The Charge of the Generations
S. Conway Psalm 145:4 One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. How are we to understand these words? We may take them in either one of three ways. I. AS A PREDICTION THAT HAS BEEN ABUNDANTLY FULFILLED. One generation has handed on to its successor its treasure store of knowledge and wisdom. We are the heirs of all the ages; it is their accumulated knowledge that has come down to us, and which we, with the fresh additions we shall make, are to hand on to those who come after us. And amongst the varied indebtedness under which we lie to those who have preceded us, chief of all is this - for the knowledge of God's ways. The Word of the Lord has proved to be an imperishable seed, which liveth and abideth forever. It has seemed at times to die out in some regions; but in others it has sprung up and borne fruit; and there have never been lacking those who stood ready to hand on the torch of truth to others who would keep it burning and then hand it on again. II. AS A PROMISE OF MOST HEART-CHEERING NATURE. For what would have been our condition now, had not God been mindful of this promise? We might bare inherited vast wealth, and succeeded to chief place amongst the nations of the world; in the eyes of men we might have been exalted to the highest summits of earthly greatness and glory; but if we had lost, through the unfaithfulness of those that went before us, or from any other cause, the blessed knowledge of God, what pledge or guarantee should we have that even our earthly blessings should long continue ours? and what would have guarded us from the doom which has come on other nations who have not known God, or cared not to retain his knowledge? But so it will not be with us or ours; for as the past generations have declared to us God's mighty deeds, and praised his works, so likewise shall this generation, in regard to that which shall follow. There may be sad unfaithfulness here and there, and sore suffering must ensue; but God will not suffer himself to want for faithful witnesses who shall transmit that knowledge of himself, which is life eternal, to the generation that receiveth it. We need not tremble for the ark of God. We have many such blessed promises as this before us now, and we may rest confident that our generation, evil as many comprising it may appear, shall yet "praise God's works to another, and," etc. III. A PRECEPT THAT EACH GENERATION MUST DILIGENTLY OBSERVE. Many read our text as a command; and it is a command, though a prediction and a promise as well. As a command, it enjoins: 1. That this service shall be undertakers, not by one here and there, but by the whole of the existing generation. It is to be a public - a universal service. It is a frightful condition of things for the coming generation if the present be careless about, or opposed to, such transmission of God's truth. Better that children should be brought up in any form of the Christian faith, than in no religion at all. God help our land, if the secularists of our day have their will in regard to our national education! The people at large are to care for the children at large, that they may be taught the truth of God. 2. But it is especially the business of the parents. This evidently is in the mind of the psalmist, that fathers to sons should teach the works of God. Nature, their own love for their children, regard for their own comfort; for what more rends the hearts of parents than in-bred, ungodly children? Justice and right demand it; for what parents are there that do not transmit much evil to their children? Therefore let them see to it that they teach them that which shall blessedly counteract the evil. And God plainly commands it. All these motives, and yet others, enforce this duty. 3. And the duty is urgent. We have not much time. One generation cometh, another goeth; our opportunity will soon be gone. 4. If we do not obey this command, no one else will. After all, if parents fail in this plain duty, none can really supply their lack of service or take their place; what the home is, that will, well-nigh always, the children be. CONCLUSION. Let children, whose parents have obeyed this command of God, remember how great is the responsibility that rests upon them. "To whom much is given, of the same," etc. - S.C. Parallel Verses KJV: One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. WEB: One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.