The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 265

the lark, who tunes hie cheerful carol as he salutes the rising sun, the whole creation sends up one grand chorus of praise to the throne of God." The sincere heart will ever feel disposed to sing- " rn praise my Maker with my breath ; And when my voice is Jost in death, Praise shall employ my nobler powers: My de.ye of praise she.ll ne'er be past, While life, or thought, or being last, Or immortality endures." I. PRAISE IS DUE TO Gon. " For his mercy endureth for eve1 ." Recall the reasons for praise each man can find, and each nation, especially noting those which are asso- ciated with religion, and illustrated in the connections of this pasbage. II. PBAISE 18 BEQ0IBED BY Gon. As the fitting mode of expressing our feeling towards him and our sense of what he is and does. His own declaration is, " Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." III. PRAISE 18 .ACCEPTABLE TO Gon. It is to him as "sweet-sn1elling incense.n It is the sacrifice he most desires. IV. PB.AIBE 18 BEBVICEABLE TO Gon. It is a gracious influence. It draws forth right feeling in men. The praise of one calls out the praise of many, and so a.ids in carrying on _God's purpose in the blessing of men. These points sufficiently suggest of themselves lines of treatment, nnd scarcely need further elaboration. But it may be well to discuss the question how far our praise must needs be intelligent-shaped, that is into forms that our minds can distinctly grasp and fully follow. Cannot sound-music without words-by its tone and cha- racter find adequate utterance for soul-emotion? Illustrate by the power of music to express varying emotion. A great musical composer gives us 'Songs without Words.' On this point the following passage from a sermon of the great Flo1·entine preacher, Savonarola, may be suggestive. It refers directly to prayfYI", but it is equally applicable to praise:-" In prayer, a man may be attending to the words, and this is a thing of a wholly material nature; he may be attending to the sense of the words, and this is rather study than prayer; and lastly, his whole thoughts may be directed to God, and this alone is true prayer. It is unnecessary to be considering either sentences or language-the mind must be elevated above self, and must be wholly absorbed in tho thought of God. Arrived at this state, the true believer forgets the world and its wants; he has attained almost a foreshadow of celestial h::ippiness. To this st::ite of elevation the ignorant may arrive as easily as the learnod. It even frequently happens that he who repeats a psalm without underst::inding its words utters n much more holy prayer thl\Il the learned man who can explain its meaning. Words, in fact, are nut indispensable to an act of prayer: when a man is truly rapt in the spirit an uttered prayer becomes rather an impediment, and ought to yield to tho.t which is wholly mental. Thus it will be seen how great a mistake those commit who prescribe a fixed number of prayers. God does not delight in o. multitude of words, but in s fervent spirit." Apply to the difficulty often felt in mentally following the words and truths and fi=es of our hymns, and show how true praise is not dependent on procise mental apprehensions. ,Also carefully impress that private acts of praise, however numerous, orderly, or sincere, can never relieve a ma.n from the duty of joining in the praises of the great congregation.-R. T. Ver. 11.-God's strength and God's face. We are bidden, in seeking the Lord, to seek both his strength and his face; and these two are set in such a connection ot' parallel sentences that we may assume them to be differing expressions for the samo thin" thouah each helps to throw light on tho other. 'l'ho uses of the terms in the Book°of Ps~lms need careful study. In this passage God's strength is thought of as having been illustrated in tho st~c~essful bringi~g _bac_k of the ark; ~ut that event was quite as fully a proof of the D1vme favour-it md1cated that Gods face was turnetl smilingly towards both the king and the people. Such experiences of God's" strength" and "face" should establish the perru::inent resolve to seek that "strength" and "faco" in all the more ordinary scenes in the life of the individual and Lho nation. For  262 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [oH. :x.vr. 1-43.