corroded with rust. They may tell the touching story of a sad estrangement. Go to the quiet solitude of thy chamber. Seek out the unfrequented path of prayer;--choked it may be with the weeds of forgetfulness and sloth. Cast thyself on thy bended knees; and, as the wounded deer bounds past thee (emblem of thine own bleeding heart), wake the echoes of thy spirit with the penitential cry, "_As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God!_" [16] Miss Plumtre's Letters. CONTENTS OF THE PSALM. I. The Hart Panting. "Oh, would I were as free to rise As leaves on autumn's whirlwind borne, The arrowy light of sunset skies, Or sound--or rays--or star of morn, Which meets in heaven at twilight's close, Or aught which soars uncheck'd and free, Through earth and heaven, that I might lose Myself in finding Thee!" "O mysterious Jesus, teach us Thy works and Thy plans. Let our hearts pant after Thee as the hart after the water-brooks. Create a thirst which nothing shall satisfy but the fountain of eternal love. See the velocity with which the needle flees to the magnet _when it gets within distance_; so shall we hasten to our Magnet--our Beloved--as we approach Him."--_Lady Powerscourt's Letters._ "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."--_Verse 1._ I. THE HART PANTING. We have pictured, in a preceding chapter, the uncrowned Monarch of Israel seated, pensive and sad, amid "the willows by the water-courses;" or wandering forth, amid the deepening twilight-shadows, with the roll of Jordan at his side, perhaps, like his great ancestor, to "wrestle with God until the breaking of the day." We have already adverted to the simple incident which arrested his attention. A breathless tenant of the forest bounded past him to quench its thirst in the neighbouring river. That unconscious child of nature furnishes the key-note of his song. Let us sit by the banks, as the Exile takes down his harp, and thus sings--"AS THE HART PANTETH AFTER THE WATER-BROOKS, SO PANTETH MY SOUL AFTER THEE, O GOD."