The Saints Blessing The Lord

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 20, 1872,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Bless the Lord, O my Soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy
name." Psalm 103:1.

You see here a man talking to himself, a soul with all his soul talking
to his soul. Every speaker should learn to soliloquize. His own soul is
the first audience a good man ought to think of preaching to. Before we
address ourselves to others we should lecture within the doors of our
own heart. Indeed, if any man desires to excite the hearts of others in
any given direction, he must first stir up himself upon the same
matter. He who would make others grateful must begin by saying, "Bless
the Lord, O my Soul."

David had never risen to the height of saying, "Bless the Lord, you His
angels," or, "Bless the Lord, all His works," if he had not first tuned
his own voice to the gladsome music. No man is fit to be a conductor in
the choirs of holy song until he has learned, himself, to sing the song
of praise. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul," is the preacher's preparation
in the study, without which he must fail in the pulpit. Self-evident as
this is, many persons need to be reminded of it, for they are ready
enough to admonish others, but forget that true gratitude to God must,
like charity, begin at home. There is an old proverb which says, "The
cobbler's wife goes barefoot," and I am afraid this is too often the
case in morals and religion.

Preachers ought especially to be jealous of themselves in this
particular, lest, while they are crying aloud to other men to magnify
the Lord, they should be shamefully silent themselves. I would this
morning glow with the sacred flame of personal thankfulness while I
call upon you to bless the holy name of Jehovah, our God. But what is
true of preachers is true of all other workers. The tendency among men
is, when they grow a little earnest, to expend their zeal upon other
people and frequently in the way of fault-finding. It is wonderfully
easy to wax indignant at the indolence, the divisions, the coldness or
the errors of the Christian Church, and to issue our little bulls
against her, declaring her to be weighed in our balances and found
wanting, as if it mattered one halfpenny to the Church what the verdict
of our imperfect scales might be!

Why, instead of a tract upon the faults of the Church, at the present
moment, it would be easy to write a folio volume and when it was
written it would be wise to put it in the fire! Friend, mind those
beams in your own eye and leave the Lord Jesus to clear the motes from
the eyes of His Church. Begin at home–there is in-door work to be
done. Instead of vainly pointing to the faults of others, pour forth
your earnestness in praising God and say unto your own heart, "Bless
the Lord, O my Soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name."

You observe that this preacher, with an audience of one, has a very
choice subject–he is exhorting himself to bless God. Now, in a certain
sense it is not possible for us to bless God. He blesses us and in the
same sense we cannot bless Him. He has all things–what can we give
Him? When we have given our best we are compelled to confess, "Of Your
own have we given unto You." But we bless Him by being thankful, by
extolling Him for the gifts He has bestowed, by loving Him in
consequence of His bounty towards us and by allowing these emotions of
our mind to influence our life so that we speak well of His name, and
act so as to glorify Him among our fellow men. In these ways we can
bless God and we know that He accepts such attempts, poor and feeble
though they are. God is pleased with our love and thankfulness, and so,
speaking after the manner of men, He is blessed by His children's
desires and praises.

Note that the Psalmist stirred himself up to bless God's name, by which
is meant His Character–though, indeed, we may take the word literally,
for every name of God is a reason for thankfulness. We will praise
Jehovah, the Self-Existent. We will praise El, the mighty God whose
power is on our side. We will praise Him who gives Himself the Covenant
name of Elohim and reveals therein the Trinity of His sacred unity. We
will praise the Shaddai, the All-Sufficient God and

magnify Him because out of His fullness have we all received. And
whatever other name there is in Scripture, or combination of names,
every one shall be exceedingly delightful to our hearts and we will
bless the sacred name.

We will bless the Father, from whose everlasting love we received our
election unto eternal life–the Father who has begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, from the
dead. We bless the Father of our spirits, who has given to us an
inheritance among all them that are set apart. And we bless the Son of
God, Jesus our Savior, Christ–anointed to redeem. Our heart dances for
joy at every remembrance of Him! There is not a name of Jesus Christ's
Person, or offices, or relationships which we would forget to bless.
Whether He is Immanuel, Jesus, or the Word. Whether He is Prophet,
Priest or King–whether He is Brother, Husband or Friend–whatever name
seems His beloved Person dear to us, we will bless Him under it.

And the Holy Spirit, too–our Comforter, the Paraclete, the heavenly
Dove who dwells within our hearts in infinite condescension, whom
Heaven cannot contain but yet who finds a habitation within the bodies
of His servants which are His temples–we will assuredly praise Him!
Each one of His influences shall evoke from us grateful praise–if He
is like the wind–we will be as Aeolian harps. If He is dew–we will
bloom with flowers. If He is flame–we will glow with ardor. If He is
oil–our faces shall shine. In whatever way He moves upon us we will be
responsive to His voice and while He blesses us we will bless His holy
name.

But if the very name of God is thus blessed to us, certainly the
Character which lies beneath the name shall be inexpressibly
delightful. Select any attribute of God you will and it is a reason for
our loving Him. Is He Immutable?– blessed be His name, He loves
everlastingly. Is He Infinite?–then glory be to Him, it is infinite
affection which He has bestowed upon us. Is He Omnipotent?–then will
He put forth all His power for His own beloved. Is He Wise?–then He
will not err, nor fail to bring us safely to our promised rest. Is He
Gracious?–then in that Grace we find our comfort and defense–whatever
there is in God, known or unknown, we will bless.

My God! I cannot apprehend You with my understanding, but I comprehend
You with my affections, and so, if I cannot know You all in my mind, I
love You altogether in my heart! My intellect is too narrow to contain
You, but my heart expands herself to the infinity of Your Majesty and
loves You, whatever You may be! You are unknown in great measure, but
You are not unloved by my poor heart! Thus the Psalmist calls upon us
to bless the Lord. I would like to dwell upon those emphatic words in
his exhortation–"His holy name."

Only a holy man can delight in holy things. Holiness is the terror of
unholy men! They love sin and count it liberty, but holiness is to them
a slavery. If we are saints we shall bless God for His holiness and be
glad that in Him there is no spot nor flaw. He is without iniquity–He
is just and right. Even to save His people He would not violate His
Law. Even to deliver His own beloved from going down into the Pit, He
would not turn away from the paths of equity. "Holy, holy, holy Lord
God of Sabaoth," is the loftiest cry of cherubim and seraphim in their
perfect bliss–it is a joyous song both to the saints on earth and
those in Heaven. The pure in heart gaze on the Divine holiness with
awe-struck joy!

Having thus expounded the words briefly, we will now come to the main
point of the exhortation. The Psalmist stirs us up to bless God with
our whole being and I pray the Holy Spirit to bring us to that
condition this morning. Upon that part of the exhortation we shall now
dwell.

I. And our first remark shall be that this exhortation is REMARKABLY
COMPREHENSIVE. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul"–there is the unity of our
nature. "And all that is within me"–there are the diverse powers and
faculties which make up the variety of our nature. The unity and the
diversity are both summoned to the delightful employment of magnifying
God!

First, the unity of our nature is here bid, in its concentration, to
yield its whole self to the praise of God. "Bless the Lord, O my
Soul"–he means thereby not his lips only, not his hands upon the harp
strings, not his eyes uplifted towards Heaven, but his soul, his very
self, his truest self. Never let me present to God the outward and
superficial alone, but let me render to Him the inner and the sincere.
Let me never bring before Him merely the outward senses which my soul
uses, but the soul which uses these instrumental faculties. No
whitewashed sepulchers will please the Lord–"Bless the Lord, O my
Soul"–let the true ego praise Him, the essential I, the vital
personality, the soul of my soul, the life of my life!

Let me be true to the core to my God. Let that which is most truly my
own vitality spend itself in blessing the Lord. The soul is our best
self. We must not merely bless the Lord with our body, which will soon
become worm's meat and is but dust at its best–but with our inner,
ethereal nature which makes us akin to angels–yes, that which causes
it to be

said that in the image of God we were created. My spiritual nature, my
loftiest powers must magnify God–not the voice which sings a
hypocritical magnificat, but the heart which means it! Not the lips
which cry Hosanna thoughtlessly–but the mind which considers and
intelligently worships. Not only this little narrow walk of my body
would I fill with song, but the infinite–through which my spirit soars
on wings of boundless thought–I would make that shoreless region vocal
with Jehovah's praise! My real self, my best self shall bless the Lord.

But the soul is also our immortal self, that which will outlast time
and, being redeemed by precious blood, shall pass through Judgment and
enter into the worlds unknown forever to dwell at the right hand of God
triumphant in His eternal love. My immortal Soul, what have you to do
with spending your energies upon mortal things? Will you hunt for
fleeting shadows while you are, yourself, most real and abiding? Will
you heap up bubbles while you, yourself, will endure forever in a life
coeval with the existence of God Himself, for He has given you eternal
life in His Son Jesus? Bless the Lord, then–so noble a thing as you
are should not be occupied with less worthy matters. Raise yourself on
all your wings and like the six-winged cherubim adore your God!

But the words suggest yet another meaning–the soul is our active self,
our vigor, our intensity. When we speak of a man's throwing his soul
into a thing we mean that he does it with all his might. We say, "There
is no soul in him," by which we do not mean that the man does not live,
but that he has no vigor or force of character, no love, no zeal. My
most intense nature shall bless the Lord. Not with bated breath and a
straitened energy will I lisp forth His praises, but I will pour them
forth vehemently and ardently in volumes of impassioned song. Never
serve God with a hand loathe for labor which would gladly withdraw
itself if it dared.

If you do your own business in a lax fashion, yet do not God's business
so. If you go to sleep over anything let it be over your money-making,
or your buying and selling, but evermore be awake in your service of
the Lord. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul!" If ever you are thoroughly
awakened, awake now! If ever you were all life, all emotion, all
energy, all enthusiasm, enter into the same condition again! Let every
part be full of ardor, sensitive with emotion, nerved with impulse,
borne upward by resolution, impelled by onward force! As Samson, when
he smote the Philistines hip and thigh, used every muscle, sinew and
bone of his body in crushing his adversaries, so you serve God with all
and every force you have. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul!"

O God, my hand, my tongue, my mind, my heart shall all adore You–

"Every string shall have its attribute to sing." My united,
concentrated, entire being shall bless You, You infinitely glorious
Jehovah! I pray you, my Brothers and Sisters, either do not pretend to
praise God at all, or praise Him with all your might. If you are
Christian people, be out and out Christians or let Christianity alone.
None hinder the glorious kingdom of Christ so much as these
half-and-half men and women who blow hot and cold with the same breath!
My Brethren, be thorough! Plunge into this stream of life as bathers do
who dive to the very bottom and swim in the broad stream with intense
delight. Do this, or else make no profession.

But then, David speaks of the diverse faculties of our nature, and
writes, "All that is within me bless His holy name." I think the Psalm
itself, if we had time to comment upon it, might suggest in succession
all our mental powers and passions. For instance, when he said, "Bless
the Lord, O my Soul," he meant, of course, first of all let the heart
bless Him, for that is often synonymous with the soul. The affections
are to lead the way in the concert of praise. But the Psalmist
intended, next, to stir up the memory, for he goes on to say, "forget
not all His benefits."

May I ask you, beloved Friends, to recollect what God has done for you?
Thread the jewels of His Grace upon the thread of memory and hang them
about the neck of praise. Can you count the leaves of the forest in
autumn, or number the small dust of the threshing floor? Then, can you
give the sum of His loving kindnesses? For mercies beyond count praise
Him without stint. Then let your conscience praise Him, for the Psalm
proceeds to say, "who forgives all your iniquities." Conscience once
weighed your sins and condemned you–now let it weigh the Lord's pardon
and magnify His Grace to you. Count the purple drops of Calvary and
say, "Thus my sins were washed away."

Let your conscience praise the Sin-Bearer who has caused it to flow
with peace like a river and to abound in righteousness as the waves of
the sea. Let your emotions join the sacred choir, for you have this
day, if you are like the Psalmist, many feelings of delight. Bless Him
"who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, and who
satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed
like the eagles." Is all within you peaceful today?

Sing the 23rd Psalm. Let the calm of your spirit sound forth the
praises of the Lord upon the pleasant harp and the psaltery.

Do your days flow smoothly? Then consecrate the dulcimer to the Lord.
Are you joyful this day? Do you feel the exhilaration of delight? Then
praise the Lord with the timbrel and dance. On the other hand, is there
a contention within? Does conflict disturb your mind? Then praise Him
with the sound of the trumpet, for He will go forth with you to the
battle. When you return from the battle and divide the spoil, then,
"praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high-sounding
cymbals." Whatever emotional state your soul is found in, let it lead
you to bless your Maker's holy name!

Perhaps, however, just now your thoughts exceed your emotions for you
have been considering the Providence of God as you have read the
histories of nations and seen their rise and fall–and have watched the
hand of God in men's lives. So also did David, and he sang, "The Lord
executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed." Let
your judgment praise the Judge of all the earth! Let every day's
newspaper give you fresh matter for praise–for every Christian should
so read the paper or not at all. God's praise is the true end of
history! His Providence is the pith and marrow of all the stories of
the empires of the past. To the man of understanding the centuries are
stanzas of a Divine epic, whereof the great subject is the Lord of
Hosts in His excellency.

Do not forget to bring your knowledge to your aid in your song. You
have the Scriptures and you have the Spirit to teach you their inner
sense, therefore you can soar above David when he sang, "He made known
His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel." He has made
known His Son unto you and in you–therefore glorify Him! The harvests
of the fields of knowledge should be stored in the garners of
adoration. Even our human learning should be laid at the Lord's feet,
for the vessels of the tabernacle were made of the gold which Israel
brought out of the land of Egypt. We should make each rivulet of
knowledge swell our gratitude. Believer, know not anything which you
can not consecrate, or else loathe to know it. Whatever fruits, new or
old, are stored in your memory, let them be all laid up for the Beloved
and none else. Knowledge should supply the spices and love, the flame,
and so the censer of worship should always smoke with fragrant perfume.

Be sure, too, that your faculty of wonder is used in holy things–let
your astonishment bless God. You cannot measure the distance from the
east to the west–you are lost in the immensity before you–but oh,
bless God with your wonder as you see your sins thus far removed from
you! You cannot tell how high the heavens are above the earth, but let
your astonishment at the greatness of Creation lead you to adoration,
for so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him! Ah, and your very
fears, let them bow low before the Lord. Do you fear because you are
frail? He remembers that we are dust. Do you tremble at the thought of
death? Then praise Him who spares you, though you are before Him as a
flower of the field withered by the wind when it passes over you.
Magnify from a sense of your insignificance the splendor of that
condescending love which pities you, even "as a father pities his
children."

As for your hopes, sweet are their voices–let them not remain
silent–as they peer into the future let them sing for, "The mercy of
the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him."
What more could hope desire to make her rouse her choicest minstrelsy?
By-and-by we shall be where even the last verses of the Psalm will not
be above our experience, for we shall see the Lord upon that Throne
which He has prepared in the heavens. And then we will bid angels that
excel in strength and all the heavenly ministry to bless the Lord!
Happy are we as we anticipate the day, and, filled with expectation,
cry aloud, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul!"

I think you will now perceive that, if time permitted, we could bring
out every single mental faculty and show that David has given it scope,
as though this Psalm were the working out of a problem and practically
showed how each particular power of the soul can praise God. Brothers
and Sisters, we cannot longer tarry on this point. You know, each of
you, what faculty you possess in the greatest strength. I pray you use
it for God. You know which phase your soul is in just now–bless God
while you are in that mood, whatever it is.

"All that is within me," says the text–then let it be all. Some of us
have a vein of humor and though we try to keep it under restraint it
will peep out. What then? Why let us make it bear the Lord's yoke! This
faculty is not necessarily common or unclean–let it be made a hewer of
wood and a drawer of water for the Lord. On the other hand, some of you
have a touch of despondency in your nature–take care to subdue it to
the Lord's praise. You are the men to sing those

grave melodies which in some respects are the pearls of song. A little
pensiveness is good flavoring. The muse is at her best when she is
pleasingly melancholy.

Praise God, my Brethren, as you are. Larks must not refrain from
singing because they are not nightingales, nor must the sparrow refuse
to chirp because he cannot emulate the linnet. Let every tree of the
Lord's planting praise the Lord! Clap your hands, you trees of the
forests, while fruitful trees and all cedars join in His praise. Both
young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the name of the
Lord, each one in his peculiar note–for you are all necessary to the
perfect harmony. The Lord would not have you borrow your brother's
tones, but use "all that is within you," all that is peculiar to your
own idiosyncrasy, for His glory!

Spend all your strength, yes, every atom of it! Keep back nothing, but
render all that is within you unto Him. If all that is within you is
the Lord's, all that is outside of you, which is yours, will also be
His. All your bodily faculties will praise Him and the outer life will
be all for God. Let your house praise Him. Beneath its roof may there
ever be an altar to the God of all the families of Israel. Let your
table praise Him–learn to eat and drink to His glory. Let your bed
praise Him–let the bells upon the horses be holiness unto the
Lord–let the very garments that you wear, seeing they are the gifts of
His charity, commend the Lord to your praise. Yes, let each breath you
breathe inspire a new song unto the Preserver of men. Make your life a
Psalm and be yourself a hymn–"all that is within me bless His holy
name." The text is comprehensive.

II. Secondly, the suggestion of the text is MOST REASONABLE, for,
first, God has created all that is within us except the sin which mars
us. Every faculty, susceptibility, power or passion, is of the Lords
fashioning. It were not ours to feel, to think, to hope, to judge, to
tear, to trust, to know, or to imagine if He had not granted us the
power. Who should own the house but the builder? Who should have the
harvest but the farmer? Who should receive the obedience of the child
but the father? To whom, then, O my Soul, should you render the homage
of your nature but to Him who made you all that you are?

Moreover, the Lord has redeemed our entire manhood. When we had gone
astray and all our faculties, like lost sheep, had taken, each one, its
own several roads of sin, Christ came into the world and redeemed our
entire nature– spirit, soul, body–not a part of the man, but our
complete humanity! Jesus Christ did not die for our souls only, but for
our bodies, too. And though at this present, "the body is dead because
of sin," and therefore we suffer pain and disease, yet the spirit is
already life because of righteousness, and in its life we have a sure
guarantee of the quickening of our mortal bodies in the day of the
adoption, to wit the redemption of our body.

We shall, at the coming of the Lord, be wholly restored in body and
soul by the Lord's Divine power–therefore let body and soul praise Him
who has redeemed both by His most precious blood! My Body, you are not
mine to pamper you, you are my Lord's to serve Him, for His blood has
paid your ransom price and secured your resurrection. My Soul, my
Spirit, whatever faculty you have, Christ's blood is on all, therefore
you are not your own. It would be sad, indeed, even to think of having
an unredeemed will or an unredeemed judgment–but it is not so–every
faculty is emancipated by a ransom. If the blood on the lintel has
saved the house, then it has saved every room–and every chamber of
ours should be consecrated to the Redeemer's praise.

Brothers and Sisters, the Lord has given innumerable blessings to every
part of our nature. We spoke of them just now, one by one, and it would
be very easy to show that all our faculties are the recipients of
blessing and therefore they should all bless God in return. Every pipe
of the organ should yield its quota of sound. As in an eagle, every
bone, muscle and feather is made with a view to flight, so is every
part of a regenerate man created for praise. As all the rivers run into
the sea, so all our powers should flow towards the Lord's praise. To
prove that this is reasonable, let me ask one single question–if we do
not devote all that is within us to the glory of God, which part is it
that we should leave unconsecrated? And being less unconsecrated to
God, what should we do with it? It would be impossible to give a proper
answer to this question.

An unconsecrated part in a Believer's manhood would become a nest of
hornets, or, what if I say a den of devils out of which evils would
come forth to prowl over our entire being? A faculty unsanctified would
be a leprous spot, a valley of Gehennam, a Dead Sea, a lair of
pestilence. To be sanctified–spirit, soul, and body–is essential to
us and we must have it. It is but our reasonable service that within us
must bless God's holy name–to withhold part of the price were
robbery–to reserve part of our territory from our King would be
treason!

III. But I will not further insist that it is reasonable, for I have
further to assert that it is NECESSARY. It is necessary that the whole
nature bless God, for at its best, when all engaged in the service, it
fails to compass the work and falls short of Jehovah's praise. All the
man, with all his might–always occupied in all ways in blessing
God–would still be no more than a whisper in comparison with the
thunder of praise which the Lord deserves!

One of our poets used a singular expression which the fact more than
justifies. He said–

"But ah, eternity's too short To utter all Your praise."

It is so. The whole company of God's creatures would be incapable of
reflecting the whole of the Divine Glory and such mercy and Grace does
God show to us in the gift of His dear Son that the Church militant,
and the Church triumphant, together, are not equal to well-deserved
praise. Do not, therefore, let us insult the Lord with half when the
whole is not enough! Let us not bring Him the tithe, when, if we had 10
times as much, we could not magnify Him as we should.

We must, moreover, give the Lord all because divided powers in every
case lead to failure. The men who have succeeded in anything have
almost always been men of one thing. He who is jack-of-all-trades is
master of none. He who can do a little of this and a little of that
never does much of any one thing. The fact is, there is only water
enough in the brook of our manhood to drive one wheel, and if we divide
it into many trickling runners we shall accomplish nothing. The right
thing is to dam up all our forces and allow them to spend themselves in
one direction and so pour them all forth upon the constantly revolving
wheel of praise to God.

How can we afford life to evaporate in trifles when one aim, only, is
worthy of our immortal being? We who have been baptized upon profession
of our faith were taught in that solemn ordinance to bless the Lord
with our entire being, for we were not sprinkled here or there–but we
were, in the outward sign–buried with the Lord Jesus in Baptism unto
death. And we were immersed into the name of the Triune God. If our
Baptism meant anything it declared that we were henceforth dead to the
world and owned no life but that which came to us by the way of the
resurrection of Jesus. Over our heads the liquid water flowed, for we
resigned the brain with all its powers of thought to Jesus. Over the
heart, the veins, the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears, the mouth,
the significant element poured itself–symbol of that universal
consecration which deluges all the inward nature of every sanctified
Believer. My baptized Brothers and Sisters, I charge you not belie your
profession! Remember, Beloved, this one telling argument, that Jesus
Christ will have all of us or nothing–and He will have us sincere,
earnest and intense–or He will not have us at all.

I see the Master at the table and His servants place before Him various
meats that He may eat and be satisfied. He tastes the cold meats and He
eats of the bread, hot from the oven. But as for tepid drinks and
half-baked cakes He puts them away with disgust. He will look on you
who are cold, and are mourning your coldness, and He will give you
heat. And He will look on you who are hot and serve Him with the best
you have. But of the middle-man, the lukewarm, He says, "I will spew
you out of My mouth." Jesus cannot bear lukewarm religion! He is sick
of it! The religion of this present time is, much of it, rather
nauseating to the Savior than acceptable to Him.

If Baal is God, serve him. But if God is God, serve Him truly. Let
there be no mockery, but be true to the core. Be thorough–throw your
soul into your religion! I charge you, stand back awhile and count the
cost–for if you wish to give to Christ a little and to Baal a little,
you shall be cast away and utterly rejected–the Lord of Heaven will
have nothing to do with you! Bless the Lord, then, all that is within
me, for only such sincere and undivided homage can be accepted of the
Lord.

IV. We must pass on, and ask your attention yet further to the next
remark–whole-hearted praise is BENEFICIAL. It is beneficial to
ourselves. To be whole-hearted in the praise of God is to elevate our
faculties. There can be no doubt whatever that many a man's powers have
been debased by the object which he has pursued. Poets who might have
been great poets have missed the highest seats upon Parnassus because
they have selected trivial topics or themes gross and impure, and,
therefore, the best features of their poems have never been fully
developed.

"Bless the Lord, O my Soul," and you will be a man to the fullness of
your capacity! This is the way to reach the loftiest peak of human
attainment. Consecration is culture. To praise is to learn. To bless
God is also of preventive usefulness to us–we cannot bless God and at
the same time idolize ourselves. Praise preserves us from being envious
of others, for by blessing God for all we have we learn to bless God
for what other people have, too. I reckon it to be a great part of
praise to be thankful to God for making better men than myself.

If we are always blessing the Lord, this will save us from
murmuring–the spirit of discontent will be ejected by the spirit of
thankfulness. And this will also deliver us from indolence, for, if all
our powers magnify the Most High, we shall scorn the soft couch of ease
and seek the place of service that we may bring more honor to our
Master. Nothing beautifies a man like praising God! There is a bath in
Germany which enamels the bathers, and, if it does not make them
beautiful forever, yet, at least beautiful for a while–but to plunge
our whole nature in adoration is far more beautifying.

I was told by one who watched the revivals in the north of Ireland
years ago that he never saw the human face look so lovely as when it
was lit up with the joy of the Holy Spirit during those times of
refreshing. You know how pleasing landscapes appear when the sun shines
upon them? The scenery has not half its charms till the sun, "of this
great world, both eye and soul," enriches the view with his wealth of
color and makes all things glow with God's Glory. Praise is the
sunlight of life.

Some of you conceal beneath a cloud of indifference all the beauty of
your characters. You are like the lovely mountains of Cumberland, when
they are enshrouded in mist–little or nothing attractive is visible in
you. Pray that Divine Grace, like a heavenly wind, would drive off the
fogs of our despondency and discontent and shed the sunlight of true
praise all over our soul–then the beauty of our new-created man will
be discerned! May we have many lovely praiseful Christians in this
Church–and may they abound in other Churches, also.

While whole-hearted praise is beneficial to ourselves, it is also
useful to others. I am persuaded many souls are converted by the
cheerful conversation of Christians and many already converted are
greatly strengthened by the holy joy of their Brethren. You cannot do
good more effectually than by a happy consecrated life spent in
blessing God. Imagine not that pensiveness is the fairest flower of
piety. There have been, in the French Church especially, eminent
Christians who appear to have realized a likeness to Christ more in the
sorrow which marred His visage, than in the joy which sustained His
spirit. Jesus sorrowed that we might rejoice! We are no more to imitate
Him in His griefs than in His five wounds!

It is truly Christian-like to rejoice in the Lord at all times. We
should seek to have Christ's joy fulfilled in ourselves. If there is
anything that is cheerful, joyous, dewy, bright, full of Heaven–it is
the life of a man who blesses God all his days. This is the way to win
souls! We shall not catch these flies with vinegar–we must use honey.
We shall not bring men into the Church by putting into the window of
Christ's shops, coffins and crepe, and shrouds–and standing at the
door like mutes. No, we must tell the Truth of God and show sinners the
best robe, the wedding ring, and the silver sandals of joy and
gladness. We must sing–

"The men of Grace ha ve found Glory began below. Celestial truths on
earthly ground From faith and hope do grow." I read in Thomas Cooper's,
"Plain Talk," a story of a class leader who was in a sad state of mind
and therefore gave out in the class the hymn–

"Ah, where should I go, Burdened, and sick, and faint."

To one seemed inclined to sing, therefore, the leader asked a certain
Brother Martin to start a tune. "No, no," said Martin, "I'm neither
burdened, nor sick nor faint, I'll start no tune, not I!" "Well, then,
Brother Martin," said the leader, "Give out a verse yourself."
Whereupon Martin, with all the power of his lungs, sang–

"Oh for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer's praise."

Ah, that's the hymn, my Brothers and Sisters, keep to that! If you have
not a thousand tongues, at least let the one you have continue to bless
the Lord while you have any being.

V. Lastly, all this is PREPARATORY. If we can attain to constant praise
now, it will prepare us for all that awaits us. We do not know what
will happen to us between this and Heaven, but we can easily
prognosticate the aim and result of all that will occur. We are harps
which will be tuned in all their strings for the concerts of the
Blessed. The Tuner is putting us in order. He sweeps His hands along
the strings–there is a jar from every note–so He begins, first, with
one string and then goes to another. He continues at each string till
He hears the exact note.

The last time you were ill, one of your strings was tuned. The last
time you had a bad debt, or trembled at declining business, another
string was tuned. And so, between now and Heaven, you will have every
string set in order and you will not enter Heaven till all are in tune!
Did you ever go to a place where they make pianos and expect to hear
sweet music? The tuning room is enough to drive a man mad–and in the
factory you hear the screeching of saws and the noise of hammers–and
you say, "I thought this was a place where they made pianos." Yes, so
it is, but it is not the place where they play them.

On earth is the place where God makes musical instruments and tunes
them–and between now and Heaven He will put all that is within them
into fit condition for blessing and praising His name eternally! In
Heaven every part of the man will bless God without any difficulty. No
need for a preacher there to exhort you! No need for you to talk to
yourself and say, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul"–you will do it as
naturally as now you breathe! You never take any consideration as to
how often you shall breathe and you have no plan laid down as to when
your blood shall circulate because these matters come naturally to you.

And in Heaven it will be your nature to praise God! You will breathe
praise! You will live in an atmosphere of adoration and like those
angels who for many an age, day without night, have circled the Throne
of Jehovah rejoicing, so will you! But I will not speak much on that,
or you will be wanting to be flying away to our own dear country–

"Where we shall see His face,

And never, never sin;

But from the rivers of His Grace

Drink endless pleasures in."

You must stay a little while longer in the tents of Kedar and mingle
with the men of soul-distressing Mesech. But till the day breaks and
the shadows flee away, say unto your soul, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul:
and all that is within me, bless His holy name."

I wish all my hearers could do this, but some of you cannot bless God
at all and it would be idle for me to tell you to do it! You are dead
in your sins. I read a story the other day of a woman convinced of her
state by a singular dream. She dreamed she saw her minister standing in
the midst of a number of flowerpots which he was watering and she
thought that she was one of the flowerpots. But the minister passed her
by and said, "It is no use watering that plant, for it is

dead."

This morning I must pass by the dead plants. Oh, Sinner, can you bear
this? I do not invite you to sing the Believer's song of praise–can
you bear to be left out? Though I pass you by, I pray the Lord to look
upon you and say to you– "Live!" And before I close I must tell you
something else which is meant for dead sinners as well as living
saints. It is this–"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
saved." God grant to you that saving faith for Christ's sake. Amen.
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The Secret Food And The Public Name