Holy Spirit, that " we may know what the good and perfect and acceptable will of God is : " then may we hope for success in our imdertakings, and shall have tokens of God's acceptance both in this world and the world to come * ]
t This may be applied to Ministers with good effect.
2 Sam. vi. 14. And David danced before the Lord with all
his might.
RELIGION is, indeed, a source of joy. In this light it was viewed by the angehc host, when they proclaimed to the shepherds the birth of our Saviour, saying, " Behold, we bring you glad tidings of great joy!" And thus was it found to be by the converts on the day of Pentecost, the Ethiopian Eunuch, the people of Samaria % and by all, in every place, who received the word aright^. The Psalms of David place this matter beyond a doubt, they being almost one continued effusion of praise and thanksgiving. In the history before us we have an extraordinary exhibition, strongly confirmatory of this truth. David was bringing up the ark of God to Jerusalem ; and so strong were the emotions of joy within him, that, in the presence of not less than thirty thousand of his subjects, he danced before the Lord with all his might.
Let us consider, I. The expressions of David's joy —
Certainly, at first sight, it appears strange that a monarch, stripped of his royal robes, and clad in the simple habit of a priest, should be dancing thus extravagantly, as it might appear, at the head of all his subjects. But he was serving and honouring his God: and therefore, under any circumstances, his joy would be great. But it was exceedingly heightened,
1. By his reflections upon the past — [The ark, with the exception of one short interval, had abode at Baaleh, or Kirjath-jearim, for nearly fifty years,
a Acts viii. 8, 39. ^ Acts xv. 3.