ht thy commandments."

"I am Thine." Not merely God's creature: the very birds, and bees, and
flowers are that; and do their duty far better than I--God forgive me--do
mine.

"I am Thine." Not merely God's child: the sinners and the thoughtless
are that, though--God help them--they care not for Him, nor for His laws,
nor for themselves and their glorious inheritance as children of God.

And I too am God's child: but I trust that I am more. I am God's school-
child. O Lord Jesus Christ, I claim Thy help as my schoolmaster, as well
as my Lord and Saviour. I am the least of Thy school-children; and it
may be the most ignorant and most stupid. I do not pretend to be a
scholar, a divine, a philosopher, a saint. I am a very weak, foolish,
insufficient personage; sitting on the lowest form in Thy great school-
house, which is the whole world; and trying to spell out the mere letters
of Thy alphabet, in hope that hereafter I may be able to make out whole
words, and whole sentences, of Thy commandments, and having learnt them,
do them. For if Thou wilt but teach me Thy statutes, O Lord, then I will
try to keep them to the end. For I long to be on Thy side, and about Thy
work. I long to help--if it be ever so little--in making myself better,
and my neighbours better. I long to be useful, and not useless; a
benefit, and not a nuisance; a fruit-bearing tree, and not a noxious
weed, in Thy garden; and therefore I hope that Thou wilt not cut me down,
nor root me up, nor let foul creatures trample me under foot. Have mercy
on me, O Lord, in my trouble, for the sake of the truth which I long to
learn, and for the good which I long to do. Poor little weak plant
though I may be, I am still a plant of Thy planting, which is doing its
best to grow, and flower, and bear fruit to eternal life; and Thou wilt
not despise the work of Thine own hands, O Lord, who died that I might
live? Thou wilt not let me perish? I have stuck unto Thy testimonies: O
Lord, confound me not.

Therefore remember this. If you wish to have reasonable hope when you
have to pray--"Lord, save me:" pray first, and pray continually--"Teach
me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and I will keep them to the end."

SERMON XIII. THE ONE ESCAPE.

PSALM CXIX. 67.

Before I was troubled, I went wrong: but now have I kept Thy Word.

Let me speak this afternoon once more about the 119th Psalm, and the man
who wrote it.

And first: he was certainly of a di