In this service, and in this waiting, the spirit of fidelity and wonderment that actuated John the seer may actuate us:-"I John, your bother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience . . was in the isle that was called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." In his skyward cave, banished from the commercial emporium whose polity and principles were at war with the Kingdom of God, and so wholly at variance with theocratic government, the patient, accordant, loving John, our brother! John, held spellbound above the moaning sea, over against the stars, by the sights and sounds of the great contributing world which exists to hearten and inspire all who, 'By instinct of God's nature Some conquest of the eternal woe, crucified.' CHAPTER V Songs of Democracy "Once hardly in a cycle blossometh A flower-like soul ripe with the seeds of song, Woe if such spirit sell his birthright high And mock with lies the longing soul of man! Until new messages of love outstart At the next beating of the infinite Heart." 58 NDOUBTEDLY the coming of democracy into its heritage has been delayed by a mishap with regard to its songs. Not merely delay, but incalculable suffering has been occasioned by this mishap. The de lay has been innocent enough. No charge can be preferred against anybody for keeping back the songs from the people. From the nature of the case it could hardly have been otherwise. The fact simply stands, that songs upon songs that express the passionate beating of the hearts of the people for direct government under the guidance of the 'infinite Heart,' have miscarried. And yet the songs have not been lost. It is even to be said, that in an inferior form they repose on some shelf in almost every home of every enlightened land of Christendom. In thousands and tens of thousands of homes that are bursting for song-often directly before the eyes of the people-the most inspiring poetry of the longing of the human heart, the most transcendent literature of the triumphs of the human instinct, is at hand, unrecognized. This is so, very largely because titles have been given to the songs that are misleading, and because words have been put into the songs that are misleading. From the nature of the case these alterations have rather tended to create, either indifference and confusion, or false security and unfruitful speculation. Again it must be said that blame can attach to no one for these alterations. The songs are very old. They fell into the hands of men who were limited in their information. These men were short of knowledge as to how to mark and classify the songs. The prevailing opinion was, that the name of a great singer of antiquity could be safely written as part of the title of very many of the songs. This notwithstanding the fact that centuries had elapsed between the death of this singer and the writing of the songs. But the singer was a king; while the songs that were inspired long after his death, were songs that breathed the aspirations of a people who yearned for democracy. The prophecy of Samuel at the time of the overthrow of the theocracy had been fulfilled to the letter 59 David's children had turned out as Samuel's children had turned out, proving hereditary government in the form of royalty to be no cure for the evils of government, and military prowess no guaranty of national preservation and peace. Nevertheless long after the exile, for want of knowledge of the terms of democracy, the songs of the people, who were comforted and stayed in the hope of a day of the reign of the people under God, were often couched in the terms of monarchy. It is this absence of democratic terms that is partly responsible for the indifference of the masses of the people to these songs. Partly the responsibility for the loss of interest in the songs is due to their incorrect titles. These titles often repel rather than attract popular attention. The titles prevent it being known that the psalms are in reality an expression of the popular uprisings of postexilic years, when the cup of autocracy had been drunk to the dregs. 60 Once again, failure to indicate that the songs are in the main community songs, has given an individualistic turn to aspirations and resolves that are expressions of the people as a whole. If the pronoun "I" had been translated "we," in these songs, the increased attraction of the songs to the people would have been tremendous. Where the pronoun in the first person relates to God, but is plural in number, the translators have very properly rendered the pronoun in the singu lar; but where the pronoun in the first person relates to the people in their solidarity, the translators finding the pronoun in the singular, have failed to render it, as the sense requires, in the plural. This is true not merely of the songs but also of the prophecies of the theocracy. The result has been a false impetus toward individualism in religion, and toward autocracy in government. For this reason those who profit by autocracy in government, have taken pains to foster a literature of individualism in religion. Obversely, had a change in the structure and the arrangement of titles to these songs been of advantage, rather than of disadvantage, to autocracy on earth, the change, very possibly, would have been made ere this. However, if the student of these songs will remember, that "the representation of a body of men as a single being is primitive," 61 and that "there are no pre-exilic psalms, nor ascertainable fragments of such psalms," 62 a most extraordinary revival of interest in the songs awaits him. Examples may be given. Thus a page out of the history of a struggling generation blunderingly entitled, "A Psalm of David." Rendering the primitive collective pronoun "I" properly as "we," a theocratic painting of the struggle with the crafty forces of autocracy greets us in song. "Unrighteous witnesses rise up; They ask of us things that we They reward us evil for good, They did tear us, and ceased They gnashed upon us with their teeth. How long wilt thou look on, Rescue our soul from their Our darling from the lions. For they speak not peace; But they devise deceitful words against them that are quiet in the land. Yea, they opened their mouth wide against us; They said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it. Judge us, O Yahweh, our God, according to thy righteousness; And let them not rejoice over us, Let them not say in their Aha, so would we have it: Let them be put to shame and our Let them shout for joy, and be glad that favor righteous cause." 63 At once democracy feels a rebound by this rendering of the song. 64 Democracy is given what it has not known before-its own authoritative literature. It feels possessed of direct audience with the Almighty, who is declared identified with its cause. The dead issue of "David" is left buried, but the everyday issues of righteousness and truth find direct utterance. Now a great body of people discover for themselves what Lowell calls their "birthright high,"-their capacity to be inspired, and to inspire. The reader is at liberty to render every "I" psalm after the same fashion. He is not merely at liberty so to do, but becomes a force for democracy in so doing. Further examples follow. "Come, and hear, all ye that fear God, And we will declare what he hath done for our soul. We cried to him with our mouth, And he was extolled with our tongue. If democracy regards iniquity The Lord will not hear; of our prayer. Blessed be God, Who hath not turned away our prayer, Nor his lovingkindness from us." 65 "We are continually with thee: Thou hast holden our right hand, Thou wilt guide us with thy counsel, And afterward receive us, with glory. It is good for us to draw near We have made the Lord That we may publish all thy |