"In rapid floods the vernal torrents roll, Harsh sounding cataracts responsive roar; Thine angry billows overwhelm my soul, And dash my shatter'd bark from shore to shore. "Yet Thy sure mercies ever in my sight, My heart shall gladden through the tedious day; And 'midst the dark and gloomy shades of night, To Thee I'll fondly tune the grateful lay. "Rock of my hope! great Solace of my heart! Why, why desert the offspring of Thy care, While taunting foes thus point th' invidious dart, 'Where is thy God, abandon'd wanderer, where?' "Why faint, my soul? why doubt Jehovah's aid? Thy God the God of mercy still shall prove; Within His courts thy thanks shall yet be paid, Unquestion'd be His pity and His love." INTRODUCTORY. PAGE I. THE SCENE OF THE PSALM, 2 II. THE GENERAL SCOPE OF THE PSALM, 10 III. A PECULIAR EXPERIENCE, 24 CONTENTS OF THE PSALM. I. THE HART PANTING, 36 II. THE HART WOUNDED, 46 III. THE LIVING GOD, 60 IV. THE TAUNT, 78 V. THE TAUNT, 90 VI. SABBATH MEMORIES, 102 VII. HOPE, 122 VIII. THE HILL MIZAR, 141 IX. THE CLIMAX, 166 X. LESSONS, 180 XI. FAITH AND PRAYER, 192 XII. THE QUIET HAVEN, 212 I. The Scene of the Psalm. "Where is thy favour'd haunt, Eternal Voice, The region of Thy choice, Where, undisturb'd by sin and earth, the soul Owns Thine entire control? 'Tis on the mountain's summit dark and high, Where storms are hurrying by: 'Tis 'mid the strong foundations of the earth, Where torrents have their birth. No sounds of worldly toil ascending there Mar the full burst of prayer; Lone nature feels that she may freely breathe, And round us and beneath Are heard her sacred tones: the fitful sweep Of winds across the steep, The dashing waters where the air is still, From many a torrent rill--. Such sounds as make deep silence in the heart For thought to do her part." "The spot was so attractive to me, as well as the view of the surrounding country so charming, that I had great difficulty in tearing myself away from it. In the foreground, at my feet, was the Jordan flowing through its woods of tamarisks. On the other side rose gently the plain of Beisan surmounted by the high _tell_ of that name. In the distance were the mountains of Gilboa--the whole stretch of which is seen, even as far as ancient Jezreel."--_Van de Velde's Travels in Syria and Palestine_, vol. ii. p. 355. I. THE SCENE OF THE PSALM.