'You bid us worship the things about us, which we see with our bodily
eyes. We answer, that we know the one true God, who made all these
things; and that, therefore, instead of worshipping THEM, we will bid
them to worship HIM.'

Now let us spend a few minutes in looking into this hymn, and seeing
what it teaches us.

You see at once, that it says that the one God, and not many gods,
made all things: much more, that things did not make themselves, or
grow up of their own accord, by any virtue or life of their own.

But it says more. It calls upon all things which God has made, to
bless him, praise him, and magnify him for ever. This is much more
than merely saying, 'One God made the world.' For this is saying
something about God's character; declaring what this one God is like.

For when you bless a person--(I do not mean when you pray God to
bless him--that is a different thing)--when you bless any one, I say,
you bless him because he is blessed, and has done blessed things:
because he has shown himself good, generous, merciful, useful. You
praise a person because he is praiseworthy, noble, and admirable.
You magnify a person--that is, speak of him to every one, and
everywhere, in the highest terms--because you think that every one
ought to know how good and great he is. And, therefore, when the
hymn says, 'Bless God, praise him, and magnify him for ever,' it does
not merely confess God's power. No. It confesses, too, God's
wisdom, goodness, beauty, love, and calls on all heaven and earth to
admire him, the alone admirable, and adore him, the alone adorable.