1468. The Philosophy And Propriety Of Abundant Praise (2024)

A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, April 13,1879, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.*11/12/2012

1.This is called “David’s Psalm of Praise,” and you will see that allthrough it he is inflamed by a strong desire that God may be greatlymagnified. Hence he uses a variety of expressions, and repeatshimself in his holy vehemence. Run your eye down the psalm and noticesuch words as these: “I will extol you”; “I will bless your name”;“Every day I will bless you”; “I will praise your name for ever andever”; “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised”; “Onegeneration shall praise your works to another”; “I will speak of theglorious honour of your majesty”; “Men shall speak of the might ofyour terrible acts,” and other words of the same import, down to thelast verse: “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let allflesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.” David is not contentwith declaring that Jehovah is worthy of praise, or with pleadingthat his praise ought to be felt in the heart, but he will have itpublicly spoken of, openly declared, plainly uttered, and joyfullyproclaimed in song. The inspired Psalmist, moved by the Holy Spirit,calls upon all flesh, yes, and upon all the works of God to sound outthe praises of the Most High. Will we not heartily respond to thecall?

2.In following his pattern of praise, David had spoken in verse five ofthe majesty of God, the glorious King. His eye seems to be dazzled bythe glorious splendour of the august throne, and he cries, “I willspeak of the glorious honour of your majesty.” Then he thinks aboutthe power of that throne of majesty and about the force with whichits just decrees are carried out, and so in verse six he exclaims,“Men shall speak of the might of your terrible acts, and I willdeclare your greatness.” Here he speaks in brief both concerning themajesty and the might of the dread Supreme, but when he turns histhoughts to the divine goodness, he enlarges and uses words whichindicate the stress which he lays upon his subject, and his desire tolinger over it. “They shall abundantly utter,” says our text, “thememory of your great goodness.” Now, our desire this morning is thatwe also may praise and magnify the name of the infinite Jehovahwithout bound or stint, and may especially have our hearts enlargedand our mouths opened wide to speak abundantly of his great goodness.Oh that in this entire congregation the text may become true—“Theyshall abundantly utter the memory of your great goodness”; and havinguttered it in plain speech may we all rise a stage higher, and withglad music sing of his righteousness.

3.You see our object, an object in which I trust you all sympathise.Come, one and all, and praise the Lord. Is the invitation too wide?Observe the ninth verse: “The Lord is good to all: and his tendermercies are over all his works. All your works shall praise you,” Iwill not limit the invitation of the Lord; since you all drink fromthe river of his bounty, render to him such praises as you can.

4.But there is a special invitation for his saints. Come and blesshis name with spiritual, inward, enlightened praise. “Bless the Lord,oh house of Israel. You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.” In yourheart of hearts extol, adore, and make him great, for it iswritten—“Your saints shall bless you.” Truly this shall not bewritten in vain, for our souls shall bless the Lord today as the HolySpirit shall move within us.

5.We shall speak upon two things so that we may promote the object wehave in view. The first is, the method of securing the abundantutterance of God’s praise concerning his goodness; and, secondly,the motives for desiring to secure this abundant utterance.

6.I. THE METHOD OF SECURING THE ABUNDANT UTTERANCE OF THE DIVINEPRAISE CONCERNING HIS GOODNESS. Our text gives us the mentalphilosophy of abounding praise, and shows us the plan by which suchpraise may be secured. The steps are such as the best mentalphilosophy approves.

7.First, we shall be helped to abundant praise by carefulobservation. Notice the text—“They shall abundantly utter thememory of your great goodness.” Now, in order to have a memory theremust first of all be observation. A man does not remember what henever knew; this is clear to all, and therefore the point isvirtually implied in the text. In proportion as a fact or a truthmakes an impression upon the mind, in that proportion it is likely toremain in the memory. If you hear a sermon, what you rememberafterwards is the point which most forcibly strikes you while you arelistening to the discourse. At the time you say, “I will jot thatdown, for I should not like to forget it, for it comes so closelyhome to me”; and whether you use your pencil or not, memory obeysyour wish and makes a record upon her tablets. It is so with thedealings of God towards us. If we want to remember his goodness wemust let it strike us; we must notice it, consider it, meditate uponit, estimate it, and allow it to exert its due influence upon ourhearts; and then we shall not need to say that “we must try andremember,” for we shall remember as a matter of course. Theimpression being clearly and deeply made will not easily fade away,but we shall see it after many days. The first thing, therefore,towards the plentiful praising of God is a careful observation of hisgoodness.

8.Now, see what it is that we are to observe—it is God’s goodness. Toomany are blind to that blessed object. They receive the bounties ofprovidence but they do not see the hand of God in them. They are fedby his liberality and guided by his care, but they attribute all thatthey receive to themselves, or to secondary agents. God is not in alltheir thoughts, and consequently his goodness is not considered. Theyhave no memory of his goodness because they have no observation ofit. Some, indeed, instead of observing the goodness of God, complainabout his unkindness to them, and imagine that he is needlesslysevere. Like the unprofitable servant in the parable, they say, “Iknew you, that you are an austere man.” Others sit in judgment uponhis ways, as we find them recorded in Holy Scripture, and dare tocondemn the Judge of all the earth. Denying the goodness of Jehovah,they attempt to set up another God than the God of Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob, who for this enlightened century is a God much too sternlyjust. In this house, however, we worship Jah, Jehovah the God ofAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord and SaviourJesus Christ, and none other than he. In many a place of worship atthis day they adore new gods, newly come up, which our forefathersdid not know; not like the God of the Old Testament, who in theopinion of modern philosophers is as much out-of-date as Jupiterhimself. Today we say with David, “This God is our God for ever andever.” “Oh come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel beforeJehovah our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of hispasture, and the sheep of his hand.” As we find the Lord revealedboth in the Old and the New Testament, making no division in therevelation, but regarding it as one grand whole, we behold abundantgoodness in him. Mingled with that awful justice which we would notwish to deny, we see surpassing grace, and we delight that God islove. He is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and ofgreat mercy. We have no complaints to make against him, we wish tomake no alteration in his dealings or in his character; he is ourextremely great joy; our whole heart rejoices in the contemplationof him. “Who is like you, oh God? Among the gods who is like you?” Weare then to consider, what many will not so much as believe, thatthere is great goodness in Jehovah, the God of creation, providence,and redemption; the God of Paradise, of Sinai, and of Calvary. We arethoroughly to acquaint ourselves with him as he has made himselfknown, and we are continually to consider his great goodness, so thatwe may retain the memory of it.

9.If we are willing to see we shall not lack for opportunities ofbeholding his goodness every day, for it is to be seen in so manyacts that I will not begin the catalogue, since I should nevercomplete it. His goodness is seen in creation; it shines in everysunbeam, glitters in every dewdrop, smiles in every flower, andwhispers in every breeze. Earth and sea and air, teeming withinnumerable forms of life, are all full of the goodness of the Lord.Sun, moon, and stars affirm that the Lord is good, and allterrestrial things echo the proclamation. His goodness is also to beseen in the providence which rules over all. Let rebellious spiritsmurmur as they may, goodness is enthroned in Jehovah’s kingdom, andevil and suffering are intruders there. God is good towards all hiscreatures, and especially towards the objects of his eternal love,for whom all things work together for good. It is, however, in thedomain of grace that the noblest form of divine goodness is seen.Begin with the goodness which shines in our election, and follow thesilver thread through redemption, the mission of the Holy Spirit, thecalling, the adoption, the preservation, the perfecting of thechosen, and you will see riches of goodness which will astound you.Dwell where you may within the kingdom of redemption, and you willsee rivers, yes, oceans of goodness. I leave your own minds toremember these things, and your own lips abundantly to utter thememory of the Lord’s great goodness in the wonders of his salvation;for it is not my intention to speak for you, but to stir you up tospeak for yourselves.

10.The point, which struck the Psalmist, and should strike us all, isthe greatness of the goodness. The greatness of the goodness willbe seen by the contemplative mind upon a consideration of theperson upon whom the goodness lights. “Why is this for me?” willoften be the utterance of a grateful spirit. That God should be goodtowards any of his people shows his mercy, but that he should makeme to be one of his, and deal so well with me, in this hisgoodness does exceed itself. Why is this for me? Is this the mannerof man, oh Lord? What am I, and what is my father’s house? It isgreat goodness since it visits people so insignificant, yes more, soguilty and so deserving of wrath. Blessed be God that he is good topeople so ungrateful, to people who cannot even at the best make anyadequate return, who, alas, do not even make such return as theycould. Ah, Lord, when I consider what a brutish creature I am it iseasy to confess the greatness of your goodness.

11.The greatness of the goodness becomes apparent when we think of thegreatness of God the benefactor. “What is man that you are mindfulof him, or the son of man that you visit him?” That God himselfshould bless his people, that he should come in the form of humanflesh to save his people, that he should dwell in us, and walk in us,and be to us a God, a very present help in trouble, is a miracle oflove. Is this not great goodness? I can very well understand that theinfinity of his benevolence should commit us to the charge of angels,but it is amazing that it should be written, “I the Lord will keepit: I will water it every moment: lest anyone harms it, I will keepit night and day.” Oh, the greatness of such personal condescension,such personal care. Oh heir of heaven, shall you drink from thefountain of all goodness, and not only from its streams. God himselfis your portion, and the lot of your inheritance; it is not just hiscreatures but the Creator himself is yours. Will you not rememberthis, and so keep the memory of his goodness alive?

12.The greatness of the goodness is on some occasions revealed by theevil from which it rescues us. No one knows so well the blessingof health as he who has only recently been tortured in every limb;then for his restoration he blesses Jehovah Rophi, the healing Lord.No one knows what salvation from sin means like those who have beencrushed beneath the burden of guilt, and have been racked by remorse.Did you ever feel yourself condemned by God, and cast out from hispresence? Did the pangs of hell begin within your startledconscience? Did your soul long for death rather than life, whilethick clouds and darkness enshrouded your guilty spirit? If so, whenthe Lord has put away your sin, and said, “You shall not die”; whenhe has brought you out from the prison-house, and broken your bondsasunder, and set your feet upon a rock, then the new song has been inyour mouth, even praise for evermore. Then you have known it to begreat goodness which delivered you like this. We may imagine what thebottom of the sea is like, and conceive what it must be to be bornedown to the lower depths where the weeds are wrapped around the deadmen’s brows; yet I warrant you that our imagination very poorlycomprehends what Jonah experienced when the floods encompassed himall around, and he went down to the bottom of the mountains. When theLord brought up his life from corruption then he had a strong andvivid memory of the great goodness of God, since he had beendelivered from so great a death. It is in the storms of life that welearn to praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderfulworks to the children of men. If I might have it so, I could wish mywhole life to be calm as a fair summer’s evening, when scarcely azephyr stirs the happy flowers; I could desire that nothing mightagain disturb the serenity of my restful spirit: but were it to be soI suspect I should know very little of the great goodness of theLord. The sweet singer in the one hundred and seventh psalm ascribesthe song of gratitude not to dwellers at home, but to wanderers inthe wilderness; not to those who are always at liberty, but toemancipated captives; not to the strong and vigorous, but to thosewho barely escape from the gates of death; not to those who standupon a sea of glass, but to those who are tossed in tempest upon araging ocean. Doubtless it is so: we should not perceive thegreatness of goodness if we did not see the depth of the horriblepit, from which it snatches us. You were almost ruined in business,friend, but you escaped as with the skin of your teeth, then youpraised God for his great goodness. Your dear child was given up bythe physicians, your wife apparently sickened for death, but boththese have been spared to you, and you see the heights and depths ofmercy in it. Now, therefore, lay up this great goodness in yourmemory to be the material for future psalms of praise.

13.Nor is this the only way of estimating God’s great goodness: you mayestimate it by the actual greatness of the benefits bestowed. Hegives like a king; indeed, he gives like a God. Behold, your God hasnot given you a few minted coins of gold, but he has endowed you withthe mines themselves: he has not, as it were, handed to you a cup ofcold water, but he has brought you to the flowing fountain, and madethe well itself your own. God himself is ours. “‘The Lord is myportion,’ says my soul.” If you must have a little list of what hehas given you, ponder the following items:—He has given you a nameand a place among his people; he has given you the rights and thenature of his sons; he has given you the complete forgiveness of allyour sins, and you have it now; he has given you a robe ofrighteousness, and you are wearing it now; he has given you asuperlative loveliness in Christ Jesus, and you have it now; he hasgiven you access to him, and prevalence at the mercy seat; he hasgiven you this world and worlds to come; he has given you all that hehas; he has given you his own Son, and how shall he now refuse youanything? Oh, he has given like a God. The greatness of his goodnessthis tongue can never hope to tell, and so I ask you to think it overin a quiet hour at home. As for myself I will speak of my Lord as Ifind him, for the old proverb asks us to do so. Whatever you shallsay, men and brethren, I have nothing to speak except what is goodabout my God, my King, from my childhood until now. He amazes me withhis mercy; he utterly astounds me with his lovingkindness; he causesmy spirit almost to swoon away with delight beneath the sweetness ofhis love. Yet he has not spared me the rod, nor will he, and blessedbe his name for that also. “Shall we receive good at the hand of theLord, and shall we not also receive evil?” said the patriarch; but wewill go beyond that, and assert that evil is no evil when it comesfrom his hand—everything is good which he ordains. We may not see itto be so at the time, but it is so. Our heavenly Father seems to risefrom good to better, and from better to even better still in infiniteprogression: he causes the roadway of our life to rise higher andhigher, and carries it over lofty mountains of lovingkindness. Ourlife path winds ever upward to even higher summits of abounding mercy:therefore let his praise increase, and may the name of the Lord begreater and greater still.

14.I want to urge you, dear friends, to observe the goodness of Godcarefully for your souls’ good. There is a great difference betweeneyes and no eyes; yet many have eyes and yet do not see. God’sgoodness flows before them, and they say, “Where is it?” They breatheit and they say, “Where is it?” They sit at the table, and they arefed upon it; they wear it upon their limbs: it is in the very beatingof their heart, and yet they say, “Where is it?” Do not be so blind.“The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib,” let usnot be more stupid than the beasts of the field, but let us know theLord and consider well the greatness of his goodness.

15.I have said that the text contains the philosophy of great praise,and we see this in the second stage of the process, namely,diligent memory. What has made an impression upon the mind byobservation is fastened upon the memory. Memory seems to lie in twothings—first in retaining an impression, and then in remembering itat a future time. I suppose that, more or less, everything thathappens to us is retained in the mind, but it is not easy toreproduce the fainter impressions when you wish to do so. I know inmy own mind a great many things that I am sure I remember, but yet Icannot always remember them immediately. Give me a quarter of an hourto run through a certain arrangement of ideas, and I shall say, “Ohyes, I have it. It was in my mind, but I could not recall it at thetime.” Memory collects facts and afterwards re-collects them.The matters before us are recorded by memory, but the tablet may bemislaid: the perfection of memory is to preserve the tablet in a wellknown place, from which you can fetch it out at a moment’s notice. Ihave dwelt rather longer upon observation with the view that you maybegin properly from the beginning, and, by getting vivid impressions,may be all the better able to retain and to recall them. We cannotutter what we have forgotten; hence the use of close observation tomake a strong memory touching the Lord’s great goodness.

16.How are we to strengthen our memory concerning God’s goodness? First,we should be well acquainted with the documents in which hisgoodness is recorded. A man may be said to keep in memory a factwhich did not happen in his own time, but hundreds of years before hewas born: he remembers it because he has seen the document in whichthe fact is recorded. In a certain sense this is within the range ofmemory; it is within the memory of man, the united memory of therace. Beloved, be familiar with the Word of God. Store your memorywith the ancient records of his great goodness: drink in the wholenarrative of the evangelists, and do not despise Moses and theprophets; lie soaking in the Psalms and the Song of Solomon, andsimilar books, until you come to know the well recorded goodness ofthe Lord. Have his words and deeds of goodness arranged and ready athand; let them be as it were at your finger tips because they are inyour heart’s core, and then you will be sure abundantly to utter thememory of his goodness, for “out of the abundance of the heart themouth speaks.”

17.Next, if you would strengthen your memory, very diligently observethe memorials. There are two in the Christian Church. There isthe memorial of your Saviour’s death, burial, and resurrection whichis illustrated by believers’ baptism, by which we are buried andrisen with the Lord Christ. Do not forget that memorial of his deepanguish, when he was immersed in grief and plunged in agony; for hetells you to observe it. And as for the Lord’s Supper, never neglectit, but be often at the table, where again you demonstrate his deathuntil he comes. He has told you to do this in remembrance of him;cherish devoutly the precious memorial. Great events in nations havebeen preserved upon the memory of future generations by some ordainedceremony, and the Lord’s Supper is of that kind; therefore observewell the table of the Lord, so that you do not forget his greatgoodness. See how the Jews kept their Exodus in mind by means of thePaschal Lamb; how they ate it after the sprinkling of the blood; howthey talked to their children and told them about the deliverancefrom Egypt, abundantly uttering the memory of God’s goodness, andthen after supper they sang a hymn, even as our text invites us tosing of the righteousness of God. Strengthen your memories, then, byreverent attention to the historical documents and the memorialordinances.

18.Still, the most important is the memory of what has happened toyourself, your own personal experience. I will not give a pennyfor your religion unless it has taken effect upon yourself. The powerof prayer! What about that? Did you ever receive an answer to prayer?Did you ever wrestle with the angel and come away victorious? What doyou know about prayer if you never did it? You are very orthodox.Yes, but unless the doctrines of grace have brought to your soul thegrace of the doctrines, and you have tasted and handled them, what doyou know about them? Nothing certainly to remember. Oh, dear heart,were you ever born again? Then you will remember his great goodness.Were you ever cleansed from your sin and justified in Christ? Youwill remember his great goodness. Have you been renewed in heart soas to hate sin and live in holiness? If so, you will remember,because you know something which flesh and blood have not revealed toyou. Let every personal mercy be written upon your personalmemory.

19.I have heard that the science of mnemonics, or the strengthening ofthe memory, for which I have not a very high esteem, lies in thefollowing of certain methods. According to some, you link one ideawith another; you remember a date by associating it with somethingthat you can see. Practice this method in the present case. RememberGod’s goodness by the objects around you which are associated withit. For example, let your bed remind you of God’s mercy in the nightwatches, and your table of his goodness in supplying your dailyneeds. My clothes when I put them on this morning reminded me oftimes when my hand was unequal even to that simple task. All aroundus there are memoranda of God’s love if we choose to read them. Thememory of some deed of divine goodness may be connected with everypiece of furniture in your room. There is the old armchair where youwrestled with God in great trouble, and received a gracious answer;you cannot forget it; you do not pray so well anywhere else as you dothere; you have become attached to that particular chair. Thatthumbed Bible, that particular one I mean: it is getting rather wornnow, and is marked a good deal; but, nevertheless, out of that verycopy the promises have gleamed like the stars in heaven, andtherefore it helps your memory to use it. I remember a poor mangiving me what I thought to be great praise. I visited him in thehospital, and he said, “Ah, you seem to have hung this room aroundwith your texts, for everything reminds me of what I have heard yousay, and as I lie here I remember your stories and your sayings.” Inmuch the same way we should remember what God has done for us, bylooking at all the various places, circumstances, times, and peoplewhich were the surroundings of his mercy. Oh for a clear remembranceof the goodness of God.

20.Memory is sometimes helped by classification. You send a servant to ashop for a variety of articles: she will forget some of them unlessyou so arrange the order that one suggests another. Take care, then,to set God’s mercies in order before you, and count them up, if youcan, and so fix them in your memory.

21.At other times, when people have very bad memories, they like towrite down on a bit of paper what it is important to remember. I haveoften done so, and have placed the paper where I have never found itagain. A thread around the finger, or a knot in a handkerchief, andmany other devices has been tried. I do not mind what it is, as longas you try and remember God’s mercy towards you by some means orother. Do make some record of his goodness. You know the day in whichyou lost that money, do you not? “Yes, very well.” You remember theday of the month of Black Friday, or Black Monday, up in the City;you have evil days indelibly noted in the black pocket-book ofmemory: do you remember as well the days of God’s speciallovingkindness to you? You should do so. Take pains to make notes ofnotable benefits, and to mark remarkable blessings, so you shall infuture days utter the memory of God’s great goodness.

22.The first two processes for securing abundant praise are observationand remembrance. The next is utterance; “They shall abundantlyutter.” The word contains the idea of boiling or bubbling up likea fountain. It means a holy fluency about the mercy of God. We havequite enough fluent people around, but many of them are idlers forwhom Satan finds abundant work to do. May the Lord deliver us fromthe noise of fluent women: but it does not matter how fluent men andwomen are if they will be fluent on the topic now before us. Openyour mouths; let the praise pour out; let it come, rivers of it.Stream away! Gush away, all that you possibly can. “They shallabundantly utter the memory of your great goodness.” Do not stop thejoyful speakers, let them go on for ever. They do not exaggerate,they cannot. You say they are enthusiastic, but they are not half upto the pitch yet; tell them to become more aroused and speak evenmore fervently. Go on, brother, go on; pile it up: say somethinggreater, grander, and even more fiery! You cannot exceed the truth.You have come to a theme where your most fluent powers will fail inutterance. The text calls for a sacred fluency, and I would exhortyou liberally to exercise it when you are speaking of the goodness ofGod.

23.“They shall abundantly utter it”—that is, they shall constantly bedoing it: they shall talk about God’s goodness all day long. When youstep into their cottages they will begin to tell you about God’sgoodness to them; when you say goodbye to them at night you shallhear more last words upon the favourite theme. Very likely they willrepeat themselves, but that does not matter; you cannot have too muchof this truly good thing. Just as the singers in the temple repeatedagain and again the chorus, “His mercy endures for ever,” so may werepeat our praises. Some of God’s mercies are so great and sweet,that if we never had another throughout eternity the memory of thesingle favour might remain for ever. The splendour of divine love isso great, that a single display of it is often all that we can bear:to have two such revelations at once would be as overpowering asthough God should make two suns when one already fills the world withlight. Oh, praise the Lord, my brothers and sisters, with boundlessexaltation: rouse all your faculties to this divine service, andabundantly utter the memory of his goodness.

24.You cannot praise abundantly unless your memory supplies materials,and on the other hand your memory will lose strength unless you utterwhat you know. When you went to school and had a lesson to learn youfound out that by reading your lesson aloud you learned it morequickly, for your ear assisted your eye. Uttering the divine goodnessis a great help to the memory of it. By teaching we learn; bygiving the truth expression we deepen its impression upon our minds.

25.Now I come to the last part of this admirable process. When we haveabundantly uttered, then we are to sing. In the old Greekmythology Mnemosynè, the goddess of memory, is the mother of theMuses, and surely where there is a good memory of God’slovingkindness the heart will soon produce a song. But what issurprising in the text is that when the joy is described as mountingfrom plain utterance to song it takes another theme—“Sing of yourrighteousness.” When the heart is most adoring; and selects thegrandest theme for reverent song, it chooses the meeting of goodnessand righteousness as its topic. How sweet is that canticle—“Mercy andtruth are met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed eachother.” The atonement is the gem of the heart’s poetry. Do yourhearts not burn within you at the very mention of the glorious deedof Jesus our great Substitute? Parnassus [a] is outdone by Calvary;the Castalian spring [b] is dried and wounded the side of Jesus hasopened another fount of song. The goodness of the Lord towards us inall the blessings of his providence we gladly chant, but when we tellabout the grace, which led our Lord Jesus to bleed and die, “the justfor the unjust to bring us to God,” our music leaps to noblerheights. Incomparable wisdom ordained a way in which God should berighteous to the sternness of severity, and yet should be good,illimitably good, to those who put their trust in him; then lift upyour music until the golden harps shall find themselves outdone.

26.So, then, we have explained the method of securing an abundantutterance, may the Holy Spirit help us to carry it out.

27.II. In the second place, we shall very briefly note THE MOTIVESFOR THIS ABUNDANT UTTERANCE. These lie very near at hand.

28.The first is, because we cannot help it. The goodness of God demandsthat we should speak of it. If the Lord Jesus himself should chargehis people to be silent concerning his goodness they would scarcelybe able to obey the command. They would, like the man who was healed,blaze abroad the mighty work that he had done. But, bless his name,he has not told us to be quiet; he allows us to utter abundantly thememory of his great goodness. The stones of the street would cry outas we went along if we did not speak of his love. Some of you goodpeople seldom speak of the goodness of God; how is this? I wonder howyou can be so coldly quiet. “Oh,” one said in his first love, “I mustspeak or I shall burst”; and we have sometimes felt the same, whenthe restrained testimony was as fire within our bones. Is it not asacred instinct to proclaim what we feel within? The news is too goodto keep. Indulge to the full the holy propensity of your renewednature. Your soul says, “Speak,” and if etiquette says, “Hush, theywill think you are a fanatic,” do not regard it, but speak aloud, andlet them think you are a fanatic if they please. Sir, play theorgan very softly when the subject is your own praise; but when youcome to the praises of God, pull out all the stops; thunders of musicare all too little for his infinite deservings.

29.Another motive for abundantly uttering the praises of God is thatother voices are clamorous to drown it out. What a noisy world thisis, with its conflicting and discordant cries. “Lo here,” one cries;“Lo there,” shouts another. This uproar would drown the notes ofGod’s praise unless his people uttered it again and yet again. Themore there is said against our God the more we should speak for him.Whenever you hear a man curse, it would be wise to say aloud, “Blessthe Lord.” Say it seven times for every time he curses, and make himhear it. Perhaps he will want to know what you are doing, and thenyou will have an opportunity of asking what he is doing, and he willhave more difficulty in explaining himself than you will inexplaining yourself. Do try if you can to make up for the injuriesdone to the dear and sacred name of God by multiplying your praisesin proportion as you hear him spoken ill of. I say, unless you giveout abundant utterance, God’s praise will be buried under heaps oferror, blasphemy, ribaldry, nonsense, and idle talk. Abundantly utterit so that some of it, at least, may be heard.

30.Praise the Lord abundantly because it will benefit you to do so. Howbright the past looks when we begin to praise God for it. We say, “Iam the man who has seen affliction,” and we are to fill the cup ofmemory with gall and wormwood, but when we see the goodness of God init all, we turn the kerchief with which we wiped our tears into aflag of victory, and with holy praise, in the name of our God, wewave the banner.

31.As for the present, if you think of God’s mercies, how different itseems. A man comes to his dinner table, and does not enjoy what isthere, because he misses an expected dainty; but if he were as pooras some people he would not turn his nose up, but would bless thegoodness which has given him so much more than he deserves. Some Iknow even among Christians are growlers in general always findingfault. The best things in the world are not good enough for them.Ah, my brother, abundantly utter the memory of God’s goodness andyou will find nothing to grumble about, nothing to complain about,but everything to rejoice in.

32.As for the future, if we remember God’s goodness how joyfully weshall march into it. There is the same goodness for tomorrow as foryesterday, and the same goodness for old age as for youth; the sameGod to bless me when I grow grey as when I was a babe upon mymother’s breast. Therefore, forward to the future without hesitationor suspicion, abundantly uttering the lovingkindness of the Lord.

says Dr. Watts, and I am afraid he speaks the truth, but very fewwill be led in this way to resolve—“We will go with these people, forwe perceive that God is with them.” Is it good reasoning if men say,“These people are so miserable that they must be on the way toheaven?” We may hope they are, for they evidently want some betterplace to live in; but then it may be questioned if such folks wouldnot be wretched even in heaven. You smile, dear friends, as if yousaid you would not be much attracted by sanctimonious misery, nor doI think you would. Therefore do not try it yourselves, but on thecontrary talk much about the goodness of the Lord, and wear a smilingface, and let your eyes sparkle, and go through the world as if afterall you are not slaves under the lash, or prisoners in bonds, but theLord’s free men. We have glorious reasons for being happy; let us beso, and soon we shall hear people asking, “What is this? Is thisreligion? I always thought religious people felt bound to be down inthe dumps, and to go mourning and sighing all their days.” Whenthey see your joy they will be tempted to come to Christ. There is ablessed seductiveness in a holy, happy life. Praise his name then,praise his name for evermore; abundantly utter the memory of hisgreat goodness, and you will bring many to Christ.

34.Such happy utterance will help also to comfort your own Christianfriends and fellow sufferers. There is a great deal of misery in theworld—just now more than usual. Many are sorrowing from variouscauses; therefore, my dear friends, be happier than you ever were.That venerable man of God, now in heaven, our dear old fatherDransfield, when it was a very foggy morning in November, used alwaysto come into the vestry before the sermon and say, “It is a drearymorning, dear pastor; we must rejoice in the Lord more than usual.Things around us are dark, but within and above all is bright. I hopewe shall have a very happy service today.” He would shake hands withme and smile, until he seemed to carry us all into the middle ofsummer. What if it is bad weather? Bless the Lord that it is notworse than it is. We are not altogether in Egyptian darkness: the sundoes shine now and then, and we are sure it is not blown out. So,when we are sick and ill, let us thank God that we shall not be illfor ever, for there is a place where the inhabitants are sick nomore. And now today, if your harps have been hanging on the willows,take them down: if you have not praised the Lord as you should, beginto do so. Wash your mouths and get rid of the sour flavour ofmurmuring about bad business and bad weather. Sweeten your lips withthe pleasant confection of praise. I will tell you this, brethren, ifany of you shall confess to me that you have sinned by going too farin blessing God, I will for once become a priest, and give youabsolution. I never tried my hand at that business before, but Ithink I can manage so much. Praise God extravagantly if you can. Tryit. I wish you would say within yourself, “I will go beyond allbounds in this matter”; for there are no bounds to the deserving ofan ever-blessed God.

Psalm 136 (Song 2) L.M.
1 Give to our God immortal praise;
Mercy and truth are all his ways:
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your song.
2 Give to the Lord of lords renown,
The King of kings with glory crown;
His mercies ever shall endure,
When lords and kings are known no more.
3 He built the earth, he spread the sky,
And fix’d the starry lights on high:
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your song.
4 He fills the sun with morning light,
He bids the moon direct the night:
His mercies ever shall endure,
When suns and moons shall shine no more.
5 The Jews he freed from Pharaoh’s hand,
And brought them to the promised land:
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your song.
6 He saw the Gentiles dead in sin,
And felt his pity work within:
His mercies ever shall endure,
When death and sin shall reign no more.
7 He sent his Son with power to save
From guilt, and darkness, and the grave
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your song.
8 Through this vain world he guides our feet,
And leads us to his heavenly seat;
His mercies ever shall endure,
When this vain world shall be no more.
Isaac Watts, 1719.

God the Father, Adoration of God
175—Stand Up and Bless The Lord
1 Stand up and bless the Lord,
Ye people of his choice;
Stand up and bless the Lord your God,
With heart and soul and voice.
2 Though high above all praise,
Above all blessing high,
Who would not fear his holy name,
And laud and magnify?
3 Oh for the living flame
From his own altar brought
To touch our lip, our minds inspire,
And wing to heaven our thought!
4 There with benign regard,
Our hymns he deigns to hear;
Though unreveal’d to mortal sense,
The spirit feels him near.
5 God is our strength and song,
And his salvation ours;
Then be his love in Christ proclaim’d
With all our ransom’d powers.
6 Stand up and bless the Lord;
The Lord your God adore;
Stand up, and bless his glorious name,
Henceforth for evermore.
James Montgomery, 1825.

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 142
1 Behold me unprotected stand,
No friendly guardian at my hand;
No place of fight, no refuge near,
And none to whom my soul is dear.
2 But, Lord, to thee I pour my vow,
My hope, my place of refuge thou:
And whilst the light of life I see,
I still my portion find in thee.
3 Then hear and heed my fervent cry,
For low, oppress’d with grief, I lie;
Against my foes thy arm display,
For I am weak, and powerful they.
4 Come loose my prison bands, set free
My soul, that I amy sing to thee:
Then shall the righteous round me press,
And join thy bounteous love to bless.
Richard Mant, 1824.