Psalms 145:4

One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.

The law of the generations

The Church that stood aloof from missions would now be as much condemned as formerly it would have been commended. And how much has been done in the varied mission fields. Now, all this you inherit. Next to the Gospel of salvation, no generation of men have ever had such a trust committed to them as is committed to you. May God help you to be faithful. For, besides being an inheritance of natural succession, it is also a moral entrustment. It constitutes part of your stewardship. How, then, will you treat this missionary inheritance? Two extremes are to be avoided: you may slight and disesteem it, or you may stereotype and superstitiously regard it; you may treat it as a puerility, or you may embalm it as a relic. You may become men of faith, and hope, and charity, or men of captiousness and self-conceit; you may have an intelligent reverence that will wisely build on the foundation that your fathers have laid, or you may have a foolish self-conceit that will be contented with nothing less than to dig it up and lay a foundation afresh for yourselves. There was wisdom in the world, let us believe it, before we were born; and we may not unbecomingly sit at our fathers’ feet. Both these extremes you will avoid. As to your relationship to the future, it will be your duty--

1. To qualify yourself for thus standing in the succession of the generations. But this you cannot do unless you yourselves be personally converted to God. None but the spiritual can possess the spiritual. Alas, here is a possibility of the succession failing. The pious and devoted sire may have in you a godless son. You cannot succeed him in the work he did for God. You care not for your own soul, how, then, can you care for the souls of others?

2. Form missionary and self-denying habits. But these can only be formed in early life. Those who have done this have been, and are, the most useful in the Church.

3. If you would reap the present rewards of spiritual service, begin your spiritual sowing whilst you are yet young. Life will be too short for both sowing and reaping if you do not. To induce you to give yourselves to this glorious service, remember how much depends upon it. You, humanly speaking, are indispensable for the transmission of truth to posterity. Think of your honoured fathers, how they loved this work. Think what an honoured name you may leave behind you, and the gratitude that will follow you. Think of the plain Divine command and the “blood that will be required at your hand,” if you make not known the Gospel. Think of the moral grandeur and transcendency of your work. Think of the final issue and glory of it. By this motive Christ sustained His Spirit. Look on to that blessed time. (H. Allon, D. D.)

Duty of the present to the coming generation

I. The duty.

1. To declare, or make known, the works of God to succeeding generations, and especially to that generation which immediately follows us. His works of

(1) Creation.

(2) Providence.

(3) Redemption.

2. For one generation to praise God’s works to another. While they communicate a knowledge of His works they must speak highly of them. While they tell what He has done, they must add, He has done all things well. When they describe His works of creation, they must extol the wisdom, power and goodness which are displayed in them. While they communicate a knowledge of His works of providence, they must applaud them as infinitely wise, holy, just, and good. And while they exhibit the wonders of redemption, and God’s works of grace to the following generation, they must accompany the exhibition with those glowing expressions of admiration, gratitude, love and icy which this grand display of all God’s perfections ought to call forth from those for whose benefit it was made, and whose everlasting happiness it is designed to promote.

II. Reasons.

1. The natural relations which exist between the present and the next generation.

2. Each of the successive generations of mankind is the natural and rightful heir of the generation which preceded it.

3. For the religious knowledge and the means of acquiring it which we possess, we are indebted, under God, to preceding generations.

4. We transmit to our posterity a corrupt and depraved nature which, unless its influence is counteracted by religion, will render them miserable hero and hereafter. (E. Payson, D. D.)

The praise of time

This is a glorious note in a noble strain, expressing a deep truth, a lofty thought. The psalmist looks down the whole stream of time. He beholds the world in all its various stages and conditions; pure in its first infancy, polluted in its fallen ruin; struggling through the gloom of ignorance and clouds of judgment; advancing in knowledge, in wealth, in power; reaching the zenith of maturity, and declining to the western horizon. Through all the entangled web of time he sees one continuous thread; he hears one note ever the same. The praise of God sounds forth unbroken and unchanged. Age answers ago in unfolding His attributes. Life to life, land to land proclaim His majesty and power, His goodness and love.

I. We may consider this as the decree of God. He who made the world has willed that it should praise Him. The Most High has imposed this task upon the ages. He who formed man from dust has decreed that by him His glory shall be shown. The works of God carry out His decree. The sun and moon proclaim His power. Day and night utter His wisdom. The seasons declare His bounty and His faithfulness. The fruits of the earth call forth thanksgiving. Even war, and famine, and pestilence work His will. And the history of man, even yet more strikingly, set forth God’s glory. This truth is ever written--“The Lord is King.” He rules. “None can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” Look at Pharaoh. Hear him ask, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” He little thought how his own history should answer the question. Listen to Nebuchadnezzar,--“Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?” Yet his burning fiery furnace has borne witness for two thousand years,--“Trust ye in the Lord for ever.” The mysteries of affliction teach the same lesson. The erring has been thus brought back, or the faithful confirmed, or God’s power displayed (John 9:3). And the Church of Christ is a standing witness of the same great truth.

II. We consider the text, also, as expressing the resolution and work of Christ’s Church. Praise is the rightful attitude of the redeemed (Psalms 107:2). It is the natural outpouring of the renewed heart. Mercy felt, love appreciated, salvation embraced and enjoyed is sure to beget true thanksgiving. So David wrote the matchless 103rd psalm. So Paul and Silas could not refrain from singing praise in Philippi’s dungeon. Nay, we are told that God has chosen His people to praise Him (Isaiah 42:21; 1 Peter 2:9). And even angels cannot sing the new song which belongs to the saved from earth alone (Revelation 14:3). And the people of God have ever claimed their holy privilege. They have sung of creation and of providence, and the wonders of redeeming love. God has never left Himself without this witness in the world. Conclusion--

1. What are we doing to make our generation one of praise? We have received a pure faith; are we taking care to hand it down?

2. Do we possess in ourselves that salvation which alone enables us truly to praise? Have we tasted that the Lord is gracious? Can we thus say, “O taste and see”?

3. How glorious shall be the praise of heaven! Now one age to another, one land to another, praises God. What shall be the glory of the song when every age and every land shall sing “Salvation”; when those who sang creation (Job 38:7), and redemption (Luke 2:13), and grace (Romans 8:1; 1 Timothy 1:15): shall all unite in praise; when teachers, taught; ministers, people; Jew, Gentile; bond, free; when prophets, apostles, martyrs, from Abel to the last saint of time, shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb? (W. S. Bruce, M. A.)