mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 65.xml

<div2 id="Ps.lxvi" n="lxvi" next="Ps.lxvii" prev="Ps.lxv" progress="43.41%" title="Chapter LXV">
<h2 id="Ps.lxvi-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.lxvi-p0.2">PSALM LXV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.lxvi-p1">In this psalm we are directed to give to God the
glory of his power and goodness, which appear, I. In the kingdom of
grace (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.1" parsed="|Ps|65|1|0|0" passage="Ps 65:1">ver. 1</scripRef>), hearing
prayer (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.2" parsed="|Ps|65|2|0|0" passage="Ps 65:2">ver. 2</scripRef>), pardoning
sin (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.3" parsed="|Ps|65|3|0|0" passage="Ps 65:3">ver. 3</scripRef>), satisfying the
souls of the people (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.4" parsed="|Ps|65|4|0|0" passage="Ps 65:4">ver.
4</scripRef>), protecting and supporting them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.5" parsed="|Ps|65|5|0|0" passage="Ps 65:5">ver. 5</scripRef>. II. In the kingdom of Providence,
fixing the mountains (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.6" parsed="|Ps|65|6|0|0" passage="Ps 65:6">ver.
6</scripRef>), calming the sea (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.7" parsed="|Ps|65|7|0|0" passage="Ps 65:7">ver.
7</scripRef>), preserving the regular succession of day and night
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.8" parsed="|Ps|65|8|0|0" passage="Ps 65:8">ver. 8</scripRef>), and making the
earth fruitful, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.9-Ps.65.13" parsed="|Ps|65|9|65|13" passage="Ps 65:9-13">ver.
9-13</scripRef>. These are blessings we are all indebted to God
for, and therefore we may easily accommodate this psalm to
ourselves in singing it.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxvi-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65" parsed="|Ps|65|0|0|0" passage="Ps 65" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxvi-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.1-Ps.65.5" parsed="|Ps|65|1|65|5" passage="Ps 65:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.65.1-Ps.65.5">
<h4 id="Ps.lxvi-p1.12">The Praises of Zion; Motives for
Devout.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.lxvi-p1.13">
<p id="Ps.lxvi-p2">To the chief musician. A psalm <i>and</i> song of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxvi-p3">1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and
unto thee shall the vow be performed.   2 O thou that hearest
prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.   3 Iniquities prevail
against me: <i>as for</i> our transgressions, thou shalt purge them
away.   4 Blessed <i>is the man whom</i> thou choosest, and
causest to approach <i>unto thee, that</i> he may dwell in thy
courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
<i>even</i> of thy holy temple.   5 <i>By</i> terrible things
in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation;
<i>who art</i> the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of
them that are afar off <i>upon</i> the sea:</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p4">The psalmist here has no particular concern
of his own at the throne of grace, but begins with an address to
God, as the master of an assembly and the mouth of a congregation;
and observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p5">I. How he gives glory to God, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.1" parsed="|Ps|65|1|0|0" passage="Ps 65:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. 1. By humble
thankfulness: <i>Praise waiteth for thee, O God! in Zion,</i> waits
till it arrives, that it may be received with thankfulness at its
first approach. When God is coming towards us with his favours we
must go forth to meet him with our praises, and wait till the day
dawn. "Praise waits, with an entire satisfaction in thy holy will
and dependence on thy mercy." When we stand ready in every thing to
give thanks, then praise waits for God. "Praise waits thy
acceptance" the <i>Levites</i> by night <i>stood in the house of
the Lord,</i> ready to sing their songs of praise at the hour
appointed (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.134.1-Ps.134.2" parsed="|Ps|134|1|134|2" passage="Ps 134:1,2">Ps. cxxxiv. 1,
2</scripRef>), and thus their praise waited for him. <i>Praise is
silent unto thee</i> (so the word is), as wanting words to express
the great goodness of God, and being struck with a silent
admiration at it. As there are holy <i>groanings which cannot be
uttered,</i> so there are holy adorings which cannot be uttered,
and yet shall be accepted by him that <i>searches the heart and
knows what is the mind of the spirit.</i> Our praise is silent,
that the praises of the blessed angels, who excel in strength, may
be heard. Let it not be told him that I speak, for if a man offer
to <i>speak forth all God's praise surely he shall be swallowed
up,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.20" parsed="|Job|37|20|0|0" passage="Job 37:20">Job xxxvii. 20</scripRef>.
<i>Before thee praise is reputed as silence</i> (so the Chaldee),
so far exalted is God above all our blessing and praise. Praise is
due to God from all the world, but it waits for him in Zion only,
in his church, among his people. All his works praise him (they
minister matter for praise), but only his saints bless him by
actual adorations. The redeemed church sing their new song upon
Mount Zion, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.1 Bible:Rev.14.3" parsed="|Rev|14|1|0|0;|Rev|14|3|0|0" passage="Re 14:1,3">Rev. xiv. 1,
3</scripRef>. In Zion was God's dwelling-place, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.2" parsed="|Ps|76|2|0|0" passage="Ps 76:2">Ps. lxxvi. 2</scripRef>. Happy are those who dwell with
him there, for they will be still praising him. 2. By sincere
faithfulness: <i>Unto thee shall the vow be performed,</i> that is,
the sacrifice shall be offered up which was vowed. We shall not be
accepted in our thanksgivings to God for the mercies we have
received unless we make conscience of paying the vows which we made
when we were in pursuit of the mercy; for better it is not to vow
than to vow and not to pay.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p6">II. What he gives him glory for.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p7">1. For hearing prayer (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.2" parsed="|Ps|65|2|0|0" passage="Ps 65:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Praise waits for thee;</i>
and why is it so ready? (1.) "Because thou art ready to grant our
petitions. <i>O thou that hearest prayer!</i> thou canst answer
every prayer, for thou art able to do for us more than we are able
to ask or think (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.3.20" parsed="|Eph|3|20|0|0" passage="Eph 3:20">Eph. iii.
20</scripRef>), and thou wilt answer every prayer of faith, either
in kind or kindness." It is much for the glory of God's goodness,
and the encouragement of ours, that he is a God hearing prayer, and
has taken it among the titles of his honour to be so; and we are
much wanting to ourselves if we do not take all occasions to give
him his title. (2.) Because, for that reason, we are ready to run
to him when we are in our straits. "<i>Therefore,</i> because thou
art a God hearing prayer, <i>unto thee shall all flesh come;</i>
justly does every man's praise wait for thee, because every man's
prayer waits on thee when he is in want or distress, whatever he
does at other times. Now only the seed of Israel come to thee, and
the proselytes to their religion; but, when thy <i>house shall be
called a house of prayer to all people,</i> then unto thee shall
all flesh come, and be welcome," <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.12-Rom.10.13" parsed="|Rom|10|12|10|13" passage="Ro 10:12,13">Rom. x. 12, 13</scripRef>. To him let us come, and
come boldly, because he is a God that hears prayer.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p8">2. For pardoning sin. In this <i>who is a
God like unto him?</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.18" parsed="|Mic|7|18|0|0" passage="Mic 7:18">Micah vii.
18</scripRef>. By this he proclaims his name (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.7" parsed="|Exod|34|7|0|0" passage="Ex 34:7">Exod. xxxiv. 7</scripRef>), and therefore, upon this
account, praise waits for him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.3" parsed="|Ps|65|3|0|0" passage="Ps 65:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. "Our sins reach to the heavens,
<i>iniquities prevail against</i> us, and appear so numerous, so
heinous, that when they are set in order before us we are full of
confusion and ready to fall into despair. They prevail so against
us that we cannot pretend to balance them with any righteousness of
our own, so that when we appear before God our own consciences
accuse us and we have no reply to make; and yet, <i>as for our
transgressions, thou shalt,</i> of thy own free mercy and for the
sake of a righteousness of thy own providing, <i>purge them
away,</i> so that we shall not come into condemnation for them."
Note, The greater our danger is by reason of sin the more cause we
have to admire the power and riches of God's pardoning mercy, which
can invalidate the threatening force of our manifold transgressions
and our mighty sins.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p9">3. For the kind entertainment he gives to
those that attend upon him and the comfort they have in communion
with him. Iniquity must first be purged away (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.3" parsed="|Ps|65|3|0|0" passage="Ps 65:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) and then we are welcome to
compass God's altars, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.4" parsed="|Ps|65|4|0|0" passage="Ps 65:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. Those that come into communion with God shall
certainly find true happiness and full satisfaction in that
communion.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p10">(1.) They are blessed. Not only blessed is
the nation (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.12" parsed="|Ps|33|12|0|0" passage="Ps 33:12">Ps. xxxiii.
12</scripRef>), but <i>blessed is the man,</i> the particular
person, how mean soever, <i>whom thou choosest, and causest to
approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts;</i> he is a
happy man, for he has the surest token of the divine favour and the
surest pledge and earnest of everlasting bliss. Observe here, [1.]
What it is to come into communion with God, in order to this
blessedness. <i>First,</i> It is to approach to him by laying hold
on his covenant, setting our best affections upon him, and letting
out our desires towards him; it is to converse with him as one we
love and value. <i>Secondly,</i> It is to dwell in his courts, as
the priests and Levites did, that were at home in God's house; it
is to be constant in the exercises of religion, and apply ourselves
closely to them as we do to that which is the business of our
dwelling-place. [2.] How we come into communion with God, not
recommended by any merit of our own, nor brought in by any
management of our own, but by God's free choice: "<i>Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest,</i> and so distinguishest from others who
are left to themselves;" and it is by his effectual special grace
pursuant to that choice; whom he chooses he causes to approach, not
only invites them, but inclines and enables them, to draw nigh to
him. He draws them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:John.6.44" parsed="|John|6|44|0|0" passage="Joh 6:44">John vi.
44</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p11">(2.) They shall be satisfied. Here the
psalmist changes the person, not, <i>He</i> shall be satisfied (the
man whom thou choosest), but, <i>We</i> shall, which teaches us to
apply the promises to ourselves and by an active faith to put our
own names into them: <i>We shall be satisfied with the goodness of
thy house, even of thy holy temple.</i> Note, [1.] God's holy
temple is his house; there he dwells, where his ordinances are
administered. [2.] God keeps a good house. There is abundance of
goodness in his house, righteousness, grace, and all the comforts
of the everlasting covenant; there is enough for all, enough for
each; it is ready, always ready; and all on free cost, without
money and without price. [3.] In those things there is that which
is satisfying to a soul, and with which all gracious souls will be
satisfied. Let them have the pleasure of communion with God, and
that suffices them; they have enough, they desire no more.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p12">4. For the glorious operations of his power
on their behalf (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.5" parsed="|Ps|65|5|0|0" passage="Ps 65:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>): <i>By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou
answer us, O God of our salvation!</i> This may be understood of
the rebukes which God in his providence sometimes gives to his own
people; he often answers them by terrible things, for the awakening
and quickening of them, but always in righteousness; he neither
does them any wrong nor means them any hurt, for even then he is
the God of their salvation. See <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.15" parsed="|Isa|45|15|0|0" passage="Isa 45:15">Isa.
xlv. 15</scripRef>. But it is rather to be understood of his
judgments upon their enemies; God answers his people's prayers by
the destructions made, for their sakes, among the heathen, and the
recompence he renders to their proud oppressors, as a righteous
God, the God to whom vengeance belongs, and as the God that
protects and saves his people. By <i>wonderful</i> things (so some
read it), things which are very surprising, and which we looked not
for, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.3" parsed="|Isa|64|3|0|0" passage="Isa 64:3">Isa. lxiv. 3</scripRef>. Or, "By
things which strike an awe upon us thou wilt answer us." The holy
freedom that we are admitted to in God's courts, and the nearness
of our approach to him, must not at all abate our reverence and
godly fear of him; for he is <i>terrible in his holy
places.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p13">5. For the care he takes of all his people,
however distressed, and whithersoever dispersed. He is <i>the
confidence of all the ends of the earth</i> that is, of all the
saints all the world over and not theirs only that were of the seed
of Israel; for he is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the
Jews, the confidence <i>of those that are afar off</i> from his
holy temple and its courts, that dwell in the islands of the
Gentiles, or that are in distress <i>upon the sea.</i> They trust
in thee, and cry to thee, when they are at their wits' end,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.27-Ps.107.28" parsed="|Ps|107|27|107|28" passage="Ps 107:27,28">Ps. cvii. 27, 28</scripRef>. By
faith and prayer we may keep up our communion with God, and fetch
in comfort from him, wherever we are, not only in the solemn
assemblies of his people, but also afar off upon the sea.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxvi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.6-Ps.65.13" parsed="|Ps|65|6|65|13" passage="Ps 65:6-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.65.6-Ps.65.13">
<h4 id="Ps.lxvi-p13.3">The Almighty Power of God; Indications of
Divine Power and Goodness.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxvi-p14">6 Which by his strength setteth fast the
mountains; <i>being</i> girded with power:   7 Which stilleth
the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of
the people.   8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts
are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning
and evening to rejoice.   9 Thou visitest the earth, and
waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God,
<i>which</i> is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou
hast so provided for it.   10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof
abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft
with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.   11 Thou
crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
  12 They drop <i>upon</i> the pastures of the wilderness: and
the little hills rejoice on every side.   13 The pastures are
clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn;
they shout for joy, they also sing.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p15">That we may be the more affected with the
wonderful condescensions of the God of grace, it is of use to
observe his power and sovereignty as the God of nature, the riches
and bounty of his providential kingdom.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p16">I. He establishes the earth and it abides,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.90" parsed="|Ps|119|90|0|0" passage="Ps 119:90">Ps. cxix. 90</scripRef>. <i>By
his</i> own <i>strength</i> he <i>setteth fast the mountains</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.6" parsed="|Ps|65|6|0|0" passage="Ps 65:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), did set them
fast at first and still keeps them firm, though they are sometimes
shaken by earthquakes.</p>
<verse id="Ps.lxvi-p16.3">
<l class="t1" id="Ps.lxvi-p16.4">———Feriuntque summos.</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ps.lxvi-p16.5">Fulmina montes.</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ps.lxvi-p16.6"/>
<l class="t1" id="Ps.lxvi-p16.7">The lightning blasts and loftiest hills.</l>
</verse>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p17">Hence they are called <i>everlasting
mountains,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.6" parsed="|Hab|3|6|0|0" passage="Hab 3:6">Hab. iii. 6</scripRef>.
Yet God's covenant with his people is said to stand more firmly
than they, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.10" parsed="|Isa|54|10|0|0" passage="Isa 54:10">Isa. liv.
10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p18">II. He stills the sea, and it is quiet,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.7" parsed="|Ps|65|7|0|0" passage="Ps 65:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The sea in a
storm makes a great noise, which adds to its threatening terror;
but, when God pleases, he commands silence among the waves and
billows, and lays them to sleep, turns the storm into a calm
quickly, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.29" parsed="|Ps|107|29|0|0" passage="Ps 107:29">Ps. cvii. 29</scripRef>. And
by this change in the sea, as well as by the former instance of the
unchangeableness of the earth, it appears that he whose the sea and
the dry land are is girded with power. And by this our Lord Jesus
gave a proof of his divine power, that he <i>commanded the winds
and waves, and they obeyed him.</i> To this instance of the
quieting of the sea he adds, as a thing much of the same nature,
that he stills <i>the tumult of the people,</i> the common people.
Nothing is more unruly and disagreeable than the insurrections of
the mob, the insults of the rabble; yet even these God can pacify,
in secret ways, which they themselves are not aware of. Or it may
be meant of the outrage of the people that were enemies to Israel,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1" parsed="|Ps|2|1|0|0" passage="Ps 2:1">Ps. ii. 1</scripRef>. God has many ways
to still them and will for ever silence their tumults.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p19">III. He renews the morning and evening, and
their revolution is constant, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.8" parsed="|Ps|65|8|0|0" passage="Ps 65:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. This regular succession of day and night may be
considered, 1. As an instance of God's great power, and so it
strikes an awe upon all: <i>Those that dwell in the uttermost parts
of the earth are afraid at thy</i> signs or <i>tokens;</i> they are
by them convinced that there is a supreme deity, a sovereign
monarch, before whom they ought to fear and tremble; for in these
things the invisible things of God are clearly seen; and therefore
they are said to be <i>set for signs,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.14" parsed="|Gen|1|14|0|0" passage="Ge 1:14">Gen. i. 14</scripRef>. Many of those that dwell in the
remote and dark corners of the earth were so afraid at these tokens
that they were driven to worship them (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.19" parsed="|Deut|4|19|0|0" passage="De 4:19">Deut. iv. 19</scripRef>), not considering that they were
God's tokens, undeniable proofs of his power and godhead, and
therefore they should have been led by them to worship him. 2. As
an instance of God's great goodness, and so it brings comfort to
all: <i>Thou makest the outgoings of the morning,</i> before the
sun rises, <i>and of the evening,</i> before the sun sets, <i>to
rejoice.</i> As it is God that scatters the light of the morning
and draws the curtains of the evening, so he does both in favour to
man, and makes both to rejoice, gives occasion to us to rejoice in
both; so that how contrary soever light and darkness are to each
other, and how inviolable soever the partition between them
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.4" parsed="|Gen|1|4|0|0" passage="Ge 1:4">Gen. i. 4</scripRef>), both are equally
welcome to the world in their season. It is hard to say which is
more welcome to us, the light of the morning, which befriends the
business of the day, or the shadows of the evening, which befriend
the repose of the night. Does the watchman wait for the morning? So
does the hireling earnestly desire the shadow. Some understand it
of the morning and evening sacrifice, which good people greatly
rejoiced in and in which God was constantly honoured. Thou makest
them to <i>sing</i> (so the word is); for every morning and every
evening songs of praise were sung by the Levites; it was that which
the duty of every day required. We are to look upon our daily
worship, alone and with our families, to be both the most needful
of our daily occupations and the most delightful of our daily
comforts; and, if therein we keep up our communion with God, the
outgoings both of the morning and of the evening are thereby made
truly to rejoice.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p20">IV. He waters the earth and makes it
fruitful. On this instance of God's power and goodness he enlarges
very much, the psalm being probably penned upon occasion either of
a more than ordinarily plentiful harvest or of a seasonable rain
after long drought. How much the fruitfulness of this lower part of
the creation depends upon the influence of the upper is easy to
observe; if the heavens be as brass, the earth is as iron, which is
a sensible intimation to a stupid world that every good and perfect
gift is from above, <i>omnia desuper—all from above;</i> we must
lift up our eyes above the hills, lift them up to the heavens,
where the original springs of all blessings are, out of sight, and
thither must our praises return, as the first-fruits of the earth
were in the heave-offerings lifted up towards heaven by way of
acknowledgment that thence they were derived. All God's blessings,
even spiritual ones, are expressed by his raining righteousness
upon us. Now observe how the common blessing of rain from heaven
and fruitful seasons is here described.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p21">1. How much there is in it of the power and
goodness of God, which is here set forth by a great variety of
lively expressions. (1.) God that made the earth hereby visits it,
sends to it, gives proof of his care of it, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.9" parsed="|Ps|65|9|0|0" passage="Ps 65:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. It is a visit in mercy, which the
inhabitants of the earth ought to return in praises. (2.) God, that
made it dry land, hereby waters it, in order to its fruitfulness.
Though the productions of the earth flourished before God had
caused it to rain, yet even then there was a mist which answered
the intention, and <i>watered the whole face of the ground,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.5-Gen.2.6" parsed="|Gen|2|5|2|6" passage="Ge 2:5,6">Gen. ii. 5, 6</scripRef>. Our hearts
are dry and barren unless God himself be as the dew to us and water
us; and the plants of his own planting he will water and make them
to increase. (3.) Rain is <i>the river of God, which is full of
water;</i> the clouds are the springs of this river, which do not
flow at random, but in the channel which God cuts out for it. The
showers of rain, as the rivers of water, he turns which way soever
he pleases. (4.) This river of God enriches the earth, which
without it would quickly be a poor thing. The riches of the earth,
which are produced out of its surface, are abundantly more useful
and serviceable to man than those which are hidden in its bowels;
we might live well enough without silver and gold, but not without
corn and grass.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxvi-p22">2. How much benefit is derived from it to
the earth and to man upon it. (1.) To the earth itself. The rain in
season gives it a new face; nothing is more reviving, more
refreshing, than the <i>rain upon the new-mown grass,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.6" parsed="|Ps|72|6|0|0" passage="Ps 72:6">Ps. lxxii. 6</scripRef>. Even <i>the ridges</i>
of the earth, off which the rain seems to slide, are watered
<i>abundantly,</i> for they drink in the rain which comes often
upon them; <i>the furrows</i> of it, which are turned up by the
plough, in order to the seedness, are settled by the rain and made
fit to receive the seed (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.10" parsed="|Ps|65|10|0|0" passage="Ps 65:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>); they are settled by being made soft. That which
makes the soil of the heart tender settles it; for the heart is
established with that grace. Thus the springing of the year is
blessed; and if the spring, that first quarter of the year, be
blessed, that is an earnest of a blessing upon the whole year,
which God is therefore said to <i>crown with his goodness</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.11" parsed="|Ps|65|11|0|0" passage="Ps 65:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), to compass
it on every side as the head is compassed with a crown, and to
complete the comforts of it as the end of a thing is said to crown
it. And his paths are said to <i>drop fatness;</i> for whatever
fatness there is in the earth, which impregnates its productions,
it comes from the out-goings of the divine goodness. Wherever God
goes he leaves the tokens of his mercy behind him (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.13-Joel.2.14" parsed="|Joel|2|13|2|14" passage="Joe 2:13,14">Joel ii. 13, 14</scripRef>) and makes his
path thus to shine after him. These communications of God's
goodness to this lower world are very extensive and diffusive
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.12" parsed="|Ps|65|12|0|0" passage="Ps 65:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>They
drop upon the pastures of the wilderness,</i> and not merely upon
the pastures of the inhabited land. The deserts, which man takes no
care of and receives no profit from, are under the care of the
divine Providence, and the profits of them redound to the glory of
God, as the great benefactor of the whole creation, though not
immediately to the benefit of man; and we ought to be thankful not
only for that which serves us, but for that which serves any part
of the creation, because thereby it turns to the honour of the
Creator. The wilderness, which makes not such returns as the
cultivated grounds do, receives as much of the rain of heaven as
the most fruitful soil; for God does good to the evil and
unthankful. So extensive are the gifts of God's bounty that in them
the hills, <i>the little hills, rejoice on every side,</i> even the
north side, that lies most from the sun. Hills are not above the
need of God's providence; little hills are not below the cognizance
of it. But as, when he pleases, he can make them tremble (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.6" parsed="|Ps|114|6|0|0" passage="Ps 114:6">Ps. cxiv. 6</scripRef>), so when he pleases he
can make them rejoice. (2.) To man upon the earth. God, by
providing rain for the earth, prepares corn for man, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.9" parsed="|Ps|65|9|0|0" passage="Ps 65:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. <i>As for the earth, out
of it comes bread</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.5" parsed="|Job|28|5|0|0" passage="Job 28:5">Job xxviii.
5</scripRef>), for out of it comes corn; but every grain of corn
that comes out of it God himself prepared; and therefore he
provides rain for the earth, that thereby he may prepare corn for
man, under whose feet he has put the rest of the creatures and for
whose use he has fitted them. When we consider that the yearly
produce of the corn is not only an operation of the same power that
raises the dead, but an instance of that power not much unlike it
(as appears by that of our Saviour, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.9" osisRef="Bible:John.12.24" parsed="|John|12|24|0|0" passage="Joh 12:24">John xii. 24</scripRef>), and that the constant benefit
we have from it is an instance of that goodness which endures for
ever, we shall have reason to think that it is no less than a God
that prepares corn for us. Corn and cattle are the two staple
commodities with which the husbandman, who deals immediately in the
fruits of the earth, is enriched; and both are owing to the divine
goodness in watering the earth, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.13" parsed="|Ps|65|13|0|0" passage="Ps 65:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. To this it is owing that the
pastures are clothed with flocks, <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.13" parsed="|Ps|65|13|0|0" passage="Ps 65:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. So well stocked are the
pastures that they seem to be covered over with the cattle that are
laid in them, and yet the pasture not overcharged; so well fed are
the cattle that they are the ornament and the glory of the pastures
in which they are fed. The valleys are so fruitful that they seem
to be <i>covered over with corn,</i> in the time of harvest. The
lowest parts of the earth are commonly the most fruitful, and one
acre of the humble valleys is worth five of the lofty mountains.
But both corn-ground and pasture-ground, answering the end of their
creation, are said to <i>shout for joy and sin,</i> because they
are serviceable to the honour of God and the comfort of man, and
because they furnish us with matter for joy and praise: as there is
no earthly joy above the joy of harvest, so there was none of the
feasts of the Lord, among the Jews, solemnized with greater
expressions of thankfulness than the <i>feast of in-gathering at
the end of the year,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxvi-p22.12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.16" parsed="|Exod|23|16|0|0" passage="Ex 23:16">Exod. xxiii.
16</scripRef>. Let all these common gifts of the divine bounty,
which we yearly and daily partake of, increase our love to God as
the best of beings, and engage us to glorify him with our bodies,
which he thus provides so well for.</p>
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