IN all history, religious and secular, there are more than a few persons to whom we gladly acknowledge different degrees of indebtedness because they have contributed remarkably to human welfare. Most of them we know by name, but not all. For instances of the latter kind, there are the authors of certain Psalms to whom everybody is indebted but who cannot be identified by name. Such headings as "A Psalm of David" may or may not indicate authorship.
The Psalms constitute a book of great spiritual value. In this respect, they are to the Old Testament almost what the Gospels are to the New. The Psalms, however, are by many authors, who attained different altitudes of thought, while the Gospels were intended to record the deeds and words of only one person, and he was so Godlike that his actual status continues in dispute among his followers to this day. Some of the Psalms exceed by far the rest, but all of them, including the best, were part of the Scriptures studied by Jesus the Christ. They were part, and may have been a very nutritious part, of his spiritual food.
The best of the Psalms emphasize and ennoble such virtues as faith, fidelity, and zeal, joy, love, and service; which gifts they ascribe completely to the one Giver of all good. So, it can be said of the Psalms as a whole that they are entitled to an excellent rating in the religious literature of the entire world, and that some of them, when measured by the spiritual standard, are found to be of outstanding value. Furthermore, there are Psalms, notably the twenty-third, the thirty-seventh, the ninety-first, and the one hundred and third, which are of particular interest to Christian Scientists, because Mrs. Eddy's writings indicate that they helped, in a distinct way, to inspire and sustain her as the Discoverer, Founder, and Leader of Christian Science.
