The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 317

glad shout, such as loyal ,subjects give when their king appears among them." Now. let us consider this subject of thankful praise which it brings so prominently before us. Let us glance at- I. THE HOLY DUTY TO WHICH WE ARE SUMMONED. 1. Our hearts a1·e to befull of thanksgiving. It is no mere outside worship which is told of here, but such as wells up from the deepest fountains of a grateful and glad heart. 2, We are to openly avow that tha1,kf11lness. It is not, though beginning in the heart, to stay there. Openly, loudly, joyfully, we are to let all men k11ow our delight in God. 3. We are to foin with others in this service of praise. 'l'bere is to be no standing aloof or pleadi □ g that we can worship God as well at home. We are to go with the multitude to keep holy day. 4. .And it is tc be all unto the Lord. Choirs and congregations alike are to remember this. II. 'l'HE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS SUMMOKS IS BASED. 1. " The Lord, he is God." Our Jehovah, so go(•d an,i gracious, is God Almighty also. Not only a Saviour who would fain bless and save us; but who bas all power-is mighty to save. 2. He is our C,·eator, and so 1·esponswle for our being. "It is he that bath made us," etc. (ver. 3). This is a most blessed fact. ,vheu we see what men and women are, so corrupt and evil, we often wonder wherefore God perpetuates the race. But he does so; he takes all the responsibility of it. What treasure store of hope for humanity lies in this act l 3. He is our King and Shepherd. ",ve are his people, and," etc. (ver. 3.) We are under his wise, holy, strong government; we are provided for by his loving care, led aloug as his sheep in his pasture. 4. He is good, eternally merciful, and true. (Ver. 5.) III. THE CULTIVATION OF THIB THANKFUL BPIBIT. Many sadly fail here. They have no song, only a perpetual dirge, and against many the condemnation is written, "Neither were they thankful." Now, how may we cultivate this thankful spirit? l. We must remooe the hindi-ances. They are such as these : The miserable habit of looking enviously at what other people have, but which we have not, forgetting all the while what of good we nevertheless have. What folly this! and yet how common I and what a fruitful source of unhappiness, and of unthankfulne~s it is I And many are wont to look habitually on the dark side of their experience, and scarcely at all on the other and bright side. This is why St. Paul bids us, amid our prayers and supplications, to mingle thanksgivings, since this compels us to look at the bright side, in order to find out what we have to be thankful for. And then, too, our sad habit of regarding our ordinary mercies as mere matters of course is another sad hindrance of the thankful spirit. When health is restored after sore illness, how thankful we are I but the months and years of health which may follow give ample time to forget our thankfulness, and to let our gratitude die because we do not see anything extraordinary &bont our experience of God's goodness. Now, we must set ourselves to get rid of these evil ways if we would be habitually thankful. 2. Then there are positive aids to this bleosed spirit. Such as taking right views of life, remembering its brevity and its educational purpose. ,v e are not at home here, and we cannot expect on a journey the comforts of home. And a school-and such is this life-is certainly not as a home, as bis father's house, to a child. Then think much of our mercies. Accustom yourself to go over them in your thoughts, and to render thanksgiving for them. Ar,d when misfortunes come, make the best, not the worst, of them. Remember how much worse it might have been. It is told that" wheu the New England colonies were first planted, the settlers endured many privations and difficulties. Being piously disposed, they laid their distresses before God in frequent days of fasting and prayer. Constant muditation on such topics kept their miuds gloomy and discontented, and made them disposed even to return to their Fatherland with all its persecutions. At length, when it was µroposed to appoint a day of fasting and prayer, a plain, common-sense old colonist was in the meeting, and remarked that he thought they had brooded long enough over their misfortunes, and that it seeme<i high time they should conside1· some of their mercies-that the colony was growing strong, the fields increasing in harvests, the rivel'I! full of fish, and the woods of game, the air sweet, the climate salubrious, and their homes happy; above all that, they possessed what they came for, full civil and religious liberty. And therefore, on the whole, he would amend their resolution for a fast, and propose in its stead a day of thanksgiving. His advice PB, CJ, l-5,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 855