From time to time during the remainder of the year, we trust to read through the entire book of Psalms. Our portion of these for the present month is Psa. 1:-62:,or the first two books of these. We would refer our readers to an article in the January number upon the Psalms in general, which will render unnecessary our going into the same details at this time. These first two books are perhaps the fullest of any in the entire collection of Psalms, especially the first (Psa. 1:-41:), the theme of which is God's sovereignty and purposes of blessing in Christ for His people. Of course the blessing here is considered primarily in relation to God's earthly people Israel, but where Christ is the theme, blessing cannot be limited. It is as wide as the sway which He will exercise over all creation. The main divisions of this first book are:1:(Psa. 1:-8:) Christ in His supremacy, King in Zion and Ruler over all creation.

We might say in general that there are two main features of all of the Psalms which it is necessary to distinguish if we are to understand their full, prophetic meaning. Christ is the theme, but He is seen in connection with His people, and even only a remnant of these. The times, prophetically speaking, to which the Psalms refer, are those of abounding national apostasy, when the mass of the people have no heart for God and when the enemy from outside also oppresses. This will help us to understand the frequent references to the oppression of the enemy and the heartlessness of the mass of the nation, also the exercise through which this remnant passes; for it is only too evident that they have but a partial apprehension of God's goodness and but little knowledge of His grace. They are unable to distinguish between His chastening hand upon them for their sins and their testing as they pass through affliction. Thus, from time to time, they are tempted to cry out under the hand of their oppressors and to appeal to God as though He had forgotten. Psalms which are devoted to such subjects as these, develop the varied exercises through which the remnant passes. We find in them much that is of God, a faith that lays hold upon Him, abhorrence of evil and a spirit of separation from the ungodly. On the other hand, we find an impatience and feebleness, a depression which, at times, is well nigh overwhelming, but faith gradually triumphs and emerges from the gloom all the brighter for its exercise.

We will find some of the psalms which apply exclusively to Christ, as the second and eighth. Others apply to Him to a certain extent and also to His people, as the first; while others give exclusively the exercise of the remnant, as Psa. 3:-7:

Space will not permit us to characterize each psalm in detail. It will be noticed that the first psalm is a general statement of the walk of the godly in separation from evil and in dependence upon God, feeding upon His Word. The results are fruitfulness and spiritual prosperity in contrast with the ungodly who will soon pass away in judgment. How perfectly our blessed Lord exemplified this godly separation unto His Father we need hardly say; and His people for all time, by His grace, will seek to walk in the same steps.

In Psa. 2:we have the opposition of the nations to God's King, who, however, is established by Him in Zion and will one day rule to the ends of the earth.

Psa. 3:-7:give the exercises of the remnant. Each of these has a different character. In Psa. Hi., faith seems to be prominent. God is unchanging and will protect the believer from those who have risen up against him.

Psa. 4:dwells upon this further, becoming bolder in one way as it challenges the evil men by whom it is surrounded. Psa. 5:emphasizes God's holiness, and under a sense of this, the wickedness of the world becomes all the more apparent, and faith clings to God's mercy.

In the sixth, however, the oppression of the enemy is felt so keenly that the soul is well nigh overwhelmed. Still it cries out to God for help and mercy, and in anticipation at least, rejoices in the victory which He will give.

Psa. 7:protests its own righteousness in the face of false accusation and persecution, and pleads for God's judgment to fall upon His enemies. As has been frequently said, the prayer for judgment is most appropriate to a people whose deliverance can only come through God's judgment upon His and their enemies. It is not as though there were still hope for them through the gospel. Many of them have doubtless been rejecters of that gospel and given over to believe the lie. They are utterly incorrigible, and a fresh presentation of divine mercy would simply be casting pearls before swine. They have manifested themselves to be that, and nothing but the judgment of the Lord upon His enemies will teach the inhabitants of the earth righteousness.

Psa. viii, as we have said, celebrates the glories of Christ as Son of man in a wider reign even than that over Israel. It is from this psalm that the apostle Paul so frequently quotes:"Thou hast put all things under His feet." We see Jesus, even now, crowned with glory and honor, anticipatively celebrating the dominion of the eighth psalm.

2. (Psa. ix-15:) Here we have, as a prominent theme, not Christ, but the enemy, not merely in the ungodly nation as a whole, but centered in the wicked one himself, (Psa. 9:, 10:) who has many features which would correspond to the Antichrist.

Then, from Psa. 11:-15:, we have the exercise of the remnant, in view of all this oppression of the enemy.

In Psa. 11:, God is seen as supreme, and the soul would put its trust in Him,-nor will it flee away to any mountain of human reliance.

Psa. 12:shows how suitably the word of God is in contrast with all the deceits of the enemy.

Psa. 13:cries unto God with that familiar expression of the remnant, " How long ?" from the very jaws of death, and counts upon His deliverance.

Psa. 14:shows how wide-spread evil is. God looks down upon the sons of men and finds them all gone astray. This is the moral condition of things at the present time, as the apostle says in the third chapter of Romans ; but it is particularly applicable to the last days, when iniquity shall abound.

Psa. 15:, in contrast with this iniquity, describes the righteous One who shall abide in God's tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill.

3. (Psa. 16:-41:) The preciousness of Christ in His person and work, with the exercise of His people in connection with Him.

Space will not permit our going into detail here. The psalms which particularly refer to our Lord are quite familiar. He is seen in His spotless humanity in the sixteenth ; as the Man separate from sinners, in the seventeenth ; and as the Victor, in the eighteenth. Psa. 19:shows God's glory in His works in the heavens above and in the Word in our hands, which speaks far more of the display of that glory than the starry worlds above us. Psa. 20:brings out the great truths of salvation through Christ the King. Psa. 21:- looks forward to the coming glory of Christ. Psa. 22:, we need hardly say, is the great sin-offering psalm; 23:, the resulting salvation; and 24:, Christ's manifestation in glory. Thus, the main theme of these nine psalms is Christ, a trinity of glories thrice repeated. Well may we see all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him !

From Psa. 25:-41:, we have the exercises of faith in connection with this unfolding of Christ, into which we cannot enter with any further detail.

The second book, (Psa. 42:-72:) while dealing with the same general subjects, approaches them from another point of view-that of Israel's suffering under the hand of God in responsibility:but here, too, the Spirit of God leads the suffering saints, who feel the weight of His hand, up to occupation with Christ and the blessed results which flow from that.

1. Thus, Psa. 42:-44:are wails of distress. Psa. 45:shows us Christ in His glory as King, united with His people ; and, flowing from that, in Psa. 46:-49:, we have the glory of His reign. Psa. 1. is God's witness to His people of His own faithfulness, and their sin; while Psa. 51:is their response, which goes even more deeply to the root of sin, showing it to be blood-guiltiness in having rejected Christ.

2. (Psa. 52:-60:) Here we have quite similar exercises to those already looked at in the earlier psalms, and these lead up to joy in the Lord and triumph over evil through Him, as seen in Psa. 60:

3. (Psa. 61:-72:) Full blessing headed up in Christ.

In these psalms, our Lord is again prominent; in some of them perhaps not so distinctly as others. Still, it is His faith and dependence upon God and delight in Him that speak in the first three, while, of course, Psa. Ixix dwells upon His sufferings as the trespass-offering. His voice will be heard even in such psalms as 65:, while 68:of course is a majestic and beautiful celebration of His glory in connection with the throne of Jehovah.

Psa. Lxi. and 72:go beautifully together, the first being the pleadings of faith on the part of the nation seen, as we might say, in its age and decrepitude- while in the second, the King is before us in all His glory with dominion and blessing reaching to the ends of the earth All creation groans until the coming of that happy time Well may we sing:

"Hasten, Lord, the glorious time."