CHAPTER XIII
[1]Dr. Louis F. Benson has well characterized this Psalter in its influence on French character: “The metrical Psalter made the Huguenot character. No doubt a character nourished on Old Testament ideals will lack the full symmetry of the Gospel. But the Huguenot was a warrior, first called to fight and suffer for his faith. And in singing psalms he found his confidence and strength.... In the wars of religion, the Psalms in meter were the songs of camp and march, the war cry on the field, the swan song at the martyr’s stake.”
[2]“Of course, psalms in the ballad form were easily learned and kept in memory. And in the days when the ability to read was less general than now, these rhymes, scattered so freely broadcast, took root in many a mind and contributed powerfully to the righteousness and stability of the nation.” (J. Balcom Reeves, in The Hymn in History and Literature.)