ing that {504} the
plague had appeared in Dundee, he hastened there, and preached his
first sermon in one of the gates of the city. Its text was from Psalm
107: "He sent his word, and healed them." Alexander Duff was the first
Scotch missionary to India. On his way out, in 1830, the ship in which
he sailed was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope. The passengers and
crew escaped to a small island, but all their possessions were lost.
Duff's Bible and Book of Psalms were among the few things that drifted
ashore; and, while passengers and crew kneeled on the sand, Duff read
Psalm 107. It is said that the loss of all things except the Word of
God made a profound impression on Duff, who was for many years a most
devoted and valuable worker in India.

_Psalm 114_ is used in Dante's Divine Comedy, where he gives a picture
of a boat, on which are seen a hundred spirits, singing together Psalm
114. (_Purgatorio_, Canto II. 11 40ff.) Milton translated this Psalm
into verse when a student at Cambridge, at the age of 15.

_Psalm 116_. At the famous relief of Lucknow in the Indian Mutiny, a
soldier known as "Quaker Wallace" went into the fight quoting the
Scotch version of this Psalm. Lines 27 and 28 were chosen as one of
the texts from which Bernard preached the Crusade.

_Psalm 117_. The shortest Psalm. This is the Psalm which Cromwell sung
on the battlefield after his victory at the battle of Worcester.

_Psalm 118_. Luther said of it, "This is my Psalm, my chosen Psalm. I
love them all; I love all Scripture; . . . But this Psalm is nearest
my heart, and I have a familiar right to call it mine. It has saved me
from many a passing danger, from which not emperor nor kings nor sages
nor saints could have saved me. It is my friend; dearer to me than all
the honors and power of the earth." Curiously enough, it was also the
favorite Psalm of the emperor of the time, Charles V. This Psalm was
sung by the soldiers of the Prince of Orange, King William, when he
landed in England. It was sung as they stood upon the beach, and thus
the landing was made a religious service. In the words of lines 45 and
46 Queen Elizabeth expressed her relief from the feeling of danger, at
the news of the death of Queen {505} Mary, her bitter enemy. When
Charlemagne entered Rome he was hailed by the people with lines 51 and
52. So all through Christian history the Psalm has lent itself to use
as celebrating triumph and success.

_Psalm 119_ is an