THE PSALTER.
[To THE EDITOR OF T1111 " Sreentros.,
Sian—The quotation given by your correspondent "H. V." in your last issue is interesting, but I am rather astonished that the views contained therein are those of an American clergyman. Why is it stupid to divide our Psalter into sixty selections for our daily reading ? Why should not " grave and gay, penitential psalms and jubilant chorus, requiem and wedding march, thankoffering and Litany, lie side by side" f The deep feelings of our varied human nature are nowhere more beautifully expressed than in this wonderful collection of Hebrew poetry : and why should they not run together, as they certainly do in our daily life 1 Even the revengeful phrases which occasionally occur are genuine, and serve but to turn our thoughts to the higher revelation of a later age. In this world solemnity and mirth, penitence and praise, gratitude and supplication, are inextricably interwoven amongst mankind. The ordering of the Psalter, as we find it in our Prayer Books, with special psalms for special occasions, seems to me the very reverse of stupid. As for our hymns which the writer touches upon, they come under a very different classification. I venture to say that many of them do not appeal to our nature at all—many are misleading, many give a childish idea of the future, and even have a despairing tendency. Only a few comparatively are touched with 'high inspiration and insight.—I tun, Sir, &o., ERNEST TAYLOR. Junior Constitutional Club, Piccadilly, W.
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