dereliction, in the state of death, and the body of the saint from
corruption in the grave. If it be desired by any that doubt of it, to
see the clear issue of this from the text, I shall guide them to read
this text with a great accent upon that term, “_Thine Holy One_,” that
they may take special notice of it, even the quality of that man
exempted from these evils. In this the Spirit of God puts an emphasis
upon _holiness_, as counter-working and prevailing over death and the
grave. It is this and nothing but this, that thus keeps the man, dead
and buried, from desertion in death, and corruption in the
grave.—_George Hughes._
_Verse 10._—The great promise to Christ is, that though he took a
corruptible body upon him, yet he should “_not see corruption_,” that
is, _partake of corruption_, corruption should have no communion with,
much less power over him.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 10._—Quoted by the apostle Peter (Acts ii. 27); on which Hackett
(_Com. in loc._) observes:—“The sense then may be expressed thus: Thou
wilt not give me up as a prey to death; he shall not have power over me,
to dissolve the body and cause it to return to dust.”
_Verse 11._—In this verse are four things observable:—1. _A Guide_,
THOU. 2. _A Traveller_, ME. 3. _A Way_, THE PATH. 4. _The End_, LIFE,
described after. For that which follows is but the description of this
life.
This verse is a proper subject for a _meditation_. For, all three are
solitary. _The guide_ is but one; the _traveller_, one; the _way_, one;
and the _life_, the only one. To meditate well on this is to bring all
together; and at last make them all but _one_. Which that we may do, let
us first seek our _Guide_.
_The Guide._ Him we find named in the first verse—Jehovah. Here we may
begin, as we ought in all holy exercises, with _adoration_. For, “unto
him all knees shall bow;” nay, unto his _name_. For holy is his name.
Glory be to thee, O God! He is _Deus_, therefore _holy_; he is _Deus
fortis_, therefore _able_. “For the strength of the hills is his;” and
if there be a _way_ on earth, he can “_show_” it; for in his hands are
all the corners of the earth. But is he _willing_ to “_show_”? Yes,
though he be _Deus_, _holy_ (which is a word terrible to poor flesh and
blood), yet he is _Deus meus_, my holiness. That takes away servile
fear. He is _meus_, we have a property in him; and he is willing: “_Thou
wilt show_,” etc. And that you may know _he will guide_, David shows a
little above how diligently he will guide. First, he will _go before_,
he will lead the way himself: if I can but follow, I shall be sure to go
right. And he that hath a _guide_ before him, and will not follow, is
worthy to be left behind. But say, I am willing, I do desire to go, and
I do follow: what if, through faintness in the long way, I fall often?
or, for want of care step out of the way, shall I not then be left
behind? Fear not; for “He is at my right hand, so that I shall not
slip.” Verse 8. This is some comfort indeed. But we are so soon weary in
this way, and do fall and err so often, that it would weary the patience
of a good _guide_ to lead us but one day. Will he bear with us, and
continue to the end? Yes, always; or this text deceives us; for all this
is found in the eighth verse. We must have _him_ or none; for he is one,
and the only one. So confessed Asaph: “Whom have I on earth but thee?”
Seek this _good Guide_, he is easy to be found: “Seek, and ye shall
find.” You shall find that he is first _holy_; secondly, _able_;
thirdly, _willing_; fourthly, _diligent_; and fifthly, _constant_. O my
soul! to follow him, and he will make thee both _able_ to follow to the
end; and _holy_ in the end.
_The traveller._ Having found the _Guide_, we shall not long seek for
one that wants him; for, see, here is a _man out of his way_. And that
will soon appear if we consider his condition. For, he is a _stranger_
(“_Thou wilt show me_”); and what am I? “I am a stranger, and a
sojourner, as all my fathers were,” says he, in another place. But this
was in the old time under the law; what, are we, their sons, in the
gospel, any other? Peter tells us no: that we are strangers and pilgrims
too; that is, travellers. We travel, as being _out of our country_; and
we are strangers to those we converse with. For neither the natives be
our friends, nor anything we possess truly our own. It is time we had
_animum revertendi_; and surely so we have if we could but pray on the
_way_. _Converte nos Domine._ But it is so long since we came hither, we
have forgot the way home: _obliti sunt montis mei_. Yet still we are
travelling; and, we think, homewards. For all hope well: _oculi omnium
sperant in te_. But _right_, like pilgrims, or rather, wanderers. For we
scarce know if we go right; and, which is worse, have little care to
enquire.
“_Me._” David still keeps the singular number. As there is but _one_
guide, so he speaks in the person but of _one traveller_. There is
somewhat, peradventure, in that. It is to show his _confidence_. The
Lord’s prayer is in the plural, but the creed in the singular. We may
pray that God would guide _all_; but we can be confident for none but
ourselves. “_Thou wilt show_,” or thou dost, or hast, as some translate:
all is but to show particular confidence. “_Thou wilt show me_;” _me_,
not _us_, a number indefinite wherein I _may be_ one; but _me_ in
particular that am out of the way; that am myself _alone_; that must
walk in “_the path_” _alone_. Either I must follow, or go before others;
I must work for myself alone; believe for myself alone; and be saved by
one alone. _The way_ in this text that I must walk is but one; nay, it
is but a “_path_” where but one can go: this is no highway, but a _way_
of sufferance by favour: it is none of ours. It is no _road_; you cannot
hurry here, or gallop by troops: it is but _semita_, a small _footpath_
for one to go alone in. Nay, as it is a _way_ for _one alone_, so it is
_a lonely way_: _preparate vias ejus in solitudine_, saith John, and he
knew which way God went, who is our _Guide in solitudine_: there is the
sweetness of solitariness, the comforts of meditation. For God is never
more familiar with man than when man is _in solitudine_, _alone_, in his
_path_ by himself. Christ himself came thus, all _lonely_; without
troop, or noise, and ever avoided the tumultuous multitude, though they
would have made him a king. And he never spake to them but in parables;
but to _his_ that sought him, _in solitudine_, in private, he spake
plain; and so doth he still love to do to the soul, in private and
particular. Therefore well said David, “_Thou wilt show me_,” in
particular, and in the singular number. But how shall I know that I, in
particular, shall be taught and _showed_ this _way_? This prophet, that
had experience, will tell us: _mites docebit_, the _humble he will
teach_. Psalm xxv. 9. If thou canst humble thyself, thou mayst be sure
to see thy _guide_; Christ hath crowned this virtue with a blessing:
“Blessed are the meek;” for them he will call to him and teach. But thou
must be humble then. For heaven is built like our churches, high-roofed
within, but with a strait low gate; they then that enter there must
stoop, ere they can see God. Humility is the mark at every cross,
whereby thou shalt know if thou be in the way: if any be otherwise
minded, God also shall reveal it unto you, for, “_Thou wilt show._”
“_The path._” But let us now see _what_ he will _show_ us: “_the path_.”
We must know, that as men have _many paths_ out of their highway—the
world—but they all end in destruction; so God hath _many paths_ out of
his highway, the word, but they all end in salvation. Let us oppose ours
to his (as indeed they are opposite), and see how they agree. _Ours_ are
not worth _marking_, _his marked_ with an _attendite_, to begin withal;
_ours_ bloody, _his_ unpolluted; _ours_ crooked, _his_ straight; _ours_
lead to hell, _his_ to heaven. Have not we strayed then? We had need to
turn and take another path, and that quickly: we may well say, _semitas
nostras, à viâ tuâ_. Well, here is _the Book_, and here are the _ways_
before you; and he will _show_ you. Here is _semita mandatorum_, in the
one hundred-and-nineteenth Psalm, verse thirty-five; here is _semita
pacifica_ (Prov iii. 17); here is _semita æquitatis_ (Prov. iv. 11);
here is _semita justitiæ_ (Psalm xxiii. 3); here is _semita judicii_
(Prov. xvii. 23); and many others. These are, every one of them, _God’s
ways_; but these are somewhat too many and too far off: we must seek the
_way_ where all these meet, and that will bring us into “_the path_;”
these are many, but I will show you yet “a more excellent way,” saith
Paul. 1 Cor. xii. 31.
We must begin to enter at _via mandatorum_; for till then we are in the
dark and can distinguish no _ways_, whether they be good or bad. But
there we shall meet with a _lantern_ and a _light_ in it. Thy
commandment is a lantern, and the law a light. Prov. vi. 23. Carry this
with thee (as a good man should, _lex Dei in corde ejus_); and it will
bring thee into the _way_. And see how careful our _Guide_ is; for lest
the wind should blow out this light, he hath put it into a lantern to
preserve it. For the fear, or sanction, of the “commandments,” preserves
the memory of the law in our hearts, as a lantern doth a light burning
within it. The law is the light, and the commandment the lantern. So
that neither flattering Zephyrus, nor blustering Boreas shall be able to
blow it out, so long as the fear of the sanction keeps it in. This is
_lucerna pedibus_ (Psalm cxix. 105); and will not only _show_ thee where
thou shalt tread, but what pace thou shalt keep. When thou hast this
light, take Jeremy’s counsel; enquire for _semita antiqua_, before thou
goest any further. “Stand (saith he) in the ways and behold and ask for
the old way; which is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find
rest for your souls.” This will bring you some whither where you may
_rest_ awhile. And whither is that? Trace this _path_, and you shall
find this “old way” to run quite through all the Old Testament till it
end in the New, the gospel of peace, and there is _rest_. And that this
is so Paul affirms. For the law, which is the “old way,” is but the
pedagogue to the gospel. This then is “a more excellent way” than the
law, the ceremonies whereof in respect of this were called “beggarly
rudiments.” When we come there, we shall find the way pleasant and very
_light_, so that we shall plainly see before us that _very path_, that
_only path_, “the path of life” (_semita vitæ_), in which the gospel
ends, as the law ends in the gospel. Now what is _semita vitæ_ that we
seek for? “All the ways of God are _truth_,” saith David. Psalm cxix.
151. He doth not say they are _veræ_, or _veritates_, but _veritas_; all
one truth. So, all the _ways_ of God end in one truth. _Semita vitæ_,
then, is _truth_. And so sure a _way_ to life is _truth_, that John
says, he had “no greater joy” than to hear that his sons “walked in
truth.” 3 John i. 3. “No greater joy:” for it brings them certainly to a
joy, than which there is none greater. _Via veritatis_ is “the gospel of
truth.” but _semita vitæ_ is the truth itself. Of these, Esay
prophesied, _et erit ibi semita et via_, etc. “There shall be a path,
and a way;” and the way shall be called _holy_, the proper epithet of
the gospel: “_the holy gospel_,” that is _the way_. But the _path_ is
the epitome of this _way_ (called in our text, by way of excellence,
“_the path_,” in the singular); than which there is no other. “The
gospel of your salvation,” saith Paul, is “the word of truth;” and “thy
word is truth,” saith our Saviour to his Father. _Truth_, then, is “_the
path of life_,” for it is the epitome of the gospel, which is the _way_.
This is that truth which Pilate (unhappy man) asked after, but never
stayed to be resolved of. He himself is the word; the word is the truth;
and the truth is “_the path of life_,” trodden by all the patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, martyrs and confessors, that ever went to heaven
before us. The abstract of the gospel, the gate of heaven, _semita
vitæ_, “_the path of life_,” even Jesus Christ the righteous, who hath
beaten the way for us, gone himself before us, and left us the prints of
his footsteps for us to follow, where he himself sits ready to receive
us. So, the law is the light, the gospel is the way, and Christ is “_the
path of life_.”—_William Austin, 1637._
_Verse 11._—It is Christ’s triumphing in the consideration of his
exaltation, and taking pleasure in the fruits of his sufferings: “_Thou
wilt show me the paths of life._” God hath now opened the way to
paradise, which was stopped up by a flaming sword, and made the path
plain by admitting into heaven the head of the believing world. This is
part of the joy of the soul of Christ; he hath now a fulness of joy, a
satisfying delight instead of an overwhelming sorrow; a “fulness of
joy,” not only some sparks and drops as he had now and then in his
debased condition; and that in the presence of his Father. His soul is
fed and nourished with a perpetual vision of God, in whose face he
beholds no more frowns, no more designs of treating him as a servant,
but such smiles that shall give a perpetual succession of joy to him,
and fill his soul with fresh and pure flames. Pleasures they are,
pleasantness in comparison whereof the greatest joys in this life are
anguish and horrors. His soul hath joys without mixture, pleasures
without number, a fulness without want, a constancy without
interruption, and a perpetuity without end.—_Stephen Charnock._
_Verse 11.—“In thy presence,”_ etc. To the blessed soul resting in
Abraham’s bosom, there shall be given an immortal, impassible,
resplendent, perfect, and glorious body. Oh, what a happy meeting will
this be, what a sweet greeting between the soul and body, the nearest
and dearest acquaintance that ever were! What a welcome will that soul
give to her beloved body! Blessed be thou (will she say), for thou hast
aided me to the glory I have enjoyed since I parted with thee; blessed
art thou that sufferedst thyself to be mortified, giving “thy members as
weapons of righteousness unto God.” Rom. vi. 13. Cheer up thyself, for
now the time of labour is past, and the time of rest is come. Thou wast
sown and buried in the dust of earth with ignominy, but now raised in
glory; sown in weakness, but raised in power; sown a natural body, but
raised a spiritual body; sown in corruption, but raised in incorruption.
1 Cor. xv. 43. O my dear companion and familiar, we took sweet counsel
together, we two have walked together as friends in God’s house (Psalm
lv. 14), for when I prayed inwardly, thou didst attend my devotions with
bowed knees and lifted-up hands outwardly. We two have been fellow
labourers in the works of the Lord, we two have suffered together, and
now we two shall ever reign together; I will enter again into thee, and
so both of us together will enter into our Master’s Joy, where we shall
have _pleasures at his right hand for evermore_.
The saints, entered as it were into the chamber of God’s presence, shall
have joy to their ears in hearing their own commendating and praise,
“Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. xxv. 21); and in hearing
the divine language of heavenly Canaan; for our bodies shall be _vera et
viva_, perfect like Christ’s glorious body, who did both hear other and
speak himself after his resurrection, as it is apparent in the gospels’
history. Now, then, if the words of the wise spoken in due places be
like “apples of gold with pictures of silver” (Prov. xxv. 11), if the
mellifluous speech of Origen, the silver trumpet of Hillary, the golden
mouth of Chrysostom, bewitched as it were their auditory with exceeding
great delight; if the gracious eloquence of heathen orators, whose
tongues were never touched with a coal from God’s altar, could steal
away the hearts of their hearers, and carry them up and down whither
they would, what a “_fulness of joy_” will it be to hear not only the
sanctified, but also the glorified tongues of saints and angels in the
kingdom of glory?... Bonaventure fondly reports at all adventure, that
St. Francis hearing an angel a little while playing on a harp, was so
moved with extraordinary delight, that he thought himself in another
world. Oh! what a “_fulness of joy_” will it be to hear more than twelve
legions of angels, accompanied with a number of happy saints which no
man is able to number, all at once sing together, “Hallelujah, holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” “And
every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Rev. iv. 8; v.
13. If the voices of mortal men, and the sound of cornet, trumpet, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and other well-tuned instruments of music,
passing through our dull ears in this world be so powerful, that all our
affections are diversely transported according to the divers kinds of
harmony, then how shall we be ravished in God’s presence when we shall
hear heavenly airs with heavenly ears!
Concerning “_fulness of joy_” to the rest of the senses I find a very
little or nothing in holy Scriptures, and therefore seeing God’s Spirit
will not have a pen to write, I may not have a tongue to speak. Divines
in general affirm, that the smelling, and taste, and feeling, shall have
joy proportionable to their blessed estate, for this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality; the body which is sown
in weakness is to be raised in power; it is sown a natural body, but it
is raised a spiritual body, buried in dishonour, raised in glory; that
is, capable of good, and, as being impassible, no way subject to suffer
evil, insomuch that it cannot be hurt if it should be cast into hell
fire, no more than Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, were hurt in the
burning oven. In one word, God is not only to the souls, but also to the
bodies of the saints, _all in all things_; a glass to their sight, honey
to their taste, music to their hearing, balm to their smelling.—_John
Boys._
_Verse 11.—“In thy presence is fulness of joy.”_ The saints on earth are
all but viatores, wayfaring men, wandering pilgrims far from home; but
the saints in heaven are _comprehensores_, safely arrived at the end of
their journey. All we here present for the present, are but mere
strangers in the midst of danger, we are losing ourselves and losing our
lives in the land of the dying. But ere long, we may find our lives and
ourselves again in heaven with the Lord of life, being found of him in
the land of the living. If when we die, we be in the Lord of life, our
souls are sure to be bound up in the bundle of life, that so when we
live again we may be sure to find them in the life of the Lord. Now we
have but a dram, but a scruple, but a grain of happiness, to an ounce,
to a pound, to a thousand weight of heaviness; now we have but a drop of
joy to an ocean of sorrow; but a moment of ease to an age of pain; but
then (as St. Austin very sweetly in his _Soliloquies_), we shall have
endless ease without any pain, true happiness without any heaviness, the
greatest measure of felicity without the least of misery, the fullest
measure of joy that may be, without any mixture of grief. Here therefore
(as St. Gregory the divine adviseth us), let us ease our heaviest loads
of sufferings, and sweeten our bitterest cups of sorrows with the
continual meditation and constant expectation of _the fulness of joy in
the presence of God, and of the pleasure at his right hand for
evermore_.
“_In thy presence_, IS,” etc., _there it is_, not there it was, nor
there it may be, nor there it will be, but _there it is_, there it _is_
without cessation or intercision, there it always hath been, and is, and
must be. It is an assertion _æternæ veritatis_, that is always true, it
may at any time be said that there it _is_. “In thy presence _is_ the
fulness of joy;” and herein consists the consummation of felicity; for
what does any man here present wish for more than joy? And what measure
of joy can any man wish for more than fulness of joy? And what kind of
fulness would any man wish for rather than this fulness, the fulness
κατ’ ἐξοχὴν? And where would any man wish to enjoy this fulness of joy
rather than in the presence of God, which is the ever-flowing and the
over-flowing fountain of joy? And when would any man wish for this
enjoyment of the fulness of joy in the very fountain of joy rather than
presently, constantly, and incessantly? Now all these desirables are
encircled within the compass of the first remarkable, to make up the
consummation of true felicity. “_In thy presence is fulness of
joy._”—_“The Consummation of Felicity,” by Edward Willan, 1645._
_Verse 11._—The human nature of Christ in heaven hath a double capacity
of glory, happiness and delight; one on that mere fellowship and
communion with his Father and the other persons, through his personal
union with the Godhead. Which joy of his in this fellowship, Christ
himself speaks of as to be enjoyed by him: “_In thy presence is fulness
of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore._” And this is
a constant and settled fulness of pleasure, such as admits not any
addition or diminution, but is always one and the same, and absolute and
entire in itself; and of itself alone sufficient for the Son of God, and
heir of all things to live upon, though he should have had no other
comings in of joy and delight from any creature. And this is his natural
inheritance.—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verse 11.—“In thy presence is_ FULNESS _of joy.”_ In heaven they are
free from want; they can want nothing there unless it be want itself.
They may find the want of evil, but never find the evil of want. Evil is
but the want of good, and the want of evil is but the absence of want.
God is good, and no want of good can be in God. What want then can be
endured in the presence of God, where no evil is, but all good that the
fulness of joy may be enjoyed? Here some men eat their meat without any
hunger, whilst others hunger without any meat to eat, and some men drink
extremely without any thirst, whilst others thirst extremely without any
drink. But in the glorious presence of God, not any one can be pampered
with too much, nor any one be pined with too little. They that gather
much of the heavenly manna, “have nothing over;” and “they that gather
little have no lack.” They that are once possessed of that presence of
God, are so possessed with it that they can never feel the misery of
thirst or hunger.—_Edward Willan._
_Verse 11.—“Fulness.”_ Every soul shall there enjoy an infinite
happiness, because it shall enjoy infinite goodness. And it shall be for
ever enjoyed, without disliking of it, or losing of it, or lacking any
of it. Every soul shall enjoy as much good in that presence, by the
presence of that good, as it shall be able to receive, or to desire to
receive. As much as shall make it fully happy. Every one shall be filled
so proportionately full; and every desire in any soul shall be fulfilled
so perfectly in that presence of glory, with the glory of that presence,
that no one shall ever wish for any more, or ever be weary of that it
has, or be willing to change it for any other.—_Edward Willan._
_Verse 11.—“Fulness of joy.”_ When a man comes to the sea, he doth not
complain that he wants his cistern of water: though thou didst suck
comfort from thy relations; yet when thou comest to the ocean, and art
with Christ, thou shalt never complain that thou hast left thy cistern
behind. There will be nothing to breed sorrow in heaven; there shall be
_joy, and nothing but joy_, heaven is set out by that phrase, “Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Here joy enters into us, there we enter
into joy; the joys we have here are from heaven; the joys that we shall
have with Christ are without measure and without mixture. “_In thy
presence is fulness of joy._”—_Thomas Watson._