promises to them that are faithful unto Him, how ready are we to wander from His footsteps after empty pleasures, which last but for a moment and then vanish for ever! How imperfectly is He appreciated by even the best of men on earth! How poor a return is made to Him for His amazing condescension and love! Common as it is to have His name and words upon their lips, how little are either the rulers of the world or the humblest of the people acting as if they really felt that the King of kings was knocking at their doors, and calling upon them to hear and to obey Him! No wonder that confusion, and trouble, and perplexity vex the nations from year to year and from age to age, as long as He whose right it is to reign over all is so little regarded—as long as His will is so little consulted, and His law, which is above all other laws, is so generally trampled under foot. But His ultimate prosperity is sure to be realised. The progress of His kingdom no power can finally prevent. Though the nations may long persist in casting Him off, and in conducting themselves as if they said in their hearts, We will not have this man to reign over us," yet the day will come when it shall be declared

that all the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Anointed. Though Jesus has long been despised and rejected of men, yet the time is drawing nigh when "all kings shall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him."

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XIV.

THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM.

"The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord."-PSALM cxlvi. 10.

PRAISE, like every other part of divine

worship, is an act of the soul. It is the expression of those feelings which are awakened when our hearts are turned upwards to God. When we meditate upon Him, the effect of that meditation is the kindling of a holy fire upon the spiritual altar within us; and praise is the rising of our affections so kindled, like incense around the throne of God. "Praise the Lord, O my soul," says the Psalmist. We may come to God with appropriate words and with the finest music; but if our souls are unmoved, our services have no beauty and no worth in His eyes. Therefore, when our hearts are slow to join in the worship of God, it ought to grieve us,

M

and to stir us up to remedy that defect, by which all else is marred and made valueless. Such backwardness of spirit to heavenly exercises was sometimes the complaint of one who had large experience, and has been set up as an example to God's people to the world's end. Revealing the burden of his spirit at the throne of grace, he said, "My soul cleaveth unto the dust quicken Thou me according to Thy word.” Every true Christian feels how prone his affections are to lay hold on earthly things, and how hard it is in such circumstances to turn them upwards to God.

As praise is an exercise of the heart, seeking utterance by the lips, the heart needs to be prepared for it; and this preparation consists in prayerful meditation upon God. The subject to which the soul of the writer was turned when he gave utterance to the psalm before us, was the endless reign of our heavenly King, and the perfect security and blessedness of all who put their trust in Him. "The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord."

The Lord, whose praise we are thus called upon to celebrate, rules over all worlds. Not the earth only, but the countless shining orbs

with which the heavens are filled are alike

under His control.

Not one of them took its

place without Him.

Not one of them can con

tinue its existence, or fulfil its functions, or alter its character or its course, except by His appointThere is no government above

ment and power. or beyond His.

of which He is

There is no power in existence

not the only source, and which He does not constantly uphold. When He wills anything, there is no other being that can step in and say, "I forbid."

And as there is no part of the vast universe over which He does not reign, so, in particular, there is no part of the earth. He rules over all the kingdoms of men. He is "King of kings and Lord of lords." He does not take to Himself vain titles. He does not claim prerogatives which do not belong to Him, and which He does not exercise. The rulers of this world have no possessions, small or large, which are not the property of the great Lord of all. They have no power which is not His gift; and while He permits them to use it, He wields His supreme prerogative without intermission, and overrules them in the use which they make of what He has bestowed. Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever," said the prophet