vi. Religious and Ethical Ideas. —In the following paragraphs the Psalter will be treated as one whole. Owing to the uncertaintj' which attaclies to the dates of the several psalms, it is impossible to trace out, according to the methods of biblical theology, the growth and development of religious ideas m the psalmists' minds, if, indeed, any marked ^owth took place. If tlie book is entirely post-exilic, the ' hymu-book of the second temple,' no decided theological development — except, per- haps, on the subject of the future life — would be expected. If, as we have seen reason to believe, the Psalter contains an anthology of sacred lyrics, extending over many centuries, a progress of thought miglit be looked for. But the method of the psalmist is not dialectic. He moves, not in the atmosphere of theology, but of religion. And whUst creeds change, litanies remain the same. It would be going too far to say that no variety, no advancement, in moral and religious ideas is dis- cernible, but for the puri)Oses of this brief examina- tion it may be neglected. Tlie Psalter is concerned with the deep, elemental ideas of religion — God, man, and the communion of man with God ; joj and trouble, hope and fear, good and evil, their present conflict and future destiny ; tlie human soul in all its moods and the Divine power and grace in all its aspects, — and it is proposed to d&
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•orihe a few characteristics only of the way in which tliese jn'eat themes are treated.
1. The leading feature in the doctrine of Goil — to speak theologically — which distinguishes the psalms is the clearness with wliich the Divine Personality is conceived, and the vividness with which it is depicted. ' J'liveth, and blessed be my Koek ' i.s written on the book, within and without. The chief service wliicli the psalms have rendered to the religion of the world is the preservation of the idea of tlie living God, Avithout any impairing of Uis absolute and inconceivable glory. The thinker elaborates his abstract conceptions of the Divine till tliey dissolve into thin air ; the boor ima'dnes ' such a one as himself,' and lowers tlie Godhead into a 'magnified and non-natural' man- liood. Isaac Taylor says that ' metapliysic theo- logies, e.\cept so far as tliey take up the very terms and figures of the Heb. Scriptures, have hitherto shown a properly religious aspect in proportion as they have been unintelligilile ; when intelligible thej' become — if not atheistic, yet tending in that direction.' No sacred book of any nation has solved this fundamental problem ot all religion, how to preserve at the same time the Infinity and the Personality of God, as has the Psalter.
The psalmist is not afraid of 'anthropomor- phisms. He not only employs forms of speech which seem almost necessary, such as ' his eyes iiehold, his eyelids try, the children of men,' but he re])resents God as tidnking upon man, so that the Divine thoughts are greater in number tlian the saml ; as seated in the heavens with earth for His footstool, as bowing the lieavens to come down, whether for judgment or deliverance ; as spread- ing His broad wings of defence over His own peojile, scattering dismay and destruction among their enemies, and returning again on high in t:iumph, when He has 'led into captivity his captives,' bringing with Him the spoils of victoi'y. But no reader of the psalms finds his ideas of Divine majesty lowered, or the Divdne glory dimmed and shadowed, by these modes of speech. Tlie Rabbi disdains them, the Alexandrian pliilo- Bopher cxjilaiiiH them away, the hypereritic finds only 'mythohjgy' in them; tlie wise and devout man knows that nowhere else — except in the words of .le.sus of Nazareth — is he brought so directly into the presence of the living God, as inexjires- sibly lofty and pure as He is near and gracious and tender.
Tlie 'attributes' of God are not described in the psalms, but God in His varied attributes is made known as in the mirror of the worshipper's soul. Ui;^liteousness is pre - eminent, but it is blended with mercy, as if tlie pious heart had never conceived of the two asunder. ' J", thy loving- kindness reaclieth unto the heavens, tliy faithful- ness unto the clouds. Thy righteousness staiuleth like the mountains of God ; thy judgments are a great deep. How precious is thy loving-kindness ! ' (Hs 3G). Loving-kindness is shown, according to the psalmist's view, by God's rendering to every man according to his work (02'-) ; yet it is an equally true explanaticm of the same ^;5 to define it as 'salvation,' or expand it into tlie clau.sc 'J" hath dealt bountifully with mo' (13°'). One of the most striking illustrations of the features upon which we have been dwelling is the atlributinjj to the Most High God of .ti;;;, ' humility.' The Knglish word ia a bold one to cmjihiy in tliis connexion, but it better expresses the psalmist's thought than 'condescension. It is found but once, in 18" 'thy lowliness hath made imm great,' but the same quality is dwelt upon in God's humbling Himself to rrg ird the heavens and the earth, and it is not far removed from that yearning ' pity ' with which tlia Kather God pities His children. The