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I. AN URGENT DUTY. That God should receive the adoration of His creatures is the first dictate of all theology. We are told, in the earliest periods of sacred history, of altars erected and sacrifices offered. It was not until natural religion degenerated into idolatry that the manner of their service was specially revealed. The light of nature had led them together into God's presence. The throne of grace, the song of praise, the Word of God — by means like these His people find Him, and they can come even to His seat. They are to us the patriarch's ladder, connecting earth and heaven; and if ours is the true spirit of devotion, we too shall be encompassed with messages of Divine approval, and shall leave its scenes of gracious manifestation, exclaiming, "It was none other than the house of God; it was the gate of heaven."

II. AN INVALUABLE PRIVILEGE. The truth, that all duty is privilege, applies here with special force. The holy city drew forth the desires of the pious Hebrew, because it was the place of the visible presence of the Most High, where His favour was to be obtained. Within the gates of Jerusalem He was to be found; and the psalmist therefore "longed, yea, even fainted for the courts of the Lord." Surely the Christian cannot lag behind the Jew, when he reckons up the benefits that flow from united approach to the place where prayer is wont to be made. What are all the ordinances of Christian faith, its simple sacraments, the Sabbath institution, the house of God, our perpetual access to the Throne — what are all these but our Jerusalem?

III. A SCENE OF HALLOWED ENJOYMENT. It is impossible to read this psalm without being struck with its cheerful, happy tone. It expresses feelings very unlike the repulsive gloom with which some have invested the sanctuary and its services. God's worship inspired those who of old engaged in it with most enviable dispositions, if one may judge of them by their record here. How comprehensive its sympathies! How tender its affections! Love to God and man, to His Word, and to His people, breathes through every verse; and whenever God is worshipped in truth, the same experience is realized. Our feet stand on holy ground. Far hence be banished all profane thoughts and ungenial tempers, with the dark crowd of lusts that war against the soul. Here contrition mourns over sin; humility owns unworthiness; trustfulness casts herself on sovereign mercy; and love awakens love, as devotion enkindles her sacred fires. Let such feelings be in our hearts on one day of the week, and every other will own their influence; while the communion of saints is deepened in the place where the rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the Maker of them all. Let it be something to us to belong to the company of those who worship God. Let our brethren be to us co-heirs of the grace of life, with whose joys and sorrows we seek to sympathize; and let our fellow-worshippers have a place in our kind regards and unfailing prayers. Let the very church we worship in be dear to us as the scene of sacred fellowship.

(A. MacEwen, D.D.).

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KJV: I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,

WEB: I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people,