Ps. Ixxxvii. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee, 0 city
of God.
THE city here spoken of, is Zion : of whose praises the whole Scriptures speak. She is represented as ** beautiful for situation, and as being the joy of the whole earth ^" Even God himself is represented as delighting in her, and as " loving the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob ^." Why she, and the Church which is represented by her, are so high in the estimation of God and man, it will be not unimportant to consider.
To bring the subject fully before you, I will shew,
I. What glorious things are spoken of her —
Amongst the many things spoken of her in Scrip- ture, she is particularly commended,
1. As the residence of the Deity — >
[God chose Zion of old for his habitation, and delighted to make that above all other cities in the universe " the place of his rest'.'* There he abode in that bright symbol of his pre- sence, the Shechinah, " dwelling between the cherubims*^." There his people assembled by his appointment to worship him : thence he dispensed his blessings : and thence in due time he sent forth his everlasting Gospel®.
Thus under the Christian dispensation he has honoured his Church, dwelling in it j as he has said, " I am with you al- way, even to the end of the world." There he reveals his glory, even " all the glory of the godhead, in the face of Jesus
Christ" There he makes known all the riches of his grace
and love There he communes with his people who pre- sent their supplications before him, '' drawing nigh to them, whilst they draw nigh to him ;" and giving them answers of peace; not indeed visibly, as by the Urim and Thummim of old, but really, and satisfactorily to their souls In a word, though un- known in any other place under heaven, " He is known in her palaces as a Refuge *^."]
2. As the birth-place of the saints —
[This is particularly noticed in the psalm before us : " Of Zion it shall be said. This and that man was born in her^."
Under
" Ps. xlviii. 2. '' ver. 2. "■ Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14. ^ Ps. Ixxx. 1.
^ Is.ai. ii. 3. ^ Ps. xlviii. 3 . "^ ver. 5, 6.