,,the ,,threshold ,,grace               
,,meditations ,,in ,,the ,,psalms       
,,by    ,,percy ,c4 ,,ainsworth         
,,author ,,of ',,the ,,pilgrim          
,,church4' ',,the ,,blessed ,,life1'    
,,etc4        ,,prefatory ,,note        
,during his brief ministry ,mr4         
,ainsworth published a series of        
meditations  in the columns of the      
,methodist ,times1 which are here       
reprinted by the  kind permission of the
 ,editor1 ,dr4 ,scott ,lidgett4 ,the    
rare interest aroused  by the previous  
publication of ,mr4 ,ainsworth's sermons
 encourages the hope  that the present  
volume may find a place in the          
devotional literature to  which many    
turn in the quiet hour4    ,a4,k4,s4    
,,contents         ,i4 ,,the ,,threshold
 ,,grace    ,,ii4 ,,the ,,habit ,,of    
,,faith   ,,iii4 ,,the ,,one ,,thing    
,,desirable    ,,iv4 ,,eyes ,,and ,,feet
     ,v4 ,,the ,,safeguarded ,,soul     
,,vi4 ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,tears   ,,vii4  
,,deliverance ,,with ,,honour  ,,viii4  

,,petition ,,and ,,communion    ,,ix4   
,,haunted ,,hours     ,x4 ,,the ,,wings 
,,of ,,the ,,dove    ,,xi4 ,a ,,new     
,,song          ,i4    ,,the ,,threshold
 ,,grace        ,the ,lord shall keep   
thy going out and thy coming    in1 from
 this time forth and for evermore4      
,ps4 cxxi1 #h4    ,going out and coming 
in4 ,that is a picture of life4 ,beneath
 this old ,hebrew  phrase there lurks a 
symbolism that covers our whole         
experience4 ,but let us  just now look  
at the most literal1 and by no means the
 least true1  interpretation of these   
words4 ,one of the great dividing-lines 
in human  life is the threshold-line4   
,on one side of this line a man has his 
'world  within the world1' the sanctuary
 of love1 the sheltered place of peace1 
the  scene of life's most personal1     
sacred1 and exclusive obligations4 ,and 
on  the other side lies the larger life 
of mankind wherein also a man must take 
his place and do his work4 ,life is     
spent in crossing this threshold-line1  

going out to the many and coming in to  
the few1 going out to answer the  call  
of labour and coming in to take the     
right to rest4 ,and over us all  every  
hour there watches the ,almighty ,love4 
,the division-lines in the life  of man 
have nothing that corresponds to them in
 the love of ,god4 ,we may be  here or  
there1 but ,he is everywhere4    ,the   
,lord shall keep thy going out4 ,life   
has always needed that promise4  ,there 
is a pledge of help for men as they fare
 forth to the world's work4  ,it was    
much for the folk of an early time to   
say that as they went forth  the ,lord  
went with them1 but it is more for men  
to say and know that same  thing to-day4
 ,the going out has come to mean more   
age after age1  generation after        
generation4 ,it was a simpler thing once
 than it is now4  ',thy going out'--the 
shepherd to his flocks1 the farmer to   
his field1 the  merchant to his         
merchandise4 ,there are still flocks and
 fields and markets1  but where are the 

leisure1 grace1 and simplicity of life  
for him who has  any share in the       
world's work8 ,men go out to-day to face
 a life shadowed by  vast industrial1   
commercial1 and social problems4 ,life  
has grown  complicated1 involved1 hard  
to understand1 difficult to deal with4  
,tension1  conflict1 subtlety1 surprise1
 and amid it all1 or over it all1 a vast
  brooding weariness that ever and again
 turns the heart sick4 ,oh the pains    
and the perils of the going out6 ,there 
are elements of danger in modern  life  
that threaten all the world's toilers1  
whatever their work may be and  wherever
 they may have to do it4 ,there is the  
danger that always lurks in  things--a  
warped judgement1 a confused reckoning1 
a narrowed outlook4 ,it  is so easily   
possible for a man to be at close grips 
with the world and yet  to be ever more 
and more out of touch with its          
realities4 ,the danger in the  places   
where men toil is not that ,god is      
denied with a vociferous atheism2  it is

 that ,he is ignored by an unvoiced     
indifference4 ,it is not the babel  of  
the market-place that men need to fear2 
it is its silence4 ,if we say  that we  
live only as we love1 that we are strong
 only as we are pure1 that  we are      
successful only as we become just and   
good1 the world into which we  go forth 
does not deny these things--but it      
ignores them4 ,and thus the real  battle
 of life is not the toil for bread4 ,it 
is fought by all who would  keep alive  
and fresh in their hearts the truth that
 man doth not live by  bread alone4 ,for
 no man is this going out easy1 for some
 it is at times  terrible1 for all it   
means a need that only this promise     
avails to  meet--',the ,lord shall keep 
thy going out4' ,he shall fence thee    
about with  the ministry of ,his        
,spirit1 and give thee grace to know1   
everywhere and  always1 that thou art in
 this world to live for ,his kingdom of 
love and  truth and to grow a soul4     
,the ,lord1 shall keep 444 thy coming   

in4 ,it might seem to some that once a  
man was safely across the threshold of  
his home he might stand in less need  of
 this promise of help4 ,but experience  
says otherwise4 ,the world has  little  
respect for any man's threshold4 ,it is 
capable of many a bold and  shameless   
intrusion4 ,the things that harass a man
 as he earns his tread  sometimes haunt 
him as he eats it4 ,no home is safe     
unless faith be the  doorkeeper4 ',in   
peace will ,i both lay me down and      
sleep1 for ,thou1 ,lord1  alone makest  
me to dwell in safety4' ,the singer of  
that song knew that1 as  in the moil of 
the world1 so also in the shelter of the
 place he named his  dwelling-place1    
peace and safety were not of his making1
 but of ,god's  giving4    ,sometimes   
there is a problem and a pain waiting   
for a man across his own  threshold4    
,many a man can more easily look upon   
the difficulties and perils  of the     
outer world than he can come in and look
 into the pain-lined face of  his little

 child4 ,if we cannot face alone the    
hostilities on one side of  our         
threshold we cannot face alone the      
intimacies on the other side of it4     
,after all1 life is whole and           
continuous4 ,whatever the changes in the
  setting of life1 there is no respite  
from living4 ,and that means there is   
no leisure from duty1 no rest from the  
service of obedience1 no cessation  in  
the working of all those forces by means
 of which1 or in spite of which1  life  
is ever being fashioned and fulfilled4  
,and now let us free our minds from the 
literalism of this promise and get a    
glimpse of its deeper application to our
 lives4 ,the threshold of the home  does
 not draw the truest division-line in   
life between the outward and the        
inward4 ,life is made up of thought and 
action1 of the manifest things and  the 
hidden things4    ',thy going out4'     
,that is1 our life as it is manifest to 
others1 as it has  points of contact    
with the world about us4 ,we must go    

out4 ,we must take up  some attitude    
toward all other life4 ,we must add our 
word to the long human  story and our   
touch to the fashioning of the world4   
,we need the pledge of  divine help in  
that life of ours in which1 for their   
good or ill1 others  must have a place  
and a part4 ',and thy coming in'--into  
that uninvaded  sanctum of thought4 ,did
 we say uninvaded8 ,not so4 ,in that    
inner room of  life there sits ,regret  
with her pale face1 and ,shame with dust
 on her  forehead1 and ,memory with     
tears in her eyes4 ,it is a pitiable    
thing at  times1 is this our coming in4 
,more than one man has consumed his life
 in a  flame of activity because he     
could not abide the coming in4 ',the    
,lord shall  keep 444 thy coming in4'   
,that means help for every lonely1      
impotent1 inward  hour of life4    ,look
 at the last word of this promise--'for 
evermore4' ,going out and coming  in for
 evermore4 ,i do not know how these     
words were interpreted when very        

literal meanings were attached to the   
parabolic words about the streets of    
gold and the endless song4 ,but they    
present no difficulty to us4 ,indeed1   
they confirm that view of the future    
which is ever taking firmer hold of     
men's minds1 and which is based on the  
growing sense of the continuity of      
life4 ,to offer a man an eternity of    
music-laden rest is to offer him a poor 
thing4 ,he would rather have his going  
out and his coming in4 ,yes1 and he     
shall have them4 ,all that is purest and
 best in them shall remain4  ,hereafter 
he shall still go out to find deeper    
joys of living and wider  visions of    
life2 still come in to greater and ever 
greater thoughts of ,god4          ,,ii4
    ,,the ,,habit ,,of ,,faith          
,trust in ,him at all times1 ye people4 
,pour out your heart before ,him4       
,god is a refuge for us4      ,ps4 lxii4
 #h4    ,here the ,psalmist strikes the 
great note of faith as it should be     
struck4  ,he sets it ringing alike      

through the hours and the years4 ,trust 
in ,him at  all times4 ,faith is not an 
act1 but an attitude2 not an event1 but 
a  principle2 not a last resource1 but  
the first and abiding necessity4 ,it is 
the constant factor in life's spiritual 
reckonings4 ,it is the  ever-applicable 
and the ever-necessary4 ,it is always in
 the high and  lasting fitness of       
things4 ,there are words that belong to 
hours or even  moments1 words that win  
their meaning from the newly created    
situation4 ,but  faith is not such a    
word4 ,it stands for something inclusive
 and imperial4  ,it is one of the few   
timeless words in earth's vocabulary4   
,for the deep  roots of it and the wide 
range of it there is nothing like unto  
it in the  whole sweep of things        
spiritual4 ,so the 'all times' trust is 
not for one  moment to be regarded as   
some supreme degree of faith unto which 
one here  and there may attain and which
 the rest can well afford to look upon  
as a  counsel of perfection4 ,this      

exhortation to trust in ,god at all     
times  concerns first of all the nature 
of faith and not the measure of it4     
,all real faith has the note of the     
eternal in it4 ,it can meet the present 
because it is not of the present4 ,we   
have grown familiar with the phrase1    
',the man of the moment4' ,but who is   
this man8 ,sometimes he is very         
literally a man of the moment--an       
opportunist1 a gambler with the hours1 a
  follower of the main chance4 ,the     
moment makes him1 and passing away      
unmakes  him4 ,but the true man of the  
moment is the man to whom the moment is 
but  one throb in the pulse of eternity4
 ,for him the moment does not stand out 
in splendid isolation4 ,it is set in its
 place between that which hath been  and
 that which shall be4 ,and its true     
significance is not something abiding   
in it1 but something running through it4
 ,so is it in this great matter of      
faith4 ,only the faith that can trust at
 all times can trust at any time4  ,the 

moment that faith heeds the dictation of
 circumstance it ceases to be  faith and
 becomes calculation4 ,all faith is     
transcendent4 ,it is independent  of the
 conditions in which it has to live4 ,it
 is not snared in the strange  web of   
the tentative and the experimental4 ,he 
that has for one moment felt  the power 
of faith has got beyond the dominion of 
time4    ,trust in ,him at all times4   
,that is the only real escape from      
confusion  and contradiction in the     
judgements we are compelled to pass upon
 life4  ,times change so suddenly and   
inexplicably4 ,the hours seem to be at  
strife  with each other4 ,we live in the
 midst of a perpetual conflict between  
our  yesterdays and our to-days4 ,there 
is no simple1 obvious sequence in the   
message of experience4 ,the days will   
not dovetail into each other4 ,life is  
compact of much that is impossible of   
true adjustment at the hands of any     
time-born philosophy4 ,and in all this  
seeming confusion there lies the        

necessity for faith4 ,herein it wins its
 victory4 ,we are to trust ,god not     
because we cannot trace ,him1 but that  
by trusting ,him we may ever be more    
able to trace ,him and to see that ,he  
has a way through all these winding  and
 crossing paths4 ,faith does more than  
hold a man's hand in the darkness2  it  
leads him into the light4 ,it is the    
secret of coherence and harmony4 ,it    
does not make experience merely         
bearable1 it makes it luminous and      
instructive4 ,it takes the separate or  
the tangled strands of human  experience
 and weaves them into one strong cable  
of help and hope4    ,trust in ,him at  
all times4 ,then faith at its best is a 
habit4 ,indeed1  religion at its best is
 a habit1 too6 ,we are sometimes too    
ready to  discount the worth of the     
habitual in our religious life4 ,we put 
a premium  on self-consciousness4 ,we   
reduce the life of faith to a series of 
acts of  faith of varying difficulty and
 import1 but each detached from the rest

 and  individually apprehended of the   
soul4 ,surely this is all wrong4 ,in our
  physical life we are least conscious  
of those functions that are most vital  
and continuous1 and the more perfectly  
they do their work the less we think    
about them4 ,the analogy is incomplete  
and must be drawn with care4 ,but when  
you have conceded that faith has to be  
acquired1 that it has to be learned1    
there is still this much in the analogy4
 ,if faith is a long and hard  lesson1  
the value of the lesson to us is not the
 effort with which we learn  it1 but the
 ease with which we apply it4 ,the      
measure of conscious effort in  our     
faith is the measure of our faith's     
weakness4 ,when faith has become a      
spontaneity of our character1 when it   
turns to ,god instinctively1 when it    
does its work with the involuntariness  
of habit1 then it has become strong4    
,pour out your heart before ,him4 ,how  
this singer understood the office and   
privilege of the 'all times' trust6 ,he 

knew that there is a fullness of  heart 
that is ill to bear4 ,true1 in more than
 one simple way the full heart  can find
 some slight relief4 ,there is work4    
,the full heart can go out and  do      
something4 ,there is a brother's trouble
 in which a man may partly forget  his  
own4 ,there is sympathy4 ,surely few are
 so lonely that they cannot find  any   
one ready to offer the gift of the      
listening ear1 any one willing to  share
 with them all of pain and burden that  
can be shared4 ,ah6 but what of  that   
which cannot be shared8 ,what of the    
sorrow that has no language1 and  the   
shame and confusion that we would not1  
and even dare not1 trail across  a      
friend's mind8 ,so often the heart holds
 more than ever should be poured  out   
into another's ear4 ,there are in life  
strained silences that we could  not    
break if we would4 ,and there is a law  
of reticence that true love and         
unselfishness will always respect4 ,if  
my brother hath joy1 am ,i to cloud it  

with my grief8 ,if he hath sorrow1 am ,i
 to add my sorrow unto his8 ,when our   
precious earthly fellowship has been put
 to its last high uses in the hour  of  
sorrow or shame1 the heart has still a  
burden for which this world finds  no   
relief4 ,but there is another           
fellowship4 ,there is ,god our ,father4 
,there  is the ear of ,heaven4 ,we may  
be girt with silence among our fellows1 
but in  looking up the heart finds      
freedom4 ,in ,his ,presence the voice of
 confession  can break through the gag  
of shame1 and the pent-up tide of       
trouble can let  itself break upon the  
heart of ,eternal ,love4    ,god is a   
refuge for us4 ,that is the great       
discovery of faith4 ,that is the        
merciful word that comes to be written  
so plainly in the life that has  formed 
the habit of faith4 ,god our refuge4 ,it
 may be that to some the word  'refuge' 
suggests the occasional rather than the 
constant need of life4 ,but  the refuge 
some day and the faith every day are    

linked together4 ,a thing is  no use to 
you if you cannot find it when you want 
it4 ,and you cannot find  it easily if  
it be not at hand4 ,the peasant built   
his cottage under the  shadow of his    
lord's castle walls4 ,in the hour of    
peril it was but a step  to the strong  
fortress4 ',trust in ,him at all times4'
 ,build your house under  the walls of  
the ,eternal ,help4 ,live in the        
,presence4 ,find the attitude of  faith1
 and the act of faith will be simple4   
,trust in ,him through every  hour1 and 
when a tragic hour comes one step shall 
take you into the  innermost safety4    
,,iii4    ,,the ,,one ,,thing           
,,desirable        ,one thing have ,i   
desired of the ,lord1 that will    ,i   
seek after2 that ,i may dwell in the    
house of    the ,lord all the days of my
 life1 to behold the    beauty of the   
,lord1 and to inquire in ,his temple4   
,ps4 xxvii4 #d4    ,i have desired 444  
,i will seek4 ,amid the things that are 
seen1 desire and  quest are nearly      

always linked closely together4 ,the man
 who desires money  seeks after money4  
,the desire of the world is often       
disappointed1 but it is  rarely supine4 
,it is dynamic4 ,it leads men4 ,true1 it
 leads them astray2 but  that is a      
reflection on its wisdom and not on its 
effectiveness4 ,among what  we rightly  
call the lower things men do not play   
with their desires1 they  obey them4    
,but amid the unseen realities of life  
it is often quite  otherwise4 ,in the   
religious life desire is sometimes      
strangely ineffective4  ,it is static1  
if that be not a contradiction in terms4
 ,in many a life-story  it stands       
written3 ,one thing have ,i desired of  
the ,lord1 that will ,i dream  of1 that 
will ,i hope for1 that will ,i wait for4
 ,many things help to explain  this     
attitude1 and1 explaining it1 they      
condemn it also4 ,we allow our          
surroundings to pass judgement on our   
longings4 ,we bring the eternal to the  
bar of the hour1 and postpone the       

verdict4 ,or it may be in the           
worldliness  of our hearts we admit the 
false plea of urgency and the false     
claim of  authority made by our outward 
life4 ,and perhaps more commonly the    
soul  lacks the courage of its desires4 
,it costs little to follow a desire that
  goes but a little way1 and that on the
 level of familiar effort and within    
sight of familiar things4 ,it is another
 thing to hear the call of the          
mountains and to feel the fascination of
 some far and glittering peak4 ,that  is
 a call to perilous and painful effort4 
,and yet again1 high desire  sometimes  
leaves life where it found it because   
the heart attaches an  intrinsic value  
to vision4 ,it is something to have seen
 the ,alpine  heights of possibility4   
,yes1 it is something1 but what is it8  
,it is a  golden hour to the man who    
sets out to the climb2 it is an hour of 
shame  and judgement1 hereafter to be   
manifest1 to the man who clings to the  
comforts of the valley4    ,one thing   

have ,i desired4 ,when a man speaks thus
 unto us1 we have a right  to ponder his
 words with care4 ,we naturally become  
profoundly interested1  expectant1 and1 
to the limit of our powers1 critical4   
,if a man has seen one  thing that he   
can call simply and finally the desire  
of his heart1 it ought  to be worth     
looking at4 ,we expect something large1 
lofty1 inclusive4 ,and we  find this3   
',that ,i may dwell in the house of the 
,lord all the days of my  life1 to      
behold the beauty of the ,lord1 and to  
inquire in ,his temple4' ,let  us       
examine this desire1 ,and1 first of all1
 we must free our minds from mere       
literalism4 ,if we do not1 we shall find
 in this desire many things that are    
not in it1 and miss everything that is  
in it4 ,this is not the longing for a   
cloistered life1 the confession of one  
who is weary of this heavy world1       
doubtful of its promises and afraid of  
its powers4 ',the house of the ,lord'   
is not a place1 but a state1 not an     

edifice1 but an attitude4 ,it is a fair 
and unseen dwelling-place builded by the
 hands of ,god to be the home1 here  and
 hereafter1 of all the hearts that      
purely love and worship ,him4 ,we read  
of one who1 a day's march from his      
father's house1 lay down and slept2 and 
in his sleep ,god spake to him1 and lo1 
out in a wild and lonely place1  ,jacob 
said1 ',this is none other but the house
 of ,god4' ,for every one to  whom the  
voice of ,god has come1 and who has     
listened to that voice and  believed in 
its message1 the mountains and valleys  
of this fair world1 the  breath of every
 morning and the hush of every evening1 
are instinct with a  ,presence4         
,wordsworth dwelt in the house of the   
,lord all the days of his  life4 ,and if
 the wonder and beauty of the earth lift
 up our hearts unto our  ,god in praise 
and worship1 we dwell there also4       
,yes1 but this world is a world of men4 
,in city or on hillside the great       
persistent fact for us1 the real setting

 of our life1 is not nature1 but        
humanity4 ,life is not a peaceful vision
 of earthly beauty4 ,our experience  is 
not a dreamy pastoral4 ,there are shamed
 and broken lives4 ,the world is  full  
of greed and hate and warfare and       
sorrow4 ,nature at its best cannot by   
itself build for us a temple that       
humanity at its worst1 or even at       
something less than its worst1 cannot   
pull down about our ears4 ,for the      
,psalmist1 probably ,david himself1 the 
temple was symbolic of all heavenly     
realities4 ,it stood for the holiness   
and the nearness and the mercy of ,god1 
and for the sacredness and the          
possibility of human life4 ,in the light
 and  power and perfect assurance of    
these things he desired to dwell all the
  days of his life4 ,for us there is the
 life and word of ,one greater than the 
temple4 ,jesus of ,nazareth dwelt in the
 house of the ,lord4 ,between ,him and  
,god the ,father there was perfect      
union4 ,and no one ever saw the worth of

  human life as ,jesus saw it4 ,and no  
one ever measured the sacred values of  
humanity as ,he measured them4 ,and now1
 in the perfect mercy of ,god1 there  is
 no man but may dwell in the house of   
,god alway and feel life's  sacredness  
amidst a thousand desecrations1 and know
 its preciousness amidst  all that seeks
 to obscure1 defile1 and cheapen it4    
,to behold the beauty of the ,lord4 ,it 
is only in the house of the ,lord1  the 
unseen fane of reverence1 trust1 and    
communion1 that a man can learn  what   
beauty is1 and where to look for it4    
,out in the world beauty is held  to be 
a sporadic thing4 ,it is like a flower  
growing where no one expected a         
blossom4 ,it is an unrelated and        
unexplained surprise4 ,it is a green    
oasis  in the desert of unlovely and    
unpromising things4 ,but for the dweller
 in  the house of the ,lord beauty is   
not on this wise4 ,said one such        
dweller1  ',the desert shall rejoice and
 blossom as the rose4' ,he looked across

 the  leagues of burning sand and saw   
the loveliness of ,carmel by the sea1   
and of  ,sharon where the lilies grow4  
,to the artist beauty is an incident1 to
 the  saint beauty is a law of life4 ,it
 is the thing that is to be4 ,it is the 
positive purpose1 throbbing and yearning
 and struggling in the whole  universe4 
,when it emerges and men behold it1 they
 behold the face of truth2  and if it   
emerges not1 it is still there1 the     
fundamental fact and the  vital issue of
 human life4 ,to dwell in the ,divine   
,presence by faith and  obedience2 to   
live so near to ,god that you can see   
all about yourself and  every human soul
 the real means of life1 and straight   
before you the real  end of life2 to    
know that though so often the worst is  
man's dark choice1  yet ever the best is
 his true heritage2 and to learn to     
interpret the whole  of life in the     
terms of ,god's saving purpose1--this is
 to behold the beauty  of the ,lord4    
,and to inquire in ,his temple4 ,the    

,psalmist desired for himself an inward 
attitude before ,god that should not    
only reveal unto him the eternal        
fitness of all ,god's ways and the      
eternal grace of all ,his purposes1 but 
should also put him in the way of       
solving the various problems that arise 
to try the wisdom and strength of men's 
lives4 ,sometimes the first court of    
appeal in life1 and always the last1 is 
the temple court4 ,when all the  world  
is dumb1 a voice speaks to them that    
worship4 ,reverential love never  loses 
its bearings4 ,in this world we need    
personal and social guidance1 and  there
 must be many times when both shall be  
wanting unless we have learned  to carry
 the burden of our ignorance to the feet
 of the ,eternal ,wisdom4 ,and  perhaps 
a man can desire no better thing for    
himself than that the  reverence and    
devotion of his life should be such as  
to make the appeal to  ,god's perfect   
arbitrament an easy thing4              
,,iv4    ,,eyes ,,and ,,feet            

,mine eyes are ever toward the ,lord1   
,for ,he shall pluck my feet out of the 
net4      ,ps4 xxv4 #ae4    ,in any     
man's life a great deal depends upon    
outlook4 ,in some ways we  recognize    
this fact4 ,we do not by choice live in 
a house whose windows  front a blank    
wall4 ,a little patch of green grass1 a 
tree1 a peep of sky1  or even the       
traffic of a busy street--anything      
rather than a blank wall4  ,that is a   
sound instinct1 but it ought to go      
deeper than it sometimes does4  ,this   
outlook and aspect question is important
 when you are building a  house1 but it 
is vastly more important when you are   
building a character4  ,the soul has    
eyes4 ,the deadliest monotony is that of
 a dull soul4 ,life is a  poor affair   
for any man who looks out upon the blind
 walls of earthly  circumstance and     
necessity1 and cannot see from his      
soul's dwelling-place  the pink flush of
 the dawn that men call hope1 and who   
has no garden where  he may grow the    

blossoms of faith and sweet memory1 the 
fair flowers of  holy human trusts and  
fellowships4 ,only the divinity of life 
can deliver us  from the monotony of    
living4 ',mine eyes are ever toward the 
,lord4' ,this man  has an infinite      
outlook4 ,it matters not whether he     
looked out through  palace windows or   
lived in the meanest house in           
,jerusalem's city4 ,it is the  eye that 
makes the view4 ,this man had a fairer  
prospect than ever man had  who looked  
seaward from ,carmel or across the      
valleys from the steeps of  ,libanus4   
,it was his soul that claimed the       
prospect4 ,from the window of the       
little house of life he saw the light of
 ,god lying on the everlasting  hills4  
,that is the real deliverance from the  
monotony of things4 ,the man  who is    
weary of life is the man who has not    
seen it4 ,the man who is tied to  his   
desk sometimes thinks everything would  
be right if only he could  travel4 ,but 
many a man has done the ,grand ,tour and

 come back no better  contented4 ,you   
cannot fool your soul with ,mont ,blanc 
or even the ,himalayas4  ,so many       
thousand feet1 did you say8--but what is
 that to infinity6 ,the cure  for the   
fretful soul is not to go round the     
world2 it is to get beyond  it4    ,mine
 eyes are ever toward the ,lord4 ,that  
is the view we want4 ,we gaze           
contemptuously on the little one-story  
lodge just inside the park gates1  and  
fail to get a glimpse of the magnificent
 mansion1 with its wealth of  adornment 
and treasure1 that lies a mile among the
 trees4 ,no wonder that  men grow       
discontented or contemptuous when they  
mistake the porch for the  house4 ,if a 
man would understand himself and        
discover his resources and put  his hand
 on all life's highest uses1 he must    
look out and up unto his ,god4  ,then he
 comes to know that sunrise and sunset1 
and the beauty of the earth1  and       
child-life and old age1 and duty and    
sorrow1 and all else that life  holds1  

are linked to the larger life of an     
eternal world4    ,that is the true     
foresight4 ,they called him a far-seeing
 man4 ,how did he  get that name8 ,well1
 he made a fortune4 ,he managed to make 
use of the ebb  and flow of the market1 
and never once got stranded4 ,he was    
shrewd and did  some good guessing1 and 
now1 forsooth1 they say he is 'very     
far-seeing4'  ,but he has not opened his
 ,bible for years1 and the fountains of 
sympathy  are dried up in his soul4 ,he 
can see as far into the money column as 
most  men1 but the financial vista is   
not very satisfying for those who see it
  best4 ,the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john is a 
sealed book to him1 and that is in      
,god's  handwriting and opens the gates 
of heaven4 ,far-seeing8 ,why1 the man is
 in a  tiny cell1 and he is going blind4
 ',mine eyes are ever toward the ,lord4'
  ,that is the far-sighted man4 ,he can 
see an ever larger life opening out     
before him4 ,he can see the glory of the
 eternal righteousness beneath his      

daily duties and the wonder of eternal  
love in the daily fellowships and       
fulfilments of the brotherhood4 ,this is
 measuring life by the heavenly         
measurement4 ,this is the vision we need
 day by day and at the end of the  days4
 ,for interest in some things must wane1
 and life must become less  responsive  
to all that lies about it1 and many an  
earthly link is broken  and many an     
earthly window is darkened1 and the old 
faces and old ways  pass1 and the thing 
the old man cherishes is trodden under  
foot by the  impetuous tread of a new   
generation1 and desire fails4 ,then it  
is well with  him whose eyes have       
already caught glimpses of 'the ,king in
 ,his beauty1'  and 'the land that is   
very far off4'    ,but think for a      
moment of the present value of the      
divine outlook upon  life4 ,it brings   
guidance and deliverance4 ,set side by  
side the two  expressions 'eyes unto the
 ,lord1' and 'feet out of the net4'     
,life is more  than a vision2 it is a   

pilgrimage4 ,we see the far white peaks 
whereon rests  the glory of life1 but   
reaching them is not a matter of eyes1  
but of feet4  ,here1 maybe1 the real    
problem of godly living presents itself 
to us4 ,here  our ,christian idealism   
lays a burden on us4 ,it is possible to 
see distances  that would take days to  
traverse4 ,even so we can see heights of
 spiritual  possibility that we shall   
not reach while the light holds good    
unless we  foot it bravely4 ,and it is  
not an easy journey4 ,there are so many 
snares  set for the pilgrims of faith   
and hope4 ,there are subtle silken nets 
woven  of soft-spun deceits and filmy   
threads of sin2 and there are coarse    
strong  nets fashioned by the strong    
hands of passion and evil desire4 ,there
 are  nets of doubt and pain and        
weakness4 ,but think of the man whose   
eyes were  ever towards the ,lord4 ,he  
came through all right4 ,he always does4
 ,he always  will4 ,he looked steadily  
upward to his ,god4 ,when we get into   

the net we  yield to the natural        
tendency to look down at our feet4 ,we  
try to discover  how the net is made4   
,we delude ourselves with the idea that 
if only we take  time we shall be able  
to extricate ourselves2 but it always   
means getting  further entangled4 ,it is
 a waste of time to study the net4 ,life
 is ever  weaving for us snares too     
intricate for us to unravel and too     
strong for us  to break4 ,god alone     
understands how they are made and how   
they may be  broken4 ,he does not take  
us round the net or over it1 but ,he    
does not leave  us fast by the feet in  
the midst of it4 ,he always brings a man
 out on the  heavenward side of the     
earthly difficulty4 ,look upward and you
 are bound to  go forward4          ,v4 
,,the ,,safeguarded ,,soul        ,the  
,lord shall keep thee from all evil2    
,he shall keep thy soul4      ,ps4 cxxi4
 #g4    ,one of the great offices of    
religion is to help men to begin at the 
beginning4 ,if you wish to straighten   

out a tangle of string1 you know that   
it is worth your while to look patiently
 for one of the ends4 ,if you make  an  
aimless dash at it the result is        
confusion worse confounded1 and         
by-and-by the tangle is thrown down in  
despair1 its worst knots made by the    
hands that tried in a haphazard way to  
simplify it4 ,life is that tangle2  and 
religion1 if it does not loosen all the 
knots and straighten all the  twists1 at
 least shows us where the two ends are4 
,they are with ,god and the  soul4 ,god 
deals with a man's soul4 ,we cannot     
explain the facts of our  experience or 
the fashion of our circumstance save in 
as far as we can see  these things      
reflected in our character4 ,the true   
spiritual philosophy of  life begins its
 inquiry in the soul1 and works outward 
into all the  puzzling mass of life's   
details4 ,and the foundation of such a  
philosophy is  not experience1 but      
faith4 ,it is true that experience often
 confirms faith1  but faith interprets  

experience4 ,experience asks more       
questions than it can  answer4 ,it      
collects more facts than it can explain4
 ,it admits of many  different          
constructions being put upon it4 ,it    
puts us first of all into  touch with   
the problem of life rather than the     
solution4 ,if the gentle1  patient words
 of the saint are the utterance of one  
who has suffered1 so  also are the      
bitter protests of the disappointed     
worldling4 ,the fashion of  the         
experience may be the same in each case4
 ,it is faith that makes the  lesson    
different4 ,it is a want of faith that  
makes us expect the lower in  life to   
explain the higher1 the outward to shed 
light upon the inward4 ,we  pluck with  
foolish1 aimless fingers at this strange
 tangle of human life4  ,we judge ,god's
 way with us as far as we can see it1   
and we think we have  got to the end of 
it4 ,we draw our shallow conclusions4   
,faith teaches us  that ,god's way with 
us is a longer and a deeper way1 and the

 end of that  way is down in the depths 
of our spirit1 hidden in the love of our
  character4 ,it is not here and now4   
,it is in what we shall be if ,god have 
,his will with us4    ,all the true     
definitions of things are written in the
 soul4 ,it was here  that the ,psalmist 
found his definition of evil4 ',the     
,lord shall keep thee  from all evil2   
,he shall keep thy soul4' ,then evil is 
something that  threatens the soul4 ,it 
is not material1 but spiritual4 ,it is  
not in our  circumstances themselves1   
but in their effect upon the inward     
life4 ,the  same outward conditions of  
life may be good or evil according to   
their  influence on our character4 ,good
 and evil are not qualities of things4  
,they  have no meaning apart from the   
soul4 ,the world says that health and   
wealth  are good1 and that sickness and 
poverty are evil4 ,if that were true the
  line that separates the healthy from  
the sick1 the rich from the poor1  would
 also separate the happy from the       

miserable4 ,but we find joy and  sorrow 
on both sides of that line4 ,we are     
drawn to look deeper than this  for our 
definition of good and evil4 ,we have to
 make the soul the final  arbiter amid  
these conflicting voices4 ,here we must 
find the true  definition of evil4 ,the 
first question we ask when we hear of a 
house  having been burnt down is this3  
',was there any loss of life8' ,all else
 lies  on a vastly lower plane of       
interest and importance4 ,so must we    
learn to  distinguish between the house 
of circumstance1 or the house of the    
body1  and the soul that dwells in it4  
,the only real loss is the 'loss of     
life1'  the loss of any of these inner  
things that go to make the soul's       
strength  and treasure4 ,the man who has
 lost everything except faith and hope  
has1  maybe1 lost nothing at all4 ,there
 are some among the pilgrims of faith   
to-day who would never have been found  
there had not ,god cast upon their      
shoulders the ragged cloak of poverty2  

and if you know anything about that     
band of pilgrims you will know that the 
man who outstrips his companions is     
often a man who is lame on both his     
feet4    ,o sceptic world1 this is the  
final answer to your scepticism1 an     
answer  none the less true because you  
cannot receive it3 ,the ,lord keepeth   
the  souls of ,his saints4 ,have you not
 seen men thinning out a great tree1    
cutting off some of its noblest branches
 and marring its splendid symmetry8     
,and very likely you have felt it was a 
great shame to do so4 ,but that work  of
 maiming and spoiling meant light and   
sunshine and air in a close and         
darkened room4 ,it meant health to the  
dwellers in the house over which the    
tree had cast its shadow4 ,it is much to
 have tall and stately trees in the     
garden of life4 ,but by-and-by that     
great oak of vigour begins to darken the
  windows of faith1 and ,god lops some  
of the branches4 ,we call it suffering1 
but it means more light4 ,or it may be  

that those firs of lordly ambition  have
 grown taller than the roof-tree1 and   
,god sends forth ,his storm-wind to  lay
 them low4 ,we call it failure1 but it  
means a better view of the stars4  ,ah1 
yes1 we are over-anxious about the trees
 in the garden4 ,god cares most  of all 
that the light of ,his truth and the    
warmth of ,his love and the  breath of  
,his ,spirit shall reach and fill every 
room in the house of life4    ,he shall 
keep thy soul4 ,that is a promise that  
can fold us in divine  comfort and      
peace1 and that can do something towards
 interpreting for us  every coil of     
difficulty1 every hour of pain4 ,but if 
this is to be so1 we  must ourselves be 
true to the view of life the promise    
gives us4 ,we must  think of the soul as
 ,god thinks of it4 ,we live in a world 
where souls are  cheap4 ,they are bought
 and sold day by day4 ,it is strange    
beyond all  understanding that the only 
thing many a man is not afraid of losing
 is the  one thing that is really worth 

anything to him--his soul4 ,sometimes   
the  lusts of the world drag down our   
heart's desire1 and we have to confess  
with shame to moments in our experience 
when we have not been at all  concerned 
with what became of our soul so long as 
the desire of the hour  was fulfilled or
 satisfied4 ,we need to seek day by day 
that the masterful  and abiding desires 
of our heart may be set upon undying    
good1 and that our  aspiration may never
 fold its wings and rest on anything    
lower than the  highest4 ,this shall not
 make dreamers of us4 ,it shall stand us
 in good  stead in the thick of the     
world4 ,the man who gets 'the best of   
the bargain'  is always the man who is  
most honest2 for the most precious thing
 that a  man stands to win or lose in   
any deal is the cleanness of his soul4  
,the man  who gets the best of the      
argument is always the man who is most  
truthful2  for a quiet conscience is    
better than a silenced opponent4 ,the   
man who gets  the best of life is the   

man who keeps the honour of his soul2   
for ,jesus  said3 ',what shall it profit
 a man if he gain the whole world and   
lose his  own soul8'    ,so then1 amid  
the manifold uncertainties of human life
 and the  ever-changing forms and       
complexions of human experience1 one    
thing is  pledged beyond all doubt to   
every man who seeks the will of ,god and
 the  promise for the safeguarding of   
his soul4 ,he may write this at the top 
of  every page in the book of life4 ,he 
may take it for his light in dark days1 
his comfort in sad days1 his treasure in
 empty days4 ,he may have it on his     
lips in the hour of battle and in his   
heart in the day of disappointment4  ,he
 may meet his temptations with it1      
interpret his sufferings with it1  build
 his ideal with it4 ,and it shall come  
to pass that he shall learn to  look    
with untroubled eyes upon the outward   
things of life1 nor fear the  touch of  
its thousand grasping hands1 knowing    
that his soul is in the hands  of ,one  

who can keep it safe in all the world's 
despite1 even ,god ,himself4            
,,vi4    ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,tears        
,they that sow in tears shall reap in   
joy4    ,he that goeth forth and        
weepeth1 bearing precious seed1         
,shall doubtless come again with        
rejoicing1    ,bringing his sheaves with
 him4      ,ps4 cxxvi4 #e1 #f4    ,it is
 almost impossible to recall the joys   
and sorrows of life without  having some
 thought of their compensative relation4
 ,we set our bright days  against our   
dark days4 ,we weigh our successes      
against our failures4 ,when  the hour   
through which we are living is          
whispering a bitter message1 we  recall 
the kindlier messages of other hours and
 say that we have much for  which we    
ought to be thankful4 ,and such a       
deliberate handling of  experience1 such
 a quiet adjustment of memories1 is not 
without its uses4  ,any view of life    
that will save a man from whining is    
worth taking4 ,any  reckoning that will 

prevent a man from indulging in         
self-pity--that  subtlety of            
selfishness--is worth making4 ,there is1
 moreover1 something  very simple and   
obvious in this way of thinking and     
judging4 ,to make one  kind of          
experience deal with another kind1 to   
set the days and the hours in  battle   
array--or shall we say to arrange a     
tourney where some  gaily-caparisoned   
and well-mounted ,yesterday is set to   
tilt with a  black-visored and silent   
,to-day--is a way of dealing with life  
which seems  to have much to commend it4
 ,but it has at the best serious        
limitations1 and  at the worst it may   
issue in a tragedy4 ,the wrong knight   
may be unhorsed4  ,the award may go to  
him of the black plume4 ,pitting one    
experience against  another has gone to 
the making of many a cynic and not a few
 despairing  souls4 ,the compensative   
interpretation of joy and sorrow may    
bring an  answer of peace to a man's    
soul1 or it may not4 ,but in this matter

 we are  dealing with things in which we
 cannot afford to risk an equivocal or a
  despairing answer4 ,we must win in    
every encounter4 ,it is not an hour's   
joy1  but a life's outlook that is at   
stake4 ,no hour's fight was ever worth  
fighting if it was fought for the sake  
of the hour4 ,the moments are ever      
challenging the eternal1 the swift and  
busy hours fling their gauntlets at  the
 feet of the ageless things4 ,the real  
battle of life is never between         
yesterday and to-day2 it is always      
between to-day and the ,forever4    ,to 
isolate an experience is to misinterpret
 it4 ,we may even completely  classify  
experiences1 and yet completely         
misunderstand experience4 ,to           
understand life at all we must get      
beyond the incidental and the           
alternating4 ,life is not a series of   
events charged with elements of         
contrast1 contradiction1 or surprise4   
,it is a deep1 coherent1 and            
unfaltering process4 ,and one feels that

 it was something more than the  chance 
of the moment that led the singer of old
 to weave the tears and the  rejoicings 
of men's lives into a figure of speech  
that stands for unity of  process1 even 
the figure of the harvest4    ,they that
 sow in tears shall reap in joy4 ,the   
sweep of golden grain is  not some      
arbitrary compensation for the life of  
the seed cast so lavishly  into the     
ground1 and biding the test of darkness 
and cold4 ,it is the very  seed itself  
fulfilled of all its being4 ,even so it 
is with the sorrows of  these hearts of 
ours and the joy unto which ,god        
bringeth us4 ,he does not  fling us a   
few glad hours to atone for the hours   
wherein we have suffered  adversity4    
,there is a deep sense in which the joys
 of life are its ripened  sorrows4      
,they that sow in tears4444 ,he that    
goeth forth and weepeth4 ,these are not 
the few who have been haunted by        
apparent failure1 or beset with         
outwardly  painful conditions of        

service4 ,they are not those who have   
walked in the  shadow of a lost leader1 
or toiled in the grey loneliness of a   
lost comrade  or of a brother proved    
untrue4 ,for apparent failure1 outward  
difficulty and  loneliness1 often as we 
may have to face them1 are1 after all1  
only the  accidents of ,godward toil4   
,and if the bearer of seed for ,god's   
great  harvest should go forth to find  
no experience of these things1 still1 if
 he  is to do any real work in the      
fields of the ,lord1 he must go forth   
weeping4  ,he must sow in tears4 ,let a 
man be utterly faithful and sincere1 let
 him  open his heart without reserve to 
the two great claims of the ideal and   
sympathy1 and he shall come to know that
 he has not found the hidden  meaning of
 daily service1 nor learned how he can  
best perform that service1  until he has
 tasted the sorrow at the heart of it4  
,the tears that are the  pledge of      
harvest are not called to the eyes by   
ridicule or opposition4  ,they are not  

the tears of disappointment1 vexation1  
or impotence4 ,they are  tears that dim 
the eyes of them that see visions1 and  
gather in the heart  of them that dream 
dreams4 ,to see the glory of ,god in the
 face of ,jesus  ,christ and the        
blindness of the world's heart to that  
glory2 to see  unveiled the beauty that 
should be1 and1 unveiled too1 the shame 
that is2  to have a spiritual nature    
that thrills at the touch of the perfect
 love  and life1 and responds to every  
note of pain borne in upon it from the  
murmurous trouble of the world1--this is
 to have inward fitness for the  high   
work of the ,kingdom4 ,yes1 and it is   
the pledge that this work shall be      
done4 ,there is such a thing as artistic
 grief4 ,there is the vain and          
languorous pity of aestheticism4 ,its   
robe of sympathy is wrapped about       
itself and bejewelled with its own      
tears4 ,and it never goes forth4 ,you   
never meet it in 'the darkness of the   
terrible streets4'    ,he that goeth    

forth and weepeth4 ,it is his tears that
 cause him to go  forth4 ,it is his     
sorrow that will not let him rest4 ,true
 pity is a mighty  motive4 ,when the    
real abiding pathos of life has gripped 
a man's heart1 you  will find him afield
 doing the work of the ,lord4 ,you will 
not see his  tears4 ,there will be a    
smile in his eyes and1 maybe1 a song on 
his lips4  ,for the sorrow and the joy  
of service dwell side by side in a man's
 life4  ,indeed1 they often seem to him 
to be but one thing4 ,it were a mistake 
to  refer the whole meaning of the words
 about a man's coming 'again with       
rejoicing1 bringing his sheaves with    
him' to some far day when the reapers   
of ,god shall gather the last great     
harvest of the world4 ,through his tears
  the sower sees the harvest4 ,through  
all his life there rings many a sweet   
prophetic echo of the harvest home4     
,he that goeth forth and weepeth4 ,no   
man ever wept like that and went not    
forth1 but some go forth who have not   

wept4 ,and they go forth to certain     
failure4 ,they mishandle life1 and with 
good intent do harm4 ,but that is not   
the worst thing to be said about these  
toilers without tears4 ,it is not  that 
they touch life so unskilfully1 but they
 touch so little of it4 ,it is  only    
through his tears that a man sees what  
his work is and where it lies4          
,tearless eyes are purblind4 ,we have   
yet much to learn about the real needs  
of the world4 ,so many try very         
earnestly to deal with situations they  
have  never yet really seen4 ,for the   
uplifting of men and for the great      
social  task of this our day we need    
ideas1 and enthusiasm1 and all sorts of 
resource2 but most of all1 and first of 
all1 we need vision4 ,and the man  who  
goes farthest1 and sees most1 and does  
most1 is 'he that goeth forth  and      
weepeth4'          ,,vii4               
,,deliverance ,,with ,,honour        ,he
 shall call upon ,me1 and ,i will answer
 him2    ,i will be with him in trouble3

    ,i will deliver him1 and honour him4
    ,with long life will ,i satisfy him1
    ,and show him ,my salvation4        
,ps4 xci4 #ae1 #af4    ,he shall call   
upon ,me4 ,he shall need ,me4 ,he shall 
not be able to live  without ,me4 ,as   
the years pass over his head he shall   
learn that there is  one need woven into
 human life larger and deeper and more  
abiding than any  other need--and that  
need is ,god4 ,thus doth divinity       
prophesy concerning  humanity4 ,thus    
doth infinite foresight predict a man's 
need4    ,we peer in our purblind       
fashion into the future and try to      
anticipate our  needs4 ,we fence        
ourselves in with all sorts of fancied  
securities1 and then  we comfort        
ourselves with the shrewdness and       
completeness of our  forecasting and    
provision-making4 ,and sometimes it is  
just folly with a  grave face4 ',he     
shall call upon ,me4' ,a man has learned
 nothing until he has  learned that he  
needs ,god4 ,and we take a long time    

over that lesson4 ,it has  sometimes to 
be beaten into us--written in conscience
 and heart by the  finger of pain4 ,how 
the little storehouse of life has to be 
almost stripped  of its treasures1 how  
our faith in the things of the hour has 
to be played  with and mocked1 ere we   
call upon ,god in heaven to fill us with
 abiding  treasure and fold us in       
eternal love4    ,he shall call upon    
,me1 and1 ,i will answer him4 ,but ,i   
have called1 says  one1 and ,he has not 
answered4 ,i called upon ,him when my   
little child was  sick unto death1 and1 
spite my calling1 the little white soul 
fluttered  noiselessly into the great   
beyond4 ,my friend1 you call that tiny  
green  mound in the churchyard ,god's   
silence4 ,some day you will call it     
,god's  answer4 ,our prayers are        
sometimes torn out of our hearts by the 
pain of the  moment4 ,god's answers come
 forth from the unerring quiet of       
eternity4 ',he  shall call upon ,me4'   
',he shall ask ,me to help him1 but he  

does not know how  he can be helped4 ,he
 is hedged about by a thousand          
limitations of thought4  ,his life is   
full of distortions4 ,he cannot         
distinguish between a blessing  and a   
curse4 ,i cannot heed the dictations of 
his prayers1 but ,i will answer  him4'  
,this is the voice of ,him to whom the  
ravelled complexities of men's  minds   
are simplicity itself2 who dwells beyond
 the brief bewilderments and  mistaken  
desirings and false ideals of men's     
hearts4    ,oh these divine answers6    
,how they confuse us6 ,it is their      
perfection that  bewilders us2 it is    
their completeness that carries them    
beyond our  comprehension4    ,there is 
the stamp of the local and the temporary
 on all our asking4 ,the  answer that   
comes is wider than life and longer than
 time1 and fashioned  after a           
completeness whereof we do not even     
dream4    ,i will be with him in        
trouble4 ,trouble is that in life which 
becomes to  us a gospel of tears1 a     

ministry of futility4 ,this is because  
we have  grasped the humanity of the    
word and missed the divinity of it4 ,we 
are  always doing that4 ,always         
gathering the meaning of the moments and
 missing  the meaning of the years4     
,always smarting under the sharp        
discipline and  missing the merciful    
design3 ',with ,him in trouble4' ,that  
helps me to  believe in my religion4    
,trouble is the test of the creeds4 ,a  
fig for the  orthodoxy that cannot      
interpret tears6 ,write vanity upon the 
religion that  is of no avail in the    
house of sorrow4 ,when the earthly song 
falls on  silence we are disposed to    
call it a pitiable silence4 ,not so4    
,let us say a  divinely opportune       
silence1 for when the many voices grow  
dumb the ,one  ,voice speaks3 ',i will  
be with him in trouble1' and the man who
 has lost the  everything that is       
nothing only to find the one thing that 
is all knows  what that promise means4  
,i will deliver him4 ,what a masterful1 

availing1 victorious presence is  this6 
,how this promise goes out beyond our   
human ministries of consolation6  ,how  
often the most we can do is to walk by  
our brother's side whilst he  bears a   
burden we cannot share6 ,how often the  
earthly sympathy is just a  communion of
 sad hearts--one weak hand holding      
another6 ',i will deliver  him4' ,that  
is not merely sympathy1 it is victory4  
,the divine love does not  merely       
condole1 it delivers4    ,you cannot add
 anything to this promise4 ,it is       
complete4 ,the time of the  deliverance 
is there1 the manner of it is there1 the
 whole ministry of help  is there4 ,you 
say you cannot find anything about time 
and manner4 ,you can  only find the bare
 promise of deliverance4 ,my friend1    
there are no bare  promises in the lips 
of the ,heavenly ,father4 ,in the       
mighty1 merciful  leisure of            
omnipotence1 in the perfect fitness of  
things1 in a way wiser  than his        
thinking and better than his hoping and 

larger than his prayer1 ',i  will       
deliver him4'    ,and honour him4 ,it   
will be no scanty1 obscure1 uncertain   
deliverance4  ,there shall be light in  
it1 glory in it4 ,the world battles with
 its  troubles and seems sometimes to be
 successful1 until we see how those     
troubles have shaken its spirit and     
twisted its temper2 and see1 too1 how   
much of the beautiful and the strong and
 the sweet has been lost in the  fight4 
',i will deliver him' with an abundant  
and an honourable  deliverance--he shall
 come forth from his tribulations more  
noble1 tender1  and self-possessed4     
,hereafter there shall be given him the 
honour of one  whom the stress of life  
has driven into the arms of ,god4    ,oh
 how we miss this ministry of           
ennoblement6 ,we reap a harvest of      
insignificance from the seeds of sorrow 
sown in our hearts4 ,we let our  cares  
dishonour us4 ,the little cares rasp and
 fret and sting the manliness  and the  
womanliness and the godlikeness out of  

us4 ,and the great cares  crush us      
earthward till there is scarcely a sweet
 word left in our lips or  a noble      
thought in our heart4 ,a man cannot save
 his soul in the day of  trouble4 ,he   
cannot by himself make good the wear and
 tear of anxieties and  griefs4 ,he can 
hold his head high and hide his secret  
deep1 but he cannot  keep his life      
sweet4 ,only ,christ can teach a man how
 to find the nameless  dignity of the   
crown of thorns4 ,the kingship of       
suffering is a secret in  the keeping of
 faith and love4 ,if a man accepts this 
deliverance of his ,god  folded in      
flashes of understanding1 ministries of 
explanation1 revivals of  faith1 and    
gifts of endurance1 he shall find the   
honour that is to be won  among life's  
hard and bitter things4    ,with long   
life will ,i satisfy him1 and show him  
,my salvation4 ,we have  seen a         
grey-headed libertine1 and we have      
missed from among the  clean-hearted and
 the faithful some brave young life that

 was giving itself  vigorously to the   
holy service4 ,but perhaps we have had  
the grace not to  challenge the utter   
faithfulness of ,god4 ,the measure of   
life is not written  on a registrar's   
certificates of birth and death4 ,there 
is something here  that lies beyond     
dates and documents4 ,life here and     
hereafter is one1 and  death is but an  
event in it4 ,who lives to ,god lives   
long1 be his years many  or few4 ,it is 
reasonable to expect some relationship  
between godliness and  longevity4 ,but  
we are nearer the truth when we see how 
that faith and  prayer discover and     
secure the eternal values of fleeting   
days4    ,and show him ,my salvation4   
,that is the whole text summed up in one
  phrase4 ,that is the life of the godly
 man gathered into the compass of the   
divine promise4 ,for every one who goes 
the way of faith and obedience1 life  in
 every phase of it1 life here and       
hereafter1 means but one thing and      
holds but one thing1 and that is the    

salvation of the ,lord4          ,,viii4
    ,,petition ,,and ,,communion        
,hear me speedily1 ,o ,lord4444         
,cause me to hear 444    ,for ,i lift up
 my soul unto ,thee4      ,ps4 cxliii4  
#g1 #h4    ,you will notice that the    
first verse begins ',hear me1' and the  
second  begins ',cause me to hear'2 and 
the second is greater than the first4   
,let us  look1 then1 at these two       
attitudes of a man in his hour of       
prayer4    ,hear me4 ,the ,psalmist     
began1 where all men must begin1 with   
himself4 ,he  had something to utter in 
the hearing of the ,almighty4 ,he had   
something to  lay before his ,god--a    
story1 a confession1 a plea4 ,his heart 
was full1 and  must outpour itself into 
the ear of ,heaven4 ',hear me speedily1 
,o ,lord4' ,we  have all prayed thus4   
,we have all faced some situation that  
struck a note  of urgency in our life1  
and all your soul has come to our lips  
in this one  cry that went up to the    
,father1 ',hear me4' ,a sudden pain1 a  

surprise of  sorrow1 a few moments of   
misty uncertainty in the face of        
decisions that  had to be made at once1 
times when life has tried to rush us    
from our  established position and to   
bear us we know not where--and our soul 
has  reached out after ,god as simply   
and naturally as a man grasps at some   
fixed  thing when he is falling4        
,there are times1 too1 when prayer is an
 indefinable relief4 ,we all know       
something about the relief of speech4   
,we must speak to somebody4 ,our need   
is not1 first of all1 either advice or  
practical help4 ,we want a hearing4  ,we
 want some one to listen and sympathize4
 ,we want to share our pain4 ,that  is  
what ',hear me' sometimes means4        
,whatever ,thou shalt see fit to do for 
me1 at least listen to my cry4 ,let me  
unburden my soul4 ,let me get this      
weight of silence off my heart4 ,this   
fashion of relief is part of the true   
office of prayer4 ,herein lies the      
reasonableness of telling our story in  

the ear of ,one who knows that story    
better than we do4 ,we need not inform  
the ,all-knowing1 but we must commune   
with the ,all-pitiful4 ,we make our life
  known unto ,god that we may make it   
bearable unto ourselves4    ,but let us 
look at the attitude of mind and heart  
revealed in this second  position1      
,cause me to hear4 ,now we are coming to
 the larger truth about  prayer1 and the
 deeper spirit of it4 ,prayer is not    
merely claiming a  hearing2 it is giving
 a hearing4 ,it is not only speaking to 
,god2 it is  listening to ,god4 ,and as 
the heavens are higher than the earth1  
so are the  words we hear greater than  
the words we speak4 ,let us not forget  
this4 ,let  us not pauperize ourselves  
by our very importunity4 ,maybe we are  
vociferous  when ,god is but waiting for
 a silence to fall in ,his earthly      
temples that  ,he may have speech with  
,his children4 ,we talk about           
'prevailing prayer1'  and there is a    
great truth in the phrase4 ,all prayer  

does not prevail4  ,there is that among 
men which passes for prayer but has no  
spiritual grip1  no assurance1 no       
masterful patience1 no fine desperation4
 ,there is a place  for all these       
things1 and a need for them1 in the life
 of prayer4 ,we need  the courage of a  
great faith and the earnestness that is 
born of necessity4  ,we need to be able 
to lift up our faces toward heaven in   
the swelling joys  and the startling    
perils of these mortal hours and cry1   
',hear me1' knowing  that ,god does hear
 us and that the outcrying of every     
praying heart rings  clear and strong in
 the courts of the ,heavenly ,king4 ,but
 we need something  more2 we need a very
 great deal more than this1 if we are to
 enter into the  true meaning of        
prevailing prayer4 ,the final triumph of
 prayer is not ours2  it is ,god's4     
,when we are upon our knees before ,him1
 it is ,he1 and not we1  that must      
prevail4 ,this is the true victory of   
faith and prayer1 when the  ,father     

writes ,his purpose more clearly in our 
minds1 lays ,his commandment  more      
inwardly upon our hearts4 ,we do not get
 one faint glimpse into the  meaning of 
that mysterious conflict at ,peniel     
until we see that the  necessity for the
 conflict lay in the heart of ,jacob and
 not in the heart  of ,god4 ,the man who
 wrestled with the ,angel and prevailed 
passes before us  in the glow of the    
sunrise weary and halt1 with a changed  
name and a  changed heart4 ,so must it  
be with us2 so shall it be1 if ever we  
know what  it is to prevail in prayer4  
,importunity must not become a blind and
  uninspired clamouring for the thing we
 desire4 ,such an attitude may easily   
set us beyond the possibility of        
receiving that which ,god knows we need4
 ,we  must not forget that our poor     
little plea for help and blessing does  
not  exhaust the possibilities of       
prayer4 ,our words go upward to ,god's  
throne  twisted by our imperfect        
thinking1 narrowed by our outlook1      

sterilized by  the doubts of our hearts1
 and we do not know what is good for us4
 ,his word  comes downward into our     
lives laden with the quiet certainty of 
the  ,eternal1 wide as the vision of    
,him who seeth all1 deep as the wisdom  
of ,him  who knoweth all4    ,so1       
however much it may be to say ',hear    
me1' it is vastly more to say  ',cause  
me to hear4' ,however much ,i have to   
tell ,him1 ,he has more to tell  me4    
,this view of prayer will help to clear 
up for us some of the  difficulties that
 have troubled many minds4 ,we hear     
people speak of  unanswered prayer2 but 
there is no such thing1 and in the      
nature of things  there cannot be4 ,i do
 not mean by that1 that to every prayer 
there will  come a response some day4   
,to every prayer there is a response    
now4 ,in our  confused and mechanical   
conception of the ,god to whom we pray1 
we separate  between ,his hearing and   
,his answering4 ,we identify the answer 
to prayer  with the granting of a       

petition4 ,but prayer is more than      
petition4 ,it is  not our many requests1
 it is an attitude of spirit4 ,we grant 
readily that  our words are the least   
important part of our prayers4 ,but very
 often the  petitions we frame and utter
 are no part of our prayers at all4     
,they are  not prayer1 yet uttering them
 we may pray a prayer that shall be     
heard and  answered1 for every man who  
truly desires in prayer the help of ,god
 for his  life receives that help there 
and then1 though the terms in which he  
describes his need may be wholly wide of
 the truth as ,god knows it4 ,so the    
real answer to prayer is ,god's response
 to man's spiritual attitude1 and  that 
response is as complete and continuous  
as the attitude will allow it  to be4   
,the end of prayer is not to win        
concessions from ,almighty ,power1 but  
to have communion with ,almighty ,love4 
',cause me to hear'2 make a reverent1   
responsive1 receptive silence in my     
heart1 take me out beyond my pleadings  

into the limitless visions and the      
fathomless satisfactions of communion   
with ,thyself4 ,speak to me4 ,that is   
true prayer4      ,in the quietness of  
life1    ,when the flowers have shut    
their eye1    ,and a stainless breadth  
of sky    ,bends above the hill of      
strife1    ,then1 my ,god1 my chiefest  
,good1    ,breathe upon my lonelihood3  
,let the shining silence be    ,filled  
with ,thee1 my ,god1 with ,thee4        
,,ix4    ,,haunted ,,hours              
,wherefore should ,i fear in the days of
 evil1    when iniquity at my heels     
compasseth me about8      ,ps4 xlix4 #e4
    ,iniquity at my heels4 ,temptation  
is very often indirect4 ,it is compact  
of  wiles and subtleties and stratagems4
 ,it is adept at taking cover4 ,it does 
not make a frontal attack unless the    
obvious state of the soul's defences    
justifies such a method of attempting a 
conquest4 ,the stronger a man is1  the  
more subtle and difficult are the ways  
of sin1 as it seeks to enter and  to    

master his life4 ,there are many        
temptations that never face us1 and     
never give us a chance of facing them4  
,they follow us4 ,we can hear their     
light footfall and their soft           
whisperings1 but the moment we turn     
round  upon them they vanish4 ,if they  
disappeared for good1 they would be the 
easiest to deal with of all the ill     
things that beset our lives4 ,but they  
do not4 ,the moment we relax our bold1  
stern search for the face of the  enemy1
 there the evil thing is again--the     
light footfall and the soft  voice4 ,it 
is terrible work fighting a suggestion4 
,there are the thoughts  that a man will
 not cherish and cannot slay4 ,they may 
never enter the  programme of his life1 
but there they are1 haunting him1       
waiting1 so to  speak1 at the back of   
his brain1 till he gets used to them4   
,when he seeks  to grapple with these   
enemies his hands close on emptiness4   
,one straight  blow1 one decisive       
denial1 one stern rebuke1 one defiant   

confession of  faith will not suffice   
for these things4 ,they compass a man's 
heels4 ,he  cannot trample them down4   
,the fashion of the evils that compass  
us  determines the form of the fight we 
wage with them4 ,preparations that might
  amply suffice the city in the day when
 an army with banners comes against  it 
are no good at all if a plague has to be
 fought4 ,so there is a way we  have to 
take with 'the iniquity at our heels4'  
,it calls for much patience  and much   
prayer4 ,if we cannot prevent sin from  
following us1 we can at  least prevent  
ourselves from turning and following it4
 ,a man can always  choose his path if  
he cannot at every moment determine his 
company4 ,and as  a man goes onward and 
upward steadfastly toward the ,city of  
,light1 the evil  things fall off and   
drop behind1 and ,god shall bring him   
where no evil  thing dare follow1 and   
where no ravenous beast shall stalk its 
prey4    ,the battle with sin is not an 
incident in the ,christian life2 it is  

the  abiding condition of it4 ,while    
there are some temptations that we have 
to  slay1 there are others we have to   
outgrow4 ,they are overcome1 not by any 
one supreme assertion of the will1 but  
by the patient cultivation of all  the  
loftiest and most wholesome and delicate
 and intensely spiritual modes  of      
feeling and of being4    ,again1 let me 
suggest that iniquity at our heels is   
sometimes an old sin in  a new form4    
,you remember the difficulty that       
,hiawatha had in hunting down  ,pau-puk 
,keewis4 ,that mischievous magician     
assumed the form of a beaver1  then that
 of a bird1 then that of a serpent2 and 
though each in turn was  slain1 the     
magician escaped and mocked his pursuer4
 ,surely a parable of our  strife with  
sin4 ,we smite it in one form and it    
comes to life in another4  ,one day a   
man is angry--clenched fingers and hot  
words4 ,he conquers his  anger2 but the 
next day there is a spirit of bitterness
 rankling in his  heart1 and maybe a    

tinge of regret that he did not say and 
do more when his  heart was hot within  
him and fire was on his lips4 ,the sin  
he faced and  fought yesterday has      
become iniquity at his heels4 ,having   
failed to knock  him down1 it tries to  
trip him up4 ,maybe many waste their    
energies trying  to deal with the forms 
of sin1 and never grapple with the fact 
of sin4  ,hence the evil things that    
compass men's souls about with their    
dread  ministries of suggestion1 and    
flutter on unhallowed wings in the wake 
of  life4 ,the sin that confronts us    
reveals to us our need of strength1 but 
the  sin that dogs our steps has1 maybe1
 a deeper lesson to teach us--even our  
need of heart-deep holiness4 ,good      
resolution will do much to clear the    
path  ahead1 but only purity of         
character can rid us of the persistent  
haunting  peril of the sin that plucks  
at the skirt of life4 ,the deliverance  
,god  offers to the struggling soul     
covers not only the hour of actual      

grappling  with the foe1 but all the    
hours when it is the stealth and not the
 strength  of evil that we most have    
cause to fear4    ,iniquity at my heels4
 ,these words remind us that sin is not 
done with  after it is committed4 ,god  
forgives sin1 but ,he does not          
obliterate all its  consequences1 either
 in our own lives or in the lives of    
others4 ,a man may  have the light of   
the ,city of ,god flashing in his face1 
and a whole host of  shameful memories  
and bitter regrets crowding at his      
heels4 ,we do not know  what sin is till
 we turn our backs on it4 ,then we find 
its tenacity and its  entanglement4     
,what would we not give if only we could
 leave some things  behind us6 ,what    
would we not do if only we could put a  
space between  ourselves and our past6  
,the fetters of evil habit may be       
broken1 but their  marks are upon us1   
and the feet that bore the fetters go   
more slowly for  them many days4 ,the   
hands that have been used to grasping   

and holding do  not open without an     
effort1 even though the heart has at    
last learned that  it is more blessed to
 give than to receive4    ,yes1 and our 
sins come to life again in the lives of 
others4 ,the light word  that ought to  
have been a grave word and that shook   
another's good  resolution1 the cool    
word that ought to have been a warm word
 and that  chilled a pure enthusiasm--we
 cannot have done with these things4    
,parents  sometimes live to see their   
sins of indulgence or of neglect        
blighting the  lives of those to whom   
they owed a debt of firmness and        
kindness4 ,it is  iniquity at the heels4
 ,these passages of carelessness and    
unfaithfulness  haunt men1 be their     
repentance never so bitter and their    
amendment never so  sincere and         
successful4 ,but all this is for        
discipline and not for despair4  ,it    
casts us back upon ,god's mercy4 ,it    
keeps the shadow of the cross upon  all 
our path4 ,it has something to do with  

the making of 'a humble1 lowly1         
penitent1 and obedient heart4' ,the     
memory of the irreparable is a sorrow of
  the saints4      ,saint1 did ,i say8  
,with your remembered faces1      ,dear 
men and women whom ,i sought and slew6  
,ah1 when we mingle in the heavenly     
places1      ,how will ,i weep to       
,stephen and to you6    ,only let us not
 be afraid nor wholly cast down4 ,rather
 let us say1  ',wherefore should ,i fear
 when the iniquity at my heels          
compasseth me  about8' ,by the grace of 
,god the hours of the soul's sad memory 
and of  clinging regrets shall mean unto
 us a ministry of humility and a passion
 of  prayer4 ,and through them ,god     
shall give us glimpses of the gateway of
 that  life where regret and shame and  
sorrow fall back unable to enter4 ,there
 is  a place whither the iniquity at a  
man's heels can no longer follow him1   
and  where in the perfect life the soul1
 at last1 is able to forget4            
,x4    ,,the ,,wings ,,of ,,the ,,dove  

,and ,i said1 ,oh that ,i had wings like
 a dove6    ,then would ,i fly away1 and
 be at rest4444    ,i would haste me to 
a shelter    ,from the stormy wind and  
tempest4      ,ps4 lv4 #f1 #h4    ,these
 words are the transcript of a mood4    
,the writer is not unfolding to us  any 
of the deep persistent longings of his  
spirit2 he is telling us of a  thought  
that shadowed his soul for an hour4 ,let
 us look into this mood of  his4 ,it is 
not his in any unique or even peculiar  
sense4 ,in moods1 as in  manners1       
history is wont to repeat itself4 ,the  
writer of this poem has  voiced one of  
the great common experiences of         
humanity4 ,but let us be quite  clear as
 to what that experience really is4 ,let
 us not be misled by the  music and the 
seeming unworldliness of these words    
about winged flight from  a world of    
trouble and strife4 ,the ,psalmist was  
not looking heavenward1 but  earthward1 
when this plea for wings broke from his 
heart4 ,he was moved to  speak as he    

did1 not by the surpassing charm of a   
heavenly vision1 but by  the dark unrest
 of the earthly outlook4 ,the emphatic  
note here is that of  departure1 not of 
destination4 ,it is necessary to remind 
ourselves that  this is so1 for these   
words have become the classic of the    
home-sick soul4  ,they have been used to
 voice the farthest and most truly      
divine desires of  the human heart4 ,and
 by virtue of such use they have        
gathered a meaning  which was not theirs
 at the beginning4 ,at that meaning we  
will presently  look1 but let us first  
of all look at this longing as it stands
 in the  psalm and as it represents an  
experience that is threaded through the 
history of humanity4    ,oh that ,i had 
wings 444 then would ,i fly away4 ,here 
the idea of fleeing  away suggests      
itself as a possible solution of life2  
and whenever it comes  to a man like    
this it is a source of weakness4 ,it is 
not a desire to find  the joys of       
heaven2 it is a desire to escape the    

pains of earth4 ,there is  no vista1 no 
wistful distance1 no long1 alluring     
prospect4 ,the soul is  hemmed in by its
 enemies1 crushed down by its burdens1  
beset on all sides  by the frets of the 
earthly lot2 and there comes a vague    
desire to be out  of it all4 ,it is not 
aspiration1 it is evasion4 ,it is not   
response to the  ideal1 it is recoil    
from the actual4 ,it is not the spell of
 that which  shall be that is upon the  
soul1 but the irksomeness or the        
dreadfulness of  that which is4 ,this is
 a mood that awaits us all4 ,no man     
faces life as it  should be faced1 but  
some can hardly be said to face it at   
all4 ,their face  is ever turned towards
 a seductive vision of quietness4 ,the  
solution of  life for them is not in a  
fight1 but in a retreat4 ,of course we  
know there  is no going back1 and no    
easy deliverance from the burden and the
 battle1  but in the thick of any fight 
there is a great difference between the 
man  who wants victory and the man who  

merely wants a cessation of hostilities4
    ,this plea for wings does not       
necessarily betoken 'a desire to        
depart4' ,it  rather indicates a desire 
to remain under more favourable and     
comfortable  conditions4 ,such a mood is
 not the highest and the healthiest     
experience of  the soul4 ,it is rather  
something against which we must fight   
relentlessly4  ,very often the longing  
for wings results only in lagging       
footsteps4  ,picturing to ourselves the 
luxury of laying life down will not help
 us to  face the duty of taking life up4
 ,the secret of enervation is found not 
in  the poverty of our resources1 but in
 the cowardliness and selfishness of    
our attitude towards life4 ,the battle  
is half won when we have looked the     
enemy in the face4 ,the burden is the   
better borne as we stoop under the  full
 weight of it4    ,oh that ,i had wings 
like a dove6 ,that is a short-sighted   
and a selfish  desire4 ,supposing you   
had wings1 what would you do8 ,fly away 

from the moil  of the world and find    
rest and shelter for yourself8 ,is that 
the best and  noblest thing to desire to
 do8 ,after all1 we know other and      
loftier moods  than this4 ,we know that 
staying is better than going when there 
is so much  to stay for4 ,we know that  
working is better than resting when     
there is so  much to do4 ,we have       
something better to think about than a  
quiet lodgement  in the wilderness1 we  
who live in a world where the strength  
of our hands  and the warmth of our     
hearts count for something4 ,to give    
your tired  brother a lift is a vastly  
more profitable occupation than sitting 
at the  roadside and wishing you could  
fly4 ,man1 you ought to be glad that you
 can  walk--in a world where there are  
so many cripples that want help4    ,oh 
that ,i had wings6444 then would ,i fly 
away4 ,that desire has never  taken any 
one to heaven1 but it has made them less
 useful upon earth4 ,the  breath of this
 desire is able to blight the flowers of

 social service4 ,no  one would be      
foolish enough to indict suburbanism as 
a mode of life4 ,the  day must surely   
come when few or none will dwell in the 
smoke-grimed heart  of the city4 ,but in
 as far as a man seeks the fairest      
suburb open to him in  order that he may
 see little of1 and think little of1    
'the darkness of the  terrible streets1'
 then the very life that restores health
 to his body  shall sow seeds of disease
 in his soul4    ,there is only one way 
to rest1 and that lies right through the
 heart of the  world's work and pain4   
,rest is not for those who flee away    
from life's  difficulties1 but for those
 who face them4 ',take my yoke 444 and  
ye shall  find rest4' ,it were not well 
for our own sakes that we had wings4 ,it
 were  not well for us to be able to    
avoid the burden-bearing and the tale of
  tired days1 for ,god has hidden the   
secret of our rest in the heart of our  
toiling4 ,they who come unto the ,city  
of ,god come there not by the easy      

flight of a dove1 but by the long1 slow 
pilgrimage of unselfishness4    ,yet    
there is a beauty and a fitness in this 
longing4 ,it is expressive of  more than
 the weariness of a world-worn spirit1  
or the thinly disguised  selfishness of 
one who fears to pay the price of life4 
,when the long working-day of life is   
wearing away its last hours and  verging
 towards the great stillness1 the voices
 of time fall but faintly on  the ear1  
the adorations and ideals and fashions  
and enthusiasms of the  world come to   
mean little to a man who in his day has 
followed them as  eagerly as any1 and   
the heart within him asks only for rest4
      ,god1 if there be none beside     
,thee      ,dwelling in the light1      
,take me out of the world and hide me   
,somewhere behind the night4    ,when1  
like ,simeon the seer with the          
,christ-,child in his arms1 a man feels 
that for him life has said its last word
 and shown its last wonder and  uttered 
its last benediction1 the desire for    

rest is a pure and spiritually  normal  
thing2 it is just the soul's gaze turned
 upward where                beyond     
these toils        ,god waiteth us      
above1    ,to give to hand and heart the
 spoils        ,of labour and of love4  
,and maybe this mood of which we are    
thinking may have a not unworthy place  
in a strenuous life4 ,as a tired woman  
pauses amid her tasks and looks out  of 
her cottage window to take into her     
heart the quiet beauty of the woods     
where she knows the ground is fair with 
lilies1 so do we find ourselves  looking
 out of life's small casement and       
thinking upon the fresh1 free1          
'outdoor' life the soul will some day   
live4 ,and such a mood as this is       
surely a sign of the soul's growth1 a   
testimony of its responsiveness to  the 
divine touch1 a sudden sense of its     
splendid destiny borne in upon it  among
 the grey and narrow circumstances of   
its service4      ,oh that ,i had a     
dove's swift1 silver wings1    ,i said1 

so ,i might straightway leave behind    
,this strife of tongues1 this tramp of  
feet1 and find    ,a world that knows no
 struggles and no stings1    ,where all 
about the soul soft ,silence flings     
,her filmy garment1 and the vexd mind   
,grows quiet as there floats upon the   
wind    ,the soothing slumber-song of   
dreamless things4    ,and lo6 there     
answered me a voice and said1    ,man1  
thou hast hands and heart1 take back thy
 prayer2    ,covet life's weariness1 go 
forth and share    ,the common suffering
 and the toil for bread4    ,look not on
 ,rest1 although her face be fair1      
,and her white hands shall smooth thy   
narrow bed4          ,,xi4    ,a ,,new  
,,song        ,o sing unto the ,lord a  
new song4      ,ps4 xcvi4 #a4    ,time  
and again in the ,psalter we find this  
appeal for a new song4 ,first of  all1  
and most obviously1 the appeal concerns 
the contents of the song4 ,it  reminds  
us of the duty of making our grateful   
acknowledgement of ,god's  goodness to  

us expand with our growing experience of
 that goodness4 ,it is1  if1 one may so 
phrase it1 a reminder to us that our    
praise needs bringing  up to date4 ,a   
hymn considerably later in date than    
this psalm exhorts us to  'count' our   
'blessings1' and to 'name them one by   
one4' ,this exhortation to  attempt the 
impossible is perhaps more worthy of    
being heeded than the form  in which it 
is presented to us might lead some to   
suppose4 ,there is no  getting away from
 the simple fact that a man's           
thankfulness has a real and             
proportionate relationship to the things
 for which he has cause to be  thankful4
 ,if in our daily life the phrase 'the  
goodness of ,god' is to have  a         
deepening and cumulative significance1  
it must be informed and vitalized       
continually by an alert and responsive  
recognition of the forms in which  that 
goodness is ever freshly manifested to  
us4 ,whilst the roots of the  tree of   
praise lie deep beneath the surface1 and

 wind their thousand ways  into dim     
places where memory itself cannot follow
 them1 yet surely the  leaves of the    
tree are fresher and greener for rain   
that even now has left  its reviving    
touch upon them1 and for the sunshine   
that is even now  stirring the life in  
all their veins4 ,the figure is         
imperfect4 ,we are not  trees4 ,we do   
not respond automatically to all the    
gracious and cheering  ministries of the
 ,eternal ,goodness in our lives4 ,we   
may easily overlook  many a good gift of
 our ,god4 ,and though in our           
forgetfulness and  unthankfulness we    
profit by the sunlight and the dew and  
by each tender  thought of ,god for ,his
 creatures1 yet the full and perpetual  
profit of all  good things is for each  
of us bound up with the power to see    
them1 the  wisdom to appraise them1 the 
mindfulness that holds them fast1 and   
the  heart that sings out its           
thanksgiving for them4 ',o sing unto the
 ,lord a new  song4' ,bring this day's  

life into the song4 ,bring the gift that
 has come to  thee this very hour into  
the song4 ,look about thee4 ,see if     
there be but one  more flower springing 
at the path-side4 ,see if the bud of    
yesterday has but  unfolded another     
leaf4 ,behold the loaf on thy table1    
feel the warmth of thy  hearth1 yea1    
feel the very life within thee that woke
 again and stirred  itself with the     
morning light1 and say these gifts are  
like unto the gifts  of yesterday1 but  
they are not yesterday's gifts4         
,yesterday's bread is  broken1 and      
yesterday's fire is dead1 and           
yesterday's strength is spent4 ,o  ,god1
 ,thy mercies are new every morning6 ,so
 shall a new song break from the  heart4
    ,it is quite possible1 in taking    
what we believe to be a broad view of   
life1  to overlook many of the things   
that go to make life4 ,too much         
generalizing  makes for a barren heart4 
,the specific has a vital place in the  
ministry of  praise4 ,it is true that   

the highest flights of praise always    
carry the soul  beyond any conscious    
reckoning with the details of its       
experience4  ,tabulation is not the     
keystone of the arch of thanksgiving4   
,but to behold  the specific goodness of
 ,god in each day's life1 to review the 
hours and to  say to one's own soul1    
,thus and thus hath my ,god been mindful
 of me1 is  perhaps the surest and the  
simplest way to deepen and vitalize the 
habit of  praise in our life1 and to set
 the new notes ringing in our psalm of  
thanksgiving4    ,but in this appeal for
 a new song of praise to ,god there is  
something more  than a recognition of   
new blessings4 ,the new song is not     
merely the  response to new mercies and 
the tuneful celebration of recent good4 
,if  there is to be ever a new note in  
the song1 there must be ever a new note 
in the singer's heart4 ,and this cometh 
not by observation1 but by  inspiration4
 ,you may change the words of the song  
and it may still be the  old song4 ,you 

may sing the same words and it may yet  
be a new song4 ,for as  is the singer1  
so is the song4    ,o sing unto the     
,lord a new song4 ,that is a plea for a 
deeper and a wider  life4 ,it is a plea 
that sounds the depth of the heart and  
takes the measure  of the soul4 ,the new
 song comes not of a truer enumeration  
of life's  blessings1 but of a truer    
understanding of the blessedness of life
 itself4  ,the key to such understanding
 is character4 ,when by the grace of the
 clean  heart and the enlightened and   
responsive spirit a man can get beneath 
the  events of each day's life and      
commune with that eternal law of love to
  which each one of those events bears  
some relation--or had we not better  say
 commune with the ,eternal ,father by   
whom that law exists8--then is his  song
 of praise ever new4 ,it is something to
 catch a glimpse of the mercy of  ,god1 
and to think and feel as one has not    
thought or felt before about some  part 
of life's daily good4 ,but it is vastly 

more to learn to interpret the  whole of
 life in the terms of the goodness of   
,god4 ,the saint sings where  the       
worldling sighs4 ,and if we find in that
 song only the apotheosis of  courage   
and resignation1 we have neither found  
the source of the song nor  the message 
of it4 ,the new song comes not from the 
thrill of peril faced  and defied1 nor  
from the victorious acceptance of hard  
and bitter things4  ,it comes from that 
deep life of the soul in ,god1 a life   
beyond the threat  of peril and beyond  
the touch of pain4 ,it finds its deepest
 and freshest  notes not in             
contemplating the new gains and good of 
any day1 but in a  growing sense of the 
timeless gain and eternal good of every 
day4    ,and if all this be so1 it      
surely follows that the service of      
praise is not  something unto which we  
may pass by one effort of the will or   
that depends  upon the stimulus of      
outward experience4 ,it is conditioned  
rather by our  character1 and by our    

power to see the unveiled face of life  
reflecting  always the light of perfect 
love4 ,and it is to produce in us the   
right  character and the true insight   
that ,god disciplines us all our days4  
,it is  to set a new song in our hearts4
 ,said a professor of music at ,leipzig 
of a  girl whom he had trained for some 
years and who was the pride of the      
,conservatoire1 ',if only some one would
 marry her and ill-treat her and  break 
her heart she would be the finest singer
 in ,europe4' ,he missed  something in  
the song1 and knew it could never come  
there save from the  heart of the       
singer4 ,trouble always strikes a new   
note in life1 and often  the deepest    
note that is ever struck4 ,but1 be our  
experience joyous or  sorrowful1 the    
true end of it must ever be to deepen   
our own hearts that  there may be in us 
ever a more catholic recognition of1 and
 response to1  the ,eternal ,love4      
,the human soul is not a mere repository
 of experiences4 ,memory is not the     

true guardian of life's treasure4 ,that 
treasure is invested in character4  ,in 
the moral world we have what we are4 ,so
 we may recall that which we  have never
 possessed1 and may possess that which  
we can never recall4 ,and  it is out of 
that which we have become by ,god's     
grace1 rather than out of  that which we
 have received of that grace1 that the  
new song comes4    ,so1 as day by day we
 pray for the grace of new thanksgiving1
 we are seeking  something more than a  
new power to behold what good things    
each day brings  us1 a readier way of   
reckoning the wealth of the passing     
hours4 ,we are  seeking for a larger    
life in ,god1 and for a spirit able1 as 
it were1 to  secrete from every         
experience its hidden meed of           
everlasting blessing4 ,for  if the heart
 grow purer1 the will stronger1 the     
vision clearer1 the  judgement          
truer--indeed1 if there come to the soul
 each day some increase  of life--it    
shall surely find its way into living   

praise4 ,and a living song  is always a 
new song4