The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 351

up,ide ~"'rn," f,,r "the Lord loveth the righteous," It is delightful to think of the compass10n of God; but even that would not so stir our hearts were it not that it is all based on righteousness. Man's great longing is for justice-right between man and man-but as yet he has never fully attained to it; and he never will until the righteous Lord, who loveth the righteous, is recognized and rejoiced in as our Lord and Kina. But even here and now God gives us to see his righteousness; for have we not read an"d heard of and seen, and that again and again, "the way of the wicked " turned "upside down"? Here, a.gain, is another foll-flowing fountain of praise, V. Hrs PERPETUAL REIGN. (Ver. 10.) Even could we attain, as one day we shall to the joy of witnessing the Lord's righteous, loving, and holy rule thoroughly and universally established, his kingdom actually come, and his" will done on earth, even as," etc.; yet, if it were but a passing and temporary dominion, destined after a while to come to an end, how that would sadden all our hearts, and silence the praise that would otherwise rise perennially towards God the Lord ! But " the Lord shall reirn for ever , •• unto all generations." Well, therefore, may we, and will we, praise the L~rd.-S. C. Ver. 5.-" The God of Jacob." There is true blessedness in the service of God. Listen to the oft-repeated declaration of joy in God with which these psalms ore full. "As the hart panteth," etc.-such is the constant theme. And the like declaration is found throughout the Old Testament. And in the New Testament likewise. If we had a Book of Psalms in this, as in the former part of the Scriptures, we should find that the joy of God's people in him was realized in no less degree, and sung of in no less exalted strains. For we have the record of Christ's servants, who, though mourn- ful, were yet always rejoicing. We see SS. Paul and Silas in their dark prison cell at Philippi, and we hear the psalms in which they sang aloud their praises unto God at that midnight hour, amid all the pain and outward misery of their lot. And we read St. Paul's letters, written during his imprisonment at Rome-such as that to the Church at Philippi, the key-note of which is joy. And we clearly gather from all this that the service of God was no less blessed in the days of the New Testament than it was in those of the Old. And we find our Lord beginning his first great sermon with the eight-times-repeated declaration of blessedness for his followers. And when in the depths of his own sorrow, when the sha.dow of the cross enshrouded him, and its dark- ness was such as could be felt, even then he told of his joy, and prayed that his dis- ciples might share tht·rein. And the universal consciousness of men attests that God is the soul's trne Solace and Strength ; the widespread profession of religion in our day is but the confession of the human heart of its need of God; man's weak, wayward. will too often hinders from full obedience to what conscience declares, but it has not hindered nor destroyed the declaration itself. The young ruler went away sorrowful, but bis sorrow was the confession of the blessedness he had lost. But his conduct, nnd that of those numerous ones who cannot bring themselves o.Itogether to reject God's call, o.like show the conviction within them that, ns our text declares, "happy is he that hath the God of Jo.cob for his Help," etc. But if those who never heartily o.ct u1,on it nevertheless have this conviction, how much more deeply is it felt by those who yield to it, and who seek and find that God whose ~ervico is ever blessed I But here the happiness of God's service is especially connected with the fact that God is the God of Jacob, and that the Lord was his God. The reason of this was because- I. 'l'HE GoD 01' JACOB IS ONE WHO COMES NEAR TO US, 60 TIIAT WE MAY KNOW HIM. It was so with Jacob. See in his history bow often God came near to him-at Bethel, when serving with Laban; at Peniel; and at yet other times and places; so that there is left upon our minds the conviction that it was the continual privilege of Jacob to enjoy this communion with God. God was Jacob's God because he was thus willing to come near to Jacob, and to be known by him as his God. Now, such knowledge ot God as this must minister to the happiness of a man. Where should we be, in tho midst of all the bewildering confusion of nffairs, as it seems to us, unless we had the faith of God? What a cage of wild beasts this world would quickly become wero the faith of God to disappear from men's minds I In times of ease and prosperity, when men have more than heart can wish, and fare sumptuously every day, they may imagine that they can do without God; and, so far as any acknowledgment of him on thdr parts is concerned, they cio deny him altogether, But in the dark hours of lifo, l'B, CXLVI, 1-10.) TllE IlOOK OF l',,AUI:l. 39:;