That thei telle in syon the name of the lord: and his preisyng in ierusalem. In gaderinge to gider peplis in to oon: and kingis that thei serue the lord. It answerid to him in the weie of his uertu: telle thou to me the fewnesse of my daies.50 Azen clepe thou not me in the myddel of my daies: thi yeris ben in generacioun and into generacioun. Lord, thou foundedist the erthe in the begynnyng: and heuenes ben the werkis of thi hondis. Tho shulen perish but thou dwellist parfitly"1: and alle shulen wexe eeld as clooth. And thou shalt chaunge hem as an hiling," and tho shulen be chaungid: but thou art the same and thi yeeris shulen not faile. The sonys of thi seruauntis shulen dwelle: and the seed of hem shal be dressid 53 in to the world. Glorie be. L Ps. De profundis clamaui.54 ORD, I cried to thee fro depthis: lord, wel heere thou my vois. 50 Respondit ei in via virtutis suæ: paucitatem dierum meorum nuntia mihi. This reading and the translation (in effect) of the text is followed by the early Horæ, the Prymers of 1538, 1543, &c., and again by those set forth in Q. Mary's reign. The King's Prymer has in its text the same, but in the margin, Afflixit in via fortitudinem meam, abbreviavit dies meos. This the English translation follows: and the Prymer of Edward VIth, and our present Psalter. 51 Tu autem permanes. 52 Hel-an. A. S. to cover. See Note 24, p. 80. Therfore the woman schal haue an hilyng on her head. Wiclif. 1. corynth. c. xi. (Richardson.) 53 Dirigetur. Shal be dyrected 1538. Shal stand fast. 1545. 54 Psalm. cxxix. Contra invidiam. Sar. Brev. ¶ The synner beyng punished for his synnes Thin eeris be maad ententif: in to the vois of my bisechyng. Lord, if thou kepest wickidnessis: lord, who shal susteyne. For merci is at thee: and lord for thi lawe I abood thee. My soule susteyned in his word: my soule hopide in the lord. Fro the morwetide kepinge til to ny3t: israel hope in the lord. For whi, merci is at the lord: and plenteuous redempcioun is at him. And he shal agenbie israel: fro alle the wickidnessis thereof.5 55 Glorie be the fadir. Ps. Domine exaudi.56 ORD, heere thou my preier, with eeris perceyue thou my bisechynge: in thi treuthe heere thou me in thi riztfulnesse. And entre thou not in to doom with thi seruaunt: for ech man lyuyng shal not be maad iust in thi sizt. desireth to be delivered bothe By counsele of the prophete Dauyd promyse vnto Bersabee: Salamon sholde be kyng ouer 55 This Psalm has occurred before, p. 75. 56 Psalm. cxlj. contra acediam. Sar. Brev. The iust man beyng in aduersitie, praieth to be deliuered from all euil. The King's Prymer. ¶ Dauyd seyng his last ende dyde come, Called his counsell, and sayd vnto To Salamon my sone I leue my For the enmye pursuede my soule: he made louz my liif in erthe. He hath sett me in derk placis as the deed men of the world, and my spirit was anguyshid on me: myn herte was distroublid in me. I was myndeful of eelde dayes, I bithou3te in alle thi werkis: I bithou3te in the deedis of myn hondis. I heeld forth myn hondis to thee: my soule as erthe withoute watir to thee. Lord, heere thou me swiftli: my spirit failide. Turne thou not awei thi face fro me: and I shal be liik to hem that goen doun in to the lake.57 Make thou eerli thy merci herd to me: for I hopide in thee. Make thou knowun to me the weie in which I shal go: for I reisid my soule to thee. Delyuere thou me fro myn enemyes, lord I fledde to thee: teche thou me to do thi wille for thou art my god. Thi good spirit shal lede me forth in to a riztful lond lord for thi name thou shalt quykene me in thin equite. Thou shalt lede my soule out of tribulacioun: and in thi merci thou shalt scatere alle myn enemyes. And thou shalt leese 58 all hem that troublen my soule: for I am thi seruaunt. Glorie be to the fadir.59 57 In lacum. Into a pit. 1545. 58 Et perdes omnes. 59 Quilibet psalmus concluditur cum Trinitatis glorificatione solita, a qua speratur divina gratia per pœnitentiam, gratia vero dicitur gloria Dei. Gavantus, Tom. 2. 272. Compare Antient Liturgies, p. 27, Note 27. Ant. Ne reminiscaris.6 Lord, haue thou no mynde of oure giltis, or of oure kynrede: nethir take thou wreche of oure synnes for thi name, lord.61 A Nou bigynnen the fiftene psalmes.2 D dominum cum tribularer.6 sette in tribulacioun. co This Antiphon is omitted in the Cambr. MS. 61 Ne reminiscaris, Domine, de. licta nostra vel parentum nostrorum, neque vindictam sumas de peccatis nostris. To which the later Hora and Prymers commonly add; Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo quem redemisti pretioso sanguine tuo, ne in æternum irascaris nobis. The King's Prymer of 1545, has a much longer Antiphon, of which I give the English. The antheme. Remembre not (o lord God) oure olde iniquities, but let thy mercy spedely preuent vs, for we be very miserable helpe vs God our sauiour, and for the glory of thi name, deliuer vs, be mercyfull and for geue our sinnes, for thi names sake. Let not the wicked people say where is their God? we be thy people and the shepe of thy pasture, we shal geue thankes to the for euer, from age to age, we shall set furth thy laude and praise. To the be honour, and glory worlde without ende. Amen. 62 These fifteen, from the 119th Whanne I was to the 134th Psalm, are the Psalmi Graduales, the Gradual Psalms. They have been so called from the very earliest times: probably from the date of their composition. The most common opinion and the best founded seems to be, that the name was given them because they were sung upon the fifteen steps of the Temple: not only of the first but of the second Tem ple. Because a Chaldee tradition exists, that after the captivity, a flood poured out from the earth, reaching to the height of fifteen cubits and which was stopt by the writing upon the steps the Ineffable Name. Hence the first of these Psalms in the Chaldee version is entitled "Canticum, quod dictum est in Ascensionibus Abyssi." As these Psalms were com posed by David, it has been said that therefore they were not written because of the fifteen steps, but the steps must have been made because of the Psalms. Thus S. Remigius upon the 119th: "Psalmi isti, qui dicuntur cantica graduum, et sunt quindecim, non ad imitationem illorum graduum, Leuaui oculos. I reisid myn izen in to. qui erant in Templo Salomonis, facti sunt, cum David longe ante filium præcesserit,hosque Psalmos, sicut et alios in laudem Dei decantaverit: sed gradus illi per Salomonem ad imitationem earumdem virtutum, quæ in Psalmorum istorum numero designantur positi sunt." But, as it has been observed, David not only might have given most minute instructions to his son (as we know he did) about the materials and various parts of the Building, but also, full of the Holy Ghost, might have composed these Psalms to be sung upon the future steps of that Temple, the foundations even of which he was not himself permitted to lay. Much information may be obtained by the reader upon the origin and title of these Gradual Psalms, or Songs of Degrees: from Calmet; Gavantus; and Pole (Synopsis) the latter of whom (Tom. 2. 1318) has collected eleven reasons why they were so called. The saying of these Psalms daily is no longer binding upon the clergy of the Roman communion the obligation, as of the Penitential Psalms, having been removed by the Bull of Pope Pious Vth. An indulgence is however granted to those who do recite them, and they are commonly divided into three portions: each ending with a short Litany and Collect. 63 This Psalm and the next eleven are not repeated in the MS. They usually are in the printed Editions. The King's Prymer of 1545, and K. Edward's of 1547 omit them altogether : and they were restored by Queen Mary. In the Enchiridions these Psalmi Graduales, (it may be added) are called Psalmi communes: sometimes, as for example in the Sarum Horæ of 1531, Antw. 4to. and the Prymer of 1557, by the "assignes of Ihon Wayland," the Quindecim Psalmi Penitentiales. |