1. Most glorious —
[It imports, in the first place, that God does give strength and power to his people : and this is proved by all the sacred annals ; yea, by daily experience. He has enabled his people of old to resist the greatest temptations^, to perform the hardest duties'^, to endure the heaviest afflictions'^, to triumph over the united assaults of earth and hell ^. And many can say at this day, " As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts ®."
It intimates yet further, that none hut God can give strenglh to his people. The mode of expression in the text strongly intimates this. What could the gods of the heathen do for their votaries ? God tells them that their senseless idols could not so much as move : they must themselves be carried^. And as for human confidences, they were also vain : neither the Assyrian, nor Egyptian, nor any other power, could dehver those who trusted in them ^. It was the prerogative of Jehovah alone to afford his people the succours they stood in need of ^'.
But the full meaning of the text seems to be, that God delights in supplying his people's wants ; it is that very charac- ter in which he most glories, and by which he most wishes to be known. He is always looking out for opportunities of exercising his power on behalf of his people ' ; and rejoices in every occasion that their necessities afford him of making known to them his power and grace ^.]
2. Most endearing —
[If a person be advancing with a full tide of spiritual pro- sperity, how can he fail of loving the great Author of all his happiness ? Surely every exercise of divine power that he has ever experienced, must render this attribute of the Deity pre- cious to his soul, while he beholds the dangers he has escaped, and the difficulties he has overcome.
To a person weak and drooping, this view of the Deity must be still more delightful. How must he check his unbeHeving fears ; and say, " Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God ' ! "
Above all, must this description of God be precious to the poor. They are incapable of entering into abstract views of the Divine perfections : but this representation of the Deity they are as capable of comprehending, as the most learned upon earth can be : yes ; he knoivs both the existence, and the om,ni- jwtence, of the Deity, as much from his own inward experience,
a Gen. xxxix. 10— 12. ^ Gen. xxii. 2, 9, 10. "^ Heb. xi. 30, 37.
d 2 Cor. xii. 7 — 10. e Ps, xlviii. 8.
f Isai. xlvi. 1, 2, 6, 7. ^ Tsai. xxx. 1 — 7. ^ Ps. Ixii. 11.
i 2 Chron. xvi. 9. ^ jgr, xxxii. 41. i Ps. xlii. 11.