mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 115.xml

<div2 id="Ps.cxvi" n="cxvi" next="Ps.cxvii" prev="Ps.cxv" progress="61.44%" title="Chapter CXV">
<h2 id="Ps.cxvi-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.cxvi-p0.2">PSALM CXV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.cxvi-p1">Many ancient translations join this psalm to that
which goes next before it, the Septuagint particularly, and the
vulgar Latin; but it is, in the Hebrew, a distinct psalm. In it we
are taught to give glory, I. To God, and not to ourselves,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.1" parsed="|Ps|115|1|0|0" passage="Ps 115:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. To God, and not
to idols, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.2-Ps.115.8" parsed="|Ps|115|2|115|8" passage="Ps 115:2-8">ver. 2-8</scripRef>. We
must give glory to God, 1. By trusting in him, and in his promise
and blessing, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.9-Ps.115.15" parsed="|Ps|115|9|115|15" passage="Ps 115:9-15">ver. 9-15</scripRef>.
2. By blessing him, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.16-Ps.115.18" parsed="|Ps|115|16|115|18" passage="Ps 115:16-18">ver.
16-18</scripRef>. Some think this psalm was penned upon occasion of
some great distress and trouble that the church of God was in, when
the enemies were in insolent and threatening, in which case the
church does not so much pour out her complaint to God as place her
confidence in God, and triumph in doing so; and with such a holy
triumph we ought to sing this psalm.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxvi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115" parsed="|Ps|115|0|0|0" passage="Ps 115" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxvi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.1-Ps.115.8" parsed="|Ps|115|1|115|8" passage="Ps 115:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.115.1-Ps.115.8">
<h4 id="Ps.cxvi-p1.7">The Absurdity of Idolatry.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxvi-p2">1 Not unto us, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p2.1">O
Lord</span>, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy
mercy, <i>and</i> for thy truth's sake.   2 Wherefore should
the heathen say, Where <i>is</i> now their God?   3 But our
God <i>is</i> in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased.   4 Their idols <i>are</i> silver and gold, the work
of men's hands.   5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes
have they, but they see not:   6 They have ears, but they hear
not: noses have they, but they smell not:   7 They have hands,
but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither
speak they through their throat.   8 They that make them are
like unto them; <i>so is</i> every one that trusteth in them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p3">Sufficient care is here taken to answer
both the pretensions of self and the reproaches of idolaters.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p4">I. Boasting is here for ever excluded,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.1" parsed="|Ps|115|1|0|0" passage="Ps 115:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Let no opinion
of our own merits have any room either in our prayers or in our
praises, but let both centre in God's glory. 1. Have we received
any mercy, gone through any service, or gained any success? We must
not assume the glory of it to ourselves, but ascribe it wholly to
God. We must not imagine that we do any thing for God by our own
strength, or deserve any thing from God by our own righteousness;
but all the good we do is done by the power of his grace, and all
the good we have is the gift of his mere mercy, and therefore he
must have all the praise. Say not, <i>The power of my hand has
gotten me this wealth,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.17" parsed="|Deut|8|17|0|0" passage="De 8:17">Deut. viii.
17</scripRef>. Say not, <i>For my righteousness the Lord has</i>
done these great and kind things for me, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.4" parsed="|Deut|9|4|0|0" passage="De 9:4">Deut. ix. 4</scripRef>. No; all our songs must be sung to
this humble tune, <i>Not unto us, O Lord!</i> and again, <i>Not
unto us, but to thy name,</i> let all the glory be given; for
whatever good is wrought in us, or wrought for us, it is for his
mercy and his truth's sake, because he will glorify his mercy and
fulfil his promise. All our crowns must be cast at the feet of
<i>him that sits upon the throne,</i> for that is the proper place
for them. 2. Are we in pursuit of any mercy and wrestling with God
for it? We must take our encouragement, in prayer, from God only,
and have an eye to his glory more than to our own benefit in it.
"Lord, do so and so for us, not that we may have the credit and
comfort of it, but that thy mercy and truth may have the glory of
it." This must be our highest and ultimate end in our prayers, and
therefore it is made the first petition in the Lord's prayer, as
that which guides all the rest, <i>Hallowed be thy name;</i> and,
in order to that, <i>Give us our daily bread,</i> &amp;c. This also
must satisfy us, if our prayers be not answered in the letter of
them. Whatever becomes of us, <i>unto thy name give glory.</i> See
<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:John.12.27-John.12.28" parsed="|John|12|27|12|28" passage="Joh 12:27,28">John xii. 27, 28</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p5">II. The reproach of the heathen is here for
ever silenced and justly retorted.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p6">1. The psalmist complains of the reproach
of the heathen (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.2" parsed="|Ps|115|2|0|0" passage="Ps 115:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>Wherefore should they say, Where is now their
God?</i> (1.) "Why do they say so? Do they not know that our God is
every where by his providence, and always nigh to us by his promise
and grace?" (2.) "Why does God permit them to say so? Nay, why is
Israel brought so low that they have some colour for saying so?
Lord, appear for our relief, that thou mayest vindicate thyself,
and glorify thy own name."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p7">2. He gives a direct answer to their
question, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.3" parsed="|Ps|115|3|0|0" passage="Ps 115:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. "Do
they ask where is our God? We can tell where he is." (1.) "In the
upper world is the presence of his glory: <i>Our God is in the
heavens,</i> where the gods of the heathen never were, <i>in the
heavens,</i> and therefore out of sight; but, though his majesty be
unapproachable, it does not therefore follow that his being is
questionable." (2.) "In the lower world are the products of his
power: <i>He has done whatsoever he pleased,</i> according to the
counsel of his will; he has a sovereign dominion and a universal
uncontrollable influence. Do you ask where he is? He is at the
beginning and end of every thing, <i>and not far from any of
us.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p8">3. He returns their question upon
themselves. They asked, Where is the God of Israel? because he is
not seen. He does in effect ask, What are the gods of the heathen?
because they are seen. (1.) He shows that their gods, though they
are not shapeless things, are senseless things. Idolaters, at
first, worshipped the sun and moon (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.26" parsed="|Job|31|26|0|0" passage="Job 31:26">Job xxxi. 26</scripRef>), which was bad enough, but not
so bad as that which they were now come to (for evil men grow worse
and worse), which was the worshipping of images, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.4" parsed="|Ps|115|4|0|0" passage="Ps 115:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. The matter of them was <i>silver
and gold,</i> dug out of the earth (<i>man found them poor and
dirty in a mine,</i> Herbert), proper things to make money of, but
not to make gods of. The make of them was from the artificer; they
are creatures of men's vain imaginations and <i>the works of men's
hands,</i> and therefore can have no divinity in them. If man is
the work of God's hands (as certainly he is, and it was his honour
that he was made <i>in the image of God</i>) it is absurd to think
that that can be God which is the work of men's hands, or that it
can be any other than a dishonour to God to make him in the image
of man. The argument is irrefragable: <i>The workmen made it,
therefore it is not God,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.6" parsed="|Hos|8|6|0|0" passage="Ho 8:6">Hos. viii.
6</scripRef>. These idols are represented here as the most
ridiculous things, a mere jest, that would seem to be something,
but were really nothing, fitter for a toy shop than a temple, for
children to play with than for men to pray to. The painter, the
carver, the statuary, did their part well enough; they made them
with <i>mouths</i> and <i>eyes, ears</i> and <i>noses, hands</i>
and <i>feet,</i> but they could put no life into them and therefore
no sense. They had better have worshipped a dead carcase (for that
had life in it once) than a dead image, which neither has life nor
can have. <i>They speak not,</i> in answer to those that consult
them; the crafty priest must speak for them. In Baal's image there
was <i>no voice, neither any that answered. They see not</i> the
prostrations of their worshippers before them, much less their
burdens and wants. <i>They hear not</i> their prayers, though ever
so loud; <i>they smell not</i> their incense, though ever so
strong, ever so sweet; <i>they handle not</i> the gifts presented
to them, much less have they any gifts to bestow on their
worshippers; they cannot <i>stretch forth their hands to the needy.
They walk not,</i> they cannot stir a step for the relief of those
that apply to them. Nay, they do not so much as <i>breathe through
their throat;</i> they have not the least sign of symptom of life,
but are as dead, after the priest has pretended to consecrate them
and call a deity into them, as they were before. (2.) He thence
infers the sottishness of their worshippers (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.8" parsed="|Ps|115|8|0|0" passage="Ps 115:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Those that make them</i>
images show their ingenuity, and doubtless are sensible men; but
<i>those that make them</i> gods show their stupidity and folly,
and <i>are like unto them,</i> as senseless blockish things;
<i>they see not</i> the invisible things of the true and living God
in the works of creation; <i>they hear not</i> the voice of the day
and the night, which in every speech and language declare his
glory, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.2-Ps.19.3" parsed="|Ps|19|2|19|3" passage="Ps 19:2,3">Ps. xix. 2, 3</scripRef>. By
worshipping these foolish puppets, they make themselves more and
more foolish like them, and set themselves at a greater distance
from every thing that is spiritual, sinking themselves deeper into
the mire of sense; and withal they provoke God to <i>give them up
to a reprobate mind, a mind void of judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.28" parsed="|Rom|1|28|0|0" passage="Ro 1:28">Rom. i. 28</scripRef>. Those <i>that trust in
them</i> act very absurdly and very unreasonably, are senseless,
helpless, useless, like them; and they will find it so themselves,
to their own confusion. We shall know where our God is, and so
shall they, to their cost, when their gods are gone, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.3-Jer.10.11 Bible:Isa.44.9" parsed="|Jer|10|3|10|11;|Isa|44|9|0|0" passage="Jer 10:3-11,Isa 44:9">Jer. x. 3-11; Isa. xliv.
9</scripRef>, &amp;c.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cxvi-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.9-Ps.115.18" parsed="|Ps|115|9|115|18" passage="Ps 115:9-18" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.115.9-Ps.115.18">
<h4 id="Ps.cxvi-p8.9">Confidence in God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxvi-p9">9 O Israel, trust thou in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.1">Lord</span>: he <i>is</i> their help and their shield.
  10 O house of Aaron, trust in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.2">Lord</span>: he <i>is</i> their help and their shield.
  11 Ye that fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.3">Lord</span>,
trust in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.4">Lord</span>: he <i>is</i>
their help and their shield.   12 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.5">Lord</span> hath been mindful of us: he will bless
<i>us;</i> he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the
house of Aaron.   13 He will bless them that fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.6">Lord</span>, <i>both</i> small and great.  
14 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.7">Lord</span> shall increase you more
and more, you and your children.   15 Ye <i>are</i> blessed of
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.8">Lord</span> which made heaven and
earth.   16 The heaven, <i>even</i> the heavens, <i>are</i>
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.9">Lord</span>'s: but the earth hath he
given to the children of men.   17 The dead praise not the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.10">Lord</span>, neither any that go down into
silence.   18 But we will bless the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.11">Lord</span> from this time forth and for evermore.
Praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxvi-p9.12">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p10">In these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p11">I. We are earnestly exhorted, all of us, to
repose our confidence in God, and not suffer our confidence in him
to be shaken by the heathens' insulting over us upon the account of
our present distresses. It is folly to trust in dead images, but it
is wisdom to trust in the living God, for he is a <i>help and a
shield</i> to those that do <i>trust in them,</i> a help to furnish
them with and forward them in that which is good, and a shield to
fortify them against and protect them from every thing that is
evil. Therefore, 1. Let Israel trust in the Lord; the body of the
people, as to their public interests, and every particular
Israelite, as to his own private concerns, let them leave it to God
to dispose of all for them, and believe it will dispose of all for
the best and will be <i>their help and shield.</i> 2. Let the
priests, the Lord's ministers, and all the families of the <i>house
of Aaron, trust in the Lord,</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.10" parsed="|Ps|115|10|0|0" passage="Ps 115:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); they are most maligned and
struck at by the enemies and therefore of them God takes particular
care. They ought to be examples to others of a cheerful confidence
in God, and a faithful adherence to him in the worst of times. 3.
Let the proselytes, who are not of the seed of Israel, but <i>fear
the Lord,</i> who worship him and make conscience of their duty to
him, let them <i>trust in him,</i> for he will not fail nor forsake
them, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.11" parsed="|Ps|115|11|0|0" passage="Ps 115:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Note,
Wherever there is an awful fear of God, there may be a cheerful
faith in him: those that reverence his word may rely upon it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p12">II. We are greatly encouraged to trust in
God, and good reason is given us why we should stay ourselves upon
him with an entire satisfaction. Consider, 1. What we have
experienced (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.12" parsed="|Ps|115|12|0|0" passage="Ps 115:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): <i>The Lord has been mindful of us,</i> and never
unmindful, has been so constantly, has been so remarkably upon
special occasions. He has been mindful of our case, our wants and
burdens, mindful of our prayers to him, his promises to us, and the
covenant-relation between him and us. All our comforts are derived
from God's <i>thoughts to us-ward;</i> he <i>has been mindful of
us,</i> though we have forgotten him. Let <i>this</i> engage us to
trust in him, that we have found him faithful. 2. What we may
expect. From what he has done for us we may infer, <i>He will bless
us;</i> he that has been our <i>help and our shield</i> will be so;
he that has <i>remembered us in our low estate</i> will not forget
us; for he is still the same, his power and goodness the same, and
his promise inviolable; so that we have reason to hope that he who
has delivered, and does, will yet deliver. Yet this is not all:
<i>He will bless us;</i> he has promised that he will; he has
pronounced a blessing upon all his people. God's blessing us is not
only speaking good to us, but doing well for us; those whom he
blesses are blessed indeed. It is particularly promised that <i>he
will bless the house of Israel,</i> that is, he will bless the
commonwealth, will bless his people in their civil interests. <i>He
will bless the house of Aaron,</i> that is, the church, the
ministry, will bless his people in their religious concerns. The
priests were to bless the people; it was their office (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.23" parsed="|Num|6|23|0|0" passage="Nu 6:23">Num. vi. 23</scripRef>); but God blessed them,
and so blessed their blessings. Nay (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.13" parsed="|Ps|115|13|0|0" passage="Ps 115:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), <i>he will bless those that
fear the Lord,</i> though they be not of the house of Israel or the
house of Aaron; for it was a truth, before Peter perceived it,
<i>That in every nation he that fears God is accepted or him,</i>
and blessed, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.34-Acts.10.35" parsed="|Acts|10|34|10|35" passage="Ac 10:34,35">Acts x. 34,
35</scripRef>. <i>He will bless them both small and great,</i> both
young and old. God has blessings in store for those that are good
betimes and for those that are old disciples, both those that are
poor in the world and those that make a figure. The greatest need
his blessing, and it shall not be denied to the meanest that fear
him. Both the weak in grace and the strong shall be blessed of God,
the lambs and the sheep of his flock. It is promised (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.14" parsed="|Ps|115|14|0|0" passage="Ps 115:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>The Lord shall
increase you.</i> Whom God blesses he increases; that was one of
the earliest and most ancient blessings, <i>Be fruitful and
multiply.</i> God's blessing gives an increase—increase in number,
building up the family—increase in wealth, adding to the estate
and honour—especially an increase in spiritual blessings, with the
increasings of God. He will bless you with the increase of
knowledge and wisdom, of grace, holiness, and joy; those are
blessed indeed whom God thus increases, who are made wiser and
better, and fitter for God and heaven. It is promised that this
shall be, (1.) A constant continual increase: "<i>He shall increase
you more and more;</i> so that, as long as you live, you shall be
still increasing, till you come to perfection, as the shining
light," <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.4.18" parsed="|Prov|4|18|0|0" passage="Pr 4:18">Prov. iv. 18</scripRef>. (2.)
An hereditary increase: "<i>You and your children;</i> you in your
children." It is a comfort to parents to see their children
increasing in wisdom and strength. There is a blessing entailed
upon the seed of those that fear God even in their infancy. For
(<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.15" parsed="|Ps|115|15|0|0" passage="Ps 115:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), <i>You are
blessed of the Lord,</i> you and your children are so; <i>all that
see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the
Lord has blessed,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.9" parsed="|Isa|59|9|0|0" passage="Isa 59:9">Isa. lix.
9</scripRef>. Those that are the blessed of the Lord have
encouragement enough to <i>trust in the Lord,</i> as <i>their help
and shield,</i> for it is he that <i>made heaven and earth;</i>
therefore his blessings are free, for he needs not any thing
himself; and therefore they are rich, for he has all things at
command for us if we fear him and trust in him. He that <i>made
heaven and earth</i> can doubtless make those happy that trust in
him, and will do it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxvi-p13">III. We are stirred up to praise God by the
psalmist's example, who concludes the psalm with a resolution to
persevere in his praises. 1. God is to be praised, <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.16" parsed="|Ps|115|16|0|0" passage="Ps 115:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. He is greatly to be
praised; for, (1.) His glory is high. See how stately his palace
is, and the throne he has prepared in the heavens: <i>The heaven,
even the heavens are the Lord's;</i> he is the rightful owner of
all the treasures of light and bliss in the upper and better world,
and is in the full possession of them, for he is himself infinitely
bright and happy. (2.) His goodness is large, for <i>the earth he
has given to the children of men,</i> having designed it, when he
made it, for their use, to find them with meat, drink, and lodging.
Not but that still he is proprietor in chief; <i>the earth is the
Lord's, and the fulness thereof;</i> but he has let out that
vineyard to these unthankful husbandmen, and from them he expects
the rents and services; for, though he has given them the earth,
his eye is upon them, and he will call them to render an account
how they use it. Calvin complains that profane wicked people, in
his days, perverted this scripture, and made a jest of it, which
some in our days do, arguing, in banter, that God, having given the
earth to the children of men, will no more look after it, nor after
them upon it, but they may do what they will with it, and make the
best of it as their portion; it is as it were thrown like a prey
among them, Let him seize it that can. It is a pity that such an
instance as this gives of God's bounty to man, and such a proof as
arises from it of man's obligation to God, should be thus abused.
From the highest heavens, it is certain, God beholds all the
children of men; to them he has given the earth; but to the
children of God heaven is given. 2. The dead are not capable of
praising him (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.17" parsed="|Ps|115|17|0|0" passage="Ps 115:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>), nor <i>any that go into silence.</i> The soul
indeed lives in a state of separation from the body and is capable
of praising God; and <i>the souls of the faithful, after they are
delivered from the burdens of the flesh,</i> do praise God, are
still praising him; for they go up to the land of perfect light and
constant business. But the dead body cannot praise God; death puts
an end to our glorifying God in this world of trial and conflict,
to all our services in the field; the grave is a land of darkness
and silence, where there is no work or device. This they plead with
God for deliverance out of the hand of their enemies, "Lord, if
they prevail to cut us off, the idols will carry the day, and there
will be none to praise thee, to bear thy name, and to bear a
testimony against the worshippers of idols." <i>The dead praise not
the Lord,</i> so as we do in the business and for the comforts of
this life. See <scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.30.9 Bible:Ps.88.10" parsed="|Ps|30|9|0|0;|Ps|88|10|0|0" passage="Ps 30:9,88:10">Ps. xxx. 9;
lxxxviii. 10</scripRef>. 3. Therefore it concerns us to praise him
(<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.18" parsed="|Ps|115|18|0|0" passage="Ps 115:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): "<i>But
we,</i> we that are alive, <i>will bless the Lord;</i> we and those
that shall come after us, will do it, <i>from this time forth and
for evermore,</i> to the end of time; we and those we shall remove
to, <i>from this time forth</i> and to eternity. <i>The dead praise
not the Lord,</i> therefore we will do it the more diligently."
(1.) Others are dead, and an end is thereby put to their service,
and therefore we will lay out ourselves to do so much the more for
God, that we may fill up the gap. <i>Moses my servant is dead, now
therefore, Joshua, arise.</i> (2.) We ourselves must shortly go to
the land of silence; <i>but, while we do live, we will bless the
Lord,</i> will improve our time and work that work of him that sent
us into the world to praise him before the night comes, and because
<i>the night comes, wherein no man can work. The Lord will bless
us</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxvi-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.12" parsed="|Ps|115|12|0|0" passage="Ps 115:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); he
will do well for us, and therefore <i>we will bless</i> him, we
will speak well of him. Poor returns for such receivings! Nay, we
will not only do it ourselves, but will engage others to do it.
<i>Praise the Lord;</i> praise him with us; praise him in your
places, as we in ours; praise him when we are gone, that he may be
praised <i>for evermore. Hallelujah.</i></p>
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