Ps. cxvii. 0 praise the Lord, all ye nations : praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us : and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.
THIS is the shortest of all the Psalms : but it is by no means the least interesting : the energy with which it is expressed abundantly marks the impor- tance of the truths contained in it, and the feelings with which it should be read by us. The same sentiments are doubtless contained in many other psalms : but to a mind that is rightly disposed, they are ever new : they need no embellishment to adorn them, no eloquence to set them forth : if any man can hear or reflect upon them without emotion, the fault is in. himself alone. Let us consider the psalm,
I. In a general view —
u 2
Here is a call to the whole world to praise and adore their God. Those perfections which they are more especially called to celebrate, are,
1. The greatness of his mercy —
[Reflect on his sparing mercy. Consider the state of the whole world, which has so cast off their allegiance to God, that " he is not in all their thoughts" Consider the incon- ceivable mass of iniquity that has been accumulating now nearly
six thousand years — ■ and yet we are spared ! Once indeed
God destroyed the world; but only once. On some few occa- sions God has marked his indignation against sin ; but on very few : an Achan, an Uzzah, an Ananias, have been set up as witnesses for God, that he hateth iniquity : but these only serve the more strikingly to illustrate the astonishing forbearance of
our God Let every one of us look back upon his own
personal transgressions, and then say, whether he himself is not an astonishing monument of God's forbearance.
But if we so admire the sparing mercy of our God, what shall we say of his redeeming mercy? What words can we ever find sufficient to express the wonders of God's love, in substituting his own Son, his co-equal, co-eternal Son, in our place, and laying the iniquities of a ruined world on him ? Here we are altogether lost in wonder. The idea of redemption is so vast, that we cannot grasp it. We assent to it ; we believe it ; we trust in it : but it so far exceeds all our comprehension, that it appears rather like " a cunningly-devised fable," than a reality. We see a little of the suitableness and sufficiency of this salva- tion; but it is only " as in a glass darkly;" it is only enigmati- cally a that we view it at all ; spelling it out, as it were, from a few scattered hints, and guessing at what we cannot comprehend. The freeness with which it is offered also, no less surpasses knowledge. By the way in which God himself follows us with offers, and entreaties, it should seem almost as if his happiness, rather than ours, depended on our acceptance of it. The con- tinuance of these offers, made as they are from year to year to people who only pour contempt upon them, and trample on that adorable Saviour who shed his blood for them, — O! what an emphasis does this give to that expression in our text, " His merciful kindness is great towards us!"
Should not the whole universe adore our God for this?]
2. The inviolability of his truth —
[Were his truth considered in reference to his threaten- ings, it would be an awful subject indeed: but we are called to notice it at present only in connexion with his promises. All the mercy which God was pleased to vouchsafe to man, he has
a See 1 Cor. xiii. 12. the Greek.
693.] THE GENTILES CALLED TO PRAISE GOD. 29o
made over to us by an everlasting covenant, which was con- firmed with an oath, and ratified with the blood of his only dear Son. There is not any thing which fallen man can want, for body or for soul, for time or for eternity, which has not been made the subject of a distinct promise. And who ever heard of one single promise failing him who trusted in it ? Who ever heard of one sinner rejected, who came to God in the way prescribed ? To the Jewish nation many specific promises were made : Did any one of them fail ? Did not Joshua, after the final settlement of the Jews in Canaan, bear testimony for God in this respect, in the presence of the whole assembled nation, and appeal to them for the truth of his assertions'5? And have not all of you, who have ever rested in, and pleaded, God's gracious promises, been constrained to bear a similar testimony in his behalf?