December 28

Psalm xlii. — 1. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God!

2. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy-day. 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. 6. O my God! my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hormonites, from the hill Mizar. 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8. Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the daytime; and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. 11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him who

is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm lxxxiv. — 1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young; even thine altars, O Lord of hosts! my King and my God. 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 6. Who, passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. 7. They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 8. O Lord God of hosts! hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! 9. Behold, O God our shield! and look upon the face of thine anointed. 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 12. O Lord of hosts! blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

One morning, as my party was crossing a broad plain in Palestine, a gazelle that had ventured from its mountain-hants in quest of water was deserted drinking at a brook. So intent was the little creature upon shaking its thirst, that it was well-nigh captured by our Arab horsemen before taking the alarm. Sometimes, in the dry season, whole herds of these gentle creatures will quit the deserts, and venture nigh the abodes of men to quench their thirst. So the Psalmist, perhaps in exile and captivity, remote from the living springs of the sanctuary, envied even the hart that could find some drops of water, while he longed in vain for the house of God and the communion of the saints to satisfy his thirsty spirit.

At another time, the picture of the sanctuary came to him so vividly in his exile, that he saw the nests of the sparrows

in the roof of the temple and in the capitals of its pillars, and envied the birds their sacred asylum. He saw in imagination the holy pilgrims going up from afar to Jerusalem to the sacred feasts. Though the way was long, and sometimes rough, dreary, and full of perils, yet every station yielded new strength, because it brought them nearer to Zion. The very tears shed on the way became fountains of rejoicing, and their sorrows were turned into songs. So should we prize the house of God as the symbol of communion with himself; and while we remember that it is he, and not the house, that gives the communion, yet should we through the busy week, on the distant journey, or on the bed of weakness and pain, long for the courts of the Lord, and show our grateful sense of communion with himself by honoring the place and the day set apart for his worship

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 101, 104, 125.

O God, who makest the outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice! we lift up our hearts to thee with thanksgiving for the joy of another day; for vigor for its duties, appetite for its pleasures, and readiness for its opportunities of good. Bless us in our labors, keep us pure in our enjoyments, incite us to do thy will; and oh! we beseech thee, preserve us from harm, from temptation, and from sin. Keep us from that love and that fear of this world which would estrange us

from thee. Conscious of our weakness, humbly confessing our sins, we cast ourselves upon thine infinite grace in Christ our Saviour for pardon, strength, and sanctification. May we as a family honor thee in our daily walk and conversation! May we know the joy of consecration to Christ! Grant thy grace to all dear to us; and grant us grace to hold all men dear for Christ's sake. And to him, with the Father and the Spirit, be glory forever. Amen.