eviary, showed the true Catholic instinct in this at
least, that they provided as the leading feature of Morning and Evening
Prayer an unbroken and systematic recitation of the Psalms. In this
respect their claim was justified that they had provided an {5} order
"much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers."[3] It was
a return from mediaeval complications to a more primitive ideal.

What, then, was this book of praise and worship which the Catholic
Church found ready to hand, and made unhesitatingly her own, and which
has set the standard and provided the chief material for her continual
voice in the ear of God? The Psalter, as we know it now, had been for
some time before Christ the recognised praise-book of Israel. Its
Hebrew name is simple and significant--_Tehillim_, "praises." Its
historical origins and growth are still indeed wrapt in obscurity, and
to discuss them would be alien from our present purpose. Suffice it to
say that there seems no conclusive reason for discrediting the
universal Jewish and Christian tradition that the Psalter begins at
least with David. Some of the earlier and more personal psalms are
naturally felt to reflect his character and youthful struggles. Nor is
it unreasonable to believe that the later historical books are
substantially correct in making him the founder {6} of the Temple choir
(1 Chron. xv.; Ezra iii. 10). Doubtless the majority of the Psalms
belong to a later age, and their collection is due to the scrupulous
care and reverence of the period of Jewish history which begins with
Ezra. The singers of the Temple after, perhaps even before, the
Captivity formed various collections of sacred lyrics, which passed
under characteristic names, some being entitled "Psalms of David"
(though not of necessity all his work); others bearing the names of
ancient leaders of the Temple choir, like Asaph, or of the guilds of
singers, like "the sons of Korah." Another collection with a distinct
individuality would be the "songs of degrees" or "ascents"
(cxx.-cxxxii.), the pilgrim-songs of the faithful Israelites as they
journeyed from their homes to keep the annual feasts at Jerusalem. At
some unknown time these different collections, or selections from them,
must have been brought together into one. Many scholars consider that
the compilation cannot have been complete before the age of the
Maccabees, as more than one Psalm is thought to refer to the agonies of
faith