my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made

known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles

and prophets ...' (Eph. 3:3-5).

`As I wrote before'.  These words have sent some students off on a search

for a lost epistle, but as this reference is so vital, we cannot believe that

the Holy Spirit refers us to a piece of evidence which, in spite of its extreme

importance, has not survived, for next only to the inspiration of All Scripture

is the miracle of its preservation.  The reference to `the epistle from

Laodicea' mentioned in Colossians 4:16 belongs to a different category; the

Colossians were simply advised to interchange epistles, but no argument rests

upon this advice as it does in Ephesians 3.

Added to this could be the many references in the Old Testament to books

not incorporated in the Canon such as `The book of the acts of Solomon' (1 Kings

11:41), and `the book of Nathan' (2 Chron. 9:29).  The reference by Paul to what

he had written afore however is crucial.  If we cannot find it and do not

possess it, we can proceed no further with him in his argument.  Whatever it was

that Paul had written afore in a few words, the Ephesians were able to read for

he continued `whereby when ye read'.  Now Paul had already written seven

epistles, namely Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Hebrews

and Romans.  It is not very likely that the Ephesians would at that time have

seen the epistle to the Hebrews; they may or may not have seen one or more of

the others.  But there is no necessity to look further than Ephesians itself.

Occasionally an author will refer his reader back to some earlier paragraph; he

may say `see above' or `cf. page so and so'.  Paul says `as I wrote afore in a

few words'.  His subject is `The mystery of Christ', a mystery shared with other

ministers of the truth in other ages but which had been revealed in a

superlative degree to the apostles and prophets.  What is this `Mystery of

Christ'?  As an initial contribution to the subject, we now present the reader

with an interpretation of Psalm 8, and the heading of Psalm 9 (`Upon Muth-

These words, so full of suggestion and meaning for the believer, we hope

to show belong to the eighth psalm, and associate the Mystery of Christ (Eph.

3:4) with Adam, the figure of Him that was to come (Rom. 5:14).  Our inquiry

relates particularly to the words that in the Authorized Version stand at the

head of Psalm 9 and read `Upon Muth-labben', words which have received a variety

of interpretations.  We will subdivide our material under a series of sub-

headings, thus:

The place that the words Muth-labben occupy.

The ordinary reader may express some surprise at this heading, for his

Bible, whether he read the Authorized Version or the Revised Version, places it

at the head of Psalm 9.  We believe, however, that many of our readers are

already in possession of the findings of Dr. J.W. Thirtle, of which the

following is a summary: He observed that in the third chapter of Habakkuk and

Isaiah 38:10-20, we have two complete Psalms.  The Psalm falls under three

heads: (1) The superscription; (2) The Psalm itself; (3) The subscription thus:

A Prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth (3:1).

The Psalm proper (3:2-19).