Art, I. The Book of Psalms, in an English Metrical Version,
founded on the Basis of the Authorized Bible Translation, and compared with the Original Hebrew ; with Notes Critical and Illustrative. By the Right Rev. Richard Mant, DD. M.R.I.A. Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. 8vo. pp. xxii. 506. Ox
ford. 1824. THE Book of Psalms is styled by St. Augustine, a kind of
abridgement of the whole Scripture. " The choice and 'flower of all things profitable in other books,' says Hooker, • the Psalms do more briefly contain, and more movingly also 'express, by reason of that poetical form wherewith they are • written.' As prophetical records, as devotional compositions, and as the sublimest, as well as the most ancient specimens of lyric poetry, it is impossible to venerate too highly this portion of the Hebrew Scriptures. But the veneration in which the Psalms have been held, has been singularly disconnected with either the rational interpretation or the practical use of this part of Holy Writ. From the Talmudists and the Christian Fathers, down to Hutchinson and Horsley, the obscurity of these sacred compositions has afforded room for displaying the perverted ingenuity of mystical commentators, who have refined away both their beauty and meaning, till these inspired poems and prophecies have been converted into most recondite enigmas. The mode of proceeding adopted by these interpreters, may be compared to the conduct of the minehunters of South America, who, in searching for hidden treasure, wash away into the rivers the fertile soil from which they might have obtained their bread. Some of the Fathers have discovered mysteries in the order of the Psalms. Thus, Hilary, Ambrose, and Origen have thought they could trace the succession of events in the life of David ; others have detected
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