of England, that in the daily liturgical service, according to her original institutions, the whole Psalter is prayed once a month: the antiphonic method obtains, priest and people alternating in the recitation of the single verses. The use of the Psalms was, however, not confined to public service. After the Jewish precedent of the three hours for prayer (Dan. vi. 10; cf. Psalms lv. xviii. lix. xvii.) it was deemed right at certain hours of the day to give verbal expression to the silent prayer, which ought to animate the spiritual life of every christian. The words of the Psalms furnished that expression. The monks of the East used, in the eighth century, to pray three psalms at each of the said three prayer hours. The seven canonical prayer hours of the Romish Church were even then developing themselves, reference being made to Psalm cxix. 164, "Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments." These seven hours are the matutina before sunrise, when songs of praise were prayed (laudes): the first after sunrise, the third between sunrise and noon, the sixth or noon, the ninth between noon and sunset, the vespers in the evening, and the completorium at the close of day before retiring to rest. The Psalms occupy an important position in the prayers, lessons, and hymns, arranged according to the different hours of the day and seasons of the year, since they are prayed through once a week. The Psalms exerted a third influence on the expressions of christian piety and christian worship in particular, since christian song was formed with them and after their model. They are referred to (Eph. v. 19; Col. iii. 16) in connexion with spiritual songs, which latter are to be apprehended as songs suddenly inspired by the Holy Spirit (avrooxediáoμaтa). It appears from 1 Cor. xiv. 26, that at that time the Spirit of God raised also in this respect extraordinary powers in the church. That influence of the Spirit appears to have so powerfully existed in the church of the second century, that Tertullian, writing of his own times, records it as the prevailing custom after the love-feast to invite any one present according to their several capacity to sing songs to God, which were either taken from the Scriptures or suggested to the mind of the individual. It is evident that the former are psalms, the latter spontaneous lyrical effusions no doubt developed by them.+ "The simplicity which characterises the composition of the Psalms," says Herder (for nothing can be more simple than the parallelism of the Psalms,-which is, as it were, a double choir,-alternately asking and responding, exhorting and confirming), "rendered its possession to simple-minded christian communities in times of oppression no less than in seasons of hope and joy the very boon of Heaven. Hence its early use in the Christian church; hence from the earliest times, before christian poets could exist, those loud hymns, which caused the Romans to notice their meetings; they were psalms." Even the New Testament contains imitations of the Psalms, if we may designate as Christian the songs of Zacharias, of Mary, and of the angels at the birth of our Lord. The most ancient strictly christian songs appear to have been hymns celebrating the praises of Christ, as 1 Tim. iii. 16. The pagan procurator, Pliny, writes to Trajan, (about 100, A.D), that the christians were in the habit of meeting on a certain (1) Apolog. c. 39. Jerome writes to a mother, whom he furnishes with counsel for her daughter (Ep. 107. ad Lætam): "Præponatur ei probæ fidei et morum et pudicitiæ virgo veterana, quæ illam doceat et assuescat exemplo ad orationes et Psalmos noctu consurgere: mane hymnos cantare, tertia, sexta, nona hora stare in acie quasi bellatricem Christi, accensaque lucernula reddere sacrificium vespertinum." Here are mentioned five hours for prayer. + With this view coincides Bæhr,-The Christian poets and historians of Rome, p. 4. ‡ So 1 Tim. iii. 16; Eph. v. 14, are held to be fragments of early Christian songs. day before sunrise, singing hymns to the praise of Christ as God. Caius,1 a Christian author of the second century, says, "How many psalms and odes of the brethren have we got, composed from the beginning by believers, in which Christ is celebrated as God!" This class of hymns found its type in the psalms of praise. Others, based upon the psalms of the New Testament, as mentioned above, reverted mediately to the Old Testament. Sometimes christian song was the mere echo of the Psalms, as appears from several preserved fragments of spiritual songs, used in the ancient Greek Church. An influence from another quarter originated about the fourth century. The form of classical songs began to be imitated in Western Europe, which gave rise to hymns in the narrow sense of the word. They, however, were less frequently used by the people, and rather occasioned the introduction of the strictly musical, i.e., artistic sacred song. We are entirely indebted to the Psalms as models, not only for hymns sung by the people, but for choral songs in general. Luther, in particular, has composed many hymns after the Psalms: "Lord, look down from heaven" ("Ach Gott vom Himmel sich darein"), after Ps. xii. "The Lord be merciful to us" ("Es wolle Gott uns gnaedig sein"), after Ps. lxvii.: "Were God not with us at this time" ("Waer' Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit"), after Ps. cxxiv.: "Out of deep sorrow I cry to Thee" ("Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu Dir"), after Ps. cxxx. The majestic hymn, Now praise the Lord, my soul" ("Nun lob' meine Seele den Herrn"), by Jno. Gramann, is composed after Ps. ciii.: "My hope doth stand in God alone" ("Allein zu Gott mein' Hoffnung steht"), by Lobwasser, after Psalm Xxxvii. etc. The gift of song, aroused by Luther's example, flows after the Reformation in the Lutheran Church, in pure and copious streams, reflecting the free effusions of the christian mind. The reformed church, on the other hand, adhering in her songs more closely to the letter of the Scriptures, arranged the Psalms metrically for her service, though of course an arrangement of this kind presents less vivacity and freshness than free song. The French, Swiss, Dutch, and Anglican Churches use this metrical version. Lobwasser composed a translation from the French, for the use of the German churches. A long chain of testimonies may be adduced to show the influence of the Psalms on the christian life of great men. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in the fourth century, says, "They appear to me a mirror of the soul of every one who sings them; they enable him to perceive his own emotions, and to express them in the words of the Psalms. He who hears them read receives them as if they were spoken for him. Conscience-struck, he will either humbly repent, or hearing how the trust of believers was rewarded by God rejoice, as if His mercy were promised to him in particular, and begin to thank God. Yes, in its pages you find portrayed man's whole life, the emotions of his soul and the frames of his mind. We cannot conceive of anything richer than the Book of Psalms. If you need penitence, if anguish or temptation have befallen you, if you have escaped persecution and oppression, or are immersed in deep affliction,-concerning each and all you may find instruction, and state it to God in the words of the Psalter!" Let us add Ambrose the pious bishop of Milan in the fourth century: "The law instructs, history informs, prophecy predicts, correction censures, and morals exhort. In the (1) Euseb. Eccles. Hist. v. 28. Carmina, as distinguished from Cantica. + A more detailed account and proof may be found, in a work of rare investigation and exquisite learning, which we have frequently consulted: Ferdinand Wolf on the Lais, Sequences, and Obsequies. Heidelberg, 1841. Book of Psalms you find the fruit of all these, as well as a remedy for the salvation of the soul. The Psalter deserves to be called, the praise of God the glory of man, the voice of the church, and the most beneficial confession of faith. The Psalms teach me to avoid sin, and to unlearn my being ashamed of repentance. Such a king, such a prophet, teaches me by his example to make atonement for past transgression and to avoid sin for the future. In the Psalms, delight and instruction vie with one another: we sing for enjoyment, and read for instruction." Augustine relates with deep feeling, in his Confessions, what a treasure the Psalms were to him at the time of his conversion: "How did I then," says he in addressing God, "converse with Thee, when I read the Psalms of David, those songs full of faith, those accents which exclude all pride! How did I address Thee in those Psalms; how did they kindle my love to Thee; how did they animate me if possible to read them out to the whole world as a protest against the pride of the human race. And yet they are sung in the whole world, 'nothing is hid from their heat.* How violent was my indignation against the Manichæans (the heretical sect, who entirely rejected the Old Testament), and yet felt pity for their not knowing those holy riches, those remedies, and their raging against the antidote that might have healed them. I wish they had been at my side, yet without my knowledge,-beheld my countenance and heard my voice, when I read the fourth Psalm,-what a blessing it was to me! Oh, that they could have heard,—but without my knowledge of their being within hearing (lest they should fancy I were speaking for their sakes),—what I said to Thee at the occasion of those words." He then states with profound emotion, what passed in his soul at the reading of every separate verse of that Psalm. '2 To unite ancient with modern days, let us hear how an intimate disciple of St. Bernard, in the twelfth century, represents the Psalter as the mirror of christian virtue. "Be ready to do every good, but be equally ready to bear any evil, that thy mouth without being reproved by thine heart may sing with David, 'My heart is prepared, my God, my heart is prepared,' -(the German version renders the word, 'fixed,' of the English A. V. by prepared,' cf. margin),-prepared by Thine aid to perform the good, but also prepared to suffer evil; and prepared to suffer because I will sing and give praise,' i.e. bless and praise Thee for both. And forthwith the godly man stirs himself by saying, 'Awake, psaltery and harp,' i.e. my heart and my flesh, to glory in the living God; the heart for His mercies, the flesh for its sufferings. So David elsewhere shows his resignation to God, by saying, I will keep thy precepts;' and more than this, he said also, I was not moved, when opposition arose and persecution raged. At the persecution of my rival, the cursing of my servant (Shimei), the murderous designs of my son, I became not moved, but obeyed Thy commandments, requited good for evil to those who returned evil for good. I was anxious for the welfare and sorry for the death of my persecutors. I could brook to be despised by my servant, but not bear to be avenged by my friends.' Behold long before the Gospel the virtue of the Gospel. Thus prepared, David went to meet his Lord with childlike confidence. I have run without a false step, and corrected the perverse as many as I could.' Come, then, Lord, and meet me, who run to meet Thee. And as I cannot attain unto Thy loftiness, except thou condescend to give me Thy right hand, Try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting;' i.e. to Christ who is the way in which, and eternity to which we are going." The words of Luther's pregnant preface to the Psalter are well known: we make from it the following extract: "The human heart is like a vessel in a tempestuous sea, tossed to and fro by the storms from the four quarters of the world. Fear and care of future mishap are roaring here; grief and sadness on account of present evil there. Hope and courage respecting future happiness are blowing here; while assurance and joy on account of present good are sounding there. Such tempests teach one to be in earnest now to open, and now to pour out one's heart. He who is in fear and trouble talks in other strains about mishap than he who lives in joy; and he who lives in joy in other strains about joy than he who lives in fear. It comes not from the heart (they say) when a sad one tries to laugh and a glad one to weep; i.e. his heart is neither opened nor poured out. But what do you find most in the Psalms? Earnest speech in all manner of tempests. Where can you find more appropriate expressions of joy than in the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving? You look right into the heart of saints, as into fair and pleasant gardens or heaven itself, and behold beautiful, laughing, and delicate flowers of all manner of fair and joyous thoughts towards God and His love springing lustily into life. Again, where can you find more profound, plaintive, and wretched words of grief than in the Psalms of complaint? Once more, you look into the heart of saints as into death or hell. How gloomy and dark their mournful visions of God! So again, when the Psalms speak of fear and hope, they abound in words so significant, that no painter could thus portray, no Cicero nor orator thus describe them." Let us now hear Calvin. In the preface of his Exposition of the Psalms, he mentions with holy earnestness the blessing he himself had derived from being engaged in that work, and the aid with which his own experience, both temporal and spiritual, furnished him in the Exposition of the Psalms of the Bible. But let him speak for himself. "If the reading of my Commentaries yield to the church of God as much blessing as their preparation has conferred upon me, I shall never repent having undertaken the task." "Should the labour bestowed on this work prove a blessing to my readers, may they know, that the experience of such struggles and difficulties (though unimportant in itself), through which it has pleased the Lord to take me, has materially helped me, not only to apply in its place whatever useful knowledge I might possess, but to enter more thoroughly into the author's design. and the purpose of the Psalms." Calvin, who may be truly said to have, probably more than any other man, imbibed the spirit of the Psalms, says concerning their contents: "Not without good grounds am I wont to call this book an anatomy of all parts of the soul, since no one can experience emotions, whose portrait he could not behold reflected in its mirror. Yes, the Holy Spirit has there depicted in the most vivid manner every species of pain, affliction, fear, doubt, hope, care, anxiety, and turbulent emotion, through which the hearts of men are chased. Other portions of the Scriptures contain commandments, whose transmission the Lord enjoined upon his servants; but in the Psalms, the Prophets communing with God and uncovering their inmost feelings, call and urge every reader to selfexamination to such a degree that of the numerous infirmities to which we are liable, and of the many failings which oppress us, not one remains concealed. How great and rare again for the human heart to be thus driven out of all its hiding-places, liberated from hypocrisy (that most fearful of vices), and exposed to the light. Lastly, if calling on God is the surest means of our salvation,-if better and more reliable direc tions for it than those contained in the Book of Psalms are not to be obtained, then every one who reads this book has attained to an essential part of the Divine doctrine. Earnest prayer originates in our sense of need; afterwards in our faith in the Divine promises. The reader of the Psalms finds himself both aroused to feel his misery, and exhorted to seek for its remedy. The Psalter unfolds every encouragement to prayer. It is not merely confined to promises, but men are introduced who, on the one hand invited by God, and on the other hindered by the flesh, take courage in prayer: if therefore we are beset by doubt and scruple, here we may learn to combat, till the disenthralled spirit rises anew to God. And more than this, we may learn prayerfully to struggle through hesitation, fear, and faint-heartedness, till comfort be attained. For, be it remembered, that though unbelief keep the door shut to our prayers, we must not desist when our wavering hearts are being tossed to and fro, but persevere until faith mounts victoriously from her struggles. Again, the Psalms inspire us with the most desirable of all things, in not only teaching us to approach God in confidence, but to openly unbare before Him all those failings which a false sense of shame otherwise forbids us to own. They furnish, moreover, the clearest directions how we may render to God that sacrifice of praise which He declares as most acceptable to Him. You cannot read anywhere more glorious praises of God's peculiar grace towards His church or of His works; you cannot find anywhere such an enumeration of man's deliverances or praises for the glorious proofs of His fatherly care for us, or a more perfect representation to praise Him becomingly, or more fervent exhortations to the discharge of that holy duty. But however rich the book may prove in all these respects to fit us for a holy, pious, and just life, its chief lesson is how we are to bear the cross, and to give the true evidence of our obedience, by parting with our affections, to submit ourselves to God, to suffer our lives to be entirely guided by His will, so that the bitterest trial, because He sends it, seem sweet to us. Finally, not only is the goodness of God praised in general terms to secure our perfect resignation to Him, and to expect His aid in every time of need, but the free forgiveness of our sins, which alone can effect our peace of conscience and reconciliation to God, are in particular so strongly recommended, that there is nothing wanting to the knowledge of eternal life.' Some, probably influenced by their antipathy for the matter of the Psalms, find it difficult to get reconciled to their form, and feel disposed to call the poetic claim of the Psalms, which is by no means their highest claim, into question. Men of that stamp have never been wanting To their shame, we adduce an evidence in favour of the Psalms which an eminent scholar of classical antiquity, Henry Stephanus, furnishes in the preface of his Commentary on the Psalms.* He states his having met at Rome with some who, from a one-sided attachment to classical lore, denied the poetic merit of the Psalms, and charged the poet Antonius Flaminius with the folly of attempting to reproduce in Roman verse the contents of the Psalter, which, said they, was nothing else than "committing seed to the arid sand." The learned Stephanus further states that, on adducing several illustrations, especially Psalm civ. he showed them that, "so far from questioning the poetry of the Psalms of David, there existed no production which could be conceived more poetical, harmonious, and heart-stirring, and mostly more ecstatic, than just the Psalms;† that Flaminius, therefore, had not selected * Liber Psalmorum Davidis cum Cathol. Exposit. Ecclesiastica. Paris, 1562. + Prolatis deinde aliquot exemplis, addebam, tantum abesse ut Davidici Psalmi nihil cum poesi commune habere putarem, ut contra nihil illis esse ποιτικώτερον, nihil esse μουσικώτερον, |