M >J
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 - I
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS
 
 THE 
 
 Poetry of the Psalms 
 
 FOR READERS OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY VAN DYKE 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 
 IN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 
 
 SEVENTH THOUSAND 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1000, 
 By Thomas V. Crowkli & Company.
 
 URL 
 
 A/ l£ 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 This little book is intended as a brief and An intro- 
 simple introduction to the study of the Psalms, Auction. 
 in English, as poetry. 
 
 There are three ways in which we may study Three 
 the Bible : as a revelation, as a document, and wa V s io 
 as literature. ^ the 
 
 We may study it as the divinely inspired and 
 perfect rule of faith and conduct. This is the 
 point of view from which it appears most precious. 
 For this is what we need most of all : the word of 
 God to teach us what to believe and how to live. 
 
 We may study it as a collection of historical 
 books, written under certain conditions, and re- 
 flecting, in their contents and in their language, 
 the circumstances in which they were produced. 
 This is the aspect in which criticism regards the 
 Bible ; and its intellectual interest, as well as its 
 religious value, is greatly enhanced by a clear 
 vision of the truth about it from this point of view. 
 
 We may study it also as literature. We may 
 
 see in it a noble and impassioned interpretation 
 
 of nature and life, uttered in language of beauty 
 
 and sublimity, touched with the vivid colours of 
 
 5 
 
 904585
 
 6 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 human personality, and embodied in forms of 
 
 enduring literary art. 
 Harmony None of these three ways of studying the Bible 
 of these j s i 10S tile to the others. On the contrary, they 
 
 are helpful to one another, because each of them 
 ways. 
 
 gives us knowledge of a real factor in the mar- 
 vellous influence of the Bible in the world. 
 True love The true lover of the Bible has an interest in 
 for the a jj ^g e i emeri ts of its life as an immortal book. 
 ... , He wishes to discern, and rightly to appreciate, 
 the method of its history, the spirit of its philos- 
 ophy, the significance of its fiction, the power of 
 its eloquence, and the charm of its poetry. He 
 wishes this all the more because he finds in it 
 something which is not in any other book : a vis- 
 ion of God, a hope for man, and an inspiration 
 to righteousness which are evidently divine. As 
 the worshipper in the Temple would observe 
 the art and structure of the carven beams of 
 cedar and the lily-work on the tops of the pillars 
 the more attentively because they beautified the 
 house of his God, so the man who has a religious 
 faith in the Bible will study more eagerly and 
 carefully the literary forms of the book in which 
 the Holy Spirit speaks forever. 
 The value We shall do wisely to consider and appreciate 
 of poetry tne p oe tical element in the Psalms. The com- 
 " , e fort, help, and guidance that they bring to our 
 spiritual life will not be diminished, but increased, 
 by a perception of their exquisite form and finish. 
 If a king sent a golden cup full of cheering
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 7 
 
 cordial to a weary man, he might well admire 
 the twofold bounty of the royal gift. The 
 beauty of the vessel would make the draught 
 more grateful aud refreshing. And if the cup 
 were inexhaustible, if it filled itself anew as 
 often as it touched the lips, then the very shape 
 and adornment of it would become significant 
 aud precious. It would be an inestimable posses- 
 sion, a singing goblet, a treasure of life. 
 
 John Milton, whose faith in religion was as John Mil- 
 exalted as his mastery of the art of poetry was ion on tfie 
 perfect, has expressed in a single sentence the s m ' 
 spirit in which I would approach the poetic study 
 of the Book of Psalms : " Not iu their divine 
 arguments alone, but in the very critical art of 
 composition, the Psalms may be easily made to 
 appear over all kinds of lyric poetry incompar- 
 able." 
 
 I. 
 
 Let us remember at the outset that a consider- Draw- 
 able part of the value of the Psalms as poetry backs to 
 will lie beyond the reach of this essav. We can the study 
 
 i -j_ . ' ,, of the 
 
 not precisely measure it, nor give it a full appre- '' 
 ciation, simply because we shall be dealing with £ n giish. 
 the Psalms only as we have them in our English 
 Bible. This is a real drawback ; and it will be 
 well to state clearly the two things that we lose 
 in reading the Psalms in this way. 
 
 First, we lose the beauty and the charm of The form 
 verse. This is a serious loss. Poetry and versu of verse 
 are not the same thing, but they are so intimately ts lost '
 
 8 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 related that it is difficult to divide them. Indeed, 
 according to certain definitions of poetry it would 
 seem almost impossible. 
 
 Suppose, for example, that we accept this defi- 
 nition : ' ' Poetry is that variety of the Literature 
 of Emotion which is written in metrical form." 1 
 How, then, can we have poetry when the form is 
 not metrical? 
 
 Yet who will deny that the Psalms as we have 
 them in the English Bible are really and truly 
 poetry ? 
 Relation The only way out of this difficulty that I can 
 of poetry see j s to distinguish between verse as the formal 
 to verse. e i eme nt, and rhythmical emotion as the essential 
 element, in poetry. In the original production 
 of a poem, it seems to me, it is just to say that 
 the embodiment in metrical language is a law of 
 art which must be observed. But in the transla- 
 tion of a poem (which is a kind of reflection of 
 it in a mirror) the verse may be lost without 
 altogether losing the poem. 
 
 Take an illustration from another art. A 
 statue has the symmetry of solid form. You 
 can look at it from all sides, and from every side 
 you can see the balance and rhythm of the parts. 
 In a photograph this solidity of form disappears. 
 You see only a flat surface. But you still recog- 
 nize it as the reflection of a statue. 
 Hebrew The Psalms were undoubtedly written, in the 
 versifica- or ig ma i Hebrew, according to a system of versi- 
 
 tton. 
 
 1 " Principles of Literary Criticism." C. T. Winchester, p. 232.
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 9 
 
 ficatiou, and perhaps to some extent with forms 
 of rhyme. 
 
 The older scholars, like Lowth and Herder, held 
 that such a system existed, but could not be re- 
 covered. Later scholars, like Ewald, evolved a 
 system of their own. Modern scholarship, rep- 
 resented by such authors as Professors Cheyne 
 and Briggs, is reconstructing and explaining 
 more accurately the Hebrew versification. But, 
 for the present at least, the only thing that is 
 clear is that this system mast remain obscure to us. 
 It cannot be reproduced in English. The metrical Metrical 
 versions of the Psalms are the least satisfactory, versions. 
 The poet Cowley said of them, •' They are so far 
 from doing justice to David that methinks they 
 revile him worse than Shimei." ' We must learn 
 to appreciate the poety of the Psalms without the 
 aid of those symmetries of form and sound in 
 which they first appeared. This is a serious loss. 
 Poetry without verse is still poetry, but it is like 
 a bride without a bridal garment. 
 
 The second thing that we lose in reading the The shad- 
 Psalms in English is something even more im- ing of the 
 portant. It is the heavy tax on the wealth o£ ori 9 inal 
 its meaning, which all poetry must pay when it an 9 va 9 e 
 is imported from one country to another, through 
 the medium of translation. 
 
 The most subtle charm of poetry is its sugges- Thepower 
 tiveness ; and much of this comes from the magi- of associ- 
 
 — ation in 
 'The Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley. 3 vols. London, 1710. » 
 
 Preface to " 1'iodniique Odes," vol. i, p. 184.
 
 10 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 cal power which words acquire over memory and 
 imagination, from their associations. This inti- 
 mate and personal charm must be left behind when 
 a poem passes from one language to another. 
 The accompaniment, the harmony of things re- 
 membered and beloved, which the very words of 
 the song once awakened, is silent now. Nothing 
 remains but the naked melody of thought. If 
 this is pure and strong, it will gather new associ- 
 ations ; as, indeed, the Psalms have already done 
 in English, so that their familiar expressions have 
 become charged with musical potency. And yet 
 I suppose such phrases as " a tree planted by the 
 streams of water," " a fruitful vine in the inner- 
 most parts of the house," " the mountains round 
 about Jerusalem," can never bring to us the full 
 sense of beauty, the enlargement of heart, that 
 they gave to the ancient Hebrews. 
 
 The 
 poetry 
 survives 
 this two- 
 fold loss. 
 
 One ele- 
 ment of 
 poetic 
 form 
 retained. 
 
 But, in spite of this double loss, in the passage 
 from verse to prose and from Hebrew to Eng- 
 lish, the poetry of the Psalms is so real and vital 
 and imperishable that every reader feels its 
 beauty and power. 
 
 It retains one valuable element of poetic form. 
 This is that balancing of the parts of a sentence, 
 one against another, to which Bishop Lowth first 
 gave the familiar name of " parallelism." ' The 
 effect of this simple artifice, learned from Nature 
 
 i Lowth. 
 1753. 
 
 De Sacra Poesi Ilebraeorum Praelectiones." Oxon.,
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 11 
 
 herself, is singularly pleasant and powerful. It 
 is the rise and fall of the fountain, the ebb and 
 flow of the tide, the tone and overtone of the 
 chiming bell. The twofold utterance seems to 
 bear the thought onward like the wings of a 
 bird. A German writer compares it very exquis- 
 itely to " the heaving and sinking of the troubled 
 heart." 
 
 It is this " parallelism " which gives such a 
 familiar charm to the language of the Psalms. 
 Unconsciously, and without recognizing the 
 nature of the attraction, we grow used to the 
 double cadence, the sound and the echo, and 
 learn to look for its recurrence with delight. 
 
 " come let us sing unto the Lord ; 
 
 Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, 
 Let us come hefore his presence with thanksgiving; 
 And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms." 
 
 If we should want a plain English name for Thought- 
 this method of composition we might call \t rhyme, 
 thought -rhyme. It is easy to find varied illustra- 
 tions of its beauty and of its power to emphasize 
 large and simple ideas. 
 
 Take for instance that very perfect psalm with Psalm I. 
 which the book begins — a poem so complete, " ^he 
 so compact, so delicately wrought that it seems ° 
 like a sonnet. The subject is The Two Paths. 
 
 The first part describes the way of the good The Paih 
 man. It has three divisions. of Peace. 
 
 The first verse gives a description of his con-
 
 12 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 duct by negatives — telling us what he does not 
 do. There is a triple thought-rhyme here. 
 
 " Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of 
 
 the ungodly, 
 Nor standeth in the way of sinners, 
 Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." 
 
 The second verse describes his character posi- 
 tively, with a double thought-rhyme. 
 
 " But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; 
 And in his law doth he meditate day and night." 
 
 The third verse tells us the result of this char 
 acter and conduct, in a fourfold thought-rhyme 
 
 " He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water : 
 
 That bringeth forth his fruit in his season : 
 
 His leaf also shall not wither : 
 
 And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 
 
 The Path The second part of the psalm describes the 
 of Sor- wa y £ ^ ne gv q man . i n the fourth verse there 
 is a double thought-rhyme. 
 
 " The ungodly are not so : 
 
 But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." 
 
 In the fifth verse the consequences of this 
 worthless, fruitless, unrooted life are shown, 
 again with a double cadence of thought, the first 
 referring to the judgment of God, the second to 
 the judgment of men. 
 
 " Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment : 
 Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." 
 
 row.
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 13 
 
 The third part of the psalm is a terse, power- The 
 ful couplet, giving the reason for the different contrast. 
 ending of the two paths. 
 
 " For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous : 
 But the way of the ungodly shall perish." 
 
 The thought-rhyme here is one of contrast. 
 
 A poem of very different character from this Psalm 
 brief, serious, impersonal sonnet is found in v 
 the Forty-sixth Psalm, which might be called a . 
 national anthem. Here again the poem is an them. 
 divided into three parts. 
 
 The first part (vs. 1-3) expresses a sense of National 
 joyful confidence in the Eternal, amid the tern- f a ' ith - 
 pests and confusions of earth. The thought- 
 rhymes are in couplets ; and the second phrase, in 
 each case, emphasizes and enlarges the idea of 
 the first phrase. 
 
 " God is our refuge and strength : 
 A very present help in trouble." 
 
 The second part (vs. 4-7) describes the National 
 peace and security of the city of God, surrounded security. 
 by furious enemies, but rejoicing in the Eternal 
 Presence. The parallel phrases here follow the 
 same rule as in the first part. The concluding 
 phrase is the stronger, the more emphatic. The 
 seventh verse gives the refrain or chorus of the 
 anthem. 
 
 "The Lord of hosts is with us : 
 
 The God of Jacob is our refuge."
 
 14 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 National 
 deliver- 
 ance. 
 
 A sugges- 
 tion for 
 study. 
 
 Alpha- 
 betic 
 Psalms. 
 
 The last part (vs. 8-10) describes in a very 
 vivid aud concrete way the deliverance of the 
 people that have trusted in the Eternal. It 
 begins with a couplet, like those which have gone 
 before. Then follow two stanzas of triple 
 thought-rhymes, in which the thought is stated 
 and intensified with each repetition. 
 
 " He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth : 
 He hreaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder : 
 He burneth the chariot in the fire." 
 
 " Be still, and know that I am God : 
 I will be exalted among the heathen : 
 I will be exalted in the earth." 
 
 The anthem ends with a repetition of the 
 chorus. 
 
 A careful study of the Psalms, even in Eng- 
 lish, will enable the thoughtful reader to derive 
 new pleasure from them, by tracing the many 
 modes and manners in which this poetic form of 
 thought-rhyme is used to bind the composition 
 together, and to give balance and harmony to the 
 poem. 
 
 Another element of poetic form can be dis- 
 cerned in the Psalms, not directly, in the English 
 version, but by its effects. I mean the curious 
 artifice of alphabetic arrangement. It was a 
 favourite practice among Hebrew poets to begin 
 their verses with the successive letters of the 
 alphabet ; or sometimes to vary the device by
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 15 
 
 making every verse in a strophe begin with one 
 letter, and every verse in the next strophe with 
 the following letter, and so on to the end. The 
 Twenty-fifth and the Thirty-seventh Psalms were 
 written by the first of these rules ; the One H un- 
 dred and Nineteenth Psalm follows the second 
 plan. 
 
 Of course the alphabetic artifice disappears 
 entirely in the English translation. But its 
 effects remain. The psalms written in this 
 manner usually have but a single theme, which is 
 repeated over and over again, in different words 
 and with new illustrations. They are kaleido- 
 scopic. The material does not change, but it is 
 turned this way and that way, and shows itself 
 in new shapes and arrangements. These alpha- 
 betic psalms are characterized by poverty of 
 action and richness of expression. 
 
 II. 
 
 Milton has already reminded us that the Psalms Lyrical 
 
 belong to the second of the three orders into <?" a ^y 
 
 which the Greeks, with clear discernment, di- °£ ie 
 
 • i i 11 i .... , Psalms. 
 
 vided all poetry : the epic, the lyric, and the 
 
 dramatic. The Psalms are rightly called lyrics 
 because they are chiefly concerned with the im- 
 mediate and imaginative expression of real feeling. 
 Jt is the personal and emotional note that predomi- 
 nates. They are inward, confessional, intense ; 
 outpourings of the quickened spirit; self-revela- 
 tions of the heart. Jt is for this reason that we
 
 authors. 
 
 16 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 should never separate them in our thought from 
 
 the actual human life out of which they sprang. 
 
 We must feel the warm pulse of humanity in 
 
 them in order to comprehend their meaning and 
 
 eternal worth. So far as we can connect them 
 
 with the actual experience of men, this will help 
 
 us to appreciate their reality and power. The 
 
 effort to do this will make plain to us some other 
 
 things which it is important to remember. 
 
 We shall see at once that the book does not 
 
 come from a single writer, but from many authors 
 
 and ages. It represents the heart of man in 
 
 communion with God through a thousand years 
 
 of history, from Moses to Xehemiah, perhaps 
 
 even to the time of the Maceabsean revival. It 
 
 is, therefore, something very much larger and 
 
 better than an individual book. 
 
 It is the golden treasury of lyrics gathered from 
 of brother- & J J ° 
 
 hood. tne ^ e °f tne Hebrew people. And this gives to 
 it a singular and precious quality of brotherhood. 
 The fault, or at least the danger, of modern lyrical 
 poetry is that it is too solitary and separate in its 
 tone. It tends toward exclusiveness, over-refine- 
 ment, morbid sentiment. Many Christian hymns 
 suffer from this defect. But the Psalms breathe 
 a spirit of human fellowship even when they are 
 most intensely personal. The poet rejoices or 
 mourns in solitude, it may be, but not alone. He 
 is one of the people. He is conscious always of the 
 ties that bind him to his brother men. Compare 
 the intense selfishness of the modern hymn : 
 
 The note
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 17 
 
 " I can but perish if I go ; 
 
 I am resolved to try ; 
 For if I stay away, I know 
 
 I shall forever die," 
 
 with the generous penitence of the Fifty-first 
 Psalm : 
 
 " Then will I teach transgressors thy way; 
 And sinners shall be converted unto thee." 
 
 It is important to observe that there are 
 several different kinds of lyrics among the 
 Psalms. Some of them are simple and natural 
 outpourings of a single feeling, like A Shepherd's 
 Song about His Shepherd, in the incomparable 
 Twenty-third Psalm. 
 
 This little poem is a perfect melody. It would Psalm 
 
 be impossible to express a pure, unmixed emotion AAIJ '- 
 
 — the feeling of ioy in the Divine Goodness — . . 
 " J J lyric. 
 
 more simply, more sweetly, with a more penetrat- 
 ing lyrical charm. The "valley of the death- 
 shade," the "enemies" in whose presence the 
 table is spread, are but dimly suggested in the 
 background. The atmosphere of the psalm is 
 clear and bright. The singing shepherd walks in 
 light. The whole world is the House of the Lord, 
 and life is altogether gladness. 
 
 How different is the tone, the quality of the Psalm 
 One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm ! This is not CJ7X 
 
 a melody, but a harmony ; not a song, but an x " * 
 
 i mi ii , , n ' .Jo Duty. 
 
 ode. Ihe ode has been defined as "a strain of 
 
 exalted and enthusiastic lyrical verse, directed
 
 18 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 Psalm, 
 XV. 
 " The 
 
 Good 
 Citizen. 
 
 to a fixed purpose and dealing progressively with 
 one dignified theme." ' This definition precisely 
 fits the One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm. 
 
 Its theme is The Eternal Word. Every verse 
 in the poem, except one, contains some name or 
 description of the law, commandments, testimo- 
 nies, precepts, statutes, or judgments of Jehovah. 
 Its enthusiasm for the Divine Righteousness never 
 fails from beginning to end. Its fixed purpose 
 is to kindle in other hearts the flame of devotion 
 to the one Holy Law. It closes with a touch of 
 magnificent pathos — a confession of personal 
 failure and an assertion of spiritual loyalty : 
 
 " I have gone astray like a lost sheep : 
 
 Seek thy servant : 
 
 For I do not forget thy commandments." 
 
 The Fifteenth Psalm I should call a small, 
 didactic lyric. Its title is The Good Citizen. It 
 begins with a question : 
 
 " Jehovah, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? 
 Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? " 
 
 This question is answered by the description of 
 a man whose character corresponds to the law of 
 God. First there is a positive sketch in three 
 broad lines : 
 
 " He that walketh uprightly, 
 And worketh righteousness, 
 And speaketh truth in his heart." 
 
 i" English Odes." Selected by Edmund Gosse. Preface, p. xiii.
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 19 
 
 Then comes a negative characterization in a 
 finely touched triplet : 
 
 " He that backbiteth not with his tongue, 
 
 Nor doeth evil to his neighbour, 
 
 Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." 
 
 This is followed by a couplet containing a 
 strong contrast: 
 
 " In whose eyes a vile person is contemned : 
 But he honoureth them that fear Jehovah." 
 
 Then the description goes back to the negative 
 style again and three more touches are added to 
 the picture : 
 
 " He that swearethto his own hurt and changeth not, 
 He that putteth not out his money to usury, 
 Nor taketh reward against the innocent." 
 
 The poem closes with a single vigorous line, 
 summing up the character of the good citizen and 
 answering the question of the first verse with a 
 new emphasis of security and permanence. 
 
 " Doing these things, he shall never be moved." 
 
 The Seventy-eighth, One Hundred and Fifth, Lyrical 
 and One Hundred and Sixth Psalms are lyrical ballads. 
 ballads. They tell the story of Israel in Egypt, 
 and in the Wilderness, and in Canaan, with 
 swift, stirring phrases, and with splendid flashes 
 of imagery. Take this passage from the Seventy- 
 eighth Psalm as an example : 
 
 "He clave the rocks in the wilderness, 
 
 And <jave them drink out of the great depths.
 
 20 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 " He brought streams also out of the rock, 
 And caused waters to run down like rivers. 
 
 " And they sinned yet more against him, 
 Provoking the most High in the wilderness. 
 
 " They tempted God in their hearts. 
 Asking meat for their lust. 
 
 " Yea, they spake against God : 
 
 They said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness ? 
 
 "■ Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out, 
 
 And the streams overflowed ; 
 
 Can he give bread also ? 
 
 Can he provide flesh for his people ? 
 
 " Therefore Jehovah heard and was wroth : 
 So afire was kindled against Jacob, 
 And anger also came up against Israel : 
 Because they believed not in God, 
 And trusted not in his salvation : 
 
 " Though he had commanded the clouds from above, 
 
 And opened the doors of heaven, 
 
 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, 
 
 And had given them of the com of heaven, 
 
 Man did eat angels' food : 
 
 " He sent them meat to the full. 
 
 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven, 
 
 And by his power he brought in the south wind. 
 
 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, 
 
 And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 21 
 
 " And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, 
 Round about their habitations ; 
 So they did eat and were filled, 
 For he gave them their own desire. 
 
 " They were not estranged from their lust: 
 But while the meat was yet in their mouths, 
 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest 
 
 of them, 
 And smote down the chosen men of Israel." 
 
 The Forty-fifth Psalm is a Marriage Ode : the 
 Hebrew title calls it a Love Song. It bears all 
 the marks of having been composed for some 
 royal wedding-feast in Jerusalem. 
 
 There are many nature lyrics among the Nature 
 Psalms. The Twenty-ninth is notable for its l V r%cs - 
 rugged realism. It is a Song of Thunder. 
 
 '• The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars : 
 Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon: 
 lie maketh them also to skip like a calf: 
 Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn." 
 
 The One Hundred and Fourth, on the contrary, 
 is full of calm sublimity and meditative grandeur. 
 
 " Jehovah my God thou art very great : 
 Thou art clothed with honour and majesty : 
 
 '•• Who coverest thyself with light as witli a garment; 
 Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain." 
 
 The Nineteenth is famous for its splendid com- 
 parison between "'the starry heavens and the 
 moral law."
 
 22 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 Dramatic I think that we may find also some dramatic 
 lyrics. lyrics among the Psalms — poems composed to 
 express the feelings of an historic person, like 
 David, or Solomon, in certain well-known and 
 striking experiences of his life. That a later 
 writer should thus embody and express the truth 
 dramatically through the personality of some 
 great hero of the past, involves no falsehood. It 
 is a mode of utterance which has been common to 
 the literature of all lands and of all ages. Such 
 a method of composition would certainly be no 
 hindrance to the spirit of inspiration. The Thirty- 
 first Psalm, for instance, is ascribed by the title 
 to David. But there is strong reason, in the 
 phraseology and in the spirit of the poem, to 
 believe that it was written by the Prophet Jere- 
 miah. 
 
 Psalms 
 differ in 
 poetic 
 value. 
 
 III. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that our reverence for 
 the Psalms in their moral and religious aspects 
 will make us put them all on the same level 
 poetically. There is a difference among the books 
 of the New Testament in regard to the purity and 
 dignity of the Greek in which they are written. 
 There is a difference among St. Paul's Epistles in 
 regard to the clearness and force of their style. 
 There is a difference even among the chapters of 
 the same epistle in regard to the beauty of 
 thought and language. In the First Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, the thirteenth chapter is poetic,
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 23 
 
 and the fourteenth is prosaic. Why should there 
 not be a difference in poetic quality among the 
 Psalms? 
 
 There is a difference. The honest reader will 
 recognize it. It will be no harm to him if he 
 should have his favourites among the poems which 
 have been gathered from many centuries into 
 this great collection. 
 
 There are some, like the Twenty-seventh, the Excellent 
 Forty-second, the Forty-sixth, the Fifty-first Psalms - 
 the Sixty-third, the Ninety-first, the Ninety- 
 sixth, the One Hundred and Third, the One Hun- 
 dred and Seventh, the One Hundred and Thirty- 
 ninth, which are among the noblest poems of the 
 world. Others move on a lower level, and show 
 the traces of effort and constraint. There are also 
 manifest alterations and interpolations, which are 
 not always improvements. Dr. Perowne, who 
 is one of the wisest and most conservative of 
 modern commentators, says, " Many of the 
 Psalms have not come down to us in their origi- 
 nal form," ' and refers to the alterations which 
 the Seventieth makes in the Fortieth, and the 
 Fifty-third in the Fourteenth. The last two 
 verses of the Fifty-first were evidently added by 
 a later hand. The whole book, in its present 
 form, shows the marks of its compilation and 
 use as the Hymn-Book of the Jewish people. 
 Not only in the titles, but also in the text, we 
 
 i The Book of Psalms, _' vols., London, 1883, vol. i, p. 82.
 
 24 THE POETRY OF THE rSALMS. 
 
 can discern the work of the compiler, critic, and 
 adapter, sometimes wise, but occasionally other- 
 wise. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Three The most essential thing in the appreciation of 
 
 qualities the poetry of the Psalms is the recognition of the 
 of sur- three great spiritual qualities which distinguish 
 r it, and are the evidences, not only of genius, but 
 poetry™ also of inspiration. 
 
 The love ^ ie ^ rs ^ °^ these * s the deep and genuine love 
 of Nature. °f nature. The psalmists delight in the vision 
 of the world, and their joy quickens their senses 
 to read alike the larger hieroglyphs of gloiy 
 written in the stars and the delicate tracings of 
 transient beauty on leaf and flower ; to hear alike 
 the mighty roaring of the sea and the soft sweet 
 laughter of the rustling cornfields. But in all 
 these they see and hear the handwriting and the 
 voice of God. It is His presence that makes the 
 world sublime and beautiful. The direct, pierc- 
 ing, elevating sense of this presence simplifies, 
 enlarges, and ennobles their style, and makes it 
 different from other nature-poetry. They never 
 lose themselves, like Theocritus and Wordsworth 
 and Shelley and Tennyson, in the contemplation 
 and description of natural beauty. They see it, 
 but they always see beyond it. Compare, for 
 example, a modern versified translation with the 
 Psalm itself :
 
 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 25 
 
 " The spacious firmament on high, 
 With all the blue ethereal sky 
 And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
 Their Great Original proclaim." ' 
 
 Addison's descriptive epithets betray a conscious 
 effort to make a splendid picture. But the 
 psalmist felt no need of this ; a larger impulse 
 lifted him at once into " the grand style" : 
 
 "The heavens declare the glory of God; 
 And the firmament showeth his handiwork." 
 
 The second quality of the poetry of the Psalms Moral 
 is their passionate sense of the beauty of holiness, enihu- 
 Keats was undoubtedly right in his suggestion Slasm - 
 that the poet must always see truth in the form of 
 beauty. Otherwise he may be a philosopher, or 
 a critic, or a moralist, but he is not a true poet. 
 But we must go on from this standpoint to the 
 Platonic doctrine that the highest form of beauty 
 is spiritual and ethical. It is the harmony of the 
 soul with the eternal music of the Good. And 
 the highest poets are those who, like the Psalmists, 
 are most ardently enamoured of righteousness. 
 This fills their songs with sweetness and fire in- 
 comparable and immortal : 
 
 "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; 
 
 The judgments of the Lord arc true and righteous alto- 
 gether. 
 
 More to he desired arc they than gold, yea, than much 
 fine gold : 
 
 Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." 
 
 i JoR.-iih Addison, 171;;,
 
 26 THE POETRY OF THE PSALMS. 
 
 Joy in The third quality of the poetry of the Psalms is 
 
 G°d- their intense joy in God. No lover ever poured 
 
 out the longings of his heart towards his mistress 
 more eagerly than David voiced his desire and 
 thirst for God. No conqueror ever sang of 
 victory more exultantly than David rejoiced in 
 the Lord, who was his light and his salvation, the 
 strength of his life and his portion forever. 
 
 After all, the true mission of poetry is to in- 
 crease joy. It must, indeed, be sensitive to sor- 
 row and acquainted with grief. But it has wings 
 given to it in order that it may bear us up into 
 the ether of gladness. 
 
 There is no perfect joy without love. There- 
 fore love-poetry is the best. But the highest of 
 all love-poetry is that which celebrates, with the 
 Psalms, 
 
 " that Love which is and was 
 My Father and my Brother and my God."
 
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