ness: and this too amidst all his boasted fulness0. The believer " shall be as a tree planted by the waters," &c. ; he shall be made flourishing and happy by rich supplies of grace d.]
Unmixed — [The unbeliever " shall not see when good cometh :" he receives none of the heavenly dew that falls around him. The believer " shall not see when heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green, nor shall he be careful in the year of drought :" he may experience "heat" and " drought," i. e. heavy afflictions; he shall, however, not be injured, but benefited by theme: free from all anxiety, he will say as the Church of old f — ]
Eternal — [The unbeliever " shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited :" he shall be an outcast from God in the regions of misery. The believer " shall not cease from yielding fruit :" his present enjoyments are the pledge and earnest of eternal happiness.]
Infer —
1. How glorious a person must Christ be !
[If he were a mere creature, it would be ruinous in the extreme to trust in him ; but we are expressly commanded to trust in himg. He must then be "God over all, blessed for ever." And this renders him worthy of our fullest affiance : on him must "hang all the glory of his Father's house11."]
2. How are we all concerned to trust in Christ!
[God regards, not merely our outward conduct, but the frame of our hearts : on this our present and everlasting hap- piness depends'. Let us then trust in him for all temporal and spiritual aid ; so shall we receive his blessing, and escape his curse.]
° Job xx. 22. d Phil. iv. 19.
e His afflictions lose not their nature, but effect: tribulation, which fills others with vexation, works patience in him ; the furnace, which consumes others, purges away his dross. Heb. xii 11.
f Hos. vi. 1. s John xiv. 1. h Isai. xxii. 23, 24.
1 Conceive Christ as making this declaration in the day of judg- ment. Compare Matt. xxv. 34, 41.