sitions. One of them extends to one hundred and seventy-six stanzas; another contains but a brace of verses. There are about two thousand five hundred verses in the whole collection. It is common to speak of the entire collection as the "Psalms of David," whereas it is probable that only seventy-three psalms-or about one-half of the collection--are from the inspired pen of the King of Israel. Twelve of the sacred songs are ascribed to Asaph, a man of exquisite delicacy of feeling, who lived during David's reign, about one thousand years before the advent of Christ. Two of them are ascribed to that universal genius, King Solomon. That "lofty and melancholy psalm," the ninetieth, which has been chanted as the funeral march of so many a departed saint, is universally held to have been written by Moses himself. It is probably the oldest of psalms, as Damascus is the oldest of cities. How magnificently this ancient lyric opens. "Lord! thou hast been the dwelling place of thy people in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God!" The authorship of sixty of the psalms is somewhat uncertain. A portion of them are ascribed to the “sons of Korah." One is attributed to the pen of Heman, another to Ethan the Ezrahite, who lived in the days of Solomon. But, however various the pens that ascribed them on the parchments, they all bear the same internal evidence of a celestial inspiration. Martin Luther styled the book of Psalms an epitome of the Word of God-a little Bible in themselves." They have been read and sung, and studied, and prayed over for twenty-five centuries of time. The most ancient of them has been in existence for three thousand years; the latest written was composed at least 2,500 years ago. While the Illiad of Homer and the Eneid of Virgil have been enjoyed by the intellects of the learned few, yet the praise songs of David and Moses have been the heart heritage and delight of the lowliest as well as the loftiest. Scholars, statesmen and poets have all united in extolling the incomparable beauty of these songs of Zion. Lamartine in his florid French, exclaims: "The Book of Psalms is a vase of perfume broken on the steps of the temple, and shedding abroad its odors to the heart of all humanity. The little shepherd has become master of the sacred choir of the universe. A chord of his harp is to be found in all choirs, resounding forever in unison with the echoes of Horeb and Engedi. David is the psalmist of eternity; what a power hath poetry when inspired by the Al |