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diff --git a/33492.txt b/33492.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31fa9d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/33492.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4363 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Christian Use of the Psalter, by A. R. Whitham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Christian Use of the Psalter + +Author: A. R. Whitham + +Release Date: August 22, 2010 [EBook #33492] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHRISTIAN USE OF THE PSALTER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + +The English Churchman's Library + + + + + THE CHRISTIAN USE + OF THE PSALTER + + +BY THE + +REV. A. R. WHITHAM, M.A. + + + _Principal of Culham Training College, and formerly + Vice-Principal of Cuddesdan College_ + + + + + Impleta sunt quae concinit + David fidelis carmine + + + +A. R. MOWBRAY & CO., LTD. + +LONDON: 34 Great Castle Street, Oxford Circus, W. + +OXFORD: 9 High Street + + +1909 + + + + +THE ENGLISH CHURCHMAN'S LIBRARY + +_One Shilling each net_ + + +The Mysteries of Grace. By T. A. Lacey, Chaplain of the House of +Mercy, Highgate. + +Letters to a Godson. First Series. By Cyril Bickersteth, Priest of +the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield. + +First Studies In S. Mark. By G. M. Ireland Blackburne. + +Spiritual Counsels to District Visitors and others. By the late George +Howard Wilkinson, D.D., Bishop of S. Andrews: Primus. + +The Christian Use of the Psalter. By A. R. Whitham, M.A., Principal of +Culham Training College. + +Our Working Girls and How to help them. By Flora L. Freeman, Author of +"Sunshine of Everyday Life." + +Letters to a Godson. Second Series. By Cyril Bickersteth, M.A. + +The Practical Religion. By Vernon Staley, Provost of Inverness +Cathedral. + + +_Others in preparation._ + + A. R. MOWBRAY & CO., LTD. + CHURCH PUBLISHERS + LONDON: 34, Great Castle Street, W. + OXFORD: 9, High Street + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +This little book, based on three Lectures delivered to the S. Paul's +Lecture Society in January, 1908, is not intended so much for the +scholar as for the plain man who goes to Church and loves the Prayer +Book, but finds the Psalms sometimes puzzling. They are certainly the +most difficult, though the most characteristic, part of the daily +offices of the Church. What has been attempted in these Lectures is +not to explain them in detail, but to suggest the broad lines of +interpretation which seem always to have been in the mind of the Church +in her use of the Psalter. A few additional helps have been suggested +in the Notes. + +CULHAM, 1908. + + + + +{vii} + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v + + +_LECTURE I_ + + PART I.--GENERAL PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + PART II.--DIFFICULTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 + + +_LECTURE II_ + +CHRIST IN THE PSALTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 + + +_LECTURE III_ + +THE CHURCH IN THE PSALTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 + + +NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 + + +_APPENDIX_ + +BRIEF SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE CHRISTIAN USE OF EACH PSALM . 107 + + +INDEX OF PSALMS REFERRED TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 + + + + +{1} + +The Christian Use of the Psalter + + +LECTURE I + +PART I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES + + Haereditate acquisivi testimonia tua in aeternum: + Quia exsultatio cordis mei sunt. + + +The Christian use of the Psalter is as old as Christianity itself. The +new-born Catholic Church, returning from her earliest conflict with the +kingdoms of this world, found the most natural expression of her faith +and her need in the words of the 2nd Psalm: + + Why did the Gentiles rage, + And the peoples imagine vain things? + The kings of the earth set themselves in array, + And the rulers were gathered together, + Against the Lord, and against His Anointed. + (Acts iv. 25, 26, R.V.) + +{2} + +Before this, on the very birthday of the Church, the chief of the +Apostles had appealed to the witness of "David," for the Resurrection +and Triumph of the Holy One (Pss. xvi., cx. in Acts ii. 25-8, 34, 35). +And even earlier, during the ten days of waiting, the great Psalms of +righteous wrath (thought so impossible by many to-day) had supplied the +prophecy of the fall of Judas: + + Let his habitation be made desolate, + And let no man dwell therein; + +and the justification of the election of Matthias: + + His office let another take. + (Pss. lxix. and cix. in Acts i. 20.) + + +So harmoniously did the praise-book of the Jewish Church pass into the +service of Christ; so clearly did the first believers recognise that +the Spirit of Christ was the same Who had spoken by "David." This +immediate appropriation of the Psalter as a book of Christian witness +is remarkable evidence to the felt unity and continuity of the two +Covenants. No book of the Old Testament, with the exception of Isaiah, +is so frequently quoted in the New as the book of Psalms. + +But still more remarkable is the influence of the Psalter on Christian +_worship_. The Church {3} exists in the world not only as the +teaching, but also as the worshipping community. As the ages pass she +ceases not to bear the witness of her praise and thanksgiving to the +Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From the beginning she showed a +tendency to do this in ordered and liturgical forms. The Apostolic +Church continued steadfast in "the prayers" (Acts ii. 42, R.V.). The +expression implies not merely a daily gathering for worship, but the +offering of that worship in a fixed and orderly manner, suggested, no +doubt, by the existing Jewish services. Whatever may have been the +actual form of "the prayers" in the first age of the Church, or +whatever stages they may have passed through, there can be no doubt +that they are the germ of all the rich later developments of the +liturgy of the Church, such as are represented in the Middle Ages by +the Missal and the Breviary, and to-day by our own Book of Common +Prayer. + +The regular services of the Church fall naturally into two classes. +The Eucharist, the service of the Altar, took the place of the +sacrificial worship of the Temple. The Divine Office, the service of +the Choir, may have been suggested by the services of the Synagogue. +But if so, there is one most significant difference. {4} The Christian +Church made a much fuller public use of the Psalms than the Synagogue +ever seems to have done.[1] The Psalms in the Jewish Church seem to +have been adjuncts or embellishments of the service, rather than its +central feature. The Divine Office of the Christian Church practically +is the Psalter. The readings from other parts of Scripture, so +prominent in the Synagogue service, fall now into a secondary place. +The recitation of the Psalms, which appears from very early times as +the characteristic Christian devotion, became the very centre and core +of the sevenfold daily Choir Office of the mediaeval Church. The whole +Psalter in theory was said through once a week, mainly at Mattins (the +midnight office), while selected Psalms formed the chief part of the +subsequent services of the day.[2] The English Reformers, however +hastily and trenchantly they may have cut down and simplified these +services of the Breviary, showed the true Catholic instinct in this at +least, that they provided as the leading feature of Morning and Evening +Prayer an unbroken and systematic recitation of the Psalms. In this +respect their claim was justified that they had provided an {5} order +"much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers."[3] It was +a return from mediaeval complications to a more primitive ideal. + + +What, then, was this book of praise and worship which the Catholic +Church found ready to hand, and made unhesitatingly her own, and which +has set the standard and provided the chief material for her continual +voice in the ear of God? The Psalter, as we know it now, had been for +some time before Christ the recognised praise-book of Israel. Its +Hebrew name is simple and significant--_Tehillim_, "praises." Its +historical origins and growth are still indeed wrapt in obscurity, and +to discuss them would be alien from our present purpose. Suffice it to +say that there seems no conclusive reason for discrediting the +universal Jewish and Christian tradition that the Psalter begins at +least with David. Some of the earlier and more personal psalms are +naturally felt to reflect his character and youthful struggles. Nor is +it unreasonable to believe that the later historical books are +substantially correct in making him the founder {6} of the Temple choir +(1 Chron. xv.; Ezra iii. 10). Doubtless the majority of the Psalms +belong to a later age, and their collection is due to the scrupulous +care and reverence of the period of Jewish history which begins with +Ezra. The singers of the Temple after, perhaps even before, the +Captivity formed various collections of sacred lyrics, which passed +under characteristic names, some being entitled "Psalms of David" +(though not of necessity all his work); others bearing the names of +ancient leaders of the Temple choir, like Asaph, or of the guilds of +singers, like "the sons of Korah." Another collection with a distinct +individuality would be the "songs of degrees" or "ascents" +(cxx.-cxxxii.), the pilgrim-songs of the faithful Israelites as they +journeyed from their homes to keep the annual feasts at Jerusalem. At +some unknown time these different collections, or selections from them, +must have been brought together into one. Many scholars consider that +the compilation cannot have been complete before the age of the +Maccabees, as more than one Psalm is thought to refer to the agonies of +faithful Israel during that great national crisis (e.g. Pss. xliv., +lxxiv., lxxix., lxxx.). But it must have been substantially complete +by the time that the Septuagint translation was made (in the second +century {7} B.C.); and so ancient then were the titles of the Psalms in +the Hebrew that these Alexandrine scholars seem to have been frequently +puzzled by them. + +This collection of 150 Psalms, whenever precisely it may have been +made, was divided into five books, each ending with an outburst of +praise to the God of Israel.[4] The key to this somewhat artificial +arrangement is no doubt to be found in the desire to make the Psalter +correspond with the Pentateuch. "Moses," says a Rabbinical commentator +(Midrash _Tillim_), "gave five-fifths of the Law, and correspondingly +David gave the book of _Tehillim_, in which are five books." Of this +Dr. Cheyne says, "The remark is a suggestive one: it seems to mean +this--that the praise-book is the answer of the worshipping community +to the demands made by its Lord in the Law, the reflexion of the +external standard of faith and obedience in the utterance of the +believing heart." This criticism is so illuminating that it may well +suggest the first great principle in our own Christian use of the +Psalter. + + +I. The Psalter is the inspired answer of praise which human faith is +privileged to make to {8} God's revelation. It is the "new song" put +in the mouth of humanity by its Creator. "Thou preparest their heart, +and Thine ear hearkeneth thereto" (Ps. x. 19). + +This is surely a very great thought. The Old Testament is the record +of God's gradual unveiling of Himself to His elect, whom for the +world's sake He had chosen out of the world. The revelation was not +indeed to them alone. God had spoken in many ways, more than even the +Church yet recognises, to the heathen world. Yet to Israel God gave +that highest privilege of receiving and keeping the true knowledge of +Himself, of His unity, His universality, His moral being, His holiness, +His love, and of the demand which this knowledge makes on human +conscience. The unknown author of 2 Esdras, looking back on history +after the great blow had fallen on Jerusalem, has expressed this in +vivid and pathetic language: "Of all the flowers of the world Thou hast +chosen Thee one lily: and of all the depths of the sea Thou hast filled +Thee one river: and of all builded cities Thou hast hallowed Sion unto +Thyself: ... and among all the multitudes of peoples Thou hast gotten +Thee one people: and unto this people, whom Thou lovedst, Thou gavest a +law that is approved of all" (2 Esd. v. 24-7). In the Psalter God {9} +has provided, as it were, for His people the words of praise in which +their thankful hearts may express their love and loyalty to what He has +revealed. + +This feature, the glad response to revelation, is stamped upon the +Psalter from end to end. Thus the 1st Psalm describes the secret of +human blessedness: + + His delight is in the law of the Lord: + And in His law will he exercise himself day and night. + + +The 9th Psalm is an outburst of thanksgiving to "the Name" of God, Who +is revealed as the moral Governor of the world. The 19th couples the +self-revelation of God in nature, God Whose glory the heavens declare, +with the revelation given in the Law, which is, as it were, the sun in +the moral world restoring the soul and enlightening the eyes. The 25th +reads like a comment from man's heart on the great proclamation of +God's Name given to Moses in the "cleft of the rock"--"The Lord, the +Lord, a God full of compassion, and gracious, slow to anger, and +plenteous in mercy and truth" (Ex. xxxiii. 19, xxxiv. 5-7). So the +Psalmist prays, as it were, in answer: + +{10} + + Call to remembrance, O Lord, Thy tender mercies: + And Thy loving-kindnesses, which have been ever of old. + O remember not the sins and offences of my youth: + But according to Thy mercy think Thou upon me, O Lord, + for Thy goodness. + + +The 40th offers the response of a converted will to what is found and +recognised in the Law: + + In the roll of the book it is written of me: + I delight to do Thy will, O my God. + (R.V.) + + +The 78th recounts the long history of rebellious Israel as in itself +part of the "testimony" of God. The mingled record of deliverance and +failure, of judgment and hope, is in itself "a parable," a "dark saying +of old," which faith can read and make answer to. The 131st expresses +the very fundamental spirit of faith, the essential temper and attitude +of the Church, the spirit of humility, of intellectual submission, of +obedience, which is the same under the Gospel Dispensation as under the +Old Covenant. + +{11} + + Lord, I am not high-minded: + I have no proud looks. + I do not exercise myself in great matters: + Which are too high for me. + + +But the most remarkable illustration of this characteristic attitude of +the believer is the 119th Psalm. It is like a piece of music, every +verse a subtle and harmonious variation on one dominant theme. It is +the voice of the converted soul, learning the one lesson which man must +learn in this world's school, if he is to attain his true +being--learning to be ever turning away from self, from one's own +doubts, troubles, persecutions, sufferings, to rest on what God has +revealed in His statutes, His judgments, His testimonies, His laws. +Nor is it without a subtle propriety that this Psalm is arranged as an +acrostic under the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These +letters are, as it were, the rudiments out of which man is enabled to +exercise his characteristic gift of articulate speech; and in the +acrostic Psalms they are visibly consecrated to His service Who made +the mouth of man. And each part of the 119th Psalm consists of eight +verses, a significant Hebrew number, the symbol of the {12} +Resurrection and the restoration of all things in that eighth day, the +octave of eternity, which is yet to come, and will complete the work of +the seven days of the first creation. + +This Psalm, which expresses the unchanging spirit of true religion, was +most naturally appropriated by Christian devotion to form the services +for the working part of each day, beginning at Prime, when "man goeth +forth to his work and his labour" with that benediction which comes on +labour done with a pure motive in God's Name: + + Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way: + And walk in the law of the Lord, + +and ending at None, the hour of the death of the Lord, when day visibly +declines, with the confession that the worker, as he looks back, must +always make: + + I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost: + O seek Thy servant, for I do not forget Thy commandments. + + +It was like a stream of water, crossing unexpectedly a dusty +way--_mirabilia testimonia tua_! In psalm and antiphon, inexhaustibly +fresh, the soul seemed to be taking refuge, at that undevout {13} hour, +from the sordid languor and the mean business of men's lives, in +contemplation of the unfaltering vigour of the Divine righteousness, +which had still those who sought it, not only watchful in the night, +but alert in the drowsy afternoon.[5] + + +We can scarcely exaggerate the value, in our own time especially, of +this use, not only of the 119th Psalm, but of the whole Psalter, as the +response of the Church and the human soul to the revealed word of God. +These times of Christ have indeed filled and enriched the early +conception of "the Name" of God. We have learned to see in the Trinity +the justification of belief in the Divine Unity; we have learned more +of the Fatherhood of God in the face of His only Son; we have learned +that the Cross is the key to human suffering; we have learned the +Catholic nature of the Divine sovereignty: nevertheless the foundation +teaching of the Psalmists as to the relation of the creature to his +Creator remains unchanged. We still find in the Psalter a guide for +our uncertain footsteps in our journey back to God. Is not the answer +to every problem of faith, even such mysteries as the existence and +continuance of evil, or the calamities that fall on the just, {14} +still to be found as the author of the 73rd Psalm found it, in +returning and rest upon the God Who has made _Himself_ known to +suffering man? + + My flesh and my heart faileth: + But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. + + +The prevailing thought of the 119th Psalm, that God's revelation is +fixed and permanent and the law of human life, marks the great +separation between the world and the Church. Such a belief is +abhorrent and distasteful always to the natural mind, while it is +familiar to and welcomed by the Catholic Church, as it was by the +Jewish. The Church's witness to the world is of a revelation from +above: she has _received_ it; she may not alter it without apostasy. +Her mission in the world is not to be the mirror of each succeeding +phase of human thought, nor merely the consecration of human +aspirations, but rather to speak with a supernatural authority, to tell +men what God is and what is His will, "whether they will hear, or +whether they will forbear." And the Church can only deliver her +message aright, in the face of the frowns of the princes of this world, +so long as worship gladdens and confirms her {15} witness, so long as +she herself finds her joy in contemplating her treasure and returning +thanks for it to the Giver. + +As the devout Israelite found in the Psalter the natural expression of +an intelligent devotion to the God Who had revealed Himself in Law and +Prophets, so the Christian Church, with no break of continuity, found +the Psalter still adequate to express her joy in her fuller knowledge. +For that fuller knowledge was strictly in line with the old. The faith +of Israel had not been changed, but carried forward, developed, +illuminated. In the Law the Gospel lay hid, and the Christian Church +felt in the old words of devotion no outworn or alien accents, but +living utterances of the Spirit of Life, which renewed their youth with +hers. So from the beginning she found strength and comfort in her +warfare for the truth, in the praises of Israel. From the beginning +she based her ordered worship on the services of Temple and Synagogue. +The choirs of the Catholic Church find their most lasting and +characteristic voice not in hymn or anthem, but in-- + + "The chorus intoned + As the Levites go up to the altar in glory enthroned." + + +{16} + +II. A second great principle of the Christian use of the Psalter will +be found in its humanism. The Psalms are profoundly human. They +sympathise with the soul of man in all his varied efforts after God. +They find a voice for him in his battles for truth and right, in his +moments of defeat as well as his victories, in his doubts no less than +his certainties. They put words into his mouth as he contemplates the +variety, the beauty, and the law of nature, or the injustice, the +obstinacy, the treachery of men. The Psalms make his bed in his +sickness; they strengthen him in the inward agonies of faith; they go +with him to the gates of death, and farther still, even to God's "holy +hill and His dwelling"; they point him to the eternal morning, when he +will wake up and be satisfied with God's likeness (_cf._ Pss. civ., x., +xli., lxxvii., lxxxviii., xliii., xvii.). + +We have all no doubt felt something of this abiding sympathy of the +Psalter. Dean Church expressed it very remarkably in a letter written +by him shortly before his death: + + +The thought of what is to take the place of things here is with me all +day long, but it is with a strange mixture of reality and unreality, +and I wish it did me all the good it might. Books are not +satisfactory--at least, I have always found it {17} so. It seems to me +that there is nothing equal to letting the Psalms fall on one's ears, +till at last a verse starts into meaning, which it is sure to do in the +end (_Life and Letters_, p. 409, ed. 1897). + + +The Psalter has in this way endeared itself to many generations of +struggling and dying men, and appealed even to many who were alien from +its spirit. It has interwoven itself with striking scenes and moments +of history, as when Hildebrand chanted "He that dwelleth in heaven +shall laugh them to scorn" (ii.) before the encircling hosts of emperor +and anti-pope; or when S. Athanasius, on that night of fear when the +imperial soldiers had blockaded the doors of the church, and the fate +of the faith of Nicaea seemed to hang in the balance, bade the deacon +intone that Psalm which tells of God smiting great kings, "for His +mercy endureth for ever" (cxxxvi.); or when Henry V. turned his face to +the wall and died, confessing that his ideal was unfulfilled, and that +God, and not he, must "build the walls of Jerusalem" (li.). + +This humanism of the Psalter makes it pre-eminently a Christian +possession, for Christianity is human through and through. It is the +religion of "the soul which is by nature Christian." It redeems and +consecrates, as no other religion could ever dare to do, all the +fulness of man's being. {18} And why? Here we touch the innermost +secret of the Psalter. It is the book of the Incarnation. "The Word +was made flesh, and dwelt among us." God Himself has taken to Himself +a human soul and spirit as well as a human body. And the Incarnate +Word found on earth the voice of His communing with the Father, as the +faithful of His own adopted nation did, in the words of the Psalms. +These words rise naturally to His lips in the supreme agony on the +Cross; they must have provided His prayers and thanksgivings, we may +reverently imagine, not only in the public services which He attended, +but in His home at Nazareth, and in His lonely vigils of prayer. He +gathered together in Himself all the human experiences of the past +which are reflected in the Psalter. Hence the Psalter is also the +characteristic voice of His Church, that Church which was founded by +Him, and is united to Him, and is the assembly of the first-born of +humanity calling Him "Lord" and Mary "Mother." + +The consideration of these great truths will be reserved for subsequent +lectures; but it would be impossible to speak of general principles in +our Christian use of the Psalter without pointing out on the very +threshold its indissoluble connection, historically and doctrinally, +with the {19} "Author and Finisher of our faith," and with His Church +"the household of faith." + + +III. Once again, the Psalter is appropriate for Christian use because +it is the book of Hope. The world estranged from God is without hope. +The heathen looked back to a golden age; Virgil stands almost alone in +his dream of its possible return.[6] The Israel of God is the +fellowship of the future. It feels itself in harmony with an +increasing purpose of God. The great revelation to Moses of the Name +of God, "I will be that I will be" (Ex. iii. 14, R.V. marg.), left its +mark on all subsequent history. So the Old Testament writers, under +every imaginable difficulty and persecution and reverse, among the +treacheries of friends, as well as the attacks of a hostile heathen +world, are ever straining forward to a coming of God and a Kingdom of +God. Like the spirits in Virgil's vision: + + Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum, + Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.[7] + + +{20} + +The Psalms throughout delight in this attitude. The most casual reader +is struck by the constancy with which an outlook of hope and joy +succeeds to the sorrow and stress of the opening verses of Psalm after +Psalm. Even the darkest have their gleams of promise. And so the +Christian Church, having learned what the hope of Israel meant, found +the Psalms come naturally to her lips. She could sing with fuller +meaning of the rising up again of the righteous (xli.), of the +deliverances from the stormy waters and from the wandering out of the +way in the wilderness (cvii.), of the bringing up of the sufferer "from +the deep of the earth again" (lxxi.). The Psalter was and is to the +Christian not merely the reflection of his characteristic sorrows and +trials, but the book of the Resurrection, of the restitution of all +things, of the doing away of the imperfect and the coming of the +perfect. + + Thou shalt shew me the path of life; in Thy presence + is the fulness of joy: + And at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. + (xvi. 12.) + + +Thus the Psalter is ours, for it is the new song of gratitude to Him +Who has given us the {21} Catholic Faith; it is ours because it is the +book of Him Who has redeemed us by making Himself one with us, and +"taking the manhood into God"; it is ours because it has not merely the +human consecration of ages of Christian use, but it is the channel +which the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in the Church, seems deliberately to +have chosen in which to make His ineffable intercession for the sons of +God who wait for their adoption, "the redemption of the body" (Rom. +viii. 19-27). Appreciation of the Psalter grows with the devout use of +it. The obligation to recite it month by month in the daily office is +one of the best gifts the Church has given to her priests; and both +priest and laity alike will find increasingly that the Psalms need no +apology. They are the noblest and most comprehensive form of public +worship; they are the most truly satisfying book of private devotion. + + + +[1] Note A, p. 101. + +[2] Note B, p. 102. + +[3] "Concerning the Service of the Church," the original Preface to the +Prayer Book. + +[4] xli. 13, lxxii. 18-19, lxxxix. 50, cvi. 46, cl. + +[5] Walter Pater, _Gaston de Latour_. + +[6] Virgil, _eclogue_ iv. + +[7] Virgil, _Aeneid_, vi. 313, 314 (_cf._ Heb. xi. 13): + + Praying, they stood with hands of love outspread, + If but that farther shore each might be first to tread. + + + + +{22} + +PART II. DIFFICULTIES + + Servus tuus sum ego: + Da mihi intellectum ut sciam testimonia tua. + + +Besides general principles, we are also to consider some of the general +difficulties in the use of the Psalter as a Christian book. The Psalms +are certainly not easy. Nothing as great as they are ever could be +easy. None of the books of the Bible yield their secret except to +labour and prayer, and the Psalms present special difficulties of their +own. These are of various kinds and need various methods of approach. +There is a difficulty inherent in the very origin and history of the +Psalms. They are translated somewhat imperfectly from an ancient +language, not akin to our own--a language which, if not difficult in +itself, is rendered so by the comparative scantiness of its literature. +The Psalms, humanly speaking, are the work of a race widely different +from ourselves in habits and in modes of thought and expression. They +contain allusions to events and circumstances imperfectly known or +realised to-day. Most of our interpretation of these things is +necessarily guess-work. The same Psalm may be ascribed {23} with equal +probability, by scholars of equal learning and reverence, to periods +many centuries apart. Was the sufferer of Ps. xxii. David or Jeremiah, +or is it altogether an ideal portrait? Was the coming of the heathen +into God's inheritance of Ps. lxxix. that of the Babylonians in the +sixth century B.C. or of the soldiers of Antiochus in the second? Who +was the "king's daughter" in Ps. xlv. and who "the daughter of Tyre"? +Is the Temple of the Psalms ever the first Temple, or is it always the +second? Such problems still wait an answer. Again, there are +difficulties inherent in Hebrew thought. It is intensely concrete and +personal, in contrast with our more usual abstractions and +generalities. The Psalmists speak habitually of "the wicked" and "the +ungodly," where we should more naturally speak of the qualities rather +than the persons. They ignore, as a rule, immediate or secondary +causes, and ascribe everything in nature or human affairs to the direct +action or intervention of God. Thus a thunder-storm is described: + + There went a smoke out in His presence: + And a consuming fire out of His mouth, + so that coals were kindled at it. + (xviii. 8.) + +{24} + +And thus a national calamity: + + Thou hast shewed Thy people heavy things: + Thou hast given us a drink of deadly wine. + (lx. 3.) + + +Such ways of describing God's work in Nature or His providence are +partly, of course, due to the fact (often overlooked by the +half-educated) that the Psalms are poetry and not prose. For the same +reason inanimate objects are personified: "the earth trembled at the +look of Him," "the mountains skipped like lambs"; the mythical +"Leviathan" appears both as a title of Egypt (lxxiv. 15) and as an +actual monster of the deep (civ. 26). God Himself, again, is spoken of +in language that might seem more appropriate to man. He is "provoked," +and "tempted." He awakes "like a giant refreshed with wine." He is +called upon, not to sleep nor to forget, to avenge, to "bow the heavens +and come down." + +Nor do the Psalms in their literal meaning rise always above the +current and imperfect religious conceptions of their time. The moral +difficulties involved in this will be considered a little later, but it +may be interesting to point out here some examples which bear on {25} +the progressiveness of revelation in the Old Testament by which heathen +ideas became, under God's guidance, "stepping-stones to higher things." +The Psalms seem sometimes to speak as if "the gods of the heathen" +really existed and were in some way rivals of the God of Israel, +universal and supreme though He is acknowledged to be. They are spoken +of as "devils" as well as idols. They are called upon to "worship Him" +(_cf._ cvi. 36, xcvii. 7, 9, cxxxviii. i). + +Again, the Psalmists' horizon is, for the most part, limited to this +present life, which is regarded as if it were the chief, almost the +only, scene in which moral retribution would be worked out. And +occasionally there appears the primitive Hebrew idea of the after-world +as the vague and gloomy Sheol, like the shadowy Hades of Homer, where +the dead "go down into silence," where, instead of purpose and +progress, there is but a dawnless twilight, the land "without any +order" of Job (xlix., lxxxviii., cxv. 17). + +And yet the more one studies and uses the Psalms in the light of other +Scriptures and the Church's interpretation, the more it is found that +these partial, at first sight erroneous, conceptions have still their +practical value for Christians. There is nothing in them that is {26} +positively false, and they suggest, on the other hand, aspects of truth +which we tend to forget. Thus in the instances given above, by "the +gods of the heathen" the Christian may well be reminded of the +continued existence and influence in the heathen world of the powers of +evil, of the malignant warfare that is still being waged by +"principalities and powers" against light and truth. The ancient +conception of the shadowy abode of the dead has also its value. Even +the Lord Himself could speak of the night coming "when no man can work" +(John ix. 4), and such Psalms as the 49th and the 115th may serve to +remind us that this life is a time of work and probation in a sense +that the life after death is not, that the grave cannot reverse the +line that has been followed here nor put praises in the mouth of those +who have never praised God "secretly or in the congregation" in this +world. And again, the "present-worldliness" of the Psalter may well +point the duty of Christians in respect of what they see and know +around them here. Many are content, while repeating pious phrases +about heaven, to ignore the fact that this present human life is the +great sphere of Christian activity, and that whether the Church is able +to regenerate human society here or {27} not, it is her business to try +to do it, as fellow-workers with Him-- + + Who helpeth them to right that suffer wrong: + Who feedeth the hungry. + (cxlvi. 6.) + +Have we not a remarkable witness to the continuity of the Holy Spirit's +teaching, and to the fact that not "one jot or one tittle" of the law +is to remain unfulfilled, in the way that these apparent imperfections +and limitations of the Psalter fall into their place in connection with +the later revelation? + + +Another obvious difficulty of the Psalter lies in the frequent +obscurity of connection between verse and verse, in the rapid +transitions, in the uncertainty as to the sequence of thought, or the +meaning of the Psalm as a whole. This difficulty, as it bears upon the +liturgical use of the Psalms, has been increased by the abolition of +the _antiphons_, which in the pre-Reformation offices certainly helped +at times to suggest a leading thought, or to guide the worshipper as to +the Church's intention in the recitation of this or that Psalm. (Note +C, p. 104.) Sometimes indeed, the connection between the verses of a +Psalm is really very slight, more a matter {28} of suggestion or +association than of logic. Such is the case in "proverbial" Psalms, +like the 33rd, 34th, and 37th, or the 119th. But in others it is well +worth the effort to gain a continuous view of the Psalm as a whole. A +simple commentary will give this, or even sometimes the R.V. alone, or +the headings in the A.V., such as the very suggestive one prefixed to +the 110th: "1 The kingdom, 4 the priesthood, 5 the conquest, 7 and the +passion of Christ." (Note D, p. 106.) + +There are also difficulties caused by a real obscurity in the Hebrew, +or by mistranslations. Here, again, a comparison with the R.V. is of +great value. The meaning of the 87th springs to light at once when we +read "This one was born there," instead of the mysterious "Lo, there +was he born," etc. The Psalm refers not to the birth of the Messiah, +but to the new birth of individuals out of the heathen races who thus +become citizens of Sion. "So let indignation vex him, even as a thing +that is raw" (lviii. 8), becomes certainly more intelligible as "He +shall take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike" +(a metaphor from a traveller's fire of brushwood, blown away by a +sudden wind); and even if "the beasts of the people" remains still +obscure in Ps. lxviii. in the revised {29} translation, its "why hop ye +so, ye high hills?" is more significant when it is read-- + + Why look ye askance, ye high mountains: + At the mountain which God hath desired for His abode? + + +Sometimes the alteration of a single word makes the difference between +obscurity and sense, as in xlix. 5, where "the wickedness of my heels" +becomes intelligible as "iniquity at my heels"; or in Ps. xlii., where +"Therefore will I remember thee concerning the land of Judah and the +little hill of Hermon" is made clear at once by the substitution of +"from" for "concerning." The verse is the cry of the exile, who, far +away in northern Palestine, among the sources of the Jordan, yearns for +the Temple and its services, which he is no longer able to visit. + +Doubtless the reasons which prevented the older version of the Psalms +being changed in the Prayer Book in the seventeenth century, when other +passages of Scripture were revised, still hold good. Neither A.V. nor +R.V. are so well adapted for music, nor have they endeared themselves +to the worshipper by daily use. Those who have time and opportunity +may {30} discover for themselves more exact meanings or clear up +difficulties by private study. But even those who have not may find +that there are better uses of the Psalter than a merely intellectual +grasp of its meaning. Possibly an occasional obscurity may even have a +humbling or awe-inspiring effect on the mind. The strange version of +the Vulgate of Ps. lxxi. 14, though incorrect, is not without its point: + + Quoniam non cognovi litteraturam, + introibo in potentias Domini.[1] + + +Learning by itself can never lift the soul on the wings of devotion and +worship. The unlearned, Christ's "little ones," have in every age +found a voice that spoke to them in the liturgy of the Catholic Church, +even though its accents were inarticulate, and its message music rather +than words. Such considerations may prevent us distressing ourselves +because something, perhaps much, in the Church's book of praise is +unintelligible and must remain so. + +Two practical suggestions may be offered here to those who find +themselves hindered in devotion by the difficulties of the Psalter, by +its rapid transitions, or its constantly varying tone. The leading +purpose of the Psalter in {31} the Church's use is expressed in its +Hebrew title, _Tehillim_, "praises." "We shall do well," says Dr. +Cheyne, "to accustom ourselves to the intelligent use of this title, +and to look out in every psalm for an element of praise." It is good +to allow this thought to dominate our mind while the Psalms are being +read or sung in the Church's service. For this and for that our +fathers in the Faith thanked God; for what He had revealed, or promised +or done. And He is the same, He changes not. Ever and anon as the +service proceeds, a verse will suggest some ground of thanksgiving for +ourselves or for the Church we love. We need to keep our minds, like +our bodies, in the attitude of praise and aspiration, like that exiled +lover of his nation who wrote Ps. cvi.: + + Remember me, O Lord, according to the favour that Thou + bearest unto Thy people: + O visit me with Thy salvation; + That I may see the felicity of Thy chosen: + And rejoice in the gladness of Thy people, + And give thanks with Thine inheritance. + (cvi. 4, 5.) + + +{32} + +Not only the attitude of praise should be cultivated, but also that of +sympathy. This will be especially fruitful as we take upon our lips +these constantly recurring expressions of penitence, struggle, and +sorrow. These are certain to be at times unreal to us, unless we can +remember that we recite them not merely for ourselves, but as part of +the Church's intercession for the world, in which it is our privilege +to take part. Others are suffering under the burden of sin and grief, +others are overwhelmed with sorrow, racked with pain, harried by the +slanderer and the persecutor. It is such as these that we remember +before God, as fellow-members of the one body. And will not such a +remembrance, such sympathy, bring us very near to our blessed Lord's +own use of the Psalter in His days on earth, Who "Himself took our +infirmities and bore our sicknesses"? + + +Yet beyond all these difficulties of language, history, and modes of +thought, whether they yield to study or not, there are outstanding +_moral_ difficulties of the Psalter. Some of the Psalms appear to be +inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel, or even with the moral +sense of mankind, educated as it has been for so long in the +Gospel-school. This objection seems at first {33} sight a more serious +difficulty than any of the others; but before it can be satisfactorily +dealt with, another and more fundamental question must be faced. What +is the attitude, as a whole, of the objector to the revealed word of +God? There are those to whom the Psalms seem to speak altogether in an +alien tongue, who find the recitation of them in the Church's service +"tedious" (a reason alleged recently as one of those which keep people +from attending church), to whom the 119th Psalm appears to be +"mechanical and monotonous," whose very expression in church proclaims +them "bored." Such feelings may be only the result of ignorance, or +lack of effort, or inherited misconceptions. Or the reason may lie +deeper. The worship of the Catholic Church can only be understood by +those who are of the mind of the Church, who have learned to place +themselves in the believer's attitude towards God and His revelation. + +However much the word "conversion" may have been abused, and turned +into a mere catchword or shibboleth, it is unquestionable that the +Christian religion demands a fundamental change of mind and attitude, a +change which does not come by education only, nor by any natural +process. There is a hidden wisdom in the Church which to the natural +man is {34} "foolishness" (1 Cor. ii. 14); it can only be learned by +those who humbly set themselves to be taught by the Spirit. This +change, come it suddenly or very slowly, must have its effect upon the +whole man, his intellect, as well as his heart and will. "There is +nothing hid from the heat thereof." Especially will it rule our +attitude towards Holy Scripture. Without such a change neither +historical nor grammatical explanations can make the Scripture sweet or +even intelligible. Not least will our comprehension of the Psalter be +influenced by it. How impossible is it really to say, "Lord, what love +have I unto Thy law," if one has never realised that there is a law of +God, supreme and absolute, to be read in the Scriptures and in the +witness of the Church; and that only in obedience to this law can man +find his true self and "walk at liberty." It is vain to seek to be +critics before we are disciples. And the Psalter is clearly meant for +the initiated, not for him who merely follows the crowd. The Divine +Office, which the Psalter fills and dominates, is the means whereby the +instructed faithful express their unchanging delight in, and loyalty +to, what they have received freely from God. It is not the Church's +message to the unconverted world, nor the voice of man's natural +desires and sympathies, {35} undisciplined by grace. The Catholic +temper, the mind of the Church, is an absolute first principle in the +right use of the Church's book of praise, and the key to its chief +difficulties. + +Bearing this in mind, let us endeavour to face, in conclusion, this +moral difficulty of some parts of the Psalter--a difficulty which +undoubtedly causes pain and uncertainty to some who are really devout, +and which has led many to ask for a revised or expurgated Psalter for +the public services. First, there is what appears to be the +self-righteousness of the Psalter. Side by side with the most perfect +expressions of humility and penitence, there are found protestations of +innocence and purity which, if they were merely personal, we should +rightly hesitate to make our own. But the "I" of the Psalter is not +merely personal; it is the collective voice of the Church, and of the +Church in her ideal aspect, such as we confess her in the Creed--"one, +holy, Catholic." It is the voice of the great company of the holy +souls from the beginning of the world, on earth and beyond the veil. +It is with these that we recite our psalms, with these that we humbly +associate ourselves, it is their righteousness that we seek to make our +own, for it is the righteousness of Christ. + +And if the "I" of the Psalter is the {36} self-expression of the +Communion of Saints, still more is it the voice of the King of Saints, +the immaculate Lamb, in whose Name we offer our worship. + +But there is still the problem of the Psalms of Imprecation. What can +we say of their apparent fierceness and vindictiveness, their +reflection of the stormy passions and bitter warfare of a primitive +age? There is much indeed that can be rightly urged, here, as in the +other Old Testament writings, from the point of view of the difference +between Hebrew modes of expression and our own, and from the +progressive character of revelation, much that may help to remove +prejudice and clear away apparent inconsistencies. But the larger view +of the Psalter as the book primarily of the Church is of still greater +importance. The imprecations of the Psalms, though expressed in so +vividly personal a manner, are no more personal than the protestations +of innocency. They express rather that age-long passion for +righteousness, that burning belief in a moral Judge of the world Who +must do right, which have always been the Church's saving salt among +the corruptions and indifference of the world. It is this spirit that +inspires them, rather than the thirst for {37} vengeance or the +vindication of self. They express the Church's belief that there is a +world-conflict ever proceeding between the cause of God, the cause of +truth and right, and the passions of men urged on by the powers of evil. + + For lo, Thine enemies make a murmuring: + And they that hate Thee have lift up their head. + They have imagined craftily against Thy people: + And taken counsel against Thy secret ones. + (lxxxiii. 2, 3.) + + Lay hand upon the shield and buckler: + And stand up to help me. + Bring forth the spear and stop the way + against them that persecute me: + Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. + (xxxv. 2, 3.) + + +This sense of an irreconcilable conflict between the malignity of evil +and the will of God, between the carnal mind and that reflection of +God's will which He has implanted in the human conscience, is much to +seek in our own day. We are too much inclined to minimise the reality +of sin, and to imagine that it is {38} disappearing before civilisation +and the growth of gentler ways and sentiments. The Psalmists knew +better--they knew that the battle was to the death, and that God alone +can win His own victory; and they express, sternly and roughly perhaps, +but with the utmost sincerity, their undying faith that He will; that +the overthrow of malice and falsehood and treachery must one day be +manifested, + + God shall suddenly shoot at them with a swift arrow, + +and that the part we each have played in the battle will be the true +measure of our worth. + + All they that are true of heart shall be glad. + (lxiv.) + +In this sense we may even repeat the dreadful conclusion of the +Babylonian exiles' Psalm: + + Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children: + And throweth them against the stones. + (cxxxvii.) + +For what are Babylon and her children but the powers of falsehood, +oppression, and cruelty? and blessed still and ever is he who is afire +with indignation against such things, who scorns {39} any easy +compromise with them, who burns to deal a blow at them for Jerusalem's +sake! + +And there is still another justification for the continued use of these +Psalms, which will be understood by those who have begun to be +disciples in the Church's school. The Psalms are not merely the +response to revelation, they are part of that revelation themselves. +The Church uses them not as mere human utterances, but as the inspired +words which God Himself has given her, and which the Lord Jesus +consecrated by His own personal use of them. God cannot contradict +Himself. The Gospel may expand the Law, or do away with its letter in +order to bring out the underlying spirit, but it cannot abrogate it. +If there were a real discrepancy between the imprecatory Psalms and the +New Testament, it would be scarcely conceivable that the first word of +Scripture quoted in the first history of the Church would be that +sentence already alluded to: + + Let his habitation be made desolate: + And let no man dwell therein. + + +The severities of the Psalms are matched by the severities of the +Gospels. There is no real difference between our Lord's sentence on +the scribes and Pharisees, "Behold, your house is {40} left unto you +desolate," and the sentence which the Holy Spirit puts into our mouth +against the hypocrite and the traitor, "Let his children be fatherless: +and his wife a widow" (cix. 8). God is still "a God of judgment" and a +"consuming fire," and there is a "wrath of the Lamb" revealed, even +though He is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." + +God has, as it were, put upon our lips, in these Psalms, His own great +condemnation of sin, and made us our own judges. We recite, +remembering that it is His word, and not our own, the denunciation of +the sensual and the covetous, the traitor and the liar, the persecutor, +the slanderer, and the hypocrite. From this point of view the +recitation of such Psalms as the 69th or the 109th should be an +exercise of personal humility, of godly fear for ourselves and others, +and might well bring to our mind often that other great challenge of +the Spirit: + + Why dost thou preach My laws, and takest My covenant in thy mouth? + Whereas thou hatest to be reformed: + And hast cast My words behind thee. + (Ps. l. 16, 17.) + + +{41} + +These are considerations which surely ought to be well weighed before +we seek to make the Psalter a book of "smooth things" only, or +eliminate any part of its witness. There are no short or easy methods +applicable to its deeper difficulties. Like all the ultimate problems +of faith, they fade away only before the uncreated Light of the Spirit +of God, when He visits the heart. + + I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: + But now mine eye seeth _Thee_. + (Job xlii. 5.) + + + +[1] "Inasmuch as I know not man's learning, I will enter into the +mighty works of the Lord." + + + + +{43} + +LECTURE II + +CHRIST IN THE PSALTER + +Paravi lucernam Christo meo. + + +Jewish and Christian tradition alike connect the Psalter with the great +name of David. Whether David himself wrote any of the Psalms or not is +a question that may continue to agitate the minds of scholars. But +there can be no question that the permanency of the throne of David and +the Divine promises on which it rested are leading thoughts in the +Psalter. The starting-point must be sought earlier in the Old +Testament, in the great oracle communicated by Nathan to David (2 Sam. +vii., referred to directly in Ps. lxxxix. 20, etc.), "Thy throne shall +be established for ever." In this was recognised from the first +something more than a mere promise of the long continuance of the crown +in the family of the son of Jesse. It carried with it some special +sanction and {44} blessing over and above the ordinary Divine authority +of heaven-anointed kings. The words "I will be his Father, and he +shall be My son" seemed to imply a peculiar and unique relationship +between God Himself, the true King of Israel, and His earthly +representative. The comment ascribed to David himself is significant: +"Is this the manner of _man_, O Lord God?" No mere human sovereignty, +however glorious or firmly settled, would satisfy such a prophecy as +this. + +The thoughts of the pious in Israel must have dwelt often and deeply in +after-time upon this promise and its connection with the Divine calling +of the sacred nation and her mission in the world. It is remarkable +how persistently this thought of the permanence and supernatural +character of the Davidic sovereignty recurs in the prophetic +writings--even when the crown had passed to an unworthy head, or seemed +to have been plucked off for ever. Jeremiah, when the clouds are +gathering thickly round the doomed city, foretells that the covenant of +David will be as lasting as that of "the day and the night in their +season," and that the seed of David will be unnumbered "as the host of +heaven and the sand of the sea" (Jer. xxxiii.). Ezekiel from his +far-off exile {45} by the waters of Babylon, while he proclaims the +Divine sentence against the degenerate son of David--"Remove the mitre, +and take off the crown: this shall be no more: ... I will overturn, +overturn, overturn it, ... until He come Whose right it is"--predicts +the time when Judah and Ephraim shall be one, and "David My servant +shall be their prince for ever" (Ezek. xxi. 26, 27, xxxvii. 15-28). +Haggai, in the days of the Return, continues the promise to the +uncrowned prince, Zerubbabel--"I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of +hosts" (Hag. ii. 23). + +It is not to be wondered at that in the Psalter, the inspired response +of worshipping Israel to the revelation of God, we should find Psalms +that rejoice in this indestructible and royal hope, Psalms that look +beyond present failures and imminent perils to a perfect fulfilment of +what God had spoken "sometime in visions to His saints." Thus the 2nd +Psalm tells triumphantly of the Divine "law" or "decree" concerning +David's son, and sees in it the assurance of a world-wide empire, the +discomfiture of the raging of the nations and the gathering of the +kings of the earth: + + Thou art My son, this day have I begotten thee. + +{46} + + Desire of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance: + And the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. + + +The 18th describes the Almighty riding on His chariot of whirlwind and +storm, coming down from heaven itself in His condescension, to pluck +His anointed out of "many waters," "to deliver him from the strivings +of the people, and to make him the head of the heathen." The 45th +tells, with "the pen of a ready writer," of this everlasting sceptre +and throne, founded on truth and righteousness, of a king to whom +Divine titles are given, "anointed with the oil of gladness above his +fellows," and sees in the marriage of this king with a foreign princess +the earnest of a kingdom over all the earth. The 72nd describes not +only the prosperity, but the moral greatness of this empire stretching +from sea to sea, "from the river to the ends of the earth." Not like +the giant empires of the East, founded on aggression and cruelty, with +no motive but the monstrous pride of their founders and rulers, the +Davidic king is to be the champion of the poor, the needy, and the +helpless: + + He shall deliver their souls from falsehood and wrong: + +{47} + + And dear shall their blood be in his sight. + + +The 89th, while it tells how God has found David His servant and +anointed him with holy oil, and made him "His first-born, higher than +the kings of the earth," is bold to face in those later days the +agonising problem of the apparent failure of all this lofty promise: + + But Thou hast abhorred and forsaken Thine anointed: + And art displeased at him. + Thou hast broken the covenant of Thy servant, + And cast his crown to the ground. + +"Lord, how long? ... Lord, where are Thy old loving-kindnesses? ... +Remember, Lord!" + + +The 132nd, also apparently a Psalm of a later age, though ascribed to +David, dwells with joy on David's love of the sanctuary of God, pleads +for the fulfilment of the promise, asks that the lamp may not be put +out, nor the face of God's anointed "turned away" in confusion. + +Rightly are such Psalms as these called "Messianic." We feel that even +those who {48} originally wrote them looked for more than "transitory +promises." They were learning to look for the redemption of Israel and +of the world itself through Israel and her kings. They were bold to +believe, even when the crown was gone and the purple faded, and Israel +was no longer a sovereign state, that the ancient word of God to David +could never be exhausted. So when at last the great message of the +Archangel came to the virgin of the house of David, it was felt by +those who had read aright the history of their nation that here was no +mere fanciful resuscitation of a dead past, but the vindication of +God's undying purpose: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son +of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of +His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; +and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i. 32, 33). + +It was therefore strictly legitimate, and in line with all the history +of revelation, that the Christian Church should adopt these Messianic +Psalms as her own thanksgiving for the mysteries of the Incarnation. +Thus on Christmas Day she welcomes the Nativity in some of the Psalms +already alluded to--in that which tells of the reconciliation of +mankind with one {49} another and with God under the figure of the +marriage between the anointed King and the king's daughter "all +glorious within" (xlv.); in that which pleads the great promises to him +who so loved God's presence that he would not "suffer his eyes to sleep +nor his eyelids to slumber" until he had found a permanent +resting-place for that presence among men (cxxxii.); or in that, again, +which in the strength of faith can gaze even on the casting down of the +throne and the breaking of the covenant, resting still on God's +faithfulness among "the rebukes of many people" (lxxxix.). + +But there are other Psalms which, if they cannot strictly be called +Messianic, yet bear their witness to another aspect of the same great +hope of Israel. In the voice of prayer, or joyful confidence, they +look forward to some _coming_ of God to earth, some visible +manifestation of His righteousness and His world-wide purpose: + + For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: + And with righteousness to judge the world, + and the people with His truth + (xcvi. 13), + +{50} + +or-- + + Bow Thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: + Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. + (cxliv. 5.) + + +In the 85th, one of the Psalms appointed for Christmas Day, this advent +of God is spoken of in words which are re-echoed in the prologue to S. +John's Gospel (i. 14) as a dwelling or "tabernacling" of God's glory, +not in the darkness of a Holy of Holies (as the later Jews imagined the +Shekinah), but as a new and permanent fact in the moral order of the +world: + + For His salvation is nigh them that fear Him: + That glory may dwell in our land. + Mercy and truth are met together: + Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. + Truth shall flourish out of the earth: + And righteousness hath looked down from heaven. + + +In such prophetic visions as these, as well as in the Psalms that speak +of the glories of the Messianic King, the Christian conscience has {51} +rightly recognised definite predictions of the coming of Christ, of Him +Who was both "the effulgence of God's glory" (Heb. i. 3) and also, by +His human birth, the Son of David and King of Israel, and Who +manifested the holiness of God in human flesh and blood. He Himself, +when He came, selected from the Psalms one striking phrase, in which +both ideas, the Divine glory and the human calling, are combined. For +He quotes, as a witness to Himself and as a corrective of imperfect +views, the 110th Psalm (again a proper Psalm for Christmas Day), where +the Messianic King is spoken of both as Ruler and Victor and Priest of +humanity, and as standing also in a unique relationship to God, which +exalts Him far above any mere earthly connection with David: + + The Lord said unto my Lord: + Sit thou on My right hand-- + If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son? + (Matt. xxii. 45.) + + +But besides all these prophecies, which look onward to the great +outcome of Israel's history, there is another and wider sense, as the +Christian Fathers apprehended, in which the whole Psalter is the book +of the {52} Incarnation and speaks of Christ. "David," says S. Jerome, +"on his harp and ten-stringed lute, sings throughout of Christ, and +brings Him up from the dead." However fanciful and over-subtle the +early Christian commentators may seem to us in their working out of +this idea, they had grasped a profound truth. When we once recognise +that Christ, knowing Who He was and why He came into the world (_cf._ +John xiii. 1), must in the Jewish services or in private prayers have +recited the Psalms with a perfect intention, and found in them the true +expression of Himself, with regard both to the eternal Father and to +His brethren, we are compelled to admit the possibility of each verse +of the Psalms having some bearing on the Incarnation. It is a +conclusion which might at first sight seem extravagant; but it forces +itself upon us as we realise the true humanity of the Saviour. He is +"the Son of Man"; He took of the substance of His Virgin-mother the +fulness of human nature; He has a human body, a human soul, a human +spirit; He is "the second Adam," the great Head of our race, Who, in +the striking phrase of S. Irenaeus, has "summed up" (_recapitulavit_) +all humanity and all the long history of man. "For verily, not of +angels doth He take hold, but He taketh hold of the {53} seed of +Abraham" (Heb. ii. 16). He has gathered into Himself all truly human +experience, the hopes of humanity, and its sufferings; its infinite +pathos, its capacity of sorrow and of joy, its progress towards God, +and its final apprehension and vision of God. + +This is the key to the most constant feature of the Psalter, the +portrait of the Righteous Sufferer. Whether we regard it as the +personification of the holy nation or the self-expression of human +conscience in its moral witness and its conflicts, it is an ideal that +is only fulfilled in the Just One, Jesus Christ. He appeared in the +world as the pattern Man, in Whom the Divine image is perfected and +Whose moral nature corresponds with that holiness which is God's +essential character. He appeared, too, as the perfect realisation of +the filial spirit, that spirit of sonship which is the true attitude of +the creature towards the Creator. Therefore it is in Christ Himself +that the witness of the Psalms to righteousness, their expression of +man's effort towards his ideal, is taken up, illuminated, made perfect. +Therefore it is that a New Testament writer is found applying directly +and without question to Christ not only the descriptions of the +self-revealing God of the Old Testament, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning +hast {54} laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the +works of Thy hands" (Heb. i. 10, from Ps. cii.), and the portrait of +the Messianic King, "The sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of Thy +kingdom" (_ib._, from Ps. xlv.), but also the description of _man_ in +his ideal excellence and supremacy: + + Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; + Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, + And didst set him over the works of Thy hands + (Heb. ii., from Ps. viii.), + +and that word in which some unknown psalmist and prophet had +consecrated the free obedience of his will to God, as a higher offering +than the sacrifices of the Law: + + Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, + Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, + But a body didst Thou prepare for Me; + In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin + Thou hadst no pleasure: + Then said I, Lo, I am come + +{55} + + (In the roll of the book it is written of Me) + To do Thy will, O God." + (Heb. x., from Ps. xl.) + + +This line of interpretation may be followed out with great spiritual +profit in the varied aspects of the Psalms. The thanksgivings of the +Psalter are in the same spirit as those recorded by the Evangelists +from our Lord's own lips, as when He thanked the Father for the +revelation made to babes rather than to the wise and understanding +(Matt. xi. 25), or at the grave of Lazarus gave thanks that His prayer +was heard (John xi. 41). The prayers of the Psalter might well be +those in which the Incarnate Son communed with the Father. For He +fought our human battle with the human weapons of faith and prayer. +The great description given by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews +of Christ as "the Author and Finisher of our faith" (Heb. xii. 2), +implies One Who inaugurated our effort of faith by Himself first taking +part in it, and Himself perfectly accomplished it by bearing to the +very final and utmost strain our human temptations. Hence we may hear +the voice of Christ Himself in those pathetic outcries of the Psalter; +in its appeal of faith as the Righteous One wrestles with doubt and +{56} depression or faces the contradiction of sinners; in its stedfast +hold on God even when sin is triumphing, and a world created good seems +given over into the hand of the wicked. All these utterances have a +new meaning, a fuller efficacy, when we recognise in them the words of +the "Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief." There is nothing +either fantastic or presumptuous in this reading of the Gospel in the +Psalter. Did not He Himself vouchsafe to shew us something of this +human struggle of faith in the words spoken on the eve of His Passion, +when He confessed that His soul was troubled, and He would fain have +said, "Father, save Me from this hour" (John xii. 27)? Did He not lift +the veil even further in admitting us to the dark sanctuary of +Gethsemane, in suffering us to hear even His utterances from the Cross? + +The fourth Word from the Cross, so often misunderstood, is the opening +of the 22nd Psalm. This cry at the climax of the Passion is really the +voice of faith, faith triumphing over desolation of spirit, faith +holding on by the unseen, amidst the falling away and the vanishing for +the time of every consolation. It is not _merely_ "Why didst Thou +forsake Me?" but it is "My God, My God," the fundamental confession of +a personal faith in a personal God, seeing Him {57} Who is invisible, +waiting for Him Who hides His face, believing, even though His truth +and justice seem blotted out of the world, that God is, and that He is +still "enthroned upon the praises of Israel" (v. 3). And this faith +finds its last utterance of peace and thanksgiving and renewed +consciousness of union with the Father in the seventh Word, again from +the Psalter, "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Ps. xxxi. 6). + +One of the most fruitful lines of Christian meditation will be found in +this Christological aspect of the Psalms. It throws a wonderful light +on the inner life of our Lord, and gives the Psalter a value which no +merely literary study could give. + +The five Psalms appointed by our Church for Good Friday are a rich +storehouse of the secrets of the Passion. The 22nd and the 69th bear +upon it very directly, and present many points of similarity. In each +the sufferings of the Righteous are described minutely and +pathetically, in each these sufferings lead on to triumph and to the +assurance of their world-wide efficacy: + + All the ends of the earth shall remember themselves, + and be turned unto the Lord: + +{58} + + And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him. + (xxii. 27.) + + For God will save Sion, and build the cities of Judah: + That men may dwell there and have it in possession. + The posterity also of His servants shall inherit it: + And they that love His Name shall dwell therein. + (lxix. 36, 37.) + + +Each, again, in its picture of undeserved suffering, brings out the +true nature and the malignity of _sin_. In the 22nd sin is portrayed +in its cruelty and its irrational character, as if men led by it were +but wild beasts, "wild oxen," "bulls of Bashan," "dogs," and "lions." +In the 69th we see its ingratitude, and its pitiless and causeless +malice, and the fact that, whatever its immediate object, it is really +directed against God Himself: + + For Thy sake I have suffered reproach. + * * * * * + The reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me. + + +Both these Psalms, again, contain what we {59} must confess to be +definite predictions of details of the Passion. The 22nd tells of the +very words and gestures which the chief priests and Pharisees in their +blindness made use of to insult the Crucified: + + All they that see me laugh me to scorn: + They shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying, + He trusted in God, that He would deliver him: + Let Him deliver him now, if He will have him. + (_Cf._ Matt, xxvii. 39-43.) + + +Another startling prediction is that of the piercing of the hands and +the feet. No such punishment was used by the Jews, or endured, as far +as we know, by any of the martyrs of the Old Testament. All the four +Evangelists, again, note the literal fulfilment of xxii. 18: + + They part my garments among them: + And cast lots upon my vesture. + + +Indeed, this 22nd Psalm along with Isaiah liii. stands forth beyond all +the other writings of the Old Testament as a witness which is proof +against all attempts to explain it away, to the {60} truth that "the +Spirit of Christ" was in the prophets "testifying beforehand of the +sufferings of Christ "(1 Peter i. 11). + +The 69th (like the 40th) may have been originally suggested by the +persecution of the prophet Jeremiah, when he was thrown into the miry +cistern (Jer. xxxviii.); but it contains an anticipation of Calvary, +whose fulfilment is described by all the Evangelists, in the wine +mingled with myrrh, and the vinegar and gall offered in mockery before +the Crucifixion: + + They gave me gall to eat: + And when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink. + +S. John, the nearest to the Cross and to the heart of the Crucified, +tells us moreover that this verse was consciously appropriated by +Christ Himself, when, "knowing that all things are now finished, that +the Scripture might be accomplished, He saith, I thirst" (John xix. 28). + +Each of the other proper Psalms for Good Friday bears its witness to +the suffering Christ. The 88th, at first sight one of the most +difficult in the Psalter, a Psalm whose darkness seems scarcely +illuminated by any ray of hope, is clearly chosen to illustrate +Christ's desolation on the Cross, the Three Hours of darkness, His {61} +Burial and His descent into Hades. The Sufferer is absolutely alone, +lover and friend are in darkness; He is fighting the battle with that +last enemy of mankind, the King of Terrors, yet overcoming the +sharpness of death by faith and patient endurance; He is looking on to +the dawn of Easter: + + Unto Thee have I cried, O Lord: + And early shall my prayer come unto Thee; + +or-- + + In the morning shall my prayer come before Thee (R.V.). + + +May not even those strange words "from My youth up Thy terrors have I +suffered with a troubled mind" have been on the lips and in the thought +of the "Man of Sorrows" as the Cross cast its shadow over Him, perhaps +from His earliest years? "For not even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself," +says _The Imitation_ in one of those chapters which sweeten the tears +of the world, "was ever one hour without the anguish of His Passion as +long as He lived" (_Imit._ ii. 12). + +Both the 40th and the 54th suggest that inner secret of the Atonement +which the writer of the {62} Epistle to the Hebrews has fixed upon as +giving Christ's Passion its universal efficacy: + + An offering of a free heart will I give Thee. + (liv. 6.) + + I come--that I should fulfil Thy will, O my God. + (xl. 9, 10.) + + +"By which will we have been sanctified, through the offering of the +body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. x. 10). For the Passion is +the supreme oblation of the freewill of man, the re-direction into the +right attitude of that high faculty by which man had sinned and fallen +originally, the consecration of it to its true end, voluntary obedience +to God. "Not My will, but Thine be done"; that Christ as man should +bring the human will perfectly into conformity with the will of God is +what "in the volume of the book"--_i.e._ in the writings of all the +line of prophets--was written of Him; for this "the body was prepared" +for Him in the pure flesh of the Virgin-mother; for this His "ears were +opened," that as child and youth and man He might perfectly hear and +obey the word of the Father. + +But the 15th verse of the 40th Psalm suggests {63} an obvious +difficulty in the application of the Psalms as a whole to Christ +personally: + + My sins have taken such hold upon me that I am not + able to look up: + Yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, + and my heart hath failed me. + +How can we ascribe these words, or any of the confessions of sin in the +Psalter, to the sinless Lamb of God? Are not these at least all our +own? And yet He Himself must on earth have repeated them. In their +original meaning they referred either to personal or national guilt. +In either sense the recitation of them, at first sight, would seem to +be alien and external to His pure conscience. But do they not take a +deeper and more solemn tone when we consider them in the light of the +prophet's great description of the Atoning Sufferer, "The Lord hath +laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is. liii. 6), or of S. Paul's +statement, "Him Who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf" (2 +Cor. v. 21)? Such words as these contain more than the mere bearing of +the punishment of sin; they imply some inward connection between the +Sufferer and the sin. Indeed, rightly understood, they help to {64} +remove the difficulty that many have felt as to the apparent injustice +or unreality of a vicarious Atonement. Christ was not merely a Victim +suffering for human sin; He was man's Creator taking that sin upon +Himself. Thus these expressions of penitence in the Psalter may be +regarded as the voice of the sympathetic love of the Sin-bearer, the +love which stands by the sinner's side, and feels with him so +intimately that it makes its own what is not its own but utterly alien +and hateful, makes it its own that it may burn it up in the flame of +love. So in these Psalms we may hear the Son of Man confessing and +making reparation for all the age-long sin of man; speaking of it as if +it were His own sin, so closely has He made Himself one with us in our +extremest need. + +Cardinal Newman, in one of the most eloquent of his sermons, "The +Mental Sufferings of our Lord in His Passion," has developed this +thought in language whose daring is only justified by its devotion. It +is a description of Christ kneeling alone in Gethsemane: + + +His very memory is laden with every sin which has been committed since +the Fall, in all regions of the earth, with the pride of the old +giants, and the lusts of the five cities, and the obduracy of Egypt, +and the ambition of Babel, and the {65} unthankfulness and scorn of +Israel. Of the living and the dead and of the as yet unborn, of the +lost and of the saved, of Thy people and of strangers, of sinners and +of saints, all sins are there.... It is the long history of a world, +and God alone can bear the load of it.... They are upon Him, they are +all but His own. He cries to His Father as if He were the criminal, +not the victim. His agony takes the form of guilt and compunction. He +is doing penance, He is making confession, He is exercising contrition +with a reality and a virtue infinitely greater than that of all saints +and penitents together; for He is the one Victim for us all, the sole +satisfaction, the real penitent, all but the real sinner.[1] + + +Connected closely with these confessions of sin, these outcries of +suffering and expiation, with the _Miserere_ and the _De Profundis_, +are those solemn declarations of God's wrath upon the impenitent sinner +which have already been alluded to in a previous lecture. Viewed as +the utterances of the Son of Man such Psalms are more rightly to be +called _judicial_ than denunciatory. It is He to Whom all judgment has +been committed by the Father, He Whose coming into the world was +inevitably "for judgment," Who seems here to be delivering {66} +sentence. He is taking up and confirming the fragmentary utterances of +older days, in which the human conscience, imperfectly perhaps, and not +without some mixture of personal feeling, yet on the whole rightly, had +cried out against falsehood and wrong, and appealed to the wrath of +God. The words of such a Psalm even as the 109th might have been used +by Him Who twice scourged the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, and +Who denounced in words that burn like fire through the centuries the +cruelty and hypocrisy of scribes and Pharisees; Who Himself in mercy +warned us of the outer darkness and the unquenched flame. + + +But the Psalms not only illustrate the Passion of Christ in its mercy +and judgment; they also supply words befitting His Resurrection and +Triumph. It may be true that there is no clear or continuous line of +prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the life after death. But it +is at least equally true that the belief is there, grasped in moments +of intuition by the saints of Israel, disappearing for a time like a +buried river, but coming ever and anon again to the surface. So in the +Psalms there are certainly evidences of the undying hope of the +faithful that truth and justice must one day {67} visibly triumph, and +that man, in proportion as he is true to these things and therefore +true to God, Whose nature they are, and true to himself, as made in +God's image--man must also be immortal. He will not go down into +silence; an endless future opens before him, as yet unfathomed and +unknown, but certain. So in the Psalms which the Christian instinct, +illuminated by the Spirit of Pentecost, seized upon in its first words +of witness (Acts ii. 25-8) as prophetic of Christ, we have the +assurance: + + I have set God always before me: + For He is on my right hand, therefore I shall not fall. + Wherefore my heart was glad, and my glory rejoiced: + My flesh also shall rest in hope. + For why? Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell:[2] + Neither shalt Thou suffer Thy Holy[3] One to see corruption. + (Ps. xvi. 9-11.) + +{68} + +And again: + + As for me, I will behold Thy presence in righteousness: + And when I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it. + (Ps. xvii. 16.) + + +So again, in that profoundly spiritual Psalm, the 73rd, the writer +turns from the puzzles of the moral order and the misgivings of his own +heart, and seeks refuge in the abiding fact of his personal fellowship +with God. He finds _there_ the assurance not only that the wicked will +pass away "like a dream when one awaketh," but that the righteous is +undying: + + My flesh and my heart faileth: + But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. + +Such Psalms as these find their full meaning only in the light of +Easter. The Resurrection of Christ was no mere portent or isolated +miracle; it was strictly in line with all that man had risen up to in +his highest spiritual intuitions in the past. It is true, in a much +fuller sense than that of accomplishing a mere prediction, that Christ +"rose again, according to the Scriptures." + +This essential immortality of the righteous, through his union with +God, is implied throughout {69} the Easter Psalms, especially in the +118th (part of "the Egyptian Hallel"), words which must have been +recited by the Lord and His Apostles at the Passover Supper, in the +very imminence of the Passion. + + The voice of joy and health is in the dwellings of the righteous: ... + I shall not die, but live: + And declare the works of the Lord. + + +Ascension Day completes the triumph of man raised to immortality +through his union with God in Christ. It inaugurates the +accomplishment of man's ideal, in the eternal mediatorial reign of +Christ as the Head of the human race. The appointed Psalms are again +most suggestive. The 8th sings triumphantly of the supremacy of man +over all the works of God, man crowned "with glory and worship." The +15th and the 24th describe the moral perfections which are the +condition of this exaltation: + + Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle: + Or who shall rest upon Thy holy hill? + Even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life: + And doeth the thing which is right, and speaketh the truth + from his heart. + * * * * * + +{70} + + Whoso doeth these things: + Shall never fall. + (xv.) + + +The 21st and the 108th look back to the promises to David and to the +typical character of his wars and victories. They shew that these +events were part and parcel of the Divine warfare; they were a +foretaste of the triumph of God Himself. They suggest that the +Ascension of Christ, while it gathers into itself all the moral +victories of the past, is the beginning of a new order. It brings in a +Catholic empire of truth and righteousness, which, in spite of puzzles +and warfare and contradictions, parallel to those which vexed the heart +of the prophets of old, is now absolutely certain in its hope: + + Who will lead me into the strong city: + And who will bring me into Edom? + Hast not Thou forsaken us, O God: + And wilt not Thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? + O help us against the enemy: + For vain is the help of man. + Through God we shall do great acts: + And it is He that shall tread down our enemies. + (cviii.) + + +{71} + +Thus, to him who, by God's mercy, has learned the Catholic Faith, the +Psalms are full of Christ from end to end. He reads Christ in them, +not by a pious imagination, but as the legitimate and only perfect key +to their meaning and their use by the Church. In the Psalms he +worships Christ as God: + + Thy seat, O God, endureth for ever. + (xlv. 7.) + +In the Psalms he worships with Christ as the Son of Man, with Him Who +alone could say rightly: + + My soul hath kept Thy testimonies: + And loved them exceedingly. + (cxix. 167.) + +The human sorrows and struggles which cry out in the Psalter have been +taken into the sacred heart of Him Who is the Word of the Father, and +the King and Priest and Prophet of humanity, in Whom is fulfilled the +saying: + + He sent His Word, and healed them: + And they were saved from their destruction. + (cvii. 20.) + + +This Catholic secret of the Psalter, writ large as it is over the +history of the Church's worship, {72} is yet something that eludes mere +human research, and is a stumbling-block to human learning and +scholarship. It can only be taught by that "hidden wisdom" of which S. +Paul has told us (1 Cor. ii.), the wisdom given often to the weak of +this world, the wisdom of the Spirit Who dwells in the Church, and +makes her "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15). + + + +[1] _Discourses to Mixed Congregations_, xvi. + +[2] _i.e._ Sheol, Hades, the grave or place of departed souls. + +[3] _i.e._ godly or pious, a characteristic word of the Psalmists, +implying not only consecration but active devotion to God. + + + + +{73} + +LECTURE III + +THE CHURCH IN THE PSALTER + + Gloriosa dicta sunt de te: + Civitas Dei. + + +It has already been pointed out that the personal element in the +Psalms, vivid and even passionate as it appears, if they are read as +mere lyrics, has been transformed by the Church's use of them as her +hymns of worship. The "I" of the Psalter has become the voice of the +worshipping community. + +The Jews themselves recited the personal Psalms in a national sense. +Even such an intensely personal confession of sin as the 51st Psalm +becomes through the last two verses (possibly added by a later pen) the +confession of national penitence and the voice of national hope: + + O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: + Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. + + +{74} + +But besides such liturgical adaptations, whether of letter or spirit, +many of the later Psalms, especially those which clearly belong to the +period of the second Temple, were written intentionally for the nation +as a whole. "We" predominates, instead of the earlier "I." In these +Psalms the nation reviews her past history, or cries out against her +present oppressors, or looks onward to liberty and enlargement in the +future. + +But the nation which thus finds her voice in the Psalms is of a +different spirit from the kingdoms of this world. Her patriotism is of +a higher order. She is conscious of a Divine vocation, separating her +from the nations of the heathen: + + Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: + Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. + (lxxx. 8.) + + What time as they went from one nation to another: + From one kingdom to another people; + He suffered no man to do them wrong: + But reproved even kings for their sakes; + Touch not Mine Anointed: + And do My prophets no harm. + (cv. 13-15-) + +{75} + +She has a treasure committed to her keeping, which others have not: + + He sheweth His word unto Jacob: + His statutes and ordinances unto Israel. + He hath not dealt so with any nation: + Neither have the heathen knowledge of His laws. + (cxlvii. 19-20.) + +She has a hope that burns within her, which to the world would be +foolishness: + + The Lord hath chosen Sion to be a habitation for Himself: + He hath longed for her. + This shall be my rest for ever: + Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. + (cxxxii. 14, 15.) + + +In other words, the community which speaks in the Psalter is more than +a nation; she is a theocracy, a Church. Her characteristic names are +prophetic; they suggest supernatural dealings and a heavenly calling. +She is "Israel," heiress of him who "persevered with God" and won the +blessing; she is the "seed of Abraham," in which it was promised that +"all the nations of {76} the earth should be blessed"; she is "Sion," +the "stronghold," "Jerusalem," name of ideals, "vision" or "possession" +or "foundation"--"of peace"! It is as this sacred congregation, this +_ecclesia_, that the nation rejoices in the Psalms in her calling and +illumination, sorrows over her failures, prays in her warfare, waits +for her glory. + +It is not surprising that the Catholic Church recognised here her own +portrait, or that the outlines sketched in the Psalter have been filled +with light and colour and detail during the Christian centuries. The +Catholic Church instinctively felt herself to be the true successor of +the Israel of the Psalms. The ancient titles were retained, but in a +fuller meaning. To S. Paul the Church is the "Israel of God" (Gal. vi. +16) in contrast to the "Israel after the flesh." The author of the +Epistle to the Hebrews tells his Christian readers that they are "come +unto Mount Sion" (xii. 22). S. Peter applies to the Church the old +titles given to Israel in the Law, "an elect race, a royal priesthood, +a holy nation" (1 Peter ii. 9). S. John in the Apocalypse sees the new +Jerusalem, having not only the names of "the twelve apostles of the +Lamb" on her jewelled foundations, but the names of the "twelve tribes +of the children of Israel" on {77} her gates of pearl (Rev. xxi. 12, +14). Old things had passed away, the sacred people of God remained, +but no longer confined to the narrow boundaries of Palestine, nor to +the dispersed descendants of Abraham: her children were "princes in all +lands," all who were "of faith" were counted her seed. The Church knew +herself to be the Israel of the future, custodian of a greater +treasure, called to a grander work. + +The Psalter indeed demands this higher interpretation. Just as the +portrait of the Righteous One would have been an unfulfilled ideal had +not Christ made it His own, so the glowing descriptions of Israel would +have been but pious dreamings had not the Catholic Church risen up out +of the fallen tabernacle of David. As the songs of the Temple falter +and die away, the new spirit of praise clothes itself in the ancient +forms. "From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, +Glory to the Righteous" (Is. xxiv. 16). The very words of the Psalter +become transfigured like the garments of the Lord on the holy mount. + +Nor is this passing away of the glory of old Israel into the greater +glories of the Catholic Israel of God without some foreshadowing in the +Psalter itself. In the 22nd, the great {78} Psalm of the Passion, the +Sufferer passes from the dogs and lions and the mocking faces that +surround him to contemplate the far-off fruit of his anguish. He seems +to see "a great congregation," in the midst of which he himself +hereafter will praise God Who has heard his prayer. Mysteriously it +seems to rise, this "seed," this "people that shall be born," out of +the very hopelessness and desolation of the Cross. "All the ends of +the earth" are united in it, "all the kindred of the nations" worship +there. The rich and the poor alike have their place in this kingdom of +the future. And the special characteristic of this new creation of God +will be the sharing in a sacrificial feast, the Sufferer's +thanksgiving, his Eucharist in which he "pays his vows." Here "the +meek shall eat and be satisfied," here eating and worshipping are +strangely intermingled--a prophecy unread and unfulfilled until the +Church learnt the secret "in the same night that He was betrayed." + + "Therefore we, before Him bending, + This great Sacrament revere; + Types and shadows have their ending, + For the newer Rite is here." + + +This ecclesiastical aspect of the Psalter is {79} of very high +importance. There is perhaps no part of the Christian faith which is +more difficult for "the natural man" than "the Holy Catholic Church." +An erroneous or imperfect idea of the Church seems to pass muster, +among Christians even, so much more readily than error in other matters +of faith. All through Christian history the true idea of the Church +has been obscured, now by imperialism, with its misleading traditions +of the Roman Empire; now by nationalism, as if the Church were only the +religious aspect of a civil community; or again by individualism, as if +she were no more than a collection of separate units. Erastianism and +Puritanism in turn have led men astray. The warning against such +things is written largely enough in the history of ancient Israel. The +Jews of our Lord's time, while insisting keenly, even bitterly, on +their separation from the Gentiles, were for the most part forgetful of +what that separation really involved. Their ambition to be separate +from the nations of the earth only meant for them a worldly and selfish +exclusiveness. In earlier days the clamour for a king, the thirst for +alliances with Egypt and Assyria and Babylon, had displayed in the +opposite manner much the same spirit. Religious privileges, that +Divine calling which {80} had made them a nation, were to be used as a +means to worldly advancement and security. In the Psalter there stands +out a truer conception of the Church as the spiritual commonwealth, a +kingdom of God in the world, but not of this world's spirit, organised +for higher ends than self-protection or self-development, aiming not at +conquest but at the conversion and good of mankind, glorying not in +privilege but in vocation, not in self but in the law of God. And this +is the pattern for all time. The Christian Church may find in the +Psalter her own just self-expression in a fuller manner than ever +ancient Israel did or could. Indeed, we may trace indelibly stamped on +the Psalter the true lineaments of the ideal Church. + +First in the Psalter there is the note of _comprehensiveness_. The +heathen, the nations, so often denounced or prayed against in the +Psalms, are, after all, not so much those who are outside the +boundaries of Israel as those who are alien from her spirit. They are +communities, societies, untouched by grace, governed by passion and +worldly ambitions rather than by conscience or the Divine law. And +side by side with threats and foreboding of their utter destruction in +the day of God there are glimpses here and there of the possibility of +{81} their conversion, and even of their becoming one family with +Israel. The great Psalm of Whitsunday, the 68th, passes from the +thought of God wounding the head of His enemies, of His warriors +dipping their feet in the blood of the vanquished, to the hope of the +princes coming out of Egypt, and Ethiopia making haste to stretch out +her hands unto God. So, again, the 47th Psalm looks forward to the +essential sovereignty of God over all the earth being recognised even +by this world's rulers: + + The princes of the people are joined unto the people + of the God of Abraham.[1] + + +And lest it should be thought that such hopes referred only to an +empire of external rule, like that of Solomon's, we have the startling +predictions of Ps. lxxxvii. Here the people of Rahab (Egypt) and +Babylon, the Philistines, the Tyrians, the Ethiopians, all types of the +obstinate and idolatrous heathen world, are pictured as forsaking their +natural lineage and descent to be born again in Zion, enrolling +themselves there as citizens of the Lord's {82} glorious foundation +upon the holy mountains, finding there their joy and the fount of their +inspiration. + + The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the peoples: + This one was born _there_. + They that sing as well as they that dance shall say, + All my fountains are in Thee. (R.V.) + +Surely this is one of the most remarkable foreshadowings in the Old +Testament of the catholicity of the Church, and of that new birth of +Baptism by which men of every race and tongue are grafted into the one +body, "where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and +uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman: but Christ is +all, and in all" (Col. iii. 11). In this and in many other Psalms +(_cf._ lxvii., xcviii., c.) we confess the essentially _missionary_ +vocation of the Church; that she calls to all mankind, not to the +Western nations only, nor to the progressive and civilised only. Hers +is the one faith for all men, her citizenship unlimited by any barriers +of race or temperament. + +If the catholicity of the Church is so clearly sketched in the Psalter, +no less clear is {83} her _social_ ideal. The poor, the oppressed, +those who have no helper, are equally called to share in Israel's hope +and her gifts. God Himself is her pattern, Who-- + + Taketh up the simple out of the dust: + And lifteth the poor out of the mire; + That He may set him with the princes: + Even with the princes of His people. + (cxiii.) + +The Messianic King will count the blood of the poor and needy equally +precious with that of the rich and great (lxxii.). The Sufferer of the +Passion Psalm (xxii.) looks forward, as we have seen, to the result of +his triumph, in not only calling the "fat ones of the earth" to eat and +worship at his table, but in finding there an equal place for-- + + Even him that cannot keep his soul alive. + (xxii. 30, R.V.) + + +These are lessons which we have as yet gone but a little way in +learning. Yet the Psalter, as we recite it day by day, puts in our own +mouth the condemnation of exclusiveness and pride and of deafness to +the complaint of the poor; it makes us confess at least the Catholic +{84} ideal of unity, of universal justice, of the imperishable value of +the individual life, of the transformation of human society in the +light of the Divine sovereignty of Christ. + +The two lines of the Church's activity just alluded to, missionary and +social, so prominent in the Psalms, are calling to-day so loudly for +self-humiliation and new effort, that they may profitably be dwelt on a +little further. The Psalmist's prophecy of the kings of Arabia and +Saba bringing gifts (lxxii.) is still largely unfulfilled. The East is +still almost untouched. Asia has not yet brought her characteristic +gift to Christ. She is still under the dominion of imperfect +religions--Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam. And yet India is our possession; +Japan is our pupil. "The way of the kings of the East" is already +"prepared" (Rev. xvi. 12), but where is the adequate response from +English Christianity? "Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My +messenger that I send?" + +And turning homewards, what are we to say of these grotesque and +monstrous contrasts between wealth and poverty, luxury and squalor in +England to-day, where rich and poor alike are baptized? What of the +immoralities of commerce, of the bad work of the labourer as well as +the swindling of the capitalist? Does {85} not the spirit of the +Psalter cut across it all like the keen breath of the mountain wind? +Yet Englishmen are spending time and energy in ritual debates and +persecutions, and educational and social strife. Worse still, the rich +and intellectual, for some prejudice or political motive, are eager to +deny the poor the beauties of worship or the definiteness of the +Catholic Faith. + + Surely Thou hast seen it: + For Thou beholdest ungodliness and wrong. + (x. 15.) + + +In view of these unfulfilled ideals of the Church, the Psalter provides +us in such Psalms as the 78th, the 79th, or the 106th with confession +of sin and failure under the figure of Hebrew history. The recitation +of these may well remind us not merely of personal faults but of our +own share in the shortcomings of the Church of God: + + We have sinned with our fathers: + We have done amiss and dealt wickedly. + +For the Church as well as ourselves we are taught to pray, "Turn us +again, O Lord God of hosts." The sorrows and desolations of Zion are +never represented in the Psalms as being _merely_ the effect of heathen +malice, {86} though they are so largely that, but as calls to look back +upon history, and also to look within, to consider what unfaithfulness +there may have been and is, what "starting aside like a broken bow" in +our fathers and in ourselves. + +From this point of view the penitential Psalms"[2] might profitably be +used not merely as the expression of personal penitence, but as an act +of reparation, an offering to God of our sorrow for the worldliness and +imperfections of His Church; as an incentive also to effort, that we +may do our part to remove the "reproach of the heathen," to restore the +Church from within, to seek her unity and peace. + + +There is, however, another side to the problem of the Church's +failures. Israel and Jerusalem are constantly described in the Psalms +as being the marks for the malignity and opposition of external +enemies. Indeed, a persistent note of the Church, Jewish as well as +Christian, is the hatred which she awakens in the powers of this world. +The object of suspicion and attack from Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon in +early days, Jerusalem fares no better after the humiliation of the +Captivity. The attempts to {87} rebuild the Temple and restore the +city arouse the bitterest hostility from the surrounding peoples, a +hostility not merely political, but traceable to a deeper cause. The +attempts of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century B.C. to break +down Jewish separation and to destroy Jewish worship are marked by the +same spirit, working in a more arrogant and brutal manner. Our Lord +Himself promises no smoother or more popular course for His faithful +ones. "Ye shall be hated of all men." S. Paul recognises the same +antagonism running throughout the history of the elect: "As then he +that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the +Spirit, even so it is now" (Gal. iv. 29). + +The Psalter will not allow us to shut our eyes to this malignant and +persecuting attitude of the world. The enemies of the Righteous find a +place in almost every Psalm. The malice of human nature at its worst +seems to be marshalled against Him, in slander and ingratitude and +treachery. But there is also the opposition of the heathen as a whole +against Israel. The vicissitudes of her history are typical; they +illustrate a permanent principle which is found working from age to +age. It was not less active nor less brutal in the first three +Christian centuries {88} than it was in the days of Antiochus. To-day, +though its attack is less outwardly cruel, the spirit which prompts it +is just as deeply seated, and more malignant perhaps in proportion as +it is veiled. The Church has not merely to contend with the hatred of +those who have chosen and loved evil, and find the righteous a standing +reproach. There is gathered against her also the world's steady +resentment of spiritual authority; the world's antipathy against all +that refuses to come to terms, or water down its witness to suit +changing fashions of men's thought. It is the same spirit which in +earlier days called the Christians "the enemies of the human race," and +in these later times directs its sneers and opposition against the +Creeds, the Sacraments, the priesthood--"the spirit of Antichrist." + +The 44th Psalm, perhaps belonging to the time of the great Maccabaean +struggle, makes its pathetic appeal to God amidst the scorn and +blasphemy of the heathen, and, what is worse, the bitterness of +apparent failure and defeat which seem to justify the heathen. + + My confusion is daily before me: + The shame of my face hath covered me: + +{89} + + For the voice of the slanderer and blasphemer: + For the enemy and avenger. + + +Faith indeed does not fail the Psalmist: he clings to God; he still +recognises the hand of God throughout these sufferings; he prefers to +attribute them to God rather than to man: + + _Thou_ makest us to turn our backs upon our enemies: ... + _Thou_ lettest us be eaten up like sheep: ... + _Thou_ sellest Thy people for nought: + And takest no money for them. + + +Nevertheless, it is all a puzzle, a bewildering maze in which faith +seems walking blindfold, like the Lord Himself when the malice of the +high-priest's servants bandaged His eyes and smote Him in derision and +bade Him prophesy! The light of God's presence seems to have gone out +of the world: + + Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face: + And forgettest our misery and trouble. + + +Very similar is the 74th Psalm, with its same high consciousness of +faithfulness to God, the same agonising sense of contradiction in the +enemies of God being suffered to break down {90} the carved work of the +sanctuary, the same feeling of helplessness and lack of guidance. The +adversaries' banners are manifest enough, _their_ tokens are clear; but +with the faithful it is otherwise: + + We see not our tokens, there is not one prophet more. + +O God, how long! ... Remember! ... Arise! ... Forget not! + +Probably of the same period is the 79th, written apparently in the very +hour of the heathen triumph, when the Temple is defiled, Jerusalem "an +heap of stones," the blood of the righteous flowing on every side like +water. And there is still the characteristic turning away from self +and personal humiliation to the thought of the dishonour done to God +Himself. For to the faithful the honour of God is dearer than their +own liberty or life. + + Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy Name: + O deliver us, and be merciful unto our sins, for Thy Name's sake. + + +The 83rd belongs perhaps to an earlier age. It seems to recall the +great confederacy of the nations against Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx.). +The Psalmist cries out to God against the {91} gathering hordes who +have no interest in common, except their mutual hatred of Israel and +Israel's God. It is a sorry catalogue: Edomites, Ishmaelites, +Moabites, Hagarens; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistines, Tyrians, +Assyrians: + + "All the warring hosts of error + Sworn against her, move as one." + + +But the hot indignation which prays that this rabble of malice and +mischief may be swept like the stubble before the whirlwind, consumed +like the dry grass before the mountain fires, is yet tempered with a +higher thought. Defeat may lead to conversion and to a better mind: + + Make their faces ashamed, O Lord: + That they may seek Thy Name. + + +Once again, the 102nd Psalm breathes out the pathetic appeal of the +exile, or the lonely, friendless watcher over the desolations of the +holy city. His heart is "smitten down and withered like grass"; he has +"eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled his drink with weeping." +But his fasting and tears are not for himself; there is the eternal +background of hope; God is unchanging; future generations {92} will +know again the happiness of worship and service--his sorrow is for Zion: + + Thy servants think upon her stones: + And it pitieth them to see her in the dust. + + +Do not experiences and prayers like these come home to Christians with +a curious sense of familiarity? Is not this tragedy of faith repeated +in every age? In every Christian generation it has been "given" to the +Beast to war against the saints and overcome them (Rev. xiii. 7). His +undying malice has too often been seconded by the impotence, the lack +of unity, the fear of truth and its consequences, which have marred the +Christian defence. + +We find eloquent illustrations of this unceasing, heart-sickening +warfare in such moments of history as that in the fourth century, when +"the whole world groaned and marvelled to find itself Arian";[3] in the +seventh and eighth, when the armies of Islam swept away the divided and +bickering Churches of the East and that Church of North Africa, once so +glorious, where holiness had not kept pace with zeal; in the fifteenth, +{93} when Constantinople fell, and the great cathedral of S. Sophia +passed into the hands of the Turks, and this very day, where once +Christian worship was offered, and Christian emblems high on its walls +still make their silent protest, + + "Moslem prayers profane + At morn and eve come sounding;" + +in the sixteenth, when the fair abbeys of England were despoiled and +suffered to fall into ruin, through covetousness and irreligion +masquerading under the garb of piety; in the seventeenth, when the +voice of the Church's worship was stifled, and the faithful were +interrupted in their very Christmas Communion by the levelled muskets +of the Cromwellian troopers[4]; in our own day, when liberality can +tolerate everything except the Catholic Faith? Verily these Hebrew +Psalms are a Christian possession for ever. They speak to us and speak +for us in accents of undying truth, and every year that passes verifies +their witness and points more sharply their appeal. + +But not only does the Psalter tell of the Church and her ideals, of her +warfare and her failures, it insists with equal conviction on her +_stability_. God's great promise to the line of {94} David carried +with it the preservation of David's city. The attacks of the heathen +seemed to have reached their climax when Sennacherib's army had taken +all the fortified cities of Judaea, and Jerusalem was left isolated and +helpless (2 Kings xix.). Yet when human hope was gone, the prophet's +word rang out with the certainty of faith. "I will defend this city to +save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David's sake." The +sequel was one of the most startling catastrophes in history. The +Assyrian hosts were destroyed in a single night, and Assyrian invasions +ceased. Again, in a later generation, when the promise seemed at last +to have failed, and the Temple had fallen, the city was burnt and her +king and citizens in captivity, the prophets never waver in their +vision of a future restoration when sin has been repented and national +guilt expiated. Zerubbabel and Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah, Judas +Maccabaeus and his descendants, restore and maintain Temple and city to +last till "the fulness of the time," when the true meaning of the +Davidic promises was revealed. + +The sense of this supernatural continuance has left its mark on the +Psalms. The rout of the Assyrian armies is commemorated in one at +least, the 76th: + +{95} + + The proud are robbed, they have slept their sleep: + And all the men whose hands were mighty have found nothing. + At Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob: + Both the chariot and horse are fallen. + +The secret of victory preludes the Psalm. Jerusalem is the seat of +God's special presence: + + At Salem is His tabernacle: + And His dwelling in Sion. + +The 46th may also refer to the same event. The flood of heathen +invasion is breaking itself in vain against the walls of the city of +God: + + God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed: + God shall help her, and that right early. + + +The great historical Psalm, the 78th, speaks at its close of the hill +of Sion and the Temple "built there on high" as coeval with the earth +itself; its foundation is "like the ground which He hath made +continually."[5] And the later {96} Psalms seem even to unite Sion and +Jerusalem and the sacred nation with the very eternity of God Himself: + + This shall be My rest for ever. + * * * * * + The Lord thy God, O Sion, shall be King for evermore. + * * * * * + Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: + Praise thy God, O Sion. + For He hath made fast the bars of thy gates: + And hath blessed thy children within thee. + (cxxxii. 15, cxlvi. 10, cxlvii. 12, 13.) + + +The end of earthly Jerusalem, when it came, was no less significant +than her long continuance. The double destruction of the city by the +Roman armies (A.D. 70 and A.D. 135) was consummated by the strangeness +of the failure of Julian the Apostate to rebuild and re-establish the +Temple; flames burst out from the foundations and the workmen fled in +terror.[6] But long before this the Christian Church had recognised +that in her world-wide citizenship and her worship, confined no longer +{97} (as the Lord had foretold) either to Jerusalem or a mountain in +Samaria, she had inherited in fuller measure these promises of +continuance. Had it not been said, when the great Apostle made his +confession of Christ's Divinity, "Upon this rock I will build My +Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it"? And in +this consciousness the Catholic Church rightly appropriated to herself +the songs of Sion's confidence. Just as early Christian art set above +the altars the figure of the living Christ enthroned as the Eternal +King of the universe, so the Church has always known in her darkest +moments that her continuance is as certain as her Master's throne; and +that as He remains the same, though the heavens and the earth decay, +and are changed as a garment, the promise of the 102nd Psalm is hers +for ever: + + The children of Thy servants shall continue: + And their seed snail stand fast in Thy sight. + + +Once again, the Psalmists feel that as Israel, the Church, is in a +sense partaker in God's own eternity, so she is, even on earth, a +shadow of His essential beauty, she appeals with His attractiveness to +the soul of man. Hence the {98} Christian finds in the Psalter words +in which he may express his joy in his calling in the Church, his love +and delight in his heavenly citizenship; words which may also remind +him that, in spite of all the failures and littlenesses of the visible +Church, it is through her that he is in touch with the ideal and the +invisible. + +Thus in no mere partisan or ecclesiastical spirit we are invited in the +Psalms to express our love of the Catholic Church. On Whit Sunday, the +Church's birthday, we take up the ancient strain of affection: + + The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole earth. + +We gaze with awe upon her jewelled foundations and her jasper walls; we +wander with delight in her spacious golden streets: + + Walk about Sion, and go round about her: + And tell the towers thereof. + Mark well her bulwarks, set up her houses:[7] + That ye may tell them that come after. + For this God is our God for ever and ever: + He shall be our guide unto death. + (xlviii.) + + +{99} + +In another Psalm, the 122nd, one of the pilgrim-psalms recited of old +as the faithful drew near to Jerusalem, we contemplate with joy and +self-forgetfulness the ideal unity of the Church as the true centre of +the earth, and as "the seat of judgment" to which all this world's +shams and shadows must come sooner or later for their reformation or +their sentence: + + O pray for the peace of Jerusalem: + They shall prosper that love thee. + Peace be within thy walls: + And plenteousness within thy palaces. + For my brethren and companions' sakes: + I will wish thee prosperity. + Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God: + I will seek to do thee good. + +It is an aspiration that should find an echo in the heart of every +faithful son of the Church, especially in such "a day of trouble and of +rebuke and blasphemy" as our own. + +Thus while we recognise in the Psalter the expression, put into our +lips by the Holy Spirit, of our own personal struggles and joys and +sorrows in the spiritual life, while we remember with awe and gratitude +that the {100} Eternal Son of God Himself here speaks and prays and +suffers as one of us, we shall find here also the voice of our +corporate consciousness, our life and worship as citizens even on earth +of that "Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all." + +And so as we conclude every Psalm in the Church's service with the +_Gloria_, with that confession of our faith which prophets and kings +would fain have known and knew not, let us lift up our hearts and give +glory to the Father, Who has revealed to us His Name; glory to the Son, +Who has vouchsafed in all things to be made like unto us His brethren; +glory to the Holy Ghost, Whose word and power in the Church is undying, +Who is still bringing forth from the ancient treasury old things which +are ever new. + + Gloria Patri, et Filio: + Et Spiritui Sancto. + Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: + Et in saecula saeculorum. + Amen. + + + +[1] The princes of the people are gathered together, + To be the people of the God of Abraham. + (R.V.) + +[2] vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., cxliii. + +[3] "Ingemuit totus orbis et se Arianum esse miratus est" (S. Jerome). + +[4] Evelyn's Diary: Dec. 25, 1657. + +[5] The earth which He hath established for ever (R.V.). + +[6] Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, c. xxiii. + +[7] "Consider her palaces" (R.V.). + + + + +{101} + +NOTES + +A. The extent to which the Psalms were used liturgically by the Jews +in Temple and Synagogue is not at all fully known. The following list +of uses is interesting in itself, but probably does not by any means +cover the whole field. And it seems certain, from the free and natural +way in which the Psalms are referred to in the New Testament, that, +even if a comparatively small number were used in the public services, +the Psalter must have been very familiar indeed to the pious Jew of our +Lord's time and have formed practically his book of private devotion. + + +DAILY IN THE TEMPLE (AND PROBABLY ELSEWHERE): + +_First day_. Ps. xxiv. The earth is the Lord's, etc. + +_Second day_. Ps. xlviii. Great is the Lord. + +_Third day_. Ps. lxxxii. God standeth in the congregation. + +_Fourth day_. Ps. xciv. O Lord God, to Whom vengeance belongeth. + +{102} + +_Fifth day_. Ps. lxxxi. Sing we merrily unto God our strength. + +_Sixth day_. Ps. xciii. The Lord is King. + +_Sabbath day_. Ps. xcii. It is a good thing to give thanks. + + +THE PASSOVER, AND ON OTHER GREAT FESTIVALS. The Hallel, probably Pss. +cxiii.-cxviii. + + +FEAST OF TABERNACLES: + +_First day_. Ps. cv. O give thanks. + +_Second day_. Ps. xxix. Bring unto the Lord. + +_Third day_. Ps. l. 16. But unto the ungodly said God. + +_Fourth day_. Ps. xciv. 16. Who will rise up with me. + +_Fifth day_. Ps. xciv. 8. Take heed, ye unwise. + +_Sixth day_. Ps. lxxxi. 6. I eased his shoulder. Pss. cxx.-cxxxiv. +Songs of Degrees. + +_Seventh day_. Ps. lxxxii. 5. They will not be learned. + + +NEW MOON OF SEVENTH OR SABBATICAL MONTH. Ps. lxxxi. Sing we merrily. + + +DEDICATION. The Hallel, as at the Passover. + + +PRESENTATION OF FIRST-FRUITS. Ps. cxxii. I was glad. Ps. xxx. I +will magnify Thee, O Lord. + + +B. The allusions to the singing of Psalms in the New Testament shew +that it was from the first a recognised Christian devotion, both in +public and private (Acts xvi. 25; 1 Cor. xiv. 26; Eph. v. 19; {103} +James v. 13). This is borne out by the evidence of the Christian +Fathers (see, for example, S. Athanasius' _Epistle to Marcellinus_; S. +Aug. _Confess._ ix. 8; S. Jerome, Ep. xlvi.). But it was no doubt the +rise of the monastic life in Egypt and its subsequent spread over the +whole Church in the fourth and fifth centuries that led by its +disciplined devotion to the systematic arrangement of the Psalter for +daily services and to its continuous recitation. Many of the early +monks, indeed, recited the whole Psalter daily; but the Western use, +settled traditionally by S. Gregory the Great, aimed at a weekly +recitation, and this system in theory dominated the Breviary services +all through the Middle Ages. + +The normal arrangement of the Psalter in the daily offices was, roughly +speaking, as follows: + +At _Mattins_, Ps. i.-cix., divided into nine "Nocturns," three of which +were said on Sunday, and one on each of the following week-days, +beginning each day with the 95th, the Invitatory Psalm. + +At _Lauds_, Pss. lxiii., lxvii., cxlviii.-cl., with certain other +varying Psalms. + +At _Prime_, always Ps. liv. and the first four portions of the 119th, +and one varying Psalm. + +At _Terce_, the next six portions of the 119th. + +At _Sext_, the next six portions of the 119th. + +At _None_, the last six portions of the 119th. + +At _Vespers_, Pss. cx.-cxlvii., divided into seven portions, omitting +the 119th. + +At _Compline_, iv., xxxi. 1-6, xci., cxxxiv. + +{104} + +Thus the bulk of the Psalms were said at the two offices which +corresponded most closely to our Morning and Evening Prayer; some few +were said daily, the 51st was said at every one of the offices, and the +others were said weekly. + +But in practice a festival arrangement of the Psalms, in which a much +smaller number, and chiefly of the shorter Psalms, were recited, was +largely substituted for the normal or ferial use, thus justifying the +criticism of our Reformers, "Now of late time a few of them have been +daily said and the rest utterly omitted." + +The following special uses are also interesting: + +THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD: + +_Vespers_ (the "Placebo"): cxvi., cxx., cxxi., cxxx., cxxxviii. + +_Mattins_ (the "Dirge"): v., vi., vii.; xxiii., xxv., xxvii., xl., +xli., xlii. + +_Lauds_: li., lxv., lxiii., cxlviii.-cl., cxlv. + +PREPARATION FOR MASS: lxxxiv., lxxxv., lxxxvi., cxvi. 10., cxxx., xliii. + +THANKSGIVING AFTER MASS: cl. + + +C. Antiphons were originally verses sung as a refrain between each +verse of the Psalms, one side of the choir taking the former and the +other the latter. The refrain varied at different seasons and +festivals. An example of this early and more elaborate use survived in +the Breviary in the treatment of the Venite as an Invitatory Psalm. +But gradually, for the sake of brevity, this method {105} was +abandoned, and the normal use of antiphons in the Breviary was simply +after (or on festivals before and after) each Psalm or set of Psalms. +The advantage of the antiphon lay in the fact that it shewed at once +with what particular intention the Psalm was sung, as the same Psalm +naturally might be sung on many different occasions and with reference +to a different season or festival. But the very complex nature of the +antiphons or "anthems" led the English Reformers to abandon them +altogether; "many times," as they said, "there was more business to +find out what should be read, than to read it when it was found out." +The only traces of antiphons left in the Prayer Book are: (1) "O +Sapientia," in the Kalendar on December 16, the first words of the +first of the "Greater Antiphons" to the Magnificat, which began on that +day and continued till Christmas Eve, each commencing with some +striking Old Testament title of the Messiah; (2) in the Litany, the +repetition of the words, "O Lord, arise," etc., shews that this is the +antiphon to the Psalm "O God, we have heard" (perhaps originally the +whole of Ps. xliv., but now one verse only); (3) the words "O Saviour +of the world," etc., in the Office for the Visitation of the Sick. The +last is the best example: the antiphon connects the recitation of Ps. +lxxi. with the Passion of our Lord; the _intention_ of the Psalm is +thus shewn to be the association of our sufferings in sickness with +{106} the Cross of Christ (_cf._ the second exhortation in the same +office). + + +D. Helps to the study of the Psalter. + + +_Literal Meaning_: + +Kirkpatrick, in the _Cambridge Bible_ (3 vols.). The Introduction is +extremely useful, and an excellent list of the literature bearing on +the Psalter is also given. + +Perowne, _The Book of Psalms_. + +Cheyne, _The Book of Psalms_. + +Barry, _Teacher's Prayer Book_. + + +_Mystical and Spiritual Meaning_: + +Neale and Littledale, _Commentary on the Psalms_ (4 vols.). This has a +very valuable Introduction on the Psalms as used in the offices of the +Church, and a dissertation (in vol. i.) on the mystical and literal +interpretation of the Psalms. + +Walpole, _The People's Psalter_. + + +_General_: + +Prothero, _The Psalms in Human Life_. + +Marson, _The Psalms at Work_. + +Church, _The Sacred Poetry of Early Religions_, in _The Gifts of +Civilisation_. _The Discipline of the Christian Character_, iii. + +Robertson Smith, _The Old Testament in the Jewish Church_, lect. vii. + +Orr, _The Problem of the Old Testament_, c. xii. + +Alexander (Archbishop), _The Witness of the Psalms to Christ_. + + + + +{107} + +APPENDIX + +_Brief Suggestions as to the Christian Use of each Psalm_ + +The following suggestions, which follow the lines of the preceding +lectures, do not claim any special authority, except in cases noted, +where the New Testament or the Church's actual use has appropriated a +Psalm to some particular Christian application. + + +PSALM i. _Beatus vir_ + +The Church's witness to the blessedness of the life of holiness, based +on obedience to the revealed Word of God (the great example of which is +the life of Christ Himself); with which is contrasted the eternal +failure of the ungodly. + + +PSALM ii. _Quare fremuerunt gentes?_ + +Acts iv. 25-28. Easter Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The futile warfare of the princes of this world against Christ and His +Church. The certainty {108} of Christ's victory and His universal +kingdom, as seen in His Resurrection and Ascension. + + +PSALM iii. _Domine, quid multiplicati?_ + +[Introit for Second Mass on Easter Day, in 1549 Prayer Book] + +Christ's victory in His Resurrection over all His enemies; the +blessedness of His Church. + + +PSALM iv. _Cum invocarem_ + +The deliverance of Christ from the contradiction of sinners. The +Church's certainty of salvation in Christ, both in this life and in +that which is to come, contrasted with the doubts and uncertain riches +of the world. + +[One of the Compline Psalms, in which the Christian commends himself to +sleep in Christ.] + + +PSALM v. _Verba mea auribus_ + +A Psalm illustrating the life of prayer, public and private; witnessing +to prayer and meditation as the source of inward strength and guidance, +both in the life of Christ and in that of His people, in the face of +this world's treachery and cruelty. + +[One of the Psalms for the Dirge (whence it derives its name, ver. 8, +"Dirige"), referring to God's leading the departed soul through the +attacks of evil spirits to its rest in Him.] + +{109} + +PSALM vi. _Domine, ne in furore_ + +Ash Wednesday, morning (Prayer Book) + +The prayer of the human soul suffering the temporal punishments, bodily +and mental, of sin. Christ Himself endured these sufferings to the +utmost, not for Himself, but for His people, and in this sense it, with +the other penitential Psalms, may be called a Psalm of the Incarnation. + + +PSALM vii. _Domine, Deus meus_ + +The declaration of the Innocency of Christ against the persecution and +treachery of His enemies; His appeal to the Father's justice. + + +PSALM viii. _Domine, Dominus noster_ + +Heb. ii. Ascension Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The glory of God's Name (or revelation of Himself) in nature and in the +Incarnation. The triumph and universal empire of Christ as the Son of +Man, and the Second Adam. + + +PSALM ix. _Confitebor tibi_ + +Thanksgiving for the triumph of God's righteousness in Christ, which is +the pledge of the future destruction of all evil. + + +PSALM x. _Ut quid, Domine?_ + +Continues the thought of Ps. ix., and prays for the manifestation of +God's righteousness in Christ, {110} in view of the continuance of +evil, the apparent immunity of the wicked, and their unceasing warfare +against the Church. + + +PSALM xi. _In Domino confido_ + +A Psalm of the Passion of Christ; His faith in the Father's +righteousness, and in the ultimate overthrow of the wicked. + + +PSALM xii. _Salvum me fac_ + +A prayer of Christ and His Church against the evil tongues of the +wicked; with these are contrasted the purity and certainty of the +Divine revelation, "the words of the Lord." + + +PSALM xiii. _Usque quo, Domine?_ + +A prayer of Christ and His faithful ones in view of the approach of +death. + + +PSALM xiv. _Dixit insipiens_ + +Rom. ii. 10-18 + +The judgment of the world's unbelief, contrasted with the Church's +faith, and her hope in the coming of Christ. + + +PSALM xv. _Domine, quis habitabit?_ + +Ascension Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The human perfections of Christ, enthroned in heaven as the Son of Man. + +{111} + +Also a picture of the saintly life, in union with Christ, Who is God's +tabernacle among men (Rev. xxi. 3). + + +PSALM xvi. _Conserva me, Domine_ + +Acts ii. 25-28. [Introit for Easter Day, Prayer Book of 1549] + +Christ's devotion to the Father; His preservation through death and the +grave; His Resurrection and eternal joy at the right hand of the Father. + + +PSALM xvii. _Exaudi, Domine_ + +A prayer of Christ and His Church against the temptations of the world, +in view of the hope of the Resurrection and the Life everlasting. + + +PSALM xviii. _Diligam te, Domine_ + +The triumph of Christ (under the figure of David); His universal empire. + + +PSALM xix. _Coeli enanant_ + +Rom. x. 18. Christmas Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The Church's thanksgiving for God's Word in Nature, in the Incarnation, +in the Bible; and her prayer for faithfulness. + + +{112} + +PSALM xx. _Exaudiat te Dominus_ + +King's Accession (Prayer Book) + +The Church's witness to Christ her King as He goes forth to battle in +the power of His finished sacrifice. Suitable also as a prayer for a +Christian ruler, whose strength is in Christ. + + +PSALM xxi. _Domine, in virtute tua_ + +Ascension Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The Church's joy in the triumph of Christ; in the Father's answer to +His prayer, and in His glorious coronation as the Son of Man. + + +PSALM xxii. _Deus, Deus meus_ + +Matt. xxvii. 35-46 (with parallels in other Evangelists), Heb. ii. 12. +Good Friday, morning (Prayer Book) + +Christ's prayer in His Passion and Crucifixion; His prophecy of the +calling of His Church, and of the Eucharist. (See above, pp. 77, 78.) + + +PSALM xxiii. _Dominus regit me_ + +John x. 1-16, 26-29 + +The Church's confession of faith in Christ the Good Shepherd, and in +His sacramental gifts. + + +PSALM xxiv. _Domini est terra_ + +Ascension Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The joy of the Church and of the angels in the Ascension of Christ, the +King of Glory. + + +{113} + +PSALM xxv. _Ad te, Domine, levavi_ + +A confession of faith in the Name of God; the Church's prayer for +deliverance from temptation and adversity. + + +PSALM xxvi. _Judica me, Domine_ + +A prayer of Christ as He approaches His Passion; and of the Christian +priest when about to offer the Holy Eucharist. + + +PSALM xxvii. _Dominus illuminatio_ + +The hope of Christ and His Church in the Fatherhood of God; a prophecy +of the Resurrection and the Holy Eucharist (vv. 6, 7). + + +PSALM xxviii. _Ad te, Domine_ + +The prayer of Christ for deliverance from His enemies; and for His +Church (ver. 10). + + +PSALM xxix. _Afferte Domino_ + +The Church's thanksgiving for the sovereignty of Christ over all the +powers of nature, and over His Church. + + +PSALM xxx. _Exaltabo te, Domine_ + +A thanksgiving of Christ and His Church for the Resurrection. + + +{114} + +PSALM xxxi. _In te, Domine, speravi_ + +S. Luke xxiii. 46 + +Christ's prayer in His Passion and Crucifixion; His exhortation to His +Church (vv. 26, 27). + + +PSALM xxxii. _Beati, quorum_ + +Rom. iv. 6-8. Ash Wednesday, morning (Prayer Book) + +The Church's confession of sin, and the blessedness of forgiveness +through faith in Christ. (See on Ps. vi.) + + +PSALM xxxiii. _Exultate, justi_ + +The Church's thanksgiving for creation and redemption, and for her own +exceeding blessedness in being called to be the people of the Lord. + + +PSALM xxxiv. _Benedicam Domino_ + +A thanksgiving of Christ for His Resurrection. His call to His Church +to obedience, to holiness, to courage. + + +PSALM xxxv. _Judica, Domine_ + +A prayer of Christ against the persecution and false witness of His +enemies, and on behalf of those who love Him. + + +PSALM xxxvi. _Dixit infustus_ + +The Church's witness to the awfulness of sin; {115} her confession of +hope in the blessedness of the life eternal in contrast with the doom +of the ungodly. + + +PSALM xxxvii. _Noli cemulari_ + +A Psalm of a proverbial character; the testimony of the Church's +experience of the justice of God, in spite of the apparent prosperity +of the wicked: it expresses the _restfulness_ of the life of faith. + +_Cf._ ver. ii with Matt. v. 5. + + +PSALM xxxviii. _Domine, ne in furore_ + +Ash Wednesday, morning (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of Christ bearing in loneliness and silence the burden of human +sin, confessing it on man's behalf to the Father, and praying for our +salvation. + + +PSALM xxxix. _Dixi, custodiam_ + +Burial of the Dead (Prayer Book) + +Continues in some respects the tone of the previous Psalm. It may be +regarded as a Psalm of Christ bearing the sorrow of man's mortality, +and interceding on man's behalf with the Father. + + +PSALM xl. _Expectans expectavi_ + +Heb. x. 5-10. Good Friday, morning (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of Christ's Incarnation, Passion, Sin-bearing, and +Resurrection; it expresses the {116} secret of His Atonement (see +above, pp. 61, 62) and His fulfilment of O.T. prophecy (ver. 10). + + +PSALM xli. _Beatus qui intelligit_ + +John xiii. 18 + +A Psalm of Christ's compassion; and of the treachery of His enemies, +especially of Judas. + + +PSALM xlii. _Quemadmodum_ + +[Introit for Burial of the Dead, Prayer Book of 1549] + +A Psalm of Christ's human soul in His earthly pilgrimage, and in the +prospect of death; His desire to return to the Father. Hence also +suitable for the Christian soul in sickness and dying. + + +PSALM xliii. _Judica me, Deus_ + +A continuation of the previous Psalm. Christ speaks in it to the +Father as He approaches His Passion, and contemplates with joy the +sacrifice He is about to offer for man. Hence this Psalm has long been +used in the Church as the immediate preparation of the Priest for +offering the Holy Eucharist. + + +PSALM xliv. _Deus, auribus_ + +Rom. viii. 36 + +The appeal of the suffering and persecuted {117} Church to Christ; her +confession of faithfulness to that which He has entrusted to her +keeping. + + +PSALM xlv. _Enructavit cor meum_ + +Heb. i. Christmas Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The Church celebrates the Incarnation under the figure of a royal +marriage. The bridegroom is Christ Himself, described in vv. 3-9; the +bride, the King's daughter, is the Church destined to spread into all +lands. The "daughter of Tyre" is symbolical of the heathen world +coming to Christ. The "queen" (or queen-mother) of ver. 10 has often +been interpreted of the Blessed Virgin. + + +PSALM xlvi. _Deus nosier refugium_ + +A Psalm of the Church's confidence: she is conscious of the presence of +Christ and the Holy Spirit (ver. 4, R.V.) within her; and confesses +that this is her eternal strength amidst the warfare and tumult of the +world. + + +PSALM xlvii. _Omnes gentes, plaudite_ + +Ascension Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The joy of the Church in the glorious Ascension of Christ; and in His +universal sovereignty, which all the world will ultimately acknowledge. + + +PSALM xlviii. _Magnus Dominus_ + +Whitsun Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The joy of the Church in her ideal beauty and {118} her steadfastness; +and her sure hope of ultimate victory over all the powers of this world. + +[The Psalm should be compared both with the promise of Christ in Matt. +xvi. 18 and the picture of the perfected Church in Rev. xxi., xxii.] + + +PSALM xlix. _Audite haec, omnes_ + +The Church's meditation upon the vanity of human riches and greatness +in view of death; the need of man's redemption through Christ alone +(vv. 7, 8); the certainty of the resurrection of the faithful through +the Resurrection of Christ. + + +PSALM 1. _Deus deorum_ + +The second advent of Christ as the final Judge of the world, and +especially of His Church. + + +PSALM li. _Miserere mei, Deus_ + +Ash Wednesday (Commination Service) + +The Church's confession of sin, and of failure to fulfil her great +vocation in the world; her prayer to Christ for forgiveness and +restoration. (See on Ps. vi.) + + +PSALM lii. _Quid gloriaris?_ + +The Church's challenge to "the prince of this world" and to Antichrist; +and the confession of her own eternal hope in Christ. + +{119} + +PSALM liii. _Dixit insipiens_ + +See on Ps. xiv. + + +PSALM liv. _Deus, in nomine_ + +Good Friday, morning (Prayer Book) + +A prayer of Christ in His Passion, and His self-consecration to the +Father. + + +PSALM lv. _Exaudi, Deus_ + +A prayer of Christ in His loneliness and desolation, amidst the +treachery of His enemies and especially of His false disciple. + + +PSALM lvi. _Miserere mei, Deus_ + +Christ's complaint to the Father against the contradiction of sinners; +His confidence in the Father's word, and His sure hope in His +Resurrection. + + +PSALM lvii. _Miserere mei, Deus_ + +Easter Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The Psalm of Christ "glorified" through His Passion and Resurrection. + + +PSALM lviii. _Si vere utique_ + +Christ's judgment upon sinners; the vindication of Divine justice. + + +{120} + +PSALM lix. _Eripe me de inimicis_ + +A prayer of Christ in His Passion against the malice of His enemies; +His denunciation of their impenitence; His hope of the Resurrection and +the final vindication of Divine justice. + + +PSALM lx. _Deus, repulisti nos_ + +A prayer of the scattered and persecuted Church, and the answer of the +triumphant Christ (under the figure of David's victories). + + +PSALM lxi. _Exaudi, Deus_ + +A prayer of the scattered Church, praying to be established on the rock +of Christ; her confession of faith in the eternal royalty of Christ. + + +PSALM lxii. _Nonne Deo?_ + +The Church's confidence in Christ her rock in contrast with the +falsehood of the world and the deceitfulness of riches; her faith in +the ultimate manifestation of the Divine justice. + + +PSALM lxiii. _Deus, Deus meus_ + +A prayer of the exiled Church; her joy in worship, and her confidence +in the sovereignty of Christ. + + +PSALM lxiv. _Exaudi, Deus_ + +A prayer of Christ in His Passion; the {121} prediction of the +overthrow of the Jewish nation, and the continual testimony of this +overthrow to the truth of Christ. + + +PSALM lxv. _Te decet hymnus_ + +The Church's hope of her heavenly inheritance in Christ, and of the +regeneration of the earth by the river of His spiritual gifts. The +Psalm seems to be a forecast of the joy and prosperity of "the new +heaven and the new earth." + + +PSALM lxvi. _Jubilate Deo_ + +Thanksgiving after a Storm at Sea (Prayer Book) + +The thanksgiving of the Church in the conversion of the world; she +looks forward to the end of this world and her deliverance from its +sufferings, and contemplates her entrance into the eternal worship of +heaven. + + +PSALM lxvii. _Deus misereatur_ + +Alternative to Nunc Dimittis; Holy Matrimony (Prayer Book) + +The joy of the Church in the conversion of the world to Christ; her +hope of God's blessing upon all her works. + + +PSALM lxviii. _Exurgat Deus_ + +Whitsun Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +The triumphant procession-hymn of the Catholic {122} Church in her +progress through the world; rejoicing in the gifts of the ascended +Christ, and in the hope of the conversion of the heathen. + + +PSALM lxix. _Salvum me fac_ + +Matt. xxvii. 34; John ii. 17, xix. 28, 29; Rom. xv. 3. Good Friday, +evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ; a denunciation of +Divine vengeance upon the Jews; concluding with a prophecy of the +calling and continuance of the Church. + + +PSALM lxx. _Deus in adjutorium_ + +A Psalm similar in tone to the preceding; it may be applied to Christ +in His Passion, or to the faithful ones who suffer with Him, and look +to Him as Redeemer. + + +PSALM lxxi. _In te, Domine, speravi_ + +Visitation of the Sick (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of Christ sharing our human life with its vicissitudes and +troubles--born of Mary, increasing in wisdom and stature, suffering +persecution, proclaiming the Gospel, dying, and rising "from the deep +of the earth again" (ver. 18). Consequently it is a Psalm of the +saintly life in its conformity to Christ, + + +{123} + +PSALM lxxii. _Deus, indicium_ + +Matt. ii. 1-11 + +The Church's joy in Christ, as the Son of David and the King of +humanity. The peace and justice of His Kingdom are described, its +universality and eternity. + + +PSALM lxxiii. _Quam bonus Israel!_ + +A Psalm of the inward struggle and victory of _faith_. Christ Himself +may be heard speaking in it, as He is "the author and finisher of our +faith," and in His human soul fought for us the battle of faith. So +the Psalm becomes the Church's testimony to the individual believer of +that ultimate answer to the trials of faith which is found in union +with God through Christ. + + +PSALM lxxiv. _Ut quid, Deus?_ + +A Psalm of the Church, persecuted and despoiled, appealing to the +eternal sovereignty of Christ over nature and man, as it has been +revealed in all the history of the Church, both under the old covenant +and the new. + + +PSALM lxxv. _Confitebimur tibi_ + +A dialogue, as it were, between Christ and His Church. He asserts His +sovereignty over the world, His justice, and its ultimate vindication. + + +{124} + +PSALM lxxvi. _Notus in Judaea_ + +A Psalm of the victory of Christ; of "the wrath of the Lamb," and the +final judgment of the world. + + +PSALM lxxvii. _Voce mea ad Dominum_ + +Like Ps. lxxiii., a Psalm of the struggles of faith. The thought of +God's past work in His Church as revealed in history, and of His +eternal years, is the Church's consolation when He seems to hide His +face. + + +PSALM lxxviii. _Attendite, popule_ + +Matt. xiii. 35; _cf._ xxiii. 37 + +The voice of Christ recounting the history of His Church, His patience +and mercy with backslidings, His many deliverances; ending with His own +Incarnation and personal rule of His Church, under the figure of +David's call to the throne. + + +PSALM lxxix. _Deus, venerunt_ + +A prayer of the Church, especially of the martyrs and confessors, in +time of persecution and bloodshed. + + +PSALM lxxx. _Qui regis Israel_ + +A prayer of the Church when the light of God's presence waxes dim, when +Christ's vineyard is broken into by secular oppression. The Church +{125} prays that Christ's power may again be made known (ver. 17) and +that she herself may be converted. + + +PSALM lxxxi. _Exultate Deo_ + +The Church's joy in her past deliverances; the warning voice of Christ +(ver. 6 onwards) shewing that the Church's own failures in loyalty are +the cause of her oppressions. Greater faithfulness would have brought +deliverance, and greater joy in Christ's sacramental gifts (ver. 17). + + +PSALM lxxxii. _Deus stetit_ + +John x. 34-6 + +The voice of Christ bearing witness to the ideal greatness of man, and +to man's failure in his responsibility as God's vicegerent in the +world, especially in the administration of justice. He Himself is set +forth as the true and perfect Judge of the world. + + +PSALM lxxxiii. _Deus, quis similis?_ + +A prayer of the Church against the confederacy of her enemies. She +prays that their defeat may lead to their conversion to Christ. + + +PSALM lxxxiv. _Quam dilecta!_ + +A Psalm of the Church in her pilgrimage through this world. She +expresses especially her joy in {126} public worship, the comfort which +the hope of the heavenly worship brings amidst human sorrows, and her +eternal hope in Christ. + + +PSALM lxxxv. _Benedixisti, Domine_ + +Christmas Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the Church's joy in the Incarnation, as the proof of +forgiveness for the past, and the beginning of a new and better world. + + +PSALM lxxxvi. _Inclina, Domine_ + +A Psalm of Christ and of the Christian soul, renewing the dedication of +self to God, praying for strength against the trials of the world, and +for the manifestation to the world of God's presence with those who +love Him. + + +PSALM lxxxvli. _Fundamenta ejus_ + +A Psalm describing the catholicity of the Church, and the new birth of +Baptism whereby members of all nations become her citizens and find in +her the source of all joy and refreshment. + + +PSALM lxxxviii. _Domine Deus_ + +Good Friday, evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of Christ's desolation, the darkness on the Cross, His death +and burial and descent into hell. + + +{127} + +PSALM lxxxix. _Misericordias Domini_ + +Christmas Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The Church's praise for the promises of the Incarnation, and their +fulfilment in the line of David. The certainty of the eternal reign of +Christ and the preservation of His Church. At ver. 37 the tone changes +to prayer respecting the present eclipse of Christ's glory, and the +failures of His Church. The Psalm ends, as it were, with the appeal of +Christ Himself to the Father (49-50) for His suffering Church. + + +PSALM xc. _Domine, refugium_ + +Burial of the Dead (Prayer Book) + +The Psalm of the Church's hope in the eternity of God, and the +unfailing nature of His purpose to restore man in Christ, in contrast +with man's mortality, his short life and earthly failure. + + +PSALM xci. _Qui habitat_ + +A Psalm of the trust of Christ and of the Christian soul in the +providence of God, in the continual ministry of the angels, and in the +final discomfiture of the powers of evil. + + +PSALM xcii. _Bonum est confiteri_ + +A thanksgiving of Christ for His Resurrection and for the eternal hope +of His Church. + + +{128} + +PSALM xciii. _Dominus regnavit_ + +A Psalm of the sovereignty of the ascended Christ; His supremacy over +nature and the storms of this world. + + +PSALM xciv. _Deus ultionum_ + +A prayer of the Church for the second coming of Christ, and the +manifestation of the Divine justice; ending (ver. 12, etc.) with the +expression of the Church's patience, her acceptance of tribulation, and +her sure confidence in the coming of Christ. + + +PSALM xcv. _Venite, exultemus_ + +Heb. iii. 7-iv. 11. Morning Prayer, daily (Prayer Book) + +The Church's prelude to worship: the expression of her joy and trust in +God's creation and preservation; her daily warning against failure +through unbelief (like Israel of old) to enter into God's rest. + + +PSALM xcvi. _Cantate Domino_ + +The Church's outburst of joy in the universal sovereignty of Christ. +She calls to the heathen world to acknowledge Him, and looks forward +with rapture to His second Advent. + + +PSALM xcvii. _Dominus regnavit_ + +The Church's declaration to the world of the sovereignty of Christ, and +of His second Advent. {129} She reminds herself of the moral fruits of +Christ's kingdom, and of the Christian joy which springs from His +service. + + +PSALM xcviii. _Cantate Domino_ + +Alternative to Magnificat (Prayer Book) + +The triumph song of the Church in the redeeming work of Christ, in +which she calls all nature and the heathen world to join. + + +PSALM xcix. _Dominus regnavit_ + +Again, a Psalm of the sovereignty of Christ. The Church sings of the +essential holiness of His kingdom, of His mercy and His chastisements, +and calls on the world to worship Him. + + +PSALM c. _Jubilate Deo_ + +Alternative to Benedictus (Prayer Book) + +The Church's triumphant call to all the world to worship with her; she +confesses her dependence on Christ, and the unfailing truth of His +Gospel. + + +PSALM ci. _Misericordiam et judicium_ + +King's Accession (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the Church testifying her desire and endeavour to imitate +both the mercy and the justice of Christ, and to exercise just +discipline over her members, remembering the judgment-seat of {130} +Christ. A Psalm also appropriate to a Christian ruler, as the minister +of Christ. + + +PSALM cii. _Domine exaudi_ + +Heb. i. 10-12. Ash Wednesday, evening (Prayer Book) + +This may be regarded in part as appropriate to our Lord weeping over +Jerusalem; in a wider sense it is a Psalm of the faithful sorrowing +over the decay of the Church, offering their penitence, looking forward +to restoration, and trusting in the changelessness of Christ, Who +remains the same though earth and heaven pass away, and has promised +the like continuance to His Church. + + +PSALM ciii. _Benedic, anima mea_ + +A Psalm of the Church's thanksgiving for God's forgiveness in Christ, +for His love in the past and the certainty of its continuance in the +future. Angels and saints and the powers of nature are summoned to +join in this thanksgiving. + + +PSALM civ. _Benedic, anima mea_ + +Whitsun Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The Church's witness to the immanence of the Word in all creation; she +recognises this in the beauty, the order, the preservation of all forms +of varied life. Especially in the renewal of natural life (vv. 30-5) +she recognises and praises {131} the life-giving activity of the Holy +Spirit, and sees in it a prophecy of the restoration of all things in +the Resurrection to their first perfection, and the final overthrow of +evil. + + +PSALM cv. _Confitemini Domino_ + +A Psalm of the Church's thanksgiving as she reviews her history and the +providence which has preserved her in all vicissitudes, and considers +the eternal inheritance which is the reward of obedience. + + +PSALM cvi. _Confitemini Domino_ + +Also an historical Psalm, in which the Church in time of exile and +persecution recalls God's providence, and her many failures; she places +her trust in the intercession of Christ, of Whom Moses was a type, and +prays for her restoration. + + +PSALM cvii. _Confitemini Domino_ + +Thanksgiving after a Storm at Sea (Prayer Book) + +The Church celebrates the age-long compassion of God towards the +wanderer, the prisoner, the sufferer, as seen in the salvation of His +Church, and in the Incarnation of the Word (ver. 20). The refrain (vv. +8, 15, 21, 31) exhorts to thanksgiving, and especially to the offering +of the Holy Eucharist (ver. 22). + + +{132} + +PSALM cviii. _Paratum cor meum_ + +Ascension Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of Christ glorified in His Resurrection, praying for His Church +and foretelling His future victories (under the figure of David's +wars). The last three verses seem to be the prayer of the Church and +the voice of her confidence of ultimate triumph in Christ. + + +PSALM cix. _Deus laudem_ + +Acts i. 20 + +A Psalm of Christ's judgment upon impenitent sinners; His prayer for +Himself in His Passion, and for His Church in whose sufferings at the +hands of sinners He Himself is crucified afresh. + + +PSALM cx. _Dixit Dominus_ + +Matt. xxii. 41-5 (parallels in Mark and Luke); Acts ii. 34, 35; Heb. i. +13, v. 6-vii. Christmas Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The Church's witness to the Divinity of Christ, to His eternal +Priesthood, His warfare, sufferings, and victory. + + +PSALM cxi. _Confitebor tibi_ + +Easter Day, morning (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of Christ praising the Father for His Resurrection; in which +His Church also joins, commemorating the Eucharist (ver. 5), the new +and {133} eternal covenant, and the sacredness of the truth committed +to her keeping. + + +PSALM cxii. _Beatus vir_ + +The Church's testimony to the blessedness of the life of faith, hope, +and charity, of which she has seen the perfect example in Christ +Himself. + + +PSALM cxiii. _Laudate, pueri_ + +Easter Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The world-wide joy of the Church in the Catholic faith of the +Incarnation, by which man is exalted from the dust of Adam's fall, and +is no longer "subject to vanity," but made equal to the angels. + + +PSALM cxiv. _In exitu Israel_ + +Easter Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The Church's song of deliverance through the mighty power of the +Resurrection. A Psalm also of the Christian soul delivered from the +Egypt of this world, and crossing the Jordan of death to the joy of the +heavenly Canaan. + + +PSALM cxv. _Non nobis, Domine_ + +A continuation of the previous Psalm: the Church's joy in the living +God, in Whom she hopes for life eternal; she calls upon priests and +people alike to praise Him. + + +{134} + +PSALM cxvi. _Dilexi, quoniam_ + +Churching of Women (Prayer Book) + +A thanksgiving of Christ and His Church for the Resurrection; with +reference especially to the offering of the Eucharist, and the joy of +Holy Communion, and also to the final rest and thanksgiving of the +saints in Paradise. + + +PSALM cxvii. _Laudate Dominum_ + +The Church's call to the heathen world to praise God by conversion to +the faith of Christ. + + +PSALM cxviii. _Confitemini Domino_ + +Matt. xxi. 9, 42, xxiii. 39 (with parallels in Mark and Luke). Easter +Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +The great Psalm of thanksgiving by Christ and His Church for the +Resurrection, the victory over death and the judgment of the prince of +this world. A Psalm especially appropriate for Sunday, and as a +prelude to the Church's worship in the Holy Eucharist. + +[It is the special Psalm for Sunday at Prime in the Breviary.] + + +PSALM cxix. _Beati immaculati_ + +The characteristic Psalm of the Catholic Church, in which she expresses +her loyalty to and joy in {135} all that God has revealed and +commanded. It is animated throughout by the spirit of _sonship_, of +which the perfect realisation is seen in Christ Himself. It may +therefore be regarded as a Psalm of Christ, with Whom the Church +associates herself in its recitation. + + +PSALM cxx. _Ad Dominum_ + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church praying for peace and deliverance from +the ceaseless and bitter warfare of this world. + + +PSALM cxxi. _Levavi oculos_ + +Accession Service (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the Church's pilgrimage through this world's perils, as she +journeys towards the eternal hills and the city of God. + + +PSALM cxxii. _Laetatus sum_ + +The joy of the Christian soul in the Catholic Church and in Catholic +worship. The hope of the Church in her pilgrimage towards the heavenly +Jerusalem and the throne of Christ. + + +PSALM cxxiii. _Ad te levavi oculos meos_ + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church amidst this world's scorn and contempt, +expressing her absolute dependence upon Christ. + + +{136} + +PSALM cxxiv. _Nisi quid Dominus_ + +Part of the Hymn of Thanksgiving for a Victory at Sea (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church's deliverance from the storms and waves +of this troublesome world; her unshaken confidence in Christ. + + +PSALM cxxv. _Qui confidunt_ + +The confidence of the pilgrim Church in the unceasing protection of +Christ against the attacks of an evil world, and the apostasy of false +Christians. + + +PSALM cxxvi. _In convertendo_ + +The joy of the pilgrim Church in her great deliverance from the +captivity of this world; her hope that through tribulation she will be +made perfect. + + +PSALM cxxvii. _Nisi Dominus_ + +Churching of Women (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church confessing that her progress and her +enlargement cannot be the fruit of human care and labour, but of the +grace of Christ only. + + +PSALM cxxviii. _Beati omnes_ + +Holy Matrimony (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church celebrating the consecration of human +life and labour through the Incarnation. + + +{137} + +PSALM cxxix. _Saepe expugnaverunt_ + +A Psalm of the warfare and persecutions of the pilgrim Church, and of +the vanity and fruitlessness of the attacks of her enemies. + + +PSALM cxxx. _De profundis_ + +Ash Wednesday, evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the sorrows, the ceaseless watching, and the undying hope of +the pilgrim Church. Especially appropriate to the souls of departed +Christians, the Church Expectant, who wait for the second Advent. + + +PSALM cxxxi. _Domine, non est_ + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church expressing her humility, her submission +to revelation, her unceasing trust in Christ. + + +PSALM cxxxii. _Memento, Domine_ + +Christmas Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm in which the pilgrim Church joyfully commemorates before God +the Incarnation of His Son, and His age-long indwelling within her; and +His gift in the Eucharist (ver. 16); and expresses her faith in the +eternal sovereignty of Christ. + + +PSALM cxxxiii. _Ecce, quam bonum!_ + +A Psalm in which the pilgrim Church expresses her joy in her essential +unity, the gift of the unction {138} of the Holy Spirit poured upon her +from the ascended Christ. + + +PSALM cxxxiv. _Ecce nunc_ + +A Psalm of the pilgrim Church as she contemplates her entry into the +eternal sanctuary, the heavenly city of Christ, and the fellowship of +the angels in their unceasing praise. + + +PSALM cxxxv. _Laudate Nomen_ + +The Church's thanksgiving for her calling in Christ, and the eternal +rule of Christ over nature and man; she expresses her confidence in the +living Christ Who dwells within her, in contrast with this world's +idolatries. + + +PSALM cxxxvi. _Confitemini_ + +A Psalm of the Church's thanksgiving for the eternal mercy of Christ, +as seen in creation, and in her own history and deliverances, and also +in His abiding gift of the Eucharist (ver. 25). + + +PSALM cxxxvii. _Super flumina_ + +A Psalm of the sorrows of the Church in her captivity in this world, +where she is persecuted and misunderstood. She expresses her loyalty +to her heavenly calling, her desire for "Jerusalem which is above," and +her warfare with Babylon, for whose overthrow she confidently waits. + + +{139} + +PSALM cxxxviii. _Confitebor tibi_ + +A Psalm of Christ and His saints, giving praise for the Resurrection, +the hope of the conversion of the world, the Church's final +deliverance, and the "redemption of the body." + + +PSALM cxxxix. _Domine, probasti_ + +A Psalm of the creature to the Creator, celebrating His omnipresence, +His wisdom, His claim to love; praying for sincerity and the gift of +perseverance. It is appropriate to Christ in His sacred manhood, in +which He is "inferior to the Father" (Athanasian Creed); and therefore +also a Psalm of the Church in which the human body and soul are +regenerate and consecrated by the Incarnation. + + +PSALM cxl. _Eripe me, Domine_ + +A Psalm of Christ's warfare and Passion; pronouncing the overthrow and +judgment of the wicked, and the eternal continuance of His Church. + + +PSALM cxli. _Domine, clamavi_ + +A Psalm of the Church's devotion to Christ; her humility in accepting +rebuke and tribulation; her unceasing spirit of prayer. + + +PSALM cxlii. _Voce mea ad Dominum_ + +A Psalm of Christ's prayer to the Father in His {140} Passion and +Death, and His longing for the gathering together of His Church to +Himself as the fruit of His Resurrection. + + +PSALM cxliii. _Domine, exaudi_ + +Ash Wednesday, evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of prayer for those who suffer with Christ; of preparation for +death, and hope of the Resurrection, through the gift of the Holy +Spirit. + + +PSALM cxliv. _Benedictus Dominus_ + +A Psalm of the triumph of Christ (under the figure of David), and of +the eternal blessedness of His Church through Him. + + +PSALM cxlv. _Exaltabo te, Deus_ + +Whitsun Day, evening (Prayer Book) + +A Psalm of the everlasting joy of the Church in Christ her King, in the +Holy Eucharist (ver. 7), in the Communion of Saints, and in the +certainty of the answer to prayer. + + +PSALM cxlvi. _Lauda, anima mea_ + +Like the preceding, a Psalm of the Church's thanksgiving for the +eternal sovereignty of Christ in its mercy and its judgment. + + +PSALM cxlvii. _Laudate Dominum_ + +The joy of the Church in her calling and preservation {141} by Christ, +in the Gospel committed to her trust, and in the truth that all things +temporal as well as eternal are hers in Christ, Who is Lord of all. + + +PSALM cxlviii. _Laudate Dominum_ + +The Church's call to the angels, to all the powers of nature, and to +all estates of men to give thanks to Christ, with her. + + +PSALM cxlix. _Cantate Domino_ + +A Psalm of the Communion of Saints, in which the living and departed +(ver. 5) unite to praise Christ their King, and ascribe to Him their +victory over the powers of this world. + + +PSALM cl. _Laudate Dominum_ + +The eternal song of praise of the Church militant and triumphant, in +which man's powers and development are consecrated to their true end, +the giving of glory to the eternal Trinity. + + + + +{142} + + INDEX OF PSALMS REFERRED TO + + PSALM PAGE + + I. . . . . . . . 9, 107 + II. . . . . . . 1, 17, 45, 107 + III. . . . . . . 108 + IV. . . . . . . 103, 108 + V. . . . . . . . 104, 108 + VI. . . . . . . 86, 104, 109 + VII. . . . . . . 104, 109 + VIII. . . . . . 54, 69, 109 + IX. . . . . . . 9, 109 + X. . . . . . . . 8, 16, 85, 109 + XI. . . . . . . 110 + XII. . . . . . . 110 + XIII. . . . . . 110 + XIV. . . . . . . 110 + XV. . . . . . . 69-70, 110 + XVI. . . . . . . 2, 20, 67, 111 + XVII. . . . . . 16, 68, 111 + XVIII. . . . . . 23, 46, 111 + XIX. . . . . . . 9, 111 + XX. . . . . . . 112 + XXI. . . . . . . 70, 112 + XXII. . . . . . 23, 56, 57, 59, 77, 78, 83, 112 + XXIII. . . . . . 104, 112 + XXIV. . . . . . 60, 101, 112 + XXV. . . . . . . 9, 10, 113 + XXVI. . . . . . 113 + XXVII. . . . . . 104, 113 + XXVIII. . . . . 113 + XXIX. . . . . . 102, 113 + XXX. . . . . . . 102, 113 + XXXI. . . . . . 57, 103, 114 + XXXII. . . . . . 86, 114 + XXXIII. . . . . 28, 114 + XXXIV. . . . . . 28, 114 + XXXV. . . . . . 37, 114 + XXXVI. . . . . . 114 + XXXVII. . . . . 28, 115 + XXXVIII. . . . . 86, 115 + XXXIX. . . . . . 115 + XL. . . . . . . 10, 54, 55, 60, 61-3, 104, 115 + XLI. . . . . . . 7, 16, 20, 104, 116 + XLII. . . . . . 29, 104, 116 + XLIII. . . . . . 16, 104, 116 + XLIV. . . . . . 6, 88, 105, 116 + XLV. . . . . . . 23, 46, 49, 71, 117 + XLVI. . . . . . 95, 117 + XLVII. . . . . . 81, 117 + XLVIII. . . . . 98, 101, 117 + XLIX. . . . . . 25, 26, 29, 118 + L. . . . . . . . 40, 102, 118 + LI. . . . . . . 17, 73, 86, 104, 118 + LII. . . . . . . 118 + LIII. . . . . . 119 + LIV. . . . . . . 61, 62, 103, 119 + LV. . . . . . . 119 + LVI. . . . . . . 119 + LVII. . . . . . 119 + LVIII. . . . . . 28, 119 + LIX. . . . . . . 120 + LX. . . . . . . 24, 120 + LXI. . . . . . . 120 + LXII. . . . . . 120 + LXIII. . . . . . 103, 104, 120 + LXIV. . . . . . 38, 120 + LXV. . . . . . . 104, 121 + LXVI. . . . . . 121 + LXVII. . . . . . 82, 103, 121 + LXVIII. . . . . 29, 81, 121 + LXIX. . . . . . 2, 40, 57, 58, 60, 122 + LXX. . . . . . . 122 + LXXI. . . . . . 20, 30, 105, 122 + LXXII. . . . . . 7, 46, 83, 84, 123 + LXXIII. . . . . 14, 68, 123 + LXXIV. . . . . . 6, 24, 89, 123 + LXXV. . . . . . 123 + LXXVI. . . . . . 94, 124 + LXXVII. . . . . 16, 124 + LXXVIII. . . . . 10, 85, 95, 124 + LXXIX. . . . . . 6, 23, 85, 90, 124 + LXXX. . . . . . 74, 124 + LXXXI. . . . . . 102, 125 + LXXXII. . . . . 101, 102, 125 + LXXXIII. . . . . 37, 90, 125 + LXXXIV. . . . . 104, 125 + LXXXV. . . . . . 50, 104, 126 + LXXXVI. . . . . 104, 126 + LXXXVII. . . . . 28, 81, 82, 126 + LXXXVIII. . . . 16, 25, 60, 61, 126 + LXXXIX. . . . . 7, 43, 47, 49, 127 + XC. . . . . . . 127 + XCI. . . . . . . 103, 127 + XCII. . . . . . 102, 127 + XCIII. . . . . . 102, 128 + XCIV. . . . . . 101, 102, 128 + XCV. . . . . . . 103, 128 + XCVI. . . . . . 49, 128 + XCVII. . . . . . 25, 128 + XCVIII. . . . . 82, 129 + XCIX. . . . . . 129 + C. . . . . . . . 82, 129 + CI. . . . . . . 129 + CII. . . . . . . 54, 86, 91, 92, 97, 130 + CIII. . . . . . 130 + CIV. . . . . . . 16, 24, 130 + CV. . . . . . . 74, 102, 131 + CVI. . . . . . . 7, 31, 85, 131 + CVII. . . . . . 20, 71, 131 + CVIII. . . . . . 70, 132 + CIX. . . . . . . 2, 40, 66, 132 + CX. . . . . . . 2, 28, 51, 132 + CXI. . . . . . . 132 + CXII. . . . . . 133 + CXIII. . . . . . 83, 113 + CXIII.-CXVIII. . 102 + CXIV. . . . . . 135 + CXV. . . . . . . 25, 26, 133 + CXVI. . . . . . 104, 134 + CXVII. . . . . . 134 + CXVIII. . . . . 69, 134 + CXIX. . . . . . 11-13, 14, 28, 33, 71, 103, 134 + CXX. . . . . . . 104, 135 + CXX.-CXXXIV. . . 6, 102 + CXXI. . . . . . 104, 135 + CXXII. . . . . . 99, 102, 135 + CXXIII. . . . . 135 + CXXIV. . . . . . 136 + CXXV. . . . . . 136 + CXXVI. . . . . . 136 + CXXVII. . . . . 136 + CXXVIII. . . . . 136 + CXXIX. . . . . . 137 + CXXX. . . . . . 86, 104, 137 + CXXXI. . . . . . 10, 11, 137 + CXXXII. . . . . 47, 49, 75, 96, 137 + CXXXIII. . . . . 137 + CXXXIV. . . . . 103, 138 + CXXXV. . . . . . 138 + CXXXVI. . . . . 17, 138 + CXXXVII. . . . . 38, 138 + CXXXVIII. . . . 25, 104, 139 + CXXXIX. . . . . 139 + CXL. . . . . . . 139 + CXLI. . . . . . 139 + CXLII. . . . . . 139 + CXLIII. . . . . 86, 140 + CXLIV. . . . . . 50, 140 + CXLV. . . . . . 104, 140 + CXLVI. . . . . . 27, 96, 140 + CXLVII. . . . . 75, 96, 140 + CXLVIII. . . . . 141 + CXLVIII.-CL. . . 103, 104 + CXLIX. . . . . . 141 + CL. . . . . . . 7, 104, 141 + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Christian Use of the Psalter, by A. 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