it will proceed to form its views of the nature of atonement, regeneration, sanctification, and the whole array of redemptive agencies. To be radically sound here is to secure soundness of belief, by natural logical sequence, in regard to all those doctrines which relate to man's recovery.

On the subject of man's state by nature the Psalmists taught that men were born with a nature imperfect, fallen, and prone to evil. Sin came not as an accident, not as a fortuitous thing, not as the consequence of bad example and wrong education; but was the uniform and inevitable result which every man reached, when left to the spontaneous suggestions and promptings of his own inclinations and passions. The exciting cause of transgression might lie in some accidental circumstance or temptation from without, but the real cause lay deeper down, and was traceable to that latent aptitude in our nature for things and for indulgences which were forbidden, unholy, and selfish. This made the holiness of the creature, and his power to resist evil, dependent on the gift of God; and made the radical unfitness of man to appear before his Maker prior, to the sanctifying process, to stand out in all its revolting prominence.

Psalm li, 5-7: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

Psalm lviii, 3-5: "The wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so cunningly."

Psalm v, 9: "For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue."

Psalm xiv, 1-3: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

This view of human nature is, indeed, as old as the patriarchs. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that, kal yetser, every formation of the thoughts of his heart was only evil every day." Genesis vi, 5; and verse 3, "My spirit shall not always strive with man; for that he also is flesh;" i. e., fleshly, not only weak, frail, and mortal, but also opposed to God and the influences of his spirit. This sense

, basar, often has in the Old Testament, answering to the figurative use of σápš, sarx, in the New Testament, as especially in Paul's writings. Romans viii, 6-9: "For to be carnally minded [fleshly minded] is death, but to be spiritually minded [i. e., to have our minds under the guidance of God's spirit] is life and peace. Because the carnal mind [fleshly mind] is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." This use of the word flesh is quite frequent, and proves that corruption is in the nature of man; for when the mind is brought under the influence of our natural appetites and desires, that is, when it is "in the flesh," it is "enmity against God.". Thus man was declared "fleshly" before the flood. So, also, soon after the flood, the doctrine held concerning man's natural state is thus expressed: "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. What is man that he should be clean, and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous?" Job xi, 12, and xiv, 4, and xv, 14. The apostle Paul quotes and confirms the statements of the Psalmists in regard to native universal depravity. Romans iii, 9–18.

With such views of man's natural state and of the turpitude of sin, the ancients were prepared to receive the two grand doctrines of redemption as taught in the symbolic ceremonies of the law of Moses; namely, expiation and purification. Expiation was the removal of guilt by sacrifice; purification was the removal of personal defilement by ablutions with water or with sprinkling of blood. Sacrifices and ablutions were the grand means of salvation. The first obtained remission of the guilt of the offender, exempted him from punishment, and restored him to the protection of law; the second removed

from him all personal unfitness for the service of God, arising from the moral influence of sin upon the heart. Thus, both the legal and moral conditions of the individual were restored, and the soul brought into favour with God. That this is the view set forth in the Psalms is so obvious as scarcely to require proof. The outward ceremonies of sacrifice and ablution were only symbolic, and derived their efficacy entirely from a higher source, through their typical application. The worshipper himself was required and admonished to look through and beyond the type, to the grand archetypal truth or object upon which alone his real faith was to rest. It was God who justified, through a mediator, and it was he alone who sanctified from all impurities of sin. The outward symbol only assisted the mind to apprehend and rest upon God for the performance of this twofold work.

As all the practical worth of the Mosaic system centered in these truths, we should naturally expect to find in the devotional parts of the Jewish Scriptures a frequent recurrence to them. Accordingly the Psalms are found to be rich in their spiritual teaching; developing, and by ever varied expression and allusion explaining, the spiritual import and intention of the law.

Psalm li, 16, 17: "For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O, God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm xxxiv, 18: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

Such deep heart-workings, bemoaning, loathing, and renouncing sin, shuddering at its awful repugnance to the divine holiness, and its perverting and defiling effects upon the human soul and character, were necessary to repentance, because the moral law was spiritual, "the commandment exceeding broad," taking cognizance of the thoughts and intents of the mind. And it was in the heart, the inner, moral nature of man, that sin had its origin and its chief seat of power.

Psalm li, 6: "Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom."

Psalm xliv, 20, 21: "If we have forgotten the name of our

God, or stretched out our hands to a strange God; shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart."

Psalm cxxxix, 23, 24: "Search me, O, God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Psalm xxvi, 2: Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart."

Psalm vii, 9: "For the righteous God trieth the heart and the reins."

Psalm xvii, 3: "Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing."

Psalm lxvi, 10: "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried."

Psalm cxxxix, 2: "Thou understandest my thought afar off."

Psalm xciv, 11: "For the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity."

Psalm xix, 12, 14: "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

With such views of the omniscience of God, and of his legal notices of the moral operations of the human soul, it must necessarily follow that their views of sin and holiness must be deep, clear, and spiritual, and their repentance and reformation must be a radical transformation of the moral nature into the image of the divine holiness. Of this, Psalm exix is abundant proof, as also Psalm xix. The Psalms which David composed upon occasion of his pardon and recovery are also conclusive, as showing the spiritual and evangelical nature of pardon and sanctification. See Psalms xl, xxxii, ciii, cxvi, and the Introductions. In Psalm li, David clearly defines the ideas he entertained of sin, of forgiveness, and sanctification; and no less clearly in those deep penitential wailings poured forth in Psalms vi, xxxviii, xxxix, xli, lxix, lxxxvi.

It must be considered that many of these confessions of sin were induced at first by the strong pressure of outward affliction; and many of these earnest prayers for pardon and acceptance are intermingled with supplications for temporal deliver

ance. But it is not to be inferred, hence, that their notions and feelings respecting sin and holiness were selfish and sensuous. External afflictions are the appointed admonitions of Heaven against sin, and become part of the instrumentality by which God would recover his erring creatures. In their appointment there is a divine intention, a moral end, to be considered; and the enlightened soul will recognise these. Outward adversities and temporal deliverances were alike received as from the hand of God; the one either as evidence of divine displeasure, or of a mysterious purpose of discipline the other as the tokens of favour and approbation. "Show me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; because thou, Lord, hast helped me and comforted me." Psalm lxxxvi, 17. With these views, the circumstances of the outward and the inward man are made to blend and intermingle their several shades and hues into one common interest, enlisting in common the sympathies, the confessions, the prayers, and the rejoicings of the soul. The external affliction is not deplored merely for its own sake, but chiefly as the "rebuke of God," his standing admonition of sin. And the deliverance was the theme of joyful thanksgiving, not abstractly and considered in itself, but chiefly as the pledge and testimony of Divine favour. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," says David, "and done this evil in thy sight." Psalm li, 4. "Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Verses 8-10. Beautifully does Psalm lxxxv illustrate this, written after the captivity. "As in the law," says Hengstenberg, "so also in the Psalms, the outward consequences of sin come out much more strongly than the inward, which last, however, it is self-evident, were very far from being unknown under the Old Covenant. This stronger exhibition of the external consequences of sin may partly be explained from this, that the Psalms have commonly to do, not with individual sinners alone, but with whole communities of such, because his promises and threatenings, according to the rule, have a national bearing. And it is also to be taken into account, that the external consequences are more appropriate for the vivid

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