The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 331

III. HEARTILY, This may well be included in the "abundant" utterance of ver. 7. For thanksgiving is fundamentally lacking if it does not come from the heart as well as from the lips. Praise should be abundant even to overflow, because the cup of the heart is full of intense gratitude, of filial love and joy. IV. INTELLIGENTLY. Those who only recognize the more superficial blessings may be content with thanking God for his "benefits," for his bestowments, for those things that gladden the heart and enrich the life; but they who look dP,eper and jud"e more wisely will "sing of his righteousness" as well as of his kindness (ver. 7; ~ee also Ps. ci. 1). For we have the deepest interest in God's righteousness, and should extol him for that quite as earnestly as we do for the multitude of his mercies. Y. INSTRUMENTALLY. (Ver. 4.) It should be our hope, our prayer, and our endeavour that our own praise of God be extended, through us, to our neighbours, and be carried down, through us, to our children and our children's children. It may depend on us, on our devolion and on the conduct of our lives, whether the praises of Christ shall be sung by lips that have so far been silent, by those who are now scarcely able to speak his Name, and by those who are still unborn. How much may a wiso and earnest spirit do to enlarge and to perpetuate the praises of his Redeemer I VL INDIRECTLY. If all God's works praise him (ver. 10), even those which are unintelligent and insensible, surely we may say that the pure and beautiful lives of the good, the kind, the generous, are ever unconsciously, but most effectively, praising God. Vers. 3, 6, 6, 10-13.-The greatness of God. In this exquisite psalm the greatness and the goodness of God are celebrated, and the writer passes so freely from one to another, that it is very difficult to keep them separate. Nor is there much need to do so; for God's greatness, his glory, is in his goodness (Exod. xxxiii. 19), and the two are really inseparable. Endeavouring, however, to look at them apart, we are here reminded of- I. Hrs MAJESTY. We read of" the splendour of the glory of his mnjesty" (ver. 5). The manifestations of God's presence, given in the earlier times, were those of radiant, insupportnble effulgence; those who witnessed them shrank from them. God dwells in the "light inaccessible, to which no man can approach." The splendour of his glory is such as would dazzle and bewilder our mortal sight. II. Hrs POWER. We have "the might of his terrible acts," "his wondrous works," "his mighty acts." From the time when Dnvid looked up into the heavens and wns awed by the tokens of Divine power shining down upon him from above, to our own time, when we first sang of him whose power" made the mountains rise," "spread the II.owing seas abroad," and "built the lofty skies," men have been affected and subdued by the" almighty power of God;" and they always must be while the wonderful fabric of nature lasts. III. Hrs INFINITY. The kingdom of God is "everlasting;" it endures" throughout all generations." Nations rise and fall, dynasties appear and disappear, centuries begin and end, but God's dominion knows no bound at all. It continues from genem- tion to generation. There is something which powerfully affects us as we think of that which lasts, aud will last, whilo every other thing fades and vanishes away. IV. Hrs HOLINESS. (Vers. 6, 17, 20.) 'l'he psalmist speaks of God's" terrible acts," and he says that he "will destroy the wicked." History, sacred and profane, is full of proofs that the holiness of God is as great as his majesty and his power. "'l'be face of the Lord is ngainst them that do evil." "By terrible things in righteousness" God makes us to know that sin is hateful in his sight, that continuance in it will result in ruin, in shame, in death. On the other hand, God's greatness in righteousness is seen in the rewards he gives to the upright, in lifting up the lowly, in abundantly blessing the true and pure and good. Who would not fear God who is of such majesty, power, infinitude, holiness? Who would not worship him? How foolish and how guilty to refuse to listen when he speaks, to come to him in willing subjection when he calls us to his service I Vere. 7-9, 14-16, 18-20.-The goodness of God. As the years increase we are inclined to review the past rather than forecast the future, What shall we dwell upon  THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, CXl,V, 1-21.