Thus walking in the light of his countenance here, you shall have an earnest and a foretaste of your heavenly bliss.]
Application —
[I beseech you, Brethren, live not so far below your pri- vileges as Christians in general are wont to live. How much happier might you be, if you lived near to God in the con- templation of his excellencies, and in the delightful exercise of prayer and praise ! This should be the very bent of your mind from day to day, and it should continue to be so to the latest hour of your life. True, indeed, this cannot be expected, unless you embrace him and cleave unto him as your God. First learn to say to him, " O God, thou art my God ! " and then you will find no difficulty in adding, " Early will I seek theeV Then will praise be, as it were, the natural language of your heart, and the constant employment of your lives1. Then in death, also, will your soul be joyful in your God : and " an abundant entrance will be ministered unto you into the realms of bliss," where, to all eternity, you shall know no other feeling than that of joy, no other language than that of praise.]
k Ps. lxiii. 1. • Ps. cxlv. 1, 2. and cxlvi. 1, 2.
Ps. cvi. 4, 5. Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people : O visit me with thy salvation ; that I may see the good of thy chosen; that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation ; that I may glory with thine in- heritance !
THE Psalms, though in many parts historical, doc- trinal, and preceptive, may yet be considered as dif- fering materially from the rest of the inspired volume, inasmuch as, while other books of Scripture inculcate religion, these exemplify its operations on the heart.
The words before us express the fervent desires of David's heart ; and give occasion for observing, that,
I. The lot of God's people is truly desirable —
God " bears a peculiar favour" towards them —
[He esteems them as " his chosen," " his people," " his inheritance a ;" and shews the same tender regard towards them as he did towards Israel of old ; guiding, protecting, and even bearing them as on eagles' wings b. Hence that congratulation
a 1 Pet. ii. 9. b Deut. xxxii. 9—13. Isai. lxiii. 9.
676.1 TI!E christian's desire. 219
given them by Moses, a congratulation applicable to them in every age and place0.]
He gives them to enjoy the truest " good" —
[The enemies of God often possess the greatest share of this world's goods'1: but his own people have that which is really good6, and which shall endure when all sublunary things are come to an endf. He " visits them with salvation," which comprehends every solid good, whether for soul or body, whe- ther for time or eternity.]
He fills them with "gladness" and holy "glorying" — [They are not indeed always joyful, because they have much, both within and without, which may well occasionally produce sorrow8: but they have seasons of joy, and sometimes are enabled to rejoice with joy unspeakable11. Even in the midst of tribulations they can often glory1, and shew to all around them, that they have supports and consolations which the world can neither give nor take awayk. But what glad- ness and glorying will they have, when all grounds of sorrow shall be finally removed l !]
Surely such a state is the most excellent on earth : and therefore,
II. To desire a participation of it, is a laudable am- bition—
The fervent petitions in the text were, doubtless, acceptable to God —
[Every man naturally desires his own happiness : nor is this species of self-love ever wrong, except when it leads us to seek the end by improper means. When " salvation" is the object of our wishes, we cannot covet it too earnestly : God himself has taught us to pray for it, and to urge our petitions with an importunity that will take no denial"1. And the answers which he gave to David n and others in the days of old, sufficiently evince, that he is a prayer-hearing God0, and that "he delighteth in the prayer of the upright p."]