But besides our prayers and gifts, there is something further which all of us can do. For all contribute their share to the general impression which goes forth from Christendom unto the rest of the world, as to the kind of religion which Christianity is. There is a voice more loud than that of any missionaries, a testimony, which has greater influence than any preacher's words, it is the testimony of our lives, it is the sound which arises from the practices that prevail in Christian countries, the report of which is heard unto the ends of the earth. Oh how little is that report like unto the words which we are here invited to proclaim: "The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods!" Oh when shall we endeavour to persuade the nations that their gods are but idols, by shewing them how infinitely more deep is the reverence, how infinitely more implicit the obedience, which we habitually pay to our God? In vain do we call upon the kindreds of the people to give unto the Lord glory and strength, when it is clearly known to them, and cannot be denied, that we in general ascribe unto Him no such honour, that we give Him not the glory due unto his name, bring not unto Him the offering He requires at our hands, and come not as we ought into his courts. In vain do we invite the whole earth to fear before Him, and to worship Him in the beauty of holiness, as long as our own worship is in many instances mere formality, as long as there are notoriously very many indeed amongst us, who have no fear of God before their eyes.

And if Christ should now come to judgment, if the sign of the Son of man should be seen in the clouds of heaven, where would the dismay be greater, or more general, than in this our land so highly favoured with the privileges of the Gospel? Which are they that live as "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?" 2 Pet. 3. 12. Where is the Christian community to be met with, that rejoices in the thought of Christ's coming to judge the people righteously, that rejoices so heartily as to call on all creation to join in gladness? Which Christians are they, that would have heaven and earth unite, the sea also, the fields, and the trees of the wood, unite in rejoicing at the second advent of Messiah, to judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth?" If this language thus viewed convinces us of sin, let it also prevail with us to amend. If it be not such as we have hitherto helped to hold forth unto the heathen, as the genuine expression of our own devout feelings, let us endeavour first ourselves to feel thus devoutly, to live in this joyful expectation of our Lord's coming. Let us endeavour to communicate this heavenly minded joy to all whom we can influence nigh at hand. And we shall then have done something, aye, have done much towards shewing forth the salvation of the Lord in the most distant quarters of the world.

The psalmist rejoiceth in the kingdom of heaven.

1 The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.

2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.

3 A fire goeth before him, and butneth up his enemies round about.

4 His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.

5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the LORD of the whole earth.

6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.

7 Confounded be all they that

serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

8 Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.

9 For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.

10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.

12 Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

LECTURE 942.

The joy of the righteous at Christ's coming.

It is observable that one of the expressions of this psalm is directly applied to Christ, in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is thus written: "And again when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." Heb. 1. 6. Here the psalmist is spoken of as ushering in the first begotten Son of God into the world, that is to say, by the voice of prophecy. And here they who in the psalm are called "gods," are in the Epistle called "angels." For there is in truth no God but one, neither can there be; though there be many that are called gods. And whether they be angels that are so called, or any other beings, and by whomsoever they are called so, let us here learn that they are so much inferior to our Lord, that they are required to worship Him.

We may consider then that this psalm foreshews the glory and the majesty of the reign of Christ. "The Lord reigneth." The kingdom of heaven is here spoken of prophetically, as if it had already commenced. "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof." The setting up of his kingdom is a subject of rejoicing to all mankind; did they but know their true happiness, would they but choose it,

and rejoice in it. But alas there are many who set themselves against Him. There are many who resolutely declare, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Luke 19. 14. And therefore "clouds and darkness are round about him," clouds and darkness towards the wicked; for "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." And that we may know for whom his anger is prepared, it is added, "A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about." It is the coming then of Christ to judge the world, which is here spoken of. It is to his second advent that we may properly apply this awakening description, "his lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory." The psalmist saw this day by faith long time before hand. And shall not we have faith to see it now, when so much time has passed away, and when the end is so much more nigh? Shall not we subdue more easily the temptations of the world, by reflecting how soon all these things, and all their glory, must be destroyed, at the coming of the glory of the Lord?

At that day all the idols which have from time to time beguiled mankind will perish for ever. At that day most dreadful will be the shame and confusion of face of all who give to the creature the glory due to the Creator, of all who refuse to worship Christ the Lord. And then shall all true worshippers of the true God rejoice. They will be enabled to rejoice even in the judgments of the Lord, because these will manifest his greatness and his goodness. They will be enabled to rejoice in every thing. They will be admitted to partake of that felicity, which not even all the wickedness and misery now abounding in this fallen world is able for one moment to hinder or disturb. Their happiness will be so deeply founded in God's perfect goodness, that not even all the sufferings of them that perish to all eternity, though they cannot but be known to them that shall be saved, will be able to prevent them from enjoying in God's presence the unshaken confidence, that all which He does is right, that all is always well. And these are they that "love the Lord." For it will follow that they "hate evil." And with their own souls preserved, and their own deliverance secured, they will reap the fruit of that light which is "sown for the righteous;" they will understand things which here are most obscure, they will derive a pure and perfect gladness from things which are here altogether painful, in regard to the perdition of the ungodly. And this kingdom of heaven is at hand. There is nothing between us and its full manifestation, nothing except time. And when we compare time with eternity, what is there that should hinder our rejoicing in the Lord, as if Christ were already come? .

PART VI. O. T.

B b

The psalmist calleth on all creation to praise God.

A Psalm.

1 O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

2 The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and

LECTURE 943.

That our heavenly King is to be praised.

This psalm, and the two which follow it, as well as the two which come before it, contain nothing that determines with certainty the occasion on which they were written. They have been attributed by some to Moses, and by some to David; whilst others suppose that they were written to celebrate the return of the children of Israel from the Babylonish captivity. If in such uncertainty we might venture to add a fresh conjecture, there are expressions in all these five psalms very suitable to either of those two great deliverances, which God wrought for Israel in the midst of the captivity, the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, from the burning fiery furnace, and the deliverance of Daniel from the den of lions. On each of these occasions, the reigning monarch of the idolatrous empire made a decree in honour of the God of Israel; and it was highly probable, that the prophets of God's people would be inspired to sing, and would teach his people to sing, to the glory of his holy name. In each instance there was good ground to call upon his worshippers to sing unto the Lord a new song, for in each instance He had done marvellous things; with his own right hand and with his holy arm He had gotten to Himself the victory. On each occasion, He had made known his salvation, and had openly shewed his righteousness in the sight of the heathen. And whilst He gave signal token of remembering his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel, all the ends of the earth, "all people nations and languages," Dan. 6. 25, were made aware

of his great salvation. See Dan. 3. 29. We may therefore very probably apply this psalm, and for the like reasons the two which go before it, and the two which follow it, to one or other of these two great miracles, which God wrought in behalf of his captive servants, in the midst of the great empire of Babylon. And when a Nebuchadnezzar or Darius proclaimed a blessing on the God of Israel, and bade all nations do Him homage, we may well conceive the Israelites to join in the invitation, and say, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord the King." And these words may perhaps determine which of the two miracles this psalm in particular refers to. For this mention of instruments of music seems to allude to the words of Nebuchadnezzar's first decree, that the peopie should fall down and worship the golden image which he had set up, immediately upon hearing "the sound of cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick." Dan. 3. 5.

But whatever were the occasion on which this psalm was written, we cannot but observe the resemblance between several of the expressions in it, and those of the song of Mary, upon her being saluted by Elizabeth, as recorded by S. Luke. On comparing the two, we can hardly doubt that the mother of our Lord expressly referred to this psalm, as prophetical of those marvellous things, which God has wrought by Christ in the Gospel. Here we need have no hesitation in framing the most probable conjecture that the case admits of. For our Lord has told us to search the Scriptures, meaning those of the Old Testament, with this significant reason given, "They are they which testify of me." John 5. 39. Here then let us gladly recognize a prophecy of Christ's kingdom, of the marvels which He wrought, of the victory which He won, of the salvation which He proclaimed to all, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. Here let us consider all the earth invited to rejoice in the glad tidings of his Gospel, every creature summoned to the celebration of his triumphant reign. As if all mankind were not enough, the earth which they inhabit, and the sea, the hills and floods, are all called upon to be joyful together before the Lord. And as if to remind us that our heavenly King is not like the Babylonish monarchs, who made decrees the most arbitrary, with penalties the most unrelenting, we have it set before us as the ground of our rejoicing, that "with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity."