Its desire therefore is after God alone —
[" Early will I seek thee," is the language of every one that is born of God. In the secret chamber his first waking thoughts will be, "Where is God my Maker ? " where is Jesus my Redeemer ? where is the blessed Spirit my Sanctifier and my Comforter ? In the public ordinances also especially will his soul desire communion with its God. It has beheld some- what of God's power and glory in the manifestations of his love, and in the communications of his grace ; and it bears those seasons in remembrance, and longs to have them renewed from time to time. The bare ordinances will not satisfy the believer, if God be not in them: it is not to perform a duty that he comes up to the sanctuary, but to meet his God, and enjoy sweet converse with him : and if he meet not God there, he is like a man who, with much ardent expectation, has gone to a distant city to meet his friend, and has been disap- pointed of his hope : or rather he is like those of whom the prophet Jeremiah speaks, who in a season of extreme drought " came to the pits and found no water ; and returning with their vessels empty, were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads '^." They know by sad experience that " there is no water " elsewhere ; and if they find not access to " God, the living fountain," their very " flesh " sympathizes with their " souls," and fainteth by reason of the painful disappointment. This is beautifully described in another psalm '^ : and it is realized in the experience of every believer, in proportion to the integrity of his soul before God, and to the measure of grace with which he is endued ]
In perfect correspondence with the desires of a renewed soul, are,
II. Its purposes —
The Believer determines to praise and glorify his God—
[The language of his heart is, "My heart is fixed, O God,
<= Jer, xiv. 3. ^ Ps. xlii. 1 — 3.