V. In His ENDLESS EXISTENCE. "Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever, And Thy memorial, O Lord, Throughout all generations. For the Lord will judge His people, And He will repent himself Concerning His servants." First His character is everlasting. "Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever." His name is His character, and that is eternal. Secondly: His remembrance is everlasting. "And Thy memorial," &c. He will never be forgotten, never, either by His enemies or His friends. All moral souls are bound to remember Him. He is the One with Whom all moral mind will "have to do" for ever. Thirdly: His kindness is everlasting. "The Lord will judge (vindicate) his people. He will repent" (relent), &c. He will never cease to vindicate their characters, and to deal tenderly with their imperfections. He will appear even to relent. He is presented here VI. In His UNAPPROACHABLE GREATNESS. He is here brought into contrast with. the heathen idols"The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not, Eyes have they, but they see not." These verses (15 to 18), are almost identical with Ps. cxv. 4-8 (See our remarks on these verses, vol. xlix., page 159). Idols, what are they to Him? What are the highest objects of the earth to Him? What is the universe to Him? CONCLUSION :-Do not the aspects in which the author of this ode presents Jehovah manifest His supreme claim to the hallelujah of all souls? With what especial force is the exhortation urged in the last words of the Psalm "Bless the Lord, O house of Israel, No. CLV. The Eternity of God's Goodness. "O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD," &C.-Ps. cxxxvi. 1-26. O give thanks to the Lord of Ver. 4, 5.-"To Him who 6. "To Him that stretched out the earth above, the waters," &c. The waters of the great deep mentioned in Gen. vii. 11, are here meant. The refrain of this Psalm, "His mercy-or His good one. ness endureth for ever," seems to have been common in Jewish worship, and is here repeated no less than twenty-six times. ARGUMENT. In the first sixteen verses Israel is exhorted to praise Jehovah as the God of Nature, and as the Deliverer of Israel from Egypt. In verses 17 to 26 as Israel's Guide in the Wilderness, and the Provider of all Creatures, and the God of Heaven, to whom all praise is due. HOMILETICS :-There is but little in this Psalm that is not found substantially in the immediately preceding The peculiarity is in the frequent repetition of the refrain, "His mercy endureth for ever." The grand subject appears to be The eternity of God's goodness, a reason for praising Him in all the works of His hands. I. This eternal goodness is a reason for praising Him in the MATERIAL UNIVERSE. "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good," &c. The expressions, "for He is good," "the God of gods," and "He doeth great wonders," are repetitions of verses in the preceding Psalm, and therefore need not be noticed here. But here we have a particular sketch of His creative agency. He "made the heavens," He "stretched out the earth above the waters," He "made great lights," the "sun to rule by day," "the moon and stars to rule by night," &c. And in all these operations we are here taught that He is to be praised because of the eternity of His goodness. "His mercy-or kindness-endureth for ever." When the grandeur of nature overawes you, when its terrific phenomena, its tornadoes, thunders, earthquakes, volcanoes, seem to overwhelm you, still praise Him. Why? Because "His mercy endureth for ever." There is goodness in all. Goodness in the raging, roaring billows that hurl mighty fleets into the abysses of death, goodness in the pestilential winds that breathe death into whole populations, goodness in earthquakes that engulph cities. "His mercy endureth for ever." He is always good, "Fury is not in Me, saith the Lord." II. His eternal goodness is a reason for praising Him in the HISTORY OF MANKIND. There is a threefold agency of God in the history of mankind referred to in this Psalm. First: In the deliverance of His people. "To Him that smote Egypt, For His mercy endureth for ever. And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endureth for ever," &c. These verses on to the sixteenth are almost identical with verses in the preceding Psalm, and therefore, call for no further remarks. Secondly: In the destruction of despots. "To Him that smote great kings, For His mercy endureth for ever. For His mercy endureth for ever," &c. The author of this spirited poem sees mercy in the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, slaying mighty kings such as Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan. These two are given merely as specimens of worthless tyrants that mercy sweeps from the earth. Truly, it is because God's " mercy endureth for ever," that the despots, and the tyrants, and the murderers of their race are swept from the earth. First: There is mercy for them in their own destruction, If there be no future state it puts an end to their miseries. The passions of despots often burn in them as the flames of hell. Their death quenches those flames, extinguishes those flames. If there be a future, then their death is a mercy to them. The longer they live the greater their guilt, and the greater their guilt the longer their agonies in the flames of retribution. Secondly: There is mercy for their race in their destruction. When such demons in human flesh are cut down the world breathes freer, a load is rolled from its heart, obstacles are swept from its path of progress. When the Pharaohs are overwhelmed, the human Israel can march on to promised lands. But why, it may be asked, should the perpetuity of Divine mercy be a reason for praising God? There are at least three reasons why we should worship Him on account of the perpetuity of His goodness. (1) Because Divine mercy will always work for good. Therefore the longer it continues the better. Whatever it does, whether it rolls thunderbolts of destruction, or breathes the reviving influences of spring into the heart of the world, its object is the happiness of the universe, therefore we rejoice. We thank God that it will continue for ever. (2) Because the future ages of the world will require mercy. There will be much for mercy to do I |