^ JAN 201937 DARWIN'S ATTITUDE. 33 appeals to the highest and noblest in man and if we turn our backs upon it, close our eyes, stop our ears, and sear our souls, then it, in turn, leaves us and we shrivel in the dimension of our being and become an atrophied thing in the Universe. By the very same law poetry, music and painting died in him. He exclaims : "I cannot endure to read a line of poetry ; I have tried lately to read Shakespeare and find it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures and music." Then he admits us into the secret : "My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding gen- eral laws out of large collections of facts." This is the penalty of over-absorbtion in one pursuit, and that the lowest, and for- getting the higher claims of the soul and the demands of the spiritual Universe. Does Darwin's agnosticism annihilate God, quench the thirst of the Soul, destroy the need of penitence. Transform the tragedy of Calvary into a mocking riddle, and crush the instinct of prayer in the heart? Xo; no more than his indifference to the bard of Avon prove that Shakespeare is not still the unique thinker and matchless poet of all ages. Profoundly conscious of the literary and artistic loss and to keep his soul from shriveling up intellectually he exclaims : "If I had to live my life over again I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music once a week." There is no hint that he felt the greatest of all losses — the loss of God, the loss of the saving help and ineffable companionship of Christ. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. BY ROBERT SHIELLS, NEENAH, WIS. Before the Reformation movement in Scotland assumed any form of organization, or could claim for itself anything like con- certed action, there had been a strong under-current of prepara- tion, brought about by the satires and songs which had become prevalent. Burlesque plays had been acted before king and court, and ironical ballads had been freely sung by the common people. All turned upon the abuses of the Church and the evil lives of the greedy priesthood. Sir David Lyndsay was one of the principal leaders in this turn of thought and practice. His own rank and importance, and his intimacy with the king en- abled him to escape the fate meted out to less prominent distur- bers of the peace of the church. The seed which he sowed bore fruit duly. The rude ballad of the street was polished into a poetic utterance which caught the ear and heart of the multi- tude. This in turn gave way to devotional hymns which touched the conscience, and gave vent to religious feeling. Today these utterances appear to us rude and unrefined; in their own day they were the classic language and form of expression pertaining to the country. The first collected group of these songs, that we know of, is the "Gude and Godlie Ballades" of the Wedderburn Brothers of Dundee. The earliest certain day of their publication is 1567. Some of them must have become common and widespread before that time, as James Wedderburn fled for his life to France in 1540. In their completed form they stand in three divisions. First, there are the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the warrant for the Sacraments. All these are set forth in verse and followed by various devotional songs, some of which are taken from Scripture. Many of these pieces, in altered forms of versification, are repeated in the Psalters of the church for nearly a century. The second part consists of twenty- two of the Psalms of David. Then come a number of songs, more or Less secular but spiritualized according to the taste and ability of the versifier. This was the foundation of the system THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 35 of praise which formed one of the prominent features of the Eeformed Church in all lands. The consecrated priest, the un- known language of the service and the trained choir, were all swept away. The minister and reader were men of the people, set apart for their work, it is true on account of their fitness, but claiming no divine afflatus nor apostolic succession. The wor- ship was conducted so that "every man heard them speak in his own tongue wherein he was born." The praise was conducted according to the closing words of the Book of Psalms, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." These were the popular and democratic forms of the Church of Scotland and which constitute its leading features of this day. The Book of Common Order, which included the Psalter, was evolved from Geneva, where Calvin, Knox and many emi- nent refugees found shelter. It is not necessary to trace the growth of the Psalter in every detail. The first attempt, in 1548, contained only nineteen Psalms, the work of Thomas Sternhold, an official in the court of Edward VI ; and it was fol- lowed in 1549 by an edition of forty-four Psalms. Of these thirty-seven were versified by Sternhold and seventeen by John Hopkins. Then came successive additions till in 1564-65 the Scottish Psalter contained the one hundred and fifty Psalms. The authorship of them is as follows: Sternhold, 9; Hopkins, 37; Kethe, 25; Whittingham, 16; Craig, 15; Norton, 8; Pont, 6; Pullian, 2; Marquant, 2. Printed at Edinburgh under the careful supervision of the General Assembly this book also con- tained "The Forms of Prayers and Ministrations of the Sacra- ments." Continuous issues were sanctioned and printed with much extraneous matter, chiefly in verse, and so adding to the authorized volume of church praise. In 1577 we find the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, a versified prayer addressed to Christ, the Lament of a Sinner and the Veni Creator — Come Holy Ghost, eternal God, Proceeding from above, Both from the Father and the Son, The God of Peace and Love. 36 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. There is also what is styled a "Conclusion." which is the in- vocation we know as the Gloria Patri, or. in plain phrase, a doxology. There were speedily added thirty-four doxologies and a "Collect." or short prayer, for each Psalm; also ten spiritual hymns including the Song of Moses, the Song of Simeon, the Magnificat or Song of the Virgin Mary and a lengthy Song of Thanksgiving after the "Keeeiving of the Lord's Supper." There is an amusing incident showing the watchfulness of the General Assembly over the printers. In 1568 Thomas Bas- sandyne. of Edinburgh, issued a Psalter which had not been closely examined. Among other additions he inserted a poem entitled "Welcome Fortune,*' which was rather more of a song than a hymn. The church authorities swooped down upon him most savagely. They designated the song by a very opprobrious title, and commanded him to recall every copy that had been sold and destroy the entire edition. So thoroughly were the order.- carried out that no copy has been found and the iniquity of the offensive verses was for more than three centuries a hidden mys- tery. Some thirteen or fourteen years ago the belongings of a de- ceased teacher in Dundee were disposed of by auction. A bundl: of loose leaves and pamphlets were sold for eight pence. When examined there was found part of a copy of Wedderburn's "Bal- lade-" L567 3 which included the obnoxious poem of "Welcome Fortune." It proved to lie a meekly sentimental love song in which the name of God is respectfully mentioned. We can only wonder at the severe language of the Assembly censors and the vigor with which they enforced their ordinance. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. ii. by robert shiells, esq., neenah, wis. The Psalter of 1549 gave the contents of the Psalms in rhyme, just as our Bibles give the epitome of each chapter in prose. Take the "Argument" of the first Psalm as a specimen : "How happy be the righteous man, This Psalm declareth plain, And how the ways of wicked men Be damnable and vain." The next important edition after Bassandyne's came from Henry Charteris. It contained "The CL Psalms of David in Metre;" also Prayers, the Catechism, with the Doxologies and Collects suitable for each Psalm. Through various hands the work came down to Andrew Hart, and after his death, in 1621, was continued by his heirs. It has been stated that Hart merely printed and did not publish the Psalter. The objection is not well taken. In his time the business of literature in Scotland was too limited to admit of modern suddivisions. When con- sulting with his dear friend, James Melville, as to the issue of a new edition, Melville expressed his surprise that "The Song of Moses" had not yet been added to the standard hymns. Hart caught readily at the idea, and urged Melville to undertake the task. He accordingly versified the 32nd chapter of Deuter- onomy, which appeared in the edition of 1615 (the year after Melville's death), "never before this time in print." One who was merely a printer would not have initiated such a step. This edition of 1615 is the one which first contained the twelve com- mon tunes whose semi-sacred celebrity has scarcely yet disap- peared. In 1601 a Psalter "for the use of the Kirk of Scotland" was printed at Dort, Holland. The expenses of this publication were borne jointly by Andrew Hart and the heirs of Henry Charteris. Hart also received from government permission to import for- 90 "IVISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAX REVIEW. eign books free of duty. It is plain that he united in his own per- son the now distinct callings of printer, publisher and bookseller. In 1610 he brought out a large Bible which was the second stand- ard edition printed in Scotland. In 1628 the heirs printed a New Testament, which was the first instalment of our present authorized version in Scotland. Hart and his heirs continued to produce Psalters, with more or less alterations, till their work culminated in the important edi- tion of 1635, which Dr. Neill Livingston has chosen for his model and reprinted in splendid shape. It contains the Psalms in prose and verse, twelve pieces (most of them have been al- ready named), which may be styled Paraphrases and Hymns, the Song of Moses in six parts, closing with a not very poetical "Spiritual Song" which begins : "What better health than a contented mind ? What poverty so great as want of grace?" The doxologies were reduced to three. Take the following as a sample: "Glory to the Father, to the Son, And to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, Is now, and aye shall last." The twelve common tunes were increased to thirty-one. Other changes in the music were introduced of which I am not competent to speak. The Collects, or Prayers, appropriate for each Psalm, were discarded. These prayers are expressed in very pure Scotch, and were long supposed to be the composition of our early Eeformers. Xew light has lately risen upon them. Ten years ago when ransacking the valuable and long-forgotten library of Innerpeffray, Perthshire, Dr. Bannerman stumbled on a French Psalter of Marot and Beza, 1567, which contained a "Prayer at the end of each Psalm by M. Marlorat," one of the most eminent theologians of his day. After due examination the Scottish Collects proved to be free translations of the French divine's Oraisons. With Blight variations the Psalter of 1635 continued to be the standard book of praise accepted by the Scot- THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 91 tish Church till the present version was adopted in 1650. Even Melville's wooden rhyme of the Song of Moses was retained to the last. I believe it has not since been included in any Hymnal, and it is not now likely to find itself in such a place. During all these years music was not wholly forgotten. I find constant mention made of Song Schools and Music Schools, and provision is made for the opening of such seminaries and the payment of teachers. The music is ordered to be "simple." Chanting is abolished. "The playing at the Organs" is set down as a "foolish vanity." Each syllable of the Psalm was to have its own note so that words would be plainly uttered, and music and speech go hand in hand, and thus "the sentence of the hymn may be perceived and understood," and also "that it may be sung distinctly and devoutly." It would not be at all amiss if some of these directions were followed in the present day. Purity is strongly insisted on for the psalter music. There are to be no flippant grace notes to tickle the ear, no straining after the upper regions of operatic airs. The tunes are to be simple and severe like the words to which they are adapted. At the same time there was soon developed a tendency towards something more ornate. In 1635 Hart gave eight special tunes "in Keports." This term is defined as describing "a short fugal passage." Dr. Livingston said, "One instance only of a line twice repeated occurs in one of the tunes to the Spiritual Songs." As these tunes are not given in his reprint I am unable to state which one it is. Dr. Livingston thinks that these instances are among the first fruits of the attempts then being made to introduce Episcopal fashions in the Scottish Church. The leading editions of the early Psalters, and even the versi- fied psalms bound in with the old Bibles were all furnished with tunes. Very quaint and odd they seem to us with the "Trebla, Contra, Tenor and Bassus" duly set forth with their bolt-headed notes. Hart's Psalter of 1635 (so often referred to) is a monu- ment of industry and precision in this respect. In spite of all the pains thus taken to promote an interest in music, the troub- lous times were such that music kept on decaying till it was al- most lost sight of. The sermons continued to set forth duties and doctrines. The prayers were direct and personal. The 92 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. psalms were vigorous and appropriate, though the measures were unpolished. "Let God arise, and scattered Let all his en'mies be," was one of the heart-stirring battle hymns of those days. When Claverhouse swept down on the little band of worshippers at Drumclog he was defiantly met with — "In Judah's land God is well known, His name's in Israel great." The poetry might be rude, and the tune might be either com- mon or proper, but the expressed trust and confidence were per- fect. The words, that had been sung when the army of Senna- cherib had withered like the autumn leaves of the forest, rang out with telling effect on the Scottish moor. The troubled condition of the country and the conflicts be- tween church and state may have caused the laity to lose sight of what they looked upon as the ornamental part of worship. At the same time, Synod and Assembly were steadily striving for the improvement of the words of psalmody. Committees were appointed to urge forward the work. Those who had special gifts in that direction were encouraged to continue their "tra- vail." The result of these labors will fall to be noticed in the next paper. SPENCER'S ATTITUDE. 145 lamb — that would welcome equally the awful abyss of annihila- tion or the glorious welcome to the Home of the heart, Heaven. Surely Religion has sterner stuff than that in it, for in the hour of dissolution it plants in the soul a deathless hope and girts it with the immortal Youth of Heaven. Profoundly admiring the genius, the grace of style, the breadth of scholarship, and the monumental achievements of Professor Huxley we feel just as keenly the one great defect that marred his whole life and herculean efforts — the negative atti- tude of soul, his agnosticism. The believing soul only can at- tain the highest end of life : as Professor Blackie says — "the man who will succeed must seek, and he must see, and he must strike, and above all things he must believe. Nature does nothing for doubters/' Two great realms press themselves upon every soul : one appealing to the senses constituting the Material World and man giving all heed to them becomes a superb animal. The other appealing to the hunger and thirst of one's spiritual nature embodying God, Truth, Right, Redemption, the Life Everlast- ing, man drinking them in grows up into regal Manhood, clos- ing his heart against them and he becomes a blighted, blasted, atrophied thing of the Universe. In the words of the Shakes- peare of German}' — "All epochs wherein Belief prevails, are splendid, heart-elevating, fruitful for contemporaries and pos- terity. Seek, knock, ask with a great, passionate, uncontrollable, longing and all the wealth of God's truth, righteousness, peace and love shall burst on our souls. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. BY ROBERT SHIELLS, ESQ., NEENAH, WIS. NO. III. In the annals of Scottish history no king has ever foisted himself into undeserved prominence on such flimsy grounds as James VI. of Scotland and I. of England. At the death of Elizabeth the accident of a slender relationship united the two countries under his rule. I will not enlarge on his abilities and characteristics more than his connection with my subject re- quires. A matchless teacher and a retentive memory combined to give him a thorough acquaintance with the learned languages. Of his real knowledge and his literary taste the less said the bet- ter. His vanity was boundless. He delighted to be hailed as "the Second Solomon." It was his great ambition to be looked up to as the indisputable authority on every subject pertaining to classic literature. The servile adulation of the bishops and cour- tiers of those days swelled his conceit at the time, and has suc- ceeded in perpetuating his false prominence down to our own day. Most of us have heard of the Sabbath school scholar who had passed a very poor examination on biblical facts. When he was asked "who is the first King mentioned in the Bible ?" he an- swered triumphantly, "King James VI. of Scotland." The address to "The Most High and Mighty Prince James" still stands as the preface to our Authorized Version. It is so slavish and fulsome that I fancy there are few people who man- age to read it through at the first effort. The translation itself is generally spoken of as "King James' Version." The truth is King James had almost nothing to do with it. He neither con- tributed time, money nor learning. A few words of approval at the outset and some impertinent interference concerning pas- sages reflecting on kingly rights comprise all the help he gave. Though I could enlarge on this subject I must not forsake the Psalter. Among his other accomplishments James wrote miserable rerse, and prided himself on his poetic abilities. Knowing that 148 THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 147 the General Assembly desired a smoother and more correct ren- dering of the Psalms, he addressed himself to the task. He soon found it was too laborious. He laid the burden on more capable shoulders and appropriated the name and fame of the work. He drudged through thirty-one Psalms, not in consecutive order. He then turned the labor over to his friend and courtier, Sir William Alexander of Menstrie, a poetaster of rather more than local celebrity. The King's MS., in his own handwriting, is pre- served in the British Museum. Sir William Alexander did not incorporate the King's translation with his own. As James died before the new version was published the royal feelings were not hurt by the omission. As samples familiar to us all I give from each rhymster the first verse of the first Psalm, slightly changing the spelling. King James' reads as follows : "That mortal man most happy is and blest, Who in the wicked's counsels doth not walk, Nor yet in sinner's ways doth stay and rest, Nor sits in seats of scornful men in talk." Sir William Alexander has it : "The man is blest who to walk in Th' ungodlies counsel hates, And stands not in the sinner's way, Nor sits in scorners' seats." Arcades ambo. Both sufficiently plain and as destitute of poetry as anything in rhyme can be. Sir William's version was not published till six years after the King's death. With what pride His Majesty would have read on the title page "The Psalms of King David, translated by King James." The picto- rial illustration shows David with his harp and James with his sceptre, and the two sovereigns reading from the same book. The Bishop of Lincoln, preaching from James' funeral sermon, glori- fies him thus : "Besides his prose, he made a verse also when he pleased, and (as became Buchanan's best scholar) of a most dainty and elaborate composition." He proceeds to dilate on his translation of the Psalms, which was interrupted by his being "called to sing Psalms with the Angels." 148 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. James' son and successor, Charles L, endorsed the transpar- ent falsehood, and wrote to the Primate of St. Andrews that it had "pleased our late dear father, of famous and eternal memory, to translate the Psalms of new." Soon afterwards he issued an authorized edition of "This Translation of the Psalms whereof our late dear Father was Author." He then endeavored, by de- crees and proclamations, to supercede the old Psalter and force the new version on the Church of Scotland. This produced a tempest little inferior to the incident of Jenny Geddes and the liturgy, which happened the year after the King's last Psalm- book ordinance. A determined opposition was roused from one end of the country to the other. A leading minister (now believed to be Eev. David Calder- wood) issued a widely-read set of "Reasons against the Reception of King James' Metaphrase of the Psalms." His utterances dif- fered greatly from the sickening adulation of the English bishop. He strongly called attention to the 'Tiarsh and thrawn phrases, new coined and court terms, poetical conceits, and heathenish liberty which occurred in the new metre, and served to make peo- ple glaik." These uncourtly criticisms were insisted on at length, and did not tend to gain a favorable reception for the spurious Psal- ter by the people at large. It was utterly rejected, and few copies of the work are now in existence. The rebellious excite- ment caused by the King's Psalms and liturgy never subsided till the monarch's head was laid on the block. Meantime, the Gen- eral Assembly was steadily encouraging the production of a new version which would combine smoother metre and a closer fidelity to the original Hebrew. Sir William Mure of Rowallan gave ten years of labor to a complete set of Psalms which does not seem to have ever emerged from the manuscript state, though it was highly commended by the divines of that day and held up as a model for others who were working in the same direction. William Barton, an Eng- lish scholar of Oxford, completed a version which attracted much attention, and was "printed by order of Parliament" in 1645. I cm not find that it commanded much attention in Scotland, or wag ever used there. The oexl prominent laborer in the field was THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 149 the Eev. Zachary Boyd of Glasgow. He exhibited a distressing amount of perseverance, and seems to have been desirous of ver- sifying not only the Psalms, but the entire Bible. He is too im- portant to be dismissed in a few sentences. I reserve him for the next article. A PRESBYTERIAN LITURGY. BY THE REV. LOUIS P. PEEKE, FOND DU LAC, WIS. A little thought and some experience at the services of Pres- byterian churches in various parts of the country would convince an impartial observer that Dr. Watson has not given the subject of liturgies more prominence than it deserved. Our present cus- tom is hap-hazard and an orderly practice we have not. The "unnecessary burden" of today is all upon the Minister, and the People have nothing to do but sit back and cogitate favorable and unfavorable criticisms upon the one who leads their devo- tions. The present day movement is not toward the acceptance of the "Book of Common Prayer" our Presbyterian ancestors were willing to adopt in 1661, but for a free liturgy that would be "an orderly mean between the two extremes of too much strictness and too much license as to the particular form of di- vine worship." Our Directory for Worship gives general directions but we have no rites or ceremonies except as the caprice or good or bad taste of individual ministers may establish. A rite is a formal act or series of acts of religion established by law, precept or custom. Our custom is not regularly established ; and to appre- ciate how varied it is, one need only attend successive meetings of Presbytery and Synod where in the administration of the Lord's Supper every irregularity conceivable is revealed. Some ministers proceed according to an order it would be misleading to call carefully prepared and thought out; others are content to use Herrick Johnson's "Forms," while still others adhere to the liturgy of other evangelical churches, with and without modi- fications. The establishment of a sanctioned liturgy cannot seriously be considered as a return by our Church to "a discarded and re- pudiated ritualism which it has long since outgrown." For ritual must have in it a symbolic re-enactment of the great tragedy of the Cross. Ritual centers everything in the representation of sacrifice. Whatever He disapproved He very promptly denounced. And we are with Him in denunciation of 150 ASSAULT UPON THE BIBLE. 257 And, so, your Christianity drops down into moral philoso- phy. And your morality goes to pieces, except as morality is an instinct, except as virtue happens to be an appetite. Ah, my friends, that is Christianity after you have discarded the Bible; in the hands of the modern disciples of the Destruc- tive Criticism ! I tell you that, in the interests of morality, in the interests of the home, in the interests of trade, in the inter- ests of civil liberty, in the interests of all that is best in this life, and all that is bright with hope in respect to the life to come; we must keep our old fashioned Christianity; we must rehabilitate Paul; we must get back, and back, and back, and back to Atoning Blood, or else we shall go on to atheism and despair. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. IV. The evolution of the Psalter in the 17th century brings out a man, prominent in his day, though now all but forgotten. If remembered at all, it is mostly by the sneers and sarcasms and literary falsehoods that have been attached to his name. Zachary Boyd was minister of the Barony Kirk, Glasgow, from 1623 to 1653, a stormy and eventful period of the Church's history. He was not deficient in the courage of upholding his conscientious belief, and he kept his light under no bushel. I do not find his name among those ministers who took the field in time of war, nor among those foremost in fiery debate. Piety, industry and unceasing devotion to his ministerial work were the marked characteristics of his public life. His pen was never idle. His untiring industry leaves a painful impression on any student of today who tries even to enumerate his productions. To read them would be a physical impossibility. His prose works are vigorously evangelical and well fitted to take high rank with the theological literature of his day. His great delight, however, was in verse-making. In that he "lived, moved, and had his be- ing." Unfortunately, he was far from excelling therein, though his compositions show frequent flashes of poetic, and even dra- matic, fire. By the cursory reader the poetry of 250 years ago (even at its best) is readily pushed aside as rude, stilted, and unworthy of attention. When, as in Zachary Boyd's case, the proverbial two grains of wheat have to be winnowed out of the two bushels of chaff it is not surprising that the dust of ages has settled un- disturbed on his poetical works. Besides, he has been derided and burlesqued in every possible way. His oddities have been held up to ridicule, and his quaint expressions have been broadly caricatured. Rhymes that he never even imagined have been laid to his name. He has been the by-word and laughing-stock for the small wits <>F more than two centuries. One great sinner in this respect is a certain Samuel Colvil, who, in 1681, pub- 258 THE SCO TTISH PSAL TER. 259 lished an imitation of Butler's Hudibras, "The Whigg's Supli- cation, or the Scotch Hudibras." The extracts from it that have come in my way are the coarse parodies and inventions usually attributed to Boyd. Pennant, in his "Tour in Scotland," 1772, visited Glasgow, saw Boyd's dust-covered manuscripts in the university library, had the usual fling at him for "adapting his verse to the intellects of his hearers," and quoted as a "sufficient specimen of his gross imagery" the story of Jonah and the whale. So persistently have contempt and obloquy been heaped on the good minister's memory that his true character is only re- vealed to those who search for it. My own early impressions of him were, that he was a crack-brained enthusiast, who considered himself a gifted poet. With untiring though misapplied indus- try he had turned the whole Bible into verse. The greater part of his version was utter nonsense, and much of it unfit for the ordinary reader. He was so convinced of its literary excellence that he bequeathed a large sum of money to the University of Glasgow, with the stipulation that the Senatus should print his MSS., which, together with his library, he included in his be- quest. The college authorities complied wth the letter, though not with the spirit, of his will by printing the extraordinary Bible and forbearing to publish it. The printed sheets were kept in the college library under lock and key, and only shown to the very privileged among the curious. In all this there is merely sufficient truth to make the story hang together. He did not versify the entire Bible. His "Zion's Flowers" and kindred productions are versifications of some of the most striking biblical events, and are commonly spoken of as Zachary Boyd's Bible. He was a munificent benefactor to the college of which he was rector more than once, and of which he was Vice-Chancellor when he died. He endowed its Divinity School with three bursaries, which are still bestowed on deserv- ing students, those of the name of Boyd having the preference. His college bequest also included his library and manuscripts. There are no stipulations about printing or publishing, and the University has not shown much gratitude by the care it has be- 260 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. stowed on his clearly written pages. "How the world is given to lying" and on what flimsy grounds even a good man can be tra- duced ! The ridiculous parodies which I had found in odd corners I accepted as genuine quotations, and they are indelibly stamped on my memory. I offer the introduction to the Book of Job as an average sample of these doggerel slanders : "There was a man and his name was Job, He lived in the land of Uz. He had a wife had the gift of the gab, And the same is the case with us." The true version is flat and unpoetical enough, "but nothing to this:" "In Uz a man called Job there was, Both perfect and upright: Who feared God, and did eschew Evil with all his might." When I was told of his having mastered the whole Bible I often wondered how he succeeded with some of the genealogical portions. I do not now believe that they formed any part of his work. As he subjected the Four Gospels to his peculiar treat- ment, I have his first chapter of Matthew. The man who could turn that formidable list of fathers and sons into any kind of verse would have had no hesitation in tackling the first nine chapters of I. Chronicles. With all his eccentricities he was a man of great worth and of more than ordinary talent — a faithful minister of the Word. In those troublous times he had the courage of his convictions. When Cromwell, fresh from his victory at Dunbar, took posses- sion of Glasgow, he and his officers attended divine service at the Cathedral. Clergy and Magistrates alike had deserted the city. Zachary Boyd alone seems to have held his ground and freed his mind. Be had due notice as to who would be in his congrega- THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 261 tion, and was warned to be caTeful. Some accounts say that he preached with his pistols on the pulpit cushion. Very likely this is apochryphal, but his pulpit thunder was loud enough. A contemporary graphically relates how "he railed on them all to their very face in the High Church/' and stigmatised them as "sectaries and blasphemers." Cromwell's secretary "whispered him for leave to pistol the scoundrel." The Lord Protector took a milder course. After service he invited the preacher to dinner, and finished the repast with a prayer-meeting which lasted till three in the morning. Both parties separated with an improved opinion of each other. Boyd's unpublished works number eighty-six. Most of them are very lengthy, and the huge piles of time-stained manuscript are stored in his college library. Nineteen more of his works were published, and are all very rare. Through this long narrative I may seem to have lost sight of the Psalter. I was brought face to face with a talented author who is little known except as he had been misrepresented. I could not resist trying to photograph the man who nearly car- ried off the palm from Francis Rous, and whose version of the Psalms was all but accepted by the General Assembly. I can- not determine when Zachary Boyd first addressed himself to the work which he hoped would be of great importance to the nation and form a permanent part of the worship of the Scottish Church. The assembly was constantly passing passing resolu- tions and appointing committees for the improvement of the metrical Psalms. Several of the poetical aspirants were encour- aged and thanked by name. On at least one occasion a special committee was appointed "to revise the labours of Mr. Boyd and to prepare a report thereof." The attention of the Westminster Assembly was directed to his work, and he himself was requested to lay his "travails" before the High Court of the Church that they might be referred to the Presbyteries for examination and approval. He must have been subjected to great trouble and expense by these requirements. He was supported by many friends who thought highly of his Psalter. It was doubtless a 262 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. serious disappointment to him and to them when the present version was adopted. Like many a faithful and hopeful worker in similar circumstances, he was set aside with well-sugared words and a vote of thanks. The third edition of his "Psalms of David in Metre" was published at Glasgow in 1646. I cannot find that the book was ever again printed. Eous's version is often spoken of as being plain and prosaic. What I have seen of Boyd's is still more so. There are occasional touches of poetic sweetness, but he lacks the strength and majesty of Eous. As an unfailing example take Boyd's opening of the first Psalm: "Blest is the man that walks not in The ungodlie's counsel ill; Xor stands in ways of sinners, nor In scorners' seats sits still/' His beginning of the twenty-third Psalm may afford a still more familiar comparison : "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want, He makes me by good will Lie in green pastures, he me leads Beside the water still." His great defect appears to have been that he was willing to sacrifice rhyme, rhythm, measure, everything that is usually un- derstood to make up poetry, if he could only stick close to the sense and give a literal rendering of the original. With all due respect for the much abused, though really talented, Zachary Boyd, it must be acknowledged that the General Assembly showed good taste and judgment when it passed Eous's Psalter through the refining crucible and then adopted it as the standard of praise service in the Kirk of Scotland. This will have atten- tion in the next paper of this series. THE MAN IN THE PEW. 335 his evenings in the working out of the problems of church- finance, honestly, faithfully and splendidly administering the affairs of the congregation without reward or pay and often with- out recognition — who can do him justice save the Great Master of us all who shall award a fitting due to every toiler in His service? Disinterested, unremitting in their watchfulness the men in the pew are our shield, warding off the stinging arrows of cruel thoughtlessness and guarding us that we may engage the enemy at closer quarters. How much we owe to the un- flinching support and approval of the man in the pew, of whose cordial endorsement we are assured when we embark upon haz- ardous enterprises. Alas for us when we resolve the man in the pew into the stuffed puppet whose function is conceived to be simply filling a seat in the church service. We fall on evil days when the man in the pew becomes to us nothing less than a shadowy outline, instead of a loyal friend, helpful fellow-worker and co-partner in the grandest undertakings possible to mortal beings. Let our achievements and the indissoluble friendships which bind us to him proclaim our deep appreciation of and love for the man in the pew. From so faulty an expression of the worth of the man in the pew we turn to the better memorialist who has discerned the hidden goodness unnoticed by the world and in strains worthy of his theme sings the praises of him "whose delight is in the law of the Lord and on His word doth meditate dav and nisrht." THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. v. BY ROBERT SHIELLS, ESQ., XEEXAH, WIS. The last versions of the Psalter which I have mentioned were so nearly contemporary that it may be best to recall them with their dates. In bringing forward the version which was chosen, and which has kept its place for almost 250 years, it is well to remember that it was wrought out side by side with its rivals. Sir William Mure is generally spoken of, more Scottice, by the name of his landed estate, and his translation is usually called "Kowallan's Psalms." He gave ten years of diligence to the work, and completed it in July, 1639. It never emerged from the manuscript, though it was often quoted and referred to by the Westminster divines. Dr. Eobert Baillie, the leader of the Scotch Commissioners, wrote to his friends in Scotland (16-44). "I wish I had Rowallan's Psalter here, for I like it better than any I have yet seen." As a specimen I quote from the well- known CXXII Psalm— "I joyed, when to the house of God We'll go, to me they said. Jerusalem, within thy gates Our feet thy courts shall tread. Thou built art, Jerusalem, As comely cities be, Whose parts compactly all contriv'd Together do agree. Francis Rous next claims attention. He was a native of Cornwall, a member of the Long Parliament, a lay Commis- sioner to the Westminster Assembly, Provost of Eton College, and a member of Cromwell's Privy Council. Certainly his posi- tions gave him every possible advantage. His first version of the Psalter was published at London in 1641. It was received with qualified approbation by the Assembly in Scotland, and 336 THE SCOTTISH PSALTER 337 opportunity for improvement was freely pointed out. The open- ing verses of the XIX Psalm will indicate its quality — The glory of Almighty God The heavens do speak and show. The firmament his handiwork Presenteth to our view. Day unto day doth speak and tell His wisdom and his might; And a true knowledge of the same Night showeth unto night. In April, 1643, with the approval and order of the House of Commons, Eous' second edition was printed with many cor- rections and alterations. It was closely examined and warmly endorsed by the Parliament, and, later on, by the Westminster Assembly, though the stamp of ultimate acceptance was not placed upon it. I return to the first Psalm for a sample of its merits — The man is blessed, that to walk In wicked ways doth fear; And stands not in the sinner's path Nor sits in scorner's chair. But in the perfect law of God He greatly doth delight; And on that law doth meditate With pleasure, day and night. At this time William Barton, a distinguished Oxford scholar, came forward as an aspirant for the honors of the Psalter. His first edition appeared in 1644, and, by order of Parliament, a second edition followed in 1645, "much augmented and amended with the cream and flowers of the best authors, and with the approbation of more than forty eminent divines of the city." The rivalry between Barton and Eous was sharp and prolonged. 338 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. Both of them had influential friends and used them freely. The House of Lords interfered on Barton's behalf, and in October, 1645, commanded the Westminster Assembly to report on his work. The Divines made a lengthy reply. The purport in brief was, that Mr. Barton's version was very good indeed, but that of Mr. Eous, especially since it had been examined and amended by the Scottish Assembly, was still better. This decision was not quite acceptable to the Lords Temporal. In March, 1646, they requested the Divines to state why Barton's Psalms should not be sung in churches, if the congregations chose to use them. The Assembly answered, respectfully and firmly, that they still gave the superiority to Bous — and that if Barton received even a qualified sanction and congregations were allowed to adopt his Psalter, if they preferred, it would open the door for other trans- lators and nothing but confusion could be expected to follow. Barton was very persevering and published several editions. That of 1654 is "ordered by his Highness the Lord Protector and the Council." Before this time (in 1649) the present version had received the seal of authority and was ordained to be used by the entire Church. Barton afterwards claimed that the Scots had put forth a Psalm-book, compounded of his version and that of Mr. Rous, "but it did not give full satisfaction." His work con- tinued to be reprinted as late as 1768. It seems never to have found a footing in Scotland. In his edition of 1644 the opening of Psalm XIX reads as follows : The heavens give to understand The glory of the Lord. The operations of his hand The firmaments record. Night unto night hath knowledge Bhown And day with day conferred; Ami speech or language there is none Where their voice is not heard. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER 339 While these bickerings were being continued in England my old friend Zachary Boyd had come to the front in the northern kingdom. I have already dealt with him so fully that little more needs to be said. His friends and admirers were mostly in the Scottish Church. They warmly recommended him to the Westminster Assembly. Even Dr. Baillie failed to support him there, and I cannot find that he received much attention. He bore his disappointment manfully. In the preface to his last edition (1648) he says, "I desire that no man esteem that, in a mercenary way, I am seeking gain by those my labors, though the work hath been both painful and chargeable. I, with a most willing mind, offer all in a free will offering to the Lord. As T have hitherto done, I submit in all humility to the judgment of my brethren in the ministry." About a month after this Mr. Boyd showed the fullness of his submission by actively serving on a committee for perfecting Mr. Sous' Psalter, the early stages of which I have already noted. Rous' fellow members of Parlia- ment believed him to be eminently fitted as a scholar and a poet for this task. He began his versification at their request, and published his earliest set of Psalms in 1641. When the Westminster Assembly first met in July, 1643, Rous appears as one of the Commissioners. The Parliament and the Divines at once united in urging him to persevere in his labors. The result was his edition in April, 1646, printed by authority and ordained "to be sung in all churches and chapels within the kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-on-Tweed." By the terms of this act it will be observed that the Scottish Commissioners were not yet fully satisfied. If the beginning of the first Psalm, as it stands in this edition, is compared with the finally authorized version marked differences are at once appar- ent. The man is blest that in th' advice Of those that wicked are Walks not, nor stands in sinner's path, Nor sits in scorner's chair. 340 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. But in God's law delights, oil's law Both day and night doth think; He shall be like unto a tree, Set by the river's brink. It will be readily seen that changes many and great were carried out by the Presbyteries and General Assembly, and their effective committees before the Psalter was ultimately cast in its present mould. It will also be plainly manifest that the ordi- narily accepted title of "Eous' Psalms" has little foundation in fact. RELATION OF CHURCH TO CREED. Ill ing. But blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Character and faith are interdependent; and the faith whose root is sound grows to strength and fruitfulness by increased knowledge of Christ and of His work. There are truths which the human mind can reach, and on which it can certainly rest. You inherit great traditions — traditions of earnest and serious search for truth — may it be yours to hand down to your succes- sors, and within these walls traditions still more inspiring. 112 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. NO. VI. BY ROBERT SHIELLS, ESQ., NEENAH, WIS. In framing and arranging a uniform Directory of Public Worship the matter of psalm-singing was only taken up by the Westminster Divines, when the revision of the work was in its last stages. The English Commissioners especially seem to have adopted the principle of the old Book of Discipline. They considered the use of the Psalms and congregational singing as "a profitable but not necessary act of worship." I have already noted how the paramount desire for unifor- mity in all things and the persistent labours of the versifiers — or translators, as they were more generally and correctly styled — had carried the psalmody question over the critical stages. The resolution of Parliament April 15th, 1646, ordered "that the Book of Psalms set forth by Mr. Eous, and none others, shall, after the first day of January next," be sung in all English churches. As soon as the work issued from the press the Scottish Commissioners forwarded copies of it to the General Assembly at Edinburgh. A general approval was accorded to the book, though there was an evident reaching out for something still better. Space will not permit me to follow in detail the pro- cesses to which it was subjected. Committees and sub-com- mittees were appointed. All ministers who were supposed to possess poetic gifts were pressed into the service. The Psalms were divided into groups and allotted to special individuals. They were repeatedly passed from the Assembly to the Pres- byteries and back again. Uniformity of praise was the great desideratum. Smoothness of metre and expression were under- stood to be of due importance. Above all, "poetical liberty and sweet, pleasant running" must be subordinated to a close ad- herence to the original Hebrew. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 113 The style and diction, which in the seventeenth century was accounted elegant and refined, does not greatly command the admiration of the present day. The Psalms as finally amended contained forced rhymes and measures and many Scotticisms. In two instances the "world commandment" has to take in an extra syllable and is lengthened out to "com-mand-e-ment." The terminal "tion" has frequently to be sung in two syallables. Notwithstanding these blemishes, if the metrical Psalms are compared verse by verse with the prose translation, they will be found to read almost verbatim with it. Scholars assure us that they are equally faithful to the original language. Sir Walter Scott's verdict on the work is a clear and explicit statement of the case. "The expression of the old metrical translation, though homely, is plain, forcible and intelligible, and very often possesses a rude sort of majesty which perhaps would be ill- changed for mere elegance." The words which still stand on the title-page of the Scottish Psalter give the best description of the work that was accomplished: "THE PSALMS OF DAVID in Metre. Translated and dilligently compared with THE ORIGINAL TEXT and Former Translations. More plain, smooth and agreeable to the Text than any heretofore." On January 18th, 1650, the work was formally accepted. All other versions were "discharged" and forbidden. The Psalms as we now have them, with here and there a few changes to modern forms of spelling, were "Allowed by the Authority of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and appointed to be sung in Congregations and Families" on and after the first day of May, 1650. The deliverance brought rejoicing and sat- isfaction to all who had been concerned in the enterprise. The prophetical words of Dr. Baillie (one of the Westminster Com- missioners) have been literally fulfilled: "These lines are likely to go up to God from many millions of tongues for many genera- tions." The dominant spirit of the Westminster Assembly of Di- vines was a desire for uniformity, not only in the fundamentals of religion, but also in church government and church worship in all the details thereto pertaining. It is common to speak of 114 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. the bigotry of the Scotch in these matters and their desire to for- cibly fit every one to lie in their Procrustean bed. The reverse of this is actually the case. From the very nature of things it was impossible for them to override and overrule everything in the Convocation. Of the 174 members only six were Scotch. With our usual national modesty we are apt to insinuate that these six men were like the leaven which was "hid in three meas- ures of meal till the whole was leavened." At the same time, as regards non-essential points, there was much yielding on both sides. To insure uniformity in the praise service the Scotch members gave up several items which seem trivial to us. Tn those days they appeared so important as to raise a clamour of "innovations" — that dreadful word which has so often wrought disturbance and division in our national church. Strangely enough, customs which are now spoken of as Scotch whims and freaks, and held up to ridicule as marks of the unreasonableness and absurdity of our northern nation, are the very things which were forced upon us by our Southern associates. It is still more strange, that while their introduction at that time threatened to disrupt the Scottish Church, their discontinuance in our own day met determined opposition. By long use and wont the prac- tices had become so thoroughly interwoven with our ecclesiasti- cal system that they were clung to with the same tenacity which had nearly excluded them at the first. The two principal "novations" in connection with the Psalmody which were accepted by the Scottish Church for the sake of unifomity were the reading of the Psalm line by line when it was being sung, and the disuse of the "conclusions" to the Psalms. In other words, setting aside the Doxologies. The reading of the line was strongly opposed by the Scottish Com- missioners. They finally yielded it as involving no principle. They excused themselves to their own Assembly on the plea that it seemed necessary for the English congregations as so many of the people could not read and the others were poorly supplied with psalms-books. They succeeded in modifying the rule as given in the Directory by inserting the saving clauses, "for the TEE SCOTTISH PSALTER. 115 present, when many in the congregations cannot read/' and "it is convenient." The disuse of the Doxology was a more serious affair, and produced a keen contest. It had formed part of the praise ser- vice almost from the dawn of the Reformation.' The Fathers and the early Councils were quoted to show that some such form had come down from the time of the Apostles. "Moderator," said Calderwood, the historian, "I entreat that the Doxology be not laid aside, for I hope to sing it in heaven." Dr. Baillie pleaded for it with all the eloquence of his tongue and pen. The English Puritans persisted in classing it with the prelatical and "nocent" (hurtful) practices. For the sake of peace and uni- formity the others unwillingly yielded, desirous thereby of "edi- fying one another in love." In modern times, when the two customs came to be revived in Scotland, they were bitterly declaimed against as defections and backslidings — as returning to the bondage of Egypt — and as a removing of the ancient land marks of the fathers; always an unsafe thing to attempt. I can remembers (while I was a boy) staid, elderly people gravely shaking their heads and speaking of St. George's Church, Edinburgh, as a backdoor leading to Eome, because the congregation sometimes sang a doxology, and actually stood up to do it! In the village church I attended for some years I saw the battle of the "read line" and the "run line" fought out to the end. People rushed out of the church, showing every possible mark of contempt and disgust. I have in my mind's eye a perfect picture of an old countryman, who sat well to the front, a strong-built, broad-shouldered man, with a shining bald head, and clad in a blue, homespun gabardine. He endured the first two lines of the Psalm. When the third line showed the criminal intent of the precentor John sprang to his feet, slapped his broad blue bonnet onto his head, crushed his way out of the pew, and went clamping down the aisle, mak- ing all possible noise with his tacketty shoes and iron-shod pike- staff. He slammed the door behind him with vigorous con- tempt, and never crossed its threshold again. There were sev- eral such rebels, most of whom, after a while, yielded to neces- 116 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. sity and returned to their places in church. Some of them man- ifested their consistency by never again opening their psalm- books, nor joining in the praises of the sanctuary. For all that I believe they were true Christian people. JOHN CRAIG. 159 upon another of that goodly band, the man who was once a Domin- ican monk and afterward thrice the Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. 160 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. BY ROBERT SHIELLS, ESQ., NEENAH, WIS. VII. The Act of the General Assembly, January, 1650, placed the Scottish Psalter on a permanent basis, from which it has never been dislodged. Though adjuncts and appendices of various kinds are gradually being attached, it still remains the principal part of the structure. Many Scottish and English poets have since tried their skill at complete or partial versions of the Psalms. Milton versi- fied nineteen of them. In 1696, with the formal consent of King William III, the Psalms of Nicholas Brady and Nathan Tate sup- planted the time-honored version of Sternhold and Hopkins in the Episcopal Church. On the part of the Non-conformists Dr. Isaac Watts published his somewhat free translation in 1719. On May 24th, 1787, "the Synod of New York and Philadel- phia allowed Dr. Watts' 'Imitation of David's Psalms,' as re- vised by Mr. Barlow, to be sung in the Churches and Families under their care." With this sanction they were published in New Brunswick in 1789, and thus obtained a footing in the Presbyte- rian Church of the United States, which they have never lost. I have forty-two different renderings of the favorite XXIII. Psalm, the dates ranging from 1542 to 1743. Several of them are from versifiers who have published "A New Version of the Whole Book of Psalms." Their names and their works are alike all but forgotten. I think the Marquis of Lome is the latest candidate for fame in this field. His version did not seem to attract much attention. He has further been distinguishing himself by compos- ing a hymn which was sung at the dedication of the Queen's High- land Church at Crathie. My ignorance of the language prevents my dealing with the Gaelic renditions of the Psalms. There are six of these, the dates extending from 1659 to 1826. The sixty-seven Paraphrases and five hymns which are bound up with the Psalms in the Scottish Bibles were subjected to the usual course of correcting and purify- SCOTTISH PSAL TER . 16! ing, and finally approved of by the General Assembly in June, 1781. This was no new action on the part of that Court. It was merely a recognition and confirmation of those "spiritual songs" which had formed part of the Psalter poetry from the be- ginning. While giving close attention to the present version of the Psalms they were by no means forgetful of those Biblical hymns which had always formed part of the praises of the sanctuary. In August, 1647, a resolution was passed " recommending that Mr. Zachary Boyd be at the pains to translate the other Scriptural songs." I find I was in error when I stated that his third edition (1646) was his last. In obedience to his superiors Mr. Boyd pub- lished, in 1648, an elaborate edition of "The Psalms of David in Metre: With the Prose Interlined," and "Seventeen of the Songs of the Old and New Testament in Metre." From that date on- ward to the conclusion of the work, in 1781, the Assembly did not cease to expedite the preparation of the additional hymns, or Para- phrases, which are now in use. Though these really form part of the Church Psalter, to follow their history in detail would form a special subject in itself. I have now sketched the Scottish Psalter from its inception to its acceptance by the General Assembly, by the people of Scotland, and also by the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. The hypercritic may sneer at its rough rhymes and its old-fashioned expressions. The casual observer, trained in the present school of hymnology, readily prefers the smoother melody of the modern verse. I do not wish to disparage the religious excellence of many of the hymns of to-day, but our hymn-books would bear much winnowing. A de- votional heart will pour out in verse as well as in prose. It will find vent in the words of praise as well as in the supplications and confessions of prayer. If Rous frequently sacrifices sound for sense our hymn-writers more often prefer the sweetness of sound to the vigor of sense. Giving all praise to the beautiful stanzas which have become imbedded in our deepest feelings, there are many milk and water verses plentifully scattered in our "Collections." The very looseness with which the name of God is handled strikes un- pleasantly on ears that have been accustomed to hear it mentioned with awe and honor. The frequent and flippant use of such phrases as "Dear Christ" and "Sweet Jesus" in public praise sounds dis- respectful and irreverent. In the inspired words of the Psalter we 162 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. find no such weaknesses. There all is might and majesty, mingled with loving kindness and tender mercy. At the same time I acknowledge that the inevitable is fast ap- proaching. It will not be very many years till Rous' Psalms will stand on the same shelf with Chaucer and Sir David Lyndsay. All the branches of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland use Hymnals of their own in conjunction with the Psalms. I believe they are now endeavoring to compile a book which will be satisfactory to the different divisions. The hymns are in general use except in the Highlands, where the national grip has not greatly relaxed. I do not know how it is in the Colonies at large. I find that Canada has fallen into the advanced line. Spending a Sabbath in a Cana- dian city, I asked particularly for the most old-fashioned church, hoping to get a full set of the Psalms. I only got one, and it was a good one — "Jerusalem, as a city is Compactly built together; Unto that place the tribes go up, The tribes of God go thither; To Israel's testimony, there To God's name thanks to pay." I joined in the singing as best I could, and thought of my native city. Let me say here that from this and many parallel passages in the Psalms I always feel as if, in some prophetical way, King David must have been a kind of a Scotsman, and an Edinburgh man at that ; he described its peculiarities exactly. From the Presbyterian Church in our own country the Psalms have entirely disappeared. There are two of them that keep their place in every collection I have examined — the XXIII. and the C. Psalms. Of course, I think that the Hymns which have replaced them are the best of their class. The smaller branches — the United Presbyterian and the Reformed Presbyterian Churches — still heed the injunction, "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good, and walk therein." Even in their case the first-named body shows signs of weakening. While holding to the words of inspiration the members admit the possibility of poetical improvement. Versifying committees have been at work, SCO TTISH PSAL TER. 1 63 and new versions, more or less complete, have been printed. The congregations do not take kindly to them, though some of the Psalms are said to be of great power and sweetness. In the hearts of the people "the old is better." I met a good old lady from Penn- sylvania whom stress of circumstances had carried into the larger Presbyterian Church. Her face shone and her eye glistened as she told me how she used to sing the real Psalms of David "to the twelve old tunes that the Lord made in Ireland." 164 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW, SERMON. BY THE REV. JACOB PATCH, STEVENS POINT, WIS. Lately preached and dictated from memory by Mr. Potce in his 91st year. Heb. 7: 25. — "Able to save to the uttermost." I would like it better to say, "It is possible for Him to save." For God does not lack power, in the sense of strength, to do what He will. But His character, or attributes, show it is impossible for Him to do some things that man can but with difficulty keep from doing. God cannot lie: the Bible says so. If we keep in mind the Holiness and wisdom of God it will be less difficult for us to understand His word. If it says He repented, or is angry with the wicked, it must signify such feelings as a holy God must have under the circumstances. He cannot manifest indifference to sin, because He is holy, and His manifest abhorence to sin must in some way be commensurate with the greatness of the sin. A judge who would pronounce no punishment upon a murderer, or would fine him but one dollar, would show that he did not regard murder as being very wicked. But could the infinite God devise some way in which He could save a sinner; in which He could be just and the justifier of him that believeth? We may reason on this question but do not put the result of fallible, human reason on a level with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Before the earth was made God had shown the angels His power and wisdom in creating the myriads ot the starry worlds, and in connection with each He may have revealed some new facts about Himself. But power and wisdom would awaken awe. Then His justice may have been manifested by casting out rebel angels from heaven. This may have awakened fear, and "fear hath torment." "But perfect love casteth out fear." 1 John 4: 18. It is God's nature to be filled with delight in giving joy and peace unto His creatures. But who are the angels? Angel is an office name rather than a generic name — one sent of God on some errand or message — hav- ing personality and intelligence. Our breath is sent of God to PHYSICAL LAWS AND PRAYER. 263 tenderer than all is the protecting Love of God Himself in prayer. To pray with the whole soul aflame, with unswerving sub- mission to the Will of the Highest, with invincible faith, with measureless hope, with a fervency that will brook no denial, is one of the sublimest achievements of the redeemed soul on the planet. Prayer is the mightiest weapon, had we not ceased to believe it, that ever can be placed within our grip. 264 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. THE SCOTTISH PSALTER. NO. VIII. BY ROBERT SHIELLS, ESQ., XEEXAH. It is almost as natural to sing as it is to breathe. The people that cannot sing, after some fashion, cannot be found. Every diversity of feeling finds vent in a union of verse and music. The resounding paean of victory and triumph, the wailing coro- nach of defeat and death, the sublime anthem of faith and devo- tion; all these in some form or other are found in all ages and among all nations. In our day each country has its national anthem, as well as its favorite songs that tell of love or war, joy or sorrow. The Scottish people are particularly rich in this class of literature. Every shade of feeling, sacred or secular, every emotion of the heart towards God or man wells out in verse, and takes the form of musical expression. This master passion has been well exemplified in the extreme care which was taken of the songs used in their worship. When the translation of the Psalms was completed and accepted the devout portion of the nation sought no further. They had a body of divinity in verse. Every emotion of the mind found its appropriate utterance in the words of inspiration poetically rendered. The language as well as the sentiments became thoroughly engrained in their "walk and conversation." Not unfrequently the secular song caught the spirit of the secular psalm. "Oh ! why left I my home ?" sounds like an exact counterpart of "By Babel's streams we sat and wept." Reading of the death of Edward Irving (that grand but erratic preacher of the Word) his friend tells how the dying man had long lain in a condition between stupor and mild delirium. At last there came what seemed to be connected sentences in a strange tongue. The watcher bent to listen and heard the He- brew measure of the &3d Psalm. In many thousands of eases these t'.w Bimple words, "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not SCOTTISH PSALTER. 265 want," have given strength and hope to the living and comfort and confidence to the dying. It is merely what is to be expected that those who may be called the primitive Presbyterians should cling tenaciously to "the form of sound words" in their service of praise. Brought up as I was in the Auld Licht Kirk, under the shadow of two of its last great apostles, Dr. Wylie and Dr. M'Crie, it is natural that my sympathies should strongly incline to most of the old practices. In this country I have often made friends in the United Presbyterian and the Reformed Presby- terian branches of the church. While I do not follow in the cus- toms with which I am so familiar I look upon them with a respect that is akin to reverence. In very many instances their ministers seem to be toiling with obscure congregations, which gradually diminish in spite of their best efforts. To an outsider the differ- ences seem faint and unimportant. As one of their own number expressed it to me, "it is sometimes hard to determine where principle ends and obstinacy begins." As regards their belief that nothing but David's Psalms should be used in the services of religion, they rest strongly on "the historic basis." In these papers I have sketched, the Psalter from its very be- ginning to the present day, and, with all due respect for my United Presbyterian friends, I cannot see where such a historic basis ever existed. In the "Ghide and Godlie Ballates," which almost preceded the Scottish Reformation, I find that twenty- two Psalms have a place in an extensive collection of hymns and spiritual songs. When the Whole Book of Psalms was brought in the church service there still remained a fair sprinkling of spiritual songs. When the so-called Rous 7 Version was finally adopted, though the Psalms were published alone, the great Councils of the Church did not cease their efforts till they author- ized a considerable addition to the volume of praise, and the expansion is still going on. I cannot help believing that there are the best of precedents for this course. The whole Biblical history is freely interspersed with the poetry of praise. From the foundation of the world, "when the morning stars sang to- gether, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," down to the 266 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. apocalyptic glimpses we get of the new Jerusalem where "they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb," praise is never lost sight of. In many cases, both in the Old and the New Testaments, the very words of the songs are given, so that they might be employed in like circumstances. These were some of the hymns which the early church selected and used in its services. The triumphal song of Miriam when the Egyptians were destroyed, the songs of Moses, of Deborah, of Hannah. From the gospel narratives were taken the song of Mar}', "My soul doth magnify the Lord," the songs of Zacharias and of Simeon. All those and many others were included in the praise-worship of the church of our fathers. I repeat it, that, with all deference, and meaning no dis- respect to the opinions of others, I can find no support in the Scottish Psalter, nor in the practices of the Scottish church, for "the historic basis" which excludes all utterances of praise except the Psalms of David. I have written these papers with no thought of controversy in my mind. I merely intended to bring out a somewhat neglected chapter of Scottish church history, and I wish I could think of them as having been as interesting for others to read as they have been for me to write. Though not strictly relating to the history of the Psalter, a variation reading has crept into the 100th Psalm which I wish to notice as I close. The version we have from William Kethe has kept its place from the early time of the Genevan Psalter to the present day. It is so easy and simple, and yet so full of the natural majesty of praise, that any collection of church hymns would appear incomplete without it. "All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, Him serve with mirth, his praise forth it'll. Come ye before him and rejoice." The peculiarity I wish to call attention to is in the third line. II seems thai Kethe wrote the words, "Him serve with few." Dr.^ Livingston gives il SO in his reprint of 1635. I have a black letter copy of the Psalms printed by John Day of London, L581, SCOTTISH PSALTEE. 267 which has the same reading. I have a Cambridge prayer-book of 1791 which repeats the sentence. The oldest copy of the Scotch Psalms I possess is from Edinburgh, 1799, and reads "Him serve with mirth." As far as my scholarship goes I shonld say this is the proper rendering of Colite Jehovan cum Laetitia — "Worship the Lord with gladness." The change seems to have been made by the General Assembly revisers of 1650, and is a strong proof of their exact learning and good taste. There is still another mooted point in this Psalm. In the next verse all the copies which I have read as follows : "We are his flock, he doth ns feed, And for his sheep he doth ns take." It must be acknowledged that there is a slight sound of repe- tit ion in this. It is so printed in my Day's Psalter of 1581. I have seen it stated that in his edition of 1578 it stands, "We are his folke," or in some of his issues, "We are his folcke," both forms of the word being correct specimens of sixteenth century spelling. It is claimed that this is the original rendering, and that the change to "flock" is simply a printer's error which has sunk deep and taken root. I do not try to decide the question. I merely mention the fact as a literary curiosity. If it is the work of the intelligent compositor, it would be well if all his mistakes resulted in such excellent sense. 268 WISCONSIN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW. CONSTITUTIONAL ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY PERTAINING TO COMPLETE CULTURE. BY PROF. A. PICKETT, ASHTABULA, OHIO. Section 1— Part 8.* nature's control and its culture in human life. Action seems an ever-present fact in all substantial exist- ence and a closely allied element to life itself. Action is deemed to be the result of force; but force alone is blind, and hence were force let loose in substance uncontrolled substance would clash with substance ever in chaotic confusion. The smallest atom must have a relational, and, in truth, a rational motion in reference to all other atoms, and also the great orbs of the starry heavens must move in their cycles under law, or sphere will clash with sphere in perpetual disaster. Thus, throughout the limitless mineral kingdom of material substance the control of law is the harmony of the heavens. Turning now to the next higher kingdom, the vegetable world the realm of initial life, rule is more constant, more critical ; law in more definite demand and the violation of law a more significant disaster. In the next higher or animal kingdom both activities and laws of control are still more critical and complex and violation still more significant in disaster. In the lower kingdoms, mineral and vegetable, there is no freedom, the control of activities is wholly under natural law and therefore their spheres of existence are necessarily complete in destiny. In the lower animal kingdom the next higher grade of being, the control of action is divided between the natural endowments of instinct, law and a low grade of volition in intelligence. There appear no concepts of Divinity or of the higher Law of equity in Extract from a book soon to be issued.