1. A permanent residence in the house of God. The psalmist desired to engage permanently in the service of the Lord. What a contrast is this to the conduct of those who attend only occasionally when opportunity appears to them to favour it, or when worldly engagements do not interfere. The psalmist had an ardent desire for this object. What a contrast does this present to those who come to the house of the Lord, but who come from improper motives, who are induced to come from submission to authority, from a compliance with custom, or from the accusation of conscience,

2. The object of the psalmist's desire includes the enjoyment of the Divine presence in His ordinances, to behold the beauty of the Lord. The beauty of the Lord is that display of His presence and perfections which is made to the minds of His true and spiritual worshippers. The services of the ancient temple were beautiful. They were typical of Gospel times; yet the ancient saints rejoiced in the glory which was to be revealed. We possess the full revelation of that glory which they "beheld through a glass darkly." In our temple, though no cedars cast around their fragrance, nor are the sunbeams reflected from burnished gold — though we have no priests arrayed in costly vestments, nor do clouds of incense wave around us; yet in the full revelation of the Gospel, and in the more abundant influence of the Spirit, we behold a beauty which far surpasses the beauty of the ancient church.

3. The object of the psalmist's desire includes an obedient, and diligent, and successful study of the Divine will, and to inquire in His temple,

II. THE ARDENT INTENSITY WITH WHICH THE PSALMIST DESIRED THIS OBJECT. "One thing have I desired," etc.

1. This is the language of decision.

2. Of decided preference. Elsewhere he says, "I had rather be a doorkeeper," etc. (Psalm 89.). I commend his choice to you.

(T. Raffles, D. D.)

I. THE THING DAVID DESIRES, viz. "to dwell in the house of the Lord," etc.

II. THE FERVENCY AND SINCERITY OF HIS DESIRE. "One thing have I desired of the Lord," etc.

III. THE CAUSE OF HIS DESIRE, or the ends for the sake of which he entertains it; viz. "to behold the beauty of the Lord," etc.

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

I. CONSIDER THIS GENERALLY.

1. By "one thing" he means that this was the chief and principal thing. There are differences in things, but this includes all. And God requires this supreme regard from us, for so only will the soul be in earnest, and this which David desired is the chief thing for the soul's good.

2. The affection itself, in its degrees. He desired this "one thing," and he would still "seek after it." Desires are the aims of the heart, and determine its character. This was a spiritual desire, stirred up by the Spirit of God. We may test our being really Christians by our desires. If we be such, then they will be spiritual, fervent, constant, springing from the love of God, tending to His honour, and leading us to diligent use of means, and greater than any earthly desire.

3. Its object. Of the Lord he desired this "one thing." When we have holy desires, turn them into prayers.

4. Its earnestness. "That will I seek after." Prayer must be with importunity.

II. PARTICULARLY.

1. "That I may dwell in the house," etc. By this David meant the sanctuary, the type of the Church, the true house of God on earth. For there God is present. Now here David would ever dwell, because so he would dwell in God's love and care; and in love to and for Him; and all this continually. His present attainment in good things does not satisfy him; he yet is hindered by much inward corruption: there is yet far more to be realized, and where God is present all good must be.

2. "To behold the beauty of the Lord." God is beautiful. This seen in His house, for there we see His grace and love in Jesus Christ our Lord. And the house of God is beautiful also because the angels are present there: and because of the order of the Church, and the means of salvation — prayer, the Word, the Sacraments — which .are there. And the praises of God are delightful. How evil, then, the condition of those who care not for the house of God. Seek after spiritual senses, whereby you can apprehend this "beauty of the Lord." If as yet you fail to behold it, writ still on the ordinances, come to them in believing prayer: meditate much upon them. To induce us to seek this love for the house of God, let us remember that so only can true glory rest upon us: that our souls were made to behold the glory of God, and that disregard of His ordinances will cause God to depart from us. If we do not prize heavenly things we shall not be allowed to keep them.

( Sibbes, Richard.)

II. ITS CHARACTER. This desire of David was intense: "One thing," says he, "have I desired." Oh how impressive these "one things" of the Bible I Martha was cumbered about many things, but "one thing was needful." The rich young moralist had much, but "one thing he lacked." Paul had scope and faculty for varied action, but, as if gathering himself up into a thunderbolt, he said, "One thing I do." And such a desire could not stop short of being also a practical desire: what he desired as a "one thing," and desired "of the Lord," that, we are prepared to hear him add, "will I seek after." For our particular sanctuary many a desire has gone forth, many a prayer, many an effort. Then, all the more continue to pray and strive, and strive and pray, "that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified" in it.

III. ITS END — "to behold the beauty," etc. — to see, and to go on inquiring that he might yet further see, the beauty of the Lord — His moral glory, which rays forth in brightest splendour from the face of Jesus Christ. Whoever you are, whatever you need, behold the love of God, His beauty, in Christ, and come unto Him and live.

( T. Guthrie, D. D,)

(A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

(Peter Anton.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

II. THE DESIRE ITSELF.

1. Take notice of its characters. It is a real desire, not feigned. Fixed. "One thing." Supreme; he desired it before and above all else. With this he was content, without it nothing could satisfy him (Psalm 42:1, 2; Psalm 84:2). Constant and abiding — he has desired it, and still he "will seek after" it. And it is influential upon his practice. It makes him pray and endeavour.

2. Whence it springs. It is from God's Spirit. We did not bring it into the world ourselves, and we could not produce it ourselves.

III. THE AIM HE PROFESSES TO HAVE. "To behold the beauty," etc. — God in Christ — "and to inquire," etc. Let us be thankful for "the house of the Lord."

(D. Wilcox.)

1. Paramount. It was the "one thing" above all others.

2. Operative. "Seek after." He strove to attain the permanent position, overriding all difficulties.

3. Uniform.

4. Permanent. "All the days of my life,"

II. THE DESIGN OF THE PSALMIST. Why did he want to "dwell in the house of the Lord"?

1. To admire. "To behold the beauty of the Lord." Admiration is one of the chief elements of human happiness. Hence The universe overflows with beauty.

2. To think. "To inquire in the temple." He did not desiderate merely an empty gaze, or a luxuriating in admiration, but to think also.

(The Homilist.)

(F. L. Wiseman.)

1. The very name of the place seems to indicate as much. It is "the house of the Lord." The place where God is to be found and known. Not, of course, that that is the only place in which he is to be met with. The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, how much less the house that is built with hands? As our Lord has taught us, wherever there is one who would worship in spirit and truth, God is near. None the less, however, the house built for His glory, and dedicated to His honour, is His peculiar habitation in this sense, that it is there that man recognizes Him. Attendance on the house of God is the acknowledgment of God, the living God, in His infinite and glorious perfections, and in the righteousness and beneficence of His rule. Here man recognizes in his own heart, and before his fellows, the being and the presence of the everlasting, ever-present, all-holy, all-wise, all-loving God. And the more the set of the stream with or against which his daily life flows has been away from God, the greater the need and the boon of just such a reflection. Further, in the house of God man sees God in a right light: sees Him as He wishes to be known. As the psalmist reminds us, God's revelation of Himself to man is conditioned by the state of mind and heart of the person to whom the revelation is made. It may, therefore, assume an aspect in which He Himself has no pleasure. To the pure He shows Himself pure; but to the perverse He appears as froward. The view of the character of God which a sinful and rebellious age obtains needs therefore correcting and supplementing. But in the place where men come to seek His face, in His temple in which they inquire after Him, He can and does appear as He would be known, in His "beauty," as the text says. Here, alongside His unimpeachable righteousness, He proclaims His name as gracious and merciful, slow to anger, plenteous in kindness.

2. The text further suggests another alluring and uplifting aspect of God's house, to which both other Old Testament Scripture and the Lord Jesus Himself give utterance. His house is called a house of prayer. He who goes to the house of God goes to the place where prayer is wont to be made. In other words, he there learns the nature, not only of God, but of himself also. Prayer is an acknowledgment of God's supremacy and of man's dependence. Is there any climate so grateful, so restoring, so bracing as the atmosphere of prayer? On every side one hears complaints of the hardening influence of modern commercial life. Keen competition leads to self-assertion, callousness, and indifference to the interests of others. The successful man is apt to become self-sufficient, inconsiderate, arrogant; the unsuccessful, bitter, cold, sardonical; and all more or less reserved and unreal. To some, therefore, it is an excellent discipline surely to come to the place where one's very presence acknowledges dependence and confesses how little our native power avails. To others it affords an exercise of trust to bow before the will of God. And to all it must be an unspeakable relief to come where one can be exactly oneself: where all the traditions and influence gathering around the place conspire to say, "Ye people, pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us."

3. But there is yet another and still more intimate term by which the house is known. It needed a child to discover it, and that child the Holy Child. When the anxious mother chid her wondrous Son that He had caused her three days' sorrowful search, He gently and brightly replied, "But how is it you went about looking for Me; did it not occur to you that I should certainly be in my Father's house?" My Father's house — that is Jesus' name for the house of God. Verily He makes all things new, The house of God is the place to which the Child would naturally go! It is home! The Father's house! Is there any place so beautiful, so restful, so welcome? Here one may enjoy the most delightful of all fellowship, the fellowship with the members of one's own family; and fellowship with the Father and with the Son. The cleansing, soothing, refreshing, renewing, strengthening, enwisening, sanctifying influence of such a place and such a fellowship who can compute? No wonder that the psalmist, who had enjoyed it, longed to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, or bewailed that fate had made him a dweller in the tents of Kedar or in the high places of danger and strife. But note the great discovery he makes. He finds that, though now he has returned from the house of God, he has not left it! The house of God has followed him, and in some mysterious way is still his habitation and shelter. The time of worldly trouble and danger acquaints him with the fact. In the time of trouble he is hid in the secret of his Father's pavilion, and on the battlefield screened in the covert of the tabernacle! It is the perpetual miracle of the Father's providence. He who loves the house of God, and goes to it as he has opportunity, will dwell under its influence all the days of his life.

(F. L. Wiseman.)

I. THE "ONE THING" OF THE PSALMIST'S DESIRE — "that I may dwell," etc.

II. THE OBJECT FOR WHICH HE CHERISHED THIS STRONG DESIRE.

1. That he might behold the beauty of the Lord — the outward beauty animated with the service of the Lord: that which we should desire to see is the spiritual beauty, the various perfections of His character.

2. That he might inquire in His temple. David needed to inquire of God as a king; also as a man; as a transgressor. And how many are the subjects on which we shall do well to inquire of God in His temple?

(John Corbin.)

II. THE PSALMIST'S REASON FOR THIS ASPIRATION. "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord." That is an allusion, not only, as I think, to the temple, but also to the oriental habit of giving a man who took refuge in the tent of the sheikh guest-rites of protection, and provision, and friendship. So the psalmist says, "I desire to have guest-rites in thy tent; to lift up its fold, and shelter there from the heat of the desert. And although I be dark and stained with many evils and transgressions against thee, yet I come to claim the hospitality, and provision, and protection, and friendship which the laws of the house do bestow upon a guest." That is to say, the blessedness of keeping up such a continual consciousness of touch with God is, first and foremost, the certainty of infallible protection. Oh I how it minimizes all trouble and brightens all joys, and calms amidst all distractions, and steadies and sobers in all circumstances, to feel ever the hand of God upon us I There is another blessing that will come to the dweller in God's house, and not a small one. It is that by the power of this one satisfied longing, driven like an iron rod through all the tortuosities of my life, there will come into it a unity which otherwise few lives are ever able to attain, and the want of which is no small cause of the misery that is great upon men. Most of us seem, to our own consciousness, to live amidst endless distractions all our days.

III. THE METHOD BY WHICH THIS DESIRE IS REALIZED. "One thing have I desired,... that will I seek after." There are two points to be kept in view to that end. A great many people say, "One thing have I desired," and fail in persistent continuousness of the desire. No man gets rights of residence in God's house for a longer time than he continues to seek for them. But the words of the text not only suggest by the two tenses of the verbs the continuity of the desire which is destined to be granted, but also by the two verbs themselves — desire and seek after — the necessity of uniting prayer and work. Many desires are unsatisfied because conduct does not correspond to desires.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

1. Because of God Himself being there (Matthew 18:20). No wonder that any one who is "spiritually minded" should wish to be continually present with Christ.

2. Because of the blessings to be obtained there.

(1)Light, i.e. knowledge, holiness, joy.

(2)Salvation.

(3)Consolation.

(4)Strength.

II. DAVID'S DESIGN.

III. DAVID'S DETERMINATION. "That will I seek after." This supposes obstacles or hindrances. Various and many are the hindrances to public worship. Some, I fear, absent themselves because they are stingy; but, I believe, others stay away often because they are poor, and cannot give as they would like to. Some are kept away by domestic engagements, the opposition of relatives, sickness, or young children; or, on week-days, by business. Satan seeks to hinder, and some neglect because of indifference. Let no one watch for excuses, but all look out for opportunities, seize them promptly, and use them earnestly; and thus, in spite of all drawbacks, like David, "seek after" the worship of God.

(S. Stubbings.)

(T. F. Crosse, D. C. L.)

I. THE SOUL'S RESOLVE. What is life without aim, without purpose? It is a moral waste. The true soul will ever have its resolve, its mark, its aim.

1. It is single — "one thing." In a multiplicity of aims men fail.

2. It is earnest. That will I "seek" after. The earnest man is the real man.

II. THE SOUL'S DESIRE. This prompted the resolve, and moved the soul to action. It was for —

1. The enjoyment of the sanctuary. "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord." To souls depressed, what may not the house of God be to them — a Bethel, a "burning bush" where they may hear God's voice.

2. That this enjoyment may be life long — "All the days of my life." His soul found such delight in those services, and he would have this perpetuated.

III. THE SOUL'S PURPOSE.

1. To behold the Divine glory — "the beauty of the Lord."

2. To drink at the Divine fountain — "to inquire in His temple." God is the eternal Fountain of Truth and Goodness.

(J. W. Kaye.)

II. The effect of religious institutions upon men, with regard to their MORAL CHARACTER. Men in general have no principle of moral conduct but religion, and if that were taken away, they would work all impurity with greediness, whenever they could withdraw from the public eye. Human laws would often be of little avail, without a sense of Divine legislation; and the sanctions of men have little force, unless they were enforced by the authority of God. Mutual confidence between man and man would be destroyed; human life would be thrown into confusion, the safety of mankind would be endangered, and the moral world totter to its ruin, if such a pillar were to fall. And what is it that maintains and spreads religious principles in the world? What is it that keeps alive on the minds of the people, the fear of God and the belief of His providence? It is the public institutions of religion; the observance of the Lord's day; our assembling together for divine worship.

III. The effect of religious institutions upon men, with regard to their POLITICAL STATE. The political systems that take place in the world, the facility with which the many are governed by the few, is one of the most wonderful things in the history of man. What prevents bloodshed and devastation, and all the evils of war? Nothing! so much as the influence of religious principles upon the minds of men, Christianity gives honour to civil government, as being the ordinance of God, and enjoins subjection to the laws, under its own awful sanctions. And not only by particular precepts, but by its secret and less visible influence, it prepares the minds of men for submission to lawful authority. Obedience to spiritual authority paves the way for subjection to the civil power. Hence wise legislators have, even on this account, favoured the progress of religion.

IV. The influence of religious institutions upon men, with respect to DOMESTIC LIFE. A new bond will be added to the conjugal union, when those whom it connects walk to the house of God in company, take sweet counsel with one another, and set out jointly in the way that leads to life. Watered by the dews of Heaven, which fall here, the olive-plants will flourish round your table. There is a beauty, also, when rich and poor, high and low, who seldom meet together on other occasions, assemble in one place, one great family, in the presence of their common Lord, when they are stripped of every adventitious circumstance, and where virtue makes the only distinction among them. It is the image of those golden times when society began; it is the image of the state which is to come, when God shall be all in all.

(John Logan.)

1. Here God gives direction in every good way (Psalm 32:8).

2. Here is plentiful provision both for soul and body (Psalm 34:10; Psalm 37:3, 4).

3. Here is safe protection and preservation, by special providence (Psalm 91:1; Matthew 10:29-31).

4. Here is most admirable remuneration, even in this life, with the honour of grace, and favour to be His friends (John 15:14, 15), and His children (1 John 3:1), and to have the attendance of the angels (Psalm 34:7; Psalm 91:11); but most abundantly in the life to come. Uses —

1. For instruction.(1) See here a plain evidence of the great ignorance and unbelief of natural men in the things of God. Not one in a thousand has David's affection to God's house.(2) Undoubtedly it is a wonderful privilege and prerogative to be a true member of God's Church and to live in His house.

2. For admonition.(1) To try our affection towards the house of God, by David's.(2) To get David's affection to God's house; which will be had by knowing their misery that are out of it.

II. THE MEANS HE USED, AND THE COURSE HE TOOK, TO OBTAIN THIS BLESSING. David did with prayer join other endeavour to get this blessing. The reason of this behaviour is twofold.

1. Obedience to God's ordinance, who required of those who would dwell in His house three things.(1) Repentance from dead works.(2) To be beautified in soul with inward graces, through regeneration, as faith, virtue, godliness, etc.(3) To be adorned in life with new obedience (Psalm 15:2, 3; Psalm 24:3, 4).

2. Desire to enjoy the blessings of God's house, wherein he knew that man's true happiness did stand (Psalm 65:4; Psalm 84:4).

III. THE LENGTH OF TIME FOR WHICH HE DESIRES TO DWELL THEREIN. All the days of his life.

1. For the fruition of the good things of God's house.

2. For his better opportunity to glorify God (Psalm 63:4; Psalm 146:2).

3. He knew that to be out of God's house was to be out of God's favour (Genesis 4:14; 2 Kings 17:18, 20).Uses —

1. For instruction. See plainly in David that the hearts of the godly do sincerely desire and faithfully strive for perseverance in the state of grace which at this day is dwelling in God's house.

2. For admonition to those that are weary of God's house, and the exercise of religion.

IV. THE BLESSED ENDS FOR WHICH DAVID DESIRES THIS.

1. To behold the beauty of the Lord. As in the works of creation He showed the eternal power and wisdom of the Godhead, so in the ordinances of His service He makes known His justice, goodness, love, and mercy in Jesus Christ.

2. That he may inquire in His temple; i.e. diligently seek direction of God in all cases of doubt or difficulty. Reasons hereof(1) God's own ordinance, directing His people to this duty (Exodus 25:21, 22; 1 Kings 6:19; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 17:8, 9).(2) For the fruition of the benefits add comforts of this privilege. Freedom from many evils that accompany men's miscarriages who walk in their own counsels (Joshua 9:14, etc.). Assurance to be acceptable to God, and blessed of Him in the things they take in hand, even of this world (2 Chronicles 15:2, 15). Undoubted fruition of glory in the life to come (Psalm 73:24). Uses —

1. For instruction. See plainly that the true members of God's Church are advanced in privilege, dignity and honour above all other people.

2. For admonition. It serves effectually to move all who live in the Church to look unto their state and carriage, that it be such as may give them some good assurance that they have right to this privilege. Let us see —(1) That we be in covenant with God, else we have no right to this prerogative.(2) That we keep covenant, living in conscionable obedience.

(T. Pierson.)

I. THE REALIZED FACT THAT HE WHO INHABITS ETERNITY CONDESCENDS TO DWELL IN EARTHLY SANCTUARIES DEDICATED TO HIS WORSHIP. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion." His presence makes it morally beautiful. He is the light and glory of it. Without Him the most gorgeous temple becomes a tomb.

II. DELIGHT BECAUSE OF ITS AUGUST AND INSPIRING SERVICES. The praise and prayer — the unfolding of the Word of God, and the illumination coming from the effluence of the Holy Spirit.

III. THE DELIGHTFUL REPOSE OF THE PASSIONS, AND REFRESHING OF THE AFFECTIONS, AND QUICKENING OF THE LIFE BY THE VISION OF THOSE HARMONIES THAT MEET IN GOD — His nature, works and ways, and which constitute the "beauty of the Lord."

(Homiletic Review.)

I. A MASTER-PASSION. He was a shepherd boy, yet could say, "One thing," etc. A soldier, renowned; a ruler, with great power; a poet, with great celebrity; a father, full of affection; amid all the changes of his varied fortune, "one thing" was the master-passion of his life.

II. ITS OBJECT.

1. "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord," etc. Habitual church-going and fellowship with God: "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest" (Psalm 65:4).

2. "To behold the beauty of the Lord." Sanctuary, a place for the manifestation of God and for the education of the soul. David wished to appreciate the beauty of the divine character. This required a development of his capacity, a spiritualizing of all his faculties. "God is a Spirit": spiritual things are spiritually discussed. David wished an intimate knowledge of God. Men travel thousands of miles to look upon the beauties of ancient art. These must fade. The "beauty of the Lord" is eternal.

3. "To inquire in His temple." David came to God's house as a learner, an inquirer, sincerely desiring to appropriate to his own heart and life the spirit and excellence, the beauty and worth of Him who condescended to dwell with men and be their God.

III. THE RESULT.

1. A literary immortality.

2. The divine approval. "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart." Earth affords no such commendation, no such sweet and lasting reward. For this divine approval brought —

3. Present security (Psalm 27:5), and eternal well-being (Psalm 23:6). Make David's master-passion your own.

(J. C. Allen.)

(J. H. Newman, D. D.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

II. THEY GIVE DECISION OF CHARACTER. Prayer brings the soul into the holy calm of that presence where they are no longer carried to and fro by every passing wind of opinion. In His presence we are enabled to feel, and that with power, that to our own Master we stand or fall. A man can hardly be habitually prayerful and yet be changeable and unreliable. For in God's presence we are lifted into a region where the passions and conflicts of this world cannot enter, and where all seem to say to the agitated soul, "Peace, be still." There have been times when a tumultuous crowd, rushing into a venerable church, where a single priest was saying the sacred office, or where a little company of kneeling worshippers bore witness to other and higher interests than those which stirred the passions of the hour — has been awed, arrested, and turned back from its sacrilegious purpose. The sound of the bell summoning to the accustomed evening prayer has been found sufficient to calm passionate excitement, because of the obedience to the summons it secured, and the consequent soothing influence which was obtained through drawing near to God.

III. PRAYER HAS VERY BLESSED SOCIAL EFFECTS. For it "gilds social intercourse and conduct with a tenderness, an unobtrusiveness, a sincerity, a frankness, an evenness of temper, a cheerfulness, a collectedness, a constant consideration for others, united to a simple loyalty to truth and duty, which leavens and strengthens society."

IV. IN ALL SPIRITUAL WORK OUR EFFICIENCY MAY BE MEASURED BY OUR PRAYERFULNESS. A great deal of the religious teaching of the day is coldly intellectual, and therefore powerless, because it has not been nourished and quickened at the bosom of prayer. But we must not, we cannot, maintain the habit of prayer simply because of these subjective benefits upon our souls. If we do not believe that God answers prayer we shall soon cease to pray.

(E. W: Shalders, B. A.)

II. GOOD MEN ARE CAPABLE OF SEEING THIS MORAL BEAUTY OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER. Those who love God have the same kind of love that God has and exercises towards them and all holy creatures. They see God as He sees Himself, glorious in holiness, and of consequence, glorious in all His other attributes, which are under the influence of His perfectly benevolent heart. They see supreme beauty and excellence in His power and wisdom, in His justice and sovereignty, in His mercy and grace, as they are continually exercised for the highest good of the universe.

III. WHY GOOD MEN DESIRE TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD.

1. Because the goodness of God, which forms His supreme excellence, spreads a glory over all the other perfections of His nature. Saints as well as others can see no excellence in the greatness and majesty of God, separately from His perfect holiness and benevolence.

2. Because it spreads a beauty over His works, as well as character.

3. Because it spreads a beauty over all His conduct.

4. Because it spreads a light and beauty over His Word. It enables those who are holy as God is holy, just as God is just, and good as God is good, to see why He commands all men to love Him supremely. Conclusion —

1. If it be true that the supreme beauty or glory of God consists in His pure and universal goodness, then sinners hate God for that for which alone they ought to love Him supremely.

2. If saints sincerely and ardently desire to behold the beauty of the Lord, then they are essentially different from sinners.

3. If God be perfectly good, and His goodness spreads a moral beauty and excellence over all His perfections, then there is nothing to hinder sinners from loving Him but merely their own selfishness.

4. If the supreme glory of God consists in His goodness, then the more clearly His goodness is exhibited before the minds of sinners, the more difficult they always find it to be to love Him.

5. If saints desire to see the beauty of the Lord, then we see one good reason why they love to attend the public worship of God in His house constantly.

(N. Emmons, D. D.)The vision of the beauty of God: — As we confess our belief in God as Three in One and One in Three, the saying of the psalmist is fulfilled in us who, as we dwell in God's temple, rejoice in the vision of God's beauty.

1. Intense was the longing of the psalmist for that vision. It was the "one thing" he "desired and longed after," and in some faint measure attained to. And here, as ever, he but gives voice to the universal cry of man's spirit. Man cannot know what God is except as God reveals Himself to him, "He dwelleth in the light that no man can approach unto;" "He is One whom no man hath seen or can see." The finite cannot know the Infinite One until He brings Himself within the reach of his knowledge. And yet for this knowledge he must of necessity yearn. In the Man Jesus Christ, God in Himself is revealed. We are not of those whose lot is in the night and whose language is but a cry. No, "we are of the day": for us "the darkness is passed and the true light shineth." For us the Trinity is rest in a measure attained: we rest in the vision of the beauty of God.

2. There are two things that especially arrest us in the beauty of God, as we are taught to contemplate it in the creeds of the Church.(1) There is in Him the beauty of unity. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." The unity of God is the primary truth of the Christian faith, and on it as its chief corner stone rests the structure of Christian morality. "Because He is One "we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength." The simplicity of the Christian character is the practical acknowledgment of the unity of God. Because He is One, He only is to be loved and served. "I am the Lord; that is My Name: and My glory will I not give to another." A divided allegiance in His sight is treason. Because He is One, He is to be served wholly, He is not the God only of the inner self, or of the external life; He claims to reign without and within.(2) There is in Him the beauty of love. In the one God there are three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Our God is no solitary Monad, eternally and essentially solitary, silent and inactive. He is love, and because love is of the very essence of His Being, He must have in Himself love in eternal action. There are and can be in God no dormant powers, no undeveloped capacities. Deus est purus actus, this is the necessary condition of His eternal perfection. God is love; see this in the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Eternally is the Eternal Son begotten of the Eternal Father; eternally is the Eternal Spirit proceeding from the Eternal Father through the Eternal Son. God is love; within Himself He finds not only an eternal sphere of loving activity, but the satisfaction of love's craving for an eternal communion. The vision of the beauty of love in God draws His people to Him to live in the sunlight of that love. As thus they live, they themselves become possessed by that love which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. More and more they look on men with eyes enlightened by God's light; they feel for men as does the heart of God. Nay more, as this love possesses them, they rise to higher measures of simplicity of character. Thus then love may dwell in peace; in peace with God; in peace with men: in peace of inner being. Thus gazing on the love of God revealed in the Blessed Trinity, they become themselves conformed to the beauty of His charity and so become to Him a joy.

3. But if we are to live in the vision of God's beauty, there are two essential conditions personal to ourselves.(1) We can only see God when the eyes of our spirits are purified. "The pure in heart see God." For us there cannot be the parity of the unstained. By our very birth we are born blind; by our personal sins our spiritual eyesight has become dim. But there is for us the purity of contrition. By the power of this grace we are cleansed from the blinding sins of the past, and from the obscuring power of failures in the present. Live then the life of penitence: ever yield yourselves up to the guidance of the motive of contrition; avoid sin as you live in the wariness that contrition teaches.(2) And ever remember that this purity can only co-exist with humility.

(G. Body, D. D.)

1. Misunderstood doctrines account for much misconception. That most misunderstood doctrine of the Atonement accounts for most. There is a painting in a Continental church which illustrates this. God the Father, with angry face, is seen leaning over the battlements of heaven, aiming the arrows of His wrath at the hearts of men below. In the mid-distance His Son Jesus Christ is shown looking upward in the direction of the arrow-shower, running to meet them, catching them in His person, or breaking them with His hands as they fall. What a travesty of Christ's atoning work! Our salvation took its rise in the Father's heart, and we behold the beauty of the blessed God in the face of Christ on the cross as nowhere else.

2. Another reason why we have not yet beheld the Divine beauty may be the condition of our sight. Spiritual beauty appeals to the eye of the soul, and we know not that we are blind. Eyes we all have, but some of us see not. One of Goethe's characters complains that his soul has only feelers. That might be true at that period of his history, but he started with eyes. The power of spiritual vision is a birthright. And yet how many there are who are groping after God, instead of meditating on His seen glory. They need the opening of the eyes of the heart, which is God's gift of grace.

3. A further reason of our failure to see God's beauty is our impatience and hurry. It takes time to behold.

(A. O. Sauderson, M. A.)

I. SOME OF THE ELEMENTS OF THIS BEAUTY. God is a Spirit. Hence His beauty is spiritual. It cannot be that corporeal kind of beauty which affects the external senses of men. That beauty may be, and we believe is, a symbol and a reflection of it. But spiritual beauty must consist of, and arise from, spiritual qualities and attributes. One of these is —

1. Holiness. Sill is not beautiful, though many think it so. But holiness is, and "God is glorious in holiness."

2. His mercy and grace. The attractiveness of them is more easily perceived, and their influence felt by such as we are. And through them, mainly, sinners are won over to God. Let us try, then, to bring them out. There is the great man — the man of high rank — who regards his inferiors with a haughty look. He walks among them, passes through the midst of them, with proud reserve. Is that man amiable? Can his inferiors love him? Not But there is the great man who is the reverse of all this. What do we say of him? He is amiable. He is attractive. He gains the hearts of his inferiors. Now consider how great God is. What are princes, nobles, kings, compared with Him? Well, and how does this great God bear Himself towards us? Is He cold and distant? Does He ignore us and treat us with disdain? Is not the reverse the truth? Yet again. There is the man who has much, and does not distribute to the poor — the rich man, who hoards up his wealth, and gives little or nothing away — who has the needy on every side of him, and is unmoved by their case, and deaf to their cry. Who can love a man so hard? But there is a man whom we love, and who makes his way into our he, arts. It is he who, having wealth, does not keep it to himself, but shares it with such as are less favoured by Providence. Yes, we love that man. There is an attractiveness in his character which we cannot resist. Well, the generous millionaire is, in some measure, like God. In some measure. That is to say, the amiable quality which distinguishes him, we find also in God, and in an infinitely greater degree. Which of us can say that he is not a pensioner on the bounty of God? What has He not given to us? And, above all, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." But how faint is the image of the mercy of God, that we can have from the magnanimity and compassion of the most merciful of men! Who knows the power of His anger? Yet how slow is He to put it forth I It cannot be said that it is easier for Him to pardon and cancel man's sin than to avenge it. But yet He does so.

3. Another thing, which we may call an element of beauty in God, is the combination of His various attributes in one harmonious whole. The colours of the rainbow are beautiful, when taken one by one: but there is a beauty in the rainbow, which arises not from any single tint: a beauty which is the result of their assemblage and collocation, and consists in their blended radiance. In like manner do the several perfections, which co-exist and unite in the nature of God, produce a glorious beauty.

II. WHERE THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD MAY BE SEEN.

1. In nature.

2. In the moral law, for the law is full of love.

3. In the Gospel.

4. In Christ — in His mission; His nature; His character.

III. SOME TRAITS OF THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD.

1. It never deceives. Contrast — Absalom, Pharisees.

2. It never fades.

3. Never loses its power.

4. Nor disappoints.

(Andrew Gray.)

(T. Chalmers, D. D.)

I. THE BEAUTY OF JEHOVAH. We feel it in contemplating —

1. The harmonious wholeness of the Divine character. All good is there in due proportion and range.

2. The holiness of God, and especially —

3. The love of God.

4. That he is the perfect armour to the human heart, tie meets all the wants of our nature. His beautifulness is essential, transcendent, inexhaustible.

II. ITS CHIEF SHRINE AND PLACE OF UNVEILING. This is the sanctuary. For —

1. Its services are replete with the Divine beauty.

2. God is the glory of the house.

3. Communion with God is the only essential.

III. ITS MASTERY OF THE HEART.

1. It enthralled the psalmist's soul.

2. It powerfully attracted him.

3. It awaited his coming.

4. Endowed him with good.

5. Crowned his being.

(W. B. Haynes.)

(W. M. Macgregor, M. A.)

     4040   beauty
     5149   eyes
     5340   house
     5478   property, houses
     5787   ambition, positive
     5840   eagerness
     8297   love, for God
     8410   decision-making, examples
     8604   prayer, response to God
     8625   worship, acceptable attitudes
     8632   adoration

Psalm 27:1-4

     8215   confidence, results

Psalm 27:3-5

     8107   assurance, and life of faith

Psalm 27:4-5

     5511   safety

Psalm 27:4-8

     8160   seeking God

God's Guests
'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' --PSALM xxvii. 4. We shall do great injustice to this mystical aspiration of the Psalmist, if we degrade it to be the mere expression of a desire for unbroken residence in a material Temple. He was no sickly, sentimental seeker after cloistered seclusion. He knew the necessities and duties of life far better than in a cowardly way to wish to shirk them, in order that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Seek Ye' --'I Will Seek'
'When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face; My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. 9. Hide not Thy face far from me.' --PSALM xxvii. 8, 9. We have here a report of a brief dialogue between God and a devout soul. The Psalmist tells us of God's invitation and of his acceptance, and on both he builds the prayer that the face which he had been bidden to seek, and had sought, may not be hid from him. The correspondence between what God said to him and what he said to God is even more emphatically …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Proving of the True Lover
"My Son, thou art not yet strong and prudent in thy love." 2. Wherefore, O my Lord? 3. "Because for a little opposition thou fallest away from thy undertakings, and too eagerly seekest after consolation. The strong lover standeth fast in temptations, and believeth not the evil persuasions of the enemy. As in prosperity I please him, so in adversity I do not displease. 4. "The prudent lover considereth not the gift of the lover so much as the love of the giver. He looketh for the affection more …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Another Wonderful Record of 25.
A Christian minister, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face. Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary was the plan of the Lord to send relief. "In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling and the winds were howling without, a lady …
Various—The Wonders of Prayer

Prayer in the Unconverted.
"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." --Psalm xxvii. 8. The faculty of prayer is not an acquisition of later years, but is created in us, inherent in the root of our being, inseparable from our nature. And yet consistent with this fact is the fact that the great majority of men do not pray. It is possible to possess a faculty dormant in us for a whole lifetime. The Malay possesses the faculty for studying modern languages as well as we, but he …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

In his Tabernacle
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord."--Ps. xxvii. 4. T. S. M. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 Not built with hands is that fair radiant chamber Of God's untroubled rest-- Where Christ awaits to lay His weary-hearted In stillness on His breast. Not built on sands of time or place to perish, When tempests roar-- But on the mighty Rock of Ages founded, It stands for evermore-- …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Habitation of God
Gerhard Ter Steegen Ps. xxvii. 4 Here on earth a temple stands, Temple never built with hands; There the Lord doth fill the place With the glory of His grace. Cleansed by Christ's atoning Blood, Thou art this fair House of God. Thoughts, desires, that enter there, Should they not be pure and fair? Meet for holy courts and blest, Courts of stillness and of rest, Where the soul, a priest in white, Singeth praises day and night; Glory of the love divine Filling all this heart of thine. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Seeking the Lord's Face. --Psalm xxvii.
Seeking the Lord's Face.--Psalm xxvii. One thing, with all my soul's desire, I sought and will pursue; What Thine own Spirit doth inspire, Lord, for Thy servant do. Grant me within Thy courts a place, Among Thy saints a seat, For ever to behold Thy face, And worship at Thy feet. In Thy pavilion to abide, When storms of trouble blow, And in Thy tabernacle hide, Secure from every foe. "Seek ye My face-" without delay, When thus I hear Thee speak, My heart would leap for joy, and say, "Thy face, …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

The Exile --Continued.
As our purpose in this volume is not a complete biography, it will not be necessary to dwell on the subsequent portions of the exile, inasmuch as there is little reference to these in the psalms. We must pass over even that exquisite episode of Abigail, whose graceful presence and "most subtle flow of silver-paced counsel" soothed David's ruffled spirit, and led him captive at once as in a silken leash. The glimpse of old-world ways in the story, the rough mirth of the shearers, the hint of the kind …
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

Epistle vi. To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari).
To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Gregory to Januarius, &c. The Jews who have come hither from your city have complained to us that Peter, who has been brought by the will of God from their superstition to the worship of Christian faith, having taken with him certain disorderly persons, on the day after his baptism, that is on the Lord's day of the very Paschal festival, with grave scandal and without your consent, had taken possession of their synagogue in Caralis, and placed there the …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The victory of Unarmed Faith
'And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; 35. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Fundamental Oneness of the Dispensations.
Hebrews iii. i-iv. 13 (R.V.). "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High-priest of our confession, even Jesus; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him as also was Moses in all his house. For He hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some one; but He that built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Out of the Deep of Fear and Anxiety.
My heart is disquieted within me. Tearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me.--Ps. lv. 4. Thou hast proved and visited my heart in the night season--Ps. xvii. 3. Nevertheless though I am sometimes afraid, yet put I my trust in Thee.--Ps. lv. 3. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?--Ps. xxvii. 1. I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fear.--Ps. …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

I Fear, I Say, Greatly for Thee, Lest...
39. I fear, I say, greatly for thee, lest, when thou boastest that thou wilt follow the Lamb wheresoever He shall have gone, thou be unable by reason of swelling pride to follow Him through strait ways. It is good for thee, O virgin soul, that thus, as thou art a virgin, thus altogether keeping in thy heart that thou hast been born again, keeping in thy flesh that thou hast been born, thou yet conceive of the fear of the Lord, and give birth to the spirit of salvation. [2142] "Fear," indeed, "there …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Of Faith. The Definition of It. Its Peculiar Properties.
1. A brief recapitulation of the leading points of the whole discussion. The scope of this chapter. The necessity of the doctrine of faith. This doctrine obscured by the Schoolmen, who make God the object of faith, without referring to Christ. The Schoolmen refuted by various passages. 2. The dogma of implicit faith refuted. It destroys faith, which consists in a knowledge of the divine will. What this will is, and how necessary the knowledge of it. 3. Many things are and will continue to be implicitly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament