The Believer's Lodging and Inn While on Earth: A Paraphrase on Psalm 84

Ver, I. How aimable are thy Tabernacles, 0 Lord of Hosts!

JEHOVAH, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Sole Monarch of the universal host, Whom the attendant jarmies still revere, Winch in bright robes surround the higher sphere; Whose sovereign empire sways the hellish band Oi ranked legions, m til’ infernal land; Who hold’stthe earth at thy unrivaili beck, And stay’st proud forces with an humbling cheek; Ev’n thou whose name commands an awful dread, Yet d( ignp to dwelt with man in very deed; O what refreshment fills the dwelling-place Of thine exuberant unbounded grace! Which with sweet pow r docs joy and praise extort In lion’s tents, thine ever-lov’d resort: Where glad’aing streams of mercy from above Make souls brim-fall of warm seraphic love. Of sweetest odours all thy garments smells;

Thy dismal absence proves a thousand hells,

But heav’nsof joy are where thine honour d we- Is. J

A er. 2. Mi, soul longeth, yea, even fazrit4th Jbr the courts

of tlu Lord; mij heart and flesh crieth out Jbr the living-Cod.

Therefore on thee I centre my desire, Which veh’inently bursts out in ardent fire. Deprived, ah! 1 languish in my plaint, My bones are feeble, and my spirits faint..

the believer’s lodging. 200

My longing soul pants to behold again Thy temple fill’d with thy majestic train; Those palaces with heav’nly odour strew’d, And regal courts, where Zion’s King is view’d: To see the beauty of the highest One, Upon his holy mount, his lofty throne: Whence virtue running from the living Head Kestores the dying, and revives the dead. For him my heart with cries repeated sounds, To which my flesh with echoes loud rebounds For him, for him, who life in death can give, “)

Tor him, for him, whose sole prerogative Is from and to eternity to live.

A er. 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest fur herself, where she may lay Iter youngs even thine altars, 0 Lord of hosts, my King and lmy Goth

Alas! how from thy lovely dwellings I, Long batiish’d, do the happy birds envy; WttkA, choosing thy high altars for their nest, On rafters of thy tabernacle rest! Here dwells the sparrow of a chirping tongue, And here the swallow lays her tender young: Faint sacrilege! they seize the sacred spot, And seem to glory o’er my absent lot. Yi t sure 1 have more special right to thee Than all the brutal hosts of earth and sea: That Sovereign, at whose government they bow, 1^ wholly mine by his eternal vow; My King to rule my heart and queil my foes, “|

My God t’ extract my well from present woes, And crown with endless glory at the close.

Ver, 4. Blessed arr tiny that dwell in thy house: they wi/i be st i II p ra is i ng thee*

O happy they that haunt thy house below, And to thy royal sanctuary flow;

Not for itself, but for the glorious One, Who there inhabits his erected throne; Others pass by, but here their dwelling is T O hnppy people, crown VI with bays of bliss! Bless’d with the splendid lustre of his face, Bless’d with the high melodious sound of grace,. That wakens souls into a sweet amaze, And turns their spirits to a harp of praise it Which loudly makes the lower temple ring With hallelujahs, to the mighty King: And thus they antidate the nobler song

Of that celestial and triumphant throng, V-Who warble notes of praise eternity along. J

Ver. 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee: — What weights of bliss their happy shoulders load, Whose strength lies treasur’d in a potent God? Self-drained souls, yet flowing to the brim, Because void in themselves, but full in him. Adam the first discuss’ d their stock of strength, The second well retrieved the sum at length; Who keeps ‘t himself, a surer hand indeed, To give not as they list, but as they need. When raging furies threaten sudden harms, He then extends his everlasting arms; When Satan drives his pointed fiery darts, He gives them courage and undaunted hearts To quell his deadly ioree with divine skill, And adds new strength to do their Sovereign’s will: When sore hanass’d by some outrageous lust, “| He levelling its power unto the dust y

Makes saints to own him worthy of their trust. J

Ver. G. In whose Hearts are the Ways of them, who passing through II’ Vttiiey (j huca, make it a well: tin rain also jillcth the pools.

Such heav’n-born souls are not to earth confni’d/J Truth’s high-way tills their elevated mind;

They bound for Zion, press with forward aim,

As fsraTs males to old Jerusalem.

Their holy path lies through a parched land,

Through oppositions numerous and grand.

Traversing scorched deserts, ragged rocks,

And Baca’s withered vale, like thirsty flocks:

Yet with unshaken vigour homeward go,

Not mov’d by all opposing harms below.

They digging wells on this Gilboa top,

The vale of Achor yields a door of hope:

For heav’n in plenty does their labour crown,

By making silver show’rs to trickle down;

Till empty pools imbibe a pleasant fill, “j

And weary souls are heart’ned up the hill, y

By massy drops of joy which down distil. J

Ver. 7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appear eth before God.

Thus they refreshed by superior aid, Are not defatigated nor dismay’d; Because they are, O truth of awful dread! As potent as J ehovah in their Head. Hence they shall travel with triumphant minds, In spite of rugged paths and boisterous winds. The roughest ways their vigour ne’er abates, Each new assault their strength redintegrates. When they through mortal blows seem to give o’er, Their strength by intermitting gathers more. And thus they, with unweary’d zealendu’d, Still as they journey, have their strength renewed. 8 1 glorious is the race, that once begun Each one contends his fellow to outrun; Till ail uniting in a glorious band, jBefore the Lamb’s high throne adoring stand, And harp his lofty praise in Zion land.

er. 8. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give car, O God if Jacob, Great God of nunfrous hosts, who reigns alone The sole possessor of th imperial throne;

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Since mental tastes of thy delicious grace

So sweetly relish in thy holy place,

This is the subject of my tabled prayV,

To have the vision of thy glory there

O let my cry pierce the ethereal frame,

And mercy’s echo follow clown the same.

Omniscient Being, favour my desire,

Hide not thy goodness in paternal ire:

Why, thou hast giv’n in an eternal band,

To Jacob and bis seed thy royal hand,

And promised by thy sacred Deity, “j

His King and covenanted God to be:

Therefore my hopes are centered all in thee. J

Yer. 9. Behold, O Cod, our shield; and look upon the face, of thine anointed.

Omnipotent, whose armour none can wield, Zion’s great buckler and defensive shield, Thy pure untainted eyes cannot behold Deformed mortals in their sinful mould, Unless their names be graved on the breast Of Zion’s holy, consecrated Priest. When they his white and glorious garment wear. Then sin and guill both wholly disappear: Because o’er whelmed in the crimson Hood, And ocean of a dying Surety’s bk>6 I: They also, vested with ins radiant grace,

lect the lustre of his hoi face. They’re not themselves now, but divinely trim, lor wholly what they are, they are in him: And hence Jj ikv/au’s all-discerning i

Cannot ip them - fortuity* f

Then look on him, Lord; and in him on me. J

Vi. 10. For a da// in flu, courU is letter than n thousand t J had rat her be a dobr-heeper in the house of my (»<;<(, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness* May 1 possess, as thy down stic child,

The; lat by Jbhoyau’s mime is styVd; the believer’s lodging.

For royal glories deck these courts of thine, Which with majestic rays so brightly shine, That should my mind present an earth of gold, As full of worldly joys as earth can hold: Sweet grace so fills thy house, I’d grudge to spare One moment here, for thousand ages there. No earthly object shall my love Confine, That Being which possesses all, is mine; Iffy spirit, therefore rather would embrace The meanest office in his holy place, And by the threshold of his house within, Than sit in splendour on a throne of sin. In Jesus cburtsl’d choose the lowest place At his saints feet, so I might see his face. Yeajtbo ray lamp of outward peace should burn Most brightly, yet I would incessant mourn, While in a wicked Mesech 1 sojourn.

A» er, l 1. F6r the Lord God is a sun unci sJti< !>I: iJtc Lord will gia § no good thing wiL fa withhold from them that walk uprightly*

Tor God the Lord, whose co irts I lov< to haunt,

Is ev’ry thing that empty souls can want;; sun for light, a shield for strength; yea, more, On earth he gives his grace, in heav’n ins giore. This radiant sun, of life and light the BOW Scatters the shades by’s circumambient course;

- bemisted souls with heartsome beams, A id gloriously irradiating glean - This massy shield is polish’d bright with pow*r, For helping weaklings in a per’lous hour. IK re’s all that weary travellers would have,

sun to cherish and a shield to save. Grace also lure is giv’n f adorn the soul, And yield to -lory in the heav’uly pole. All divine treasure to the saint is due; Nothing’s deuj ll, if truth itself be true. ‘i he treasure is so vast it can’t be told; N jibing that God can give, will <Jod withhold.

To whom he doth his saving grace impart, To them he gives himself, his hand, his heart: Uprightness too of heart, and life, does fall Unto their share, who having him, have all. In them the grace he gives, he still regards; Gives holiness, and then his gift rewards. For to his own upright and divine brood

He’s bound to grant ev’n all that’s great and good, By ‘sown sure word, firm oath, and sacred blood. J

Ver. 12. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

O then, Jehovah, God of armies strong, To whom the pow’rs of earth and heav’n belong; How vastly blessed is the fixed man, Who by a firm fiducial boldness can, Thro’ grace and strength dispensed from above, So sweetly scan the height 01 divine love, As to derive his comfort wholly thence, And on this rock to found his confidence? Whose faith has rear’d up for a firm abode A stable building on a living God? Who, spoif d of human props, both great and small, Does choose a triune Deity for all? What scrolls of bliss are in this All jnroll’d, Is too sublime for seraphs to unfold. Sist, human wisdom, in a deep amaze!

Let rapid floods of life his glory raise,

Till time be drown d in his eternal pra J

A FOURFOLD EXERCISE FOR THE BELIEVER IX HIS LODGIXG OX EARTH.

I. The HOLY LAW;

The Ten Commandments, Exod. xx. 3 — 17.

i. No God but me thou shalt adore.
‘J. No image frame to bow before.

3. My holy name take not in vain.

4. My sacred Sabbath don’t profane.

5. To parents render due respect.

6. All murder shun, and malice check.

?. From filth and whoredom base abstain.

8. From theft and all unlawful gain.

<). False witness flee, and slaud’ring spite. ’

10. Nor covet what’s thy neighbour’s right.

II. The UNHOLY HEART, the direct opposite to Gad’s holy and righteous Law, Rom. vii. 14.

The Knowledge of Sin by the Law, Rom. iii. 20,

1. My heart’s to many gods a slave.
g. Of imag’ry an hideous cave.

3. An hoard of God-dishon’ring crimes.

4. A waster base of holy times.

o. A throne of pride and self-conceit,

(i. A slaughter-house of wrath and hate.

7. A cage of birds and thoughts unclean.

8. A den of thieves and frauds unseen. Q. An heap cf calumnies unspent.

10. A gulph of greed and discontent.

III. The GLORIOUS GOSPEL:

Christ the EndoftheLnwforRiqhfeoKsness, Horn. x. 4*

And the absolute Need of this Remedy inferred from

the Premises.

Hence I conclude and clearly see,
There’s by the law no life for me;
Which damns each soul to endless thrall)
Whose heart and life fulfils not all.
What shall I do, unless for bail
I from the law to grace appeal?
She reigns through Jesu’s righteousness,
Which giving justice full redress,
On grace’s door this motto grav’d,
Let sin be damn’d, and sinners sav’d.
O wisdom’s deep mysterious way!

Lo, at this door I’ll waiting stay%

Till sin and hell both pass away. J

But in this bliss to shew my part, -j

Grant, through thy law grav’d in my heart,

jIy life may shew thy graving art. J

IV. The PRAYER of 1A1T1L

%Vbicb may be conceived in the following- words of a certain author:

SIM tuus in vita, tua sunt mca funera, Christc: Da, precor, imperii sceptra teuerc tut.

Cttr etenim, moriens, tut vulnera sin- a tulistiy Si non sum regni portio parv/a tui?

Cur rigido latuit tua vi&a inclusa sepulchre Si non est med mors morte fugata tua f

Ergo mihi certain prcestes, O Christe, salutem, Meque tuo lotum sanguine, Christe, jwn%

Which may be thus Englished:

Jesus, I’m thine in life and death,

Oh let me conqu’ring hold thy throne, Why shar’d the cross thy vital breath,

It’ not to make me share thy crown?
“Why laid in jail of cruel grave,

If not thy death from death me free?
Then, Lord, insure the bliss I crave,

beal’d with thy blood, and succour me.