Psalm CXIII
An exhortation to praise God for his excellency,—for his mercy.
Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,
Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.
This is a most conspicuous and most blessed prophecy of the kingdom of Christ, and of its extension from the rising unto the setting of the sun throughout all the kingdoms of the earth: it calls upon all nations to laud and magnify God, and to proclaim the riches of his grace; that is, the remission of sins for Christ’s sake. For Christ is the God of the humble, the God of the afflicted, and the God of those that call upon him and that cry unto him; he is an altogether loving and lovely Saviour and God, who sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and loves and has respect unto the humble, the afflicted, the oppressed, and the trembling and contrite in heart.
The peculiar and express office of Christ, and the work of the kingdom of Christ is to bring down the proud, to put to shame the wise, and to condemn hypocrites and false saints: and, on the other side, to raise up and exalt the humble, to enlighten and instruct fools, to sanctify unclean sinners, to make fruitful the barren, to comfort the fatherless; that is, those who are in any way afflicted or distressed.