There is a {e} river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

(e) The river of Shiloh, which passed through Jerusalem: meaning, though the defence seems small, yet if God has appointed it, it is sufficient.Psalm 46:4 Parallel Commentaries

The Desolations of the Lord, the Consolation of his Saints
IT SEEMS THAT EVERYTHING Christlike must have a history like that of Christ. His beginnings were small--the manger and the stable. So with the beginnings of that society which we love, and which we believe to be the very incarnation of the Spirit of Christ. Its beginnings also were small; but its latter end shall doubtless greatly increase--for, hath not the end of Christ become exceedingly glorious? He hath ascended up on high; he sitteth at the right hand of God, our Father; and doubtless this …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Eighteenth Day for Peace
WHAT TO PRAY.--For Peace "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication be made for kings and all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour."--1 TIM. ii"He maketh wars to cease to the end of the earth."--PS. xlvi. 9. What a terrible sight!--the military armaments in which the nations find their pride. What a terrible thought!--the evil passions that may at any moment bring …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity. Be Strong in the Lord
Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 8,7,8,7,6,6,6,6,7 Ein feste Burg [118]Luther. 1530. Hymn composed on the road to Worms. trans. by William Gaskell, 1855 A sure stronghold …
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year

The Lord of Hosts. --Ps. Xlvi.
The Lord of Hosts.--Ps. xlvi. Come, and behold the works of God, What desolations he will make; In vengeance when He wields His rod, The heathen rage, their kingdoms quake; He utters forth His voice;--'tis felt; Like wax the world's foundations melt; The Lord of Hosts is in the field! The God of Jacob is our shield. Again He maketh wars to cease, He breaks the bow, unpoints the spear, And burns the chariot;--joy and peace In all His glorious march appear: Silence, O Earth! Thy Maker own; Ye gentiles, …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

An Antepast of Heaven. --Psalm Xlvi.
An Antepast of Heaven.--Psalm xlvi. There is a river pure and bright, Whose streams make glad the heavenly plains, Where, in eternity of light, The City of our God remains. Built by the word of His command, With His unclouded presence blest, Firm as His throne, the bulwarks stand; There is our home, our hope, our rest. Thither let fervent faith aspire; Our treasure and our heart be there: Oh! for a seraph's wing of fire! No,--on the mightier wings of prayer,-- We reach at once that last retreat, …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Letter Lii to Another Holy virgin.
To Another Holy Virgin. Under a religious habit she had continued to have a spirit given up to the world, and Bernard praises her for coming to a sense of her duty; he exhorts her not to neglect the grace given to her. 1. It is the source of great joy to me to hear that you are willing to strive after that true and perfect joy, which belongs not to earth but to heaven; that is, not to this, vale of tears, but to that city of God which the rivers of the flood thereof make glad (Ps. xlvi. 4). And in …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

God is Our Stronghold and Our Stay
[835]Ein Feste Burg: Martin Luther, 1529 Psalm 46 Version by Elizabeth Wordsworth, 1903 God is our stronghold and our stay, Our hope in tribulation; What though the mountains rock and sway To earth's long-hid foundation? What though the ocean roar, Fast gaining on the shore, The hurtling storm rage loud Beneath the thunder cloud? Our hearts are all untroubled. The might of water sinks to rest; How calm yon river glideth, God's city mirrored on its breast, The house where he abideth! Hushed be all …
Various—The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA

The Faults Committed in this Degree --Distractions, Temptations --The Course to be Pursued Respecting Them.
As soon as we fall into a fault, or have wandered, we must turn again within ourselves; because this fault having turned us from God, we should as soon as possible turn towards Him, and suffer the penitence which He Himself will give. It is of great importance that we should not be anxious about these faults, because the anxiety only springs from a secret pride and a love of our own excellence. We are troubled at feeling what we are. If we become discouraged, we shall grow weaker yet; and reflection …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Opinions
Of the Hebrew Doctors on the great Day of Judgment, and of the Reign of the Messiah then to come. Carpentarius, in his Commentary on the Alcinous of Plato, p. 322, asserts, that "the seventh millenary was called, by the whole school of the Cabalists, the great day of judgment, because then they think that God will judge the souls of all." He means, by the name of Cabalists, (if I am not mistaken,) the Talmudic doctors, according to whom, in more than one author, that tradition is found to be recorded. …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse