joyous, but grievousk:" and to require man to be so divested of all personal feeling as not to desire ease and freedom for their own sake, is, in my apprehen- sion, an unscriptural refinement. But, beyond a doubt, we should, in all our desires, have a higher object in view, even as our Lord had when praying for the removal of the bitter cup, yea, and " praying for it with strong crying and tears1 ;" he was content to drink it, that God's will might be done, and his name be glorified1". Thus David in my text prays, " Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name!" This was uppermost in his mind, even when his life was in the utmost jeopardy: and this must always be the most influential principle in our minds.
1. The frame of mind itself is most desirable —
[A man possessing a spirit of gratitude and praise cannot but be happy. Under the greatest sufferings, it will alleviate our pain, and enable us to " rejoice under the heaviest tribulations." We see Paul and Silas, when immured in a prison, with their feet fastened in the stocks, and their backs torn with scourges, singing praises to God at midnight : and who, I ask, were the happier, they, or their ungodly persecutors ? We wonder not, then, that David, under all his troubles, laid the chief stress on this, as the ground on which he sought deliverance : " Have mercy upon me, O Lord ! consider the trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death ; that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation"."]
2. Itis that frame by which we most glorify our God —
[This frame of mind shews the power and efficacy of divine grace. A man whose soul is thus made free, whatever be the bondage in which his body is held, is " free indeed." This is the state of mind which is pre-eminently characteristic of the true Christian, who " neither lives to himself, nor dies to him- self; but living, lives unto the Lord; and dying, dies unto the Lord; that, whether living or dying, he may be the Lord's0." In a word, then only do we honour our profession aright, when our one great concern is, " that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ p."]
3. It is that frame by which we are best prepared for heaven —
k Heb. xii. 11. > Heb. v. 7. m Matt. xxvi. 38—41.
» Ps. ix. 13, 14. ° Rom. xiv. 7, 8. Pi Pet. iv. 11.