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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 66:1 To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Psalm 66:1-20 THE most striking feature of this psalm is the transition from the plural "we" and "our," in Psalm 66:1-12 , to the singular "I" and "my," in Psalm 66:13-20 . Ewald supposes that two independent psalms have been united, but Psalm 66:12 is as abrupt for an ending as Psalm 66:13 is for a beginning; and the "Come, hear," of Psalm 66:16 echoes the "Come, and see," of Psalm 66:5 . It is possible that "the ‘I’ of the second part is identical with the ‘we’ of the first; in other words, that the personified community speaks here" (Baethgen); but the supposition that the psalm was meant for public worship, and is composed of a choral and a solo part, accounts for the change of number. Such expressions as "my soul" and "my heart" favour the individual reference. Of course, the deliverance magnified by the single voice is the same as that celebrated by the loud acclaim of many tongues; but there is a different note in the praise of the former-there is a tone of inwardness in it, befitting individual appropriation of general blessings. To this highest point, that of the action of the single soul in taking the deliverances of the community for its very own, and pouring out its own praise, the psalm steadily climbs. It begins with the widest outlook over "all the earth," summoned to ring forth joyous praise. It ends focused to one burning point, in a heart fired by the thought that God "has not turned away his lovingkindness from me." So we learn how each single soul has to claim its several part in world wide blessings, as each flower calyx absorbs the sunshine that floods the pastures. The psalm has no superscription of date or author, and no clue in its language to the particular deliverance that called it forth. The usual variety of conjectures have been hazarded. The defeat of Sennacherib occurs to some; the return from Babylon to others; the Maccabean period to yet another school of critics. It belongs to a period when Israel’s world significance and mission were recognised (which Cheyne considers a post-exilic feature, " Orig. of Psalt. " 176), and when the sacrificial worship was in full force; but beyond these there are no clear data for period of composition. It is divided into five strophes, three of which are marked by Selah. That musical indication is wanting at the close of the third strophe ( Psalm 66:12 ), which is also the close of the first or choral part, and its absence may be connected with the transition to a single voice. A certain progress in thought is noticeable, as will appear as we proceed. The first strophe calls upon all the earth to praise God for His works. The special deeds which fire the psalmist are not yet mentioned, though they are present to his mind. The summons of the world to praise passes over into the prophecy that it shall praise. The manifestation of God’s character by act will win homage. The great thought that God has but to be truly known in order to be reverenced is an axiom with this psalmist; and no less certain is he that such knowledge and such praise will one day fill the world. True, he discerns that submission will not always be genuine; for he uses the same word to express it as occurs in Psalm 18:44 , which represents "feigned homage." Every great religious awakening has a fringe of adherents, imperfectly affected by it, whose professions outrun reality, though they themselves are but half conscious that they feign. But though this sobering estimate of the shallowness of a widely diffused recognition of God tones down the psalmist’s expectations, and has been abundantly confirmed by later experience, his great hope remains as an early utterance of the conviction, which has gathered assurance and definiteness by subsequent Revelation, and is now familiar to all. The world is God’s. His Self-revelation will win hearts. There shall be true submission and joyous praise girdling the earth as it rolls. The psalmist dwells mainly on the majestic and awe-inspiring aspect of God’s acts. His greatness of power bears down opposition. But the later strophes introduce other elements of the Divine nature and syllables of the Name, though the inmost secret of the "power of God" in the weakness of manhood and the all-conquering might of Love is not yet ripe for utterance. The second strophe advances to a closer contemplation of the deeds of God, which the nations are summoned to behold. He is not only "dread" in His doings towards mankind at large, but Israel’s history is radiant with the manifestation of His name, and that past lives on so that ancient experiences give the measure and manner of today’s working. The retrospect embraces the two standing instances of God’s delivering help-the passage of the Red Sea and of Jordan-and these are not dead deeds in a far-off century. For the singer calls on his own generation to rejoice "there" in Him. Psalm 66:6 c is by some translated as "There did we rejoice," and more accurately by others, "Let us rejoice." In the former case the essential solidarity of all generations of the nation is most vividly set forth. But the same idea is involved in the correct rendering, according to which the men of the psalmist’s period are entitled and invoked to associate themselves in thought with that long-past generation, and to share in their joy, since they do possess the same power which wrought then. God’s work is never antiquated. It is all a revelation of eternal activities. What He has been, He is. What He did, He does. Therefore faith may feed on all the records of old time, and expect the repetition of all that they contain. Such an application of history to the present makes the nerve of this strophe. For Psalm 66:7 , following on the retrospect, declares the perpetuity of God’s rule, and that His eyes still keep an outlook, as a watchman on a tower might do, to mark the enemies’ designs, in order that He may intervene, as of old, for His people’s deliverance. He "looked forth upon the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud". { Exodus 14:24 } Thus He still marks the actions and plans of Israel’s foes. Therefore it were wise for the "rebellious" not to rear their heads so high in opposition. The third strophe comes still closer to the particular deliverance underlying the psalm. Why should all "peoples" be called upon to praise God for it? The psalmist has learned that Israel’s history is meant to teach the world what God is, and how blessed it is to dwell under His wing. No exclusiveness taints his enjoyment of special national privileges. He has reached a height far above the conceptions of the rest of the world in his day, and even in this day, except where the Christian conception of "humanity" has been heartily accepted. Whence came this width of view, this purifying from particularism, this anticipation by so many centuries of a thought imperfectly realised even now? Surely a man who in those days and with that environment could soar so high must have been lifted by something mightier than his own spirit. The details of the Divine dealings described in the strophe are of small consequence in comparison with its fixed expectation of the world’s participation in Israel’s blessings. The familiar figures for affliction reappear-namely, proving and refining in a furnace. A less common metaphor is that of being prisoned in a dungeon, as the word rendered "net" in the A.V. and R.V. probably means. Another peculiar image is that of Psalm 66:12 : "Thou hast caused men to ride over our head." The word for "men" here connotes feebleness and frailty, characteristics which make tyranny more intolerable; and the somewhat harsh metaphor is best explained as setting forth insolent and crushing domination, whether the picture intended is that of ruthless conquerors driving their chariots over their prone victims, or that of their sitting as an incubus on their shoulders and making them like beasts of burden. Fire and water are standing figures for affliction. With great force these accumulated symbols of oppression are confronted by one abrupt clause ending the strophe, and describing in a breath the perfect deliverance which sweeps them all away: "Thou broughtest us out into abundance." There is no need for the textual alteration of the last word into "a wide place" (Hupfeld), a place of liberty (Cheyne), or freedom (Baethgen). The word in the received text is that employed in Psalm 23:5 . "My cup is overfulness" and "abundance" yields a satisfactory meaning here, though not closely corresponding to any of the preceding metaphors for affliction. The fourth strophe ( Psalm 66:13-15 ) begins the solo part. It clothes in a garb appropriate to a sacrificial system the thought expressed in more spiritual dress in the next strophe, that God’s deliverance should evoke men’s praise. The abundance and variety of sacrifices named, and the fact that "rams" were not used for the offerings of individuals, seem to suggest that the speaker is, in some sense, representing the nation, and it has been supposed that he may be the high priest. But this is merely conjecture, and the explanation may be that there is a certain ideal and poetical tone over the representation, which does not confine itself to scrupulous accuracy. The last strophe ( Psalm 66:16-20 ) passes beyond sacrificial symbols, and gives the purest utterance to the emotions and resolves which ought to well up in a devout soul on occasion of God’s goodness. Not only does the psalmist teach us how each individual must take the general blessing for his very own-of which act the faith which takes the world’s Christ for my Christ is the supreme example-but he teaches us that the obligation laid on all recipients of God’s mercy is to tell it forth, and that the impulse is as certain to follow real reception as the command is imperative. Just as Israel received deliverances that the whole earth might learn how strong and gracious was Israel’s God, we receive His blessings, and chiefly His highest gift of life in Christ, not only that we may live, but that, living, we may "declare the works of the Lord." He has little possession of God’s grace who has not felt the necessity of speech, and the impossibility of the lips being locked when the heart is full. The psalmist tells his experience of God’s answers to his prayer in a very striking fashion. Psalm 66:17 says that he cried to God; and while his uttered voice was supplication, the song extolling God for the deliverance asked was, as it were, lying under his tongue, ready to break forth, -so sure was he that his cry would be heard. That is a strong faith which prepares banners and music for the triumph before the battle is fought. It would be presumptuous folly, not faith, if it rested on anything less certain than God’s power and will. "I find David making a syllogism in mood and figure ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: but verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.’ Now, I expected that David would have concluded thus ‘Therefore I regard not wickedness in my heart.’ But far otherwise he concludes: ‘Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.’ Thus David hath deceived but not wronged me. I looked that he should have clapped the crown on his own, and he puts it on God’s head. I will learn this excellent logic." So says Fuller ("Good Thoughts in Bad Times," p. 34, Pickering’s ed., 1841). No doubt, however, the psalmist means to suggest, though he does not state, that his prayer was sincere. There is no self-complacent attribution of merit to his supplication, in the profession that it was untainted by any secret, sidelong looking towards evil; and Fuller is right in emphasising the suppression of the statement. But even the appearance of such is avoided by the jet of praise which closes the psalm. Its condensed brevity has induced some critics to mend it by expansion, as they regard it as incongruous to speak of turning away a man’s prayer from himself. Some would therefore insert "from Him" after "my prayer," and others would expand still further by inserting an appropriate negative before "His lovingkindness." But the slight incongruity does not obscure the sense, and brings out strongly the flow of thought. So fully does the psalmist feel the connection between God’s lovingkindness and his own prayer, that these are, as it were, smelted into one in his mind, and the latter is so far predominant in his thoughts that he is unconscious of the anomaly of his expression. To expand only weakens the swing of the words and the power of the thought. It is possible to tame lyric outbursts into accuracy at the cost of energy. Psalmists are not bound to be correct in style. Rivers wind; canals are straight. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Psalm 66 Providence J. Stalker, D. D. The real theme of this psalm is in the last section: it is a psalm of thanksgiving for a special mercy experienced by an individual. But the account of this special providence is prefaced by two sections descriptive of the providence of God in general. This is in accordance with a law of the spiritual life. Those who enter into real experience of their own are thereby united with the entire religious experience of the race. There is no influence so broadening and refining as that of a living Christianity. I. THE PROVIDENCE OF POWER (vers. 1-7). God is in the midst of His people like a watchman on the watch-tower, not only observing all that is taking place within the city of God, but keeping a keen outlook upon the enemies by whom the city is surrounded, lest the rebellious should exalt themselves (ver. 7). Of this protecting care an instance never to be forgotten was the scene at the Red Sea, when the flood was turned into dry land, and His people, who had been in mortal terror, had their apprehensions turned into rejoicings. Another was the passage of the Jordan, when they entered Canaan. These may be called the stock examples of Hebrew poetry. We have better instances supplied by subsequent history; but the great lesson is that all history belongs to us, and we are selling our birthright if we do not know how to travel through the tracts of the past and discern in them the footsteps of our God. II. THE PROVIDENCE OF DISCIPLINE (vers. 8-12). When God is celebrated merely as the Champion of His people, who discomfits their enemies, there is danger of boasting. But the psalmist is well aware that God sustains a more delicate relation to His people. He does not always prosper them; He does not always spare them disappointments and defeat. On the contrary, adversity is one of the gifts of the covenant. And in this psalm the sufferings of God's people are described in a series of touching images (vers. 10-12). They have been tried like silver; they have been brought into the net like a bird which is in the grasp of its captor and cannot escape; they have been yoked to oppression like the ass to its load, and the oppressor has lorded it over them like the driver riding above the head of the camel; they have been brought through fire and through water. Yet for these experiences the psalm calls for praise. The old poets used to say that the nightingale sang with its breast resting against a thorn; and it is certain that the mellowest notes of the religious voice are never heard till suffering has been experienced. The distinction of God's people is not that they have less to bear than others, but that they get the good of their affliction, and, when they trust God, He always at last brings them out, as is said here, into a wealthy place. III. THE PROVIDENCE OF GRACE (vers. 13-20). There are those who have never had anything done for their souls. They can speak about their bodies, their properties and their fortunes, but their soul has no history. If a man's soul has a history in which God is concerned, and of which he himself is glad, we know a good deal about him. It is a great thing to be able to say, "Come and hear" (ver. 16), "Come and see" (ver. 5). Have you seen any sight and heard any message which you feel to be worth the attention of all the world? I should not like to live and die without having seen and heard the greatest and best that the world contains. Perhaps a further biographical feature is indicated in the saying that if he had regarded iniquity in his heart God would not have heard him. At all events, we have here one of the profoundest remarks on prayer to be found in the whole Bible. God will not hear the prayers of a man who is cherishing known sin. But the psalmist does not ascribe the glory of his answered prayer to his innocence. He finishes with a humble ascription to the God of Grace. ( J. Stalker, D. D. ) Worship Homilist. I. It is EXULTINGLY DELIGHTFUL (vers. 1, 2). It is a cheery, jubilant exercise of the mind; the whole atmosphere of the soul breaking into sunshine, all its vocal powers going out in rapturous music. Worship is the soul losing itself in the infinitely kind, the supremely beautiful and good. Self-obliviousness is the highest happiness. II. It is BINDING ON ALL. "All ye lands." It is more rational, more right, for men to neglect everything else than to neglect this — neglect their physical health, their social advancement, even their intellectual culture, than to neglect worship. It is the "one thing needful." It is that one thing which, if lacking in any character, damns the man. III. It has a DIRECT RELATION TO GOD. "Say unto God, How terrible art Thou," etc. It speaks not about Him, but to Him. It may be said that genuine worship has to do with everything — it mingles in all the services of the man, makes the whole life one unbroken psalm. True, but it only does so by the conscious contact of the soul with God. As the fields that are sown with grain must turn themselves to the sun before there will come germination, growth, maturation, so the soul must put itself into conscious contact with God, its Sun, before its spiritual powers can be brought out into true worship. IV. It will ONE DAY BE UNIVERSAL. "All the earth shall worship Thee." ( Homilist. ) All the earth shall worship Thee, and shall sing unto Thee. Psalm 66:4-7 The world's conversion J. Stewart, D. D. I. THE GLORIOUS AND AUSPICIOUS PROSPECT WHICH IS HERE OPENED TO OUR VIEW. All the earth shall worship Jehovah, and shall sing unto His name. II. ALL OBJECTIONS TO THE FULFILMENT OF THIS DECLARATION ARE TRIUMPHANTLY REPELLED. The politicians of this world tell you plainly that your object can never be accomplished. The world is against you. "The carnal mind, which is enmity against God," is against you. The glorious Gospel of the grace of God must come in contact with much that is contrary to its own nature. I am fully aware, too, that Satan, the god of this world, has long kept the minds of men in subjection to his vassalage, and held his captives in an almost universal submission. But with all these appalling circumstances put in array, and leaving you room to put in a thousand more, I see something in my text which excites you to go forward, in sure and certain hope of complete and glorious victory. "Come," and instead of looking on the works of men, till your hearts grow feeble, and your hands hang down, "come and see the works of God." Here are two grounds of encouragement — 1. The consideration of what God has done for His ancient Church, in fulfilling His promises, and in overcoming her foes; and — 2. What He will yet do for His Church, in fulfilling all for which He has encouraged you to hope. Consider these things; and declare if God has spoken anything which He has not fulfilled. ( J. Stewart, D. D. ) Worship R. W. Dale, D. D. It is a man's duty to worship God; therefore — I. MAN CAN ATTAIN A TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Not, indeed, if left unaided. The instinct which prompts the heart to bow down before an invisible Power is one of the last to disappear in the ruin of our nature. In the absence of everything else which gives dignity to human life it still survives. The first idea of God is awakened by the words and acts of our fellow-men, but when the idea is once ours, we can verify and ennoble it for ourselves. It has been maintained that man cannot have any real knowledge of what God is; that there are impregnable barriers to every attempt of the human soul to attain the real truth about the Divine attributes. But if "I am informed that the world is ruled by a Being whose attributes are infinite, but what they are we cannot learn, nor what are the principles of His government, except that 'the highest human morality we are capable of conceiving ' does not sanction them; convince me of it, and I will bear my fate as I may. But when I am told that I must believe this, and at the same time call the Being by the names which express and affirm the highest human morality, I say in plain terms that I will not. Whatever power such a Being may have over me, He shall not compel me to worship Him." As a Christian, as a Christian minister, I take my stand with those strong words of the philosopher against the theologian. Language has no meaning save the ordinary ones for the words, just, merciful, good; and if they do not mean this when applied to God, why do we use the words? Worship becomes impossible on such a theory. If the soul is to worship God, it must know what God is. II. GOD FINDS SATISFACTION AND DELIGHT IN HUMAN WORSHIP. If I speak to Him, it is because I believe He listens. His heart is moved in response to ours. As I sat a Sunday or two ago on the sea-shore, and thought of the thirty millions of people around whom the waters on which I looked were softly and gently rolling, I had present to my mind the twenty or thirty thousand assemblies which were met that morning in the depths of manufacturing towns, to which the Sunday had brought a brighter, clearer sky, and a welcome interruption of toil; in ancient cities, which have been famous through all the stormy years of our country's history; in scattered villages, where the life becomes more animated rather than more still on the weekly day of rest. I thought of venerable cathedrals, where vast and solemn spaces were filled with the music of ancient chants and exulting anthems, and the mighty harmonies of majestic organs, and of rude, unshapely buildings on the edge of lovely commons, and amongst the poorest and most wretched courts and streets of our populous districts, where, with loud cries and noisy hymns, poor labouring men whose hearts God had touched, were violently and passionately imploring His pardon, or thanking Him for deliverance from sin. I felt that at that moment the gates of heaven were thrown wide open as for some high festival, that before the day was over thousands of my countrymen would be regenerated by the Spirit of God, and receive from God's own lips absolution from all sin; and that tens of thousands would be baptized afresh with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and be gentler in their words, kinder in their deeds, purer in their thoughts all the week through as the result of that day's worship. I thought of all these, and I was thankful and glad. ( R. W. Dale, D. D. ) Come and see the works of God. Psalm 66:5-12 The Eternal Ruler of the universe Homilist. I. As an object for human STUDY. "Come and see the works of God." 1. The highest study of man is God. All other studies, unless they lead up to Him, are worse than useless.(1) The study of God is the most quickening. It stirs the profoundest fountains of sympathy, and sets all the wheels of the mental machine to work.(2) It is the most humbling study. As the mind directs its attention to God, all egotism vanishes — the particular is lost in the universal, the temporary in the eternal.(3) It is the most elevating study. That on which a man centres his mind has a mystic power to draw him to it, either up or down, according to its nature. The study of God alone has the power to draw man up into the higher grades of being. 2. The writer here directs attention to two things in relation to God.(1) His special interpositions (ver. 5).(2) His transcendent rulership (ver. 7). II. As an object for human PRAISE (vers. 8-12). He suggests three reasons for praising God. 1. Preservation (ver. 9). 2. Chastisement (vers. 10-12). "Afflictions," says Lord Bacon, "plough the heart and make it fit for Wisdom to sow her seed in, and for Grace to bring forth her increase." Could we see things as they really are, we should often see greater reason for praising God in our afflictions rather than for our health and prosperity. 3. Success. "Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." A place of refreshment. This was compensation for all the trials. What if our scorching and exhausting journey lead us to a delicious resting-place? What if our frail bark is beaten by the tempest to a golden shore? What if the loathsome medicine work off the disease, and establish health? In all such cases there should be praise for all the trials. ( Homilist. ) He ruleth by His power for ever: His eyes behold the nations. Psalm 66:7 The nature and design of moral government F. A. Cox, D. D. , LL. D. Everything around points us to a law or rule, by which creation is governed, and this implies a mind that cannot work in vain. But against this, "the rebellious exalt themselves." And they do this because they are rebellious; atheism is of the heart more than of the reason. I. OF THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF MORAL GOVERNMENT. And this government is — 1. Sovereign. This essential to the prevention of confusion. 2. Of irresistible power. 3. Universal in its extent. 4. Is, and must be, essentially benevolent.Many object to this, and deny it. But let them remember the vast scale of God's works, and how little we know. The next thing to be borne in mind is the tendency and purpose to bring all to a happy issue. This is an essential point in considering the moral government of God. All will end in the rectification of present disorders and in the bliss of creation. II. INFERENCES FROM THE FOREGOING. 1. Sin is the source of all misery. 2. The greatest benevolence consists in making God known. 3. We are unspeakably indebted to God for the revelation of His will, that in Christ all can have life eternal. ( F. A. Cox, D. D. , LL. D. ) The government of God F. Stephens. I. THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD IS SUSTAINED BY OMNIPOTENCE. When revolutions rise, and changes take place in the empires of the world which affect the condition of millions now living, and which shape the destiny of coming generations, it is sheer folly to ascribe them solely or chiefly to the restlessness of the peoples, to the despotism of monarchs, or to the policy of statesmen. They are signs that the Divine power rules over, and that the Divine hand works out the destinies of men. He can curb the impetuous passions of men, or turn them into a channel in which they shall work out His great designs in complete, though unconscious, subservience to His will; He can put a hook in leviathan's jaw, and cast down Antichrist from his seat; He can control the whirlwind in its stormy path, and check the mad fury of a long-oppressed people; He can arrest the lightning in its rapid flight and hush to silence the deep-voiced thunder; and He can stop the deadlier bolts of war and bid the angry nations be at peace. II. THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD IS ONE OF UNIVERSAL OVERSIGHT. There is nothing, however great or trivial, which can transpire in His wide domain unobserved by Him. All events pass under His eye. All objects, the vast and the minute alike, are present to His view. "He telleth the number of the stars." "The very hairs of our head are all numbered." God is everywhere, omnipresence as well as omnipotence "belongs" to Him. III. THERE ARE REBELS AGAINST THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT, 1. The exaltation of the creature may be through pride, through ambition, through vain desire, through unholy presumption, but whatever may be the secret feeling that prompts it, or whatever the form which it takes, the eye of God sees it, and His power can crush it when He will. It is vain for any of us, even in our most secret soul, to set ourselves against Him, for He track- the rebellious thought to its remotest hiding-place within us, nay, He knows it in its first formation in the chambers of the heart. 2. Man's opposition to His Maker is as unreasonable as it is futile and hopeless. Why should we set ourselves against His law? Is He not our best Friend, our constant Benefactor, our loving Father? Is not His rule the rule of righteous love? Is not His throne the throne of grace? Is not His law a law of liberty, and in keeping of it is there not great reward? ( F. Stephens. ) God and the nations G. Hunsworth, M. A. The God of individuals is the God also of nations; the law of righteousness which applies to individuals applies also to nations; and nations are accountable to God, and must be judged by Him just as surely as individuals. Men are slow to believe this truth. They seem to think that there is one law for the individual and another law for the nation, and that it is vain to expect that a nation should be ruled by the teaching of the New Testament and the Sermon on the Mount. Great statesmen are not ashamed, even in Christian England, to go in direct opposition to that teaching, to appeal to the lowest, the most brutal, the fighting instincts of the people; to urge them to cherish and practise the spirit of retaliation, and to encourage them to hurl defiance against all the nations of the world. But surely the teaching of our Lord should rule nations as well as individual men; and nations should seek to be guided not by the old law, which says, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," but by the new and diviner law, which says that men should do unto others whatsoever they would that others should do to them. God sits on the throne of the universe. The sceptre of universal dominion is in the hands of righteousness. The eyes of the Lord keep watch on the nations, and nations must be judged by the righteous judgment of God. ( G. Hunsworth, M. A. ) Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. Psalm 66:9 The safety of the saints James Wells. Now, in these words we notice — I. THE LIFE. "He holdeth our soul in life." This is — 1. A life of purity in opposition to sin. 2. Of plenty in opposition to a life of poverty. 3. Of godly exercise, or exercise unto godliness. 4. Of pleasing discovery. II. THE PRESERVATION. "He holdeth," etc. This applies to all the four ideas adverted to. III. THE FIXATION. "He suffereth not our feet to be moved." Now, how is it our feet cannot be moved finally? Why, because we have, in salvation matters, "a covenant ordered in all things and sure." ( James Wells. ) For Thou, O God, hast proved us; Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried . Psalm 66:10 The soul's purification by suffering W. Braden. A most natural question — one asked by tried hearts in every age since the world began — is, Why, if there be a God, a merciful God, does He permit all these repeated and accumulated sufferings to afflict us? What are the Divine uses and purposes of sorrow? For we are compelled to admit that, if there be no ultimate design in and issue from sorrow, there is a fearful waste of tears and agony in the world. Some men have asked the question and received no satisfactory reply, and consequently have hastily and foolishly concluded, "There is no God; there can be no God, or this could not have been." Even those who do believe in the existence of a merciful God, who do believe that He has the ordering and governance of all our lives, are yet confronted by the great mystery of suffering. They want an explanation; they want to know how it can all be reconciled with the existence and oversight of a merciful God. Thoughts like these are very old to most of us. How are they to be met? Well, I candidly confess that as yet the reason why God permits so much suffering in the world is wrapt in the same darkness as still surrounds that other mysterious question — Why has God permitted sin to enter into the world? There is no light; no effort of thought or imagination, no wide-reaching speculations have been able to solve the problem. But our text suggests several important thoughts. I. THE PLACE OF GOD IN OUR TRIALS — they may be sent by God. I say, may be sent, and thereby I mean to imply that all trials are not the effect of the immediate interposition of God. There are evils and sorrows which befall men which none would dare to say are of God's sending, because it is evident that they are the fruit of wrong-doing. For instance, if a man has been extravagant and reckless, and has thus reduced himself to poverty, it would be a libel upon God if he were to declare that God had made him poor, since he only reaps the harvest of his own folly. There can, however, be no doubt, if we are to accept the testimony of Scripture, and to believe in the Fatherly providence of God, we must believe that He permits and sends affliction. We cannot, we dare not, forget that God has to do with us every day, and we cannot take any comfort in the cold conception that we have stern, unbending laws to deal with, and not the tender, compassionate heart of a loving Father. The human heart craves a personal and present God Then, further, if we can see God's hand in our troubles, does it not make our troubles easier to bear? II. THE TESTING CHARACTER OF LIFE'S TRIALS. Men in their ordinary connections are constantly applying tests to prove the character and the ability of those with whom they have to do; seeking to discover whether there is weakness or strength, falsehood or truth. Creditors test their debtors, masters test their servants, parents test their children, and friends often prove by ingenious stratagems the faithfulness of friends. So the world, by persecutions, and flatteries, and snares, is always testing the Christian Church; demonstrating to its own superficial satisfaction the honesty or hollowness of the profession its members make. Every man having the courage to avow himself on the side of Christ is immediately put on trial by Iris relations and his neigh-bouts, who will entangle him in positions of temptation, simply to ascertain what his Christianity is worth. Little is taken on trust in this world, and we are never entirely content with any object or any pretension until it has undergone some fierce heat of trouble. Adversity is the great test. A cobweb is as good as the mightiest chain cable when there is no strain upon it. It is trial that proves one thing weak and another strong. This is true of our spiritual life, our professed faith. III. THE PURIFYING POWER OF LIFE'S TRIALS. The words, "Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried," would express the thought here intended more clearly if read, "Thou hast purified us, as silver is purified." ( W. Braden. ) Tested for hardships When Scoresby was selecting his men to accompany him in Arctic explorations, he needed sailors that could stand the severest exposure, and had nerve to bear the worst trials. So every man who applied to accompany the expedition was made to stand barefooted on a great block of ice while the surgeon examined his body and Scoresby inquired into his past history. Scores were rejected at once, as they had not nerve to endure the test. The men who stood the trial made up a band of brave heroes. So sometimes God tries us when He has in store for us some great undertaking. Many faint and excuse themselves from the start; some endure, and make the heroes and leaders of the Church, Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. Psalm 66:12 The rage of oppression T. Adams. — God hath another intent than man hath, even in man's work. The Chaldeans steal Job's wealth to enrich themselves; the devil afflicts his body in his hatred to mankind; God suffers all this for the trial of his patience. Man for covetousness, the devil for malice, God for probation of the afflicted's constancy, and advancing His own glory. Here are cruel Nimrods riding over innocent heads, as they would over fallow lands; and dangerous passages through fire and water; but the storm is soon ended, or rather the passengers are landed: "Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." There is desolation and consolation in one verse: a deep dejection, as laid under the feet of beasts; a happy deliverance, "brought out into a wealthy place." In both these strains God hath His stroke; He is a principal in this concert. He is brought in for an actor and for an author; an actor in the persecution, an author in the deliverance. "Thou causest," etc.; "Thou broughtest," etc. In the one He is a causing worker, in the other a soleworking cause. In the one He is joined with company, in the other He works alone. He hath a finger in the former, His whole hand in the latter. Hereupon some wicked libertine may offer to rub his filthiness upon God's purity, and to plead an authentical derivation of all his villainy against the saints from the Lord's warrant: "He caused it." We answer, to the justification of truth itself, that God doth ordain and order every persecution that striketh His children, without ..any allowance to the instrument that gives the blow. God works in the same action with others, not after the same manner. And whom doth the world think to ride over but saints? ( Psalm 44:22 ). Who should be appointed to the slaughter but sheep? The wolf will not prey on the fox, he is too crafty; nor on the elephant, he is too mighty; nor on a dog, he is too equal; but on the silly lamb, that can neither run to escape nor fight to conquer. Those whom nature or art, strength or sleight, have made inexposable to easy ruin, may pass unmolested. The wicked will not grapple upon equal terms; they must have either local or ceremonial advantage. But the godly are weak and poor, and it is not hard to prey upon prostrate fortunes. A low hedge is soon trodden down; and over a wretch dejected on the base earth an insulting enemy may easily stride. But what if they ride over our heads, and wound our flesh, let them not wound our patience ( Hebrews 12:1 ). The agents are men: "Thou hast caused men to ride," etc. Man is a sociable-living creature, and should converse with man in love and tranquillity. Man should be a supporter of man; is he become an overthrower? He should help and keep him up; doth he ride over him and tread him under foot? O apostasy, not only from religion, but even from humanity! Lions fight not with lions; serpents spend not their venom on serpents; but man is the main suborner of mischief to his own kind. Our comfort is, that though all these, whether persecutors of our faith or oppressors of our life, ride over our particular heads, yet we have all one Head, whom they cannot touch. Indeed, this Head doth not only take their blows as meant at Him, but He even suffers with us ( Acts 9:4 ). Saul strikes on earth; Christ Jesus suffers in heaven. Let but the toe ache, and the head manifests by the countenance a sensible grief. The body of the Church cannot suffer without the sense of our blessed Head. Temptations, persecutions, oppressions, crosses, infamies, bondage, death, are but the way wherein our blessed Saviour went before us; and many saints followed Him. Behold them with the eyes of faith, now mounted above the clouds, trampling all the vanities of this world under their glorified feet; standing on the battlements of heaven, and wafting us to them with the hands of encouragement. They bid us fight, and we shall conquer; suffer, and we shall reign. ( T. Adams. ) We The victory of patience T. Adams. First, "We went." They went, so conveniently as they might, and so conscionably as they durst, from the hands of their persecutors, Secondly, the hard exigents they were driven to, when to pass through fire and water was but a less evil compared with that they eschewed. 1. From the former, observe, That it may be lawful in time of persecution to fly. This was granted, yea, in some respects, enjoined by Christ. But must be warily understood; and the rule, in a word, may be this: When our suffering may stand the Church of God in better stead than our flying, we must then lose our lives, to save God's honour and our own souls. So that suffering for Jesus is a thing to which He promised an ample reward. 2. Prayer. This was the apostles' refuge in the time of affliction ( Acts 2:24 ). Bernard , in a fiction, doth excellently express this necessity, enforce this duty. Whilst these two opposites, Fear and Hope, stand debating, the Christian soldier resolves to appeal to the direction of sacred Wisdom, who was chief councillor to the captain of the castle, Justice. Hear Wisdom speak: Dost thou know, saith she, that the God whom we serve is able to deliver us? Is he not the Lord of Hosts, even the Lord mighty in battle? We will despatch a messenger to Him with information of our necessity. Fear replies, What messenger? Darkness is on the face of the world; our walls are begirt with an armed troop, which are not only strong as lions, but also watchful as dragons. What messenger can either escape through such a host, or find the way into so remote a country? Wisdom calls for Hope, and chargeth her with all speed to despatch away her old messenger. Hope calls to Prayer, and says, Lo here a messenger speedy, ready, trusty, knowing the way. Ready, you cannot sooner call her than she comes; speedy, she flies faster than eagles, as fast as angels; trusty, what embassage soever you put in her tongue she delivers with faithful secrecy. She knows the way to the court of Mercy, and she will never faint till she come to the chamber of the royal presence. Prayer hath her message, away she flies, borne on the sure and swift wings of faith and zeal; Wisdom having given her a charge, and Hope a blessing. She knocks at the gate, Christ hears her knock, opens the gate, and promiseth her infallible comfort and redress. Back returns Prayer, laden with the news of consolation. She hath a promise, and she delivers it into the hand of Faith: that were our enemies more innumerable than the locusts in Egypt, and more strong than the giants, the sons of Anak, yet Power and Mercy shall fight for us, and we shall be delivered. Pass we, then, through fire and water, through all dangers and difficulties, yet we have a messenger, holy, happy, accessible, acceptable to God, that never comes back without comfort — Prayer. ( T. Adams. ) I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay Thee my vows. Psalm 66:13-15 Religious individualism Homilist. Here is a deep conscious selfhood; the speaker is concerned with his own feelings and his own obligations to God. It is all "I." Men can never feel too deeply their religious selfhood, feel that they stand alone in relation to God, detached from all, occupying a position which no other can take. Here is a personal resolution to worship and to worship publicly, faithfully, and heartily. I. PUBLICLY. "I will go into Thy house." Public worship is no arbitrary institution; it is founded in the reason of things, it grows out of the religious nature of man. There are two instincts that urge to it. 1. That of self-satisfaction. We are so formed that strong emotions urge expression. The sublimest satisfaction of a man is to tell to his fellow-men what a glorious thing personal religion is. The other instinct that urges to public worship is — 2. That of social love. The principle of social sympathy is implanted in every man; in some by nature it is stronger than others, in some by sin it is transmuted even into antipathy. Still the principle is there. Religion quickens it, strengthens and develops it. As sunbeams go forth to bless the world, the happiest sentiments in man yearn to pour themselves into other souls. II. FAITHFULLY. "I will pay Thee my vows," etc. 1. Great trouble has a tendency to excite men to make religious vows. 2. The godly man will ever be faithful to these vows. III. HEARTILY. "I will offer unto Thee," etc. Nothing is a better test of a person's love for you than the sacrifices he is prepared to make on your behalf. The love that cannot give the best things it has to its object, is of little worth. ( Homilist. ) Religious vows a help to godliness I. DAVID'S UTTERING WITH HIS LIPS RELIGIOUS VOWS. Where I observe that it is commendable in religion to make solemn vows unto God. By these I mean no other than this, a voluntary obliging ourselves, by promise made unto God, to do some good and holy thing for the future, as namely, to bid adieu to such and such vices, to enterprise such and such virtuous actions, to undertake and perform this or that pious work. This is the general account of a religious vow. And it is necessary that I superadd this, that it is a solemn promise made to God of such things as are in our power: for we must not promise that which we are not able, by the Divine assistance, to perform. Moreover, a religious vow is a more solemn thing than a bare purpose or promise, because there is a particular invoking of God. If you find in yourselves an averseness to your duty, bind yourselves to it by solemn vows. Make serious promises before God that you will not forget and slight His laws, as you have formerly done, but that for the future you will be very observant of them, and make conscience of walking in the ways of holiness and righteousness, and let the world see that yo

66:1-7 The holy church throughout all the world lifts up her voice, to laud that Name which is above every name, to make the praise of Jesus glorious, both by word and deed; that others may be led to glorify him also. But nothing can bring men to do this aright, unless his effectual grace create their hearts anew unto holiness; and in the redemption by the death of Christ, and the glorious deliverances it effects, are more wondrous works than Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage. 66:8-12 The Lord not only preserves our temporal life, but maintains the spiritual life which he has given to believers. By afflictions we are proved, as silver in the fire. The troubles of the church will certainly end well. Through various conflicts and troubles, the slave of Satan escapes from his yoke, and obtains joy and peace in believing: through much tribulation the believer must enter into the kingdom of God. 66:13-20 We should declare unto those that fear God, what he has done for our souls, and how he has heard and answered our prayers, inviting them to join us in prayer and praise; this will turn to our mutual comfort, and to the glory of God. We cannot share these spiritual privileges, if we retain the love of sin in our hearts, though we refrain from the gross practice, Sin, regarded in the heart, will spoil the comfort and success of prayer; for the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord. But if the feeling of sin in the heart causes desires to be rid of it; if it be the presence of one urging a demand we know we must not, cannot comply with, this is an argument of sincerity. And when we pray in simplicity and godly sincerity, our prayers will be answered. This will excite gratitude to Him who hath not turned away our prayer nor his mercy from us. It was not prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it. That is the foundation of our hopes, the fountain of our comforts; and ought to be the matter of our praises.