May - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

Christ and the, Psalms.
was paraniount,:refer so frequently to the Psalms, although there
are fewer direct Messianic references in the Psalms than in the
prophetic Scriptures. It is said that there' are, in, all, two
hundred and eighty-three quotations from the Old Testament in
the New, and that of these a hundred and sixteen are from the
Psalms." And that great saint and eminent divine, J onathan
Edwards, bas home impressive testimony to the doctrinal completeness
of the Psalter from a Christian standpoint. " In these
Psalms," he says, "David speaks of the incarnation, life, death,
resurrection, ascension into heaven, satisfaction and intercession
of Christ; His glorious benefits in this life and that which is to
come; His union with the Church; the' blessedness of the Church
in Him; the calling of the Gentiles; the future glory of the
Church, near the end of the world; and the coming of Christ to
final judgment." Failure to see Christ in the Psalms does not
arise from any indefiniteness in the expressions in which they
refer to the Messiah, but is to be traced to the natural blindness
that fails to see Him alike in Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
Fortunately, we have quite a voluminous literature on the testimony
of the Psalms to Christ. There is the able and eloquent
'Bampton Lectures of Archbishop Alexander, entitled, The
Witness oftlte Psalms to Christ and Christianity-a book which,
if it contains some matters which to ·us are objectionable, yet at
the same time presents an exceptionally ableargumenf in defence
of its theme. Then there is Rev. Dr. A. A. Bonar's Christ and
His Church in the Book of Psalms. Dr. Bonar in this work
makes a short comment on each Psalm, and, like Bishop Home
in his Commentary on the Psalms, evidently does not find it a
difficult matter to find abundant references in the Psalms to the
Messiah. And without extending the list we have the two very
instructive and useful papers in the Psalms in Worship, entitled,
"Christ III the Psalms." The first of these papers is written by
President Robert M'Watty Russell, D.D., LL.D, New Wilmington,
Pa., United States; and the other by the Rev. E. S. M'Kitrick,
D. D., Pasadena, Ca., United States. Both these papers are well
wmten and afford not only pleasant, but instructive reading. Dr.
M'Kitrick quotes with fine appropriateness a saying of J onathan
Edwards on the Psalms :-"The main subjects of these songs
were the glorious things of the Gospel, as is evident by the
interpretation that is often put upon them, and the use that 'is
made of them, in the New Testament. For there is no one Book
of the Old Testament that is so often quoted in 'the New as the
book of Psalms. Here Christ is spoken of in multitudes of
songs."
When the Lord Jesus arose from the grave we find Him in the
fulfilment of His prophetic functions as the great Prophet, mighty
in deed and word before God and all the people, instructing His
d!sciples in those things which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Him. And in