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In ſome of the pſalms there are paſſages which may be applied to Jeſus Chriſt, and to the people who are connected with him, as they are conformed to his image according to their meaſure, and ſhare with him in the happineſs which is the reward of his obedience unto the death. This is the caſe of the pſalms wherein the bleſſedneſs of all who fear God, or who ſerve him, is declared.

The offence taken at the ſuppoſed uncharitable and vindictive ſpirit of the imprecations, which occur in ſome of the pſalms, ceaſes immediately, if we change the imperative for the future, and read, not, “Let them be confounded,” &c. but, “They shall be confounded,” &c. of which the Hebrew is equally capable. Such paſſages will then have no more difficulty in them, than the other frequent predictions of divine vengeance in the writings of the prophets, or denunciations of it in the writings of the apoſtles and evangeliſts, intended to warn, to alarm, and to lead ſinners to repentance; or to leave them inexcuſable. It is true, that in the citation made by Peter from Pſal. cix. in Acts i. 20. as alſo in that made by Paul from Pſal. lxix. in Rom. xi. 9. the imperative form is preſerved; “Let his habitation be void, &c. Let their table be made a ſnare,” &c. But the apoſtles generally