David was a great king and a good king; but his character was compromised by the conduct of Joab, who had been one of his chief friends and supporters. Abner came to David in Hebron, and proposed terms of peace, which David accepted; but Joab could not bear that Abner should be his rival, and therefore he most treacherously murdered him. This abominable act was greatly to the detriment of David’s character; he could not prevent the crime, certainly he had not instigated it, and yet it was only natural that all the people should suppose that David had a hand in it because Joab was not merely one of his subjects, but his prime minister.

Dear friends, in a similar way, the character of our great Lord and King amongst the sons of men is very much in the hands of his people, especially in the hands of those who are more prominent than others, and whom he uses in his service more than others. We may go and do, on our own account, things that shall bring dishonour to the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and King. He will have no part nor lot in them, nothing that he has taught will suggest them, and nothing that he desires will urge us thus to act. We may, however, of our own free will, even those of us whom the Lord uses most, bring grievous dishonour on his holy name. Jesus has often to lift up his pierced hands, and when we ask him, “What are these wounds in thine hands?” he has to answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” It is evident to each one of you that all the vile insults of infidels could never dishonour Christ as the inconsistencies of his own disciples do. No slur comparatively ever attaches to the glorious name of the Well-beloved from his avowed enemies, let them slander him as they may; but a blot does fall upon his sacred name through the inconsistencies and follies of those who call themselves his disciples, but who are not truly his followers, or being so, are yet not careful to walk consistently with their profession.

We may well pity David that he should come under the opprobrium of the conduct of such an one as Joab, for in his heart he was entirely clear of the murder of Abner; yet rumour was quite sure to attribute to him complicity in the crime. Joab said to himself, “Abner has deceived the king; he cannot, after all he has done, he true in his professions of friendship, so I will go out and slay him;” and it is not at all an uncommon thing for us to dishonour Christ under the notion that we are showing our zeal for the King. We may be doing evil in the hope that good may come out of it; we may be indulging an unchristian, intolerant spirit in our zeal against intolerance; we may grow bitter in our love for love and in our hate of hatred. Such poor judges are we of what is right that we may even deceive ourselves into the belief that we are honouring our Lord and Master when we are, all the while, bringing disgrace upon his name. Perhaps Joab acted from this spirit, and possibly some of us at this very moment are making the same mistake.

It is a grand proof of the stability of David’s character that he did not suffer in the estimation of his friends because of what Joab had done. He ordered a public funeral for Abner; he attended it himself wrapped in sackcloth, and he compelled Joab to attend it. He himself fasted as a sign of the deepest mourning, and when the people came and begged him to eat, he would not touch food till the sun went down, but he sacredly observed the time of fasting for the death of Abner, for whom he sang a dolorous song of real sorrow: “And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou.” “And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.”

Now, it is to the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ that his cause and his character survive all the follies and all the sins of his professed people. There was an eminent minister who once said that Christianity must be true since it survived pulpits; and another one added that he felt more sure of its being true because it survived ministers, for, taking them all round, they were more likely to destroy than to build up the cause of Christ. These things were said only in semi-earnest; but there is a great deal of serious truth about them. The cause of Christ must be true because the Master has survived his disciples; his wisdom has not been eclipsed by our folly, his power has not been lessened by our weakness, the glory of his holiness has not been beclouded by the unholiness of his people. The sun has risen despite the many clouds; the morning has come notwithstanding the mists of the night. Blessed King, thou conquerest with the poorest soldiery that ever fought a battle, and thou gettest to thyself the greater rather than the less renown because thy victories are won by such poor followers! In Christ’s conquests, it is never the soldiers’ battle, it is always the Captain’s battles, and the Captain’s victories. On his head are the many crowns of all who follow him, for there is not one of them who has earned a crown. Their crowns are all deserved by him; and when they are given to them by him, they naturally and of right give them back to him, crying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

“Not unto us, to thee alone,

Bless’d Lamb, be glory given!”

So, you see, our text has already led us into this profitable meditation upon our Lord. Good David, with his character in jeopardy through the wrong-doing of his prime minister, nevertheless passed through the trial, and his fame survived it; and the character of our Lord Jesus Christ is such that, while daily put in jeopardy by us, yet it will still survive, and his kingdom will continue to increase, and his glory will never wane.

This brings me now to dwell upon the second part of the verse: “Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.” Wherever this is the case with any king, we may say of it, first, this is the outflow of love; secondly, this is the consequence of knowledge; thirdly, this is the secret of rest; and fourthly, this is the fountain of obedience.

First, then, wherever it is the case that whatsoever the king doeth pleases all the people, this is the outflow of love; and as it is the case with our King, that whatsoever he does pleases all his people, we can truly say that this is the outflow of our love to him. Let us dwell upon that matter for a few minutes.

Dear friends, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts, whatsoever he does will please us. We shall sum up all his past history in this one sentence, “He hath done all things well;” and we shall fortell his future history just as briefly, for “He will do all things well.”

Whatsoever our King does pleases us because we love him, and true love, in the first place, banishes suspicion. When we do not love our rulers, we are afraid of the power that is over us, we think perhaps it may be exercised without tenderness, and we begin to tremble lest, in some awful moment, the great foot should crush us, or the powerful hand should smite us. But when we truly love, we are not the victims of any such impression. No dark suspicions come across the soul that is once enamoured of the Lord Jesus Christ. “No,” saith the heart, “he will not hurt me, he will not destroy me, he will not forget me.” We cannot admit one ill thought concerning him when, with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, we have come to love him. Love at once banishes all suspicions.

It also inspires implicit confidence. When we love Jesus Christ, our blessed King, we feel that he must do that which is kind, that which is tender, that which is right, and we do not want to ask him any questions, we leave the whole matter with him to do as he pleases. We are willing to let his will be like the apocalyptic book, sealed with seven seals if necessary, and we unhesitatingly say, “Let his will be done.” He who loves Christ much does not keep on asking for tokens, and signs, and evidences, and manifestations. That is an odd story, which is told of two Welshmen, but it has a great deal of truth in it. They were going out to preach, and they parted at the cross-roads, one to go this way, and one to go that. One of them said to his friend, “Brother Jones, may you get the light of his countenance in your preaching to-day!” “I hope so, brother,” he answered, “but there is one thing, if I do not get the light of his countenance, I will speak well of him behind his back.” Ay, just so! When we see his face, we realize what a blessed Christ he is; but if we do not see his face, we are not going to find fault with him. We believe in the truth of Kent’s hymn,-

“What cheering words are these!

Their sweetness who can tell?

In time, and to eternal days,

’Tis with the righteous well.

“Well when they see his face,

Or sink amidst the flood;

Well in affliction’s thorny maze,

Or on the mount with God.

“’Tis well when they can sing

As sinners bought with blood,

And when they touch the mournful string,

And mourn an absent God.

“’Tis well when on the mount

They feast on dying love,

And ’tis as well, in God’s account,

When they the furnace prove.”

If Jesus smiles, he is my Lord; but if he frowns, he is my Lord just the same. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” That was a splendid utterance of Job when he reached that point, and that is where true love always comes; it makes no enquiries or bargains, but it saith, “My Lord is such a glorious King that I trust him in the dark, I make no covenant or stipulation as to what he will do or will not do, I implicitly put myself in his hands, and say, ‘Not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ ” This is the sweet effect of love; it banishes suspicion, and inspires confidence, and thus it comes true that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all the people.

Love also suggests unquestioning reverence. When you come to love your Lord as he ought to be loved, with a worshipping, adoring, reverential affection, it is almost like treason even to begin to enquire the reason for anything that he does. “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.” Is he not a King? Is he not my Sovereign, and am I not only his subject, but his beloved one, and shall I begin to ask questions of him as if I were a stranger and he were a tyrant, as if I were under a foreign rule? Nay, I am his Hephzibah, of whom he saith, “My delight is in her,” and he is no more to me Baali, my Lord, my Master, but Ishi, my Man, my Husband. He has given himself that name to show the closeness of his relationship to me; and I must not, I cannot, I would not desire to raise any question about anything that he does. Nay, Lord, if it were possible, I would enlarge thy liberty to do with me and mine whatsoever it pleaseth thee. Tate no notice of my whims and wishes, I beseech thee; if thou wert to notice them, they might be to my ruin. Let thy will be my will, and thy wish my wish; I most reverentially yield all to thee. Thus, when we come to love our Lord so that we give him his right place, and we take our right place, then whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all of us who are his people.

Moreover, there is another beautiful feature about love, it creates sympathetic feeling. When we truly love Christ our King, we are sure to be pleased with whatever he does. When our nature gets to be like his nature,-oh, what a blessed consummation that is!-when our wishes and his wishes travel the same road, though not with equal footsteps; when that which he aims at is that which we aim at after our poor fashion; when we can say that it is more delight to us that he should be delighted than that we should be delighted ourselves, and that it is a greater honour to us to see him honoured than it would be to be honoured ourselves; when we sink ourselves in him, even as two divided streams at last dissolve into one,-as I have seen a tiny silver brook come down to Father Thames, and pour its whole self into him, so as to be no longer anything but part of the great river,-so, when our soul yields itself up in perfect love to Christ, to think his thoughts, and live and move in him so that it is no longer we who live but Christ who liveth in us; oh, then it is that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all his people! Our heart has yielded up itself to him, and is perfectly content with that which he doeth, for it hath no other will than that which lives in the Prince. When the believer comes to be what he should be in the fulness of his love, his will is lost in the will of Christ, his very life is hidden away with Christ in God, and then he realizes how true it is that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all his people.

Thus I have shown you that, in the first place, the pleasure of the people in all that the King doeth is the outflow of love.

That leads me, secondly, to notice that the love that manifests itself thus is not at all a foolish love, for it is the consequence of knowledge. Human love is blind; but the love which is wrought in us by the Spirit of God is as full of eyes as are the great wheels of divine providence. There is the best of reasons why everything that Jesus does should please all his people, because everything he does is right, and we shall feel this in proportion as we combine knowledge with love, or our love is based on knowledge.

First, I suppose that we know the character of Christ. Do you know it, beloved? The God-man, your Brother, and yet the Son of God,-do you know his infinite tenderness, his boundless compassion, his unquenchable ardour of affection, his unfailing wisdom? If you have a true idea of what the Son of God is, who is now enthroned at the right hand of the Father, invested with supreme power over all things, and ever working for the good of his people, if you do really know him, then, whatever he does will please you. One who is so wise, so kind, ought to be supreme. He that is so good ought to be an Autocrat, and to issue decrees of his own. Do we not all feel that it should be so? If it were otherwise, then we might quarrel with him; but such a blessed Saviour as our Well-beloved is, why, we will not even in thought differ from him, but we will feel that, whatever he does, because of his great love, must please us.

Then, next, if we know Christ at all, we know something of his designs, and we know that he designs the glory of the Father through the salvation of those the Father gave him. He has laid himself out to bring many sons to glory. When we know that Christ’s love has such sweet designs, and that he has purchased our eternal salvation, how can we after that quarrel with him? Now, we not only know something of his character, but we also know something of his divine intent, and we therefore know that we may assuredly say, “All that thou willest, and all that thou doest, our glorious King, aim only at this one thing, the perfecting of thine own loved ones, and bringing them home to thy glory! Do even as thou pleasest; for we will never raise a question with thee about anything that thou doest.”

Furthermore, if we have truly become acquainted with Christ, we know something of his modes of operation. We have learned that it is his habit often to disguise himself; his way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known except to those who are familiar with him. We also understand that the bitterness is given to promote our sweetness, and that oftentimes Christ’s frown is but a covered smile. It is the way with him to lead his people into the wilderness when he means ultimately to bring them into the rest of Canaan. Knowing all this, let us have no altercation with our Spouse, our constant Friend. If all this is true, and it is, then let him have his way. If this is his way of giving us superior blessedness, we will without question yield to him, for whatsoever the King does pleases all his people.

Moreover, if it were not so, we know something of our Lord’s rights, and therefore we can never venture to interfere with his actions. Oh, what rights my Lord has over me! As I stand here, I confess that I am not my own, but that I am bought with a price; and you confess it, too, do you not, beloved? Have you any rights apart from your Lord, you who are Christ’s purchased ones? What if you are jewels? You are only jewels in his casket. What if you have a will? It is a dangerous possession to have a will except you yield it up to your Divine Controller. Paul said, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,” as if he had been bought in the name of Christ, and branded in the name of Jesus, with a hot iron, to be Christ’s slave for ever. Shall you and I have any will in opposition to our Lord’s will? If it be his will that we should be poor, and despised, or that we should lie sick in bed, shall we raise any question with him? Let him have his will with us whatever it is. Some of you may remember the story Dr. Hamilton once told of a poor woman who said the Lord had taught her to yield herself absolutely to him. She fell ill, and she was bed-ridden, but she never murmured, for she said, “If the Lord wishes me to lie here and cough, I will lie here and cough. What he has done for me is so wonderful, and so good, that I cannot question his will, but I will yield myself up to him altogether.” “Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.” Yet this referred only to David; shall it not be so when David’s Lord is the King, and we, redeemed with his precious blood, are the people who have to deal with him?

So, in the second place, this pleasure in the King’s actions is the consequence of knowledge as well as the outflow of love.

Thirdly, beloved friends, this is the secret of rest: “Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.”

If any of you are greatly distressed and troubled, I believe my text indicates to you where only you can find rest. If whatever the King does pleases you, you may let down the anchor, for you have come into port, you will be perfectly happy now. To know that the King has done it, and to see his divine hand in anything, is more than half the battle which ends in sweet content. If the Lord hath done it, questions are out of the question; and truly the Lord has done it. There may be a secondary agent, there probably is; the devil himself may be that secondary agent, yet the Lord hath done it. It was God who afflicted Job, yet it was Satan who did all the mischief to God’s servant with an evil intent; but the patriarch could see God’s hand in it all. So, whatever has happened to you, see the hand of God in it. A dog, if it be struck with a stick, bites the stick. Well, that may be all that we can expect from a dog; but you who are no dog must look to the hand that holds the stick, and not to the instrument with which you are smitten, and then you dare not bite the blessed hand that only intends your good in striking you. See God’s hand, then, in all that happens to you, and that will help you on the way to a very blessed state of contentment.

When you have seen God’s hand, then say, “I would not have it otherwise than it is.” I know several persons who are always in trouble and unhappy because there is a dispute between them and God. I remember one to whom I solemnly spoke, years ago, and not long after he passed away. I went to see his dying child, the only one he had left, and he said to me, “Do not talk to my daughter about death, do not mention it to her.” “Well, then,” I said, “if I may not mention death, I will not go upstairs.” The father said to me, “God could not take that child away.” He had lost several before, and he said that, if his daughter died, he should call God a tyrant, and I know not what. As last I stood before him, and I said, “You are making for yourself a rod that is much heavier than God himself lays upon you. I fear that you will yourself die if you act in this way.” As he could not be brought to reason, and kicked and rebelled against God’s dealings with him, I was not surprised to learn that, soon after his child died, he himself also died. It does not do to quarrel with God; let the potsherds of the earth strive with other potsherds if they will, but woe to him who contendeth with his Maker! Instead of that, bow before him, not simply because you must, but because you delight to acknowledge him as your Lord. Are you setting yourself up as the judge of God? Do you dare to summon him to your bar? Are you wiser, better, mightier than he? Oh, lay aside this rebellion, I beseech you! Sob if you will, but let it not be the sullen sob of one who will not yield, but that of a dear child who sobs himself asleep upon his mother’s breast. Great God, thou hast done right in all that thou hast done; if we cannot prove thy wisdom, we know by faith that it is right, and we kiss thy hand, and acknowledge that it is so with us that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all the people.

Well, now, if we can get as far as that,-and God grant that we may!-we are on the road to peace. Let us come, then, to this point, and absolutely leave all things with him as to the future. “Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people,” and if we are willing that our King should go on doing as he pleaseth, let us leave it so. I wish that our whole nature would consent to God’s will, not one faculty only, but our whole being. Let all that God does, please all of us. Yield your understanding, your will, your affections, your desires, your memory, yield yourself up fully unto the Christ who loves you; then shall you have perfect rest, but not till then. It may be, dear friends, that some of us will die soon; let us have no questions about that matter, but yield ourselves to whatsoever the King pleaseth. Peradventure, some of us may live to an extreme old age, when sight and hearing will fail, and it will be undesirable to survive. Let us raise no question whatsoever about that. If it be so, let it be so. I have heard of one good woman, a child of God, who was asked whether she did not wish to depart, for she was such a sufferer. Said she, “The Lord’s will be done! I have no wish about it.” “Well,” said one, “but if the Lord would say to you that you might choose, what would you choose?” “Oh!” she answered, “I have been so little accustomed to think about choosing that I should turn round, and say to him, ‘Choose thou, Lord Jesus, for me.’ ” Why, dear friends, if we had to choose our own lot, and got into trouble, we should have the responsibility of it; is it not far better for us to say to the Lord, “Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us”?

“I dare not choose my lot,

I would not if I might;

But choose thou for me, O my God,

So shall I walk aright.”

If we take our own way, and get into difficulties, then we may say, “How foolish we were to make this choice!” But if, instead, we yield ourselves up to the supreme Director, to be led wheresoever he pleases, and follow him as the sheep follow the shepherd, it is wonderful what a sweet contentment our spirit will feel. The Lord bring us all to enjoy that rest and peace!

Whatever service the King requires of you will please you. He may put you in a pulpit, or he may put you in a kitchen; he may put you in a place of honour, or he may put you in a place of dishonour. It is yours not to reason why, it is yours to do the work appointed. It has been well said that, if there were two angels in heaven, and the great King had said to them, “I have two errands to be done upon the earth; one of you must go and announce the birth of Christ to the Virgin Mary, the other must go and stand and sweep a street-crossing,” the angels would not have any choice between the two services, it would be enough for them to do their Lord’s will. May we come to that point, that we may not be picking and choosing, but may be pleased with whatsoever the King gives us to do, and whatsoever our hand findeth to do, may we do it with our might!

But suppose that, on a sudden, there should be no service to be rendered, and that you should have to suffer instead, that there should be no battle for you, soldier, no shout of war, no noise of music, and no rushing against the foe, but instead of that you should be sent into the trenches, and have to lie there in the cold and wet, or be ordered into hospital, and have to lie there, to go upstairs, and never to come down again. If we have come to this point, whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all the people, how readily shall we lie still and suffer, instead of going forth, to serve! If God be glorified, does it really matter where we are? What becomes of us is of small consequence compared with bringing glory to his great name.

Oftentimes, we are permitted to work hard, and yet to meet with great discouragement. The congregation gets smaller or grows careless, the district seems as if it refused to be blessed, we meet with many impediments in our service. Well, if they are not impediments of our own making, if they come in the order of providence, let it be so, and still say that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all the people. It was a pretty remark I read, the other day, of a Christian man who said, “I used to have many disappointments, until I changed one letter of the word, and chopped it into two, so that instead of ‘disappointments,’ I read it, ‘his appointments,’ ” That was a wonderful change, for “disappointments” break your heart, but “his appointments” you accept right cheerily. What if I am to have no success? I will pray for it, and labour for it, and be ready to die for it; but if I do not get it, I will still go on. What said the poor negro about obeying God’s command? “Massa, if the good Lord bids me jump through a brick wall, it is for me to jump at the wall, and it rests with the Lord whether I jump through it or not.” He can make the walls vanish if it pleases him; and if he desires it, I could believe even in the impossible. Love laughs at impossibilities, and faith cries, “It shall be done.” Therefore, let us pray the Lord to bring us into this happy state, that whatsoever he doeth may always please us.

Peradventure, some may find Christ to-night if they will get into the spirit of the text. If they will be pleased with God’s way of salvation, and come and receive Jesus now just as he is, and just as they are, they will go out of this house saved. This is, after all, only faith in one of its forms, this being content with Christ, this yielding up of the will to him. The Lord bless every one of you, dear friends, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-390, 45 (Version I), 399.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

PSALM 147

Verse 1 Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God;

Ye that know him, ye that love him, “praise ye the Lord.” “It is good:” it is right, it is acceptable; it is good for you, the Lord counts it good. “It is good to sing praises unto our God;” and to God alone. There is no better argument for anything than that it is good, for good men delight in that which is good because it is good.

1. For it is pleasant;

That is a very happy conjunction, for it is not everything that is good that is pleasant, medicine to wit. It is not everything that is pleasant that is good, for there are some things that are pleasant in the mouth, but they are poison in the bowels. But to sing praises unto our God is both good and pleasant.

1. And praise is comely.

Or, beautiful, delightful, it is the right thing. Men never look so like angels as when they are praising God, and angels are never more heavenly than when they are engaged in the worship of heaven; and that worship is praise.

Here are the psalmist’s reasons for praising God,-

2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem:

Praise him for that. He is the great Builder, the Builder of the Church. He laid the foundations in the everlasting covenant, he carries on the building with infinite skill by his Divine Spirit: “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.”

2. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.

These are the stones with which he builds, men who were like outcasts. What wonderful living stones these outcasts make! They love the Lord best who once were most his enemies. None sing of “free grace and dying love” with sweeter accents than the men who have had much forgiven.

“The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.” Mark the connection between the two; it is when great sinners are saved that the Church is built up. There was more done when Paul was converted, I wot, than at almost any other time, for he became the great apostle to the Gentiles through whom myriads were saved.

3. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

To be a builder and a physician, too, are strange offices to be combined in one, yet so it is with God. Is there a broken heart here? The Lord is ready to heal you. See how he does it. “He bindeth up their wounds,”-puts on the strapping, wraps round the linen cloth, and secures the flesh until it heals. A wonderful surgeon is the Lord God Almighty, there is none like to him. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” What a singular thing it is that the next verse should he what it is!

4. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.

In his condescension, stooping over a broken heart; in his omniscience, toning the number of the stars. The word signifies as when a merchant counts his money into a bag. So does God, as it were, count the stars over, like so many golden coins. “He calleth them all by their names:” as when the muster-roll is read, and the soldier answers “Here!” so does the Lord speak to the stars, and they answer to their names.

5, 6. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth up the meek:

They are down very low in their own estimation, but the Lord lifts them up.

6. He casteth the wicked down to the ground.

The Lord is the great changer of men’s positions; those that are up he throws down, and those that are down he lifts up. Thus the blessed virgin sang, “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.”

7, 8. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

This is the true science, this is the real philosophy; not merely the laws of nature, but God everywhere; God cloud-making, God rain-preparing, God clothing even the hill-tops and out of the way places with grass which no man has planted, and which no man will ever mow. Perhaps there is somebody here who, when at home, is like grass on the mountains, away from all means of grace, with nobody to help you, nobody to guide you. Listen to this Psalm, and praise the name of the Lord, “who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.”

9. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.

The very best illustration of that verse is to be found, I think, in crows going to bed at night. You may have heard their caws. White says, in his Natural History of Selborne, that a little child said in his hearing, “Hark, father, the rooks are saying their prayer’s.” It does seem something like it; and I believe David had heard it, and that is why he put it here: “the young ravens which cry,” for those strange birds, rooks, crows, ravens, and the like, even with their wild cries, do speak to God. Who can listen to the birds in the early morning without feeling ashamed of himself for not singing more to the praise of God? Some of the feathered songsters lift up their voices even in the night; the nightingale charms the hours of darkness, and should not we sing unto God when all nature rings with his praise?

“He giveth to the beast his food.” Any of you who are in great distress may pray to God, “Lord, feed me, for thou givest even to the beast his food.” Do any of you need spiritual food? Cry to him to feed you, for he giveth even to the beast his food. Are you not much better than many animals? I remember “Father Taylor” once saying to himself, and then writing it, “I am in distress just now, and full of doubts: but what am I at? When the great whale goes through the deep, the Almighty Father gives him a ton of herrings for his breakfast, and never misses them; surely he can feed me.” Assuredly he can; he can give to all of us all that we need.

10. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

As the kings did in those days; their infantry and their cavalry were their glory. The Lord does not care for that sort of thing; what gives him pleasure, then? Listen:-

11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

As kings have gloried in their troops, so does God glory in tender hearts that fear him, and that hope in his mercy. I love that double description-“them that fear him,” “those that hope in his mercy.” There is a mixture there,-fearing and hoping,-but the mixture makes a sweet amalgam of grace. It is like a fisherman’s net; there is the lead to sink it, and here are the corks to float it. If you only hope in his mercy, you shall not come back empty from the great banquet of everlasting love: “Jehovah taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.”

12, 13. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.

Happy Zion, which God secures so well that even bars and posts are finished; not merely walls and gates, but the bars of the gates. There is nothing wanting in the covenant of grace. If the gates need bars, God thinks of the little as well as of the great: “He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.”

14. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

An old commentator says, “Generally, if you get quantity, you do not get quality; but when you deal with God, ‘he filleth thee,’ there is quantity, ‘with the finest of the wheat,’ there is quality.” You get both in God, an abundance of the best.

15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.

Great kings have tried to make their postal arrangements act with rapidity; in the olden time, they employed swift dromedaries for this purpose, but “his word runneth very swiftly.” When God has a message to send, he can flash it by lightning, or despatch it in an instant by one of his angels: “His word runneth very swiftly.” I wish it would run to some of you who are rushing fast into sin, and that it would overtake you, and arrest you, and bring you to repentance and to faith in God.

Here is a verse that may help to cool you on this summer’s evening:-

16. He giveth snow like wool:

It is as soft as wool, and, like wool, it is a covering, and keeps the earth warm in the bitter frosts, and saves the plants from death: “He giveth snow like wool.”

16, 17. He scattereth the hear frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?

I want you to notice how, in the olden days, good men felt God to be very near. They thought that all this was caused by God: “He giveth snow; he scattereth hear frost;” and they speak of “his ice, his cold.” It is a poor progress that philosophers have made, to try to get us farther off from God than we used to be; but I bless his name that he is as near as ever he was to those who believe in him. They can see his working, and feel the touch of his hand. But what a wonder-working God this is who uses snow to warm the earth, and makes the frost to act like ashes,-yea, who makes bread out of ice, for when there is no frosty weather, the harvests are not half so good; but the very frosts break up the clods, and help to create bread for men! The Lord works by contraries. Perhaps, at the time that he means to save you, you will think that he is destroying you. If he means to heal you, he will wound you. If he means to lift you up, he will throw you down. Learn to understand his method, then, for this is the mode of his working.

18, 19. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

That is the best news of all, that God reveals himself to his children. All he works in nature is eclipsed by what he does in grace.

20. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord.

HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!

A Sermon

Intended for Reading on Lord’s-day, July 14th, 1895,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Lord’s-day Evening, June 19th, 1887.

“For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand.”-Psalm 149:4-6.

I think I have read that, once, when the seraphic Samuel Rutherford was preaching, he came ere long to speak on the high praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was a theme upon which he was at home, and when he reached that point, and had spoken a little upon it, the Duke of Argyle, who was in the congregation, cried out, “Now you are on the right strain, man; hold on to that.” I thought that, this morning, we also struck the right key.* “We were trying to extol our God, our King, and to magnify his holy name; and something seemed to say to me, “Hold on to that strain. Let us have the same note again to-night, and still let us laud and praise and magnify the name of the Most High.”

So, without further preface, I remark, first, that our text contains some reasons for praise. We had a great many this morning; but here are some more: “For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.” Then our text gives special phases of praise. It shows us how, in a peculiar manner, we-may praise the Lord: “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.” There is plenty of sea-room for a preacher here; but as we have not much time we will make for the nearest port, and our words shall be as few as possible.

First, here are some reasons for praise.

The first of these reasons is, the delight of God in his people: “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people.” Therefore let us praise him. It is delightful that God takes pleasure in us who are his people. We feel that this is a great stoop of condescending grace. What is there in us in which the Lord can take pleasure? Nothing, unless he has put it there. If he sees any beauty in us, it must be the reflection of his own face. Yet still the text says so, and therefore it must be true: “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people.” In the 147th Psalm, we read, “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him.” You who tremble at his Word, you who stand in awe of him, you who trust him and seek to obey him, you are those that fear him, and he takes pleasure in you. He that is infinitely blessed,-can he take pleasure in us? He that has the harps of angels to make music for him, he that has the host of cherubim and seraphim to be his attendants, he that can make a world with a wish, does he deign to take pleasure in us?

I am sure this is true, not only because it is stated here that the Lord taketh pleasure in his people, but because we see this truth in action. The Lord takes pleasure in his people’s prayers. What poor imperfect things they are! Yet he opens his ear to hear them. He would sooner miss the song of a cherub than miss the prayer of a broken heart. He is charmed with the prayers of his people; they hold him, they prevail with him, he will do anything for those who know how to pray. “Prayer moves the arm that moves the world.” He must take great delight in his people, or else he would not listen to their prayers, and he is pleased with their praises, too. There is never a hymn that is sung by a true heart but God accepts it. No one may hear it on earth; it may not be worth the hearing, for the sound may be discordant; but when a true heart seeketh to praise God, he careth not for the vocal Sounds, but he hath regard to the voice of the spirit’s thanksgiving. Must he not take great pleasure in us to notice our praises and our prayers? Yet he doth so. This will be still more clear to us, dear friends, if we remember that while he delights to hear us praise and pray, he also speaks to us. The Lord hath a wonderful way of revealing himself to his people. You who are spiritually blind can go through this world and never see him; but there are others who have had their eyes opened, and they have seen the King in his beauty. You who are spiritually deaf can go through the world and never hear his voice; but they whose ears have been unstopped have heard him say to them, “Seek ye my face,” and many a blessed word of promise has he spoken home to their hearts, making them glad. Jehovah does not shut himself up within his palaces. The Lord Jesus comes forth out of the ivory palaces wherein they make him glad, for his delights are with the sons of men, and he loves to commune with his own people as he does not with the world. Does not this show what pleasure he must take in us,-first to hear us speak, and then to speak to us himself?

Beloved, you who know the Lord must feel that he never would have dealt with you as he has done if he had not taken great pleasure in you. Why, you are his children! I saw just now, from the window, a man playing with a child, and he seemed so happy as he tossed the little one about. It was but a baby, but I suppose the charm to him was that it was his own, and it seemed to give the father great delight. When I see a father playing and toying thus with his child, and finding joy in his offspring, I understand a little how it is that the Lord takes pleasure in his people. Are we not born of him? Has he not carried and nursed us many a day? And does he not daily feed and supply us with all necessary things? Therefore, we marvel not that he takes pleasure in us.

But why is this? Surely it is his own grace that makes him take pleasure in us. If you want a person to love you, be kind to him. Yet you may fail even then. To be certain of his love, let him be kind to you. A child may forget the mother; it receives much from her, and gratitude does not always come to her in return. But the mother never forgets the child to whom she has given so much; what she has given is a firmer bond between her and the child than ever gratitude is from the child to the mother. Now, God has done so much for us already that this is why he continues to love us. Jesus remembers that he died for us, the Holy Ghost remembers that he strove with us, the great Father remembers how he has preserved us, and because of all this goodness in the past he takes pleasure in us.

“With joy the father doth approve

The fruit of his eternal love;

The Son with joy looks down, and sees

The purchase of his agonies.”

Moreover, I think that the Lord takes pleasure in us not only because of all that he has done, but because he sees something in us that pleases him, something which is his own work. A sculptor, when he commences on the marble, has only a rough block; but, after days and weeks of hard working, he begins to see something like the image he is aiming at producing. So I believe that God is pleased when he sees in any of us some grace, some repentance, some faith, some beginnings of that sanctification which will one day be perfect. You know how pleased you are with your children when they begin to talk; yet it is poor talk, is it not? It is baby-talk, but you like to hear the sound of it. The first little sentiment that drops from the child’s lip is nothing very remarkable, yet you tell it to others, and brothers and sisters quote it as an instance of opening intelligence. So does God take pleasure in the tears of penitence, in the broken confession, in the first evidences of faith, in the tremblings of hope, because he has wrought all this, and he is pleased with what he has done, pleased to see that, so far, his handiwork has been successful.

Besides, I believe that every true sculptor can see in the block of marble the statue that he means to make. I doubt not that the artist could see the Laocoon of the Vatican after he had chipped for a little time, the figure of the serpent, and the father, and the sons all standing out in that wondrous group, long before anybody else could see it. And the Lord takes pleasure in his people because he can see us as we shall be. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be,” but it does appear to him. In the cast of his mind and the shaping of his eternal purpose he knows, dear sister, though you are now struggling with your fears, what you will be when you shall stand before the blazing lamps of the eternal throne. He knows, young man, though you have but a few days turned from sin, and begun to struggle with vice, what you will be when, with all the blood-washed host, you shall cast your crown before his throne. Yes, the Lord takes delight in his people as knowing what they are yet to be.

As I talk to you about God’s delight in his people, I feel as if I must take delight in him. I think that, if the Queen were to send for you all to come and see her, and if you went in and out of the palace, and she was very pleased with you all, and showed great affection for you, you would be sure to have the like esteem for her. It would so completely win your heart that you would not be able to help it, and you would not wish to do so. Now, the great King has made us his creatures, his favourites, ay, his sons and daughters, and he has said that we shall shortly be with him enthroned above the skies; and therefore we must praise him. God forbid that we should be silent when we receive such love from him! Praise him, praise him, “for the Lord taketh pleasure in his people.”

The next reason for praising God is found in the beauty he puts upon his people. The second part of this verse says, “He will beautify the meek with salvation.” Great kings and princes have often tried to magnify themselves by beautifying their courtiers. They that stand nearest to thrones are expected to be bedizened after an extraordinary rate. Well now, our King takes the meek and lowly, and he beautifies them with salvation. They have no beauty of their own; they do not think themselves beautiful, they often mourn their own deformities and imperfections; but the Lord is to be praised because “he will beautify the meek with salvation.”

I find that, according to different interpreters, this text may be read in three different ways. First, as in our version, “He will beautify the meek with salvation!” Next, “He will beautify the afflicted with deliverance.” Hear that, you afflicted ones; jot it down for your comfort. And, next, “He will beautify the meek with victory.” The men that cannot fight shall be beautified with victory. The men that will not fight, the men that resist not evil, the men that yield and suffer in patience, the Lord will beautify them with victory. When the fighting men and those that stood up for their own rights will find themselves covered with shame, “He will beautify the meek with victory.”

How does God beautify those who are meek? In the Scriptures, you will find that the most beautiful persons were the meek persons. I remember only three people whose faces are said to have shone; you recollect those three, do you not? There was, first, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose face shone when he came down from the Mount of Transfiguration so that the people came running together unto him. How meek and lowly of heart was he! Another person whose face shone was Moses, when he came down from the mount of communion with God, and of him we read, “Now the man Moses was very meek.” The third man whose face shone was Stephen, when he stood before the council, and in the meekest manner pleaded for his Lord and Master. If ever your face is to shine, dear friend, you must get rid of a high and haughty spirit; you must be meek, for the brightness of the divine light will never rest on the forehead that flashes with anger. Be gentle, quiet, yielding, like your Lord, and he will then beautify you.

Meekness is itself a beauty. We read of “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.” There is many a Christian woman who has been all but divinely beautiful in her gentleness, bearing all sorts of provocations, going about her domestic duties with great quietude. I am sure that I have known one or two good old Quaker ladies who looked to me as nearly like angels as ever mortals could be. There was about them a quietude of manner, a gentleness, a sort of unworldliness or unearthliness of beauty, though they wore no jewels, and were decorated with no adornments that might have commended them to the taste of fashionable folk. The Lord does give great beauty to his people who are very quiet and submissive. If you can bear and forbear, if you will not be provoked to speak a hasty word, that meekness of yours is itself a beauty.

Beside that, God beautifies meek people with peace. They have not to go and beg pardon, and make up quarrels, as others have, for they have had no quarrel. They have not to think at night, “I really said what I ought not to have said,” for they have not done so. There is a great beauty about the peace that comes of meekness.

Another beauty which God puts on the meek is contentment. They that are of a quiet and gentle spirit through the grace of God are satisfied with their lot. They thank God for little; they are of the mind of the godly woman who ate the crust of bread and drank a little water, and said, “What! all this, and Jesus Christ, too?” There is a great charm about contentment, while envy and greed are ugly things in the eyes of those who have anything like spiritual perception. So meekness, through bringing contentment, beautifies us.

Out of meekness also comes holiness; and who has not heard of “the beauty of holiness”? When one is made to subdue his temper, and curb his will, and yield his mind sweetly up to Christ, then obedience to God’s will follows, and the whole life becomes lovely. Let us praise the Lord that ever he put any beauty upon any of us, and let us bless God for the holiness of his people whenever we see it. It is a pity that there should be so little of it; but what a comfort it is that the Lord has some among his people who are of a meek and gentle spirit, whom he beautifies with salvation!

Here I cannot help even breaking away from my subject to tell you what happened to me this morning after the service was over. When I went into the vestry, there was a number of American friends and others waiting to shake hands with me, and I was glad to shake hands with them. But there was one person present who did me more good than all the other brethren and sisters put together; he was a father, and he said to me, “If my emotions will permit me, I would like to tell you something that is on my heart; I feel that I must tell it to you.” This friend came from a distant city. He continued, “My son left my house well clothed and well stored with money, but for a long, long while I never heard of him. He plunged into all kinds of sin till he reduced himself by disease to beggary and want, and he had not even shoes to his feet.” As he passed by the front of the Tabernacle,-(you young people here, listen to this story, and take home the lesson of it,)-all in rags, on the Sunday afternoon, a young man asked him to come into one of the classes here, and gave him a tract. He uttered an oath, threw the tract on the pavement, and trampled on it. After a few seconds, some sort of compunction seized him, and he turned back and picked up the tract, whereupon this young brother, quick and alert,-(as I hope you young men and women always will be in looking after poor sinners,)-spoke to him, and said, “Oh, you have picked it up; now will you read it?” “Yes,” he answered, “I will read it.” The young man then said, “Come into our class;” but the poor fellow replied, “Look at me.” “Yes,” said he, “but we will not look at you if you will come in. They will all be glad to see you. Perhaps it may be a turn in your life.” The young man did come into the class, and he came in the evening to hear the sermon. They put him away somewhere where people would not stare at him, and God blessed him. He sought out some friends in London, who at first could not believe that he was the son of this person. They had seen him before in better days, so they questioned him, and they found that he knew so much about the father that they said, “Yes, no doubt you are his son.” His feet were bleeding, and he himself was sick, so they cared for him, and clothed him, and he came in and out of this house, his father told me, for many months serving God. His father saw him, and rejoiced over him. Now this story was told, with many tears, in the vestry behind,-told as I cannot tell it, and the good man invoked every blessing on me and upon that young brother, whoever he may be, that brought his son in. “And then, sir,” said the father, “he could not find any work to do, so he enlisted in the army, and was killed at Tel-el-Kebir.” He left in his knapsack a letter to his father to say that he died in perfect peace, and that he had found the Saviour at the Tabernacle. Our friend was so glad, and I could not help putting this story in here because that brother outside, I hope, was one of the meek ones, and God has beautified him by bringing that soul to Christ. And we who try to preach very plainly, and never aim at adorning our discourses with the flowers of eloquence, but try to talk to people from our hearts, may God give us great beauty in the eyes of many when we bring their children or themselves to the Saviour’s feet! I only wish that somebody, like that young man, might be converted, by the grace of God, through this sermon.

I think that I have said enough upon those reasons for praise. Do let us praise God with all our hearts, and bless and magnify his name, because he takes pleasure in his people, and because he beautifies the meek with salvation, and sometimes does it by making them the means of salvation to others.

The second portion of my sermon, which is to be concerning special phases of praise, shall be delivered with great brevity.

The first way of praising the Lord is by glorying in God: “Let the saints be joyful in glory.” “That means the saints in heaven, does it not?” asks somebody. No, no, no; the psalmist is not writing for them, he is writing for us. “Well, but we are not in glory,” says one. I do not know; I think that we are. First, we are in glory by contrast. Look, dear friends. A little while ago, we were in sin, and we were condemned under sin; but now we are delivered, we are absolved from guilt. Surely that is like being in glory. A little while ago, we were cast down and troubled, and had not a ray of hope; now we have rest in Christ and perfect peace. Is not that like being in glory? Why, years back, when I have been preaching in Wales, I have heard a Welshman cry out, “Gogoniant!” and others have shouted, “Glory,” and I thought it was all right. There is enough to make the saints cry “Glory!” to think that they have been redeemed from death and hell, and that their feet have been taken out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set upon a rock, and their goings established. Why, truly, it is like being in glory; therefore, “let the saints be joyful in glory.”

Next, as we are in glory by contrast, so we are in glory by anticipation. What will glory be? It will be a peace with God; but we have that already. Glory will be rest; and we have that also. “We which have believed do enter into rest.” Glory will be communion with God; and we have that, too. “Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Glory will be victory; and we have that. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.” “But,” asks one, “you do not mean to say that we have glory already?” Yes, I do. “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.” Are not those the words of Scripture? Here is another word of Scripture: “God hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” By anticipation and by foretaste we have already obtained the life eternal, therefore, “let the saints be joyful in glory.” Rightly do we sing,-

“The men of grace have found

Glory begun below;

Celestial fruits on earthly ground

From faith and hope may grow.

“The hill of Sion yields

A thousand sacred sweets,

Before we reach the heavenly fields,

Or walk the golden streets.

“Then let our songs abound,

And every tear be dry:

Were marching thro’ Immanuel’s ground

To fairer worlds on high.”

“I cannot get up to that,” says one. Try, dear brother, try. At any rate, get as far as this: wherever there is grace there will be glory. Grace is the egg, and glory is the hatching of it. Grace is the seed, and glory is the plant that comes out of it. Having the egg and the seed, we have practically and virtually the glory; therefore, again I say with the psalmist, “Let the saints be joyful in glory.”

The next special kind of praise is, joy in special circumstances: “Let them sing aloud upon their beds.” This is a message for the time of sickness. Praise the Lord when you are ill; sing to his glory when you cannot sleep; sing when the head aches, for that is the highest kind of praise that comes out of the body that is racked with pain. “Let them sing aloud upon their beds.” There are, sometimes, infirmities of the body that seem to quicken the soul, there are aches and pains that make us more fresh and vigorous of heart; but there are others that paralyze the mind, and reaching the very core of one’s being, seem to freeze up every spring of activity. It is little wonder that, under such infirmities, the brave heart grows faint; and it is especially so when there is mental affliction added to the physical pain. I have known men of God, highly favoured, and sisters in like condition, who have walked in the light as God is in the light, and have had great blessing from him, and by-and-by they have had strong inward temptation, an awful fight within, till sometimes they have had to cry out in their very souls to know whether they were with God, or God was with them at all. Doubts have insinuated themselves into the mind, and there have been grave and solemn questions about matters most vital and important; and at such times the man of God, though he still believes in his God, and is obedient to the divine will, yet feels a chill creeping over his very soul, and he is ready to faint. Then is the time for him to sing aloud upon his bed, for praise to God under such circumstances will be specially acceptable.

Your bed? Why, that is the place of seclusion! There you are alone. Have you never felt so happy that you did not want to sleep? I have sometimes had such joy in the night that I have tried to keep myself from falling asleep again lest I should miss the hallowed fellowship which my heart has had with God. Commune with God upon your beds, and sing his praises, if not aloud with the voice, yet aloud with the heart.

Upon your bed? Why, that is the place of domestic gathering; for the bed here meant is a couch, on which the Orientate reclined when they ate. Sing the Lord’s praises on your couches; that is, when you gather in your families. “Praise ye the Lord: sing aloud upon your couches.” I wish we had more family singing, we ought to have more. Matthew Henry says, with regard to family prayer, “They that pray every night and morning do well. They that pray and read the Scriptures do better. They that pray and read the Scriptures and sing do best of all.” And so say I; that is the best of all family worship. Let us take care in our domestic relationships that we praise this blessed God who is the God of our households as well as the God of our sanctuaries.

Upon their beds? Why, that means the bed of death! We shall go upstairs soon, and gather up our feet in the bed Oh, then, ye dear children of God, praise him aloud upon your beds! I do believe that the sweetest praises ever heard on earth have cone from lips that were just closing in the silence of the tomb.

“I will love thee in life, I will love the in death,

And praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath;

And say when the death-dew lies cod on my brow,

If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.”

Always praise him. Always praise him. When nobody hears you, in the silence of your bed-chamber, still sing aloud unto your God.

We must press on, though we have not time for much that ought to be said. The next special phase of praise is, elevation in song. The sixth verse says, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth.” As I told you when I read the Psalm, it is “in their throat” in the Hebrew, for God’s people sing from their hearts, and so they are a deep-throated people who do not merely sibilate praise with the lips, but send it up from the depths of their soul.

What does the psalmist say? “Let the high praises of God be in their throat.” Our praises ought to be very high praises, for there is a high object before us. We praise a great God, we should therefore praise him with high feelings, feelings screwed up to the highest point of high delight and high desire. Our praises should climb up to heaven’s gate, running up Jacob’s ladder even as the angels did, till we cast our praises right at the foot of the eternal throne. Let us sound forth the high praises of God with our mouths, let us extol him, and magnify him, and make him great. Say noble things of God wherever you go, for he well deserves it at your hands.

The last phase of praise concerns courage in conflict: “and a two-edged sword in their hand.” Songs in their mouths, and swords in their hands! It is something like the sword and the trowel, the trowel to build with and the sword to smite with. God’s people must sing and fight at the same time; and they fight best who sing best. Not those that growl most, but those that sing most, fight best.

But with whom are we to fight? That depends upon what your sword is. If you had a sword of steel, you would fight with men; but that is no part of your business. You are not called to that cruel work; but, as you have the sword of the Spirit, which is two-edged, which is indeed all edge, for it cuts whichever way you turn it, go forth and praise God by the use of that two-edged sword which is the Word of God.

Let me stir up God’s people here to do this. Go and tell out the gospel, tell out the gospel. I think I have to a large extent attained my wish in this congregation. I miss such a large number of our friends on Sunday nights, and I am delighted to miss them, for they have no business to be here then. They are out preaching, teaching, working in Ragged-schools, mission-halls, and all sorts of holy service. That is what you ought to do if you love the Lord; get a good meal once on the Sabbath, and then go and do a good day’s work in the rest of the Sunday. Praise God with your mouths, and have the two-edged sword in your hands. To war against ignorance, to war against vice, to war against drunkenness, to war against infidelity and sin of every kind, is one of the best ways of praising the Most High. Until the last sinner is saved, see to it that you keep the two-edged sword of God’s Word in your hand, and then for ever let the high praises of God be in your mouth.

I have been talking all this while about praising God, and there are some here who never praised him in all their lives. What wretched creatures you are! God has been blessing you all this while, and you have never praised him. I have seen the hogs under an oak munching the acorns. How they enjoy themselves! They never stop to thank the oak, such a thought never enters into their swinish heads. Do not blame the swine, but think of the numbers of men who are worse than they are. God is to them far more than the oak is to the animals. All things come of him,-their health, their strength, their daily comforts; and yet they never thank him. Have you some little chickens at home? Let them chide you. Whenever the chick stoops down to the saucer to drink a little water, up goes its head as if to thank God for every drop. Oh, begin to praise God, begin to thank God at once! Perhaps, this may be the beginning of something better, for when you have begun to praise him, you may begin to dispraise youself, and that is next door to feeling your sinfulness, which will lead you to seek the Saviour; and if you seek him, he will be found of you. Seek him now this summer’s night; while all God’s bounty is being poured upon the earth to make it fertile, oh, that he might pour some heavenly beams on you to make you fruitful to his praise! May he do it, and to his name shall be glory, world without end! Amen.

Expositions by C. H. Spurgeon

PSALMS 149 and 150

The whole Book of Psalms is full of praise, but the praise culminates at the close. There are five “Hallelujah Psalms” at the end of the Book; they are so named because they both begin and conclude with the word Hallelujah, “Praise ye the Lord.” It must be to the intense regret of all reverent persons to find the word Hallelujah so used to-day, in a hackneyed way, that it is made to be a commonplace instead of a very sacred word,-Hallelu-Jah, or, Praise be unto Jah, Jehovah. He who uses this word in a flippant manner is guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain.

Psalm 149. Verse 1. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song,

You have had new mercies from the Lord; give him in return a new song. You have a new apprehension of his mercy, you who live under this gospel dispensation have something more to sing of than even David experienced; therefore, “sing unto Jehovah a new song,”-throw your hearts into it; do not let it be a matter of routine, but let your whole soul, in all its vigour and freshness, address itself to the praise of God.

1. And his praise in the congregation of saints.

All saints praise God; they are not saints if they do not. The praise of any one saint is sweet to him; but in the congregation of saints there is a linked sweetness, a wonderful commixture of precious things. Sing his praise, then, in the congregation of his holy ones.

2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:

Adore your Creator for your being, and for your well-being. He has twice made you, ye people of God; give him therefore double praise,-not only the song of those who sang when creation’s work was done, but the praise of those who sing because they are made new creatures in Christ Jesus.

2, 3. Let the children of Zion he joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance:

The holy dance of those days differed altogether from the frivolous and lascivious dances of the present time. It was a sacred exercise in which the whole body expressed its delight before God.

3. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

The one to be struck and the other to be gently touched to yield its stringed sweetness.

4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people:

Should not they take pleasure in the condescension on his part to take any pleasure in them? Oh, what a lift up it is for us when we learn to take pleasure in the Lord!

4. He will beautify the meek with salvation.

He dresses all his children; but the meek are his Josephs, and upon them he puts the coat of many colours, and they shall inherit the earth.

5. Let the saints be joyful in glory:

God is their glory; let them be joyful in him.

5. Let them sing aloud upon their beds.

If they cannot come up to the congregation, yet, when they rest at home, or when they suffer at home, let them not cease from their music. God’s praise comes up sweetly, I do not doubt, this Sabbath evening, from many a lonely chamber where the saints are waiting for the appearing of their Lord.

6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

“In their throat,” says the Hebrew, for God’s saints sing deep down in their throats. There is a deeply-rooted music when we praise God, which is altogether unlike the mere syllables of the lips that come from a hypocrite’s tongue.

6. And a twoedged sword in their hand;

For we have to fight to-day with principalities, and powers, and wickednesses everywhere. With the sword of the Spirit in our hands, we fight the battles of the Prince of peace.

7, 8. To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

So was it when Israel came into Canaan, ordained to execute the vengeance of God upon the heathen nations. We have no such warrant, and no such painful duty; but there is a prince who shall be bound with chains and with fetters of iron one day. The Lord shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly; and, meanwhile, we fight against the powers of evil of every kind. Oh, that God would help us to bind King Drunkenness with chains, and King Infidelity with fetters of iron! Would God the day were come when impurity, which defiles so many, were overcome and vanquished by the two-edged sword of the Spirit of God!

9. To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints.

Or it may be read, “He is the honour of all his saints.” “Unto you that believe he is precious,” or, “he is an honour,” says the apostle; and there is no honour like that which comes of being coupled with God, living in him, and living for him.

9. Praise ye the Lord.

What bursts of praise must have risen from the hosts of Israel when they gathered for their annual festivals, and sang together these last great Hallelujah Psalms!

Psalm 150. Verse 1. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary:

Notice how, in this last Psalm, it is praise, praise, praise, all the way through. I think we have the word “praise” some thirteen times in the six verses. It is all “praise him, praise him, praise him.” It is not enough to do it once, or twice, we should keep on praising the Lord till we should make the very heavens ring with the music of his praises.

“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary:” that is, in his holy place where he dwells. Begin, ye angels, cherubim, and seraphim, pour forth his praise.

1. Praise him in the firmament of his power.

Let every star shine forth his praises, and sun and moon cease not to extol him: “Praise him in the firmament of his power.”

2. Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent greatness.

There is a task for us; we shall never attain to that height. We sometimes sing,-

“Wide as his vast dominion lies,

Make the Creator’s name be known;

Loud as his thunder shout his praise,

And sound it lofty as his throne;”

but who can compass such a feat as that?

3, 4. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

So that there were all kinds of music in those days praising God,-the wind and the stringed instruments, the timbrel and the pipe. Everything that can praise God should praise him. The spiritual significance of these verses is this, let men of different orders and different sorts praise the Lord,-men, women, children, those who are deeply taught and those who know but little, those who are great and those who are small. Let every heart regard itself as an instrument of praise, and use itself wholly for the Lord’s praise.

Having got so far, the psalmist recollected that there were discs of brass, which were struck together, and gave forth a sound to be heard at a great distance, so he said,-

5. Praise him upon the loud cymbals:

Crash!

5. Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

Then came another crash!

6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

A Jewish Rabbi once remarked to me that the name Jehovah was not made up of letters, but only of a series of breathings. (The preacher here uttered the three syllables of the sacred name, Je-ho-vah, as though they were not composed of letters, but only a succession of breathings.) That is the nearest approach to the name of God, three breathings; therefore since all breath comes from him, and his very name can only be pronounced by breath, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” Hallelujah!

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-416, 980, 353.