eth.

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_Fifth day_. Ps. lxxxi. Sing we merrily unto God our strength.

_Sixth day_. Ps. xciii. The Lord is King.

_Sabbath day_. Ps. xcii. It is a good thing to give thanks.

THE PASSOVER, AND ON OTHER GREAT FESTIVALS. The Hallel, probably Pss.
cxiii.-cxviii.

FEAST OF TABERNACLES:

_First day_. Ps. cv. O give thanks.

_Second day_. Ps. xxix. Bring unto the Lord.

_Third day_. Ps. l. 16. But unto the ungodly said God.

_Fourth day_. Ps. xciv. 16. Who will rise up with me.

_Fifth day_. Ps. xciv. 8. Take heed, ye unwise.

_Sixth day_. Ps. lxxxi. 6. I eased his shoulder. Pss. cxx.-cxxxiv.
Songs of Degrees.

_Seventh day_. Ps. lxxxii. 5. They will not be learned.

NEW MOON OF SEVENTH OR SABBATICAL MONTH. Ps. lxxxi. Sing we merrily.

DEDICATION. The Hallel, as at the Passover.

PRESENTATION OF FIRST-FRUITS. Ps. cxxii. I was glad. Ps. xxx. I
will magnify Thee, O Lord.

B. The allusions to the singing of Psalms in the New Testament shew
that it was from the first a recognised Christian devotion, both in
public and private (Acts xvi. 25; 1 Cor. xiv. 26; Eph. v. 19; {103}
James v. 13). This is borne out by the evidence of the Christian
Fathers (see, for example, S. Athanasius' _Epistle to Marcellinus_; S.
Aug. _Confess._ ix. 8; S. Jerome, Ep. xlvi.). But it was no doubt the
rise of the monastic life in Egypt and its subsequent spread over the
whole Church in the fourth and fifth centuries that led by its
disciplined devotion to the systematic arrangement of the Psalter for
daily services and to its continuous recitation. Many of the early
monks, indeed, recited the whole Psalter daily; but the Western use,
settled traditionally by S. Gregory the Great, aimed at a weekly
recitation, and this system in theory dominated the Breviary services
all through the Middle Ages.

The normal arrangement of the Psalter in the daily offices was, roughly
speaking, as follows:

At _Mattins_, Ps. i.-cix., divided into nine "Nocturns," three of which
were said on Sunday, and one on each of the following week-days,
beginning each day with the 95th, the Invitatory Psalm.

At _Lauds_, Pss. lxiii., lxvii., cxlviii.-cl., with certain other
varying Psalms.

At _Prime_, always Ps. liv. and the first four portions of the 119th,
and one varying Psalm.

At _Terce_, the next six portions of the 119th.

At _Sext_, the next six portions of the 119th.

At _None_, the last six po