The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-10-28
SERMON BY REV. M. D. HOGE, D. D.
PREACHED OCTOBER 4, 1868, IN THE SECOND
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, RICHMOND, va, IN
ANTICIPATION OF THE COMMUNION.
Grateful Acknowledgement of Divine Morcios

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. =
Psalm evil: ,.
The Psalm from which the text is taken
is a call upon all of Gods people to
praise and bless him for his goodness and
mercy, both of which endure forever.
NV brethren our hearts may not always
be ready to respond 10 such call. Such
may be our perplexities, our anxieties and
sorrows, such our remembrances of past
griefs, such our antieipatlons of coming
troubles, as TO cause US TO feel that ex-
hortations to gratitude are out of place,
and that the full indulgence of sadness
and tears would be more appropriate, as
the just tribute which is due to disap-
pointed hopes and bere&gements freshly
remembered.
Well it is true, there is time for all
things. There is time to mourn. Our
tender and loving Saviour himself has
said, blessed are they that mourn. But
it is equally true that the sincere Chris
tian heart knows the possibility and the
preciOusness of joy t,a sorrow, Of gratitude
in the midst of grief. The man who be-
heves that God sits IN the chariot of
Providence and guides every turn of Its
mysterious movements through the
world; that under the control of his
righteous. omnipOtent and loving hand all
events are working together for the good
of his people; and that when the tolls
and trials of this weary life are ended
there remains to him certain rest IN
heaven: and better than all, that there
is in reserve for him richer inheritance
than heaven itself, even the infinite and
adorable One whom the heavens cannot
contain: that God himself will be the
souls final rest, recOmpense and portion
forever-such man has sources of COM
fort and causes for thanksgiving which
render him to great degree Independent
of external circumstances, and which give
him sweet experience of the meaning of
the apostle when he describes the beliver
as one who is ''sorrowing, yet ARRAYS re-
joicing." 1t is even so; when there is
nothing outward nothing temporal to
fill him with gladnesS-when all that
makes life bright and beautiful, fades and
vanishes away, leaving him in darkness,
then is he light in the Lord, and then
in the Wrael- sp,J- raw of e-rthl.y-cxprct'r
tiOns he can rejoice in God by whom he
has received the atonement, and who
has said, Il will never leave thee.
And thus it is that Gods afflicted
children, with their sorrows sanctiied to
them, charm the ear of the unregenerate
world by songs in the house of their pill
grimage to the better land.
1t was so with David in this animating
Psalm. 1t is for the most part joyful.
Sometimes, indeed, he fills his Psalms
with strains of penitence and the wall OF
breaking hearts. He breathes out some
of his sweetest music in the minor mode,
and his tones grow sadly tremulous and
low, when in looking up he can scarcely
see heaven through his binding tears.
But now he has emerged from the depths;
now he has risen above the clouds into
the clear sunshine. Nay, with adventur
Gus flight he has ascended yet higher,
and stands, as it were, at the very gate OF
paradise, harp in hand, and strikes some
notes responsive to those which ring on
the sea of glass mingled with fire, where
the heavenly harpers sweep their golden
chords in harmony with the everlasting
song. Let us hear him: 90 give
thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for
his mercy endureth forever. Let the re-
deemed of the Lord say so. Let re-
membered mercy inspire heart and tongue
with melody to the Lord, so that He may
be glori6ed by the praises which his peO-
pie offer Him.
The Psalm contains many reasons tor
this grateful homage. 1t enumerates
many special and striking illustrations of
Gods love and care for His people-lay-
ing them under the most sweetly con-
straining obligations to acknowledge Him
as the inspirer of all their hopes, as the
giver of all their gifts. Then says the
Psalmist, ''Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let them give some expression
to their sense of Indebtedness. Let them
give thanks at the remembrance of His
benefits. Let them ''take the cup of sal
vation and call on the name of the Lord.
Let them pay their vows unto the Lord,
in the presence Of all his people, in the
courts Of the Lords house, in the midst
of thee, 0 Jerusalem.
The first reason which the Psalmist as
signs for public acknowledgment of in
debtedness to God, flows from the fact
that "his mercy eRdureth forever.' o
how ilimitably broad is the field which
is thus opened before us-the field of the
Divine mercy 1t is like the field of ere
alton. In that field the telescope cannot
pierce to depths of space where shining
worlds do not declare the glory of God