David, under the influence of this feeling, breaks forth in such expressions as these: "My soul _thirsteth_ for thee; my flesh _longeth_ for thee:" "As the hart panteth for the water-brooks, so _panteth_ my soul after thee, O God: My soul _thirsteth_ for God, for the living God:" "My soul _longeth_, yea, even _fainteth_, for the courts of the Lord; my _heart and my flesh crieth out_ for the living God:" "My soul _breaketh_ for the longing it hath unto thy judgments _at all times_." Surely there is no dulness, no coldness, in such feelings as these. They accord with the spirit of the command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with _all thy might_." And this was not, with the Psalmist, an _occasional lively frame_. This soul-breaking longing was the habitual feeling of his heart; for he exercised it "_at all times_" And what was it that called forth these ardent longings? Was it the personal benefits which he had received or expected to receive from God? By no means. After expressing an earnest desire to dwell in the house of the Lord, _all the days of his life_, he tells us why he wished to be there: "_to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple_." The object of his love was "_the beauty of the Lord_;" doubtless meaning his moral perfections. Intimately connected with this was his desire to know the will of the Lord. For this he wished to "_inquire in his temple_." And whenever the love of God is genuine, it will call forth the same desire. The apostle John, whose very breath is love, says, "This is the love of God, that we _keep his commandments_." The child that loves his parents will delight in doing everything he can to please them. But the child that cares for his parents only as he expects to be benefited by them, will always do as little as possible for them, and that little unwillingly. So, in our relations with God. The hypocrite may have a kind of love to him, because he thinks himself a peculiar object of divine favor, and because he still expects greater blessings. But this does not lead him to delight in the commands of God. He rather esteems them as a _task_. His heart is not in the doing of them; and he is willing to make them as light as possible. But, the real Christian _delights_ in the law of God; and the chief source of his grief is, that he falls so far short of keeping it.