(1st.) The love of God is so. Zeph. iii. 17, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.” Both these things are here assigned unto God in his love, — “Effectus amoris quando habetur amatum, est delectatio.” — Thom. 12, q. 25, a. 2, 1. “Amor est complacentia amantis in amato. Amor est motus cordis, delectantis se in aliquo.” — August.rest and delight. The words are, יַחֲרִישׁ בְּאַהֲבָתוֹ, — “He shall be silent because of his love.” To rest with contentment is expressed by being silent; that is, without repining, without complaint. This God doth upon the account of his own love, so full, so every way complete and absolute, that it will not allow him to complain of any thing in them whom he loves, but he is silent on the account thereof. Or, “Rest in his love;” that is, he will not remove it, — he will not seek farther for another object. It shall make its abode upon the soul where it is once fixed, for ever. And complacency or delight: “He rejoiceth with singing;” as one that is fully satisfied in that object he hath fixed his love on. Here are two words used to express the delight and joy that God hath in his love, — יָשִׂישׂ and יָגִיל. The first denotes the inward affection of the mind, joy of heart; and to set out the intenseness hereof, it is said he shall do it בְּשִׂמְחָה, — in gladness, or with joy. To have joy of heart in gladness, is the highest expression of delight in love. The latter word denotes not the inward affection, but the outward “Externum magis gaudii gestum, quam internam animi lætitiam significat, cum velut tripudiis et volutationibus gaudere se quis ostendit.” — Pagnin. גּוּל; lætitiâ gestiit, animi lætitiam gestu corporis expressit, exilivit gaudio.” — Calas. demonstration of it: ἀγαλλιᾷν seems to be formed of it. It is to exult in outward demonstration of internal delight and joy; — “Tripudiare,” to leap, as men overcome with some joyful surprisal. And therefore God is said to do this בְּרִנָּה, — with a joyful sound, or singing. To rejoice with gladness of heart, to exult with singing and praise, argues the greatest delight and complacency possible. When he would express the contrary of this love, he says οὐκ εὐδόκησε, — “he was not well pleased,” 1 Cor. x. 5; he fixed not his delight nor rest on them. And, “If any man draw back, the Lord’s soul hath no pleasure in him,” Heb. x. 38; Jer. xxii. 28; Hos. viii. 8; Mal. i. 10. He takes pleasure in those that abide with him. He sings to his church, “A vineyard of red wine: I the Lord do keep it,” Isa. xxvii. 2, 3; Ps. cxlvii. 11, cxlix. 4. There is rest and complacency in his love. There is in the Hebrew but a metathesis of a letter between the word that signifies a love of will and desire (אָהַב is so to love), and that which denotes a love of rest and acquiescence (which is, אָבָה); and both are applied to God. He wills good to us, that he may rest in that will. Some say, ἀγαπᾷν, “to love,” is from ἄγαν πόθεσθαι, perfectly to acquiesce in the thing loved. And when God calls his Son ἀγαπητόν, “beloved,” Matt. iii. 17, he adds, as an exposition of it, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, “in whom I rest well pleased.”