OBSERVATIONS ON THE 107th PSALM.

This admirable composition is second perhaps to none of the sacred' odes, in luminous arrangement, in justness of imagery, in suavity of style, and in all the graces which flow from a happy distribution of subject. It has been classed by Bishop Lowth among the Hebrew Idyls, as distinguished by intercalary verses. And, on a close comparison, it will be found also to resemble the Pindaric ode: some of its divisions bearing no slight analogy to the Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode of the Greeks; whilst it exhibits a fertility of invention, a quickness of transition, a conciseness and sententiousness of style, similar but superior, to what have been accounted the characteristic, excellencies of the Theban bard. We may particularly affirm of this poem, that it is eminently distinguished by that judicious selection, and happy combination, of the most appropriate, and natural circumstances, which Longinus ranks among the great

sources of the sublime.

This ode naturally distributes itself into three unequal divisions.

1. The Proem, or introduction; inviting the children of Israel to, celebrate the manifold mercies of Jehovah.

II. The Narration, or general statement of the subject; which, in four stanzas of similar construction, evinces the goodness of God by his affording present help to those who devoutly seek it: 1. To wanderers in a desert, oppressed with hunger and thirst; 2. to those bound in

Prison; 3. to persons languishing in, sickness; 4. to mariners in danger of shipwreck.

III. A Choral Hymn of praise, giving a nearer view, and a more minute detail, of those providential mercies which peculiarly respected the children of Israel.

The Proem speaks for itself.

In the Narration, towards the middle of each stanza, there is an intercalary couplet, which most beautifully and emphatically marks the transition froin extreme distress, to deliverance, and joyful triumph; and which is uniformly followed by two or more lines stating, the precise nature, and absolute fulness, of the relief afforded. To this most naturally succeeds another intercalary couplet expressing the great end and object of the. object of the poem,

And his wonders wrought, in favour of men. Let them praise Jehovah for his mercy, Each stanza then closes with a bas ried couplet in the two first reca- i pitulating God's mercy; in the two last, exciting men, by amplified exhortation, to celebrate that mercy.

The Choral Hymn is most judi- ! ciously distributed into smaller portions; and is thus at once adapted' to a more minute and special detail of circumstances, as well as to the purposes of alternate recitation. That this branch of the poem is in reality a Choral Hymn, I conceive, may be pronounced from the strongest internal evidence. praise of Jehovah is the great object. of the sacred poet; he never loses sight of it: the Proem is a most animated and heart-awakening invi

The

tation to this praise; each succeeding stanza not only renews the invitation, but so affectingly exhibits the divine goodness, that every hearer of common sensibility must feel an inward disposition for acts of praise; and the fourth stanza es pecially, concludes with this requisition of gratitude and joy:

"Let them praise Jehovah for his goodness, And his wonders wrought in favour of men; And let them exalt him, in the assembly of the people,

"

And in the council of the elders, let them extol him!"

.1

What then could be more natural, what more accordant with the great design of the Psalmist, than that the whole congregation should immediately break forth in singing:-that the elders, from their division of the temple, and the people in their places, should alternately chaunt the succeeding quatrains; and that both should unite, with pious exultation, in the concluding couplet, which most emphatically conveys the moral of this noble ode?

It remains to be observed, that in the two first stanzas of the Narration, there are beautiful references to the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness, and to the Babylonish captivity. It is curious, that these great events are absolutely specified in the Chaldee paraphrase; which thus speaks: "Concerning the people of the house of Israel, he prophesied and said, They wandered in the desert, in the pathless waste," &c. and again; "Concerning Zedekiah, and the princes of Israel, who were captives in Babylon, and dwelt in darkness, and the shadow of death," &c. &c.

These two stanzas, then, confess edly relating to the history and circumstances of the Jewish nation alone; and the two last, no less evidently celebrating those providen tial mercies, which are common to men of all countries; with what happy fitness is it ordered, that the Choral Hymn should amplify the topics of the two former, as coming

more directly home to the "business and bosoms," to the feelings and the piety of a Jewish congregation? God's general mercies had been already most nobly celebrated; but the special favour of Jehovah, to his own peculiar nation, was surely the most appropriate topic for a Choral Hymn of praise, in the assembly of the people," and, "in the council of the elders."

In the following Notes, it shall be my chief object to remark such beauties as flow from the arrangement and structure of this sacred poem; to point out the nice adaptation and congruity of its parts; to illustrate its exquisitely natural imagery by similar, though generally far inferior, passages from the ancients; in a word, to offer such observations as would probably be made by a commentator on his favourite classic.

NOTES ON THE 107th PSALM.

Line 6. "And from the Sea."] In the Old Testament, this generally signifies the Mediterranean, which lies west of Judea. Here, however, it must signify the Red Sea, which is situated south of Judea. See also Ps. Ixx. 8, and cxiv. 3.

In the vast deserts which bordered Line 7.'" They wandered, &c!" on Judea, to wander from the right path, was equivalent to certain of famine, but from the attacks of death; not only from the pressure' ravenous wild beasts. In that subfirst instance of God's providential lime ode, Deuteronomy xxxii. the care, is his finding out Israel in his wanderings:

"He found him in a desert land, :: i And in a waste howling wilderness."

Lines 17, 18. "For he hath satisfied, &c."] The wanderers had been represented (lines 11, 12) so exhausted by the extremity of hunger and thirst, that their very souls inwardly fainted. Thirst, implying the most violent torture, is put last. In this couplet, full relief is afforded to both wants: and, as that which was most grievous was naturally the most craving, the order is reversed; first the thirsty soul, then the famished soul, is completely satisfied. In the structure of this couplet, the original exhibits a beauty, which commentators have not been aware of, and which I have endeavoured not wholly to lose in the present version;-a beauty the more worthy of observation, as it not only frequently recurs in this poem, but constitutes a remarkable feature in Hebrew poetry. Couplets, it is well known, are commonly so constructed, that the lines may be alternately sung by the opposite divisions of the choir. When therefore one line closes with an important word, it is so managed, in numberless instances, that the antiphonal line of the couplet shall commence with a word or expression precisely parallel. Which is exactly according to nature; for if you present an object to a mirror, that part of it which is farthest from you, will appear nearest in the reflected image. Here, for example, one side of the choir sings,

For he hath satisfied the craving soul," The other immediately replies, "And the famished soul, he hath filled with goodness."

Again, at the close of the next stanza, one side sings,

"For he hath destroyed the gutes of brass,” The other answers,

mished soul,'

it is evident, that the impression of relief would be very incomplete, the idea of famine being suffered to remain behind.

In like manner, had it been written,

"For he hath destroyed the gates of brass, And hath smitten asunder the bars of iron,"

The bars

it cannot surely be said, that a thorough sense of enlargement would have been produced. would still have been clanking in evinced no less sound judgment, our ears. But the sacred poet has than poetical invention.

He has

not only caught the most charac

teristic features of his subject, but arranged his very terms precisely as they should be arranged; and the effect is, that whoever can enter into the spirit of this divine ode, is ready to "praise Jehovah for his mercy," because the famished is abundantly satisfied, the captive is completely restored to liberty.

Lines 21, 22. "Because they rebelled, &c."] Another example of the same construction which has been just dwelt upon. Though this couplet be not the close of a stanza, the arrangement is here peculiarly proper. The object is, pointedly to express the ingratitude and daring

der."

most gracious benefactor; there