When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches.-lxiii. 1—6.

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Now also, when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. -lxxi. 17, 18.

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.-lxxxiv. 10.

LORD, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood: they are as a sleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Return, LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea the work of our hands establish thou it.Psalm xc.

"The Prayer of Moses the man of God." (Title.) Probably it was composed when sentence of death was passed upon the entire generation of the grown-up men, who came out of the land of Egypt; or when Moses saw, from time to time, that sentence actually put in execution, by the falling of thousands on every side.

It contains the most affecting views of the misery of our sinful race, and of the majesty, power, eternity, holiness, omniscience, justice and grace of God, that are to be found

in the whole Bible. It is very properly selected as part of the Service for the Burial of the Dead; impressing the minds of survivors with a solemn anticipation of that day, when He, who even now sets "our secret sins in the light of his countenance," will assuredly "bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

That which peculiarly recommends it to the heart of the experienced and afflicted believer, is, the solemn composure with which it opens, and the bright hopes with which it closes. For forty years in the courtly scenes of Egypt, and for another forty in the pastoral simplicity of the land of Midian, this "Man of God" had never found, nor ever sought, any other rest than that which is offered in the covenant made with the fathers, and secured to the children for all generations. And now, in the wanderings of the wilderness, the LORD was still his " dwelling-place."

When his heart has fully poured forth its natural, and its gracious sorrows, fears, and prayers, he then begins to lift up his head, and speak in a more cheering tone. So David, after floods of penitential tears, breaks out into the language of faith and hope: "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem." Looking to the "work of the Lord," to the building up of the Church on the foundation of Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever; and meditating on the glory, the delight, the beauty, the stability, and the perpetuity of that Church, we have, in all times of sorrow and trial, an unfailing consolation. Whether we think of Time, or of Eternity, CHRIST is our sure dwelling-place. "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours: and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. civ. 23.

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in

vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman laboureth but in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.-Psalm cxxvii. 1, 2.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.— cxxxix. 17, 18.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.-cxli. 2.

"What is it to others,' a man may say, 'if I lie in bed in the morning, and come out of my chamber, without serious and steadfast secret prayer; or neglect it in the evening, until I am so drowsy, that my mind is unable to pray?'

"Whether it be the feeblest or the strongest of God's people that neglects secret prayer, the Universal Church, as well as that part of it with which he has intercourse, and, indeed, the whole world, has reason to complain of that man. That man must, of necessity, be an unstable, unestablished Christian: he cannot be well acquainted with his own particular, besetting, secret sins: he cannot breathe forth a spirit of holy love and tenderness in his intercourse with others: his tempers remain unmortified, and his graces unwatered.

"Thus, mark him in his daily conversation: in his family, he speaks of spiritual things, in a formal or insincere manner: in conversation with his friends, he gives advice, but has not asked for wisdom from above to direct him : he knows the great outlines of Christian doctrine and

Christian practice; but the details and particulars of it he is but little acquainted with; and never seriously lays it to heart, that, as a man's walking is made up of separate steps, so the Christian's daily life is made up of little things, little occurrences, many of them unexpected; by his conduct in which he brings either honour, or dishonour, on that holy name whereby he is called." (Sermons by the Rev. John Tucker, B.D. Sermon xv., on Psalm cxli. 2.)

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.-Proverbs vi. 6-11.

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.x. 4, 5.

The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns; but the way of the righteous is made plain.— xv. 19.

Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.-xix. 15.

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.