all the day Let it lead us to trust in him both for body
and soul — • And let a sense of it shed abroad in our hearts,
be the one object of our desire ^ and delight^ ]
y Ps. xxvii. 4. z Phil. iii. 8.
Ps. xxxvi. 9. With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light
shall we see light.
BY a sober consideration of Scripture metaphors we obtain a more full and comprehensive knowledge of divine truth, than could easily be obtained from the most laboured discussions. Besides, the ideas suggested by them strike the mind so forcibly, that they cannot fail of making a deep and lasting im- pression. Let us but notice the rich variety of figures whereby the Deity is set forth in the passage before us, and we shall be. filled with admiring and adoring thoughts of his goodness. The Psalmist, illustrating the loving-kindness of his God, represents him first under the image of a hen gathering her chickens ; then as an opulent host feasting his guests with the richest dainties ; and then, in a beautiful climax, he compares him to the sun.
In our text there is no confusion of metaphor, as there would be if the former part referred to a foun- tain, and the latter to the sun. It is the sun alone that is spoken of: for that is the fountain both of light and life : and in discoursing upon it, we observe, that,
I. Christ is an inexhaustible source of all spiritual good —
Christ may be considered as peculiarly referred to in the metaphor before us —
[It is in Christ only that the perfections mentioned in the foregoing verses are combined^. It is in him only that God unites justice with mercy'', or adheres, in faithfulness, to his covenant engagements*^. Besides, it is in this view that Christ
a ver. 5, 6. ^ Rom. iii. 26. = 2 Cor. i. 20.