December 23

"As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee." Psalms 87:7.

This is spoken of Zion, and shows us the joy and the attachment of her inhabitants.

The joy is expressed in language according with the forms of service in the Jewish worship. They had, in addition to the praises of individuals and families, orders of men established expressly for the performance of psalmody in the temple; some vocal, and some instrumental; "As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there." The meaning is, that Zion, which the world considers the metropolis of sadness and gloom, should be the residence of cheerfulness and mirth; or, in other words, that the church of God should abound with spiritual joy and gladness. This joy may be considered two ways. First, as promised: and so it is to be viewed as a privilege, and we are to look after it in the history and experience of his people. And if we turn, and this is the fairest way, to those whom God has himself described in his word, we shall find them distinguished by nothing more than this experience. They walked in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Though they had losses and afflictions, yet, believing, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Secondly, as commanded. Thus they are enjoined to shout aloud for joy: to rejoice in the Lord always; to be filled with the Spirit, speaking to themselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing, and making melody in their heart to the Lord. And thus it becomes a duty, and as such, we are bound to seek and to preserve it: to study the grounds of it: to guard against every thing that would invade and injure it; to endeavor by all means to increase our joy in the Lord, and never refuse to be comforted. All must be singers and players on instruments here. All cannot perform equally well, but all must do something, and pray and strive to show that the religion of Christ is able to make its possessors happy; that it can set their roving hearts at rest; that it can enable them to dispense with the dissipations of the world; that it can sustain them under the trials of life, and raise them above the fears of death, and thus adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things.

But here is attachment as well as joy: "All my springs are in thee." No affection was ever more sincere than that which the pious Jews bore to their native land. Jerusalem was the source of their hope and glory, the circle and the centre of all the endearments of life. They breathed out their very soul when they said, "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." They deemed nothing too dear to be parted with, for its ornament or defence. In its welfare they forgot their personal and relative sorrows; and when it was taken and destroyed, they abandoned themselves to grief, hung their harps upon the willows, and felt life a burden. Even in its reduced state, they took "pleasure in her stones, and favored the dust thereof;" each of them sighing, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning; let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." And is there less intenseness of regard in Christians towards Jerusalem which is above, and free, and the mother of us all? No; all their springs are there: all that refreshes me, can each of them say, all that revives, all that enlivens, all that inspires—"all my springs are in thee."

Where are all the springs of a worldly man? In the world. To all his interests there he is alive; his heart is glad when his corn and wine increase, and his joy fails with them. His losses are the taking away of his gods; and what has he more? But what is the experience of the Christian? In the word of God, and the ordinances of his house, and communion with his people, and the consolations of his Spirit, here it is, says he, I find my heaven. If this cannot touch and animate him, nothing, for the time, can. On the other hand, this can make him joyful even in tribulation. This seems to indemnify him under every earthly disappointment. What is it, says he, that my schemes fail, if his flourish? Yea, in spiritual darkness, and when he is ready to conclude that he has no part or lot in the matter, and that his heart cannot be right in the sight of God, his countenance is illumined, and the tear of joy starts into his eye when he hears that the word of the Lord hath free course and is glorified; that sinners are fleeing to the Saviour as doves to their windows; that the order to Zion is issued. Enlarge the place of thy tent: lengthen her cords, strengthen her stakes. In this, says he, I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. And so, when there are apostasies and backslidings, and professors cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of, he is "sorrowful for the solemn assembly, and the reproach of it is his burden." And his fear as well as his hope, and his grief as well as his pleasure, show where the attraction of his heart lies. And if any thing is to be done for Zion, he feels a courage that is not natural to him. His tongue is as the pen of a ready writer. His hand gets suddenly into his pocket, and to his power, yea, and beyond his power, he is willing to communicate; and his zeal, as well as all his other feelings, justify his saying, "All my springs are in thee."