sanctuary-in the family circle and in the social prayer-meeting-we shall do well to remember the advice of Bernard :

"Sic ora, quasi assumptus et præsentatus ante faciam ejus, in excelso throno, ubi millia militium ministrant ei."

"So pray, as if you were taken up and presented before God, sitting upon his royal throne on high, with millions of his glorious servitors constantly ministering to him."

"PRAISE YE THE LORD: for it is good to sing praises to our God

For it is pleasant, and praise is comely.
Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem,

He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel;
He healeth the broken in heart,

And bindeth up their wounds.

He telleth the number of the stars,

He calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power;
His understanding is infinite.

The Lord lifteth up the oppressed:

He casteth the wicked down to the ground.
SING UNTO JEHOVAH with thanksgiving!
Sing praises upon the harp unto our God!
He covereth the heaven with clouds,

He giveth rain upon the earth,

He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains,
He giveth to the beast his food,

And to the young ravens when they cry.

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse,
Nor takes pleasure in the swiftness of a man:
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him,
In those that hope in his mercy.

PRAISE THE LORD, O JERUSALEM!
PRAISE THY GOD, O ZION!

For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates,
He hath blessed thy children within thee;
He maketh peace in thy borders,

He filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
He showeth his word unto Jacob,

His statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
He hath not done so with every nation;
They have not known his judgments.
PRAISE JEHOVAH!"-PS. cxlvii.

CHAPTER VIII.

PRAISE.

PRAISE is that part of devotional duty which recognises the perfection and excellence of the Divine nature, the benevolence and rectitude of the Divine administration, and the obligations of all creatures to be grateful to the Creator, who sustains them in existence, and gives them, from his own unbounded fulness, whatever tends to render that existence happy and desirable. There are two ways in which the great Invisible has been pleased to make himself known unto us; by his works, and by his word. "The heavens declare the glory of God:" the inscription of his "eternal power and Godhead" is legibly written upon the "things that he has made." To the apprehension of an intelligent piety, the heavens are gay with his splendour, the earth is fair with his beauty, the night is solemn with his majesty, and nature, through all her realms, is vocal with his praise. But it is especially in his word that the Divine Being unveils himself, that he gives us an insight into his own glorious character, and communicates whatever our limited