Wisdom's Delights with the Sons of Men

Proverbs viii. 31.

Rejoicing in the liabitable part of bis earth; and my delights wei’e with the sons of men.

The key to this mysterious chapter is not difficult to be found. Divine Wisdom is the speaker; and we know that Christ is personally “The Wisdom of God,” 1 Cor. i. 24. He is that Wisdom which is “justified of her children;” and which said, “I will send unto you prophets and apostles,” Luke xi. 49.

In the words before us, there are revealed, concerning this personal, substantial, and self-existent Wisdom, things which may be easily apprehended by the light of the New Testament. We shall begin with the latter part of the verse.

I. My delights were with the sons of

MEN.

Wisdom then has her delights; and where does she find them? Are they only about the tree of life, by the river of the water of life, where, crowned with glory, she beholds ten thousand times ten thousand celebrating her praises, doing her homage, and ministering unto her? Not so. Her delights overflow beyond the bounds of paradise; they descend even to “the sons of men.” This is spoken, not only in reference to the beginning of time, when it must have been the Lord’s delight to dwell with man, to walk among the trees of the garden, and to behold the first innocent pair; but here is reference also to the time after sin entered our world, and “the imagination of man’s heart had become evil from his youth,” and the whole human race had become “dead in trespasses and sins,” entangled in the snare of the devil, laden with iniquity, subjected to the curse of the violated law, and sunk fast in the deep mire where no ground is. Well then may we be astonished, that of our race, under such circumstances, the Lord of glory should say, “My delights are with the sons of men.”

These delights are manifold. The prime of them doubtless is that which he finds in his own self. For his name only is excellent, beautiful, and amiable; and his praise, above heaven and earth. All else is lovely and glorious, only in so far as it has emanated from Him, and is perfected by Him. He has complacential delight in himself, for he only is perfection, independent and eternal. The communications of his glorious attributes are also his delight. But where do these communications rest, if not on the sons of men? The elect angels have a glory put upon them distinct from these. The glory of Christ is a special boon to sinners. Wonderful as this appears, it is truth; and that is more wonderful. For the sake of sinners he made himself of no reputation; despoiling himself, as it were, of his glory. He does keep his white raiment not for himself alone, but bestows it for the adorning of his “bride,” the church. Were it otherwise, how could we lift up our eyes to heaven 1 How could we be of such good courage, did not his righteousness cover all our sins 1 How could we think of God as our Father, in whose sight “the heavens are not clean,” unless we are assured that we are clothed with the righteousness of Him who is all righteous, and invested with the holiness of Him who alone is holy 1 How could we, who are as the bruised reed, withstand all the power of the enemy, were we not assured that we are strengthened with might by his Spirit? How could we ever expect to have boldness in the day of judgment, were we ignorant or unmindful of that saving truth, that “by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous?” But the gospel encourages us to draw nigh unto God. in full assurance of faith, relying entirely on Him “who is made to us, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctifieation, and Redemption,” and to regard him, in these respects, as our own. It may be said, that it is an easy thing to shine in the merits of another. This, however, is God’s way of saving sinners; and easy as it is, few are found to adopt, or even to believe it. Thus then are his delights with the sons of men. “Father,” said he, briefly, but clearly,” the glory which thou gavest me, I have given themj’* John xvii. 22.

This glory is his delight: and as his supreme delight is in his own perfections, not less so is it in those works of his, to which the glory of his perfections is communicated. Accordingly it is written, “The Lord shall rejoice in his works,” Psa. civ. 31. But where is the liOrd Christ’s special work? Not among the powers of darkness; for they have been, as it were, their own artificers; they have wrought themselves upon their own wheel into what they are. Not among the angels of light, for they have kept their first estate: they have suffered none to take their crown, but have holden it by unsinning obedience. Not among the virtuous or righteous after the flesh: they presume upon being good without Christ, and their cause will have to be tried at the bar of God. If then you look for the Lord’s special work, look for it among such as smite upon their breast and cry, “God be merciful unto me a sinner!” “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me,“*” The dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Look for it among those who are ready to wash the feet of Jesus with their tears, and to wipe them with the hairs of their head: or among those who will tell you, that once they were blasphemers, and persecutors, and injurious, but they obtained mercy. The language of all such is, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth thati desire beside thee,” Ps. lxxiii. 25. “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee,” John xxi. 16, or, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” Job xiii. 15. It is where we behold such stirrings as these; where the stony heart is replaced by a heart of flesh; where the forehead receives his mark, and bears an impress from the seal of his Spirit; where eyes that never wept for sin, become fountains of tears, that glisten with the light of heaven; where righteous ones begin to mourn like doves over the ruins of their own righteousness, and the once wise of this world now reflect upon the sherds and rubbish of their own wisdom, and lament that “like a crane or a swallow so did they chatter,” Isa. xxxviii. 14; where poor and miserable sinners have found heart to love him; where the once condemned criminal can cheerfully venture to appeal, in the presence of accusers, to a merciful Saviour as his gracious Advocate ajid Protector. Here, beloved brethren, is the Lord Christ’s work, his special work; and wherever this is found, there is his delight; and it is found, with the sons of men, with poor redeemed sinners. In them is his complacency; they are -’the travail of his soul;” he “beholds” them, and is “satisfied.”

The language of inspiration contains frequently much in fQVJ- words; and this is particularly true of the gracious words uttered by our blessed

Lord himself. How unlike the common language of mankind, which often consists of many words with little meaning! “My delights were with the sons of men,” are the words here; but they evidently convey the notion of dioelUng with the sons of men. He is not ashamed to speak with such condescension and love as this to poor sinners; for “he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Consequently he will dwell with them, and this is his delight. As it is also written, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” Isa. lxvi. 1, 2.

But oh! most blessed Saviour, how can thy complacency rest where there is so much to provoke thy righteous displeasure! How can it be thy delight to dwell among those who have no natural delight in thee! Or, how can thy joy be fulfilled, or thy rejoicing break forth, where all is so wearying and revolting! Yet he says, “My delights were with the sons of men.” That these his delights are not transitory, but deeply rooted and everlasting, has from age to age been manifested, ever since the beginning of the world. Look back to that beginning of time, before even one human being was formed, and observe what a sublime process ushered in man’s creation. Man, who was to have dominion over every thing upon the earth, was not created like the other creatures. God said of every thing besides, “Let it be,” and it was so. They were made in a moment, by the word of his mouth. But in creating man, God became, as it were, the potter, and formed him carefully out of the dust of the earth; and then, after he had fashioned the dust, and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, “man became a living soul.”

No sooner was man formed, than we find the Lord God, in the character of Immanuel, already with him walking among the trees of the garden. Neither was there any thing very strange or astonishing in this, as long as man continued innocent. But what if we assert, that, by the fall itself and in consequence of human sijij his delight to dwell with us became only greater THAN EVER! Docs it sccm credible? And yet it is the fact. Verily, now began to “sound like an harp,” the “bowels” of his compassion towards us. “For the Lord is gracious; his mercy is everlasting; he delighteth in mercy.” Henceforth began to be evinced the full meaning of that oracular message, “Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord; for he is raised up out of his holy habitation,” Zech. ii. 13.

If we look back into the days of the Old Testament, we shall see how the blessed Saviour from the beginning went in and out amongst his sinful creatures; and built himself tabernacles amidst dust and ashes. Behold, in the wilderness of Beersheba, how he visited Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid, and comforted her with words of kindness. Pass on to the plains of Mamre, and witness that delightful sight, the Lord as Abraham’s guest at the tent door in the cool of the day, and the two angels with him, sitting and eating under the tree, Gen. xvhi. Revisit Peniel, where he appears as a man; and Mount Horeb, where he manifests himself, not upon a throne, but in a bush, burning with fire and not consumed. Let the cloudy pillar open for a moment, and there you behold the glory of his countenance. Think of his abiding forty years in that cloud by day, and in a shining pillar of fire by night; and this for the sake of guiding, like the sun, and protecting, as with a shield, a stiff-necked people, who were constantly rebelling against him. What delights with the sons of men were here! Nor had he forgotten them at Ophrah, where Gideon beheld him as the Angel- Jehovah, sitting under an oak. The time would fail us to speak of Jerusalem and its temple, where he dwelt between the cherubim above the mercy-seat, and of his visitations by all his holy prophets down to the time of Malachi. But we find him nearer to us still; for whither are we arrived this day? Is it not at Bethlehem? Come then, and let us pay a devout visit to the stable and to the manger. What do you there see? It is a babe, an infant of days, and yet the very same who said, “My delights were with the sons of men!” “God manifest in the flesh!’’ How unutterably wonderful! “The mighty God? The everlasting Father! The Prince of Peace!” “My Lord and my God!” Here human reason is at a stand; our knees tremble; our hearts throb; our spirits are confounded, and we retain no strength. The miracle of mercy is too overpowering for the weakness of mortals. It is well at present that we as yet see it through a veil and at a distance, hardly admitting into the mind the thousandth part of it; otherwise we should die: so vastly more is it than at present we could bear. Thus His former dwelling with Israel in that familiar intercourse already noticed, was very far from being, in the fulness of his own meaning, his dwellincr with the sons of men. It was a relationship too foreign; a friendship too lukewarm. Viewing himself simply as God, and the’jn as poor sinners, he saw that the distance was still infinitely too wide: he therefore “made himself of no reputation, and was found in the likeness of men,” “The Son of ??ia7z,” a human child, our real kinsman, our brother. But alas! how easily can men talk of such wonders, as if they were either nothing, or something quite familiar and of common place; while the eyes of seraphim, who from their heavenly elevations have been looking down almost two thousand years into this abyss of love, have never been able to ascertain its depth, nor to cease from their adoring admiration of it! Their sublimest harmony of the hallelujah is raised up from this profound.

What led the Saviour to such exceedinglygreat condescension? It was purely of His tender love towards mankind. “My delights were with the sons of men.” But whence originated this ove of God? It originated in his own bosom; and we can say no more, and see no further Bear then in mind, beloved brethren, that although Christ be no longer the infant in the manger, still he continues as a man. He is otir brother unto this day, though now upon the throne of heaven. He has still a human and brotherly heart towards us, which is touched as tenderly as ever, with “the feeling of our infirmities,” having himself been “in all points tempted like as we are.” And though we cannot, as did Mary and Simeon, take him as the child Jesus in our arms, his delight to dwell with the sons of men is so far from being at all diminished, that he is still as near to us, and his dwelling with us is as intimate, as when he was upon earth, and even more so. For under the New Testament dispensation, there is a more abiding and entire habitation of God our Saviour m us, as well as with us. It is not the tarrying only with us for a day, however delightful this may be to an Abraham, a Matthew, or a Zaccheus; it is no going in and out, as in the camp of Israel, when the glory of the Lord appeared at the door of the tabernacle. But as truly as Christ dwelleth in heaven, in the high and holy place, (and there indeed he abideth a Priest Gonlinually,) so truly is he with his people upon earth during all the days of their pilgrimage. The High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whom heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain, thus in very deed dwells with man. He will have a church in every Christian’s house; and where should he be if not in his church? That is, in the very midst of every Christian family. Verily, Christ speaks of himself as more than even ?i family inmate, “If any one hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me,” Rev. iii. 20. And as to his continuance he saith, “Lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world,” Matt, xxviii. 20. Well may we “praise the Lord for his goodness;” for his condescension to the children of men, Psa. cvii. 8. And if He delight thus to “dwell with” us, and “in the midst of” us, what may we not look for at his hands, in the way of counsel and instruction; not merely on our most important occasions, but as a very pleasant help and guide to us even in our daily emergencies! He is in the house, in the family, in the heart; and we may refer every thing to him: yes, every thing. For imagine not, my brethren, that, according to the common meaning of the words devotional or spiritual he is too spiritual for you to refer to him all your temporal matters. Remember, that the Lord God of Israel, your Saviour, who was pleased to concern himself about the widow’s handful of meal in a barrel, and her little oil in a cruse, is equally pleased to concern himself that you also may “lack nothing” you really need. O would ye but believe, ye should see the glory of God. O Israel, Israel! “what nation is there that can find their gods so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is, in all things that we call upon him for?” Deut. iv. 7. Who delights to be about our path, and to watch at our bed; to stand by us in our labours and employments, and to concern himself that we shall lack nothing that is either temporally or spiritually good, Luke xxii. 35. For “his delights were with the sons of men.”

II. Divine Wisdom is also represented, in our text, as rejoicing in the habitable part of God’s earth. The Hebrew original is peculiarly forcible and poetical; it indicates the liveliest exultation and delight, meaning literally, playing or disporting on the orb of God’s earth.

Let us notice the context; “Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest parts of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there:

when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him. as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Reioicing in the habitable part” (or, in the orb) “of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men.” What then is implied in such declarations as these? Surely that, as He formed the earth and the world with ioisdo?n, so also with love: as he formed it for the immediate benefit, so also for the happiness of his creatures; and moreover, with a special view to the pleasure and delight of the sons of men, on whom he had already thought with tenderness. Yes, my beloved brethren, when he spread a flowery carpet upon the fields, and gave to the lilies their holiday adorning; when he tinged the heavens with their lovely azure, and poured into the vegetable world its congenial green; when he built the mountains and {iiHs, so as to embosom between them many a far-stretched level of delightful verdure, and sunk the beautifully sequestered valleys far beneath, with their cool rivulets and crystal brooks; when he bestowed upon the little songsters of the woods the gift of their sweet melody, and taught the lark to praise the Lord in the height; when he was thus engaged in dispensinga profusion of bountiful convenience, appropriate decoration, and lovely colouring, then might Divine wisdom be said to have “rejoiced in the habitable globe.” And when the Father of creation so arranged the whole, as to make the face of nature serve literally as a book of God, though many parts even of this book are above the present reach of our faculties; when he appointed “the things which are seen” to be as vehicles and types for conveying to as some distant notion of the things which are spiritual and invisible, and made them pleasingly hieroglyphical of a multitude of sublime and eternal truths, the deciphering of which furnishes a delightful employment down to the present day; when, for instance, he set the sun in the firmament as a memento of himself, making its influence a visible representation of his own influence in the spiritual world; when he constituted the grain of wheat, which falls into the earth and dies, in the process of putting forth the living germ of a new and noble plant, seemingly to attest the physical reality of that new birth which he has taught to be indispensable to ourselves; and when he appointed the beautiful butterfly, lightly poising with its painted wings upon the rose, and reminding us of the death-like changes through which it has passed, as if sweetly and gracefully to preach to us of a joyful resurrection, and subsequent glorious liberty of the children of God, Rom. vii. 21; — then, yes then, was our own Saviour, Immanuel. by Him as one brought up with Him, and He, by whom God created all things, was daily his delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the orb of his earth, with prospective delight, among the sons of men. And in Christ, the Wisdom of God, as thus graciously revealed, the same wonderful condescension continues still. We know that an affectionate mother, intent on promoting the comfort and happiness of her little child, succeeds in her object by cheerfully adapting herself to the child’s simple and innocent ideas and dispositions. Now, it is precisely in this way that our blessed Lord has condescended to us his weak and helpless creatures, and shows his delight in the sons of men, by continuing thus to stoop down to us. Every instance of his adapting himself, as far as can be, to our human notions, wishes,

and expressions, is an instance of that peculiar delight attributed to Him in the text. Attend only to His language every where, and observe how his own Spirit teaches his prophets and apostles to do the same, and to be “gentle among them, even as a nurse cherisheth her children,” 1 Thess. ii. 7; how he will not disdain to own their poor addresses to him, and to make himself intelligible to them in their own imperfect dialect. Observe how, on all occasions, he condescends to our human conceptions, that he may draw nigh to us, and become known by us, Though the “gifts and calling of God are without repentance,” yet mark how often he speaks of its repenting him because of the groanings of his people; and of its repenting him of the evil. See again, how, in order to give us joyful ideas of the glory that shall be revealed in us, he adapts himself to our conceptions, by borrowing his imagery from our human delights and earthly recreations, when he speaks of that unutterable glory, as a feast for invited guests; a marriage supper; a dwelling in the mansions of his Father’s house; in a city with beautiful streets and buildings; an adorning with precious stones and shining metals; a partaking of pleasant fruits; repose in paradise beneath the tree of life, and so forth. Why is all this, but because our present condition, compared with that in futurity, is only as childhood compared with manhood? Is not then such condescension of the blessed God our Saviour to our comparatively childish conceptions, that he may gradually, as by Jacob’s ladder, conduct us up to conceptions of his own, only another beautiful illustration of the words of the text? Surely he who does not know God in these his gracious doings, cannot be said to’ have beheld “with open face as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” Again; consider the manner in which he brings his mysteries near to us, for the strengthening of our faith in his declarations and promises. It is like the manner of adaptation to little children. For he sets before us every variety of representative imagery, to woo our attention; and hereby to enable us, as it were, to see, handle, and in a degree to understand, what would otherwise be unintelligible to us. Thus to preserve fresh in remembrance the promise he gave to Noah, and to keep up our confidence of its fulfilment, he hangs out to us in the clouds a beautiful bow of seven colours, that we may feast our eyes upon it; and assures us, that as often as he presents it to us, he himself will look upon it, and remember his promise not to curse the ground any more for man’s sake, oi: to destroy the earth with a flood, Gen. ix. He graciously did the same with Gideon, when he at once so entirely condescended to him, as to a child’s wish, respectng the fleece upon the threshing-floor. Gideon, wishing to have a double seal of the Lord’s promise, asked first, that the dew should be upon the fleece alone, and that the floor on which it lay should be dry; and then that the fleece should be perfectly dry, while there was dew all about it upon the ground. “And God did so;” he fulfilled the desire of Gideon in both instances, Judges vi. Such is his condescension to human infirmity. But this conduct on the part of God has always deep wisdom in it. Thus as the Lord, by Noah’s rainbow, depicted in soft lineaments for spiritual eyes, a representation of the promised Mediator; in like manner may we not suppose in that miracle of the fleece, there was a typical pre-showing of the manner in which he

WITH THE SONS OF MEN. Ill

bestows the spiritual dew of the new covenant under the Christian dispensation? For, previously to this dispensation, the copious heavenly dew was in Israel alone, and the rest of the earth was dry; but since then, the dew has descended upon the nations, and it has been dry in Israel.

How agreeably and significantly did the wisdom of God win the attention of the sons of men, in the structure and ordinances of the tabernacle of the temple; where, with every variety of strange imagery and shadowy representation, it brought near to them the mysteries of heavenly things, of the highest and most blessed import! And in what childlike language does it address us, even to this day, concerning the greatest wonders and most sacred truths; to wit, by the water of baptism, and by the symbols and pledges of the Lord’s supper! Are not these things a most condescending accommodation of the wisdom of God to the weakness of his children, which seems to require something of a sensible and representative kind, in order to understand and believe? Behold Divine Wisdom’s lovely and gracious condescension, in adapting herself thus to the comparative childhood of our present condition!

And how much is there of the same character in God’s every-day communion with his beloved children! Oh that we were always as quietly confident as we ought to be, that this is all he means, even when his dealings with us appear in a light which is much too gloomy, and by which we admit needless cares and anxieties into the mindj instead of rejoicing in the Lord evermore! “He hideth his face, and we are troubled;” as if his mercy were clean gone for ever, and his promise come utterly to an end for evermore. But it is not so. He is but behind “the lattice,” Sol. Song ii. 9, and would have us call upon him, saying, “Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants,” Psa. xc. 13. Then, according to his promise, will he hear and answer us; for sweet to him” at all times is the voice of his obedient children, Sol. Song ii. 14. At one time we may feel as if He had even repented of having “forgiven us all trespasses.” Then will our old sins rise up against us; sins which we thought had long ago been cast into the depths of the sea; and we tremble to behold them, as at our first repentance. But the Lord, even at this season, is only dealing with us as with his forgetful children, to reawaken our first love. At another time, even in the midst of his gracious discoveries and influences, he suddenly shows us the enormity of our past transgressions, beyond the maimer in which we had ever seen or felt it before. Then it seems as if we surely must sink down again under his just displeasure. Here, however, he is only “dealing with us as with children.” And he does so, that we may the more sweetly taste how gracious he is, and set increasing value upon the merit of his atonement, and upon the influences of his Holy Spirit. Again, he permits our ancient adversary to stretch out his hand with a desire to take our crown, or at least to shatter the foundation of our hope and comfort. Then is the cry heard, “Lord, save us we perish,” Luke viii. 24. But we perish not; neither is the danger so great as we imagine. Closely considered, it is only a dealing with us as with children, on the part of God’s adorable Wisdom which suffers such things to come to pass, that we may hold fast that we have. Rev. ii. 10, 25, and not, as we imagine, that we may lose it. And when He brings us through many a labyrinth in our earthly course, for the quickening of our spiritual understanding; or, when he takes up, and makes use of the most trifling circumstances in our life, to convey something comfortable to our hearts, or something instructive and profitable: when he causes objects of every-day occurrence to become beautifully eloquent and appropriate representations of a great variety of spiritual blessings, and to remind us of a doctrine, a precept, a warning, a consolation, a promise, or a narrative in his holy word: when he manifests such tender regard to the least of our wishes, and so kindly surprises us with his guidance and blessing in the smallest matters: when, as we peruse the sacred volume, we find him converting some scriptural occurrence, ap’

DELIGHTS

parently unimportant, into a typical or parabolical representation, full of refreshment to our souls; thus teaching us to obtain figs from thistles, and delicious grapes from the thorny bush: — in all such instances the Divine Wisdom is tenderly condescending to the wants of the children of men, and “rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth.”

If, moreover, by that word “rejoicing” you would also be reminded of sweet music, it is applicable to this also. All the music on earth which is not made bi, Christ and for him, is discordant in his ear, and as the raven’s croak. As it was He who gave to David’s harp so sweet a sound, vibrated its strings upon the hills of Bethlehem, inspired the royal bard with his own voice, and directed it in those lovely psalms to personate Himself, so it is no other than He, who still to the present day, opens the lips of them that sing with the spirit and with the understanding also. He opens their lips to show forth His praise; he gives harmony to their voices, and cheerful melody to their hearts. He lodges the psaltery in their bosoms, and plays upon the hidden chords of their inmost soul, with the breath of his mouth. He lives in their sighs of sorrow, and in their shouts of joy: in their longing plaints of love, and in their hymnings of praise: in their cries at the cross, and in their exultation upon that delectable hill, where, upon their foreheads, they find themselves sealed with the Spirit unto the day of redemption. In every breathing of the renewed nature, whether it be of a groan or an hosanna: in every act of homage, and in every hailing of fioly joy: in the great temple choir of the waiting church militant, who all harmonize in that one ejaculation, “Amen, even so, come. Lord Jesus, come quickly!” there, even there is He, the liOrd and his Spirit, present, as the life and inspiration of all, however poorly fitted such persons and things may seem for presence and habitation like his.

Such, my brethren, is something of the manner in which His delight is with the sons of men, and such is his rejoicing in the habitable part of God’s earth. Happy are the people who have Him, who is the Wisdom of God, Him, who is the Lord of sabaoth, thus always by them, rejoicing always before them, and delighting in them. Let us then not be “wise in our own eyes, or prudent in our own sight,” Isa. v. 21; “for it is” also “written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent,” 1 Cor. i. 19. Let us, dear brethren, be converted, and become as little children; humble ourselves as a little child, and receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child, Matt. xdii. 3, 4; Luke xviii. 17. The mind of Immanuel, God with us, is only after such; only among such children does he delight to dwell. And wherever he delights to dwell, certainly it

116 wisdom’s delights, (fee.

is good to be there; it is a foretaste of heaven in this wilderness.

O Lord Jesus, appoint over us, as our banner, that love, which associates thy delights with the perishing sons of men, and renders thy rejoicing here with poor sinners sweet to thee, as the joys of a higher and far better world. Amen,