abode will be there always; and that, in the time of trouble, he can
find refuge there.

Apart altogether from any wider considerations as to the relation
between form and spirit under the Old Covenant, I think that such
observations compel us to see in these words a desire a great deal
nobler and deeper than any such wish.

I. Let us, then, note the true meaning of this aspiration of the
Psalmist.

Its fulfilment depends not on where we are, but on what we think and
feel; for every place is God's house, and what the Psalmist desires is
that he should be able to keep up unbroken consciousness of being in
God's presence and should be always in touch with Him.

That seems hard, and people say, 'Impossible! how can I get above my
daily work, and be perpetually thinking of God and His will, and
consciously realising communion with Him?' But there is such a thing as
having an undercurrent of consciousness running all through a man's life
and mind; such a thing as having a melody sounding in our ears
perpetually, 'so sweet we know not we are listening to it' until it
stops, and then, by the poverty of the naked and silent atmosphere, we
know how musical were the sounds that we scarcely knew that we heard,
and yet did hear so well high above all the din of earth's noises.

Every man that has ever cherished such an aspiration as this knows the
difficulties all too well. And yet, without entering upon thorny and
unprofitable questions as to whether the absolute, unbroken continuity
of consciousness of being in God's presence is possible for men here