The Psalms in Human Life

The Psalms as the mirror of the human soul: their association with national and individual life: their universality; not limited to any age, nation, or variety of Christian creed; their translation into verse; their influence in literature; the first of religious autobiographies; power over human lives in all ages of history.

ABOVE the couch of David, according to Rabbinical tradition, there hung a harp. The midnight breeze, as it rippled over the strings, made such, music that the poet-king was constrained to rise from his bed, and, till the dawn flushed the eastern skies, he wedded words to the strains. The poetry of that tradition is condensed in the saying that the Book of Psalms contains the whole music of the heart of man, swept by the hand of his Maker. In it are gathered the lyrical burst of his tenderness, the moan of his penitence, the pathos of his sorrow, the triumph of his victory, the despair of his defeat, the firmness of his confidence, the rapture of his assured hope. In it is presented the anatomy of all parts of the human soul; in it, as Heine says, are collected "sunrise and sunset, birth and death, promise and fulfilment -the whole drama of humanity.”

In the Psalms is painted, for all time, in fresh unfading colours, the picture of the moral warfare of man, often baffled yet never wholly defeated, struggling upwards to all that is best and highest in his nature, always aware how short of the aim falls the attempt, how great is the gulf that severs the wish from its fulfilment. In them we do not find the innocent converse of man with God in the Garden of Eden; if we did, the book would for our fallen natures lose its value.

On the contrary, it is the revelation of a soul deeply conscious of sin, seeking, in broken accents of shame and penitence and hope, to renew personal communion with God, heart to heart, thought to thought, and face to face. It is this which gives to the Psalms their eternal truth. It is this which makes them at once the breviary and the viaticum of humanity. Here are gathered not only pregnant statements of the principles of religion, and condensed maxims of spiritual life, but a promptuary of effort, a summary of devotion, a manual of prayer and praise, and all this is clothed in language, which is as rich in poetic beauty as it is universal and enduring in poetic truth.

The Psalms, then, are a mirror in which each man sees the motions of his own soul. They express in exquisite words the kinship which every thoughtful human heart craves to find with a supreme, unchanging, loving God, who will be to him a protector, guardian, and friend. They utter the ordinary experiences, the familiar thoughts of men; but they give to these a width of range, an intensity, a depth, and an elevation, which transcend the capacity of the most gifted. They translate into speech the spiritual passion of the loftiest genius; they also utter, with the beauty born of truth and simplicity, and with exact agreement between the feeling and the expression, the inarticulate and humble longings of the unlettered peasant. So it is that, in every country, the language of the Psalms has become part of the daily life of nations, passing into their proverbs, mingling with their conversation, and used at every critical stage of existence.

With our national, as well as with our private lives, the Psalms are inextricably mingled. On the Psalms, both in spirit (Ps. xx. 9), and language (Ps. lxviii. 1), is based our National Anthem. From the lion and the unicorn of Ps. xxii. 21, are taken the supporters of the royal arms. In all the Coronation Offices from Egbert to Edward VII., not only the services, but the symbolic ceremonies are based upon the Psalms-the oil of gladness above his fellows, the sword girded on the thigh of the most Mighty one, the crown of pure gold, the sceptre of righteousness, the throne of judgment. In Christian Art, as the conventional representation

of the Wise Men of the East as three kings is founded on the Kings of Tharsis, Saba, and Arabia of Ps. Ixxii. 10-11, so the use of the Pelican as a symbol of Christ is guided by the comparison to the pelican in the wilderness of Ps. cii. 6. A Psalm (li., verse 1) supplied the "neck verse" of medieval justice, which afforded the test of benefit of clergy. In the Psalms ancient families have sought their mottoes, such as the "Fortuna mea in bello campo (Ps. xvi. 7) of the Beauchamps, the Nisi Dominus frustra (Ps. cxxvii. 1) of the Comptons, or the "Non dormit qui custodit" (Ps. cxxi. 3) of the Coghills. Ancient trade guilds have found in the Psalms the legend of their charter of incorporation, like the "Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus, oves et boves " (Ps. viii. 6-7) of the Butchers' Company. From the Psalms Edinburgh takes its motto of "Nisi Dominus frustra" (Ps. cxxvii., verse 1). From the same source the University of Oxford took its "Dominus illuminatio mea " (Ps. xxvii. 1), and the University of Durham its "Fundamenta ejus" (Ps. lxxxvii. 1). Under the sanction, as it were, of a text from the Psalms ("The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is; the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein," Ps. xxiv., verse 1), was held the Great Exhibition of 1851. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it" (Ps. cxxvii., verse 1), is the verse chosen by Smeaton for the Eddystone Lighthouse. To innumerable almshouses, hospitals, public buildings and private houses, the Psalms have supplied inscriptions. To coins they have furnished legends, like the coins of the Black Prince in Guienne, "Dominus adjutor meus et protector meus," etc. (Ps. xxviii. 8); the florin of Edward III. in 1344, " Domine, ne in furore arguas me (Ps. vi. 1); or the shilling of Edward VI. in 1549, Inimicos ejus induam confusione" (Ps. cxxxii. 19). sword-blades, trenchers, and rings, verses from the Psalms are inscribed. By texts from the Psalms, sun-dials all over the world enforce the solemn lesson of the passage of time. Here are the "Dies mei sicut umbra declinaverunt" (Ps. cii. II) of San Michele at Venice, or Langen Schwalbach; the English version, "My days are gone like a shadow," at Arbroath, and St. Hilda's, Whitby; and the same idea, L'homme est semblable à la vanité; ses jours sont comme

« Anterior Continuar »

Livros