3. What need there is of constant mortification. How else can we exercise this love, we being so covetous, proud, passionate, and self- seeking ? the Trddrj and iTnOvfiLUL, affections and lusts, must be both broken : Gal. v. 24, ' They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof.'
4. What a friend Christianity is to human society ; for how peace- able might we live together if this love did more rule in our hearts !
5. How perverse man is, who accounts this duty irksome, when he will do much more for his lusts and ambition : ver. 7, ' Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.' Easily will men bear this task for their worldly ends.
6. How much love in the Spirit differeth from ordinary love. This is a fruit of love to God : 1 John v. 1, ' Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him ; ' and of faith in Christ : John XV. 12, ' This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you ; ' and hopes of eternal life, in the text.
SERMON UPON PSALM LXXXIV. T.
They go from strength to strength ; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. — Ps. Ixxxiv. 7.
This psalm was penned by David in his exile, as is most probable ; for therein he professeth his longing after the courts of God, or his wonted access to the ark of the covenant and public ordinances. Being deprived of that benefit, he expresseth his value of it. Such privileges are best understood carendo magis quam fruendo, by want rather than enjoyment. In which of his flights and persecutions it is not easy to determine, whether those by Saul or by Absalom ; rather those by Absalom, for then the ark was upon Zion hill, 2 Sam. vi. 12 ; but in Saul's time the ark was at Kirjath-jearim, 1 Sam. vii. 1 ; and when he fled from Absalom was his solemn parting from the ark : 2 Sam. Kv. 25, 26, ' And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city : if I shall find favour in the eyes of God, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation : but if he say thus, I have no delight in thee, behold here I am, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.' In the psalm —
1. He professeth his value and esteem of the public worship, or enjoying God in the ordinances and means of grace : ' How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts ! ' ver. 1. Then his earnest desire of this privilege of free wonted access to the house of God : ver. 2, ' My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.' There was soul, and heart, and flesh in it, as to extension ; and crying out, longing, fainting, and all for the courts of God, as to intention.
2. He compareth his condition with the swallows and sparrows, that had liberty of flying and building their nests about the altars of God. It is a notable poetical strain, as passionate lovers are wont to express themselves upon like occasions : ver. 3, ' Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, 0 Lord of hosts, my king and my God.'
3. Then he compareth himself —
[1.] With the priests and Levites, whose constant residence was in the temple : ver. 4, ' Blessed are they that dwell in thy house ; they will be still praising thee, Selah.' Those that are always in God's house, constantly allowed the privilege of his solemn service or sacred assemblies, beholding the symbols of his presence, the ark of the cove-
SERMON UPON PSALM LXXXIV. 7. 315
oant, upon which God sat, and gave answers of grace, 0 blessed they indeed !
[2.] With the people, that went up to worship three times of the year at Jerusalem, to keep the solemn feasts, according to the ordinance of God : Exod. xxiii. 17, ' Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.' They were to journey afoot to the tabernacle, there to appear before the Lord. Their condition was blessed in comparison of David's, who was now debarred of all access to God's courts. These are described — (1.) By their earnest desire and resolution to take this journey, though they dwelt far off from the tabernacle : ver. 5, ' Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them.' Their hearts were set upon the ways that led to the courts of God. (2.) By their painful passage, and yet some refreshments by the way : ver. 6, ' Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well ; the rain also filleth the pools.' Their way to the tabernacle, now seated upon the hill of Zion, lay through dry and comfortless places, through the valley of Baca, or of mulberry- trees, as the margin readeth it ; that is, through dry and sandy deserts, in which those trees grow. It may be the place mentioned 2 Sam. v. 23, 24, the valley of Eephaim, where mulberry-trees grew, and where David smote the Philistines — Sept. et? ttjv KolXdBa rov KXvv6/j,(ovo<i, the valley of tears. The want of water in those hot countries was very troublesome. Where great multitudes with store of cattle travelled towards Zion upon these solemn occasions, they had their difficulties and discouragements by the way, but their ardent zeal and strong affection overcame all. And as they had their difficulties, so they had their comforts ; sometimes they met with a well, and sometimes with a pond filled with rain; sometimes with more, sometimes with less refreshments. (3.) They are described by their constant progress, till they came to the place they aimed at ; that is, in the text, ' They go from strength to strength ; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God;' that is, having found some refreshment and reparation of strength, they are encouraged to go on their way, till they appear before God in the holy feast, and have communion with him in his public worship : and then cheerful, joyful souls they !