Psalm 122:1

Verse 1. Let us go into the house of the Lord. "Let us go," spoken by one hundred men in any city to those over whom they have influence, would raise a monster meeting... But who among those who thus single out the working classes, have gone to them and said, "Let us go -- let us go together into the house of the Lord"? The religious adviser, standing at a distance from the multitude, has advised, and warned, and pleaded, saying, "Go, or you will not escape perdition;" "Why don't you go?" The Christian visitor has likewise used this kind of influence; but how few have taken the working man by the hand, and said, "Let us go together"? You can bring multitudes whom you never can send. Many who would never come alone would come most willingly under the shadow of your company. Then, brethren, to your nonattending neighbour say, "Let us go"; to reluctant members of your own family say, "Let us go"; to those who once went to the house of God in your company, but who have backslidden from worship say, "Let us go"; to all whose ear, and mind, and heart, you can command for such a purpose say, "Let us go -- let us go together into the house of the Lord." Samuel Martin (1817-1878), in a Sermon entitled "Gladness in the Prospect of Public Worship."

Verse 1. I was glad when they said unto me, etc. Such in kind, but far greater in degree, is the gladness, which the pious soul experiences when she is called hence; when descending angels say unto her, Thy labour and sorrow are at an end, and the hour of thy enlargement is come; put off immortality and misery at once; quit thy house of bondage, and the land of thy captivity; fly forth, and "let us go together into the house of the Lord, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." George Horne.

Verse 1-2. This is a mutual exhortation. The members of the church invite each other: "Let us go into the house of the Lord." It is not enough to say, Go you to church, and I shall stop at home. That will never do. We must invite by example as well as by precept. Mark the plural forms: "Let us go into the house of God. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." We are to speak as Moses did to Hobab, his brother-in-law, "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." The same duty is binding upon us, with regard to those who make no profession of religion, and whose feet never stand in the house of God. Zechariah, in an animated picture of the future glories of the church, describes the newborn zeal of the converts as taking this direction. They cannot but speak of what they have seen and heard, and others must share in their joy. "And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also." N. M`Michael.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Whole Psalm. Observe,

Verse 1.

Verse 1.

Verse 1. Gladness of God's house. Are you "glad when," etc.? Why glad?

J. G. Butler, in "The Preacher's Monthly," 1882.

Verse 1. I was glad, etc. So says,

Verse 1.