God." " 1 But what are these glorious things? "And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her; and the Highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there."2 But of the church of God how much more glorious things may be said; that "all my springs are in thee," that is, in Christ, who of God "is made unto us, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." The attention of the Psalmist is principally directed to Christ in the words of the text. There is a truth which the natural man is loath to receive, namely, this, that he is dependent upon God for every thing :-to feel this truth, in its full influence, is not in any one who is not born again.

In considering the dependence of man, and the insufficiency of the creature to supply his need, I would direct your attention to the ignorance and folly of man. Look back to the days of your own unregeneracy; you will there see how ignorant you were of your own and God's character. We frequently find individuals giving existence to an imaginary being of their own creation, and with a fine flow of animal spirits, or an indistinct impression of

1 Psalm lxxxvii. 2, 3. 2 Psalm xxxvii. 5, 6. 31 Cor. i. 30.

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devotional feeling, thinking themselves ligious; but shew them real religion, as revealed in the gospel, and they hate it. You will generally find individuals acknowledge that they are dependent upon God for every thing, (at least, I never knew but one who did not, and he tried to be an atheist,) but then the impression is trifling, weak and transient as the impression of the wing of a bird upon the air, or as of an oar upon the water. I have known this, too, in those who have been sitting habitually under the sound of the gospel.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Observe

the brute creation, they look to those who have the care of them, for food and protection; they know and are grateful to them; but, alas, you and I are born in this respect below the brute.

Again, observe the folly emanating from this ignorance; it is ignorance cherished by the will, and therefore without excuse. Man seeks his all from the creature ;-what folly is this! A finite being like man never could have been

1 Isaiah i. 2, 3.

created for happiness, but in the enjoyment of God; nor will he find any true happiness but in God. It is not in the power of Jehovah to make a moral agent happy without bestowing himself. You, my brethren, have made the experiment; in vain you have tried pleasure, riches, learning, science, art; and when arrested by sickness what awful forebodings then did you experience: conscience was uneasy, and found those false refuges fail; you resolved, if restored, to repent and seek after God, and, when restored, you forgot it. I appeal to you who have tried the experiment; is there any thing that can satisfy the soul but God? How faithfully, then, has the character of man been pourtrayed in the scriptures; and who could do it but Omniscience? 66 Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts; consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put into a bag with holes."1 I ask again, who but Omniscience could thus pourtray the ignorance and vanity of man? With beings thus fallen, as you and I, hear how tenderly God pleads: "Wherefore do you spend

1 Haggai i. 5, 6.

money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."

This, by contrast, leads me in the next place to consider the rich truth of the text, "All my springs are in thee." The brute is dependent upon God for every thing, he was created to find happiness in creation, and he finds it: but human nature (formed to find it in the Creator) nobly emulating the brute creation, follows his example, and seeks it in the creature. But God has shown the folly of this, and that nothing will make man happy in time or eternity, but himself. The natural man is dependent upon God for every thing in nature; but the renewed man is peculiarly dependent upon God,—not upon an absolute God, as the angels are, but upon an incarnate God. David deprecated the idea of approaching an absolute God; to a transgressor he is a consuming fire. Thoughtless sinner, if such there be present, if you continue and die in your sins, God will be

1 Isaiah lv. 2, 3.

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now, and ever must be to you, what he is to the fallen angels-a God of vengeance. It is in Christ that God makes himself known to believers; and gives him in covenant to be their God for ever and ever. We can derive no solid good from God, until he becomes our God, giving us faith in his Son; "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father," in whom we dwell perpetually, and gratefully viewing Christ in his person and offices. What a wonderful person must Christ be, who can at once satisfy all in heaven, and all in earth-God and the church. David, viewing all the attributes of God infinitely and eternally glorified in the Messiah, found his conscience so delightfully and so fully relieved, that he could take in hand the harp of the church above, and begin on earth the song that should never cease. Man by sin is made the most dependent of all creatures; more dependent even than the fallen angels: his wants are most urgent and most comprehensive; but here is One enriched with the unsearchable riches of God, declaring for the benefit and comfort of the church, "All my springs are in thee." But some may say, what is there in Christ so

desirable?

1 Ephesians ii. 18.

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