"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."
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.
GENERAL INDEX
The letter "f" annexed to page number signifies and following page:
"ff," and following pages.