To this determination he is led by the considera- tion of the loving-kindness of his God —
[O how wonderful does that love appear to him, which gave no less a person than God's co-equal co-eternal Son to die for him ! which gave him too the knowledge of that Saviour, toge- ther with all spiritual and eternal blessings in him, whilst thou- sands and millions of the human race are dying in ignorance and perishing in their sins! This loving-kin-dness so free, so rich, so full, appears to him *^ better than even life itself;" and all that he can do to testify his gratitude seems nothing, yea " less than nothing," in comparison of it. The language of his heart is, " If I should hold my peace, the very stones would cry out against me." O that I had powers equal to the occasion ! how would I praise him ! how would I glorify him ! verily I would praise him on earth, even as they do in heaven.]
In these purposes the believing soul is yet further confirmed by,
III. Its
^ Ps. xlii. 1—3.
216 PSALMS, Lxiii. 1 — 7« [377.
III. Its expectations —
The service of God is not without its reward even in this hfe : and hence the BeUever, whilst engaged in his favourite employment, expects,
1. The richest consolation —
[The carnal mind can see no pleasure in this holy exercise j but the spiritual mind is refreshed by it, more than the most luxurious epicure ever was by the richest dainties. His very meditations are unspeakably sweet : yea, while contemplating his God upon his bed, and during the silent watches of the night, " his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness:" it has a fore- taste even of heaven itself From its own experience of
this heavenly joy, the soul expects this glorious harvest, when it has sown in tears, and laboured to glorify its God in songs of praise.]
2. The most assured safety —
[Thus engaged, the soul looks down upon all its enemies with disdain: it feels itself in an impregnable fortress: it is conscious that it owes all its past preservation to the help of its Almighty Friend ; and it rejoices in the thought that under the shadow of the Redeemer's wings it must still be safe 5 and that " none shall ever pluck it out of the Father's hands." The state of Hezekiah, Avhen surrounded by a vast army that was bent on his destruction, exactly shews what is the state of a believing soul in the midst of all its enemies : " The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee." Such was the language of Zion to all the Assyrian hosts : and such is the blessed anticipation of victory which every Believer is privi- leged to enjoy ^.]
Improvement :
1 . How greatly do the generality of religious pro- fessors live below their privileges!
[It was not peculiar to David thus to delight in God: it was then common, and is yet common, to all the saints. Can it be thought that we, who live under so much better a dispensa- tion than he, and have so much brighter discoveries of God's power and glory than ever he had, should yet not be privileged to delight in God as he did? Were this the case, we should be losers by that religion which the Son of God came down from heaven to establish. But it is not so : we may partake of all spiritual blessings in as rich abundance as he, or any other of the saints of old, did. And we have reason to be ashamed that
our
* Kom. viii. 33 — 39.