I. In the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the strange events, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their nation, not only the great saints among them were taken care of; but all classes and all characters, good and bad, even those who had not wisdom or spiritual life enough to seek God for themselves, still had their share in the good laws, in the. teaching and guiding, and in the national blessings which He sent on the whole nation. They had a chance given them of rising, improving, and prospering as the rest of their countrymen rose, and improved, and prospered. And when our Lord came to visit Judaea in flesh and blood, we find that He went on the same method. He did not merely go to such men as Philip and Nathanael, to the holy and elect ones among the Jews, but to the whole people, to the lost sheep as well as to those who were not lost.
II. Now surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then. He cannot care less for poor orphans and paupers and wild, untaught creatures in England now than He cared for them in Judaea of old. He orders all that happens to us; whether it be war or peace, prosperity or dearth, He orders it all; and He orders things so that they shall work for the good not merely of a few, but of as many as possible, not merely for His elect, but for those who know Him not. As He has been from the beginning, when He heaped blessings on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites; as He was when He endured the Cross for a world lying not in obedience, but in wickedness, so He is now: the perfect likeness of His Father, who is no respecter of persons, but causes "His sun to shine alike on the evil and on the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust."
C. Kingsley, Sermons on National Subjects,p. 226.
References: Psalms 135:5. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. x., p. 84; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. xv., p. 389. Psalms 136:17-22. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxii., No. 1285.Psalms 136:25. R. L. Browne, Sussex Sermons,p. 61; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes,1st series, p. 46. Psalms 136 Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xiii., No. 787. Psalms 137:1. E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation,2nd series, p. 484.Psalms 137:1-6. R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains,p. 437; Parker, Expository Sermons and Outlines,p. 248. Psalms 137:3. E. J. Hardy, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xii., p. 56.