August 18

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord." Psalms 5:3.

AUTHORS have found the morning the best time for study and composition. Hence it has been called the friend of the muses. It would be easy to prove that it is equally a friend to the graces and the duties. It is the finest season for reflection and devotion. David found it so; and therefore resolves, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord." What voice? The voice of praise, and the voice of prayer; the one excited by looking back, and the other by looking forward.

How much is there in the morning to call forth the voice of thanksgiving! Let us think of the season we have just passed through. How many homeless creatures this night have had no place where to lay their head. How many victims of accident and disease have been full of tossing to and fro, until the dawning of the day; their beds have not comforted them, nor their couch eased their complaint. How many have been deprived of repose while attending their neighbors, friends, and relations in sickness and sorrow. How many, since the last setting sun, have entered an awful eternity. How many this night have been cut off in their sins! Many have been terrified, robbed, injured, murdered by wicked and unreasonable men. How many have been consumed by fire, or drowned with water. How many, this night, have been engaged in works of darkness; and who, if any knew them, would be in the terrors of the shadow of death. How many have risen this morning to pass the day in anguish; how many to suffer want. How many, who have all things richly to enjoy, have risen only to live another day without God in the world. They lie down and rise up like the beasts that perish; God is not in all their thoughts. And is it otherwise with us? What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards us? Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

And with how many of these merciful nights have we been favored, Hence, perhaps, we have been so little affected with the goodness of God in them. How strange, that what increases the greatness of our obligation should diminish the sense of it. Yet it is by the interruption, the suspension, the want of our comforts, we are made to learn the value of them. Let us guard against this perverseness of ingratitude. Let us remember, that if our mercies are common, they must be numerous; and if numerous, they multiply the claims to our praise.

And shall our gratitude evaporate in a mere morning acknowledgment? Shall we not, by the mercies of God, dedicate ourselves to his service, and be in his fear all the day long?

And when we think of the day before us, how much is there to awaken concern. And what is our concern without the attention of God? He shall therefore in the morning hear, not only the voice of praise, but the voice of prayer.

Who is to guide me through the day upon which I have entered? How much depends upon one mistake in my movements. And how easily may I go astray. The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. "Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust; cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee."

Who is to guard me through the day? And I am much more exposed when awake than when asleep. My soul is more exposed—more exposed to sin, and sin is the greatest evil. And what am I, to resist a corrupt heart, a wicked world, and all the powers of darkness? "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Be thou my arm every morning; my salvation also in the time of trouble."

Who is to help me through the day? I have many duties to discharge. I am to live soberly, righteously, and godly. I am to walk in wisdom towards those that are without; I am to speak the truth in love; I am to adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour in all things. "Lord, without thee, I can do nothing. Let thy grace be sufficient for me, and thy strength made perfect in weakness."

Who is to give me success in the business of the day? I know I ought not to be idle, but to be diligently and prudently employed in my lawful calling. Means are mine, but how much more is necessary than my wisdom and anxiety. "The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for me to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep."

Who is to prepare me for the events of the day? And I know not what the day may bring forth. Perhaps I may receive the most unwelcome intelligence. Perhaps I may sustain losses in property. Perhaps I may meet with mortifications from my fellow-creatures, and be tried with disappointments in friends. My child may this day be taken sick. The desire of mine eyes may be taken away with a stroke. There may be but a step between me and death. It is wonderful we live a day through. "May I know how to be abased, or how to abound. If in the world I have tribulation, in the Saviour may I have peace. So teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom. That whether I live, I may live unto the Lord; or whether I die, I may die unto the Lord: so that living and dying, I may be the Lord's."