Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 24:3

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 24:3. Who shall ascend — Who is sufficiently holy to wait in his temple? Who is fit to minister in the holy place?

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 24:0 The triumphal entry

Saul had taken little interest in the religious life of Israel. During his reign the ark of the covenant (or covenant box) remained in a country house in Kiriath-jearim. David set about correcting this state of affairs by restoring the ark, symbol of God’s presence, to its rightful place at the centre of the nation’s religious life. One of the greatest days of his life, therefore, was the day on which he brought the ark into Jerusalem (1 Samuel 7:1-2; 2 Samuel 6:12-19; 2 Samuel 6:12-19). This was probably the occasion on which Psalms 24:0 was first sung.

As the procession approaches the hill of the Lord (Jerusalem), a question is asked: who is able to enter the presence of the almighty Creator, Yahweh, the holy God of Israel (1-3)? The answer comes back: only those who have ‘clean hands’ in all their dealings with others and pure hearts in their loyalty to God (4; cf. 2 Samuel 6:1-13; Psalms 15:1-5). Such are God’s true people, and God will defend them against their opponents (5-6).

At the gate of the city the procession stops and demands entrance in the name of the king of glory (7). The gatekeepers challenge the right of the procession to enter, by asking the identity of this king of glory. They receive the reply that he is Yahweh, the almighty God of Israel who gave the nation victory over its enemies (8-10).

Whatever meaning the song may have had to the Israelites of Old Testament times, it will have added meaning if it is sung at the king of glory’s greater victory procession that is yet to come (cf. Philippians 3:20-21; Revelation 19:1-8).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, And hath not sworn deceitfully."

The usually accepted explanation of this is that when the `procession' approached the gates of Jerusalem (or the temple mountain), the question of "Who shall ascend?" was intoned by some element of the singers. It is very difficult for this writer to imagine such a thing as really happening. We view the passage as a very abbreviated message to the effect that "Without holiness, no man shall see God." We cannot conceive of any Jewish congregation of any age whatever who would unanimously pass such a test. Rather this is a description of that "King of Glory" who will be introduced a moment later.

George DeHoff stated that these two verses describe, "Who is worthy to stand before God now, and to ascend into heaven itself at the end of the journey."George DeHoff, p. 115. Spurgeon also discerned that, "In the fullest sense, there was but One in Whom all these things were fulfilled."Charles Haddon Spurgeon, p. 118. This undeniable truth supports our conviction that the principal meaning of this psalm is focused upon the Ascension of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? - Mount Zion; called the hill of the Lord, because it was the place designated for His worship, or the place of His abode. See the notes at Psalms 15:1. The idea here is, “Who shall ascend there with a view of abiding there? Who is worthy to dwell there?” The question is equivalent to asking, What constitutes true religion? What is required for the acceptable worship of God? What will prepare a person for heaven?

Or who shall stand in his holy place? - In the tabernacle, or in the place where he is worshipped. Compare the notes at Psalms 1:5. Who is worthy to stand before God? Who has the qualifications requisite to constitute the evidence of his friendship?

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

3.Who shall ascend unto. It being very well known that it was of pure grace that God erected his sanctuary, and chose for himself a dwelling-place among the Jews, David makes only a tacit reference to this subject. ⁽⁵⁴³⁾ He insists principally on the other point contained in the verse, that of distinguishing true Israelites from the false and bastards. He takes the argument by which he exhorts the Jews to lead a holy and righteous life from this, that God had separated them from the rest of the world, to be his peculiar inheritance. The rest of mankind, it is true, seeing they were created by him, belong to his empire; but he who occupies a place in the church is more nearly related to him. All those, therefore, whom God receives into his flock he calls to holiness; and he lays them under obligations to follow it by his adoption. Moreover, by these words David indirectly rebukes hypocrites, who scrupled not falsely to take to themselves the holy name of God, as we know that they are usually lifted up with pride, because of the titles which they take without having the excellencies which these titles imply, contenting themselves with bearing only outside distinctions; ⁽⁵⁴⁴⁾ yea, rather he purposely magnifies this singular grace of God, that every man may learn for himself, that he has no right of entrance or access to the sanctuary, unless he sanctify himself in order to serve God in purity. The ungodly and wicked, it is true, were in the habit of resorting to the tabernacle; and, therefore, God, by the Prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 1:12) reproaches them for coming unworthily into his courts, and wearing the pavement thereof. But David here treats of those who may lawfully enter into God’s sanctuary. The house of God being holy, if any rashly, and without a right, rush into it, their corruption and abuse are nothing else but polluting it. As therefore they do not go up thither lawfully, David makes no account of their going up; yea, rather, under these words there is included a severe rebuke, of the conduct of wicked and profane men, in daring to go up into the sanctuary, and to pollute it with their impurity. On this subject I have spoken more fully on the 15^th psalm. In the second part of the verse he seems to denote perseverance, as if he had said, Who shall go up into the hill of Sion, to appear and stand in the presence of God? The Hebrew word קום, kum, it is true, sometimes signifies to rise up, but it is generally taken for to stand, as we have seen in the first psalm. And although this is a repetition of the same idea, stated in the preceding clause, it is not simply so, but David, by expressing the end for which they ought to go up, illustrates and amplifies the subject; and this repetition and amplification we find him often making use of in other psalms. In short, how much soever the wicked were mingled with the good in the church, in the time of David, he declares how vain a thing it is to make an external profession unless there be, at the same time, truth in the inward man. What he says concerning the tabernacle of the covenant must be applied to the continual government of the church.

(543) “Il n’en fait yci que bien petite mention et comme en passant.” — Fr. “He here only slightly adverts to this subject, and as it were in passing.”

(544) “Comme nous s’avons que c’est leur coustume de s’eslever par orgueil a cause des titres qu’ils prenent sans avoir l’effect, se contentans de porter seulement les marques par dehors.” — Fr.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 24:1-10

Psalms 24:1-10 :

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein ( Psalms 24:1 ).

It all belongs to God.

For he hath founded it upon the seas, he established it upon the floods ( Psalms 24:2 ).

Now the question, the whole thing is God's, the earth's the Lord's, the fullness thereof. He founded it. He made it. It belonged to him.

Who shall ascend ( Psalms 24:3 )

The question:

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? ( Psalms 24:3 )

The answer:

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart ( Psalms 24:4 );

Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" ( Matthew 5:8 ).

who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory ( Psalms 24:4-10 ).

Beautiful psalm. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Ascent to the sanctuary 24:1-6

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 24

Only people characterized by righteous deeds and pure thoughts may enter the place where the glorious King of the Universe dwells.

The occasion that inspired the composition of this psalm is unknown. However, in view of its content, many interpreters believe David may have written it when he brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). [Note: E.g., Delitzsch, 1:334.] Perhaps he wrote it when he returned from some victory in battle. [Note: Craigie, pp. 213-14.]

During the Exile, the Jews developed the tradition of reading this psalm every Sunday, celebrating the first day of Creation. They also read other psalms on the other days of the week: 48 on Monday, 82 on Tuesday, 94 on Wednesday, 81 on Thursday, 93 on Friday, and 92 on Saturday. [Note: See Roy A. Rosenberg, "Yahweh has become King," Journal of Biblical Literature 85 (1966):297-307.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The psalmist then wondered who could go into the sanctuary of such a great God on Mt. Zion (cf. Psalms 23:6). Who could have the courage to do so? Right actions (clean hands) and right attitudes (a pure heart) are necessary if one hopes to attain admission to His presence. Idolatry and bearing false witness, perhaps representing all sins God-ward and man-ward, disqualify any potential worshipper.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?.... Though the Lord has a claim in general to the whole world, and all its fulness; yet there is a particular part of it, or spot in it, which is his special and peculiar property, and that is his church and people; for though some reference may be had, in this passage, to Mount Moriah, and the hill of Zion, on which the temple was afterwards built, and is called the hill of the Lord, where he desired to dwell, Psalms 68:15; yet the church is mystically intended, and is so called on account of its visibility, through a profession of faith in Christ, and for its immovableness, being built on him;

and who shall stand in his holy place? the same with the hill of the Lord; the temple being to be built upon it, where the Lord took up his residence, and was worshipped, and holiness becomes the house of God for evermore: the import of these questions is, who is a proper person to be an inhabitant of Zion, or a member of a Gospel church? and the answer to them is in Psalms 24:4, in which is a description much like that which is given of one hundred forty and four thousand seen with the Lamb on Mount Zion, Revelation 14:1; compare with this verse.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?   4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.   5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.   6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

      From this world, and the fulness thereof, the psalmist's meditations rise, of a sudden to the great things of another world, the foundation of which is not on the seas, nor on the floods. The things of this world God has given to the children of men and we are much indebted to his providence for them; but they will not make a portion for us. And therefore,

      I. Here is an enquiry after better things, Psalms 24:3; Psalms 24:3. This earth is God's footstool; but, if we had ever so much of it, we must be here but a while, must shortly go hence, and Who then shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall go to heaven hereafter, and, as an earnest of that, shall have communion with God in holy ordinances now? A soul that knows and considers its own nature, origin, and immortality, when it has viewed the earth and the fulness thereof, will sit down unsatisfied; there is not found among all the creatures a help meet for man, and therefore it will think of ascending towards God, towards heaven, will ask, "What shall I do to rise to that high place, that hill, where the Lord dwells and manifests himself, that I may be acquainted with him, and to abide in that happy holy place where he meets his people and makes them holy and happy? What shall I do that I may be of those whom God owns for his peculiar people and who are his in another manner than the earth is his and its fulness?" This question is much the same with that, Psalms 15:1. The hill of Zion on which the temple was built typified the church, both visible and invisible. When the people attended the ark to its holy place David puts them in mind that these were but patterns of heavenly things, and therefore that by them they should be led to consider the heavenly things themselves.

      II. An answer to this enquiry, in which we have,

      1. The properties of God's peculiar people, who shall have communion with him in grace and glory. (1.) They are such as keep themselves from all the gross acts of sin. They have clean hands; not spotted with the pollutions of the world and the flesh. None that were ceremonially unclean might enter into the mountain of the temple, which signified that cleanness of conversation which is required in all those that have fellowship with God. The hands lifted up in prayer must be pure hands, no blot of unjust gain cleaving to them, nor any thing else that defiles the man and is offensive to the holy God. (2.) They are such as make conscience of being really (that is, of being inwardly) as good as they seem to be outwardly. They have pure hearts. We make nothing of our religion if we do not make heart-work of it. It is not enough that our hands be clean before men, but we must also wash our hearts from wickedness, and not allow ourselves in any secret heart-impurities, which are open before the eye of God. Yet in vain do those pretend to have pure and good hearts whose hands are defiled with the acts of sin. That is a pure heart which is sincere and without guile in covenanting with God, which is carefully guarded, that the wicked one, the uncle an spirit, touch it not, which is purified by faith, and conformed to the image and will of God; see Matthew 5:8. (3.) They are such as do not set their affections upon the things of this world, do not lift up their souls unto vanity, whose hearts are not carried out inordinately towards the wealth of this world, the praise of men, or the delights of sense, who do not choose these things for their portion, nor reach forth after them, because they believe them to be vanity, uncertain and unsatisfying. (4.) They are such as deal honestly both with God and man. In their covenant with God, and their contracts with men, they have not sworn deceitfully, nor broken their promises, violated their engagements, nor taken any false oath. Those that have no regard to the obligations of truth or the honour of God's name are unfit for a place in God's holy hill. (5.) They are a praying people (Psalms 24:6; Psalms 24:6): This is the generation of those that seek him. In every age there is a remnant of such as these, men of this character, who are accounted to the Lord for a generation,Psalms 22:30. And they are such as seek God, that seek they face, O Jacob! [1.] They join themselves to God, to seek him, not only in earnest prayer, but in serious endeavours to obtain his favour and keep themselves in his love. Having made it the summit of their happiness, they make it the summit of their ambition to be accepted of him, and therefore take care and pains to approve themselves to him. It is to the hill of the Lord that we must ascend, and, the way being up-hill, we have need to put forth ourselves to the utmost, as those that seek diligently. [2.] They join themselves to the people of God, to seek God with them. Being brought into communion with God, they come into communion of saints; conforming to the patterns of the saints that have gone before (so some understand this), they seek God's face, as Jacob (so some), who was therefore surnamed Israel, because he wrestled with God and prevailed, sought him and found him; and, associating with the saints of their own day, they shall court the favour of God's church (Revelation 3:9), shall be glad of an acquaintance with God's people (Zechariah 8:23), shall incorporate themselves with them, and, when they subscribe with their hands to the Lord, shall call themselves by the name of Jacob,Isaiah 44:5. As soon as ever Paul was converted he joined himself to the disciples,Acts 9:26. They shall seek God's face in Jacob (so some), that is, in the assemblies of his people. Thy face, O God of Jacob! so our margin supplies it, and makes it easy. As all believers are the spiritual seed of Abraham, so all that strive in prayer are the spiritual seed of Jacob, to whom God never said, Seek you me in vain.

      2. The privileges of God's peculiar people, Psalms 24:5; Psalms 24:5. They shall be made truly and for ever happy. (1.) They shall be blessed: they shall receive the blessing from the Lord, all the fruits and gifts of God's favour, according to his promise; and those whom God blesses are blessed indeed, for it is his prerogative to command the blessing. (2.) They shall be justified and sanctified. These are the spiritual blessings in heavenly things which they shall receive, even righteousness, the very thing they hunger and thirst after, Matthew 5:5. Righteousness is blessedness, and it is from God only that we must expect it, for we have no righteousness of our own. They shall receive the reward of their righteousness (so some), the crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give,2 Timothy 4:8. (3.) They shall be saved; for God himself will be the God of their salvation. Note, Where God gives righteousness he certainly designs salvation. Those that are made meet for heaven shall be brought safely to heaven, and then they will find what they have been seeking, to their endless satisfaction.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Climbing the Mountain

June the 16th, 1861 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" Psalms 24:3 .

There is little doubt that this Psalm has a primary reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. He it is who alone ascended up on high by his own merits, and by virtue of a perfect obedience stands in God's holy place. He alone of mortal race hath clean hands and a pure heart; he hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor hath he sworn deceitfully therefore hath he received the blessing and righteousness from the God of his salvation. At his ascension the glorified spirits flooded heaven with music while they sang the language of the seventh verse, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in." It would be a delightful theme for Christian meditation to consider the ascension of Christ, in relation to his work, what we obtain by it, and the glories with which it was accompanied, when, with a shout of saved joy, he returned to his own throne and sat down for ever having finished the labor which he had undertaken to perform. But, this morning, I must take the text apart from its connection, for I desire to make it the basis of a set of parables or illustrations with regard to Christian life. I think we may fairly compare the life of a Christian to the ascent of a mountain, and we may then ask the question, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" This has been, in fact, a favorite metaphor, and even that mighty master of allegory, John Bunyan, who needed never to borrow from another, must have the Hill Difficulty somewhere or other to make his story complete; he must tell how the pilgrim "fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and knees because of the steepness of the place." Without putting any strain upon the text, I conceive I may use it as a most serious question, while I picture our course to heaven as an ascent into the hill of the Lord. Behold, then, before your eyes believer, the hill of God; it is a high hill even as the hill of Bashan, on the top thereof is that Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all; that rest

"To which our laboring souls aspire, With fervent pangs of strong desire."

This mount of which we speak is not Mount Sinai, but the chosen hill whereon are gathered the glorious company of angels, the spirit of the just made perfect, the Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. And we are the pilgrims, full often joyous with faith, but sometimes weary and footsore, making the best of our way to the top of this mountain of God, where we shall see his face, and rejoice in him for evermore. I, your fellow pilgrim, propose the question, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" No sooner does the question escape my lips, than I hear a jubilant shout from a company yonder who cry, "We shall; assuredly we shall; there is no doubt about our eternal safety. We shall most certainly attain the summit, rest our wearied feet thereon, and dwell with God for ever." Well, confidence is good if it be good, but if it be presumption, nothing can be more ill. Let us, then, look at those who are so sure that they shall ascend into the hill of the Lord. I notice, first, that some who speak thus are young beginners; they have not yet trodden the rough part of the mountain; they have only as yet danced upon the green knolls which are at the base of it; no wonder that their untried sinews find it easy work to ascend an easy pathway. Their limbs are supple, their muscles strong, and the marrow in their bones is as yet not dried up. They laugh at difficulty and they defy danger. "Ah!" they say, "whatever the danger may be, we can brave it; and however stern the toil, we are sufficient to surmount it." Ah! young man, but be thou warned; if thou speakest thus in thine own strength, thou shalt soon find it fail that for the boastful man who journeys in his own strength is like the snail which, though it doth but crawl, yet spendeth its own life and wasteth itself, whilst it maketh but sorry way. Thy strength is perfect weakness; and thy weakness such that difficulties shall soon subdue thee, and terror shall cow thy spirit. Oh! dost thou not know there are troubles to come, and thou hast not endured them yet; there are attacks of Satan; there are temptations from without and from within? Thou wilt find it go hard with thee if thou hast nothing but thine own strength; thou wilt he down to die of despair before thou hast reached one-tenth of the way, and the summit thou shalt never see. Oh, young man! there are rocks most sharp and steep which mortal strength can never chub, and there are rugged ravines so tangled with briars and so bestrewn with flint stones that they shall cut thy feet, nay, cut thy very heart and make it bleed, if thou hast not something better to trust to than thine own strength. How much of our early courage in the Christian life is the courage of the flesh; and though it be a sorrowful thing to lose this, yet it is a blessed loss. To be weak is to be strong, but to be strong is to be weak. It may seem a paradox, but we are never really so mighty as when our might has fled, and never so truly weak as when we are filled with our own strength, and are reckonings upon ease and security. Be not so bold; take warning and look thou to a superior arm.

"For they that trust their native strength Shall melt away and droop, and die;"

whilst those who trust in the Lord,

"Swift as the eagle cuts the air, Shall mount aloft to his abode; On wings of love their souls shall fly Nor tire amidst the heavenly road."

In looking upon this group who are so confident that they shall ascend the hill of the Lord, I detect some others who speak out of sheer ignorance. "Oh," say they, "it is not far to heaven, it is little matter to be a Christian, you have but to say, 'God be merciful to me,' and the thing is done, it is but a mere trifle. As for the new birth," say they, "no doubt it is a great mystery, but possibly it may be of very little importance. It will be, no doubt, found after all, that ministers and Christians make much ado about nothing, for it is a mere run to the mountain summit." Ah, poor ignorant soul, your folly is too common. To the unaccustomed traveler there is nothing more deceptive than a lofty Alp. You say, "I could reach the mountain-top in half-an-hour," and you find it to be a day's full journey, for its twisting roads, and rugged sides, and precipitous acclivities come not into the reckoning of a distant observer. And so is it with religion; men think it so simple, so easy, but when they once begin to ascend, they find it stern work to climb to glory. The young soldier gets on his armor, and says, "One rush and I will win the battle," but when his banner is torn, and his armor is indented and battered with the heavy blows of the adversary, he finds it quite another thing. I beseech you, count the cost, you who say that you can ascend into the hill of the Lord. I tell you, sirs, that it is so hard a thing, that the righteous scarcely are saved; and where shall the ungodly and the wicked appear? It is by the skin of their teeth, and often so as by fire that many who are saved, enter into the eternal rest. I will not merely say it is hard, but I will say it is impossible. It is as easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, as for any man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, if he rely in any degree upon his own strength, or think that the passage thereto is easy, and he needeth no help that he may pass through it. Be thou persuaded, O ignorant man, that the hill of God is higher than thou dreamest. That is not the summit which thou seest, the mountains brow is far beyond thine eyesight. It is higher than thine understanding, it is loftier than thy grovelling conceptions; the eagle's wing hath not reached it, man hath his eye beheld it; to the spiritual only is it manifest, and they know that it is higher than the clouds. Be not thou so ignorantly brave, but learn the read from the lips, of Jesus, and then ask him to help thee to run therein. But amongst this very presumptuous group I perceive others who say, "We shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, "for in their hearts they imagine that they have found out a smooth grassy icy which they shall avoid all the roughness of the road. Some new prophet has preached to them a new salvation. Some modern impostor has declared to them another way besides the good old path, and they think that they shall now, without wearying their limbs and blistering their feet, be able to ascend to the summit Take care, take care, presumptuous soul, for rest assured the greener the path may look the more is the danger of it. On the sloping sides of the lofty mountains there are verdant splits, so deliciously green that one never saw the grass itself after the shower look like them, but only put your foot upon them for a moment, only venture your weight, and you will be swallowed up, unless there be some one nigh at hand to lay hold upon you. The green mantle covers a tremulous mass of mire, the verdant carpet is only a coverlet for a deadly bed of bottomless bog, for the bogs and quagmires are deceptive enough. And so these new systems of divinity, these new schemes of getting to heaven by some universal fatherhood, or by part-obedience, or gorgeous ceremonies, I tell you, sirs, these are but quagmires which shall swallow up your souls, green deceptions, they may seem to be like velvet beneath your feet, but they shall be as hell if you dare to trust them. Still to this day, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it." Still as there is no royal road to learning, there is no royal road to heaven, no way by which you can pamper your sins and yet be saved, indulge the flesh and yet inherit eternal life. There is no way by which you can avoid the new birth and still escape from the wrath to come, no way by which you may enter into heaven with iniquity hidden in your soul. Corruptions must be taken away. Lust must be denied. The right arm must be cut off and the right eye must be plucked out. There is no new, no easier path to heaven, and you who think you have found it are mistaken in very deed. Some few others I mark in this group who say, "We shall ascend into the hill of the Lord," and why, sirs? You look as if you had a heavy load to carry. "Ay! Ay!" say they, "but these are necessaries for the journey. We have half a dozen staves under our arm, that if one of them should break we may take another and we have bottles of rich wine that we may refresh ourselves, we have food wherewith, when we grow weary, we may recruit our strength. We have excellent garments that when a storm comes on we may cover ourselves from it. We are fully provided for the journey we shall certainly ascend the mountain." This is just the way in which the worldly-wise and self-sufficient talk; and those who are rich and lumbered with much serving in this world. "Ah!" say they, "we shall readily ascend to heaven; we are not poor we are not ignorant we are not led away by the depraved vices of the vulgar mass; we shall be able to climb certainly, for we have all things and abound." Yes, but this is what makes your climbing difficult. You have a load to carry, you would ascend better if you had it not; one staff is good for a traveler, a competence you may seek for, but a bundle of staves must be heavy to carry; and multiplied riches make it hard to climb the narrow way of life, for they brine many cares and many sorrows, and thus they cause the feet to slip when they might stand fast. Say not because of your wit, and your wisdom, and your own moral strength, that you are the better equipped for the journey; these are your dangers; your confidences are your weaknesses; that on which you rest shall give you no rest, and that on which you depend, if it be anything but God, shall pierce you try the very soul. O sirs, if you can say, "I shall ascend into the hill of God," if with your hand upon your heart you can appeal to heaven and say, "The ground-work of my confidence is not in myself, but in the promise, not in the flesh, but in the spirit; not in man but in God, not in what I am but in what God has promised to do for me;" then be as confident as you will, then let no stammering stop you of your boasting, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. But if this confidence springs from anything short of a firm fixed, simple, unmingled faith in Christ, I pray you give it up, for it is a deadly snare, and will certainly destroy your soul. We have thus paused to listen to the group who are so sure of ascending the hill of the Lord. But hark! I can hear groans, and sobs, and moans, I look around, and certainly, my eyes are gladdened with the aspect of these men who seem to be so sad. Why mourn you, brethren. Why are you sad? "Oh," say they, "we shall never ascend the hill of God, we shall never reach the topmost height." Brethren, if I had been allowed to judge I should have thought you the very men who would ascend, and yet you say you shall not. And if I had looked at the other group, I should have thought they never would gain the top, and yet they say they shall. How singular it is! Men so often misjudge their own state, that the most unlikely think themselves sure, while the most holy are the most afraid. Come, only brethren, I would stop your mourning, and wipe your eyes; I would put a song into your mouths instead of the notes of lamentation. Let me have your reasons think you shall never ascend the hill of God. The first reply is, "I shall never get there, for I am weak, and the hill is exceeding high; and, sir, you have told us that godliness is a great steep, and that true religion is a towering up, and I am so weak; to will is present with me, but how to perform I find not. I can do nothing, I am emptied entirely, I know that this can never be performed by me. To perfect holiness and perfect rest I can never come, for I am the weakest of the entire family, and that steep is too lofty to be attained by tottering feet like mine. My bones ache, my knees bend, hot sweat drenches my garments, my head is giddy, and I drag my bleeding feet with anguish from crag to crag." Oh! my dear brother, be of good cheer; if that be thine only cause of mourning, lay it aside, for remember, whilst thou art weak, it is not thy strength which is to carry thee there, but God's, if nature had undertaken to ascend into the celestial mountain, indeed, you might despair but it is grace, all-conquering grace that is to do it.

"Weak as you are, yet through his might, You all things shall perform."

It is true the hill is steep, but then God is omnipotent, it is certain that the Alp is high, but higher still is the love and grace of God. He hath borne you, he hath carried you, and he will carry you even to the end: when you cannot walk he will take you in his arms, and when the road is so rough that you cannot even creep along it, he will hear you as on eagles' wings, till he bring you to his promised rest. Again, I say, if it were yourself that you had to look to, it would be right in you to mourn, but you are not to look to self. Trust thou in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. "Ah! but," says a second, "my difficulty is this not only am I weak, but I am so sore tried, the road is very rough to me, you spoke of grass just now, there is none where I am, I have looked at that promise, 'He maketh me to lay down in green pastures,' and I cannot say it is true of me. Instead of it I must say he leadeth me by the rough torrents, and suffereth me not to lie down at all, but upon the steep ascents, where the stones cut my feet, he leads my weary and sorrowful way. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath, all his waves and his billows have gone over me. If the road be rough like this, I shall never ascend into the hill of God." O Christian, Christian! I beseech thee take down thy harp from the willow now; for if this be all thy fear, it is a foolish fear indeed. Why, man, "the road is rough:" is this a new thing? The road to heaven never was anything else but rough, and so thou mayest be the better assured that this is the right way. If your road were smooth, you might fear that you were like the wicked who stand in slippery places. Because your pathway is rough, the better foothold for a mountain-climber. There is nothing MO much to be feared as that smooth glass-faced rock on which the foot slips back and slides. No, those stones and flints give foothold. Stand then, strong in the strength of God, and be of good courage. Your afflictions are proofs of your sonship. Bastards may escape the rod, but the tree-born child of God must not would not if he might. You know too, that these afflictions are working for your good. They are rough waves, but the; are driving your ship into port, they are blustering winds, but they make your ship scud over the briny deep into the eternal rest which remaineth for your soul. Your troubles, I tell you, are your best Mercies. Where did the Israelites get their jewels, their ear-rings, and necklaces? Why, from Egypt, from Egypt only; and so you, too, though you have lien among the pots, shall yet be as the dove whose wings are covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. Let not the roughness of the road dismay thee it is the better proof that it is the right road to heaven. Why, you will have a worse trouble yet, perhaps. That is poor consolation, say you; but, then, save your tears till you get to it. Cease your weeping now, and if this be poor comfort, yet methinks it is true common sense. You will come to places soon where you will have to crawl on your hands and knees, and when you think to grasp the root of some tree to drag you up you will grasp a thorn, and every thorn shall pierce your flesh; but even then those thorns shall be heavenly lancets to let out your bad blood; and that roughest part of the road shall be the speediest way to heaven, for the steeper the road, the sooner we shawl be at the summit. So be of good cheer and mourn not, until thou comest where there is more cause to mourn; and then mourn not, for thou shalt come to a place where there is more cause for joy. The more sorrow, the more consolation. Therefore up, thou poor dispirited one; thou shalt yet ascend into the hill of God! "But I," saith another "I have been sorely tempted. Across my path there is a torrent a swollen torrent; and I cannot wade it through, fear the deep waters would carry me down and dash me from the rocks. I shall never be able to ascend." During last sleek, while in one of the wild valleys of Cumberland, we were rained up for two or three days, so that we could not get home; and I feared I should not be able to arrive in town to preach to-day; for across a high mountain-pass which we had to traverse, the little brooks had been swollen by the heavy rains, till they roared like thundering rivers, and it would have been impossible for any creature to pass without great danger of being swept away. So it sometimes happens in the Christian's career. Temptation gets swollen to its brim, nay, bursts its banks, and roaring like an angry torrent, it bears all before it. Ah, well, Christian, the Lord knows how to deliver thee out of thy trouble. He never did yet send temptation without making a way of escape. I was pleased to notice but last Thursday, how, across these brooks, the sheep which fed upon the mountain side could spring from stone to stone, rest a moment in the middle, while the angry flood roared on either side; and then leap and spring again you would think they must be drowned; but yet their feet were fast and firm. I thought then of that text, "He maketh my feet like hind's feet, and maketh me to stand on my high places." Do not you know, tried Christians, that others have gone through as much temptation as you, and they did not perish? nor will you. Job was sorely tried the brook was swollen indeed, but it did not carry him away. He was safe, for he could say, "Though he stay me, yet will I trust in him." Come, now there are stepping-stones across the brook, if you have but faith enough to find them you shall leap from statue to stone; though they be wide apart, they shall not be too wide for thee; and though they shall seem as though they would be moved yet they shall never be, till you have safely passed by the swelling danger. "Ah," saith another, "but my trouble is worse than that, I have lost my way altogether. I cannot see a step before me; a thick fog of doubt and fear hangs over me, I shall never ascend into the hill of the Lord." And we, too, have passed through the damp and clinging mists. The dense masts on the mountain summit wet you through very speedily, ruin the prospect, and cause alarm to the timed. The descent on the loft hand seems bottomless, and the ascent on the right appears to be lost in cloud. Mist is the mother of exaggeration, all things loom out in indefinite greatness. The little brook magnified by the haze swells into a river, and the tarn enlarges into a tremendous lake; while the mountain tops are in the seventh heavens. Every stone becomes a rock in the mist such is the exaggeration which an imagination can perform when nature wears her veil. So when a poor Christian gem into doubts and fears, everything looks bad and black against him. "Oh," says he, "I shall surely fall by the hand of the enemy." It is only a cart-rut, he is sure he will be drowned in it. It is only a stone, which he might put into a sung and throw at some Goliath but he fears it is a tremendous rock, and shall never be able to pass it by. He is in a mist and sees no light, and knows not his way. Well, Christian, so you say you shall never get to the top because of this. Why, man, there have been tens of thousands who have been in quite as thick a mist as you, and yet they have found their way. Many a Christian has had quite as black doubts and fears as you, and yet has come light at last Doubts and fears never kill the Christian. They are like the tooth-ache, they are very painful, but they are never mortal. So doubts and fears are very grievous to a believer, but a myriad doubts and fears will not suffice to kill him, or deprive his soul of his interest in Christ. Come, man, do you not know what the text says? "If any man walk in darkness and see no light, let him" do what? Let him despair? No, "let him trust in the Lord! "Now is the season for faith. When you have nothing else to trust to, put your hand within the hand of the Eternal God, and he will wisely lead, and powerfully sustain and bring you on your way to the promised rest. Let not these doubts fret you, nor distress you, nor cast you down. It is this very mist through which David passed, and an God's people have been surrounded with more or less of it, and it does not prove that you are out of the way. "But," saith another, "my woe is worse. I have been going down hill. My faith is not so strong as it was: I am afraid my love has grown cold; I never felt so much of the blackness of my nature as I do now. I think I have grown worse; my depravity has broken up like the floods in the days of Noah. I am sure now it is all over with me. I thought I was vile when I begun; but I know I am depraved now. I shall never ascend to the hill of God." And so, believer, you have been going down hill, have you? Allow you not that most men who have to go up had must sometimes descend? You say, "How is that?" Well, in climbing a mountain, it often occurs that the path winds downward for a season, to enable the traveler to avoid a precipice, or comb a beetling crag, or reach another peak of the range. Part of the road to Mont Blanc, the king of the Alps, is a descent, and on the great mountain passes there are frequent spots where the load runs readily at the horse's heels. "But how can going down help me to get up?" you say. It is a strange paradox, but I do not believe Christians ever mount better than when they descend. When they find out more of the baseness of their hearts, when they are taken from chamber to chamber and shown the idolatry and blasphemy of their hearts, it is then they are growing in grace. "Oh," say they, "it is all over with me now." It would have been all over with you if you had not come here. "Ah," say they, "the Lord is about to slay me now." No, no, only to slay your pride. He is putting you in your proper place.

"If to-day he deign to bless us, With a sense of pardoned sin; He to-morrow may distress us, Make us feel the plague within. All to make us Sick of self, and fond of him."

It is all up hill, brethren, even when it is down hill. It is all towards God, even when sometimes it seems to be away from him. And when we are discovering most our own baseness and vileness, it is only that our eyes washed with tears, may be like the eyes of doves washed with milk and fitly set, that we may behold the King in his beauty, seeing, less of self and more of him. I will not keep you much longer on that point, for I fear by the aspect of some of your countenances that I weary you; and yet I know not why I should; for surely this is a question which is important to each of us, and I seek to put it in as comely a parable as I can. I hear yet another groan. "Ah," saith one, "I shall never ascend into the hill of God." Why? "Oh," saith he, "because, though I have come up a little way, I feel in such danger." Brethren, do you know when a Christian man looks down it is enough to make his head swim? The Christian life is very much like the walk of Blondin upon his lofty rope. There he is high up in the air; if he look down he must perish. Sometimes Christians with a little faith think of liking down and what a cold shudder thrills them! The hypocrite has fallen; I may fall; such-and-such a professor has come down, I may come down too. There is the roar of a tumultuous crowd beneath, who are expecting that we may fall, nay, they are longing to say, "Aha! aha! The eyes of Samson are put out, and the mighty are destroyed." Now Little-faith, what business have you with looking down? Look up, man; look up! The Scripture does not say, "Let us run with trembling the race that is set before us, looking to our own tottering legs;" no; but it says, "Let us run with patience the race that inset before us, looking unto Jesus." What if the crag be steep, and the precipice be grim; what is that to thee? You will never fall while your faith is fixed on your God! What if the jaws of death be open wide, and his teeth be sharp as knives what is that to you? Because Christ lives, you shall live also. What if the fires of hell be hot, and the flames of Tophet vehement, what is that to you? There is no damnation to him that is in Christ Jesus, who walks not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Up man! look up! As the poor sea boy, climbing the giddy mast, dares not look down upon the awful deep, but upward to the calm blue sky, where shines the bright unclouded sun; so must you look up to the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning; or if it be dark with you, up to yon star of Bethlehem, who shineth still calmly, lovingly above your head; he bids you silently look unto him, and stand securely. Look up, poor Little-faith, and thou Much-afraid, for thou shalt ascend into the hill of the Lord. I shall crave your attention a moment or two, while I now, in the third place, having listened to those who said they could climb, and to those who said they could not climb, picture to you the man who is able to ascend into the hill of the Lord. Methinks I see him. He has nothing in himself; but he has everything in his God. Let us look at him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. You notice, first, that he has put on shoes of iron and of brass; his feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You will want those shoes, O heavenly pilgrim! When the Lord said he would give you those shoes of iron, you thought they would be too heavy for you, but you will find out that you have to tread on stones that are hard as iron. When he said he would give you show that were made of brass, you thought they would be too strong. You will find it a long way, and a stew stiff ascent, and anything else than brass would be worn out. Young Christian, have you had your feet shod yet? You are of no use for climbing unless you have. Unless you have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, which is the preparation of the gospel of peace, you can never ascend into the hill of Lord. But observe that the pilgrim is girt about his loins to keep his garment from tripping him up, he is girt with the girdle of truth and sincerity. You, too, my hearer, must be sincere in your profession, your heart must be right in the sight of God, or else climbing will be fatal work to you, because you climb presumptuously, and you shall come down desperately. I observe that the pilgrim has in his hand a strong staff, it is cut from the tree of life, it is called the Staff of Promise. And he knows how to thrust his Alpenstock deep into the ground, and to draw himself up thereby, or stop himself as he is going down a crag, lest, his foot slipping, he fall. He has a staff of promise. See to it that you get it. Get a promise every day. Don't be content when you pray, unless you can plead the promise of God, or else you will be like a man going to the bankers without a cheque. You must take the promise when you go to God, and you will get that bestowed upon you which the promise guarantees. Go not up the mountain, pilgrim, without this staff. Take warning once more. If yonder pilgrim is ever to ascend the summit, his shoes of iron and of brass will not be enough his girdle not enough, his staff not enough he must have a guide. He that travels without a guide will lose his way in this ascent to the hill of God. It reminds me of the old story of the man who said to his advocate when he was about to be tried "I'll be hanged if I don't plead for myself." "You will be banged if you do," said the lawyer. So there be some men who say they will try for themselves, they will be their own guide, they will find their own way. Ay, but they will be lost if they try it. If they put their souls into their own keeping, and rely upon their own wisdom, they shall find their wisdom to be fully full blown. Christian, rely upon your Guide, your Comforter the Holy Spirit. Go not one step of the way apart from his monitions and his promptings, wait on him, be of good courage, saying, "I waited patiently for the Lord, for he will assuredly direct me in the path of peace." But even with a guide, that man will never gain the summit unless he marks the way. And what is the way? The way to the hill of God, you know, as well as I can tell you, is Christ himself. "I am," saith he, "the way." We begin in Christ, we must go on with Christ, we must end with Christ. As guilty sinners we come to Christ for pardon, as needy sinners we must come to him to receive of his fullness day by day, and at the last, when with joyful spring we shall leap to the flowery summit and be safe, that last spring must still be taken in the one blood-besprinkled way the open side, the pierced hands and feet of Christ, for other way to the summit of the hill of God there is none, and he that thinks there may be shall be mistaken now, and fatally deluded at the last. Be thou wise, then, pilgrim, and with thy shoe upon thy foot with thy staff in thy hand, thy girdle about thy loins, thy guide by thy side, and the loving Lord before thee, climb with patience into the hill of God. But take care that thou lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset thee, or the road will be painful to thee, and thy end shall not be such as thou wouldst desire. I come, in the last place to complete the picture, to end the allegory and to stimulate the exertions of every climber of this heavenly mountain, by describing what is to be seen and to be enjoyed upon the summit. He who shall ever climb the hill of God, and come to heaven at last, will find, first of all, that all his toil is done

"Servant of God, well done Rest from thy lov'd employ, The battle's fought, the victory's won, Enter thy rest of joy."

No crags, no slippery places now; no roaring torrents, nor ascending or descending paths

"Jerusalem, my happy home, Name ever dear to me, Now shall my labors have an end, In joy and peace and thee."

Brethren, do you and I think enough of heaven? Do we not think too much of earth? Do we not think too much of the toil, and too little of the time when it shall all be over? A few more days and you and I, believers, shall have dolls fighting with Satan, have done with temptations, have done with cares, have done with woes. An hour's work and an eternity of rest! One day's toil; and when I shall have accomplished as an hireling my day, then thou comest, O sweet and gentle rest! "For they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them "Courage, pilgrim courage! Up that crag, man! Now put hand and knee to it up! for when you have climbed a little higher, ay, but a very little, you shall lie down to rest, and then no more fatigue or sorrow. And there too, when we come to the top of the hill of God, we shall be above all the clouds of worldly care, and sin, and temptation. Oh! how deep is the rest of the people of God above! How calm is their sky!

"No vain discourse shall tempt my soul, Nor trifles vex my ear."

No need to go out to a business which distracts my longing spirit. No need to toil at a labor which fags my body, and thus puts my soul into an in state for prayer; no need to mix with worldly-minded men, who make a jest of my solemnities, and would engage my mind with trifles unworthy of notice. No, above the world, above its distractions and attractions, my soul shall rise when it shall ascend into the hill of God. And, brethren, what a prospect there shall be from the summit! When we shall mount to the hill of God, what sights we shall see! You know from lofty mountains you can look on that side and see the lakes and the rivers; and on this side the green and laughing valleys, and far away, the wild black forest. The view is wide, but what a view is that which we shall have in heaven! There shall I know even as I am known. "Here we see through a glass darkly, but there face to face." And chief and foremost, best of all, my eyes shall see the King in his beauty. We shall behold his face; we shall look into his eyes, we shall drink love from the fountain of his heart, and hear the music of his love from the sweet organ of his lips; we shall be entranced in his society, emparadised on his bosom. Up, Christian, up, Christ waits for thee! Come, man, tread thou the thorny way and climb, for Christ stands on the summit stretching out his hands, and saying, "Come up hither, to him that overcometh will I give to sit upon my throne, even as I have overcome, and am set down with my Father upon his throne." And there is this sweet reflection to close with all that we shall see upon the top of the hill of God thou be ours. We look from earthly mountains and we see, but we do not possess. That mansion yonder is not ours; that crystal abeam belongs not to us, those wide-spread lawns are beautiful, but they are not in our possession. But on the hill-tops of heaven, all that we are we shall possess. We shall possess the streets of gold, the harps of harmony, the palms of victory, the shouts of angels, the songs of cherubim, the joy of the Divine Trinity, and the song of God as he rears in his love, and rejoices over us with singing, nay, God the Eternal One himself shall be ours, and ours for ever and for ever. What better encouragement can I give to you poor tired, fagged, wearied, and all-but-despairing Christians? Take courage. The last six days have tired you very much. Put away your trials to-day, you have had enough to cast you down, but is not the reflection of to-day enough to lift you up? Oh! remember the summit will repay you for the toil in climbing it. Though rough may be the road, it is but short at the longest, and the rest, the rest, will make amends. O man! men will suffer more to get rich than you do to be found in Christ. Go on, go on, stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved, and having done all, still stand. Would that some here who have never tried to climb that mountain would remember that if they climb it not now, they will have to descend for ever! If now they turn not their faces to the steep ascent and go up it like men, they must fall eternally. Good God, what a fall! On what slippery places do they stand! I see them reeling even now! what a desperate dash was that! They fall, they fall, on through darkness, through blackest darkness, black as death and hell: on, on they fall, for the pit is bottomless! No feat shall they ever reach, down, down descending from the lower depths to the lowest depths, from hell to hell's profounder deep, from eternity of woe, on, on, on to woe trebled, multiplied sevenfold! May God grant that we, having faith in Christ, may tread the blood-marked way, and outer into "the rest which remaineth for the people of God!"