hollow out the ground for the revolutionary explosion which doubtless would have blown his contemptuous person away, together with the rulers he helped to bring into contempt. But Moore did not fail to see of what stuff revolutionary ringleaders are often made, "aventuriers, malfaiteurs, gens tarés ou déclassés, hommes perdus de dettes et d'honneur, vagabonds, déserteurs et soudards," (as Taine tickets them), "tous les ennemis-nés du travail, de la subordination et de la loi," who "se liguent pour franchir ensemble les barrières vermoulues qui retiennent encore la foule moutonnière," And Moore judged fairly on the spot that high words and low deeds make up so great a part of a revolution, that—as 'liberals' are admitting, in the United States even as in France-it is but a sad cause for a brave and honest man to offer himself in; seeing that its results compare so poorly with what went before; and seeing that its later better consequences are due, not to it, but to society's instinct towards what saves and preserves. What a great promise met us in America: its early orators' Asiatic prose the disheartened poet (a man scrupulous in honesty), now (1806) in his more dispassionate language

transcribes :

"Here god-like Liberty's herculean youth
Cradled in peace, and nurtured up by truth
To full maturity of nerve and mind,
Shall crush the giants that bestride mankind!
Here shall Religion's pure and balmy draught,
In form no more from cups of state be quaff'd,
But flow for all, through nation, rank and sect,
Free as the heaven its tranquil waves reflect.
Around the columns of the public shrine
Shall growing arts their gradual wreath entwine,
Nor breathe corruption from their flowering braid,
Nor mine that fabric which they bloom to shade.

Already has the child of Gallia's school,

The foul philosophy that sins by rule,

With all her train of reasoning, damning arts,
Begot by brilliant heads or worthless hearts.....
Already has she poured her poison here
O'er every charm that makes existence dear.

Already in this free, this virtuous state,
Which Frenchmen tell us was ordained by Fate,
To show the world what high perfection springs
From rabble senators and merchant kings—

Even here already patriots learn to steal
Their private perquisites from public weal ;.......
Those vaunted demagogues, who nobly rose
From England's debtors to be England's foes ;*
Who could their monarch in their purse forget,
And break allegiance but to cancel debt, t
Have proved at length the mineral's tempting hue,
Which makes a patriot, can unmake him too,
Oh! Freedom, Freedom, how I hate thy cant !"

"I trust I shall not be suspected of a wish to justify those arbitrary steps of the English government which the Colonies found it so necessary to resist; my only object here is to expose the selfish motives of some of the leading American demagogues.' (Author's note.)

"The most persevering enemy to the interests of this country amongst the politicians of the western world has been a Virginian merchant, who, finding it easier to settle his conscience than his debts, was one of the first to raise the standard against Great Britain, and has ever since endeavoured to revenge upon the whole country the obligations which he lies under to a few of its merchants.” (Ib.)

W. F. P. STOCKLEY.

IN

THE STUDY OF THE PSALTER.

the last number of the QUARTERLY there appeared a welcome article entitled "Ethics of Religious Controversy," and it would be well for critics and reviewers to lay to heart its sensible suggestions. But we feel sure that the writer of that article would be one of the first to admit that the stress of temptation is very severe when one is suddenly confronted with this new version of the Psalms. The title-page, indeed, contains a gentle hint of the impending revolution, but we must travel farther before we get any idea of its alarming sweep. This work, we are told, is in place of a second edition of an earlier work, suggesting, what is plainly stated in the preface, that no further progress is possible along the line of the regular critical methods, and that the author has been compelled to strike out boldly in a new direction. The results are sufficiently startling. Hence, as has been said, it is difficult to handle the book calmly; either one must hail the new discovery with delight and speak of an 'epoch-making' book or feel oneself driven to denounce it as a strange perversion of scholarship, marking the sad ending of a brilliant career. For ourselves we must frankly confess that we would have preferred a new edition of the former commentary, bringing it up to date by reviewing the results of scholarly work during the last fifteen years. The reason that the author has not done this is stated in the following words: "In order that the exegesis of the Psalter and the historical illumination of the results of that exegesis may progress, it is urgently necessary to give a keener and more methodical examination to the traditional text. Far be it from me to underrate the value of that earlier criticism, in which it has been my privilege to participate. But I cannot close myself to the conviction that the old methods have done nearly all that they are capable of doing, and that virtually new

(The Book of Psalms, translated from a revised text, with Notes and Introduction, in place of a second edition of an earlier work (1888) by the same author, T. K. Cheyne, D. Litt., D.D., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture in the University of Oxford, and Canon of Rochester. In two volumes. Published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., Dryden House, Gerrard St., W. London, 1904.)

methods must be superadded to the old." And following this new method he reaches the conclusion, "that we have in our hands, closely but not inseparably united, two Psalters—a newer and an older. The newer is preserved in two chief forms the Greek of the LXX. and the Massoretic Hebrew text. Both these represent independent recensions of the text, and underneath both it is still possible, sometimes with more, sometimes with less confidence in the smaller details, to recognise an earlier text of the psalms, which approaches the form which they received from the writers or from the earliest editors."

Let us before we go any farther take a short simple illustration of what this means. The beautiful little psalm cxxxiii. reads as follows in the Revised Version:

1. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
2. It is like the precious oil upon the head,
That ran down upon the beard,

Even Aaron's beard;

That came down upon the skirt of his garments;

3. Like the dew of Hermon,

That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,
Even life for evermore.

On

Duhm who, like Cheyne, believes that metrical considerations can be effectively used in the criticism and correction of the text, comes to the conclusion that this Psalm has been worked over in the interest of the later Jewish Church. this view it was originally a brief oracle on the blessing of unity in family life; the subject is illustrated by two figures, the oil used to anoint the welcome guest (John xii. 3) and the rich dew of Mount Hermon. A late Levitical editor has added other features, such as Aaron's beard and Mount Zion, thus interfering with the regularity of the metre and confusing the illustrations, e.g., How can the dew of Hermon come down upon the mountains of Zion? This seems not unreasonable, and so far there is nothing lost for purposes of edification, as the modern preacher is just as much at liberty as his ancient brother to transfer the appeal for unity from family to church life.

Behold, how good and how beautiful it is,
When brethren sit together,

It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Which flows down upon the beard,

Which flows over on to the edge of thy garment;
Like dew from Hermon ;

For there has Yahwè commanded a blessing;
Life for evermore.

-Duhm's Critical Version.

Let us take now Dr. Cheyne's treatment of the same Psalm. He says: "Perhaps the most difficult of all the psalms. The exegetical problems are great, and the resulting critical problem-viz. how the psalm as a whole is to be understood-is proportionately great." This seems to be an exaggerated statement; however, we shall see that Dr. Cheyne in his effort to reduce the difficulties has, at all events, materially reduced the psalm. He finds that "even Duhm" has not been radical enough. Here, then, is the result of a radical

treatment:

1. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is to dwell in Jerahmeel, For there Yahwè appointed a blessing for ever."

We are told that "the editor of course looked for something better"; a statement that leads us to remark that the editor was a wise man to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

This leads us to note the distinctive feature of the author's textual criticism. The forms "Jerahmeel" and "Jerahmeelite" do not occur at all in the received text of the Psalter, but in Dr. Cheyne's version they occur over two hundred times, in fact the pages swarm with "North Arabians," "Ishmaelites," and "Jeerahmeelites." These tribes turn up in most unexpected, and, if the expression is not uncritical, we would say most unwelcome places; that is, we find them not only in historical and national psalms, but in songs that we have been accustomed to regard as deeply spiritual and intensely personal.

Surely God is good to Israel,

Even to such as are pure in heart.

Duhm renders this as follows:

Only good is God to the righteous,

Yahwe towards the pure in heart.

R.V. LXXIII: 1.

This involves a very slight change of the text, simply a different division of the word "to Israel"; the reason given being that the psalm is a record of individual experience and is no