May 6

Psalm lxxi. — 1. In thee, O Lord! do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

2. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

3. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

4. Deliver me, O my God! out of the hand of the wicked; out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5. For thou art my hope, O Lord God! thou art my trust from my youth.

9. Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

10. For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

11. Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

12. O God! be not far from me. O my God! make haste for my help.

16. I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

Matthew x. — 24. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Some ancient priests and philosophers had two sets of doctrines, — one for the ear of the common people; another, perhaps at variance with this, for the ear of select disciples; and the mystery thrown around this inner doctrine was one source of their power over the imaginations of the ignorant and the credulous. But Christ had one doctrine, one message, one faith, one salvation, for all men. Though he sometimes explained his parables and discourses more fully to his disciples in private, this was for the convenience of indoctrinating them in order that they might be prepared to preach the gospel to others. This he bids them do with the utmost boldness, speaking in the light, preaching from the house-

25. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household!

26. Fear them not, therefore: for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known.

27. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops.

28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31. Fear ye not, therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

32. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven;

33. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

tops; and, to encourage them to fidelity, he points them to his own example of suffering in their behalf. Next he assures them that the plots of their enemies shall be exposed and frustrated; and, at the worst, they can but kill the body. Again he warns them of Him who in the next world shall have power to visit upon them any lack of fidelity in this; at the same time he encourages them to trust in the constant, personal, loving care of their Father in heaven, and to hope for the recognition and reward which he himself will give to his faithful servants at his coming. Thus the highest motives possible to the human mind attract and urge us to the faithful service of Christ.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 159, 183, 202.

O thou Preserver of men! in the multitude of thy mercies hast thou preserved us during the hours of sleep, and raised us up to the duties of another day in the possession of health and reason, and surrounded by the manifold tokens of thy favor. Accept our humble praise, and graciously keep us this day from sin and every evil. Bless us in all the labor of our hands, and in all things teach us to glorify thy holy name. Show thy pity upon us as a family; ever keep us in thy love; and may we all be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting!

Thou who watchest over the fall of the sparrow, how gently and graciously thou has cared for us, in the least things as well as in the greatest!

We thank thee for this thy daily care, and commit ourselves to thy loving providence. [May these

children learn to see thee in the birds and the flowers, in all the beautiful things which thou hast made, and to love and trust thee, their gracious Father and Saviour!]

Hear us, O God! when we pray that it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people: that it may please thee to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord; that it may please thee to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows, and for all that are desolate and oppressed; that it may please thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived; that it may please thee to give us true repentance, to forgive us all our sins, to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit; and, after this present life, to take us to live and reign with thee and thy Son in glory everlasting. Amen.