Righteousness and judgement are the foundation of thy throne: Mercy and truth go before thy face.

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:
They walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.
In thy name do they rejoice all the day:
And in thy righteousness are they exalted.
For thou art the glory of their strength:
And in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
For our shield belongeth unto the Lord;
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

PSALM 24: 1-10.

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
And hath not sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek after him,
That seek thy face, O God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is the King of glory?

The Lord strong and mighty,

The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors:

And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts,

He is the King of glory.

XX. THOUGHTS FOR NEW-YEAR'S DAY.

PSALM 90: 1-17.

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place

In all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,

Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction;

And sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight

Are but as yesterday when it is past,

And as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep:

In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up;

In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed in thine anger,

And in thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,

Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:

We bring our years to an end as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten,
Or even by reason of strength fourscore years;
Yet is their pride but labour and sorrow;

For it is soon gone, and we fly away.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger,

And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee?

So teach us to number our days,

That we may get us an heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord; how long?

And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

O satisfy us in the morning with thy mercy;

That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,

And the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants,

And thy glory upon their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:
And establish thou the work of our hands upon us;
Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

PSALM 91: 1-16.

XXI. EVENING WORSHIP.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in whom I trust.

For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
And from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his pinions,

And under his wings shalt thou take refuge:

His truth is a shield and a buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night,

Nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

For the pestilence that walketh in darkness,

Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side,

And ten thousand at thy right hand;

But it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold,

And see the reward of the wicked.

For thou, O Lord, art my refuge!

Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee,

Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
To keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands,
Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:

The young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him:

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble:

I will deliver him, and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him,
And shew him my salvation.

XXII. THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL FLOURISH.

PSALM 92: 1-15.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,

And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:

To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,

And thy faithfulness every night,

With an instrument of ten strings, and with the psaltery;
With a solemn sound upon the harp.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work:
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

How great are thy works, O Lord!
Thy thoughts are very deep.

A brutish man knoweth not;

Neither doth a fool understand this:

When the wicked spring as the grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish;

It is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

But thou, O Lord, art on high for evermore.
For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord,

For, lo, thine enemies shall perish;

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

But my horn hast thou exalted like the horn of the wild-ox:

I am anointed with fresh oil.

Mine eye also hath seen my desire on mine enemies,

Mine ears have heard my desire of the evil-doers that rise up against

me.

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree:

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They that are planted in the house of the Lord

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;

They shall be full of sap and green:

To shew that the Lord is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

PSALM 96:1-13.

XXIII. PRAISE TO GOD.

O sing unto the Lord a new song:
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord, bless his name;

Shew forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,

His marvellous works among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord, and highly to be praised:

He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols:

But the Lord made the heavens.

Honour and majesty are before him:

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the peoples,
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name:
Bring an offering, and come into his courts.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
Tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, The Lord reigneth:

The world also is stablished that it cannot be moved:

He shall judge the peoples with equity.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;

Let the field exult, and all that is therein;

Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy;

Before the Lord, for he cometh;

For he cometh to judge the earth:

He shall judge the world with righteousness,

And the peoples with his truth.

PSALM 111: 1-10.

Praise ye the Lord.

I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, In the council of the upright, and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great,