are as a shadow that
passeth away."
_Psalm 145_ is the base of Gerhardt's hymn--
"I who so oft in deep distress."
Milton has paraphrased it in _Paradise Lost_, Book XII, 11, 561-6,
beginning--
"Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best."
Augustine's _Confessions_ begins with lines 5 and 6 of Psalm 145. Carey,
who was not only a great missionary, but a great linguist and a great
botanist, prefixed Psalm 145, lines 19 and 20, to his edition of
Roxburgh's _Flora Indica_. Lines 25 and 26 are inscribed in Greek over
the portal of the Mohammedan mosque at Damascus; a relic of the time,
thirteen hundred years ago, when it was a Christian church. William
Law chose this Psalm for a morning hymn.
_Psalm 147_. "Afflavit Deus," the motto on the coins struck in England
to commemorate the victory over the Spanish Armada was taken from the
lines: "He sendeth out his word and melteth them: He causeth his wind
to blow, and the waters flow."
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_Psalm 148_. St. Francis' famous Canticle of the Sun is founded on
this Psalm.
_Psalm 150_. This final Psalm was a sort of doxology, written to close
the book of Psalms. It expresses what is the central thought of the
book--praise to God. The Benedictine Monks in the Middle Ages were
accustomed to sing this Psalm during the casting of their bells, while
the metal was cooling. Two missionaries to the Slavs in Eastern Europe
wished to construct an alphabet and translate the Bible into the
Slavic language. It was referred to Pope John in 879 A.D. He
sanctioned it on the basis of the last two lines of the Psalms. The
alphabet was made, and is the basis of that used by the Russian,
Bulgarian, Roumanian and other Slavonic languages to this day; while
the translation is the basis of that used by the Russian church.
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GENERAL INDEX
The letter "f" annexed to page number signifies and _following page_:
"ff," and _following pages_.
Aaron, II.146ff
Abanah, III.144, 493
Abed-nego, III.184f, 190ff
Abel, III.22f
Abel-beth-maacah, III.408
Abel-main, III.253
Abel-meholah, III.124
Abigail, I.418ff
Abihail, III.64
Abijah, daughter of Zechariah, III.299
Abijah, king of Judah, III.242ff
Abijah, son of Jeroboam, III.362ff
Abijah, son of Samuel, II.350
Abimelech, II.39f
Abimelech, son of Gideon, II.332ff
Abinadab, II.385, 389
Abinoam, III.52, 54
Abishai, II.407, 443
Abner, II.393, 402, 407
Abraham, story of, I.2
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