PSALM 149. (C. M.) Praise God, all Saints; or, the Saints judging the World.
I
All ye that love the Lord, rejoice,
And let your songs be new;
Amidst the church with cheerful voice
His later wonders shew.
II
The Jews, the people of his grace,
Shall their Redeemer sing;
And Gentile nations join the praise,
While Zion owns her king.
III
The Lord takes pleasure in the just
Whom sinners treat with scorn;
The meek that lie despis'd in dust
Salvation shall adorn.
IV
Saints should be joyful in their King,
Ev'n on a dying bed;
And like the souls in glory sing,
For God shall raise the dead.
V
Then his high praise shall fill their tongues,
Their hands shall wield the sword;
And vengeance shall attend their songs,
The vengeance of the Lord.
VI
When Christ his judgment-seat ascends,
And bids the world appear,
Thrones are prepar'd for all his friends,
Who humbly lov'd him here.
VII
Then shall they rule with iron rod
Nations that dar'd rebel;
And join the sentence of their God
On tyrants doom'd to hell.
VIII
The royal sinners bound in chains
New triumphs shall afford;
Such honour for the saints remains:
Praise ye, and love the Lord.
This psalm seems to be written to encourage the Jews in their wars
against the heathen princes of Canaan, who were divinely sentenced
to destruction: but the last four verses of it have been too much
abused in latter ages to promote sedition and disturbance in the state;
so that I chose to refer this honour, that is here given to all the saints,
to the day of judgment, according to those expressions in the New
Testament, Matt. xix. 28. Ye shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the
tribes, &c. 1 Cor. vi. 3. We shall judge angels, Rev. ii. 27. and
iii. 21. I will give him power over the nations; he shall rule them with
a rod of iron, &c.
