that goe away all fometimes as empty as they came; nor as others, that are Nodof drawing there auditory with them into deep queftions and dangerous paffages, that howfoever they fuppofe they come of themselves much admired, they leave their auditors many times more than half mired; but this was a good plain fashion, apt to edifie, and eafie to remember; I will repeat one leffon of many, that I remember out of fermons of his, which I can imagine yet I heare him pronouncing, and it was concerning prayer: It is not (faith he) a prayer to God, but a tempting of God, to beg his bleffings, without doing alfo our own endeavours; hall a fcholier pray to God to make him learned, and never goe to his book? shall a husbandman pray for a good harvest, and let his plow ftand ftill: the Pagans, and the heathen people would laugh at fuch devotion. In their fabulous legion they have a tale of Hercules, whom for his ftrength they counted a God; how a carter (forfooth had overthrown his cart, and fate in the way crying, help Hercules, help Hercules; at laft Hercules, or one in his likeneffe came to him, and fwadled him thriftily with a good cudgell, and said, thou varay lazie felly fellow (fo he used to pronounce) calleft thou to me for help; and doft nothing thyfelf? arife, fet to thy fhoulder, and heave thy part, and then pray to me to help thee, and I will doe the reft. And thus much of our good old provoft, who being made a bishop, and of a regifter of the garter becoming now prelate of the garter, enjoying this dignity a very short time, turned his day into night, though no night can oppreffe them that die in the Lord. By the way, I think this worthy the noting, that whereas in Anno Dom. 1486, being the first of King Henry the feventh, it was found that three bishops fucceffively had held this bishoprick fix fcore yeeres fave one, namely, Wickham, Beauford, and Wainfleet. Now in Queen Elizabeth's raigne, there had been feven bishops in forty yeeres, five in feventeen yeeres, and three in four yeeres. Doctor THOMAS BILSON. My author, following his own refolution of forbearing to speak of men now living, or but lately dead; I holding my purpose to speak frankly and truly, as farre as my understanding will ferve me, both of dead and living; I am now comming to speak of the prefent bishop of Winchefter, of whom I finde in this book but foure lines; and if I should give him his due in proportion to the reft, I should spend four leaves. Not that I need make him better known to your highneffe, being (as on just occafion, as I noted before) one of the most eminent of his ranck, and a man that carried prelature in his very afpe&t. His rifing was meerly by his learning, as true prelates fhould rife. Sint non modo labe mali fed fufpicione errantes, not onely free from the fpot, but from the fpeech of corruption. Hee afcended by all degrees of schooles; firft, wherein to win knowledge himfelfe, next whereby to impart it to others, having fonetime taught the schoole that doth juftly boaft of the name of Winchefter, where, if I miftake not, he fucceeded the excellent fcholler and schoolmatter Doctor Johnson, that wrote that forecited poem of Wickham; and having praised all his predeceffors in pretty difticks, he wrote this at the laft in modesty of himfelfe. Ultimus hic ego fum, fed quam benè quam malè nolo Vol. II. Churchm, Mag. March, 1802. R And And accordingly his fucceffor gave this judgement, Ultimus es ratione loci, re primus Johnfon, Wherein Mr. Johnson became truly fortunate, according to the faying, 1 Him fame doth raise, whose praiser merits praise. From school-mafter of Winchefter, he became warden, and having been infinitely ftudious and induftrious in poetry, in philofophy, in phyfick; and laftly, (which his genius chiefly call'd him to) in divinity, he became fo compleat, for fkill in languages, for readineffe in the fathers, for judgement to make ufe of his readings, as he was found to be no longer a fouldier, but a commander in chiefe, in our fpirituall warfare, being firft made bishop of Worcester, and after of Winchester. In the mean season a crew of mutinous fouldiers (a forlorne hope) undertook to furprize one of the twelve fortreffes of our faith, I mean one of the twelve articles of the creed, and ere men were aware they had entered by a poftern, corrupted a watchman or two, thrown down a battlement, and fet up their colours of white and black (black and blew had been fitter for them) publishing a book in print, that Chrift defcended not into hell. The alarum was taken by many faithfull fervitors of the militant church, but many were not found fit for this enterprize, for that was whispered, nay rather publifht in the enemies camp, that fome cowardly fouldiers of our fide had made a motion to have this fort, or part thereof rafed, because there was thought to be perill in defending of it; for fo Campian writes confidently, that Cheyney bishop of Gloucefter had affirmed to him, how that it had been moved in a convocation at London, Quemadmodum fine tumultu penitùs eximatur de Symbolo; how without many words it might be taken out of the creed wholy. But I leave Erafmus eccho to answer it, holy. True it is, there was a hot hot one Mr. Browghton, no cannonere, for he loves no cannons, but that could skill of fuch fireworks, as might feem to put out hell fire; this hot braine having with a petard or two broken open fome old dore, tookę upon him with like powder out of some bafilifk (as I think) to fhoot hades quite beyond funne and moon; fuch a powder-work against all divinity and philofophy, as was never heard of, (alwaies excepting the powder-treafon.) Then this learned bishop, like a worthy leader (that I proceed in this metaphor) with a refolute troop, not of loofe fhot, but gravis armaturæ, arm'd to proofe out of Chrift's armorie, the Old and New Teftament, fathers, doctors, fchoolmen, linguifts, encounters these Lanzbezzadoes, cafts down their colours, repaires up the ruines, beautifies the battlements, rams up the mynes, and makes fuch ravelings, and counterscarfes about this fort, that now none of the twelve may feem more impregnable. Their great inginere, before mentioned, upon griefe of this repulfe, is gone (as I heare) to teach the Jewes Hebrew; God fend him to fcape hades at the end of his journey, Yet in the heat of these fkirmishes there happened an accident worthy to be remembered, and I think by the very devife of the divell. This bishop preaching at Paul's Croffe, upon this article of the creed; and there proving by authority irrefragable, that hell is a place prepared for the divell and his angels; that it is beneath in corde terras terræ, and that Chrift defcended into it. Satan, that knew all this to be true, and was forry to remember it, and witht that none of the auditory could believe it, raised a fudden and caufeleffe feare, by the fraud or folly of fome one auditor. This feare so incredibly poffeft not onely the whole multitude, but the lord major and other lords there, that they verily believed Paul's Church was at that inftant falling down, whereby fuch a tumult was raised, as not only disturbed their devotion and attention, but did indeed put fome of the graveft, wifeft and nobleft of that affembly into evident hazard of their lives, as I have heard of fome of their own mouthes. The bishop not fo difmayed himfelfe, fympathizing in pitty, rather than feare of their caufeleffe difmay, after the tumult was a little pacified, finished his fermon; upon which accident, fome favourers of that opinion make themselves merry with this ftory, that at least that which they could not confute they might seem to contemn. SACRED CRITICISM, No. VI. (Continued from Page 79.) A CRITIQUE ON PSALM LXXXIX. AND ON JOB II. 5. TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE. GENTLEMEN, IN my last letter I endeavoured, and I truft not unfuccessfully, to vindicate the exclufive application of Nathan's original prophecy, 2 Sam. vii. 1-16, to the MESSIAH or CHRIST, as "the feed of David," and to him alone; chiefly by carefully adhering to that golden canon of criticism prescribed by the twentieth article of our church : Not so to expound ONE place of Scripture, that it be REPUGNANT to another." A moft comprehenfive canon indeed, which, in its operation, though flow yet fure, involves all other rules of found and scientific criticism; and is peculiarly requifite for thofe that " Search the Scriptures," if they wifh to become "able ministers both of the letter and of the Spirit" of the divine originals; and to detect those literal errors, miftranslations, and fanciful gloffes, which in fome inftances diminish its luftre and weaken its evidence, arifing from the mistakes of transcribers, tranflators, and commentators.-The SACRED CRITIC is bound" to prove all things," and " cafting down imaginations," to hold fast whatsoever things are good;" without respect of perfons, parties, or fects. I now proceed to examine that admirable commentary thereon, contained in the eightyinth pfalm, unfolding and explaining the concifer oracle delivered to Nathan. This pfalm is entitled, A HYMN OF ETHAN THE EZRAHITE. For the word Mafchil, prefixed to many of these facred odes, fignifies an inftructive poem," and therefore may juftly be rendered " a hymn" conveying religious inftruction. Various and difcordant are the gueffes of the learned touching the writer of this pfalm: Aben Ezra fuppofes that he was the grandfon of Judah, noticed 1 Chron. ii. 6; and Solomon Jarchi makes him out the fon of Abraham himself! 2. Hammond and others, fuppofe that Ethan was not the author; but R 2 that that the names of Ethan, Heman, Afaph, &c. prefixed to feveral of the pfalms, denote only the favourite airs or tunes to which they were set or fung by the facred choir; like York tune or Salisbury tune in our pfalmo dy and improving on the imagination, the Monthly Magazine for laft October, p. 219, has degraded the fweet Pfalmift of Ifrael," David himfelf, into" an excellent harper !" and denied him the credit of com pofing those pfalms that bear his name, and are ascribed to him in the NEW TESTAMENT. 3. Hence a wide field has been opened to the extravagance of conjec ture refpecting its author and its drift. Some fuppofe that it was written by Ifaiah, Jeremiah, or fome fcribe after the captivity; that it related primarily to David, or to Hezekiah, or to Jofiah, or to Jehoiakim, or to Jehoiachin, or to Zedekiah, among thofe that refer it ultimately and chiefly to the MESSIAH: And fuch difcordant reveries difgrace the pages of the most celebrated commentators foreign and domeftic, Aben Ezra, Grotius, Boffart, Michaelis, Docderlin, Knapp, Eichorne, Dathe, Hammond, Dodd, Kennicott, Mudge, Home, &c. 4. Rivalling Profeffor Eichorne, or Doctor Geddes himself in temerity of guefling, the magazine writer in queftion thinks he has difcovered that "the eighty-ninth pfalm was a dirge compofed by Jeremiah the prophet, on the death of king Jofiah, who was killed at Hadadrimmon in battle;' "written with that carping difappointment which pervades every work of Jeremiah, and adapted exactly to the fortunes of King Jofiah :"+ That it began originally at the nineteenth verfe; and ftates his defcent from David, his anointment (v. 20), his refpite (22), his piety (26), his re newal of the covenant (28): Then, with a fomewhat querulous impiety, his defertion by Providence is bewailed: The irruption of Necho (40), the plunder of the land (41), the triumph of the adverfary (42), and the monarch's flight wounded from the battle is detailed: The confequent lofs of the throne (44), his early death (45), at the age of thirty-nine, and the difgrace of his memory, are fucceffively lamented. The poem clofes with another angry expostulation against Providence, as if the king had per→ formed his part of the covenant, and had not been duly feconded by THE LORD whom he worshipped.". Not fatisfied with perverting the drift, and reviling the compofition of this moft fublime and pathetic prophecy of the birth, the glories, and the fufferings of the MESSIAH, which are utterly inapplicable to Jofiah throughout-and, in the alledged "difgrace of his memory," which was always moft highly honoured among the Jews; contradictory to what the author inconfiftently calls, his dirge and which in reality is ftill extant in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: compare chap. 2, 3, and 4, ó. and 5, 6. as recorded 2 Chron. 35, 25. and confirmed by Jofephus, Ant. 10, 5, 1. p. 441. Hudfon. Ιερεμίας ο προφητης επικηδιον αυτε συνέταξε ΜΕΛΟΣ ΘΡΗΝΗΤΙΚΟΝ, ο και ΜΕΧΡΙ ΝΥΝ ΔΙΑΜΕΝΕΙ. Jeremiah, the prophet, compofed his dirge, an elegiac poem [the Lamentations] which fubfift's even until now"-this whimfical, and malignant leveller and defamer of Holy Writ, to fupplant the authority of the principal prophetic pfalms of David characteristic of THE MESSIAH, attributed them to Jeremiah as the author, and ftrangely diftorts their drift: Thus, for inftance, in his jaundiced * See the INSPECTOR, p. 134, &c. Strictures on EICHORNE; and p. 124, &c. -151, &c. Strictures on GEDDES. It comes within our knowledge that Dr. Geddes was, himself, the doer of thefe remarks in the Magazine alluded to. EDITORS. ima "this imagination, Pf. 69, 8. alludes to "Jeremiah's (fictitious) quarrel with But to proceed, from this farrago of nonfenfe and blafphemy, to the Pfalm itself: PSALM LXXXIX. A HYMN OF ETHAN THE EZRAHITE. I. 1. Thy mercies, O LORD, will I fing for ever; with my mouth 2. will I declare thy faithfulness from generation to generation: For thou faidft, [thy] mercy fhould be built up for ever; and thy faithfulness, eftablished in the very heavens : 3. "I have made a covenant with my Chofen; I have fworn unto 4. David my fervant: Thy feed wil I eftablish for ever, and build up thy throne from generation to generation." 5. The heavens fhall praife thy wonders, O LORD; the faints alfo, 6. thy faithfulness, in the congregation: For who in the heaven can be compared unto THE LORD? [Who] among the Sons of God can be 7. likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the Council of the Saints, and to be reverenced above all that are round about Him: 8. O LORD GOD OF HOSTS who is like unto Thee! O MIGHTY 9. LORD, even thy faithfulness is round about Thee! Thou ruleft the raging of the fea; Thou ftilleft the fwelling of the waves thereof 10. Thou didft fubdue, as a warrior, the pride [of Egypt]: Thou didft 11. fcatter thine enemies with thy mighty arm: The heavens are thine, the earth alfo is thine; Thou haft founded the world, and all that 12. therein is: Thou haft made the North and the South; Tabor [weft18. ward] and Hermon [eaftward] fhall rejoice in thy name. Thou haft an arm endued with might. Strong is thy hand, and high, thy 14. right hand. Juftice and judgment are the foundation of thy throne, mercy and truth go before thy face. 15. Bleffed are the people that know how to praise Thee, O Lord; 16. they fhall walk in the light of thy countenance: in thy name thall 17. they daily rejoice, and in thy righteousness fhall they be exalted: For Thou art the glory of their ftrength, and in thy loving kindness fhall 18. our horn be exalted: For THE LORD is our fhield, and the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, our king. II. 19. Thou fpakest sometime in vifion unto thy faints, and faidft: "I have reposed aid upon THE MIGHTY [One] I have exalted 20. THE CHOSEN out of the people: I have found THE BELOVED, my 21. fervant; with my holy oil have I anointed Him: Wherefore my hand Shall be established with Him; my arm alfo fhall firengthen Him: 22. The enemy fhall not deceive Him, nor the fon of wickedness, fubdue 23. Him: And I will crush his foes before Him, and fmite them that 24. hate Him: My faithfulness alfo and my mercy fhall be with Him; 25. And in my name fhall his horn be exalted: And I will fet his hand on 26. the fea, and his right hand on the rivers: He shall call on Me, Thor |