members of Him, of whom the Psalm primarily speaks (vers. 11-16)."

"Who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day." The word "safely" is the significant and valuable addition of the translators. One of the promises made to Israel in the Book of the prophet Hosea is: "I will make them to lie down safely." And here we thank God not merely for having brought us to another morning; not merely for having sustained our life by His power ("I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me"); but for having defended us from those "perils and dangers of the night," of which mention is made in the Evening Collect for Aid Against Perils, and for having raised us up safely, with powers recruited and renewed by rest.

"Defend us in the same by thy mighty power;" -more literally, "Save us to-day by thy power," reminding us of that verse of Psalm cvi., "Nevertheless He saved them for His name's sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known." But from what do we ask to be saved, preserved, defended? What follows answers the question.

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And grant that this day we fall into no sin." The first and chief evil, from which we ask to be defended by God's "mighty power," is sin. In the original the words are, "Grant that this day we turn aside into no sin." The image is that very common Scriptural one of a man's conduct being his walk. To conduct oneself

according to God's commandments is to walk straightforward in "the narrow way that leadeth unto life;" but to break these commandments or commit sin, is to turn aside out of the way.

"Neither run into any kind of danger." Here we pray to be delivered, not from sin only, but from its occasions. The words are, in the first instance, equivalent to "Lead us not into temptation," as the former clause was to "Deliver us from evil." We deprecate trial, when we say: "Lead us not into temptation"; we pray that God would not bring us, by His Providence, into circumstances of trial.-But "any kind of danger" will of course embrace bodily no less than spiritual risks. We may incur these risks -risks to life, health, and limb-unconsciously and indeliberately. And we here pray that God would not allow us to incur them, would watch over us, when we are not watching over ourselves. And, if we live, in the spirit of the petition, we shall not incur them deliberately, shall not tempt God's Providence by embarking in foolhardy enterprises, when there is little or nothing to be gained by them.

But that all our doings being ordered by thy governance." The word rendered "governance" is sometimes employed to denote the guidance of a ship by its helm. And we here pray that in passing through the sea of this troublesome world, on which we are now embarking for another day's voyage, we may be piloted by God's Spirit, who uses our conscience as His compass,

and as His chart the written word, wherein are laid down all the shoals, hidden rocks, and quicksands, of which we must steer clear, and the bearings which we must observe, if we would reach eventually "the land of everlasting life."

"May be righteous in thy sight." "The steps of a good man," says the Psalmist, "are ordered by the Lord" (this is the "governance” of which the former clause speaks), "and he delighteth in his way;" or, as our Prayer-Book Version has it, "maketh his way acceptable to himself," so that what the man does is "righteous in " God's "sight." It is an incentive to holy living, of which we are too apt to be forgetful, that with actions prompted by His Spirit, and which are the fruit of faith in Christ, God is well pleased. "Albeit," as our twelfth Article says, such "works cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ." They and the doers of them, are "righteous in His sight."

The Collect for Peace, at Evening Prayer.

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee, we, being defended from the feur of our enemies, may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Deus, a quo sancta desideria, recta consilia, et justa sunt opera; da servis tuis illam, quam mundus dare non potest, pacem; ut et corda nostra, mandatis tuis dedita el, hostium sublata formidine, tempora sint tua protectione tranquilla. Per, etc. (GEL. Sac., Miss. Sar., BREV. SAR.)

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N point of beauty and instructiveness this Collect ranks with the very first of those gems of devotion, which in such profusion adorn our Book of Common Prayer. But, beautiful as it is in the English translation, it is still more beautiful in the original; for in this, as in two or three other instances, the translation has disjointed the ideas, and broken up the unity of the prayer. It appears in the Missal of Sarum as the proper Collect of a Mass for Peace, the Gospel of which contains those words of our Lord, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace," while at the Post-Communion of this Mass the Collect for Peace in our Morning Prayer is appointed to be

said. The Latin Collect brackets together under a single aspiration the peace in the heart, which is not otherwise to be experienced than in devotion to God's commandments, and the outward peace of times and circumstances, which comes from the removal of the fear of our enemies. Here is a literal translation: "O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts devoted to thy commandments, and our times also, all fear of our enemies being removed, may be tranquil under thy protection." The tranquillity of the times is thus exhibited as standing in vital and intimate connection with the tranquillity of the heart, which connection is indeed the one thought of the Collect, the keystone which holds together its several ideas, and makes it a compact prayer. Left by their Divine Master in a world in which "tribulation" is to be their appointed lot, and in which they were exposed to all manner of assaults from evil men and evil angels, how are the disciples of Christ to find. peace? The external peace which they should enjoy should result entirely from the internal; their tranquillity should flow out from the heart into the times.

"O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed." The prayer is for peace. But for those who know not God there is no true peace. The successive stages of spiritual growth, which are here marked, are