ndred thousand
stand before Him," and we hear the voice of God, as the noise of many
waters in company with that great multitude which no man can number, out
of every tribe and nation, clothed in white robes, with palms in their
hands, coming into Sion with praise, with everlasting joy upon their
heads, for from their eyes God has wiped away all tears, and sorrow and
mourning have fled away.

"There are the white-robed army of Martyrs, holy Confessors, too, men of
renown in their generation, and Virgins, the Spouses of Christ: there
are those who have come through great tribulation, who once, perchance,
were far from God, but have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb
and are now numbered among the people of God, sitting in the beauty of
peace and in the tabernacle of confidence and in wealthy rest. Let us
bring them all before us in vision. They have overcome the beast and are
standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God; the Prince of
Pastors has appeared to them and they have received a never-failing
crown of glory and by the Lamb of God they have been led to fountains of
the waters of life." Let us listen as they sing their canticle to God,
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, who is and who was and who is to
come"; let us listen as they sing to us, for we are fellow citizens with
them, and where they are we also must be if we remain faithful to the
end. What do they sing, "O come let us praise the Lord with joy; let us
joyfully sing to God, our Saviour" (_Sing ye to the Lord_, pp.
94-95--Rev. R. Eaton).

The authorship of this psalm--which is said daily in Matins--is
attributed to David in the Septuagint and Vulgate. Its Latin form in the
invitatory differs slightly from the Vulgate text. The Breviary retains
here the text of St. Jerome's revision and the Vulgate contains the
second and more correct revision.

_Hymns_. The hymn is an answer to the invitation given to us in the
invitatory, to praise God and to rejoice with Him. It is a song of joy
and praise. Hymns were introduced into the Divine Office in the Eastern
Church before the time of St. Ambrose (340-397). To combat the Arians,
who spread their errors by verse set to popular airs, St. Ambrose, it is
said, introduced public liturgical hymn-singing in his church in Milan,
and his example was followed gradually through the Western Church. (See
Note A, _infra_.)

The final stanza of a Breviary hymn is called the doxology ([Greek:
doxa] pra