Ps. lxxxiv. 1 — 4. How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of Hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord : my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparroio hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thine house: they will be still praising thee.
TRULY it is sweet to read of the experience of the saints, and to be able to appeal to it in vin- dication of onr own experience. I wonder not that the world should cry out against the people of the Lord as enthusiastic and absurd ; for they cannot by any means conceive how a person should lose all relish for carnal delights, and find all his happiness in employments wherein they see nothing but re- straint and melancholy. But, indeed, there is a delight in communion with a reconciled God, an
ineffable "joy, with which the stranger intermeddleth not." This is well expressed in the passage before us ; from whence I shall take occasion to shew,
I. The light in which we should view divine ordi-
nances-
Certainly the expressions here used in reference to them are exceeding strong. To a mind not conversant with the subject, they would appear rather like the flights of a poetical imagination than as the dictates of sober judgment. But they are not a whit too strong, if viewed in reference to the object respecting which they treat. Both body and soul may well unite in the feelings here expressed, feelings of intense de- sire, such as envies the very birds the privilege they enjoy of building their nests around the sacred edifice where God's presence is enjoyed. Truly the taber- nacles of the Most High will appear amiable, if we consider that in them,
1. God's presence is vouchsafed —
[Formerly God dwelt in his sanctuary by the Shechinah, a bright cloud, the symbol of his presence, which was in itself visible to the eye of sense, though it was seen only by the High Priest, and that only on one day in the year. JSfoiv, his pre- sence is visible only to the eye of faith (for there is an eye that " seeth Him that is invisible3"), and by him who possesses a spiritual discernment, even though he be the least and meanest of God's children, the divine presence is both seen and felt. What else is the meaning of those words, " If a man love me, my Father will love him ; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him? " Yes, verily, God will manifest him- self to his believing people as he does not unto the worldb: " he will, in an especial manner, " draw nigh to those who draw nigh to him : " Wherever two or three are met together in his name, he will be in the midst of them ; " and to every weeping sup- pliant he will say, " Behold me, behold me c ! " " Here I amd."]
2. His blessings are dispensed —
[In the days of our blessed Lord, we are informed, that multitudes, labouring under every kind of malady, thronged about him ; and that " virtue went forth from him to heal them alle." Somewhat similar to this may yet be seen under the ministration of the Gospel. Multitudes, oppressed with
a Heb. xi. 27. b John xiv. 21 — 23. c Isai. lxv. 1.
d Isai. lviii. 9. e Luke vi. 19.