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be "blameless"). We must search our hearts, if we would know ourselves aright; yea, and "beg of God also to search and try us," if we would attain that kind of self-knowledge which alone will be sufficient to humble our proud spirits. Mark, then, I pray you, your thoughts, your desires, your motives, your principles, and the entire habit of your minds before God. Mark all your tempers under the various circumstances that arise from day to day: and compare yourselves with the requirements of the Law, and with that great exemplar, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do this, and you will find no temptation to pride yourselves on your attainments, or to exalt yourselves above your less favoured brethren. You will find your place, where the Apostle found his, amongst the chief of sinners, and will vie with him in magnifying and adoring the grace of God---]

2. "Acquaint yourselves with God, that you may be at peace"

[This was the advice which Eliphaz gave to Joba, and which I would give to every one of you. It is self-knowledge which alone can humble us: but it is the knowledge of God alone that can afford us any comfort. Indeed, the more we know of our indwelling corruptions, the more shall we despair, if we do not proportionably grow in the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ. But if we bear in mind what we have already stated respecting the character of God, and the sufficiency of that sacrifice which Christ has offered for us, we shall attain that precise frame of mind, that just admixture of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, of confidence and abasement, which constitutes the perfection of Christian experience, and leads to the highest possible attainments in the divine life. Go then, every one of you, my Brethren, to God in Christ Jesus. Carry nothing with you but your sins. Think not of purging them away by any thing that you yourselves can do; but cast yourselves upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus; and expect from him the mercy which you need for the pardon of your sins, and the grace which you need for the maintenance of your future conflicts. Only go with Paul, crying, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" and you shall be enabled to add with him, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."]

b Phil. iii. 6.

d Job xxii. 21.

c Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24.

e Rom. vii. 25.

DCIII.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF WAITING UPON GOD.

Ps. lxv. 4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

THE connexion between duty and happiness, though not seen by the generality of men, is certain. It may not presently appear: but it will approve itself, at last, to all who will wait for the issue of passing events. To the ungodly man it seems a drudgery to wait upon God: but to every humble and believing suppliant it will be found a source of unbounded bliss; so at least the Psalmist affirms in the words before us; from which we shall take occasion to notice,

I. The habit of God's chosen people

It is the delight of every true Christian to approach unto his God

[He feels, like the Psalmist, that "iniquity has prevailed against him" to a very fearful extent: but he sees that an all-sufficient atonement has been offered for him; and that, through the blood of Christ once shed on Calvary, "every transgression that he has ever committed may be purged away." Hence he approaches God with all humility as a sinner, and with all earnestness, as one that desires mercy at his hands - Nor is it on some particular occasions only that his people draw nigh to him. They resemble the priests of old, whose apartments were in the temple, round about the sanctuary; and who therefore "dwelt in his courts:" for, in the habit of their minds at least, "they dwell in God" by meditation and prayer; and "God dwells in them" by the abiding influence of his Spirit and grace — — —]

And to this is he brought by the mighty working of the power of God-

[It is not by any natural power that the saints draw nigh unto God. Of themselves, they would flee from God, even as our first parents did in Paradise. It is "God himself who draws them," and who from all eternity" chose them" to this high honour. They are unto the Lord "an holy priesthood;"

a ver. 3. VOL. V.

b John vi. 44.

H H

e 1 Pet. ii. 9.

and what God said to Eli may, in a spiritual sense, be applied to them; "Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house? and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Yes, I did." and in like manner has God chosen from eternity, and "set apart for himself" in time, all those who by a spirit of grace and of supplication" approach unto him. Hence it is, and hence alone, that they are "a people near unto him."]

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And it is not without reason that David declares, II. Their blessedness resulting from it.

The terms in which he states this, convey the idea most richly to our minds

[The priests, whilst serving at the altar, "partook of the altar," and "lived of the altar." See the particular account, as stated by Moses. "The Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave-offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them, by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every trespass-offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee, and for thy sons. In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee. And this is thine: the heave-offering of their gift, with all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first-fruits of them, which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee. And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thines." Let this be noticed; and it will be seen that the priests of old were richly provided for, and well sustained by the fatness of God's house.]

And here we see indeed the blessedness of waiting upon God

[God's people, now, are "priests unto their God." And

d 1 Sam. ii. 27, 28. f Ps. cxlviii. 14.

e Ps. iv. 3. Zech. xii. 10.

g Numb. xviii. 8-14. h Rev. i. 6.

this is the sustenance which, in a spiritual sense, is provided for them. Mark the wonderful correspondence between the Prophet Jeremiah, when describing the times of the Gospel, and Moses, in the fore-cited passage, declaring the ordinances of the Law: "They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all.... And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness; and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord." Who does not see in this the accomplishment of my text? In communion with God, the souls of men are filled as with marrow and fatness, whilst their mouth praiseth him with joyful lips. "And in the communications which they receive from him, they are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house; and he makes them to drink of the river of his pleasures'." In truth, no tongue can declare, no imagination can conceive, the full extent of those benefits which men obtain by waiting upon God: for "the riches that they obtain are unsearchable;" their "peace passeth all understanding;" and their "joy is unspeakable and glorified."] SEE, then, I pray you, Brethren,

1. How different is the issue of men's different pursuits!

[Is the worldling ever thus replenished to satiety? Never. He grasps a shadow; and "in the midst of his sufficiency he is in straits m" But the true Christian finds in his God all that his soul can desire: and "drinking of the water that Christ gives him, he never thirsts again" for any thing that this vain world can afford" — ·

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2. What a preparation for heaven is the Christian's employment upon earth!

[It is the delight of the Christian to draw nigh to God, and to offer to him the sacrifices of prayer and praise. And what, I pray you, are they doing in heaven? The only dif ference is, that here they pour forth their prayers under the influence of hope; but there, their one sacrifice is praise, called forth without ceasing, under a sense of complete, uninterrupted fruition.

Let, then, every soul amongst you adopt the habit of holy David: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."]

i Jer. xxxi. 12, 14. m Job xx. 22.

k Ps. lxiii. 5.
n John iv. 14.

1 Ps. xxxvi. 7, 8.

Ps. xxvii. 4.

DCIV.

GOD'S WORKS OF PROVIDENCE AND GRACE.

Ps. lxv. 9-13. Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness: they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks: the valleys also are covered over with corn: they shout for joy; they also sing.

ON what occasion this psalm was written is not certainly known but it is probable that the inspired penman wrote it on the removal of the famine which God sent to punish the cruelty of Saul and of his bloody house towards the Gibeonites, whom he was bound by covenant to protect. This famine lasted three years but at last, David having inquired of the Lord on what account this heavy judgment had been sent, and how the removal of it might be obtained, he was informed, that it was sent as a punishment of Saul's treachery, in which the people, no doubt, had too willingly concurred; and that he must execute on Saul's posterity such a judgment as the Gibeonites themselves should award to them. The Gibeonites demanded that seven of Saul's sons should be put to death. Seven of his sons were accordingly delivered into their hands, and were hanged up by them, as an atonement for their father's sin". The Gibeonites being now satisfied with this act of retributive justice, the favour of God was restored to the land, and the whole nation was gladdened with the return of plenty. Under this great calamity, David and all the pious of the land had humbled themselves before God; and in this psalm they acknowledge God as the merciful Answerer of prayer to his penitent people, whilst he was the just Punisher of sin to those who continued impenitent. "He had lately

a 2 Sam. xxi. 1-9.

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