66 (88) from the
American P.B.) is sufficiently answered by pointing out that the Song is
praise, not prayer; and that these three do not stand on a different
footing in this respect from the other objects apostrophized. Moreover,
a highly poetical composition of this kind is not to be too literally
interpreted. As Liddon remarks in his _Elements of Religion_ (Lond.
1892, p. 182), "The apostrophes of the Psalms and Benedicite are really
acts of praise to God, of which his creatures furnish the occasion;" and
Addison again (_Spect._ No. 327), "Invocations of this nature fill the
mind with glorious ideas of God's works." v. 43 (65) is oddly applied
by Archdeacon Frank, _Serm._ XLII. to Pentecost (Oxf. 1849, II. 254).
Belief is plainly shewn in an angelic ministry, sent down to help God's
suffering servants, and endued with miraculous powers. The angel comes,
too, after their humble confession and prayer for rescue (vv. 43--45),
and before their song of praise. The very propriety however of this
arrangement, from a theological point of view, induces Rothstein to deem
the prayer a subsequent introduction, in order to supply the want of
request for deliverance before praise for its accomplishment; and he
thinks that the opening in the narrative for the insertion of the prayer
(between vv.
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