DISCOURSE lfd. 161 ling the wormwood and the gall, while we feed on the pleasant things of the house of God, and are satisfiedwith the goodness of hisholy temple. And thus I dismiss the second sense of the words, which probably was the precise meaning and chief design of the Psalmist himself, considering the dispensation under which he lived. But when in the times of the New Testament, we apply the language of the Jewish prophets to the state and institutions of thegospel, we have encouragement enough from the example of Christ and his apostles, to extend and further enlarge the meaning of those ancient phrases beyond the literal and Jewish sense, and thus accommodate them to christian aflisirs. The third sense of the text therefore, when enlarged and explained to evangelical purposes, may be this : Approaching to God, in the style of the gospel signifies, either our being brought nigh to God, and reconciled to him by the blood of Christ, and the grace of the Holy Spirt, as in Eph. ii. 13, 18. In Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes afar ofare made nigh, and have access by one Spirit to the Father. Or else it means our drawing nigh to God in spirit and in truth, in prayer or holy meditation, &c. So Heb. x. 21, 22. Having such a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart. Dwelling in the courts of God, may signify an union to the church of God, which is his spiritual house, upon a solemn pro- fessionof his gospel, and a visible allowed right to all the privi- leges and ordinances thereof. The church is the house of the living God ; 1 Tim. iii. 15. He dwells no longer in temples shade with hands, nor confines his special presence to any single spot of ground, or any material building : The assemblies of his saints are his courts, his dwelling places ; where two or three are gathered together in his name, there is Christ in the midst of them; Mat. xviii. 20. Every particular church of Christ, as well as the churchcatholic, or universal, is a holy temple of the Lord, built upfor a habitation of God through the Spirit ; Ephes. ii. 20, 21. Now surely, if the men of Israel had a bles- sing pronounced upon them in my text, whose habitation was near to that material sanctuary, we may with equal assurance, and with much greater delight, say, Blessed is the man, O Lord, whom thou chusest and causest to draw near unto thee, that he may dwell in thy house in the sense of the NewTestament; that he may be added to thy church ; Acts ii. 47. That he may be joinedto the disciples; Acts ix. 26. That he may be received in the Lord; Phil. ii. 29. That he may be united to the christian assemblies, andbecome a member of the church of Christ. Let us again consider the Hebrew expression, 17tÚ, 7.201 that hemay dwell in thy courts, whichmay withmore exactness and proprietybe rendered, heshall or will dwell, &c. and then the verse Voa. iv. L
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