21. O praise the Lord, all ye His hosts: ye servants of His that do His pleasure.

22. O speak good of the Lord, all ye works of His, in all places of His dominion: praise thou the Lord, O my soul.

Therefore praise we our God. But not alone: the angels, the mighty beings whom He has created to do His pleasure, to see His glory, to hear His voice, are ever praising Him; the hosts of Cherubim and Seraphim cease not their eternal cry of Holy, Holy, Holy. They praise Him with their deeds as with their words-readily, unweariedly, perfectly. All His works, in all the worlds which He has made, bless and praise Him Who made them what they are. Surely those souls which He has redeemed should join in the same ceaseless Alleluia,-surely His praise should be spoken on earth, as it is in heaven!

This Psalm is an alphabetic Psalm; it is in the title ascribed to David. It is full of the most eager and loving feelings of praise and thankfulness to God, the compassionate and forgiving Father of His creatures. With verse 13 compare St. Matth. vii. 9—11.

Evening Prayer.

FOR WHITSUNDAY.

PSALM civ. Benedic, anima mea.

1. PRAISE the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, Thou art become exceeding glorious; Thou art clothed with majesty and honour.

2. Thou deckest Thyself with light as it were with a garment and spreadest out the heavens like a curtain.

3. Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters and maketh the clouds His chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind.

Each created, redeemed, regenerated soul is bound to praise the Lord, the Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, for that God the Son, Who in the beginning made the worlds, and Whose grace is ever carrying on His work to its perfect end by the operation of the Holy Ghost, has been revealed before us in His exceeding glory. He, as the eternal High-priest, hath put on the Urim and Thummim of majesty and honour, and hath clothed Himself with light, as a priest clothes himself with his holy vestments: His brightness on the mount of transfiguration was but a passing glimpse of what He is now, ever hath been, and ever shall be. He is the true Light, therefore His angels are the angels of light, His children the children of light, His doctrine the doctrine of light. The universe is His tabernacle; the heavens, visible and invisible, are the curtains which shroud His holy place. He hath laid the beams and foundations of His holy of holies very high, even above the waters which are above the firmament. The clouds and the winds of the lower heaven are His chariot, upon which He stood when He ascended from Olivet, upon which He will sit when He cometh again.

4. He maketh His angels spirits and His ministers a flaming fire.

His attendants and His ministers are the hosts of heaven, the twelve legions of angels who do His bidding. They rush to execute His command like the swift and viewless winds; they are spirits whose power is felt, but they themselves are unseen. He maketh His ministers like a flaming fire, bright and terrible like a lightning-flash, burning with zeal and burning with love. Mighty and strong as are those spiritual beings, they instantly obey their Master's will, no less than the material elements of this lower earth; they hear and do in heaven, even as the wind that blows, or the fire that burns here below. For 'when the Father bringeth in the First-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.'

5. He laid the foundations of the earth: that it never should move at any time.

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6. Thou coveredst it with the deep like as with a garment the waters stand in the hills. 7. At Thy rebuke they flee at the voice of Thy thunder they are afraid.

8. They go up as high as the hills, and down to the valleys beneath even unto the place which Thou hast appointed for them.

LXX. The hills go up, the valleys go down.

9. Thou hast set them their bounds which they shall not pass neither turn again to cover the earth.

His creating power in the beginning founded the earth, that nothing should move it from its appointed order. It was covered with the deep of waters, even above the highest hills; but He said, 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.' And at His Almighty command they hasted like servants fearing a rebuke, or like men fleeing before the thunder of a storm. They left the hills which rose up from the face of the earth, they poured down the valleys in a rapid flood, until they came to their appointed place, 'the gathering together of the waters which is called the sea.' There He appointed their shores and set them their bounds; and gave a promise to His servant Noah that they should never again cover the earth. And as God the Creator hath wrought in the natural universe, so also doth God the Sanctifier work in the spiritual world. He hath established the Church, the kingdom of Christ, bidding it, by the preaching of His gospel and the thunder of the word, to arise from out of the waters of this troublesome world; He hath checked the self-will and the pride of the enemies of the Church; and hath set around her the bounds of the one true faith. The unbelieving are envious and malicious, but their murmurings are but like the sound of the small waves on the shore.

Christ hath promised that the salt and bitter waters of the world shall never rise again to cover His Church which He hath redeemed.

10. He sendeth the springs into the rivers : which run among the hills.

11. All beasts of the field drink thereof : and the wild asses quench their thirst.

12. Beside them shall the fowls of the air have their habitation and sing among the branches.

LXX. They shall sing from the midst of the rocks.

By His ordinance the springs and the rills feed the water-brooks which run between the hills, at which the beasts which are used for the service of man, and the wild animals also, quench their thirst. The birds of the air, too, resort to them for their dwellings, and thank their Maker after their fashion in their songs. And even thus doth God the Holy Ghost send forth the refreshings of His grace into the Church, which arise from the sacraments and means of grace, at which all the children of men, even they who by nature were born, like the wild ass, headstrong and untamed, can slake the thirst of earthly passion; while the heavenly-minded, like the birds by the margins of the fountains, dwell ever near to the river of the water of life, and are ever praising their Saviour in melody of heart.

13. He watereth the hills from above the earth is filled with the fruit of Thy works.