what ye shall put on.
Is not the life more than the food
And the body than the raiment?

In the same way the New Testament writers also, being mostly Hebrews in
thought, although they wrote in Greek, often fell into poetry, when some
strong feeling moved them.

The study of the form of the poetry of the Bible is very fascinating,
the form is so rich in variety and often so remarkably well fitted to
express the thought of the poetry.

Yet after all the richest part of the Biblical poetry is the strong
feeling that it shows. For example, in that little song of the shepherd,
the twenty-third Psalm, the form is very beautiful with its rhythm of
thought, but much more beautiful is the strong feeling of perfect trust
in the loving care of the Good Shepherd.

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{15}

SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS

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{17}

THE BOOK OF PSALMS

The Book of Psalms is the Hebrew hymn book. The Psalms were gathered to
sing at the services in the temple at Jerusalem. Here there was no
sermon, as there is in our churches, and as there often was in the
synagogues which were scattered all over the land, but there was a large
choir which sung these Psalms of praise, while the people stood below
and listened. Some of the Psalms were written for this choir. Others,
written for other purposes, were put into this hymn book, sometimes with
more or less change from their first form, as is the case with many
hymns in our own hymn books. Praise to God is the most common thought of
these poems, but many other thoughts are found in them--sorrow for sin
and trust in God's goodness and hope for the future and thanksgiving for
God's care in the past. Hardly a thought about God's relation to man but
finds its expression in these songs. They were the work of many men
through many years. They express the joy and the sorrow of many minds in
many different situations. That is why they still fit so many different
lives in all parts of the world. They are very simple and very
beautiful, and they have always been, and doubtless always will be, dear
to the hearts of all those who try to find God. Mr. Gilmour, the
missionary to the Mongols, once wrote: "When I find I cannot make
headway in {18} devotion, I open in the Psalms, and push out in my
canoe, and let myself be carried along in the stream of devotion which
flows through the whole book. The current always sets toward God, and in
most places is strong and deep." So many men have found that the b