assured,
° 2 Chron. xx. l6. '^ Isai. xxxi, 4, 5.
''. Ps. xlvi. 1—5. ' 1 Pet. v. 7.
168 PSALMS, xLViri. 12—14. [307.
assured, that, " if we only make God our refuge and habitation, no evil shall befall us*,"J
Application —
1 . Search then into your privileges, that you may have the true enjoyment of them —
[Think of people in a besieged city : with what delight would they view the towers and bulwarks which they had reason to believe no enemy could destroy ! And will not you, who have the Lord himself for your defence ? Consider the representation which he gives of himself, as a broad river, so broad that it cannot be passed but in boats ; yet so tempestuous, that no small vessel can live upon it ; and so full of rocks and shoals, that no large vessel can navigate it'*; which consequently, being impassable, secures to you, under all circumstances, the most perfect tran- quillity : consider this, I say, and tell me, whether you ought not to be ever rejoicing in your God ? I would that all of you should be fully acquainted with your privileges ; and that you should be frequently " walking about Zion, and telling her towers, and marking well her bulwarks, and considering attentively her palaces " in which you are lodged and feasted from day to day ; that so you may be happy in your own souls ; and that " God may dwell in you, whilst you thus dwell in him !" For, if you thus *' know in Whom you have believed, and that He is able to keep that which you have committed to him^," you cannot but be happy : since he has expressly said, " I will keep hhn in perfect peace whose mind is staid on me, because he trusteth in me''."]
2. Search into them, that you may make them known to the rising generation —
[We should not be contented to be happy alone, but should desire as far as possible to diffuse happiness all around us. To the rising generation in particular we are-bound to transmit the benefits which we have received. The knowledge of Salvation is
a sacred deposit, committed to us for that very end ^ It
is vScarcely to be conceived how much more profitable to young people the preached Gospel would be, if they were well instructed at home. We teach our children what shall conduce to the ad- vancement of their worldly interests ; and shall we neglect the
welfare of their souls^? In particular, let us endeavour
to impress their minds with the knowledge of God, and his per- fections ; of Christ, and his offices ; of the Holy Spirit, and his operations ; that so they also may have God for their God, and their guide, and their portion, for ever and ever.]
* Ps. xci. 9, 10. '' Isai. xxxiii, 20 — 22. "2Tim. i. 12. '' Isai. xxvi. 3. ® Ps. Ixxviii. 5 — /.
'If this were the subject of a Sermon for a Charity School, or Sunday School, this idea should be considerably enlarged.