[1] Zion was the name of a high mound situated upon a bed of
rock enclosed within the walls of Jerusalem, and making the
finest and strongest part thereof. Here was first the
Tabernacle, and then the Temple, and concerning it great
things are declared (Ps. cxxxii. 13-18). If we look through
the literal description to the spiritual glory discernible,
we shall soon see that it was typical of a higher state,
and a shadow of good things to come. I need hardly remind
you that, by a figure of speech, Zion is used in the New
Testament as significant of the Church of the Living God
(Heb. xii. 22).--_Jay._
Such are the encouragements that consoled the ancient city
of God in the day of her trouble. Harassed, her garrisons
stormed, her armies scattered, her very sanctuary
threatened with violation, she was bade remember her
Eternal King, and take comfort in the thought of that
watchful Guardian who sooner or later would assuredly
avenge her wrongs. Often was she taught the same lesson;
and often, in despite of her own froward and unbelieving
heart, was the prediction realised. The Lord still "loved
the gates of Zion;" the streams of His holy "river still
made glad the city of God;" and He was "known in her palace
for a refuge." But a gloomier hour at length arrived; even
Divine patience has its limits; and the last dread crime of
Zion could only be expiated in her ruin. Blood had flowed
beneath her hands, every drop of which was worth a
universe, and she had invoked its curse upon her own head
and the head of her children. And now, behold, in the
fearful words of her own prophets, "the lion is come up
from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on
his way,"--Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen, because
their tongues and their doings are against the Lord to
provoke the eyes of His glory. "But what?--is this the city
of which such glorious things are spoken--that the Highest
Himself should establish her, that she should not be
moved?" Where are His mighty promises of perpetuity? Where
is that foundation which no power should ever shake--that
Zion, in which the poor of His people were to trust?
Brethren, look around you, and you behold the evidences of
its existence, and of the eternal faithfulness of Him who
is pledged to its immortality. A greater than Zion inherits
her name; a greater than Zion bore it in the far-reaching
scope of the prophetic vision. That "city of the great
King" was but a perishable emblem of a "city whose builder
and maker is God." It is true she was honoured by His
symbolic presence and sanctified by His sacred worship; it
is true that for ages she alone, in a world of darkness,
held the precious lamp of His truth; but what are these
characters of honour to hers, whose every living stone is
quickened by His indwelling energy, whose worship is no
more in type and shadow, but in spirit and in substance;
whose preaching and teaching, no longer shrouded in
obscurity and limited to a corner of the earth, spreads
over all lands, embraces the whole family of mankind, and
makes even the course of that sun whose "going forth is
from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of
it, and from whose light nothing is hid," a faint image of
the power with which she diffuses through all nations "the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ"? (See also 2 Cor. iii. 10, 11.)--_Archer
Butler._
[2] How well may the Church on Zion rejoice to have such a God
dwelling in the midst of it! He is great as the Giver of
promises, and great in fulfilling them; great in all His
saving acts which spread from Israel to all
mankind.--_Delitzsch._
[3] Take the Gospel. What is it? Not a decision of Parliament,
or the termination of a debate which may have no effect on
our welfare. It brings us glad tidings of great joy. It is
infinitely important, it is eternally interesting to us. It
is our life. It is all our salvation, and it should be all
our desire. Therefore we should receive it as a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation. We should receive it
as a dying man would a remedy, or as a condemned criminal
would hail a reprieve. We should receive it with feelings
superior to those with which we receive anything else. It
is a subject which rises infinitely above all others in
interest and importance, and demands all the energies of
the soul, and renders Dr. Young's words the words of truth
and soberness:--
"On such a theme 'twere impious to be calm:
Passion is reason; transport, temper here."--_Jay._