Those that be planted in the house of the Lord In his church, of which all righteous persons are real and living members: those whom God, by his gracious providence and Holy Spirit, hath planted and fixed there, and incorporated with his people; shall flourish in the courts of our God Like the trees just mentioned, they shall retain their pleasant verdure, extend their cooling shade, refresh many by their sweet and nourishing fruit, or support and adorn them by their useful qualities, and increase continually in grace and goodness. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age When their natural strength decays it shall be renewed: their last days shall be their best days, wherein, as they shall grow in grace, so they shall increase in comfort and blessedness. He seems to allude to the palm-trees above mentioned, which produce, indeed, little fruit till they be about thirty years of age, but after that time, while their juice continues, the older they become, are the more fruitful, and will bear each three or four hundred pounds of dates every year. “Happy the man whose goodness is always progressive, and whose virtues increase with his years; who loseth not, in multiplying of worldly cares, the holy fervours of his first love, but goeth on, burning and shining more and more, to the end of his days!” Horne.

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