as DIVINE LOVE IS TÑE COMtIANDINO PASSION this sublime lover of God, in the xlii, xliii, and lxxxiv. Psalms? " My soul longeth, ye, fainteth for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God : As the hart pant= eth after water-brooks, so pantetll my soul after thee, O God, Early O God, will I seek thee, for thy loving kindness is better than life." When he dwells in his own palace he longs for the divine presence ; Ps. ci. 2. " I will walk withih my house with a perfect heart; O when wilt thou come unto me ?" But his eminent desire is to dwellfor ever in the sanctuary ; " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may ever abide in his house, there to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire" andconverse with him " in his holy temple ;" Ps: xxvii. 4. 0 happy soul, where all these active springs of pas- sion are touched and influenced by divine grace ! Hunger and thirst, andall the longingpowers and appetites of animal nature, are too few and too feeble to express the holy desires of a soul breathing after the presence of its God. III. When the love of God reigns in the heart, all the joys and pleasures of the man will unite and centre in God. It will be our sweetest satisfaction, and most exalted delight to have God ever near us, and to be ever near to God. As absence from God is a pain at the heart of a lively Christian, fired with divine love, so hisglorious presence is his chief joy. With what affectionate language does the holy soul of David rejoice in God, as his God, andhow does he employ the charming arts of poesy and music to express his own joys and the praises ofhis almighty Friend ? One must run through a multitude of his Psalms to copy out the bright expressions of holy delight, which he found in the love of God ; even the prospect and hope of waiting on him in his temple, fills his spirit with sacred pleasure ; Ps. xliii, 4. " I will go to the altarof God, unto God my exceeding joy, yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O Godmy God." Ps. lxiii. 5, 6. " When I remember thee on my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches, my soul shall be satisfied as with mar- row and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. This joywhich is derived from the love of God, is supreme over all other joys, and independent of other comforts : When all the nether springs of delight among creatures are dried up, this isa fountain of eternal pleasure, a spring of ever-flowing de- light. Hab. iii. 17-19. " Though the fig-tree shall not blos- som, and there shall no fruit be in the vine, though the field shall yield no meat, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, yet the Lord God is my strength, I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in theGod of mysalvation." IV. Where the love of God prevails in the heart, every thing that belongs to God, his word, his institutions, his church and people, will in some proportion be the objects of our choice
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