salvation offered you in the Gospel, all the glory of heaven shall be yours. Cherish, then, this holy desire : and, in refer- ence to 3^our own souls in particular, be constantly saying, " O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!"]
Realizing in his mind the object of his desire, the Psalmist proceeds to view it,
II. As actually attained —
Salvation has been effected by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ : and.
Already has it produced great joy in the world —
[To a great extent has the captivity of God's Israel been turned. Thousands and millions, both of Jews and Gentiles, have been delivered from the power of Satan, by whom they were once led captive at his will. And what joy the deliver- ance occasioned, we well know. On the day of Pentecost, not less than three thousand, who had been pricked to the heart ^vith a sense of sin, were, by the glad tidings of the Gospel, enabled to eat their bread with gladness and singleness of heart, blessing and praising God. And to this hour do all who hear the joyful sound experience the same holy feeling in their souls. Tell me, ye who have ever been released from the bonds of sin and Satan, have ye not been constrained to say, " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour?" Yes, in everyplace where the Gospel comes, and in every bosom w^here it is received, is " the oil of joy given in the stead of mourning, and the gar- ment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."]
But what joy will it not excite, when it shall pre- vail to its full extent ?
[There is a period yet future, when the Gospel shall be conveyed to all nations, and " all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Then shall the dominion of Satan be altogether broken, and the whole race of mankind be brought to " serve the living God." What joy shall prevail over the face of the whole earth ! Truly the descriptions given of it by the Psalmist
will fall infinitely short of the reality ^ for heaven
itself will then appear to have come down upon tlie earthy and all the glorified saints to have descended to swell the chorus of the redeemed'^.]
From hence, then, we may learn, L What conversion is —
[Whatever mystical representations be given of it, it is simply this, " a turning of us from the captivity " of sin and
^ Ps. xcviii. 1 — 9. ' Rev. xxi. 2 — 4. '^ Rev. xx. 4.