The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-04

and to have had as great variety of
uses with the old Egyptians, as is the
case with the reindeer of the modern
Laplander.
This 15lst Psalm claims David as its
author, which is more than can be
plausibly said for q large number OF
the Psalms. He is commonly called
the author of the $50 Psalms-the Psal-
ter. But this ''sweet singer of Israel
actually wrote less than half of them.
However, he did write more of them
than any other one person, and for this
reason, as also for convenience, the
whole collection carries his name.
About seyenty-one of the psalms owe
their composition to him. OF the re-
mainder, more than thirty are anony-
nous. The rest We're written by
Moses, Aaron, Asaph, Ethan, Heman,
Jeduthun, Solomon and the sons of
Korah. They are none the less valua-
BILE for all that. The entire collection,
in it's historical aspect, covers period
of one thousand years, beginning with
the days of Moses. The psalms are
divided by scholars, according to their
subject matter, into five books, thus:
From the LIST Psalm to the AID; Book
Two, to the I'D Psalm; Third Book, TO
the seth; the Fourth, to the 106th; the
Fifth to the end. Some of them are
called miscellaneous; some penitential,
some the Pilgrim Psalms, some the
Hallelujah Psalms. There is not, in
the life of any one, an eXaltation OF
feeling and condition so sublime or
down plunging so deep, but that a
counterpart may be found in some
portion of the Book of Psalms. Some
of them are full of woe and desolation
-sorrowful and heavy-hearted. 9th
ers overflow with good feeling-jubi-
liant and triumphant Some cry out
| with rage and anger like the storms of
night when they beat about our habi-
tations; others are pensive, soft, gen
tie and undisturbed as the slumbers of
an infant
No doubt when first used they were
always sung. David himself caused
the best composers to set them to mu-
sic. The Israelites in their journeys
kept step with the steady beating of
the chant or Pilgrim Psalms. One
band of travellers singing a verse, an
other the alternate. What roar of
melody must have gone up and re-
sounded through the hills as they
pressed forward answering to each
others voices, and the whole accompa-
MED with every sort of instrument
that the musical art had as yet pro-
duced. That is what is alluded to in
the 150th psalm-"Priase Him in
the sound of the trumpet; praise Him
| upon the lutte and harp; praise Him in
the strings and pipe; praise Him upon
the cymbals and dances; praise Him
upon the well-tuned cymbals praise
Him upon the loud cynbals. Let eve
rything that hath breath praise the
Lord" That is, everything into which
breath or harmony can be introduced.
The psalms have been always used
in both the Hebrew and the Christian
churches as a medium of praise and
alteration, and a great part of the
prayers of the modern Jews are taken
from this source. The world will new
err grow weary with singing the ever
sweetening psalms of David. No
words could express their beauty
when properly rendered and under
Stood and there is not a book in the
world for which I should think one
could form greater attachment than
for the psalter. There is an indescrib-
able beauty, a richness and rarest elo
quence in all it's melodious measures
which opens the heart of the one who
makes it his familiar friend and fills
him with gratitude for those who were
inspired to leave for posterity such a
wonderful production.
David was a man Of strong impulses,
of mighty feeling, of most active mag
ination. Every possible sentiment of
the human heart is here embalmed by
this immortal bard, and when he had
exhausted all the stores of poetic utter
ances, when every human means of
laudation for extolling Jehovah's aw-
full name had been resorted to his lofty
soul still unsatisfied, he, in the One
Hundred and Forty-eighth Psalm,
calls upon the sun, the moon, the stars,
| the mountains and hills, and beasts
and men to chant the Creators praise.
| Rev A. A. Brockway in the New
| York Times