sins of thought, word, and deed; to the ever-blessed Trinity, and other mysteries.

The five Psalms of Lauds have the same object as those of Vespers. The Song of Zacharias returns thanks to God for the salvation with which "He hath visited and redeemed his people," performed "the mercy promised to our forefathers," and "the oath which He sware to our forefather Abraham." Again, it gives thanks for deliverance "from enemies and fear," and for giving "light and peace

to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death."

The 130th or Gradual Psalm, De profundis, is said in the person of one desiring to ascend to God, and being delivered from the depths of hell and the jaws of death, to attain to redemption " from all his sins," through the mercy of the Lord.

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The Gradual Psalms-including all those we find in the Psalter between the 119th and the 135th-are said to have been so called originally, from their being sung on the fifteen steps of the Temple. Or, as others are of opinion, because the singers raised their voice by degrees from the first to the last. Or, again, because they were chanted on the return from the Babylonish Captivity, in allusion to the gradual approach to the holy city.

Any way they are most suitable to express the feelings of those whom the Lord has delivered from a state of slavery and bondage, and is conducting into His rest. Whether we keep the idea of the return from captivity, or of the entrance into the holy place, of either or both, before us, they will be found very fit to be said for, or in the persons of, those whom God has "delivered from the burden of the flesh," and is preparing within His secret mansions for "perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His eternal and everlasting glory."

These fifteen Psalms are divided into three portions of five each, and represent,1 that we only arrive at the perfection of goodness or holiness by degrees. The five first are repeated without the usual doxology, in place of which "Grant them, O Lord, eternal rest," &c. is said as in the Office for the Dead, and they are concluded with a form of prayer for the absolution of the departed souls. The next division advances to a more joyous tone, and henceforth the usual doxology is added at the end of each Psalm. In the concluding prayers also, there is an ascending scale towards the language of complete justification and holiness. Hence the first division is for beginners, the second for proficients, and the third for the perfect.

The Gradual Psalms, in the Latin Church, are added to the customary service on the Wednesdays in Lent, to mark those days with extraordinary devotion, for in them we are taught the gradual ascent to the perfection of the spiritual life. More anciently, they were recited every day in Lent, and the monks of Cluny used them every day in the year. The Greek Church recites them every day in Lent except Saturdays and Sundays. Whatever may be the historical reason of the name, it has special reference spiritually to the mystical ascent of the mind. We cannot arrive at the highest degree of charity, except by steps; and these Psalms, therefore, are compared by divines to the ladder of love which the patriarch Jacob beheld in his sleep.

They are divided into three portions, to answer to the threefold division commonly ascribed to the angels, viz. to purify, to illuminate and to make perfect; and the corresponding division of men seeking perfection in the spiritual or inward life, viz. into beginners, proficients, and perfect.

1 Bona de Div. Psalmodiâ.

The first division of the Gradual Psalms, then, respects beginners, and the object of their wishes, i. e. purification. Their first step is to avoid all mortal sin. 2. To avoid all venial sin. 3. To despise riches and honours. 4. To restrain all carnal desires. 5. To give up private judgment and their own will. Such are the notes of a purified mind, and to each of these steps the Psalms of this division are to be applied consecutively.

The second division contains the steps of proficients whose aim is illumination. 1. To acquire all the virtues. 2. To be a pattern of them to others. 3. To set forth the ways of righteousness by teaching. 4. To shew themselves perfectly humble to all. 5. To bear derision and detraction patiently.

The last division describes the steps of the perfect, and, in conclusion, leads to the height of perfection itself. 1. The love of prayer. 2. The most perfect purity of intention. 3. To do the works of the Spirit with great zeal, and to pursue every thing which is good with impetuosity. 4. To have no

will but God's will. 5. To be united with God by the most intimate and indissoluble bond of love.

"Let so many of us, then, as recite these Psalms, endeavour, by a diligent consideration of them, to make ourselves thoroughly acquainted with their sublime meaning, that while we recite them, every weakness of the flesh being laid aside, we may mount from step to step to their very summit, by His help whom we seek, to whom we are going, whom we desire, and to whom belongs all honour and strength for ever and ever."1

The Seven Penitential Psalms are, in our Psalter, the 6th, 32nd, 38th, 51st, 102nd, 130th, and 143rd. The antiquity of their use is shewn by an anecdote

1 Bona de div. Psal.

related of St. Augustine. When Hippo was besieged by the Vandals, and its saintly bishop lay dying within it, he commanded these Psalms "as those which were received from all antiquity," to be written on a tablet, and placed on the wall before his eyes, that by continually reading them he might prepare himself for his last struggle with the devil. They frequently occur, too, in the ancient Roman Peni

tential.

They are said, says Cardinal Bona, by the Cistercian monks every Friday in procession after Prime-a custom which, though adopted in the first instance with special reference to the Crusades and the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, is continued for the sake of penitential discipline. St. Bernard1 said them habitually every night for the soul of his mother. The Western Church generally appoints them to be recited every Friday in Lent before the Litany. The Church of England on Ash Wednesday only.

Many mystical reasons are given by divines for the number of the Psalms. It will be more serviceable, perhaps, here, to explain the titles which are found prefixed to them either in the original Hebrew as it has come down to us, or in the Greek and Latin versions, and to say something of their respective intentions.

The first is "To the End," that is, continually, or until perfection is attained. In this Psalm, we hear the voice of the penitent first turning to God on his discovery of the weariness of sin, and the emptiness of this world's vanities; he deprecates the severity of God's wrath,-implores His mercy,-relates his miserable condition in his recent course of life,-ab

1 See the recent Life of St. Stephen Harding.

2 In the English version it is "To the chief musician ;" in the LXX. and Vulgate Eis rò riλos, "In finem."

jures all fellowship with the workers of iniquity,and expresses his full trust in God's mercy. "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation, neither chasten me in thy displeasure... My beauty is gone for very trouble... Away from me all ye that work vanity... The Lord hath heard my petition; and the Lord will receive my prayer.”

The second derives its title of " A Psalm of David, giving instruction," from its answering a question put in another, the 19th Psalm, "Who can tell how oft he offendeth?" "I will inform thee and teach thee"...In this Psalm the penitent goes on to speak of the blessedness of him "whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered:" he describes his own wretchedness while he hardened his heart against confession-" while I held my tongue my bones consumed away through my daily complaining:" the instantaneous comfort he obtained from humbly confessing his sins-"I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin" and he declares that, therefore, "every one that is godly" should seek the Lord in the acceptable time, and escape the final troubles of the wicked. On the other hand, in the last four verses, God addresses the penitent, promises him guidance, warns him against relapse "like the horse and mule, which have no understanding,"-foretells that great plagues remain for the ungodly, while "mercy embraceth on every side whoso putteth his trust in the Lord,"– wherefore he congratulates "in the Lord the righteous and true-hearted."

The third Psalm takes its title of "A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance," from its being

1 The meaning of the title of this Psalm is much plainer in the Latin, where it is "Intellectus." In the 19th Psalm we find Delicta quis intelligit?" "Intellectum tibi dabo et instruam te," is the answer in the 32nd.