If it be further asked, What then is the best way to train men for usefulness in the Church? I know of no better answer, at least for the first stage of preparation, than to repeat the Scripture injunction, “Let every man abide in the calling wherein he was called.” Nothing else can supply the place of God’s providential training in the school of ordinary life and practical experience. If God, who has called a man to the fellowship of His Church, has also called him to the work of the ministry, He will manifest His purpose in His own time and way. Meanwhile, we should give the young converts all the instruction, advice, and help which Christian sympathy and prudence suggest.

John L. Nevius, The Planting and Developing of Missionary Churches, 28.

When anyone says that Christianity is not a doctrine but a life, he is setting doctrine and life in opposition to each other. This is a very perverse tendency and thoroughly characteristic of the antidoctrinal prejudice of our day. Of course according to the Bible Christianity is both a system of doctrine and a life. Moreover the doctrine and the life are organically related, and the life cannot exist and grow apart from doctrine. After all, roots are important things.

J. G. Vos, The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary, 16.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” [Proverbs 23:7 KJV]. Belief is the root and determiner of life. Therefore the truth to be believed must be set forth before the duties to be performed can be considered.

J. G. Vos, The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary, 16.

for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.

Nothing quickens praise more than constant expectation of the coming of the Lord.

Henry Law, Daily Prayer and Praise: The Book of Psalms Arranged for Private and Family Use, Vol. 2, 78.

Let it be our delight to consecrate to Him all the resources with which we are endowed; to present unto Him ourselves, our bodies, souls, and spirits, which are His by every right of creation, redemption, conquest, and our own surrender. Let us reverently seek His hallowed courts, and offer holy service. There is no beauty to be compared with holiness, which is the reflection of our God.

Henry Law, Daily Prayer and Praise: The Book of Psalms Arranged for Private and Family Use, Vol. 2, 77.

Causes of praise are ever fresh, and fresh should be the responding notes, Let us sing a new song. New thoughts, new motives should enliven the soul. Our hearts should ever seek renewal, and be looking onward to the new heavens and the new earth, where He shall reign who hath made all things new. Hence new should be our song.

Henry Law, Daily Prayer and Praise: The Book of Psalms Arranged for Private and Family Use, Vol. 2, 76.

Five psalms in the Psalter are called “new songs” (Pss. 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 149:1). Additionally, while Psalm 144 is not itself a “new song,” it includes a promise to sing a “new song” (v. 9) after God grants a longed-for victory. In biblical Hebrew, a new song is not necessarily a song that was recently written. The phrase is an idiom for a certain kind of praise song—the kind of praise one sings loudly for all the nations to hear after God has granted a great victory.

Joel R. Beeke, Anthony Selvaggio, Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, Loc. 83

Zion typifies the Church of which the blessed Jesus is the High Priest. In Him God blesses His people with all blessings in heavenly places. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things. Heavenly Father, we bless Thee for Jesus; evermore bless us in Him!

Henry Law, Daily Prayer and Praise: The Book of Psalms Arranged for Private and Family Use, Vol. 2, 242.

In Mark’s Gospel, written in Rome, the theme of the Good Shepherd was especially associated with the Multiplication of the Loaves (Mark 6:34). Here one sees Jesus making his flock recline on the green grass (6:39), an image clearly drawn from [Psalm 23].

Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms, 43.

The lesson is here taught that all protection comes directly from our Heavenly Father.

Henry Law, Daily Prayer and Praise: The Book of Psalms Arranged for Private and Family Use, Vol. 2, 211.