Quam dilecta. The soul aspireth after heaven; rejoicing in the mean time, in being in the communion of God's church upon earth.

 1 Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.  2 How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!  3 My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.  4 For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.  5 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever.

 6 Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps,  7 In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.  8 For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.  9 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.  10 Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.

[6] "In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps": Ascensiones in corde suo disposuit. As by steps men ascended to the temple of God situated on a hill; so the good Christian ascends towards the eternal temple by certain steps of virtue disposed or ordered within the heart: and this whilst he lives as yet in the body, in this vale of tears, the place which man hath set: that is, which he hath brought himself to: being cast out of paradise for his sin.

 11 For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners.  12 For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory.  13 He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.