Secondly, Observe how the terms are framed to. suit the preference intended.
1. On the one side, here is sitting at the threshold ; on the other side, dwelling in the tents. He had distinguished before the travellers to the house of God and the dwellers in the house of God, ver. 4, &C; Here a day in God's courts, and a perpetual service in God's house. The lowest degree and place about God is more honourable for one day, though they die the next, as Kimchi, than to have a perpetual abode in the tents of wickedness.
2. He calleth the one the house of God, the other but a tent^to show the stability of their estate who live in communion with God, and the uncertainty of their happiness who are strangers to him ; they live but in a tent, a movable habitation.
3. He calleth the one the 'house of my God,' as challenging an interest in him ; and so the place of his presence, power, and habitation, being the more dear to him, as everything that relateth to God is made precious for his sake. But he calleth the .other ' tents of wickedness.' There was great wealth, but nothing but profaneness and corruption^ Well, then, you see that David speaketh as a man that had a mind to prefer the one before the other. One day in God's courts ; not in atriis snis ccelestibus, in his court of heaven, as some of the ancients would carry it ; but here in his church. A few hours spent with God were more than the longest life without him.
Doct 1. That God's people have a great value and an high esteem for his ordinances.
Uoct. 2. They do not only value them, but value them and esteem them above other things.
1. The esteem and value they have for his ordinances simply con- sidered. This is a reason of the context, why there was such longing desire on his own part, such earnest pressing forward on the people's part, who came up to worship at Jerusalem: 'For a day in thy courts,' &c.
Keasons of it.
Point 1. Nature, or a spiritual instinct. All creatures naturally desire to preserve that life which they have; and therefore, by a natural propension, run thither from whence they received it. Mere instinct without instruction carrieth the brute creatures to the teats of their
148 SEEMON UPON PSALM LXXXIV. 10.
dams ; and every effect looketh to the cause, to receive from it its last perfection. Trees, that receive life from the earth and the sun, send forth their branches to receive the sun, and spread their roots into the earth, which brought them forth. Fishes will not live out of the water that breedeth them. Chictens are no sooner out of the shell but they shroud themselves under the feathers of the hen by whom they were at first hatched. The little lamb runneth to the dam's teat, though there be a thousand sheep of the same wool and colour ; as if it said, Here I received that which I have, and here will I seek that which I want. By such a native inbred desire do the saints run to God, to seek a supply of strength and nourishment : 1 Peter ii.2, to? apTv^kvvqra ^pecpr], 'As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the woi'd, that ye may grow thereby.' Young children are not taught to suck ; the young- born child runneth to the dug, not by instruction, but instinct : James i. 18, 19, 'Of his own will begat he us, by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear.' The same thing that teacheth the young lambs to suck, or new-born babes to draw the dug, or the chicken to seek a cherishing under the dam's wing, the same thing teacheth the children of God to prize the ordinances. The cause is inbred appetite, not persuasion and discourse, but inclination. Grace is called a new nature, which hath an appetite joined with it after its proper supplies.
2. The next cause of this value and esteem is experience. They find it so sweet that they long for more : 1 Peter ii. 2, 3, ' As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby ; if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.' Certainly a man that hath had any taste of communion with God will desire a fuller measure ; as by tasting of excellent meats our appetite to them is not cloyed, but the more provoked. Carnal men do not know what it is to enjoy God in his ordinances, and therefore they do not long for them ; they never tasted the sweetness of the word, nor of God's love in Christ. David says, Ps. xix. 10, 'The statutes of the Lord are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter also than the honey or the honey-comb.' The children of God find more true pleasure in the ordinances of God than in all things in the world. What is the reason that to carnal men they are but as dry chips, burdensome exercises, melancholy interruptions, but to the other nothing so sweet, more pleasurable than the richest and choicest sensualities, that are most eagerly pursued and gustfuUy enjoyed by us ? The reason is given in the 11th verse, ' Moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.' There we come to learn wisdom against our spiritual dangers, and there we learn the way of godliness and obedience, which, besides its own sweetness, heapeth upon us the richest rewards, as having the promises of this life and that which is to come. He commendeth the word from his own ex- perience. He had felt the effects and good use of it in his own heart ; he had his broken heart bound up. They find that Christ doth heal their souls, remove their anguish, sanctify their natures, give them the promised help in temptations, warn them of sins and snares, relieve ^hem in distress, bridle their corruptions. So Ps. Ixiii. 1, 2, '0 God,