September 5

While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.—Ps. cxlvi, 2.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,

I will praise Thee;

In my heart, though not in heaven,

I can raise Thee.

Small it is, in this poor sort,

To enroll Thee;

E'en eternity is too short

To extol Thee.

GEORGE HERBERT.

Let not the blessings we receive daily from God make us not to value or not to praise Him because they be common. What would not a blind man give to see the pleasant rivers and meadows and flowers and fountains that we have met with?

ISAAK WALTON.

The praise of the lips is acceptable to God only as it is the overflowing of the heart's abundance. The praise of the heart is the noble satisfaction and intense delight which we enjoy in the honor and exaltation of Him we most dearly love. It is thinking highly of God, with devout pleasure and holy gratitude. True praise, like love, is unselfish; resting not in its own enjoyment, but seeking to bring others into its holy and heavenly moods.

JOSEPH CROSS.