I. TO ISRAEL OF OLD, God's ancient people. That the writer had them in his mind, there can be no doubt, whatever other applications we may make of his words. Like the other psalms "for the sons of Korah," it most probably belongs to the days of Hezekiah. The sons of Korah were the keepers of those "gates" which in this psalm, as in Psalm 84., they celebrate; and the triumph of which they tell harmonizes with the glowing predictions of Israel as to the spiritual power and supremacy of Israel.

1. This psalm speaks of the proud position of Zion, on the holy mountains, so elevated, sacred, secure.

2. Of the Divine delight in her. God was to be worshipped in all the dwellings of Jacob (see Leviticus 23:2); but his chief delight was in the united worship of all the people in his temple on Mount Zion, in the glorious feasts and festivals that were celebrated there.

3. Of her glorious hi story. It may have been, as some have supposed, that the psalm was sung at the public reception into the Jewish Church of a number of converts from heathen nations, and that, as our Lord saw in the coming of the Greeks to him (John 12.) the forerunners of the coming of all the Gentiles - yea, of "all men" - so the psalmist foresees the conversion of all the nations of whom he speaks to the Name of the Lord. And the change for them shall be so great that it shall be as a new birth; whatever their native country may have been, they were really "born" in Zion. And she shall produce many great and illustrious men. The word rendered "man" (ver. 5) denotes one of distinction and eminence, not an ordinary person. In the great day of manifestation and triumph of the people of God, the Lord himself shall own those born in Zion.

4. Of her great joy. The song and the dance and all kinds of mirth shall characterize her; she shall be a gladsome city.

II. TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The psalm, read as part of the record of the Church, tells:

1. Of her foundation, which is Christ. He is the chief Cornerstone. "Other foundation can no man lay," etc.

2. Her position - in the holy mountains; that is, she is conspicuous - a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid; the mountain of the Lord's house, high and lifted up, visible from afar and on all sides. Secure, likewise, as a mountain fortress mightily defended. Has not the Church ever been so? And holy. This is her main characteristic; she could not be the Church of Christ without this.

3. The Lord's delight in her. She is the purchase of his blood, the subject of his care, the reason of his providential rule. He who toucheth her toucheth the apple of his eye.

4. The glorious things spoken of her. How all forms of hostility yield to her - Rahab, the proud; Babylon, the cruel; Philistia, the fierce; Tyre, the greedy of gain; Ethiopia, the degraded; - from all such she wins trophies for Christ. The Church's mission is to gather in all nations for him. And see the heroes of the faith that are "born" in her: what a glorious roll call that is? And the Lord himself shall attest all this. What is the Epistle to the Ephesians but a full declaration of what the Church of Christ shall be and do and enjoy? And other Scriptures declare the same. And the history of the Church is evermore confirming this word.

5. Her abiding gladness. Real religion is the most gladsome thing this side heaven; it is a never-failing spring of pure and elevating joy. Finally, this psalm may be applied to -

III. THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER. For he, too, is a habitation of God.

1. Founded on the one Foundation - Christ.

2. Is as a holy mountain - openly confessed, not hiding out of sight, secure in God, holy.

3. Is the object of Divine delight. God loves our natural life, but our spiritual life is that which he loves most - to foster and develop and save that is the meaning of all the disciplines, trials, and varied Divine dealings with us.

4. Glorious things are spoken of him. As to the past, all his guilt put away. As to the present, the hostile forces of the world - pride, cruelty, inward corruption, ever worrying the soul, as Philistia did Israel, the lusts of the world, the horde of degrading propensities - all these which war against the soul shall be subdued, and the varied powers they usurped shall be given to God. And as to the future, what hath God not promised for those who love him? And God will make such heart the means of blessing to many others, and will own what has been done.

5. And he willfill such heart with joy. - S.C.

I. IN ITS FOUNDATION. "In the holy mountains."

1. It is founded in the nature of God. In the Divine love. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion," etc.

2. It is founded also in the nature of man. In his spiritual nature, affinities, and needs. The Church, therefore, has sacred foundations: "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her."

II. IT IS CALLED THE CITY OF GOD.

1. It Consists of the highest social relationships. Love, the bond that unites the citizens.

2. And of the Divinest order. Protected and maintained by the constant presence of God.

3. And of the truest wisdom. (Ver. 4.) "Them that know me."

III. TO BECOME A CITIZEN THERE A MAN MUST BE SPIRITUALLY BORN INTO IT. The new birth is the condition of citizenship. "This man was born there."

1. Else it can never become a home to us. Not a congenial place to us.

2. We should not else be able to enter into its highest privileges, rights, and obligations.

IV. IT IS THE HOME OF THE NEW BORN MAN, IRRESPECTVE OF NATIONAL DISTINCTION Jew and Gentile, bond and free, king and peasant, may find a home there.

V. IT IS THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL DIVINE AND HUMAN GOOD. (Ver. 7.) All the truest and most real blessedness. - S.

I. IN THE GREATER LOVE OF GOD FOR ZION THAN FOR ALL THE DWELLINGS OF JACOB. Not a few of those dwellings were spacious, magnificent, wealthy, adorned, and inhabited by men who feared God; but yet, because in Zion God's glory was more revealed, his grace seen, his truth declared, his people blessed, and because there that in man which God ever most of all delights in - the spiritual life, the life of trust, of love, of devotion to God - found its chief nourishment, expression, and delight, therefore the Lord loved the gates of Zion more, etc.

II. IN THE CHARACTERS GOD APPROVES. The name of Jacob suggests one of these at first sight apparently strange preferences. "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated." How many people have been puzzled over that statement, endorsed as it is by the actual dealing of God with the two men? Esau was a man richly endued with gifts such as men everywhere have highly esteemed. He had courage, affection, generosity, strength; whilst Jacob too seldom shows any quality which wins our admiration, and far too often he is guilty of that which excites contempt. And yet the Lord preferred him. The reason was that in him, however encrusted with what was sordid, base, and mean, there was yet the germ and seed, the potency and promise, of the life of God in his soul. There were reverence of and trust in God, and the yearning after the better life; there were the seeds of the life eternal, and they so sprang up at last that God's chosen name for himself was, "I am the God of Jacob." But in Esau, with all his magnificence, courage, and other virtues, there does not seem to have been anything of the kind.

III. IS THE COMPOSITION OF THE SCRIPTURES. What large space is given to what in human esteem seems the chronicling of very small affairs; whilst of the great empires, events, and personalities of the world, scarce any note is taken - none at all, except when and because they are brought into contact with the people of God! But for that they would have been passed over in complete silence. Palestine - what a little shred of the earth's surface it is! The Jews - what an insignificant people they have always been! Their great men - Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and the rest - how small to ordinary human sight they appear! But how colossal were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and their heroes! Yet we learn scarce anything of them from the Bible. And the explanation is the same: in the little land, and amongst the despised people, the life of God was to be found as it was not in all the mighty ones of the world.

IV. IN OUR LORD'S PREFERENCE OF GRACE TO GIFTS. (See Luke 10:20.) His disciples were exultant over their gifts, but he tells them to rejoice rather in that grace which was the common inheritance of every faithful disciple. Gifts did not, and do not necessarily, carry along with them the life of God in the soul; but grace always does.

V. IS THE ORDERING OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE. What a series of changes does the history of the world show! Empires rising, falling, disappearing. What a fragment of the history of the whole is all that the most learned know! Oblivion has covered the records of well nigh all peoples. They had their day; were doubtless thought much of by their contemporaries, and more of by themselves; they did, we may be sure, many things - many of them, probably, great exploits, notable deeds. But who knows anything of them now? They all have "waxed old, like a garment, and as," etc. (Hebrews 1:12). But of the Church of God, the company of people who in all ages have loved and feared his Name, there has been no disappearance, their name has endured as none other has. God has preserved them alive, as it is this day.

VI. IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE CROSS. How contemptible that seemed in the apostolic age, and, to many, seems so still! Yet to it has been given power to effect a moral change in mankind that nothing else has ever been capable of. Philosophy has done her best; but she left, notwithstanding all her teachings, the whole world lying in wickedness. But "Christ and him crucified" was preached, and we know the result of that. It was, as it is, "the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth." Therefore has God put honour upon that preaching such as he has given to none other. Divine life is in it, as myriads of saved souls know, and it is not found elsewhere.

CONCLUSION. Remember that God acts upon these same principles in our own individual life. He loves everything, however mean it may seem, which leads our souls to him; he cares for nothing, however much esteemed, that leads them away from him. - S.C.

I. GOD IS INTERESTED IN ZION BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR IT. Illustrate how those whom we tend and care for - the babe, the invalid creep into our very hearts. So if we join in raising a new church building, how dear it becomes to us! God had given ages of care to his Zion, so it had become inexpressibly dear to him. See the pathetic pleadings, which reveal deep feeling, as in Hosea.

II. GOD IS INTERESTED IN ZION BECAUSE OF WHAT HE CAN BE TO IT. We specially love those for whom we feel we can do all they need. Illust.: mother's feeling for her babe. God can "supply all our need," and it must be infinitely pleasant to be able to make "all grace abound."

III. GOD IS INTERESTED IN ZION BECAUSE OF WHAT IT CAN BE TO HIM. Zion can need, and so draw out his fulness. Zion can trust, and so respond to his trustworthiness. Zion can worship, and so glorify him. Zion Can be beautiful, and so show forth his praise. - R.T.

I. GLORIOUS THINGS WERE BEING SAID OF THE CITY ITSELF. Events had turned everybody's eyes towards it, and everybody began to see that "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion." Give account of the very striking position of the city; its remarkable hills, precipices, and valleys; and, according to the taste of the age, the architectural grandeur of its temple, its palaces, and its towers. When we feel kindly towards a place or person, it is astonishing what excellent and lovely things we can find in them. The church building in which we worship may really be a very plain and poor building, but if it proves the house of God to us, we soon think it beautiful, and almost worship its very stones.

II. GLORIOUS THINGS WERE BEING SAID OF THE GOD OF THE CITY. Recall the idea of the age, that the gods were limited to particular cities and countries. So outsiders associated Jehovah with Jerusalem and the Israelites, and, in recognizing the deliverance which came to them through Israel, recognized it as the work of Israel's God. See by way of illustration, how Nebuchadnezzar demands praise of Jehovah, when some mighty work has shown his superiority to all surrounding gods. Work out what things the nations round were likely to say of the God of Hezekiah. His power was declared. His concern for his people was declared. His sovereign rights were declared. His mercy was declared. God as Deliverer and Redeemer was declared. So now, if the attention of men is directed to us, to our example, our enterprise, our energy, our success, it should be our supreme anxiety that the glorious things they say of us should really be said of our God, and of his grace in us. Observe this, too, that the triumph over Sennacherib was not something which Hezekiah's people had accomplished in their own strength, but something which Jehovah had accomplished through them and for them. They had, therefore, no right to take the "glorious things that were spoken" to themselves. Nor have we. Look as we may on what has been accomplished, we are compelled to say, "What hath God wrought?" And all the glorious things spoken of us we turn away, and have spoken of him. - R.T.

I. THE FACT OF SUCH "WRITING UP" OF THE PEOPLE.

1. It shall be national. (Ver. 4.)

2. But individual also. The counting will be of this one, and that, and the other; there will be no passing in a crowd.

3. It is attested by many witnesses - Scripture, reason, history, conscience.

II. ITS PURPOSE. The gathering together of his own true people; the making up of his jewels; the manifestation of the sons of God. This is not done now, but shall be.

III. THE WRITER. The Lord himself.

1. He only can really know where to find his people; they are often found in strange places (ver. 4).

2. He only can be trusted. Bigotry, superstition, dislike, would shut many out. Partiality, fondness, love of sin, would let many in. God alone can judge.

IV. THE NAMES IN IT. Those only who have been "born" of God. Shall we be there? - S.C.

"Our dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all." The Zion birthright belongs to every redeemed soul. "Salvation is of the Jews."

I. THE PRIVILEGES OF OUR NATURAL BIRTHPLACE. Curious is the admiration men have for the town and neighbourhood in which they saw the light. And the places of our birth have more to do with disposition, and with genius, than we are wont to think. Our early surroundings may waken poetic or artistic instincts. Our town and country may enjoy peculiar liberty, special advantages of education, etc. Illustrate by the claims of seven towns to be the birthplace of the poet Homer, partly because it honoured them to provide the first formative influences that reached the poet.

II. THE PRIVILEGES OF OUR ADOPTED BIRTHPLACE. If actual life begins where we were born, our individuality, our life work, our success, often begins somewhere else. We begin again, in some place of our selection and adoption. And as we look back in life, we can see how our surroundings and associations, in that new birthplace, have been privileges, helping to make us what we have become. Many of us, giving our birthplace, feel that we want to say, "We began to breathe at A, but we began to live at B, and B we think of as our true birthplace." Like these nations which felt they began really to live from the time of the Zion deliverance.

III. THE PRIVILEGES OF OUR SPIRITUAL BIRTHPLACE. The place where we began to live unto God - began to live the soul life. Many keep in dearest memory the time, the place, the incidents, of their first realization of the redeeming love and sufficiency. For us that is Zion. The place where God met with us is our Zion. And, in one sense, it is always Zion, for it is always in the presence of the cross on which Jesus died. We feel we live by his "decease accomplished at Jerusalem." - R.T.

I. THE REMARKABLE VARIETY OF HUMAN GIFTS. Examine them first as simply human gifts. Poetry, eloquence, art, science, government, do but, in the large, represent the thousandfold lesser forms of endowment which fit men for their varied places in life. Yet in common everyday life there is a place and a work forevery one. Show that this includes kinds of gifts with which we may have no personal sympathy, such as mimicry, satire, humour, etc. Then examine those particular gifts which were granted to the early Churches - tongues, prophecy, interpretation, etc. Bring out that while each man has much in common with his fellows, each man also has something special to himself, something which constitutes his individuality. In the line of the use of that speciality will be found to lie his life mission.

II. THE POSSIBLE USE FOR HUMANITY OF ALL HUMAN GIFTS. There is a danger of religious people unduly limiting the service of humanity. Sometimes, in an exclusive spirit, pious persons speak as if there were no real service to humanity save that which their religion sanctions. We may hold that all conceivable endowments may be sanctified, and ought to be sanctified, by being used for God - consciously in God's service. But we had better be more generous in our thinking, and say that everything that helps lift a human burden, cheer a human soul, brighten a human life, relieve a human strain, or perfect the human brotherhood, is the service of God. Some gifts bear a character, or are so small in measure, that men think of them as the one talented man thought of his talent. But he thought wrongly, and so do they. In God's earth there is nothing that has not its use. In God's world of men there is no gift without an answering sphere. Singers and players shall both be there, - R.T.

I. JOY FOUNTAINS IN GOD'S WORSHIP.

II. JOY FOUNTAINS IN DAILY LIFE.

III. JOY FOUNTAINS IN WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US.

IV. JOY FOUNTAINS IN WHAT GOD IS DOING FOR US.

V. JOY FOUNTAINS IN GOD HIMSELF. "When all created streams are dried, his fulness is the same." Impress that true religion cannot be gloomy and depressing. Its atmosphere of trust is an atmosphere of gladness. We are saddened if we look down upon the path of our feet; or in upon our frail selves; we need never be saddened if we look up - "look off unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." We may find ever fresh flowing springs of delight in God, and in this world of God's which is his Zion for us. - R.T.