Their state however is peculiarly happy ; for,
II. While they honour God, God greatly exalts and blesses them — The terms used in the text import that God will be to his people a source of,
1. Honour —
[A crown is the highest honour to which a human being can aspire in this world. But how poor and contemptible is such a dignity, when compared with that which God confers on his people! " He is not ashamed to be called their God:" He acknowledges them as " his sons and daughters :" they are the very " members of Christ's body," yea, they " are one spirit" together with him. While monarchs are surrounded by their nobles, the saints are attended by holy angels, who, as " ministering spirits, are sent from heaven to minister unto them." When they go hence they have a crown of righteous- ness, and a throne of glory on which they shall sit with Christ at the right hand of God, in whose presence they shall " reign as kings and priests for ever and ever." " Such honour have all his saints."]
2. Beauty —
[A crown is deemed the brightest ornament to the person that wears it ; nor is any thing wanting to it that can increase
a Rom. xi. 5. and ix. 27. c2
its splendour. This idea is particularly marked in that a crown is called " a diadem of beauty." But God puts a far brighter ornament around the head of his people : " He beautifies them with salvation." He encircles them, as he did Moses of old, with rays of his own glory, insomuch that " his own glory is seen upon them." A meek and quiet spirit is but a single grace out of many with which they are endued ; yet that is " an ornament of great value even in the sight of God" himself; what then must be the constellation of graces that form their character? But what can God himself say more than this, that they are " renewed after his own image in righteousness and true holiness," and that they are progressively " changed into his image from glory to glory by the agency of his almighty Spirit ? " Is the ornament of a glittering bauble worthy to be compared with this?]
3. Happiness —
[Men conceive that the possession of imperial honours must of necessity contribute greatly to their happiness : hence, if such a station be within their reach, there is nothing which men will not do to attain it. But supposing that all the satisfaction which men expect from their elevation were invariably attached to it, how much greater happiness does God impart to his chosen people ! Their " peace passeth all understanding ;" their " hope is full of immortality;" their "joy is unspeakable and glorified." They are not indeed exempt from sorrows ; but they have " joys with which the stranger intermeddleth not." No tongue can declare the comfort they sometimes feel in a sense of the divine favour ; nor can the heart of man conceive those joys which are prepared for them at the right hand of God.]
4. Security —
[The idea of security attaches to the condition of a king, because, the instant that he is in danger, there are thousands at his command to rally round the throne, and to expose their lives in his defence. But if " the Lord of Hosts himself be our crown," then are we secure indeed. And has he not said that " He standeth round about his people ;" that " their place of defence is the munition of rocks b ;" that " He himself will be to them as a broad and rapid river that can neither be passed nor navigated0;" yea, that " He will be a wall of fire round about themd," not only to protect their persons, but to destroy all that would invade their peace? Has he not assured us that " neither the power nor the policy of hell shall ever prevail against them?" and that " none shall ever pluck them out of