But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation
Walls, salvation; gates, praise
Consider how salvation is a wall, and how gates are praise.
1. There are three safeties which a sinner wants. He wants to be saved
(1) From the condemnation of his sins.
(2) From the, power of his sins.
(3) From the conflict and presence of His sins.
Therefore a man’s salvation comes to him with three unfoldings. This threefold salvation is, to every man that receives it, as a wall. On the one side, towards the adversary, it is a wall of fire; on the other side, as it shows itself to him that is within it, it is shelter. It is beauteous, as with all bright and precious stones, inlaid with all the loveliness and the attributes of God. And whatever comes through that wall to touch a man has first touched and pierced his Saviour; for all the faithfulness of God, and all the power of God, and all the glory of God, and all the work of the great Mediator, go to make the eternity and the sufficiency of that great bulwark.
2. “Thou shalt call thy gates Praise.” What is praise? The joy of a happy spirit, pouring itself back into the bosom of God as its only fountain. Through the walls of salvation, the Christian enters into a perfect peace--that with a happy heart ha may go out praisingly. In every object in nature, he likes to see some reflection of an unseen world! In every providence, he traces a Father’s hand. He has thoughts high above, that make him walk this world an independent man. Heaven is gilding all the distance to him. He comes at last to Zion “with songs and everlasting joy upon his head.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Thy gates Praise.
Songs and hymns have ever been the most interesting and inspiring of human compositions; if we draw a line of arbitrary distinction between the two, then I would say that Song represents the music of the blood, while the Hymn represents the music of the soul. It is in song that we utter the music of Nature; it is in the hymn we utter the music of grace and Divine holiness. (E. Paxton Hood.)
The gates of Praise
I do not wonder that the gates of the Church are called Praise. I do not wonder at it, because it is clear that praise opens--no I we cannot tell what are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge until we have passed through the gates of Praise. We do not know what God hath reserved for them that love Him, until we have passed through the gates of Praise. As we sometimes walk on from step to step, from landing-place to landing-place, and scene to scone, until at last we reach some elevation, when the whole of the grand panorama bursts upon our astonished vision, and the walk, and the steep ascent, and the hill, and even the beauties of the way, arc alike forgotten in the overwhelming splendour of the scene; so is it when we are able to pass through, or even to look through, the gates of Praise; even the consolations of prayer are all lost by reason of the glory that excelleth; we step from the finite to the infinite, when we look over the scenery, or breathe the atmosphere of praise. (E. Paxton Hood.)
The gates of Praise.,
I. PRAISE IS THE GATE BY WHICH WE PASS OUT OF OURSELVES.
II. IT IS BY THIS PATH THAT THE BELIEVER PASSES INTO NEW RELATIONS. He enters the Church through “the gates of Praise. It is impossible that there can be an ungrateful Christian.
III. Gates within gates, gates to the city, and gates within the city; THE GATEWAY BY WHICH WE PASS TO HIGHER KNOWLEDGE, AND TO HIGHER LIFE, IS PRAISE. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Praise because of salvation
The Rabbins say that when God created the universe He asked the highest seraph what he thought of the work of His hands--and he replied that nothing was wanting but that it should become vocal, and be able audibly to speak its Maker’s praise. But in the work of salvation it is so: “to Him that sitteth on the throne” it rises in the grandeur of loud peals of harmony. (E. Paxton Hood.)