4. But the especial reason why he desii-ed it, was because he knew God icas also present in his own house, and there is no good thing can be wanting where God is present. It is the presence of God that makes all things sweet and comfortable. What makes heaven to be heaven, but because God is there ? If the soul of a Christian were among angels, angelical comforts would not be desired, if God were not there. If there were all the dehghts in the world, it would not care for them, except God were present. Heaven were not heaven without the presence of God. The presence of God in a dungeon, in a lion's den, makes it a paradise, a place of pleasure ; the presence of God makes all conditions comfortable. If there be not the presence of God, the greatest comfort in the world is nothing. What makes the church esteemed of by holy men ? God is present there ; and wheresoever God is present, in the commimion of saints, especially in his ordinances, we should esteem them by this, that God is present. What makes hell to be hell ? There is no presence of God there; no testi-
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mony of his presence in hell ; nothing but ' utter darkness,' What makes the Ufe of man comfortable ? There is some presence of God in everything. There is a presence of God in meat, in drink, in friends, that a man may say, Oh, here is a good God, here is some presence of God. There is not the vilest reprobate in the world, but he hath some testimony of God's presence. He tastes of God in somewhat or other ; though he see not God in it (but like a beast is drowned in the use of the creature), yet God shews himself to him in some comfort. But when God shall remove all his presence from a man, that is hell itself. What is hell but where there is no presence of God ? When there is no communion with the chief good, that the fountain of good is removed, a man is in darkness, and horror, that is hell, as we see in Dives, Luke xvi. 4, seq. It is the presence of God that makes things comfortable. That is heaven, to enjoy nearer and nearer communion with God.
Therefore let us labour to enjoy the presence of God in his ordinances, that we may have a heaven upon earth, that we may desire still more and more to delight in them, till we come to heaven, where all desires shall be accomplished, and there shall be no more desire. David knowing that God was present in his church, he saith, ' Oh that I might dwell in the house of God all the days of my life.'
See the constant disposition of God's children hence. It is a torment to carnal men to watch one hour with Christ. ' Could you not watch with me one hour ? ' Mat. xxvi. 40, saith he to his disciples. It is a torment to give God the hearing; to sanctify the Lord's day. Alas ! it cannot stand with their carnal dispositions. But God's people long, and have a longing desire. ' One thing have I desired, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord.' Men that have not depth of gi-ace, they are like comets. They blaze for a time ; but when they are not fed with vapours from below, there is a dispartition not long after. But fixed stars are always in the firmament ; they never vary. So a time Christian is as a fixed star, he is fixed in the firmament, in his desire. ' One thing have I desired, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life ; ' and God seconds his desire, and saith amen to it ; as I shall have occasion to press after, in the use in the latter part of the verse. ' That I may dwell in the house of the Lord.'
' To behold the beauty of the Lord.'
This was another ground of the eager, constant, unsatisfied desire, * To dwell in the house of the Lord,' that he might ' see the beauty of the Lord,' or the delight, the sweetness of God. Beauty is too particular a word to express the fulness of the Holy Ghost, the pleasantness or the delight of God. Take the word in a general sense, in your apprehensions. It may be the object of all senses, inward and outward. Delight is most tran- scendent for pleasantness ; for indeed God in his ordinances, is not only beauty to the eye of the soul, but is ointment to the smell, and sweetness to the taste, and all in all to all the powers of the soul. God in Christ, therefore, he is delightful and sweet. ' That I may see the beauty of the Lord.'
In this clause here are discovered these two things, the object and the act.
There are these two points. That God is beautiful. And this is seen in his ordinances, and in his church, especially, * to see the beauty' of God's house. And it is the happiness of a Christian, and he esteems it so by the Spirit of God, to see, and to be partaker of this beauty of God. Sight is put for the more full enjoying, one sense put for another, as indeed sight