_The church, celebrating her incredible return out of captivity,
prayeth for, and prophesieth the good success thereof._
A Song of degrees.
When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them
that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing:
then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for
them.
The LORD hath done great things for us; _whereof_ we are glad.
Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves _with him_.
This is a Psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from the Babylonish
captivity; whether it was written after the captivity, or before it,
as a prophecy to comfort the Jews with the certain hope of
deliverance, and that they should not despair, is uncertain: but at
what particular time it was written, it matters not.
This Psalm ends with a remarkable and glorious conclusion; which
embraces, in a few words, the whole counsel and the immutable decree
of God concerning his church; namely, that it behoved Christ first to
suffer, and then to be raised up, and exalted of God and glorified.
And so also Christians must first fill up a certain measure of
afflictions before they enter into their joy; while, on the contrary,
the men of the world fill up a certain measure of their joy before
they are eternally punished and damned.
The church, therefore, is that poor little helpless flock, in the
midst of a wicked nation. They are that little company who pray, cry,
are tempted, and are afflicted by the world; who sow in tears, but
reap in joy. “But,” says the Psalmist, “they went, and wept as they
went, sowing precious seed; but they shall come again with joy,
bringing their sheaves with them.”
These afflictions, and these deaths of the saints are very precious;
hence it is that the Psalmist calls them “precious seed;” because they
are followed by the most fruitful crops, and by the most abundant
harvests. But we infants in grace, we poor little children, under our
tears and our sighs, understand not the voice, or the mind, or the
will of our heavenly Father in these afflictions: nor can we see or
understand how precious this seed is in the sight of God; who calls
even “death,” (which is the worst and lowest of all these seeds,)
“precious;” saying, in another place, “Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints;” and God sets this precious seed thus
sown by his children, before all the treasures of the world.