PSALMS
•46
PSALMS
It may be proper here to allude to the large addition ' to our psalmody in consequence of the labors of evange- lists, such as Bliss and Sankey. These have produced numerous books of hymns, chiefly with the music at- tached, which contain, along with much that is merely ephemeral, some Bongs and nines which are destined to survive the occasions that have called them forth.
We close this article with a brief reference to the rease of hymns and tunes for children, and es- pecially for Sabbath and mission schools. It is the marvellous outgrowth of the city and home missionary and Sunday-school system of the times. Advantage has been taken of the demand to flood the market with hooks which are utterly unworthy of their authors and unlit for use— full of trashy verses, ami of tunes thai are no better. Bui a happy reaction has begun, which will soon result in elevating the standard, purifying the taste, and ennobling this delightful branch of Christian instruction and worship. The hot poetical and musical talent of the country is now engaged in the work, and we may soon look for its ripe fruit. The songs of the children, like hooks and addresses for them, mus( not be childish nor weak, if they are to bear their part in the religious training of the rising race, and in an age like this. The hosannas which were sung to Jesus in the Temple by the youthful throng were in full unison and of equal grandeur with those of the multitudes that went before and that followed him. and spread their garments in the way, and cried, saying. "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" See Sunday School.
In the preparation of this article we have freely used the labors of other reference books. We have also had valuable contributions in sections from the pens of emi- nent writers. Dr. \V. .1. R. Taylor has greatly enriched our treatment of American psalmody, especially that treating of the Reformed Church. The Rev. Dr. Pick has aided in the bibliography. Those desiring fuller information will consult the list of works quoted in the article Hymnology.
Psalms, Book of, one of the most important of the Biblical components, standing in the English Scriptures at the beginning of the practical or experi- mental hooks, and in the Hebrew Bible of the Kethu- bim, or Hagiographa. (In the following accounts we make use, in part, of the articles in Kitto's and Smith's dictionaries, but we have thrown some new light, we trust, especially upon the difficult questions connected
With the titles of the several Psalms.) See BlBLE.
I. General Title ofth Book. — This collection of sa- cred poetry received its English name. Psalms, from the Greek of the Septuagint, *a\juoi, in consequence of the lyrical character of the pieces of which it con- Bists, as intended to he sung to stringed and other in- struments of music. The word (from \paX\u), to touch or stoike a chord) is aptly defined by Gregory of Nyssa (Tract, ii. in Psalmos, c. 3) as melody produced by a musical instrument. Another name, Psalter, was given to this book from the Greek Tpa\rr)piov, the *trin<i<<l his/ ru mi ill to which its contents were originally sung. See Psali i by.
Il does not appear how the Psalms were, as a whole, anciently designated. Their present Hebrew appella- tion is ~"'~~r. Tehillim, elsewhere rendered •• Praises." But in the actual .superscript ions ofthe psalms the word n:~r is applied only to one, Psa. cxlv, which is indeed emphatically a praise-hymn. The Sept. (as above noted! entitled them ^fdKfioi, or "Psalms," using the word l(i\ji<'r at the same time as the translation of ","2Y2. mi ,,1,'ir. which signifies strictly a rhythmical composition (Lowth, Protect, iii). and which was prob- ably applied in practice to any poem specially intended, by reason of its rhythm, for musical performance with instrumental accompaniment Put the Hebrew word is, in the Old 'lest., never used elsewhere in the plural;
and in the superscriptions of even the Davidic psalms it is applied only to some, not to all; probably to those which bad been composed most expressly lor the harp. The Hebrew title. Z~~~T | Rabbinic form, with ~ i lid< d, Z"T or ~~'~- /ill im or i illiii}. signifies hymns i r pi aises, and was probably ado]. ted on account ofthe use made ofthe collection in divine service, though only a part can be strictly called songs of praise, not a few being lamentations and prayers. I here i~ i \ idently no prop- er correspondence between the titles in the two lan- guages, though each is suitable. The word answering to "5i"ir is vfivoi, and not \f/a\fioi, which rather (as above noted) corresponds to Z"~"Z'<". mizmoritn, lyric- al odes — a name which, though so plainly appropriate, ■ Iocs not appear to have been generally given to the hook, at least so far as the Hebrew usage can now be ascertained. This is the more singular, inasmuch as no fewer than sixty-five ofthe songs distinctly bear the title of 11^7*2. while only one (Psa. cxlv. 1) is styled n^nr. That the name ~"~"*2T" did. howevi r. obtain in ancient times, rather than the present tit b-. ~~~.—.~, may be presumed from the use of \l(i\[toi in the Sept, and the New Test., and of mizmera in the Peshito. See