Master used it. And that Master ever lives, as grateful now as when He dwelt on earth. Jesus still praises God, and calls on all His disciples to join their praises with His. As our prayers ascend only through His prayers, so our praises ascend only through His thanksgivings. It is in Christ that we pray. It is in Christ that we praise. The High Priest is expressly "ordained to offer" both "gifts and sacrifices," Heb. viii. 3-"gifts," the visible praises, and "sacrifices," the visible prayers, of the Church. When we use this, or any other psalm, in public or in private worship, we can do so, with acceptance, only as members of Christ's body. The action of one member is regarded as the action of all, that there may be no schism in the body. We take part in Christ's praises; and He takes part in ours. He feels a sympathy with the gratitude of the lowest member of His body. And oh! what a relief and consolation is it to know that our poor praises become enriched and harmonized by the perfect thanksgivings of our Lord, and that our unworthy acknowledgments are presented before the throne as His praises and our praises--as His acknowledgments for what He has received in us, and our acknowledgments for what we have received through Him!

So elevated, however, is the strain of holy gratitude in this Psalm, that we essay in vain to reach its height. Every emotion we feel seems too cold, every thought too weak, every expression too tame, when we read these glowing words of David. Oh, God our Saviour, how wanting are we in this most needful grace of gratitude to Thee We long to praise Thee with the Psalm, and also with the spirit

of David. We long to be one in gratitude with those who love Thee most, who praise Thee best, in earth and heaven. Oh Thou blessed, Spirit, who didst attune the heart and harp of David, waken our souls to gratitude and praise! Forgive their mute and miserable state. Their loose and broken

Then deign to be our

strings set right,--yea, furnish new. Teacher. Strike the key-note, and bid us learn. Touch every chord within our breast, and make it vibrate to Thy will. Help us to catch the note of every mercy as it flies. Let the varied harmonies of temporal, spiritual, and eternal benefits, rise full and strong upon our ear, that new songs of gratitude, fresh themes of praise, may daily cheer our earthly pilgrimage; and, by our meditations on this Psalm, prepare our lisping souls to join the happy choir above of saints and angels, who cease not day nor night their holy strains of gratitude; singing the praises of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, one God, forever, Amen.

We cannot now determine with precision either the particular time when the hundred and third Psalm was indited, or the circumstances which called it forth. Every successive line, however, discloses to us the intense and varied emotions by which its utterance was prompted.

The son of Jesse appears, at the period of the composition of this Psalm, to have been specially impressed with a joy ful consciousness of the Divine goodness. The love of God was shed abroad in his heart, and kindlings of unusual joy and gratitude were awakened within him, by the Holy Spirit. Under the impulse of these glad emotions, he would fain draw nigh at once to God with the most fervent praises;

but suddenly he appears as if arrested by a deep sense of his own sinfulness. He feels that he is altogether unworthy to lift up his eyes unto heaven, much less to speak to the High and Holy One that sitteth on its lofty throne. In unfeigned humility, therefore, he presents his adorations indirectly, like the cherubim and the seraphim on high. Veiling their faces with their wings, these blessed beings, in profoundest reverence, as all unworthy to address the Divine Majesty, cry one to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. So David, in like manner, does not here address himself, as in other Psalms, directly to the glorious Jehovah; nor does he begin by calling upon any of his fellowcreatures to magnify His name: he addresses his words to his own soul, and stirs up every spiritual affection, every inward faculty, to praise and bless his gracious Benefactor. He places himself in lowliest posture and position before the footstool of the throne of grace, and there," speaking to himself in this Psalm and spiritual song," he breathes forth the spirit of praise in the sublimest strains.

It is observable that no petition occurs throughout the entire compass of these twenty-two verses. There is not a single word of supplication in the whole Psalm addressed to the Most High. Prayer, fervent, heartfelt prayer, had doubtless been previously offered on the part of the Psalmist, and answered on the part of God. Innumerable blessings appear to have been showered down from above in acknowledgment of David's supplications; and, therefore, an overflowing gratitude now bursts forth from their joyful recipient. He touches every chord of his harp and of his

heart together, and pours forth a spontaneous melody of sweetest sound and purest praise.

In many of his Psalms, David had called on others to celebrate the mercies of his God. Their hearts he had often thus incited to grateful praise: "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright." Psa. xxxiii. 1. "O give thanks unto the Lord: call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto him; talk ye of all His wondrous works." Psa. cv. 1, 2.

So full and overpowering also, at various times, was his sense of the Lord's goodness, that we find the Psalmist calling in the aid, not only of other believers, but also of every instrument of music, and of all the different members of his body, and of all the various faculties of his soul, to assist him in its utterance: "O come let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation." Psa. xcv. 1. "Praise the Lord with harp; sing unto Him with the psaltery, and an instrument of ten strings." Psa. xxxiii. 2. "I will also praise Thee with the psaltery, even Thy truth, O my God: unto Thee will I sing with the harp, O Thou holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto Thee; and my soul, which Thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long." Psa. lxxi. 22-24.

It is, however, in this hundred and third Psalm, that the personal gratitude of the "man after God's own heart" stands out most vividly to view. Here his own duty, as an individual to praise his God, is at once personally pressed,

and personally discharged. He sets his mind on the contemplation of the Divine mercies, and instantly spiritual, temporal, and everlasting benefits crowd on his remembrance. Full and fervent, therefore, does his gratitude become. His whole soul glows with love to his Redeemer, he appears wrapt in an ecstasy of spiritual joy. The bond of holy, heavenly affection, has made him one in heart with God. He believes that his Lord loves him, and he feels that he loves his Lord; overflowing, therefore, with the blessed sense of this mutual love, he addresses his own happy spirit, and thus incites it to attain the utmost height of gratitude and praise: Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my

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soul, and forget not all His benefits."

What a proof is here of the sincerity of the Psalmist's heart, and of the reality and the fervor of his gratitude! The state of his soul formed the grand object of concern to David. He watched over its feelings. He diligently examined into its position as before God. He was jealous over himself with a godly jealousy, and he suffered not his spirit to continue in a listless and lukewarm condition, On the contrary, he pressed it forward to attain higher and still higher degrees of love, and thankfulness, and joy. He called in every faculty, he summoned every emotion of his soul, and he suffered not a word, nor a thought, nor a feeling, to remain unemployed in praising his Redeemer. As if one term were not enough, he redoubles his soliloquy,—he repeats and amplifies the terms of his address: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy