Editorial April 8, 1905 Issue

"Songs of deliverance"

Annie M. Knott

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.—Psalms.

In all the history of the world's religious progress, "Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" have had a marked influence in the moulding of human character. They have also indicated the distinctive tendencies of their time. To the extent that they represent a divine ideal they are far above the ordinary standards of religion, else would they fail to lift thought to the hills whence cometh our help.

In the Psalms there are occasional references to worldly power and authority, but these are always subordinated to the spiritual ideal. This is strikingly brought out in the twenty-fourth Psalm, supposed to have been written for the glad occasion when the hosts of Israel marched up the steep ascent of Mount Zion, the ark of God in their midst, to take possession of the citadel from which the heathen had been driven. This Psalm begins with the declaration that the world and they that dwell therein belong to God. Then follows the heart-searching question, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" The answer tells, in unmistakable terms, who may enter in through the "everlasting doors" and stand in the divine presence. All Christian Scientists find in the Psalms an ever-deepening inspiration, especially in the ninety-first, that masterpiece of poesy and prophecy. Surely every one that has come to understand its spiritual meaning may say, "He hath put a new song in my mouth."

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