Psalm 29. Another nature Psalm. From lines 15 and 16 is taken the motto of George Herbert's "Sacred Poems."
Psalm 31. Few Psalms have been more widely used in Christian history than this. The last work which Savonarola did was to write a commentary on it, which was left unfinished by his death. So highly did Luther consider this commentary that he had it published. The words, "Into thy hand I commend my spirit," were consecrated by the use of Christ on the cross, and have been the words with which many of his followers have met death. The list of those who thus used them begins with the first martyr Stephen, and includes kings, like Charlemagne and Charles V.; martyrs, like Huss, Bishop Ridley and Lady Jane Grey; reformers, like Luther, Melancthon, and [{499}] John Knox; poets, like Tasso and George Herbert; missionaries, like Henry Martyn. Mary Queen of Scots on the scaffold and Columbus in a wretched lodging at Valladolid, both passed out of life with these words on their lips.
Psalm 34. Columba, the great missionary to North Britain in the sixth century, sat on the last day of his life transcribing the 34th Psalm. He had written lines 19 and 20 when he laid down his pen, saying, "Here I make an end"; and he never took up his pen more.
Psalm 37. Livingstone says of lines 9 and 10 that they sustained him at every turn of his course in Africa, and even in England.
Psalm 42. The hart was the symbol in the early church for those souls who thirsted for the love of God. Cardinal Manning, one of the ablest of Catholic statesmen of the last century, wrote, "'Why art thou cast down, O my soul,' always seemed a voice to me." Scott was true to the love of the Scottish people for the Psalms when he makes Jeanie Deans repeat the above words in an hour of peril during her journey to save her sister's life.
Psalm 45. It is said that the coronation ceremonies of English monarchs are founded on this Psalm--the oil of gladness, the sword, the crown, the sceptre, the throne.
Psalm 46. The best known paraphrase is Luther's vigorous version--
"A mighty fortress is our God."
In times of discouragement he would often say to his friend Melancthon, "Come, let us sing the 46th Psalm." Cromwell also often turned to it, and his speech at the opening of his second Parliament was in part an exposition of this Psalm. At the beginning of the Indian Mutiny, on the Sunday after the troops of Havelock first learned of their danger, he chose, instead of the Psalm of the day, this Psalm for their encouragement. "On the foundation of sure confidence, gained from a reading of many Psalms, John Wesley built up, by means of his intense energy, his organizing genius, and his [{500}] administrative capacity, the mighty movement that still bears his name. It was with the words of the Psalms that he met the approach of death. Gathering his remaining strength into the cry, 'The best of all, God is with us,' he lay for some time exhausted. One of the bystanders wetted his parched lips. 'It will not do,' he said, 'we must take the consequence, never mind the poor carcase.' Pausing a little, he cried, 'Thy clouds drop fatness,' and soon after, 'The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.' Throughout the night he was heard attempting to repeat these beautiful words from Psalm 46. The next morning he was dead."
Psalm 51 was the favorite prayer of Sir Thomas More, the English Catholic, who was as much a martyr for religion and liberty as ever any man of English blood. It was his last prayer, repeated kneeling on the scaffold where he was beheaded. Lady Jane Grey also repeated it on the scaffold, as soon after did her father, the Duke of Suffolk, who also suffered death for his Protestant faith. So did Egmont, executed in Brussels at the command of the infamous Duke of Alva. Carey, the first English missionary to India, desired the first four lines to be the text of his funeral sermon. Shakespeare uses lines 11 and 12 in the King's speech in Hamlet--