Be this as it may, the annexation of
the anthem has a lamentable tendency to withdraw the thoughts of the
worshippers from the truths contained in the inspired psalm, and to fix
them upon Mary and her Assumption; changing the Church's address from
the Eternal Being, alone invoked by the Psalmist, to one, who though a
virgin blessed among women, is a creature of God's hand. Thus, at the
conclusion of the 8th psalm; "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy
name in all the world," we find immediately annexed these two anthems,
"The holy mother of God is exalted above the choirs of angels to the
heavenly realms. The gates of paradise are opened to us by thee, [by
thee, O Virgin [Quae gloriosa]] who glorious triumphest with the angels."
Thus again, an anthem is attached to the last verse of the 95th (in the
Hebrew and English versions the 96th). "He shall judge the earth in
equity, and the people with his truth. Rejoice, {345} O Virgin Mary;
thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world. Deem me
worthy to praise thee, hallowed Virgin: Give me strength against thy
enemies." To the 96th (97th), the latter clause of that address is
repeated, with the addition of the following: "After the birth thou
didst remain a virgin inviolate. Mother of God, intercede for us."
An instance of the anthem being so intimately interwoven with the psalm,
as to render the insertion of the "Gloria," between the two, to say the
least, forced and unnatural, occurs at the close of the 86th (87th)
psalm.
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