must acknowlege, and before whom all must appear to be judged, in the great and terrible day. PSALM LXXXIV ARGUMENT. [This Psalm, for the subject-matter of it, bears a resemblance to the 42d. Under the figure of an Israelite, deprived of all access to Jerusalem and the sanctuary (whether it were David when driven away by Absalom, or any other person in like circumstances at a different time), we are presented with, 1, 2. the earnest longing of a devout soul after the house and presence of God; 3-7. a beautiful and passionate eulogy on the blessedness of his ministers and servants; 8-10. a fervent prayer for a participation of that blessedness; and, 11, 12. an act of faith in his power and goodness, which render him both able and willing to grant requests of this nature.] 1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!' Thus ardently doth a banished Israelite express his love for Sion, his admiration of the beauty of holiness. Nay, Balaam himself, when from the top of Peor he saw the children of Israel abiding in their tents, with the Glory in the midst of them, could not help exclaiming, 'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!' Numb. xxiv. 5. 'How amiable,' then, may the Christian say, are those eternal mansions, from whence sin and sorrow are excluded; how goodly that camp of the saints, and that beloved city, where righteousness and joy reign triumphant, and peace and unity are violated no more; where thou, O blessed Jesu, Lord of hosts,' King of men and angels, dwellest in glorious majesty, constituting by thy presence the felicity of thy chosen! 6 2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out,' or shouteth, for the living God.' It is said of the queen of Sheba, that on beholding the pleasantness of Jerusalem, the splendor of Solomon's court, and, above all, the magnificence of the temple, with the services therein performed, there was no more spirit in her 1 Kings, x. 5. What wonder, therefore, if the soul should be affected, even to sickness and fainting, while, from this land of her captivity, she beholdeth, by faith, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city and court of the great King, with all the transporting glories of the church triumphant: while, in her meditations, she draweth the comparison between her wretched state of exile on earth, and the unspeakable blessedness of being delivered from temptation and affliction, and admitted into the everlasting courts of Jehovah? Whose 'heart and flesh' doth not exult, and shout' aloud for joy, at a prospect of rising from the bed of death, to dwell with the living God;' to see the face of him, 'in whom is life, and the life is the light of men?' John i. 4. Did the Israelites, from all parts of Judea, go up, with the voice of jubilee, to keep a feast at Jerusalem; and shall Christians grieve, when the time is come for them to ascend, and to celebrate an eternal festival in heaven? 6 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow,' or ring-dove, a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.' The Psalmist is generally supposed, in this verse, to lament his unhappiness, in being deprived of all access to the tabernacle, or temple, a privilege enjoyed even by the birds, who were allowed to build their nests in the neighbourhood of the sanctuary. It is evidently the design of this passage to intimate to us, that in the house, and at the altar of God, a faithful soul findeth freedom from care and sorrow, quiet of mind, and gladness of spirit; like a bird, that hath secured a little mansion, for the reception and education of her young. And there is no heart, endued with sensibility, which doth not bear its testimony to the exquisite beauty and propriety of this affecting image. 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be,' or are, 'still praising thee.' Here the metaphor is dropped, and the former sentiment expressed in plain language. Blessed are' not the mighty and opulent of the earth, but they that dwell in thy house,' the ministers of the eternal temple in heaven, the angels and the spirits of just men made perfect; there every passion is resolved into love, every duty into praise; hallelujah succeeds hallelujah: they are still, still for ever, praising thee.' And blessed, next to them, are those ministers and members of the church here below who, in disposition, as well as employment, do most resemble them. 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee: in whose heart are the ways of them; Heb. the ways are in the heart of them. Not only they are pronounced blessed who'dwell' in the temple, but all they also who are 'travelling' thitherward (as the whole Jewish nation was wont to do three times in a year), and who are therefore meditating on their journey,' and on the way' which leadeth to the holy city, trusting in God to strengthen,' and prosper, and conduct them to the house of his habitation, the place where his glory dwelleth. Such a company of sojourners are Christians, going up to the heavenly Jerusalem; such ought to be their trust in God, and such the subject of their thoughts.' 6. Who, passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well the rain also filleth the pools.' 7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God; or the God of gods appeareth, i. e. to them, in Zion.' After numberless uncertain conjectures offered by commentators on the construction of these two verses, it seemeth impossible for us to attain to any other than a general idea of their true import; which is this, that the Israelites, or some of them, passed, in their way to Jeru In ejus animo versantur semitæ ferentes ad templum quo properat. Morali sensu; quicunque sanctus est, quotidie in priora extenditur, et præteritorum obliviscitur, cum Paulo, Phil. iii. 13: BOSSUET.-Jerusalem is represented in the New Testament as a type of heaven. I see nothing irrational, therefore, in supposing that the inspired writer, in describing the ascent to Jerusalem, might have in view also that spiritual progress, leading to the city which is above, the mother of us all. The words before us are certainly very applicable to the advances made, in this progress, from strength to strength, from one stage of Christian perfection to another.-MERRICK, salem, through a valley that had the name of 'Baca,' a noun derived from a verb which signifies to 'weep;' that in this valley they were refreshed by plenty of water; that with renewed vigor they proceeded from stage to stage, until they presented themselves before God in Zion. The present world is to us this valley of weeping; in our passage through it, we are refreshed by the streams of divine grace flowing down from the great fountain of consolation; and thus are we enabled to proceed from one degree of holiness to another, until we come to the glorified vision of God in heaven itself. Mr. Merrick's poetical version of this passage is extremely beautiful, and applies at once to the case of the Israelite, and to that of the Christian: Blest who, their strength on three reclined, 8. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.' 9. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.' After extolling the happiness of those who dwelt in the temple, and of those who had access to it, the Psalmist breaks forth into a most ardent prayer to his God, for a share in that happiness. He addresseth him as the Lord of hosts,' almighty in power; as 'the God of Jacob,' infinite in mercy and goodness to his people; as their shield,' the object of all their trust for defence and protection; and beseecheth him to 'look upon the face of his anointed,' that is, of David, if he were king of Israel when this Psalm was written; or rather of Messiah,' in whom God is always well pleased; 'Christi tui ;' regis, qui Christi figura. Bossver. No. XXIII. Div. 1 C for whose sake he hath mercy on us, through whose name and merits our prayers are accepted, and the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers. 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand : I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.' One day spent in meditation and devotion, affordeth a pleasure, far, far superior to that which an age of worldly prosperity could give. Happier is the least and lowest of the servants of Jesus, than the greatest and most exalted potentate who knoweth him not. And he is no proper judge of blessedness, who hesitates a moment to prefer the condition of a penitent in the porch, to that of a sinner on the throne. If this be the case on earth, how much more in heaven? O come that one glorious day, whose sun shall never go down, nor any cloud obscure the lustre of his beams; that day, when the temple of God shall be opened in heaven, and we shall be admitted to serve him for ever therein! 11. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.' Jesus Christ is our Lord,' and our God;' he is a 'sun' to enlighten and direct us in the way, and a 'shield' to protect us against the enemies of our salvation; he will give 'grace' to carry us on 'from strength to strength,' and glory to crown us when we appear before him in Zion; he will withhold' nothing that is 'good' and profitable for us in the course of our journey, and will himself be our reward when we come to the end of it. 12. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.' While, therefore, we are strangers and sojourners here below, far from that heavenly country where we would be, in whom should we trust to bring us to the holy city, new Jerusalem, of which the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple, but in thee, O Saviour and Redeemer, who art the Head of every creature, the Captain of the armies of heaven and earth, the Lord of hosts, and the King of glory? Blessed,' thrice blessed, is the man that trusteth in thee.' |