Quam dilecta.
The soul aspireth after heaven; rejoicing in the mean time, in being in
the communion of God’s church upon earth.
83:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.
83:2. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
83:3. my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart
and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.
83:4. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest
for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of
hosts, my king and my God.
83:5. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall
praise thee for ever and ever.
83:6. Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath
disposed to ascend by steps,
In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, etc.... Ascensiones
in corde suo disposuit. As by steps men ascended to the temple of God
situated on a hill; so the good Christian ascends towards the eternal
temple by certain steps of virtue disposed or ordered within the heart:
and this whilst he lives as yet in the body, in this vale of tears, the
place which man hath set: that is, which he hath brought himself to:
being cast out of paradise for his sin.
83:7. In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.
83:8. For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue
to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.
83:9. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.
83:10. Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.
83:11. For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have
chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in
the tabernacles of sinners.
83:12. For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and
glory.
83:13. He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence:
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.