Ps. Ixviii. 19,20. Blessed he the Lord, who daily loadeth us with henejits, even the God of our salvation ! He that is our God is the God of salvation ; and unto God the Lord helony the issues from death.
THE service of God is beneficial to the soul, not merely as bringing clown a divine' blessing upon us, but in that it prepares and attunes the soul for further services. David had been carrying up the ark to Jerusalem, to place it in the sanctuary on Mount Zion. And novi^, having already celebrated the praises of Jehovah for his dealings with his people in former ages, and for the present ceremony, as typical of the Messiah's exaltation after he should have completed his work on earth; and having depo- sited the ark in its proper place ; he bursts forth into general acknowledgments of God's mercies to his people, and devout ascriptions of praise to him, for all the wonders of his love.
Now^ we. Brethren, have been engaged in the holy service of worshipping our God. But shall we be satisfied with that ? No : I would have that service to be a preparation for a still further honouring of God, whilst we contemplate with devoutest ad- miration,
I. The blessinsfs with which he has loaded us —
And here I might expatiate on the temporal bene- fits which are poured out upon us daily, in the richest abundance; I might enumerate the various comforts that are ministered to us, in all the works both of creation and providence. But the inspired comment which we have on this passage leads our mind to far higher benefits, even to all the blessings of redemp- tion. St. Paul quotes the words before my text, and declares them to have been fulfilled in the ascension of our blessed Lord and Saviour, and in his bestow- ment of spiritual blessings on his Church''.
Let us contemplate, then,
L The ordinances of his grace —
[This is the first thing mentioned by St. Paul in the passage to which I have referred: " He gave gifts unto men : he gave some, apostles ; and some, propliets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
a Eph. iv. 7, 8, 11, 12, 13.