This is the closing hallelujah, the praise of God in His sanctuary, His upper sanctuary, "the firmament of His power." The preceding was His praise in the lower sanctuary, "the congregation of saints." There, Israel was heard ; but here, the heavens. His acts and Himself, His greatness and His ways, are the themes of this lofty praise. " All kinds of music," as it were, dulcimer, sackbut, flute, psaltery (for loud joy will, in its place, be as holy as once it was profane, Dan. 3:), are summoned to sound it, and to sound it loudly, and all who have faculty to praise, to join the hallelujah. Every verse teems with praise. Every thought is about it. Every object awakens it. Every power uses itself only in this service.

The Levites have changed their service. No longer have they burdens to bear through a wilderness, but they lift up their songs in the house of the Lord, (I Chron. 15:16; 23:25, 26, 30.)

The heavens have changed their bearing also. They have ended their laughter at the proud confederates (Ps. 2:), for such confederates have been answered in judgment; and they are filled with joy and singing, and with that glory which is to break forth from them, and to be a covering over all the dwellings of Zion. (Is. 4:)

These are "the days of heaven upon the earth." (Deut. 11:21.) The kingdom has come, and the will of the Blessed One is done here as there. The mystic ladder connects the upper and the lower sanctuaries.

But these closing psalms, I may observe, do not spread out before us the materials of the millennial world. Jerusalem, Israel, the nations with their kings, princes, and judges, the heavens and the earth, and all creation throughout its order, are contemplated as in "the restitution " and " refreshing," but they are detailed, as there, in their mere circumstances. It is rather the praise of all that is heard. The Psalmist anticipates the harps rather than the glories of the kingdom ; and this is beautifully characteristic.

Praise crowns the scene. The vision passes from before us with the chanting of all kinds of music. Man has taken the instrument of joy into his hand ; to strike it, however, only to God's glory. And this is the perfect result of all things-the creature is happy and God glorified. " Glory and honor are in His presence ; strength and gladness are in His place." (i Chron. 16:27.)

What a close of the Psalms of David ! what a close of the ways of God ! Joy indeed has come in the morning, and struck its note for the " one eternal day." Praise ye the Lord! Amen.

Yes, praise, all praise ; untiring, satisfying fruit of lips uttering the joy of creation, and owning the glory of the Blessed One. This is righteous happiness.

And here, in connection with this, and on closing these meditations, let the thought cheer us, beloved, that happiness, and that forever, is ours. There may have been a path through Calvary, and the scorn of the world, and the grave of death ; but it led to joy and everlasting pleasures. The way for a season lay by the waters of Babylon, but Jerusalem was regained-as our psalms have shown us. The valley of Baca was the way to the house of God. "Tribulation," it may be; but, "I will see you again," said Jesus.
As to our title to it, there is to be no reserve, no suspicion in our souls. It is our divinely appointed portion. To come short of happiness will be the end only of revolted hearts.. Our title to look for it is of God Himself. It lies in the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, the God-man, given for us, in the riches of divine grace ; and faith in us reads, understands, and pleads that title. And there is no reason for hesitating to enjoy its fruit and benefit- none whatever. No more reason than Adam would have had to question his right to enjoy the garden of Eden because he had never planted it, nor for the camp of Israel in the desert to drink of the water from the rock because they had never opened it. The garden was planted for Adam, the rock was opened for Israel; and so has the Savior, and all the joy that His salvation brings with it, been as simply and surely provided for sinners. Our souls are to make it a question of Christ's glory, and not of our worthiness. He made it so when He was here. He never led a diseased or maimed one to inquire into his own fitness, but simply to own His hand and His glory. "If thou canst believe," that is, if thou art ready to glorify Me, to be debtor to Me for this blessing, then take it and welcome.

Then as to our resources. It is not merely love we have to do with, power is on our side also. Love and power together shall form the scene we are to gaze on forever, as they have from the beginning been " workers together " for us, teaching us our wondrous resources.

See them thus working together in some little instances in the days of the Lord Jesus. Five thousand are fed with five loaves and two fishes. Fed to the full-and twelve baskets of fragments left! This tells the wealth of the Lord of the feast, as well as His kindness. And what satisfaction of heart does this communicate ! If we draw on the bounty of another, and have reason to fear that we have partaken of what he needed himself, our enjoyment abates. This fear will intrude, and rightly so, and spoil our ease while we sit at his table. But when we know that behind the table which is spread for us there are stores in the house, such fears are forbidden. The thought of the wealth of the host, as well of his love, sets all at ease. And it is to be thus with us in our enjoyment of Christ. J.G.B.