"All scenes alike engaging prove To souls impress'd with sacred love! Where'er they dwell, they dwell in Thee; In heaven, in earth, or on the sea.
"To me remains nor place nor time; My country is in every clime; I can be calm and free from care On any shore, since God is there.
"While place we seek, or place we shun, The soul finds happiness in none; But, with a God to guide our way, 'Tis equal joy to go or stay.
"Could I be cast where thou art not, That were indeed a dreadful lot; But regions none remote I call, Secure of finding God in all."
"It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the dealings of God with their souls. It was Paul's accustomed manner, and that when tried for his life, even to open before his judges the manner of his conversion. He would think of that day and that hour in the which he did first meet with grace, for he found it support onto him. There was nothing to David like Goliath's sword. The very sight and remembrance of that did preach forth God's deliverance to him. Oh, the remembrance of my great sins, of my great temptations, and of my great fears for perishing for ever. They bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of mercy and help--my great support from heaven, and the great grace that God extendeth to such a wretch as I."--_John Bunyan._
"O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar."--_Verse 6._
In the preceding verse, we found the Psalmist chiding his soul for the unreasonableness of its depression--calling upon it to exercise hope and trust in God, under the assurance that he would "yet praise Him for the help of His countenance."
But "_what will ye see in the Shulamite_?" Another experience testifies afresh, "_As it were the company of two armies._"[53] HOPE has no sooner risen to the surface than despondency returns. The struggling believer threatens to sink. The wave is again beat back. His soul is again "cast down!" But one word--an old monosyllable of comfort--is borne on the refluent billow, "O MY GOD!" This "strong swimmer in his agony" seizes hold of that never-failing support, the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping Jehovah. With this he breasts the opposing tide, and will assuredly at last reach the shore. The very tribulations that are casting him down,--threatening to submerge him,--are only nerving his spirit for bolder feats; leading him to value more the everlasting arms that are lower and deeper than the darkest wave.