applications of passages from the Old Testament that occurs in
the New. It is taken from the 18th verse of the 22d Psalm, which Psalm
was probably made by David, in reference to his humiliating and wretched
expulsion from Jerusalem by his son Absalom, and what was done in
consequence, viz., that he was hunted by ferocious enemies, whom he
compares to furious bulls, and roaring lions, gaping upon him to devour
him; that his palace was plundered, and that they divided his treasured
garments, (in the East, where the fashions never change, every great man
has constantly presses full of hundreds and thousands of garments, many
of them very costly: they are considered as a valuable part of his
riches), and cast lots for his robes. This is the real meaning of this
passage quoted as a prophecy. In the same Psalm, there is another verse,
which has been from time immemorial quoted as a prophecy of the
crucifixion, (v. 16,) "They pierced my hands and my feet." In the
original, there seems to have been a word dropped importing "they
tear," or something like it, for it is literally, "Like a lion--my hands
and my feet," and there is there no word answering to "pierced." The
meaning, however, of the verse is not difficult to be discerned, "dogs
have compassed me; the assembly of wicked men have enclosed me; like a
lion--(they tear) my hands and my feet." The meaning may be discovered
from the context, where David represents himself as in the utmost
distress, helpless, and abandoned amidst his enemies, raging like wild
beasts around him; then, by a strong, but striking Oriental figure, he
represents himself like a carcass surrounded by dogs, who are busied in
tearing the flesh from his bones; their teeth fixed in his hands and
feet, and pulling him asunder. This is the import of the place, and this
interpretation is at last adopted, for the first time, I believe, by
Christians, in the new version of the Psalms used by the Unitarian
Church in London.

There is not a more palpable instance of the facility with which good
natured and voracious piety is made to swallow the most flimsy
arguments, if only agreeable to its wishes and wants, than the case
under consideration. This Psalm, containing these passages, "they
parted my raiment among them;" and "they pierced my hands and my feet,"
is read, and for ages has been read, in the name of God, to the good
people of the Church of England, on every Good Friday, as undoubtedly a
prophesy of th