the Lord "blessed?" Because they "would "be still praising him," not only because they would be much exercised in the noblest of all employments, celebrating the perfections of God, but because they would be continually tasting of the divine goodness and love, and expressing their gratitude to heaven in hymns of thanksgiving and praise.

And what a delightful part of divine worship, blessing and praising the name of the Lord is, they only can declare who know it from happy experience. If you ask the pious David, he will tell you, "It "is good to sing praises to our God; it "is pleasant, and praise is comely. Therefore do we find him pronouncing those blessed that dwell in the house of the Lord. But delightful as the exercise surely is, yet often, alas! do the people of God feel the pleasure of it marred and interrupted by reason of their hearts being disordered and out of tune for this heavenly employment. Those disorders of the heart which flow from remaining corruption and depravity cause them to go mourning and not rejoicing;-complaining and repining, instead of prais

ing God the most high. But when the heart is in any measure right with its Maker, when grace is in exercise, and their souls made to follow hard after God; how inexpressible the joy and satisfaction which they find in his service! And if such be the pleasure of it here on earth, you may form some imperfect idea, my brethren, of what will be the blessed condition of the saints in heaven, where they shall serve him day and night in his temple, without weariness or imperfection ;-where they shall sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvellous are all thy works, "Lord God Almighty; just and true art "thou in all thy ways, O thou King of "Saints." Blessed indeed are they who dwell in thy house, thy sanctuary above, for they will ever praise thee.

Thus does David, when banished from the house of God, contrast his own forlorn situation with that of those who were allowed free access to the holy sanctuary, and who joining in its services, were strengthened and refreshed by renewed communications of his love and grace.

B

VERSE 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the

them.

ways of

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.

;

In the last verse we found the Psalmist extolling the happiness of the Priests and others who frequented the House of God and in these verses he extols the piety and blessedness of those who, though they were not allowed to dwell in the house of God, came, at certain seasons, to Jerusalem, through a long and tedious way, to worship Jehovah in the courts of the tabernacle. We may understand him as saying," Though the journey they are obliged "to perform be long; though the difficul"ties and dangers they are compelled to "encounter be great and numerous; tho' "the places through which they are neces"sitated to travel be barren and destitute " of provisions; though going through the "valley of Baca they are obliged to dig "wells to supply their thirst, and when they cannot obtain water by digging, to

"trust to the rains of heaven; yet do they go on from strength to strength, or, as "it may be rendered, from company to company; their numbers, and conse

quently their security against external "dangers, increasing as they advance, the "dangers, difficulties and toils of their

journey continually decreasing, till they "at last appear in Zion, every one of them, " before God."

What a beautiful and striking emblem is this of human life! The valley of Baca, my brethren, may be understood to represent this valley of tears, through which we are all journeying. This valley of Baca was very ill supplied with water, of all things the most desirable to a traveller in those eastern countries; and human life, we all know, to be very barren of those pure and refined joys, in which the regenerated soul does chiefly delight. But, blessed be God, we, like the pious pilgrims of Judea, can make it a "well." The Christian, amid all the evils of life, can fly to religion and to Jesus. This is the fountain that is opened for us: this is the water which we are invited to drink. "Ho every one that "thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' The

Holy Spirit of God is continually calling to the sons of men, when fainting under the fatigues of this wearisome way, to come and drink of the waters of life freely. But, what deserves notice, is, "we must ❝ make it a well." There were no spontaneous springs in the valley of Baca; the traveller was obliged to dig for them. We also must diligently improve the means that God hath appointed; we must read the scriptures frequently, and with care; we must attend to the preaching of the word; we must be much employed in prayer, and the other solemn exercises of religion. In short, as the traveller of Judea dug for water in the bowels of the earth, where alone it was to be obtained, so must we search for the comforts of religion, where alone they are promised, in the way of duty, and in the way of grace. And if we thus have recourse to those means of salvation which God hath appointed, we may rest assured of his blessing; then "the rain also will fill the "pools:" the influences of the Spirit will be shed upon us in abundance, and supply whatever is awanting in our own feeble and imperfect endeavours. Thus we will be enabled to go on from "strength to