easy access to Jehovah at all seasons, and bring down, both on himself and all his people, a rich abundance of spiritual blessings. Of this, David himself informs us in the 182d Psalm, which he wrote on that express occasion. He tells us, that he had sworn he would not come up into the taber- nacle of his own house, nor go up into his bed, till he should have found out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob, He then adds, " Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah, (Kirjath-jearim,) and found it in the fields of the wood : and we will go into his tabernacle, and worship at his footstool." Then, declaring what his prayers to God should be, he anticipates the future advent of the Messiah, and states the answers he should receive to his prayers, repeating the very words of his petitions as the precise terms of God's ]))-o- mises: "The Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread: I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud : I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish'^." After such prospects as these, can we wonder at any expres- sions of his joy, however ardent, or however extraordinary? Methinks, his zeal in this instance was temperance, and his excess sobriety.]
And now let me shew,
n. What occasion we also have for joy at this time —
This whole matter was typical of our blessed Lord's ascension into heaven. In the 68th Psalm, written by David on this occasion, he says, " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended up on high, thou hast led captivity captive : thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them^" And St. Paul quotes these very words as declarative of our Lord's ascension to heaven, and the out-pouring of the Spirit upon his Church as the very bestowment of those gifts which he had obtained for her^.
d Ps. exxxii. 1—7, 13—18. e Pg. ixviii. 17, 18.
f Eph. iv. 8—12.