Hints to Preachers

Verse 1.—The duty of ascribing our strength and the honour of it to God; the penalty of neglecting to do so; the pleasure of so doing.

Verse 1.—National glorying should be in the Lord.

Verse 2 (first clause).—Royal dues, the royal treasury, loyal subjects paying their dues, the king receiving them. Smugglers and preventive men.

Verse 2 (second clause).—Inspired ritualism. What to do? “Worship.” Whom? “The Lord.” How? “In the beauty of holiness.” Absence of all allusions to place, time, order, words, form, vestments, etc.

Verse 3.—God’s voice heard in trouble and above trouble, or in great personal and national calamities.

Verse 4.—Power and majesty of the gospel. Illustrated by succeeding verses.

Verse 4 (last clause).—“The majestic voice.” See Spurgeon’s Sermons, No. 87.

Verse 5.—The breaking power of the gospel.

Verse 6.—The unsettling power of the gospel.

Verse 7.—The fire which goes with the word. This is a wide subject.

Verse 8.—The arousing and alarming of godless places by the preaching of the word.

Verse 9.—The revealing power of the word of God in the secrets of man’s heart, and its regenerating force.

Verse 9 (last clause).—I. Matchless temple. II. Unanimous worship. III. Forcible motive. IV. General enthusiasm, “glory.” See Comment.

Verse 10.—The ever-present and undisturbed government of God.

Verse 11.—The twin blessings from the same source; their connection, and their consummation.

Verse 11.—The two wills, the two blessings, the one people, the one Lord.