This relates to
the mercy of God, of which he proceeds to say, Since thy
mercy cometh over us, and we shall be chastened: for "MeHeb.
the mercy of God, of which he proceeds to say, Since thy
mercy cometh over us, and we shall be chastened: for "MeHeb.
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v4
4 heard ill names, heard reproaches: but the Church, mul-27.
tiplied as she is, extending right aDd left, no longer remembers
the reproach of her widowhood. Remember, Lord, in the memory of Whom there is abundant sweetness. Remember,
forget not. Remember what ? the rebuke that Thy servants
have: and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people. I went, saith he, to preach of Thee, and I heard reproaches, and bore them in my bosom, because I was ful
filling the -prophecy. Being defamed we entreat : we are iCor. 4, made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all 13' things unto this day. Long the Christians bore reproaches
in their bosom, in their heart : nor dared resist their revilers ; before, when it was a crime to answer a heathen : it is now a crime to remain a heathen. Thanks be to the Lord ! He remembered our rebukes: He raised the horn of His Anointed on high, He made Him the Wonderful among the kings of the earth. Now no one insults Christians, or if he does, it is not in public : he speaks as if he were still more
268 Christ blasphemed for Hit ' change] not death.
/ bear
13. Ver. 51. Wherewith Thine enemies have blasphemed Thee, O Lard, both Jews and Pagans. Wherewith they have blasphemed. Wherewith have they blasphemed Thee ? With
iChrittithe change of Thine Anointed1. They objected that Christ died, and was crucified. Madmen, what is your reproach ? Although there is now no one to use it : yet supposing some still remaining that so speak, what is your reproach ? that Christ died ? He was not destroyed, but changed. He is styled dead on account of the three days. Wherewith then have thine enemies blasphemed Thee ? Not with the loss, not with the perdition of Thine Anointed, but with His change. He was changed from temporal to eternal life : He was changed from the Jews to the Gentiles; He was changed from earth to heaven. Let then Thy vain enemies blaspheme Thee still for the change of Thine Anointed. Would that they may be changed : they will not in that case
blaspheme the change of Christ, which displeases them, Ps. 66, since they themselves will not be changed. For there it no
change with them, and they fear not God.
Wherewith Thine enemies have blasphemed Thee, the
change of Thine Anointed.
14. They have blasphemed the change of Christ; but what
*j^xT' dost ^ou answer? (Ver. 52. ) The blessing of* the Lord blessed for evermore. Amen and Amen. Thanks to His mercy', thanks to His grace. We express our thanks : we do
Mas. not give them, nor return them, nor repay them : we f^dh^tere express our thanks in words, while in fact we retain our
sense of them*. He saved us for no reward, He heeded say but, not our impieties He searched us out when we searched
not for Him, He found, redeemed, emancipated us from the bondage of the devil and the power of his wicked angels He drew us to Him to purify us by that faith, from which He releases those enemies only who believe not, and who for that reason cannot be purified. Let those who still remain infidels say every day what they choose day by day they shall be fewer and fewer that remain let them revile, mock, accuse, not the death, but the change of Christ. Do Oxf. Mm. 'Rem tenemus,' while we retain possession of the (unrequited) benefit.
Psilm fearful of being heard, than anxious to be believed. Ixxxrx- in my bosom the rebukes ofmany people.
b
;
;
:
:
ej|>>e
No safety but with God, and with His Church. 269
they not see that, when they say these things, they fail in Vrr.
62,
purpose either by believing or by dying? For their curse is temporal : but the blessing of the Lord for evermore. To confirm that blessing is added, Amen and Amen. This is the signature of the bond of God. Secure then of His promises, let us believe the past, recognise the present, hope for the future. Let not the enemy lead us astray from the way, that He, Who gathers us like chickens under His wings, may foster us: lest we stray from His wings, and the hawk of the air carry us off while yet unfledged. For the Christian ought not to hope in himself : if he hopes to be strong, let him be reared by his mother's warmth. This is the hen who gathers her young together; whence is the reproach of our SIaviour
against the unbelieving Jerusalem, How often would gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your
/<a>>eMat. 23,
house shall be left unto you desolate. Hence was it said, Tfiou hast made his strongholds a terror. Since then they would not be gathered together under the wings of this hen, and have given us a warning to teach us to dread the unclean spirits that fly in the air, seeking daily what they may devour; let us gather ourselves under the wings of this hen, the divine Wisdom, since she is weakened even unto death for her chickens. Let us love our Lord God, let us love His Church: Him as a Father, Her as a Mother: Him as a Lord, Her as His Handmaid, as we are ourselves the
Handmaid's sons. But this marriage is held together by a bond of great love : no man offends the one, and wins favour of the other. Let no man say, " I go indeed to the idols, I consult possessed ones and fortune-tellers: yet I abandon not God's Church ; I am a Catholic. " While thou holdest to thy Mother, thou hast offended thy Father. Another says, Far be it from me ; I consult no sorcerer, I seek out no possessed one, I never ask advice by sacrilegious divination, I go not to worship idols, I bow not before stones; though I am in the party of Donatus. What does it profit you not to have offended your Father, if he avenges your offended Mother ? what does it serve you, if you acknow
ledge the Lord, honour God, preach His name, acknowledge His Son, confess that He sitteth by His right hand; while you
270 The ' Prayer of Moses. ' The two Generations.
Psalm blaspheme His Church ? Does not the analogy of human ------ marnages convmce your Suppose you have some patron, whom you court every day, whose threshold you wear with
Lat. TTTTfT.
l Cor. 10' "'
your visits, whom you daily not only salute, but even worship, to whom you pay the most loyal courtesy ; if you utter one calumny against his wife, could you re-enter his house? Hold then, most beloved, hold all with one mind to God the Father, and the Church our Mother. Celebrate with temperance the birthdays of the Saints, that we may imitate those who have gone before us, and that they who pray for you may rejoice over you; that the blessing of the Lord may abide on you for evermore. Amen and Amen.
PSALM XC.
1. This Psalm is entitled, The prayer of Moses the man of God, through whom, His man, God gave the law to His
people, through whom He freed them from the house of slavery, and led them forty years through the wilderness. Moses was therefore the Minister of the Old, and the Prophet of the New Testament. For all these things, saith the Apostle, happened unto them for ensamples : and they are written for our admonition, unto whom the ends of the world are come. In accordance therefore with this dis pensation which was vouchsafed to Moses, this Psalm is to be examined, as it has received its title from his prayer.
2. Ver. 1. Lord, he saith, Thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another : either in every generation, or in two generations, the old and new: because, as I said, he was the Minister of the Testament that related to the old generation, and the Prophet of the Testament which
John 6, appertained to the new. Jesus Himself, the Surety of that
4C-
covenant, and the Bridegroom in the marriage which He entered into in that generation, saith, Had ye believed Moses, ye woidd have believed Me : for he wrote of Me. Now it is not to be believed that this Psalm was entirely the compo sition of that Moses, as it is not distinguished by any of
1Uteris, those of his expressions' which are used in his songs: but the name of the great servant of God is used for the sake of some intimation, which should direct the attention of the
God isfrom eternity, but takes new relations. 271 reader or listener. Lord, he saith, Thou hast been our ver.
2-
refuge : (ver. 2. ) Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever the earth and the world were made : andfrom age
even unto age Thou art. Thou therefore Who art for ever,
and before we were, and before the world was, hast become
our refuge ever since we turned to Thee. But the expression, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth
and the world were made, seems to me to contain a parti
cular meaning; for mountains are the higher parts of the earth, and if God was before even the earth were formed, (or,
as some books have from the same Greek word, framed1,) *finge- since was by Him that was formed, what the need of saying that He was before the mountains, or any certain
parts of since God was not only before the earth, but
before heaven and earth, and even the whole bodily and spiritual creation But may certainly be that the whole rational creation marked by this distinction that while
the loftiness of Angels signified by the mountains, the lowliness of man meant by the earth. And for this reason, although all the works of creation are not improperly said to
be either made or formed nevertheless, there any pro
priety in these words, the Angels are made; for as they are enumerated among His heavenly works, the enumeration
itself thus concluded He spake the word, and they were Ps. 14s, made; He commanded, and they were created; but the6- earth wasformed, that man might thence be created in the
refuge from one generation to the other.
3. He adds, how He became our refuge, since He began
to be that, viz. a refuge, to us which He had not been before, not that He had not existed before He became our
For the Scripture uses this word, where we read, God made, or God formed man out the dust of the Gen.
ground. Before then the noblest parts of the creation (for what higher than the rational part of the Heavenly crea tion) were made before the earth was made, that Thou mightest have worshippers upon the earth and even this little, as all these had beginning either in or with time but from age to age Thou art. It would have been better, from everlasting to everlasting for God, Who before the ages, exists not from a certain age, nor to certain age, which has an end, since He without end. But often
body.
is
a
is
; is
is
a :
:
it, it
it
; is
;
of
if
:
is is? ; isit
is
is
it it,
7-
2,
272 God unchangeable. Prayer against temptation.
Psalm happens in the Scripture, that the equivocal Greek word XC- causes the Latin translator to put age for eternity and eternity for age. But he very rightly does not say, Thou
13,
into temptation, He adds, Again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. As if he said, I ask of Thee what Thou hast commanded me to ask : giving glory to His grace, that
wast from ages, and unto ages Thou shall be : but puts the verb in the present, intimating that the substance of God is altogether immutable. It is not, He was, and Shall be, but
Exod. only Is. Whence the expression, I Am thAt I Am : and, I
3 14 ? w.
Ps. 102, AM hath sent me unto you; and, Thou shall change them,
26. 27. and they shall be changed : but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail. Behold then the eternity that is our refuge, that we may fly thither from the mutability of time, there to remain for evermore.
4. But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in
of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. (Ver. 3. ) Turn not Thou man to loumess : that is, Let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is
Mat. 6, what God has Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, Lead us not
consequence
l Cor. l, he that glorieth, in the Lord he may glory : without Whose
3'
help we cannot by an exertion of our own will overcome the temptations of this life. Turn not Thou man to loumess : again thou sayest, Turn again, ye children of men. But
1precem grant what Thou hast enjoined, by hearing the prayer1 of
Jxaiidi- h'm can at 'east Prav, an(* aiding the faith of the willing endo. soul,
5. Ver. 4. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, which is past by : hence we ought to turn to Thy refuge, where Thou art without any change, from the fleeting scenes around us ; since however long a time may be wished for for this life, a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yester day : not as to-morrow, which is to come : for all limited periods of time are reckoned as having already passed. Hence
Phil. 3, the Apostle's choice is rather to aim at what is before, that
13,
to desire things eternal, and to forget things behind, by which temporal matters should be understood. But that no one may imagine thousand years are reckoned by God as one
a
is,
'A thousand years as one day,' a simile, not a measure. 273
day, as if with God days were so loDg, w hen this is only said Vrr.
~--
in contempt of the extent of time : he adds, and as a watch
in the night: which only lasts three hours. Nevertheless men
have ventured to assert their knowledge of times, to the pre
tenders to which our Lord said, It is not for you to know the Acta l, times or seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power:
and they allege that this period may be defined six thousand years, as of six days. Nor have they heeded the words, are but as one day which is past by : for, when this was uttered, not a thousand years only had passed, and the expression, as a watch in the night, ought to have warned them that they might not be deceived by the uncertainty of the seasons: for even if the six first days in which God finished His works seemed to give some plausibility to their opinion, six watches, which amount to eighteen hours, will not consist with that opinion.
6. Next, the man of God, or rather the Prophetic spirit, seems to be reciting some law written in the secret wisdom of God, in which He has fixed a limit to the sinful life of mortals, and determined the troubles of mortality, in the
following words ; (ver. 5. ) Their years are as things which are nothing worth: in the morning let it fade away like the
grass; in the morning as a herb let it pass by; in the evening let it fall, and be dried up, and withered. The happiness therefore of the heirs of the old covenant, which they asked of the Lord their God as a great boon, attained to receive
this Law in His mysterious Providence. Moses seems to be reciting it ; Their years shall be things which are esteemed as nothing. Such are those things which are not before they are come : and when come, shall soon not be: for they do not come to be here, but to be gone. (Ver. 6. ) In the morning, that is, before they come, as a heat let it pass by; but in the
evening, it means after they come, let itfall, and be dried
up, and withered. It is to fall in death, be dried up in the corpse, withered in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein
is the accursed lust of fleshly things ? For all flesh is grass, Iss. 40,
and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field;6'9' the grass withereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of the Lord abide th for ever.
7. Making no secret that this fate is a penalty inflicted for sin, he adds at once, (ver. 7. ) For we consume away in Thy
VOL. IV. T
274 Years assigned to marts life to be spiritualized.
Psalm displeasure, and are troubled at Thy wrathful indignation: we consume away in our weakness, and are troubled from the fear of death ; for we are become weak, and yet fearful to end that
John2l, weakness. Another, saith He, shall gird thee, and carry thee
18'
whither thou wouldest not : although not to be punished, but to be crowned, by martyrdom ; and the soul of our Lord, transforming us into Himself, was sorrowful even unto death: for the Lord's going out is no other than in death.
8. Ver. 8. Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee: that is, Thou hast not dissembled Thine anger : and our age in the light of Thy countenance. The light of Thy countenance answers to before Thee, and to our misdeeds, as above.
9. Ver. 9. For all our days are faifed, and in Thine anger we have failed. These words sufficiently prove, that our subjection to death is a punishment. He speaks of our days failing, either because men fail in them from loving things that pass away, or because they are reduced to so small a number; which he asserts in the following lines; our years are spent in thought like a spider1 ; (ver. 10. ) The days of our aye are threescore years and ten ; and though men be
1 sicct aranea
bantur so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is more of ' them but labour and sorrow. These words appear to
express the shortness and misery of this life : since those who have reached their seventieth year are styled old men. Up to eighty, however, they appear to have some strength ; but if they live beyond this, their existence is laborious through multiplied sorrows. Yet many even below the age of seventy experience an old age the most infirm and
v wretched : and old men have often been found to be won derfully vigorous even beyond eighty years. It is therefore better to search for some spiritual meaning in these numbers. For the anger of God" is not greater on the sins of Adam,
Rom. 6, (through whom alone sin entered into the world, and death
12'
by sin, and so death passed upon all men,") because they live a much shorter time than the men of old ; since even the length of their days is ridiculed in the comparison of a thousand years to yesterday that is past, and to three hours : especially since at the very time when they provoked the anger of God to send the deluge in which they perished, their life was at its longest span.
' Seventy' and ' eighty,' the present and the future life. 275
10. Moreover, seventy and eighty years equal a hundred Ver. and fifty ; a number which the Psalms clearly insinuate to ------ be a sacred one. One hundred and fifty have the same relative signification as fifteen, the latter number being composed
of seven and eight together : the first of which points to the
Old Testament through the observation of the Sabbath; the
latter to the New, referring to the resurrection of our Lord.
Hence the fifteen steps in the Temple. Hence in the Psalms,
fifteen " songs of degrees. " Hence the waters of the deluge Gen. 7, overtopped the highest mountains by fifteen cubits: and many 19' other instances of the same nature. Our years are passed in thought like a spider. We were labouring in things cor ruptible, corruptible works we were weaving together: which,
as the prophet Isaiah saith, by no means covered us: the days us. 69, of our years are in themselves threescore and ten : but if in 6-
their strength they come to fourscore years. A distinction is
here made between themselves and their strength": in them
selves, that is, in the years or days themselves, may mean in temporal things, which are promised in the Old Testament, sig
nified by the number seventy; but if not in themselves, but in
their strength, refers not to temporal things, but to things eternal, fourscore years, as the New Testament contains the hope of a new life and resurrection for evermore : and what is added, that if they pass this latter period b, their strength is labour and sorrow, intimates that such shall be the fate of him who goes beyond this faith, and seeks for more. It may also be un- -Herstood thus: because although we are established in the New JTesJament^ which the number eighty signifies, yet still our
life is one of labour and sorrow, while we groan within our- Rom. 8, selves, awaiting the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our23-26' body ; for we are saved by hope; and if we hope for that we
see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
This relates to
the mercy of God, of which he proceeds to say, Since thy
mercy cometh over us, and we shall be chastened: for "MeHeb. 12, Lord? chasieneth whom He lovefh, and scour geth every son6'
* Aliud est in ipsis, aliud in poten- that age.
tatibut. c Quoniam supervenit tupernos man -
b St. Augustine seems to refer the suetudo, et corripiemur: the equivalent word amplius to a period beyond the in the Prayer Book so soon passeth eighty years. In the English version away, and we are gone.
clearly applies to the attainment of
T 2
it
it
is,
276 God's wrath mysterious, heaviest when delayed.
Psalm whom He receiveth," and to some mighty ones He giveth a thorn in the flesh, to buffet them, that they may not be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, so
2 Cor. tnat strength be made perfect in weakness. Some copies 12, 7. 9. read, we shall be taught, instead ofchastened, which is equally expressive of the Divine Mercy ; for no man can be taught
without labour and sorrow ; since strength is made perfect in weakness.
1 1. Ver. 11. For who knoweth thepowerofTfty wrath ; andfor the fear of Thee to number Thine anger? It belongs to very few men, he saith, to know the power of Thy wrath; for when Thou dost spare, Thy anger is so far heavier against most men ;
that we may know that labour and sorrow belong not to wrath, but rather to Thy mercy, when Thou chastenest and teach- est those whom Thou lovest, to save them from the torments
p, 10, of eternal punishment : as it is said in another Psalm, " The 3. Lat. sinner hath provoked the Lord : He will not require it of him according to the greatness of His wrath. " Who then knoweth
the power of Thy wrath, or for the fear of Thee how to number Thine anger ? With this also is understood, ' Who knoweth Such the difficulty of finding any one who knoweth how to number Thine anger by Thy fear, that he adds this, meaning that to the purpose that Thou appearest to spare some, with whom Thou art more angry,
that the sinner may be prospered in his path, and receive a heavier doom at the last. For when the power of human wrath hath killed the body, hath nothing more to do but God hath power both to punish here, and after the death of the body to send into Hell, and by the few who are thus taught, the vain and seductive prosperity of the wicked
Mat. io ju^ge^ to De greater wrath of God. This he knew not, whose
feet were almost gone, because he was grieved at the wicked, 2. 3. 17. seeing the ungodly in such prosperity, but he learnt when he went into the sanctuary of God, and understood concern
ing the last things that sanctuary which few enter, there to learn how to number the anger of God by His fear: and to reckon the prosperity of the wicked in the number of their punishments.
2. ,Ver. 2. Make Thy right hand so well known. This the reading of most of the Greek copies not of some in Latin,
28.
:
1
1
is
is
: is
it
:
it
it is
. ? '
Christ made known as the Right Hand of Qod. 277 which is thus, Make Thy right hand well known to me. Ver.
:--
Lord revealed ? Make Him so well known, that Thy faithful
may learn in Him to ask and to hope for those things rather
of Thee as rewards of their faith, which do not appear in the
Old Testament, but are revealed in the New : that they may
not imagine that the happiness derived from earthly and temporal blessings is to be highly esteemed, desired, or loved,
and thus their feet slip, when they see it in men who honour Ps73,2. Thee not : that their steps may not give way, while they know
not how to number Thine anger. Finally, in accordance with
this prayer of the Man that is His1, He has made His Christ 'hominii so well known, as to shew by His sufferings that not those "m rewards which seem so highly prized in the Old Testament,
where they are shadows of things to come, but things eternal,
are to be desired. The right hand of God may also be understood in this sense, as that by which He will separate
His saints from the wicked : because that hand becomes well known, when it scourgeth every son whom He receiveth, and suffers him not, in greater anger, to prosper in his sins, but
in His mercy, scourgeth him with the left*, that He may place* ah on him purified on His right hand. The reading of most copies, Mat. 26,
make Thy right hand well known to me, may be referred33' either to Christ, or to eternal happiness : for God has not a right hand in bodily shape, as He has not that anger which
is aroused into violent passion.
13. But what he addeth, 3 and those fettered in heart in'Et wisdom; other copies read, instructed, not fettered: the Greek
verb, expressing both senses, only differing by a single coTM'>> syllable4. But since these also, as it is said, put their " feet in "ntlT. ' the fetters" of wisdom, are taught wisdom, (he means the feetlTOrTM' of the heart, not of the body,) and bound by its golden vovs. chains depart not from the path of God, and become notT"8''- runaways from him ; whichever reading we adopt, the truth Ecolus. in the meaning is safe. Them thus fettered, or instructed in6'26' heart in wisdom, God makes so well known in the New Testament, that they despised all things for the Faith
which the impiety of Jews and Gentiles abhorred ; and allowed themselves to be deprived of those things which in
What is, make Thy right hand so well known, but Thy Christ, of Whom it is said, And to whom is the arm of the J>>-63,
278 Waiting of Martyrs. God only seems turned away.
Phai. m the Old Testament are thought high promises by those who --judge after the flesh.
14. Ver. 13. And as when they became so well known, as to despise these things, and by setting their affections on things eternal, gave a testimony through their sufferings, (whence they are called witnesses or martyrs in the Greek,) they endured for a long while many bitter temporal afflic tions. This man of God giveth heed to this, and the prophetic spirit under the name of Moses continues thus, Return, O Iard, how long ? and be softened concerning Thy servants. These are the words of those, who, enduring many evils in that persecuting age, become known because their hearts are bound in the chain of wisdom, so firmly, that not even such hardships can induce them to fly from their Lord
Ps. l3,i. to the good things of this world. How long will Thou hide Thy face from me, 0 Lord ? occurs in another Psalm, in unison with this sentence, Return, O Lord, how long ? And that they who, in a most carnal spirit, ascribe to God the
form of the human body, may know that the turning away and turning again of His countenance is not like those motions of our own frame, let them recollect these words from above in the same Psalm, Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee, and our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. How then does he say in this passage, Return, that God may be favourable, as if He had turned away His face in anger ; when as in the former he speaks of God's anger in such a manner, as to insinuate that He had not turned away His countenance from the misdeeds and the course of life of those He was angry with, but rather had set them before Him, and in the light of His countenance? The word, How long, belongs to righteousness beseeching, not indignant impatience. Be softened, some have rendered by a verb, soften. But be softened avoids an ambiguity; since to soften is a common verb: for he may be said to soften who pours out prayers, and he to whom they are poured out: for we say, I soften thee, and I soften toward thee ; (' deprecor te, et deprecor a te. ')
15. Ver. 14, 15. Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says, We are
with Thy mercy in the morning. Prophecy has
satisfied
We hope to be ' satisfied' in the morniny of the true day. 279
the Lord. Hence are the words, In Thy presence is fulness n] ofjoy : and, Early in the morniny they shall stand by, andP>>-5i3- shall look up : and as other translators have said We
shall be satisfied with Thy mercy in the morniny; then they
shall be satisfied. As he says elsewhere, shall be satisfied, Ps- 17, when Thy ylory shall be revealed. So said, Lord, shea? j0j,ni4, us the Father, and sufficeth us: and our Lord Himself 21. answereth, will manifest Myself to Zion and until this promise fulfilled, no blessing satisfies us, or ought to do
so, lest our longings should be arrested in their course, when they ought to be increased until they gain their objects. We have been satisfied with Thy mercy in the morniny and we rejoiced and were ylad all the days ofour
Those days are days without end: they all exist together thus they satisfy us for they give not way to days succeeding since there nothing there which exists not yet because has not reached us, or ceases to exist
because has passed; all are together: because there one
day only, which remains and passes not away this
eternity itself. These are the days respecting which
written, What man he that lusteth to lice, and would fain Ps. 3i, see good days? These days in another passage are styled12'
thus been kindled for us. in the midst of these toils and . 14.
sorrows of the night, like a lamp in the darkness, until day 2 pet l dawn, and the Day-star arise in our hearts. For blessed are 19.
the pure in heart, for they shall see God: then shall the Matt. 6, righteous be filled with that blessing for which they hunger J'^' 6 and thirst now, while, walking in faith, they are absent from 6.
'
life.
where unto God said, But Thou art the same, Ps. 102, and Thy years shall not fail: for these are not years that are
accounted for nothing, or days that perish like shadow but they are days which have real existence, the number of which he who thus spoke, Ixnd, let me know mine end,
(that is, after reaching what term shall remain unchanged,
and have no further blessing to crave,) and the number of
my days, what is: (what not what not:) prayed to know. He distinguishes them from the days of this life, of which he speaks as follows, Behold, Thou hast made myps. 39, days as were a span lony, which are not, because they6-6' stand not, remain not, but change in quick succession nor
years
:
it is is is
it,
it
it
it
: it is
;
is /
is,
a
it is
is
;
it / is
:
is I:
a
:
:
8,
is
it
: it
280 The Saints, as God's workmanship, pray for direction.
Psalm is there a single hour in them in which our being is not such, XC' but that one part of it has already passed, another is about to come, and none remains as it is. But those years and days, in which we too shall never fail, but evermore be
refreshed, will never fail. Let our souls long earnestly for those days, let them thirst ardently for them, that there we may be filled, be satisfied, and say what we now say in anticipation, We have been satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning; we hare rejoiced and were glad all the days of
our life. (Ver. 15. ) We have been comforted again now, after the time that Thou hast brought us low, and for the
years wherein we have seen evil.
16. But now in days that are as yet evil, let us speak
as follows. (Ver. 16. ) Look upon Thy servants, and upon Thy works. For Thy servants themselves are Thy works, not only inasmuch as they are men, but as Thy servants,
that is, obedient to Thy commands. For we are His work
manship, created not merely in Adam, but in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them: for it is God which worketh in us 2>> 13. both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
And direct their sons: that they may be right in heart, for
to such God is bountiful ; for God is bountiful to Israel, to
Ps. 73, those that are right in heart. Unlike him whose feet had
2, **?
17. Ver. 17. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be Pi. 4 6. uPon us < whence the words, " O Lord, the light of Thy
countenance is marked upon us. " And, Slake Thou straight the works of our hands upon us : that we may do them not for hope of earthly reward : for then they are not straight, but crooked. In many copies the Psalm goes thus far, but in some there is found an additional verse at the end, as follows, And make straight the work of our hands. To these words the learned have prefixed a star, called an
asterisk, to shew that they are found in the Hebrew, or in some other Greek translations, but not in the Septuagint.
Philip,
well-nigh slipped, because he began to be displeased at God while he looked upon the prosperity of the wicked, as if God Himself knew not, or cared not for, their sins, and would not undertake to govern the human race.
The meaning of this verse, if we are to expound
appears
it,
All good works, one work. Gospel veiled in the Law. 281
to me this, that all our good works are one work of love : for Van love is the fulfilling of the Law. For as in the former verse
he had said, And the works of our hands make Thou 13, io. straight upon us, here he says work, not works, as if
anxious to shew, in the last verse, that all our works are one, that are directed with view to one work. For then are works righteous, when they are directed to this one end:
for the end of the commandment charity out of a pure xim. heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. 1'5' There therefore one work, in which are all, faith which Gal. worketh love: whence our Lord's words in the Gospel,6- This the work of God, that ye believe in Hint Whom He John hath sent. Since, therefore, in this Psalm, both old and new 29- life, life both mortal and everlasting, years that are counted
for nought, and years that have the fulness of lovingkindness and of true joy, that is, the penalty of the first and the reign of the Second Man, are marked so very clearly
imagine, that the name of Moses, the man of God, became
the title of the Psalm, that pious and rightminded readers
of the Scriptures might gain an intimation that the Mosaic
laws, in which God appears to promise only, or nearly
only, earthly rewards for good works, without doubt con
tains under veil some such hopes as this Psalm displays.
But when any one has passed over to Christ, the veil will2 Cor. s, be taken away and his eyes will be unveiled, that he may 16' cousider the wonderful things in the law of God, by the
gift of Him, to Whom we pray, Open Thou mine eyes, and pg, hq
shall see the wondrous things of Thy law.
PSALM XCI. FIRST SERMON.
,8-
Ht. xc.
This Psalm that from which the devil dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ . let us therefore attend to that thus armed, we may be enabled to resist the tempter, not presuming in ourselves, but in Him Who before us was
is :
it,
/I
a :
by
;
i
is
is
is,
6,
8,
is
a
282 Our Lord the Worker of Old Testament miracles.
Psalm tempted, that we might not be overcome when tempted. XCI. Temptation to Him was not necessary: the temptation of Christ is our learning, but if we listen to His answers to the
devil, in order that, when ourselves are tempted, we may answer in like manner, we are then entering through the gale, as ye have heard it read in the Gospel. For what is to enter
John 10, by the gate ? To enter by Christ, Who Himself said, / am the door : and to enter through Christ, is to imitate His ways. And how are we to imitate the ways of Christ? Are we to imitate Him in the glorious power which He had as God in the flesh ? is it to this that He exhorts us, this that He
of us, that we should work such miracles as He wrought ? Or does not our Lord Jesus Christ both now and evermore govern the universe with the Father ? Is it to govern heaven and earth, and all that are in them, with Him, that He calls man, or that man too may become a creator, through whom all things may be created, as all things were through Christ ? Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ invites you neither to those works, which He did from the begin-
John l, ning, of which it is written, By Him all things were made : nor to those which He performed on earth. He tells you Mat. 14, not this: Thou shalt not be My disciple, unless thou hast
Jonn U, walked upon the waves, or raised him who was four days John^ . dead, or opened the eyes of the born blind. Not this either. 1--7. ' What is it then to enter by the door ? Learn of Me, for Iam Mat. 11, meek anc[ iowiy in heart. What He became on thy account,
that thou shouldest attend to in Him, that thou mayest imitate Him. Even before He was born of Mary He wrought miracles, for who ever worked them except He of Whom it is said,
Ps. 72, He only doeth wondrous things. For it was by His power that those, who in former days worked miracles, were l Kings enabled to do so : by the power of Christ, Elias raised
' ' the dead. Unless indeed we are to suppose Peter greater
John 6, than Christ, because Christ with His voice raised the sick ; 69. .
Acts 6, while, when Peter was passing by, the sick were brought
requires
>6-
out to be touched by his shadow. And yet can it be said that Peter is more mighty than Christ? Why then had Peter such power? Because Christ was in Peter. Hence our
John 10, Saviour's words, All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers; meaning, that those who came on a mission of
Christ imitated in temptation as well as persecution. 283
their own, were not sent by Me, they came without Me, Titls. I was not in them, nor did I introduce them; all the miracles therefore wrought either by His predecessors or successors, were the work of the same Lord Christ, Who performed miracles when He was Himself present. Neither
then does He exhort us to imitate those miracles which He worked before He became Man : but He urges us to imitate Him in those works which He could not have done had He not been made Man ; for how could He endure sufferings, unless He had become a Man ? How could He otherwise have died, been crucified, been humbled ? Thus then do thou, when thou sufferest the troubles of this world, which the devil, openly by men, or secretly, as in Job's case, inflicts ; be courageous, be of long suffering ? thou shalt dwell under the defence of the Most High, as this Psalm expresses it : for if thou depart from the help of the Most
High, without strength to aid thyself, thou wilt fall.
2. For many men are brave, when they are enduring persecution from men, and see them openly rage against
themselves : imagining they are then imitating the sufferings
of Christ, in case men openly persecute them ; but if assailed
by the hidden attack of the devil, they believe they are not being crowned by Christ. Never fear when thou dost imitate Christ. For when the devil tempted our Lord, there was no
man in the wilderness; he tempted Him secretly; but he
was conquered, and conquered too when openly attacking
Him. This do thou, if thou wishest to enter by the door,
when the enemy secretly assails thee, when he asks for a
man that he may do him some hurt by bodily troubles, by fever, by sickness, or any other bodily sufferings, like those
of Job. He saw not the devil, yet he acknowledged the power of God. He knew that the devil had no power against him, unless from the Almighty Ruler of all things
he received that power : the whole glory he gave to God, power to the devil he gave not. For when the devil robbed
him of all things, these were his words, The Lord gave, and Joh 1,
the Lord hath taken away; he said not, The Lord gave, and the devil hath taken away: since the devil could have taken nothing from him, had not the Lord permitted him. And for this cause God allowed him, that the man might be tried,
284 Satan conquered by abiding in God's protection.
Psalm and the devil conquered. When he struck him with a blow, it was by God's leave. Even when from head to foot he was wasted by worms, not even then did he attribute any power to the devil: but when his wife, whom alone the devil had left, not as the consoler of her husband, but his own helper,
Joh 2, 9- ,0'
advised him thus, Say some word against God, and die: he replied, Thou speakestas one of the foolish women speaketh. If we have received good at the hands of God, shall we not endure evil?
3. He then who so imitates Christ as to endure all the troubles of this world, with his hopes set upon God, that he falls into no snare, is broken down by no panic fears, he it is (ver. 1, 2. ) who dwelleth under the defence of the Most
High, who shall abide under the protection of God, in the words with which the Psalm, which you have heard and sung, begins. You will recognise the words, so well known, in which the devil tempted our Lord, when we come to them. He shall say unto the Lord, Thou art my laker up, and my refuge: my God. Who speaks thus to the Lord? He who dwelleth under the defence of the Most High : not under his own defence. Who is this?
the reproach of her widowhood. Remember, Lord, in the memory of Whom there is abundant sweetness. Remember,
forget not. Remember what ? the rebuke that Thy servants
have: and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people. I went, saith he, to preach of Thee, and I heard reproaches, and bore them in my bosom, because I was ful
filling the -prophecy. Being defamed we entreat : we are iCor. 4, made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all 13' things unto this day. Long the Christians bore reproaches
in their bosom, in their heart : nor dared resist their revilers ; before, when it was a crime to answer a heathen : it is now a crime to remain a heathen. Thanks be to the Lord ! He remembered our rebukes: He raised the horn of His Anointed on high, He made Him the Wonderful among the kings of the earth. Now no one insults Christians, or if he does, it is not in public : he speaks as if he were still more
268 Christ blasphemed for Hit ' change] not death.
/ bear
13. Ver. 51. Wherewith Thine enemies have blasphemed Thee, O Lard, both Jews and Pagans. Wherewith they have blasphemed. Wherewith have they blasphemed Thee ? With
iChrittithe change of Thine Anointed1. They objected that Christ died, and was crucified. Madmen, what is your reproach ? Although there is now no one to use it : yet supposing some still remaining that so speak, what is your reproach ? that Christ died ? He was not destroyed, but changed. He is styled dead on account of the three days. Wherewith then have thine enemies blasphemed Thee ? Not with the loss, not with the perdition of Thine Anointed, but with His change. He was changed from temporal to eternal life : He was changed from the Jews to the Gentiles; He was changed from earth to heaven. Let then Thy vain enemies blaspheme Thee still for the change of Thine Anointed. Would that they may be changed : they will not in that case
blaspheme the change of Christ, which displeases them, Ps. 66, since they themselves will not be changed. For there it no
change with them, and they fear not God.
Wherewith Thine enemies have blasphemed Thee, the
change of Thine Anointed.
14. They have blasphemed the change of Christ; but what
*j^xT' dost ^ou answer? (Ver. 52. ) The blessing of* the Lord blessed for evermore. Amen and Amen. Thanks to His mercy', thanks to His grace. We express our thanks : we do
Mas. not give them, nor return them, nor repay them : we f^dh^tere express our thanks in words, while in fact we retain our
sense of them*. He saved us for no reward, He heeded say but, not our impieties He searched us out when we searched
not for Him, He found, redeemed, emancipated us from the bondage of the devil and the power of his wicked angels He drew us to Him to purify us by that faith, from which He releases those enemies only who believe not, and who for that reason cannot be purified. Let those who still remain infidels say every day what they choose day by day they shall be fewer and fewer that remain let them revile, mock, accuse, not the death, but the change of Christ. Do Oxf. Mm. 'Rem tenemus,' while we retain possession of the (unrequited) benefit.
Psilm fearful of being heard, than anxious to be believed. Ixxxrx- in my bosom the rebukes ofmany people.
b
;
;
:
:
ej|>>e
No safety but with God, and with His Church. 269
they not see that, when they say these things, they fail in Vrr.
62,
purpose either by believing or by dying? For their curse is temporal : but the blessing of the Lord for evermore. To confirm that blessing is added, Amen and Amen. This is the signature of the bond of God. Secure then of His promises, let us believe the past, recognise the present, hope for the future. Let not the enemy lead us astray from the way, that He, Who gathers us like chickens under His wings, may foster us: lest we stray from His wings, and the hawk of the air carry us off while yet unfledged. For the Christian ought not to hope in himself : if he hopes to be strong, let him be reared by his mother's warmth. This is the hen who gathers her young together; whence is the reproach of our SIaviour
against the unbelieving Jerusalem, How often would gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your
/<a>>eMat. 23,
house shall be left unto you desolate. Hence was it said, Tfiou hast made his strongholds a terror. Since then they would not be gathered together under the wings of this hen, and have given us a warning to teach us to dread the unclean spirits that fly in the air, seeking daily what they may devour; let us gather ourselves under the wings of this hen, the divine Wisdom, since she is weakened even unto death for her chickens. Let us love our Lord God, let us love His Church: Him as a Father, Her as a Mother: Him as a Lord, Her as His Handmaid, as we are ourselves the
Handmaid's sons. But this marriage is held together by a bond of great love : no man offends the one, and wins favour of the other. Let no man say, " I go indeed to the idols, I consult possessed ones and fortune-tellers: yet I abandon not God's Church ; I am a Catholic. " While thou holdest to thy Mother, thou hast offended thy Father. Another says, Far be it from me ; I consult no sorcerer, I seek out no possessed one, I never ask advice by sacrilegious divination, I go not to worship idols, I bow not before stones; though I am in the party of Donatus. What does it profit you not to have offended your Father, if he avenges your offended Mother ? what does it serve you, if you acknow
ledge the Lord, honour God, preach His name, acknowledge His Son, confess that He sitteth by His right hand; while you
270 The ' Prayer of Moses. ' The two Generations.
Psalm blaspheme His Church ? Does not the analogy of human ------ marnages convmce your Suppose you have some patron, whom you court every day, whose threshold you wear with
Lat. TTTTfT.
l Cor. 10' "'
your visits, whom you daily not only salute, but even worship, to whom you pay the most loyal courtesy ; if you utter one calumny against his wife, could you re-enter his house? Hold then, most beloved, hold all with one mind to God the Father, and the Church our Mother. Celebrate with temperance the birthdays of the Saints, that we may imitate those who have gone before us, and that they who pray for you may rejoice over you; that the blessing of the Lord may abide on you for evermore. Amen and Amen.
PSALM XC.
1. This Psalm is entitled, The prayer of Moses the man of God, through whom, His man, God gave the law to His
people, through whom He freed them from the house of slavery, and led them forty years through the wilderness. Moses was therefore the Minister of the Old, and the Prophet of the New Testament. For all these things, saith the Apostle, happened unto them for ensamples : and they are written for our admonition, unto whom the ends of the world are come. In accordance therefore with this dis pensation which was vouchsafed to Moses, this Psalm is to be examined, as it has received its title from his prayer.
2. Ver. 1. Lord, he saith, Thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another : either in every generation, or in two generations, the old and new: because, as I said, he was the Minister of the Testament that related to the old generation, and the Prophet of the Testament which
John 6, appertained to the new. Jesus Himself, the Surety of that
4C-
covenant, and the Bridegroom in the marriage which He entered into in that generation, saith, Had ye believed Moses, ye woidd have believed Me : for he wrote of Me. Now it is not to be believed that this Psalm was entirely the compo sition of that Moses, as it is not distinguished by any of
1Uteris, those of his expressions' which are used in his songs: but the name of the great servant of God is used for the sake of some intimation, which should direct the attention of the
God isfrom eternity, but takes new relations. 271 reader or listener. Lord, he saith, Thou hast been our ver.
2-
refuge : (ver. 2. ) Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever the earth and the world were made : andfrom age
even unto age Thou art. Thou therefore Who art for ever,
and before we were, and before the world was, hast become
our refuge ever since we turned to Thee. But the expression, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth
and the world were made, seems to me to contain a parti
cular meaning; for mountains are the higher parts of the earth, and if God was before even the earth were formed, (or,
as some books have from the same Greek word, framed1,) *finge- since was by Him that was formed, what the need of saying that He was before the mountains, or any certain
parts of since God was not only before the earth, but
before heaven and earth, and even the whole bodily and spiritual creation But may certainly be that the whole rational creation marked by this distinction that while
the loftiness of Angels signified by the mountains, the lowliness of man meant by the earth. And for this reason, although all the works of creation are not improperly said to
be either made or formed nevertheless, there any pro
priety in these words, the Angels are made; for as they are enumerated among His heavenly works, the enumeration
itself thus concluded He spake the word, and they were Ps. 14s, made; He commanded, and they were created; but the6- earth wasformed, that man might thence be created in the
refuge from one generation to the other.
3. He adds, how He became our refuge, since He began
to be that, viz. a refuge, to us which He had not been before, not that He had not existed before He became our
For the Scripture uses this word, where we read, God made, or God formed man out the dust of the Gen.
ground. Before then the noblest parts of the creation (for what higher than the rational part of the Heavenly crea tion) were made before the earth was made, that Thou mightest have worshippers upon the earth and even this little, as all these had beginning either in or with time but from age to age Thou art. It would have been better, from everlasting to everlasting for God, Who before the ages, exists not from a certain age, nor to certain age, which has an end, since He without end. But often
body.
is
a
is
; is
is
a :
:
it, it
it
; is
;
of
if
:
is is? ; isit
is
is
it it,
7-
2,
272 God unchangeable. Prayer against temptation.
Psalm happens in the Scripture, that the equivocal Greek word XC- causes the Latin translator to put age for eternity and eternity for age. But he very rightly does not say, Thou
13,
into temptation, He adds, Again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. As if he said, I ask of Thee what Thou hast commanded me to ask : giving glory to His grace, that
wast from ages, and unto ages Thou shall be : but puts the verb in the present, intimating that the substance of God is altogether immutable. It is not, He was, and Shall be, but
Exod. only Is. Whence the expression, I Am thAt I Am : and, I
3 14 ? w.
Ps. 102, AM hath sent me unto you; and, Thou shall change them,
26. 27. and they shall be changed : but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail. Behold then the eternity that is our refuge, that we may fly thither from the mutability of time, there to remain for evermore.
4. But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in
of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. (Ver. 3. ) Turn not Thou man to loumess : that is, Let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is
Mat. 6, what God has Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, Lead us not
consequence
l Cor. l, he that glorieth, in the Lord he may glory : without Whose
3'
help we cannot by an exertion of our own will overcome the temptations of this life. Turn not Thou man to loumess : again thou sayest, Turn again, ye children of men. But
1precem grant what Thou hast enjoined, by hearing the prayer1 of
Jxaiidi- h'm can at 'east Prav, an(* aiding the faith of the willing endo. soul,
5. Ver. 4. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, which is past by : hence we ought to turn to Thy refuge, where Thou art without any change, from the fleeting scenes around us ; since however long a time may be wished for for this life, a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yester day : not as to-morrow, which is to come : for all limited periods of time are reckoned as having already passed. Hence
Phil. 3, the Apostle's choice is rather to aim at what is before, that
13,
to desire things eternal, and to forget things behind, by which temporal matters should be understood. But that no one may imagine thousand years are reckoned by God as one
a
is,
'A thousand years as one day,' a simile, not a measure. 273
day, as if with God days were so loDg, w hen this is only said Vrr.
~--
in contempt of the extent of time : he adds, and as a watch
in the night: which only lasts three hours. Nevertheless men
have ventured to assert their knowledge of times, to the pre
tenders to which our Lord said, It is not for you to know the Acta l, times or seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power:
and they allege that this period may be defined six thousand years, as of six days. Nor have they heeded the words, are but as one day which is past by : for, when this was uttered, not a thousand years only had passed, and the expression, as a watch in the night, ought to have warned them that they might not be deceived by the uncertainty of the seasons: for even if the six first days in which God finished His works seemed to give some plausibility to their opinion, six watches, which amount to eighteen hours, will not consist with that opinion.
6. Next, the man of God, or rather the Prophetic spirit, seems to be reciting some law written in the secret wisdom of God, in which He has fixed a limit to the sinful life of mortals, and determined the troubles of mortality, in the
following words ; (ver. 5. ) Their years are as things which are nothing worth: in the morning let it fade away like the
grass; in the morning as a herb let it pass by; in the evening let it fall, and be dried up, and withered. The happiness therefore of the heirs of the old covenant, which they asked of the Lord their God as a great boon, attained to receive
this Law in His mysterious Providence. Moses seems to be reciting it ; Their years shall be things which are esteemed as nothing. Such are those things which are not before they are come : and when come, shall soon not be: for they do not come to be here, but to be gone. (Ver. 6. ) In the morning, that is, before they come, as a heat let it pass by; but in the
evening, it means after they come, let itfall, and be dried
up, and withered. It is to fall in death, be dried up in the corpse, withered in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein
is the accursed lust of fleshly things ? For all flesh is grass, Iss. 40,
and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field;6'9' the grass withereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of the Lord abide th for ever.
7. Making no secret that this fate is a penalty inflicted for sin, he adds at once, (ver. 7. ) For we consume away in Thy
VOL. IV. T
274 Years assigned to marts life to be spiritualized.
Psalm displeasure, and are troubled at Thy wrathful indignation: we consume away in our weakness, and are troubled from the fear of death ; for we are become weak, and yet fearful to end that
John2l, weakness. Another, saith He, shall gird thee, and carry thee
18'
whither thou wouldest not : although not to be punished, but to be crowned, by martyrdom ; and the soul of our Lord, transforming us into Himself, was sorrowful even unto death: for the Lord's going out is no other than in death.
8. Ver. 8. Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee: that is, Thou hast not dissembled Thine anger : and our age in the light of Thy countenance. The light of Thy countenance answers to before Thee, and to our misdeeds, as above.
9. Ver. 9. For all our days are faifed, and in Thine anger we have failed. These words sufficiently prove, that our subjection to death is a punishment. He speaks of our days failing, either because men fail in them from loving things that pass away, or because they are reduced to so small a number; which he asserts in the following lines; our years are spent in thought like a spider1 ; (ver. 10. ) The days of our aye are threescore years and ten ; and though men be
1 sicct aranea
bantur so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is more of ' them but labour and sorrow. These words appear to
express the shortness and misery of this life : since those who have reached their seventieth year are styled old men. Up to eighty, however, they appear to have some strength ; but if they live beyond this, their existence is laborious through multiplied sorrows. Yet many even below the age of seventy experience an old age the most infirm and
v wretched : and old men have often been found to be won derfully vigorous even beyond eighty years. It is therefore better to search for some spiritual meaning in these numbers. For the anger of God" is not greater on the sins of Adam,
Rom. 6, (through whom alone sin entered into the world, and death
12'
by sin, and so death passed upon all men,") because they live a much shorter time than the men of old ; since even the length of their days is ridiculed in the comparison of a thousand years to yesterday that is past, and to three hours : especially since at the very time when they provoked the anger of God to send the deluge in which they perished, their life was at its longest span.
' Seventy' and ' eighty,' the present and the future life. 275
10. Moreover, seventy and eighty years equal a hundred Ver. and fifty ; a number which the Psalms clearly insinuate to ------ be a sacred one. One hundred and fifty have the same relative signification as fifteen, the latter number being composed
of seven and eight together : the first of which points to the
Old Testament through the observation of the Sabbath; the
latter to the New, referring to the resurrection of our Lord.
Hence the fifteen steps in the Temple. Hence in the Psalms,
fifteen " songs of degrees. " Hence the waters of the deluge Gen. 7, overtopped the highest mountains by fifteen cubits: and many 19' other instances of the same nature. Our years are passed in thought like a spider. We were labouring in things cor ruptible, corruptible works we were weaving together: which,
as the prophet Isaiah saith, by no means covered us: the days us. 69, of our years are in themselves threescore and ten : but if in 6-
their strength they come to fourscore years. A distinction is
here made between themselves and their strength": in them
selves, that is, in the years or days themselves, may mean in temporal things, which are promised in the Old Testament, sig
nified by the number seventy; but if not in themselves, but in
their strength, refers not to temporal things, but to things eternal, fourscore years, as the New Testament contains the hope of a new life and resurrection for evermore : and what is added, that if they pass this latter period b, their strength is labour and sorrow, intimates that such shall be the fate of him who goes beyond this faith, and seeks for more. It may also be un- -Herstood thus: because although we are established in the New JTesJament^ which the number eighty signifies, yet still our
life is one of labour and sorrow, while we groan within our- Rom. 8, selves, awaiting the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our23-26' body ; for we are saved by hope; and if we hope for that we
see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
This relates to
the mercy of God, of which he proceeds to say, Since thy
mercy cometh over us, and we shall be chastened: for "MeHeb. 12, Lord? chasieneth whom He lovefh, and scour geth every son6'
* Aliud est in ipsis, aliud in poten- that age.
tatibut. c Quoniam supervenit tupernos man -
b St. Augustine seems to refer the suetudo, et corripiemur: the equivalent word amplius to a period beyond the in the Prayer Book so soon passeth eighty years. In the English version away, and we are gone.
clearly applies to the attainment of
T 2
it
it
is,
276 God's wrath mysterious, heaviest when delayed.
Psalm whom He receiveth," and to some mighty ones He giveth a thorn in the flesh, to buffet them, that they may not be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, so
2 Cor. tnat strength be made perfect in weakness. Some copies 12, 7. 9. read, we shall be taught, instead ofchastened, which is equally expressive of the Divine Mercy ; for no man can be taught
without labour and sorrow ; since strength is made perfect in weakness.
1 1. Ver. 11. For who knoweth thepowerofTfty wrath ; andfor the fear of Thee to number Thine anger? It belongs to very few men, he saith, to know the power of Thy wrath; for when Thou dost spare, Thy anger is so far heavier against most men ;
that we may know that labour and sorrow belong not to wrath, but rather to Thy mercy, when Thou chastenest and teach- est those whom Thou lovest, to save them from the torments
p, 10, of eternal punishment : as it is said in another Psalm, " The 3. Lat. sinner hath provoked the Lord : He will not require it of him according to the greatness of His wrath. " Who then knoweth
the power of Thy wrath, or for the fear of Thee how to number Thine anger ? With this also is understood, ' Who knoweth Such the difficulty of finding any one who knoweth how to number Thine anger by Thy fear, that he adds this, meaning that to the purpose that Thou appearest to spare some, with whom Thou art more angry,
that the sinner may be prospered in his path, and receive a heavier doom at the last. For when the power of human wrath hath killed the body, hath nothing more to do but God hath power both to punish here, and after the death of the body to send into Hell, and by the few who are thus taught, the vain and seductive prosperity of the wicked
Mat. io ju^ge^ to De greater wrath of God. This he knew not, whose
feet were almost gone, because he was grieved at the wicked, 2. 3. 17. seeing the ungodly in such prosperity, but he learnt when he went into the sanctuary of God, and understood concern
ing the last things that sanctuary which few enter, there to learn how to number the anger of God by His fear: and to reckon the prosperity of the wicked in the number of their punishments.
2. ,Ver. 2. Make Thy right hand so well known. This the reading of most of the Greek copies not of some in Latin,
28.
:
1
1
is
is
: is
it
:
it
it is
. ? '
Christ made known as the Right Hand of Qod. 277 which is thus, Make Thy right hand well known to me. Ver.
:--
Lord revealed ? Make Him so well known, that Thy faithful
may learn in Him to ask and to hope for those things rather
of Thee as rewards of their faith, which do not appear in the
Old Testament, but are revealed in the New : that they may
not imagine that the happiness derived from earthly and temporal blessings is to be highly esteemed, desired, or loved,
and thus their feet slip, when they see it in men who honour Ps73,2. Thee not : that their steps may not give way, while they know
not how to number Thine anger. Finally, in accordance with
this prayer of the Man that is His1, He has made His Christ 'hominii so well known, as to shew by His sufferings that not those "m rewards which seem so highly prized in the Old Testament,
where they are shadows of things to come, but things eternal,
are to be desired. The right hand of God may also be understood in this sense, as that by which He will separate
His saints from the wicked : because that hand becomes well known, when it scourgeth every son whom He receiveth, and suffers him not, in greater anger, to prosper in his sins, but
in His mercy, scourgeth him with the left*, that He may place* ah on him purified on His right hand. The reading of most copies, Mat. 26,
make Thy right hand well known to me, may be referred33' either to Christ, or to eternal happiness : for God has not a right hand in bodily shape, as He has not that anger which
is aroused into violent passion.
13. But what he addeth, 3 and those fettered in heart in'Et wisdom; other copies read, instructed, not fettered: the Greek
verb, expressing both senses, only differing by a single coTM'>> syllable4. But since these also, as it is said, put their " feet in "ntlT. ' the fetters" of wisdom, are taught wisdom, (he means the feetlTOrTM' of the heart, not of the body,) and bound by its golden vovs. chains depart not from the path of God, and become notT"8''- runaways from him ; whichever reading we adopt, the truth Ecolus. in the meaning is safe. Them thus fettered, or instructed in6'26' heart in wisdom, God makes so well known in the New Testament, that they despised all things for the Faith
which the impiety of Jews and Gentiles abhorred ; and allowed themselves to be deprived of those things which in
What is, make Thy right hand so well known, but Thy Christ, of Whom it is said, And to whom is the arm of the J>>-63,
278 Waiting of Martyrs. God only seems turned away.
Phai. m the Old Testament are thought high promises by those who --judge after the flesh.
14. Ver. 13. And as when they became so well known, as to despise these things, and by setting their affections on things eternal, gave a testimony through their sufferings, (whence they are called witnesses or martyrs in the Greek,) they endured for a long while many bitter temporal afflic tions. This man of God giveth heed to this, and the prophetic spirit under the name of Moses continues thus, Return, O Iard, how long ? and be softened concerning Thy servants. These are the words of those, who, enduring many evils in that persecuting age, become known because their hearts are bound in the chain of wisdom, so firmly, that not even such hardships can induce them to fly from their Lord
Ps. l3,i. to the good things of this world. How long will Thou hide Thy face from me, 0 Lord ? occurs in another Psalm, in unison with this sentence, Return, O Lord, how long ? And that they who, in a most carnal spirit, ascribe to God the
form of the human body, may know that the turning away and turning again of His countenance is not like those motions of our own frame, let them recollect these words from above in the same Psalm, Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee, and our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. How then does he say in this passage, Return, that God may be favourable, as if He had turned away His face in anger ; when as in the former he speaks of God's anger in such a manner, as to insinuate that He had not turned away His countenance from the misdeeds and the course of life of those He was angry with, but rather had set them before Him, and in the light of His countenance? The word, How long, belongs to righteousness beseeching, not indignant impatience. Be softened, some have rendered by a verb, soften. But be softened avoids an ambiguity; since to soften is a common verb: for he may be said to soften who pours out prayers, and he to whom they are poured out: for we say, I soften thee, and I soften toward thee ; (' deprecor te, et deprecor a te. ')
15. Ver. 14, 15. Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says, We are
with Thy mercy in the morning. Prophecy has
satisfied
We hope to be ' satisfied' in the morniny of the true day. 279
the Lord. Hence are the words, In Thy presence is fulness n] ofjoy : and, Early in the morniny they shall stand by, andP>>-5i3- shall look up : and as other translators have said We
shall be satisfied with Thy mercy in the morniny; then they
shall be satisfied. As he says elsewhere, shall be satisfied, Ps- 17, when Thy ylory shall be revealed. So said, Lord, shea? j0j,ni4, us the Father, and sufficeth us: and our Lord Himself 21. answereth, will manifest Myself to Zion and until this promise fulfilled, no blessing satisfies us, or ought to do
so, lest our longings should be arrested in their course, when they ought to be increased until they gain their objects. We have been satisfied with Thy mercy in the morniny and we rejoiced and were ylad all the days ofour
Those days are days without end: they all exist together thus they satisfy us for they give not way to days succeeding since there nothing there which exists not yet because has not reached us, or ceases to exist
because has passed; all are together: because there one
day only, which remains and passes not away this
eternity itself. These are the days respecting which
written, What man he that lusteth to lice, and would fain Ps. 3i, see good days? These days in another passage are styled12'
thus been kindled for us. in the midst of these toils and . 14.
sorrows of the night, like a lamp in the darkness, until day 2 pet l dawn, and the Day-star arise in our hearts. For blessed are 19.
the pure in heart, for they shall see God: then shall the Matt. 6, righteous be filled with that blessing for which they hunger J'^' 6 and thirst now, while, walking in faith, they are absent from 6.
'
life.
where unto God said, But Thou art the same, Ps. 102, and Thy years shall not fail: for these are not years that are
accounted for nothing, or days that perish like shadow but they are days which have real existence, the number of which he who thus spoke, Ixnd, let me know mine end,
(that is, after reaching what term shall remain unchanged,
and have no further blessing to crave,) and the number of
my days, what is: (what not what not:) prayed to know. He distinguishes them from the days of this life, of which he speaks as follows, Behold, Thou hast made myps. 39, days as were a span lony, which are not, because they6-6' stand not, remain not, but change in quick succession nor
years
:
it is is is
it,
it
it
it
: it is
;
is /
is,
a
it is
is
;
it / is
:
is I:
a
:
:
8,
is
it
: it
280 The Saints, as God's workmanship, pray for direction.
Psalm is there a single hour in them in which our being is not such, XC' but that one part of it has already passed, another is about to come, and none remains as it is. But those years and days, in which we too shall never fail, but evermore be
refreshed, will never fail. Let our souls long earnestly for those days, let them thirst ardently for them, that there we may be filled, be satisfied, and say what we now say in anticipation, We have been satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning; we hare rejoiced and were glad all the days of
our life. (Ver. 15. ) We have been comforted again now, after the time that Thou hast brought us low, and for the
years wherein we have seen evil.
16. But now in days that are as yet evil, let us speak
as follows. (Ver. 16. ) Look upon Thy servants, and upon Thy works. For Thy servants themselves are Thy works, not only inasmuch as they are men, but as Thy servants,
that is, obedient to Thy commands. For we are His work
manship, created not merely in Adam, but in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them: for it is God which worketh in us 2>> 13. both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
And direct their sons: that they may be right in heart, for
to such God is bountiful ; for God is bountiful to Israel, to
Ps. 73, those that are right in heart. Unlike him whose feet had
2, **?
17. Ver. 17. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be Pi. 4 6. uPon us < whence the words, " O Lord, the light of Thy
countenance is marked upon us. " And, Slake Thou straight the works of our hands upon us : that we may do them not for hope of earthly reward : for then they are not straight, but crooked. In many copies the Psalm goes thus far, but in some there is found an additional verse at the end, as follows, And make straight the work of our hands. To these words the learned have prefixed a star, called an
asterisk, to shew that they are found in the Hebrew, or in some other Greek translations, but not in the Septuagint.
Philip,
well-nigh slipped, because he began to be displeased at God while he looked upon the prosperity of the wicked, as if God Himself knew not, or cared not for, their sins, and would not undertake to govern the human race.
The meaning of this verse, if we are to expound
appears
it,
All good works, one work. Gospel veiled in the Law. 281
to me this, that all our good works are one work of love : for Van love is the fulfilling of the Law. For as in the former verse
he had said, And the works of our hands make Thou 13, io. straight upon us, here he says work, not works, as if
anxious to shew, in the last verse, that all our works are one, that are directed with view to one work. For then are works righteous, when they are directed to this one end:
for the end of the commandment charity out of a pure xim. heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. 1'5' There therefore one work, in which are all, faith which Gal. worketh love: whence our Lord's words in the Gospel,6- This the work of God, that ye believe in Hint Whom He John hath sent. Since, therefore, in this Psalm, both old and new 29- life, life both mortal and everlasting, years that are counted
for nought, and years that have the fulness of lovingkindness and of true joy, that is, the penalty of the first and the reign of the Second Man, are marked so very clearly
imagine, that the name of Moses, the man of God, became
the title of the Psalm, that pious and rightminded readers
of the Scriptures might gain an intimation that the Mosaic
laws, in which God appears to promise only, or nearly
only, earthly rewards for good works, without doubt con
tains under veil some such hopes as this Psalm displays.
But when any one has passed over to Christ, the veil will2 Cor. s, be taken away and his eyes will be unveiled, that he may 16' cousider the wonderful things in the law of God, by the
gift of Him, to Whom we pray, Open Thou mine eyes, and pg, hq
shall see the wondrous things of Thy law.
PSALM XCI. FIRST SERMON.
,8-
Ht. xc.
This Psalm that from which the devil dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ . let us therefore attend to that thus armed, we may be enabled to resist the tempter, not presuming in ourselves, but in Him Who before us was
is :
it,
/I
a :
by
;
i
is
is
is,
6,
8,
is
a
282 Our Lord the Worker of Old Testament miracles.
Psalm tempted, that we might not be overcome when tempted. XCI. Temptation to Him was not necessary: the temptation of Christ is our learning, but if we listen to His answers to the
devil, in order that, when ourselves are tempted, we may answer in like manner, we are then entering through the gale, as ye have heard it read in the Gospel. For what is to enter
John 10, by the gate ? To enter by Christ, Who Himself said, / am the door : and to enter through Christ, is to imitate His ways. And how are we to imitate the ways of Christ? Are we to imitate Him in the glorious power which He had as God in the flesh ? is it to this that He exhorts us, this that He
of us, that we should work such miracles as He wrought ? Or does not our Lord Jesus Christ both now and evermore govern the universe with the Father ? Is it to govern heaven and earth, and all that are in them, with Him, that He calls man, or that man too may become a creator, through whom all things may be created, as all things were through Christ ? Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ invites you neither to those works, which He did from the begin-
John l, ning, of which it is written, By Him all things were made : nor to those which He performed on earth. He tells you Mat. 14, not this: Thou shalt not be My disciple, unless thou hast
Jonn U, walked upon the waves, or raised him who was four days John^ . dead, or opened the eyes of the born blind. Not this either. 1--7. ' What is it then to enter by the door ? Learn of Me, for Iam Mat. 11, meek anc[ iowiy in heart. What He became on thy account,
that thou shouldest attend to in Him, that thou mayest imitate Him. Even before He was born of Mary He wrought miracles, for who ever worked them except He of Whom it is said,
Ps. 72, He only doeth wondrous things. For it was by His power that those, who in former days worked miracles, were l Kings enabled to do so : by the power of Christ, Elias raised
' ' the dead. Unless indeed we are to suppose Peter greater
John 6, than Christ, because Christ with His voice raised the sick ; 69. .
Acts 6, while, when Peter was passing by, the sick were brought
requires
>6-
out to be touched by his shadow. And yet can it be said that Peter is more mighty than Christ? Why then had Peter such power? Because Christ was in Peter. Hence our
John 10, Saviour's words, All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers; meaning, that those who came on a mission of
Christ imitated in temptation as well as persecution. 283
their own, were not sent by Me, they came without Me, Titls. I was not in them, nor did I introduce them; all the miracles therefore wrought either by His predecessors or successors, were the work of the same Lord Christ, Who performed miracles when He was Himself present. Neither
then does He exhort us to imitate those miracles which He worked before He became Man : but He urges us to imitate Him in those works which He could not have done had He not been made Man ; for how could He endure sufferings, unless He had become a Man ? How could He otherwise have died, been crucified, been humbled ? Thus then do thou, when thou sufferest the troubles of this world, which the devil, openly by men, or secretly, as in Job's case, inflicts ; be courageous, be of long suffering ? thou shalt dwell under the defence of the Most High, as this Psalm expresses it : for if thou depart from the help of the Most
High, without strength to aid thyself, thou wilt fall.
2. For many men are brave, when they are enduring persecution from men, and see them openly rage against
themselves : imagining they are then imitating the sufferings
of Christ, in case men openly persecute them ; but if assailed
by the hidden attack of the devil, they believe they are not being crowned by Christ. Never fear when thou dost imitate Christ. For when the devil tempted our Lord, there was no
man in the wilderness; he tempted Him secretly; but he
was conquered, and conquered too when openly attacking
Him. This do thou, if thou wishest to enter by the door,
when the enemy secretly assails thee, when he asks for a
man that he may do him some hurt by bodily troubles, by fever, by sickness, or any other bodily sufferings, like those
of Job. He saw not the devil, yet he acknowledged the power of God. He knew that the devil had no power against him, unless from the Almighty Ruler of all things
he received that power : the whole glory he gave to God, power to the devil he gave not. For when the devil robbed
him of all things, these were his words, The Lord gave, and Joh 1,
the Lord hath taken away; he said not, The Lord gave, and the devil hath taken away: since the devil could have taken nothing from him, had not the Lord permitted him. And for this cause God allowed him, that the man might be tried,
284 Satan conquered by abiding in God's protection.
Psalm and the devil conquered. When he struck him with a blow, it was by God's leave. Even when from head to foot he was wasted by worms, not even then did he attribute any power to the devil: but when his wife, whom alone the devil had left, not as the consoler of her husband, but his own helper,
Joh 2, 9- ,0'
advised him thus, Say some word against God, and die: he replied, Thou speakestas one of the foolish women speaketh. If we have received good at the hands of God, shall we not endure evil?
3. He then who so imitates Christ as to endure all the troubles of this world, with his hopes set upon God, that he falls into no snare, is broken down by no panic fears, he it is (ver. 1, 2. ) who dwelleth under the defence of the Most
High, who shall abide under the protection of God, in the words with which the Psalm, which you have heard and sung, begins. You will recognise the words, so well known, in which the devil tempted our Lord, when we come to them. He shall say unto the Lord, Thou art my laker up, and my refuge: my God. Who speaks thus to the Lord? He who dwelleth under the defence of the Most High : not under his own defence. Who is this?
