the serpentcharmer for his serpents to bite; but he would never allow it, because he knew no harm would ensue. It is, however, granted that some of these men believe in the power of their charms; and no one can doubt that serpents in their wild state are affected by the influence of music. One of these men once went with his serpents, and charmed them before a friend of mine who was an officer in the civil service. After some time the gentleman said, "I have a cobra-capella in a cage; can you charm him?" "O yes!" said the charmer. The cage was opened, when the serpent came out of it, and the man began his charms and incantations. But the reptile ruthlessly fastened on his arm, and he died before night."

Explained by the light of these facts, the language of the Psalm in question is divested of its harshness, and receives a very pertinent meaning.

In verse 10 of the same Psalm, the language seems, at first view, still more vengeful: "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." The same figure is employed in Psalm lxviii, 23: "That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies." But the metaphor is explained, and the language alleviated of its severity, when it is considered that the imagery, in both cases, is taken from the actual scenes of a battle-field. The Israelites, or the righteous, are supposed to be in a state of actual war with their enemies, who are always regarded by the Psalmist in the light of unrighteous persecutors, and enemies of God. In the conflict, God shall interfere for the defence of the right; the enemy shall be vanquished, and shall flee; and in the pursuit, the righteous "shall wash his feet in their blood," as they victoriously tread the blood-stained field. The language simply amounts to a declaration of complete victory; and the washing of feet in blood is a poetic description, that is, simply a poetic exaggeration of the fact, that in treading the battle-field in the pursuit of their vanquished enemies, their feet shall be stained or wet with blood.

The moral ends of the imprecations (if such they may be called) of this Psalm are stated in verses 10, 11. "The righte ous shall rejoice when he seeth vengeance. . . . and a man shall say, Verily there is fruit to the righteous; verily there is a God judging in the earth." Beyond this manifestation of God's righteous character in the proper reward of the faithful and punishment of the wicked, the Psalmist had no object in view. All his imprecations, therefore, must be modified and explained in harmony with these principles.

The same applies to Psalm lix. In Psalm lxix, we meet with other expressions of severity; but we find in verse 4 that, as usual, his enemies were "wrongfully" so, and that to conciliate them, the Psalmist had "restored that which he took not away." He feared also that the example of his sufferings would discourage the piety of others, (verse 6,) exactly as the apostle was exercised in regard to the Church, when he himself was called to sore persecutions. 1 Thessalonians iii, 1-5. The Psalmist's cause was also the cause of God, (verses 7, 9,) and through his deliverance and the overthrow of his enemies, he anticipated a new impulse to the joy and faith of the pious, so that the weakest and humblest saint would learn to trust God. Verses 32, 33.

Psalm cix may be denominated emphatically the imprecatory Psalm. It is not necessary, however, to enter into a lengthened examination of its contents. The principles already stated apply to the Psalmist here, and to the elucidation of the moral tone of the Psalm. The criticism of Bishop Horsley applies to all the maledictory Psalms, namely, that the verb is to be construed in the future tense indicative, and not in the imperative, which makes the sense of the Psalmist declarative of what shall be, and not expressive of a wish that it might be. Thus, for instance, instead of "When he shall be judged, let him be condemned," read "When he shall be judged, he shall be condemned." Instead of "Set thou a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand," read "Thou shalt set a wicked man over him; and an adversary shall stand at his right hand." In all the imprecations, or rather solemn predictions of curses, which this Psalm contains, there is a remarkable adherence to the great principle of the Mosaic law, and of all law founded in exact justice-the principle of equiva

lents. "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." This is the pervading sentiment of Psalm cix. David asks, or predicts, that his deadly foe, the author of all his calamities, should be placed in exactly the condition to which he himself had been reduced by the unprovoked malice of his enemies. Eternal justice would sooner or later mete it out and David solemnly forestalls and utters the law's vindictive sentence. His enemy had spoken against him "with a lying tongue;" "fought against him without cause;" "for his love" his persecutors "had become his enemies ;" and "they rewarded him evil for good, and hatred for his love." Ver. 2-5. "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shown no mercy," says an inspired apostle. James ii, 13. "As he loved cursing," says David, "so let it come [it shall so come] unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be [it shall so be] far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing as with a garment, so let it [so shall it] come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be [it shall be] unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually." . . . "Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart." Verses 16-19.

His enemy (the inhuman Doeg, see Introduction to Psalm cix) had been the wicked cause of the destruction of the good Abimelech's house, and of driving David out, an alien from home and kindred, an exile from his country, and as a vagabond from society, to seek his precarious and scanty living in the deserts of Judah. Verses 10-13 exactly execrate this conduct. What Doeg was to David, the "adversary," verse 6, should be to Doeg. The unjust sentence of death which Saul had pronounced against David, setting a price upon his head and declaring him an outlaw and a traitor, should be revisited upon the head of the wicked instigator of the decree. Verse 7. If David's plea for mercy and protestation of innocence had been construed into hypocritical pretence and artful duplicity, by the jealous Saul and his crafty courtiers, so, in their turn, in the day of their calamity, "should their prayer become sin." Verse 7. Thus, throughout, the principle of equivalents is kept in view, and a just rendering from the hand of the supreme Judge foretold.

It must also be considered that here, as everywhere, David identifies himself with the cause of truth and righteousness. It is not for his own sake alone that he asks or predicts these vindicatory judgments, but that the righteous providence of God might be made manifest, and might be feared: "that they may know that this is thy hand; and thou, Lord, hast done it." Verse 27. David, too, as the Lord's "servant," (verse 28,) "would greatly praise the Lord with his mouth; yea, he would praise him among the multitude." Verse 30. It would then appear that God "would stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul," (verse 31,) and those of feebler virtue and weaker faith would be encouraged to trust the Lord, while the wicked should be awed and their pride humbled.

Psalm cxxxvii, 7-9, contains severe execrations upon Babylon and Edom. "The Psalmist," says Hengstenberg, "only prays for that which the Lord had often declared was to be done; what lay grounded on the eternal laws of the recompensing divine righteousness." "It is to be noticed," says Calvin, "that the prophet does not here rashly break out into curses and threats, but that he only acts as a divine herald to confirm former predictions." (See the Introduction to this Psalm.) In addition to the general principles heretofore adduced, it is only necessary to present the particular character of Edom, and its brutal hostility to Judah in that last sanguinary war, and the Divine plan and purpose of retribution, as set forth by the prophets. Obadiah; Jeremiah xlix, 7–22; Lamentations iv, 21, 22; Ezekiel xxv, 12-14; which the reader is earnestly requested to examine.

In Psalm cxl, 10, is a denunciatory prayer or prediction, which, separated from the other parts of the Psalm, would seem dictated by malevolence. But, as usual, David's enemy was so "without cause," and his own cause was the cause of God. He would have the wicked defeated, "lest they exalt themselves," (verse 8,) and also that "the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor might be maintained," (verse 12,) and that "the righteous may give thanks unto his name, and dwell in his presence." Verse 13.

The reader of the so-called imprecatory Psalms, must not take the detached expressions of execration and look at them

apart from all associating circumstances under which they were uttered, and apart from all those principles of rewarding justice which underlie and support the government of God and the whole moral structure of society, nor apart from the theocratic principles of the Hebrew government. To do so would be trifling with laws of sound criticism no less than with principles of true morality. When a wicked man is brought to justice by human government, all virtuous and rightly disposed persons rejoice at it, not from malice or inhumanity of feeling, but, contrariwise, from love of personal rights and protection, from benevolence, and the love of the best interests of society.* In contemplating the language of the Divine judicial admonitions in Holy Scripture, we must enter deep down into the nature and effects of sin and holiness, both upon general government and individual character, and estimate things with something of the perceptions and feelings of the divine mind.

It should be observed here that Dr. Sykes, Dr. Kennicott, Michaelis, Mr. Greene, and others, have considered the imprecations of Psalm cix to have been uttered by David's enemies against him. As if verse 6 should read, "Set thou, say they, a wicked man over him," &c. Dr. Clarke seems to favour the hypothesis, though he does not adopt it. With considerable plausibility it has been urged in favour of this view,

1. That in verse 20, instead of reading, "Let this be the

* I cannot forbear the following little incident that occurred the other morning at family worship. I happened to be reading one of the imprecatory Psalms, and as I paused to make a remark, my little boy, a lad of ten years, asked me with some earnestness: "Father, do you think it right for a good man to pray for the destruction of his enemies like that?" and at the same time referred me to Christ as praying for his enemies. I paused a moment to know how to shape the reply so as to fully meet and satisfy his inquiry, and then said, "My son, if an assassin should enter the house by night, and murder your mother, and then escape, and the sheriff and citizens were all out in pursuit, trying to catch him, would you not pray to God that they might succeed and arrest him, and that he might be brought to justice?" "Oh, yes!" said he, "but I never saw it so before. I did not know that that was the meaning of these Psalms." "Yes," said I, "my son, the men against whom David prays were bloody men, men of falsehood and crime, enemies to the peace of society, seeking his own life, and unless they were arrested and their wicked devices defeated, many innocent persons must suffer." The explanation perfectly satisfied his mind.