The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-14
THE HEBREW HYMN-BOOK
SONGS THAT SPRUNG FROM THE
HEART OF A PECULIAR PEOPLE.
A Belief i'm the Universal Presence of
tborship-similes from Nature.
BROOKLYN Eagle.


night. His special subject was The He
brew HymnaL" DR.. Abbott said:
The Hebrew psalter IS as 1 said last
Sunday evening. the Hebrew hymn book.
1t contains the lyrics of eight centuries and
half Of Hebrew sacred song. So far as
We know. IL contains with comparatively
few exceptions. all the lyrics OF this pc
culiar people. and il Is a striking fact that
they are all with very few exceptions.
sacred lyrics. Perhaps the most important
respect in which this Hebrew hymnal diff
fers from modern hymnals is that il is not
a work Of art, and the lyrics are not works
of art-that Is 10 say. they have not been
written for artistic purposes. but are the
expressions OF real experience. They are
not dramatic, as the greatest of modern
Shakspearean scholars says Shekspeare's
sonnets are: for the most part they are not
written by writers imagining some ones
experience and furnishing the result of that
imagination; they have sprung out OF the
heart Of the nation. MAN, OF them have
sprung out OF the experience of the in
dividual psalmist, although IL Is true that
long "A time has elapsed since these
lyrics were written that we are no longer
able 10 state with definiteness out of what
specific experience any particular psalm
grew. The authorship of the psalms Is in
volved I'm a certain measure of doubt. For
myself 1 have no question that consider
able number OF them were composed by
DaviG; nut IL is right to say to you that
some very eminent Bible scholars do doubt
whether David composed any considerable
number or indeed any of them. I think it
requires convincing evidence 10 remove the
ancient tradition which attaches his name
TO many OF these psalms The Twenty
third Psalm is inseparably connected with
the thought of the shepherd boy lying
the hills of Judea. looking out upon his
sheep. and from his own shepherd expert
ence, from his own battle with the bear
and the lion. educing a thought of Gods
shepherding care of him and OF Isreal. 1
believe the Twenty-third Psalm was writ
ten by David. The Fifty-frst Psalm is in
separately associated by tradition and in the
thought of the Christian church with
David; it is connected with that other ex-
perience of his life when he fell from recti-
OF cruel and treacherous murder. In spite
OF the arguments of DR.. Cheyne to the con-
trary. the Fifty-frst Psalm seems to me
TO be the most natural expression of the
heart or this great poet king after Nathan
came TO him with the message, Thou art
the man. / still think that psalm was
written by him and is the exposition of his
own experience of penitence
GREW OUT OF EXPERIENCE.
Certain of the psalms We can clearly see
from theiy very form and structure grew
out of national experiences. In the Forty
second and Forty-third Psalms that lyric
which depicts the struggle between faith
and despair-'O my God. my soul is
down within me"--we can trace the expert
ence of in exile. far from the temple.
far from the Holy Land, and surrounded
by haunting enemies who cry out to him:
Where is thy God? What has He done
for you or what can He do for your" Ger
tain of the psalms we can identify with
the professions of the pilgrims going up
TO Jerusalem, chanting as they go the song
OK hope and aspiration and .orship Ger
tain of the psalms can Identify with the
Oldest period of Jewish history chronicled
in sacred literature, the Maccabean age,
when the temple was DETAINED by Antiochus
Epiphanes, when the hard. cruel hand of
the oppressor was upon Israel. when there
appeared no hope OF deliverance, or when
under Judas Maccabeus the sword had
been drawn and "A brave but almost hope
less struggle was being made for religious
and political enfranchisemen AS to some .,,.
came. But there is the heart throb OF
genuine sentiment in them, they are the
true expression OF real and OF q very
varied religious experience. In this Hebrew
psater are hymns OF praise and hymns OF
penitenee; hymns national ana hymns h.s,,l IN
the household hymns full of JOY and
hymns that are one long plant OF sorrow;
hymns that are triumphant and hymns that
express hard battle between hope and de-
spair. Indeed. IL is hardly too much TO say
which has ever found voice In the poetry
OF any people in any time Is TO be found
expressed In some form or other in this
varied collection OF Hebrew lyrics. This
evening L ask you to look with me at this
collection To see what are the religious les
sons which they contain. L was going 10
say. to see what is the theology of the
psalms; perhaps / will say IL. and then ex-
plain that do not mean theology. Religion
Is life. Theology Is the philosophy or the
scientific statement of that life. The differ
ence is very clear. very simple, and con-
gotten. We all recognize the difference be-
tween stars and astronomy; between How
ers and botany; between lansuage and
grammar, and we ought all 20 be able to
recognize the difference between religion
and theology. Religion Is the life of God in
man to define that life. TO analyze. IL and
scientifically state It, Now the psalms are
not theological. If they were. they would
not be poetical. They are the expressions
of religion not of theology. But just as out
of Browning's poems we may elucidate a
of material which We find In his poetry.
so out OF the psalms of David we may
construct thought OF God: Not that the
IL contains the materials for such "A system,
and may gather the spiritual expert
enceS from the Narle1 psalms ana, putting
them together, see what the psalmistS have
TO teach Us.
GOD EVER PRESENT.
In the first place. then. the Hebrew psalm
ist belie.es in the universal presence of
God Centuries before Herbert Spencer had
furnished the world with the convenient
formula, 1--WE are ever in the presence of
an Infinite and Eternal Energy from which
all things proceed" this Hebrew psalter
had proclaimed the same truth though not
in theological or philosophical formuary
but IN the formuaries of a personal ex-
perience. IL Is sometimes said that the Old
Testament presents what is called anthro-
pomorphic conceptions of God: that is, the
conception that God Is like man: ard II is
true that the Hebrew psalter, as we'll as
the rest OF the Old Testament, does impute
TO God experiences akin TO those of man
love. JOY. hope. regret-but IL Is not true
go beyond that to-nighO anywhere repre-
sents God a gigantic man. He is not
represented anywhere in the psalter as a
great localized divinity. dwelling in some
central part of the universe. and ruling IL
therefrom- There Is nowhere in the psalter
such a picture of the throne OF God and
the angels gathered about Him as YOU will
hnd. for example. In the book OF ReveIa-
tons. The fundamental thought of the
Hebrew psalmist (and | speak OF him as II
he were one, although l think him to be
many Is the universal presence OF Jehovah:
Whittier shall SO from Thy spirit?
OF whittier shsll fee from Thy presence?
IL make my bed In school. behold Thou art
there.