Were this subject better understood, we should see, as in Christ, so in all his followers also, the God and the man, the lion and the lamb.]
" Ps. xcvi. 7—9'
318 PSALMS, xci. 9, 10. [400.
THE SECURITr,OF THOSE WHO DWELL IN GOD.
Ps. xci. 9, 10. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy halitation, there shall no evil befall thee.
IT is scarcely possible to conceive any terms more strong, or any images more lively, than those in which the Scripture represents the privileges of Believers. We need look no further than to the psalm before us for a confirmation of this truth. In- deed, according to the view given of this psalm by a learned Prelate, there is, in the first verses of it, an emphasis which cannot be surpassed ^ And the whole may be considered as the Believer's charter, in which all his privileges are contained, from his first acceptance with God to the consummation of his happiness in glory.
We have in the words of our text a just descrip- tion of the Believer :
I. His experience —
The true Christian is one who has been *' turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Being once brought to God, he ** makes the Most High his habitation." He regards God, not merely as reconciled to him, but as afford- ing him (what a dwelling-house affords to its pos- sessor),
1. Free access —
[A person goes familiarly to his house at all timeSj not doubting but that he shall gain a ready admission into it. He considers it as his own, and feels that it exists only for his ac- commodation. It is thus that the Believer goes to God as his God : he has " access to him with boldness and confidence :" he is certain that, when he calls, he shall receive an answer ; and ** when he knocks, the door will be opened to him," In this
precise
' Bishop Home reads the two first verses thus : " He that dwelleth &c. who abideth under &c. who saith of the Lord," &c. Then at the end of ver. 2, he supposes the Psalmist to break off abruptly, and, instead of continuing his description, to address himself to the person before described ; " Surely he shall dehver thee."