Psalms 99:5

"O magnify the Lord our God" [Psalm 99:5]. Magnify Him truly, magnify Him well. Let us praise Him, let us magnify Him who has wrought the very righteousness which we have; who wrought it in us, Himself. For who but He who justified us, wrought righteousness in us? For of Christ it is said, "who justifies the ungodly." [Romans 4:5] ..."And fall down before His footstool: for He is holy." What are we to fall down before? His footstool. What is under the feet is called a footstool, in Greek ὑ ποπόδιον, in Latin Scabellum or Suppedaneum. But consider, brethren, what he commands us to fall down before. In another passage of the Scriptures it is said, "The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool." [Isaiah 66:1] Does he then bid us worship the earth, since in another passage it is said, that it is God's footstool? How then shall we worship the earth, when the Scripture says openly, "You shall worship the Lord your God"? [Deuteronomy 6:13] Yet here it says, "fall down before His footstool:" and, explaining to us what His footstool is, it says, "The earth is My footstool." I am in doubt; I fear to worship the earth, lest He who made the heaven and the earth condemn me; again, I fear not to worship the footstool of my Lord, because the Psalm bids me, "fall down before His footstool." I ask, what is His footstool? And the Scripture tells me, "the earth is My footstool." In hesitation I turn unto Christ, since I am herein seeking Himself: and I discover how the earth may be worshipped without impiety, how His footstool may be worshipped without impiety. For He took upon Him earth from earth; because flesh is from earth, and He received flesh from the flesh of Mary. […]

And adore the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. What is this footstool of the feet of Jesus, which is holy? We read in another place: 'Heaven is my throne, but the earth is the footstool of my feet.' And now it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet. If the earth is the footstool of the feet of Jesus, and it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet: is the earth therefore to be adored? How is it that we read in the Apostle that, except for the Creator, we ought not to adore the creature? To adore is said in Scripture in two ways: for there is said an adoration as toward God, and there is said to adore as it were to honor. When we say to adore toward God, adoration is properly set toward God. But when it is said of a man—for example, Sarah adored Abraham, and Elijah adored Ahab, that most impious king—it is not said that Elijah so adored Ahab as God, but here adoration is set as a greeting. Now, therefore, let us see this that he says, And adore the footstool of his feet, in which sense he says it. Do we adore the footstool of the feet of God as God, or do we adore and greet it as a man? We read in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we read also in another prophet: 'How the Lord,' he says, 'has sanctified the footstool of his feet.' And there the footstool of his feet is called Jerusalem, or the temple: this, then, according to the history. We read also in another place, And adore the footstool of his feet. If the feet do not stand except on the footstool, then this which is said 'And adore where his feet have stood' is said also of the footstool. Therefore according to the letter we can say, for example, where he was born, where he was crucified, where he rose again. This we say for beginners. But otherwise the footstool of the feet of Jesus is the soul of the believer. Happy is he in whose breast the feet of Jesus are daily placed. […]

We must worship at his footstool, at his ark, which was as the footstool to the mercy-seat between the cherubim; or we must cast ourselves down upon the pavement of his courts; and good reason we have to be thus reverent, for he is holy, and his holiness should strike an awe upon us, as it does on the angels themselves, Isa. vi. Divine Justice and Mercy.

Exalt ye the Lord our God,....

Exalt ye the Lord our God. If no others adore him, let his own people render to him the most ardent worship. Infinite condescension makes him stoop to be called our God, and truth and faithfulness bind him to maintain that covenant relationship; and surely we, to whom by grace he so lovingly gives himself, should exalt him with all our hearts. He shines upon us from under the veiling wings of cherubim, and above the seat of mercy, therefore let us come and worship at his footstool. When he reveals himself in Christ Jesus, as our reconciled God, who allows us to approach even to his throne, it becomes us to unite earnestness and humility, joy and adoration, and, while we exalt him, prostrate ourselves in the dust before him. Do we need to be thus excited to worship? How much ought we to blush for such backwardness! It ought to be our daily delight to magnify so good and great a God. For he is holy. A second time the note rings out, and as the ark, which was the divine footstool, has just been mentioned, the voice seems to sound forth from the cherubim where the Lord sitteth, who continually do cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy. Lord God of Sabaoth!" Holiness is the harmony of all the virtues. The Lord has not one glorious attribute alone, or in excess, but all glories are in him as a whole; this is the crown of his honour and the honour of his crown. His power is not his choicest jewel, nor his sovereignty, but his holiness. In this all comprehensive moral excellence he would have his creatures take delight, and when they do so their delight is evidence that their hearts have been renewed, and they themselves have been made partakers of his holiness.