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PSALM -MOSAICS,
H Bloorapbical an^ Ibtstorical Commentari^
on tbe psalms.
BY THE^
REV. A. SAUNDERS DYER, M.A, F.SA.
Chaplain H.M. India?i Service.
NEW YORK :
THOMAS WHITTAKER
2 & 3, BIBLE HOUSE.
1895.
£ bcbicate
THIS VOLUME TO MY WIFE
H dk t\erj//o, Lord, and help me. — Dr. Bonar, in his
' Christ and His Church,' says : ' The EngHsh Prayer-Book
translation is, "Up, Lord, and help me !" reminding us of the
sudden, unexpected rise of the Guards at Waterloo after long
and patient waiting for the seasonable moment.'
PSALM IV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Evening hymn of one who is unmoved
before backbiters and men of little faith.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Evening Hymn.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David concerning those things
that he suffered.
Origin (Perowne). — David had said in the previous Psalm : ' I
laid me down and slept ' ; he says in this : ' I will lay me down
in peace and sleep.' These words evidently connect the Psalms
together. That was a morning, this is an evening hymn. . . .
The interval between the two Psalms may only have been the
interval between the morning and evening of the same day.
In Church. — This is an Easter Even Psalm, according to
the Sarum Use (see verse 9) ; it is also the first Psalm in the
Greek late Evensong, and one of the first Psalms at Compline.
The Whole Psalm (St. Augustine of Hippo). — 'With what
vehement and bitter sorrow was I angered at the Manichees !t
and again I pitied them, for that they knew not those Sacra-
^ Neale's Commentary, vol, i., p. 107.
+ Because, as rejecting the Old Testament, they robbed themselves of
the Psalms.
38 PSALM^MOSAICS
ments, those medicines, and were mad against the antidote
which might have recovered them of their madness. How I
would they had then been somewhere near me, and without
my knowing that they were there, could have beheld my coun-
tenance, and heard my words w^hen I read the fourth Psalm
in that time of my rest ' (after his conversion), ' and how that
Psalm wrought upon me : " When I called, the God of my
righteousness heard me; in tribulation Thou enlargedst me.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, and hear my prayer." Would
that what I uttered on these words they could hear without
my knowing whether they heard, lest they should think I spake
it for their sakes ! Because, m truth, neither should I speak
the same things, nor in the same way, if I perceived that they
heard and saw me; nor if I spake them would they so receive
them, as when I spake by and for myself before Thee out of
the natural feelings of my soul.
' I trembled for fear, and again kindled with hope and with
rejoicing in Thy mercy, O Father ; and all issued forth both
by mine eyes and voice, when Thy good Spirit turning unto us
said : "O ye sons of men, how long slow of heart? W^hy do
ye love vanity and seek after a lie ?" For I had " loved vanity,
and sought after a lie." "And Thou, O Lord," hast already
"magnified Thy Holy One, raising Him from the dead, and
setting Him at Thy right hand," whence "from on high" He
should "send" His "promise," the "Comforter, the Spirit of
truth." And He had already sent Him, but I knew it not ;
He had sent Him, because He was now magnified, rising again
from the dead, and ascending into heaven. For then " the
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
And the prophet cries, " How long, slow of heart ? W^hy do
ye love vanity and seek after leasing? Know this, that the
Lord hath magnified His Holy One." He cries out : " How
long?" He cries out: "Know this;" and I so long, not
knowing, " loved vanity and sought after leasing " ; and, there-
fore, I heard and trembled, because it was spoken unto such
as I remembered myself to have been. For in those phantoms
PSALM IV. 39
which I had held for truths was there "vanity and lying"; and
I spake aloud many things earnestly and forcibly in the bitter-
ness of my remembrance. Which, would they had heard, who
yet " love vanity and seek after lying " ! They would, perchance,
have been troubled, and have vomited it up; and "Thou
wouldst hear them when they cried unto Thee," for by a true
death in the flesh did He die for us, who now "intercedeth
unto Thee for us." '*
Verse 2. O ye sons of men, how long will ye blaspheme Mine
honour, and have such pleasure in vanity, a?id seek after leasing'^
— Chrysostom said once, ' that if he were the fittest in the world
to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in
one congregation, and had some high mountain for his pulpit,
from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his
view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud
as the trumpets of the archangel, that all the world might hear
him, he would choose to preach on no other texts than in the
Psalms, "O mortal men, how long will ye love vanity, and
follow after leasing ?" 'f
• In his praise
Have almost stamped the leasing' {i.e., made the lie current).^
Coriolanus, Act V., sc. ii.
Verse 4. Stand in awe, and sin not ; commune with your
own heart, and in your chamber., and be still. — Thomas a
Kempis, in his ' Imitation of Christ,' says : ' If thou desirest
true contrition of heart, enter into thy secret chamber, and shut
out the tumults of the world, as it is written : "Commune with
your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still." In thy
chamber thou shalt find what abroad thou shalt too often lose.
The more thou visitest thy chamber, the more thou wilt enjoy
it ; the less thou comest thereunto, the more thou wilt loathe
it. If in the beginning of thy conversion thou art content to
* Confessions of St. Augustine, p. 266.
t Thomas Brooks, 1608— 1680.
X Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 37.
40 PSALM-MOSAICS
remain in it, and keep to it well, it will afterwards be to thee a
dear friend, and a most pleasant comfort.'*
Verse 7. Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance
upon us.
* Unveil, O Lord, and on us shine
In glory and in grace ;
This gaudy world grows pale before
The beauty of Thy face.
* Till Thou art seen, it seems to be
A sort of fairy ground,
Where suns unsetting light the sky,
And flowers and fruits abound.
* But when Thy keener, purer beam
Is pour'd upon our sight,
It loses all its power to charm,
And what was day is night.'f
Verse 9. / will lay me down in peace and take my rest ; for
it is Thou, Lo?'d, only that inakest me dwell in safety. — These
words were spoken by Richard Poor {Ricardus dictus Pauper),
thirty-seventh Bishop of Durham (a.d. 1228). He was a
pious and learned man, and had risen to be Bishop, first of
Chichester, and then of Salisbury. While Bishop of Salisbury
he removed the see from Old Sarum, and began a new
cathedral, the same stately church which now exists. The
account left us of his last moments is interesting : ' When his
death drew near, seeing that the hour was come that he should
depart out of the world, he called the people together, and in
a solemn discourse told them that his decease was at hand.
The next day, though his disease had increased, he preached
another sermon to the congregation, bidding all farewell, and
asking pardon if he had offended any. The third day he
gathered his family together with all his chief acquaintance,
and divided among them what he thought was reasonable. . . .
Having bidden all his friends farewell, he said Compline, and
when he came to the words: "-^ I will lay 7ne down i?i peace, atid
take my rest," he slept in the Lord, April 15, 1237.'!
* Of the Imitation of Christ, Book I., chap. xx. : 'Of the Love of
Solitude and Silence.'
+ John Henry Newman.
X Diocesan Histoiy of Durham, p. 157.
PSALM V. 41
In peace. — The Ethiopic version reads : ' Iji peace iji Him
I will lay me down ' :
■ Pillow where, lying,
Love rests its head,
Peace of the dying,
Life of the dead :
Path of the lowly,
Prize at the end,
Breath of the holy.
Saviour and Friend.
PSALM V.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Morning prayer before going to the
house of God.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — a prayer in the
name of the Church when he went early into the house of the
Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — Like Psalm iii., this is a morning prayer,
but the circumstances of the singer are different. He is not
now fleeing from open enemies, but he is in peril from the
machinations of those who are secretly lying in wait for him
(verses 9, 10). He is not now an exile, but can still enter the
house of the Lord and bow himself towards His holy dwelling-
place (verse 7). David, no doubt, is the author.
In Church. — Psalm v. was the first of the three used in the
Eastern Office of the first hour. It was, after the 51st, the first
Psalm of Monday Lauds, f
This Psahn is appointed in the Latin Church for use on
Easter Even, when she is waiting in hope for its fulfilment in
our Lord's resurrection from the dead. The prophetic de-
claration of the Psalmist here, that God will Mess the righteous
in all his sufferings, has received its full accomphshment in
'Jesus Christ, the righteous.'X
* Dr. Monsell.
t Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 225.
X Wordsworth's Coi/inientary, p. 8.
42 PSALM. MOSAICS
Let every member of the English Church notice how the
double feehng expressed in the Jewish daily sacrifice, and
implied in Psalm v., is developed in our own Communion
Office; the sense of personal unworthiness in the prayer
preceding that of consecration, the renewed self-dedication to
God in the first prayer in the post-communion.*
Verse \. . . . Consider my 7iieditation. — Bishop Home trans-
lates the word 'meditation' by 'dove-like mourning,' and it
very beautifully and appropriately recalls to one's recollection
the poetical imagery of the prophet where the captive maidens
of Huzzab are described ' as with the voice of doves, tabering
upon their breasts,' repeating their plaintive note as well as the
mournful movements of their head and neck.f
Verses i-6. — There is a sweet passage of the holy Bernard
as to the efficacy of prayer, which he represents as a messenger
despatched from the beleaguered holy city, and hastening on
her errand to the gates of heaven, borne on the wings of faith
and zeal. Jesus hears her knock, opens the gates of mercy,
attends her suit, and promises comfort and redress. Back
returns prayer laden with the news of consolation ; she bears
with her a promise, and delivers it into the hands of faith, that
were her enemies more innumerable than the locusts of Egypt,
and more strong than the giant sons of Anak, yet power and
mercy should fight for us, and we should be delivered. |
Verse 7. But as for nie, I will come into Thine house, even
upon the multitude of Thy mercy : and in Thy fear will 1
worship toward Thy holy temple. — Repeated by the Jews of
Italy on entering the synagogue.
Verse 8. Lead 7ne, O Lord, in Thy righteoimiess, because of
mine enemies ; make Thy way plain before my face.
* Introduction to the Study of the Psalms, by J. F. Thrupp, vol. v., p. 69.
f Daily Coinments on the Psalms, by Barton Bourphier, vol. i., p. 21.
X Ibid., vol. i., p. 23.
PSALM V. 43
' Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be ;
Lead me by Thine own Hand,
Choose out the path for me.
' Smooth let it be, or rough.
It will be still the best ;
Winding, or straight, it leads
Right onward to Thy rest.
' The kingdom that I seek
Is Thine, so let the way
That leads to it be Thine,
Else I must surely stray.'*
Verse 8. . . . Make Thy tvay plain. — There is an especial
pathos in selecting this verse as the Antiphon for that Office of
the Dead which takes its name Dirge from the Vulgate Dirige.
It is the cry of the parting soul, about to begin its mystic
journey to another world by a road beset with ghostly enemies,
and calling on God for help against them and for light and
guidance by the way.
' Through death's valley, dim and dark,
Jesus guide thee in the gloom.
Show thee where His footprints mark
Tracks of glory through the tomb.
Grant him, Lord, eternal rest.
With the spirits of the blest. 't
Verse 13. . . . With Thy favourable kindttess wilt Thou
defend him as ivith a shield. — Luther, when making his way
into the presence of Cardinal Cajetan, who had summoned
him to answer for his heretical opinions at Augsburg, was
asked by one of the Cardinal's servants where he should find
a shelter if his patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert
him ? ' Under the shield of heaven !' was the reply.
* Horatius Bonar.
j Neale's Commentary^ vol. i., p. 121.
44 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM VI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — A cry for mercy under judgment.
Title (Spurgeon). — The first of the Penitential Psalms.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — doctrine and in-
struction ; also concerning mercy.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is said to be a Psalm of
David, and there is no reason to question this, although at the
same time there is nothing in it to guide us to any peculiar
circumstance of his life.
The Whole Psalm. — This is the first of the seven Penitential
Psalms ; the seven weapons wherewith to oppose the seven
deadly sins ; the seven prayers, inspired by the sevenfold Spirit
to the repenting sinner ; the seven guardians, for seven days of
the week ; the seven companions, for the seven Canonical
Hours of the day."^
Few realize all that is conveyed by the words of the first of
the Penitential Psalms used on Ash Wednesday. It is the
picture of a wan face, thin and prematurely old, of a form like
some flower, pale and withered in the fierce sunshine of the
wrath of God.f
Repeated daily by the Jews mornings and afternoons, except
on the Sabbath and Festivals.
In Church. — This Psalm is the second Psalm in the Greek
Late Evensong. It is also one of the Psalms appointed in the
Roman Office for the Visitation of the Sick. It is also a
Proper Psalm for Ash Wednesday.]; The first two verses are
used as a Prokeimenon (or Prelude) at Unction of the Sick in
the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Verse i. O Lord^ rebuke me not ifi Thine indignation. — This
* Dr. Neale's Conwientary, vol. i., p. 125.
f Witness of the Psalms to Chfistianity, p. 126.
X Interleaved Pj'ayer-Book, p. 227.
PSALM VI , 45
was the favourite Psalm of the Queen of Francis I. of France,
and which she sang at Court (Clement Marot's metrical version)
to a fashionable jig, i.e., a tune, not a dance.
' Ne venilles pas, O Sire,
Me reprendre en ton ire.'*
Verse 2. Miserere mei, Domi?ie. — These words, and Miserere.,
come over and over again in the Life of Bishop Wilberforce ;
here is one such touching entry in his Diary :
'July 14th, 1863.— Survey my Life. What wonderful advan-
tages^—my father's son, his favourite and so companion ! My
good mother, such surroundings. My love for my blessed
one (his wife) compassing me with an atmosphere of holiness —
my ordination — my married life — my ministerial. Checken-
don, its blessings, and its work opening my heart. Bright-
stone, Alverstoke, the Archdeaconry, the Deanery, Bishopric,
friends. My stripping bare in 1841. My children. Herbert's
death-bed. How has God dealt, and what have I really done
for Him ? Miserere Dovmie is all my cry.'t
Verses 2, 3. — LLave mercy upon me, O Lord, for L am weak
. . . how long wilt Thou punish me? — ' Oh dear ! I wish
this Grange business were well over. It occupies me (the
mere preparation for it) to the exclusion of all quiet thought
and placid occupation. To have to care for my dress, this
time of day, more than I ever did when young and pretty and
happy (God bless me, to think I was once all that !), on penalty
of being regarded as a blot on the Grange gold and azure, is
really too bad. Ach Gott I if we had been left in the sphere of
life we belong to, how much better it would have been for us
in many ways ! Ah ! the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak
as water. To-day I walked with effort one little mile, and
thought it a great feat. Sleep has come to look to me the
highest virtue and the greatest happiness ; that is, good sleep,
untroubled, beautiful, like a child's. Ah me! ^^ Have mercy
* Curiosities of Literature (Psalm-singing), vol. ii., p. 477.
t Life of Bishop Wilberforce, vol. iii., p. 408.
4$ PSALM-MOSAICS
upon me, O Lord, for lam weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones
are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed : but Thou, O Lord, how
longr'"^
Miserere mei, Domine. — These words are inscribed in Roman
characters on an old house in Edinburgh. 'We do not re-
member,' says Paxton Hood, 'ever to have seen a more
pathetic inscription than that which tells us a sad story,
although a story altogether unknown, at the head of Rae's
Close, in the Canongate : " Misere mei, Domine ; a peccato,
probo, debito, et morte subita, meUbera, 1618.'" t
Verse 3. Lord, how long wilt Thou punish me 2 — This —
Domine, quoiisque? was Calvin's motto. The most intense
pain under trouble could never extort from him another
Verse 7. My beauty is gone for very trouble.
' Sunk was that eye
Of sov'reignty ; and in th'emaciate cheek
Had penitence and anguish deeply drawn
Their furrows premature, forestalling time,
And shedding upon thirty's brow more sorrows
Than threescore winters, in their natural course,
Would else have sprinkled there.' §
PSALM VII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Appeal to the Judge of the whole
earth against slander, and requiting good with evil.
Title (Spurgeon). — Song of the Slandered Saint.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — the conversion of
the Gentiles to the Faith, and a confession of the Trinity.
Origin (Perowne). — We must look to circumstances like
those recorded in the twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth chapters
* Mrs. CsxlyXo'sfoHrnal, 1855.
f Scottish Characteristics, Paxton Hood, p. 217.
i Kay on The Psalms, p. 19.
§ Southey.
PSALM VII . 47
of the First Book of Samuel, and to the reproaches of a
Benjamite named Cush, a leading and unscrupulous partisan of
Saul's, as having given occasion to the Psalm.
Verse i. O Lord fny God, in Thee have I put my trust. —
John Barneveldt, Advocate and Keeper of the Seals in the
newly founded State of Holland; Pensionary Rambolt,
Horgenboets, and Hugo Von Grost, or, as he called himself,
Hugo Grotius (one of the greatest scholars in the Arminian and
Calvinist controversy), were arrested by command of Maurice
of Nassau, the Stadtholder. The three prisoners fasted and
prayed in their separate chambers, and each, unknown to the
other, sang the sevefith Psalm, ' Preserve me, O Lord, for in
Thee have I put my trust.'
Barneveldt was executed by the sword, and on the scaffold
spoke to the people : ' Men, do not believe that I am a traitor
to my country. I have ever acted uprightly and loyally as a
good patriot, and as such I die ;' and we are told there was not
a sound in answer. He then took a silk cap from his servant,
and drew it over his eyes, saying : ' Christ shall be my guide.
O Lord my Heavenly Father, receive my spirit.'"^
Verse 2. Lest he devour iny soul like a lion, and tear it in
pieces, while there is none to help. — This verse is the xlntiphon
for the Office for the Dead, wherein the Church prays for help
against the assaults of him who ' walketh about, as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour,' thinking vainly that there
is none to help, for
' The lamb is in the fold,
In perfect safety penned ;
The lion once had hold,
And thought to make an end :
But One came by with wounded side,
And for the sheep the Shepherd died.'f
Verse 1^. If a man ivill not turn, He will whet His sword,
He hath bent His bow and??iade it ready. — Milton has furnished
the ' Filial Godhead ' with the same weapon of vengeance :
* Cameos fro7n English History, cci.
t Dr. Neale's Commentary^ vol. i., p. 132.
48 PSALM -MOSAICS
' Go then, thou Mightiest, in thy Father's might ;
Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels.
That shake heaven's basis ; bring forth all my war,
]SIy bow and thunder ; my almighty arms
Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh.'
Paradise Lost, vi.*
Verse 17. His travail shall coine upon his own head^ and his
wickedness shall fall on his oiun pate. — Pate = head, once in
Bible, frequent in Shakespeare.
'Enter, skirmishing, the Retainers of Gloster and Winchester with
bloody ^d.\.Qs.'— King Henry VI., ist Part, Act III., Sc. i.
Cf. also King Henry VI., 2nd Part, Act II., Sc. i. :
' King Henry. O God, what mischief work the wicked ones.
Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby !'
Also cf. the words of Suffolk to the other Lords assembled in
the council chamber, with a view to the overthrow of Cranmer :
* I told ye all
When we first put this dangerous stone a-rolling,
'Twould fall upon ourselves.'
King Henry VIII. ^ Act V., Sc. ii.f
PSALM VIIL
Headifig (Delitzsch). — The praise of the Creator's glory,
sung by the starry heavens to puny man.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Song of the Astronomer.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of David— a prophecy that
sucklings, children and youth should sing with Hosannas to
the Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — This Eighth Psalm describes the im-
pression produced on the heart of David as he gazed upon the
heavens by night. . . . Nearly all critics are unanimous in
regarding this as one of David's Psalms ; there is more differ-
* The Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 17.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, pp. 41, 157.
PSALM VIII.
49
-ence of opinion as to the time when it was composed. . . .
David, it may ahiiost certainly be said, is still young. . . . One
thing seems clear, that even if the Psalm was not written
during David's shepherd life, it must, at least, have been
written while the memory of that time was fresh in his heart,
and before the bitter expression of his later years had bowed
and saddened his spirit. Beyond this we cannot speak with
anything like certainty.
/;^ Church. — A Psalm in the Roman office for Baptism of
Adults ; also a Proper Psalm for Ascension Day. Bishop
Wordsworth says that the Church in using this Psalm on the
festival of the Ascension of her Lord into heaven, teaches us
its meaning.
The Whole Psalm. — Martin Luther, labouring under a strange
■delusion, fancied a dog had taken possession of his bed.
Regarding this apparition as a work of Satan, the terrified
Luther sunk on his knees, and recited the eighth Psalm. His
fears were soon dispelled, for on arising he found himself the
■only occupant of his chamber.
Verse i. How excellent is Thy Name in all the world.
' Jesu's Name all good doth claim,
Sweete.->t sound the tongue can liame,
Meriteth imperial famr.
When heard, it givelh joy :
In it a father's glory beams,
In it a mother's beauty seems,
In it a brother's honour gleams,
It lifteth brethren high '*
Verse 2. Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklitigs hast
Thou ordained strength.— This verse forms the proheimon, or
prefatory verse before the Epistle (Eph. i. 16-20 ; iii. 18-21) in
the little Service provided by the Greek Church for the purpose
of asking the blessing of God on the duties (school) now
resumed. ' Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast
* Miss. Sarisb. The Sequence, _/es:is dulcis Nazai-enus (Dr. Ner le's
•Commentary, vol. i., p. 142).
4
50 PSALM-MOSAICS
Thou ordained praise.' ' My heart shall rejoice in Thy salva-
tion.'*
Edward Irving. — The following is an extract from a letter of
Edward Irving's wTitten to his sister-in-law, Elizabeth, who was-
then at Kirkcaldy, in the paternal home ; the date of the letter
is October 13, 1830 :
' What do you think of this little song :
" Come, My little lambs,
And feed by My side,
And I will give you to eat of My Body,
And to drink of the Blood of My Flesh,
And ye shall be filled with the Ho],y Ghost,
And whosoever believeth not on Me
Shall be cast out ;
But he that believeth on Me
Shall feed with Me
Beside My Father."
* ... I called the child, and said : " Maggie, my dear, who>
taught you that song?" She said : "Nobody; I made it one
day after bath ;" and so I thought upon the words, " Oiit of the
month of babes ajid sncklhigs I have ordained praise'' and I was.
comforted. Read it to your father and mother, and tell my
dear sister Margaret to set it to a tune, and sing it of an evening
at her house when she goes home, and think of the sweet
and of the sad hours she, as well as you, dear Elizabeth, have
passed with us.'f
George Whitfield. — In a postscript to one of his letters, in
which he details his persecution when first preaching at Moor-
fields, Whitfield says : ' I cannot help adding that several little
boys and girls, who were fond of sitting round me on the pulpit
where I preached, and handed to me people's notes — though
they were often pelted with eggs, dirt, etc., thrown at me — never
once gave way, but, on the contrary, every time I was struck
turned up their little weeping eyes and seemed to wish they
could receive the blows for me. God make them in their
* Sketches of the Gmco-Riissian Church, p. 162.
+ Life of Edivard Irving^ p. 301.
PSALM VIII. ■ 51
growing years great and living martyrs for Him who " out of
the mouth of babes a?id sucklings perfects praise:' '*
Felicitas, with her seven sons, was left a widow in the
voluptuous court of Antoninus, when she devoted her whole
life to the Christian education of her children, or to deeds
of charity and mercy to the poor of Rome. It was the
strict life of the mother and her seven boys which drove the
authorities to urge on the attention of the Emperor the import-
ance of ridding Rome of them, as their refusal to sacrifice
induced others to hesitate about the same practice. The
Emperor yielded, and when they stood before the judge many
were there to see them. They were Roman boys, with flashing
eye and dark Italian hair. Januarius, the eldest, stood first by
the mother's side — her first-born. Few Roman boys could
claim so dignified a manner and so calm a front. On the other
side of the lady stood little Martial, the idol of all at home,
with blue eyes and fair hair. On either side were Felix,
Sylvanus, Alexander, Philip and Vitalis. Such was the group
of young martyrs, eagerly gazing at the magistrate and then at
their mother. There was a deep silence. All admired, some
pitied. The executioners were present with their instruments
of torture.
' Woman,' said the magistrate, ' sacrifice. You never will
consign to an ignominious and cruel death such boys as those !'
' Sir,' said FeUcitas, ' we do not count the martyr's death igno-
minious ; and as to the cruelty or pain, do you imagine that
Roman Christians will not bear that for the King of Martyrs
which they will for the Emperor?' ' Woman,' said the angry
mac^istrate, ' you dare not as a mother let these children die
simply because jiw/ refuse to sacrifice !' 'Let me speak,' said
little Martial, looking up into his mother's face, while he
covered her hand with kisses. Januarius had stepped forward,
but the movement of Martial made him pause. The mother
consented. ' Speak, my child,' said she ; ' out of the mouth oj
* Treasury of David, vol. i., p. 90.
52 PSALM-MOSAICS
babes and sucklings He perfecteih praise.' Fearless and calm,
the young boy stepped forward. ' Sir,' said he, as he sunk
with one knee on the step, ' my mother bids me speak. I am
the youngest here, and 1 know that my six brothers all hold to
what 1 say. We are all Christians, servants of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has promised to those who love Him to the death
a glorious home above. We will 7iot sacrifice, and if He will
help us. we will go to any death you may choose. But we will
never give up Jesus.' He remained kneeling ; he yet had a
prayer to offer. ' Sir, may I ask one favour ? Let me die first,
and that may help my brothers.' The magistrate's fury now
took the place of persuasion. Each in turn was taken out and
scourged, and then, bleeding, lacerated and weak, they were led
to separate dungeons. They spent the night in earnest prayer
and songs of praise, and often Kttle Martial's voice rang clear
above all. The morning broke at last, and they were again
brought out before the magistrate, who looked more wrathful
than ever. ' Let the child come first ; he asked for it, and he
shall have it.' 'Go, my beloved child,' said the mother — ' go
and lead the way for us. ^^ first to see the Lord, dc^d. first to
wear His crown.' The child knelt, and as the name of Jesus
crossed his lips, the sword of the executioner struck his head
from his body. Januarius was hurried away and beaten to
death with lashes laden with lead. Felix and Philip were more
quickly despatched with clubs. Sylvanus was hurled over a
precipice. Vitalis and Alexander were, like Martial, beheaded.
Felicitas had seen the last of her boys. She had hoped that
she was to follow, but the refined cruelty of her tormentor
ordered her back to her dungeon, where she remained four
weary months, at the end of which time she was condemned to
die by beheading.*
Verse 2. That thou mighfest still the enemy and the avenger. —
The Italic version has, ' that Thou mightest still the enemy and
the defender: This verse, happening to occur in the Psalms, was
* Rev. E. Monro: Monthly Packet^ vol. ii., p. 420.
PSALM VIII. 53
taken as a direct sign from heaven of approval of the consecra-
tion of St. Martin to the Episcopate, his chief opponent being
a prelate named Defensor.
Verse 4. What is man., that Thou art mindful of him ; and
the soti of man., that Thoit visitest him ?
' Lord, what is man that Thou
So mindful an of him? Or what's the son
Of man, that Thou the highest heaven didst bow,
And to his aide didst runne?
' Man's but a piece of clay
That's animated by Thy heavenly breath,
And when that breath Thou tak'st away,
Hee's clay again by death.
He is not worthy of the least
Of all Thy mercies at the besi.
* Baser than clay is he.
For sin hath made him like the beasts that perish,
Though next the angels he was in degree ;
Yet this beast Thou dost cherish.
He is not worthy of the least
Of all Thy nit-rcies ; hee's a beast.
' Worse than a beast is man.
Who, after Thine own image made at first,
Became the divel's sonne by sin. And can
A thing lie more accurst?
Yet Thou Thy greatest mercy hast
On this accursed creature cast.
' Thou didst Thyself abase.
And put off all Tiiy robes of majesty.
Taking his nature to give him Thy grace.
To save his life didst dye.
He is not worthy of the least
Of all Thy mercies ; one's a feast.
' Lo ! man is made now even
With the blest angels, yea, superiour farre.
Since Christ sat down at God's right hand in heaven.
And God and man are one.
Thus all Thy mercies man inherits,
Though not the least of them he merits.'*
Verse ^. To crown him with glory and worship. — From the
earhest Christian epochs we find the crown looked upon as an
emblem of everlasting glory, remembering the verses in the
Psalms : ' Thou hast croivned him with glory and honour ;
* Thomas Washbourne, D.D., 1654.
54 PSALM.MOSAICS
* Thou hast set a crown of pure gold on his head ;' as well as
the words of St. Paul, ' Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness.'
De Rossi has discovered, after much hard work, a painting
of St. Cecilia on the walls of one of the cemeteries, which leads
him to suppose that the burial-place of this, one of the four
great virgins of the Latin Church could not be far distant.
St. Cecilia has a glory round her head, with a crown in the front
of her robe, calling to mind the reward foreshadowed in Solo-
mon's time to the godly : ' But the righteous live for evermore ;
their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is
with the Most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious
kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand : for
with His right hand shall He crown them, and with His arms
shall He protect them' (Wisdom v. 15, 16). St. Eucharius,
writing in the fourth century, speaks of the crown, as then
looked upon, as an emblem of everlasting glory, 'Corona
aeternse gloriae.' Indeed, in the days of the Early Church,
crown and martyr were synonymous ; and in the Acts of
Polycarp we read ' that he was crowned with an incorruptible
crown. '"^
PSALM IX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Hymn to the Righteous Judge after
a defeat of hostile peoples.
Title (Spurgeon). — A Psalm concerning the death of the
Son.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David. The Session of the
Messiah, and His reception of the kingdom, and frustration of
the enemy.
Origin (Perowne). — Throughout, with the exception of
verse 13, the Psalm is one continued strain of triumph.
* Monthly Packet, vol. xxii., p. 216.
PSALM IX. 55
Hence, by many it has been regarded as a song of victory,
■composed perhaps by David at the conclusion of the Syro-
Ammonite war, or after one of his victories over the PhiUstines.
T/ie Whole Psalm.— T\{\'i is the first of the Alphabetical
Psalms, which are Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, iii, 112, 119, 145.
. . . This mode of writing acrostically has been adopted
by the Christian Church. We may refer for specimens
of it to the anti-Donatistic ' Hymnus Abecedarius ' of St.
Augustine (torn, ix.), and to the poems of Gregory Nazianzen,
and to the hymns, ' A Solis Ortils Cardine ' of Sedulius. . . .
Here each of the lines of verses i and 2 begin with aleph^ those
of verses 3 and 4 with beth {daleth is omitted), and so till, with
some variations as to the length of the stanzas, we come to
verse 17, which begins with jW; and verse 12 of Psalm 10
begins with cap/i, verse 14 with resh, verse 15 with shin, verse
17 with than. Thus this ninth is coupled with the following,
and they form a pair. Indeed, in the Vulg., and some other
versions, they make one Psalm. "^
Verse 11. O praise the Lord which dwelleth in Sion : show
the people of His doi?igs. — These words suggested to Pere de
Beralle the idea of founding in France the Congregation of
the Oratory. De Berulle was afterwards made a cardinal
greatly against his will, and not before he successively refused
the Bishoprics of Laon, Nantes and Lugon, and the Arch-
bishopric of Lyons. It is always hard for great people to
understand a man's indifference to position and wealth, and
Henry IV. was not a little perplexed at de Berulle's steady
refusal of all his offers. ' You will not receive what I offer ?'
the King said petulantly one day, ' then I shall get some one
else to order you to do so !' meaning, of course, the Pope.
'Sire,' de Berulle answered, 'if your Majesty presses me thus,
1 shall be constrained to quit the kingdom.'
The king turned to Bellegarde, saying : ' I have done every-
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary^ p. 12.
so PSALM. MOSAICS
thing in my power to tempt him, and have failed ; I don't
believe there is another man in the world who would resist so
firmly ! As to that man,' he used henceforth to say, ' he is a.
very saint, he has never lost his baptismal innocence.'
De Berulle's influence among the Huguenots was great, and
he made many conversions ; so that Cardinal du Perron made
one of his telling remarks, so often quoted, ' If you want to
coiivi7ice a heretic, bring him to me ; if you want to converf
him, take him to M. de Geneve (Francis de Sales); but if you
want both to convince and convert him at once, take him to-
M. de Berulle!'
Two years after his ordination, de Berulle was saying his.
office, when one of those peculiar and unaccountable im-
pressions, which most of us have experienced some time or
other, was made upon him as he repeated the words 'Annun-
tiate inter gentes studia ejus,' ' O praise the Lord which dwelleth
in Sion ; shotv the people of His doi?tgs^ (Ps. ix. ii). A strong
desire was kindled in his mind to see a company of priests
arise, whose mission should be to preach and teach the Love
of God among all people.*
Verse 12. For when He inaketh inquisition for blood, He
i'eme?nbereth the?n, and forgetteth not the complaint of the
poor. — ' I fear more for the rich than for the most degraded
poor, more for Belgravia than for St. Giles' ; for the more
light there is, the more responsibility.' Words of mournful
foreboding from one to whom East London had been a subject
of deep anxiety for half a century, Dr. Pusey.
Knowing the horrors of those dark places and cruel habita-
tions of our land, he yet feared more for those who dwell at ease,
surrounded by outward refinement, beauty and culture. *■ For
wheii He ?naketh inquisition for blood, He remembereth theniy
and forgetteth not the co7?iplaint of the poor. ^
It was of this Mission that Bishop Wilberforce said : ' I long:
to go and cast myself into that Mission. There is a field in
* Priestly Life in France, p. 44.
PSALM IX. 57
East London for as noble and knightly adventure, as ever was
achieved by England's chivalry.'"^
Ve?'se 14. Thai I may shew all thy praises tvithin the ports
of the daughter of Sion. — In the Bible ' gates.' The word does
not occur, I believe, at all in the Bible, either in this sense
(though 'porter' does several times), or in its more modern
use for harbour ; Latin, portus. Shakspeare uses it in both
senses, even in the same play :
' Hark, the Duke's trumpets 1 I know not why he comes : —
K\\ ports I'll bar.'
Kiiio Lear, Act IT., Sc. i.
' 1^0 port is free, no place
Doesn't attend my taking.
Ibid., Sc. iii.
'Then is all safe ! the anchor's in the />£>;'/.'
TitiLs Andron., Act IV., Sc. iv.+
Verse 15. The heatheti are sunk down in the pit that they
?nade : in the same net which they hid privily., is their foot
taken. — Perhaps the most striking instance on record (of the
wicked snared in his own trap), next to Haman on his own
gallows, is one connected with the horrors of the French
Revolution, in which we are told that, within nine months of
the death of the Queen Marie Antoinette by the guillotine,
every one implicated in her untimely end, her accusers, the
judges, the jury, the prosecutors, the witnesses, all, every one
at least whose fate is known, perished by the same instrument
as their innocent victim. ' In the net which they laid for her
was their own foot taken ; into the pit which they digged for
her did they themselves fall.'l
Verse 16. The Lord is known to execute judgme?it : the un-
godly is trapped in the woi'k of His own hands. — So the Egyptians
that had cast the Israelite children into the river, found the
waters of that river changed into blood ; so Haman, that had
* Charles Loivder, by the Author of The Life of S. Teresa, Preface, p. xiii.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p 39.
% Daily Comments on the Psalms, by Barton Bouchier, vol. i., p. 50.
58 PSALM-MOSAICS
raised the gallows fifty cubits high, was hanged on those very
gallows ; so Holofernes, that sought the ruin of Judith, by the
hand of Judith was cut off in the midst of his sin ; so the
Egyptian, the goodly man that thought to have slain Benaiah
with his spear, was by that very spear himself destroyed ; so
they that had laid the false accusation against Daniel, were
themselves cast into the den of lions, ' and the lions had the
mastery over them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever
they came at the bottom of the den ;' so in later times, Galerius
and Maximian, inventors of unheard-of and fearful tortures,
perished by diseases unknown to physicians, and horrible
beyond the power of words to describe ; so ^^geas, that
sentenced St. Andrew to the Cross ; so Quintian, that inflicted
on St. Agatha such extremity of torture, were themselves,
almost in the very act of unrighteous judgment, summoned to
appear before the righteous bar of God."^
PSALM X.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Plaintive and supplicatory prayer
under the pressure of heathenish foes at home and abroad.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Cry of the Oppressed.
Co7iie?its (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Concerning the
exaltation of Satan over Adam and his race ; and how the
Messiah defeated his boasting.
Origin (Perowne). — It is impossible to say to what period
of Jewish history the Psalm is to be referred. The state of
Society which it supposes is peculiar. The violent oppressions
belonged apparently to heathen nations, who had not yet been
finally driven out of the land, but whose speedy destruction
the poet contemplates (verse i6).
Ve7'se 9. For he lieth 7vaith?g secretly, even as a lion lurketh
he in his den, that he may ravish the poor. — Francis Quarles
* Dr. Neale on Psalms, vol. i. , p. 159.
PSALM X. 59
{1592-1644) quaintly illustrates the dangers pictured in this
and preceding verses.
' The close pursuers' busy hands do plant
Snares in thy substance ; snares attend thy want ;
Snares in thy credit ; snares in thy disgrace ;
Snares in thy high estate ; snares in thy base ;
Snares tuck thy bed, and snares surround thy board ;
Snares watch thy thoughts, and snares attack thy word
* Snares in thy quiet ; snares in ihy commotion ;
Snares in thy diet ; snares in thy devotion ;
Snares lurk in thy resolves ; snares in thy doubt ;
Snares lie within thy heart, and snares without ;
Snares are above thy head, and snares beneath ;
Snares in thy sickness ; snares are in thy death.'
Verse 19. Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the poor : Thou
preparest their heart, and Thine ear hearkeneth thereto. — St.
Vincent de Paul was never weary of asking all good Christians —
men and women, religious and secular — to pray for the Clergy,
especially all those about to be ordained in the Ember weeks.
A humble man, going about his usual work, yet from time to
time lifting up his heart in prayer, may do much to forward
the Church's life, he said.
Speaking of this one day in a Conference, St. Vincent began
to quote the Psalm, ' Desideriuni pauperiim exaudivit Tominus:''
and not being able to continue the quotation, he turned in his
simple way to his listeners, saying : ' Who will help me ?'
Whereupon someone immediately finished the verse, ^prepara-
tionem cordis eorum audivit auris tua.' ' God bless you, sir !'
Vincent replied fit was his usual way of expressing thanks) ;
and he went on with his subject."^
PSALM XL
Headijig (Delitzsch). — Refusal to flee when in a perilous
situation.
Title (Spurgeon).— The Song of the Steadfast.
* Priestly Life in France, p. 239.
6o PSALM-MOSAICS
Contefiis (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — When the people
grieved, because he and his sons were driven into captivity ;
and signifying now to us Victory over the adversary.
Origin (Perowne). — The Psalm is so short, and so general
in its character, that it is not easy to say to what circumstances
in David's life it should be referred. The choice seems, how-
ever, to lie between his persecution by Saul, and the rebellion
of his son Absalom.
Verse 4. The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's seat is
in Heaven. — Milton, in his sublime description of the return
of the Son from the conquest of the rebel angels, uses the
same phrase :
'. . . . He, celebrated, rode
Triumphant through mid heaven, into the courts
And temple of His Mighty Father, thron'd
On high : who into glory Him receiv'd,
Where now He siis at the right hand of bliss.
Pa7-adise Lost, vi.*
Verse 7. — Upon the tin godly He shall rai?i s?iares, Jire and
brimstone, storm and tempest ; this shall be their portion to drink.
— This prophecy received its accomplishment in the reception
of Christ into glory ; and through Him it will be fulfilled in all
the faithful. Accordingly, this Psalm is appointed in the
Latin Church for use on the Festival of the Ascension, f
Dio7iysiiis of Carthage, in his Rhythm, Homo Dei creatura^
illustrates the thought of this verse :
' The fiery storm ; the frozen blast ;
The darkness thickly spread ;
The shrieks of anguish rolling past ;
The stench, as of the dead ;
The pressure close ; the siirting breath ;
The sense of everlasting death ;
The hellish crew ; the spectres dim ;
The fear, the thirst unquenchable ;
All these with bitter torments fill
Their chalice to the brim.':J:
* The Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 31.
t Bishop Wordsworth's Coz/unentajy, p. 15.
X Dr. Neale's Commentary, p. 174.
PSALM XII.
PSAI.M XIL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Lament and consolation in the midst
of prevailing falsehood.
Title (Spurgeon). — Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — The contention of
the wicked, and a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.
Origin (Perowne). — This, according to title, is one of David's
Psalms ; but there is nothing in the circumstances, so far as
"we know them, of his history, which can lead us to associate
the Psalm with any particular period. But it is not one or two
prominent individuals, whose conduct forms the burden of the
Psalmist's complaint. He is evidently smarting from the false-
ness and hypocrisy of the time. The defection which he
•deplores is a general defection.
Whole Psahn. — This Psalm was used by the Jews at a
•circumcision, when infants were brought into covenant with
the Lord, whose protection is here assured to His faithful
.servants, in a faithless age."^
Luther composed his hymn, ' Lord, look down from heaven '
•('Ach Gott vom Himmel sich darein ') after this Psalm.
Verse i. For the faithful are minished. — Luther glosses,
Amens-Leute, Amen-folk, i.e., those whose heart towards God
and their neighbours is true and earnest, like the Amen of a
prayer, t
Verse 2. They talk of vanity every one with his neighbour. —
It is a sad thing when it is the fashion to talk vanity. ' Ca' me,
and I'll ca' thee,' is the old Scotch proverb ; give me a high-
sounding character, and I will give you one. Compliments
and fawning congratulations are hateful to honest men ; they
* Bishop Wordsworth's Covunentary, p. 16.
t The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 172.
62 PSALM-MOSAICS
know that if they take, they must give them, and they scorn ta
do either.*
Verses 3 to 8. The Lord shall root out all deceitful lips ;
and the tongue that speaketh proud things. — It is the remark of
some old Puritan writer (Thomas Adams, 1630), that the Lord
has given us all our other members two-fold — two eyes, two
ears, two hands, two feet ; but only one tongue, as we were
not fitted to be intrusted with more ; and when one thinks of
all the unnumbered words of sin, which must enter into the
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth from every tongue, in every clime,
one may talk of the long suffering of God, but it can never
have entered into the heart of any to conceive of that for-
bearance which is provoked every day.t
PSALM XIIL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Suppliant cry of one who is utterly
undone.
Title (^spurgeon). — We have been wont to call this the ' How
Long Psalm.'
Cjntents (Syriac). — The power of the adversary, and the
expectation of the Lord, and of the help that cometh from
Him.
Origin (Perowne). — In this Psalm we see a servant of Goi>
long and sorely tried by the persecutions of unrelenting
enemies, and, as it seems to himself, forgotten and forsaken of
God, pouring out the agony of his soul in prayer ... at last
Faith asserts her perfect victory (verse 5).
In Church. — This Psalm is the third Psalm at the Greek late
Evensong.
Verse 3. Lighten mitie eyes, that I sleep ?iot in death.^-
* The Treasxiry of David, vol. i., p. 159.
t Daily Comments on the Psalms, by Barton Bouchierj vol. i., p. 68.
PSALM XIII. 65
Bishop Burgess was Bishop of Maine ; he died on the 23rd of
April, 1866, on his return voyage from Hayti — where he had
been ordaining — and within the waters of the island, off the
coast of Miragoane. At sunrise on the 22nd he embarked ;
and on the morning of the 23rd, while resting on deck, with no
warning which he could recognise, and with but a few minutes'
warning to the single watcher (his wife) by his side, he was
called to his heavenly home. It was less like death, than like
a translation. ' He walked with God, and he was not ; for
God took him.' On the last morning of his life, he read as
usual the two chapters. They were Psalm xiii., containing
the words, ' Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of deaths'
and the twenty-second chapter of St. Luke, in which is our
Saviour's promise to the penitent thief : ' This day shalt thou be
with Me in Paradise.'
The last selection from the Psalter Vv'hich he read on the
preceding day, for the 22nd of the month, was no less striking,
if we consider the words only, and forget that they were intended
as a denunciation : ' Let his children be fatherless, and his
wife a widow, and his bishopric let another take.'*
When the little Princess Anne Stuart, daughter of Kincr
Charles I., lay dying at four years of age, she said she could not
say her ' long prayer ' (Our Father), but added, ' I can say my
short prayer, " Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep ?iot in death"
Having said which she fell asleep, and entered into eternal
life.
Verses 3 and 4. Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death.
Lest mine enemy say, L have prevailed against him ; for if I he
cast doiv?i, they that trouble me will rejoice at it. — Archdeacon
Freeman traces several resemblances to the Eastern Office of
Compline in our Evening Service. He notices especially the
repetition of the Creed (Nicene) and the Lord's Prayer, followed
by a prayer-like hymn for illumination and protection. This
hymn was founded on the Psalms used in the office. It is as
* Memoir of Bishop Burgess of Alaine.
64 PSALM-MOSAICS
follows, ^ Lighte7i mine eyes, O Christ viy God, that I sleep not
in death ; lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed agaifist him '
{Psalm xiii. 3, 4). 'Be Thou the helper of my soul, O
God, for I walk through the midst of snares ; deliver me from
them, and save me, Thou that art good, as being the lover of
men' (Ps. xxxi. i, 3, 5 ; (/^ Ps. xci. 2, 3). In this hymn Mr,
f'reeman finds the original of our third Collect.*
The Prayer-like hymn mentioned by Archdeacon Freeman
is no doubt the Evening Hymn of St. Anatolius, who was
raised to the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople in 449 a.d.
This hymn is number 21 in Hymns Ancient and Modern, but
some of the most beautiful verses are omitted, including the
one on these verses of this Psalm.
' Lighten mine eyes, O Saviour,
Or sleep in death shall I ;
And he, my wakeful tempter,
Triumphantly shall cry :
" He could not make their darkness light,
Nor guard them through the hour of night !" '
Dr. Neale, however, in his Hymns of the Eastern Church,
says that he believes that this hymn is not used in the public
service of the Greek Church. 'It is to the scattered hamlets
of Chios and Mitylene what Bishop Ken's Evening Hymn is
to the villages of our own land ; and its melody is singularly
plaintive and soothing.'
Verse 3. Cofisider and hear 7ne, O Lord my God ; Ugh' en
niine eyes, that I sleep 7iot in death. — The chronicles of Gidding
€nd with the outbreak of the Civil War. We have only scattered
notices, a brief note on the margin of a manuscript, an occa-
sional sentence in a letter, to show how the Ferrars and Colletts
lived through these years of distress and disaster. During the
brief breathing space, — in 1647, during the negotiations between
Charles and the Parliament, Mr. John Ferrar brought his family
back to Gidding.
* Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 71.
PSALM XIII. 65
On July 27 Dr. Busby communicates the news to their mutual
friend, Dr. Basire (an exile at Rouen for conscience' sake). ' A
dead numnes hath these many years fall'n on my spirits, as upon
the nation ; join with me in versicle, " O Lord my God, lighten
my eyes, that I sleep not in deathJ^ All things at this time are
in so dubious a calme, that the fear is greatest when the danger
is less ... Mr. Thuscrosse is again settled in Yorkshire, Mr.
Ferrar with his family at Gidding long since, Mr. Mapletoft hath
a good living. All remember you, the Joseph in affliction.'*
Verse 5. My heart is joyful in Thy salvation. -My heart
shall rejoice in Thy salvation. These words are painted over
the Chapel erected by the people at St. Petersburg to com-
memorate the failure of the attempt to assassinate the Emperor
Alexander II. (in 1866). In the short space of one year a
beautiful little edifice was completed, in which serdobolsk
granite, Carrara marble, and lapis lazuli, all highly polished,
are mingled with exquisite taste. ... On each of the four
sides on the shields are colossal heads, painted by Professor
Sarokine, representing, on a golden ground, the Saviour, the
Holy Virgin, St. Joseph the Psalm-Writer, and SS. George and
Zosius, the memory of whom is celebrated by the Church on
the 4th of April, as well as that of St. Joseph. Above each
arch are appropriate texts in brilliantly gilt and glistering
letters; that facing the Neva, and consequently just over the
place where Providence preserved the life of the Emperor, is
' Touch not mine anointed,' Psalm cv. 15. On the two other
sides, 'The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee,^
Luke i. 35; 'My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.
Psalm xiii. 5. The cost of this chapel was 67,000 silver
roubles.!
PSALM XIV.
Heading (Delitzsch).-The prevailing corruption and the
redemption desired.
* Nicholas Ferrar, edited by Canon Carter, p. 313-
+ Sketches of the Grceco- Russian Church, by H. C. Romanoff, p. 295.
66 PSALM -MOSAICS
Title (Spurgeon). — Concerning Practical Atheism.
Co7iients (Syriac). — The expectation of the ^Messiah.
Origin (Perowne). — There is nothing in the Psalm which
can lead us to fix its date or authorship precisely. The
feeling is common enough at all times in men of earnest
mind . . . verse 7 looks certainly very much like a later
liturgical addition. ... It is better to adopt this explanation
than to throw the whole Psalm as late as the Exile.
The Whole Psalm. — It will be seen on comparing the
Prayer Book version of this Psalm with that of the Bible,
that the former contains three verses (5-7) which the latter
does not. These verses have no place in the Hebrew, and
were no doubt introduced into the Latin version from St.
Paul's quotation (Rom. iii. 13-18), which is a general cento
from various parts of Scripture.^
Queen Elizabeth's Version. — It is an interesting fact that
not only is Henry VIII. believed to have composed certain
anthems still extant, but Queen Elizabeth occasionally em-
ployed herself in the same manner ; ' two little Anthems, or
things in metre,' having been licensed by her printer in 1578 ;
and in 1548, her Metrical Version of the 13th Psalm was
published in a work by Bale. It appears, however, that Mr.
Malone had a copy of the 14th Psalm in verse by Elizabeth.
This literary rarity occurs at the end of a book, evidendy
printed abroad, and of which but a single copy is known,
entitled, ' A godly medytacyon of the Christen sowle,' etc.,
compyled in frenche, by Ladye Margarete, Quene of Naverre.
The following is printed in Parker's edition of the Royal and
Noble Authors of Great Britain.
' Fooles that true fayth yet never had
Sayih in their hartes, there is no God !
Fylthy they are in their praciy'se,
Of them not one is godly wyse.
* Housman on The Psal??is, p. 23.
PSALM XIV. 67
From heaven th' Lorde on man did loke,
To know v/hat ways he undertoke :
All they were vagne, and went astraye,
Not one he founde in the ryght waye ;
In harte and tunge have they deceyte,
The lyppes throwe fourth a poysened byte ;
Their myndes are mad, their mouthes are wode,
And swift they be in shedynge blode :
So blynde they are, no truth they knowe,
No fear of God in them wyll growe.
How can that cruell sort be good ?
Of God's dere folcke whych sucke the blood !
On hym ryghtly shall they not call :
Dys payre wyll so their hartes appall.
At all tymes,' God is with the just,
Bycause they put in hym their trust,
Who shall therefor from Syon geue
That hehhe whych h:mgeth on oifr bleve ?
When God shall take from hys the smart
Than wyll Jacob rejoice in hart,
Prayse to GoD.'*
Verse i. The fool hath said in his heart : There is no God. —
Plato, Archbishop and afterwards Metropolitan of Moscow,
was the man of whom the Austrian Emperor Joseph II., on
his return from Petersburg to Vienna, said, in answer to the
question, ' What is the thing the best worth seeing in Russia ^'
'The Metropolitan Plato.' He is best known to Englishmen
through his interviews with Dr. Clarke, and with Reginald
Heber. On one occasion the Empress Catherine sent Diderot
to converse with him, and he began his argument with ' Non
est Deus.' Plato was ready with the instant retort : ' Dixit
stultus in corde suo, "Non est I)eus.'"t
Samuel Taylor Coleridge illustrates this verse :
' The owlet, Atheism,
Sailing on obscene win^s across the noon.
Drops his blue-fringed lids, and shuts them close.
And, hootmg at the glorious sun in heaven,
Cries out, " Where is it ?" '
Verse 3. The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the
children of 7nen. — Milton has copied the figure in the following
passage :
* Psaltnists of Britain, Holland, p. 145.
+ Stanley's Eastei'n Chirch, p. 410.
68 PSALM-MOSAICS
'Now had the Almighty Father from above,
From the pure empyrean, where He sits
High throned above all height, bent down His eye,
His own works, and their works at once to view. '
Paradise Lost, iii.*
Verse 4. There is nofie that doeth good, no^ not one. — The
rest of the quotations which follow the above in the Epistle to
the Romans are brought together by the Apostle from different
parts of the Old Testament. But in some MSS. of the LXX.,
in the Vulgate, and both Arabic, Syro-Arabic, and Copto-
Arabic, and strangest of all in the Syro-Hexapla, they are
found in the Psalm, having evidently been transferred hither
from the Epistle. So also in our Prayer-Book version, which
it should be remembered is in fact Coverdale's (1535), and
was made, not from the original, but from the Latin and
German. t
Verses 4 to 8. They are all gone out of the ivay, they are
al together become abominable ; there is no fear of God before
their eyes.
' All is oblique ;
There's nothing level in our cursed natures,
But direct villainy.'
Tiino7i of Athens^ Act H., Sc. i.+
A Statement painfully strong, and yet not stronger, nor sa
strong, coming from a heathen, as that of St. Paul, in the
third chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, or of the Psalmist
whom he there quotes.
Verses 5, 6, 7. The places from which St. Jerome and the
Yen. Bede say St Paul borrowed these verses are the
following :
Rom. iii. 13. 'Their mouth is an open sepulchre; with
their tongues they have used deceit.' Borrowed from Ps. v. 10.
' The poison of asps is under their lips.' From Ps. cxl. 3.
* The Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 37.
t 77ie Book of Psali/is, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 180.
X Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 139.
PSALM XV. 69
Verse 14. 'Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.'
From Ps. x. 7.
Verse 15. 'Their feet are swift to shed blood.' From
Prov. i. 16 or Isa. lix. 7.
Verses 16, 17, 18. 'Destruction and misery are in their
ways, the way of peace they have not known, and there is no
fear of God before their eyes.' From Isa. lix. 7, 8.*
Verse 11. When the Lord turneth the captivity of His people ;
then shall Jacob rejoice, a?id Israel shall be glad. — Giles Fletcher
was Vicar of Alderton in Suffolk (he died in 1623), and the
author of a fine poem, 'Christ's Victory and Triumph in
Heaven and Earth, over and after Death,' and in it he has
the following beautiful description of the result of the conclusion
of the captivity of sin and death : .
' No sorrow now hangs clouding on their brow ;
No bloodless maladv impales their face ;
No age drops on their hairs his silver snow ;
No nakedness their bodies doth embase ;
No poverty themselves and theirs disgrace ;
No fear of death the joy of life devours ;
No unchaste sleep their precious tim^; deflowers ;
No loss, no grief, no change, wait on their winged hours.'
PSALM XV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — The conditions of access to God.
Title (Spurgeon). — We will call the Psalm, the Question
and Answer (the first verse asks the question ; the rest of the
verses answer it).
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Perfect repentance
towards God.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is commonly supposed to
have been written on the occasion of the removal of the Ark
to Zion, and the consecration of the Tabernacle there, 2 Sam.
* Adam Clarke's Commentary^ vol. iii., p. 1966.
70 PSALM-MOSAICS
vi. T 2 to 14 (cf. I Chron. xv. 16). The subject of this Psahn^
and the occurrence of a similar question and answer in Psahii'
xxiv., which was certainly composed for that occasion, might
indeed dispose us to adopt this view.
/>
^H Church. — Proper Psalm for Ascension Day.
The Whole Psalm. — In the Court of the Archdeacon of
Middlesex there is a curious instance of usury, both from the
fact of the criminal being a ' clerk and rector,' and on account
of the extraordinary nature of his defence. It may be quoted
at length as an example of the style of entries. The date is.
1578:
' Mark Simpson, clerk and rector of Pitsey. Dominus
ohiecit guod detectiwi est officio that he is a usurer. Dictus
Simpson /^j-i-z/i- est that he lent owte a little money, and had \\s.
of the pound, after the rate of tenne in the hundred ; but he
did not urge the same, but onely the parties themselves whome
he lent his money to did of theire owne good will give him
after the said rate, but not by compulcion he did urge the
same.'
This excuse, however, was not accepted. He was ordered
to acknowledge his fault publicly in Church, and at the same
time to read the i^th Fsaljn^ for the sake of the condemnation
of usury which it contains.^
Verse 3. He that hath used no deceit in his tongue^ nor done
evil to his neighbour. — St. Augustine, as Posidonius tells us,
had written over the table at which he entertained his friends
these two verses :
' Quisquis amat clictis absentum rodere vitam,
Hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi.'
* He that is wont to slander absent men,
May never at this table sit again. 'f
Verse 4. He that sweareih unto his neighbour^ and dis-
* Gjiardian, ]\xne. 16, 18S6.
f Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. i., p. 199.
PSALM XVI. 71
appointeth him not: though it were to his own hindrance,—
Shakespeare says :
' His words are bonds, his oaths a- e oracle^ :
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate ;
His tears pure messengers, sent from his heart ; ^
His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth.
PSALM XVI.
Heading (Delitzsch).— Refuge in God, the Highest Good, in
the presence of distress and of Death.
Title (Spurgeon).— The Psahii of the Precious Secret.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of David-The election of the
Church and the resurrection of the Messiah.
Origin (Perowne).— It is possible, however (Mr. Perowne
says after giving two special occasions on which this Psalm
might have been written), that the contrast here brought out so
strongly between the happiness to be found in the love of
God, and the infatuation and misery of those who had taken
some other to be the object of their worship, may have been
suggested by the very position in which an Israelite dwelling
in)he land would be placed with reference to surrounding
nations.
In Church.— This Psalm is one of those appointed in the
Roman office for the Visitation of the Sick.
On account of verses 10 and 11, '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:
neither shalt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.'
This Psalm and the foregoing, to which it is a sequel, are
appointed in the Roman Church for mt on Sabbatum Sanctum,
or Easter Even, when she meditates on the Rest of Christ,
Who is the true Sabbath, in the Grave, and of the Rest which
is in store for all who fall asleep in Him : ' Blessed are the
72 PSALM.MOSAICS
dead which die in the Lord ; for they rest from their labours '
(Rev. xiv. 13).*
The Whole Psalui. — It seems at first sight strange that this
is not one of the proper Psahiis for Easter Day. The reason,
however, is this : In the first Enghsh Prayer-Book it was re-
served as the most appropriate Psalm of all, to be used as the
Introit before the Communion Service, while the other proper
Psalms were arranged as at present. At the next revision of
the Prayer-Book, in 1552, all mention of the Introit was
omitted, but no change was made in the proper Psalms.
Hence the use of Psalm xvi. most unfortunately dropped out
altogether. In the same way we have lost the use of Psalms
viii., xcviii., on Christmas Day, and of xxxiii. on Whitsun Day.t
Clement Mar of s Versioji of this Psalm. — There was a
great meeting-house, called the Patriarchate, close to the
Church of St. Medard. Here, on St. John's Day, 1561,
1,200 people were assembled to hear a sermon, when they
were interrupted by the Church bells ringing for vespers,
and some persons among the congregation went out and re-
quested that they might be stopped. This was, of course, re-
sented as a great act of insolence, and the man was beaten,
pelted, and killed. The alarm was given, and the guard of sixty
archers, who had a sort of authority to protect the Huguenots,
rushed upon the Church, followed by the men of the congre-
gation who sat on benches outside those for the women.
These Beza (Theodore de Beze, Professor of Theology, rector
of the College and pastor at Geneva) kept quiet by setting them
to sing Clement Marofs version of the 16th Psalm ; but in the
meantime there was a great uproar in the Church, where the
priests were driven to take refuge in the tower, while the rabble
joined the Huguenots, beat and wounded the Catholics, and
plundered and outraged all that was sacred in the Church. The
archers ended by dragging off fifty-six Catholics to prison,
* Bishop Wordsworth's Coi/i;ne7ita}y, p. 20.
t MoJithly Packet, July, 1S83.
PSALM XVI. 73
among whom were ten priests, after which the men came back
to Church, and the sermon was quietly finished."^
Verse 6. The Lord Himself is tJie portion of mine inJieritimce^
and of my cup ; TJiou shalt maintaiti my lot. — There are
curious inscriptions in many houses in Edinburgh. A building
in-the High Street, of the period of James VL, has an inscrip-
tion with a hand pointing, as if giving emphasis to it : ' TJie
Lord is the portion of mine inheritance^ and my cup ; Thou main-
tainest my lot' (Psalm xvi., verse 5) — this printed in Roman
letters. Sometimes these inscriptions are placed on ceilings,
sometimes over fireplaces, and an interesting volume might be
written on them.t
M. de Boisy^ the father of S. Francis de Sales, who was full
of plans and great designs for his son, took him to visit
Signeur de Vegy, whose only daughter and heiress he wished
to become Francis' wife. Courteous and graceful de Villeroget
was as ever, but when his father complained that he was cold
and restrained with the lady, he could not refrain from de-
claring that Uhe Lord LLimself is the portion of mine inheritance^'
and that he could not involve himself in secular ties.:|:
Verse 7. ' Lcetus sorte mea ' is the motto of that most beauti-
ful and touching 'Story of a Short Life," by Mrs. Ewing.
Verse 9. / have set God always before me. — This verse is
wonderfully illustrated in the life of one Nicholas Herman, of
Lorraine, a mean and unlearned man, who, after having been
a soldier and a footman, was admitted a Lay Brother among
the barefooted Carmelites at Paris, in 1666. He is known to
all those who love the interior life as Brother Laurence, and
we learn of him in a little book called 'The Practice of the
Presence of God, the Best Rule of a Holy Life.' At all times
he lived in the habitual sense of God's Presence, so that
whether at menial work or at his turn in prayer, he con-
* Cameos from English History.
t Scottish Characteristics, by Paxton Hood, p. 220.
+ S. Fi'ancis de Sales, p. 31.
74 PSALM-MOSAICS
sciously enjoj'ed that Presence. ' It is not necessary for
being with God to be always in Church ; we may make an
oratory of our heart, wherein to retire from time to time, to
converse with Him in meekness, humihty and love.' And in
another place : ' We cannot escape the dangers which abound
in life, without the actual and cojitinual help of God ; let
us then pray to Him for it cofitiniially. How can we pray to
Him without being with Him ? How can we be with Him but
in thinking of Him often ? And how can we often think of
Him, but by a holy habit which we should form of it ? You
will tell me that I am always saying the same thing ; it is true,
for this is the best and easiest method I know; and as I use
no other, I advise all the world to it. We must knoiv before
we can love. In order to knoiv God, we must often thiJik of
Him ; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think
of Him often, for our hea?'t will be with our treasitre. This is
an argument which well deserves your consideration.'
Verses 9-12, I have set God always before me : for He is on
my right hand, therefore I shall not fall.
Wherefore my heart zvas glad, and my glory rejoiced ; my flesh
also shall rest in hope.
For 7i'hy ? Thou shall not leave my soul in hell, neither shall
Thou sufer Thy Holy One to see corruption.
Thou shall show me the path of life ; in Thy presence is the
fubiess of joy, and at Thy right Ha?id there is pleasure for ever-
more.
This passage is quoted by St. Peier, in his Pentecostal
Sermon, as directly, or in its highest sense, applicable to the
Messiah. It contains one of the very clearest and strongest
declarations of belief in a blessed futurity which can be ad-
duced from the Old Testament."^
Verse 11. Thou shall 7iot leave my soul in hell ; tieither shall
Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. — Milton has thus
imitated this beautiful passage, in a speech of the Son of God :
* The Speaker s Cojuijientary, p. 201.
PSALM XVII. 75
'Though now to death I yield, and am his due
All that of me cati die ; yet, that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul
For ever with corruption there to dwell ;
But I shall rise victorious.'
Paradise Lost, iii.*
PSALM XVII.
Beading (Delitzsch). — Flight of an innocent and persecuted
man for refuge in the Lord, who knoweth them that are His.
Title (Spurgeon). — We have in the present plaintive song,
An Appeal to Heaven from the persecutions of the earth.
Contents (Syriac). — Written by David — A Prayer.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psahii may be, as the inscription
states, a Psalm of David ; and if so, we may probably attribute
its composition to the time of Saul's persecution.
Ill CJuirch. — This Psalm is the first of the Eastern Office of
the 3rd hour.
Verse i. Hear the ri\;ht, O Lord, consider my complai7it. — -I
have read somewhere of an incident of Charles Wesley, that
when he was most unjustly charged with some offence, and a
heavy fine imposed upon him, he meekly submitted to the
wrong; and after his death the warrant was found among his
papers with the simple endorsement, ' To be re-judged at the
last day.'t
Pseiido-Dionysius has a very beautiful idea regarding the
efficacy of prayer, — the case is as if we, standing on board
a vessel, and holding in our hands a rope fastened to the shore,
were to pull lustily at it. While endeavouring, as it were, to
bring the shore to ourselves, we should indeed be bringing our-
selves to it. And thus in prayer, while we seek in appearance
* The Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 42.
f Daily Commeitts on the Psalms, by Barton Bouchier, vol. i., p. 94.
76 PSALM 'MOSAICS
to bend God's will to us, we are indeed Ijringing our will to His.
Here Christ prays, not for Himself alone, but for the instruc-
tion of all : and the right which is to be heard is that righteous-
ness which He offers for us, that full and complete sacrifice
which He presents for our sins.*
Verse 4. / have kept me from the luays of the destroyer. — /
have kept hard ways. This is the Antiphon which the Church
takes as the ordinary interpretation of the Psalm. And well
it may be; for what is the whole of the Christian course but
a succession of hard paths — the straight gate and the narrow
way w^hich the martyrs and the confessors trod, and which they
trod for the same reason, namely, love? Lorinus beautifully
applies those words of the heathen poet (Plautus, Casina ii.
3. 5)-
' Nam ubi amor condimentum inerit, cuivis jolaciturum credo,
Neque salsum nequc suave esse potest (juicquam, ubi amor non admis-
cetur.
Fel quod amarum est, id mel faciet : hominem ex tristi lepidum et
lenem.'
' Where Love as seasoning is found, all .will, I trow, fain share,
Nought can be salt or pleasant food if Love be mixed not there,
Honey it makes of bitter gall, the sullen man bonair.'f
Verse %. Keep me as the apple of an eye. — Anastasius IV.
found so great consolation in this expression that Custodi me
lit pupillum oculi was his motto. t
As the apple of an eye. This figure would seem to be bor-
rowed from, or at least suggested by, Deut. xxxii. 10: 'He
kept him as the apple of His eye' (see also Zech. ii. 8). The
word translated 'apple ' signifies in the Hebrew 'a little man';
and in the LXX. ' a litde girl,' or ' daughter,' because a small
image is seen in the pupil of the eye. Both words are expres-
sive of tenderness and endearment. ' Pupil,' as derived from
piipilla, 'a little girl,' is the correct English analogue of the
Hebrew and Greek words, and should have been adopted
* Dr. Neale's Coininentaiy, vol. i., p. 216.
t Ihid., p. 218.
t Ibid., p. 220.
PSALM XVII.
77
instead of ' apple.' The sentiment of tenderness which cHngs
to the original would then have been preserved."^
Ferse 12. Zi'ke as a lion that is greedy of Ids prey. — In
* Paradise Lost' we have a fine poetical conception of the arch-
enemy prowling around our nrst parents when he first beheld
their happiness, and resolved to ruin them :
' About them round
A lion now, he stalks with fiery glare ;
Then, as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
In some purlieu, two gentle fawns at play,
Straight couches close, then rising, changes oft
His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
\Yhence rushing he might surest seize them both,
Grip'd in each paw.'f
Verse 14. From the 7/1 en of Thy hand., O Lord, from the men^
I say., and from the evil woi'ld. — S. Albert Magnus explains
these words of evil Bishops, who are set apart by rank and
wealth from the lowly and obscure, who heap up riches and are
guilty of nepotism.!
Verse 15. They have children at their desire. — The Italic
version reads here very singularly, They are filled with swine's
flesh., given up as they are to every uncleanness and error for-
bidden by the Law, and leaving all their evil ways as a legacy
to their posterity. This curious version arises from a variant in
Origen's ' Hexapla,' now the common reading of the LXX.,
though doubtless the error of a transcriber, hii(,w instead of wa)i/.§
Verse 16. But as for me., I will behold Thy Presence iii
righteousness ; and when I aiuake up after Thy likeness., I
shall be satisfied with it. — The windows in Lambeth Palace
had been filled with stained glass by Cardinal Morton, but had
been broken during the troubled times of the Reformation, so
that Archbishop Laud found them, to use his own words :
' Shameful to look upon, all diversely patch, like a poor
* A Companion to the Psalter, p. 36.
t The Treastny of David, vol. 1., p. 254.
X Neale's Commentary, p. 223.
§ Ibid., p. 224.
78 PSALM-MOSAICS
beggar's coat.' He carefully restored them, but the storm of
popular violence rose again until no trace of their beauty was
left. For two centuries they remained, restored indeed to
decency, but with all their loveliness destroyed. In the work
of restoration, therefore, the replacing of the stained glass was
one of the first objects in view, and happily the means of doing
this were accessible. It was known that the broken windows
had been copied from pictures in the ' Biblia Pauperum,' and
to these accordingly Messrs. Clayton and Bell addressed them-
selves. In each case the two side-lights contain representa-
tions of types, of which the Antitype is the centre. One of
these windows was restored in memory of Craufurd Tait, and
underneath the window was placed this inscription :
' In jSIemory of the
REV. CRAUFURD TAIT, M.A.,
only son of
Archibald Campbell, Archbishop of Canterbury,
and of Catherine Tait.
Simple, pure, manly, energetic, kindly, because in all things
truly Christian, he won the hearts of young and old, rich and
poor. He was loved and respected at Eton and at Christ
Church, and in his Curacy at Saltwood, in his visit to the East
and to the United States of America, and here, as his father's
Chaplain.
' Faithful during his brief earthly ministry, he was gently sum-
moned from his home below, with all its duties, enjoyments,
and hopes, to his real home in the immediate presence of
Christ. Many friends of all degrees and ranks have united in
dedicating this window as a memorial of love.
' Born at Rugby, spared in the fever which desolated his
father's home at Carlisle in his childhood, he died at Stone
House, Thanet, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, on the eve
of the Lord's Ascension, May 29th, 1878.
' ^'- As for me^ 1 will behold Thy presence in righteousness, and
when I awake up after Thy likeness^ T shall be satisfied with it.''
— Psalm xvii. i6.''^
* Catherine and Cratifiird 7 ait, p. 606.
PSALM XVII. 79
/idius Ilareh^d. a great affection for the 17th Psalm, and
it was read to him on his death-bed. Just before he died he
thanked those who had thus chosen the words of Scripture
which he so especially delighted in. AVith these sounds of
glory ringing in his ears,
' / will behold Thy presence in righteousness^
And when I awake up after Thy likeness^
I shall be satisfied with it'
he fell into that sleep from which he was to awake in the like-
ness of Christ.*
Henri Ferreyve had this verse on his lips during his last
moments. His father, mother, and sister knelt by his bedside,
and he blessed them in the name of Jesus Christ, Whose priest
he was. A Httle later he thanked the sister who had nursed him
so tenderly : ' A thousand thanks to you, ma Sceur ; let me have
your Crucifix, not mine — yours, which has been pressed to so
many dying lips ;' and he kissed it lovingly, saying, 'Amen.'
He asked to see the servants ; thanked them for all they had
done for him ; commended himself to their prayers, and gave
them his blessing. Dr. Gourand came, and Henri thanked
him gratefully for his devoted friendship, and his attempts.
during these last days, to prolong his life, adding, quietly and
kindly, that it was useless to give him any further trouble. His
mother was beside him, and he observed to her, ' If I die to-
morrow, it will be the anniversary of my first Communion.'
' Dear child,' she answered, weeping, 'how happy was I on that
day, and you too !' 'Well,' Henri replied, 'we must be happy
to-morrow too.'
He made his sister stay by him while he detailed certain
alterations he wished to be made in the family tomb, and with
a clear firm voice told her what was to be his epitaph : ' Satiabor
cum apparuerit Gloria Tua ' — ' When I awake up after Thy
likefiess, I shall be satisfied with it.'f
* TAe Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Ch)-{stianity, p. 278.
+ Henri Perreyve^ p. 231.
8o PSALM-MOSAICS
I shall be satisfied with if. — I have read of a devout person
who but dreaming of heaven, the signatures and impressions it
made upon his fancy were so strong as that when he awaked he
knew not his cell, could not distinguish the night from the day,
nor difference by his taste, oil from wine ; still he was calling
for his vision and saying, Redde mihi ca??ipos, floridos., colu7?inan
aiireavi, comiteni Hieronymuni., assiste?ites a?igeIos : Give me my
fresh and fragrant fields again, my golden pillar of light, Jerome
my companion, angels my assistants. If heaven in a dream
produce such ecstasies as drown and overwhelm the exercises
of the senses to inferior objects, what trances and compla-
cencies must the fruition of it work in those who have their
whole rational appetite filled, and their body beautified with
its endless glory !*
Whe?i I awake up after Thy likeness^ I shall be satisfied with
zV.— 'But when,' says St. Bonaventura, 'O Lord Jesu, when
shall that when be ?'
'Jesus only ! In the shadow
Of the cloud so dull and dim
We are clinging, loving, trusting,
He with us and we with Him ;
All unseen, though ever nigh,
Jesus only ! all our cry.
'Jesus only ! In the glory,
When the shadows all are flown,
Seeing Him in all His beauty.
Satisfied with Him alone ;
May we join His ransomed throng,
Jesus only ! all our song.'
F. R. Havergal.
The illustrations on this verse cannot be better ended than,
by the beautiful verses of St. Bernard of Cluny :
*0 bona patria, num tua gaudia teque videbo?
O bona patria, num tua prcemia plena tenebo ?
Die mihi, flagito, verbaque reddito, dicque, Videbis.
Spem solidam gero : remne tegens ero? Die, Retinebis.
O sacer, O pius, O ter et amplius ille beatus,
Cui sua pars Deus : O miser, O reus, hac viduatus !'
* William Spurstow, 1656, quoted in The Treasury of David, vol. i.,.
p. 260.
PSALM XV III. 8i
O sweet and blessed country,
Shall I ever see thy face ?
0 sweet and blessed country,
Shall I ever win thy grace?
1 have the hope within me,
To comfort and to bless,
Shall I ever win the prize itself?
O tell me, tell me, Yes.
O holy one, O godly.
Thrice blessed is his lot,
Who hath his God for portion,
O wretched, who hath not !*
PSALM XVIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — David's Hymnic Retrospect of a life
crowned with many mercies.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Grateful Retrospect.
Contetits (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — A thanksgiving ; also
concerning the ascension of the Messiah.
Origi?i (Perowne). — The inscription, which informs us that
this hymn was composed towards the close of David's life, is
confirmed by the fact that we have the same account given of
its composition in 2 Samuel xxii., where this hymn is also
found, though with a number of variations. The internal evi-
dence, too, points in the same direction ; for we learn from
verse 34 (35) and 43 (44) that the Poet is both warrior and
king ; and every part of the description suits the events and
circumstances of David's life better than those of any other
monarch.
Verse i . / ivill love Thee, O Lord, viy strength ; the Lord is
my 'stony rock, and my defence. — In the Orthodox Eastern
Church, in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, just before the
Nicene Creed, the Priest says secretly (Psalm xviii. i), ' L wilt
love Thee, O Lord, my strength ; the Lord is my stony rock, and
my defence. ^\
* Quoted in Dr. Neale's Co7nmentary, vol. i., p. 225.
t Dr. Neale's Commentary^ vol. iv,, p. 269.
6
82 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 9. He bowed the heavens also^ a?id came down. — The
male figure raising a veil above his head, who is often placed
beneath the Lord's feet on the sarcophagi, is taken to repre-
sent Uranus or the Firmament. The idea seems to be that of
(Psalms xviii. 9 and civ. 2) darkness under His feet, and the
Heavens as a curtain.*
Verse 10. He rode upon the chericbinis, afid did fly ; He came
flyifig upon the wings of the wind {cf. also Psalms Ixviii. 4 ;
civ. 3). — The expressions in these verses find their likenesses in
Shakespeare, yet so softened and disguised that no comparison
which might suggest thoughts of irreverence is provoked by
the imitation.
It is Romeo who thus, from Capulet's garden, addresses
Juliet at her window :
' O ! speak again, bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of Heaven
Unto the white upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him.
When he bestrides (he lazy-pacing clouds,
And sails tipon the bosom of the air.''
Act II., Sc. ii.t
Milton felt the grandeur of this imagery, and imitated it :
' He on the wings of cherub rode sublime
On the crystalline sky.'
Paradise Lost, vi.
And again :
' on the wings of cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode
Far into chaos.'
Paradise Lost, \\\.%
Sternhold and Hopkins have succeeded in their version of
this place, not only beyond what they ever did, but beyond
every ancient and modern poet on a similar subject :
* The Basilica^ by Rev. R. S. John Tyrwhitt. Monthly Packet, July,
1880.
t Shakespea7'e and the Bible, p. 325.
+ Ike Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 51.
PSALM XVIII . 83
' On cherub and on cherubim
Full royally He rode,
And on the wings of mighty wind
Came flying all abroad.'*
Verse 1 1. He made darkness His secret place. His pavilion
roufid about Him with dark 7aater, and thick clouds to cover
Him. — The discharge of the celestial artillery upon the adverse
powers, in this and the two following verses, is magnificently
described. Milton has made a noble use of the same imagery,
in tne following passage :
' How oft amidst
Thick clouds and dark doth heaven's all-ruling Sire
Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,
And with the majesty of darkness round
Covers His throne ; from whence deep thunders roar,
Mustering their rage, and heaven resembles hell ?'
Paradise I.os/, ii.+
Verse 36. My footsteps shall not slide.
Longfellow :
' Footprints which perhaps some other,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
Some forlorn and shipwrecked brother
Seeing, may take heart again.'
Verses 37, 38. I will follow upon mijie enemies, and overtake
■them ; neither will I turn again till I have destroyed them.
I will smite them, that they shall not be able to sta?id, but fall
under my feet.
William Cowper (i 731-1800) :
' Oh, I have seen the day,
When with a single word,
God helping me to say,
"My trust is in the Lord ;"
My soul has quelled a thousand foes,
Fearless of all that could oppose.'
Verses 40, 41. — Thou hast made mine enemies also to turn
■ their backs upon me ; and I will destroy them that hate me.
They shall cry, but there shall be more to help them ; yea, even
* Adam Clarke's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 1984.
t The Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 53.
84 PSALM. MOSAICS
unto the Lord shall they cry, but He shall not hear them. —
Clovis, when about to lead his army against Alaric II., the
Arian king of the Visigoths, sent messengers to the Church of
St. Martin, at Tours, where the Psalms were sung day and
night, to know what verses would be chanted as they entered,
as he had asked God to give him a sign. As they passed the
threshold the Precentor sang Psalm xviii. 39, 40, as an
Antiphon, and accepting this as the token, they offered the
gifts they bore, made their thanksgiving, and returned to
Clovis, who afterwards defeated and slew Alaric in the battle
of Vougle."^
Verse ^i.~Gerhohus, like an earnest reformer that he was,
in an age of the Church which abounded with horrible corrup-
tions, and when, as it has been said, the Lord seemed again
asleep in the bark of Peter, twists this text by main force, to
bear w^itness against the simony of the age ; when, as he says,
princes and other potentates chose Barabbas, and rejected
Jesus for the Episcopate ; and then, w^hen they had elected
the former, and wxre in need of some spiritual assistance,
C7'ied, and there 7i'as none to help them. One can hardly call
this a commentary ; but yet one honours the zeal of the writer,
w^ho, in whatever part of the Scripture he was expounding,,
saw the abuses of the Church in his own time, and so treated
it.t
Verse 18. They prevented me in the day of my trouble ; but
the Lord was my upholder. — Here is an instance of the im-
pudence of Protestant prejudice — the words are the words
of one Charles Bradbury: 'When Henry VIII. had spoken
and written bitterly against Luther ; saith Luther, Tell the
Henries, the bishops, the Turks, and the devil himself, do
what they can, we are the children of the kingdom, wor-
shipping of the true God, whom they, and such as they, spit
upon and crucified. And of the same spirit were many
martyrs. Basil affirms of the primitive saints, that they had
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. i., p. 251.
t Ibid., p. 252, note.
PSALM XIX. 85
so much courage and confidence in their sufferings, that many
of the heathens seeing their heroic zeal and constancy, turned
Christians.'"^
PSALM XIX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Prayer to God, whose revelation of
Himself is twofold.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Deliverance of the
people from Egypt.
Origin (Perowne). — It may have been written, perhaps, in
the first flush of an Eastern sunrise, when the sun was seen
' going forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoicing
as a mighty man to run his course.' The song breathes all
the life and freshness, all the gladness and glory of the
morning. . . . The difference of style observable between the
two parts of the Psalm, and the abruptness of the transition
from one part to the other, have led some critics to the con.
elusion, that these did not originally constitute one Poem.
Thus Ewald speaks of the former half as a beautiful torso — a
splendid but unfinished fragment of the time of David, to
which some later bard subjoined the praise of the Law. But
it is not absolutely necessary to adopt such a supposition. No
doubt there is a very considerable difference between the
sustained lyric movement of verses i to 6, and the regular
didactic rhythm of the latter half of the Psalm. But it may
fairly be argued that the nature of the subject influenced the
change of style. The apparent suddenness of transition too,
though it cannot be denied, may not only be accounted for by
the nature of lyric poetry, but was probably the result of design
in order to give more force to the contrast. That such is the
effect it is impossible not to feel.
In Church. — This is one of the Psalms appointed by the
Church, to be read in her service on the Festival of the
* Treasury of David, vol. i., p. 290.
86 PSALM-MOSAICS
Nativity. In the Latin Church this Psalm is appointed for
use also on the festivals of the Ascension, and of Trinity
Sunday ; so likewise it was in the Sarum Use ; and in the
Gregorian Use it is appointed for the Annunciation."^
This is the first Psalm at Matins on Christmas Day, and is
wonderfully appropriate to this Festival. God to a certain
extent revealed Himself by the creation of the heavens, which
tell His glory, and more especially of the sun, which gives light
to all the earth, and from whose heat nothing is hid ; and in a
still loftier degree did reveal Himself in the written word which
giveth light and wisdom ' converting the soul ' ; but the full
revelation of Himself was not complete until He sent His only
Begotten, the Living Word to take our nature upon Him.
' That was the True Light which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world.' This Psalm bears an important part in the
teaching of the Day.f
The Gospel and Epistle for the Day give the true explana-
tion of the choice of this Psalm.
Parallelism, — The present Psalm affords an excellent illus-
tration of that parallelism between the two halves of a verse,
which forms so marked a characteristic of Hebrew poetry.
There is scarcely a verse in this Psalm in which it may not be
traced. In the first verse there is a double parallelism.
'Heavens' and 'glory,' in the first member, correspond to
'firmament ' and 'handiwork ' in the second. |
Addison'' s Metrical Vej'sion of this Psabn :
'The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display ;
And publishes, to every land,
The work of an Almighty hand.
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary.
t Housman on The Psalms, p. 33.
X Companion to the Psalter, p. 44.
PSALM XIX. 87
' Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth :
While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidmgs, as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
' What though in solemn silence all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball ?
What though no real voice or sound,
Amidst their radiant orbs be found ?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice ;
For ever singing as they shine,
" The hand that made us is divine." '
Verse i. The heavens declare the glo?'y of God; a?id the
firmaiimit sho7veth His handy-woj'k. — How beautifully has our
great poet imitated this passage, combined with the opening of
the viiith Psalm !
'These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty ! Thine the universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair ; Thyself how wondrous, then !
Unspeakable ! who sitt'st above these heavens
To us invisible, or dimly seen
In these Thy lowest works ; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and Power divine.'
Paradise Lost, v.*
' There's not the smallest orb that thou beholdest
But in his motion like an angel sings. 't
William Wordsworth (177 0-1850) :
' How beautiful this dome of sky.
And the vast hills in fluctuation fixed
At Thy command, how awful ! Shall the soul,
Human and rational, report of Thee
Even less than these ? Be mute who will, who can ;
Yet I will praise Thee with impassioned voice.
My lips, that may forget Thee in the crowd,
Cannot forget Thee here, where Thou hast built
For Thine own glory, in the wilderness !'
* The Book of Psalms, by Bishop Mant, p. 59.
t Merchant of Venice.
88 PSALM-MOSAICS
James Thomson :
' The glitt'ring stars
By their deep ear of meditation heard,
Still in the midnight watches sing of Him.
He nods a calm. The tempest blows His wrath ;
The thunder is His voice ; and the red flash
His speedy sword of justice. At His touch
The mountains flame. He shakes the solid earth,
And rocks the nations. Nor in these alone —
In ev'ry common instance GoD is seen.'
Verse i. The heavens declare the glory of God, afid the firjiia-
ment shoiveth His handy-work. — During the French revolution,
Jean Bon St. Andre, the Vendean revolutionist, said to a
peasant : ' I will have all your steeples pulled down, that you
may no longer have any object by which you may be reminded
of old superstitions.' ' But,' replied the peasant, ''you cannot
help leaving us the stars.^*
Verse 2. One day telle th another, and one night certifieth
another. — Dr. Neale, in his Commentary, says that this verse
' cannot be more beautifully taken than of the seasons of
the Church's year : Festival speaking to Festival, Fast to
Fast ; the faithful soul by Advent prepared for Christmas ;
by Tent for Easter ; by the Great Forty Days of Joy for the
Descent of the Holy Ghost : and by all these days of transi-
tory holiness, made ready for that Eternal day, the festival
which shall never be concluded.'
' The Church on earth, with answering love,
Echoes her mother's joys above ;
Those yearly feast-days she may keep,
And yet for endless iestals weep.'
The Sequence '■ SuperutB matris gatidiai'
That succession of doctrine and comfort, day speaking to
day ; what a wonderful type it finds in the midnight of a Scan-
dinavian summer ! The north-western and north-eastern sky
aglow respectively with evening and morning twilight, and the
space between them filled with the lines of purple or crimson,
the links which unite the departing to the coming day If
* John Bate : Cyclopcedia of Mo7'al and Religious Truths^ 1866, quoted
in Treasury of David ^ vol. i., p. 315.
t Dr. Neale's Coiinnejitary, vol. i., p. 262.
PSALM XIX. 89
Verse 4. T/ieir sound is gone out into all lands, and their
words into the ends of the iiwrld. — St. John Chrysostom's mis-
sionary efforts extended northwards to the Danube, and south-
wards to Phoenicia, Syria, and Palestine. He sought out men
of apostoHc zeal to evangehze some Scythian tribes on the
banks of the Danube, and appointed a Gothic Bishop, Unilas,
who accomphshed great things, but died in a.d. 404, when
Chrysostom w^as in exile and unable to appoint a successor.
A novel spectacle was witnessed one day in the Church of
St. Paul. A large number of Goths being present, Chrysostom
ordered some portions of the Bible to be read in Gothic, and
caused a Gothic presbyter to address his countrymen in their
native tongue. The Archbishop, who preached afterwards,
rejoiced in the occurrence as a visible illustration of the dif-
fusion of the Gospel among all nations and languages, a
triumph before their very eyes over Jews and Pagans, and a
fulfilment of such prophecy as ' Their sound is gone out into all
lands' ' The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox.' ' Where is the philosophy of
Plato and Pythagoras ? Extinguished. Where is the teaching
of the tent-makers and the fishermen ? Not only in Judaea,
but also among the barbarians, as ye have this day perceived,
it shines more brilliantly than the sun itself. Scythians and
Thracians, Samaritans, Moors and Indians, and those who in-
habit the extremities of the world, possess this teaching
translated into their own language ; they possess such philo-
sophy as was never dreamed of by those who wear a beard
^nd thrust passengers aside w^ith their staff in the Forum, and
shake their wnse locks, looking more like lions than men.'
' Nay ! our w^orld has not sufficed for these evangelists ; they
have betaken themselves even to the ocean, and enclosed bar-
barian regions and the British Isles in their net.'"^
Verses 5, 6. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun^
which conieth forth as a bridegroom out of his chainber^ and re-
* Life of S.fohn Chrysostom, by W. R. W. Stephens, p. 237.
90 PSALM-MOSAICS
joiceth as a giant to run his course. It goeth forth froin the
uttennost part of the heaven^ and run?ieth about u?ito the e?td of
it agai?i : and there is 7iothi?ig hid from the heat thereof. — In
these verses the Church has from the beginning seen a mar-
vellous type of the Incarnation. So St. Ambrose, in one of
his most noble hymns ( Veni Redeniptor Ge?itiuni) :
' Forth from His Chamber goeth He,
The Royal Hall of Chastity ;
In nature two, in Person One,
His glad course, giant-like, to run.
* From God the Father He proceeds ;
To God the Father back He speeds :
Proceeds— as far as very hell,
Speeds back — to light ineffable.'*
Verse 7. The law of the Lord is an un defiled law., converting
the soul ; the testimony of the Lord is sure., and giveth ivisdoni
unto the simple. — 'A certain simple-minded and honest man/
says St. Peter Damiani, ' one that feared God, had been hear-
ing Matins, and was returning from Church. His disciples
asked him, " What did you hear at Church, father ?" He
answered, " I heard four things and observed six." A very
subtle reply, and one which showed his faith. He had heard
four verses of the iQth Psalm, The law of the Lord is an
undefiled law., etc., and the three following verses, in which six
things are noted, which are law., testimony^ righteousness., com-
mandments, fear, Judgments.'-^
Verse 12. O cleanse Thou nie from my secret faults. — There
is a singular poem by Hood, called 'The Dream of Eugene
Aram,' a most remarkable piece it is indeed, illustrating the
point on which we are now dwelling. Aram had murdered a
man, and cast his body into the river — ' a sluggish water, black
as ink, the depth was so extreme.' The next morning he
visited the scene of his guilt :
* Dr. Xeale's Commentary, vol. i., p. 263,
t Ibid., p. 265.
PSALM XIX. 91
* And sought the black accursed pool,
\yith a wild misgiving eye ;
And he saw the dead in the river bed,
For the faithless stream was dry,'
Next he covered the corpse with heaps of leaves, but a mighty
wind swept through the wood and left the secret bare before
the sun :
• Then down I cast me on my face,
And first began to weep,
For I knew my secret then was one
That earth refused to keep ;
On land or sea though it should be
Ten thousand fathoms deep,'
In plaintive notes he prophesies his own discovery. He buried
his victim in a grave, and trod him down with stones ; but
when years had run their weary round, the foul deed was
discovered and the murderer put to death.
Guilt is a 'grim chamberlain,' even when his fingers are not
bloody-red. Secret sins bring fevered eyes and sleepless nights,
until men burn out their consciences, and become in very deed
ripe for the pit,"^
Dr. George Bull was Bishop of St, David's. Mr. Robert
Nelson gives an account of his last illness and departure, A
few days before his death, while in the presence of several
persons, he made a solemn confession and declaration of the
conduct of his whole life, and so took his leave of the world in
a manner the most edifying that could be.
First the Bishop made a public confession of his faith,.
in the words of the Apostles' Creed ; he then gave a short
account of his life, reviewing his sorrow and repentance for all
his sins. In the last place, he professed that as he had always
lived, so he was now resolved to die, in the communion of the
Church of England, and declared that he believed it was the
best constituted Church this day in the world : for that its doc-
trine, government, and way of worship were, in the main, the
same w^th those of the primitive Church. He then put up
* Spurgeon's Sermon (No. Ii6) on Sca-et Sins.
92 PSALM-MOSAICS
some prayers for its peace and prosperity, and declaring again
that he resolved to die in its communion, he desired absolu-
tion, and received it. He concluded this his open confession
in the very words of the Psalmist David, ' JVho can tell how oft
he offendeth ? O cleanse Tliou nie from my secret faults /'
The good Bishop died in 1710, and the last word he spoke
was ' Amen ' to the commendatory prayer, which he repeated
twice distinctly and audibly after his usual manner, a very little
while before he died."^
PSALM XX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Prayer for the king in time of war.
Title (Spurgeon). — A National x\nthem.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — when he prayed to
be delivered from the battle of the Ammonites ; and teaching
us now that it is prayer that helpeth us.
Origin (Perowne).— This Psalm was intended originally, it
would seem, to be sung on behalf of a king who was about to
go forth to war against his enemies. . . . For what special
occasion the Psalm was first composed, it is of course now
quite impossible to say. Some, following the Syriac translator,
would refer it to the time of David's war with the Syrians and
Ammonites (2 Sam. x.) ; but obviously it would apply to other
circumstances as well. This is evidently a liturgical Psalm.
hi Chnrch. — This is one of the Psalms used at the com-
mencement of the daily Greek Morning Office, and it is also
appointed for use in the Roman Office for the Visitation of the
Sick.t It is also the first Psalm for the Queen's Accession.
The Whole Psalm. — During his last illness Bossuet from time
to time dictated some meditations on this Psalm.]:
* Tlie Last Hours of Christian Ilfen, p. 250.
t litter leaved Prayer- Book, p. 235.
X Bossuet (Rivingtons), p. 557.
PSALM XX. 93.
Spurgeon says : ' This Psalm has been much used for corona-
tion, thanksgiving, and fast sermons, and no end of nonsense and
sickening flattery has been tacked thereto by the trencher-
chaplains of the world's Church. If kings had been devils,
some of these gentry would have praised their horns and
hoofs ; for although some of their royal highnesses have been
very obedient servants of the prince of darkness, these false
prophets have dubbed them " most gracious sovereigns," and
have been as much dazzled in their presence as if they had
beheld the beatific vision.'*
Nicholas Bownd, 'Doctor of Divinitie ' in 1604, preached
twenty-two Sermons on verses 1-6 of this Psalm. Here is the
title of his work, ' Medicines for the Plague ; that is. Godly
and Fruitful Sermons upon part of the Twentieth Psalme, full
of instructions and comfort ; very fit generally for all times of
affliction, but more particularly applied to the late visitation of
the Plague. Preached at the same time at Norton in Suffolke,
by Nicholas Bownd, Doctor of Divinitie, 1604.'!
Verse 3. Remember all thy offeri?igs ; a?id accept thy burnt
sacrifice. — ' The Lord be with you. These are the Sacramental
words of the deacon, the only words that I have any right to
say to you, dear friend and brother, as you go up to the holy
Altar. But I say them out of the very fulness of my heart,
and with all the deepest meaning such solemn words convey.
Yes, indeed, may the Lord be with you, dear brother I May
He be with you this morning at the Altar of your first mass, to
accept your virgin troth, and to receive your eternal vows with
that reciprocal love which exceeds all other love.
' May He be with you all through this great day, to preserve
within your soul that perfume of heavenly incense, that sweet
scent of the sacrifice you have begun, but which, thank God,
knows no end. May He be with you to-morrow, to teach you
that His joy possesses a somewhat eternal power, which, unlike
*■ The Treasury of David, vol. i., p. 350.
t Ibid.
-94 PSALM-MOSAICS
-earth's joys, can never be exhausted. ]May He be with you
when, the first sacred intoxicating delight over, you reab"ze that
it is yours to minister to men, and that you must leave Mount
Tabor, and seek the suffering, the ignorant, those who hunger
and thirst for the true light and life May He be with you in
your grief to comfort you ; in your joy to sanctify you ; in all
your longings, that they may bring forth fruit. Meinor sit omnis
sacrificii tiii et holocaustum tuum pingue fiat."^
Verse 7. Some put their trust in chariots^ and some in horses ;
hut we will remember the Name of the Lord our God. — William
Arnot (1858) says : ' It is easy to persuade papists to lean on
priests and saints, on old rags and painted pictures — on any
idol ; but it is hard to get a Protestant to trust in the living God.'
Verse 8. We are risen and sta?id upright. — At Port Glasgow
there dwelt a family (two brothers and a sick sister) distin-
guished, like the two Campbells, for a profound and saintly
piety, which had marked them out from their neighbours, and
attracted to them many friends out of their own condition.
James Macdonald had returned from the building-yard,
where he pursued his daily business, to his mid-day dinner,
after the calm usage of a labouring man. He found the
invalid of the household in the agonies of this new inspiration.
The awed and wondering family concluded with reverential
gravity that she was dying, and thus accounted to themselves
for the singular exhibition they saw. ' At dinner - time,
James and George came home as usual,' says the simple
family narrative, ' whom she then addressed at great length,
concluding with a solemn prayer for James, that he might at
that time be endued with the power of the Holy Ghost.
Almost instantly James said : " I have got it." He walked to
the window, and stood silent for a minute or two. I looked
at him, and almost trembled, there was such a change upon
his whole countenance. He then, with a step and manner of
the most indescribable majesty, walked up to 's bedside,
* Henri Perreyve, p. 42.
PSALM XXI. 95
and addressed her in these words of the twentieth Psalm,
" Arise a?id stand upright.'^ He repeated the words, took her
by the hand, and she arose. After this wonderful event, with
inconceivable human composure,' the homely record con-
tinues, ' we all quietly sat down and took our dinner ;' an
anti-climax to the extraordinary agitation and excitement of
the scene just described, which no fiction dared attempt.
The young woman was not merely raised from her sick-bed
for the moment, but cured, and the next step taken by
the brother, so suddenly and miraculously endued, was to
write to Mary Campbell, then apparently approaching death,
■conveying to her the same command which had been so
•effectual in the case of her sister. The sick estatic received
this letter in the depths of languor and declining weakness,
and without even the hands of the newly inspired to help her,
rose up and declared herself healed."^
Verse 9. Save, Lord, a?id hear its, O Khig of heaven, when
■we call upon Thee. — ' O Jehovah, save the King ! May He
answer us when we cry (unto Him).' Such is the rendering of
the LXX., which is also followed by the Vulgate. Domine
^alvum fac regem, whence our ' God save the King.'t
PSALM XXL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Thanksgiving for the King in time of
war.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Royal Triumphal Ode.
Conteiits (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Supplication for
those things that are profitable to a righteous man.
Origin (Perowne). — The last Psalm was a litany before the
king went forth to battle. This is apparently a Te Deum on
his return. . . . The Psalm was evidently sung in the Temple,
■either by the whole congregation or by the choir of Levites.
* Life of Edward Irving, p. 289.
t Tiie Book of Psalms ^ by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 226.
96 PSALM-MOSAICS
In Church. — This Psalm is the first at Matins on Ascension
Day, and the second on the Queen's Accession. In the
Eastern Church, verses 3, 4 and 6 are sung in the plural in
the Office for Holy Matrimony — Prokeimenon of the Epistle,
That the primary reference in this Psalm is to David himself,
there need be no doubt ; at the same time, the blessings
promised — the endless life, the glory and great worship, the
everlasting felicity — are of such a transcendent character as to
demand a higher range of fulfilment, another King in Whose
Person and Kingdom all these bright visions should be realized.
Such a fulfilment we, as Christians, recognise, when, having
conquered Satan and burst the gates of death, Jesus ascended
into Heaven, and resumed His throne of glory at the Father's
right hand. And for this reason the present Psalm is very
appropriately chosen as one of the Proper Psalms for Ascension
Day.^
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm undoubtedly refers to Our
Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, and even Jewish expositors have
so regarded it. Rashi, one of the most esteemed of them,
says, ' This Psalm was interpreted of the King-^lessiah by our
ancient teachers; but, in order to meet schismatics {i.e., the
Christians), it is better to understand it of David himself.'!
Verse 3 . For Thou shall prevent him with the blessings of
goodness. — To prevent, from prcevenio., literally signifies to go
before. Hence that prayer in the Communion Service of our
public Liturgy, ^Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings with
Thy most gracious favour !' That is, * Go before us in Thy
mercy, make our way plain, and enable us to perform what is
right in Thy sight !'
Our ancestors used ' God before ' in this sense. So in
Henry V.'s speech to the French herald previously to the
battle of Agincourt :
* Companion to the Psalter, p. 49.
t Ibid.
PSALM XXI. 97
' Go therefore ; tell thy master, here I am.
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk ;
My army, but a weak and sickly guard :
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself, and such another neighbour,
Stand in our way.'*
And shalt set a croivn of pure gold upon his head. — It seems
not unlikely there is a reference here to the siege of Rabbah
(2 Sam. xii. 29, 30), when, after the city was taken, the king's
■crown, 'weighing a talent of gold, with precious stones, was
set on David's head.'t
The Vulgate has of precious stones. Innocent III. will have
it to consist of seven precious stones (the crown of righteous-
ness) ; four corporeal gifts of the transfigured — agility, subtilty,
impassibility, immortality; and three of the glorified spirit —
love, knowledge, happiness. J
Verse 4. He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest him a lo7ig
■life : even for ever and ever.
' We ask for life, and mean thereby
A few uncertain years,
The sunshine of a changeful sky
Over a vale of tears ;
But Thou art better than our prayers,
And'givest, in Thy love,
A shorter path through earthly cares,
A longer rest above.
From sin and strife, with sorrow rife,
Thine earihly call doth sever ;
Thou givest us a longer life,
For ever and for ever !'§
Verse 13. Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine oivn st?'ength ;
so will ive sing, and praise Thy power. — Dionysius the Car-
thusian bids us note the fulfilment of this prophecy, in the
fact that Christian hymnody and Psalms began immediately-
after the Ascension of Christ and the descent of the Paraclete,
never ceasing since throughout the ages.||
* Adam Clarke's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 1998.
f Companion to the Psalter, p. 49.
X Dr. Neale's Commeiitary, vol. i., p. 279.
§ Dr. Monsell.
II Dr. Neale's Commentary, p. 286.
98 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM XXII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Eli Eli Lama Asabtani.
Tt'f/e (Spurgeon). — This is beyond all others The P^alm of
the Cross.
Co7ite7its (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — when his persecutors
mocked him — Concerning also the sufferings of the Messiah,
and the calling of the Gentiles.
Origin (Perowne). — According to the Inscription, this is one
of David's Psalms. We know, however, of no circumstances
in his life to which it can possibly be referred. Li none of his
persecutions by Saul was he ever reduced to such straits as
those here described. . . . The older Jewish interpreters felt
the difficulty, and thought that the sorrows of Israel in exile
were the subject of the singer's complaint. Without adopting
this view to the full extent, it is so far worthy of consideration
that it points to what is probably the correct view, viz., that the
Psalm was composed by one of the exiles during the Baby-
lonish captivity. And though the feelings and expressions are
clearly individual, not national, yet they are the feelings and
expressions of one who suffers not merely as an individual, but,
so to speak, in a representative character.
Title : Aijeleth Shahar. — Christmas Evans, an eloquent
though eccentric Welsh preacher, shows how the title of this
Psalm is one which may be applied to the whole life of Christ :
The title of the twenty-second Psalm is Aijeleth Shahar — the
mornifig hind. The whole Psalm refers to Christ, containing
much that cannot be applied to another ; parting His gar-
ments, casting lots for His vesture, etc.
He is described as a kindly, meek, and beautiful hart, started
by the huntsmen at the dawn of day. Herod began hunting
Him down as soon as He appeared. Poverty, the hatred of
men, and the temptation of Satan, joined in the pursuit. There
PSALM XXII.
99
always was some ' dog ' or ' bull ' or ' unicorn ' ready to attack
Him. After His first sermon, the huntsmen gathered about
Him ; but He was too fleet of foot, and escaped. The Church
had long seen the Messiah ' like a roe, or a young hart, upon
the mountains ;' had heard the voice of her Beloved, and had
cried out, 'Behold! he cometh, leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills ;' sometimes He was even seen, with
the dawn of day, in the neighbourhood of the temple, and
beside the enclosures of the vineyards. The Church requested
to see Him * on the mountains of Bether,' and upon 'the
mountains of spices.' The former probably signifying the place
of His sufferings, and the latter the sublime acclivities of light,
glory, and honour, where the ' hart ' shall be hunted no more.
But in the afternoon, the huntsmen who had been following
the 'young roe ' from early day-break, had succeeded in driving
Him to the mountains of Bether. Christ found Calvary a
craggy, jagged, and fearful hill— 'a mountain of division.'
Here He was driven by the huntsmen to the edges of the
awful precipices yawning destruction from below, while He was
surrounded and held at bay by all the beasts of prey and
monsters of the infernal quest.
The ' unicorn ' and the ' bulls of Bashan ' gored Him with
their horns ; the great ' lion ' roared at Him, and the ' dog '
fastened himself upon Him. But He foiled them all. In His
own time He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. He
was buried in a new grave, and His assailants reckoned upon
complete victory. They had not considered that He was a
* morning hart.' Surely enough, at the appointed time, did He
escape from the hunter's net, and stand forth on the mountains
of Israel alive, and never, never to die again.
Now He is with Mary in the garden, giving evidence of His
own resurrection ; in a moment He is at Emmaus, encouraging
the too timid and bewildered disciples. Nor does it cost Him
any trouble to go thence to Galilee to His friends, and again
to the Mount of Olives, ' on the mountains of spices,' canying
with Him the day-dawn, robed in life and beauty for evermore.
loo PSALM-MOSAICS
hi Church. — Appointed by the Church of England as one
of the special Psalms for Good Friday.
The Whole Psabn. — It is worthy of note that Theodore of
Mopsuestia was condemned in the fifth (Ecumenical Council,
and in the Provincial Synod of Rome under Vigilius, for
asserting that this Psalm was to be understood of David only,
and had no direct reference to our Lord ; one of the few
instances in which the Church has condemned or asserted a
particular explanation of a particular text of Scripture. 1 he
most ancient explanations of the Jews themselves refer it to
Christ; and Rabbi Solomon says that the Messiah in the
midst of His sufferings would sing this Psalm aloud *
The twenty-second Psalm, St. Augustine says, was sung in the
North African congregation at the Easter celebration of the
Lord's Supper. More than fourteen centuries have passed
since the Vandals drowned those songs in blood, but a stranger
who happens to look in upon a Scottish congregation on a
Communion Sabbath will be likely enough to find the Psalm
turned to the same holy and solemn use.f
Mr. Coleridge once said : I am much delighted and in-
structed by the hypothesis, which I think probable, that our
Lord in repeating ' Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ' really recited
the whole or a large part of the 22nd Psalm. It is impossible
to read that Psalm without the liveliest feelings of love, grati-
tude, and sympathy. It is, indeed, a wonderful prophecy,
whatever might or might not have been David's notion when
he composed it. Whether Christ did audibly repeat the whole
or not, it is certain, I think, that He did it mentally, and said
aloud what was sufficient to enable His followers to do the
same. Even at this day, to repeat in the same manner but the
first line of a common hymn would be understood as a
reference to the whole. Above all, I am thankful for the
thought which suggested itself to my mind, whilst I was read-
* Dr. Neale's Commenta7y, vol. i., p. 288.
t The Psalms : their History, etc., by Dr. Binnie, pp. 172, 173.
PSALM XXII. loi
ing this beautiful Psalm, viz., that we should not exclusively
think of Christ as the Logos united to human nature, but
likewise as a perfect man united to the Logos. This distinc-
tion is most important in order to conceive, much more appro-
priately to feel, the conduct and exertion of Jesus.*
All the benefits of the Ago?i}\ which is chronicled in the
22nd Psalm, are exhibited in, and conferred by, a mysterious
rite, which is imaged by a Feast, and connected with worship :
' The poor shall eat, and be satisfied.
Your heart shall live for ever.
Have eaten and bowed down all ihe lusty ones of the earth.
Before Him shall bend all those who descend to ihe dust.'
Our Lord's words, in the sixth of St. John, answer to this :
' I am the Living Bread, which came down from Heaven. If
any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever.' ' How
natural,' cries Delitzsch, ' is the thought of the Sacramental
Eucharist, in which the Second David, like the first, having
attained to the Throne through the Suffering of Death, makes
us partakers of the fruit of that suffering !'t
Bossuet, some time before his death, ' used to speak as
though he were looking to the fatal termination of his malady,
and he told those around him that he never had the 22nd
Psalm, " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ?" out
of his mind ; that he went to sleep and woke up repeating it,
calling it " the Psalm of death " as consecrated to the Saviour
in His own Agony ; adding that it was " full of confidence, and
there is nothing like confidence as a preparation for death." '%
Reference in New Testament.— T\\q references in the New
Testament, as fulfilled in Christ, are many. The first words of
it were uttered by Jesus on the Cross (St. Matt, xxvii. 46). The
scorn of the passers-by and the shaking of the head in verse 7
have their counterpart in the story of the Crucifixion (St. Matt.
* Coleridge, 7 able-Talk, p. 86.
t IVitnes's of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity.
X Life 0/ Bossuet (Rivingtons), p. 557.
102 PSALM-MOSAICS
xxvii. 39). The words of verse 8 are found in St. Matt,
xxvii. 43 ; the intense thirst, ' my tongue cleaveth to my gums,
of verse 15, in St. John xix. 28; the parting of the garments,
of verse 18, in St. John xix. 23 ; the piercing (if that is the
correct reading) of the hands and feet, in verse 17, in the nail-
ing of the cross. Similarly we are justified in interpreting the
latter part of the Psalm of the fruit of Christ's Passion and
Resurrection, by the way in which verse 22 is quoted in
Hebrews ii. 11, etc."^
T/iere is a tradition that our Lord, hanging on the Cross,
began — as we know from the Gospel — this Psalm, and repeating
it and those that follow, gave up Plis most blessed Spirit when
He came to the sixth verse of the 31st Psalm. However that
may be, by taking these first words on His lips, He stamped
the Psalm as belonging to Himself.t
TJie Evangelical Demonstration (by Eusebius of Ceesarea,
consisting of 20 books, of which five have perished) is a
lengthened argument from the Hebrew Scriptures themselves
that Christ was the Messiah, and that none other is to be
expected. The 15th Book ends with an interpretation of the
22nd Psalm.:}:
Verse 9. Thoit art He that took me out of my mother's womb. —
Dr. Robert Sanderson, some time Bishop of Lincoln, the day
before he took his bed — which was three days before his death
— -that he might receive a new assurance for the pardon of his
sins past, and be strengthened in his way to the New Jeru-
salem, took the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of
his and our blessed Jesus, from the hands of his chaplain,
Mr. Pullen, accompanied with his wife, children, and a friend,
in as awful, humble, and ardent a manner as outward reverence
could express.
After the praise and thanksgiving for it was ended, he spake
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 232.
t Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. i., p. 288.
X Dr. Neale's Holy Eastern Church {Patriarchate of Antioch), p. 80.
PSALM XXII. 103
to this purpose : ' Thou, O God, tookest me out of my mother s
7vomb, and hast been the powerful protector of me to this
present moment of my hfe. Thou hast neither forsaken me
«o\v I am become grey-headed, nor suffered me to forsake
Thee in the late days of temptation, and sacrifice my conscience
for the preservation of my liberty or estate. It was by grace
that I have stood, when others have fallen under my trials ; and
these mercies I now remember with joy and thankfulness ; and
my hope and desire is that I may die praising Thee.'"^
Verse 1 2 . Many oxen are come about me ; fat bulls of Basa7i
close me in on every side. — Bishop Wordsworth says : ' Much
misconception respecting Shakespeare's treatment of Holy
Scripture has prevailed among his critics, even of the highest
rank. Let me produce one notable example, derived from
the play of Antony and Cleopatra, Act III., Sc. ii.
After the ignominious flight, in which Antony had followed
Cleopatra from the coast of Actium back to Alexandria,
Octavius Caesar, the conqueror, sends a messenger to en-
deavour to detach the queen from her paramour. This mes-
senger is received favourably by Cleopatra in a private inter-
view, and just as he is kissing her hand, previous to his
departure, Antony comes in, and in the highest strain of indig-
nation, embittered by the consciousness of his downfall and
disgrace, upbraids her as follows :
Antony. To let a fellow that will take rewards,
And say, God quit yon ! be familiar with
My playfellow, your hand ; this kingly seal,
And plighter of iiigh hearts ! O that I were
Upon the hill of Basan, to oiitroar
The horned herd, for I have savage cause ;
And to proclaim it civilly were like
A halter'd neck, which does the hangman thank
For being yare (adroit) about him.'
This passage gives striking evidence of our poet's familiarity
with the Old Testament; see Psa. xxii. 12; Ixviii. 15;
Ezek. xxxix. 18; Amos iv. i. But is there anything to give
offence even to the most pious mind, in the way in which he
* Izaak Walton's Lives, p. 400.
104 PSALM-MOSAICS
has applied his knowledge of these several texts ? And yet not
only has Mr. Bo^Ydler omitted the reference to the ' hill of
Basan ' as indecorous, but critics, including Johnson himself,
have concurred in condemning it as matter for regret, nay, even
for 'pity and indignation.'"^
Verse 14. All my bones are out of joitit. — In the literal mean-
ing, these words have given rise to some of those long and
patient disquisitions which have inquired into
I the component parts of the cross, and the
I nature of our Lord's sufferings there. The
j ______ Eastern Church, as well as some particular
Doctors of the West, has always held that,
besides the cross and the nails, our Lord
I was supported by a smaller transverse bar
I beneath His Feet ; and that, in the convul-
I ^^^"^ sion of death, this became slightly displaced,
.,,,'--'"''^1 so as to present the form which surmounts
all Oriental Churches.t
Verse 20. My darlings or my only one. From the paral-
lelism=my soul, my life. In similar connection xxxv. 17.
The LXX. in both places tt,v iMovoyivri ij^ov ; Vulg., unicam
meam. It occurs besides, Judges xi. 34, of Jephthah's daughter
(see Genesis xxii. 2).+
Verse 21. Save me from the lio?is mouth. — Not long after this
{i.e., the execution of Lord Russell, in 1683), Dr. Burnet
was discharged from preaching the Thursday lecture at
St. Clement's, for a sermon on the words ' Save me from the
lion's mouth ; Thou hast heard me fro7n the lwr?is of the uni-
corns.' This was thought of dangerous construction, because
the lion and unicorn supported the king's escutcheon ; so timid
a thing is tyranny. On the accession of James II., Dr. Burnet
left England, and during his reign resided in Holland, enjoying
* Shakespeare s Knowledge and Use of the Bible, by Bishop Charles
Wordsworth, p. 50.
t Dr. Neale's Co;>nnentary, vol. i., p. 298.
X The Book of Psalms, by J. J> Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 237.
PSALM XXIII. 105
the friendship and confidence of the Prince and Princess of
Orange, who afterwards came to the Enghsh throne. Dr.
Burnet was on the scaffold with Lord Russell.^
PSALM xxin.
Heading (DeUtzsch). — Praise of the Good Shepherd.
Title (Spurgeon).— David's Heavenly Pastoral.
Contejits (Syriac). — A Psalm of David concerning his royal
table ; and, as respects ourselves, spiritually applied to Christian
nations in a new way.
Origi?i (Perowne). — It is unnecessary to refer this Psalm to
any particular period of David's history. As the outpouring of
a heart which has found perfect rest in God, it was probably
written in advanced years, after a long experience of God's
goodness. Its language is coloured by the reminiscences of
his past life. His own shepherd experience no doubt suggested
the image of the former part ; and in the latter we may perhaps
trace a recollection, more or less distinct, of the circumstances
mentioned in 2 Samuel xvii. 27-29, when, on David's coming
to Mahanaim during Abraham's rebellion, he and his party
were succoured and refreshed in their faintness and weariness,
through the kindness of Barzillai and other friends who supplied
their wants.
In Church. — In the Holy Eastern Church at the Burial of
Priests the Psalm is used with Alleluia, Alleluia, after each
verse.
This Psalm, together with Psalms Ixxxiv. and cxlv., is chanted
by the Choir in the Graeco-Russian Church, at the consecration
of a Church while the Altar-Throne is being prepared. Here
is the account of a rather elaborate ceremony. ' Now they '
(the priests) ' begin to wash the Throne ; sprinkling it plentifully
* Biography of Lady Russell, by Mr. Child, p. 68.
io6 PSALM MOSAICS
with holy water, and rubbing it with soap and sponges. Not
a fibre of the wood is left unwashed ; within, without, under-
neath and round about, they rub, splash, and wipe dry. After
this, four large nails are driven into the corners with stones,
thus fastening the thick top of the table to its legs ; and the
holes made for the heads of the nails are filled up with
Voskomastica, a mixture of wax, mastic, incense, and powdered
marble, melted together. This is in remembrance of the
' spices and ointments ' that the holy women prepared for the
Body of Jesus. The superfluous Voskomastica is scraped
away, with knives prepared for the purpose. Perfumes are
then poured on the table, mingled with holy water, and wiped
away ; also red wine, in the form of a cross, after which the
wood is rubbed as perfectly dry as possible."^
T/ie JF/io/e Psahn. — In the well-known paraphrase of this
Psalm by Joseph Addison — who found in it throughout life
the best expression of his own devotions — we seem to trace
the poet's allusion to his own personal dangers and escapes in
his Alpine and Italian journeys, so the imagery in which the
Psalmist describes his dependence on the shepherd-like
Providence of God must be derived from the remembrance of
his own crook and staff. Macaulay, in his Essay on the Life
and Writings of Addison, says : ' Of the Psalms, his favourite
was that which represents the Ruler of all things under the
endearing name of a shepherd, whose crook guides the flock
safe, through gloomy and desolate glens, to meadows well
watered and rich with herbage. On that goodness to which
he ascribed all the happiness of his life, he relied in the hour
of death with the love which casteth out fear.'
For a beautiful metrical paraphrase of this Psalm see the
Hymn by the Rev. Sir Henry W. Baker, Bart., in Hymns
Ancient and Modern (No. T97), 'The King of Love my
Shepherd is.' In Alford's 'Year of Praise,' this hymn is given
as in the original, with the omission of one verse. In other
* Tlie Gneco- Russian Chtirch, pp. 90, 91.
PSALM XXIII. 107
collections it is much altered. The original is Herbert's render-
ing of Psalm xxiii., and is given in The Temple under that title."^
Isaac Taylor's Testimony. — This is an ode which for beauty
of sentiment is not to be matched in the circuit of all literature.
In its way down three thousand years or more, this Psalm has
penetrated to the depths of miUions of hearts ; it has gladdened
homes of destitution and discomfort ; it has whispered hope
and joy amid tears to the utterly solitary and forsaken, whose
only refuge was in Heaven. Beyond all range of probable
calculations have these dozen lines imparted a power of endur-
ance under suffering, and strength in feebleness, and have kept
alive the flickering flame of religious feeling in hearts that were
nigh to despair. The Divine element herein embodied has
given proof, millions of times repeated, of its reality and of its
efficacy, as a formula of tranquil trust in God, and of grateful
sense of His goodness, which all, who do trust in Him, may
use for themselves, and use it until it has become assimilated
to their own habitual feelings. f
The Twenty-third Psalm is literally the Christian worshipper's
Communion Hymn. Its words ' I will fear no evil, for Thou
art with me. . . . Thou shalt prepare a table before me against
them that trouble me . . . my cup shall be full,' set them-
selves to ' the full sweet peal and melody that he hears ' in the
Communion Office, and from an Antiphon which fills other
Psalms with Eucharistic references.]:
' This is the Pearl of Psalms whose soft and pure radiance
delights every eye ; a pearl of which Helicon need not be
ashamed, though Jordan claims it. Of this delightful song, it
may be affirmed that its piety and its poetry are equal, its
sweetness and its spirituality are unsurpassed. ... It has been
said that what the nightingale is among birds, that is this
divine ode among the Psalms, for it has sung sweetly in the
* Sinoers of the Church, by Miller, p. 61.
t The Book of Psalms^ by Isaac Taylor, p. 29.
X The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity, p. 249.
io8 PSALM. MOSAICS
ear of many a mourner in his night of weeping, and has bidden
him hope for a morning of joy. I will venture to compare it
also to the lark, which sings as it mounts, and mounts as it
sings, until it is out of sight, and even then is not out of
hearing.'"^
Edwai'd Irving^ the saintly founder of the ' Catholic
Apostolic Church,' had the words of this Psalm on his dying
lips. He had a firm behef that he should live until the
coming of the Lord, and that the Master had a great work for
him to do in founding and building up this Church of a new
revelation, hence the mental struggle in his last hour. ' He
grew delirious in those solemn evenings and " wandered " in his
mind. Such wandering ! So long as his articulation continued
so distinct that we could make anything of his words it was of
spiritual things he spoke, praying for himself, his Church, and
his relations. . . . Once in this wonderful monologue he was
heard murmuring to himself sonorous syllables of some un-
known tongue. Listening to these mysterious sounds, Dr.
Martin ' (his father-in-law) ' found them to be Hebrew
measures of the tw^enty-third Psalm : " The Lord is my
Shepherd,'' into the latter verses of which the dying voice
swelled as the watcher took up and echoed the wonderful
strain : " Though I walk through the shadow of death 1 zvill
fear no eviW As the current of life grew feebler and feebler, a
last debate seemed to rise in that soul which was now hidden with
God. They heard him murmuring to himself in inarticulate
argument, confusedly struggling in his weakness to account
for this visible death, which at length his human faculties
could no longer refuse to believe— perhaps touched with in-
effable trouble, that His Master had seemed to fail of His word
and promise. At length that self-argument came to a sublime
conclusion in a trust more strong than life or death. As the
gloomy December Sunday sank into the night shadows, his
latest audible words on earth fell from his pale lips. The last
* The Treasury of David, vol. i., p. 398.
PSALM XXIII. 109
thing like a sentence we could make out was, " If I die, I die
unto the Lord. Amen." And so, at the last wintry midnight
hour which ended that final Sabbath on earth, the last bonds
of mortal anguish dropped asunder, and the saint and martyr
entered into the rest of his Lord.'*
Whefi the Huguenots assembled on Saturday night for family
prayer, the head of the listening household used to read this
Psalm in cheerful tones, and in the Memorial of Joseph Sortain
we are told that he adopted the same devout practice. When
asked by guests, who happened to be present, why he always
read this Psalm on Saturday night, he would reply, ' It was a
custom of Huguenot families, and I wish to gain inspiration
for my Sunday's duties by the associations it thus calls up.'t
The Psalms: frae Hebrew in til Scottis, by P. Hately
Waddell, LL.D., one of the most curious illustrations of the
Scottish language recently published, is a volume little known.
Whosoever is able to read this will find all the rich human,
and perhaps even, in such a connection, we may be per-
mitted to say, the humorsome characteristics of the language.
Take two or three instances. Thus, ' Touch the mountains,
and they shall smoke,' is literally rendered, 'Tang but the
heights, an' they'll ruk !' and ' He delighteth not in the strength
of the horse ; He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man,' is
rendered, ' He cares nane for the strenth o' the aiver ; likes
as little the shanks o' the carl.' But our readers will perhaps
like to see a more extended illustration ; and here, then, is the
twenty-third Psalm, and we think it will be scarcely possible to
read it without feeling its frequent beauty, and literalness of
expression :
The Lord is my herd ; nae want sal fa' me.
He louts me till lie amang green howes : He airts me atowye
by the lown waters.
* Life of Edward Irving, by Mrs. Oliphant, p. 427-
t A Song of Life or Death, Meditations on Psalm XXIII., by G. W.
McCree, p. 5.
no PSALM-MOSAICS
He waukens my \va-ga'en saul ; He weises me roun, for
His ain name's sake, intil right roddins.
Na ! tho' I gang thro' the dead-mirk dail ; een thar sal I
dread nae skaithin ; for yersel are nar-by me ; yer stock an'
yer stay haud me baith fu' cheerie.
My buird ye hae hansell'd in face o' my faes ; ye hae drookit
my head wi' oyle ; my bicker is fu' an' skailin.
E'en sae sal gude guidin an gude gree gang wi' me, ilk day
o' my livin \ an evir mair syne, i' the Lord's ain howf, at lang
last, sal I mak bydin.
The study of the Scottish dialect, however it may seem to
be fading from use, would well repay the student, who would
find his language enriched by some fine monosyllabic words,
and graced by expressive compound epithets."^
Dr. Duff, the great Indian Missionary, found comfort in this
Psalm as he lay dying (in February, 1878). His daughter
repeated it to him, and he responded at the end of each verse.
Poor desolate and afflicted Heinrich Heine, who had been a
pantheist and scoffer, alternately or combined, was laid for
years on what he called his mattress sepulchre, and took to
reading the Bible, especially the Psalms. One of the very
last of his poems, addressed to his wife, to whom he was
devotedly attached, bears traces of the shepherd-song of God's
flock, and if it wants the sparkle and point of his early genius^
it is redeemed by its softened tenderness. It begins thus :
' My arm grows weak ; Death comes apace,
Death pale and grim ; and I no more
Can guard my lamb as heretofore.
O God ! into Thy hands I render
My crook ; keep Thou my lambkin tender.
When I in peace have laid me down,
Keep Thou my lamb, and do not let
A single thorn her bosom fret,
And guide where pastures green and sweet
Refresh the wanderer's weary feet, t
Verse i. The Lord is my Shepherd. — Charles Pettit Mcllvaine,
* Scottish Characteristics, by Paxton Hood, p. 163.
t The Psalms in History and Biography, p. 46.
PSALM XXIII. Ill
Bishop of Ohio— a man whose hfe was full of the one aim to-
bring souls to Christ, and of whom the late Archbishop of
Canterbury (Tait) said, ' Few men living have done so much to
draw England and the United States together' — was a man
who lived as in the presence of God, and as a result his end
was full of peace and joy. ' He seemed indeed to be always
in the immediate presence of his Saviour, and never once did
a doubt of his acceptance overshadow his mind. " Blessed
Lord !" he said, " I have prayed so often that He would be-
with me at this time, and He will be ; I am sure of it." He
then alluded to the ministry of angels, a very favourite subject
with him, observing, " When the soul is out of its tabernacle the
angels will convey it to Jesus." Soon after he begged his love
to be sent to Bishop Bedell (Assistant Bishop of Ohio) and
Bishop Lee (of Delaware). After an interval, during which he
seemed to be meditating, he remarked : " I don't see any cause
for care or apprehension ; I know I am dying, but I have no
care — The Lord is my Shepherd ; He lifts up the Light of His
countenance upon me— I wish to be in His hands, and He
will do with me what He pleases — I have no will but His — Oh,
what a gracious tender Saviour He is !" ' The good Bishop
died soon after, ' but so quiet and gentle was the end, that we
could not precisely say when the blessed spirit departed. It
was indeed a literal falling asleep in Jesus.'"^
Verse 3. A?id lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. — At
the summit of the Pulney Hills, in Southern India, may be
seen the grave of one who lost his life in the midst of an over-
whelming flood on the plain below. The memorial stone by
that quiet grave bears this inscription : ' David Coit Scudder.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.^ \
Verse 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with 7ne ; Thy rod a?id
Thy staff comfo7't me. — St. Francis of Assisi joined the Christians
* Memorials of Bishop Mcllvame, by Rev. Canon Carus, p. 352.
t The Biblical Aluseuniy vol. vi. , p. 56.
112 PSALM -MOSAICS
under the walls of Damietta. The Sultan had offered a reward
of gold to whoever should bring him the head of one of the
invaders, and seized with the enthusiasm of the age, St. Francis,
at the peril of his life, took the first step in his Mission, by
marching to the enemy's camp, singing the fourth verse of this
Psalm. ' He undertook the adventure,' says Bonaventura, 'not
terrified by the fear, but rather excited by the desire of death.'
He set out with Brother Illuminato, after prayer to God, sing-
ing that tenderest of all consolatory Psalms which recalls the
green pastures and still waters, rather than the deadly presence
of peril. ' Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death I will fear ?io evil,' they sang, as they set out to cross the
dangerous passage ; their hearts inspired — ' drunken,' as says
the history — with the Spirit of God and the hope of martyr-
dom. The Sultan was so touched by the Missionary's fear-
lessness in thus venturing into the enemy's camp, that he sent
him back unharmed, and with these words on his lips : ' Pray
for me,' he said, ' that God may reveal to me that law and
faith which are according to His own heart.'*
This verse occurs in the Journals of Henry Alartyn, the
great Indian Missionary, of whom even the Persian Mollahs
used to say : ' Henry Martyn was never beaten in an argument ;
he was a good man, a man of God.' On this verse Martyn
makes the following comment : ' When do the sheep find the
happiness of having a shepherd so much as when they are
walking through a dark shadow? While Jesus lets me see His
rod and staff, I am comforted. 't
We have already noted that this Psalm is used in the Eastern
Church at the Burial of Priests, and this verse tells us the
reason, ' and see how beautifully the w^hole corresponds to it !
The grave, the fold, in which the Lord's sheep are penned
safely till the morning of the Resurrection And the Shepherd
Himself had tasted of the same trials which He permits His
* Life of St. Frauds of Assist, by Mrs. Oliphant, p. 167.
t Lamps of the Churchy by the Rev. H. Clissold, p. 2)'}^.
PSALM XXIII. 113
sheep to know. The green pasture will be, as ancient Liturgies
so often make it, the state of blessed souls that have departed
out of this world, but have not yet been admitted to the
Beatific Vision. ' They have departed,' says James of Edessa,
in his Liturgy, with true ' hope and the confidence of the faith
which is in Thee, from this world of straits, from this life of
misery, to Thee. Remember them and receive them, and
cause them to rest in the bosom of Abraham, in tabernacles of
light and rest, in shining dwelHng-places, in a world of pleasures,
in the city of Jerusalem, where there is no place for sorrow or
for war.' Then the ' convert my soul ' must be taken of that
final conversion when sin shall be destroyed for ever, as it is
written, ' He that is dead is freed from sin.' ' The paths of
righteousness,' what are they but those streets of gold, of which
it is written, ' The nations of them which are saved shall walk
in it '? ' The table will be at the eternal wedding feast : and
then how does the " all the days of my life," and " I will dwell
in the house of the Lord for ever," rivet the Psalm, as it were,
to this, as its natural meaning \'*
The valley of the shadoiv of death. — Those who have walked
through the Pass of Glencoe, or looked down into the Black
Valley (near the Gap of Dunloe), on a gloomy day, will readily
understand the appropriateness of this figure. In ' Ispahan,
we are told, is a valley inconceivably dreary, desolate, waterless,
called the Valley of the Angel of Death. 't
Some of the words uttered by Archbishop Laud, on the
scaffold, illustrate ' the valley of the shadow of death.' ' Lord,
I am coming as fast as I can. I know I must pass through the
shadow of death before I can come to see Thee. But it is but
U77ibra mortis., a shadow of death, a little darkness upon
nature : but Thou, Lord, by Thy goodness, hast broken the
jaws and the power of death.'
Verses 4, 5. Yea, though I ivalk through the valley of the
* Dr. Neale's Conwientary, vol. i., pp. 319, 320.
t Companion to the Psalter, p. 59.
8
14
PSALM-MOSAICS
shadow of deaths I will fear 7to evil. . . . Thou shall prepare a
table before me against them that trouble me :
' If Thou wiliest, feed me,
Strengthen ere 1 go ;
In that unknown pathway
Lighten every woe ;
Jesu, as Thou knowest
Grant me so to know.
' That an hour of weakness —
That a time of fear —
Come, Thou Bread of Heaven,
Sacrament so dear ;
All I loved may vanish
If but Thou be near.'
Frederick George Lee.
Verse 6. But Thy lovingkindness and mercy shall folloiv me
all the days of my life. — The following is an illustration of wha
the feelings of a good man should be in the hour of bitterness.
Richard Cameron was executed for his religious opinions on
July 2oth, i68o. His father was in prison for conscience' sake.
The bleeding head of the martyr son was brought to the father
by his unfeeling persecutors, and he was asked derisively if he
knew it. ' I know it, I know it,' said the father as he kissed
the mangled forehead of his fair-haired son ; ' it is my son's,
my dear son's ! It is the Lord ! Good is the will of the
Lord, who cannot wrong me or mine, but who hath mdi6.Q good-
ness and mercy to follow us all our days.'"^
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. — It is
fitting to close our remarks on this Psalm by quoting a verse of
the sequence Supernce matris gaudia, also noting the beautiful
words of Dr. Neale at this place. ' Here,' he says, ' we have
the heavenly home-sickness ; St. Paul's desire to depart and to
be with Christ, which is far better ; the change of the light of
grace, here often clouded and obscure, for the light of glory
that can never be darkened, that can never fade away, that
grows brighter and more perfect to ages of ages.'
* The A'ight of IVeeping, by Horatius Bonar.
PSALM XXIV. ',15
' Unto the glory of the Saints,
And through the prayers for us they pray
After earth's sorrows and complaints,
Christ bring us of His grace for aye !'
PSALM XXIV.
Heading (Delitzsch).— Preparation for the reception of the.
Lord who is about to come.
Title (Spurgeon). The song of the Ascension.
Contefits (Syriac).— xA Psalm of David— Concerning the first
■day, when God began the work of Creation.
Origin (Perowne).— This grand choral hymn was in all
probability composed and sung on the occasion of the removal
of the Ark from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David,
on Mount Zion (2 Sam. vi.). ... It seems quite evident that
the Psalm was intended to be sung in antiphonal measure,
voice answering voice, and chorus to chorus. Seven choirs of
singers and musicians, so Josephus tells us, preceded the Book
•on this occasion, as the king commanded, he himself playing
upon the harp, and dancing before Jehovah in his might.
In Church. — In the Jewish Church this Psalm is recited in
the Synagogue, at the carrying back of the volume of the
Law, the written Word of God, into its shrine; it is also a
■constant Psalm on the first day of the week in the Temple
Service throughout the year.
According to the Roman use, it is appointed as a Psalm in
the Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth, and in the Burial
of Children.
In the Holy Eastern Church it is used at the Burial of
Priests, and also at the burial of the Laity, when earth is cast
on the coffin. It is also used in the Graeco-Russian Church,
at the Consecration of a Church. At a certain part of the
service all march round the Church in procession. When they
get round to the West door they stop in the entrance, with
Ii6 PSALM-MOSAICS
their faces towards the door, which is shut. Half of the choir
have remained inside, and are stationed near the door.
Ifig/i Priest. — ' Blessed be Christ our God, always, now,
henceforth, and for ever !'
Choir (inside the Church). — ' Amen !'
High Priest. — ' Lift up your heads, O ye gates ! and be ye
lift up, ye everlasting doors ! and the King of glory shall come
in.'
Choir (in the Church). — ' Who is the King of Glory ?'
(These quotations from the 24th Psalm are repeated twice.)
Deaco7i. — 'Let us pray to the Lord !'
All the Choristers. — ' Lord, have mercy upon us !'
Then the High Priest reads, still in the entrance, a long and
beautiful prayer, which is succeeded by a shorter one, called
the Entrance Prayer.
High Priest. — 'The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of
glory !'
Choir (in the Church). — ' The Lord of Hosts, He is the
King of glory !' (also repeated three times).
The door is then opened, and the procession enters and
proceeds to the altar through the royal gates. "^
By the Church of England it is appointed the fourth of the
Proper Psalms for the Festival of the Ascension.
This Psalm is inscribed in the Septuagint and the Vulgate as
a Psalm for the first day of the week^ and was so used in the
Hebrew Ritual, and it is very suitable for \\\q first day, the day
on which the light of Creation, of Redemption, and of Sancti-
fication dawned on the world. Accordingly it is appointed in
the Sarum and Roman use for Trinity Sunday, f
Verse i. The earth is the Lord's aiid the fulness thereof —
Pride of ownership, of course, accounts for most of the
numerous initials and heraldic carving. Real piety probably
was the cause of the profuse use of biblical texts, as when
* Grj;co- Russian Churchy pp. 92, 93.
t Wordsworth's Commentary^ p, 33.
PSALM XXIV. 117
Sir Thomas Gresham inscribed upon his Exchange, * T/ie earth
is the Lord's^ a?id the fulness thereof.^*
St. Chrysostom comforted himself in his exile with the words of
the Psalms, writing thus : ' When driven from the city, I cared
nothing for it. But I said to myself, " If the Empress wishes
to banish me, let her banish me ; ' The earth is the Lord's, and
the fulness thereof P''' And again, "David clothes me with
armour, saying : ' I will speak of Thy testimonies before kings,
and will not be ashamed.' " 'f
The earth is the Lord's., and the fulness thereof and all that
dwell therein. — Deir Sambir is about one and a half hours east
of Dell Louzeh, and contains a Church of which three west
doors remain. Here we observed a handsome tomb well pre-
served, with the following inscription running round a semi-
circular arch : ' The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof
and all that dwell therein + 6/^-^.' . . . Another remark of some
interest occurs in connection with this epitaph ; this opening
verse of the 24th Psalm is the Stichos peculiar to the Burial
Service of a priest in the Greek Church, introduced near the
beginning of the office. |
Verse 2. ^ For ILe hath founded it upon the seas' — It may be
mentioned as a curiosity of Romish interpretation, that the
Vulgate 'super maria,' 'upon the seas,' was converted into
* super Maria,' 'upon (the Virgin) Mary.'§
Verse 6. This is the generation of them that seek Him : even
of them that seek Thy face, O Jacob :
' The seekers of Thy glorious face,
Thy chosen Israel. '||
Verse 9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up^
ve everlast'mg doors, and the King of glory shall come in. —
* Quivei^, June, 1883, p. 491.
t The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 38.
X 'Nea.le's Holy Eastern Church: Patriarchate of Antioch, Introduction,
xxxix.
§ The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 248.
11 Keble.
iiS PSALM-MOSAICS
I must not refrain from noticing the use made of this verse by
our own poet, in his description of the Son of God, first going
forth to Creation, and again returning from the completion
of his work :
* Heaven opened wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound,
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory, in His powerful word
And Spirit, coming to create new worlds.'
And on His return :
' Up He rode
Followed with acclamation, and the sound,
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
Angelic harmonies.
Open, ye everlasting gates ! they sing.
Open, ye Heavens ! your living doors ; let in
The great Creator from His work returned
Magnificent ; His six days' work, a world.'
'To sing
The glorious train ascending. He through Heaven
That opened wide her blazing portals, led
To God's eternal house direct the way.'
Paradise Lost, vii.*
PSALM XXV.
Headi7ig (Delitzsch). — Prayer for gracious protection and
guidance.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Instruction in the
duty of thanksgiving.
Origin (Perowne). — ' This is an acrostic or alphabetical
Psalm, the first verse beginning with the first letter of the
Hebrew alphabet, and the other letters following in order at
the beginning of each successive verse. The order indeed is
not perfectly observed. . . . We have no means of fixing what
the time was ' (at which the Psalm was written) ; ' but they '
(z>., this and the thirty-fourth Psalm, between which there are
peculiarities of alphabetical arrangement) ' probably belong to
* The Book of Psahns, by Bishop Mant, p. So.
PSALM XXV. 119
the later period of the history— perhaps to the time of the
exile.'
Jn Church.— In the Holy Eastern Church the Psalm is used
at the Burial of the Laity. Prokeimenon of the Epistle, Psalm
XXV. I ; it is also the fourth Psalm in the Greek late Even-
song. In the Lutheran Service it is used in the Service for
the Sick and Dying.
The Whole Psalm. — Some of the most precious spiritual
treasures have been drawn from this Alphabetical Psalm.
Thus, verse 6 (reminiscere miserationem eum tuarum) gave
name to 'Reminiscere Sunday,' the 2nd Sunday in Lent;
verse 1 2 (oculi mei semper ad Dominum) to ' Ocuh Sunday,'
third Sunday in Lent ; Luther put this Psalm into his office
for the Dying, to be used after the receiving of the Holy
Communion ; and Selnecker's beautiful hymn for the Dying,
' Allein nach dir, Herr Jesu Christ,' grew out of verse i."*^
Lord Strafford on the scaffold, after speaking to the people,
turned to those on the scaffold, and said : ' Gentlemen, I
would say my prayers, and I entreat you all to pray with me
and for me.' Then his chaplain. Dr. Carr, laid the Book of
Common Prayer upon the chair before him as he kneeled
down, on which he prayed almost a quarter of an hour, and
repeated the twe^ity-fifth Psahn ; then he prayed as long or
longer without a book, and ended with the Lord's Prayer.
Then, standing up, he spied his brother. Sir George Wentworth,
and called to him, and after giving his last request said : ' I
have done ; one stroke will make my wife husbandless, my
dear children fatherless, and my poor servant masterless, and
separate me from my dear brother and all my friends ; but
let God be to you and them all in all.'t
The first of the Alphabetic Psalms ; that is, of those in which
each verse, or each clause, commences consecutively with a
letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. The others are the 34th, the
* Kay on The Psalms, p. 81.
t Mozley's Essays, vol, i., p. 102 : Lord Strafford.
1 20 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
37th, the I nth, the 112th, the 119th, and the 145th. Besides
these, the Lamentations of Jeremiah are written on the same
system, and the 31st chapter of the Book of Proverbs. Some
of the Psalms, of which this is one, are not absolutely perfect
in the acrostic arrangement. It is a more ingenious than
likely suggestion of Cassiodorus, that those in which the
acrostic is maintained without a flaw are intended to describe
the state of the perfect ; the Psalms in which it is not unbroken,
of those who are only striving after perfection. Probably from
these Psalms arose the A B C-darian hymns of the Latin, and
Canons of the Eastern Church.*
Verse i. Unfo T/iee, 0 Lord, lu ill I lift up my soul ; viy God,
I have put my trust in Thee. — St. Louis at his coronation
uttered these words.
My God, I have put my trust in Thee. — It is a curious
example of the way in which Gerhohus presses the verse, on
which he is commenting, to apply to the religious state of the
time, when we find him thus writing on this first verse : ' My
God, I have put my trust i?i Thee : I trust not in the traditions
of the Pharisee ; I trust not in idols ; I trust not in the sects
of heresies ; I trust not in the ifiterdicted masses of Simoniacs.\
My God, I have put my trust in Thee ; O let me not be con-
founded.— Charles Kingsley wrote in 1857, to Mr. Maurice:
' I can think of nothing but these Indian massacres. The
moral problems they involve make me half wild. . . . What
does it all mean ? Christ is King, nevertheless ! I tell my
people so. I should do — I dare not think what — if I did
not believe so. But I want sorely someone to tell me that he
believes it too. Do write to me and give me a clue out of this
valley of the shadow of death. . . .'
' My experience is, that when they come ' (doubts concern-
ing God's rule, etc.), ' one must face them, do battle with them
deliberately, be patient if they worst one for awhile. For, by
* Dr. Neale's CoDwicntaiy, vol. i., p. 339.
t Ibid.
PSALM XXV. 121
all such things men live, in these is the life of the spirit. Only
by going down into hell can one rise again the third day. . . .
I never have looked hell so close in the face as I have been
doing of late. Wherefore, I hope thereby to get fresh power
to rise, and to lift others heavenward. But the power has not
come yet. . . . And I can only cry, " O Zord, in Thee have I
trusted^ let me never be confounded. Wherefore should the
wicked say, where is now his God ?" But while I write now,
and while I fret most, there comes to me an inner voice,
saying : " What matter if thou art confounded, God is not.
Only believe firmly that God is at least as good as thou, with
thy '^finite reason,' canst conceive ; and He will make thee at
last able to conceive how good He is, and thou shalt have the
one perfect blessing of seeing God." You will say I am incon-
sistent. So I am; and so, if read honestly, are David's
Psalms. Yet that very inconsistency is what brings them
home to every human heart for ever. The words of a man in
real doubt and real darkness, crying for light, and not crying
in vain. As I trust I shall not. God bless you.'"^
Verse 4. Lead me forth in Thy truths a7id learn me. —
Learn = to teach.
' You must not learn me how to remember any extraordinary
pleasure.' — As You Like It, Act L, Sc. ii.f
Verse 9. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. —
When thought to be dying, during his Provostship at Annecy,
St. Francis of Sales said, as he resigned himself to death, ' All
the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. ^
Verse 10. For Thy Name's sake, O Lord, be merciful ujito
my sin, for it is great. — Charles de Condren, the successor to
Cardinal de Berulle, as General of the Oratorians — and of
whom de Berulle used to remark that, * while the Congregation
obeyed its General, that General obeyed Pere de Condren '
* Charles Kingsley s Life, vol. ii., p. 61.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 36.
122 PSALM-MOSAICS
— lay dying. ' Pray that God will this day convert the greatest
of sinners !' he said of himself to the Father who was minister-
ing to him. After receiving Extreme Unction, he gave his last
blessing to the assembled community : ' Veni Domine Jesu,
et vive in his famulis Tuis in plenitudine virtutis Tuse et
dominare adversae potestati, qui vivis et regnas in seculi
seculorum.'
He was constantly making acts of contrition and hope,
through the pains of death, which were severe. ' Manus
Domini tetigit me !' (The Hand of God hath touched me,'
Job xix. 2i) he exclaimed shortly before the last. Just at the
end, when sorely overwhelmed with a bitterness which those
around likened to our Lord's last Agony on the Cross, he
cried out : ' Domme propitiaberis peccato vieo^ multum est
enim P (Psalm xxv. lo, 'For Thy Name's sake. Lord, be
merciful unto my sin, for it is great '). Pere de Saint Pe, who
stood by, said : ' Father, give yourself up to God.' Whereupon
with a clear strong voice the dying man replied : ' My God, I
commit my soul into Thy Hands !' and so saying he expired,
January 7, 1641.*
Verse 15. Turn Thee imto ??ie, and have mercy Jipon me : for
I am desolate aiid in misery.
' The priest beheld, and passed
The way he had to go ;
A careless eye the Levite cast,
And left me to my woe ;
But Thou, O good, O loving One, draw nigh ;
Have pity on me ! say, " Thou shalt not die !" 't
PSALM XXVI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — The Longing of one who is perse-
cuted innocently, to give thanks to God in His house.
Cofttents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — When his friends
* Priestly Life in FraJtce, p. 281.
t IViodion, the Great Penitential Canon.
PSALM XXVI. 123
turned away from him in his flight. As regards ourselves, the
supph cation of the man that progresseth in virtue before
God.
Origin (Perowne).— The Psalm furnishes no direct evidence
as to its date, but it may have been composed during Absa-
lom's rebellion. His partisans may especially be hinted at in
the ' vain men ' and ' dissemblers ' of verse 4, who had only
recently been unmasked ; for Absalom, it is said, ' had stolen
the hearts of the men of Israel.'
//z C/iurc/i.—ln the Roman Catholic, at the Eucharist,
Lavabo, verse 6-12.
T/ie Whole Fsalm.—Y^hQn Pius VII. received Napoleon's
notice of his deposition, he knelt down and recited the Psalm
' Judica me, Domine.'
Verse 5. / have hated the migregation of the wicked, and
will not sit among the ungodly.— ^-^ the Council of Carthage,
A.D. 411, the Catholic Bishops, to the number of 286, met the
Donatists— their Bishops amounting to 278— to arrange matters,
and, if possible, to heal the schism which was then dividing the
Church. The Donatists evidently entered into the Conference
with the greatest reluctance, and when Marcellinus, the
imperial Commissary, desired them to sit down, Retilian,
Bishop of Cirta, their leader, produced scriptural authority for
refusing, viz., the words of the Psalmist. St. Augustine replied
that to be consistent they should not have come at all, smce
the same verse also said, ' I have hated the congregation of evil
doers.^
Verse 6. I will ivash my hands in innocency .—OnQ mornmg,
as Gotthold was pouring water into a basin, he recollected the
words of Scripture, '/ will wash my hands in innocency; a
text which shows how diligently the royal prophet had
endeavoured to lead a blameless life, and walk habitually m
the fear of God. Upon this he mused, and said, ' Henceforth,
my God, every time I pour out water to wash with, I will call
124 PSALM-MOSAICS
to mind that it is my duty to cleanse my hands from wicked
actions, my mouth from wicked words, and my heart from
wicked lusts and desires, that so I may be enabled to lift
holy hands unto Thee, and with unspotted lips and heart
worship Thee, to the best of my ability.'"^
I will wash 7ny hands in innocency^ O Lord ; and so will I go
to Thine altar. — ' Be it not supposed,' says St. Cyril of Jeru-
salem, in the 5th Book of his teaching, ' that this ' (the lavabo
at the Holy Eucharist) ' is done to cleanse the body from out-
ward impurities, for we never enter a Church in a dirty state of
body. It signifies that our souls must be purified from all sins
and wickedness. For as their hands are the instruments of
action, the washing of them shows the purity and undefiledness
of our desires. Hast thou never heard the words of David,
who says, ' / will wash my hands in innocency^ and so will I go
to Thy altar, O Lord ' .?t
Verse 8. Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and
the place where Thine honour dwelleth. — St. Paula, when dying,
exclaimed, ' Lord, L have loved the habitation of TJmie house,
and the place where Thine hoiiour dwelletJi. O hoiu amiable are
Thy divellings, Thou Lord of Hosts P
Catheri?ie Taifs last hours are full of pathos and rest ; she
was ever a lover of God's House. Can we do better than
describe her last moments in the words of the Archbishop ?
' We were now in great alarm of some sudden termination, or
of unconsciousness coming on, and it would have left a sad
memory if she had departed without that solemn rite, through
which her soul had always rejoiced to hold communion with
her Saviour. But still, for several hours, she was entirely her-
self. I administered the Holy Communion to her, to her
daughter, and to the physician.
' She joined in all, so far as her impeded speech would allow.
I said to her the Nuiic Dimittis, and she repeated it with me.
* Christian Scriver (1629- 1693) in Gotthold's Emblems.
t Grceco- Russian Clmrchy p. 401.
PSALM XXVII. 125
I said to her, " O Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thi?ie
house^^ and she added, "■ And the place where Thine honour
dwelleth.'' I tried to go through the hymn, "Jesus, Lover of
my soul," and when I faltered she supplied the missing words.
Then, after a time of rest, as of old, on all Sundays — in the
Deanery, at Fulham and London House, at Lambeth and at
Addington — her daughter sang to her some favourite hymns :
" Lo ! He comes with clouds descending" and " Lead, Kindly
Light, amid the encircling gloom." When they had finished,
I repeated to her again the last lines, inscribed by her desire
on the frame of Grispini's picture of the children who left her
at Carlisle :
' " And with the mom those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile."
"Yes, yes," she repeated; and either then or a few minutes
before she spoke of those of us who had gone before, stretch-
ing out their hands to welcome her. The physician wished
her again to rest. Soon she became unconscious, and about
ten o'clock, after I offered up the Commendatory Prayer, her
breathing ceased with a gentle sigh, and she was gone.'"^
Verse 11. But as for me, I will walk innocently. — 'In inno-
tentia mea ingressus sum ' was the motto of Pope Inno-
cent VIII.
PSALM XXVII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Taking heart in God, the All-Recom-
pensing One.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — On account of the
infirmity that fell upon him.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm, like the last and the one
which follows, may very probably be referred to the time of
Absalom's rebellion.
* Catherine and Crauford Tail, p. 194.
126 PSALM-MOSAICS
In Church.— ThQ Orthodox Church of the East. The
anointing with Chrism after Baptism. The Priest begins with
prayer, and then makes the sign of the cross with the feathers
dipped in a tiny bottle of holy oil, on the brow, eyes, nostrils,
ears, lips, breast, hands and feet, each time with the words,
' The Seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost.' The Priest, followed
by the sponsors, still holding the child, now walks round the
font, chanting with the Deacon and Reader, ' As many of us
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ
(Gal. iii. 27) — Hallelujah!' The god-mother or god-father
having taken the child, they again walk round the font with the
same words ; the third time, if there be two pairs of sponsors,
one of the other pair takes it.
Reader : ' The Lord is viy light and my salvation : whom
then shall I fear 1 the Lord is the strength of 7ny life, of whom
then shall I be afraid V Then follows the Epistle, read by the
Reader (Rom. vi. 3-11), 'So many of us . . . alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord,' and after a few sentences
and doxologies the Gospel (St. Matt, xxviii. 16 to end)."^
Ihis Psalm is also appointed in the Greek Office for the
Visitation of the Sick.t The Latin Church has appointed it
for Good Friday and Easter Even, and so the Sarum Use.|
The Whole Psalm. — India was still heaving with the ground-
swell of the terrible mutiny of 1857, when the wife of Sir John
Lawrence was called home to her children in England, and
had to leave her husband, who could not quit his post,
surrounded by the smouldering embers which might at any
moment rekindle into flame, and worn to exhaustion with the
anxiety and labour which did so much for the preservation of
the Indian Empire. She thus writes : ' When the last morning
of separation (Jan. 6, 1858) arrived, we had our usual Bible
reading, and I can never think of the 27//? Psalm, which was
* Graco-Rtissia^i Church, pp. 74, 75.
t Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 239.
% Wordsworth's Comf?tentary, p. 38.
PSALM XXVII. 127
the portion we then read together, without recaUing that sad
time.' In perusing the Psalm, we can see what springs of comfort
must have opened in every verse, from the beginning to the
close : ' The Lord is my light and my salvation : whom shall
I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life : of whom shall
I be afraid ? . . . For in the time of trouble He shall hide me
in His pavilion, in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide
me ; He shall set me up upon a rock. ... I had fainted,
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen thine heart ; wait, I say, in the
LORD.'"^
The Whole Psalm. — Dr. Kogel read this Psalm to the dying
Emperor William. 'Papa, do you understand?' asked the
Grand Duchess of Baden. ' It was beautiful !' and these were
his last words (March 9, 1888).
Verse i. Domiims ilhiminatio mea. — No device of whatever
kind appears on any of the known Oxford books executed
during the 15 th century. We are not aware of any one
earlier than that which is here exhibited in a woodcut as our
first specimen ; which is found in a work by Walter Burley, of
the date of 15 17. It is an engraving on wood, representing
the University arms in a shield supported by two angels ; but
instead of our present motto, 'Dominus illuminatio mea,'
which was introduced after the Restoration of Charles II., we
here read 'Veritas hberabit Bonitas regnabit.' Our second
specimen, taken from books of the 17th century, presents
a device somewhat different, in which the two angels appear
above, and two fiends below, with the appropriate motto on
the open book of seven seals ' Sapientias et Feiicitatis ;' a
motto which appears in books printed by Joseph Barnes, 1586-
161 7, and which was used till about the time of the Restoration.
It seems that the three mottoes of the University appear in
* The Psalms in History and Biography^ P- 5I.
128 PSALM-MOSAICS
combination in an escutcheon representing the arms of the
University in the east window of the Bodleian.^
Verse 3. Though a?i host of 7ne?i were laid against ?ne^ yet
shall 7Wt my heart be afraid. — St. Antony, the first great
preacher of the hermit life, was an instance of self-denial and
forgetfulness. He was an Egyptian, Christianly brought up.
One day in Church the Gospel was, ' If thou wilt be perfect,
go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor ; and come,
follow Me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven :' he there-
fore sold all that he had, committed his sister to known and
faithful virgins, and adopted a life of self-denial.
Antony, having thus as it were bound himself, went to the
tombs, which happened to be some way from the village ; and
having bidden one of his acquaintance to bring him bread at
intervals of many days, he entered one of the tombs, and,
shutting the door upon himself, remained there alone. But
the enemy not enduring that, but rather terrified, lest in a little
while he should fill the desert with his training, coming one
night with a multitude of demons, beat him so much with
stripes that he lay speechless for the torture. For he asserted
that the pain was so great, that no blows given by men could
cause such agony. But by the providence of God (for the
Lord does not overlook those who trust in Him), the next
day his acquaintance came, bringing him the loaves. And
having opened the door, and seeing him lying on the ground
for dead, he carried him to the Lord's house in the village,
and laid him on the ground, and many of his kinsfolk and the
villagers sat round him, as round a corpse. But about mid-
night Antony, coming to himself, and waking up, saw them all
sleeping and only his acquaintance awake, and nodding to him
to approach, begged him to carry him back to the tomb, without
waking anyone. When that was done, the doors were shut, and
he remained as before, alone inside. And because he could
not stand on account of the demons' blows, he prayed prostrate.
* Ingram's Memorials of Oxford^ vol. iii., p. 15.
PSALM XXVII. J 29
And after his prayer he said with a shout, ' Here am I,
Antony; I do not fly from your stripes; yea, if you do yet
more, nothing shall separate me from the love of Christ.'
And then he sang : 'If an host be laid against me, yet shall not
my heart be afj-aidT"^
Verse 4. 0?ie thing have I desired of the Lord, which I will
require, even that I may dwell in the home of the Lord all the
days of my life. — Peter Balsam, a native of the territory of
Eleutheropolis, in Palestine, was apprehended at Aulane, in
the persecution of Maximinus. Being brought before Severus,
governor of the province, he was subjected to a severe cross-
examination. He was afterwards put to the rack, and whilst
he was suspended in the air, the governor said to him, scoffing :
' What say you now, Peter ; do you begin to know what the
rack is ? Are you yet willing to sacrifice ?' Peter answered,
' Tear me with iron hooks. I have already told, sacrificing, I
will sacrifice to that God alone for whom I suffer.' Hereupon
the governor commanded his tortures to be redoubled. The
martyr, far from fetching the least sigh, sung with alacrity those
verses of the royal prophet : One thing L have asked of the
Lord; this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life. L will take the chalice of salva-
tion, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
After enduring other tortures he was nailed to a cross.
Thus it was that this glorious martyr finished his triumph, at
Aulane on the third of January, 311.!
St. Maglorre was a fellow-disciple of St. Sampson under St.
Iltutus in Wales, his cousin, and his zealous companion in his
apostolical labours in Brittany, and he succeeded him in the
abbey of Dole, and in the episcopal character. His labours
were attended with a great harvest of souls. After three years
he resigned his bishopric, being seventy years old, and retired
into a desert on the continent, and some time after into the
*■ The Hermits^ by C. Kingsley, pp. 40, 41.
t Butler's Lives of the faints.
I30 PSALM-MOSAICS
isle of Jersey, where he founded and governed a monastery of
sixty monks. He lived on barley bread and pulse, ate only
after sunset, and on Wednesdays and Fridays took no nourish-
ment at all ; on Sundays and festivals, he added to his bread
a little fish. For six months before he died he never stirred
out of the church but when he was obliged by some necessity,
and he frequently repeated with sighs : O^ie iking I have asked
of ike Lord ; tkis 7a ill I seek after : ikat I may dzvell i?i the
house of tke Lord all tke days of my life. He died about the
year 575.*
Verse 5. hi tke time of trouble He skall hide me in His taber-
nacle.
. ' In Thy safe pavilion, Lord,
]/ 'Neath the shadow of Thy wing,
Let me nestle down my head,
All my sorrows to Thee bring.
' In Thy safe pavilion, Lord,
'Neath the shadow of Thy wing,
from this lower woild of strife.
Hide me from its hollow ring.
' In Thy safe pavilion, Lord,
'Neath the shadow of Thy wing,
Lay me like a little child,
To my Father I would cling.
• Let me hear the distant waves,
V / Silv'ry chimes upon that shore,
^ Softly murmuring to the blest,
Rest, sweet rest for evermore.
' On Thy bosom calmly sleeping,
vy Weary with this earthly strife,
Speak to me of love unchanging,
Everlasting love and life !'t
Verse 9. My keart hath talked of Thee , Seek ye my face ; Thy
face, Lord, will / seek :
' Help me to seek Thee, Saviour, lest I stray
In paths that never bear Thy blessed feet ;
I would not wander from my Lord's highway,
Yet I am weak, and earth's frail joys are sweet.'
* Butler's Lives of the Saints.
t Poems by Sophia Eckly, p. 90.
PSALM XXVII. ,31
' But all my soul is set to seek Thy face,
And all Thy love hath moved me to be Thine ;
My spirit yearneth for Thy dwelling-place,
My heart desireth that fair home of mine.
' Still keep me true to Thee in bliss or pain,
Incline mine ear to hear what Thou shalt speak ;
Call me to Thee again, and yet again,
And I will say, " Thy face, Tord, will I seek." '*
Verse 12. lVhe7i my father and my mother forsake me, the
Lord taketh me up.
' 'Tis strange that those we lean on most,
Those in whose laps our limbs are nursed,
Fall into shadow, soonest lost ;
Those we love first are taken first.
' God gives us love. Something to love
He lends us ; but, when love is grown
To ripeness, that on which it throve
Falls off, and love is left alone.'
Alfred Tennyson.
Verse 14. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage.
' Stand but your ground, your ghostly foes will fly —
Hell trembles at a heaven-directed eye ;
Choose rather to defend than to assail —
Self-confidence will in the conflict fail ;
When you are challenged you may dangers meet —
True courage is a fixed, not sudden heat ;
Is always humble, lives in self-distrust,
And will itself into no danger thrust.
Devote yourself to GOD, and you^will find
God fights the battles of a will resigned.
Love Jesus ! love will no base fear endure —
Love Jesus ! and of conquest rest secure.'
Bishop Ken (1637-1711).
Verse 15. / should utterly have fainted ; but that L believe
verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
' One adequate support
For the calamities of mortal life
Exists, one only — an assured belief
That the procession of our fate, howe'er
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a Being
Of infinite benevolence and power ;
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them to good.'
William Wordsworth.
Sunday at Home, 1877, p. 505.
132 PSALM. MOSAICS
Ve?'sc 1 6. O tarry thou the Lord's leisin-e ; be strong, and He
shall comfort thme heart ; and put thou thy trust 171 the Lord. —
For an excellent and affecting exposition of this text, in re-
ference to the duties of the faithful in times of trouble, the
reader may refer to Bishop Sanderson's Sermon upon it
(i. 353), preached before King Charles L, at Woburn, in the
time of his distress, August 8, 1647.
At the Deanery, Carlisle, in 1855, the greatest sorrow that
can befall loving natures happened to Archbishop Tait and his
wife. Five of their children died, one after the other, in
scarlet fever.
' A very few days after her first great sorrow had fallen upon
her, she committed to writing her recollections of it for the
perusal of her family and her friends.
On December 20th she wrote unknown to anyone a
memorandum, addressed to her son, which was only found in
one of her drawers after her death. From that paper the fol-
lowing words are extracted :
' I wish to say to dear Craufurd (her son) and our children,
that after your father and myself have left you, and have,
through the merits of Christ, joined your dear sisters in our
Father's house, it may be well for you to publish the little
book which contains the account I wrote soon after they left
us, of that time of trial. As the suffering is one which must
recur over and over again while the world lasts, it may speak
a word of help and comfort to those upon whom a similar
burden is laid, and who are feeling that it is too heavy for them
to bear. To them I would say, " O tarry thou the Lord's leisure;
be strong, afid He shall comfort your hearts ; and put you your
trust hi the Lord.'' In the darkest part of our sorrow these
words were never absent from me, and I have found how truly
they spoke.'
Her life, her death, was one long act of trust in God, and
she was enabled to say, in strong hope (they are her own
words), ' They are in the safe keeping of God and His good
angels, and now know the joy of His people, in the kingdom
PSALM XXVIII.
133
of His glory; and as for us, we know to Whom we have
committed them, and are sure that He is able to keep them
for us.'
PSALM xxvni.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Cry for help and thanksgiving, in a
time of rebelUon.
Title (Spurgeon). — Another of those 'songs in the night'
of which the pen of David was so prolific.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Prayer and supplica-
tion ; and that we should implore aid.
Origin (Perowne). — There is no valid reason why we should
reject the traditional title which gives the Psalm to David.
Like the two preceding Psalms, it might very well have been
composed at the time of Absalom's rebellion.
/;/ Church. — In the Orthodox Eastern Church, in Liturgy
of St. Chrysostom, Holy Eucharist. After the people have
received, the Priest blesses them, repeating Psalm xxviii. 10 :
' O God, save Thy people, and bless Thine heritage.'*
The Whole Psahn. — The principle of building East and
West, and placing the altar eastwards, so as to turn the faces
of the worshippers in that direction, must be derived from
Eastern, if not from Hebrew, habit, as the idea of a fixed
Kebleh, or direction, is certainly Oriental. ' We have probably
the earliest trace of it,' says Mr. Plumptre, 'in Psalm xxviii.,
ascribed to David. It is recognised in the dedication prayer
of Solomon (i Kings vii. 29), and by Daniel (vi. 10), as a fixed
rule. Christian orientation probably followed the structure of
the synagogue . . . and the Table of the Lord, bearing wit-
ness of the Blood of the New Covenant, took the place of the
ark, which contained the Law that was the groundwork of the
old.'t
* Neale's Commenlary, vol. iv., p. 269.
t The Basilica, by Rev. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, part ii.
134 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse i. Be not silent to nie. — Gerhohus, interpreting the
Vulgate, Nesileas a me, does not fail to enter at length into the
mediaeval belief that the lion's whelps are born dead, and that
the parent lion, by roaring over them, raises them to life on the
third day. Keep Jiot silence over me, to the end that I may not
remain in death.*
Verse 6. — For they regard not in their mind the works of the
Lord, nor the operation of His hands ; therefore shall He break
them down, and not build them up. — The Christian of the time
of Julian the Apostate saw a marvellous fulfilment of this
verse when the plan of this heathen Emperor for rebuilding
the Temple was miraculously frustrated. He, indeed, regarded
not in his mind those prophecies that foretold that of the
Temple there should not be left one stone upon another ;
and therefore God did break down, and not build up, his
abortive attempt, causing the very heathen to confess that there
was somewhat miraculous in his failure.t
Ve?'se lo. O save Thy people, and give Thy blessing unto
Thine iiiheritance : feed them, and set them up for ever. — Here we
have one of the clauses in that wonderful hymn (theTe Deum)
the author of which, like most of the other everlasting posses-
sions of the Church, will never be known till the end of all
things ; for none can doubt that it is far older than its usually
alleged parentage, which would attribute it to St. Ambrose and
St. Augustine.j
At the martyrdom of Savonar-ola, both he and Fra Domenico,
one of his most devoted followers, and who suffered martyrdom
with him, endeavoured in vain to appease the tumult, and
entreated the brethren to lay aside their armour. When words
could avail nothing, Savonarola, attiring himself in a cope, and
taking a crucifix in his hand, proposed to go forth and offer
himself a sacrifice to the mob, as it was on his account that
* Dr. Neale's Com/iientary, vol. i., p. 390.
t Ibid., p. 394.
X Ibid., p. 397.
PSALM XXIX, 135
the storm had arisen. Held back by the lamentations of his
friends, he then took the Sacrament in his hands, and calling
upon his brethren to follow him, he went in procession around
the cloisters, and afterwards proceeding to the choir, told them
that prayer was their only weapon. Nearly the whole of the
community joined him in prayer, singing before the Blessed
Sacrament: ^ Salviun fac popidum Tuum Domi7ie.' The assault
on the convent waxed fiercer, and fire was now applied to
burn down the doors. The friars met their assailants with
determined courage, striking with whatever weapon they
could lay hold of. The grotesque and the pathetic were
curiously mingled in this strange conflict. One historian tells
us of a certain German brother, named Herred, who, in de-
fending the choir, got up into the pulpit with an arquebuse and
shot a good many of the enemy in the Church, exclaiming as
he fired : ' Salvuin fac populum Tuuni Domine et benedic hcere-
ditate Tuce, taking up the refrain of the Psalm which Savona-
rola had made them sing before the Sacrament."^
PSALM XXIX.
Heading {T)e\\tz?,ch). — The Psalm of the seven Thunders.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Concerning the
oblation.
Origin (Perowne). — According to the tradition in the in-
scription of the LXX., it,obi(j-j (al sgd^ou) on their
standards.
X
' Christus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro
Signabat Labarum.'
' The Name of Christ, inwrought with jewelled gold,
Adorned the purple Labarum. 'j
Verse 9. Will praise Thy Name for ever.
*Thee, O Name of Jesus sweet,
Stone from mountain hewn, we greet,
Living nurture of the soul,
Man prays Thee to make him whole.
* Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 66.
t Dr. Neale's Co)nmentary, vol. ii., p. 76.
X Ibid., p. 79.
PSALM XLIV. 203
' Hail, O Name, for aye renowned,
Through the wide world yet to sound ;
Jesu, sweet of Whom to tell,
Kindle us to love Thee well.
* Hail, O wealthy King of day,
Son of God, be Thou my stay ;
Lest the Amorites succeed,
Jesu, think on me in need.
' This song was made and set forth by a certain grey monk lowly.
In praise of Jesus Christ the Lord, for solace of the holy.'*
Verse 18. JVor behave ourselves frowardly in Thy covenant. —
This is a verse on which Bishop Wren prepared a sermon
during his imprisonment. In his prison he had prepared
sermons and discourses on abandoning the Scottish Covenant
(one on the text ' Neither behave thyself frowardly in the
covenant '), and similar subjects which he now dispersed through
his late and his present diocese, while he lodged where he
could in London, as he was not allowed to go back to either
his palace, or Ely House in Holbornf (see on Psalm li. for
account of Bishop Wren).
Verse 22. As sheep appoi?ited to be slain. — Edward Bering,
at one time Rector of Pluckley, was Chaplain to Queen
Elizabeth at the Tower. He was also Lady Margaret Professor
of Divinity at Cambridge, and a Prebendary of Salisbury. He
was a man of fearless boldness, and in a sermon preached
before the Queen in 1569 he warned her lest she, who had been
(' tanquam ovis ') ^ as a sheep appoiiited to be slain ' (Psalm xliv.
22), should come to be chastised (' tanquam indomita juvenca ')
as an untamed and unruly heifer (Jer. xxxi. 18). Her Majesty
deemed the allusion a little too forcible, and Edward Bering
was forbidden to preach any more before the Court. Some
time afterwards he was prosecuted for Puritanism before the
High Commission, and after a long suit was suspended from
all his clerical functions. +
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 81.
f Sh' Christophei- Wren and his Ti77ies, chap. v.
X Diocesan History of Canterbury, p. 306.
204 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 23. Up, Lord, luhy sleepest Thou ? awake, and be not
absent from us for ever.— There is a Jewish tradition that in the
Maccabee period the Levites, ascending the pulpit in the
synagogue, daily chanted this verse ; but that John Hyrcanus,
High Priest and King B.C. 107, forbade the custom, saying,
*Doth God sleep? Hath not the Scripture said, "He that
keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep " ?'
Ferses 22, 26. — Vocem ergo Martyrum (says St. Augustine)
audiamus in hoc Psalmo.
PSALM XLV.
Beading (Delitzsch). — Marriage-song in honour of the peer-
less King.
Ti't/e (Spurgeon). — A Song of loves. Not a carnal senti-
mental love-song, but a celestial canticle of everlasting love fit
for the tongues and ears of angels.
Contents (Syriac). — Written by the sons of Korah, in the
days of Moses ; the manifestation of the Messiah ; also con-
cerning the Church and concerning the glorious power of the
Lord.
Origi?i (Perowne). — This Psalm is evidently a Marriage-song
composed for some day of royal espousals. It celebrates the
nuptials of a Jewish king with a princess, apparently of foreign
extraction ; but in honour of what particular king it was written
is a matter of conjecture. The older and perhaps the more
common interpretation refers it to Solomon's nuptials with the
daughter of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. On the whole, the
general character of the Psalm, describing as it does the
majesty and persuasive eloquence of the king, the splendour of
his appearance and of his palace, and the hopes which he
raised for the future, is such as to make it more justly applic-
able to Solomon than to any other of the Jewish monarchs, so
far as we are acquainted with their fortunes.
PSALM XLV. 205
In Church. — In the orthodox Church of the East this Psahii
(or parts of it) is used at Baptism and Confirmation. In the
former Sacrament, the Priest, immediately before immersing the
catechumen, anoints him thrice with holy oil, saying, 'The ser-
vant of God is anointed with the oil of gladness (verse S) in the
Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. '"^
We are about to contemplate the graces of the Church, the
Queen and Bride of Christ, glorified by means of her union
with Him. The Church has recognised this by the appoint-
ment of this Psalm for Christmas Day. The Sarum use, the
Latin use, the present Church of England use, all agree in the
appointment of this Psalm for Christmas Day. In the
Gregorian use, it was appointed for the Festival which cele-
brates the angelic message of the Incarnation of the Annun-
ciation,!
The Whok Psalm.— \ psalm sung by Columba near the
fortress of the king of the Northern Picts, by the mouth of the
river Ness. Adamnan, his biographer, says: 'But another
story concerning the great and wonderful power of his voice
should not be omitted. The thing is said to have taken place
near the fortress of King Brude. When the Saint himself was
chanting the evening hymns, with a few of the brethren, some
Druids coming near to them did all they could to prevent
God's praises being sung in the midst of a pagan nation. On
seeing this the Saint began to sing the 44th (our 45th) Psalm,
and at the same moment so wonderfully loud, like pealing
thunder, that the king and people were struck with amazement
and fear.' Adamnan tells that his voice could be heard at five
hundred, and sometimes even a thousand paces, and yet that
when near it did not seem exceeding loud.t
Verse 3. Thou art fairer than the children of men.—lw spite
of the whole phalanx of Eastern Doctors, take this verse of
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 267.
f Wordsworth's Commnitary, p. 6S,
+ The Psalms in History and Biography.
2o6 PSALM.MOSAICS
that dear Lord's external beauty as man. I firmly believe
that a certain type of the Face of our Blessed Lord would not
have been so universally received in Eastern and early Western
art unless it had possessed some real foundation. Everyone
must be acquainted with the general idea of That Countenance
as given in Byzantine icons, and crystallized, if we may so
speak, in the West under the name of the Dieu d' Amiens."^
O fair sun, and fair moon, and fair stars, and fair flowers,
and fair roses, and fair lilies ; but O ten thousand thousand
times fairer Lord Jesus ! Alas ! I have wronged Him in
making the comparison this way. O black sun and moon ! but
O fair Lord Jesus ! O black flowers, and black lilies, and
roses ! but O fair, fair, ever fair, Lord Jesus ! O black heaven !
but O fair Christ ! O black angels ! but O surpassingly fair
Lord Jesus.I
Ferse 4. Gird thee 7vith thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou
most mighty. — These words are used when the Priest puts on
the Epigonation as he vests for Mass in the Graeco-Russian
Church. Here are the prayers used at vesting — the whole
account is by a very ingenuous writer. ' The first thing each
Priest does on coming unto the Altar of the Church about to
be consecrated, is to dress himself, or, rather, suffer himself to
be dressed by the Sacristan (generally one of the Readers) in
his full canonicals, five in number, which are as follows (each is
kissed and signed with the cross before the wearer puts it on):
' First, the Alb, a sort of frock with loose sleeves, donned with
these words : " My soul doth magnify the Lord, who clotheth
me in the garment of salvation."
' Secondly, the cuffs. The right hand one is laced with these
words : " The right hand of the Lord hath the pre-eminence ;
the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass "
(Psalm cxviii. 16) : the left one with, "Thy hands have made
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 99.
+ Samuel Rutherford.
PSALM XLV. 207
me and fashioned me : O give me understanding, that I may
learn Thy commandments" (Psahii cxix. 73).
'Thirdly, the belt. "Blessed be the Lord, who girdeth me
with strength and maketh my path undefiled."
' Fourthly, the stole. " Blessed be God, who hath poured
His grace on His priests."
' Fifthl)^ the chasuble or upper garment. " Thy priests, O
Lord, are decked with health, and Thy Saints shall rejoice and
sing" (Psalm cxxxii. 17).
' There is also a sixth article which is called the Epigonation,
which is bestowed for long and faithful service, and conse-
quently not worn by the younger priests. It is of no use,
apparently, being merely a square, stiff thing made of brocade,
about nine inches long and six broad ; it is trimmed with gold
fringe, and with an embroidered cross in the middle ; strings
are sewn to the upper corners, and secure it to the shoulder of
the wearer.
' The ejaculation used when this is put on is, " Gird thee with
thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty ./"
* The Russian name for the Epigonation signifies something
worn on the hip.''*
Milton has imitated the passage :
' Go then, thou Mightiest, in thy Father's might ;
Ascend thy chariot, guide the rapid wheels
That shake heaven's basis, bring forth all my war,
My bow and thunder, my almighty arms,
Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh. '+
Verses 4 a?id 5. Gird thee with thy sword upon, thy thigh, O
thou 7nost Mighty, accordijig to thy worship and renown. Good
luck have thou with thine honour, ride on, because of the word of
truth, of meekness, and righteousness ; and thy right hand shall
teach thee terrible thiiigs. — There is much reason to suppose
that the ceremonies with which the Church fenced admission
to the order of knighthood were drawn in a great measure from
* GrcEco-RtiSsian Church, p. 89.
t Milton, Bk. vi., lines 710-714.
2o8 PSALM-MOSAICS
this verse. There was the solemn girding on of the sword in
front of the altar, the triple vow to defend the truth — the word
of truth ; the cause of widows and orphans — the word of meek-
ness ; and to be loyal, just and true — the word of righteousness ;
followed by the new-made knight mounting a courser, and
rtdifig in, or caracoling, fully armed, to display his strength and
dexterity."^
Verse 5. Ride on, because of the word of truth, of meekness,
and righteous7iess. — -' What love (Henri Perreyve) won from all !
Perhaps he was the man whom Pere Lacordaire loved best of
all the world ; it was to Henri that that noble soul addressed
the words, " You live eternally in my heart, as my son and my
friend." His exquisite moral beauty was the means of raising,
guiding, comforting many a soul ; worthy follower therein of his
Master, Whose it is to '''■ride on prosperously because of truth and
meekness and righteousjiessP " Specie tua et pulchritudine tua
intende, prospere procede, et regna."
' His whole life was but one noble, earnest call which sets
no lower ideal of life before the Christian than one of absolute
moral beauty, the very Beauty of God Himself " Be ye perfect,
even as your Father Which is in Heaven is perfect." There
is but one way to attain this height, either practically or
intellectually ; and that is, to aim ceaselessly at all that is
highest, noblest, most beautiful ; and of all the men I have
ever known, this dear brother pursued such an aim most
earnestly.'t
Verse 8. Thoti hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. —
When St. Gregory VH., the great Reformer of the Church of
the eleventh century, lay dying at Salerno, his last words were :
' Dilexi justitiam et odii iniquitate7?i, et ideo inorior in exilio.^
One of those who stood round his death-bed answered him,
quoting the 2nd Psalm, ' Servant of Christ, in exile thou canst
not die, seeing that God hath given thee the heathen for thine
'• Dr. Neale's Covivientary, vol. ii., p. 103.
J Henri Perreyve, by H. L. Sidney Lear, p. 2.
PSALM XLV. 209
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession.'"^
Verse 10, Uj^on thy right hand did stand the queen in a
vesture of gold. — Some behold here the Church Triumphant,
the Jerusalem that is, the Mother of us all, while others, among
them Athanasius, Hugh of St. Victor, the Angelic Doctor, and
St. Peter Damiani, see in it the Blessed Mother of God. The
Holy Eastern Church has put its seal upon this interpretation
in the office of Prothesis, or preparation of the Bread and Wine
for the Liturgy. After the priest has cut from the loaf the first
portion, technically called the Holy Lamb, he takes a second,
and saying, ' In honour of the most excellent and glorious Lady,
the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, by whose interces-
sions receive, O Lord, this Sacrifice to Thy heavenly Altar,' he
places it at the right of the Holy Lamb, and recites this verse
of the Psalm. +
Verse 11. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, incline thine
ear ; forget also thine ouni people, and thy father'' s house. — St.
Chrysippus calls this verse and the following the bridal song
of the Mother of God.
Archbishop Warham during the visitation of his diocese
visited the Priory of St. Sepulchre, a foundation of nuns, after
a sermon on the text Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and
incli?ie thine ear. The prioress confesses that they do not rise
to matins in the middle of the night, but at daybreak, because
the enclosures of the convent are under repair, and great
tumults were heard around the Church, t
* Dr. Neale's Commentary^ vol. ii., p. 105.
t Ibid., p. III.
X Diocesan History of Canterbwy, p. 222.
M
PSALM-MOSAICS.
PSALM XLVL
Heading (Delitzsch). — A sure stronghold is our God.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Song of Holy Confidence.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of the sons of Korah, in which
David sings concerning the affliction that happeneth to the
people — As respects prophecy, the preaching of the Apostles is
mystically represented.
Origin (Perowne). — This and the two following Psalms are
hymns of triumph, composed on the occasion of some great
deliverance. I am inclined to think they all celebrate the
same event, the sudden and miraculous destruction of the
army of Sennacherib under the walls of Jerusalem.
In Church. — In the Sarum and Latin Use this Psalm is
appointed on the Festival of the Epiphany. In the Sarum Use
it was appointed also for Trinity Sunday.*
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm is said to be Luther's
favourite, and is the basis of his hymn :
' Ein Feste Burg, ist unser Gott,
Ein gute Wehr und Waffen
' A safe stronghold our GOD is still,
A trusty shield and weapon.'
The Gra?id Prince Demetrius in his advance against the
Tartars (called the Batde of the Don, 1380), when his heart
failed, was cheered and supported by the blessing and prayers
of Sergius.
At this battle he sang aloud the 46th Psalm. No historical
picture or sculpture in Russia is more frequent than that which
represents the youthful warrior receiving the benediction of the
aged hermit — Sergius was canonized in 1428. Demetrius
himself was ' almost a Saint,' in that he went daily to Church,
received the Blessed Sacrament once a week, and wore a hair
shirt next his skin.
* Wordsworth's Commentarv, p. 71.
PSALM XLVI. 211
He is as dear to Russian hearts, and as familiar among
Russian homes, as WiUiam Tell to a Swiss, or as Joan of Arc
to a Frenchman."^
Martin Luther. — ^On the Easter Tuesday of 152 1 Luther set
forth to attend the Diet of Worms. The town council provided
a covered waggon for him to travel in, with four companions
— a monk, a lawyer, a young Swedish nobleman, and another
friend.
At Naumberg a priest made him the significant present of
a portrait of Savonarola, whose martyrdom was but thirty-three
years old. Luther kissed it, and the priest said : ' Be steadfast
to thy God, and He will be steadfast to thee.'
At Weimar, his next stage, he found emissaries everywhere
posting up and proclaiming the imperial decrees for the burn-
ing of his works, consequent on his excommunication. ' Well,
Doctor, will you go on?' said the herald. 'Yes,' Luther
answered ; ' though they should kindle a fire between Wittem-
berg and Wurms to reach to heaven, I will go on ! I will con-
fess Christ in Behemoth's mouth, between his great teeth.'
At Erfurth, his old University, the Rector thereof, at the
head of a cavalcade of forty horsemen, met him two miles off
and brought him in a triumphal procession to his old Augus-
tinian home, where he was warmly welcomed. "^\
When Wurms came in sight, he stood up in the waggon, and
began to sing one of his hymns. It is believed to have been
his paraphrase of the 46th Psalm, beginning ' Ein feste Burg
ist unser Gott,' which is often called Gustavus Adolphus' battle-
song, and which a French writer terms the Marseillaise of the
Reformation.!
Luther and his companions, with all their readiness for danger
and death in the cause of truth, had times when their feelings
were akin to those of a divine singer who said : ' Why art thou
cast down, O my soul !' But in such hours the unflinching
* Dean Stanley's Eastern C/iurch, p. 339.
f Cameos, ^rd series, p. 391.
212 PSALM-MOSAICS
Reformer would cheerily say to his friend Melancthon, 'Come,
Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm.'"*
The Fem\ vidi, vici of the Psalter, f
I think Holy Bernard must have had the imagery of this
Psalm in mind when he sketched that striking allegory on the
efficacy of prayer. He supposes Jerusalem (the Church) be-
sieged by the king of Babylon (the world), and reduced to
great extremities ; a faint-hearted soldier, Fear, exclaims :
' Who shall help us now ?' Wisdom replies : * Dost thou
not know that the God whom we serve is able to deliver ? Is
He not the Lord of Hosts, even the Lord mighty in battle ?
We will send a messenger to Him.' 'What messenger?'
Fear replies. ' See you not our walls begirt with an armed
nost? what messenger can find or force his way through such ?'
Wisdom calls to Faith and bids him send Prayer, and says :
' Lo ! here is a messenger.' Prayer has her message, flies up
to heaven's gate, and delivers in her petitions. Back again
returns Prayer, laden with the news of consolation and de-
liverance, that were their enemies more innumerable than the
locusts of Egypt, and more strong than the giant sons of Anak,
yet * God is a very present help in time of trouble ; He will
fight for you, and you shall be delivered.' |
Verse 2. Though the earth be moved. — John Wesley preached
in Hyde Park on the occasion of the earthquake felt in Lon-
don, March 8, 1750, and repeated these words. Charles
Wesley composed Hymn 67, in Wesley's Collection, the fol-
lowing lines of which illustrate this verse : —
' How happy, then, are we,
Who build, O Lord, on Thee !
What can our foundation shock ?
Though the shatter'd earth remove,
Stands our city on a rock,
On the rock of heavenly love.'§
* Hymn- Writers and their Hymns, 1866.
+ The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity.
X Daily Comments on the Psalms, by B. Bouchier, vol i., p. 307.
§ The Treasury of David, vol. ii., p. 385.
PSALM XLVI. 213
Verse 8. O cojne hither, mid behold the works of the Lord. —
Dismantled castles and ruined abbeys in our own land stand as
memorials of the Lord's victories over oppression and super-
stition. May there soon be more of such desolations !
' Ye gloomy piles, ye tombs of living men,
Ye sepulchres of womanhood, or worse ;
Ye refuges of lies, soon may ye fall,
And 'mid your ruins may the owl and bat
And dragon find congenial resting-place !'*
Verse 11. The Lord of Hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob
is our Refuge. — The death of John Wesley is the death of the
triumphant Christian. God grant that my last end may be
like his ! The evening came on. ' How necessary it is,' he
exclaimed, * for everyone to be on the right foundation !
' I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.
We must be justified by faith, and then go on to full sancti-
fication.'
The next day he was lethargic. ' There is no way into the
holiest but by the blood of Jesus,' he said in a low but distinct
voice.
Shaking off the languor of disease, he repeated two or three
times during the day : ' We have boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus.'
On Tuesday, the ist of March, he sank rapidly; but he
wished to depart, as so many thousands of his followers had,
with ' singing and shouting.' He began the day by singing one
of his brother's lyrics :
' All glory to God in the sky.'
His voice failed at the end of the second stanza. He asked
for pen and ink, but could not write. A friend taking the pen
to write for him, asked : ' What shall I write ?' ' Nothing,' re-
plied the dying patriarch, ' but that God is with us.' During
* The late Mr. Spurgeon ( Treasury of David, vol. ii., p. 383).
214 PSALM. MOSAICS
the forenoon he again surprised his mourning friends by sing-
ing the rapturous hymn :
' I'll praise my Maker while I've breath.'
Still later he seemed to summon his remaining strength to
speak, but could only say in broken accents : ' Nature is —
nature is '
One of his attendants added, ' nearly exhausted ; but you
are entering a new nature, and into the society of blessed
spirits.' ' Certainly,' he responded, clasping his hands and
exclaiming, 'Jesus !' But his voice failed, and though his lips
continued to move, his murmurings could not be understood.
He was placed on his chair, and, with a failing voice, he
prayed aloud : ' Lord, Thou that givest strength to those that
speak and those that cannot ; speak. Lord, to all our hearts,
and let them know that Thou loosest the tongue.' Raising his
voice, he sang two lines of the Doxology. But he could pro-
ceed no further. ' Now we have done, let us all go,' he added.
The ruling passion was strong in death ; he evidently supposed
himself dismissing one of his assemblies. He was again laid
upon his bed, to rise no more. After a short sleep he called
those present to offer prayer and praise. They knelt around
his bed, says one of them ; ' the room seemed filled with the
Divine Presence.' A second time they knelt in like manner,
and his fervent responses showed that he was yet able to share
in their devotions. He uttered an emphatic ' Amen ' to a
point of the prayer which alluded to the perpetuation and
universal spread of the doctrine and discipline to which he
had devoted his life. When they rose from their knees he took
leave of each, grasping their hands and saying : ' Farewell,
Friends.' Soon after another visitor entered the chamber. He
attempted to speak, but observing that he could not be under-
stood, he paused, and collecting all his strength, exclaimed :
* The best of all is, God is ivith us P ' Who are these ?' he asked,
noticing a group of persons at his bedside. ' Sir,' replied
Rogers, who with his wife, Hester Ann Rogers, ministered to
PSALM XLVI. 21 s
him in his last hours, ' Sir, we are come to rejoice with you ;
you are going to receive your crown.' ' It is the Lord's doing,
and marvellous in our eyes,' he replied. On being informed
that the widow of Charles Wesley was come, he said in allusion
to his deceased brother : ' He giveth His saints rest.' He
thanked her as she pressed his hand, and affectionately en-
deavoured to kiss her. As they wetted his lips, he said : ' We
thank Thee, O Lord, for these and all Thy mercies ; bless the
Church and King, and grant us truth and peace, through Jesus
Christ Our Lord, for ever and ever.' It was his usual thanks-
giving after meals. ' He causeth His servants to lie down m
peace.' 'The clouds drop fatness.' ^ T/ie Lord is 7vith us ;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.^ Such were some of his broken
but rapturous ejaculations in these last hours.
Again he summoned the company to kneel and pray at his
bedside. The chamber had become not merely a sanctuary, it
seemed the gate of heaven. He joined in the service with
increased fervour.
During the night he attempted frequently to repeat the hymn
of Watts which he had sung the preceding day, but could only
utter, ' I'll praise, I'll praise.'
The next morning the sublime scene closed. Joseph Brad-
ford, long his ministerial travelling companion, the sharer of his
trials and successes, prayed with him. ' Farewell !' was the
last word and benediction of the dying apostle.*
PSALM XLVII.
Zr^^^/7z^(Delitzsch).— Exultation at the Lord's Ascension.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of the sons of Korah — con-
cerning the glory of God on Mount Sinai ; also referring to the
calling of the Gentiles.
Origin (Perowne). — I see no reason, however, why the
Psalm should not have been composed, like the 46th and 48th,
* Steven's History of Methodism.
2i6 PSALM-MOSAICS
after the defeat of Sennacherib ; and Hupfield is, I think, right
in calling it 'a lyrical expansion of the idea prominent in
xlvi. lo (ii), that Jehovah is high exalted above the nations,
and the great King over all the earth.
/;/ Church. — This Psalm is appointed for Ascension Day.
In the Latin Use and the Sarum Use it is appointed also for
Trinity Sunday.*
The Whole Psalm. — Bishop Heber has made this Psalm the
foundation of one of the graceful effusions of his pious
muse.
PSALM XLVIIL
Headijig (Delitzsch). — The inaccessibleness of the city of
God.
Co7itents (Syriac). — Written by the sons of Korah against the
pride of the Gentiles ; a hymn of the Church to God ; the
destruction of the persecutors.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm, there is every reason to
suppose, was composed on the same occasion as the two pre-
ceding. It celebrates God's protecting care of Jerusalem, and
especially the deliverance of the city from the army of Senna-
cherib (2 Kings xviii. 19 ; Isa. xxxvi.), as may be inferred from
many verbal coincidences which present themselves on a com-
parison of the Psalm with the prophecies of Israel relating to
the Assyrian invasion.
In ChnrcJi. — This Psalm was used in the Temple service
for the second day throughout the year. The victory
which this Psalm celebrates, over the confederate forces
of hostile powers rising in rebellion against God and His
Church, will be effected, not by an arm of flesh, but by the
Spirit of God. ' Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,
* Bishop Wordsworth's Co/nmeitiaty, p. 72.
PSALM XLVIII. 217
saith the Lord of Hosts,' and therefore the present Psalm is
appointed for Whitsun Day. The Sarum Use, the Latin Use,
the Gregorian Use, and the present Church of England Use
agree in this. In the two former it is appointed also for
Christmas Day and Trinity Sunday ; and it is described in the
Syriac version as a thanksgiving of the Church to God for the
destruction of the persecutors.
Ferse 2. T/ie hill of Sion is a fair place.
' Fair Jerusalem,
The holy city, Hfted high her towers,
And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd
Her pile, far off appearing like a mount
Of alabaster, topt with golden spires,'*
Verse 3. For^ lo, the kings were assembled^ they passed by
together. — ' No sooner together than scattered. What! Have
they so suddenly fled ? Even thus shall the haters of the
Church vanish from the field. Papists, Ritualists, Arians,
Sceptics, they shall each have their day, and shall pass on to
the limbo of forgetfulness.'t
Verse 12. Mark well her bulwarks.
' O none can tell thy bulwarks,
How gloriously they rise ;
O none can tell thy capitals
Of beautiful device !
Thy loneliness oppresses
All human thought and heart ;
And none, O peace, O Sion,
Can sing thee as thou art.'t
Verse 13. For this God is our God for ever and ever ; He
shall be our Guide unto death. — The martyred Bishop Hanning-
ton was consecrated to the work and office of a Bishop in the
Church of God on St. John Baptist's Day, June 24, 1888, in the
parish church of Lambeth.
* Paradise Regained.
t The late Mr. Spurgeon {Treasury of David, vol. ii., p. 403).
t St. Bernard.-
2i8 PSALM -MOSAICS
On that day two missionary bishops were consecrated for
foreign work, the other being the Hon. and Rev. A. J. K.
Anson, who was appointed to the diocese of Assiniboia.
Shortly before eleven o'clock the two Bishops-designate met
the Archbishop together with the Bishops of London, St.
Albans, Rochester, Lichfield, Dover, Ohio, and Saskatchewan,
in the library of Lambeth Palace ; thence they proceeded to
the church. As the procession entered the sacred building the
Choir chanted the Magnus Dominus, Psalm xlviii., the conclud-
ing words of which came to the two new Bishops as a message
from heaven — to Hannington almost as an omen — ' T/iis God
is our God for ever and ever ; He shall be our Guide U7ito
deatJii'
In due course the two Bishops-designate are kneeling before
the Archbishop, and the Veni Creator is sung :
' Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire.'
And when they rise it is with the injunction that they so care
for the flock entrusted to them, that when the Chief Shepherd
shall appear, they may receive the never-fading crown of glory,
through Jesus Christ their Lord."^ Bishop Hannington met
a martyr's death in Central Africa, and his bones, discovered in
a wonderful way, will rest beneath the Cathedral of the See at
Uganda.
PSALM XLIX.
Beadi?ig (Delitzsch). — Of the vanity of Earthly prosperity
and good ; a Didactic poem.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of the Sons of Korah : a pro-
phecy concerning the power of the Gentiles and the doctrine
of Divine Judgment.
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm is not inaptly described in
the ancient Latin version of the Psalms (published with the
* Life of Bishop Hannington, p. 2^8.
PSALM XLIX. 219
Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase by Thorpe), as Vox Ecdesice super
Lazaro et divite piirpiirato*
Strange it is that two Psahiis so near together as this and
the forty-fifth should, and should alone, imitate, or be the fore-
runners of two works of David's son ; this — Ecclesiastes, the
former — the Canticles, f
Verse 4. / will incli7ie mine ear. — The inclining of the ear is
the act significant of ready obedience on the part of man ; the
revealing or uncovering the ear denotes the imparting of super-
natural knowledge, heavenly wisdom, and the like, on the part
of God — Isa. 1. 5. Similarly Wordsworth, speaking of a
maiden whose soul is filled, and whose very features are
moulded by the inspiration caught from the world of Nature :
' . . . she shall lean her ear
,- In many a secret place,
Where rivulets dance their wayward round,
And beauty born of murmuring sound
Shall pass into her face. 'J
My dark speech upon the harp. — What dark speech ? Surely
this, that ' it is better to go to the house of mourning than to
the house of feasting.'
' As the string of minstrel's lyre
Yields at length its note entire,
When he striketh with the key,
So the martyr's cruel straining
On the psaltery of paining,
Maketh Christian melody.'§
Verses 6 lo 16. ' There he some that put their trust in
goods. . . .—Nowhere, perhaps, has this subject (the powerless-
ness of those who trust in their wealth) been more finely treated
than by Massillon in the first part of his sermon, ' Sur la Mort
du Pecheur et la Mort du Juste.'||
'■<■ The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 385.
t Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 151.
X The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 384.
§ 'Adam of St. Victor' tDr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 154)-
II Alt Inirodnction to the Study and Use of the Psalms, by J. F. Thrupp,
vol. i., p. 288.
220 PSALM. MOSAICS
Verse 14. Death gnaweth upon them (LXX., Death shall be
their shepherd). — St. Augustine says : ' Death is the shepherd
of the infidel. Life (/.^., Christ) is the Shepherd of the faith-
ful.' 'In inferno sunt oves quibus pastor Mors est; in coelo
sunt oves quibus /^^/^r Vita est.'' And so Keble —
' Even as a flock arrayed are they
For the dark grave ; Death guides their way,
Death is their shepherd now.'*
Verse 1 7. For he shall carry nothing away with him when he
dieth.
' Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas,
Nudus ab inferna, stulte, vehere rate.t
' No wealth canst thou carry to Acheron's pool,
Naked shalt thou be borne in hell's wherry, thou fool.'
He shall carry 7iothi?ig aicay with him when he dieth^ neither
shall his pomp follow him. — -The Psalmist teaches us that the
rich man ' shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth,
neither shall his pomp follow him' (xlix. 17). And the Apcstle,
that ' as we brought nothing into this world, so it is certain we
can carry nothing out' (i Tim. ii. 7).
These words require no confirmation : and yet the great Earl
of Warwick is well chosen to speak as follows when he comes
to die :
* Lo, now my glory smeared in dust and blood I
My parks, my walks, my manors that I had,
Even now forsake me, and of all my lands
Is nothing left me but my body's length !
Why, what vi pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?
And live we how we can, yet die lue viust.^
King Henry VI., Part III., Act. V., Sc. ii.J
I remember an Eastern legend which I have always thought
furnished a remarkable though unconscious commentary on
these words of the Psalmist. Alexander the Great, we are
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commejitaiy.
+ Propertitis, iii. 3, 35.
X Shakespeare a?td the Bible, p. 290.
PSALM L.
there told, being upon his death-bed, commanded that when
he was carried forth to the grave his hands should not be
wrapped as was usual in the cere-cloths, but should be left
outside the bier, so that all might see them, and might see
that they were empty, that there was nothing in them ; that
he, born to one empire, and the conqueror of another, the
possessor while he lived of two worlds— of the East and of the
West — and of the treasures of both, yet now when he was dead
could retain no smallest portion of these treasures ; that in this
matter the poorest beggar and he were at length upon equal
terms. "^
PSALM L.
Headi?ig (Delitzsch). — Divine discourse concerning the true
sacrifice and worship.
Contents (Syriac). — Written by Asaph the prophet concerning
the legal sacrifices of the covenant of Moses and their abroga-
tion. In which also God warns that if we do not keep His
commandments we shall be reprobate before Him, for this
reason, that we have contemned the inspired Scriptures.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm furnishes us with no evidence
as to the time of its composition, but in elegance and sublimity
of language, in force and dignity, it is worthy of the best days
of Hebrew poetry.
The Whole Psahii. — There is a mystery about the authorship
of that wonderful hymn, Dies Irse, ' Day of judgment, day of
burning,' which adds to its power as it falls from the bosom of
distant centuries, like the tones of a cathedral bell, dropping
slow and solemn from the tower at midnight. It is now
generally ascribed to Thomas of Celano, who lived in the
thirteenth century ; but little is known of him.
The first verse of the hymn, 'Teste David cum Sibylla,'
* Archbishop Trench.
222 PSALM-MOSAICS
represents the heathen prophetess as joining David in looking
forward to the consummation of all things in the fire of the
final day. It has been matter of discussion what passage in
the Psalms is referred to, and opinions are divided between
Psalm 1. 3, and Psalm cii. 26. The starting note seems
struck most distinctly in these sublime words, ' Our God shall
come, and shall not keep silence : a fire shall devour before
Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He
shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He
may judge His people.'*
Verse 15. Ca// iip07i Me in the time of t7'02ible, so will I hear
thee, and thou shalt praise Me. — Robinson Crusoe, when ship-
wrecked (June 28, 1660), said : 'These words were very apt to
my case.'
PSALM LI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Penitential prayer and intercession
for restoration to favour.
Title (Spurgeon).— ' It is a marvel, but nevertneless a fact, that
writers have been found to deny David's authorship of this
Psalm ; but their objections are frivolous, the Psalm is David-like
all over. It would be far easier to imitate Milton, Shakespeare,
or Tennyson, than David. His style is altogether siii generis,
and is as easily distinguishable as the touch of Raffaelle or the
colouring of Rubens. 't
Co7itents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David— when he sinned and
killed Uriah ; and as respects ourselves, containing instruction,
and inculcating the duty of confession.
Origin (Perowne). — I see, then, no ground for departing from
the constant and reasonable belief of the Church, that the Psalm
was written by David under the circumstances indicated in
* The Psabns in History and Biography, p. 82.
t 7 he Treasiity of David, vol. ii., p. 449.
PSALM LI. 223
the title. — A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came
unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Si. Athanasius calls the Psalm -^aXihlic, s^ofMoXo'yr;fff;u<;.
' Not of an age, but for all time:— This Psalm, written three
thousand years ago, might have been written yesterday ; it
describes the vicissitudes of spiritual life in an Englishman as
truly as in a Jew."^
I7t Church. — And now let us turn to the use of this Psalm
in the Church. St. Basil in one of his epistles gives us a par-
ticular description of the Antelucan or night assemblies, though
but in general terms, whilst he makes an apology for the
practices of his own Church against some who charged them
with innovations. The words are these : ' The customs,' says
he, ' which now prevail among us are consonant and agreeable
to all the Churches of God. For with us the people, rising
early, whilst it is night, come to the house of Prayer, and there
with much labour, and affection, and contrition, and tears make
confession of their sins to God. When this is done they rise
from prayer and dispose themselves to psalmody : sometimes
dividing themselves into two parts, they aiiswer one another
itt singing or singing alternatively — a\Tt^a7,7.ov6i)j dy.XriAoi:, and
after this, again, they permit me alone to begin the Psalms ;
the rest Join in the close of every verse — b'-TTrr/^ovai. And thus,
with this variety of psalmody, they carry on the night, prayifig
betwixt whiles., or intermingling prayer with their Psalms—
ixiTa^x) '7Tpo(n'jyj>!Mvoi. At last, when the day begins to break forth,
they all in common, as with one mouth and one heart., offer tip
to God the Psalm of Confession — -ou rra s^ofJoXoyrja-iu; -^aX/xoiJ
ro^j Kvpiii) ai/a^sjpouor/— everyone making the words of this Psalm
to be the expression of his own repentance ! Here we have
the plain order of these nocturnal or morning devotions :
(i) Confession of sins. (2) Psalms sung alternately. (3)
Psalms sung by one alone. (4) Prayer between the Psalms.
(5) Lastly, the common Psalm of Confession, or the Peni-
* Sermon VII. (2nd Series), by F. W. Robertson, p. 96.
224 PSALM-MOSAICS
tential Psalm, in the close of all. This Psalm was particularly
noted among the ancients by the name of T/ie Psalm of Con-
fession.^'''
In the Roman Church it is the first Psalm of Lauds on
Monday, and the second in the Benedictine Lauds. It is
recited with the other Penitential Psalms in the public ex-
pulsion of penitents on Ash Wednesday, in the absolution of
an excommunicate person, and it is used as the third Psalm of
the Reconciliation of Penitents on Maundy Thursday. It is
one of the Psalms which may be used in the Visitation of the
Sick, and is appointed for use in the Burial of the Dead.
In the Eastern Church it is sung in the Morning Office;
together with Psalm xcv. 6-11 in the Confession of Penitents ;
also at the Unction of the Sick and at the Burial of the Dead
— both priests and laity. It is also recited in the Liturgy of St.
Chrysostom, by the Deacon and Priest together, after the censing
which follows the Cherubic Hymn.
In the English Church this Psalm is used in the Commination
Service on Ash Wednesday.
In the Armenian Church it is said at the beginning of the
Office for Holy Baptism, and at the Unction of the Sick.
Mrs. Romanoff, in her interesting book, graphically de-
scribes the singing of this Psalm in the Liturgy : ' After
kissing the sacred picture and the royal gates, he (the
Bishop in this case — in others a priest) waves incense round
the throne, and then comes out again from the royal gates
(which are open all the time of a Bishop's Liturgy, except during
the consecration and receiving of the elements), and waving it
to the people, repeating, not intoning, part of Psalm li. Never
in my life, from the lips of Englishman, German, or Russian,
did I hear any portion of Scripture so exquisitely yet so simply,
so free from all effort, repeated as those few verses. Com-
pletely unprepared, and situated so as to be able to hear the
slightest intonations of his voice, I drank in every syllable —
tears, to my own extreme surprise, streaming down my face.
* Bingham f vol. iv., p. 569.
PSALM LI. 225
^^ Make me to hear of Joy and gladness, that the bones which thou
hast broken may rejoice^' were the last words I heard, as he
turned unto the altar again, and I think I shall never forget
them. The congregation glanced at each other in silent
rapture. '"^
The Whole Psalm . — This Psalm has, of all inspired com-
positions, with the one exception of the Lord's Prayer, been
repeated oftenest by the Church. How often, then, and under
what various circumstances, has this Psalm been recited in all
ages ! For some thirteen hundred years, wherever the hours
were kept, it was said seven times a day. Well may St.
Augustine say, 'O most blessed sin of David, so gloriously
atoned for ! O most happy fault, which has brought so many
straying sheep to the Good Shepherd.'
One hundred and fifty-nine Catholic commentators, twenty-
seven Lutheran, and many Calvinistic commentators have
written upon this Psalm, while one, Alfonso de Tostado, has
published a folio volume of 1,200 pages on it. Thus, as Dr.
Neale remarks, how dear it has been to the Church in all ages,
and not only so, but for those beyond the Church it has its
own charm, for the precious ointment of this Psalm not only
ran down the beard, and went down to the skirts of Aaron's
clothing, but was diffused even among the other sheep which
were not of the fold.
It may be noticed here how many theological expressions
have their first origin in this Psalm, and how many great
theological verities are therein set forth. " The Kyrie Eleison
at the beginning; the dean heart ; the broken a?id co?itrite
heart ; the sin7ier shall be converted ; and above all, here is first
to be noticed the first faint foreshadowing of one of the founda-
tion truths of the Catholic faith— -^^^^ not Thy Holy Spirit
from me: Of the great theological truths, 'here you have the
Incarnation ; the calling of the Gentiles ; sin, both original and
actual ; the nature and effect of preaching ; grace, both justify-
* Rites and Custofiis of the Graco-Russian Church, pp. 403, 404.
226 PSALM-MOSAICS
ing and sanctifying ; the Atonement ; the Institution of the
Church; the Mission of the Holy Ghost.'*
Persotial Testi7nony. — When we come to the personal testi-
monies of this Psalm, we may truly say that millions of
penitents have found in it a well-spring of hope and contrition.
Savonarola, the great preacher, reserved it for a tim^ of trouble,
and wrote a comment on it while in prison before his death.
As Godfrey de Bouillon and his Crusaders rode into Jerusalem,
this Psalm was being sung in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Agam and again it has soothed and comforted the last hours of
the dying.
St. Margaret of Scotland repeated it on her death-bed, as she
held a fragment of the True Cross, and waited for tidings of her
husband and sons.
Henry V. had it recited to him in his last agony, and he
repeated the words, ' Build thou the walls of Jerusalem,' saying,
had he lived, he had purposed delivering Jerusalem from the
Infidel.
The Chevalier Bayard, the noble and true, as he lay a-dying
said, kissing the cruciform hilt of his sword, ' Aliserere mei Deus
secundutn magnaifi 77iisericordiam tiia7n.^
Lady Jane Grey recited it before her executioners, and so did
the martyr Sir Thomas More, kneeling down, and in a loud
voice.
The noble-minded Egmont, during the troublous times of
Philip II., found comfort in its words as he went his way to an
ignominious death.
The last words of John Oecolampadius, the Swiss Reformer,
who died in 1531, were those which he distinctly, though with
panting, breathed for the remission of his sins, using this peni-
tential prayer of David; and so, too, a few years later, died
Bullinger, another Swiss Reformer.
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., pp. 181, 182.
PSALM LI. 227
The martyr Rogers recited the same on his way to the stake;
and its words of penitence and prayer fell upon the dying ears
of Arnold of Rugby.
Indeed, the history of this Psalm is the history of the Christian
soul, and in it the suffering and sinning of all ages have found
the expression of their own unworthiness and the comfort that
comes from a true confession.
^ Where sin hath abounded grace did much more abound' —
For consider how, for nearly three thousand years, that sin of
David, that one momentary glance from the housetop, has
given occasion to the enemies of the Lord, in each successive
age, to blaspheme, down from the Lucians and Porphyries of
primitive times, to the Voltaires and Humes and Paines of our
own. And yet, no doubt, the encouragement it has given to
those who otherwise would have despaired, may be known to
the Searcher of all Hearts, far to outweigh the mischief and the
blasphemy. So St. Augustine said in his time : so St. Bernard
taught in his : so the latest of those who have any claim to the
title of mediaeval teachers, St. Thomas de Villanova, more than
once asserts : so the great Schools which have their rise on
the one hand from St. Vincent de Paul, on the other from De
Hauranne, differing as far as Catholics can possibly differ on the
subject, are nevertheless agreed in this. One can only remember
St. Augustine's words, with respect to a still sadder fall, and apply
them to this : ' O Sin of Adam, certainly necessary, which
merited such and so great a Redeemer.'*
Joh7i Keble in the Order for the Visitation of the
Sick which he generally used, introduced this^Psalm. He
commonly began with the first Prayer for Good Friday,
' This thy servant ' being substituted for ' This thy family ';
then there would be always some kind of confession, very
frequently the fifty-first Psalm (indeed, I believe, he very
seldom, if ever, said prayers with any sick person without
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 182.
228 PSALM-MOSAICS
introducing some verses at least of that Psalm) ; then came the
prayer in the Visitation Service, and often Collects, special
petitions being introduced here and there, to suit the particular
case, sometimes in his own words, sometimes in the words of
the Psalm, or of the Prayer-Book. When death was imminent,
over and above the Commendatory Prayer, I have known him
repeat at intervals verses or passages of Scripture, interspersed
with short suffrages and ejaculations, extending over a consider-
able space of time.*
Zady Jane Grey, the Queen of ten days, and but sixteen
years of age at her cruel death, found comfort in this Psalm.
The only thing recorded of Lady Jane Grey concerning her
husband at his execution was, 'that Jane looked from her
window as he walked by ; then, an hour after, as he was carried
back, a corpse, to the chapel. She then wrote on her tablets
in French : " If his slain body shall accuse me before men, his
blessed soul shall vindicate me before God ;" in Latin, " Man's
justice destroyed his body, God's mercy preserve his soul ;" in
English, " If my fault deserved punishment, my youth and in-
experience were worthy of excuse ; God and posterity will show
me favour." The using different languages probably was a
relief, in the awful tension of spirit, in her condition. She
gave these tablets to the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John
Brydes, who came presently to lead her to the scaffold, which,
on account of her royal descent, was erected within the Tower.
She rose readily, and walked forth. She made a short speech,
declaring that she had done wrong in consenting to Northum-
berland's scheme, but adding that it was none of her seeking,
and desiring the prayers of those who stood around. Then
she and Dr. Feckenham (Queen Mary's Chaplain) together
repeated what they could join in, in their full hearts, the
Miserere, and then the fair, thoughtful young head was laid on
the block and severed at one stroke.'!
* Life of John Keble, by S. J. Coleridge, p. 559.
+ Canicos from English History {4th Series), p. 200.
PSALM LI. 229
We now have to record how this Psalm comforted two of the
martyrs in Queen Mary's reign.
John Rogers was the first who, on the score of rehgion, was
burnt at Smithfield. He had formerly, when chaplain to the
factory at Antwerp, assisted Tyndall and Coverdale in trans-
lating the Bible into English, and in the reign of Edward VI.
he returned to England and was made a Prebendary of St. Paul's
Cathedral. He was degraded by Bishop Bonner of London,
who stripped off, one by one, the priestly vestments. This
fact is one well worth noticing, as it was an acknowledgment of
the validity of Rogers' orders. All the priests ordained in
King Edward VI.'s reign were treated as true priests, and it
was not until two hundred years later that the Church of Rome
disputed the validity of English orders.
On his way to execution, singing the Miserere, he was met
by his wife and their eleven children, and with her he ex-
changed a few last words. At the stake, to which he was fas-
tened with a chain, he was, for the last time, offered a free
pardon if he would recant. This he refused to do, and he was
burnt, bathing his hands in the flame ' as if it had been in cold
water.'"^
Rowland Taylor, the good Vicar of Hadleigh, was the other
martyr who found consolation in this Psalm at his last end. He
was formerly chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, but on his pre-
sentation to the rectory of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, he devoted
himself to his duties as a parish priest, and won the warmest
love of his people by his saintly character. He was condemned
and degraded by Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and sent
down to Hadleigh to die. The account of his last days is
most touching, and, as a modern historian says, ' the terror of
death was powerless against men like these.' As he was being
led through the streets of London, his wife, ' suspecting that
her husband should that night be carried away,' had waited
* Cameos from English History (4th Series), p. 236.
230 PSALM-MOSAICS
through the darkness with her children in the porch of St,
Botolph's, beside Aldgate. 'Now, when the sheriff and his
company came against St. Botolph's Church, Elizabeth cried,
saying, " O my dear father ! Mother ! mother ! here is my
father led away !" Then cried his wife, " Rowland, Rowland,
where art thou ?" — for it was a very dark morning, that the one
could not see the other. Dr. Taylor answered, " I am here,
dear wife," and stayed. The sheriff's men would have led him
forth, but the sheriff said, " Stay a little, masters, I pray you,
and let him speak to his wife." Then came she to him, and
he took his daughter Mary in his arms, and he and his wife
and Elizabeth knelt down and said the Lord's Prayer. At
which sight the sheriff wept apace, and so did divers others
of the company. After they had prayed, he rose up and kissed
his wife, and shook her by the hand, and said, "Farewell, my
dear wife, be of good comfort, for I am quiet in my conscience.
God shall still be a father to my children !" . . . Then said
his wife, " God be with thee, dear Rowland. I will, with
God's grace, meet thee at Hadleigh." . . . All the way Dr.
Taylor was merry and cheerful, as one that accounted himself
going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal. . . . Coming
within two miles of Hadleigh, he desired to light off his horse,
which done, he leaped and set a frisk or twain, as men com-
monly do for dancing. "Why, Master Doctor," quoth the
sheriff, "how do you now?" He answered, "Well, God be
praised, Master Sheriff, never better ; for now I know I am
almost at home. I lack not past two stiles to go over, and I
am even at my Father's house !" . . . The streets of Hadleigh
were beset on both sides with men and women of the town
and country who waited to see him ; whom, when they beheld
so led to death, with weeping eyes and lamentable voices, they
cried : " Ah, good Lord ! There goeth our good shepherd
from us !" '
The journey was at last over. ' " What place is this," he
asked, "and what meaneth it that so much people are gathered
together?" It was answered: "It is Oldham Common, the
PSALM LI. 231
place where you must suffer, and the people are come to look
upon you." Then said he, "Thanked be God, I am even at
home !" . . . But when the people saw his reverend and ancient
face, with a long white beard, they burst out with weeping
tears and cried, saying: "God save thee, good Dr. Taylor;
God strengthen thee and help thee ; the Holy Ghost comfort
thee !" He wished, but was not suffered, to speak.
'When he had prayed, he went to the stake and kissed it, and
set himself into a pitch-barrel which they had set for him to
stand on, and so stood, with his back upright against the stake,
with his hands folded together and his eyes towards heaven,
and so let himself be burned.' One of the executioners 'cruelly
cast a fagot at him, which hit upon his head and brake his
face, that the blood ran down his visage. Then said Dr.
Taylor, "O friend, I have harm enough, what needed that?"'
He now began the fifty-first Psalm in English, and one of the
guard struck him on the lips, bidding him speak Latin. After
fire had been kindled, one man cleft his skull with a halberd,
so that he fell dead, having hardly felt the flames. This
martyr was the grandfather of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down
and Connor— the learned author of ' Holy Living and Holy
Dying. '"^
Count Egmont, the celebrated and patriotic Flemish noble,
repeated this Psalm on his way to the scaffold.
Egmont was asleep in bed when the Bishop of Ypres came
to him, and, unable to speak, gave him a copy of the order for
his execution on the following day. Egmont was a brave man,
and read the paper through without flinching, though in all his
nine months' imprisonment he had never expected matters to
end thus. He asked if there was no hope, and when convinced
that there was none, he uttered some hot words of indignation
at the cruel injustice of the sentence, and spoke of his wife and
children. The Bishop advised him to put away all thoughts,
save those of God and the unseen world, and he confessed.
* Cameos from English History (4th Series), p. 239.
232 PSALM-MOSAICS
Mass was celebrated, and he received his last communion, and
asked afterwards what prayer he should say at the last. The
Bishop said none was like the Lord's Prayer. The Count
felt himself much comforted by these devotions, but a burst
of bitter grief swept over him again as he thought of his wife
and her little children ; and when the Bishop tried to help him
compose himself, he said : ' Alas ! how frail is our nature, that
when we should think of God alone, we cannot shut out the
thought of wife and children.' He wrote a dignified and loyal
letter to the King, asserting his perfect innocence, and signing
himself, 'Ready to die, His Majesty's very humble and loyal
vassal and servant. . . . D'Egmont. . . .'
The great square at Brussels, where Egmont had figured in
many a grand procession, and excelled in many a tournament,
was to be the place of his death. A scaffold stood there
covered with black cloth, and on it a table with a silver crucifix
and two velvet cushions near. It was guarded by three thou-
sand Spanish soldiers, who prevented any near approach, but
the windows were thronged, and Alva himself was at one of
them. At eleven o'clock Egmont came forth in a red damask
dress and short black cloak, and a black silk hat with black
and white feathers, repeating aloud the Miserere, and attended
by the Bishop. He walked round the scaffold two or three
times, and once more asked if there was no hope of respite,
and ground his teeth for a moment at the hard, dry, cold
Spanish negative ; but, recovering himself, he took off his cloak
and hat, and gave up the Collar of the Golden Fleece, knelt on
the cushion, said the Lord's Prayer aloud, and asked the
Bishop to say it three times more. He stood once more,
kissed the crucifix, drew a cap over his eyes, knelt, saying,
* Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit '; held out his
arms for the signal, when the executioner swept off his head
with a single stroke of the sword. Even Alva burst into tears,
and so did some of the Spaniards, who had known Egmont as
a brave leader, while the French Ambassador whispered that
there fell the head before which his country had often trembled.
PSALM LI. 233
Egmont's body was visited all that day and night, when it was
placed in the church of St Clara, by thousands of people, who
wept, kissed the corpse, and dipped their handkerchiefs in the
blood. "^
Sir Thomas More, rightly accounted a martyr, and a true
defender of the Faith concerning the headship of the Catholic
Church, had the words of this Psalm on his lips in the hour of
his execution.
The chief charge brought against him was that he had de-
prived the King of his dignity and title, by denying him to be
the Head of the Church. There he stood in a plain woollen
gown, his face keen and benevolent as ever, though his hair
had turned gray in his imprisonment, a perfect lawyer still, and
well able to defend himself. Sentence of death was pronounced.
More heard it calmly, and then made open confession, that
seven years of diligent study had only convinced him that it
was impossible that a layman could be Head of the Church.
He was asked if he would be wiser than all the learned men in
Europe, to which he replied that all the rest of Christendom
was of his opinion. ... As he was being led out with the
axe, with the edge turned towards him, his son knelt down to
ask his blessing, as he had so often done from his own aged
father; and when the barge reached the Tower wharf, down
through all the guards with bills and halberts rushed his
daughter Margaret, flinging her arms round his neck and kiss-
ing him, with sobs of ' Oh ! my father, my father !' He blessed
and comforted her, but twice after he had moved on she came
back and hung about him, so that the guards themselves were
in tears. ... On the 6th of July he was to die, early in the
morning, within the Tower. He was his true self to the last,
with the old playful humour and deep devotion. The scaffold
was not firm, and he asked for help in mounting it : ' Master
Lieutenant, give me thine hand, I pray thee, see me safe up ;
for my coming down let me shift for myself.' Then he knelt
* Cameos from English History, clx.
234 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
and prayed \}[\& fifty -first Psalm most devoutly, and, as the execu-
tioner asked his pardon, he gave it him, telling him it was the
greatest of services he was about to do him. Yet even then
his last word was to ask leave to take his beard out of the way,
'since it was no traitor ; it had never offended His Highness.'
. . . Charles the Fifth was greatly shocked. He sent for the
English Ambassador, and asked if it were true that King Henry
had put Sir Thomas More to death, adding : ' And this we will
say, that if he had been ours, we would rather have lost the
best city in our dominions than such a Councillor.'"^
Pierre du Terrail Bayard, the Chevalier sa?is peur et sans
reproche^ uttered the words of this Psalm in his death-hour.
He was serving under Admiral Bonnivet in Italy against
the Imperialists under the Constable de Bourbon. As the siege
of Milan made no progress, the Admiral resolved to retreat
upon Piedmont, and, as he was wounded, he gave up the com-
mand to Bayard, who was in the rear-guard, fighting most
bravely until, on the 30th of April, 1524, near Romagnano, a
stone from an arquebus struck him on the right side, fractur-
ing the spine. His cry was, ' Jesus, my God, I am slain !' and,
lowering his sword, he held up the cross-hilt before him. As he
turned pale and reeled in the saddle, his friends came round
and wanted to carry him out of the fight ; but he said, ' It is
all over with me, and I will not turn my back on the enemy at
my death.' He was then lifted from his horse and placed
under a tree, begging that his face might still be towards the
enemy.
His squire wept bitterly, but he comforted him, saying,
' Jacques, my friend, cease to sorrow ; it is God's will to take
me from the world, where by His grace I have lived long
enough, and I have received more honours and favours than
belong to me. All my grief is for not having done my duty
as well as I ought.' As there was no priest near, he made his
last confession to his squire, and he then besought his friends
* Cameos j7om English History (4th Series), p. 69.
PSALM LI. 235
to leave him, as the rapid motion was great pain to him, and
he did not wish them to be taken prisoners. Much against
their will, and with many tears, they did this, and the last they
saw of him was with his cross-hilted sword before him, recit-
ing the Miserere. The brave knight lived three hours after
this, and died in peace in his 48th year, treated well by his
enemies."^
Mof/ier Terhe de S. Augiistm (Madame Louise de France),
Prioress of the Carmelite Convent of St. Denis, found comfort
in this Psalm. Her bones were amongst those cast into the
great pit by the Revolutionists in the first French Revolution
when they desecrated the royal graves at St. Denis. Her bio-
grapher thus recounts her last hours :
' Soeur Raphael, returning very shortly, told the Mother that
she might receive the Viaticum at once. At this announce-
ment the dying Princess could not contain her joy ; she thanked
the sister warmly for keeping her promise, adding with her
wonted humility, "I will show my gratitude when I come to
His presence if He deigns to have mercy upon me." Sceur
Raphael could not help exclaiming : '' Oh, Mother, how happy
you are to be so near heaven, while we have to linger here on
earth !" " All my hope is in God," the Mother answered. " I
will not forget you. But don't lose time, let everything be made
ready that I may have the blessing of receiving my Lord."
Her confessor arrived speedily, but he still proposed to give
her the Viaticum first, delaying Extreme Unction, as he did not
think she was really so near death. When she was told that
he had gone to the Church to fetch the Blessed Sacrament,
her love and joy waxed even stronger, and she began to say
the Miserere, asking her nurses to say it with her, as well
as the Magnificat ; she also repeated several times, " In te
Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum." When the
priest entered, bearing the Blessed Sacrament, she cried out :
* Cameos from English History (4th Series), p. 5.
236 PSALM-MOSAICS
" My Heavenly Kingdom has come. Oh, my God, it is very
blessed to oifer my life to Thee," and then she received the
longed-for Viaticum with intense devotion and fervour.'*
Mrs. Ha7i7iah More in her last illness (she died in 1833) found
much comfort in the fifty-first Psalm. ' Upon one occasion,'
says the faithful friend who was always about her dying bed,
' in the early part of her illness I read to her the Office for the
Visitation of the Sick, and the Burial Service in the Book of
Common Prayer. She was still and engaged, while I was
reading, with her hands clasped in devotion. Some of the
verses in the Psalms, after I had begun them, she would finish,
exclaiming with rapture, " How delightful, how sweet — delight-
ing the taste and touching the heart !" The fifty-first Psalm
was continually on her lips : " Create in me a clean heart,
O God, and renew a right spirit within me." '
Fra Girolamo Savonarola^ the great Florentine preacher and
reformer, during the interval that elapsed between the exami-
nations of himself and his two companions, employed his time
in writing short commentaries on the thirty-first and fifty-
first Psalms, throwing all his old energy into their composition.
It is worthy of note that the profligate Pope Alexander VI.
speaks of these three holy men as ' those three sons of
perdition.'
Bishop Blomfield used this Psalm as his nightly prayer for
many years previous to his death.
Joseph Baydfi, the musician, was once asked why his
sacred music was so joyful, and he answered that it was
' because God was so good, that he would set the fifty-first
Psalm in allegro !'t
Schuch, the martyr of St. Hippolytus, near Vosges, repeated
this Psalm at the stake, until the smoke stifled his voice.
* Madame Louise de France.
f The Witness of the Psalms io Christ and Christianity, p. 126.
PSALM LI. 237
Verse i. Miserere mei\ Deus. — Nearly every verse in this
Psalm has its special history. Heniy Vaughan, the poet, who
departed this life in 1695, desired the following inscription
should be placed on his tomb : Servus ifiutilis, Peccator 7tiaxi-
muSj Hie jaceo Gloria! Miserere!
Dr. Carey, the pioneer Indian Missionary, suffering from a
dangerous illness, was asked : ' If this sickness should prove
fatal, what passage would you select as the text of your funeral
sermon?' He replied, 'Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful
creature as I, is unworthy to have anything said about him ;
but if a funeral sermon should be preached, let it be from the
fifty-first Psalm and first verse.'
Lima, the capital of Peru, with Callao, its port-town, was
completely desolated by an earthquake, October 28th, 1764.
The city contained about three thousand inhabitants, of whom
only one escaped. This solitary survivor, standing on a fort
which overlooked the harbour, saw the sea retiring, then, in a
mountainous surge, returning with awful violence, and the
inhabitants at the same instant retreating from their houses
in the utmost terror and confusion. He heard a cry ascend-
ing from all parts of the city — Miserere ; and instantly there
was universal silence. The sea had overwhelmed the city.
The same inundating wave drove a little boat near to the
spectator, and by throwing himself into it he was saved.
Tfie Lesser Litany at Morning Prayer. ' Lord, have mercy
upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy
upon us,' is a Christian version of the Synagogue Prayer taken
from the first verse of this Psalm. It dates from the earliest
period. The Greek form 'Kyrie Christe — Kyrie Eleison,'
each thrice, was retained in the Breviaries. "**"
Verse 3. My sin is ever before me. — Robert Soutfiwell, in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, ten times racked, and at last hanged,
* Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 65.
238 PSALM-MOSJICS
drawn, and quartered, for the great crime of being a Priest in
the Church of Rome, in his poem 6"/. Peter s Complaint, illus-
trates this verse :
' ]\Iy guilty eye still seems to see my sin,
All things are characters to spell my fall ;
What eye doth see without, heart sees within,
What heart doth see, to pensive thought is gall,
Which when the thought would by the tongue digest,
The ear conveys it back into the breast.'
Verse 6. Behold I Thou desirest truth iii the ifiward parts.
— With regard to the Christian character in relation to self, as
deUneated in the Psalter, the deepest prayer for purity which
the Minister of God is taught by the Church to utter is,
' Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open ' {cui omne
cor loquitur), ' cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspir-
ation of Thy Holy Spirit.' Is even that more unequivocally a
prayer referring to one of the most distinct claims of our Lord
over our souls, than such verses as these in the Psalms :
' Behold ! Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. . . .
Create in me a clean heart, O God ! . . . Search me, O God,
and try my heart : know me, and try my thoughts ' P"*^
Verse 7. Thou shall purge me with hyssop, and 1 shall be
clean ; Thou shall wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. —
Shakespeare does not so much quote as imitate, adapt, or
allude to, and sometimes he imitates the general sense of
several passages, instead of modelling his phrases on one alone.
An example of this is met with in Hamlet, Act III., Sc. iv. :
' What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood ?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it zvhite as snow ? Whereto serves mercy.'
From the use of the word ' wash,' it can hardly be doubted
but that one passage in remembrance was verse 7 of Psalm li. :
* The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity.
PSALM LI. 239
* Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.'*
Verse 7. T/ioi^ shall wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow. — Probably the northernmost grave on the surface of the
earth is one made for a member of the expedition of Sir George
Nares to the Arctic Sea in the ship Alert. It is near Cape
Beechy, on the brow of a hill covered with snow, and com-
manding a view of crowded masses of ice, which stretch away
into the mysterious Northern Ocean, where, hung like a lamp
over the door of the unknown, shines the polar star. A large
stone covers the dead, and on a copper tablet at the head the
words are engraved : ' Wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow.'t
Verse 10. Make me a clean heart, O God : and j-enew a
right spirit within me. — Louis de Bourbon, the Grand Conde
was a lifelong friend of Bossuet, and it was he who pronounced
his funeral oration. Bossuet says : ' The last moments are worthy
of record, not because they were remarkable, but precisely be-
cause they were 7iot so, and because there was nothing done or
said for effect by a Prince so well known to the world.'
'Three times successively he asked for the last prayer for the
dying, and thanking his physicians, he turned to the priests
standing by, and said: "These are now my best doctors."
His confessor said something of the need to ask God to mould
his people's hearts, suggesting the prayer: ''Make me a clean
heart, O God.'' Conde remained awhile pondering deeply,
and then, turning to the priest, he said : " I never had any
religious doubts, whatever people may have said; but now," he
went on, "I believe more than ever. All the great mysteries
of the faith grow clearer and clearer to my mind. Yes, indeed,
we shall see God as He is, face to face "; and he repeated again
and again, fondly dwelling on them, the Latin words, "Sicuti
est, facie ad faciem."'|
* Notes and Queries, April 11, 1868.
t The Fsalms in History and Biography ^ p. Zd.
X Life of Bossuet, p. 322.
240
PSALM-MOSAICS
When Sir JValfer Raleigh had laid his head upon the block,
he was asked by the executioner whether it lay right. Where-
upon, with the calmness of a hero and the faith of a true
Christian, he replied : ' It matters little, my friend, how the
head lies, provided the heart is right.'
Verses 10 and 11. Make me a clean hearty O God: and
renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy
presence: afid take ?wt Thy Holy Spirit from me. — In the
Eastern Church, during the Prayer of Consecration, these
words are recited by the Priests and Deacons.
Verse 12. O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and
stahlish me with Thy free Spirit. — The following is the last
entry in the diary of Dr. Arnold : ' Saturday evening. June
nth. — The day after to-morrow is my birthday, if I am per-
mitted to live to see it — my forty-seventh birthday since my
birth. How large a portion of my life on earth is already
passed ! iVnd, then, what is to follow this life ? How visibly
my outward work seems contracted and softened away into the
gentler employment of old age ! In one sense, how nearly can
I now say " Vixi," and I thank God that, as far as ambition is
concerned, it is, I trust, fully mortified ; I have no desire other
than to step back from my present place in the world, and not
to rise to a higher. Still, there are works that, with God's
permission, I would do before the night cometh ; especially
the great work, if I might be permitted to take part in it.
But, after all, let me mind my own personal work ; to keep
myself pure and zealous to the last ; labour to do God's will,
yet not anxious that it should be done by me rather than by
others, if God disapprove of my doing it.'
It was between five and six on Sunday morning that he
awoke with a sharp pain upon the chest, which he mentioned
to his wife on her asking whether he felt well, adding that
he had felt it slightly on the preceding day before and after
bathing. He then again composed himself to sleep ; but her
PSALM LL 241
watchful care, always anxious even to nervousness at the least
indication of illness, was at once awakened, for finding from
him that the pain increased, and that it seemed to pass from
his chest to his left arm, her alarm was so much roused from
a remembrance of having heard of this in connection with
Angina Pectoris and its fatal consequences, that, in spite of his
remonstrances, she rose and called up an old servant whom
they usually consulted in cases of illness, from her having so
long attended the sick-bed of his sister Susannah. Reassured
by her confidence that there was no ground for fear, but still
anxious, Mrs. Arnold returned to his room. She observed
him, as she was dressing herself, lying still, but with his hands
clasped, his lips moving, and his eyes raised as if engaged in
prayer ; when all at once he repeated firmly and earnestly,
' And Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen
thou hast believed ; blessed are they who have not seen and
yet have believed,' and soon afterwards, with a solemnity of
manner and depth of utterance which spoke more than the
words themselves, ' But if ye be without chastisement whereof
all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.' From
time to time he seemed to be in severe suffering. The more
than usual earnestness which marked his tone and manner,
especially in repeating the verses from Scripture, had again
roused her worst fears; and she advised messengers to be
sent for medical assistance, which he at first requested her not
to do, from not liking to disturb, at that early hour, the usual
medical attendant, who had been suffering from indisposition.
She then took up the Prayer-Book, and was looking for a psalm
to read to him, when he said quickly, ' The fifty-first^ which
she accordingly read by his bedside, reminding him at the 7th
verse, that it was the favourite verse of one of the old alms-
women whom he was in the habit of visiting; and at the 12th
verse, ' O give me the comfort of Thy help again, and stablish me
with Thy free spirit,' he repeated it after her very earnestly.
She then read the prayer in the 'Visitation of the Sick/ begin-
ning ' The Almighty Lord, who is a most strong tower,' etc. ;
16
242 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
knelt herself at the foot of the bed, and altered it into a
common prayer for them both. His son had now entered the
sick-room, together with his physician, Dr. Bucknill. Mean-
while, his wife, who still had sounding in her ears the tone in
which he had repeated the passage from the Epistle to the
Hebrews, again turned to the Prayer-Book and began to read
the Exhortation, in which it occurs in the Visitation of the
Sick. He listened with deep attention, saying emphatically,
' Yes,' at the end of many of the sentences. ' There should be
no greater comfort to Christian persons, than to be made like
unto Christ.' — 'Yes.' 'By suffering patiently adversities,
troubles, and sicknesses.' — 'Yes.' 'He entered not into His
glory before He was crucified.' — 'Yes.' At the words 'ever-
lasting life ' she stopped, and his son said, ' I wish, dear papa,
we had you at Fox How ' (where five of his children were
staying, and where he expected to spend the holidays). He
made no answer, but the last conscious look, which remained
fixed in his wife's memory, was the look of intense tenderness
and love with which he smiled upon them both at that moment.
Thus died, as we would die, one of the noblest and manliest of
Christian men.*
Verse 13. T/ien shall I teach Thy 7C'ajs imio the wicked : and
sinners shall be converted u?ito Thee. — One {St. Angustiiie) who
was himself a notable example of the grace of God in convert-
ing a sinner into a teacher, cites this verse against the Dona-
tists, who, like the Novatians, censured the discipline of the
CliUrch as too easy in the reinstatement of the lapsed, and he
did but follow in the steps of a far earlier Christian writer (the
author of the Apostolic Constitutions), who quotes the imme-
diately preceding verses of the Psalm in the same sense, f
Verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness^ O God. — At
length came the fatal 30th of January (1649), and King Charles,
* Life of Dr. A^-nold, vol. ii., p. 282.
t Dr. Neale's Coinmeiitaiy, vol. ii., p. 202.
PSALM LI. 243
attended by Bishop Juxon, walked to the scaffold, and said : ' I
have a good cause and a gracious God on my side ; I go from
a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance
can be — no disturbance in the world !'
There was one of the King's loyal subjects who, we may well
believe, envied Bishop Juxon his privilege of attendance on his
master to the last ; and that was Bishop Wren, who had been
with him in bright, early days, when, as Prince of Wales, he
had accompanied him on his romantic journey to Spain, who,
when the weight of the crown first came upon the Prince's
head, had accompanied him on the journey to Scotland for his
coronation at Scone, and who since then had been so trusted
by him.
Bishop Wren, at the time of the King's murder, was in the
Tower, where he had been since 1641 for loyalty to King
Charles. He was released by General Monk in 1660, after an
imprisonment of eighteen years. When the news of the martyr's
death first reached the faithful Bishop, no word of his own grief,
of his unavailing longing to see his King once more, and once
more kiss his hand, is expressed in the brief record in his diary.
It is simply, ' A sanguiiiibiis, O Deiis P (From blood-guiltiness,
O God !).^
Verse 15. Thou shalt opeti my lips, O Lord: and my mouth
shall show Thy praise. — The Versicles and the Doxology at
Morning Prayer, which have been used from the sixth century,
at least as a commencement of Nocturns in the West, are taken
from Psalms li. 15, and Ixxi. This verse also occurs in the
early part of the Greek Morning Office. f
Verse 17. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou
not despise. — On one occasion when Whitfield was preaching at
Exeter, a man was present who had his pockets full of stones
in order to fling them at the preacher. He heard his prayer,
however, with patience ; but no sooner had he named his text,
* Sir Christopher Wren and his Times, chap. iv.
f Interleaved Prayer- Boole, p. 61.
244 PSALM-MOSAICS
than the man pulled a stone out of his pocket and held it in
his hand, waiting for a fair opportunity to throw. But God
willed otherwise, and sent a sword to the man's heart, so that
the stone dropped from his hand. After the sermon was over,
he went to Mr. Whitfield and told him : ' Sir, I came to hear
you this day with a view to break your head, but the Spirit
of the Lord, through your ministry, has given me a broken
heart^
St. Teresa quoted this verse in her last moments. ' The
holy viaticum being brought into her chamber on the 3rd of
October in the evening, she sprung up in her bed, though ex-
ceedingly weak, and, among other fervent ejaculations, said :
" O Lord, and my Spouse, the desired hour is now come ; it is
now time for me to depart hence. Thy will be done ! The
hour is at last come, wherein I shall pass out of this exile, and
my soul shall enjoy in Thy company what it hath so earnestly
longed for." At nine o'clock the same evening she desired and
received extreme unction. Father Antony asked her if she
would not be buried in her own convent at Avila, to which she
answered: "Have I anything mine in this world? or will they
not afford me here a little earth ?" She recited often certain
verses of the Miserere Psalm, especially those words, "^ contrite
and hwnble hearty O God., Thou wilt not despise. ^^ This she
repeated till her speech failed her. After this she remained
fourteen hours as it were in a trance, holding a crucifix fast in
her hand, and calmly expired at nine o'clock in the evening, on
the 4th of October, 1582.'^
Verse 18. 6> be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou
the walls of Jerusalem. — Henry V. of England, ' the most
Christian champion of the Church,' just before his death
revised his will, adding legacies to his faithful friends and
servants, and then demanded of his physicians how long they
thought his time would yet be. They avoided reply till he
exerted that resolute wall w-hich none had resisted ; and then
* Butler's Lives of the Saints.
PSALM LI. 245
one of them, kneeling down by his bed, said : ' Sir, think of
your soul, for, without a miracle, in our judgment, you have
not two hours to live.' His confessor was present, and he de-
voutly received the last Sacraments, and when they were ended,
desired that they would recite the penitential Psalms. All this
time he lay still, until when, in the fifty-first Psalm, they came
to the verse ^ Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem ^^ he interrupted
them, to say : ' I protest in the faith of a dying king, that, had
it pleased the Lord God to lengthen my life, it was my full
purpose, after restoring peace to France, to have gone forth
against the Infidels, and to have delivered Jerusalem from their
tyranny.' He then bade them proceed, and soon after the
close of the last Psalm passed away in sleep, on the morning
of the 31st of August, 1422."^
Ve7-se 19. Then shall they offer young bullocks upon Thine
altar. — In the Eastern Church, at the veihng of the elements,
as the priest censes them, he repeats these words.
Thus there has passed before us a great and varied host, all
testifying to the value and excellency of the Miserere. Fathers
and Saints of the undivided Church ; Kings and Queens ;
Martyrs and Confessors; Warriors and Patriots ; Bishops,
Priests, and Religious ; the Catholic Church, Roman, Greek,
Armenian, and Anglican ; commentators. Catholic and Protes-
tant, ancient and modern ; courtiers, scholastics, and musicians
have but one voice, and that the voice of praise, thanksgiving,
and testimony for this Psalm.
PSALM LII.
Heading (Delitzsch).— The punishment that awaits the evil
tongue.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David; in which he reproveth
every evil temper, and showeth the end thereof.
"* Cajiieos from English History, Ixxix.
246 PSALM-MOSAICS
Origin (Perowne). — Whether this Psalm was really composed
by David on the occasion to which the title refers it, may be a
matter of doubt. We know too little of Doeg to be able to say
if the description in verses 1-4 applies to him or not; nor, in
fact, does the title intimate that he is the subject of the Psalm.
It only points out the occasion on which the Psalm was written,
and Saul's name is mentioned in it as well as Doeg's. . . .
Whilst, therefore, the faith and courage which breathe in this
Psalm are such as to incline me to think that it was written by
David, and whilst there may even be an allusion in verse 8 to
the sanctuary at Nob, I see little reason on other grounds for
maintaining the accuracy of the inscription.
T/ie Whole Psalm. — This Psalm belongs to a series of Psalms
connected with the persecution of David by Saul (Psalms vii.,
xxxiv.. Hi., liv., Ivi., Ivii., lix., cxlii.), which are called 'Psalmi
fugitivi ' by Augustine.^
When Charles I. was a prisoner in the Scottish Army, one
of the fanatics, after his sermon, ordered the 52nd Psalm to be
sung.
' Why dost thou, tyrant, boast thyself
Thy wicked deeds to praise ?'
The King immediately asked for the 56th Psalm —
* Have mercy, Lord, on me, I pray.
For men would me devour,'
which was sung instead.
Verse 3. Cuttest like a sharp razor. — For want, I suppose, of
some higher topic, Lorinus, who always will say something,
here enters into a dissertation as to the first Christian author
in whom we find mention of a razor. It is in St. Sidonius
Apollinaris, Lib. i, Epist. 2. But, as he also observes, Non
refert.
* Wordsworth's Conifuentary, p. 81.
PSALM LI II. 247
PSALM LIIL
Headino; (Delitzsch). — Elohimic variation of the Jahve —
Psalm xiv.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Song of Man's Disease.
Contents (Syriac). — Concerning Ahitophel, that counselled
Absalom to pursue David his father, and slay him ; and his
wickedness returned upon his own head, and he died — Also
disclosing to us the revelation of a Saviour, and deliverance
from the people that are without God.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is only another version of
Psalm xiv., from which it differs in two particulars. First, in
the use of the Name of God, which here is Elohim, instead of
Jehovah, a peculiarity which is characteristic of all the Psalms
of the 2nd Book. Next in the remarkable deviation, verse 5 (6),
from the language of the parallel passage, verses 5 and 6 of
Psalm xiv. There seems to have been an intentional alteration,
with a view of adapting the Psalms to different circumstances.
PSALM LIV.
ZT^^^zV^^or (Delitzsch).— Consolation in the presence of blood-
thirsty adversaries.
Title (Spurgeon).— When the Ziphims came and said to
Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us ?
Contefits (Syriac).— A Psalm of David, when he sent Joab
and his army to fight with Absalom ; and signifying to us the
victory and prayer of him that is preserved of God.
Origin (Perowne).— This Psalm, like several of the Psalms
ascribed to David in the 2nd Book, refers, according to the
248 PSALM-MOSAICS
title, to the time of his persecution by Saul. The particular
occasion was this : David had taken refuge with 600 men in
the fastness of Keilah ; but, warned by Abiathar, the son of
Ahimelech, that the men of Keilah were not to be trusted, he
escaped into the wilderness of Ziph. Here, however, he was
very near falling into the hands of the Ziphites, who would have
betrayed him to Saul, when, happily, an irruption of the
PhiHstines into the country compelled the king to desist from
his pursuit, and to turn his armies in another direction. See
I Sam. xxiii. 9, and the additional particulars furnished by the
later annahst, i Sam. xxvi. i, from which sources the title is
borrowed.
In Church. — This Psalm is appointed to be used on the day
of Christ's Passion, Good Friday, not only by the Church of
England use, but it is also found in the Sarum use and the
Latin use. In the two latter it is appointed also for Easter
Even. It is also appointed in the Greek office for the Visitation
of the Sick.
Verse 6. Aii offering of a free heart ivill 1 give Thee, and
praise Thy Name, O Lord, because it is so comfortable.
' O Thou only beautiful,
Thou only wise, I thank Thee that at length,
Seeing all else was vain, I turned to Thee,
And laid my weary load of sin and shame
Upon Thy bleeding back, to bear away
Into the wilderness of that last cry,
" My God, My God, Thou hast forsaken Me !"
I cannot thank Thee, I can only say,
" Take, dearest Lord, this crushed and bleeding heart,
And lay it in Thine Hand, Thy pierced Hand,
That Thine atoning Blood may mix with mine.
Till I and my Beloved are all one." '*
PSALM LV.
Beading (Delitzsch). — Prayer of one who is maliciously beset
and betrayed by his friend.
* Digby Mackworth Dolben.
PSALM LV. 249
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David, when he mourned for
Absalom his son, who had been slain ; also a prophecy con-
cerning them that sinned presumptuously against the Messiah.
Origin (Perowne). — As this Psalm is, in the title, ascribed to
David, and as it contains a bitter complaint of the faithlessness
of a trusted friend, it has been commonly supposed to refer to
the desertion and treachery of Ahitophel, in Absalom's rebel-
lion. . . . The Psalm, however, seems to have been composed
under other circumstances, and to be directed at some person
of whom we know nothing, beyond what the Psalm itself
tells us.
The Whole Fsalm.—On the 9th of February, Mary Queen
of Scots went to the wedding of her favourite servants, Sebastian
Pages, commonly called Bastien, and Margaret Cawood, both
of whom had been with her in her flight from Holyrood. She
went to the wedding dinner, supped at Lady Argyle's, and then
went back to the dance — a masked ball— sending French Paris
to fetch a favourite fur coverlet which she had left at Kirk of
Field. Bothwell was one of the guests, but presently went
away, and, meeting his Border followers, they obtained from
French Paris the keys of the Queen's chamber, and silendy
carried into it a quantity of powder stored in bags, moving the
Queen's bed, and piling them just under where that of the
King stood in the room overhead. But there must have been
a mine besides, as the very foundation stones were thrown up.
Mary was to sleep in Holyrood that night, but between the
supper and the ball she went home to bid good-night to the
victim. He had spent the last day of his life in hearing Mass,
and then had talked with various gentlemen. When the Queen
had parted with him, he bade his page Taylor read to him the
55th Psalm, his favourite, and then went to bed. . . . Two
men and two boys were taken out, crushed to death among the
ruins, but Henry Stewart's own body was found at five o'clock
on that winter's morning, under an apple-tree about eighty yards
250 PSALM-MOSAICS
off. That of his page Taylor was near him, but neither of
them was burned or scorched.^^"
Darnley, before or after the Queen's visit, was said to have
opened the Prayer-Book, and read over the 55th Psahn, which,
by a strange coincidence, was in the EngHsh Service for the
day that was dawning (Feb. loth, 1567). Such was the tale;
the words have a singular appropriateness : ' Fearfulness and
trembling are come upon me : and a horrible dread hath over-
whelmed me. It is not an open enemy that hath done me this
dishonour . . . but it was even thou, my companion, my guide,
and mine own familiar friend (verses 12, 5, i4).t
Verses 2 a?id 3. O cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He
shall nourish thee. — George Herbert, in a letter to his mother
in her sickness, dated 'Trin. Coll., May 25th, 1622,' gives her
this advice : Lastly, for those afflictions of the soul ; consider
that God intends that to be as a Sacred Temple for Himself
to dwell in, and will not allow any room there for such an
inmate as grief ; or allow that any sadness shall be His com-
petitor. And, above all, if any care of future things molest
you, remember those admirable words of the Psalmist : ' Cast
thy care on the Lord, and ILe shall noiirish thee P To which
join that of St. Peter, ' Casting all your care on the Lord, for
He careth for you.' What an admirable thing is this, that
God puts His shoulder to our burden, and entertains our care
for us, that we may the more quietly intend His service !t
Verse 6. O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fiee
away, and be at rest.
'O that gifted and uplifted,
With twain pinions of a dove,
To the glorious Cross victorious
Might my soul fly swift above ;
* Cameos f}'om English History, No. civ.
t Froude's History of England, viii. 369, 370.
X Izaak Walton s Lives, p. 284.
PSALM LV. 251
Where, 'mid bruising and abusing,
Jesus, darling of the earth,
Though unbounded, hangs confounded,
Made a mark for scorn and mirth.'*
' Oh ! had I, my Saviour, the wings of a dove,
How soon would I soar to Thy presence above !
How soon would I flee where the weary have rest,
And hide all my cares in Thy sheltering breast. 't
Verse 7. Zo, f/ie?i would I get me away far off, and remain in
tJie wilderness. — Francisco Borja, the great friend of the
Emperor Charles V., preaching at the celebration of his
obsequies at Valladolid, took for his text, '■ Lo, theft would I
get me away far off, a?id remain in the loilderness,' in allusion to
the Emperor's retirement.
St. Fra?icis de Sales, as he grew older, and especially when
he was made chaplain to the Princess of Piedmont, was anxious
to have help, so Jean Francois de Sales, his brother, was
appointed his deputy, and soon after coadjutor, with the title
of Bishop of Chalcedon. St. Francis was not in his element at
Court. ' It is certainly preferable to be poor within the courts
of God's House,' the Bishop wrote to Madame de Chantal,
* rather than to dwell in kings' palaces. I have gone through
my novitiate at Court, but I should be very sorry to make my
profession.' His wish would have been to give up everything
to the coadjutor, and himself to retire to a quiet spot on the
Lake of Annecy, where he had restored an old chapel, and
built a few hermit-like cells. It was close to the Benedictine
monastery of Talloires, and Francis told its prior how he looked
forward to coming there, and serving God with his pen and his
breviary, during his declining days. He had several spiritual
works in his mind, which his present active life gave him no
time to write, ' and I think that ideas will pour down upon me
from above like winter snowflakes upon our mountains. O
for the wings of a dove, that I might fly aimy to that sacred
* Corolla Walraffi—'Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 230.
t Poems by the Rev. H. F. Lyte, p. 163.
252
PSALM-MOSAICS
resting-place^ and take rest beneath the shadow of the cross.
Expectabo donee veniat immortatio mea.'*
Charles Kingsley, in a paper on the opening of the National
Gallery to the public, says : Picture galleries should be the
workman's paradise, a garden of pleasure, to which he goes to
refresh his eyes and heart with beautiful shapes and sweet
colouring, when they are wearied with dull bricks and mortar,
and the ugly, colourless things which fill the workshop and the
factory. . . . Believe it, toil-worn worker, in spite of thy foul
alley, thy crowded lodging, thy grimed clothing, thy ill-fed
children, thy thin, pale wife — believe it, thou, too, and thine,
will some day have your share of beauty. God made you love
beautiful things only because He intends hereafter to give you
your fill of them. That pictured face on the wall is lovely, but
lovelier still may the wife of thy bosom be when she meets thee
on the resurrection morn ! Those baby cherubs in the old
Italian painting — how gracefully they flutter and sport among
the soft clouds, full of rich young life and baby joy ! Yes,
beautiful, indeed, but just such a one at this very moment is
that once pining, deformed child of thine, over whose death-
cradle thou wast weeping a month ago ; now a child angel,
whom thou shalt meet again, never to part ! Those land-
scapes, too, painted by loving, wise old Claude, two hundred
years ago, are still as fresh as ever. How still the meadows
are ! how pure and free that vault of deep blue sky ! No
wonder that thy worn heart, as thou lookest, sighs aloud, ' O
that I had wings as a dove, then would I flee away, and be at
rest ./' Ay, but gayer meadows and bluer skies await thee in
the world to come — that fairyland made real — ' the new heavens
and the new earth,' which God has prepared for the pure and
the loving, the just and the brave, who have conquered in this
sore fight of life If
A passage in the Octavia of Seneca has been referred to
* St. Francis de Sales, p. 240.
t Charles Kingsley, p. 1 28.
PSALM LV. 253
as being parallel to this of David. It is in the answer of
Octavia to the Chorus, x\ct V., verses 914-923-
' My woes, who enough can bewail ?
O what notes can my sorrows express ?
Sweet Philomel's self e'en would fail
To respond with her plaintive distress.
O had I her wings, I would fly
To where sorrows I ne'er should feel more,
Upborne on her plumes through the sky,
Regions far from mankind would explore.
In a grove where sad silence should reign,
On a spray would I seat me alone ;
In shrill lamentations complain,
And in wailings would pour forth my moan.'
J. B. Clarke (from Adam Clarke's Commentary).
Verses 12, 13, and 14. For it is not an open enemy that hath
done me this dishonour: for then I could have bor?ie it. Neither
was it 7}ti?ie adversary that did magnify himself agai?ist me :
for then per adventure I would have hid myself from him.
But it was even thou, my compa7iion, my guide, and mine own
fa m iliar friend.
' Alas ! they had been friends in youth ;
But whispering tongues can poison truth ;
And constancy lives in realms above,
And life is thorny, and youth is vain.
And to be wroth with one we love
Doth work like madness in the brain.
And thus it chanced, as I divine,
With Roland and Sir Leoline.
Each spake words of high d-sdain
And insult to his heart's best brother ;
They parted— ne'er to meet again !
But never either found another
To free the hollow heart from paining.
They stood aloof, the scars remaining
Like cliffs which have been rent asunder ;
A dreary sea now flows between ;
But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,
Shall wholly do away, I ween,
The marks of that which once hath been.
Verse 15. We took sweet counsel together, atid lualked in the
* Colerid^^e.
254
PSALM-MOSAICS
house of God as friends. — This verse is repeated by the Jews of
Italy when in sight of the synagogue.
Verse i8. Iti the evcfimg, aiid nior?iing, atid at noon-day will
I pray ^ and that instantly. — Here we have the first authorization
of the Canonical Hours. "^
This was the custom of the pious Hebrews (see Dan. vi. lo).
The Hebrews began their day in the evening, and hence David
mentions the evening first. The Rabbins say, men should pray
three times each day, because the day changes three times.
This was observed in the primitive Church ; but the times in
different places were various. The old Psalter gives this a
curious turn : ' At even I sail tel his louing (praise) what tim
Crist was on the Crosse ; and at morn I sail schew his louing,
what tim he ros fra dede. And sua he sail here my voice at
midday, that is sitand at the right hand of his fader, wheder he
stegh (ascended) at midday. 't
The Shemonah Esi^ih. — The most important of the leading
prayers of the Hebrew ritual is the Shetnonah Esrah, or
' eighteen supplications. ' This prayer is thought to be of very
great antiquity ; it is said to have been written by Ezra and the
Sanhedrim, in the form in which it has come down to us. But,
in reality, these ' eighteen prayers ' are nineteen, for there is
one — viz., the twelfth — which was interpolated at a later age by
one Rabbi Gamaliel, and in which the wrath of God is called
down upon all the enemies of the Jewish race. The Shejnonah
Esrah is to be said by every Jew three times every day, viz., in
the morning before breakfast, with the phylacteries on his arm
and head, next at vespers, and lastly in the evening.
It is the most essential, and, at the same time, the most
popular of all the prayers. AVhile reciting it, the Jew must
stand in an eastward position, with his feet close together all
the time \ he must not allow any interruption whatsoever to
disturb him, and at the end of the prayer he must go three
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii,, p. 235.
t Adam Clarke's Comvimtary.
PSALM LV. 255
steps backward ; upon which ground, in the everyday language
of the Jews, the Shemojiah Esrah walk means the same thing
as what the Americans call progressing backwards. It may be
remarked that the compulsory recitation of this prayer three
times a day is based upon the words of the Psalmist, ' eveiiing
and morning and at noon will I pray ' — Psalm Iv. 17(18); and
on the passage in Daniel, who ' kneeled upon his knees three
times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he
did aforetime,'
Verse 21. The words of his mouth were softer tha7i butter^
having ivar in his heart ; his words ivere smoother thaii oil,
and yet be they very swords.
Well, when I came to the justice again, there was Mr. Foster,
of Bedford, who, coming out of another room, and seeing me
by the light of the candle, for it was dark night when I came
thither, he said unto me, ' Who is there ? John Bunyan ?' with
much seeming affection, as if he would have leaped on my neck
and kissed me, which made me somewhat wonder that such
a man as he, with whom I had so little acquaintance, and,
besides, that had ever been a close opposer of the ways of
God, should carry himself so full of love to me, but afterwards,
when I saw what he did, it caused me to remember those say-
ings : ' Their tongues were softer than oil, yet were they drawn
swords.''*
Verse 23. O cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall
nourish thee : and shall not suffer the righteous to fall for
ever.
Francesco d'Assisi, the founder of the Franciscans in 12 10,
was an Italian by birth. After an inaugural discourse to his
first disciples, he placed them in the form of a cross, and dis-
missed them with this blessing : ' Cast thy burden upon the
Lord, and He shall nourish thee'
* John Bunyan. In relation to J. B.'s imprisonment : written by him-
self vol. i., p. 52.
2S6 PSALM-MOSAICS
Martin Luther, on his last journey to Eislaben, wrote to his
wife : ' Cast thy burden upon the Lord, for He careth for
thee:
Dr. Neale, in his comment on this verse, says : ' Cast thy
burden on Him in the same way that the ship in a storm casts
her burden on the anchor, which anchor holds on to its sure
fixing-place. And, to my mind, that is the more beautiful sense
of the two— a sense which, once entered into, maybe followed
out in these glorious verses :
' And I see the good ship riding, all in a perilous road ;
The low reef booming on her lee ; the swell of ocean poured,
Sea after sea, from stem to stern ; the mainmast by the board :
The bulwarks down ; the rudder gone ; the boats stove by the chains ;
But courage still, brave mariners ! the ANCHOR yet remains ;
And he will flinch — no, never an inch, until ye pitch sky high ;
Then he moves his head, as if he said : " Fear nought, for here am I !" '*
Verse 25. The bloodthirsty and deceitful meii shall not live
out half their days, nevertheless my trust shall be in Thee, 0
Lord.
Thomas Bozius, a Latin, turns this verse against the Eastern
Church, and observes — which is perfectly true — that no
Emperor of Constantinople reigned more than forty years,
except one who held the sceptre for forty-three, and two who
ruled for fifty-six. One can only be sorry that so good a man
as Lorinus should have given a kind of endorsement to this
interpretation.!
PSALM LVL
LLeading (Delitzsch). — Cheerful courage of a fugitive.
Conte?its (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Thanksgiving of the
righteous man because he was delivered from the enemy, and
from the hand of Saul ; also concerning the Jews and concern-
ing the Messiah.
* Ferguson, Forging of the AncJior.
t Dr. Neale's Co})inieutaiy^ vol. ii., p. 240.
PSALM LVI. 257
Origin (Perowne). — According to the inscription, it was com-
posed when David was detained in Gath by the Philistines.
But on neither occasion when he visited Gath does the history
inform us of any such detention (i Sam. xxi. 11- 16, and
xxvii. — xxix.). Hupfield concludes, from the absence of any-
thing in the history corresponding to the title of the Psalm, that
the title is not to be trusted. Yet it is, perhaps, more likely on
this very account that it rests upon some ancient tradition. A
modern compiler would have endeavoured to make the title
square better with the history.
In Church. — In the Roman Catholic Church, in the Recon-
ciliation of Penitents on Maundy Thursday, Psalms xxxiv., li.,
l7jz., and Ivii. are used.*
It is also the ist Psalm of the Mesorion of the 6th hour in
the East.t
Verse i. Be merciful unto me, O God. — This is the second of
the Psalms beginning with the Miserere, the fifty-first being
the first of them. I
Verse 4. / have put my trust in God, and will not fear what
flesh can do unto me. — Dr. Williams, Lord Keeper, Bishop of
Lincoln, and Dean of Westminster (who also held, besides,
several livings and prebendal stalls, as great a pluralist as
Wolsey), was a great enemy of Laud. Here is an extract from
Laud's diary which illustrates this : 'Jan. 25th— It was Sunday.
I was alone and languishing with I know not what sadness. I
was much concerned with the envy and undeserved hatred
borne to me by the Lord Keeper. I took into my hands the
Greek Testament, that I might read the portion of the day. I
lighted upon the thirteenth chapter to the Hebrews, wherein
that of David, Psalm Ivi., occurred to me then grieving and
fearing : " The Lord is my helper : I will not fear what man can
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 269.
t Interleaved Prayer- Book, p. 259.
X C. H. Spurgeon.
17
258 PSALM-MOSAICS
do unto me" I thought an example was set to me, and who is
not safe under that shield ? Protect me, O Lord my God !'*
Verse 8. Thou tellest my flittt7igs ; put my tears into Thy
dottle, are not these things noted in Thy book ? — This verse has
been beautifully imitated in P. Gerhardt's hymn :
' Du z'ahlst wie oft ein Christe wein.'t
Compare George Herbert's line,
' I have not lost one single tear.'
St. Bernard says, with quaint beauty : 'The tears of penitents
are the wine of angels.'
A verse frequently in the mouth of Archbishop Usher, one of
the best and most learned men of his time, born in Dublin,
1580, driven to and fro through England and Ireland amid the
troubles in Church and State, during one of the most troublous
times in our history, and at length finding the rest he often
sighed for at Reigate in England, 1655, ^^^^^ he had preached
the Gospel for fifty-five years, t
PSALM LVIL
Headifig (Delitzsch). — Before falling asleep in the wilder-
ness.
Title (Spurgeon). — One of the ' Destroy not ' Psalms (from
Abtaschith, i.e., destroy not).
Co7itents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David, when Saul turned to
pursue him ; also thanksgiving and the calling of the Gentiles
to the Faith.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is, in many respects, like
the last, and, like that, was probably written by David. . . .
* Mozleys Essays, vol. i., A?-chbishop Lazid, p. 137.
+ 77ie Book of Fsabns, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 437.
X "7 he Psalms in History and Biography, p. 89.
PSALM LVIL
=59
According to the title, it was written by David ^ i?ito the cave/
T\\Q history tells us of two occasions on which David found
refuge in a cave. The one cave was that of Adullam, situate
in the face of the chffs which skirt the low valley of the Philis-
tines, I Sam. xxii. ; the other was that of Engedi, one of the
numerous caves in the limestone rock among the ' Alps ' or
high pastures of the district on the western bank of the Dead
Sea. . . . But this is a question which must be left. There
is nothing in the Psalm either for or against the title.
In Church. — This is the second Psalm at Matins on Easter
Day. On Easter Day the Church sings this Psalm as it were
by the sepulchre where her Beloved is sleeping, awaking the
morning dawn to call upon Him to arise, and set up Himself
above the Heavens, and His glory above all the Earth. "^
In the Roman Catholic Church this Psalm is used (with
Psalms xxxiv., li., and Ivi.) in the Reconciliation of Penitents
on Maundy Thursday. t
Verse i. For my soul trusteth in Thee. — This hemistich was
adopted as his motto by Pope Nicolas W\.%
Verses i and 2. Be merciful zmto me, O God., be merciful unto
me, for my soul trusteth in Thee ; and under the shadow of Thy
7i'ings shall be my refuge, until this tyranny be overpast. I will
call unto the Most High God.— In the late Franco-German war
an English writer entered the church at Bourget immediately
after an action. On the altar, which was dinted with a bullet-
hole, with a bloodstained book on its steps, lay the great
Psalter. The book was opened at the 56th (sythj Psalm,
Miserere mei, Deus . . . clamaho ad Deum altissimum.%
Verse 2. I will call wito the Most High God.— The Targumist
entered well into both the locale and the spirit of the Psalm
* Housman, p. 103,
t Dr. Neale's Cofnmentary, vol. iv., p. 269.
X Ibid., vol. ii., p. 263.
§ The Witness 0/ the Fsalms to Christ and Christianity, p. 279.
26o PSALM -MOSAICS
when he gave this curious paraphrase of verse 2 : ' / will pray
in the presence of the most high and mighty God, ivhohath bidden
the spider cotnplete in the cavern its web for 7ny sake. How this
paraphrase originated it is difficult to say ; but it furnishes a
striking anticipation of the well-known anecdote of Robert
Bruce in his Irish cabin when in exile in the Isle of Rachlin.
Delitzsch, who gives a turn to the Targumist's words which
those familiar with the story of Bruce will scarcely relish, that
the web, providentially w^oven, would deceive Saul into the
belief that the cave was empty, adduces in illustration two lines
of the Christian poet, Paulinus of Nola :
' Sicuti Christus adest, fiet vel aranea murus :
Sicuti Christus abest, vel murus aranea fiet.'*
Verse 6. Set up Thyself, O God, above the heave?is, and Thy
gloty above all the earth. — In the Orthodox Eastern Church, in
the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, after the people have received,
the Priest blesses them, saying Psalm xxviii. 10, and imme-
diately afterwards, returning to the altar, says Psalm Ivii. 6,
* Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, afid Thy glory above
all the earth.' J
PSALM LVIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Cry for vengeance upon those who
pervert justice.
Title (Spurgeon). — This is the fourth of the Psalms of the
Golden Secret, and the second of the ' Destroy not.'
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David ; when Saul was angry
with the priests because they did not reveal to him concerning
David, that they knew where he was ; also unfolding to us the
doctrine of the just judgment of God.
Origin (Perowne). — The title ascribes this Psalm to David,
* Thrupp, vol. i., p. 327.
f Dr. Is^eale's Co?/imenta7y, vol. iv., p. 269.
PSALM LVIII. 261
but without assigning it to any particular occasion in his life.
Various guesses have been made as to the date of its compo-
sition, but the Psalm furnishes us with no data for any certain
or even probable conclusion.
The Whole Fsal?n.—'LQt us remark the rugged and terrible
energy of the hurried images in the 58th Psalm — the young
lion, with his broken tusks ; the waters hurrying away ; the
arrow snapped upon the string; the snail melting until it is
shrivelled and wasted ; the abortion that never sees the sun ;
the whirlwind spoiling the robber's feast, and sweeping off
alike the green living branch and the angry heated ember.*
Verses 4 and 5. They are as venomous as the poison of a
serpent : even like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears ; ivhich
refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer : charm he never so
wisely.— In the Second Part of He7iry VL Queen Margaret
says to the king :
' What, dost thou turn away, and hide thy face ?
I am no loathsome leper, look on me.
What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf? ^
Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen.'
^ ActllL, Sc. ii.
This beautiful image seems to have struck the imagination of
our poet, and not without reason. He therefore makes use ot
it again, and with singular propriety, in Troilus and Cresstda,
where Hector says to Paris and Troilus :
' Pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders, to the voice
Of any true decision.'
^ Actlll., Sc. ii.t
Milton puts into the mouth of Samson a fine allusion to this
passage of the Psalmist :
' Thy fair enchanted cup, and warbling charms.
No more on me have power ; their force is nulled ;
So much of adder's wisdom I have learn'd.
To fence my ear against thy sorceries.'^
* Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity, p. 195.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 52.
X Mant on The Psalms, p. 189.
262 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 6. Let them fall away like water that rimneth apace.
' Buckingham. For those you make friends,
And give your hearts to, when they perceive
The least rub in your fortunes, fall away
Like water from ye, never found again
But where they mean to sink ye.'
Henry VII L, Act II., So. i.
In the Prayer-Book version of Psalm Iviii. 6, it is said of the
ungodly, ' Let them fall aivay like water that runneth apace ' —
ad nihilum devenient tanquam aqua decurrens (Ivii. 8). As the
underlined phrase, so part of Shakespeare's thought agrees
with the image which our version would set forth, of the swift
descent, or passing away from before the gazers' eyes, of each
successive portion of the stream. In Job vi. 15 the imagery is
different, the falling away of deceitful friends being likened to
the drying up of a mountain snow-stream, which in the day of
early heats gladdens the country, and the thirsty traveller, and
on the morrow of the drought is gone.
PSALM LIX.
L/eading (Delitzsch). — Prayer of an innocent man, whom men
are trying to take.
Title (Spurgeon). — Another ' Destroy not ' Psalm.
Contents (Syriac). — David sang it when he heard that Saul
had slain the priests ; it unfolds to us the turning of the
Gentiles to the Faith, and the reprobation of the Jews.
Origin (Perowne).— This Psalm, whose tone, colouring, and
expression have much in common with the four preceding
Psalms, is said, in the title, to have been composed by David
when Saul's emissaries watched him in his own house. The
history is given in i Sam. xix. 11-18. . . . But the internal
evidence lends little confirmation to the accuracy of the title.
The allusions in verses 6 and 14 are obviously not pecu-
liarly applicable to Saul's emissaries ; and all that seems certain
PSALM LIX. 263
is that the Psalm was called forth by some attack upon the life
of its author.
Verse 5. — At the end of the comments on this verse, in the
Co77imentary on the Psalms by Doctors Neale and Littledale,
we have these words : ' At this point the Commentary of John
Mason Neale ceases. The pen, fallen from the hand of the
great scholar, poet and divine, is henceforth taken up by the
weak fingers of his disciple, R. F. L.'
Verse 7. ' Behold they speak with their inouth^ and swords are
in their lips, for ivho doth hearT—^\ will speak daggers,' says
Hamlet, Act III., Sc. ii., using a metaphor which the Bible has
made familiar to us. ' Swords are in their lips,' says the Psalmist ;
and again, ' Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend
their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words ' (Ixiv. 3).
And no doubt there are many cases in which this is found by
experience to be too true. For instance :
' 'Tis slander :
Whose edge is sharper than the siuord, whose tongue
Out-venoms all the worms of Nile ; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world ; kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enters.'
Cymbeliney Act III., Sc. iv.*
Verse 10. ' The God of my mercy shall prevent me : God
shall let me see iny desire upon mine enemies'' (Bible version). —
This is a favourite passage with Augustine in his arguments
against the Pelagians. He often alleges it in proof of the
doctrine that the grace of God precedes all merit of man.
And here he observes : ' Quid in me invenisti nisi sola peccata ?
. . . Antequam aliquid boni ego faciam, misericordia ejus prae
veniet me. Quid hie respondebit infelix Pelagius ?'t
Verse 15. '■They will run here arid there for meat^ and
grudge if they be not satisfied 'S. Albert Magnus dryly observes,
' This verse may also be read against archdeacons, who are
^ Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 234.
f 'Ihe Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 453.
264 PSALM-MOSAICS
literally scattered through the episcopate, not to preach, but to
eat, and who murmur if they are not provided for according to
their fancy. Not like Eliezer, who says (Gen, xxiv. 33), " I will
not eat till I have told mine errand." And when he had
finished he was content with a little ; for it is found in the
same place, "And there was bread set before him" (Gen.
xxiv. 2>Z^ Vulg.).'*
PSALM LX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Drill Psalm after a lost battle.
Contents (Syriac). — David sang it when he said, ' If I fall into
the hands of Saul, I die,' and he sought for safety in flight, and
also they that were with him. Moreover it maketh known to
us the conversion of the Gentiles, and the termination of the
Jewish dispensation.
Origin (Perowne). — According to the title, this Psalm was
composed in memory of Joab's victory over the Edomites in
the Valley of Salt.
Nothing is said in the scanty record, in 2 Samuel viii., of the
circumstances which led to this war ; but it is probable that
whilst David was engaged in his first Syrian campaign, the
Edomites turned the opportunity to good account, and threa-
tened to, if they did not actually, invade Palestine.
The King was compelled hastily to detach Joab and some
part of his forces to meet these new enemies ... a severe
battle was fought in the Valley of Salt, near the southern
extremity of the Dead Sea, in which the Edomites were
defeated with great slaughter ... it was in the interval be-
tween the first great battle and the final subjugation of the
country that this Psalm, as Hengstenberg and others suppose,
w\is written. . . . On the other hand, it opens with a wail of
lamentation which implies that the arms of Israel had met
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 289.
PSALM LX. 265
with some terrible reverses, or that the State had been shaken
by intestine disorders.
But we have no record, in the history, of any such catastrophe
at the time. On the contrary, David seems to have been at
the very height of his glory, and to have been everywhere vic-
torious. ... To say the least, therefore, it is not certain that
the Psalm belongs to the age of David.
Verse 6. ' O God^ Thou hast cast us out, and scattered us
abroad. Thou hast been displeased : O turn Thee unto us again.^ —
About Christmas, 686, being persuaded that his end was draw-
ing near, Cuthbert laid aside his episcopal function and returned
to end his days in the beloved solitude of Fame (an island, one
of a group which lie off the coast about six miles from Holy
Island). Nearly three months he lived on the island at that
wintry and inclement season. In tw^o months he was suffi-
ciently strong to be able to leave his cell to meet the brethren
who came to see him; but about the end of February he
became so much worse that he could no longer do so. It was
not long before the end came. On Tuesday, March 19, 687,
Walstod (one of the two brethren whom the community had
prevailed upon him to accept as companions) came out of the
cell, and told the Abbot of Lindisfarne (Herefrid), who fre-
quently visited the saint, that the Bishop desired to see him.
Herefrid found him in the oratory, lying in a corner before the
altar. He sat down by his side and inquired what farewell
message he had to send to the brethren. Cuthbert was now
very weak, and could not speak long at a time. . . . Having
finished his broken and interrupted instructions, Cuthbert
spent the rest of the day in looking forward to his end and the
future glory. The night he gave to watching and prayer.
About midnight he received the last rites of rehgion from
Herefrid, and strengthened himself for his passage by partaking
of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Then, lifting up his eyes
and stretching out his hand towards Heaven, in the early morn-
ing he breathed out his soul to God, on the Wednesday after
266 PSALM-MOSAICS
Mid-Lent Sunday, 20th March, 687. Herefrid immediately
communicated the sad news to the two brethren who were
watching outside. At that moment they were saying the
Psahns of the office for matins, and had come to the one
beginning : ' I?eus repulisti nos et destriixisti nos ; iratus es, et
misertus es robis^ ' O God, Thou hast cast us out.'' According to
an arrangement previously agreed upon, one of them lighted
two torches, went up to an elevated spot, and made a signal to
the brethren at Lindisfarne that the blessed spirit of their father
had passed to God. The brother who was watching at Lindis-
farne saw the signal, and hastened to the church ; they were
assembled for matins, and at the moment the messenger
entered the choir were singing the same Psalm, '' Deus
repulisti.^ The coincidence was afterwards remembered as if it
had been prophetic of troubles — of what precise nature we are
not informed — which foUow^ed immediately on the death of
the Bishop.*
Verse 4. ' Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee '
(Bible version). — The delivery of a banner into the hands of a
suppliant was a sure pledge of protection in the East.f
Verse 8. * Over Edom will I cast out my shoe.^ — The casting
of a shoe is still an emblem of subjugation in India and
Abyssinia. J
Verse 12. ' Through God will we do great acts, for it is He
that shall tread doivn our e?ie?nies.'' — Wherefore the Holy
Eastern Church speaks thus in her Great Compline, that de-
fiance of the infidel, which she chants as a war-song in Lent
alone.
' God is with us, know it ye nations, and be made weak.
For God is with us.
Hear ye, to the ends of the earth.
For God is with us.
* Diocesan History of Durham^ p. 59.
t Observations on Divers Passages of Scripture., by Thomas Harmer.
X Tholuck.
PSALM LXI. 267
Though ye were strong, ye were made weak.
For God is ivith us.
And if again ye shall strengthen yourselves, again shall ye be weakened.
For God is with us.
And if ye shall devise any counsel, the Lord will scatter it.
For God is zuith us.
And if ye speak any word, it shall not abide in you.
For God is with us.
And we will not be afraid of your fear, neither will we be troubled.
For God is with us. '*
PSALM LXI.
ffeadijig {DQWizsch). — Prayer and thanksgiving of an expelled
king on his way back to the throne.
Conte?its (Syriac). — A Psalm of David ; when Jonathan made
known to him the purpose of Saul, who was seeking his de-
struction ; and spiritually signifying supplication with thanks-
giving.
Origin (Perowne). — The title of this Psalm ascribes it to
David, but does not say under what circumstances it was com-
posed (though, according to the Syriac version, it was when
Jonathan revealed to him Saul's design to slay him). There is
no reason to doubt that David was the author, and the lan-
guage of verse 2 renders it probable that it was written when
he was shut out from the sanctuary, and, therefore, either
during his persecutions by Saul, or during the rebellion of
Absalom ; verse 4 makes the latter the more probable occasion.
At a time when the Tabernacle had itself no settled resting-
place, the wish to dwell and abide in it, as Delitzsch has rightly
remarked, is not so natural as afterwards, when the Ark was
fixed on Mount Sion.
In Church. — This Psalm was sung at daily Matins in the
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ii., p. 304.
^268 PSALM-MOSAICS
earliest ages of the Church ; see the Apostolic Constitutions :
thus, too, Athanasius and other Fathers."^
It is also appointed in the Greek Church, in the Office for
the Visitation of the Sick.f
Verse 3. O sef me tip upo?i the rock that is higher thaji I. —
This verse is inscribed in Alderley Church, on the tablet erected
to the memory of Catherine Stanley, the mother of Dean
Stanley. Dean Stanley says : ' That 5th of March ' (the day
of her death) 'was the Ash Wednesday of 1862, when her
surviving son was absent in attendance on the Prince of Wales,
on a journey through Egypt and Palestine. On another Ash
Wednesday, the ist of March, 1876, he stood by the deathbed
of her by whose supporting love he had been comforted after
his mother's death, and whose character, although cast in
another mould, remains to him, with that of his mother, the
brightest and most sacred vision of his earthly experience.']:
In the Memoir of Edward {^\^\\o^ of Norwich) and Catherine
Stanley there occur the following uses of certain Psalms. The
first illustration xS taken from this Psalm :
The sense of the effect of religion in elevating the mind and
character above external circumstances :
^ O set me up npo/i the rock that is higher than /' — Psalm
Ixi. 3.
Thankfulness for the vicissitudes of happiness and sorrow :
' O ivhat great troubles and adversities hast Thou showed 77ie !
And yet didst Thou turn a?id refresh /;/Q\i). — Invocation of Divine protection against
the falseness of men.
Co7tfents (Syriac). — Composed by David, when the prophet
Gad warned him, saying, Abide not in the hold, for Saul
seeketh to kill thee ; and, as respects ourselves, in a spiritual
sense, the triumph of the Agonists, and the instruction of then:
that fear God, and victory in battle.
Origin (Perowne). — The Psalm is said to be David's, and
Ewald observes that it so nearly resembles Psalm vii. that one
might be tempted to ascribe it to David, did not a careful
comparison contradict such a supposition; the minute criticism
may very well be distrusted, and the title suffered to stand.
The Whole Psalm. — There is a Jewish tradition in the Mid-
rash that this Psalm was prophetic of Daniel, and that it was
recited by him in the lions' den. It unquestionably contains
several passages peculiarly apposite to that event. "^
In many of our English cathedrals, over the stall of each
Prebendary, the numbers of certain Psalms are still painted.
The reason, some of us will be glad to hear from Donne in a
sermon on the 64th Psalm, which he entitles, 'The third of
my Prebend Sermons upon my five Psalms.' Our predecessors
* Dr. Neale's Comvientary^ vol. ii., p. 333.
18
274 PSALM-MOSAICS
in the service of this Church have declared such devotion to
this particular Book of Scripture as that, by distributing the
one hundred and fifty Psalms into thirty portions (of which
number the body of our Church consists), and assigning to
every one of those thirty persons his five Psalms, to be said by
him every day, every day God receives from us (howsoever we
be divided from one another in place) the sacrifice of praise in
the whole Book of Psalms. And though we may be absent
from this quire, yet, wheresoever dispersed, we make up a
quire in this service of saying over all the Psalms every day.
As the whole Book is manna, so these five Psalms are my
gomer, which I am to fill and empty every day of the manna.*
This Psalm is a Mcmual for those who are debarred by
sickness, or any other cause, from the privilege of public
worship and communion in the Church of GoD.f
Verse i. Preserve my life from fear of the ene7iiy. — This
petition is embodied in both our Morning and Evening Prayer.
' That we, surely trusting in Thy defence, may ?wt fear the
poiver of a7iy adversaries' (Morning Prayer, 2nd Collect). 'That
we, being defended f?'o?n the fear of our enemies^ may pass our
time in rest and quietness' (Evening Prayer, 2nd Collect).!
Verse 8 {Bible versioji). So they shall make their own tongue
to fall upon themselves.
' In these cases,
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips.'§
* The Witness of the Psalnis to Christ and Christianity .^ p. 94.
t Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 94.
X Kay on The Psabns, p. 194.
§ Shakespeare.
PSALM LXV.
PSALM LXV.
275
Headi?ig (Delitzsch). — Thanksgiving song for victory and
blessings bestowed.
Title (Spurgeon). — A Lyrical Poem.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — literally, when he
brought up the Ark of God to Zion; and, as respects our-
selves, spiritually, containing an allusion to the preaching of
the Apostles, who converted the Gentiles by the proclamation
of the Gospel.
Origiji (Perowne). — We can hardly doubt that this Psalm
was composed on the occasion of an abundant harvest, and
was intended to be sung as a hymn of thanksgiving by the
whole congregation gathered before God in Zion.
From the allusions in verses 7 and 8, it would seem that the
time was one of great political convulsion, of a shaking of
nations and kingdoms, in the midst of which God had mani-
fested His goodness to His people.
This twofold character of the Psalm is best explained by
referring it to the time immediately subsequent to the destruc-
tion of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem. An abundant
harvest, it had been promised (Isa. xxxvii. 30), should follow
that event ; and the fields so lately trampled beneath the feet
of the invader seemed now, with their waving crops, to sing
and shout for joy. The title of the Psalm assigns it to David,
but it is impossible to read it and not to feel that it bears every
evidence of a later date. So strong, indeed, is this evidence,
that even Delitzsch, who is usually a strenuous supporter of the
Inscriptions, abandons the tradition here, and, with Ewald,
thinks that the Psalm was written about the time of Senna-
cherib's overthrow {i.e.^ circa 712 B.C.).
276 PSALM-MOSAICS
l7i Church. — Let us read the 65th Psalm with the appli-
cation which has long been given to it by the deepest Christian
spirits. For that Psalm forms part of the Office for the Dead
in most of the Western services. The second verse is its
Antiphon :
* O Thou that hearest prayer,
Unto Thee shall all flesh come.'
He is ' the Hope of all the ends of the earth,' of those who
rest beneath the sod in lands that are far away. A cry rises
over the furrowed graves. Faith looks for a time
'When with joy the hills shall be girded.'
The song rises :
* O blessed is the land of God,
Where saints abide for ever.'
This interpretation seems to be justified by the teaching of
our Lord and of St. Paul."^
In the Holy Eastern Church at the Burial of the Dead. At
the Burial of the Laity it is the Antiphon to the Gospel (Psalm
Ixv. 4), and also at the Burial of Priests, f
The Whole Fsalm.—Th& Commentary of Gerhohus upon
this Psalm is a powerful treatise on the corruptions of the
Church in his day, extending to one hundred and seventy-six
chapters or sections, of great historical interest, but contributing
only at rare intervals, and then most slenderly, to the elucida-
tion of the text, which is used throughout more as furnishing
mottoes than as matter for exposition. |
Verse i. Thou, O God, art praised in Sion ; a?id u?ito Thee
shall the i)ow be pe?'f armed in /ertisale?n. — St. Brendan was a
* The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity y p. 198.
+ Dr. Neale's Commentary^ vol. iv., p. 275.
X Ibid., vol. ii., p. 343.
PSALM LXV. 277
monk who, in 559 a.d., founded the Abbey of Clonfert (in the
Barony of Longford, Co. Galway). He was a man famous for
his great abstinence and virtues, and the father of 3,000 monks.
There is a famous legend of St. Brendan and his seven years'
voyage in search of the ' land promised to the Saints.'
The tale was so popular in the Middle Ages, that it appears
in different shapes in almost every early European lay. It was
not only the delight of monks, but it stirred up to wild voyages
many a secular man in search of St. Brendan's isle, ' which is
not found when it is sought,' but was said to be visible at times
from Palma in the Canaries.' . . . The whole tale, from what-
ever dim reports of fact they may have sprung, is truly ' a
monkish Odyssey, and nothing more. It | is a dream of the
hermit's cell. No woman, no city, no nation, is ever seen
during the seven years' voyage.' Ideal monasteries and ideal
hermits people the 'deserts of the oceans.' All beings therein
(save demons and cyclops) are Christians, even to the very
birds, and keep the festivals of the Church as eternal laws of
nature. The voyage succeeds, not by seamanship or geographic
knowledge, nor even by chance, but by the miraculous presci-
ence of the saint, or those whom he meets ; and the wander-
ings of Ulysses or of Sinbad are rational and human in
comparison with those of St. Brendan.
Among his travels he came to an 'isle, very grassy and
wooded, and full of flowers, with a beautiful fountain '; over
it was a huge tree of wonderful breadth, but no great height,
covered with snow-white birds, so that its leaves and boughs
could scarce be seen. . . . Then one of those birds flew off
from the tree, and his wings sounded like bells over the boat.
And he sat on the prow and spread his wings joyfully, and
looked quietly on St. Brendan ; and when the man of God
questioned that bird, it told how they were of the spirits which
fell in the great ruin of the old enemy, not by sin or by consent,
but predestined by the piety of God to fall with those with
whom they were created. But they suffered no punishment,
only they could not, in part, behold the presence of God. They
278 PSALM-MOSAICS
wandered about this world, like other spirits of the air, and
firmament, and earth. But on holy days they took these
shapes of birds, and praised their Creator in that place. Then
the bird told him how he and his monks had wandered one
year already, and should wander for six more, and every year
should celebrate their Easter in that place, and after find the
Land of Promise, and so flew back to its tree.
And when the eventide was come, the birds began all with
one voice to sing, and clap their wings, saying : ' T/iou, O Lord,
art praised in Sion, and unto Thee shall the vow be performed i7i
Jerusalem.'' And always they repeated that verse for an hour,
and their melody and the clapping of wings was like music
which drew tears by its sweetness. And when the man of God
wakened his monks at the third watch of the night with the
verse, 'Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord,' all the birds an-
swered, ' Praise the Lord, all angels, praise Him, all His
virtues ' (cxlviii. 2). And when the dawn shone they sang again,
'The splendour of the Lord God is over us'; and at the third
hour, ' Sing psalms to our God, sing ; sing to our King, sing
with wisdom ' (xlvii. 6). And at the sixth hour, ' The Lord
hath lifted up the light of His countenance upon us, and had
mercy on us ' (iv. 6). And at the ninth hour, ' Behold, how
good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in
unity' (cxxxiii. i). So day and night these birds gave praise
to God. St. Brendan, therefore, seeing these things, gave
thanks to God for all His marvels, and the brethren were
refreshed with that spiritual food till the octave of Easter."^
Verse 3. My misdeeds prevail agai?ist me, O be thou nierciful
unto our sins. — The old Scottish version of this verse in their
singing Psalms is most execrable :
• Iniquities I must confess,
Prevail against me do ;
And as for our trans-gres-si-ons,
Them purge away wilt Thou.'
* The Hermits (Kingsley), p. 265.
PSALM LXV. 279
O David, if thou art capable of hearing such abominable
doggerel substituted for the nervous words thou didst compose
by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, what must thou feel, if
chagrin can affect the inhabitants of heaven ?^
Verse 6. Thou that art the hope of them that remain in the
broad sea,
' Who dies in Christ the Lord dies well,
Though on the lonely main ;
As soft the pillows of the deep,
As tranquil the uncurtained sleep,
As on the couch where fond ones weep,—
And they shall rise again.
' Not safer on the sea of glass
Before the throne of God ;
As sacred is that ocean-cave,
Where weeds instead of myrtle wave,
As near to God that unknown grave,
As the dear churchyard's sod.
' The sea shall give them back, though death
The well-known form destroy ;
Nor rock, nor sand, nor foam can chain.
Nor mortal prison-house retain.
Each atom shall awake again.
And rise with song and joy.'t
PSALM LXVL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Thanksgiving for a National and
personal deliverance.
Contents (Syriac). — Concerning sacrifices and burnt offerings,
and the incense of rams ; and spiritually, the calling of the
Gentiles and preaching.
Origin (Perowne). — From the language of verses 8-12, the
Psalm would seem to have been composed on the occasion of
* Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary, p. 2138.
+ The Graves of Ocean, by Dr. Bonar.
28o PSALM-MOSAICS
some special deliverance, but the expressions used are too
general to lead to any certain conclusion as to the time
when it was written . . . not a single critic of any name
has ventured to place this Psalm earlier than the times of
Hezekiah.
In Church. — This Psalm is said to be recited on Easter Day
by the Greek Church ; it is described in the Greek Bible as A
Psahn of the Resurrection^ and may be understood to refer, in a
prophetic sense, to the regeneration of the world, through the
conversion of the Gentiles.*
Verse 4. O come hither., and behold the works of God. —
* Francis traced out for himself at this time a rule of life
which is remarkable for a young man not yet twenty. Begin-
ning with what he calls his " preparation," he looks forward to
the day's cares and duties, the danger and temptation it may
present, and the way to meet them with firm resolution, com-
mending his heart and mind, his will, memory, and whole being
to God. " My first waking thought," he says, " shall be a
thanksgiving, and I will call to mind the shepherds at Beth-
lehem, and the holy women at the sepulchre, like them dedi-
cating the dawn of day to my risen Lord, the Light of the
world. I will daily hear Mass with all the earnestness of my
soul, crying out : ' O come hither, and behold the works of the
Lord.'' 'Let us now go even to Bethlehem, and see this thing
whicii is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to
us.' My meditation must be carefully made, and if it is
hindered during the day, I must shorten sleep rather than
neglect it. And if I wake during the night, I will kindle my
heart with the words : ' At midnight there was a cry made.
Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him !' and,
remembering that He was born amid the darkness of the night,
I will ask of Him to be born anew in my heart ; the shadows
* Psalms of David, by Daniel Cresswell.
PSALM LXVI. 281
of night shall speak to me of the darkness of indifference and
sin, and I will pray the Lord to lighten our darkness with His
own life-giving light. I will call to mind what the Psalmist
said : ' Lift up your hands, and praise the Lord.'"^ ' I water
my couch with my tears I'f If any nocturnal terrors beset, I
will remember that my guardian angel is at hand, and say :
' He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.'l
' He shall defend thee under His wings, and thou shalt be safe
under His feathers ; thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by
J^ight.'§ 'The Lord is my light and my salvation; of whom
then shall I be afraid ?'||"'ir
Verse 11. We went through fire and ivater, and Thou
broughiest ns out into a wealthy p/ace. — A young Presbyterian
minister from Jamaica, the Rev. Mr. Winton, had visited
England, and was carrying back with him his young bride.
The Sunday before he sailed in the ill-fated Amazon, he
preached from the text (Ps. Ixvi. 12), ' IJ^e we?it through fire,
and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy
place.' All our readers will remember the burning of the
Amazon, and some who were saved from the burning wreck
have testified that when last they saw the young minister he
was kneeling on the deck, with his arms round his young wife ;
and so ' through fire and through water ' God brought them
into His ' wealthy place.'**
Lorinus, writing at a time when the Turkish corsairs ravaged
the Mediterranean coasts, and even at times the shores of
Northern Europe, applies the text to the hard lot of the
Christian captives in Algiers and Morocco.
Again we are told of the sufferings of the martyrs, some
* Ps. cxxxiv. 3. t Ps. vi. 6. ; Ps. cxxi. 4.
§ Ps. xci. 4, 5. il Ps. xxvii. I. ^ St. Francis de Sales, p. 24.
'** The Pulpit, Ancient and Modern, by Paxton Hood, chap. viii.
282 PSALM-MOSAICS
winning their crown in fire, like St. Polycarp, some in water, as
St. Clement of Rome."^"
' Yea, the better part she chooseth,
She elects, for conscience' sake,
Torments in the scalding water,
This the couch she wills to make,
If through fire, and if through water.
She to song eternal wake.
Thou who givest palm to martyrs,
To the virgins fair renown.
Grant to us with Saint Cecilia
Here to bear the casting down,
So with her we win hereafter
Recompense, reward, and crown. 't
Verses 13 and 14. I will offer unto Thee fat burnt-sacrifices^
with the incense of rams : I will offer bullocks and goats.
O come hither., and hear ke7i., all ye that fear God: and I will
tell you ivhat He hath done for my soul.
There was in the city of Beth- Asa, in the province of Adiu-
bene, and at no great distance from Mosul, two brothers, by
name Jonas and Brich-Jesus. Having heard that in the city of
Hubaha an unusual number of apostasies had occurred, they
determined themselves to travel thither, and to endeavour, so
far as might be in their power, to strengthen their brethren.
Their efforts were crowned with much success ; and besides a
larger number of confessors, they had the satisfaction of reckon-
ing nine martyrs among their pupils. The names of the latter
were Zebinas, Lazarus, Maruthas, Narseter, Elias, Mahares,
Abibus, Sabas, and Shembaitas. The Governor of the city,
hearing of the arrival and of the enthusiasm of the strangers,
summoned them before his tribunal, and endeavoured, at first
with kindness, to bend them to his will. Refusing to worship
the sun, the moon, fire, and the holy water, they were scourged
with orange boughs, from which, says the historian, the knots
and buds had not been removed, and were then confined in
* Dr. Neale's Couimentary, vol. ii., p. 360.
t W. Chatterton Dix,
PSALM LXVI. 283
separate prisons, under the idea that, if divided, each might be
more easily overcome.
Jonas was the first who was again called before the magis-
trate, and, on his second refusal, was scourged more severely
than before, his weight being suspended in the meantime on a
blunted point put under the centre of the stomach. The
annalist, who was present, and who seems to have taken down
what he uttered, gives his words as follows :
'I yield Thee thanks, God of Abraham, our Father, who
didst of old time call him by his grace from this place ' — the
city in which he suffered was the ancient Ur of the Chaldees —
' and hast made me worthy by the mysteries of faith to know
some few things out of many concerning Thee. And now I
pray Thee, O Lord, give me to make good that which the
Holy Ghost of old time spake by the mouth of David : /
ivi/l offer utito Thee fat burnt-sacrifices with the incense of rams ;
Izvill offer bullocks and goats. O come hither a?id hearkeii^ ye
that fear God, and I ivill tell you what He hath dofie for 7?iy
soulJ And one verse which seems to have been continually in
his mouth was : ' One thing have I desired of the Lord, that
will I require,'
It were endless to go through with the torments by which
this martyr of Christ was tried. It is said that, being thrown
into a caldron of boiling pitch, he came forth unhurt. Finally
he was cut in pieces, his remains being thrown into a well, and
a guard of soldiers set over them, to preserve them from the
adoration of the Christians."^
These Persian martyrs gained their crown in the year of our
Lord 327.
* The Holy Eastern Church : Patriarchate of Antioch, by Dr. Neale,
p. 117.
284 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM LXVII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Harvest Thanksgiving Song.
Co9itents (Syriac). — Of uncertain authorship. The people
sang it when they conducted David over the River Jordan ;
and to us, moreover, it signifies a prophetic intimation of the
call of the Gentiles, the preaching of the Apostles, and the
judgment of the Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm, which, like the last, is
anonymous, and which is evidently much later than the age of
David, may have been composed either in the time of Hezekiah,
when great hopes began to be entertained of God's purposes
towards the nation, or at a time subsequent to the return from
the exile, when those hopes w^ere so signally revived. . . .
Clearly designed for liturgical use, and may have been wTitten,
like the 65 th, at the time of the gathering in of the harvest (see
verse 6).
In Church. — The 67th Psalm has been used at Lauds.
It had become familiar to the English Church, coupled with
a bidding prayer on Sunday, in the Salisbury use.
In 1552 it was allowed as an alternative to the Nunc
Diffiittis.'*'
It is used in several benedictions, as the Churching of
Women, and the blessing of bells, and in the processions for
fine weather.f
Evensong Canticle ; Holy Matrimony. — When sung as an
Evensong Canticle, the catholicity of blessing invoked is the
leading idea ; but when used as a wedding song, the two last
verses, invoking increase and blessing, are more prominent.:}:
The Whole Psahn. — Luther composed his hymn, ' The Lord
* Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 71.
+ Dr. Neale's Cotfimentary, p. 366.
% Housman on The Psalms, p. 119.
PSALM LXVII. 285
be merciful unto us ' ('Es wolle Gott uns gnaldig sein'), after
this Psalm."*^
The Pater Nosier of the Ancient Church.
The great sacrafnental ideas of the Gospel are also provided
for in the Psalter. It has strains which imply and go forth to
meet the conception of entrance into the new community by a
new birth, and of the continual sustenance of the spiritual life
by a Eucharistic Feast. In the 87th Psalm we have the three-
fold asseveration that, in the days of the Church's expansion
into all lands, every citizen of the Sion can only be introduced
into it, and registered among its people, by an act which is
looked upon as nothing less than a new birth.
' This man was born there,
And of Zion it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her. . . .
The Lord shall rehearse, when He writeth up the people
That this man was born there.'
How deeply this thought sank into the hearts of the people
is witnessed by the Talmud and the Cabalists.
The saying of the Great Teacher to Nicodemus — ' Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God' — floods the 87th Psalm with light. The
font is its best interpreter. t
Verse i. God be merciful unto us — Deus misereatur. — This
was a favourite expression of Bishop Milman's in his journals.
We first meet with it when he was at Delhi giving an address
at the Mission College :
' I spoke for an hour and a half I heard afterwards that
the natives received the address well, and that it was well
adapted for the missionaries' object in asking for it. Deus
misereatur.^
* Tholuck's Cojnmentary, p. 4.
t The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity, p. 248.
286 PSALM-MOSAICS
'St. Paul's Day, 1873,' he writes in his journal — 'my fifty-
seventh birthday. Deus misereatur I After Holy Communion
in the cathedral, I took the Bengali service for Sandel, who was
ill.'*
Bishop Milman's name will go down to posterity associated
with his beautiful book, 'The Love of the Atonement' When
he was appointed to the See of Calcutta in 1867, it contained
nearly 1,000,000 square miles, or two-thirds of all India — about
the same amount of territory as is comprised in France,
Germany, Italy, Austria, and Spain — with a population of
150,000,000 inhabitants.
Bishop Milman died at Rawul Pindi, in March, 1876.
PSALM LXVIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Hymn, of war and victory in the style
of Deborah.
Title (Spurgeon). — A most soul-stirring hymn. The first
verses were often the battle-song of the Covenanters and Iron-
sides ; and the whole Psalm fitly pictures the way of the Lord
Jesus among His saints, and His ascent to glory.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David when the kings made
ready to fight with him ; and, secondaril}^, a prophecy concern-
ing the dispensation of the Messiah, and concerning the call of
the Gentiles to the Faith.
Origin (Perowne). — There is the greatest difference of
opinion both as to the occasion for which and the period at
which the Psalm was written, some regarding it as one of the
later, or even of the very latest, of Hebrew poems. It remains
for us to consider how far the allusions in the Psalm itself may
help us to determine its age and the occasion for which it was
composed.
* Memoir of Robert Alihnan, pp. 32, 232.
PSALM LXVIII. 287
First, then, it is clear that the great central idea of the Psalm
is the choice of Zion as the dwelling-place of Jehovah.
Secondly, this fact of itself would lead us to fix upon the age
of David as the most probable time for the composition of the
Psalm, and the removal of the ark to Zion as the most probable
occasion.
Thirdly, the mention of the four tribes, Benjamin, Judah,
Zebulun, and Naphtali, as representatives of the south and
north kingdoms respectively, seems more natural then than at
any later period.
Fourthly, the peculiar manner in which the tribe of Benjamin
is introduced, as ' little Benjamin their ruler,' does not seem
suitable to post-exile times, but is very naturally to be explained
at a time shortly subsequent to the death of Saul. The tribe
which had been the royal tribe, and had so lately enjoyed the
pre-eminence in Israel, might still be honoured with the title of
' ruler.'
Fifthly, Egypt and Ethiopia are mentioned evidently as the
great nations of the world, then occupying the most prominent
position.
So far, then, as the historical allusions of the Psalm are con-
cerned, the evidence is on the whole in favour of the age of
David, rather than of a much later period.
I?i Church. — In the Jewish ritual the Psalm is used at Pente-
cost— the anniversary of the giving of the Law, and the Feast
of Finished Harvest."^
This Psalm is appointed for use on Whitsun Day— not that
the primary or historical element is to be lost sight of, but that
it should only be remembered so far as it represents something
higher still. It is no longer a hymn telling how God, in days
of old, led the Jewish Church, as in a triumphal march, from
Sinai to Zion, but how Christ, having founded His kingdom
upon earth, is preparing it now, by victory over the opposing
powers of sin and death, for the great consummation, when,
* Kay on The Psalms, p. 204.
288 PSALM-MOSAICS
having put all enemies under His feet, He shall gather into
one all the kingdoms of the earth, and as a mighty victor and
triumphant leader He shall be proclaimed by every tongue to
be ' King of kings ' and ' Lord of lords.'*
T/ie Whole Psahn. — In rougher days, a Psalm once did much
to decide the fortune of a battle. In 1589, Henri IV., with his
little army, was overtaken by the host of JMayenne, at Arques,
near Dieppe. His forces were almost crushed by the weight of
superior numbers. The Huguenots of Dieppe had only been
able to raise two strong companies to help their champion.
' Come, M. le Ministre,' cried the King to Pastor Damour,
' lift the Psalm. It is full time !' Then, over all the din, a
cadence marked the stately tramp of the strong soldiers. It
was the 68th Psalm, in the version of Clement Marot, set to
an austere melody.
' Que Dieu se montre seulement,
Et Ton verra soudainement
Abandonner la place,
Le camp des ennemis epars,
Epouvanter de toutes par,
Fuir devant a face ;
Dieu les fera tous enfuir.'
Slowly moving on, the two companies split the army of the
League like two iron wedges. At that moment the fog, which
had rolled in from the sea, and hung over a castle which com-
manded the position, cleared away. The artillery-men of
Henri could take aim. The swing of the Psalm was timed by
the long roll of the guns, and the Leaguers were scattered.
Strange to find this Psalm playing such a part in modern
France, and again at the Battle of Dunbar (1650). Over the
German Ocean, just then, bursts the first gleam of the level sun
upon us, ' and I heard Nol say, in the words of the Psalmist :
" Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered." 't
Verses i, 2. Let God arise, aiid let His enemies be scattered,
* Housman on The Psalms, p. 126.
J Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell, vol. iii., p. 49.
PSALM LXVIII. 289
let them also that hate Him flee before Him. Like as the smoke
vanisheth, so shalt thou drive thejn away : and like as wax melteih
at the fire, so let the imgodly perish at the presence of God.—^i.
Antony, tempted by the devil, dwelt in an empty enclosure in
the mountain-side. ' Thus he passed a long time there train-
ing himself, and only twice a year received loaves, let down
from above through the roof. But those of his acquaintance
who came to him, as they often remained days and nights out-
side (for he did not allow anyone to enter), used to hear as it
were crowds inside clamouring, thundering, lamenting, crying,
" Depart from our ground ! What dost thou even in the
desert ? Thou canst not abide our onset !" At first, those that
were without thought that there were some men fighting with
him, and that they had got in by ladders; but when, peeping in
through a crack, they saw no one, then they took for granted
that they were demons, and, being terrified, called themselves
on St. Antony. But he rather listened to them than cared for
the others. For his acquaintances came up continually, expect-
ing to find him dead, and heard him singing : " Let the Lord
arise ^ and His enemies shall be scattered : a?id let them that hate
Him flee before Him. As ivax melts before the face of the fire,
so shall sifiners perish from before the face of God.''''''
Let God arise, a? id let His enemies be scattered. — Fra Domenico
da Pescia, a monk of Savonarola's convent, offered to prove the
truth of his master's doctrines by passing through fire, if one
of his opponents would undergo the same ordeal, in defence
of their opinions. The challenge was accepted by a Franciscan
monk, and Savonarola, with his champion, appeared at the
head of a large procession chanting Psalm Ixviii., ' Let God
arise, and let His enemies be scattered.^ The Franciscan also
presented himself; the fire was kindled, and Domenico was
ready to enter the flames, bearing the Host in his hands. But
the crowd exclaimed against this — a sacrilege, as they termed it
— and as Domenico persisted in his determination, he tlius
* The Herfnits, by Charles Kingsley, p. 45.
19
290 PSALM-MOSAICS
happily escaped the ordeal for which he had offered himself.
But this event was fatal to Savonarola. The people loaded him
with insults, and he was thrown into prison.*
Ferse 4. O sing unto God, and sing praises unto His Na?ne :
niag7iify Him that rideth upon the heavens, as it were upon an
horse.— -The sublime passages of the Old Testament, in which
the attributes of man or of angels are assigned to Almighty
God, as, for instance, where He is said to * ride upon the
heavens,' Deut. xxxiii. 26, Psalm Ixviii. 4 ; or 'to walk' or 'fly
upon the wings of the wind,' Psalm civ. 3, xviii. 10 ; or that
'His hand is not shortened,' Numbers xi. 23, Isaiah 1. 2,
lix. I ; might expect to find their likenesses in Shakespeare,
and they do find them : yet so softened and disguised that no
comparison which might suggest thoughts of irreverence is pro-
voked by the imitation.
It is Romeo who thus, from Capulet's garden, addresses
Juliet at her window :
' O ! speak again, bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of Heaven
Unto the white upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he besh-ides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And sails tip07i the bosom of the air.^f
Act III., Sc. ii.
Verse 5. He is a Father of the fatherless, and defendeth the
cause of the widoivs : eveji God i?i His holy habitatiofi. — The
tender mercy and loving-kindness of the Divine Being, more
especially towards those who need them most, are exhibited by
our poet, again and again, in passages which represent the
teaching of Scripture no less faithfully. For example : He who
' is a Father of the fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the
widow,' is thus described in King Richard II. :
* Encyclopcsdia^ vol. xii., p. 780.
t Shakespeaix and the Bible, p. 324.
PSALM LXVIIL 291'
' I)7ic/iess. Where then, alas ! may I complain myself?
Gaimt. To Heaven— //z76, p. 407).
PSALM LXXII. 313
Verse 14. Dear shall their blood be in His sight.
'When persecution's torrent-blaze
Wraps the unshrinking Martyr's head,
When fade all earthly flowers and bays,
When summer friends are gone and fled.
Is he alone in that dark hour.
Who owns the Lord of love and power?
' Or waves there not around his brow
A wand no human arm may wield,
Fraught with a spell no angels know,
His steps to guide, his soul 10 shield ?
Thou, Saviour, art his Charmed Bower,
His Magic Ring, his Rock, his Tower.'*
Verse 19. Blessed be the Name of His Majesty for ever and
ever : and all the earth shall be filled with His Majesty. Amen,
Jmen. — James, Earl of Derby said, as he laid his head on the
block, ^Blessed be God's holy Na?ne for ever a fid ever ; let the
whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen.' And the execu-
tioner not being ready, he repeated it again.
* John Keble.
BOOK III.
PSALMS LXXIII— LXXXIX.
What the heart is in man, that the Psalter is in the Bible.'— /^/z. Arndt.
PSALM LXXIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Temptation to Apostasy overcome.
Contents (Syriac). — ^ Written by Asaph the Recorder, concern-
ing the death of Absalom ; and secondarily, a confession of
human infirmity, treating also of the prosperity of the wicked
and the long-suffering of God.
The Whole Psalvi. — Savonarola preached sermons on this
Psalm, which are considered to be theologically the best of his
discourses. P>om some strong expressions in these sermons on
the doctrine of Divine grace, some have discovered in them a
tendency to Protestantism. Such, however, is not the case;
they are simply echoes of the language of St. Augustine, the
greater Father of the Latin Church."^
Verse ii, Tush^ say they, hoiv should God perceive it: is there
knowledge in the most High 2
' " Our Father ! ' If He heard us, He would surely
(For they call Him good and mild)
Answer, smiling down the steep world very purely,
" Come and rest with Me, My child."
" But no !" say the children, weeping faster,
" He is speechless as a stone ;
And they tell us, of His image is the master
Who commands us to work on.
Go to !" say the children ; "up in heaven,
Dark, wheel-like, turning clouds are all we find.
Do not mock iis ; grief has made us unbelieving—
We look up for GoD, but tears have made us blind.'
Do you hear the children weeping and disproving,
O my brothers, what ye preach ?
For God's possible is taught by His world's loving —
And the children doubt of each.'t
* Savonarola, by Prebendary Clark, p. 153.
t Cry of the Children, by E. B. Browning.
3i8
PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 24. Whom have I in heaven but Thee ? and there is none
upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee.
' Lord of Earth and Heaven ! my breast
Seeks in Thee its only rest ;
I was lost ; Thy accents mild
Homeward lured Thy wandering child.
I was bhnd ; Thy healing ray
Charmed the long eclipse away.
Source of every joy I know,
Solace of my every woe,
O, if once Thy smile divine
Ceased upon my soul to shine,
What were Earth and Heaven to me?
What have I in each but Thee ?''"
Verse 25. My flesh and my heart faileth^ but God is the
strength of my heart, a?id my portion for ever, was the last verse
on which the thoughts of Charles Wesley rested, and with
which his sanctified genius rose to higher notes among angels
and ransomed spirits. His death was like his life. He called
his wife, and bade her write to his dictation. It was the last
of seven thousand hymns, some of them the finest in the
English language, which had welled from his heart day and
night, wherever he moved.
' In age and feebleness extreme,
Who shall a sinful worm redeem ?
Jesus, my only hope Thou art,
Strength of my failing tlesh and heart ;
O, could I catch a smile Irom Thee,
And drop into eternity !'t
God is the strength of ?ny heart, and my portion for ever.
' My heart to Thee I give for aye, O Jksu, sweetest, best ;
Thy Heart to me give Thou, I pray, O Jesu, loveliest !
Our hearts alone Thou dost require,
Our hearts alone Thou dost desire,
Make me love Thee as Thou dost me,
O Jesu, Fount of Charity I'J
Verse 26. Tor /o, they that forsake Thee shall perish. —
Madame Guyon had gone back in the religious life, owing to
her entertaining certain proposals of marriage.
* Sir Robert Grant.
+ The Psalms in History and Biography, p. lOl.
+ John Lorinus.
PSALM LXXIV. 319
' I left off prayer, I became as a vineyard exposed to pillage,
whose hedges, torn down, gave liberty to all the creatures to
ravage it. I began to seek in the creature what I had found in
God. And Thou, O my God, didst leave me to myself, because
I left Thee first, and wast pleased in permitting me to sink into
the horrible pit, to make me see and feel the necessity of main-
taining a state of continual watchfulness and communion with
Thyself. Thou hast taught Thy people that Thou wilt destroy
those who, by indulging wrongly-placed affections, depart from
Thee (Ps. Ixxii. 26). Alas ! their departure alone causes their
destruction ; since, in departing from Thee, the Sun of
Righteousness, they enter into the region of darkness and the
shadow of death, and there, bereft of all true strength, they
will remain. It is not possible that they will ever rise again,
unless Thou shalt revisit them — unless Thou shalt restore them
to light, by illuminating their darkness, and by melting their
icy hearts. Thou didst leave me to myself because I left Thee
first j but such was Thy goodness, that it seemed to me that
Thou didst leave me with regret.'*
PSALM LXXIV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Appeal to God against religious perse-
cution, in which the Temple is violated.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph, when David saw the
angel destroying the people, and wept, and said, ' Let thine
hand be against me and against my seed, and not against these
innocent sheep'; and secondarily, a prediction of the siege of
the city of the Jews forty years after the Ascension, by Ves-
pasian, and Titus his son, who slew myriads of the Jews, and
destroyed Jerusalem ; and the Jews are rejected even to this
day.
Origin (Perowne).— On the whole, I am inclined to think
* Life of Madame Guyon, p. 1 5.
^320 PSALM-MOSAICS
that this Psalm may be most naturally explained by events that
took place in the time of the Maccabees. If, in any particular,
the language seems too strong as applied to that time — as, for
instance, the description of the burning of the Temple — this
may be as readily explained by poetic exaggeration, as verse 9
is so explained by those who hold the opposite view.
Or, perhaps, as Calvin suggests, the writer, overcome by the
mournful spectacle before his eyes, could not but carry back
his thoughts to the earlier catastrophe, and thence borrowed
some images, blending, in his imagination, the two calamities
in one.
T/ie Whole Psabn. — When Henri x\rnaud, in 1689, at the
head of the exiled Vaudois, fought his way back to his
native soil, and, after incredible exertions and toil, found
himself once more in his own valleys, and, pursuing his
success, had seized the passes of Col di Guiliand, and entered
the town of Bobbio, 'Then,' says Mr. Gilbey, 'the gallant
patriots took an oath of fidelity to each other, and celebrated
Divine Service in one of their own churches for the first time
since their banishment. The enthusiasm of the moment was
irrepressible ; they chanted the 74th Psalm to the clash of arms,
and Henri Arnaud, mounting the pulpit with a sword in one
hand and a Bible in the other, preached from the 129th
Psalm, and once more declared in the face of heaven that he
would never resume his pastoral office in patience and peace,
until he should witness the restoration of his brethren to their
ancient and rightful settlements.'*
Verses 5-9. They break doivfi ail the carved work thereof with
axes and Imnwiers {verse 7). — It is probable that the great
majority of educated people who read verses 5-9 of this Psalm
instinctively apply them to modern iconoclasm, and have in
mind the ruined abbeys of Great Britain and the defaced
* Daily Comments on the Psalms, by B. Bouchier, vol. ii., p. 374.
PSALM LXXIV. 321
shrines of many foreign lands. Yet there is almost total silence
on the subject in the commentators, early or late.
Cassiodorus, who lived when the memory of Attila and
Genseric was still fresh ; Remigius, the contemporary of the
worst inroads of the Northmen; the Greek Offices for Ortho-
doxy Sunday, composed against the destroyers of icons ; and
even the Jesuit Lorinus, who lived during much of the Thirty
Years' War, have not a word on the subject. A brief allusion in
Corderius, a fuller one in a Lutheran commentator, directed
against Carolstadt, and a lament of De Muis over Orleans
Cathedral, are all I have found. Even the great contro-
versiahst Bellarmine himself is silent ; and I will follow his
example.*
Verse 12. Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, why pluckest
Thou not Thy right ha7id out of Thy bosom to consume the
enemy ? — Sternhold and Hopkins, though their version is harsh,
and some of their expressions quaint almost to ridicule, yet
they have hit the true meaning which our prose translators
have missed :
'Why dost Thou draw Thy hand aback.
And hide it in Thy lap ?
Oh pluck it out, and be not slack
To give Thy foes a rap !'t
Verse 24. Forget 7iot the voice of Thine enemies ; the presu7np-
tion of them that hate Thee increasetJi ever more and more. —
Much of this Psalm has passed over our mind while beholding
the idolatries of Rome, and remembering her bloody persecu-
tion of the saints. ' O Lord, how long shall it be ere Thou
wilt ease Thyself of these profane wretches, the priests, and
cast the harlot of Babylon into the ditch of corruption ? May
Thy Church never cease to plead with Thee till judgment shall
be executed, and the Lord avenged upon Antichrist !'t
These vindictive words are in strange contrast to the forbear-
* Dr. Neale's Conwientary, vol. ii., p. 497-
+ Adam Clarke's Commentaiy, p. 2170.
X C. H. Spurgeon : Treasury of David, vol. iii., p. 374.
2£
322 PSALM-MOSAICS
ing spirit shown in the preceding extract, by these 'profane
wretches, the priests,' themselves.
PSALM LXXV.
Heading (Dehtzsch). — The nearness of the Judge with the
cup of wrath.
Title (Spurgeon). — Another of the ' Destroy not ' Psalms.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph — Theological truth
respecting the Messiah, and warning of the Judgment.
Origin (Perowne). — There are no clearly-marked historical
allusions in the Psalm. It seems, however, not improbable, as
has been conjectured by many commentators (Ewald, Tholuck,
Delitzsch, etc.), that it may refer to the time of the Assyrian
invasion, either as celebrating, or immediately anticipating, the
defeat of Sennacherib. Like Psalm xlvi., it bears some resem-
blance to the prophecies of Isaiah uttered at that time.
The Whole Psalm. — The close resemblance between many
of the expressions in this Psalm and parts of the song of
Hannah in i Sam. ii. is very noticeable."^
Verse 7. For promotio7i conieth neither from the east, nor from
the west^ nor yet from the south. — When Lord North was Prime
Minister of England, one of his chaplains, with a look at his
Lordship, took for his text, with the happiest results : ' Promo-
tion Cometh neither from the East., nor from the West, nor yet
from the South. '\
Verse 10. As for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of the earth
shall drink them and suck them out. — This image is found, not
only frequently in other places in the Old Testament, but also
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 35.
t Monthly Packet, June, 188 1, p. 615.
PSALM LXXVI. 323
very often in the Arabian poets. Thus, Taabbata Scharran, in
a passage of an Arabic Anthology, by Alb. Schultens : ' To
those of the tribe of Hodail, we gave the cup of death, whose
dregs were confusion, shame, and reproach.' Another poet
says : ' A cup such as they gave us, we gave to them.' When
Calif Almansor had his valiant though dreaded general, Abre-
Moslem, murdered, he repeated the following verse, in which he
addressed the corpse : ' A cup such as he gave, gave I him,
bitterer to the taste than wormwood.'*
PSALM LXXVI.
Beading (Delitzsch).— Praise of God after His judgment has
gone forth.
Title (Spurgeon). — A most jubilant war-song, a paean to the
King of kings, the hymn of a theocratic nation to its Divine
ruler.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of Asaph, when Rabba of the
children of Ammon was destroyed ; and secondarily setting
forth the vengeance of the Messiah's judgment upon the
wicked.
Origin (Perowne).— This is one of several Psalms which,
as has been remarked in the Introduction to Psalm xlvi., were
composed in celebration of the miraculous overthrow of Senna-
cherib's army. From the days of Israel's first occupation of
the land, when God went forth with their hosts, giving the
victory by signs and wonders from heaven, no deliverance so
signal had been witnessed. Hence it roused in an extra-
ordinary degree the religious fervour of the nation, and called
forth loud songs of thanksgiving. Like Psalms xlvi., xlvii., and
xlviii., this is an ode of victory over the Assyrians. . . . The
internal evidence points so clearly to the occasion for which the
* Burder.
324 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
Psalm was written, that the LXX. have inscribed it Tlphg tov
\\cravp/ov, and this reference has, with few exceptions, been
recognised by commentators, ancient and modern.
T/ie Whole Psalm. — Times without number this Psalm has
been sung, as furnishing the fittest expression of the thoughts
and feelings of Gor/s people in view of deliverances wrought
for them. When the Covenanters at Drumclog closed their
ranks to meet the onset of Claverhouse and his dragoons, they
sang the opening verses to the tune of Martyrs :
' In Judah's land God is well known,
His name's in Isr'el great ;
In Salem is His tabernacle,
In Zion is His seat.
' Their arrows of the bow He brake,
The shield, the sword, the war ;
More glorious Thou than hills of prey,
More excellent art far.
' Those that were stout of heart are spoiled,
They slept their sleep outright ;
And none of those their hands did find,
That were the men of might.'*
T/ie Spanish Armada was dispersed in 1588. When the
first rumours of its discomfiture reached Edinburgh, and the
citizens assembled to render thanks to God, Robert Bruce
addressed them in the West Kirk, taking this Psalm for his text,
and the two noble sermons he preached on the occasion were,
from beginning to end, little more than a running commentary
on the Psalm, x^nd every hearer must have felt that the whole
was as appropriate to the circumstances as if the Psalm had
been written for the occasion.
Verse 4. Thou art of moj-e hc7iour a?id might than the hills of
the robbers.— Ch?ix\Q?> Kingsley had a special love for this Psalm.
^^'hen sailing up the Rhine, and looking on the ruined strong-
holds of the old freebooters, he writes : ' How strange that my
favourite Psalm about the hills of the robbers (hills of prey)
* The Psabtis : Their History, Teaching, etc., by Dr. Binnie, p. 91.
PSALM LXXVII.
3^:
should have come in course the very day I went up the
Rhine !'*
Verse 6. At Thy rehike, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and
horse are fallen.— Byron's animated hnes on the destruction of
Sennacherib, which may have been partly suggested by this
Psalm, will occur to every reader :
' And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But thro' it there rolled not the breath of his pride ;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail.'t
PSALM LXXVII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Comfort derived from the history of
the past during years of affliction.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph — concerning the long-
suffering of God and His wondrous works, and how David
overcame the enemies of the Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — By whom the Psalm was written, or to
what period of the history it is to be referred, it is now impos-
sible to say. The manner in which, towards the close, the
passage of the Red Sea is dwelt upon, has led many to conclude
that it was written by one of the exiles during the Babylonish
captivity. Those two memorable events, the deliverance from
Babylon and the deliverance from Egypt, were always associated
in the minds of the Jews, the one being regarded, in fact, as
the pledge of the other. This, however, in itself, is not
decisive. . . . But whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm
may have been wTitten, it clearly is individual, not national.
Verse i. I will cry unto God luith my voice. — Note the stress
* The Psalms in History and Biography., p, 1 06.
+ The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 43.
325 PSALM-MOSAICS
on MY voice. They who pray must do it for themselves, must
do it with the articulate, intelligent voice of a man, not with the
inarticulate sound of a beast, must direct their petition to God
Himself. And hence it is laid down by all canonists that a
cleric or religious, who is bound to the recitation of certain
offices, does not satisfy his obligation by being merely present,
while another is reciting them, without taking any more direct
share himself, nor yet by silently reciting the service, nor even
by hasty and muttered recitation. He must cry to God with
his voice, for ' with the mouth confession is made unto salva-
tion.'"^
Ferse 6. / ca// to i-ejuembraiice 7ny song. — There was one
more night of most distressing restlessness, and no sleep came ;
he asked his wife to read the 77th Psalm, and w^hen she had
done so, he said, ' Oh, how beautiful that is ! Read it again.'
' / call to remembrmice my song^ Those who in later years at
Newland heard him sing alone the first few words of the Venite
or Magnificat before the choir joined in, can never forget the
beauty of that song, or the reverent worship which it expressed.
All through the night psalms and hymns were read to him, as
he could bear it ; he could not sing them yet.
When the doctor came on Thursday morning he saw that
the end was approaching, but did not tell this to Mrs. Skinner-
She sent a friend to be with her husband for a little, and to her
he reproached himself for procrastination, saying that he had
undertaken too much. ' But what is time to me nozi\^ he added,
' except to know more of the love, and consolation, and libe-
rality, and tenderness of God ?' Then he murmured, ' Pax !
Rest ! O God, have mercy !' and twice made the Sign of the
Cross. The dew of death was on his forehead, yet he never
thought he w^as dying ; roused himself by one last effort, and
was settled in his chair by mid-day. Mr. Dunn called and had
prayers w^ith him ; he said that he knew he could not bear
more than the shortest service at his Communion on the
■'■' Dr. Neale's Cofnjnenta?y, vol. ii., p. 528.
PSALM LXXVII. 327
morrow, and gave minute directions as to what he wished to be
done, speaking in a strong, earnest voice.
When they were alone together, his wife said to him, * Dr.
H , I fear, thinks you much weaker to-day'; for she had
perceived this, and thought he ought to know it. He turned
his head quickly, looked at her earnestly, and said in a rather
surprised tone, ' Does he ?' She could not speak ; he seemed
to see in her face all that she would say, and after a little pause
looked upward, and said slowly : ' This life has no attraction
for me beyond yourself; you are my only tie. My hope and
firm trust is in my blessed, dearest Lord, Who loves me.
Vile and unworthy as I am, I know how greatly He loves
me, and in that love I place all my hope and confidence.'
He spoke in a feeble voice, and as if it were a difficulty to
him to articulate, but his face shone with an expression of
rapture.
His wife tried to say a few words of love, and of their blessed
life together, but she could hardly speak. He turned again,
looking earnestly and tenderly at her, and said : ' Do not let us
upset each other ; we mtist not upset each other.'
He seemed faint and tired, but said that when he was rested
she was to bring him paper and pencil, and he would dictate a
few last wishes. She left him for luncheon, httle dreaming how
near was the end ; when she returned he bade her bring a sheet
of paper, and write a letter for him ; then he dictated a note,
asking about an address, and, taking the pen from her hand,
signed it himself. Then he seemed quite exhausted, closed his
eyes, and lay still. Once again he looked at his wife, asked for
a cordial, drank a little and seemed revived, but disposed to
sleep. She sat watching him as he slept quietly, his breathing
so much less laboured than it had been, that she hoped he
would wake up refreshed, and about 4 p.m. carried a book to
the window, as the light was waning. She heard suddenly a
slight, gentle sound, and was in an instant by his side. He lay
asin the same calm sleep of the last hour ; there was no trace
of suffering, only the drops stood thick on his brow. She did
328 PSALM-MOSAICS
not know, until her faithful servant told her, that the last bonds
which held the spirit captive had been gently broken, and that
the land of everlasting rest was won.
' When I wake up, I am present with Thee.'*
PSALM LXXVIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — The warning-mirror of history from
Moses to David.
Co7itents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph, in which he intimates
to the Jews they should keep the commandments of the Lord,
and not be like their forefathers.
Origin (Perowne). — In this, the longest of the historical
Psalms, the history of Israel is briefly recapitulated, from the
time of the Exodus to the final union of the tribes under David,
and the establishment of the kingdom in his family. This
appeal to the past is made evidently with a purpose. The
Psalmist comes forward as a prophet to rebuke the sin, the
ingratitude, the rebellion of his people. ... It is, however,
remarkable that another and more special purpose appears in
the Psalm. If the whole nation is rebuked, the rebuke falls
heaviest on Ephraim. Ephraim is singled out as the leader in
the earlier apostasy of the people, as the very type of a faith-
less and recreant spirit (verse 12). The rejection of Ephraim
and the choice of Judah are dwelt upon at the close in a tone
of satisfaction and triumph, as the fulfilment of the purpose of
God. It is scarcely possible, therefore, to resist the conclusion
that the Psalm was written after the defection of the Ten Tribes,
and that it was designed either to curb the pride of the northern
kingdom, or to address a warning to Judah, based on the
example of Ephraim,
* James Skinner, p. 382.
PSALM LXXIX. 329
Verse 10. Like as the children of Ephraim^ who^ being har-
nessed and canying bows^ iurjied themselves back in the day of
battle. — The Targum here mentions a Jewish legend, that the
Ephraimites saUied out of Egypt thirty years before the Exodus,
and after a severe defeat from the first enemies they encountered,
returned to their bondage.*
Verse 37. For their heart was 7iot whole with Him: neither
continued they stedfast in His covenant. — Those who are inte-
rested in such details, may like to know that the Jews counted
this 37th verse to be the middle one of the Psalter, t
Verse 40. They were even a wind that passeth away., and
Cometh not again.
* And what's a life ? A weary pilgrimage,
Whose glory in one day doth fill thy stage
With childhood, manhood, and decrepit age.
' And what's a life ? The flourishing array
Of the proud summer meadow, which to- day
Wears her green blush, and is to-morrov/ hay.
' And what's a life? A blast sustained with clothing,
Maintained with food, retained with vile self-loathing.
Then, weary of itself, again to nothing. 'J
PSALM LXXIX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Supplicatory Prayer in a time of
Devastation, or bloodshed, and of derision.
Title (Spurgeon).— A Psalm of Complaint.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of Asaph, written concerning
the desolation of Jerusalem.
Origin (Perowne).— This Psalm is a lamentation over the
same great national calamity which is bewailed in terms so
* Dr. Neale's Commenta7y, vol. ii., p. 546.
f Ibid., p. 560.
X Francis Quarles' Emblems, iii. 13.
330 PSALM-MOSAICS
pathetic in the 74th. . . . There can be httle doubt that both
Psalms, even if not written by the same poet, yet bewail the
same calamity. It is equally certain that there are but two
periods of the national history to which the language of either
could properly apply. But, in attempting to draw our inference
from this Psalm, the same difficulties meet us which have
already met us in an attempt to determine the date of Psalm
Ixxiv. Does the Psalm deplore the destruction of Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar, or is it a dirge over the sack of the city by
Antiochus Epiphanes?
The Whole Psalm. — -Dante had been charmed by the dolce
sahnodia (Purg. xxiii. i) of this Psalm, and interpreted its
language of the low spiritual state of the Church ; and long
afterwards it expressed the feelings of sons and daughters of
our own land during the Indian Mutiny. Nor must we forget
that in the massacre of Alcimus (b.c. 162), the writer of i Mace,
vii. 16, 17, finds a fulfilment of the second verse of our Psalm. "^^
]^erse i . O God, the heathen are come i?ito Thine ifiherilance :
Thy holy tejnple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem a heap of
stones. — At this point (end of verse i) the Golden Commentary
of Gerhohus ceases. That portion of his great work which he
completed first, by no means equal to the latter, begins with
Psalm cxix.
St. Af?ibrose and the Empress Justina. — Troops were sent
under arms to occupy the church ; and it seems as if from the
first the fidelity of the orthodox soldiers to their heretical
mistress was more than suspected, since a contingent of Goths,
who were Arians, formed part of the detachment. Ambrose
passed the whole of the day, apparently Tuesday in Holy Week,
in the church, dreading that blood should be shed, so strong
was the feeling of the people. At night he went home to rest,
but returned to his post on the Wednesday before sunrise. He
found the church surrounded with soldiers, but their behaviour
* The Book of Psalms, by the Rev. T. K. Cheyne, p. 223.
PSALM LXXIX. 331
was quiet, and many of them made no secret of their attach-
ment to him and the Cathohc cause. The service of the day
had commenced, when he learnt that another church, the *new
basiHca,' was filled with people, who implored him to come to
them. He remained, however, where he was, and preached.
The lessons of the day were from the Book of Job, and he took
occasion to speak of the Christian virtues of faith and patience,
commending the people for their gentleness, so like that of
Job, and their faithful reply to the imperial menaces and cen-
sures : ' We do not fight your Majesty, and we do not fear ; we
only make our prayer.'
Then he showed how the trials that beset Job had been per-
mitted to come upon him, their pastor ; the tempter had en-
deavoured to rob him of his spiritual heritage and his spiritual
children. Last of all, in the spirit of that famous sermon
which John Chrysostom preached some eighteen years later
against an empress, he inveighed against Justina in a way which
scarcely commends itself to our taste. ' All the worst trials
that have assailed God's people have come through women.
Job's wife tempted him, saying, "Curse God and die"; and
a woman now bids me, Give up the altar of God ! So Eve led
Adam astray, Jezebel persecuted Elijah, and Herodias com-
passed the death of John the Baptist.'
As the sermon proceeded, it was announced to him (though,
as it turned out, without foundation) that the imperial curtains
had been removed from the Portian Church, a token of yielding
on the part of his opponents. ' How wonderful,' he burst out,
'are the dealings of God! We have this day sung in the
Psalms, " O God, the heathe?i are cojne into Thine inheritance^
Heathen and Goths of many a tribe and race have come into
Thine inheritance, and seized on Thy tem.ple. But many of
them have remained there ; many of those who came to invade
the inheritance have been made with us the heirs of God :
there brake He the arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword,
and the battle.' He was pressed to go to one of the other
churches, but he still declined; he sent, however, some
332 PSALM-MOSAICS
presbyters to the Portian Church, imagining that the
Emperor had withdrawn his mother's claim. But he was dis-
appointed to find himself shortly after taken to task by a
messenger from the palace, who taxed him with 'tyranny.'
* I would not go myself to the church,' was his reply, ' but I
sent my presbyters, because I believed that the Emperor had
at last come round to our side. As to priestly tyranny, all that
I am guilty of is expressed in the words, " When I am weak,
then am I strong." The ministers of God have often endured,
but never practised, tyranny.'
'J'hat night was passed in the church, for egress was prevented
by the soldiers. Like St. Paul in prison, the brethren spent
their time in reciting psalms and hymns. Next morning
(Maundy Thursday) Ambrose preached on the effects of peni-
tence, from the Book of Jonah, which was read in the lessons
for the day. He had scarcely concluded, when the welcome
news came that the soldiers were withdrawn from the churches,
and the sentences passed a few days before remitted ; the
people, soldiers and civilians ahke, testified their joy in the
most lively manner.
Verses i, 8, 9. O God, the heathen are come into Thine in-
heritance: Thy holy temple have they defiled, a?id made Jerusalem
a?t heap of stones. . . . O remember not our old sins, and have mercy
upon us, and that soon. . . . Help us, O God of our salvation. — In
1564, the Duke Emanuel Philibert (of Savoy) recovered a part
of the Chablais, which the Bernese had wrested in 1536 from
the Duke of Savoy. It was not, however, until the peace of
1593 that Chablais and Ternier were finally ceded to Savoy.
The religious condition of the people by this time was pitiable;
they had learnt to measure their faith accordnig to their political
position, and were for the most part converted to Catholicism
by the Duke's warriors, or terrified into Protestantism by
Bernese harquebuses. When at length there was a reasonable
hope of lasting security, Charles Emanuel (the successor of
Duke Emanuel Philibert) wished to see his subjects restored to
PSALM LXXIX. 333
the Church, and he appHedto the Bishop of Geneva, requesting
him to exercise his apostoHc zeal for this desirable end. Bishop
Granier fully appreciated the necessity, though, perhaps, scarcely
the difficulty, and at once sent a worthy and learned Priest,
Fran(^ois Bouchut by name, to Thonon as Cure, but he soon
quitted his post. The Provost of Geneva (St. Francis) was the
man best fitted for the task. The Bishop knew this, and so in
full chapter read the Duke of Savoy's letter. There was pro-
found silence. Toil, difficulty, dangers, were the only earthly
side visible of the mission set before them, and M. Bouchut's
failure had discouraged them. All eyes turned to the Provost,
and, as head of the chapter, it was his place to speak first
Probably none present more fully appreciated the arduous
nature of the work than himself. Amid the disheartening
silence he rose and said in brief words, but with a glowing
countenance, ' Monseigneur, if you hold me to be capable of
this work, and bid me undertake it, I am ready. In verbo tuo
laxabo rete.' . . .
As they {i.e., St. Francis and his cousin. Canon Louis de
Sales, who was his only companion) crossed the boundary of
Chablais, we are told that they knelt down and commended
their work specially to God and to the Guardian Angels: 'Ecce
ego mittam Angelum meum, qui praecedat te, et custodiat in
vici, et introducat in locum quem paravi ; observa eum, et audi
vocem ejus. . . .'
With regard to this mission. Faith and Perseverance had
their reward, and the tide began to turn in Francis's favour
from the time he moved to Thonon. His devoted life, his
unfaiHng gentleness and meekness, the charity with which he
met all needs, spiritual and temporal, giving away all but what
his very most pressing necessities demanded, even of food and
clothing, won the admiration of all save the most prejudiced
minds.
^ ^ ^ "k ^
There were many exciting incidents in this mission. Accom-
panied by a faithful servant, George Rolland, St. Francis was
334 PSALM -MOSAICS
overtaken by darkness in a thick forest, when returning to
Allinges, and, after vainly endeavouring to find the way, they
resolved to shelter for the night amid the ruins of a chapel on
which they had stumbled. There, RoUand used to relate how
his master poured out his fervent prayers over the desecrated
moss-grown walls in the plaintive words of David : ' Thy holy
lemple have they defiled, ajid made Je7'usalem an heap of stones :
they have laid waste Thy dwelling-place. O remejnber not our
sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon. Help us, O God
of our salvation.^''' ' Turn us again, O God ; show the light of
Thy countenance, and we shall be whole. . . . Why hast Thou
broken down our hedge? Look down, and visit this vine.'t
' They break down all the carved work thereof, with axes and
hammers. O God, wherefore art Thou absent from us so long?
why is Thy wrath so hot against the sheep of Thy pasture ? O
think upon Thy congregation, whom Thou hast purchased, and
redeemed of old.'|,§
Verses 5,8. Lord, how long wilt Thou be angry ? . . . O rejneni-
ber fiot our old sins. — St. Augustine, when in the garden of his
house at Milan, weeping, cried out : ' How long wilt Thou be
angry ? . . . O remember not my old sins, but have mercy
upon me.' After which he heard a voice saying, ' ToUe,
lege.'
Verse 8. O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us,
a?id that soon. — A cry which forms an echo in the Litany :
* Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our
forefathers ; neither take Thou vengeance of our sins.'
In the Church of England, prior to the Reformation, this was
one of the Psalms appointed for All Saints' Day. The martyr
tone it breathes brings it into close connection with that hymn
of martyrdom, Heb. xi., while its cry to the Great Judge for
justice finds a parallel in that of the souls under the altar
(Rev. vi. 13).
* Psalm Ixxix. 1-8. f Psalm Ixxx. 3, 12, 14.
X Psalm Ixxiv. 7, I, 2 ; § 6". Francis dc Sales, p. 64.
PSALM LXXX. 335
It is much to be regretted that this Festival is still unprovided
with special Psalms. Bishop Cosin proposed the following :
Matins, Psalms i, 15, 84, 91; Evensong, Psalms 112, 113, 119
(ist part), 145, 149.*
PSALM LXXX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Prayer for Jahve's vine.
Title (Spurgeon). — A testimony of the Church as a ' lily
among thorns.'
Origin (Perowne). — As in the case of most of the historical
Psalms, so in the case of this, it is impossible to say with
certainty at what period it was written. The allusions are
never sufficiently definite to lead to any positive conclusion. . . .
All that is certain is that the time was a time of great disaster,
that the nation was trampled down under the foot of foreign
invaders.
Verse i. Hear, O Thou Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest
Joseph like a sheep ; show Thyself also, Thou that sittest upon the
cherubims. — Theodoret says that when Julian, Tyrant and
Apostate, was to fight his last battle with the Persians, on the
same day one Julian, surnamed Saba, a religious and devout
man, prayed that God would preserve His Church against that
Persecutor, and therefore for his prayer used the 80th Psalm :
* Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, and Thou that leadest Joseph
like a flock ; Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth,'
And it is said that while he was with tears repeating this
Psalm, and earnestly beseeching God for His Church's deliver-
ance his sorrowful passion was suddenly stayed, and an extra-
ordinary joy possessed his heart. Whereupon some devout
friends, who it seems had accompanied him in that work, asked
the reason. 'Oh now (quoth he) that Bore of the Wood
* Housman on The Psalms, p. 186.
336 PSALM-MOSA ICS
which hath wasted the Vineyard of the Lord, hath received his
just meed for contemning Christ, and lyeth now dead, never
more to be feared. And it was knowne afterward, that the
very same day, and as neere as they could guesse the selfe-same
houre also, wherein Saba prayed the 8oth Psalm aforesayd, he
was miserably slaine, no doubt by the immediate judgment of
God from Heaven ; for, being not in the Armie, but on his
journey, he embrued his hands in his own blood, and sprinkUng
it into the aire, cryed : " Thou hast overcome, O Galilean.
»*
Verse 1 3. T/ie zvild boar out of the wood doth root it tip, and
the wild beasts of the field devour it. — According to the Talmud,
the middle letter of the word rendered ' wood ' in this verse is
the middle letter of the Hebrew Psalter, and it is a conceit of
the Jews to mark this middle letter by suspending it above the
line of the other letters.
The compariso7is derived from a?ii}uals, with which the Bible
has famiharized us, are to be found no less in the pages of
Shakespeare. For instance, in King Hetiry IV., the description
of the hostile approach of Alcibiades —
' Who, like a boa)' too savage doth root up
his country's peace'
Act v., Sc. ii.
— is derived from the Psalmist's description of the enemies of
Jerusalem represented as a vine : The wild boar out of the wood
doth root it up ; a7id the wild beasts of the field devour it.
(Psalm Ixxx. 13).!
Verse 14. Behold, and visit tJiis vine. — Archbishop Warham,
in the year 151 1, and in the eighth year of his primacy, made
a careful visitation of his Diocese. The celebrated Cuthbert
Tonstal, the Chancellor of the Archbishop, accompanied him
throughout his visitation, which began on the 9th of September,
* A Preparation to the Psalter, by G. Wither, chap, xiv., p. 130.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 330.
PSALM LXXXI. 337
in the chapter-house of the Cathedral, after Mass of the Holy
Ghost, and a Latin sermon on the appropriate text, ' Behold,
and visit this vine.^*
PSALM LXXXL
Headiiig (Delitzsch).— Easter Festival Salutation and Dis-
course.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph— by which David pre-
pared himself for the Festivals of the Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm was apparently intended to
be sung at one or more of the great national Festivals. There
has, however, been much difference of opinion as to the par-
ticular Festival or Festivals for which it was originally composed.
/;/ Church. — This Psalm was sung in the second Temple on
the fifth day of the week. It was also sung at the New Year's
Day Morning Service.
Verse i. Si7ig 7ve 7nerriiy unto God our strength. — There is a
trifling error in the Prayer-Book rendering of this verse, corrected
by all the other translations; we should bej'^.f
Verse 3. Blow up the trumpet i7i the new moon. — The shophar
is especially remarkable as being the only instrument which has
been preserved to the present day in the religious services of
the Jews. It is still blown, as in time of old, at the Jewish
New Year's festival, according to the command of Moses.
There is one in the Great Synagogue in London, which has
this verse of the Psalm inscribed on it.:}:
Verse 6, / eased his shoulder fro7n the burden : a?id his hands
were delivered from making the pots, — Of the language of this
* Diocesan History of Cajiterbiiry^ p. 220.
f Dr. Neale's Cotniiicntary^ vol. iii., p. 2.
X History of Musu (Engel), p. 292.
22
338 PSALM-MOSAICS
verse a remarkable illustration nieets us in the circumstances
mentioned by Tholuck, and by other recent commentators on
the Psalter, that among the remaining Egyptian sculptures have
been found some representing, as is supposed, the Israelites
with the vessels in which they carried the clay and the tiles.*
Verse 17. He should have fed the)n also with the finest wheat-
fioiir. — On account of this verse, this Psalm is appointed for
recitation on the Feast of Corpus Christi, with this verse for
the Antiphon.f
PSALM LXXXII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — God's judgment upon the gods of the
earth.
Title (Spurgeon). — Asaph's sermon before the judges.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph — Reproof of the wicked
Jews.
Origin (Perowne). — The language of the Psalm is so general
that it might belong to any period of the history ; and the
history itself, and the utterance of the prophets, show us that
the evil here denounced was not the evil of any age, but
of all.
J 71 the Jewish Church. — This Psalm was sung in the Temple
service on the third day of the week throughout the year.:|:
Verse i. God standeth in the congregation of princes : He is a
Judge among gods. — In the reign of Henry IV. of Germany, the
whole empire was in a state of disorder. There were two
Emperors, two Popes, and in every bishopric and dukedom two
bishops and two dukes. At length civil war broke out. The
* Thrupp on The Psalms, vol. ii., p. 51.
+ Dr. Neale's Co77inientary^ vol. iii., p. 14,
+ Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 277.
PSALM LXXXIII. 339
first engagement at Melrichstag was indecisive, so it was arranged
that another battle should be fought at Grona on the Elster.
Here the opposing forces assembled in 1080. Rudolf, sup-
ported by Otho, took his stand at the head of his army, and,
previous to the engagement, raised the Israelites' song : ' God
standeth in the congregation of princes : He is a Judge among
gods: In this engagement Rudolf was mortally wounded, and
his party, thus deprived of their head, gradually dwindled away,
whilst Henry's party increased daily.
x\ striking illustration of the whole verse is afforded by that
custom of the ancient Councils, still adhered to by the Holy
Eastern Church in all solemn assemblies, of placing the Book
of the Gospels in their midst, as a symbol of the unseen pre-
sence of Christ. And when accusations against some Bishops
were offered to Constantine the Great at the Council of Nice,
he tore them up, saying : 'Ye have been given as gods to us by
God, and it is not fitting that a man should judge gods, but
only He of whom it is written, God standeth in the synagogue of
the gods : He is a Judge among gods. ''*
PSALM LXXXIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Battle-cry to God against allied people.
Title (Spurgeon). — ^The patriotic poet sings again of wars and
dangers imminent, but it is no godless song of a thoughtless
nation entering upon war with a light heart.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Asaph — a supplication to God
in behalf of the people that suffered affliction, and a prophecy
concerning the dispersion of the enemies of the Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — We know of no period in the history of
Israel when all the various tribes here enumerated were united
together for the extermination of their enemy. The annals
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. iS.
340
PSALM-MOSAICS
have preserved no record of a confederacy so extensive. Hence
it has been assumed that the enumeration in the Psahii is
merely designed to subserve the purposes of poetry, to heighten
the colouring, to represent the danger as even greater and more
formidable than it really was.
T/ie Whole Psalm. — Charles Kingsley, in his great piece of
historical painting, ' Hypatia,' gives a graphic picture of the
preaching of St. Augustine, which no one at all acquainted with
either his exposition of the Psalms, of the Gospel according to
St. John, or, indeed, of any of his writings, will think at all
exaggerated. He was preaching to a mixed multitude ; he, the
master of ancient rhetoric, the courtly and learned student, had
before him not merely an assemblage of monks, but of rough
soldiers — Thracians, Gauls, Belgians, and others. Certainly,
one attentive listener wondered what the great Bishop of Hippo
could have to say to these, and then, when he took his text
from a Psalm he had just read — one of the battle Psalms con-
cerning Moab and xA.malek, one of the old battle-cries of
Palestine — he wondered what he would have to say about that.
And then he seemed to start lamely enough, in spite of the
exquisite grace of his voice, the beauty of his language, and the
epigrammatic terseness of his sentences. His treatment of his
text at first seemed like fanciful allegorizing of the Psalm, and
yet somehow there began to look out a great comprehensiveness
of purpose, so that the apparent foolish allegorizing presently
became very obviously personal, and although the Edomites
had been made to put on their name to signify one sort of sin,
the Ammonites another, and the Amalekites another, the hearer
and all the hearers began to wince, and very soon to confess
that, whether Augustine knew truths for all men or not, he
knew sins for all men, for himself as well as his hearers.
And it soon became clear that there was in the mind of the
Father a real, vital, organic connection with what seemed to be
an arbitrary allegory, while all the outward people of the Psalm
represented really the powers and people of the soul ; and his
PSALM LXXXIII. 341
hearers were taught that they were weak against Moors and
earthly enemies, because they were weak against enemies more
deadly than Moors, and that they could not fight for God out-
wardly while they were fighting against Him inwardly. He
would not go forth with their hosts— how could He ? — when He
was not amongst their hosts. He, a Spirit, must dwell in their
spirits, and the shout of a King would be among them, and one
of them should chase a thousand.
We have always regarded this passage in ' Hypatia ' as a fine
reproduction of the style of St. Augustine in dealing with texts,
and it is very interesting to notice it, for this great master of
Western theology has, more or less unconsciously, ruled the
method of the pulpit from his time, and it is only in ours that
it has known decay or decline.""
Benedict Biscop was a Saxon of noble descent, who held office
under King Oswy, and had been endowed by him with an estate
suitable to his dignity. At the age of twenty-five he renounced
the secular hfe, and left home, kindred and country for Christ's
sake and the Gospel's, declining marriage in the flesh that he
might follow the Virgin Lamb to the heavenly country. He
received the tonsure at a famous monastery at Lerins, a small
island lying off the south coast of France. On his return to
his native Northumbria, the King, Egfrid, gave him some land
on the north side of the mouth of the River Wear on which
to build a monastery. Later on the King made him a further
grant at the mouth of the Tyne to build a second monastery.
This was J arrow.
Benedict during the last years of his life was afflicted with
paralysis. Three years he survived in entire helplessness, the
whole lower part of his body being, as it were, dead. . . .
It was a cold and stormy night in January when it became
clear that the end was near at hand. The brethren met in the
church to solace their grief by singing psalms, while some
remained with the dying father. All the night through, to
* The Pulpit, Ancient and Modern, by Paxton Hood, chap. viii.
342 PSALM-MOSAICS
soothe his pain, the Gospel was read by a presbyter. When
the hour of his departure drew near, he received the sacra-
ment of the Body and Blood of the Lord as provision for his
last journey. Then he quietly passed away. It was hailed as
an indication that his exit had been guarded from the assaults
of evil spirits, that at the moment of his death they .were singing
in the Church the 82nd Psalm (our 83rd)j in which we see the
enemies of God, plotting against the Church and every believing
soul, put to utter confusion by the Lord, to whom none is to
be compared, who only is the Most High over all the earth.*
Two Cardinals of viedicEval times (Joannes Vitalis and Hugo
of St. Cher) interpret this text of the nepotism of great nobles,
ecclesiastical and lay, making the dignities, benefices and goods
of the Church the hereditary feoffs of their families, the
appanages of their children; and the latter of them applies his
censure more particularly to the greed of the Roman Court of
his day, averring that the Romans not only kept the Popedom
in their own hands, but nominated some of themselves to
every vacant prebend in Christendom, to the injury of episcopal
rights and the ruin of the Church. Lorinus hints at this
passage, but is too discreet to quote it, recommending his
hearers to peruse it for themselves, f
Verse 13. O my God, make the^n liJze u?ito a wheels ajid as
the stubbie before tlie wind. — An Eastern traveller, formerly
resident in Syria, sends the following illustration of the term
' a rolling thing,' occurring in these passages : ' What are these
light balls that come rolling before the wind over the plain
of Syria, leaping, bounding, hurrying on, driven by the eddying
blast, charging in our face, and frightening our sober horses?
They are, probably, the " rolling thing " mentioned by Isaiah,
and also, we think, by David. " God shall rebuke them, and
they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the
mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the
* Diocesan History of Durham, p. 72.
■(" Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 31.
PSALM LXXXIII. 343
whirlwind" (Isaiah xvii. 13). So in the thirteenth verse of
Psalm Ixxxiii., " O my God^ make them like a wheel (or rolling
thing), as the stubble before the windy This is just like a
modern Arab imprecation, " May you be whirled like the
Akhil before the wind, until you are caught in the thorns,
or plunged in the sea." The Akkid, the "rolling thing," the
Hebrew gulgal, is the wild artichoke. This vegetable is
chewed by the native Syrians, although it is very insipid. The
plant, in growing, sends out numerous shoots of equal size,
which form into a kind of ball, about a foot in diameter.
When the sap of the vegetable ceases in autumn, and the
whole plant is dry and brittle, the stem easily breaks off at
the ground, so that a blast of wind severs the ball from the
root, and sends it adrift. Then hundreds and thousands come
bounding over the plain, along with the chaff of the threshing-
floors, to the great perturbation of the brute creation and the
annoyance of travellers. So are the wicked when God forces
them from all restraints of conscience, and sends them adrift,
" seeking rest, and finding none," till they fall into some mis-
chief, and miserably perish.'
Verse 16. Then understood I the e fid of these men. — There is
a famous story of Providence in Bradwardine to this purpose :
A certain hermit that was much tempted, and was utterly
unsatisfied concerning the providence of God, resolved to
journey from place to place till he met with someone who
could satisfy him. An angel in the shape of a man joined
himself with him, telling him that he was sent from God to
satisfy him in his doubts of Providence. The first night they
lodged at the house of a very holy man, and they spent their
time in discourses of heaven, and praises of God, and were
entertained with a great deal of freedom and joy. In the
morning, when they departed, the angel took with him a great
cup of gold. The next night they came to the house of
another holy man, who made them very. welcome, and exceed-
ingly rejoiced in their society and discourse. The angel.
344 PSALM-MOSAICS
notwithstanding, at his departure killed an infant in the cradle,
which was his only son, he having been for many years before
childless, and therefore was a very fond father of this child.
The third night they came to another house, where they had
like free entertainment as before. The master of the family
had a steward whom he highly prized, and told them how
happy he accounted himself in having such a faithful servant.
Next morning he sent this his steward with them part of the
way, to direct them therein. As they were going over the
bridge the angel flung the steward into the river and drowned
him. The last night they came to a very wicked man's house,
where they had very untoward entertainment ; yet the angel,
next morning, gave him the cup of gold. All this being done,
the angel asked the hermit whether he understood those
things ? He answered his doubts of Providence were in-
creased, not resolved, for he could not understand why he
should deal so hardly with those holy men, who received them
with so much love and joy, and yet give such a gift to that
wicked man who used them so unworthily. The angel said,
' I will now expound these things unto you. The first house
where we came the master of it was a holy man ; yet, drink-
ing in that cup every morning, it being too large, it did some-
what unfit him for holy duties, though not so much that
others or himself did perceive it ; so I took it away, since it
is better for him to lose the cup of gold than his temperance.
The master of the family where we lay the second night was
a man given much to prayer and meditation, and spent much
time in holy duties, and was very liberal to the poor all the
time he was childless ; but as soon as he had a son he grew
so fond of it, and spent so much time in playing with it, that
he exceedingly neglected his former holy exercise, and gave
but little to the poor, thinking he could never lay up enough
for his child ; therefore I have taken the infant to heaven, and
left him to serve God better on earth. The steward, whom
I did drown, had plotted to kill his master the night following ;
and as to that wicked man to w^hom I gave the cup of gold.
PSALM LXXXIV. 345
he was to have nothing in the other world, I therefore gave
him something in this, which, notwithstanding, will prove a
snare to him, for he will be more intemperate ; and " let him
that is filthy be filthy still." '
The truth of this story I affirm not, but the moral is very
good, for it shows that God is an indulgent Father to the
Saints when He most afflicts them, and that when He sets the
wicked on high, He sets them also in slippery places, and their
prosperity is their ruin.*
PSALM LXXXIV.
Beading (Delitzsch).— Longing for the house of God and
for the happiness of dwelling there.
Title (Spurgeon).— The Pearl of Psalms. If the xxiii. be the
most popular, the ciii. the most joyful, the cxix. the most
deeply experimental, the li. the most plaintive, this is one of
the most sweet of the Psalms of peace.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of the sons of Korah. The
message of David when he went from Zion to worship in the
House of God. Also said to be a prophecy concerning the
Messiah, and concerning His Church.
Origin (Perowne).— In its general character this Psalm very
nearly'resembles Psalms xlii., xliii. Like that, it is the ardent
outpouring of a man of no common depth and tenderness of
feeling, the expression of a devoted love for the house and
worship of Jehovah. Like that, it is written under circum-
stances of suffering and depression, at a time when the
Psalmist was in exile or at a distance from the Sanctuary.
Like that, it touches and pictures the crowd of pilgrims on
their way to the Holy City. In both Psalms there is the same
deep pathos, the same ' exquisite delicacy and tenderness of
* A Treatise of the Power of Godliness, by Thomas White.
346 PSALM-MOSAICS
thought ;' in both, the same strain of remembrance and of
anticipation, half sad, half joyful. . . .
From the general likeness in structure and sentiment, and
colouring of language, and yet perfect distinctness and
originality of the two Poems, Evvald is doubtless right in con-
cluding that both are by the same author. Whether he is
right in inferring from verse nine (ten) of this Psalm that the
author was a king, has been questioned. Ewald supposes the
king to have been Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah).
The Whole Psalm. — See Francis Henry Lyte's beautiful
version of this Psalm (No. 240, Hymns Ancient and Modern).
' Pleasant are Thy courts above,
In the land of light and love ;
Pleasant are Thy courts below,
In this land of sin and woe :
Oh, my spirit longs and faints
For the converse of Thy Saints,
For the brightness of Thy Face,
For Thy fulness, God of grace.'
Psalm of Preparation. — The Psalms present the Christian
worshipper with a wealth of strains which fit themselves in
every part of his connections. The 84th Psalm is his prepara-
tion before, the 150th his thanksgiving after. The 23rd is
literally his Communion Hymn.
In Church: the Greek Chwxh. — This Psalm, together
with the 23rd and 145th, is sung by the choir in the Graeco-
Russian Church at the consecration of a Church, and at the
washing of the Altar Throne (for particulars of this see on
Psalm xxiii.).
It is also one of the Psalms at the Burial of Priests in the
Holy Eastern Church.
In the Roman Church at the Consecration of Bishops this
Psalm may be used.
Verse i. O hoiu a?mable are Thy dwellings, Thou Lord of
hosts ! — Paulla, the friend of Jerome, was seen by those who
PSALM LXXXIV. 347
were gathered around her in her last hour to move her hps,
and when they stooped to Hsten, they heard the words : ' Mow
lovely are Thy tabernacles^ O Lord of hosts'*
Verses i, 2. O how aijiiable are Thy dwelli?igs, Thou Lord
of hosts ! My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the
courts of the Lord. — At an early period in his life, before 1591,
when he took his doctor's degree, S. Francis de Sales' career
was threatened to be cut short by a serious illness ; rheumatic
fever, induced, perhaps, by too great carelessness of personal
comfort, laid him low in exceeding suffering, and at last the
poor Abbe Deage, hearing from several physicians whom he
had summoned that there was little hope of their patient's
recovery, found himself constrained to tell the pupil — whom
he loved as his own child — that his days were numbered.
' My son,' he said, striving to conceal his emotion, 'if God
saw fit to call you to Himself, you would accept His Holy
^Vill meekly, would you not ?' Francis instantly caught the
Abbe's meaning, and replied : ' Most surely. God's Will be
done, whether for life or death. It is very sweet to live for
Christ, and very sweet, too, to die for Him.' And he quoted
the words :
' Sive mori me, Christe, jubes, seu vivere maris,
Dulce mihi tecum vivere ; dulce mori.'
After a while he went on pouring out his soul in the words of
Holy Writ, ' O how afniable are Thy dwelli?igs, Thou Lord of
hosts I My soul hath a desire and longi?ig to e?iter into the courts
of the Lord.\ All my days will I wait until my appointed
time come. The Lord is my light and my salvation ; of
whom then shall I be afraid ?| Blessed is he whose hope is
in the Lord his God.'§ Seeing him so calm and restful, the
Abbe Deage ventured to ask as to Francis's wishes in the
event of his death, which were immediately given, and then
the patient received the last Sacraments, and each hour was
'■■ The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 38.
t Psalm Ixxxiv. I, 2. % Psalm xxvii. i. § Psalm cxlvi. 5.
348 PSALM -MOSAICS
looked upon as his last. But God willed otherwise ; the
malady subsided, and Francis recovered perfect health, and
with it a firmer conviction than ever in his vocation to the
priesthood.*
Charles Kingsley. — It was a happy circumstance, and an
important one to Charles Kingsley, that Chester was the first
cathedral with which he was connected. Choral services had
hitherto had little attraction for him, the slovenliness which
in bygone years characterized them having shocked him from
the aesthetic, and still more from the religious, point of view.
Had this been the case at Chester, it would have been a
serious drawback to the happiness of his life while there.
But there all was in harmony with his ideal of Christian
worship. And it filled the new Canon's heart with thankfulness
that the lot had fallen to him in a cathedral where the dignity
^ of the services, the reverence of all who conducted them, from
its visitor. Bishop Jacobson, much beloved, down to the ' little
chorister' boys, impressed him deeply: where not only the
Dean, but all the officials, worked earnestly to one end ; and
he could say with truth, as day by day he entered the venerable
/ cloisters, ' How amiable are Thy d^vellijigs^ O Lord, Thou God
of hosts I My soul hath a desire and longing to enter ifito the
courts of the Lord, for one day in Thy courts is better than a
thousa?id.^\
Verse 3. Yea, the sparroiv hath found her ari house, and the
sivalloiv a ?iest, where she may lay her yomig, eve?i Thy altars,
O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. — Crashaw, the poet,
was a great friend of the Ferrars at Little Gidding, and his
tender, affectionate, enthusiastic spirit was at once attracted
by their life of devotion. At Gidding he found his ideal
' Religious House ' in a visible shape.
* S. Francis de Sales, p. 27.
t Charles Kingsley, p. 238.
PSALM LXXXIV. 349
'Walks and unshorn woods, and souls, just^so
Unforced and genuine ; but not shady tho';
* * * *
Our lodging hard, and homely as our fare.
That chaste and cheap as the few clothes we wear.
* * * *
A hasty portion of prescribed sleep,
Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep,_
And sing, and sigh, and work, and sleep again,
Still rowling a round sphear of still returning pam.
Hands full of hearty labours. . . .
Reverent discipline, and religious fear.
And soft obedience finds sweet hiding here,
Silence and sacred rest ; peace and pure joys.
The self-remembering soul sweetly recovers
Her kindred with the stars, nor basely hovers
Below, but meditates her immortal way, , , ,
Home to the original source of light and mtellectual day.
Crashaw's sympathy with the hfe of Gidding was not expressed
in words alone. He was himself often to be found among
those
' Holy hands and humble hearts '
of whom he sings, delighting to join in their prayers and
watchings, and when in Cambridge his leisure time was spent
'in the temple of God, under His wing,' in 'St. Marie's
Church, near St. Peter's College. There he lodged under
Tertullian's roof of angels ; there he made his rest more gladly
iha7i David's swallow near the house of God, where, like a
primitive saint, he offered more prayers in the night than
others in the day.'^'^
Verse 4. Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they 7vill
be always praising Thee.—St. Bre^idan.—They sailed away
from the Paradise of Birds with forty days' provision, the
man being their guide (the man who always tended them,
and who now said he would lead them to the land promised
to the saints), till after forty days they came at evening to a
areat darkness which lay round the Promised Land. But after
saiUng through it for an hour, a great light shone round them,
* Life of Nicholas Ferrar, p. 238.
350 PSALM-MOSAICS
and the boat stopped at a shore. And when landed, they saw
a spacious land, full of trees, bearing fruit as in autumn time.
And they walked about that land forty days, eating of the
fruit and drinking of the fountains, and found no end thereof.
And there was no night there, but light shone like the light of
the sun. At last they came to a great river, which they could
not cross, so that they could not find out the extent of the
land. And as they w^ere pondering over this, a youth with
shining face, and fair to look upon, met them and kissed them
with great joy, calling them each by his name, and said :
' Brethren, peace be with you, and with all that follow the
peace of Christ.' And after that, ' Blessed are they that dwell
in Thy house, O Lord: they shall be for ever praising Thee.'
Then he told St. Brendan that that was the land he had
been seeking for seven years, and that he must now return to
his own country, taking of the fruits of the land, and of its
precious gems, as much as his ship could carry, for the days
of his departing were at hand, when he should sleep in peace
with his holy brethren.*
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house. — That year
he received the tonsure, which was a great joy to him. He
wished very much for it, but did not dare ask for it, think-
ing himself unworthy. M. Gosselin (his director at that time)
took the initiative. M. Borderies, afterwards Bishop of Ver-
sailles, was the ' father and master of his soul,' w^hile M. de
Rohan was an ' incomparable friend and protector ' so says
the biographer. The Due de Rohan, who was then a deacon
waiting for priest's orders, wrote to him the following affec-
tionate letter the night before :
' . . . You are about to take your first step towards the
altar of God, to God who giveth joy to your youth. Oh, my
dear Felix, rejoice with gladness and love for our dear Lord,
who treats you with such mercy. In a few hours He will be
the portion of your inheritance. . . . His house will be your
* The Hermits, by C. Kingsley, p. 276.
PSALM LXXXIV. 351
refuge. His altar your delight and your repose. Happy those
who make their dwelling-place with Thee, O Lord \—Beati
qici habitant in domo tua Doinijie. Oh, my dear friend, what
a beautiful, happy, sublime vocation ! How delicious are Thy
tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Say this with the prophet-king:
Thy altars, O my God. You see them from afar off. I have
already passed the first stages ; one step only remains for me
to find myself in the very face of my God. Would that I had
many worlds to offer Him in sacrifice, to lay at His feet, and
at the foot of His altar, on that day !
' And now, my dear child, courage, generosity ! Go forward
with confidence towards the house of the Lord. Draw near
to His altar to lay there the spoils of the world and clothe
yourself with Jesus Christ. In Him, for Him, with Him,
I embrace you with all the tenderness of my heart. Again,
I close this letter by repeating the words : " Become a saint J^ '*
Verse 6. Who going through the vale of misery use it for a
well. — All the ancient versions render 'Baca' (misery) by
' weeping.' Burckhardt tells us that he found a valley in the
neighbourhood of Sinai which bore the name of ' the valley
of weeping. 't
Verse 11. / had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my
God : than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness. — Bossuet and
Bonar remark that this sentiment would come appropriately
from the lips of the Korahites, some of whom were employed
to keep the gates of the sanctuary (i Chron. ix. 19). But the
Korahite psalmist spoke in the name of the Israelite pilgrims,
and the visiting in God's house contrasts better with the
dwelling in the tents of wickedness.;
On the love which the Saints have shown for the lowliest
tasks in God's house, let us hear St. Paulinus of Nola :
* Life of Mgr. Dupanloiip, Bishop of Orleans, p. 43.
f 77^1? Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 120.
% Thrupp on The Fsahns, vol. i., p. 38.
352 PSALM-MOSAICS
* There easy yokes, light burden, service soft
We shall have with Thee, Lord, although no need
Hast Thou, the Righteous, of ungodly slaves ;
But Thou wilt suffer, and wilt love all those
Vowed to Thee by Christ's gift to serve at morn,
Cleansing Thy gates and thresholds, and at night
Keeping pure watch by turns, and in this charge
Closing a holy life with worn-out frame.'
Even heathens were not insensible to this kind of happiness.
The Greek poet (Euripid., ' Ion,' 128) makes his hero sing, as
he sweeps the threshold of Apollo's temple :
' A pleasant task, O Phcebus, I discharge
Before thine house, in reverence of thy seat
Of prophecy, an honoured task to me,
To give my hand in service to the gods,
Not unto mortals, but immortal ones.
And labouring in such blessed tasks as these
I weary not.'*
Ferse 12. No good t/ii/ig shall He withhold from them that
live a godly life. — When Thomas Carlyle was leaving in doubt
and despondency his quiet mountain home at Craigenputtock
for the untried tumult of London, he quoted part of this verse
for comfort to his brother Alexander and himself, but mingled
it with the words of another passage, Rom. viii. 28. It must
be confessed that his accuracy in Scripture knowledge is not
so remarkable as in some other matters, and he himself would
have owned that the exact words of the Psalmist are more
suited to his philosophy than those of the Apostle. Yet his
faith in its core is Christian : ' I turned my thoughts heaven-
ward, for it is in heaven only that I find any basis for our poor
pilgrimage on this earth. Surely as the blue dome of heaven
encircles us all, so does the providence of the Lord of
heaven. " He ivill withhold 710 good things fro??i those that
lore HimT This, as it was the ancient Psalmist's faith, let
it likewise be ours. It is the Alpha and the Omega, I reckon,
of all possessions that can belong to man.'f
* Dr. Neale's CovifJientary, vol. iii., p. 50.
t The Psahns in History and Biography, p. 112.
PSALM LXXXV. 353
PSALM LXXXV.
Heading (Delitzsch).— Petition of the hitherto favoured
people for a restoration of favour.
Title (Spurgeon).— The prayer of a patriot for his afflicted
country.
Co?ife?its {^yr'mc). — A Psalm of the sons of Korah ; the re-
compense and the deliverance which they had from God, and
a prophecy concerning the Messiah.
Ongi?i (Perowne). — There seems every reason to conclude
that this Psalm was written after the return of the exiles from
the Babylonish Captivity.
In Church, — This is the third Psalm at Matins for Christmas
Day. The Nativity of our Lord was the true turning away the
captivity of His people, inasmuch as He came ' to preach
deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of the sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.' And as His
first coming evermore includes and looks onwards to the
second, so in this Psalm the prophet looks beyond the present
deliverance to one more complete and blessed still, even to the
setting up on earth of that kingdom of righteousness and peace
which, however dim it may have appeared in vision to his
eyes, has been now brought near in all its loveliness to those
who wait for it and are hastening its coming.*
Verse ii. jyidh shall flourish out of the earthy and righteous-
7iess hath looked down from heaven. — This is the verse which,
in the Vulgate form of the past tense, supplies the Antiphon
for the Psalm in its use throughout the Western Church on
Christmas Day. Truth, the Very Truth, the Son of God, hath
sprung out of the earth, hath been born of His Virgin Mother ;
* Housman on The Psalms, p. 169.
23
354 PSALM.MOSAICS
righteotisness looked down from heaven when the Eternal Word
stooped from His throne of glory, and united Himself in
hypostatic union to the nature of man.^
PSALM LXXXVI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Prayer of a persecuted saint.
Title (Spurgeon). — This Psalm would seem to have been
specially known as David's Prayer, even as the ninetieth is
the ' Prayer of Moses.'
Co7itents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David, when he built a house
to the Lord ; a prophecy also of the calling of the Gentiles ;
and, again, the special prayer of the righteous man.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is the only one in the Third
Book ascribed to David. That it was written by him we can
hardly suppose. Many of the expressions are, no doubt, such
as we meet with in his Psalms, but there are also many which
are borrowed from other passages of Scripture. Indeed, the
numerous adaptations of phrases employed by other writers
may reasonably be taken as evidence of a much later date.
In Church. — This Psalm is appointed in the Latin and
Sarum Use for the Festival of the Epiphany, or Manifestation
of Christ to the Gentiles (see verse 9) : ' All nations whom
Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee.'t
It is appointed in the Roman Office for the Visitation of the
Sick.t
The Whole Psalm. — The great scholar, Casaubon, whose
life has recently been made of such interest to Oxford men by
a writer who singularly combines industry with refinement, was
* Dr. Neale's Comf>ie?itary, vol. iii., p. 62.
+ Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 136.
i Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 279.
PSALM LXXXVI.
355
going to the Huguenot worship at Charenton in an open
barge, August 20th, 1668. A heavy boat ran in astern. His
wife fell over into the Seine, but he pulled her in after almost
losing his own life. At the same time he dropped into the
river his Psalm-book, the gift of his wife, his constant com-
panion for twenty-two years, out of which they were singing
the 86th Psalm when the accident occurred. ' I could not but
remember,' says Casaubon in his journals, 'that place of
Ambrose where he says — This is the peculiarity of the Psalter,
that everyone can use its words, as if they were peculiarly and
individually his own.'*
Spurgeon trenchantly says : ' The name of God occurs very
frequently in this Psalm ; sometimes it is Jehovak, but more
commonly Adonai, which it is believed by many learned
scholars was written by the Jewish transcribers, instead of the
subhmer title, because their superstitious dread led them to do
so ; we, labouring under no such tormenting fear, rejoice in
Jehovah our God. It is singular that those who were so afraid
of their God that they dared not write His name, had yet so
little godly fear that they dared to alter His word.'
Verse 9. All stations whom Thou hast made shall come
aJid worship Thee^ O Lord, and shall glorify Thy Name.
— St. Augustine applies this verse to a refutation of the
Donatists, who held that the true faith of the Catholic Church
was limited to one corner of Africa.
Verse 11. O knit my heart u7ito Thee, that I may fear Thy
Name.
' Give Me thine heart but as I gave it thee ;
Or give it Me at least as I
Have given Mine
To purchase thine.
I halv'd it not when I did die,
But gave Myself to set thee free.
* Dr. Neale's Comfucntary, vol. iii., p. 66.
-56 PSALM-MOSAICS
' The heart I gave thee was a living heart ;
And when thy heart by sin was slain,
I laid down Mine
To ransom thine,
That thy dead heart might live again.
And live entirely perfect, not in part.
' But whilst thine heart's divided, it is dead :
Dead unto Me, unless it live
To Me alone,
It is all one
To keep all, and a part to give ;
For what's a body worth without an head ?
• Yet this is worse, that what thou keep'st from Me
Thou dost bestow upon My foes ;
And those not Mine
Alone, but thine ;
The proper causes of thy woes,
From whom I gave My life to set thee free.
' Have I betroth'd thee to Myself, and shall
The devil and the world intrude
Upon My right
E'en in My sight ?
Think not thou canst Me so delude :
I will have none, unless I may have all.
' I made it all, I gave it all to thee,
I gave all that I had for it ;
If I must lose,
I'd rather choose
My interest in all to quit :
Or keep it whole, or give it whole to Me.'*
PSALM LXXXVII.
^m^/;^^ (Delitzsch). — The city of the new birth of the nations.
Ti^/e (Spurgeon). — A song in honour of Zion or Jerusalem.
Co7itents (Syriac). — Concerning the redemption of Jeru-
salem.
Origi?i (Perowne). — There are two principal epochs to which
the Psalm may be referred :
* The School of the Heart, by Francis Quarles.
PSALM LXXXVII. 357
1. Its tone falls in with that of some of the prophecies of
Isaiah. Hence it has been referred, not without reason, to the
reign of Hezekiah. Some have supposed that it was a song of
triumph, written, like Psalms xlvi.-xlviii., after the defeat of Sen-
nacherib ; others, more probably, that it was a hymn com-
posed for some solemn reception of proselytes into the Church,
' the Psalmist and his brother Levites exulting in this admis-
sion of converts as they would do in a national victory.'
2. Calvin and others refer the Psalm to a time subsequent
to the return from the Captivity. It was designed, as Calvin
thinks, to console the exiles, whose hearts must have died
down within them as they thought of the present enfeebled,
impoverished, defenceless state of the city.
The Whole Psalm. — We may justly say with St. Augustine
that it is ' brevis numero verborum, magnus pondere senten-
tiarum,' and exclaim when we have read it, 'In small bulk
great heart.'"^
The conception of a New Birth, and of spiritual life sustained
and strengthened by a Eucharistic Feast, is in the Psalter.
Every citizen of the new Sion is solemnly introduced into it,
and registered among its people by an act which is one of New
Birth.
' This man was born there,
And of Sion it shall be said,
This and that man was born there.
The Lord shall rehearse when He writeth up the people,
That this man was born there.'
And just as our Lord's saying, ' Except a man be born
again of water and the Spirit,' refers to and interprets the
87th Psalm, so His teaching on the other Sacrament of the
Gospel includes a reference to another Psalm, f
Verse 1. Her foimdatio?is are upon the holy hills. — There
* The Witness of the Psahns to Christ and Christianity, p. 134.
t Ibid.
358 PSALM-MOSAICS
is a curious Rabbinical belief that in the days of Messiah
Mount Sion will be exalted by the heaping up of Sinai, Tabor,
and Carmel, as a base beneath it, while restored Jerusalem
crowns the height. And this they take as the sense of that
prophecy, ' The mountains of the Lord's house shall be estab-
lished in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills.'*
PSALM LXXXVIIL
Heading (DeUtzsch). — Plaintive prayer of a patient sufferer
like Job.
Title (Spurgeon). — If ever there was a song of sorrow and a
Psalm of sadness, this is one.
Cojitents (Syriac).— Concerning the people in Babylon.
Origin (Perowne). — As to the author, and the circumstances
under which the Psalm was written, various conjectures have
been made, but they are really worth nothing. One thing only
is clear, that it is not a national Psalm, and that it does not
deplore the Babylonish Captivity, or any other naiional cdX^imiiy .
It is throughout personal and individual. Uzziah when
smitten with leprosy, Jeremiah in the dungeon, Hezekiah in
sickness. Job in his sufferings — to all these in turn has the
authorship of the Psalm been assigned.
In Church. — A proper Psalm for Good Friday.
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm stands alone in all the
Psalter for the unrelieved gloom, the hopeless sorrow of its
tone. Even the very saddest of the others, and the Lamenta-
tions themselves, admit some variation of key, some strains of
hopefulness ; here only all is darkness to the close. t
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 83.
t Dr. Neale on The Psalms^ vol. iii., p. 92.
PSALM LX XX VIII. 359
Henry of Navarre. — It was this Psalm (or part of it), in the
French metrical version, that Henry of Navarre was heard
repeating to himself, and that D'Aubigne and D'Armagnac
hailed as a sign of returning grace.
Henry of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV. of France) had so
lived at Court that he was supposed by the most clear-sighted
to be just such another as his weak, easy-going, dissipated
father. One night, the 2nd of February, 1676, he had a slight
feverish attack. Two of his own gentlemen, Agrippa d'Aubigne
and the Count of Armagnac, were sitting with him, and had
drawn his curtains, thinking him dying, when they heard him
sigh, and then chant to himself the Huguenot version of part of
the 88th Psalm.
' Tu m'otes, pour comble d'ennuie,
L'ami que j 'avals cru fidele
C'est en vain que ma voix I'appelle
Dans I'etat funeste ou, je suis.
Helas ! au fort de ma detresse
Chacun se cache et me delaissie.'
This was so unlike the laughing, merry trifler that Henri
usually appeared, that D'Aubigne exclaimed : ' Then can it be,
sire, that the Good Spirit still dwells and works in you ? If so,
why are you a captive here obeying a woman, while your own
people are fighting ? Those who guarded your cradle had far
rather fight under your standards than those of Alengon. As
to ourselves, sire, we had made up our minds to flee to-morrow ;
and those who may succeed us may not scruple to use the
poison or the knife.' All night they talked, and Henri came
to the decision that this was the time to shake off the yoke he
had endured for nearly four years. Accordingly he escaped
from Court and went to his own counties of Beam and
Foix.*
Verse 9. My sight faileth for very trouble. —TYiq first clause
seems literally to mean the soreness and dimness of sight
* Cameos frovi English History, No. clxx.
36o PSALM-MOSAICS
caused by excessive weeping, and is so taken by many of the
commentators, and Lorinus aptly quotes a Latin poet (Catullus)
in illustration :
* Nor my sad eyes to pine with constant tears
Could cease.'*
Verse 1 1 (Bible version). S/ia// Thy lovingkindness be declared
in the grave ? or l^hy faithfulness in destruction ? — The beauty
and pathos of this Psalm struck Wordsworth, as given in the
words of the Scottish version. The passage is in the funeral
song in the Solitary :
' A solemn voice,
Of several voices in one solemn sound,
Was heard ascending : mournful, deep and slow,
The cadence as of Psalms — a funeral dirge !
We listened, looking down upon the host,
But seeing no one : meanwhile, from below,
The strain continued, spiritual as before ;
And now distinctly could I recognise
These words •.—Shall in the grave Thy love be known ?
In death Thy faithfulness ?'f
Verse 13. Early shall my prayer come before lliee. —
' When first thine eyes unveil, give thy soul leave
To do the like ; our bodies but forerun
The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave
Unto their God, as flowers do to the sun.
Give Him thy first thoughts, then, so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in Him sleep.
' Yet never sleep the sun up. Prayer should
Dawn with the day. There are set, av^'ful hours
Twixt heaven and us. The manna was not good
After sun-rising ; far-day sullies flowers.
Rise to prevent the sun ; sleep doth sins glut,
And heaven's gate opens when this world's is shut. 'J
Verse 15. Even front my youth up Thy terrors have I suffered
with a troubled inind. — During his time at Clare, there is no
trace of friendships formed by Ferrar among his contemporaries.
Perhaps the boy, though so greatly beloved by his elders, was
"" Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 99.
t The Fsalms in History and Biography, p. 116.
+ Henry Vaughan, Rides and Lessons.
PSALM LXXXIX. 361
considered rather old-fashioned and sententious by his young
companions. There was a precocious gravity about him ; his
natural seriousness was deepened by family sorrows. He
writes to his parents of his dearest brother Erasmus, and ' your
other children that are departed in the Lord,' and we have
glimpses of deep melancholy, of an inward strife that rose at
times to anguish. ' My soul has been almost rent,' he writes ;
' I may truly say that from youth up Thy terrors have 1 suffered
with a troubled mitid' His talents were of a sort to delight his
teachers more than his equals.*
Verse 15 (LXX. and Vulg.). I am poor aud in labours from
my youth. — The nephews and kindred of Popes and Cardinals
cannot apply this verse to themselves, caustically remarks Car-
dinal Hugo, for they are rich, and get benefices from their
cradles, t
PSALM LXXXIX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Prayer for a renewal of the mercies of
David.
Title (Spurgeon). — The majestic Covenant Psalm.
Contents (Syriac). — Concerning the people in Babylon.
Origin (Perowne). — There can be little doubt that this
Psalm was written in the latter days of the Jewish monarchy,
when the throne of David had fallen, or was already tottering
to its fall, and when the prospect for the future was so dark
that it seemed as if God had forgotten His covenant and His
promise.
Tholuck's conjecture is not improbable, that the king of
whom the Psalm speaks (verse 45) [46] is the youthful
Jehoiachin, who, after a reign of three months, was deposed and
* Life of Nicholas Ferra?; p. 15.
t Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. ill., p. 104.
362 PSALM-MOSAICS
imprisoned by Nebuchadnezzar, and of whom it was said that
no man of his seed should ' prosper, sitting on the throne of
David.'
I7i Church. — This Psalm is the first at Evensong on Christ-
mas Day.
The sadness which extends over much of this Psalm might,
at first sight, seem to deprive it of any right to mingle with the
happy hymns of Christians. This would be so were its signi-
ficance limited to occasions for which it was originally com-
posed. But it looks far beyond, and it is not too much to say
that, of all Psalms, this is the most appropriate for the Festival
of the Nativity, as no other expresses in terms so plain the
promise of the Messiah, answering to the message of the angel
to the Blessed Virgin : ' He shall be great, and shall be called
the Son of the Highest, 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' (St. Luke i. 32, 33).
David's kingdom was figurative of Christ's kingdom, and
promises which were made by the faithfulness of God to the
one shall ultimately find accomplishment in the other. But
the covenant has two sides : it is necessary-, for the fulfilment
of these promises, that the seed of David should be true and
loyal to Him who gave David the kingdom, so the spiritual
seed must be faithful. Thus, in the midst of our Christian
joy, this Psalm stands as a merciful warning lest, after all the
Incarnation has wrought for us, we should, through unfaithful-
ness, lose our crown. "^
The Whole Psalm. — The present Psalm makes a pair with
the preceding one. It is a spiritual Allegro to that Pen-
seroso.f
The chapel of Thomas Bradbury — ' Bold Bradbur}',' as he
was called, ' as much a man of war in theology^ as in politics '
* Housman on TTie Psalms, p. 183.
t Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary^ p. 141.
PSALM LXXXIX, ^fj^
—Stood in New Street, Fetter Lane, and was remarkable as
being the place where George I. was first prayed for as Sovereign
of Great Britain. Queen Anne died on the morning of Sunday,
August 14, 1 7 14. It was known she was z'n extremis^ and
Bishop Burnet had promised to send word to Bradbury the
moment she expired. The preconcerted signal, the dropping
a white handkerchief from the gallery, was given before the
sermon was finished, and in the concluding prayer Bradbury
invoked the Divine blessing on 'George, King of Great
Britain and Ireland,' and then gave out the 89th Psalm :
' A man of might I have erect
Your King and guide to be,
And set him up whom I elect
Among the folk to me. '
Another version of the story — that the signal came before
the sermon began, and that Bradbury gave out as his text
2 Kings ix. 34, ' Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her,
for she is a king's daughter ' — may safely be rejected. The
Fetter Lane chapel has quite disappeared, and so has that in
New Court, Carey Street, Chancery Lane, to which Bradbur)-
removed on the occurrence of the schism in his congregation
between the Trinitarians and the Arianisers, already mentioned,
by which it has been said ' perished the good accord of English
dissent.'*
Verse r. My song shall be always of the loving-kindness of the
Lord, — Chancellor Le Tellier (the ixi^nd. of Bossuet) uttered
these words on his death-bed. It was he who officially signed
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (granted by Henri IV. ^
April 13, 1598, and revoked by Louis XIV., October 22, 1685).
Bossuet says of him, ' No good man ever trusted in God's
grace with a firmer confidence, no sinner ever asked forgiveness
more humbly.' Surrounded by his children, and not afraid of
weakness in enjoying their tenderness, the old man cried out
amid his bodily pains, ' I do not crave deliverance from
* The Guardian.
364 PSALM-MOSAICS
-suffering, but I crave for the sight of God '; and another time
he exclaimed, ' I thank God to allow my body to fail before my
mind !' His last breath was drawn as he began to utter the
Psalm ' Misericordias Dojnini in ceter7iam cantabo''^
Verse 15 (Bible Version). Blessed is the people that know the
joyful soii?id. — Yle who blows the horn or trumpet is called
' Baal Tokea,' the master of blowing. The ' Baal Tokea,' before
commencing to blow the trumpet, offers up an extraordinary
prayer. After this prayer, and the repetition of some passages
of Scripture, four blasts of the trumpet are given, after which
the whole congregation shout, ' Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound,' etc. (Psalm Ixxxix. 15-18). The first is
'Tekeah,' a long-drawn-out sound; the next 'Shevorim,' a
broken sound ; then ' Teruah,' which is a loud blast, and lastly
' Tekeah ' again.
These four sounds are repeated many times over, with an
alternate prayer, and this service is closed by saying : ' And
then may it be acceptable before Thy presence, O Lord ! my
God, and the God of my ancestors, that the angels which go
forth from the Shophar, and from the Tekeah, and from the
Shevorah, and from the Teruah, that they bring them forth
before the throne of Thy glory, and that they may plead good
on our behalf as. an atonement for all our sins.'t
Verses 16, 17. Blessed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice
in Thee ; they shall walk in the light of Thy countenajice.
Their delight shall be daily in Thy name, and in Thy righteous-
ness shall they make their Z'^^^/.'— There is a two-fold Rab-
binical tradition respecting these verses, that they were the
original prayer recited by Moses as a blessing on the work of
making the Tabernacle and its ornaments, and that subse-
quently he employed them as the usual formula of benediction
* Life of Bos suet, p. 319.
t The Jewish Neio Year {Sunday at Home, 1876, p. 570).
PSALM LXXXIX. 365
for any newly undertaken task, whenever God's glorious 7?iajesfy
was to be consulted for an answer by Urim and Thummim.*
Verse 27. But Thou hast abhorred and forsaken Thine
anointed^ and art displeased at him. — The boldness of the ex-
postulation has scandalized the Jewish interpreters. Aben
Ezra tells the story of a wise and pious Jew in Spain, who
would never read nor listen to this Psalm, and he and others
would get rid of the offence by taking verses 37-44 as express-
ing the scoff of enemies, not the reproach of the Psalmist.' f
* Oliver's Syriac Vey-sion, p. 190.
t The Book of Psalms, by J- J- Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 153.
BOOK IV.
PSALMS XC— CVI.
' The Fourth Book of Psalms, which begins with the ninetieth and ends
with the hundred and sixth — seventeen in all — is remarkable in this
respect, that all but three Psalms are anonymous in the original.' — ' The
Companion to the Psalter,'' by Rev. J, Giirnhill.
' This book has a very comprehensive character ... it goes back to
Moses, and it goes forward to the Captivity, and to the return from it
(Ps. cii.). It reaches from Moses to Malachi.' — Bishop Wordsworth.
PSALM XC.
Headi7ig (Delitzsch). — Taking refuge in the loving-kindness
of the Eternal One under the wrathful judgment of death.
Title (Spurgeon). — Moses sings of the frailty of man and the
shortness of hfe, contrasting these with the eternity of God, and
founding thereon earnest appeals for compassion.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Moses.
Origin (Perowne). — All the ablest critics, even those who,
Hke Ewald and Hupfield, deny the Mosaic authorship of the
Psalm, nevertheless admit that in depth and loftiness of
thought, in solemnity of feeling, and in majesty of diction, it is
worthy of the great Lawgiver and Prophet. . . . There are points
of resemblance betw^een the language of the Psalm and expres-
sions occurring in parts of the Pentateuch, and more particu-
larly in Deuteronomy. To those who believe, as I do, that
Deuteronomy was written by Moses, they furnish an argument
for the Mosaic authorship of the Psalm.
The Whole Psalm. — St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, ' received
the viaticum and extreme unction on St. Matthew's Day, but
survived till the 17th of November. On that day he caused
many monks and priests, besides his chaplains, to recite the
Divine Office in his chamber. Seeing them weep, he said
many tender things to comfort them, and laying his hand upon
them one by one, recommended them to the Divine custody.
24
370 PSALM-MOSAICS
His voice beginning to fail, he ordered the floor to be swept,
and a cross of blessed ashes to be strewed upon it ; and whilst
the ni7ietieth Psalm^ at Compline, was read, would be lifted out
of bed and laid upon that cross, in which posture, as he was
repeating the canticle, Nunc Dimittls^ he calmly expired, in the
year of our Lord 1200, of his age sixty, of his episcopal charge
fifteen.'*
In Church. — The Church appoints this Psalm, called by
Herder ' that ancient Psalm, that hymn of eternity,' to be used
for the ministration of spiritual comfort to the Christian
mourner at the Burial of the Dead.t
The Whole Psahn. — ' John Hampden,' says the inscription on
the monument in Chalgrove Field, ' died while fighting in de-
fence of the free Monarchy and antient liberties of England,
June 1 8th, 1643.' He received his wound from the bursting of
his pistol on Chalgrove Field; but he died in the town of
Thame, where he received his early education, and where he
had been conveyed after the battle. On the Sunday following
his death, attended by such of the Rebel soldiery as could be
conveniently assembled, the corpse of Hampden was carried
from the Market-place at Thame to its resting place among the
Chiltern Hills. Through the adjacent village of Kingsly to-
wards Princes Risborough, and then along the old Icknield
Way up to Great Hampden, with arms reversed and to the
sound of muffled drum, they bore their burden.
He was buried in the chancel of Great Hampden Church.
Those who followed as mourners sang the ninetieth Psalm,
Do7mne refiigium., as they carried the corpse into Church, and
Judica vie Deus, the forty-third Psalm, on leaving the grave. |
It has been observed that the Ninetieth Psalm is the prayer
* Alban Butler's Lives of the Savifs.
J Wordsworth's Cotmnentary^ p. 145,
X History of the Church of the B. V. Mary of Thame, by Dr. Lee, p. 542.
PSALM XC. 371
which is read over the mortal dust of some hundreds of the
children of men every week in London alone.
When the pious and gallant young Englishman, Hudson,
was killed on the Matterhorn in 1865, it was suggested that a
short Funeral Service should be held. ' Poor Hudson's Prayer-
book,' says the officiating clergyman, ' was produced for the
purpose. I read out of it the ninetieth Psalm. Imagine us
standing with our guides, in the centre of a snowfield, with that
awful mountain above us, under a cloudless sky, in the very
sight, as it were, of the Almighty.
' Try and catch the sound of the words :
' *' Lord, Thou hast been our refuge in all generations,
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the
world were formed.
From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." '*
He?uj Martyn, as he lay half fainting on his couch, the
last Sunday at Cawnpore, asked his friends to sing to
him :
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come.
Verse 3. Thou iurnest man to destruction^ again Thou say est ^ Is^Yvfe
Come again, ye children of men. — Elishah ben Abuyah, a most X,^^^
learned man, became in after-life an apostate. When he waxed
old he was taken sick, and Rabbi Meir (who had been one of
his pupils, and who had never failed in the great love which he
bore for his teacher), learning of his illness, called upon him.
*■ Oh, return, return unto thy God,' entreated Rabbi Meir.
* What,' exclaimed Elishah, ' return ! And could He receive
my penitence, the penitence of an apostate who has so
rebelled against Him ?' ' Is it not written,' said Meir,
* " Thou turnest ?nan to cojitrition " ? No matter how the soul
of man may be crushed, he can still turn to his God and find
relief.'
* T]ie Witness of the Psalms to Clwist and Christianity.
372 PSALM-MOSAICS
Elishah listened to these words, wept bitterly, and died.
Not many years after his death his daughters came, poverty-
stricken, asking relief from the colleges. ' Remember,' said
they, ' the merit of our father's learning, not his conduct.' The
colleges listened to the appeal, and supported the daughters of
Elishah.*
Ferse 4. A thousand years ifi Thy sight are but as yesterday^
seeing that it is past as a ivatch i7i the night. — The late Dean
Alford, in ' The Queen's English,' makes the following useful
remark upon this verse. Psalm xc. 4, in the Prayer-Book ver-
sion, runs thus : ' A thousand years in Thy sight are but as
yesterday, seeing that is past as a watch in the 7iight.^ Here, of
course, that is the demonstrative pronoun, and refers to yester-
day, which has just been spoken of; and it ought, in reading,
to have a certain emphasis laid on it; But not unfrequently
we hear it read in the responses of the congregation as if it
were the conjunction, ' Seeing that is past as a watch in the
night.' I remember having some trouble in curing our choris-
ters at Canterbury of singing it thus.t
Sir John Chardiu observes in a note on this verse, that, as
the people of the East have no clocks, the several parts of the
day, and of the night, which are small, are given notice of. In
the Indies the parts of the night are made known as well by
instruments of music, in great cities, as by the rounds of the
watchmen, who with cries and small drums give them notice
that the fourth part of the night is past. Now, as these cries
awaken those who had slept all that quarter part of the night,
it appeared to them but a moment.;
The Childhood of the World. — You will ask how it is that we
know these remains of early man to be so very, very old.
* Tahmid, p. 275.
+ Housman on The Psalms^ p. 188.
X Harmer's Obsei-vations.
PSALM XC. 373
To make my reply as clear as possible, I will describe to you
one of the many places in which the old bones and weapons
have been found. There is a large cavern at Brixham, on the
south coast of Devonshire, which was discovered fourteen
years ago through the falling in of a part of the roof. The
floor is of stalagmite, or particles of lime, which have been
brought down from the roof by the dropping of water, and
become hardened into stone again. Stalagmite comes from a
Greek word which means a drop. In this floor, which is about
one foot in thickness, were found bones of the reindeer and
cave bear ; while below it was a red loamy mass, fifteen feet
thick in some parts, in which were buried flint flakes, or knives,
and bones of the mammoth. Beneath this was a bed of gravel,
more than twenty feet thick, in which flint flakes and some
small bones were found. Altogether, more than thirty flints
were found in the same cave with the bones of bears and
woolly elephants ; and as they are known to have been chipped
by the hand of man, it is not hard to prove that he lived in
this country when those creatures roamed over it.
But what proof have we, you ask, that the bones of these
creatures are so very old ?
Apart from the fact that for many centuries no living mam-
moth has been seen, we have the finding of its bones buried
at a goodly depth ; and as it is certain that no one would
trouble to dig a grave to put them in, there must be some
other cause for the mass of loam under which they are
found.
There are several ways by which the various bones may have
got into the cave. The creatures to which they belonged m^ay
have died on the hillside, and their bones have been washed
into the cave ; or they may have sought refuge, or, what in the
case I am now describing seems most likely, lived therein ; but
be this as it may, we have to account for thirty-five feet of loam
and gravel in which their remains are buried.
The agent that thus covered them from view for long, long
years is that active tool of nature which before the day when
374
PSALM-MOSAICS
no living thing was upon the earth, and ever since, has been
cutting through rocks, opening the deep valleys, shaping the
highest mountains, hollowing out the lowest caverns, and which
is carrying the soil from one place to another to form new
lands where now the deep sea rolls. It is 7vater which carried
that deposit into Brixham cavern and covered over the bones,
and which, since the day that mammoth and bear and rein-
deer lived in Devonshire, has scooped out the surrounding
valleys loo feet deeper. And although the time which water
takes to deepen a channel, or eat out a cavern, depends upon
the speed with which it flows, you may judge that the quickest
stream works slowly to those who watch it, when I tell you
that the river Thames, flowing at its present rate, takes 11,740
years to scoop out Us valley o?ie foot lower ! Men of science
have therefore some reason for believing that the flint weapons
were made by men who lived many thousands of years
ago.
' A thousand years i?i Thy sight are but as yesterday tvhen
it is past ; and as a watch in the night.''
Science, in thus teaching us the great age of the earth, also
teaches us the Eternity of the Ageless God.*
Verse 9. We bring our years to an end^ as it were a tale that
is told. — There can be little doubt that our forefathers, in and
before Shakespeare's time, and even Shakespeare himself,
derived, not altogether unprofitably, some portion of their
knowledge of Holy Scripture from the exhibitions of religious
plays, called miracles or mysteries ; and consequently that
much which would strike us nowadays as irreverent, or, at
best, of questionable propriety when spoken upon the stage,
did not appear to them in the same light. I imagine that,
when Justice Shallow observed to Silence, his brother
justice.
The Childhood of the World, chap. viii.
PSALM XC. 375
' Death, as the Psalmist* saith, is certain to all ; all shall die '
{King Henry IV., 2nd Part, Act III., Sc. ii.)
neither the author nor the actor would be conscious of any
irreverence in thus introducing the Psalmist's name ; but times
are changed, and Mr. Bowdler, by omitting the clause printed
in itaUcs, gives us to understand that now it ' cannot with pro-
priety be read ' even ' in a family I'f
Cf. verse 4.
Wordsworth :
' Our noisy years seem moments in the being
Of the eternal Silence.'
Verse 10 (Bible Version). The days of our years are three-
score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four-
score years ^ yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon
cut off and we fly aiaay. — At the Witan or council assembled
by Edwin of Northumbria at Godmundingham (modern
name, Godmanham) to debate on the mission of Paulinus,
the King was thus addressed by a heathen Thane, one of
his chief men :
* The present life of man, O King, may be likened to what
often happens when thou art sitting at supper with thy thanes
and nobles in winter-time. A fire blazes on the hearth, and
warms the chamber : outside rages a storm of wind and snow :
a sparrow flies in at one door of thy hall, and quickly passes
out of the other. For a moment, and while it is within, it is
unharmed by the wintry blast, but this brief season of happi-
ness over, it returns to that wintry blast whence it came, and
vanishes from sight. Such is the brief life of man ; we know
not what went before it, and we are utterly ignorant as to what
shall follow it. If, therefore, this new doctrine contains any-
thing more certain, it justly deserves to be followed.'!
*■ See Psalm xc. 10. In Psahn xxii. 15, 'dust of death' n:ay be com-
pared with ' dusty death ' in Macbeth, Act V., Sc. v.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 289.
1 Bede's Chronicle.
T^-jS PSALM-MOSAICS
Vej'se lo. The days of our age are threescore years and ten.
* How long have I to live?
Are threescore years and ten
All that this life can give ?
Poor passing tale — and then
To die.
' How long have I to die ?
A moment's pang — no more !
And then — to yonder sky
Mounting for evermore
To live,'*
Verse 12. So teach us to Jiuniber our days, that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom. — With all the strength of mind
which Queen EHzabeth possessed, she had the ^weakness
of her sex as far as related to her age and her personal
attractions. 'The majesty and gravity of a sceptre,' says
a contemporary of this great princess, 'could not alter that
nature of a woman in her. When Bishop Rudd was ap-
pointed to preach before her, he, wishing in a godly zeal, as
well became him, that she should think some time of mor-
tality, being then sixty-three years of age, he took his text fit
for that purpose out of the Psalms, xc. 12 : " 6> teacJi us to
number our days, that we may incline our hearts imto wisdom .•"
which text he handled most learnedly. But when he spoke of
some sacred mystical numbers, as three for the Trinity, three
times three for the heavenly hierarchy, seven for the Sabbath,
and seven times seven for a jubilee ; and, lastly, nine times
seven for the grand climacterical year (her age), she, perceiv-
ing whereto it tended, began to be troubled with it. The
bishop, discovering all was not well, for the pulpit stood oppo-
site her majesty, he fell to treat of some plausible numbers, as
of the number 666, making Latinus, with which he said he
could prove Pope to be Antichrist, etc. He still, however,
interlarded his sermon with Scripture passages touching the in-
firmities of age, as that in Ecclesiasticus, " When the grinders
shall be few in number, and they wax dark that look out of the
* The Gates of Praise, p. 533.
PSALM XC. 377
windows, etc., and the daughter of singing shall be abased ;"
and more to that purpose. The queen, as the manner was,
opened the window ; but she was so far from giving him
thanks or good countenance, that she said plainly : " He
might have kept his arithmetic for himself; but I see the
greatest clerks are not the wisest men " ; and so she went
away discontented.'"^
Verses i6 and 17. Shoiu Thy servants Thy ivork^ and their
children Thy glory. And the glorious majesty of the Lord our
God be upon us ; prosper Thou the work of our hands upon us^ O
J)rosper Thou our handy-work. — There is a twofold Rabbinical
tradition respecting this verse and the preceding one, that
they were the original prayer recited by Moses as a blessing
on the work of making the Tabernacle and its ornaments,
and that subsequently he employed them as the usual formula
of benediction for any newly undertaken task, whenever God's
glorious Majesty was to be consulted for an answer by Urim and
Thummim.f
Verse 16. The Rev. G. Maxwell Gordon's favourite text —
the Pilgrim Missionary of the Punjab.
Verse 1 7. Prosper Thou the work of our hands upon us, O
prosper Thou our handy-iiwrk. — These words, together with
' Innocency is never better lodged than at the sign of
labour,' were inscribed on the walls of the Concordance
Room at Gidding. These harmonies, or, as they are always
called in the family manuscripts, the concordances, are most
interesting. During Ferrar's lifetime, the arrangement of the
harmonies seems to have been entirely his own, but all the
members of the family, from Mrs. Ferrar down to the little
girls, assisted in the manufacture. The method of their
construction has been already described. The following
* Percy Anecdotes.
f Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 160.
378 PSALM-MOSAICS
extract from John Ferrar's account of one originally made for
their own use will show how much study must have been
bestowed on the arrangement :
'glory be to god on high.
' The actions, doctrines, and other passages touching our
blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as they are related by
the four Evangelists, reduced into one complete body of
history ; wherein that which is severally related by them is
digested into order, and that which is jointly related by all, or
any of them, is first expressed in their own words by way of
comparison ; secondly, brought into one narration by way of
composition ; thirdly, extracted into clear context by way of
collection ; yet so as whatsoever was omitted in the context is
inserted by way of supplement in another print, and in such a
manner as all the four Evangelists may easily be read severally
and distinctly, each apart and alone, from first to last. Done
at Little Gidding, anno 1630.'
One of these concordances was presented to the King, and
it was received by Charles with expressions of pleasure, which
meant more than mere royal courtesy.
' It shall be myvade ?/iecum,' be said to Cosins, and added to
Laud, who stood by, ' How happy a king were I if I had many
more such workmen and women in my kingdom ! God's
blessing on their hearts and painful hands !'
This concordance remained in the royal library at Windsor
till it was presented by George IIL to the British Museum,
where it now remains."^
188.
PSALM XCI. 379
PSALM XCI.
Heading (Delitzsch).— Talismanic song in time of war and
pestilence.
Cojitents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David; concerning Heze-
kiah the king, who was to be surnamed the Son of David, and
spiritually the victory of the Messiah is spoken of, and of
everyone that is perfected in Him.
Origin (Perowne).— This Psalm, which in the Hebrew has
no inscription, is by the LXX., apparently without sufficient
reason, ascribed to David. ... Mr. Plumptre speaks of it as
'an echo, verse by verse almost, of the words in which Eliphaz
the Temanite (Job v. 17-23) describes the good man's life.'
There is no reason to suppose that the Psalm was written
during the prevalence of a pestilence, for the variety of figures
employed shows that the Psalmist is thinking of peril of every
kind, coming from whatever source.
In Church.— In the early Church this Psalm was an especial
favourite at Compline, being sung then as a commendatory
hymn at the approach of the dangers and temptations of the
night. ' And when we sing it devoutly at that time,' says St.
Athanasius, ' we shall often taste its power and sweetness, where-
with it so wondrously abounds.'"^
This Psalm is used in the Greek Burial Service, and is the
sixth in the Greek Late Evensong. It is also appointed
(among others) in the Roman Visitation of the Sick.f
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm has been called the Invo-
cavit Psalm of the Church, and in the Talmud 'a song of
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 163.
f hiterleaved Prayer-Book, p. 283.
38o PSALM-MOSAICS
accidents,' i.e.^ a protection or talismanic song in times of
danger."^
The Talmud writers ascribe not only the 91st, but the nine
ensuing, to the pen of Moses ; but from a rule which will in
no respect hold, that all the Psalms which are without the
name of an author in their respective titles are the production
of the poet whose name is given in the nearest preceding
title. t
Stier mentions that some years ago an eminent physician in
St. Petersburg recommended this Psalm as the best preserva-
tion against the cholera.
The whole Lyric might well be entitled, 'The Commander's
Ode, the Soldier's Psalm of Life.' It helped to fortify the
courage as well as piety of that brave and admirable man,
Captain Hedley Vicars. ' The little book of Psalms you gave
me,' he wrote to a friend, ' I take with me whenever I go out
to walk. I have just learned by heart Psalm xci., and it has
filled me with confidence in Jesus.' J
Verse i . Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High,
shall abide tmder the shadow of the Almighty. — Some of his
friends who knew the designs made upon Francis's life, tried
to induce him to give up certain duties he had undertaken, but
in vain. ' Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Alost High^
shall abide under the shadow of the Ahnighty,'' was his quiet
answer. ' His faithfulness and truth shall be my shield and
buckler ; I trust wholly in Him !' and he pursued his steadfast
course.
Here is a specimen of the persecutions Francis endured at
this Mission : ' In some places the villagers refused even to
sell food to the missionary ; he was accused of being a sorcerer,
and the report was spread abroad that Francis had been seen
* The Speaker s Conivientary, p 376.
t Historical Outline of the Book of Psalms, by J. M. Good.
X The Biblical Museum, vol. vi., p. 234.
PSALM XCI. 381
at a witch's sabbath, and that he bore the devil's mark upon his
body ! One day he was thus surrounded by an excited crowd,
who threatened to pass on from accusations to blows. Francis
faced round upon them with his own placid smile, and making
the sign of the cross, he said aloud, " This, good friends, is the
only mark which I bear in my body, the only charm I use ;
but it is all-powerful, I fear no storm that man can raise whilst
I am defended by it, and in its strength I am not afraid to
meet contending hosts." '*
Verses 9 and 10 (Bible Version). Because thou hast made the
Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation ;
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling. — Moudjleyeh is not more than half an hour distant to
the south-east of El Bara, containing a great number of private
houses surrounding the church, of which large ruins still
remain. But here, again, the most striking and impressive of
the Christian remains is a fine sarcophagus in excellent preser-
vation, ^with an inscription boldly carved on its side from
Psalm xci. 9, 10, a most convincing evidence that for the
Christians of those days death had lost its sting, the grave its
victory. For thus it speaks of the departed, and to the sur-
vivors :
' Thou hast made the Most High thy refuge— no evil shall
approach thee— no plague come ?iigh thy dwelling .'^
Verse 11. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to
keep thee in all thy ways. — This verse is quoted in the tempta-
tion of our Lord by Satan (St. Matt. iv. 6). If the words
were, as we have supposed, spoken originally with regard to
Solomon, they have a prophetic reference to our Lord,
of whom Solomon in his kingdom of peace is a signal
type.i
* Life of S. Francis de Sales, p. 66.
f Dr. Neale's Holy Eastern Church : Patriarchate of Antioch, xxxvi.
X Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 293.
382 PSALM-MOSAICS
St. Frances of Rome. — It is unnecessary to do more than
refer to the beautiful legend of St. Frances of Rome, who
is alleged to have been favoured with actual vision of her
guardian angel, seeing him withdraw when she fell into
voluntary sin, and return on her repentance; and on one
occasion, when she had been called away several times from
her prayers, and had resumed them only to meet with fresh
interruptions, to have found the petition she had again and
again commenced, written in her office-book with letters of gold
by no human hand."^
Edmu7id Spenser :
* And is there care in heaven, and is there love
In heavenly spirits to these creatures base,
That may compassion of their evils move ?
There is, else much more wretched were the race
Of men than beasts. But oh, the exceeding grace
Of highest God, that loves His creatures so,
And all His works with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed angels he sends to and fro,
To serve us wicked men, to serve his wicked foe !
* How oft do they their silver bowers leave,
To come to succour us that succour want !
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant,
Against foul fiends to aid us militant !
They for us fight, they watch and duly ward,
And their bright squadrons round about us plant ;
And all for love, and nothing for reward.
Oh, why should heavenly God to man have such regard ?'
John Henry Newman :
' My oldest friend, mine from the hour
When first I drew my breath ;
My faithful friend, that shall be mine,
Unfailing, till my death.
* Thou hast been ever at my side ;
My Maker to thy trust
Consigned my soul, what time He framed
The infant child of dust.
Dr. Neale's Comniejitayy, vol. iii., p. 179.
PSALM XCI. 383
* No beating heart in holy prayer,
No faith, inform'd aright.
Gave me to Joseph's tutelage,
Or Michael's conquering might.
' Nor patron saint, nor Mary's love,
The dearest and the best,
Has known my being as thou hast knovi'n.
And blest as thou hast blest.
* Thou wast my sponsor at the font,
And thou, each budding year,
Didst whisper elements of truth
Into my childish ear.
'And when, ere boyhood yet was gone.
My rebel spirit fell,
Ah, thou didst see, and shudder too.
Yet bear each deed of Hell.
' And then in turn, when judgments came.
And scared me back again.
Thy quick soft breath was near to soothe
And hallow every pain.
* Oh, who of all thy toils and cares
Can tell the tale complete,
To place me under Mary's smile,
And Peter's royal feet ?
' And thou wilt hang about my bed
When life is ebbing low.
Of doubt, impatience, and of gloom,
The jealous, sleepless foe.
' Mine, when I stand before the Judge ;
And mine, if spared to stay
Within the golden furnace, till
My sin is burn'd away.
'And mine, O Brother of my soul,
When my release shall come ;
Thy gentle arms shall lift me then.
Thy wings shall waft me home.'*
Verse 12. They shall bear thee in their hands, that thou
hurt 7iot thy foot against a stone. — That evening I more
thoroughly understood M. Ozanain than ever before. It was
with tears of affection, of fatherly kindness, and of holy
earnestness and enthusiasm, that he answered me. Our wish
to devote ourselves to God's service by means of science and
* Verses o?i Various Occasions, by Cardinal Newman, p. 276.
384 PSALM-MOSAICS
literature ; our plan of joining the Abbe Gratray, then Chap-
lain of the Ecole Normale ; and our dream of a studious con-
gregation which we did not as yet call the Oratoire — all these
dreams and hopes, which might never come to anything,
assumed a living reality at once to a soul so ready to believe in
all that is good as his was. He looked at it all, not as we then
were, or as we are actually, or even as we can hope to be for a
long time ; and if anything can be a consolation for not having
had him to assist in these humble beginnings of our works,
which have been so blessed by God, it is the knowledge that,
at all events, our first start was appreciated by him. All through
that evening he cheered me with his kindly words and good
wishes ; and then, with a close embrace, we parted.
I went homewards, intoxicated with joy, hope, and strength.
I wanted to feed upon my happiness in solitude, far from all
men. It was late ; but, unheeding that, I took a mountain
path, and went on hke a madman, looking at the heavens, re-
gardless of earth. Suddenly an instinct made me draw hastily
back. I was on the very edge of a precipice ; one step more,
and I must have fallen. I took fright, and gave up my noc-
turnal wanderings. Dearly beloved child, you need not fear ;
you were upheld by angels. I believe in the loving promise,
' T/iey shall bear thee in their hands, that thou hurt not thy
foot against a stone: The angels bore you up all your life,
until they bore you to God's Bosom.*
Verse 13. Thou shall go upon the lion and adder ; the
young lion and the dragon shall thou tread under thy feet. — In
the earlier portion of his life, the late Emperor xAlexander of
Russia was a man of the world. According to his own con-
fession, however, he found no real satisfaction in all the
luxuries which it was easy for him to obtain. Conscience
spoke more loudly than the world, and he strove with great
assiduity to subdue his own passions, daily reading his Bible,
which he always took about with him. In 181 3 he left St.
* Henri Perreyve, p. 88.
PSALM XCI. 385.
Petersburg to join the army. A lady of Court, to whom his
sentiments were known, gave him, at his departure from Riga,
a copy of Psahn xci,, and begged of him to read it often. The
Emperor took the paper, hastily put it into his pocket, pursued
his journey, and, as he travelled three successive days without
undressing, quite forgot the incident. On the frontier, how-
ever, he attended a sermon on Psalm xci. 13: ' Thou shalt go
upon the lw?i afid adder ; the yoimg liofi arid drago?i shalt thou
tread under thy feet. ^ This sermon, which seemed to have in
it something prophetic, excited his attention, and, in looking
over his papers that same evening, he found the lady's copy of
Psalm xci.
He read it with emotion, and considered the impressive co-
incidence as urging him to aspire more zealously after true
religion."^
George Tinivorth^ now in Sir Henry Doulton's terra-cotta
works at Lambeth, is a sculptor chiefly noted for his Scriptural
subjects. He has a keen sense of humour. In a panel of
* Daniel in the Lions' Den ' a young lion stands on his hind-
legs to read something on the wall. It is Psalm xci., which
says: ' Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young
lion arid the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet. ^ The young
lion's concern is explicable immediately, and even Daniel's
peril for the moment cannot prevent a smile from the spec-
tator.
Alexander III., as he placed his foot on the neck of Fried-
rich Barbarossa, in the porch of St. Mark's at Venice, repeated,
* Super aspidem et leo7iem ambulabis.^
Verse 16. With lo?ig life ivill I satisfy him.
' He liveth long who liveth well !
All other lile is short and vain ;
He liveth longest who can tell
Of living most for heavenly gain.
* Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1 863, p. 289.
25
386 PSALM-MOSAICS
' He liveth long who liveth well !
All else is being flung away ;
He liveth longest who can tell
Of true things truly done each day
PSALM XCII.
Headi?ig (Delitzsch).— Sabbath Thoughts.
Title (Spurgeon). — The subject is the praise of God ; praise
is Sabbatic work.
Cofitents (Syriac). — Anonymous; concerning the ministry of
the Priests, and their Morning Oblation ; a prophecy also con-
cerning rest in the Lord.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is called a Psalm for the
Sabbath-day, and, as we learn from the Talmud, was appointed
to be used in the Temple service on that day. It was sung in
the morning when, on the offering of the first lamb^ the wine
was poured out as a drink offering unto the Lord (Numb,
xxviii. 9).
Ifi Church. — In the Hebrew Ritual, after the Captivity, this
and the two consecutive Psalms were appointed to be sung :
the present Psalm on the Sabbath, Psalm xciii. on Good
Friday, Psalm xciv. on Wednesday.
It was also sung on the second day of the Feast of Taber-
nacles.f
The Whole Psalm. — There is a singular Rabbinical legend
that this Psalm was the song of praise uttered by Adam as the
first Sabbath dawned upon the world, and that it descended
by tradition as the special hymn for that day. More con-
sonant with actual history is the fact that it was sung in the
Temple on the Sabbath, at the offering of the first lamb in the
morning, when the wine was poured out, and continues still in
* Dr. Bonar.
f Bishop Wordsworth's Coin/nentary, p. 148.
PSALM XCII. 387
use as a Sabbatical Psalm in the rites of the synagogue ; and
that the Roman Church, amongst other tokens of the powerful
Judaizing influence which affected its earliest days, retains it
as part of the Saturday Lauds in the Breviary. Further, there
is a distinct reference in this second verse to the morning and
evening sacrifice; while more than one Rabbi is careful to
point out that the happy Sabbath of which the Psalmist sings
is not one of the present time, but belongs to the future reve-
lation of Messiah in His glory."^
Ve7'se 4. For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through lliy
works. — This Psalm is called by Dante {Purg. xxviii. 80) //
Salmo Delectasti, because, in the Vulgate, the fourth verse begins
with the word, ' Thou hast made me glad.' A beautiful female
form, representing the higher life, is introduced as saying, ' She
is so happy, because she can sing, like the Psalm Z)electasti\
*' Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy works." 't
Verse 5. O Lord, how glorious are Thy -works I
' These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty, Thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair ; Thyself how wondrous then !
Unspeakable, Who sittest above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen
In these Thy lowest works, yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine. +
Verse 11. TJie righteous shall flourish as a palm-tree. — Be-
sides this, there are only two passages in the Old Testament
where the palm is used in comparison — Cant. vii. 7, where it
is said of the bride, ' Thy stature is like to a palm-tree ' ; Jer.
X. 5, where the idols are said to be ' upright as a palm-tree ' ;
and one in the Apocrypha, Ecclus. xxiv. 14, 'I was exalted
like a palm-tree in Engaddi.' This, as Dr. Howson (Smith's
Dictio?iary of the Bible, art. ' Palm-Tree ') has noticed, is remark-
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 186,
t The Fsalms in History and Biography, p. 121.
X Paradise Lost, v. 153.
388 PSALM-MOSAICS
able, considering the beauty of the tree, and its frequent recur-
rence in the scenery of Palestine."^
In Ti)no7i of Athens, the painter says to the poet, speaking
of Timon :
* You shall see him a palm in Athens again, and flourish with the
highest.'— Act V., Sc. i.
The notion of ' flourishing hke a palm-tree ' is one with
which we are familiar from Psalm xcii.. i2.f
PSALM XCIII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — The Royal throne above the sea of
the peoples.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Psalm of Omnipotent Sovereignty.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — concerning the
ministry of the Lord.
I?i CJmrch. — This is still a Friday Psalm in the Jewish use,,
whence it seems that the titles here and elsewhere found in the
LXX., but not in the Hebrew, were added for ritual purposes
by the Alexandrian Jews, whose use differed in some respects,
from that of Jerusalem. %
In the Graeco-Russian Church, after the washing of the
Altar Throne in the Consecration of a Church, the priests take
the Stratchitza (the linen covering for the Throne), sprinkle it
with holy water, and put it on the Throne, tying it extremely
smooth and tight by a thick cotton cord, bound three times,
round the table in a dent made for the purpose in the thick
board ; this is covered with the Inditia (covering for the Throne)^
while the choir sings the 93rd Psalm. §
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 180..
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 330.
^ — — . , ^. ^^~
^ Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 195.
§ Gneco- Russian Church, p. 91.
PSALM XCIIL 389
The Whole Z'^^/;;/.— November 3, 1640, Lord Strafford was
impeached before the Long Parhament and sent to the Tower,
and the Archbishop was next attacked. . . . The debate which
followed ended — as in the temper of the House it was certain
to do— in a vote that the Archbishop was a traitor. Allowed
the afternoon at Lambeth to collect papers for his defence, he
attended the Evening Prayers for the last time in the chapel
that he had repaired and adorned with loving care. The service,
which he had restored to its full beauty, soothed that bitter hour.
'The Psalms of the Day (Dec. 18th) and chapter 1. of Isaiah gave
me great comfort. God make me worthy to receive it,' he
wrote in his diary. He remained in the custody of Maxwell
(the Usher of the Black Rod) ten weeks.*
Verses 14-18. Thou didst divide the sea through Thy power.
. . . Thou hroughtest out fountaifis and waters. . . . The day is
thine, and the night is thine. . . . Thou hast set all the borders
of the earth, Thou hast made sunimer and winter. — Milton has a
very sweet passage, the structure of which was probably suggested
by Virgil, not, however, without an eye to this portion of our
Psalm, to which it bears a resemblance in sentiment as in
'5
form :
Thus at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,
Both turned, and under open sky adored
The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
And starry pole : Thou also madest the night,
Maker Omnipotent, and Thou the day.'
Paradise Lost, iv. f
PSALM XCIV.
Heading (Delitzsch).— The consolation of prayer under the
oppression of tyrants.
Title (Spurgeon).— This Psalm is another pathetic form of
the old enigma — ' Wherefore do the wicked prosper ?'
* Sir Christopher Wren and his Times : Monthly Packet, vol. xxv.,
chap, ii., p. 152-
t Mant on The Psalms, p. 244.
390
PSALM-MOSAICS
Con fen fs (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — concerning the con-
gregation of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ; and spiritually
concerning the persecutions of the Church.
Origin (Perowne). — By the LXX. this is called 'A lyric
Psalm of David, for the fourth day of the week ' {rsTpddt
aa[3[3dTov). It is probably not a Psalm of David, but the latter
part of the Inscription accords with the Talmudic tradition that
it was the Psalm appointed to be used in the Temple on the
fourth day of the week.
In Church. — Appointed in the Hebrew Ritual to be sung on
the fourth and fifth days of the Feast of Tabernacles.*
Psalm xciv. was a constant Psalm for the fourth day of the
week in the Temple Service throughout the year.
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm was read by the besieged
English in the little house at Arrah, Bengal, during the Mutiny,
when the natives tried to smoke them out by burning mounds
of chillies. The wind veered round, and so the little party
were saved.
Verse 7. The Lord shall not see., fieither shall the God of
Jacob regard it. — The scholars of Rabbi Johanan, the son of
Zakai, asked of their teacher this question :
' Wherefore is it that, according to the law, the punishment
of a highwayman is not so severe as the punishment of a sneak
thief? According to the Mosaic law, if a man steals an ox or
a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he is required to restore five
oxen for the one ox, and four sheep for the one sheep (Exodus
xxi. 37), but for the highwayman we find, "When he hath
sinned, and is conscious of his guilt, he shall restore that he
hath taken violently away ; he shall restore it and its principal,
and the fifth part thereof he shall add thereto." Therefore, he
who commits a highway robbery pays as punishment one-fifth
of the same, while a sneak thief is obliged to return five oxen
for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep. Wherefore is this?'
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commoitary, p. 150.
PSALM XCIV. 391
'Because,' replied the teacher, 'the highway robber treats
the servant as the master. He takes away violently in the
presence of the servant, the despoiled man, and the master,
God. But the sneak thief imagines that God's eye is not upon
him. He acts secretly, thinking as the Psalmist says, "77/^
Lord doth not see, iieither will the God of Jacob regard it''
Listen to a parable : Two men made a feast. One invited all
the inhabitants of the city, and omitted inviting the king. The
other invited neither the king nor his subjects. Which one
deserves condemnation ? Certainly the one that invited the
subjects and not the king. The people of the earth are God's
subjects. The sneak thief fears their eyes, yet he does not
honour the eye of the King, the eye of God, which watches all
his actions.'
Rabbi Meir says : ' This last teaches us how God regards
industry. If a person steals an ox he must return five in its
place, because, while the animal was in his unlawful possession,
it could not work for its rightful owner. A lamb, however,
does no labour, and is not profitable that way, therefore he is
only obliged to replace it fourfold.'^
Verse 12. Blessed is the man ivho?n Thou chastenest^ O Lord:
and teachest hi?n in Thy law. — As the Bible teaches that 'it is'
— or may and ought to be — 'good to be afflicted' (Ps. cxix. 71),
and that troubles are mercifully sent to try us for our greater
benefit, or to wean us from evil (see Job v. 17 ; Ps. xciv. 12;
Heb. xii. 5-1 1), so we learn upon the testimony of the banished
Duke in As You Like Lt, Act II., Sc. i. :
' Sweet are the uses of adversity ;
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.'
And Leontes confesses, in Winters Tale :
' Affliction has a taste as sweet
As any cordial comfort.'
Act v., Sc. iii.
* Talmud, p. 281.
392 PSALM-MOSAICS
And the wise Nestor is made to say,
* In the reproof of chance
Lies the true proof of men.'
Troilus and Crcssida, Act I. , Sc. iii.
And Antony would give us this advice :
' Bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us ; and we punish it,
Seeming to bear it lightly.'
Antony ajid Cleopatra, Act IV., Sc. xii."^
PSALM XCV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Call to the worship of God and to
obedience to His Word.
Title (Spurgeon). — We will call it the Psalm of Provocation.
Cojttents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — literally, when the
people passed over Jordan ; in which also the Psalmist showeth
the cutting off of the hope of the Jews; I was wearied with
this generation : so that I sw are in my wrath.
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm is one of a series intended
for the Temple worship, and possibly composed for some festal
occasion. ... As to the date of its composition nothing certain
can be said. The LXX. calls it a Psalm of David ; and the writer
of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in making a quotation from the
Psalm, uses the expression ' in David,' but this is evidently only
equivalent to saying 'in the Psalms.' In the Hebrew it has no
Inscription.
I?i Church. — In the Orthodox Eastern Church in the Sacra-
ment of Penance (Psalm xcv. 6 to it, and Psalm li.).t
The Greeks have founded the Invitatory with which they
begin their Offices on this Psalm :
* Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 256.
t Dr. Neale's Commentar}', vol. iv., p. 268.
PSALM XCV. 393
'Come, let us worship and fall clown before God our King.
' Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ the Kintr our
God.
'Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ our Kine
author and date of the Psalm, though various conjectures have
been hazarded. The Hebrew title gives it to David, the
Syriac still more definitely assigns it to his old age.
/;/ Church. — This Psalm is appointed in the Latin Use for
* Kitto's Pictorial Bible.
t The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 221.
PSALM cm. 413
the festival of Ascension. It was also appointed, with
Psalm civ., to be said on the Perambulation of Parishes.*
T/ie W/wle Psalm. — A favourite I'salm of good Bishop
Mcllvaine's. On his death-bed he begged those by his side to
look out ' some tender hymn of love to Jesus.' Amongst
others, ' Abide with me ' and ' How sweet the name of Jesus
sounds !' were special favourites, as also these passages of Scrip-
ture : Proverbs xiv., Colossians i,, Revelation vii. 9-17, Romans
viii., and Psalm ciii.
In England, as well as in x\merica, tears fall upon his bier, and
blessings are invoked upon his memory. The mother Church
and the daughter mourn together. Christians of various names
and opinions join in expressions of affectionate veneration for
him who was an ornament and bulwark of their common faith
— and the nation feels that she has lost one of her noblest
sons.f
How often have saints in Scotland sung this Psalm in days
when they celebrated the Lord's Supper ! It is thereby specially
known in our land. It is connected, also, with a remarkable
case in the days of John Knox. Elizabeth Adamson, a woman
who attended on his preaching ' because he more fully opened
the fountain of God's mercies than others did,' was led to
Christ and to rest by hearing this Psalm, after enduring such
agony of soul that she said, concerning racking pain of body,
' A thousand years of this torment, and ten times more joined,
are not to be compared to a quarter of an hour of my soul's
trouble.' She asked for this Psalm again before departing.
'It was in receiving it that my soul first tasted God's mercy,
which is now sweeter to me than if all the kingdoms of the
earth were given me to possess.'!
It was Dr. Sanderson's constant practice every morning to
entertain his first waking thoughts with a repetition of those
* Interleaved .Prayer- Book ^ p. 289.
t Memorials of Bishop Mcllvaine, p. 363.
X Andrew A. Bonar.
414 PSALM-MOSAICS
very Psalms that the Church had appointed to be constantly
read in the daily Morning Service, and having at night laid
him in his bed, he as constantly closed his eyes with a repeti-
tion of those appointed for the service of the evening, remem-
bering and repeating the very Psalm appointed for every day ;
and as the month had formerly ended and began again, so did
this exercise of his devotion. And if the firstfruits of his
waking thoughts were of the world, he would arraign himself
for it. Thus he began that work on earth which is now the
employment of Mr. Hammond and him in heaven. After his
taking his bed, about a day before his death, he desired his.
chaplain to give him absolution, and at his performing that
office he pulled off his cap that Mr. Pullin might lay his hand
upon his head. After this desire of his was satisfied, his body
seemed to be at more ease, and his mind more cheerful ; he
said often, ' Lord, forsake me not now my strength faileth me,
but continue Thy mercy, and let my mouth be ever filled with
Thy praise.'
He continued the remaining night and day very patient, and
during that time did often say to himself the \oyd Psalm^ as
that is composed of praise and consolations fitted for a dying
soul, and say also to himself very often these words : ' My heart
is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed, where true joy is to be
found.'*
The majestic hymn hy Jo /m Gi'aumafin^
' Now praise the Lord my soul '
(' Num lob meine Seele den Herru '),
is after this Psalm. t
Verse i. Praise the Lo?'d, O my soul, a7id all that is unthi?t
Die, praise His holy Name. — These words are used now and
again by Bishop Wilberforce, in his Diary, when thankful, as
the Miserere is used when low and depressed. Here is an
entry :
* Life of Bishop Sanderson, by Izaak Walton, pp. 48, 49.
t Tholuck on The Psalms, p. 4.
PSALM cm. 415
'Dec. 315/, 1871. — My cold so threatening that I lay in bed
till near twelve. Better then. Read the service, as they were
saying it in Church close by. And so the year runs out again.
How many its mercies — in some respects signal ! My Reg
flourishing ; his dear wife and three children. My beloved
Ernest given me back again from America, certainly in better
health, though still pale, worn, and heart-broken. God bless
him. My own Basil well placed at Southampton, and doing, I
trust, a real work for God there, his wife helping him ; his
child stronger. B/ess the Lord^ O Jny soul. My dear E '
(his daughter, who became a Roman Catholic in 1868), ' though,
alas ! so parted from us, affectionate. My work something in
my Diocese, and though my end seems often very near, yet my
strength greatly held up for work. Oh that my last days may
be my best days !'
Cowper says :
' A soul redeemed demands a life of praise.'
Verse 2. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His
benefits. — A cross, erected by the members of Bishop Words-
worth's family, has been placed over his grave and that of his
wife. It is of gray Irish limestone, and represents in medallions
some of the more important types and antitypes of the Old and
New Testament. Engraved on the steps of the cross, which
is Runic in character, are the following inscriptions : (East)
' To the glory of God, and in loving memory of Christopher
Wordsworth and Susanna Hatley, his wife.' (West) ' I look
for the Resurrection of the dead and the Life of the world to
come.' (North) ' Rejoice in the Lord alway. and again I say
rejoice.' (South) 'Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not
all LLis benefits.'"^
Verse 5 (E.V.). Who satisfieth thy mouth ivith good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eaglets. — The rendering of the
English version, 'so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's,'
* Bishop Wordsworth^ s Life, p. 487.
^i6 PSALM-MOSAICS
is grammatically justifiable, but very unnecessarily makes the
Psalmist responsible for the fable of the eagle's renewing its
youth. Neither this passage nor Isaiah xl. 31 countenances
any such fable. There is an allusion, no doubt, to the yearly
moulting of the feathers of the eagle and other birds, the eagle
being selected as the liveHest image of strength and vigour.
The Prayer-Book Version gives the sense rightly ' making thee
young and lusty as an eagle.'
The fable of the eagle's renewing its youth has received
different embellishments. The version of Saadia, given by
Kimchi, is as follows : The eagle mounts aloft into heaven till
he comes near to the seat of central fire in the sun, when,
scorched by the heat, he casts himself down into the sea.
Thence he emerges again with new vigour and fresh plumage,
till at last, in his hundredth year, he perishes in the waves.
Augustine's story is more elaborate and far less poetical.
According to him, when the eagle grows old, the upper curved
portion of the beak becomes so enlarged that the bird is
unable to open its mouth to seize its prey. It would die of
hunger, therefore, did it not dash this part of its beak against
a rock, till the troublesome excrescence is got rid of. Then it
can devour its food as before, vigour is restored to its body,
splendour to its plumage, it can soar aloft — a kind of resurrec-
tion has taken place. Thus it renews its youth. And then,
wonderful to say, having told this story gravely, he makes
Christ the rock, adding, ' In Christ thy youth shall be
renewed as the eagle's.'"^
PSALM CIV.
Headi?ig {I)q\\\.z?>c\\). — Hymn in honour of the God of seven
days.
Title (Spurgeon). — A poet's version of Genesis.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David, when he went with
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Peiowne, vol. ii., p. 231 (note).
PSALM CIV. 417
the priests to worship before the ark of the Lord, and in which
it teacheth us Confession and Prayer, and alludeth to the first
constitution of created things, and unfoldeth truth concerning
the angels.
In Church. — Appointed by the Church, Latin and Sarum
Use, for Whitsun-Day, and by this appointment she reminds
her people that the lights of Creation, Redemption, and Sanc-
tification are all from one and the same source ; and that the
whole world is to be consecrated by the preaching of the
Gospel into a holy sanctuary of God, in which all nations are to
worship Him as their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.*
In the Orthodox Church of the East appointed at Holy
Baptism and Confirmation. After the trine immersion and
the singing of Psalm xxxii., thence follows the Troparion,
' Grant me the garment of light, Thou Who art clothed with
light as with a garment (Psalm civ. 2), O most merciful Christ
our GoD.'t
This Psalm was called by the Greeks the Prefatory Psalm,
•Ti(>Moi[j.ax6g -vl/aX/xo?, and was used at the commencement of
the Evening Office. i
The Whole Psabn. — This Psalm is an inspired ' Oratorio of
Creation. '§
The great Alexander von Humboldt expresses his admiration
of this Psalm thus : ' It might almost be said that one single
Psalm represents the image of the whole Cosmos. . . . We
are astonished to find in a lyrical poem of such limited com-
pass the whole universe — the heavens and the earth — sketched
with a few bold touches. The contrast of the labour of man
with the animal life of Nature, and the image of omnipresent
invisible Power, renewing the earth at will, or sweeping it of
inhabitants, is a grand and solemn creation.'!!
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 161.
t Dr. Neale's Comynentary, vol. iv., p. 267.
X Interleaved Prayer -Book, p. 29 1 .
§ Bishop Wordsworth.
II The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 234.
27
41 8 PSALM-MOSAICS
Ferse 4. Ne maketJi His angels spirits, a7id His mijiistei's a
flaming fire.
' And is there care in heaven ? And is there love
In heavenly spirits to these creatures base,
That may compassion of their evils move ?
There is : — else much more wretched were the case
Of men than beasts. But, O ! th' exceeding grace
Of Highest God that loves His creatures so,
And all His workes with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed Angels He sends to and fro,
To serve to wicked man, to serve His wicked foe !
' How oft do they their silver bowers leave,
To come to succour us that succour want I
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
The flitting skyes, like flying pursuivant,
Against fowle feendes to ayd us militant I
They for us fight, they watch and dewly ward.
And their bright squadrons round about us plant ;
And all for love, and nothing for reward :
O why should heavenly God to men have such regard ?'*
Verse 5. He laid the foundations of the earthy that it never
should move at any time. — This was one of the passages which,
according to Father Sanchez, was most strongly relied upon in
the controversy with Galileo, f
Verse 8. They go up as high as the hills, a?id dow?i to the
valleys beneath.
Milton :
' Immediately the mountains huge appear
P^mergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky ;
So high as heaved the timid hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters. 'i
Verse 26. There go the ships. — Professor Edward Park tells
a story, new to us, how on a Sunday morning, during the last
American war with Great Britain, a minister eminent for his
genius and learning was just getting ready for his pulpit
service, when he was informed that three ships of the British
navy were drawing nigh the port where he resided, imperilling
* Spenser's Faety Qiieene, II., viii. i, 2.
t The Book of Psnlms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 237.
X Paradise Lost, book vii.
PSALM CV. 419.
one of the American men-of-war ; he instantly suspended the
morning service, hastened to the nearest fortification, and
offered his services to the commander. He was ordered to
stand by one of the guns. He remained at his post until the
three ships of the British line sailed away, and then he returned
to his Church in time for the evening service, and took his text
from Psalm civ. 26, ' There go the ships.^ It was a pardonable
kind of triumph, and no doubt an American brother may feel
pleasure in reciting it, though it turned a lofty stanza of poetry
into a ludicrous sentence.*
The7'e is that Leviathan. — Milton has used it for the
whale :
' There leviathian,
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,
And seems a moving land ; and at his gills
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.'i
Verse 34 (Bible Version). My meditation of Him shall be
sweet. — The last words ever written by Henry Martyn, dying
among Mohammedans in Persia, were : ' I sat in the orchard
and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God, in soli-
tude my company, my Friend and Comforter.'!
PSALM CV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Thanksgiving hymn in honour of
God, who is attested in the earliest history of Israel.
Contents {%^^i\2iQ). — Anonymous; in which allusion is made
to the narrative, Fear not, Jacob, to go down into Egypt ; and
spiritually teaching us that we should not fear when anyone
of us goeth forth to contend with evil spirits ; for God is our
helper, and fighteth for us.
* Tiie Pulpit, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. E. Paxton Hood, chap, vii .
t Mant on The Psalms, p. 351.
:;: The Treasury of David, vol. v., p. 35.
420 PSALM-MOSAICS
Origin (Perowne). — This is evidently one of the later
Psalms, and, like the two which follow (both of which contain
allusions to the exile), may have been written after the Return
from the Captivity.
Li Church. — This Psalm was appointed in the Jewish Ritual
for use on the first day of the great Festival of Tabernacles.*
This Psalm is counted by the LXX. and Vulgate (which
transfer the closing Alleluia of the previous one to the title of
this) as the first of the Alleluiatic Psalms. There is a tradi-
tion, preserved by the Pseudo-Epiphanius, that the custom of
chanting the Alleluia at the beginning or end of the Psalm
was introduced into the ritual of the Second Temple by the
Prophet Haggai ; and its adoption into the services of the
Christian Church in its untranslated form is due to the Heb-
raistic tone of the Apocalypse. t
The Whole Psalm. — These Psalms (cv., cvi., cvii., cxviii.,
cxxxvi.), beginning with the Hebrew word Hodii =^ ^ giving
thanks,' have been styled Hodu, or Confitemini, Psalms. :j:
Vei'se 14. He suffered no man to do thetn wrongs but reproved
even kings for their sakes — as when He smote Herod with
worms ; when, as Lactantius tells us, Nero was slain and left
unburied ; Decius defeated and killed in battle ; Valerian made
captive, mocked, and flayed alive ; Aurelian murdered by his
own domestics ; Diocletian mad ; Maximian strangled ; Maxi-
min Uaia poisoned ; Maxentius drowned in flying from the
rout of his army ; Licinius stripped of the purple by Con-
stantine and put to death ; without counting up the similar
histories of succeeding ages.§
Verse 15. Touch not mine Anoi?ited. — These words are painted
on one of the walls of the Memorial Chapel at St. Petersburg,
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary^ p. 164.
t Dr. Neale's Com^nentary^ vol. iii., p. 343.
+ Companion to the Psalter^ by Rev. J. Gurnhill, p. 257.
§ Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 350.
PSALM CVI. 421
erected to commemorate the escape of Alexander II. from
assassination (see on Psalm xiii. 5).
ll'rse SS' ^^ smote all the fir si-born in Egypt, even the chief
of all their strength. — There is a Hebrew tradition that at the
time of the slaughter of the first-born, judgment went forth
also against the idols of Egypt, that the stone images fell into
powder, the wooden ones rotted, the metal melted away, and
the bull Apis died in his temple ; and that this is one sense,
at least, of the phrase, the chief of all their strength.*
PSALM CVI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Israel's unfaithfulness from Egypt
onwards, and God's faithfulness down to the present time.
Title (Spurgeon). — A National Confession.
Contents (Syriac). — Anonymous. The Psalmist admonishes
them concerning the Commandments of the Lord, and teaches
us as the Jews sinned, so we should be greatly afraid that we
should not speak in Church, nor contend with our brethren for
any cause whatever, and especially when we stand in the time
of the Mysteries and of prayer ; and that when we sin, we
should repent.
Origin (Perowne). — From verse 47 it may fairly be inferred
that the Psalm is of the date of the Exile, or was written
shortly after the return of the first company of exiles.
Verse i. O give thanks tin to the Lord., for He is gracious., and
His mercy endureth for ever. — When St. Athanasius, seated on
his throne at Vespers, in the Church of St. Theonas, Alex-
andria, beheld Syrianus and his soldiers sent to take him,
he quietly bade his deacon give out the chant, ' O give thanks
unto the Lord, for lie is gracious, because His mercy endureth
"' Dr. Neale's ComtnejUary, vol. iii., p. 360.
422 PSALM-MOSAICS
Jor ever^ ; and soon after, borne out by his monks in the midst
of the tumult which ensued, escaped the hands of his
enemies."^
Verse 3. Blessed are they that alway keep judgment, and do
righteousness. — ' I have read of Louis, King of France, that
when he had, through inadvertency, granted an unjust suit, as
soon as ever he had read these words of the Psahnist, " Blessed
is he that dotth righteousjiess at all times,'" he presently recol-
lected himself, and, upon better thoughts, gave his judgment
quite contrary.'!
Verse 2^. But murmured in their tents.— ^t. Benedict laid
down as one of the chief precepts of his Rule, 'Above all,
that there be no murmurings.' An elder master of the Reli-
gious Life than he, St. Pachomius, was wont to relegate to the
infirmary any monk guilty of murmuring, as suffering from
disease, and needing especial tendance and regimen, under
which he was kept until he gave proof of amendment. And
that because, as St. Augustine observes, when himself preach-
ing to Religious, murmuring is as contagious and fatal as
leprosy, and affects, not only the speaker, but all the hearers.;*:
Verse 29. The plague was great among them. — There is a
Hebrew tradition that the chief weight of the blow (i.e., the
plague) fell upon the tribe of Simeon, whose prince Zimri was
slain by Phinehas — a notion which is supported by the two-
fold census of that tribe before and after the sin in Shittim.
At first the Simeonites numbered 59,300 warriors (Numb.
i. 23), but afterwards only 22,200 are reckoned (Numb. xxvi.
I4).§
* Dr. Neale's Comuientary, vol. iii., p. 367.
t Thomas Brooks (1608- 1680).
X Dr. Neale's Commetitary, vol. iii., p. 378.
§ Ibid., p. 380.
BOOK V.
PSALMS CVII.— CL.
'The Holy Ghost begins the Fifth Book of the Psalter with praise, and
ends it with praise, because they who spiritually observe the Pentateuch of
the Law shall, with the Angels, praise God for evermore.' — I/oiwnus.
PSALM CVII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — An admonition to fellow-countrymen
to render thanks on account of having got the better of cala-
mities.
Title (Spurgeon). — Thanksgiving and the motives for it.
Contents (Syriac).— Anonymous. Written concerning Joel
and Abiah, the sons of Samuel, who corrupted the Command-
ments of the Lord. Intimating, also, that as God gathered
the Jews from the Captivity and brought them up from Babylon,
so God, the only Begotten Son, Jesus the Messiah, gathered
the Gentiles from the four corners of the earth by preaching
unto Baptism.
Origin (Perowne). — It is obvious that this Psalm is not
historical. It describes various incidents of human life, it
tells of the perils which befall men, and the goodness of God
in delivering them, and calls upon all who have experienced
His care and protection gratefully to acknowledge them ; and
it is perfectly general in its character.
The Whole Psalm.— Dr. Duff, on his first voyage to India,
in 1830, was wrecked off the coast of South Africa. They all
reached the shore in safety. Soon after their escape ' a sailor,
walking along the beach, noticed an object cast ashore. Going
up to it, he found it was a quarto copy of Bagster's Bible
and a Scotch Psalm-book, somewhat shattered, but with Mr.
Duff's name written distinctly on both. The precious volumes
426 PSALM -MOSAICS
had not been used on the voyage out. Wrapped in chamois
leather, they had been put with other books in a box, which
must have been broken to pieces. The sailor who found the
volumes high and dry on the beach had been the most atten-
tive at the service which the missionary had held with the crew
every Sabbath. Taking Bible and Psalter to the hovel where
the passengers sought shelter, with a glowing face he presented
them to their owner. All were deeply affected by what they
regarded as a message from God. Led by Mr. Duff, they
kneeled down, and there he spread out the precious books on
the white bleached sand. What a meaning to each had the
travellers' Psalm, t/ie loyZ/z, which he read, as to all exiles,
captives, and storm-tossed wanderers since the days when its
first singers were gathered from all lands to rebuild Jerusalem !
What fervent prayer and thanksgiving followed its words, as
the band of shipwrecked, but delivered, men and women lifted
their wearied faces to the heavens :
' Whoso is wise, and will observe these things,
Even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.'*
Dr. Loivth remarks of this Psalm : ' No doubt the composi-
tion of this Psalm is admirable throughout ; and the descrip-
tive part of it adds at least its share of beauty to the whole ;
but w^hat is most to be admired is its conciseness^ and withal the
expressiveness of the diction, w^hich strikes the imagination
with inimitable elegance. I'he weary atid bewildered traveller,
the miserable captive in the hideous dungeon, the sick and
dying man, the seaman foundering in a storm, are described in
so affecting a manner that they far exceed anything of the
kind, though never so much laboured.' Adam Clarke then
says : ' I may add, that had such an Idyll appeared in Theo-
critus or Virgil, or had it been found as a scene in any of
the Greek tragedians, even in ^schylus himself, it would pro-
bably have been produced as their master-piece.'
Thanksgiving after a storm, one writer on the Psalms calls
* Life of Dr. Ditff, by George Smith, LL.D., vol. i,, p. 'jd.
PSALM CVII. 427
this Psalm ; and from Dr. Kay he quotes, in illustration, the
Basque proverb, ' Let him who knows not how to pray go
to sea.
'#
Verse 14. For He brought them out of darkness^ and out of
the shadoiv of death.
'"A little while !"
And earth shall pass
Like a faint vision from our weary gaze,
And we shall stand upon the " sea of glass"
For evermore !
' " A little while !"
And death shall lie
With Satan vanquished at Jehovah's feet,
And we shall see our Saviour, eye to eye,
For evermore !
*" Alittle while !"
And every grief
Shall be remembered, but with tears of joy :
On Jesus' bosom we shall find relief
For evermore !
' "A little while !"
And faded flowers
Shall bloom again for us in yon dear land.
And we shall wander amid sweetest bowers
For evermore !
' "A little while !"
And parted hands
Shall clasp again upon the heavenly shore.
Where she — "Jerusalem the Golden" — stands
For evermore !
"• A little while !"
And every star
Shall pale and fade before His matchless light.
Whose unveiled glory fills that city fair
For evermore !
'"A little while !"
And heaven's gate
Shall open wide to let the wanderer in,
Where Jesus sits upon His "throne of light "
For evermore !
'"^ Housman on I'he Psab)is.
428 PSALM -MOSAICS
'"A little while!"
Ah, yes ! — uoi long!
Till we shall rest on Jordan's "sunny side,"
And find earth's bitter cross a golden crown
For evermore !
• " A little while !"
And then ! — the dawn !
The fair sweet breaking of that blissful day
When He shall come and dwell with us again
For evermore !
•"A little while!"
And then ! — the song
Of " Hallelujah !" to our Saviour King !
The glad hosannas of heaven's ransomed throng
For evermore I'*
Verses 14-21. For He brought them out of darkness, mid out
of the shadow of death. . . . Oh that men would therefore praise
the Lord for His goodness, and declare the wonders that He doeth
for the children of men. — How deeply the Jew still feels the
necessity of substituting in the shape of a vicarious sacrifice
may be seen by a peculiar ceremony which is observed in the
ninth of Tishri, the eve of the Day of Atonement, and which
is the mere invention of the Rabbis.
The follow^ing laws are laid down in the Jewish Prayer-Book
with regard to this ceremony :
' On the eve of the Day of the Atonement, the custom is to
make atonement ; a cock is taken for a man, and a hen for a
woman. . . . The father of the family first makes the atone-
ment for himself, then for his family, and afterwards for all
Israel.'
The order to be observed is as follows :
'The father takes the cock in his hand and repeats these
verses, "Such as sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.
. . . They cry unto the Lord. . . . Fools, because of their
transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat : and they draw near
unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their
* Thojig/its on the Boo/; of Psalms, by the Rev. D. T. K. Drummond,
P- 527-
PSALM CVIL
429
trouble; and He saveth them out of their distresses. He
sendeth His word, and healeth them, and delivereth them
from their destructions. Ok that men would praise the Lord
for His goodness^ and for His wonderful ivorks to the children of
men ' (Psahii cvii. 14-21). * If there be ... a ransom ' (Job
xxxiii. 23, 24).
After having uttered this prayer, he moves the ' atonement
cock ' round his head thrice, saying, ' This is my substitute ;
this is my commutation ; this cock goeth to death, but may I
be gathered, and enter into a long and happy life, and into
peace.' He then begins again at the words, * The children of
men,' and so he does three times. The same ceremony has
to be gone through by each member of the family. After the
Kaparoth (atoning sacrifice) has been made by the father, the
mother takes a hen, and performs the same ceremony, and
afterwards follow the children, according to their respective
ages.
The prescribed order being performed, each one lays his
hand upon his atonement, as was usual with the sacrifices in
the Temple, and immediately after it is sent away to be killed.*
Verse 15. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for
His goodness. — It is told of Sydney Smith, that, when preach-
ing in Edinburgh, in the first quarter of this century, seeing
how almost exclusively the congregations were composed of
ladies, he gave out as his text, ' Oh that men would therefore
pi^aise the Lord T laying distinct emphasis on the word 'men.'
That was in questionable taste, but it marked a fact. Bishop
Ryle, writing in 1853, laments the absence of men from churches,
and there are still parishes in which that complaint might be
made. It was not so in the Chapel of St. George's during
James Hannington's incumbency.t
Verse 20. He sent His word and healed them, and they were
saved from their destruction. — When George Wishart arrived at
* Piditres fi-om fewish Life [Sunday at LLome, 1 877, p. 551).
+ Life of Bishop Hannington, p. 129.
430 PSALM-MOSAICS
Dundee, where the plague was raging (1545), he caused inti-
mation to be made that he would preach ; and for that purpose
chose his station upon the head of the East-gate, the infected
persons standing without, and those that were whole within.
His text was Psalm cvii. 20, H^ sent His word and healed
them, and they were saved from their destruction, wherein he
treated of the profit and comfort of God's word, the punish-
ment that comes by contempt of it, the readiness of God's
mercy to such as truly turn to Him, and the happiness of those
whom God takes from this misery, etc.
By which sermon he so raised up the hearts of those that
heard him, that they regarded not death, but judged them
more happy that should then depart, rather than such as should
remain behind, considering that they knew not whether they
should have such a comforter with them.'"'
Verse 23-32. They that go down to the sea in ships . . .praise
Him in the seat of the elders. — Addison remarks that he prefers
this description of a ship in a storm before any others he has
ever met with, and for the same reason for which ' Longinus
recommends one in Homer, because the poet has not amused
himself with little fancies upon the occasion, as authors of an in-
ferior genius, whom he mentions, had done, but because he
has gathered together those circumstances which are the most
apt to terrify the imagination, and which really happened in
the raging of the tempest.' By the way, he adds, ' how much
more comfortable, as well as rational, is this system of the
Psalmist, than the pagan scheme in Virgil, and other poets,
where one deity is represented as raising a storm, and another
as laying it ! Were we only to consider the sublime in this
piece of poetry, what can be nobler than the idea it gives us
of the Supreme Being thus raising a tumult among the elements,
and recovering them out of their confusion — thus troubling and
recalming nature ?'t
* A General Ma?-tyroIogie. by Samuel Clarke.
f Spectator, No. 489 (quoted by Bishop Perowne).
PSALM CVII. 431
Verse 29. For Be maketJi the storm to cease ^ so that the waves
thereof are stilt. — Then about midnight, when the ships were
rolhng fearfully, and everything on every side was falling to
pieces with deafening noise, there came a tremendous sea, wash-
ing clean over the ship and filling almost every cabin with water,
and an awful yell of agony, ' Murder.' I jumped up, with all
the fresh life and energy which imminent danger lends for the
moment, to ascertain what had befallen us. A poor fellow, a
seaman, had been knocked down by the sea and both his legs
fearfully shattered to pieces. Then the horses on board one
after another, knocked to bits, died, and were thrown over-
board ; and so we went on bravely existing — the cabin full of
water, my very bed drenched — till on the eighth day God had
pity and stayed the stormy sea, ' a7id delivered us out of our
distress ' ; ^ for He maketh the storm to cease, so that the
waves thei-eof are still.' That wonderful Psalm, read in church
when I was being tossed in the Bay of Biscay on the 22nd,
and when you were so anxiously thinking of me, has been
much in my thoughts.*
Verse 30. And so Be briiigeth them imto the haveji where they
luould he. —These words are on the tablet to the memory of Sir
John Franklin and others. It was left at Disco in 1855 by the
American expedition, which was unable to reach Beechey
Island, and it was set up in its place by Captain McClintock,
R.N., who commanded the final expedition of search for
ascertaining the fate of Sir John Franklin and his companions
in 1858.
To the Memory of
FRANKLIN,
CROZIER, FITZJAMES,
and all their
gallant brother officers and faithful
companions who have suffered and perished
in the cause of science and
the service of their country.
* Memoir of fajiies Skinjier, p. 148.
432 PSALM-MOSAICS
This Tablet
is erected near the spot where
they passed their first Arctic
winter, and whence they issued
forth to conquer difficulties or
to Die.
It commemorates the grief of their
admiring countrymen and friends,
and the anguish, subdued by faith,
of her who has lost, in the heroic
leader of the expedition, the most
devoted and affectionate of
husbands.
' And so He h'ingeth the?n nnto the
haven where ihey would he.'
1855.*
Verse 32. That they -would exalt Him also in the co?igregation
of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders. — Those
who have ever been to the chapel at St. Addresse, near Havre,
sacred to mariners, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, will
be reminded by this verse of their visit. But there, alas ! the
votive offerings of gratitude and praise are made by those who
have been delivered from the perils of the aea, not to the
Creator, but only to St. ]\Iary, the most highly honoured of
His creatures. t
PSALM cvni.
Headi?ig (Delitzsch). — Two Elohimic fragments brought to-
gether.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Warrior's Morning Song.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David, when he was pre-
pared with a song, for the ministry and psalmody of the House
of the Lord ; also containing an allusion to the calling of the
Gentiles.
* The Fate of Sir foh^i Franklin, by Admiral McClintock, p. 146.
+ The Cofnpanion to the Psalter, by Rev. J. Gurnhill, p. 269.
PSALM CVIII. 433
Origin (Perowne). — This Psalm consists of portions of two
others, the first half of it being taken from the 57th Psalm,
verses 7-1 1 (8-12), and the latter half from the 60th, verses 5-12
(7-14). It bears the name of David because the original pas-
sages both occur in Psalms ascribed to him as their author.
But there is no reason for concluding that these fragments
were thus united by David himself. Some later poet probably
adapted them to circumstances of his own time — possibly
wished thus to commemorate some victory over Edom or
Philistia.
In Church. — On Ascension Day Our Blessed Lord, having
redeemed the world and conquered death, sat down on the
right hand of the Father, 'from henceforth waiting till His
enemies be made His footstool,' of which completed victory
over every opposing power the triumphs of David were a
distinct prophecy. This Psalm is therefore appointed the
third Psalm at Evensong on Ascension Day."^
Verse 2. Awake, thou lute, and harp ; I myself ivill awake
right early. — With reference to this passage, the Talmud says,
'A cithern used to hang above David's bed, and when mid-
night came the north wind blew among the strings, so that they
sounded of themselves ; and forthwith he arose, and busied
himself with the Tora until the pillar of the dawn ascended.'
Rashi observes, ' The dawn awakes the other kings, but I, said
David, will awake the dawn.'t
DeHtzsch translates verse 3 (verse 2), 'Awake up, O harp
and cithern ; I will awake the morning dawn.'
Talmudists say that before David slept, he used to repeat
this verse of the 108th Psalm, 'Arise, my glory, awake Psaltery
and Harpe ; I my self e will awake right early' As if he should
say, ' Both thou, my Psaltery and Harpe, doe ye beginne be-
* Housman on The Psalms, p. 243.
t Franz Delitzsch.
28
434
PSALM-MOSAICS
times by the Holy Spirit, and I will early arise to prophecy.'
And hence some of the Jews have concluded that David
deserved a pre-eminence above all other Prophets. For
(say they) the Day-light raysed other Prophets ; but the Holy
Spirit Himselfe awaked David; that before the Day-spring
he might Prophecie.^
Fe7'se 9. Moab is my wash-pot. — The office of washing the
feet was in the East commonly performed by slaves, and the
meanest of the family, as appears from what Abigail said to
David when he took her to wife, ' Behold, let thine handmaid
be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord '
(i Sam. XXV. 41); and from the fact of our Saviour washing
His disciples' feet, to give them an example of humility (John
xiii. 5).
Gataker and Le Clerc illustrate this text from an anecdote
related by Herodotus, concerning Amasis, King of Egypt, who
expressed the meanness of his own origin by comparing him-
self to a pot for washing feet in (Herod., lib. ii., c. 172).
When, therefore, it is said, ' Aloab is my washing pot,'' the
complete and servile subjection of Moab to David is strongly
marked. This is expressed, not by comparing Moab to a slave
who performs the lowest offices, as presenting to his master
the basin for washing his feet, but by comparing him to the
mean utensil itself. t
PSALM CIX.
Headifig (Delitzsch). — Imprecation upon the curser who
prefers the curse to the blessing.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David : when the people
* A Preparatioti to the Psalter, by G. Wither, chap, v., p. 43.
+ James Anderson's Note to Calvin on Psalui Ix.
PSALM CIX. 435
made Absalom king without his knowledge, for which cause
he was slain, and, as respects ourselves, containing an allusion
to the sufferings of God the Messiah.
T/ie Whole Fsalm. — This Psalm was called by the ancient
Fathers of the Church ' Psalmus Iscarioticus,' as referring to
the treason of Judas Iscariot, and of all who resemble him in
treachery to Christ.*
' Mysterious ' was the one word written opposite this Psalm
in the pocket Bible of a late devout and popular writer. It
represents the utter perplexity with which it is very generally
regarded.!
Calvin states, as a thing notorious in his time, that certain
monks — the Franciscans especially — made a detestable trade
of this Psalm. If anyone had a mortal enemy and wished
him destroyed, he would hire one of those wretches to curse
him day by day in the words of the 109th Psalm. The re-
former adds that he himself knew a lady of rank in France
who hired certain Franciscans to imprecate perdition in this
way on her only son. Matthew Henry, after mentioning these
shameful facts, makes this reflection, that ' greater impiety can
scarcely be imagined that to vent a devilish passion in the
language of sacred writ, to kindle strife with coals snatched
from God's altar, and to call for fire from heaven with a tongue
set on fire of hell.' :•
The Patriarch Nicon resigned the Patriarchal See, 1658,
after a quarrel with the Emperor Alexis, and retired finally into
the one of his monasteries nearest Moscow. Here he fished in
the river, assisted at the drainage of the marshes like a com-
mon peasant, and worked like a common stonemason in the
erection of the convent church. But neither the ideal nor the
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 174.
t Joseph Hammond.
i The Psalms : their History and Teachings by Dr. Binnie, p. 296.
436 PSALM-MOSAICS
practice of solitary asceticism could enable Nicon to forget
that he had been, that he was still, except by his own rash ab-
dication, the Patriarch of Russia. He refused by any act or
word to acknowledge a successor to the See. He caused a
special office to be sung in the convent, in which day by day
were repeated the curses from the 109th Psalm.
' I have not cursed the Czar,' was his answer to the commis-
sioner who came from Moscow to complain ; ' I have not
cursed the Czar, but I have cursed you, the nobles of the
Church ; if you have a mind to stay and hear it, I will have
the same Office sung over again in your ears.'^ (See also note
on verse 16.)
Verse 7. Zet another take his office. — -In Acts i. 20 St. Peter
combines a part of the 8th verse of this Psalm, ' his office let
another take,' with the words slightly altered from the 25th
(Heb. 26th) verse of the 69th Psalm, and applies them to
Judas Iscariot. Hence the Psalm has been regarded by the
majority of expositors, ancient and modern, as a prophetic and
Messianic Psalm. The language has been justified, not as the
language of David, but as the language of Christ executing
His office of Judge.t
Verse 11. Let the extortioner consume all that he hath. —
Note : he is most miserable who falls into the hands of usurers ;
for they will flay him alive and drain his blood. The Romans,
that they might deter the citizens from usury, placed a statue
of Marsyas in the forum or law-court, by which they signified
that those who came into the hands of usurers would be skinned
alive ; and to show that usurers, as the most unjust litigants,
deserved hanging, they placed a rope in the hand of the figure. I
(Marsyas was a piper of Phrygia, who challenged Apollo to a
trial of skill as a musician. The defeated one was to be flayed
* Stanley's Eastern Church, p. 369.
+ The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 283.
i Le Blanc (quoted by Spurgeon), vol. v., p. 178.
PSALM CIX. 437
alive by the conqueror, and, as Apollo was the victor, Marsyas
was tied to a tree and flayed alive.)
Ve?'se 1 6. He loved not blessing, therefore shall it be far
from him. — Nicon was degraded from his office to the rank of
a simple monk, and banished for the rest of his life to do pen-
ance in a distant monastery. He maintained his proud sarcastic
bearing to the end. ' Why do you degrade me without the
presence of the Czar, in this small church ' (a small church, now
destroyed, over the gates of one of the Kremlin convents), 'and
not in the cathedral where you once implored me to ascend
the Patriarchal Throne ? . . .' It was in the depths of a Russian
winter, and the Czar sent him by one of his kindlier courtiers
a present of money and sable furs for the journey to the far
north. The impenetrable prelate sternly replied : ' Take these
back to him who sent them ; these are not what Nicon wants.'
The courtier entreated him not to affront the Czar by his
refusal, and also asked, in the Czar's name, for his forgiveness
and blessing.
' He loved not blessing,' said Nicon, in allusion to the 109th
Psalm, in which he had before cursed all his enemies except
the Czar, 'and therefore it shall be far from him.'"^
Verse 30. He shall stand at the right hand of the poor. — One
of the oldest Rabbinical commentaries has a very beautiful
gloss on this passage : ' Whenever a man stands at thy door,
the Holy One, blessed be His Name, stands at his right hand.
If thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward
from Him who standeth at his right hand.'f
* Stanley's Eastern Church, p. 373.
t Sketches of the [eiuish Social Life in the Days of Christ, by Dr.
Edersheim.
438 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM ex.
Heading (Delitzsch). — To the Priest-King at the right hand
of God.
Title (Spurgeon). — The subject is the Priest-King.
Co7itents (Syriac). — A Psahii of David — concerning the
Session of the Lord, and concerning His glorious power. A
prophecy also of the Messiah and of His triumph over the
adversary.
In Church. — The Syriac entitles this Psalm ' A prophecy of
Christ's victory over His enemies,' and the Church has ap-
pointed this Psalm to be used on Christmas Day, when she
celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation, in which the Eternal
^Vord took our nature of the seed of David, and became
Emmanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh, and
which was the origin and well-spring of all those glorious pre-
rogatives which are celebrated in this Psalm.
Both the Latin and Sarum Use appoint this Psalm for
Christmas Day. It is also appointed in the Latin and Sarum
Use for the Festival of the Circumcision, when our Lord re-
ceived His Name Jesus. "^
The Whole Psalm. — This Psalm is well characterized by
St. Augustine, ' Brevis numero, verborum, sed magnus pondere
sententiarum.'
Luther remarks on this Psalm that it is worthy to be set in
a frame of gold and diamonds, so full it is, he says, of excel-
lent Christian thought and Divine instruction, and of all the
Psalms the very crown and chief. The fifth verse in particular,
he says, is like a rich copious mine, from which flow Christian
instruction and wisdom, faith, hope and confidence, the like to
which no other Scripture supplies.!
* Bishop Wordsworth's Cojnmentary, p. 177.
t The Speaker's Commentary, p. 429.
PSALM ex. 439
T/iis Psalm is quoted in the New Testament six times : three
in the Gospels (St. Matt. xxii. 43, St. Mark xii. 36, St. Luke
XX. 42), once in the Acts (Acts ii. 34), and twice in the Epistle
to the Hebrews (Heb. i. 13, v. 6).
Verse i. The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit thou on My right
hand, i.e., the place of associated power in the sovereignty.
An argument against the Arians was based on this very fact.
At a time (a.d. 385) when the leaders of the Arians were
exceedingly powerful, and great efforts were being made to
secure the patronage of the state for them, St. Amphilochius,
Bishop of Iconium, headed a deputation of Catholic prelates
to Theodosius the Great, to counteract the scheme. The
young Arcadius, who had lately been proclaimed Augustus
by his father, was seated beside the Emperor, but the aged
Bishop omitted him altogether when paying the customary
marks of respect to the sovereign. Theodosius, believing this
to be an oversight, desired the saint to salute Arcadius. The
old man drew near, and caressed the boy, saying, ' Good-day,
my son.'
Theodosius, much incensed, and thinking that an insult was
intended, gave orders that the Bishop should be driven out of
the hall of audience ; but he, turning to the Emperor as the
guards were about to execute the mandate, cried out : ' See,
Emperor, you cannot bear any disrespect shown to your son,
but are exceedingly wroth with those that are insolent to him.
Believe, then, that Almighty God also hateth them that blas-
pheme His only-begotten Son, and is indignant with them for
their ingratitude towards their Saviour and Benefactor.'
And Theodosius, struck by the cogency of the argument,
withdrew his protection from the Arians and Eunomians."*
Verse 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way^ therefore shall
he lift up his head. — Cf. Shakespeare's lines :
' Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink,
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood.'
Khtg Henry IV., Act I., Sc. iii.
* Dr. Neale's Comjnentary, vol. iii., p. 443.
440 PSALM-AIOSAICS
PSALM CXI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Alphabetical song in praise of God.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Psalm of God's Works, intended to
excite us to the work of praise.
Contefzts (Syriac). — Concerning the excellency of the works
of God, and enjoining upon us to render thanksgiving unto the
Messiah. Spoken in the persons of the Apostles.
In Church. — This Psalm is appointed by the Latin and
Sarum Use for Christmas, and by our own Church for Easter.
The Whole Psalm. — The following, taken from The Psalms
Chronologically Arranged, by ' Four Friends,' will give the
reader an idea of the alphabetical character of this Psalm.
All my heart shall praise Jehovah,
Before the congregation of the righteous ;
Deeds of goodness are the deeds of Jehovah,
Earnestly desired of all them that have pleasure therein ;
For His righteousness endureth for ever,
Glorious and honourable is His work.
He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered,
In Jehovah is compassion and goodness ;
Jehovah hath given meat to them that fear Him,
Keeping his covenant for ever,
Learning His people the power of His works.
Making them to possess the heritage of the heathen ;
Naught save truth and equity are the works of His hands,
Ordered and sure are His commands.
Planted fast for ever and ever,
Righteous and true are His testimonies ;
Salvation hath He sent unto His people,
Their covenant hath He made fast for ever ;
Upright and holy is His name,
Verily, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
Yea, a good understanding have all they that do thereafter ;
Zealously shall He be praised for ever.
Verse 4. The merciful and g7'acioiis Lord hath so done Bis
marvellous works., that they ought to be had in remembrajice. —
Milton has imitated this passage :
PSALM CXI. 441
' For wonderful indeed are all His works,
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance always with delight.'
Paradise Lost, iii.
The following quotation, too, illustrates this verse :
' Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruit and flowers,
In mingled clouds to Him ; Whose sun exalts,
Whose breath perfumes you, and Whose pencil paints.
Ye forests, bend, ye harvests, wave to Him ;
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart
As home he goes beneath the joyous moon.'
James Thomson.
Verse ^. He hath given 7iieat unto them that fear Him. —
Meat. — Delitzsch supposes that by the ' memorial ' (ver. 4,
' marvellous works ... be had in remembrance ') is meant the
Festivals, which were instituted to keep alive the remembrance
of God's mighty works in the days of Moses ; and by the ' food '
(ver. 5, 'meat'), the meal accompanying the sacrifices, and
the Paschal feast. (It is with reference to this sense, doubt-
less, that Luther calls the Psalm 'an Easter or Paschal Psalm.')
Theodoret, Augustine, and others, understand by this ' food '
in the New Testament sense, the Eucharist, and the Psalm
has been accordingly used as a Eucharistic Psalm. It is a
curious instance of the way in which a word may draw to itself
a whole train of thought with which it has really no connection."^
Verse 9. He sent redemption unto His people ; He hath com-
ma/ided His covenant for ever : holy and revere?idis His name. —
It is the ninth verse which gives its Easter character to this
Psalm. The redemption from the bondage of Egypt was
figurative of that greater redemption from the captivity of
Satan which was accomplished on the day our Lord broke
the bonds of death. t
Verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. —
Rabbi Alexander said : ' He who possesses worldly wisdom, and
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 314.
f Housman on The Psalms, p. 253.
442 PSALM -MOSAICS
fears not the Lord, is as one who designs building a house,
and completes only the door ; for, as David wrote, " The be-
ginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." '"^
PSALM CXIL
Heading. — Alphabetical song in praise of those who fear
God.
Title (Spurgeon). — The blessedness of the righteous man.
Contents (Syriac). — Anonymous ; in which David giveth in-
struction to Solomon his son : Keep the commandments of
the Lord, and serve Him. Also the calling of the Gentiles
and the judgment of the Messiah.
The Whole Psalm. — It was said of Rabbi Tarphon, that
though a very wealthy man, he was not charitable according to
his means. One time Rabbi Akiba said to him : ' Shall I in-
vest some money for thee in real estate, in a manner which
will be very profitable ?' Rabbi Tarphon answered in the
affirmative, and brought to Rabbi Akiba four thousand denars
in gold, to be so applied. Rabbi Akiba immediately distri-
buted the same among the poor. Some time after this Rabbi
Tarphon met Rabbi Akiba, and asked him where the real
estate which he had bought for him was situated. Akiba led
his friend to the cottage, and showed him a little boy who
recited for them the it 2th Psalm. When he reached the
9th verse, ' He distributeth, he giveth to the needy, his
righteousness endureth for ever,' ' There,' said Akiba, * thy
property is with David, the King of Israel, who said, " He
distributeth, he giveth to the needy." ' ' And wherefore hast
thou done this ?' asked Tarphon. ' Knowest thou not,'
answered Akiba, ' how Nacdimon, the son of Guryon, was
punished because he gave not according to his means ?'
* The Tabmid, p. 238.
PSALM CXII. 443
' Well,' returned the other, ' why didst thou not tell me this ?
Could I not have distributed my means without thy aid ?'
' Nay,' said Akiba, ' it is a greater virtue to cause another to
give than to give one's self.' From this we may learn that he
who is not charitable according to his means will be punished.^
Verse 4. Unto the godly there ariseth tip light in the darkness.
— The use of this verse as the Antiphon to the Psalm in the
second Vespers of Christmas supplies us at once with the
highest sense of the word, as denoting the revelation of Christ
to the world, a light shining in the dark places of the earth,
on them who aforetime sat in the shadow of death, and that
light Himself, merciful, loving, and righteous. t
Verse 7. He will not be afraid of any evil tidiiigs, for his
heart sta?ideth fast., and believeth in the Lord. — That 'the
righteous are bold as a lion,' that they ' will not be afraid of
any evil tidings ' ; and, on the other hand, that the ungodly are
' brought into great fear even where no fear is,' and that they
'flee when no man pursueth' — these and suchlike truths of
Holy Scripture are set forth again and again in the pages of
Shakespeare with a vividness proportioned to their moral
weight. Thus the Duke says, in Measure for Measure :
' Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.'
Act III., Sc. i.
The Lord Say, in King He7iry VI., 2nd Part :
' The trust I have is in mine innocence,
And therefore am I bold and resolute.'
Act IV., Sc. iv.
The 'good Duke,' Humphrey of Gloster, in the same play :
'A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.'
Act III., Sc. i.
* The Talmud, p. 233.
■{■ Dr. Neale's Commentajy, vol. iii., p. 466.
444 PSALM. MOSAICS
The Duke of Albany, in King Lear :
' Where I could not be honest
I never yet was valiant.'
Act v., Sc. i.*
Verse 9. He hath dispersed abroad^ a?id give7i to the poor ;
a7id his righteousness remaineth for ever ; his horn shall be ex-
alted with honour. — The Apostle St. Paul, in quoting this verse
with reference to the contributions for which he was asking the
Corinthians, prefixes some words of his own which serve as a
comment on the latter part of it : ' God is able to make all
grace abound toward you ; that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work ' (2 Cor. ix. 8).
Then follows the quotation from the Psalm, and the connec-
tion makes it clear that the intention in this place is to repre-
sent the endurance of righteousness and the exaltation of the
horn as God's reward for charitable dealing towards the poor.
Accordingly, the words are used as the Versicle and Response
to the Hymn in the Office of St. Lawrence, famous in ecclesi-
astical history for the distribution of the treasures of the Church
among the needy. The word dispersed implies the extent and
freedom of bounty, like the rays of the sun on the drops of
the rain. But it was actually perverted by certain Talmudists
to mean turning a small sum of money into coins of the lowest
value, and bestowing these upon a large number of persons,
so as to spread the parsimonious gift over the widest area.t
PSALM CXIIL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Hallelujah to Him who raiseth out
of low estate.
Title (Spurgeon). — With this Psalm begins the Hallel or
Hallelujah of the Jews, which was sung at their solemn feasts ;
* Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 153.
t Dr. Neale's Co??imentary, vol. iii., p. 470.
PSALM CXI 11. 445
we will therefore call it The Commencement of the
Hallel.
Co?itents (Syriac). — Anonymous ; in which reference is made
to the diligence to be shown by the priests in the prime of the
morning ; and instructing us who are a new people, regenerated
by water and the Spirit, that we should be ready betimes for
the service of God, having our hearts sprinkled and washed
with the Holy Ghost, and being purified in our minds.
In Church.— Th.Q Church of England appoints this Psalm
as the first Psalm at Evensong on Easter Day, and the Roman
Catholic Church uses it at the burial of children. ' A certain
ambiguity in the LXX. and Vulgate, which has boys or children
(•rr/Tdis, pueri) for serz'anfs, in verse i, has led to the use of the
Psalm in the Latin Office for infant baptism and burial '
(Neale).
The Whole Psalm. — With this Psalm begins the great
' Hallel,' or Alleluia Magnum, which consisted of six Psalms
(Psalm cxiii.-cxviii.), and was sung at the Passover and Taber-
nacles, and at the Feast of Dedication and New Moon/'
At the Passover it was divided into two parts, the first con-
sisting of Psalms cxiii., cxiv., sung before the second Cup at
the Paschal Supper was passed round, and thus consequently
before the meal itself, which began immediately after that cere-
mony ; the second consisting of Psalms cxv.-cxviii., sung after
the filling of the fourth Cup, and supposed to be 'the hymn'
which Christ and the Apostles are stated to have sung at the
Last Supper, before they went out to Gethsemane.t
Paiilus Biirgensis styles Psalms cxiii.-cxviii. Alleluia Judce-
orum inag7ium, and this has been a very usual designation.
But according to the ancient Jewish tradition, this series of
Psalms is called simply 'the Hallel,' or sometimes 'the
* Wordsworth's Conunentary, p. 179.
J Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 473.
446 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
Egyptian Hallel '; whereas the name ' Great Hallel ' is given to
Psalm cxxxvi., with its ' for His mercy endureth for ever ' re-
peated twenty-six times."^
T/ie Song of Hannah. — This Psahii bears a striking resem-
blance to the Magnificat of Hannah, see verses 6 and 7, which
is reproduced with still greater force in the Magnificat of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. Indeed, it may be said to be a connect-
ing link between the two.
Verse 2. Blessed be the Name of the Lord was the cry of the
Huguenots burnt at Paris, under Francis I.
Verse 6(7). He taketh up the simple out of the dust, and lifleth
the poor out of the mire. — When the Jews beheld the great
procession, and Mordecai honoured in the midst of it, they
followed after ; and in return to the shouts of the troops they
called out loudly : ' Thus shall be done to the man who serves
the King who created heaven and earth, and whom He desireth
to honour.'
When Esther saw her kinsman thus arrayed, she thanked the
Lord and praised Him. 'With the Psalmist I may say,' she
exclaimed, ' He raiseth up out of the dust the poor, from the du?ig-
hill He lifteth 2ip the needy ' (Psalm cxiii. 7), ' that He may set
him with princes, even with the princes of His people.'
Mordecai also praised the Lord, and said : ' Thou hast
changed my mourning into dancing for me, Thou hast
loosened my sackcloth, and girded me with joy ; I will extol
Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast lifted me up, and hast not suffered
my enemies to rejoice over me' (Psalm xxx. 12). Four dis-
tinct services did Haman render Mordecai. First, he was his
hairdresser, for he shaved and anointed him ; secondly, he was
his valet, for he attended him in the bath ; thirdly, he was his
footman, for he led the horse Mordecai rode ; fourthly, he was
his trumpeter, for he proclaimed before him, ' Thus shall be
done to the man whom the king desireth to honour. 't
* Delitzsch, vol. iii., p. 203.
t The Book of Esther (Talmud), p. 189.
PSALM CXIV. 447
Verse 8 (9). He inaketh the barre?i woman to keep house, and
to be a joyful mother of children. — The allusion to barrenness
here was suggested, doubtless, by Hannah's history, and by the
strain of Hannah's song. The curse of barrenness was so
bitter a thing in Jewish eyes, that its removal was hailed as a
special mark of Divine favour."^
PSALM CXIV.
Beading (Delitzsch). — Commotion of Nature before God
the Redeemer out of Egypt.
Title (Spurgeon). — This sublime Song of the Exodus.
Conte?its (Syriac). — Anonymous ; from the old Scriptures,
concerning Moses,, who sang praises at the sea ; and, as re-
spects ourselves, treating of the call of the Gospel, by which
we were made a new people, before barbarous, now spiritual
unto God, Incarnate in Jesus the Messiah, Who redeemed us
by His Blood from the curse of Scripture, and purified us from
sin by His Spirit.
Origin (Perowne). — We have no clue to guide us to the age
of the Psalm, or the occasion for which it was written, except
that perhaps the forms in verse 8, which are found in other
late Psalms, may be taken to indicate a date after the exile.
In Church. — The return of the Hebrew people from Baby-
lon was like a national Resurrection from the dead. There-
fore, retrospectively, it is connected with the Resurrection of
the Israelites of old from the bondage of Egypt ; and, pro-
spectively, with the Resurrection of the Israelites of God from
the thraldom of sin and Death by the Resurrection of Christ.
Therefore this Psalm is appointed by the English Church
for use on Easter Day.f
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 319.
t Bishop Wordsworth's Co?nmeiitary, p. 180.
448 PSALM-MOSAICS
And so St. John Damascene :
' Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness !
God hath brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness :
Loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
Jacob's sons and daughters ;
Led them with unmoistened foot
Through the Red Sea waters.
' 'Tis the spring of souls to-day,
Christ hath burst His prison ;
And from three days' sleep in death
As a sun hath risen.
All the winter of our sins,
Long and dark, is flying
From His light, to Whom we give
Laud and praise undying.'"^
T/ie Whole Fsalm.—The same work went on in France as
in the Netherlands. The Huguenots felt that the sovereigns
were banded against them, and that the peace lately granted
was worse than war. . . . Early in 1568 the Admiral de Coligny,
who had just lost his wife, brought his little children, whom he
was afraid to leave behind him, to the Castle of Noyers in
Burgundy, there to consult with the Prince of Conde. They
soon learnt that the royal troops were being sent to guard the
approaches of the castle. . . . The two friends decided on
departing at once, but could hope for no place of safety short
of La Rochelle, and they had only 150 horsemen at hand to
guard their families. The Admiral had his four young children
— two still in arms ; the Prince had a delicate wife and three
infants. And D'Andelot's wife and her two children were
with him, while he himself was away collecting assistance in
Anjou and Brittany. When the cavalcade of servants, women
and children reached the Loire, they found that all the bridges
were guarded ; but the stream was low, and a boatman showed
them a ford near Sancerre. It was at nightfall, but Conde
rode through the water first of all with one of his little boys
before him, on his horse, and the rest followed, singing the
* Canon for Low Sunday.
PSALM CXIV. 449
Psalm, ' ]J7ien Israel came out of Egypt.'' For the Loire was
always considered as a sort of boundary-line between the
Catholic and the Huguenot. There were, of course, many
Catholics in the south, and many reformed in the north ; but,
as a general rule, the majority were thus divided. In two days
more Conde had reached La Rochelle, where he was enthusi-
astically received.*
Xavier, styled the Apostle of the Indies, when driven out
from Amanguchi, the capital of Magoto, attended only by
three converts, made a pilgrimage through the wilderness, and,
after a month's wandering, reached Meaco. But the city was
in all the horrors of a siege.
Even the Pope of Japan was too busy to attend to other
than military duties, and Xavier was forced to retreat, chanting,
* Whe?i Israel went forth out of Egypt. ^
Madame Ionise de Frafice. — In the midst of this imposing
scene {i.e., the taking of the veil, at which the Nunzio and
twenty-two Bishops assisted), Madame Louise was naturally
the object of every gaze. She remained in her appointed
place, calm and recollected, and doubtless thinking less of the
visible surroundings than of that Invisible Presence, and cloud
of witnesses, which are a greater reality to a fervent heart than
the most engrossing realities of the world.
Monseigneur de la Riviere, Bishop of Troyes, preached the
sermon, of which no details are given us, save that it was so
touching that all present, the royal postulant excepted, were
moved to tears. That ended, Madame Louise rose, and ac-
companied by the Dauphine, and followed by the Count, ad-
vanced with a steady step towards the cloister she was about
to enter. On the threshold she turned one last look upon the
world she was leaving, and, with a calm, grateful joy, bade it
farewell for ever.
The brilliant assembly which filled the church looked on,
half admiring, half marvelling, while the Princess prostrated
" Cameos from English History, No. chi.
29
450
PSALM-MOSAICS
herself at the Feet of Him Whose bride she sought to become,
and then saw her raised by the Prioress, who led her to the
Choir, preceded by the other Nuns ; the Dauphine and her
suite, as well as that of Madame Louise, still accompanying
her. The hymn ' O gloriosa foeminum ' was sung the while.
The Princess was placed, kneeling, in front of the grille, her
confessor, the Abbe du Ternay, and the King's chaplain, the
Abbe de Colincourt, close to her, while the Bishop of Chartres
remamed by the Dauphine, whose chaplain he was. The
Nunzio then proceeded to put the customary questions as to
the motives and intentions with which the postulant was taking
this important step, to which Madame Louise replied with
dignity and composure.
This done, the choir began to sing the '■ I/i exitu Israel^'
while she retired to take off her gorgeous apparel, and replace
it with St. Teresa's serge, an operation which she performed
joyfully, herself throwing off her royal trappings eagerly.
Robed in the dress of a novice, the Princess returned to the
choir, and, taking her place at the grille, received the girdle,
scapulary, cloak and veil, each blessed by the Nunzio, from the
hands of the Dauphine, who could not restrain her tears while
fulfilling her office.*
In the Ficrgaiorio of Dante (Canto IL 46) that great and
thoughtful poet places ' In exitu Israel diu Egypto ' in the
mouth of the spirits who see the shores of heaven from their
bark ; and a passage is cited from one of Dante's prose writings,
which showed that he read the Ti4th Psalm as the voice of
thrilling joy, fitted for the lips of all who are emancipated from
the bondage of sin, and therefore especially those who, de-
livered from the bondage of the flesh, are passing into rest.t
Longfelloiv —
' Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot !
Beatitude seemed written in his face !
And more than a hundred spirits sat within.
* Madame Loicise de France, p. 102.
f The Witness of the Psabns to Christ and Christianity, p. 178.
PSALM CXIV. 451
^ " /ji exitii Israel — out of Egypt !"
Thus sang they all together in one voice,
With whatso in that Psalm is after written.
* Then made he sign of holy rood upon them,
Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore.
And he departed swiftly as he came.'*
Tonus Feregri?ius. — This Psalm has acquired an additional
interest for us as being prophetic of our own exodus, in Christ,
from the Egyptian bondage of vSatan. . . . And the Church
has marked these characteristics by singing this Psalm for at
least 1,000 years in a special tone called ' Tonus Peregrinus '
or ' Pilgrim Tone ' — the 9th Gregorian tone . . . which is as-
serted by some writers on Church music to be derived from
the liturgical use of the Hebrew Church.
Verse i . JV/ieji Israel ca?fie out of Egypt. — When the Prince
(afterwards Charles I.) returned home, he was welcomed with
a tempest of rejoicing, and the popular feeling with regard to
Spain was shown even in the anthem selected for the thanks-
giving service held in St. Paul's on the occasion. It was,
' When Israel came out of Egypt' On the day when Bucking-
ham stood up in the House, with Prince Charles by his side,
to explain the reasons for breaking off the marriage contract,
he became for the time the most popular man in England.!
St. Odiivald, Abbot, was a Scottish nobleman, and governor
of the province of Landon, who, renouncing the world, entered
the abbey of Melrose. His joy upon this occasion he expressed
by singing these verses of the Psalmist : Jn the departing of
Israel out of Egypt, etc., and The snare is b7'oken^ and we are
delive?'ed, etc. During the whole course of his monastic life he
was remarkable for his continual advancement in spiritual
fervour, and his gift of tears, and constant prayer. His sighs
after heaven were crowned with a joyful and happy death in
698, ten years after St. Cuthbert.;
* The Celestial Pilot.
t Life of Nicholas Ferr-ar, p. 73.
X Butler's Lives of the Saints, May 26.
452 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 7. Tremble thou, earth, at the presence of the Lord. — It
is not surprising that the usual figure of speech, by which the
chroniclers express it (the penance of Henry for Becket's
murder) should be, ' The mountains tre/nbled at the presence of
the Lord J The mountain of Canterbury smoked before Him
who touches the hills, and they smoke.
The King arrived at Southampton on Monday, the 8th of
July, IT 74. From that moment he began to live on a peni-
tential diet of bread and water, and deferred all business till
he had fulfilled his vow. When he reached the Cathedral he
knelt at the porch (having stripped off his ordinary dress, and
walked through the streets in the guise of a penitent pilgrim,
barefoot, and with no other covering than a woollen shirt, and
a cloak thrown over it to keep off the rain), then entered the
Church, and went straight to the scene of the murder in the
North Transept. Here he knelt again, and kissed the sacred
stone on which the Archbishop had fallen. Then he was con-
ducted to the crypt, where he again knelt, and with groans and
tears kissed the tomb, and remained long in prayer. After the
absolution and kiss of reconciliation, he knelt again at the
tomb, and removed the rough cloak which he had thrown over
his shoulders, but still retained the woollen shirt, and received
five strokes from each Bishop and Abbot present, and three
from each of the eighty monks. Fully absolved, he resumed
his clothes, but was still left in the crypt, resting against one
of the rude Norman pillars, on the bare ground, with bare feet
still unwashed from the muddy streets, and passed the whole
night fasting. At early Matins he rose, and went round the
altars and shrines of the upper church, then returned to the
tomb ; and finally, after hearing Mass, drank of the Martyr's
well, and carried off one of the usual phials of Canterbury
pilgrims, containing water mixed with the blood, and so rode
to London.
So deep a humiliation of so great a prince was unparal-
leled within the memory of that generation. The submission of
Theodosius to Ambrose ; of Louis the Debonnairat Soissons ;
PSALM CXV. 453
of Otho III. at Ravenna ; of Edgar to Dunstan ; of the
Emperor Henry IV. to Gregory VIIL, were only known as
matters of history."^
PSALM CXV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Call to the God of Israel, the Living
God, to rescue the honour of His Name.
Origin (Perowne). — This is evidently one of the later litur-
gical Psalms. It was probably composed for the service of the
Second Temple, whilst yet the taunts of their heathen adver-
saries were ringing in the ears of the returned exiles, and
whilst yet contempt for the idolatries which they had witnessed
in Babylon was fresh in their hearts.
The Whole Psahn. — The LXX., Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic
have strangely enough, and in defiance of all probability, joined
this with the preceding Psalm, and then have restored the
balance by dividing Psalm cxvi. into two parts. Even in some
Hebrew MSS., Psalms cxiv. and cxv. are found written as one
Psalm. But the very structure of Psalm cxiv., its beauty, and
completeness in itself, are sufficient to make us wonder what
caprice could have led to such an arrangement!
Henry V. commanded this Psalm to be sung on the field of
Agincourt after the victory.
Erasmus prayer ' For the Peace of the Church ' cf. here :
' Miserere nostri, Redemptor noster, qui facillime exoraris ; non
quod nos misericordia tua digni sumus ; sed hanc gloriam no-
mini Tuo dato. Ne patiaris Judasos, Turcas reliquosque, qui
vel non noverunt Te vel glorias Tua^ invident, perpetuo de nobis
triumphare et dicere ; " Ubi Deus, ubi Redemptor, ubi Ser-
* Historical Memorials of Canterbury, by Dean Stanley, p. 122.
f The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 324.
454 PSALM-MOSAICS
vator, ubi Sponsus illorum est ?" Hasc contumeliosa verba et
convitia in Te, Domine, redundant.'*
T/ie Battle-song of Sobieski and Christendom in 1683.!
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out i?ito the
nicu7it of Olives (St. Matt. xxvi. 30). — That the hymn thus
consecrated for evermore was the 2nd part of the Hallel,
i.e.^ this Psalm and the three that followed, there can be but
little doubt. I
Verse i. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name
give the praise. — Not even David himself has exhibited more
fervent gratitude to the Divine Author of his victories than our
pious sovereign, after the defeat of the French in the battle of
Agincourt. Thus, when Montjoy, the French herald, an-
nounced to the King the tidings, ' The day is yours,' his first
exclamation is a No7i iiobis, Domine, in these words :
' Praised be God, and not our strength, for it !'
King Henry V., Act IV., Sc vii.
And soon after, when the Enghsh herald came and delivered
more fully the particulars of the victory, more fully rose also
from the royal lips the ascription of praise and thanksgiving :
' K. Henry. O GOD, Thy arm was here,
And not to us, but to Thy a?-in alone,
Ascribe we all. When, without stratagem.
But in plain shock, and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss
On one part and on the other ? Take it, GoD,
For it is only Thine !
Exeter. 'Tis wonderful !
A'. Henry. Come, go we in procession to the village :
And be it death proclaimed through our Host
To boast of this, or take that praise from God
Which is His only.''
Ibid., Sc. viii.S
* Kay on The Psalms, p. 369.
t Cheyne on The Psahns, p. 308.
X Housman on The Psalms, p. 260.
§ Shakespeare a77d the Bible, p. 170.
PSALM CXV. 455
Haydn. — On the evening of a day in the beginning of April,
1809, all the lovers of art in Vienna were assembled in the
theatre to witness the performance of the oratorio of the
'Creation.' The entertainment had been given in honour of
the composer of that noble work — the illustrious Haydn.
Now that the aged and honoured composer was present, pro-
bably for the last time, to hear it, an emotion too deep for
utterance seemed to pervade the vast audience. It seemed as
if every eye in the assembly was fixed on the calm noble face
of the venerable artist ; as if every heart beat with love for him ;
as if all feared to break the spell of hushed and holy silence.
Then came, like a succession of heavenly melodies, the music
of the ' Creation,' and the listeners were as if transported to the
infancy of the world. At the words, 'Let there be light, and
there was light,' when all the instruments were united in one
full burst of gorgeous harmony, emotion seemed to shake the
whole frame of the aged man. His pale face crimsoned ; his
bosom heaved convulsively ; he raised his eyes, streaming with
tears, towards heaven, and, lifting upwards his trembling hands,
exclaimed — his voice audible in the pause of the music— 'W^/
u7iio 77ie — not imfo me — but u7ito Thy Na77ie be all the glory ^ O
Lord:
Non nobis DoJ7ii7ie, sed tibi sit gloria. — A part of the Latin
version of this Psalm is frequently sung after grace at public
dinners, but why we can hardly imagine, except it be for fear
that donors should be proud of the guineas they have promised,
or gourmands should be vainglorious under the influence of
their mighty feeds.*
Charles Wesley quotes this verse in a MS. marginal note
attached to his hymn for malefactors, beginning :
' Return'd unto Thy kingdom, Lord,
For good remember me,
And tell a penitent restored,
I soon shall be with Thee.'
* C. H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David ^ vol. v., p. 271.
456
PSALM-MOSAICS
'These prayers were answered, Thursday, April 28th, 1785,
on nineteen malefactors, who all died penitent.
' " A'o^ zmto Jfie, O Lord, not tinto Die .'" '*
The Templar's Banner. — This first verse was the legend on
the Templar's banner ' Beauseant.'
The Russian army, at their triumphant entry into Paris, in
1814, wore a medal, on which was inscribed, ^ Not unto tis, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the praise'
Verses 4-8. Their idols are silver and gold, even the work of
men's hands. . . . They that make them are like unto them, and
so a?'e all they that put their trust in them. — Theodoret tells us
of St. Publia, the aged Abbess of a company of nuns at
Antioch, who used to chant, as Julian went by in idolatrous
procession, the Psalm, ' Their idols a?x silver and gold, eveti the
work of meiis hands. . . . They that make them ai'e like unto them,
and so are all such as put their trust in them.' And he narrates
how the angry Emperor caused his soldiers to buffet her till
she bled, unable as he was to endure the sting of the old
Hebrew song.t
Verse 16. All the whole heavens are the Lord's ; the earth hath
LLe given to the children of men. — It is told of Nivard, youngest
brother of St. Bernard, that when all the elder sons of the
family had resolved to enter the monastic order, Guy de Fon-
tanes, the senior amongst them, said to the boy, ' Farewell, my
little brother Nivard, you will have all the estates and lands to
yourself;' and the lad answered, 'What, you take heaven for
your portion, and leave me only the earth 1 The division is
too unequal.' Hence we are taught that though the earth is
given by God to the children of men, yet He has a better
country, even heaven, to give to sucti as will seek it, who are
* The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, vol. viii., p. 343.
t Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 245.
PSALM CXV. 457
sons of God, not mere children of men, and who can win
heaven by exchanging earth for it, in contempt of riches and
luxury, of lands and houses, and all things which are not of
the Gospel.*
Verse 17. The dead praise not Thee, O Lord. — Solomon was
wiser than all other men, wiser even than Adam, who gave
names to all the animals of the world, and even to himself,
saying : ' From the dust of the ground I was formed, and
therefore shall my name be Adam.' Rabbi Tanchum said :
' Where is thy wisdom and thy understanding, O King Solo-
mon ? Thy words not only contradict themselves, but also the
words of David, thy father. He said, ^^ Not the dead ca?i
praise the Lord'' (Ps. cxv. 17), and thou didst say, "There-
upon praised I the dead that are already dead, more than the
living who are still alive" (Eccles. iv. 2) ; and thou didst also
say, ^' For a living dog fareth better than a dead Hon " ' {Lbid.
ix. 4).
These seeming contradictions, however, may be readily ex-
plained. David said, 'Not the dead can praise the Lord,'
meaning that we should study God's law during life, as after
its cessation 'twould be impossible. Solomon said, ' There-
upon praised I the dead that are already dead.'
When the children of Israel sinned in the wilderness, Moses
prayed for them for their own sakes, and his prayer was un-
answered ; but when he said, ' Remember Abraham and Isaac
and Israel, Thy servants,' he met with a prompt reply. There-
fore did not Solomon speak well in saying, ' Praise the dead
that are already dead ' ? Take another instance. A king may
decree laws, but many of his subjects may disregard them.
Sometimes these laws, even if earnestly observed during the
life of the one who made them, may be repealed or become
obsolete after his death. Moses, however, made many strin-
gent laws, which have been observed throughout all genera-
tions. Therefore Solomon said well, ' Thereupon will I praise
the dead.'
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iii., p. 495.
458 PSALM-MOSAICS
Rabbi Judah, in the name of Rab, further explained this
verse. He said, 'What is the meaning of the following pas-
sage?— "Show me a token for good, that the}^ who hate me
may see it, and be ashamed'" (Ps. Ixxvi, 17). David said to
God, after his sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam. xii.), ' Sovereign of the
universe, pardon me for my sin.' The Lord answered, ' I will
pardon thee.' Thien said David, 'Show me the token in my
lifetime ' ; but God said, ' Not in thy lifetime, but in the life-
time of Solomon, thy son, will I show it.' Thus, when Solo-
mon dedicated the temple, though he prayed with fervent
devotion, he was not answered until he said, ' O Lord God,
turn not away from the face of Thy anointed. Remember the
pious deeds of David, Thy servant' (2 Chron. vi. 42). Then
he was speedily answered, for in the next verse we read, ' And
when Solomon had made an end of praying, a fire came down
from heaven and consumed the burnt offering, and the sacri-
fices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.' Then were
the enemies of David put to shame, for all Israel knew that
God had pardoned David for his sin. Did not Solomon say
well then, ' Thereupon praised I the dead ' ? For this reason,
further on in the chapter we read, 'And on the three-and-
twentieth day of the seventh month he dismissed the people
unto their huts, joyful and glad of heart, because of the good
that the Lord had done for David, and for Solomon, and for
Israel His people.' Solomon said, ' For a living dog fareth
better than a dead lion.' Expounding this verse, Rabbi Judah
said, in the name of Rab, ' What is the meaning of the verse,
" Let me know, O Lord, my end, and the measure of my
days, what it is ; I wish to know when I shall cease to be " ?
(Ps. xxxix. 5). David said to God : ' Let me know, O Lord,
my end ' ; God answered, ' I have decreed that for each one
his end must be veiled in the future.' Then David said,
' What is the measure of my days?' Again God replied, 'No
man may know the measure of his days.' ' I wish to know
when I shall cease to be,' continued David ; and God answered,
'Thou wilt die on a Sabbath.' ' Let me die the day after,' en-
PSALM CXVI. 459
treated David ; but the Lord answered, * No ; then the king-
dom will be Solomon's, and one reign may not take away from
another reign even so much as a hair's breadth.' ' Then let
me die the day before,' exclaimed David, ' for a day in Thy
courts is better than a thousand elsewhere ' And God said,
' One day spent by thee in studying My law is more acceptable
than the thousand burnt-offerings thy son Solomon will sacri-
fice.' It was David's custom to pass every Sabbath in the
study of the Bible and its precepts, and he was thus engaged
upon the Sabbath which was to be his last. At the back of
the King's palace there was an orchard, and David, hearing a
noise therein, walked thither to ascertain its cause. On entering
the orchard, he fell to the ground, dead. The noise in the orchard
had been caused by the barking of the King's dogs, who had not
that day received their food. Solomon sent a message to the
Rabbinical College, saying, ' My father hes dead in the orchard ;
is it allowable to remove his body on the Sabbath ? The dogs
of my father are entreating for their food ; is it proper to cut
meat for them to-day?' This answer was returned by the
College : ' Thy father's body should not be removed to-day ;
but give meat to the dogs.' Therefore said Solomon, ' A living
dog fareth better than a dead lion,' justly comparing the son
of Jesse to that king of beasts.'''
PSALM CXVL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Thanksgiving song of one who has
escaped from death.
Contents (Syriac). — The progressive advancement of a new
people turning to Christian worship, like a child to understand-
ing. In its literal sense containing an allusion to the fact that
Saul came and sat at the door of the cave in which David and
his men were concealed.
* The Talmud, pp. 197-200.
46o PSALM -MOSAICS
Origin (Perowne). — The Psalm is evidence of the truth and
depth of the rehgious hfe in individuals after the return from
the Exile ; for there can be little doubt that it must be assigned
to that period.
Ill Church. — At the Holy Eucharist, in the Roman Church,
the words of Psalm cxvi. 1 2 are said by the Priest as he com-
municates himself with the chalice.
In the Holy Eastern Church, too, at the Burial of Priests.
Prokeimenon of the Epistle.
Office for the Churching of Women. — This Psalm has two
aspects — the original and personal, and the secondary or litur-
gical. In the festal Hallel it was, of course, used in the latter
sense, although it clearly must have been written as an over-
flowing of individual gratitude upon recovery from a dangerous
illness. In our own Church the same double use is retained,
its latter character being alone thought of in the Thanksgiving
of Women after Childbirth, and its former in ordinary Public
Worship.*
The Apostolical Constitutions recommend this (among other
passages from the Psalms) for use at the funerals of the faith-
ful.!
The Whole Psalm. — The 11 6th Psalm has furnished the
Church with a great Eucharistic motto :
' What shall I render unto the Lord
For all His benefits towards me ?
I will take the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.'i
There is ^Jeivish tradition that this Psalm was a thanks-
giving of Hezekiah after his recovery from sickness, and there
are so many parallelisms of language between it and the story
of that event, as recorded by Isaiah, that no reasonable doubt
* Housman on The Fsal//is, p. 262.
+ Kay on The Psalms, p. 374.
X The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity, p. 219.
PSALM CXVI. 461
remains that the Psahii is directly based on the Prophet's nar-
rative.*
Di\ Chey?ie says, ' See Keble's lovely version.' Here are the
lines on the first two verses :
' How dear to me the bliss,
That God my voice should hear !
I ask'd Him not amiss,
For He hath bow'd His ear,
And I have sworn through all my days
To seek His aid and sing His praise.'
Verse 9. / ivill walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
■ — St. Frederic was chosen eighth Bishop of Utrecht in the year
820. He incurred the hatred of Judith, wife of the Emperor
Lewis, the Debonnaire, because he boldly rebuked her for her
immoralities. ' Whilst this holy pastor was intent only upon
the duties of his charge, one day when he came from the altar,
having said Mass, as he was going to kneel down in the chapel
of St. John Baptist to perform his thanksgiving and other
private devotions, he was stabbed in the bowels by two assas-
sins. He expired in a few minutes, reciting that verse of the
1 1 6th Psalm : I will please the Lord in the land of the living.'
The author of his life says these assassins were employed by
the Empress Judith, who could not pardon the liberty he had
taken to reprove her incest, f
Verse 12. What shall L render unto the Lord for all LLis
benefits toward me ? (Bible version). — Quid retribeam Domino
pro omnibus qu^e retribuit mihi ? This question is asked in
the Psalmist's words by an eminent Bishop of Durham more
than five centuries ago, Richard of Bury {c. 1200 a.d.), the
most learned man of his country and age. The answer, as
might be expected, is a scholar's answer. He had asked him-
self again and again, he writes, what pious service would best
please the most High God, and confer the greatest benefit on
the Church Militant ; and lo, a troop of poor scholars pre-
"'■ Dr. Neale's Commentaiy, vol. iii., p. 498.
t Butler's Lives of the Saints (July 3).
462 PSALM-MOSAICS
sented themselves to the eye of his mind. These were they
who might have grown up into strong pillars of the Church ;
but though thirsting for knowledge after the first taste, and apt
students of the liberal arts, yet, for the sake of a livelihood,
they were forced, by a sort of apostasy, to return to mechanic
pursuits, to the great loss of the Church and to the degradation
of the whole clergy. So, he adds, his compassionate affection
took the special form of providing poor scholars, not only with
the exigencies of life, but also with a supply of useful books.
Richard of Bury ' was a man,' writes Petrarch, ' of fervid
genius.' In an age when books were scarce, his rooms were
strewn with books. His rich library he left to Durham College,
Oxford, for the use of the University at large. This was the
first beginning of a University or College Library in England
on any considerable scale — the true progenitor of the Bodleian.
When Bishop Richard's soul migrated hence, his four seals, we
are told, were delivered to the Chapter and broken up ; and
from the precious metal thus obtained was fashioned a chalice
for the sanctuary of Durham Cathedral.^''
/ will receive the cup of salvation^ and call upon the Name
of the Lord. — Typical emblem of that Eucharistical 'cup of
blessing ' in which the faithful communicant is admitted to the
nearest intimacy with God in the Blessed Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper.
The Church of England, in appointing this Psalm as a
Thanksgiving for Women after Childbirth, has taught us to
make this spiritual application, by exhorting the woman to
show her thankfulness by the reception of the Holy Com-
munion.!
Verse 13. / will pay my vows 7iow in the presence of all
His people ; right dear ifi the sight of the Lord is the death of
His saints. — As St. Babylas of Antioch was on his w^ay to
* Bishop \a^\.{oo\!% Sermon preached before the University of Durham,
1892.
t Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 183.
PSALM CXVI. 463
martyrdom under Decius, he recited : ' / wi/l pay my vows
no7v hi the prese7ice of all His people ; right dear in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His saints. Turn again then unto thy
rest, O my soul.''*'
Verse 13. Dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints. — ' About this time the good Mere Anne de St. Alexis
was taken to her rest. Madame Louise (de France, Reverende
Mere Terese de St. Augustin) had a special affection for this
nun, who had watched over her beginnings in the religious
life, and whose experience of personal holiness (she had been
Superioress during two years at different times) made her ad-
vice very useful to the Royal pupil. The venerable Mother
was seized with apoplexy while saying the office in choir at the
moment that the words, ^^ Dear in the sight of the Lord is the
death of His saints'' were being repeated.'!
Verse 15. L iv ill offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgivings a?id
will call upon the Name of the Lord. — This is, in the literal
sense, a promise to make the Levitical thankoffering of fine
flour, which answers to the festival Cup named earlier in the
Psalm, and represents for us the remaining species of the
Eucharistic Oblations; whence this Psalm, from verse 10 to
the end, is one of those appointed to be recited by Priests of
the Western Church before saying Mass.:}:
Verse 16. L ivill pay my vows unto the Lord. — Foxe, in his
Acts and Mo?iu?nents, relates the following concerning the
martyr John Philpot : He went with the sheriffs to the place
of execution, and when he was entering into Smithfield the way
was foul, and two officers took him up to bear him to the stake,
and then he said merrily, ' What, will ye make me a pope ? I
am content to go to my journey's end on foot.' But first
coming into Smithfield, he kneeled down there, saying these
words, ' I will pay my vows in thee, O Smithfield.'
* Delitzsch's Cof?i»ientary, vol. iii., p. 219.
t Madame Louise de France, p. 231.
+ Dr. Neale's Commentary^ vol. iii., p. 509.
464 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM CXVIL
Headijig (Delitzsch). — Invitation to the people to come into
the Kingdom of God.
Contents (Syriac). — Anonymous ; spoken of the company
of Ananias when they came out of the furnace ; and predict-
ing the call of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel.
Origin (Perowne). — This short Psalm may have been a
doxology intended to be sung after other Psalms, or perhaps
at the beginning or end of the Temple service.
In Church. — Psalm cxvii. occurs daily in the Greek Evening
Service."^
The Whole Psalm. — It may be worth noting that this is at
once the shortest chapter of the Scriptures and the central
portion of the whole Bible. f
Elias Hutter.^ a learned Protestant Divine of Nuremburg,
published in 1589 the 117th Psalm in thirty different lan-
guages.:;
Cromivell and his soldiers sung this Psalm after the battle
of Dunbar.§
JMicholas Ferrar, junior, the godson of saintly Nicholas
Ferrar, and also his nephew, was wonderful in his knowledge
of languages. 'Among the papers found in his study after
his premature death is a scheme for translating the New Testa-
ment into fifty languages, and underneath the list of these
languages he had written, " This, by the help of God, I intend
to effect, and also to translate the Church Catechism into these
languages, so likewise the iiyth Fsalni, ^Praise the Lord., all
* Interleaved Prayer- Book., p. 301.
f C. H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, vol. v., p. 316.
X Holland's Psalmists of Britain, p. 24.
^ Hood's Life, p. 234.
PSALM CXVIII. 465
ye heathe?i: praise Bim, all ye nations; and present them to
the King, that he may print them and send them to all nations."
The amount of work of this kind which he actually executed
is truly astonishing.
'On the Tuesday before Whit Sunday, May 19, 1640, at
the age of twenty-one, Nicholas Ferrar the younger was taken
away from the evil to come.'*
PSALM CXVIII.
Beading (Delitzsch).— Festival Psalm at the Dedication of
the New Temple.
Contents (Syriac). — Anonymous ; in its literal sense referring
to Asaph the Recorder, and to the Priests that minister unto
the Lord ; and alluding prophetically to the victorious agonists,
and to the Messiah.
Origin (Perowne).— It is evident that this Psalm was
designed to be sung in the Temple worship, and was com-
posed for some festal occasion. . . . The allusions in the latter
part, and especially verse 24, ' This is the day which Jehovah
hath made,' etc., point to some great festival as the occasion
for which it was written. Its general character, and the many
passages in it borrowed from earlier writers, render it probable
that it is one of the later Psalms, and we may assume that it
was composed after the return from the Captivity.
In Church. — In the Roman Church at the Holy Eucharist,
' Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord,' Ps.
cxviii. 26, after the Sanctus. The whole Psalm also in the
Office for the Dying.
In the Orthodox Eastern Church — Liturgy of St. Chrysostom,
Holy Eucharist. During the Trisagion the Priest, as he goes
* Life of Nicholas Ferrar, p. 279.
30
466 PSALM-MOSAICS
towards the Altar, recites, ' Blessed . . . cometh in the Name
of the Lord,' Ps. cxviii. 26.
This Psalm is used in solemn official moleben (or thanks-
giving service) for the Emperor and the members of the
Imperial Family.*
Easter Day. — ' The special teaching of this Psalm, when
sung on Easter Day, centres in and radiates from verse 22, and
it throws a still greater halo of sanctity around its words to
remember them as having been sung by the Chief Cornerstone
Himself, on the very eve of His rejection, by the Great
Sacrifice within a few hours of His being bound with cords to
the altar of the cross. Well may we on the Day of Resurrec-
tion, in full view of all benefits which His Agony and Death
brought us, sing, ' Thou art my God, and I will thank Thee ;
Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee.'f
That this Psalm is a prophecy of that triumphal entry on
the Sunday before the Passion, we know from our Blessed
Lord's authority (see verse 22, compared with St. Matthew
xxi. 22) ; and that it stretches forth in its Divine significance to
the following first day of the week, namely, to the Day of the
Lord's Resurrection, thenceforward to be called 'The Lord's
Day,' is evident from verses 22, 24, 27, and the Western
Church has confirmed this opinion, by appointing this Psalm
to be used on the weekly Festival of the Lord's Resurrection.
The Church of England fitly uses it on Easter Day.t
The Whole Psalm. — ^Their armies (that of Henri of Navarre,
the Huguenots, and that of the Duke of Joyeuse) in 1588 lay
in sight of one another all night. At dawn Henri put his
men in array; but just then one of the pastors, backed by the
able statesman Duplessis Mornay, came to him to reproach
him with one of his frequent immoralities, assuring him that
he could expect no blessing on his arms, unless he showed
* Sketches of the Graco- Russian Church, p. 271.
t Housman on The Psahns, p. 270.
+ Bishop Wordsworth's Co?n/>ientary.
I PSALM CXVIII. 467
penitence. Henri complied, and went through the prescribed
penance. Unhappily, it is only too certain that he did not
repent, or only for the moment, and that his compliance was
simply an act of expediency to obtain the enthusiastic support
of the Huguenots. On them it produced full effect. They
knelt in prayer, and then thundered forth the 11 8th Psalm;
then Maximilian de Rosny, Henri's most faithful friend, so
directed his three cannon that in each of seven discharges
they swept away from twenty to thirty men ; while Joyeuse's
artillery, though far more numerous, were so placed that the
balls went harmlessly into a bank without damaging the
Hu,o^uenots. The latter gained the victory, the first battle the
Reformed had ever won."^
Luther wrote on his study wall, 'The 11 8th Psalm is m,y
Psalm which I love. Without it, neither emperor nor king,
though wise and prudent, nor saints, could have helped me.'t
This Psalm was sung by the troops of William, Prince of
Orange, immediately after their landing at Torbay. William
Carstairs accompanied the Prince in his eventful voyage to
England, and was the first, Scotsman and Presbyterian as he
was. to call down the blessing of heaven on the expedition by
the religious service which he celebrated immediately on his
landing at Torbay, after which the troops all along the beach,
at his instance, joined in the ii8th Psalm. From that time he
was William's companion on every field of battle, his most
trusted adviser in all that related to the affairs of Scotland.
Cardinal Carstairs was the name by which he was usually
known, alluding to the sayings of Cardinal Ximenes, that he
could play at football with the heads of the Castilian grandees.. t
Charles V. — In those days when it was the custom for kings
and courtiers to choose for themselves special Psalms, this was
* Cameos from English History, No. clxxviii.
t Tholuck.
X History of the Church of Scotland, by Dean Stanley, p. 117,
468 PSALM-MOSAICS
the selected of Charles V. The biographer of Clement Marot
tells that, in 1540, he presented to that emperor, as he was
passing through France, a copy of his Psalter as far as it had
been carried.
The emperor accepted it benignly, gave the poet 200
doubloons, and asked him to complete his translation, praying
him especially to send him, as soon as he could, the translation
of the II 8th, Co7ijiteini7ii Doviino quoniaiti boniis^ as he loved
it much.
It took rank along with the 68th Psalm as the battle-song of
the Huguenots, and in the fields and woods the 24th verse was
the frequent opening of their worship :
' La voici I'heureuse journee
Que Dieu a faite a plein desir ;
Par nous soit joie demence.
Et preuons en elle plaisir.'*
Coiiwiendation of Departing Soul. — In all the mediaeval offices
for the commendation of a departing spirit, it is always ordered
that, when the other prayers have been said, if the soul be yet
waiting, the it 8th and 119th Psalms should be added. What,
the 1 1 8th Psalm! One of the most jubilant in the Psalter!
One beyond which no thanksgiving can go ! One that might
suit some signal triumph, some glorious victory ! Why? Because
the poor soul is being delivered from the bondage of corruption
unto the glorious liberty of the sons of GoD.t
Martin Luther. — In the midsummer of 1530, when Alelanc-
thon was deputed to present the Confession of the Protestant
Churches of Germany to the Diet at Augsburg, Luther was
advised to abstain from any public appearance. Looking out
from his retirement on the perils of the time, ' The sea and
the waves roaring, and men's hearts failing them from fear,' he
found in the 118th Psalm a word in season, and set his pen
to work on an exposition of it. In the dedication, which is
* The Psabjis in History and Biography, p. 139.
+ Dr. Neale's Sermons on i/ie Psalms^ p. 255.
PSALM CXVIII. 469
dated ' ex eremo, the first of July mdxxx,' he gives a charac-
teristic expression to his love for this portion of the Divine
word : ' Since I am obliged to sit here idle in the desert, and,
moreover, must sometimes spare my head, and give it a rest
and holiday from my great task of translating all the Prophets,
I have gone back to my mine of wealth, my treasure. I have
taken in hand my precious Psalm, the Confitemini, and put
on paper my meditation upon it. For it is my Psalm that I
delight in. For although the whole Psalter and the Holy
Scripture are dear to me, my proper comfort in life, I have
taken so to this Psalm in particular that I must call it my
own. Many a service has it done me ; out of many great
perils has it helped me, when help I had none, either from
emperor or king, or wise or prudent. I would not give it in
exchange for the honour, wealth, or power of all the world,
Pope, Turk, and Emperor. In calling this Psalm mine own,
I rob no man of it. Christ is mine ; nevertheless, He is the
same Christ to all the saints that He is to me. Would God
that all the world would challenge the Psalm for their own as
I do ; it would be such friendly contention as scarce any unity
or love would compare with. Alas, that there should be sc
few, even among those who might well do it, who will once
say to the Holy Scriptures, or to the same particular Psalm,
Thou art my book ; thou shalt be mine own Psalm !'*
Verses 8, 9. // is bettei' to trust in the Lord tJiaii to put any
confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put
any confidoice in princes. — Compare these lines from an oracle
said to have been given to Esarhaddon (Budge, History of
Esarhaddon, pp. 3, 4) : ' Upon mankind trust not, (but) bend
thine eyes upon me — trust to me ; for I am Istar of Arbela ;'
and these from an Egyptian hymn to Amen the sun-god
{Records of the Fast, vi. 99) :
* Luther's Saemtliche Schriften (Watch's edition), vol. v., p. 1704.
470 PSALM.MOSAICS
' Let no prince he my defender in all my troubles :
Let not my memorial be placed under the power
Of any man who is in the house . . . my Lord is [my] defender.'*
Verse lo. A// na/ions compassed me round about ^ but in the
name of the Lord will I destroy them. — St. Bernard when seized
with a most dangerous iUness, in which he was quite, and for
a long time together, given over, was haunted by the fear that,
in the multitude of spirits continually passing from this to the
next world, his soul might be overlooked, and thus lost from
the Presence of God. He fled for refuge to that verse of
the Psalm, All nations compassed me round about, but in the
name of the Lord will L destroy the?n.\
Verse 12. They came about me like bees., and are extinct even
as the fire among the thorns ; fori?! the Name of the Lord L will
destroy them. — In Ha7nlet, Polonius warns Ophelia not to trust
too readily to the advances of the young prince^ however
accompanied with protestations of affection :
' These blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat — extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making, —
You must not take for fire.''
Act L, Sc. iii.
And again in the First Fai-t of King Henry IV., the same
image occurs to describe the companions of the sovereign
whom Henry had supplanted :
'The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,
Soon kindled and sooji hirnt. '
Act IIL, Sc. ii.
' Bavin ' means brushwood. In like manner David, in Psalm
cxviii. 1 2, says of his enemies : ' They are extinct, even as the
fire among the thorns ; for in the name of the Lord I will
destroy them.'l
Whitfield was born in 1714 at Gloucester. He was of a
* 77/tf Book of Psalms, by Rev. T. K. Cheyne, p. 315.
t Dr. Neale's Sermons on the Psalms, p. 271.
X ■Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 328.
PSALM CXVIII.
471
veritable irritable temper, and at times when the tricks of his
school-fellows annoyed him beyond endurance, he is said to
have declared that ' T/iey compass vie about like bees ; but in the
name of the Lord will I destroy the?n.'
Chanting verse 12 of Psalm cxviii. with voice that rose
high above the din of battle, the Protestant army rushed to
victory at Coutras."^
Verse 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall. —
Thou hast indeed. Thou hast done thy part, O Satan, and it
has been well done. Thou hast known my weakest parts,
thou hast seen where my armour was not buckled in tightly,
and thou hast attacked me at the right time and in the right
way. The great Spanish poet Calderon tells of one who wore
a heavy suit of armour for a whole year, and laid it by for one
hour. In that hour the enemy came, and the man paid for
his negligence with his l:fe. ' Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of
life which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.'f
Ferse 17. I shall not die^ but live. — In Bishop Hannington's
diary is the following entry ; he was very ill with dysentery at
the time : ' October 6th. Slightly better, but still in very great
pain. To our immense surprise Stokes turned up early this
morning. When I heard his voice, I exclaimed, ^^ I shall live^
and not die. '" It inspired me with new life. I felt that they
had returned that I might go with them.'j
Wycliffe was now getting old, but the Reformer was worn
out rather by the harassing attacks of his foes and his
incessant and evergrowing labours than with the weight of
years, for he was not yet sixty. He fell sick. With un-
bounded joy the friars heard that their great enemy was dying.
Of course he was overwhelmed with horror and remorse for
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. i., p. 38.
+ John Mason Neale.
X Life of Bishop Hanningiofi, p. 233.
472 PSALM-MOSAICS
the evil he had done them, and they would hasten to his bed-
side and receive the expressions of his penitence and sorrow.
In a trice a little crowd of shaven crowns assembled round
the couch of the sick man, delegates from the four orders of
friars ! They began fair with him, ' health and restoration
from his distemper' ; but speedily changing their tone, they
exhorted him, as one on the brink of the grave, to make full
confession, and express his unfeigned grief for the injuries he
had inflicted on their order.
Wycliffe being silent till they should have made an end,
and then making his servant raise him a little on his pillow,
and fixing his keen eyes upon them, he said with a loud voice,
' I shall not die, but live, and declare the evil deeds of the
Friars !' The monks rushed in astonishment and confusion
from the chamber.*
Ferse 22. T/ze same stojie which the builders refused^ is become
the head stone in tJiecoj-ner. — The author of Historia Scholastica
mentions it as a tradition, that at the building of the second
temple there was a particular stone of which that was literally
true which is here parabolically rehearsed, viz., that it had the
hap to be often taken up by the builders, and as oft rejected,
and at last it was found to be perfectly fit for the most honour-
able place, that of the chief corner stone which coupled the
sides of the Avails together, the extraordinariness whereof
occasioned the speech here following : ' This is the Lord's
doing : it is rriarvellous i7i our eyesJ\
R. F. Littledale :
* Higher yet, and ever higher, passeth He those ranks above,
Where the seraphs are enkindled with the flame of endless love ;
Passeth them, for not e'en seraphs ever loved so well as He
"Who hath borne for His beloved, stripes and thorns and shameful tree ;
Ever further, ever onward, where no angel's feet may tread,
Where the four-and-twenty elders prostrate fall in mystic dread,
* The History of Protestantism, by Dr. Wyllie.
t Henry Hammond.
PSALM CXVIII. 473
Where the four strange living creatures sing their hymns before the throne,
The Despised One and Rejected passeth in His might alone ;
Passeth through the dazzling rainbow, till upon the Father's right
He IS seated, his Co-equal, Gon of God, and Light of Light.'
Verse 23. This is the Lord's doing : a?id it is marvellous in
our eyes. — Queen Elizabeth of England, during the last days of
her sister's life, waited at Hatfield, surrounded by courtiers,
and daily hearing reports of Mary's death. Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton first brought her the real tidings, but she refused
to act on them till one of the ladies whom she trusted should
have sent her the black enamelled espousal ring, which never
left Mary's finger. PJefore the ring came, however, the coun-
cillors themselves had armed and paid their homage to her as
their undisputed queen. She sank on her knees, and exclaimed
in Latin : ' This is the Lord's doi?ig : and it is 7narvellous in our
eyes'*
Verse 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. — It
added not a little to Dr. Wordsworth's gratification to find that
Tuesday, November 17th, the day on which he accepted
Lincoln, was a marked day in the annals of the diocese. As
was his usual habit at Westminster, he had attended the Abbey
service, and was struck by the anthem beginning, ' This is the
day which the Lord hath made. ' On inquiring the reason for
its selection, he was told that it was the anniversary of the
accession of Queen Elizabeth (the second foundress, so to
speak, of Westminster), and also the day of St. Hugh of
Lincoln. He often in later life used to refer with pleasure to
this coincidence.!
This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice
and be glad in it. — This Psalm was the Psalm said by the
dear little children of Mrs. Tait every Sunday. She says in
her most touching account of the death of her five little ones :
' Sundays were days of great happiness with them. They would
* Cameos from Eji^lish History, No. cxlvii.
f I.ife of Bishop Wordsworth^ p. 207.
474 PSALM-MOSAICS
often, before we were up, come in, the five together, with their
bright, happy Sunday look, take their place beside us, and
chant wnth clear voice, " T/iis is the day the Lord hath made :
we will rejoice and be glad i7i it "; then say all together a Sunday
hymn, " Put the spade and wheel away, Do no weary work
to-day"; then the 122nd Psalm, ''I was glad when they said
unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord." After
their prayers I would explain the Gospel or Epistle to the
three eldest. Happy Christian English home ! Happy children
in Abraham's bosom ! Happy mother, now with her loved
ones in Paradise the blessed ! Happy father, w^aiting in rest-
ing hope the time when all will be one again.'*
Verse 25. Help me now, O Lord: O Lord, se?id us now
prosperity. — The cry of the multitudes as they thronged in our
Lord's triumphal procession into Jerusalem (St. Matthew xxi.
9; St. Mark xi. 9; St. John xii. 13) was taken from this
Psalm, from which they were accustomed to recite the 25th
and 26th verses at the Feast of Tabernacles. On that occasion
the great Hallel, consisting of Psalms cxiii.-cxviii., was chanted
by one of the priests, and at certain intervals the multitudes
joined in the responses, waving their branches of willow and
palm, and shouting as they waved them, ' Hallelujah,' or
'Hosannah,' or 'O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.'
This was done at the recitation of the first and last verses of
Psalm cxviii., but according to the school of Hillel at the
words, 'Save now, we beseech thee ! . . .'t
Verse 26. Blessed is ILe that cometh in the Name of the Lord.
The liturgical use of these words in the Mass is of remote
antiquity. In the Liturgy of St. James, the congregation utters
them in response to the Deacon's invitation to draw near the
altar for communion. In that of St. Clement they form part
of the anthem sung by the people immediately after the 'Holy
things for holy persons ' has been uttered by the Priest at the
* Catherine and Craufurd Tait, p. 261.
t Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.
PSALM CXVIII. 475
elevation. In that of St. Chrysostom, the Priest uses the
words much earlier in the office— just after the Prayer of the
Trisagion— and the choir recites it again, as part of the Ter-
sanctus, before the words of Institution ; while the Roman
Missal, not dissimilarly, uses it as part of the Sanctus at the
end of the Preface, immediately before the Canon begins."*^
Blessed is he that comet/i m the Name of the J.ord were the
words with which Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and William
Longespee were received at Acre as Crusaders.
Verses 26, 27. Blessed be he that conieth in the Name of the
Lord. . . . God is the Lord. — The early Christian inhabitants
of Syria no doubt abandoned their cities — extensive remains
of which exist at the present day — on the irruption of the
Persians under Chosroes I., in a.d. 574, or under Chosroes II.,
A.D. 611, or, at the latest, on the Saracenic invasion of Syria
under Abu Bekr, a.d. 634. There is a melancholy interest in
contrasting the ancient dignity and grandeur of the Church in
Syria, as witnessed to by these stately ruins, with its present
deep decline and degradation, as exhibited among the scat-
tered remnants of the flock of Christ which still exist in the
city where the disciples were first called Christians.
El-Hass consists of a vast extent of ruins— the most
conspicuous that of a church ; next to this, the most striking
objects are the tombs. They vary very much in character, and
many of them are exceedingly handsome. Some have been
excavated in the live rock, in the walls of the quarries, out of
which the buildings have been erected. Others are solid square
structures, sometimes in two stories, covered in some instances
with massive semicircular covers, in others with pyramidal
roofs, very similar to Absalom's Pillar at Jerusalem.
On one of these latter is a long Greek inscription, beauti-
fully carved, running along the cornice, part of which I de-
ciphered, and found it to contain passages from Psalms cxviii.
* Dr. Neale's Commentary^ vol. iii., p. 529.
476 PSALM-MOSAICS
26, 27, and Ixv. 10.— ^ Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of
the Lord. . . . God is the Lord, and hath appeared unto us. —
Thou hast visited the earth, and watered it abundantly '"^
PSALM CXIX.
Headi7ig (Delitzsch). — A twenty-two fold string of aphorisms
by one who is persecuted for the sake of his faith.
Title (Spurgeon). — There is no title to this Psalm, neither is
any author's name mentioned. It is the longest Psalm, and
this is a sufficiently distinctive name for it.
Co7ite7its (Syriac). — Anonymous. A principal meditation
upon the excellency that is in God.
Origin (Perowne). — The date of this Psalm cannot be fixed
with anything like certainty, though it may probably be referred
to a time subsequent to the return from the Babylonish
captivity.
/;/ Chnrch. — Verses 1-32 are used in the Roman Office for
the Dying, and for the Burial of Children. In the Midnight
Office of the Greek Church Psalm cxix. is sung in three por-
tions, each ending with the Glory and Alleluia. These portions
end with verses 72, 131, 176. The Psalm is called the Amomos
— ' Undefiled.' It is also used in the Greek Burial Service.!
This Psalm is said through every day from beginning to end
in the Offices of the West. In the East it appears to have
been appointed for recitation, not every day, but every Lord's
Day. See the homily upon Psalm cxxi., appended in some
editions to the works of St. Chrysostom. The author begins
his homily thus : 'As a great treasure, and spiritual wealth,
and most delightsome benefit of souls, and for the praise and
glory of God, and for the security of our life, and a pattern of
* Holy Eastern Church, Patriarchate of Antioch, by Dr. Neale, Notes,
p. xxxi.
t The Interleaved Frayer-Book, p. 303.
PSALM CXIX. 477
good works, the noble chiefs and teachers, our Holy Fathers,
have directed us to sing and play Psalm cxviii. (A.V. cxix.)
upon the first day in the revolution of the week, which day is
with us also called the Lord's Day, because of the Lords
resurrection upon that day.' In the Sarum and in the Roman
Breviary it is said daily at the lesser offices : at Prime, verses
1-32; at Terce, verses 33-80; at Sext, verses 81-128; at
None, verses 129-176. In every case the Gloria Patri is said
at the end of every sixteen verses (and not at the end of every
eight, as the Book of Common Prayer directs), presumably in
order to preserve the ancient usage of making the number of
Psalms odd.'^
The Whole Fsalm. — The 119th Psalm has ever been un-
popular with those who read the Psalter merely as literature.
The longest of the entire collection, it is formed of twenty-two
strophes, each consisting of eight distichs, the whole eight
commencing with the same letter in the order of the Hebrew
alphabet. The word ' law ' occurs twenty-five times, ' statute '
twenty-three times, and so on with a succession of synonyms,
the word ' word ' being repeated some thirty times. Entire
phrases are reproduced again and again, especially the prayer
'■ qtiicke?! me^ Yet few Psalms are dearer to the Church's
heart. Thousands of Christians repeat the greater portion of
it every day. (See Prayers for the third, sixth and ninth hours,
in the Treasury of Devotion.) It contains the shortest and
most pregnant statements of the great principles of the spiritual
life. ... I have spoken in one of these lectures of ' the long
colourless distances of the 119th Psalm.' Anyone who wishes
to see how these distances may be made to become full of life
and colour— how these distichs are interlinked by a higher
connection than that of logic — will do well to study Dr.
Pusey's Sermons on verses 59, 60 {^Sermons during the Season
from Advent to JVhit-Su?tdaj', pp. 156, 170).
I will only add one other testimony — that of Mr. Ruskin in
* Armtield on T/ie Gradual Fsalvis, p. 96.
478 PSALM -MOSAICS
the J^ors Clavigera : ' It is strange that of all the pieces of the
Bible which my mother thus taught me, that which cost me
most to learn, and which was, to my childish mind, chiefly
repulsive — the 119th Psalm — has now become of all the most
precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love
for the law of God.'"^
Keble speaks of the ' direct, lightning-like force of the in-
spired sentences throughout the 119th Psalm. 'f
St. Chrysostom says of this Psalm : The Psalm is an in-
exhaustible treasury of spiritual riches.
In Mattheiv Henrfs account of the Life and Death of his
father, Philip Henry, he says : ' Once pressing the study of the
Scriptures, he advised us to take a verse of this Psalm every
morning to meditate upon, and so go over the Psalm twice in
the year ; and that, saith he, will bring you to be in love with
all the rest of the Scriptures.' He often said, 'All grace grows
as love to the Word of God grows. 't
In our German versioJi it has the appropriate inscription,
' The Christian's golden A B C of the praise, love, power, and
use of the Word of God.'§
George Wishart, the chaplain and biographer of ' the great
Marquis of Montrose,' as he was called, would have shared the
fate of his illustrious patron but for the following singular ex-
pedient : When upon the scaffold he availed himself of the
custom of the times, which permitted the condemned to choose
a Psalm to be sung. He selected the 119th Psalm, and before
two-thirds of the Psalm had been sung a pardon arrived, and
his hfe was preserved. It may not be out of place to add that
the George Wishart, Bishop of Edinburgh, above referred to,
has been too often confounded with the godly martyr of the
same name who lived and died a century previously. We only
* 7716 IVitness of the Fsalins to Christ and Ch7-istianity, p. 301.
t Preface to the Psalter^ p. ix.
Ij: The Treasury of the Psalter^ vol. vi., p. 3.
\ Delitzsch.
PSALM CXIX. 479
mention the incident because it has often been quoted as a
singular instance of the providential escape of a saintly person-
age ; whereas it was the very ingenious device of a person who,
according to Woodrow, was more renowned for shrewdness
than for sanctity. The length of this Psalm was sagaciously
employed as the means of gaining time, and, hapi)ily, the
expedient succeeded."^
St. Augustine, who among his voluminous works left a
Comment on the Book of Psalms, delayed to comment on this
one till he had finished the whole Psalter, and then yielded
only to the long and vehement urgency of his friends,
' because,' he says, ' as often as I essayed to think thereon, it
always exceeded the powers of my intent thought and the
utmost grasp of my faculties,'!
Henry Afartjn. — There is frequent reference to this Psalm
in the diary of Henry Martyn : ' Found some devotion in learn-
ing a part of the 119th Psalm.' 'In the evening grew better
by reading the 119th Psalm, which generally brings me into a
spiritual frame of mind.' 'Again in a fretful frame ; it was not
till I learned some of Psalm cxix. that I could return to a
proper spirit.' t
Wi7/mm Wilberforce. — In the midst of a London season, in
the stir and turmoil of a political crisis, 18 19, William ^^'ilber-
force writes in his diary : ' Walked from Hyde Park Corner
repeating the 119th Psalm in great comfort.' Many such
notices occur down to the last, when he was carried, a dying
man, to London, in 1833. ' How differently time appears,' he
said to his son, while they halted at an inn, ' while you look at
it in the life of an individual or in the mass ! Now I seem to
have gone through such a number of various scenes, and such
a lapse of time, and yet, when you come to compare it with
* Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
f William de Burgh (quoted in The Treasttry of David).
X The Psalms in History and Biography, p. 145.
480 PSALM-MOSAICS
any great period of time — fifty years — how little fifty years
seem ! Why, it is 3,000 years since the Psalms which I
delight in were written. By the way, I have not my Psalter
this morning. Do you know where it is ?'*
Cowpei\ Bishop of Galloway in 161 3, published a folio
volume entitled, 'The Holy Alphabet of Zion's Scholars,' by
way of commentary on the 119th Psalm. Dr. Manton wrote
a series of 190 sermons on the 119th Psalm, for which the
bookseller offered him ;£^6o, a large sum for the period, being
four times the amount paid for the MS. of Milton's Paradise
Lost.
Greenham, another Nonconformist, also wrote a large work on
this Psalm ; and within the last few years a popular volume on
the same subject, by Rev. Thomas Bridges, has made its
appearance.!
This '' Psalm of the Saints,'' as it is especially called, most
probably belongs to the latest period of inspired Hebrew
poetry. . . . The Masoretic editors have pointed out that in
every verse save one (122) there is a direct reference to the Law
under some one of the ten names which stand in English, as
/azu, -word, sayi/ig, statute, testii/ionies, zvay, precept, conuiiajid-
ment, Judgment, faithfulness, and are supposed to have a
mystical reference to the Decalogue. It would seem that the
Jewish editors ought rather to have fixed on verse 132 as the
single exception to their rule, for it is, perhaps, possible to see
an indirect allusion to the law in verse 122, but none such is
discoverable in verse 132. These terms are not altogether
interchangeable (though some of them are doubtless nearly
synonymous), and the most obvious classification is as
follows : Lmc is the generic phrase, including all the others,
and taken for the whole scope of Divine revelation ; testi?nonies
are such precepts as are prohibitory, attesting God's holiness,
protesting against man's sinfulness ; statutes are positive enact-
* The Witness of tJie Psalms to Christ and Christianity, p. 280.
t The Psalmists of Britain, by Holland, p. 198.
PSALM CXIX. 481
ments, ceremonial ordinances, and the like; commandvients,
moral enactments ; judgments, formal decisions of duties as
laid down in the Law ; precepts are counsels recommended to
individuals for their guidance and profit ; word is any verbal
revelation of God's will ; saying, or, rather, promise, the declara-
tion of blessings to follow on obedience ; way, the prescribed
rule of conduct ; faithfulness, the abiding character and per-
manence of the Law.
Cardinal Bellarmine suggests, not improbably, and in accord-
ance with a Rabbinical tradition, that the great length of the
Psalm was intended to fit it for use as a processional hymn for
the caravans going up thrice a year to the great festivals in
Jerusalem, followed as it is by those gradual Psalms which
marked the nearer approach of the pilgrims to the Temple."^
Lord William Russell the night before his execution was
singing within himself, and Dr. Burnet asking him what he was
singing, he said, ' It was the hundred and nineteenth Psalm,
but he should sing better very soon.' His concluding remarks
were, ' I have now done with this world, and am going to a
better ; I forgive all the world heartily, and I thank God I die
in charity with all men.'t
' We speak of the realms of the blest,^ one of our most popular
hymns, had its origin in this Psalm, not from any direct refer-
ence to the heavenly world, but from the spirit which it
breathes, and the longing it excites for all that is pure and
perfect. The hymn was written, after reading Bridges on the
iT9th Psalm, a few weeks before her death, by Mrs. Elizabeth
Mills, who died in 1839, at the age of twenty-four. +
Verse 18. Ope7i Thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous
things of Thy law. — In Ireland, during the whole of the reign
of Henry VIIL, the old customs with regard to ecclesiastical
matters remained. George Davdall, the ex-Prior of the Crutched
* Dr. Neale's Comvientaty on the Psahns, vol. iv., p. 2.
t Last Hours of Christian Men, p. 194.
X The Psalms in History and Biography, p. 144.
31
482 PSALM-MOSAICS
Friary of Ardace, had been appointed, just before Henry's
death, Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate, and had obtained
confirmation of his appointment from the Pope.
When Edward VI. sent orders for the adoption of the Enghsh
Prayer-Book, Davdall resisted it, giving as one reason, ' Then
shall every illiterate fellow read Mass.' The Viceroy (Sir
Anthony St. Leger) replied that there were many priests who
did not understand their Latin, but now both clergy and people
would understand.
A quarrel thereupon arose between him and St. Leger, on
the question whether St. Peter was the head of the Church,
ending by the Archbishop rising, with all the Bishops of his
province except Staples (an Englishman), Bishop of Meath,
and quitting the assembly as a protest. There remained the
Archbishop of Dublin (George Browne), with his suffragans,
and he accepted the new Prayer-Book, saying that he submitted
to the King as our Lord to Csesar.
For the first time on Easter Day, 155 1, in Christ Church
Cathedral, Dublin, the Reformed Liturgy was used ; the Arch-
bishop preached a sermon on the text, ' Optwi Thou }ni?ie eyes,
that I may behold wondi'ous things out of Thy laiv.'"^
Verse 19. I aju a strange7- iipoji earth; O hide not Thy com-
7nandmetits from me. — On the day of his baptism (Craufurd
Tait's) at Rugby, his godfather, the Dean of Wells, who all
through his life loved him tenderly, had given him a Bible,
with this inscription: 'Psalm cxix. 19 — / am a stranger upon
earth ; O hide not Thy com7nand??ie?its fro?n me.'
He lived to see his wish fulfilled, to see how, as his godson
grevz to manhood, the commandments of God became his
steadfast rule of life.f
Verse 25. My soul deaveth to the dust : O quicken Thou me
according to Thy word. — The answer to the Emperor Theo-
dosius' humble words was still a stern one. 'What penitence
* Cameos from English History, No. cxlv.
f Catherine and Cranfiird Tait, p. 593.
PSALM CXIX. 483
have you been showing for your great fault?' {i.e., the massacre
at Thessalonica). 'What remedy have you appHed to the
mcurable wound you have inflicted ?'
' It is your duty,' answered the penitent, ' to prepare the
remedies, mine to accept what is offered me.'
'Since, then,' said Ambrose, 'you allow your temper to act
the part of judge, and permit anger instead of reason to pro-
nounce sentence, you must make a law which shall render such
hasty orders null and void. When a sentence of death or con-
fiscation of property is pronounced, let thirty days elapse before
it is put into execution. After this time has passed, and you
have become cool, let your decree be shown to you. You will
then be able to decide rationally whether it is just or not. If
the latter, then the writing can be destroyed ; if the former, it
may be ratified. Where the judgment is right, a little delay
will do no harm.'
The emperor consented. The regulation suggested by
Ambrose was not new to him j a similar rule had been laid
down by Gratian, but had either been forgotten, or not adopted
by himself. The necessary document was speedily prepared
and signed, and the excommunication was removed. Laying
aside every ornament that could mark his rank, Theodosius
entered the church with a deep sigh of relief, and fell prostrate
on the floor, smiting his breast, and crying, ' My soul deaveth
unto the dust ; O quicken Thou me accordi?ig to Thy word'
and with every sign of the profoundest compunction besought
and received absolution and readmission to the Communion
of the Church. To the day of his death he never ceased to
deplore his error, and was so watchful over himself, and so
careful not to offend, that the more he was irritated the more
ready he was to pardon ; and offenders were said not to fear,
but to wish to see him angry.
Ambrose testified his belief in the sincerity of his repentance
by inscribing to him the book he had written m 384, entitled
' The Defence of the Prophet David.'"'
* The Fathers for English Readers. St. Ambrose, p. 70.
484 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 32. / will run the way of Thy conwiatidments^ ivheii
Thou shalt enlarge ?ny heart. — In the first months of a happy
union a young couple often need direction and guidance. This
is what the Bishop wrote on one occasion of the sort :
* My child, I bless God for the happiness He has given you
in this new desert, of which Holy Scripture says, " The desert
shall flourish like a lily." There is a passage in Holy Writ
which I wish you to learn : / have seen the way of Thy com-
mandments when Thou didst enlarge my heart (Ps. cxviii. 32).
Sorrow draws people nearer to God, but happiness does so
also. When one suffers one has to make an effort, but when
one is very happy one has only to let one's self go. And why
should you not both open your hearts joyfully and confidently
to this Divine grace ? It is God you must see in all the happi-
ness with which your cup to-day overflows. All these joys are
like the morning dews which God sends before the heat and
burden of the day. The flower joyfully drinks in the dew ; it
is its way of blessing God. You, too, must thank and praise
Him. You know the source of all happiness. It comes from
God, and ought to bring you close to Him. It must not soften
or make you idle, but strengthen you to fulfil your duties and
renew your faith, love and courage. Resume your old habits
of prayer and work ; be diligent in His service ; give a portion
of your life to charitable deeds. Perhaps I did not dwell on
this point before ; but, believe me, they are the best means of
prolonging your happiness and drawing down the blessing of
God in your daily life. May you increase more and more
in love towards Him from whom alone come all human
joys V*
Verse 37. O turn away viitie eyes, lest they behold vanity, and
quicken Thou me in Thy zvay. — Francis' father, Francis Seigneur
de Nouvelles, M. de Boisy (he took the latter name on his
marriage, De Boisy being one of the family names of the father
of Madame de Boisy), bent on a splendid public career for his
* Life of Mgr. Dtipanlotip of Orleans.
PSALM CXIX. 485
eldest son, determined on sending him to the College de
Navarre in Paris.
St. Francis shrank from manifold temptations, and through
his mother, Francis' education was transferred to the College
de Clermont, under the Jesuit Fathers. Accompanied to Paris
by the Abbe Deage— the same good priest who had been his
first religious teacher, and who remained his tutor till long past
the time when modern ideas would suppose such guidance
necessary— Francis distinguished himself in his classes, and
was more than once appointed prefect; but rhetoric and
philosophy, taught as they were by most distinguished pro-
fessors, did not satisfy him, and his desire to study theology,
with a view to the priesthood, grew daily stronger.
One day — it was Quinquagesima Sunday — the Abbe Deage
was struck with his pupil's grave, almost troubled, countenance,
and attributing it to overwork, kindly proposed that they should
go out together and see the humours of the Paris carnival. But
Francis begged to be excused, adding : ' Averte oculos meos,
ne videant vanitatem ' ( Tuni aivay jnme eyes, lest they behold
vanity). ' What can I do to cheer you ?' the Abbe asked ; and
the boy, raising his earnest face to his tutor's, answered by
quoting the Gospel for the day, the words 'Domine ut videam!'
(Lord, that I may receive my sight !). ' But what is it that
you would see ?' inquired the Abbe, much moved ; and then
Francis poured forth his longing after those theological studies
which would, as he believed, enable him to penetrate the deep
things of God, and help him to approach the only earthly aim
he knew — the priesthood."^
Verse 49. Oh, think upon Thy servant as concerning Thy word.
— Josquin, a celebrated composer, was appointed master of the
chapel to Louis XII. of France, who promised him a benefice,
but, contrary to his usual custom, forgot him. Josquin, after
suffering great inconvenience from the shortness of his Majesty's
memory, ventured, by a singular expedient, publicly to remind
* S. Francis de Sales ^ p. 16.
486 PSALM-MOSAICS
him of his promise without giving offence. Being commanded
to compose a motet for the Chapel Royal, he chose part of the
119th Psalm, beginning ' O/i, think of Thy servant as co?icern-
ifig Thy word,'' which he set in so supplicating and exquisite a
manner that it w^as universally admired, particularly by the
King, who was not only charmed with the music, but felt the
force of the word so effectually that he soon after granted his
petition, by conferring on him the promised appointment."^'
Verse 59. / called mine ow7i ways to reniembra?ice, and turned
my feet unto Thy testimonies. — This Psalm drew to it the special
admiration of Pascal, who, as his sister, Madame Perier, says,
often spoke with such feeling about it ' that he seemed
transported — ^ qu'il paraissait hors de lui meme' He used to
say that, ' with the deep study of life, it contained the sum of
all the Christian virtues.' He singled out verse 59 as giving
the turning-point of man's character and destiny : '' I thought
on 7?iy ways, and tur7ied my feet unto Thy testimonies.'^ \
Verse 62. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee,
because of Thy righteous judgmeiiis. — This is one of those
isolated texts of Scripture which have, by their own inherent
force, powerfully moulded the habits and devotions of the
Christian Church. We shall find another example later on in
this same Psalm, but of this it suffices to say that the Nocturns
of East and West alike, and the monastic use of rising at mid-
night to recite them, are drawn from its inspiration. In the
East, moreover, this very Psalm is part of the midnight office,
so that the verse is nightly chanted in the great monasteries of
the Greek and Russian Churches, JNIount Athos, Mount Sinai,
Troitzka and the rest.
In the West this verse occurs in the forenoon office of Terce,
but the spirit of the midnight service is the same as that of
the East. And the very Nocturn office itself testifies to the
influence of the Psalm :
* Percy Anecdotes.
t The Psabns i7t History and Biography, p. 145.
PSALM CXIX, 487
* Far drive we slumber from our eyes,
And quickly all of us arise
To seek at dead of night the Lord
According to His Prophet's word.'
(Brev. Rom. : T/ie Hymn Primo die, for Sunday Matins).*
Dr. Thomas Wilson was Bishop of Sodor and Man, and the
author of two Httle works highly ^^xvL^d^— Sacra Privata and
Companion to the Altar. He died in 1755. One of his
biographers says : ' Bishop Wilson stood like a pilgrim, with
his staff in his hand, ready to depart. Whilst thus waiting for
his summons, and in hourly expectation of going forth to meet
the Bridegroom, he appeared more like an inhabitant of the
world of glory, on which he was about to enter, than a sojourner
in this vale of tears. His last days were his best days. He
was ripening fast for heaven.'
A candidate for the ministry, who at that time resided in his
house, and continued with him till his death, delighted to re-
late the scenes which he then witnessed. He used to tell,
with joy in his countenance, of the benignity in the Bishop's
behaviour, the heavenliness of his discourse, and the fervour
of his prayers. This student, who slept in a room adjoining
the Bishop's bedchamber, frequently overheard, at midnight,
the orisons of the holy man. He could distinguish his whisper-
ing voice pouring forth supplications and thanksgivings to the
great Preserver of men, who 'never slumbers nor sleeps.'
Sometimes the words of the pious Psalmist were indistinctly
heard: ' / will arise at midnight^ and give tha?iks unto Thee.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise
His holy Name !' Sometimes passages from the Te Deum :
'Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Sabaoth.' Thus did God
give His beloved servant songs in the night-season. f
Verse 72. The law of Thy 7notd]i is dearer unto me than thou-
sands of gold and silver. — You that are gentlemen, remember
what Hierom reports of Nepotianus, a young gentleman of
'-'<■ Dr. Neale's Comme^itary , vol. iv., p. 52.
t Last Hours of Christian Men, p. 300.
488 PSALM-MOSAICS
Rome, qui lo7iga et assidua 7neditatione Scripturannn pectus
sutim fecerat bibliothecam Christi — who by long and assiduous
meditation of the Scriptures made his breast the library of
Christ. Remember what is said of King Alfonsus, that he
read over the Bible fourteen times, together with such Com-
mentaries as those times afforded.
You that are scholars, remember Cranmer and Ridley ; the
former learned the New Testament by heart on his journey to
Rome, the latter in Pembroke Hall walks in Cambridge. Re-
member what is said of Thomas a Kempis, that he found rest
nowhere fiisi in a?ignlo, awi libello^ but in a corner with this
Book in his hand. And what is said of Beza — that when he
was above fourscore years old he could say perfectly by heart
any Greek chapter in Paul's Epistles.
You that are women, consider what Hierom saith of Paula,
Eustochiam, and other ladies, who were singularly versed in the
Holy Scriptures.
Let ail men consider that hyperbolical speech of Luther,
that he would not live in Paradise without the Word, and with
it he could live well enough in Hell. This speech of Luther
must be understood cum gratio salts*
There is a tradition of a Jewish Rabbi wfho was offered a very
lucrative situation in a place where there was no synagogue,
but who, thinking on this verse, refused it — an instructive
example for Christians who readily go to places where there is
a 'famine of the words of the Lord,' in order to acquire
worldly riches, t
Verse 73. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. — The
words ' Thy hands have made me afid fashioned me ' are said by
the Priest when he anoints the child with oil on the hands.
The infant is then (z>., after the Benediction of the Water at
Holy Baptism) anointed for the first time; but this is not the
Sacrament of Unction. In ancient times, we are told, young
* Edmund Calamy.
+ Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. (>2,.
PSALM CXIX. 489
warriors on the point of going to battle for the first time
used to be anointed with oil ; thus the new Christian,
who will have to battle against the enemies of his salvation
— the world, the flesh and the devil— is anointed as 'Christ's
faithful soldier and servant.' Olive-oil, possessing salutary
properties, is here the type of the inner healing of the soul
by baptism. It is also the symbol of the grafting in of
the wild olive-tree {i.e., the convert) to the tree (i.e., Jesus
Christ, Rom. xi. 17). When the Priest anoints the child on
the brow, he says, * The servant of God, Alexis, is anointed
with the oil of gladness. In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for
ever. Amen ' ; on the heart, ' for the healing of thy soul and
body ' ; on the ears, * for the hearing of the word ' ; on the
hands, ' Thy hands have made me and fashioned me ' ; on the
feet, ' that his feet may walk in the way of Thy command-
ments.'*
Verse T^. I kftow, O Lord, that Thy judgme7its are right,
and that Thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled.
— Spurgeon quotes here, in illustration, a poem by Dr. New-
man :
' Yet, Lord, in memory's fondest place
I shrine those seasons sad,
When looking up I saw Thy face
In kind austereness clad.
' I would not miss one sigh or tear,
Heart pang or throbbing brow ;
Sweet was the chastisement severe,
And sweet its memory now.
* Yes ! let the fragrant scars abide
Love-tokens in Thy stead.
Faint shadows of the spear-pierced side
And thorn-encompassed Head.
'And such Thy tender force be still
When self would swerve or stray,
Shaping to truth the froward will
Along Thy narrow way.'
1829.
Sketches of the Gmco- Russian Church, p. 71.
490 PSALM 'MOSAICS
Last Days at Neivland. — ' Every moment that could be spared
during these months of preparation for departure was spent by
the Warden either in Church, superintending the execution of
the last frescoes, or wandering slowly through the precincts of
the almshouses, as though taking farewell of each stone and each
foot of ground, often resting on the seat under the elm-tree
that shadows his child's grave. There he was wont to talk of
her and her death-bed to a friend, and to express his thankful-
ness to God for her blessed rest. Only once he almost broke
down, when watching his wife at a little distance amongst her
flowers, and said, "We must try and get her a little garden
wherever we go."
' It is difficult for any who loved him to dwell on those last
days, when much of anxiety and wearing trials combined with
the sorrow of leaving his home to break down what remained
to him of bodily strength. ' / know^ O Lord, that Thy judg-
ments are right, and that Thou of veiy faithfulness hast caused
me to be troubled,'' he had taken as his special text w^hen his
daughter died ; and now he steadfastly set his heart to consider
the same, and to take all sorrows as tokens of a Father's love.
But the frail earthly tabernacle could not but suffer, and he
never recovered the effects of special trials at this time.'*
Verse 92. If my delight had not been in Thy Lata, I should
hare perished in my trouble. — There was once a man who
pledged his dearest faith to a maiden, beautiful and true. For
a time all passed pleasantly, and the maiden lived in happiness.
But then the man was called from her side. He left her; long
she waited, but he did not return. Friends pitied her, and
rivals mocked her. Tauntingly they pointed at her, and said,
'He has left thee, he will never come back.' The maiden
sought her chamber, and read in secret the letters which her
lover had written to her, the letter in w^hich he promised to be
ever faithful, ever true. Weeping she read them, but they
brought comfort to her heart ; she dried her eyes, and doubted
* The Life of fames Skinner, p. 332.
PSALM CXIX. 491
not. A joyous day dawned for her; the man she loved
returned, and when he learned that others had doubted and
asked how she had preserved her faith, she showed his letters
to him, declaring her eternal trust.
Israel, in misery and captivity, was mocked by the nations ;
her hopes of redemption were made a laughing-stock, her
sages scoffed at, her holy men derided. Into her synagogues,
into her schools, went Israel ; she read the letters which her
God had written, and believed in the holy promises which they
contained. God will in time redeem her ; and when he says,
' How could you alone be faithful of all the mocking nation ?'
she will point to the law, and answer : ' Had not Thy law been
my delight^ I should long since have perished in my affliction'*
Verse 97. Lord, what love have I unto Thy law: all the day
long is my study in it. — Dean Burgon's contributions to the
study of Holy Scripture are, as is well known, greatly valuable
in other directions. It is well that the words of Psalm cxix. 97
should be cut upon his tomb : ' Dilexi legem tuani, Domine,
tola die meditatio mea est.'
Verse 105. Thy word is a lantern u?ito my feet : and a light
unto my paths. — In the Second Fart of King Henry VI., the
King replies to the Duke of Gloster :
' Stay, Humphrey, Duke of Gloster ; ere thou go
Give up thy staff: Henry will to himself
Protector be, and God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide, and lantern to viyfeet.
And go in peace, Humphrey ; no less beloved
Than when thou -lijei't protector to thy king.'
Act H., Sc. iii.
Upon the words ' lantern to my feet,' Steevens has a note in
these words: 'This image, I think, is from our Liturgy — a
lantern to my feet, and a light to my paths.' If by ' Liturgy,'
is meant the Psalter, or version of the Psalms contained in the
Prayer-Book, this is correct, and a reference should have been
* 7Ju Talmud, p. 307.
492 PSALM-MOSAICS
made to Psalm cxix. 105. But it is a sufficient proof of the
little attention that has been paid to the branch of Shake-
spearian criticism upon which we are engaged, that this loose
and inaccurate note should have been allowed to stand, and
that both Steevens and Malone, ready as they were to encumber
their poet's page, and to disagree, should, on this occasion,
have found nothing more to say ; though other expressions in
the same speech, such as 'my stay,' 'my guide,' and, again, 'go
in peace,' might also have received illustration from Holy Scrip-
ture. See 2 Sam. xxii. 19; Ps. xviii. 18: 'They prevented
me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay.''
Ps. xlviii. 14 : 'This God is our God for ever and ever: He
will be our Guide, even unto death.' Exod. iv. 18 : ' Jethro
said to Moses, Go in peace' 2 Sam. xv. 9 : 'The King (David)
said to Absalom, Go i?i peace' ; and the same phrase occurs
frequently elsewhere in the Bible. '■'
George Herbert :
'God's Cabinet of revealed counsel 'tis :
Where weal and woe
Are ordered so
That every man may know what shall be his ;
Unless his own mistake
False application make,
It is the Index to Eternitie.
He cannot miss
Of endless bliss
That takes this chart to steer his voyage by.
Nor can he be mistook
That speaketh by this Book.'
Verse 135. S/iow the light of Thy countenance upon Thy
servant.
' O when, thou Face in all the world most fair,
When shall I win enjoyment of Thy light?
As the sun's absence is the earth's despair,
And while he hides the wan day sinks in night :
Flowers have no dyes, the pleasant woods no grace,
Men hold their peace, the birds their singing hush ;
Soon, when his rose-wreathed head uplifts its face.
Day laughs in brightness at the purple blush ;
* Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 69.
■ PSALM CXIX. 493
Woods regain grace, the flowers resume their dyes,
Men stir again, and birds their singing give ;
So seeing Thee, my Life, I dying rise ;
Seeing Thee not, I die, e'en though I live.'"^-
Verse 136. Afi'/ie eyes gush out with 7uater, because men keep 7iut
Thy law. — Bendetti, a Franciscan monk, author of the Stahat
Mater, one day was found weeping, and when asked the reason
of his tears, he exclaimed : ' I weep because Love goes about
unloved.'!
Verse 137. Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright are
Thy judgments. — In 601 a political change took place at
Constantinople. Phocas, who was but a common cen-
turion, but a favourite with the soldiery stationed on the
Danube, successfully revolted against the Emperor. iMauricius
had to succumb to his ignoble rival, and endeavouring with
his wife and children to escape to the Asiatic shore, was
compelled by opposing winds to take refuge in a church
near Chalcedon. Phocas entered Constantinople, was ac-
cepted as Emperor, and anointed with his wife Leontia by
Cyriacus, the Patriarch. He was illiterate, sensual, passionate,
and cruel. His acts after his accession were in accordance
with the picture, and the sons of the deposed Emperor were
murdered in succession before their father's eyes, and then the
Emperor himself. Their bodies were thrown into the sea,
their heads exposed at Court till putrefaction began, and then
burned. On witnessing the death of each of his sons, the old
father, who was not devoid of piety, is said to have exclaimed :
^ Thou art just, O Lord, a?id Thy judgments are right.'!
^ St. Augustifie, at the close of his comparatively peaceful
life,' says Dean Milman, ' was exposed to the trial of his severe
and lofty principles. His faith and his superiority were brought
to the test in the fearful calamities which desolated the whole
African province. No part of the empire had so long escaped,
* Herm. Hugo, Pia Desideria (Dr. Neale's Covirnentary).
f W. H. J. P. in Treasury of David, vol. ii., p. 38S.
X The Fathers for English Readers : Gregory the Great, p. 131.
494 PSALM-MOSAICS
no part was so fearfully visited as Africa by the invasion of the
Vandals, yet the good Bishop did not fall below his own high
notions of Christian, of episcopal duty.
' When the Vandal army gathered around Hippo, one of the
few cities which still afforded a refuge for the persecuted
provincials, he refused, though more than seventy years old, to
abandon his post. Possidius tells us that these Bishops of
the sorely-tried Church of God were accustomed to meet
together to pray and consider the tremendous judgments of
God which were before their eyes, saying : ''^Righteous art Thou,
O Lord, and true is Thy judgnmit^' and praying with tears and
groans and lamentations that He would relieve them in their
tribulation.'
Verses 147, 148. Early in the morning do I cry unto Thee, for
in Thy Word is my trust. Mine eyes prevent the night watches,
that I might be occupied in Thy words, — The frequent repetition
of the Psalms of David hath been noted to be a great part of
the devotion of the primitive Christians ; the Psalms having in
them not only prayers and holy instructions, but such com-
memorations of God's mercies, as may preserve, comfort, and
confirm our dependence on the power and providence and
mercy of our Creator. And this is mentioned in order to tell-
ino", that as the holy Psalmist said, that his eyes should prevent
both the daivning of the day and night watches, by meditating on
God's ivord (Psalm cxix. 147). So it was Dr. Sanderson's
constant practice every morning to entertain his first waking
thoughts with a repetition of those appointed for the service
of the evening, remembering and repeating the very Psalms
appointed for every day ; and as the month had formerly ended
and began again, so did this exercise of his devotion. And if
his first waking thoughts were of the world or what concerned
it, he would arraign and condemn himself for it. Thus he
began that work on earth which is now his employment in
heaven. ■*■
* Izaak JValtojis Lives, p. 401.
PSALM CXIX. 495
Verse 158. It grieveth ??ie 2vhen I see the transgressors, because
they keep not Thy law.—' The day when I first met Colonel
Gardiner at Leicester, I happened to preach a lecture from
Psalm cxix. 158: '' I beheld the transgressors, and 7vas grieved,
because they kept not Thy word:' I was large in describing that
mixture of indignation and grief, strongly expressed by the
original word there, with which a good man looks on the vary-
ing transgressors of the Divine law ; and in tracing the causes
of that grief, as arising from a regard to the Divine honour and
the interest of a Redeemer, and a compassionate concern for
the misery such offenders bring on themselves, and for the
mischief they do to the world about them. I little thought
how exactly I was drawing Colonel Gardiner's character under
each of those heads ; and I have often reflected upon it as a
happy providence, which opened a much speedier way than I
could have expected, to the breast of one of the most amiable
and useful friends which I ever expect to find upon earth. We
afterwards sung a hymn, which brought over again some of
the leading thoughts in the sermon, and struck him so strongly,
that, on obtaining a copy of it, he committed it to his memory,
and used to repeat it w^th so forcible an accent, as showed
how much every line expressed of his very soul. In this view
the reader will pardon my inserting it, especially as I know not
when I may get time to publish a volume of these serious
though artless compositions, which I sent him in manuscript
some years ago, and to which I have since made very large
additions :
' " Arise, my tenderest thoughts, arise,
To torrents melt my streaming eyes ;
And thou, my heart, with anguish feel
Those evils which thou canst not heal.
' " See human nature sunk in shame ;
See scandals poured on Jksu's name ;
The Father wounded through the Son ;
The world abused, and souls undone.
• " See the short course of vain delight
Closing in everlasting night.
In flames that no abatement know,
Though briny tears for ever flow.
496 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
' " My God, I feel the mournful scene ;
My bowels yearn o'er dying men,
And fain my pity would reclaim,
And snatch the firebrands from the flame.
' " But feeble my compassion proves,
And can but weep where most it loves ;
Thy own all-saving arm employ.
And turn these drops of grief to joy."' '*
Celen'nus, i)i Cyprian's Epistles, acquaints a friend with his
great grief for the apostasy of a woman through fear of perse-
cution, which afflicted him so much that at the feast of Easter
(the Queen of Feasts in the Primitive Church) he wept night
and day, and resolved never to know a moment's dehght till,
through the mercy of God, she should be recovered.!
Verse 164. Seve?i times a day do I praise Thee, because of Thy
righteous judgments. — This is one of the classical passages in the
Psalter which has either originated, or else helped to establish,
the usage, common to East and West ahke, of dividing the
daily office into seven canonical hours, a custom which was
gradually developed out of the three stated times of prayer
which, in compliance with Jewish custom as set by the Prophet
Daniel, w^ere adopted by the Early Christians, and seems to
have been known at the time when the Apostolical Constitu-
tions were compiled, and certainly at the period when the
Ambrosian hymns were written, since one of them runs :
' Ut septies diem vere,
Orantes cum Psalterio,
Laudes cantantes Deo,
La.ni solvamus debitum.'
' That truly seven times a day.
With Psalms and prayer in glad accord,
Our bounden duty we may pay.
By singmg praises to the Lord.':}:
* The Life of Colonel Gardiner, by Philip Doddridge.
t Charles Bridges on Psalm cxix.
X Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 150.
PSALM CXX. 497
PSALM CXX.
Headuiir (Delitzsch).— Cry of distress when surrounded by
contentious men.
Conients (Syriac).— Anonymous. The first Song of Ascen-
sion. The people in Babylon pray that they may be delivered,
and so we pray that we may be delivered from evil spirits.
Origin (Perowne).— The first in the collection (' Songs of the
goings-up ') is a prayer against the lying tongues of treacherous
neighbours, whom the poet compares, for their cruelty and
perfidy, to the savage hordes of the Caucasus or of the Arabian
desert. But whether the Psalmist thus pictures the heathen
among whom he dwells in exile, or the wild tribes with whom
no treaty can be kept, by whom he is beset on his way back
from Babylon to Palestine, or the Samaritans, Arabians, and
others, who after their return attempted, by false representa-
tions to the Persian monarcli, to thwart the rebuilding of the
temple and the fortification of the city, it is impossible to say.
Verse i. WJien 1 7iHis in trouble I called upoji the Lord, and
He heard me. — The greatest trouble that has shadowed the
history of the new Sandringham Hall— the illness that made it
the centre of interest for all England in the winter of 187 1,
when our future King lay here between life and death — is
recorded on a brass lectern erected in the church by the
Princess of Wales, and beaiing the following inscription :
' To the Glory of God,
A Thankoffering for His Mercy,
14th December, 187 1.
ALEXANDRA.
When 1 luas in trouble J called upon the Lord, and He heard me:
Verse 3. Sharp arroius of the mighty, with coals of juniper
(Bible Version). — The special point to be drawn out in the
mention of 'coals oi juniper' is the inextinguishablcness of
such fuel. There is a marvellous story in the Midrash Tchillin?
32
498 PSALM-MOSAICS
which illustrates this very well. Two men in a desert sat down
under a juniper-tree, and gathered sticks of it, wherewith they
cooked their food. After a year they passed over the same
spot, where was the dust of what they had burned, and remark-
ing that it was now twelve months since they had the fire,
they walked fearlessly upon the dust, and their feet were burned
by the ' coals ' beneath it, which were still unextinguished.'"^
Ferse 4. IVoe is me that I am constrained to dwell with
Mesech, a?id to have my habitation amo?ig the tents of Kedar.—
Richard Hooker's marriage was not a happy one, and this is
how it came about. A Mrs. Churchman having cured him ' of
his late distemper and cold,' and that being 'so gratefully
apprehended by Mr. Hooker ... he thought himself bound
in conscience to believe all that she said ; so that the good
man came to be persuaded by her, ' that he was a man of a
tender constitution ; and that it was best for him to have a
wife that might prove a nurse to him ; such a one as might
both prolong his life, and make it more comfortable ; and such
a one she could and would provide for him if he thought fit to
marry.' And he, not considering that ' the children of this
world are wiser in their generation than the children of fight ;'
but, like a true Nathaniel, fearing no guile because he meant
none, did give her such a power as Eleazar was trusted with —
you may read it in the Book of Genesis — when he was sent to
choose a wife for Isaac ; for even so he trusted her to choose
for him, promising upon a fair summons to return to London
and accept of her choice ; and he did so in that, or about the
year following.
Now, the wife provided for him was her daughter Joan, who
brought him neither beauty nor portion ; and for her condi-
tions, they were too like that wife's which is by Solomon com-
pared to a dripping house — so that the good man had no
reason to ' rejoice in the wife of his youth,' but had too just
cause to say with the holy Prophet : ' Woe is me, that I am con-
* The Gradual Fsalms, by the Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 138.
PSALM CXX. 4C)f>
strahied to have my habitation in the tetits of Kedar /' And b)-
this marriage the good man was drawn from the tranquillity of
his college, from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of peace, and
a sweet conversation, into the thorny wilderness of a busy
world — into those corroding cares that attend a married priest
and a country parsonage.*
Verse 6. / labour for peace, but 7vhen J speak unfo them
thereof they make them ready to battle. — Ux. Symmons, an
ejected minister in the time of the Commonwealth, gives a
singular account of the accusations made against him by Par-
hament, before whom he was summoned. ' When I preached
against treason, rebellion, and disobedience,' says he, 'then
they said no question but I meant Pariiament ; and afterwards,
when I preached against lying, slandering, and malice, this
they said was against the Parliament, too ; and got roe to be
sent for up again by a pursuivant about the same. Nay, when
I did but quote those words of our Saviour, "Wide is the gate,
and broad is the way that leadeth unto death, and many go
therein," this they said was against the Parliament, because the
major part of the people in those parts were for the same.
When I quoted that passage in the 120th Psalm, where David
says that "//^ was for peace, but others ivere for war ; ivhen he
spake of that they made them ready for battle f' this, they said,
was for the King, and against the Parliament. When I
preached against vainglory, upon those words of our Saviour,
" I seek not the praise of men," they said I preached against a
particular member, when I protest I never thought of him all
the while I was upon that subject (that I know of), save only
when I prayed for my enemies. 'f
* Izaak JValton's Lives, Y>- 184-
t Percy Anecdotes.
500 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM CXXI.
Headi7ig (Delitzsch).- — The Consolation of Divine protection.
Title (Spurgeon). — A Psalm to the keeper of Israel.
Contents (Syriac). — Anonymous. One of the Psalms of
Ascension from Babylon, also the promises of good things.
Origin (Perowne). — Under what circumstances the Psalm
was written is doubtful. Some (as Ewald and De Wette) sup-
pose it to have been written in exile. . . . Others (as Hupfield)
understand by 'the mountains' in verse i, not the mountains
of Palestine at large, but the one mountain, or mountain-group
of Zion, as the dwelling-place of God . . . and leave it an
open question whether the Psalmist was in exile, or merely at
a distance from the sanctuary.
Others, again, have conjectured that this was the song sung
by the caravans of pilgrims going up to the yearly feasts, when
first they came within sight of the mountains on which Jerusa-
lem stands.
In Chni'ch. — In the Sarum Rite this Psalm is employed in a
little office for the recovery of the sick. After some versicles,
which follow this Psalm, it contains the collect at the end of
our modern Communion Office : ' Assist us mercifully, O
Lord.'
In the Greek Church the Psalms cxxi. — cxxxiv. are called
Proskyria, -^i? xl/^/6^, from the first words of Psalm cxxi.*
The Whole Psalm. — New Year's Day, 1885, the commence-
ment of the last year of Bishop Hannington's short life, was the
last day of his sojourn m Palestine. It was spent at Jafta, which
he describes as ' a complete sea of oranges.' While there he in-
spected MissArnott's school, of which he jots down the following
appreciatory note : ' Much pleased, the singing being especially
* Intei'leaved Prayer- Book, p. 309.
PSALM CXXI. 501
good. I wrote in the book to the effect that this was the best
school I had inspected.' Mr. Fitch, writing of the time which
he spent with his Bishop in Palestine, says : ' How kind and
gentle he was to all ; how considerate for others, and anxious
not to give offence, even where a rebuke was necessary ; and so
spiritually minded, walking so closely with God ! I shall never
forget our journey together. Every morning, often in the early
dusk, we would have prayers together, and always the 121st
Psalm, which I had to read. If the books had been packed
away, the Bishop himself would say the Psalm by heart.
He was so kind and genial, everybody loved him. Wherever
he went there was a brightness. On board ship all loved him.
Wherever we went in Palestine the people complained their
time with him was too short.' Later on in the year we have the
following entry in his diary :
^Sunday, March 1st. — I preached from the text, "What
must I do to be saved ?" Jones interpreting. The church was
quite full, many sitting outside. Holy Communion afterwards
to thirty-four. Fifty candidates are being prepared for Con-
firmation. At the afternoon service Jones preached from the
i2ist Psalm. It being my travelling Psalm, I take it as a good
omen.
' March 2nd. — Just off in excellent health and spirits. " I
will go in the strength of the Lord." '*
Mr. Romaine, it is said, read this Psalm every day ; and sure
it is that every word in it is calculated to encourage and
strengthen our faith and hope in God.t
Mr. Kmgsky's ministrations in church (in Clovclly, of which
he was rector) and in the cottages were acceptable to Dis-
senters as well as to Church people. And when the herring
fleet put to sea, whatever the weather might be, he would start
off ' down street ' for the quay, with his wife and boys, to give
* Life of Bishop Hannington, pp. 305, 331.
f Samuel EyUs Pierce.
502 PSALM-MOSAICS
a short parting service, at which ' men who worked ' and
'women who wept ' would join in singing the T2ist Psalm out
of the old Prayer-Book, as those only can who have death and
danger staring them in the face, and who, ' though storms be
sudden and waters deep,' can say :
* To Sion's hill I lift mine eyes,
From thence expecting aid
From Sion's hill and Sion's God
Who heaven and earth has made.'
Such memories made this Psalm, in Tate and Brady's
rough versification, more dear and speaking to Charles in after-
life than any hymn, 'ancient or modern,' of more artistic form.
Such memories still make the name of Kingsley a household
word in Clovelly.*
Verse i . / will lift up mi?ie eyes unfo the hills : from whence
C07neth my help. — Fenelon (Archbishop of Cambrai), having
been much misunderstood on the question of Madame Guyon
and Quietism, in order to show what he really did hold, gave
to the world his book, Alaximes des Saints siir la Vie Interieure^
which, so far from allaying the storm, caused it to break forth
with tenfold fury. This book treats solely of the most solemnly
sacred subjects affecting the soul and God ; but, at the instiga-
tion of Louis XIV., who was endeavouring to atone for a life
uf profligacy by a few words of bigotry, was condemned by the
whole Sacred College. The conduct of Fenelon was beautiful
throughout, and in one of his letters to the Abbe de la Cropte
de Chanterac, his friend, who represented him at Rome (the
King having refused to let Fenelon himself go there), he quotes
the words of this Psalm : ' Take care of your health, and
defend prayer in the spirit of prayer and pure love with a dis-
interested heart. Seek God only in defending His cause. " /
lift lip ?nine eyes to the hills, whence cometh my help'' I say
with Mordecai, " Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest.
Lord, that it was neither in contempt nor pride, nor for any
* Charles Kingsley s Letters, pp. 9, 10.
PSALM CXXI. 503
desire of glory !" If God be satisfied, we ought to be, what-
ever humiliation He may lay upon us.'*
Str Henry Lawrence. — '1 he natives of India used to say that
when Sir Henry Lawrence looked twice to heaven and then to
earth, he knew what to do.
Verse 4. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. — To deny sleep to God, as the Psalmist does —
' Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep '
(Ps. cxxi. 4)— is an image that beautifully expresses the vigilance
of His providential care; for we know of no created being in
the world that sleepeth not. And the taunt, therefore, of Elijah
against the priests of Baal, when he mocked them and said,
' Cry aloud, for he is a god ; either he is talking, or he is pur-
suing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and
must be awaked' (i Kings xviii. 27), is just and natural. It
is by an adoption of the same image that, in Pericles, Prince of
Tyre, Cleon says to his wife Dionyza :
' Our toni;ues sound deep our woes
Into the air ; our eyes do weep, till lungs
Fetch breath that may proclaim them louder ; that,
If )ieavcn slumbers, while their creatures want,
They mav azvake their helps to comfort them '
(Act I., Sc. iv.)
— where the old copy reads ' helpers.' We have ' help ' used in
the same way in Gen. ii. i8.t
Jewish tradition tells us that John Hyrcanus (i:.c. 107)
forbade the Levites to chant daily in the synagogues the verse,
* Up, Lord, why sleepest Thou ?' saying, ' He that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. '
Verse 6. So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the
moon by ?iight.—ln the Benediction said on the appearance of
the new moon. Psalm cxxi. (' I will lift up mine eyes unto the
* Life of Fenelott, p. 185.
+ Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 83.
504 PSALM-MOSAICS
hills ') is one of the three Psalms with which the Benediction
closes. The reason of this selection is probably to be found in
the verse, ' So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, neither
the moon by night.'"^
No7' the 7noon by night.
* The moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound. 't
Verse 8. 'I'he Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming
in, from this time forth for evermore. — These words ..xiay be
most truly taken of God's protection of the soul in its hour of
departure from the prison of this world, and in its happy
entrance into the Paradise of rest. 'Therefore,' prays the
Western Church over her dying children, ' as thy soul goeth
forth from the body, let the bright host of angels meet thee ;
let the Apostles who shall judge the world come unto thee; let
the conquering army of white-robed martyrs welcome thee : let
the lily-crowned band of shining confessors compass thee ; let
the choir of rejoicing virgins greet thee ; let the Patriarchs
receive thee to rest happily in their bosom ; let Christ Jesus
look upon thee in gentleness and joy, and set thee for ever
amongst them who stand before Him.'t
El-Bara is about one hour north of El-Hass, and there the
ruins are even more extensive than Hass, and not less im-
portant. ' In this place we noticed for the first time sacred
inscriptions upon the houses . . . these are curious as illus-
trating the pious practices of the age to which they belong.
The first carried my thoughts to Castle Ashby, where the Latin
version of the same inscription, wrought in the open battlement,
" welcomes the coming and speeds the parting guest." " The
Lord preserve thy coming in, and thy going out, fro?n this time
* The Gradual Psah/is, by H. T. Armfield, p. 122.
+ Alidsum/ner Aight's Drea/u.
X Dr. Neale's Cotuiientary, vol. iv., p. 176.
PSALM CXXII. 505
forf/i atid for evermore^ This was on the hntcl of a small
house. '"^
Keble
' God keep thee safe from harm and sin,
Thy spirit keep ; the Lord watch o'er
Thy guint^ out, thy coming in,
From this time, evermore.'t
PSALM CXXII.
Heading (Dehtzsch). — A well-wishing glance back at the
pilgrim's city.
Coiitents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David— one of the Psalms
of Ascension. When Cyrus commanded the Captivity to go up,
and, spiritually, the promise of good things.
Origi?i (Perowne). — This Psalm . . . was evidently composed
with immediate reference to one of the three yearly festivals,
when the caravans of pilgrims ' went up ' to the Holy City. . . .
The Psalm is called in the title a song of David. It is
certainly possible that Psalms written by him might be com-
prised in a collection which formed a hymn-book for the
pilgrims.
/;/ C///^;r// — This Psalm and the 127th were appointed in
the Sarum Use for the Festival of the Circumcision of Christ. +
The iihoie Psalm. — A Gradual Psalm had the distinction of
furnishing the very first words of the Otifice used for the
Coronation of Queen Victoria, when verses i, 5, 6, 7 of
Ps. cxxii. ('I was glad,' etc.) formed the anthem with which she
was received on her entrance into the Church.
Home mentions from De Thou that Theodore Zuinger felt
* Dr. Neale's Eastern Church: Patriarchate of Autioch, Introduction,
p. xxxiii.
t The Psalter in English Verse, p. 254.
+ Bishop Wordsworth's Covitnentary, p. 198.
5o6 PSALM-MOSAICS
this Psalm so appropriate to one getting near glory, that he
spent his last hours in versifying it in Latin, for he could
sing :
* Per Christi meritum patet
Vitas porta beat?e.'*
Verse i. I was glad zu/ie?2 they said unto me^ We unll go into
the house of the Lord. — A fragment of a Gradual Psalm forms
part of the formula which is said on entering the Synagogue
before the Daily Morning Service. I translate the whole prayer,
which, it will be seen, is made up entirely of selections from
the Psalms : — A song of the Degrees of David. ' I was glad
when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the
Lord. I am as glad of Thy word, as one that findeth great
spoils. Hearken to the voice of my crying, my King and my
God : for unto Thee do I make my supplications. O Lord,
in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice ; in the morning I
will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. I called
upon Thee : for Thou shalt answer me, O God. Incline Thine
ear unto me, hear my prayer, j\Iy foot standeth right ; I will
praise the Lord in the congregation.!
Wolfgan^:^ Schuch, the martyr of St. Hippolyte, near the Vosges,
was tried for heresy and condemned by Bonaventure Reuel,
confessor to Duke Antony the Good. When his sentence was
made known to him, he said mildly: '/ icas glad when they
said unto w«?. Let us go into the house of the Lord'
Gregory Nazianzen writeth that his father being a heathen,
and often besought by his wife to become a Christian, had this
verse suggested unto him in a dream, and was much wrought
upon thereby. \
St. Francis Solajio was born at Montietia in Andalusia in
1549, and twenty years later he made his religious profession
'"' Christ and His C/uirch in the Book of Psalms, by A. Bonar, p. 386.
+ The Gradual Psalms, by H. T. Armfield, p. 127.
X John Trapp (in Treasury of the Psalter).
PSALM CXXII. 507
amongst the Franciscans. An extraordinary humility and con-
tempt of himself, and of worldly vanity and applause, self-
denial, obedience, meekness, patience, and the love of silence,
recollection, and prayer, mental and vocal, formed his character.
Whole nights he frequently passed without sleep on the steps
of the altar, before the Blessed Sacrament, in meditation and
devout prayer, with wonderful interior delight and devotion.
He was sent on a mission to America, and the five last years of
his life he preached chiefly at Lima, and induced the inhaiji-
tants of that great city, by sincere repentance, to appease the
Divine anger, which they had provoked by their sins. Before
his death he was purified by a lingering illness, and in his last
moments repeated those words of the Psalmist: ' I have rcJoia\i
in those things which have been said to nie : We will go into the
house of the Lord.' He departed this life on the 14th of June,
1 610, in the sixty-second year of his age, and fortieth of his
religious profession.^
St. Aiphonsus Turibius was Archbishop of Lima in 160C.
During a visitation of his Diocese, at the age of sixty-eight, he
fell sick at Santa. He would be carried to the church, there
to receive the holy Viaticum, but received extreme unction in
his sick-bed. He often repeated those words of St. Paul, ' I
desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ,' and in his last
moments he ordered to be sung by his bedside those of the
Psalmist: ^ I rejoiced in the things that ivere said to nie : lie
will go into the house of the Lord.' He died on the 23rd of
March, repeating those other words of the same prophet: 'Into
Thy hands I commend my spirit.'!
Verse 2. Our feet shall stand in tliy gaies^ O Jerusalem.
' Lo, lowertd Jerusalem salute^ the eyes !
A thousand poiiring fint;crs tell the tale ;
"Jerusalem !" a thousand voices cry.
"All hail, Jerusalem !" hill, down, and dale
Catch the glad sounds, and shout "Jerusalem, all hail !" '*
* Butler's Lives of the SaitUs ([uly 24).
t J bid. X Torquato Tasso.
5o8 PSALM-MOSAICS
W. Chatterion Dix :
'There are, who in some vast Cathedral nave
Seek a brief respite from the city's din ;
We, too, but worship in the outer courts,
And may not go the mystic shrine within.
' Like them, we hear at best but broken notes
Of Alleluias, which are clear and strong :
We strain our eager eyes, and only catch
Bright fleeting glimpses of the white-robed throng.
* We may not gain that holiest place of all,
Nor yet our feet may tread its jewelled way ;
Nor are our voices tuned to swell those songs
Which wreathe its ageless pillars day by day.'
Verses d to <^. O pray for the peace of Jei'iisalem . . . because
of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek to do thee good. —
The last four verses of a Gradual Psalm are embodied in the
long meditation formula that is read in the 'Additional Service'
for Sabbath. I transcribe the piece as a specimen of such
poems. ' Rabbi Eliezer says that Rabbi Chauma thus taught :
" Wise men promote peace in the world ; as it is said, All thy
children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace
of thy children. Read not 'thy children,' but 'thy builders'
(the letters are the same in Hebrew). Abundant peace have
they who love Thy law : none shall obstruct them. May there
be peace within Thy walls, and prosperity within Thy palaces !
(Ps. cxxii. 6 to end). For the sake of my birth and friends, I
will say, Peace be within thee. For the sake of the house of
the Lord our God, I will seek thy good, and the Lord will
give strength unto His people ; the Lord will bless His people
with peace." '^
PSALM CXXHL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Upward glance to the Lord in times
of contempt.
Title (Spurgeon). — Let us know it as ' the Psalm of the
Eyes.'
* The Gradual Psalms, by H. T. Armfield, p. 125.
PSALM CXXIII.
50V
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of David— one of the I'salms
of Ascension, spoken in the person of Zerubbabel, Prince of
the Captivity.
Origin (Perowne).— This Psalm is either the sigh of the
exile, towards the close of the Captivity, looking in faith and
patience for the deliverance which he had reason to hojjc was
now nigh at hand ; or it is the sigh of those who, having
already returned to their native land, were still exposed to 'the
scorn and contempt ' of the Samaritans and others, who,
favoured by the Persian Government, took every opportunity of
harassing and insulting the Jews.
In Church. — Psalm cxxiii. is sung as a hymn during the
Greek Vespers.''^
J he Whole Psalm. — x^lsted beautifully entitles this Psalm
Oculus Sperans, 'The Eye of Hope.'t
Verse 2. Behold, even as the eyes of servants look unto the
hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand
of her mistress : even so our eyes wait upoii the Lord our God,
until He have mercy upon us. — There are indeed many occasions
in the Hebrew ritual where fragments of the (iradual Psalms
are introduced. A curious example of this is found in the
Service of Blessing said by Priests, called in Hebrew 'I'he
order of lifting up of the hands.' In that service they pronounce
the blessing w^hich Aaron was divinely commanded to bless
the children of Israel with (Num. vi. 24-26) :
' The Lord bless thee and keep thee :
' The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious
unto thee :
'The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give
thee peace.'
But the method in which this blessing is delivered is peculiar.
The fifteen Hebrew words which compose it are separately
* Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 309.
t The Book 0/ Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Teruwiie, vol. ii., p. 376.
5IO PSALM-MOSAICS
recited, and at each separate word the congregation respond
with a verse or phrase of Scripture appropriate to the word.
The second verse of Psalm cxxiii., ^Behold, even as the eyes of
servants . . . mercy upon us,'' forms the response to the one
Hebrew word which represents the phrase, ' And be gracious
unto thee.'"*
I have seen a fine illustration of this passage in a gentleman's
house at Damascus. The people of the East do not speak so
much or so quick as those in the West, and a sign of the hand
is frequently the only instruction given to the servants in
waiting. As soon as we were introduced and seated on the
divan, a wave of the master's hand indicated that sherbet was
to be served. Another wave brought coffee and pipes ; another
sweetmeats. At another signal dinner was made ready. The
attendants watched their master's eye and hand, to know his
will and do it instantly. Such is the attention with which we
ought to wait upon the Lord, anxious to fulfil His holy pleasure,
our great desire being, ' Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?'
An equally pointed and more homely illustration may be
seen any day on our own River Thames, or in any of our large
seaport towns, where the call-boy watches attentively the hand
of the captain of the boat, and conveys his will to the engine-
men, f
Bishop Dupanhmp says : i. In the interior fife : all is con-
tained in the love of God in Christ Jesus, and in the love of
souls for God. The love of God in Christ Jesus consists in
exercises of piety before all things, which must never be inter-
rupted ; they are the peaceful and constant exercise and
nourishment of love itself; 2nd, in private worship (Mass,
thanksgiving, frequent visits), and in public worship of the
Blessed Sacrament, which I ought by all possible means to
promote (Benedictions, Perpetual Adoration, Altar of the
Sacred Heart in my cathedral; Life of our Lord, written with
* The Gradual Psalms, by the Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 125.
t The Sunday at Home (quoted in the Treasury of David, vol. vi., p. 448)
PSALM CXXIV. 511
fervent love) ; 3rd, in the submission and entire surrender to
the will of God, which is true love.
Herein lies the great resolution. It must l)e the qucv placita
sunt et facio sejnper, and the sicut ociili ancilUr in nianihus
do/nifice siiiC. The love which I owe to our Lord ought to he
a love of entire dependence every hour, like a child towards its
mother; desiring nothing for myself, looking always to Him
with detachment and entire personal disinterestedness, to desire
and to do only that which is pleasing to Him every moment,
always with joy, for love, and by His grace present with nie.
Ecce sicut oculi sen'orum in manibus dominorum suoruin ita
oculi nostri ad Dominum Deuni ?iostruni. At the least sign,
to act for love, with love.
The love of souls for God. My priests first , then men who
are not sufficiently considered ; the sheep of my ovik ; by
letters and by word of mouth ; souls at a distance towards
whom I have a special duty ; in short, the Church and my
diocese ; but here begins my exterior life.*
PSALM CXXIV.
Z^f^^/;/^^(Delitzsch).— The Deliverer from death in waters
and in a snare.
Contents (Syriac).— Anonymous. A Thanksgiving. A Psalm
of Ascension.
Orinn (Perowne). — There can be little doubt that this
Psalm records the feelings of the exiles when the proclamation
of Cyrus at length permitted them to return to their native
land.
In the Jewish CZ/wr*://.— The joyous, hopeful character, which
has always been felt to attach to the Gradual Psalms, makes
one of them well fitting for use at the Feast of IHirim— the feast
* Life of Mgr. Dupanlottp, vol. ii., pp. 298, 299.
512 PSALM-MOSAICS
wherein the Hebrew nation commemorates its deHverance
from the plot of Haman, narrated in the Book of Esther.
Psalm cxxiv., which contains the verse, 'Our soul is escaped,
even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,' is employed on
that occasion.*
The Whole Psahn. — This and the two following may be
called historical Psalms. t
Luther composed his hymn 'Were not God w^ith us at this
time' (' Wjer' Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit ') after this Psalm. |
Masier John J^itrie^ a Presbyterian minister, lectured James
against all his dangerous practices, including the acceptance
of some house from the Duke of Guise, calling Guise a
murderer of the saints and a messenger of the Devil. Mr.
Durie belonged to the party of Lords Mar, Glamys and Lindsay,
who washed to combat the French influence; Lennox and Arran
on the other side. 'Lennox could, however, do nothing but
tear his beard for anger as Master John Durie was conducted
back to Edinburgh by a triumphal procession of 2,000 people
singing the 124th Psalm. '§
Verse 6. Our soul is escaped eveii as a bird out of the s?iare of
the fowler ; the snare is broken^ and we are delivered. — In the
chambers of this great subterranean city (Rome), small apsidal
chapels may be met with. The round part of these, called the
archosolium (and which exactly resembles a tomb often seen in
our English churches and crypts), is occasionally ornamented
with foliage, fruit and flowers, lamps, etc., as are the divisions
between the excavations, which we find in many instances
covered with symbolical designs in fresco, such as birds, intend-
ing, no doubt, to convey, by an allegory and symbol, the
escape of the soul, of which the Psalmist speaks : ' My soul is
escaped^ even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler ; the snare is
* The Gradual Psalms, by Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 123.
t The Piliirim Psalms, by S. Cox, p. 154.
X Dr. Tholuck's Commentary, p. 4.
§ Cameos from English History, No. clxxiii.
PSALM CXXV. 513
broken, a?id we are delivered' In the cemetery of Pretextatus,
De Rossi has lately discovered a painting on the roof, of a
whole nest of birds in the middle of a garland of roses and ears
of corn, receiving or waiting for the nourishment from their
mother's beak. From the earliest times birds were looked
upon as symbols of martyrs, taking flight, as they do, to the
regions above. "^
The Duke of Gandia, in the year 1549, claimed a promise of
being allowed to retire from the world, and, making over all his
estates and honours to his son, he entered an order as Francesco
Borja. As he left his Castle to carry out this long-cherished
desire of joining the Order of the Jesuits, he exclaimed, ' My soul
is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of tJie fnvler'\
PSALM CXXV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Israel's bulwark against temptation to
Apostasy.
Verse 3. The rod of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the
righteous. — In our liturgic version this clause is thus rendered :
' The word of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the
righteous.' This is one, and not the worst of the many sad
blemishes which deform the version in our national Prayer-
Book. In short, the version of the Psalms in tliat book is
wholly unworthy of regard, and should be thrown aside, and
that in the Authorized Version in the Bible substituted for it.
The people of God are misled by it, and they are confounded
by the great and glaring differences they find between it, and
what they find in their Bibles, where they have a version of a
much better character delivered to them by the authority of
Churcli and State. Why do not our present excellent and
* Chapters on Early Church History {Monthly Packet, vol. xxii., p. 22).
t Cameos from English History, No. cxx.\iii.
11
514 PSALM-MOSAICS
learned prelates lay this to heart, and take away this sore
stumbling-block out of the way of the people ?*
PSALM CXXVL
Heading (Delitzsch). — The Harvest of Joy after the sowing
of tears.
Title (Spurgeon). — We will call it, ' Leading captivity
captive.'
Conte?2ts (Syriac). — One of the Psalms of Ascension. Anony-
mous. Spoken concerning Haggai and Zechariah, who went
up from Babylon with the Captivity ; and Spiritually the ex-
pectation of good things to come.
The Whole Psalm. — In domestic life among the Hebrews, a
Gradual Psalm occupies a foremost position. The Grace
after Meat is with them a somewhat lengthy service, and it
always opens with a Psalm. On Sabbath and Holy Days,
Psalm cxxvi. is the one appointed to be said (' When the Lord
tur?ied again the captivity of Zion^). On the other days this is
replaced by Psalm cxxxvii., ' By the waters of Babylon.'
Verse i. When the Lord tur?ied again the captivity of Sion,
then were we like u7ito them that dream. — So Livy tells us that
when the Greeks heard at the Isthmian games after the defeat
of the Macedonians by T. Q. Flamininus, the proclamation of
the herald that they should, by the free gift of the Roman
people, retain their liberty, 'the joy was too great for men to
take it all in. None could well believe that he had heard
aright, and they looked on one another in wonder, like the
empty show of a dream ; and as for each person singly, having
no confidence in their own ears, they all questioned those
standing nearest to them. The herald, called back because
everyone was anxious not only to hear but to see the messenger
* Adam Clarke's Comme^itary, p. 2359.
PSALM CXXVI. 515
of freedom, repeated the proclamation. Then, when they
knew that the good news was certain, such applause and shout-
ing was raised and renewed again and again, that it was easy to
see that of all good things nothing is dearer to the people than
liberty. The games were then hurriedly gone through, because
no one's mind or attention was bent on the sight at all, to such
a degree had that one joy taken up the room of every other
pleasure.'"^
Verse 2. T/ien was our mouth filled ivith lauf^hter. It will
not be forgotten how the gladness of the greatest of Church
festivals, sometimes passing the bounds of moderation, gave
rise to the phrase Risus Paschales, ' Easter laughter.'t
Verse 6. They that sow hi tears shall reap i?i Joy.
' Go forth ! go forth to the labour,
For the harvest will soon be here,
With tasselled grain and ripened fruits,
And golden corn in the ear :
" For they that sow in tears shall reap in joy."
' What boots the dark clouds above thee
"If they return after the rain?"
Go forth with faith, for the harvest
Has promised thee golden grain :
" For they that sow in tears shall reap in joy."
' For they that sow in the morning.
E'en tho' they sow through their tears,
Shall reap their joy in the evening,
And find sweet rest to their cares :
" For they that ?ow in tears shall reap in joy."
' Faith, then, must open the furrow.
And hope, too, must drop in her seed,
Love then shall gather her harvest.
Go forth in earnest— take heed :
" P^or they that sow in tears shall reap in joy." '%
* Liv. Hist., xxxiii. 32, B.C. 196 (quoted in Dr. Neale's Commentary
vol. iv., p. 202).
t Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 204.
X Sophia Eckley's Poems, p. 51.
5i6 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM CXXVII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Everything depends upon the bless-
ing of God.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Builders' Psalm.
Contents (Syriac). — One of the Songs of Ascension written
by David concerning Solomon, and intended also of Haggai
and Zechariah, who forwarded the building of the Temple.
Origin (Perowne). — There is not a word in either (this or
the next) Psalm to guide us as to the time of its composition.
The title gives the 127th to Solomon (only one other in the
entire Psalter — the 72nd — being ascribed to him), but it may
be doubted whether with sufficient reason.
In Church. — Psalm cxxvii. is appointed in the Churching ot
Women.*
The Whole Psalm. — If the three previous songs may be
called historical Psalms, this and the next may very certainly
be described as domestic Psalms, f
In the Title this Psalm is called ' a Psalm for Solomon ';
i.e.., a Psalm suggested to Solomon by the Holy Spirit, t
Verse i. Except the Lord build the house., their labour is but
lost that build it. — On the lintel of the door in many an old
English house we may still read the words, 'Nisi Dominus
frustra,' the Latin version of the opening words of the Psalm.
Let us also trust in Him, and inscribe these words over the
portal of 'the house of our pilgrimage,' and beyond a doubt it
will be well with us, both in this world and in that which is to
come.§
* Interleaved Prayer- Book, p. 311.
t The Pilp'im Psalms, by S. Cox, p. 155.
% Bishop Wordsworth's Co?nfueiitary, p. 20I.
§ The Pilg}-ii}i Psalms, by S. Cox, p. 176.
PSALM CXXVII. 517
Dr. Wordsworth, in 1850, entered on the work of a country
clergyman. He undertook the charge of the parish of Stanford,
in Berkshire.
The first thing a visitor to the Vicarage would probably
notice was the inscription on a stone over the principal door :
' Nisi Dominus cBdificaverit domiim, vanus est labor cedificantium
eani' The dining-room ceiling bore on the sides of its low
rafters the words, 'Whether ye eat or drink ... do all to the
glory of God ;' ' Speak evil of no man ;' ' Blessed are they that
do hunger and thirst after righteousness,' and * In everything
give thanks.' The store-closet contained a delicate little warn-
ing to the anxious mistress of the house in the words, ^lapQa.
^idpda, and the entrance to the Vicar's study was headed by
'K^ayopd ^ca-de rov Katpov, while round the bow-window inside
were the words : Et rts ^v X/Dtcrroj Katvrj KTio-i^, ra dp)(^aLaL
irapriXdiv , ISov yeyove Kaivd rd wdvTa. Over his dressing- room
door he had the text, ' Nolumus exspoliari sed supervestiri.'*
T/ie I.Tarquis of No7-thampton s mansion is, of course, the
most prominent object in this parish (Castle Ashby). The
Comptons were among the most zealous and illustrious of the
families which supported Charles I. in arms. A lettered
balustrade, formed of the words of the 127th Psalm, 'Nisi
Dominus aedificaverit ' {Except the Lord build the house, their
labour is but lost that build it), runs round the quadrangle.!
Verse 2. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh
but i?i vain. — One important lesson, says her biographer, which
Madame Guyon learned from these temptations of others — a
lesson as important as any which the nature of the Christian
life renders indispensable— was that of her entire dependence
on Divine grace. ' I became,' she says, ' deeply assured of
what the prophet hath said, " Except the Lord keep the city, the
watchvian waketh but i?i vain:' When I looked to Thee, O my
Lord, Thou wast my faithful keeper : Thou didst continually
* Bishop Words-worth's Life, p. 134.
f Diocesan Histories: Peterborough, p. 217.
5i8 PSALM-MOSAICS
defend my heart against all kinds of enemies. But, alas ! when
left to myself, I was all weakness. How early did my enemies
prevail over me ! Let others ascribe their victories to their
own fidelity ; as for myself, I shall never attribute them to any-
thing else than Thy paternal care. I have too often experienced,
to my cost, what I should be without Thee, to presume in the
least in any wisdom or efforts of m.y own. It is to Thee,
O God, my Deliverer, that I owe everything ! And it is a
source of infinite satisfaction, that I am thus indebted to
Thee.'*
Verse 3. He giveth his beloved sleep. — Elizabeth Barrett
Browning :
' Of all the thoughts of God that are
Borne inward unto souls afar,
Along the Psalmist's music deep,
Now tell me if there any is
For gift or grace surpassing this —
' ' He giveth His beloved sleeps '
Verse 6. Happy is the man that hath his quiver fiill of the^n :
they shall ?iot be asha^ned when they speak with their enemies i7i
the gate. — Mr. Merrick mentions a Chinese proverb : 'When a
son is born, a bow and arrow are hung before the gate.'t
Happy is the ??ia7i that hath his quiver full of them. — We may
discover the tenderness of a parent's heart in Shakespeare's
writings; where the clown, in 'All's well that ends well,' quotes
the proverb, 'Bairns are blessings' (Act I., Sc. iii.)-+
PSALM CXXVIIL
Heading (Delitzsch). — The family prosperity of the God-
fearing man.
Title (Spurgeon). — A Family Hymn.
* Life of Madame Giiyon^ by Thomas Upham, p. 69.
t Bishop Home's Co)ni)ie7itary, vol. ii., p. 373.
X Shakespeare and the Bible, ^. 196.
PSALM CXXVIII. 5,9
Cofitefits (Syriac).— A Psalm of Ascension. Anonymous.
Intended of Zerubbabel, Prince of Judah, who forwarded the
building of the Temple ; in which is also indicated the calling
of the Gentiles.
Ill Churc/i.—ln the Eastern Church this Psalm is used m
the Office for Matrimony. It is said in procession, with a
responsory to every verse ; the responsory is ' Glory be to Thee,
O Lord; glory to Thee.'"*^
It is also used in our own Church in the Office for Holy
Marriage.
In the Roman Church the fifth and sixth verses of this Psalm
are the closing words of the Confirmation Office. "**"
Another characteristic use, for I cannot pretend to notice
every single individual use, of a Gradual Psalm lies in the em-
ployment of one of them (Ps. cxxviii., 'Blessed are all they that
fear the Lord and walk in His ways') in the weekly office —
said on most Thursdays of the year — of the venerable Sacra-
ment of the Eucharist. It occurs likewise in a Sacramental
aspect at Vespers, at the Feast of Corpus Christi, with a para-
phrase of one of its own verses as Antiphon : ' As the olive
branches, may the sons of the Church be round about the table
of the Lord.'
A further employment of Ps. cxxviii., which has survived in
our own Marriage Service in the Book of Common Prayer, is
found in its presence in the Ancient Service for Holy Matrimony,
where it was said without Antiphon, and without musical ac-
companiment.
The same Psalm is used in the Ancient Office for Purification
of Women after Child-birth. At the door of the church the
rubric ran : ' Let the Priest and his minister say the following
Psalms,' the Psalms in question being Ps. cxxi., ' I will lift uj)
mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help,' and
* Dr. Neale's Conunentary, vol. iv., pp. 273, 268.
520 PSALM-MOSAICS
Ps. cxxviii., ' Blessed are all they that fear the Lord and walk
in His ways.'
In the Sarum Office for Confirmation of Children the fifth
and sixth verses of Ps. cxxviii. were used at the close of office
with an obvious appropriateness to the occasion. 'Lo, thus
shall the man be blessed : that feareth the Lord. The Lord
from out of Zion shall so bless thee : that thou shalt see Jeru-
salem in prosperity all thy life long.'
They had been used in the Confirmation Office at least from
the time of Egbert, Archbishop of York, 950, and are now in
the Roman Use."^
The Whole Psalm. — -This is a Song of the Home, pure
and simple. It is the ' Home, sweet Home ' of the Hebrew
race.t
Luther calls this Psalm a fit Epithalamium or Marriage Song
for Christians. t
Luther's words are : ' Wherefore to this Psalm we will give
this title, that is an Epithalamium or Marriage Song, wherein
the Prophet comforteth them that are married, wishing unto
them and promising them from God all manner of bless-
ings.'
PSALM CXXIX.
Headmg (Delitzsch). — The end of the oppressors of
Zion.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Ascension. Anonymous.
Concerning the oppression of the people ; and signifying to us
the victory and triumph of the servants of God.
Verse 6. Let them be even as the grass growing npon the house-
* llie Gradual Psahns, by Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 102.
t 'J he Pilgri?n Psalms, by S. Cox, p. 177.
+ 1 he Speaker's Cofn?nentary, p. 465.
PSALM CA'A'.V. 521
hyp, which 7vithereth afore it be plucked up. — The word translated
'groweth up ' is 'shalaph,' which properly signifies 'to pull up.'
Accordingly it is translated in the Liturgy Psalms * before it is
plucked up.' This is approved by Maundrell ('Journey from
Aleppo to Jerusalem '), who thus writes :
' All that occurred new in these days' travel was a particular
way used by the country people in gathering their corn, it being
now harvest time (May). They ))lucked it up by handfuls from
the roots, leaving the most fruitful fields as naked as if nothing
had ever grown on them. This was their practice in places of
the East that I have seen, and the reason is that they may lose
none of their straw, which is generally very short, and necessary
for the sustenance of their cattle, no hay being here made. I
mention this because it seems to give light to that expres-
sion of the Psalmist, " which withereth before it be plucked
up," where there seems to be a manifest allusion to this
custom.'"^
PSALM CXXX.
Heading (Delitzsch). — De Profundis.
Title (Spurgeon). — We name this the De Profundis
Psalm.
Co7iie?its (Syriac).— A Psalm of Ascension— Intended of
Nehemiah the Priest ; in which allusion is also made to the
prayer of the Martyrs.
Origi?i (Perowne). — It may be taken as evidence of the late
date of the Psalm that the word rendered ' attentive,' verse 2,
occurs besides only in 2 Chron. vi. 40, vii. 15, and the word
' forgiveness,' verse 4, only in Ban. ix. 9, Neh. ix. 17.
I?i Church.— This Psalm is appointed in the Sarum Use and
the Latin Use for Christmas Day, probably on account of the
♦ Sunday at Home (1861), p. 527.
522 PSALM-MOSAICS
promise of redemption in verse 8 — a promise fulfilled in Him
whose Name was to be called 'Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins.'*
Psalm cxxx. is a daily Psalm of the Greek Evensong Office.
It is a Burial Psalm in the Roman Use.f
It is also the second Psalm at Evensong on Ash Wednesday
in the Church of England.
The use of this Psalm in the Western Church at burials and
in the Office of the Dead points to this sense of it : The prayer
of expectant souls, whether of martyrs under the altar or others
further from their consummation, that they may be taken up
by the Lord out of their state of waiting into the bliss of His
presence. |
T/ie Whole Fsalm. — On November the 8th the vaults beneath
the cathedral at Meaux were searched, and Bossuet's coffin was
discovered, placed, as he had desired, at the feet of his imme-
diate forerunner, De Eigny.
An interesting record of this day was given by M. Floquet,
dated :
' FoRMENTix, Calvados, November i6tk, 1854.
' On my return from Meaux, after the discovery and recogni-
tion of Bossuet's coffin.
' Returning from Meaux, where I have been spending two
days in Bossuet's cathedral, I feel an urgent desire to narrate
what I have been privileged to see. There, in a coffin just
opened, I beheld the revered head of the great Bishop, majestic,
beaming, almost exactly as Rigault painted it at Germigny in
1 701. I saw that inspired mouth, ready yet, as it well nigh
seemed, to utter those words of power which God had com-
mitted to him. A limited number of priests and laymen
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 204.
t Interlea7)ed Prayer- Book , p. 311.
X Dr. Neale's Commentary, p. 228.
PSALM CXXX.
;23
crowded round the sleeping pontiff, gazing eagerly upon him,
waiting awestruck, almost listening, as though he might yet
speak. The whole house of God was hushed in reverence and
devotion ; and ere long, at a sign given by the venerable and
pious successor of Bossuet, who was visibly moved by the
spectacle, every one simultaneously followed his example and
knelt down, and followed him in a loud, fervent /> Profundis^
more striking, more solemn than ever uttered at the royal
obsequies of St. Denis. ...'■*
Luther composed his hymn
' Out of deep sorrow I cry unto Thee '
(' Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu Dir')
after this Psalm. t
Charles V. on his deathbed had this Psalm read to him by
Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo.
'When Licther, in the year 1530, was in the fortress of
Coburg, on four occasions during the night there seemed to
pass before his eyes burning torches, and this was followed by a
severe headache. One night he saw three blazing torches come
in at the window of his room, and he swooned away. His
servant, coming to his assistance, poured oil of almonds into
his ear, and rubbed his feet with hot napkins. As soon as he
recovered he bade him read to him a portion of the Epistle of
the Galatians, and during the reading fell asleep. The danger
was over, and when he awoke, he cried out joyfully : " C'ome,
to spite the devil, let us sing the Psalm Be Profundis in four
parts."'!
Verse i. Old of the deep have 1 called unto Thee, O Lord ;
Lord, hear viy voice. — Bishop Milman of Calcutta died at
Rawul Pindi, a station about 100 miles from Peshawur. At
* Life of Bossuet, p. 586.
t Tholuck's Cotnnuntary, p. 4.
+ Delitzsch.
524 PSALM-MOSAICS
the last his mind wandered a httle, and he repeated many
Hindustani prayers. His last moments are thus recorded by
Mr. Jacob, his chaplain :
'15th. — At 7 a.m. the Bishop revived a little and was quite
conscious. On my asking him if he remembered the words,
" The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the ever-
lasting arms," he replied, "Yes, eternal God, refuge," and he
gave signs of acceptance. I then said slowly such other verses
as " God so loved the world,'"' " I know whom I have believed,"
"Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Finding he
was following me, I began the ijof/i Psabii — " Out of the deep
have I called u?ito Thee, O Lord : Lord, hear ?ny Toice"" — and
he immediately took it up, and said the second verse himself :
" O let Thine ear consider well the voice of my complaint.'" I
said the third verse — " If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark
what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it ?"' — and the
Bishop responded, '• For there is mercy with Thee, therefore
shalt Thou be feared." I then finished the Psalm, and the
Bishop said the Gloria Patri himiself. I knelt down, said the
first collect in the Visitation Service, the Lord"s Prayer, and
" the Grace." The Bishop repeated the Lord's Prayer, and
saying "Amen" after the other prayers, gently raised his hand
to cover his eyes. A few minutes afterwards he was heard
saying: " The creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Then, looking up, he said : "When shall I be delivered from
this bondage?" "Soon," was the reply. "How soon?" said
the Bishop eagerly. "Very soon," was the answer. And the
Bishop murmured quietly, "The glorious liberty of the children
of God,"' then a few words in Hindustani, and he passed quietly
away.'*
Verse 3. Lf thou, Lord^ wilt be extreme to fnark what is done
amiss, who may abide it 1 — This verse is one of the great texts
used by the Cathohcs in the controversy against the Novatians,
* The Life of Bishop Milman, p. 363.
PSALM CXXX.
525
who, in an unwise zeal for the purity of the Church, denied all
power of returning, even after severe penance, to those who had
fallen away under the stress of persecution. For, as they note,
the Psalmist does not say ' I cannot abide it,' but 7v/io mny
abide it ]
Seeing that no man is safe from sins which howl around him,
none is of perfectly spotless conscience, none pure in heart,
because of his own righteousness.*
Verse 4. For there is mercy with Thee : therefore sJialt Thou
be fuired. — Dr. Sanderson, sometime Bishop of Lincoln, was,
in 1 616, at Oxford chosen Senior Proctor. Izaak Walton says
that at this time ' the magisterial part of the Proctor required
more diligence, and was more difficult to be managed, than
formerly, by reason of a multiplicity of new Statutes, which
begot much confusion ; some of which Statutes were then, and
others suddenly after, put into an useful execution. And
though these Statutes were not then made so perfectly useful as
they were designed, till Archbishop Laud's time — who assisted
in the forming and promoting them — yet our present Proctor
made them as effectual as discretion and diligence could do : of
which one example may seem worthy the noting, namely, that
if in his night walk he met with irregular scholars absent from
their colleges at University hours, or disordered by drink, or in
scandalous company, he did not use his power of punishing to
an extremity, but did usually take their names, and a promise
to appear before him unsent for next morning ; and when they
did, convinced them, with such obligingness, and reason added
to it, that they parted from him with such resolutions, as the
man after God's own heart was possessed with, when he said :
*' There is mercy with Thee, and therefore Thou shalt he feared''
(Psalm CXXX. 4). And by this, and a like behaviour to all
men, he was so happy as to lay down this dangerous employ-
ment as but very lew, if any, have done, even without an
enemy.'!
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 230.
t Izaak Walton's Lives, p. 343.
526 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 6. My soul fleeth U7ito the Loi'd : before the mornifig
watch, I say, before the morni?ig watch. — My soul {looketh) for,
literally, 'my soul is unto the Lord ' (as in Psalm cxliii. 6, 'my
soul is unto Thee '), as the eyes of watchers through the long
and weary night look eagerly for the first streaks of the coming
day.
Delitzsch quotes, in illustration of the expression, the words
of Chr. A. Crusius on his deathbed, when, lifting up his eyes
and hands to heaven, he exclaimed : ' My soul is full of the
grace of Jesus Christ; my ivhole soul is ujito God'*
Bishop Selwyn, the great Bishop, lay dying on Tuesday,
April 9th, 1878. 'Bishop Abraham, who was going to ad-
minister Confirmation at a distant spot, visited his friend
before six o'clock in the morning. The curtains in his bedroom
were still drawn, and the light of day was streaming into the
room through the openings. Psalm cxxx. had just been read,
and when the words " My soul fleeth to Thee before the mornijig
watch " were uttered, he added, in tones almost startling from
their distinctness : " I say, before the morning watch." All
were struck with the strong feeling of thankfulness to God
which he felt for the sufferings through which he had been
carried.
'The words in the Visitation Service, "to be made like unto
Christ " in suffering, were very precious to him. Amid the
wanderings caused by bodily weakness, his thoughts were with
the distant islands for whom he had done so much, and to
whose evangelization, when his own active labours had ended,
he had given his son.
'At one time he would exclaim, with kindling eye, "A light
to lighten the Gentiles "; at another he would murmur, " They
will all come back," as, indeed, the larger portion of those
Maoris who apostatised have already returned ; and then in
the soft Maori language, which for a quarter of a century was
famihar to him as his mother tongue, he would say, " It is all
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 398.
PSALM CXXXr. 527
light." On Thursday, April 1 ith, the end came. He had been
unconscious for hours, but gave signs of pleasure at hearing
Bonar's hymn, "A few more years shall roll," which had been
sung at the consecration of the burial-ground at the workhouse
at Stoke, and had much affected the old pauper inmates.
About noon, surrounded by those who loved him well, who
had shared his counsels and his labours on either side of the
globe, the Commendatory prayer having been said by Bishop
Abraham, he entered into his rest. A few moments there were
of deep silence, and then, as was fitting, all stood up and
recited the Apostles' Creed, never more thoroughly realizing
the mystery, or more thankfully professing faith in " the resur-
rection of the body and the life everlasting." '*
PSALM CXXXI.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Child-like resignation to God.
Title (Spurgeon). — Comparing all the Psalms to gems, we
should liken this to a pearl.
CoJitefits (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — one of the Psalms
of the Ascension. Intended of Joshua, the son of Josedech
the High Priest ; also concerning humility.
Ongi?i (Perowne). — Whether written by David, to whom the
title gives it, or not, this short Psalm— one of the most beauti-
ful in the whole Book — assuredly breathes David's spirit.
The Whole Psa///L— The ideal of the spiritual character in
the Psalter is crowned by . . . traits which are . . . marvel-
lously in advance of their day. Such are the broken spirit ;
the broken and contrite heart ; such, above all, the character
painted in that perfect miniature, the 131st Psalm.
* T/ie Life of Bishop Sehvyn, p. 373.
528 PSALM-MOSAICS
It is the abnegation of pride in its secret spring, in its visible
expressions, in its sphere of action. The lines of Keble,
'The common round, the trivial task.
Will furnish all I ought to ask,'
are but the translation of, 'Neither do I exercise in great
matters.'
He has diligently lulled the disquietudes and levelled the
aspirations of the proud yet grovelling human heart, and con-
formed it to the type of a little child. The Psalm remained.
It was like a string of a Christian ' Lyra Innocentium ' placed
among its chords out of due season, silent until Christ gave
it utterance by setting a little child in the midst, and saying,
* Except ye be converted and become as little children.' Its
undying echoes are awakened whenever the Baptismal Gospel
is read beside a font. By whomsoever composed, from what-
ever heart this ' Song of the Upgoings ' may first have issued,
it is equally ours. It may have been, as modern critics incline
to think, a strain of pilgrims, content to be left alone, happy
enough in seeing Jerusalem. It may have been a Psalm of
David, first uttered when he was heart-sick under misrepresen-
tations. But Augustine's words are equally true : 'This should
be received, not as the voice of one man singing, but as the
voice of all who are the Body of Christ. This Temple of
God, the Body of Christ, the congregation of the faithful,
has one voice. It is as it were one man who chanteth the
Psalms.'*
Dr, Wolffs in his researches, mentions a book, written by a
converted Jew in the East, in which it is recommended that,
when a person is not able to sleep, he should read this Psalm.
The recommendation is in harmony with the quiet and trusting
meekness of the sacred Poet.
Veisc 3. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child
* The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Ck7-istia7tity,' po 119, 120.
PSALM CXXXII. 329
that is zveanedfrom Jiis mother ; yea, my soul is even as a weaned
child.—' K^ a weaned child upon his mother' {i.e., as he lies
resting upon his mother's bosom); 'as the weaned child (I
say), lies my soul upon me.'
The figure is beautifully expressive of the humility of a soul
chastened by disappointment. . . . 'The weaned child,' writes
a mother, with reference to this passage, ' has for the first time
become conscious of grief. The piteous longing for the sweet
nourishment of his life, the broken sob of disappointment,
mark the trouble of his innocent heart ; it is not so much the
bodily suffering ; he has felt that pain before, and cried while
it lasted; but now \\\sjoy and contfort are taken aivay, and he
knows not why. When his head is once more laid on his
mother's bosom, then he trusts and loves and rests ; but he
has learned the first lesson of humility, he is cast down, and
cUngs with fond helplessness to his one friend.'
At a time when the devices of our modern civilization are
fast tending to obliterate the beauty of this figure — mothers no
longer doing their duty by their children — it seems the more
necessary to draw attention to it."^
PSALM CXXXII.
Beadifig (Delitzsch). — Prayer for the House of God, and the
House of David.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Ascension. Anonymous.
When the people sought to build a house unto the Lord of
Sabaoth ; also a prayer of David, and a revelation of the
Messiah.
In Church. — Psalm cxxxii. is a Proper Psalm for Christmas
Day.f
* The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 401.
t The Interleaved Prayer- Book, p. 31 1.
34
530 PSALM-MOSAICS
In the 13 2nd Psalm the song mysteriously hovers over
Bethlehem. The careful reader, with the second Lesson for
Christmas Morning and the Greek version of the Psalms be-
fore him, seems to catch anticipations of St. Luke's narrative,
and to hear broken snatches of ' Venite adoremus ' floating in
the air.*
This Psalm is appointed to be used on Christmas Day be-
cause it declares David's earnest desire to find a habitation for
the Lord, and because it records the promise which God
made to David, after he had brought the Ark of the Lord to
the place of its rest on Mount Sion. In that promise God
assured him that He would raise Christ from the fruit of his
body, and would give everlasting continuance to his seed and
to his monarchy in Him. Hence, therefore, the Church of
England, with much propriety, adopts these words on Christ-
mas Day (so likewise the Sarum and Latin Use), when she
thanks God for the fulfilment of that promise in the Incarna-
tion of the Son of God.j
Burial of the Dead. — Amongst all the uses of individual
Gradual Psalms, one of the most beautiful examples is the
employment of Psalm cxxxii. as one of the Psalms in the
ancient Enghsh Office for the Burial of the Dead. Nothing
could surpass the exquisite turn of meaning given to the Psalm
by the Antiphon, under which it is said : ' This shall be my rest
for ever : here will I dwells for I have a delight therein.^ %
The Whole Psalm. — Tropologically, also, the Psalm ad-
monishes us to swear and vow a vow that we will not come
into the tabernacle of our house until within ourselves we find
a place for the Lord, purifying our hearts from superfluous
care, from inordinate affection, and from all sloth. It was, no
doubt, some one, or perhaps all, of these last meanings that
* The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity y pp. 24, 25.
t Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 206.
X The Gradual Psalms, by Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 97.
PSALM CXXXII. 531
caused this one of the Gradual Psalms to be selected for re-
citation by those about to celebrate the Holy Communion of
the Lord's Supper. It is appointed to be said by Priests and
Deacons as a preparation for the service in the Divine Liturgy,
according to the rite and ceremonies of the orthodox Armenian
Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator.*
Ferse 4. I ivill not suffer mine eyes to sleeps ?tor in me eyelids
to slutnber^ neither the temples of my head to take any rest. —
When, in the Third Fart of King Benry VI., the Earl of
Warwick says to Richard Plantagenet,
' Victorious Prince of York,
Before I see thee seated in that throne,
Which now the house of Lancaster usurps,
I vow by heaven these eyes shall never close '
(Act. I., .Sc. i.)t
we need not doubt that our poet had in view a resolution of
King David (Ps. cxxxii. 4).
Verse 9. Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness^ and
let Thy sai/its sing with joyfulncss. — This verse is one of those
most frequently recited by the Church. Divided into a Versicle
and Response, it forms part of the Ferial Preces of Lauds,
and formerly of Vespers too, in the Breviary, whence it has
been transferred to the Matins and Evensong of the Book of
Common Prayer ; and it appears also in various other forms,
such as the Prceparatio ad Missam^ etc.
Christian priests, like the Jewish ones, are taught their duly
by their official garb, intended to bring their Master to their
mind. So the verses run :
' Priest, whensoever thou celebratest Mass,
Remember, and devoutly bear in mind,
What conflicts for thy sake Chkist hath endured.
The Amice marks Ilim blindfolded and mocked,
The linen vest Him in white robe despised,
The Zone and Maniple are His cruel bonds,
The Stole the image of the Cross He bore.
-•- The Gradual Psalms, by the Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 345.
+ Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 341.
532 PSALM-MOSAICS
The markrs of wounded Head, pierced hands and feet,
See in the Amice, four times in the Alb ;
Chasuble brings to mind the purple robe,
How Christ was covered with liis ruddy gore.
And as the Priest unto the altar hastes,
Think in a grateful mind how Christ went up
To Calvary's mount to die on Cross for thee.'*
Verses 15, 16. This shall be My rest for ever ; here will I
dwell, for I have a delight therein. — A recent traveller in Spain
visited in Cadiz the ' Casa de Misericordia.' High up above
the wall runs the inscription :
' This is my rest :
Here will I dwell.
I will abundantly bless her provision :
I will satisfy her poor with bread.'
The eye and ear miss two words in the first line — ' for ever.'
A recent traveller mentions that, as he looked up, the Superior,
with a smile, explained the omission : 'This Casa is the home
of the poor, but not for ever.'t
St. Francis de Sales established an order called the ' Order
of the Visitation.' The little house they had chosen was occu-
pied for the first time (at Annecy) on Trinity Sunday, June 6,
1 610. There were three, Madame de Chantal, sister to the
Archbishop of Bruges, who was, next to St. Francis, the moving
spirit in the matter ; Mademoiselle de Brechard, a young lady
of noble birth, from Nivernois ; and Jaqueline Favre, a daughter
of the Bishop's old friend, the Senateur Favre. During the
course of the first few months five other postulants joined
them. These first three members of the community made
their profession on the anniversary of their entry into their
little home, the Bishop himself having taken continued pains
during that interval to teach them and train their souls for the
true religious life. At last the day arrived, and Francis de
Sales professed the three novices. As she returned to her
place, Madame de Chantal broke forth, without any premedita-
* Dr. Neale's Conimenta^y, vol. iv., p. 246.
f The Witness oj the Psalms to Christ and Cht'istianily, p. 279.
PSALM CXXXIII. 533
tion, in the words of the 132nd Psahn, ' TAis shall be my rest
for ever ; here will I d^vcll.for I have a delight therein ' (' Hiec
requies mea in speculum sa^cuh ; hie habitabo quoniam elegi
earn '), and in consequence this verse has ahvays since been
used on similar occasions in the Order of the Visitation.*
. Pope Gregory X. had called a General Council, the second
of Lyons, with a view of extinguishing the Greek schism, and
raising succour to defend the Holy Land against the Saracens.
St. Thomas Aquinas was directed by the Pope to be present,
and defend the ' Catholic cause against the Greek schismatics.'
He grew ill on the way, and * was forced to stop at Forsa-
Nuova, a famous abbey of the Cistercians, in the diocese of
Terracina, where formerly stood the city called Forum Appii.
Entering the monastery, he went first to pray, before the
Blessed Sacrament, according to his custom. He poured forth
his soul with extraordinary fervour, in the presence of Him
who now called him to His kingdom. Passing thence unto
the cloister, which he never lived to go out of, he repeated
these words : ' This is my rest for ages 7vithout end'\
PSALM CXXXHL
Heading (Delitzsch).— Praise of brotherly fellowship.
Title (Spurgeon). — The benefit of the Communion of Saints.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David— one of the Psalms
of Ascension. Understood of Moses and Aaron, who dwelt in
a tabernacle in the house of the Lord, in which there is also
allusion made to a perfect people.
Origin (Perowne).— There is not a syllable in the Psalm
which can lead us to any conclusion respecting its date. Such
a vision of the blessedness of unity may have charmed the
* JAffofS. Francis dc Sales, p. 196.
t Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler.
534 PSALM-MOSAICS
poet's heart, and inspired the poet's song at any period of the
national history.
In Church. — With an obvious propriety, Psalm cxxxiii.
(' Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell
together in unity ') was said in the Sarum office at the anointing
of a Bishop in his consecration, with two of its own verses for
an Antiphon, which was to be repeated after every verse of the
Psalm.
The Antiphon was as follows : The ointment on the head,
which ran down unto the beard, even Aaron's beard, which
ran down to the border of his garment. The Lord com-
manded His blessing for evermore."^'
The Whole Psalm. — Hej'der says of this exquisite little song,
that 'it has the fragrance of a lovely rose.'t
Verse i. Behold., how good and joyful a thmg it is., drethre?t,
to dwell together i7i unity. — It may surely be received as a
special blessing, granted to their continual prayer, that even in
the darkest years of the Commonwealth the family of Gidding
were never deprived of the Sacraments of the Church.
' Where shall we now receive Viaticum with safety ? How
shall we be baptized? For to this pass is it come, sir,' wrote
John Evelyn, in 1655, to his 'ghostly father,' Jeremy Taylor.
' The Shepherds are smitten, and the sheep must of a necessity
be scattered, unlesse the greate Shephearde of Soules oppose,
or some of his delegates reduce and direct us. Deare sir, we
are now preparing to take our last sad farewell (as they threaten)
of God's service in this citty, or anywhere else in pubUque. I
must confess it is a sad consideration, but it is what God sees
best, and to what we must submitt. My comfort is, Deus
providebit'
In the tiny church at Gidding, hidden by its sheltering
woods, the edict of 'Julianus Redivivus,' as Evelyn terms
Cromwell, could perhaps be safely disregarded; if it were not
* The Gradual Psalms, by Rev. H. T. Armfield, p. 104.
t The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 410.
PSALM CXXXIII.
535
SO, at least in the great parlour, or the oratories sanctified by
years of nightly intercession, the holy Mysteries might still be
celebrated by the faithful friend who for so many years had
fed that little flock with the Bread of Life.
The remaining members of the family still clung together.
' My dear swete sister,' writes Susannah Chedly (formerly
Susannah Mapletoft) to Virginia Ferrar, in 1650, 'the blessed
Psalm saifh, it is a joyful thing luhen brethren dwell together in
unity, as I am sure you do''''
Augustine says of this first verse, that the very sound of it is
so sweet that it was chanted even by persons who knew nothing
of the rest of the Psalter. He also says that this verse gave
birth to monasteries ; it was like a trumpet-call to those who
wished to dwell together as brethren (fratres or friars). t
I?i the legend of St. Brendan searching for the 'land promised
to the Saints,' we read he came to a little island : 'The isle was
very small, about a furlong round ; a bare rock, and so steep
that the saint and his companions could find no landing-place.
But at last they found a creek, into which they thrust their
boats. They then discovered a very difficult ascent, up which
the man of God climbed, bidding them wait for him, for they
must not enter the isle without the hermit's leave. And when
he came to the top he saw two caves, with mouths opposite
each other, and a small round well before the cave's mouth.
As he went to one entrance, the old man came out of the
other, saying : ' Behold, how good atui joyful a thing it is,
brethren, to dwell together in unity,' and bade him call up the
brethren from the boat. And when they came he kissed them,
and called them each by his name. Whereat they marvelled
not only at his spirit of prophecy, but also at his attire, for he
was all covered with his locks and beard, and with the hair of
his body down to his feet. This old man was Paul the
Spiritual, and he told them that he had been nourished at
* Life of Nicholas Ferrar, p. 315.
t The Book of Psalvis, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. 11., [i. 411-
536 PSALM-MOSAICS
St. Patrick's monastery for fifty years, and that he took care of
the cemetery ; and how, when one day he was digging a
grave, an old man appeared, and bade him go down to the sea,
and he would find a boat, which would take him to a place
where he must wait for the day of his death; and how he
landed on that rock, and thrust the boat off with his foot, and
it went swiftly back to its own land; and how on the very
first day a beast came to him walking on its hind-paws, and
between its fore-paws was a fish, and some grass to make a
fire, and laid them down at his feet ; and on every third day
for twenty years, and every Lord's day, a little water came out
of the rock, so that he could drink and wash his hands ; and
how, after thirty years, he had found these caves and fountain,
and had fed for the last sixty years on nought but the water
thereof.
For all the years of his life were one hundred and fifty, and
henceforth he awaited the day of his judgment, in that his flesh ;
and then he took that water, and they received his blessing,
and kissed each other in the peace of Christ, and sailed
southward."^
Savonarola. — During the onslaught on the convent of St.
Mark by the people of Florence, the Vicar (Savonarola) and
some of the brethren were still before the altar in prayer,
sometimes ministering to the wounded and dying. While
Herico (a German brother) is discharging his arquebus from
the pulpit, and stones and sticks are flying in all directions,
there is a youth wounded to death borne into the choir,
Domenica (a Fra, who suffered with Savonarola), murmuring as
he dies, happy in dying near his beloved teacher : ' Quanto e
dolce ai fratelli ritrovarsi insieme ' {Behold^ how good and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell togefher.)j
Verse 3. Like as the dew of Her7?ion. — The similitude of the
dew has taken shape in a legend. An old pilgrim narrates
* The Her7)iits, by Charles Kingsley, p. 274.
t The Life of Savonarola^ by Rev. W. Clark, p. 360.
PSALM CXXXIV. 537
that every morning at sunrise a handful of dew floated down
from the summit of Hermon, and deposited itself upon the
Church of St. Mary, where it was immediately gathered up by
Christian leeches, and was found a sovereign remedy for all
diseases. It was of this dew he declares that I )avid spoke
prophetically in this Psalm. ^ -w^ >u>^ l\.>-o^ )c'u*+-^ji cv^'
PSALM CXXXIV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Night-watch greeting, and counter-
greeting.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — concerning the
Priests whom he appointed to attend the ministry of the Lord
by night ; and, spiritually, the doctrine of life.
Ill Church. — Psalm cxxxiv. was used at the close of the
Greek Nocturns, and was also the last Psalm at Compline. f
There are some facts which seem specially to connect tlie
Gradual Psalms with the close of the day. The last of them
(this one), e.g., both in the Ancient English Rook and in the
Roman Breviary, forms the last Psalm of the Compline Office,
and thus has the honour of furnishing, day by day, the invari
able cadence of that long sequence of Psalm and Canticle
which formed the thread of every day's devotion in the ancient
Church. +
This Psalm is also used in the Orthodox Eastern Church, in
the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom..^
The Whole Psalm.— T\\^ Christian use of this Psalm at
Compline, both in the East and \\'est, is meant to remind
those religious who recite it at the time when others are going
* Itinerary of S. Anthony (Perowne, vol. ii., p. 413).
t The Interleaved Prayer- Book, p. 313.
X The Gradual Psalms, l)y the Rev. T. Armfield, p. 94-
§ Dr. Neale's Com?nentary, vol. iv., p. 269.
538 PSALM-MOSAICS
to rest until the next working day begins, that they, as God's
servants, have not ended their service, but still have, later on
in the night, to stand in His house and praise Him in the
midnight office of Nocturns and Lauds. So runs the hymn at
the Matins of Wednesday :
' Mentes manusque tollimus
Propheta sicut noctibus
Nobis gerendum praecipit,
Paulusque gestis censuit.
' We lift our hearts, we lift our hands
By night time, as with his commands
The Prophet urgeth us to do,
And Paul's example taught us too.'*
PSALM CXXXV.
Heading (DeYitzsch). — Four- voiced Hallelujahs to the God
of Israel, the God of Gods.
Conte?its (Syriac). — Anonymous. In its spiritual sense to be
understood of a soul that, conscious, hymns in trance, while
waking in union with the Trinity. In which there is also an
allusion to the conversion of the people of the Messiah to the
Faith.
The Whole Psalm. — Delitzsch styles this Psalm a Mosaic,
made up for the most part of pieces selected from other
Psalms, and from the prophetical writings. Psalms xcvii. and
xcviii. are specimens among the Psalms of similar compila-
tions.
The Polyeleos. — Psalms cxxxv. and cxxxvi., said together, are
called by the Greeks the Polyeleos, from the continued repe-
tition in the latter of the mercy of GoD.f
* Dr. Neale's Go7ninentary, vol. iv., p. 263.
t The Speaker's Commentary ^ p. 474.
PSALM CXXXVI. 539.
Verse 3. O praise the Lord, for the Lord is gracious: O si/i-
praises luito His ?iame, for it is lovely.
* Come, lovely Name ! appear from forth the bright
Regions of peaceful light ;
Look from Thine own illustrious home,
Fair King of names, and come :
Leave all Thy native glories in their gorgeous nest,
And give Thyself awhile the gracious guest
Of humble souls that seek to find
The hidden sweets
Which man's heart meets
When Thou art master of the mind,
' Come, lovely Name ! life of our hope,
Lo, we hold our hearts wide ope ;
Unlock Thy cabinet of day,
Dearest sweet, and come away.'*
PSALM CXXXVI.
Lleading (Delitzsch). — O give thanks unto the Lord, for He-
is good.
Contents (Syriac). — Anonymous. Understood of Moses and
Israel singing praises to the Lord on account of them that were
delivered. Also concerning the redemption of souls from
Gehenna, from the power of Satan, by the Messiah our Saviour,
their Deliverer.
The Whole Psalm. —According to an oM rule of writing
observed in some of the most ancient of MSS., the two lines of
the verses ought to be arranged each in a separate column, or,
as the phrase runs, ' half-brick upon half-brick, brick upon
brick. 't
A Battle-song. — As an example of a Psalm being used as a
battle-song may be mentioned the victory of Jchosaphat over
the Ammonites in the wilderness of Tekoah, when the Priests
and Levites advanced singing the 136th Psalm, and the enemies
turned and fled, dying by the hand of God ; and we read of
the army of Judas Maccabceus singing the same Psalm after
* Name offesiis, by Crashaw.
t I'he Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Terowne, vol. ii., p. 420.
540 PSALM-MOSAICS
they had discomfited Georgias and all his host(i Mace. iv. 24).
See also 2 Mace. x. t,^, xv. 29."^
St. Athanasius. — On the night of Thursday, the 9th of
February, 358, Athanasius with his congregation was, after
the manner of the Coptic Church, keeping vigil through the
whole night in the Church of St. Theonas in preparation for
the Eucharist of the following day. Suddenly at midnight
there was a tumult without. The church, which was of unusual
size, was surrounded with armed men. The presence of mind
for which he was famous did not desert the Bishop. Behind
the altar was the episcopal throne. On this he took his seat,
and ordered his attendant deacon to read the ij6th Fsal?n,
which has for every verse the response, ' For His mercy
€ndureth for ever.' It was while these responses were being
thundered forth by the congregation that the doors burst open,
and the imperial general and notary entered at the head of his
soldiers. The soldiers were for the moment terror-struck by
the chanting of the Psalm. But as they pressed forward, a
shower of arrows flew through the church. The swords flashed
in the light of the sacred torches, the din of their shouts
mingled with the rattle of their arms. The wounded fell one
upon another, and were trampled down ; the nuns were seized
and stripped, the church was plundered. Athanasius had
refused to go till most of the congregation had retired, but now
he was swept away in the crowd. (A mob has in all ages, and
amongst all shades of ecclesiastical party, been a ready instru-
ment for theological agitators against their opponents. Of
all mobs, the Alexandrian, whether heathen or Christian, was
the most terrible. On this occasion it was united with the
soldiers.)!
The Great Hallel. — This Psalm, with its twenty-six utter-
ances of 'His mercy endureth for ever,' is sometimes called
' the Great Hallel.'l
* Historical Battle-songs {Monthly Packet, vol. xxvi., p. 307).
t Stanley's Eastei-n Church, p. 239.
X Bishop Wordsworth's Commetitary^ p. 210.
PSALM C XXXV I. 54,
The Rabbins say that the Psahn consists of twenty-six verses
(the 27th is not in Hebrew nor LXX.), because that is exactly
the number of generations recorded in the Pentateuch between
the Creation of the World and the giving of the T>aw on Mount
Sinai.*
Verses 7, 8, 9. Who hath made great lights. . . . The sun to
7ule the day. . . . The mooti a?id the stars io govern the flight:
for His mercy endureth for ever. — This passage of the Psalter
was made a great battlefield during the strife of the subject of
Investitures which raged in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
as it was argued that the Church and State, especially the
Empire, were the two great lights of the heavens, but that the
Church, as the Sun, had rule over all that belonged to spiritual
questions, the day ; while the State, deriving its authority from
God through the Church, was but as the inoon., restricted in its
rule to temporal questions, matters of the night only, and was
therefore incompetent to encroach on the privileges of the
hierarchy in matters of patronage.!
Verse 13. Who divided the Red Sea in two parts. — The word
two^ inserted by the Prayer-Book in verse 13, is not in the
Hebrew, nor in the other versions. There is a Rabbinical
tradition that the number of channels into which the Red Sea
was parted was twelve, so as to give a separate line of march to
each tribe.;
Between verses 16 and 17 the Arabic interpolates :
' And made waters flow from the solid rock :
For His mercy endureth for ever.'
This is, however, of no authority, and may have originally
been the pious amplification of some reader who felt that these
were but samples of God's many mercies. Like that devout
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 28S.
t Ibid., p. 291.
X Ibid., p. 293.
542 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
soul who said to a friend that we might, in the very spirit of
this Psahn, give thanks for affliction, singing :
' To Him who withered our gourds :
For His mercy endureth for ever.'*
rSALM CXXXVII.
Heading (Dehtzsch). — By the rivers of Babylon.
Title (Spurgeon). — An opalesque Psalm within whose mild
radiance there glows a fire which strikes the beholder with
wonder.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of David. The words of the
Saints that were carried away captives to Babylon.
Origin (Perowne). — There can be no doubt whatever as to
the time when this Psalm was written. It expresses the feel-
ing of an exile who has but just returned from the land of his
captivity. In all probability the writer was a Levite, who had
been carried away by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar when
Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple destroyed, and who
was one of the first, as soon as the edict of Cyrus was pub-
lished, to return to Jerusalem.
The Whole Psalm. — Odd Metrical English Versions of this
Psalm. — An amusing chapter of the curiosities of our literature
might be compiled of the various whimsical metrical English
versions of the Psalms which have been made from time to
time. Perhaps not many readers even of Notes and Queries
are aware that a portion of the 137th Psalm has been adapted
to Sapphic measure as follows :
Fast by thy stream, O Babylon, reclining,
Woebegone exile, to the gale of evening
Only responsive, my forsaken harp I
Hung on the willow.
* Christ and His CJmrch in the Book of Psalms, by A. Bonar, p. 414.
PSALM CXXXVII. r,.
' Gushed the big teardrops as my soul remembered
Zion, thy mountain paradise, my country !
When the fierce bands Assyrian, who led us
Captive from Salem,
'Claimed, in our mournful bitterness of anguish,
vSongs and unseasoned madrigals of joyance :
Sing the sweet-tempered carol that ye wont to
Warble in Zion.
* Dumb be my tuneful eloquence, if ever
Strange echoes answer to a song of Zion :
Blasted this right hand, if I should forget thee,
Land of my fathers !'
This curious essay is copied from the Panoramic Miscellany ;
or, Monthly Magazine of Literature, Science and Art,' vol. i.,
1826 ; possibly Southey's youthful Jacobin effusions in Sapphic
measure, so admirably and withal so mercilessly parodied by
Canning, may have suggested the idea of attempting to improve
upon Sternhold and Hopkins, by adapting one of the Psalms
to the same kind of rhyme ; but however this may have been,
it can hardly be allowed that the result as above is very
fehcitous.*
Canteens, the national poet of Portugal, calls this Psalm
the Psalm of pious patriotic memory.
Among poetic paraphrases of Psalm cxxxvii., may I refer to
Crashaw's in Steps to the Temple (164S), and Lord Bacon's in
Certaijie Fsalmes (1625), the one lovely, the other dignified ?t
Verse i. By the waters of Babylon we sat do'wn and 7vept. — St.
Vincent of Paul, being captured by pirates whilst on a voyage,
was sold as a slave. He was at length bought by a renegade
Christian, who had several Turkish wives. One of these,
having a great admiration for Christianity, went often into the
field where Vincent was digging, and asked him to sing the
praises of God. In compliance with her recjuest, he chanted
often with tears in his eyes the Psalm so appropriate to his sad
condition, 'By the waters of Babylon ive sat down and wept'
* Notes and Queries, vol. xii. {5th series), p. 43.
t The Book of Fsalms, by Rev. T. K. Cheyne, p. 346.
544 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
This woman, although still a Mahommedan herself, reproached
her husband so bitterly with having relinquished so excellent a
religion, that he resolved to escape to France with Vincent de
Paul, and was soon afterwards received back again into the
Church.
Verses 2, 4. As for our harps we hanged them iip^ upon the
trees that are therein. . . . How shall we sing the Lord's song
in a stra?ige land? — Jeremiah the prophet returned to Jerusalem,
and accompanied his unfortunate brethren, who went out
almost naked. When they reached a place called Bet Kuro,
Jeremiah obtained better clothing for them. And he spoke
to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, and said : 'Think not
that of your own strength you were able to overcome the
people chosen of the Lord ; 'tis their iniquities which have
condemned them to this sorrow.'
Then the people journeyed on with crying and moaning
until they reached the rivers of Babylon.
Then Nebuchadnezzar said to him : ' Sing, ye people, play
for me — sing the songs ye were wont to sing before your great
Lord in Jerusalem.'
In answer to this command, the Levites hung their harps
upon the willow-trees near the banks of the river, as it is
written, ' Upon the willow in her midst had we hung up our
harps.''
Then they said : ' If we had but performed the will of God,
and sung His praises devoutly, we should not have been
delivered into thy hands. Now, how can we sing before thee
the prayers and hymns that belong only to the One Eternal
God ? as it is said, How should we sing the song of the Lord
on the soil of the strafiger f "^
Verse 4. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a struftge
land? — It is one of the pathetic touches about the English
captivity of King John 11. of France, that, once sitting as a
* Talmud, p. 321.
PSALM C XXX VI I.
545
guest to see a groat tournament held in his lionour, he looked
on sorrowfully, and being urged by some of those about him
to be cheerful and enjoy the splendid pageant, he answered
with a mournful smile, ' How shall ivc sin^ the Lord's song in
a strange landT'-''
Verse ^. If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand
forget her cunning. — Cunning : subst. skill ; adject, knoiving,
skilful :
' Let my right hand forget her cuntiing.'
Ps. cxxxvii. 5.
' In our sports my better cunnmg faints
Under his chance.'
Ant. and Cleop., Act II., Sc. iii.
'Aholiab, a r«««z;/_cr vvorkman and embroiderer.'
Exod. xxxviii. 23.
' To cunning men
I will be very kind and liberal.'
Taming of the Shrew, Act I., Sc. i.f
In the Bible we read : ' If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let
my right hand forget her cunning.'
So in King Henry V. :
*We therefore have great cause for thankfulness,
And shaW/orget the office of onr hand
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit.'
Act II., .Sc. ii.:^
Pope Gregory X. at his enthronement quoted the words,
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
cujining, referring to his hopes of sending forth a new Crusade.
Verse 6. (A.V.) If I prefer ?iot Jerusalem above my chief
joy, — The last prayer of St. Polycarp, and of our own Arch-
bishop Whitgift was, ' Pro Ecclesia Dei.'§
* Polydore Virgil, 1555.
t Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 34.
X Ibid. (Appendix), p. 378.
§ Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 212.
35
546 PSALM-MOSAICS
Verse 9. Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children^ and
throweth them against the stones. — Byron in his metrical version
of this Psalm has omitted the clause containing the prayer for
Jerusalem's retribution, at the end of the Psalm ; several others
have done the same, while some, especially among the old
poets, have developed it more expressively than fidelity
required.
It may be hoped that in our day no person could be found
fanatic enough to derive from the verse alluded to, a pre-
ceptive meaning, as was done in the time of Cromwell.
Stephen Marshall, one of the authors of Sniectymmius^ preach-
ing in 1641, says: 'What soldier's heart would not start
deliberately to come into a subdued city, and take the little
ones on a spear's point, to take them by the heels, and beat out
their brains against the wall ! Yet if this work be to revenge
God's Church against Babylon, he is a blessed man that takes
and dashes the little ones against the stones.' God's Church,
the Presbyterian ; Babylon, The Church of England."^
PSALM cxxxvni.
Headi7ig (Dehtzsch). — The Mediator and Perfecter.
Contents (Syriac). — Written by David. A Thanksgiving with
Prophecy.
Origin (Perowne). — According to the Hebrew title this is a
Psalm of David. The LXX. have added to this title the names
of Haggai and Zechariah (roi Aaul^, \\yyaio-j %ai Zayapio\)\
which would seem to show that the translators were not satisfied
with the traditional view as to the authorship of the Psalm, and
would rather refer it to a time subsequent to the Exile. So far
as the Psalm itself is concerned, we have no clue to guide us ;
neither the language nor the allusions will warrant any con-
clusions as to date or authorship.
* Bowles, Life of Bishop Ken^ vol. i., p. 118 (quoted by Holland, p. 286).
PSALM CXXXrX. 547
In the Jeivish Church.— ''Yo this day the Hel)re\v.s in every
country of their exile and dispersion have continued to observe
the 9th day of the month Ab (which corresponds with our 25th
day of July), in memory of both the first and second destruction
of their city and synagogue; next to the great Day of Atone-
ment, it is the most strictly kept of all their fasts. Even on
the previous day the pious Israelite takes nothing beyond what
absolute necessity requires. He seats himself on the ground
either at home or in the synagogue, by the dim light of a small
candle, and the evening service commences with the 138th
Psalm. Mournful and penitential Psalms are chanted in suc-
cession throughout the day (every Hebrew day begins at
sunset)."^
In Church. — In the Greek Church the coronation of the
bridegroom and bride, which is appointed to follow the
espousals, begins with the 138th Psalm, sung by the priest, the
people responding at the end of each verse, ' Glory to Thee,
our God, glory to Thee.'f
Psalms cxxxviii. to cxlv. — These eight Psalms are the devout
Israelite's Manual oi private prayer and praise. J
PSALM CXXXIX.
Heading (Delitzsch).— Adoration of the Omniscient and
Omnipresent One.
Contents (Syriac).— A Psalm of David ; when one who was
called Shimei, the son of Gera, cried out and reproached him
because he had rebelled, saying, ' O thou shedder of blood ';
and in its spiritual sense, theological truth and prayer with
supplication.
* Israel and the Gentiles, by Dr. I. Da Costa.
t Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 205.
:*: Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary.
548 PSALM.MOSAICS
Origi?i (Perowne). — The Psalm both in the Hebrew and LXX.
is ascribed to David. In some copies of the latter it is also said
to be a Psalm of Zechariah, with the further addition by a
second hand of the words ' in the dispersion,' which Origen
tells us he found in some MSS. The strongly Aramaic colour-
ing of the language certainly makes it more probable that the
Psalm was written after the Exile than before.
The Whole Psabn. — The contemplation of Nature in the
Psalms is distinguished by three characteristics — (i) grandeur,
(2) spiritual transparency, (3) religious reflection.
It is distinguished by grandeur.
It is often said that the discovery of Copernicus has de-
troyed the traditional way of looking at heaven. The assertion
is undoubtedly true if by traditional is meant mediceval^ but
it is not true if by traditional is meant Biblical. Think of the
ample spaces which must have extended before the spirit of him
who said in the 139th Psalm :
' If I took the wings of the dawn,
And made my home in the uttermost parts of the sea.'
Think of the eighth Psalm, with the vastness of its concep-
tions :
' Thy heaven, the work of Thy fingers,
The moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained.'
Let science reach as far as it will, the Psalmists see the undis-
covered margin beyond. It may have been this feature in the
Psalms which made them so dear to Murchison — who was not
without doubt and hesitation as to some things in Scripture —
which drew from him smiles and tears when his lips could
not frame words, and the pencil no longer obeyed his feeble
hand."^
Thojnas Erski-ne, of Linlathen, touched on the 139th Psalm
with its description of the penetrating omniscience of God.
* The Wilness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity^ p. 196.
PSALM CXXXIX. 549
' That is the Psahn which I should wish to have before me on
my death-bed.'*
TAe Franklin Expedition.— \\. could have been no haphazard
accident that, when the relics of the Franklin Expedition were
exhibited at the museum of the United Service Club, a Prayer-
book, one of the articles recovered, lay open at this Psalm. f
It may be that the striking description of Divine Providence,
which we read in Troilus and Cressida, is pitched too high for
heathen characters ; but if admissible there at all, it could not
be better placed than it is in the mouth of Ulysses :
'The providence that's in a watchful state,
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps ;
Keeps place with thought, and almost, like the goJs,
Dues thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.'
Act III., Sc. iii.
In a note upon this passage, Mr. Henley asks, ' Is there not
here some allusion to the sublime description of the Divine
Omnipresence in the 139th Psalm ?'|
' This Psalm is very glorious,' says Ibn Ezra ; 'in these five
books there is none like it.' Julius Hammer's metrical transla-
tion and Merrick's paraphrase have caught its spirit, and that is
the chief point, for the debased Hebrew of the original is not
worthy of the noble thoughts..^
Verse 6. Whither shall I go then from Thy presence ?
' Where shall I fly ? What dark untrodden path
Will lead a sinner from his Maker's wrath ?
Alas ! where'er I bend my outcast way,
His eye can search, His mighty hand hath sway.
' Is there no island in the depths of space,
No distant world, where I may shun His chase?
Ah, no ! of all He is the spring and suul :
All feel His care, all own His high control.
* Letters of Thomas Erskine, p. 455.
t Housman on T/ie Psalms, p. 300.
X Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 103.
§ The Book of Psalms, by Rev. T, K. Cheyne, p. 349-
550 PSA LM-MOSA ICS
* But there is night ; — perhaps her murky womb
May wrap and hide me in its depths of gloom !
No ; He that says, " Be light, and there is light,"
Can look Omniscience through the dimmest night.
* Give me then morning's wings : I'll fling me where
The desert waste ne'er claims His eye or care.
Vain hope ! If He were absent, conscience then
Would act the GoD, and scare me back to men.
' Well, then, the ocean : she my head shall hide,
And quench His bolts in her o"ershekering tide.
Fool I the dark waves cleave wide at His command,
And, lo ! He walks them as He walks the land.
'What say the rocks? Stern marble, ope thy breast
And lock me in to monumental rest.
Vain, vain ! His voice the rocks have often heard ;
Nay, worlds dissolve before His lightest word.
'Be death, then, mine ! At least the grave, or hell.
Will yield some sullen nook where I may dwell, —
No ! the last trump shall burst the bars of death,
And God's stern presence felt wakes hell beneath.
' Where, then, to flee? How shun His arm. His eye?
Where find what earth, and heaven, and hell deny ?
How pass beyond His infinite patrol,
Who fills, pervades, informs the mighty whole?
' O, where to flee ? There is but one retreat,
'Tis that which brings me contrite to His feet,
A change of heart, and not a change of place.
That flees from Justice, to the arms of Grace.
'The Saviour calls, "Come, trembler, to My breast;
Beneath My Cross thou may'st securely rest ;
Washed in My Blood, thy guilt will all remove,
And wrath eternal grow Eternal Love." '*
Sophia F. A. Caufield : —
' "Flee from Thy Presence?" Life were little worth
As some poor waif and stray on this cold earth.
The inner chambers of my soul are dim,
But were like night itself deprived of Him !
'How could I flee Thee, ever present found?
Or Thy blest hosts my soul encamped around?
How could I flee, in Whose dread Hand I lie?
Poor atom, in Thy vast infinity !
* I cannot hide, — nor would Thy creature seek
Its life apart from Thee. Dear Master, speak
With sweet familiar Voice to this poor soul —
For at Thy Feet my bliss, my rest, my goal !'
* Poems, by Rev. F. H, Lyte, p. 56.
PSALM CXXXIX. 551
Verse 7. If / climb np mto heaven, Thou art there ; if I ^o
down to hell, Thou art there also. — On the death of Captain
Hedley Vicars, who was killed in a sortie, Canon Kingsley
writes to Miss Marsh :
'Bideford, May 9, 1855. — • • • These things are most
bitter, and the only comfort which I can sec in them is that
they are bringing us all face to face with the realities of human
life, as it has been in all ages, and giving us sterner, and yet
more loving, more human, and more Divine thoughts about
ourselves and our business here, and the fate of those who are
gone, and awakening us out of the luxurious, frivolous, unreal
dream (full, nevertheless, of harsh judgments, and dealmgs
forth of damnation), in which we have been living so long, to
trust in a living Father who is really and practically govern-
ing this world, and all worlds, and who willeth that none
should perish — and therefore has not forgotten, or suddenly
begun to hate or torment, one single poor soul which is passed
out of this life into some other, on that accursed Crimean soil.
All one in our Father's hands ; and, as David says, " Though
they go down into hell, He is there. Oh, blessed thought !
more blessed to me at this moment (who think of the many
than of the few) than the other thought, that though they
ascend into heaven with your poor lost hero. He is there
also . . .'"^
Verse 11. The darkjiess is 110 darkness with Thee, l>ut the
night is as clear as the day.—Zi. Newman's fine verses on
Sleeplessness, beginning :
' Unwearied God, before whose face
The night is clear as day.'
Verse 12. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.—
Bishop Dupanloup of Orleans visited his home after twenty
years' absence. It was not without emotion that he set foot
once more on his native soil. His old great-uncle, the Cure,
* Life of Charles Kingsley, vol. i., p. 335-
552 PSALM-MOSAICS
v/ho was no longer at St. Francis, but at QEllieres, near Annecy,
received him with the greatest joy. At Annecy he astonished
everybody by the fidelity of his recollections ; he went back-
wards and forwards everywhere without requiring a guide, and
would see all his old familiar spots on the border of the lake.
Menthon, Talloires, the Marquisat, la Puya, the house of la
Fran^on, the fountain Aix, Haute Combe, the Mont du Chat,
the Valley of Salanche, even up to Mont Blanc ! Nor did he
forget St. Felix. On visiting the church where he had been
baptized, he expressed a deep feeling of gratitude. ' Here,'
he exclaimed, ' I received the first great blessing, and since !
Be7iedictus J 'eus ! Te Deiim ! Misei'ej-e I Tu es Dens, siis-
ceptor mens ab utero P But he was not alone, and so could not
give vent to all his feehngs ; he writes : ' I advise all those who
revisit their home after twenty years' absence to do so alone,
and unknown. Men overpower one at such times — they don't
understand one — and they feel nothing which piety suggests in
these moments.'^
Verse 21. Bo not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee ? — The
whole life of a Jew is devoted to the carrying out of this law,
or mitsvah, and the celebration of the youth's coming of age as
a bar-mitsvah is simply his initiation into the Law. He now
counts for an adult in public worship . . . during morning
prayer he is expected to recite the thirteen fundamental articles
of the Jewish faith, which were framed in the Middle Ages by
Maimonides, a Spanish Jew of immense learning, known as
the author of a book called ' More Nebuchim,' or ' Guide to
the Erring.'
'Whosoever,' says Maimonides, 'shall believe all these fun-
damental articles to be true, enters into the bosom of Israel,
and is entitled to receive from us all those demonstrations of
brotherly love and goodwill which God has enjoined us to
show to each other. . . . But if any man shall deny one of
* Life of Mgr. Diipanloup, Bishop of Orleans, p. ^^.
PSALM CXL. 553
these fundamental articles, he is fallen from the bosom of
Israel, he denies a foundation of the faith, and is to be
esteemed a heretic, an Epicurean, and a destroyer of plants,
wherefore we are bound to persecute him with every odium and
injury according to the Psalmist, " S/ia// not I hate him, O God,
that hateth Thee /" '"^
PSALM CXL.
Headifig (Delitzsch). — Prayer for protection against wicked,
crafty men.
Title (Spurgeon). — The Cry of a Hunted Soul.
Co?tte?its (Syriac). — Written by David when Saul cast a javelin
at him to slay him, and it entered the wall ; and, spiritually,
the word of him that cHngeth unto God, and contendeth with
them that hate Him.
Origin (Perowne). — The general strain of the Psalm is like-
that of many which occur in the earlier Books, and like them
it is ascribed to David. . . . The impression left upon the
mind in reading this and the two following Psalms is that they
are cast in David's vein, and in imitation of his manner, rather
than written by David himself
In Church. — This Psalm is appointed for the Eve of
Christ's Passion in the Latin and Sarum Use.f
Verse lo. Let hot bnruing coals fall upon them.
' O I war, thou son of Hell,
\\ horn an^ry /heavens do make theii- minister.,
Throw in the frozen bosom of our part
Hot coals of vengeance !'
King Henry VI., 2nd Part, Act \'.. Sc. ii.
* Pictures from Je-wish Life {Sunday at Home, 1877, p. 140).
f Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 216.
554 PSALM-MOSAICS
Mr. Steevens has remarked that the last phrase is Scriptural,
and he quotes Ps. cxl. lo in the Prayer-book version :
' Let hot burning coals fall upon them.'*
PSALM CXLL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Evening Psalm in the times of
Absalom.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David, as he mused in the
ministry of the evening ; also of the prayers of him that is
perfect in God.
Origin (Perowne). — It has been usual to accept the Inscrip-
tion which assigns the Psalm to David, and to assign it to the
time of his persecution by Saul. Delitzsch, with more proba-
bility, refers the Psalm to the time of Absalom's rebellion.
Iji Churcii.-—ln the Roman Church, at the Holy Eucharist,
Psalm cxli. 2, 3, 4, at censing the Altar, is recited secretly by
the Priest.t
Psalms cxli. and cxlii. were used in the Greek Evening
Service daily.:}:
In the early Christian Church this Psalm began Daily Even-
song, as Psalm Ixii. began Daily Matins. §
This Psalm is appointed in the Latin Use for the Eve of
Christ's Passion. ||
Verse 2. Let ??iy prayer be set forth in Thy sight as the incense,
and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice. — This
Psalm the Author of Constitutions calls emphatically, Tov
'E-T/Xu;^v/Gv l^cCKiifh^ the Evenifig Fsalm^ in the place where he
ascribes the order of the Service.
* Shakespeare and the Bible, p. 286.
t Dr. Neale's Conmientary, vol. iv., p. 271.
X The Interleaved Prayer-Book, p. 317.
§ Housman on The Psalms, p. 300.
y Bishop Wordsworth's Conunentary, p. 216.
PSALM CXLI.
555
St. Chrysostom in his commentary upon the Psalms, takes
notice of the use of it in the Church upon this particular
occasion. ' Hearken diligently,' says he ; ' for it was not
without reason that our fathers appointed this Psalm to be
said every evening, not barely for the sake of that single
expression, ^ Let the lifting up of my hiuids be an evetiing
sacrifice,'' for other Psalms have expressions of the same nature,
as that which says, ' At evening, and morning, and noonday,
will I show forth Thy praise ;' and again, ' Weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' And
many other such-like Psalms may one find that are proper for
the evening season. Therefore our fathers did not order this
Psalm to be said on account of this expression ; but they
appointed the reading of it as a sort of salutary medicine to
cleanse us from sin ; that whatever defilement we may have
contracted throughout the whole day, either abroad in the
market, or at home, or in whatsoever place, when the evening
comes, we might put it all off by this spiritual charm or song,
which is medicine to purge away all such corruption.*
Verses i, 2, 3, 4. Let my prayer be set forth in Thy sight as
the incense. — During the forty-nine days of Lent, the service is
widely different from that of the rest of the year. Another
exception to the usual course of the service is the singing an
Anthem before the ambon, which is generally performed by
the readers and the choristers ; but any of the congrc-;ation
who wish to sing it may do so, always supposing that they are
all to do it well, or at any rate passably. The words are taken
from the 141st Psalm, in the following order:
' Let my prayer be set forth in Thy sight as the incense : and
let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.'
' Lord, L call upon Thee, haste Thee unto me : and consider
?ny voice when L cry unto Thee.'
' Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth : and keep the door oj
my lips.'
* Bingham, vol. iv., p. 575.
556 PSALM-MOSAICS
' O let not viiiie heart be inclined to any evil thing : let me
710 1 be occupied in ungodly works!
Each verse is repeated by the choir, who, with the con-
gregation, kneel during the repetition. The melody of this
anthem is very sweet, and the effect of the whole very striking.*
Verse 3. Set a ivatch^ O Lord^ before my mouthy and keep the
door of my lips. — That was a wise saying of Xenocrates, who
was asked why he had made no answer to one that reviled
him : ' I have often had to repent of having spoken, but never
of beins silent.'t
PSALM CXLII.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Cry sent forth from the prison to the
best of friends.
Co nte fits {^yv\2ic). — APsalm of David — concerning thefamine
that continued three years on account of the iniquity of Saul,
Spiritually, the words of the Agonists and the supplication and
prayer that bringeth us near to God.
Origin (Perowne). — This is the last of the eight Psalms
which, according to their Inscriptions, are to be referred to
David's persecution by Saul. . . . Whether this Psalm is
written only in imitation of David's manner, or whether it is a
genuine work of David's, extracted, perhaps, from some his-
tory, and added, at a time subsequent to the Exile, to the pre-
sent collection, it is impossible now to determine.
Jji CJmrch. — In this Psalm we seem to be listening to the
words of Christ on the Cross. It is therefore appointed in
the Sarum Use and Latin Use for the eve of Good Friday.
Verse i. I cried unto the Lord with my voice ; yea, even unto
the Lord did L make my supplication. — St. Bonaventura says :
* Sketches of the GrcECO- Russian Church, p. 125.
t Dr. Neale's Covimejitary, vol. iv., p. 338.
PSALM CXLIL 557
'And as all the brethren surrounded him (St. Francis of
Assisi), he extended his hands over them in the form of a
Cross, crossing his arms in the form of that sign wliich lie had
ever loved ; and so he blessed all his brethren, whether present
or absent, in the Name and in the power of the Crucified.
"Farewell, my children, in the fear of the Lord,' he said.
" Great tribulations and temptations will come upon you,
but blessed are they who persevere in the work which they
have begun ; and now go to God, to whom I commend you
all." . . . When he had said all he had to say, he commanded
the Gospels to be brought to him, and the passage to be read
beginning, " Ante diem festum paschal " (Before the Feast of
the Passover), the beginning of the 13th chapter of St. John.
' When the reading was ended, he began with his broken and
feeble voice to sing, " Voce mea ad Domvium claniavi'' (" With
juy voice have I cried unto the Lord'')^ Ps. cxlii. How .solemnly
through the still cell, over the heads of the kneeling brethren,
must these words have sounded : " I cried unto Thee, . . .
bountifully with me." '
Such, as far as any records inform us, were the last words of
Francis. They rose, trembling on the voice, once so sonorous,
full and sweet, which had praised God by all the Umbrian
ways, and proclaimed His Name from Fast to West, to Gaul
and Spaniard, to Turk and Saracen, in knights' castles and
seamen's galleys — wherever the herald of God could pene-
trate. It sank now in dying quavers, under the humble roof,
in that rude and miserable cell, where not a luxury, not a com-
fort, solaced the closing life, but only love and faith — those
supreme riches which are the inheritance of the poor. Amid
the brethren kneeling round him, weeping or exulting, as per-
sonal feeling or spiritual triumph rose highest in them, Francis
lay absorbed, wrapped in that ineflable separation in which the
shadow of death enfolds the still living, singing, with inter-
rupted breath and pathetic pauses, his death-song. ' Me ex-
pectant justi donee retribuas mihi,' says the Latin version —
* The righteous wait expectant, till I receive my recompense.'
558 PSALM-MOSAICS
Where could words more appropriate be found for the close
of such a life? The companions of his toil around, the cloud
of witnesses above, his brethren on earth and his brethren in
heaven waiting till the end was accomplished and his life made
perfect."^
Verse 4. / looked also up07i my right hand, and saw there
7uas 710 man thai would knoiv me. — To Staupitz, his great friend,
Luther wrote : ' The world may call me proud, covetous, a
murderer, anti-Pope — one who is guilty of every crime. What
matters it ? provided I am not reproached with having wickedly
kept silence at the moment our Lord said with sorrow, " /
looked on My right hand, a?id behold, Imt there was no man that
would k?iow Mey '
PSALM CXLIIL
Heading. — Longing after mercy in the midst of dark im-
prisonment.
Title (Spurgeon). — The outcry of an overwhelmed spirit.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — concerning the
Edomites who came against him. And the prayer of him that
returneth thanks continually by reason of troubles.
Origin (Perowne). — The spirit and the language of this
Psalm are not unworthy of David ; yet the many passages
borrowed from earlier Psalms make it more probable that this
Psalm is the work of some later poet.
I71 Church. — This Psalm is appointed in the Latin Use for
Good Friday; and it is also one of the seven Penitential
Psalms appointed for use on Ash Wednesday.!
Psalm cxliii. is used in the Greek Late Evensong. |
* Life of S. Francis of Assist, p. 293.
t Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 218.
X Interleaved Prayer-Book.
PSALM CXLIII. 559
In the Eastern Church, in Unction of the Sirk, this I'salni
is used at the beginning of the office."^
Verse 2. E7iter fiot into judgment with Thy servant, O f.ord.
— Robert Sherburne, Bishop of Chichester, died in extreme
old age, just before the dissolution of the monasteries, but he
survived to witness some of the most tragical and heartshaking
events in the reign of Henry VIII.— the fall of Wolsey, the
divorce of Katharine, the rapid rise of Cromwell, the corona-
tion of Anne Boleyn and her death, the execution of Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, and of Sir Thomas More. It is touching
to read the clause in his will which, as with a presentiment of
impending days of spohation, he attempts to propitiate the
spoiler : ' And to my singular goode Lorde Cromwell, one cup
of silver gilt with a cover of xx ounces, desyring him to be
goode Lorde to my executors for performing my last will."
The death of Bishop Sherburne coincides with the termination
of the mediaeval state of things. ' The tomb which is often
referred to in his document was prepared under his own direc-
tion, and in his will he desires his body to be buried in his
cathedral church in " a poore remembrance that I have
made there in the south side of the same church." This
'■ poore remembrance " is really a very handsome piece of work.
It is a recess in the wall, enclosed by a carved canopy, beneath
which is an alabaster effigy, painted and gilded, of the bishop
in his robes. The background is blue, spangled with stars, in
the midst of which are the figures of two angels bearing the
mitre of the bishop, over his coat-of-arms, and the motto,
" Operibus credite." Below the figure is the text, "-^ Non intres
in judicium cum servo tuo, Domine, Roberto Sherburne." '
Fuller, after his quaint manner, says that Bishop Sherburne
'decorated the cathedral church with many ornaments,' and
that if ' Bishop Seffrid f 11. bestowed the cloth and making of
the church, Bishop Sherburne gave the trimming and best lace
thereto.'!
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 273.
t Diocesan History of Chichester^ p. 174. ,
56o PSALM-MOSAICS
Luther, in his answer to Cardinal de Vio, wrote : ' Enter
not ijito judgnie7it with thy servant, O Lord, for in Thy sight
shall no man living be justified. Woe to me, however honour-
able and however praiseworthy their lives may have been, if a
judgment from which mercy was excluded should be pro-
nounced upon them.'
Verse 8. Show Thou me the way that L should walk in, for L
lift up my soul imto Thee. — Extract from a letter of Savonarola,
giving his reasons for abandoning the world. Such a decision
came from his beholding ' the great misery of the world, the
iniquity of men, the rapes, the adulteries, the robberies, the
idolatry, the cruel blasphemy, which have come to such a
height in the world that there is no longer anyone found who
does good.' ' I could not bear,' he goes on, 'the great wicked-
ness of the blinded people of Italy ; and so much the more
that I saw virtue everywhere disdained, and vice held in honour.
This was the greatest suffering that I could have had to endure
in this world ; on which account I pray every day to the Lord
Jesus Christ that He would deign to raise me up out of this
mire. And I made continual short prayers to God, with the
most earnest devotion, saying, " Show Thou me the ivay that L
should walk in, for L lift up my soul unto Thee " ' (Notam fac
mihi viam in qua ambulem quia ad te levavi animam meam).^
Verse 12. For L am Thy servant. — As the Virgin Martyr
St. Agatha replied, when upbraided with stooping to tasks un-
worthy her high birth, ' Our nobility consists in this, that we
are the servants of Christ (Act. St. Agathse).!
* The Life of Sa7JO?iaroia. by Rev. W. Clark, M.A., p. 34.
t Dr. Neale's Co/nnietitary, vol. iv., p. 366.
PSALM CXLIV.
PSALM CXLIV
561
Heading (Delitzsch).~Taking courage in (ion before a
decisive combat.
Co?ifents (Syriac).— A Psalm of David -when he slew Asaph,
the brother of Goliath ; also the thanksgiving of him that is
victorious.
The Title.— ThQ LXX adds to the title ' -^o? rhv YoVjuO:
Verse 2. My hope and my fortress.— In the Bible the Lord
is described by the Psalmist as his 'fortress.'
So in Fart I. of King Henry VI., we read ' God is our
fortress' (Act II., Sc. i.).^
Verse 12. That our sons may grow up as the young p/ants. —
In a striking sermon on this verse, the late Archdeacon Hare
says of the figure here employed : ' There is something so
palpable and striking in this type, that five-and-twenty years
ago, in speaking of the gentlemanly character, I was led to say :
" If a gentleman is to grow up, he must grow like a tree — there
must be nothing between him and Heaven." This figure
marks the nature, strength and vigour and freedom of the
youth of the land, as the next does the polished gracefulness,
the quiet beauty, of the maidens. They are like the exquisitely
sculptured forms (the caryatides) which adorned the corners of
some magnificent hall or chamber of a palace. 't
■^ Shakespeare a7id the Bible, p. 377.
t The Book of Psalms, by J. J. Stewart Perowne, vol. ii., p. 459.
36
562 PSALM-MOSAICS
PSALM CXLV.
Heading (Delitzsch). — Hymn in praise of the All-bountiful
King.
Title (Spurgeon). — It is David's, David's very own, David's
favourite. It is David's Praise, just as another (Psalm Ixxxvi.)
is David's Prayer.
Co?itents (Syriac). — A Psalm of David — Praise with theo-
logical truth.
Origin (Perowne). — This is the last of the Alphabetical
Psalms, of which there are eight in all, if we reckon the 9th
and loth Psalms as forming one. Like four other of the
Alphabetical Psalms, this bears the name of David, although
there can in this case be no doubt that the Inscription is not
to be trusted.
In Church. — This final utterance of David, which closes with
an appeal to all nations to bless God, and which is called by
Theodoret a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles, is
happily connected by the Church with the Festival of Whit
Sunday, the consummation of all the festivals of the Gospel.*
In the GrcEco-Russian Church this Psalm, together with
Psalms xxiii. and Ixxxiv., is sung by the choir at the consecra-
tion of a church, while washing the altar throne (see on
Psalm xxiii.).
The Whole Psahn. — Everyone who repeats the Tehillah of
David thrice a day may be sure that he is a child of the world
to come. And why ? Not merely because the Psalm is
alphabetical (for that the 119th is, and in an eight-fold degree),
nor only because it praises God's providence over all creation
(for that the Great Hallel does, cxxxvi. 25), but because it
unites both these properties in itself.
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 221.
PSALM CXLV. 563
The acrostic is not perfect, as the letter Nn?i is missin-,
albeit the LXX. have supplied it with a verse which the
Vulgate has adopted, beginning with the word Faithful, but it
is almost certainly an interpolation (Delitzsch). The Talmud
gives a singular reason for the omission of Nim—\\\^\. it is the
letter which begins the fatal verse, ' The Virgin of Israel is
fallen ; she shall no more rise, she is forsaken upon the land,
there is none to raise her up ' (Amos v. 2).
This is the verse supplied by the LXX. : ' The Lord is faith-
ful in all His words, and holy in all His works.'
Cassiodorus quaintly remarks that the Psalms in which the
alphabetical order is complete are specially fitted for the
righteous in the Church Triumphant, but those in which one
letter is missing are for the Church Militant here on earth, as
still imperfect, and needing to be purified from defect.^
The Confessions of St. Augustine begin with quotations from
this and Psalm cxlvii.
This Psalm is the last of the Alphabetical Psahns. It is the
only Psalm which bears as its title the word Tehillah (praise),
a title taken most probably from the last verse — and from
which the whole of the Psalter derives its name, Tillim or
Tehillim. It is said to have been the ancient Church's Psalm
for the mid-day meal, and St. Chrysostom says that the 15th
verse was used at the Holy Communion.!
Justly did Eniile Saisset admire this Psalm as a specimen of
pure and tender-spirited universalistic theism, and well said
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, ' Before praying, repeat Psalm cxlv.'
(Talm. Jer. Berakhoth 5).!
Verse 7. The Memorial of Thine abundant kindness shall be
showed.
* Dr. Neale's Commetitaiy, vol. iv., p. 3S3.
t The Speaker's Commenlary, p. 494-
X The Book of Psalms, by Rev. T. K. Cheyne, p. 360.
564 PSALM-MOSAICS
' Bread of the world in mercy broken,
Wine of the world in mercy shed,
By Whom the words of Life were spoken,
And in Whose Death our sins are dead ;
Look on the heart by sorrow broken,
Look on the tears by sinners shed,
And be Thy Feast to us the token
That by Thy Grace our souls are fed.'
Reginald Heber.
Verse 13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting ki?igdo7n, a7id Thy
dominion endiweth throughout all ages. — A traveller has
observed that the great Cathedral of Damascus is still standing.
But the Christian Church has been turned into a mosque.
Over one magnificent portal remains legibly inscribed, in Greek
characters, the 13th verse of the 145th Psalm with the addition
of one single word :
'H Baff/Ag/a cou, XPKrTSj BuoiAita 'jdvrav tmv aioorojv.
There stands the clause in letters unobliterated by time or
hostile hands ; unheeded by the haughty ignorance of the
Moslem ; saddening for the moment, at least, every Christian
who can read it as he passes by : ' Thy Kingdom, O Christ,
is an everlasting Kingdom!' (Tristram, JToly Zand, p. 61S).
This instance, at least, affords evidence how those who reared
the Church interpreted and applied the 145 th Psalm, and with
it many other parts of the Psalter. It was for them an act of
worship, addressed to our Incarnate Lord.'^
Verse 15. The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord, and Thou
givest them their meat in due season. — Then came the moment
of first communion, when our eyes were closed to all earthly
things and to everyone around us, and we saw but the altar
and the tabernacle ; and when the actual moment came for us
to draw near those rails, full of the tenderest and truest
emotions, we felt ourselves, as it were, annihilated before God.
The after-communion was, first a moment of awe, then of con-
fidence, gratitude and joy. ... All our parents were there in
reserved seats, looking upon us with the tenderest interest.
* The Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christiatiity, p. 193.
PSALM CXLVI. 565
Our catechists, I remember, actually cried for joy at seeing
this happy result of all their labours ; and we, with the grace
of God in our hearts, felt a happiness so pure and so divine that
we seemed to have nothing more to wish for on earth. . . ,
Even to-day, when I try to think over all the good which God
then did to my soul, I can only say that I realized tlic words
of the prophet :
' Ociili ouuiiiwi in te speranf, Doniine, et tii das illi escam in
tempore opportune.^
Yes, that is what a first communion should be. To me it
was ' the accepted time, the day of salvation,' the hour chosen
by God. For a long time I had been unhappy at a distance
from Him, and in the depths of my soul I asked Him for that,
which alone could renew my life and fill the void in my heart,
and then it was, O Lord ! that Thou openedst Thy Hand
and filled Thy little creature with Thy abundance.
*" Apertiisti nianu??i Tua?n et iinples omne animal benedictio7ie'\
PSALM CXLVI.
Headifig (Delitzsch).— Hallelujah to God the one true-
helper.
Title (Spurgeon). — We are now among the Hallelujahs.
The rest of the journey lies through the Delectable .Mountains.
All is praise to the close of the book.
Contents (Syriac).— Spoken by Haggai and Zechariah, the
prophets who went up with the Captivity from Babylon, con-
cerning the ministry of the priests to be executed in the
morning. Also supplication and praise with theological
truth.
Origin (Perowne).— The LXX. ascribe this Psalm, as they do
the 138th and the next two Psalms (or the next three, accord-
* Life of Monseigneur Dupanloiip, Bishop of Orleans, by the Abbe F.
Lagrange, vol. i., pp. 16, 17.
566 PSALM-MOSAICS
ing to their reckoning, for they divide the 147th into two), to
Haggai and Zechariah. It is by no means improbable that
this Inscription represents an ancient tradition, for nothing
would be more natural than that these Prophets should
directly or indirectly have contributed to the liturgy of the
Second Temple, to which these Psalms so evidently belong. . . .
The Psalm bears evident traces, both in style and language,
and also in its allusions to other Psalms, of belonging to the
post-Exile literature.
In Church. — In the Sarum Use this Psalm is appointed for
Trinity Sunday, and also for Christmas Day.*
The Whole Psalm. — To the wonderful coincidences of the
Psalter with Christian Theology may be added its Trinitarian
anticipations. Of that strange threefold vibration in the bless-
ings and ascriptions in the Old Testament (Num. vi. 22 ;
Isa. vi. 13-17) it abundantly partakes. A Psalm like the 146th
scarcely needs the Gloria at the close to bring it fully into
unison with our Christian worship. It contains a threefold
Three in One. It has a heart of adoration which beats in
threes."*^
Verse 2. Piit not yoicr trust in princes was all Lord Strafford
said when he heard that his death-warrant had been signed.
William Shakespeare :
' O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favour !
There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars and women have ;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.'
King Henry VII I., Act iii., Sc. ii.
Verse 3. For luhen the breath of man goeth forth he shall
turn agai?i to his earth, a fid then all his thoughts perish. — It is
recorded of the great Saladin, that every evening in his camp
* Bishop Wordsworth's Commentary, p. 223.
t The Witness of the Psaluis to Christ and Christianity, p. 233.
I
PSALM CXLVII. 567
an officer on horseback lifted up a black shroud as a standard
upon a lance, while one of two mollahs made proclamations,
' Saladin, king of kings, Saladin, conqueror of conquerors,
Saladin must die.' And the other made response, ' Extolled
be the perfection of the Living Who dieth not.' The slave in
the chariot of a Roman general during a triumph, with his re-
peated phrase, ' Remember that thou art a man,' was not so
impressively solemn a warning as this."*^
PSALM CXLVIL
Heading (Delitzsch). — Hallelujah to the Sustainer of all
things, the Restorer of Jerusalem.
Title (Spurgeon). — A Psalm of the city and of the field, of
the first and the second creations, of the commonwealth, and of
the Church.
Contents (Syriac). — A Psalm of Haggai and Zechariah — con-
cerning Zerubbabel and Joshua the Priest, and Ezra, who for-
warded the building of Jerusalem ; and as respects ourselves
praise with theological truth. Second portion : Of Haggai and
Zechariah ; when they forwarded the completion of the Temple
of Jerusalem. Also praise with theological truth.
(Psalm cxlvii. in our version is Psalms cxlvi. and cxhii. in
the Syriac.)
Origin (Perowne). — Like the last Psalm, and like those which
follow it, this is evidently an anthem intended for the service of
the Second Temple. It celebrates God's almighty and gracious
rule over His people and over the world of nature, but mingles
with this a special commemoration of His- goodness in bringing
back His people from their captivity and rebuilding tlie walls
of Jerusalem.
* Dr. Neale's Commentary, vol. iv., p. 399.
568 PSALM-MOSAICS
In Church. — This Psalm was appointed in the Sarum Use
for Trinity Sunday and Christmas Day."^
The Whole Psahn. — How different the choking sobs of the
102nd Psalm from the rapture and the movement of that grand
processional, the 147th, chanted round the walls of Jerusalem
at the restoration under Nehemiah ! The general subject is
the excellence of praise :
' It is good to make melody to our GOD,
For it is pleasant, and praise is comely.'
This is the germ which expands into the glorious flower
common to all Liturgies — ' Vere dignum et justum est.' But
the great peculiarity is this : Others are as rich in images taken
from nature and history. But this uses the natural as the type
of the supernatural— the historical and actual as the mirror of
the ideal and spiritual.
So with the various natural objects which are mentioned.
'The stars' point to Abraham's seed; not one star in the field
of space is missing ; not one of Israel's outcasts is unknown.
He calls each by name. This was in the Good Shepherd's
heart when he said, ^a Ibia T^oiSu-a (^on? y.ar hvo[j.a. The
' clouds and rain ' are the images of dispensations at once dark
with sorrows and rich with blessings.
If the ravens are heard with their harsh cries, how much
more ' His Holy Dove '!
If His word ' runneth very swiftly ' in nature, we are to pray
also that in grace ' it may have free course (may run) and be
glorified.' 'He giveth forth snow like wool'; that is, chilling
dispensations of God's severe providence coming down on His
Church, yet forming a mantle to preserve it from more intense
cold. Each image from the region of nature is transfigured in
the realm of grace, t
* Bishop Wordsworth's Conu/ieiitary, p. 224.
f The fVitness of the Psalms to Christ atid Christianity, p. 197.
PSALM CXLVII. 569
Ferse 3. I/e healeth those that arc hvkc/i in heart, and gii^cth
fnedicine to heal their sickness.
' Lo, a star
Of Eastern splendour on 11 is brow doth shine
Who walks iininortal. All that dareti repine
With hopeless anguish at His feet lie hushed
In sacred peace. Himself He doth incline,
And from the ground He takes the l)lo>som crushed,
And on His henrt again its faded leaves have blushed.'
Gkrakd Lkiou.
Verse 8. Herb for the use of men. — The addition of the LXX.
to verse 8, preserved in our Prayer-Book version, ' and herb for
the use of men,' destroys the whole force of the passage. It
was borrowed from Psahii civ. 14, where it is in place.'
*
Verse 9. Feedcih the young ravens that call upon Biin. —
Where good old Adam, in As You Like It, says to Orlando,
' I have five hundred crowns,
The thrifty hire I saved under your father.
Take that ; and He that doth the ravens feed,
Yea, p7'ovidentIy caters for the sparrow,
Be comfort to my age I'
(Act 11., Sc. iii.)
can we fail to see that our poet had in mind the Psalmist, who
writes of God, that ' He feedeth the young ravens that call
upon Him 7t
Verse 14. He niaketh peace in thy borders, and fit let h thcc 7iies /m, 221
Dionysius, the Carthusian, 97, 300
Diro^e, The, 43
Dix, W. Chatterton, 282, 508
Doddridge, Philip, 495
Dolben, Digby Mackworth, 248
Domenico de Pescia, Era, 289
Donatists, 242, 355
Donne, John, 4. 272-274, 296
Dove, Dean, 294
Drummond, D. T. K., 428
Dufi", Dr., no, 425
Dupanloup, Bishop, 148, 185, 308,
350, 484, 5'0. 532, 565
Durie, John, 512
PADIE, John, 15
^^ Easter Day Psalms, i\
Eckly, Sophia, 130, 515
Egmont, 143, 226, 231
Eleonorc de Roze, 148
Elie/er, Ral)bi, 508
Elizabeth, (Jueen, 66, 152, 473
Epiphanius of Pavia, 143
Erasmus, 453
586
INDEX
Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, 405
Erbkine, Thomas, 14, 548
Essex, Lord, 146
Esther, 446
Ethiopia version, 41
Euripides, 352
Evans, Chriatma?, 98
Evelyn, 534
Evodius, 407
Ewald, H., 177
Ewing, Mrs., 73
Ezra, 365
■pABER, F. W., 35, 176, 301,
404
Feckenham, Dr., 228
Felicitas, 51
Fenelon, 502
Ferrar, John, 64, 378
Ferrar, Nicholas, 160, 174, 560
Ferrar, Nicholas, junr., 464
Fletcher, Giles, 69
Frances of Rome, St., 382
Francis d'Assisi, St., iii, 255, 401,
411, 558,573
Francis de Sales, St., yi,, 121, 152,
178, 180, 192, 196, 198, 251, 280,
332, 347. 380, 484, 532
Frarcis Solano, vSt., 506
Franke, A. H., 17
Frai.klin, Sir John, 431
Frederic, St., of Utrecht, 461
Freeman, Archdeacon, 63
Fuller, Thomas, 187
r^ALILEO, 418
^-^ Gardiner, Colonel, 495
Gardiner, Captain Allan, 270
Gerbet, Archbishop, 12
Gerhard, Paul, 5, 172, 258
Gerhohus, 84, 120, 134, 276, 330,
Gill, Dr., 582
Gladstone, V\^ E., 18
Godfrey de Bouillon, 226
Godric of Finchale, St., 411
Gordon, G. M., 377
Gotthold, 123
Grant, Sir Robert, 318
Graumann, John, 414
Gray, 410
Gregory, St., Liturgy of, 578
Gregory, St., Nazianzen, 2, 302,
506
Gregory the Great, St., 300
Gregory X., 533, 545
Gregory VIL, St., 208
Gresham, Sir Thomas, 117
Grey, Lady Jane, 143, 226, 228
Gurnhill, J., 366
Guthlac, 185
Guyon, Madame, 301, 318, 517
"LTALLEL, the Great, 540
-*■ ^ Hammer, Julius, 549
Hampden, John, 370
Hannington, Bishop, 218, 471, 500
Hapstone, 159
Hare, Julius, 79, 562
Havergal, F. R., 80
Haydn, Joseph, 236, 455
Heber, Bishop, 216, 312
Heine, Heinrich, no
Hengstenberg, 14
Henri H., 193
Henri IV., 228, 359, 466
Henrietta Maria, Queen, 3
Henry, Emperor, 403
Henry H. of England, 452
Henry V,, 226, 244
Henry V. of England, 453
Henry, Matthew, 435, 478
Herbert, George, 143, 250, 258,
296, 310, 492, 575
Herder, J. G. Von, 7, 534
Herman, Nicholas, Jt,
Hermit of Warkworth, The, 195
Hippolytus, 189
Holofernes, 202
Homer, 291
Honorius, 394, 423
Hooker, Richard, 4, 498
Hoorne, 143
Home, Bishop, 6, 177
I Hugh of St. Victor, 209
Hugh, St., Bishop of Lincoln, 369
Hugo of St. Cher, 342
Hugo, Cardinal, 361
Hugo, Herman, 194, 492
i Humboldt, A. Von, 417
Huss, John, 146
Hutter, Elias, 464
Hymnus Abecedarius, 55
Hypatia, 340
Hyrcanus, John, 204, 503
INNOCENT HL, 97, 175
■*■ Innocent VIII., 125
Irving, Edward, 8, 50, 108
INDEX
587
Isidore, 172
Ivan the Terrible, 171
TAMES, St. (the Persian), 167
-' James, St., Liturgy of, 158
Jehudah, Rabbi, 164
Jerome, St., 202
Jerome of Prague, 143
Johanan, Rabbi, 390
Jonas, 282
Josquin, 485
Judah, Rabbi, 45S
Julian the Apostate, 335, 398
Julian, surnamed Saba, 335
Justin, St., 396
TT-AY, Dr.,427
-*-^ Keble, John, 117, 149, 220,
227, 293, 31*3, 400, 461, 478, 505
Kempis, Thomas a, 39, 488
Ken, Bishop, 64, 131
Ker, Dr.. 581
Kethe, William, 403
Kingsley, Charles, 120, 252, 324,
340, 348, 397, 501, 551
Kogel, Dr., 127
Korah, Sons of, 192
Krudener, Madame de, 168
T ACORDAIRE, Pere, 208
Lamartine, 8
Laud, Archbishop, 77, 113, 151,
257, 303. 389
Laurence, Sir H., 503
Laurence, Lady, 126
Lawrence, St., 444
Le Tellier, Chancellor, 363
L(.e, F. G., 114. 194
Leigh, Gerard, 570
Leighton, Archbishop, 6, 177
Littledale, Dr., 263, 472
Locker, Frederick, 171
Longfellow, 83, 450
Lorinus, 246, 282, 318
Louis of France, St., 143, 422
Louise de France, Madamt-, 235,
449
Lowth, Dr., 426
Luther, 3, 43, 49. 61, 119. I44. 154.
172, 175, 210, 211,256,285,402,
438, 467, 469, 488, 512, 523. 559.
561
Lutheran Service, 119
Lyte, H. F., 346, 549
A/TcILVAINE, Bishop, mo, 413
McLeod, Norman, 153
Maglorre, St., 129
Magnus, Albert, St., 77
Mahomet, 168, 174
Maimonides, 553
Malan, Caesar, 186
Mant, Bishop, 396
Manuel, Don, 172
March, Henry, 195
Margaret, St., of Scotland, 226
Marie Antoinette, 57
Mark, St., Liturgy of, 192
Marot, Clement, 72
Marsh, Miss, 551
Marshall, Stephen, 546
Marsyas, 437
Martyn. Henry, 112, 371, 419, 479
Mary, Queen, 187
Mary, Queen of Scots, 193
Massillon, 219
Mauricius, Emperor, 493
Melancthon, 143
Merrick, 518, 549
Methodius, 579
Midrash, 274
Mills, Mrs., 481
Milman, Bishop, 523
Milman, Dean, 1 1, 2S5
Milton, John, 5,34.48,61,67, 74- 82,
83, 87, 118, 164, 184, 207, 217,
290, 295, 3S7, 389, 396, 398,
418, 419, 440, 575
Monod, A., 13
Monsell, Dr., 41, 97, 187
Montgomery, James, 312
More, Sir Thomas, 235
More, Mrs. Hannah, 236
Morgan, A. M., 305
Moser, John Jacob, 10
Mueller, John, 10
Munzer, Thomas, 577
Murchison, 54S
Musical Psalms, 13S
NARES, Sir George, 239
Neale, Dr., 64, 88, 114- 256,
263, 305
Nepotianus, 487
Newman, J. H., 40, 382, 489 552
Nicene Creed, 171
Nicholas HI., 259
Nicholas, St., 143
Nicholson, Bishop, 4C0
588
INDEX
Nicon the Patriarch, 435, 437
Nivard, 457
North, Lord, 322
Northampton, Marquis of, 517
Northumberland, Earl of, 147
Novatians, 242, 524
QCULI Sunday, 119
^-^ Oduvald, St., 451
Orange, William, Prince of, 467
Orcolampius, 226
Origan, 172
Oxenham, H. N., 23
pACPTOMIUS, St., 422
Pambo, 177
Parez, 151
Parker, Archbishop, 159
Park, Edward, 418
Parva Biblia, 4
Pascal, 486
Passion Psalms, 2>Z'> 165
Paula, St., 124, 347
Pauline Psalms, 154
Paulinus, St., 176
Paulinus of No. a, 260, 352
Pelagians, 263
PeUico, Silvio, 147
Penitential Psalms, 44, 175
Perovvne, Bishop, 19
Perreyve, PTenri, 79, 93, 140, 19S,
208, 384
Perronet, Edward, 148
Philip, St., of Moscow, 179
Philo of Alexandria, 298
Philpot, John, 463
Phylacteries, 162
Pius VII., 123
Plato, Archbishop, 6"]
Plautus, 76
Plumptre, Dean, 295
Pollock, Robert, 170
Polycarp, St., 143, -z^z, 545
Polyeleos, the, 538
Poor, Richard, Bishop, 40
Pope, 291
Providence, 343
Psalm of the Saints, 480
Pseudo-Dionysius, 75
Publia, St., 456
QUARLES, Francis, 59, 329,
356
"D ALEIGH, Sir Walter, 240
Reminiscere Sunday, 119
Retilian, Bishop of Cirta, 123
Richard, St., Bishop of Chichester,
143
Richard, Bishop of Durham, 461
Richard, Earl of Cromwell, 475
Ridley, Bishop, 146, 405, 488
Robertson, F. W., 11
Robinson Crusoe, 222
Rogers, John, 226, 229
Romaine, Mr., 501
Royal Psalms, the, 34
Rudd, Bishop, 376
Rudolf, 339
Ruskin, 447
Russell, Lord, 481
Rutherford, Samuel, 2c6
CALADIN, 567
*^ Salvestro, Era, 147
Sanderson, Bishop, 6, 102, 1 32, 154,
160, 310, 413, 494, 525
Sandys, George, 151
Savonarola, 134, 156, 236, 536, 561
Schiller, 579
Schuch, 236, 506
Scropius, Caspar, 577
Scudder, David Coit, III
Selnecker, 119
Selwyn, Bishop, 526
Seneca, 253
Severinus, St., 580
Shakespeare, 33, 48, 57, 68, 71, 82,
87, 96, 103, 121, 152, 163, 168,
174, 177, 178, 220, 238, 261, 262,
263, 275, 290, 291, 298, 336, 374,
385;, 391, 439, 443, 454, 470, 491.
503, 51S, 531, 545. 549, 554- 562,
567, 570
Shemonah, Esrah, 254
Sherburne, Robert, 560
Shophar, the, 337
Skinner, James, 326, 4S9
Smart, Peter, 149
Smith, Sydney, 429
Sobieski, 454
Sophocles, "178
Soitain, Joseph, 109
Southey, 46
Southwell, Robert, 237
Spenser, Edmund, 382, 418
Spurgeon, 93, 213, 217, 305, 321
Spurstovv, William, 80
I
INDEX
589
Stanley, Catherine, 268
Stanley, Dean, vii
Steele, Richard, vi
Sternhold and Hopkins, 83, 321
Stier, 380
Straftord, Lord, 119, 567
Stuart, Anne, Princess, 6^
Symmons, Mr., 499
"TAIT, Crauford, 78, 482
-*■ Tait, Catherine, 124, 132, 473
Talmud, 336, 379, 459
Tanchum, Rabbi, 457
Targum, 329
Tarphon, Rabbi, 442
Taylor, Isaac, 107
Taylor, Roland, 229
Templar's Banner, 486
Tennyson, Lord, 131
Teresa, St., 194, 244
Teresa de St. Augustin, Mother,
235
Tertullian, 172
Theodore the Martyr, St., 159
Theodore of Mopsuestia, 100
Theodoret, 335, 563
Theodoras, 39
Theodosius, Emperor, 439, 483
Tholuck, vi
Thomas of Cclano, 221
Thomson, James, 441
Thrupp, J. F., 16
Tinvvorth, George, 385
Tonstal, Cuthbert, 336
Tonus Peregrinus, 451
Torquato Tasso, 507
T TSHER, Archbishop, 258
Vicars, Iledley, 3S0, 551
Victoria, Queen, 505
Vincent de Paul, 59, 543
Vitalis, Johannes, 342
Vladimir Monumachus, 196, 405
WADDELL, Dr., 109
' ' Wales, Princess of, 497
Warham, Archbishop, 209, 292,
336
Washbourne, Thomas, 53
Watts, Dr., 313, 403
Wesley, Charles, 75, 212, 455
Wrsley, John, 172, 212, 213, 318
Whately, Miss, 292
W^hitfield, George, 50, 243, 471
Whitgift, Archbishop, 545
Wilberforce, William, 7, 479
Wilberforce, Pishop, 45, 56, 414
William L, Emperor, 127
Williams, Dr., 257
Winton, J., 281
Wishart, G., 478
Wilson, Bishop, 4S7
Wither, G., 433
Wolff, Dr., 528
Wordsworth, William, 87, 131, 219,
3^°' 375 ^. , , , . ,
Wordsworth, Bishop of Lmcoln,
137, I!
5'7
200, 311, 366, 415, 473.
Wren, Bishop,
Wycliffe, 471
V
AUGHAX, Henry, 237, 360
Velasquez, Antonio, 406
VAVIER, St. Francis, 449
^^ Xenocrates, 557
Ximenes, Cardinal, 30S
UINGFR, Theodore, 506
THE END.
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