Hallelujah (239) allelouia by Greek Word Studies

Hallelujah (239) (allelouia from transliteration of Hebrew halelū = to praise + yāh = Yah short form of Yahweh or Jehovah; Hebrew = הַלְלוּ־יָהּ) means "Praise Yahweh" and transliterated into English as "Hallelujah" or "alleluia." The only NT use in in Revelation 19 and the only use in the Septuagint - Lxx is in the Psalms. Zodhiates explains that "With one exception (Ps. 135:3), allēlloúia is always found at the beginning or end of psalms (in the Septuagint - Lxx), suggesting that it was a standardized call to praise in the temple worship." The TDNT adds that "It is (uncertain) whether (allelouia in the Lxx translation of the Psalms - see uses below) is a heading or a conclusion. It is probable that no general decision can be made." Vine says that “Alleluia,” without the initial “H,” is a misspelling. TDNT adds that allelouia is also used in... the Odes of Solomon, which always conclude with Hallelujah; c. the liturgical use in Jewish (Hellenistic) worship, which has it sung by the congregation and makes it an independent acclamation (Tob. 13:8; 3 Macc. 7:13). Christian worship adopted the same practice. Allelouia - 21x in the Septuagint - Lxx - Ps 104:35; 105:45; 6.48" class="scriptRef">106:48; 111:1; 12.1" class="scriptRef">112:1; 113:1, 9; 115:18; 116:10, 19; 117:2; 119:1; 135:1, 21; 146:1; 147:1, 12; 148:1; 149:1; 150:1, 6; Allelouia - 4x in the NT - Rev 19:1, 3, 6 While Psalm 149:6 does not use the word halal, clearly the importance of praise is present in this passage Ps 149:6 Let the high praises (Heb = roman from rum [height] = extolling, praise; Lxx = hupsosis = exaltation, lifting up high) of God be in their mouth (throat), and a two-edged sword in their hand, Spurgeon writes: What does the psalmist say? “Let the high praises of God be in their throat.” Our praises ought to be very high praises, for there is a high object before us. We praise a great God, we should therefore praise him with high feelings, feelings screwed up to the highest point of high delight and high desire. Our praises should climb up to heaven’s gate, running up Jacob’s ladder even as the angels did, till we cast our praises right at the foot of the eternal throne. Let us sound forth the high praises of God with our mouths, let us extol him, and magnify him, and make him great. Say noble things of God wherever you go, for he well deserves it at your hands. Songs in their mouths, and swords in their hands! It is something like the sword and the trowel, the trowel to build with and the sword to smite with. God’s people must sing and fight at the same time; and they fight best who sing best. Not those that growl most, but those that sing most, fight best. “In their throat,” says the Hebrew, for God’s saints sing deep down in their throats. There is a deeply rooted music when we praise God, which is altogether unlike the mere syllables of the lips that come from a hypocrite’s tongue. We praise God and contend with our corruptions; we sing joyfully and war earnestly with evil of every kind. Our weapons are not carnal, but they are mighty, and wound with both back and edge. The word of God is all edge; whichever way we turn it, it strikes deadly blows at falsehood and wickedness. If we do not praise we shall grow sad in our conflict; and if we do not fight we shall become presumptuous in our song. The verse indicates a happy blending of the chorister and the crusader. Note how each thing in the believer is emphatic: if he sings, it is high praises, and praises deep down in his throat, as the original hath it; and if he fights, it is with the sword, and the sword is two edged. The living God imparts vigorous life to those who trust him. They are not of a neutral tint: men both hear them and feel them. Quiet is their spirit, but in that very quietude abides the thunder of an irresistible force. When godly men give battle to the powers of evil each conflict is high praise unto the God of goodness. Even the tumult of our holy war is a part of the music of our lives. As J C Ryle said... There is no part of Christian worship that so tends to unite Christians, if they really take it up in spirit and unity, as praise. Men who cannot agree on the platform agree when they come to sing praise. There is no part of worship which so trains and fits us for heaven as does the service of praise. In that world there will be no more need of prayer, for all will be supplied; no more need for sacraments, for we shall sit face to face with Him who shed His own blood for us, gave His own body for us; no more need to search diligently for the things written for our learning. They will be swallowed up in sight, and will be absorbed in certainty. Praise will be the one grand employment of the inhabitants of heaven. The first church of Jerusalem was known for "praising God" (Acts 2:47) and ought to be the mark of every believer (and body) today! SOME SPURGEON QUOTES ON PRAISE Spurgeon on Praise... There is no engagement under Heaven that is more exalting than praising God—and however great may be the work which is committed to the charge of any of us, we shall always do well if we pause awhile to spend a time in sacred praise. (Holy Song from Happy Saints) Brothers and Sisters, the very best work which we ever do on earth is to adore. You are blessed in prayer, but you are seven times blessed in praise! (The Feast of the Lord) We don’t sing enough, my Brothers and Sisters! How often do I stir you up about the matter of prayer, but perhaps I might be just as earnest about the matter of praise! Do we sing as much as the birds do? Yet what have birds to sing about, compared with us? Do you think we sing as much as the angels do? Yet they were never redeemed by the blood of Christ! (Holy Song from Happy Saints) The soul full of joy takes a still higher step when it clothes itself with praise. Such a heart takes to itself no glory, for it is dressed in gratitude and so hides itself. Nothing is seen of the flesh and its self-exaltation, since the garment of praise hides the pride of man. (The Garment of Praise) It would create an almost miraculous change in some people’s lives if they made a point of speaking most of the precious things and least of the worries and ills! Why always the poverty? Why always the pains? Why always the dying child? Why always the husband’s small wages? Why always the unkindness of a friend? Why not sometimes—yes, why not always—the mercies of the Lord? That is praise and it is to be our everyday garment, the livery of every servant of Christ! (The Garment of Praise) Whoever offers praise glorifies Me,’ says the Lord. Man is made on purpose to glorify God. It is his chief end. Then his chief end is comely to him. If he answers his end, he is comely to Him who made him, and inasmuch as our chief end is to glorify God, praise becomes comely to the upright. (All-Sufficiency Magnified) God gets some of His richest praise amidst dying groans—and He gets delightful music from His people’s triumphant cries. (True Worship) Sometimes, even when prayer fails, praise will do it. It seems to gird up the loins. It pours a holy anointing oil upon the head and upon the spirit. It gives us a joy of the Lord which is always our strength. Sometimes, if you begin to sing in a dull frame, you can sing yourself up the ladder. Singing will often make the heart rise. (Holy Song from Happy Saints) We are in a wrong state of mind if we are not in a thankful state of mind. Depend upon it, there is something wrong with you if you cannot praise God. (Daily Blessings for God's People) A rejoicing heart soon makes a praising tongue. (Howling Changed to Singing) Those tongues that confess sins are the best tongues to sing with! That tongue which has been salted with the brine of penitence is fitted to be sweet with the honey of praise. (An Earners Entreaty) It is a great thing to praise Jesus Christ by day; but there is no music sweeter than the nightingale's, and she praises God by night. It is well to praise the Lord for his mercy when you are in health, but make sure that you do it when you are sick, for then your praise is more likely to be genuine. When you are deep down in sorrow, do not rob God of the gratitude that is due to him; never stint him of his revenue of praise whatever else goes short. Praise him sometimes on the high-sounding cymbals,—crash, crash,—with all your heart and being; but when you cannot do that, just sit, and mean his praise in solemn silence in the deep quiet of your spirit. There is no other praise. We cannot fetch anything from elsewhere, and bring it to God; but the praises of God are simply the facts about himself. Surely, goodness and mercy have brightened all the days of our lives. Each day has been so wonderful, that if we had only lived that one day, we should have had cause to praise the Lord for ever and ever. God is God still; and the deeper your trouble, the greater are your possibilities of adoration; for, when you are brought to the very lowest, it is that, in extremis, you can raise the song in excelsis, out of the deepest depths you can praise the Lord to the very highest. When we glorify God out of the fires of fiercest tribulation, there is probably more true adoration of him in that melody than in the loftiest songs of cherubim and seraphim when they enjoy God, and sing out his praises in his presence above. Come, ye children of God, and bless his dear name; for doth not all nature around you sing? If you were silent, you would be an exception to the universe. Doth not the thunder praise him as it rolls like drums in the march of the God of armies? Doth not the ocean praise him as it claps its thousand hands? Doth not the sea roar, and the fullness thereof? Do not the mountains praise him when the shaggy woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Do not the lightnings write his name in letters of fire upon the midnight darkness? Doth not this world, in its unceasing revolutions, perpetually roll forth his praise? Hath not the whole earth a voice, and shall we be silent? Shall man, for whom the world was made, and suns and stars were created,—shall he be dumb? No, let him lead the strain. Let him be the world's high priest, and while the world shall be as the sacrifice, let him add his heart thereto, and thus supply the fire of love which shall make that sacrifice smoke towards heaven. (Magnificat) SING in fine weather! Any bird can do that. Praising God when all goes well is commonplace work. Everybody marks the nightingale above all other birds because she singeth when the other minstrels of the wood are silent and asleep; and thus doth faith praise God under the cloud. Songs in the day are from man, but God Himself giveth songs in the night. O come let us sing unto the Lord under the cloud; let us pour forth His praises in the fires! Let us praise Him under depressions, let us magnify Him when our heart is heavy. (Barbed Arrows from the Quiver of C. H. Spurgeon) To forget to praise God, is to refuse to benefit ourselves, for praise, like prayer, is exceedingly useful to the spiritual man. It is a high and healthful exercise. To dance, like David, before the Lord, is to quicken the blood in the veins and make the pulse beat at a healthier rate. Praise gives to us a great feast, like that of Solomon, who gave to every man a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night. To bless God for mercies received is to benefit our fellow-men; “the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Others who have been in like circumstances, shall take comfort if we can say, “Oh! magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.” Tongue-tied Christians are a sad dishonor to the Church. We have some such, some whom the devil has gagged, and the loudest music they ever make is when they are champing the bit of their silence. I would, my brethren, that in all such cases the tongue of the dumb may sing. To go a step further here. As praise is good and pleasant, blessing man and glorifying, God, united praise has a very special commendation. United praise is like music in concert. The sound of one instrument is exceeding sweet, but when hundreds of instruments, both wind and stringed, are all combined, then the orchestra sendeth forth a noble volume of harmony. The praise of one Christian is accepted before God like a grain of incense; but the praise of many is like a censor full of frankincense smoking up before the Lord. Combined praise is an anticipation of heaven, for in that general assembly they altogether with one heart and voice praise the Lord. “Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, But all their joys are one.” Public praise is very agreeable to the Christian himself. How many burdens has it removed, I am sure when I hear the shout of praise in this house it warms my heart. It is at times a little too slow for my taste, and I must urge you to quicken your pace, that the rolling waves of majestic praise may display their full force, yet with all drawbacks, to my heart there is no music like yours. Even there, however, the many voices make a grand harmony of praise. I love to hear God’s people sing when they really do sing, not when it is a drawing out somewhere between harmony and discord. O for a sacred song, a shout of lofty praise in which every man’s soul beats the time, and every man’s tongue sounds the tune, and each singer feels a high ambition to excel his fellow in gratitude and love. There is something exceedingly delightful in the union of true hearts in the worship of God, and when these hearts are expressed in song, how sweet the charming sounds. I think we ought to have a praise-meeting once a week. We have a prayer meeting every Monday, and a prayer-meeting every Saturday, and a prayer-meeting every morning, but why do we not have a praise-meeting? Surely seasons should be set apart for services made up of praise from beginning to end. Let us try the plan at once.....it is almost always the case that David by the fire of prayer warms himself into praise. He begins low, with many a broken note of complaining, but he mounts and glows, and, like the lark, sings as he ascends. When at first his harp is muffled he warbles a few mournful notes and becomes excited, till he cannot restrain his hand from that well-known and accustomed string which he had reserved for the music of praise alone. (The Power of Prayer and the Pleasure of Praise) Praising God is one of the best ways of keeping away murmuring! (Fifteen Years Later!) Is not praise composed in a large measure of an attentive observation of God’s mercy? Thousands of blessings come to us without our knowledge: we take them in at the back-door, and put them away. in the cellar. Now, praise takes note of them, preserves the invoice of favors received, and records the goodness of the Lord. O friends, if you do this, you will never be short, of reasons for praise. He who notices ’God’s mercy will never be without a mercy to notice. This is the chief material of the garment of praise: attentive consideration of divine grace is the broadcloth out of which the garment of praise is made....Maintain the memory of his great goodness. “Forget not all his benefits.” Call to remembrance your song in the night; and remember the loving-kindnesses of the Lord. In this also we find rich material for the garment of praise. (The Garment of Praise) God turns our fasts into feasts, and we are glad in the midst of our sorrow! We can praise and bless His name for all that He does. (Sad Fasts Changed to Glad Feasts) Praise is the beauty of a Christian. What wings are to a bird, what fruit is to the tree, what the rose is to the thorn, that is praise to a child of God. (Prayer, the Proof of Godliness) This is how we live spiritually—we breathe in the air by prayer, and we breathe it out by praise! This is the holy respiration of a Christian’s life! Prayer and praise must be mingled in a divinely wise proportion and then they make a sweet incense, acceptable to God. (Eternal Life!) Praise is the end of prayer and preaching. (An Unparalleled Cure) O Friends, if you are afraid of being overcome, take to praising God! If you are in trouble and do not know how to bear it, divert your thoughts by praising God! Get away from the present trial by blessing and magnifying His holy name! (Comforted and Comforting) How many times a day do you praise Him [God]? I think you do get alone to pray and you would be ashamed if you did not, once, twice, or three or even more times in the day—but how often do you praise God? Now, you know that you will not pray in Heaven; there it will be all praise. Then do not neglect that necessary part of your education which is to “begin the music here.” Start at once praising the Lord. (Christ’s Indwelling Word) Mercies should be remembered. It is a great wrong to God when we bury His mercies in the grave of unthankfulness. Especially is this the case with distinguishing mercies, wherein the Lord makes us to differ from others. Light, when the rest of the land is in darkness! Life, when others are smitten with the sword of death! Liberty from an iron bondage! O Christians, these are not things to be forgotten! Abundantly utter the memory of distinguishing mercies! Discriminating Grace deserves unceasing memorials of praise! (Sin—Its Springhead, Stream and Sea) You may also destroy your distresses by singing praises to God. By blessing the Lord, you may set your foot upon the neck of your adversaries—you can sing yourself right up from the deeps by God’s gracious help. Out of the very depths you may cry unto the Lord till He shall lift you up, and you shall praise Him in excelsis—in the very highest—and magnify His name! I give you this as one of the shortest and surest recipes for comfort—begin to praise God. The next time that a friend comes in to see you, do not tell him how long the wind has been blowing from the North, how cold the weather is for this season of the year, how your poor bones ache, how little you have coming in and all your troubles—he has probably heard the sad story many times before! Instead of that, tell him what the Lord has done for you and make him feel that the Lord is good. Your griefs and your troubles speak for themselves, but your mercies are often dumb—so try, therefore, to give them a tongue and praise the Lord with all your heart! (Comforted and Comforting - See the Exposition of Psalm 147 after the sermon) Prayer is refreshing, but praise is even more so, for there may be and there often is, in prayer, the element of selfishness—but praise rises to a yet higher level. Prayer and praise together make up spiritual respiration—we breathe in the air of Heaven when we pray—and we breathe it out again when we praise. ‘It is good to sing praises unto our God.’ (The Known and the Unknown) Aaron held his peace when his two sons died. He got as far as that in submission to the will of the Lord. But it will be better still if, instead of simply holding your peace, you can bless and praise and magnify the Lord even in your sharpest trouble! Oh, may you be divinely helped to do so! (The Sorrowful Man’s Question) ‘Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. The Psalmist has only just begun praising when he takes to praying—and that should be a Christian’s double occupation—praising and praying! I have often said that as our life is made up of breathing in and breathing out, so we should breathe in the atmosphere of Heaven by prayer and then breathe it out, again, in praise. (Unparalleled Suffering) It is a good thing to praise Christ in the presence of His friends. It is, sometimes, a better thing to extol Him in the presence of His enemies. It is a great thing to praise Jesus Christ by day, but there is no music sweeter than the nightingale’s—and she praises God by night. It is well to praise the Lord for His mercy when you are in health, but make sure that you do it when you are sick, for then your praise is more likely to be genuine. (The Objective of Christ’s Death) Souls are often converted through godly conversation. Simple words frequently do more good than long sermons. Disjointed, unconnected sentences are often of more use than the most finely polished periods or rounded sentences. If you would be useful, let the praises of Christ be always on your tongue. Let Him live on your lips. Speak of Him always! (Christian Conversation) The first thing to do, when the throat is clear after an illness, is to sing praises to God! The first thing to do, when the eyes are brightened again, is to look up to the Lord with thankfulness and gratitude. (Singing Saints) It is always best for us, if there is anything to be said in our praise, not to say it ourselves, but to let somebody else say it. Brother, if your trumpeter is dead, put the trumpet away! When that trumpet needs to be blown, there will be a trumpeter found to use it—but you need never blow it yourself. (A Man Named Matthew) Many of our doubts and fears would fly away if we praised God more. And many of our trials and troubles would altogether vanish if we began to sing of our mercies. Oftentimes, depression of spirit that will not yield to a whole night of wrestling, would yield to ten minutes of thanksgiving before God! Praying is the stalk of the wheat, but praise is the very ear of it. Praying is the leaf of the rose, but praise is the rose itself, redolent with the richest perfume.” (Christ’s Indwelling Word) When a man blesses God for the bitter, the Lord often sends him the sweet. If he can praise God in the night, the daylight is not far off. There never was a heart yet that waited and wanted to praise God but the Lord soon gave it opportunities of lifting up Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs unto Him. (Comforted and Comforting) I look upon a murmuring spirit as the forewarning of stormy weather in a rebellious soul—and I regard a praiseful spirit as the forecast of a happy time to come to the loyal joyous soul. God has prepared the heart to receive the joy which, otherwise, it, might not have been fit to accept at his hands. Be comforted, then, dear Friends, if you find in your hearts the desire to praise God, and belief that the Lord will find in His heart the willingness to speedily bless you! (Comforted and Comforting) Whenever I grow very dull through pain, or heavy through lack of sleep, I say to myself, ‘I will note down what I owe to God of praise, which I cannot just now pay to Him, that I may do so when I get a little better.’ And then my conscience chides me, saying, ‘Praise Him NOW! Bless God for aching bones! Bless God for a weary head! Bless God for troubles and trials, for he who can so praise the Lord is singing a truer and more acceptable song than youth, health and happiness can present!’ A seraph never praised God with an aching head. Cherubs never blessed the Lord upon a sick bed—so you will excel even the angels if you magnify the Lord in sickness! Why should you not, since you also can say, ‘The Lord is my strength and song’? (An Epistle Illustrated by a Psalm) “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice—have mercy also upon me and answer me. One moment he praises and the next moment he prays. That is quite right. I have often said to you that we live by breathing in and breathing out. We breathe in the atmosphere of Heaven by prayer and we breathe it out again by praise. Prayer and praise make up the essentials of the Christian’s life. Oh, for more of them—not prayer without praise, nor praise without prayer! Prayer and praise, like the two horses in Pharaoh’s chariot, make our Christian life to run smoothly and swiftly to God’s honor and glory.” (“Mr. Moody’s Text”) Singing is the best thing to purge ourselves of evil thoughts. Keep your mouth full of songs and you will often keep your heart full of praises keep on singing as long as you can—you will find it a good method of driving away your fears. (Songs in the Night) There are many ways of praising God. We should do it with the lips and grateful is the voice of song in the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth. We should do it by our daily conversation—let our acts be acts of praise, as well as our words be words of praise. We should do it even by the very look of our eyes and by the appearance of our countenance. Let not your face be sad, let your countenance be joyous! Sing wherever you go, yes, when you are laden with trouble, let no man see it. (Covenant Blessings) The man who knows that his eternal future is secured by the unfailing Grace of God may forever praise the Lord who has given him life! (A Song and a Solace) Let me say to you mourners and sufferers that your praises of God when you have no trouble are not worth half as much as they may be now. If you can sing His praises on the bed of sickness and extol Him in the fire of a sore bereavement, that will be grand! The praises of the angels, as they bow in perfect happiness, and say, “God is good,” must be very blessed. And the praises of men of God on earth, who are prospering in business and who have health and strength, and who say, “God is good,” are very precious. But you take me to one who is poor and needy, one who scarcely knows where his daily bread will come from—and when he says, ‘But God is good,; I think the Lord finds a sweeter note in that praise than He does even in the music of the angelic choirs!” (The Stronghold) I do not think that all the cherubim and seraphim in Heaven ever praised God as they have done who have died in prison for Jesus’ sake, or at the stake have poured forth their blood rather than deny Him. Be glad that you may prove your love by suffering for Christ. The ruby crown of martyrdom is not within your reach today, but be thankful if some jewels of suffering may be yours. And count it all joy when you can endure this cross for the name of Jesus Christ. (A Procession of Cross-Bearers) The praise of gratitude for the past is sweet, but that praise is sweeter which adores God for the future in full confidence that it shall be well. Therefore, take down your harps from the willows, O you people, and praise you the name of the Lord, though the fig tree still does not blossom and the cattle still die in the stall and the sheep still perish from the folds—though there should be to you no income to meet your needs and you should be brought almost to necessity’s door—still bless the Lord whose mighty Providence cannot fail and shall not fail as long as there is one of His children to be provided for! (The Singing Army) Do you notice that there is not a single petition in the whole of this Psalm? [Psalm 103] It is all praise! And herein it is like Heaven, where they cease to pray, but where they praise God without ceasing! We cannot rise to that height here, but let us both praise and pray when we can.” (Prisoners of Hope - bottom of page) Surely we make too little of our Redeemer’s death. I fear that even we, who preach most concerning it, dwell too little upon it. That we who pray, plead it too little. That we who sing, praise our Lord too little for His wondrous death and that we who live upon His Grace, yet think too little of the channel by which it flows to us! (Christ’s Death and Ours) Virtues in unregenerate men are nothing but whitewashed sins! The best performance of an unchanged character is worthless in God’s sight. It lacks the stamp of Grace upon it and that which has not the stamp of Grace is false coin. Be it ever so beautiful in model and finish, it is not what it should be. ‘So then they that are in the flesh cannot praise God. (The Search After Happiness) To be wrapped in praise to God is the highest state of the soul. To receive the mercy for which we praise God is something, but to be wholly clothed with praise to God for the mercy received is far more! (The Garment of Praise) Think not that all praise is gathered up in singing! It is the praise of God when the mother tells her child of the goodness of Him who made the stars, and who spread the world with flowers. It is praise when the young convert tells of the joy of his heart to his companion and bids him fly to the Fountain where he has washed and been made clean. It is praise, praise of a high order, too, when the advanced Believer in his old age tells of the faithfulness of God, and how not one good thing has failed of all that the Lord God has promised! (Praise Comely to the Upright) But every morning also brings a new mercy because every morning ushers in another day. That is a new reason for praise, for we have no right to an hour, or even a minute, much less to a day. To the sinner, especially, it is a great mercy to have another day of Grace, another opportunity for repentance, a new reprieve from death, a little more space in which to escape from Hell and fly to Heaven. (The Novelties of Divine Mercy) Are we to praise the Lord now for keeping us to the end? Will it not do if we praise Him when the end comes and we have been kept to the end? Will it not do if we praise Him when we are presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy? But can you not believe God s promise that He will keep you to the end—and bless His name for it even NOW? (Danger. Safety. Gratitude) Oh, that the Lord Jesus would now send fire into all your souls and make you love Him, for surely, if you have but the sense of what He has done and how He did it, and what it cost Him to do it, and who He is that has done it—and who you were for whom He has done it—you will surely say, ‘Oh, for a thousand hearts that I may love You as I should, and a thousand tongues that I may praise You as I should!’ (Christ Made Sin) When I pray, I ask for something for myself or other people. When I praise, it is but little I can render. But oh, to think that, I, a poor creature of God’s own making, should be able to give to Him! It puts the creature in the highest conceivable light. It lifts him well above angels. (Black Clouds and Bright Blessings) To praise God without praying to Him would be impossible. To pray to God without praising Him would be ungrateful. (God in Heaven, and Men on the Sea) It is only when we can say with David, ‘My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise,’ that there is the music of deep and lasting joy in the songs that we send up to Heaven! (Finding and Following Christ) Happy, happy child, whose earliest work is work for God, whose earliest hearing is hearing the voice of God, whose earliest breath is spent in the praise of God! God grant, of His infinite mercy, that our children may be such children, and He shall have the praise! (Here I Am!) O dear Friends, let us never be satisfied with any kind of worship which does not take up the whole of our inner and higher nature! It is what you are within that you really are before the living God! And it is quite a secondary matter how loud the chant may be, or how sweet the tune of your hymn, or how delightfully you join in it unless your spirit, your soul, truly praises the Lord! You can sometimes do this in ‘songs without words’—and he that has no voice for singing can, after this fashion, magnify the Lord with his soul and spirit. (Mary’s Magnificat) Brothers and Sisters, praise is God’s due when He takes as well as when He gives, for there is as much love in His taking as in His giving! The kindness of God is quite as great when He smites us with His rod as when He kisses us with the kisses of His mouth. If we could see everything as He sees it, we would often perceive that the kindest possible thing He can do to us is that which appears to us to be unkind. (Fifteen Years Later!) A Christian silent when others are praising His Master? No! He must join in the song. Satan tries to make God’s people dumb, but he cannot, for the Lord has not a tongue-tied child in all His family! They can all speak and they can all cry, even if they cannot all sing—but I think there are times when they can all sing—yes, they must, for you know the promise, “Then shall the tongue of the dumb sing.” Surely, when Jesus leads the tune, if there should be any silent ones in the Lord’s family, they must begin to praise the name of the Lord! (The Memorable Hymn) There is no prayer that is purer, more spiritual, more heavenly than the prayer which comes out of a heart full of praise! How often have I said that prayer is the breathing in of the air of Heaven and praise is the breathing of it out again? Prayer and praise make up the best life of the Christian and he is not yet thoroughly in spiritual health who is all for prayer and not at all for praise—but he is the really healthy Christian who has these two things rightly balanced. (A Visit from the Lord) Sing praises unto His name; for it is pleasant. That is, singing God’s praises is pleasant—it is a pleasant duty and the Lord’s name is pleasant, or lovely. The very thought of God brings the sweetest emotions to every renewed heart. There is no pleasure in the world that exceeds that of devotion. As we sing praises unto the Lord, we shake off the cares of the world, we rise above its smoke and mists and we get, then, the clearer atmosphere of communion with Him. (A Strange Yet Gracious Choice)

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Hallelujah (239) allelouia

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