July 14

Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." How I envy the little birds that flee, and feed, and build near the sacred place—"Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God." There would my nest be—the home of my heart—"My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God."

It has grown into a proverb, that we never know the worth of blessings till we know the want of them: and the poet sings—

"How mercies brighten as they take their flight!"

Thus sickness endears health. The Jews who had always been murmuring against Moses, mourned for him when dead many days; and no doubt sincerely, and even the more because of their former conduct. A minister may not be neglected: but it is when his hearers look up, and see his figure no more in the pulpit, and when they can no more hang upon his lips—it is then they begin to think how they have improved his labours, and are prepared for the next interview; it is then they recall his sermons, and borrow, and transcribe the notes which others have taken down. Children may not have undervalued a mother: but the full estimation of her importance is not felt till her ears are closed to all their complaints, and their cares find no longer an asylum in her loved bosom - upon this principle the Lord acts, and it will account for many of his dispensations. If we do not esteem and are not thankful for his benefits, he suspends or withdraws them. He can easily deprive you of any of those religious opportunities and advantages, from which you now suffer the most trifling excuses frequently to keep you. By the loss of hearing he can render you deaf to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. Accident or sickness may confine you from the place where his honour dwelleth. Or a change of business or residence may fix you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is—

Secondly, his former experience: "To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." God is not confined to temples made with hands. His presence fills heaven and earth; and David had seen his power and his glory in all his works; but he knew the special grace of the promise, "In all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." And they who wait upon the Lord, and love the habitation of his house, have always had proof of this, and can say with David—"I have seen him in the sanctuary. I am not to be disputed out of the reality of my experience. I have found him there, and communed with him as a man talketh with his friend. The influence and effect of the intercourse have vouched for the nature of it. It was not delusion, or enthusiasm. It has rendered sin odious; it has weaned me from the world; it has drawn me heavenward; it has taught me to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to have no confidence in the flesh."

Others are strangers to this experience. It is what mere formalists and false apostates never knew. But it is an incomparable advantage to the possessor. It confirms his confidence in divine