September 12

That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness unto his marvellous light, - 1 Peter 2:9.

OBSERVE the duty enjoined: it is, “that they may show forth the praises” of their Benefactor and Deliverer. God has always had a grand object in view, and this object must be his own glory, for this reason:-as he is the greatest of beings, and the best of beings, every other end must be infinitely inferior to his own glory and honour. “Of him, and to him, and through him, are all things, to whom be glory.” All his works praise him, but his highest praise springs from his own redeemed and saved people. He says, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.”

They do this passively and actively. He does not intend their religion to be an invisible thing, but that it is to be displayed. They are to “show forth his praises;” and they do this even in their sufferings. Therefore says the prophet Isaiah, “Glorify the Lord in the fires.” They do this when enabled to suffer according to his will. When Christians meet with an accident that lays them by from active services,-when months of affliction are allotted to them, and wearisome nights are appointed them,-they sometimes think their service for God is all over, when perhaps they are approaching the most useful period in all their lives.

For nothing strikes like facts; nothing impresses like the passive graces of Christians when in patience they possess their souls, when though they mourn they murmur not. Then what impressions are often made in favour of true godliness on the minds of beholders, when they show forth the praises of the Lord in their songs! Thus the Psalmist says, “Sing, ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” “Make melody in your hearts, singing praises unto the Lord.” That is the way, according to James, to sing praises:-“Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.”

Our Saviour was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief for us, yet we read of his singing at the approach of his greatest agonies:-“He sang a hymn with his disciples.” We should sing personally, and not by proxy. We shall all sing in heaven, and not depend upon the choir there. “That ye should show forth his praises:” this is the only part of divine worship in which we resemble the heavenly world: there repentance will be hid from our eyes; there faith will be changed to sight, and hope into enjoyment; there the days of our mourning will be ended. And we are to show forth his praises, not only with our lips, but also in our actions and in our lives, “by giving up ourselves to his service, and walking before him in righteousness and holiness all our days.” But

“Our days of praise shall ne’er be past,

While life, or breath, or being last,

Or immortality endures.”