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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM XXXVI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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It is uncertain when, and upon what occasion, David penned this psalm,
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probably when he was struck at either by Saul or by Absalom; for in it
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he complains of the malice of his enemies against him, but triumphs in
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the goodness of God to him. We are here led to consider, and it will do
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us good to consider seriously,
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I. The sinfulness of sin, and how mischievous it is,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:1-4">ver. 1-4</A>.
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II. The goodness of God, and how gracious he is,
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1. To all his creatures in general,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:5,6">ver. 5, 6</A>.
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2. To his own people in a special manner,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:7-9">ver. 7-9</A>.
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By this the psalmist is encouraged to pray for all the saints
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:10">ver. 10</A>),
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for himself in particular and his own preservation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:11">ver. 11</A>),
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and to triumph in the certain fall of his enemies,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:12">ver. 12</A>.
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If, in singing this psalm, our hearts be duly affected with the hatred
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of sin and satisfaction in God's lovingkindness, we sing it with grace
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and understanding.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps36_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Character of the Wicked.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>To the chief Musician. A psalm of David the servant of the Lord.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my
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heart, <I>that there is</I> no fear of God before his eyes.
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2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity
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be found to be hateful.
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3 The words of his mouth <I>are</I> iniquity and deceit: he hath
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left off to be wise, <I>and</I> to do good.
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4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a
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way <I>that is</I> not good; he abhorreth not evil.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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David, in the title of this psalm, is styled <I>the servant of the
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Lord;</I> why in this, and not in any other, except in
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:1">Ps. xviii.</A>
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(<I>title</I>), no reason can be given; but so he was, not only as
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every good man is God's servant, but as a king, as a prophet, as one
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employed in serving the interests of God's kingdom among men more
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immediately and more eminently than any other in his day. He glories in
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it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+116:16">Ps. cxvi. 16</A>.
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It is no disparagement, but an honour, to the greatest of men, to be
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the servants of the great God; it is the highest preferment a man is
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capable of in this world.</P>
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<P>
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David, in these verses, describes the wickedness of the wicked; whether
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he means his persecutors in particular, or all notorious gross sinners
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in general, is not certain. But we have here sin in its causes and sin
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in its colours, in its root and in its branches.</P>
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<P>
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I. Here is the root of bitterness, from which all the wickedness of the
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wicked comes. It takes rise,
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1. From their contempt of God and the want of a due regard to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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"<I>The transgression of the wicked</I> (as it is described afterwards,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>)
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<I>saith within my heart</I> (makes me to conclude within myself)
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<I>that there is no fear of God before his eyes;</I> for, if there
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were, he would not talk and act so extravagantly as he does; he would
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not, he durst not, break the laws of God, and violate his covenants
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with him, if he had any awe of his majesty or dread of his wrath."
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Fitly therefore is it brought into the form of indictments by our law
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that the criminal, <I>not having the fear of God before his eyes,</I>
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did so and so. The wicked did not openly renounce the fear of God, but
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their transgression whispered it secretly into the minds of all those
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that knew any thing of the nature of piety and impiety. David concluded
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concerning those who lived at large that they lived without God in the
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world.
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2. From their conceit of themselves and a cheat they wilfully put upon
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their own souls
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>He flattereth himself in his own eyes;</I> that is, while he goes on
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in sin, he thinks he does wisely and well for himself, and either does
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not see or will not own the evil and danger of his wicked practices; he
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calls evil good and good evil; his licentiousness he pretends to be but
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his just liberty, his fraud passes for his prudence and policy, and his
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persecuting the people of God, he suggests to himself, is a piece of
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necessary justice. If his own conscience threaten him for what he does,
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he says, <I>God will not require it; I shall have peace though I go
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on.</I> Note, Sinners are self-destroyers by being self-flatterers.
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Satan could not deceive them if they did not deceive themselves. Buy
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will the cheat last always? No; the day is coming when the sinner will
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be undeceived, when <I>his iniquity shall be found to be hateful.</I>
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Iniquity is a hateful thing; it is that <I>abominable thing which the
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Lord hates,</I> and which his pure and jealous eye cannot endure to
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look upon. It is hurtful to the sinner himself, and therefore ought to
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be hateful to him; but it is not so; he rolls it under his tongue as a
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sweet morsel, because of the secular profit and sensual pleasure which
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may attend it; yet <I>the meat in his bowels will be turned, it will be
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the gall of asps,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:13,14">Job xx. 13, 14</A>.
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When their consciences are convinced, and sin appears in its true
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colours and makes them a terror to themselves--when the cup of trembling
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is put into their hands and they are made to drink the dregs of
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it--then their iniquity will be found hateful, and their self-flattery
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their unspeakable folly, and an aggravation of their condemnation.</P>
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<P>
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II. Here are the cursed branches which spring from this root of
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bitterness. The sinner defies God, and even deifies himself, and then
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what can be expected but that he should go all to naught? These two
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were the first inlets of sin. Men do not fear God, and therefore they
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flatter themselves, and then,
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1. They make no conscience of what they say, true of false, right or
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wrong
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit,</I> contrived to do
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wrong, and yet to cover it with specious and plausible pretences. It is
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no marvel if those that deceive themselves contrive how to deceive all
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mankind; for to whom will those be true who are false to their own
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souls?
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2. What little good there has been in them is gone; the sparks of
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virtue are extinguished, their convictions baffled, their good
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beginnings come to nothing: They have <I>left off to be wise and to do
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good.</I> They seemed to be under the direction of wisdom and the
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government of religion, but they have broken these bonds asunder; they
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have shaken off their religion, and therewith their wisdom. Note, Those
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that leave off to do good leave off to be wise.
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3. Having left off to do good, they contrive to do hurt and to be
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vexatious to those about them that are good and do good
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>He devises mischief upon his bed.</I> Note,
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(1.) Omissions make way for commissions. When men leave off doing good,
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leave off praying, leave off their attendance on God's ordinances and
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their duty to him, the devil easily makes them his agents, his
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instruments to draw those that will be drawn into sin, and, with
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respect to those that will not, to draw them into trouble. Those that
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leave off to do good begin to do evil; the devil, being an apostate
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from his innocency, soon became a tempter to Eve and a persecutor of
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righteous Abel.
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(2.) It is bad to do mischief, but it is worse to devise it, to do it
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deliberately and with resolution, to set the wits on work to contrive
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to do it most effectually, to do it with plot and management, with the
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subtlety, as well as the malice, of the old serpent, to devise it upon
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the bed, where we should be meditating upon God and his word,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+2:1">Mic. ii. 1</A>.
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This argues the sinner's heart fully set in him to do evil.
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4. Having entered into the way of sin, that way that is not good, that
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has good neither in it nor at the end of it, they persist and resolve
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to persevere in that way. <I>He sets himself</I> to execute the
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mischief he has devised, and nothing shall be withholden from him which
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he has purposed to do, though it be ever to contrary both to his duty
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and to his true interest. If sinners did not steel their hearts and
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brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence, they could not go on
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in their evil ways, in such a direct opposition to all that is just and
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good.
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5. Doing evil themselves, they have no dislike at all of it in others:
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<I>He abhors not evil,</I> but on the contrary, takes pleasure in it,
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and is glad to see others as bad as himself. Or this may denote his
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impenitency in sin. Those that have done evil, if God give them
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repentance, abhor the evil they have done and themselves because of it;
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it is bitter in the reflection, however sweet it was in the commission.
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But these hardened sinners have such seared stupefied consciences that
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they never reflect upon their sings afterwards with any regret or
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remorse, but stand to what they have done, as if they could justify it
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before God himself.</P>
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<P>
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Some think that David, in all this, particularly means Saul, who had
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cast off the fear of God and left off all goodness, who pretended
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kindness to him when he gave him his daughter to wife, but at the same
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time was devising mischief against him. But we are under no necessity
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of limiting ourselves so in the exposition of it; there are too many
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among us to whom the description agrees, which is to be greatly
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lamented.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps36_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps36_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Amazing Goodness of God; Favour of God towards His People;
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<BR>David's Prayers, Intercessions and Triumphs.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 Thy mercy, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>is</I> in the heavens; <I>and</I> thy
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faithfulness <I>reacheth</I> unto the clouds.
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6 Thy righteousness <I>is</I> like the great mountains; thy
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judgments <I>are</I> a great deep: O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, thou preservest man and
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beast.
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7 How excellent <I>is</I> thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the
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children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
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8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy
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house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy
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pleasures.
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9 For with thee <I>is</I> the fountain of life: in thy light shall
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we see light.
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10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and
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thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
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11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the
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hand of the wicked remove me.
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12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast
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down, and shall not be able to rise.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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David, having looked round with grief upon the wickedness of the
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wicked, here looks up with comfort upon the goodness of God, a subject
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as delightful as the former was distasteful and very proper to be set
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in the balance against it. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. His meditations upon the grace of God. He sees the world polluted,
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himself endangered, and God dishonoured, by the transgressions of the
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wicked; but, of a sudden, he turns his eye, and heart, and speech, to
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God "However it be, yet thou art good." He here acknowledges,</P>
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<P>
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1. The transcendent perfections of the divine nature. Among men we have
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often reason to complain, There is <I>no truth nor mercy,</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+4:1">Hos. iv. 1</A>),
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<I>no judgment nor justice,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+5:7">Isa. v. 7</A>.
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But all these may be found in God without the least alloy. Whatever is
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missing, or amiss, in the world, we are sure there is nothing missing,
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nothing amiss, in him that governs it.
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(1.) He is a God of inexhaustible goodness: <I>Thy mercy, O Lord! is in
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the heavens.</I> If men shut up the bowels of their compassion, yet
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with God, at the throne of his grace, we shall find mercy. When men are
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devising mischief against us God's thoughts concerning us, if we cleave
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closely to him, are thoughts of good. On earth we meet with little
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content and a great deal of disquiet and disappointment; but in the
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heavens, where the mercy of God reigns in perfection and to eternity,
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there is all satisfaction; there therefore, if we would be easy, let us
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have our conversation, and there let us long to be. How bad soever the
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world is, let us never think the worse of God nor of his government;
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but, from the abundance of wickedness that is among men, let us take
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occasion, instead of reflecting upon God's purity, as if he
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countenanced sin, to admire his patience, that he bears so much with
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those that so impudently provoke him, nay, and causes his sun to shine
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and his rain to fall upon them. If God's mercy were not in the heavens
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(that is, infinitely above the mercies of any creature), he would, long
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ere this, have drowned the world again. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+55:8,9,Ho+11:9">Isa. lv. 8, 9; Hos. xi. 9</A>.
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(2.) He is a God of inviolable truth: <I>Thy faithfulness reaches unto
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the clouds.</I> Though God suffers wicked people to do a great deal of
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mischief, yet he is and will be faithful to his threatenings against
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sin, and there will come a day when he will reckon with them; he is
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faithful also to his covenant with his people, which cannot be broken,
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nor one jot or tittle of the promises of it defeated by all the malice
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of earth and hell. This is matter of great comfort to all good people,
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that, though men are false, God is faithful; men speak vanity, but the
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words of the Lord are pure words. God's faithfulness reaches so high
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that it does not change with the weather, as men's does, for it reaches
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to the <I>skies</I> (so it should be read, as some think), above the
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clouds, and all the changes of the lower region.
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(3.) He is a God of incontestable justice and equity: <I>Thy
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righteousness is like the great mountains,</I> so immovable and
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inflexible itself and so conspicuous and evident to all the world; for
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no truth is more certain nor more plain than this, That the Lord is
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righteous in all his ways, and that he never did, nor ever will do, any
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wrong to any of his creatures. Even <I>when clouds and darkness are
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round about him,</I> yet <I>judgment and justice are the habitation of
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his throne,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+97:2">Ps. xcvii. 2</A>.
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(4.) He is a God of unsearchable wisdom and design: "<I>Thy judgments
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are a great deep,</I> not to be fathomed with the line and plummet of
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any finite understanding." As his power is sovereign, which he owes not
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any account of to us, so his method is singular and mysterious, which
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cannot be accounted for by us: <I>His way is in the sea and his path in
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the great waters.</I> We know that he does all wisely and well; but
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what he does we know not now; it will be time enough to know
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hereafter.</P>
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<P>
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2. The extensive care and beneficence of the divine Providence:
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"<I>Thou preservest man and beast,</I> not only protectest them from
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mischief, but suppliest them with that which is needful for the support
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|
of life." The beasts, though not capable of knowing and praising God,
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are yet graciously provided for; their eyes wait on him, and he gives
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them their meat in due season. Let us not wonder that God gives food to
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bad men, for he feeds the brute-creatures; and let us not fear but that
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he will provide well for good men; he that feeds the young lions will
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not starve his own children.</P>
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<P>
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3. The peculiar favour of God to the saints. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) Their character,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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They are such as are allured by the <I>excellency of God's
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loving-kindness to put their trust under the shadow of his wings.</I>
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[1.] God's loving-kindness is precious to them. They relish it; they
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taste a transcendent sweetness in it; they admire God's beauty and
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benignity above any thing in this world, nothing so amiable, so
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|
desirable. Those know not God that do not admire his loving-kindness;
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and those know not themselves that do not earnestly covet it.
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[2.] They therefore repose an entire confidence in him. They have
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recourse to him, put themselves under his protection, and then think
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|
themselves safe and find themselves easy, as the chickens under the
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|
wings of the hen,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:37">Matt. xxiii. 37</A>.
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It was the character of proselytes that they came to <I>trust under the
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wings of the God of Israel</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ru+2:12">Ruth ii. 12</A>);
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and what more proper to gather proselytes than the excellency of his
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loving-kindness? What more powerful to engage our complacency to him
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and on him? Those that are thus drawn by love will cleave to him.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) Their privilege. Happy, thrice happy, the people whose God is the
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Lord, for in him they have, or may have, or shall have, a complete
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|
happiness.
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[1.] Their desires shall be answered,
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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<I>They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy
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house,</I> their wants supplied; their cravings gratified, and their
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|
capacities filled. In God all-sufficient they shall have enough, all
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|
that which an enlightened enlarged soul can desire or receive. The
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|
gains of the world and the delights of sense will surfeit, but never
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satisfy,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+55:2">Isa. lv. 2</A>.
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But the communications of divine favour and grace will satisfy, but
|
|
never surfeit. A gracious soul, though still desiring more of God,
|
|
never desires more than God. The gifts of Providence so far satisfy
|
|
them that they are content with such things as they have. <I>I have
|
|
all, and abound,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+4:18">Phil. iv. 18</A>.
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The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God's house, sweet to
|
|
a sanctified soul and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life.
|
|
With this they are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in
|
|
this world than to live a life of communion with God and to have the
|
|
comfort of the promises. But the full, the abundant satisfaction is
|
|
reserved for the future state, the house not made with hands, eternal
|
|
in the heavens. Every vessel will be full there.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Their joys shall be constant: <I>Thou shalt make them drink of the
|
|
river of thy pleasures. First,</I> There are pleasures that are truly
|
|
divine. "They are <I>thy pleasures,</I> not only which come from thee
|
|
as the giver of them, but which terminate in thee as the matter and
|
|
centre of them." Being purely spiritual, they are of the same nature
|
|
with those of the glorious inhabitants of the upper world, and bear
|
|
some analogy even to the delights of the Eternal Mind.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> There is a river of these pleasures, always full,
|
|
always fresh, always flowing. There is enough for all, enough for each;
|
|
see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+46:4">Ps. xlvi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
The pleasures of sense are putrid puddle-water; those of faith are pure
|
|
and pleasant, <I>clear as crystal,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+22:1">Rev. xxii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> God has not only provided this river of pleasures for
|
|
his people, but he makes them to drink of it, works in them a gracious
|
|
appetite to these pleasures, and by his Spirit fills their souls with
|
|
joy and peace in believing. In heaven they shall be for ever drinking
|
|
of those <I>pleasures that are at God's right hand,</I> satiated with a
|
|
<I>fulness of joy,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:11">Ps. xvi. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Life and light shall be their everlasting bliss and portion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Having God himself for their felicity, <I>First,</I> In him they have a
|
|
fountain of life, from which those rivers of pleasure flow,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
The God of nature is the fountain of natural life. In him we live, and
|
|
move, and have our being. The God of grace is the fountain of spiritual
|
|
life. All the strength and comfort of a sanctified soul, all its
|
|
gracious principles, powers, and performances, are from God. He is the
|
|
spring and author of all its sensations of divine things, and all its
|
|
motions towards them: he quickens whom he will; and whosoever will may
|
|
come, and take from him of the waters of life freely. He is the
|
|
fountain of eternal life. The happiness of glorified saints consists in
|
|
the vision and fruition of him, and in the immediate communications of
|
|
his love, without interruption or fear of cessation. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
In him they have light in perfection, wisdom, knowledge, and joy, all
|
|
included in this light: <I>In thy light we shall see light,</I> that
|
|
is,
|
|
|
|
1. "In the knowledge of thee in grace, and the vision of thee in glory,
|
|
we shall have that which will abundantly suit and satisfy our
|
|
understandings." That divine light which shines in the scripture, and
|
|
especially in the face of Christ, the light of the world, has all truth
|
|
in it. When we come to see God face to face, within the veil, we shall
|
|
see light in perfection, we shall know enough then,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+13:12,1Jo+3:2">1 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 John iii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. "In communion with thee now; by the communications of thy grace to
|
|
us and the return of our devout affections to thee, and in the fruition
|
|
of thee shortly in heaven, we shall have a complete felicity and
|
|
satisfaction. In thy favour we have all the good we can desire." This
|
|
is a dark world; we see little comfort in it; but in the heavenly light
|
|
there is true light, and no false light, light that is lasting and
|
|
never wastes. In this world we see God, and enjoy him by creatures and
|
|
means; but in heaven <I>God himself shall be with us</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:3">Rev. xxi. 3</A>)
|
|
|
|
and we shall see and enjoy him immediately.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. We have here David's prayers, intercessions, and holy triumphs,
|
|
grounded upon these meditations.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He intercedes for all saints, begging that they may always
|
|
experience the benefit and comfort of God's favour and grace,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) The persons he prays for are those that know God, that are
|
|
acquainted with him, acknowledge him, and avouch him for theirs--the
|
|
upright in heart, that are sincere in their profession of religion, and
|
|
faithful both to God and man. Those that are not upright with God do
|
|
not know him as they should.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The blessing he begs for them is God's loving-kindness (that is,
|
|
the tokens of his favour towards them) and his righteousness (that is,
|
|
the workings of his grace in them); or his loving-kindness and
|
|
righteousness are his goodness according to promise; they are mercy and
|
|
truth.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The manner in which he desires this blessing may be conveyed: <I>O
|
|
continue it, draw it out,</I> as the mother draws out her breasts to
|
|
the child, and then the child draws out the milk from the breasts. Let
|
|
it be drawn out to a length equal to the line of eternity itself. The
|
|
happiness of the saints in heaven will be in perfection, and yet in
|
|
continual progression (as some thing); for the fountain there will be
|
|
always full and the streams always flowing. <I>In these is
|
|
continuance,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:5">Isa. lxiv. 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He prays for himself, that he might be preserved in his integrity
|
|
and comfort
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Let not the foot of pride come against me,</I> to trip up my heels,
|
|
or trample upon me; <I>and let not the hand of the wicked,</I> which is
|
|
stretched out against me, prevail to <I>remove me,</I> either from my
|
|
purity and integrity, by any temptation, or from my peace and comfort,
|
|
by any trouble." Let not those who fight against God triumph over those
|
|
who desire to cleave to him. Those that have experienced the pleasure
|
|
of communion with God cannot but desire that nothing may ever remove
|
|
them from him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. He rejoices in hope of the downfall of all his enemies in due time
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>There,</I> where they thought to gain the point against me, <I>they
|
|
have</I> themselves <I>fallen,</I> been taken in that snare which they
|
|
laid for me." <I>There,</I> in the other world (so some), where the
|
|
saints stand in the judgment, and have a place in God's house, the
|
|
workers of iniquity are cast in the judgment, <I>are cast down</I> into
|
|
hell, into the bottomless pit, out of which they shall assuredly never
|
|
be able to rise from under the insupportable weight of God's wrath and
|
|
curse. It is true we are not to rejoice when any particular enemy of
|
|
ours falls; but the final overthrow of all the workers of iniquity will
|
|
be the everlasting triumph of glorified saints.</P>
|
|
|
|
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