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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms LXVII].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM LXVII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<P>
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This psalm relates to the church and is calculated for the public. Here
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is,
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I. A prayer for the prosperity of the church of Israel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:1">ver. 1</A>.
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II. A prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles and the bringing of
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them into the church,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:2-5">ver. 2-5</A>.
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III. A prospect of happy and glorious times when God shall do this,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:6,7">ver. 6, 7</A>.
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Thus was the psalmist carried out by the spirit of prophecy to foretel
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the glorious estate of the Christian church, in which Jews and Gentiles
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should unite in one flock, the beginning of which blessed work ought to
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be the matter of our joy and praise, and the completing of it of our
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prayer and hope, in singing this psalm.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps67_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps67_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps67_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps67_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps67_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps67_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps67_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Prayer for the Prosperity and Extension of the Church; Conversion of the Gentiles.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>To the chief musician on Neginoth. A psalm <I>or</I> song.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; <I>and</I>
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cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
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2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among
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all nations.
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3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise
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thee.
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4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt
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judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
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Selah.
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5 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise
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thee.
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6 <I>Then</I> shall the earth yield her increase; <I>and</I> God, <I>even</I>
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our own God, shall bless us.
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7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear
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him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The composition of this psalm is such as denotes the penman's
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affections to have been very warm and lively, by which spirit of
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devotion he was elevated to receive the spirit of prophecy concerning
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the enlargement of God's kingdom.</P>
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<P>
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I. He begins with a prayer for the welfare and prosperity of the church
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then in being, in the happiness of which he should share, and think
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himself happy,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Our Saviour, in teaching us to say, <I>Our Father,</I> has intimated
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that we ought to pray with and for others; so the psalmist here prays
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not, <I>God be merciful to me, and bless me,</I> but to <I>us,</I> and
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bless <I>us;</I> for we must make supplication for all saints, and be
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willing and glad to take our lot with them. We are here taught,
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1. That all our happiness comes from God's mercy and takes rise in
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that; and therefore the first thing prayed for is, <I>God be merciful
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to us,</I> to us sinners, and pardon our sins
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+18:13">Luke xviii. 13</A>),
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to us miserable sinners, and help us out of our miseries.
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2. That it is conveyed by God's blessing, and secured in that: <I>God
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bless us;</I> that is, give us an interest in his promises, and confer
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upon us all the good contained in them. God's speaking well to us
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amounts to his doing well for us. <I>God bless us</I> is a
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comprehensive prayer; it is a pity such excellent words should ever be
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used slightly and carelessly, and as a byword.
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3. That it is completed in the light of his countenance: <I>God cause
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his face to shine upon us;</I> that is, God by his grace qualify us for
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his favour and then give us the tokens of his favour. We need desire no
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more to make us happy than to have God's face shine upon us, to have
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God love us, and let us know that he loves us: <I>To shine with us</I>
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(so the margin reads it); <I>with us</I> doing our endeavour, and let
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it crown that endeavour with success. If we by faith walk with God, we
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may hope that his face will shine with us.</P>
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<P>
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II. He passes from this to a prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>That thy way may be known upon earth.</I> "Lord, I pray not only
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that thou wilt be merciful to us and bless us, but that thou wilt be
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merciful to all mankind, <I>that thy way may be known upon earth.</I>"
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Thus public-spirited must we be in our prayers. <I>Father in heaven,
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hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.</I> We shall have never the
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less of God's mercy, and blessing, and favour, for others coming in to
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share with us. Or it may be taken thus: "<I>God be merciful to us Jews,
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and bless us, that</I> thereby thy way may be known upon earth, that by
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the peculiar distinguishing tokens of thy favour to us others may be
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allured to come and join themselves to us, saying, <I>We will go with
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you, for we have heard that God is with you,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+8:23">Zech. viii. 23</A>.</P>
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<P>
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1. These verses, which point at the conversion of the Gentiles, may be
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taken,
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(1.) As a prayer; and so it speaks the desire of the Old-Testament
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saints; so far were they from wishing to monopolize the privileges of
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the church that they desired nothing more than the throwing down of the
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enclosure and the laying open of the advantages. See then how the
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spirit of the Jews, in the days of Christ and his apostles, differed
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from the spirit of their fathers. The Israelites indeed that were of
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old desired that God's name might be known among the Gentiles; those
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counterfeit Jews were enraged at the preaching of the gospel to the
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Gentiles; nothing in Christianity exasperated them so much as that did.
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(2.) As a prophecy that it shall be as he here prays. Many
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scripture-prophecies and promises are wrapped up in prayers, to
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intimate that the answer of the church's prayer is as sure as the
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performance of God's promises.</P>
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<P>
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2. Three things are here prayed for, with reference to the
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Gentiles:--</P>
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<P>
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(1.) That divine revelation might be sent among them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Two things he desires might be know upon earth, even among all nations,
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and not to the nation of the Jews only:--
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[1.] God's way, the rule of duty: "Let them all know, as well as we do,
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<I>what is good and what the Lord our God requires of them;</I> let
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them be blessed and honoured with the same righteous statutes and
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judgments which are so much the praise of our nation and the envy of
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all its neighbours,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:8">Deut. iv. 8</A>.
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[2.] His saving health, or his salvation. The former is wrapped up in
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his law, this in his gospel. If God make known his way to us, and we
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walk in it, he will show us his saving health,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+50:23">Ps. l. 23</A>.
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Those that have themselves experimentally known the pleasantness of
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God's ways, and the comforts of his salvation, cannot but desire and
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pray that they may be known to others, even among all nations. All upon
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earth are bound to walk in God's way, all need his salvation, and there
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is in it enough for all; and therefore we should pray that both the one
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and the other may be made known to all.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) That divine worship may be set up among them, as it will be where
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divine revelation is received and embraced
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>Let the people praise thee, O God!</I> let them have matter for
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praise, let them have hearts for praise; yea, let not only some, but
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<I>all the people, praise thee,</I>" all nations in their national
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capacity, some of all nations. It is again repeated
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)
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as that which the psalmist's heart was very much upon. Those that
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delight in praising God themselves cannot but desire that others also
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may be brought to praise him, that he may have the honour of it and
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they may have the benefit of it. It is a prayer,
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[1.] That the gospel might be preached to them, and then they would
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have cause enough to praise God, as for the day-spring after a long and
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dark night. <I>Ortus est sol--The sun has risen.</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+8:8">Acts viii. 8</A>.
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[2.] That they might be converted and brought into the church, and then
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they would have a disposition to praise God, the living and true God,
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and not the dumb and dunghill deities they had worshipped,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+5:4">Dan. v. 4</A>.
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Then their hard thoughts of God would be silenced, and they would see
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him, in the gospel glass, to be love itself, and the proper object of
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praise.
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[3.] That they might be incorporated into solemn assemblies, and might
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praise God in a body, that they might all together praise him with one
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mind and one mouth. Thus a face of religion appears upon a land when
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God is publicly owned and the ordinances of religious worship are duly
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celebrated in religious assemblies.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) That the divine government may be acknowledged and cheerfully
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submitted to
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy!</I> Holy joy, joy in
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God and in his name, is the heart and soul of thankful praise. That
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<I>all the people</I> may <I>praise thee, let the nations be glad.</I>
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Those that <I>rejoice in the Lord always will in every thing give
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thanks.</I> The joy he wishes to the nations is holy joy; for it is joy
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in God's dominion, joy that <I>God has taken to himself his great power
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and has reigned,</I> which the unconverted <I>nations are angry at,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+11:17,18">Rev. xi. 17, 18</A>.
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Let them be glad,
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[1.] That <I>the kingdom is the Lord's</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:28">Ps. xxii. 28</A>),
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that he, as an absolute sovereign, shall govern the nations upon earth,
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that by the kingdom of his providence he shall overrule the affairs of
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kingdoms according to the counsel of his will, though they neither know
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him nor own him, and that in due time he shall disciple all nations by
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the preaching of his gospel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+28:19">Matt. xxviii. 19</A>)
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and set up the kingdom of his grace among them upon the ruin of the
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devil's kingdom--that he shall make them a willing people in the day of
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his power, and even <I>the kingdoms of this world shall become the
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kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ.</I>
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[2.] That <I>every man's judgment proceeds from the Lord.</I> "Let them
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be glad that <I>thou shalt judge the people righteously,</I> that thou
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shalt give a law and gospel which shall be a righteous rule of
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judgment, and shalt pass an unerring sentence, according to that rule,
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upon all the children of men, against which there will lie no
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exception." Let us all be glad that we are not to be one another's
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judges, but that he that judges us is the Lord, whose judgment we are
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sure is according to truth.</P>
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<P>
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III. He concludes with a joyful prospect of all good when God shall do
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this, when the nations shall be converted and brought to praise
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God.</P>
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<P>
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1. The lower world shall smile upon them, and they shall have the
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fruits of that
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Then shall the earth yield her increase.</I> Not but that God gave
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rain from heaven and fruitful seasons to the nations when they <I>sat
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in darkness</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+14:17">Acts xiv. 17</A>);
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but when they were converted the earth yielded its increase to God; the
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meat and the drink then became a <I>meat-offering and a drink-offering
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to the Lord our God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+2:14">Joel ii. 14</A>);
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and then it was fruitful to some good purpose. Then it yielded its
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increase more than before to the comfort of men, who through Christ
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acquired a covenant-title to the fruits of it and had a sanctified use
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of it. Note, The success of the gospel sometimes brings outward mercies
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along with it; righteousness exalts a nation. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+4:2,62:9">Isa. iv. 2; lxii. 9</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. The upper world shall smile upon them, and they shall have the
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favours of that, which is much better: <I>God, even our own God, shall
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bless us,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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And again
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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<I>God shall bless us.</I> Note,
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(1.) There are a people in the world that can, upon good grounds, call
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God their God.
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(2.) Believers have reason to glory in their relation to God and the
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interest they have in him. It is here spoken with an air of triumph.
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<I>God, even our own God.</I>
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(3.) Those who through grace call God their own may with a humble
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confidence expect a blessing from him. If he be our God, he will bless
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us with special blessings.
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(4.) The blessing of God, as ours in covenant, is that which sweetens
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all our creature-comforts to us, and makes them comforts indeed; then
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we receive the increase of the earth as a mercy indeed when with it
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God, even our own God, gives us his blessing.</P>
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<P>
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3. All the world shall hereby be brought to do like them: <I>The ends
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of the earth shall fear him,</I> that is, worship him, which is to be
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done with a godly fear. The blessings God bestows upon us call upon us
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not only to love him, but to fear him, to keep up high thoughts of him
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and to be afraid of offending him. When the gospel begins to spread it
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shall get ground more and more, till it reach to the ends of the earth.
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The leaven hidden in the meal shall diffuse itself, till the whole be
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leavened. And the many blessings which those will own themselves to
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have received that are brought into the church invite others to join
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themselves to them. It is good to cast in our lot with those that are
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the blessed of the Lord.</P>
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<!-- (End Body) -->
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC19066.HTM">Previous</A>]
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[<A HREF="MHC19068.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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